Modern-day cup initially mistaken for a Starbucks mug makes appearance in feast scene, provoking hilarity and anger
It’s a faux-medieval fantasy world of magic, dragons and heroic warriors … and possibly at least one coffee shop.
Fans of Game of Thrones have been reacting with bemusement and anger after a coffee cup from present-day Earth made an erroneous appearance in one of the latest episodes of the TV juggernaut, which has returned for its final season.
Continue reading...Sandler’s return after 23 years exceeded most expectations, a reminder that when his heart is in it, he’s a great performer
A returning Saturday Night Live initially opens with live C-SPAN coverage of Capitol Hill, but since attorney general William Barr disobeyed congressional Democrats’ and refused to give testimony last week, we cut to Celebrity Family Feud: Avengers v Game of Thrones edition.
The Marvel team is comprises “Scientologist” Thor (Alex Moffat), “swole Grimace” Thanos (Beck Bennett), Okoye (or as host Steve Harvey calls her, “Okee-Dokee”), and Groot (Leslie Jones, wearing a simple tree trunk hat and a brown long-sleeve shirt), while the Thrones faction includes an awkward Brienne of Tarth (Kate McKinnon), a high-strung Tormund Giantsbane (Mikey Day), new Maybelline cover girl Melisandre (Cecily Strong), “weird brother” Bran (Kyle Mooney), and a horny Arya Stark (Melissa Villasenior).
Continue reading...Foreign secretary’s press freedom day speech ramps up British assault on RT
Foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt will on Thursday declare the Russian government-owned TV station RT to be a “weapon of disinformation” in a speech to mark World Press Freedom Day.
The comments, to an audience in Ethiopia, mark an escalation of a British ministerial assault on the standards of the Russian broadcaster, originally known as Russia Today, which had faced repeated investigations into its output by the media regulator Ofcom.
Continue reading...Stephen Fry, Marina Abramović and Sharon Osbourne among stars describing the boycott movement as ‘an affront to both Palestinians and Israelis’
Public figures including Stephen Fry, Sharon Osbourne, Marina Abramović and pop mogul Scooter Braun have signed a letter speaking out against a proposed boycott of this year’s Eurovision song contest, which is to be held in Tel Aviv in May.
Their letter states that Eurovision’s “spirit of togetherness” across the continent is “under attack by those calling to boycott Eurovision 2019 because it is being held in Israel, subverting the spirit of the contest and turning it from a tool of unity into a weapon of division”.
Continue reading...Exclusive: broadcaster says older generations have done terrible things and should listen to young
The outrage of the students striking from school over climate change inaction is “certainly justified”, according to Sir David Attenborough, who said older generations had done terrible damage to the planet.
In an interview with the former UN climate chief Christiana Figueres, the broadcaster and naturalist dismissed critics of the widely praised global movement of school strikes as cynics.
Continue reading...The star of Hannibal, The Hunt and new film Arctic doubts frank conversation is possible in the wake of #MeToo. But is he really also sceptical about climate change?
Dogme 95, the notorious Danish DIY film movement that launched the career of – among others – Lars Von Trier, has been called a lot of things. “Revolutionary”, “amateur porn”, “shit” (the last one yelled by the critic Mark Kermode at a Cannes screening of Von Trier’s The Idiots). With its 10-point manifesto targeting “decadent film-making”, wobbly-cam aesthetic and tendency towards nudity, violence and cruelty, it has inspired rapture and revulsion in equal measure. Though not everyone, it seems, had such a visceral reaction.
“To be frank, I just thought it was silly,” says Mads Mikkelsen. “Sitting down and writing down 10 commandments of how to approach film-making? ‘The story is important’ – no shit, Sherlock! Seriously? Do you have to write that down? Was it not important before you wrote it down? All these things were common fucking sense to me.
Continue reading...Rai’s proposals to show different content to men and women condemned as sexist
Italian state broadcaster Rai has sparked fury over a proposal to create separate male and female TV channels.
A reorganisation of some of the company’s channels as part of its strategic plan could result in one airing shows and films geared more towards men, and one aimed at women.
Continue reading...From ‘the cloud’ to invisible beams carrying billions of dollars, our world can often feel like a neverland of terrifying tech. A new radio series is here to help
A couple of years ago, I took a bike ride from Slough, heading east – right through London and out the other side to Basildon. I was looking for two important but hidden locations: a data centre belonging to the London Stock Exchange, and another belonging to the New York Stock Exchange. To find them, I followed the line of microwave dishes that connect them – some perched on pylons, others on water towers or tall buildings. These beams of data carry millions of high-frequency financial transactions – and thus billions of pounds – through the air, above our heads, completely invisibly.
Near Heathrow airport, I looked up to see the microwaves passing through two huge dishes atop Hillingdon hospital, a pioneering 1960s centre now suffering – like much of the NHS – from a shortfall in funding. For a rent of a few thousand pounds a year, the machinery of private finance perches on the crumbling infrastructure of the welfare state: all that money, flowing invisibly just a few metres above the patients inside. This is how a difference in visibility translates into a difference in power: those who can see, can understand – and thus shape the world to their advantage.
Continue reading...Full six minutes cut from premiere show of final season that was streamed online
While Game of Thrones fans worldwide were watching the premiere of the latest season on Monday, Chinese fans were disappointed by a censored version that streamed online in the country.
The fantasy epic on HBO is famed for its explicit content and bloody battle scenes, both known to draw the ire of China’s censors.
Continue reading...The premiere was almost enough to warm your heart – if winter hadn’t come with such a vengeance that the chill seemed to reach through the screen
Warning: this review contains spoilers.
At one point in the long-awaited, much-hyped premiere of the eighth and final season of Game of Thrones, Tyrion, Varys and Davos look down from a Winterfell gangway on the recently-arrived Jon Snow and Daenerys Targaryen, and let their imaginations run riot. What if, Davos wonders, the Seven Kingdoms could be ruled by a just woman and an honourable man, “for once in their shit history.”
Continue reading...Show under tight security as 30 million people prepare to tune in to see who lives and who dies
Television’s biggest show returned with a bang last night as Belfast’s Waterfront Hall staged the star-studded premiere of the final season of Game of Thrones, described by its producers as a “homecoming”.
Nor were they the only ones to feel that way. “It’s hard to describe all the emotions I feel about being here,” said Kit Harington, who plays Jon Snow. “It’s the place where I spent most of my 20s, where I made some of my closest friends and where I met my wife [he is married to Rose Leslie, who played Ygritte]. It would be doing my time here a disservice if I didn’t reflect on it and give in to the emotions I feel.”
Continue reading...Academics and fans say groundbreaking fantasy series has paved way for future shows
It brought us dragons, a red wedding, nudity and sudden death. The final season begins on Monday, but Game of Thrones and its memorable scenes will have a lasting impact on the broader TV landscape, according to industry experts and fans.
Related: Tyrion, Daenerys ... Hot Pie? The greatest Game of Thrones characters
Continue reading...For Dubrovnik, doubling as King’s Landing in Game of Thrones is a mixed blessing. Stardom has been a boon for business – but has also sparked an inundation of visitors to a city already struggling with overcrowding
Continue reading...The saga of the Seven Kingdoms may be bowing out, but it has opened the floodgates. Here’s your guide to the next big heroes
Rand al’Thor was found as a baby on the slopes of Dragonmount and taken to Two Rivers, where he grew into a broad-shouldered shepherd boy. But Rand is possessed of immense power, a power as yet untapped, for he is also The Dragon Reborn, destined to be hunted by Darkhounds and Darkfriends as he bids to prove himself a mighty warrior leader. Among other things, Rand’s existence shows that you should always believe ancient prophesies, that even the low-born can save the world – and that characters in TV fantasy series must always have two names.
Rand is just one of the 2,782 characters who appear in Wheel of Time, the bestselling saga of fantasy novels by Robert Jordan. We can only hope the forthcoming adaptation on Amazon will hone the cast down a little, as we follow Rand and his forces towards Tarmon Gai’don, or the final battle between good and evil.
Continue reading...Prosecutors have agreed to drop criminal charges against the Empire actor Jussie Smollett for apparently faking a hate crime attack in Chicago, drawing claims from mayor Rahm Emanuel of a “whitewash of justice”.
Smollett was earlier this year charged with 16 counts of felony disorderly conduct for allegedly hiring two men to stage a racist, homophobic attack against him in downtown Chicago.
Continue reading...The quirky home features dinosaurs and a sign proclaiming ‘Yabba-dabba-doo’, but neighbors aren’t amused
California architecture has captured the world’s imagination with its classic midcentury bungalows and beach houses. But one architectural landmark in the state has gone a distinctively different route, and it’s not to the town’s liking.
The “Flintstones” home in northern California appears to take its architectural cues from the town of Bedrock. The experimental house was built in the 1970s using a technique that involved spraying concrete to create curved walls. The result is a building where Fred and Wilma would feel at home, and it has become a landmark for drivers passing on I-280.
Continue reading...Child abuse allegations in Leaving Neverland prompt cartoon’s makers to act
An episode of The Simpsons featuring Michael Jackson’s voice has been pulled by its producers after a powerful documentary accused the star of sexually abusing two men when they were children.
The HBO documentary Leaving Neverland, which was shown on Channel 4 this week, featured James Safechuck and Wade Robson who claimed they were sexually abused by Jackson.
Continue reading...Televisa’s Yeka Rosales posted videos of herself on social media wearing brown skin paint in an apparent parody of the indigenous actress
A television personality for the Mexican-based Televisa network is facing criticism for dressing up in brownface and wearing a prosthetic nose to make fun of indigenous Mexican actress Yalitza Aparicio.
Televisa’s Yeka Rosales posted photos and videos of herself on social media wearing brown skin paint in an apparent parody of Aparicio, who attended the Oscars last week after being nominated for best actress for her role in Roma.
The stunt, designed to promote Televisa’s season premiere of the comedy show La Parodia, highlights the racism some scholars say indigenous people in Latin America still face in the media.
Backlash comes after documentary Leaving Neverland details abuse allegations of two men against the singer
Dozens of radio stations around the world have removed Michael Jackson’s music from their playlists after allegations that the late singer abused children aired on Sunday in the documentary Leaving Neverland.
In New Zealand, the public broadcaster and its major commercial rivals – whose listener base covers more than half the population – united in opting not to play Jackson’s hits.
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