How ‘The Rings of Power’ Navigated Great Expectations and a Racist Backlash

After hearing early demos from Kid Cudi, director Fletcher Moules knew he could connect with the vision of bringing a visual album to life through animation. Serving as an animated companion piece to Kid Cudi’s album of the same name, Entergalactic follows street artist Jabari (Cudi) as he is on the cusp of bringing his art to life in comics. His life changes when he falls for his neighbor Meadow (Jessica Williams), a photographer about to stage an exhibition. It was important for Moules that this special be a character-driven concept album, rather than one long music video, so the story and animation style were essential to get right.

With the sun shining and everyone from Harry Styles to Pink playing massive outdoor concerts, summer has well and truly arrived. This can only mean one thing – the Official Song of the Summer 2023 race has begun, and following last year's curveball victory from Kate Bush's Running Up That Hill, it's all to play for.

Fantasy on TV was once the preserve of teen-skewing shows like Xena and Hercules, until Game of Thrones made things bigger but bloodier with its blockbuster eight-year run. Now, however, the genre is expanding in unexpected ways, typified by Amazon’s The Lord of The Rings: The Rings of Power. Where we might have expected another adaptation about obviously good folk fighting clear evil, the show that emerged offers a look at power, obsession and conflict set thousands of years before J.R.R. Tolkien’s foundational text. After Thrones (and its own prequel), it is a coming-of-age for the genre, proof that fantasy is capable of offering subtlety and complexity as well as large-scale adventure.

Vanderpump Rules fans are cringing over a newly released scene between Raquel Leviss and Tom Sandoval.

A huge wind farm in East Ayrshire – which will power over 187,000 homes and help produce Irn Bru – has officially opened.

The Beatles are coming back.

A.D. Amorosi When listeners look back at what was their favorite late-spring/early-summer 2023 anthem, for many, it will surely be New York rapper and vocalist Toosii’s warmly embraceable “Favorite Song.” A spare, banging ballad with a gorgeous, sinewy melody, a subtly contagious chorus and a positive, romantic message (“You look good without no make-up, no lashes, even better when you wake up”), it has spent 15 weeks on the Billboard chart to date, most of that in the Top 10. Along with reaching No. 5 on the Hot 100, “Favorite” hit No. 1 on the Rap Streaming Songs Chart, the Hot Rap Songs Chart and the R&B/Hip-Hop Chart, all with 400-million-plus combined global streams. To go with its platinum-certified victory, “Favorite Song” has also accumulated over 61 million YouTube video views, and is currently the centerpiece of “Naujour” Toosii’s just-released debut album.

Shortly after series 10 of Love Island kicked off it was revealed that Islanders Ella Thomas, 23, and Tyrique Hyde, 24, already know each other, although the encounter wasn’t a memorable one for Tyrique as he claimed he couldn’t remember. Tyrique is a semi-professional footballer who originally hails from Essex and currently plays as a midfielder for East Sussex club Lewes FC.

In a new interview with BBC Radio 4, Paul McCartney revealed that a previously unreleased Beatles song is coming in 2023, and artificial intelligence programs were used in its creation. Speaking with Today's Martha Kearney, McCartney gave his thoughts on AI's "scary, but exciting" advancements before revealing that Peter Jackson, director of the 2022 Beatles documentary Get Back, was able to use AI tools to "extricate" John Lennon's vocals from a cassette demo.

Cashing in. Tom Sandoval and Raquel Leviss‘ cheating scandal came with an unexpected paycheck for several Vanderpump Rules stars.

reports the BBC.“We just finished it up and it’ll be released this year,” McCartney, 80, told the outlet. The musician said that in order to use Lennon’s voice, he turned to “Lord of the Rings” director Peter Jackson for help. “He [Jackson] was able to extricate John’s voice from a ropey little bit of cassette that had John’s voice and a piano,” explained McCartney.

Holly Willoughby has sent fans into a frenzy as she debuted the “perfect” summer dress - and it's a high street bargain. The blonde beauty often shows her eight million Instagram followers her outfits before going on This Morning, which she’s hosted for over a decade.

Hunter Ingram The first season of AMC’s “Interview With the Vampire” builds a textured, vibrant world, only to watchit burn and bleed. Anne Rice’s beloved story of long-dead vampire Lestat (Sam Reid) and his latest creation, Louis (Jacob Anderson), chronicles a relationship baptized in blood, fueled by passion and gutted by betrayal. Thanks to the series’ crafts teams, Louis and Lestat’s bond lives and dies (and lives again) according to a visually cohesive language that congeals around one thing — color. Production designer Mara LePereSchloop and costume designer Carol Cutshall spent days with fabrics in hand, curating the color palette for the series, which shifts Rice’s 19th-century New Orleans story to the early 20th century and the city’s redlight district Storyville.

Ariana Madix isn’t wasting any time turning a hurtful remark into a business opportunity.

Jenelle Riley Deputy Awards and Features Editor Paul Walter Hauser has made hamburgers the latest red carpet accessory.The actor has found himself making the rounds lately thanks to his stunning turn as serial killer Larry Hall in Apple TV Plus’ limited series “Black Bird,” a role that has already netted him a SAG Award nomination and wins from the Golden Globes and the Critics Choice Awards. After Jamie Lee Curtis asked him to bring her a burger to the next event, Hauser showed up at the Critics Choice Awards with a patty – only to learn Curtis couldn’t attend due to COVID. He later proposed to her with a smashburger at the AARP Movies for Grownups Awards and brought 20 burgers to the SAG Awards, where he handed them out to the likes of Adam Sandler. When Hauser’s name was called amongst the nominees in his category, he perfectly timed a blissful bite on camera.So when Hauser joined us as a guest on this week’s episode of the Variety Awards Circuit podcast, we wanted to get his opinion on one of our favorite hamburgers in town, from the Corner Deli – which is located inside a gas station next to our offices. Listen below for his full review.

The explosive season 10 reunion of Vanderpump Rules reunion has come to an end.

Roti, the Scottish-Indian restaurant which mashes up Scots and Indian cuisine with its unique fusion menu, is heading to Urmston. It’ll be setting up shop on Flixton Road, bringing with it its haggis pakoras and signature Irn-Bru Negroni.

In a season where helmers for “Succession,” “House of the Dragon,” “Better Call Saul,” “Andor” and “The Last of Us” will likely dominate the Emmy conversation, there is one director who deserves a bigger spotlight and, frankly, a nomination, J.A. Bayona.

They're widely considered to be the most deadly gang operating in the UK and Ireland. Their fearsome reputation puts them on a par with the Italian mafia and the Mexican cartels.

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