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How Whitney Houston and Brandy’s Cinderella Changed the Way We Think About Movie Musicals
In 1997, Whitney Houston materialized on our television screens in a shimmering, golden gown fitting for the peerless superstar and told us all something very important: “It’s possible.” For many millennials, members of Gen Z, and parents of both, Wonderful World of Disney‘s spectacular interpretation of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella quickly became a staple. The telecast aired in 60 million households, making it the most-watched television musical in decades, and earned a second life on home video when it became the highest-selling home video release of any made-for-television film to date. In the 25 years since Cinderella, the project, which was co-produced by Houston, has taken on an almost mythic quality. Many things about the production felt revolutionary: The first ...
Marcus King Rocks Through the Pain on Dan Auerbach-Produced Young Blood
Marcus King is all of 26 years old, but he plays rock’n’roll as if he was genetically engineered in a laboratory from bits of Duane Allman, Jimmy Page, Billy Gibbons and Stevie Ray Vaughan. King’s music feels timeless, especially when he’s laying waste to concert stages with his longtime mates in the Marcus King Band. A different side of King emerges on his solo albums, the newest of which, Young Blood, arrives Friday (Aug. 26) as the first in a new deal with Rick Rubin’s American Records/Republic. The project re-teams King with the Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach, who previously produced King’s 2020 solo album El Dorado. Both that album and Young Blood were recorded at Auerbach’s Easy Eye studio in Nashville. This time around, King is backed only by bassist and longtime Auerbach collaborator Nic...
Rammstein Storm Montreal to Kick Off North American Tour: Recap + Photos
In the hours leading up to the kickoff of Rammstein’s North American stadium tour in Montreal, Canada on Sunday (August 21st), a severe thunderstorm warning was issued for the city and surrounding area. The threat of heavy rains, potentially dangerous gusts of wind, oversized hail, intense lightning and pounding thunder were forecast throughout the day. And while there were flashes and bursts of all these elements throughout the afternoon, the weather report had it wrong. It was not the Earth’s atmosphere that was about to deliver on this powerful barometric disturbance. It was the German industrial-metal icons. It’s not hard to imagine that their impending 2-million-watt assault on Montreal’s Parc Jean Drapeau and its home on St. Helen’s Island was about to cause such a seismic ripple acr...
Eyedress Shares Origins of ’80s-Inspired “DREAM DEALER” Video: Exclusive
Origins is a recurring new music series giving artists the opportunity to share exclusive insights into their latest release. Today, LA-based bedroom pop artist Eyedress shares the origins of the video for his new track, “DREAM DEALER.” Rising bedroom pop artist Eyedress is gearing up to release his highly-anticipated new album Full Time Lover on Friday (August 26th), and a few weeks ago, he shared a new single, “DREAM DEALER,” from the LP. “DREAM DEALER” features The Neptunes member Chad Hugo, but Eyedress maintains his inimitable hazy style of pop throughout — though his earlier recordings possess an appropriately lo-fi aesthetic, “DREAM DEALER” and Full Time Lover‘s earlier singles feature Eyedress at his most refined and specific. Today (August 22nd), “DREAM DEALER” receives an ’80s in...
Steve Carell and Domhnall Gleeson Square Off In FX’s Riveting Psychothriller The Patient: Review
The Pitch: Psychotherapist Alan Strauss (Steve Carell) is a man in the grips of mourning — not just for the recent loss of his wife (Laura Niemi) to cancer, but also for his strained relationship with his son Ezra (Andrew Leeds), whose choice to become an Orthodox Jew has drawn a deep rift against his more liberal Jewish father. But Alan receives the challenge of a lifetime in the form of Sam Fortner (Domhnall Gleeson), a new patient who seems cagey, mysterious, and unable to truly open up. Turns out, that’s because Sam is a serial killer, one desperately searching for a way to stamp out his compulsions, and he hopes that Alan’s expertise can help. In classic serial-killer fashion, that means kidnapping Alan, chaining him to the basement of his mother’s remote house out in the woods, ...
Welcome to Wrexham Review: Watching Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds Buy a Sports Team Is Damn Compelling
The Pitch: English: PitchAmerican: FieldWelsh: Traw In 2020, Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds bought a Welsh football team. Neither of them had ever been to Wales before taking such an enormous leap, let alone Wrexham. Nor had either of them ever followed the English football league, let alone the fifth-tier Wrexham Red Dragons. And yet, they saw some real potential both in the club (which is the third oldest football team in the world and the oldest professional club in Wales — they even play at the Racecourse, the oldest international football pitch in the world, est. 1807) as well as in the residents of Wrexham. Potential for historic sporting success, sure, but also the potential for an incredible story. And so they started making this docuseries. And then they bought the club. (Y...
Photographer Loren Haynes on Tori Amos: ‘She Was Going to Be a Star’
It was December 1991, in Santa Fe when I ran into Arthur Spivak. I had been living in L.A. since ‘85 and met Arthur at the Sunset Marquis when I met Steven Van Zandt to go over a photo shoot. Arthur was managing Steven at that time and Arthur knew I was working as a staff photographer with SPIN. He mentioned this new artist that he was representing with Michael Ameen and was clearly very excited about–and whose record was about to be released. I offered to see if I could get SPIN interested in doing a small piece for the magazine. First shot after the show. There would be no need for a hard sell or any sell: “I want to smash the faces/ Of those beautiful boys / Those Christian boys / So you can make me cum / That doesn’t make you Jesus.” [“Precious Things,” Little Earthquakes, 1992] I don’...
House of the Dragon Star Paddy Considine on Why It’s Tough to Be King
[Editor’s note: The following contains spoilers for House of the Dragon, Season 1 Episode 1, “The Heirs of the Dragon.”] Game of Thrones was a show that, as its title indicated, had a lot to do with the battle for power. But the king we meet in the House of the Dragon pilot, King Viserys Targaryen, has a complicated relationship with his place as ruler. “There’s a part of Viserys that wishes Rhaenys would have been named and not him,” star Paddy Considine says. “I don’t think it’s a responsibility, I think he was happy to get it, but then there’s a sense of ‘Oh god, why me?’ I think he’s a guy who’s damned, no matter what, by his duty. As he says to Rhaenyra, ‘[The Iron Throne] is the most dangerous seat in the room.’” House of the Dragon might take place within the very well-establi...
My Chemical Romance Launch North American Tour with Howlingly Chaotic Oklahoma City Show: Recap, Photos + Setlist
Donning a green camo jacket and a face full of Heath Ledger-style Joker makeup, Gerard Way leads My Chemical Romance into their first North American tour in more than 900 days, often channeling the same chaotic energy of whom he decorated his visage. The fizzing static distortions in the intro to “The Foundations of Decay,” the surprise single released this May in support of the reunion tour, practically serve as white noise behind the jubilant roars of the crowd as the band takes the stage inside Oklahoma City’s Paycom Arena. (Grab tickets to the rest of MCR’s tour dates here.) Clocking in at an epic six minutes, “The Foundations of Decay” features a bite-sized version of the same world-building story-craft often associated with the My Chemical Romance albums. Way’s soft-spoken early vers...
Fake employees and social attacks: Crypto recruiting is a minefield
Hiring in the crypto world can be difficult. Web3 companies are often disorganized and lack HR departments. Developers sometimes want to remain anonymous — even to their potential employers. Some employees don’t exist at all, while others are secretly juggling three other remote gigs. Then there are those who pretend to be employees but are really just plotting to rug everyone. The job of a hiring manager is no easy one. This goes doubly so for the Web3 world, where expectations both from employers and employees can be drastically different compared to the Web2 corporate world. Magazine spoke to Declan Strain, managing partner of Dubai-based talent consultancy BlockDelta, which helps companies in the Web3 industry connect with workers of all levels. After 20 years as a recruiter, he became...
25 Best Dragons on Screen, Ranked
You know what a dragon is when you see one. Sometimes, it might be the very last thing you see. Whether they’re laying waste to fictional countrysides, defending the world from cataclysmic events, or just being the best friend of young heroes, dragons have an immense and immediate impact on whatever fantasy world to which they belong — and whether they’re good, evil, or as neutral as Switzerland when it comes to the conflicts of men, they’re always a fascinating addition to any narrative. Our inspiration for looking back over decades of film and television to select the greatest dragons ever seen on screen is, of course, directly tied to the upcoming launch of two new tentpole series: The Game of Thrones prequel series House of the Dragon and Prime Video’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings ...
Song of the Week: BLACKPINK Are Back with a Bite on “PINK VENOM”
Song of the Week breaks down and talks about the song we just can’t get out of our head each week. Find these songs and more on our Spotify Top Songs playlist. For our favorite new songs from emerging artists, check out our Spotify New Sounds playlist. This week, BLACKPINK are razor-sharp on their comeback single. Ready or not, BLACKPINK are back. “PINK VENOM” arrived with a bang — the music video has already broken several records, most notably for the most-viewed K-pop music video in 2022 so far — and it’s proof of the power of BLACKPINK that the song is generating such a response. It’s been quite a while since BLINKs have been able to enjoy new music from the quartet as a complete unit. With “PINK VENOM,” BLACKPINK remain in a familiar sonic lane: the song is b...
