Not surprisingly, he apparently also overstays his welcome. By Bess Levin June 10, 2021 What is Donald Trump up to these days? Oh, not much, just reportedly telling people he’s going to be president again by August, crashing weddings, and according to a new report from Bloomberg BusinessWeek, dropping in on memorial services and having
Pop Culture
Eline Fleury is bringing her A-game with her new single “Say Something”. A singer with heart and sincere intensity, Fleury delights in the new jazz track. Wrestling into the jazz mix is a splendor of percussion and African-like hymns. The audacity of the track is that Fleury isn’t playing any game at all. She’s making
In February, HBO Max announced new additions to their adult animation line-up. Among them was Velma, an original series based on Scooby Doo alum and O.G. Mary Sue Velma Dinkley, with Mindy Kaling voicing the title character. Today at The TV Kids Summer Festival, Tom Ascheim, president of Warner Bros. Global Kids, Young Adults and
Our critic asks only that HBO Max’s new show be sexier, savvier, and gayer than the original. By Richard Lawson June 10, 2021 Thirteen long years ago, I cut my teeth as a blogger by recapping Gossip Girl, the CW’s soapy series about mean teens on the decidedly un-mean streets of the Upper East Side
The president rolled back Donald Trump’s chaotic orders banning the wildly popular app—but put his own investigative process in place. By Caleb Ecarma June 9, 2021 Donald Trump’s threats to ban TikTok and WeChat made for semi-hysterical reactions from internet-famous stars, but they also marked one of the frontlines of his cold war with China
I remember the first time I saw a white woman in a bodega above 125th street. It happened during the summer of 2013, when I was couch-crashing at a sorority sister’s apartment. The encounter, while memorable, did not end with me reciting Maya Angelou poetry, like Run the World’s Renee (Bresha Webb) in the series
Just as things looked to be calming down between Prince Harry, Meghan Markle and the Royal Family, another potential scandal is looming. Following the couple’s announcement over the weekend that they had welcomed their second child, a daughter, on Friday and named her Lilibet Diana Mountbatten-Windsor — the first name a long-held nickname for the
N.K. Jemisin is one of the titans of the science fiction and fantasy genre, but none of her works have been adapted for the screen as of yet—but that is about to change. Deadline has shared that TriStar Pictures has “emerged from a bidding battle to win The Broken Earth sci-fi trilogy by N.K. Jemisin.” The
We bid farewell to 14 shows that ended this season, from American Gods to Wynonna Earp. By Hillary Busis June 9, 2021 GRACE AND FRANKIE (Netflix) Age was nothing but a number for Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin, the dynamic duo at the center of Marta Kauffman and Howard J. Morris’s comedy—and the obvious winners
The songwriter, super-producer, and Vampire Weekend alumnus talks about the music behind his new album Changephobia and shares a playlist. By Colin Groundwater June 8, 2021 Illustration by Simon Abranowicz Look back at the best music of the last decade, and you’ll see Rostam Batmanglij’s fingerprints everywhere as a member of Vampire Weekend and a
The world’s richest men pay a pittance in federal income taxes and often times nothing at all. By Bess Levin June 8, 2021 When Joe Biden unveiled his $1.8 trillion American Families Plan in April, one of the ways he proposed paying for it was by boosting the Internal Revenue Service’s budget by $80 billion,
In 2016, gymnast MyKayla Skinner placed fourth in the all-around at the Olympic trials, the highest finisher not named to that year’s Olympic team. She was one of three alternates at the Rio Games, where she cheered on her teammates Simone Biles, Aly Raisman, and Laurie Hernandez from the sidelines. “I had come so close
Never Have I Ever’s leading lady talks going from study halls to headlining Mindy Kaling’s sitcom practically overnight. By Britt Hennemuth Photography by Tierney Gearon June 8, 2021 Maitreyi Ramakrishnan was a 12th grader starring in a teen production of Chicago when Mindy Kaling began searching for a young South Asian woman to lead her
Back in May, we were gifted with a first look at Kate, a Netflix movie we hadn’t known was happening but immediately needed to know everything about. Kate (Birds of Prey’s Mary Elizabeth Winstead) is poisoned and can’t be saved. When you’re a master assassin, however, that means you can spend the last few hours
A major Trump Organization executive has testified before a grand jury. By Bess Levin June 7, 2021 If you asked Donald Trump what he thinks the next several months will hold for him, he’d likely tell you that he’ll be holding some rallies, playing some golf, and getting ready to head back to the White
or Miami based Rapper, Dici, there is no time like the present. The irony, is that Dici would seem to have more time than most, as he is literally, barely out of High School. His forthcoming album, Doses, is highlighted by the new single, “Five Rings.” Believe it or not, this is not Dici’s debut
Even without a red carpet, the Juno Awards found ways to march generations of Canadian stars through their 50th anniversary celebration on Sunday night. From Shania Twain and Celine Dion to Kaytranada and Justin Bieber, many of the country’s most successful acts paid tribute to Canada’s biggest night in music by sharing music and memories
The story of the Alamo is simple, right? Davy Crockett, Jim Bowie, William Barret Travis, and a bunch of their friends come to Texas to start new lives, suddenly realize they are being oppressed by the Mexican dictator Santa Anna, and rush off to do battle with him at an old Spanish mission in San
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry quietly welcomed their daughter on Friday, June 4—and revealed her name in full, Lilibet “Lili” Diana Mountbatten-Windsor, in a birth announcement today. The couple chose Lili’s first and middle name deliberately in tribute to Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Harry’s late mother Princess Diana. As Archewell explained of the choice
Republicans are lining up to show they’re on Jake Tapper’s list of election conspiracy theorists. Meanwhile, emails reveal how the Trump administration tried to bring election falsehoods to the Justice Department. By Charlotte Klein June 6, 2021 In taking a shot at CNN’s Jake Tapper, Republicans are openly boasting that they’re responsible for spreading democracy-defying
Goth girl icon and forever Wednesday Addams Christina Ricci is joining the cast of The Matrix 4. Ricci’s role is being kept tightly under wraps for now, as she joins Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss, Jada Pinkett Smith, Jessica Henwick, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Jonathan Groff and Neil Patrick Harris in the long awaited
Last week in this space, I spent about 1,100 words whingeing about how so much of today’s music isn’t very good. This concerns me because it shows that I’m backsliding into music snobbery, something that I’ve been trying to leave behind. I realize kvetching about the state of popular music makes me sound like the
The Boys, Invincible, Umbrella Academy and Jupiter’s Legacy are fulfilling a thirst for comic adaptations that are grittier than Marvel or DC, and contend with the dark realities of the American Dream. By Oliver Sava June 2, 2021 Collage by Simon Abranowicz Superheroes have entered their self-loathing era. After 20 years spent achieving full dominance
It looks like Emma Stone has her first franchise lead all sewn up. By Jordan Hoffman June 5, 2021 Before it even entered its second week at the box office, Disney was working on a deal for a sequel for the Emma Stone-led hit villain’s tale, Cruella. The studio has secured director Craig Gillespie and
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex slip below the fold. By Jordan Hoffman June 5, 2021 Drama from Buckingham Palace comes in all formats — even online. Astute Royal-watchers took note on Saturday that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have slipped down a few notches on the official website of the British Crown. Under
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry announced they were expecting their second child on Valentine’s Day in 2021 after the Duchess of Sussex suffered a miscarriage last summer. They shared the gender of their baby (a girl!) while speaking with Oprah during their big March interview. But otherwise, the couple has kept the majority of details
Stealing puppies is not the only thing Cruella is guilty of. So we have a story about a classic, irredeemable villain who is known for thoroughly enjoying their own wickedness with a laugh … except now it’s an origin story in a ’70s-ish setting where the villain is now a sympathetic nobody who’s beaten down
The caped crusader’s crossover teases classic duds. By Jordan Hoffman June 4, 2021 Holy vintage clothing, Batman! Film director Andy Muschietti knew just what image to upload to Instagram from the set of The Flash to send comic book enthusiasts into a tizzy. The DC Extended Universe picture expected to race into theaters on November
In The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It — the third Conjuring movie, and the seventh in an ongoing horror franchise — we’re back with the Warrens. Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga reprise their roles as Ed and Lorraine Warren, real-life paranormal investigators, and this time they’re looking into the case of “possessed” eight-year-old
The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It is the latest entry in a horror franchise that’s become one of Hollywood’s most reliable successes. By Keith Phipps June 2, 2021 In the 2010s, a shared universe madness overtook the film industry. Awestruck by the Marvel Cinematic Universe juggernaut, one studio after another tried to replicate