-In her new Vogue cover story, Ariana Grande reflects on her short-lived relationship with Pete Davidson. “My friends were like, ‘Come [to New York]! We’re gonna have a fun summer.’ And then I met Pete, and it was an amazing distraction. It was frivolous and fun and insane and highly unrealistic, and I loved him, and I didn’t know him.” She also released a new video.
-In her Cosmopolitan cover story, Mariah Carey talks about getting married to music executive Tommy Mottola when she was 23 and he was 44. “You might want to picture a child bride. There was a conscious effort to keep me as this all-American, whatever that means, girl. It was very controlled. There was no freedom for me as a human being. It was almost like being a prisoner.”
–Serena Williams‘ cheeky Harper’s Bazaar cover photo is amazing – and unretouched!
-The September edition of Vogue is a very big deal — and Meghan Markle is set to guest edit the British version.
–Katherine McPhee and David Foster‘s wedding got a Vogue spread. Huh. I would have bet on People magazine.
–Evan Rachel Wood thinks Chief Hopper on Stranger Things is a problematic TV love interest. I mean, sure he was really grumpy this last season, but out of all the morally questionable dudes on TV right now, this seems like a strange target.
-I love this clip of Winona Ryderrefusing to listen to David Harbour make fun of his size.
–Kristen Bell says she will keep making Veronica Mars as long as they let her. And we’ll keep watching it!
-It took a while, but Nicki Minaj eventually decided to cancel her concert in Saudi Arabia following backlash.
–Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul debuted their tequila collab and everyone’s like “cool but what about Breaking Bad tho?”
-Netflix just took another big (but expected) hit: Friends is officially leaving Netflix and moving to WarnerMedia’s streaming service — the terribly named HBO Max. As the TV critic for the New York Times tweeted: “The fact that the biggest story in TV over the next year will be a competition among the decades-old sitcom reruns on streaming TV services really sums up something about pop culture right now.”
-I’m pretty over the Disney remakes, but good on them for not making the new Mulan movie a shot-for-shot remake, and for dropping the original’s problematic characters and songs.
-For the 2018 Power of Women issue, Variety profiled five women—Emma Gonzalez, Lena Waithe, Tiffany Haddish, Natalie Portman, and Regina King—about how they’re using their power for good.
-This entire Tiffany Haddish interview is excellent but I really like her take on why women should speak to each other more openly about salaries and perks. “I think the reason why, a lot times, we don’t get paid the same as men do is because we don’t talk about it. I think we do need to talk about it because I sure get in there and I’m like, ‘Hey, Kate Hudson. How much do they pay you for that? What kind of perks do you get for that?’ I didn’t know they could fill your room up with whatever kind of food you want. That’s why I done gained so much weight, because she told me about all the food you can get. I’m like, you can bring me some tacos and I want an In-N-Out burger.”
-This weekend, Taylor Swift broke her usual stance about not mentioning politics and endorsed two Democratic candidates in Tennessee — and it looks like it may have made a huge impact. Following her Instagram post, Vote.org experienced their second biggest traffic spike, and in the first 48 hours since her post, the site had 240,ooo new voter registrants. Tennessee has seen 5,183 registrations this month so far, half of which came after her post. To put that into perspective, Tennessee saw only 2,811 registrations in the entire month of September.
-Congrats to Suits star Patrick Adams and Pretty Little Liars star Troian Bellisario, who welcomed a baby girl.
–Dakota Johnson is fighting a lot of rumours this week. She and Chris Martin hosted a party that happened to have some pink and blue balloons, and everyone assumed (incorrectly) that it was a gender reveal party. She’s also fighting rumours that she’s in a secret affair with Jamie Dornan. (Anyone with eyeballs just has to watch an interview with those two to dispel that one…)
-Stranger Things David Harbour will officiate a wedding in full Hellboy costume for 666k re-tweets. (I kinda like this game where he does ridiculous things for retweets, though I’m getting a little nervous about how far he’s going to take it.)
-A passage that leaked from Busy Philipps’ forthcoming memoir details an alleged assault by James Francoon the set of Freaks and Geeks. The script called for her character to gently nudge him in the chest. Philipps writes that the scripted gesture caused Franco to get so upset, he allegedly “grabbed both my arms and screamed in my face, ‘DON’T EVER TOUCH ME AGAIN!’ And he threw me to the ground. Flat on my back. Wind knocked out of me.” Her costar Linda Cardellini suggested that Philipps report what happened to her manager.
-Next year’s MET Gala will be co-chairedby Lady Gaga, Serena Williams and Harry Styles.
-I liked this piece questioning whether Lady Gaga‘s character “sells out” in A Star Is Born. I dug the movie, but it was very weird how it leaned so heavily into a 2004-ish debate about how rock auteurs are so much more authentic than pop stars. I’m kind of surprised Gaga didn’t push back on that.
-Reflecting on her 20s, Gwyneth Paltrow recalls being so naïve and arrogant, her own father once warned her, “You’re acting like a dick.”
–Rupert Everett might actually be my spirit animal. In a red carpet interview he said: “I’d like to be dead quite soon. I can’t really deal with the modern world, to be quite honest. I’m very anti-virtual. I do [have an email address] unfortunately. I’m always thinking of stopping it.”
-Apparently there’s always been a lot of sexy subtext in the Venom comics, but the fact that critics are calling the film a “rom-com” and the internet is now shippingTom Hardy‘s character with the parasite who lives within him actually makes me want to see this thing!
–Helena Bonham Cartertalked about working with Harvey Weinstein: “He knew how to get you Oscar nominations. Both my [Oscar] nominations are due to him… [But] I found the way he treated certain people chilling—without any kind of respect. There were many times I disagreed with the way he behaved, and I don’t mean sexually.”
-The 11th season of Doctor Who, which stars Jodie Whittaker as the first woman to play the title role and got rave reviews, grew from last season’s premiere in ratings, while The Walking Dead suffered a new premiere ratings low. It’s like the universe is righting itself…
-Here’s our first look at Ruby Rose’s Batwomanlook in the Arrowverse. It’s a great costume, which is atypical for the CW. But it’s a terrible wig, which is very typical for the CW.
-EgyptAir is shifting blame for that terrible Drew Barrymore interview to an ad agency. Sure.
–Kanye West is set to meet with Trump and Jared Kushner at the White House on Thursday to discuss prison reform and reducing the violence in Chicago. Oh, problems solved then!
-Aw man, I clearly have to renew my Amazon Prime membership, because the trailer for Good Omens starring Michael Sheen and David Tennant looks great.
–Sarah Jessica Parker, Renée Zellweger and Jacqueline Bisset star in the Here and Now trailer.
–Amandla Stenberg (who’s promoting both The Hate U Give and Where Hands Touch) covers the Oct issue of Seventeen. I did not love WHT at TIFF but I was so very impressed by how articulate and thoughtful she was during the Q&A. (Also, that pop can shirt she wears in the Seventeen photo shoot is fire!)
–Kristen Bellannounced today that a new season of Veronica Mars is officially a go at Hulu. The eight-episode seasonwill stream in 2019, and all of the past episodes and the movie will also be available on Hulu. This is exactly the news I needed this week! I’m assuming a Cdn network will pick it up like the other Hulu shows.
-Creators Rob Thomas and Diane Ruggiero-Wright are both returning. Following the news, Thomas tweeted: “The movie was nostalgic. The Hulu limited series isn’t going to be. Hardcore So-Cal noir. One big case. Eight episodes to tell the story. This is a detective show.” (I seem to be one of the few who liked the movie. I know everyone complains that it was too much fan service but I’m a fan who likes to be serviced! Err, wait…)
-This is nice: Wilmer Valderrama has reportedly been a “constant presence” at ex-girlfriend Demi Lovato‘s side since her overdose.
–Chris Evans just signed on to a limited series on Apple. They keep collecting stars but not actually telling us how/where we’re supposed to watch these shows.
–Chloe Dykstra says she contemplated suicide because of Chris Hardwick-supporting harassers. “When I found out he had gotten his jobs back, I was actually relieved because I knew [the online harassment] wasn’t going to stop until he was reinstated.”
-This profile of Chevy Chase, who talks about how he’s sober and wants to work but no one wants him anymore, could double as a PSA on the importance of not treating others terribly during your entire career.
–Drake is suing a woman who he claims falsely made pegnancy and assault allegations.
-That Slate piece about how Serena Williams and Alexis Ohanian are good at “performing their relationship” is getting a lot of flack — deservedly. I’m not linking to it ’cause it’s gross. Just let the woman live.
-AMC has cancelled Dietlandafter just one season. It was a show that started with so much promise and then just kind of … fizzled.
-Speaking of shows ending, HBO’s The Deuce will come to a close with a third and final season order. This makes sense to me. The new season just started and despite the huge stars and critical love, the buzz has been crickets.
-The Hollywood Reporter released its 100 most powerful people in entertainment list. Not a lot of big surprises, but I like that Ronan Farrow and Tiffany Haddish made their list debuts.
-A series about Marvel’s female heroes is in the works at ABC, written by the Wonder Woman writer. Please, please, please let it include Agent Carter!
–Prince Andrew reportedly wanted the BBC to air Princess Eugenie’s upcoming wedding and they said no because they assumed it would be a ratings flop.
-The butt hurt dudes on Twitter who think Brie Larsonshould smile more in the Captain Marvel trailer need to re-prioritize their entire lives.
-A bunch of famous women, including Julianne Moore, Eva Longoria, America Ferrera, Gabrielle Union and Amber Tamblyn, appear in a video to stand in support of Brett Kavanaugh accuser Dr. Christine Blasey Ford.
–Cary Fukunaga will direct the 25th Bond film, taking over from Danny Boyle, who left the project after reported creative clashes. He’s mostly a TV guy, having directed True Detective season one, and the new Netflix show Maniac.
-The Serial podcast is back with a new seasonand a very different subject topic.
-This Is Us creator Dan Fogelman hit back at “white male movie critics” who are slamming Life Itself. I saw it at TIFF and I slammed it, and I’m not a white male movie critic. I’m just a person with eyeballs.
–LCD Soundsystem‘s new “Oh Baby” video was directed by Rian Johnson and stars Sissy Spacek and David Strathairn.
–Paul Feig did a really great interview with The Independent, in which he talked about wanting to write better female comedic parts (“I got tired of seeing how women were being portrayed in movies. It just got so bad, especially in comedies. They’re props basically”), and his dislike of the term ‘strong female characters’ (“It feels two-dimensional. I like women who are strong and weak and funny and vulnerable and scared”). Yeah, he can stay.
