Inside ‘The Manipulated’: Disney+’s dark new thriller about revenge and rebirth - Lifestyle Asia Hong Kong

[INTERVIEW]Remember naevis? In 2021, SM Entertainment proved it could build a virtual singer when the “artificial emotional intelligence” avatar was introduced as aespa’s digital ally, before she made a full-fledged debut with the single “Done” in 2024. Two years later, the harder question is not whether naevis can sing and dance like a real idol — but why fans should care that she can, as the public interest in naevis appears to have barely outlasted the initial fascination. “Simply using technology to transfer existing media content into a new format is a limited approach, one that belongs to a transitional period,” Studio Realive CEO Jay Kim, also known as Kim Jong-min, told the Korea JoongAng Daily in an interview on the sidelines of MU:CON conference on Thursday. “We can move into the future only when we offer experiences that existing media cannot.”Studio Realive, a technology subsidiary of SM Entertainment, operates naevis. The company was founded in 2022 as Studio Kwangya, a metaverse-focused arm of SM Entertainment, before rebranding to its current name in 2023.

You don't need to follow fashion or the royals to know the phrase revenge dress, or to picture it: a black, off-the-shoulder cocktail dress with a plunging sweetheart neckline, soft ruching and a side train that floated behind Princess Diana as she stepped out of her car at an event in London in 1994. The dress, designed by Christina Stambolian, is going up for auction at Sotheby's in New York on Dec. 9, marking the first time it has been offered for sale since Diana's death. But to understand why the dress became so famous, you have to understand what was happening in Diana's life when she wore it. What's the story behind Princess Diana's revenge dress? Diana wore the dress in public only once, on the evening of June 29, 1994. She was attending a Vanity Fair dinner at London's Serpentine Gallery — an invitation that she had originally declined. According to Tina Brown's biography The Diana Chronicles, Diana changed her mind roughly two days before the event, as details of an upcoming television interview with Prince Charles (now King Charles III) circulated. She contacted a family friend involved with the gala, who recalled asking Diana what she was up to.