His family said Tuesday that researchers found that Thomas, who died in December at age 33, suffered from chronic traumatic encephalopathy. The four-time Pro Bowl wide receiver was dealing with depression, anxiety and other CTE symptoms at the time of his death.

CTE, a degenerative brain disease which can only be diagnosed posthumously, has been found in hundreds of former NFL players as well as semi-pro and high school soccer players. Hall of Fame linebacker Junior Seau had CTE when he died in 2012 of a gunshot wound to the chest.

Hall of Famers Ken Stabler, Frank Gifford and Mike Webster also were diagnosed with CTE.

Boston University CTE Center researchers discovered that Thomas was at stage 2 following a brain study through the Concussion Legacy Foundation. Thomas’ family released the findings of the study.

“Once I became aware of CTE and began to familiarize myself with the symptoms, I noticed that Demaryius was isolating himself and I saw other changes in him,” Katina Smith, Demaryius’ mother, said in a statement. “He was just so young, and it was horrible to see him struggle. His father and I hope all families learn the risks of playing football. We don’t want other parents to have to lose their children like we did.”

Stage 2 CTE is associated with “progressive behavior, cognitive and mood abnormalities.” Family members say Thomas developed depression, anxiety, panic attacks, and trouble with his memory in the years before his death. Stage 4 is the most severe stage of CTE and is usually associated with dementia.

“Like so many that have gone before, we found stage 2 CTE in the brain of Demaryius Thomas. The question I keep asking myself is ‘When will enough be enough?’ When will athletes, parents and the public at large stop ignoring the risks of American football and insist that the game be changed to reduce subconcussive hits?” said Dr. Ann McKee, chief of neuropathology for the VA Boston Healthcare System and director of the BU CTE Center and VA-BU-CLF/UNITE Brain Bank.

CLF co-founder and CEO Dr. Chris Nowinski arranged the study through Thomas’ family.

“The football community would have no idea why so many former players struggle with neurological disorders after their career without the families who say yes to brain donation, so I want to thank Bobby Thomas and Katina Smith — and all families — for their trust in Dr. McKee and this team,” said Nowinski, a former football player at Harvard. “I hope this is a wake-up call to high profile current and former NFL players that CTE is rampant among them, and they need to get involved in creating real solutions. CTE should be their number one off-the-field issue.”

Thomas is one of more than 300 former NFL players who have been diagnosed with CTE by McKee and the BU CTE Center research team.

Thomas’ cause of death has not yet been identified. In 2021, Thomas began experiencing seizures. McKee told ABC News she believes the seizures were due to severe traumatic injuries off the football field, including a car wreck and a fall on stone stairs.

“CTE itself does not cause death. You don’t die from CTE. What CTE does is it changes your behavior and your personality,” McKee said.

Thomas played 10 seasons in the NFL for the Denver Broncos, New York Jets, and Houston Texans. He won a Super Bowl with the Broncos and Peyton Manning following the 2015 season.

Thomas had 724 catches for 9,763 yards and 63 touchdowns.

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On Tuesday morning, bleary-eyed VIPs walked across tons of white sand through the Etrier de Paris equestrian center on the leafy outskirts of Paris, past lines of spinning wheels and inflatable capsules as nature, fashion and art mingled.

The dreamscape had been specially made for fall-winter by artist Xavier Veilhan, who had adorned Chanel’s indoor ring venue with a gargantuan silver mobile. It had guests — including Marion Cotillard and Keira Knightley — gawping.

Haute couture is the age-old Parisian tradition of producing exorbitantly priced, made-to-measure garments for the world’s richest women.

Here are some highlights of the day’s fall-winter 2022 collections:

CHANEL’S SOFTNESS

With a somewhat incongruous drum rendition via video recording, Chanel ambassador Pharrell Williams rousingly kicked off proceedings before the “real” show began — to soft music and even softer form.

Gentle colors, lines and shapes, punctuated by moments of dazzling buttons, floaty plumes and large hats was the simple formula for Virginie Viard. The French designer was in a soft mood for couture this season, letting subtle twists do the talking.

A loose pastel green skirt suit opened, lined with minutely sparkling crystalline buttons made by the stalwart’s world-famous atelier. It led on to fastidious embroideries and jacquards on loose coats in speckled mint and sand with often-oversize or upturned collars, laded with an air of the 80s. A-line coats with a weighty swag, dropped waists and statement pockets, meanwhile, introduced subtle tensions — alongside hems and fringing in contrasting patterns.

Yet the best looks were those that kept it minimal. A ribbed olive green gown with a clean strap across the bust flared out at the bottom — in a clever take on a mermaid dress. It towed a perfect line between sporty and chic.

Yet, there’s a niggling feeling that Viard has been playing it safe ever since replacing Karl Lagerfeld, who died in 2019.

FRONT ROW

It’s got to be couture week when, to blasting horns of annoyed motorists in tangled traffic, paparazzi skid in the sand for a snap of the celebrity roll call.

Keira Knightley, 37, arrived at the far-flung Chanel show amid the most commotion. The actress, who’s been a house ambassador since 21, arrived in a velvet and lace halterneck LBD by Chanel, accessorized with shades and her husband, British musician James Righton.

French Oscar-winning actress Marion Cotillard rocked up in a more casual ensemble, comprising a striped Chanel shirt and black micro mini, declining interviews. Actresses Sigourney Weaver, Clemence Poesy and Maggie Gyllenhaal also joined — applauding vigorously when the designer came out at the finale.

ALEXIS MABILLE BLOOMS

French designer Alexis Mabille was in top fall form for a timeless collection of couture that never forgot its whimsy.

Draped gowns in luxuriant pastel silks caressed the body, quivering lightly as they were showcased down the dazzling indigo fabric runway.

Flowers were never far from the Mabille design universe — both literally and figuratively.

A pastel gray silk dress had a central curved split at the knee so that the hem cascaded down in folds like an opening flower. Its top bib was made of intricate white lace like the veins of a petal under a microscope.

Then came flashes of whimsical fashion design — such as one enormous silken flower headdress made of multitudinous shimmering petals.

MENSWEAR REIGNS IN PARIS

Front row fashion insiders are commenting how Paris menswear week — held June 21-26 — felt as equally buzzy as this week’s VIP-filled couture. And unusually so. Couture traditionally outperforms menswear in terms of attention and celebrity presence. But could this be a thing of the past?

From Justin Timberlake to K-pop sensations BTS, the celebrity presence alone of the menswear spring summer 2023 season was enough to rival this week’s couture. And that signals higher levels of attention than normal in the glossy press and online.

This change in gear — or fashion levelling out — comes as men’s luxury brand portfolio has been outperforming women’s wear in terms of growth more generally with more and more eyeballs on the men’s runway.

Of particular note is the proliferation of U.S. menswear brands, which are now opting to show across the pond in Paris to capitalize on the attention. After the ill-fated New York men’s fashion week — launched in 2016 and then canceled over a dwindling presence — reports have noted how myriad U.S.-based houses such as Thom Browne, Amiri, Greg Lauren, KidSuper and Rhude have opted to showcase their designs in the City of Light.

ARMANI GOES ART DECO

A geometric runway cross-pollinated to gentle geometry for Giorgio Armani. This couture season, the Italian fashion legend wanted to “give new space to sparkle and frivolity” inspired by the universe of Art Deco Polish painter Tamara de Lempicka.

On the runway the heyday of the graphic Art Deco movement — the 1930s — was evoked through a graphicism in the silhouettes. Art Deco was a movement created in reaction to Art Nouveau, replacing the latter’s undulating shapes with geometry.

A silken gray jacket had the Oriental-feel fashionable at that time with silvery linear trim. Elsewhere, swirls adorned the busts of dark fitted column gowns, while earrings and necklaces came as chunky and graphic.

As ever, Armani showcased his signature statement shoulders, shimmering organzas and satins and lashings of sparkle in the longest collection seen all season. There were in total 92 looks.

“Fire of Love,” excavates their unique story, and the jaw-dropping footage the Kraffts left behind, in a film exploding with awe for the mysterious alchemies of love and obsession.

The Kraffts were prominent scientists in the ‘70s and ‘80s whose passion and occasional red knit hats made them a bit like the Cousteaus of the volcano world. Like that underwater explorer, the Kraffts also picked up filmmaking to chronicle their investigations — which often drew them, like moths to the flame, perilously close to not-at-all-dormant volcanoes. They died in 1991 in a cascading gray cloud on Japan’s Mount Unzen, leaving behind hundreds of hours of footage, and as narrator Miranda July says early in the film, a million questions.

Maurice, a gregarious geologist, and Katia, a more reserved geochemist, were brought together by their mutual infatuation for volcanoes. After marrying, they decided not to have children and instead dedicated themselves to being, as Maurice terms it, “volcano runners.” They travel from active volcano to active volcano, living according to the Earth’s rhythms. With a wry smile, they confess many of their colleagues view them as weirdos.

“If I could eat rocks, I’d stay on the volcano and never come down,” Maurice says proudly in one TV interview.

Dosa uses July’s narration to frame the Kraffts’ story with a playful sense of wonder and whimsy — a sometimes overly intrusive, too neatly packaged device in a film where what’s on screen is so overwhelmingly powerful that it might not need the extra layer.

Again and again, we see the couple traversing charred alien landscapes with geysers of spewing lava. Their protective outfits are a little nutty, too, like props from an old science-fiction film or something left over from the henchmen of a Bond villain. But with rivers of red all around, they are almost at play — wild silhouettes dancing on the precipice. When set to Brian Eno’s beguiling “The Big Ship,” the imagery isn’t hellish but heavenly.

On one volcano, Maurice fries an egg on the hot ground. On another, he paddles an inflatable raft over a steaming lake of acid. Katia objects to that gambit but they are resolutely inseparable. Still, if “Fire of Love” is principally a love story, the chemistry we see between them isn’t the sort that makes you swoon. It’s easy to wonder if what binds them together isn’t so much love as mutual obsession. They both burn with a red-hot desire less for each other than to be as close to the volcano as possible. Are they chasing life, or death? Maurice calls it “a kamikaze existence.”

But what’s unknowable is also at the heart of “Fire of Love,” a movie about two people not afraid but intoxicated by forces far larger than they are. Katia and Maurice are, she says, “like flies in a saucepan that’s boiling over.” And it’s their contagious sense of awe for nature that keeps the flames of “Fire of Love” smoldering.

“Fire of Love,” a Neon release, is rated PG by the Motion Picture Association of America for thematic material including some unsettling images, and brief smoking. Running time: 93 minutes. Three stars out of four.

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Follow AP Film Writer Jake Coyle on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/jakecoyleAP

Patrick Callen, a Dublin, Ireland hitman with a mild case of obsessive-compulsive disorder, stays organized by making lists. On his first day in Keith Bruton’s debut novel, the list includes:

— Buy Food

— Sleep With Olivia

— Visit Ma

— Kill Henry O’Neil

Patrick, who navigates Dublin’s streets on his 1950s Modello Oro bicycle, was pedaling home from the market when he stopped off to deal with O’Neil, a drug runner and junkie who owed his supplier more than he could pay. Worried that someone might “nick” his bag of lemons, Patrick slipped it off the handlebars and took it with him to do the hit. From then on, he was known as The Lemon Man.

The details of the O’Neil hit precisely convey Patrick’s attitude about his chosen profession.

“I reach back into my shorts and pull out the gun, shooting little Henry O’Neil dead center in the forehead, bulls-eye. He falls back into the chair with a bullet in his head. I touch my top lip with the top of my tongue. My moustache is getting long… I scratch my head with the silencer. It’s warm.”

But just when you’re sure that Patrick is a psychopath, he discovers an infant in O’Neil’s filthy drug den, can’t bear to leave it there, and takes it with him.

Suddenly, the antihero of “The Lemon Man” is struggling to change diapers and trying to figure out what toddlers eat. But he’s also got a job to do. There are people who need killing and others willing to pay to have it done. So he finds himself taking the baby along on the job or leaving him in the care of his equally flummoxed girlfriend, Olivia, whose work as a prostitute doesn’t bother Patrick in the least.

Caring for an infant while working as a hired killer is not a good mix, and the inevitable complications soon threaten to get Patrick and Olivia killed. The result is a fast-paced crime novel that is both hilarious and hardboiled, its main character both ruthless and oddly sympathetic.

“I don’t care what you think,” Patrick says. “I take care of (i.e. kill) people when they don’t obey the rules. The rules of the street.”

Bruton’s tight, colorful prose captures the idiosyncrasies of Irish English without ever leaving American readers behind, every unfamiliar word clear in contest. And his hard-eyed portrayal of Dublin street life is so vivid readers can smell the streets and feel the cold rain on their faces.

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Bruce DeSilva, winner of the Mystery Writers of America’s Edgar Award, is the author of the Mulligan crime novels including “The Dread Line.”

The filing came in response to a claim last week by Kelly’s attorneys that the 55-year-old Kelly was placed on suicide watch as a form of punishment last week after a judge sentenced him to 30 years behind bars for using his fame to sexually exploit women and girls.

Initially, prosecutors said the measure was needed for Kelly’s “own safety” following a psychological examination. They reversed themselves on Tuesday, saying prison officials took him off suicide watch based on a follow-up “clinical assessment.”

The Grammy-winning, multiplatinum-selling songwriter was found guilty last year of racketeering and sex trafficking. He has denied wrongdoing and plans to appeal his conviction.

Kyrgios practiced at the All England Club on Tuesday, and the All England Club confirmed he is scheduled to play his match against Cristian Garin of Chile on Wednesday.

“While Mr. Kyrgios is committed to addressing any and all allegations once clear, taking the matter seriously does not warrant any misreading of the process Mr. Kyrgios is required to follow,” attorney Pierre Johannessen wrote in a statement emailed to the media.

Johannessen wrote that “the allegations are not considered as fact” by the court, and Kyrgios is not “considered charged” with an offense until a first appearance in court.

Wednesday’s match against Garin is the third Grand Slam quarterfinal of the Australian’s career — he is 0-2 in the others — and first in 7 1/2 years.

“We have been made aware of legal proceedings involving Nick Kyrgios in Australia, and as they are ongoing, we are not in a position to offer a comment,” an All England Club spokesperson said Tuesday. “We are in touch with Nick’s team and he remains scheduled to play his quarterfinal match tomorrow.”

The Canberra Times reported that Kyrgios is supposed to appear in court on Aug. 2. The newspaper cited local police as saying that a 27-year-old Australian man is involved in a case about “common assault following an incident in December 2021.”

Canberra police did not immediately respond to an after-hours request for comment emailed by The Associated Press.

A spokesperson for the ATP men’s tennis tour wrote in an email: “The ATP is aware of the Australian case involving Nick Kyrgios but as legal proceedings are ongoing it would be inappropriate to comment further at this time.”

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More AP Wimbledon coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/wimbledon and https://apnews.com/hub/tennis and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

1. The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent

2. The Lost City

3. Watcher

4. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

5. The Bad Guys

6. Spider-Man: No Way Home

7. Sonic the Hedgehog 2

8. Morbius

9. Uncharted

10. Everything Everywhere All At Once

Movies US charts – Independent:

1. Watcher

2. Murder at Yellowstone City

3. Blacklight

4. The Outfit (2022)

5. Memory

6. Code Name Banshee

7. Fittest On Earth: Next Gen

8. Gold

9. Parallel Mothers

10. After Yang

MOVIES

— Netflix’s “The Sea Beast” brings a “Moby Dick”-like tale down to kid size. The rollicking ocean adventure, directed by “Big Hero 6” filmmaker Chris Williams, is about an orphan British girl (voiced by Zaris-Angel Hator) who stows away on a ship hunting sea beasts. The veteran animator Williams, who co-directed “Moana,” returns to the high-seas for a swashbuckling tale made with the kind of accomplished animation often only found on the big screen. It debuts Friday.

— The Criterion Channel has a new film series sure to knock you out. “In the Ring: Boxing On-Screen” brings together 16 bobbing-and-weaving movies, from the 1927 Alfred Hitchcock silent “The Ring” to Martin Scorsese’s 1980 masterpiece “Raging Bull.” The series, streaming in July, argues that boxing and cinema grew in tandem, and remain uniquely suited to one another. Two highlights: “The Set-Up,” Robert Wise’s sweaty 1949 noir with Robert Ryan as a washed-up boxer whose manager sets him up to take a dive; and Leon Gast’s 1996 documentary classic “When We Were Kings,” about the Muhammad Ali-George Foreman 1974 bout, the “Rumble in the Jungle.”

— AP Film Writer Jake Coyle

MUSIC

— Neil Young isn’t finished opening his vaults. On Friday, he’s releasing the shelved Crazy Horse album “Toast,” a set they recorded in 2001 at Toast Studios in San Francisco. “‘Toast’ is an album that stands on its own in my collection,” Young wrote last year. “Unlike any other, ‘Toast’ was so sad that I couldn’t put it out. I just skipped it and went on to do another album in its place. I couldn’t handle it at that time.” The seven songs on “Toast” explore a broken relationship. In the last song, “Boom Boom Boom,” Young sings: “All I got is a broken heart, and I don’t try to hide it when I play my guitar.”

— Quick, what was the name of the first album Elton John ever recorded? If you answered “Empty Sky,” close, but wrong. It’s actually “Regimental Sgt. Zippo,” a 12-track album that the then-unknown teenager John — credited as Reg Dwight — recorded in 1968 at age 19 with lyricist Bernie Taupin that was shelved. It had a limited release on Record Store Day in 2021, but now it will be available Friday on LP, CD and streaming. Beatles harmonies, harpsichords and flute-like sounds permeate the album, which The Guardian says has a “naïve, endearing charm” and the title track has a trippy animated video.

— Journey’s “Let It Rain” is one of the singles ahead of the band’s next studio album, “Freedom,” set for release Friday, “that brings back the grand scale of the group’s greatest moments, along with updated and bold new directions and sounds,” says the band. It’s their first project of new material since 2011’s “Eclipse.” The new record also features the tracks “You Got the Best of Me” and “The Way We Used to Be.”

— AP Entertainment Writer Mark Kennedy

TELEVISION

— Writer and commentator Baratunde Thurston goes big with a region-by-region trek in “America Outdoors,” debuting Tuesday on PBS. In an effort to understand Americans’ “complicated relationship” with the natural world, the six-part series visits with people including wilderness pilots in Idaho; Appalachian coal miners who have turned to beekeeping; Black surfers in Los Angeles, and an ultramarathoner in California’s Death Valley. Getting in touch with nature and those attuned to it proved to be one of “the best things I could do with my time,” Thurston says.

— In the Hulu comedy “Maggie,” a professional psychic who sees her own future is in for a rough romantic ride. Maggie, played by Rebecca Rittenhouse, gets glimpses of a maybe not-so-happily-ever life after she gives a reading to customer Ben (David Del Rio). Her forecast has them married and parents, but then he moves into her apartment building with a present-day girlfriend. Will love and, more importantly, hilarity ensue? Nichole Sakura, Leonardo Nam and Chris Elliott co-star in the 13-episode series debuting in full on Wednesday.

— Think you’re competitive? The 28 contestants on “The Challenge: USA” have already proven their mettle — in one fashion or another — on “Survivor,” “The Amazing Race,” “Big Brother” and “Love Island.” Players will face mental and physical contests in the series arriving with a 90-minute episode on Wednesday on CBS (streaming on Paramount+). T.J. Lavin hosts the first network broadcast of MTV’s international reality franchise, with “Survivor” winners Tyson Apostol, Ben Driebergen and Sarah Lacina among those vying for the $500,000 grand prize.

— AP Television Writer Lynn Elber

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Catch up on AP’s entertainment coverage here: https://apnews.com/apf-entertainment.

Former minor-league ballplayer Ron Shelton has written and directed a host of sports-themed movies, but it’s doubtful anyone has told him they’ve named their children after the characters in “Tin Cup” or “White Men Can’t Jump” or even “Cobb.”

“Bull Durham”? That’s different. A couple once introduced Shelton to their young sons, Crash and Nuke. That might be more impressive than the Sports Illustrated declaration in 2003 that the 1988 comedy starring Kevin Costner was the best sports movie ever.

What’s really impressive, once you read Shelton’s breezy behind-the-scenes recap, “The Church of Baseball,” is that “Bull Durham” didn’t end up in the direct-to-video minor leagues or just sent to the showers. Initially, too many people had too little faith in the movie and the man behind it.

There were conflicts over the casting of the leads, Costner as Crash, Susan Sarandon as Annie, and Tim Robbins as Nuke. Though Costner’s star was just emerging, none was seen as box office draws. Teen comedy veteran Anthony Michael Hall was considered a better choice as the pitching phenom completing the love triangle between Crash and Annie. However, all three — Costner, Sarandon and Robbins —were destined to win Oscars in standout careers.

And there was conflict over Shelton himself, some executives thinking the first-time director wasn’t up to the task. Somehow he managed to keep so many cooks with so many thoughts from spoiling his broth before it was even in the pot.

Dissention continued throughout shooting. At one point some people decided that the scene on the mound in which the teammates talk about anything but Nuke’s erratic pitching — “Candlesticks always make a nice gift” — should be cut. But test audiences and future fans would judge it the movie’s funniest moment. Shelton credits actor Robert Wuhl for the line, just one example of how the film was a team effort and Shelton generous in sharing the credit.

At the heart of “The Church of Baseball” isn’t the filmmaking or the fighting with the studio or even the insider’s view of baseball. It’s the creative process. Unlike most making-of books, many pages are devoted to how Shelton conceived the characters, developed a framework for a movie, sold a studio on it, then wrote and rewrote and rewrote the script. And the creativity continued during the actual filming, the editing, the music, the costumes and all the other stuff that goes into making a movie. Fortunately, creativity can be pretty funny as well as pretty interesting, and “The Church of Baseball” is consistently both.

Sure, let’s go to another baseball analogy: Making “Bull Durham” was like fielding a squirrely ground ball off the end of the bat at the edge of the infield grass — a play Shelton says looks easy but is actually hard to do. Fans of baseball and the movies are glad he didn’t botch it.

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Douglass K. Daniel is the author of “Anne Bancroft: A Life” (University Press of Kentucky)

The protest, organized by supporters of the campaign group “Just Stop Oil,” came a day after two activists from the group were arrested after gluing themselves to the frame of John Constable’s “The Hay Wain” in London’s National Gallery.

On Tuesday, five activists went into the Royal Academy and attached a hand each to the frame of “The Last Supper,” a full-size copy of da Vinci’s famous 15th-century work.

The Metropolitan Police said three men and two women were arrested on suspicion of criminal damage. The Royal Academy said the gallery room was closed to the public and that police were “called upon the protesters’ request.”

“Just Stop Oil,” which wants the government to stop giving out licenses for new oil and gas projects, has staged a series of attention-grabbing protests over the past week.

On Monday, two activists were arrested after they covered Constable’s 1821 “The Hay Wain” with large sheets of paper depicting “an apocalyptic vision of the future.” They then each stuck a hand on the frame of the oil painting and protested as security staff ushered out tourists and a group of schoolchildren.

The National Gallery said that painting’s frame “suffered minor damage” and “there was also some disruption to the surface of the varnish on the painting,” but both were fixed and the painting was rehung.

Activists from “Just Stop Oil” also disrupted the British Grand Prix race on Sunday when they sat down on the track during a halt in the Formula One race in Silverstone, southern England.

Police said six people were charged with conspiracy to cause public nuisance at the race.

July 10: Actor William Smithers (“Dallas,” ″Peyton Place”) is 95. Singer Mavis Staples is 83. Actor Mills Watson (“B.J. and the Bear,” ″Lobo”) is 82. Actor Robert Pine (“CHiPS”) is 81. Guitarist Jerry Miller of Moby Grape is 79. Folk singer Arlo Guthrie is 75. Bassist Dave Smalley of The Raspberries is 73. Singer Neil Tennant of the Pet Shop Boys is 68. Banjo player Bela Fleck of Bela Fleck and the Flecktones is 64. Actor Fiona Shaw (“True Blood,” ″Harry Potter” films) is 64. Drummer Shaw Wilson of BR549 is 62. Country singer Ken Mellons is 57. Guitarist Peter DiStefano of Porno for Pyros is 57. Actor Alec Mapa (“Ugly Betty” ″Half & Half”) is 57. Actor Gale Harold (“Hellcats”) is 53. Country singer Gary LeVox of Rascal Flatts is 52. Actor Sofia Vergara (“Modern Family”) is 50. Singer Imelda May is 48. Actor Adrian Grenier (“Entourage,” ″Cecil B. DeMented”) is 46. Actor Chiwetel Ejiofor (“12 Years a Slave”) is 45. Actor Gwendoline Yeo (“Desperate Housewives”) is 45. Actor Thomas Ian Nicholas (“American Pie”) is 42. Singer Jessica Simpson is 42. Bassist John Spiker of Filter is 41. Actor Heather Hemmens (“Hellcats”) is 38. Rapper-singer Angel Haze is 31. Singer Perrie Edwards of Little Mix is 29.

July 11: Singer Jeff Hanna of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band is 75. Ventriloquist Jay Johnson (“Soap”) is 73. Actor Bruce McGill (“Animal House”) is 72. Actor Stephen Lang is 70. Actor Mindy Sterling (“Austin Powers”) is 69. Actor Sela Ward is 66. Singer Peter Murphy of Bauhaus is 65. Reggae singer Michael Rose of Black Uhuru is 65. Actor Mark Lester (“Oliver”) is 64. Jazz saxophonist Kirk Whalum is 64. Guitarist Richie Sambora (Bon Jovi) is 63. Singer Suzanne Vega is 63. Actor Lisa Rinna is 59. Bassist Scott Shriner of Weezer is 57. Actor Debbe Dunning (“Home Improvement”) is 56. Actor Greg Grunberg (“Heroes,” ″Alias,” ″Felicity”) is 56. Wildlife expert Jeff Corwin (“The Jeff Corwin Experience”) is 55. Actor Justin Chambers (“Grey’s Anatomy”) is 52. Actor Leisha Hailey (“The L Word”) is 51. Actor Michael Rosenbaum (“Smallville”) is 50. Rapper Lil’ Kim is 48. Actor Jon Wellner (“CSI”) is 47. Rapper Lil’ Zane is 41. Actor David Henrie (“Wizards of Waverly Place”) is 33. Actor Connor Paolo (“Revenge”) is 32. Singer Alessia Cara is 26.

July 12: Singer Christine McVie of Fleetwood Mac is 79. Actor Denise Nicholas (“In the Heat of the Night”) is 78. Singer Walter Egan is 74. Fitness guru Richard Simmons is 74. Actor Cheryl Ladd (“Charlie’s Angels”) is 71. Singer Ricky McKinnie of The Blind Boys of Alabama is 70. Actor Mel Harris (“thirtysomething”) is 66. Gospel singer Sandi Patty is 66. Guitarist Dan Murphy of Soul Asylum is 60. Actor Judi Evans (“Days of Our Lives”) is 58. Singer Robin Wilson of the Gin Blossoms is 57. Actor Lisa Nicole Carson (“Ally McBeal”) is 53. Country singer Shannon Lawson is 49. Rapper Magoo is 49. Actor Anna Friel (“Monarch,” “Pushing Daisies”) is 46. Singer Tracie Spencer is 46. Actor Alison Wright (“The Americans”) is 46. Actor Steve Howey (“Reba”) is 45. Actor Topher Grace (“That ’70s Show”) is 44. Actor Michelle Rodriguez (“The Fast and Furious” films, “Lost”) is 44. Actor Kristen Connolly (“Zoo”) is 42. Singer-guitarist Kimberly Perry of The Band Perry is 39. Actor Matt Cook (“Man with a Plan”) is 38. Actor Natalie Martinez (“Under the Dome”) is 38. Actor Ta’Rhonda Jones (“Empire”) is 34. Actor Melissa O’Neill (“The Rookie”) is 34. Actor Rachel Brosnahan (“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” ″House of Cards”) is 32. Actor Erik Per Sullivan (“Malcolm in the Middle”) is 31.

July 13: Game show announcer Johnny Gilbert is 94. Actor Patrick Stewart is 82. Singer-guitarist Roger McGuinn of The Byrds is 80. Actor Harrison Ford is 80. Actor-comedian Cheech Marin is 76. Actor Daphne Maxwell Reid (“Eve,” ″The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air”) is 74. Actor Didi Conn is 71. Actor Gil Birmingham (“Twilight” films) is 69. Country singer Louise Mandrell is 68. Bassist Mark “The Animal” Mendoza of Twisted Sister is 66. Actor-director Cameron Crowe is 65. Actor Michael Jace (“The Shield”) is 60. Actor Tom Kenny (“Spongebob Squarepants”) is 60. Country singer-songwriter Victoria Shaw is 60. Bluegrass singer Rhonda Vincent is 60. Country singer Neil Thrasher (Thrasher Shriver) is 57. Actor Ken Jeong (“The Masked Singer,” “Dr. Ken”) is 53. Singer Deborah Cox is 49. Drummer Will Champion of Coldplay is 44. Actor Steven R. McQueen (“The Vampire Diaries”) is 34. Singer Leon Bridges is 33. Actor Hayley Erin (“General Hospital”) is 28. Actor Kyle Harrison Breitkopf (“The Whispers”) is 17.

July 14: Actor Nancy Olson (“Sunset Boulevard”) is 94. Football player-turned-actor Rosey Grier is 90. Actor Vincent Pastore (“The Sopranos”) is 76. Bassist Chris Cross of Ultravox is 70. Actor Jerry Houser (“Summer of ’42″) is 70. Actor Eric Laneuville (“St. Elsewhere”) is 70. Actor Stan Shaw (“Harlem Nights”) is 70. Singer-comedian Kyle Gass of Tenacious D is 62. Guitarist Ray Herndon of McBride and the Ride is 62. Actor Jane Lynch is 62. Actor Jackie Earle Haley is 61. Actor Matthew Fox (“Lost,” ″Party of Five”) is 56. Keyboardist Ellen Reid of Crash Test Dummies is 56. Singer-guitarist Tanya Donelly of Belly is 56. Actor Missy Gold (“Benson”) is 52. Singer Tameka Cottle of Xscape is 47. Country singer Jamey Johnson is 47. Musician taboo of Black Eyed Peas is 47. Actor Scott Porter (“Friday Night Lights”) is 43. Actor Phoebe Waller-Bridge (“Fleabag”) is 37. Singer Dan Smith of Bastille is 36. Actor Sara Canning (“The Vampire Diaries”) is 35. Singer Dan Reynolds of Imagine Dragons is 35.

July 15: Actor Patrick Wayne is 83. Singer Millie Jackson is 78. Guitarist-singer Peter Lewis of Moby Grape is 77. Singer Linda Ronstadt is 76. Drummer Artimus Pyle (Lynyrd Skynyrd) is 74. Actor Terry O’Quinn (“Lost,” ″West Wing,”) is 70. Singer-guitarist David Pack (Ambrosia) is 70. Drummer Marky Ramone (The Ramones) is 70. Guitarist Joe Satriani is 66. Country songwriter Mac McAnally is 65. Actor Willie Aames (“Eight Is Enough,” ″Charles In Charge”) is 62. Model Kim Alexis is 62. Actor Lolita Davidovich is 61. Actor-director Forest Whitaker is 61. Actor Shari Headley is 59. Actor Brigitte Nielsen is 59. Drummer Jason Bonham is 56. Actor Amanda Foreman (“Parenthood,” ″Felicity”) is 56. Singer Stokley of Mint Condition is 55. Actor-comedian Eddie Griffin (“Malcolm and Eddie”) is 54. Actor Reggie Hayes (“Girlfriends”) is 53. Actor Jim Rash (“Community”) is 51. Drummer John Dolmayan of System of a Down and of Scars on Broadway is 50. Actor Scott Foley (“Scandal,” ″Felicity”) is 50. Actor Brian Austin Green (“Beverly Hills 90210”) is 49. Rapper Jim Jones is 46. Actor Diane Kruger (“National Treasure,” “Troy”) is 46. Actor Lana Parrilla (“Once Upon a Time,” ″Swingtown”) is 45. Guitarist Ray Toro of My Chemical Romance is 45. Actor Laura Benanti (“Law and Order: SVU”) is 43. Singer Kia Thornton of Divine is 43. Actor Taylor Kinney (“Chicago Fire”) is 41. Actor Tristan “Mack” Wilds (“90210″) is 33. Actor Iain Armitage (“Big Little Lies,” “Young Sheldon”) is 14.

July 16: Singer William Bell is 83. Actor-singer Ruben Blades (“Fear the Walking Dead”) is 74. Drummer Stewart Copeland of The Police is 70. Actor Faye Grant (“Affairs of State”) is 65. Dancer Michael Flatley (“Lord of the Dance”) is 64. Actor Phoebe Cates is 59. Actor Paul Hipp is 59. Actor Daryl “Chill” Mitchell (“Ed”) is 57. Actor Jonathan Adams (“Last Man Standing”) is 55. Actor Will Ferrell is 55. Actor Rain Pryor (“Head of the Class”) is 53. Actor Corey Feldman is 51. Singer-guitarist Ed Kowalczyk (Live) is 51. Singer Ryan McCombs (Drowning Pool) is 48. Actor Jayma Mays (“The Millers,” ″Glee”) is 43. Actor AnnaLynne McCord (“Nip/Tuck”) is 35. Actor-singer James Maslow (“Big Time Rush”) is 32. Actor Mark Indelicato (“Ugly Betty”) is 28. Singer-guitarist Luke Hemmings of 5 Seconds of Summer is 26.

Stacey Stevens’s old college roommate, now working at a bird sanctuary off the Maine coast, is in a panic. Lobstermen who have made a habit of harassing the facility’s staff are growing more aggressive, and now her boss has gone missing.

“Can you please come out here tomorrow with Mike?” she begs Stacey. “Make sure he brings his badge and gun.”

The Mike in question is Maine game warden Mike Bowditch, now making his 13th appearance in a series of crime novels by Paul Doiron. Stacey, the love of Mike’s life, has been his on-again, off-again girlfriend for years, and fans will be pleased that in “Hatchet Island,” their romance is on again.

The pair decide to mix duty with pleasure, kayaking to the sanctuary with the intention of finding a romantic spot to camp while also trying to figure out why Stacey’s friend is so shaken.

But when Stacey’s friend and another member of the small sanctuary staff are brutally killed, Mike has a complex murder case on his hands. Among other things, it involves the sanctuary’s desperate financial situation, a mysterious trespasser, a violent Marine Patrol officer, a pair of suicides, sexually abused teenagers, and a famous artist who takes photographs of people posed as corpses.

In the previous novels in this fine series, Mike solved his cases by doggedly assembling evidence until the truth gradually emerged. This time, however, he uncovers a bewildering collection of puzzle pieces.

Stepping out of character, he assembles them in Sherlockian fashion to identify the killer, turning “Hatchet Island” into an old fashioned puzzle mystery rather than the hard-boiled crime fiction Doiron’s readers have come to expect. Although Mike is ultimately proven right, those puzzle pieces could have been assembled in a myriad of other ways. As a result, the conclusion feels contrived and somewhat unsatisfying.

Because the homicide victims are dead before either Mike or the readers get to know them, the tale also lacks the usual passion for justice evident in previous novels. Mike even describes his actions as “selfish and risky,” motivated by a need to prove his worth to a state police colonel who thought a game warden “had no business being attached to a homicide investigation.”

As always, however, Doiron’s prose is fist rate, his descriptions of the coastal islands and wildlife as vivid and vibrant as his past portrayals of the deep woods and wild rivers where most of the previous novels were set.

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Bruce DeSilva, winner of the Mystery Writers of America’s Edgar Award, is the author of the Mulligan crime novels including “The Dread Line.”

It was Taika Waititi filmmaking at its most intense, with slo-mo sauntering, stupid antlered headdresses, slicing swords and laser cannons, capes and undead soldiers, a hair-cropped Thor, a typically unbalanced Jeff Goldblum character, a prophecy, alien spacecrafts and lots of Led Zeppelin.

If you thought that was bananas filmmaking, its sequel is the whole fruit basket.

“Thor: Love and Thunder” — a rare Marvel fourth installment for one character — has giant bleating goats, a horrible Zeus, children in cages, space dolphins, Jodie Foster jokes, teddy bears with laser eyes, an Old Spice commercial parody, Natalie Portman headbutting a villain, blue aliens and lots of Guns N’ Roses.

Waititi is back as the co-writer, director and the voice for the stony Korg, with Chris Hemsworth as our space Viking, a man who really needs to get more credit for taking Thor over the years from glum to hysterical. His ability to pronounce superhero things dramatically and then become a goofball is endlessly endearing. Also back are Tessa Thompson as Valkyrie and Jaimie Alexander’s Sif.

One problematic character back is Jane Foster, Thor’s ex whom he still pines for eight years after they broke up and she skipped the third film. But now Foster — played by Portman — has his old magical hammer, Mjolnir, and has become a superhero of her own, the Mighty Thor. She’s working on a catchphrase, like “Eat this hammer!”

Thor, of course, has moved on — not with his romantic feelings, but with his favored weaponry. He wields the enchanted axe Stormbreaker now. He has no eyes for Mjolnir — or does he? “We good? I know it’s a little weird having my ex-weapon around,” he asks his axe in a deliciously loony scene, basically reflecting a love triangle between a Norse god and two metal armaments.

Our villain this time is superb: Christian Bale plays the deliciously named Gorr the God Butcher. A once-pious man who prayed in vain to the deities, he has now decided to wipe them out after having a personal setback. Bale is so creepy and so committed that you can feel his hatred melt your popcorn. “The gods will use you but they will not help you,” he snarls.

Another punch of the bizarre comes from Russell Crowe, who plays Zeus as a vainglorious tyrant with a Roman outfit (a riff off “Gladiator”?) and an atrocious Mediterranean accent. He is surrounded by lackeys — some called Zeusettes — and frustrates Thor, even stripping him of his clothes, to the delight of many in the audience. “You know what they say: Never meet your heroes,” says the Viking.

The whipsaw from death and suffering to idiocy is staggering, with Jennifer Kaytin Robinson credited alongside Waititi for a script that seems like it was pasted together after gerbils ripped up a bag of words. You go from a hospital room on Earth dealing with a terminal illness to Thor dressed as a hot dog to a shadow realm in low gravity where the film goes completely black and white. There is very little logic and the connections between scenes are tenuous, giving the film a feeling of not building to anything clear.

Peak lunacy is reached at the Omnipotence City, where the universe’s gods hang out. There is the Aztec God, various Maori Goddesses, the Mayan God and a round dough called Bao, God of Dumplings. It’s a gag that seems out of a Mel Brooks film but the way the Marvel Cinematic Universe is going, don’t be surprised to see the 47th installment called “Bao: Steam and Sauce.”

The film is stacked with cameos — many of which critics aren’t permitted to reveal — but look for Hemsworth’s real-life wife and one of his sons, a bunch of fed-up Guardians of the Galaxy and a pretty famous comedienne playing Cate Blanchett’s role from “Ragnarok.”

What to make of this glorious, intergalactic mess? There is no better answer than to swipe one of our hero’s catchphrases: “What a classic Thor adventure, Hurrah!”

“Thor: Love and Thunder,” a Walt Disney Studios release that opens in theaters on July 8, is rated PG-13 for “intense sci-fi violence, action, language, partial nudity and some suggestive material.” Running time: 119 minutes. Three stars out of four.

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MPAA Definition of PG-13: Parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

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Online: https://www.marvel.com/movies/thor-love-and-thunder

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Mark Kennedy is at http://twitter.com/KennedyTwits

A very long list — this was the 661st Kirkpinar oil wrestling championship, taking place in western Edirne province.

In the festival, which is on UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, wrestlers cover themselves in olive oil, making it more difficult for opponents to grab each other. The winner is the wrestler who makes his opponent’s back touch the ground — or his “belly face the sky.”

With the cheers of thousands of spectators and the tunes of drums and zurna flutes ringing in his ears, the 26-year-old Simsek, from the Mediterranean province of Antalya, was presented the golden belt by Sports Minister Mehmet Kasapoglu.

“God granted me this. I thank God. I put the belt around my neck and fulfilled my dream,” Simsek said.

This year, more than 2,475 pehlivans, or wrestlers, registered for the event, the highest number ever, according to official Anadolu news agency.

There were moments of joy, but also of tension. At one point, riot police were called in to secure the arena after wrestlers confronted judges under the scorching sun.

The festival reportedly started in the 1360s when legend says the second Ottoman sultan, Sultan Orhan, wanted to keep his soldiers fit and ready for battle. But oil wrestling has been practiced across the region for thousands of years.

The wrestlers are chosen among men who demonstrate moral character and must be invited by the Kirkpinar master. The invitation is delivered by sending a red-based candle to the nominated pehlivans at the beginning of March.

The wrestlers, wearing leather trousers called “kispet,” are covered in oil poured from a copper jug before the wrestling begins, and they engage in a highly ritualized procession to begin their bout. In the early stages of the tournament, dozens of wrestlers fight on a large grass arena.

The winner earns the title of “Baspehlivan,” or head wrestler. Simsek was crowned for the first time after defeating a clutch of established favorites.

“Khuaftan Baange” — Kashmiri for “the call to night’s prayer” — plays out like a groaning dirge for Muslim-majority Kashmir, the starkly beautiful Himalayan territory that’s home to decades of territorial conflict, gun-toting soldiers and harsh crackdowns on the populace. It is mournful in tone but lavish in lyrical symbolism inspired by Sufism, an Islamic mystic tradition. Its form is that of a Marsiya, a poetic rendition that is a lament for Muslim martyrs.

“I just express myself and scream, but when harmony is added, it becomes a song,” Javaid, a poet like his father and grandfather, said in an interview.

Javaid is among a movement of artists in disputed Kashmir, divided between India and Pakistan and claimed by both since 1947, who are forming a new musical tradition that blends progressive Sufi rock with hip-hop in an assertive expression of political aspirations. They call it “conscious music.”

Drawing on elements of Islam and spiritual poetry, it is often laced with religious metaphors to circumvent measures restricting some free speech in Indian-controlled Kashmir that have led many poets and singers to swallow their words. It also seeks to bridge tensions between Muslim tradition and modernism in a region that in many ways still clings to a conservative past.

“It’s like venting decades of pent-up emotions,” Javaid said.

Kashmir has a centuries-old tradition of spoken poetry that is heavily influenced by Islam, with mystical, rhapsodic verses often used when making supplications at mosques and shrines. After rebellion against Indian rule broke out in 1989, poetic renditions about liberation poured out from mosque loudspeakers and elegies inspired by historical Islamic events were sung at the funerals of fallen rebels.

Two decades of fighting left Kashmir and its people scarred with tens of thousands of civilians, rebels and government forces dead before the armed struggle withered, paving the way for unarmed mass demonstrations that shook the region in 2008 and 2010. Around that time Kashmir also saw the rise of protest music in English-language hip-hop and rap, a new anthem of resistance.

Singer-songwriter Roushan Illahi, who performs under the name MC Kash, was the genre’s pioneer, making angry, grab-you-by-the-neck music that became a rallying cry for young people to use sharp rhymes and beats to challenge India’s sovereignty over the region.

Kash’s songs treaded dangerously close to sedition, however, as questioning India’s claim to the restive region is illegal. The country has sharply restricted freedom of expression regarding the issue in Kashmir, including some curbs to the media, dissent and religious practices.

Frequent questioning by police pushed Kash to a point where he almost stopped making music. Some colleagues have continue to record and perform but began incorporating coded language, or moved away from politics altogether.

“First it was a chokehold,” Kash said, “but now it is a pillow on your mouth.”

Tensions escalated in 2016 when Indian troops put down another massive public uprising, leading to a renewed militancy. Three years later, in 2019, New Delhi revoked the region’s partial autonomy amid a communications blackout and a harsh crackdown on the press and other forms of free expression.

The situation has since worsened with India’s aggressive counterinsurgency operations leading to an uptick in gunfights between rebels and Indian troops. Deadly attacks by rebels have also increased against Kashmiri police officials, Indian migrant workers and the region’s minority Hindus.

The crackdown that began in 2019 has persisted. Nevertheless, many artists stuck to the music and have been catapulted to fame, their songs widely shared on social media. “Conscious music” has flourished further as artists more recently began incorporating Urdu and Kashmiri lyrics.

On a recent afternoon, a cohort of young artists gathered at the home studio of composer Zeeshan Nabi in the suburbs of Srinagar, Kashmir’s main city. Filling the room with coils of cigarette smoke, they passionately debated the essence of metaphors and religious references in their work.

“What (religious symbolism) is doing is constantly knocking at the door, either in the form of a reminder or a memory from the past,” Nabi said.

He expressed optimism that the gag is temporary: “For how long can you hold the grip? The oppressor can oppress till about a certain time.”

“We are dreamers,” Arif Farooq, a hip-hop artist who uses the stage name Qafilah, said with a chuckle.

Qafilah’s music video “Faraar” — “the runaway” — begins with a shot of a concertina wire and him sitting in the courtyard of a shrine to Kashmir’s most revered Sufi saint, Mir Sayyid Ali Hamadani. It invokes the ancient Battle of Karbala, where the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson was martyred and which symbolizes the struggle against injustice and oppression.

“Our malady can only be cured by revolution, my friend. Every answer lies in Karbala, my friend,” Qafilah urges in the song.

Religious symbolism, Qafilah said, is a creative device to reflect Kashmir’s pain and also evade the state’s gaze.

“You want to steal, but you don’t want to be caught,” he said.

The symbolism of faith as subtext is hard to miss in this new form of music.

One recent video, “Inshallah” — “God willing” — has lyrics that evoke monotheism, the cornerstone of the Islamic faith. In it, singer Yawar Abdal imagines a Kashmir where people, blindfolded and with nooses around their necks, are liberated amid chants of “All shall be free.” The refrain “inshallah” is set against a booming chorus of morning prayers as chanted in mosques.

Another song — “Jhelum,” named for Kashmir’s main river — became an instant hit for contrasting the banality of daily life in Kashmir with the ongoing mourning for the dead. In online videos, users have since set the song to moving and still images of fallen fighters to memorialize them — it’s in part a way of resisting authorities’ policy since 2020 of burying suspected rebels in remote mountain graveyards, denying their families the opportunity to perform last rites.

“There’s this tension in the air that is shaping you in a certain manner,” said poet and singer Faheem Abdullah, the man behind “Jhelum.”

Poets and musicians receive state patronage in Kashmir, and government-sponsored musical events continue to be held regularly.

At least some Indian authorities take a dim view of the burgeoning movement of protest music, however; at one recent event, a top Indian military general lauded the region’s rich artistic heritage but deplored “the kind of rap songs which bring only sadness.”

On a recent evening, Javaid, the artist behind “Khuaftan Baange,” sat at the shore of Srinagar’s picturesque Dal Lake and belted out an elegy for his homeland. As the sun slipped behind the mountains and a drizzle began to fall, he ended by reciting the names of disappeared people. A distant relative was among the names.

“I reflect what I see,” Javaid said. “I see pain, agony and loss.”

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Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

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Find more AP Religion coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/religion