lsi-dsp.co.uk

Blog

  • ‘White Lotus’ Mike White slams show composer Cristóbal Tapia de Veer

    ‘White Lotus’ Mike White slams show composer Cristóbal Tapia de Veer

    “The White Lotus” creator Mike White is clapping back — and not holding back — at his HBO hit’s Emmy-winning composer, Cristóbal Tapia de Veer, who announced he was exiting the series last week.

    In a candid SiriusXM interview with Howard Stern Tuesday, two days after “The White Lotus” April 6 Season 3 finale, White expressed confusion and hurt over Tapia de Veer’s comments to  The New York Times, detailing what he called creative clashes with White and announcing he had quit the series.

    “I honestly don’t know what happened,” White told Stern, calling Tapia da Veer’s sole April 2 interview a “PR campaign” that landed “three days before the finale. It was kind of of a bitch move.”

    “I don’t think he respected me. He basically wants people to know that he’s edgy and dark and I’m, I don’t know, like I watch reality TV,” said White, a former “Survivor” and “Amazing Race” contestant. “We never really even fought. He says we feuded. I don’t think I ever had a fight with him, except for maybe some emails. It was basically me giving him notes. I don’t think he liked to go through the process of getting notes from me, or wanting revisions, because I guess he didn’t respect me. I knew he wasn’t a team player and that he wanted to do it his way.”

    White said the process worked well with Tapia de Veer for the first two “White Lotus” seasons. “But in the third season, he had won Emmys and his song had gone viral. He just did not want to go through the process anymore,” said White. “He’d have a contemptuous smirk on his face when dealing with me. Like I was just a chimp or something.”

    Tapia de Veer, who won three Emmys for the show’s earworm theme, told the Times that he had to “force” his music into “The White Lotus,” claiming he had few allies on the production and labeling the process “a good struggle.”

    “I feel like this was, you know, a rock ’n’ roll band story,” Tapia de Veer said. “I was like, OK, this is like a rock band I’ve been in before where the guitar player doesn’t understand the singer at all.”

    Kim Neundorf, a representative for Tapia de Veer, declined to comment to USA TODAY about White’s interview.

    White said that he had not chosen a new location for Season 4 (but he’s traveling to Colombia to get out of Los Angeles). He told Stern that, after breaking viewership records in Season 3, he was renegotiating his HBO deal for Season 4.

    When Stern pressed for specifics for the deal, White responded in a way that reflected “The White Lotus” main theme. “At a certain point with money, (one wonders) is this going to make me worse?” said White. “Is having more money just going to make me more dysfunctional?”

  • Watch Viola Davis take out the bad guys in the thriller 'G20'Movies

    Watch Viola Davis take out the bad guys in the thriller 'G20'Movies

    Watch Viola Davis take out the bad guys in the thriller ‘G20’Movies

  • Biggest reveals about John Lennon, Paul McCartney in Beatles book

    Biggest reveals about John Lennon, Paul McCartney in Beatles book

    play

    John Lennon and Paul McCartney were each other’s favorite audience. That was plainly clear as the besotted Beatles bantered, bickered and obsessed over the 23 years they were friends and rivals.

    Ian Leslie’s new biography “John & Paul: A Love Story in Songs” (Celadon, 436 pp., out now) unpacks their intense and complicated relationship from their first meeting in 1957 to Lennon’s murder in 1980.

    Along the way, there’s psychoanalysis (Leslie specializes in writing about human psychology, communication and creativity) and the occasional hair-curling discovery.

    Nothing here is entirely new: Leslie relies on previously published interviews and conducted just one himself for the book, with “Let It Be” director Michael Lindsay-Hogg. But Leslie does an extraordinary job of providing context for familiar anecdotes, and there are many that will feel surprising.

    Among the biggest revelations:

    Four Beatles movies out in 2028: See who’s cast to play music legends

    Paul McCartney planned to pursue a solo career if The Beatles never hit it big.

    When the Fab Four signed their contract with manager Brian Epstein in 1961, Paul requested a clause allowing Epstein to split up the artists “so that they shall perform as separate individual performers.” Epstein’s assistant, Alistair Taylor, recalled Paul saying he would go solo if things didn’t work out with the band.

    John and Paul wrote songs together for years, but kept that a secret until Brian Epstein became their manager.

    The two friends started collaborating on songs almost as soon as they met, scribbling lyrics and chords in a notebook with every entry emblazoned: “ANOTHER LENNON-McCARTNEY ORIGINAL.” But their efforts remained private until they revealed they were songwriters at their second meeting with Epstein, who responded with enthusiasm. So they introduced a few of their own compositions onstage at the Cavern Club to test the waters.

    George Harrison contributed to many Lennon-McCartney compositions, but they decided to shut him out when legalizing their partnership.

    As the Beatles prepared to release their first single, with the original songs “Love Me Do” and “P.S. I Love You,” Epstein drew up a publishing agreement formalizing the Lennon-McCartney partnership.

    “It was an option to include George in the songwriting team,” McCartney is quoted as saying. But Paul asked John, “ ‘Should three of us write or would it be better to keep it simple?’ We decided we’d just keep to the two of us.”

    “It’s not clear that George and Ringo were even told about this second contract,” Leslie writes. But “George certainly noticed its effect.”

    Paul McCartney suggested the title of John Lennon’s first book.

    Their collaborations weren’t limited to songs. When Lennon published 1964’s “In His Own Write,” a nonsensical collection of short stories, poems and drawings, the book’s clever name was proposed by McCartney.

    ‘Yesterday,’ one of Paul McCartney’s most beloved songs, was shrugged off as album filler in England.

    Beatles producer George Martin broached releasing “Yesterday” as a McCartney solo record, a recommendation shot down by Epstein. The song wasn’t completed in time to appear in “Help!” so it was simply stuck on the movie’s soundtrack.

    Then fate stepped in: Capitol Records decided to make the song the band’s new single in America, where it sold a million copies the first week.

    John felt rejected by Paul after India, and Yoko Ono speculated the reason might have been sexual.

    After The Beatles’ botched trip to India to seek enlightenment with the Maharishi in 1968, John returned home with the realization he was in love with artist Yoko Ono but also visibly angry with Paul. Lennon himself never spoke of a falling-out point in their relationship at that time, but Ono sensed he felt wounded.

    Years later, in an interview with biographer Philip Norman, she controversially theorized that John might have been rejected sexually by Paul.

    “John said that no one ever hurt him the way Paul hurt him,” Ono told Norman. “There was something going on here, from his point of view, not from Paul’s … I couldn’t help wondering what it was really about.”

    In 2015, Ono said John found men attractive, but “they would have to be not just physically attractive, but mentally very advanced, too. And you can’t find people like that.”

    John Lennon wondered if ‘Imagine’ was as good as ‘Yesterday.’

    After writing the song in 1971 on his grand piano at Tittenhurst Park, his home with Ono, Lennon played “Imagine” for DJ Howard Smith and asked what he thought. When Smith confirmed it was “beautiful,” John pressed, “But is it as good as ‘Yesterday’?”

    John and Paul’s friendship ran hot and cold until the end.

    They always found their way back to each other, but the missed opportunities are sickening: In 1977, a year after they’d last seen each other in person, Paul called John from a hotel not far from Lennon’s home at the Dakota to see if they could get together. “What for?” John replied with annoyance, and the conversation ultimately ended with McCartney abruptly hanging up on him.

    Denny Laine, who was in the studio working with a devastated Paul the morning after Lennon’s death in 1980, remembered him vowing: “I’m never going to fall out with anybody again in my life.”

  • Trump tariffs taken to task by Jon Stewart on ‘Daily Show’

    Trump tariffs taken to task by Jon Stewart on ‘Daily Show’

    play

    If the Trump tariffs are economic “medicine,” Jon Stewart is perfectly fine without a prescription.

    The “Daily Show” host joked on Monday night’s episode that President Donald Trump’s tariff regime, which has lurched the economy into a violent downward turn since its unveiling Wednesday, was both an unproven remedy and a harbinger of doom.

    “You’re all acting like the tariff regime is a tried and true remedy,” he said. “Oh, of course! This is the medicine that’s always prescribed. Except the last time it was tried 100 years ago, we had a Great Depression?”

    Jon Stewart agrees to Elon Musk’s condition for ‘Daily Show’ interview: ‘I am game’

    In 1930, President Herbert Hoover signed the Smoot–Hawley Tariff Act which raised tariffs on a significant chunk of imported goods in a bid to protect the American economy. Widely regarded as a historic bungle, the move deepened the Great Depression when other countries retaliated.

    Playing various clips of Republican commentators comparing the tariffs – which Trump is hoping will revive America’s manufacturing sector in the long term – to a colonoscopy or rat poison in a small but healthy dose, Stewart projected disbelief.

    “So everyone relax, this is merely a routine rat poison colonoscopy,” he joked. “If Trump wants us to stay the course with this radical plan, you might want to think of a strategy that inspires our confidence that you all know what you’re doing.”

    Jon Stewart cuts hand in bloody ‘Daily Show’ mishap: ‘I’ll be going to the hospital’

    Earlier in the show, Stewart also skewered the president’s decision to participate in a golf tournament while the economy was in crisis and observations from some online that the tariff formula eerily matched one generated by AI.

    “Now to be fair to the Trump administration, they did give it almost two months and no effort before they asked ChatGPT what it thought they should do.”

    “When Donald Trump was reelected, Wall St. was thrilled − excited about deregulation, tax cuts,” Stewart said. Now, with the Dow Jones in free fall, they are singing a different tune, he noted.

    “Our economy is in the midst of a beautiful metamorphosis − turning from a simple caterpillar, into a dead caterpillar,” he joked. “Hey mom, look, no economy!”

  • Why is Prince Harry in court? Royal in UK now over security ruling

    Why is Prince Harry in court? Royal in UK now over security ruling

    Michael Holden and Sam Tobin
     |  Reuters

    play

    LONDON – Prince Harry made a rare public appearance in Britain on Tuesday at London’s Royal Courts of Justice to fight the government over changes made to his security after he stepped down from royal duties, which his lawyer branded unjustified.

    Harry, King Charles III’s younger son, is trying to overturn a decision by the Home Office – the ministry responsible for policing – which decided in February 2020 that he would not automatically receive personal police security while in Britain.

    Last year, the High Court in London ruled that decision was lawful and refused him permission to challenge that ruling in a higher court. However, the Court of Appeal agreed to hear the case following a direct application from Harry’s lawyers.

    Harry, the Duke of Sussex, arrived smiling and waving for the two-day hearing in front of three senior appeal court judges, and listened intently as the case got underway in a packed courtroom, occasionally scribbling messages to his legal team.

    Harry’s lawyer Shaheed Fatima said the agency, which protects royal and public figures, had treated Harry on a “bespoke” basis not applied to anyone else.

    “It means he has been singled out for different, unjustified and inferior treatment,” she said, saying he was not seeking to be treated as he was when he was a working member of the royal family.

    In written submissions, Harry’s lawyers said al Qaeda had recently called for him to be murdered, and he and Duchess Meghan had been involved in “a dangerous car pursuit with paparazzi in New York City” in 2023.

    According to the Sun newspaper, Harry, 40, flew in from his home in California on Monday, but it was not clear if he would be seeing any of his family from whom he has become estranged since his public criticism of his relatives and royal aides.

    King Charles and Harry’s stepmother, Queen Camilla, are currently on a state visit to Italy where they will be celebrating their 20th wedding anniversary.

    Harry’s trip also comes amid a high-profile, bitter dispute with the chief executive of his charity Sentebale, which he founded in honor of his late mother, Princess Diana.

    Sophie Chandauka has accused him of bullying and racism, while Harry, who stepped down from his role at the charity, has called what happened “heartbreaking.”

    British government calls Prince Harry’s police protection appeal a ‘continued failure’

    At the outset of Tuesday’s hearing, Geoffrey Vos, the Master of the Rolls and the second most senior judge in England and Wales, said some of the evidence could not be given in public, but he wanted as much as possible heard openly.

    The duke, along with other senior royals, had received full publicly-funded security protection before he stepped back from his royal duties and moved to the U.S. with his American wife, Meghan, in March 2020.

    The Executive Committee for the Protection of Royalty and Public Figures, known as RAVEC, then decided Harry would no longer receive the same level of state-funded protection.

    In its submission to the court, the government said his security would be based on the circumstances, stating that the prince’s appeal amounted to “a continued failure to see the wood for the trees.”

    Bare disagreement with the decision and the judgment – which is the essence of the prince’s complaint – does not amount to a ground of appeal, the submission said.

    Harry’s case against the government is one of a number of legal forays he has made in recent years, having taken action against a number of British newspapers over invasions of privacy and phone hacking.

  • ‘Power Rangers’ writer admits early stereotypes were a ‘mistake’

    ‘Power Rangers’ writer admits early stereotypes were a ‘mistake’

    play

    Decades after casting decisions for the “Mighty Morphin Power Rangers” sparked outrage, head writer Tony Oliver has some regrets.

    The show, which premiered in 1993 and spawned a pop culture phenomenon, cast a Black actor in the role of the black Power Ranger and an Asian actor as the Yellow Ranger. The decision was widely viewed as insensitive and, in a new documentary, Oliver calls it a “mistake.”

    “None of us are thinking stereotypes,” he said in an interview for “Dark Side of the Power Rangers,” the latest episode of the Investigation Discovery documentary “Hollywood Demons.” In fact, he revealed, it took one of his assistants pointing out the stereotype in a meeting for him to realize the optics of it.

    Netflix’s ‘Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers reunion special is millennial nostalgia done right

    While the show later established a pattern of swapping out actors for each color Ranger season to season, the mark made by the original casting was indelible. Walter Emanuel Jones, who played the original Black Ranger, even joked about the choice in behind-the-scenes footage from the show.

    “My name’s Walter Jones, I play Zack. I’m Black, and I play the black Ranger — go figure,” he says in a clip from the “Dark Side of the Power Rangers.” The original Yellow Ranger was played by Thuy Trang.

    “It was such a mistake,” Oliver said in the documentary, covering his face slightly and shaking his head.

    “But Thuy was not our original Yellow Ranger,” he revealed. “It was actually Audri DuBois. She was the one who did the pilot episode. Don’t know why she left. You’ll have to ask her.”

    DuBois, who was interviewed for the episode, told producers she exited over a pay dispute when the studio refused to give her enough money per episode to make a living and finance her move from Arizona.

    “I try to be tough about it,” she said through tears. “It is what it is, you know.”

    In an interview with Complex in 2013, the show’s writer and director Shukli Levy said the racial casting choice was not intentional.

    “At that time, (show creator Haim Saban) and I were new to this country. We didn’t grow up in the same environment that exists in America with regards to skin color,” he told the outlet. “We grew up in Israel, where being a Black person is like being any kind of color. It’s not something we talked about all the time. It wasn’t a big issue. And that’s also how I felt in Paris, where we lived for seven years before coming here.”

    Barbara Goodson, who played Rita Repulsa on the show, defended the decision to Complex at the time, characterizing it as a “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” kind of situation.

    Why Millennials are obsessed with ‘Power Rangers’

    “If they didn’t do it, people would say, ‘Well, why didn’t they make the Black Ranger a Black Ranger?’ You could get criticized either way,” she said. “The girl who played the Yellow Ranger after Thuy wasn’t Asian, she was Black. You could find something to scoff at everywhere.”

  • John Stamos defends appearance at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate

    John Stamos defends appearance at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate

    play

    John Stamos is defending his choice to emcee a charity event at President Donald Trump’s Florida estate.

    The “Full House” star took to his Instagram story Monday to address critics of his choice to emcee an event held at Mar-a-Lago, the president’s resort in Palm Beach, Florida.

    “I accepted the invitation to emcee the Palm Beach Ray of Hope Gala — an evening dedicated to honoring and uplifting our frontline heroes,” Stamos wrote, explaining that the “Dancing with the Stars”-themed Palm Beach Ray of Hope Gala was not “political.”

    Stamos said “the nonpartisan event” supports The Academy for Nursing and Health Occupations, which he described as a “501(c)(3) organization that trains 350-400 nurses every year” to help address the healthcare worker shortage in Palm Beach County, Florida. Stamos added in his statement that “supporting nurses isn’t political — it’s essential.”

    The Essentials: John Stamos talks Beach Boys stage fails, showtime hair, Bob Saget lessons

    “These are the people who care for us and our families when we need it most, and I believe we should show up for them with the same unwavering dedication they show up with every single day,” Stamos continued. “I stand by the important of healthcare, of service, and of investing in those who care for our communities.”

    Stamos, who’s previously supported Democratic policies, said his “values and political views remain unchanged,” encouraging readers to donate to left-leaning organization Democracy Forward if they choose not to give to Palm Beach Ray of Hope.

    The gala also included appearances from former “DWTS” pro dancers Artem Chigvintsev and Karina Smirnoff. The event was co-chaired by Linda Adelson and Janet Levy, who both share ties with the president.

    Alongside three others, Levy co-founded The Trumpettes, an independent effort that bills itself as “an organization of women who want to make America great again by supporting Donald J. Trump.” Adelson is also a “Trumpette.”

    Bette Midler sells Tesla, calls it a ‘symbol of racism, greed and ignorance’

    John Stamos backlash comes as Hollywood stars slam Trump, Elon Musk

    The criticism directed at the sitcom and soap opera star comes as other Hollywood stars slam Trump and his close confidante Elon Musk. Last week, actress Bette Midler revealed that she got rid of her Tesla in protest of the car company’s CEO.

    Midler ‒ the outspoken star of screen and stage, whose politics lean left ‒ shared the news with fans in an Instagram post April 2.

    “What a joyful day!” a picture Midler posted said. “I sold my (gulp) Tesla! No longer do I have to drive a symbol of racism, greed and ignorance! Life is suddenly so much better!!”

    Musk, the world’s richest man, has led Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. He has been the subject of frequent criticism and backlash over his efforts to slash federal jobs and cut costs at a rapid speed.

  • Meghan Markle talks postpartum preeclampsia in new podcast

    Meghan Markle talks postpartum preeclampsia in new podcast

    play

    Duchess Meghan has debuted a new podcast.

    “Confessions of a Female Founder” launched Tuesday through Lemonada Media, with its first episode featuring Meghan’s close friend and Bumble CEO and founder Whitney Wolfe Herd.

    But in the first episode, Meghan, 43, revealed both she and Wolfe Herd shared a frightening and rare health scare.

    The duchess said both she and the Tinder co-founder had postpartum preeclampsia, saying the experience was “so rare and so scary.” Postpartum preeclampsia occurs when you have high blood pressure and excess protein in your urine within days of childbirth, according to the Mayo Clinic. Left untreated, it can cause seizures and other serious complications, and its causes aren’t well understood.

    Meghan reflected on going through the medical issue in secret, saying, “You’re still trying to juggle all of these things, and the world doesn’t know what’s happening quietly. And in the quiet, you’re still trying to show up for people – mostly for your children — but those things are huge medical scares.”

    What wellness means for you: Sign up for USA TODAY’s Keeping it Together newsletter.

    Duchess Meghan reflects on ‘overwhelming’ experience launching business

    The pair discussed feeling overworked and overwhelmed as business owners.

    “Launching a business, it can be so overwhelming,” says the As Ever founder, discussing at one point becoming hyperfocused on product packaging, down to the box size and placement of stickers. “Even with the best of teams, it will keep you up at night, because every single decision – every microdetail – in that moment, it feels monumental.”

    Duchess Meghan defends Netflix show, brand from criticism: I ‘need’ and ‘love’ to work

    Wolfe Herd offered a bit of advice. “Don’t take this route to the top of Everest. The view is not worth it. Don’t do it because the one thing you can never get back is your precious time,” she says. “And the amount of time, Meg, that I wasted on being stressed, being miserable, being overwhelmed, being paranoid about what shoe was going to drop. I actually think I would have been more successful had I not been like that.”

    Gwyneth Paltrow, Duchess Meghan weigh in on feud rumors

    Duchess Meghan on being a working mom: ‘I don’t want to miss those moments’

    Meghan reflected on working while raising her own young family – Princess Lilibet, 3, and Prince Archie, 5, with husband Prince Harry – and how important it is for her to be present at work and home.

    “We became moms in the pandemic, post-pandemic culture where there is so much working from home … I don’t leave the house to go to an office, my office is here (at home),” says Meghan. “(Lilibet) only has a half day in preschool. She knows where to find me, even if my door is closed to the office. She’ll be sitting there on my lap during one of these meetings with a grid of all the executives … I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

    Prince Archie’s red hair on display with Princess Lilibet in new Duchess Meghan photo

    She continues: “I don’t want to miss those moments. I don’t want to miss pickup if I don’t have to. I don’t want to miss drop-off.”

    The “With Love, Meghan” star said there are benefits to having young children as a business founder.

    “What I do love the most about having young kids, in this chapter while I’m building (my business), is the perspective that it brings, because you’re building something while your child’s going through potty training. And both are just as important,” she says.

    “It’s like, ‘Great, OK, where’s the Cheerios? Well done,” she adds, congratulating herself on the small victory. “And then you’re championing your team 10 minutes later about something that is really high value for the world. In your own world, that’s super high value. And in (Lilibet’s) world, that’s super high value.”

    How to listen to Meghan’s podcast, ‘Confessions of a Female Founder with Meghan’

    “Confessions of a Female Founder with Meghan” will be released on Tuesdays on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Amazon Music, highlighting conversations between Meghan and other women in business as they discuss their struggles and triumphs on the way to success. It comes after the launch of As Ever, a lifestyle brand and product line that is currently sold out.

    The series is from Lemonada Media, which also distributed “Archetypes,” Meghan’s first podcast venture, which ran for eight episodes in 2022, initially on Spotify.

    Contributing: Anna Kaufman

  • Anthony Mackie gets in the ring for 'Captain America' exclusive deleted sceneMovies

    Anthony Mackie gets in the ring for 'Captain America' exclusive deleted sceneMovies

    Anthony Mackie gets in the ring for ‘Captain America’ exclusive deleted sceneMovies

  • Watch an exclusive deleted scene

    Watch an exclusive deleted scene

    play

    If you missed “Captain America: Brave New World” in theaters, catch Harrison Ford’s hulk-out at home next week.

    The latest Marvel superhero adventure – starring Anthony Mackie in his first solo Cap movie – will be available April 15 to buy and rent on digital platforms (Apple TV, Fandango at Home, Amazon and more) and May 13 on 4K Blu-ray/DVD.

    The home video release includes three deleted scenes, including one debuting exclusively at USATODAY.com. Set in Washington, the scene features Sam Wilson (Mackie) sparring in a boxing ring with Leila Taylor (Xosha Roquemore), a Secret Service agent working for President Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross (Ford). Sam tries to get info on a classified mission from the tight-lipped Leila, which ends up being a trip down to Mexico for Cap to recover stolen adamantium from the villainous Sidewinder (Giancarlo Esposito).

    Join our Watch Party! Sign up to receive USA TODAY’s movie and TV recommendations right in your inbox

    Other “Brave New World” bonus features include a chronicling of Sam’s history in the Marvel Cinematic Universe; a look at the film’s antagonists, from the Leader (Tim Blake Nelson) and Sidewinder to Ross himself, who transforms into the Red Hulk; a gag reel; and audio commentary with director Julius Onah.

    While fans will have to wait for news about a next “Captain America” film – “Brave New World” is the fourth, following three movies with Chris Evans wielding the star-spangled shield – Mackie already has a next Marvel project. He and co-star Danny Ramirez, who plays the new Falcon, were among the many cast members announced last month for the upcoming “Avengers: Doomsday.”