I really don’t like it when Game of Thrones book-readers complain about the changes David Benioff and D.B. Weiss have made to George R.R. Martin’s characters and stories. Benioff and Weiss have never claimed to be making a straight-up, word-for-word adaptation of Martin’s books, and Martin has always maintained that they have their own vision for the show. It’s my understanding that Weiss and Benioff are in constant contact with Martin about the TV storylines, especially now that the show is outpacing the books in some places.

After this Sunday’s episode, in which Sansa Stark was raped by Ramsey Bolton on their wedding night, Martin knew that people would be complaining. So he wrote a livejournal blog post about it. His thoughts? Page-to-screen adaptations are always difficult and changes are always going to be made. So who cares? Here’s Martin’s post (I made some minor edits for space):

I am getting a flood of emails and off-topic comments on this blog about tonight’s episode of GAME OF THRONES. It’s not unanticipated. The comments… regardless of tone… have been deleted. I have been saying since season one that this is not the place to debate or discuss the TV series. Please respect that.

There are better places for such discussions: Westeros, Tower of the Hand, Watchers on the Wall, Winter Is Coming, the comments sections of the television critics who regularly follow the show: James Hibberd, Alyssa Rosenberg, Mo Ryan, James Poniewozik, and their colleagues. I am sure all those sites will be having a healthy debate.

I have a lot of fans asking me for comment. Let me reiterate what I have said before.

How many children did Scarlett O’Hara have? Three, in the novel. One, in the movie. None, in real life: she was a fictional character, she never existed. The show is the show, the books are the books; two different tellings of the same story.

There have been differences between the novels and the television show since the first episode of season one. And for just as long, I have been talking about the butterfly effect. Small changes lead to larger changes lead to huge changes. HBO is more than forty hours into the impossible and demanding task of adapting my lengthy (extremely) and complex (exceedingly) novels, with their layers of plots and subplots, their twists and contradictions and unreliable narrators, viewpoint shifts and ambiguities, and a cast of characters in the hundreds.

There has seldom been any TV series as faithful to its source material, by and large (if you doubt that, talk to the Harry Dresden fans, or readers of the Sookie Stackhouse novels, or the fans of the original WALKING DEAD comic books)… but the longer the show goes on, the bigger the butterflies become. And now we have reached the point where the beat of butterfly wings is stirring up storms, like the one presently engulfing my email.

Prose and television have different strengths, different weaknesses, different requirements. David and Dan and Bryan and HBO are trying to make the best television series that they can. And over here I am trying to write the best novels that I can. And yes, more and more, they differ. Two roads diverging in the dark of the woods, I suppose… but all of us are still intending that at the end we will arrive at the same place.

In the meantime, we hope that the readers and viewers both enjoy the journey. Or journeys, as the case may be. Sometimes butterflies grow into dragons.

[From Martin’s blog]

I like the way he handled it. Martin usually defends Weiss and Benioff and I truly believe they all have a close personal and professional friendship. Martin managed to defend their vision for the characters while basically saying he would have made (and has made) different choices for Sansa Stark. And let’s be real – Martin is a feminist, but he puts certain characters (male and female) through the wringer on a regular basis. Yes, Sansa Stark was raped on her wedding night and it was awful. Awful things have happened to many of the beloved and hated characters in the GoT world. I don’t think Weiss and Benioff are awful people for writing a scene where Sansa is raped, but some of that is contingent on what happens next and just how awful it will be for her from here on out. Is she a survivor or a victim? And how do you write that?

Photos courtesy of WENN, HBO.

what a night ?????????

A photo posted by Mecca “Crystal Mec” Kalani ???? (@meccandcheese) on May 17, 2015 at 6:27pm PDT

Jaden Smith may be off the social media train (come back!), but that doesn’t mean he can’t continue to awe with his fashion sense. This past weekend, Jaden brought his swagger to prom. I don’t think this was his prom, right? Jaden hasn’t gone to school in years because Will and Jada are permissive to a fault. Jaden attended senior prom with singer Mecca Kalani, who is about to graduate from high school. She must have had the sharpest dressed date at the dance. Jaden threw on a superhero costume and wore it like a boss. More specifically, he wore a white-suited Batman costume that was custom tailored (but similar to the duds he sported at the Kimye wedding). Jaden rocked this outfit harder than his dad in Suicide Squad gear.

The Comeback…(Albino jacked the headgear)

A photo posted by Téo (@pleiadianmessage) on May 16, 2015 at 5:52pm PDT

Jaden doesn’t follow the style rules and wears whatever he pleases. He wears the clothes, the clothes don’t wear him. Few people can do the same. Jaden has own clothing line (as co-branding with his “his music collective) called MSFTSrep. He sells hoodies, t-shirts, and crew necks, but nothing as intricate as this Batman costume.

Side note: Proms must be a lot cooler than they were in the early 1990s. My daughter recently went to her first dance, and the teachers went all out to make sure the kids had a memorable time. Whereas I remember a cafeteria with tables pushed aside and a bad disco light flashing in the corner. Prom was a little bit better but not much. I want to go to a prom where the kids dress like Jaden. He always brings the fun.

prom

A photo posted by Mecca “Crystal Mec” Kalani ???? (@meccandcheese) on May 16, 2015 at 10:26pm PDT

Here are some photos of Jaden at the Pitch Perfect 2 premiere a week ago.

Photos courtesy of Teo on Instagram, Mecca “Crystal Mec” Kalani on Instagram & WENN

After Duchess Kate gave birth to Princess Charlotte, I said that the royal gossip was probably going to slow down significantly this summer. What I should have said was that the British royal gossip was going to be pretty quiet, specifically gossip about the Cambridges. But the Swedish royal gossip is going to be pretty epic in the coming months, so this is going to serve as a preview of coming (and ongoing) scandals.

Sweden’s Prince Carl Philip has always been pretty hot. Arguably, he’s one of the hottest and most eligible princes in the world. I think there might also be a “pretty but dumb” issue with Carl Philip. Yes, he’s hot, but he has kind of awful taste in women and he doesn’t seem to get that some women are using him. He’s dated several lingerie models, reality show famewhores and the like, and his current fiancée is keeping with that theme. Her name is Sofia Hellqvist. She was once named Slitz of the Year by a Swedish magazine that is like the equivalent of FHM or Maxim. Like, almost p0rn – they get ladies all greased up and in bikinis. While there’s nothing wrong with a lady doing whatever she wants to do with her body, there are issues with a “Slitz of the Year” with an extremely shady past marrying into the Swedish royal family. It would be like Prince Harry marrying Courtney Stodden – there would be ISSUES. You can read about some of Sofia’s past here.

Obviously, some of those issues have caused some rumors in and around the Swedish royal family. Many say that Queen Silvia and King Carl Gustaf are appalled by Carl Philip’s choice. Carl Philip’s sisters don’t seem especially happy for him either. What’s worse is that the royal family’s PR people have been trying to clean up Sofia’s image and sketchball history, but the more they try to clean it up, the more attention they end up drawing to just what an inappropriate choice Carl Philip has made. Allegedly, Sofia has even been receiving “princess lessons” a la Duchess Kate.

The big royal wedding is supposed to go down on June 13th, and I’m absolutely positive the whole thing is going to be an awkward mess. Princess Madeleine probably won’t even go, using the excuse that she’s due to give birth around then. Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel will probably have to go, but neither of them has issued a statement of support for their new sister-in-law. I can’t wait for all the wedding photos.

This was just announced over the weekend too – upon her marriage, Sofia is going to become a princess. Oh, good. Her official title will be HRH Princess Sofia, Duchess of Värmland. Duchess Kate is probably kicking herself right now – Kate’s past is a lot less shady and all Kate got was a duchess title. Sofia gets a princess AND a duchess title. All hail Princess Sofia.

View image | gettyimages.com

View image | gettyimages.com

Photos courtesy of WENN, Getty.

Iggy Azalea showed up to Sunday’s Billboard awards looking very different than her usual self. I figured she had fillers and a chin implant. CB guessed that Iggy had gone in for a minor nose job too. The new look was surprising because Iggy recently admitted to bolt-ons, and she went very subtle with the new girls. You can tell she got them done, but they’re proportionate to her body. When Iggy talked about that procedure, her attitude seemed casual. Perhaps I read too much into her words, but my take was that she wasn’t interested in further cosmetic procedures. Either Iggy played us well, or I was too gullible. Us Weekly spoke to an Iggy insider who confirmed both a nose job and a chin implant:

Who dat, who dat? Iggy Azalea has been getting some “Fancy” work done on her face. The “Pretty Girls” rapper, 24, debuted her new look at the 2015 Billboard Music Awards on Sunday, May 17.

A source tells Us Weekly that the Aussie native got both a nose augmentation and a chin implant just a few months after she admitted to getting a boob job.

The latest procedures were done very recently, and the source adds, “She loves the results! She wasn’t happy with her nose for a long time, so after the boobs she wanted to get that taken care of and then got the chin done at the same time.”

[From Us Weekly]

She’s only 24 years old, and I’m shocked that Iggy would go under the knife for so many procedures in a short amount of time. Can we blame online body shaming for Iggy’s critical eye towards her own reflection? She looks so different now. Perhaps the new work will settle with time.

Iggy’s causing a ruckus elsewhere too. The Delta Foundation hired her to headline the Pittsburgh Pridefest, and there has been enormous backlash in the wake of that decision. Mainly because Iggy not only has a history of racist tweets, but she also tweeted some homophobic statements too.

One more thing. Chrissy Teigen may have rolled her eyes when Iggy arrived on the red carpet. At least we’ll never see an Iggy/John Legend collaboration.

Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet & WENN

Back in March, Bristol Palin announced her engagement to Dakota Meyer, a US Marine and recipient of the Medal of Honor. If I’m being honest, the guy pinged on my sketchball radar a little bit, not because of his military service, but because he seemed to be too comfortable with having firearms and children close together. Then something interesting happened over the weekend – the Daily Mail published a story about how Dakota had a “secret marriage” under his belt, a marriage that Bristol didn’t know about. Apparently, he married a young woman in 2008, but the marriage fell apart quickly and they were divorced after a few years. The story came out because one of his ex-wife’s friends called Dakota out on social media. When I read the DM story, I kind of thought they were reaching – I mean, how did they know that Dakota hadn’t told Bristol about his starter marriage? And why is it a big deal anyway? Well, it was a big deal. Because Dakota and Bristol just called off their wedding.

Bristol Palin’s wedding to former U.S. Marine Dakota Meyer has been canceled, her mother, Sarah Palin, announced in a Facebook post on Monday.

“Bristol and Dakota couldn’t be more thankful for the love and support of family and friends over the past months while preparing for their wedding,” the former Alaska governor wrote. “They have informed loved ones that unfortunately the announced celebration planned for May 23 will not be held.”

She added that the Palin and Meyer families would still gather for a barbecue in Kentucky, where the wedding was supposed to be held, to “celebrate life, in general!” She also included the following statement from her daughter.

“Regarding salacious headlines in recent days about ‘secret wives,’ Dakota and I discussed our past relationships prior to our engagement. Dakota was legally divorced years ago, as any good reporter could and should have disclosed to readers. As usual, false stories and dramatically written headlines begging controversy should be disregarded, and we have faith that our privacy will be respected at this time by those with decency.”

It was reported last week that Meyer had married another woman, Cassandra Wain, in May 2008, and that he’d hidden his previous marriage from Bristol. Neither Bristol nor Sarah said if the couple had ended their engagement or if the wedding had been moved to a different date.

Their Facebook post accompanied a photo that read, “Trust in God’s timing. It’s better to wait a while and have things fall into place than to rush and have things fall apart.” Bristol had shared the same picture on Instagram on Saturday.

[From People]

Regarding Bristol’s statement (via Sarah Palin’s Facebook): I guess I believe that Bristol and Dakota did have “the talk” about past relationships and maybe he did tell her about his first marriage. But if that’s the case, why call off the wedding? And why announce everything so publicly? My sketchball radar is pinging again.

I actually don’t feel any sense of schadenfreude with this – while I think the Palin family is full of trainwreck personalities, the fact that Bristol is calling off her wedding so last minute makes it seem like Dakota has issues and Bristol wanted to get out before she was legally tied to him. If that’s the case, props to her for trusting her gut.

Photos courtesy of Bristol and Dakota’s Instagrams.

What I know about British country life, I learned from the Daily Mail, the Bridget Jones books and Miss Marple. So I have some vague familiarity with the organization called the Women’s Institute, or WI. WI is for country ladies, usually older ladies, to meet a few times a month, maybe have a guest speaker, maybe do some knitting and maybe gossip about their flower gardens. The WI seems pretty harmless overall, although I’m struggling to understand why a woman under the age of 55 would really want to join. But it’s happened. Duchess Kate apparently written to the local WI and asked to join. Sure. I imagine she has a lot of free time what with her mother organizing the entire Anmer Hall household.

For a young mother settling down to a genteel life in the country, the Women’s Institute – with its flower-arranging, tea and delicious home-made cakes – makes for a very alluring prospect. And now there is one branch of the WI in Norfolk that’s set to receive a new member who is sure to attract discreet – but excited – attention from the assembled ladies. For the Duchess of Cambridge has written to Anmer WI on the Sandringham estate, where she and Prince William have their country home, to express her interest in joining.

The branch, with just 14 members, has an evening meeting once a month in the community hall less than a ten-minute stroll from the Royal couple’s Georgian mansion, Anmer Hall. Last night, the delighted president of the Anmer WI welcomed the news. Dorothy Pulsford-Harris, 70, a retired barrister, had written to the Duchess before Christmas to invite her to join. She said: ‘I had a very nice letter back from her private secretary saying she was interested. We would be delighted to see her.’

The Duchess would be following Royal tradition, as the Queen became a member of Sandringham WI in 1943 and is now the branch’s president, having taken over the role from the Queen Mother. The Queen always attends one meeting a year – usually featuring a celebrity guest speaker – during her annual Christmas break on the 20,000-acre Norfolk estate. The Duchess of Cornwall and the Countess of Wessex are also WI members, and Princess Anne is an associate member. The Queen, Princess Anne and the Countess of Wessex are due to attend the WI’s annual meeting on June 4, which will mark its centenary.

By joining the WI, Kate, 33, would be showing another sign of the Royal couple’s wish to live a middle-class lifestyle. The Duchess has been seen in Waitrose, local shops and joining Prince William for pub meals. The WI, with its traditional ‘Jam and Jerusalem’ image, has campaigned for many years to attract younger members. Mrs Pulsford-Harris added: ‘She would be one of our younger members. I don’t know how old our youngest member is, but I would say early 40s.’

Meetings of the Anmer branch involve activities such as flower-arranging and craft demonstrations, or visits by speakers. Mrs Pulsford-Harris said: ‘The speakers include people with interesting jobs like the local paramedics who go round on their bicycles, and people from local charities, particularly mental health charities. There are also outings and we have a meeting once a year when we go to a member’s home in the evening for a garden party – hopefully when it is not raining.’

[From The Daily Mail]

As I said, it sounds pretty harmless. And I’m guessing this is more about royal tradition – I didn’t realize so many royal women had connections to the WI – rather than wanting that “middle class” lifestyle. Perhaps Kate can even count these meetings as part of her royal event list! Ha.

One more thing – Carole Middleton has just signed on to write an advice/product recommendation list for two mum-centered publications, Little London and Baby London. She will be offering recommendations for “the best products on the market” for babies and toddlers. Sigh…

Photos courtesy of WENN.

View image | gettyimages.com

Above is a photo of Leighton Meester, 29, at an event in April in a floral romper, where she performed. You may know Leighton from Gossip Girl and various film roles but she’s also a singer and released her first full album late last year. (You can hear her first single, Heartstrings, on YouTube. It’s lovely.) Anyway as you can see from the photos, Leighton is wearing a loose outfit. That’s because she was most likely pregnant in those photos!

View image | gettyimages.com

PopSugar has the exclusive photos of Leighton out with her husband, Adam Brody, this weekend looking very pregnant. She’s in a tight t-shirt and there’s no mistaking her bump. I would say she looks at least six months along, but I’m not the best judge. She also looks so happy! Leighton secretly married Adam Brody, 35, early last year after a very low-key romance. Neither of them are particularly into the spotlight and they don’t attend many events so it was a nice surprise for me to hear about it when they were engaged. I’m so happy that they’re now expecting a baby together!

Unlike Leighton’s former co-star, Blake Lively, she’s not milking her pregnancy for publicity for a project and I doubt she’ll do a ton of pap walks in carefully curated outfits. Popsugar’s photos look more like a happy pap accident and even if they were planned there’s a kind of adorable earnestness to them.

As Popsugar mentions in their coverage, Leighton has spoken about having kids and she told Nylon magazine in October that she was considering having a family. “Most people I know are starting to get married. It’ll be kids next. I like the grown-up stuff. I like having a house. I’ve got dogs.” She’ll have a baby soon too. Congratulations to Leighton and Adam on their upcoming arrival!

View image | gettyimages.com

View image | gettyimages.com

View image | gettyimages.com

Last month, I wrote about Brandon Flowers’ new solo album, his first studio album in years (and no, The Killers haven’t broken up, they’re just on an indefinite hiatus). Flowers has been hustling for the album too, and it’s actually been pretty charming. He’s not, like, a look-at-me Justin Timberlake type. Flowers just seems like a quiet dude who is adapting to the change landscape of pop-rock music. He’s pretty good at social media, his interviews are interesting, with just enough shade-throwing, and of course it doesn’t hurt that he’s still incredibly beautiful. I’m generally not into “pretty” men, but I can sit back and appreciate Flowers’ sexiness. He’s got something special. Anyway, Flowers has been promoting the album (The Desired Effect) in Britain for a few weeks, and he has a new interview with The Independent – you can read the full piece here. Brandon described a really weird habit: he apparently collects all of his facial hair clippings. Eh?

“So I grew a beard for Sam’s Town…” begins The Killers singer. His band’s second album (2006) heralded the moment when the Las Vegas foursome ditched the British synth-pop colours of their acclaimed 2004 debut, Hot Fuss, and embraced Springsteen-style Americana. And they tried on the boots, waistcoats and facial hair to match.

Neil Tennant – then, as now, a keen and pithy dissector of music culture – observed Flowers’ growth and expressed concern. To the Pet Shop Boy, it suggested that the Anglophile Nevadan who grew up loving The Smiths, Oasis and Tennant’s band was suddenly forswearing pop music in favour of something rather more, well, beardy. Flowers – then, as now, in awe of Tennant – decided to heed the Brit’s warning. When he removed the beard for The Killers’ third album, Day & Age (2008), he says, “I started keeping the shavings in a bag. And I still do it,” he grins. “I have a Ziploc bag full of hair. I’ll grow five or six days growth, make sure that the sink is dry, use an electric razor, catch it in the sink, and then I’m able to just scoop it into the bag!”

Flowers yuk-yuks his odd, gulping laugh. And, yes, he’s been doing this for seven years. But, no, his wife, Tana, isn’t bothered by this bathroom peccadillo. “It’s a lot of hair!” he says. “But it’s compacted. And it doesn’t smell. It’s all black but about half way up you start to see some greys. I don’t know what to do with it yet. It means something.”

What exactly?

“Well, Neil was dead-on with his observation,” replies this lean, fidgety singer who habitually (and nervily) cracks his knuckles. “And putting the hair in the bag has sort of become a ritual, I guess. It makes me think about where I stand. There’s always gonna be a part of me that is pop. And I shouldn’t forget that. That’s important. Because there’s nothing wrong with pop. So I keep this bag in a drawer by my sink in the bathroom.”

[From The Independent]

So… he collects his facial hair clippings in a ziploc baggie and has done so for seven years. Charmingly weird or creepy & disturbing? If you’re reading it in context, like he’s telling an amusing anecdote, maybe it doesn’t seem so weird. Maybe it just comes off as quirky. I shave my legs to the knee every time I shower. Is that more or less weird than what Flowers does? I think it’s less weird, because I’m not KEEPING MY CLIPPINGS IN A ZIPLOC.

Photos courtesy of Brandon’s social media, WENN.

I kind of thought Mad Max: Fury Road would make crazy money for its opening weekend, but it made just $44 million (or thereabouts). I also thought it would win the weekend, but Pitch Perfect 2 ended up scoring just shy of $70 million this weekend too. All in all, it was a good weekend to be a lady. You had two great, well-reviewed and feminist films to choose from. Which brings me to what I wanted to talk about: Mad Max and feminism. Every woman who has seen Mad Max has raved about Charlize Theron’s Furiosa character, and how the whole film seems like a very pro-woman, feminist action film. When Charlize was at Cannes last Friday, she was asked about feminism and her answers were pretty amazing:

Charlize on whether Mad Max is ‘sort of a feminist film’: “You know what I think is even more powerful about it? That I think George didn’t have a feminist agenda up his sleeve, and I think that’s what makes the story even more powerful, especially how the women are represented in it. It’s just very truthful, and I really applaud him for that. I think when we use the word ‘feminism’ people get a little freaked out, it’s like we’re somehow, like, being put on a pedestal or anything like that. George has this innate understanding that women are just as complex and interesting as men, and he was really interested in discovering all of that. I think through just his need and want for the truth he actually made an incredible feminist movie.”

Charlize on truthful representations of women: “It’s crazy that we live in a world, not just in Hollywood, where women get paid less than men for doing the same job. And also just the representation of women in film, it hasn’t been that authentic and true. So when something comes along where women are represented in a truthful manner, all of a sudden, people really respond to it. And it’s kind of like, ‘You guys, this isn’t anything new.’”

What feminism means to her: “Feminism is such a tricky thing to throw around because I don’t think a lot of people know what women mean when they speak in that articulation. Really, what it boils down to is just equal rights.”

[From Fox News and HuffPo]

The “pedestal” quote is interesting. I don’t think there’s a complaint that “feminism” means women need to be put on pedestals. I think to many of the MRA-types, the complaint is that feminism means women in charge of everything, not equality between the sexes. But I agree with Charlize’s larger statements, which are basically that this is a feminist film because it has a fully realized, complicated and capable female lead.

Photos courtesy of WENN.

During a Monday appearance on Live! With Kelly and Michael, pop superstar Christina Aguilera shared a shot with 9-month-old daughter Summer.

“It was my daughter’s first Disney trip ever yesterday. It was super special. She was so happy,” said the former Mickey Mouse Club member, 34, who is also mom to 7-year-old son Max.

“She loves watching people, so this is the place to come if you are not shy and you want to see people.” What did her baby girl think? “She loved it,” the singer said, adding that Max “grew up on Disney.”

The mom-of-two went on to talk about her kids.

“Max, my son, is awesome, but he’s all about his Minecraft and getting to sit down in the park,” she said. “Speaking of Minecraft, he tries to show her on the iPad what that’s all about. I’m like, ‘She doesn’t understand that yet!’”

And it sounds like Max loves being a big brother.

“They laugh so much together,” the proud mom said. “He’s a little jokester. [Summer] wants to do everything like [Max]. Like yesterday, we were at the dinner table. She doesn’t want to miss a beat. She doesn’t want to miss a joke. If he starts laughing at something, she’s like, ‘What did I miss? Ha, ha, ha.’ She just doesn’t want to be out of the action.”

As for Mother’s Day, her beau Matthew Rutler helped Max pick out “a beautiful bracelet,” and they enjoyed the day “at home in the backyard, having fun at the pool.”

She added: “When you’re working so much on The Voice, it’s kind of like, just being at home is a gift from God. Being at home with the kids in sweatpants, I’m good.”

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