Jane Seymour on finding new love in her mid-60s: No Tinder

LOS ANGELES — Jane Seymour was in her mid-60s when her husband of 20 years decided it was over. The actress was floored.

“I had a long marriage and never thought it was going to end,” the 68-year-old said recently while promoting the second season of Netflix’s “The Kominsky Method,” co-starring Michael Douglas and Alan Arkin.

“I’m going, ‘I what? I date? What? Are you crazy? How does this work?’” Seymour said. “And then my kids would say, ‘Mom, there’s this thing called Tinder.’ And I’m like, ‘No, that’s not going to happen.’”

But similar to her character in “The Kominsky Method” who runs into an old flame, fate intervened, and Seymour stumbled upon new romance. She has been with boyfriend and British film director David Green since 2014, about a year after her divorce from filmmaker James Keach, who directed “Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman,” Seymour’s iconic role.

“Accidentally I ran into somebody I knew 38 years earlier who had been in a long marriage and his marriage ended,” she said. “It wasn’t his choice and my marriage ended, it wasn’t my choice. And we randomly met accidentally 38 years later and realized we were free, and we’ve been together ever since. So I do not have to date.”

Her experience drew Seymour to “The Kominsky Method,” in which she plays Madelyn, who reconnects with Arkin’s character (Norman) at a funeral following the deaths of their spouses.

“I do get this whole thing of having a relationship with someone that’s a contemporary, you know?” Seymour said. “We’re both dealing with older children, exes and our future … how long will we live? How can we stay healthy? How can we tick off our bucket list? Do we still want to work or do we feel like we’ve only just started, which is the case with me and David.”


The Emmy- and Golden Globe-winning actress has four children and two stepchildren from her four marriages.

On top of acting and a busy family life, Seymour designs furniture and jewelry. Seymour recently had a one-woman art show in Washington, D.C., she writes books, runs a nonprofit and produces movies.

“I do what I do because I love it,” she said. “I don’t think of it ever as a job … It’s called living. So I don’t see retiring. You don’t retire from life.”

In fact, Seymour said her own children have a tough time keeping up with her.


“Inside of me, I’m 20. OK? I hang out with my 23-year-old boys, and the other day I was with them running around Europe and they said, ‘Mom, can you slow down?’” she said. “I went, ‘No, this is the pace at which I go and you are a third of my age, so you better just catch up with Mama.’ I just love life.”

With age, she said, has come “more of a freedom in kind of accepting who I am and what I look like and how I feel now than I did when I was younger, when I was trying maybe too hard to be something.”

Seymour first caught the eye of audiences when she played Bond girl Solitaire in 1973’s “Live and Let Die.” Asked what it’s like to be a sex symbol for nearly five decades and well into her 60s, Seymour scoffed.

“I’ve never thought of it that way,” she said, noting that she and her Bond character were both virgins. “So hardly a sex symbol. I didn’t know what sex was.”

Since then, Seymour has posed in “Playboy” three times, in 1973, 1987 and last year, when the magazine said the actress “is more of a sex symbol now than when she played a Bond girl.”

To Seymour, sexy means being comfortable in your own skin at every age. That’s why she hasn’t had plastic surgery, the actress said.

“I made a choice a long time ago not to do all the things that other people do because I’m not trying to look like me when I’m 20 or 30. It’s kind of pointless,” she said. “So, I just thought, let’s put on a gray wig and have some wrinkles and actually play characters.”

Seymour said she’s one of the lucky actresses who’ve landed great roles after 40.

“Hollywood’s been pretty good to me, actually,” she said. “Back in the day, they used to say if you’re a woman and you’re 40, you’re done. Well, when I was 40, I got ‘Dr. Quinn.’ So that’s when I started. And to be honest, right now I feel like this is my moment because there’s all these amazing characters that I can now play without having to worry about whether I look like a leading lady.

Her eyes glimmered: “And I can still play it like a leading lady if I put my hair and makeup together.” NVG

source: entertainment.inquirer.net

Shawn Mendes, Camila Cabello spur dating rumors after steamy music video

Camila Cabello and Shawn Mendes were spotted spending time together on the 4th of July holiday, sparking more rumors of their relationship status.

Fans could not help but notice the chemistry between the two singers in their steamy music video for “Señorita,” which dropped on June 20. The “Havana” singer and her boyfriend of more than a year Matthew Hussey broke up a week later, Us Weekly reported on June 26.

Cabello and Mendes were seen holding hands as they walked to Mendes’ residence in West Hollywood on Wednesday night, July 3, ET Canada reported on Friday, July 5.

The following day, Instagram Stories of the two at a pool party circulated online. They were both in all-white outfits and were seen away from the crowd, close to each other as they chatted at the edge of a pool.

The pop singers’ friendship dates back to 2014, when they were supporting acts for Austin Mahone. They first collaborated in 2015 for “I Know What You Did Last Summer.”  Niña V. Guno /ra


source: entertainment.inquirer.net

China tech firm to sell gay app Grindr after US pressure

SHANGHAI — One of China’s biggest mobile gaming companies said it would sell gay dating app Grindr following pressure from US authorities concerned over the potential misuse of the app’s data by the Chinese government.

Beijing-based Kunlun Tech Co Ltd said in a filing with the Shenzhen Stock Exchange in southern China that it would sell Grindr by June 2020.

The app, which bills itself as “the world’s largest social networking app for gay, bi, trans and queer people,” was founded in 2009 and says it has millions of users worldwide.

US officials feared that people with American security clearances who use the app could be blackmailed if China’s government demanded user data from Kunlun Tech, The Wall Street Journal reported in March, citing unnamed sources.


China and the United States are locked in a tense trade war which includes a side skirmish in technology.

China has previously announced a strategy of achieving global dominance in high-tech fields like artificial intelligence and use of Big Data.

But that has raised US objections over Chinese state support for its tech players, as well as fears of advanced cyber-espionage by China.

The Chinese company was ordered to divest itself of Grindr by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), which reviews foreign investments in sensitive industries or those deemed harmful to US national security.

Kunlun Tech’s exchange filing, submitted on Monday, said it signed an agreement on May 9 with US authorities regarding the sale.

The agreement restricts Kunlun Tech from accessing some of Grindr’s user information and from transferring sensitive data to people or entities within China.

Grindr is also required to stop all operations in China and must get CFIUS approval for three of its board members. In addition, one board must be an American citizen with US security clearance.

“If the company sells Grindr shares in the future, it will reduce potential political and policy risks that the company’s overseas operations face,” Kunlun Tech’s filing said.

The company paid $93 million for a 60 percent stake in Grindr in 2016, completing the full acquisition two years later for another $152 million.


source: technology.inquirer.net

‘Twilight’ star Kristen Stewart dating Miley Cyrus’ ex—report

“Twilight” star Kristen Stewart is reportedly dating Miley Cyrus ex-girlfriend, Victoria’s Secret model Stella Maxwell.

According to a report from People, barely a week after Stewart broke up with French singer Stephanie “Soko” Sokolinski, she was sighted “dating” Maxwell. They were “intimate” during this year’s Met Gala event and Maxwell visited her on the set of upcoming biopic “Untitled Lizzie Borden,” which is directed by Craig William Macneill. In the film, Stewart plays Bridget Sullivan, a witness to murderer Elizabeth Borden’s heinous crime.

“Kristen is dating Stella Maxwell,” a source gossiped to the entertainment news site. “They are having fun.”

Another source enlightened, “When Kristen filmed in Savannah, she spent several days together with Stella, who came to visit her. She was with Kristen on the set most days and seemed to have fun.”

“Kristen also seemed very happy with Stella around,” the second source revealed. “They weren’t affectionate, but definitely acted very friendly and like they had the best time hanging out. Stella seems very easy going. She is always very smiley and has a cute personality.”

Stewart was romantically involved with huge stars in the past, including American musician St. Vincent (whose real name is Annie Clarkand) “Twilight” co-star Robert Pattinson. On the other hand, Maxwell was in a relationship with Miley Cyrus for several months in 2015.  Gianna Francesca Catolico

source: entertainment.inquirer.net

Looking for romance online? Beware of ‘love scams’

With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, the Bureau of Customs (BOC) on Friday warned the public anew against so-called online “love scams.”

According to the bureau, it continues to receive reports about the modus operandi of “love scammers” who target single men and women searching for love online.

The scam begins with the suspects befriending the victims online using social networking sites like Facebook, internet chat rooms or other dating sites. Most of the e-mail senders supposedly come from Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States.

After several weeks or months the perpetrators would send a message that they have sent a box containing expensive gifts like designer bags, jewelries, gadgets like laptops and smartphones via international door-to-door parcel complete with tracking number and invoice for the supposed shipment.

The victims would then receive an email, a phone call, or a text allegedly from an officer or an employee of the BOC informing them that package was held in BOC and that it would be sent to them only after they pay customs duties and taxes to be deposited in a designated bank account or money transfer service.

After remitting the money to a bank, however, the package never arrives and their “significant other” never contacts them again.

In July last year, the BOC reported that at least 44 people in Manila reported that they fell for the scam. But this number did not include those residing in the provinces.

Customs Commissioner John Sevilla, in a statement, said they are continuously receiving reports not only here in Manila but also from their provincial collection districts.

However, he said they seldom receive official complaints.

“Just phone calls from the victims that they have been scammed. But they don’t leave information. Maybe they are not comfortable talking about their predicament due to its sensitive nature,” Sevilla said.

“Please be advised that with [regard] to packages, parcels or even balikbayan boxes, the Bureau of Customs deals with the consolidator, forwarder or courier in charge of your package directly so if ever there is a problem with your packages, the BOC will not call, text or email you but will communicate with your consolidator, forwarder or courier,” he said.

“BOC does not also give assessments and computations of duties and taxes by email or text. These are computed and written on official BOC document that are payable only to the Bureau and not through any bank or money transfer service,” he added as he urged the public to be more vigilant against these scams.

Prior to making any payment, recipients of emails purportedly sent by the bureau were advised to inquire first through its public assistance contact channels (+632) 9173201, or email ocompacd@gmail.com, and Twitter: @CustomsPH.

source: technology.inquirer.net

Swipe right for Ms. Right: The rise of dating apps

NEW YORK — So, a lady walks into a bar…Wait, scratch that. A lady takes out her phone. With a left swipe of her finger she dismisses Alex, 25 and Robert, 48. She swipes right when a photo of James, 24, pops up. It’s a match. James had swiped right too. They chat, and make plans to meet. They’re only three miles apart, after all.

Welcome to the new world of dating. As the near-constant use of smartphones proliferates and as people grow more comfortable with disclosing their location, a new class of mobile dating applications is emerging that spans a range as broad as human desire itself. Millennials, busy with school, jobs and social lives, say the apps save time and let users filter out the undesirables, based on a few photos, words and Facebook connections. Unlike the dating websites of yore, with endless profiles to browse and lengthy messages to compose, newer apps offer a sense of immediacy and simplicity that in many ways harkens back to the good old days of just walking up to a pretty stranger and making small talk.

As with potential mates, there’s an array to choose from.

In the US, online community ChristianMingle will “find God’s match for you.” Mobile application Hinge’s promise hinges on its ability to hook you up with friends of friends. Coffee Meets Bagel, meanwhile, will present you with just one potential mate at noon every day. Dattch, with a Pinterest-like interface, is for women seeking women. For men looking for men, there’s Grindr, Jack’d, Scruff, Boyahoy and many more. Revealer will let you hear a person’s voice and only show photos if you’re both interested.

The darling dating app du jour for Americans is Tinder, helped by its simple interface, a host of celebrity users and a popularity boost from Sochi Olympic athletes who used it to hook up during the Winter Games.

Tinder, like many dating apps, requires people to log in using their Facebook profiles, which users say adds a certain level of trust. Facebook, after all, is built on knowing people’s real identities. Your Tinder photos are your Facebook photos. Users can reject or accept potential mates with a left or right swipe of their finger. If both people swipe right on Tinder, the app flashes “It’s a match!” and the pair can exchange messages.

Because messages can only come from a person you’ve “right-swiped,” unwanted advances are filtered out. The system avoids one of the more vexing problems of older-generation dating websites, where users, especially women, can become inundated with messages from unwelcome suitors. They also offer a generation raised on Google and social media a chance to do background checks on potential mates.

“If you are in a bar and a guy comes to talk to you, you are immediately going to be freaked out and you don’t want to talk to them because they are drunk,” says Melissa Ellard, 23, who uses Hinge and says she wouldn’t have gone on a date in the past six months were it not for the app. “When you are using the app, you get to look at their picture and see background information. You get to decide whether you want to continue it or not. When I meet someone, I want to know everything about them before I go on a date with them.”

While they are still new, dating apps — used for anything from one-night-stands to serious dating, and even finding new friends while traveling — are emerging as the use of older dating websites is moving into the mainstream. A recent Pew study found that some 9 percent of US adults say they’ve used dating sites or mobile dating apps, up from 3 percent in 2008. Of those who are “single and looking,” the number jumps to 38 percent, according to the 2013 survey. The crowd trends slightly younger, with the largest group of users between 25 and 44. Clearly, many people have grown comfortable with online dating just as they have with shopping, banking and booking travel over the Internet.

Cue the cries of “the lost art of courtship” and the “rise of hookup culture” from older generations, who harbor selective memories of the more analog hookup culture of their youth.

“There is a general digital fear,” says Glenn Platt, professor of interactive media studies at Miami University. “People are happy to giggle and watch Barney in ‘How I Met Your Mother” who hooks up with people based on looks. But somehow taking that same behavior and placing it in a digital context has a stigma attached to it. Even though, in that context you are more likely to get a better match, more information, a person’s real name.”

Even Facebook is getting in on the action, from a more platonic angle. Last month, the world’s biggest online social network launched a feature called “nearby friends,” which lets users see which of their Facebook friends are near them at any given moment.

Despite the growing acceptance, the online and app-based dating market is small. Research firm IBIS World estimates that the dating services industry will hit $2.2 billion in revenue this year. Internet conglomerate IAC/InteractiveCorp has the biggest chunk of the market with a 27 percent share. The New York Company owns traditional dating sites such as OKCupid, Match.com and Chemistry.com, as well as Tinder. IAC has a market value of just $5.2 billion, less than a third of Twitter’s.

Jared Fliesler, general partner at the venture capital fund Matrix Partners, believes companies have only just begun to tap into people’s willingness to “pay” to find love, a phenomenon that extends well beyond dating apps. After all, he points out, singles already spend lots of money on texts, calls, drinks, food, gifts and everything else associated with the dating game.

“Despite it being a slightly difficult category in which to rise venture funding, consumers spend more time, money, and mental energy on trying to find love than pretty much anything in life, and the desire to be loved is universal,” says Fliesler. “So there will always be demand.”

Creators of some of the more ambitious apps say they have their sights set beyond romantic matchmaking to what they call “social discovery,” helping people meet business connections, new friends while traveling or moving to a new city. Tinder’s co-founder, Justin Mateen, insists that his creation is not a hookup app and wasn’t created to facilitate one-night stands.

Just don’t tell that to Tinder users.

“I used Tinder before I found out about Hinge and it was creep central, it was just weird,” says Ellard, who lives outside Boston, runs a startup, works in jewelry sales and has a fashion radio segment. “I used it for a few months but instead of looking for someone it was more like a funny joke,” she says.

For some, though, Tinder can be liberating. Platt says the app “equalizes gender power,” and notes that he hears as many of his female students talk about it as male ones.

“Everyone has the same finger and ability to click,” he says. “It’s not like the guy buys the drink.”

Jenny Lewin, 21, a student of Platt’s who’s an intern at San Francisco-based Coffee Meets Bagel, thinks it’s inevitable that as dating apps enter the mainstream, they will become more accepted and people will be more open about using them.

“I think a lot of people say that our generation doesn’t know how to talk to people face to face, that we don’t know how to communicate, which I totally disagree with,” says Lewin. “I would be much more likely to click a ‘heart’ on Tinder or a ‘like’ on Coffee Meets Bagel to say I am interested in a guy than to walk up to him and say I am interested.”

source: technology.inquirer.net

Americans warm to online dating, survey shows

WASHINGTON – Americans are growing more comfortable with online dating, and many are finding a spouse or partner in cyberspace, a survey showed Monday.

The Pew Research Center found 11 percent of Internet users – or some nine percent of all American adults – said they have personally used an online dating site.

That is a sharp increase from 2008, when just three percent of American adults had used online dating sites, Pew said.

The survey found 66 percent of those who use online sites or apps have gone on a date with someone they met through one of these services.

And 23 percent of online daters have married or begun a long-term relationship with someone they met through a dating site or app, Pew found.

Pew researchers said Americans’ attitudes about online dating have dramatically changed since it first began studying the subject in 2005.

“When we conducted our first study of dating and relationships in the digital era just under a decade ago, the public had little exposure to online dating, and most viewed people who went online to meet potential romantic partners with a healthy dose of skepticism,” said Aaron Smith, main author of the report.

“And although some of that skepticism remains, online dating has become much more culturally accepted in recent years. Americans are now much more likely to count an online dater among their friends and family, and a majority view online dating as a good way to meet potential partners – one that in some ways is superior to traditional ways of meeting people.”

The survey found 59 percent of Internet users agreed with the statement that “online dating is a good way to meet people,” compared with 44 percent in 2005.

And 53 percent of the group agreed that “online dating allows people to find a better match for themselves because they can get to know a lot more people,” up from 47 percent in 2005.

Pew found 21 percent of Internet users claimed that people who use online dating sites are “desperate,” down from 29 percent in 2005.

Around one in three, or 32 percent of online adults, said online dating keeps people from settling down by giving them more options to meet people. This is the first time Pew asked this question.

A number of respondents related negative experiences with online dating: 54 percent of those who used online services said they met at least one person who was “seriously misrepresented” and 28 percent said they felt harassed or uncomfortable by someone using online dating services.

The survey also found online daters going mobile: seven percent of cell phone apps users, or roughly three percent of all American adults, said they have used a dating app on their phone.

The survey highlights the growing role of the Internet in all aspects of Americans’ lives. It found the proportion of Americans who say that they met their current partner online has doubled in the last eight years to six percent of Internet users, up from three percent in 2005 the last decade, 11 percent said that their spouse or partner is someone they met online, the Pew researchers said.

The Pew survey generally supports the findings of a study published in June by University of Chicago researchers, which found more than one-third of US marriages between 2005 and 2012 began with online dating.

That study published in June in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences also found couples who meet online may be slightly happier than couples who meet through other means.

However, some experts took issue with the findings because the survey was commissioned by eHarmony.com, the dating site that attracted one quarter of all online marriages according to the research.

The Pew report was based on a phone survey of 2,252 adults between April 17 and May 19. The margin of error for the full sample is estimated at 2.3 percentage points.

source: technology.inquirer.net

The trouble with dating Bea Alonzo

Zanjoe Marudo says the hardest part of dating actress Bea Alonzo is coping with her work schedule.

Bea is in Vienna working on the John D. Lazatin romantic comedy, “What I Did For Love,” with John Lloyd Cruz. “When she comes home, I’ll be in Baguio for another project,” Zanjoe says. “She is flying to Barcelona next and will be gone when I get back to Manila.”

He adds: “Before she left, she made me promise to always have time to talk with her. She said she still wants to be part of my daily routine. I hate the feeling of missing someone. I get temperamental. I miss looking at her beautiful face.”

Being with Bea has taught him to be more expressive, the actor says. “I used to be uncomfortable about that. I’ve become more demonstrative now.”

Zanjoe sat down with a group of entertainment writers recently talk about his latest TV project, “Precious Hearts Romances Presents Hiyas,” about a tribal warrior named Silang.

You were last seen on TV in the adult drama “Kristine.” Which role is more daring?

I show more skin in this project than I did in “Kristine.” Silang lives in the woods; it’s normal for him to be wearing just a loin cloth.

What is it like working with Megan Young?

She’s very professional, comes to the set prepared. She was doing another TV show while we worked on this one, but she never complained. I like working with people like her.

You finished shooting “Hiyas” last year. Do you feel bad about the delayed airing?

I’m glad that it’s finally here. Let me focus on that.

Mercedes, who is now a GMA 7 talent, was very vocal about her disappointment. She thought the project had been shelved.

I understand how she felt. She’s known for her indie movies and this is her first big mainstream project, so she’s excited about it.

(“Hiyas” airs weekday afternoons after “PBB Teen Edition 4 Uber” on ABS-CBN)

source: http://entertainment.inquirer.net