Scarlett Johansson was honored at the Golden Heart Awards. [JustJared]
Adam Driver & Penelope Cruz promote Ferrari at the NYFF. [Tom & Lorenzo]
Emily Ratakowski’s podcast got canceled. [Egotastic]
Lainey on Taylor Swift & Travis Kelce. It’s fun! [LaineyGossip]
Marisa Tomei’s suit is actually bad, but she’s so pretty, she pulls it off. [GFY]
A helpful guide to all of Kailyn Lowry’s former partners. [Starcasm]
A great review of The Burial, starring Jamie Foxx. [Pajiba]
Halloween costume ideas. [Buzzfeed]
God, I just despise Glenn Youngkin. [Jezebel]
Sandra Oh’s Elie Saab suit is silly but she looks cute! [RCFA]
Stephen Colbert has Covid?? [Seriously OMG]

I wasn’t surprised by the fact that the Spanish royals and British royals did not send anyone to Prince Christian’s big 18th birthday party/gala over the weekend in Denmark. The gala was well-attended by the Scandinavian royals, including high-ranking princes and princesses of Sweden, Norway, Belgium and The Netherlands. There were also “Greek royals” in attendance, because these people are all related by blood or marriage. The Spanish royals tend to avoid this kind of stuff, but I would assume that King Felipe and Queen Letizia were probably invited to the party. It’s not clear if the Danish royal family invited anyone from the Windsor clan though. Who would they invite? William and Kate? The Wessexes/Edinburghs? Sophie and Edward traditionally get this kind of assignment, so it’s curious to me that they didn’t attend. But the fusspots at the Mail think it should have been Will and Kate, except of course Will and Kate were “too busy” to attend.

It was one of the most glamorous events in this year’s social calendar, with royals from around Europe gathering in Copenhagen to celebrate Prince Christian’s 18th birthday. The glitzy gala at Christiansborg Castle was an opportunity for future Kings and Queens to mingle with one another – yet senior members of the British Royal Family were nowhere to be seen.

It’s not the first time that the likes of King Charles, Queen Camilla, the Prince and Princess of Wales, The Princess Royal and the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh have been absent from a celebration held by a European royal household. In September, Sweden’s King Carl XVI Gustaf marked his golden jubilee with a lavish banquet at the Royal Palace, where guests included Queen Anne-Marie of Greece, Norway’s Queen Sonja and Denmark’s Princess Mary – but senior British royals failed to make an appearance.

The late Queen Elizabeth II’s former press secretary Dickie Arbiter told FEMAIL that it’s likely a busy schedule and the slimmed-down monarchy to blame for the lack of British royals at their European counterparts’ festivities.

Prince Christian is a four-times great grandson of Queen Victoria and a distant cousin to Prince William. His grandmother Queen Margrehte was the late Queen Elizabeth’s third cousin and the pair enjoyed a warm relationship. But rather than travel to Denmark for the lavish occasion, the Prince of Wales, 41, journeyed to France with his son Prince George, 10, to watch Wales take on Argentina in the quarter final of the Rugby World Cup on Saturday.

It’s unclear if Kate and William – or any senior British royals – were invited to Prince Christian’s 18th birthday party. But Dickie has said it’s unlikely an invitation would’ve been accepted due to the British royals’ busy schedules.

He said: ‘Royal diaries are generally completed a good six to seven months in advance. There are minor gaps to allow for last minute engagements as we saw this weekend with The Prince of Wales at the Wales Rugby World Cup quarter final and The Princess at the England match. British royals are not fussy – busy, yes. There are only eleven working royals, all with particularly full diaries and even royals are allowed down time.’

‘Of King Carl XVI Gustaf’s Golden Jubilee – this was September when Prince William was preparing for Earthshot in New York, and The King, preparing for his State Visit to France. In the past, the late Queen who was of a similar generation to the Norwegian, Swedish and Danish monarchs, would more than likely have received an invitation and, while not attending herself, would have asked one of her family to represent her depending on the nature of the engagement.’

He added: ‘I believe the UK population at large would prefer to see the royals, whether in the UK or abroad, at work rather than attend birthday celebrations.’

[From The Daily Mail]

It looks like the friendships between the British monarchy and European monarchies died with Prince Philip and Queen Elizabeth II, honestly. King Charles’s court clearly believes that he alone is the most important monarch and he’s not going to send his family members to be friendly with the other royal families. Once again, there’s a huge gap between what Charles did as Prince of Wales versus what William has been doing as PoW. While Charles probably wouldn’t have attended Christian’s birthday party as PoW, he absolutely would have attended Carl Gustaf’s Golden Jubilee and he would have attended King Constantine’s funeral in January. It’s so bonkers that William is telling everyone that he wants to be a global statesman whilst simultaneously refusing to show up to these big international events. King Constantine was William’s godfather! I still can’t get over that. Anyway, I really wonder if the Danes even invited anyone from the Windsor clan.

PS… I still believe Will & Kate are mad about the lack of special treatment they received at the Jordanian wedding several months ago as well. They were treated like every other royal and they weren’t even put close to the front row. Plus, Charles has good reason for not sending W&K abroad: they inevitably make asses out of themselves.

Photos courtesy of Cover Images.

It’s genuinely hilarious to watch the Windsors, the British media and the Tory government go back and forth among themselves about “royal tours.” Last year, there seemed to finally be some kind of consensus on the fact that royal tours had outlived their usefulness, especially following Prince William and Kate’s disastrous Caribbean Flop Tour. It was during that tour where we really got to see the whole thing in stark terms: Will and Kate see their jobs as “dressing up in colonialist cosplay and performing skits amongst ‘the natives’ for an entirely domestic/British audience.”

Their Caribbean tour was such a disaster that Kate apparently refuses to travel overseas these days, and William has become solely obsessed with spending time in America. Add to all of that, King Charles doesn’t want to send these two idiots out on the world stage. He knows, better than most, how incapable they are. And yet, the media desperately wants Will and Kate to perform their colonialist skits, and the British government is desperate for some soft-diplomacy from the royals. So, they’re all damned if they do, damned if they don’t. It’s glorious. So, this column appeared in the Daily Express this week: “Prince William and Kate need to schedule a royal tour – and one move guarantees success.”

Princess Kate and Prince William have consistently proven themselves to be two of the most popular members of the Royal Family, both at home and abroad. In the past few years however they have been noticeably absent from the world stage, naturally in part due to COVID-19 travel restrictions and their three children all starting school, meaning they need to be at home more. It is also true that their last big royal tour to the Caribbean did not exactly play out as planned, with many criticising it as a symbol of past colonialist sentiment. But it is now time for the Waleses to shrug off these concerns and see the world again, to nurture important links with the Commonwealth and promote themselves as the future of the Firm for all people to see.

Diplomacy and maintaining international friendships is of course the major reason for these visits, but it cannot be overstated how seeing the Prince and Princess of Wales as normal and accessible future monarchs will help the Firm boost its standing in all countries they visit.

It was this relatability factor which seemed to be the sticking point when it came to the Waleses last tour, a trip to Belize, Jamaica and the Bahamas in March 2022. While they were their usual charming selves, an unfortunate image of them greeting Jamaican locals behind a chained fence was slammed as them showcasing their position as colonisers, as the local people made a stand for independence. One planned trip in Belize was called off due to protest fears, and everywhere they went rumblings of reparations for slavery followed them.

It seemed that the royals in this part of the world had come to be seen as at best outdated, and at worst a symbol of the tragic and painful history of racism and colonisation that the Caribbean nations wish to put behind them. Australia too has seen a growing movement for republicanism, with another referendum on the question all but guaranteed if Anthony Albanese wins another term in office.

Which is why it is so vital for them to start touring the world again and promoting the Wales brand as an international one once more. By embarking on more royal tours they can continue to show how the monarchy is moving forward and listening to the people, rather than being subdued by one misjudged photograph. If the royals want to stay relevant they need to show themselves out among all their people, getting to know them and all the countries they represent. With Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis in tow, the Wales clan would be a royal force to be reckoned with.

[From The Daily Express]

“Rather than being subdued by one misjudged photograph.” The Caribbean Tour didn’t flop because of “one misjudged photograph.” They had already been flopping before they even arrived in Jamaica, they had already been criticized and protested and they had already made colonialist asses out of themselves. The chain-link fence photos were just the icing on the white supremacist cake. Anyway, in case you need the point underlined, the media is now openly advising Will and Kate to travel to “white countries” with their children and perform family skits so that the media can have the content it needs. This is more chain-yanking – the invisible contract needs to be serviced, and “Kate’s bandaged fingers” and “lies about George’s test-taking” are not placating their media masters.

Note by CB: Get the Top 8 stories about the disastrous royal Caribbean tour when you sign up for our mailing list! I only send one email a day on weekdays.

Photos courtesy of Instar.

The thing about Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce is that they can be two things at once: a real relationship in its early days AND an incredibly convenient duel-marketing event at the highest level. There are layers to the cross-promotional aspect of Traylor, but I also believe that Travis and Taylor are genuinely happening and they’re into each other. Still, it’s amazing to watch Taylor’s PR go into overdrive this week, following a weekend full of Traylor photo-ops. Travis came to New York this past weekend, and they went to SNL, they partied with the SNL cast, and they went out to dinner on Sunday too. People’s “sources” had all kinds of details about Traylor’s Saturday outing:

Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce were “so happy” on their PDA-filled date night at the Saturday Night Live afterparty, a source tells PEOPLE. The pop superstar, 33, and the Kansas City Chiefs tight end, 34, enjoyed their time together at the afterparty at Catch Steak following the season 49 premiere of SNL on Saturday in New York City.

“Taylor and Travis were there all night and they were so smiley, they were so happy,” the source says. “They were so talkative. They were really fun. They talked to every single person in the room that talked to them. They were super cool. Super nice, super happy,” the insider adds, noting that Swift and Kelce stayed at the party “until after 4 a.m.”

The source also says the pair was definitely not shy with each other. At one point in the night, Kelce “takes both her hands and puts them on his shoulder, so they’re face to face, and then he takes both his hands and grabs her waist. They’re leaning in, they’re kissing each other,” the insider says. “They’re whispering. They’re talking, going back and forth about what to order, like, ‘Should we get a steak? Should we get espresso martinis?’ And then they lean in and they’re kissing again. They’re touching each other the whole time.”

Although Swift and Kelce “mingled separately,” the pro athlete “kept going over to her and checking in on her every little while, like, ‘Are you good?’ ” the source says. According to the source, Kelce was “going over and touching her, putting his hand on her lower back or putting his hands on her waist and then they would do a little kiss and then they would go back to talking to whoever they were talking to. He kept checking in with her, but gave her space to talk to other people in the room, both male and female, and he talked to a ton of people in the room too,” the insider adds.

“They were always connected throughout the night,” the source notes of the pair. “They were super comfortable with each other. They were very cuddly; they weren’t awkward. She was really comfortable with him, and he was a total gentleman.”

[From People]

Please, this came directly from Taylor and I LOVE IT. She’s telling us that she appreciates Travis’s whole deal, that she loves that he checks in with her while they’re at a party, that he was being demonstrative in public. This is Taylor’s love language – someone she can be with publicly, someone she can talk about and get pap’d with. “They were very cuddly; they weren’t awkward.” LOL. Meanwhile, People’s “sources” also dished on how Travis thinks this is the real deal.

Dating the biggest superstar in the world may come with a unique set of challenges, but a source tells PEOPLE that Travis Kelce is ready for it as his romance with Taylor Swift continues.

“Taylor’s unlike anyone Travis has dated before,” the source shares as the 34-year-old NFL star hit the town with the “Bejeweled” singer, 33, in New York City over the weekend. “It was very unexpected for his friends, but he’s so into her and very, very happy. Some people thought he was just joking around about the bracelet and having a crush on her earlier this summer, but he was serious about it,” referring to Kelce’s attempt to give Swift his phone number on a friendship bracelet when he attended her Eras tour at Arrowhead Stadium.

According to the insider, Swift and Kelce are “having a great time getting to know one another” and “have introduced some of their friends to each other” in recent weeks. The source adds, “Everyone’s getting along and seeing how much fun they have together. They make a very cute couple.”

[From People]

You know what I think? I think Taylor forgot what it’s like to date an American guy. She got so used to those British guys with all of their hangups and neuroses. To be fair, Travis seems like one of the better versions of an “American guy.” He’s smart, he’s self-assured, he’s chatty and cool. God, I hope they can figure out a way to make it last.

Note by CB: Get the Top 8 stories about Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s new relationship when you sign up for our mailing list! I only send one email a day on weekdays.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid.

I still can’t get over the story, this weekend, about a “malicious poster campaign” in Bucklebury. Carole and Michael Middleton’s business, Party Pieces, went bankrupt earlier this year, and the dying shell of PP was sold off for pennies on the dollar. The Middletons stiffed creditors for over £2.5 million, including government loans, bank loans and tons of small businesses which had extended credit to Carole specifically because she is the “future queen’s mother.” Carole left a lot of anger and debt in the wake of her financial mismanagement. Now someone is putting posters up all around Bucklebury, demanding that the Middletons pay their creditors. The Middletons own a £5 million manor home in Bucklebury as well as commercial real estate in the area. Well, I just wanted to follow up with the Sun’s exclusive coverage, which had a couple of other quotes and an interesting aside:

Kate Middleton’s parents are the target of a cruel poster campaign — after the collapse of the family party business. Malicious messages have been put up on lampposts and trees around the couple’s home village, with Kate’s brother James seen tearing some down. Angry suppliers are still owed money after the closure of Party Pieces, which was sold by Kate’s mum Carole, 68, and dad Michael, 74, shortly before it went bust earlier this year. Some want the couple — also parents to Pippa, 40 — to pay debts out of their own pockets.

However locals have been appalled by the posters, plastered around Bucklebury, where the family have lived for several decades, and the neighbouring West Berks village of Yattendon.

A source said: “Carole and Michael are incredibly popular. Everyone is horrified by these posters. It’s unfair to do this in their home village, just yards from where they live. Their son James lives nearby and so does Pippa who has moved around there recently with her family so they all have to be confronted by this. They are doing their best to make things right and don’t deserve this kind of abuse.”

Carole, a former British Airways stewardess, was said by a friend to be “desperately sad” to see the company flounder under “a new management team”. Pals claimed she was trying to make sure creditors were paid. Kate’s parents are believed to have stepped away from the day-to-day running of the firm several years ago.

However suppliers have criticised the couple for the “galling” way invoices were left unpaid before the firm went bust, and have called on them to pay outstanding debts. The administrator’s report made it clear that creditors — including small companies supplying balloons, toys and party bags — were unlikely to be repaid cash owed.

[From The Sun]

Here’s my thing – in all of the analysis and ass-covering after Party Pieces crashed, it was clear that Carole was desperately trying to say that she handed the management of PP over to other people years ago. That was directly contradicted by vendors and creditors, who said Carole was personally contacting them in recent years, promising them that they would be paid eventually. “Suppliers have criticised the couple for the ‘galling’ way invoices were left unpaid before the firm went bust” – in fact, the Middletons continued to rack up even more and more debt because Carole was making personal promises to small businesses, vendors and banks. “Carole and Michael are incredibly popular. Everyone is horrified by these posters.” The Middletons fancy themselves the king and queen of Bucklebury and their house of cards collapsed. There are businesses within Bucklebury affected by PP’s collapse as well, so no, I don’t think the Middletons are really “incredibly popular.” I would imagine the village has been highly amused, actually. I still think it’s interesting that the coronation was the last time anyone saw Carole – she’s been in hiding for months now. She’s humiliated and she deserves it.

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Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

As many have noticed, we’re not covering the ongoing catastrophe in Israel and Palestine. Last week, we discussed the statements made by King Charles, the Prince and Princess of Wales and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, and that was basically one of the few lenses with which I am comfortable writing about the situation. I don’t want to add to the noise, nor do I want to spread misinformation, nor do I want to speak out of turn. That being said, I’ve been surprised to see just how many celebrities, brands, teams, businesses and groups have chimed in. Last week, I even wrote “Or better yet for celebrities, say nothing – there’s absolutely no reason why the world needs to know what Kylie Jenner thinks about Israel and Palestine.” And yet, celebrities kept commenting and kept issuing statements.

Gigi and Bella Hadid are two of the most famous people of Palestinian descent – their father, Mohamed Hadid, is Palestinian, born in Nazareth in 1948, the same year David Ben-Gurion established the state of Israel. Bella and Gigi have spoken for years about Palestinian rights. In the days following the Hamas terrorist attacks on Israeli citizens, Bella has remained silent on everything. On October 10, Gigi made what I thought was an extremely measured statement, which she posted on IG and turned off the comments (the right thing to do). She specifically says that none of her dreams for Palestinians include harming any Jewish person, and she states clearly that she has Jewish friends, and she does not believe that being for Palestinian rights equals antisemitism. Here’s her post:

As I said, measured and completely above-board. I’ve seen public statements made by Jewish people and Israeli citizens which go a lot further and more political than Gigi. But whoever is running the Israeli government’s social media accounts decided to brazenly attack Gigi for her statement. This is one of the most unhinged things I’ve ever seen from a government social media account.

The official government account of the state of Israel calls out Gigi Hadid for sharing post about condemning the Israeli government:

“Have you been sleeping the past week? Or are you just fine turning a blind eye to Jewish babies being butchered in their homes? Your silence has… pic.twitter.com/tEELtcIbHK

— Pop Base (@PopBase) October 16, 2023

Again, this was from a government’s account. This is from the state of Israel’s Instagram account. Again, Gigi has been completely measured in all of her public statements. It’s bonkers.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Instagram.

Carole Middleton is in a full-blown panic. The British media is openly reporting on the “malicious poster campaign” happening in Bucklebury, all tied to the collapse of the Middleton family’s business, Party Pieces. In May, Party Pieces went bankrupt and it was sold to millionaire James Sinclair for £180,000. Because of the way the bankruptcy was structured, Sinclair is not on the hook to pay off Party Pieces’ extensive debt. PP defrauded banks, vendors, creditors and the government for over £2.6 million. Those people – many of them small businesses – are justifiably angry and they want to be paid, especially given that many of them extended credit to Carole personally because she is the mother of “the future queen.” This is what the poster campaign is about – someone has put posters up all around Bucklebury, saying that Carole needs to pay her debts. Conveniently, the Telegraph spoke to James Sinclair and he’s trying to provide a huge amount of cover for Carole. Some highlights:

Sinclair was approached by Carole six months ago: Before going any further, he was asked to sign an NDA – not unusual in the world of acquisitions, but a sign, perhaps, of who he was about to meet. Fifteen minutes later, he found himself on a Zoom call with Carole Middleton. “Because of my own background I instinctively understood her mindset,” he says. “There was a genuine connection.” An indefatigable 38-year-old known as Mr Partyman, Sinclair seemed the perfect person to take on Party Pieces, the business Carole started at her kitchen table, which after 30 years was on the brink of falling into administration. She had stepped away in April, reportedly selling her 49 per cent stake, ready to retire and focus on being a grandmother.

Carole really doesn’t want to take responsibility: “Carole had reached her mid-60s and quite rightly wanted to spend more time with her family,” says Sinclair. “When she handed Party Pieces over to investors and shareholders, it was in textbook condition; a really nice company that was regularly making a profit of £1m a year from a £3-£5m turnover.” Carole and her husband Michael felt they had secured the future of the firm that they had worked hard to create. But things started to go downhill. “Unfortunately the investors put into place the wrong team with the wrong strategy,” says Sinclair. “Frugality and getting a tangible return on every single cost is a big part of the entrepreneurial mindset, because it’s hard; only five per cent of businesses get past the first 10 years. Mistakes were made.”

The catalogue: “Party Pieces used to publish a catalogue three or four times a year and that gave it a legacy feel – the new owners axed it, which was short-sighted. It’s an old-school concept but because it was so unusual it made the company stand out – and it worked. We will definitely start printing it again, with our new additions.”

The international rollout: The pandemic had hit the company hard. Then came an international rollout in the US, the Middle East and Europe, which stretched budgets further. By late 2022 Carole realised something was going badly wrong and tried to salvage what she could. Despite her best efforts it wasn’t enough. “We were trying to do a solvent sale but it wasn’t possible. We bought it out of administration and as a result, creditors won’t get paid although Carole was desperately trying to avoid that happening,” Sinclair says.

The poster campaign: Weeks later, the Middletons have become the targets of a vicious campaign in their village of Bucklebury, Berkshire, where they bought a Grade II-listed Georgian manor house in 2012. Posters have been put up on trees and lampposts around their home. The Princess of Wales’s younger brother, James, who lives nearby, is said to have been seen taking them down, with rumours that disgruntled suppliers who were left out of pocket after the Party Pieces sale could be behind them.

Sinclair defends Carole: Sinclair feels hugely for Carole, whom he is quick to point out “was not captain of the ship on its downfall – she was, though, the lifeboat trying to save it…I don’t think it’s Carole’s fault,” he says over the phone. “She sold half the business at 65 years old to an investment firm and in my view they ruined it. They got her in when things looked like curtains and for six months she tried to save it – she just wanted to sell her business and retire and I feel like she’s being blamed for [what is] other people’s fault. She ran that for three decades on her own. She’s obviously not a wally.”

Carole didn’t get a fat check: Sadly, Sinclair says, “lots of people have come off with some financial pain”. “But Carole didn’t get any of the administration proceeds. She’s not got a big fat cheque for selling her business.”

Sinclair loves the Windsors: “I love the Royal family; they are great for Britain. It gives us a USP and they work really hard,” he says. “On the whole they’re a great bunch of people, especially Wills. They might live in enormously grand, if draughty, houses, but let’s be honest, they don’t own their lives.”

[From The Telegraph]

So, the cover story is that 68-year-old Carole handed PP to “investors” three years ago (2020? The middle of the pandemic??), the investors crashed PP, Carole stepped back into management in late 2022, only for PP to collapse by May of this year. And the whole time, during this three-year “step-back” period, Carole was still the public face of the company, she was still on PP’s Instagram and being sent to New Jersey to promote PP. No, sorry, I’m not buying Sinclair’s cover story. I get why he’s caping for Carole, he’s protecting his investment and what is now part of HIS brand. But Carole’s dumbf–k cover story makes no sense, and the financials make zero sense. PP was never that profitable, and Carole has been lying for years, just like she lied to creditors, vendors and banks.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Cover Images, Party Pieces’ IG.

Last week we talked about Jerry Seinfeld hinting at a Seinfeld reunion during a standup show. Jerry seemed to suggest that some kind of show is in the works that will somehow address the 1998 series finale, which fans and critics were disappointed with. Setting the divisive finale aside, I suggested that the only viable path for this project was making it about Elaine Benes, because Julia Louis-Dreyfus is the classiest, most talented one of the bunch. Oh, and she also hasn’t made an ass of herself like her former costars in the intervening years. Well, Julia was at the London Film Festival this week to promote an indie film Tuesday (that’s the name of the film, not the date of the premiere, and don’t worry it’s all kosher — SAG-AFTRA gave the film a waiver) and of course she was asked about Jerry’s recent comments. She very succinctly responded: “I don’t know what the hell he’s talking about.” Nor do any of us, Julia.

Speaking on his standup tour in the US on Saturday, Jerry Seinfeld told a Boston audience he “has a little secret” about the show, whose 1998 finale was watched by 76 million viewers in the US when it first aired, but whose plot – the four friends go on trial for wisecracking when a man is mugged in front of them – proved divisive.

“Something is going to happen that has to do with that ending. It hasn’t happened yet,” Seinfeld said. “Just what you are thinking about, [co-creator] Larry [David] and I have also been thinking about. So, you’ll see.”

His words triggered heated speculation all week about what form such a show might take. Stars Jason Alexander and Michael Richards are yet to offer comment, but speaking to the Guardian on Wednesday, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who played Elaine Benes on the programme, which ran between 1989 and 1998, professed ignorance about any such endeavour.

“Yeah, I just saw [that news] last night,” she said. “And I don’t know what the hell he’s talking about.”

Of all the Seinfeld actors, Louis-Dreyfus is the one who appears to need such a return the least. As well as starring in subsequent hit TV shows such as Veep, the actor has won acclaim on the big screen, most notably for her roles in Nicole Holofcener’s cerebral and sensitive comedies Enough Said (2013) and You Hurt My Feelings (2023).

Her latest project further dramatically expands that range. Tuesday, a contemporary fairytale about grief, had its UK premiere at the Lonon film festival earlier this week, picking up considerable Oscar buzz for Louis-Dreyfus’s performance.

She plays a single mother in denial about the terminal illness of her teenage daughter, Tuesday played by Lola Petticrew. When the grim reaper arrives in the form of a massive, talking macaw, both women try to defer the inevitable by bargaining, battling – and vaping with – Death.

Critics praised Louis-Dreyfus as “a revelation” – particularly in sequences that see her unleashing a primordial energy unfamiliar to regular fans. “She’s a performer whose radiant ferocity has never been in doubt,” wrote the Hollywood Reporter, “but until now we haven’t [sic] seen all sides of the prism.”

[From The Guardian]

“Of all the Seinfeld actors, Louis-Dreyfus is the one who appears to need such a return the least.” This is such a quintessentially British, understated way of saying Julia has grown leaps and bounds past the rest of them. I stand by my earlier statement, if they don’t get Julia on board then it’s not worth watching. I’d rather see this new film next year, despite its grim premise, and experience the catharsis of Julia “unleashing a primordial energy.” Billed as a fantasy-drama, Tuesday kind of sounds like Yorgos Lanthimos – meets – Ingmar Bergman based on early reviews. Is it likely to make me howl with laughter like Veep? No (my notorious history of laughing at horror films notwithstanding). Will I still tune in to see Julia play chess against a tall, talking, macaw-embodied Death? Definitely.

Embed from Getty Images

Embed from Getty Images

Photos credit: IMAGO/Steve Vas / Avalon and Getty

One image that lives rent free in my head is the famous picture of Megan Thee Stallion wearing a real pumpkin jack-o-lantern on her head, pretending to watch TV in bed. It’s so funny. She reprised the meme again this year on her Instagram, posing poolside with a latte and a giant pumpkin. Megan has had a difficult time over the past three years. Beyond what she endured with Tory Lanez, she is also in a legal battle with her record label–she wants out of her recording contract and they’re not letting her out. She also claims that they owe her a lot in royalties, which I believe. So she’s just bypassing them altogether and self-funding her next album. Studio time is expensive, so this is no mean feat. She talked about it on an Instagram live and is calling the venture: “Hot Girl Productions”. Now I kind of want her to start her own record label called Hot Girl Productions.

Megan is funding the album completely on her own: During an Instagram Live on Thursday (Oct. 12), the rapper revealed that she’s not signed to a label and will be funding her own music projects moving forward, as seen in screen recordings shared by fans on social media. “This part of my album is very much so funded by Megan Thee Stallion because we’re trying to get off… Y’all know what’s the tea. But I have no label right now,” she explained. “We’re doing everything funded straight out of Megan Thee Stallion’s pockets. So, the budget is coming from me. Motherf—ing Hot Girl Productions! The next s— y’all about to see is all straight from Megan Thee Stallion’s brain and Megan Thee Stallion’s wallet. We are in my pockets, hotties, so let’s do our big one.”

Her old record label is playing some underhanded games: The star rapper has been fighting with 1501 for more than two years, claiming the company duped a young artist into signing an “unconscionable” record deal in 2018 that was below industry standards. She filed the current case in February 2022, claiming 1501 had wrongly classified her Something For Thee Hotties less than an “album” — a significant distinction, as she owes a certain number of albums under her deal. Megan Thee Stallion filed a new complaint in August 2022 seeking more than $1 million in damages over claims that 1501 had “systematically failed” to pay enough royalties. 1501 then fired back with new accusations of its own, claiming it’s actually Megan Thee Stallion who owes “millions of dollars.”

[From Billboard]

While I don’t love the circumstances that led to it, I love that Megan is carrying on and refusing to let the jokers at her record label stand in the way. She gets to make her album exactly how she wants, without interference from some bozo executives. Does it mean she’d own her masters, too? I hope so. Artists like Lana Del Rey and Beyonce own their masters (Beyonce owns the masters from her last four albums) and grants exclusive license to record labels. I think that’s the move, so that the artist ultimately owns their work. I don’t know how common of an arrangement that is, but hopefully it’s something Megan can do, so she can protect her work in the future even if she grants license to a different record label. I also feel bad that Megan is getting dragged down by this lawsuit. Unfair record deals are a tale as old as time (see also: Frank Sinatra and Tommy Dorsey!). But she’s a superstar and she deserves a label that will pay her accordingly. If she wanted to be signed to a major label, she would have options.

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Photos credit: Xavier Collin / Image Press Agency / Avalon, Getty and via Instagram

After Titanic, Leonardo DiCaprio rarely took roles where he would have much interaction with women. Sure, he’s made movies where he’s got a wife or girlfriend or love interest, but for an actor who has been a movie star for nearly 30 years, it’s weird that his CV is so light on romantic dramas or “acting opposite a woman for any length of time.” What’s even weirder is that… Leo is actually good at on-screen romance. He’s a good enough actor to pull off “chemistry” with anyone. I was reminded of that as I read British Vogue’s cover story with Leo and Lily Gladstone, the stars of Killers of the Flower Moon. They play a married couple and Lily is getting so much buzz, but so is Leo. They have a lot of scenes together and, as Vogue emphasizes, they have an easy chemistry. Vogue even notes, “The pair are relaxed together, sibling-like almost – he the older brother, protective and very, very proud.” Some highlights:

Leo on Lily: “Lily is absolutely astonishing in this movie. She carries the entire film and the story. There was no reading,” DiCaprio recalls of his and Scorsese’s first meeting with Gladstone over Zoom. “Marty just instinctively knew Lily was the one.” He turns to Gladstone. “There was a truthfulness in your eyes that he saw even over a computer screen. I’ve never known [Scorsese] meet somebody and then immediately afterwards have this gravitational pull and instinct to say, ‘Let’s not wait another minute.’”

Gladstone on getting cast: “I was living at home with my parents. I thought, I don’t want to move to LA, because I’m kind of an atypical actor. I think it’s going to be hard for me to find a place if I take that route.”

The Reign of Terror. “It’s a completely forgotten part of American history,” says DiCaprio. “And an open wound that still festers.” “It’s not that long ago that the Reign of Terror happened,” Gladstone agrees. “I don’t want to label this a western. I’m happy that it’s being labelled a tragedy.”

Gladstone’s background: The authenticity of Gladstone’s performance can be attributed in part, though not entirely, to her heritage. While she is Native, she is not Osage. On her mother’s side, she is descended from the first cousin of the British prime minister William Gladstone (whose family were so deeply involved in colonial projects, his descendants recently travelled to South America to apologise for their role in enslaving Africans); on her father’s side, she is the direct descendant of Blackfeet Chief Red Crow, one of the Great Plains leaders. It was this ancestor who in 1877 entered into a famous treaty with the British Crown. In 1977, Gladstone’s family received a surprising new honorary member, His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, then visiting Canada on behalf of the Crown. “When Prince Charles was given a Blood name, he was given my grandmother’s name,” Gladstone explains. “I have mixed feelings about that.”

On the Native pan-cultural experience: “My cultural understanding is more shaped by Blackfeet, because that’s the reservation I was raised on,” Gladstone says. “There’s a bit of a pan-cultural understanding that Native people hav. But there’s incredible diversity within Indian country.” After all, there are presently more than “560 federally recognised nations and another several hundred that are not federally recognised”.

Leo stayed in Tulsa while they filmed: DiCaprio stayed in nearby Tulsa, “back and forth” between the city and Osage County, he says. While he was there, he witnessed the centenary anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre. “It was a complete coincidence, to be there exactly 100 years after the start of the Osage Reign of Terror and 100 years after the first murder of the Black Wall Street massacre happened in Tulsa. There were news cameras everywhere, people on the streets talking about it. It was very important to me to realise these were two sides of the same coin… people of colour that were independently wealthy amid a massive population of incredibly racist white people who want to extract those resources at any cost. Look at Standing Rock. Look at what’s going on in Indonesia, in the Amazon. These places that are home to incredible resources are also places that are most drenched in blood.”

Gladstone on ‘Killers’ being directed by a white man. “Nobody is going to hand an Osage filmmaker $200 million. There’s a level of allyship that’s absolutely necessary.”

[From British Vogue]

I loved this piece, honestly. Lily had space to talk and it felt like Leo agreed to the cover just to hype Lily. I mean, I’m sure he has his own Oscar campaign strategy, of course, I’m not naive. But what I’m saying is that his strategy of using his fame and his name to hype Lily is a great one. That seems to be what Marty Scorsese wants too – while Marty and Leo are giving interviews to support the film, they’re also platforming Lily and Native American communities. It’s working, I can’t wait to see this.

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Covers & IG courtesy of British Vogue.