“You only need to find one person in this entire world who doesn’t find you completely insufferable.”
That’s the wisdom Taylor Swift dispenses near the end of “Cleveland!,” one of four new songs on a newly expanded edition of “The Life of a Showgirl,” and if that exclamation point doesn’t tell you she’s found that person then I don’t know what would.
Released Thursday night, almost exactly a year after the original album came out, “The Life of a Showgirl: The Encore” tacks four bonus songs onto the blockbuster 2025 LP that set a new record for the biggest opening week of all time even as it drew the harshest reviews of her career. It also follows Swift’s high-profile wedding in July — her husband, the NFL star Travis Kelce, grew up in Cleveland Heights — and comes just as Grammy voters are about to decide on nominations for February’s awards ceremony, where “The Life of a Showgirl” is eligible for Swift’s eighth album of the year nod. (In case you haven’t been keeping track, that would tie her with Frank Sinatra for the most in Recording Academy history.)
In a statement ahead of “The Encore’s” release, Swift said she’d taken a trip to Sweden to celebrate “Showgirl’s” success with Max Martin and Shellback, her two principal collaborators on the album. “Really we just wanted to reflect and take in how grateful we were for the moment we were in,” she wrote, “but there was a studio there and we did what we do when we feel anything at all: We wrote more songs.”
Here are the four “Encore” tracks, ranked from worst to best.
4. ‘Cleveland!’ The exclamation point really is hilarious. (No shots at Cleveland.) I kind of dig the airy jangle-pop production, which reminds me a bit of “Ruin the Friendship,” by far the best song on the original “Showgirl.” But writing about her and Kelce’s romance as a bulwark against all the hate she receives as a rich and powerful pop star feels pretty uninspired, at least as rendered here. “The taste of me is acquired, but it’s his favorite dish”? Alas, no.
3. ‘Patient Zero’ “Encore’s” lead single — with a splashy music video set to premiere during Sunday night’s MTV Video Music Awards — has Swift fielding a phone call from a woman who’s dating one of the singer’s exes and could use a little advice. (“I’ve gotta be honest — I’ve been expecting your call,” Swift tells her.) That’s a rich premise, and I like the way the unexpected fiddle lick scrapes against the glossy synths. Again, though, the lyrics lack the emotional sophistication with which she once would have told a story like this one. And the song’s central image — a guy with a “devil on his shoulder under his halo” — is downright awkward.
2. ‘Pink Clouding’ OK, now we’re getting somewhere. This shimmering electro-pop number takes its title, as I just learned, from a term used among people experiencing addiction to describe the temporary euphoria one might feel in the early stages of recovery. (Recall that Swift wrote “Lavender Haze” a few years ago after hearing the phrase on “Mad Men.”) Here she’s looking back with regret at a relationship that she can see now was clearly a rebound: “You met me at a cursed time / I told you I was fine / And you were so good / That’s why you haunt me like you should.”
1. ‘Babylon’ Look, I’m not crazy about “liberated libertine.” And “Love is ice upon the ladder that you need to climb”? It’s giving Airbnb wall art. But man, oh man, does Swift finally tap into something deep in “Encore’s” closer: a trembling acoustic-guitar ditty about someone who’s realized only too late what they let slip away. Listen for yourself to hear how she sings it — this is a beautifully tender vocal performance — but the verse about the all-but-abandoned young mom sneaking into the bathroom to call her mom is an absolute killer. Taylor Swift: good songwriter!
Towering teenager Zhang Zhanshuo became the first swimmer in history to win seven golds at a single Asian Games, while on the track, Thai sprinter Puripol Boonson powered to victory in the 100m.
China’s Zhang, 19, scorched to the men’s 400m freestyle title in the pool in Tokyo on Friday in a Games-record three minutes and 41.28 seconds.
He sat on the lane divider after the race and slowly counted off on his fingers all seven medals he had won.
Zhang also won individual golds in the 200m, 800m and 1,500m freestyle events, as well as three relays.
He said, after wrapping up a scintillating campaign, that it had been the “perfect week”.
“I think the most important thing is to stay grounded and focused, because the Asian Games are not my ultimate goal,” said Zhang, who stands 198cm (six feet, six inches).
With the Los Angeles Olympics less than two years away, China won 30 of the 42 golds in the pool this week.
Their 13-year-old phenomenon Yu Zidi was the undoubted superstar, taking home three individual golds and all in Games-record times.
Not to be outdone, Japan’s 17-year-old Shin Ohashi shattered the men’s 200m breaststroke world record on Thursday.
Swimming, equestrian and diving are taking place in Tokyo, but the city of Nagoya and the wider Aichi prefecture are the main Games host.
The men’s and women’s 100m sprints, the blue riband events in track and field, took place in front of rows of empty seats in Nagoya.
China’s Chen Yujie streaked to a comfortable victory in the women’s final in a Games-record 11.06 seconds.
The men’s was won by 20-year-old Puripol, who burst out of the pack in the final quarter of the race to win in 9.90 seconds, breaking his Games record from earlier in the evening.
It was Thailand’s first men’s 100m gold medal since Suchart Jairsuraparp on home soil at the 1978 Bangkok Games.
‘Today was a miracle for me’
On the last evening of gymnastics, Carlos Yulo won the men’s vault for his second gold of the Games.
The double Olympic champion won floor gold on Thursday to complete his collection of major titles.
“I can’t believe it,” the Filipino said.
“In this whole Asian Games, I felt really stressed, but at the same time, I enjoyed what I did today. I really did my part.
“Today was really a miracle for me.”
There’s little time to celebrate, however, with the world championships next month.
South Korea edged China 85-80 in the semifinals of the women’s basketball, and will face hosts Japan for gold.
China had their giant centre Zhang Ziyu, 19, but it was not enough.
Zhang Ziyu stands 223cm (seven feet, four inches) and scored 22 points.
“She was tough to guard,” said South Korea’s Kang Lee-seul.
“We couldn’t defend her, but we focused on fast breaks and shooting more three-pointers.”
North Korea’s women were again in record-setting form on the weightlifting dais.
Oh Kwang Ok set three world records on her way to women’s 57kg bodyweight class gold.
Oh lifted 104kg in the snatch and 134kg in the clean and jerk for a 238kg total – all world records to add to the two golds North Korea’s women won in the 49kg and 53kg classes this week.
North Korea has won four gold medals and two silvers in the six weightlifting events contested so far.
The Los Angeles freeway system has its downsides, especially during traffic-jammed weekdays, but the Rams are absolutely looking forward to commuting from their Woodland Hills facility to SoFi Stadium for Monday night’s game against the New York Giants.
After traveling about 16,000 air miles round trip for their season-opener in Australia — and suffering a humiliating loss to the San Francisco 49ers — the home opener requires only a 28-mile journey and offers a chance for a reboot.
And the embarrassed-but-still-Super-Bowl-favorite Rams are eager for the opportunity.
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Aaron Donald will play for the Rams against the New York Giants on Monday, but will Puka Nacua be on the field?
“An eternity,” coach Sean McVay said when asked about the 11-day wait between games. “It has been forever. We’re excited to compete again.”
In the 27-7 defeat by the 49ers, the Rams’ offense never established a rhythm, the defense gave up three touchdown passes and special teams gave up a long kickoff return.
Veteran receiver Davante Adams cautioned about overreaction.
“Everybody’s freaking out, which I understand,” he said. “We didn’t put together the greatest showing out there. But you’re a fool if you think that that’s what it’s going to look like every single week.”
The Rams will be without edge rusher Myles Garrett, who is on injured reserve for at least four games following knee surgery. Star receiver Puka Nacua is listed as questionable because of a hip injury.
But defensive lineman Aaron Donald is expected to give Rams a much-needed boost.
Donald, 35, ended a two-year retirement when he returned to the team a few weeks ago. The three-time NFL defensive player of the year did not travel to Australia for the opener, but McVay is happy to have him available for the first time since 2023.
“Aaron is a stud, and he’s been at the forefront of setting the foundation of everything that we’re about here,” said McVay, who is in his 10th season as Rams coach. “I remember my interview process included meeting with him and he’s looking at me like, ‘This is the guy that they’re thinking about hiring?’”
One of the reasons Donald returned was to play alongside Garrett, a two time NFL defensive player of the year who amassed an NFL season-record 23 sacks last season.
Now that combination — which boasts a combined 236½ sacks — is on hold.
The double- and triple-team schemes Donald thought he had put behind might once again be in full effect.
“You think they’re going to double/triple team me [after] not playing for two years?” Donald quipped when asked about the prospect. “They ain’t worried about me, man. They don’t have to be worried about me.
“They don’t have to worry about me at all. No man, they don’t have to worry about me.”
But does he anticipate getting that kind of attention?
“I don’t know what they’re going to do out there,” he said of opponents. “I don’t know what I’m going to get. All I can know is I got a game plan. I’m going to go out there, execute it, and just try to play ball. That’s it.”
The Giants, under new coach John Harbaugh, are coming off a 28-20 victory over the Dallas Cowboys.
Second-year quarterback Jaxson Dart, receiver Malik Nabers, tight end Isaiah Likely and running back Cam Skattebo lead the offense, outside linebacker Brian Burns the defense.
Rams players have said that they quickly put their performance against the 49ers behind and were focused on the Giants.
Quarterback Matthew Stafford, the reigning NFL most valuable player, passed for only 155 yards, with an interception, against the 49ers.
“You get trained, whether it’s a game or a play. Good, bad, and different, move on to the next,” said Stafford, an 18th-year pro. “Don’t think too much about it. Don’t harp too much about it. Just be honest with yourself, play in and play out, game in and game out.”
That next game is here.
The Rams will be “primed and ready,” Adams said, “at the right time.”
We’re hunkered down in a dark stairwell on the side of a hotel facing a busy street in Hollywood. To passersby, we could easily be mistaken for two teenagers hiding in the shadows. In reality, I’m sitting with Kelela, the electronic R&B architect whose uncompromising vision has quietly reshaped the contours of alternative music.
Dressed in oversize sunglasses, an acid-washed tee, light blue jeans, checkered Vans and a vibrant auburn-colored French bob with micro bangs, she effortlessly rolls a joint with long ombre nails that mimic smoke and fire. She slips it between her lips and flicks a lighter stamped with a single word: Gotham.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
Her lighter choice is pure coincidence, she says, but it fits the apocalyptic visual universe she’s built for “New Avatar,” her dark, guitar-heavy third album that merges her early D.C. indie roots with shoegaze, grunge, futuristic club music and R&B. Produced almost exclusively by Oscar Scheller — who has crafted tracks for PinkPantheress and Lily Allen — the 12-track project finds Kelela chasing intimacy, desire and emotional refuge in the midst of an increasingly chaotic world. From the color-inverted cover art to her icy white hair and bleached brows in the video for “idea 1” — a song that draws inspiration from Octavia Butler’s 1993 sci-fi classic “Parable of the Sower” — the world-building is unmistakable.
“I used it to describe the context … of these stories on the record,” Kelela explains about the Gotham visual concept. “It’s a basic reference, but it feels like it applies. It’s the context for people needing to be saved and everything being f— on some level, but there still being hope.”
Just a few miles from the Hollywood stairwell where we’re sitting, Kelela will translate her genre-flexing record for the stage at the Wiltern during two back-to-back shows on Sept. 21 and 22.
Although she’s a New Yorker now, Los Angeles plays a crucial role in her musical journey. In 2010, the Ethiopian American singer-songwriter moved to Venice to work as a nanny before taking a gig as a solar panel telemarketer — a job she picked to avoid moving back home but unexpectedly excelled at.
“I’ve sold solar power to hundreds of people in the L.A. area,” she quips. “I would level with people. I didn’t sound like a salesperson because I can’t sell something that doesn’t make sense.”
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
The job funded her first solo apartment in MacArthur Park, but an insurance payout from a totaled car ultimately gave her the financial runway to leave sales behind and focus solely on music. That freedom manifested into her debut mixtape “Cut 4 Me,” featuring fan favorites like “Send Me Out” and “Bank Head.”
“It’s a very L.A. story,” she says with a laugh.
More than 10 years after the breakthrough record, Kelela returned to L.A. to record “New Avatar” with Scheller at his home studio in Silver Lake.
During their first session, she played him “Outta Time,” a track featuring British singer-producer A.K. Paul (Jai Paul’s brother) that she’d been holding onto for a decade until she was ready to make her first guitar-centered album. She also showed Scheller her “white bag” playlist — a collection of indie, rock and alternative tracks she loved as a teenager, from Incubus to Deftones to the Red Hot Chili Peppers. He understood the assignment and by the end of their session, they walked away with two songs: the lead single “Idea 1” and the sensual, U.K. garage-infused “Don’t Piss Me Off.”
“I had a sketch and I think that felt very magical,” Kelela says.
Their natural flow was part of the reason why Kelela was able to release “New Avatar” sooner than previous albums. It arrives just three years after its predecessor, “Raven.”
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
But leaning into her “white bag” wasn’t just about nostalgia. It’s a return for the artist who was once the frontwoman of indie rockers Dizzy Spells and was rocking out with her then-boyfriend, guitarist Tosin Abasi (of Animals as Leaders). It’s also a direct confrontation with the industry’s racialized genre boxes — a phenomenon Kelela identifies as “sonic racism.”
“It’s designed to keep us apart, to keep us out,” she says, “and I think clocking that is really important.”
She points to the unspoken kinship that forms when Black fans who love heavier guitar music find each other in white-dominated crowds.
“When they meet it’s a different type of bond through the music — like ‘I’ve always felt on the outside,’ but also ‘We are so inside,’” she says. “That catharsis is another feeling and I knew so much of my audience had an experience with this music, but maybe had to compartmentalize and be on the outside in order to enjoy it.” With “New Avatar,” she wanted to “dismantle and disrupt” that dissonance without abandoning her R&B roots, she says.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
That philosophy echoes through the record’s lyricism. Where 2023’s “Raven,” a rave-inspired, post-pandemic offering that ruminated on the times and being firm in your boundaries, “New Avatar” is its older sister who is a bit more wise and speaks with even sharper conviction.
“We need space to feel over it,” she says, “and to not be considered Debbie Downers. That’s basically the role that Black women have been sort of relegated to — to be truth tellers. Then everyone’s like ‘Ugh, come on…’ But it’s like we’re laughing all the time. I’m so happy. I’m not unhappy.”
She adds, “The key is not rooted in escapism. The key is rooted in being honest about what you saw, and that’s kind of the tradition that I’d want my work to live in.”
On “Point Blank,” Kelela explores the emotional labor for a woman in a one-sided relationship: “By now, I hope you see/That bullet set me free/And the more I pour, the more you reap/And I’m too spent too weep.” As the title implies, “Don’t Piss Me Off” sees a woman losing her patience with a lover: “Know you want me/Tell me I’m wrong/Takin’ all night/Don’t piss me off.” But by the album’s closer “If We Meet Again,” she cuts ties entirely: “If we ever amend/Nevermind, over and out.”
“A lot of the songs are like “Y’all ain’t s—,’” she says laughing, “But I try to say it in an artful way.”
Two bright spots on the album arrive in the final act: the dream pop-infused “New Life Forms” featuring Fousheé and “The Bridge,” a song about yearning with PinkPantheress, who returned the favor after Kelela appeared on her track “Bury Me.” Directed by Yasser Abubeker, “The Bridge” music video features a memorable, sultry dance number between the two singers — a sequence Kelela encouraged fans to learn before her shows.
“I cried the first time that Yasser sent me the edit,” she says. “It’s like a love letter to Black queer culture, our intimacy. It’s so sexy without me and her having an overt love interest. It just feels so implied in this smart way.”
The day before we met in Hollywood, Kelela gave an intimate live performance for Spotify. Backed by an all-Black femme band featuring a string quartet, guitar, bass and backup vocals, she performed “Idea 1” and a cover of Incubus’ “Mexico” — a rendition that earned her praise on social media from Incubus’ frontman, Brandon Boyd, himself.
“It’s a really important image,” says Kelela about the video. “In addition to it sounding exquisite, I’m not gonna lie, it also tore visually and symbolically.”
She’ll also be backed by a full band during her “New Avatar Live” tour, which she envisions as a high-energy rave that could break into a mosh pit at any moment.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
“It’s another medium for me to be able to articulate or dismantle those constructs around what makes sense together,” Kelela says. “It’s going to be first and foremost — like any record or anything that I do — cathartic for me.”
She continues, “So I’m going to be living my best f— life and through that I know I will give a good show because it just excites me. It’s a dream come true to be able to pull these things together.”
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 gained 1.9% to 65,332.57 after the Bank of Japan raised the benchmark interest rate to 1.25% from 1.0%, a 31-year high.
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The move had been widely priced in, coming after the Federal Reserve also raised its key rate this week. Pressures have been coming from the US for Japan to raise rates because of concerns about the weakening yen.
The nations intervened together recently to prop up the yen. But the efforts haven’t had a big impact.
In currency trading, the US dollar rose to 157.11 Japanese yen from 155.95 yen. The euro cost $1.1487, up from $1.1480.
South Korea’s Kospi jumped 2.3% to 6,866.83. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was little changed, slipping less than 0.1% to 8,731.50. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng edged up nearly 0.7% to 24,769.80, while the Shanghai Composite added 1.0% to 3,916.08.
Falling oil prices and easing pressure from the bond market helped Wall Street reverse many of its losses from the prior day.
The S&P 500 jumped 1.1% for just its second rise in the last nine days. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 316 points, or 0.6%, and the Nasdaq composite climbed 1.7%.
Wall Street stocks got a boost after the price of a barrel ofBrent crude oil slid from the nearly $110 it reached earlier in the week on worries that the war with Iran will keep oil bottled up in the Middle East instead of going to customers worldwide.
In Asian trading, Brent, the international standard, lost 0.94% to $103.83 a barrel. Benchmark US crude slid 0.83% to $101.06 a barrel.
Brent is still more expensive than the $72 per barrel that it cost earlier this summer, but the recent drop helped pull yields lower in the bond market and removed some pressure on stocks. The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.93% from 5.01% late Wednesday.
The Federal Reserve on Wednesday raised the short-term interest rate that it controls, the federal funds rate, by a quarter of a percentage point for its first hike in more than three years. Officials also hinted that they may raise the federal funds rate one more time this year as they try to get high inflation in the US under control.
The signals sent Wall Street on a roller coaster. Stocks initially remained higher for the day after the Fed made its announcement Wednesday. They then slid sharply before recovering a chunk of the losses before trading ended.
On the upside for markets, the shift to higher interest rates built confidence that the Fed is committed to getting inflation back to its target of 2%. On the downside for markets, higher rates undercut prices for stocks and other investments.
All told, the S&P 500 rose 85.95 points to 7,637.76. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 316.14 to 51,778.04, and the Nasdaq composite rallied 439.87 to 26,418.30.
DAKAR: Health officials battling the Ebola outbreak in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo are using anonymised mobile-phone data to map population movements and identify areas where the virus could spread next, according to the World Health Organization and researchers working with it.
The approach, which has not been used before in an Ebola response, comes as authorities struggle to contain what the WHO has described as the fastest-growing Ebola outbreak on record. Cases have been confirmed in six provinces, with more than 6,250 people infected and 3,039 killed since the outbreak was declared on May 15, according to the latest government data.
The outbreak, Congo’s 17th, is caused by the Bundibugyo species of Ebola, for which there are no approved vaccines or treatments.
As the virus spreads, health officials are looking for ways to anticipate where cases could emerge next and direct limited surveillance and response resources.
“Population movements have always been a factor in outbreaks, but they are particularly important in the current epidemic,” said Olivier Le Polain, head of epidemiology and analytics for response at the WHO Health Emergencies Programme.
Traditional risk assessments focus on outbreak hotspots and assume the virus is most likely to spread to surrounding areas.Analizing mobility data allows responders to identify risks in places that may be geographically distant but closely connectedthrough travel patterns.
“It gives us a more nuanced understanding of risk,” Le Polainsaid, citing the example of Ituri province, in the northeast, where the virus is believed to have started circulating.
“There are very significant population movements in Ituri linked to mining activities and trade. Understanding those movements is crucial to understanding how the outbreak spreads.”
The analysis is produced by Swedish non-profit Flowminder, using anonymised records generated when mobile phone users connect to telecommunications networks. As people move around the country, their phones connect to different antennas on the network, generating records that show where those connections took place. Researchers use those records to estimate how people travel between different areas.
The data is provided free of charge by Vodacom, Congo’s largest operator. Vodacom did not respond to a request for comment.
Flowminder says it receives aggregated and anonymised records and does not have access to information identifying individual subscribers.
“We seek to provide estimates of how people move, which in turn is a predictor of how infectious people move,” Flowminderfounder Linus Bengtsson said.
Flowminder’s first analysis, published in early June, focused on the three areas where the outbreak is believed to have started: Bunia, Mongbwalu and Rwampara. Researchers tracked where people who had spent time in those areas between April 3 and April 23 later traveled.
The largest flows were to nearby areas in Ituri province and North Kivu province. By the end of June, all 10 of the destinations receiving the largest flows of travelers from the original outbreak areas had reported confirmed Ebola cases.
PARIS: Investigators suspect that a train derailment in northwest France which injured 44, one gravely, was the result of sabotage, a police source told AFP on Saturday.
A fragment of rail was found on the track, with the possibility of a malicious act being treated as the main line of inquiry as a result, the source said.
Carrying 186 passengers, the train was running between the Normandy cities of Rouen and Caen when it derailed around 7:45 pm (1745 GMT) Friday.
Authorities activated a mass-casualty response plan, with 130 firefighters, five medical teams and 80 vehicles drafted in.
Rouen prosecutor Sebastien Gallois said 44 people were injured including an 18-year-old woman evacuated “in a critical condition”, while tests for drugs and alcohol on the train driver had come back negative.
SNCF Reseau, which controls the French rail network, told AFP that traffic on the line has been suspended and power to the tracks cut to allow emergency services to operate.
WASHINGTON: The IMF said the global economy had weathered the energy shock caused by the war in the Middle East better than feared and global economic output was still expected to expand by about 3 percent in 2026, but it cautioned that risks remained high.
Julie Kozack, spokesperson for the International Monetary Fund, said oil and gas prices remained elevated and the energy shock from the war was not over.
Global debt pressures were also mounting and the disinflation process over the 2022 cost-of-living crisis had stalled.
Global inflationary expectations have risen but remain well-anchored over the longer run, Kozack told a regular IMF briefing.
“So far, despite six months of war in the Middle East, the global economy has been resilient,” Kozack said, adding that the use of oil and gas reserves had allowed some countries to cope with energy shocks caused by the war, while others had shifted to new energy sources or acted to curb demand.
“We remain on track for world growth of around 3 percent but uncertainty, as we’ve been saying for quite some time, continues to remain high,” she said.
At the time, it said that forecast assumed the war would wind down in mid-July, but Iran and the US have both escalated their attacks and the war has widened with increased military activity in Yemen.
The global lender will release an updated forecast during the annual meetings of the IMF and the World Bank in Bangkok from Oct. 12 to 18.
Pulled in opposite directions
Kozack said the global economy was being pulled in opposite directions by the negative energy supply shock that was driving prices of energy, fertilizers, food and other commodities sharply higher, while the AI-led technology cycle was providing a positive demand shock.
Risks remain high, with many countries needing to restock their oil and gas reserves, and energy demands set to rise as winter approaches in the Northern Hemisphere, she said.
Pressures are also mounting on global public debt, which is already at nearly 100 percent of gross domestic product — the highest level since World War Two — and is set to rise further, Kozack said. Many advanced economies have particularly high public-debt-to-GDP ratios.
Liquidity problems are also building in developing countries, including in Africa, partly due to a reduction in bilateral assistance, Kozack said.
The IMF is urging central bankers to stick to their price stability mandates, while encouraging fiscal policymakers to develop medium-term consolidation plans, she said.
“We’re not in a situation where fiscal consolidation needs to take place overnight, but having a clear, laid-out plan and strategy for how deficits and debt are going to come down is very important for fiscal authorities,” Kozack said.
The IMF was also urging authorities to focus on lifting growth prospects through structural reforms and removing “self-inflicted” barriers to growth, she said.
Kozack said the IMF would look closely at the impact of new US sanctions against Iran, including secondary sanctions aimed at firms in third countries that support Tehran.
A fuller report was expected in the upcoming global outlook, she said.
It’s an exciting time for Southern California coaster fans. Universal Studios Hollywood is on the verge of officially openingFast & Furious: Hollywood Drift, and Knott’s Berry Farm this summer unveiled the refurbished Montezooma: The Forbidden Fortress. Now Six Flags’ Magic Mountain is getting in on the coaster action.
Coming in 2027 to the Valencia park will be Thrill Glider, a first of its kind thrill ride designed by coaster manufacturer Vekoma exclusively for Magic Mountain.
Magic Mountain in a release describes Thrill Glider as introducing a new coaster category, one that combines a motorbike-like seating arrangement with suspended coaster technologies. Riders will board what the park is referring to “hoverbikes,” essentially bike vehicles designed to simulate a flying sensation by being suspended from the track. Riders will be seated in a prone, face-forward position that will hang from the track above.
Concept art for Thrill Glider, which will boast bike-like vehicles and a sci-fi backstory.
(Six Flags Magic Mountain)
The ride will feature 20 different coaster elements and is slated to last 80 seconds. Speeds will reach 50 mph, and the coaster will boast five inversions that will take guests upside down. The various inversions will include a barrel roll, a zero-g roll and an overbanked stall turn, hinting at a heavily twisted track that will create drifts and swinging. There will be at least 12 moments, Six Flags promises, in which riders will experience airtime lifts.
“It is the latest milestone in Six Flags Magic Mountain’s renaissance and a reflection of the park’s enduring role as an industry innovator,” said Brian Oerding, park president of Six Flags Magic Mountain in a release.
The ride will come with a heavy sci-fi-inspired narrative. The story: The ride is a new technology from a fictional inventor, Rebecca Silva, who will introduce guests in the waiting area to what is described as a “Futurist Pavilion.” Throughout the queue, riders will encounter “holographic presentations and scientific exhibits,” culminating in the discovery of a new energy source, detailed by illuminated blue energy lines, that will power the ride.
The goal, says Six Flags, is to provide an optimistic view of the future, albeit with many sudden dives and weightless moments. The ride will feature multiple launches, reach a height of 107 feet and traverse 3,380 feet of track, which is more than a half mile.
Concept art of Magic Mountain’s new Thrill Glider, which will reach a top height of 104 feet.
(Six Flags Magic Mountain)
A specific opening window has not been detailed, but the ride is currently under construction. It will be located on the former site of the Golden Bear Theatre and will overlook the recently refurbished kiddie area, Looney Tunes Land.
Thrill Glider is arriving at a moment when Six Flags has been garnering national attention. Magic Mountain’s X2 remains shut down while state safety officials continue an investigation involving the attraction.
The ride, first opened in 2002 as X, has been the subject of controversy and at least one high-profile lawsuit stemming from a 22-year-old man’s death. Six Flags bills the ride as “a right of passage for the ultimate daredevil” that goes up to 76 mph. A CNN report recently took a look at other, more recent injuries allegedly stemming from the attraction.
MICHAEL Jackson’s daughter Paris has released a moving song tribute on his 68th birthday with the icon’s voice on track.
The singer’s personal new song entitled The Breeze appears to include a private recording featuring the voice of her father.
Michael Jackson’s daughter Paris has released a moving song tribute on his 68th birthday with the icon’s voice on trackCredit: GettyAt the end of her single you can hear her father telling her he loves herCredit: PA
In the emotional audio, Michael can be heard telling his daughter: “Love you, Paris. I love you, Paris!”
A young Paris is then heard sweetly replying: “I love you.”
Paris has explained that her new tracks are not a demonstration of any kindCredit: Splash NewsParis has been open about missing her fatherCredit: Shutterstock Editorial
“It’s not a demonstration of any kind. It is a letter. It is a poem of the sonic variety.
“It is my honest experience – with love, loss, and para-social relationships vs a personal one.”
Fans flocked to comment and one wrote: “I love both tracks. Beautiful work.
Another added: “Daddy’s little girl.”
“Oh no, I’m not going to be able to listen,” said another fan.
A fourth wrote: “My eyes are red from crying so much I can’t this is so beautifullll.”
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Paris is the only daughter of Michael Jackson and Debbie Rowe.
SACRAMENTO — The California legislature passed a bill Wednesday that would require the state to track the use of pesticides that contain perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, known as PFAS chemicals, which can be harmful to humans.
The bill, by Assemblymember Nick Schultz (D-Burbank), heads to Gov. Gavin Newsom, who can sign it into law or veto it.
Schultz’s original bill would have phased out pesticides with PFAs and put California in line with Maine and Minnesota, which passed laws restricting their use.
The state’s powerful agricultural industry objected to the proposed ban. Nearly half of the country’s vegetables and more than three-quarters of its fruits and nuts come from California, according to the state.
The revised bill instead requires the Department of Pesticide Regulation to flag which pesticides have PFAs in its public state database.
The vast majority of PFAS chemicals have not been tested for human health effects, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Studies show that exposure to certain levels of PFAs may lead to decreased fertility and developmental delays in children and increase the risk of cancers.
State regulators and environmental groups disagree on the definition of the chemicals, making it difficult to find a consensus on regulations.
The European Union has prohibited 23 of the PFAS pesticides in use in California, including bifenthrin, trifluralin and flufenacet, according to Environmental Working Group, a sponsor of Schultz’s bill.
Schultz expressed disappointment after his bill was changed this summer but said Thursday that the remaining regulations are “a vital step toward ensuring California’s agricultural legacy is defined by health and innovation, not by the accumulation of toxic PFAS in our soil and water.”
“We need to help our farmers transition away from these persistent chemicals so that California can be a global leader in food safety,” he added.
