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Bryan Fuller Breaks Down The Homoerotic Charge of “Hannibal”

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EDIT: The article can be read at the source for now.

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Saint Lauren Conrad adopts 3rd rescue dog

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You've been warned, William Tell: There's yet another cutie sharing Lauren Conrad's heart.

The bride-to-be, 28, introduced fans to her latest furry addition on Saturday.

"Newest member of the Conrad clan stole me heart," Tell's fiancée wrote on Instagram.

Her new pup will find good company at Conrad's home: She's already a dog mom to rescues Chloe and Fitz, who are frequent muses on her Instagram.

And here's hoping this cutie will fit right in with Tell and her canine brood, whom she described as the lives of the party.

"[My dogs] get thrilled when I have people over because they get so much attention," she told PEOPLE last May. "They're the belles of the ball."



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Pet post?

Kanye West Cheating On Kim Kardashian With Pia Mia?

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Is Kanye West cheating on Kim Kardashian with Pia Mia? The 17-year-old rising star posted a photo to her Instagram saying that ‘The Other Woman’ trailer is the ‘story of [her] life.’ Pretty fishy!

Ever since Kanye West, 36, took Pia Mia under his wing, Kim Kardashian, 33, has reportedly been jealous of how closely he’s mentoring the young star. On April 24, Pia took to Instagram to claim that the trailer for The Other Woman is the “story of [her] life.” Could Kim’s reported concerns over Pia’s and Kanye’s relationship be valid?

“Kanye is producing some tracks for her and he’s quite involved. He believes she could be the next Rihanna,” a source told RadarOnline in March 2014. That’s all fine and well, and while “Kanye has made it clear to everyone that their relationship is strictly creative,” Radar’s source continued, their relationship has some people in their circles raising questions.

“Kanye called her and the conversation sounded kind of flirty and romantic. It could be that they are just good friends but it was definitely more than just a professional call.”​


However, their source added that “Kanye thinks [Pia is] young, fresh and hip — totally his target audience. He’s been consulting her on a lot of his creative projects, including the Kanye x APC collection.” It makes sense that he’d want someone young and fresh to consult, but Kim is reportedly jealous that he doesn’t ask her to consult.

So, with all this gossip flying around, Pia must have known what she was doing when she posted the Instagram photo below with the caption “@TheOtherWomanMovie trailer…story of my life. Guna be so hilarious! #OtherWoman #sp”.


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these lies

First Clip From 'The Two Faces Of January' With Oscar Isaac, Kirsten Dunst & Viggo Mortensen

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A sun-dappled backdrop against which intrigue, murder and romance play out sounds right up our alley, and certainly, the associated names with "The Two Faces of January" are impressive. It's based on a novel by Patricia Highsmith ("The Talented Mr. Ripley"), is written and directed by Hossein Amini (the guy who penned "Drive") and it features three excellent leads: Oscar Isaac, Kirsten Dunst and Viggo Mortensen. And certainly, this first clip from the film shows some promise.

The 1962-set story follows an elegant and beautiful American couple, vacationing in Greece, who get mixed up in a murder and must rely on the assistance of a shady young tour guide. The film has a great premise to work from, but does it all come together? According to our Jessica Kiang, it doesn't, writing in her review from the Berlin Film Festival that ultimately, the movie is "a slack, minor entry in the Highsmith canon." Bummer.

But as always, see for yourself when it opens later this year. Below you'll find the clip, plus a new TV spot, pics and posters. "The Two Faces of January" opens in the U.K. on May 16th. No domestic date has been set just yet.





Here for Oscar and Viggo. Kirsten can gtfo

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Shaq And Other Stars Mock Man With Rare Disorder

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Bullying and mocking peoples' looks unfortunately isn't just an activity of young kids.

Jahmel Binion of Madison Heights has discovered that. He has a rare disorder ectodermal dysplasia, a condition characterized by a reduced ability to sweat, missing teeth and abnormal hair growth, Fox 2's Randy Wimbley reports.

Binion posted a selfie on social media, Wimbley reports that, and Shaquille O'Neal, former University of Michigan athlete Trey Burke and rapper Waka Flocka Flame made fun it.

Binion told Fox 2 that he's a big fan of Shaq and was hurt by the mocking, saying he should be a role model.

The upside: Binion tells Fox 2 he has been inspired him to start an anti-bullying campaign called "Hug, Don't Judge."

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Selena Gomez wins big at the Radio Disney Music Awards!

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1 - Song of the Year

Selena Gomez was the big winner at the Radio Disney Music Awards on Saturday (April 26) at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles, walking away with Song of the Year ("Come & Get It”), Best Song To Dance To ("Birthday”) and Most Talked About Artist.
2 - Most Talked About Artist
3 - Best Song to Dance To

Other top winners at the show were One Direction (Best Music Group), Justin Timberlake (Best Male Artist), Demi Lovato (Best Female Artist), Fifth Harmony (Breakout Artist of the Year) and Becky G (Best New Artist). Fan voting began in late February through Radio Disney's Facebook, Twitter and Instagram profiles.
Performers during the show Ariana Grande, R5, Becky G, Fifth Harmony, Austin Mahone and Zendaya.
The 2014 Radio Disney Music Awards will be broadcast April 27 at 8 p.m. on the Disney Channel.
Check out the full list of winners below:
They're The One – Best Music Group
One Direction
He's The One – Best Male Artist
Justin Timberlake
She's The One – Best Female Artist
Demi Lovato
The Bestest – Song Of The Year
"Come & Get It" – Selena Gomez
XOXO – Best Crush Song
"Still Into You" – Paramore
So FANtastic – Fiercest Fans
Swifties – Taylor Swift
The Buzz – Breakout Artist of the Year
Fifth Harmony
The Freshest – Best New Artist
Becky G
Musical Mashup – Best Musical Collaboration
"Everything Has Changed" – Taylor Swift feat. Ed Sheeran
So Happy – Best Song That Makes You Smile (Sponsored by ARM & HAMMER Tooth Tunes)
"Ooh La La" – Britney Spears
#Cool – Radio Disney's Most Talked About Artist
Selena Gomez
Stuck In Our Heads – Catchiest New Song
"The Fox (What Does The Fox Say?)" – Ylvis
That's My Jam – Best Song To Rock Out To With Your BFF
"Me & My Girls" – Fifth Harmony
Soundtraxx – Favorite Song From a Movie Or TV Show
"Let It Go" – Idina Menzel ("Frozen")
Move! – Best Song To Dance To
"Birthday" – Selena Gomez
Hit The Road – Favorite Roadtrip Song (Sponsored by GEICO)
"Made In The USA" – Demi Lovato
You've Got Swag! – Artist With The Best Style (Sponsored by Justice)
Zendaya

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Here's a nice throwback to Selena killing it at last year's RDMAs
with her triple platinum smash "Come & Get It"!!!

"Captain America: TWS": The Best Superman Movie Ever?

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Captain America is only interesting if he’s a prick,” declared a recent article on Vulture.com, inspiring so many angry Marvel fan rebuttals that it probably qualified as outright click bait.

Of course, the idea of Captain America as “boring” has already been debunked by the $645 million his new movie just made at the box office. What we’re really talking about here isn’t Captain America as a character, but the way we react to blockbuster movie protagonists who aren’t morally ambiguous antiheroes.



In the 21st century, this kind of pure-hearted, optimistic hero is too often seen as childish and shallow, hence why so many people perceive Cap to be a stodgy do-gooder. The assumption is that in order to modernize an old-fashioned hero into a “serious” character, he needs to get darker. In other words, the infamous gritty reboot.

No matter how much time the Captain America films spend on real-world topics like PTSD and surveillance culture, in many people’s eyes they will never be truly respectable until the lead character starts acting like an asshole.

Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy is the ultimate example of the gritty superhero reboot. By hiring a respected director of psychological thrillers, Warner Brothers made it very clear that they were steering clear of the cartoonishness that drove the Batman franchise into the ground with the widely derided Batman & Robin. But despite Nolan’s lack of affection for the cheesier aspects of the superhero genre, the Dark Knight trilogy is really no less comic book-ish than its more brightly colored counterparts.

Nolan’s Batmobile might be a military all-terrain vehicle instead of a sports car with fins, but that doesn’t make the Joker or the Scarecrow any more plausible as real-world villains. All three Dark Knight movies still require the same suspension of disbelief as any other movie about a guy who fights crime in an ankle-length cape and bat mask. However, with their storylines focusing on police corruption and urban terrorism, they were seen as being far more “serious” than other superhero movies, and therefore, they must be better. Critics agreed that finally, here were some superhero movies that non-geeky, non-frivolous adults could enjoy.

This false connection between gritty realism and literary quality is a common theme in the way we interpret popular fiction, but it’s particularly noticeable in the superhero genre, where “realism” is always going to be a matter of opinion.

Even Superman, a character who is literally powered by sunlight, is now far darker than before -- with rather dubious results. In Man of Steel this is immediately established with his costume, which was toned down to duller shades of red and blue (presumably because serious superheroes don’t wear bright colors). This kind of visual cue goes hand in hand with storylines where heroes have to get closer to their more metaphorical dark side, which in Superman’s case manifested itself with him snapping his opponent’s neck during the film’s final showdown.

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At the moment, this divide between gritty darkness and optimistic heroism coincides pretty neatly with the divide between the big-name DC and Marvel superhero adaptations.

To quote Craig Ferguson’s comments on another sci-fi megafranchise, Marvel Studios movies are all about “The triumph of intellect and romance over brute force and cynicism.” Right now, DC adaptations are more about the triumph of brute force and cynicism over brute force and cynicism. Which is fine for Batman (he’s nicknamed the Dark Knight for a reason, after all) but less so for Superman.

Warner Brothers’ decision to go the Christopher Nolan route with Man of Steel made sense on a business level, since the Dark Knight trilogy was a huge box office success and managed to earn the respect of the most grudging of film critics. However, from a characterization standpoint, Nolanizing Superman couldn’t have been a worse idea.

The reason why Batman and Superman have remained popular for decades is because they don’t overlap. As complete opposites in theme and tone, they aren’t really competing. But Zack Snyder and Christopher Nolan wanted to make Superman a more mature and respectable hero, and they did it in the only way they knew how: by making him into a darker and more serious character, and therefore edging him dangerously close to territory that was already covered by the consistently violent and angst-ridden Batman.

Of course, the success of Captain America: The Winter Soldier has just proven that this strategy wasn’t really necessary. While Superman is often described as being an old-fashioned hero, Captain America was literally born during the Great Depression. Instead of rebooting him to be a more morally ambiguous character, Marvel kept him as wholesome, loyal, and old-school heroic as ever, and dropped him into a situation where he could lead a cast of 21st century characters who had spent too long in the shadows.

At the most basic level, a “dark” or “gritty” narrative is about putting the hero in a place where they have to make a difficult choice. In the recent Batman and Superman movies, that “hard choice” has generally been to do something bad, which is then interpreted as being more mature and realistic because real life is about compromise. Meanwhile in Marvel Studios movies, the opposite is almost always the case.

Tony Stark realizes the impact of being a weapons manufacturer, and faces up to the consequences. Thor only regains his powers after performing an act of pure self-sacrifice. Captain America spurs on a Snowden-esque leak that trusts the public to pass judgement on corruption within his own intelligence agency -- the polar opposite of Bruce Wayne’s attitude toward civilians in The Dark Knight Rises, in which the citizens of Gotham are infantilized to the point of being completely helpless until Batman shows up to save the day. In fact, the surveillance system Bruce Wayne uses to search for criminals in Gotham City is not so very different from the one Captain America just destroyed in The Winter Soldier.

This Marvel/DC division is even more evident when you compare the final battle scenes in Avengers and Man of Steel. Both involve an alien attack on a U.S. city, but Superman and the Avengers react in very different ways. Superman spends 20 minutes beating Zod to a pulp and razing various skyscrapers in the process, culminating in the infamous scene where he snaps Zod’s neck. The Avengers, on the other hand, prioritize civilian survival above the ultimate goal of defeating Loki, with half the battle focusing on getting pedestrians to safety and restricting the battle to a few city blocks. Both scenes involve making a difficult moral and tactical choice in the heat of battle, but Superman goes for the “dark” option while the Avengers focus on minimizing civilian casualties.

avengers

Somewhere along the line, someone decided that superheroes would only be popular with modern audiences if they were “cool.” Batman and Iron Man aren’t really an issue because they’re both basically James Bond: automatically cool. The problem is, Superman and Captain America are never going to be like that. They’re both total dorks.

Sure, the concept of Superman is awesome, but Clark Kent is the kind of person who makes dad jokes, helps little old ladies across the road, and unironically states that his favorite food is apple pie. The same goes for Steve Rogers. Their purpose isn’t to be John McClane or Jason Bourne, it’s to be inspirational heroes, in the original and most mythic sense of the word. And decades of bestselling comics suggest that there’s no need to mess with this winning formula.

In many ways, it’s possible to interpret Captain America: The Winter Soldier as Marvel’s F.U. to Man of Steel. There’s even a scene where Steve Rogers goes undercover in what looks suspiciously like Clark Kent’s glasses.

The movie actually begins with a scene that seems very much like Captain America by way of Christopher Nolan or Zack Snyder. Dressed in a somber, navy blue version of his usual costume, Cap leads a special ops unit on a mission to infiltrate a ship in the Indian Ocean, only to discover that one of his teammates has received another, secret set of orders. Moral ambiguity and “realistic” action thriller themes all round. But as the movie progresses, we see Cap purposefully transition away from this clandestine, shades-of-grey method of fighting the bad guys.

In a story where the biggest question is “Who can we trust?” this movie gives us the same answer time and time again: You can trust Captain America.

Winter Soldier’s final battle scene begins with Cap donning his old red, white, and blue costume so he can tell who his enemies really are (“The bad guys will be the ones shooting at us.”) and asking an army of government agents to abandon their posts because their commanding officers can’t be trusted. He puts his trust in everyday citizens to make the right choices for themselves and their country, and help him fight back against the evil that has grown in their midst.

In an indirect mirror image of Superman’s decision to kill Zod in Man of Steel, Captain America’s final battle ends with him refusing to kill the Winter Soldier, and resigning himself to death. Both are written as traumatizing events with great emotional and moral impact, but from a heroic character development perspective, they put Superman and Captain America in very different camps.

Steve Rogers and Clark Kent aren’t direct analogues for one another, but they do have one fundamental thing in common: they are good. They are both incredibly wholesome and moral, above all other things. Even Spider-Man is “darker” than Superman, because his origin story centers around Peter Parker’s guilt over failing to save his uncle’s life. Interestingly, Man of Steel inserted a similar backstory scene for Jonathan Kent, a classic manpain moment that seemed oddly unnecessary considering the fact that Clark had already been orphaned once already.

The first rule of storytelling is that you always need to include some kind of conflict to keep things interesting. The rationale behind a gritty reboot of Superman is that there’s just not enough conflict in a story about someone who spends the whole time being a good person. However, this mistakes “good person” for “flawless character.”

Yes, a flawless character who wins all the time is an incredibly dull story, but neither Steve Rogers nor Clark Kent can be possibly be described as flawless. Not just that, but like any other superhero who has stood the test of time, both of their backstories are riddled with grief, violence, and trauma. There’s really no need to insert additional “darkness” into the characters themselves, when it already permeates the rest of their universe.

The purpose of characters like Superman and Captain America is not to succumb to that darkness and join the ever-growing horde of rage-fuelled Hollywood antiheroes, but to shine a light of hope in that darkness, and inspire others to do the same.



In an appearance on Kevin Smith’s Fat Man on Batman podcast, Marvel Entertainment’s Chief Creative Officer Joe Quesada weighed in with his thoughts on the competition’s Man Of Steel, which rebooted the Superman franchise.

When talking about how Captain America dealt with his adversary in Captain America: The Winter Soldier in comparison to Superman dealing with Zod in Man of Steel, Quesada joked, “He could have broken Bucky’s neck. I’m sorry. I had to get it in there.”

hailhydra

Quesada also added that comparison was something that someone had pointed out to him in an online article.

“As a comic book fan, I wanted to love that movie so much,” said Quesada. “I wanted to love it so much, and I didn’t love it so much. Again, there are little things here and there that you could pick at and things like that, but I just think at the end of the day, Zod was the hero of the movie to me.”

“He wanted to save his race, and Superman didn’t let him,” explained Quesada.

Quesada added, “Zod, in this particular incarnation, struck me as not necessarily an evil man, but a man of…he had a particular…he had his orders, he had a mission. He was a zealot of sorts, but he was a zealot…again, correct me if I’m wrong… but he didn’t say, ‘I want to rebuild Krypton, and then come back and destroy this little planet. All I want is to rebuild this planet. And the only reason I’m blowing everything to bits here is because you’ve got what I want, and you’re not giving it to me. So please, give me my people, and I’ll leave.”

When Kevin Smith interjected that Zod forced Superman to make a choice that it was either going to be Krypton or Earth, Quesada replied, “When Superman said Krypton had its chance, I was like, ‘Will you just f***ing kill him Zod?’”

Quesada felt that Superman was abandoning his own race in the film, and there could have been a solution where Superman could have given Zod what he wanted, so Zod could have rebuilt Krypton elsewhere. However, Smith countered that even if Superman had given Zod some of his blood that Zod would have eventually come back and wiped out Earth.

Quesada replied, “You probably could have written a way around it. You could have had a better solution if you had written a better problem. So I see things like that, and I’m like, ‘Aww, man.’ It was one of some things in the movie, that I just ended up feeling disappointed in it.”

Quesada pointed out that he didn’t get that feeling with the Batman movies and that he loved the Batman movies.

“I was in the mood to watch that Superman movie, and afterwards I was just angry,” said Quesada.



Falcon

The movie Falcon is the newest playable hero in Super Hero Squad Online, using his EXO-7 suit to rain airborne justice down on evildoers. Use S.H.I.E.L.D. Upgrades, Wingstrike and Cyclone Strike to help get the job done, and if you have trouble distinguishing the good guys from the bad guys, remember that the bad guys are probably the ones shooting at you (#MovieReference).

The current World Event can also help pump up your personal squad with a triple helping of heroes: White Phoenix, Arctic Iron Man and Armored Spider-Man. Turn in those fractals to Uatu (still alive, for now!), and don’t despair if you can’t top the leaderboard right away, as the event resets every four hours through Monday, April 28 at 1 pm PDT.

While you’re heroing up, you can also use the code “1THSNDXP” for a free XP boost. That should be all the reason you need to fit some Super Hero Squad Online into your Sunday schedule, so have fun!


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Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher at the Stagecoach Festival

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Mila Kunis bares her small baby bump while attending the day 1 of 2014 Stagecoach: California’s Country Music Festival held at the Empire Polo Club on Friday (April 25) in Indio, Calif.

The 30-year-old pregnant actress was accompanied by her fiance Ashton Kutcher, who held her close and tight.


During the festival, Mila and Ashton were spotted having a ball while dancing to some country music.










justjared

Wife Of L.A. Clippers Owner Donald Sterling Sues His Mistress For Millions

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Rochelle Sterling is mad as hell and she’s not going to take it any more.


Married to Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling for 50 years, Rochelle has watched him lavish millions of dollars on his new girlfriend, Vanessa Stiviano, the past few years. She wants the spending stopped and the money back.

Sterling, 81, now embroiled in a controversy over racist comment, has been openly dating Stiviano, 38, for almost four years, and his wife, according to a lawsuit she's filed against the mistress girlfriend, is simply “a married woman seeking to protect and recover community property in her individual capacity.”

According to the lawsuit, Donald Sterling has used their community funds to lavish a multiple of gifts on Stiviano, who has five aliases.

According to the Los Angeles Times, those gifts include $1.8 million for the purchase of an apartment in downtown L.A., $240,000 in living expenses, a Ferrari, two Bentleys and a Range Rover!

Stiviano has enjoyed showing off her lover’s generosity and has frequently posted photos of herself with his gifts on her Instagram account.

The March 7 lawsuit also alleges that Donald Sterling himself had asked Stiviano to return the money.

It’s unclear if that’s accurate but attorney, Mac Nehoray, told the Times that a gift cannot be revoked by the giver and that there is not “a peppercorn of a fact” that any fraud or undue influence was involved.


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Vanessa:

Cesar Millan Says That Killing the Pit Bull Breed is Genocide

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 photo shutterstock_97630682-592x458_zpsade4c44e.jpg

World renowned dog whisperer, Cesar Millan, says that the humans are committing genocide against the pit bull breed of dogs. “Our ignorance level is growing way too out of proportion, to the point that we believe that getting rid of a breed is a solution,” said Milan. “Genocide. It’s a genocide,” he added.

On April 18, National Geographic’s “Nat Geo Wild” will be presenting the television special “Love My Pit Bull,” where Millan examines the ways that the human species has failed pit bulls and dogs who resemble pit bulls. Some of the areas that will be addressed in the show will be dog fighting, widespread neglect and abuse, laws restricting ownership, media sensationalism, and euthanasia.

Too many people claim to say that they love animals, yet they eat, and wear the skins of some animals, and have others euthanized because they are inconvenient, or are no longer useful to them. Unfortunately, pit bulls fall into the inconvenient category as many have become aggressive as a result of unscrupulous breeders and irresponsible owners. Pit bulls often attract the kind of dog owners who are only interested in these dogs for fighting or protection. “We say we love dogs. We can’t just say we love certain kinds of dogs. Otherwise, let’s just say we love some dogs. Let’s not say we are a nation of dog lovers,” said Millan.

Pit bulls by nature are not aggressive dogs, and can make ideal family companions if raised in a loving home. Any dog that is treated with cruelty, and trained to be aggressive can become a danger to society. Millan says that “[i]t is not just pit bulls who behave aggressive. It’s Chihuahuas who behave aggressive. It’s Dalmatians who behave aggressive. So what I’m saying is aggression is a state of mind not a breed.”

Even if the breed is eliminated, people who train these dogs to become aggressive will just move on to another breed of dog.“We take responsibility. We no longer blame the elephant and the shark and the tiger, and in this case, the dog. We humans have to take responsibility for how we influence instability, how we create instability,” said Millan. “The most dangerous thing on the planet is an ignorant humankind,” said Millan.

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Katy Perry releases first costume of Prismatic World Tour

Queen of The Marvel Universe Finally Receives Solo Series

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Greg Pak is finally getting to write the Storm solo comic book he's always wanted to do. So, the choice of hairstyle was a foregone conclusion. "Mohawk, natch," Pak says of the popular X-Men heroine with crazy-cool weather powers at the center of Storm, launching in July from Marvel Comics. A solo book for Pak means having space and time to play a long game in terms of character and themes. And with Storm, he's exploring her combination of fury and empathy while going huge and small at once in storytelling for emotional impact. "We're going to see Storm cutting loose with all the brass and fierceness that comes from having the power to control every aspect of the Earth's weather and atmosphere," Pak says. "And we're going to delve deep into the experiences and perspective that lead her to make decisions no other X-Man would — to tear through walls that no one else may have even realized are there."




Illustrated by Victor Ibanez, the first issue takes Storm to an idyllic Caribbean community harboring a terrible secret threat, another challenge altogether arises on the homefront at the Jean Grey School, and an old enemy returns in an entirely different way, according to Pak. Storm has been a regular member of the mutant superhero squad since Giant-Size X-Men No. 1 in 1975 — and has been played on screen by Halle Berry in movies, including X-Men: Days of Future Past (out May 23).

Pak feels that in terms of power, Storm might be the X-Men's greatest asset, and also offers a moral center as a leader since she works for the betterment of mankind as well as her fellow mutant population. At the same time, though, she's also been a street thief, a goddess, a leader of the Morlocks and a queen. "She's a mutant icon — but also a hero to oppressed people everywhere," says Pak, promising to explore her morality from all angles, "especially in the ways it might clash with the objectives of her fellow X-Men."The writer has found Storm exciting and inspiring ever since he was a kid seeing a first black female superhero for the first time.

"I was a middle-class half-Korean boy growing up in Texas, not the orphaned daughter of an African-American photographer and an African princess growing up in the streets of Cairo," Pak explains. "But Storm's difference resonated with me — just by existing, she represented the idea that anyone could be a superhero, even me." She wasn't a boring role model either, he adds. "She was a little wild, a little dangerous, and yet a hero through and through." Pak was writing her in Astonishing X-Men and mentioned to folks that Storm was always a character he writes in a solo setting — three years ago, he even retweeted a petition a fan posted asking Marvel to create a Storm ongoing series just for him. The winds of fate blew in a few months ago.

"Marvel editor Daniel Ketchum called up," Pak recalls, "whispered 'Storm,' and my head fell off." Storm is a strong personality who will go where she's told not to and stand with those she's not supposed to, and that will be a major aspect of Pak's new series. "Storm fights for those who most need her, no matter what the cost," he says. "There's a ton of drama and story in exploring how she makes those decisions and what kind of trouble that will create for herself and everyone she loves."

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New Image Of Michael Fassbender And Marion Cotillard In Macbeth

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It's a gorgeous new picture from the set of Macbeth, courtesy of issue 300 of Empire and photographer Mary McCartney, showing Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard as the titular warrior and his lady wife.

The film comes from Snowtown director Justin Kurzel, adapting Shakespeare's play for the big screen in - as you can see - a homespun, rough-around-the-edges take on the story.

For the three of you who missed it in English lit class in school, Macbeth encounters three witches after a succesful battle and hears a prophecy that he will become King. When other of their predictions come true, he begins to wonder if they were on to something, and at the behest of his wife, decides to double down on the toil and trouble and engage in a spot of conspiracy and murder to take the throne. Predictably, life ain't quite so easy for someone who proves so lacking in the milk of human kindness.

This new version of Macbeth also stars David Thewlis, Jack Reynor, Sean Harris, Paddy Considine and Elizabeth Debicki, and is something wicked that will this way come in 2015.

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Fall Out Boy guitarist Joe Trohman is now a father

Woman Mistakes Richard Gere for Homeless Man, Tries to Give Him Pizza

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Richard Gere played such a convincing homeless man in New York last week that a kind-hearted French tourist took pity on him and tried to give him her leftover pizza.

Gere has been tramping about town shooting scenes for a new film, pawing through movie-set garbage and drinking beers on city benches. Apparently unaware of the cameras, a French tourist felt bad when she saw Gere pretending to scavenge for food and offered him her leftovers.

According to the New York Post:

"What's in the bag?" Gere, 64, asked.

"I tried to tell him in English, but it came out half in French," she said.

"I said, 'Je suis désolée [I am sorry], but the pizza is cold.' "

Apparently, millionaire beggars can't be choosers.

"He said, 'Thank you so much. God bless you,' " Gombeau recalled.

The tourist only found out who he really was later when the a friend saw a photo of her in a newspaper.

"I think he's very handsome, even at his age," she told the Post."Pretty Woman was not my favorite movie, but I ­really loved Chicago."

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ONTD, do you find it in the kindness of your heart to give food to homeless people?

Interview With Writer Bryan Cogman

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Writer and co-producer Bryan Cogman dives deep into Episode 404, "Oathkeeper," and discusses Brienne and Jaime's farewell, Olenna's lesson to Margaery, and laying the groundwork for what's to come.

HBO: Take us behind the curtain a bit. Some of these storylines seem to pick up where you left off in 305, "Kissed by Fire," the Sansa-Littlefinger storyline, for instance.

Bryan Cogman: Every year we outline the season together and divide up the storyline over 10 episodes. So when I was assigned the episode, the scenes were generally in place. Of course when you’re writing, you have additional ideas for scenes or changes of that nature, but the basic structure and story points are intact.

But there is some follow up – I wasn’t even conscious of that. It was more luck of the draw. Sansa and Littlefinger’s scene on the ship was a lot of fun to work on in terms of finally getting Sansa out of King’s Landing and having her in new circumstances. It’s the first of many twisted mentor-protégé scenes in that Littlefinger is imparting some of his tricks of the trade in playing the game and Sansa is figuring out how his mind works.

I suppose the other “sequel” from 305 is the goodbye between Brienne and Jaime. I had one of their major sequences, their bathtub confession scene in 305. Jaime’s arc was, is, and continues to be very complicated. The word “redemption” is thrown out a lot and I don’t know if it’s as simple as a redemption story when describing Jaime. He gives the sword that his father gave him to Brienne for a purpose. The relationship he has with Brienne is unlike anything he has had in his life. It’s throwing him for a loop. They came together under traumatic circumstances and found themselves back together in his home base, where he used to be in his own element. He’s come back to a very different place and he is flailing in a lot of ways. With Brienne and this mission, I don’t know if he thinks it’ll redeem anything but at least he’s trying to be the writer of his own destiny. His line, “It’s the Lord Commander’s duty to fill these pages. There’s still room left in mine,” is a key phrase for Jaime going forward.

HBO: And that scene comes after Jaime has seen each of his siblings.

Bryan Cogman:The scene with Cersei and Jaime was a challenge. Of course, the undercurrent of the scene is what happened in the sept, even though it’s not explicitly discussed. It ends up being a real blowup as to where each of their loyalties lie, and of course, Tyrion is at center of it.

You know, this is the first time ever we have had all the Lannisters under one roof. The aftermath of Joffrey’s death has forced them all into these awful and crazy situations, and we’re seeing how the dynamics of their relationships are really being tested and changed.

HBO: This episodes features two calls to arm – Grey Worm to the people of Meereen, and Jon Snow to his brothers to join him at Craster’s.

Bryan Cogman:Up until this season, you didn’t find yourself writing too many speeches for Jon Snow. But he’s really stepping into a leadership mode, bringing a lot of what he’s learned from his experience and his mistakes. These middle episodes, which I generally end up writing, are a lot about introducing plot threads that pay off later. That’s what a lot of the Castle Black stuff is here, the going beyond the Wall, Locke’s ulterior mission to find Bran and Rickon, and there’s a reference to the "choosing.” I don’t believe we addressed yet that Lord Commanders are elected. For Alliser Thorne, Acting Commander, it’s really his Alexander Haig moment, for those readers who are familiar with ‘80s presidential history. He’s basically said: We’re at war, I’m in charge, we’ll deal with the election later. That dynamic between Jon and Thorne is great to go back to. We haven’t had Alliser since Season 1.

The Grey Worm scene was challenging in a unique way. In the writers’ room, Dan [Weiss] and David [Benioff] came up with the idea that Dany decides to empower the slaves to take their own city. Having Grey Worm step up and showcase him in the first part of episode was cool. I believe it’s the first time a scene has been entirely in Valyrian – not that I had to write the dialogue in Valyrian. Language creator David Peterson writes that.

HBO: Moving north to Craster’s Keep, why do the wives chant “a gift for the gods”?

Bryan Cogman: If you’re at Craster’s Keep, you stay alive by making a deal with the White Walkers. It followed that the mutineers were going to have to make a choice – run or keep this bizarre transaction going. These women, who had lived under the thumb of their father-husband, were taught to worship White Walkers as “gods." It gives you an idea what was going on all these years.

That sequence to this day was the hardest to write for the show. It’s not in the books – you have mutineers and Craster’s, but their fate is somewhat different in the book and also, it happens off the page. And it’s a very ugly sequence: They’ve taken over Craster’s and made it even worse than it was.

We’ve paid a lot of lip service to idea that Night’s Watch is made up of shady characters, rapists and thieves, but we never saw much of that. The mutiny was the beginning. This is the worst of the worst finally free of the shackles of society.

HBO: And it’s all happening under Karl.

Bryan Cogman: The original idea for Karl was more of a Colonel Kurtz-‘Apocalypse Now’ situation. The guys and I worked really hard on second draft and made it more about class, how this man feels he had a raw deal his entire life, and how he has real contempt for upper classes and society. He’s also very dangerous and probably a psychopath. So if he has a kingdom of his own, what would a guy like that do?

For Karl to function, he needs weaker people to intimidate and do his dirty work. Although Rast is no saint, you see a glimmer of morality, and some kind of guilt for what’s going on. But he’s in so deep he can’t get out of it, and he’s also scared.

HBO: What can you tell us about the wife who brings in the baby?

Bryan Cogman:
The original idea behind Morag was that she was the first of the daughters who became Craster’s wife. So she’s the prime wife, if you will, and the matriarchal figure for these women. She knows she can’t fight these mutineers and knows that without them, the White Walkers could destroy the wives. So there’s a lot going on. And then you throw in Bran and Hodor, two of the most endearing characters. To have to write a scene where Hodor gets bear-baited and beat up was just miserable. But the idea was to put Bran, Hodor, Jojen and Meera into a really dangerous situation beyond the Wall that didn’t involve the supernatural, but rather humanity at its worst.

HBO: Another major turning point in the episode is Olenna’s lesson to Margaery. We get a glimpse of her passing the torch.

Bryan Cogman: I love the Olenna-Margaery dynamic. When Diana [Rigg] joined the cast, I remember looking at an old publicity shot for ‘The Avengers’ – not the Robert Downey Jr. movie but the 1960s spy show – I thought, she’s the Natalie Dormer of her era. In our version of the story, Olenna was Margaery in her day and Margaery will be one day be Olenna. It was a scene not unlike Sansa and Littlefinger’s, so it’s two tutor-protégé scenes back to back. Olenna is illustrating to Margaery what she has to do next through a personal story. That was based on a nugget that [author] George [R. R. Martin] has in the book; Olenna, in an entirely different scene says: Oh, I was engaged to a Targaryen once, but I got out of it. The Dany storyline can seem so far removed, so whenever you can thread in that the Targaryens were the family once in power, the better.

HBO: And then Margaery applies what she learned.

Bryan Cogman: Then you go into the Tommen, Margaery and Ser Pounce scene. In the book he was a kitten but I arrive on set, and they’ve cast a sumo wrestler cat. This is probably the last time you’ll see Ser Pounce because filming with a cat is a nightmare. Natalie Dormer wanted to kill me. But the cat is in it because he serves a purpose: You immediately see that Tommen is not Joffrey. Tommen is a sweet boy with a cat named Ser Pounce, and who has found himself in incredible circumstances. He is going to be king and he is going to marry this woman. The innocence of Tommen is fun to play with because there isn’t a lot of innocence in this world.

HBO: Not to mention Tommen has only just found out about the birds and the bees.

Bryan Cogman: You feel awful for him because he doesn’t know what he’s getting into. Even though he’s about to technically become the most powerful person in the known world, as we know, he’s really powerless.

It’s a sweet scene, but it’s also a very creepy scene. It toes a fine line. With Natalie as Margaery, the wheels are turning, but it’s very subtle. There’s nothing about her that seems insincere even though you know she has an ulterior motive. It’s like a sequel to her scene with Renly in Season 2, having to figure out who this kid is, where his weak spots are, and how she can play him. It helps to have [director] Michelle McClaren to find all these wonderful nuances and Dean Charles Chapman, our new Tommen, is very smart. It’s one of my favorite scenes even though it’s comparatively smaller than the other ones.

HBO: The scene is rich with details. Tommen is clearly in Joffrey’s bedroom.

Bryan Cogman: And they haven’t redecorated yet. David and Dan thought of that. They’ve moved Tommen into Joffrey’s room and the remnants of this monstrous person are still there. A big part of the show is the impact of these characters. A lot of people die, but their impact is felt long after. Ned Stark’s spirit looms large over the whole story, and it’s absolutely the same with Joffrey’s.

rest at the source
i still don't know who karl is tbh, but i like cogman
/shrug

Rape, Incest, And Redemption? The Questionable Moral Compass Of 'Game Of Thrones'

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Does the incest somehow cancel out the rape? That’s what had me scratching my head during episode 404 of HBO’s Game of Thrones. (Spoilers for Game of Thrones to Episode 404.)

Last week, you’ll recall, Jaime Lannister had sex with his sister next to the dead body of King Joffrey, their son who was the product of their incest. And yet the major topic of discussion was whether Jaime had raped his sister. Or whether this was merely consensual incest.

The controversy stemmed from the fact that in George R.R Martin’s books, the brother-on-sister sex in the sept was not coerced. While in the HBO version, Cersei clearly said “no” before the deed was done. For his part, Martin wrote, “The scene was always intended to be disturbing. But I do regret if it has disturbed people for the wrong reasons.”

It’s easy to see why fans might fixate on this change, but it does seem to miss a much larger issue. Jaime and Cersei have been engaging in incest ever since they were old enough to, well, engage. And their union has produced not one, not two, but three children. And as Jaime made clear in his conversation with his sister’s would be suitor, Cersei is still fertile, and this mess could continue. (Best I can tell, you can’t just walk down to the CVS in Westeros and buy a box of condoms.)

Lest ye think that somehow, incest is less of a, well, thing in Game of Thrones, remember that Jaime pushed young Bran Stark out of a tower to his seeming certain death to keep his relationship with his sister a secret. And indeed, Ned Stark lost his head because he knew and was ready to talk.

But in “Oathkeeper,” it’s as though the creepy sept sex from the last episode never happened. Something this shocking, this deeply creepy, would have lasting repercussions. But no. The rehabilitation of Jaime’s character continues apace. He does the noble thing and learns to fight with his left hand. He gifts the fine “Oathkeeper” sword to Brienne and sends her to bring Sansa Stark to safety. He visits his brother in prison and comes away convinced that Tyrion didn’t kill Joffrey.

Jaime visits Sister Cersei again, and while they don’t have sex, she doesn’t seem any more annoyed with Jaime than she did when she rebuffed him before The Purple Wedding. Well-lubricated by wine, Cersei snipes at her brother about his failure to guard Joffrey, and about his divided loyalties when it comes to Sansa. She scoffs when he tries to convince her of their brother’s innocence. But the rendezvous? It seems for all the world like a stripper in a Vegas bachelor party—it simply never happened. If there was some ambiguity about the rape–and I honestly didn’t see much–isn’t incest bad enough?

And this strikes me as a huge problem going forward. It’s not merely that some fans are denying that the rape happened. The show’s creators seem to be denying it as well. Or at least the long-term incest that’s not at all in dispute.

What exactly are we supposed to think about Jaime Lannister? Martin and friends have more or less told us to forgive his murdering ways, but this is a show in which killing is just part of the landscape. But are we supposed to simply put aside the fact that he might be a rapist, too?

And if we manage that, should we still ignore the fact that he freely admits to repeatedly committing incest with his sister? That she bore his children? And that he’d happily do it again?

While Cersei is anything but sympathetic, it’s been harder to get a handle on Jaime. His backstory, and his arc for most of last season and the early parts of this one are supposed to convince us that he’s a standup guy. Except for his little incest problem.

The thing that bothers me about this show isn’t that the creators depicted siblings in a carnal relationship. It’s that they don’t seem to see anything wrong with it.


Contrast this with the doings on the other side of King’s Landing. We discover, much to our delight, that Lady Olenna, played with relish by the great Diana Rigg, is actually the one responsible for Joffrey’s death.

“You don’ think I’d let you marry that beast?” she tells her granddaughter Margaery, as a preface to a bawdy story about how she stole her king away from her sister by means of the sensual arts.

Lesson learned, Margaery seems to say as she sneaks past the king’s guard into young—make that very young–Tommen’s bed chamber. She flashes her sweetest smile and flirts shamelessly. But just when it seems that Game of Thrones might move into a different kind of sexual territory, Margaery leans in, and kisses Tommen suggestively on the forehead. A taboo averted, at least for this week.

SOURCE

Ariana Grande talks "Problem" single & second album, due out in Aug/Sept

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When Ariana Grande's first album, "Yours Truly," started at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 last September, the 20-year-old singer became just the 15th female solo artist to guide their first full-length to a No. 1 debut on the albums chart. Grande tells Billboard that she celebrated that accomplishment for approximately one hour after it happened, and then began thinking about her next album.


"I'm a workaholic, and a perfectionist," says Grande, who released "Problem," the first single from her as-yet-untitled second album, on Sunday night (Apr. 27) after performing the Iggy Azalea-assisted track for the first time at the Radio Disney Music Awards. "It was a very exciting thing for me to all of a sudden have this new mission, to make something as special as 'Yours Truly,' and to put my time and effort into something new and something I want to make just as good, if not better."

Grande believes that she hit that mark with her sophomore effort, due out in August or September: "I never thought I'd be able to say this, but I love this [album] five times as much as I love 'Yours Truly.' They're different, but I love this one so much more."

Co-written by Max Martin and Savan Kotecha, "Problem" employs a saxophone sample that immediately recalls recent hits like Macklemore & Ryan Lewis'"Thrift Shop" and Jason Derulo's "Talk Dirty," but the boisterous track also unchains Grande's incredible voice, which spews out insecurities over an ex-flame with an anxious rapidity before hitting home on the high notes. Grande says that she originally didn't want "Problem" to appear on her sophomore album, and after playing the song in a meeting with her label and management, she realized that she had another hit on her hands.

"'Problem' truly represents the feeling of being absolutely terrified to re-approach a relationship that's gone sour -- but you want to more than anything," says Grande. The singer also cryptically confirms that the song is based on her still-evolving relationship with an ex: "In the song, it ends on a sappy, negative note, but in [real] life, we're hoping it's going to end on a positive one. I feel like it's all very honest and human."

After working with hip-hop artists like Mac Miller and Big Sean (who provides those whispered vocals on "Problem") on "Yours Truly," Grande decided to strengthen "Problem" with the help of Azalea, whom she met while attending Katy Perry's MTV EMAs after-party last October. "I was a fan of hers from when she put 'Work' out," says Grande of Azalea's 2013 single. "I thought she was so sensible and down-to-earth and talented."

While "Yours Truly" primarily showcased Grande's powerful voice through new-school R&B songs, the singer says that her follow-up will be more expansive, with a wider list of collaborators. Electronic superstar Zedd worked on a track, which Grande says is "fantastic and super-experimental for me. I never thought I'd do an EDM song, but that was an eye-opening experience, and now all I want to do is dance."

Martin and Kotecha oversaw "a lot" of the album, while Benny Blanco, Ryan Tedder, Key Wayne and Thomas Brown all contributed to the full-length. Grande says of the legendary producer Rodney Jerkins, "We've done a song together that I think is my favorite song that I've ever done."

When "Yours Truly's" first single, "The Way," started in the Top 10 of the Hot 100 chart upon its release last year, the song's debut was seen as a surprise success for a Nickelodeon star who was relatively unknown to mainstream music fans at the time. One year later, pop fans were prepared for "Problem" -- daily hashtags like #10DaysUntilProblem were trending worldwide on Twitter for the better part of two weeks prior to the song's release.

"It warms my heart," says Grande, who reads her Twitter mentions alongside her mother, crying and laughing at fans' expressions of enthusiasm. "I feel like all the hard work has paid off, and the reactions make me feel like I'm doing my job right."

source



still bowing at this song

ONTD Roundup

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Salem 1x03 Promo ''In Vain''

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