Next month, Michelle Zauner from Japanese Breakfast will head out on her first-ever book tour. “Crying In H Mart is finally out in paperback on March 28th,” she said in a statement, “and I’ll be heading out on my first book tour to celebrate! Very excited to roll up to your city for the first time with a tote bag and a book instead of a giant trailer of gear.”
In the meantime, she’s stirring the pot on Twitter by sharing hot takes about music.
“Revolver is the Tusk of Beatles albums,” she wrote, talking about Fleetwood Mac’s polarizing 1979 album. After lots of reactions, she added, “I’m not saying either of these albums are bad! I’m saying if they’re your favorites you’re a contrarian and wrong.”
Revolver is the Tusk of Beatles albums. Any one who claims it’s their best is an unfeeling snob that’s fucking kidding themself.
Despite receiving backlash in lots of impassioned quote-tweets and replies, the “Be Sweet” performer is standing her ground. Black Midi’s Geordie Greep, for example, replied, “Fair play but she is wrong as f*ck lol. Why does this sort of thing have to devolve into put downs and reductiveness lol. She’s talking about 2 masterpieces, who cares if they are better or worse than other obvious masterpieces. They are all brilliant, just in different ways.” To that, Zauner responded, “Aren’t you supposed to be interesting?”
Last year, Zauner was very excited when she was in a Jeopardy! answer: “Michelle Zauner writes about losing her Korean mother to cancer in her memoir Crying In this Asian grocery chain.” A contestant named Sadie Goldberger said, “What is H-Mart?” The musician responded to the milestone on social media with a simple sentiment: “I’m dead!!!!!!!”
It’s still early, but don’t be surprised if Past Lives ends up on our Best Movies of 2023 list. The A24 drama, which stars Greta Lee (so good on Russian Doll) as Nora and Teo Yoo as Hae Sung, is described as “a love story — indeed, several — told across three moments in time.” The Celine Song-directed film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, where it received near-universal acclaim. Vox called it “miraculous,” while Vanity Fair praised it for being “a dreamy, gently heartbreaking film” and a “note-perfect directorial debut.”
You can see what all the fuss is about in the trailer above. Here’s more:
A budding childhood romance between Nora and Hae Sung, classmates at a primary school in Seoul, ends abruptly when Nora’s family emigrates to Canada. Twelve years later, Nora, now a playwriting student in New York, notices that Hae Sung’s been searching social media for her. They reconnect online, begin talking frequently, and even imagine a reunion. But another dozen years pass before they finally meet over a few fateful days during his visit to New York. Although their lives have changed dramatically, they remain bound by a wistful connection.
About a month ago, police from the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office visited Britney Spears after fans called requesting a wellness check, after Spears deactivated her Instagram account (as she often does). Spears has publicly commented on this multiple times since then and she did so again yesterday (February 21) with a new Instagram post.
The video starts with Spears speaking in a non-American accent and talking about a dress she was gifted. Still showing off the dress, she then says, “So guys, I just want you to know: If I shut down my Instagram, do not call the cops. Don’t ever be a roller coaster,” before running around the room. She ends the video by saying again, “Never be a roller coaster!”
In Spears’ initial response to the police visit, she wrote, “I love and adore my fans but this time things went a little too far and my privacy was invaded. […] This felt like I was being gaslit and bullied once the incident made it to the news and being portrayed once again in a poor and unfair light by the media. During this time in my life, I truly hope the public and my fans who I care so much about can respect my privacy moving forward.”
Days later, she added, “I shut down my Instagram because there were too many people saying I looked like an idiot dancing and that I looked crazy. Honestly I was doing my best but it disturbed me to see people freely talk about it on TV … yep it hurt my feelings.”
Truth Is Where It’s At: The Best of Gospel Truth is coming soon, and it’s a collection of six albums from the 1972 gospel imprint on Stax Records. The albums include The Rance Allen Group by The Rance Allen Group, Jesus People by Maceo Woods and The Christian Tabernacle Concert Choir, A Tribute to Mahalia Jackson by Louise McCord, Whatever Happened To Love by Clarence Smith, The Gospel Artistics by The Gospel Artistics, and Blue Aquarius by Blue Aquarius. It’s limited to only 1,000 copies.
Read what VMP’s Director of Music and Truth is Where It’s At executive producer Andrew Winistorfer said in a statement below:
“Truth Is Where It’s At: The Best of Gospel Truth celebrates the diverse sounds cultivated by a short-lived label, unafraid to merge the era’s rock and soul with a spiritual movement and message. From the imprint’s star Bishop Rance Allen to the singular eponymous album of Blue Aquarius, this box set commemorates a short, but inspiring, part of Stax’s history. Like our VMP Anthology series, this box helps you discover lost albums and find them anew, giving attention to albums that deserve to be remastered and remembered.”
Twenty years ago, at a very different time for comic book movies, there was a big screen, big budget version of Daredevil. It starred Ben Affleck as blind lawyer-crimefighter Matt Murdock. Jennifer Garner was Elektra. Colin Farrell played Bullseye. It did pretty well if not great. It even got an spinoff for Elektra. But the world never again saw Affleck in a tight red suit. But why is that? (Other than Affleck hating it.)
In a retrospective interview on the film’s 20th anniversary with Yahoo! Entertainment, the film’s director, Mark Steven Johnson, explained, among other things, why there was never a Daredevil 2. At the time, Marvel — some five years before the first Iron Man — decided that instead of a sequel they’d try out a spinoff.
“I think the plan was that they would make an Elektra movie and then in success do another Daredevil,” said Johnson. “I didn’t work on the Elektra movie at all, but that one didn’t work out, and then everything kind of went away, unfortunately.”
Indeed, Elektra was a bomb, not even grossing past the $25 million mark domestically — a fourth of what Daredevil made. So that’s the end of that story.
Things eventually worked out well for a screen Matt Murdock. Some 12 years later, Netflix debuted a TV series version starring Charlie Cox (who also doesn’t like the Daredevil movie). It ended after only three seasons, due to Marvel cutting ties with the streamer. But Cox will be coming back for more on Disney+, even though he says the revival is a different thing and not just Season 4.
Meet Me @ The Altar are getting ready for the release of their highly anticipated debut album Past // Present // Future. It’s being released by Fueled By Ramen, known for nurturing now world-dominating acts like Twenty One Pilots and Paramore.
Following the previous single “Say It (To My Face)” is the new one, “Kool.” About the song, the band said in a statement, “‘Kool’ is the love child of everything we’re into musically. There’s rock ‘n roll guitars, heavy drums, and a crazy, catchy, pop-inspired vocal melody on top. It’s a fun, anthemic song about having a crush on someone, and wanting them to know how ‘kool’ you think they are.”
“Kool” is an unexpectedly quick track with mischievous riffs and theatrical vocals: “I bet / You love the way you look when you look in the mirror / Don’t you / Well me too.” It’s a playful anthem that’s only a little over two minutes, but every second is nothing short of fun. It comes with a nostalgic music video, capturing the excitement of a newfound romance in youth and wanting to dance around your room, which is covered in posters.
Watch the video for “Kool” above.
Past // Present // Future is out 3/10 via Fueled By Ramen. You can pre-save it here.
A study of nursing home patients found that residents who sang show tunes — specifically from “Oklahoma!” “The Wizard of Oz,” and “The Sound of Music” — demonstrated increased mental performance, according to a report in the New York Daily News:
“Researchers working with elderly residents at an East Coast care home found in a four-month long study … that people who sang their favorite songs showed a marked improvement compared to those who just listened.”
Even better? There are tons of classic show tunes specifically about remembering.
Here are 23 tunes every Broadway fan needs to memorize for the day when it’s not so easy to remember. It’ll help to start brushing up now.
1. The one about remembering the good old days.
“Those Were the Good Old Days,” “Damn Yankees”
If you’re the devil in “Damn Yankees,” that means the Great Depression, the Black Plague years, and when Jack the Ripper was running around. Good times!
2. The one about remembering a parade that probably never happened.
Any playlist of show tunes about memory has to include this standard from “The Music Man,” in which Professor Harold Hill remembers the best day of his life, when “Gilmore, Liberati, Pat Conway, The Great Creatore, W.C. Handy, and John Phillip Sousa all came to town.”
Whether or not any of it actually happened is … up for debate, to put it mildly.
3. The one about remembering a really fun trip you took to a medium-sized Midwestern city.
“Kansas City,” “Oklahoma”
“Oklahoma’s” Will Parker is so psyched about his Kansas City vacation he can’t help bragging about it to all the other cowboys. And why not? It’s a neat city! Have you been to Joe’s Kansas City Barbecue? Neither has Will Parker, since he was there in 1906, but you should totally go.
4. The one about remembering how fun it was to murder that guy that one time…
5. The one about remembering the questionable choices it’s too late to go back in time and not make.
“Where Did We Go Right?” from “The Producers”
Looking back doesn’t always go well for characters in musicals. It definitely doesn’t for “The Producers'” Bialystock and Bloom, as they tear around their office wondering how their incompetently directed, poorly acted, aggressively pro-Hitler musical wound up becoming a massive hit despite their every attempt to make it fail.
6. The one about remembering the little things.
“I Remember/Stranger Than You Dreamt It,” “Phantom of the Opera”
Perhaps the greatest testament to how emotionally transporting “Phantom of the Opera” is: Christine, removing the phantom’s mask for the first time, can just straight-up claim to remember mist— like, one mist in particular — and no one calls her on it ever.
7. The one about remembering the worst day of your life.
“The Barber and his Wife,” “Sweeney Todd”
No character in musical theater is more nostalgic than Sweeney Todd, who, just moments after we meet him, croons this delightful ditty reminiscing about the time he was framed for a crime he didn’t commit and banished from England so that an evil judge could rape his wife who subsequently poisoned herself.
A tune you can hum!
8. The one about remembering things differently than everyone else around you.
“Satisfied,” “Hamilton”
Not sure if you’ve heard, but “Hamilton” is good, you guys.
After Alex and Eliza Schuyler meet and fall in love in “Helpless,” Angelica Schuyler basically goes “Wicked” on her sister’s song, recalling how agonizing it was watching her sister and the man who she herself is super into get together. But she sucks it up and buries it! Older siblings are the best.
9. The one about remembering that cute girl you just met like five seconds ago.
“Maria,” “West Side Story”
A classic from “West Side Story.” Sure, it’s about remembering a meet-cute that literally just happened — Tony and Maria’s orchestral-swell-assisted gaze across a crowded gym — but Tony is super jazzed about it, so it makes the list.
Gosh, I sure hope those crazy kids work out!
10. The one about remembering all the worst things from when you were a kid, and one kind-of-OK thing.
“At the Ballet,” “A Chorus Line”
The ballet isn’t that great, but it’s better than devastating childhood trauma. Score one for the ballet! Thanks, “A Chorus Line!”
11. The one about remembering old hobbies.
“Dentist!” from “Little Shop of Horrors”
“Little Shop of Horrors'” Orin Scrivello, DDS, is just misunderstood. I mean, who among us didn’t “shoot puppies,” “poison guppies,” or “take a pussycat and bash in its head” now and again as a kid? The ’50s were a simpler time!
12. The one about remembering watching a dude die on the battlefield and feeling feelings about it.
“Momma Look Sharp,” “1776”
47 years before “Hamilton” brought us the swaggery, ass-kicking side of the Revolutionary War, “1776” tore our guts out with this song, in which a courier to the Continental Congress recalls watching a mother comfort a young soldier as he dies at the battles of Lexington and Concord.
Hercules Mulligan does the guest rap. (Just kidding. There is no guest rap. It’s just gorgeously somber for a while and then over.)
13. The one about remembering the best four years of your life.
“I Wish I Could Go Back to College,” “Avenue Q”
Of course the sad-sack puppet man- and woman-children of “Avenue Q” want to go back to college! Who among us doesn’t long for the days of term papers, humiliating romantic encounters, and crushing, debilitating debt? And meal-plan ice cream, too!
14. The one about remembering some A-plus advice from your best friend.
“Cabaret,” “Cabaret”
Ladies and gentlemen, Sally Bowles from “Cabaret” is no fool! No matter how many lovers leave, or how much her career nosedives, or how nutty local politics get, she always remembers this important life lesson she learned from her good friend Elsie.
If only you had such a great, wise friend, maybe your outlook would be as good as Sally’s. You could be so lucky!
15. The one about remembering last Christmas.
“Halloween,” “Rent”
When it comes to the science of memory and cognition, “Rent” asks the big questions:
“Why are entire years strewn on the cutting room floor of memories? When single frames from one magic night forever flicker in close-up on the 3-D Imax of my mind?”
Poetic? Pathetic? We report, you decide.
16. The one about remembering everything and realizing how terrible it all was.
“Rose’s Turn,” “Gypsy”
Ah, yes. “Rose’s Turn.” The 11 o’clock number to end all 11 o’clock numbers in “Gypsy,” the most musical of all musicals. Truly, there aren’t many things more enjoyable than listening to Mama Rose replay the events of the last decade and change inside her own brain in a slow-motion nervous breakdown as the notion that her entire life has been completely worthless gradually dawns on her with ever-increasing dread.
Did I mention how fun musicals are?
Trivia time! You know that thing in music where trumpets go, “Ya da da da daaaa DA. Da DA da DA!” You know that thing? This is the song that thing comes from.
17. The one about remembering the first time you knew what you wanted to be when you grew up.
“Ring of Keys,” “Fun Home”
There’s nothing better than a song that makes you want to shout: “I am so glad I’m watching a musical instead of a basketball game right now.” This moment in “Fun Home,” where Alison recalls seeing a delivery woman — the first person who looked like the woman she felt like — is really, really one of them.
“This is a song of identification that is a turning moment, when you think you’re an alien and you hear someone else say, ‘Oh, me too,'” composer Jeanine Tesori told Variety. “It’s a gamechanger for Alison. And that’s just Musical Theater 101.”
…And the entire audience bursts into happy tears forever.
18. The one about remembering a nice dream you dreamed.
“I Dreamed a Dream,” “Les Misérables”
When your life isn’t going so great, it’s good to remember the positive! Things didn’t exactly go super well for Fantine in “Les Mis.” But, hey, she had a pretty good dream once!
19. The one about remembering your single greatest regret and vowing to never remember it again.
“Turn It Off,” “The Book of Mormon”
What’s the ticket to living as fun-loving and guilelessly as the Mormon elders in “The Book of Mormon?” Don’t just bury those traumatic, scary, impure memories — CRUSH THEM, OK?!
20. The one about remembering a really successful first date.
“Sarah Brown Eyes,” “Ragtime”
Ah, young love. Even in “Ragtime,” a musical that features racism, state violence, attempted child murder, and terrorism, at least we have this song, in which Coalhouse Walker Jr. recalls how he got his beloved Sarah to fall truly, madly, deeply in love with him with his peerless piano skills? So romantic.
Gosh, I sure hope those crazy kids work out!
21. The one about remembering a scary dream.
“Sit Down, You’re Rockin’ the Boat,” “Guys and Dolls”
With, perhaps, only a smidge more credibility than grifter-from-another-mother Professor Harold Hill, “Guys and Dolls'” third-most-degenerate gambler Nicely-Nicely Johnson recalls a terrifying dream where he had to convince a group of skeptical evangelical crusaders that he’s decided to give up the dice once and for all.
Side note: People in musicals are unbelievably good at remembering dreams. This is, like, full detail. I’d be like, “Um, I was at the Statue of Liberty, and you were there? I think? It wasn’t really you, it was like a combination of you and my dad. And we were in prison. But at the Statue of Liberty.”
22. The one about remembering how it used to be when you were young and full of hope instead of old and bitter and jaded.
“Our Time,” “Merrily We Roll Along”
The closing number of “Merrily We Roll Along” is actually the first chronologically, since the musical goes backward. It’s the play’s happiest moment — Frank, Charley, and Mary on a roof watching Sputnik go by, giddily talking about how thrilling, perfect, and successful their futures are going to be. It’s so hopeful! But so sad, ’cause you already know all the achingly bittersweet stuff that’s going to happen.
With his new album, Ben, arriving soon, Macklemore is being candid about his recent struggles with relapsing to show how far he’s come now. It’s obvious that he’s in a bright place — and a new wholesome video with his daughter, Sloane Ava Simone, proved that even further.
In the clip, which he shared to Instagram, Macklemore asks his 7 year old to direct one of his music videos. He starts by saying, “I’m a little bit nervous asking this, if I’m being honest. You know how the other day you were doing like the Bogey Boys, like producing?”
He continues: “You knew exactly what you wanted. I was so impressed with your work ethic, with your eye. I love your visual aesthetic. I absolutely love your style. I’ve been trying to think of a music video for ‘No Bad Days.’”
“Crazy idea, and if you don’t like it we don’t have to do it,” he says. “‘No Bad Days’ music video, I need a director.” Finally, he asks: “And I was thinking, what if you directed the music video?” She tears up before he even finishes asking, and they embrace each other in a big hug. She says yes, of course.
Hard to believe, but it’s been nearly a year since that Will Smith Oscars slap. The incident, in which he attacked presenter Chris Rock on live television — then about 20 minutes later won his very first Oscar — has had a gutting effect on his career. Projects were cancelled. His next film, the slave saga Emancipation, had little-to-no cultural impact. He’s laid low, too, occasionally making little, self-effacing jokes on social media. On Tuesday he did another.
— I could’ve just sat on in with massa (@WrittenByHanna) February 21, 2023
As caught by Entertainment Weekly, Smith posted a video on his TikTok of him silently listening to a user known as Miss Money Working, real name Sam Rossi. In her own video, Rossi talks about benefits of asking inanimate objects what they think of you.
“You can pick up a pen and ask it how it sees you or what it thinks of you,” Rossi says. “And you will get an answer in your mind from your intuition. You can ask your car what it thinks of you, you can even ask money what it thinks of you.”
In his own video, Smith then reaches off-screen, pulls out his Oscar statue, then appears to ask what it thinks of him.
It’s a cryptic video, ending without any overt confirmation that Smith is indeed making a joke about an incident that’s dramatically altered the course of his life. But if, as Rossi asserts in the caption of her video, everything has a “consciousness,” Will Smith’s Oscar trophy, like Chris Rock’s mom, probably has some thoughts.
A lot of speculating has been done by fans and the media, with many guessing that Machine Gun Kelly cheated on Fox. However, Fox took to social media today, February 21, to address that gossip. “There has been no third party interference in this relationship of any kind,” she wrote in an Instagram post. “That includes, but is not limited to … actual humans, DMs, AI bots or succubus demons.”
She continued: “While I do hate to rob you of running random baseless news stories that would have been much more accurately written by ChatGPT, you need to let this story die and leave all of these innocent people alone now.”
Rumors were amplified when an insider source told People that things were not looking good for them: “They haven’t officially called off the engagement, but Megan took her ring off,” they said. They added, “They have had issues in the past, but things seem pretty serious this time.”
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