Daily Archives: August 20, 2020

Lyon striker Moussa Dembele studied football greats Gabriel Batistuta and and Marco Van Basten continuously in his pursuit of striking perfection.

The former Celtic hero is 90 minutes away from the Champions League Final after his deadly double against Manchester City set up a showdown with Bayern Munich.

And now the Daily Mail have lifted the lid on what makes the 24-year-old tick as his obsession with striking legends old and new are being used on his quest for greatness.

Dembele would mimic the movements of Van Basten and Batistuta after spending hours watching them on YouTube during his Fulham days and now uses modern day legends Luis Suarez and Robert Lewandowski as inspiration.

And the Hoops hero now has the chance to compete against Bayern Munich's Polish goal machine as both sides are set to do battle for the right to meet Paris Saint-Germain on Sunday.

Dembele was left gutted after being left on the bench against City but his epic 15-minute cameo has only added to the 60m-rated star's reputation.

The likes of Manchester United, Tottenham and Arsenal remain long-term admirers of a player who has scored 24 goals in all competitions this season.

And the France U21 star will be expecting a different welcome from the Premier League big-hitters the next time he sits down for transfer discussions.

The Mail state Spurs chief Daniel Levy was dressed in a hoodie and tracksuit bottoms during discussions over a switch to North London back in 2016.

That deal collapsed and Brendan Rodgers convinced him on a switch to Glasgow that summer and the rest is history.

Dembele and his advisors have carefully plotted his career as they refuse to be rushed over their big move and the man of the moment now has the chance to showcase his abilities on the grandest stage.

And that's good news for his former team Celtic who will hope a transfer bidding war takes place due to their 10 per cent sell-on fee.

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Moussa Dembele and the YouTube obsession that has Celtic icon on verge of Champions League immortality - Daily Record

There is one Message, many sermons with one Theme. Jesus is the Message. All people desire the revelation of God and His expectations. All desire freedom from guilt and immortality and make altars of sacrifice to God, or some god, to appease anger and obtain favor.

In Eden after being deceived by Satan, Adam and Eve were promised a Seed who would bruise Satan. That Seed is Jesus. Exodus tells of a Passover Lamb that saves from death. Christ is our Passover whose blood covers our sins. Leviticus points to Him as our High Priest who makes atonement for us, reconciling us to God after sin has separated us. Numbers portrays God in a covenant relationship with His people giving guidance, protection and food for them until they reach the land of milk and honey. Jesus is the Word, our Power for victory and the Bread of Life. In Deuteronomy Gods people are exhorted to be faithful and the laws are repeated for them and future generations. They would conquer by faith and obedience. By faith and obedience to Christ we, too, are more than conquerors (Romans 8:37).

The Book of Joshua speaks of Moses, a conqueror who typifies our conquering Savior Jesus Christ. Judges tells of the sins of the nation and the penalties they suffered by oppressing nations. When they repented, God raised up judges, ruling leaders, to deliver them. Gods people repented and offered sacrifices in Shiloh. Now Christ is Shiloh (Genesis 49:10), our place of meeting God, our altar, our Sacrifice and our High Priest. The Book of Ruth gives the beautiful story of the acceptance of a Gentile woman into the nation of Israel and the lineage of Christ. Here we see the mystery (Colossians 1:27) of God unfolding. He will save all Israel, that good olive tree (Romans 11:24) with grafted Gentile branches.

The historical Books tell us of a people and their God, their spiritual and moral warfare, their sins and their judgments. That glorious ministration was the classroom where the coming of Christ was taught. Job tells of the struggles of a righteous man and his longing for a daysman (Job 9:33) to plead his case. Job knew that one day that One would stand on the earth (Job 19:25). The Books of Poetry and Wisdom sing Gods praises, describe our struggles and prophesy of Christ. The Prophets spoke of Gods law and the blessings promised for obedience and the curses for disobedience throughout the history of Israel. They prophesied of Christ, longing and waiting for Him. Then there was a 400-year silence.

One day John the Baptist, breaking the silence, came preaching repentance in the name of Jesus. As his ministry decreased another began to increase. The Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world (John 1:29) had come and people were being gathered to Shiloh. Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Paul, Peter, James, Jude. They have a word for you! Here comes the preacher! God-sent! We cant hear without a preacher. How beautiful the sight of a preacher with the Message from God! Hear, believe, call upon the name of Jesus and forgiveness and immortality are yours! Jesus is the final message from God. I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me (John 14:6).

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Words from the Heart: The Message | Columnists | thesuntimes.com - Heber Springs Sun-Times

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The Tribune-Review sports staff is conducting a daily countdown of the best players in Pittsburgh pro and college sports history to wear each jersey number.

No. 13: Dan Marino

He was the coachs son, so it was only right that a very young Dan Marino had to accept he was the last kid given the chance to pick his jersey number.

No. 13 was left in the pile. He grabbed the jersey and wore it for the rest of his football life and, eventually, into college and NFL immortality.

Raised on Parkview Avenue in Oakland, Marino was No. 13 as a youth, at Central Catholic, Pitt and for the Miami Dolphins until he retired in 1999. He is the Tribune-Review staffs clear choice for the best Pittsburgh athlete to wear a number some people consider unlucky.

Not so for Marino.

Now 59, he never won a national championship for Pitt or Super Bowl for the Dolphins, although he reached one as a second-year player. But he carved his name indelibly into those teams history books on the strength of a right arm unsurpassed by almost every other quarterback over all these years.

Pitt retired his number after his last season (1982) before he earned induction into the College Football and Pro Football Halls of Fame and the inaugural class of the Pitt Athletics Hall of Fame.

At Pitt, 38 years after his final season, he holds records for touchdown passes in a career (79) and season (37 in 1981, tied by Rod Rutherford in 2003). He threw for 8,597 yards, a record at the time.

The Panthers won 42 of 48 games during Marinos four seasons, including one of the most dramatic victories in Pitt history. Marino hooked up with tight end John Brown for a 33-yard touchdown strike with 35 seconds left in a 24-20 victory against Georgia in the 1982 Sugar Bowl.

Penn State coach Joe Paterno called Marino, the best quarterback Ive ever coached against.

Marino was chosen by coach Don Shula in the first round of the 1983 NFL Draft 27th of 28 picks and played 17 years, all with the Dolphins. At the time of his retirement, he held NFL records for passing attempts (8,358), completions (4,967), yardage (61,361) and touchdowns (420). Today, he is fifth in each category behind (in varying orders) Drew Brees, Tom Brady, Brett Favre and Peyton Manning.

Florida States Bobby Bowden was right when he said, Hes a pro quarterback in college, really.

Other Pittsburgh athletes were not afraid to wear No. 13.

Duquesne basketball player Mike James scored 1,411 points, with 348 assists and 201 steals from 1995-1998 before entering the NBA.

He played 12 years for 11 teams and was the first undrafted player to average more than 20 points in a season (20.3 in 2005-06 for the Toronto Raptors.).

Stan Terlicki wore No. 13 for the Pittsburgh Spirit, an indoor soccer team that played at the Civic Arena for seven seasons from 1978-1986, outdrawing the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1983-84. Terlicki was co-MVP of the Major Indoor Soccer League in 1981-82, with 74 goals and 43 assists in 43 games.

In six seasons, he scored 252 goals, with 161 assists.

Nick Bonino played for the Penguins 2016 and 17 Stanley Cup champions. Bonino totaled 66 points in two seasons (27 goals, 39 assists), but he was at his best in the 2016 run when he had 18 points in 24 playoff games (four goals, 14 assists).

After the second championship, he visited his hometown of Farmington, Conn., and ate his moms homemade spaghetti right out of the Stanley Cup.

Also, Roberto Clemente wore No. 13 as a rookie in 1955. He switched to 21 that season, according to baseballreference.com.

Check out the entire Burghs Best to Wear It series here.

Jerry DiPaola is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Jerry by email at jdipaola@triblive.com or via Twitter .

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'Burgh's Best to Wear It, No. 13: From midgets to the NFL, Dan Marino wore lucky number - TribLIVE

Two bald eagles - photo via spectrum

CAIRO 17 August 2020: Eagles was the most prized bird of human interest in ancient times. It is the largest bird of prey. It mainly lives in Asia, Europe and Africa. Eagles are characterized by its long wings that are driven by strong muscles which makes it capable of flying high over long distances.

Even today, Eagles are greatly appreciated. It is the symbol of the Egyptian flag, and it always symbolized strength.

Ancient civilizations, including the Egyptian civilization, carried an interest in eagles that reached the point of sanctification.

During the following report, we explain what eagles represented in some ancient civilizations:

Ancient Egypt

The eagle in the Pharaonic civilization used to symbolize the goddess Nekhbet, who was the eagle deity and represented Upper Egypt, which extends to Aswan.

She was considered the protector of the Pharaoh; her extended wings always appeared as a sign of protection. They also referred to her at the time as a mother. Nekhbet always appeared behind the crown of the Pharaoh.

According to researchers, among the birds that remained from the ancient world is the Nubian eagle; the eagle widely depicted by the Pharaonic inscriptionson the walls of the temples in Luxor, which clearly illustrates the extent of reverence for that bird, especially in the era of the Old Kingdom.Eagles were highly associated with the deity Nekhbet; the deity of Upper Egypt, and the protector of the king. The ancient Egyptian depicted Nekhbet as a female eagle with a white crown on her head.

Ancient Greece

In the civilization of ancient Greece, the Nubian eagle was associated with the god "Zeus"; the father of gods and humans to the Greeks. He ruled the gods of Mount Olympus as the heir father.

Zeus was dubbed the "God of Heaven", which the Greeks feared so much, because he controlled the terrible forces of nature such as lightning and thunder.

The ancient Greeks usually depicted Zeus in the form of a bearded, dignified man carrying a thunderbolt in one hand, and on the other hand stood a huge eagle spreading its wings, orsitting with his scepter by his feet, where the eagle stands.

Mesopotamia

According to the study "The Legend of the Eagle and the Search for Immortality in Pre-Islamic Poetry" by the researcher Ihssan Al-Deek, published in the Journal of "Humanities and Social Sciences" Volume 37 in 2010, and in the ancient Mesopotamian civilization, the Thunderbolt God (Zu) appears with the claws of an eagle. Seers and priests used it as a means of omen and foretelling, and its feathers in the unseen.

They believed that if an eagle passes from the king's right side to the left, the king will be victorious wherever he goes.

If an eagle caught a fish or a bird, flew it away, and then devoured it in front of a man, the latter would suffer a loss.

Also, the people of Mesopotamia believed that if an eagle eats a dove on a mans house and then leaves something behind, the owner of the house will get rich.

Arabs before Islam

The aforementioned study also states that Arabs -before Islam- and their narrations confirm that an eagle was one of their ancient gods. They even created an idol to worship in the form of an eagle.

It is one of the idols of Noah, peace be upon him, mentioned in the Holy Quran.

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Eagles, the worshipped bird of prey of the ancient civilizations - Egypttoday

Ashton Kutcher recently shared a video of himself setting fire to a piece of notebook paper on which he had drawn a collection of cartoon eyeballs and a one-stroke star.

The reason? To show that this artworkand were playing extremely fast and loose with that term here will still live on forever thanks to a new blockchain art marketplace, Cryptograph. And the digital copy, made after Kutcher took a low-res camera-phone photo of his creation, is now up for auction with a current bid of 9.8 Ethereumor over $4,000.

Now, youre probably thinking: Am I being Punkd?

Reader, I wish that were the case. I wish we could all go back to that time in our lives before we knew that this God-awful doodle, created by the guy responsible for the trucker hat revival of the early 2000s, lived on in the ether, literally unable to be destroyed.

Alas, here we are.

Founded in 2018, Cryptograph is a blockchain technology that converts drawings into unique digital artworks. The appeal for prospective collectors, according to the company, is that the artworks cant be copied, stolen, or destroyed.

Kutchers doodle, titled The Eye of the Beholder, is a particularly meta take on this idea.

Ashton here is probably playing on the idea that all art is subjective and that art wholly exists in the eye of its beholder, the works description reads. His idea here is to show that his physical creation is fully transcending into the digital realm, where its authenticity and immortality is absolute. This action is deeply symbolic and provokes one to think more on how the physical and digital realms can be combined in new and interesting ways.

A drawing by Seth Green. Courtesy of Cryptograph.

And Kutcher isnt the only doodler to offer up his genius. On the platform, you can bid on artworks by what can only be described as a murderers row of celebrities: Skeet Ulrich, David Arquette, Paris Hilton, that guy from the Princess Bride. You can buy a digital illustration of a fireman rescuing a koala by Seth Green, a Matissian picture of a bunny by Erika Christensen, or a downright disturbing drawing of a man being burned alive on a beach by Ryan Phillippe.

A portion of all sales will be donated to charities of the artists choice. Kutchers proceeds, for instance, will go toward the Global Wildlife Conservation and Oxygen Seven.

The actor has put money toward multiple crypto-tech companies via his two investment firms, A-Grade Investments and Sound Ventures. He is not financially involved with Cryptograph, the company confirmed.

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Ashton Kutcher Burned an Original Artwork to Promote a New Blockchain Marketplace Where Art Can (Kind of) Live Forever - artnet News

Even the hapless St. Louis Browns had a few big baseball moments and one of the biggest stood only 3 feet 7 inches tall.

He was Eddie Gaedel, who was sent to the plate to bat leadoff at Sportsman's Park in the nightcap of a doubleheader against the Detroit Tigers on Aug. 19, 1951.

Gaedel (pronounced guh-DELL) wore a uniform belonging to Bill DeWitt Jr., the 9-year-old son of the Browns' vice president and currently chairman of the St. Louis Cardinals. The jersey had the number "1/8" on the back.

Gaedel drew a walk on four pitches from Bob Cain and was promptly lifted for a pinch-runner. Although he never set foot in another baseball game, he became an instant legend at age 26.

Using a 3-foot-7 pinch-hitter was the brainchild of owner Bill Veeck, who tried to make up in showmanship what his team lacked in talent. This was different from Veeck's other stunts because, potentially, it could have affected the outcome of a game. As a result Veeck received criticism from some sportswriters.

The night before Gaedel's game, Veeck tipped off Post-Dispatch baseball writer Bob Broeg. In turn, Broeg made sure that Post-Dispatch photographer Jack January stuck around for the second game and Gaedel's appearance in the first inning.

Typical of the Browns: In the inning Gaedel started by drawing a walk, the Brownies loaded the bases. But they failed to score. In fact, they lost the doubleheader.

January's photo gave Gaedel baseball immortality. Gaedel died 10 years later in a saloon beating in his hometown of Chicago.

Eddie Goedel with other Browns baseball players in the dugout in 1951, featured in "Lost Treasures of St. Louis." Photo by Dorrill Photographers, Missouri Historical Society Photographs and Prints Collections

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Aug. 19, 1951: Before Eddie Gaedel went to the plate, the Post-Dispatch got a heads-up - Houston Herald

With the Mary Riepma Ross Media Arts Center reopening this Friday, Hirokazu Koreedas The Truth will be one of the first films to play on the theaters screens since its closure in March.

The French film, which stars Oscar nominees Catherine Deneuve and Ethan Hawke, as well as Oscar winner Juliette Binoche, tells the story of a reunion between a mother and daughter who have a rocky relationship to say the least.

The mother in this story, Fabienne (Deneuve), is an acclaimed French actress who is celebrating the recent and successful release of her autobiography. Lumir (Binoche), Fabiennes daughter, travels from the United States with her husband and daughter to visit her mother at her home in France. When Lumir arrives, tensions between her and her mother are high.

Fabienne disapproves of Lumirs husband Hank (Hawke), who is also an actor but has mostly been relegated to small TV roles and is preoccupied with her book and rehearsing lines for her latest film. Lumir takes the opportunity to read through her mothers autobiography, discovering that a majority of the book is falsified, depicting Fabienne as a present and supportive mother, when in reality she was distant and contributed very little to Lumirs upbringing.

Over the course of the film, Fabienne and Lumir are forced to confront their issues with one another. Lumir holds a bit of resentment toward her mother, whom she sees as fame-obsessed and selfish, while Fabienne sees her daughter as someone who never lived up to her potential. There are many scenes in the film of these two perspectives clashing. Fabienne and Lumir verbally spar with one another over a multitude of things, such as Lumirs job as a scriptwriter. The Characters evolve and the pair grow to understand one another more, which eventually leads to some semblance of forgiveness and a healthy relationship.

The narrative backdrop for these events is the aforementioned new film Fabienne is shooting. Though Fabienne is traditionally a dramatic actress that avoids genre films, her new movie delves into the realm of science fiction. It centers around a mother who never ages and watches her child grow up while she stays the same. This comes at a price, however, as the mother is only allowed to visit her child once every seven years. The mother in the film is played by a young up-and-coming actress, while Fabienne takes on the role of the elderly depiction of the child.

The plot of Fabiennes film serves to hold a mirror up to the mother/daughter relationship between Fabienne and Lumir. Just as Fabienne wasnt around for much of Lumirs life, the mother in the film barely sees her daughter. Additionally, the immortality of the mother is representative of Fabiennes fame and prominence as an actress. Through playing the role of the daughter in this film, Fabienne begins to see Lumirs perspective. She is able to gain a better understanding of why her relationship with Lumir is so strained, and she grows as a result of that.

There are a lot of heavy emotions at play in The Truth, and each of the performers in the film are fantastic at bringing them to life. Deneuve and Binoche have excellent chemistry as Fabienne and Lumir and play off each other extremely well. Their believable performances are a large part of why these characters work so well in the film. They legitimately feel like mother and daughter, which makes the emotional intricacies of their relationship feel all the more genuine.

Additionally, Hawke gives a solid performance as Lumirs husband, Hank. The characters arc in the film sees him reflecting upon both his career as an actor and his role as a father. He sees how Fabiennes career affected her relationship with Lumir, and he doesnt want the same to happen between himself and his daughter. He undergoes a lot of personal growth in the film, and Hawke is able to portray that very well.

The Truth is an interesting character study and analysis of how ones career can affect ones family. It showcases the idea that prioritizing work over family can lead to resentment and guilt. The film explores this idea through several perspectives, namely the relationship between Lumir and Fabienne, the mother and daughter in Fabiennes film, as well as Hank and his daughter. Its an emotional story, held up by stellar performances from the cast, which makes it a film that is certainly worth a watch.

The Truth is by no means a groundbreaking movie that everyone needs to rush out to see or eagerly search streaming services for, but its still a solidly entertaining and well-crafted film that deserves attention.

culture@dailynebraskan.com

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Emotional character study 'The Truth' opens at the Ross this Friday - Daily Nebraskan

Netflix's The Old Guard was a huge hit in 2020's streaming summer season. But fans have some questions about the Charlize Theron fantasy-action movie.

Though the summer movie season was pretty much canceled in 2020, there have been some solid films available for home viewing. One of the most popular choices this year has been Netflix's action-adventure,The Old Guard.

RELATED:5 Comic Book Movies From The 2000s That Are Underrated (& 5 That Are Overrated)

The film starsCharlize Theron as the leader of a group of immortal warriors who have been fighting for good in the world for centuries. The movie was a massive hit and there is already plans for a sequel. But with the complex worldbuilding and fantasy elements of The Old Guard, there are still a lot of burning questions that fans want to have answered.

Theron delivers yet another badass action hero role with her performance as Andromache, aka Andy. She is the leader of the small group of warriors who have been fighting wars all over the world for countless years.

Despite spending centuries together, the rest of the team still doesn't know much about Andy. They know that she was the first of their kind and that she had lost allies along the way, but exactly how old she is still remains a closely guarded secret.

Along with living extended lives, the warriors have concluded that they must also cut ties with the rest of the world so they can protect their secrets. However, even with their extra precautions, how could they have lasted this long without being noticed?

RELATED:Scott Pilgrim & 9 Other Great Comic Book Adaptations (That Aren't About Superheroes)

We see Andy get accidentally photographed by some tourists at one point, so she borrows their phone and deletes the photo. Do they do that every time they pop up in a picture? Doesn't she know about the iCloud? It seems like a sloppy way of covering their tracks.

Despite the unlikelihood of it, the team was able to remain under the radar for hundreds of years. But while the rest of the world remains oblivious, a man named Copley was able to learn about them and their powers and track them down.

Copley explains that there were hints and legends of them throughout history which he pieced together. But how did he go from hearing ancient legends of immortal warriors to mapping their entire existence? Did someone nudge him in the right direction?

Nile is the audience's introduction to the strange world. She is a soldier who is attacked and fatally wounded in battle, only to wake up later to find that she is miraculously healed. Andy quickly finds her and recruits her to the team.

Being new to this, Nile still has a lot of reservations and grapples with how her world has changed. One of her biggest struggles is not being able to see her family. Though Andy told her the dangers of reconnecting with them, will she attempt to see her loved onesagain?

The movie has a lot of heavy lifting to do with establishing the rules of this world. One of the major ones is that while these warriors are currently immortal, it doesn't last forever. At some random point for all of them, their powers will fade, and they can be killed.

RELATED:5 Recent Comic Book Movies That Were Better Than The MCU's Offerings (& 5 That Were Worse)

This rule is firmly established, but there is still a lot unclear about it. The loss of power could be related to a new immortal emerging as Nile's introduction coincided with Andy losing her power. It's also unclear if the immortality can return once it has been lost.

In the explanation of Andy's backstory, we learn the tragic story of Quynh, the first immortal Andy ever met. Andy and Quynh were partners in many battles over the years until they were imprisoned by those who thought they were demons.

Quynh was given the horrific fate of being locked in an iron chest and sunk to the bottom of the ocean where she would drown over and over again for centuries. However, the end of the movie reveals that somehow Quynh escaped her doomed fate.

When the world gets wind of these people with incredible immortal powers, it doesn't take long for greedy people to look for ways of exploiting this miracle. Copley reveals their existence to a pharmaceutical company in the hopes of using their powers to cure illnesses.

Of course, the corporate villains are only interested in profit and torture the immortals, taking their blood and tissue samples. Though the team eventually breaks free and kills the bad guys, could their blood be used to create new immortals?

Booker is a member of the team who feels their life as immortals is a curse and he seeks a way to be freed. He betrays the rest of the team to the corporate bad guys in hopes they will find a way to kill them for good. He eventually redeems himself but is still exiled from the group.

RELATED:10 Best Comic Book Movie Adaptations (That Aren't DC Or Marvel)

At the end of the film, Quynh comes to visit Booker, revealing herself to be alive. How did Quynh know who Booker was? What does she want with him now that he is exiled? Does she blame Andy for what happened and is seeking revenge?

Instead of living the lives of daredevils, the team has dedicated their incredible powers to fighting against evil and helping people all over the world. As it turns out, their random acts of heroism had an even bigger impact than they knew.

Copley reveals that through his research into Andy and her escapades throughout the years that whenever she saves the day, she ends up saving the life of someone who will go on to make the world a better place. How does Andy know which lives to save that will benefit the world?

Shortly after finding Nile, Andy discovers that she can no longer heal and she seems to have lost her immortality. Despite this, she is still a phenomenal warrior and managed to fight her way through hordes of bad guys and survive.

But at the end of the film, she appears to be staying with the team. Will she just fight alongside them until she is killed? Will she attempt to go live the rest of her days in peace?

NEXT:10 Most Underrated Comic Book Movies

Next Outer Banks: 15 Funniest Quotes

A writer and film fan. I always enjoy keeping up with the latest films in theaters as well as discovering some hidden gems I may have overlooked. Glad to be a part of Screen Rant's positive and fun community and have the opportunity to share my thoughts with you.

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10 Questions We Have After Watching The Old Guard | ScreenRant - Screen Rant

Message of the Day By Renooji

20.08.2020

Just heal, because

Every feeling is energy. When we think, negatively or positively, our thoughts cut the passage of the energy. The volume of the energy is immense when our thoughts are very strong. All our troubles of life are due to our concentration of negative thoughts. Undesirable consequences are due to our losing our centre of balance and positive energy. One has to keep redirecting thoughts to positive things and further send the healing energies to change the events in life in the light. We must keep examining our intentions and thoughts in order to know where we are heading. Every pleasure has its pain and every idea of healing brings respite to the end result. Eventually we have to keep our mind focused on our own experiences with the divine grace guiding our spiritual path. Stay focused on the evenness of the mind, and allow the dawn of the fullest light to manifest divine knowledge within and without. Healing hugs of immortality. Love from the centre of soul consciousness.Renooji.

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Astrology 2020: Message of the Day (August 20) - NewsroomPost

Mikhail Prokhorov.

With Covid-19 still a constant threat, Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov announced on Monday that his virtual reality and artificial intelligence company, Sensorium Corporation, is developing a new VR social platform, where users can attend attend virtual concerts, music festivals, and more.

Imagine watching your favorite artists in space, not a stage with absolute freedom to get as close as you want, Prokhorov said in an email to Forbes. VR is a new form of art.

The platform, called Sensorium Galaxy, is scheduled to launch in the first half of 2021. But there are still many unknowns. The company says it has attracted $100 million in investments from entertainment companies, but would not disclose the names of any investors. Despite claiming that it has great artists onboard, the company did not disclose which musicians or bands have signed on.

Virtual reality is still nascent, and as such, an unproven business. But Prokhorov is not the only billionaire betting on virtual reality. Mark Zuckerbergs Facebook, which spent $2 billion in 2014 to buy virtual reality hardware company Oculus, early this year launched Facebook Horizon, a VR platform that is open to a select group of beta users.

Now peoples world seems to be limited by a tiny screen in front of them, Prokhorov said in his email. The emergence of technologies that combine artificial intelligence with virtual reality represents an opportunity to fix the current situation, broadening digital communications through a new generation of virtual environments for social connections. A statement from the company on Monday said one of its goals is to achieve digital immortality.

The concert industry has cratered in 2020, with shows and festivals cancelled around the globe in an effort to curb the spread of Covid-19. While there have been some efforts to hold socially-distanced live shows, from Chicagos drive-in concerts to socially distanced shows in northern England, where attendees were separated on 500 raised metal platforms, the majority of live shows have been postponed. According to industry trade publication Pollstar, the live industry could lose up to $8.9 billion in revenue this year if the current situation continues.

The pandemic has also impacted Sensorium Galaxys timeline, with minor delays in terms of development, says Matias Lapushin, a spokesperson for the company. We have a huge [motion capture studio] where we virtually recreate artists in VR, but the crisis has obviously prevented us from doing so these past few months. However, all our partnerships are still in place and great artists are on board. Lapushin adds that the platform, where users can also chat and play games among other features, can be accessed with both through a VR headset and a personal computer.

Sensorium, founded by Prokhorov in 2018, is registered in the Cayman Islands, with offices in Moscow, Zurich and Los Angeles. It owns a 27% stake in Redpill VR, a Los Angeles-based tech company that is also using virtual reality for entertainment events. The company is using a 3D creation tool created by Epic Games, the maker of popular videogame Fortnite, for its virtual platform. Other partners include the charitable foundation of Sergei Polunin, a Ukrainian-born ballet dancer who in 2019 had an invitation to dance at the Paris Opera Ballet withdrawn due to homophobic comments he made on social media.

Prokhorov is a seemingly unlikely investor in a virtual reality entertainment company. His fortune originates from the messy Russian privatization era in the early 1990s, when he founded Onexim Bank with fellow billionaire oligarch Vladimir Potanin. At the time, the bank handled loans to the government and bankrupt state enterprises and eventually got control of Norilsk Nickel, a metals giant which the two men sold in 2008 to another Russian billionaire, Oleg Deripaska. That year, Prokhorov was on the Forbes Worlds Billionaires list at an estimated $19.5 billion. Forbes currently pegs his net worth at $11.4 billion.

But he differs from other oligarchs as well. Prokhorov bought the Nets, an NBA team, in 2010 for $200 million and worked with billionaire media mogul Jay-Z to move the team from New Jersey to Brooklyn. Prokhorov then sold the team and the arena rights in 2019 for an estimated $3.3 billion to billionaire Alibaba cofounder Joe Tsai.

He is known to frequent the Spanish island of Ibiza famous for its nightclubs. That may be why one of Sensorium Galaxys first content partners is Yann Pissenem, a DJ who owns two nightclubs on the island.

Prokhorov ran against Vladimir Putin as president for Russia in 2012, winning 8% of the vote. And hes the only oligarch to have appeared on The Daily Show with Stephen Colbert.

Though Prokhorov had told Forbes in 2013 that he planned to run for president again, it appears that he has put his political ambitions behind him.

He is not an active user of VR products, he said in his email, but explained that he is attracted by its potential. Virtual worlds are part of an evolution of human communication, said Prokhorov. Its a natural process, and people shouldnt feel scared about it In a virtual galaxy, the only limitation is your imagination.

Excerpt from:

Why This Russian Billionaire Is Creating A Virtual Reality World For Music Festivals And Concerts - Forbes