List of All Articles with Tag 'showbiz'

Taylor Swift has reportedly dished out over $5 million in bonuses to truckers who helped out on her Eras tour. The 50 drivers transport all of her staging from venue-to-venue across the US, and each apparently got a cool $100,000 gift from the singer. While she's been on tour since March, she still has a further 60 shows starting in February 2024, taking her across the globe. Other workers including engineers, caterers, and dancers also received a bonus, but it's not known how much. Sign up to our new free Indy100 weekly newsletter

Taylor Swift is playing her last US shows on her Eras Tour in LA this month and as you can imagine there is an unprecedented demand for tickets. For those who missed out during the chaotic Ticketmaster US ticket sales back in January, fans remain determined to hear the popstar's biggest hits and are attempting to bag last-minute tickets for the sold-out shows at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood. Originally, face-value tickets sold for $49 to $449, but according to the LA Times, tickets for the first show were on sale from $800 to a whopping $11,000 each on StubHub. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter As the first show is due to take place tomorrow (August 3), tickets are continuing to rocket in price with the most expensive listing currently being priced at $25,677 for floor seats while a Level 1 suite is $102,070. Swifties have since been taking to social media to share their tips on how to secure face-value tickets on Ticketmaster which occasionally releases tickets last minute. @joecurtains how to get eras tour tickets day of for face value on ticketmaster: aka what I did to score floor seats only 2 hours before the show started. hoping this finds the right audience so fans can get in and beat the scalpers #taylorswift #erastour #swifttok #taylorsversion #tserastour #tickets #ticketmaster #erastourphilly #guide #howto #fyp #fypシ @Taylor Swift So who's in charge of the ticket prices? Well, there are a number of different factors at play. Promotors are the ones who officially set the prices and get money from ticket sales, but given it's Taylor Swift we're talking about she would also have a hand in choosing the venues and informing the promotor where to set prices. Venues charge a facility fee for hosting the concert and are paid by the promoters for this role, some venues have exclusive deals with certain promoters while others do not. And then there are the ticket companies like Ticketmaster who sell tickets with dynamic pricing where the price of a ticket changes according to demand - a move that has received criticism (though artists can opt out of this, as Swift did). On top of this, there is also the service fee for buying the ticket online, a processing fee that "covers miscellaneous expenses associated with online ticketing", and a facility charge for the venue to host the shows. According to Ticketmaster, input is given by the artist on the service fee and facility charge. Finally, there are the resellers who purchase tickets with no intention to attend the show but rather buy tickets to turn a profit by making listings on marketplaces like StubHub and SeatGeek. Prices can shoot up as there are no limits as to what the seller can charge. “This is a truly market-driven platform,” StubHub spokesperson Jessica Finn told LA Times. “So this is really about what sellers think that the price, the value of the ticket is, and what buyers think the value of the ticket is, and they effectively agree on it with a purchase... It’s very much a dynamic marketplace, prices go up and down and we don’t meddle with that.” A team of people or software bots can be used by the reseller to nab batches of tickets - hence why Swift decided for her UK tour to do album order presales, get fans to sign up for the general sale, and have staggered ticket sales throughout the day to try and stop bots and resellers. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

Oppenheimer is proving to be a smash, with searches for the film soaring by 1,176 per cent in the last month alone. That said, there's one scene in particular that has caught the attention of Dutch viewers for all of the wrong reasons. From TikTok to Reddit, a spike in Google searches and language learning experts at Preply calling it out, the 'Oppenheimer Dutch mistake' certainly hasn't gone unnoticed. The real-life J. Robert Oppenheimer was an American of German-Jewish descent. As a physicist, he lectured in Leiden for a bit in 1928, speaking in the Dutch language despite not being a native speaker. Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Oppenheimer, the movie, touches on his lecturing days and features the scene of actor Cillian Murphy speaking the Dutch language. Murphy did not learn the Dutch language, but instead asked Hoyte van Hoytema, the director of photography, to speak the sentences so he could replay them and slow them down for clarity, learning the scene phonetically. This has come with a lot of praise, but for Dutch speakers, it seems that many don’t even recognise their own language, with many questioning whether some of the speech was even in German. One Reddit user responded to watching the film with: “I could swear he was speaking in German, not Dutch. It certainly didn't sound like Dutch and I am a native speaker of that language… anyway this caused a huge laugh here in the cinema in Amsterdam where I just watched it.” “In Oppenheimer, Oppenheimer is said to speak Dutch, as a Dutch person I can confirm this was a lie” said another Reddit user. A third Reddit user added: “Was a bold decision to not subtitle the Dutch part in Dutch. As a Dutch person who speaks Dutch, this wasn't the best Dutch that has been spoken.” Preply spoke to a few native Dutch speakers who had recently watched the film, with one saying he “thought it was a mixture between ‘Limburgs’ (a Dutch dialect) and German” and another saying “I thought they made a mistake in the film when they said Dutch, thinking they meant ‘Deutsch’ as the speech sounded German”. Sylvia Johnson, Head of Methodology at the learning language marketplace Preply, said: “Films can be an excellent resource for learning. You can use subtitles to expand your vocabulary and hear the correct pronunciation. Even when hearing language that is not grammatically correct, you can put your skills to the test by identifying mistakes and correcting them! “Working on your pronunciation allows for smoother communication. However, mispronunciation is not necessarily a blocker for understanding. In today's world communication often takes place between non-native speakers. She continued: "Even with mispronounced words, listeners can often rely on the context of the conversation to grasp the intended meaning. The surrounding words and the overall message can provide crucial hints to fill in the gaps caused by mispronunciation.” Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

Throwing bras at Drake during his concerts has become quite the trend, and it's quickly become a competition of who can shock the rapper the most with their size. Drake was left stunned initially when a 46G bra had him 'f***** up', but it was quickly topped in New York City, when a 36L bra landed at his feet. Left speechless, he had to count how many letters were in the alphabet until 'L', joking that the woman responsible needs to make herself known. Sign up to our new free Indy100 weekly newsletter

Ed Sheeran got a brutal grilling when he went to work on a Chicago hot dog truck that's known for their Karen's diner-inspired insults. The 32-year-old joined The Wieners Circle where he served up food to screaming fans who had been to his concert. “We’re gonna have Ed Sheeran here at the motherf****** Wiener’s Circle and I’m gonna teach that w***** how to make a f****** hot dog", one employee shouts. They then turn to the award-winning artist and insist: "Shut the f*** up and shove [a hotdog] up your a**". Sign up to our new free Indy100 weekly newsletter

With its eccentric jokes and bright pink scenery, Greta Gerwig’s Barbie movie was a breath of fresh air for many audiences – but it wasn’t always going to be that way. It has emerged that the director tried to get a “fart opera” scene into the film – but it didn’t make the final cut. Speaking to IndieWire, director Gerwig and the film’s editor Nick Houy said that across the three films they have collaborated on (Lady Bird, Little Women and Barbie) they have always tried to sneak in a fart joke. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Sadly for fans of toilet humour, none of the jokes have ever made it into the final versions of the films. Gerwig said: “We’ve always tried to get in a proper fart joke and we’ve never done it. We had like a fart opera in the middle [of Barbie]. I thought it was really funny. And that was not the consensus.” “It was in the wrong place, too,” Houy added. “We need to work it into a more significant narrative moment next time.” Neither said where the “fart opera” would have fit into the film. Houy said: “We were just, like, ‘Let’s put it in front of people and see how they react.’ Everyone’s different and every screening’s different and we’ve definitely learned, over the years, that you really have to let things have their fair chance and then act accordingly. Once you know it’s dead, you have got to get it out of there.” Barbie was one of the most hotly anticipated movies of recent times, starring Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling, Kate McKinnon, Michael Cera, Dua Lipa, Will Ferrell, America Ferrera, Emma Mackey, Hari Nef, Sharon Rooney and more. On its opening it didn’t disappoint, becoming the biggest first weekend for a film by a female director, grossing $162m over its first three days. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

An actor with dwarfism has hit out at the new film Wonka for casting Hugh Grant as an Oompa Loompa. George Coppen, 26, said the part should have been offered to an actor with the condition because there is already a shortage of appropriate roles for people with dwarfism. The upcoming movie will focus on the life of Willy Wonka, the mysterious character at the centre of the Roald Dahl novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, played by Timothee Chalamet. It features Grant as an Oompa Loompa trapped inside a jar. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter In previous versions of the story based on Roald Dahl's novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the characters were played by actors with dwarfism. Coppen, whose father played an Ewok in Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi, said: “A lot of actors [with dwarfism] feel like we are being pushed out of the industry we love. “A lot of people, myself included, argue that dwarfs should be offered everyday roles in dramas and soaps, but we aren’t getting offered those roles.” In the trailer, Grant’s character is seen saying: “I will have you know that I am a perfectly respectable size for an Oompa Loompa."Wonka replies: “An Oompa what now?” The Oompa Loopma says: “Allow me to refresh your memory.” “Oh, I don't think I want to hear that,” Wonka says. “Too late,” the Oompa Loompa answers. “I’ve started dancing now. Once we’ve started we can’t stop.” People commented on Grant’s role on Twitter. One person wrote: “Hugh Grant is definitely in his IDGAF [I don’t give a f***] era, every decision this man makes is insane and I love it.” Another wrote: “Thought another Wonka movie was unnecessary but now I'm sold, give me more Oompa Loompa Hugh Grant”. Wonka’s release date is 15 December 2023. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

The internet's iconic 'zombie kid' has reappeared 16 years on to help with the marketing for the new Ninja Turtles film - and it's sheer genius. Jonathan went viral after he was spotted wearing black and white face paint, and asked for his opinion on a water park. "I like turtles", he responds, with a completely straight face. And now, as an adult, he's back, but being asked for his thoughts on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem. "I like turtles", he replies. Never gets old. Sign up to our new free Indy100 weekly newsletter

The girl portraying Zayn Malik's love interest in his latest music video has shared the tale of how she went from 'fangirl' to manifesting her dream. Grace Dumdaw took to TikTok to share tweets of hers from 2014, where she joked she would 'kill her family to touch Zayn Malik', and has now been getting up-close-and-personal with the star in 'Love Like This'. Dumdaw has since appeared across Malik's social media channels, and can even be seen hugging the singer while riding on a motorbike with him in the video. Sign up to our new free Indy100 weekly newsletter

Experts are warning against the Barbie Feet TikTok trend and social media users attempt to recreate an iconic shot from the movie. Greta Gerwig’s Barbie film has smashed box offices since it was released on Friday 21 July, having the biggest debut in 2023 so far. For months, the fans’ anticipation has taken over social media and it shows no sign of slowing following the film's release. But, experts are warning against a “dangerous” recreation of a scene from the film that's been dubbed the Barbie Feet challenge. What is the Barbie Feet challenge? The challenge takes direct inspiration from the film and a particular scene that was included in the official teaser. It showed the film’s lead actor Margot Robbie stepping out of a pair of high heels. Her foot stayed in the same position, with the high arch that Barbie dolls are known to have. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Barbie - Main Trailer - Warner Bros. UK & Ireland www.youtube.com On TikTok, users have been doing their own attempts at the challenge, with the hashtag #BarbieFeet racking up almost 51 million views. @sophiawebster Hey Barbie ??? this Barbie only wears butterfly shoes ? #butterfly #barbie #heybarbie #hibarbie #barbiemovie #barbiefeet #barbieshoes #barbiedoll #dollshoes #dollfeetchallenge #barbieoutfit But, health experts have warned that the trend has the potential to be dangerous and have advised against doing it too much. Dr. Jodi R. Schoenhaus, DPM, RPhs, FACFAS, and a board-certified podiatrist at the Foot, Ankle & Leg Vein Center, told the New York Post: “Although the Barbie Arch makes a woman’s legs appear longer and toner, it is not without risk. If someone attempts the pose once or twice, they will likely be ok and produce a great TikTok video.” She continued: “However, if attempting the pose and stride over long periods, there are some risks involved. The ankle is unstable, which can lead to ligament sprains and injuries, commonly seen with high heel use.” @brialynnxoxox Barbie Girl? #barbie #barbiegirl #barbiefeet #barbiefeetchallenge #barbieshoes #pinkheels Schoenhaus also warned that prolonged positioning of the foot in the high arched-position can result in muscle and spine issues by putting strain on the lower back. Speaking about how the footage was filmed, Robbie told The Project that there was no CGI or special effects used. She explained: “There’s no special effects, you’d be amazed how few [special effects] there are in this film actually. We didn‘t do that many takes of it, a couple of takes and I kind of held on to a bar so I was sturdy when I stepped.” “We just put double-sided tape on the floor so that my shoes stayed still and I did have a pedicure that morning.” Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

Oppenheimer is currently dominating cinemas globally, but clocking in at two-and-a-half hours long, it begs the question for many: When is it time to pee? Well, one film fanatic has got us covered, giving a scene-by-scene breakdown of when it's worth sticking around in your seat. Mary Arndt revealed that as soon as the professor Oppenheimer used to work with appears at Los Alamos for the first time - get ready to run to the bathroom. "If you can keep your trip under like two minutes all you need to know is that Oppenheimer got his security clearance", she says. Sign up to our new free Indy100 weekly newsletter

Barbie director Greta Gerwig has responded to the torrent of hate that rightwingers in the US have directed at the film, saying it’s “an invitation for everybody to be part of the party”. Speaking to the New York Times, Gerwig was asked if she had anticipated the degree of woke-bashing that rightwing critics have engaged in since the film came out, with some calling it a “man-hating” movie. Gerwig said: “Certainly, there’s a lot of passion. My hope for the movie is that it’s an invitation for everybody to be part of the party and let go of the things that aren’t necessarily serving us as either women or men.” She added: “I hope that in all of that passion, if they see it or engage with it, it can give them some of the relief that it gave other people.” Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Barbie’s feminist themes have sparked rage from influencers like Ben Shapiro, who made a bizarre Youtube video last week in which he burned Barbie dolls. Ginger Luckey Gaetz, wife of Republican congressman Matt Gaetz, said the movie “neglects to address any notion of faith or family, and tries to normalise the idea that men and women can’t collaborate positively”. Gerwig also responded to criticism that Mattel, which owns the Barbie doll range and executive produced the movie, interfered in the production creatively, in a scene where a character described the dolls as “sexist and fascist”. She said: “It wasn’t like I ever got the full seal of approval from [Mattel], like, ‘We love it!’ I got a tentative, ‘Well, OK. I see that you are going to do this, so go ahead and we’ll see how it goes.’ “But that’s all you need, and I had faith once it was in there and they saw it that they would embrace it, not fight it. Maybe at the end of the day, my will to have it in was stronger than any other will to take it out.” The backlash has been strong, but the support has been stronger, with Barbie already breaking the record for the highest-ever opening weekend for a female director at $356m. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.