Author: bestmedeal

Welcome to this week’s “Just for variety.”

Lin-Manuel Miranda has a message to the trolls who have targeted theirhate at Halle Bailey star of the live-action adaptation of “The LittleMermaid” — watch Brandy in “Cinderella.” “I’m old enough to remember thatbeing a game changer for my generation,” Miranda told me during a Zoom chatfrom the L’Attitude conference in San Diego, where he was making an appearancewith American Express to support Latino small business owners . “And RobMarshall was the choreographer on that and is now the director of the movie.I’m really thrilled by that symmetry.”

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Besides, Miranda thinks the positivity and excitement around the new film faroutweigh the negativity. Just take a look at the sneak peek of Bailey singinga snippet of “Part of Your World,” which racked up 104 million global viewswithin days of its debut at the D23 Expo. “I’m not interested in giving themany oxygen because I know the lives that are going to be changed. Halle isperfect for the part,” said the Tony winner, who wrote four songs for themovie with composer Alan Menken. “She’s going to blow them away. If that’sthe thing that makes you mad, then stay mad. But examine your choices.”

In San Diego, Miranda spoke to conference-goers about Drama Book Shop, thecentury-old bookstore that he bought about four years ago along with directorThomas Kail producer Jeffrey Seller and theater owner James L.Dutchman. Miranda and Kail first worked on “In the Heights” in the originalstore’s basement 20 years ago. “The store’s success is inextricably tied tothe health of the theater community,” Miranda said. “When Broadway has a goodweek, we have a good week. When the Omicron wave shuts down shows and cancelsperformances, we have a bad week. When theater-goers come to New York to see ashow, they stop at the Drama Book Shop. That’s been kind of an amazingrevelation to me.”

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He praises American Express for its ongoing support of Latino-ownedbusinesses. “My first show, ‘In the Heights,’ is about those businesses andthe fact that they’re Latino-owned and family-owned, and they make myneighborhood special. I really believe that — I still live in theneighborhood,” Miranda says. “I was happy to partner with Amex on thosecauses. And I’ve been happy to see them really step up in the aftermath ofHurricane Maria in Puerto Rico, supporting us when we took ‘Hamilton’ there toraise money for arts organizations, supporting local businesses on the island.They’re stepping up again in the wake of Hurricane Fiona as we all have to.”

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NEW ORLEANS, LA – Feb. 19, 2021 – Actor Anthony Mackie photographed in theTreme District of New Orleans.

Anthony Mackie insists he doesn’t know if he’ll make an appearance asCaptain America in “Thunderbolts,” the Marvel Studios film set to starFlorence Pugho , Julia Louis-Dreyfus , Sebastian Stan , DavidHarbour and Wyatt Russell. “I have no idea,” he told me while promotinghis new partnership with roofing manufacturer GAF to help residents of hishometown of New Orleans whose roofs were damaged by natural disasters. “Youknow how it works. They call you the week before and are like, ‘We own yourass. Come get in the movie.’”

We do know that Mackie will star in “Captain America: New World Order.” Theplot is under wraps, but Mackie says he’s been talking with screenwriterMalcolm Spellman. “We’ve talked and communicated about what we want thatstory to be going forward and how it’ll fit in his new Marvel universe,”Mackie explained. “You definitely get the idea of ​​collaboration, but youdon’t get to tell them what it’s going to be and how it’s going to be.”

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INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE, from left: Sean Connery, Harrison Ford asIndiana Jones, 1989. ©Paramount Pictures/courtesy Everett Collection

Indiana Jones producer Frank Marshall says he wasn’t surprised thatHarrison Ford got a bit emotional while promoting the fifth installationof the franchise onstage at D23. “We all got emotional,” Marshall told me atthe “Redeem Team” premiere. “We’ve been together for 40 years, and we feellike we made a really good movie. You look back at all the movies and you getemotional, because that’s your life and your career. He’s been that characterfor so long.”

Will we see an “Indiana Jones 6”? “I don’t know,” Marshall said. “When wesigned up, we signed up for three movies, so the next two were all icing onthe cake.

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Billy Reid at Platform in Culver City.

Congrats to designer Billy Reid! He just opened his first Los Angelesoutpost, a pop-up at Platform in Culver City. I visited with Reid at the storelast week. He reminisced about Matthew McConaughey being the first celebhe dressed back in 1998. At the time, Reid had just started his business withone employee, who happened to be from the same Texas town as the actor. “Hewas like, ‘I could get us in touch with Matthew,’” Reid recalled. “We sent hima box of clothes and a nice note. The next thing you knew, Matthew was doing ajunket, and he wore one of my shirts in almost all of the interviews.” I’llhave more from Reid later this week about his new capsule collection inspiredby the Gibson Hummingbird acoustic guitar ( Margo Price is one of thefaces of the campaign) and his big dream to get his clothes on KrisKristofferson.

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Brand new ‘Blind married’ parents winnie and Jonah have something tocelebrate again. The two have been a couple for three years! “I’m alreadycurious about what the coming years will bring,” Winnie writes on Instagram.

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Claire Meiland experienced her dream evening during a K3 concert. Theyeven took a picture together.

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Natalia leaves for sunny Spain with her son Apollo. “I’ve decided toschedule ‘time-alone-with-son or daughter’ once in a while. So that they bothhave mommy all to themselves,” the singer writes.

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Saartje Vandendriessche it cries out in the middle of the sea.

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Veronique Leysen shares a photo with her children. “One screams and theother breaks down the house. I once ran a company with ten employees, but thatwas nothing compared to these monsters,” Veronique writes on Instagram.

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Charlotte Leysen flips her wardrobe. “From summer to fall,” she writes.

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Hailey Bieber is addressing long-running rumors that she stole Justin Bieberfrom Selena Gomez.

The model, who married the pop star in 2018, went there Wednesday on the CallHer Daddy __ podcast , answering questions about the timeline of theirrelationship and addressing the “bullying” she has faced from Jelena fans. Sherevealed that she has spoken with Gomez and says, “There’s no drama” betweenthem.

“I’ve literally never talked about this ever,” Hailey said while being grilledabout her relationship timeline with Justin and whether it overlapped with himdating Gomez. (Quick recap: Justin and Selena started dating in 2010, split in2012, got back together in 2013, split in 2014, reunited in late 2017 andsplit permanently in early 2018. Justin and Hailey started dating in 2014,split in 2016 and reconciled in June 2018, getting engaged and then married ina span of months. )

“They were not in a relationship” when she reconciled with Justin in June2018, Hailey, 25, said emphatically. “As a woman, I would never want to getinto a relationship with someone — and be engaged to them and be gettingmarried to them — and [be] thinking the back of my mind: I wonder if that[door] was really closed. … I know for a fact that the reason we were able toget back together was because it was very much completely closed.”

So there was no overlap at any point? “No,” Hailey told host Alex Cooper. “Notone time. Let’s just put it this way: When [we] started hooking up … he wasnot ever in a relationship. At any point. I would never. It’s not my characterto mess with someone’s relationship. … I was raised better than that. … I cansay period point-blank: I was never with him when he was in a relationshipwith anybody. That’s the end of it.”

Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez started dating in 2010 and fandom built aroundthem. They were young, existing under a microscope and their relationship wason and off. It ended for good in early 2018 and he reconciled with ex HaileyBaldwin Bieber soon after. Justin and Hailey were married in September 2018.(Photo: Reuters/Danny Moloshok)

Hailey spoke more about Justin and Gomez’s brief reunion, that ended a fewmonths before Justin proposed to Hailey. She said it was closure for the exes,who had a headline-making, on-and-off relationship over a span of eight years.

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“It was the right thing for them to close that door,” she said of Justin andSelena’s final parting. “It closed a chapter. I think it was the best thingthat could have happened for him to move on.”

Hailey talked about being the target of haters since Justin and Gomez splitfor good.

“A lot of the hate, and the perpetuation, comes from [the misperception], ‘Oh,you stole him,'” she said. “It comes from the fact that they wished he hadended up with someone else and that’s fine. You can wish that all you want butthat’s just not the case.”

She added, “The only people that really know the truth of the situation andwhat the timeline really was and how it happened and how it went down are meand him. Perception is a really tricky thing because, when you’re watchingsomething from the outside, you can see it one way. When it may not really bethe reality of what happened behind closed doors.”

Hailey went on to reveal that she has spoken to Gomez since she married Justinin September 2018. She said, “It’s all respect. It’s all love” between them.”There’s no drama.”

“That’s also why I feel like if everybody on our side knows what happened andwe’re good and we could walk away from it with clarity and respect, thenthat’s fine,” she said. She said the conversation “brought me a lot of peace.I’m like, ‘Hey, we know what happened.’ You’re never going to be able tocorrect every narrative.”

Hailey spoke about the trolling she’s received from haters all these years.They’ve interrupted her Instagram Lives flooding her with hateful comments,and stood outside the Met Gala in 2021 to scream “Selena” when she and Justinwalked the red carpet.

“Yes, I could hear everyone screaming,” she recalled. “I think there’s acertain part of you that has a numbness. … It was disrespectful to me, to myrelationship. It just was. Period. The end. But I think I’ve endured so muchdisrespect — and I still do to this day — that there was like a part of methat was just like another day, another negative slay.”

Justin Bieber and Hailey Bieber attend 2021 Costume Institute Benefit – InAmerica: A Lexicon of Fashion at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on September13, 2021 in New York City. (Photo: Sean Zanni/Patrick McMullan via GettyImages)

Nevertheless, she added, “They’ve never ruined anything for me,” she said ofhaters. “They’re not ruining my life. They’re not ruining my happiness — andthat I think Is really the win of the whole thing. You’re actually not takinganything away from me. So that’s what I just keep stepping forward with …. Youcannot take away my happiness, my relationship, my business, my career. Youcan be mad about it but it doesn’t change anything.”

She said she wonders, “If we have moved on, why can’t you? That’s kind of justthe whole thought process. It’s just hurtful. It’s bullying.”

Hailey was asked if she or Justin ever reached out to Selena ab outintervening with her fans and calling for them to stop harassing Hailey. Theanswer was no.

“What I will say is that she has been in this industry much longer than I haveand maybe there’s something that she knows — like it wouldn’t fix anything,”Hailey replied.

Cooper suggested that Gomez simply liking one of Hailey’s social posts couldput an end to a lot of the drama.

“I think that everyone is just trying to create separation,” Hailey replied,”even though there’s clearly not always separation. I have no expectation” ofGomez doing that. “I would never expect someone to do that for me. She doesn’towe me anything. Neither of us owe anybody anything except respect. I respecther a lot. … If that was something that she felt was necessary, then thatwould be amazing.”

Somewhere half way blonde actress Ana de Armas, who plays Marilyn Monroe,looks into the camera and says, “What have you got to do with my life?”

It’s a question for Monroe’s then-husband, the playwright Arthur Miller. Butit is also a question for us, the viewer. Why are we still interested in hersixty years after her death—suicide from an overdose of tranquilizers, ormurdered for her relationship with the Kennedy brothers? Is it voyeurism,disaster tourism or something deeper, more incomprehensible?

Director Andrew Dominik ( The Assassination of Jesse James by the CowardRobert Ford ) in his very freely factual film biography of the actress, sexsymbol and icon gives dozens of incentives to answer that question. Thesimplest summary: because she was a phenomenon who, because of her tragic lifeand death, but also because of the great corpus of films she left behind,remained burned into our retinas forever. Monroe as the holy trinity of theinnocent girl Norma Jeane as she was born, the sex goddess who createdHollywood and something beyond that.

That mystery is bigger than any label this or any other movie tries to put onher. Niagara, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, The Seven Year Itch, Some Like itHot – they are all films that belong to our cultural capital. Without Marilynthere would be no Madonna, no Lady Gaga, no discourse on stereotypes, beautyideals and victimhood.

Ana de Armas is hypnotic. she is the uncanny valley of all Marilynperformers. If you put pictures of her in blonde next to that of thehistorical Marilyn, she is more Marilyn than Marilyn ever was. This is Oscarmaterial. But you only have to watch a very small film clip of the realMarilyn to realize that her attraction is greater than ten. Blondes canreproduce.

Read also an interview with Andrew Dominik, Ana de Armas and Adrien Brodyon ‘Blonde’

Dominik was inspired for his film by the eponymous fictional biography ofJoyce Carol Oates from 2000. This resulted in a fascinating eclectic whirlwindof fragments from Marilyn’s life. A Finnegans Wake about Hollywood’s mythmachine, nightmare and fever dream. A cinematographic tour de force too, incolour, black and white and all kinds of film formats, filmed from allpossible perspectives. Shots from her vagina during abortion and miscarriagescenes and a talking fetus have already sparked controversy. When thepromotional circus for the film got underway in May of this year, Dominikpromised that there would be something in the film for everyone to shock. Andhe kept his word.

In addition, Dominiks blonde a deconstructed Freudian manual. The trauma ofMarilyn’s mentally ill mother and absent father is in every scene. InDominik’s screenplay, she emphatically calls each man ‘Daddy’. It’s sad andcreepy at the same time.

The perfidious and perverse Hollywood that Dominik portrays is #MeToo avant lalettre. Her makeup artist Whitey is not only the one who transforms her fromwoman to phenomenon time and time again, but also the one with a whole arsenalof pills in his makeup case. The moment Marilyn is dragged out of JFK’s roomas an unconscious sex doll, all you can do is cry.

Because Marilyn Monroe has been so enamored, so analyzed since her death in1962, at the young age of 36, there have been countless projects about herlife, many of them dramatizations that require an actress — or two — toattempt the iconic star’s je ne sais quoi. The many Marilyns have all tendedto have some things in common: There’s the screen siren’s voluminous blondehair — a shortcut to screaming, “THIS IS HER!” — her slender yet curvy figureand her breathy voice.

Ana de Armas will become the latest to play Marilyn when a film adaptation of_blonde_ , the 2000 Joyce Carol Oates novel of the same name, arrives inselect theaters on Sept. 16 and debuts on Netflix on Sept. 28. The book, whichwas made into a two-part TV movie, starring Poppy Montgomery and a pre- Grey’s Anatomy Patrick Dempsey, in 2001, is a fictionalized version of Marilyn’slife.

Already, de Armas’s performance in the newer version has been criticized, withsome calling her out for her accent. She received some big support on Aug. 1,though, when the Marilyn Monroe Estate released a statement lauding her forcapturing Marilyn’s “glamour, humanity and vulnerability” in the movie’strailer, adding “We can’t wait to see the film in its entirety!”

Yahoo Entertainment breaks down some of the previous movie and TV projectsthat have focused on the life of Marilyn Monroe — and who played the actress:

Goodbye, Norma Jean (1976) and Goodnight, Sweet Marilyn (1989)

Misty Rowe tosses her head back in 1976’s Goodbye, Norma Jean. (Photo:Everett Collection)

stars: Former hey haw cast member Misty Rowe appeared as a pre-HollywoodNorma Jean Baker in both films (the latter through flashbacks), while PaulaLane, who appeared on The Mike Douglas Show ** __** as a Monroe lookalike in1980, portrayed her more glamorous counterpart.

Based on: Scripts by director Larry Buchanan (1969 TV movie It ‘sAlive!) and, in the case of Goodbye, Norma Jean co-written by actor-turned-writer Lynn Shubert, explore Monroe’s sexual encounters and, eventually,speculate that a friend killed her out of mercy.

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Response: A surviving review from ___TV Guide_ calls the former a “rancidmovie bio” that’s “sensationalistic and slimy.”

Marilyn: The Untold Story (1980)

Catherine Hicks stars in Marilyn: The Untold Story in 1980. (Photo: SchillerProd./Courtesy Everett Collection)

stars: future 7th Heaven mom Catherine Hicks as Marilyn, and future_Growing Pains_ star Tracey Gold as the pint-sized her.

Based on: Norman Mailer’s 1973 book Marilyn: A Biography.

Response: the **** TV movie was nominated for four Emmys, including onefor Hicks as lead actress in a limited series or special. Writing for TVGuide Judith Crist lauded Hicks’s “breathtaking (and breathless) portrait ofthe actress.”

Marilyn and Me (1991)

Susan Griffiths’s turn to play Marilyn came in 1991’s Marilyn and Me.(Photo: New Films International/Courtesy: Everett Collection)

stars: Monroe impersonator **** Susan Griffiths, who appeared in PulpFiction and other productions.

Based on: Robert Slatzer’s claims that he secretly married the screen starin Mexico in 1952, which he laid out in two books, The Life and Curious Deathof Marilyn Monroe (1974) and The Marilyn Files (1992).

Response: Hairstylist Linle White was nominated for an Emmy.

Norma Jean and Marilyn (1996)

Ashley Judd plays Norma Jean, while Mira Sorvino plays Marilyn in Norma Jeanand Marilyn. (Photo: Everett Collection)

stars: Mira Sorvino as Marilyn, Ashley Judd as the inner Marilyn (NormaJean).

Based on: Anthony Summers’s 1985 book, Goddess: The Secret Lives ofMarilyn Monroe a biography based on more than 600 interviews.

Response: Both stars were rewarded with Emmy and Golden Globe nominations.

blonde (2001)

Poppy Montgomery stars in a 2001 version of blonde. (Photo: Joe Pugliese/TVGuide/courtesy Everett Collection)

stars: Poppy Montgomery as Marilyn.

Based on: Oates’s book, the same source material for the new Blonde.

Response: While Montgomery didn’t win big awards, she notably won oversome critics, such as one at variety with her “impressive performance.”

My Week With Marilyn (2011)

My Week with Marilyn_ stars Michelle Williams as Marilyn Monroe. (Photo:Laurence Cendrowicz/The Weinstein Company/courtesy Everett Collection)”src=”https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/mH4fuUbc.M064rXOgXrb0A-/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MA-/https://s.yimg.com/os/creatr-uploaded-images/2022-08/74a4e4c0-167d-11ed-9d5f-57a23e8b68f9″ class=”caas-img”/>

My Week with Marilyn stars Michelle Williams as Marilyn Monroe. (Photo:Laurence Cendrowicz/The Weinstein Company/courtesy Everett Collection)

stars: Michelle Williams as Marilyn.

Based on: Colin Clark’s books The Prince, The Showgirl and Me (1995) and_My Week With Marilyn_ (2000), based on his account of his time working on theset of Monroe’s 1957 movie The Prince and the Showgirl which co-starredLaurence Olivier.

Response: The film grossed an estimated $35 million on a reported $10million budget. Williams was nominated for an Oscar and won a Golden Globe,while Kenneth Branagh snagged a nod for best supporting actor for hisportrayal of Olivier.

smash (2012)

Smash_ actress Katharine McPhee plays a “bombshell.””src=”https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/4jW_4CtMk5hrfBn7CFKhrQ-/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MA-/https://s.yimg.com/os/creatr-uploaded-images/2022-08/ec5ef6e0-2898-11ed-b575-772185e5b7aa” class=”caas-img”/>

smash actress Katharine McPhee plays a “Bombshell.”

Megan Hilty’s Marilyn Monroe sits with Will Chase’s Joe DiMaggio on an episodeof smash. (Photo: Everett Collection)

Uma Thurman plays the star in smash production “Bombshell.” (Photo: WillHart/NBC/Courtesy: Everett Collection)

stars: Show-within-a-show features Katharine McPhee, Megan Hilty and UmaThurman all playing Marilyn at different times.

Based on: This one is different, because the NBC show was actually aboutactresses Karen (McPhee) and Ivy (Hilty) competing to play Monroe in aBroadway production about her life. At one point, a veteran actress, Rebecca(Thurman), comes in to be Marilyn, too.

Response: Thurman was nominated for an Emmy for her guest appearance, andthe show was recognized for its music and choreography. It was up for the bestTV comedy or musical award at the Golden Globes in 2013.

The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe (2015)

Kelli Garner stars as Marilyn in The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe. (Photo:Everett Collection)

stars: Kelli Garner ( Lars and the Real Girl , Pan Am ) as Marilyn.Notably, Susan Sarandon and her daughter Eva Amurri play the older and youngerversions of Marilyn’s mother, Gladys.

Based on: Lifetime’s two-part TV miniseries focused on Marilyn’srelationship with her family and how she tried to hide that part of her lifefrom the public, and it was taken from J. Randy Taraborrelli’s 2009 bio of thesame name.

Response: Reviews of Garner’s performance skewed from meh to wow, but theminiseries picked up three non-acting Emmy nods.

blonde (2022)

Ana de Armas is Marilyn Monroe in blonde. (Photo: Netflix/Courtesy EverettCollection)

stars: Ana De Armas.

Based on: Joyce Carol Oates’s 2000 biographical fiction novel.

Response: To be determined.

This story was originally published on Sept. 16, 2022 at 11:00 a.m. ET.

That is what WNL editor-in-chief Bert Huisjes said on Wednesday in the NPORadio 1 program Spraakmakers. He speaks on behalf of a number of broadcasters,including KRO-NCRV, MAX and WNL. “We are still discussing this, but a majorityis emerging,” Huisjes said.

The position was the result of a consultation between the heads of journalismof most broadcasters. These consultations take place on a regular basis. “Weno longer want to talk about journalism with Ongehoord, because what they dois not journalism,” Huisjes said in the broadcast. “They make a pamphlet-likeprogram that uses structures that we recognize from journalism. But theinterviewers are Twitter agitators like Raisa Blommestijn, without anyjournalistic experience or background.”

CDA wants measures against broadcaster ON, ‘administrative courage is lacking’

The CDA believes that State Secretary Gunay Uslu (Media and Culture) is takingmeasures against broadcaster Ongehoord Nederland (ON), according toparliamentary questions from the CDA faction. According to the petitionerLucille Werner, it now appears to be ‘lack of administrative courage’ to actagainst ON.

She wants to know who is responsible for checking whether ON complies with theconditions set for admission to the system, and wants to know what duties andpowers the NPO Ombudsman, the Media Authority and the State Secretary have inthe case. They often refer to each other when the call to action is heard.

So far, Uslu has been of the opinion that it will only intervene once ON hasbeen sanctioned twice by the Commissariat. After that, she herself isauthorized to intervene, she stated earlier. Uslu said several times that hedid not want to influence the content of programs of the public broadcaster.

The broadcasters also disapprove of the fact that there is rarely a rebuttalin Ongehoord Nieuws. “Someone with whom the microphone is turned off in theHouse of Representatives, may be completely deflated at Ongehoord in a kind ofjournalistic setting,” said Huisjes. He seems to be referring to Forum forDemocracy leader Thierry Baudet. During the General Deliberations in theHouse, he was denied the floor because he made suggestive statements aboutMinister Sigrid Kaag and the British university she had attended. The dayafter, Baudet was a guest in Ongehoord Nieuws. “Unheard News does not pursueany journalistic goals. Its sole purpose is to extend the vote of Forum forDemocracy.”

Bert Huisjes, editor-in-chief of WNL.

‘Ended in screaming’

According to Huisjes, the journalistic consultation with Ongehoord boss ArnoldKarskens ‘has already been completely derailed and ended in screaming’. TheWNL boss emphasizes that the journalistic consultation of the NPO is not aboutthe question of whether the broadcasting license of Ongehoord Nederland isunder discussion. “As far as I am concerned, they should be removed from thesystem. But it is now about a different discussion: that they should not beallowed to call journalism companies and the program that way.”

Ongehoord Nederland previously received a financial sanction from the NPOafter an investigation by the Ombudsman into complaints that the broadcasterspreads incorrect and unreliable information, that the journalists did not askenough critical questions and that the guests mainly came from the right. Thisis contrary to the Journalistic Code of the NPO. The Ombudsman consideredthese complaints to be largely well-founded. The Ombudsman has launched a newinvestigation after a much-discussed item that showed videos of random blackpeople beating up white people without any context.

Huisjes is not the first broadcaster to be critical of Ongehoord Nederland.KRO-NCRV director Peter Kuipers and Omroep MAX boss Jan Slagter previouslystated that Ongehoord should be removed from the system. State Secretary GunayUslu has so far put the ball down with the NPO.

Arnold Karskens and Ongehoord Nederland could not be reached for comment onWednesday morning.

TVOn Friday Streamz will present the latest documentary ‘Laurent, the childprodigy’. It examines the life of the Belgian-Dutch gifted Laurent, whoobtained his master’s degree in quantum physics summa cum laude at the age oftwelve. However, wondrous whiz kids, wisecracking smarts and other brilliantlywired block beasts are not a rare phenomenon on your TV screen. From a Ugandanchess prodigy in ‘Queen of Katwe’ on Disney+ to the widely gifted and renownedwizard ‘Harry Potter’ on Streamz. These clever cobblestones quiz youeffortlessly under the table.

‘Gifted’ (Disney+)

Gifted but also frail, that’s Mary Adler, a seven-year-old girl who showssigns of extraordinary math skills. The young genius is raised by her uncleFrank (played by Chris ‘Captain America’ Evans) after her equally brilliantmother commits suicide. While Frank is busy giving Mary as normal a life aspossible, Mary’s grandmother thinks otherwise and wants to exploit hergranddaughter’s talents for her own benefit. This results in a bitter custodybattle between the two. This tear-jerking drama from Marc Webb has beenpraised by critics for its impressive cast and truthful portrayal of familyconflicts, and has easily increased its modest $7 million box office budgetsixfold. Talk about a mathematical miracle!

‘Matilda’ (Netflix)

She could speak perfectly after 18 months, after 3 years she could read andafter 5 years she could multiply numbers with double digits. If anyone is topof the class, it’s Matilda. Like Laurent, Matilda also cannot explain why sheis so gifted. She just is. This 1996 film adaptation of Roald Dahl’s booktells the story of an extremely gifted Matilda Wormwood (Mara Wilson), whogrows up in a dysfunctional family with an aloof, immoral father (played byDanny DeVito, who also directed the film) and a selfish, binge-addictedmother. The biggest bully, however, is Principal Agatha Trunchbull. WhenMatilda realizes she possesses the miraculous power of telekinesis, she startshitting back at all the bullies in her life, including her unkind parents.

‘Queen of Katwe’ (Disney+)

Were you completely blown away by ‘The Queen’s Gambit’ on Netflix? Then youurgently need to discover ‘Queen of Katwe’ on Disney+. This 2016 award-winningfilm starring Oscar winner Lupita Nyongo tells the true story of PhionaMutesi, a nine-year-old girl growing up in the slums of Uganda, East Africa,who accidentally discovered the sport of chess. When she starts to hone hertechnique more and more, she is seized by the chess bug and participates ininternational tournaments that send her to the absolute world top. Aninspiring formula that tells the typical ‘zero to hero’ story, but at the sametime lands with the viewer in a refreshing way. Thanks to the magneticrenditions of newcomers such as Madina Nalwanga (Phiona) and the lamentedNikita Pearl Waligwa (Gloria), who died suddenly in 2020 from the effects of abrain tumor.

Fuller House (Netflix)

In the vein of ‘Young Sheldon’, the series about the handsome childhood ofSheldon Cooper from ‘The Big Bang Theory’, the follow-up show to ‘Full House’also has a character in its ranks that deserves its own spin-off, morespecifically Max. This precocious, intelligent young lad is the second son ofthe oldest Tanner daughter DJ and steals every scene he appears in. Ascientific genius, he likes to dress in plaid shirts and, like Sheldon,carries a briefcase to school instead of a backpack. He is neat and tidy andlikes to poke fun at others who are less intelligent than him. For fans of’Full House’, the show is a pleasant reunion with some of the key figures fromthe nostalgic sitcom, including ‘Uncle Jesse’ (John Stamos), Stephanie Tanner(Jodie Sweetin) and even the annoying girl next door Kimmy Gibbler (AndreaBarber).

‘Harry Potter’ (Streamz)

One story that still appeals to many bright youngsters is the adventures ofHarry Potter. The film series based on the books by JK Rowling may be veryclose to the fantasy genre, but it contains many reflections of giftedness, aswell as themes with which gifted children can identify. Because Harry is alsodifferent and does not fit in, but he is destined to develop his talents anddo great things with them. He’s not the only one who hangs together withbrilliant bolts, by the way. His schoolmates are also unusually gifted to agreater or lesser extent, and we’d even venture to say that the perfectionistbookworm Hermione Granger is the franchise’s biggest smartass. Not countingAlbus Dumbledore, of course.

Gulf States Recently Banned Disney’s Toy Story Movie light year because of alesbian kiss. Saudi Arabia also demanded that Disney remove 12 seconds fromthe latest Doctor Strange movie, because the character America Chavez talksabout her “two mothers”. And last year in Egypt, an ultra-conservativeparliamentarian wanted to ban Netflix for ‘promoting immorality’ in the Arabicversion of the Netflix film. Perfect Strangers , partly because one of thecharacters comes out for his homosexuality. Meanwhile, _Perfect Strangers_Netflix’s most watched movie in the Arab world.

This week is coming Love, Spells and All That in the Netherlands, by ÜmitÜnal from 2019. A beautiful, naturally acted film about two women who meetagain twenty years after their first relationship and fall in love again. Isthat possible in Erdogan’s religiously conservative Turkey?

Surprisingly, Middle Eastern cinema has never had much trouble with queercharacters and themes historically. Queer is just visible in movies. In thefilms of the Egyptian pioneer Togo Mizrahi, who worked with the biggest moviestars of his time, comic entanglements regularly ended up in bed with peopleof the same sex or kissing each other more than amicably. Crossdressing sceneswere the order of the day.

In the decades that followed, Egyptian star director Youssef Chahine paid alot of attention to serious character interpretation in his films featuringqueer characters, for example in the partially autobiographical AlexandriaTrilogy. In the part Alexandria Why? we see a love affair with an eroticscene between an Egyptian nationalist and a British soldier. These films areconstantly shown on Arab television channels.

Only in 1964 did Chahine go too far Those People of the Nile , a film aboutthe construction of the Aswan dam, in which a Russian engineer has an affairwith an Egyptian worker. He takes him to Russia and then has him walk a fewmeters behind him on the street. These references to racism could upsetEgypt’s Russian allies, according to the censors. Chahine had to redo thesestreet scenes, but the love affair was no problem.

Prostitute

Salah Abu-Saifs The Malatily Bathhouse (1973) went even further in theportrayal of eroticism. The film is set in a bathhouse in Cairo, where awealthy artist falls in love with a working student from a poor family, whoworks there as a masseur. Even though the boy is in love with a prostitute whoalso works in the bathhouse, there is an erotic tension between artist andstudent.

The artist refers to the historical tolerance of the Middle East towardshomosexuality. In the meantime, he explains his homosexuality as Freudian byan unhappy relationship with his parents. But the film is a plea foracceptance. The fact that he can no longer be seen on television may berelated to the near-nude scenes. On the street you can find it everywhere onpirated DVD.

The plot of the transvestite comedy For Men Only (Mahmud Zul-Fiqar, 1964)does Billy Wilders Some Like it Hot of six years before, with the famous_gay twist_ at the end. Crossdressing comedies were common in Egypt, but ForMen Only was also a serious plea for equal treatment of women. Two graduatefemale oil engineers (star actresses Suad Hosni and Nadia Lutfi) can’t findwork until they show up dressed as men at an oil rig in the desert. There arethe necessary gender-conversion complications, such as during the weekly dancewhere the men dance close to each other for lack of women – according to somea reference to a gay nightclub.

The Yacoubian Building (Marwan Hamed, Egypt 2006) is the most commerciallysuccessful Arab cinema film ever. In this film, homosexuality is portrayed as’natural’; a gay journalist is one of the more likeable characters.

Turkish queer star

It is no different in Turkey. The Turkish singer/film star Zeki Muren, whooften performed in transvestism and who was known to be homosexual, was a folkhero in the middle of the last century. The next Turkish queer star was transsinger/movie star Bülent Ersoy. In 1981, just after she had undergone a gendercorrection, a military junta came to power that banned “social deviance.”Ersoy emigrated. After the junta disappeared, it returned, unabatedly popular.Her queerness does not stand in the way of ties with the current religiouslyconservative regime: in 2016 she caused a stir when she hosted the religiouslyconservative President Erdogan and his wife during a Ramadan meal.

Those People of the Nile (1972)

The Malatily Bathhouse (1973)

Homosexuality did appear in films half a century ago, but the theme was givenlittle depth. It was typical for the time in Turkish Kocek (1975). In this,a boy dreams of becoming a woman. He is forced by gangsters to act like_köçek_ prostitute, a traditional young male nightclub dancer dressed as awoman. When a rival gang wants to rape him, the criminals discover his sex andstab him. When he wakes up in the hospital, the doctor has performed a sexchange operation. Then a childhood friend falls in love with her, withoutknowing that she was once his best friend. All this in the form of a cheerfulmusical.

That rather farcical handling of queer themes gave way to more seriouscharacter drawing in recent decades. In Fatih Akins The Edge of Heaven(2007) a lesbian relationship was also central, just like in Lebanese_caramel_ by Nadine Labaki about a group of women and their relationshipproblems. One of them is attracted to women, which is not a problem foranyone.

In terms of openness and understanding, Middle Eastern cinema doesn’t farebadly compared to Hollywood, where in the past queer characters were oftentwisted bad guys, as in Rope, Midnight Express, Silence of the Lambs or_Basic Instinct_. Why does a movie become like light year now banned? TheGulf states talk about western influences that go against local values. Butdoesn’t it look like they are importing Western, Christian conservatismthemselves? They would do better to study their own film history.

For Christie’s it is already the fourth 007 auction they are co-organizing.The previous times that brought in a total amount of just over five millioneuros. That the sale will continue to attract a lot of interest – and deeppockets – is no doubt since actor Daniel Craig retired as James Bond. Afterfive films, the British actor said goodbye to the character in the Bond film_no time to die_. The most coveted items from the film, which appeared lastyear, make up the bulk of the items up for auction.

The big eye-catcher is the Aston Martin DB5, the specially designed stunt carthat Craig drove in the film and which is based on the model from Casino__generous. Eight of the car were made, but only one is sold to the public.The car is in its ‘original condition’, namely the one where there arescratches in the paintwork and the headlights are machine guns. The estimatedvalue of the silver Aston Martin is between 1.6 and 2.2 million euros.

Also Daniel Craig’s two-piece suit by designer Tom Ford, several luxurywatches and the prom dress of actress Ana de Armas from no time to die gounder the hammer. For fans of motorsports and motorsports, there’s a $33,000Triumph Scrambler, and other Aston Martins priced up to $785,000.

  Photo: epa-efe

Charities

Also from Craig’s predecessors – such as Sean Connery, Roger Moore and PierceBrosnan – props from the previous Bond films are sold. This is how you canhatch the golden egg from 11,000 euros octopussy tap on the head. Or GeorgeLazenby’s watch off On her majesty ‘s service, which came out exactly fiftyyears ago. With a value of 67,000 euros, it is immediately the most expensivetimepiece at the auction.

Still on the menu: Timothy Dalton’s black suit off License to kill acollection of bow ties by Daniel Craig and the mask Rami Malek wore as theantagonist in no time to die.

The proceeds of the auction, which starts Wednesday evening, will go toseveral charities. They were chosen by the living 007 actors and thefilmmakers. The fund of the British Crown Prince William, Unicef ​​and variousculture and hospitals, among others, will receive a share of the profits.

Pioneering you can use the funny ‘whodunnit’ See How They Run not mention.Still, the film felt like a breath of fresh air when I saw it in the cinema ona rainy Sunday. See How They Run is one of those solid three-ball moviesthat you don’t see very often anymore. Charming actors, good joke density, areasonably well-rounded mystery and above all: a relatively short runningtime. After 98 minutes you are done. “Sometimes you feel like haute cuisineand sometimes a simple pasta”, concluded my girlfriend afterwards in the pub.There was drink time we wouldn’t have after yet another bloated blockbuster(hello there, Jurassic World Dominion ).

I was a bit shocked that same day when I read about the playing time of Bardo(or False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths) the latest epic by Oscar magnetAlejandro Iñárritu ( birdman , The Revenant ). Visitors to the Venice FilmFestival were shown a film of no less than 174 minutes. The buzz afterwards:partly impressive, but far too long. Iñárritu went back into the editing roomand took 22 minutes off. “I tightened the film little by little,” he told thesite indie wire. Still, he defended the playing time. “I’ve seen 80-minutemovies that are too long,” he said. “Or three and a half hours and not toolong at all.”

The conversations about length also apply to the TV world. Streaming serviceshave given series creators fewer time restrictions and even encouraged to makestories longer. In addition, film scripts are increasingly being convertedinto miniseries, because they sell better these days. The successfulminiseries The Queen ‘s Gambit is a well-known example of this. Or thinkabout Obi-Wan Kenobi a Star Wars series that started as a screenplay. Aminiseries simply yields more ‘watching minutes’ than a movie, something thatthe streamers love. Sometimes that extra time gives room for characterdevelopment and beautiful moments that are not driven by plot. Too often it’sno more than filler.

Also read: Jeff Bridges growls like no other in ‘The OId Man’

Even while watching the entertaining thriller series The Old Man with JeffBridges I got that feeling. The series, which can be seen in the Netherlandsfrom this Wednesday, is worth watching because of the play of the growlingBridges. Unfortunately, almost every episode feels ten minutes too long. Themakers are not nearly as big as the team of Stranger Things , that lastseason only poured out long episodes over the viewers. The season finale evenlasted 150 minutes.

You can therefore understand why film director James Cameron does not caremuch about complaints about the length of his productions. His long-awaitedsequel to science fiction hit Avatar will finally be released in Decemberand will last about three hours. But please don’t whine about it, he toldmagazine Empire: “I don’t want to hear from anyone about the length whenthey can binge watch TV for eight hours.” Fortunately, Cameron gives uspermission to visit the toilet in the cinema: “It’s okay to get up and gopee.” I reserve a spot in the aisle in advance.