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‘Firebrand’ puts spotlight on Henry VIII’s sixth and final wife

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'Firebrand' puts spotlight on Henry VIII's sixth and final wife

 For Brazilian director Karim Ainouz the prospect of making a film about King Henry VIII’s court was particularly exciting, partly because it focuses on Catherine Parr, the wife who survived Henry.

Ainouz, who doesn’t have a special connection to England, said his aim was to bring Parr into the spotlight.

“The main reason is Catherine Parr and the fact that nothing had been made about her of relevance,” he told Reuters ahead of the premiere of “Firebrand” at the Cannes Film Festival. 

“I was very excited with the possibility of bringing her to the light and bringing it to a place of protagonism in history, which was always either given to Henry or to the women that were dead,” he said.

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“Firebrand,” which is competition for the Palme d’Or, stars Alicia Vikander as Catherine, Henry’s sixth and last wife as she navigates Tudor court politics towards the end of his life.

“The pain he was suffering was excruciating,” said Jude Law, who plays the king.

Law re-creates the physically imposing Henry, who at that time in his life was struggling with stiff, swollen legs, and a rotting wound. Law used weights to get Henry’s gait just right.

“How was he dealing with that? Probably through alcohol. So this drunkenness, there’s also this weight that he’s carrying because we know he was by that point grossly obese. All of that has an effect on physicality,” added Law.

Henry VIII, who ruled England from 1509 to 1547, famously divorced his first wife against her will, breaking with Rome and making himself the head of the Church of England.

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“Firebrand, at its heart, is about an abusive husband, said Law. “And that, sadly, is an international and universal story that people, I think recognise and the power and the skills this woman had to tiptoe around this powerful figure was remarkable.”

The film, which is based on the 2013 novel “Queen’s Gambit” by Elizabeth Fremantle, marks Ainouz’s first time competing for Cannes’ top prize and is his first English-language film.

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Batman wins EU trademark dispute with Italian designer

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Batman wins EU trademark dispute with Italian designer

Caped crusader Batman won a trademark fight with an Italian clothing retailer after Europe’s second-top court sided with an EU patent office, ruling that the Batman logo is distinctive enough to warrant its EU trademark.

Warner Bros Discovery’s DC Comics, which registered the Batman logo with the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) more than two decades ago, faced a challenge from Commerciale Italiana Srl in 2019.

The Italian company had asked EUIPO to annul the trademark for clothing and carnival items, saying that it lacked a distinctive character.

After EUIPO rejected its application, Commerciale Italiana Srl took its grievance to the Luxembourg-based General Court. Judges backed the EU trademark body.

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“The evidence submitted to the General Court is not sufficient to show that the EU trade mark representing a bat in an oval surround was devoid of distinctive character on the date of filing of the application for registration,” the Court ruled. “For the relevant public, that distinctiveness makes it possible to associate, according to EUIPO, the goods covered by the trade mark with DC Comics and to distinguish them from those of other undertakings.”

The Italian company can appeal to the EU Court of Justice, Europe’s highest, on points of law.

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Taylor Swift accidentally swallows a bug during Chicago show

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Taylor Swift accidentally swallows a bug during Chicago show

American singer Taylor Swift accidentally swallowed a bug during her concert.

During her Sunday night Eras Tour performance at Soldier Field Chicago, the Grammy-winner briefly paused for a mild coughing fit. “I swallowed a bug,” explained the singer as she turned away from the crowd to cough. “I’m so sorry. It’s totally fine. It’s just stupid.”

“That was delicious,” the singer joked, as the crowd erupted in laughter. She added, “Is there any chance none of you saw that?”

Swift was in the middle of introducing the newest member of her band, pianist Karina DePiano, when the offending bug flew into her mouth.

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“This is going to happen again tonight,” Swift warned the audience. “There’s so many bugs. There’s 1,000 of them.”

The Grammy winner then finished the introduction and segued into the Evermore era of the show. Later, she introduced DePiano properly, coughed a bit more, and moved on to singing “Tolerate It.”

At the risk of consuming more bugs, Swift has several stops ahead on her Eras tour — including newly added concerts in Mexico, Argentina and Brazil, where she’ll be joined by pop singer Sabrina Carpenter. In announcing those eight additional dates on Twitter, Swift promised “LOTS more international dates to come soon!”

As the name implies, Swift has divided The Eras Tour concert into sections paying tribute to every phase of her 17-year music career. The tour originally scheduled to end in August with the Los Angeles shows now allow the singer a few weeks off before continuing on to Latin America. The additional dates bring the Eras tour total concert count to 60, an especially impressive feat given the reported 3 hour length of her onstage performance.

While swatting flies onstage will certainly keep her busy, the “Mastermind” singer has more than just concerts on her summer agenda. Swift is fast approaching another album release, with her latest re-recording, Speak Now (Taylor’s Version), set to debut on July 7. Earlier this week, she revealed that Fall Out Boy and Paramore frontwoman Hayley Williams will be featured on two separate bonus tracks.

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Iftikhar Thakur got emotional talking about Madina

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Iftikhar Thakur got emotional talking about Madina

 Iftikhar Thakur is a famous Pakistani comedian and actor. He is considered one of the accomplished comedians of Pakistan. He has worked internationally as well.

Recently, he appeared in a podcast where he got emotional while talking about his visit to Madina. He said that he has been to more than forty countries but no place is like Madina.

He said, “my blood pressure was constantly getting low when I was visiting Baab Ul Salam. I was in shivers while visiting Roza E Rasool, it was a task for me to cross that place because of respect, it’s another feeling which I can’t explain. He started crying while sharing his experience of visiting Madina.

He further said that your life remains in peace till you are in Madina. 

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He got emotional on various occasions in the podcast while describing his experience in the holy city. The podcast host also started crying on his narration. Iftikhar Thakur said that he cried a lot seeing Bab Ul Bilal. 

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