Top, Lite-Brite, Masters of the Universe in toy hall of fame
ROCHESTER, N.Y. (AP) — The National Toy Hall of Fame’s new honorees include an object dating to ancient times, a line of muscle-bound action figures and an iconic art set whose medium is colorful pegs. The hall on Thursday announced the top, Masters of the Universe and Lite-Brite as this year’s inductees.
Chris Evans named Sexiest Man Alive by People magazine
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Chris Evans may have put down Captain America’s shield but he’s got a new badge of honor: he’s been named People magazine’s Sexiest Man Alive.
Jeff Cook, co-founder of country band Alabama, dies at 73
NEW YORK (AP) — Guitarist Jeff Cook, who co-founded the successful country group Alabama and steered them up the charts with such hits as “Song of the South” and “Dixieland Delight,” has died. He was 73.
In ‘Wakanda Forever,’ an empire mourns and rebuilds
Made in the wake of tragedy, “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” reverberates with the agony of loss, piercing the usually less consequential superhero realm. Like someone going through the stages of grief, Ryan Coogler’s movie is at turns mournful and rootless, full of rage and blessed with clarity. In the fantastical Marvel Cinematic Universe where mortality is almost always a plaything, wrestling with the genuine article, in the death of T’Challa star Chadwick Boseman, makes for an unusually uncertain, soul-searching kind of blockbuster-scale entertainment.
18-carat pink diamond reaps $28.8 million at Geneva auction
GENEVA (AP) — A pear-shaped 18-carat pink diamond billed as a rarity sold at a Geneva auction for 28.4 million Swiss francs ($28.8 million), including fees and taxes, on the lower end of the expected range.
Rihanna talks motherhood, Super Bowl: ‘It was now or never’
SIMI VALLEY, Calif. (AP) — Rihanna knew that if she was going to return to the stage less than a year after giving birth to her first child, the performance would have to top anything she’d done before.
‘Black Adam’ tops box office again on quiet weekend
NEW YORK (AP) — On a quiet weekend in movie theaters before the upcoming release of “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” Warner Bros.’ “Black Adam” topped the box office for the third straight weekend with $18.5 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates Sunday.
Duran Duran stumbles, Dolly Parton rolls into Rock Hall
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Lionel Richie soared. Pat Benatar roared. Duran Duran stumbled but stayed sophisticated. Eminem was Eminem.
Singer-rapper Aaron Carter dies in California at age 34
LANCASTER, Calif. (AP) — Aaron Carter, the singer-rapper who began performing as a child and had hit albums starting in his teen years, was found dead Saturday at his home in Southern California. He was 34.
John Mellencamp revisits ‘Scarecrow,’ his game-changing disc
NEW YORK (AP) — An urgency in the ringing guitar and thunderous drums that opened the 1985 album “Scarecrow” was the first hint that this was something different for the artist then billed as John “Cougar” Mellencamp.
