Rock Hudson lived a double life as a Hollywood heartthrob and a closeted gay man. He was a leading man in the 50’s and 60s, known as “The Beefcake.” Off screen, in his public life, he had to play the part of a heterosexual—or else his career would have been ruined. Biographer Mark Griffin says Hudson’s death from AIDS in 1985 was a turning point in public awareness of the epidemic. “Ironically, he was suddenly the hero of thousands of gay men,” Griffin says.
For her 1989 album “Rhythm Nation 1814,” Janet Jackson drew on an already established idea: the dance-based utopia. Lyrically, she was exploring the idea that the right rhythm can intoxicate and control us, and, eventually, unite us as living, breathing, flesh-and-bone humans. The album’s accompanying 30 minute longform music video did just that, with a chair routine that would be imitated for years after.
Those wedding dresses weren’t that good in the first place and they weren’t anything special at all. I could find the same type of dress at a David’s Bridal down the street from where I live. It just shows once again Meghan has no weight when it comes to brand appeal. I mean it’s a royal wedding dress, that should boost the sales through the roof not hurt them. Maybe she should have put some more effort into the dress and came up with a more original design like previous royal brides and people would actually want to copy the style. Doesn’t suprise me she got hit with the “Markle-effect” lmao.
I tell the story about J.J. (Abrams) in the first film when I’d run on the deck of the ship and say something to the blue screen about something. And I had no idea what I was talking about. And I said to J.J. “I’d love to do it with more time, cause I don’t know what I’m saying. If you could tell me what I’m saying, it would be a great help.” And he said “It doesn’t matter. You just run on, you say it as fast and earnestly and urgently as possible, and no one is gonna care.”
[Adam]… he’s a beast. That means he’s good. That means… let’s—let’s not get it twisted. You know, different words mean different things in different places, so. And the thing about Adam is his range. I have mad respect for everybody. But some people (holds both of his hands close together), other people (spreads his arms out). Adam’s like, “My arms are wide enough!” – Spike Lee
Billionaire filmmaker Howard Hughes has long been regarded as one of Hollywood’s most eccentric and prolific playboys. A few years back, writer and film critic Karina Longworth stumbled onto an online message board, listing women Hughes had had sexual relationships with – just a list of names, no other information.
“In each of these names there’s a whole life and a whole story,” says Longworth, who hosts the film podcast You Must Remember This.
Longworth’s new book, Seduction: Sex, Lies and Stardom in Howard Hughes’s Hollywood, tells a story of big-screen exploitation by focusing on 10 women who had relationships with Hughes.
In some instances, Longworth says, Hughes “was getting studio contracts for women based on a sexual relationship they had already had or the promise of a sexual relationship to come.”
Longworth sees a direct link between Hughes’ behavior and the issues raised by the #MeToo movement.
“The thing that I’ve come to understand from studying the 20th century of Hollywood is that these things have always happened and they were never talked about publicly,” she says. “Just the fact that we’re having a conversation is completely revolutionary.”
Yup. That was my thinking too…until Houseplant pointed out that she worked for Madonna. And she worked for Julia Roberts too. Both of those celebrities have huge egos, particularly at the point in times when Melissa worked for them. Madonna is a workaholic with a practical streak, but she does have an ego.
I want Melissa to dish all the dirt from the tour. Like, what happened in Fiji with that 6-minute market trip?!
We reported a few weeks ago that some of the more old school members of the Royal household didn’t know what to make of the new Duchess of Sussex, so invented the nickname “Meghan The Menace”.
Their eyebrows have been raised further with Ms Markle’s choice of personal aide. Not a tried and trusted Royal adviser or an experienced aristo to help her navigate the choppy waters of royal etiquette, but someone from the celebrity world, whose biggest previous job was working for Madonna.
Buckingham Palace staff are already dining out on a tale of how Meghan’s new girl was calling up big brands and asking for freebies, as if her boss was in the cast of Love Island rather than married to the Queen’s grandson.
(Credit to an anonymous poster who made the Melissa Crow connection)
According to IMDB, Melissa Crow/Crowe not only was personal assistant to Madonna during her heyday but also personal assistant to Julia Roberts for three movies. That is a very experienced personal assistant to have since those aren’t lightweight celebrities.
I’m going to have to duck back into hiatus because my dead-in-the-water project is now alive and kicking (Yaaaaaassssss!), but I’m loving all this gossip right now.
I’m amazed that after all the crap this woman has pulled the one thing that gets her a slap in the wrist (in the form of courtiers talking to the press) is mistreatment of staff. Wow. Good for them.
What blows my mind is that this wasn’t some delicate aristo English rose having the vapors because Megs raised her voice. This was Madonna’s PA, someone who is used to divas and she was going to sue. Meghan must be hell on wheels if she’s out-diva-ing Madge. The leaks and blinds aren’t even calling her a diva. They’re flat-out calling her an abuser and whatever happened was so bad that the brf felt compelled to flatter the aide publicly.
We reported a few weeks ago that some of the more old school members of the Royal household didn’t know what to make of the new Duchess of Sussex, so invented the nickname “Meghan The Menace”.
Their eyebrows have been raised further with Ms Markle’s choice of personal aide. Not a tried and trusted Royal adviser or an experienced aristo to help her navigate the choppy waters of royal etiquette, but someone from the celebrity world, whose biggest previous job was working for Madonna.
Buckingham Palace staff are already dining out on a tale of how Meghan’s new girl was calling up big brands and asking for freebies, as if her boss was in the cast of Love Island rather than married to the Queen’s grandson.
There’s certainly a double standard because no one would talk about it if it were a woman, and I would say… Why? Because are women expected to do it and men aren’t? And why aren’t men expected to do it, and why haven’t men done it before? Does it show vulnerability? Does it exhibit this vestigial, kind of puritanical shame over the human body and human intimacy? Yet violence and self-flagellation, self-hurt, hurting one another, we can do, because that’s what we’ve been taught culturally is okay? I don’t know, but it certainly seems to be an odd thing.
MM is a copy of What Kate Wore and the other Kate fashion blogs. The owner also runs a Kate blog and she had interviewed Meghan as part of a blog business meet up or something like that. There’s a screenshot of an FB post she posted about it two or three years ago (sorry, I don’t have it, but maybe one of the other blogs does). As soon as the relationship with PH came out they “had a feeling that it was serious” and poured money into a new blog. Meghan had a “meeting with lawyers” around that time. Make of that what you will.
Everyone thinks they get their info from Jess. They are now saying that they get their info from Hello! Canada and I don’t think they realize that everyone knows that’s Jess. No one knows what the deal really is. It’s ridiculous and pitiful, but it is what it is.
KP has repeatedly said that they do not accept freebies or loaners. People have long suspected that they do get discounts. As far as I can tell, there is no law or rule applying to this. It seems to be just “protocol.” That likely means that Meghan and Harry are paying as much attention to it as they pay to the other “protocols.”
I used to get really excited about the merching, but now I’m all “LOLOL, nothing matters.” They did a car ad on their wedding day! Harry’s merching Givenchy and Club Monaco!! Their entire freaking existence is a big Soho House sponsorship!!!!!!!
These two tacky sunglasses-selling famewhoring rent-a-royals aren’t going to be reprimanded by anyone. All we can do is sit back, enjoy the show, and wait for the inevitable taxpayer-funded Transitions lenses ad to appear.
I’m legit dying of second hand embarrassment now. “Shop our Royal collection and be the ROYAL that YOU are.” Jess issuing to put out a “royal” collection too, isn’t she? Probably “Duchess” short shorts and official princess lip fillers.
“Word that three powerful Hollywood Executives had come to see Ashman rippled through the ward. Ashman laid in bed, blind and frail. Geffen knelt by the bed and held Ashman’s hand. ‘You’re going to recover,’ he said. ‘This is going to be cured. A miracle will happen. You bave to believe, just as you have inspired so many to believe in magical things. You must never give up. And I want you to know that you are surrounded by people that love you. They couldn’t be sure that Ashman could hear or understood the words, but his eyes filled with tears. A week later, Ashman died. He never saw the finished print of Beauty and the Beast.”
– James B. Stewart, Disney War, on composer Howard Ashman’s death by AIDS. Ashman composed, with Alan Menken, the music for The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, and Aladdin.
Not long ago, Daniel Radcliffe arrived at the offices of this magazine, wearing a maroon cap and a green jacket and clutching a latte. He had come to try his own hand at fact-checking, with the help of The New Yorker’s fact-checking department. Radcliffe had a few things to verify himself. Passing a wall displaying recent New Yorker covers, he said, “That makes me feel a lot better about our play. We’ve talked about whether an editor would have loads of covers in their office. I’m going to go back and say, ‘Yes.’ ”
“The double agent for the patriarchy is basically just a woman who perhaps unknowingly is still putting the patriarchal narrative out into the world. Is still benefitting off, profiting off and selling a patriarchal narrative to other women. But it’s a wolf in sheep’s clothing. You know, just because you look like a woman, we trust you and we think you’re on our side, but you are selling us something that really doesn’t make us feel good. You’re selling us an ideal, a body shape, a problem with our wrinkles, a problem with ageing, a problem with gravity, a problem with any kind of body fat. You’re selling us self-consciousness. The same poison that made you clearly develop some sort of body dysmorphia or facial dysmorphia, you are now pouring back into the world. You’re like recycling hatred. I find that really dangerous and I think it’s unacceptable and I don’t care if you’re a woman. I think constructive criticism is needed for anyone to ever evolve. For our gender to evolve we need some sort of constructive criticism. As long as we do it in a somewhat careful way. (…) So many of the worst things in the world have happened motivated by greed. And I just don’t think that’s an acceptable excuse anymore. How much money do you need? Really how much money do you need? How much money do any of these huge influencers who are worth millions or billions sometimes… why are they still promoting appetite-suppressant lollipops to young girls? And it’s not a fight against obesity. They have young, already slim girls, in their adverts for Flat Tummy company, this company that are absolutely everywhere, and they’re even being advertised in some of the most mainstream magazines, women’s magazines, and they have a billboard in Times Square. The money is built on the blood and tears of young women who believe in them, who follow them, who look up to them like the big sister they never had. It’s so upsetting and it feels like such a betrayal against women.”
This is a more eloquent version of the kind of thing I meant when I said yesterday that a choice isn’t feminist automatically because it’s made freely by a woman.
“Hi, Justin. I’m Dan, at The New Yorker,” Radcliffe began, twiddling a red pencil. “Some of these questions are going to feel very boring and prosaic to you,” he warned. “So bear with me. First off, your surname: is that spelled B-A-Z-D-A-R-I-C-H?” (It is.) “Does the restaurant serve guacamole?” (Yes.) “In the dip itself, would it be right to say there are chilies in adobo and cilantro?” (No adobo, but yes to the cilantro.) “Is there a drink you serve there, a Paloma?” (Yes.) “And that’s pale, pink, and frothy, I believe?” (Correct.) “Is brunch at your place-which, by the way, sounds fantastic-served seven days a week?” (Yes.) “That’s great news,” Radcliffe said, “for the accuracy of this, and for me.”
House of Brat 