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While I recognize that Marvel Fatigue is a real thing and completely understand those who’ve succumbed to it, I haven’t. I’m not a sycophant, I’ll pass on the projects that don’t interest me or wait on sequels for the franchises I like if the trailer looks meh. But when the hype around a Marvel project I love looks hot, I jump as high as Marvel asks. And I’m going to watch the ever-living HECK out of Wakanda Forever. I have a lot of confidence in Ryan Coogler. If he says he can tell this story properly, after almost quitting due to his grief over Chadwick Boseman, I trust him.

But I’m easy to convince. You know who else he convinced? Rihanna. And you know what he convinced her to do? Write a new song for the film! On Tuesday, Marvel tweeted a 15 second teaser clip that was just the Wakanda Forever name against a black backdrop. Then the letters fade away except the letter R and 10.28.22 runs up under it. Everyone asked, “does that ‘R’ mean Rihanna?” and held their breath. Well, Rihanna didn’t want us to pass out, so she just tweeted this:

lift me up
10.28.22 pic.twitter.com/hIvhUQP8Bj

— Rihanna (@rihanna) October 26, 2022

And if that doesn’t excite you, wait to you hear what got her to do the song.

It’s official: Rihanna is making her long-awaited return to music with “Lift Me Up,” the lead single on Marvel’s blockbuster sequel “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.”

The song, a tribute to the life and legacy of Chadwick Boseman, was written by Tems, Ludwig Göransson, Rihanna and director Ryan Coogler. It will be released on Friday, Oct. 28 in advance of the movie, which premieres in theaters on Nov. 11. Rihanna briefly teased the song’s melodic hum on social media, but little else is known about the style and sound of “Lift Me Up.”

“After speaking with Ryan and hearing his direction for the film and the song, I wanted to write something that portrays a warm embrace from all the people that I’ve lost in my life. I tried to imagine what it would feel like if I could sing to them now and express how much I miss them,” Tems said in a statement. “Rihanna has been an inspiration to me so hearing her convey this song is a great honor.”

[From Variety]

So this film is so good and so emotional, it brought the right excellent Rihanna back into the recording studio. *grabs tissues and popcorn* Just take my money now. I love this flex from Rihanna, too. We pestered her so much about making new music she told us to hush up. When we finally do, she drops a new track in one of the most anticipated films of the year.

Taika Waititi got so much credit for securing the the rights to The Immigrant Song, but he’s going to need to pass that crown to Ryan for this one. See you Friday, folks.

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Jesse Williams is certainly staying “booked and busy” with some buzzy projects. Despite significant personal drama involving custody and child support, he has a lot going on professionally. He left Grey’s Anatomy, but keeps returning for guest and directing spots; he had a small role in Little Fires Everywhere, which might have led to a role in another Reese Witherspoon movie; he was nominated for a Tony and images of his dong were stolen and splashed across the Internet to much ado; and now he’s been cast in third season of the best show ever: Only Murders in the Building.

Jesse Williams has been cast in Season 3 of “Only Murders in the Building.”

Williams will recur as a documentarian with a particular interest in the case that Mabel (Selena Gomez), Charles (Steve Martin) and Oliver (Martin Short) are working on.

The series follows three unlikely friends who live in the same building in New York City and bond over their love of true crime when they find themselves in the middle of a real-life murder mystery and begin recording a podcast of their own. In Season 1, they investigate the death of their neighbor Tim Kono, while Season 2 saw them investigate after finding their building’s board president Bunny Folger (Jayne Houdyshell) murdered. Along with Williams, Gomez, Martin and Short, Season 3 also stars Paul Rudd.

Williams is best known for starring in 12 seasons of ABC’s “Grey’s Anatomy” as Dr. Jackson Avery, with other prominent credits including “The Cabin in the Woods,” “Little Fires Everywwhere,” “Brooklyn’s Finest” and “Secret Headquarters.” On stage, he had his Broadway debut in the 2022 revival of “Take Me Out.” Behind the camera, he’s produced projects including Blitz Bazawule’s “The Burial of Kojo” and the Oscar-winning short film “Two Distant Strangers.” Alongside Norman Lear, Williams served as senior producer and correspondent on the Epix docuseries “America Divided.” Up next, he’ll star with Reese Witherspoon in “Your Place or Mine.”

[From Variety]

Despite my disappointment with and dislike of Jesse personally, I can admit this is a great career move and really good casting. Jesse could definitely do justice to a documentarian sniffing around the trio and their latest case. I do like him in his acting roles and rewatching Grey’s lately has reminded me that he is really great at playing that sort of privileged, slightly pretentious character. I know a lot of journalists and they can be a little pretentious, particularly documentarians and podcasters. Anyway, Jesse will be great at portraying that type and he has pretty good comedic delivery/timing from his role on Grey’s. He has a few funny lines from it that come to mind. Also, being on a cast with the three main characters, Paul Rudd, and whoever else they pull in for season 3 will look great on Jesse’s IMDB. I wonder if he’ll strike up friendships with the rest of the much-beloved cast. He could definitely stand to take a few pointers from Selena Gomez with her pristine reputation and world-class PR team. Only Murders obviously films in New York — I guess he’ll be away from his kids for even longer…

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If you ask me, Martha Stewart has had her eye on Pete Davidson for months. She wanted him when Pete was with Kim Kardashian! [Just Jared]
The Princess of Wales is probably adding Bella Hadid’s Schiaparelli ensemble to her Button Mood Board as we speak. [RCFA]
AmEx is suing Armie Hammer over an unpaid credit card balance. [Dlisted]
Greenpeace: plastic recycling remains a “myth.” [OMG Blog]
A reminder that Will Smith still has friends in the industry. [LaineyGossip]
Emmanuel the Emu and his mother got milkshake duck’d. [Jezebel]
Chloe Sevigny is on Team Palazzo Pants, yes!! [Go Fug Yourself]
Review of The Banshees of Inisherin. Sounds good! [Gawker]
Ariel Elias made her TV debut on Jimmy Kimmel’s show. [Pajiba]
Taylor Swift’s new music video. [Egotastic]
Kids and their weird food habits. [Buzzfeed]
So happy for Sam Smith & Kim Petras! “Unholy” is such a great song! [Towleroad]

Last week, there was a surge in gossip about Megan Fox and Machine Gun Kelly. While Megan and MGK have always been over-the-top, confessional and extremely demonstrative with their love, it seemed like things had been getting quieter in recent months/weeks, and then last week, Megan posted photos of herself without her diamond-and-emerald engagement ring. Perhaps there was a slight cooldown? They’ve been together since March 2020, and engaged since January of this year. Megan calls him her “twin flame” and her soulmate. So it would be difficult to walk back all of that crap, right?

Well, Megan and MGK were out and about last night and it appears that all is well. They went to the Time 100 gala in NYC, then they went out to dinner at Carbone. They held hands and looked okay. Maybe not as “loved up” as they were a year ago, but they’re definitely still together. For now.

Us Weekly actually has a story this week about how Megan and MGK are “secretly planning their wedding” even though they haven’t set a date yet. A source tells the magazine, “They’ve worked on their problems and worked really hard to get to the place where they are today. It’s still a struggle at times and they tend to have a lot of ups and downs. He is making a lot of effort to be more mature. He’s not always easy to deal with. He still has this teenage side to him.” Apparently, MGK still likes to stay out all night and party, while Megan (a mother of three) prefers going home early. The insider also confesses that at one point, several months ago, Meghan “was beyond done with him. She was fed up with his BS. It got really bad between them.” But apparently things have turned around now. We’ll see.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid.

James Cameron is currently promoting The Way of Water, the sequel to Avatar. A lot of time has passed since Avatar, and that time is reflected in the story, apparently. I don’t think this is a spoiler because it’s in all of the promotional material, but Sam Worthington’s character and Zoe Saldana’s character are married (or whatever it would be in this universe) and they have children. This was the whole point of the story, that these two characters are still together and raising children. In a New York Times interview with Cameron and the cast, Cameron spoke about how he wants to tell stories where the characters develop and change and form real bonds over time. He compares this story to the lack of personal development within Marvel stories. So I’m sure the Marvel fans will be on his ass soon.

The characters are parents now: “Zoe and Sam now play parents, 15 years later. In the first movie, Sam’s character leaps off his flying creature and essentially changes the course of history as a result of this crazy, almost suicidal leap of faith. And Zoe’s character leaps off a limb and assumes there’s going to be some nice big leaves down there that can cushion her fall. But when you’re a parent, you don’t think that way. So for me, as a parent of five kids, I’m saying, ‘What happens when those characters mature and realize that they have a responsibility outside their own survival?’”

Changing the perspective by making his characters parents: “I was pretty wild in my misspent youth, and there are a lot of risks that I wouldn’t take now. I see some of that wildness in my own kids, and there are stories that are embargoed until they’ve turned a certain age. But it definitely colors your whole perspective to have children. I also want to do the thing that other people aren’t doing. When I look at these big, spectacular films — I’m looking at you, Marvel and DC — it doesn’t matter how old the characters are, they all act like they’re in college. They have relationships, but they really don’t. They never hang up their spurs because of their kids. The things that really ground us and give us power, love, and a purpose? Those characters don’t experience it, and I think that’s not the way to make movies.

[From The NYT]

I don’t think that he’s wrong? Again, his critique is of the character development throughout superhero “universes.” He’s the one saying: you’re going to have Batman or Thor go through all of this drama over the course of decades and you’re never going to show them in a loving marriage or as parents? I get Cameron’s critique while I also understand why these franchises don’t show that kind of development, and it’s because Marvel and DC want to appeal to certain younger male demographics. I mean, the Nolan-directed Batman trilogy was basically Michael Caine’s Alfred telling Bruce that he should hang up the Bat-cape and get a f–king girlfriend. And when Batman finally did just that, the story literally ended.

Photos courtesy of James Shaw / Avalon and Xavier Collin/Image Press Agency / Image Press Agency / Avalon and JW / Bang Showbiz / Avalon.

Here are some photos of Gwyneth Paltrow at a Tuesday event in Beverly Hills. The event? Veuve Clicquot’s Solaire Culture Exhibit. Gwyneth wore a Carolina Herrera dress with an awkward midriff cutout. Cutouts cycle in and out of style every couple of years and I hate that we’re in the middle of another “in style” cycle. In my opinion, I think this would have been such a stronger look for Gwyneth without the cutout? The thin stripes are also giving me a headache.

I was meaning to cover something else Gwyneth-related last week but I kind of forgot. There had been some gossip that Gwyneth’s daughter Apple went off to college, but Gwyneth hadn’t confirmed anything publicly… until last week. As it turns out, she was quiet about Apple going away because Gwyneth has been f–king devastated and she misses Apple so much. She told People Magazine that watching Apple leave home was “horrible. It was truly horrifying. I was sick to my stomach, bursting into tears.” Gwyneth has already visited her on campus during a parents’ weekend and she says that Apple is doing great and she’s really happy. Gwyneth also talked about it with Us Weekly:

“It’s been a major transition. I didn’t know what to expect, but I knew it would be hard because Apple and I are so close and were together all the time. But I had no idea. It was like the worst heartbreak I’ve ever [felt]. I felt like the love of my life broke up with me for weeks. It was terrible. Now, I’m getting more used to it and it also helps to see her happy and well-adjusted. That makes a huge difference. And she just came home for October break, so that was good. I’ll see her for Thanksgiving.”

Paltrow, who shares Apple and son Moses, 16, with ex-husband Chris Martin, opened up about how her youngest child has dealt with the change, saying, “I think he’s sort of feeling a new world without a sister in the house. But he’s adjusting well. He’s such a great kid.”

[From Us Weekly]

My mom cried a lot when I left for college, and I cried too – I was homesick for a few months, but college is great. You make friends, get involved with tons of stuff, you grow up and get exposed to different kinds of people. I honestly didn’t think Gwyneth Paltrow of all people would be this devastated though. It’s like she was completely unprepared for her firstborn to leave the nest! Poor Goop.

Photos courtesy of Cover Images.

Queen Camilla slipped away last week, flying to India undercover. She’s still in India, staying at a pricey resort called Soukya, which is operated by Dr. Matai. The resort/wellness center is focused on holistic medicine. Both King Charles and Camilla have stayed at the resort before, and this is apparently Camilla’s seventh stay at the center. She checked in with “some friends” and her security. We learned some or all of this earlier this week, after some reports from India were seemingly confirmed. It’s driving me crazy that not only do we not know why Camilla slipped off to India last week, but the British media is making the whole thing sound like an inspo wellness retreat with zero drama. Where’s the outrage about the cost? Where’s the outrage about the lack of briefing from the Palace? Where’s the outrage about the lack of information about what Camilla is actually doing there? I thought of all of that as I read through the Mail’s curiously soft-focus coverage.

After an intense two months following King Charles’s accession to the throne, the Queen Consort has reportedly travelled to India to visit one of her favourite holistic health retreats. Camilla, 75, arrived at SOUKYA, an international holistic health centre in Bangalore last Thursday and it is thought she will stay there until later this week, the Times of India reported.

This will be Camilla’s seventh visit to the health retreat on a 30-acre organic farm, which offers yoga and Ayuverdic, homeopathic and naturopathic treatments. The late Archbishop Demond Tutu is also believed to have visited three times and actress Emma Thompson is a fan.

The visit, which is happening in a private capacity, will see the Queen enjoy some special treatments with friends at the £735-a-night retreat.

FEMAIL reached to Buckingham Palace for comment, who declined to comment on a ‘private matter’.

The newspaper reported that 75-year-old Camilla was accompanied by a few friends and her security detail from Scotland Yard’s Royalty and Specialist Protection squad.

‘There were strict instructions not to publicise her trip as it’s a private visit. No public engagement programmes or interactions have been scheduled during her stay,’ a source said.

Wellness expert Dr Matai, who founded the retreat, has been the personal physician for the Queen Consort and the King for years.

There is a variety of suites and rooms for guests to stay, ranging from deluxe to super deluxe special, which boast a spacious private garden with veranda, a pantry, king-size beds, an en-suite bathroom with a shower and bath tub and your own private outdoor shower. Prices start from £735/INR 42,900.

[From The Daily Mail]

£735 a night. For Camilla, her friends and her security. Plus the cost of the flight to India, plus the security costs, plus the cost of whatever “treatments” Camilla is getting. It’s not that I’m saying that everyone has the right to medical privacy and the right to have a little private vacation, but I’m shocked at the double-standards in covering Camilla’s “private” vacation versus the Mail’s coverage of literally anything to do with the Sussexes. God help us all if Meghan went to a spa for a weekend, the Mail would have all-caps banner headlines about the cost of the spa, her security at the spa, “insiders” telling the world that Meghan doesn’t deserve spa treatments and questions about whether Meghan “brought Netflix cameras” to the spa.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Instar and Cover Images.

A few weeks ago, British photographer John Swannell accidentally said something mildly critical and factual about the new Princess of Wales. Swannell said that Kate should use her keenness for photography to give work to up-and-coming British photographers, and that Kate is “not a great photographer, but she just snaps away, and with kids it’s easier if you know them.” I covered his comments and it was just a funny and mild story. I mean, we can clearly see that Kate isn’t some super-talented photographer, despite what her embiggening campaigners claim. But she has a right to take pictures of her kids and whatever, you know? Well, I guess people were mad. Mad enough to frog-march this same photographer, John Swannell, back to the Daily Mail just so he could say something insulting about the Duchess of Sussex. Curious!

A royal photographer claims Princess Diana would not have been a fan of Meghan Markle. John Swannell, who was personally commissioned by the princess to take what became classic portraits of her with her sons, predicts Diana would think that Meghan has ‘stolen’ Prince Harry.

He claims the Duchess of Sussex has turned Harry into a ‘puppet,’ alleging that she had her own ‘agenda’ when she joined the Royal Family.

Princess Diana was such a great admirer of Mr Swannell’s work, but he does not believe, however, that she would have been an admirer of the Duchess of Sussex.

‘I don’t think she would have liked her, because she’d think she’d stolen her son,’ Mr Swannell told The Daily Mail at Brown’s Hotel in Mayfair. ‘He’s like a puppet now.’

The photographer, 75, is convinced that former Suits star Meghan was determined to meet a future husband in this country.

‘She seemingly had an agenda when she came over,’ he claims. ‘She was a little known actress and an opportunity came up, and she took it, like anybody would. But she’s a very smart woman, that’s for sure. She’s an operator.’

[From The Daily Mail]

How do we go from “random dude makes an observation about the poor quality of Kate’s photos of her kids” to “random dude hisses that Meghan is a vile, manipulative snake and Diana would have hated her!” It’s almost as if – hear me out – the Mail issued Swannell some talking points and he recited those talking points back to a Mail reporter. Was he paid or something? Or is he truly just a random guy who hates Meghan? Judging solely from their reaction to Meghan and her marriage, these tabloids make it seem like British men cannot handle it when a woman has a career, makes money, has wit, a work ethic and intelligence.

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In recent years, JK Rowling’s raison d’être has been “being a vile transphobe and then complaining about people’s reaction to her hateful rhetoric.” I truly don’t even believe that transgender issues have touched her life in any real or meaningful way – what’s striking is how this was always an intellectual exercise for Rowling, almost like she’s a fascist political commentator trying to fuel hatred just for kicks and clout. She seems hellbent on marginalizing an already threatened and persecuted community just because she can, because she insists that only white cisgender women can be the most threatened and persecuted. Of course, Rowling gets a lot of hate directed at her. She feeds on it, and it fuels her persecution complex, and that hate muddies the waters and enables her friends to “defend” her from the online attacks. Friends like Ralph Fiennes, who spoke up last year in defense of Rowling. Well, Ralph is at it again.

Harry Potter star Ralph Fiennes has defended JK Rowling against claims she is a “fascist” for expressing opinions on the transgender debate.

The actor, who played Lord Voldemort in the film adaptations of Rowling’s books, has said the author is facing “disgusting” abuse for expressing criticism of gender ideology and voicing concerns about threats to female-only spaces, views which have led critics to label her “fascist” and “transphobic”.

Unlike younger members of the Harry Potter cast, Fiennes has said he understands where Rowling “is coming from” and defended the writer against her detractors, arguing that expressing opinions as a woman does not make someone “fascist”.

The actor said: “The verbal abuse directed at her is disgusting, it’s appalling. I mean, I can understand a viewpoint that might be angry at what she says about women. But it’s not some obscene, über right-wing fascist. It’s just a woman saying, ‘I’m a woman and I feel I’m a woman and I want to be able to say that I’m a woman.’ And I understand where she’s coming from. Even though I’m not a woman.”

Speaking to the New York Times, Fiennes also praised the author, saying: “JK Rowling has written these great books about empowerment, about young children finding themselves as human beings. It’s about how you become a better, stronger, more morally-centred human being.”

[From The Telegraph]

When he defended Rowling last year, I wondered if Fiennes had actually been following all of the sh-t Rowling said and just how transexclusionary she was being. It felt like Fiennes had only gotten Rowling’s side. But he’s a grown man and he knows well enough that shutting up is free. He could have looked into what’s actually happening, the transphobia being written into law around the world, the very real danger and threats against the trans community, the erasure of transgender people and trans issues. This is Ralph Fiennes choosing to be an a–hole.

Photos courtesy of Instar, James Warren/Bang Showbiz/Avalon and Justin Ng/Avalon.

This Brittney Griner saga has been going on for most of 2022. She was detained for cannabis possession in Russia in February, her trial began in July, and she was convicted and sentenced to nine years in prison in August. The Biden administration has offered a “substantial deal” to Russia for the release of Brittney and another American prisoner, Paul Whelan, but so far Russian hasn’t taken it. Brittney’s defense team filed an appeal of the verdict back in August and just yesterday it was denied. The appeals court upheld the original sentence to send Brittney to a penal colony.

A Russian court upheld WNBA star Brittney Griner’s nine-year prison sentence on Tuesday, a decision that will send the U.S. athlete to a penal colony.

The court near Moscow upheld the original sentence which the state prosecutor called “fair.”

Griner has about eight years left on her sentence though another appeal is possible through Russia’s court of cassation, the highest court of appeals. It is not clear if her lawyers will pursue another appeal.

“We think we should use all legal tools available but that is her decision to take,” Maria Blagovolina, Griner’s lawyer, told reporters outside of the court. Blagovolina added that the two-time Olympic gold medalist was disappointed to hear the decision from the three-judge panel.

“She had some hope but that vanished today,” Blagovolina said.

Griner, who plays professional basketball in Russia during the WNBA offseason, was arrested in February after Russian authorities found vape canisters containing cannabis oil in her luggage at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport.

Her lawyers said Griner only uses cannabis medically and unintentionally packed the cannabis canisters in her suitcase because the professional athlete was in a hurry.

Under Russian law, the charge carried a penalty of up to 10 years in prison. In August, Griner was found guilty and sentenced to nine years. She was also ordered to pay 1 million rubles, approximately $16,301.

Griner’s lawyers added that they will see the 32-year-old athlete, who appeared in court via video conference, next week. Blagovolina said that Griner last spoke to her family by telephone one week ago.

The White House called for Griner’s immediate release following Tuesday’s “sham judicial proceeding.”

“The president has demonstrated that he is willing to go to extraordinary lengths and make tough decisions to bring Americans home, as his administration has done successfully from countries around the world,” national security advisor Jake Sullivan wrote in a statement.

Sullivan added that the Biden administration remains in regular touch with the families of wrongfully detained U.S. citizens.

[From CNBC]

According to the article, it’s unclear whether her lawyers will appeal again. Initially, I had concerns that her court-appointed lawyers would be as much of a sham as the trial turned out to be, but from what’s reported it does seem like they tried their best for her. They seem to be facilitating conversations with her family as much as they are able and bringing her what they can, such as birthday cards and photos. In a heartbreaking story on ESPN, the lawyers offered to bring her a basketball since her location has a hoop but no ball. But Brittney declined, saying it was too painful. The ESPN story, written before the appeals decision, also talks about the potential prison camp location. Apparently the camp to which she was sentenced has worse conditions and more potential for mistreatment, but Brittney’s lawyers say she can request a location close to them in Moscow and any move is likely to take a while. Also notable, the CNBC article about the appeals decision says she has about eight years left, which seems to indicate they’re counting the past year as part of the time served. Hopefully the White House is still in contact with Russia about bringing Brittney and Paul home. I’ve also seen speculation that Russia is unlikely to take further action — whether that be moving Brittney to the prison camp or accepting the White House deal — until after the midterms, so keep an eye on that.

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photos credit: Backgrid and Getty