VOUX MAG

I don’t have much of a problem being asked out on dates, thankfully – and I have met a lot of guys who wanted to be with me ... but the ones who have been keen to be “long-term” have always been“nice guys” (or “too nice”,to put it a different way). And even though they were lovely and kind and actually messaged back (rather than disappearing for days on end), I got bored. There wasn’t enough of a “spark” because they had no “edge”.

The men I’m drawn to are charismatic, unpredictable and sweep me off my feet – but they’re all the same: flakey and (ultimately) disrespectful, because they’re not really interested in a “real” relationship. I can tell they probably have two or three women on the go and I end up feeling paranoid and insecure and anxious, the whole time I am with them. But, you can’t help who you’re attracted to, can you? And I seem to beconstantly attracted to “bad boys”.Why can’t I find a “bad boy” who is decent enough to want to settle down? Someone like that must exist?!

Dear Frustrated,

I’m going to ask you a direct and potentially tricky question:what does “too nice” mean to you? At the moment, your definition seems to include men who are (as you have listed): kind and responsive; who want to be in a functional, healthy relationship with you – with commitment and the possibility of a future together – and who aren’t afraid to express that. It’s hard, reading that list, to work out what is so wrong with them – they seem to have all the qualities you would expect someone who is looking for a husband (or a serious relationship) would want. And you claim that that’s you. That thatiswhat you want.

But do you? If you do, why do you think you allow yourself to be swept off your feet, time and time again, by the menyou brand as “bad boys”?With their scattered attention spans, their temporary and fleeting focus? No “bad boy” has ever brought you happiness, according to what you say here. So isn’t it time to break the pattern? To see them, to smile and swoon and sigh a bit – then to ultimately wave them on to torment someone else?

Because you’re right: bad boys are sexy and attractive and charismatic and alluring – and they’re also flakey andbreadcrumbingand (often) terrible at commitment.

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Meanwhile, nice guys have historically got a bad rap; they “finish last”, after all. And it feels deeply unfair. As my colleague Alexandra wroteherein October, a study run by researchers looked at how personality traits correlate with relationship status across nearly 4,000 people in Australia, Denmark and Sweden and found that the men who scored highest on agreeableness (how nice they were) were statistically theleast likely to have a partner. The study also found that extroversion counted as a significant advantage for men –outgoing, confident maleswere much more likely to be in relationships (but I wonder if any one of them stretches beyond that three-to-six month limit you describe...).

I wonder if you’re getting so fixated on the idea of someone being “nice” or “bad”; “edgy” or “boring”, that you’re forgetting there’s a whole glorious, strange and interestingly diverse range of people in between. Saying someone is “boring”might just mean they are “shy”(especially on a first date, because you don’t know them yet). I personally don’t believe anyone is boring – it’s on us to be interested enough to find out what is interesting about them.

Which all leads me to ask another question: which personality traits or values are most important to you – and what are you really looking for? Can you define what being “edgy” really means?

If your goal is to feel “excited”, for example, then you are probably suited to someone who has some kind of adventurous hobby – that could be rock climbing, or downhill skiing, or dirt bike racing. Alex Honnold might not be branded a “bad boy”, but he does love adrenaline(just check out the footage of him climbing the Taipei 101 skyscraper without ropes).

If your desire to feel instant “chemistry” or a “spark” is very important to you (and we mustn’t forget that the elusive physical “spark” can often be confused with adrenaline-fuelled fear, or danger, and can sometimes be your body warning you off someone to begin with), then you should probably be sussing out the participantsin a local dance class,like salsa or ballroom. One easy way to tell whether you feel physically drawn to someone is to get up close and physical with them – you can do this in a non-sexual way by dancing with them. It’s worth a try.Pheromonesare powerful beasts.

There are a myriad ways to find what you’re looking for, but I’m going to share with you my greatest tip of all: to change your own mindset (and with it, your expectations). If you really want tofind a steady and committed relationship, then you need to work out what is frightening you (or boring you) when it comes to the people who are prepared to offer exactly that.

What does “too nice” mean – and is it really a negative? Isn’t it entirely possible that saying someone is “too nice” is another way of protecting yourself from embarking on something real; something in which you have the possibility of getting hurt and the expectation of being vulnerable? And isn’t being drawn to a “bad boy” – who you know,instinctively, won’t settle down– just another way of protecting yourself from doing the very same thing?

We’re talking a lot about “bad boys”, but sometimesweare the oneswith the commitment problem. We just need to be honest and admit it.

Do you have a problem you would like to raise anonymously with Dear Vix? Issues with love, relationships, family and work? Email dearvix@independent.co.uk

Key Points

• "Initially I wasn’t going to play him," Gadd reveals.

• He explains why he decided to play Ruben and how he "did everything I could to change everything about myself."

It’s a Tuesday morning in April in New York City, where Richard Gadd, the creator ofNetflix’s Emmys-sweeping juggernautBaby Reindeer, brings his next project, HBO and the BBC’sHalf Man, on the road in the States.

The Scottish triple threat (actor/comedian/writer) sits at a table in a room at Midtown’s The Whitby Hotel, donning the same royal blue long-sleeve knit polo he wore earlier that morning for aTodayshow appearance.

He shed the image of that tall, slender bartender and aspiring comic, named Donny Dunn, that Netflix subscribers met on his haunting but captivating limited series in 2024 — an observation that comes as a relief to Gadd. The 36-year-old now maintains some of the muscles he amassed for the role of Ruben Pallister, the burly brute ofHalf Man.

“I always wanted Ruben to stand alone in his masculinity,” Gadd tellsEntertainment Weekly. “When I was putting on muscle size, it needed to be real. It couldn’t be, like, ‘gym body.’ It had to be like a real man, in a way.” Meaning, “Any size is just a byproduct of the way he's learned to defend himself against life.”

“In terms of my own transformation,” he adds, “initially I wasn’t going to play him.”

On Dec. 13, 2023, Gadd finished the final sound mix onBaby Reindeer, and by 8 a.m. the very next morning, he returned to a pilot script that he wrote a few years prior.Originally titledLions,Half Manis a story Gadd describes as “the concept of man.”

The six-episode series, coming to HBO and the BBC this week, stars Gadd as Ruben, who crashes the wedding of his blood brother, Niall Kennedy (Jamie Bell).

Just as the exchange turns violent, the story jumps backwards in time to see younger actors Stuart Campbell and Mitchell Robertson depict Ruben and Niall, respectively, as teens and the events that brought them together.

The series jostles back and forth in time to show how their bond as men shaped their lives over the course of 40 years, often in extremely violent, self-destructive ways.

In the aftermath ofBaby Reindeer, which was notably inspired by Gadd's own experience with a stalker and sexual abuse, networks were ravenous for the writer's next project. “If I told you some of the opportunities that I was offered, you probably wouldn't believe them,” he says.

There were times when he lingered over those opportunities he turned down, but in hindsight, he has no regrets. HBO and the BBC together represent the TV Gadd grew up watching, from the Ricky Gervais-ledThe OfficetoThe WireandThe Sopranos.

In the early days ofHalf Man, a fictionalized work, “I wasn't going to really be in it at all,” Gadd says. AfterBaby Reindeer, “I wanted to take a load off, I wanted to take some responsibility off my plate,” he recalls. Maybe he’d pop in for a cameo, an Easter egg for appreciators of his work to find, like a stray cop part, but that would be the extent of it.

“And then, for various reasons, it came about,” he adds.

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Bell was among the first to suggest Gadd for the role of Ruben. TheBilly ElliotandSkinactor, 40, was an early casting addition to the piece. He really enjoyedBaby Reindeerand was determined to act opposite Gadd. Then when HBO got involved, network leads made the same suggestion.

“I remember my initial impulse was, ‘Well, I won't be able to do that,’” Gadd says. “I said I’d think about it for about 24 hours and I'd email in the morning. I went to bed. I remember my heart was just going, like adrenaline. And all of it was [this] tightness, like, ‘What if I don't do it? What if people don't buy it? Am I capable of this?’ 'Cause it's so out of my comfort zone. I think about Donny Dunn — which I'm not saying was a comfort zone at all, there were lots of challenging things there, but that's what people see as my acting sweet spot. Ruben is almost like a polar opposite.”

It was the fear of failure, but the more Gadd mused on the matter, a different fear overshadowed those concerns: regret over missing the opportunity to play a character so many actors would kill for, someone so scary and big, but also someone vulnerable with a traumatic history.

“I guess the fear of ‘would people buy Donny Dunn as Ruben Pallister?’ was the big driver behind going to the gym so often and never straying from my diet,” Gadd continues. “I don't think I strayed from my diet the whole time I was working on it. I did everything I could to change everything about myself from my hair, my beard, my size, my voice, everything. It was a real commitment and we'll see if people buy it.”

Gadd now feelsHalf Manwould be a different show if he didn’t bulk up, noting the “arresting visuals” they created with the varying size and heights between him and Bell. It also came down to what the character needed. For Cambell’s portrayal of younger Ruben, masculinity was more about presence than physical form. Adult Ruben, however, needed to feel big as his own defense mechanism.

“I’m not saying people can’t be intimidated by thin people,” Gadd clarifies. “Look at Begbie.” Robert Carlye famously portrayed the violent brawler Francis "Franco" Begbie in Danny Boyle’s 1996 crime-dramaTrainspotting. “Begbie was a great character that was very scary and he was thin, quite small. I just felt with Ruben, he was the epitome of masculinity. We had to see a visual representation of that in his older life.”

Gadd dispels the assumption that he set out to make a show about masculinity, or even specifically toxic masculinity, despite the modern culture of the manosphere. That, he says, feels more serendipitous than anything. Though, he acknowledges how the show borrows certain themes or struggles that he understands intimately.

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“I've realized, in a lot of ways, that masculinity is a projection of whoever's trying to speak about it,” Gadd explains. “Some people see masculinity as the strong, aggressive guy in the corner of the gym, or is masculinity the quiet guy who holds his shoulders back and speaks with quiet confidence and has a perfect grasp of who he is? It’s in such a state of flux that the word is now being used to encompass all aspects of male behavior.”

Half Man, in many ways, is a show about repression — the attacks men make on themselves more than any violence they inflict on each other. Gadd points as far back to the nursery rhymes children are fed as kids, the ones that always seem to depict certain male and female roles.

“It does seep its way into your subconscious,” he says. “The man has to be the rescuer, the man has to be the provider, the man has to be brave and strong and bold. I think that can create such a conflict with interior pain in a lot of ways, almost like generations of people thinking that emotions are something to be kept within. That, of course, leads to repression, which of course leads to dysfunctional behavior.”

Half Manpremieres Thursday on HBO in the U.S.

Read the original article onEntertainment Weekly

Anderson, a three-time All-Star and 2002 World Series champion with theLos Angeles Angels, passed away last week at the age of 53, stunning the baseball world.

The cause of death was acute necrotizing pancreatitis, according to the Coroner Division of the Orange County Sheriff's Department. Anderson's wife Teresa had previouslytold ESPNshe thought her husband had died of a heart attack.

According to the Cleveland Clinic, "necrotizing pancreatitis happens when pancreatitis inflammation is so severe that it causes tissue death (necrosis)."

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“Garret will forever hold a special place in the hearts of Angels fans for his professionalism, class, and loyalty throughout his career and beyond. We extend our heartfelt condolences to the entire Anderson family," the Angels said in a statement on April 17.

Garret Anderson, one of the greatest players in Los Angeles Angels history, has died at the age of 53, the team announced on April 17, 2026.

A three-time All-Star and key part of the Angels’ 2002 World Series title, he holds multiple franchise records, including games played (2,013), hits (2,368), runs scored (1,024), RBI (1,292), and total bases (3,743). He ranked second behind only Hall of Famer Derek Jeter for the most hits from 1997-2003.

Revisit his baseball career, from joining the MLB in the 1990s to his induction into the Angels hall of fame and later becoming a broadcaster for the Angels.

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Remembering Angels great Garret Anderson

Garret Anderson, one of the greatest players in Los Angeles Angels history, has died at the age of 53, the team announced on April 17, 2026.A three-time All-Star and key part of the Angels’ 2002 World Series title, he holds multiple franchise records, including games played (2,013), hits (2,368), runs scored (1,024), RBI (1,292), and total bases (3,743). He ranked second behind only Hall of Famer Derek Jeter for the most hits from 1997-2003.Revisit his baseball career, from joining the MLB in the 1990s to his induction into the Angels hall of fame and later becoming a broadcaster for the Angels.

The team has honored Anderson since news of his death, including a "GA" patch on their jerseys and emblem in the outfield of Angel Stadium.

Anderson grew up in Granada Hills, California, and was selected in the fourth round of the 1990 draft. He made his MLB debut July 27, 1994 against Oakland with his first hit off Ron Darling. He finished second in the AL Rookie of the Year voting in 1995 behind Marty Cordova of the Minnesota Twins.

He was one of the game’s most durable players, playing an average of 156 games per year his first eight seasons. He finished with 2,529 hits and a career .293 batting average.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Garret Anderson cause of death revealed after Angels legend's passing

The Cabinet Office and the Japan Meteorological Agency said there was a 1% chance for a mega-quake, compared to a 0.1% chance during normal times, in the next week or so following the powerful quake near the Chishima and Japan trenches.

Officials said the advisory was not a quake prediction but urged residents in 182 towns along the northeastern coasts to raise their preparedness while continuing their daily lives.

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, speaking to reporters, urged residents in the affected area to confirm their designated shelters and evacuation routes and to check emergency food and grab bags so they can run immediately when the next big one hits. “The government will do our utmost in case of an emergency,” she said.

It was the second such advisory for the region in recent months.One was issued following a 7.5-magnitude quake in Decemberbut no mega-quake occurred.

The Fire and Disaster Management Agency said one person in Aomori, north of Iwate, was injured after falling Monday.

Still, Monday's earthquake and tsunami warning were a reminder to the quake-prone area of the March 2011 disaster that ravaged large swaths of the northern coast, triggering a nuclear crisis in Fukushima.

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The quake occurred off the coast of Sanriku at around 4:53 p.m. (0753 GMT) Monday, at a depth of about 19 kilometers (11 miles), the meteorological agency said.

Footage on NHK television showed hanging objects swaying and people squatting at a shopping center in Aomori, as authorities told people to seek higher ground and stay away from coastal areas.

Shinkansen bullet trains connecting Tokyo and northern Japan were suspended, leaving passengers in cars and on platforms waiting for service to resume.

A tsunami of about 80 centimeters (2.6 feet) was detected at the Kuji port in Iwate prefecture within an hour of the quake, and a smaller tsunami of 40 centimeters (1.3 feet) was recorded at another port in the prefecture, the meteorological agency said.

The U.S.-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Center later said the tsunami threat “has now passed.”

The Nuclear Regulation Authority said nuclear power plants and related facilities in the region were intact and no abnormalities were detected.

The disaster management agency said at one point, more than 170,000 people in five northern prefectures from Hokkaido to Fukushima were advised to take shelter.

It's 15 years sincea magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunamion March 11, 2011, ravaged parts of northern Japan, causing more than 22,000 deaths and forcing nearly half a million people to flee their homes, most of them due to tsunami damage.

After squeaking out a 3-2 victory in Game 1, the Flyers once again outplayed the favored Penguins. Rookie Porter Martone scored for the second straight game, and Luke Glendening added an empty-net goal.

Vladar logged his first shutout since joining the Flyers last summer -- and his first career blanking in the playoffs.

Stuart Skinner turned aside 20 shots for Pittsburgh, which will arrive desperate for a victory when the teams reconvene in Philadelphia for Game 3 of the best-of-seven series on Wednesday. Sidney Crosby led the Penguins with four shots but was held without a point for the second straight game.

"You got to focus on the next one. Win or lose, that's always the approach. But given the fact that we lost two here, we've got to find a way to take Game 3 and get some momentum back," Crosby said.

The Flyers committed three minor penalties in the first period but still held the Penguins to two shots in the session. Philadelphia also didn't do much on offense, managing just five shots in the opening 20 minutes.

Philadelphia opened the scoring on Martone's second of the playoffs with 6:21 left in the second period. Travis Konecny's shot was blocked in front and caromed right to Martone, who deposited a backhander into a vacated net for a 1-0 lead.

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Martone, 19, became the sixth-youngest player in NHL history to score a goal in each of his first two career playoff games.

Shortly thereafter, Glendening -- one of the team's top penalty-killers -- was in the box when the Flyers scored a short-handed goal to make it 2-0. Owen Tippett won a puck battle along the boards, made a couple of nifty moves and slipped a pass across to Hathaway, who rammed it past a helpless Skinner.

Holding a two-goal lead, the Flyers squandered two terrific scoring opportunities down the stretch. With about 13 minutes left in the contest, Skinner stoned Glendening on a 2-on-0 short-handed breakaway. Then about three minutes later, Tippett was awarded a penalty shot when he was hooked on a breakaway, but he shot wide on the ensuing attempt.

Tippett stressed the importance of staying even-keel despite the advantage the Flyers now hold in the series. "We're excited to get home to our fans, back home in our rink, but we can't get too high, can't get too low," he said. "Obviously coming in here, to a building like this, and taking the first two games - it's huge."

Vladar's highlights included a stop on Samuel Girard from point-blank range early in the third period and a flashy glove save on Evgeni Malkin's redirection with 7 1/2 minutes to go.

Glendening's empty-netter with 2:05 left put an exclamation point on the victory.

--Field Level Media

Key Points

• Colbert called it Late Show Home Shopping, and it really exists.

• The last episode is scheduled to air May 21, after CBS announced in July that this was the show's final season.

Stephen Colbertis preparing for the end.

On Wednesday, he and a very recognizable guest,The Daily Show'sJon Stewart, teamed up for a sketch advertising areal charity auctionofLate Showprops and merch before the series airs itsfinal episodeMay 21.

The funny guys sported floral leisure wear as they showed off some of the items up for big event. Colbert did, at least once, require a big gulp of whatever he was drinking from his branded coffee mug.

When Stewart suggested they start bidding for the item at $20, Colbert hilariously spit out the drink in Stewart's face and said there was "no way" they could start bidding so high. Stewart took a swig from his own mug, but Colbert suggested they lower the price to $19.99, which he called "actually a tremendous value."

And the items actually are for sale, with some of them going for a much higher price.

For example, the red carpet that guests walked on as they walk onto the set, as well as a wig that had belonged to Stewart was up to $5,600.

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At one point, Colbert teased a T-shirt that reads "The Last Show" in the font ofThe Late Show, which Stewart got so excited about that he poured his mug on top of his head.

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One of the bigger items: theLate Showsign, which hung in the studio, accompanied by signed mugs from Colbert and Stewart. The bidding for it was up to $10,100 late Wednesday.

Several of Colbert's neckties were among the other items.

In his monologue, Colbert also sent a box labeled "Iran War jokes" to his colleague Jimmy Kimmel, after noting that he was beginning to wonder if U.S. involvement there would be over by the time he left.

The Late Show With Stephen Colbertairs at 11:35 p.m. ET/PT on CBS.

Read the original article onEntertainment Weekly

Thelawsuit, filed on Tuesday in California federal court, also accuses World Liberty Financial of trying to pressure Sun into investing "hundreds of millions of dollars to mint USD1, World Liberty's stablecoin." The complaint alleges that the company froze his World Liberty Financial tokens after Sun refused to commit more money to the business.

Sun also alleged that World Liberty Financial secretly changed contractual rules governing when owners of its tokens could sell their holdings, giving the company "blacklisting power" over who could transfer the tokens.

"There was no governance proposal (let alone a vote of token holders) on whether World Liberty should have this power, nor did World Liberty announce to token holders what the company was doing. World Liberty simply took the power for itself," the complaint alleged.

World Liberty Financial co-founder and CEO Zach Witkoff dismissed Sun's allegations as "entirely meritless."

"Justin Sun's recent lawsuit against [World Liberty Financial] is a desperate attempt to deflect attention from Sun's own misconduct," Witkoffwroteon social media on Wednesday. "He engaged in misconduct that required World Liberty to take action to protect itself and its users. World Liberty will continue to take all necessary steps to protect its community."

The litigation threatens to chill Sun's relationship with President Trump. The entrepreneur, best known as the founder of blockchain company Tron, revealed last year that he was the largest holder of another Trump-backedcrypto token, dubbed $TRUMP.

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"Fraudulent scheme"

In a social mediaposton his rationale for the lawsuit, Sun said he remains a supporter of Mr. Trump and blamed "certain individuals" for the alleged issues.

"They wrongfully froze all of my tokens, stripped me of my right to vote on governance proposals, and have threatened to permanently destroy my tokens by 'burning' them — all without any proper justification," he wrote. "I do not believe President Trump would condone these actions if he knew about them."

Sun's complaint also accused World Liberty Financial executives, including co-founder Chase Herro, of seeking to "leverage the Trump brand" to illegally drive profits.

"Even though Mr. Sun was one of World Liberty's anchor investors and biggest supporters, that did not stop Mr. Herro and the company's other principals from making Mr. Sun a prime target of their fraudulent scheme."

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