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Album Review: Iggy Azalea's 'The New Classic' Is a Stone Cold Dud

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iggy-new-classic-cover

She's a singer and a rapper, the first white woman to appear on the cover of XXL, and an uninformed expert on Aborigines. She has scored three U.K. Top 20 hits but endured the delayed release of her debut album, the optimistically titled The New Classic.Iggy Azalea, in short, understands the vagaries of third tier stardom in the 21st century. "Have you ever wished your life could change?" she asks on "Change Your Life," a collaboration with former label mate T.I. Eleven tracks later the question lingers. Zippy, squeaky, and context-free, The New Classic establishes the Australian artist as a competent rapper with a decent ear for hooks, but that's about it.

The fustiest part of the album is helmed by Norway's The Messengers, the duo responsible for the stuttering, whirring, processed beats and manipulated multi-track harmonies for the likes of Justin Bieber, Chris Brown, and Pitbull. What that leaves Iggy with is a state of the art 2011 album, designed to compete with the 2014 versions of Nicki Minaj and Rihanna: good luck. Draping her declarations of independence around those beats creates a comic and, if you think about it, depressing poignancy. "The mention of my name cause a media frenzy," she spits on the Stargate-produced "Goddess" to no one in the room over a faint steel drum sample. "Black Widow" even boasts a hook sung by Rita Ora ("I'm gonna love ya until you hate me") that the Norwegian duo might have lifted from their own "Hate That I Love You," with the synth arpeggios nicked straight from the pneumatic EDM they wrote for Ne-Yo's 2010 Libra Scale.

Azalea's gum-chewing vowel elasticity evokes Ke$ha after she reconfigured herself in 2014 as Kesha—a post-peak performer whose hit-chasing smothers her charisma. Call it Clark Kent pretending to be Superman. Charli XCX shows her up something awful on "Fancy," on which Charli's starchy timbre suggests a cheerleader who's won a few fist fights. Watch The Duck's acoustics and beatbox turn "100" into a tepid K'Naan track. Festooned with sirens and sparkles, "Impossible Is Nothing" lays out every admonitory cliché from the Barnes & Noble self-help shelf: she's blazing a path, she won't stop breathing, they'll never see her sleep, although "haters hang from your neck like ascots" is pretty good if you forget that ascots are tied and tucked rather than hung as if they were, I dunno, rosaries or something.

It's conceivable that Azalea needed to release this damn thing before moving on to projects she doesn't turn into dunking booths for the obliging guest MCs. But I hear few indications in The New Classic of ambition existing apart from the itch for celebrity.

4 out of 10



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Melissa & Joey 3x30 and Baby Daddy 3x14 Promo

Cannes 2014 Line-Up

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God bless us, every one! It's April 17th, which means it's the cinephile's version of Christmas, because today sees the announcement of the line-up for the 2014 Cannes Film Festival, still the biggest and most prestigious international fest in the calendar. Rumors have been flying for a few weeks now, and we've known for a while that the festival would open with Nicole Kidman-starrer "Grace Of Monaco," in which the Oscar-winner plays legendary star-turned-princess Grace Kelly, but now the full festival line-up has been announced, and it looks pretty promising.

Among the hotly-tipped movies that have been confirmed this morning are David Cronenberg's inside-Hollywood tale "Maps To The Stars" starring Mia Wasikowska, Julianne Moore, John Cusack, Olivia Williamsand Robert Pattinson, "The Rover," "Animal Kingdom" helmer David Michod's apocalyptic follow-up, also starring Pattinson along with Guy Pearce and Scoot McNairy (which is a Midnight Screening rather than in-competition as expected), Olivier Assayas'"Sils Maria," with Juliette Binoche, Chloe Moretz and Kristen Stewart, and the Dardennes' "Two Days One Night" starring Marion Cotillard.

As for the rest of the line-up? Well, Bennett Miller's hotly-tipped "Foxcatcher," starring Steve Carell, Channing Tatum and Mark Ruffalo, might be the hottest ticket, though a lot of eyes will be on "The Search," Michel Hazavanicius' follow-up to his Oscar-winning "The Artist." Cannes favorites like Mike Leigh, Ken Loach andNuri Bilge Ceylan are back with "Mr. Turner," "Jimmy's Hall" and the three-hour-plus "Winter Sleep" respectively while Tommy Lee Jones returns with Western "The Homesman," and Jean-Luc Godard makes a long-awaited competition comeback with the 3D "Goodbye To Language." Atom Egoyan and Ryan Reynoldsare teaming up for "Captives," while Xavier Dolan cracks the competition for the first time with "Mommy." We're also getting fashion biopic "Saint Laurent" starring Gaspard Ulliel and Lea Seydoux, Naomi Kawase's "Still The Water" and a new film from "Elena" helmer Andrey Zvyagintsev.

Meanwhile, DreamWorks blockbuster "How To Train Your Dragon 2" gets an out-of-competition screening, as does Zhang Yimou's new one "Coming Home." Alongside "The Rover" in the Midnight Screening section is Mads Mikkelsen-starring Western "The Salvation" and "The Target," a Korean remake of "Point Blank." Meanwhile, Un Certain Regard looks strong, with Ryan Gosling's directorial debut "Lost River" probably the headliner, alongside "Amour Fou" from "Lourdes" director Jessica Hausner, Pascale Ferran's 'Bird People" with "The Good Wife" star Josh Charles, and TIFF veteran "Eleanor Rigby" with Jessica Chastain and James McAvoy, among others.

There's more to come still (at least one out-of-competition film to be announced next week, plus the Critics' Week and Directors' Fortnight line-ups), but it all looks pretty good to us. The festival runs from May 14th to May 25th, and myself and Jessica Kiang have already started to fight about who's going to see what.

Official Competition:

"Captives" (Canada) dir. Atom Egoyan - 1h43m
"Foxcatcher" (U.S.A.) dir. Bennett Miller - 2h10m
"Goodbye To Language" (France) dir. Jean-Luc Godard - 1h10m
"The Homesman" (U.S.A./France) dir. Tommy Lee Jones - 2h02m
"Jimmy's Hall" (U.K) dir. Ken Loach - 1h46m
"Leviathan" (Russia) dir. Andrey Zvyagintsev - 2h20m
"Maps To The Stars" (Canada) dir. David Cronenberg -
"The Marvel" (Italy) dir. Alice Rohrwacher -1h50m
"Mommy" (Canada) dir. Xavier Dolan - 2h20m
"Mr. Turner" (U.K) dir. Mike Leigh - 2h29m
"Saint Laurent" (France) dir. Bertrand Bonello -- 2h15m
"The Search" (France) dir. Michel Hazavanicius - 2h40m
"Sils Maria" (France) dir. Olivier Assayas - 2h03m
"Still The Water" (Japan) dir. Naomi Kawase - 1h50m
"Timbuktu" dir. Abderrahmane Sissako - 1h40m
"Two Days One Night" (Belgium) dir. Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardennes - 1h35m
"Wild Tales" (Argentina) dir. Damian Szifron - 1h55m
"Winter Sleep" (Turkey) dir. Nuri Bilge Ceylan - 3h16m

Opening Film:

"Grace Of Monaco" (U.S.A./France) dir. Olivier Dahan - 1h43m

Out Of Competition:

"Coming Home" (China) dir. Zhang Yimou - 1h51m
"How To Train Your Dragon 2" (U.S.A.) dir. Dean DeBlois - 1h45m

Un Certain Regard:

"Amour Fou" (dir. Jessica Hausner) - 1h36m
"Bird People" (dir. Pascale Ferran) - 2h07m
"The Blue Room" (dir. Mathieu Amalric) - 1h15m
"Charlie's Country" (dir. Rolf De Heer) - 1h48m
"Eleanor Rigby" (dir. Ned Benson) - 1h59m
"Fantasia" (dir. Wang Chao) - 1h25m
"A Girl At My Door" (dir. July Jung) - 1h59m
"Harcheck mi Headro" (dir. Keren Yedaya) - 1h35m
"Jauja" (dir. Lisandro Alonso) - 1h41m
"Lost River" (dir. Ryan Gosling) - 1h45m
"The Misunderstood" (dir. Asia Argento) - 1h43m
"Party Girl" (dir. Marie Amachoukeli, Claire Burger and Samuel Theis) - 1h35m
"Run" (dir. Philippe Lacote) - 1h40m
"Salt Of The Earth" (dir. Wim Wenders & Juliano Ribeiro Salgado) - 1h40m
"Snow In Paradise" (dir. Andrew Hulme) - 1h28m
"Titli" (dir. Kanu Behl) - 2h04m
"Tourist" (dir. Ruben Ostlund) - 2h
"Unhappy Youth" (dir. Jaime Rosales) - 1h40m
"Xenia" (dir. Panos Koutras) - 2h03m

Midnight Screenings:

"The Rover" (dir. David Michod) - 1h40m
"The Salvation" (dir. Kristian Levring) - 1h30m
"The Target" (dir. Chang) - 1h39m

Special Screenings:

"Bridges Of Sarajevo" (anthology film) - 1h50m
"Caricaturists: Fantasies Of Democracy" (dir. Stephanie Valloatto) - 1h46m
"Eau Argentee" (dir. Mohammed Ossana) - 1h50m
"Les Gens Du Monde" (dir. Yves Yeuland) - 25m
"Maidan" (dir. Sergei Loznitsa) - 2h
"Red Army"  (dir. Polsky Gabe) - 1h25m


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Orange Is the New Black Season 2 New Trailer

Aaron Carter Looking Handsome at 'A Haunted House 2' movie premiere, AT THE SOURCE ;)

Sky Ferreira Defends Herself Against Accusations of Racism in "I Blame Myself" Video

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"I never have and never will look at any human being as a prop. That's disgusting."



Yesterday, Sky Ferreira shared the video for "I Blame Myself" from 2013's Night Time, My Time. In it, she plays the leader of a gang who participates in some illegal activity before getting arrested. In between, there's a dance sequence featuring Ferreira and her crew. "It's obviously based off of real events... people always ask me questions about certain things, and it's kind of like my response," she said in a behind the scenes video, possibly referring to her arrest for drug possession last fall. "I think actions speak louder than words."

But the video has drawn accusations of exploitation and racism for the way Ferreira positions herself in relation to her gang members/dancers. "Almost touching black men doesn't make you cool, dangerous, or liberated in 2014," one person wrote on Twitter. "I'm tired of seeing black people used as props," another wrote on Facebook.

Now, she's penned a response on her Facebook:

Thank you so much for the love & support of the video. It's something that means a lot to me. I've never seen such a big response from my fans before

I've been reading some of the responses and I had a few thoughts:

Some people are accusing of being racist. I usually do not need to feel the need to explain myself(which I'm not) but I DO feel the need to share my thoughts on the situation. Nothing upsets me more than being called racist because that is one of the most hateful things anyone can be. Not only do I find it insulting towards myself but I also feel insulted for the actors & dancers & my family in the video. No, I did not use black back up dancers as "props". I never have and never will look at any human being as a prop. That's disgusting. It's also an idea that has never crossed my mind,which is what I find questionable of the people telling me that I did so.Dancers are objects?!?!?! How dare you! Dancers make things come to life. If they were white would they be considered "props"? I auditioned a bunch of dancers,all races & my dancers were the best ones. I know that you have to be socially aware & mindful of others but when I look at this video I don't see race as a issue.Stop trying to search for something that isn't there. Comments like "rich little white girl exploiting the black people & the ghetto"...I never exploited anyone & I don't use people in any shape or form. My brother is half black. My cousins are black. My family is Latina & Native American. Some of my family is in the video.I wasn't raised in a "white" house hold & I'm not little & I have financially supported myself since I was 15 years old. I'm a woman,not a fucking little girl. Because I have pale skin & green eyes doesn't mean I was raised in Beverly Hills and have Swedish film investor parents or whatever some have created in their minds. Would you feel more at ease if I danced with a bunch blonde white boys at a mall? Should I consciously only cast white dancers for now on? If I'm racist does that mean you're pro-segregation?! I'm from LA & shot the video there. I referenced 90s hip hop videos and Michael Jackson because both of those things inspire me & played a big part of my childhood. The only thing I'm sorry for is if this post seems to come off self defensive,which it isn't meant to be...but I had to share these thoughts because it drove me up the wall. Don't demean the actors & dancers in the video. They are more well spoken & aware than you and I will ever be. Please do research before you make such shitty accusations about people. Anyways...Thank you SSENSE & Atom Factory Management & Grant Singer for making this video happen. We have been trying to make it for a while & I'm so glad I get to share it with the world now <3333333
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Sky

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Album Review: "The New Classic is an immaculately produced, lyrically creative gem"

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Iggy Azalea is a rapper who needs no introduction, which is a remarkable achievement for a woman who is yet to release her debut album. However with a series of impressive singles under her belt, a handful of awe-inspiring festival performances and collaborations with the likes Charli XCX and T.I, it's not really surprising that she's rapidly becoming a household name.

The Australian rapper first gained worldwide attention when she released the sexually charged video for under-ground hit 'PU$$Y', which went viral. She then released her second mixtape Trapgold and was quickly snapped up by Virgin EMI records and has since been working on her first album - The New Classic.

Azalea gets the ball rolling with 'Walk The Line' where she announces to her fans "this that new classic" alongside announcing "check the rate that they pay me, a giant could never slay me" - an indicator that she's now making the big bucks from her rapid rise to fame as one of the few white female rappers in the business. I feel like 'Walk The Line' was the perfect track to open this highly-anticipated release. It's not weak but it's also a little reserved in the respect that listeners will still be unsure of what to expect.

'Don't Need Y'all' is a stripped back rap track which has some serious Drake vibes. It's a very similar sound to something you'd expect the 'Hold On We're Going Home' singer to have on one of his albums. Despite the evident Drizzy influence, it's generally a decent track which appears to discuss the rap sirens rise to fame and the influence it had on the people around her. Low on production and more about Iggy's ability as a vocalist - both as a rapper and a singer, we experience a bit of both in 'Don't Need Y'all'.

Despite it already being released as a single, it's impossible not to mention 'Fancy feat. Charli XCX'. It's simply destined to be a cult classic. It's such a well structured catchy collaboration between two up-and-coming highly talented contemporary artists. The video, sticking with the cult classic theme, pays homage to the '90s comedy film Clueless and I am really hoping it gets a nod at next years MTV Music Video Awards or even shortlisted for Best Music Video at the Grammys. A creative clip which highlights Azalea's potential as both a musician and a visual artist.

Another contemporary collaboration featured on the album is on the track 'Black Widow' feauring Rita Ora. Everything about this piece screams commercial success: the catchy chorus, the club-beat which is recurring throughout and not to mention the fact that Rita Ora is already no stranger to having her name high up in the charts. Although it's not the best track on the album (certainly not the worst), for a commercial offering it's actually quite impressive and I suspect that this will be released as a single at some point in the near future.

'Work' and 'Lady Patra (Feat. Mavado)' seem like two of the crowning jewels in the collection. Iggy sings about queens and the opera over the top of an electronic seemingly sci-fi influenced backdrop throughout 'Lady Partra' before spitting bars about her roots and her journey to success in 'Work', the latter of which was released over a year ago and which put in motion the hype for what will undoubtedly be one of the biggest albums of the year.

The last track I want to mention is 'Goddess' which is out of this world and probably one of the better, if not the best, tracks on the album. Filled with roaring electric guitar solos and heavy drum beats not to mention Azalea bellowing "Bow down to a goddess, bow down to goddess," this single-worthy recording sounds like the one that will eventually be used to close big festival slots and create the biggest reaction for fans at gigs. Twerk-inducing and loud; 'Goddess' is the game-changer for Iggy Azalea and the glistening cherry on top of the immaculately produced, lyrically creative gem that is The New Classic.

Rating: 8/10

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You can pre-order the album here, comes out next week!!

semi-blind: this complete mess

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there’s a crazy story whipping around television circles in hollywood. it started small and petty. over time, more people became involved, and now it’s a likely that this cannonball is breakfast discussion for kimye. let’s start from the beginning.



it’s a tv show. an ensemble cast, so plenty of faces to recognize and plenty of wild young hearts to fuel the flames of drama. most of the drama over the past year has been fueled by male actor and female actor. they’re big stars and have been on the show since the beginning. male actor and female actor didn’t like the direction the show had headed in and wanted the spotlight back for their characters — and careers. male actor and female actor arranged sitdowns with producers: they wanted the show to head in a different direction. they wanted another actor, mister costar, written off of the show.

it’ll fix the ratings, they said. it’ll bring the show back to its former glory, they said. it’ll give a boost to our careers that we’ve missed recently, they thought. mister costar might not have been the most likeable character. he might have been annoying on set as well, but no more than male actor and female actor. it wasn’t fair.

the producers took the bait and began the process to write mister costar off of the show. the rumour really started to simmer at this point! fans weren’t impressed.

another castmember, miss costar, thought this was one big mess. her career was taking off in other ways, and she wasn’t impressed with the immature actions of male actor and female actor. since she spent a lot of her screentime with male actor and female actor, she decided to take the jump. the writers didn’t want to lose two big names in mister costar and miss costar at once, but the plan was definitely set.

before long, miss costar was in the news for other reasons — relationship drama. it was a breakup; she had caught her significant other cheating, and that was the final straw. her ex-boy, mister sweetie, said that she flirted with other men too much. in fact, there were plenty of accusations thrown around, but not all of them were true. here is where the story starts to boil over.

see, miss costar didn’t care if mister sweetie cheated here and there. the relationship was good for her name and for her career; he could be her jump-off. the big deal this time was who mister sweetie was cheating with, and miss costar had all the proof she needed in texts on his phone. mister sweetie didn’t even try to deny it!

he had been kneading the dough with female actor on the side. who would’ve thought?

in two separate events, the producers of the television program relented. caving to popular demand, they changed the direction of the future to keep mister costar on the show. his storyline would keep minimal screentime with male actor. the spicy garnish to this hot dinner is that now miss costar is debating staying on the show as well. who wouldn’t love to watch female actor squirm in scenes with miss costar now that her secret playtime with mister sweetie isn’t a secret?

images source,one of many gossip sources, and another
article composed by jfk for ontd

Bryan Singer's Lawyer Says Claims Are ‘Completely Without Merit’

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Bryan Singer, the star director behind the blockbuster X-Men franchise, was named in a federal lawsuit Wednesday, accusing the filmmaker of intentional infliction of emotional distress, battery, assault and invasion of privacy, in connection with the purported sexual abuse of a then-underage Hollywood hopeful.

The director’s legal representation is Hollywood heavyweight Marty Singer, the powerhouse lawyer for big name clients including John Travolta.

“The claims made against Bryan Singer are completely without merit,” Marty Singer (no relation to Bryan) said in reaction to the suit Wednesday. “We are very confident that Bryan will be vindicated in this absurd and defamatory lawsuit.

“It is obvious that this case was filed in an attempt to get publicity at the time when Bryan’s new movie is about to open in a few weeks.”


Singer’s upcoming installment in the franchise, X-Men: Days of Future Past, features an ensemble cast of A-listers including Jennifer Lawrence, Hugh Jackman and Halle Berry. It opens May 23.

While Radar does not identify sex abuse victims by name, Egan had already been publicly identified by his lawyer, and had expressed his intent to speak openly about the issue in Thursday’s news conference.

Source

For the record, Mara Wilson has no interest in Mrs. Doubtfire sequel

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The just-announced Mrs. Doubtfire sequel won’t feature a full cast reunion. Mara Wilson, who played Robin Williams and Sally Field’s young daughter Natalie Hillard, has announced she has no desire to return for a second movie.

“I’ve been in some mediocre movies, but I’ve never been in a sequel. And I have no interest in being in one now,” the actress and writer wrote on Twitter. “Sequels generally suck unless they were planned as part of a trilogy or series. I think Doubtfire ended where it needed to end.”




Source, Twitter

Warehouse 13 - this season promo

Selena Gomez to support Justin Bieber on world tour?

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Selena Gomez and Justin Bieber could soon be spending even more time in each other's company, with fresh reports suggesting they could be hitting the road together.

It is thought that the Come & Get It singer wants to support her on-off boyfriend on his next world tour, which is expected to be announced later this year.

A source told Us Weekly: "She says she could open for him. He thinks anything she says is great."

JB and Sel-Go are already rumored to have recorded a collaboration together, titled Unfamiliar, with the pair also said to have rekindled their romance.

Fueling the speculation, Gomez was spotted watching Bieber's surprise appearance with Chance The Rapper at Coachella last weekend.

They were also seen holding hands at the music event, with a insider adding to E! Online the popstar pair "were having a good time in each other's company".

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One Direction - You & I (1 day to go)

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WHAT IF THIS TURNS OUT TO BE A POSITIVE POST

OITNB Season 2 in 3 Words Via The Cast!

Adelaide Kane Reigns Over Just Jared's Spotlight Series (Behind the Scenes Photos!)

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Adelaide Kane gets the finishing touches in this exclusive behind the scenes pic for the latest edition of the Just Jared Spotlight photo series.
The 23-year-old Aussie actress rocked several flashy looks fit for a queen in the shoot at LA’s Pink Taco.
Adelaide is the leading lady of the hit CW series Reign. She plays the role of Mary Queen of Scots, whose rise to power is chronicled on the show.
In our exclusive interview with Adelaide, she told us about what it is like living in Toronto while working on the series, her favorite memories from being o
n set so far, and more.
Be sure to check back with us on Thursday for our full exclusive Adelaide Kane photo shoot and interview!






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Did you watch the new episode of Reign, ONTD? Thoughts? (BEWARE OF THE SPOILERS PPL)

Courtney Love: ‘I influenced Lady Gaga’s ARTPOP’

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Courtney Love is convinced she helped inspire Lady Gaga's "Artpop" album but fears the concept failed to "translate for the masses."

The Hole star is convinced Gaga came up with the idea for the record after the singer was introduced to a number of Love's arty friends. The album received mixed reviews and failed to match the sales of her previous release, 2011's "Born This Way," and Love fears Gaga's highbrow approach alienated swathes of fans.

She tells Britain's Gay Times, "Well, I'm friendly with her. She started hanging out with a lot of my art friends and I think it influenced her and that's great but it doesn't necessarily translate for the masses... She tried to take it on and sort of acclimate it into pop."

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A Lea Michele Post

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A Lea Michele Post, Table of Contents:
Video for Cannonball (Acoustic) - Studio Version
Confirmation On Louder's Next Single











Sources:1, 2, 3

i'm ready for the video for omw
shit is my jam

Game of Thrones’s Sexual Violence Problem

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Sunday night’s episode of Game of Thrones closed with a shocking death: while toasting his recent nuptials, King Joffrey Baratheon choked to death. It was a great way to kickstart the season: after the slaughter of the Starks at the Red Wedding, it was a confirmation that the good guys can (sometimes, and indirectly) win.

Joff’s death was incredibly gruesome – his eyes bulged, his face turned purple, and blood burst from his nose. The episode devoted much of its time to reminding us just how awful Joffrey was (as if we could forget). He chopped apart a priceless history book, staged a pantomime mocking murdered family members of several of his guests, and was cruel to Tyrion without provocation. But in his final moments, desperately gasping for air as his mother tried to help, he also looked like a fourteen year old kid.

Joffrey’s death, like Robb Stark’s before him, was well-staged and will have repercussions that reach far beyond this wedding. His death will be remembered, discussed, and avenged many times over. It will change the course of Cersei, Jaime, Tywin, Tommen, Tyrion, and Sansa’s arc.

This isn’t the case for the other death of the episode. In the scene that opened the show, a nameless young woman was running through the woods, chased by Ramsay Snow and his companion, Miranda. It was a scene immediately recognizable to book-readers: Ramsay loved to set captive women loose in the woods, promising them they would be free if they could outrun him. He would then hunt them down with dogs.

Ramsay’s actions are some of the most vile in the entirety of A Song of Ice and Fire. He is abusive, sadistic, and unrelentingly cruel. But most of his abuse happens off-stage. Readers hear about it obliquely, either through the narration of his victims or through references made by other characters. This choice serves to reinforce the violence of Ramsay’s actions: Reek, the main storyteller, is too traumatized to fully communicate what has been done to him. We are aware of how monstrous the man is, but we never witness the acts themselves. Frankly, hearing is enough.

Game of Thrones has developed a nasty habit of adding on-screen violence against women to a text that already featured plenty. There was the attempted rape of Sansa Stark during a riot in season two. In this season’s premiere, comments made about Arya Stark, an 11 year old girl, violently sexualized her while a woman was assaulted less than ten feet away. None of these moments expanded character development or advanced the plot.

Even those situations paled in comparison to what happened to Ramsay’s victim on Sunday night. The camera followed Ramsay’s victim through the woods as she ran barefoot and weeping. We saw Ramsay’s companion shoot the woman through the calf, crippling her. We saw Ramsay give the order to his dogs to rip her apart. Then we heard her die.

This scene brought to mind the death of Talisa Stark last season. Talisa was a character developed for the show, an expanded version of the essentially unseen Jeyne Westerling. Jeyne was little more than a side player in the novels, so I was fine with seeing a more fully-fleshed out woman on screen (however outlandish and out of place Talisa became). Unlike Jeyne, who survived the Red Wedding, Talisa was brought along and perished with Robb. She was not brought down by arrows or a knife to the throat, though. A Frey stabbed her belly, eviscerating her unborn child and letting her bleed out.

Talisa was not the first new female character who was created only to meet a violent end. Ros, a prostitute from Winterfell who rose in status at King’s Landing, was shot with a crossbow by King Joffrey in season three. When Ros’s fate was revealed, the camera slowly panned down her body, revealing the bolts that pierced her breasts, lower stomach, and thighs. Nude and posed for display, Ros’s death was just as sexualized as her scenes in the brothel.

Game of Thrones is an enjoyable show that is not afraid to use violence and sex to get its point across. Many of these scenes are well done – Daenerys’s seduction of Khal Drogo, Ned Stark’s death, and Theon’s botched execution of Rodrik Cassel – but the deaths of Ros, Talisa, and the unnamed woman in the woods undermine that work. The explanation that the violence is used to reinforce that no one is safe in Westeros is starting to get tired. The danger of this world has been established over and over again during the past three seasons, and I doubt the audience needs a reminder.

Game of Thrones has been praised for reinventing the kinds of stories that can be told on TV. It’s a high concept fantasy that killed off its protagonist before the end of the first season. It has juggled countless plotlines at once, challenging audiences to keep up. But the way that the writers have engaged with sexual violence and women is anything but inventive. They have featured rapes and murders only obliquely referenced in the source material, sexualized characters without reason, and invented female characters only to kill them off in increasingly repulsive ways. It’s tired, it’s lazy, and it’s antithetical to the subversive nature of Martin’s novels.

A Song of Ice and Fire tears down the tropes of fantasy stories: no kings are granted point-of-view chapters, beauty and strength is not necessarily a sign of virtue, and women are the drivers of complex political narratives. Games of Thrones, on the other hand, glorifies its kings and tears down its women.

SOURCE

i'm just so glad that at least some of the media is calling out D&D,Cogman and GRRM (lbr) on their fuckery.

Cannes snubs women directors yet again: only two women in the main competition

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For whatever reason, the Cannes Film Festival -- perhaps because of its grandeur, glamorous red carpet, and press attention -- has become the crux around which global conversations about gender and women directors take place. I'm sure that if Cannes director Thierry Fremaux had his way (and he did for many, many years), no one would even comment on the lack of gender diversity at his festival. But the world has changed, and Mr. Fremaux has clearly heard the message -- in his own way -- as he dribbled out a bunch of announcements over the last month that he hoped would satisfy his critics on this issue. First Jane Campion was anointed the jury president, then Andrea Arnold will head the Critics Week jury, and lastly that Rebecca Zlotowski will lead two other juries during Critics Week.

Yet none of those announcements take away from the fact that the festival still has a problem with including women directors in the main competition. I refuse to accept the bullshit that women are not making "good enough" films. Because "good enough" is simply a shield and a code -- just another way to keep women out by pretending there is some objective standard for quality when all judgments are subjective and influenced by the viewer's own tastes, background, and biases. So where is Liv Ullmann's Miss Julie? Where is Susanne Bier's Serena? Where is Mia Hansen-Love's Eden? Sure, she's young, but Xavier Dolan is even younger and he's in again.


Mr. Fremaux did his best to appease the situation by mentioning that there will be 15 women directors this year at the Cannes Film Festival. But that figure is padded; five of those women are the directors of a compilation film called Bridges of Sarajevo that's playing at a special screening. As it stands there will be just two women -- Alice Rohrwacher with La Meraviglie and Naomi Kawase with Still the Water in the main competition. That's two women out of a total of 18 films. Last year was no better with, only one woman-directed film in competition out of 19.

After Mr. Fremaux boasted about his fifteen women, he went on to talk about how he has been in touch regularly with Terence Malick about his incomplete film. I wonder how many women he tracks like he tracks Malick? I'm guessing none. That's the culture of Cannes, where you see certain male directors over and over again. More unacknowledged biases.

Un Certain Regard always does better in terms of gender diversity. This year, the opening film Party Girl is co-directed by two women, Marie Amachoukeli and Claire Burger, and one man, Samuel Theis. This year, five out of the 19 film in Un Certain Regard are directed by women. Last year there were six.

Including the opening film, the other women-directed films in Un Certain Regard include: Jessica Hausner's Amour fou, July Jung's Dohee-ya, Keren Yedaya's Harcheck mi headro, and Asia Argento's Incomprensa.

In addition to Bridges of Sarajevo, which has multiple female directors (I don't have their names yet), Stephanie Valloatto's film Caricaturistes - Fantassins de la democratie will get a special screening out of competition.

So thus begins the next iteration of the conversation about women directors. Stay tuned for much, much more.

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Mess. Cannes has always been shitty about including women though. I remember in 2009 people were saying women were taking over cause there were three of them in the main comp.

Naya Rivera raged to 'Glee' producers -- LEA'S OUT OF CONTROL

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Naya Rivera and Lea Michele were at the center of a near mutiny on the set of "Glee" that ended with one of them storming out in anger -- but who left ... depends on who you ask.

Sources close to Naya tell TMZ most of the cast and crew were annoyed on Tuesday by Lea's diva antics -- like making everyone else wait to shoot a scene ... while she stepped away to deal with personal matters.

We're told tensions finally got so bad Naya "had the stones" to go to producers and let them know -- on behalf of everyone -- that Lea was pissing off people.

Our Naya sources say when Lea returned to resume shooting she got wind of Naya's chat with producers -- and left the set in a huff.

Now our Lea sources had a different take -- telling us Lea was totally unaware of any complaints about her ... and Lea and Naya weren't even shooting scenes together. They also say it was Naya who got tossed off the set.

We got several tips claiming Naya was fired -- but Naya sources say that's just not true.

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