2 weeks agoUSA UpdateComments Off on Two in three Post Office jobs could be scrapped in a cost-cutting drive
THE POST Office could scrap two in three jobs in a cost-cutting drive.
Some of the estimated £200million savings will be used to improve sub-postmasters’ pay, it was reported last night.
The Post Office could scrap two in three jobs in a cost-cutting drive[/caption]
Sub-postmasters will not be affected and neither will posties, employed by Royal Mail[/caption]
A review — announced in the wake of the Horizon IT scandal — may see staff cut from 3,100 to around 1,000.
2 weeks agoUSA UpdateComments Off on Meet the artist inspired by Disney who creates gold-plated Mickey Mouse statues starting at £8k for Real Madrid’s stars
NOT many can say they are the personal artist to Real Madrid’s elite.
And only one can say that they all love his incredible statues that pay homage to Disney favourite, Mickey Mouse.
Former footballer Juan Pablo Restrepo Mejia has become the go-to sculptor for Real Madrid’s stars[/caption]
Luka Modric is just one of the stars who has commissioned Juan Pablo Restrepo Mejia[/caption]
Boxing legend Canelo Alvarez is also a client[/caption]
Colombian artist Juan Pablo Restrepo Mejía is making a killing from his sculptures that start at around £8,000.
Luka Modric, Antonio Rudiger and Federico Valverde are just some of the Los Blancos stars who have commissioned Juan Pablo to create art work for them.
While boxing legend Canelo Alvarez wanted a gold-plated piece for his Mexican home.
It was a journey that stemmed from his artistic background, athough he could have taken a different journey.
How we got here
Juan Pablo played football in his homeland, alongside James Rodriguez and Juan Fernando Quintero at Envigado’s youth teams.
But he was at university when he realised his calling in a discussion with his professor, who asked him what he wanted to do.
He revealed he didn’t want to follow a career in his chosen degree of civil engineering.
Instead, he wanted to be an artist. It was something Juan Pablo had grown up around all his life – coming from a family of painters who taught him the way.
He told Marca: “I learned to wash brushes, the best classical and abstract techniques, sculpture, from framing a frame, painting it, sanding, filling a background.”
First footballer who bought from him
Spain international and Real Madrid left-back Fran Garcia was the first LaLiga star to show an interest in Juan Pablo’s work.
Then Marcos Llorente asked the sculptor to create a piece to sit in the entrance of his home.
It was through Llorente, who has since established his name at Real’s cross town rivals Atletico, that Juan Pablo became Real Madrid’s artist in residence.
“He’s a great brother, he was the link that brought us closer to the rest of the boys on his team,” he said.
Soon, after seeing the art at the club’s Valdebebas training ground, everyone wanted a piece – with prices starting at around the £8,000 mark.
“He showed them the work he had done and we ended up getting to Luka Modric, who is one of my idols,” Juan Pablo continued.
” Luka, (Andriy) Lunin, (Federico) Valverde, Lucas Vázquez, (Antonio) Rüdiger, they all have a piece of work.
“I made sure their work was very personal, I chose the colours for each one that they most identified with.”
Amusingly, when France midfielder Eduardo Camavinga saw Fran Garcia’s art work at the training ground, he wanted one too… but, he had one hilarious request.
Camavinga was passing by and said, ‘Wow! What is that? Fran García’s. I want one too, but I want it to be super colourful. Mine has to be the most colorful of all,” Juan Pablo laughed.
Marcos Llorente, formerly of Real Madrid, was the sculptor’s first clients[/caption]
Federico Valverde shows off the piece he commissioned[/caption]
Players have to be patient for the pieces
Juan Pablo is inspired by Mickey Mouse and has created versions of Pinocchio too.
He began painting, but soon became intrigued with the idea of sculpting.
However, footballers expecting a quick turnaround on their orders will be disappointed.
“The manufacturing time depends a lot on the material. I work with bronze, carbon fibre and resin,” he said.
“In bronze it takes me three months.”
The more colourful pieces can take up to years to create. Juan Pablo explained: “The creation of the work, the idea as such, takes me about two and a half years.
“Camavinga will have to wait six months or so. But I already told him and he told me ‘I wait, but colourful, colourful.'”
read more sport features
TAKING THE MICKEY
Meet the artist who creates Mickey Mouse statues for Real Madrid's stars
MIND THE SLAP
Meet viral Power Slap star who blew kiss at rival and broke breast implant
RON MOVES
Ronaldo's goal celebrations through the years and what they mean, including Siuuu
BECKS APPEAL
How David Beckham turned Inter Miami into the must-see sports team in the US
AWAY WIN
Inside Cantona's travel firm which offers cooking lessons with Arsenal legend
KICKING OFF
Carroll & Mucklow's turbulent two-year marriage, including stag do scandal
In terms of Walt Disney’s royalties for his work, Juan Pablo revealed: “Each country can have a permit with the brand. They didn’t know it was going to be scaled that way, but I did the right things and I have the brand’s permit.”
And that’s not all…
Alongside his work for football’s elite, Juan Pablo can also count Mexican boxer Canelo Alvarez as one of his clients.
His work with Alvarez also led him to work with the WBA, who Juan Pablo is now the official artist for.
“Every time there is a world champion they use one of my pieces to give them a detail and I am also in charge of making the legendary belts of the boxing organisation,” Juan Pablo revealed.
Canelo Alvarez shows off his stunning gold plated artwork[/caption]
Canelo has even invited his new favourite artist round to his ranch in Mexico to decorate parts of his home.
David Beckham notched one of his most famous goals the last time England faced Greece 23 years ago[/caption]
England’s stars are preparing to face Greece in the Nations League on Thursday[/caption]
The midfielder was already captain and on his then-home turf of Old Trafford when he arrowed a stoppage-time free-kick into the top corner.
That majestic moment which still gives Becks “goosebumps” rescued a 2-2 draw and took the late Sven Goran Eriksson‘s men to the 2022 World Cup.
Now England will swap blue shorts for white at Wembley on Thursday night.
Meanwhile, Greece will play in all-blue, just like they did 23 years ago.
It comes as Carsley plots to make it three wins from three Nations League games.
His interim stint is likely to extend to six matches in the same tournament – with the permanent job very much his to lose.
In fact, the former England Under-21s boss could virtually assure his appointment with an NL double this week – victory over Greece and then in Finland on Sunday.
The 50-year-old is treating each batch of two Nations League matches like a mini-competition in itself.
Becks’ last-gasp strike sent the Three Lions to the 2022 World Cup[/caption]
2 weeks agoUSA UpdateComments Off on Visually impaired Jeopardy! contestant Andrew Miller reveals ‘helpful changes’ show made before loss to Mark Fitzpatrick
JEOPARDY! contestant Andrew Miller praised the ‘helpful accommodations’ the show provided to help with his visual impairment in a rare behind-the-scenes reveal of the game.
Despite calling his Jeopardy! debut the “best experience ever,” the auto claims adjuster from Connecticut lost to returning champ, Mark Fitzpatrick.
Mark, who is also from Connecticut, and Andrew went up against Gino Montoya, an attorney from Albuquerque, New Mexico on Tuesday’s game.
Before he was able to watch the episode, Andrew took to an online fan forum and commented about his experience.
“Andrew here! Haven’t watched yet but just want to say this was the best experience of my life.
“The crew on set was amazing; I’m visually impaired and they made helpful accommodations to the gameplay and were chill about me knocking stuff with my cane all day,” he wrote.
He also took his loss with grace, adding: “These were definitely not my categories which made it easy to cope with the L knowing my opponents had played so well on such a challenging board. GG boys!”
Andrew began with a strong lead as he added $1,000 to his score after correctly guessing the game’s first Daily Double.
However, Mark secured the lead heading into the first break with $5,400 while Andrew was behind with $2,000 and Gino had $1,000.
Mark found the second Daily Double which added $3,000 to his score of $10,800.
Despite Gino’s lead most of the game, Mark got ahead when he also found the third Daily Double – which gave him another $3,000.
Heading into Final Jeopardy!, Mark secured $21,200 while Gino secured $17,400 and Andrew had $4,600 for his total.
The last category was World Flags, which host Ken Jennings read: “The 12 stars on its flag symbolize perfection, not geographic or political units.”
“What is the European Union?” was the correct response however, in another triple stumper, all three players got it wrong.
Unfortunately for Gino, he chose to bet it all – leaving him with just $0 by the end of the game.
Mark bet $13,601, dropping his score to $7,599 while runner-up Andrew’s final total to $4,183.
After yesterday’s Final Jeopardy! resulted in a triple stumper, fans expressed their thoughts on today’s low-scoring game.
Jeopardy! Set Secrets
Jeopardy! fans don’t see everything behind the scenes from watching on TV. These hidden set features make the show run smoothly:
Each podium has a hidden riser so that all contestants appear to be the same height.
After each clue is read, signal lights go off around the game board, indicating players can buzz in and respond.
Buzz in too early, and you’re locked out for .25 seconds.
The podiums have a small white light in the lower left corner, which tells Ken Jennings who goes next.
“Even if Mark didn’t win as much today as his first two games, I’m sure he was happy to have won a third game at all! Gino’s comeback in DJ was quite impressive, but Mark getting both DDs kept him in the lead, so Gino had to deal with the woes of wagering from second place.
“I like to think Gino felt very confident in the FJ category and that’s why he wagered his entire score, but sadly, it didn’t work out for him. He’s likely to be in Second Chance with such a high losing Coryat, but the all-in second place wager never survives a Triple Stumper FJ.”
However, a fellow viewer disagreed with the notion that Gino should get a spot on the Second Chance Tournament.
“Yeah, I am not sure that I agree that someone that blew the wager should get a second chance.
“If he bet to get one dollar more than the leader he would have won, losing on bad wagering should not get you a second chance,” they wrote.
While one more defended Gino: “Jeopardy is a game about having knowledgeable contestants first, gameplay second.
“Gino had a 17,400 Coryat in his opening game. Of course he should be considered. What are we doing here.”
2 weeks agoUSA UpdateComments Off on The Best Amazon October Prime Day Deals on Headphones for Every Type of Listener, from Frequent Flyers to Audiophiles
Through Oct. 9, take up to 60 percent off headphones and earbuds from Apple, Sony, Beats, JBL, Bowers & Wilkins, Samsung and more top brands.
2 weeks agoUSA UpdateComments Off on Amazon’s Best October Prime Day Streaming Deals: Save on ‘Beetlejuice’ and ‘Deadpool’ Bundles, Halloween Thrillers, Family-Friendly Films and More
Prime Big Deal Days has officially begun, and movie lovers can score big on Marvel Studios titles, action-packed franchises and more.