Reality TV star and musician ‘blessed beyond measure’ with arrival of baby boy
Kim Kardashian West and her husband, the musician Kanye West, have named their new child Psalm after its recent birth via surrogate.
Kardashian West posted a picture of the boy on social media with the caption “Psalm West”.
Continue reading...Tarantino’s epic is the big draw at Cannes. But there are other Manson movies around – including one about what ultimately happened to the young women who fell under the murderer’s spell
Over the last half century, one villain has loomed large over Hollywood. The gruesome murders committed by Charles Manson and his followers in the summer of 1969 have filled countless films and documentaries about stardom and the debaucheries of the 1960s. But his malign influence extends far beyond the screen. Aside from murdering eight people, Manson and his disciples – the Family – have been blamed for wiping out the counterculture, free love, communes and hippies.
Three new films are making fresh attempts to reckon with “the symbol of animalism and evil”, as Rolling Stone magazine called him. The biggest is Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, about to premiere at the Cannes film festival. Set in Los Angeles during the Manson era, the film stars Leonardo DiCaprio as a fading TV western star and Brad Pitt as his stunt double, both attempting to make the leap to the big screen. Margot Robbie plays Sharon Tate – the actor and wife of director Roman Polanski – who was brutally murdered by the Family. Manson, a background figure in the film, is played by Damon Herriman.
Continue reading...Actor shot to fame in the 1960s playing a hippie undercover cop and returning to television with David Lynch’s cult series
Peggy Lipton, a star of the groundbreaking late 1960s TV show The Mod Squad and the 1990s show Twin Peaks, has died of cancer aged 72.
Lipton died surrounded by her family, her daughters, Rashida and Kidada Jones, said in a statement.
Continue reading...The actor Alyssa Milano ignited a social media storm with a call for women to join her in a sex strike, to protest against strict abortion laws passed by Republican-controlled state legislatures.
Related: Abortion: judge strikes down Kentucky restriction but governor to appeal
Continue reading...The death of the SNL star 30 years ago robbed the industry of one its finest voices – but not before she had blazed a trail for women such as Tina Fey to follow
There is no shortage of excellent critical writing about the US comedy scene in the 80s, and Nick de Semlyen’s Wild and Crazy Guys, which is published in the UK next month, is a terrific contribution to the genre. De Semlyen frames his book by telling the stories of the men who forged that world, most of whom – including Chevy Chase, John Belushi, Bill Murray, Eddie Murphy and Dan Aykroyd – emerged from the comedy training ground of Saturday Night Live. But what De Semlyen’s book also shows is that this scene was dominated by men. Yet that wasn’t supposed to be the case.
This month is the 30th anniversary of the death of Gilda Radner, one of the original cast members of SNL, alongside Chase, Belushi, Aykroyd and others. Although she is comparatively little known today outside comedy circles, back then she was widely assumed to be the future megastar of that group. With her sharp parodies of celebrities and her skill at satirising her own femininity and neuroses, she set the mould for modern female comedians. Without Radner, it is hard to imagine the existence of many of the most beloved comic characters of the past 30 years, from Elaine Benes in Seinfeld to Liz Lemon in 30 Rock.
Continue reading...Protests expected at song contest over country’s treatment of Palestinians
Israel has said it will block activists who plan to disrupt the Eurovision Song Contest from entering the country, as anxiety mounts that the event, watched by a global TV audience, will become a focus for protests against the country’s treatment of the Palestinians.
The world’s longest-running televised song competition will take place on 14-18 May in the coastal city of Tel Aviv. Contestants have begun to arrive, stage lights have been hung and fresh grass has been laid for a massive party on the seafront.
Continue reading...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
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