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Conservative activist Charlie Kirk has been assassinated at a Utah college during a speaking engagement.Â
Kirk, 31, went around the country raising the temperature at college campuses rallying young people to the ultra right. He was an acolyte of Donald Trump.
— see below: Kirk was already dead at 4:17pm Eastern time per @walshfreedom–
Trump just wrote on his social media: “The Great, and even Legendary, Charlie Kirk, is dead. No one understood or had the Heart of the Youth in the United States of America better than Charlie. He was loved and admired by ALL, especially me, and now, he is no longer with us. Melania and my Sympathies go out to his beautiful wife Erika, and family. Charlie, we love you!”
When Kirk was shot, it was said he was in critical condition. But another right wing activist, @Joewalsh, wrote about an hour earlier:
“He was like a son to me. Even though we were on opposite sides of the political divide these past 7yrs, I still considered him a son. I’m broken for him & his family. And I’m scared for this country. Neither side has a monopoly on political violence. But most people on both sides won’t acknowledge that. And if we don’t get off this dangerous road of hate, America will not stay together.”
A lot of people who read this site have different political views than Kirk. But this was a human being with a family. Violence of any kind is unacceptable in political discourse. Condolences to his family.
Today the horror film starring Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson hits $100 million. It’s been six days since it debuted.
It’s just a cheap horror film, but obviously “Last Rites” has fans. Not critics, who have it at 59% on Rotten Tomatoes. Not audiences, who gave it a C+ with 79%.
Never undersell cheap thrills. And these days, anything to take our minds off of rising grocery and gas prices, the threat of war, a lying White House. Wait, is it 1973 all over again?
Are these really last rites? Doubtful. Somehow, “The Conjuring” will rise again, no doubt.
A record label that needs to develop new artists is putting a lot of time and money into Hilary Duff.
The 37 year old celebrity hasn’t released a record in 10 years. She was never a big pop star, but when she was younger Duff had a couple of hits 15 years ago.
Duff is best known as the star of TV shows like “Lizzie McGuire” and “Younger.”
But a singing sensation?
According to Luminate, Duff has had 2,080 downloads in 2025 thus far. All her sales, including streaming, bring her to around 28,000. There has been no crushing mandate for a new Hilary Duff record.
According to the blitz of reports about her new deal with Atlantic, Duff also has a documentary in the works. What is it about? The trials and tribulations of having a nice smile?
I don’t get it. I do see she has the force of Creative Artists Agency behind her. Someone is putting up money to make all this happen. I do wish her well. She’s a bright addition to any sitcom. She should have one of her own.
But the big deal they’re making of the music contract? Headscratcher. There are so many deserving musicians out there with careers that need promoting. Nevertheless, Rolling Stone — whatever they are — actually Tweeted today: “Hilary Duff Returning to Music Career. Thank God.”
WTF? I must have missed something here. Does this mean Lindsay Lohan is next?
The NYPost reports that Barron Trump is not attending “another NYU campus,” as previously reported.
The Post — which gets fed by Trump PR — says Barron is living in the White House.
So he can’t possibly be attending classes at NYU’s Stern School of Business unless it’s all being done by live video.
Maybe he’s taking a correspodence class.
It’s impossible to commute from Washington to DC even three times a week even by private plane. Even if your father has stolen billions from the American people.
The Post also says Barron’s done that “to be close” to his parents, and that Melania is taking a big role in being First Lady.
The former Slovenian model is rarely if ever seen with Trump. She didn’t even go with him to the US Open. She makes rare appearances, and waves like she’s Eva Peron on a balcony.
As for Barron, this is a sad story. You can actually feel bad for him, whatever his personal problems are, he has no opportunity to be a college kid.
Exclusive: Evidently no one wants to work at the Kennedy Center.
They’re currently listing 31 jobs on LinkedIn, from Senior Vice President Artistic Programming ($340,000 per year) to Shuttle Bus Driver ($19.25/hour) and everything in between.
Director of Public Relations for the Center in general is open. So is Director of Production and Orchestra Operations for the National Symphony. There are a number of jobs open with the NSO, and several in accounting for the whole operation.
You’d think in this job market in the arts there would be candidates lined up around the block for all these jobs.
But since Donald Trump’s takeover of the Kennedy Center, not only have ticket sales and subscriptions dropped. The Center is clearly not a desirable option for qualified staff.
For that first job, only 88 people have applied since it was posted, only eight today. That’s not much for such a high paying position. And no progress has been made finding a new Director of Public Relations, Non Classical. The job was posted at least a month ago. Today, 1 person applied.
No one wants to work there. According to a LinkedIn chart, staffing was steady for a long time around 875 people. Today it’s down to 730. That’s all due to Donald Trump, job provider.
John Travolta can only dig down to the center of the Earth for his next bad movie.
Deadline.com says it’s called “Ed,” and it’s about AI chauffeur who runs people down.
Chet Hanks is his co-star.
Deadline writes, with a straight face: “Travolta comes to Ed following work on projects like Die Hart, Mob Land, Paradise City, and Gotti.”
I did a spit take. That is dry humor.
Going on right now in Atlanta:
“Currently in production in the Georgia capital, the film centers on a sentient AI chauffeur bot that escapes the lab and begins killing reckless drivers under the guise of public safety. Its grief-stricken creator must stop the carnage before the machine evolves into the embodiment of AI gone bad.”
They’ve signed Hillary Duff, age 37, whose last record was 10 years ago.
Duff, a very cheerful presence on TV in shows like “Lizzie McGuire” and “Younger,” is not exactly cutting edge.
In her day, she was an amiable pop singer. We wouldn’t take that away from her.
But Atlantic is desperate for hits. They just laid off almost 90% of their staff. They’re praying that the new Ed Sheeran album, out on Friday, will save them.
Otherwise, Atlantic — created by the legendary Ahmet and Nesuhi Ertegun and once an R&B then rock giant of a record company — is a mess. They’re now run by Eliot Grainge, the 31 year old son of Universal Music Group president Lucien Grainge, who was supposed to bring in cutting edge acts.
It’s not like Duff had a huge music following even in her heyday. Shehad one hit album, released 20 years ago. She has a single that went to number 5 in 2015.
Atlantic is in a death spiral. They let Rob Thomas get poached by Republic Records, and now he has a hit album with them. They have acts like Kelly Clarkson, Bruno Mars and Charlie Puth, who do very little. They’ve lived all year on one hit wonder Alex Warren and his song, “Ordinary.” Coldplay sells more tickets than albums. Lizzo is in purgatory.
But here comes Hillary Duff. Let’s hope they’re right!
Kate Hudson and Hugh Jackman look pretty entertaining as wanna be Neil Diamond singers in “Song Sung Blue.”
The comedy with very familiar music comes from “Hustle & Flow” director Craig Brewer.
Universal and Focus are very high on this film which should be in the vein of “Yesterdays.”
I have a strong feeling about Kate Hudson getting at least a Critics Choice or maybe a Golden Globe nomination out of this. She has a great voice and is endlessly endearing. This one is a sleeper.
When the late New Yorker movie writer, Lillian Ross, revealed the story of her affair with the magazine’s fabled editor, it blew the minds of the literati.
Now the late William Shawn’s son, actor and writer Wallace, has written a play about his father’s secret, scandalous affair.
“What We Did Before Our Moth Days” is coming to off Broadway, produced by the notorious Scott Rudin and the less-so Barry Diller.
What makes this even more interesting is the director, Andre Gregory. You may recall how Shawn and Gregory once starred in the cult film, “My Dinner with Andre.” Gregory is a snappy 91 years old.
I knew Lillian Ross in her later years. She published her memoir telling the whole story about her long subterfuge with Shawn in 1998. She died in 2017 at almost 100 years old. The romance was as sharply observed as he countless stories and her many books about the inner workings of Hollywood, although she was far from glamorous. She was actually very cute, which must be what attracted Shawn.
In the play, Josh Hamilton will be “Mr. Shawn,” and Hope Davis, Maria Dizzia, and John Early are all featured. “Moth” is set for a 12-week run at the Greenwich House Theater starting Feb. 4th, with an opening night March 5th.
Wallace Shawn — who is Jewish but just signed a letter boycotting the Israel film community — said in a statement: “We don’t understand ourselves, and we don’t know why we do what we do. Ideally, then, dangerous weapons should be kept out of our hands at all times, but in romantic, sexual, and familial relationships we carry the weapon of our own feelings strapped to our chests whether we like it or not. This is a play about four intelligent and thoughtful people – mother, father, son, and father’s mistress – living in a somewhat violent but sophisticated city.”
The new and final “Downton Abbey” film — oozing in charm and mystery — opens Friday — Thursday in previews — and if it’s not a massive hit, I’d be surprised.
For anyone who watched the series or the first two movies, this is the cherry on top of the sundae. Creator Julian Fellowes and director Simon Curtis have crafted a significant and rewarding ending so good that — like the woman who sat in front of me last night at the premiere — will have you carrying a necessary box of tissues.
Fellowes, who wrote all the seasons of the TV show and the two movies, pulls out all the stops with “The Grand Finale,” which is full of humor and pathos but is also an intimate look at all kinds of families, chosen or natural, as well as the passing of generations.
It’s time, too: “Downton” has been going for 16 years in our culture. In the show, everything begins in April 1912, when the Titanic sank, taking with it the Downton heirs. With them gone, the power and money shifted to another Crawley cousin, Matthew. His arrival — with his mother — changed everything for the Downton family.
Now it’s 1930. The family matriarch, Violet, played so memorably by Maggie Smith is gone. The stock market crash has changed everyone’s fortunes, and it’s no longer reasonable to expect the great castles to keep going in a changed economy.
Fellowes lays it all out in a finely tuned screenplay. He imbues his characters — especially the younger ones — with enough prescience to be aware that their royal life is undergoing a seachange. The discussion now is how Lord and Lady Grantham — Hugh Bonneville and Elizabeth McGovern — will cede their roles at Downton to their daughter, Lady Mary — Michelle Dockery.
Almost all of the “Downton” gang is back (although MIA is Robert’s sister, Rosalind) and Fellowes gives each of them lots of individual moments. We even get a devilish American conman in Alessandro Nivola, who thinks he can seduce the Granthams into giving up their fortune. He comes to town with Paul Giamatti, as Cora’s ne’er do well brother, who’s squandered his own family’s money. The pair nearly steal the show.
Fellowes draws on the show’s rich well of history, too, so there’s even a reference to when Smith’s Countess Dowager first learned the term “week-end.” There are other Easter eggs, too, like the time a Turkish prince was sexed up so much he died in Lady Mary’s bed. There are also clever references to movie making itself, thanks to Mr. Moseley, who has gone from footman to successful screenwriter.
Fellowes, by now, has a PhD in class relations. There’s a wordless scene in which Robert, returning from the Downton farms, passes Mr. Mason, a tenant farmer, on a bridge. Even though they know everyone in common, and once had business, they only very slightly acknowledge each other. The moment, which Fellowes created on purpose, sums up the whole saga.
“The Grand Finale” is sumptuous on every level, from costumes to cinematography. Quite a bit of time is spent recreating London from 1930, which isn’t too hard considering the city still looks the same. The film opens with everyone going to the West End to see a play and the dine at the Ivy. You’ll feel like you were there.
But yes, get out the hankies. The last 20 minutes are full of lump-in-your throat moments that feel organic and signal that this is it, we must say goodbye, knowing everyone will be all right no matter what comes next.
