AI actress Tilly Norwood is causing a significant stir in Hollywood
Several talent agencies are genuinely interested in Tilly Norwood, an AI actress recently created and unveiled by the world’s first ‘AI talent studio’ Xicoia. The pushback from Hollywood has been significant. Hollywood and controversy go together like popcorn and butter, but this latest palaver is wholly unique – in that...
Current in Media
Opinion – the Ryder Cup abuse is a symptom of escalating US tension
The Ryder Cup golf tournament last weekend in New York was plagued by poor crowd etiquette and aggressive behaviour, prompting McIlroy to publicly comment on the abuse. Such upset is indicative of the escalating nature of US rhetoric across nearly every facet of daily life, from politics to sport,...
Ticketmaster forced to be transparent about ‘dynamic pricing’ mechanisms
While Ticketmaster’s effective monopoly over the ticketing business persists, it has finally been forced to become more transparent about its ‘dynamic pricing’ mechanism – and we apparently have Oasis to thank. Have you ever been moments away from securing gig tickets, only to see the price jump three-fold at the...
MPs call for better YouTuber rights after new economic report
A new report conducted by Oxford Economics has found that YouTube creators contributed £2.2 billion to the UK economy last year, supporting over 45,000 jobs. A new impact report by Oxford Economics has found that YouTubers contributed £2.2 billion to the UK economy in 2024. It also stated that YouTubers...
Jimmy Kimmel returns to US television after suspension
The late night host Jimmy Kimmel was suspended from ABC after making comments about Charlie Kirk last week. Upon his return this Tuesday, the comedian said that silencing free speech was ‘anti American.’ Jimmy Kimmel has returned to air after being suspended from ABC last week following comments he made...
Gen Z TikTok star D4vd cancels tour after body found in car
The 20-year-old singer D4vd has over 33 million monthly listeners on Spotify, with his most popular song ‘Romantic Homicide’ boasting over 1 billion streams. His tour was set to finish up this month in Los Angeles. The body of a fifteen-year-old girl called Celeste Rivas has been found in the...
The #BLM and #MeToo conversations are far from ‘done’
Ayo Edibiri’s interjection to terrible journalism is commendable and disheartening in equal measure – for the simple fact it was needed at all. Questions surrounding pertinent issues like #MeToo and BLM are – rightly – regular talking points on the annual film festival press cycle. But they usually crop up in layered conversations between filmmakers, actors, and journalists seeking to highlight the many ways Hollywood shapes, and is shaped by, the socio-political landscape. They...
Life is Strange highlights TV’s blind spot towards game creators
The 2015 hit narrative game is getting its own television series courtesy of Amazon. But Story Kitchen and LuckyChap have opted not to collaborate with the original writers at Don’t Nod. Is this repeating mistakes of the past? Life is Strange caught everyone off guard in 2015. Interactive drama games were having something of a boom at the time, but nobody quite anticipated the sheer emotional weight that the coming-of-age...
What Rylan Clark tells us about the failure of government communication
The presenter’s stance on immigration has caused widespread backlash. But is the response a sign that the immigration debate is shifting? When Rylan Clark first appeared on the X Factor in 2012, sporting a set of blinding white veneers and a wotsit shade of spray tan, it was hard to imagine he’d one day be at the center of a national argument about immigration policy. But on a recent episode of...
‘The Voice of Hind Rajab’ gets standing ovation at Venice Film Festival
The docufilm reconstructs the final moments of a five-year-old Palestinian girl, Hind Rajab, as she was killed by Israeli forces in Gaza along with six other members of her family. On Wednesday night at the Venice Film Festival, a sobbing audience gave a 23-minute standing ovation to a new docufilm The Voice of Hind Rajab. Critics described the film as ‘the most powerful and urgent entry’ of this year’s event. The...
