Month: September 2022

Over the weekend, Olivia Rodrigo dropped by the Canadian Songwriters Hall Of Fame gala in Toronto, to induct Alanis Morissette in with a special tribute. Rodrigo noted that listening to Morissette’s Jagged Little Pill inspired her tremendously has a songwriter. The two would eventually meet last year for a Rolling Stone cover shoot, before performing “You Oughta Know” together at Rodrigo’s Los Angeles concert.

“My life was completely changed,” Rodrigo said (as iHeartRadio notes). “Alanis’ songwriting was unlike anything I had ever heard before and I haven’t heard anything quite like it since. And that voice — fierce and tender and sometimes funny and playful. I became hooked for life.”

“Even more than your long list of musical achievements, I look up to your character and your kindness most of all,” she continued. “I’ll carry the advice that you’ve given me for my whole life.”

Along with Rodrigo’s participation in the gala’s tribute to Morissette, a number of other musicians joined in as well. Alessia Cara, Jessie Reyez, and Serena Ryder performed some of Morissette’s biggest hits, from “Ironic” to “Hand In My Pocket.” Pre-recorded speeches from Tegan And Sara, Martin Short, and Jann Arden were aired. Morissette’s Jagged Little Pill collaborator Glen Ballard also recorded a video tribute, saying, “So many great songwriters have come out of Canada, and you’re at the top of the list. The gala also honored Bryan Adams, Jim Vallance, David Foster, and Daniel Lavoie.

Morissette eventually gave a ten-minute speech, expressing her joy and gratitude as an inductee. “The best part about songwriting for me is being in a room and feeling safe,” she said. “I am so privileged to be able to do what I do and that there were so many incredible opportunities to my left and right as I moved along, and I am so grateful for that.”

For just about a literal minute, it looked like Taylor Swift was going to headline the Super Bowl LVII halftime show, at Arizona’s State Farm Stadium on February 12, 2023. That’s what reports said, but those reports were quickly followed by others indicating Swift isn’t actually taking the field. Not long after that, though, the world learned who is actually taking over Super Bowl halftime in 2023: Rihanna.

Dr. Dre — who did this year’s Emmy-winning halftime show alongside Eminem, Snoop Dogg, Kendrick Lamar, and Mary J. Blige — knows what he’s doing on that front, so he has given Rihanna some advice.

In an interview with Apple Music 1 host Ebro Darden (as NME notes), Dre offered, ““Put the right people around you and have fun. That’s basically what it is, making sure you have the right creative people around you. She might want to look into some of the people that we used to do our show.”

He also had some general praise for Rihanna, saying of his admiration of her, “I just like her and what she does, and her get down, and how she approaches her artistry and the whole nine. It’s fantastic. She has the opportunity to really blow us away. I know we set the bar extremely high.”

Another day, another Don’t Worry Darling bit of drama. This one isn’t as scandalous as an alleged screaming match (which 40 crew members have denied) or Spitgate or getting roasted by critics, and, uh, NBC, but one of the film’s big stars publicly commenting on getting cut from the final product isn’t exactly good press, either.

“The best thing about #DontWorryDarling is that I was lucky enough to meet @arielstachel,” actress KiKi Layne, who plays “troubled” Victory resident Margaret, wrote on Instagram, referring to her on-screen husband, Ari’el Stachel. “They cut us from most of the movie, but we thriving in real life. Love you Ari.” She added the hashtags “#GotMyCheck,” “#GotMyMan,” and “#EverythingHappensforaReason.”

Stachel replied, “My love. You are a queen and your talent shines so bright. I was thirsty then and I’m thirsty now.” The actor has also “been outspoken about his limited role in the final cut of the Olivia Wilde-directed Warner Bros. Pictures movie” on TikTok, according to The Wrap, including one that showcased tweets calling him a “glorified extra” in the film with the caption “when you end up on the cutting room floor.”

Don’t worry, Layne and Stachel, it’s probably for the best you were cut, considering…

(Via The Wrap)

In recent times, it has seemed like Britney Spears is gearing up to return to the music industry. Her and Elton John’s recent single “Hold Me Closer” topped charts around the world and was a top-10 hit in the US, while her second post-conservatorship song could be on the way soon. Now, though, it seems that conservatorship really has left Spears not wanting to get back into the business in a big way. At least, she indicated as much in a new Instagram post.

In the post, Spears reiterates points she’s made about what she went through during her conservatorship and says the whole thing has spoiled the entertainment industry for her. So much so, in fact, that she’d rather do something kind of gross than get back into it. She wrote, “you say do what you want to do now … Really 14 years later after being humiliated … it’s WAY too late for that.. again I’d rather stay home and sh*t in my f*cking pool than join the entertainment business … the truth is a f*cking b*tch.”

Read Spears’ full post below.

“After 14 years of telling me no to what I wanted … it’s ruined for me … but that wasn’t the worst part … the worst part was my family locking me up in that place for 4 months … Jesus f*cking Christ … I’d like to see somebody tell Jennifer Lopez to sit down 8 hours a day 7 days a week … no car, own security of 5 years telling me at my own door I can’t walk outside for 4 months … no door for privacy … and watched me change naked and shower … and no assholes not 6 gallons of blood … 6 vials of blood the small tubes but come on every f*cking week took me abruptly off me medication I was normally on and drugged me on lithium …

I’d like to see a management team tell Jennifer Lopez to go through what I went through … what the f*ck do you think she would do … her family would NEVER allow that.

Psss … you say do what you want to do now … Really 14 years later after being humiliated … it’s WAY too late for that.. again I’d rather stay home and sh*t in my f*cking pool than join the entertainment business … the truth is a f*cking b*tch. I’m not going to play the victim HIT ME BABY ONE MORE TIME ??????? [middle finger emojis] … I’m sure you advanced musicians think it’s horrible of bad but when I’m bad IM BETTER !!! F*ck you !!!”

Spoilers for House of the Dragon will be found below.

A decade after Daemon Targaryen killed his first wife, he’s a widower again (and no longer the biggest pain in the butt or jerk-off on the show). This time, he only observed the death of his wife, Laena Velaryon (whose parents initially, and in an ick-inducing way, wanted her to marry King Viserys I) as she decided to commit Death By Dragon while knowing that her difficult childbirth was doomed to kill her. It was a tragic happening and doubly so because her dragon, Vhagar, didn’t want to obey her “Dracarys!” demand but did so nonetheless. Before that happened, though, we got to see Vhagar in all of her beauty. She’s the largest dragon (dwarfing Daemon’s dragon, Ceraxes, in size) in Westeros, and Laena looked like a badass while riding her. Viewers were impressed to see Vhagar, to say the very least.

Laena’s death raises the important question (which our own Jessica Toomer considered in detail) of whether dragon riders are immune to fire. In short, Daenerys Targaryen seemed pretty damn fireproof in Game of Thrones, but clearly, Laena’s fate showed that not all riders (and Targaryens are a Valaryon family) are impervious to flame. Laena’s death does differ from how she went down in George R.R. Martin’s source material, as well, and this tragedy seems even more awful due to her young daughters and Daemon being left to pick up the pieces (along with a heartbroken dragon).

From there, you gotta wonder if Daemon will go back to being his bad self, but also, people feel terribly for Vhagar, who didn’t want to follow orders. Poor sad dragon!

HBO’s ‘House of the Dragon’ airs on Sunday nights at 9:00pm EST.

Kanye West and Kim Kardashian’s split appears to have been tough on the rapper, as the dissolution of their marriage has seen both beef and a desire for reconciliation (from West’s side, at least). Now, West has used his ongoing situation to make an interesting comparison between himself and the UK city of London.

In an Instagram Story shared last night (September 25), Ye wrote in all caps, “London, I know how you feel: I lost my queen, too.”

This comes shortly after West apologized to Kardashian during a Good Morning America/ABC News Live interview, saying, “This is the mother of my children, and I apologize for any stress that I have caused, even in my frustration because God calls me to be stronger. But also, ain’t nobody else needs to be causing no stress either. I need this person to be least stressed and at best sound mind and as calm as possible to be able to raise those children.”

On the topic of world leaders, in that same interview, Ye noted that he “absolutely” plans to run for US president again following his failed 2020 campaign. As for why his first try didn’t work out too well, he said, “That time wasn’t in God’s time.”

This post contains spoilers for House of The Dragon episode 6, “The Princess and the Queen.”

“Fire cannot kill a dragon.”

It’s a line uttered by Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) in season one of Game of Thrones that fans (at least those not caught up with the books) have taken as a Westerosi gospel of sorts.

Throughout the show, the Mother of Dragons proved time and again that, like the magical creatures she controlled, fire simply didn’t affect her. It burnt her clothes, but never scorched her skin – not when she threw herself on Khal Drogo’s funeral pyre or bathed in steaming hot waters, or picked up scalding dragon eggs. In fact, her resistance to extreme heat was positioned as one of her greatest strengths, helping her to topple the Dothraki patriarchy in a (literal) blaze of glory before she crossed the Narrow Sea and campaigned for the Iron Throne.

Daenerys was special, clearly, but her extraordinary ability to stoically stand in a raging inferno and emerge Unburnt seemed like a trait inherited from her Targaryen ancestry. Sure, her brother couldn’t survive the Dothraki’s gift of a molten crown, but Viserys’ death always felt more like a condemnation of his own character — not an indicator that Targaryens as a whole were susceptible to getting burned. Viserys was pathetic and power-hungry, cruel and selfish — his death by smelted gold was ironic, not characteristic of other members of his House.

Until now.

In House of the Dragon’s latest episode, “The Princess and the Queen,” fire actually does kill a dragon, err dragon rider. Laena Velaryon, a descendent of one of the last remaining Houses of Old Valyria and the rider of Westeros’ largest dragon, Vhagar, chooses to be burnt to a crisp rather than face the same fate that befell Queen Aemma Targaryen. She drags herself in front of Vhagar and demands the beast light her up, which it reluctantly does, perhaps sensing her death is inevitable and that fire is a more merciful end than the blade. The scene is heartbreaking, not only because Laena is a mother to twin girls but because earlier in the episode, she begs Daemon to take her back to Driftmark to give birth in her own home and foreshadows her own death on dragon’s back. Once the smoke settled, however, fans were left with questions. Up until now, HBO’s treatment of George R.R. Martin’s writings has set the precedent that Targaryens (and we would assume Velaryons since they also, you know, have dragons) are immune to fire.

But they’re not. In fact, Laena Velaryon likely won’t be the last Valyrian descendent to die by dragon flame on this show – if we’re going by the book, which we should since GRRM has maintained tighter control over this prequel series. During the run of GoT, Martin weighed in on the very misguided belief that the Targaryens were fireproof.

“TARGARYENS ARE NOT IMMUNE TO FIRE!” he told fans in an online discussion years earlier. “The birth of Dany’s dragons was unique, magical, wonderous, a miracle. She is called The Unburnt because she walked into the flames and lived. But her brother sure as hell wasn’t immune to that molten gold.”

Showrunners D.B. Weiss and David Benioff clearly took future seasons in a different direction than Martin’s books, doubling down on Dany’s flame retardant abilities but the writer has always maintained that her survival was a one-off, which means Targaryens, as a whole, are not immune to fire. Heat-resistant? Sure, but they can burn to death just as easily as the next person on House of the Dragon, which probably should’ve been evident when a young Rhaenyra was called upon to light the funeral pyre of her mother and baby brother.

It is interesting though that the show chose to have Laena die by dragon fire. In the books, she had a stillbirth and suffered from some kind of infection for days before trying to drag herself to Vhagar to fly one last time. She died on the tower steps of Driftmark, where both Daemon Targaryen and Rhaenyra Targaryen held vigil over her body. We have to think that, by changing Laena’s death scene, the show is setting fans up for even more violent, fiery ends to come.

HBO’s ‘House of the Dragon’ airs on Sunday nights at 9:00pm EST.

Multiple times per week, our TV and film experts will list the most important ten streaming selections for you to pop into your queues. We’re not strictly operating upon reviews or accrued streaming clicks (although yes, we’ve scoured the streaming site charts) but, instead, upon those selections that are really worth noticing amid the churning sea of content. There’s a lot out there, after all, and your time is valuable.

TIE: 10. Top Gun: Maverick (VOD)

Tom Cruise’s need for speed will live on for infamy, and fortunately, the sequel was everything that we could have hoped for. He does go about seven extra miles, but no one can dispute that Tom was the most committed to bringing cinema back during the pandemic. If you haven’t yet had the pleasure of enjoying this one, then settle in for some more beach volleyball as Maverick gets pulled back into the fold due to the Iceman. Jon Hamm and Miles Teller and Jennifer Connelly round out the cast’s new players, and together, they’ll take your breath away with this perfect blockbuster movie.

TIE: 10. The White Lotus (HBO Max series streaming on HBO Max)

This sleeper hit returns on October 30 for a second season from showrunner Mike White, so bye bye, limited series category. Jennifer Coolidge (who portrays the boozy socialite Tanya McQuoid) shall be the only returning cast member, but we’re lucky to have her be a constant in this universe. We’ll miss Sydney Sweeney’s judgmental teen, Murray Bartlett’s passive-aggressive master of ceremonies, and Alexandra Daddario’s dreadfully unhappy newlywed. Yet we’re going to soon see the eternally awkward Aubrey Plaza and Theo James on location in gorgeous Italy. Grazie!

9. The Sandman (Netflix series)

A month after release, this show’s still sitting in the Netflix TV Top 10 chart, but we still don’t know if Season 2 will happen. Apparently, some of the writing is already done, but as O.G. author Neil Gaiman explained, the show’s incredibly expensive, and Netflix is obviously watching what they’re doing with their pocketbook more these days. Still, fans of the sweeping dark fantasy comic book series can hold out hope that we’ll see more of Tom Sturridge doing everything and nothing all at once while Death does the dirty work and Gwendoline Christie portrays the most regal version of Lucifer that we’ve seen in the Gaiman universe.

8. Confess, Fletch (Paramount movie on Amazon and PVOD outlets)

Leading man Jon Hamm believed in this project so much that he gave back 60% of his salary to get the thing done. If that hasn’t convinced you to revisit this old Chevy Chase franchise, then consider that Hamm’s in rare comedic form (albeit in a much more low-key way than Chase), and Greg Mattola (Adventureland, Superbad) is in the director’s seat. The film involves stolen art and a wrongful murder accusation, and Hamm is both charming and disarming. And since there’s barely any publicity to be found for this film, you can essentially discover a hidden gem.

7. The Handmaid’s Tale (Hulu series)

Boy, this show’s still as grim as they come, but Elisabeth Moss and Yvonne Strahovski are delivering performances that keep people coming back. Serena’s freshly widowed, and June’s attempting to evade consequences while also getting to know herself again. The series is also starting to wind down while GOP lawmakers and deep-red states have gone on a real tear against women’s rights, so this isn’t exactly an escapist journey but still a loyal adaptation of the spirit that the Margaret Atwood novel intended.

6. Andor (Star Wars series streaming on Disney+)

Diego Luna returns as Cassian Andor in the series that feels a little slow to start (and this will be a 24-episode season) but pays off for devotees and those who are craving a more adult show with real danger and intrigue and that doesn’t rely on the power of Baby Yoda. Instead, this is a grounded story about how Andor rises as a rebel hero, and since this is such a painstakingly laid out character study, one can imagine that it’s a very intentional move. Eventually, we’ll know Cassian Andor better than almost any other Star Wars character in existence.

5. Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power (Amazon Prime series)

This adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s fabled Second Age takes us to a different type of Middle-earth than we’ve seen before onscreen, and although the anti-woke crowd isn’t thrilled, those vocal-minority trolls cannot stop a juggernaut. We’re positively soaked in epic fantasy goodness right now, and although this show is (like The Sandman) enormously expensive, we cannot imagine Amazon not shelling out the cash to continue after meticulously building a world that doesn’t resort to regurgitating the Peter Jackson movies.

4. Dahmer — Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story (Netflix series)

Ryan Murphy and Netflix (and Evan Peters) cannot quit their love affair, and things get seriously bloody when Peters stars as the infamous cannibalistic serial killer who carried out his shocking crimes from within his Wisconsin apartment. Perhaps people are hankering for the Halloween spirit a little earlier than usual, but an absurd number of people cannot resist watching this series. Make sure that you don’t eat too much before settling down to binge this selection, though.

3. The Crown (Netflix series)

Following Queen Elizabeth II’s recent death at age 96, people grew inspired to revisit the Netflix show that the British monarchy isn’t exactly in love with, for the most part. And that’s understandable, given that the show sh*ts all over the fairy tale, although it did pause filming out of respect for the most famous corgi owner in the world. Yet this soap operatic version still makes one feel as though they’re taking a peek behind the royal curtain, so it’s a guilty pleasure to go back to where it all began and enjoy the first few seasons with Claire Foy, Matt Smith, and Vanessa Kirby.

2. Cobra Kai (Netflix series)

There’s a butt double involved very early on in this season, but don’t let that deter you. This show’s still giving a master class in harnessing nostalgia and repackaging it for the younger generation. And you gotta love the “Eye of the Tiger” aspect of this season, too. Terry Silver is still the greatest karate supervillain, and the kids must do everything possible to stop him while the adults throw some muscle around. By the end, every character looked exhausted, but there’s always room for more.

1. House of the Dragon (HBO series on HBO Max)

The show’s switching up the actors for some major roles, so the new Rhaenyra and Alicent have arrived on the scene. Don’t worry, Matt Smith is going nowhere as Daemon, and somehow, Paddy Considine’s King Viserys I is still kicking. Things grew very tense in Episode 5, but our own Jessica Toomer is still tracking the Contender vs. Defenders as this show gives us all the fiery details of the dynasty that went all but extinct by the time Game of Thrones began. Dracarys.

The Sunday Night Football game between the San Francisco 49ers and the Denver Broncos was, quite possibly, the worst NFL game we will see all season, but because both offenses were playing so bad, we were treated to a thrilling (in a sick, twisted way) contest that, deep into the fourth quarter, featured an incredibly rare 10-5 score.

The reason the Broncos had five points was because of a painfully bad play from Niners quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, who took a 12-yard dropback from his own 1-yard-line for a safety.

As Mike Tirico called out immediately on the broadcast, that play was reminiscent of the legendary accidental safety taken by Dan Orlovsky when he was with the Lions in 2008, rolling out of the back of the end zone against the Vikings in a play that has become an all-time blooper reel lowlight.

Orlovsky, now an NFL analyst for ESPN, did what any normal human would do in this situation and took the world’s greatest victory lap, knowing he now had company in the “running out of the back of the end zone” club — and found himself trending in the process.

After more than a decade of seeing that clip on a loop, it’s clear that Orlovsky has embraced it as part of his legacy, but having some company now when that clip gets run has to feel good and it’s hard to blame him for loving

In 2008, Dan Orlovsky etched his name into NFL infamy with one of the all-time funny and terrible plays the league has ever seen, when he rolled out while backed up on his own goal line and just ran out the back of the end zone for a safety.

The now-ESPN analyst has had to live with this shame his whole life, never being able to escape this as his claim to fame and seeing this clip run over and over and over as people laugh at his expense. On Sunday, the best thing to ever happen to Dan Orlovsky arrived in Denver, when Jimmy Garoppolo joined him in the very exclusive club of quarterbacks to drop back into an accidental safety, with an equally funny play against the Broncos — that actually was good for the Niners because if he hadn’t stepped out it was going to be a pick-6.

Garoppolo’s might honestly be worse, as he’s been a starter a lot in the NFL and should know his surroundings well enough to, you know, stay within the boundaries of the field in this situation. Instead, he adds to a long list of career bloopers, possibly knocking his terrible interception from last year’s NFC title game off the top spot of his own personal list.

As for Orlovsky, he was watching and had the only response he could, cackling with glee to finally have some company.