I’m breaking up the Golden Globe nominations into two posts, one for film and one for television. If I’m being honest, I haven’t missed the awards season so far this year – any other year, and we would have spent January in a blitz of awards shows and Oscar campaigns, and it’s been nice timing to see everything get delayed. This year’s Golden Globes are happening February 28th, on NBC, with Tina Fey and Amy Poehler hosting remotely. Here are the film nominations:

Best Motion Picture, Drama
The Father
Mank
Nomandland
Promising Young Woman
The Trial of the Chicago 7

Best Picture, Musical or Comedy
Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
Hamilton
Palm Springs
Music
The Prom

Best Director, Motion Picture
Emerald Fennell “Promising Young Woman”
David Fincher, “Mank”
Regina King, “One Night in Miami”
Aaron Sorkin, “The Trial of the Chicago 7”
Chloé Zhao, “Nomadland”

Best Actress in a Motion Picture, Drama:
Frances McDormand, “Nomadland”
Viola Davis, “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”
Vanessa Kirby, “Pieces of a Woman”
Carey Mulligan, “Promising Young Woman”
Andra Day, “The United States vs. Billie Holiday”

Best Actor in a Motion Picture, Drama:
Chadwick Boseman, “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”
Riz Ahmed, “The Sound of Metal”
Anthony Hopkins, “The Father”
Gary Oldman, “Mank”
Tahar Rahim, “The Mauritanian”

Best Actress in a Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy:
Maria Bakalova, “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm”
Kate Hudson, “Music”
Michelle Pfeiffer, “French Exit”
Rosamund Pike, “I Care A Lot”
Anya Taylor-Joy, “Emma”

Best Actor in a Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy:
Sacha Baron Cohen, “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm”
James Corden, “The Prom”
Lin-Manuel Miranda, “Hamilton”
Dev Patel, “The Personal History of David Copperfield”
Andy Samberg, “Palm Springs”

Best Actor in a Supporting Role:
Sacha Baron Cohen “The Trial of the Chicago 7”
Daniel Kaluuya “Judas and the Black Messiah”
Jared Leto “The Little Things”
Bill Murray “On the Rocks”
Leslie Odom, Jr. “One Night in Miami”

Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Glenn Close, Hillbilly Elegy
Olivia Colman, The Father
Jodie Foster, The Mauritanian
Amanda Seyfried, Mank
Helena Zengel, News of the World

First thoughts: it’s great to see THREE female directors get nominations. Do I think the HFPA will still find a way to give the Globe to a dude? For sure. But it’s great to see three worthy women get nominated. I was expecting the big nominations for Nomadland, the reviews of that were great, across the board, and I think Frances McDormand will definitely win another Oscar for it. Awards prognosticators also think that the late Chadwick Boseman is a shoo-in for Best Actor, which… will probably happen. I also think that Amanda Seyfried might be the one to beat in the supporting category, that is unless they decide to give it to Glenn Close because she barely wins anything. Notable snub: many thought Spike Lee’s Da 5 Bloods would be nominated for Best Drama and Director. Does the HFPA hate Spike?

Photos courtesy of Netflix, IMDB.

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Hollywood is at it again. It was announced a last month that there will be a limited series Sex and the City reboot on HBO Max. Now Paramount+, formally CBS All Access, may be considering picking up a Frasier reboot. The Frasier reboot has been in the pipeline since at least 2018. Kelsey Grammer is onboard to reprise his role as Frasier and David Hyde Pierce (Niles Crane), Jane Leeves (Daphne Moon), and Peri Gilpin (Roz Doyle) may get involved as well. Sadly we lost John Mahoney (Marty Crane) in 2018. According to TvLine the reboot’s premise may involve a move to a new city. Currently the show is still being pitch but if it is greenlit, filming can start as early as this summer. Below are a few more details from TvLine:

TVLine has learned exclusively that Paramount+ — the streamer soon to be formerly known as CBS All Access — is circling the years-in-the-making project, which would find Kelsey Grammer reprising his iconic role of Dr. Frasier Crane. (Frasier is, of course, a Paramount property.)

A Paramount+ rep did not respond to TVLine’s request for comment. A CBS TV Studios spokesperson, meanwhile, declined to comment.

News of the potential new iteration first broke in July 2018. At the time, it was revealed that the revival would find Grammer’s Seattle-based shrink decamping to a different city. The following month, Grammer stressed that the quality threshold was understandably high given the original series’ stories history (Frasier garnered 37 Emmys during its 11-season run).

“[We] have to make sure it’s going to be a great show,” he noted at the time. “If it’s not a great show, and if we don’t hear a pitch that hits it out of the park, it probably won’t happen.”

In addition to Grammer, the comedy starred David Hyde Pierce as Niles Crane, Frasier’s younger brother; Jane Leeves as Daphne Moon, Frasier’s live-in housekeeper and Niles’ eventual love interest; Peri Gilpin as Roz Doyle, the producer of Frasier’s radio show; and the late John Mahoney as Martin Crane, Frasier’s father.

According to sources, the hope is that Pierce, Leeves and Gilpin would all be involved in the revival in some capacity. If the project is greenlit (and an insider maintains that it is still very much in the if stage), we’re told shooting could begin as early as this summer (after Grammer wraps production on Season 1 of his forthcoming, untitled ABC multi-cam comedy co-starring Alec Baldwin).

[From TVLine]

I personally never watched the original Frasier as at the time I was boycotting all shows with all white casts sprinkled with a token BIPOC with the exception of Sex and The City because it was SATC. So I didn’t watch Frasier, Friends or any of the other late 90s early 2000s cult shows. However, I wouldn’t mind revisiting the old Frasier just to check it out because I heard that despite its lack of diversity it was a great show. I must also admit that I am so damn tired of the reboots, recasts, re-everything. I will continue to say that I would really like to see fresh ideas and newer actors taking on diverse roles. It would seem that Hollywood is afraid of letting go of what was once their golden geese. While there are many who want the nostalgia of the classic shows and movies, at some point we have to recognize that reboots and remakes rarely have the same magic as the original. However, I do like what Kelsey Grammer said, that if the Frasier reboot (pitch) isn’t as good or the material isn’t as good as the original then there is no point in making it. I wish other players in Hollywood would take this same mindset. I personally I am not looking forward to the SATC reboot (what’s SATC without Samantha?) nor the many other reboots that are rumored to be in production. However, I like Kelsey and I hope that he and the cast of Frasier are able to spark a new kind of magic if this is a go.

Photos credit: NBC and via Avalon.red

Dear Gossips, The Golden Globe nominations will be announced this morning and we’ll have more on which films and series and performers the Hollywood Foreign Press Association is recognising this year. Because it’s the HFPA though… expect some randomness and maybe (probably?) a little foolery. Like i…

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Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas is a jackass, and he’s married to a wingnut terrorist. His wife is Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, a hard-right Republican. She actively supported Donald Trump and every part of his agenda, including the “let’s overthrow democracy and install Trump as a despotic king” agenda. She supported and likely helped to organize “Stop the Steal” rally, which led to the terrorist attack on the Capitol on January 6th, although it’s now believed that she did NOT finance the transport of armed white supremacist terrorists into DC. Now Ginni Thomas is “apologizing.” But not to us. Not to the congressmen and congresswomen who worried that terrorists = terrorists whom Ginni Thomas supported morally – would kill them. Not to the Capitol Police officer who was murdered by terrorists. Not to the families of the police officers who died by suicide following the siege. No, Ginni Thomas apologized to her husband’s clerks. I can’t with this bitch.

Conservative political activist Virginia Thomas told her husband Justice Clarence Thomas’s former law clerks that she was sorry for a rift that developed among them after her election advocacy of President Donald Trump and endorsement of the Jan. 6 rally in D.C. that resulted in violence and death at the Capitol.

“I owe you all an apology. I have likely imposed on you my lifetime passions,” Thomas, who goes by Ginni, recently wrote to a private Thomas Clerk World email list of her husband’s staff over his three decades on the bench. “My passions and beliefs are likely shared with the bulk of you, but certainly not all. And sometimes the smallest matters can divide loved ones for too long. Let’s pledge to not let politics divide THIS family, and learn to speak more gently and knowingly across the divide.”

A sampling of posts made to the group were shared with The Washington Post by a member upset with some of the pro-Trump messages written by Ginni Thomas and others in the lead-up and aftermath of the election. Thomas did not respond to requests for comment. Several former clerks, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the listserv is private, verified the dispute in what is normally an affable setting meant to celebrate achievements of the clerk “family.”

Besides the friction there, Thomas has drawn outrage among liberals for public political commentary on her “Ginni Thomas” Facebook page. Her comments there celebrated Trump’s supporters who assembled in D.C. on Jan. 6, hundreds of whom stormed the Capitol, resulting in the deaths of five people. In the early morning post, Thomas encouraged her Facebook followers to watch the day’s events unfold on conservative news media, writing, “LOVE MAGA people!!!!” She added in another: “GOD BLESS EACH OF YOU STANDING UP or PRAYING.”

[From The Washington Post]

“Thomas has drawn outrage among liberals…” The way her extremism, her terrorism-adjacency, her support of a violent coup is being normalized as “yet another thing that nitpicky liberals are mad about!” Hopefully the overwhelming majority of Americans want all of these a–holes to go to prison. Even if you argue that Ginni Thomas maybe didn’t specifically support the violent overthrow of the government, she 100% supported THE OVERTHROW OF THE GOVERNMENT. Those terrorist a–holes at the Stop the Steal rally weren’t just humble conservatives with a different point of view. They believed that the election results should be thrown out and that Trump should be installed as Dear Leader for Life. They weren’t in DC for a g–damn picnic and Ginni Thomas knew that and she was cheering them on. Arrest her. And the fact that she’s only f–king apologizing to her husband’s staff, my God.

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Photos courtesy of Getty.

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Wakanda Forever is about to get an upgrade or at least a full fledged series on Disney+. Ryan Coogler, the co-writer and director for Marvel’s Black Panther, has just signed a five year deal with Disney+ to develop and produce a series focusing on the kingdom of Wakanda. Even with the Black Panther sequel scheduled to start filming in July, Coogler and his partners, wife Zinzi and filmmaker Sev Ohanian (not related to Alexis, I checked), are finding the time to bring the magic of Wakanda to our screens. With the Disney+ deal, Coogler will be launching his production company, Proximity’s, television division. Bob Iger said that he believes in Coogler’s vision as he is a “singular storyteller” with “vision and range.” Ryan Coogler said he is excited as he is an avid consumer of television. Below is more on the story from Deadline:

“Ryan Coogler is a singular storyteller whose vision and range have made him one of the standout filmmakers of his generation,” said Bob Iger, Executive Chairman, The Walt Disney Company. “With Black Panther, Ryan brought a groundbreaking story and iconic characters to life in a real, meaningful and memorable way, creating a watershed cultural moment. We’re thrilled to strengthen our relationship and look forward to telling more great stories with Ryan and his team.”

Said Coogler: “It’s an honor to be partnering with The Walt Disney Company. Working with them on Black Panther was a dream come true. As avid consumers of television, we couldn’t be happier to be launching our television business with Bob Iger, Dana Walden and all the amazing studios under the Disney umbrella. We look forward to learning, growing, and building a relationship with audiences all over the world through the Disney platforms. We are especially excited that we will be taking our first leap with Kevin Feige, Louis D’Esposito, Victoria Alonso and their partners at Marvel Studios where we will be working closely with them on select MCU shows for Disney+. We’re already in the mix on some projects that we can’t wait to share,” stated Ryan Coogler on behalf of Proximity Media.”

Coogler founded the multi-media company Proximity with Zinzi Coogler, Ohanian, Göransson, Davis and Nicks with a mission to create event-driven feature films, television, soundtracks and podcasts that look to bring audiences closer together through stories involving often-overlooked subject matters. Proximity intends to generate a wide variety of projects across all budget levels.

[From Deadline]

When I saw this news I got so excited. I cannot wait to see how Ryan and Disney will be expanding upon the Wakandaverse. Obviously Black Panther was one of my favorite movies of 2018 (I saw it six times in the theatre). I am hoping that they will introduce Storm to the TV series. However, I am not sure how that will work out since we no longer have Chadwick to play T’Challa (Storm marries T’Challa for a brief period in the comics). There is definitely enough source material out there for Ryan and Kevin Feige to pull upon.

It is also exciting for me to see that Disney+ is deciding to invest in Black creators. Yes, I know Black Panther was one of their biggest hit ever, but they could do like many other studios have. A five year deal is a huge deal and I do believe that Ryan and his team will be up to the challenge. I believe Ryan is extremely gifted in production and direction. Fruitvale Station is a still a movie that resonates strongly for me and that was his first film. I also hope that they bring in costume designer Ruth E Carter because what she created for Black Panther visually was nothing short of spectacular.

I cannot wait for Black Panther 2 and I look forward to the Wakanda series. The only thing that makes this news bittersweet is that Chadwick is not here to be a part of the world he so lovingly helped create.

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Photos credit: Getty and Avalon.red

You guys, I’m starting to think that there’s no secret plan to be keen? The Duchess of Cambridge promised us a few months ago that she had more keen busy work to launch in 2021 around the Early Years. Thus far, all we’ve gotten is a story about a “secret plan” to work, some quotes about how exhausted Kate is because of home-schooling her kids even with a staff, and a video about Children’s Mental Health Week which looked like it was filmed before she went on a jog. Keen Antoinette over here, I swear. Anyway, that video was super-weird and I’m enjoying how A) so many people just flatly ignored it and B) a handful of royal commentators are trying to make it sound like the video was amazing because Kate filmed it herself, the poor exhausted sausage. That’s why I looked at this Katie Nicholl story at Vanity Fair, to see if she had any new insights. Turns out, Nicholl’s sources say that poor Kate is having to make do with merely a “skeleton staff,” a full-time nanny, her own dedicated videographer and a professional lighting rig. She’s just like us!

She has become a professional at Zoom calls during the lockdown, and now the Duchess of Cambridge has taken video calling one step further—doing her own outdoor broadcast. Kate Middleton turned the camera on herself while out on a walk in the Norfolk countryside, filming a video to raise awareness for Children’s Mental Health Week.

Kate’s unscripted message was one of her most natural video appearances, and a contrast to her usual videos where she is usually dressed up and in full makeup. Sources close to the Duchess say that Kate has become more confident in front of the camera and has learned to enjoy rather than dread video calls. She has set up a DIY shoot location at Anmer Hall in Norfolk, where the Cambridges are spending the lockdown, and apparently has a special stand for her laptop and a ring light to ensure the shot is well lit.

While Kate and William have their own videographer as part of their online team, they only have a skeleton staff at Anmer, including nanny Maria Borrallo who helps with home learning and meal times.

For the most part William and Kate have become self-sufficient at working from home, filming their virtual engagements by themselves. Vanity Fair has been told that Kate chooses her own outfits and even does her own hair and make-up. But for the Children’s Mental Health Awareness Week video she was keen to be outdoors and looking as normal and natural as possible. The Duchess has made a point of supporting families during the lockdowns. Last week she spoke to parents of a local primary school and chatted with them about some of the challenges of homeschooling, revealing that William had been her greatest support during the lockdown.

[From Vanity Fair]

Notice how Nicholl plays fast and loose with whether their videographer actually comes to Anmer Hall to help them shoot their Zoom calls – “For the most part William and Kate have become self-sufficient at working from home, filming their virtual engagements by themselves” – meaning that they have had help at times from their office staff, and one would assume the “skeleton staff” at Anmer. I feel bad for Nanny Maria, her role is always so minimized. She’s worked full-time for the Cambridge family for six or seven years now, and she’s played a huge role in the kids’ lives and development, but Team Keen just wants it to sound like Maria is just there to pitch in sometimes when Kate is Zooming her fingers to the bone.

Tomorrow is the start of Children’s Mental Health Week – an opportunity to remind ourselves not just how important our own children’s mental health is but also parental wellbeing too.

We look forward to sharing more about the year’s theme of expressing yourself this week. pic.twitter.com/nQRmgkJWxM

— The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (@KensingtonRoyal) January 31, 2021

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid.

Aaron Rodgers and Danica Patrick split up last summer, and the announcement came last July. I got the impression that there were some hurt feelings on her part, and my vibe was that she wanted to get married and he didn’t. That being said, Aaron doesn’t give off the vibe of a total commitment-phobe. I think he’s a serial monogamist who is a bit gun-shy about marriage in particular. Well, Aaron is reportedly dating someone new: Shailene Woodley?!?! Hippie, lives-in-a-tree, granola-crunching Shailene Woodley?!?

No lies here: Shailene Woodley appears to have scored a touchdown in the game of love.

E! News has confirmed the Big Little Lies star has taken on a long distance relationship with Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers. A source exclusively tells E! News, “They have kept things private and low key.”

Aaron has been in Green Bay, Wisconsin, to stay “very focused on his season,” which came to an end on Jan. 24 when the Packers lost to Tom Brady’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the NFC Championship Game. Meanwhile, Shailene has been working on-set in Montreal to film Misanthrope, according to Canada Live. The crime movie is directed by Damián Szifron.

“They have seen each other and been in touch,” the insider tells us. “They continue to talk and see each other when they can. They are both focused on their careers but they also make time for each other.”

In September, Aaron spoke on the Pat McAfee Show about his “new and increased love of life.” While not directly mentioning his relationship status, he said, “I’ve made decisions and changes and habits that put me in a lot better headspace and there’s just a lot of things that have come together in my life over the last few months that have really been enjoyable.”

He continued, “That’s why I’m having so much fun and it starts with love. And then surrounding yourself with people that you really enjoy.”

[From E! News]

I felt like I was smoking the good stuff because I had not heard a whiff of this before now. As it turns out, Deuxmoi had some sparse info about the couple a few weeks ago, and Nicki Swift followed up on it. Now E! News is confirming it, I guess. I mean… Shailene is Shailene and she’s not full-on “lives in a tree” these days. She’s matured, she does a lot of activism work and she seems alright. But I never would have put her with Aaron Rodgers. Hmmm.

Photos courtesy of WENN.

Back in August, The Pioneer Woman Ree Drummond’s daughter got engaged and had a mask free engagement party in Texas. At the time of the party, the amount of people and conditions were in defiance of the area’s lockdown restrictions. Since that highly Instagrammable event, apparently all wedding plans have gone forward, COVID be damned. Daughter Alex’s wedding to Mauricio Scott is set to take place on May 1 at the family compound in Pawhuska, Oklahoma.

The Drummond household is in full wedding planning mode!

In a new blog post, Ree Drummond shared all the latest details about her daughter Alex’s upcoming wedding to fiancé Mauricio Scott — including that the event will be held on May 1 at the family’s ranch in Pawhuska, Oklahoma.

The Pioneer Woman star, 52, said that while the couple — who got engaged in August 2020 — looked at several venues in Tulsa, “Alex and Mauricio ultimately decided that the ranch would be the best place for them to say ‘I do.’ ”

“It’s where Alex grew up, and it just feels like the right place,” said Ree, who is also mom to sons Bryce, 18, and Todd, 17, daughter Paige, 21, and foster son, Jamar, 18.

Ree said that her family members “are so excited” for Alex and Mauricio’s wedding and are prepared for whatever may happen, likely referencing the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic continuing to affect weddings around the world.

“I sense from speaking to friends and family—and just hearing from people through my blog and social media—a collective exhaustion from all the pain, change, chaos, upheaval, and loss,” she said. “But I’m also starting to see a collective HOPE ??that things will get better sooner rather than later…and I’m embracing that feeling.”

[From People]

In Ree’s blog post, she details all the plans, like the one above about how they decided on the ranch as a venue because it felt right. I can only imagine that when they “looked” at venues in Tulsa, it was from a moving vehicle as they drove to the nearest shoe store. Note to future Drummond fiancé(e)s, you are all going to “decide” the ranch just feels right. Ree also said Alex found her dress at the first shop they went to in Dallas and that everyone cried. They’ve found a band and compiled what sounds like an extensive guest list. And it sounds like all the invitations have gone out.

The excerpt said Ree is referring to COVID when she spoke of being “ready for whatever comes,” but she said outright she was referring to thunderstorms because they are having the wedding outside. To their credit, and probably because of the size of the guest list, they are having the wedding in open tents. But Ree is talking about the pandemic in the latter part of her comments, the part about “a collective exhaustion” and such. This wedding will happen regardless of any government orders. If Alex’s engagement party was more important than the health of the Dallas community, then her wedding will be more important than the entire state of Oklahoma. And I don’t doubt Ree sees this wedding as a part of the “collective HOPE” of this nation, like it’s something we need to get through this dark time. I don’t begrudge a bride who wants her dream wedding. But I do question a bride who puts the wedding before the health of her bridal party and guests. If a big wedding is so important, simply wait until you receive the all clear. If getting married is more important, do a virtual ceremony with just the two of you in a safe environment. Again, I’m not saying postponing all our celebrations or reinventing them doesn’t suck. But nothing is more important that the health of our population right now and if we all focused on that, we could get back to celebrating as planned.

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The Daily Mail has a new story about the “toxic row” which erupted between the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and the petty Windsor clan over Archie’s birth certificate. The piece is by Emily Andrews, and at first I thought it was just going to be another royal reporter trying to gaslight the Sussexes about some sh-tty things that the Windsors did to them. It is that exercise in gaslighting, but I also think Andrews is trying to put all of the different stories in one place, and she’s trying to fact-check them as she goes along. There is some new information in this piece, and here are some highlights:

The “clerical error” excuse was discussed with the Sussexes? Buckingham Palace, meanwhile, suggested on Sunday — in comments clearly discussed in advance with the Sussexes — that a ‘clerical error’ had precipitated the need formally to change the birth certificate.

Was Samantha Cohen to blame? For Royal-watchers, this was interesting. Immediately after Archie’s birth on May 6, 2019 — itself shrouded in much secrecy, as many will remember — Royal aides followed the template set by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge for their children when it came to Archie’s birth certificate. In this, they were led by the Queen’s highly experienced former deputy private secretary, Samantha Cohen. Mrs Cohen, who worked for the Queen for more than 17 years before moving to Kensington Palace as a personal favour to the monarch to steer Harry and Meghan in the crucial first months of their royal lives together, knows the intricacies of royal protocol inside out. ‘None so capable as Sam,’ as one insider put it to me. Mrs Cohen is not someone given to making significant errors, clerical or otherwise. And nor, for that matter, are the team at Westminster Register Office, who are well-versed in recording royal births.

Which Palace? But if Harry and Meghan thought this would put a swift end to the matter, they were mistaken. Their thinly veiled criticism of ‘the Palace’ seems only to have escalated the situation. By ‘the Palace’ they presumably meant Buckingham Palace, to which their Kensington Palace-based staff then reported.

The Sussexes have evidence that they were dictated to? The Sussexes clearly believe they have hard evidence to support the suggestion that the Palace ‘dictated’ to them — although this remains confidential, as it would involve internal communications. Much of what we have seen unfold this week has its origins in Archie’s birth, which Harry became almost morbidly obsessed with keeping as secret as possible, even including where and when his son was born. Behind the scenes, matters were so fraught that more than one official — as I know from personal experience — was reduced to tears of frustration and despair.

Buckingham Palace doesn’t know what to do: At the moment, Buckingham Palace is clearly reluctant to be dragged into another public row with the Sussexes — not least when, as Meghan’s PR person rightly says, there’s a lot going on in the world. But sources have also made it clear they could not leave unchallenged the suggestion that the Sussexes were ‘dictated’ to. Many, in fact, have rather different recollections. In what was clearly designed to be the most tactful rejoinder possible, insiders gently insisted that no one ‘dictated’ anything. One source told the Mail that the use of the word ‘dictated’ was an ‘unfortunate’ choice that might, they politely continued, have been ‘lost in translation’ from the U.S. Perhaps, they suggested, there could have been a misunderstanding about what ‘royal protocol’ required in this situation. Which, in truth, was nothing. There is no special form of words needed, as birth records are a civil matter and royal babies have been recorded in various ways.

So, again, why was the birth certificate changed? The New York Post, seemingly guided by the Sussexes’ representatives, suggested yesterday that the changes were required by the Garter Principal King of Arms and Senior Herald, Thomas Woodcock, a member of the Royal Household and chief adviser to the Queen on ceremonial matters and heraldry. But when I spoke to the genial Mr Woodcock at the College of Arms yesterday, he was bemused by the suggestion. ‘This doesn’t ring a bell with me,’ he said. ‘I may have said some time that if you are the Duchess of Sussex then that is your name. “Rachel Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex” rather implies that you are a dowager, or widowed. That’s a bit old-fashioned. I haven’t had any part in it but am very happy to take the blame, if that is what’s required. It is undoubtedly my role to advise, and maybe I offered some thoughts in one context but they are being used in another. Whenever I am asked a question, I do try to answer it as honestly as possible. I just have no recollection particularly of being asked for any advice on how things should be entered on a birth certificate.’

[From The Daily Mail]

Interspersed in this Daily Mail story is some shady finger-pointing at the Sussexes for even making it a big deal and issuing the public denial, with Meghan saying specifically that the name change was “dictated by the Palace.” Which just means that the British papers are BIG MAD that Harry and Meghan outright deny their bullsh-t stories these days. The tabloids got so used to smearing H&M right and left and being protected by “never complain, never explain.” Besides, Meghan didn’t start this. The Sun decided to run that asinine story and Meghan f–king responded and then the Palace got their knickers in a twist about it.

I think it’s super-interesting that Emily Andrews brings up the idea that Meghan perhaps has a paper trail of evidence that she was “dictated” to. I also think the fact that Buckingham Palace can’t keep their stories straight is very telling. If they had a good excuse, they would have slapped the Sussexes down. Instead, we’ve got like four different versions of what really happened. Very shady.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid and WENN.

A few years ago, Comcast started charging subscribers for faster Internet speeds on a kind of tiered system. It was unethical and unfair because Internet access should be accessible and affordable to all. The Internet is a public utility and should be regulated as such, only the FCC gave cable and internet companies carte blanche to gouge customers by overturning Net Neutrality in 2018. Comcast, the nation’s largest ISP, has recently been instituting data caps in different markets, particularly where they have no competition from Verizon FIOS. They suspended this for a while at the beginning of the pandemic and are now reinstituting it and rolling it out in new areas.

We use Comcast, it’s the only fast Internet available in my area. This month I received notices that we were approaching, and then went over, our data cap of 1.2 TB. I only live with one teenager. This was the first I’d heard about a data cap and I was not happy. I find it particularly cruel to do this during the pandemic when people are out of work and working from home. I’m not the only one. Tom’s Guide has an article asking Comcast to stop this practice:

Earlier this month, Comcast Xfinity, the nation’s largest cable and home-internet provider, expanded its 1.2 TB broadband cap to 12 additional cities. This comes after an expansion this past November to parts of the Northeast.

Users on Twitter have been posting screenshots of their shrinking internet allowances, with Comcast sending warnings of approaching limits. While Comcast is courteous enough to waive one month of data overages per year, it will charge $10 per each additional 50 GBs used (maximum of $100) otherwise. Or users can upgrade to a truly unlimited plan for an additional $30 premium.

But as Americans continue to be squeezed by the Covid-19 pandemic, internet access has morphed from casual browsing and binging to a necessity. Work has been pushed to home offices. Schools have been relegated to the kitchen counters. Government relief continues to be fleeting, forcing families to pinch for every dollar. To put it bluntly, for Comcast to brazenly exploit American consumers during a pandemic is the height of business immorality.

[From Tom’s Guide]

Comcast will do whatever they can to fleece customers. I’ve threatened to cancel service before to get better deals. (Here’s how to do this.) The fact that they have different rates based on what people will pay is criminal and puts older people and less tech-savvy people at a disadvantage.

There is no other Internet service I can use in my area. I have no choice but to pay an extra $30 a month for unlimited data after this two month grace period. At least I’m working and can afford it. A lot of families are not in that position because they’re struggling and out of work. What’s more is that Comcast has been exploiting lower income customers this year by pitching services to them that they don’t need, all under the guise of being helpful. Read this twitter thread from a former employee who quit over this. The digital divide is real and it especially hurts children.

The good news is that Biden has appointed a new FCC chair, Jessica Rosenworcel, to replace that douchebag with ties to the industry, Ajit Pai, who deregulated everything. Rosenworcel could help reinstall net neutrality and make this bullsh-t that Comcast is trying to pull illegal.

Photos credit: Tima Miroshnichenko and Julia M. Cameron on Pexels