Category: Worldwide

Last year, Candace Cameron Bure kicked off her first holiday season as the Chief Creative Officer for Great American Family by stirring up a massive controversy with her remarks on how the network will “keep traditional marriage at the core.” The situation got so bad that even Bure’s Full House co-star Jodie Sweetin spoke out against the anti-LGBTQ stance.

With the backlash seemingly in the rearview, Great American Family CEO Bill Abbott made some odd and weirdly late remarks about the controversy. Notably, he attempted to distance the network and Bure’s comments despite the fact that she was speaking as the CCO of the company.

Via Variety:

We’re proud to have her here, and she works so well with the team alongside me, and we have a really talented and dedicated team that’s committed to high-quality faith and family content. In terms of her personal views, it’s like the disclaimer you see at the end of a movie or a series that says, “The views reflected here are not necessarily those of the company.” Candace has such a high profile that when she speaks, she’ll speak on a lot of topics, and she has a wonderful podcast that is fantastic. But when she speaks on that, she’s not speaking on behalf of Great American Media.

Naturally, Variety was confused by this stance because, again, Bure is the CCO of Great American Family. Abbott’s follow-up response didn’t help.

“Candace speaks for her own brand when she is talking to the world at large,” he said. “For me, all I do — all I live, breathe and sleep — is Great American Media. So when I talk about something, it’s very different, because I’m representing the company and only the company. When Candace talks about something, obviously she has a lot of other audiences and platforms.”

At this point, you might be thinking that Great American Family must have a different view than Bure and is open to including LGBTQ characters if her views are entirely her own. Guess again!

“Certainly, it will be something to think about,” Abbott said after being asked if the network would feature same-sex couples. “I think right now, we’re just so focused on profitability, being successful, doing the right thing for our shareholders, making sure we’re integrating PureFlix within our family. We have so many things on our agenda that we need to stay focused on the core part of the business right now and then down the road, as our world grows and changes and becomes different, then we’ll see.”

(Via Variety)

Taylor Swift is going to release her re-recorded 1989 (Taylor’s Version) at midnight EST tonight. However, fans are committed to a new theory that it might be a double album release. The idea started around when Swift unveiled her “From The Vault” tracks that would be added to her version.

Compared to her past re-recordings, there were no collaborations on this one, which has raised questions of why. The original 1989 era was also known for Swift’s socialness, including how she brought out a ton of surprise guests during the album’s world tour.

Yet, if there were a double album of entirely unreleased tracks, that might be where the collaborations are.

Swift also might have been dropping clues for it earlier than people initially thought. In her music video for “The Man” from her Lover era, her album 1989 is written on the wall of her records twice. (No other album is.) It’s worth noting that one is in light handwriting, the other dark.

Throughout this week, Swift has been channeling the original era by releasing early lyrics from the new songs. She raised eyebrows though for one, where she wrote the lyric, “Aquamarine / Moonlight swimming pool / What if / All I need is you.”

While these very well could be ones, fans took notice of several things. Each line is written separately, alternating between light blue and dark black, and different fonts. These could also easily double as song titles, given that Swift’s other handwritten lyrics this week were not formatted this way.

Finally, it’s worth noting that her public appearances have followed a similar outfit pattern between the same colors.

Guess Swifties will just have to see if the theory is true, or if it’s simply just clowning again.

Jack Black stripped down to his underwear and performed Taylor Swift’s “Anti-Hero” at his The Give Back-ular Spectacular event in Los Angeles on Wednesday night, October 25, but only one person can pull that off, and his name is Jack Black. What are other Swifties supposed to do for Halloween?

Well, luckily, there’s a 399-pound pumpkin, Swift’s budding romance with Travis Kelce, the 1989 (Taylor’s Version) re-recorded album release, and 17 years’ worth of eras to pull costume inspiration from ahead of next Tuesday, October 31. Below is a starter kit for how to dress like Taylor Swift for Halloween.

“Tayvis”

I firmly believe all 7.8 billion people on Earth have, at least, an adjacent knowledge of Taylor Swift’s new relationship with Travis Kelce, an All-Pro tight end for the Kansas City Chiefs. Swift has attended four of the two-time Super Bowl champion’s games since September 24, winning over his parents and providing the NFL with endless marketing material.

A popular nickname for the power couple is “Tayvis” — the X (formerly known as Twitter) account @tayvisnation is dedicated to it — and “Tayvis” costumes are already aplenty. Perhaps the most viral so far came from KidSuper, the designer behind the “1989 Bedroom Painting Denim” outfit Kelce wore for the Chiefs’ September 24 game against the Bears (also known as the soft launch of Kelce and Swift’s relationship). Kelce commented on KidSuper’s costume post, “[four laugh-crying emojis] you’re the [goat emoji].”

It’s also notable that Halloween 2020 saw Makayla Stephens and her husband, Nick Stephens, foreshadowing the unlikely relationship by dressing up as Swift and Kelce. Stephens’ Instagram post at the time was captioned, “I don’t know any world in which Taylor Swift + Travis Kelce would be in the same room together, but apparently in this one they’re married? #HappyHalloween”

According to TMZ, online Halloween retailer 3 Wishes “completely sold out” its options for Kelce-Swift costumes.

“Supportive Football Girlfriend”

As the person behind the skyrocketing @tayvisnation account put it, Swift is in her “supportive football gf” era. If you don’t want to do a couples costume, you could also throw on some Chiefs merch, red lipstick, red nail polish, and an “87” friendship bracelet, and everybody will get it.

And if you’d rather do a friendship costume than a couples costume, you could swerve left and go as Swift and Brittany Mahomes, wife to Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes who is quickly approaching Swift BFF territory.

“Taylor SwiftKin”

So, about the aforementioned 399-pound pumpkin: Jeanette Paras painted a gigantic pumpkin to look like Swift at the 2023 Grammys, and the resemblance is spooky accurate.

Paras said it took her 10 hours to paint her “Taylor SwiftKin,” and while nobody should spend 10 hours on a Halloween costume, maybe you’ve been re-inspired by Swift’s Grammys red carpet look from earlier in the year. Or maybe you suddenly want to paint a pumpkin like Taylor Swift and wear it on your head. No judgment.

“22”

I mean, take your pick from The Eras Tour. (Or dress up as Pete Davidson dressed up as an Eras Tour attendee.) Swift’s ongoing, unprecedented stadium tour, which spawned the equally unprecedented Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour concert film, condenses Swift’s 17 years of musical dominance into a three-plus-hour set.

During the Red era of the set, Swift revived her “22” outfit. Every night, she’d take off her black hat and gift it to a young Swiftie, including a viral moment with the late Kobe Bryant’s six-year-old daughter, Bianka.

1989 (Taylor’s Version)

This post could easily balloon to 13,000 words — see what I did there? — if I pulled costume ideas from every Swift era or even her expansive The Eras Tour wardrobe. So to preserve my remaining sanity, I’m focusing on what will be her latest release, 1989 (Taylor’s Version), due out on Friday, October 27. There are plenty of 1989 costumes to be had, from Swift’s glittery “Shake It Off” two-piece to her seagull-themed 1989 (Taylor’s Version) cover. Whatever you do, just don’t forget to cover your forearm in friendship bracelets.

We’ve seen how much Netflix can revitalize a series, just like how the streamer brought Suits back into the public consciousness after the series dropped there over the summer. You never know what’s going to resonate with people.

Similarly, CW’s sports drama All American had its Netflix debut earlier this year when the streamer dropped every episode of the show just a week after season five wrapped up on cable. After a summer of binging, the series is set to return to the CW early next year, now that everyone is caught up. Thankfully, most of the original cast should return.

All American began in 2018 and follows the high-stakes world of High School football and its impact on the surrounding community. We’re all familiar with the spectacle. The series stars Daniel Ezra as Spencer James, a high school football star who is being scouted for various prestige football programs, and eventually college. Bre-Z will return as Coop, Daniel’s best friend and confidant and aspiring musician. Greta Onieogou returns as Layla Keating, Daniel’s ex who is currently engaged to Jordan, played by Michael Evans Behling, a quarterback on Daniel’s team.

The rest of the cast includes Cody Christian as Asher Adams, Karimah Westbrook as Grace Jameas, Monét Mazur as Laura Fine-Baker, Jalyn Hall as Dillon James, and Hunter Clowdus as JJ Parker. There have been no announcements of new cast members at this time, but production for season six hasn’t begun yet, so who knows? They might add Kyle Chandler in as a fun-loving coach!

(Via ScreenRant)

Though we’re all part of the same species living on the same planet, our experience as humans walking through this world can differ widely. Children see things through a different lens than adults. Women and men have different perspectives on certain issues. And because racism has long been an active element in our society, people with varying amounts of melanin in their skin face specific challenges that others don’t.

As a white American, I don’t instinctively know what it’s like to walk in a black person’s shoes. I can tell you about the legacy of white supremacy laced throughout our country’s history. I can explain the far-reaching effects of slavery, lynch mobs, Jim Crow laws, redlining, mass incarceration, and more. I can intellectually break down the psychological and sociological impact of centuries of race-based oppression.

But I can’t tell you what it feels like to walk through this world, right now, as a black person—which is why it’s so important to listen to the voices of people who can.

David Summers shared a story on Facebook that reflects the experience of many black Americans—one that can help us non-black folks see through a lens we simply do not and cannot have. Perhaps that’s why it’s been shared more than 20,000 times. From the fear that any object he carries might be mistaken as a gun to figuring out how to smile at a stranger just right so he won’t be considered a threat, the “black thoughts” Summers describes during his walk through a beautiful, white neighborhood—presumably a neighborhood most of us would consider “safe”—are heartbreaking.

He wrote:

“I took a black walk this morning. I took a black walk through a white neighborhood. When I take black walks, I think black thoughts. I am conscious of where I’ve placed my gun, my gun, and my gun. I mean, my phone, my wallet, and my keys. Because Peace Officers have a hard time telling the difference. I rehearse what I’ll say if a concerned resident, or a law enforcement employee has questions about why my black body is walking through their white space. And I remind myself to make sure the law enforcement employee has his body camera recording. Sometimes it helps if there is video evidence to accompany the hashtag.

There is no way to be stealthy when you take a black walk. White neighborhoods are blanketed by a sophisticated security system comprised of nosy neighbors, Ring doorbell cameras, and white women walking their dogs. So, I’ve learned to notice the white world through my periphery. To be aware of the dangers without acknowledging them. There is an art to making white people feel safe. To say ‘Good Morning’ and flash a smile that shows confidence and deference at the same time. To being polite because your life depends on it.

I felt the squad car behind me before I saw it.

It moved deliberately. Not like the other cars mindlessly whizzing past. Its tires inched. Crept. Stalked their way toward me.

I kept walking.

“Don’t take your hands out of your pockets,” I thought. Or wait, maybe I should? Maybe it’s better if my hands are clearly empty. But it’s cold outside…maybe it’s nothing. Keep walking.

The car rolled past me and made a slow right turn. I glanced quickly but didn’t stare. The air is still. My ears tuned out everything but the slight scuff of my sneakers on the sidewalk and the fading sound of those stalking tires.

Almost there.

Suddenly the squad car re-emerged. It was a block ahead of me. It made a quick right turn, continued to the end of the street, and then waited. No more stalking. This was a show of force. This was a roar. This was a reminder that I was trespassing.

I kept walking.

“Don’t take your hands out of your pockets,” I thought. Or wait, maybe I should? Maybe it’s better if my hands are clearly empty. But it’s cold outside…maybe it’s nothing. Keep walking.

The car rolled past me and made a slow right turn. I glanced quickly but didn’t stare. The air is still. My ears tuned out everything but the slight scuff of my sneakers on the sidewalk and the fading sound of those stalking tires.

Almost there.

Suddenly the squad car re-emerged. It was a block ahead of me. It made a quick right turn, continued to the end of the street, and then waited. No more stalking. This was a show of force. This was a roar. This was a reminder that I was trespassing.

I kept walking.

As I approached the corner, the front window began to roll down. The occupant didn’t speak. Didn’t smile. Just stared. I was being warned.

I crossed the street and the lion trotted off. He had effectively marked his territory. The brave protector had done his job.

I however, couldn’t help but wonder what I’d missed during my black walk. It’s hard to hear the birds chirping, or to smile at the squirrels playfully darting along the branches when you’re on a black walk. It’s easy to miss the promise of a light blue sky, or appreciate the audacity of the red, yellow, and purple daisies declaring their independence from the green grass when your mind is preoccupied with black thoughts.

I took a walk through a beautiful neighborhood this morning. But I missed the whole thing.”

Thank you, Mr. Summers, for sharing your “black walk” experience. Hopefully, it will prompt us all to ask ourselves whether our words and actions serve to reinforce or remedy what you’ve described.

This article originally appeared on 03.02.20

The water bill at the Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis residence appears to be pretty low after recent revelations the couple made about their family’s bathing habits.

In a recent appearance on Dax Shepard’s “Armchair Expert” podcast, they admitted they’re not that into bathing themselves or their two children, Dimitri Portwood, 4, and Wyatt Isabelle, 6.

The conversation started when Shepard explained his ongoing disagreement with co-host Monica Padman. The two have dissenting views over whether people should use soap. “You should not be getting rid of all the natural oil on your skin with a bar of soap every day,” he said. “It’s insane.”

Kunis agreed with Shepard and was very candid about her bathing ritual. “I don’t wash my body with soap every day,” she shared. “But I wash pits and tits and holes and soles.”

“I can’t believe I’m in the minority here of washing my whole body in the shower,” Padman replied. “Who taught you to not wash?”

“I didn’t have hot water growing up as a child,” Kunis recalled, “so I didn’t shower very much anyway.” Kunis was born in the then-Soviet controlled Ukrainian city of Chernivtsi in 1983. Her family migrated to America when she was seven.

Kutcher added that he regularly uses soap and water on just his “armpits and crotch” and “nothing else.”

Kunis has passed her lax attitude towards bathing on to her children.

“When I had children,” she said, “I also didn’t wash them every day. I wasn’t the parent that bathed my newborns—ever.” Shepard agreed, saying that he and wife Kristen Bell only bathe their children as part of a nighttime routine and don’t pay much attention to their cleanliness.

“That’s how we feel about our children. We’re like, ‘Oof, something smells,'” Kunis added. Kutcher has a simple rule when it comes to his children and their cleanliness. “Here’s the thing — if you can see the dirt on ’em, clean ’em,” he says. “Otherwise, there’s no point.”

u201cMila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher Say They Only Bathe Their Kids When ‘You Can See the Dirt on Them’u201d

— People (@People)
1627410000

While the Kutcher-Kunis clan’s approach towards hygiene may not be typical of the average American family, they may not be wrong according to science. Research suggests that children benefit from being exposed to germs early in life.

“This line of thinking, called the ‘hygiene hypothesis,’ holds that when exposure to parasites, bacteria, and viruses is limited early in life, children face a greater chance of having allergies, asthma, and other autoimmune diseases during adulthood,” WebMD says.

Basically, the more your body is exposed to the more it can fight off.

“Just as a baby’s brain needs stimulation, input, and interaction to develop normally, the young immune system is strengthened by exposure to everyday germs so that it can learn, adapt, and regulate itself,” notes Thom McDade, PhD, associate professor and director of the Laboratory for Human Biology Research at Northwestern University.

As for Kutcher and Kunis, they both share the same attitude when it comes to hygiene so nobody in the relationship has the right to complain if the other is a little funky. If it works for them, who are we to judge?

This article originally appeared on 7.28,.21

For fantasy fans, it truly is the best of times, and the worst of times. On the bright side—there’s more magic wielding, dragon riding, caped crusading content than ever before. Yay to that.

On the other hand, have you noticed that with all these shows, something feels … off?

No, that’s not just adulthood stripping you of childlike wonder. There is a subtle, yet undeniable decline in how these shows are being made, and your eyes are picking up on it. Nolan Yost, a freelance wigmaker living in New York City, explains the shift in his now viral Facebook post.

The post, which has been shared nearly 3,500 times, attributes shows being “mid,” (aka mediocre, or my favorite—meh) mostly to the new streaming-based studio system, which quite literally prioritizes quantity over quality, pumping out new content as fast as possible to snag a huge fan base.

The result? A “Shein era of mass media,” Yost says, adding that “the toll it takes on costuming and hair/makeup has made almost every new release from Amazon, Netflix, and Hulu have a B-movie visual quality.”

He even had some pictures to prove it.

Yost first addressed the Amazon Prime Series “The Rings of Power.” One of the many, many things that makes Peter Jackson’s “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy so iconic is the costumes. But that legacy was the direct result of dedication to detail.

“The production spent years hand-making every single piece of armor with real metal, hand-dyeing all-natural fiber fabrics, and designing distinct embroidery and hairstyles specific to each race in Middle Earth that had continuity through the story,” Yost wrote.

He added, “the natural dyes and dedicated layers of fabrics for elves, for hobbits, wool/dyes, and for men had a much more muted/medieval look, yet ethereal because of the slight detail you don’t really notice, but the depth draws your eye to every inch of the costume regardless.” This, he says, is why those three movies stand the test of time.

Compare this to the two images from “The Rings of Power,” below. In one photo “they barely scrapped together an unnaturally gilded scale mail breastplate and just screen printed a stretched long sleeve shirt to match underneath, all over a skirt in a single layer of a warped poly skirt.”

The other image shows “they just saved money on an Elven wig altogether for a 2022 pompadour, with a velvet pleated priest smock (with crushed parts not even steamed out), and a neckline that isn’t tailored to fit like we’ve seen previously with Elrond or Celeborn.”

Yost then moved onto HBO’s “House of the Dragon.” Arguably even those who have never seen a single episode of its predecessor, “Game of Thrones,” would still recognize Daenerys Targaryen for her platinum white hair—an attribute that Yost notes was quite expensive.

He explained that for the show’s final season alone, Daenerys’ wigs most likely cost tens of thousands, requiring human hair to be custom made into multiple wigs.

Luckily, there was only one character with that signature look in the show. For “House of the Dragon,” however, with a cast almost entirely made up of silver-haired brooding powerhouses, Yost surmises that due to budget constraints, the creators opted for synthetic wigs.

You can see below the problem this cost-cutting decision makes in terms of authenticity.

“Synthetic hair reflects light throughout the whole hair shaft and it tangles extremely easily,” Yost writes. “With any shot where a character isn’t actively moving or is performing dialogue and the hair isn’t being actively smoothed down every couple of seconds between shots, each flyaway is going to show up on camera if there’s any indirect lighting and look messy. Not only that, synthetic hair is also twice as thick per strand than human hair, so regardless of that the wigs are going to look bulky in an uncanny valley sort of way.”

This affects not just sci-fi and fantasy, but other genres meant to transport viewers into other worlds, like period pieces, which Yost points out with a picture from “Bridgerton” by Shonda Rhimes.

“It’s obviously not meant to be historically accurate, which is totally fine,” he writes, but without important details or embellishments or even proper undergarments to make the clothes fit well, everything looks like a slightly more expensive Halloween costume.

Yost’s insightful post really shines a light on what audiences are having to trade off for the sake of constant output. The phrase “done is better than perfect” takes on a new meaning altogether as studios race to meet a deadline with whatever is easiest to mass produce. But if viewers are so easily taken out of these stories because of noticeable corner cutting, then perhaps it’s a sign that what we really want and need are stories worth waiting for, ones that truly pull us in and leave us captivated. This is no easy ask, for studio execs or customers alike (I too am a voracious binge-watcher), but as we can see in these examples, the most valuable experiences rarely, if ever, come from rushing.

This article originally appeared on 9.10.22

It’s quite common for people to fantasize about their wedding day—the ceremony, the bridal party, the dress, the cake—and some people spend months or even years meticulously planning every detail. People even spend thousands of dollars hiring wedding planners to make sure that the big day stays fully organized and all the moving parts come together without a hitch.

But no matter how well you plan, sometimes things that simply can’t be predicted happen. And how you and your beloved handle the hitches and glitches on your wedding day can say a lot.

Especially when that hitch or glitch is something major…like watching the beautiful, four-tier wedding cake—the one you spent time choosing and lots of money creating to share with your wedding guests—come crashing to the ground right in front of you.

That’s what happened to one couple who eagerly watched as the caterers who were carrying their wedding cake tripped on their way into the room, sending their cake to an untimely demise in spectacular fashion.

The video, shared by @the.sarik on Instagram, is only about 10 seconds long, but it tells a whole beautiful love story in the reactions of both the groom and the bride.

Watch:

See on Instagram

First of all, hope those waiters are OK. But secondly, staying calm and making the most of a bad situation is a huge character plus, and this groom clearly has those qualities in spades. You can see in the bride’s face that she knows it, too.

“Her eyes show that she knows she got the right guy,” wrote one commenter.

“The way he just called her to eat is just phenomenal,” shared another.

“‘Cake is still cake.’ Yelling at those waiters won’t solve anything, but it can ruin their whole lives,” wrote another. “They know their mistake, and they can be corrected privately. May the reaction of this man be an inspiration to us all, to care for the feelings of other people more than material things.”

“Of all the things that could ruin a wedding day, I’m glad the husband knew this didn’t have to be one of them,” shared another.

When unpredictable things do happen, it’s largely the reaction of the people involved that determines whether they become tragic tales or entertaining stories. If what we saw in the video is any indicator, this couple will be telling their grandkids someday about how the guys carrying their wedding cake tripped and ruined it, and how Grandpa’s response won Grandma’s heart all over again.

This article originally appeared on 7.27.23

Let’s start at the beginning, for simplicity’s sake…

There is a movie coming out in February 2024 called Argylle. It is from Kingsmen director Matthew Vaughn and has a truly loaded cast, with everyone from Henry Cavill to Bryce Dallas Howard to Sam Rockwell to Bryan Cranston to Samuel L. Jackson to Dua Lipa involved in some way. It also has a really wild premise, with pulse-pounding spy-type action parroting the events of a series of spy novels written by a character in the movie named Elly Conway.

The official description from the studio might help.

Elly Conway, an introverted spy novelist who seldom leaves her home, is drawn into the real world of espionage when the plots of her books get a little too close to the activities of a sinister underground syndicate. When Aiden, a spy, shows up to save her (he says) from being kidnapped or killed (or both), Elly and her beloved cat Alfie are plunged into a covert world where nothing, and no one, is what it seems.

The trailer might help, too. Maybe. Possibly. I think you should watch it anyway because it makes the whole thing feel like a cross between a Jason Statham action movie and the movie Spy, which co-starred Jason Statham as a satirical version of the characters he plays in your normal Jason Statham action movie. I’m actually kind of mad he’s not in this movie now. Maybe there’s a twist we don’t know about yet. Fingers crossed.

Anyway, yes, Dua Lipa whispers the phrase “we’re not so different” into Henry Cavill’s ear in this trailer, so I already love it.

But here’s where things get strange. The Elly Conway character in the movie, who writes the Argylle novels that come to life in the film, is also, allegedly, a real person who writes a real book about a secret agent named Argylle. It’s all very twisted and convoluted and it was explained about as well as one can explain it in a recent examination by Vanity Fair. Here’s the most relevant passage.

The funny thing about all this is that there doesn’t seem to be a “real” Elly Conway, either. There are no photos of Conway on the internet, and her author bio on the Penguin Random House website is suspiciously short: “Elly Conway was born and raised in upstate New York. She wrote her first novel about Agent Argylle while working as a waitress in a late-night diner.” Both X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram contain verified profiles under this name that have a smattering of posts, but there is no way of validating who is actually posting from either account.

All of this, as one might suspect, has led to a slew of suspicion and speculation from the type of people who like to build gigantic conspiracy boards in their homes and connect potential clues together with strings of red yarn. And that, also as one might suspect, has led a not-unsubstantial amount of people to wonder if this mysterious and possibly fake author is actually…

… you guessed it…

… world-famous musician Taylor Swift writing under a pseudonym.

And so, what I have done here is attempt to sort through the potential evidence and various ravings to present you with the case for and case against Taylor Swift being the secret mastermind behind Hollywood’s most mysterious new spy movie. There are some strange corners of the internet out there, folks. Bring a hardhat and flashlight.

CASE FOR

The short version here goes something like this: Ladies and gentlemen, the Swifties are at it again.

The longer version is… uh, more involved and requires a knowledge of Swift/Swiftie history, complete with the thing where Taylor Swift has written under a pseudonym before and how she occasionally drops hints via clue or puzzle and her very devoted fan base pieces them all together with an efficiency that would be the envy of any murder detective. Think of this crew as kind of like Columbo except with yoga pants and a comfy crewneck sweatshirt instead of a trenchcoat.

Thankfully, for me, much of the legwork here was done by Polygon’s Petrana Radulovic, who scoured the Swiftie hangouts to present a list of potential clues and scored them on a scale from 1-10 based on validity. Some of them are as simple as “the cat in this movie is a Scottish Fold and Swift owns two of those and has carried them in a similar backpack” or “Taylor Swift has, on occasion, worn an argyle sweater.”

Some are a little more intense. I recommend clicking through and reading all of these but here are my two favorites.

Birthday stuff:

Conway’s first post was on Swift’s birthday in 2022: This is perhaps the most compelling piece of evidence, because the book and movie were announced a full year and a half prior (in June 2021). No other news surrounding the movie or book was released on Dec. 13, 2022. 9/10

Cat stuff:

Chip the cat (the cat in the movie) made an Instagram post about a big announcement the day before the announcement of the Eras Tour movie: …and it was also the day before the first trailer for Argylle dropped. Considering the cat is owned by the director of the movie, Matthew Vaughn (and his spouse, Claudia Schiffer), that pretty much explains away the coincidence. -1/10

The important things to note here are as follows:

• None of this is technically impossible
• I think I would honestly watch a movie about the dedicated fans of a pop star solving a murder by piecing together clues on the internet
• I did not realize the director of the Kingsmen movies was married to Claudia Schiffer

Really just a lot to process here. Which brings us to…

CASE AGAINST

Three things here, all equally important:

• Taylor Swift is a very busy lady, what with her new movie lighting up the box office and her busy schedule of attending Kansas City Chiefs games, and I just don’t know where she would have found the time to write a spy novel
• Let’s all take a deep breath here
• That Vanity Fair article I linked to way back up in the intro also includes this sentence: “Vanity Fair’s sources confirm that Swift is not, in fact, the author of the book”

So… you know. There’s that.

VERDICT

Taylor Swift is probably not the secret mastermind behind Argylle, a mysterious new spy movie that stars Henry Cavill and Dua Lipa.

Unless…

…

…
… unless that’s exactly what they want you to think.

We’re a week away from Halloween, and if you’re looking for your last-minute costume ideas, may we humbly suggest a music star?

After all, our favorite singers and rappers are real people with a slew of recognizable looks to choose from that would take only a minimum of effort on the last-minute costume creator’s part.

And look, if we’re already doing music stars, why not one of the biggest music stars of all, Drake? Mr. October’s Very Own has plenty of iconic looks throughout the years, including his recent, colorful looks from the For All The Dogs rollout. So…

Here’s how to dress as Drake for Halloween

(As always, though, and forever — please do not don blackface for any reason. You will look dumb and any future business or political aspirations you may have will die on the spot.)

“Hotline Bling” Drake

This one’s easy. All you’ll need is a neutral-colored turtleneck sweater, a pair of grey sweatpants, and hi-top Timberland boots. For the guys, get a low fade and grow out that beard and for the ladies, there are glue-on beards to fake it. Good luck with that hair though. Maybe a bald cap?

“No New Friends” Drake

This one may admittedly take a bit more work, if only to track down the vintage Dada fit fans couldn’t stop making memes about in 2013. To complete Drake’s throwback ’90s look here, grab some black Doc Martens and calf-length black socks with white stripes, topping it off with a pair of stunna shades.

“Drake As Drake’s Dad” Drake

Simple, yet effective. Although, you might have to take a trip to the hood, sorry. Any beauty supply shop should have the crochet kufi cap you need, then it’s just a matter of throwing on an all-white suit with a chain and fake pair of spectacles (or your real ones for my fellow visually-impaired).

“For All The Dogs” Drake

First, hit either your local swap meet for the throwback FUBU tee or customize yourself a jacket covered in “Vs” (a tribute to the late Virgil Abloh, Louis Vuitton’s former head of menswear), then throw in a cluster of brightly colored barrettes. Voila!