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Review: ‘Flora and Son’ is a lovely movie for cynical times

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:34:36 GMT

By Jake Coyle | Associated PressJohn Carney, the Irish filmmaker of “Once,” “Sing Street” and “Begin Again,” makes the movie version of “three chords and the truth.”His films, unabashedly earnest, feel-good movies for cynical times, are lo-fi musicals that tell simple stories, charmingly. There are love interests, usually. But the abiding romance is for music. His films are the sort that would be easier to dismiss as “sentimental” if his central belief — in the redemptive power of music — didn’t happen to be kinda true.The song remains much the same in Carney’s latest charmer, “Flora and Son,” starring Eve Hewson as a working-class single mother in Dublin who takes up guitar lessons. Flora’s initial instinct when she snags a beat-up acoustic guitar out of a dumpster, is to give it to her troubled 14-year-old son, Max (Orén Kinlan) as a day-late birthday present. Max, though, is nonplussed.̶...

Single-family house sells for $1.9 million in Pleasanton

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:34:36 GMT

7846 Knollbrook Drive – Google Street ViewThe spacious property located in the 7800 block of Knollbrook Drive in Pleasanton was sold on July 20, 2023. The $1,850,000 purchase price works out to $780 per square foot. The house, built in 1976, has an interior space of 2,372 square feet. This two-story house boasts a generous living space with five bedrooms and three bathrooms. Inside, a fireplace enhances the ambiance of the living area. In addition, the house includes a two-car garage, offering generous space for vehicles and storage requirements.Additional houses have recently changed hands nearby:On Knollbrook Drive, Pleasanton, in June 2023, a 1,749-square-foot home was sold for $1,562,500, a price per square foot of $893. The home has 4 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms.A 1,586-square-foot home on the 7600 block of Chestnut Way in Pleasanton sold in June 2023, for $1,650,000, a price per square foot of $1,040. The home has 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms.In July 2023, a 3,020-square-foot home ...

Horoscopes Sept. 22, 2023: Joan Jett, don’t put off the inevitable

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:34:36 GMT

CELEBRITIES BORN ON THIS DAY: Tom Felton, 36; Bonnie Hunt, 62; Andrea Bocelli, 65; Joan Jett, 65.Happy Birthday: If you keep records, say what you mean and stick to the truth, and everything you want will follow. Watch for signals that give you the go-ahead to make swift changes that will guide you toward stability and away from confusion and people who love chaos. Make decisions that reflect what you want. This moment in time is a turning point in your life that needs addressing; don’t put off the inevitable. Your numbers are 3, 11, 17, 23, 34, 37, 46.ARIES (March 21-April 19): Don’t wait for someone to take over. If you put more energy into your dreams, you’ll get good results. A social event will lead to temptation. Monitor your intake and choose your words wisely, and you’ll outmaneuver anyone who tries to get in your way. 2 starsTAURUS (April 20-May 20): Let your intellect guide you. Gather information conducive to sound decisions that will encourage you...

Russian official says Ukraine launches a missile strike on headquarters of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:34:36 GMT

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine carried out a missile strike Friday on the headquarters of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, a Russian official said, and images on social media showed large plumes of smoke said to be coming from Sevastopol harbor in the annexed Crimea. The Russian-installed governor of Sevastopol, Mikhail Razvozhayev, didn’t offer any details, saying only that emergency services have been dispatched to the site of the strike and there was no information about casualties.Razvozhayev warned Sevastopol residents that “another attack is possible,” and urged them not to leave buildings and not to come to the city center.“Those who are near the fleet headquarters, head to the shelters if you hear the siren,” he wrote. He also said that firefighters were battling a blaze at the site of the attack, and more emergency forces were being brought in, an indication that the fire could be massive.Ukraine did not immediately claim responsibility for the attack.Sevastopol residents said they ...

Wales picks Fiji-beaters to face Australia in shot at Rugby World Cup quarterfinals

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:34:36 GMT

LYON, France (AP) — Wales restored the lineup which started the win against Fiji to face Australia on Sunday with a chance to reach the Rugby World Cup quarterfinals.A third win from three Pool C matches would advance Wales to the last eight.Defeat for Australia would send it closer to a pool stage exit for the first time.Coach Warren Gatland rested most of his front-liners after Fiji was edged 32-26 for the game against Portugal, a scratchy 28-8 win.Captain and flanker Jac Morgan, No. 8 Taulupe Faletau and wing Louis Rees-Zammit will make their third straight starts.Wales made its only changes in the reserves, with recalls for prop Henry Thomas, who will make his Rugby World Cup debut, flanker Taine Basham and flyhalf Gareth Anscombe.Ben Donaldson and Tate McDermott will start as Australia’s halves for the first time in the must-win match.The Wallabies made three changes and two positional moves on Friday following the 22-15 loss to Fiji last Sunday in Saint-Etienne.Donaldson...

Germany hires Julian Nagelsmann as men’s national soccer team coach through Euro 2024

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:34:36 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — Germany hired Julian Nagelsmann to lead the men’s national soccer team on Friday, entrusting the former Bayern Munich coach with doing a better job than the last Bayern Munich coach who tried.The German soccer federation said Nagelsmann was taking over on a short-term contract through next year’s European Championship. Germany is hosting the tournament.“We have a European Championship in our own country. This is something special, something that only happens every few decades,” Nagelsmann said. “Having a great tournament in a great country is the priority. I’m very keen to take on this challenge … We will be a close-knit bunch next year.”At 36, Nagelsmann is the youngest Germany coach since 34-year-old Otto Nerz was appointed in 1926.Nagelsmann succeeds Hansi Flick, the first Germany coach ever fired from the position. The federation removed Flick on Sept. 10, the day after a 4-1 loss to Japan stretched the team’s losing run to three games and i...

Redfern to become first woman to stand as an umpire in a men’s first-class cricket match in Britain

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:34:36 GMT

LONDON (AP) — Sue Redfern will become the first woman to stand as an umpire in a men’s first-class cricket match in England and Wales next week.Redfern, who played 21 times for England from 1995-99, has been appointed for the County Championship fixture between Glamorgan and Derbyshire starting Tuesday.Two years ago, she was the first woman to officiate at a home England men’s match — as the fourth official for the T20 international against Sri Lanka. She was the first woman to umpire a T20 Blast game when Gloucestershire played Middlesex in Bristol this season.“I have worked hard to earn this opportunity,” Redfern said, “and I look forward to taking the next step in my career by umpiring a men’s first-class match.“That has been an ambition of mine for a long time and, while it is a new challenge that will test me, I know that I am ready for it. Umpiring has become such a fulfilling part of my life and while my focus is on being the best umpire I can be, I hope my journe...

Presto’s Picks: Maryland, Virginia begin conference play, along with 6 top-10 teams

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:34:36 GMT

Dress rehearsals are nice, but there’s no substitute for being on stage facing the audience with the lights on and the curtain goes up for the first time. Maryland and Virginia both begin league play this weekend, and they’re not alone. Of the AP Top 25 teams in action this week, 16 will be playing conference openers.And that’s a good thing as we put college football’s bread course behind us, for the most part. No matter who you play outside your league, nobody knows what you can and can’t do better than those who reside in your neighborhood.So, after three tuneups, it’s time to see if Texas is really back and how wobbly Alabama might actually be. Will Michigan be hampered by an extremely soft nonleague slate? And will Deion Sanders’ Colorado Buffaloes continue to roam?No. 19 CU’s game at No. 10 Oregon is one of six matchups this week where both teams are ranked, and that doesn’t count a Clemson team that’s on the cusp of t...

Author Javier Zamora explores his immigrant journey to the US as a 9-year-old boy in ‘Solito’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:34:36 GMT

WTOP is celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15. All this month, discover stories from the diverse Latino communities in the D.C. region, here at WTOP.com and on air at 103.5 FM.In 1999, Javier Zamora began his journey to the U.S. at 9 years old. The young boy from La Herradura, El Salvador, lived with his grandparents after his mother and father fled the country at different stages of his early childhood. His parents wanted to reunite with their son, but the journey was no easy feat.His family paid for human smugglers — known as “coyotes” — to take Zamora over 3,000 miles through Guatemala, Mexico and the Sonora Desert to make it to the U.S. After nine weeks, the Salvadoran boy finally crossed the U.S.-Mexico border on his third attempt and rejoined his family. Yet, going through the passage left a lasting impact.In 2019, Zamora, now a poet and educator, began documenting his passage as a form of therapy, which, two years later, became his memoir &#...

US breaking pros want to preserve Black roots, original style of hip-hop dance form at Olympics

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:34:36 GMT

As ambassadors of the country where breakdancing originated 50 years ago, members of Team USA have something to prove — and potentially to lose — when the hip-hop dance form makes its official debut at the Paris Games in 2024.That’s because for U.S. breakers like Carmarry Hall, Victor Montalvo and Jeffrey Mike Louis, it’s more than just nailing the right moves; it’s about preserving breaking’s soul.“When I started breaking, it wasn’t about competition; it was about culture, it was about Black dance,” said Hall, an African American Team USA member. “The Olympic platform is not going to appreciate the understanding. It’s structured in a certain way, and in that structure, you lose a little bit of the heart.”But it is precisely that structure that international competitors to the U.S. have zoned in on while battling for a shot at Olympic gold in head-to-head contests over the past year. And at the moment, Team USA’s squad of b-boys and b-girls, the term for male...