Author: damazah@gmail.com

It was “the most personal show I have done here”, the designer Pierpaolo Piccioli said after his Balenciaga presentation at Paris fashion week on Thursday.Piccioli, who always wears a coral necklace, placed a monumental sculpture of undersea coral crafted from fabric in the middle of the catwalk. Like Cristóbal Balenciaga, Piccioli is both a maximalist and a minimalist. He likes boldness but not fuss, each look one audacious idea executed cleanly. A floor-length ivory cape fastened with a simple gold clasp. A black suit with one bold slash of tangerine at the jacket hem. A gown covered from neck to…

The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has approved the resumption of work on the long-abandoned Utako General Hospital and the renovation and upgrading of 14 other general hospitals across the territory. The FCT Mandate Secretary for Health and Environmental Services, Adedolapo Fasawe, disclosed this to journalists after the 19th FCT Executive Council meeting on Tuesday, presided over by the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike. The intervention, she said, would involve the construction and equipping of the Utako hospital, as well as the provision of medical equipment and improvements to existing facilities across the territory. Reviving Utako hospital Ms Fasawe said Mr…

The Presidency has commended Promiseland Innovation for launching ProTaxi, a home-grown e-hailing platform, in Abuja with the rollout of 1,000 electric vehicles [EVs]. Senior Special Assistant to the President on Transportation and Mobility, Prince Adetokunbo Ademola Ade-John, gave the commendation at the official launch of ProTaxi in Abuja on Thursday. Ade-John lauded the initiative and commended the Chief Executive Officer of PromiseLand Innovation, Ambassador Emmanuel Lawrence Oloche, for the project, saying it was part of the president’s vision for transportation and mobility. He said the ProTaxi initiative aligned with the administration’s vision for the transportation sector, particularly efforts aimed at providing…

On Wednesday night, Gustavo Dudamel was reflecting on the awe he felt the first time he stood on the plaza of Lincoln Center as a young violinist in the National Children’s Symphony of Venezuela.He was facing an adoring crowd of around 2,200 at the New York Philharmonic’s season-opening gala inside David Geffen Hall, this time as the orchestra’s music and artistic director.“It’s like being embraced by family, all these wonderful people,” said Dudamel, the 45-year-old Venezuelan conductor who earlier this month officially began his five-year tenure.Among the crowd were the director Steven Spielberg; the actors Alec Baldwin, Bernadette Peters and…

Hollywood is full of monsters these days. And not grabby directors or casting-couch creeps.I’m talking about A-list actors who play honest-to-God monstrosities: Jacob Elordi as a gray-fleshed corpse collage in “Frankenstein,” or Demi Moore as a gooey, tooth-studded abomination in “The Substance.” In “The Bride!,” Jessie Buckley is an untamed she-monster, rampaging through 1930s Chicago and New York like a pre-Code Barbara Stanwyck on coke.And with Halloween just around the corner, Alexander Skarsgard will soon be the featured creature in a creature feature of his own. Opening in theaters on Oct. 23, “Wicker” is a folk-horror rom-com about a lonely…

Congress raises concerns over RSS roleThe meeting also had a political component, with the Congress discussing what it describes as the RSS’s influence over education.Venugopal said the chief ministers would make presentations on the party’s allegations regarding the RSS’s role in the education system, including its claim that RSS-backed vice-chancellors are being appointed to influence higher education. These are allegations made by the Congress as part of its political position on education policy.The Congress has previously criticised changes in curricula and appointments in higher education, arguing that they reflect an ideological influence on education. The BJP and its ideological affiliates…

Home-grown e-hailing platform ProTaxi has officially commenced operations in Abuja, offering commuters an electric-powered transportation option while creating opportunities for drivers and their families. ProTaxi is an initiative of Promiseland, which is focused on using innovation and technology to move ordinary people from poverty to prosperity and create opportunities for families to earn a living. The launch, held in Abuja on Thursday, attracted guests and stakeholders as PromiseLand Innovation unveiled the ProTaxi ride service, built around electric vehicles. The company had earlier announced plans to onboard and empower 1,000 drivers with electric vehicles, with the initiative aimed at creating income…

For the past five years, I have been trying to cut down on the amount of ultra-processed foods my family consumes. There have been various strategies we used to manage this. One question comes up time and again: how much does this all cost? UPFs are often regarded as cheaper than preparing a from-scratch meal, and they’re a lot less time-consuming. Convenience is one of their selling points, after all.A nutritionist and public health researcher at Deakin Institute for Physical Activity and Nutrition, Dr Priscila Machado, describes UPFs as “branded, commercial formulations made from cheap ingredients extracted or derived from…

Former Rivers State Governor and former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, has recounted how he gradually withdrew from the (late) Muhammadu Buhari administration after becoming dissatisfied with the direction of the government. Mr Amaechi said he eventually sought Mr Buhari’s permission to return to university while still serving as minister of transportation, an arrangement that saw him report to the ministry only on Wednesdays. He disclosed this during an interview on AIT on Wednesday night, while reflecting on his time in the Buhari administration and his political journey ahead of the 2027 presidential election. Excerpts of the interview is posted…

“They’re gorgeous little beasts,” Eddie Izzard said on the subject of pears in her mid-1990s show Definite Article, “but they’re ripe for half an hour and you’re never there!” Little did she know that she was touching on one of the difficulties of making perry – the fermented juice of perry pears – a drink that remains, in comparison with cider, a relative cottage industry.There are some notable exceptions to that rule (anyone familiar with Babycham and Lambrini will have tried a commercial perry, albeit an industrially made one), but the perry I’m interested in is made from specific perry…