All posts tagged: Affair

Trump’s 40-year love affair with “The Phantom of the Opera”

Trump’s 40-year love affair with “The Phantom of the Opera”

Published by Sam Flores

A vulgar spectacle uses gilt and grandeur to cover for a weak mind. There’s a bit of treacle for a devoted audience, all flash, no substance. Yet despite it all, it’s an undeniable force with a string of victories proving that Americans have horrible taste. You could be forgiven for thinking, given the context of the last decade, that I’m talking about President Donald Trump. But those are the sentiments that greeted Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “The Phantom of the Opera” when the musical crossed the pond from London’s West End in the late 1980s. Time reviewer William A. Henry III called it “muddled” and “slushily derivative.” Still, he couldn’t doubt that it bowled over a certain type of theatergoer. “For those who seek an equivalent to a ride through the Haunted Mansion at Walt Disney World — seemingly a vast proportion of today’s Broadway audience — ‘Phantom’ is a brilliantly manipulated journey, scary yet ultimately unthreatening,” he wrote. Trump was in that number, clapping along with the theme park-ride of a musical. The real estate …

Jess Williamson: A Mile South of Heaven review – alt-country singer’s love-hate affair with LA

Jess Williamson: A Mile South of Heaven review – alt-country singer’s love-hate affair with LA

Published by Sam Flores

In her essay Goodbye to All That, Joan Didion writes that she left New York City when “the golden rhythm was broken”. Texas-born alt-country singer Jess Williamson borrows the title for the aching opening track of her sixth solo album, on which she contemplates whether she has had enough of Los Angeles. But while Didion was looking back on leaving the city of her youth behind, Williamson is still in LA, wrestling with competing desires to stay or flee. Jess Williamson: A Mile South of Heaven. Photograph: Courtesy of Jackie Lee Young This tumultuous love-me, love-me-not is set to Williamson’s most traditional soundscapes to date: “Deep in the woods I feel the hum of the city,” she sings on Hum of the City in her strongest Texas drawl over mournful strings and twiddling banjo. Gone are the iPhone-programmed drums that made her 2023 breakout Time Ain’t Accidental so appealingly offbeat, and while the Americana flourishes give weight to Williamson’s nostalgia for her native Dallas, at times they make the album stodgier and less imaginative than …

The Fall Affair by Vi Keeland

The Fall Affair by Vi Keeland

Published by Jenni Sidey

Somewhere in the first third of The Fall Affair by Vi Keeland, a man is standing in a ninety-year-old woman’s kitchen in Cortona, forced to read aloud a letter written by her late sister. The letter congratulates the recipient on outliving three husbands, two of whom were actually hers, notes that she is inheriting nothing, not even the unmatched Tupperware lids, and closes by explaining that her family burial plot has been donated to a more deserving stranger. The old woman sets the page on fire on her own front lawn and spits at the feet of the innocent granddaughter standing outside. That is Sophia Bianchi, and she has been dead since January. She is also, comfortably, the best character in this novel. The setup is efficient. Allegra Bianchi, thirty-one, bills more hours than anyone at her Manhattan firm, gets passed over for partner in favour of a colleague whose qualifications are not strictly legal, and resigns in the men’s room in a way she will be explaining for years. Days later a letter arrives …

Marriage 911 — After the Affair, Repair Is Possible

Marriage 911 — After the Affair, Repair Is Possible

Published by Jenni Sidey

This post is part one of a two-part series on “After the Affair.” “Can I ever get over the pain of an affair?” There are few relationship questions more raw than this one. If you have been betrayed, you may feel shattered, angry, numb, or obsessed with details you wish you did not know. One moment, you want answers. The next moment, you want to never hear another word about it again. And worst of all…you feel foolish for even considering staying with your partner, If you are the one who committed the betrayal, you are in your own terrible pain. You may be living with guilt, shame, and the gut-wrenching realization that you hurt the person you love. And your pain is heightened because people see you as the guilty party. Affairs are painful. They disrupt trust. They disrupt identity. They explode the story you thought you were living. But here is the hopeful truth: Yes, couples can heal after an affair. Not by pretending it did not happen. Not by rushing forgiveness. And …

How to End an Affair, These Examples Tell All

How to End an Affair, These Examples Tell All

Published by Jenni Sidey

Temptation mixed with opportunity is a recipe for cheating, especially during difficult or lonely times in a marriage (Hackathorn, J., and Ashdown, B. K., 2022), including the aftermath of an affair. When cheating is suddenly exposed, internal conflict, fear of loss, and the pressure of a spouse’s anger can compound the lure that led to infidelity in the first place—making it more difficult to let go. Ending the affair and all contact is an essential gesture to demonstrate commitment to one’s marriage and guard against relapse. This is not the time to rely on good intentions and discipline. Taking steps to remove temptation and close the door securely protects the unfaithful spouse from recycling through continued secret contact during this vulnerable transition. Though often overlooked or underestimated, opportunity is a risk factor in the incidence of affairs, posing the most danger when people fail to: Accurately assess or acknowledge their vulnerability Consciously register the affair partner’s intentions Make an explicit decision, with a plan, to protect themselves Often, the unfaithful spouse not only feels guilty …

Epstein affair may be ‘the end of the monarchy’, says US congressman | US News

Epstein affair may be ‘the end of the monarchy’, says US congressman | US News

Published by Sam Flores

A member of a US congressional committee investigating the Epstein affair has said: “Maybe this will be the end of the monarchy.” Congressman Ro Khanna says he thinks King Charles has questions to answer about the scandal that has embroiled his younger brother, adding: “I think this is the most vulnerable the British monarchy has ever been.” The Democrat, was behind the Epstein Files Transparency Act, the legislation that led to their publication. He told Sky News: “I think this is the most vulnerable the British monarchy has ever been. They ought to ask the King and Queen questions and maybe this will be the end of the monarchy.” Follow latest updates on the Epstein files He added: “If they don’t have answers, if they’re implicated in the Epstein class, it’s not a good look for the British monarchy. “The King has to answer what he knew, what he knew about Andrew, and just stripping Andrew of a title is not enough. “Andrew needs to come before our committee and start answering questions. I don’t …

The Bodyguard Affair by Amy Lea

The Bodyguard Affair by Amy Lea

Published by José Betancourt

Amy Lea’s fourth novel enters the spotlight with a premise that feels deliciously meta: a secret romance author whose steamiest book sparks real-life scandal. In “The Bodyguard Affair,” Lea crafts a story where the boundaries between fiction and reality blur in the most compelling way, delivering a second-chance romance wrapped in political intrigue, fake dating, and the kind of emotional depth that lingers long after the final page. The story centers on Andi Zeigler, a woman living a carefully compartmentalized existence. By day, she serves as the unflappable personal assistant to the Canadian Prime Minister’s wife. By night, she transforms into a bestselling romance novelist writing under a pen name. When her book about a forbidden affair between a staff member and the Prime Minister becomes a cultural phenomenon, whispers begin circulating that art might be imitating life. Enter Nolan Crosby, the PM’s new close protection officer and the man who witnessed Andi at her most vulnerable during a spectacularly awkward encounter three years prior. Their solution to the scandal? A summer-long fake relationship that …