Cinema Talk

Letitia Wright spoke about being the Power of Good ambassador for the bareMinerals beauty brand on Wednesday. The Black Panther breakout star joins supermodels Hailey Baldwin and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley a face of the global brand, according to PR Newswire.

Wright spoke about the positivity of the brand and what the role of ambassador means in her life. “To me, the Power of Goof represents positivity, love, and honesty. I try to live my life not just for myself, but in a way that’s also beneficial to others,” she said in a press release. “The Power of Good means sharing your talents and the best side of yourself to the world. Clean beauty offers peace of mind because you can trust the ingredients that you’re putting on your skin. My Power of Good message is to be full of confidence and free of fear.”

Jill Scalamandre, president of bareMinerals, said in her statement, “We chose Letitia earlier in the year because of her personal and impactful message about the world of clean beauty.”

On the addition of Baldwin and Huntington-Whiteley, the president said, “Hailey and Rosie demonstrate that our passion for the power of our products and the power of our message is shared by some of the world’s most influential women.”

Scalamandre continued, “When looking at what unites our ambassadors, it was clear that they all live their lives with humanity, meaning, and strive to positively affect the people they touch. We are excited to watch these partnerships grow.”

HBO

So, tell me if this sounds familiar: you’ve left yourself less than a few days to catch back up on Game of Thrones, even though you had exactly 595 days between the end of season seven and the start of season eight to get your re-watch in. There may be no (responsible) way to cram all 67 episodes into your life before the show starts back up on April 14th, but you can still get yourself reacquainted with the series and hyped up for the next six Sundays by watching these ten essential Game of Thrones episodes.

Season 1, Episode 9: Baelor
That’s right, we’re suggesting you skip the first few episodes of season one. Instead, let’s jump right in with the installment that taught us Game of Thrones will kill anyone, even the biggest star of the show. In addition to its powerful ending, ‘Baelor’ also features some of the best Tyrion scenes of the whole series. We get a better understanding of the messed up relationship he has with family patriarch Tywin. We meet Shae for the first time, and there’s a lot of great banter with Bronn. Meanwhile, in Essos, Daenerys gambles big on blood magic in a desperate attempt to save Khal Drogo’s life.

Season 2, Episode 9: Blackwater
You might have noticed that the battle between the armies of Robb Stark and Jaime Lannister in ‘Baelor’ goes down completely off camera. That’s because of first season budget constraints, but HBO more than makes up for that penny-pinching in season two when Stannis launches a naval assault on King’s Landing. There’s no jumping around thousands of miles in this episode. Everything focuses on the capitol, where everyone is preparing for a brutal sack at the hands of Stannis’ much larger army. The battle itself is a work of art, jam-packed with blood and fire and heroics and infamy.

Season 3, Episode 9: The Rains of Castamere
This episode features the infamous Red Wedding, the biggest gut punch in the entire series – which is saying a lot given how often Game of Thrones beats us up and takes our emotional lunch money. While it’s worth watching this one just to marvel at the ruthless destruction of House Stark, there’s a lot of other great moments to enjoy as well. Jon betrays Ygritte and escapes the Wildlings, Arya and The Hound navigate a fragile truce on their way to the Twins, and Daenerys rips Jorah’s heart in two by falling for Daario.

Season 4, Episode 8: The Mountain and the Viper
We’re going to admit that this episode has a decent amount of fluff, but it’s still worth watching just for the final duel between Oberyn Martell and The Mountain. Such dizzying highs! Such terrible lows. Past that, this is the one where Tyrion delivers a cryptic monologue about his beetle-killing cousin Orson, a romance begins to bloom between Grey Worm and Missandei, and Sansa channels Littlefinger to win over the lords of the Vale.

Season 4, Episode 9: The Watchers on the Wall
Once again Game of Thrones throws out all the other plot lines to concentrate on an epic battle, this time the Wildling attack on Castle Black. While Mance Rayder sends giants and mammoths to breach the gate at the base of the Wall, a war party assaults the castle from the south. The episode takes you back and forth between two vastly different forms of warfare, keeping the intensity high with some single shot sequences that are stunning feats of cinematography. This episode is also guaranteed to hit you right in the feels when star-crossed lovers Jon and Ygritte reunite.

HBO

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Did Will get the man of his dreams?

That was his hope on Will & Grace Season 10 Episode 8 when he turned to Jack for coaching on how to come across as a dim man.

Meanwhile, Karen learned that he alimony was going to be limited unless she could get photos of her ex-husband having sex with another woman. 

However, Grace worried that her friend was spiraling out of control. 

Use the video above to watch Will & Grace online right here via TV Fanatic. 

Catch up on all your favorite shows and reviews and join in the conversations with other fanatics who love TV as much as you.

Paul Dailly is the Associate Editor for TV Fanatic. Follow him on Twitter.

OXYGEN MEDIA'S "IN ICE COLD BLOOD" HOSTED BY ICE-T RETURNS MONDAY, FEBRUARY 25 AT 8PM ET/PT

NEW YORK, NY - January 28, 2019 - Oxygen Media, the destination for high-quality crime programming, kicks off an exhilarating second season of "In Ice Cold Blood" on Monday, February 25 at 8pm ET/PT. Grammy and NAACP Image Award winner Ice-T ("Law & Order: Special Victims Unit") returns as host and executive producer, using his distinct voice to guide viewers through shocking true stories involving sex, money, obsession - or a fatal cocktail of all three. With in-depth interviews and archival footage, each hour-long episode spotlights a shocking mystery characterized by expert detective work, unforeseen twists and jaw-dropping discoveries. For a sneak peek, visit: https://www.oxygen.com/in-ice-cold-blood/videos/a-new-season-of-in-ice-cold-blood-premieres-february-25th

When some of the most basic human desires - sex and money - cloud our judgment with lust and greed, they run the risk of dangerous consequences. Over the course of sixteen episodes, real-life cases depict unhinged passion motivating someone enough to kill. First-hand detectives, along with friends and family closest to the victims, bring each cold-blooded story to life. In the season two premiere, the quintessential girl next door is discovered brutally killed on Thanksgiving weekend. It takes investigators over a year to uncover the dark obsession that led to her murder.

"In Ice Cold Blood" is produced by The Content Group with Steven Michaels, Jonathan Koch, Brian Knappmiller, and Ryann Lauckner serving as Executive Producers, along with Final Level Entertainment with Ice-T and Jorge Hinojosa serving as Executive Producers.

About Oxygen Media:

Oxygen Media is a multiplatform crime destination brand for women. Having announced the full-time shift to true crime programming in 2017, Oxygen remains one of the fastest growing cable entertainment networks with popular unscripted original programming that includes the flagship "Snapped" franchise, "Cold Justice," "Killer Couples," "Criminal Confessions," and breakout hit event series such as "The Disappearance of Natalee Holloway," "Dahmer on Dahmer: A Killer Speaks," and "Aaron Hernandez Uncovered." Available in more than 77 million homes, Oxygen is a program service of NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment, a division of NBCUniversal, one of the world's leading media and entertainment companies in the development, production, and marketing of entertainment, news, and information to a global audience. Watch Oxygen anywhere: On Demand, online, or across mobile and connected TVs.

The Carringtons had themselves a scary little Christmas on Friday’s Dynasty fall finale, a hectic hour that left the fates of two characters in question — and something tells us that only one of them will experience a holiday miracle.

Most of the hour was spent searching for the baby of many names (Blake? Matthew?), with each member of the family taking a radically different approach: Fallon chose to cooperate with the FBI, a plan that basically blew up in her face, while Blake opted to employ a private security team in an effort to operate more discreetly. Father apparently knew best this time around, as Blake’s televised appeal led to the family tracking down Claudia on the roof of a seedy motel.

Unfortunately, Claudia — who admitted to shooting Cristal! — didn’t have the baby in her possession, a fact I was very happy to learn after thinking she dropped it off the roof. (Well done with that “It’s just a doll!” fake-out, Dynasty. You got me good.)

The baby, it turns out, was kidnapped by Manny the manny, a conclusion Kirby reached when she realized that a pacifier went missing shortly after he visited the mansion to speak with investigators. Though Kirby’s visit to Manny’s apartment seemed like your average desperate booty call, she was secretly there to confirm her suspicions. She didn’t even need her father’s help; by the time Anders broke into the apartment, Manny was already lying unconscious at Kirby’s feet.

Unfortunately, the Carringtons’ celebration was to be short-lived. In the episode’s final moments, Anders received a disturbing bit of news over the phone: Steven, who was supposed to visit the family for Christmas, never got on his plane from Paraguay. He’s — gasp — missing!

Poor Jeff Colby also had a pretty lousy holiday. After learning that Culhane (aka “Mike Jones”) ordered the smoke bombs that led to Monica’s injury, he confronted Fallon’s fiancé in the middle of a job. The mission had already gone south — Culhane discovered that Ada was planting heroin in a shipment to frame Van Kirk Industries — but Jeff’s involvement made things worse, eventually getting him shot.

Culhane’s plan was to drive Jeff to the hospital, then to go on the run himself. Unfortunately, a head-on collision with another vehicle took them off course… and may have cost Jeff his life.

We have so much to discuss: Do we think Jeff is really dead? And was Steven kidnapped, or did he choose to stay away from Atlanta? (Frankly, I wouldn’t blame him for avoiding his toxic family, especially during the holidays.) Grade the finale in our poll below, then drop a comment with all of your theories.

(Todd Manning wrote this review of the debut album by the band Witchgöat from El Salvador.)

With a name like Witchgöat, it’s safe to say we are probably not dealing with the latest Avant-Garde, Prog Metal sensation to sweep through the scene. Instead, these Salvadorians lay waste to everyone and everything in sight with their brand of Blackened Death/Thrash. Originally the brainchild of guitarist P. Scyther in 2016, the group issued their debut demo Umbra Regit via Morbid Skull Records, and now they are poised to release their full-length Egregors of the Black Faith on February 13th, also on Morbid Skull.

With their grim-as-hell artwork and general presentation, one might expect these guys to produce a whirlwind blast of Blackened noise a la Revenge or Conqueror, but that actually isn’t the case. While Witchgöat certainly owe a debt to ripping Black Metal, tons of molten Old School Metal and Thrash slag flow through their veins.

After a short intro, the listener is greeted with the opening salvo of “Proliferation of the Dark Souls” and “Black Vomit of Souls”. This one-two punch comes across as a mix of Impaled Nazarene at their punked-up, furious best, and the mighty Sarcófago, yet bits of classic Metal and Thrash are already starting to peek around the edges. The riffs will remind the listener of any of the bands credited with starting Death Metal, but still possess that Old School feel.

By the time “Emanations from the Underworld” hits, one can discern all that classic Kreator, Sodom, and Dark Angel influence. The marriage of Black Metal and Thrash is quite seamless. Of particular noter are P. Scyther’s guitar solos, which tend not only to shred, but also are flawless and memorable, and dare I say a bit melodic. Here is where the Classic Metal shines through — the solos shine through no matter what kind of cacophony is ripping underneath.

On “Putrefaction of Souls”, Witchgöat even bust out a circle-pit-worthy groove reminiscent of the classic Demolition Hammer tune “Human Dissection”. The album continues to move from one strength to the next. The closer, “Beyond the Soil of the Dead”, is a six-minute epic that seems to encapsulate everything Witchgöat do so well. Thrash riffs ram head-on into furious Black Metal in a whirlwind of violence. Midway through the track, the guitar begins interweaving serpentine melodic lines creating a sense of progression. The song closes with more thrashing brilliance, the intensity ramping up and up until silence suddenly arrives.

Witchgöat achieve a striking balance between brutality and memorability, between Black Metal and Thrash. For those who revel in grimness, this will offer a respite from the unrelenting assault without bringing their Kvlt credentials into question. And in the same breath, Thrash heads can throw this album on anytime they are feeling particularly evil. Let’s hope there is plenty more inspiration where this album comes from, because listening to these guys is like hearing an alternative history of Sepultura, one where their material only grew darker with time.

PRE-ORDER:
https://morbidskull.bandcamp.com/album/egregors-of-the-black-faith

FACEBOOK:
https://www.facebook.com/witchgoatsv

One of the great names in synthesis, founder of a brand that helped define what electronic sound is today, was lost over the weekend. ARP Instruments founder Alan R. Pearlman died Sunday the 6th, and synthesists worldwide remember the legacy he leaves.

Pearlman started ARP and was a principle engineer, specifically of the ground-breaking 2500 and 2600 modular synthesizers.

Pearlman more recently, with Richard Boulanger. Boulanger will play at the memorial tomorrow on Alan’s own 2600.

From our own contributor David Abravanel:

It may be hard to conceive now, but there was a time when ARP and Moog were major rivals. And it’s worth noting that Pearlman was uniquely advanced in his vision. Even as an engineering student in 1948, he looked forward to a time not so far off “when the electronic instrument may take its place … as a versatile, powerful, and expressive instrument” – provided those engineers paid attention “to the needs of the musician.”

And so in 1977, when Close Encounters of the Third Kind imagined an instrument that was far enough advanced to communicate with aliens, they chose the ARP 2500 that was Pearlman’s first commercial instrument. And Close Encounters were far from alone, as even the Martian voices were ARP 2500 produced in Jeff Wayne’s Musical Version of The War of the Worlds. And Jerry Goldsmith on Logan’s Run.

Other notable 2500 instrumentalists: David Bowie, Jean Michel Jarre, The Who… and Eliane Radigue:

The 2600 was itself legendary enough to be fairly dubbed a holy grail.

The 2600 was in Ben Burtt’s arsenal for Star Wars and Raiders, even part of the sound of R2-D2. And speaking of space aliens, the one Doctor Who variant that matches Delia Derbyshire’s haunting whoo-whoo sounds with some sparkles and badass bass is also made on an ARP (the Odyssey), by Peter Howell:

And while the Rhodes Chroma originated at ARP was hardly a huge success, it is in many ways a template for the computer-integrated workstation-style instruments to follow.

A legacy in music

The range of musicians using the ARP can be told in the company’s own ads – Herbie, Stevie, Billy, Tommy …

And yeah, that Frankenstein moment is epic – a 2600 gone mad (especially about six minutes in with Edgar Winter):

Remembering Alan

Richard Boulanger notes the unique musicality of this engineer’s vision and the impact it had – and that leading right up to his illness, he kept dreaming up new instrumental ideas:

.Yes, even at 90 and beyond, Alan R Pearlman was still dreaming of new circuits, modules, and controllers!) Undeniably, Alan R Pearlman was an engineering genius. Everyone recognizes that his synthesizers were beyond brilliant. But I truly believe that the heart and soul in his machines drew their spirit and life from Alan’s musical virtuosity on the piano, his truly deep musical knowledge, his passion and enthusiasm for “all” music, and his nurturing and generous support for young composers and performers, regardless of whether they were into classical, avantgarde, film, fusion, rock or pop. He wanted to make something that we could play with, that we could play on, and maybe even learn about music as we played (check out his “Learning Music Through Synthesizers” book and his MSL boxes). Alan R Pearlman created truly playable electronic musical “instruments”. He made aesthetically and ergonomically beautiful instruments, and beautiful sounding instruments. His synthesizers opened our eyes and ears to new sonic worlds

NAMM has an oral history interview

He recalls first seeing the Buchla, and the impact of Moog’s controller approach. The company was named with his nickname (and initials ) – ARP. And arguably ARP’s approach to matrix switching (ARP 2500) and hard-wired control even with patch cord access (ARP 2600) is still valuable today.

Just how modern can the ARP designs be? That was proven when KORG revived the Odyssey recently, with some input from Pearlman, along with a collaboration with ARP co-founder David Friend.

And while we think of Moog and Buchla, ARP also significantly contributed to a lot of the technological innovations of the modern synth, as evidenced by this list of ARP patents (thanks to Synthtopia for spotting that):

http://www.till.com/articles/arp/patents.html

Various ARP owners have been posting tributes:

And have long sung the magic of these instruments – here’s Marc Doty, giving the instrument extrahuman autonomy:

Surviving daughter Dina Pearlman shared the news yesterday:

ARP employee Rick Parent shares his remembrances, along with ARP’s David A. Frederick:

David Mash remembers:

It’s hard watching as we lose the generation who created the synthesizer – having said goodbye to Bob Moog, Max Mathews, Don Buchla, and others. But it’s also a hopeful position, as we watch new generations around the world take on innovation, and the instruments these pioneers created reaching a wider range of people around the world than I suspect any of us might ever have imagined. The future isn’t what it used to be – it’s growing. And for that, thank you, Alan.

Unless you're the proud owner of an ornament depicting Spock's painful demise, you probably don't associate Star Trek with Christmas. Well get ready for that to change, because now you can cram the holiday season full of the dulcet tones of Captain Kirk himself. Yup, leveling the playing field with Star Wars fans who already have plenty of tacky holiday tie-ins to ironically enjoy, William Shatner has released a Christmas album. And if you don't think it's called "Shatner Claus," then you've got the wrong 87-year-old sci-fi icon.

Cleopatra RecordsSpoiler alert: It is called Shatner Claus!

Shatner brings his trademark, uh, style to yuletide classics like "Little Drummer Boy" and "Jingle Bells," and features guests such as Henry Rollins and Jethro Tull's Ian Anderson. Also, Iggy Pop joins Shatner to sing "Silent Night," for anyone who ever thought the manger scene was missing a gyrating shirtless dude. To promote the album and perhaps kill Christmas once and for all, Shatner also made a music video for "Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer," and it's ... weird. The video starts with a sedate Shatner reading the story of Rudolph to a gaggle of small children and adults dressed like elves.

Cleopatra Records

Then things start to rock, and by "rock" we mean embark on a surreal journey into the heart of a tinsel-filled nightmare. Shatner dons a shiny leopard-print jacket and sunglasses, and is joined by one of the ZZ Top guys (presumably, getting both costs extra) on a stage seemingly in the living room of a suburban McMansion, where it rains confetti and what we can only assume is cocaine.

Cleopatra Records

Cleopatra RecordsWait, is that ZZ or Top? Eh, who cares.

The crowd now includes break dancers, acrobats, and other ravers likely confused at how they ended up at Captain Kirk's house. If you've ever drank a carton of eggnog after leaving it on a radiator for 24 hours, all of this probably feels a little too familiar.

Cleopatra RecordsIt's also an Easter egg for Star Trek XIV: The Christmas Planet.

We'd be lying if we said we weren't going to check out the rest of this holiday madness, but it is a tad disappointing that Shatner didn't just release a Trek-themed Christmas album. He could have sung "Jingle Bell Spock" or "Khan You See What I See?" or "Holodeck The Halls" -- this thing writes itself!

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