Browsing Tag

A$AP Rocky

Rihanna and A$AP Rocky Heat Up the Holidays

–Rihanna brought A$AP Rocky home for the holidays.

-If you were online at all over the last few days, you’ve probably caught up with the Hilaria Baldwin drama, in which it was revealed that Alec Baldwin‘s wife was actually born in Massachusetts and has faked a Spanish accent for years. This is my favourite kind of end-of-year scandal: a harmless saga featuring random celebrity cameos (hello, Amy Schumer) and a couple who keeps digging a deeper hole after getting caught up in their own lies.

–Constance Wu welcomed her first child with her boyfriend, musician Ryan Kattner — and they did it 6 months ago and managed to keep it under wraps.

–Emma Roberts and Garrett Hedlund also had their first child, a boy named Rhodes.

–Nick Cannon and his girlfriend, Brittany Bell, also welcomed their second child together over the holidays.

-Personally, I adored Bridgerton on Netflix, even if it’s not without its flaws (the showrunner insists it’s not just colour-blind casting but the show barely engages with race at all). Also, a lot of people’s favourite book is the one focused on Penelope (which I haven’t got to yet), but the reveal at the end of this season makes me wonder how much the audience will still be rooting for her when it’s time for her love story. In any case, if the show follows the books the next season should focus on Anthony and his new love interest, who’s the best character. Like, so good she makes him tolerable.

-We can’t talk about Bridgerton without talking about THE SCENE. Perhaps because I just read the book I was expecting it, but I was surprised at how vocal the reaction to it was. The scene in the book is even *more* problematic but it does a better job with Simon’s POV in the aftermath than the show does. In the book, he more clearly resists, his reaction stutter is worse, it explores his feelings of betrayal more deeply, she’s way more repentant, and he physically separates from her until he can sort out his feelings. Still, I can’t help but wonder why the show didn’t just drop that scene altogether, or at the very least focus more on Simon’s reaction than Daphne’s.

-Speaking of dubious sex scenes in this week’s pop culture, this is a very, very good piece on both Wonder Woman 1984 and Bridgerton’s missteps when it comes to the lack of male consent.

-Speaking of WW84, this review nails it. I still can’t believe that they made Wonder Woman a secondary character in her own sequel, and that her main storyline was about how she’s spent the past 70 years pining (ha!) for a guy she once spent a week with.

-There are too many Batman movies coming. Way, way too many.

-In movie news that actually sounds good, Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum will star in The Lost City of D; she as a romance novelist and he as a romance novel model. Together they’ll be entangled in a “cutthroat jungle adventure.”

–Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have released a holiday podcast special on Spotify. They had Stacey Abrams as a guest and she talked about #BlackLivesMatter and the importance of voting which helped turn Georgia blue.

–Halsey is taking a social media break after apologizing for sharing a photo depicting her eating disorder without adding a trigger warning.

-Netflix is introducing a new weekly chat show about its trending shows. I wonder how this is going to work, seeing as you can’t really have aftershows for series when all your audience is at different stages of their binge?

-Speaking of Netflix shows, the cheerleading drama Dare Me debuts today and critics love it.

-The new trailer for the CW’s Superman & Lois set a familial tone. Ugh, don’t let me get sucked into another CW superhero show.

–Michael B. Jordan will make his directorial debut with the upcoming third installment of the Creed franchise.

–Lori Loughlin has been released from prison after her 2-month sentence following her college bribery scam.

–Justin Bieber‘s (or Justin Bieber’s PR firm’s) response to his wife on social media is very funny.

–Variety apologized to Carey Mulligan for its “insensitive language and insinuation” after she says its review of Promising Young Woman was “basically saying that I wasn’t hot enough” for the role.

-Speaking of Variety, they had a deep dive into Shia LaBeouf’s career that seems to have gotten overlooked in the holiday rush. It includes a couple of interesting tidbits, like how Harry Styles replaced him in Olivia Wilde’s upcoming film Don’t Worry Darling because Wilde has a “zero asshole policy” on her sets.

–Mads Mikkelsen is the best storyteller.

–Eddie Murphy, Arsenio Hall and Jermaine Fowler star in the Coming To America 2 trailer, coming to Amazon Prime in March.

Introducing Elliot Page

-The Canadian star of Juno and Umbrella Academy announced today that he is transgender in a heartfelt Twitter post — and also took a shot at haters like (presumably?) J.K. Rowling: “To the political leaders who work to criminalize trans health care and deny our right to exist and to all those with a massive platform who continue to spew hostility towards the trans community: you have blood on your hands. You unleash a fury of vile and demeaning rage that lands on the shoulders of the trans community, a community in which 40% of trans adults report attempting suicide. Enough is enough. You aren’t being “cancelled,” you are hurting people.”

-Celebs were quick to show their support, which is lovely. (I never read the comments, but I made an exception on his post because they were generally incredibly positive.) It’s also been really interesting to see which outlets managed to cover this without deadnaming him.

-Has Rihanna found love with A$AP Rocky? They were spotted together in NYC amid multiple reports that the pair might be dating.

-This annual Billie Eilish interview with Vanity Fair is always a fun watch, but this year’s is especially good as she reflects on how all of her predictions from last year blew up.

–Mariah Carey just called two of my favourite novels of the year (The Vanishing Half, and Such a Fun Age) her “essential 2020 reads” and I’m both confused and elated?

-Congrats to Mean Girls’ star Jonathan Bennett, who is engaged to Jaymes Vaughan.

–David Ramsey (who played Diggle) is returning to the Arrowverse. He’s set to direct five episodes and appear on camera in five more across the network’s superhero shows. But when he shows up on Legends, he won’t be playing Diggle. Maybe as the Green Lantern that was teased in the Arrow finale?

-I love that everyone who watched Happiest Season is all “justice for Abby! Screw Harper!” They’re not wrong.

–Hugh Grant says he got The Undoing ending he wanted. Well, that makes one of us.

-Meanwhile, this article claims that Nicole Kidman didn’t wear a wig in The Undoing. Which can’t be right. It’s like, physically impossible.

The mayor of LA changed course after anger erupted over a plan to shut down a covid-19 testing site at Los Angeles’ Union Station to film a She’s All That remake.

–David Boreanaz is getting in on the debate Stacy Abrams kicked off, saying Buffy belongs with his character Angel. I agreed for the first few seasons, but then I jumped to the Angel/Cordelia ship.

-This rundown of the best movies of 2020 made me realize how few movies I’ve seen this year. And then I got sad.

–Rita Ora has been fined $12k for throwing a large birthday party in London during lockdown.

–Benedict Cumberbatch, Jodie Foster and Shailene Woodley star in the The Mauritanian trailer about lawyers who defend a detainee at the U.S military’s Guantanamo Bay detention center.

 

Rihanna and A$AP Rocky Get Flirty For Fenty

–Rihanna and A$AP Rocky sat down to interview each other and talked skincare, beauty icons, favourite TV shows, and classic cartoons. They’ve got an adorable rapport. I love when she makes fun of his first red carpet appearance: “You coulda used some Fenty Skin back then.”

-Congrats to Katy Perry and Orlando Bloom, just welcomed a baby girl to the world, their first child together: Daisy Dove Bloom. (Ok, I gotta give it to them. Daisy Bloom is an adorable name.)

-Also, I very much like that they announced the news on UNICEF’s Instagram account with a statement about the need for pre- and post-natal healthcare for women around the world.

–Jessica Mulroney would like to remind you all that Meghan Markle is her BFF, ok?

-This interview with Tiffany Haddish and John Mulaney is a delight, especially the bit with Haddish talking about wearing a prosthetic penis for confidence.

–This is a good look at how Trevor Noah‘s The Daily Show has gone from being jokes about the news to, more and more, the news with some jokes amid the pandemic — and it’s clearly working. His viewership numbers are astounding, and his videos have racked up millions of views on YouTube, including an extended interview he released in March that went viral.

-It’s worth watching Stephen Colbert’s segment last night, in which he talked about how NBA players are showing more leadership than the RNC convention. “Why should we pay attention to what they’re saying if none of what they’re saying tonight is about what’s happening in America right now? Why should we watch their reality show if it doesn’t reflect our reality?”

-In an new Zoom chat, Issa Rae and Yvonne Orji talked the most emotional scenes to shoot for Insecure season four. God, I hope they both clean up at the Emmys.

-Speaking of Emmy campaign appearances, watching Succession stars Sarah Snook and Matthew Macfadyen get giggly over Shiv and Tom is a delight.

-Grey’s Anatomy alum Sara Ramirez has announced that they are non-binary. They quietly changed their pronouns on social media a while back, and today they posted about their gender directly: “In me is the capacity to be Girlish boy, Boyish girl, Boyish boy, Girlish girl, All, Neither.”

-This is a great piece explaining OnlyFans, the spotlight on its new celebrity users, and how platforms defined and popularized by sex workers are often the first ones to deny them their place at the table.

–Jaden Smith and Cara Delevingne‘s upcoming romantic drama Life In a Year is facing an uncertain future now that two of its supporting actors (Cuba Gooding Jr. and Chris D’Elia) are facing sexual misconduct claims.

-Not today, Terry Crews!

-Bravo is moving forward with its reality TV production, even Top Chef. All the contestants and judges will have to be tested and quarantined before production begins, the set will be socially distanced, and the judges won’t share food anymore.

-People are on baby bump watch for Jennifer Lawrence because of these pics.

-Weirdly, there’s lots of talk that TIFF is denying critics press accreditation this year — which makes no sense because pretty much everything is digital so it’s not like there’s capacity concerns. Hopefully this is a sign that they’re reversing their rejections.

-The Ringer posted a history of movie costars who hated each other and it’s exactly the type of content I needed today.

–Anya Taylor-Joy and Marielle Heller star in the trailer for The Queen’s Gambit, Netflix’s limited series adaptation of Walter Tevis‘ novel.