-I don’t know how I’ve managed this, but I haven’t watched one minute of the Fast and Furious movies. It’s a giant black hole in my pop culture experience that I have no desire to fill. But my entire Twitter feed lost its poo over the Fast 9 trailer and the return of someone named Han so…yay?
-Plot twist! In today’s Harvey Weinstein trial, Jessica Mann made the bombshell claim that he may be “intersex,” saying he didn’t have testicles and appeared to have a vagina.
-Netflix has announced that Imelda Staunton will play Queen Elizabeth II in the fifth and final season of The Crown.
-I’ve given up on Stumptown (not because I didn’t like it, I just am not watching a lot of TV right now), but this hilarious clip makes me want to catch up.
-Here’s the trailer for HBO and David Simon‘s take on Philip Roth’s The Plot Against America, starring John Turturro, Winona Ryder and Zoe Kazan.
-This is a straight-up day-maker: Schitt’s Creek star Annie Murphy recreated her character’s iconic song “A Little Bit Alexis”on Kelly Clarkson‘s show, with the host adding a verseas the befuddled stars of 1917 looked on. (Also, I had no clue Murphy is married to the lead singer of Hollerado.)
-This is an interesting look at why this awards season, more events have been closed to press and stars have been scarce with red carpet sound bites.
–Jessica Simpson says she once kissed Justin Timberlake, but the timelines are very wonky considering both of relationship statuses at the time.
-A ton of Super Bowl commercials are already out: Bryan Cranston and Tracee Ellis Ross recreate The Shining for Mountain Dew, John Legend and Chrissy Teigen shill for Genesis’s new SUV, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia star Charlie Day and Schitt’s Creek’s Emily Hampshire go through their dirty laundry for Tide, Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi promote Alexa, and Jimmy Fallon and John Cena work out for Michelob Ultra.
-This is a fascinating read on Brad Pitt and how his looks and charm belie real creative talent. “Pitt has alternately rejected and embraced the dreamboat role, though he seems consistently game when asked to play that part in photo spreads; maybe because he knows it so well, he is also adept at sending it up.”
–Charlie Hunnam is walking back those shitty comments he made about not wanting to marry his girlfriend.
-Oh man. Sebastian Stanposted drama about the ending of Endgame on his Insta stories, and John Boyega tweeted about it. The both have negative f’s left to give.
–James Corden said he needed therapy in 2009 after his fame in the UK went to his head: “I started to behave like a brat that I just don’t think I am. It’s so intoxicating, that first flush of fame, and I think it’s even more intoxicating if you’re not bred for it.” If blind items are to believed, he might need a little tune-up.
-The American Dirt controversycontinues: the publisher just cancelled its book tour. My favourite line in their statement is “We should never have said that [the author]’s husband was an undocumented immigrant while not specifying that he was from Ireland.” And before anyone complains about cancel culture, the book just hit number 1 and the author has sold another novel.
-I really like this piece on The Good Place, BoJack Horseman, and the audacity of committing to decency.
–Kelis says that Pharrell Williams cheated her out of money from her first two albums.
–Lakeith Stanfield wants to play the Joker and god yes. This is literally the only way I’d be interesting in watching anything new about that character.
–Greta Gerwig and Saoirse Ronan say they want to “be old ladies together making movies about old ladies.” And I want to be an old lady who watches them all.
–Lena Dunham is on the cover of UK Cosmo’s February issue, in which she gets candid about becoming addicted to the medication she was prescribed after her hysterectomy (“You’re not present. You’re not functional. One day, I looked around and I was lying in a bed in my parents apartment under two blankets, in the same pyjamas Id been in for three days, and I was like, This isn’t me. It wasn’t that I was suicidal. I felt nothing. I didn’t want to live”). She also recounts her attempts to move on from Jack Antonoff with a string of short-term relationships, including a guy who proposed with the lace of a Timberland boot while they were snowed in at her parent’s apartment (“I’d just had a hysterectomy, I’d broken up with my boyfriend, I was in the process of breaking up with my business partner – I had no business buying a pair of shoes, [let alone] getting engaged. Then I just went, ‘You know what? I’ve been dating since I was 15 years old. I’m allowed to take a break…I think it’s been 14 months now that I’ve just been totally single”).
-It took a few weeks, but Beyonce finally sent Kim Kardashian some Ivy Park clothes.
-Is Eminem trolling us about Grindr again — or is he queerbaiting for album sales?
–Michael Strahan is talking about his tensions with Kelly Ripa again. “One thing I tried to do is have a meeting every few weeks with her. We met a few times, and that was fine. But then eventually she said she didn’t need to meet…can’t force somebody to do something they don’t want to do. Certain things that were going on behind the scenes just caught up.”
-It’s hard to tell because we’ve been burned by initial reactions to comic book movies before, but the buzz coming out of Birds of Prey’s first screenings is overwhelmingly positive.
–BTSperformed barefoot on The Late Late Show, much to my Twitter TL’s utter delight.
–Ellen Pompeo is blasting TMZ for reporting on Kobe Bryant‘s death before the family could be informed, citing website founder Harvey Levin’s practices as an example of “white male privilege” and calling the outlet’s behavior abusive toward women.
–Prince Andrew‘s camp is fighting backagainst US Attorney Geoffrey Berman‘s complaint that they’ve had “zero cooperation” from him in the Jeffrey Epstein case, saying “The Duke is more than happy to talk to the FBI but he hasn’t been approached by them yet…He is angry about the way this is being portrayed and bewildered as to why this was said in New York. It seems certain people are jumping the gun.” Sure, Jan.
-This is my week of saying goodbye to TV shows I’ve really loved. Arrow made me ugly cry last night, The Good Place wraps up tomorrow, and Bojack Horseman’s final episodes (which are getting great reviews) drop on Netflix on Friday.
–Maisie Williams is in a musical Super Bowl commercialfor Audi with a climate change message.
-Speaking of Super Bowl commercials, here’s Sam Elliotreciting “Old Town Road”for Doritos. This is my kind of ASMR.
–Rufus Sewell is warned some witches are trying to end him in the trailer for the Agatha Christie adaptation, The Pale Horse.
