headed

You don’t have to be afraid to put your dream in action, because you’ll never fade, Trina Vega, you’ll be the main attraction — in a “Victorious” spinoff.

Netflix announced Friday that “Hollywood Arts,” a spinoff of the Nickelodeon teen sitcom following a group of students attending a performing arts high school, is now in production. The new show will see Daniella Monet reprise her Trina role from the original series, which aired for four seasons on the kid-centric network.

“Coming back as Trina alongside such a dynamic, powerful cast of newcomers is something I feel very lucky and grateful to do,” Monet said in a news release, which announced the “Hollywood Arts” cast will also include young actors Alyssa Miles, Emmy Liu-Wang, Peyton Jackson, Martin Kamm and Erika Swayze.

“‘Victorious’ was in a lot of ways life changing for all of us, our cast is forever bonded by that experience, and to think that I have an opportunity to steward anything close to that is a feeling I can’t begin to describe,” Monet continued. “As an actress, producer, and mom, I am so eager to create something we can all be proud to share with the world.”

According to the logline, “Hollywood Arts” will see Trina return to her alma mater as “an unqualified substitute teacher” after struggling to make it as an actress. There, she will both clash and “unexpectedly” inspire the next generation of ambitious and talented performing arts school students.

In “Victorious,” which originally ran from 2010 to 2013, Trina was the untalented but overly confident older sister of Tori Vega, played by Victoria Justice. The cast of the hit teen series also included Ariana Grande, Avan Jogia, Elizabeth Gillies, Leon Thomas III and Matt Bennett.

The spinoff will also feature Yvette Nicole Brown as a guest star. Brown briefly appeared in “Victorious” as school principal Helen Dubois — a character who originated on Nickelodeon’s “Drake & Josh,” which ran from 2004 to 2007.

In addition to starring on “Hollywood Arts,” Monet will serve as an executive producer alongside showrunners Jake Farrow and Samantha Martin and director Jonathan Judge. (Dan Schneider, who created “Victorious” and whose alleged misconduct was at the center of the 2024 docuseries “Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV,” is not involved.)

The 26-episode first season is expected to debut on Netflix in 2026 before hitting Nickelodeon and Paramount+. The series is currently in production in Ontario, Canada.

Oct. 4 (UPI) — Billionaire Andrej Babis is poised to return to power as prime minister in the Czech Republic in a four-year comeback that mirrors U.S. President Donald Trump.

Known as “Czech Trump,” Babis earned a decisive victory Saturday in a parliamentary election after being voted out of office. Elections took place on Friday and Saturday.

Babis’ populist ANO party, which means yes in Czech, took 36% of the vote, which is the party’s best-ever result, according to Czech Statistics Office with about 95% of precincts counted.

Prime Minister Petr Fiala conceded defeat as head of the Spolu (Together) Party with 23% followed by the STAN liberal, centrist party. There was a turnout of 68.9% in a nation of 10 million residents.

“I’m surprised they received so many votes,” Babi said in Prague. “I didn’t believe it at first. I hoped we would reach 30%, as our poll suggested 26.”

No major Czech party will outright majority in the 200-seat lower house of Parliament. Only parties that win at least 5% of the votes can enter parliament.

Czech President Petr Pavel, who largely is in a ceremonial role, has said will begin forming a coalition on Sunday. Babis wants support from the far-right Freedom and Direct Democracy coalition and the populist Motorists party.

The Freedom and Direct Democracy captured 7.9% and Motorists 6.78%.

There could be a “a nightmare scenario for international, European partners” should Babis invite the right-wing parties to join the government, Daniel Hegedüs, director for Central Europe at the German Marshall Fund in Berlin, told The New York Times.

“There could be a huge reluctance to continue support to Ukraine, and to play the same constructive role in the European Union and NATO” as the Czech Republic has before, he said.

The 71-year-old former premier backs policies similar to Trump to spur economic growth.

He wants to cut taxes, increase pensions, cap energy prices, freeze politicians’ salaries and end funding for public television.

Babis capitalized on voter frustration with the current government’s response to a cost-of-living crisis. He also would promote the country’s place in Europe by focusing on transactional politics over values espoused by the EU.

Last year, he co-founded the Patriots for Europe, a right-wing main opposition party in the EU with Hungary’s Fidesz party, France’s Rassemblement National and Austria’s Freedom Party, both far-right groups.

Babis is riding a wave of populist politicians, including Prime Ministers Viktor Orban of Hungary and Robert Fico of Slovakia.

But unlike Trump and those leaders, Babis has never aligned himself with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“Babiš is not an extremist but a dealmaker and populist who wants to have a catch-all party and he believes that he can offer something to everybody,” Petr Kolar, a former Czech ambassador to Russia, told the Financial Times before the vote.

“I don’t think Babiš will be against [more] sanctions” on Russia, adding “I believe that Babis is inspired by Orban, he admires him, but he doesn’t want to be perceived as a troublemaker in Brussels so much.”

Like those leaders, Babis has vowed to buck the EU on defense spending and immigration.

Babis became wealthy with an agribusiness with the fall of communism in Czechoslovakia in late 1989.

Czechoslovakia dissolved on Jan. 1, 1993, into Czech Republic and Slovakia.

Babis wants to resurrect the so-called Visegrad Four — the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia — as a regional force uniting 65 million citizens for a better say in the 27-member EU. Czech Republic joined the bloc in 2004.

Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Poland at one time were communist nations, like the Soviet Union, which included Russia.

“We will never drag the Czech Republic to the east, never leave the EU or NATO,” Babis said in his last televised pre-election appeal to voters.

Pavel, a former NATO general, faced off against Babis in a 2023 presidential election won by Pavel.

Two games into the Eastern League football season and it’s already clear that the matchup on Oct. 17 featuring Garfield at South Gate should decide the league championship.

Garfield (3-2, 2-0), with All-City running back Ceasar Reyes leading the way, defeated Huntington Park 35-28 on Thursday night. South Gate (4-2, 2-0), relying on quarterback Michael Gonzalez, defeated Legacy 48-8.

Reyes rushed for 259 yards in 20 carries and scored four touchdowns. He also had eight tackles on defense. Reyes has been seeing some action as a wildcat quarterback, adding options for first-year coach Patrick Vargas.

Gonzalez passed for 202 yards and one touchdown and ran for 71 yards and two touchdowns against Legacy. He’s got 16 touchdown passes this season.

This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email [email protected].

There’s no denying the trajectory of artificial intelligence (AI) over the past few years. Many of the companies that have pivoted to adopt this game-changing technology have ascended the ranks of the world’s largest companies when measured by market cap. When the stock market closed on Tuesday, there were 11 members of the vaunted $1 trillion club, the vast majority of which have significant ties to AI.

After the market close, industry stalwart Oracle (ORCL 1.37%) reported its recent quarterly results, and despite missing Wall Street’s expectations, the stock surged higher and never looked back. Why? In a stunning turn of events, the company signed numerous multibillion-dollar contracts that kicked its future growth potential into overdrive.

Given the magnitude of these deals, it seems the writing is on the wall for Oracle to join this elite fraternity. The company’s growth is at a tipping point, and management’s commentary suggests the company has a long AI-centric runway for growth ahead.

Image source: Getty Images.

A trusted partner

Oracle holds a coveted place in the technology community, as roughly 98% of Global Fortune 500 companies make up its customer rolls. The industry stalwart provides its customers with a strategic combination of cloud, database, and enterprise software. Naturally, when the shift to AI began in earnest, this captive audience began to turn to Oracle for its expanding collection of cloud and AI solutions.

The company’s growth has been uneven, but the future looks bright. During Oracle’s fiscal 2026 first quarter (ended Aug. 31), total revenue grew 11% year over year to $14.9 billion, while its adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of $1.47 grew by 6%. Both numbers accelerated compared to Q4, but missed Wall Street’s consensus estimates, which called for revenue of $15 billion and adjusted EPS of $1.48.

However, that wasn’t the headline. Last quarter, CEO Safra Catz noted that the company had reached a “tipping point,” noting that revenue growth was accelerating, “and it’s only going up from here.”

That turned out to be an understatement. Oracle reported explosive growth in its remaining performance obligation (RPO) — or contractual obligations not yet included in revenue — which skyrocketed 359% year over year to $455 billion, up from $138 billion in Q4.

Catz explained, “We signed four multibillion-dollar contracts with three different customers in Q1,” calling the results “astonishing.” He went on to say that demand for Oracle Cloud “continues to build.” The company expects to sign “several additional multi-billion-dollar customers and RPO is likely to exceed half a trillion dollars.”

Looking to the future, Oracle is forecasting Oracle Cloud Infrastructure revenue to grow 77% to $18 billion this year — but that’s just the beginning:

• Fiscal 2027 cloud revenue of $32 billion, up 78%.
• Fiscal 2028 cloud revenue of $73 billion, up 128%.
• Fiscal 2029 cloud revenue of $144 billion, up 97%.

Mind you, this is just Oracle Cloud Infrastructure revenue, and Catz noted that “most of the revenue in this five-year forecast is already booked in our reported RPO.” That means that any future contracts will probably increase those growth targets.

The path to $1 trillion just got much shorter

Oracle is leveraging its position as a trusted partner to help customers choose suitable AI and cloud solutions and profit from the growing adoption of generative AI.

Before today’s results, Wall Street was expecting Oracle to generate revenue of $66.75 billion in its fiscal 2026 (which began June 1), giving it a forward price-to-sales (P/S) ratio of about 10. Assuming its P/S remained constant, Oracle needed to generate revenue of approximately $98 billion annually to support a $1 trillion market cap. Given those figures, Oracle could have achieved a $1 trillion market cap before 2028.

Wall Street hasn’t yet had time to update its models, but given the magnitude of the company’s results, previous forecasts are out the window. Barring unforeseen circumstances, I predict Oracle will join the $1 trillion club within the next 12 months.

Estimates regarding the market potential of generative AI continue to ratchet higher. Big Four accounting firm Price Waterhouse Coopers (PwC) calculates the opportunity could be worth as much as $15.7 trillion annually by 2030, which illustrates the magnitude of the opportunity.

Given the recent contract wins, Oracle has proven that it is leveraging its experience to profit from this windfall. The writing is on the wall, and Oracle is poised to join the fraternity of trillionaires in short order.

I’m recently returned from two weeks in Paris for vacation (planned for the window right before so many restaurants close for a break in August), and I didn’t even pretend I intended to give myself a break from the business of dining. It’s Paris. Of course I was going all in, particularly since I hadn’t been to France in over a decade.

The research — the brooding over all the possibilities — is always part of the fun. Beyond suggestions from Parisian friends, there was much triangulating of recommendations, especially among the Paris By Mouth newsletter, Lindsey Tramuta (who writes for many English language publications and wrote the “Eater Guide to Paris” book released in April) and David Lebovitz’s very popular newsletter.

Nothing about the following list is complete, but as inspirations for your own travels I pared two weeks down to a dozen Paris suggestions, plus thoughts on a few of the city’s geekiest coffee bars.

The one Paris meal I can’t stop thinking about

Over the year and a half I traveled through our state to write the 101 Best Restaurants in California guide, I kept wishing to experience a tasting-menu restaurant that thrillingly centers vegetables on the plate. Excellent places like Kismet and RVR include intricately composed dishes on their menus that roll with the seasons. I’m thinking, though, of a kitchen with a revolutionary streak, where the emphasis on plant-based cooking not only feels unapologetic but galvanizing, rattling diners awake to the delicious, sustainable-minded possibilities of decentering meat in one of the world’s great growing climates.

That restaurant doesn’t exist yet in California. But it does in Paris.

Manon Fleury opened Datil, a 33-seat railroad-style space in the 3rd arrondissement, in September 2023. Her restaurant’s website details commitments that will sound familiar to Californian restaurant obsessives: how the staff (predominantly women) foster close relationships to producers, how the menu strictly reflects what’s coming from the meals, the low-waste approach.

Zucchini mille-feuille with skate wing, buerre blanc and sorrel sauce at Datil restaurant in Paris.

(Bill Addison / Los Angeles Times)

So maybe, in my jadedness, I was caught off-guard by the lyricism of the five-course lunch. Beautiful in its garden colors and juxtaposing crunchy and yielding textures, but not showy or pushy. The kind of food where I found myself leaning toward what I was eating, like bending closer to catch what my smartest friend was saying at a party.

To describe the heart of the meal: After crackery nibbles, and a lovely flan whose flavors brought to mind white gazpacho, came porridge made using white rice from the coastal southern region of Camargue, where the grain (including a famous red strain) has been grown since the 13th century. It was crowned with an improvisational arrangement of tomatoes and other summery fruits and vegetables, and a gloss of herb oil. It was filling and comforting and also, given all the pointy vegetals flavors, enthralling.

Manon Fleury, center, the chef and owner of Datil in Paris.

(Bill Addison / Los Angeles Times)

Then came a stunning savory play on a mille-feuille formed from sinewy, perfectly salted blanched zucchini. Its layers hid flaked morsels of skate wing — the kitchen is roughly 85 percent plant-based but seafood or meat might be used sparingly — with a brunoise of zucchini, parsley and shallots. Servers swooped in with two sauces poured from metal carafes: a warm beurre blanc tensed with juiced kumquat and cider vinaigrette, and a cool sorrel sauce that clung to the butter in swirls. Another sauce made from plums already lurked underneath. So many harmonies to discern.

Lastly, some straight-up indulgence: a boozy, plush savarin, about the size of a Krispy Kreme doughnut, domed with half of a poached and lightly charred apricot.

Apricot savarin at Datil in Paris.

(Bill Addison / Los Angeles Times)

All the reasons to travel — to know a place while better seeing ourselves, and who and what we might be — came to bear in this emotionally intelligent meal. Chefs in California could, and should, be cooking like this.

Where to eat in Paris

Two fantastic bistros: Friends urged that while Le Bistrot Paul Bert has become a de-facto option for visitors over the last decade (and I have, in the past, sopped up its île flottante until I indeed floated away), I should check out Bistrot des Tournelles in the 4th for a more intimate, relaxed but still bullseye bistro dinner. They were right. Surprise hit? The gushing, textbook chicken Cordon bleu.

Harder to book but worth the effort: Chez Georges at 1 Rue du Mail. (I mention the address specifically because there other similarly named restaurants, but this is the one you want.) Jean-Gabriel de Bueil leads a suave cast of characters in a rowdy, cramped, exhilarating room. Squint at the menu written in tiny handwritten cursive and pick out salade frisée, ris de veau, cote d’agneau grillé and the must-have tarte tatin.

My favorite Lebanese meal: If you read my work, you know I’m looking out for Lebanese restaurants wherever I go in the world. Part of my time in Paris was with my Lebanese crew, and among several meals we agreed hands-down the best was Kubri, the deservedly lauded draw in the 11th run by Ingrid and Mayfrid Chehlaoui and chef Rita Higgins Akar. So, so rarely does a Lebanese kitchen find balance between the traditional dishes (many of which have simple ingredients that demand technique) and innovation (which often produces aberrations that have no relation to the original). This one nails the midpoint, with wonders like a charred wedge of cabbage rubbed in Aleppo pepper butter and pummeled with diced pickled apricot, shanklish (crumbly aged cheese) and salty-sugary peanuts modeled after a snack in Lebanon called Cri-Cri. The only restaurant to which I circled back for a second meal.

Hispi cabbage with pickled apricots and many other garnishes at Lebanese restaurant Kubri in Paris.

(Bill Addison / Los Angeles Times)

Seafood for a casual lunch: Septime, the modern bastion of bistronomy, rides on its fame and is so difficult to book. Show up for lunch at its next-door seafood restaurant, Clamato, which doesn’t take reservations. I’d been warned about long waits, but we managed to walk right in on a summer weekday at 1:15 p.m. Beautiful plates of fish and shellfish from the French coast, most seasoned with restraint and a nod to Japan here and there. Loved the take on the bountiful Provençal grand aioli with a slab of pollock and big hunks of blanched fennel, carrots and zucchini. (I was continually reminded that Parisians could teach us how to blanch vegetables to just-tender, properly seasoned deliciousness.)

Seafood for a fancier night out: Restaurant Le Duc, in the 14th and around since the late 1960s, personifies midcentury Parisian elegance: rich wood paneling, career servers with sly humor, simple and impeccable seafood. A lovely crab salad, cleaned entirely of shell, segued to a gorgeous, finely textured sole meunière presented in a copper pan before filleting. Among desserts displayed on a roving cart, home in on crunching, gorgeously proportioned mille-feuille.

The three-star blowout: Plan half a year ahead to score a reservation at Plénitude, the ne-plus-ultra splurge (as in €345 per person) in the Cheval Blanc hotel, with its almost comically scenic perch at the edge of the Seine overlooking the Pont-Neuf bridge. Arnaud Donckele is a chef of the moment; Plénitude has all the global accolades. For fine-dining devotees, I say it’s worth the investment. Much has already been written about Donckele’s mastery over sauces, and I love how servers present both a side of the sauce to taste on its own — which I sometimes prized even more than with other elements on the plate — and a booklet that details the dizzying number of ingredients they contain. (So many wild vinegars!) The staff move as one, with the synchronized precision of a Rolex. As is expected during the loftiest modern tasting-menu dinners, a little fun comes into play: Diners might move location for one course, and those who opt for a cheese course rise from their chairs to make selections from a walk-in cabinet that opens at the end of one room. The whole experiences feels at once very worldly and very Parisian.

Composing a plate in the “cheese cupboard” at Plénitude in the Cheval Blanc hotel in Paris.

(Bill Addison / Los Angeles Times)

Speaking of cheese: Plenty of people visit Paris for the patisseries. I’m with y’all (the apricot tart at Du Pain et Des Idées forever), but I come even more for the fromageries. A group of us signed up for a cheese tasting experience, via Paris by Mouth, with Jennifer Greco, an American who has lived in France for decades and dedicated her curiosity to all things fromage. We begin at Laurent Dubois, her favorite cheese shop in Paris, and Greco is excellent about adapting a selection to the group’s interests and knowledge levels. I like bloomy rinds (like Brie de Meaux and the runnier, funkier specimens, and she obliged — while steering us towards the sublimely nutty Comtés the shop is known for carrying. We walked a few minutes to a space where we slowly tasted through our loot, with plenty of bread and appropriate wines. What an incredible afternoon, and believe me, it counts as a meal.

France meets Japan: Japan has been a major influence on aspects of French dining for over 50 years, and chefs in Paris, more than ever it feels like, graft the two cultures and cuisines. One newer great: Maison by Sota Atsumi in the 11th, also known as Maison and Maison Sota. Atsumi earned fan as the chef at Clown Bar, and his own tasting-menu restaurant is warm and communal: Most diners sit either along the counter or at a comfortable, room-length table. The air smells of woodsmoke, a fascinating counterpoint (in a way that particular fragrance usually engenders casual and rustic) to the meticulous compositions in large ceramics that define the aesthetic. But all the foams and saucy dots and tiny flowers trick the mind after all: The flavors are shockingly soulful.

Marinated tomato with paprika, sardine broth and chervil oil at Maison Sota in Paris.

(Bill Addison / Los Angeles Times)

A standout Moroccan restaurant: Marie-Jose Mimoun waves you to a table at Le Tagine in the 11th, and for a few hours you sort of absorb into the living entity of her dining room, flowing with the pace. I was sad that, pre-vacation, she had stopped making a special lamb and peach tagine advertised on a placard, but a variation with the meat flavored with raisins, onions, honey and almonds was still among the best tagines I’ve tasted outside Morocco. Ditto the couscous, served with plenty of broth and smoky harissa full of tightly knotted spices. Great natural-leaning wine list too.

The dependable crêpe destination: Breizh Cafe has 13 locations around Paris, a chain by any standard, but it was recommended in so many publications it felt like the right recommendation for a group outing one night. We gathered at the location in Saint-Germain-des-Prés, and we had the reliable experience we needed. The savory galette with ham, egg and Comté delivered lacy texture and deep buckwheat flavor (as is traditional in Brittany, where the company originates), and a sweet crêpes Suzette, flambéed with Grand Marnier, flickered with a taut dash of yuzu as well. To drink: dry pear cider.

Perfect end-of-the-trip pizza: So many friends mentioned Oobatz, a pizza restaurant by Maine native Dan Pearson in collaboration with the owners of Le Rigmarole (roundly lauded but not open during my trip). I thought that the last thing I wanted in Paris was pizza. And then, after two weeks of nonstop eating and drinking, my partner and I looked at each other the evening after a wine-soaked lunch and said, “Yeah, let’s go have pizza.” So good. Pearson uses a sourdough base for his bready crusts; they’d be well regarded anywhere in America. Bonus that the menu lists a “chef du surprise” pie; ours was a white pie dotted with meaty splotches of duck ragu.

Pizza with duck ragu at Oobatz in Paris

(Bill Addison / Los Angeles Times)

… and a few coffee notes

I recommend the list that Lindsey Trumata co-wrote for Conde Nast Traveler for a broader perspective on drinking coffee in Paris, but these three coffee bars stood out for me:

Emily Wilson of The Angel newsletter has a very trustworthy list of Paris recommendations. She directed me to Téléscope Cafe, presided over by Nicolas Clerc, regarded by many as the (still young) godfather of Paris’s fourth-wave coffee movement — by which I’ll define as bars dedicated to working with roasters (or roasting their own beans) with direct relationships to farmers and an emphasis on unusually expressive coffees. Wilson loves Clerc’s iced coffee; I admire his long list of pour over options listed by growing region and tasting notes in order of intensity. It was my first coffee stop on the trip, and the place to which I most returned. His banana bread with salted butter was, most days, the only breakfast I needed.

The most dedicated coffee nerds should plan ahead for Substance Café, a reservations-only bar run by barista Joachim Morceau and his wife Alexandrine. Joachim has showmanship, charming customers from behind the counter but he’s intensely serious about his craft. (The couple roasts their own beans.) He often encourages every person to start with one featured coffee to grasp individual tastes, and then he starts making excellent suggestions, equally compelling for pour overs or milky espresso drinks.

Joachim Morceau, who runs the reservations-only coffee bar Substance Café in Paris with his wife, Alexandrine.

(Bill Addison / Los Angeles Times)

Substance is one of those places where customers compare notes on where else they’re drinking coffee in Paris, and based on those conversations I ended up at Tiba, a tiny shop that gets intensely busy on the weekends. Kevin Cerqueira, as friendly as he is passionate, mans the place by himself. He wasn’t brewing a variety of Colombian beans roasted by local company Datura, but based on my very specific predlictions in coffee (notes dried fruits and booze) I bought them from his supply … and I already have an order in for four more boxes.

Also …

• Above I mentioned RVR, the reincarnation of Travis Lett’s California izakaya in Venice. This week I have a long-in-coming review of the restaurant. If you haven’t been to RVR since it opened last fall, two things: Summer is peak vegetables (which is where the kitchen truly excels), and it might be time to return for brunch (which launched in the last few months) on the rooftop patio.
• Jenn Harris weighs in on the buzzy San Gabriel restaurant that specializes in a single meat: lamb.
• Stephanie Breijo and Danielle Dorsey have a guide to L.A.’s bar boom, with 21 recommendations for vibes and cocktails.
• Lauren Ng reports on Mid East Eats, a fast-casual destination for homestyle Palestinian cuisine that’s also the first legally permitted home kitchen in Watts.
• Daniel Miller has a story on how local culinary students seem undeterred by the ongoing challenges of L.A.’s restaurant industry: Los Angeles Trade-Technical College’s saw enrollment in its culinary program grow by 13% last academic year, and it is up nearly 30% since 2019.

Video from Al Jazeera Mubasher showed the crew of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla Coalition’s Madleen in life jackets with their hands raised as the ship was about to be raided by Israeli forces. Communications with the vessel were cut shortly after.