Entertainment
Shakira’s Colombian home city unveils statue in her honor
Colombian superstar Shakira’s Caribbean home city of Barranquilla unveiled a 6.5-meter (21.3-foot) hip-swaying statue in her honor on Tuesday.
The towering bronze and aluminum creation depicts the singer in a bikini top, bare middle and a long, flowing skirt, her hands clasped over her head and one hip jutting out in one of her characteristic dance moves.
“Hips that do not lie, a unique talent, a voice that moves masses,” reads the inscription at the base of the sculpture unveiled on the banks of the Magdalena River at a ceremony attended by Shakira’s parents William Mebarak and Nidia Ripoll.
“Hips don’t lie” is the title of one of 46-year-old Shakira’s award-winning songs.
On the platform X, the singer thanked sculptor Yino Marquez and his art student collaborators for “this example of the enormous artistic talent of the people of my country.”
Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll, an icon of Latina girl power, has sold some 80 million albums worldwide and won three Grammy awards.
She has recently been in the news for completely different reasons, investigated over unpaid taxes in Spain and paying millions of euros in settlements.
In 2021, Shakira was named in the “Pandora Papers” leaks, which revealed the wealth and tax avoidance strategies of the global elite.
She has since released a new hit song with Argentine DJ Bizarrap that has been viewed more than 666 million times on YouTube and won 2023 song of the year at the Latin Grammy Awards.
Entertainment
Why TV Makers Switched To OLED Panels
One of the biggest reasons manufacturers moved to OLED production was the panel’s ability to use individually self-emissive pixels instead of an LCD panel with LED backlighting.
• Story and image credit: BGR.com
If you’re looking for a TV that delivers rich colors and the kind of black levels that put actual movie theaters to shame, you should consider an OLED TV.
The acronym stands for “organic light-emitting diode,” a panel type that signaled a major shift in display technology for TV makers.
One of the biggest reasons manufacturers moved to OLED production was the panel’s ability to use individually self-emissive pixels instead of an LCD panel with LED backlighting.
The result was something LCD panels struggled with at the time: unbeatable black levels, near-perfect contrast, and a thinner chassis.
While early OLED TVs carried eye-watering price tags (one of LG’s first sets was nearly $10,000), growing competition and expanded panel production helped bring costs down, solidifying OLED’s role as a go-to choice for premium televisions.
Nowadays, brands like LG and Samsung — two of the most reliable smart TV brands on the market — produce industry-lauded OLED TVs at multiple price.
Generally speaking, OLED TVs are more expensive to produce than LED LCDs, and that usually translates to the former being priced a bit higher in stores and online.
And while LED LCD technology has continued to get brighter, thinner, and more affordable with each new generation, issues like light bloom, flat contrast, and poor image quality when viewed from the sides have remained.
These are all picture maladies that pretty much don’t exist for OLED owners because of how much lighting and color control those self-emissive pixels deliver.
The Samsung S95F OLED is one of the best TVs to buy on Amazon, according to experts, and part of what makes its picture so great is quantum dot technology.
Interestingly, quantum dots were originally an LCD feature that emerged in response to OLED TV production.
LED sets needed a way to compete with the rich colors and superior viewing angles that OLEDs introduced, and a layer of quantum dots was the answer.
By refining how light is converted into pure red and green wavelengths, quantum dots allowed LCD TVs to deliver wider color gamuts and higher peak brightness levels, without abandoning LED backlighting.
This also led to a new picture tech acronym: quantum dot-light-emitting diode, or QLED.
Brands like Samsung later adapted this same technology for OLED panels, combining a blue OLED light source with a quantum dot layer to create QD-OLED.
The hybrid approach preserves OLED’s near-perfect contrast and black levels, while boosting color volume and brightness, helping models like the S95F deliver a more vibrant, HDR-friendly picture than earlier OLED generations.
Entertainment
Is Wizkid Bigger Than Fela? What’s your take?
Seun Kuti had warned against comparing modern artists to his father, saying it was disrespectful and an attempt to “steal the man’s image
Photo collage of Seun , Fela and WizKid?
Grammy winner Wizkid has finally broken silence after days of criticism from Seun Kuti, who accused Wizkid’s fans of disrespecting his father, legendary Fela Kuti.
The dispute ignited last week after Seun, publicly accused his colleague’s fanbase, known as Wizkid FC, of disrespecting his late father’s legacy by drawing comparisons between Fela and the Grammy winner.
In a response shared on Instagram, Wizkid posted a video of a woman defending him, saying he’s done more to promote Fela Kuti’s work to a new generation.
Wizkid added: “Fela fight for freedom this Dey fight fc!! I big pass your papa, wetin you wan do? @bigbirdkuti I’m Big Wiz everyday bigger than your papa!! Wetin u one do”
Seun Kuti had warned against comparing modern artists to his father, saying it was disrespectful and an attempt to “steal the man’s image”.
Entertainment
Valentino Garavani, Italy’s fashion king, dies at 93
Best known as just Valentino, the designer’s creations — many of them in “Valentino red” — were worn by the who’s who of the international elite, from Elizabeth Taylor, Audrey Hepburn and Nancy Reagan to Sharon Stone, Julia Roberts and Gwyneth Paltrow in recent years.
•Valentino Garavani / Getty image
Valentino Garavani, Italy’s fashion king has died at his home in Rome. He was 93.
Valentino launched his label in 1960 and found worldwide fame dressing European royals, American first ladies, and stars of the day.
“Valentino Garavani passed away today at his Roman residence, surrounded by his loved ones,” wrote his Rome-based foundation on social media.
A funeral is planned for Friday in the Italian capital, with a lying in state on Wednesday and Thursday.
Best known as just Valentino, the designer’s creations — many of them in “Valentino red” — were worn by the who’s who of the international elite, from Elizabeth Taylor, Audrey Hepburn and Nancy Reagan to Sharon Stone, Julia Roberts and Gwyneth Paltrow in recent years.
When the empress of Iran, Farah Pahlavi, escaped the country during the 1979 revolution, she was wearing a coat made by Valentino.
Dubbed “the Sheik of Chic” by Women’s Wear Daily in the 1980s, Valentino was celebrated by the New York Times in 1997 for his “single-minded dedication to glamour.”
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