The accession process is expected to be formally discussed by EU leaders in December
The European Union’s executive branch, the European Commission, is expected to shortly recommend that formal talks begin to start the process of Ukraine’s accession to membership of the bloc, Bloomberg reported on Friday, citing anonymous sources with knowledge of the situation.
The commission could launch what would likely be a multi-year process next month, Bloomberg wrote, with European leaders expected to insist on progress being made in key ar...moreeas, such as rooting out corruption, as initial steps in the process. The publication adds that the development will be viewed by Kiev as a boost and a counterbalance to reports of flagging enthusiasm for the continuance of Western support for its war effort.
Upon the formalization of the commission’s recommendation, EU lawmakers would have to greenlight the move – after which Ukraine would be required to adapt to European Union legislation on matters such as the rule of law and its economy. The state maintains it has overseen reforms in its judiciary and in the media sector.
The commission’s recommendation will be formally discussed in December, Bloomberg said, though the unknown stances of some member states, including that of Hungary, could pose a problem.
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EU candidate questions bloc’s pro-Ukraine favoritism
At a summit in Spain next month various EU leaders will discuss enlargement of the bloc, including how to adapt to prospective new members like Western Balkan countries and Moldova, as well as Ukraine.
As part of her 2023 State of the Union speech earlier this month, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said that new EU members would “give us the geopolitical weight and capacity to act.” She said that the bloc, which currently has 27 members, could soon have more than 30 – and that the “next enlargement must also be a catalyst for progress.”
Von der Leyen added: “We have seen the great strides Ukraine has already made since we granted them candidate status” in July 2022.
Bloomberg also reported, however, that its sources warned that a failure to commence Ukraine’s EU integration talks would be politically inconvenient for the commission and might be viewed as the bloc not backing Kiev’s labored counteroffensive efforts.
Another factor Bloomberg cited, according to an anonymous EU diplomat, will be the need to balance Ukraine’s desire to join the EU with Western Balkan countries who wish to do the same, and to display that favoritism isn’t being shown to Kiev during the process....
The Indian American assimilation experience finds its voice and its bite. Writer-director Bishal Dutta delivers a terrifying and thought-provoking debut. Review.Horror wears a terrifying new face in It Lives Inside, the first feature from writer-director Bishal Dutta, as well as (as the poster and trailers will emphatically tell you) several of the producers of Get Out. Taking the extremely familiar formula of a group of teenagers being stalked by a sadistic supernatural force, Dutta breathes new life into this concept by Babadooking it up. Instead of grief being manifested into a monster, an ...moreIndian American teenager’s assimilation spawns a new horror icon in the making.This isn’t to say that It Lives Inside is a bloodless "elevated horror" exercise, where its metaphors overtake the scary stuff. The monster might be symbolic, but its teeth sure aren't. The bold debut is closer in execution to Wes Craven’s original Nightmare on Elm Street than it is to Darren Aronofsky’s mother! (For the record, both great films —just very different in how they approach their subjects.) Dutta keeps his movie resoundingly accessible, putting a relatable coming-of-age story at its heart — only to then gnaw at that pumping organ with a big gnarly set of chompers every chance he gets.What is It Lives Inside about?
Credit: Neon
Samidha (Megan Suri from Never Have I Ever) is a second-generation American, born of Indian immigrants, who live in the sort of small suburban town you’ll recognize from nearly any early Spielberg movie. Going by Sam, she finds herself straddling two worlds: Her mother Poorna (Neeru Bajwa) is resentful, watching her daughter assimilate away from their Indian heritage, while her recently acquired popular (white) friends treat Sam’s ability to speak Hindi as a parlor trick. And for every boy who bats his pretty eyelashes in sympathy – in this case, he’s named Russ (Gage Marsh), and his eyelashes are very pretty indeed – there’s an ex-friend who’s not quite so understanding. Specifically, Sam’s former bestie Tamira (Mohana Krishnan) quickly comes to represent all of the othering from which Sam is running. Tamira, also Indian American, is an outcast. And the sting of that has only gotten worse since Sam started ignoring her. It certainly doesn’t help that Tamira is suddenly carrying a blackened mason jar everywhere, treating it like an infant even though it looks more like an explosive device.So when Sam, in a Carrie-like act of betrayal in the girl’s locker room, severs the cord between herself and Tamira for good, the evil nipping at It Lives Inside’s edges finally explodes. Enter the Pishach, a Hindu devourer of souls and flesh that finds its way into our world on waves of bad mojo. And these assimilating Indian American kids – awash in the terrible twosome of guilt over turning their backs on their heritage – turn out to be the perfect feast for this beast. It Lives Inside proves there’s nothing more dangerous than a teenager trying to fit in.
Credit: Neon
The horror kicks into high, horrible gear once Sam pushes herself too far in fitting in, and Dutta proves to have some mad skills in delivering that horror. In theory, there’s nothing too groundbreaking here. A shadowy figure hiding in a closet is not exactly re...
Trial by media and public opinion leaves no room for the accused to defend himself – and that’s the whole idea
Last week, the controversial comedian and movie star Russell Brand became the latest high-profile target of the #MeToo movement.
This should not come as a complete surprise, given his celebrity status and sordid history of self-confessed promiscuity. Brand has been a potential target in waiting for some years – and it was probably just a matter of time before the movement zeroed in on him.
The attack on Brand followed the well-re...morehearsed, standard #MeToo modus operandi. A number of anonymous women, none of whom could ever hope to attain the celebrity status of their male target, have accused Brand of various kinds of sexual misconduct – including, most seriously, rape.
These alleged acts occurred some years ago, and none were reported to the police at the time they supposedly occurred. Nor have these acts been reported to the police even now.
Making a formal complaint to the police would, of course, involve the police independently investigating the allegations – at least to the extent that the British police are capable of impartially investigating allegations of this kind.
The ideological predisposition of the police in respect of such matters can perhaps be gauged from the statement issued by them after the media storm against Brand broke last week – the police immediately urged any victims of Brand’s sexual indiscretions to contact them and make complaints against him.
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Tara Reade: Russell Brand rape allegations are the return of the MeToo political zombie
It is unlikely that the women who have targeted Brand will make formal complaints to the police at this stage – that usually occurs long after the media campaign against the target has destroyed his reputation and career, and seriously prejudiced the likelihood of a fair trial occurring.
#MeToo complainants tend to avoid the courts if they can – because the law is based upon notions such as the presumption of innocence and the right to a fair trial. The law also requires complainants to justify their allegations by means of credible evidence; and subjects them to cross-examination.
Such notions and practices are completely foreign to the persecutory #MeToo modus operandi. More to the point, they afford the accused a degree of protection that, in some cases, may even enable them to escape the destructive rage of the movement altogether. Complainants prefer trial by an ideologically compliant media, as Brand is now discovering to his cost.
No one, of course, has any idea whether the allegations made against Brand are true or not. Brand has denied them – and his accusers have, in typical #MeToo fashion, criticised his response as “insulting.”
This denial of the right to defend oneself follows logically from the fundamental assumption that all complainants tell the truth and all targets are liars – an assumption, incidentally, that the courts regularly demonstrate to be false.
The allegations against Brand, as in all #MeToo cases, are a curious amalgam of the serious (rape) and the trivial (asking one girlfriend to read Vladimir Nabokov’s novel ‘Lolita’). Ultimately, whether they are actually proved true or not will be a matter for the courts – if, indeed, the allegations made against Brand ever get before a cou...
Grand Admiral Thrawn is one of the biggest villains in the Star Wars galaxy. Was his introduction in 'Ahsoka' on Disney+ squandered?So Grand Admiral Thrawn of the Imperial Navy (Lars Mikkelsen) has finally arrived in Star Wars live action, in all his red-eyed, blue-skinned glory, 11 years after fans were first clamoring for him. But was he worth that wait? And can his late arrival in Ahsoka, five-and-a-half episodes into an eight-episode Disney+ series, save that show from a storytelling disease that's been afflicting much of Star Wars TV lately? In case you've been living under an a...moresteroid since the original trilogy, Thrawn is one of the most highly regarded bad guys in all of Star Wars canon. Witty, urbane, and very interested in the artwork of any species he's fighting, Thrawn has none of the Dark side Force power of Darth Vader or the Emperor. Those more famous villains are blunt instruments, albeit extremely watchable ones; Thrawn is more of a Moriarty. A smart villain you love to love, one who's always steps ahead of our heroes and keeps the plot cooking. But, y'know, only if we're shown rather than told. A brief history of ThrawnGrand Admiral Thrawn is literally responsible for reviving Star Wars, at least once. He's the center of Heir to the Empire by Timothy Zahn, a bestselling May 1991 novel that ended what old school fans still call the Dark Times. Returning to the galaxy far, far away five years after the rebellion appeared to win conclusively in Return of the Jedi, here was a commander of an Imperial remnant outwitting the New Republic at every turn.
SEE ALSO:
'Ahsoka' review: Does the Star Wars fan favorite get the show she deserves?
Zahn disliked the unlimited "superhero-like" Force power of the Jedi and issued Thrawn with a creature that could neutralize them by projecting a Force-free bubble. In storytelling terms, it worked like crazy; Zahn penned a whole Thrawn trilogy before killing off his Moriarty at the hands of his own bodyguard. Still, Thrawn was remembered as a high point of the so-called Expanded Universe of Star Wars written content. In 2012, when Lucasfilm announced the Star Wars sequel trilogy — and subsequently, its sale to Disney — the Grand Admiral was a fan favorite choice for its villain. When I wrote a Mashable story on the sale, one that gave birth to my book How Star Wars Conquered the Universe, readers filled the comments with his name, usually followed by a number of exclamation points.
Credit: Penguin Random House
Instead, in 2014, Lucasfilm announced that Thrawn had never existed. The Heir to the Empire trilogy was now part of Legends, a new name for the increasingly messy canon of post-Jedi storytelling that had to be cleared away to give Episode VII, The Force Awakens, room to surprise us. When I went on a book tour with Zahn in late 2015, he seemed sanguine about this development — and kept close to his chest the fact that he was writing a new Thrawn trilogy, one that would write the wily leader's story anew and tie him into the Dave Filoni animated series Rebels. Thrawn finally showed up on our screens in 2016, voiced by Mikkelsen in Rebels season 3, quickly becoming the center of Imperial gravity on the planet Lothal. He carried from the Legends books his interests in philosophy and art, becoming a foil for our band of rebel heroes (including the artist and Mandalorian Sabine Wre...
"No One Will Save You" review: Writer/director Brian Duffield's alien home invasion horror has a strong central performance from Kaitlyn Dever, and not a whole lot else.What makes horror scary, more often than not, is the unknown. What's making those floorboards creak? Why are the people in town acting so strange? Who, or what, is casting that shadow outside the window at night?These are all questions asked by writer/director Brian Duffield's latest horror/thriller No One Will Save You. The problem is, the answers are given up far too easily.
SEE ALSO:
10 of the be...morest horror movies on Hulu to freak you the hell out
What's No One Will Save You about?Brynn (Kaitlyn Dever) lives by herself in a creaky old country house on the edge of a small town. It's not clear where her family are, but what is clear is that she's a bit of an outcast. Brynn spends her time running errands, writing letters to someone called Maude, and hiding from people she sees in the street. Something is clearly going on with her, but before we have too much time to get invested in that the aliens have, quite literally, landed. From that point on any subtlety goes straight out the window.If you saw the trailer and are watching this one wishing to be scared, don't get your hopes up. The 93-minute plot mostly plays out like a long game of hide-and-seek, with Brynn running around her house and searching for weapons that might repel her unearthly foe. No matter how good an actor Dever is, though, it's difficult to share her fear. We already know what's coming for her.
Strange goings on.
Credit: Hulu
No One Will Save You reveals its monsters too early.It's fairly rare for a horror movie to show its antagonist(s) in full until the end. There's a reason for this. Once you've seen the face of the thing stalking the hero, some of its power is immediately taken away. The fear of seeing something awful is usually stronger than the fear you feel once you've seen it.This isn't a formula that's followed in No One Will Save You. We see the aliens chasing Brynn early on, and they look pretty much exactly like your stereotypical little green men (these aliens have their own quirks, sure, but it's not enough to make them feel fresh or particularly interesting).Remember how you only see quick flashes of the creatures in A Quiet Place? Or that brief, shaky footage of the alien in Signs? None of that subtlety is present in No One Will Save You.
Hide and seek, but make it boring.
Credit: Hulu
Are there any good points?Frustratingly, there are some hints of the film this might've been. The hook at the heart of the movie – an alien-style home invasion – is a good one, as is the mystery surrounding Brynn's past and the reason for her ostracisation. The direction is solid. Dever, who was excellent in Netflix's mini series Unbelievable, also does a great job of making a fairly threadbare character convincing.Unfortunately, it's not enough. No One Will Save You feels like an idea that's been awkwardly stretched into a feature length movie. The action is repetitive and unexciting, the plot is thin, and the ending — which shoots for the kind of horror-as-a-metaphor reveal found in films like Run Rabbit Run — is too predictable to be rewarding.How to watch: No One Will Save You is now streaming on Hulu....
A lot of people who think they don't have secondhand smoke exposure actually do, according to a new study that compared survey answers with blood tests.
Patagonia is known for its sustainable approach to outdoor wear — as well as its iconic sunset logo.
For those familiar with the label, its signature logo prominently features a sunset mountain range above white “Patagonia” lettering. The nature-inspired piece adds a graphic pop of color for the label, standing out compared to other brands that use single-color or image-less logos themselves.
Patagonia logo is seen on a sweater on Sept. 16, 2022. NurPhoto via Getty Images
Over the years, the mountain logo has become a true signifier of the outdoor brand, which champions s...moreustainability within its production cycles and mission. In fact, the label even respectively distributed all of its voting and nonvoting stock — after business reinvestments — between the Patagonia Purpose Trust and the Holdfast Collective, in order to fight the climate crisis, per a brand announcement, as previously reported in Footwear News.
However, Patagonia’s logo’s origin, exact shape and more are still unknown to many. Below, we broke down the background, collaborations and everything you need to know about Patagonia’s logo.
What is Patagonia’s brand logo?
Patagonia’s logo is a mountain skyline at sunset. The full logo, which is embroidered on the brand’s outerwear, vests and printed on T-shirts — among other pieces — features a horizontal rectangle of black mountains outlined in white against a blue and orange sky — complete with white “Patagonia” lettering.
Who made Patagonia’s logo?
Patagonia’s logo was created by the brand’s founder Yvon Chouinard, according to Brand The Change. In 1968, Chouinard went hiking with friends and climbed Mount Fitz Roy in Patagonia, Calif. The mountains against a sunset skyline directly inspired the Patagonia brand logo when the label was officially founded in 1973.
Where can I find Patagonia’s logo?
Patagonia’s logo can be found on the brand’s clothing, where it is often embroidered on hems or breast pockets. The signature symbol can also be seen on a range of additional pieces, including coats, jackets, T-shirts, pants, shorts, athleisure and more. In June 2023, Patagonia even settled a trademark infringement case with Gap, Inc. over a dispute regarding copied designs of its Snap-T pullover fleeces, as previously reported in FN.
Has Patagonia’s logo appeared in brand collaborations?
Patagnoia’s logo has not regularly appeared in the outdoor retailer’s brand collaborations over the years, except for cans of its Kernza Pils beer collaboration with Dogfish Head Ale. The brand does not partner regularly with other clothing or shoe labels, outside of a 2019 wading boot collaboration with Danner — in which its logo was absent.
Will Patagonia’s brand logo change?
At this time, Patagonia has not announced any plans to alter or change its brand logo.
About the Author:
Aaron Royce is the Digital Editor for Footwear News, where he writes stories on trending news, celebrity style, collaborations and in-depth profile interviews. Prior to joining Footwear News, Aaron wrote and interned for publications including PAPER, Grazia and the Daily Front Row. He currently holds a B.S. in mass communications from Virginia Commonwealth University....
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