Ronnie O’Sullivan will be competing in the 2026 Seniors Snooker Championship and the World Snooker Championship within just weeks of each other; the 50-year-old won his first world title 25 years ago and looks to add another accolade to his name
Last Updated: 23/02/26 3:44pm
Ronnie O’Sullivan will be going for his eighth world title and first Seniors world title this spring
After a record-equalling seven world titles, Ronnie O’Sullivan will be making his debut on the senior world stage in May at the 2026 World Seniors Snooker Championship.
However, the 50-year-old is still expected to play in the main World Championship, which finishes just two days before the seniors starts, with both events taking place at the Crucible.
Ronnie O’Sullivan tried to defend his first Masters title against Steven Hendry in 1996 as the youngest winner of the title at 19-years and 69 days
He joins an impressive seniors line-up that includes 2015 world champion Stuart Bingham, 12-time women’s world champion Reanne Evans and former Masters and UK champion Matthew Stevens.
Chairman Jason Francis branded O’Sullivan the “most commercially valuable player the sport has ever seen” and that he expects The Rocket’s participation to drive ticket sales even higher.
The seniors tournament will take place May 6-10, being prefaced by World Championship from April 18-May 4.
O’Sullivan relocated to Dubai last year but will spend April and May in Sheffield as he also attempts to win an eighth world title when he appears in his 34th consecutive World Snooker Championship.
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Changes to the seniors tournaments rules have meant players ranked in the world top 64 are eligible to take part with several having taken the opportunity.
With four title wins, the most successful player in the seniors is Jimmy White, with the 10-time ranking event winner also slated to take part.
This comes 25 years after O’Sullivan won his first World Snooker Championship which he won in his 10th year of being a professional at the age of 25, as he seeks to add yet another record to his CV.
David Hockney, The Poet, from The Blue Guitar, 1976-77. Courtesy of Adam Baumgold Gallery
Auction results are usually the only public data available for reading the art market, even though they reflect only the secondary sphere. Art fair sales reports can hint at how the primary market is behaving and what collectors are circling, but even those numbers are unstable, shaped by discounts, negotiations and the many variables that can shift between an invoice being issued and a wire arriving. Artsy, widely regarded as the largest online marketplace for art, recently released its first Buyer Trends Report based on the searches and primary-market transactions on its platform, offering a clearer picture of what collectors were buying in 2025.
“This report reinforces the patterns we identified in Artsy’s Art Market Trends 2025: collectors are becoming more selective, and that discipline is directing demand toward the primary market—especially mid-tier and emerging artists,” Artsy CEO Jeffrey Yin told Observer, noting that works priced under $10,000 are benefiting as buyers look for strong entry points that do not rely on speculation. “Even as the top end recalibrates, the fundamentals remain healthy. People are acquiring art they genuinely want to live with, at price points that feel responsible in today’s market.”
Trend 1: Smaller paintings at smaller prices
Small paintings have dominated recent gallery shows and fairs, particularly on the emerging side. Pocket-sized works encourage a more intimate and emotional relationship with the subject, but they are also easier to live with—lighter to ship, simpler to frame and far less punishing when it comes to storage or relocation. In cities like New York and London, where aggressive real estate markets make long-term leases a luxury, collectors are increasingly opting for art that can move with them.
Artsy’s users in 2025 were actively seeking art on a micro scale, with searches for “micro,” “mini” and “small” rising 40 percent, 47 percent and 49 percent. Forty percent of all purchases on the platform were for small works, and acquisitions tagged as “miniature and small-scale paintings” increased 66 percent year over year.
These numbers may be predictable for an online marketplace, where buyers tend to trust digital transactions for lower price tiers rather than multimillion-dollar blue-chip masterpieces that require in-person due diligence. Still, the pattern aligns with the 2025 Art Basel & UBS Art Market Report, which noted that while the highest-end segment contracted sharply (sales above $10 million fell steeply in both number and total value), works priced below $50,000 accounted for roughly 85 percent of dealer transactions in 2024. Smaller galleries—those with under $250,000 in annual turnover—reported a 17 percent increase in sales. The report also confirmed steady growth in the sub-$5,000 range, mirroring Artprice’s recent data showing a rise in transactions under $10,000. Hiscox’s 2024 Online Art Trade Report found that 60 percent of online buyers purchased works under $5,000, with the fastest-growing bracket under $1,000. At the fair level—from NADA Miami and Untitled Art, which just closed, to Independent New York and Future Fair—small-format works were often among the first to sell out, frequently within VIP day, as both younger and seasoned collectors favored accessible entry points that fit urban apartments.
The design world is echoing the same preference. Artsy identified the rise of “gallery wall” and salon-style décor as a key trend, with interiors favoring densely hung arrangements of small pieces over single statement works. Publications from Elle Decor to The New York Times have likewise pointed to small-format art as the next major wave in collecting—easier to buy, easier to place and uncannily suited to the economic and spatial realities of 2025.
As collectors lean toward more affordable, manageable formats, editions and drawings are also gaining popularity, particularly for those who want to access established and blue-chip names otherwise out of reach. Artsy’s report dedicates a spotlight to David Hockney, who, after a few landmark years of museum shows, saw a spike in demand not only for paintings but also for prints available at more accessible price points. Searches for his name were up 46 percent on Artsy in 2025, making him the third most searched artist on the platform, with strong demand for his more “popular-priced” etchings.
Trend 2: Blue’s growing appeal
In a time of uncertainty and global turmoil, collectors have been turning toward the calming psychological pull of blue. Searches for “blue” on Artsy were up 20 percent year over year, with a particular preference for cobalt, a deep, vivid shade. Searches for “cobalt” rose 131 percent year over year, while purchases tagged “bright and vivid colors” increased 22 percent.
Yves Klein, California (IKB 71), 1961. Sold for €18.4 million ($21.4 million). Christie’s
As water becomes more precious and record-hot summers force us to reckon with its growing scarcity, blue has gained traction for its association with water. Works depicting swimming pools, waves and open seas have seen growing interest, with searches for “ocean,” “sea” and “water” rising by 33 percent, 28 percent and 24 percent, respectively. This trend has been visible at fairs over the past few years and in the auction market—most notably with Yves Klein’s California (IKB 71) (1961), a monumental museum-grade masterpiece that sold for €18.37 million ($21.34 million) at Christie’s Paris in October.
But the blue trend extends well beyond the art world. Pantone’s Spring 2025 palette featured multiple saturated blues, with Strong Blue among its most circulated seasonal shades. Vogue declared cobalt the “new it-color,” as designers Tommy Hilfiger and Loewe leaned into deep blues in their spring/summer 2025 runway shows. Miu Miu, Balenciaga and Ferragamo pushed electric and ultramarine blues in recent campaigns, while beauty and consumer culture followed suit: Glossier and Rare Beauty launched cobalt liners, Dyson released cobalt-violet appliances that became TikTok fixtures and Apple’s deep-blue iPhone finish emerged as the most ordered shade of its cycle.
Trend 3: A return to nature
This widespread desire to disconnect and return to the essence has also fueled a renewed longing for nature—something many rediscovered during the pandemic. This “bucolic escapism,” a contemporary take on the idyll, has taken hold in gallery shows and fair presentations through dreamy landscapes, rolling hillsides, lush gardens and flower compositions, as well as scenes of horses.
Art history offers precedent: renewed fascination with pastoral imagery tends to surface during moments of political fatigue or cultural volatility. In Ancient Rome, pastoral ideals emerged amid expansion, civil war and social anxiety, as poets and painters projected fantasies of rustic simplicity—Virgil’s Arcadia being the archetype. After the turmoil of the Napoleonic era, European painters embraced a neoclassical pastoral vocabulary as an antidote to upheaval and imperial overreach. The pastoral has long served as a stabilizing fiction—a world governed by harmony rather than conflict, by timeless nature rather than chaotic politics. Today’s appetite for harmonious landscapes, garden scenes and atmospheric horizons reflects similar pressures: climate dread, digital overload and geopolitical tension.
Caleb Hahne Quintana, A Flicker in the Ancient Rhythm (detail), 2025. Flashe and drybrush on linen, 74 x 54 in. Courtesy the artist and Anat Ebgi, Los Angeles / New York. Photo by Shark Senesac
On Artsy, purchases of works tagged “landscapes and waterscapes” were up 35 percent year over year, “flora” up 44 percent and “earth tones” up 29 percent. Searches for related topics also accelerated: “picnic” rose 208 percent, “outdoors” 80 percent, “nature” 30 percent and “landscapes” 19 percent.
Once again, the trend extends beyond the art world, with organic, nature-inspired shapes, earth tones and natural light dominating collectible design and interiors—fueling continued momentum for the Lalannes—and echoing lifestyle culture more broadly. Biophilic design, from indoor gardens to moss-green upholstery and stone surfaces, has become a recurring feature in architecture and retail, while fashion and wellness brands lean into materials and palettes that promise grounding and retreat in an increasingly unstable, urbanized world. Pinterest’s 2025 summer trend report highlighted a sharp rise in nature-oriented searches tied to the “digital detox” narrative. Airbnb reported a 100 percent increase in searches for countryside stays and a 50 percent rise for national park stays, with Gen Z driving a 26 percent surge in fall travel searches—Vermont ranked as a top foliage destination. TripAdvisor and other booking data indicate that smaller, nature-adjacent cities are outperforming major metropolitan destinations, and the U.S. National Park System logged roughly 332 million visits in 2024, confirming that nature-based travel and outdoor engagement have become defining trends of 2025.
Trend 4: The return of domestic tableus
With the pandemic, for better or worse, people rediscovered the pleasures of staying home, reviving interest in domestic rituals such as cooking and shared meals. Unsurprisingly, the final key trend Artsy identified is the rising popularity of still lifes that depict this comforting domesticity, along with scenes of people eating together. Purchases of works tagged “food” were up 61 percent year over year, while searches for “dinner” and “food” each rose 44 percent, “dining” 38 percent, “meal” 28 percent and “table” 18 percent.
Once again, the trend extends across lifestyle and communication. Etsy reported that searches for “dining ware” and “supper club,” driven by table-setting categories, surged by 1,000 percent. Social platforms are flooded with cooking tutorials, dinner-party events and images of dining—often at home. On TikTok, “dinner parties” content views were up 70 percent year over year and #CookingTok remained one of the most active tags, while on Instagram, posts tagged #tablescape increased over 35 percent. On YouTube, cooking videos saw a 25 percent increase in watch time, and Eventbrite reported a 45 percent rise in cooking-class bookings in 2024-2025. As eating out becomes more expensive and people feel more disconnected and alienated, the rediscovery of cooking and sharing food reflects a contemporary nostalgia as much as a desire to reconnect with the essence—what truly nourishes body and soul.
Now, if we think of art as both symptom and palliative, these buying patterns begin to read as something larger than market behavior. They reveal a broader societal undercurrent—a map of what people are seeking, avoiding or trying to soothe. In this sense, what collectors gravitate toward becomes a quiet proxy for the contemporary condition, a way of understanding not only what is selling but what people feel they need.
Lee is going to welcome his sixth child (Credit: CoverImages.com)
Lee Ryan set to welcome baby number six
Today saw Lee’s Blue bandmates reveal the happy news, whilst live on Heart Radio, discussing their new album and tour.
Speaking to Amanda Holden and Jamie Theakston, they revealed that Verity is hours away from giving birth.
“First of all, what’s happened to Lee?” Jamie asked Duncan James, Simon Webbe, and Antony Costa.
“So, his baby is about to be born any day. So, yesterday the Mrs said the baby dropped,” Duncan explained.
Lee missed some press events today (Credit: ITV)
‘His baby is about to be born’
“And they live in Portugal,” Simon then added.
“So, she was a bit worried because obviously he comes over today and we have a couple of days promo to do and if the baby comes then she has three other kids. So, it was a bit of a worry.”
Lee confirmed the news during an appearance on This Morning earlier today, too.
The star appeared via video link, where he revealed his wife “could give birth today”.
Lee shared the news via video link today (Credit: ITV)
Lee’s babies
Lee shares a daughter, Bluebell, 16, with his ex-girlfriend Jessica Keevil. He also has a son, Rayn, whom he shares with his ex-fiancée, Samantha Miller.
He has three children – two girls and a boy – with wife Verity. They tied the knot in 2022.
In June, Lee revealed that they were expecting another baby. He shared a snap of himself and Verity on his now-deleted Instagram account.
“Oooops we did it again’ baby number four on the way to add to our lovely little family!” he wrote.
“Another vibe to join the tribe we are truly grateful,” he then added.
Ronnie O’Sullivan has pulled out of the Northern Ireland Open, having already withdrawn from the British Open and Wuhan Open in recent weeks; Seven-time world champion last featured at the English Open in September
Last Updated: 20/10/24 11:00pm
Ronnie O’Sullivan withdrew from the Northern Ireland Open ahead of his first round match
Seven-time world champion Ronnie O’Sullivan has withdrawn from the BetVictor Northern Ireland Open due to medical reasons, the World Snooker Tour (WST) has announced.
O’Sullivan was due to face Long Zehuang in the last 64 in Belfast on Monday afternoon, but announcement from WST on their website confirmed he had pulled out of the event.
China’s Long receives a bye to the last 32, with the tournament at the Waterfront Hall in Belfast running until October 27th.
Ronnie O’Sullivan has now withdrawn from three consecutive events due to medical reasons
O’Sullivan hasn’t featured since being knocked out of the first round of the English Open last month after a shock defeat to He Guoqiang, where he describing his performance as “awful” and “embarrassing”.
It is the third consecutive tournament that O’Sullivan has withdrawn from, having also skipped the British Open and Wuhan Open in recent weeks. He is next due to feature at the International Champions event in China from November 3-10.
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Ronnie O’Sullivan says if the World Snooker Championship was relocated to Saudi Arabia then he would find the tournament more convenient as a player
Ronnie O’Sullivan says if the World Snooker Championship was relocated to Saudi Arabia then he would find the tournament more convenient as a player
Trump makes winning start in Belfast
World No 1 Judd Trump began his title defence with a 4-0 win over Ishpreet Singh Chadha needing just 49 minutes to whitewash his opponent with the aid of breaks of 72, 65 and 112.
“It was easy to get up for this event,” said Trump, who has won the event four times in the last six years. “Certain venues seem to be made for snooker. Anyone who has played in the semis or final at the Waterfront [Hall] knows how special it is.
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“It’s similar to Alexandra Palace or the Tempodrom in terms of the size of the crowd and the way people react. I thrive on that atmosphere with people enjoying themselves. It helps me show off and play my best shots.”
Trump will face Matthew Selt in the last 32 after Selt defeated Lyu Haotian 4-1, while World Championship runner-up Jak Jones beat Alexander Ursenbacher 4-0 and Zhou Yuelong recovered from 3-1 down to oust Dominic Dale 4-3.
Northern Ireland’s Jordan Brown suffered a 4-2 defeat to Robert Milkins, while 18-year-old Stan Moody made breaks of 108 and 105 before beating Ryan Day in a decider.
Louis Heathcote also came through in a decider in a scrappy contest against former world champion Mark Selby, whose 81 in the first frame was the only break over 50 by either player.
Stuart Bingham beat Scott Donaldson 4-1 in a similarly low-scoring contest, while China’s Pang Jungxu made a break of 98 in the decider as he beat compatriot Yuan Sijun 4-3.
John Higgins reaches 1,000 career centuries but is knocked out of the English Open; Ronnie O’Sullivan is the only other player to have reached the four-figure century milestone
Last Updated: 19/09/24 11:36pm
John Higgins became only the second snooker player to reach 1,000 career centuries
John Higgins became only the second snooker player to reach 1,000 career centuries despite crashing out of the English Open in Brentwood.
The 49-year-old Scot achieved the milestone with breaks of 108 and 105 in the third and fifth frames of his quarter-final clash against Mark Allen.
But it was not enough to seal a win that would have boosted his hopes of staying in the top 16 as Allen – who hit a century of his own in the opening frame – held firm in a gruelling decider to edge a 4-3 win.
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Ronnie O’Sullivan is the only other player to have reached the four-figure century milestone, having done so in the final frame of his 2019 Players Championship final win over Neil Robertson.
Earlier, Judd Trump set up a quarter-final clash with China’s Wu Yize after hitting back from behind to claim a 4-2 win over Fan Zhengyi.
The world No 1 nudged one closer to joining O’Sullivan and Higgins in the thousand-century club as he reeled off a break of 101 in the course of winning three frames in a row to extend his winning run.
Mark Selby held his nerve to carve out a 4-3 win over Si Jiahui and book a last-eight meeting with India’s Ishpreet Singh Chadha, who also overcame a final frame decider against China’s He Guoqiang.
Anthony Joshua’s heavyweight showdown with Daniel Dubois takes place on Saturday September 21 live on Sky Sports Box Office. Book Joshua v Dubois now!
I can’t get enough of the blue flax in my yard, but it wasn’t always this way. With most other perennials, it’s a binary case of love or hate. With blue flax, though, it was more complicated.
Above: Blue flax’s five-petaled flowers range from a pale blue to a bright cerulean. Photograph by Debbie Ballentine via Flickr.
I’m newish to Central Oregon, where I relocated after a lifetime of living on the East Coast, and unfamiliar with the plants native to this high desert region. Hydrangeas, a landscape leitmotif on the East, are rarely seen in these parts, but Linum lewisii, another plant with vividly blue flowers, peppers the landscape. I see blue flax thriving in the wild on the trails; swaying in the wind next to the the chain-link fence that surrounds the local high school track; and growing in my own front yard, where it was planted by the previous owners.
Above: Once established, one blue flax plant can generate many, many petite flowers. Photograph by Philip Bouchard via Flickr.
While I was immediately smitten with the delicate blue flowers (measuring just 1 to 1.5 inches across) that float over thin stems, I was less than happy to learn that they wither by day’s end. I have always had a bias for durable, long-lasting blooms, and these ephemeral flowers, with an expiration date that measures in hours (not even days), offended my practical sensibility. The thing is, the spent flowers are replaced the next morning with a flush of new blooms. All summer long, this 24-hour cycle of birth, death, and rebirth is repeated.
Above: This flower will die by the end of the day, but new buds are standing in the wings, ready to bloom the next morning. Photograph by tdlucas5000 via Flickr.
I’ve come to admire blue flax. Every morning, like a child waking up to look for fresh snow, I eagerly grab a cup of coffee and peer out our front window searching for the new blooms. Throughout the day, I check on them. And early evening, I do one last inspection to see if, by some miracle, they’re still around, gently swaying in the breeze. They never are. But come morning, I fill up my cup again—and delight in their rebirth.
Cheat Sheet
Above: Its stems can look messy and leggy, so best to plant them en masse or crowd them next to tall grasses and wildflowers. Photograph by George Wesley and Bonita Dannells via Flickr.
Discovered by Meriwether Lewis (of Lewis and Clark fame) in the Rocky Mountains, Linum lewisii is commonly known as blue flax, wild blue flax, prairie flax, Lewis flax, and Lewis’s flax.
The drought-tolerant, deer-resistant perennial is native to Western North America, growing wild in prairies and mountain trails.
Grows to 18 to 30 inches tall, with needle-like blue-green leaves.
Will readily self seed once established.
Exhibits a clumping habit; looks best en masse or mingling in a dense planting with tall grasses.
The cultivar commercially grown for its fibers, seeds, and oil is common flax (Linum usitatissimum), but blue flax’s seeds are edible, too, as long as you cook it first.
Its bloom period covers a long span, from April to September (though in Central Oregon, where the last frost date was in late spring, mine didn’t start blooming until early June).
Keep It Alive
Above: Blue flax happily mingling with coast sunflower, California fuchsia, Sulphur buckwheat, California sun cup, and ‘Margarita BOP’ penstemon. Photograph by Debbie Ballentine via Flickr.
Hardy from USDA zones 5 – 8.
Extremely easy to grow, the wildflower is both cold-hardy and heat-tolerant.
Fairly shade-tolerant but happiest in full sun.
Drought-tolerant, it has low to medium water needs.
Best planted in well-draining soil; preference for rocky or sandy conditions, dislike of clay soil or wet conditions.
To prevent self seeding, prune almost down to the ground at the end of the growing season; if not a concern, leave them standing for birds to snack on during the winter and cut back in early spring.
For years I’ve marveled at (and been envious of) the work of photographer Caitlin Atkinson, who captures gardens, interiors, and still lifes with a serene, dreamy, almost ethereal feel. She is a master of catching the sun as it shines soft and warm, as it creates glowing halos around plants, highlighting and hugging simultaneously.
Caitlin photographed landscapes for the book Under Western Skies: Visionary Gardens from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Coast, written by Jennifer Jewell, that spotlights innovative and inspiring gardens in the West. [N.B.: More recently, she’s been working with Kendra Wilson on Gardenista: The Low-Impact Garden, to be published next spring.] Caitlin’s work, of course, involves almost constant globe-trotting, but when she is able to be at one of her own homes, either in Nevada City or Santa Cruz, you can find her digging and tending her own patches of dirt.
Caitlin Atkinson at Home
Caitlin’s gardens have different styles, as they are in different climates and settings. The Nevada City garden, in the foothills near the Yuba River, is, as Caitlin describes it, “more of a subtle color story.” One area of the garden consists mostly of blues and is situated in a very sunny, dry, and hot spot. She also has a fescue meadow that she continues to seed and plant into. “The drought has more of an impact here, along with the risk of fires.”
The Santa Cruz garden, on the other hand, is a beach cottage with more colorful plantings. And even though the garden gets sun all day, the proximity to the ocean creates a very mild climate. “The hardest things to work with there are the sand for soil, the wind off the ocean, and the salt air,” shares Caitlin.
Above: “Everything I plant has to be low-maintenance, very tough, deer-and bunny-resistant, plus like where it lives or it will not make it,” says Caitlin. Both gardens started slowly and continue to evolve that way as well.
Above: Caitlin decorates her porch with pots purchased from Flora Grubb Gardens in San Francisco. Agave ‘porcupine’ fills most of them, while a Clematis armandii vine frames her forest view.
Above: “My work often gets incredibly busy right when you might be the busiest in the garden, so I often do not get to do much in the garden. It can sometimes turn into a real wild scene, but mostly things are left to their own devices with a little maintenance when I can,” says Caitlin. Above: This simple concrete bird bath attracts mostly acorn woodpeckers. Caitlin adds, “Of course robins, seasonal finches and hummingbirds are in the garden, but they are not so much at the water.”
Recently, one of my clients asked if I would add some blue flowers to her garden. Her young daughter had learned that dogs are color-blind and can see only blues and yellows, and now she wanted to make sure their garden had blue flowers in it so that their dog would be able to enjoy them. Naturally my heart swelled and my list of blue flowers grew. I bolted to the nursery and picked up some favorites.
Because of this project, I learned to truly appreciate how blues add a cooling and calming splash of color. I also learned, after reading the book, How the Rose Got its Thorns and Other Botanical Stories, by Andrew Ormerod, that few plants produce anthocyanins, the pigments responsible for the blue hue, which is why blue flowers are relatively rare in nature. “They are most commonly found in environmentally impoverished habitats where pollinators are scarce—with its short wavelength, the color blue stands out and attracts bee pollinators,” he writes.
Here are eight of my favorite blue flowers (and possibly dog and bee favorites, too).
1. Lobelia, Lobelia erinus ‘Magadi Compact Dark Blue’
Above: Photograph by Kier Holmes.
Sometimes you need a fast-growing annual to add to pots, containers, and window boxes that are in a sunny spot. This lobelia is so good at filling planting gaps with color. With a trailing habit, it’s slightly upright, slightly relaxed, and produces vibrant blue flowers in the spring through summer if deadheaded. In mild climates this annual can reseed—in a good way. Hardy in USDA Zones 8-11. I like to plant mine from six-packs or from seed.
What makes this perennial extra cute are the heart-shaped leaves and the tiny baby-blue flowers that arrive in the spring and continue through the summer. Add this deer-resistant, easy-to-grow ground cover to a partly shaded cottage or woodland garden and pair it with hellebores, bleeding hearts, and ferns. Grows to 1 to 2 feet high and as wide. Hardy in USDA Zones 3-9.
Native to California, this darling annual gifts you with bright blue dainty flowers in the spring. Easy to sow from seed, it is commonly added to wildflower seed mixes. Pro tip: Sow your seeds in a partly sunny spot and provide them with ample water. I sowed my seeds in the fall for my spring bloom, but I live in a warm-winter areas. In cold-winter areas, sow your seeds in the spring. The flower grows to a petite 10 inches high and in a container, will tumble playfully over the edges. You can purchase seeds through Larner Seeds.
4. Pincushion flower, Scabiosa Caucasica ‘Fama Deep Blue’
Above: Photograph by Kier Holmes.
I grow this flower in my garden and and am rewarded with mega large ruffled blue blooms—4 inches across! I swear, these flowers are constantly buzzing with bees and butterflies from spring to fall. It also makes an excellent long-lasting cut flower, and the more I cut, the more blooms I get. Grows to 2 feet tall and wide and likes full sun and well-draining soil. Perfect when added to pots or edging a perennial bed or cutting garden. Hardy in USDA Zones 4-9.
Three-time world champion Mark Williams beaten 10-9 by 2023 semi-finalist Si Jiahui at the Crucible; Welshman’s exit means six seeds have now fallen in the first round so far; Ronnie O’Sullivan begins bid for eighth title against Jackson Page on Wednesday afternoon
Last Updated: 23/04/24 6:23pm
Mark Williams lost 10-9 to Si Jiahui in the first round of the World Snooker Championship
Mark Williams’ quest for a fourth World Snooker Championship title ended in the first round as he lost a last-frame thriller to 2023 semi-finalist Si Jiahui.
Sixth seed Williams – world champion in 2000, 2003 and 2018 – led 5-4 after Monday’s opening session but then found himself 8-5 down as Si reeled off four frames in a row on Tuesday afternoon.
The 49-year-old then recovered from 9-7 down to force a decider but his Chinese opponent, 21, knocked in a nerveless break of 77 in the 19th frame to secure a second-round meeting with fellow qualifier Jak Jones.
Si lost to Luca Brecel in the 2023 semi-finals in Sheffield
Williams’ exit takes the number of seeds eliminated in the first round to six, with defending champion Luca Brecel, four-time winner Mark Selby, Ali Carter, Gary Wilson and Zhang Anda also dispatched.
O’Sullivan plays first match on Wednesday afternoon
Williams was hoping to become the oldest champion in the tournament’s history, a record held by Ronnie O’Sullivan, who was 46 years and 148 days when he won the most recent of his seven Crucible trophies in 2022.
O’Sullivan begins his bid for an outright record eighth world title against Jackson Page at 2.30pm on Wednesday, with that match then concluding from 1pm the following day.
Jak Jones is Si’s second-round opponent this year after he beat 11th seed Zhang Anda at the weekend
Si led Luca Brecel 14-5 in last year’s semi-final, only to lose the match 17-15 as Brecel won 12 of the next 13 frames in a Crucible-record comeback.
Si’s clash with Williams was viewed as one of the ties of the first round, with Williams winning the previous tournament on the calendar, the Tour Championship in Manchester.
Williams, 49, defeated Judd Trump, Mark Allen and O’Sullivan – the top three players in the world rankings – in successive matches to claim his second ranking title of the season, after the British Open in Cheltenham in October.
Dominic Dale is playing at The Crucible for the first time in 10 years
What else happened on Tuesday?
Elsewhere, 2020 finalist Kyren Wilson surged into an 8-1 lead over Dominic Dale.
Dale, who is the oldest player at this year’s competition at the age of 52 and playing at the Crucible for the first time in 10 years, had one moment to cheer against Wilson – a sublime 120 clearance.
World No 17 Jack Liswoski leads seventh seed and 2016 finalist Ding Junhui 5-4, while Mark Allen romped into a 7-2 advantage over Robbie Williams.
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A 3-year-old brown pelican hobbled about the San Pedro Pier, injured and unable to feed itself for at least a day.
Cuts ran parallel to the jaw, straight and through to the back of the neck and into the feathered skin, according to reports from a bird rescue group.
A member of a local sport-fishing crew spotted the disoriented bird March 10 and tossed it a fish. The pelican caught it with its beak, but the snack slid out of its exposed and damaged pouch.
The fisherman drove the bird two miles to International Bird Rescue, which is known for providing care and rehabilitation services.
The organization announced Thursday that the brown pelican, christened “Blue,” is improving, “eating with bravado” and has gained nearly two pounds.
“We got the bird quickly, and it’s fair to say that Blue is on the road to recovery,” said Russ Curtis, the group’s communications manager. “The bird is eating, and it has a bright future.”
Curtis said the pouch is a “vital organ” for brown pelicans that allows the birds to scoop up and swallow fish.
Blue at International Bird Rescue’s aviary. The organization believes the wounds were man-made.
(Russ Curtis / International Bird Rescue)
“If it’s cut, it’s a death sentence,” Curtis said.
Curtis said Blue required 400 immediate stitches, performed by the organization’s chief veterinarian, Dr. Rebecca Duerr. Another 100 stitches were added after Blue rested for five to six days, to sew up the rest of the exposed mouth area, Curtis said.
“The back of Blue’s mouth required careful reconstruction but came together well,” Duerr said.
Blue spent Friday morning and afternoon in International Bird Rescue’s flight aviary. The group posted a YouTube video Thursday of the brown pelican attempting to grab small fish out of a blue crate.
“We want to thank the bird lovers of Southern California and beyond for their support of our efforts to save Blue,” Chief Executive JD Bergeron said in a statement.
Duerr and other International Bird Rescue staffers believe humans inflicted the injuries on the bird.
“We see many pelicans with pouch trauma due to fishing gear and eating dangerous, sharp items like fish skeletons, but the wounds do not look like this,” said Duerr, director of research and veterinary science. “The cuts are reminiscent of a knife, machete or other sharp object.”
The injuries reminded staffers of an attack 10 years ago on a Long Beach brown pelican called “Pink.” International Bird Rescue officials labeled that incident “the worst deliberate pouch slashing we’ve ever seen.”
Pink needed two surgeries and almost two months of recovery at the same aviary where Blue is convalescing. Pink was released at San Pedro’s seaside White Point Park in June 2014. Blue was named as an homage to Pink.
The assault on Blue is the first one thought to be by a human that International Bird Rescue has come across this year, according to Curtis.
“I don’t know what would lead a person to attack a bird, out just looking for food, so cruelly,” he said. “It’s a sad statement about the world.”
The injury was reported to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife for investigation.
Capt. Patrick Foy, a member of the department’s enforcement division, said he was aware of a handful of birds with injured pouches over the last several years between Ventura and Dana Point. However, his division could not identify what or who was wounding them.
“There’s no doubt these birds have been horribly injured,” Foy said. “Whether it’s caused by a human has not been proven yet.”
Foy said his department could not conclude that a human was responsible for the attacks until the animals are inspected.
Until then, he said, “we have an investigation that is ongoing, but we have very little to go on.”
Foy and International Bird Rescue have a tip line at888-334-2258 and hope members of the public will provide information.
Despite the “quiet luxury” movement of 2023, the major color trends of our time are quite bold—think kelly green, Barbie pink, and the most recent: red. (And while pops of these colors are the easiest way to incorporate them into an outfit, the fashion crowd never shies away from wear the latest bold color trend head-to-toe.) If you’re starting to feel like red has peaked and are ready to move on to the next, let’s discuss the bold color that was all over the S/S 24 runways: cobalt blue.
From a ruffled band-style jacket at Burberry to flirty mini dresses at Balmain to gradient polo shirts at Loewe, deep, bold blue has grabbed the fashion world’s attention. Time will tell if it translates as strongly to the mainstream as red did in the fall, but all signs are currently pointing to cobalt upending crimson for the time being. If you’re ready for it, scroll on for lots of cobalt blue runway inspiration, IRL inspiration, and shopping inspiration.
Today I went out my back door and noticed that one of my rosebushes was, unexpectedly, sporting a fresh new flower bud. It was within a day or so of opening up–small, greenish and obviously defiant of the season. The bud was an oddity on a rosebush that is itself an oddity. When I bought the small white-flowered shrub last summer it had one blossom that was half white and half red, and looked as if it had been half-dipped in red paint. Though my February bud was not a “half and half” flower, I took its appearance as a harbinger of spring, plucked it, and delivered it to a friend who shares my belief in such things.
I started thinking about other early spring flowers-winter aconite, snowdrops, and crocuses. Not long ago I was reintroduced to liverwort (Hepatica), which has all the virtues of the little spring-flowering anemones that you see in all the catalogs, but obviously lacks a big league public relations person. It is a shame, because hepatica is eminently deserving of greater renown.
In a world where connections are so important, hepatica has them. It is a member of the buttercup (Ranunculaceae) family, like common buttercup, clematis, and hellebore. In truth, single flowered hepaticas are almost dead ringers for windflowers (Anemone blanda). The blossoms are petite and daisy-like, in shades of blue, lavendar, white , rose and pink. Like many of the earliest flowers, it is a low grower, unwilling to rise taller than about 12″ and expose its flowers and foliage to cold March winds.
Hepatica acutiloba is a native American liverwort, occurring naturally in the eastern part of the continent-at least those parts not yet paved over. Appearing in March, it has light lavender flowers and leaves that have three lobes apiece with smooth tops and slightly fuzzy undersides. In centuries past, people thought the leaves resembled human livers. Hepatikos is the Greek word for liver, hence both the botanical and common names.
Hepatica nobilis var. americana
Another native liverwort is Hepatica nobilis var. americana. It is similar to Hepatica acutiloba, but its leaves are sometimes tinged with purple, and its flowers can be pale blue or almost white in addition to lavender. Both types of hepatica are woodland plants, thriving in light to moderate shade, and preferring the acid soil common to woodland areas. Liverwort is truly a plant that you can install then forget. When you remember it sometime later, chances are it will be hard at work forming an attractive little colony–making itjust about perfect for many gardeners.
Like many plants with parts that supposedly resemble internal organs of the human body, liverwort has long been used for all kinds of tonics and potions. The ancient Greeks associated liver problems with symptoms ranging from indigestion to cowardice, and dosed sufferers with concoctions made from liverwort leaves. Native Americans made a similar tea and used it to calm coughs and ease sore throat pain. Later on, American hucksters perfected “Dr. Roder’s Liverwort and Tar Syrup”, a delightful-sounding patent medicine sold as a kidney remedy in the 1860’s. Needless to say, modern medicine has abandoned the liverwort bandwagon.
Just because liverwort will not really fix your liver doesn’t mean that it can’t remedy your winter doldrums. For color variation, try the European Hepatica nobilis var. nobilis ‘Pink’, which has the same daisy-like flowers in a rosy hue. Another European variety, Hepatica transsilvancia has lovely blue flowers and leaves that can be three or five-lobed.
If you decide to make liverwort a new passion, you can always seek out some of the Japanese double varieties, some of which sell for hair-raising prices. Many of these are bi or tri-colors with flower forms that resemble dahlias or chrysanthemums rather than simple daisies. I love ‘Aofuku’, which one catalog describes as having “Large white petals that are almost airbrushed over with blue.the blue [is] slightly darker as you go near the edges and near white in the center.” The central disc is green. If you prefer pink, there is ‘Saichou’, which has “a ring of five large pink oval petals [that] hold a few layers of smaller pointed petals that are white edged pink with a central light green stripe surrounding a light yellowish-green center.”
Buy hepaticas now, whether plain or fancy, and you will probably be the first on your block or perhaps in your town to do so. Thimble Farms, a Canadian grower, has an excellent selection, including the highly collectible Japanese varieties. Contact them at 175 Arbutus Road, Salt Spring Island V8K 1A3 British Columbia, Canada; (250) 537-5788; www.thimblefarms.com.
Stock futures traded flat Tuesday, a day after the S&P 500 finished up 0.5% and moved closer to its all-time. The broad market index stands just 1.2% below its record of 4,796.56 reached in early January 2022.
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Blue Eye Samurai is coming back for a second season at Netflix. The series debuted on Nov. 3, and got renewed a few weeks later. Netflix announced the second season on Monday with a short video.
The show’s renewal comes as no surprise considering it’s popularity. It spent several weeks in Netflix’s top 10, and made several best-of-the-year lists, including the number two spot on Polygon’s own list. On top of that, the show’s first season ends with clear intention for another season. But Netflix didn’t announce much more about what we can expect from season 2, other than that it’s on the way. So, here’s everything we know about the next season of Blue Eye Samurai:
[Ed. note: This story contains spoilers for Blue Eye Samurai season 1.]
Is Blue Eye Samurai getting more seasons?
We know for sure that a second season is on the way, but Netflix’s announcement didn’t come with the promise of more than that. While some animated series often get picked up for at least a season or two, it seems we’ll have to wait a while until we find out just how long Mizu’s journey may stretch on for.
When will Blue Eye Samurai season 2 release?
There’s no good way to tell, but the first season was greenlit back in 2020. With pandemic conditions making production harder, and the general difficulty of starting up an animated project, it’s likely we won’t have to wait a full three years before the next season, but turning around another batch of episodes next year would be pretty daunting too. With that in mind, it seems like 2025 is the most likely date for new episodes of the show to arrive.
What will season 2 of Blue Eye Samurai be about?
This one the show is very clear about: We know that Mizu is heading off of London, ready to make her way through a foreign land, which is likely to come with quite a bit of culture shock, in hopes of killing her last two targets. Meanwhile, Akemi is heading to the palace to find whatever influence she can over the future of Japan, while Ringo seems to have found a new master.
All of this should make for a much bigger, more expansive second season, but also one that broadens the show in exciting new ways.
Who will be in the cast for Blue Eye Samurai season 2
Along with the main cast of the first season, who all seem likely to return, Netflix hasn’t made any announcement of additions for season 2. Although, considering the talent that’s involved in the show already, it’s possible some pretty big names could get onboard as the show heads to London.
Is there anything similar to Blue Eye Samurai I can watch while I wait for season 2?
Weirdly enough there is, though we can’t promise it will be good just yet. FX’s new series Shogun is about an Australian who journeys to Japan and becomes a samurai, and its first trailer looks pretty good. The series is set to debut in February and will probably scratch a similar itch to Blue Eye.
If even waiting a few months feels like too much for you, there’s also Vinland Saga, an anime about a Viking seeking revenge for his slain father until he finds out that revenge is much more complicated than he thought.
They choose to live, and the Midnight Boys are here to give you their reactions to some of their favorite properties of the year! They break down the animated epic Blue Eye Samurai (09:26). Later, they talk about the surprising monster hit Godzilla Minus One (53:16).
Hosts: Charles Holmes, Van Lathan, Jomi Adeniran, and Steve Ahlman Senior Producer: Steve Ahlman Additional Production Support: Arjuna Ramgopal Social: Jomi Adeniran
LA CROSSE, WI—In a formidable display of her newly acquired knowledge, local School of the Art Institute of Chicago freshman Laura Sellers excitedly told her parents all about the color blue when she was back home for a visit Thursday. “So, blue is a color—it’s sort of like purple, but completely different,” said Sellers, explaining that while she’s still no expert, there are actually a lot of practical applications for blue. “I don’t want to get too into the weeds, because it’s a bit complex, but trust me, blue actually shows up quite often in day-to-day life if you have an eye trained enough to notice it. Plus, there’s a lot of different kinds of blue—sky blue, robin’s-egg blue… Stop me if this is getting too complicated.” At press time, Sellers was reportedly frustrated that everyone in her hometown was too provincial to understand blue.
If this season’s red craze isn’t your thing, perhaps Kate Middleton‘s preferred shade on the color wheel is. The Princess of Wales spent her Sunday attending Easter service at St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle, where she re-wore (a sartorial tradition of Middleton’s) a royal blue coatdress custom-made by Catherine Walker. Middleton paired the coat with a blue Lock and Co. pillbox hat and a blue Emmy London clutch. In fact, the only item Middleton wore that wasn’t blue was a pair of neutral suede pumps from her go-to shoe brand, Gianvito Rossi.
But Middleton isn’t the only person eyeing royal blue for spring and summer. After a few hours of scrolling through H&M, Nordstrom, and Zara this morning, it became crystal clear the shade is having a moment. A bevy of options in the hue are being sold at all three retailers right now. Below, check out my favorites from their current offerings.
Red, Green, and Blue are the bestsellingPokémon games of all time, and as the games that first launched the franchise on Game Boy in Japan way back in 1996, they’re old enough that I was convinced I’d seen every form of homage and fan media dedicated to Pokémon’s humble beginnings. I was wrong. I recently discovered War/Crimes, a fan comic that features the Kanto gym leaders Lt. Surge and Team Rocket boss Giovanni, whose relationship in the comic feels too nuanced to be easily summed up as “on-off boyfriends.” Despite the provocative cover and the characters being “sexy violent [and] gay” throughout, it’s the comic’s exploration of Kanto’s military-industrial complex that will stay in the back of my brain forever.
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Lieutenant Surge has always been a strange presence in the Pokémon games. Prior to 2010’s Black and White, the Fame Checker (an item which offers up descriptions of important people) called Surge “The Lightning American.” He likes electric Pokémon, we were told,because they “saved” him during “the war.” He flew an electrical plane as a pilot, which means that he likely fought in World War II. Or whatever the equivalent is in the Pokémon universe.
The developers could have just left Surge in as a quirky reference to a war that ended Japan’s imperial capabilities. But the lore goes deeper. He had a cautious nature in the army, set up his own electric traps, and uses double locks everywhere. It’s not the behavior of a man who left the army with his psyche entirely intact. Comic artist and animation director Kelly Turnbull took this premise and went wild with it.
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Image: Kelly Turnbull
As War/Crimes tells it, Surge and Giovanni were comrades-in-arms during the war, and they’ve both got their baggage about how disposable their lives were. Surge is now relatively poor, and he’s struggling to define himself beyond his post-traumatic stress disorder. Giovanni joined the army to fund his Pokémon League challenge,but after watching his Nidoking get ripped apart in front of him, he grew angry towards the war machine. War/Crimes doesn’t spend any time wondering whether or not the war was justified, or whether or not their losses were noble sacrifices. It’s more interested in how economic violence can cause even more suffering in the world.
See, it wasn’t just Giovanni’s ambition that created Team Rocket here. It was the money-hungry Pokémon League, which is more concerned about profit than helping children rise above their station. The comic explains that the Cerulean Gym secured the designation of being water specialists from the League by relying on “underage” girls to sway officials, all while the more deserving Vermillion City, which actually has a coastline, went overlooked. And Surge does not become a gym leader because of his leadership abilities or military strength; it was a new life, loaned to him by the boss of Team Rocket. War/Crimes isn’t just showing us a queer reading of the Game Boy games, but one viewed through an anti-capitalist lens.
Before you ask: Yes, the two veterans are unambiguously gay, good news for those who think subtext is for cowards. They have sexual contact with one another, though they call each other “friends” throughout the comic. I liked that a lot. Their relationship in the comic feels comfortable, intimate, and familiar even when they don’t directly address it or what it is. The army officer and the leader of Team Rocket don’t need to adhere to pageantry. But it could be self-protective masculinity too. These two men have been eviscerated by the war machine, and they think that they have no more blood to give, nothing left to be ashamed of. But the scary thing about the modern world is that it always finds a way.
There’s one line that sticks in my brain several days after reading. “What happened to us?” Surge asks after a nightmare causes him to punch Giovanni in his sleep. But the mob boss doesn’t get angry, doesn’t push him away. “Other people,” he replied. Even if these men have wonderful chemistry with each other, even if they work towards being vulnerable, the world can be a terrible place that makes love and loving hard, even as it remains the only thing that can save them. This is not the same Pokémon world that I know, but it compels me to imagine the implications of Kanto having a military-industrial complex that funnels poor men like Giovanni into institutions that try to kill them.
It’s never too late to start reading comics about old gay men. The comic is worth sampling if you’re interested in alternate interpretations of Pokémon history. Turnbull plans to post one page for free every day. If you can’t wait for the entire thing, you can also purchase it on itch.io for a dollar.
Space Quest IV: Carolyn Petit and the Time RippersScreenshot: Sierra Entertainment
It must have been Christmas of 1991 that I found Space Quest IV: Roger Wilco and the Time Rippers under the tree, and got the gift of seeing exciting new possibilities in games.
I was a fan of adventure games, sure, having played a few games in Sierra’s King’s Quest series, not to mention Lucasfilm’s brilliant and bizarre early titles like Maniac Mansion and The Secret of Monkey Island. But this was my first experience with Space Quest, Sierra’s comedic sci-fi series starring Roger Wilco, the hapless space-janitor who finds himself thrust into one cosmic misadventure after another.
To be honest, I don’t remember much about the quality of Space Quest IV’s puzzles. What I do remember is how varied and vibrant its universe seemed, with harsh alien worlds, moody cantinas, and glitzy space-malls. But what really knocked my socks off about the game was how meta it was. After progressing a bit through Space Quest IV: Roger Wilco and the Time Rippers itself, poor Roger finds himself flung into (the non-existent) Space Quest XII: Vohaul’s Revenge II.
Screenshot: Sierra Entertainment
Today, it’s not so uncommon for games to break the fourth wall and wink knowingly at the player about being video games, to play with conventions in ways both tired and inspired. But wow, was this exciting for me in 1991! The game also sees you venturing into Space Quest X: Latex Babes of Estros (an obvious riff on the 1986 Infocom adventure Leather Goddesses of Phobos) and all the way back to the original Space Quest, which already looked humorously primitive and pixelated compared to 1991’s state-of-the-art graphics, making high(er)-definition Roger Wilco all the more conspicuous.
Screenshot: Sierra Entertainment
Space Quest IV may or may not be a great game, I honestly don’t remember well enough to say. I just remember sitting there on my Christmas break, awestruck by the clever meta-ness of it all, and having my mind expanded about the possibilities of what video game storytelling and structure could do.
