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BALLON D’OR REGRESSION | OPEN THREAD
Welcome to The Daily Merengue! THESE ARE YOUR MODS: Ezek XI, Valyrian Steel, KungFuZizou, NeRObutBlanco, Felipejack, and Juninho TALENT RECESSION INDICATOR A major talent recession indicator is when Ballon d’or nominees are practically begging and lobbying for the Ballon d’or in their public interviews. The interviews from Lamine and Mbappe are strategically released by the […]
Who is attending the White House dinner for Chinese leader Xi Jinping?
AI executives and some of the country’s most prominent CEOs are on the list for tonight's state dinner honoring Xi Jinping, which showcases the complex ties between the world's biggest economies.
In Texas, Talarico pitches a Fox News debate as Paxton stays silent
The state’s Democratic and Republican Senate candidates have not squared off yet.
Nvidia CEO Doesn't Care That Kids Are Forgetting Basic Math Because Of AI: 'I Actually Don't Know My Address'
Who needs to know things like your own phone number or home address or how to solve a simple equation like 3x2?
Democratic House candidate arrested during Netanyahu protest in NYC
Darializa Avila Chevalier was among several progressive elected officials and nominees who protested Netanyahu's speech at the U.N.
Ubisoft Was Reportedly Working On A Legend Of Zelda Spin-Off Starring Ganondorf
Nintendo liked the concept, but reportedly passed on the project after it saw the prototype
Concerns about misuse of flock cameras cross Alabama’s political aisle
U.S. Sen. Katie Britt, R-Alabama, joined colleague Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Georgia, in asking the Department of Justice to give guidance on flock cameras.
Police: Driver was high when he crashed into Massena home business
A St. Lawrence County man was allegedly high on drugs when he drove a pickup truck into a house in Massena Thursday morning.
Google Photos Getting 5 Fun Feature Upgrades
Today, Google Photos announced that it is rolling out 5 upgrades to your experience, giving you power over photos with Gemini Spark, access to your digital closet, new Moods to style things with, new Remix templates, and an upgraded markup tool. Some of this new stuff you’ve heard of before, but this is Google acknowledging...
Google Photos rolling out Redact tool, Mood filters, & more
Google Photos is rolling out a handful of new features, including a Redact Markup tool and "Moods" on Android.
Black Men's Wellness Day, 'Real Men Real Talk' put men's health front and center in Baltimore
We hear all the time that men will put work, family and everything else ahead of their own health.
Castlevania: Belmont's Curse Will Bridge The Gap Between The Animated Series And The Games
The success of the show has birthed a lot of fans waiting for a new Castlevania game to sink their teeth into
Penguins' Andrei Kuzmenko takes leave from team after father is killed by a bear in Russia
The 30-year-old signed a one-year deal to join the Penguins in July.
Rockstar Reveals $400 Special Edition Of Grand Theft Auto 6
This version of the game includes a ton of Vice City-inspired extras, like a statue, sunglasses, and crossbody bag
Square Announces Apple Business Integration
Square today announced a new Apple Business integration that makes it easier for businesses to ensure they have up-to-date information across Apple Maps, Apple Wallet, and Siri AI. Square today announced a new Apple Business integration that makes it easier for businesses to ensure they have up-to-date information across Apple Maps, Apple Wallet, and Siri AI.
“The View” star Alyssa Farah Griffin details 3-month-old baby’s skull surgery, says newborn will wear helmet for 1 year
“Having to sign off on him getting a blood transfusion and all that was so scary,” the former Donald Trump White House staffer said of son Justin Griffin.
Lamar Jackson Stat a Warning for Giants, Jameis Winston
A worrying stat from head coach John Harbaugh's history with Lamar Jackson should worry the New York Giants about backup QB Jameis Winston. The post Lamar Jackson Stat a Warning for Giants, Jameis Winston appeared first on HEAVY.
Jessica Brown to Emcee The 2026 Fenway Health Gala
Jessica Brown to Emcee The 2026 Fenway Health Gala
New task force aims to address aging small business owners
The Employee Ownership Task Force will look at how the state can expand employee ownership opportunities, especially as thousands of business owners in Vermont get ready for retirement.
Charlotte nonprofit works to close mental health gap for Hispanic girls, women
September is Suicide Prevention Month and also marks Hispanic Heritage Month.
Novant Health Forsyth Medical Center operating on generator power after outage
A localized power interruption affected Novant Health Forsyth Medical Center earlier this morning. The hospital is operating on generator power, and patient care continues without interruption.
Nashville nightclub owner, 2 others charged with arson after business damaged by fire in May
Arrest documents show that all three people were present the night that La Danse nightclub burned down.
Nightclub owner, 2 others charged with arson after business was destroyed by fire in May
Arrest documents show that all three people were present the night that La Danse nightclub burned down.
Is Florian Wirtz Offering Liverpool Enough?
German playmaker Florian Wirtz has been the subject of scrutiny since joining Liverpool from Bayer Leverkusen last year.
EU science policy wonks debate prospect of stronger ties with Canada
Europe’s research and innovation sector has started asking questions on how European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s offer to make Canada “the first associate member of the EU” would actually work in practice, and who will get to shape priorities in a transatlantic relationship that is getting stronger. The Commission says it wants “a new model of association” under which the EU and Canada will aim to develop “a shared space” to face ongoing challenges. “Working in close coordination with our member states and the European Parliament, we will aim to create a new form of partnership that has not existed until now, building the closest imaginable form of association with a partner outside Europe,” a spokesperson told Science|Business.Locked in an escalating trade war with US President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly talked of annexing Canada, Prime Minister Mark Carney has been looking east, but full EU membership was never in play. Taking the floor a day after von der Leyen’s proposal, he agreed to strengthen ties under “an alliance of the future” but reined in enthusiasm on the new label. He also suggested expanding Canada’s involvement in the Erasmus+ student mobility scheme, to which it currently has limited access, and the next iteration of Horizon Europe. Canada joined the present Horizon Europe in 2024, but only contributes to collaborative projects.Neither side has detailed the next practical steps in developing this new relationship. “I think nobody at the moment truly knows how this will work,” said Michael Browne, chief executive and founder of Crowdhelix, a global collaborative network that connects players in research and innovation. “It’s more of a statement of intent for closer collaboration, which requires legislative frameworks and approval processes, which have not started.”Kurt Deketelaere, secretary general of the League of European Research Universities, said von der Leyen’s pitch to Canada is “politically significant, but the legal content still has to be negotiated and constructed.”Mattias Björnmalm, secretary general of the Cesaer university group, agreed that she had only opened “a political door” to Canada, as “associate membership does not come with a predefined set of rights in the EU institutions.”Not only does this status not currently exist as a legal category in the two treaties that set up how the EU functions, but the Commission president cannot unilaterally create a new category of EU membership.According to Deketelaere, Article 217 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU, which allows the bloc to make association deals with non-EU countries involving reciprocal rights and duties, is “the most obvious existing legal basis for building a much deeper EU-Canada relationship.”Getting universities involvedNo matter how this new cooperation takes shape, Liviu Matei, who heads the School of Education, Communication and Society at King’s College London, hopes to see universities involved in discussions from an early stage.“Its primary motivations, entirely justifiably, are political and geopolitical,” he said. “In the area of higher education, however, restricting the initiative to political and geopolitical considerations would limit the scope of cooperation and lead to distorted frameworks and counterproductive implementation.”It is all the more important since academic interests on the two sides of the Atlantic are “neither identical nor fully aligned,” Matei added. “This is not insurmountable; it simply requires work to articulate the details of this privileged cooperation, including its governance and funding frameworks, as well as its substantive content in education and research.”Related articlesCanada looks to deepen research and education links with the EUZaharieva hopes for a Horizon Europe deal in 2026Canada might participate in European Research Council schemes, for example, which was not on offer in the present Horizon Europe association agreement. But “there would have to be something in it for the EU,” Browne said. “They don’t want to be funding projects outside of the EU where intellectual property is going to sit outside of the EU. There has to be some kind of transfer of knowledge.”But access to funding will not by itself resolve all the practical difficulties of working together, said Björnmalm. “For researchers and students, these include visas and residence arrangements, recognition of qualifications and study periods, and the conditions for pursuing a research career across borders,” he said. “For universities, there is scope for more predictable access to shared laboratories, computing and research data, and stronger support for joint doctoral training and long-term institutional partnerships.”Linda Doyle, provost and president of Trinity College Dublin, said Europe should strive for the “closest possible expression” of this new political alliance. “If Europe is serious about recovering its voice and its place in the world, it needs to be strongly allied with countries who share its values and its vision for a stable, rules-based, peaceful world.”
Kennesaw State researcher developing safer, more efficient computing systems for intelligent vehicles
Modern vehicles are becoming computers on wheels, powered by increasingly complex software and artificial intelligence. As those systems take on more responsibility, they must process information quickly and reliably enough to keep critical functions running safely. Kennesaw State University computer science researcher Kun Suo is working to improve how those systems operate through a $356,782 National Science Foundation (NSF) grant focused on developing more efficient and secure computing infrastructure for intelligent vehicles.
Microsoft's Latest Round Of Layoffs May Have Killed A Brand New Age Of Empires Game
Rumors suggest World's Edge might have been working on a new entry, after news that its current project has been cancelled
Guéla Doué's Leverkusen Start Has Been Put On Hold
A record signing sidelined by a painful calf injury fights to justify his €30 million price tag while watching his new teammates chase Bundesliga glory from afar.
Could comet 3I/ATLAS teach us about life beyond Earth? Scientists say the story's not over yet.
No evidence has been found linking 3I/ATLAS to aliens. But the interstellar object, just the third of its kind to be found, shows that life's molecular precursors are abundant in the Milky Way.
A $499 checkup gave me a peek at the future of AI-powered health care
Also: All the news and watercooler chat from Fortune.
5 things I learned after a month of daily-driving the Pixel 11 Pro XL
The Pixel 11 Pro XL is better than its predecessors, but the hardware still has a few annoyances.
Mississippi health officials issue warning after deaths of two Ole Miss students
The Mississippi State Department of Health is urging people to avoid counterfeit pills and other unregulated drugs
Seacoast business prepares for potential Nor'Easter
With a potential Nor’easter headed toward New Hampshire, eyes are turning to the Seacoast, where there could be high surf, strong currents and coastal flooding.
Inspectors cite major health and safety violations at NE Albuquerque apartments
Inspectors cite major health and safety violations at NE Albuquerque apartments
Merriam business owners concerned as city considers downtown redevelopment
Business owners in downtown Merriam, Kansas, are raising concerns about proposed redevelopment plans that could lead to the demolition of historic buildings, while the city says no decisions have been made.
Bellevue announces plans for next phase of entertainment district
The city of Bellevue has signed an exclusive negotiation agreement to develop the next phase of the Bellevue Bay Entertainment District.
Sentencing date still to be determined amid health issues for Gov. Newsom's ex-chief of staff
Dana Williamson, a former top political aide to key Democratic leaders in California, including Gov. Newsom, is still struggling with an unexpected health issue and a hearing to discuss her prison sentencing has been postponed.
'Small business needs a break': Ligonier hoping for fall rebound after summer struggle
Between the departure of its Country Market and many rounds of severe weather, Ligonier businesses need a productive fall to bounce back.
Lee Health CEO retires after nearly 20 years, reflects on career and challenges
Dr. Larry Antonucci, the outgoing CEO of Lee Health, reflects on his nearly two-decade career, including leading the organization through transformations and crises like COVID-19 and Hurricane Ian.
11-12 IN SPAIN | OPEN THREAD
Welcome to The Daily Merengue! THESE ARE YOUR MODS: Ezek XI, Valyrian Steel, KungFuZizou, NeRObutBlanco, Felipejack, and Juninho ENOUGH OF “MR NICE GUY” Over the past 2+ years, we’ve lost to much on the pitch that now, when i see our players looking as nonchalant as possible. It irritates me more than their inability to […]
Arkansas Advocate on Ozarks at Large: School grades, health campus, AI rules
Arkansas Advocate Editor-in-Chief Andrew DeMillo joined Ozarks at Large Senior Producer Matthew Moore on KUAF to discuss the latest grades for Arkansas schools, Alice Walton's healthcare campus plans and potential AI guardrails in Arkansas.
The First Ace Combat Game In Seven Years Is Playing For Keeps
The franchise's ambitions are bigger than ever in Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve
Australia PM Albanese says OpenAI agent breached government website in June
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Wednesday an AI agent developed by OpenAI infiltrated an Australian government website in June, accessing public and non-public files in the first known instance of an AI agent hacking a government website.
Can Everybody In Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave Please Shut The Hell Up A Little Bit?
That goes double for the game itself
Former Titans QB Will Levis Lands With New NFL Team
After losing the backup battle in Tennessee, the former second-round pick heads to the Big Apple to replace Bailey Zappe and fight for a future roster spot.
Xbox's Restructuring Is A 'Reverse Acquisition In Slow Motion'
Experts call Halo under Activision a 'demotion' and worry that 'Project Helix absolutely must hit'
Microsoft plans $10 billion-plus Gulf investment with focus on resilience
Microsoft is planning to invest more than $10 billion across the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait between now and 2030, including in cloud and AI infrastructure, a senior executive said on Wednesday.
Former Halo Devs React To Mass Layoffs And The Activision Takeover: ‘Absolutely Brutal To See That Studio Reduced To A Shell’
Bonnie Ross, Kiki Wolfkill, and Halo co-creator Marcus Lehto were among the many former Halo devs reacting to the news
Joint List's leader attacks Democrats leader for supporting Arab politician ban
'It would be proper for someone who calls himself a democrat to stand against racist attempts,' Joint List chairman Yousef Jabareen said. He added that the Democrats party is pushing the agenda of Otzma Yehudit and Likud
Tigers Top Prospect Zyhir Hope Nears Detroit Debut
Zyhir Hope hit .269 with six homers in 30 games at Erie after the Skubal trade. #Tigers
Dragon Age Director Finally Says What Fans Have Been Thinking For Years: The Fade Needs To Go
Mark Darrah also shared what he'd change about the other games in the series
Valkyries first playoff game marks Thrive City’s shift to permanent ‘entertainment zone,’ allowing to-go alcohol
The Valkyries are set to host their first playoff game at Chase Center Sunday and it marks the start of a permanent change at Thrive City, as full-time entertainment zone which allows customers at the bars and restaurants to take alcoholic beverages out into the 11-acre piazza outside the arena.
Bethesda President Addresses Obsidian Amid Questions About Whether It Will Be Demoted To A Support Studio
The 'creative identity and strengths that make Obsidian distinct will remain at the core of their studio'
Savannah Chamber Expo to spotlight region’s diverse business community
Free event connects the public with Savannah-area companies, services, and business leaders
Matthew Berry expanding beyond ‘Fantasy’ with new daily talk show on Roku Channel
Arguably the most well-known fantasy football personality, Berry is shifting from NBC Sports to hub Roku Channel's daily sports lineup.
Talarico works to reach Black voters in his bid to win a US Senate seat as a Democrat in Texas
Democratic Texas U.S. Senate nominee James Talarico is working to reach Black voters, a key demographic in his race against Republican state Attorney General Ken Paxton
Missing 12-year-old boy who has mental health complications sought, Boston police say
Boston police are searching for a missing 12-year-old boy who suffers from mental health complications, officials said.
Many coaches negelct their health. After Shawn Clark’s death, his widow wants to change that
Jonelle Clark founded the Shawn Clark Legacy Foundation and the 61 Initiative to convince coaches to get checkups and monitor their health.
New Xavier Athletics partnership promoting mental health with uniform patch
A new number appeared above Xavier men’s soccer players’ jersey numbers Tuesday night: 1N5.
Seahawks Backup Emerges as Potential Trade Option for Commanders
The Seattle Seahawks have a QB3 who might interest teams dealing with injuries at the position. For now, Jalen Milroe is the backup to Drew Lock until Sam Darnold returns. Still, could teams looking for QB help consider Milroe?Seattle took Milroe in the third round and sees plenty of upside in him, but would the […] The post Seahawks Backup Emerges as Potential Trade Option for Commanders appeared first on HEAVY.
A's Notes: Kuroda-Grauer Returns, Muncy to IL
The Athletics are getting back one infielder, but losing another to begin the final week of the season.
KCCI Investigates: HHS revamping county health departments to regions
Iowa’s 99 public county health departments are set to shift budgets and services under a new regionalization plan led by the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services.
BUNNY IN THE CITY: Pooler Chamber of Commerce Hosts Business After 5 at Symphona
View the photos here!
Nitrates and nitrites: EPA standards and health risks explained
Nitrates and nitrites, regulated by the EPA, differ in their sources, safety limits, and potential health risks, including their connection to blue baby syndrome.
State, Maui Health and Kaiser Permanente announce restoration and reopening plans for Kula Hospital
The state of Hawaiʻi, Maui Health and Kaiser Permanente today announced that Kula Hospital will be restored and reopened after damage from the March 2026 Kona Low storms forced the temporary closure of the hospital, its Emergency Department and the Hale Makamae care facility.
Portland's Behavioral Health Unit is limited by a shortage of available detox beds
Each year, the Portland Police Department’s Behavioral Health Unit helps hundreds of Mainers in crisis but with limited treatment availability many people remain on the street
Miguel Gutiérrez Wants To Join The World Cup Winners
A sensational debut for Bayer Leverkusen has the Spanish left-back eyeing a senior international call-up, aiming to fill Alejandro Grimaldo’s shoes for both club and country.
OU renames health campus for Harold Hamm after historic $150 million gift
OU Health is now the Harold Hamm Health Campus after the University of Oklahoma received a record $150 million gift from the oil billionaire.
Moussa Diaby: Leverkusen Has Changed Its Mentality
Returning from a global journey, the French winger discovers a transformed club fueled by championship grit and a personal evolution that prioritizes defensive discipline alongside his trademark pace.
Patrik Schick’s Hot Streak Interrupted By International Break
The Czech striker has evolved into a vocal leader, matching historic scoring records while spearheading Leverkusen’s resurgence before national duty stalls his clinical momentum in the Bundesliga.
Atrium Health expands in NC after controversial merger with WakeMed gets local approval
Atrium Health is set to expand into the Triangle after Wake County leaders voted 5-2 to approve the WakeMed merger, though federal review is still ahead.
Nirvana is set to receive this year's VMAs Video Vanguard Award. Could someone like Kurt Cobain still become a star today?
Cobain seemed to resist and even resent his own success. It was a struggle that played out on MTV.
72-Year-Old Put Tracker On Pokémon Delivery Driver's Car
According to local police, the Ohio man admitted to placing the tracker on the delivery driver's car to 'to track her location/delivery of Pokémon cards'
Kudos to Motorola for This Actually Refreshing Phone Design
The Motorola Signature 27 is powered by Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 8 Elite Exteme Gen 6, and that pretty much guarantees it won’t be cheap.
Gears of War: E-Day Story Director Laid Off Just Four Days After Celebrating The Game Going Gold
The Gears dev had been at the Coalition since 2022 and was excited for people to play the game
Tottenham Lose Sponsor as Sidiz Partnership Comes to an End
Tottenham Hotspur have reportedly lost another commercial partner after Sidiz ended its sponsorship agreement, following Kumho Tyre’s departure and ahead of AIA’s move away from the front of Spurs’ shirts.
Police seek suspects accused of stealing alcohol from East Stroudsburg business
Stroud Area Regional Police are asking for the public’s help identifying two suspects accused of stealing alcohol from a business in East Stroudsburg.Police sai
Consumer Reports: Should you trust AI with your health questions?
More people are turning to ChatGPT and other AI tools for health questions. The answers are fast, and they often sound reassuring and trustworthy, but, as Consumer Reports says, they aren’t always accurate.
Black Men's Wellness Day comes to Baltimore with free health screenings and events
Black Men's Wellness Day will offer free health screenings, a 5K run and walk, entertainment, and community resources to promote men's health and wellness.
Police activity forces closure on state road in West Haven
Police activity forced a full closure of State Route 126 near 2550 South in West Haven.Details on the police activity have not been disclosed or confirmed.The
State Of Decay 3 Studio Announces It's Now Free From Xbox And Employee-Owned
The studio behind open-world zombie series State of Decay confirmed it has completed its separation from Microsoft
5 waiver wire pickups in fantasy football in Week 3
Here are five of the top NFL fantasy football waiver wire pickups heading into Week 3, including QB Bryce Young.
Stars & Skulls Grades for Steelers-Patriots
Things did not go well for the Pittsburgh Steelers in a 20-3 loss to the New England Patriots on Sunday, […]
Pokémon 30th Celebration Cards Cause Fights, Arrests And Embarrassing Displays From The Crowds Camping Overnight
It's made all the more enjoyable when you realize the cards aren't holding any value
Kenner business owner arrested, accused of video voyeurism after camera found in bathroom
During a review of the recordings, the business owner, identified as Henry Rios, 57, of Kenner, was seen manipulating the position of the camera and later putting the device in his office, according to police.
‘Halo’ to move under Call of Duty publisher as Xbox announces layoffs
The cuts affect Halo Studios, other first-party developers, and management and central functions within Xbox, according to an announcement posted this morning by Matt Booty, Xbox’s chief content officer. The company is now about 75 percent finished with a restructuring announced earlier this year.
Xbox Is Merging Its Two Forza Teams Into One Studio Focused On Forza Horizon And Fable
Playground Games and Turn 10 are merging
Sen. John Curtis calls for Senate probe of Trump, Biden family business dealings
Utah Sen. John Curits called on the Senate Judiciary Committee to investigate business dealings, gifts, and relationships with foreign individuals of President
Obsidian Entertainment Is Officially Moving Under Bethesda As It Works On Its New Fallout Game
The RPG powerhouse has been rehoused
Obsidian Entertainment Is Officially Moving Under Bethesda As It Works On Its New Fallout Game
The RPG powerhouse has been rehoused
Graham Nash at the Smith Sept. 23
GENEVA — After the decades of the breakups, the fights, the reconciliations, and David Crosby’s death, Graham Nash said he is at a point in his life where he is
How lip-syncing to AI let Forced Entertainment ‘play the game of theatre’
Today we have a fascinating piece by long-time Forced Entertainment fan Ben Kulvichit, speaking to Tim Etchells about their latest show Cold Sweat, how they are integrating lip-sync and AI voices into their work, the question of ‘authenticity’ on stage, and how lip-sync has even opened the door for them to make “something a little bit like drama”. This piece is a paid partnership with the Southbank Centre, where you can see Cold Sweat next month – we’re very grateful to the Southbank Centre for their ongoing support for Exeunt. Holly Williams ‘It was immediately interesting and uncanny’ **By Ben Kulvichit** “Is the microphone on?” So goes one of the opening lines of Signal to Noise, delivered by a human performer lip-syncing to an AI-generated voice. The voice is American, cheery but sluggish, slowed down into a gelatinous drawl. It repeats ad infinitum in a farce of stuckness; an answer never materialises. I find myself asking the same question as I hop on a Google Meet call with Tim Etchells, the artistic director of Forced Entertainment. We spend five or ten minutes frowning at each other, muting and unmuting, me gesticulating in semaphore into my webcam, checking if I am coming through now, restarting the laptop. To Etchells, I appear exaggeratedly mouthing words, my voice missing. In this gloopy purgatory of broken communication, life imitates art imitates life imitates art. We try a Zoom instead. Forced Entertainment, the pioneering British theatre company who have been at the avant-garde of performance since the 1980s, turned an interesting artistic corner with Signal to Noise, created on the occasion of their 40th anniversary. The whole performance employed this lip-sync technique to AI voices; on the face of it a left-field move from a company whose identity has long been grounded in the earthy, immediate presences of its performers and its unassuming, low-tech approach to theatricality. The technique, however, turned out to provide the company with a “rich new seam” of artistic enquiry, and has now spawned a trilogy of works. The second instalment, Cold Sweat, plays at Sheffield Theatres, Southbank Centre, and Lancaster Arts in October, while the third part, Everything Must Go, has been touring in Europe and is slated to come to the UK in 2027. As is often the case with Forced Entertainment shows, the main conceit for this work didn’t arrive until quite late. They were “four or five weeks into rehearsals for Signal to Noise,” Etchells recalls, and getting nowhere. Away from rehearsals, he had been playing around with feeding “weird texts” to AI voices to see how they would cope with them – “basically for my own amusement” – and was compelled by the uniformly “serviceable, benign, good-natured” tone they would read in, no matter how poetic, fractured or experimental the writing. On a hunch, he brought some examples into rehearsals and the performers gave lip-syncing a go. “It was immediately interesting and uncanny,” he recalls, with the performers having to deal in the moment with the problem of mapping themselves onto another artificial ‘performer,’ which itself was dealing with the problem of a very human text. “Almost all the writing for these projects would be useless to us unless it was done in this way,” says Etchells. “We wouldn’t know what to do with it. It’s too poetic. It’s too fictional. It’s too tangled.” But exploring lip-syncing along to the text has opened “an enormous reservoir of ways of thinking about writing and performing.” Subscribe to Exeunt, and get two in-depth pieces on theatre a week, direct to your inbox Subscribe Forced Entertainment have long been sifting through the detritus of popular culture, from daytime TV to end-of-the-pier vaudeville, magic acts and clown shows, to find frameworks for their own unusual entertainments. Lip-syncing, then, makes sense for them to experiment with. As a mode of performance, it’s wired into popular consciousness through pop stars trying to convince stadium audiences of their liveness, or those same voices as channeled through the made-up lips of contestants on RuPaul’s Drag Race, or movie dialogue spreading virally through the host bodies of TikTok users. For Etchells, lip-syncing is often about “approaching real voices and trying to take on their aura,” subsuming that original human presence into yours. “There’s a very basic, elemental sort of theatre magic to it, produced in this very easy way.” This broad approach resonates with instances of lip-syncing within contemporary performance, too. In works like Re-Member Me and Showmanism, performance artist Dickie Beau acts as a kind of spirit medium for archival recordings (this process of re-membering – as in, giving corporeal form to voices – relies on his masterfully precise actor’s technique), while Frankie Thompson is similarly possessed by a host of characters ranging from a nine-year-old Jacob Rees-Mogg to Cliff Richards, all of whom she finds compellingly nauseating, in the exorcism ritual that is her latest show, Horrible Things. What’s different about Forced Entertainment’s use of lip-syncing is that here, there is no original presence to be channeled. The performers are instead taking on what Etchells describes as “the voices of nobody,” or rather the “phantasmic, aggregated echoes” of the many many voices on whose data the AI has been trained, and which are now conjuring into existence words they never actually said. There is a sort of mournful, empty quality to these voices, having “washed up” far away from the people they originally belonged to, to find themselves in stranger’s mouths listing objects, wondering if anyone can hear them and glitching in interminable loops. There is a cold, sad anonymity to it all. Etchells remarks that occasionally the software company he used has notified him that particular people are withdrawing their voices from the platform, instructing him to cease use of those voices. Using these technologies in performance certainly brings up ethical questions around digital rights, consent, identity and ownership, although in the grand scheme of things, Etchells is fairly blasé about it: of all the purposes someone’s voice might be put to without their knowledge, “an avant-garde performance is probably the least of their worries.” [ ](https://exeuntmagazine.substack.com/p/frankie-thompson-horrible-things-essay-mental-health-compulsive-behaviours-pleasance-courtyard-soho-theatre) [ Frankie Thompson: How I manage my own ‘horrible things’ at the Edinburgh Fringe ](https://exeuntmagazine.substack.com/p/frankie-thompson-horrible-things-essay-mental-health-compulsive-behaviours-pleasance-courtyard-soho-theatre) Exeunt · Aug 25 [ Read full story ](https://exeuntmagazine.substack.com/p/frankie-thompson-horrible-things-essay-mental-health-compulsive-behaviours-pleasance-courtyard-soho-theatre) For the performers, though, lip-syncing to these strange, artificial voices is an odd task, requiring them to bend their live, human presence into the shapes produced by machines. Politically, it mirrors processes that are already at play in the continued computational automation of human life. Etchells brings up James Bridle’s writings on new technologies as a reference point: one example Bridle gives is of “chaotic storage”, a logistics technique employed by Amazon fulfilment centres whereby items are stored not according to traditional methods of categorisation or alphabetisation, but in a way that an algorithm determines to produce the most efficient routes for ‘picking’ based on customer purchase patterns. This appears completely random and incomprehensible to humans, with paddling pools sitting next to USB sticks sitting next to blowtorches, and so for the warehouse workers, the process of picking items becomes completely reliant on technology which tells them where to go. Our world is increasingly being designed not with humans in mind, but rather machines. As Etchells puts it, “technology malforms the space, and then you end up having to live in it.” Initially, Forced Entertainment tried their best to live in the world of machines: “I was in the it’s-got-to-be-perfect school of lip-sync,” says Etchells. But with their aesthetic being so tied to the failing act, the slipping mask, the shoddy costume, “it’s no surprise really that that didn’t last.” Instead, the performers got to enjoy being late for a line, or playing games with each other, “stealing” each other’s voices. Etchells compares it to the principles of ventriloquism, in which a free-floating voice unattached to a body is fundamentally discomforting and “sort of traumatic”. That discomfort is equally as alluring to Forced Entertainment as the satisfaction of precision, the pretence of authenticity only interesting if shown to be a pretence. Lip-sync has also opened up new avenues for the company. Having been allergic all their lives to Plays-with-a-capital-P, with Cold Sweat Forced Entertainment find themselves approaching something a little bit like drama. Rather than the presentational arena of Signal to Noise’s open white stage, Cold Sweat places us more decisively in a “fictional locale”: what appears to be “the aftermath of some disastrous party or backyard drinking binge” where three figures – family members, or neighbours, perhaps – are the last ones standing. “It’s all quite acrimonious and accusatory, everyone’s talking over each other.” For Etchells, this more fictional mode is “a door that we’ve never been able to open. We’ve just never really gone there.” Perhaps it is the technique of lip-syncing, an extra buffer of mediation, that allows them to venture away from the here-and-now without feeling that they have to commit to the “psychological claptrap” that comes along with acting; to be able to “play the game of theatre, without getting one’s hands too dirty.” As I wonder how else the impulses behind Forced Entertainment’s work have changed over time, it occurs to me that over the last ten years of new creations, with the exception of If All Else Fails, the company’s performers haven’t ever spoken on stage: there were two shows without any language at all, Out of Order and Under Bright Light, and then this trilogy of lip-sync works. Etchells agrees it’s a shift away from earlier productions, that were so often about “the actual voices of the performers and their actual presences. We had a lot of money, in some ways, on an authentic approach to what it might mean to speak on the stage.” But this sense of authentic presence itself had a fakeness to it; these days, Etchells can’t stand that mode of being onstage where performers “are here to be cheeky and witty versions of themselves. I don’t want to be charmed.” Pulling back into a more anonymous space has resulted in works that feel slightly sharper-edged, more brutal in a way. “All of these shows are post-Brexit, post-Trump, post-truth, post-everything,” Etchells notes. Speech, charisma, authenticity – these things feel politically loaded, and perhaps warmth and openness just don’t feel like the right tools to reflect the world we’re living in. “It feels like the space is closing down, and we’re trying to deal with the fact that the system, the structure that you’re in, is more oppressive and more powerful. It probably always was, but I think we’re just more tuned to it now.” Yet even without their voices, the performers’ distinctive presences – ones that many audiences have followed around for years, if not decades – still, inevitably, shine through as they physically navigate whatever unending task the system of the piece has set for them. They’re still trying to keep up with the onslaught of text, still running about, changing costumes, moving stuff around. The human is always stuck in the teeth of the machine, jamming the smooth, frictionless cheeriness of the not-real, gesticulating silently, trying desperately to communicate. Cold Sweat is at Sheffield Theatres, 2 to 3 October; Southbank Centre, London, 9 to 10 October; Lancaster Arts, 14 October [ ](https://exeuntmagazine.substack.com/p/exeunt-recommends-the-best-autumn-theatre-2026-lives-of-others-standard-of-living-our-friends-in-the-north-lanny-) [ Exeunt recommends... the best autumn theatre ](https://exeuntmagazine.substack.com/p/exeunt-recommends-the-best-autumn-theatre-2026-lives-of-others-standard-of-living-our-friends-in-the-north-lanny-) Exeunt · Sep 16 [ Read full story ](https://exeuntmagazine.substack.com/p/exeunt-recommends-the-best-autumn-theatre-2026-lives-of-others-standard-of-living-our-friends-in-the-north-lanny-) This piece was paid for by the Southbank Centre. Such support helps Exeunt to keep publishing the most interesting writing, about the most exciting theatre. Interested in partnering with Exeunt? Visit our Advertise with Exeunt page, where you can get more information, download an advertising pack, and find our contact details.
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