Newsletter Monday, March 12, 2018

[LaineyGossip.com - Calling all smuthounds!] Monday, March 12, 2018 [Intro for March 12, 2018]( [Paul Sun-Hyung Lee poses in the press room at the 2018 Canadian Screen Awards at Sony Centre for the Performing Arts on March 11, 2018 in Toronto, Canada](Dear Gossips, Kim’s Convenience was named Best Comedy Series at the Canadian Screen Awards gala last night, with Paul Sun-Hyung Lee winning Best Lead Actor, Comedy and Andrew Phung winning Best Supporting Actor for the second year in a row. "Representation matters. When communities see themselves reflected onscreen, it means they've moved from the margins into the forefront; it gives them a voice."—Paul Sun-Hyung Lee, KIM'S CONVENIENCE [#CdnScreenAwards]( [pic.twitter.com/yT2zjjlh8T]( — TIFF (@TIFF_NET) [March 12, 2018]( Have you seen Kim’s Convenience? It’s about a Korean family that owns a convenience store in Toronto and their place in their community, as reflected through their relationships with their family, friends, and their customers. The show is funny. The show is about Asians being funny. This is one of the reasons it means so much to so many people. Because for far too long, an Asian was only allowed to be funny in entertainment if he was Long Duck Dong. Kim’s Convenience is now streaming on Netflix. Get caught up before Season 3, which is not yet official. But at this point, that’s just a formality, right? Yours in gossip, Lainey [Click here for the rest of the photos.]( Posted at 12:41 PM [The Royal Four at Westminster Abbey]( [Meghan Markle, Prince Harry, Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge and Prince William, Duke of Cambridge attend the 2018 Commonwealth Day service with Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Abbey on March 12, 2018 in London, England](Meghan Markle attended what’s considered to be her most high profile official royal event today as the Queen celebrated Commonwealth Day at Westminster Abbey. Prince Charles and Camilla were there, along with Prince William and Catherine, and then it was Prince Harry and Meghan, representing the senior members of the royal family. This is a big deal. And the fact that Meghan was included is yet another sign of her acceptance among the most high ranking royals – actually THE most high ranking royal, Her Majesty herself. At this point it’s more than just the Queen indulging Harry, rewarding him for representing her so well over the last few years. That’s part of it, sure. But another part of it is how well Meghan has performed and they’ve seen it. They threw her in here with little to no “princess training” and she’s been impressively well suited to the role. So here they are, the Royal Four, out in public as a team now for the third time, and looking more and more comfortable together. Maybe this is really aggressive Photo Assumption but [Kate](, to me, seems like she’s having more fun than ever, now that she has a peer. Let’s talk about the fashion choices here. Will, Harry, and Kate all wore navy. [Meghan](, as part of the foursome then, stands out, like right out, in white. Totally cool or offside? It’s a bride thing, don’t you think? My friend, Danielle Graham, the entire year leading up to her wedding, she wore white whenever she could. We even made it a recurring theme on etalk – oh look, it’s Danielle in white, again. We get it! You’re getting married! It was a full 6 months, I think, before Danielle eased up on the white clothes, grudgingly. I’m getting that vibe from Meghan too. She really does look cute in a beret though, non? Like, she had something extra going on today – extra photogenic, extra pretty in all her pictures. Especially this one, which made me double take. And I have stared at it for a long, long time: Did you get the same feeling I did? Did you get the same vibe? A Diana vibe? Meghan is giving me a serious case of the Dianas in that shot. If I had more time today, I’d find you a side-by-side. Let me work on this for tomorrow. [Click here for the rest of the photos.]( Posted at 7:39 PM [Smutty Social Media, March 12, 2018]( [Reese Witherspoon out in New York, March 8, 2018](This morning, Lainey posted about Amber Heard and Sean Penn’s [possible romantic dinner together](, so of course I had to go check on Leila George. No social media posts since late 2017. She’s 25. Maybe she uses Snapchat? [A post shared by LEILA GEORGE 🦁 (@leilageorge)]( on Dec 30, 2017 at 10:28pm PST This is why people shouldn’t get famous for taking selfies (I’m referring to both of them). [A post shared by Iggy Azalea (@thenewclassic)]( on Mar 11, 2018 at 10:21pm PDT If you live somewhere that messes with the clocks twice a year, did you feel a little sluggish this morning? I definitely did, and I’m blaming the time change on any mistakes I make this week. A pre-emptive excuse. If people can use “mercury in retrograde” I can use this. [A post shared by Jennifer Garner (@jennifer.garner)]( on Mar 11, 2018 at 2:32pm PDT Drew Barrymore and Timothy Olyphant get quite the reception in Manila. Are there Drew-liebers (or maybe Barrymore-ers)? I imagine they are superfans of Never Been Kissed and Boys on the Side. (Careful with the volume, it’s loud.) [A post shared by Drew Barrymore (@drewbarrymore)]( on Mar 12, 2018 at 5:01am PDT [A post shared by Drew Barrymore (@drewbarrymore)]( on Mar 12, 2018 at 5:03am PDT I can’t let this slip by without mentioning it: Reese Witherspoon and Kerry Washington are co-producing a limited series based on [Celeste Ng’s Little Fires Everywhere](. I loved the book and I love Reese and Kerry for it. At the center of the story are two women – one, an upper middle class journalist and mother of four with deep roots in the small town, and the other, a nomadic and brilliant artist who is a single mother to a teenager. I’m very curious as to which actress will take which part – both can play an A-type and perfect, and both can play private and enigmatic. To be honest, I want this more than Big Little Lies 2. [A post shared by Kerry Washington (@kerrywashington)]( on Mar 3, 2018 at 11:02am PST [The Scientology channel]( launches today. They are not the only religious center to do this – Hillsong Church (which Justin and Selena frequent) has a streaming service and app, as does Joel Osteen. The promo for this channel is like a cross between a self-help infomercial and an uplifting reality TV show. I guess if they run out of content they can play Battlefield Earth on a loop. It's TIME for the Scientology Network! Join us for the network premiere, Monday, March 12th, 8pm EST, on DIRECTV, Roku, AppleTV, fireTV, Chromecast, iTunes and Google Play! [pic.twitter.com/JFngm6OetK]( — Scientology Network (@ScientologyTV) [March 12, 2018]( The next big red carpet is the Met Gala, which the Olsens usually attend. I always look forward to what they are wearing and not because it will be an exciting interpretation of the theme (like we get from Solange or Rihanna) but because they will be dressed like themselves. [Always](. Say “prune.” [A post shared by Yusaku Maezawa (@yusaku2020)]( on Mar 10, 2018 at 4:15am PST [Click here for the rest of the photos.]( Posted at 6:16 PM [Taylor Swift: was Delicate “unexpected”?]( [Taylor Swift in Delicate music video](Taylor Swift’s video for Delicate premiered last night at the iHeartRadio Music Awards. Delicate is considered to be one of the favourite songs off reputation, if not the favourite. The video was directed by Joseph Kahn, who’s directed all the videos off the album so far, and most (all?) of the videos off 1989 and, as I mentioned [last week](, Joseph forecast that Delicate, the video, would be “unexpected”: "It's going to be unexpected and it's going to be grand," he revealed. "I can't get into too much detail. The need is love and the expression of it. And it's not about flowers. People have been sending me ideas, and generally it's like flowers, or pink dresses or blue skies. And those are all the things you'd think you'd want in a video, but they wouldn't fill what you need out of a song like that. So, I think I have a plan here to address that, but it's completely unexpected." Here’s the video, if you’ve not watched it yet. Let’s meet on the other side to assess whether or not it’s actually all that “unexpected”. Almost immediately after Delicate aired, people were already on Twitter talking about whether or not Delicate is a [rip-off]( of a Spike Jonze ad starring Margaret Qualley for Kenzo that was released in 2016. Can something be unexpected if it’s debatably similar to a previous work? For me, what I saw in Delicate was a less-sad, more optimistic version of Britney Spears’s Lucky video – a popstar caged by fame. Of course Taylor has navigated it a lot more successfully than Britney. The point here is that Taylor has a life of her own, an entire existence, a secret goofy personality that she doesn’t share with us. Only she just did. So criticising the fact that she can’t dance isn’t the point. She really can’t. But her sh-t dancing is deliberate in this case: I can’t dance and that’s OK because I’m having a good time, on my own, and besides… “He must like me for me” Which, of course, is the song’s thesis. Not exactly subtle (she never is) so to go back to the question we’re trying to answer in this post – is this really all that “unexpected”? A good video enhances a song. Beyoncé understands this better than anyone else. I’m not sure the video for Delicate does much for the song (for anyone who isn’t a mega Taylor Swift stan). I like the song. I don’t know that I like it that much more for having seen the video. And when taken as a whole, in the era of reputation, I’m not sure that it’s the reputation “moment” that we’ve all been waiting for. The numbers are there, sure, but does the album feel as dominant as the numbers would suggest? [Click here for the rest of the photos.]( Posted at 4:48 PM [Emma & Chord: it’s official]( [Emma Watson and Chord Overstreet seen holding hands in LA, March 8, 2018](I posted about Emma Watson and Chord Overstreet [exactly a week ago](, after the Oscars, when they were seen leaving the Vanity Fair party together. And that was a couple of weeks after they were seen at a concert in LA together. Emma and Chord stepped out hand in hand with big smiles on Thursday, seeming to confirm speculation that they’re dating. These are exclusive photos distributed by one agency and they were first published in the Daily Mail on Friday and then made available to other outlets through the weekend. As you can see, they’re not low quality either. The photographer wasn’t 8 blocks away, zooming the sh-t out of his/her camera. It’s a nondescript neighbourhood and they’re going for a “walk”, when no one in LA walks anywhere. And [Emma]( isn’t new to this game. In fact she’s known this game her entire adult life, a majority of her life. Emma has talked about how aware she is of being seen, of being made, of being located on social media, and we have over the years observed how she manages to stay pretty undercover when she wants to. Given her experience, is it fair to assume that she would have known that she was being photographed? Celebrities with her level of fame, they have a radar for this kind of thing. So ...if she did know that she was being photographed then does it mean that she’s cool with everyone knowing for sure, for sure that they’re together? I mean, it doesn’t look like they mind. Which may also mean that, if it’s gotten to this point, they’re really, really into it. This is my takeaway – these two are really, really into each other. I guess it’s [not happening then with Robert Pattinson](. [Click here for the rest of the photos.]( Posted at 3:38 PM [Amber Heard & Sean Penn?]( [Amber Heard/Sean Penn](According to Page Six Amber Heard and Sean Penn were seen out for dinner on Oscar weekend: The famous pair was spotted sharing dinner at A-list haunt the Tower Bar at the Sunset Tower Hotel over Oscar weekend, “Page Six TV” first revealed. A fellow diner told us, “Amber Heard and Sean Penn looked like they were on a date. They shared a bottle of red wine and were flirty and intimate with each other, at times in deep conversation and at times laughing.” Last time we checked on Amber’s love life, she’d broken up (again) with Elon Musk. Last time we checked on Sean Penn’s love life, he was [still with Leila George]( Vincent D’Onofrio’s daughter. That was back in November. [Amber]( is totally, totally [Sean](’s type. No further explanation required here for why she’s now been added to his blonde streak. Is he Amber’s type though? Where her male preferences are… yes. When Amber dates men, it would appear that she’s not interested in contemporaries. What do Johnny Depp, Elon Musk, and Sean Penn have in common? Older alphas – is that fair to say? Older alphas with dramatic romantic histories, “dramatic” being a strategically diplomatic word here. [Click here for the rest of the photos.]( Posted at 3:18 PM [Grey’s Anatomy cast shakeup]( [Sarah Drew and Jessica Capshaw on Grey's Anatomy ](I’ve found both April Kepner and Arizona Robbins insufferable for full seasons at a time during their tenures at Grey Sloan Memorial. I’ve also found them both inexplicably engaging, likeable and progressively more tolerable as the seasons went on. Arizona was at her best when she was with Callie and April was the most endearing when she was will-they-or-won’t-they-ing with Jackson. These characters became chipper, smiley staples in the Grey’s Anatomy universe but lately, without their more intriguing romantic counterparts, they haven’t really done much. This is exactly why Sarah Drew (Kepner) and Jessica Capshaw (Robbins) are leaving Grey’s Anatomy. I scrolled passed that news with a shrug and a “meh.” And that’s not because I don’t care about Grey’s casting updates. I care deeply. I am a Grey’s Anatomy ride-or-die. I will watch this show until the day [Shonda Rhimes]( pulls the plug and finally puts us out of our misery. I care about Grey’s Anatomy. I just don’t really care about April Kepner and Arizona Robbins. To me, their exits make complete sense. What have Kepner and Robbins done for us lately? Co-showrunner and executive producer, Krista Vernoff, [released a statement](� ) to Deadline about why the show decided not to renew Drew’s and Capshaw’s contracts for Season 15: “As writers, our job is to follow the stories where they want to go and sometimes that means saying goodbye to characters we love. It has been a joy and a privilege to work with these phenomenally talented actresses.” She also provided more context to the show’s decision in a lengthy [Twitter post](. Shonda Rhimes echoed these sentiments and gave a nice summation of the importance of each character: “It’s always hard for me to say goodbye to any of my characters. Both Arizona Robbins and April Kepner are not only beloved but iconic — both the LBGTQ and devout Christian communities are underrepresented on TV. I will be forever grateful to both Jessica and Sarah for bringing these characters to life with such vibrant performance and for inspiring women around the globe. They will always be a part of our Shondaland family.” So, it was a creative decision. Meh. Right now, halfway through season 14, Arizona barely has a storyline. She makes out with that hot Italian doctor (Deluca’s sister) every so often and she throws worried glances April’s way when she’s not making out with Hot Italian. While it is still nice to see an openly lesbian character on primetime network TV, makeouts and worried glances are not exactly Emmy-worthy material. Over the past couple episodes, April’s storyline has evolved slightly from bright and shiny go-getter Christian to hot-mess partier questioning her faith and that’s only been moderately interesting. Both actresses had reportedly expressed concerns about their [dwindling screen time](. Arizona has been around for 10 seasons. April has been there for 9. That’s a long ass time. That’s a good ass run. It’s not a stretch to believe that the writers have just run out of sh-t for them to do and that Shonda and the other producers decided to give these actors the freedom to leave and pursue more screen time elsewhere. On another show, people may have accepted that reasoning. On this show, as soon as a cast member leaves, the conspiracy theories start. We all know that Shonda has no problem writing actors off the show when they misbehave (See: Patrick Dempsey, Isaiah Washington and Katherine Heigl) but these conspiracy theories have nothing to do with these actors behaving badly. Remember when [Ellen Pompeo]( won the honourary Most Badass Lead Actor on a Drama Series award for [writing an op-ed]( detailing her fight for her worth with ABC? In that op-ed for THR, it was revealed that Ellen Pompeo is now TV’s $20 million woman. So, the easy theory is that in order for ABC to honour Pompeo’s pay increase, they cut a few cast members. That would MAYBE make sense if they had replaced Patrick Dempsey when he was killed off in season 11. But they didn’t. He was making more than all of his female co-stars. So, Pompeo demanded what was rightfully hers. Turning this into a story about how two women had to get fired in order for one woman to get the pay she was already entitled to diminishes Ellen Pompeo’s work and worth (she [wasn’t too happy about the suggestion either]( It also makes Sarah Drew and Jessica Capshaw look like nothing more than collateral damage. It makes it sound like the success of one woman has to come at the cost of two. That narrative is a lazy attempt to create drama when there is none. How come no one is blaming [Scott Speedman’s addition to the show]( for these two departures? How come no one is talking about how Jason George just left to star in that firefighter spinoff so it’s not like the show is pinching pennies? They have his whole salary to redistribute. Leave Ellen Pompeo alone. Now, can we move past the conspiracy theories to talk about how GOOD this decision is for Grey’s Anatomy? Getting rid of April and Arizona leaves room for more new doctors and fresh storylines. I’m also really coming around on Jackson and Maggie so GOOD RIDDANCE, #JAPRIL. April and Arizona are not a part of the OG Grey’s cast. I won’t miss them like I miss Cristina Yang every Thursday night. In fact, I don’t think I’ll miss them at all. In Shonda I Trust. My final question is this: which one is going to die? [Click here for the rest of the photos.]( Posted at 1:48 PM [Chris Pratt: from coffee to sushi?]( [Chris Pratt has sushi date with an unidentified woman at Katsuya in LA, March 10, 2018](Back in the day, there used to be a prescribed schedule where dating was concerned. Drinks or coffee first, because dinner was too much of a commitment. And if that went well, you’d move on to the next step. I can’t remember the next step, it’s been too long. Is a schedule observed anymore? I often feel ripped off that Tinder wasn’t around when I was single. Because I would have Tindered the sh-t out of Tinder. Does [Chris Pratt]( seem like a Tinder guy to you? He seems to me like the kind of guy who still follows the old school prescribed schedule of dating. Maybe I’m reading into this too much. A couple of weeks ago, Chris was seen out for coffee in LA with [an unidentified blonde woman](. It was a Wednesday. This weekend, on Saturday, Chris was photographed leaving Katsuya with a blonde woman who looks like the same person he went for coffee with. Weekday to weekend, coffee to sushi – this is very 80s and 90s. I wonder if that’s what’s going on here. The next few months will be busy for Chris. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom opens in June. Avengers: Infinity War opens in just 5 weeks. Word is new footage will be released tonight and a new 30 second TV spot dropped this weekend. Not much new footage here but Captain America does look good with all that hair and the beard. All his scenes in this movie seem to happen with a wind machine around. Chris Pratt doesn’t show up in this updated trailer and there are so many Avengers featured in this movie, his screen time will probably be limited. Part of me thinks that, with the popularity of Black Panther now, whether or not they should recut the movie to include more of T’Challa. How disappointed will you be if Infinity War is short on T’Challa. And Okoye? [Click here for the rest of the photos.]( Posted at 1:26 PM [Privacy Policy]( - [Unsubscribe](