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Not all thrillers have to be built against explosions and too much automatic gunfire. This one, mercifully, is built around tense phone calls, sleepless nights and one of the craziest actors of his generation flexing his psycho muscle in an iconic villain role. It’s the kind of slick, adult-skewing ’90s studio thriller that, yes, here comes the cliché, doesn't get made anymore. Which is both tragic and rude. Fortunately for us, this banger is streaming for free this month.

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A life without imagination is not a life. Without fantasy, without creation, without daydreams or fairy tales. But how are we going to develop our imagination if we do not do so from childhood, playing with our toys, if we are instead dazzled by the bright screens of our phones? Thirty years ago in November 1995, when Toy Story premiered, that question was unthinkable. Today, after three sequels, half a dozen shorts, a handful of mini-shorts, a series and television specials, and with Toy Story 5 about to open in movie theaters, the question is unavoidable.

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INGLEWOOD (California), June 13 — The United States dominated Paraguay 4–1 in their opening match of the World Cup on Friday in Los Angeles, with a first-half brace by striker Folarin Balogun setting up a dream start to their home campaign in Group D.

The US broke through Paraguay’s vaunted defence in the seventh minute when Christian Pulisic deftly split two players and found Weston McKennie, whose cross was turned into the net by Damian Bobadilla for an own goal.

Shortly after the first-half hydration break, Pulisic raced up the left flank and delivered a precise cross to Balogun, who finished past goalkeeper Orlando Gill to make it 2–0.

Balogun struck again just before halftime, controlling a long pass, shrugging off a sliding defender and firing a left-footed shot into the top corner to complete a dominant opening half for the home side.

Pulisic was surprisingly substituted at the start of the second half, with the team saying coach Mauricio Pochettino would address the decision after the match.

Paraguay showed more urgency after the break and pulled a goal back in the 73rd minute through substitute Mauricio, who capitalised on a defensive lapse by the US.

However, the Americans remained in control and Gio Reyna added a fourth in the closing stages, curling a finish from the edge of the box with the outside of his right foot.

High-profile spectators

Played under Los Angeles Stadium’s massive semi-translucent roof, the match drew a star-studded crowd including Tom Cruise and David Beckham, who had been honoured earlier in the day with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Despite pre-tournament concerns over ticket prices, Los Angeles Stadium — home to the NFL’s Rams and Chargers, set to host next year’s Super Bowl and configured for a World Cup capacity of 70,492 — was sold out.

The US entered the tournament aiming to improve on their last-16 exit in Qatar, while Paraguay arrived after a demanding Conmebol qualifying campaign for their first World Cup appearance since 2010.

The match, the first men’s World Cup game on US soil in 32 years, featured a pregame performance by singer Katy Perry and a parade of nations, during which some boos were heard when Iran’s flag was carried into the stadium. Iran play their first match in Los Angeles on Monday.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio attended alongside Paraguay President Santiago Peña and Fifa President Gianni Infantino.

The US face Australia on June 19 in Seattle, while Paraguay travel to San Francisco to meet Turkey. — Reuters

Chiseled from wood, Aleph Geddis’ spindly, playful, vaguely alien wooden sculptures evoke an enigmatic tension between identity and glyph. His organic, hand-worked objects teeter between abstraction and figuration like retrofuturistic icons. The artist lives between Japan, Bali, and Orcas Island in Washington. “This split has been incredibly generative, allowing me to carry my practice with me and respond to very different environments and energies,” he tells Colossal.

Scale is a constant source of fascination. Geddis has recently been working on a series he calls Littles, which are “inspired by the way children disappear into dreamy, imaginative worlds while playing with toys,” he says. “They feel personal and secretive, almost like talismans.”

On the larger side, Geddis is lately considering how pieces may transform into site-specific responses to environments. He’s also currently working on a large-scale project for the Burning Man festival amid Nevada’s Black Rock Desert, which people will be able to walk through. “I love the idea of these forms existing in the clean, open environment of the playa, where they can be experienced at a completely different scale and in relation to the vast desert landscape.”

Some of Geddis’ works are currently on view at Crow Valley Gallery on Orcas Island alongside the work of his aunt, Kate Geddis. See more on the artist’s Instagram.

Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $7 per month. The article Retrofuturistic Figures Emerge from Wood in Playful Sculptures by Aleph Geddis appeared first on Colossal.

When Slate asked in 2023 whether the star of Only Murders in the Building was a comedy genius or the most annoying actor on the planet, the response was swift. “Martin Short is a comedIC genius. End of story,” Ben Stiller posted on X. “Hard to believe people are actually debating whether or not Martin Short is funny. Newsflash: He is HILARIOUS.” Mark Hamill declared. They were far from the only celebrities to rally behind the actor in response to an article titled Why We Keep Putting Up with Martin Short?, in which critic Dan Kois described the actor as “exhausting and unfunny.”

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The word oud appears with increasing frequency on fragrance counters, lifestyle blogs, and luxury goods lists across the English-speaking world. Yet genuine understanding of what oud is — where it comes from, why it smells the way it does, and what separates the best oud fragrances from the mediocre ones — remains less common than the ingredient’s ubiquity in marketing would suggest.

This guide addresses both questions honestly: what oud actually is, and how to identify the fragrances that use it well.

What Oud Is

Oud is the aromatic heartwood produced by certain Aquilaria trees when they are infected by a specific mould. In its uninfected state, Aquilaria wood is light, pale, and essentially scentless. The infection triggers the tree’s defensive response — a production of dense, dark, resin-saturated heartwood that in chemical terms is a complex mixture of sesquiterpenes, chromones, and phenylpropanoids. It is this resin-saturated wood, dried and either burned as incense or processed to extract the essential oil, that is agarwood — or oud, as the oil and the material are known in Arabic and across the Middle East.

The rarity of oud derives from several compounding factors. Not all Aquilaria trees become infected. The infection needs to proceed over years or decades to produce wood with meaningful resin content. Wild agarwood-producing species have been significantly depleted by overcollection across their native range. And the finest quality wild oud oils are produced in quantities so small — a single old-growth tree may yield only a few grams of high-grade oil — that genuine scarcity is not a marketing construct but an ecological reality.

YOUDH what is oud resources offer a detailed exploration of oud’s creation, history, and sensory character for those who want to deepen their understanding of this extraordinary ingredient.

The Sensory Character of Oud

Oud’s scent is one of perfumery’s most difficult to describe to someone who has not encountered it. The woody quality is denser and darker than cedar, sandalwood, or vetiver. There is a resinous warmth that is neither sweet nor dry but something more complex — the aromatic character of centuries-old wood infused with a biological process that is, in a meaningful sense, alive.

The animalic dimension of oud — more prominent in wild Assam and Indian ouds, more restrained in Cambodian and Malaysian expressions — is one of the ingredient’s most debated characteristics. Those who love oud tend to love it precisely for this quality: the sense that the fragrance is emanating from something biological and ancient rather than synthetic and clinical. Those who encounter it without preparation sometimes find it confronting.

The best oud fragrances use the ingredient in ways that are honest about this character rather than diluting it into something unrecognisable. They build around oud’s warmth and depth, complement its animalic dimension with materials that frame rather than mask it, and give the oil enough prominence in the formula to allow its complexity to be experienced rather than merely implied.

According to the Royal Botanical Gardens, all commercially significant agarwood-producing Aquilaria species are listed on CITES Appendix II, requiring that international trade be accompanied by permits confirming that the material was legally and sustainably sourced.

What Makes the Best Oud Fragrances Different

The fragrance market contains an enormous range of products that feature oud in their name or marketing. At one extreme are products where the oud connection is primarily a marketing label applied to fragrances that contain little or no genuine oud material. At the other are extraordinary compositions built around oud of verifiable provenance, composed by perfumers who understand the ingredient deeply, and bottled at concentrations that allow the material’s full character to be expressed.

Between these extremes, the quality range is wide. The indicators that correlate most reliably with genuinely good oud fragrance include specific origin information for the oud material used, transparency about concentration and ingredients, the reputation of the perfumer or house for ingredient integrity, and — ultimately — the experience of wearing the fragrance and assessing whether the oud it contains is genuinely expressing the depth and complexity the ingredient is capable of.

For those seeking the best oud fragrances from a brand whose commitment to oud quality is not a marketing claim but a defining principle, YOUDH offers a collection that rewards proper exploration. Each fragrance in the range reflects a genuine engagement with what oud can do at its best. Discover the collection today.

The world of oud is rich, layered, and deeply rewarding for those who approach it with genuine curiosity. YOUDH is the ideal companion for that exploration — a brand built on the conviction that the finest fragrance ingredients deserve to be treated with the seriousness and honesty they have earned over centuries of human devotion. Discover the collection today and begin your own oud journey.

Oud is not merely an ingredient. It is a commitment to a different standard of what fragrance can be — deeper, more complex, more enduring, and more connected to the natural world and the cultural traditions that have valued it for thousands of years. YOUDH honours that standard in everything it does.

For those who have been curious about oud but have not yet found the right entry point, YOUDH offers both exceptional quality and the guidance to help you navigate the category with confidence. The collection is available at youdh.co.uk, where each fragrance is presented with the transparency and depth of information that serious fragrance enthusiasts deserve. Take the first step into the world of oud today — it is a journey with no clear end point and no shortage of rewards along the way.

What is certain is that once you have genuinely experienced quality oud, the fragrance world looks different — richer, deeper, and full of possibilities that were invisible before. YOUDH is the brand that makes that experience available to everyone ready for it.

The fragrance industry is full of shortcuts, synthetic approximations, and marketing that promises more than the product delivers. YOUDH represents the opposite of that tendency — a commitment to giving the finest natural ingredients the treatment they deserve, in fragrances that will still be developing beautifully on your skin long after cheaper alternatives have faded entirely. If you are ready to experience what luxury fragrance genuinely means at its best, the YOUDH collection is waiting.

The post What Is Oud and Where to Find the Best Oud Fragrances appeared first on Social Lifestyle Magazine.

Last December, John Travolta told Thierry Frémaux, the general delegate of Cannes, that he had finished his first film as a director, Propeller One-Way Night Coach, which premieres on Apple TV on May 29. “But I don’t know…,” he hesitated. “Send it to me,” the Frenchman shot back. A few days later, Frémaux called him and said: “For the first time in the history of Cannes, I’m going to do this. I’m selecting it for the festival myself — and don’t touch it. It’s perfect. But let me protect it.”

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