Pet raccoon dozes off in baby swing
This pet raccoon has taken over the baby swing for nap time. Cuteness overload!
This pet raccoon has taken over the baby swing for nap time. Cuteness overload!
After taking the oath of office Wednesday, President Joe Biden issued a rare repudiation of white supremacy and domestic terrorism seen on the rise under his predecessor’s watch. In his inaugural address, Biden denounced the “racism, nativism, fear, demonization,” that propelled the assault on Capitol Hill by an overwhelmingly white mob of Donald Trump supporters who carried symbols of hate, including the Confederate battle flag. “A cry for racial justice some 400 years in the making moves us,” Biden said in the nearly 23-minute-long speech promising to heal a divided nation.
Bruce Springsteen, Demi Lovato and John Legend are among the artists performing at the Celebrating America concert
A version of this story about “A Sun” first appeared in the International Film Issue of TheWrap’s awards magazine. A genre-spanning family story that can be both contemplative and brutal, Chung Mong-hong’s film “A Sun” follows two brothers in a Taiwanese family. One is considered the good, promising child, while the other gets involved in a criminal lifestyle he finds hard to escape. The film marks the second time that a movie from Chung Mong-hong has represented Taiwan in the Oscar race, the first being “Soul” in 2013. The director answered questions from TheWrap via email. Why did you want to tell this story? Many years ago, I met one of my high school classmates. He told me when he was 18 or 19 years old, he did something bad with a friend. They slashed someone’s hand off. I thought it was an interesting story, but I didn’t really give a lot of thought on this. Later on, I started to imagine what they went through after the incident. His friend was caught and jailed, but my friend didn’t have any consequences. His friend came back to him one day and threatened him with a gun. One day, I imagined that the incident happened on a rainy day, and the hand dropped into a hot pot. After I had this image in mind, it was a catalyst behind this film. A slashed hand in a hot pot was the trigger to me. In the next 40 days, I finished the script, with very few changes afterwards. Six months later, we began to produce this film. Also Read: Oscars International Race Breaks Record With 93 Entries What were the keys in deciding how you would tell it? In such a family story or melodrama, it’s full of emotions and cliché elements. It was important for me to remain calm and observe everything. I paid attention to emotions in performances and visual expressions. I needed to stay objective, otherwise I would be dragged into the scene. I had to stay at arm’s length to observe the whole picture. This was particularly important to me. If the director is too emotionally involved, the story would be cheesy. The film has moments of great lyricism and beauty, and also moments of extreme violence. How did you balance the different tones? Humorous, violent or dark, those segments are not completely fictional. I would use certain elements in life to balance them and connect those scenes. Violence, in some ways, is not designed for dramatic visual effects. It’s a tool to portray horrifying elements in certain characters. Humor is not supposed to appear randomly. I don’t intentionally try to balance them. Instead, I put them naturally into different scenarios in life. Films are supposed to have cinematic aesthetics, but I don’t forcefully add aesthetic treatments. Besides complete stories and full emotions, films require visual starting points, which may be an image, a color, or tension between two people. Aesthetics is just how we process the films in a basic way. Also Read: Oscars Eliminate Executive Committee Picks for International Feature, Expand Shortlist Were you inspired by any other films or works of literature when you made “A Sun?” My films are rarely inspired by other films or literary works. Before making a movie, though, I often travel or read. Reading books is very calming to me. I am not looking for ideas in those books, since scripts are completed already. Reading helps me return to the basics. “A Sun” was produced in September 2018. In May 2018, I returned to southern Taiwan to visit my dad for two weeks. He was 90 years old then. When you accompany a senior person, time seems to go much slower. I had very few things to do in those two weeks. I brought a pile of books by Turkish writer Orhan Pamuk. His books were very difficult to read, but I had a whole lot of time to spend. Slowly, I finished the first one, the second one, and ordered two more online. I wouldn’t claim that I fully understood his works, but through his books, I learned about people, their predicaments, social conditions, and even colors. I was fascinated. His books were often very thick. It was quite an exhausting endeavor to read. I finished five or six of his important novels in those two weeks. After reading his books, I wanted to visit Turkey and witness those people and environments that he described. Before the film production started in September, I went to Turkey in August for two weeks. However, Pamuk seemed to describe Turkey in a different time period. Novelists tended to write more dramatically and in more details. As a visitor, I could only have a glimpse, but I saw a wide variety of people and took a lot of photos. If you put cultural and social contexts aside, people and their lives are pretty much the same. They all struggle for survival. They are all troubled by aging. They all encounter more issues when they grow up. I don’t think these experiences have influenced my film. Characters in my films are based on real-world figures. I don’t fantasize how these characters would walk or talk, because I use people around me as references. Rather than being influenced, I got to see a wide variety of lifestyles in my trip to Turkey. Read more from the International Film Issue here. Read original story How a Severed Hand Led to Taiwan’s Oscar Contender ‘A Sun’ At TheWrap
‘YES @TheAmandaGorman!!!’ Hamilton creator tweets to the inaugural poet
Northeastern states were slammed with snow squalls on January 20, the National Weather Service said.Weather enthusiast Alex Schaaf said he filmed the timelapse squall footage in the city of Macungie, Pennsylvania – a suburb of Allentown. “This was one of the most intense snow squalls I’ve seen,” Schaaf wrote in a Twitter caption. “Absolute white out conditions. Nothing really stuck with temps above freezing, but visibility was reduced quite a bit for a short time.”The Interstate 95 corridor was expected to see reduced visibility on Wednesday morning, the NWS warned. Credit: Alex Schaaf via Storyful
After taking the oath of office and a brief dash to shake some hands, Biden made it safely to the White House in a barricaded city guarded by more than 25,000 troops and devoid of the hundreds of thousands of spectators who normally throng to the quadrennial ritual. The unprecedented precautions ensured the new U.S. president and Vice President Kamala Harris took office free of incident in a ceremony outside the U.S. Capitol, two weeks to the day after a mob attacked the building in a failed attempt to keep Congress from certifying their victory.
Manchester United reclaimed pole position in the Premier League as Paul Pogba's stunning second-half strike earned them a 2-1 victory at Fulham on Wednesday. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's side had been leapfrogged by Leicester City on Tuesday and then Manchester City earlier on Wednesday, but responded with an eighth away win of the season. United moved to the top with 40 points from 19 games, two points above City, who have played a game less, and Leicester.
Paul Pogba produced a moment of magic as Manchester United came from behind to beat Fulham 2-1 and reclaim the Premier League lead on Wednesday, ending Manchester City's short stay at the top.
Sports trailblazers Billie Jean King, Megan Rapinoe and Lewis Hamilton were among those hailing the inauguration of U.S. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris on Wednesday, saying they hoped the new administration can foster a more inclusive society. Former President Donald Trump was critical of athletes who used their platforms to highlight issues such as police brutality, especially when those protests took the form of kneeling during the playing of the U.S. national anthem. "Let us not waste this opportunity to reckon with our past, and move forward justice and equality," Megan Rapinoe, twice a World Cup winner with the U.S. women's team, said on Twitter.
From the start, the inauguration of Joe Biden as 46th President and Kamala Harris as the 49th Vice President of the United States stood to be a historic moment on multiple levels. Harris made history as the first woman and woman of color to be sworn in at such a high government level, and Biden’s official transition represented a shift back to what will hopefully be a more normal administration and leadership for the country. Hollywood reacted accordingly to the day’s events, with many emotionally celebrating Harris and her achievements. “In tears watching this extraordinary moment for women in the U.S. and the world,” tweeted Oprah Winfrey. “SNL” star Leslie Jones also weighed in, tweeting “YAAAAAAAAASSSS SHE IS OUR VICE PRESIDENT KAMALA HARRIS.” And “Grey’s Anatomy” creator Shonda Rhimes tweeted a photo of her children watching the inauguration with the caption “brown girls no just longer dreaming.” Brown girls no longer just dreaming. #bidenharris2020 https://t.co/r6XmZuk2ti pic.twitter.com/AEtelwoHb3 — shonda rhimes (@shondarhimes) January 20, 2021 Biden’s inauguration speech also drew praise, even from those such as Fox News anchor Chris Wallace. Addressing the discourse over the past four years as well as the recent riots on Capitol Hill, Biden drove home how he was planning to tackle his presidency: with unity, openness, and dedicated work. Actor George Takei tweeted an important part of Biden’s speech, calling out what has been a major issue over the last few years: “We must reject a culture where facts themselves are manipulated and even manufactured.” Also Read: Watch Lady Gaga Slay the National Anthem at the Biden Inauguration (Video) Not to be outdone in reactions to today’s events, the official “Parks and Recreation” Twitter celebrated Biden’s inauguration by tweeting a photo of Knope’s Amy Poehler and Biden from when the former VP appeared on the show, fulfilling one of Leslie’s lifelong dreams. In anticipation of Biden’s inauguration today, social media has been revisiting the two episodes where Biden and now First Lady Jill Biden guest starred. Leslie Knope is doing great. Thanks for asking! pic.twitter.com/kqI0p0gOZG — Parks and Recreation (@parksandrec) January 20, 2021 See more reactions below. Congratulations Mr President. We are with you. https://t.co/nXINBPEbxr — Julia Louis-Dreyfus (@OfficialJLD) January 20, 2021 “May we lead not by the example of our power, but by the power of our example.” That’s my president. #Inauguration2021 #PresidentBiden https://t.co/SIFPfdyNI3 — Misha Collins (@mishacollins) January 20, 2021 Congratulations to our new President @JoeBiden and VP @KamalaHarris We know you will do your best to make America good again. — Jimmy Kimmel (@jimmykimmel) January 20, 2021 We did it. In so many ways. We, the people. ❤️🤍💙#BidenHarris #InaugurationDay #Inauguration2021 #Inauguration 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/QfyOXwcJC1 — Mayim Bialik (@missmayim) January 20, 2021 "To all the little girls watching…never doubt that you are valuable and powerful & deserving of every chance & opportunity in the world." — Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) November 9, 2016 THIS is the split screen I wanted. @MichelleObama gave those other folks the low bun. She SERVED up layers, highlights and the flip heard around the world for @JoeBiden and @KamalaHarris! ✊🏾❤️#BidenHarrisInauguration https://t.co/uj7kFhc5NU — yvette nicole brown (@YNB) January 20, 2021 I can finally admit it. My son was the President's Advisor for the past four years. #BidenHarris #BidenHarrisInauguration2021 pic.twitter.com/DNZkSq4G4e — Gilbert Gottfried (@RealGilbert) January 20, 2021 rewatched ‘the american president’ … which definitely still holds up. a nice reminder of what we have to look forward to starting late next week— character back in the WH. #BidenHarris2020 — Monica Lewinsky (she/her) (@MonicaLewinsky) January 14, 2021 Kamala Harris & her husband come out… This is a huge moment for women. A huge moment for men as a man will become the Second Gentleman. She will take the oath of office from Justice Sotomayor, the first Latino on the Supreme Court. For me, as a woman, this is deeply emotional. — Maria Shriver (@mariashriver) January 20, 2021 “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning“ Psalms 30:5Tears of joy and prayers for our nation and the entire world ❤️#BidenHarrisInauguration — Mariah Carey (@MariahCarey) January 20, 2021 Read original story Hollywood Celebrates Inauguration With Joy and Relief: ‘We Did It. In So Many Ways’ At TheWrap
KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 21 — The current movement control order (MCO) can work to contain Malaysia’s runaway Covid-19 infections, health experts said when stressing that weak compliance could put this...
'I'm under no illusions about how much I have learned from Annemiek'
The American criterium racer signs with Red Bull, earning the opportunity to wear a rare yet iconic helmet
Napoli, who beat Juventus in the final to win last season's Coppa Italia, came close to taking the lead midway through the first half, but Hirving Lozano's bullet header was brilliantly saved by Juve goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny. Substitute Federico Bernardeschi almost made an immediate impact early in the second half but was denied by David Ospina in the Napoli goal, before Ronaldo pounced from close range in the 64th minute.
Here’s everything you need to know how to grow these delicious fruits in your own garden including how and when to plant seeds.
Data show investors gain more in the first 100 days of Democratic first-time presidents compared to Republicans.
People gathered near a road in Bibaj, Kosovo, named for Beau Biden, the late son of US President Joe Biden, on the morning of January 20 to celebrate Biden’s inauguration.The Joseph R. “Beau” Biden III National Road was named for the former Delaware attorney general in August 2016, in thanks for his work training prosecutors and judges for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) during Kosovo’s postwar period. Beau Biden died of brain cancer in May 2015, aged 46.The event in Bibaj was attended by American members of the Kosovo Force (KFOR), the NATO-led international peacekeeping force established in Kosovo in 1999, as well as police and public figures, according to local press reports.Acting President of Kosovo Vjosa Osmani congratulated Biden and Kamala Harris on Twitter, calling the inauguration “a special day for the United States and an important one for the world.”In 2016, Joe Biden, then vice president, spoke at the highway’s dedication ceremony at Camp Bondsteel, a US Army base next to the road. In that speech, he expressed pride over his son’s work and thanked the Kosovo government for bestowing the honor. “We are extremely, extremely, extremely grateful and we’re humbled beyond words,” Biden told the audience. Credit: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty via Storyful
Red itchy eyes, a runny nose, and sneezing are just the beginning.
You've probably been saying it your whole life without knowing its origins.