"Public interest in the face of alleged deaths of high-profile inmates due to COVID-19, necessitates disclosure of relevant information about their deaths—both in the interest of justice, as well as in crafting sensible ways forward in preventing further deaths in prisons and detention facilities," the commission said.
“folklore” the eighth record by Taylor Swift. Image: Republic Records via AP
In the years since Taylor Swift released her killer pop album “1989” in 2014, the singer has amped the production of her music, adding sounds including electronica, synth pop, R&B, dubstep, dance and even trap to her songs. Not everyone was ready for the rap style of “…Ready for It?” though it worked.
But while pop star Taylor, with all the bops and beats, is enjoyable and entertaining, her new singer-songwriter album is a welcomed return. In a time of madness, “folklore” feels like a moment to escape.
Her eighth record has a calmness and coolness reminiscent of the 2008 masterpiece “Fearless” and 2010’s charming “Speak Now”, as poetic lines about life are brought to life thanks to Swift’s sharp songwriting, with the light but piercing production doing its job by lifting the lyrics.
Swift is a grand storyteller, and “folklore” explores a lot. On some songs, she’s singing about life before she moved to Nashville as a teen to embark on her musical career. On other tracks, she’s telling the stories of others — doing it so well and vividly that you can paint the picture as the tracks play.
Frequent collaborator and one of contemporary music’s best producers, Jack Antonoff, assists on most of the album, while The National’s Aaron Dessner should be saluted for his massive contributions to the project. And epic vocals from Bon Iver match well with Swift’s soft tone on “exile”.
The 16 tracks weave into each other nicely, blending to make this folk-pop-country-Americana-guitar rock-singer-songwriter album work. Whatever the genre, “folklore” is first-class. CL
Mika Salamanca. Image: screengrab from Mika Salamanca’s YouTube channel
HONOLULU — Investigators with the Hawaii attorney general’s office arrested a 20-year-old woman after seeing videos of her dancing in a store and dining out when she was supposed to be obeying a traveler quarantine the state mandated to protect against the spread of the coronavirus.
Anne Salamanca arrived in Honolulu on July 6 and four days later, the Hawaii Tourism Authority learned she was out in public, in violation of the 14-day quarantine, the state said in a news release Friday.
The tourism authority informed attorney general special agents, who were shown videos of her dancing and dining.
The state’s news release said Salamanca is from Birmingham, Alabama. She’s also a “social media influencer” in the Philippines who goes by Mika Salamanca and arrived from Manila, KITV reported.
The Honolulu news station reported she apologized on social media, but she claimed law enforcement came to the house where she’s staying and told her if she had a negative COVID-19 test, she could go out.
“None of my investigators would convey that information, as it is incorrect,” Hawaii Attorney General Clare Connors said. “The fact Ms. Salamanca has so many followers makes her actions that much more dangerous and concerning. The spread of misinformation can have very severe consequences during an emergency situation like we are in now.”
Salamanca was arrested and released on $2,000 bail (over P98,600). She declined KITV’s request for comment.
The Associated Press couldn’t immediately reach her Friday. It wasn’t clear if she has an attorney. CL
Mel Gibson arrives at the 89th Academy Awards Nominees Luncheon in Beverly Hills, Calif. on Feb. 6, 2017. Image: AP/Jordan Strauss/Invision
LOS ANGELES — Mel Gibson spent a week in a Los Angeles hospital in April after testing positive for COVID-19, his representative said Friday.
The 64-year-old actor and director has completely recovered and is doing “great” according to the rep. He also said Gibson has tested negative “numerous times” since then.
Gibson is the latest in a long string of high profile figures to go public with coronavirus diagnoses and recoveries including Tom Hanks, Rita Wilson, George Stephanopoulos and the singer Pink.
For most people, the new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and those with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness and even be fatal.
The U.S. has more than 4 million known cases of the coronavirus, with more than 140,000 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. CL
Uncle Roger (left) with BBC’s Hersha Patel (Image: Twitter/@hershapatel1)
Malaysian comedian Nigel Ng, who goes by Uncle Roger, has finally met with award-winning presenter and filmmaker, BBC Food host Hersha Patel, whose egg fried rice cooking session went viral for quite unfortunate reasons.
“Big development: uncle roger is now making a collab with egg fried rice lady@hershapatel1,” the comedian said in his retweet of Patel’s post earlier today, July 25.
“To all my new friends/haters@MrNigelNgand I have just had a lovely afternoon discussing my ‘crimes’ against rice… watch this space.. collab coming soon, give me a follow!#riceislife#uncleroger,” Patel, meanwhile, said in her tweet.
In the video, Uncle Roger revealed to fans that he just had dinner with Patel and asked netizens to stop bullying the cook.
“Hersha’s really good, she’s a great presenter, really funny, but don’t post anything mean on Instagram alright. Otherwise, Uncle Roger will come for you,” he said.
“Because whilst this guy’s blown up, like nobody’s business, I’ve been trolled!” Patel, meanwhile, stressed.
She then clarified, “Okay, I’ll just make a quick point. I was doing a job for the BBC, presenting their recipes. I know how to cook rice! And that’s all I’m saying about that.”
The two then told fans to wait for another cooking video, in which the two would collaborate for another rice-cooking session—only this time, Patel promised to show how she actually cooked proper rice.
Uncle Roger’s hilarious video reaction on how the BBC host cooks rice took the internet by storm as Asians all over the world relate to the comedian’s woes, all dying a little bit inside.
The comedian can be seen letting out his frustrations at Patel’s blunders, which include not washing the rice before cooking, using a teacup to measure her water-to-rice ratio (which actually rendered her rice soupy) and draining rice after cooking.
“Drai- what’s she doing?! Drain the ri- oh my God!” the comedian blurts out as Patel drains the wet, cooked rice through a colander. “You killing me, woman!”
Perhaps what triggered Uncle Roger the most, however, was when Patel instructed fans to wash the cooked rice by putting it under running tap water.
“What the- what the hell?! What the hell?!” the comedian yells. “Why you running water through rice?! You’re ruining the rice! First, you use colander to dry the rice and then you put water. Then why bother drying the rice.”
“Who cook rice like this? How did this woman get on BBC food?! They never asked Uncle Roger. Uncle Roger teach master class on making rice,” he jested.
Uncle Roger’s video, which was originally uploaded on his YouTube channel on July 8, now has over 2 million views on the platform while boasting around 8.7 million views on Twitter. /ra
Lara Quigaman (Image: screengrab from YouTube/The Alcaraz Family)
Actress and beauty queen Lara Quigaman is one glowing mom during her “dream” maternity shoot for her third baby.
After having two sons, and another child on the way, Quigaman and her husband, actor Marco Alcaraz, said that baby No. 3 will be their last, as per their YouTube channel The Alcaraz Family last Wednesday, July 22.
“As this will be our last pregnancy (Lord willing), we wanted to celebrate it and remember it by having this [photoshoot],” the couple said.
The actors showed the behind-the-scene footages of Quigaman’s photoshoot in Concept Room Studio in Pasig City. The shoot included three gorgeous gown changes for Quigaman for three different layouts, one of which featured Quigaman and Alcaraz in a dreamy floral forest.
Quigaman finally showed some of the final products of the shoot on her Instagram account yesterday, July 24.
The actress was all smiles as she donned a gold robe while caressing her baby bump. Quigaman added that she was in her 30th week of pregnancy.
