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Dillon Gabriel is a finalist for the Maxwell and Davey O’Brien awards. The Oregon quarterback is one of three finalists for the Maxwell, presented to the player of the year in college football, and for the O’Brien, presented to the nation’s top quarterback. Javascript is required for you to be able to read premium content. Please enable it in your browser settings.Russian Strike Kills 10, Injures 20 In Southern Ukraine
Video Loading Video Unavailable Click to play Tap to play The video will auto-play soon 8 Cancel Play now Get the latest Belfast Live breaking news on WhatsApp Our community members are treated to special offers, promotions and adverts from us and our partners. You can check out at any time. More info Join us on WhatsApp The 14th of February is a day that many of us celebrate our love for our partners, but for ice skating legends Torvill and Dean, it is known as Bolero Day as it was the date in 1984 that they won gold in the Winter Olympics in Sarajevo. On the 40th anniversary of that moment, they announced that they would be retiring from performing next year and embarking on a tour celebrating their 50-year skating partnership and the iconic moments that have earned them the title of the world's greatest ice skating duo. Ahead of their tour coming to Belfast for three performances in April, the duo stopped by the SSE Arena to chat to Belfast Live and put our political reporter on thin ice - literally. " When you say 50 years, gosh, that's a long time, but also you go, that was 50 years, just like that," Christopher Dean said. " I think we're ready to do our last tour. I think whilst we can still feel fit and we can still skate in a way that we want to be able to see, I think this final tour is the right time for us." This isn't the first time that the skating duo have called it quits as back in 1998, the pair decided to hang up their skates and Christopher moved to the US and Jayne focused on her family. However, back in 2006, the pair reunited as Dancing on Ice hit our screens on ITV which would eventually lead them to perform once again. Our Political Reporter swapped Stormont for Ice Skates as he joined Torvill and Dean for an ice skating lesson (Image: Justin Kernoghan/Belfast Live) "In '98, we decided that that's when we were going to quietly retire, and we both had other things and so on," Jayne Torvill said. " But then we got this phone call asking if they thought we could teach celebrities to skate, and we said no, no, no. "When we first started the series, we were choreographing all the routines and then one of our producers said, Would you mind demonstrating some of the moves on camera? And we said, no, that's fine. They said, could you demonstrate them to the music? And we were like, well, that's like a routine. And she went, yeah. And so we ended up performing again, but once we started it, we just enjoyed it so much." Despite a few slips, James was just about still standing! (Image: Justin Kernoghan/Belfast Live) The pair told us that they credit the show for keeping them fit and said that their upcoming tour will be "nostalgic". " We're going to take everybody back to the beginning where we started, and then we're going to go through some of our iconic pieces up to today," Christopher added. " But we have 15 other world professional skaters that are going to be accompanying us and helping tell that story. " We've got big multimedia screens, really talented skaters, and so I think it's going to be an inspirational night and it's going to be a celebration at the same time." Torvill and Dean will be back on UTV every Sunday night in early 2025, as Head Judges on the 17th series of Dancing on Ice. but as for our political reporter, he is probably better suited to Strictly Come Dancing. Video by Harry Bateman/Belfast Live For all the latest news, visit the Belfast Live homepage here and sign up to our daily newsletter here. Story Saved You can find this story in My Bookmarks. Or by navigating to the user icon in the top right. Follow BelfastLive Facebook Twitter Comment More On Dancing on Ice Strictly Come Dancing ITV UTV SSE ArenaGlobal Payments (NYSE:GPN) Downgraded by StockNews.com to “Hold”
Warning: Massive Moana 2 spoilers ahead! Dana Ledoux Miller is booked and busy! The Moana 2 director and Moana live-action remake writer took the time to talk with BuzzFeed about behind-the-scenes moments in the recording booth, Pacific Islander representation, and Moana's new tattoo. But honestly, it turned into a beautiful chat between two Samoan women, and I left the interview feeling like we were old friends! 1. How does it feel to be the first Pacific Islander woman to direct not only a Disney film but any major motion picture? Especially now that Moana has broken so many records at the box office? Dana Ledoux Miller: It's a little surreal. I'm so grateful that the film is doing well and people are watching it, and that it's resonating with so many Pacific Islanders. But also, it's really exciting to me that I do get to stand in this place and just by being here, in this moment, show people what's possible. Show other Pacific Islander women, people across anywhere, that if — I mean honestly — if I can do it, you can do it, too. It's been a really special thing and a responsibility that I don't take lightly because nobody can say it hasn't been done before. That can't be an excuse as to why you don't hire a Pacific Islander woman to write and direct a studio film because it has been done before. So now, let's let somebody else do it, too. 2. Do you have a favorite behind-the-scenes moment from working with the actors in the recording booth for Moana 2 ? Working with Auli’i [Cravalho] and Dwayne [Johnson] was really special. I assume you never know what it's going to be like coming into a role that you've already played and coming back after eight years to jump into this. But I was so impressed by both of them, the way they were able to just find these characters again, but also find new depths to them. And Auli’i is just hilarious in the booth. She's so physical and so just on point. The first day I was in the recording session with her, we were talking outside, and then she walked in, and it was like, “Oh, crap, that's Moana!” Just on and amazing. 3. Do you have a favorite moment with Dwayne? We have this moment later in the film where Maui is stripped of all of his crutches. He's lost his tattoos, he's lost his hook, he's lost his power, and he's vulnerable in a way that he's never been before. And he's grieving a loss. [Writer] Jared Bush and I were talking through what that means to be so strong and to be somebody who, in theory, doesn't need anyone, but suddenly be taken to your knees and vulnerable in a way you've never been before, and having to ask for help in a way you've never been before. What does that look like when you are larger than life? To talk that through with Dwayne, who is larger than life in so many ways and doesn't often get to go to these places emotionally as an actor, was really exciting. 4. In previous interviews, you’ve spoken about how growing up as a mixed Samoan woman in California, away from most of your family, impacted your confidence. As a fellow mixed Samoan woman who grew up the same way, I was wondering where you found that confidence to be able to write and direct these movies because I think sometimes we feel like, "Oh no, I'm not Samoan enough.” That is a sentence I am very familiar with: “I'm not Samoan enough.” Half my dad's family lived in Northern California — I'm in Southern California — or back in Samoa, and so there was really a disconnect. Part of that honestly was because of my dad, too, and him dealing with some of his own identity issues as I was growing up. And so, I felt a lot of insecurity about that. I would say being Samoan is always something I've been really proud of, but it's something I always mentioned with caveats, to try to make other people feel better about it, but also to make myself feel better. Like, “I'm Samoan, but yeah, I know I don't look so Samoan,” to make it feel okay for everybody else. I'm not joking, I used to have a picture of my grandparents in my bag when I was really young. BuzzFeed: So you could whip it out as proof? Yeah, as if I needed it! Nobody's even asking me for proof. But I felt so insecure about it. I don't know that I'm a fully-recovered insecure afakasi [mixed Samoan] woman, but I have come a long way. Even taking the job on the Moana live-action, which was my first Moana project, my first thought after getting that job was: “Am I Samoan enough? Is our community going to be upset that I'm the person doing this? Will they think I'm not enough to do this?” And it was very daunting. I was so excited because I love Moana, and I felt like I couldn't believe I get to be a part of telling her story. But it's been a process to take ownership of even just being able to be say, “I'm Samoan. I'm not gonna explain to you what that means because it's none of your business, and I know who I am.” That I would say has been a two-year process. It's still new to me. It's still fresh. But part of that is because I took some chances I wasn't ready to take. I took the job on the live-action film even though I felt that insecurity. I started PEAK [Pasifika Entertainment Advancement Komiti] when I was like, “Am I enough to do this? Am I the right person?” I also had a Pacific Islander writers room for this small show that didn't end up going, and I got to work with Pacific Islanders in a room, creating, for the first time. All of these things came together at once, and I started to feel like I was a part of a bigger community. And it wasn't a community that was asking me to qualify myself but of other people who felt very similarly. We were coming together, and we were looking at each other, and we're like, “Oh, I see you. I see you. I see you.” And because we were seeing ourselves in each other, it gave me more confidence to be bold about taking ownership of who I am. It's been a journey, but I am proud to be Samoan. 5. When Moana breaks Nalo’s curse, she dies and comes back only due to the power of the ancestors. This was such a powerful message about how our ancestors are still with us today and can always be called upon in times of need. Can you speak about the decision to include this? The first film did such a great job of setting that up with Gramma Tala. And I would say that Dave Derrick, the other Samoan director of the film, he very early on had this image in his mind of a whale shark as an ancestor coming in and meeting Moana. It's an image that is in the film, and it all just grew from there. This idea that our ancestors are always with us — they are always guiding us, and we are continuing their story. It just felt right for this. But when it came to that moment in particular at the end, it goes back to what we were talking about with Maui, this idea that he has no resources to solve this problem. He can't save Moana, and so he has to do something he's never done before, which is call out to the gods and call out to the ancestors and admit that he needs help. And I think [composer] Opetaia Foa'i did such a beautiful job of creating this chant in Samoan for Maui to sing, and then it's really just a call to make things right. And so, it felt natural that if he's calling for help, that the ancestors would come. I loved the moment Tautai Vasa comes in because he doesn't know what's going to happen. It's not like they're omniscient and the ancestors know that by showing up, she's going to come back to life. It's that he's been called, and now he's seeing this young woman who he sent off on this journey. He called her to action, and here she is. This is the consequence of that. To see him also calling out for help, and then see everyone come together, the ocean, the ancestors, all this power coming together to bring her back as a demigod... It just felt right for this world and for her journey, for a young woman who's given so much. It all built on each other into something that I'm really proud of. 6. The film very much seemed like it was setting us up for a third Moana movie. If that happens, do you think Moana would have any cool demigod powers? If there was a next movie, and I have no idea, I would be very excited to see what powers she had. I think that this film definitely sets up the potential for that. She's even got her own demigod color; she glows a little different than Maui. So I assume that she has some different abilities. But what that might be, I have no idea. 7. And the scene after that, we get some Melanesian and Micronesian rep! How important was it to ensure their inclusion in the movie? We built a bunch of different canoes, and we were so fortunate to have experts from across the Pacific really homing in on those designs. That was by design, to make sure that each place was different because she's connecting the whole ocean. There's so much misunderstanding about what it means to be from the Pacific. Generally, they assume that we're only Polynesian and that we're not all these other things. The fact that Moana connecting the ocean could literally connect her to these other places across the Pacific and show new technology in these canoes and people who look a little different but are also of the ocean just felt right. I did not anticipate the reaction to that from our communities — people are pumped! 8. What advice would you give to any aspiring Pacific Islander creatives? One thing that I try to tell young writers, specifically filmmakers, is that your very specific lens into the world, no matter who you are, is your superpower. Whether you're mixed Samoan like me, or you are someone who grew up in Savai'i, or Tonga, or you're from Fiji, anywhere you're from — only you see the world in your very specific way, and that is your gift and your power. So when you're telling stories, it's really important that you don't try to shift that lens to emulate someone else's vision of the world, especially when you're writing your first sample or making your first film. It's that kind of specificity of vision and experience that, to me, is what breaks through the noise of everything else. When you do that, it helps the rest of us find the commonalities we have between us because you're telling a very specific story. You're not watering it down to something that you think someone from the outside is going to feel is more palatable. You're taking ownership of exactly who you are, and that helps me, as an audience, understand you and relate to you in a different way. I think there's sometimes a tendency to want to write what Hollywood wants you to write. But the thing is — if this is the work you want to do, and you want to get into this business — you also have to hone your craft. I have met a lot of Pacific Islanders who are excited about this idea of working in the industry, but there is maybe a lack of understanding, there is a lack of infrastructure for our community often, to get into filmmaking. But if you want to work at this level, you have to be really diligent about it. If you want to be a writer, you have to study the craft and write at the level that everyone else in the world is in order to tell those stories. That's how you build a career and create staying power. So it's kind of two-fold. You gotta play the game a little bit. You gotta understand the work and then tell it from your lens. 9. What made you most emotional or excited throughout this process? There are moments within the movie that get me sometimes. Like the Maui-Moana moment, it makes me emotional, and I'm proud of what we crafted. But also, I just feel like, as a writer, to take characters that we know and love to a new place is always really exciting. 10. Aside from Auli'i and Dwayne, who else did you have fun working with? Jemaine [Clement] came in to do Tamatoa. I am a huge Flight of the Conchords fan. Eagle vs Shark is one of my favorite films. It's one of his early films, and it's so weird. And I was like, "That's the kind of movie I'm gonna make!" I'm not as funny as him, so I haven't made a movie like that. But my heart was so full. I could listen to this man riff forever. It was pretty awesome. BuzzFeed: That’s so funny because he only shows up in the post-credits scene, right? We kept him a little longer, just to really let him go off for our own benefit. Don't tell him that. [Laughs] 11. I was super emotional throughout the film, and I’ve seen TikToks of people literally crying in the theater because they’re so happy to be represented. How do you feel about the movie’s reception? I have been blown away. The number of texts and emails I've been getting from people, from other Pasifika folks, has been a little overwhelming but in a good way. This morning, one of our consultants who lives in Apia was like, “Here's our schedule for the movie theater. It's playing every single day, and the lines are down the street.” Or my brother texted me and was like, “My friend just said he's been trying to get him and his son tickets to the movie in Tutuila, but it's been sold out for days. You can't get in.” People are stoked. A cousin's cousin sent me their aunty’s Instagram post about how the ‘ava ceremony meant something to them, or about the tatau or the idea of the ancestors, or this idea that we are all connected and that we are better together, and that people don't understand that community is our foundation, and that's who we are. There's been so many instances of people from our community loving the film. I want everyone to see this movie, we made a movie for everyone to see, but I wanted our people to see themselves, and so the fact that that's happening kind of makes me a little teary right now, actually. I was hoping that we could all hold our heads up high and be proud to see ourselves like this. [Visibly tears up] To see that happening, and to see TikTok and Instagram blowing up about people being like, "This is who I am." That means something. That changes the way we see ourselves, that's going to give somebody else confidence out there to say, "This is who I am. I am not going to apologize for it. I get to be proud of who I am." 12. How do you think the film changes the perception and awareness of Pacific Islanders? It's changing the way other people are seeing us. I saw something where somebody had never understood that Melanesian people are part of the Pacific. That's somebody learning something that they didn't know about us before. So it's really special to be able to be a part of something that's reaching people on so many different levels. 13. And finally, I loved so many of the cultural details woven into the movie , but Moana's tattoo is probably my favorite. From what I know about the meanings of the symbols, it looked like vaetuli, the footprints of the tuli bird, going up her fingers. And then it looked like the fetū, the stars, on top. And so the way that I interpreted it was that her path is to follow the stars, and I wanted to ask if that's accurate. It was all by design. So we had Peter Suluape as our consultant in the tatau form. No big deal! Maui's tattoos tell his story, and if she's going to become a demigod, we wanted her tattoos to tell her story but in a very specific way. With Maui, there's so many tattoos that tell so many stories. We wanted her tattoo to tell this story of her reconnecting all the people of the ocean. So that's why it has Motofetū in the middle, the island, and everything coming off are the channels that connect it. And so we talked to him about that, and he came back with a design. And then we worked with our character designer, Danny Arriaga, who took all of those pieces and put it together in something that worked on her arm. Another Samoan consultant we had, Dionne Fonoti, texted me after she saw that. She was like, "Sis, I love the tattoo." And I was like, "Yes! If Dionne likes it, then we're okay!" I love it because it’s so specific to Moana and her story, but it's also so specific to us and what she would actually get, and I'm glad you recognized that. A big thank you to Dana for taking the time to chat with us! And be sure to check out Moana 2 , in theaters now! Note: This interview was edited for length and clarity.
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The Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) risks being socially and politically outpaced by Muslim fundamentalist outfits if its State leadership continues its current dalliance with the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) and the Jamaat-e-Islami, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has said. Inaugurating the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] area committee office in Kozhikode, Mr. Vijayan said the current IUML State president Sadikali Shihab Thangal was responsible for the party’s “fundamentalist drift” and the former was not above political criticism. ‘A heavy price paid’ He said the Congress had paid a heavy political price for tacitly encouraging the Sangh Parivar to further the latter’s vicious and communally divisive agenda to destroy the very idea and fabric of secularism in India. Mr. Vijayan said the Congress actively encouraged Hindu majoritarian political build-up that culminated in the Babri Masjid’s demolition in 1992, despite cautionary red flags raised by secular parties. “The then Congress Prime Minister, P.V. Narasimha Rao, allowed the Sangh Parivar mob to pull down the masjid by remaining incommunicado even though chaos unfolded. Decades later, Congress’s top leaders endorsed the construction of the Ram Temple over the mosque’s ruins by sending silver bricks and donations,” Mr. Vijayan said. “Congress suffered badly and but has still learned nothing. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ascended to power in Congress strongholds in north and central India. Soft Hindutva blurred the line between the Congress and the BJP,” Mr. Vijayan said. He said ministerial berths mattered more to the IUML’s leadership than the party’s founding reformist ideals. “IUML clung to power with Congress in Kerala in 1992 for a handful of its leaders to remain in the Congress government. Comparably, the IUML is now actively courting fundamentalist outfits for a few votes to shore up its increasingly shaky base in north Kerala. The IUML is forsaking its traditional secular democratic ideals for the elusive electoral dividend to its peril,” Mr. Vijayan said. Against Jamaat Mr. Vijayan said the Jamaat-e-Islami, which forsook democracy for its stated ideal of establishing an Islamic caliphate in India, fielded a candidate against the CPI(M)‘s Mohamad Yousuf Tarigami in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections at the BJP’s instance. He pointed out that the SDPI leadership spoke in a “terrorist language” when he criticised the IUML leadership for aligning with Muslim fundamentalist organisations against the LDF in Kerala. Mr. Vijayan said the bypoll results belied the Congress-BJP-IUML claim that the LDF government was the target of intense anti-incumbency anger. He said the LDF retained its Chelakkara Assembly seat with a resounding majority and improved its vote share in the Palakkad bypoll despite heavy anti-government campaigning by Muslim fundamentalist and Sangh Parivar forces for the UDF. Published - November 24, 2024 09:40 pm IST Copy link Email Facebook Twitter Telegram LinkedIn WhatsApp Reddit
Vikings place LB Ivan Pace on injured reserve and sign LB Jamin Davis off Packers practice squadStanford and California meet for the first time as Atlantic Coast Conference rivals when each tries to prove its impressive non-league record is no fluke on Saturday afternoon in Berkeley, Calif. Stanford (7-2) took last year's season series 2-1, but the clubs were so evenly matched -- the Cardinal won 14 games, the Golden Bears 13 -- it took overtime at the final Pacific-12 Conference tournament to determine the rivalry winner. The teams enter their first meeting this season with the same number of losses, but Cal (6-2) has had the edge in strength of schedule. The Golden Bears were invited to play in the SEC/ACC Challenge, in which they squandered a second-half lead en route to a 98-93 loss at Missouri. Cal's only other loss also came on the road at a Southeastern Conference site, an 85-69 setback at Vanderbilt on Nov. 13. Meanwhile, Stanford has played seven of its nine games at home and hasn't left the state of California. The Cardinal were beaten by Grand Canyon at a neutral site on Nov. 26 before getting shocked at home by Cal Poly last Saturday. This Saturday's matchup is the first since Andrej Stojakovic, Stanford's prize recruit last year, transferred to Cal after just one season. The son of former NBA standout Peja Stojakovic leads the Golden Bears in scoring at 18.8 points per game. Andrej Stojakovic has averaged 31.9 minutes per game for Cal after getting just 22.3 per game as a freshman at Stanford a season ago. He said anticipating that type of greater opportunity prompted his move across the San Francisco Bay. "I thought that when I played a large amount of minutes (last season), I performed to what I was expected to do from the staff and the program," he noted. "But just going into Cal and having a more consistent role and having the confidence instilled from the staff has been huge so far." Stanford returned just one of its top seven scorers from last season, but that was center Maxime Raynaud. The preseason All-ACC selection is averaging 22.3 points and 12.2 rebounds per game, with double-doubles in eight of nine outings. He had two double-doubles and a pair of 20-point games against Cal last season. Duke transfer Jaylen Blakes offered a unique perspective on his first Stanford-Cal experience. "Every ACC game is going to be a challenge," he claimed. "(Cal is) a rivalry game, but we are just trying to get a win." --Field Level Media