Today: October 13, 2024
Today: October 13, 2024

Latest From The Los Angeles Post

Arts

Actor Mark Margolis, murderous drug kingpin on 'Breaking Bad' and 'Better Call Saul,' dies at 83

Emmy-nominated actor Mark Margolis, who played murderous former drug kingpin Hector Salamanca in “Breaking Bad” and then in the prequel “Better Call Saul,” has died at age 83. The actor died at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City following a short illness, according to a statement from his son, Morgan Margolis. Margolis was nominated for an Emmy in 2012 for “Breaking Bad,” for outstanding guest actor, as Salamanca, the elderly don of his drug clan who was unable to speak or walk due to a stroke. Much of his character’s backstory later played out on

Actor Mark Margolis, murderous drug kingpin on 'Breaking Bad' and 'Better Call Saul,' dies at 83
Arts

What to know ahead of Tory Lanez's sentencing in Megan Thee Stallion's shooting

Three years have passed since hip-hop superstar Megan Thee Stallion was shot multiple times by rapper Tory Lanez in Los Angeles following a pool party at the home of Kylie Jenner. On Monday, Lanez is scheduled to be sentenced, following his December conviction on three felony charges. Here’s what you need to know about the case so far. Who are the key figures in the case? Tory Lanez, whose legal name is Daystar Peterson, is a Canadian artist who began releasing mixtapes in 2009 and saw a steady rise in popularity, moving on to major-label albums.

What to know ahead of Tory Lanez's sentencing in Megan Thee Stallion's shooting
Arts

Movie weapons supervisor waives right to preliminary hearing in fatal shooting by Alec Baldwin

The woman who was overseeing the use of weapons on the movie set where Alec Baldwin fatally shot a cinematographer agreed Friday to forgo a preliminary hearing that would have provided court testimony from dozens of people, including eyewitnesses to the shooting. Arizona-based armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, in a court filing, waived her right to a courtroom review of evidence on charges of involuntary manslaughter in the 2021 shooting of Halyna Hutchins on the set of the Western movie “Rust.” Gutierrez-Reed also waived her right to a review of charges by a grand jury. Defense attorney

Movie weapons supervisor waives right to preliminary hearing in fatal shooting by Alec Baldwin
Arts

Q&A: Keith Urban talks 2024 album, Vegas residency, and the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame

On Thursday, the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame announced that Keith Urban was among its class of 2023 inductees. The news arrived live from Columbia Studio A, just a block and a half from where the country music superstar stayed when he first landed in the Music City from Australia in 1989, hoping to make a name for himself. “It’s truly surreal,” Keith Urban told The Associated Press. He said that if someone told him, then, that he would one day be inducted in the hall, “I just wouldn’t have believed it.” Urban spoke to AP

Q&A: Keith Urban talks 2024 album, Vegas residency, and the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame
Arts

Randall Park adapts a favorite graphic novel for his feature debut 'Shortcomings'

Randall Park was a struggling actor when he first encountered Adrian Tomine’s graphic novel “Shortcomings” in 2007. The story focused on a twentysomething Japanese American man named Ben, who is trying to find himself in the Bay Area along with his girlfriend Miko and best friend Alice, who is a lesbian. They are all flawed, complex and figuring things out, sometimes inelegantly. Park was obsessed. “I remember thinking, gosh this would make an amazing movie,” Park said in an interview earlier this year during the Sundance Film Festival. “And in my dreams it was like,

Randall Park adapts a favorite graphic novel for his feature debut 'Shortcomings'
Arts

U.N. group says people abused by late Japanese boy band producer deserve apologies and compensation

The men who came forward to allege they were sexually abused as teenagers by Japanese boy band producer Johnny Kitagawa now have a powerful listener: the United Nations. Damilola Olawuyi, chair of the U.N. Working Group on Business and Human Rights, told reporters Friday the number of victims may total several hundred, and he accused Japan’s mainstream media of standing silent about the alleged abuse for decades. Olawuyi raised serious questions about the sincerity of the response from the talent agency Kitagawa founded, Johnny & Associates. He urged other entertainment industry players to carry out a “transparent

U.N. group says people abused by late Japanese boy band producer deserve apologies and compensation
Arts

Taylor Swift's Eras Tour Shatters Illusions

Swift performs at Gillette Stadium on May 19, 2023, in Foxborough, Mass., during her Eras Tour.  In the weeks leading up to June 16, 2023, when I attended the Pittsburgh leg of Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour, the online chatter about the 33-year-old singer had become draining. The internet was ablaze with rumors about Swift dating Matty Healy, the lead singer of the English pop-rock band The 1975. Some Swifties – the term used for diehard Taylor Swift fans – berated the pop superstar for dating Healy, who’d become mired in controversy for appearing on a podcast whose hosts made racist

Taylor Swift's Eras Tour Shatters Illusions
Arts

Delayed by over a month, the 'Barbie' movie will now be released in the United Arab Emirates

The United Arab Emirates has approved the release of the “Barbie” movie after a delay of over a month over possible content issues. UAE officials didn’t explain the screening delay, which has also occurred in other Arab nations. “The UAE Media Council has granted the Barbie movie the approval to be screened in the UAE’s licensed cinemas after completing the necessary procedures in line with the standards of media content and the UAE age classification,” the council announced late Thursday. The movie’s inclusion of a transgender actress as Barbie and other messaging on LGBTQ+

Delayed by over a month, the 'Barbie' movie will now be released in the United Arab Emirates
Arts

Why are actors making movies during the strike? What to know about SAG-AFTRA interim agreements

The actors and writers strikes have resulted in most Hollywood film and television productions being shut down, from the “Gladiator” sequel to the live action “Lilo & Stitch.” But some independent films and television productions are being granted waivers by the union that will allow them to continue, with Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists actors, amid the strike. It’s a move that the union leadership says is an essential negotiating tactic, but that’s also proved divisive and confusing to many sweating it out on the picket lines while movie stars like Anne Hathaway and Matthew McConaughey

Why are actors making movies during the strike? What to know about SAG-AFTRA interim agreements
Arts

Keith Urban, Kix Brooks of Brooks & Dunn to be inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame

Country superstar Keith Urban and Kix Brooks of powerhouse country duo Brooks & Dunn will be inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame this year. The organization announced its newest inductees on Thursday. They also include Casey Beathard and David Lee Murphy, in the contemporary songwriter category, and Rafe Van Hoy in the veteran songwriter category. They will be formally inducted on October 11 during the 53rd Anniversary Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame Gala held at the Music City Center. Chair of the organization’s board of directors, Rich Hallworth, and Mark Ford, its executive director,

Keith Urban, Kix Brooks of Brooks & Dunn to be inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame
Arts

Carl Davis, award-winning American composer behind many British TV shows and films, dies at 86

Carl Davis, the American composer and conductor behind the scores for numerous award-winning British television shows and movies, has died, aged 86. In a statement, his family said Davis, who is perhaps best-known for the score of “The World at War,” a hugely influential documentary series about World War II that aired in 1973, died Thursday in Oxford following a brain hemorrhage. “We are so proud that Carl’s legacy will be his astonishing impact on music,” the family said. “A consummate all-round musician, he was the driving force behind the reinvention of the silent movie for this

Carl Davis, award-winning American composer behind many British TV shows and films, dies at 86
Arts

Assault trial for actor Jonathan Majors postponed until September

Actor Jonathan Majors’ domestic violence trial was postponed until at least Sept. 6 after New York City prosecutors asked Thursday for more time to prepare. Majors, 33, appeared in court for what was to have been the start of his trial on charges stemming from a March confrontation with a woman who says he twisted her arm behind her back, struck her on the head and pushed her into a vehicle. The woman was treated at a hospital for minor neck and head injuries, including a cut to her ear. Majors is charged with misdemeanors, including

Assault trial for actor Jonathan Majors postponed until September
Arts

Freddie Mercury's beloved piano, song drafts and hundreds of personal items to go on sale

More than 1,400 of Freddie Mercury’s personal items, including his flamboyant stage costumes, handwritten drafts of “Bohemian Rhapsody” and the baby grand piano he used to compose Queen’s greatest hits, are going on show in a free exhibition at Sotheby’s London ahead of their sale. The vast collection of the singer’s personal belongings, which had been left to Mercury’s close friend Mary Austin, had remained undisturbed in his west London mansion for 30 years since his death in 1991. Austin, 72, said in a BBC interview in April that she has decided to sell almost all the

Freddie Mercury's beloved piano, song drafts and hundreds of personal items to go on sale
Arts

Lizzo says she's 'not the villain' after her former dancers claim sex harassment

Lizzo said Thursday that she’s “not the villain” that three of her former backup dancers falsely accuse her of being in a sexual harassment lawsuit. The civil lawsuit filed Tuesday in Los Angeles County Superior Court claims Lizzo pressured the dancers to engage with nude performers at a club in Amsterdam and shamed one of them for her weight gain before firing her. “I am not here to be looked at as a victim, but I also know that I am not the villain that people and the media have portrayed me to be these last

Lizzo says she's 'not the villain' after her former dancers claim sex harassment
Arts

Adidas brings in $437 million from selling Yeezy shoes that will benefit anti-hate groups

Adidas brought in 400 million euros ($437 million) from the first release of Yeezy sneakers left over after breaking ties with Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, as the German sportswear maker tries to offload the unsold shoes and donate part of the proceeds to groups fighting antisemitism and other forms of hate. The first batch of shoes sold in June helped the company reach an operating profit of 176 million euros in the second quarter, better than it originally planned, Adidas said in a statement Thursday. After Ye’s antisemitic and other offensive comments

Adidas brings in $437 million from selling Yeezy shoes that will benefit anti-hate groups
Arts

Deaf rappers who lay down rhymes in sign languages are changing what it means for music to be heard

Rapper Beautiful The Artist performs in the music video for the dip hop song ‘DEAFinitely Lit.’ Beautiful The Artist/YouTube In April 2023, DJ Supalee hosted Supafest Reunion 2023 to celebrate entertainers and promoters within the U.S. Deaf community. The event included performances by R&B artist and rapper Sho’Roc, female rapper Beautiful The Artist, the group Sunshine 2.0, DJs Key-Yo and Hear No Evil, as well as ASL performer and former rapper Polar Bear, who now goes by Red Menace. Many of these artists, activists and entrepreneurs have contributed to an ever-growing hip-hop scene within the Deaf community, which includes a

Deaf rappers who lay down rhymes in sign languages are changing what it means for music to be heard
Arts

'Barbie' is, at its core, a movie about the messy contradictions of motherhood

There’s a difference between the fulfilling relationship mothers can have with their children and the patriarchal institution of motherhood. Jens Kalaene/Getty Images Editor’s note: This article contains plot spoilers for “Barbie.” The wildly popular “Barbie” movie has been touted for its celebration – and critique – of femininity. As a mother and a media scholar, I couldn’t help but see “Barbie” through an even narrower lens: as a film that, at its core, is about mothers and daughters. The film’s plot centers on a life-size doll, known as “Stereotypical Barbie,” played by Margot Robbie, who begins to malfunction: Her feet

'Barbie' is, at its core, a movie about the messy contradictions of motherhood
Arts

Singer Coco Lee mourned by fans and family at Hong Kong funeral

Singer and songwriter Coco Lee was being mourned by family and friends at a private ceremony Tuesday, a day after fans paid their respects at a public memorial for the Hong Kong-born entertainer who had international success. Sobs were heard when pallbearers marched solemnly with her coffin inside the funeral hall before her cremation. Lee, who died July 5 at age 48, was known for her powerful voice and live performances. On Monday, scores of fans dressed in black had waited outside the funeral hall in the summer heat, with some carrying flowers. The public memorial

Singer Coco Lee mourned by fans and family at Hong Kong funeral
Arts

Broadway star Phillipa Soo is working on picture book about her childhood stage fright

Broadway star Phillipa Soo has not forgotten her childhood stage fright. The Grammy-winning actor and singer known for her roles in “Hamilton,” “Into the Woods” and other musicals is collaborating with her sister-in-law Maris Pasquale Doran and illustrator Qin Leng on a picture book about a girl more at ease singing to her stuffed animals than in front of a crowd. Random House Studio, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books, announced Wednesday that “Piper Chen Sings” will come out next April. “I have often been asked, ‘If you could say anything to your younger self,

Broadway star Phillipa Soo is working on picture book about her childhood stage fright
Arts

Bidens head to summer blockbuster 'Oppenheimer' during beach vacation

President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden took a break from their Delaware beach vacation to see the summer blockbuster “Oppenheimer.” The Bidens, after a quick dinner at Matt’s Fish Camp in nearby Lewes on Tuesday, went to an early evening showing of the three-hour movie about the life of Manhattan Project mastermind J. Robert Oppenheimer. The Bidens chose “Oppenheimer” over the even bigger blockbuster “Barbie,” which was showing at the same time at the Movies at Midway theater. The total box office in U.S. and Canadian theaters on the opening weekend was more

Bidens head to summer blockbuster 'Oppenheimer' during beach vacation
Arts

Striking writers and studios will meet this week to discuss restarting negotiations

Union leaders told striking Hollywood writers Tuesday night that they plan to meet with representatives for studios to discuss restarting negotiations after the first official communication between the two sides since the strike began three months ago. The Writers Guild of America sent an email to members saying that the head of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents major studios, streaming services and production companies in negotiations, requested a meeting on Friday to discuss the resumption of contract talks. “We’ll be back in communication with you sometime after the meeting with further

Striking writers and studios will meet this week to discuss restarting negotiations
Arts

Germany's Wacken metal festival halts admissions after persistent rain turns site to mud

The Wacken Open Air heavy metal festival in northern Germany is opening on Wednesday with a reduced audience after persistent rain turned the grounds to mud and forced organizers to order a halt to all new arrivals. Organizers of the famed music festival in the village of Wacken, in a rural area northwest of Hamburg, had already told fans on Tuesday that no more cars and trucks could be admitted to the site because camping areas, the grounds and access roads were in poor condition because of heavy rain in recent days, and more was expected. Early

Germany's Wacken metal festival halts admissions after persistent rain turns site to mud
Arts

Turkish broadcasting watchdog investigates 'cancellation' of Ataturk TV series

Turkey’s broadcasting watchdog has launched an investigation into claims that streaming service Disney + pulled a series on the country’s founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the group’s chairman said. Local media reports said Armenian Americans had lobbied for the show to be canceled on the grounds that Ataturk, as an officer in the Ottoman army, was tied to the mass killing of Armenians in 1915. The Radio and Television Supreme Board decided to initiate an investigation “based on the public information” that Disney+ decided not to broadcast the series, board chairman Ebubekir Sahin said on social media late

Turkish broadcasting watchdog investigates 'cancellation' of Ataturk TV series
Arts

With two HGTV shows, Christina Hall finds success in going solo

HGTV star Christina Hall promises not to judge your home if you invite her over. “There’s literally zero judgment,” the TV personality said during a recent interview. “Unless you live in a hoarder house or it’s real gross or dirty, I’m not going to care. I’ve lived in different types of houses and places and situations.” As the star of two shows on the network, “Christina on the Coast” and “Christina in the Country,” Hall has a talent for looking at a floorplan and picturing what could be changed to make a space more functional. She enjoys renovating homes more

With two HGTV shows, Christina Hall finds success in going solo
Arts

Driver to be charged with negligence in crash that killed actor Treat Williams

A Vermont driver will be charged with gross negligence in the crash that killed actor Treat Williams, officials said. An investigation of the June 12 crash in Dorset concluded a vehicle pulled in front of Williams, who was riding a motorcycle and was unable to avoid a collision, Vermont State Police said Tuesday. The driver, Ryan Koss, 35, of Dorset, was issued a citation Tuesday evening for grossly negligent operation causing death, state police said. He was released and ordered to appear in court in September to be formally charged. A court official couldn’t say whether

Driver to be charged with negligence in crash that killed actor Treat Williams

Follow