Oscar-winning actress Glenda Jackson dies at age 87

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Oscar-winning actress Glenda Jackson died on Thursday at the age of 87.  Jackson’s agent Lionel Larner said in a statement that the actress, who was also a former Labor Member of Parliament, “died peacefully at her home in Blackheath, London this morning after a brief illness with her family at her side.” adding, “today we lost one of the world’s greatest actresses and I have lost a best friend of over 50 years.”

Jackson appeared on stage for the Royal Shakespeare Company in the 1960s where she played roles in Hamlet and Antony and Cleopatra. She won a Best Actress Oscar in 1970 for the film Women in Love, based on the novel by D.H. Lawrence; and in 1973, she won an Oscar for her role in the film A Touch of Class, two years after her memorable depictions of Queen Elizabeth I in both the BBC’s biographic film “Elizabeth R” and the historical drama “Mary, Queen of Scots.” Jackson also won an Emmy and a Tony Award during her career.

In 1992 she turned to politics during John Major’s tenure as prime minister, and was elected MP for Hampstead and Highgate. Jackson remained an MP for 23 years, during which her party came to power in a landslide under Tony Blair. When Blair started his New Labor project, Jackson was part of the Labor contingent that opposed the move away from more traditional Labor positions.

Jackon left her seat in 2015 and returned to acting, portraying a woman struggling with dementia in Elizabeth is Missing, earning Jackson a BAFTA award for Best Actress. She later returned to the stage in 2016 by starring in a West End production of “King Lear,” and won a Tony Award in 2018 for her appearance in the Broadway production of “Three Tall Women.” Jackson had recently completed filming for The Great Escaper in which she starred alongside Michael Cain, which tells the true story of a British veteran who escaped a care home to attend the 70th anniversary of the D-Day landings in France’s Normandie region.

Jackson was married from 1958-1976 to stage director Roy Hodges. She is survived by their son, Daniel.

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Al Pacino welcomes newborn son with girlfriend Noor Alfallah

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83-year-old Al Pacino has welcomed a newborn son with girlfriend Noor Alfallah, 29. A rep for the actor confirmed the news to TMZ, adding that they couple have named the child Roman Pacino.

The news comes about two weeks after Pacino’s rep confirmed that the couple was expecting their first child together. The newborn is Pacino’s fourth child, and his first with Alfallah. He is also father to 33-year-old daughter Julie Marie, whom he shares with ex-girlfriend Jan Tarrant; and 22-year-old twins Anton and Olivia whom he shares with ex-Beverly D’Angelo.

Pacino and Alfallah were first spotted together in April 2022 leaving Felix Restaurant in Venice, California. Alfallah also shared a photo of the couple visiting a friend’s art exhibit in New York in April.

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Global Citizen’s ‘Power Our Planet: Live in Paris’ festival to feature Billie Eilish, Lenny Kravitz, H.E.R.

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Global Citizen will air a new three-hour event taking place on June 22, dubbed ‘Power Our Planet: Live in Paris’. The event will feature sets from Billie Eilish, H.E.R., Lenny Kravitz, Jon Batiste, Ben Harper, Finneas, and Mosimann, who will perform live from the city’s Champ de Mars, located at the foot of the Eiffel Tower.

Power Our Planet: Live in Paris is a free, ticketed event being held to mobilize financing from world leaders and the private sector for developing countries to fight climate change and extreme poverty; it is hosted in partnership with the City of Paris with support from Live Nation.  Global Citizen co-founder and CEO Hugh Evans said in a press release: “Our world needs urgent change. Outdated global financial systems are perpetuating the conditions that keep vulnerable countries and their citizens trapped in the cycle of extreme poverty. We congratulate Ajay Banga on his appointment as President of the World Bank, and there is an urgent and immediate opportunity for him to show leadership the world truly needs.”

Power Our Planet: Live in Paris will be livestreamed globally across Global Citizen’s platforms on June 22. Amazon will also carry the livestream via Amazon Music on Twitch.

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Olivia Rodrigo announces new single “Vampire”

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Olivia Rodrigo will drop new music soon, the follow-up to her debut album from 2021, Sour. At the start of June, Rodrigo’s website homepage converted to a timer counting down to June 30.

Rodrigo shared on social media that she will release a new single, “Vampire,” on June 30 via Geffen Records, with artwork showcasing a black-and-white profile shot of herself wearing two purple bandaids on her neck and writing: “my new song vampire is out june 30th! you can presave now. so excited for this ahhhhh!!!!!!! 🖤🩸💜🫀❤

According to a press release, “‘Vampire’ is the sound of an artist firmly in control, imbued with a sense of maturity and a bold confidence… With ‘Vampire,’ she is poised to begin an exciting new chapter.”

Pre-order limited edition physical versions of “Vampire” – HERE.

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Take a look at the trailer for ‘The Witcher’ Season 3

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Netflix has shared a trailer for ‘The Witcher’ Season 3, featuring Henry Cavill, Freya Allan and Anya Chalotra. Netflix also released character posters featuring Geralt, Ciri, Yennefer and the bard Jaskier (Joey Batey).

The Witcher is a fantasy drama based on the Andrzej Sapkowski book series, which was previously adapted as a series of video games. The show follows Geralt of Rivia (Cavill), a monster hunter known as a Witcher. In the Season 3 trailer, Geralt, Princess Ciri (Allan) and sorceress Yennefer (Chalotra) face a “menacing future” as Geralt and Yennefer try to protect Ciri and brace for an impending war.

Season 3 of The Witcher will be split into two parts, with Volume 1 to premiere June 29 and Volume 2 to start streaming July 27.  It was announced last October that Cavill will exit The Witcher after Season 3, and Liam Hemsworth is set to take over the role of Geralt in Season 4.

Take a look at the Season 3 trailer for The Witcher here.

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Paul McCartney says The Beatles will release ‘final’ song using AI

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Paul McCartney announced that a new Beatles song is on the way, with the help of artificial intelligence. The Guardian reported that McCartney said in an interview that a ‘final’ Beatles track will be released later this year, after he used AI to “extricate” John Lennon’s voice from an old demo from decades ago.

McCartney further explained during his BBCRadio 4 Today programme” interview: “We just finished it up and it’ll be released this year.” (McCartney didn’t confirm the name of the track.)   He added: “[Peter Jackson] was able to extricate John’s voice from a ropey little bit of cassette. We had John’s voice and a piano and he could separate them with AI. They tell the machine: ‘That’s the voice. This is a guitar. Lose the guitar.’ So when we came to make what will be the last Beatles record, it was a demo that John had and we were able to take John’s voice and get it pure through this AI. Then we can mix the record, as you would normally do. So it gives you some sort of leeway.”

The BBC stated the song that’s being released *might* be the 1978 Lennon composition titled “Now And Then”. The demo was included on the “For Paul” cassette that was given to McCartney by Lennon’s widow, Yoko Ono. The late musician had recorded it shortly before his death in 1980.

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Shawn Mendes shares the single ‘What The Hell Are We Dying For?’

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Shawn Mendes released the new song titled “What the Hell Are We Dying For?” amid the devastating Canadian wildfires.

Mendes, 24, shared the song on social media, noting that he’s making a donation to the Canadian Red Cross alongside the song’s release: ‘WHAT THE HELL ARE WE DYING FOR ? OUT NOW. Started writing this song yesterday morning with my friends in upstate New York & finished it only a few hours ago..felt so important to me to share with you guys in real time ♥♥’  Take a listen to the song – here.

“What the Hell Are We Dying For?” was produced by Mendes and Mike Sabath, and co-written by the pair with Scott Harris and Eddie Benjamin. It was released with a cover image taken of the New York City skyline covered in orange smog from the wildfire smoke.

To stream “What the Hell Are We Dying For?”, head here.

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Sam Smith shares the song ‘Vulgar’ featuring Madonna

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Sam Smith and Madonna have teamed up for the song “Vulgar”, with Smith sharing in a post on Instagram: “VULGAR is a song that is very special to me. Me, the QUEEN, and a group of some of the most talented people I know, got in the studio the day after the Grammys and we created this piece of music. The creativity was pure and the energy was alive. I’m so excited to share this with you sailors!! VULGAR iS BEAUTIFUL!! Out everywhere now. Love you @madonna.” Madonna also celebrated the song’s release by posting a video of herself with a dance party.

Smith, 31, and Madonna, 64, revealed the title, release date and cover artwork for ‘Vulgar’ last month, which featured close-up black-and-white photos of the duo wearing corsets.  Madonna and Smith previously teamed up at the 2023 Grammy Awards, where the pop icon introduced Smith’s performance of “Unholy” with Kim Petras. After the show, Smith shared a photo with Madonna along with the caption, “Overwhelmed, grateful and inspired. Thank you for your love and support @madonna. I’ll never forget your kindness.”

Take a look at the video for ‘Vulgar’ – here.

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‘Vanderpump Villa’ ordered at Hulu amid Vanderpump Rules ‘Scandoval’ drama

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Just days after the dramatic Season 10 Vanderpump Rules finale, Hulu announced it is teaming up with Lisa Vanderpump for a new 10-episode reality series titled Vanderpump Villa. Vanderpump will serve as an executive producer on the new unscripted series, which ‘follows the hand-picked staff of Vanderpump’s luxury French villa as they live and work together to navigate every extravagant desire of their well-to-do guests.’ A launch date has yet to be announced.

Bravo just finished airing the conclusion of the three-part “Vanderpump Rules” finale last week, which saw the highly anticipated confrontation between Racquel Leviss and Ariana Madix months after news of Leviss’ and Tom Sandoval’s affair came to light — aka “#Scandoval.” The finale episode brought in series-high ratings for “Vanderpump Rules” and Bravo with a combined audience of 4.1 million viewers on Bravo, on-demand and the Peacock platform within three days.

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Take a look at the trailer for Season 2 of ‘The Summer I Turned Pretty’

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Amazon Prime Video is giving viewers a glimpse of Season 2 of ‘The Summer I Turned Pretty’, sharing a teaser trailer for the upcoming season.

The Summer I Turned Pretty is based on the Jenny Han book series of the same name, and follows Isabel “Belly” Conklin (Lola Tung), a young woman romantically torn between two brothers, Conrad (Christopher Briney) and Jeremiah (Gavin Casalegno). The teaser, which features the Taylor Swift song “August,” shows Belly and Conrad get close as Jeremiah teases the pair; while oher scenes hint that the love triangle isn’t over yet.

An official synopsis reads: “Belly used to count down the days until she could return to Cousins Beach, but with Conrad and Jeremiah fighting over her heart and the return of Susannah’s cancer, she’s not sure summer will ever be the same. When an unexpected visitor threatens the future of Susannah’s beloved house, Belly has to rally the gang to come together — and to decide once and for all where her heart lies.”

The Summer I Turned Pretty will have a three-episode premiere July 14, with subsequent episodes released weekly on Fridays. Take a look at the teaser trailer – here.

‘The Summer I Turned Pretty’: Belly Remains Torn Between Conrad & Jeremiah In Season 2 Teaser

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