Features & Blogs

Sim Leisure Group Ltd, a leading theme park developer and operator based in Penang, Malaysia, has entered into a non-binding memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Sri Lanka’s Elpitiya Plantations PLC, to set up its world-class ESCAPE theme park in Galle.

Having been granted preliminary approval to commence construction and barring unforeseen circumstances, the Group aims to commence construction of ESCAPE Sri Lanka in March 2020. Both parties also expect the signing of the definitive agreement in relation to ESCAPE Sri Lanka later this month, which includes the entry of a strategic joint venture partnership whereby Sim Leisure and Elpitiya (or its nominee) are the proposed joint venture partners of Venture Valley. The Company will make the necessary announcements in due course.

Eimear McBride’s A Girl is a Half-Formed Thing (2013) and The Lesser Bohemians (2016) are renowned for their elliptical Joycean prose – and credited with triggering a fresh wave of experimental Irish fiction. Her third novel is more conventional in form, but no less mesmerising for it. Its nameless – and entirely rootless – narrator charts her endless journey from hotel room to hotel room in cities ranging from Paris to Auckland (and the many sexual encounters she has along the way), but her peripatetic lifestyle has a cost. Provocative in every sense of the word.

On Monday morning, with just under a month to go until the Oscars, actors John Cho and Issa Rae helped the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announce the nominees for this year’s ceremony, set to take place on Feb. 9. The 92nd Academy Awards, which will be held at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, will honor the films, as well as the acting, writing and directing, that have made a major impact in cinema over the last year.

As E! News previously shared, the 2020 Oscars won’t have a host, just like last year’s ceremony. Karey Burke, president of Disney-owned ABC Entertainment, whose network airs the ceremony, recently announced that this year’s award show will not have a “traditional host,” but also noted that it will be an “entertaining show.”

A few years ago I attended the birthday party of a friend’s French bulldog and was the only one not to show up with a gift. I have always been an animal lover, but I used to roll my eyes at people who indulged their pets. I would sneer at chihuahuas wearing custom knit sweaters and poodles who had home-cooked meals. Whenever I saw people kiss their dogs, I wondered what would happen if they redirected all the kindness and money they showered on their fur ball towards another human being instead. It seemed like a cruel example of the world’s inequality that the pet elite lived more luxuriously than many people.

At first glance, Houston doesn’t exactly seem like an exciting destination for design lovers. The downtown is characterized by corporate-looking glass-and-steel skyscrapers; the city has no zoning laws, so residential neighborhoods are replete with a mishmash of architectural styles (you might see a Tudor-style mansion and a starkly minimalist house right next to each other); and no matter where you want to go, you have to get in a car. Locals joke that Houston is 15 minutes from Houston. But dig a little deeper and you’ll find emerging neighborhoods, a thriving community of artists, swanky new hotels, and an incredible restaurant scene. “It’s an exciting place to live because it’s ever shifting and moving,” says Diane Gelman, a local artist with a studio in the Silos at Sawyer Yards.

What does jewelry look like in the new decade? In the past few years, we saw jewelry scale back: Massive statement necklaces from Gossip Girl’s heyday were replaced by layered chains and charms, and we traded in gaudy earrings for a constellation of stud piercings. Surprisingly, we’re swinging back in the oversized, over-bedazzled, but not-so-overdone direction. At least that’s what we found out when we tapped two retail experts from Bloomingdales and Net-A-Porter to get a better feel for which 2020 jewelry trends are worth buying into in. Read on for their secret to accessorizing like a pro, here.

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts awards are being held on Sunday, and everyone’s wondering whether this awards show—one of the last in a marathon of a month that includes the SAG Awards, the Critic’s Choice Awards, and the Golden Globes—will hold up as a predictor for the Oscars.

The BAFTAs received their share of controversy this year for nominating only white actors, prompting British stars Gemma Arerton and Carey Mulligan to team up with Time’s Up UK to suggest more diverse nominees. The BAFTAs themselves have acknowledged the issue at hand—will the winners actors highlight this disparity in their acceptance speeches? We’ll have to wait and see.

Cardi B and husband Offset were among several celebs spotted at the 2020 Super Bowl at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami on Sunday.

The “Money” rapper posted on her Instagram Story a video of Demi Lovato’s highly-praised National Anthem performance. Offset also posted videos on his Instagram Story, including a clip of him and his wife sitting in a VIP box, writing, “It’s been 4 years since I met the woman of my life.” He also said he bet $50,000 on the Chiefs.

The Crown has found its new Queen Elizabeth II. After months of swirling rumors, show runner Peter Morgan has confirmed that Imelda Staunton will take on the role after Olivia Colman, who plays the monarch in the series’s third and fourth season. However, Morgan also announced that the fifth season, when Staunton takes over, will also be the show’s final season.

“I’m absolutely thrilled to confirm Imelda Staunton as Her Majesty the The Queen for the fifth and final season, taking The Crown into the 21st century,” he said in a statement, per Deadline. “Imelda is an astonishing talent and will be a fantastic successor to Claire Foy and Olivia Colman.”

We witnessed a wellspring of swoon-worthy hair and makeup looks at the 62nd annual Grammy Awards tonight, and if you can believe it, a fair share of them were actually created using drugstore products. It’s no joke, folks: Some of your favorite beauty moments from the biggest night in music were achieved using affordable items that almost anyone can access, which just goes to show how far drugstore products have come in terms of quality. (It’s no wonder we have an entire Allure Best of Beauty category dedicated to drugstore goodies now.)