Roger Moore, best known for playing James Bond, has passed away. He was 89.
Roger Moore Passes Away
Zack Snyder Steps Down From ‘Justice League’ to Deal With Family Tragedy
Zack Snyder is stepping away from the Justice League movie in the wake of a family tragedy. Borys Kit, writing for The Hollywood Reporter:
Snyder tells The Hollywood Reporter he is stepping away from Justice League, Warner Bros.’ all-star DC Comics superhero mega-movie that is in postproduction, in order to deal with the sudden death of his daughter. Snyder’s wife, Deborah Snyder, who is a producer on Justice League, also is taking a break to focus on the healing of their family.
Ryan Key to Write Venom Comic Book
Ryan Key of Yellowcard will be writing an upcoming issue for the comic book character Venom. He talked with Marvel about the character and his history with the stories:
I was beyond excited when I found out I was going to get to work with Venom for my first ever attempt at writing a comic. I don’t know if you can count the comics I wrote and drew during class as a kid. Spider-Man was a huge part of my childhood and Venom has always been, without a doubt, one of my all-time favorite villains in the Marvel Universe. I feel like Logan has always had a “dark side” himself and this version of him in his older age where he slips into this apathy we saw in the first [“Old Man Logan”], provided an opportunity to fuse him with the symbiote and awaken that rage we’ve always seen from him. Just the thought of Wolverine in a Venom suit was more than enough to get me on board for this!
Fatalities After Incident at Ariana Grande Concert in Manchester
There has been an explosion at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester.
There are fatalities following an incident at Manchester Arena in England on Monday, according to local police.
In a Facebook post, Greater Manchester Police released the following statement: “Emergency services are currently responding to reports of an explosion at Manchester Arena. There are a number of confirmed fatalities and others injured. Please AVOID the area as first responders work tirelessly at the scene. Details of a casualty bureau will follow as soon as available.”
Amazon Introduces New Bestseller List
Ingrid Lunden, writing for TechCrunch:
Today, Amazon announced Amazon Charts, a new kind of bestseller list that will give users, for the first time ever, a top 20 list of ‘most read’ books on Amazon — a new metric that combines how much books are read on Kindle and listened to via Audible.
Medium Now Offers Audio Versions of Its Stories for Members
Ken Yeung, writing for VentureBeat:
Medium is hoping to sweeten the pot in order to get you to become a paying member. The publishing platform provider said that members will now be provided an audio version of every “exclusive, member-funded story” along with some additional selections chosen by the company’s editorial team. More than 50 stories are now available as audio versions, with more being added in the future.
Brendon Urie to Record New Music After Broadway
Brendon Urie of Panic! at the Disco talked with Popbuzz about his plan to write some new music after his stint on Broadway:
So I’ve got probably ten more demos that I’ve just been hanging on to. Nothing full again, probably just minute and a half ideas. But exciting stuff, stuff that I didn’t expect to have written. So it’s really just bizarre, yeah I guess bizarre is probably the best way to describe it. It’s kind of out there.
PayPal Sues Pandora Over Logo
PayPal is taking Pandora to court over their new similar logo:
The digital-payment company says Pandora’s big blue “P,” unveiled in October, damages its business because customers are mistakenly opening the wrong app on their phones.
“I was a little confused when I opened PayPal and Barenaked Ladies started playing,” one PayPal customer tweeted.
Tom DeLonge Talks to Billboard About Box Car Racer
Tom DeLonge talked to Billboard about the 15-year anniversary of Box Car Racer:
Well I’m not going to spill any beans, but Travis and I talk all the time. There was always talk of Box Car Racer; we’ve talked about it for a very long time. We just came out with vinyl, and we’ve gotten offers to bring it back. I don’t know if it was like Coachella, but we’ve had things like that pop up from time to time. It’s something that’s never died in our imaginations and it’s something that I think we’re willing to do. Whether we come out with some big announcement or we’re ready to say, “Hey, this is happening,” I don’t know any of those kinds of details. But I think that our passion for what we did lives strong. We do talk about it and we do want to do something but we have no desire to talk about details because there’s a lot going on in my life right now, and [Travis’s]. Blink’s doing really well right now and everyone’s in a good spot, contrary to what public opinion may be. [Laughs.] I have the best situation ever where that band can continue and they can do what they want. And I’m making major motion pictures and working with people in government, so it’s a big deal.
As a quick aside: The autoplaying videos on Billboard’s website are fucking obnoxious.
Elway to Record New Album in July
Elway will start recording a new album in July.
Harry Styles Debuts at #1, Paramore at #6
Harry Styles has the number one album in the country this week.
With Styles’ start of 193,000 he earns the biggest debut sales week for a U.K. male artist’s first full-length album since Nielsen Music began tracking sales in 1991.
Paramore came in at number six, selling around 67,000 album equivalent units. I’ve seen a few people saying this is a disappointment, and I wanna push back on that just a bit. The band selected a fast album roll-out with very minimal press. They did only a few interviews, with massive publications, and turned down requests from everyone else. They didn’t send out advances to virtually anyone, and I think they knew going in this wasn’t going to be an album they pushed for the first week sales. I think it’s instead setting up their upcoming tour, they’ll have a bigger push on the second single, and the positive word of mouth will keep this album moving throughout the summer.
Basically, I don’t think it’s a disappointment, and I wouldn’t worry.
Rare Fall Out Boy Demo Tape Being Auctioned Off
A copy of Fall Out Boy’s first demo tape is being raffled off tomorrow by Christopher Gutierrez (HeyChris) to benefit The Catcade, a Chicago nonprofit cat rescue/arcade combo.
This is the first and original Fall Out Boy demo tape. Maybe like 50 ever made. One of the few pieces of early-2000s pop punk history I have collected that I said I would never sell, is now being raffled off to raise money for my non-profit charity @thecatcade – for every $10 donated between now and Saturday at TheCatcade.org , your name will be entered into a drawing and the winner will be chosen live and fairly this Saturday. Good luck.
Donations can be made here.
Photographs of Films
Jason Shulman condensed entire movies into single photos using long exposures. These are awesome.
Update: An article from artist Kevin Ferguson on Hyperallergic shows how he’s been doing this style of art since 2013, before Shulman’s project.
Lena Waithe Wrote Her Most Personal Story for ‘Master of None’
E. Alex Jung, writing for Vulture:
“Thanksgiving,” the eighth episode of Master of None’s second season, is the most personal thing Lena Waithe has ever written. She and Aziz Ansari wrote the episode together in a hotel room in London, filtering her own coming-out experience through Denise, her character on the show. The episode is quietly epic, in large part due to the direction by Melina Matsoukas, who paid attention to the details from the cross on the wall to the plastic covers of the couch. “Thanksgiving” is a paean to the beauty of annual rituals and how we think about real and imagined families.
I absolutely loved this season of Master of None, and this episode was one of the highlights.
Lena Dunham Cancels Lenny IRL Tour, Citing Health
Lena Dunham has canceled her upcoming Lenny: America IRL tour with Waxahatchee due to health reasons:
I’ve always been open with you all about the challenges I’ve been dealt with my health, even when it’s scary and embarrassing, even when it makes me feel weak or less than. So I’m not going to stop now, even though part of me really wants to, cuz enough is enough. My body, which I’ve worked through all kinds of pain for many years, just doesn’t have what it takes to do this tour. Lenny is about giving 100 percent of ourselves, 100 percent of the time, and I couldn’t bear to limp through this. Not for you, our favorite people, and not for the women giving their time to join me on the road.