Jared Leto is trying to get closer to Mars
Until this week, no one had ever climbed the 1,200 feet (381 meters) of the Empire State Building. At least, never with permission – the French Spider-Man Alain Robert already dared it in 1994. But the American actor and musician Jared Leto was the first to do it with permission this week. And that has to count for something.
Leto did it to highlight the fact that his band 30 Seconds To Mars is going on tour. ‘I see this building as an illustration of everything we can do if we put our minds to it. That is also the inspiration behind our latest album.’ Leto didn’t climb the entire length of the building: he went from the 86th to the 104th floor in 20 minutes. But this also brought him half a kilometer closer to Mars.
Robert De Niro let his assistant scratch his back
Canal Productions, a company owned by Hollywood star Robert De Niro, has been ordered by a Manhattan court to pay $1.3 million in damages to a former employee. Graham Chase Robinson had accused De Niro’s company of gender discrimination four years ago. Despite her position as ‘vice president of production and finance’, the company is said to have consistently assigned her ‘stereotypically feminine tasks’.
De Niro, who was not personally convicted, admitted during his testimony that he “may have called Robinson a ‘bitch’ or a ‘brat'” and that he had asked her “once or twice” to have his back. scratching, but that this showed no disrespect. “It’s not like we forced her to scrub the floor on her knees.” What Robinson was asked to do included washing sheets, choosing fabrics for new seats in De Niro’s house, and arranging a birthday party for Martin Scorsese. “I have always opposed those jobs,” Robinson testified. ‘Decorating your home is something you do with your partner, not with a vice president of your company.’
Graham Chase Robinson with her lawyer. — © ap
‘Fast car’ wins a prize after a delay
“What is good comes quickly,” goes the cliché, but every rule has an exception. ‘Fast Car’, the song with which Tracy Chapman scored a world hit in 1988, has received an award 35 years after its release. The song was crowned ‘Song of the Year’ at the recent Country Music Awards in Nashville.
Technically, it was the cover that country singer Luke Combs did of the song this year. That single also peaked at number 1 in the Flemish Ultratop. Chapman thus became the first black songwriter to win ‘Song of the Year’ at the high mass of American country. ‘Fast Car’ was the best-selling single from her debut album. Nine other albums followed, which earned her four Grammy Awards, among others.
Tracy Chapman. — © getty
