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‘I’m Still Here’ Spotlights Brazil’s Authoritarian Past

Fernanda Torres poses with the award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture — Drama for "I'm Still Here" at the 82nd Golden Globe Awards in Beverly Hills, California, US, January 5, 2025. (Reuters)
Fernanda Torres poses with the award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture — Drama for "I'm Still Here" at the 82nd Golden Globe Awards in Beverly Hills, California, US, January 5, 2025. (Reuters)
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‘I’m Still Here’ Spotlights Brazil’s Authoritarian Past

Fernanda Torres poses with the award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture — Drama for "I'm Still Here" at the 82nd Golden Globe Awards in Beverly Hills, California, US, January 5, 2025. (Reuters)
Fernanda Torres poses with the award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture — Drama for "I'm Still Here" at the 82nd Golden Globe Awards in Beverly Hills, California, US, January 5, 2025. (Reuters)

A white house in a quiet corner of the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, has been attracting a stream of visitors in recent weeks.

They are eager to see the family home portrayed in the Academy Awards nominee film "I’m Still Here", in which a mother of five rebuilds her life while struggling to uncover the truth about her husband's forced disappearance during Brazil’s military regime in the 1970s.

"We came here to pay homage to the family," said visitor Daniela Gurgel, as she roamed through the house. "Raising this story at this time is very important."

The film's three Oscar nominations - best picture, best international feature, and best lead actress - cast a global spotlight on both the real story of Eunice Paiva and her husband Rubens Paiva, and the authoritarian government that upended their lives. The military ruled Brazil between 1964 and 1985.

"Seeing the world watch this story is the recognition of a struggle that my family has been fighting for over 50 years," said Marcelo Rubens Paiva, the son of Eunice and Rubens and the author of the book on which the movie is based.

This struggle, he added, is one "for respect for human rights and democracy."

Brazil's dictatorship ended four decades ago but no one has ever been held accountable for the murder of hundreds of its critics or the torture of what many believe were tens of thousands. Even Rubens Paiva's disappearance, one of the most emblematic cases of human rights abuse of that time, is still an open case before Brazil's Supreme Court. His body was never found.

In 2010, the court upheld a 1979 law, passed during the dictatorship, that pardoned the crimes committed by the regime. But prosecutors and others who oppose the ruling still have cases pending before the court, including Paiva's.

On Friday, the Brazilian government provided families some relief.

Rubens Paiva's death certificate was amended to register that the cause of his death was "unnatural, violent, caused by the Brazilian State in the context of systematic persecution of the population identified as political dissidents of the dictatorial regime established in 1964".

Actress Fernanda Torres, who plays Eunice Paiva in the movie, said: "They did everything they could so that there would be no body, so that there would be no memory, so that it would not be spoken of, so that it would remain hidden in a corner."

But, she added: "This story will not be forgotten."

More than 400 other death certificates from victims of the military dictatorship all over Brazil will be rectified in an effort led by the Special Commission on Political Deaths and Disappearances under former human rights minister Nilmario Miranda.

"The film came as a gift from heaven for us, because it deals with a political disappearance," Miranda said. "The families feel that Brazil needs it. This debt to democracy is being redeemed now."

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Entertainment

Rapper Lil Jon Confirms Death of His Son, Nathan Smith

Lil Jon performs at Gronk Beach music festival during Super Bowl week on Saturday, Feb. 11, 2023, at Talking Stick Resort in Scottsdale, Ariz. (AP)
Lil Jon performs at Gronk Beach music festival during Super Bowl week on Saturday, Feb. 11, 2023, at Talking Stick Resort in Scottsdale, Ariz. (AP)
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Rapper Lil Jon Confirms Death of His Son, Nathan Smith

Lil Jon performs at Gronk Beach music festival during Super Bowl week on Saturday, Feb. 11, 2023, at Talking Stick Resort in Scottsdale, Ariz. (AP)
Lil Jon performs at Gronk Beach music festival during Super Bowl week on Saturday, Feb. 11, 2023, at Talking Stick Resort in Scottsdale, Ariz. (AP)

American rapper Lil Jon said on Friday that his son, Nathan Smith, has died, the record producer confirmed in a joint statement with Smith’s mother.

"I am extremely heartbroken for the tragic loss of our son, Nathan Smith. His mother (Nicole Smith) and I are devastated,” the statement said.

Lil Jon described his son as ‌an “amazingly talented ‌young man” who was ‌a ⁠music producer, artist, ‌engineer, and a New York University graduate.

“Thank you for all of the prayers and support in trying to locate him over the last several days. Thank you to the entire Milton police department involved,” the “Snap ⁠Yo Fingers” rapper added.

A missing persons report was ‌filed on Tuesday for Smith ‍in Milton, Georgia, authorities ‍said in a post on the ‍Milton government website.

Police officials added that a broader search for Smith, also known by the stage name DJ Young Slade, led divers from the Cherokee County Fire Department to recover a body from a pond near ⁠his home on Friday.

"The individual is believed to be Nathan Smith, pending official confirmation by the Fulton County Medical Examiner’s Office,” the post continued.

While no foul play is suspected, the Milton Police Department Criminal Investigations Division will be investigating the events surrounding Smith’s death.

Lil Jon is a Grammy-winning rapper known for a string ‌of chart-topping hits and collaborations, including “Get Low,” “Turn Down for What” and “Shots.”

Entertainment

Keke Palmer Is a Fish Out of Water in Horror-Comedy Series Based on Cult Movie ‘The ’Burbs’

Keke Palmer and Jack Whitehall attend Premiere Event Of Peacock's "The 'Burbs" at Universal Studios Backlot on February 05, 2026 in Universal City, California. (Getty Images/AFP)
Keke Palmer and Jack Whitehall attend Premiere Event Of Peacock's "The 'Burbs" at Universal Studios Backlot on February 05, 2026 in Universal City, California. (Getty Images/AFP)
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Keke Palmer Is a Fish Out of Water in Horror-Comedy Series Based on Cult Movie ‘The ’Burbs’

Keke Palmer and Jack Whitehall attend Premiere Event Of Peacock's "The 'Burbs" at Universal Studios Backlot on February 05, 2026 in Universal City, California. (Getty Images/AFP)
Keke Palmer and Jack Whitehall attend Premiere Event Of Peacock's "The 'Burbs" at Universal Studios Backlot on February 05, 2026 in Universal City, California. (Getty Images/AFP)

The suburbs are anything but bland in the new Peacock series “The 'Burbs,” where strange things are going on. Like how jokes mix with the dread.

Inspired by the 1989 Tom Hanks-led movie of the same name, “The 'Burbs” follows a new mom as she navigates a foreign world of white picket fences and manicured lawns while also investigating a possible murder.

“It’s got the comedy, it has the drama, it's got the mystery, it's got the horror, the thrills, the suspense — all of it,” says Celeste Hughey, the creator, writer and executive producer. All eight episodes drop Friday.

Hanks is replaced by Keke Palmer, who plays a newlywed and new mom who moves into her husband's family home in fictional Hinkley Hills, where everyone is in everybody else's business. “Suburbia is a spectator sport,” she is told.

Across the street is an abandoned home, where a local teen disappeared decades ago. Palmer's Samira soon joins forces with a band of off-beat suburbanites to help solve the case, even if her own husband had some sort of role.

“I really wanted to focus on that fish-out-of-water feeling, centering Samira as a Black woman in a white suburb who is a new mom, a new wife — new everything — and trying to figure out where she belongs in the environment,” says Hughey.

The cast includes Jack Whitehall as Samira's husband and the trio of Julia Duffy, Mark Proksch and Paula Pell as her wine-swilling, investigating neighbors who form a sort of found family.

“The movie came out when I was quite young, but I remember seeing it as a kid and it being like this terrifying movie to me,” says Hughey. “But revisiting it as an adult, it's just like the most timely movie.”

The scripts crackle with witty humor, from references to Marie Kondo to “Baby Reindeer,” and jokes often improvised by the actors. Chocolate brownies are described as “the Beyoncé of desserts” and there’s a joke about how white ladies love salad.

“The ’Burbs” also touches on more serious issues over its eight episodes — microaggressions, racial profiling, bullying and childhood trauma — but takes a kooky, off-beat approach.

“I always look at things with a sense of humor,” says Hughey. “I think comedy is a way to be able to examine all these pretty heavy subjects, but in a way that’s accessible, in a way that is clarifying.”

Palmer says she grew up watching Norman Lear shows and admired his ability to both entertain and address social tensions — something she found in “The 'Burbs.”

“When I read this script for the first time, then as we started doing the show, it started to become clear that we had an opportunity to do the same thing,” Palmer says. “We can expose cliches, we can lean into things, which is one of the greatest tools of satire and comedy in itself, and horror as well, because horror can play as a good allegory for the issues in our life.”

Whitehall, who grew up in the London suburb of Putney, says he appreciates that the social commentary never feels that heavy handed between the comedy and horror: “It was great to sort of be able to play in both genres.”

There are multiple nods to the original movie, like picking the last name Fisher after the late actor Carrie Fisher, who appeared in the Hanks-led version, and naming a dog Darla after the name of the pup who starred in the 1989 version. Hanks, himself, appears in a blink-or-you’ll-miss-it image.

There’s a scene where Samira steps onto her neighbor’s grass and leaves suddenly swirl around her feet menacingly, an echo to the original. And there’s a moment when sardines and pretzels are served, a riff off a classic moment in the movie. The creators even asked original actor Wendy Schaal to return to play the town librarian.

“I really wanted to honor the original fans of the movie and make sure that they see that someone who respects the original material and loves the movie had it in their hands,” says Hughey. “I see the fans.”

Hughey said she wrote the series with Palmer's voice in mind, a piece of manifesting that turned out to actually work when she first met Palmer over a year later.

The music ranges from Bill Withers' “Lovely Day” to Steve Lacy's “Dark Red” to Doechii’s “Anxiety” and Big Pun's “I'm Not a Player.”

“Music is very much a part of my creative process and something that I wanted to stand out in the show as well,” says Hughey. “I got to pull in so many of my inspiration songs.”

Entertainment

Kurt Cobain's 'Nevermind' Guitar Up for Sale

Guitars are displayed during a press preview of The Jim Irsay Collection at Christie's Los Angeles in Beverly Hills, California, on February 5, 2026. (Photo by VALERIE MACON / AFP)
Guitars are displayed during a press preview of The Jim Irsay Collection at Christie's Los Angeles in Beverly Hills, California, on February 5, 2026. (Photo by VALERIE MACON / AFP)
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Kurt Cobain's 'Nevermind' Guitar Up for Sale

Guitars are displayed during a press preview of The Jim Irsay Collection at Christie's Los Angeles in Beverly Hills, California, on February 5, 2026. (Photo by VALERIE MACON / AFP)
Guitars are displayed during a press preview of The Jim Irsay Collection at Christie's Los Angeles in Beverly Hills, California, on February 5, 2026. (Photo by VALERIE MACON / AFP)

The guitar played by late rock legend Kurt Cobain on the anthemic grunge track "Smells Like Teen Spirit" is going under the hammer next month.

 

The 1966 Fender Mustang is among a treasure trove of instruments and musical memorabilia that also includes the logo-emblazoned drum that announced The Beatles to the United States when the Fab Four played "The Ed Sullivan Show" in 1964.

 

The Jim Irsay collection -- put together by the one-time owner of the Indianapolis Colts NFL team -- includes guitars played by musicians who defined the 20th century, including Pink Floyd's Dave Gilmour, The Grateful Dead's Jerry Garcia, as well as Eric Clapton, John Coltrane and Johnny Cash.

 

But at the center of the collection are handwritten lyrics for The Beatles' smash "Hey Jude" as well as guitars played by John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison.

 

"I think it's fair to say that this collection of Beatles instruments...is the most important assembled Beatles collection for somebody who wasn't a member of the band," Amelia Walker, the London-based head of private and iconic collections at Christie's, told AFP in Beverly Hills.

 

"There are five Beatles guitars in his collection, as well as Ringo Starr's first Ludwig drum kit (and) John Lennon's piano, on which he composed several songs from Sergeant Pepper."

 

Also included is "the drum skin from Ringo's second Ludwig kit, which is the vision which greeted 73 million Americans who tuned in to watch 'The Ed Sullivan Show' on the ninth of February 1964 when the Beatles broke America."

 

The drum kit is expected to fetch around $2 million, while the guitars could sell for around $1 million at the auction in New York, Christie's estimates.

Perhaps the most expensive item in the collection is Cobain's guitar, which experts say might sell for up to $5 million.

"It's a talismanic guitar for people of my generation... who lived through grunge," said Walker.

"(Smells Like Teen Spirit) was the anthem of that generation. That video is so iconic.

"We're incredibly proud and privileged to have that here."