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Australian Prison Series Wentworth Is the Dark Drama You’ve Been Waiting For
1 hour ago
Australian prison drama Wentworth seems like a natural companion to Orange Is the New Black: Both are set in women's prisons, include charismatic brunette lesbians who find ways to make others do their bidding, and feature a variety of actresses turning in wonderful, deeply unglamorous performances. But Wentworth isn't a vaguely inspiring dramedy; it's a ruthlessly dark drama, more like Breaking Bad with ten Gus Frings, or Deadwood but with competing Swearingens. It's tragic and gripping, and one of very few recent shows that has truly shocked me. On the one hand, I wish there were a hundred more shows like Wentworth, intricately plotted and predominately about women. On the other, given the show's all-encompassing sense of brutality, I don't know if I could take it.Wentworth, now on Netflix, premiered in Australia in 2013, a reimagining of sorts of a popular Australian drama from the '80s, Prisoner. I »
- Margaret Lyons
The Time Kanye West Freestyled the Entirety of Yeezus in a Van for Seth Rogen
1 hour ago
Thanks to a "Bound 2" joke that Kanye actually liked, Seth Rogen got his own personal Yeezus listening session ... in a van ... completely freestyled by Kanye West. According to an interview with Rolling Stone, Kanye wanted to know what Rogen thought of the entire album, so as Kanye does, he stuck him a van and gave him best the listening session of his life: Shortly after his and James Franco's parody of the rapper's "Bound 2" video — "Bound 3," in which [Rogen] played the role of topless Kim Kardashian —West cornered Rogen at a New York hotel and invited him to his limo van for a listening session with a twist. "There's no lyrics, only beats," Rogen said. "So he raps the whole album, and after each song, he stops it, like, 'So what do you think?' We were in the van for two hours!" »
- Lindsey Weber
Stephen Colbert’s Sparring- and Zing-Filled Interview With President Obama
2 hours ago
President Obama might've upstaged Stephen Colbert by taking over "the Word" (or "the Decree," as Obama put it), but he still had to sit in the hot seat and face Colbert. They talk about the midterm elections, the Keystone Pipeline, and bypassing Congress to get things done. Also, as a web exclusive, they discuss immigration. They also give each other a lot of crap and start planning a buddy-cop movie for when they are both out of character in a couple years. That last part isn't true, but let's start the rumor anyway. »
- Jesse David Fox
Nick Offerman’s Giant, Wooden Emoji Are Now a Real Thing
7 hours ago
Last month Nick Offerman delighted us by unveiling his handcrafted, solid-wood emoji in a Conan-aired faux infomercial. Since demand for the goods was so high, Conan announced tonight that the larger-than-life poop and smiley faces are becoming real. The show teamed up with Tilt.com to create 100 prototypes of the massive emoticons to sell for charity, with all proceeds (they cost $100 each) benefiting the Children's Defense Fund. The first wave of emoji sold out in hours, but check back here for a second round, purportedly beginning Tuesday. »
- Sean Fitz-Gerald
Deadmau5 and Krewella Tussled Via Twitter Over Internet Shaming, Sexism
7 hours ago
There's some beef brewing in the Edm world: DJ Deadmau5 and now-duo Krewella don't seem to see eye to eye about the industry the two acts work in. In an op-ed published by Billboard, Krewella's Jahan Yousaf responded to a lawsuit she and her sister have been embroiled in for the last few months, and detailed how she says the turmoil has affected them in terms of internet harassment and shaming. (Earlier this year, Krewella's Kris Trindl — the only guy in the group — was ejected, and he sued the sisters for kicking him out unfairly.) The highly publicized suit prompted many fans and disgruntled people of the internet to unleash their feelings at the sisters. Many of these feelings happened to be pointedly misogynistic and sexually degrading, as Yousaf notes in her piece. Some haters even recommended that the two pursue a career in pornography because they had »
- Sean Fitz-Gerald
South Park Previews Star-Studded Holiday Special
9 hours ago
If you thought last week's South Park, which skewered the music industry and internet culture, took on a lot of celebrities, take a look at the preview for this week's episode. In the ep, titled "The Washington Redskins' Go F-ck Yourself Holiday Special," Matt Stone and Trey Parker have promised to lampoon the likes of Al Pacino, Miley Cyrus, Bill Cosby, Taylor Swift, and Michael Jackson's hologram (as Peter Pan, from Peter Pan Live!), among many others. It looks like a season finale for the ages, and it's safe to say someone's going to be seriously pissed off come Thursday morning. »
- Sean Fitz-Gerald
Lena Dunham’s Publisher Will Tweak Her Book Over Rape Story
9 hours ago
Random House has told the Wrap that it will alter future versions of Lena Dunham's Not That Kind of Girl because the author's description of being raped in college has caused problems for another former Oberlin student. In her memoir, Dunham says she was assaulted by "Barry," a fellow student with a flamboyant mustache, deep voice, and purple cowboy boots who was the token Republican on campus. The problem is there's an Oberlin alumnus named Barry who fits that description, but he insists he's never even met Dunham. "We have put the change in process," the publisher said. "The digital edition of Not That Kind of Girl will reflect that 'Barry’ is a pseudonym. Future printings of the physical book will also have that change.""We're not on a warpath," the man's attorney, Aaron Minc, said. "We've been trying to get their attention for months. It took the threat »
- Sean Fitz-Gerald
Everything That’s Been Revealed in the Sony Leak Scandal [Updated]
11 hours ago
Roughly two weeks ago, eerily adept cybercriminals hacked into Sony's computer systems, paralyzed their operations, and tapped into a trove of hypersensitive, internal information. Since that initial attack, a steady flow of revelations, including top employees' salaries and illicit movie downloads, has trickled into news reports and file-sharing sites. Sony is working with multiple authorities to pinpoint who the hackers are. But for now, the relentless hackers, dubbed Guardians of Peace, have made it clear that they're not done tormenting the company — and won't stop until Sony meets their demands. The attackers have also gone as far as threatening the families of Sony employees. Here's a list — to be updated — of everything revealed by the hacks so far.Watermarked Screeners and Forthcoming Films Soon after Sony's systems went down, awards-season screeners of Fury, Annie, Still Alice, and Mr. Turner, as well as a cut of the 2015 film »
- Sean Fitz-Gerald
Sony Hack Blows the Cover on Secret Celebrity Aliases
13 hours ago
The Sony hack continues to unearth the entertainment industry's unmentionables — now in the form of secret aliases. While poring over the latest batch of documents leaked by the unidentified cybercriminal group Guardians of Peace, Fusion stumbled upon a folder that contained "publicity bibles" for recently released Sony films. The files within the folder detailed cast and crew contact directories, which included the fake names some of the studio's movie stars use(d) to do normal-people things.Here are some of the aliases Fusion shared: Tom Hanks: "Harry Lauder" and "Johnny Madrid"Sarah Michelle Gellar: "Neely O'Hara"Tobey Maguire: "Neil Deep"Natalie Portman: "Lauren Brown"Clive Owen: "Robert Fenton"Rob Schneider: "Nazzo Good"Taye Diggs: "Scott Diggs"Jude Law: "Mr. Perry"Daniel Craig: "Olwen Williams"Jessica Alba: "Cash Money"Ice Cube: "Darius Stone" and "O'Shea Jackson"Debra Messing: "Ava »
- Sean Fitz-Gerald
Theater Review: The Invisible Hand Grabs You and Won’t Let Go
13 hours ago
When you enter the East 4th Street home of New York Theatre Workshop, you can never be sure what you’re going to find. The blank-slate interior has been turned into an amphitheater for Caryl Churchill’s A Number, an Irish bar for Once, a television studio for The Little Foxes, and a multiplex for Scenes From a Marriage. This is not only a radical extension of “form follows function” but a message to playwrights (and audiences) that change is good — even if, on occasion, it fills you with dread. Dread is in fact the main feeling you get as you walk into the theater as it’s currently configured for Ayad Akhtar’s The Invisible Hand. You would not mistake the designer Riccardo Hernandez’s arrangement of concrete slabs and bare fluorescent fixtures in low, corrugated ceilings that fly over your seats for the set of, say, a sprightly comedy. »
- Jesse Green
Zosia Mamet Totally Loved Her Girl Allison Williams As Peter Pan
17 hours ago
While a newly released trailer for the upcoming fourth season of Girls shows Shoshanna and Marnie venturing into frenemy territory, there’s no such enmity offscreen. At last night’s Giorgio Armani–sponsored premiere of J.C. Chandor’s ‘80s-set epic A Most Violent Year (which features former Girls star Christopher Abbott as a young rough), Zosia Mamet lit up when asked if she caught Allison Williams's performance in NBC’s Peter Pan. “I thought she sung the shit out of it! It was great to see her doing something that clearly brought her so, so much deep joy,” she said. Marnie and Shoshanna, take notes! »
- Adrienne Gaffney
American Film Institute’s Best Films of the Year Goes to 11
17 hours ago
Like Spinal Tap, today's list of the American Film Institute's best American movies of the year goes up to 11. (Note: Presumptive Oscar contender The Theory of Everything was deemed too British to be eligible. The Imitation Game managed to sneak through thanks to its Weinstein pedigree.) As always, this year's selections were chosen by a jury of academics, critics, and Hollywood power players; if David Fincher wants to yell at them for leaving off Gone Girl, he can find their names here. The full list is below.American SniperBirdmanBoyhoodFoxcatcherThe Imitation GameInterstellarInto the WoodsNightcrawlerSelmaUnbrokenWhiplash Though its name does not include the word television, the AFI also decided to go ahead and make a list of its favorite TV shows, too. Everyone else is doing it! This time, they went with a nice, round ten: The AmericansFargoGame of ThronesHow to Get Away with MurderJane the VirginThe KnickMad MenOrange Is the New BlackSilicon »
- Nate Jones
Great Moments in Blonde Hair, Dark Eyebrows
18 hours ago
Today, Justin Bieber shocked the world by revealing his new blond hair. By hair, we just mean what’s on the top of his head; his eyebrows remained as dark as grade B maple syrup. The result places him into the grand history of people with blonde hair and dark eyebrows. This post originally ran in May of 2013, but we are rerunning it so Bieber could learn about his forebears. The last few months have seen a major uptick in one style trend in particular. No, not patterned pants. (But ... yes, those too.) It's the light-blonde hair with the dark, severe brows, rocked by both Daenerys and Cersei on Game of Thrones and in actual life by Kate Upton on the cover of this month's Vogue. The look has been around for ages, and has never really left us — though not everyone who has worn it has had »
- Margaret Lyons
Aaron Sorkin Responds to Criticisms of The Newsroom’s Campus-Rape Episode
18 hours ago
By nearly every measure, last night's campus-rape episode of The Newsroom was the worst-reviewed episode in the show's history. The hate-watching got so intense on Twitter that even Newsroom staff writer Alena Smith joined in, saying she was "kicked out of the room and screamed at" when she suggested ditching the plotline. Now Aaron Sorkin tells Mediaite that he doesn't mind most of the criticism: "[The episode] catalyzed some passionate debate ... I'm happy to hear it." As anyone who's watched The Newsroom could have guessed, though, Sorkin was not happy to hear that a woman was tweeting details of her private interactions with prominent men. Though Sorkin doesn't dispute that he kicked Smith out — in his words, he "excused her from the room" — he maintains that her tweets broke the traditional code of silence that surrounds writers' room discussions. "I'm saddened that she's broken that trust," Sorkin »
- Nate Jones
This Artist Made Soy Sauce Out of Human Hair
18 hours ago
At the time I met with Nicolas Lobo, his studio was located across the street from an ancient Tequesta Indian burial ground on a bend of Miami's Little River. The area was once a citrus grove, and the house Lobo was living in had belonged to the grove's owners. Lobo's partner, Muriel Olivares, grows crops for her Csa (Community-Supported Agriculture) co-op in the yard. The visit began with a lunch they had prepared using fresh produce from the garden.We entered a clean, drywall-covered garage, which Lobo had turned from a shell into a studio. Lobo’s work, mostly three-dimensional, is abstracted from his research into the culturally obscure and abhorrent. For Soylent Green Bust (2009), Lobo covered a steel form with a patina replicating the chemical composition of the substance the characters in the 1973 science-fiction film Soylent Green eat in the overpopulated world of 2022. At the film’s climax, a »
- Sarah Trigg
Douglas Trumbull, the Man Who Has Revolutionized Movies Several Times, Wants to Try Again
18 hours ago
With this week's Sound and Visions series, Vulture explores the future of movies and the movie industry. We hope you’ll plug us directly into your cerebral cortex. Douglas Trumbull wants movies to be big again. The man who realized 2001: A Space Odyssey's spaceship ballet, Blade Runner's foggy future, the blooming spaceships of Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and the momentous introduction to the Starship Enterprise in Star Trek: The Motion Picture grew up on spectacle that demanded the highest, widest screens imaginable. Innovations like “Cinerama” and “Super Panavision” felt as otherworldly as the latest space satellite. When Trumbull started making movies, his goal was to instill that awe in the next generation. At 72, he continues to forge that future with a new innovation he calls Magi, a digital-projection method optimized for the eye-popping trifecta of 3-D, 4K, 120fps imagery. To get a clear picture of moviemaking's past, »
- Matt Patches
Adnan Syed’s Family: ‘Serial’ Has Brought Us Closer Together
19 hours ago
We already knew that Adnan Syed's family listens to "Serial," and now, thanks to a long interview in The Guardian, we know how they feel about the podcast that made millions of people obsessed with Baltimore-area cell towers. On the whole, they're pretty pleased with it. "Sarah [Koenig] is so thorough and clean," Adnan's brother Yusuf tells the British paper. "She’s doing a better job investigating than the police did." The family split apart after Adnan's conviction, with older brother Tanveer cutting all ties and Adnan's father sinking into a deep depression. Now, they say, the podcast is helping them connect again. Tanveer has even started visiting. "When he heard my brother's voice," Yusuf says, "it brought back all the memories."As the Syeds tell it, Adnan doesn't quite understand how popular the podcast is — he gets transcripts, they say, but something gets lost on paper. Yusuf himself follows the »
- Nate Jones
I Spent One Day Experiencing the Future of Movies, and It Was Full of 4-d Katnisses and Virtual-Reality Narwhals
20 hours ago
With this week's Sound and Visions series, Vulture explores the future of movies and the movie industry. We hope you’ll plug us directly into your cerebral cortex. My seat rumbles as Jennifer Lawrence plummets downward into the bowels of District 13. Later, as she walks through what remains of her former home, the smell of burning rubble lingers in the air. I’m sitting at the only 4Dx theater in America, but I'm also in Panem, where every bomb thrown by Capitol airships lurches my chair forward, and the air is scented with pine and water whenever Katniss can steal away into the forest to stare down wildlife or sing "Hanging Tree." At last weekend's seventh annual 3-D Film Festival, the future of movies — or at least what Regal Cinemas, which became the first theater in America to roll out 4Dx technology in June, hopes is the future of »
- Tess Lynch
The 32 Best Pop Albums of 2014
20 hours ago
Another year in the books, everyone! This week, Vulture will be publishing our critics' top-ten lists. Enjoy. 1. Frankie Cosmos, Zentropy Modern life is a shouting match. This isn’t exactly news, of course, but something about 2014 felt like a breaking point — the year society’s collective caps-lock button got jammed. In times like this, it seems as if the only ones we can trust are the lowercase people, like the humble but devastatingly sharp 20-year-old songwriter Greta Kline. A kind of teen-girl Ziggy Stardust, the Manhattan-bred Kline goes by the sardonically grand stage name Frankie Cosmos, and the ten songs on her first proper album, Zentropy (following years of self-recorded demos you can still peruse on her Bandcamp page), are highly articulate mumbles. When she plays live, she closes her squinted eyes tight, as if she were trying to disappear inside of herself; her drummer-boyfriend Aaron Maine (stage name: Ronnie Ronaldo, »
- Lindsay Zoladz
Ryan Murphy Casts Emma Roberts and Jamie Lee Curtis to Scream in His New Show
20 hours ago
As you've likely read, Ryan Murphy's next project — Fox's Scream Queens — will look a lot like American Horror Story in that it's an anthology, with new story lines coming each season. It will also resemble the FX show further, as Emma Roberts has signed on to be its lead. She'll be joined by famous final girl Jamie Lee Curtis. The first season of the "horror-comedy" will revolve around "a college campus that's rocked by a series of murders." Do you suppose Glee and Ahs alums will pop up (and then promptly die) along the way? This is Ryan Murphy we're talking about! Everything's connected. »
- Lindsey Weber
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