The biggest story of the festival had nothing to do with films. It was about shoes. On Tuesday trade magazine Screen reported that a group of women had been denied access to a screening of Todd Haynes' Carol because their footwear – flat shoes with rhinestones – was unsuitable for the red carpet. Further tales came tumbling forth, social media erupted in indignation and soon enough we were soon dealing with a fully fledgedscandale. The Cannes press office rushed out a garbled statement: “Rules have not changed throughout the years (Tuxedo, formal dress for Gala screenings) and there is no specific mention about the height of the women's heels as well as for men's. Thus, in order to make sure that this rule is respected, the festival's hosts and hostesses were reminded of it.” Well, that cleared that up. Perhaps wisely, press screenings are exempt from any dress code: scruffy journalists are free to ascend the Palais' steps in flip flops and trainers.
Why? Just add in the intensifying anger after the Supreme Court's decisions over same-sex marriage issues and gays, add in the growing anger over abortions, Obamacare, gun control, food stamps, the new voter suppression pushed by GOP governors, plus more threats by conservatives and the tea party to dig in their heels and fight to overturn everything and increase austerity too.
Over the first weekend of 2015 the second-largest bitcoin exchange, Slovenia-based Bitstamp, was victim of a hack to the tune of some $5 million U.S. dollars’ worth of the digital currency. As the tech press were quick to point out, it was a worrisome start to the year for a digital currency that Quartz had already declared “the worst investment of 2014.” And if you look at its performance between Jan 1, 2014 and Jan. 1, 2015, that’s not wrong: bitcoin ended the year at 39% of the value it started with.
President Obama leads the pack. On top of the $400,000 a year, he gets a tax-free expense account worth $50,000. The salary was last raised by Congress in 2001.