Hollywood’s COVID Restrictions Are Not Easing Up Just Yet

Wilson Chapman editorAunjanue Ellis, Quinta Brunson, Nia Long and Chanté Adams will be the honorees at the Black Women in Hollywood awards, Essence announced Wednesday.Now in its 15th year, the Essence Black Women in Hollywood Awards honors Black female actors, creators and entertainers in the entertainment industry. This year’s ceremony will be hosted by Damson Idris (“Snowfall”) and will be commemorated by Essence magazine via a story in the March/April issue and special digital-exclusive covers for each honoree.“For 15 years, our Essence Black Women in Hollywood Awards has heralded the strengths and accomplishments of Black women who are making an impact in Hollywood,” Essence CEO Caroline Wanga said in a statement.

Sasha Urban editorThe Hollywood Critics Association held its fifth annual awards on Monday in-person at the Avalon Hollywood in Los Angeles, Calif.Siân Heder’s “CODA,” which won for outstanding performance by a cast in a motion picture at the SAG Awards Sunday, took the top award for best picture, with Heder winning for adapted screenplay and Troy Kotsur winning for supporting actor. The HCA also honored the cast of the film with a spotlight award, while the best cast ensemble award went to the cast of Kenneth Branagh’s “Belfast.”“Dune” led the evening with four awards, including the best director tie between Denis Villeneuve and “Power of the Dog” helmer Jane Campion.

Ramin Setoodeh Executive EditorMeryl Streep chatted with Venus Williams. Lady Gaga reunited with Bradley Cooper, her co-star from “A Star is Born.” Andrew Garfield and Jamie Dornan fanned out for Cousin Greg (also known as Nicholas Braun) from “Succession.” And Will Smith, as warm as ever, mingled with practically everybody.Yes, it was like old times in Hollywood at the Santa Monica Barker Hangar on Sunday night. The 28th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards pulled off the first in-person awards ceremony of 2022, moving ahead as if things were normal after other gatherings canceled or went entirely virtual due to the omicron variant.

The L.A. Pride Parade, canceled for the past two years, is returning and taking a new route in the community where the event started.

England is just three days away from ending virtually all Covid restrictions as UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson unveils his Living With Covid plan to the nation.

K.J. Yossman Prime Minister Boris Johnson has confirmed the U.K.

Amazon Game Studios has said that server transfers in Lost Ark are “not a viable option at this point,” following many requests for the feature since launch.Yesterday (February 20), Amazon Game Studios posted an update that addressed many of the community’s biggest issues with Lost Ark, and said it is working with developer Smilegate to get them fixed.One of these issues is the topic of server transfers, which fans feel would go a long way toward reducing queue times and re-uniting friends who were seperated by character creation restrictions.However, although Amazon Game Studios said it “thoroughly investigated” the option, the studio reached the conclusion that “this instant functionality does not currently exist in Lost Ark“.Amazon added that although the feature recently arrived in Korea, it’s a weekly batch process that requires downtime to run – “therefore, unfortunately, [server transfers are] not a viable option at this point for the western version.”On the topic of long queue times in Europe, Amazon said that “there is no way to increase the number of players per world in Europe Central,” and “adding more servers is not possible based on the complexity of all the systems that need to work together.”The post does note that it has recently launched a new region in Europe to help alleviate demand.Elsewhere, the update addresses issues with matchmaking, gold seller spam, a fix for missing Crystalline Auras, and improved fraud protection.Following a hugely popular launch, Lost Ark has been the recipient of review bombing over issues with the European servers and problems with Founder’s Pack players not getting to play with their free-to-play friends.Last week, an update to the MMO added a new EU region and fixed a

There has been a change in plans for the COVID-19 vaccination policies for the upcoming 2022 Oscars ceremony, which will take place in Hollywood on March 27.

Looks like has just confirmed her relationship with co-star Josh Andres Rivera after almost a year of speculation. Last February, just days after Valentine's Day, the 20-year-old actress sparked suspicions with a simple tweet that stated, 'I love Josh Andres Rivera.'Over the last year, the duo would routinely share images of one other on social media, however Zegler confirmed their relationship in a series of Instagram and Instagram story postings on Monday, during their Valentine's Day meal.

Mark Schilling Japan CorrespondentTokyo has been the nerve center of Japan’s movie industry for more than a century. Kyoto, the country’s ancient capital, has a proud filmmaking tradition, especially for samurai period films, but all the major film companies — Toho, Toei, Shochiku, Nikkatsu and Kadokawa — are headquartered in Tokyo and operate studios in either Tokyo or the Tokyo metro region.

Seth Rogan totally gets why many people don’t care about Hollywood stars giving themselves a pat on the back. The actor revealed that he sympathized with people who won’t be tuning in at this year’s Oscars.The Academy Awards, known as the movie industry’s biggest night of the year, has experienced a drop in viewership over recent years. "I don’t get why movie people care so much if other people care what awards we give ourselves," the "Pineapple Express" star told Insider on Thursday.

Ed Meza @edmezavarThe 72nd Berlin Film Festival got off to a promising if somewhat subdued start Feb. 10 amid strict restrictions due to the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, which put a major damper on this year’s festivities and kept crowds to a minimum.While only some 800 guests attended the opening night ceremony at the Berlinale Palast — less than half of the normal capacity of the festival’s grand main venue — the event was nevertheless a hopeful sign for the local film industry and for cinema in general.The festival was uncompromising in its mask policy for the red carpet, rendering most high-profile guests unrecognizable — although many whipped them off for the phalanx of photographers.

What’s an award season without a little controversy? Beyond some online discourse, there hasn’t been much for the 2021-2022 season. That changed on Wednesday with a surprising report the Oscars will not be requiring attendees to be vaccinated.

With the announcement that Boris Johnson hopes to scrap all coronavirus restrictions by the end of February, you may be wondering what restrictions are still in place.

COVID restrictions.De Nacht staat op (“the night rises”) is a campaign led by venue owners who will purposefully break the nation’s current restrictions by re-opening up their establishments to show objection to continued closures.Dutch news outlet NU.nl reports that the protest will kick off from 9pm. Dozens of Dutch clubs including Amsterdam’s Melkweg, Radio Radio, Shelter, as well as Utrecht’s Ekko, are taking part.The OAC (Council of Amsterdam Clubs) and Nachtbelang are jointly spearheading the campaign.