“Olivia is either a mad genius who figured out a way to make people more aware of the movie in a way that just drives up the box office,” says one source, “or she doesn’t have any self-awareness that she is fucking up her movie.”

I think Zaslav has sent one clear and unambiguous signal in all of this: he thinks everyone is way over-invested in streaming. He does not believe that streaming is special, or is the future, or any of that; he’ll treat it as just another channel, and not even the most important one. So, of course he’s on board with…

They might have started with a script that was closer to the comics, but by the time it went through rewrites and studio notes, it was more “inspired by” than “based on.” 

It’s extremely hard to get your first book published, let alone get it optioned as a movie. Having all that happen with an early draft manuscript is even less likely, and nearly impossible if you don’t already have connections that give you access - it would be roughly on the same level as finding a winning lottery…

I was recently looking for a substitute for butter to use in a pie dough, and a number of vegan websites assured me that coconut oil would do the trick. It did not - the flavor was pretty good, but it was quite dense and not at all flaky, almost like a very rich, very thick cracker. Do not recommend.

I’m a long-time fan of the Charles Shaw Shiraz. I like to think of that brand as equivalent to the French vin ordinaire - cheap table wine that you drink to wash down food. I have relatives who refuse to drink cheap wine on principle, which seems kind of crazy to me - you’re so sure you won’t like it that you refuse…

Here’s the product on Amazon ($14.89): https://www.amazon.com/Hario-Mizudashi-Cold-Coffee-600ml/dp/B00IJ3NJG2

Other methods I’ve tried have been incredibly finicky on this point, resulting in whole batches getting poured down the drain.

Your HR department is not going to give a shit about your quiet firing, no matter how much documentation you supply them with. It’s just too subjective an area, so in the unlikely event that they take any action at all, they’ll just ask your manager about it, get a BS response, and file that response in your employee…

There was, I can only assume, a publicist standing to the side of this 14-minute standing ovation with a stopwatch, making sure that the ovation lasted precisely one minute longer than the previous record-holder. I know the entertainment industry likes nothing more than congratulating itself, but I’d truly hate to…

Jesus Christ, this movie - which seemingly nobody really likes that much - has generated so much press and gossip out of ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. First there were rumors, then reports on the rumors, then denials generated by the reports, then analysis of the denials, then the memes (oh god so many memes), then #spitgate,…

“General Hospital” has been running for generations. Just cycle doctors in and out, keep the melodramatic plot swings coming, and they could probably milk this thing for 30 or 40 seasons.

Jesus. If you’re not embarrassed by that comment, you really need to take a hard look at yourself.

Oh right, the problem isn’t the misogynistic trolls, the problem is that she COMPLAINED about misogynistic trolls. What women used to know but modern women have forgotten is that they’re supposed to keep their mouths shut when boys are being boys. Why, misogyny and abuse will simply vanish once women stop talking…

If partial runs are eligible, I’d put seasons three-eight of “The Simpsons” up against all comers. That show had six seasons of steady, reliable excellence vs. five for “30 Rock” (season six felt off to me, particularly with Liz finally getting a serious boyfriend and starting to mock the nerds in the writers’ room…

Well put. I’ve loved Tolkien ever since I first read “The Hobbit” in the sixth grade, but I’ve always been uneasy with the way he racialized virtue. You don’t need to get to know an Orc; just the fact that he’s an Orc tells you everything important about how trustworthy, honorable, and capable of virtue he is, and the…

Having worked at a company that recently merged with another large company, I can tell you that the top executives at Discovery/HBO/WB/DC right now are focused entirely on carving off the biggest piece of pie for themselves while undercutting their rivals, which means the people in charge of the DCAU are probably busy …

I hope this continues on, film teams competing with film teams, until Cannes audiences are induced and/or bribed to applaud for so long that people start fainting from fatigue and dehydration. I hope these, I’m sure, completely genuine standing ovations become so lengthy that they morph into performance art and…

I wonder if the studio is delighted or horrified by all this extra press coverage for a movie that otherwise would have disappeared without a trace? On the one hand, there’s no such thing as bad press. On the other hand, is anyone really going to buy a ticket because of all this BTS drama?

If the elves were all Caucasian and the orcs were all Black, you know these guys would have no trouble with that at all.