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.
I forgot to post this before, but I was able to get Melbourne indie rock artist Courtney Barnett into WHO prior to her going to the Grammys. She was nominated as Best New Artist. It was great to include new talent in the issue and her answers helped illuminate her bio to a mass audience.
During a difficult week for WHO, the staff worked hard to produce this issue, including our Grammys story, completed in half a day. So glad to be their colleague.
It seems like a patriotic duty to cover the Super Bowl while living abroad, albeit with a focus on the halftime show, so here is my salute to the home country. USA! USA!
Great gowns, sure, but a great statement about diversity in entertainment — that summed up the Screen Actors Guild Awards in L.A. Glad to write about all of it for Who.
While the Screen Actors Guild Awards acknowledged diversity in Hollywood with hardware on Jan. 30, 2016, many are still looking for host Chris Rock to make a stand at the Oscars.
Was there a serial killer involved? Other relatives of Steven Avery or Brendan Dassey? I dip my toe into the Netflix phenomenon Making a Murderer for this week's WHO.
Following a spread featuring an interview with Jennifer Aniston, this coverage of the Critics' Choice Awards leads with Aniston and Justin Theroux. I loved being able to write from Reagan Alexander's file.
Reactions to this year's Oscar nominations are evolving and ever-changing, so capturing the zeitgeist, even for a moment, isn't the easiest task. Here is how I summed it up for Who this week.
I enjoyed speaking with historian and scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. to tease the latest episode of Finding Your Roots, enjoying its third season on PBS stations. I hope to include more of the interview in this post at a later date.
Title card courtesy PBS.
In "In Search of Freedom," Maya Rudolph, Shonda Rhimes and Keenan Ivory Wayans take fascinating journeys into their past and learn how to interpret their current identities. To read the story posted online, just scroll down the three images below.
To see a teaser for the episode, check out the video below, and to see the specific clip I wrote about above, click the link to the post on People here:
I was proud to work with the WHO team to put together this tribute to David Bowie. 48 hours was not a lot of time to process how influential Bowie was to music, film, fashion and the arts, and how much he meant to me personally, but I found research and writing to be a tremendous salve.
Event Cinemas George Street hosted the black carpet and exclusive 70mm Roadshow premiere screening in Sydney of The Hateful Eight on Jan. 13, 2016, complete with a 12-minute intermission, programs and popcorn.
Credit: Roadshow Films
An enthusiastic Quentin Tarantino told the audience that any chill they may feel in the cinema wasn't from the air conditioning.
"This movie is cold," he said, referencing its dark tone and its white-and-windy snowscapes, which he added made the film just perfect for viewing in Australia's hot summertime. "But if you feel it getting colder, it's not just the snow," he said with a grin. "It's just good filmmaking."
View from our seat of Quentin Tarantino addressing the audience.
Tarantino then introduced stars Kurt Russell and Samuel L. Jackson to warm applause. Russell said he had not been in Australia "for 20 years, but it's always nice to be back."
Social media-savvy Jackson took a selfie with the audience for Instagram before speaking. "Hello Sydney!" Jackson said. "Let me offer you the first 'motherf---er' of the evening, because there will be a lot."
Instagram: samuelljackson
A bonus for fans — Tarantino, Russell and Jackson stayed to watch with the audience. In the carousel below are some photos Matt and I took from the carpet.
Below are the front and the back of the program provided at the screening:
Here is how WHO used the image of Jackson on social media, plus a photo of Tarantino also taken on the carpet:
But the actor I wish came to Sydney: Walter Goggins. I love his portrayal of Boyd Crowder from Justified (see this still from the show). In Hateful, Goggins provides electricity, unpredictability, humour and menace as Chris Mannix, the maybe-sherriff of Red Rock.
Courtesy: FX
Working on the tribute for David Bowie limited my contributions to this year's Golden Globes coverage, but here are the spreads I helped to write.
This week, aside from some Star Tracks captions and Gossip to Go's, I wrote about Justin Bieber and Hailey Baldwin. While that was my only Hot Topic, there were two features in the magazine — the summary of great Bill Cosby reporting done by People staff and Emma Martin's portrait of Matt Kerr, Miranda's brother, and his restaurant in the Hunter Valley with fiancé Jimmy Wright. While I've included the Cosby and Kerr stories under the Who Magazine tab on the site under Telling Stories, they are also included here if you scroll through.
I had the pleasure of the D23 Expo in Anaheim, California, for People and Who. Held the weekend of Aug. 14, 2015, the fan fest generated a lot of great posts for People.com. I reported two, the first of which garnered 4,500 shares. Check them out in the carousel below, then scroll down for more stories from the northern summer.
Johnny Depp got his wish and met Mickey Mouse. Photo courtesy Disney.
Sometimes observation can make for a post. The story below the photo was based on a riff Chris Evans and Anthony Mackie had onstage for the Captain America: Civil War presentation.
Anthony Mackie, Chris Evans and Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige. Photo courtesy Disney.
The following item almost didn't post. There was debate if George Lucas's confession about a certain prequel character would be appropriate for People or more Entertainment Weekly territory. I'm glad they went with it!
George Lucas received his Disney Legend honor from Walt Disney chairman and CEO Bob Iger. Photo courtesy of Disney.
No one works in a vacuum. I got to reunite with Scott Huver to tag-team on coverage. One of our pieces was on Ellen DeGeneres and Ty Burrell talking about Finding Dory. The other involved Burrell's comments on his Modern Family co-star Ariel Winter and her breast reduction surgery (she had just revealed that she had the procedure done). Read both in the carousel below.
Ed O'Neill, Ty Burrell and Ellen DeGeneres speak about Finding Dory at D23. Photo courtesy ABC/Image Group LA.
I spoke with Dancing with the Stars professional dancer Val Chmerkovskiy. He was about to perform along with fellow DWTS pro Peta Murgatroyd (now engaged to his brother Max) but spoke about his desire to break into acting. He also spoke well of Rumer Willis, the partner with whom he won a Mirror Ball trophy.
Val Chmerkovskiy and Mickey Mouse. Photo from a DWTS blog.
I ended up attending numerous panels, covering the Legends carpet and reuniting with celebrities and publicists. I hope to amend this post with some interviews that didn't make it to People.com, namely with composer Danny Elfman. Thanks for reading!
Yay, Star Wars: The Force Awakens is here! My husband and I attended the premiere in Sydney on Dec. 15, 2015, and then I got to write about the star-studded global premieres in LA and London as well. The spread of "Spotted" is below, along with the cool premiere invite we got. To see photos from the Sydney screening, go to my Flickr album here.
This week, I got to write a couple small blurbs about big weight losses. This shouldn't be too tough as I used to cover The Biggest Loser in the US. Fun to do in between other bits of writing.
This week, I got to write about Kelly Rutherford's custody fight, Hugh Grant having four kids in four years, and Lamar Odom's slow medical recovery. Based on rumors of Chandler and Monica NOT dating in real life, I put together a Reel Life photo box for Backchat, too.
Some days, you have to write about Kim Kardashian's placenta. You also get to write about Australia's national treasurer (that would be Kylie Minogue) and both an engagement (Eva Longoria's) and a split (Ruby Rose's) on the same page.
Tricky to write about a singularly titled event that happens to be held in different locations over a different number of days, each event being hyped by a different radio station or ownership group and with different sponsors. Then again, it's all about the photos.
This week, Charlie Sheen continued to make news, this time because of a lawsuit filed by his ex-fiancée. I also adapted People's reporting on the San Bernadino shootings and put in some captions for Taylor Swift's Australian Instagram pics.
