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Locks down: buzzcuts become the coronavirus craze du jour

With barbers closed, actors and footballers have resorted to shaving off their hair - but experts warn it isn’t for everyone

With salons closed due to physical distancing guidelines, many men have resorted to cutting their hair at home. And instead of opting for a short back and sides, male celebrities have decided to just shave all their hair off.

Riz Ahmed, the Rogue One and Four Lions actor, has labelled it the #stayathome haircut, and Line of Duty actor Stephen Graham posted footage of his son clipping off his hair with the caption “lockdown locks!”

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How to wear a biker jacket | Priya Elan

Thanks to Marlon Brando, this practical garment turned into the epitome of rebel streetwear before becoming a style staple

Physically, I’m about as robust as Stick Man. I’m weak enough to have seriously considered that my five-year-old is now physically stronger than me. When I hear “core”, all I think of is Andrea and her Irish singing siblings. So the idea of wearing a very heavy jacket like this sturdy biker one, gives me pause for thought. It will, I realise, force a rethink of how I move, and how I walk.

But I’m being open-minded about the style, because the biker jacket has come a long way. It was created by Irving Schott in 1928, in conjunction with Harley-Davidson, with a specific function in mind (belt buckles placed in certain places to protect you from the wind while riding; zippers for easy access). Marlon Brando’s jacket in The Wild One was from this range. Brando helped move it to the mainstream, and since then it’s been loved by wrong ’uns, rebels, greasers and Ramones.

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John Lewis and Mother of Pearl mark Earth Day with joint fashion line

Sustainable fashion collaboration featuring only biodegradable fabrics will be sold online

John Lewis and the fashion brand Mother of Pearl have chosen Earth Day for the launch of their sustainable fashion collaboration, specifically for its geopolitical symbolism.

Earth Day, which celebrates its 50th anniversary on 22 April, seemed an appropriate day to launch a collection bringing rigorous standards of ethical design to mass market fashion. A launch date that pays homage to the planet rather than the artificial seasons of fashion, and dovetails with the concept of timeless, seasonless clothes designed for wardrobe longevity.

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Japan's beloved manga assassin becomes the latest coronavirus fatality




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As Beijing gyms reopen, users are masked up and ready to shed pounds




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2 men charged with murder in fatal shooting of black jogger

Gregory McMichael and his son, Travis, were both charged with murder and aggravated assault.





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Julia Roberts: No Met ball bubbly? There's always the bath

With New York’s glitziest fashion event in lockdown, people rose to the occasion on social media

The annual Met Gala would have taken place in New York last week, had it not been postponed indefinitely in March owing to the pandemic. The theme would have been About Time: Fashion and Duration, or “time itself”, according to Andrew Bolton, the curator of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s partner exhibition, which is ironic now that a morning can feel like a month, and a week can feel like a minute.

Ordinarily, it is one of my favourite celebrity bashes, sitting happily in the middle of a ridiculous/gorgeous Venn diagram, showing off high fashion so high that the people who point at Picassos and say “my five-year-old could have done that” will inevitably comment that “you couldn’t wear that down the shops”, as if the point of a ballgown in the shape of a chandelier were to make the trip to Tesco a bit more lively. (Having said that, you could definitely have used it to carry a few extra bags home.)

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‘Of course I smoked marijuana!’ Elliott Gould on stardom, Streisand and Elvis Presley

The star of M*A*S*H, The Long Goodbye – and more recently, Friends – talks about drugs, his fiery marriage to Barbra Streisand and getting his best reviews from Groucho Marx and Muhammad Ali

The best review ever received by Elliott Gould – renowned actor and star of M*A*S*H and The Long Goodbye; not to mention, Ross and Monica’s dad on Friends – was from Groucho Marx. The two of them had become close in the comedian’s latter years – so close, Gould says, “he used to let me shave him”. One day Marx asked Gould to change a lightbulb in his bedroom. Gould took off his shoes, stood on the bed and replaced the broken bulb. Marx told him: “That was the best acting I’ve ever seen you do.”

Gould, now 81, has been telling the story for decades – but it is clear even in our pixelated video call that it still delights him. “Isn’t that great?” he says, his distinctive nasal, New York baritone now deepened with age. As we speak he is sitting at a computer at a friend’s house in Los Angeles, relaxed in a blue hoodie, with a seemingly bottomless mug of coffee before him. In isolation on either side of the Atlantic, neither of us has anywhere to be. And after more than half a century in Hollywood, in which he went from leading man to exile and, eventually, fixture – Gould could fill days, not just hours, with his stories. Even without his eight-year marriage to Barbra Streisand.

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WTAF! How is Jonah Hill swearier than Samuel L Jackson?

Despite having made 130 more films – including six Tarantinos – Jackson trails king of the curse word Hill. But then he wasn’t in The Wolf of Wall Street …

With the movie industry shut down due to coronavirus, now is a valuable time for us to look back and properly examine the attraction that we have to certain figures. Are we drawn to Tom Hanks because he exudes a sense of benevolent paternalism that we tend to find subconsciously appealing? Do we flock to Marvel films because we seek the clarity of a good-v-evil dynamic in a world where those are becoming increasingly opaque?

And why do people go and see Jonah Hill films? Seriously, why?

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Gladiator at 20: how Ridley Scott's epic rejuvenated the historical blockbuster

The Oscar-winning sword-and-sandals Russell Crowe vehicle refreshed old cliches, before ushering in a spate of copycats

“Joey, do you like movies about gladiators?” the creepy pilot asks the small boy in Airplane!. To younger audiences, the joke no longer makes any sense. In Airplane!’s day, sword-and-sandals movies had become an outdated, unwittingly homoerotic joke. But then came Gladiator, and the joke was on us. Released 20 years ago this month, Ridley Scott’s Roman epic gave the old cliches a new lease of life. It was all here: Colosseum action! Rippling man-flesh! Tigers! But Gladiator had its cheesecake and ate it. It served up crowd-pleasing spectacle and airline-ad visuals but also solemn, Oscar-worthy drama (and, in retrospect, a fair degree of camp).

Related: The Guide: Staying In – sign up for our home entertainment tips

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Beastie Boys Story review – Spike Jonze and the boys are back in town

Ad-Rock and Mike D host a convivial trip down memory lane in this filmed record of a live show staged in tribute to third member Adam Yauch

The release of this documentary coincides with #MeAt20, a heart-twisting craze on social media for posting pictures of yourself at 20 years old. Middle-aged people’s timelines are speckled with funny, sweet and sometimes unbearably sad images of themselves in unlined, unformed youth, doing goofy things in milky analogue pictures from back when you had 12 or 24 exposures on your roll-film camera and getting them developed at Boots was a pricey business. That’s what I thought of while watching this engaging, oddly moving film from Spike Jonze: a record of the live stage show he devised at the Kings Theatre in Brooklyn, New York, in tribute to white hip-hop stars and tongue-in-cheek party-libertarian activists the Beastie Boys. It is presented by the two surviving members, Adam Horovitz and Michael Diamond, in tribute to the third member, Adam Yauch, who died of cancer in 2012. Jonze is reuniting with the band after having directed a string of their music videos, including the crime-TV spoof for their single Sabotage in 1994.

Horovitz and Diamond amble on stage, apparently dressed head-to-toe in Gap, and appear for all the world to be about to unveil the iPhone 4S, although actually their jokey anecdotalism makes the show in some ways like the regional tours once presented by George Best and Rodney Marsh. With amiably rehearsed back-and-forth banter, they introduce the embarrassing photos and excruciating TV clips that are shown on a big screen. And the effect of seeing them juxtaposed with the plump-faced frizzy-haired imps of 1986 is startling and bizarre. In the present day, the advancing years seem to have boiled away the badass attitude, leaving behind the quirky humour.

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UK cinemas lobbying government for June reopening

The UK Cinema Association aims to resume business before July release of Christopher Nolan’s blockbuster Tenet, as studios and distributors scramble to protect theatrical business model

The UK cinema industry is understood to be lobbying the government to approve a proposed reopening scheme that would see venues welcome customers by the end of June.

Phil Clapp, the chief executive of the UK Cinema Association said: “We’ve made representations to government on the safeguards which UK cinemas would look to have in place for audiences and staff alike upon re-opening, and have asked that consideration be given – with these in mind – to allow cinemas to open by the end of June.”

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Streaming: the joy of romcoms

Elizabeth Sankey’s fine documentary on the genre, premiering on Mubi, could be the perfect spark for your own romantic comedy love-in

Romantic comedies are a perennially undervalued genre: even very fine ones are often described as “guilty pleasures”. That’s always a nonsense term, given that no pleasure is without value or grace – least of all these days. Under lockdown, don’t you find yourself more inclined towards romantic comedies both great and mediocre, to sink yourself in the familiar warmth of stories driven by love and tenderness, where everything tends to turn out fine?

Mubi has thus chosen an opportune moment to premiere Romantic Comedy, a spry, affectionate documentary by musician turned film-maker Elizabeth Sankey that gives this maligned genre its due. A short, accessible film essay that did the festival rounds last year, it cuts to the heart of why romcoms have to work harder to be taken seriously – hint: they tend to prioritise the female viewer – and unpicks their history of flawed gender politics and heteronormative bias. But it’s a loving exercise, overlaid with droll personal commentary, and one that will have you jotting down a playlist of films to watch right after.

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Search for self-improvement leads to joga

Jodian Self is hanging out with some of the biggest names in pro sports these days — all from the comfort of her south Winnipeg home. The 52-year-old former physical education ...




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Loss of beloved pet worst injury Beaulieu suffered in bone-breaking, pandemic-paused season

You know who you are. You know what you did. And to the driver who killed Nathan Beaulieu’s dog in a cowardly hit-and-run, the Winnipeg Jets defenceman wants you to ...




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Journeyman pilloried, superstar adored

Go ahead and applaud taking down a group of boorish hockey “bros” for their despicable behaviour. But you might want to hold off on a full-fledged victory lap. Brendan Leipsic said ...




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Mega Millions Results, Numbers for 5/8/20: Did Anyone Win the $231 Million Jackpot Prize Last Night?

The winners and results of last night's Mega Millions lottery, plus how to avoid falling victim to a lottery scam.




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Jobs Report Reveals Racial Inequality in Unemployment at an Historic Low, Thanks to Pandemic

More than 20 million Americans lost their jobs in the last month, and unemployment among African-Americans has hit 16.7 percent.





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NASA Releases Reprocessed Photos of Jupiter’s Moon Europa

The newly-remastered images show the icy surface of Europa, the sixth of Jupiter’s moons and the fourth largest, in enhanced color. All three high-resolution images were captured along the same longitude of Europa as NASA’s Galileo spacecraft flew by on September 26, 1998, in the eighth of the spacecraft’s 11 targeted flybys of the icy [...]




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Hunger is Main Driver of Stone Juggling in Otters, New Study Shows

A team of researchers from the University of Exeter has studied potential drivers of ‘rock juggling’ in two species of otters in zoo environments. Although elusive in the wild, otters are noted to be very playful and inquisitive animals based on observations in captivity. The animals are often seen lying on their backs and batting [...]




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Jurassic Fossil Reveals Violent Squid Attack in Progress

An international team of paleontologists from the University of Plymouth, the University of Kansas and the Forge Fossils has found a specimen of the squid-like cephalopod Clarkeiteuthis montefiorei preserved with the herring-like fish Dorsetichthys bechei in its two arms; the bones in the head of the fish are broken in a manner that suggests a [...]




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Juno, Hubble, Gemini Observatory Probe Jovian Storm Systems

Multiwavelength observations from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope and Gemini Observatory combined with close-up views from NASA’s Juno spacecraft reveal that lightning strikes and huge storm systems that create them in Jupiter’s atmosphere are formed in and around large convective cells over deep clouds of water ice and liquid; the observations also confirm that dark [...]




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All product creators can learn something from Jackbox Games’ user experiences

While Jackbox clearly owes a great deal of its current popularity to the shelter-in-place policies, they've also been honing their craft for years. It's worth looking at what makes them work.




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U.S. chief justice puts hold on disclosure of Russia investigation materials

U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts on Friday put a temporary hold on the disclosure to a Democratic-led House of Representatives committee of grand jury material redacted from former Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report on Russian interference in the 2016 election.




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Skeptical judge could hold up Trump administration's bid to clear Flynn, legal experts say

The notoriously independent-minded federal judge who once said he was disgusted by the conduct of Michael Flynn could block the administration's bid to drop criminal charges against the former adviser to President Donald Trump, legal experts said.




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Coronavirus inflicts huge U.S. job losses as pandemic breaches White House walls

The U.S. government reported more catastrophic economic fallout from the coronavirus crisis on Friday as the pandemic pierced the very walls of the White House and California gave the green light for its factories to restart after a seven-week lockdown.




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Protesters decry delay in arrests of two white men in shooting of black Georgia jogger

Hundreds of protesters gathered in front of a Georgia courthouse on Friday to decry the killing of an unarmed black man in February and the delay in charging two white men in a shooting captured on video that was released earlier this week.




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Tijuana coronavirus death rate soars after hospital outbreaks

The number of deaths from the coronavirus in Mexico's best-known border city, Tijuana, has soared and the COVID-19 mortality rate is twice the national average, the health ministry says, after medical staff quickly fell ill as the outbreak rampaged through hospital wards.




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'Bois Locker Room': Experts Say Youngsters Need Rehabilitative Measures, Not Just Punitive Action

A dialogue on sex, consent, ownership over bodies must be introduced from a young age so that it becomes part of a dominant narrative, say experts.





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J-K witnesses decline in infant mortality rate




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'Confusion' Within Modi Govt in Fight Against Covid-19 Pandemic, Says Cong's Ajay Maken

Government should tell the people clearly about the exact state of the pandemic to enable them to prepare accordingly, said Congress senior spokesperson Ajay Maken.





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Lockdown-affected 'Divyangjan': MP NGO writes to CJI for help




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After Coronavirus Delay, John Coates Says Tokyo Games Could Be 'Greatest Ever'

The Tokyo Olympics was postponed for a year to 2021 in the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic.





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Indian Jawans Helped Save Europe in WWII. Can India Win COVID War?

“The rapid & global spread of coronavirus is a devastating reminder of the consequences of global disorder”: Tharoor





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Punjab CM warns Pak against attempts to spread 'narco terrorism'




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Nepal raises objection over India inaugurating crucial link road passing through Lipulekh Pass




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Punjab CM Amarinder Singh Warns Pak Against Attempts to Spread 'Narco Terrorism'

Our eyes are open to what Pakistan is doing, Singh said, hours after the NIA arrested a "notorious narco-terrorist" who acted as a conduit for Pakistan-based terror groups.





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My patient's marriage was saved by a brain injury

Our brains influence all aspects of our lives, including our sexual desires. This means brain injuries can have some surprising effects, says Amee Baird




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Rotten fish smell could detect awareness in people with brain injuries

It can be difficult for doctors to assess the level of consciousness in people who have had serious brain injuries, but observing their reaction to strong odours may help




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Designing the 1960s Battleground for ‘Feud: Bette and Joan’

If Judy Becker is forced to pick a side in “Feud: Bette and Joan,” the production designer for the FX series says she’s team Bette Davis, but she’d rather live in Joan Crawford’s house. “We designed an amazing closet for her and I can’t deny that I would love to have that,” she says. The […]




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India Series Behind Closed Doors an Advantage for Aus Says Khawaja

Usman Khawaja said that playing India behind closed doors might end up working in favour of the hosts.





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Neymar Jr Trolls Kylian Mbappe as French Footballer Posts Picture of Himself Playing Basketball

Kylian Mbappe and Neymar Jr's friendship is not limited to Paris Saint Germain but also off the field. The recent example of the same could be the French footballer's recent post on social media. Mbappe posted a picture of himself on social media where he was seen playing basketball. This was quite an ideal opportunity for Neymar Jr to pull his teammate's leg and he hilariously trolled the footballer with a funny comment.





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Van Dijk billed as best defender in the world as AC Milan legend Baresi salutes Liverpool’s ‘leader’

The Rossoneri icon has sought to talk up the importance of defenders in any ambitious side, with those at Anfield having found one of real “quality”





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Van Dijk sounds ominous warning to rivals as Liverpool star claims he can get even better

The Netherlands international has become a talismanic presence for club country, but the commanding centre-half believes there is more to come





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Bruno Fernandes adds 'extra dimension' to Manchester United: Jaap Stam




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UFC 249: Tony Ferguson likens fighting in empty arena in Jacksonville to Ultimate Fighter experience

UFC 249 fight card isn't full of stars, due to the coronavirus enforced restrictions, but is expected to be a much-watched affair, however not in the arena.





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Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju Charts Way for Sports to Return to Normalcy After Covid-19 Lockdown

Kiren Rijiju said coronavirus has changed everything and sports need to be conducted in a new way





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Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju Charts Way for Sports to Return to Normalcy After Covid-19 Lockdown

Kiren Rijiju said coronavirus has changed everything and sports need to be conducted in a new way