-Not surprising: Taylor Swift is dominating the conversation after the first single from Reputation dropped last night. Actually surprising: the conversation isn’t exactly going her way. Her label had to clarify that it’s a total coincidence that her album is being released on the anniversary of nemesis Kanye West’s mother’s death. The video sneak peak makes it look like Lemonade-lite. She’s somehow aligned herself with Right Said Fred. And then there’s the song itself. It’s … not good. Weirdly, I think I wouldn’t mind it if it appeared on Lorde‘s new album (also produced by Jack Antoff). But offbeat, deconstructed choruses and faux-edgy undertones aren’t what Taylor does best. It doesn’t help that she invites everyone to comb through her songs to find the disses (Kanye! Katy!), but the lyrics just don’t hold up to scrutiny. And instead of truly embracing her snarky side like we all hoped, she’s once again reverted to playing the victim card. (My favourite tweet about “Look What You Made Me Do” was “It’s like the song is blaming us for the song”). The pile-on is so extreme today that I’m starting to get Anne Hathaway-ish sympathy feels for Taylor but still, it’s a rare, giant misstep for her.
–James Cameron says Wonder Woman praise is “misguided,” and called the character”an objectified icon” and “a step backwards.” I mean, we’re really supposed to care about what James Cameron thinks after he explained his approach to developing a strong female character in Avatar with such gems as “Right from the beginning I said, ‘She’s got to have tits,’ even though that makes no sense because her race, the Na’vi, aren’t placental mammals.”
-Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins‘ clapback was perfect.
-In her new Rolling Stone cover story, Gal Gadot points out how ridiculous it was to be criticized for not being curvy enough to play Wonder Woman. “I told them, ‘Listen, if you want to be for real, then the Amazons, they had only one boob. Exactly one boob. So what are you talking about here?'”
–Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher settled their lawsuit with Daily Mail over photos of their daughter.
-The HBO hackers are at it again. They leaked detailed plot outlines about how this weekend’s season finale will end.
-Fleabag is coming back for a second season. Not until 2019 but I don’t care. I NEEDED this news today!
-Also getting another season is Black Mirror. I didn’t even finish the last one, but a Star Trek parody starring Jesse Plemons intrigues me.
–Katie Holmes and Jamie Foxx are still a thing. I wonder when her divorce contract will expire and they can go public?
-This is a really excellent deep dive into how Late Night with Seth Meyers got so, so good. I especially like the part where he talked about diversity in his writing room: “I didn’t know the kinds of things a non-straight white man might bring to the table. The only way to find out was to bring them to the table.”
-Following his ex’s request for full custody of their two children, Jesse Williams is fighting back, insisting his work schedule won’t prevent him from caring for the kids.
-Look how cute the guys who play The Hound and Tormund are in this behind-the-scenes video.
–Miley Cyrus is posing as a nude fairy on the cover of David LaChapelle’s new coffee table book.
–Alicia Vikander has sexy times with an artist while married to Christoph Waltz in the trailer for period piece Tulip Fever.