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The Disappearing Act By Catherine Steadman

Once a year, actors from across the globe descend on the smog and sunshine of Los Angeles for pilot season. Every cable network and studio looking to fill the rosters of their new shows enticing a fresh batch of young hopefuls, anxious, desperate and willing to do whatever it takes to make it. Careers will be made, dreams will be realized, stars will be born. And some will be snuffed out. British star Mia Eliot has landed leading roles in costume dramas in her native country, but now it's time for Hollywood to take her to the next level. Mia flies across the Atlantic to join the hoard of talent scrambling for their big breaks. She's a fish out of water in the ruthlessly competitive and faceless world of back-to-back auditioning. Then one day she meets Emily, another actress from out of town and a kindred spirit. Emily is friendly and genuine and reassuringly doesn't seem to be taking any of it too seriously. She stands out in a conveyor-belt world of fellow auditionees. B...

Sexist Double Standards Take Center Stage at Super Bowl Half Time Show

Over the past few days, I’ve found myself double-tapping a lot of Weeknd memes . While I definitely got a good laugh out of the lackluster effort put into the Super Bowl LV Halftime Show, I can’t seem to shake my uneasiness surrounding the entire situation. With a budget of around $20 million , $7 million of which The Weeknd contributed out of pocket, this year’s Super Bowl Halftime show felt rather anticlimactic. Whether it was the hazy camerawork , tired costume , or confusing choreography , the Weeknd’s performance lacked the zing that has animated the Half Time Show stage in prior years. The Weeknd’s performance fell a little short of the halftime standards established by stars like Lady Gaga, Jennifer Lopez, Shakira, Katy Perry, and Beyonce. These artists all used their performances to showcase their unique aesthetics and talents, as the Weeknd did with the recurring themes of face bandages and his radio-ready vocals. However, these f...

Celebrities and Corporations Have Found the Solution to COVID-19, but They’re Not Sharing

The Kardashians are not known for being role models; after all, courting controversy is how they remain relevant. But this past week alone, two separate members of the Kardashian-Jenner clan have come under fire for their conduct during the pandemic. Kim Kardashian’s 40th birthday celebration on a private island with her friends and family — complete with multiple rounds of testing and quarantining for all the guests — was heavily criticized as being tone deaf. Many pointed out that the money spent on the trip could have been put to better use helping those who were struggling financially, while others responded with how they spent their pandemic birthdays alone. Just days later, Kendall Jenner threw a Halloween party that also doubled as a celebration for her 25th birthday — with many A-list stars in attendance, including Justin Bieber, Doja Cat, and The Weeknd . Despite Kendall’s reported “no social media” rule , clips of maskless gu...

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Stalking Jack the Ripper by Kerri Maniscalco

“Hurry along, then,” I said, grabbing my journal. “I want to sit by the window.” “Hmm.” “What now?” I asked, losing patience. “I usually sit by the window. You may have to sit in my lap.” (Can you see why Thomas is my favorite character?) Groomed to be the perfect highborn Victorian young lady, Audrey Rose Wadsworth has a decidedly different plan for herself. After the loss of her beloved mother, she is determined to understand the nature of death and its workings. Trading in her embroidery needle for an autopsy scalpel, Audrey secretly apprentices in forensics. She soon gets drawn into the investigation of serial killer Jack the Ripper, but to her horror, the search for clues brings her far closer to her sheltered world than she ever thought possible. The amazing thing about this book is that the mystery is literally the least of my concerns. Of course, Audrey Rose is running around for months trying to figure out who the murderer is, but it felt like a road that sh...

“Taylor’s Version” sets Powerful Precedent for Music Industry

Taylor Swift’s re-recording of her sophomore album, “Fearless”, is her latest push to make the music industry a better place, especially for vulnerable artists. Swift is hardly the first artist to face devastation at the hands of their record label, but she might very well be the first one to fight it so openly . What the public views as a catfight between high-profile celebrities is essentially a battle for her life’s work ; the very work that the media continues to claim is too personal. In between slut-shaming her, the public continues to claim that Swift is a money-hungry vulture who masterminded every controversy surrounding her in order to increase profits. It is completely beside the point to argue that Swift does not need the extra money from her rerecordings – what she is doing is setting a precedent . She has expressed her belief that artists should have the rights to their work, or at least be given the opport...

Movies Have Always Been Political; People Just Weren't Paying Attention

Last Friday’s epic finale to “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier” finally made it official: Anthony Mackie’s Sam Wilson is the new “Captain America.” Unsurprisingly, the decision — and the show in general — has sparked a wave of criticism. While some of the uproar surrounding the show was blatantly racist , a lot of people took the chance to air out their grievances with the media becoming “too woke.” This frustration is not unique to “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier”; over the past few years, an increasing number of people are uncomfortable with what they deem an unnecessary insertion of politics into their entertainment and are bemoaning the death of escapist cinema. This complaint, however, is insanely strange. The thing is, movies are always political if the audience chooses to watch them with a political gaze. Movies have always been firmly rooted in reality — the political messaging was just somewhat hidden in order to avoid alienating audiences...

The Conways’ American Idol Stunt is Newest Incident of Political Reality TV

I think it’s fair to say that I was surprised when I first saw American Idol’s YouTube video titled “ Claudia Conway sings Adele Song and Shocks the World to earn a Golden Ticket ”. There was already a lot to unpack with Claudia apparently being a secret singer, but it was definitely her family theatrics that took the spotlight. From the awkward fist bump between Claudia and her father, to Katy Perry asking if Claudia’s mother hugs her, the entire audition was horribly, horribly awkward. And while it might seem bizarre and maybe even funny, it’s worth noting just how twisted and sick this entire situation is. For the uninitiated, Claudia Conway is the daughter of former President Donald Trump’s advisor Kellyanne Conway and right-wing “Never Trump” lawyer George Conway . She made a name for herself starting in June 2020 by posting incriminating videos of her mother, urging voters to vote blue, supporting Black Lives Matter, and even l...

The Disappearing Act By Catherine Steadman

Once a year, actors from across the globe descend on the smog and sunshine of Los Angeles for pilot season. Every cable network and studio looking to fill the rosters of their new shows enticing a fresh batch of young hopefuls, anxious, desperate and willing to do whatever it takes to make it. Careers will be made, dreams will be realized, stars will be born. And some will be snuffed out. British star Mia Eliot has landed leading roles in costume dramas in her native country, but now it's time for Hollywood to take her to the next level. Mia flies across the Atlantic to join the hoard of talent scrambling for their big breaks. She's a fish out of water in the ruthlessly competitive and faceless world of back-to-back auditioning. Then one day she meets Emily, another actress from out of town and a kindred spirit. Emily is friendly and genuine and reassuringly doesn't seem to be taking any of it too seriously. She stands out in a conveyor-belt world of fellow auditionees. B...

Foundryside by Robert Jackson Bennett

Sancia Grado is a thief, and a damn good one. And her latest target, a heavily guarded warehouse on Tevanne’s docks, is nothing her unique abilities can’t handle. But unbeknownst to her, Sancia’s been sent to steal an artifact of unimaginable power, an object that could revolutionize the magical technology known as scriving. The Merchant Houses who control this magic--the art of using coded commands to imbue everyday objects with sentience--have already used it to transform Tevanne into a vast, remorseless capitalist machine. But if they can unlock the artifact’s secrets, they will rewrite the world itself to suit their aims. Now someone in those Houses wants Sancia dead, and the artifact for themselves. And in the city of Tevanne, there’s nobody with the power to stop them. To have a chance at surviving—and at stopping the deadly transformation that’s underway—Sancia will have to marshal unlikely allies, learn to harness the artifact’s power for herself, and undergo her own transform...

Lil Nas X is Going to Hell for his Montero Music Video (I Would Know)

The following is a satirical article for The DisreGuardian, The Guardian’s April Fool’s issue. It’s been a little over a week since Lil Nas X released his newest song, “MONTERO (Call Me By Your Name)” and I haven’t been able to get it out of my head. The intricate three-minute video has come as a surprise to many country fans who loved his smash hit “Old Town Road,” myself included. That being said, Lil Nas X can’t even be considered a country singer; no respectable country singer would ever dress like that, or question God’s will in any way. If you live under a rock and haven’t watched the Montero video yet, do yourself a favor and watch it right now. You need to fully experience the song in its entirety to understand what I’m about to say. Now that you’ve immersed yourself completely in the thrilling saga—back to what I was saying. In the Montero music video, Lil Nas X is about to be inducted to heaven, when he instead decides to pole dance his way down to Hel...

TikTok is Selling Music Lovers the Illusion of Choice

If you care about pop music, you’ve probably heard Ariana Grande’s smash hit “Positions” by now. The album surged to the top of charts after its release, aided in no small part by the abundance of TikTok trends based on the album. With multiple trends centered around the songs “Positions,” “34+35,” and “pov,” the social media frenzy means that anyone who has been on the internet since the album was released has had these tracks drilled into their head. TikTok has established itself as a breeding ground for a whole new type of social media content, one that relies heavily on music. But rather than finding “new” music on TikTok, we’re just being fed the same thing over and over again until our brain starts to tell us that it might not sound so terrible after all. TikTok doesn’t make good music famous; it makes certain types of music famous. TikTok music leans heavily into a few niche categories. Aside from songs that are good for dancing, one such cate...

Celebrities and Corporations Have Found the Solution to COVID-19, but They’re Not Sharing

The Kardashians are not known for being role models; after all, courting controversy is how they remain relevant. But this past week alone, two separate members of the Kardashian-Jenner clan have come under fire for their conduct during the pandemic. Kim Kardashian’s 40th birthday celebration on a private island with her friends and family — complete with multiple rounds of testing and quarantining for all the guests — was heavily criticized as being tone deaf. Many pointed out that the money spent on the trip could have been put to better use helping those who were struggling financially, while others responded with how they spent their pandemic birthdays alone. Just days later, Kendall Jenner threw a Halloween party that also doubled as a celebration for her 25th birthday — with many A-list stars in attendance, including Justin Bieber, Doja Cat, and The Weeknd . Despite Kendall’s reported “no social media” rule , clips of maskless gu...

Locke & Key

Locke & Key tries too hard to be too many things. There’s high school drama times two, single mom drama, haunted house drama, boarding school drama, PTSD drama, alcoholism drama, and family drama. And this is all apart from the actual point of the series: the magical keys. The storyline has all these things it wants to cover, but it sure as hell takes it time getting there. The end result is a relaxed, meandering storyline that only manages to pack one or two punches per episode and loses track of the central plot very quickly. With a run time of nearly seven hours, I did not learn nearly enough about the Locke legacy. While the premise is definitely interesting, not enough care was given to the supernatural storyline. We know that an evil entity is after the keys, but no one really explains why? The two older Locke siblings, Tyler and Kinsey, can get really annoying at times. They’re prone to sudden flashes of genius, but are overtaken by bouts of stupidity far more often...