A blog of recent clips, reporting and notions on what's happening in pop culture of interest to me. Written by Cynthia Wang.
My page for current articles and reporting, random thoughts on TV, music, movies, etc.
Alan Cumming called while leaving his home (and his cats) to catch a taxi on the way to a CBS upfront party in New York. If only he knew just how much I knew where he was headed and why! This week also featured chats with Oscar-winning makeup artist Lucy Sibbick, Body Hack 2.0 host Todd Sampson, and one of the favourites in MasterChef, Brendan.
It's Nigella Week on season 10 of MasterChef, and I was able to feature her as the Back Chat opener and in an online story (about how to poach the perfect egg). Mixing up, there is a quick interview with actress Lesley Manville on working with Daniel Day-Lewis in Phantom Thread, a look back at the now-concluded-but-already-missed Eurovision, and a personal take on top Voice contestant Sam Perry, a loop artist.
I got to do a quick review of Avengers: Infinity War this week, which came before editing WHO's pick-up of EW's amazing Marvel Cinematic Universe package for next week's issue. Also, spoke to blues legend Robert Cray and got to set up the upcoming fourth season of The Bachelorette and tease the next episode of MKR. Rarely do I get a chance to do a pop-culture list, but when asked to do an Avengers-themed post, I enjoyed writing about The 10 Most Badass Women of the MCU.
The only time I could speak to Ioan Gruffudd was at 11.30 pm on a Monday night. Well of course I said 'yes'! Here is that chat, along with one with Bachelorette host Osher Gunsberg, and a review of Thor: Ragnarok.
Sometimes it's the little items that make you happy. You could even say it fills up your senses.
With an extraordinary performance in the film Patti Cake$, Australian actress Danielle Macdonald is one to watch. I was glad to meet her and get to know her before her inevitable rise. Also in this Back Chat are items I wrote about Game of Thrones stars in ads, Lady Gaga's Little Mermaid-inspired costumes and three G2G items.
It's not often in life you get to meet someone who made something very important to you, but I got to express to director Luc Besson how much The Big Blue meant to me in high school. He responded in an appreciative and personal way. Love.
Wonderful chance for me to speak to such a fantastic actor. Thank you, Netflix Australia!
Here are my previews on two geeky things on behalf of Deb's "What to Watch" section.
It's not really a review, but here is what I wrote about the latest Despicable Me movie, Despicable Me 3.
After attending the Australian premiere of The Mummy at Sydney's State Theatre, I wrote up our listing item about the film, then interviewed Sofia Boutella. Here are all three components in reverse order. Also, to read more from Sofia, click on the link to the online story here.
It's not really a review, but I got to do the write-up of Wonder Woman for the release of the film in Australia.
While I got to interview Brenton Thwaites for Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, I also wrote the copy you see on the whole Back Chat spread. In the List, I got to speak to Daily Show correspondent Ronny Chieng, which was a highlight.
Outside of the Casey Donovan and Eurovision Diary features in the May 29 issue, here are other items I reported. With Isabel and Kellan, I interviewed them in a video set-up — so strange for this print reporter!
I spoke with Angourie Rice just before the Oscars but was glad to include her in the issue with the Oscars since she refers to her former co-star Ryan Gosling. Look for Angourie in the Sofia Coppola film The Beguiled.
Sometimes you have to write about things that are not related to one another but exist on the same spread. Here is an example.
I got to speak to Callan in December when he was promoting his work in the film The Legend of Ben Hall. Some of that interview was put online, in an article here, but I saved a statement to include in our list of notable young Australian talent.
Although Devon Terrell was born in California, he was raised in Perth, Western Australia. Nonetheless, he came Stateside to film the early-days bio-pic about Barack Obama for Netflix.
I got to speak with Jack Martin, the star of the film The Legend of Ben Hall. In a rare affirmation that an interview subject has read your piece, Jack sent on a selfie with the article!
