Entertainment

Struggle Street, the documentary which initially aired on Australia’s SBS has had its fair share of controversy. Before the show even made it to air, commentary about the ads for the documentary were rife. Namely about how it depicted those people in it and the suburb of Mount Druitt in a negative light. Some claimed it was “poverty porn” a voyeuristic thrill of watching those in a worse position than themselves. A peek over to the wrong side of the tracks to check in on how the Joneses weren’t keeping up. Garbage trucks blockaded the SBS Sydney offices in protest over the show. Then it aired, and it appeared it wasn’t quite as one-sided and biased as those outraged by the initial ads suspected. It elicited sympathy. A look into something different, seen through different eyes. That the cycle of poverty can be complex, and there’s no easy answers to ...

“Giving up voice acting on The Simpsons? Even Mr Burns, Ned Flanders, and Principal Skinner?” “They all come from the same voice actor-” “Sure, some wonderful, magical voice actor…” His name is Harry Shearer, and his voice acting has formed an integral part of The Simpsons since the show began back in 1989. Now though, it seems it’s all coming to an end. Beyond Homer’s boss and evangelical neighbour, Harry Shearer also voices characters such as Dr. Hibbert, Kent Brockman, Lenny Leonard, Otto Mann, Rainier Wolfcastle, Reverend Lovejoy, and others. In short, his voices form a huge chunk of the Springfieldians. Fans of the show are still reeling. Some suspect it’s a conspiracy by the Rand Corporation, in conjunction with the saucer people, under the supervision of the reverse vampires… Others are marvelling at the show’s ability to apparently predict its own future: While others still are trying to sift through ...

News of the impending doom for Johnny Depp’s dogs, Pistol and Boo, travelled like wildfire, with little room to invoke the right of parlay. The Hollwood movie star, currently in Queensland, Australia, filming the fifth instalment in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise Dead Men Tell No Tales, brought his two dogs, Pistol and Boo, with him. This occurred illegally, as they were flown in by private jet, ignoring and circumventing Australia’s quarantine laws, as the dogs were not declared to Customs. Had the dogs been declared to Customs, the whole thing would’ve largely been a non-issue. As it turns out, this is not the first quarantine issue related to filming the movie, with Jack the Monkey from the series also subjected to 30 days in quarantine in accordance with Australia’s biosecurity laws. That Depp’s dogs potentially faced being euthanased, sent both social media and politicians into a flurry of ...

Following in the news that an application is in the making to block the Kardashians from the internet for users, the KardBlock makers also have the following to say on their official website: “We are also working on customization to block content related to Justin Bieber.” Offering the ability to directly filter out internet content based upon the dislike of a particular celebrity could be pretty big news. Coupled with the point James Shamsi makes: That there is real news out there, however, much of it gets subordinated in favour of more trivial things regarding celebrities. Which is not without truth and merit, even if people are likely to always be interested in celebrities. Yet the future ability to filter out internet content related to particular celebrities could be of real benefit. For example, parents may not have a problem with their young children liking the fictional character Hannah Montana, ...

Stars Wars, the space opera film saga which has spilled over into pop culture phenomena, again both strikes back and returns with another May the 4th. After the prequel trilogy, wiping the droids’ memories seemed like the best course of action. If only the rest of the world could’ve done the same. Now details of the sequel trilogy are doing not trying, and are breaking through with The Force Awakens. If only that cross-guard on the lightsaber made more sense. Probably none of the following is canon, but in this way, a trilogy of trilogies, or nine reasons if preferred, are offered up as to why Star Wars should be celebrated on May 4th 2015: Attack of the Clones gave the world dialogue wooden enough to make even Pinocchio seem like a real boy. Now that Disney owns Lucasfilm, the circle is now complete. George Lucas showed that flannelette shirts ...

In the upcoming Adam Sandler movie The Ridiculous Six, Native American (or “Indian”) actors and a cultural advisor have walked off the New Mexico set in protest. A general disrespectfulness of Native American culture, including bad jokes and character names such as Beaver’s Breath and No Bra, have been cited as the reasons. Further that the comedy is unfunny, racist and only serves the worn out stereotypes of “Hollywood Indians” from yesteryear, along with grossly misrepresenting the Apache culture. That it’s an Adam Sandler and is a direct-to-streaming movie made for Netflix may be enough to say it all. Warner Bros. dropped the film months ago. Plus the film’s cast is said to also include Jon Lovitz and Vanilla Ice… Adam Sandler in a movie as a big drawcard, hasn’t been something that’s happened in a very long while. Yet coupled with his Happy Madison Productions, Adam Sandler continues to ...

From messianic rocker to trout pouting duck-faced selfie taker, Jared Leto’s transformation into the Joker for Suicide Squad hasn’t exactly been outside of the limelight. Now, it appears the journey to whatever side it is, is now complete. You’ll get to see it soon enough. Don’t be so predictable. Few people doubt Leto’s acting chops. Yet his more notable roles have tended to focus on him being the androgynous pretty boy, or going that step farther as was the case in Dallas Buyers Club. The running commentary from both Leto and others regarding his role as the Joker has filled in the gaps along the way. His comments about aiming to put on some muscle for the Suicide Squad movie, given his shirtless pose, tend to make sense. In a wiry and lithe sort of way. Looking at the photo though, where exactly the “majestic” nature of the Joker is to ...

Don McLean’s original manuscript of lyrics for his song American Pie, was auctioned and sold on 7 April by Christie’s in New York. Written back the 1970-1, the manuscript fetched a sale price of US$1,205,000 from an anonymous buyer. It achieved the third highest auction price for an American literary manuscript. As Tom Lecky of Christie’s said: “This result is a testament to the creative genius of Don McLean and to the song’s ability to still engage and inspire.” Don McLean apparently released his manuscript because he wanted to help people better understand the true meaning of his song. Stating in the Christie’s February catalogue: “It was an indescribable photograph of America that I tried to capture in words and music.” Maybe it was also as much as about the money and Don’s “mercantile instinct” as well. The true meaning of the song American Pie, however, still remains rather mysterious. ...

There you have it fans, Deadpool’s official suit for the forthcoming Deadpool (2016) movie: With great power, comes great irresponsibility. #deadpool #officialsuit @deadpoolmovie pic.twitter.com/MPM89bYz1B — Ryan Reynolds (@VancityReynolds) March 27, 2015 Which is maybe better than the featured image for the article probably suggested. Sane though Lady Deadpool may be. Speaking of, hopefully this time around the Merc with a Mouth actually has a mouth to use. After the debacle that was Deadpool towards the end of X-Men Origins: Wolverine, one can only hope. How exactly that movie ended up with some mouthless, uninspired Mortal Kombat-esque Baraka rip-off in place of Deadpool is more mysterious than the serious origins of this hirsute superhero (also kindly tweeted by Ryan Reynolds). Surely even Dogpool had to have been a barking lot better than pseudo-Barakapool? Even with Deadpool’s freakish healing abilities, it has taken many years for him to recover from that misstep! Fans are a ...

Who Was England’s Greatest Prime Minister? The question is admittedly a little misleading, since there’s only going to be a choice of two here: Pitt the Elder versus Lord Palmerston. First a bit of background, even if it’s known what’s coming. Pitt the Elder William Pitt the Elder, 1st Earl of Chatham, also known as “the Great Commoner” was described as an aloof individual and a commanding speaker. Although only holding the office of Prime Minister for two years (1766-68), his political career was both far longer and more contentious. Mainly in part due to the wars over the period, tensions with the British colonies including America, and divergent views between the people and the monarchy at the time. He also gave the world the following quote: “Unlimited power is apt to corrupt the minds of those who possess it.” Variants of which are still used today (though the concept ...