ANNOUNCING THE LINEUP FOR THE 13th EDITION OF THE MCMINNVILLE SHORT FILM FESTIVAL FEBRUARY 23rd-25th McMinnville, OR becomes a destination for art and culture this February for the 13th edition of the McMinnville Short Film Festival! MSFF is excited to announce the lineup for 2024, with over 100 short films from filmmakers all over the world screening in the heart of Oregon Wine Country February 23rd-25th. All films will showcase at the McMinnville Cinema followed by a Filmmaker Q&A.
This year marks the 13th edition of MSFF, and will feature events for pass holders and industry networking opportunities for visiting filmmakers in addition to screening its official selections:
“HOW TO BUILD CAREER SUCCESS FROM YOUR SHORT FILM” PANEL, hosted by industry professionals.
BREAKFAST WITH A FILMMAKER with author and screenwriter Jonathan Raymond, who collaborated on six screenplays with director Kelly Reichardt (including FIRST COW, based on his own novel, “The Half-Life”), and on the HBO miniseries MILDRED PIERCE with Todd Haynes.
AWARDS DINNER & KEYNOTE SPEAKER, where MSFF will announce the winners of this year’s category nominees and feature their 2024 Keynote Speaker, award-winning producer Liz Cardenas (2022 Indie Spirit Award Winner for Best First Feature for 7 DAYS).
The awards for this year’s short films will be chosen by their talented industry judges including actress and author Ione Skye (RIVER’S EDGE, SAY ANYTHING); executive producer and actor Peter Billingsley (A CHRISTMAS STORY, IRON MAN); and director and producer Kyle Marvin (80 FOR BRADY, THE CLIMB). See the full list of judges here.
Held annually each February in McMinnville, Oregon, the internationally recognized MSFF focuses on a range of narrative topics, including Native American, Drama, Comedy, Horror, Experimental, Animation, Environmental, and Documentary films. In addition to supporting their visiting filmmakers, they also promote and raise visibility for their local Willamette Valley and Pacific Northwest based filmmakers and strive to increase the collaborative dialogue between creative peers.
Bieber captioned the photo dump “sugarplum,” likely a reference to the prima ballerina part in The Nutcracker, which she once danced! Don’t forget that the Rhode founder is a former ballet dancer, and a month ago reflected on the role—where else?—on TikTok, writing, “When I was 16 I was the Sugar Plum Fairy in the Nutcracker…this is my 2023 version of that makeup. My go to vibe for the holiday season!” In the video, she applies shimmery, dewy makeup and, yep, busts out the freckle pencil. It’s currently the pinned video on her TikTok, so she’s serious about this trend.
TikTok content
This content can also be viewed on the site it originates from.
It’s definitely her new aesthetic. Or rather, she’s going back to her old one. Ballet bun? Check. Pretty pink ribbon? Check. Leotard? Looks like a check.
TikTok content
This content can also be viewed on the site it originates from.
While you’re here, you may as well watch this other TikTok she recently posted of herself eating a snack after getting laser eye surgery, which I am including because it is funny.
TikTok content
This content can also be viewed on the site it originates from.
Warning! The following contains spoilers for The Masked Singer Season 10 finale. Read at your own risk!
The Masked Singer closed out an epic Season 10, and it was as wild as expected. With four contestants in the finale, there was a lot to fill two hours of the show, and it was a real nail-biter until the winner was finally crowned. Cow stood tall among the rest, and after he was revealed to be pop superstar Ne-Yo, I’m not all that surprised he won. All that fun aside, there was one aspect of the season finale that had me bummed out, and it had nothing to do with the competition.
I was a bit sad that my prediction since Episode 2 that Gazelle, who turned out to be actress Janel Parrish, would win didn’t pan out. It wasn’t that, however, or the reveals of Sea Queen as singer Macy Gray or runner-up Donut as actor John Schneider that had me down. Instead, my thoughts were on the panel, and the realization that one of the best things about The Masked Singer might be coming to an end.
Season 10 Might Be The Final Time We See The Core Masked Singer Panel Together
While Nick Cannon confirmed The Masked Singer will return for Season 11, there will be one key change. Nicole Scherzinger will not return for the upcoming season, and it’s unknown when or if she will return at all. It will be the first season since the beginning that the series had a different guest panel than the core four of Scherzinger, Jenny McCarthy-Wahlberg, Ken Jeong, and Robin Thicke critiquing performances and giving clues.
Season 10 of The Masked Singer, with its wild theme nights tied to the NFL and Harry Potter, was a celebration of the series. This landmark season was a tribute to everything that came before and almost a capstone on what’s ahead for a new era. When thinking about the current panel, that’s kind of sad because everything they bring to the show as a team makes it so great.
First, Nicole Scherzinger leaves, and then what? Will Ken Jeong start getting correct guesses more often than his unexpected hot streak in Season 10? So much has gone right for this franchise so far I hate to think of anything changing that could jeopardize that going forward.
Why I Am Optmistic The Masked Singer Will Persevere Despite Panel Changes
I would say that The Masked Singer‘s greatest strength is being able to switch things up. Use a Hulu subscription to revisit the Season 10 premiere that felt like a throwback of sorts to the inaugural season, and it’s wild just how much this show has changed. Hell, the show even went forward without Nick Cannon when he had COVID, so there’s a case to be made it can carry on through any change.
Which is to say, perhaps my fear about seeing a member of The Masked Singer panel leave for an entire season is rooted in the fact that it hasn’t happened yet. Maybe when Season 11 gets started I’ll be more at ease, and realize it wasn’t quite as big of a deal as it felt watching them all together in their corner for what could be the last time. I hope that’s not the case, but we’ll see!
The Masked Singer Season 10 is over at Fox, but Season 11 starts in March. Tune in then to see how the show raises the bar yet again and how it’ll fare without having one of its founding panelists a part of the fun.
It’s been 33 years sinceHome Alonewas released on the big screen. and fans are just now getting an answer to an age-old question: How wealthy was the McCallister family?
Not only did the famous movie family — Peter (John Heard) and Kate McCallister (Catherine O’Hara) and their five children, including Kevin (Macaulay Culkin) — live in quite a large home, but they were also headed out on a trip to Paris in the 1990 film.
So The New York Timesdecided to get to the bottom of it, working with three economists at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago — Max Gillet, Cindy Hull and Thomas Walstrum.
Since the McCallisters’ home is an actual real-world property in the Chicago suburb of Winnetka, the economists were able to compare data from household incomes in the Chicago area in the 1990s, the house’s property value and mortgage rates as well as taxes and insurance.
‘Home Alone’ house
Jacek Boczarski/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
They determined that a household with an income of $305,000 in 1990 — or about $665,000 in 2022 — would have been able to afford the home, assuming the family did not spend more than 30 percent of their income on housing. That makes the home only affordable for those in the top 1 percent of Chicago-area incomes, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.
Zillow also estimated the Home Alone house would cost about $2.4 million in 2022, and Realtor.com listed the home in one of the most expensive neighborhoods in the United States.
Though the film never revealed what the parents did for work, the novelization, written by Todd Strasser and based on the screenplay by John Hughes, made Kate McCallister a fashion designer since there were mannequins in the house and Peter McCallister a businessman because it was “a safe bet,” said Strasser.
He added that he never really thought to explain how the McCallisters got their money and just assumed they were “upper middle class” but not “super rich.”
All Kelly Osbourne wants for Christmas is you…to buy her some cosmetic work.
The mom of one opened up about her plastic surgery considerations during a recent recording of her family’s podcast, announcing, “I think I’ve decided what I want for Christmas. Plastic surgery.” Her parents and brother were not supportive, with Ozzy Osbourne cautioning her, “Don’t. Don’t start,” and Sharon Osbourne warning, “Too early.” But the lavender-haired Kelly said that “it’s my time” and held her hands up to her neck, so maybe she’s thinking a nip or tuck in that area?
Her brother, Jack Osbourne, challenged their mom, questioning when she started her plastic surgery “journey,” which she says was in her “early 40s.” Kelly is 39.
It’s unclear how seriously Ms. Osbourne is considering having a procedure done, as later in the episode the family had a discussion specifically about Christmas gifts, and surgery didn’t come up. In fact, Kelly has some other, very specific ideas for the yuletide. “I don’t want anything for Christmas, but Mom asked me, if she was gonna get me something, what I would want,” she said, before rattling off three designer items she’s been coveting: an $8,000 Schiaparelli jacket, a new Bottega handbag, and Louis Vuitton boots that look, in her words, like doll legs. (They’re not as ugly as I pictured, actually.)
SPOILER ALERT: Do not read ahead if you have not watched the two-hour Season 10 Finale of “The Masked Singer,” which aired Dec. 20 on Fox.
Because of you, Ne-Yo just had the time of his life on Fox’s “The Masked Singer.” The artist won the Season 10 finale of the hit series on Wednesday night, becoming the last celebrity to be unmasked this season. Ne-Yo won by performing “Rhythm Nation,” by Janet Jackson; “Take a Bow,” by Rihanna, before being revealed as Cow.
“Dukes of Hazzard” star John Schneider was the season’s runner-up, having performed as Donut. In third place was “Pretty Little Liars” star (and one-time Moanalua High student) Janel Parrish, revealed to be Gazelle. And in fourth, also unmasked on Wednesday night, was Grammy winner Macy Gray, as Sea Queen.
“I’ve been very blessed to have a lot of success in my career. And trust me, I’m grateful. But even though I’ve won Grammys, I’ve never had the moment televised,” Ne-Yo/Cow said in his pre-taped “The Masked Singer” package. “Never gotten to give my acceptance speech. And most importantly, have never gotten the chance to give credit to the person who made it all possible: My mother. I’ve helped so many other artists achieve their dreams and make their big moments possible. But sometimes I feel like I haven’t truly had my moment. To be recognized not only as an artist, but as a creator. But here, I’ve certainly felt that shine… I’m hoping that when I win the Golden Masked Trophy, I can finally read that acceptance speech after all of these years.”
Schneider elicited plenty of emotion from the show’s panelists — particularly Ken Jeong — for talking openly about the death of his wife earlier this year, and how “The Masked Singer” has been a part of his healing process.
“This has been a really good experience, being here, because most people don’t know that I love to sing,” Schneider-as-Donut said. “My wife would say, ‘I don’t understand. You have done 18, 19 albums. Have five No. 1 songs. Ten or 15 top ten songs. There was a lot of stuff, but nobody knows that you sing. So, a couple of years ago she said, ‘Hey baby, we’re going to get you on The Masked Singer. So, people can finally see what you can do.’ This is really a dream come true for me, because I can honor her through doing it. Every performance has been a love letter to her. And I know she’s been on that stage with me, every step of the way.”
Among the panelists, Ne-Yo as Cow was figured out by Robin Thicke and Nicole Scherzinger. Ken Jeong said it was Usher, while Jenny McCarthy Wahlberg went with Billy Porter.
For Donut, McCarthy Wahlberg figured out it was John Schneider. Scherzinger thought it was Engelbert Humperdinck, while Thicke named Tom Jones, with Jeong agreeing.
With Gazelle, no one guessed Parrish. Thicke and McCarthy Wahlberg named Ashley Tisdale. Jeong thought it was Constance Wu. Scherzinger picked Gina Rodriguez.
As for Sea Queen, it was a bit too obvious perhaps – which is why all four panelists collectively agreed. Scherzinger got this one right first in naming Macy Gray, and Thicke, McCarthy Wahlberg and Jeong all went with the ditto.
The singer voted off first with the evening’s least number of votes was Macy Gray as Sea Queen. Janel Parrish was the next to go as Gazelle, leaving John Schneider as Donut and Ne-Yo as Cow to each sing one more song to determine the winner.
Ne-Yo as Cow, John Schneider as Donut, Macy Gray as Sea Queen and Janel Parrish as Gazelle join John Oates as Anteater, Keysia Cole as Candelabra, Sebastian Bach as Tiki, Ginuwine as Husky, Ashley Parker Angel as S’more, Metta World Peace as Cuddle Monster, Luann de Lesseps as Hibiscus, Tyler Posey as Hawk, Billie Jean King as Royal Hen, Michael Rapaport as Pickle, Tom Sandoval as Diver, Anthony Anderson as Rubber Ducky and one-time special guest Demi Lovato as Anonymouse, as the Season 10 unmasked celebrities so far.
“The Masked Singer” finale opened with the four final contestants singing “What I Like About You,” by the Romantics.
“The Masked Singer” featured a new format this season, with three groups followed by Battle Royale semi-final episodes. The season also includes the return of Wild Card contestants, with one Wild Card introduced to each group, and the “Ding Dong Keep It On Bell” was back in the Battle Royale semi-final episodes, where the judges chose Gazelle from elimination.
With sixteen total celebrity singers, Season 10 featured new costumes including “Donut,” “Anteater,” “Hawk,” “Hibiscus,” “Diver,” “Gazelle,” “Royal Hen,” “Husky,” “Tiki,” “Pickle,” “Rubber Ducky,” “Candelabra,” “Cow,” “Sea Queen,” “Anonymouse” and a life-size “S’More.” Also returning to mark the show’s 10th were celebrities who have been previously unmasked since the show began. According to the show, Season 10 contestants “boast a combined 40 medals, 33 Grammy nominations, seven hall of fame awards, three lifetime achievement awards and over 50 tattoos.”
The season’s themed episodes included a tribute to Elton John; a “Trolls Night” tied to the November release of DreamWorks Animation’s “Trolls Band Together”; a “Harry Potter Night” airing the week of Halloween; “NFL Night”; “One Hit Wonders”; “Disco”; “2000s Night”; “I Wanna Rock”; and “Soundtrack of My Life.” Back for Season 10 are host Nick Cannon, alongside panelists Jenny McCarthy Wahlberg, Nicole Scherzinger, Ken Jeong and Robin Thicke.
Here were the final performances on this week’s episode:
Cow, “The Masked Singer”) (Michael Becker / Fox)
Pete Dadds
WINNER: Cow (Ne-Yo)
Song: “Rhythm Nation,” by Janet Jackson; “Take a Bow,” by Rihanna
Clue: “I was a fan of this show before I got here. I always wanted to do the show. And so, this is already a dream come true. I’m having a ball.”
Package voiceover: “I originally chose to become the Cow because I thought it would be a super fun way to get my friends on the panel off my scent. But, even though I’m used to wearing different hats, being here has challenged me in a whole new way. I’ve had to re-learn how to express myself entirely. From the way I move to the way I dance. When you get to my level of success and fame, there are certain expectations and pressures to perform the same old way. So, it’s been a blast, getting to take on this whole new persona. The Cow, in a way, has also become a tribute to my mother, who showed me it’s OK to be strong and sensitive. So tonight, I’m channeling that same fierceness into this finale. So I can win this thing. For her and all the strong women who made me who I am today.”
Previous songs: “Bones,” by Imagine Dragons; “Treasure,” by Bruno Mars; “Cry Me A River,” by Justin Timberlake; “Ring My Bell,” by Anita Ward
Song: “You Are So Beautiful,” by Joe Cocker; “Drift Away,” by Dobie Gray
Panel guesses: Engelbert Humperdink, Tom Jones, John Schneider
Clue: “It was actually my beautiful wife who first said she wanted me to be on this show. So being able to check this off of her bucket list has given me great joy.”
Package voiceover: “I came into this competition at the lowest point in my life. But I tell you, as soon as I saw that Donut mask, his smile made me happy in a way I had not felt in a long time. I knew right then and there that become the donut is what I needed to heal from my wife’s passing. I know that she’s getting a big kick out of me in this donut costume. Because every Saturday morning, I would make the coffee and my wife would go out and get donuts – an apple fritter especially for me. In fact, her nickname for me was ‘Fritter.’ I still miss her than I can possibly say. But putting this costume on every night has helped me remember all the beautiful memories we had together. And tonight, under this mask, I’m finally smiling again, just like she always was.”
Previous songs: “Hooked on a Feeling,” by Blue Suede; “I Do (Cherish You),” by 98 Degrees; “Georgia on My Mind” by Ray Charles
Previous clue: Hair and seasoning. “I’m well-seasoned, and I have been enjoyed by several generations.”
Previous panel guesses: Sylvester Stallone, Jeff Bridges, Tom Jones, Stanley Tucci, Liam Neeson, Engelbert Humperdinck, John Schneider
Gazelle, “The Masked Singer” (Michael Becker / Fox)
Pete Dadds
Clue: “Being the Gazelle has helped me find my voice and my confidence in singing again. Now, I don’t want to ever stop.”
Package voiceover: “I would be surprised if anyone in ‘Masked Singer’ history was more suited to their costume than I am to the Gazelle. I’ve mentioned in the past that deer are meaningful to me because of the loved one that I lost. What I haven’t say is that I actually have a deer tattoo for that person, with flowers growing out of the antlers. So, when I saw the sketch that looked so much like my tattoo, I broke down shaking and sobbing. It just felt like fate. Now, having gotten to be in the Gazelle mask for a while, I can definitely say that she feels like this alter ego of me that I have been craving. When I put her on, all of my insecurities and fears are gone. I was given a second chance to keep this mask on, and I’m not going to waste it. Becoming the Gazelle has really allowed me to tap into my inner goddess. The power that she has given me is a feeling I’ll never forget.”
Previous song: “Uninvited,” by Alanis Morrisette; “The One That Got Away,” by Katy Perry; “Lucky,” by Britney Spears; “On the Radio,” by Donna Summer
Clue: “It’s been amazing. I’ve been learning so much. It’s so challenging, I feel like I’m a better entertainer now because of this show.”
Package voiceover: “Becoming the Sea Queen has been a real experience. I love my regal, commanding presence, but I’m gonna be honest with you. Wearing this costume hasn’t been all smooth sailing. I’m a seasoned performer but used to being myself on stage. Having to learn new songs and choreography all while wearing a giant mask has really stretched me as an entertainer. It is hot in there. It is so claustrophobic. And this while experience has made me feel nervous again in a way I haven’t in a long time. But I fought my way through it, and I’m still here. As the first Wild Card to make it to the finale in Masked Singer history, yes, I am looking forward to taking this mask off. But only after I win the crown for this Sea Queen.
Previous songs: “Love Potion No. 9,” by The Searchers; “To Be With You,” by Mr. Big
“The Masked Singer” is produced by Fox Alternative Entertainment, with James Breen (who is also showrunner), Craig Plestis and Cannon as executive producers.
Electric scooter company Bird Global announced Wednesday that it has filed for bankruptcy protection in an attempt to stabilize its wobbly finances.
The move marks a sobering comedown for a formerly high-flying startup that was trying to make it easier to get around big cities in an environmentally friendly way with its fleet of electric scooters. The concept attracted about $500 million in investments from prominent Silicon Valley venture capital firms such as Sequoia Capital and Accel Partners before becoming a publicly traded company in 2021.
Now, the Miami-based company finds itself struggling to survive after losing more than $430 million since the end of 2021.
Bird has lined up $25 million in financing from MidCap Financial, a division of Apollo Global Management, as it tries to reorganize under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Florida.
Michael Washinushi, Bird’s interim CEO, predicted the company will be able to bounce back and continue its “mission to make cities more livable” by providing vehicles that don’t clog the roads nor burn fuel. But investors seemed doubtful as Bird’s stock lost nearly 80% of its remaining value Wednesday to close at 8 cents per share, a far cry from its price of about $154 at the end of 2021.
Angela Bassett “did the thing” in 2023, but she’s not the only star who had Us raising our eyebrows all year long.
The year kicked off with a handful of wild moments — from the release of Prince Harry’s Spare to Cocaine Bear’s premiere — but nothing could prepare Hollywood for the rise of Vanderpump Rules star Ariana Madix. Once a Bravolebrity, Madix became a household name in March after her boyfriend of nine years, Tom Sandoval, cheated on her with friend and fellow Pump Rules star Raquel Leviss. The affair heard around the world — now known as “Scandoval” — launched Madix’s success to new heights. Following her impressive run on season 32 of Dancing With the Stars, she will be starring as Roxie Hart in Chicago on Broadway in 2024.
While Madix became an even more notable name, Raven-Symoné made a major comeback when launching her “The Best Podcast Ever” show in June alongside her wife, Miranda Pearman-Maday. New episodes dropped each week, but one installment with Whoopi Goldberg made major headlines in August.
Raven told Goldberg that she gave off “lesbian vibes” and “just wanted to be up underneath the titty the whole time” they hosted The View together from June 2015 to October 2016.
Getty Images (3) While 2023 has been the year of the monster tour — with Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, Drake and others hitting the road for colossal shows after sitting on the sidelines due to COVID — there have been some incredible releases within the last 12 months. Olivia Rodrigo defied the sophomore slump with Guts, […]
Goldberg was unbothered by the colorful comment — and had some bigger blunders of her own throughout 2023.
Keep scrolling to look back at the highs, lows and biggest WTF moments from this year:
Whoopi Goldberg Puts Her Foot in Her Mouth
The View cohost made headlines several times throughout the year for her unfiltered remarks on the ABC daytime show.
In June, Goldberg changed the meaning of one news item completely. “A poll of 2,000 adults in the U.K. found that when people travel, cuisine is more important to them than landmarks or bitches,” she declared. She quickly recovered, correcting herself to say, “Beaches!”
Goldberg joked that her mistake was somehow the crew’s fault, saying, “I can’t even tell you why it’s their fault.”
Months later, Goldberg proved that she had no filter when asking, “Are you pregnant?” to The View cohost Alyssa Farah Griffin. “No — oh, my God,” Griffin replied, seemingly horrified. Goldberg apologized, explaining that she simply “got a vibe” from Griffin.
Perhaps her most controversial statement all year, however, was when Goldberg told The View cohosts that she has comfortably worked out in jeans.
“Listen, sometimes you don’t have time to stop when everyone else is in their shorts and everything and you go, and you get some exercise in when you can!” Goldberg doubled down during a November broadcast.
Ozempic Takes Over Hollywood — But Only Real Housewives Admit It
While several celebrities were accused of taking the type 2 diabetes medication Ozempic to accelerate weight loss, only a few Real Housewives franchise stars were brave enough to reveal that they’ve used the drug.
Real Housewives of New Jersey star Dolores Catania admitted to taking Mounjaro, which she said was “another part” of the Ozempic umbrella, during an April appearance on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen. “I wasn’t going to come to the reunion looking any bigger than anyone else, so I got on the bandwagon,” she added.
Real Housewives of Salt Lake City star Heather Gay said she was “on the Ozempic train” in November. “I’ve been on it for a long time, but hadn’t really seen much results,” she told People. “And I haven’t had massive results, but enough for people to notice, which is great.”
Kyle Richards, meanwhile, repeatedly made it known that she wasn’t cutting corners with her weight loss.
‘The Last of Us’ Turns 2023 Into the Year of Pedro Pascal
Pedro PascalLiane Hentscher/HBO
Pedro Pascal was dubbed the internet’s “daddy” after The Last of Us premiered on HBO in January and happily embraced the nickname after playing father figure Joel Miller in the show.
“I am having fun with it,” Pascal shared during The Hollywood Reporter Drama Actors Roundtable in May. “It seems a little role-related. There was a period where the Mandalorian is very daddy to baby Grogu, and Joel is very daddy to Ellie. These are daddy parts. That’s what it is. … I’m not a daddy. And I’m not gonna be a daddy!”
Prince Harry Shares TMI Details in ‘Spare’
Prince Harry’s highly anticipated memoir, Spare, was released in January. Along with plenty of royal family secrets, Harry unleashed some major jaw-dropping TMI moments — even referring to his “todger” in depth.
Harry confirmed in his book that he and his older brother, Prince William, are circumcised. “I was snipped as a baby,” he wrote. Further discussing the topic of his genitals, Harry recalled a 2011 trip to the North Pole in which his “nether regions were frost nipped.”
No memoir would be complete without a story about losing his virginity — and Harry delivered. He revealed that his first time having sex was an “inglorious episode with an older woman,” calling it a “quick ride” that took place “in a grassy field behind a busy pub.”
Harry also admitted to (and regretted) watching his now-wife, Meghan Markle’s sex scenes from Suits. He noted that it “would take electric-shock therapy to get those images out of my head.”
‘Cocaine Bear’
When Cocaine Bear was released in February, it seemed like it would be one of the biggest WTF moments of the year. However, the star-studded cast — Keri Russell, Alden Ehrenreich, Ray Liotta, Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Margo Martindale — quickly made it a fan favorite.
Directed by Elizabeth Banks, the film is loosely based on the real story of a bear in 1985 that ingested a bag of cocaine. While the production budget for the movie was between $30 and $35 million, per various reports, the movie made nearly $90 million at the box office.
Cole Sprouse Chain-Smokes His Way Through ‘Call Her Daddy’
Cole SprouseCourtesy of The Pod Project/YouTube
Cole Sprouse appeared on the “Call Her Daddy” podcast in March — and took himself way too seriously when discussing the highs and lows of his growth from child star to adult actor. Sprouse chain-smoked cigarettes during the interview, which quickly turned into an internet meme.
As clips of Sprouse holding a lit cigarette went viral, some fans noted that seeing him smoking inside gave them “the ick.” For others, the interview was simply “cringe” overall.
Gwyneth Paltrow’s Ski Trial Captivates the Nation
A 2016 incident involving Gwyneth Paltrow and retired doctor Terry Sanderson came to a head seven years later in March. Sanderson initially filed a lawsuit against Paltrow in 2019, claiming that the actress had crashed into him on the ski slopes in Deer Valley, Utah, which caused him multiple injuries. He alleged that Paltrow fled the scene, but she claimed in a countersuit that Sanderson was the one who into her.
When the highly publicized trial began on March 21, both Paltrow and Sanderson took the stand. Paltrow’s facial expressions in the courtroom were meme-worthy, as she smiled and looked stoic during various parts of the testimony. Sanderson’s attorney, Kristin VanOrman, asked Paltrow some eyebrow raising questions, at one point prying about the actress’ friendship with Taylor Swift after Paltrow requested the same amount in damages ($1) as the singer did in a 2017 trial.
After eight days in court, a jury found Sanderson “100 percent” at fault. Paltrow was awarded $1 and the cost of her legal fees. “I wish you well,” she told Sanderson when exiting the courtroom. However, in May, the Associated Press revealed that she and Sanderson have put the matter of trial cost on hold.
Paltrow’s trial returned to the cultural conversation months later when the U.K.’s Pleasance London Main House Cabaret announced Gwyneth Goes Skiing, a musical parody, would premiere in December.
2023 was filled with wild celebrity moments and the memes that followed suit did not disappoint. Pedro Pascal went viral on more than one occasion this year, cementing himself as the king of memes. A scene from Pascal and Nicolas Cage’s 2022 film, The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, got a second wind in March […]
King Charles III Can’t Get the Cool Kids to Come to His Coronation
The royal family invited various A-listers to perform at King Charles III’s coronation in May, but many of them reportedly turned down the offer.
According to Rolling Stone, Adele, Harry Styles, Robbie Williams, the Spice Girls and Elton John all said no to singing for the king. While most of their reps declined to comment on the matter, John’s team confirmed that he turned down the performance because of scheduling issues.
Royal author Omid Scobie later revealed in his book Endgame, published in November, that Taylor Swift was reportedly among the musicians who turned down the coronation offer.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s 2-Hour NYC ‘Car Chase’
In mid-May, Harry and Meghan were involved in a “near catastrophic car chase” while leaving the 2023 Women of Vision Awards in New York City with Meghan’s mom, Doria Ragland.
The couple claimed in a statement that they were followed by “a ring of highly aggressive” photographers in a “relentless pursuit” that lasted over “two hours.” The NYPD later clarified that there “were no reported collisions, summonses, injuries or arrests in regard.”
While Meghan and Harry’s version of events were called into question by some, a source told Us Weekly at the time that the couple “insist their account of the car chase was absolutely not exaggerated,” adding, “For people to say otherwise is so hurtful and out of line.”
Ethan Slater’s Terrifying Flexibility Goes Viral
After news broke in July of Ariana Grande’s relationship with Wicked costar Ethan Slater, videos of his performance in SpongeBob SquarePants: The Broadway Musical went viral. Slater played the title role from 2017 to 2018, showing off his moves on stage by doing the literal splits for a song titled “No Control.” Resurfaced videos of his flexibility left fans flummoxed.
‘Barbenheimer’ Takes Over
Cillian Murphy, Margot RobbieJULIEN DE ROSA and Jung Yeon-je / AFP) / XGTY (Photo by JULIEN DE ROSA,JUNG YEON-JE/AFP via Getty Images
Barbie and Oppenheimer were both released on July 21, inspiring the “Barbenheimer” cultural phenomenon. With Barbie’s pink aesthetic and Oppenheimer’s black-and-white vibe, the two movies couldn’t be more different visually. Social media users created movie posters juxtaposing a smiling Margot Robbie as Barbie with Cillian Murphy smoking cigarettes J. Robert Oppenheimer, inventor of the atomic bomb.
“I think it happened because both movies were good,” Murphy told Margot in conversation for Variety’s “Actors on Actors” in December. “In fact, that summer, there was a huge diversity of stuff in the cinema, and I think it just connected in a way that you or I or the studios or anybody could never have predicted.”
Nepo Baby Discourse Peaks With Ben Platt
New York Magazine declared 2022 as “The Year of The Nepo Baby,” but the conversation continued in 2023. However, Ben Platt made it clear that wanted to be removed from the Hollywood nepotism narrative in July.
“We’re going to skip right over that if we can,” Platt told Rolling Stone when asked about the New York Magazine issue, which featured a caricature of him on the cover. When pushed further, his rep stepped in to add, “If we could just focus on [the movie] Theater Camp, that would be great. Thank you.”
That was the first time a nepo baby refused to discuss their title, but some famous parents have gotten involved.
What Happened With Scooter Braun?
Scooter Braun’s reign over the music industry took a confusing turn in August when a series of his A-list clients — including Justin Bieber, Demi Lovato, Ariana Grande, Idina Menzel and J Balvin — decided to part ways with the manager.
While questions arose about the mass exodus, a source told Us that Braun’s business venture as the CEO of Hybe America was the real reason.
“All of Scooter Braun’s clients are under contract and negotiations have been going on for several months as Scooter steps into his larger role as HYBE America CEO,” the source explained in August. “People are spreading rumors based on what they know, but they are off. Scooter’s team at SB Projects are still handling both Justin and Ariana as they work through what this new structure looks like.”
‘The Blind Side’ Lawsuit
The surprise legal drama between former NFL star Michael Oher — the inspiration for the 2009 movie The Blind Side — and the Tuohy family kicked off in August when Oher filed a lawsuit alleging that Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy never legally adopted him. Instead, he claimed they forced him into a conservatorship in 2004 that gave them legal control over his finances. Per court documents obtained by Us, Oher consented to the conservatorship under the guise that it “would make him a member of the Tuohy family.”
Oher sought to end the conservatorship and receive a share of any money the Tuohy family made following the success of The Blind Side movie. (In September, a Tennessee judge ruled to end the conservatorship.)
The Touhy family filed their own court documents in November responding to Oher’s initial filing, claiming that he was paid more than $138,000 for The Blind Side. Sean and Leigh Anne have since alleged in a December lawsuit that Oher attempted to extort more than $15 million from the family over the Oscar-winning film.
Those Pictures of Kylie Jenner and Timothée Chalamet
Kylie Jenner and Timothee ChalametGotham/GC Images/Getty Images
Kylie Jenner and Timothée Chalamet’s romance kicked off in April, but some fans didn’t believe it until they finally saw it. Come September, there was no shortage of PDA between Jenner and Chalamet, which quickly silenced skeptics.
The couple were first seen locking lips while attending Beyoncé’s concert in Los Angeles. They continued to share some smooches during Haider Ackermann’s NYFW dinner and were later spotted getting cozy at the U.S. Open, kissing and holding hands in front of photographers.
Taylor Swift Becomes the Face of the NFL
Taylor Swift made her first appearance at a Kansas City Chiefs game in September, cheering for Travis Kelce in one of the stadium’s VIP suites. (Kelce publicly expressed romantic interest in Swift in July, and Swift later confirmed to TIME magazine that the pair “started hanging out right after that.”)
Not only did Swift’s appearance at the game send her fans into a frenzy, but it made the NFL constantly be on Swift-Watch. Various television networks — and the league itself — faced backlash from football fans who were unhappy about the focus on Swift rather than the sport. The NFL even referenced Swift in its social media bios.
“We frequently change our bios and profile imagery based on what’s happening in and around our games, as well as culturally,” read a statement from the organization in October after Kelce hinted on his “New Heights” podcast that the NFL was “overdoing it” with coverage of his love life . “The Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce news has been a pop cultural moment we’ve leaned into in real time, as it’s an intersection of sport and entertainment, and we’ve seen an incredible amount of positivity around the sport.”
Buda Mendes/TAS23/Getty Images Taylor Swift doesn’t celebrate her birthday until December 13, but she spent all year dominating the pop culture landscape. Already a 12-time Grammy winner, Swift’s career skyrocketed even further with the debut of her highly anticipated Eras Tour and its subsequent concert film, both of which broke records across the board. She […]
The Name in Everybody’s Mouth Is … Jada Pinkett Smith
Will Smith infamously asked Chris Rock to “keep my wife’s name out your f—king mouth” after slapping the comedian across the face at the 2022 Oscars, but Jada Pinkett Smith brought her name back into the conversation with the release of her 2023 memoir, Worthy. Leading up to its October publication, Jada discussed the book in depth during what felt like a nonstop press tour.
One of the biggest bombshells from Jada was an update on her and Will’s marriage. She revealed to People that the couple had been separated for six years before the slap incident. In a separate interview with Hoda Kotb, Jada noted that the most shocking part of the ordeal was that Will referred to her as “my wife,” something he hadn’t done in a “long time.”
Jada later raised eyebrows while referring to late rapper Tupac Shakur as her “soulmate” during an interview with RollingOut that same month. “If there is such a thing as past lives, I definitely think that Pac and I have traveled a few together,” she added.
Victoria Beckham’s Rolls-Royce Becomes a Phenomenon
David Beckham playfully called out his wife, Victoria Beckham, in their Beckham docuseries, which premiered in November.
In a now-viral confessional from the first episode, Victoria referred to her family as “working class” — but David was quick to correct her, telling the former Spice Girl to “be honest” about her past.
“I am being honest,” Victoria declared. David repeatedly asked, “What car did your dad drive you to school in?” from outside the room where Victoria was filming.
Victoria attempted to beat around the bush, claiming it was “not a simple answer.” She eventually gave in, revealing, “OK. In the ‘80s, my dad had a Rolls-Royce.”
Harry Styles Shaves His Head
When Harry Styles was spotted in the crowd at a U2 concert at the Sphere in Las Vegas with rumored girlfriend Taylor Russell in November, there was only one question racing through every fan’s mind: Did he shave his head?
Later that month, Styles’ Pleasing beauty line officially debuted his buzz cut via social media — and it didn’t go over well. Some fans joked online that they were “crying” and others hoped that the hairstyle was “a joke.” (While he’s had many hair transformations throughout his career, Styles’ curls were considered his trademark look.)
Jon Hamm Debuts Pierced Nipples — Sort Of
Jon Hamm Courtesy of Rotten Tomatoes/YouTube
Jon Hamm’s role as Roy Tillman on Fargo season 5 showed off his impressive range … and two pierced nipples.
“They were real nipple rings pierced through a fake nipple,” shared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! in November. “There is a prosthetic department. Magic doesn’t happen by itself. That guy’s whole job was making nipples.”
That same month, Hamm praised the “dedicated nippleologist” who created his fake look. “I had to have some very blue latex put on my nipples, and then they cast a resoundingly lifelike pair of nipples, which they then pierced and placed over my own nipples, and we shot said nipples. … The crew doesn’t get enough credit,” he said.
Travis Kelce’s Old Twitter Posts Resurface
As Kelce’s relationship with Swift continued to blossom in the latter half of 2023, some fans took on the challenge of digging into the NFL player’s digital footprint — and they were delighted by what they found.
“I just gave a squirle a peice of bread and it straight smashed all of it!!!! I had no idea they ate bread like that!! Haha #crazy,” read one resurfaced tweet from April 2011. (His brother, Jason Kelce, teased on a November episode of “New Heights” he would only be “spelling squirrel like that from now on” after Travis’ tweets went viral.)
More typos were found in a separate post from 2010. “Def appreciate everyones birthday wishes from yesterday! Had a kind of rough day, but everything all good! Think Imma head to #Chipolte tho,” he wrote at the time.
Travis confessed on his podcast that he was “trying to get all those tweets deleted” long before the Swifties found them. “I was just using Twitter as, like, a diary,” he explained. “I’m just out here saying nonsense.”
The Longest Actors’ Strike in Hollywood Ends
After nearly four months, the longest SAG-AFTRA strike in Hollywood history came to an end in November.
The union reached a settlement with the AMPTP (Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers) — which includes major studios Disney, Netflix, Amazon, Warner Bros-Discovery, Apple, Universal, Sony, Paramount, ABC, NBC, FOX and CBS — and agreed on a historic pay increase and to protect actors against artificial intelligence.
SAG-AFTRA’s strike began in July, two months after the WGA halted work over a separate labor dispute with the AMPTP. It was the first time both actors and writers walked out on work simultaneously since 1960.
iHeartRadio Is Giving Out Redemption Era Podcasts
Several once-shunned celebrities seemed to have iHeartRadio to thank for their redemption arcs during 2023.
Chris Harrison, for one, launched “The Most Dramatic Podcast Ever” in January. The title is a play on his days as host of The Bachelor franchise, when Harrison would call each season “the most dramatic” ever. (Harrison left the ABC reality dating shows in February 2021 after a controversial interview with Rachel Lindsay where he defended Bachelor season 25 contestant Rachael Kirkconnell, whose resurfaced photos from an Old South-themed party sparked a conversation about the franchise’s relationship to race. Kirkconnell apologized at the time and is still dating Matt James, the first Black Bachelor.)
Amy Robach and T.J. Holmes’ podcast — aptly titled “Amy & T.J.” — debuted on the iHeartRadio network in December. The former GMA3 anchors released the first episode of their podcast exactly one year after ABC pulled them off the air when their affair was uncovered. (Robach and Holmes were seen cozying up outside of the workplace in November 2022. The duo have since claimed they were already separated from their respective spouses, Andrew Shue and Marilee Fiebig, before their relationship turned romantic.)
Thank You!
You have successfully subscribed.
Andrew Shue and Marilee Fiebig Take a Cue From Shania Twain
News broke in December — the same day the “Amy & T.J.” podcast was released, to be exact — that Shue and Fiebig sparked a romance of their own in the wake of their exes’ cheating scandal. (Robach and Shue were declared legally single in early 2023, while Holmes and Fiebig reached a divorce settlement in October.)
Some fans have drawn comparisons between Shue and Fiebig’s relationship and Shania Twain’s relationship with husband Frédéric Thiébaud. Twain and Thiébaud wed in 2011, three years after their former spouses, Robert “Mutt” Lange and Marie-Anne Thiébaud, had an affair.
A man involved in a brazen plot to manipulate the stock price of a New Jersey deli’s parent company pleaded guilty to securities fraud on Wednesday.
James T. Patten, 64, of North Carolina, admitted to orchestrating a series of misleading trades in an apparent bid to enrich himself and two co-defendants in U.S. District Court in Camden, N.J.
Mr. Patten faces up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $5 million for securities fraud. He also pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiracy to commit securities fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.
Mr. Patten’s lawyer, Ira Lee Sorkin, said in an interview on Wednesday that attention on the case “was exaggerated beyond any perception — that this was some $100 million fraud involving a delicatessen.” He said prosecutors had made “no mention” of any “ill-gotten gains.”
The scheme began around 2014, prosecutors said, when Mr. Patten helped open Your Hometown Deli in Paulsboro, N.J. The shop sold Philadelphia cheesesteak sandwiches, groceries and other ready-to-eat food, according to regulatory filings.
Around 2019, Mr. Patten and two associates — Peter Coker Sr. and Peter Coker Jr. — “undertook a calculated scheme” to gain control of the deli’s parent company, Hometown International, the U.S. attorney’s office in New Jersey said.
The group used accounts owned by others to make coordinated trades using stock from Hometown International and E-Waste, another company the three men controlled. This gave “the false impression that there was genuine market interest in the stock,” causing its price to surge, the U.S. attorney’s office said.
The scheme caught the attention of traders in 2021 when Hometown International’s value soared to $113 million, even though the small deli made just $13,976 in revenue.
“The pastrami must be amazing,” wrote David Einhorn, a hedge fund manager, in a memo to investors after noticing the soaring price and issuing a warning about frothy stock market conditions.
E-Waste’s stock was inflated 19,900 percent, the U.S. attorney’s office said.
News of Your Hometown Deli’s sky-high value reached front pages around the world as investors warned it could be a scam.
Sentencing is scheduled for April 23. The elder Mr. Coker, who was arrested in late 2022, is awaiting trial. His son was arrested in January.
“Survivor” has crowned a winner for its milestone 45th season.
The three-hour finale extravaganza followed as the final five castaways competed in the final challenges before facing the jury. By hour two, the CBS competition series’ jury voted Dee Valladares as the winner of Season 45, securing the $1 million prize from the CBS competition series.
Dee claimed victory out of the final five, which also included grad student Austin Li Coon, estate attorney Julie Alley, attorney Jake O’Kane and civil rights attorney Katurah Topps. The jury ahead of the finale consisted of this season’s castaways Kaleb Gebrewold, Kellie Nalbandian, Kendra McQuarrie, Bruce Perreault, Emily Flippen and Drew Basile.
Host Jeff Probst guided the castaways through two immunity challenges, two tribal councils and one firemaking showdown before the final three faced the jury. Austin and Jake won the first competitions of the night. At the first tribal council, Jake used his idol to give Katurah immunity in an effort to get Dee out. But Katurah’s last second vote change led to Julie’s elimination.
The second day of competition left Jake and Katurah to compete with showmance Austin and Dee. For the third time this season, Dee won the immunity challenge and was first to secure her spot and plead her case to the jury. With a seat in the final three, she unsurprisingly chose Austin to join her and let Katurah and Jake battle it out for the last spot in the tribal council with a firemaking challenge. The tense game resulted in Jake advancing to the final tribal council, with Katurah and Julie joining the jury.
Jake, Dee and Austin answered questions from the jury, as all the players looked back on a season of wild challenges, strategic moves and shared love of the game. Dee and Austin even acknowledged their showmance, with Dee adding that emotions came first before they decided to join forces strategically for the rest of the game.
Dee won the final vote with five, Austin earned three votes and Jake earned none.
After naming the winner, Probst lead a debrief of the monumental season with all the castaways in an after show.
“Survivor” Season 45 is available to stream on Paramount+. The show will return for its 46th season Feb. 28 on CBS.
According to their sources that their age gap of 14 years did play a role between Mariah, 54, and Bryan, 40, as they wanted different things.
The insider explained: ‘He wants to have a family. That’s not where she is at.’
Carey shares 12-year-old twins Moroccan and Monroe with ex-husband Nick Cannon.
Mariah Carey and Bryan Tanaka called it quits on their seven-year romance due to his want to have a family according to a new report from Page Six; the couple were last seen in this Instagram posted by Tanaka in March
Carey shares 12-year-old twins Moroccan and Monroe with ex-husband Nick Cannon . The two were married from 2008 until 2016
Speculation of the split began as the Fantasy hitmaker kicked off her Merry Christmas One and All! tour in November, but the dancer has been absent from her shows, prompting speculation that they have split.
The superstar is also currently celebrating the holidays in Aspen without Tanaka, who usually accompanied her on the trips in the past, according to a source who spoke with People.
It marks the first time in years that the pair — who began dating in 2016 — have not been traveling together during the Christmas season.
The couple were last seen together in March, while celebrating Mariah’s birthday. At the time Bryan posted a photo of him and the superstar to Instagram with a gushing caption.
‘This is one of my favorite pictures. Ever. Happy Anniversary my Beautiful Queen. 3/27❤️.’
In November fans began speculating about the pair’s split after her concert at the Yaamava’ Resort & Casino in Highland, California.
Bryan regularly shows off his dance moves at her shows going back more than a decade, but audience members shared on social media that they had noticed he was nowhere to be seen.
Others were of the opinion that Mariah looked downbeat, and some complained about her alleged low-energy performance.
Speculation of the split began as the Fantasy hitmaker kicked off her Merry Christmas One and All! tour in November, but the dancer has been absent from her shows , prompting speculation that they have split; seen in 2018
Carey visited President Joe Biden in Washington, DC last week as she shared snaps from the meeting on Wednesdya… however Tanaka was nowhere to be seen
The star is pictured in Aspen, Colorado on Tuesday without Tanaka
Adding to concerns about a potential breakup was Bryan’s total absence on the hitmaker’s Instagram profile since December 2022.
Mariah’s last Instagram post featuring Bryan appears to be from a December 26, when the two beaming lovebirds posed cheek to cheek to mark Boxing Day.
So far neither Mariah nor Bryan have publicly addressed the split rumors.
Carey and Tanka initially met in the mid-2000s and he accompanied her as a backup dancer during her Adventures of Mimi tour, which occurred in 2006.
‘Something connected with us back in the day and there was just a mutual admiration,’ he told E! News in 2016. ‘She saw something in me that I actually didn’t recognize at first, from that it was over. It was set in history that we were gonna be connected some way, some how.’
In 2016, Mariah ended her engagement to James Packer, and she and Bryan began a new relationship shortly afterward.
The two seemed to confirm that they were dating when they were spotted showing off some PDA at the beach over the Thanksgiving weekend that year.
The hitmaker, 54, kicked off her tour in November, but the dancer, 40, has been absent from her shows and has not accompanied her to Aspen for the holidays, according to People; they are seen in Aspen in 2022
Tanaka has been dancing on Mariah’s tours since 2006; they are seen in 2022
Though they briefly split in 2017, they were back together by later that year and have since displayed a loving, if low-key, relationship ever since.
Before she became involved with Tanaka, the performer was also famously married to her first husband, music executive Tommy Mottola, 72, from 1993 until 1998.
Carey went on to begin a short-lived relationship with singer Luis Miguel that came to an end in 2001.
She later met Cannon, 41, while working on a music video, and the two tied the knot in 2008 before they welcomed their twins in 2011.
The former couple eventually separated and finalized their divorce in 2016.
On Sunday night Mariah had a festive finale to her Merry Christmas One and All! Tour.
Though Bryan has not been seen at Mariah’s Christmas shows, her 12-year-old twins Moroccan and Monroe joined her onstage at Madison Square Garden last week
The New York native wrapped up her 16-concert tour to a sold-out Madison Square Garden, and performed numerous holiday classics, occluding All I Want for Christmas Is You, Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town and Oh Santa!.
Earlier in December Mariah revealed that she was looking forward to this Christmas season because the last one ‘wasn’t the greatest.’
‘I’ve been looking forward to this Christmas for, like, the whole year. Since last year — because last year wasn’t the greatest,’ she shared in an interview with People.
‘I’m thankful for them all, but it wasn’t my most fun version of Christmas ever.’
‘Come hell or high water, this year, this Christmas, we are going to have fun,’ she added.
The battle in “Home Alone” between 8-year-old Kevin McCallister (Macaulay Culkin) and two burglars known as the Wet Bandits has unfolded on screens around the world every Christmas since the film premiered in 1990.
And each year, for some viewers, the McCallisters’ grand home and lifestyle inspires its own tradition: wondering just how rich this family was.
The New York Times turned to economists and people involved with the film to find the answer.
The McCallisters are the 1 Percent.
Early in the film, one of the burglars, Harry (Joe Pesci), tells his fellow Wet Bandit, Marv (Daniel Stern), that the McCallister home is their top target in a wealthy neighborhood.
“That’s the one, Marv, that’s the silver tuna,” Harry says, before speculating that the house contains a lot of “top-flight goods,” including VCRs, stereos, very fine jewelry and “odd marketable securities.”
The home is the best clue as to how much money the McCallisters have.
The silver tuna, or its exterior anyway, is a real-world house at 671 Lincoln Avenue in the Chicago suburb of Winnetka, one of the most expensive neighborhoods in the United States, according to Realtor.com. It appears to have enough space for Kevin and his four siblings to each have their own rooms, but also can accommodate an army of visitors.
In 1990, the house was affordable only for the top 1 percent of Chicago household incomes, and that would still be the case today, according to economists at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.
The economists — Max Gillet, a senior research analyst; Cindy Hull, an assistant vice president and interim head of the financial markets group; and Thomas Walstrum, a senior business economist — made this determination after looking at data including household incomes in the Chicago metropolitan statistical area for 1990 and 2022, the house’s property value, prevailing mortgage rates at the time, and typical taxes and insurance.
Working with the assumption that the McCallisters did not spend more than 30 percent of their income on housing, the economists also determined the home would have been affordable to a household with an income of $305,000 in 1990 (about $665,000 in 2022).
In the middle of 2022, a similar house would cost about $2.4 million, based on the Zillow estimate for the “Home Alone” house. A home of that value would be affordable to a household with income of $730,000, which would be in the top 1 percent of Chicago-area households, the economists said.
How are they so rich?
“Home Alone” never explains what the parents do for work.
On the internet, where this question regularly pops up, some people have suggested Kate McCallister is a fashion designer, because the house has several mannequins inside, which later feature in one of Kevin’s attempts to trick the burglars into thinking he is not, in fact, home alone.
Todd Strasser, who wrote the official novelizations of “Home Alone” and two of its sequels, said in an interview that he was not closely supervised by the filmmakers. The guidance, he said, was essentially: “Here’s the script, do whatever you want.”
So in the book, he made Kevin’s mom a fashion designer, because of the mannequins, and Kevin’s dad a businessman, because it was “a safe bet,” he said.
He said it never occurred to him to explain in detail how the McCallisters had come by their money; he thought they were “upper middle class” but not “super rich.”
The family has other trappings of significant-but-not-stratospheric wealth: They wear nice clothes and hire multiple vans to take them to the airport, yes, but when Kate is trying to bribe an elderly couple to give up their tickets from Paris so she can get home, she offers jewelry and cash, but hints that her Rolex might be fake.
“I don’t know how much the McCallisters made, but it sure did a lot for my bank account,” Strasser said.
One fan theory posits that Peter McCallister is involved with organized crime. Under this theory, the McCallister home was specifically targeted as some sort of vendetta, and Kevin’s brutal violence against the burglars is the product of an upbringing exposed to criminal activity.
The Times could not rule out this theory.
Uncle Rob paid for the flights.
A commonly cited data point on the family’s wealth is their Christmas trip to Paris.
Flying 15 people to Paris is expensive, especially with the four adults flying first class, but Kevin’s parents don’t pay for the airplane tickets. Early in the film, Kate McCallister tells a police officer — who is actually Harry in disguise — that her husband’s brother paid for the flights.
That brother is Uncle Rob. He is a minor figure in the first film, but the few mentions he does get suggest that he is loaded. He pays for the tickets, and he has an apartment in Paris that has a clear view of the Eiffel Tower and can somehow house 15 of his family members. (The film’s sequel, “Home Alone 2: Lost in New York,” further suggests that Uncle Rob is wealthy, but this analysis is based only on the first film.)
A third brother, Uncle Frank (the mean one), lives in Ohio and travels with the family from Illinois to Paris. We do not learn anything about his income, but we do know he is cheap. At his brother’s house in Illinois, he avoids paying the $122.50 pizza bill. On the plane, dining in first class, he tells his wife to slip the crystal salt and pepper shakers in her purse.
This behavior could suggest that he is wealthy. Shoplifting was “significantly more common” among people with family incomes over $70,000, according to a 2008 article published in The American Journal of Psychiatry.
Uncle Frank is also a typical adult character in the world of John Hughes, who wrote and produced “Home Alone,” said Robert Bulman, a sociology professor at Saint Mary’s College of California who studies the representation of teens and high schools in film.
He said that a common mark of a Hughes film is dramatic tension fueled by conflict between young people and adults, which almost always resolves in favor of the younger person.
He noted that in Hughes’s teen films — including “The Breakfast Club,” and “Pretty in Pink” — class tensions are also often prominent and drive the story forward.
“His stories usually favor the perspective of the working class kid or the poor kid who is trying to gain access to a wealthier peer group, for instance,” Professor Bulman said. “But in ‘Home Alone,’ it’s unmistakably a victory for Kevin as a child, but also Kevin as a rich kid defending his impressive fortress.”
The movie is not about the money.
Eve Cauley, the set decorator for “Home Alone,” was responsible for decor such as the furniture and wallpaper inside of the McCallister home, which was filmed on built sets in a local high school.
She said in an email that the home was not expensively furnished but had a deliberately “stately, upscale look.”
When the film was made, navy blue and dusty pink were popular interior design colors, Cauley said. But she was inspired by Norman Rockwell paintings and antique Christmas cards to use saturated reds, greens and golds in the family home.
Hughes told her that he wanted the house to have a “timeless look,” she said. “He told me he likes his films to look a bit nicer and cleaner than reality, since his purpose in making movies is to entertain the audience and uplift them,” she said.
Cauley also had some advice for people looking for an answer about the family’s income.
“To me, with respect, fans who argue about the parents’ income, or house cost, should, instead, simply enjoy the movie,” she said.
“After all, John Hughes and director Christopher Columbus created this heartwarming and comic film as entertainment for the audience, to uplift spirits for the holidays. It did, and still does, lift spirits.”
Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell’s chemistry has been hot, hot, hot. But the dating rumors were hard on the actor.
Sweeney is addressing those juicy dating rumors once again, and this time she’s revealing they actually took a toll on her “Anyone but You” co-star. The hotly anticipated rom-com hitting theaters Dec. 22has been making headlines since spring. On-set snaps of the film’s stars canoodling, wearing next-to-nothing, had the internet buzzing. The photos that circulated of the on-screen pair coincided with reports that Powell had separated from longtime partner Gigi Paris.
Paris shared a video on Instagram of herself walking alone with the caption, “know your worth & onto the next.”
Some speculated that the breakup was connected to the undeniable chemistry between Powell and Sweeney. “It was really hard on Glen, which made me sad … because [otherwise] it was such a beautiful experience for the both of us. I care for him so much,” Sweeney told Glamour, noting that public fascination was likely due to her keeping her real-life relationship with businessman and producer Jonathan Davino fairly private.
“Everyone is always so curious about who I’m with and what’s that like, but I think it’s important to have something for me,” she told the outlet.
Sweeney said the internet is filled with misinformation regarding her love life, and insisted she’s never, ever been happier. “I’ve been in a steady relationship for a really long time, which is not normal in this industry and not normal for my age. What I’ve noticed about the idea of celebrity is people really love to build someone up, and then tear them down.”
While the internet has been invested in Sweeney and Powell — and to be fair the pair has egged on the public with steamy photos and flirty interviews — Sweeney’s real-life beau was actually involved in the production of the rom-com. “We produced [‘Anyone but You’] together,” she told Glamour. “Jonathan is my producing partner. … It’s really great to work with someone who knows you so well, who fully supports your ideas, your vision and your voice. … I mean, who doesn’t want to be with their best friend all the time?”
Earlier this year, the Emmy-nominated “Euphoria” star told Variety that she and Powell were just giving the people what they wanted by laying it on thick with their displays of chemistry. She also said the pair “didn’t care” about the rumors — though that later turned out not to be the case for the “Top Gun: Maverick” star, which Sweeney is acknowledging now. In August, though, Sweeney told Variety: “It’s fun to give it to ’em.
“It’s a rom-com,” she said. “That’s what people want! Glen and I don’t really care. We have so much fun together, and we respect each other so much.”
Sweeney, who served as executive producer on the film, wanted to nod to the early-aughts rom-coms like “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days.” She developed a spec script with screenwriter Ilana Wolpert and Jeff Kirschenbaum at RK Films, then went after Powell to be her co-star.
While Marvel Studios will be slowing things down in 2024, releasing only Deadpool 3, there are still a ton of MCU adventures on the horizon.
One of the more interesting films on the docket is Marvel’s Thunderbolts.
Photo: Den Of Geek
Under the watchful eye of Thunderbolt Ross, Valentina Allegra de Fontaine will assemble a new squad comprised of Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), Red Guardian (David Harbour), Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen), the Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan), Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko), and U.S. Agent (Wyatt Russell).
What About Baron Zemo?
While the new team will take inspiration from its comic book counterpart, Baron Zemo, who has long been associated with the team in the comics, has not been mentioned in connection with the new film.
In a recent interview with Screen Rant, Daniel Bruhl, who portrayed Zemo in Captain America: Civil War and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, pointed out that he couldn’t be on the Thunderbolts set as it conflicted with his schedule.
Bruhl also explained that he doesn’t exactly understand the interconnected stories of the MCU.
Photo: Marvel
“It’s always a delicate subject matter of what can you say? What can you not say?” he said. “It’s such a complex universe, as you know, that I only understand maybe 1% of it.”
Bruhl Would Return
When discussing a possible Zemo return, Bruhl remained ambiguous.
“There’s certain opportunities for you, there’s certain constellations where you might be part of more than in others,” said Brühl. “But it’s all a big if and a question mark.
Photo: Marvel
Still, if the opportunity presented itself, it sounds like Bruhl would return.
“And [if] destiny brings Zemo back sometime again, I would probably not say no.”
photo: Marvel
Thunderbolts will hit theaters on July 25, 2025.
Thanks for visiting MickeyBlog.com! Want to go to Disney? For a FREE quote on your next Disney vacation, please fill out the form below and one of the agents from MickeyTravels, a Diamond level Authorized Disney Vacation Planner, will be in touch soon! Also, thanks for reading!
The DC Universe, in all of its varied forms, contains no shortage of legendary female superheroes. This is The Direct’s ranking of the very best female characters that DC has in its lineup.
Female heroes are important. Everyone needs someone to look up to, particularly younger people. There are so many famous male heroes like Superman and Batman to serve as role models, but it’s equally important to see women represented in these types of roles.
Representation matters and the more heroes of every race, gender, and creed there are in the world, the better pop culture becomes. After all, variety is the spice of life.
DC’s 15 Best Female Heroes
As it goes with any ranking, the selection of characters and the order in which they are placed, might not reflect the opinions of those who hold them so dear. That being said, here’s The Direct’s breakdown of the 15 greatest female DC superheroines.
15.) Stargirl
DC
Created as a tribute by writer Geoff Johns for his late sister, Courtney Whitmore aka, Stargirl is one of DC’s finest young heroes. She’s the wielder of the Cosmic Staff and a key member of the Justice Society of America (or JSA for short).
In recent years, actress Brec Bassinger stepped into Stargirl’s star-spangled costume for her own self-titled live-action TV series that started on HBO Max but was later moved over to The CW. Sadly, the show was canceled three seasons in.
14.) Power Girl
DC
Kara Zor-L originated from Earth-2 in the comics where she served as a member of the JSA. Then she made the jump to DC’s main Earth, which was home to Power Girl’s alternate universe doppelganger, Supergirl.
Power Girl has not gotten much exposure (jokes about her costume’s boob window aside) in popular media. Many were expecting her to swoop into the long-running Supergirl television show, but alas, such a thing never occurred. Surprising, given the Arrowverse’s deep exploration of Multiverse lore.
13.) Huntress
DC
In actuality, there have been three separate characters to bear the mantle of Huntress. However, the one with whom most fans will likely be familiar is Helena Bertinelli. The daughter of a mobster, Helena had a rough upbringing but grew up to join DC’s premiere, women-led team, the Birds of Prey.
Speaking of the Birds of Prey, Huntress was a main character in the 2020 movie Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn)where she was portrayed by Scott Pilgrim’s own Mary Elizabeth Winstead. Helena was also a recurring character in the early seasons of Arrow, played by Jessica De Gouw.
Batwoman
DC
Kate Kane, the modern incarnation of Batwoman arrived on comic pages in 2006. There have been other characters to use the title of Batwoman, but Kane, who is, notably, one of the most prominent lesbian superheroes, is the most popular.
Writer Greg Rucka and artist J.H. Williams III’s Batwoman: Elegy is widely considered the go-to comic storyline for the hero, but she was also the recipient of her own live-action series in 2019 as part of the Arrowverse. Ruby Rose played Kate, but famously left the show after the first season, leaving Javicia Leslie‘s Ryan Wilder to replace her in the cape and cowl.
Miss Martian
DC
As a White Martian, M’gann M’orzz was born into a species that was at war with the Green Martians. M’gann was ultimately sent away from Mars and eventually wound up on Earth where she joined the Teen Titans. Possessing Superman-level strength, telepathy, and shapeshifting abilities, Miss Martian is a force to be reckoned with.
Miss Martian was a key player in the beloved, but cancellation-challenged Young Justice, voiced by Hallmark Channel mainstay Danica McKellar. Sharon Leal also portrayed M’Gann in the Supergirl series where she often fought alongside J’onn J’onzz, the Martian Manhunter.
Black Canary
DC
Not simply a love interest to the Green Arrow, the Black Canary has a long history in comic books. The original Canary, Dinah Drake, was one of DC’s very first female superheroes. She’s also an expert fighter, and in a pinch, she can use her piercing Canary Cry as a highly effective attack.
When fans think of Black Canary, their minds likely drift towards The CW’s Arrowverse shows. Caity Lotz showed up as the black-clad crimefighter in Arrow’s second season before her death (She got better!) Katie Cassidy, who played her sister Laurel, carries on the mantle for a while after that.
In addition to the character’s TV representation, Lovecraft Country’s Jurnee Smollett lent her talents to playing Black Canary in the DCEU’s Birds of Prey movie. Although the film was released shortly before the start of the pandemic, the number of theatergoing eyes on it was unfortunately minimal.
Zatanna
DC
Zatanna Zatara is an immensely powerful magic user, whose skills rival that of John Constantine’s. While best known as a superhero, she also has a successful career in stage magic. Zatanna is, of course, especially famous for her trademark backward-spoken spell incantations.
In media, Zatanna has appeared in several animated projects. She’s had roles in shows like the DC Animated Universe’s New Batman Adventures and Justice League Unlimited. She also popped up a few times in Cartoon Network’s tragically short-lived Justice League Action. Serinda Swan played a live-action Zatanna in Smallville as well.
Starfire
DC
A fixture on the Teen Titans roster, Koriand’r, more commonly known as the hero Starfire comes from the planet Tamaran. She’s been romantically involved with Dick Grayson, the first Robin, in many incarnations. But beyond that, Starfire can fly, shoot energy from her hands, and is indestructible.
The character has had a few notable portrayals in pop culture, the most famous example being in the fondly remembered, 2003 Teen Titans cartoon where she was voiced by Hynden Walch. Actress Anna Diop also breathed life into Starfire in live-action for the Titans streaming show that ran from 2018 to 2023.
Hawkgirl
DC
There are multiple versions of Hawkgirl, each one with a wildly different backstory from the next. However, the most prominent take on the character is that of Shayera Hol. Originating on the planet Thanagar and armed with a super-strong Nth metal mace, Hawkgirl spreads her wings and fights as a stalwart member of the Justice League.
She was a main character in the 2001 Justice League series, voiced by Maria Canals-Barrera, and depicted as a no-nonsense, strike-first, ask-questions-later warrior.
Additionally, Isabela Merced will take on the role of Hawkgirl in the new DCU. She’ll appear in 2025’s Superman: Legacy but it isn’t presently known if Merced is playing Shayera Hol or a different Hawkgirl.
Catwoman
DC
Gotham City’s most infamous cat burglar, Selina Kyle has a lengthy history of being a thorn in Batman’s side, and oftentimes, his ally and love interest. Catwoman’s costume has razor-sharp claws affixed to the gloves and she usually uses a whip to fight, or simply to cause trouble.
Although Michelle Pfeiffer’s Catwoman from Batman Returns is probably the most popular adaptation of Selina, the 1960s television Batman series and movie cast no less than three actresses to play her: Lee Merriweather, Eartha Kitt, and Julie Newmar. Anne Hathaway also gave a memorable performance as Ms. Kyle in The Dark Knight Rises from 2012.
Today, the role is inhabited by Zoë Kravitz in director Matt Reeves’ The Batman. In that film, she at-times reluctantly assists Bruce Wayne in his crime-fighting endeavors before leaving Gotham in the final act.
Raven
DC
Another Teen Titans staple, Raven was created by Marv Wolfman and the late George Pérez. She’s an extremely skilled magic user who lives in the shadow of her father, the demon known as Trigon. As an empath, Raven is also able to sense the emotional states of others.
The heroine is perhaps best known for her part in the ‘03 Teen Titans animated program as well as its more-kid-friendly off-shoot Teen Titans Go! In both shows, she’s voiced by prolific voice actress Tara Strong. Tegan Croft also portrayed Raven in Titans. “Azarath Metrion Zinthos!”
Supergirl
DC
When Krypton exploded and baby Kal-El was sent rocketing away from the planet’s destruction, Kara Zor-El was right behind him. Kara was meant to serve as her cousin’s protector on Earth but her vessel was knocked off course and she did not arrive until years later. Under Earth’s yellow sun, she can do anything and everything Superman can.
Melissa Benoist brought life to the Maiden of Might on the Supergirl TV series, where she took part in several crossovers with Arrow, The Flash, and Legends of Tomorrow. Sasha Calle also made a standout turn as the character in the 2023 Flash film. Not to mention there was Helen Slater’s take on the character in the Supergirl movie from 1984.
The Joker’s one-time sidekick and girlfriend, Harley Quinn and her “Puddin’” committed innumerable crimes in Gotham City together, causing many headaches for Batman. But in recent years, Harley has broken things off with Joker and transitioned into more of an antihero.
Margot Robbie may be the most famous face associated with the character, but she had her origins as a character created specifically for Batman: The Animated Series. She proved to be such a quality villain (in part due to the late Arleen Sorkin’s voice acting) that she was incorporated into the comics.
These days, Kaley Cuoco voices Harley Quinn in her smash hit animated series on Max. The show has been praised for giving the character a great deal of agency, as well as exploring her sexuality through showcasing her romantic relationship with fellow Bat-Foe Poison Ivy.
Batgirl
DC
Barbara Gordon, daughter of Gotham City Police Commissioner Jim Gordon, joined Batman’s crime-fighting crusade as Batgirl. But in Alan Moore’s The Killing Joke, Barbara became paralyzed by a bullet from the Joker’s gun. Eventually, though, she was able to walk again when DC’s comic continuity was rebooted with The New 52 publishing initiative.
Babs had a large role to play in the Batman cartoons of the 1990s. The character was even due to star in a live-action feature film. A film that essentially completed production before it was shelved by Warner Bros. as a tax write-off. Naturally, many fans are still quite bitter over this.
Wonder Woman
DC
Arguably the most well-known female superhero of all time, Diana of Themyscira dons the Bracelets of Submission and wields the Lasso of Truth to fight injustice as Wonder Woman. Diana is undeniably an icon of popular culture to the extent that even non-superhero fans know who she is.
Lynda Carter portrayed Diana in the 1975 Wonder Woman television series, which was quite the hit in its day. And in 2016, Gal Gadot stepped into the role in Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice. She would go on to play Wonder Woman several more times.
With the beginning of the new, rebooted DCU shared universe closing in fast, it‘s been confirmed that the character will be rebooted and recast with a yet-to-be-selected actress who will go on to become the new face of Wonder Woman.
Notice: To display this embed please allow the use of Functional Cookies in Cookie Preferences.
The debut episode will be directed by Westworld co-creator and executive producer Jonathan Nolan, while Captain Marvel and Tomb Raider 2018 film co-writer Geneva Robertson-Dworet, and Silicon Valley co-executive producer Graham Wagner, have also been appointed as showrunners.
“Based on one of the greatest video game series of all time, Fallout is the story of haves and have-nots in a world in which there’s almost nothing left to have,” reads the description accompanying the trailer, which is viewable above.
“200 years after the apocalypse, the gentle denizens of luxury fallout shelters are forced to return to the irradiated hellscape their ancestors left behind — and are shocked to discover an incredibly complex, gleefully weird and highly violent universe waiting for them.”
Fallout debuted in 1997 and the most recent game in the series was 2018’s online multiplayer title Fallout 76. Season 15 of the game, The Big Score, launches this week.
The last mainline series entry, 2015’s Fallout 4, is also its best-selling one, having shipped 12 million copies worldwide for launch day alone, according to its publisher.
It seems like not a day can go by without Blackmagic releasing some new product or update these days. While their Blackmagic Camera app has gotten several updates in the past few months, we’re excited to see some other new features coming to the rest of the Blackmagic-verse with this new Blackmagic Camera 8.5 public beta release.
This will be big news for anyone who’s already invested in (or interested in renting) the Blackmagic URSA Broadcast G2 camera as it will allow for a fully unlocked workflow with its connection to Blackmagic Cloud and DaVinci Resolve.
Let’s take a look at the full release and see how it might potentially help you with your own Blackmagic workflows.
Blackmagic Camera 8.5 Beta
For a company that only developed its first cinema camera just around a decade ago, Blackmagic sure has made a name for itself in the professional video space over the past years. With a full lineup of cameras that are targeted at beginners to the highest end of cinematographers, there are a lot of different cameras and features to keep up with.
Luckily, with this latest Blackmagic camera update, there should be improvements coming across the board with this beta update and future versions as well.
Here’s what’s new in Blackmagic Camera 8.5:
Improved SDI output latency.
Adds media pool file browser.
Adds Blackmagic Cloud clip uploads.
Adds direct uploads to DaVinci Resolve projects.
Adds proxy recording for Blackmagic RAW and ProRes.
Adds Secure Reliable Transport (SRT) streaming protocol.
Adds the ability to update and manage the camera via Ethernet.
Adds REST control API for remote control.
Adds login and secure certificate support.
Adds network time protocol support.
Adds web media manager support.
Adds file transfer protocol support.
Adds selective tally color setting.
Adds SMB file-sharing support.
Improved lens compatibility.
Blackmagic URSA Broadcast G2 Update
Blackmagic Design
Blackmagic URSA Broadcast G2 Update
Alongside this Blackmagic Camera beta update, Blackmagic has also rolled out some updates specifically for the URSA Broadcast G2 camera as well. The biggest new feature has to be the news that the URSA Broadcast G2 will now be able to directly upload footage to Blackmagic Cloud—which can then be transferred directly to your DaVinci Resolve projects.
This should be a huge deal for those looking to fully unlock their URSA Broadcast G2 cameras for real-time broadcast settings or fast-turnaround projects. The update is also set to add improved SDI output latency as well as new SRT streaming support for the camera.
The improved ISO, in particular, should help tally color from orange to yellow and should be a welcomed addition to the camera and its broadcast and video production capabilities.
How to Update
As with all Blackmagic camera updates—and most camera updates in general—all you have to do to update your software is download the installer, which you can find here. This installer will add Blackmagic Camera Setup software to your system so that you’ll be able to update the software and manage your Blackmagic Camera.
The installer can also add Blackmagic RAW Player, Blackmagic RAW Speed Test, Blackmagic RAW SDK, and Blackmagic RAW plugins. Also, keep in mind, that for updating Blackmagic Cameras from Camera 4.0 or above, it is advisable to export your presets and LUTs onto a card, as they will be removed during this update.
Christian told GQ, “Even though other people were cast, other directors were on board, I just kept on prepping, and I would call Mary up, and she would say, ‘Christian, they’ve given it to other people.’ And I was like, yeah yeah yeah, no, it doesn’t matter. We’re still gonna make it. And she was like, oh, he has lost the plot. And all my friends were saying that to me, like, ‘What are you doing?’ … And lo and behold, look at that, it did eventually come back. So that felt like a great victory.”
Herman Rush, who produced several television shows and was the former president of Columbia Pictures Television, has died. He was 94.
Rush died on Dec. 12 of natural causes in Los Angeles, his daughter Mandie told The Hollywood Reporter.
Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1929, Rush grew up in a show-business family, with his uncle Manie Sacks being Frank Sinatra’s first manager.
In 1951, Rush began his career in television, working first as a salesman for Official Film before moving up to several different leadership positions. He later purchased Flamingo Films, a television syndication firm, in 1957 and turned it into a major independent syndication company.
Throughout the ’60s and early ’70s, he was with Creative Management Associates as the president of the television division. He also worked for CMA’s predecessor organization, General Artists Corporation, now known as International Creative Management, and played a huge role in the agency’s entry into television packaging. Some of the shows he was responsible for placing on networks included The Perry Como Show, The Jackie Gleason Show, The Kraft Music Hall and The Hollywood Palace.
Rush also represented producer Irwin Allen during his time making TV hits such as Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Lost In Space, The Time Tunnel and Land of the Giants.
In the late ’60s, Rush acquired properties from British entertainment titan Lord Lew Grade. One of them was the popular sitcom Till Death Us Do Part, which was later shopped to Norman Lear, who turned it into All in the Family. Rush also repackaged and produced a number of BBC comedy TV series for American audiences, including For the Love of Ada (A Touch of Grace) and Love Thy Neighbor.
From 1971 to 1976, Rush served as an independent TV packager and producer and produced several TV movies and comedy series at ABC. During that time, he also executive produced the ABC Bicentennial Special, The American Spirit and Death Stalk, in association with David Wolper Productions.
He was appointed president of Marble Arch Television, the American subsidiary of Lord Lew Grades’ Associated Communications Limited, in 1979, but the following year was named president of Columbia Pictures Television Group.
While at Columbia Pictures, he helped reestablish it as one of the major producers and distributors of TV programs, as well as supervised the production of a number of movies and mini-series. Rush put more than a dozen series on the air, including Ripley’s Believe It or Not, Mike Hammer and Designing Women. Rush was also at Columbia when it was purchased by The Coca-Cola Company in 1982. (It was later merged with Tri-Star Pictures in 1987 to form Columbia Pictures Entertainment, Inc. before Sony Pictures acquired it in 1989.)
Rush produced several other TV projects throughout his career, such as The American Red Cross Emergency Test, A Users Guide to Planet Earth: The American Environment Test and The Montel Williams Show.
He also created Katz/Rush Entertainment with Raymond Katz, which produced The New Original Amateur Hour, The Susan Powter Show, Miss America: Behind The Crown and Nite Cap.
For his impact on the TV industry, Rush was honored by the Pacific Pioneer Broadcasters and The Caucus for Writers, Producers and Directors. He also served on the board of the Ojai Film Festival.
Rush is survived by his two children, Mandie and Jim, with whom he shares with his wife of 72 years, Joan Rush, who died in October.
Dr. Death: Cutthroat Conman is the story of the rise and fall of the controversial surgeon Paolo Macchiarini. He is a pioneer in the field of trachea transplantation but was accused of performing transplants on patients without seeking authorization. Moreover, though the operations or surgeries were successful, the patients died soon after.
Here’s how you can watch and stream Dr. Death: Cutthroat Conman via streaming services such as Peacock.
Is Dr. Death: Cutthroat Conman available to watch via streaming?
Yes, Dr. Death: Cutthroat Conman is available to watch via streaming on Peacock.
Paolo Macchiarini is the man behind the biggest scam in medicine in medical history. Dr. Death: Cutthroat Conman is well-detailed documentary which includes interviews with many of Paolo’s colleagues about his failed trachea surgeries as the patients developed other complications.
Watch Dr. Death: Cutthroat Conman streaming via Peacock
Dr. Death: Cutthroat Conman is available to watch on Peacock. It is a streaming service that features video content from NBC Universal Studios and other video content providers. Moreover, it comes with various subscription levels, where the free tier contains limited content and the paid premium tier allows access to the entire library of contents.
You can watch the documentary via Peacock by following these steps:
$11.99 per month or $119.99 per year (premium plus
Create your account
Enter your payment details
Peacock’s Premium account provides access to over 80,000+ hours of TV, movies, and sports, including current NBC and Bravo Shows, along with 50 always-on channels. Premium Plus is the same plan but with no ads (save for limited exclusions), along with allowing users to download select titles and watch them offline and providing access to your local NBC channel live 24/7.
The Dr. Death: Cutthroat Conman synopsis is as follows:
“A documentary revealing the shocking rise and fall of Paolo Macchiarini, the superstar celebrity surgeon who ascended to global fame after performing the world’s first synthetic organ transplant, only to be exposed as an international con man whose web of lies extends decades, ensnared many including those in his personal life and left a trail of devastated patients grappling with a nightmare.“
NOTE: The streaming services listed above are subject to change. The information provided was correct at the time of writing.
The second cinematic adaptation of Alice Walker’s 1982 novel is arriving in theaters. The first time we saw Celie, Shug,…
Charlie Hunham may have revealed that a Triple Frontier sequel is in the works, with the actor confirming he’s signed…
The master tapes for the fan-favorite Canadian animated series ReBoot have been found, according to a recent group of fans.…
Sony Pictures has dropped a new Anyone But You video for the upcoming romantic comedy, which will arrive in theaters…
SPOILER ALERT! This post contains details from the Season 10 finale of The Masked Singer, including the identity of Cow.
The Masked Singer has officially crowned its Season 10 winner.
The two-hour finale of the Fox singing competition series brought its four finalists — Cow, Sea Queen, Gazelle, and Donut — head-to-head for the Masked trophy. After putting on two very different performances, Cow battled his way to the top.
No one should be too shocked by this win, considering Cow is none other than three-time Grammy winner Ne-Yo. Props to Robin Thicke for figuring it out first.
Ne-Yo had been impressing the judges all season. But no one except for Thicke was able to deduce who might be behind the mask until the final moments of Wednesday’s episode. It wasn’t until a rendition of “Take A Bow” by Rihanna, which Ne-Yo wrote and produced with StarGate, that Nicole Scherzinger also realized who had been right in front of her the entire time.
If anyone was going to figure it out, it would have been Thicke or Scherzinger, Ne-Yo told Deadline. But he didn’t just have to fool the judges. He also had to stand alongside longtime friend Nick Cannon each episode and fly under his radar as well.
Ne-Yo spoke with Deadline ahead of the finale about keeping up the ruse and bringing home the Masked trophy.
DEADLINE: You mentioned you’re a fan of the show. But what prompted you to actually compete?
NE-YO: Nick Cannon is a dear friend of mine. He had no idea that I was doing the show. I actually have to give credit to another dear friend of mine. Her name is Danielle Crawley. She’s a mutual friend of me and Nick, and we were literally just talking about it one day, and she was like, ‘How funny would it be if you went on The Masked Singer and we didn’t tell Nick? Do you think that he would catch you? And I’m like, I don’t know. I might have to go to some extreme lengths for him to not know that it was me, which was actually kind of the reason why I went with the female cow as opposed to a male cow. They actually asked me when it was agreed that I was going to do the show. They gave me the option to be a male cow or a female cow, and I went with the female cow just trying to really go as far as I could to make sure that no one knew it was me. And sure enough, it worked, because he had no idea at all.
DEADLINE: Some of your mannerisms as the Cow were hilarious, especially when you would mess with Nick. He calls you out on it in the finale. How did you get into that character?
NE-YO: I pride myself as an actor in training. You know what I mean? I don’t know if I’m good enough to call myself a full-on actor just yet, but I definitely have love for the craft. And again, I knew I was gonna be a female cow. I grew up in a house full of women — my mother, my sister, my grandmother, and me. So the female mannerisms weren’t that difficult to pick up…it wasn’t difficult at all to develop the character. But yeah, I was messing with Nick just because it was so funny to me that he did not know who I was.
DEADLINE: Throughout the competition, you really experimented with a lot of different genres. I know that the producers help guide song choices, but how much did you have a role in that?
NE-YO: Yeah, that was definitely done on purpose. My voice is pretty distinctive. It’s very hard for me to disguise my singing voice. I knew that if anybody was going to catch me that will be how. I can disguise my speaking voice. I can’t disguise my singing voice. So I tried to do songs that kind of step outside of my wheelhouse a little bit, songs that you probably wouldn’t expect Ne-Yo to sing, and I guess it worked.
DEADLINE: How did you decide to perform “Take A Bow” for the finale?
NE-YO: ‘Take A Bow’ was a decision of myself and the producers combined. We wanted to do, one of the last performances, kind of like a final clue as to who I was. Even then some of the judges were just not convinced it was me.
DEADLINE: Robin and Nicole did guess your identity. Were you expecting that?
NE-YO: Robin and Nicole, I actually have personal relationships with, so I knew if I could get past them, if I could convince them that I was not me, then I’d be okay. I was most concerned with Robin, Nicole, and Nick figuring out who I was. Robin was actually the only judge that was consistently saying, ‘Yeah, I think that’s Ne-Yo.’ Everybody else kind of moved and swayed to potentially other people. But Robin kept it pretty consistent. That worried me. They weren’t really listening to Robin. Nick said at one point, ‘I know it’s not Ne-Yo.’ I knew I was pretty much scot-free from there.
DEADLINE: What did Nick Cannon say to you when he found out it really was you the whole time?
NE-YO: Well, backstage he was like, ‘Okay, so I gotta kill Danielle.’ He knew that our mutual friend was was the one that was responsible for it. And then he was actually really impressed. Because he was like, ‘I really did not know that it was you. I mean the voice kind of, but from the way that you walk to the way that you move, I had no idea.’ He was impressed with my acting chops. He’s like, ‘You got to do some more acting.’ I think I just might.
DEADLINE: I also really enjoyed the group number at the beginning of the finale. Did you all have to rehearse in your costumes to keep your identity hidden?
NE-YO: The security for The Masked Singer is top notch. It is presidential security, like nobody knew who anybody was. If you didn’t have on your costume, we have hoodies that say, ‘don’t talk to me’ across the front of them, with a mirrored visor and gloves. No one knew who anybody else was. For the rehearsals, you were either in your costume or in that hoodie and visor and gloves. They were very, very adamant about it. You literally couldn’t come on set…they were not playing around.
DEADLINE: You said in your finale package that you were really excited about the possibility of winning The Masked Singer.How did it feel to actually take home the trophy?
NE-YO: I’m in some great company, just speaking on the other artists that have won, and it feels good. It feels good to step outside of my own shoes for a minute. I never expected to step into the female cow shoes but it did feel good to just step away from from the Ne-Yo dynamic for a second and just just do something else. Above anything else, I had so much fun with this. I really truly did. I’d do it again. If I felt like I could get away with it, I would absolutely do it again.
On “Daddy,” two of music’s most provocative and sexually liberated artists—Tokischa, the Dominican dembow olympian, and Sexyy Red, the St. Louis rap dynamo—assert their dominance over a carefree take on ballroom and dembow. Atop a sludgy bassline and chintzy keys, Tokischa delivers bratty bars about illicit substances and juggling sugar babies—tales of tricking from an artist who’s really been about that life. It’s silly and queer-friendly, with refurbished bars about getting high and kinky, but it’s devoid of the delicious one-liners Tokischa and Sexyy Red both cut their teeth on. When Sexyy boasts, “I’m a bad puta, drive chicos loco,” for example, she sounds like a novice Spanish speaker who just learned a new cuss word. The wacky music video is cute, and sure to send the Internet ablaze, but Toki’s umpteenth collaborative single this year proves that she’s better off pouring her energy into a full-length album than prosthetic antics.
Advice from a small agency trying to do big things.
We stood, surrounded by towering palm trees in a Victorian glass house. Outside, autumn’s grip was tightening. Piles of orange leaves lay beneath their trees, the branches, naked. Inside, our studio lights beamed to create a false sunset. Our models sat on a small round metal table as we shot the final sequence of ‘the date scene’. With every inch that the sun dropped, our lights needed adjusting. The more it dropped, the easier it was to tell there were lights in the room. The sun dropped more. We tinkered the lights. “Rolling” the DOP announced to the room full of art directors, stylists, hair and makeup artists, gaffers, sparkies and producers. We stayed quiet. The models did their thing and then paused. We all looked up to the DOP who was poised on a small wooden box staring down his monitor “That’s a wrap”.
If you were to have asked us if we’d have imagined we’d be delivering FatFace’s Spring 2024 campaign 3 years ago. Or even that this was the second year in a row that we’d been doing it, I’d have never believed you. Now, I could sit here and write an essay on our ingenious plan to ‘make it’ in the creative industry, or I could write about the truth. The truth is that our videoproduction company had no master plan, not 10 steps to success. We had A plan and sure these are super important, but most of the biggest wins we’ve had have been from the places we’d never had imagined. I want to share with you, my dear reader, what I see as the most important things that happened that led to us getting our first job with FatFace and… warts and all.
Do Free Work
Even to this day we still do free work! “Yuk” I hear you cry! “Don’t devalue your skills” I hear someone else shout. Yes, I get you, these are all totally valid things to say but the creative industry is a two way street. It’s really easy to get wrapped up in the idea of ‘your inherent value’ but you don’t see this type of complaint in any other industry. If you were looking for a builder, you wouldn’t just pick anyone because they are inherently valued, you pay for their skills because you’ve seen a house they’ve made and you think it looks great. There are hundreds of builders, it’s about finding the best one for you. The same is true of the creative industry. If there is a type of work you want to be doing, you have to start by doing it, not by hoping that it lands on your lap.
Me and my business partner had a full time job for a year whilst we were setting up Here Now Films. We had to borrow money from our families to be able to afford our first camera (we’re still paying this back 4 years later). Over that period of time Ollie would go out and film anything he could. A simple beach fire evening would become a sponsored beer advert. A local charity would become our NGO film. We’d reach out to anyone and everyone to collect stories that resonated with us.
Quick tip: It can be really hard getting free work! People often look at offers for free work as a request for their time instead of a gift. They think “why do they need us so much”. We found the very best way to offer free work is to contextualize the offer and instead of being vague put it into a format. For example, “Hey company x, we’re filming a mini series on London’s most sustainable startups and wanted to include you in the list. It would involve a day of film work with you and the team and capturing some of your work behind the scenes. We’re locking in companies by the end of next week, let us know if you’d be interested in featuring… oh, and it’s completely free”. By offering a place in a list and having a deadline it feels like a moving train that they can either jump on or get left behind. It works every time.
Anyway, over the first couple of years we delivered a number of free projects about people in the conservation and environmental field. It paid dividends in that people started to approach us for more and more of this type of work, we even began to get paid.
Find a vertical
We’ve all been there, you see another creative team delivering mediocre work for a client you’d love to have and you think to yourself “how the hell are they getting this?”. It’s painful but the truth is, people are fickle things. We buy from brands we trust. This is taken a step further in the creative industry, our clients will often ask us to give them an exact example of the film they want to make, no matter how niche “hey have you ever done a testimonial film… about a tech company… that works in medicare… for the elderly”. We’ve actually lost out on jobs because of not being able to show an exact reference. This is where a vertical comes in. A vertical is a term used to describe your method from getting from the bottom to the top. It can be a process, a branding exercise, a physical product, but whatever medium it is, it has one resolute rule… a niche.
Verticals explained
If you are a filmmaker you make films about people, places, products, events, processes, ideas you name it. But how are you going to get seen or stand out from the crowd? In film, focus on becoming known for a type of film. Maybe that’s a broad niche “we make great films really cheap”, or maybe it’s more specific, “we are THE music video people in Bristol”. This may sound like a strange move as you feel like you’re turning away a huge part of your market but what it actually means is you’re almost 100% guaranteed to get the work when people are looking for what you deliver. Getting almost all the work from a niche segment is way better than getting none of all the available work. It also has the added benefit of sharpening your skills and letting you charge more. Once you’ve climbed your vertical as high as you want to, you can umbrella out to other lines of work.
Distribution: Don’t be ok at a few things, be great at just one.
As the old saying goes, “build it and they will come”. This may have worked for Noah and the ark but in the real world this just isn’t the case. You may think that making a lovely short film about a local artist is going to mean that The Tate modern will come knocking on your door but the truth is… as we’ve already discussed, there are hundreds of us, and we’re all pretty similar. So, now you’ve made your films, how are you going to get in front of your audience? I see so many people spreading themselves thin across every marketing medium they can: a bit of socials, a bit of web, a bit of emails, some paid articles. STOP IT! Doing a little bit across a lot means you are never first in any of them. We spent 2 years faffing around with this technique before realizing that we were beaten in every channel by bigger and better companies. The only way to break the mold is by finding a single marketing vertical and hammering it.
Let me take you through some examples. One of our biggest competitors (in a friendly way) find almost all of their work from going to networking events. They visit them, they host them, they comment on them, you name it, they’re really good at this line of distribution. This is a seriously good talent to have. But that’s how they operate. They know all of the faces that go to the same event and become THE trusted video people in that circle. Would that be the same if they went to 20% of the events and spent their time doing web, seo, paid marketing… absolutely not. We on the other hand focus on web search and delivering a great experience for our clients. The end result is that 40% of our new work comes from simply being 1st place in google, 30% is repeat work and 30% is referral. We get 0 work from socials, 0 work from networking, 0 work from anywhere else.
Why am I telling you this? Because it was only because of this technique that we managed to land our first job with AirBnB. More of that next.
Small fish… big pond
It’s the golden question, is it better to be a big fish in a small pond or a small fish in a big pond. The answer in the creative industry is simple. As a studio, you want your clients to feel like they are getting a great deal. For a client this means they need to think that you are brilliant (big fish) and they are getting you for a great price (small pond). But as a creative person, it’s a completely different story. You always want to feel like you’re learning from the best. On every shoot we tra and get the best team we can (big pond) and learn as much as we can (small fish).
When we landed AirBnB it was our biggest job to date. It was like a surreal dream. It literally just popped into our inbox, “Enquiry: AirBnB short film series”. Now this doesn’t happen everyday but we’d spent the last 2 years developing our character profiles and branded documentary portfolio (this was our vertical), and we’d spent a year trying to rank well on google through blogs, great content and making our website friendly (this was our distribution). Anyway, this was a huge job and to be honest we felt totally under prepared. They wanted an agency to deliver the video work and photo assets for their cornwall campaign and wanted people to pitch for the work. We had a dilemma. Our photographers we’d built up over the years had become our friends but we knew we needed to punch above our weight to get this as a job. We needed
to be a small fish. We had an honest conversation with our long standing photographer and approached someone who is considered to be the very best photographer in Cornwall, John Hurssey. We gave him the pitch and he was in.
We ended up getting selected for the contract not because of the films, but because of the great collective body of work we put forward from the photographs to the films. I can hand on heart say I don’t think we’d have landed this job if it wasn’t for John coming on board. He was the big fish, we were the small pond. To cut a long story short, we nailed the job and paid John properly for his time. Most importantly, we gained John as a great friend and creative mentor.
Landing FatFace
Cut forward 6 months after AirBnB and I get a phone call from John. He was stoked, there was a big client on the line and he’d been selected as the photographer. The client wanted a video team alongside him and they were asking him for recommendations… he’d put us forward. This was huge! Out of everyone John knew, he chose to get back in touch with us when an opportunity came his way. As a friend we owe him a lot for this but to break this down as a business learning you can see that by working with people much better than you, you get these rare opportunities to piggyback on their success. You have to deliver and boy don’t take it for granted. Would you get the same opportunities by stocking in your lane and working with people ‘on your level’, maybe… but I think it’s less likely.
We’re proud to now call FatFace one of our repeating clients. We’ve just delivered our second Spring campaign with them and are looking at working with them on their Summer campaign as well. We never get comfortable, we stay humble and everytime we work with them we treat it as if it’s the first.
Conclusion
Today, we try to always be the smallest fish in the pond. We’ve just launched a film crew for hire branch of our business that exclusively targets overseas productions needing help in the UK. Instead of doing this ourselves we’ve partnered with one of the UK’s best connected creatives, sure we get less money, but that’s not the point. We learn and our product will always be improving.
I hope the above helps guide your thinking on building your creative business and becoming a better creative business owner. It’s a challenge and there will be ups and downs, that’s for sure. It’s worth it though, for every down there is a big step forward and an opportunity for learning.
If you want to learn more about setting up a creative agency feel free to get in touch, my email is below and I’m happy to answer any questions you may have.
With demand at an all-time high, Winnipeg’s Christmas Cheer Board will no longer take applications for hampers this year.
On Wednesday afternoon, the Cheer Board had reached 20,250 hamper applications, which is 2,000 more than a year ago. And the organization says it has become impossible to keep up.
“Earlier in December we placed additional orders for food in the hopes it would be enough to get us through the season,” said board chairperson Jim Ketcheson. “It’s finally come to a point where our budget just cannot bear the demand we are seeing.”
It’s the first time in its more than 100-year history that the Cheer Board has stopped taking hamper applications. Call centres were supposed to remain open until Christmas Eve, but closed Wednesday.
The Masked Singer returned for the grand finale on Wednesday, and the four best performers of season 10 faced off in a jam-packed showdown for the Golden Mask Trophy!
Helmed by host Nick Cannon and overseen by stalwart panelists Robin Thicke, Ken Jeong, Jenny McCarthy and Nicole Scherzinger, Wednesday’s exciting finale saw The Cow, The Sea Queen, The Donut and The Gazelle face off for their chance to claim victory.
So who crowned the season 10 champion? Scroll down to just see the answer! Otherwise, here’s how Wednesday’s finale shook out when all the songs were sung and votes were cast!
The Cow kicked things off, bringing energy, choreography and charisma to his performance of “Rhythm Nation” by Janet Jackson, and it simply blew the judges’ minds.
“That is undoubtedly one of the best performances we’ve ever had of any season. Ever!” Robin marveled.
“I’m fangirling right now,” Nicole gushed.
The Gazelle was the next to take the stage, and she brought the judges to tears with her delicate, vulnerable performance of “Chasing Cars” by Snow Patrol.
The song brought Jeong to tears, and he gleefully told Gazelle how happy he was that he rang the bell earlier in the season to save her from elimination.
“Honestly, I’d have to say my favorite moment of the show I’ve ever had was using the bell to save you, because here we are with your best performance,” Jeong said. “I mean, you more than earned it, and I just couldn’t be happier for you. Amazing job, and your best performance.”
The Sea Queen showed off her diva vocals with a rendition of Fontella Bass’ “Rescue Me” that got the audience on their feet and all the panelists singing along with joy.
Finally, The Donut wrapped up the first half of the finale competition with a sugary sweet cover of “You Are So Beautiful” by Joe Cocker. The Donut explained that the entire reason he decided to do The Masked Singer was to honor the memory of his late wife, so the performance proved to be particularly poignant and moving.
The first hour of the two-hour finale ended with the night’s first unmasking — and after all the votes were cast, it was The Sea Queen who wound up being the first to have to “take it off.”
In a rare moment of unity, all four members of the panel agreed on exactly who was under the mask: Macy Gray. And, as it turned out, all four panelists were 100 percent correct!
The Gazelle, however, managed to fool them all. She left the panel stunned when she unmasked and revealed herself to be none other than Pretty Little Liars star Janel Parrish!
“Singing is my first love. It’s the first thing I ever did when I was a kid, and somewhere along my journey, singing became my biggest fear and my biggest insecurity,” Parish shared. “As I became known for acting, it almost felt like to say I was a singer was a lie.”
“But to come out here as this gorgeous gazelle, and nobody knows who I am, I got to just tap into my voice,” she added. “And now I feel like a singer! And that’s because of you guys! So thank you.”
After Gazelle delivered an unmasked encore performance, the finale came down to The Donut and The Cow — which meant each got a chance to perform one last time.
The Donut took the stage first, and stunned everyone with a masterful, soulful cover of “Drift Away” by Dobie Gray, which cemented in everyone’s mind that he has to be a professional singer.
However, The Cow took things to the next level with a wild and truly memorable reimagining of Rihanna’s “Take a Bow” that literally left the judges speechless.
So, between The Cow and The Donut, who won Season 10 of The Masked Singer?…
And the winner is… The Cow!
This meant it was time for The Donut to unmask, and after the judges made their final guesses, The Donut revealed himself to be Dukes of Hazard and Smallville star John Schneider!
“Well, I’m a theater brat. I started in theater when I was a kid, and have done theater for a very long time,” Schneider shared, when asked why he signed on to do the show. “I have always considered myself a singer who will act for food.”
He was brought to tears paying tribute to his late wife, sharing, “I’m honored to be here. I know that my bride would be delighted. She would’ve been back there having a great time… My wife passed in February this year. So that’s why it’s still– it’s still so fresh. But I think it’s always gonna be fresh.”
“Make sure that if you love somebody desperately, make sure, before you go to sleep tonight, that they know it. Make sure that you know that they love them,” he added with a smile.
Finally, the time came to award The Cow the big prize — and find out out who was under the mask!
After the chants of “take it off,’ The Cow revealed himself to be R&B icon Ne-Yo!
The singer dedicated the victory to his mom, and explained, “I grew up in a house full of women– my mother, my sister, and my grandmother, five aunts, and me till I was, like, 16. I couldn’t tell you what the color of the walls in the bathroom was ’cause I never got in there, ever, ever, ever. It just never happened.”
“But what I learned in that house is the strength of a woman. I’m talking physical and mental,” he continued. “I learned how to be a listener. I learned how to not be afraid of emotion. I learned how to stand on my own. I learned these things from these women. My mother has been my rock for my entire life. She still is to this day. So this one is for you, Ma!”
Congrats to the 10th Golden Mask Trophy winner, Ne-Yo!
The ZBook range is HP’s answer to the need for an enterprise fleet for businesses that trade on more demanding graphical or data processing workloads and the Firefly is the entry level segment of the Z range.
This doesn’t mean all the ZBook Firefly G10 or G10 A (‘A’ denoting AMD-powered models) devices are going to be suited to one kind of employee however, since even within this line-up the devices can be configured with a range of CPUs and integrated or entry-level discrete GPUs.
The most powerful ZBook Firefly G10 has slightly lower graphical performance than something running a Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050, so it’s really only suitable for creatives with the lightest workloads and regular office workers. If you do need that little bit more the ZBook Power, Studio and Fury are tailored to heavier kinds of creative workflows.
The devices come with Windows Pro operating systems and processors that allow all the extra security and fleet management tools that businesses may need. This means they’re not often competitive as consumer or home-work devices for anyone that can operate without logging into company systems. So for the self employed, you’re going to get more value from an Asus Zenbook S 13, Dell’s XPS 13 Plus or a MacBook Air, but for businesses HP’s ZBook range makes it convenient to set up and monitor fleets and add hardware service care for devices.
Image 1 of 4
(Image credit: Future – Joel Burgess)
(Image credit: Future – Joel Burgess)
(Image credit: Future – Joel Burgess)
(Image credit: Future – Joel Burgess)
HP ZBook Firefly G10 /G10A: Price and availability
From $1,769 / £1,200 / AU$2,456 / SG$2,201
IT Support (3 years) $117 / £132 / AU$270
The entry level devices start at $1,769 / £1,200 / AU$2,456 for something with an Intel Core i5-1340P CPU, 16GB of RAM and integrated Iris Xe Graphics (or the Nvidia RTX A500 in the UK). That pricing is pretty steep in the US and Australia, since you only get a device that’s just capable of what you’d want in a professional laptop intended to last 3 to 5 years. On something like this you can expect to have no issue running standard office applications, web browsers and possibly the occasional bout of light photo editing, but there’s not a lot of overhead for anyone doing more demanding work than standard office tasks. This is compounded by the Firefly’s entry-level FullHD+ screen that is just 250 nits and has poor 45% NTSC colour reproduction, which won’t allow you to do any serious creative work.
If you do need the ‘workstation’ capabilities boasted about in HP’s marketing materials you’ll need to invest in one of the more capable systems. There are too many to list individually here, and availability varies region-to-region, but they range all the way up to the $4,549 (about £3,597 / $6,782) G10 with an Intel Core i7-1365U CPU, 64GB RAM allocation and Nvidia RTX A500 GPU.
This device has an Intel chip with vPro compatibility and a W11 Pro OS that includes the kinds of tools and security features that are handy to companies with a fleet of laptops and an IT department to manage them. This makes them not particularly competitive to everyday self-employed worker or small business professionals that can live without tools like encrypted storage lockers and remote desktop control.
If you are buying for a business you can easily add next day IT support for 3 years for $117 / £132 / AU$270 or extend that for as long as your business intends to maintain the devices.
In Australia you can buy the non-pro variants of the AMD options for up to AU$880 less, but the pricing of Pro vs standard is not consistent across the range and sometimes the less full featured options are, inexplicably, more expensive.
HP ZBook Firefly G10 A: Specs
The ZBook Firefly 14 inch G10/ G10 A is a 14-inch pro workstation from HP that can be configured with either an Intel or AMD CPU. Bundled with a choice of Windows 10 or 11 Pro OS as standard, these devices come with extra security and enterprise tools that can be particularly handy for larger fleets of work devices.
The device we were sent to test included an AMD Ryzen 5 Pro 7640 CPU, 16GB RAM allocation and an AMD Radeon 760M integrated graphics card which retails for $2,017 / AU$2,470 / SG$2,201 (about £1,593).
Swipe to scroll horizontally
These are the specs for the tested HP ZBook Firefly G10 A
Component
HP ZBook Firefly G10 A
CPU
AMD Ryzen Pro 7640HS
GPU
AMD Radeon 760M
RAM
16GB RAM
Storage
512GB
Ports
2 x Thunderbolt 4/USB 3.2 Gen 1 (Type-C) (power input), 2x USB 3.2 (Type-A), 1x HDMI, 2 x USB SS Type A, 1 x 3.5mm audio jack
Screen
14-inch IPS at 1920 x 1200 pixel resolution,250 nit brightness; 45% NTSC (60% sRGB)
Wireless
Wi-Fi 6E (802.11ax)
Camera
5MP camera, QHD webcam, privacy shutter
Weight
3 lbs (1.4 kg)
Dimensions
12.42 x 8.8 x 0.79 inches (355 x 249 x 2.19mm)
HP ZBook Firefly G10 A: Design
(Image credit: Future – Joel Burgess)
Good port selection
Bigger than consumer Ultrabooks
The Zbook Firefly doesn’t have anything revolutionary in its design, in fact it’s probably more vanilla than a lot of the top professional ultrabooks out there. There are some decent configurations to be found, but it has too many different options to have a cohesive design concept that can easily be communicated to individual consumers.
Based on the web page marketing, HP is going after the creator market with this device and there are some devices that fit that category well, but it also ranges products with a 250 nit FullHD+ display that has terrible colour accuracy and are not suitable for creatives. Some models also rely on integrated graphics, which won’t be ideal for anyone running heavier than average graphical workloads.
The screen does offer a convertible-style hinge that can fold back on itself which makes it easy to view and use the touchscreen from any angle. There’s an included HDMI port, that is rarely seen these days, to make it super easy to connect to legacy displays for an office presentation. It’s also got a fingerprint reader and a 5MP camera that can take photos at up to QHD and offers great quality webcam video. This combines with a good speaker and microphone array and the latest on board AI processing to filter out unwanted sounds and frame and highlight you during web conferences.
The Firefly G10 A is designed to be the Ultrabook of the Z Workstation range, so it’s just under 0.79-inches (2cm) thick and weighs a very manageable 3-pounds (1.4kg). This isn’t quite as light as what you’ll get from the latest consumer Ultrabooks, since it weighs 40% more than the 2.2-pound (1kg) Asus Zenbook S 13 OLED and it’s close to 70% thicker than most current Ultrabooks which land around the 1.2cm thick mark.
HP ZBook Firefly G10 A: Performance
(Image credit: Future – Joel Burgess)
Wide range of devices
Differing levels of performance
HP ZBook Firefly G10 A: Benchmarks
Here’s how the HP ZBook Firefly G10 A performed in our suite of benchmark tests:
It’s a bit of a complicated story to talk about performance here as you’ve got 8 CPUs and 6 GPUs spanning from rudimentary capabilities to moderate and even some high-performance chips. If you’re a creative you might be able to get away with the AMD Ryzen 7 or 9 processors and Radeon 780M integrated graphics as they offer graphics around what you’ll see on Apple’s 2022 M2 processor on the Macbook Air devices, but they’re usually paired with the lower spec screens that we wouldn’t recommend for creative work. That means you’re going to want to opt for one of the devices with a HP DreamColor display and one of the discrete Nvidia GPUs if you have more demanding graphical workflows.
The model we tested was the most basic AMD version available, so performance is pretty conservative with the 6-core AMD Ryzen Pro 7640HS lining up with some of the lower core 13th gen Intel i7 devices. Relying on the Integrated Radeon 760M GPU and 16GB of RAM, this device doesn’t have the graphical capability for entry level-gaming like you’ll get on Apple’s M2 (and later) GPUs, but it is fractionally ahead of Intel’s integrated Iris Xe chip on many 13th gen devices. This unit was competent at basic office and browser based tasks. It’s even going to have the capacity for light photo editing and simple creative workflows, but it’s not powerful enough to run complicated 3D models or work effectively with large raw video files.
Performance score: 3 / 5
HP ZBook Firefly G10 A: Battery life
(Image credit: Future – Joel Burgess)
12h53min work lifespan
13h18min movie playback
The almost 13 hour light work battery life on the Zbook Firefly G10 A we tested was definitely one of the better aspects of this device. It’s not unprecedented, both the XPS 13 Plus and the Asus Zenbook 13 OLED have similar work life spans and all of them are still hours off what you’ll get on Apple’s current range, but it’s well over a standard work day so should give you enough juice to do whatever you need to without carrying a charger.
Unfortunately we suspect that the higher resolution 2560 x 1600 pixel, 500 nit HP DreamColour displays won’t fare so well in overall battery life since they share the same 51Wh battery, but add a brighter more power hungry screen that’ll drain power much faster.
Battery life score: 4 / 5
Should you buy the HP ZBook Firefly G10 A?
Swipe to scroll horizontally
HP ZBook Firefly G10 A
Attributes
Notes
Rating
Price
Business premium.
3 / 5
Specs
Lots of options.
3.5 / 5
Design
Thicker and heavier than the best.
3 / 5
Performance
Decent, entry-level performance.
3.5 / 5
Battery
13-hour battery life.
4 / 5
Average total
A sprawling range of devices often with average screens and expensive price tags.
3.5/ 5
Buy it if…
Don’t buy it if…
HP ZBook Firefly G10 A: Also consider
How I tested the HP ZBook Firefly G10 A
I tested it using both benchmark tests and video game benchmarks
I stress-tested the battery using the TechRadar movie test
I ran the HP ZBook Firefly G10 A through our standard suite of benchmarks to get a feel for the laptop’s peak performance and to see how it compares with the best on the market.
In addition to our standard suite of testing, I also tested the device using it for a day of work to see how it fares when typing, web browsing, working and for light photo and video editing tasks.
The screen was analysed using TechRadar’s standard movie test and was compared against other screens running standard web browsing and movie editing software.
The battery life was benchmarked with two tests to simulate different battery life scenarios.
In boarding Blitz Bazawule’s feature take on musical The Color Purple, costume designer Francine Jamison-Tanchuck came “full circle.”
The project came around nearly four decades after Steven Spielberg’s The Color Purple film, based on the classic novel by Alice Walker, on which she’d served as costume supervisor. Jamison-Tanchuck knew, heading into the shoot, that Warner Bros’ new take on the story would be challenging to pull off. “But I love challenges,” says the designer, whose work recently earned her a Critics Choice Award nomination. “I love breaking out of a box.”
Starring Fantasia Barrino, Danielle Brooks, Taraji P. Henson, Colman Domingo and more, Bazawule’s The Color Purple reintroduces viewers to the story of Celie Harris-Johnson, who rises above not only a number of personal tragedies, but also the limitation imposed upon her, as an African American woman coming of age in the South in the early 20th century.
Jamison-Tanchuck prepped the movie musical of huge scope in less than four months, grappling not only with a sprawling cast of characters, but also with the passage of time. “Our movie traverses 40 years,” explains Bazawule, in conversation with the costume designer, in today’s edition of The Process, “[which] meant that we were constantly talking about what year this piece made sense, what year this piece had phased out, and such.”
“When we started with Color Purple, starting in 1910, all the way to 1946, all of those periods have their own different silhouette,” the designer adds, “and you just can’t get around that.”
Of course, the added challenge on this film, in contrast to 1985’s The Color Purple, was the fact that the movement required of performers in “massive dance numbers” had to be taken into consideration when designing the wardrobe, as well. “The dancers… were changing out so often, and that was no one’s fault at all,” Jamison-Tanchuck says. “Fatima Robinson, who is an incredible choreographer, she did her best to keep the same dancers for certain particular numbers, but it was just difficult.”
Recently nominated for multiple Golden Globes, The Color Purple hits theaters on Christmas Day. In addition to Spielberg, returning producers included the original film’s star, Oprah Winfrey, as well as Scott Sanders and Quincy Jones. For more on Bazawule’s “bold new vision” of the story, and Jamison-Tanchuck’s efforts to make it feel “wonderful and timeless,” click above.
My relationship with my hair has always been rocky. Here’s my situation: My hair is super thick and coarse. I know, I know, it should be a blessing—but it actually makes styling very tricky. No matter the amount of products I use, it never stays the way I want it. My scalp tends to get oily, so I can’t go more than two days without washing it (clarifying shampoo is my BFF), but when I let my hair dry naturally, it’s wiry, frizzy, and poufy, so if I don’t have time to do a proper blowout (which, TBH, I rarely do), up in a bun it goes. That’s why the Shark SmoothStyle Heated Comb and Blow-Dryer Brush has been a revelation.
I’ve tried hairstyling tools like the Revlon One-Step Hair Dryer Brush. While it was okay at first, I felt like I was pulling at my strands too much and the bristles were harsh on my scalp. By the end, I had hair all over my sink. I gave it away soon after. I recently tried the T3 AireBrush Dryer Brush too, and it’s been an upgrade—with a few caveats. The heat isn’t as strong as I’d like (it takes so long that my arms are tired by the time I’m done), and the brush head gets loose on the handle. Needless to say, when I got the opportunity to try the new Shark tool, I was hopeful but not optimistic.
Shark SmoothStyle Heated Comb & Blow-Dryer Brush
What is the Shark SmoothStyle Blow-Dryer Brush?
It seems like we’re in the era of vacuum companies turning out beauty products like hair dryers and hair straighteners. It makes sense in theory—they have the motor technology—but do they actually measure up?
Shark has a few hair tools under its belt, but this is the first hair dryer brush and smoothing tool. What does that mean exactly? It’s a hair brush that can dry, volumize, and straighten (or smooth) hair. The combination of nylon and boar bristles and ceramic plates on the sides turns it from just a hair dryer brush to a heated comb and straightener. You can switch from Wet Hair mode (after wash day) to Dry Hair mode (if you’re styling the next day) to smoothing mode for straightening. Shark claims to use less heat than traditional flatirons, and I found that my hair was silky smooth without any flyaways or split ends. Unlike the $400-to-$500 Dyson hair tools, this humble air brush retails at $100. It doesn’t come with extra brush heads, but I didn’t need one.
Home Alone Family Are Rich And Among 1 Percent, According To Report
You know, the 1990 holiday classic starring Macaulay Culkin as Kevin McCallister, a kid who fends for himself against burglars after his family, on their way to catch a flight to Paris, forget him at home.
The family has a nice house in a nice neighborhood and a nice budget (of some sort, at least) to travel to Paris. (Plus, they plan another trip in the sequel, to Miami.)
So all this might have you wondering, well, just how rich this family is.
According to a new report by the New York Times, the McCallister family is probably part of the 1 percent.
On Wednesday, the paper published a report on the fictional family’s wealth, which included speaking with economists at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.
Both the setting of the fictional home and the real house used for exterior shots are in the Chicago suburbs. The real house is specifically located in Winnetka, Illinois, which is part of the metro area’s affluent North Shore suburbs.
According to the New York Times, the Federal Reserve economists deduced that the family is likely in the top 1 percent of Chicago households.
This came after they considered a variety of factors, including area housing figures and the standard rule of assuming 30% of income spent on housing costs.
All this led to the belief that the McCallister family likely had an income of at least $305,000 in 1990 (when the film was released), which would translate to roughly $665,000 in 2022.
The New York Times also noted that a current Zillow estimate for the real home is roughly $2.4 million, meaning the family would need an income of about $730,000 to purchase the house. This would put them in the top 1 percent of households in Chicagoland.
Of course, this is all hypothetical, since they’re talking about a fictional family, and the movie never really outlines what exactly Kevin’s parents do for work. Still, it’s interesting to wonder what would have been at stake for the McCallister family if Kevin hadn’t fended off the burglars.
You can check out the New York Times’ full report here.
“Percy Jackson and the Olympians” star Leah Jeffriesrecently spoke to Essence magazine about how her casting as Annabeth Chase in the new Disney+ series initially generated backlash from some toxic fans. Racist trolls were upset that a Black actor was cast as a character described in the books as a blonde white girl. “The White Lotus” actor Alexandra Daddario played Annabeth in Fox’s “Percy Jackson” film adaptations. In her response, Jeffries had no harsh retaliation and expressed no ill will towards such toxic fans. Instead, her answer might surprise people.
“I listen to people say things and try to tear me down,” Jefferies said. “They say you are not her [Annabeth]. You can’t play her like Alexandra Daddario. But, you know what? They’re right. I’m not her, and I cannot play like her. But, I’m going to show you who I am, and how I’m going to play it. I’m not trying to be like anyone else. I want to be myself, and I want to make sure that other girls understand that too.”
“Percy Jackson” author Rick Riordan has defended Jeffries’ casting as Annabeth from the start. He published an open letter on his blog in May 2022 after the casting announcement went wide in which he wrote: “Leah brings so much energy and enthusiasm to this role, so much of Annabeth’s strength. She will be a role model for new generations of girls who will see in her the kind of hero they want to be.”
“If you have a problem with this casting, however, take it up with me,” Riordan continued at the time. “You have no one else to blame. Whatever else you take from this post, we should be able to agree that bullying and harassing a child online is inexcusably wrong. As strong as Leah is, as much as we have discussed the potential for this kind of reaction and the intense pressure this role will bring, the negative comments she has received online are out of line. They need to stop. Now.”
Speaking to Variety for our “Percy Jackson” cover, Riordan elaborated: “Leah impressed me from the moment I met her. She has that sort of steel that makes her a leader, but there’s a bit of vulnerability to her.” He adds, “Now, again, does she look like Annabeth looks in the books? No. Was that important to me? No. If anything, it was a massive benefit to broaden the cast in terms of representation.”
Riordan eventually told Entertainment Weekly that casting Jeffries as Annabeth was true to the spirit of his franchise, as the only reason he wrote “Percy Jackson” was because his child was having difficulty in school with dyslexia and ADHD.
“It is inclusive enough that everyone can be a hero — after all, that’s why I wrote the book in the first place,” Riordan said. “My son, because of learning differences, was feeling like an outsider and this was my way of saying, ‘It’s okay. Difference is a strength. You’re gonna be just fine. And you belong in this world.’”
Jeffries herself told EW at the time, “I’m playing a character that is a different person, different hair color, different skin tones, and all that. That’s what the prototype was. Just to hear that I’m playing her different was like, ‘Wow, I’m now gonna be an inspiration to other girls.’ My experience filming the series has been phenomenal and unbelievable.”
The first two episodes of “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” are now streaming on Disney+ and Hulu. New episodes drop weekly every Wednesday on Disney+.
Jonathan Majors was in line to be the MCU’s next big bad, but after he was found guilty of harassment and assault, Marvel Studios officially parted ways with the actor.
Seeing as how Kang the Conqueror is supposed to be such an important character going forward in the MCU, many feel as though Marvel Studios will find a new actor to play the character.
Who Do Fans Want to See Play Kang the Conqueror?
Marvel
Jonathan Majors was recently found guilty in his trail, and many fans have already gone into a frenzy advocating for who they want to take over for him as Kang the Conqueror.
The Star Wars sequel trilogy’s John Boyega was a particularly popular name thrown into the mix for who should play Kang next.
One fan who goes by @robisraelart on X (formerly known as Twitter) pointed out that Boyega “was dressing up like Kang years ago,” while including a picture of the actor from The Force Awakens World Premiere where Boyega wore a purple and black suit:
“This dude was dressing up like Kang years ago. John Boyega for the recast of Kang, make it happen.”
@JoshThomas1994 joined in by also saying that they prefer Boyega to take over as Kang:
“Literally at this point, cast John Boyega as Kang the Conqueror. He’d crush it!”
However, it is important to point out that John Boyega has made it publicly known that he does not want to play Kang.
For example, @Platinumllamas shared a screen recording of Boyega’s X account where someone tagged him in a post urging him to talk to Marvel Studios about the role of Kang to which he responded with a gif of Donkey from Shrek shaking his head no.
@Platinumllamas posted the recording to point out to fans that the actor does not want the role:
“‘John Boyega should play Kang!’ The John Boyega in question:”
Another hot name around the block that fans want to see as Kang is Snowfall and Black Mirror‘s Damson Idris.
@itsJustinRitch stated that they only “have two words” for the casting department at Marvel Studios which were “Damson Idris.” The user also included a scene from Snowfall where Idris’ acting skills are on full display:
“Marvel Studios…I have two words for you: Damson Idris.”
@LillyImaan is yet another person who wants to see Idris as Kang. They shared a post that stated “Majors didn’t wanna act right,” so Idris should be given the role now:
“Give the role of Kang to Damson Idris since Jonathan Majors didn’t wanna act right.”
Idris’ name came up yet again when @premoo shared a video clip of someone saying, “You guys are in a crisis. I’m on my way.” The user was referring to Marvel Studios being in a crisis and was suggesting that Idris is the solution:
“Damson Idris after finding out about the Jonathan Majors news:”
@WraysNephew876 also talked about Idris, posting a video of someone singing and saying that is likely how Idris feels now that Majors was found guilty:
“Damson Idris realizing he might be Kang now that Jonathan Majors is going to JAIL.”
Black Adam‘sAldis Hodge was also mentioned by several fans, and seeing as how he has experience acting in comic book movies, many feel like he would be a perfect fit.
@blewis1103 wondered if anyone has “checked Aldis Hodge’s” upcoming roles and schedule:
“Anyway…has someone checked Aldis Hodge’s schedule for the next three or four years?”
Some fans such as @angie_goodwood are very adamant about Hodge taking over for Majors, telling the actor in all caps to “come get [his] new role:”
“ALDIS HODGE COME GET YOUR NEW ROLE AS KANG BABY.”
A lot of fans also mentioned actor Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as a promising candidate to become the next Kang, but it is important to mention that he is already in line to star in the MCU’s upcoming Wonder Man series.
Still, people like @hoodopulence want to see Abdul-Mateen in the role, calling for him to “get on [their] Zoom” accounts and talk to someone about it:
“John Boyega and Yahya, get on y’all Zoom!”
@thunter86 mentioned Abdul-Mateen’s name along with others that were previously mentioned, telling them to “get [their] resumes together:”
“Aldis Hodge, Yahya Abdul-Mateen, Trevante Rhodes, John Boyega, Damson Idris – get y’all’s resumes together my boys!”
Some fans, such as @LachesisHD, know about Abdul-Mateen’s casting as Wonder Man already, but that doesn’t stop them from still picking him as who they would like to see as Kang the Conqueror:
“I would’ve wanted Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, but he is playing Wonder Man.. so idk.”
Colman Domingo, who has starred in films such as Lincoln and Selma, was also mentioned as someone who would make a perfect Kang.
@shanellegenai named off a few actors including Domingo, urging them to “dust off [their] capes:”
“Marvel officially dropped Monathan Majors. Colman, Yahya, Mahershala, John Boyega DUST OFF YOUR CAPES!!”
Domingo’s name was mentioned alongside Aldis Hodge and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II’s by @ThatDudeMCFLY:
“Aldis Hodge or Colman Domingo or Yahya for the new Kang expeditiously.”
@DirectorRB3 stated that “Marvel has a chance to do something real funny,” while including a gif of Terrence Howard as James Rhodes from the first Iron Man film:
“Now that Majors is out, Marvel has a chance to do something real funny with Kang…”
The user claimed Howard should be the one to take over for Majors as Kang the Conqueror, stating that it would be funny since he hasn’t been in the MCU since 2008.
What Will Marvel Studios Do With Kang?
Marvel Studios is now backed into a bit of a corner since Majors can no longer continue to play Kang the Conqueror, especially since the actor has been credited in multiple MCU projects and has been set up as being an even greater villain than Thanos.
Since Kang has not made his presence known in an extremely big way, it would be fairly easy at this point for Marvel Studios to just move on from the character entirely.
Even though he is supposed to be the next major antagonist, and there is an upcoming Avengers film named after him, small changes could be made so that neither of those would matter, and fans would quickly turn their attention to whoever will take Kang’s place as the MCU’s overarching villain.
However, if Kang is recast, Marvel Studios could simply just not explain it at all. That already happened when Terrence Howard was replaced by Don Cheadle in Iron Man 2.
If someone else is cast as Kang and it is explained in-universe though, there could also be a simple explanation for that – Variants.
While some Variants in the MCU look identical to one another (Kang the Conqueror and He Who Remains), others look entirely different (Classic Loki and Kid Loki).
At the end of the day, Marvel Studios will make the decision that they feel is right, and as they have done in the past, fans can trust them to make the best decision.
Percy Jackson and the Olympians has received stellar reviews from both critics and audiences, living up to the promise of a faithful adaptation.
The series has surpassed the original movies in terms of critical and audience approval, with the series being labeled “the adaptation we deserve.”
The casting choices, although differing slightly from the book descriptions, were made based on the actors’ ability to carry the roles.
Percy Jackson and the Olympians arrived on Disney+ with a Rotten Tomatoes audience score that almost matched the stellar critics’ reviews. The series, based on the books of Rick Riordan, had promised to deliver a faithful adaptation of the novels and so far it seems to be living up that high order.
The Percy Jackson franchise was originally adapted into two feature films, Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief in 2010 and Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters in 2013, but both movies suffered some heavy criticism and were disowned by Riordan for completely failing to capture the magic of the source material. Jump forward to 2023, and despite coming under some early online attacks for the race-swapping of certain characters, including one of the movie’s young trio of protagonists, the show has landed with scores that put all of those complaints to bed once and for all.
The series has already scored big with early reviews from critics, debuting with a near-perfect 98%, and still now holding a 95% approval rate – double that of the original movie. With many of those reviews making particular note of the care and attention that has gone into making a show that is worthy of its source material, but also doesn’t shut out those unfamiliar with Riordan’s universe, the first audience reviews have continued the glowing response. Sitting on a 92% audience score, audiences have been quick to label the series “the adaptation we deserve.”
Percy Jackson’s new Annabeth Chase was Personally Cast by Riordan
Disney+
Percy Jackson and the Olympians stars a trio of talented up-and-coming stars, with Walker Scobell in the titular role, Aryan Simhadri as Grover Underwood and Leah Jeffries as Annabeth Chase. When the casting of the lead roles were originally announced, there was a fair amount of online backlash against the casting of Jeffries as Annabeth, a character who was white in the novels.
However, the reaction to the casting was something that author Riordan had a personal hand in, and he had some wise words for Jeffries when it came to how certain groups would react to the news. Speaking to Comicbook.com, Jeffries recalled Riordan telling her that he had personally chosen her for the role, and she should not worry what anyone else thought of the decision. She said:
“He said, ‘No matter what people will say about you, remember, I picked you.’ That was something right there. The way how he said it too: ‘Remember, if anybody says anything about you, just remember, I’m the one that picked you.’ Coming from the creator of all of this, I was like, I made it now.”
Of course, it is easily argued that none of the series leads look exactly like their descriptions in the novels, but the casting choices were made on who could carry the roles of those characters. Based on the reaction to the series now it has arrived, there are few willing to argue the point that the right choices were not made.
Xbox owners haven’t had many wireless controller options in the Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One eras. Microsoft’s wireless protocol has largely been limited to standard first-party controller and high-end Elite Series 2. Great third-party wired controllers exist for Xbox, but we’re only now starting to see officially licensed wireless controllers from manufacturers outside of Microsoft. PowerA released a solid mid-range Xbox controller earlier this year, and now Turtle Beach has joined the party with the officially licensed Stealth Ultra, a premium alternative to the Elite Series 2. Turtle Beach’s Stealth Ultra is pricey at $200, but it’s an incredible controller that’s worth your consideration.
The Stealth Ultra retains the conventional Xbox controller layout. Though it doesn’t have the same heft to it as the Elite Series 2, it has superb ergonomics with textured grips and a premium finish. As far as inputs go, I actually prefer the Stealth Ultra to the Elite Series 2, which was a surprise since the Elite Series 2 has long been my favorite controller. Buttons, triggers, and sticks are a cut above their Elite Series 2 counterparts (and most controllers in general).
Face, shoulder, and rear buttons, as well as the D-pad, are all activated via microswitches. This reduces actuation distance, provides near-instant feedback, and produces a satisfying click comparable to pressing a gaming mouse. In addition to offering a higher level of precision, the microswitch buttons simply feel great. Turtle Beach is not the first manufacturer to implement microswitches into its controller; Razer’s Wolverine line for Xbox and PS5 offers microswitch inputs, too. If you’ve ever tried the Wolverine, the Stealth Ultra feels quite similar. If you’re new to microswitch inputs, you’re in for a treat.
There are four remappable back buttons built into the controller. These textured action buttons are located where your fingers tend to naturally rest, making them easily accessible. Back buttons and paddles are typically the first feature you expect with a competitive controller, and they don’t disappoint here. Microswitches are once again utilized to reduce input response time.
The one-piece, solid design of the Stealth Ultra’s D-pad looks peculiar at first glance, but my skepticism disappeared after spending some time with it. The recessed center is clever, allowing you to quickly pivot your thumb in any direction to register movements. Up, down, left, and right inputs are raised higher than diagonal directions that require pressing in two directions. It’s fairly similar to the default D-pad that comes with the Elite Series 2, with the main difference being the microswitches that offer increased speed.
We’ve seen an uptick of controller manufacturers combatting stick drift by using Hall Effect sensors. Unlike normal analog sticks, Hall Effect sticks don’t rely on components rubbing against each other to register movements. Instead, Hall Effect sticks use magnets to accomplish the same task. This makes the controller, in theory, immune to pesky stick drift. I can’t speak on the longevity of the Stealth Ultra’s sticks yet, but they feel excellent, and Turtle Beach is clearly quite confident in them–the word “antidrift” is emblazoned under each stick. Like other Turtle Beach products, the Stealth Ultra comes with a one-year manufacturer’s warranty.
Turtle Beach Stealth Ultra and charging dock
Unlike many other premium controllers, the Stealth Ultra doesn’t have swappable parts. Physical customization features are limited to trigger locks and two pairs of rubber caps that wrap around the default sticks. There’s a pair of concave caps and textured dome caps. The main benefit of these is they effectively make the sticks larger, so they could be useful for those with larger hands (the default analog stick toppers are the same size as the first-party Xbox controller). But you won’t find support for swappable D-pads or modules here. Considering all of the controls are exemplary already, the lack of swappable parts doesn’t feel like a meaningful loss–especially when there’s so much to love with the internal customization.
I saved this part for last because if the core experience with a $200 controller is anything short of amazing, it doesn’t really matter that it has a built-in display that can be used to tinker with all sorts of settings. But the Stealth Ultra, as a pure controller, is indeed very good, so its novel feature only enhances an already great device.
You can think of the small display as built-in customization software. Whereas the Elite Series 2, 8BitDo Ultimate, Razer Wolverine V2, and other pro-style controllers require a proprietary app to make in-depth adjustments, the Stealth Ultra lets you customize your experience on the fly. With the press of the “+” button, you can switch from controlling the action on your TV to tinkering with settings on the small color screen, dubbed the Connected Command Display.
Turtle Beach Stealth Ultra back buttons
Gallery
Turtle Beach gave players a lot to work with here. For starters, you can cycle through 10 different profiles–a lot more than the usual three for these sorts of controllers. Within each profile, you can remap the four back buttons on the fly, create dead zones for sticks and triggers, adjust vibration intensity on left and/or right sides, and modify lighting color and effects. You can remap the back buttons to most inputs, with one notable omission being RS and LS clicks. Since many games use a stick press to initiate a run, it’s always nice to map a back button to that action instead.
The Stealth Ultra has RGB light strips on the handles. My hands blocked a portion of the light strip while playing, but the lights were visible next to the face buttons and left stick. Along with a wide assortment of hues, the light strips can pulsate, cycle through multiple colors, breathe, etc. Plus, you can adjust the intensity of the effects. Gradient color settings didn’t appear to work sometimes on my controller, but overall the lighting features are pretty cool. Don’t worry, though–you can turn the lights off altogether, if you so choose.
Many of the cool features found in Turtle Beach’s other Xbox controllers are present here, too. The optional Pro-Aim Focus Mode can be activated by mapping it to one of the back buttons. When on, Pro-Aim temporarily alters thumbstick sensitivity, which you can use for things like long-range shots. With a wired headset connected to the 3.5mm audio jack, you can enhance and mix your audio with onboard presets and sliders. What’s cool here is that Turtle Beach’s presets, though built into the manufacturer’s headsets, work with any wired headset. The marquee one, Signature Sound, actually does produce crisper, cleaner audio–however, if you have a DAC, you’ll still want to use that instead. Other presets alter bass and treble, and the last of the four enhances voices (chat and in-game audio). You can also mix your audio and mic settings with sliders.
The Connected Command Display can also display your notifications if you sync your phone to your Stealth Ultra. It’s a quirky feature that I guess stops you from looking at your phone while playing (though you’re still looking away from the screen and can’t respond on the controller). Personally, receiving texts or social media notifications while gaming sounds hellish to me, but this will probably be of interest to some. Plus, it has some gaming utility if you use Discord while playing online.
Connected Command Display
Being able to manage settings on the controller itself is a very convenient and useful feature. However, if you want to tinker with settings on a larger display, Turtle Beach has released Control Center 2, a new PC and Xbox app that syncs to the Stealth Ultra. Both versions of the app work fairly well and have easy-to-use layouts. The main issue I experienced is the app detected the wrong aspect ratio for multiple of my monitors, so I had to tinker with it to see all of the fields. The mobile version of the app is mainly for notifications, but you can cycle through profiles on it.
Though I focused on Xbox in this review, the Stealth Ultra is every bit as good on PC. In addition to supporting the 2.4GHz dongle used for the wireless connection on Xbox, you can sync the Stealth Ultra via Bluetooth on PC (as well as Android). Alternatively, you can use the lengthy USB-C to USB-A cable provided in the box for a wired connection. I didn’t notice any input latency with the dongle connection–it works as well as official Xbox controllers.
I was able to get 25-30 hours of battery life on a full charge with the LED lights turned off. Your mileage here will certainly vary based on lighting effects as well as screen-brightness settings. But if you run out of juice while playing, the Stealth Ultra’s docking station–which shares its style with the Elite Series 2–will fully charge the battery in two hours. The controller, dock, and cable can be stored in the main compartment of the included hardshell case. A small zippered pocket has enough room for the thumbstick caps and dongle.
The bottom line
The Turtle Beach Stealth Ultra is a worthy competitor to the Elite Series 2. At $200, it’s pricier, especially when you consider how often Microsoft’s pro-style controller is on sale, but the feature set offered here makes it stand out in a big way. Premium build quality, well-designed controls, and the onboard suite of customization features make the Stealth Ultra a controller that’s hard to knock in any meaningful way. Unlike some third-party alternatives for competing platforms, you’re not losing out on any major features by opting for Turtle Beach over Microsoft (except being able to turn your console on with the Xbox button). While I still think the Elite Series 2’s weighty feel is unrivaled, everything else on the Stealth Ultra is a notch above. The big question mark with the Stealth Ultra is how all the internal tech, specifically the screen, will hold up over time. If other manufacturers release Elite Series 2 competitors, the Stealth Ultra will be hard to beat. The bar has been set very high.
Disclosure: Turtle Beach provided a sample of the Stealth Ultra to test for this review.
Jennifer Love Hewitt is reflecting on how she was sexualized as a teenager and the difficulties of aging in Hollywood.
The 9-1-1 star became a teen idol starring in shows like Party of Five and films like I Know What You Did Last Summer and Can’t Hardly Wait. Having found fame at such a young age came with its difficulties and Hewitt opened up about her feelings during that time while being a guest on the Dec. 5 episode of the Inside of You podcast.
“I felt watched. I felt like I had to be everything for everybody all the time,” Hewitt said. “I was called sexy before I ever knew what being sexy was. I was 17 years old on the cover of Maxim, and I had no idea why.”
The Time of Your Life alum also noted that she finds it “weird” when people want her to continue being the girl that she was back then adding, “That girl was so insecure and so confused. But this girl — who may not look [that] way — I like who I am. I feel good. I’m fine.”
Hewitt also talked about the complexities of aging in front of cameras and being proud of the age she is now. The actress made headlines earlier this year when she appeared in a photo with short hair and a filter that some deemed made her look “unrecognizable.”
“Aging in Hollywood is really hard. It’s really hard because you can’t do anything right,” she said.
Of the infamous photo, she said, “The picture ended up somewhere. And a bunch of people were like, ‘Jennifer Love Hewitt is unrecognizable. She’s unrecognizable and so she’s gone to filters because she doesn’t want us to know how bad she actually looks now in her 40s.’ And I was like, ‘This is crazy.’ Right?”
Hewitt then explained she started sharing photos with filters to counteract all the negativity and jokingly said she didn’t have any filters. The star said she received flack for that too which made her conclude she was not going to make everyone happy.
“To pretend that we don’t [care] is a lie. We’re human and yes they’re known as haters,” she said. “But it’s human nature to be like, ‘What do people think about me?’ I’ve been an actor for 36 years… You don’t want to care what people think about you, but you have to care what people think about you. You want to know what’s out there.”
She continued, “The only reason those people bother me… I am a mother of a girl. And it’s dangerous what we put on people. It’s dangerous, I think, to say to women, ‘You can’t look like you’re not 22 to me anymore, because I don’t know how to take that.’ OK, well, that’s your problem! ‘Cause I’m 44 and this is what I look like.”
Watch the entire Inside of You podcast with Hewitt in the video posted below.
“It’s Christmastime at Night Court,” reads the official logline. “Abby enlists Dan on her quest to track down a little girl’s letter to Santa. Gurgs’ gift for Dan isn’t what she expected. Olivia is haunted by a witness who believes herself to be The Ghost of Christmas Present.” The Night Court Christmas special will also feature NBA legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in a guest-starring role. Fans won’t have long to wait for the second season of the series, as it’s set to premiere on January 2nd at 8 pm.
The new Night Court series revolves around “unapologetic optimist judge Abby Stone (Melissa Rauch), the daughter of the late Harry Stone, who follows in her father’s footsteps as she presides over the night shift of a Manhattan arraignment court and tries to bring order to its crew of oddballs and cynics, most notably former night court prosecutor Dan Fielding (John Larroquette).” The launch of the series gave NBC their best comedy premiere since Will & Grace in 2017, so it’s no surprise that they’re game for more.
Our own Alex Maidy reviewed the series and was pleasantly surprised. “Night Court is a broad, multi-camera sitcom that mugs for the camera, makes silly jokes, and manages to feel like an homage to all the funny shows we watched in the 1980s and 1990s,” Maidy wrote. “Unlike some recent reboots like Murphy Brown and Will & Grace, Night Court works because it blends the classic elements of the series that inspired it by bringing back legacy characters but also adding in a new main cast who echo the original series without being carbon copies. Fans of Night Court should enjoy this new series quite a bit, but I hesitate to think many new viewers will be as enamored by the old-school style and jokes of this throwback.” You can check out the rest of Maidy’s review right here.
Will you be checking out the Night Court Christmas special?
Tiffany Haddish pleaded not guilty today through an attorney to two misdemeanor DUI charges stemming from her arrest last month in Beverly Hills.
Haddish, 44, is charged with one count each of driving under the influence of alcohol and driving with a 0.08% blood alcohol content, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
A pretrial hearing is set for Feb. 14.
Haddish was taken into custody at about 5:45 a.m. Nov. 24 at Beverly Drive north of Dayton Way, according to the Beverly Hills Police Department.
She was released from custody that day, jail records show.
TMZ reported that Haddish was in her stopped car “in the middle of Beverly Drive … apparently slumped over the wheel while the car was running.”
Haddish had performed at The Laugh Factory in West Hollywood the night before for the club’s 43rd annual free Thanksgiving feast for the community.
Haddish was arrested on suspicion of DUI near Atlanta in January 2022 and later pleaded not guilty. That case is still pending.
Apex Ava emerges as a new villain with the power to control the animal-human hybrids created by Garro’s spores.
She takes control of Robin and turns him into a cat creature using one of Beast Boy’s spores.
As the most dangerous threat in “Beast World,” Apex Ava poses a significant risk to Nightwing, the Titans, and the entire DC Universe.
Warning! Spoilers ahead for Nightwing #109!A new villain is preparing to take on Nightwing and she’s got a deadly twist on one iconic Titans’ power set. As “Beast World” rages on, the DC Universe is being torn apart by out-of-control animal-human hybrids. But a new threat is emerging and she’s got a particularly sinister superpower.
In Nightwing #109’s backup story “Beast World Prologue” by Tom Taylor and Sami Basri, Beast Boy’s spores continue to change people into terrifying animal creatures. Robin patrols Gotham and notes that the city should have far more hybrids around. His investigation leads him to Gotham Zoo, where he discovers dozens of locked-up hybrids.
The hybrids are suddenly freed and attack Damian. However, they all stop when a green-skinned woman named Apex Ava appears holding one of Beast Boy’s spores. She calmly informs Damian that he belongs to her now and slips him the spore. The spore does its magic and turns Damian into a cat creature under the villain’s thrall.
Apex Ava Has Debuted and Taken Control of Robin
Beast Boy did one of the most noble things in his life when he stepped up to stop the terrifying alien known as the Necrostar. He transformed into a Starro-like creature and repelled the invader, saving the day. However, Amanda Waller had other plans and had Garfield’s mind wiped. Now, the being that was once Beast Boy is simply Garro, a monster intent on destroying Earth. Like Starro, Garro is conquering the globe using spores, only these new ones are transforming people as powerful as Black Adam and Power Girl, turning them into dangerous animal-human hybrids.
Apex Ava’s powers aren’t spelled out in her debut, but she appears to have some level of mind control over those who have been infected by the Garro spores. The hybrids in the zoo obey her every word and all of their eyes glow green, implying Ava is in control of them. That control seemingly extends to the spores, as the one she infects Damian with doesn’t try to attack her. Given her powers and green-hued skin, it can be assumed she has some kind of connection to Beast Boy. But unlike Gar, Apex Ava doesn’t transform into animals, she turns them into her personal servants.
Nightwing’s New Villain is “Beast World’s” Most Dangerous Threat
Right now, the world has thousands of animal-human hybrids running around. Things are already bad enough with Beast Boy becoming Garro and Amanda Waller lurking in the shadows. The last thing the DCU needs is someone who can take control of the unwilling animal creatures and use them to do her bidding. While it’s not known where Apex Ava came from or what she wants, she clearly doesn’t have good intentions. She’s already claimed Robin as her newest soldier, so who’s to say she won’t capture another hero? If Nightwing and the Titans aren’t careful, they may find themselves members of Apex Ava’s menagerie.
When Calah Lane was born, her umbilical cord had a knot in it.
She excitedly shares this “fun” fact over a Zoom call with Variety, with the unbridled enthusiasm only a 14-year-old could have. “I mean, that’s kind of sad,” she admits. “But I survived and everything’s good!”
She’s not wrong – things are good for her right now. Barely a teenager, she’s already crafted an impressive résumé, making her film debut in 2019’s “The Day Shall Come” and picking up small roles on series like “This Is Us” and “Family Reunion.”
This year, she found her breakout role in Paul King’s “Wonka,” starring Timothée Chalamet in an origin story of Roald Dahl’s beloved chocolatier character. Lane plays Noodle, a precocious but jaded orphan who teams up with the idealistic Willy to make magic (and chocolate, of course).
In conversation with Variety a day after her nomination for a Critics’ Choice Award for best young actor or actress, Lane breaks down her experience on “Wonka,” from being inspired to write and direct by King, to convincing Chalamet he’s actually a great singer.
What was the audition process like?
When I first got the audition, it said “Untitled Project.” So I had no idea what I was auditioning for. My name wasn’t Noodle on the script. It was Nutmeg. Willy’s name was Jimmy. It was just a regular audition. I did like one scene, then I did a callback, then I had a director session. Then we were at Universal Studios and that’s when I found out I was going to England for a screen test for the movie. That’s when I figured out all of the “Wonka” stuff. I came back two weeks later and the director called us himself and told me that I got the role. We were screaming at the top of our lungs.
Let’s fast forward to the first few days on set. What was it like when you first got to step into the role of Noodle?
When I first stepped onto the set, I was like, “Okay. Calah Lane. You are Noodle. You are in this movie. You can do this.” That’s basically what I told myself. The sets were beautiful. It felt like I was in a whole ‘nother world. That really helped me too, because it felt like we were in the Wonka world and I could really experiment with different things and try new things. And being Noodle is fun, too. We both have kind of the same personality.
How are you most like her?
I think my favorite part of Noodle is how strong she is. She’s very, very strong. She doesn’t like to take “no” for an answer. She’s very confident, but she puts her guard up. And I feel like Willy really takes that heartfelt-ness that’s in her out in the movie.
What did you think of Noodle’s overall arc in the film?
I love her. She adds a lot to the movie. She’s kind of like the brains of the operation. She’s the heart of the movie. That’s what my dad would always say. Which I do see!
Which of the songs in the film did you connect with most?
I love “For a Moment.” I really, really enjoyed Timmy’s “A World of Your Own” song. His voice sounds really good in it. He keeps on telling me that he doesn’t think that he can sing, but I’m like, “Of course you can sing! Do you hear yourself?” I told my sister, “I need to take Timmy and have him sit down and listen to himself,” and then be like, “Now do you think you can sing?” And if he says no, he’s gonna continue to listen to himself until he thinks he can sing.
You’ve done so much already at just 14. What kind of projects do you hope to work on in the future?
I’d like to direct something and write something. That’s my ultimate goal. I love acting. I love singing. I love dancing. But I also like to try new things. I’ve written a lot of movies that I have not finished. I want to write and direct a movie. Like Paul.
What parts of working with Paul inspired you the most?
First of all, like the type of movies he makes: I love ‘Paddington.’ He just likes to make really heartfelt films. I also like how detailed his scripts are. I remember reading it for the first time being like, “If I was a cinematographer or something, I’d know exactly what to do just because of the way he writes.” Also, on set, he’s very collaborative.
What has this massive press tour been like for you?
So fun. I mean, at first it was a little overwhelming, because I had no idea what any of this is. I know what interviews are, of course, but I just didn’t know how big this would be. I had no idea what a junket is. But I enjoyed every minute of it, especially doing the interviews with the cast. Luckily, the media trainer told me, “You’re a kid. So don’t expect them to ask you any really hard questions.”
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Drake has released the music video for For All the Dogs Scary Hours Edition’s “You Broke My Heart.” The visual, directed by Theo Skudra, begins with Drake and the country superstar Morgan Wallen discussing women over drinks. The musicians leave the restaurant and get in their car, which gets blown up by two women (Grace Matthews and Taylor Morris) who proceed to wreak havoc on the street. The video is below.
How did we get here? As a Disney fan for over 50 years, I was a die-hard fanboy of the company, to the point that Film Threat readers referred to me as a Disney shill. I used to spend thousands of dollars each year throughout the parks, buying merch, and watching every film the Walt Disney Company produced. But something changed, and the so-called Disney magic began to fade. Today, thousands of dollars have turned into a scant tens of dollars. I haven’t visited a park since the “dark times,” and my excitement for anything Disney has turned to disdain…so again, what happened?
Our story begins with a single event not so long ago that fundamentally changed the company culturally and creatively. Mind you, this single event is not the reason for the fall of Disney; as we’ll show, those seeds had been planted long ago during the Eisner era. This event served as the catalyst for the inevitable creative and financial collapse of the company that Walt Disney started 100 years ago. As Elon Musk surmised, “Walt Disney is spinning in his grave like a drill bit.”
That single event was the removal of Disney’s Chief Creative Officer, John Lasseter. This story of Lasseter’s demise will be told from the perspective of the rank-and-file employees at Disney and Pixar, revealing what they observed and how they felt when it happened.
“This story of Lasseter’s demise will be told from the perspective of the rank-and-file employees at Disney…”
John Lasseter, the Creative Visionary
Any Disney fan knows the impact of Lasseter’s creative influence on the company. Along with founder Steve Jobs, Lasseter’s groundbreaking work at Pixar gave birth to the computer-generated animated feature industry as we know it today. After the release of Toy Story, he was thrust into the public eye as the bright future of Disney. Through his guidance at Pixar, innovations in animation quickly eclipsed the legacy set by the initial Disney savior and CEO, Michael Eisner. Dare I say, John Lasseter was poised to become the next Walt Disney as the creative demigod and public face of the company.
Eventually, in 2004, news of Pixar’s impending divorce from the Walt Disney Company made headlines and panicked Disney fans. Eisner’s magic touch on the company was waning, and Walt’s nephew Roy would engage in a hostile attempt to reclaim the company, resulting in installing Bob Iger as the new CEO.
In 2006, one of Iger’s first steps was the $7.4 billion purchase of Pixar, making John Lasseter Disney’s Chief Creative Officer. The merger put Lasseter in charge of overseeing multiple aspects of the company—primarily Pixar and Disney Animation.
Appearing on MSNBC Wednesday afternoon, Michael Cohen wasn’t surprised by Donald Trump’s escalating racist rhetoric. But Cohen believes Trump’s claim that he hasn’t actually read Adolf Hitler’s “Mein Kampf.”
But only because “Donald does not read.”
Trump has been increasingly brazen in the racist and antisemitic rhetoric he deploys in public statements, but his recent declaration that immigrants “are destroying the blood of our country” has caused particular alarm because it is nearly identical to statements made by Hitler during his rise to power and by fascist admirers of the Nazi dictator ever since.
Trump has brushed off the (accurate) comparisons to Hiter by claiming (falsely) that Hiter meant it “in a much different way.” And he also denies that he has ever read Hitler’s book.
“There is no depth to which Donald will sink in order to continue to stir up his base,” Cohen declared while appearing on MSNBS’s “The Beat. But, he said, “of course, Donald has not read Mein Kampf. Donald doesn’t read. I mean, it’s not that he didn’t want to read it. It’s just that unless it’s in CliffsNotes, or unless somebody read it to him, Donald does not read.”
But Cohen doesn’t think this lets Trump off the hook. “You’ve got guys like Steve Miller, who are writing these speeches for him and discussing it with him. He knows exactly what he’s saying.”
Stephen Miller, of course, is a far-right political advisor to Trump with noted white nationalist ties and was on the forefront of misinformation and conspiracy theories regarding the 2020 election.
Cohen also recounted a moment from his 2020 book “Disloyal: A Memoir,” when Trump stopped an employee of the Trump organization who was German and said: “I bet your family chased Michael’s family through the Red Forest.” Cohen looked at Trump and asked if he knew that his father was a Holocaust survivor.
“He is playing to the lowest denominator of Americans that exist in this country, the racist, antisemitic animals that exist in that MAGA world. That’s who he’s playing to,” Cohen said. “And he will only go lower each and every time that he says something and he generates more and more conversation and he becomes front page news. He will then steep and go much lower to the point that even I can’t tell you how low he will go.”
Robert De Niro revisited his recent Gotham Awards speech, which he said was censored by Apple to exclude his political remarks on Donald Trump.
At the November event honoring achievements in film, De Niro presented “Killers of the Flower Moon” with the Gotham Historical Icon and Creator Tribute, and planned to use his platform on stage in part to lambast former president Trump. As Variety originally reported, De Niro began reading his speech only to discover that it had been edited by Apple — the studio behind “Killers of the Flower Moon” — without his approval.
The actor, who plays William Hale in Martin Scorsese’s recent feature, opened up to Rolling Stone about the mishap. He explained that the speech was going to spotlight the censorship of David Grann’s book “Killers of the Flower Moon: The Murders of the Osage and the Birth of the FBI” in Oklahoma, where the events of the book and film unfold.
“What happened was I was working on the speech with a writer, Lewis Friedman, and he gave it to them, and then one of the consultants had put something in the speech about how kids in Oklahoma aren’t even able to read the book ‘Killers of the Flower Moon.’ And then I didn’t hear anything,” De Niro said.
He continued to elucidate the miscommunication that led to the shocking moment in which he realized his political commentary had been cut.
“They gave me the script, and I looked at the prompter, and I asked after, ‘What happened?’ And they assumed that I had spoken to Marty or somebody about it, but I hadn’t. They assumed that I would be OK with it, and maybe I’m still getting it wrong, and I wasn’t. Marty and I spoke about it the next day and he said, ‘Yeah, I had sent you a text and [Apple] asked if you could dial it down, respectfully.’”
In his Gothams speech, De Niro nevertheless went on to criticize Trump, reading from his phone instead of the teleprompter.
“Lying has become just another tool in the charlatan’s arsenal,” De Niro said at the event. “The former president lied to us more than 30,000 times during his four years in office. And he’s keeping up the pace in his current campaign of retribution. But with all his lies, he can’t hide his soul. He attacks the weak, destroys the gifts of nature and shows disrespect, for example, by using ‘Pocahontas’ as a slur.”
He also criticized Apple and the awards show: “I don’t feel like thanking them at all for what they did,” he said. “How dare they do that, actually.”
Speaking to Rolling Stone, De Niro clarified that he would’ve been open to reviewing the speech had he known about Apple’s wishes beforehand. A source close to the matter revealed to Variety that Apple wanted the speech to focus exclusively on the moviemakers and their accomplishments.
De Niro told Rolling Stone, “I didn’t even want to blame them, but I was annoyed in the moment with whoever did it. If Marty had called me and said, ‘Apple asked me to do this and that,’ then we would’ve gone over it. But I told Marty, ‘Everything in that speech is leading up to what this movie is about. And I don’t want to take away from the movie. It’s not a rant about Trump. It’s appropriate.”
Update: After this article was published, Variety was sent a statement from Martin Scorsese and the filmmaking team behind “Killers of the Flower Moon” regarding De Niro’s speech.
The statement reads, “The Gotham Awards honored the filmmakers and cast with The Historical Icon & Creator tribute, which recognizes significant moments in history and for bringing a story to life in an authentic way on screen. We all wanted to make sure that in the limited time available, the acceptance speech had space to acknowledge our Osage collaborators on-stage and at home, as well as our entire cast and filmmaking team. Apple has been a tremendous partner and there was no censorship. There was an unfortunate miscommunication regarding the final version of the speech. The event was a beautiful moment for our cast and collaborators to be reunited for the first time since the strikes. It was an incredible honor to receive this recognition.”
Of course, you don’t turn to the Bad Boy Chiller Crew to learn about love. The boys work best when they bludgeon a sample: They take a shimmery vocal and pound any melodrama out of it, thwacking bass drops, grunts, sirens, and bleats over lilting lines about love and fame. Influential lingers way too long on other voices: “Why Did You Play Me” spends 45 seconds with Kyla, of “One Dance” fame, before the Bad Boy Chiller Crew barrels in. “Say Goodbye” begins with a wispy female vocalist pledging eternal devotion for nearly a minute, until the B.B.C.C. steamrolls through, chanting about drinks on tap. They edge dangerously close to sounding like Cascada.
Compared to the fricative pulses of a song like “Bounce to This One,” or the coked-out wallop of “Sliding,” the love songs here are chintzy sugar rushes. The less sense they make, the better they sound. Why are they frantically rapping about how badly they want to go into space? What’s with the squiggle of bagpipes in “Jurgen Kropper,” one of two throbbing tracks named after football players? They remix a 2007 rave anthem from DJ Q, a stalwart of the sped-up cousin of UK garage known as bassline, into a song that sounds like the “Cha Cha Slide” on poppers. Bad Boy Chiller Crew dazzles and delights in absurdity.
That’s not to say they can’t also make you feel something. “Memory” is the most successful song here at smuggling in an actual emotion, likely because the boys sing it themselves. “I want to be there with you, but I can’t trust nobody,” they murmur, before the beat hiccups and accelerates. No matter how hard they try to make themselves palatable to the masses, they’re still most comfortable in chaos.
All products featured on Pitchfork are independently selected by our editors. However, when you buy something through our retail links, we may earn an affiliate commission.
Neha Dhupia starrer Blue 52 is shot in Kochi and Qatar.
Neha Dhupia is gearing up to impress global audiences with her debut international project, Blue 52, directed by popular Egyptian filmmaker Ali El Arabi.
After Priyanka Chopra, Deepika Padukone and Alia Bhatt made their mark in Hollywood, Neha Dhupia is finally gearing up to impress global audiences with her debut international project, Blue 52. Directed by popular Egyptian filmmaker Ali El Arabi, the movie is set to explore the fresh side of the Singh is King star, as her character is filled with intense emotions. Ali, who not only is directing but also producing the film, has a track record of making award-winning films. His earlier documentary Captains of Za’atari, garnered positive reactions at prestigious festivals like Hot Docs and El Gouna and now, he is set to create his magic once again with Blue 52. The movie is shot across various Indian cities including Kochi.
Talking about Blue 52, Neha Dhupia said, “Embarking on the journey of Blue 52 has been nothing short of magical. The fusion of diverse cultures in this international venture allowed me to delve deep into a character that is both challenging and emotionally resonant. It’s a transformative experience that I believe will leave a lasting impact and I’m glad that Ali chose me to essay the lead in what is my international first.”
While the director Ali El Arabi mentioned, “Creating Blue 52 was a labour of love, blending the cinematic languages of Egypt, America and India. Neha brought an unparalleled dedication to her role, infusing the character with a nuanced emotional depth. The picturesque locales of Kochi and the vibrant energy of Qatar served as the perfect canvas for our storytelling. This film is a testament to the collaborative spirit of international cinema, and I am excited for audiences to experience the richness we’ve crafted together.”
Blue 52 narrates the tale of a boy, Ashish, who, at the tender age of 9, is separated from his father following the loss of his elder brother. Stranded on an island along the picturesque backwaters of Kochi, Ashish matures to 22 but retains the innocence of a child at heart. His knowledge is confined to his idol, Messi, and the life lessons imparted by his mother, who diligently prepares him for a life beyond their secluded island. Fueled by determination and his mother’s unwavering support, Ashish decides to embark on a journey when an extraordinary opportunity unexpectedly knocks on his door. This opportunity, almost surreal, presents him with the chance to meet Messi at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. Venturing into the world on his own for the first time, Ashish not only encounters the thrill of meeting his idol but also discovers his true passions along the way.
Apart from her international film, Neha Dhupia is set to appear in Anand Tiwari’s Mere Mehboob Mere Sanam, sharing the screen with talented actors like Vicky Kaushal and Tripti Dimri. The actress is also set to mark her OTT debut, starring in a project centred on mental health concerns.
Kashvi Raj Singh is a News Trainee at News18. She extensively covers Bollywood, Hollywood and television. She not only keeps an eye out for interestin…Read More
Following the verdict, Jabbari’s lawyer Brittany Henderson said in a statement that “justice has been served,” while noting that the verdict was proof that “no abuser, no matter how powerful they may seem, is above the law.”
Photo: Radar Online
From the other side, Majors’ attorney, Priya Chaudhry, told Newsweek that it “is clear that the jury did not believe Grace Jabbari’s story of what happened in the SUV because they found that Mr. Majors did not intentionally cause any injuries to her. We are grateful for that.”
What Does Marvel Do Now?
Majors was set to permeate the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) as the multiversal villain Kang.
After debuting in Loki season 1, Majors has reprised his role as Kang in Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania and Loki season 2. While many have speculated that Marvel will recast the role of Kang, that may not be the case.
Marvel Drops ‘Kang Dynasty’ Name
As part of the news that Marvel had dropped Majors, The Hollywood Reporter revealed that the name of Avengers: The Kang Dynasty had reverted back to Avengers 5.
This has led to whispers that Marvel may decide to move on from the Kang character and instead focus on a different “big bad.”
Rumors that Marvel was considering cutting the cord on the Kang storyline had bubbled up before Majors’ conviction.
Was An Overhaul Already in the Works?
With Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania failing at the box office even though the film served as Kang’s proper debut, Marvel’s faith in the character began to wane.
Photo: D23
Then, Majors was arrested in March. While Marvel did not immediately drop the actor like most Hollywood entities did, the studio knew it would need a backup plan.
In November, Variety reported that Loki creator Michael Waldron was signing on to write a new screenplay for Kang Dynasty, adding fuel to the rumors that Marvel was changing course.
Michael Waldron. Image Credit: Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for Disney
Additionally, last month, filmmaker Destin Daniel Cretton exited as Kang Dynasty‘s director, which perhaps led credence to the idea that an overhaul was underway.
The Future of the MCU
While Marvel has yet to announce what the fate of Kang will be, their decision will have major implications for the future of the MCU.
For the first time since the franchise became a box office behemoth (perhaps outside of the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic), Marvel is going to have to change its planned narrative because of external factors.
Photo: Disney
What happens next could very well influence the MCU for years to come.
Thanks for visiting MickeyBlog.com! Want to go to Disney? For a FREE quote on your next Disney vacation, please fill out the form below and one of the agents from MickeyTravels, a Diamond level Authorized Disney Vacation Planner, will be in touch soon! Also, thanks for reading!
Apart from the upcoming series about Colin Farrell’s Penguin, Matt Reeves is bringing another extension of the Batman world to Max. But as James Gunn recently revealed, this new series won’t take place in the Gotham City of The Batman. It will take place in the new DCU. It will focus on the inmates of Arkham Asylum, Gotham City’s home for the criminally insane. Most notably, the Dark Knight’s very long list of rogues. Naturally, the show’s setting brings to mind one important question. Which Batman villains will we soon see roaming the halls of this Arkham Asylum series? We have some ideas on who should make the cut.
What We Know So Far About the Arkham Asylum Series
DC Comics
In an interview, Reeves had the following to say to Games Radar about the upcoming Arkham series. Note: Reeves said this when the Arkham show was still a spinoff of The Batman, although we feel much still applies.
We’ve actually now [moved] more into the realm of exactly what would happen in the world of Arkham as it relates coming off of our movie and some of the characters and their origins…almost leaning into the idea of, it’s like a horror movie or a haunted house that is Arkham. Again the way that Gotham is a character in the movie, I really want Arkham to exist as a character. You go into this environment and encounter these characters in a way that feels really fresh.
DC Comics
While this is a very early description of the show, we have some ideas on how we think it should play out. An Arkham Asylum series would be perfect as an anthology, with each episode dedicated to a different villain. The episodes would reveal how the villains came to be and how they wound up in Arkham. This idea perfectly sets up the Bat-villains for the DCU’s eventual Batman-centric The Brave and the Bold movie. In a haunted house, there are many rooms to visit. And one by one, you meet new scares along the way.
In this imagining, the new DCU Batman would play a small part in the show, as it would be from the villain’s perspective. You wouldn’t necessarily even need that same actor under the mask as on the big screen. This could work similarly to how Pedro Pascal appears on The Mandalorian. You could get name actors for each Arkham Asylum villain, and then later use the spinoff characters in The Brave and the Bold. Let the series do the heavy lifting for the villain intros.
UseArkham Asylum: A Serious House on a Serious Earth as Inspiration
DC Comics
As for which Batman villains we think will appear in the Arkham spinoff? Well, we’re going to explain why we didn’t choose some big ones. Harvey Dent/Two-Face as a person is too intimately tied to Bruce Wayne, so DC should reserve his story for a movie. Established and overused villains in live-action like the Joker should act as more peripheral characters. Ra’s al Ghul and Bane are international terrorists and not Arkham material. But so many other classic bad guys are all long overdue for a live-action appearance. We feel a little inspiration from Grant Morrison’s graphic novel Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on a Serious Earth is in order. That darker, psychological take on Arkham influenced all its portrayals going forward. With that in mind, here’s who we think should get the spotlight in a future Arkham Asylum series.
Which Batman Villains Will Appear in the Arkham Series?
Here are the villains we most hope to see in this new DCU series.
Scarecrow (Jonathan Crane)
DC Comics
Professor Jonathan Crane, who first appeared in 1941, is one of the many Batman villains who holds up a twisted mirror to the Dark Knight. Like Batman, he has an obsession with fear. But he uses fear as a weapon of control over the weak, not to scare the wicked, as Batman does. Despite his status as a college professor, one fired for his unethical experiments, the Scarecrow lost his grasp on reality. Mainly because of exposure to his own fear toxin. A whole episode based on his origins, and how Batman locked him up at Arkham, seems like an easy decision to us.
Man-Bat (Kirk Langstrom)
DC Comics
The Man-Bat is far more than just Batman’s name in reverse. First appearing in Detective Comics’ 400th issue, along with Ra’s al Ghul, he ushered ina new age of Batman villains for the Bronze Age of comics. Although, he was more of a tragic figure than a straight-up villain. Kirk Langstrom was a scientist who tried to give humanity the sonar sense of bats. But his experiments on himself led him to become a hybrid human/bat creature. He acts as a combination of Dr. Jekyll and Mister Hyde with a dash of werewolf. He’s not technically insane, but the experiments on his body have left him with no control of his mental faculties, leading him to be locked away in Arkham. Far too sci-fi for the Matt Reeves The Batman universe, Man-Bat is a perfect fit for the DCU.
The Mad Hatter (Jervis Techt)
DC Comics
Since his original appearance in 1948’s Batman #49, Jervis Tetch has been a classic villain who disguises himself in the garb of innocent childhood iconography. He’s a genius scientific inventor who develops mind control tech that’s extremely advanced. Alas, he does not wish to use his genius for good. His obsession with all things Alice in Wonderland and his true belief that he’s the Mad Hatter from Lewis Carroll’s story make him one of Batman’s most unhinged foes—and most dangerous.
Poison Ivy (Pamela Isley)
DC Comics
Pamela Isley has been a legendary Batman villain, ever since 1967. Some perceive her as an antihero, because her targets are anyone who contributes to deforestation and climate change. Having said that, Ivy murders anyone who gets in her way. So, good cause or not, she’s not really a hero. If this were set in The Batman world, Matt Reeves would likely go in a grounded direction for her. But in the DCU, she could absolutely be someone who controls giant Venus flytraps and such. A whole episode focusing on Ivy’s rise and fall, and eventual Arkham lock-up, would be perfect for this series. Not to mention, we could see her meet a certain psychiatrist named Harleen Quinzell. Those two have quite the history all their own.
Professor Hugo Strange
DC Comics
This is another must-have Batmanvillain if you’re doing a show based on Arkham Asylum. Because as a psychiatrist, Professor Hugo Strange was actually on staff at Arkham for years. Before being committed to being a patient there, that is. It probably had something to do with his penchant for making “monster men” out of corpses. An action like that will result in the label “criminally insane.” He is one of only a handful of villains to have deduced Batman’s secret identity as Bruce Wayne. Because of this, and the fact that Strange once treated the other Arkham inmates as his own patients, it makes him an ideal candidate for any Arkham Asylum series.
Mr. Freeze (Victor Fries)
DC Comics
As Matt Reeves has indicated in recent interviews, there is probably a good way to tell the story of Victor Fries in a more compelling way in live-action. The tale of a scientist who loses all emotion except rage when he loses his wife Nora in a terrible accident. He’s one of the great tragic villains in Batman history, and an entire episode from his point of view would be incredible. In fact, we’d root for Paul Dini, father of the modern version of Freeze in Batman: The Animated Series, to write the episode. No one understands Victor better than he does. Just please, skip any ice-related puns.
Professor Pyg (Lazlo Valentin)
DC Comics
Here’s a villain that is a somewhat recent creation. Lazlo Valentin is as dark as Bat villains get. Wearing a creepy pig mask straight out of a horror movie, he has a criminal fixation with the myth of Pygmalion—especially its twisted ideas about physical perfection. His obsession leads him to kidnap people and perform surgery on them, transforming them into living drones. It’s really twisted stuff, but perfect for the “haunted house” vibes of an Arkham Asylum series. Professor Pyg appeared in live-action before, butwe think this is the chance to do Pyg right and not pull any punches.
Clayface (Matt Hagen)
DC Comics
Many Batman villains have been named Clayface, going back to the 1940s. But for an Arkham Asylum series, we think we’d go with the most popular version of the character, Matt Hagen. His popularity is a result of his longevity in the role of Clayface, but also the fact that he was the version introduced in Batman: The Animated Series. In animation, he was an actor disfigured in an accident, who uses an experimental drug to make his appearance look normal, but also to shapeshift into looking like anyone. But the side effects of the drug turn him into a creature of literal sentient mud, raging against the world. Hagen winds up in Arkham, although others use his name while incarcerated. Too sci-fi for The Batman world, he’s perfect for a DCU that has metahumans in it.
Together, these Batman villains could work perfectly for the anthology characters for this Arkham Asylum series. Once fully introduced, we could see them meld into the world of James Gunn’s new DCU, perhaps led by Joker and Riddler. It sounds like an exciting journey and potentially chilling journey to us.
Although it isn’t forever, Papa Duriel is dropping double the Uber Uniques for a little while in Diablo 4, just in time for the holidays. Let me do the math on that real quick.. 0% x 2 = … 0%!
Duriel’s dumpy is dropping doubles until January 8. That means double the (extremely low chance) of getting the following items:
Doombringer (Barbarian, Necro, Rogue).
The Grandfather (Barb, Necro).
Melted Heart of Selig.
Andariel’s Visage.
Harlequin Crest (aka Shako).
Ring of Starless Skies.
Ahavarion, Spear of the Lycander (Druid, Sorcerer).
As I jested above, zero times two is still zero, but if it means the 100 runs it would otherwise take you to get Shako would be 50 instead; at least you can try to look on the bright side. Just remember, Season 3 is just around the corner, beginning around January 23, so I wouldn’t go too crazy grinding these if you’re only planning on using them this season.
The rest of the patch notes can be found below:
Diablo 4 Hotfix 5 – December 20, 2023 Patch Notes
Game Updates
Echo of Duriel drop rates for Uber Uniques will now be doubled until January 8.
Developer Note: We’re boosting Duriel Uber Unique drop rates until January 8 to help all those looking for that special piece of gear. Happy Holidays!
Vampire Power Update:
Metamorphosis: Unstoppable duration changed to a flat rate instead of scaling with Vampiric power level.
Unstoppable duration changed to 2.5 seconds at all levels. No longer increases per level.
Damage increased from 80%/120%/160% to 110%/180%/250%
Note: Metamorphosis in-game tooltip will not reflect these new values, and will be updated at a later date through a client update.
Bug Fixes
Fixed an issue where in extreme cases, Charged Bolts would result in stability and performance issues.
So, all-in-all, not a very meaty patch. Which makes sense, considering Christmas is literally this weekend. I doubt the team wants to drop a giant patch in, inevitably break a bunch of stuff, then dip for the holidays. So let’s all just try to enjoy the double Uber Unique drops and chill until we get some Season 3 news.
If you plan on farming Duriel and want to see everything he drops (remember, only the Uber Uniques are doubled), check out our Duriel drop list guide.
About the Author
David Morgan
David is a pediatric asthma researcher at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital by day, and Prima Freelancer by night. He always finds time for the games he loves, and then some more to tell you all about them.
Warner Bros. Discovery is flirting with the idea of acquiring Paramount Global. If a deal involving the Redstone empire comes to fruition, it would mark another transformative mega-merger for Hollywood legacy brands, following on the heels of Disney’s acquisition of 21st Century Fox in 2019, AT&T’s difficult marriage with Time Warner in 2018 and the subsequent Discovery-WarnerMedia tie-up that closed in April 2022.
Sources caution that conversations are in the earliest of early stages – following a lunch meeting this week between WB Discovery CEO David Zaslav and Paramount Global’s Bob Bakish. There’s no certainty that a deal will come to fruition, of course, especially as Paramount Global and its parent holding company National Amusements Inc. was already being pursued. But if WB Discovery and Paramount Global are determined to march down the aisle, the companies will have to overcome a host of obstacles, and possible regulatory and legal challenges. And that’s before the integration plans are executed.
Here’s a look at some burning questions raised by the prospect of WB Discovery buying Paramount Global.
Why does WB Discovery want Paramount Global?
To quote Sumner Redstone, content is king. Paramount Global has a lot of aging linear assets that are struggling to adapt to a new media landscape – that’s one reason “Ridiculousness” runs nearly 24/7 on MTV these days. But Paramount does have vast vaults of movies, TV shows and other forms of content that can help bulk up WBD’s streaming platforms, and have remake/reboot/reimagining potential in the present IP-crazy marketplace.
Why is this happening now?
Blame Paramount Global’s stock price decline and David Ellison. Paramount Global became effectively in play last month when reports surfaced that Ellison’s Skydance Media was trying to gain control of Paramount by scooping up some or all of the preferred shares in the company owned by National Amusements Inc. (NAI). That’s the holding company controlled by Shari Redstone, daughter of the late media mogul Sumner Redstone who built up NAI and Viacom and also acquired Paramount and CBS. WB Discovery was forced to act sooner than it would have liked by the heat behind the Skydance discussions.
How much is Paramount Global worth?
According to Wall Street, as of Wednesday, Paramount Global was worth $10.3 billion. That’s less than half of the $30 billion valuation put on the company after its last big corporate transaction, when it re-merged with CBS in 2019. (The two companies were brought together by Sumner Redstone in 2000 but separated up again in 2006). Paramount Global’s stock has been below $20 since May, closing Wednesday at $15.50. WB Discovery shares have not climbed above $20 (closing Wednesday at $11.66) since it completed its acquisition of WarnerMedia from AT&T. Both companies are also burdened with debt taken on in the last decade that has become more expensive as interest rates rise.
The biggest hurdle for dealmakers may be putting a value on Paramount’s linear cable networks such as MTV, Nickelodeon, VH1, Comedy Central, Paramount Network, TV Land and more. Those channels were once the backbone of Viacom, but their value is shrinking every year as traditional cable subscribers exit for their own self-made menus of streamers. WB Discovery already has its own legacy linear cable networks to bolster (TNT, TBS, Cartoon Network, Discovery, TLC et al) so a merger of the two could see mini-mergers of channels and probably the sunset of some once-stalwart cable brands.
Would Warner Bros. And Paramount Pictures remain separate or would they be combined?
It’s way to soon too formally ask the question but it’s not too soon to start thinking about the situation. A likely scenario would seem to be keeping both imprints alive – the WB shield and the Paramount mountain-and-stars logo – but to combine as much administrative and infrastructure operations as possible.
Would CNN and CBS News become one?
Again, it’s probably too soon to ask that question but the answer seems evident if the larger merger came to fruition. CNN and CBS News have had numerous courtships on and off since the 1990s. The rationale that made sense then makes even more sense now. CBS News brings the prestige factor (“60 Minutes,” the Edward R. Murrow legacy et al) while CNN provides the kind of global distribution that CBS Newsies can only dream of now. If a deal happens, bank on CBS News and CNN linking arms as fast as possible.
Might another suitor come forward for Paramount Global?
Shari Redstone certainly hopes so. By many accounts, the Paramount Global chair hopes to sell the company as a unit and not broken up in pieces. The more companies that are vying for attention, the more she can drive a deal on her terms. Over the next few weeks, she’s about to find out what the market in 2024 will bear for the media conglomerate that her father started assembling in the 1980s.
