Rita Houston, Curator of Eclectic Sound on New York’s WFUV, Dies at 59

LeBron James’ reaction to Macy Gray’s national anthem performance had everybody talking on Twitter Sunday.

Loose Women star Nadia Sawalha was devastated to learn of the loss of her co-star's son, Jamal Edwards, who had launched the careers of artists from Ed Sheeran to Stormzy, worked with the royals, and earned himself an MBE for services to music while still in his early 20s. His short, but eventful, life ended yesterday following a sudden illness - and Nadia joined many stars in publicly mourning his loss."How brutal and cruel life can be," she sympathised, in view of her 161,000 Twitter followers."Rest in peace @jamaledwards."All of our hearts are aching for your mum @brenda_edwards your family and your many friends, and of course the unquantifiable others you helped."It’s clear you will leave a gaping hole in the lives of many."The musical legend, who had appeared in the Forbes 30 Under 30 list, was mourned by many of Nadia's followers too."The saddest of news yesterday," @donnaelaine17 wrote."Let’s hope the love and support for Brenda and his family will in time help them as they come to terms with their loss.They adored each other it’s such a loss.

Pablo Escobar's "cocaine hippos" an invasive species in the hopes of culling the growing numbers. The drug lord, who was shot in December 1993, had four hippos imported to his Hacienda Napoles estate in Puerto Triunfo, Colombia.

"His children had indeed become addicted to social networks and other applications, in particular since the confinement imposed due to the epidemic of Covid-19," ANFR explained in their report."After consulting forums on the internet, the father decided that a jammer was the best solution to put an end to these excesses!" He bought the 'jammer' kit online after looking at an Internet forum, but got a bit more than he bargained for. French police have since seized the device and are reportedly investigating the offence.

Leeds fan delivered a savage message to Cristiano Ronaldo before their match with Manchester United.The cheeky supporter was spotted holding up a homemade cardboard sign asking for Ronaldo's attention.But unlike most boys and girls of that age, the fan didn't want the Portuguese's forward's shirt; oh no.He wanted CR7 to ask Raphinha for his shirt instead, in what must have come as a savage blow for the United star's ego.The sign read: "Cristiano can you ask Raphinha to give me his shirt please."Football fans on Twitter loved the cheeky chappy Leeds fan and replied underneath applauding his audacity.One person wrote: "Kid's a legend!"Someone else said: "Class this is."A third person commented: "This kid is going places."While another user chimed in with: "This is the type of s***housing I'm here for. The future is in good hands.

Ralf Rangnick and strengthened United's grip of fourth place in the Premier League table. But Schmeichel insists the win proves nothing and that his former club still have a lot of work to do before people can consider them to be a genuine force in English football again.

Asda.The supermarket is flogging a range of homeware based on the popular Disney film and book series.Prices start from just £4 making the collection ideal for budget-conscious shoppers. The homeware was shared to the popular Facebook group Extreme Couponing and Bargains UK where Brits went wild for the pretty collection.

Anna Marie de la Fuente Kazakh filmmaker Askar Uzabayev’s domestic violence drama “Happiness” snagged the Audience Award in the Berlin Film Festival’s prestigious Panorama sidebar, a good sign of its potential appeal in cinemas and festivals worldwide. Whether it will secure distribution in its native Kazakhstan is another matter, however.Based on actual events, “Happiness” centers on a lovely influencer who promotes a product line called Happiness, which she pitches as a surefire path to happiness, beauty and success.But her home life reflects the opposite where her abusive husband grows ever more violent.

Naman Ramachandran BBC Studios has revealed a format agreement for an Italian version of Abi Morgan‘s hit show “The Split.” Locally titled “Studio Battaglia,” the screenplay has been adapted by Lisa Nur Sultan (Golden Globe winner for “On My Skin”) and is directed by Simone Spada (“Hotel Gagarin”). The Italian cast includes Barbora Bobulova, (“Sacred Heart”), Miriam Dalmazio (“Anna”), Marina Occhionero (“Monterossi”), Lunetta Savino (“Saturn in Opposition”), Massimo Ghini (“The New Pope”) Thomas Trabacchi (“Nico, 1988”) and Giorgio Marchesi (“Medici”) .Originally produced by “Chernobyl” maker Sister in association with Little Chick, the six-part Italian series is produced by Palomar with Tempesta Film in collaboration with Rai Fiction.

Leo Barraclough International Features EditorDaniel Baur’s K5 Film and K5 International are re-teaming with writer/director Mukunda Michael Dewil for the time-loop thriller “Open House.” The script was written and developed by Jon Davis and Sergio Pinheiro.Dewil and Baur, who will produce the movie, already worked together on the action thriller “Vehicle 19,” starring the late Paul Walker, and the psychological thriller “The Immaculate Room,” starring Emile Hirsch, Kate Bosworth and Ashley Greene Khoury, which won best picture and best male actor at the Mammoth Film Festival recently.Dewil’s most recent movie project is thriller “Collide,” starring Ryan Phillippe, Kat Graham and Jim Gaffigan, which recently wrapped production. Baur is an exec producer on the movie.

Cillian Murphy has spoken on his preparation for Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, noting the similarities to his role of Tommy Shelby in Peaky Blinders.The actor will take on the role of the American theoretical physicist, whose work on the Manhattan Project led to the moniker the “father of the atomic bomb”, in Nolan’s new film.Ahead of its release next year, Murphy has opened up a bit about his work on the character, revealing in a new interview with The Observer that he has been doing “an awful lot of reading”.“I’m interested in the man and what [inventing the atomic bomb] does to the individual,” he said. “The mechanics of it, that’s not really for me – I don’t have the intellectual capability to understand them, but these contradictory characters are fascinating.”Comparing Oppenheimer to the paradoxical nature of Shelby, he went on to explain: “Tommy Shelby’s a complete contradiction, too.

Amazon Game Studios has said that server transfers in Lost Ark are “not a viable option at this point,” following many requests for the feature since launch.Yesterday (February 20), Amazon Game Studios posted an update that addressed many of the community’s biggest issues with Lost Ark, and said it is working with developer Smilegate to get them fixed.One of these issues is the topic of server transfers, which fans feel would go a long way toward reducing queue times and re-uniting friends who were seperated by character creation restrictions.However, although Amazon Game Studios said it “thoroughly investigated” the option, the studio reached the conclusion that “this instant functionality does not currently exist in Lost Ark“.Amazon added that although the feature recently arrived in Korea, it’s a weekly batch process that requires downtime to run – “therefore, unfortunately, [server transfers are] not a viable option at this point for the western version.”On the topic of long queue times in Europe, Amazon said that “there is no way to increase the number of players per world in Europe Central,” and “adding more servers is not possible based on the complexity of all the systems that need to work together.”The post does note that it has recently launched a new region in Europe to help alleviate demand.Elsewhere, the update addresses issues with matchmaking, gold seller spam, a fix for missing Crystalline Auras, and improved fraud protection.Following a hugely popular launch, Lost Ark has been the recipient of review bombing over issues with the European servers and problems with Founder’s Pack players not getting to play with their free-to-play friends.Last week, an update to the MMO added a new EU region and fixed a

Horizon Forbidden West was the number one game in the UK boxed charts, according to GfK sales figures.As tracked by Gamesindustry.biz, sales figures found that Horizon Forbidden West was “comfortably” the biggest game of the week. It was also the second biggest PS5 launch so far, behind Spider-Man: Miles Morales which came out the same day as the console.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorWhen Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen try to show CNN viewers the sights and sounds of New Year’s Eve in Times Square this year, they will face one of their biggest challenges: There won’t be any.The throngs of people who come to see the fabled ball drop in what is billed as New York’s “Crossroads of the World” won’t be in attendance, due to concerns about the coronavirus pandemic. For Cooper and Cohen, however, the show must go on.People at home will want to watch and ring out a terrible year, says Cooper.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorThis year in sports can’t be summed up with Top 10 lists and reels of game clips. So ESPN is going to try some different tactics.ESPN plans a three-hour primetime event to bid farewell to year in sports that often involved events that took place well off the field.  The show, “SportsCenter Presents: 2020 – Heroes, History and Hope,”will air as three one-hour programs and will kick off on Thursday, December 24 at 8 p.m.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorThe newest ad from Procter & Gamble doesn’t feature any of its famous products, like Tide, Pampers or Crest. The only thing the company is really trying to sell is a good feeling at the end of a bad year.A new commercial from the consumer-products giant now available online and set to debut Saturday during broadcast of the Global Citizen Prize on NBC in the U.S.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorSamantha Bee will have another year to vent to her heart’s delight on her TBS program, “Full Frontal.”The WarnerMedia-backed network will renew Bee’s satire-and-talk show for a sixth season, which will debut on Wednesday, January 13 at 10:30 p.m. eastern.“It’s a huge honor to get to keep doing this crazy smart and silly show for a sixth season,” said Bee, in a prepared statement.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorIn an era of streaming giants, the media outlet behind “Billions,” “Homeland” and “Good Lord Bird” is trying to stand apart from the pack by celebrating its smaller size.A campaign that started during the Emmys makes the point that Showtime  — available via pay cable and streaming video — has little intention of churning out dozens of projects every year. Instead, it focuses on crafting distinctive series and burnishes the creative forces behind them.“Our model is designed to favor quality over tonnage,” says Michael Engleman, Showtime’s chief marketing officer, in an interview.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorMusician and actor Ludacris will visit “Full Frontal with Samantha Bee” this week as part of the talk-and-satire show’s focus on Georgia.Ludacris, who spent time growing up in Atlanta and attended Georgia State University, will appear in a segment to talk about his new charity, Kid Nation, which aims to educate with videos of children rapping positive pieces of advice.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorCleveland’s baseball team, known since the mid 1910s as the Indians, is expected to change its name, according to multiple press reports, the latest sign of storied sports franchises moving to keep pace with cultural shifts in the United States.The New York Times previously reported that the Cleveland Indians have decided to find a new team name, following years of protests from some fans and Native American advocacy organizations. The move, which the team has yet to confirm, would follow a decision made under pressure by the team now known as The Washington Football team to drop its previous moniker.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorNBC has for years tried to sell glitzy video commercials to the nation’s biggest advertisers.