Metropolitan Opera holds live snake auditions for Mozart’s ‘Così fan tutte’
NEW YORK (AP) — Pretty much everyone on stage at the Metropolitan Opera in New York must audition — even the snake who will briefly take center stage in an upcoming adaptation of a Mozart classic. In charge of deciding who gets the s-s-s-s-starring reptilian role is Zoe Ziegfeld, a carnival performer-turned-opera actor cast as […]
How the summer box office blew up and Hollywood got its mojo back
NEW YORK (AP) — Hollywood has just wrapped up its best summer in a decade and its biggest vibe shift since the pandemic. After years of new-normal ticket sales and regular spells of unease, the summer box office rallied to $4.61 billion in domestic ticket sales between May 1 and Aug. 31, according to Rentrak. […]
Author Wendell Berry’s legacy includes the spiritual seekers he inspired
For Kentucky author Wendell Berry, the environmental crisis he lamented to such great effect in his essays, poetry and fiction was also a human crisis — a deeply spiritual one. Berry, who died Monday at home at age 92, drew that connection in poignant writings across many decades. “Persons cannot be whole alone,” Berry wrote […]
Iconic bus from 1960s hippie movement returns to San Francisco for exhibit
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Ken Kesey’s school bus — once painted in bright, swirly colors and driven across the country on a psychedelic journey — is back in San Francisco after 60 years as the centerpiece of a new exhibition celebrating the legacy of the Grateful Dead, a band that rose from the city’s famed […]
Fall movie season is here. Let’s make some Oscar predictions
NEW YORK (AP) — Fall movie season also means Oscar season. It might be only just September, but the jockeying for next March’s Academy Awards is well underway. Movies first started revving up their Oscar campaigns at the Cannes Film Festival in May. But now that the fall festivals, in Venice, Telluride and soon Toronto, […]
Former Fox Sports analyst Mark Sanchez plans guilty plea stemming from Indianapolis fight
Former Fox Sports analyst Mark Sanchez plans to plead guilty to charges ahead of a trial stemming from an October 2025 fight with a truck driver outside an Indianapolis hotel, according to court records filed Thursday. The motion asks Marion County Superior Court to schedule a hearing for Sanchez to plead guilty and be sentenced. […]
Gloria Steinem’s AP profile from 1970: A journalist, an activist and a socialite
EDITOR’S NOTE: Gloria Steinem, who died Wednesday, was a freelance journalist who had not yet founded Ms. Magazine when she invited The Associated Press into her apartment for a feature on a life that found her equally comfortable at high-society dinners and in tenement halls. The April 5, 1970, feature written by then-AP writer Lynn […]
‘By Any Means’ review: Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Mark Wahlberg team up
Hollywood has given us some classic mismatched buddy cop movies, like Nick Nolte and Eddie Murphy in “48 Hrs.,” Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker in “Rush Hour” and perhaps the most iconic pair — Mel Gibson and Danny Glover in “Lethal Weapon.” Now, make room for Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Mark Wahlberg. The latest duo […]
Quotes from Gloria Steinem, feminist icon, on women’s rights, abortion and the B-word
In interviews and emails, Gloria Steinem shared with Associated Press reporters over the years her thoughts on social changes she had witnessed as a leading voice for women, the importance of abortion rights and the correct way to respond when called the B-word. The author and feminist icon was typically blunt, but her quotes were […]
Hillary Clinton and others pay tribute to Gloria Steinem, who has died at 92
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, first lady Jill Biden and a slew of writers and social justice activists are lauding Gloria Steinem as a revolutionary and inspiring figure. The celebrated author and activist, who became one of the most visible symbols and potent voices of the U.S. women’s movement, died Wednesday at her home […]