Latest news with #TheEnd
Perth Now
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Perth Now
'I was born nervous': Ozzy Osbourne voices fears ahead of Black Sabbath farewell gig
Ozzy Osbourne was "born nervous". The Prince of Darkness will bring the curtain down on his legendary career with the Back To The Beginning show at Birmingham's Villa Park on July 5 – where he will reunite with his original Black Sabbath bandmates Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward – and confessed that he would be feeling anxious even if was just a "regular gig". Ozzy told Mojo magazine: "Even if it was a regular gig, I would be a nervous wreck. I was born nervous. "Right now, I'm feeling grateful and proud and I'm sure I'll be feeling dozens more emotions on the day of the show." The gig is particularly poignant for Ozzy as he grew up near Aston Villa's stadium and would often hang around the ground during matches. The 76-year-old singer said: "Aston made me who I am. Being born there taught me so many things about life. It gave me ambition. "I grew up close to Villa Park and when the Villa were playing home matches, me and my mates would go down to the ground and offer to mind people's cars while the match was on, for a shilling. "Eventually, we thought to offer to wash the cars for more money. The first car I washed was with a Brillo pad, so you can imagine the outcome. That was a clue that it was my time to move on to other things." The gig will mark the first time that Black Sabbath's original line-up will have played together for 20 years but Ozzy insists that it will be the definitive end for the Paranoid rockers. The heavy metal icon, who was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 2019, said: "After this show, I'm going home, closing the door and will look back upon the great career I've had. But I'm done, done, done! You gotta know when to call it quits." Ozzy says that it is particularly special that Ward will be part of the performance after the drummer wasn't involved in the making of Black Sabbath's final EP The End, which was released back in 2016. He said: "It's very important that Bill is a part of this show. My career started with Bill, and I'd really like to finish with Bill by my side."
Mint
05-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Mint
Streaming platforms cut back—but top OTT stars still command big money
For instance, Akshay Kumar's much-anticipated Amazon Prime Video debut, The End, announced in 2019, has yet to see the light of as India's video streaming platforms slash content budgets and greenlight fewer shows, a select group of homegrown OTT stars—who shot to fame during the platform boom—are holding steady on pay, according to industry executives. Actors like Jaideep Ahlawat and Pankaj Tripathi—who broke out on the digital medium and became synonymous with OTT hits—continue to command hefty fees, sometimes up to ₹20 crore per season for popular shows like Paatal Lok and Criminal Justice. In contrast, big-budget web originals featuring top Bollywood stars—heavily promoted during the OTT surge a few years ago—appear to be on the back burner, as platforms now view their fees as cost-prohibitive. One telling example is The End, Akshay Kumar's high-profile Amazon Prime Video debut announced in 2019, which remains unreleased six years later. Read this | The rise of small-town stories on OTT: Grassroots-themed shows are proving to be cost-effective, culturally rich Platforms are tightening purse strings across the board, but data-driven insights into viewer engagement and retention seem to be insulating these digital-first actors—for now. 'At a larger level, there is definitely a reduction in the number of projects that are being greenlit and the overall volume is shrinking," noted Namit Sharma, chief executive officer at Arre Studios, a content-creation company. "However, platforms aren't really asking us to slash actor costs. Essentially, you need one or in some cases, two or three, popular faces to draw audiences into the show and then there are other names to balance it out," Sharma said. He added that while overall slates may have fewer shows, the aim is to retain 'poster value'—faces that help drive buzz and marketing. Read this | Why star-powered movies have OTT handprints all over them This strategy reflects a broader shift: With services backing fewer, bigger bets, marquee OTT actors have become the face of select high-impact shows, while Bollywood A-listers are increasingly seen as cost-prohibitive. Industry executives say global streaming platforms remain wary of footing massive bills for stars who no longer guarantee box office—or viewership—returns. 'Services are closely mapping which titles are working, whom they star and then taking decisions. It is anyway easier to justify a show with big names to top bosses sitting abroad," said a senior executive at a content studio working on a slate of shows, declining to be named. The dichotomy, the person added, is that even top actors are no longer guaranteeing box office performance, and there's a growing disenchantment with celebrity culture in India—across both cinema and digital content. However, platforms have been slow to adapt to that shift. To be sure, while platforms once chased big-ticket originals with top Bollywood names, many of those high-profile deals have stalled or quietly faded. In their place, services are leaning more heavily on a smaller crop of OTT-native stars—who offer strong audience pull at relatively lower cost. Also read | How Zakir Khan, Bhuvan Bam and Kusha Kapila hit the big time 'By and large, actor costs have remained the same. Some of these streaming stars have also moved to theatrical films so they are in a more commanding position. Plus, if they agree to cuts for one show, word spreads," streaming expert Girish Dwibhashyam said. He added that while platforms are balancing this out with fewer big-ticket shows in general, it would be some time before they let go of the dependence on stars.
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Valerie Bertinelli 'Couldn't Be Prouder' of Son and His New Star-Studded Music Video
Valerie Bertinelli continues to support her son Wolfgang Van Halen and his work with his band, Mammoth VH. Last week, she shared a photo on her @wolfiesmomInstagram account from the set of the band's new video for the song 'The End,' in which she makes a cameo along with a few other celebs, including Danny Trejo, who is pictured with the pair. 🎬 SIGN UP for Parade's Daily newsletter to get the latest pop culture news & celebrity interviews delivered right to your inbox 🎬 'What an amazing experience. The video for The End @mammothwvh is out now. The song is streaming everywhere I couldn't be prouder,' she wrote in the caption. Along with Bertinelli and Trejo, the video also includes cameos by rockers Myles Kennedy and Slash, Wolfgang's wife Andraia Van Halen and others, and was directed by Robert Rodriquez (known for From Dusk to Dawn, El Mariachi, Machete and more) and makeup artist Greg Nicotero. The clip has subtle throwbacks to Michael Jackson's iconic 'Thriller' video, Wolfgang's late father Eddie Van Halen, as well as some of Rodriguez's films. It begins with a quote from Jackson before Trejo's character warns Mammoth VH not to play too loud because his customers at the club are 'sensitive to loud noises.' The band fails to heed that advice and the audience soon turns into a variety of werewolves, vampires and zombies as Wolfgang and company rip through the tune. Fans left praise for the clip in the comments on YouTube. 'walking towards the camera on the table, just like dad. Epic,' wrote one, while another added, 'Danny Trejo and Slash in a Mammoth video?!?! HELL YEAH!' 'Valerie throwing punches while Slash just chills was perfect,' another added, while yet another wrote, 'The Force runs strong in the Van Halen family.'
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
'Lost' Ending Explained, 15 Years Later: Were the Passengers of Oceanic 815 Dead the Whole Time?
After six seasons, Lost aired its finale episode in 2010 Fifteen years later, it remains one of the most controversial endings in TV history, with some people theorizing that the passengers had been dead the whole time The showrunners claimed that viewers read too much into the final scene and that it was more important to reunite the characters than solve every mysteryWarning: spoilers ahead! Few TV finales have sparked as much debate as Lost's. Appropriately titled "The End," the final episode aired on May 23, 2010, and left fans sharply divided over its ambiguity. Even 15 years later, people are still asking what happened to the survivors of Oceanic Flight 815 — and if they were really dead this whole time? In the Emmy-winning show, which premiered in September 2004, a flight from Sydney to Los Angeles crashes on a remote island, and the survivors attempt to stay alive while they search for a way home. They soon discover they're not alone on the island, and 'The Others' — the people who call it their home — are not exactly friendly or welcoming to outsiders. Viewers, and the Oceanic Six, later learn that the island has supernatural powers: it can heal people and give them immortality, and it acts as a barrier between evil and the earth. However, instead of wrapping up storylines neatly, the series' final episode created more questions, and left many feeling cheated of a firm resolution. Here's everything to know about Lost's ending. By the final season, there were multiple timelines happening on the show. In season 5, Sawyer (played by Josh Holloway), Juliet (Elizabeth Mitchell), Miles (Ken Leung) and Jin (Daniel Dae Kim) were all in the 1970s, living with The Dharma Initiative, a group of scientists attempting to understand the island's elements. Jack (Matthew Fox), Kate (Evangeline Lilly), Sayid (Naveen Andrews) and Sun (Yunjin Kim) were off the island in the present day, trying to get back to help their friends — with the self-interested encouragement of John Locke (Terry O'Quinn) and Ben (Michael Emerson), who wanted to get back to the island because of their desire to rule the place and tap its power. In the sixth and final season, most of the characters are reunited on the island, including a reluctant Desmond (Henry Ian Cusick), and the lingering mysteries start to unfold. Viewers finally learn who Jacob (Mark Pellegrino) is — he's the protector of the island — and more is revealed about his relationship with his nemesis, the Man in Black, who wants to destroy the island and unleash the evil it's holding at bay. At various times, when he wasn't in corporeal form, the Man in Black also appeared as the Smoke Monster. All the while, there are still two timelines happening. In one, the remaining survivors are on the island: some are trying to escape, some are hoping to be chosen as the next protector and some want to destroy the island. In the other timeline — which showrunners described as a 'flash sideways' — the plane never crashed, but the survivors' lives are still deeply intertwined. 'The fundamental mystery of season 6 is, why are we showing you these two stories and what is their relationship to each other?' executive producer Damon Lindelof told PEOPLE in 2010. 'The audience is gonna have to be very patient.' It turns out that Locke became the Smoke Monster embodied, who continued his quest to destroy the island, and removed a rock at the bottom of a sacred well, which was the stopper for the island's power. The final battle came down to him fighting Jack, who had replaced Jacob as protector of the island. Jack defeats him, but to save the island, he has to replace that rock, even though he knows going into the well will kill him. Before he descends, Jack taps Hurley to be the island's protector. In one of the show's biggest twists, Hurley enlists Ben, the survivors' longtime foe and leader of The Others, to help him care for it. Jack replaces the rock and saves the island, but is grievously wounded. As he's taking his final steps towards death, he finds himself in his sideways timeline, in a room with the spirit of his dead father, who tells Jack he's died. Jack opens the door to that room to find he's in a church, with almost all of the show's main characters there — even some who are still alive in the island timeline, and some who died in previous seasons, like Boone (Ian Somerhalder) and Charlie (Dominic Monaghan). They're all hugging and greeting each other. Locke walks up to Jack, shakes his hand and says, 'We've been waiting for you.' On the island, Jack dies as a plane flies overhead. In the church, he's sitting next to Kate, his longtime would-be partner, and smiling as the scene fades to white. Because of the church scene, which was strongly suggestive of all the characters going to the afterlife, many viewers assumed that all the passengers on Oceanic 815 had been dead the whole time. Further support for that theory was the final credits of the finale, which showed the plane fuselage on the beach as it appeared in the first-ever episode; many interpreted that as cementing the idea that they had all died in the crash. The showrunners, though, were adamant that the survivors weren't dead the whole time. They chose to use that footage as a way to ease viewers out of the show so the transition to a commercial wouldn't be as abrupt. 'We put that footage at the end of the show and I think that the problem was that the audience was so accustomed on Lost to the idea that everything had meaning and purpose and intentionality,' executive producer Carlton Cuse told Vulture in 2021. 'So they read into that footage at the end that, you know, they were dead. That was not the intention,' he continued. 'The intention was just to create a narrative pause. But it was too portentous. It took on another meaning. And that meaning I think, distorted our intentions and helped create that misperception.' Because the ending focused so much on character resolution, leaving the show very far from its intriguing starting point with a lot of the island's mysteries unsolved, like why no babies could be born on the island. There were also some questionable 11th-hour plot twists, like the sudden presence of another faction of The Others, who lived in a never-before-mentioned temple in the jungle, and the reappearance of Claire (Emilie de Ravin) who had unceremoniously disappeared in season 4. 'There was no way to answer all the open questions that existed across the prior 119 episodes of the show,' Cuse told Vulture. 'We sort of tried a version of that with the episode that was a couple before the end, 'Across the Sea,' which was this very mythological episode about the origins of Jacob and the Man in Black. That was sort of what answers look like. And I don't think it was great.' There was also no clear explanation of what those 'flash sideways' were, other than they added spiritual overtones at the end, which seemed out of character for the previous episodes of the show. Years later, executive producer and writer Liz Sarnoff explained it in Vulture's oral history of the Lost finale. 'From a writerly standpoint, it's impossible for me to convey to you in words what the rules of the sideways were, other than to say we called it a bardo in the writers' room, which was largely based on a construct in the Tibetan Book of the Dead, which is this idea that when you die, you experience an afterlife where you do not know that you are dead, and the entire purpose of that afterlife is for you to come to the awareness that you have died," she said. The flashes sideways did a lot of the work of the characters' resolutions, too. The couples who were separated in the show — like Jack and Kate, Desmond and Penny and Sawyer and Juliet — all reunited in those flashes. In the final scene in the church, viewers also see Sun and Jin reunited (they had both died escaping the island) as well as Sayid and Shannon. "We [preferred] to tell an emotional story about what happened to the characters," Cuse said during a PaleyFest panel in 2014, per Entertainment Weekly. "I cared more about the characters' journey and what happened to them." According to Sarnoff, the show's producers always wanted the characters to find each other again and prioritized that over answering questions. 'Our feelings about the finale were always, always, that it was going to have to be very emotional and character-based because we found when we gave answers to mysteries and stuff like that, the audience would normally reject them,' she told Vulture in 2021. 'Mystery shows like that are so tricky because nobody wants the mystery to end, but they want answers.' While showrunners Cuse and Lindelof stand by what they did in the finale, they admit that some choices were heavy-handed. 'There's stuff that makes me grimace a bit,' Lindelof told Vulture. 'Like it's not quite a regret, but I think that if we didn't have that damn stained-glass window, we would've gotten a full letter grade higher on the finale. The literalness of the window — that's a part that made me grit my teeth a little bit.' 'Damon and I accept that the show is what it is, warts and all,' Cuse said at a 2016 Lost reunion concert, according to The Hollywood Reporter. 'Everything is a part of it. So ultimately, is there anything I would change? The answer is no.' Read the original article on People
Edmonton Journal
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Edmonton Journal
Jim Morrison bust stolen from his Paris grave in 1988 has been found
Article content There was no immediate word on whether the bust would be returned to the grave or what other investigation might take place. Morrison, the singer of Doors classics including Light My Fire, Break on Through and The End, was found dead in a Paris bathtub at age 27 in 1971. He was buried at Pere-Lachaise, the city's cemetery that is the final resting place of scores of artists, writers and other cultural luminaries including Marcel Proust, Oscar Wilde, Gertrude Stein and Edith Piaf.
