63 h. ago ‘She had no interest in the comfort zone’: celebrating the centenary of Celia Cruz, Cuba’s Queen of Salsa

Exiled from Castro’s Cuba, she became a superstar – and a trailblazer in the macho world of salsa. Fans and collaborators including Angélique Kidjo hail an icon of Black empowermentOn 13 November 1973, at Roberto Clemente Coliseum in Puerto Rico, Celia Cruz took to the stage in a bejewelled, psychedelic blue dress and vast afro, saluting the 12,500-capacity arena with her trademark rallying cry: “Azucar!” – sugar.The Cuban singer had been a star for more than two decades by this point, but this concert marked a rebirth. Backed by the Fania All-Stars, the in-house orquesta of the label that brought salsa to the US, Cruz performed Bemba Colorá. Devotees have variously decoded its lyric and “big red lips” metaphor as a repudiation of a neighbourhood gossip, a commentary on anti-Black racism or an anthem for female empowerment. Stretched out to a righteous 12-minute call-and-response in Puerto Rico, she recast the song as a cry of anguish over her exile from her homeland, adding lines l...

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6 d. ago Katy Perry and Jeff Bezos’ fiancee Lauren Sanchez ready for space flight with all

The Amazon founder’s Blue Origin is due to undertake its 11th flight with six women on boardTrips like these raise questions: are they anything more than joy rides – and do they need to be?Gayle King said she “had a lot of trepidation – I still do – but I also know it’s very interesting to be terrified and excited at the same time. I haven’t felt like this since childbirth. Because I knew childbirth was going to hurt. But it’s also stepping out of your comfort zone.”Mission NS-31 is historic, marking the first time since 1963 that an all-female crew has launched into space, highlighting a significant moment in space exploration and gender representation.Though billed as the first all-female crew to reach the Kármán line, the internationally recognised boundary of space at an altitude of 62 miles, it is not technically so: the cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova flew a solo mission to space in 1963.The mission features several well-known public figures, including: Katy Perry, internationa...

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6 d. ago Best fabric sofas: Velvet, leather, linen and boucle designs to suit your space

Get yourself in the comfort zone

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8 d. ago ‘There was always a male gaze behind it’: Madrid exhibition rewrites cliches of female Latin artists

Show looks beyond notions of exoticism, hyper-sexuality and diva behaviour to how stars gained control of their own imageFrom the cha-cha-chá dancers of the 1950s to the fruit-heavy turbans of Carmen Miranda, and from the golden age of Mexican cinema to the emergence of salsa stars such as Celia Cruz, the world has not lacked powerful symbols of Latin womanhood.But a new exhibition in Madrid is inviting visitors to look past the cliches and stereotypes of the past century and to reflect on the myriad ways in which Latin women, their bodies and their stories have made their way into popular culture. Continue reading...

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9 d. ago Bilbao battle shows Rangers are 'united' as 2 Ibrox heroes step out of comfort zone

Raskin was impressed with his team and reckons the result shows how tight the group is

Events

1 week ago ‘I had to spit in Michael Caine’s face’: Jack O’Connell on Skins, impostor syndrome and stripping off

The Bafta-winning actor answers your questions about taking Angelina Jolie to meet his grandmother down the pub, working with Danny Boyle and directing Paul WellerYour new film, Sinners, sounds scary. What scares you? MrSOBaldrick Loneliness.I’ve always wanted to act, but I’ve never taken the plunge. Has there been a role where you felt you took a plunge out of your comfort zone? AliciaGrace1 Getting to portray an American comes with inherent impostor syndrome, because so many other US actors could take the role. The roles I’ve played in the US have bigger distinctions from my lived experiences than some of my other roles. But it can be rewarding and fulfilling to do something that’s very different, so it works both ways. Continue reading...

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1 week ago The sad decline of Gore Vidal, America’s most acerbic writer and fearsome feuder

As the world approaches the centenary of the celebrated novelist, television pundit and all-around man of letters, Martin Chilton recalls his greatest work, most withering putdowns, and chronicles a career that devolved into ‘crackpot’ conspiracy theories, illness and, perhaps most depressing of all, boredom

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2 w. ago Blazing Brendan Rodgers orders Celtic players to get out of their comfort zone as worried boss reveals mentality fears

The Irishman was gutted after his side spurned the chance to clinch the trophy at Parkhead next weekend

Sport

2 w. ago EastEnders legend going 'out of comfort zone' in major career announcement 

The news arrives just weeks after their character left Albert Square

Politics

3 w. ago Beyond Paradise's Zahra Ahmadi's life from 'tough' career choice to 'bug incident' whilst filming

Beyond Paradise is back on BBC One with Zahra Ahmadi as Esther Williams and in the new season, she is thrown out of her comfort zone with an unexpected change in her personal life

Politics

3 w. ago What I learned from the woman who does 52 new things a year | Emma Beddington

I definitely can’t match her sense of adventure – and I find real pleasure in my daily routines. But it is time to escape my hummus-tinged comfort zoneAs part of my puny striving towards personal growth, I am choosing not to feel personally attacked by learning about York resident Sally Millington, who has been doing 52 new things a year since 2018. Millington’s 400-plus experiments span standup, bee-keeping, cliff-camping, jazz dance and busking dressed as a turkey (choose your own worst nightmare from that list). She’s clearly a force of nature and it’s an admirable commitment to getting out of your comfort zone. “Why not?” she told Radio York, explaining that her adventures helped to fuel her creative and critical thinking and forge connections with “amazing people I would never have ordinarily have met”.I struggled to stem the rising tide of inadequacy this threatened to unleash in me though, because I doubt I’ve done five new activities since 2018. I’m still struggling with the...

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