With her conservatorship now out of the way, Britney Spears appears to be full steam ahead with wedding plans. Her husband-to-be, Sam Asghari, spilled some details in a new interview about when the two will tie the knot.
The 27-year-old actor toldEntertainment Tonightthat the pop star is “doing great” now that she is free from her legal woes. But, when the conversation gravitated toward their upcoming nuptials, he cryptically said they will happen “sooner or later.” Although he didn’t provide a timeline, Sam did part with one detail about planning the wedding.
“It’s up to her. She’s wearing the pants now!,” he laughed before admitting that, if he could have his way, he’d want “the biggest wedding in the world!”
No matter what his bride-to-be decides, Sam says he’s grateful he gets to create a future with the love of his life. “From here on out, it’s amazing. It’s heaven,” he gushed, adding, “This is the happiest time of our lives. We’re just enjoying it!”
Britney and Sam first met while filming her 2016 music video, “Slumber Party.” They became engaged last September.
Mick Rock, the celebrated rock photographer whose famous images grace the covers of albums by David Bowie, Lou Reed, Queen and many others, died Thursday at age 72.
Rock’s passing was announced in a statement posted on his socialmediapages.
“It is with the heaviest of hearts that we share our beloved psychedelic renegade Mick Rock has made the Jungian journey to the other side,” the message begins. “Those who had the pleasure of existing in his orbit, know that Mick was always so much more than ‘The Man Who Shot The 70s.’ He was a photographic poet — a true force of nature who spent his days doing exactly what he loved, always in his own delightfully outrageous way.”
Early in his career, Rock shot the cover photo for ex-Pink Floyd frontman Syd Barrett‘s solo album The Madcap Laughs, and soon after he became Bowie’s official photographer. Among the his famous images of Bowie include the cover for his 1973 album Pin-Ups. Mick also directed some of David’s early music videos, for such songs as “Life on Mars,” “Jean Genie” and “John I’m Only Dancing.”
One of Rock’s most iconic pics is the photo of Reed featured on the cover Lou’s 1972 album Transformer. Mick’s photos also appear on such well-known albums as Queen’s Queen II, Iggy and the Stooges‘ Raw Power, The Ramones‘ End of the Century and Joan Jett & the Blackhearts‘ I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll.
A documentary about Mick’s life and work, Shot! The Psycho-Spiritual Mantra of Rock, was released in 2016.
The message announcing Rock passing also described him as a “man fascinated with image, [who] absorbed visual beings through his lens and immersed himself in their art, thus creating some of the most magnificent photographs rock music has ever seen.”
It appears that Scarlett Johansson‘s post-lawsuit settlement statement about ABC’s parent company Disney wasn’t just the standard Hollywood make-nice.
At Thursday night’s star-packed American Cinematheque tribute to the actress at the Beverly Hilton, Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige revealed that Johansson is working on “another non-Black Widow-related top-secret Marvel Studios project with her as a producer.”
As previously reported, Johansson sued Marvel Studios’ parent company Disney over the decision to simultaneously release Black Widow on Disney+ and in theaters. She alleged the decision cut into the movie’s box office earnings potential, and therefore her bottom line as a producer. When the case was settled in September, ScarJo had said she was looking forward to “continuing our collaboration in years to come.”
On the red carpet Thursday evening, Johansson reflected to The Hollywood Reporterabout the “surreal,” situation. “I feel mostly very fortunate that nobody will have to go through what I went through and that it’s made…a positive impact in the industry and hopefully for artists and creatives’ lives and livelihood,” she said.
At the event, Johansson was feted by many of her Marvel movie co-stars and director Jon Favreau, who praised her work ethic after he cast her in the Black Widow role. Jamie Lee Curtis and Scarlett’s twin brother, Hunter, also heaped on the love.
Chris Evans noted he’s known Scarlett for 20 years, saying she’s like his older sister, “even though I am technically older.”
He joked, “…there’s just no one else in the world that I would rather annoy. I don’t know what it is…I see her focusing trying to think about the day and I just want to start singing show tunes six inches from her face. I can’t help myself.”
Next summer’s about to get colder, courtesy of Twenty One Pilots.
The “Stressed Out” outfit has announced the 2022 Icy North American tour, set to kick off August 18 in St. Paul, Minnesota. The arena outing will conclude September 24 in Seattle.
Registration for the Ticketmaster’s Verified Fan program pre-sale is now open through Sunday, November 21, at noon ET. Tickets go on sale to the general public beginning Wednesday, November 24, at 10 a.m. local time.
Twenty One Pilots will be touring in support of their new album, Scaled and Icy, which was released in May. While you wait for your chance to grab tickets, you can check out the newly released digital deluxe version of Scaled and Icy, which features recordings from Tyler Joseph and Josh Dun‘s streaming concert earlier this year.
The Icy tour follows this year’s Takeover tour, which found Twenty One Pilots hosting mini residencies in select cities, including Denver, Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston and Atlanta, as well as their hometown of Columbus, Ohio.
Taylor Swift has turned one of her “From the Vault” songs on Red (Taylor’s Version) into a nostalgic post on her Instagram Reel.
Taylor has resurrected the “Drunk Taylor” meme from 2019, which was based on footage showing her seemingly wasted at a party she threw in Los Angeles in 2019 around her Lover era. On her Instagram Reel, she’s seen singing along to her song “Nothing New,” her duet with Phoebe Bridgers.
As Taylor sings, “I’ve had too much to drink tonight,” the recording slows down, making it sound like a drunk slurring her words. It’s labeled “Nothing New (Drunk Version).”
Then, we see stills from the 2019 “Drunk Taylor” footage, over which Taylor has written, “Drunk Taylor was her name, Mojitos were her game.”
“I cringe but I miss her,” Taylor captioned the post. “Your move, @phoebebridgers.”
(NEW YORK) — Walmart, Target and Macy’s say they are finding ways to bring products to shelves in time for the holiday season even though supply chain issues are still impacting the economy and other companies.
All three companies boasted strong numbers and good sales in their respective third quarter earnings calls this week. The news comes at a time when some U.S. ports are still congested and warehouses are stuffed to the brim.
There are signs of progress, with imports down about 25% at the port of Los Angeles, the port’s executive director, Gene Seroka, said Tuesday. However, there are still tens of thousands of empty cargo containers that need to be moved from the port, continuing delays.
The remaining vessels in port are mostly smaller and belong to a mix of retailers both large and small, Phillip Sanfield, director of media relations for the Port of LA, told ABC News.
The Biden administration last month announced that the port would begin running 24 hours a day, but that has yet to happen. Nevertheless, big retailers are predicting a successful holiday season.
“The holiday season is here, and we’re ready,” said Walmart CEO Doug McMillon. “We continue to have momentum. Sales were strong throughout the third quarter and we’ve seen a good start to the fourth quarter.”
Walmart said that its U.S. inventory is up 11.5% ahead of the holiday season as it was able to meet customer demand. Similar sentiments were echoed by Macy’s, as the company also discussed its response to the ongoing logistics crisis.
“We don’t expect to be materially impacted by supply chain issues during the critical holiday shopping season,” Jeffrey Gennette, Macy’s CEO, said on an earnings call this week.
How are they doing it?
These retailers seem to be side-stepping supply chain woes by rerouting ships to less-used ports, hiring new workers, unloading cargo during off-hours and switching to airfreight in some cases.
“We’re adding more than 30,000 permanent positions across our supply chain network to support the growth we expect to continue delivering in the fourth quarter and beyond,” said Brian Cornell, chairman and CEO of Target. “The team continues to work around significant port delays, diverting shipments to less-congested entry points and relying on airfreight in certain cases.”
Walmart is also rerouting deliveries; the company is adding extra lead times to orders and chartering their own ships.
These companies may be outrunning supply chain issues, but experts say that’s because they can afford the extra cost.
“I think that just with all the disruption that we’ve had, we’ve realized how quickly we can pivot and come up with new solutions. Sometimes those new solutions are expensive,” said Brandon Isner, head of retail research at CBRE, an American commercial real estate services and investment firm. “It’s true that bigger, mass-market retailers, they’re using their clout with carriers and suppliers to acquire as much product as possible in advance of the holiday season.”
Can other companies manage to do the same?
Many of these solutions, according to Isner, are too expensive and not cost-effective for smaller businesses. The options for creating a new supply chain from producer to consumer becomes easier as pockets get deeper and economies of scale get larger.
“They [larger retailers] have the ability to reroute profits to make sure they get delivery where smaller institutions don’t necessarily have that type of logistics capabilities,” said Steven Ricchiuto, U.S. economist for bank-holding company Mizuho.
In one example, Ricchiuto said a large retailer may opt to transport their items differently to avoid supply chain clogs.
“Typically putting freight on airplanes is more expensive than putting it on boats,” said Ricchiuto. “But in an environment in which you are restricted on one side of the equation and prices have gone up enough, suddenly it becomes more realistic to go the more expensive route.”
Could inflation help the supply chain?
All of this comes at a time when the U.S. economy is experiencing abnormal levels of inflation — the highest in 30 years.
“I do think that these production issues are getting themselves worked out, in part because of higher prices,” said Gus Faucher, the chief economist of PNC Financial Services. “Higher prices give businesses an incentive to sell more to consumers, so not only do they have higher values for volumes, but they’re getting more for their services and goods that they sell.”
Higher prices due to inflation may seem like an unlikely savior in fixing supply chain issues, but the rising costs present challenges as well.
“The cost of their workforce is up, the costs of getting products there is up, energy costs are up,” said Isner. “Some retail executives say that, ‘Yes, they’re definitely going to pass costs onto the consumers,’ but others have said, ‘No, they’re just going to eat the costs.’ … We can probably make an educated guess that it’s the larger companies.”
For retail shoppers and American families, all of this signals a warm welcome to the holiday season, according to the Biden administration.
“In short, families have seen an increase in real disposable income, and stores and restaurants have the supplies to drive this recovery,” Brian Deese, the director of the White House’s National Economic Council, said Tuesday.
“Today’s data show that even as we work to address the real challenge that elevated inflation from supply chain bottlenecks poses from Americans’ pocketbooks and outlook, the economy is making progress,” Deese said in response to Walmart’s successful third quarter and forecast for the holiday season.
Economists say the American supply chain could look different once the country emerges from the pandemic in a growing economy. Even though prices are more stable at larger retailers, there could be a rise across the board as the economy continues to heat up.
“We’re going to be looking more and more for alternative paths and alternative distribution systems at the end of the day. We’re going to wind up with a much more complex network,” said Ricchiuto. “Does that mean we’re going to pay a higher cost? To some extent we are, and we’re going to pay them permanently.”
It’s hard to believe, but 20 years ago on Saturday, Josh Groban released his self-titled debut album. Today, he’s marking that anniversary with the release of a new digital version of the album that includes some rare and unreleased tracks.
The 20th Anniversary Deluxe Edition of Josh Groban is out now, and in addition to well-known songs like “You’re Still You,” “To Where You Are” and his version of “Vincent (Starry, Starry Night),” it includes two new bonus tracks.
One of the new tracks is “Mia Per Sempre (Mine Forever),” which originally appeared as a bonus track on the Japanese edition of the album, and the other one is Josh’s first-ever studio demo recording: an Italian song titled “Roma Nun Fa’ La Stupida Stasera,” which translates to “Rome, Don’t Be Stupid Tonight.”
Josh Groban has so far sold over five million copies in the U.S. Josh’s most recent album is last year’s Harmony.
A man was shot on Thursday afternoon near the site of a memorial for rapper Young Dolph, who was shot and killed in Memphis on Wednesday.
The shooting on Thursday afternoon took place near Makedas Homemade Butter Cookies, the shop that the hip-hop artist was visiting when he was killed. The bakery, which has been boarded shut, has since become the site of a memorial for the rapper, where mourners gathered to pay their respects.
“Officers are on the scene of a shooting at 2630 Airways,” the Memphis Police Department tweeted Thursday afternoon. “One male was shot and is listed as non-critical. Officers immediately detained two suspects, and a third was detained at Kerr and Mississippi after a brief pursuit. The cause of this shooting is under investigation.”
It is unclear whether the shootings are connected. ABC News reached out to the Memphis Police Department but a request for comment was not immediately returned.
Hours before the shooting Thursday, Memphis Police released photos on Twitter of the suspects and the suspected vehicle connected to Young Dolph’s killing, and urged anyone with information to contact police.
According to police, Dolph was killed while he was inside Makeda’s Homemade Butter Cookies in South Memphis. The rapper, born Adolph Robert Thornton Jr., was pronounced dead at the scene. He was 36.
The NAACP Image Awards will return with an in-person ceremony, airing live February 26 on BET.
Four new podcast categories have been added to this year’s ceremony, include Outstanding News and Information Podcast; Outstanding Lifestyle/Self-Help Podcast; Outstanding Society and Culture Podcast; and Outstanding Arts and Entertainment Podcast.
The NAACP Image Awards traditionally honors achievements and performances of people of color across more than 80 categories, including film, television, music and literature.
“Black artists over the past year have not only showcased our history and uplifted values of progressive change, but have also redefined genres and brought our stories to the screen in so many creative ways,” said Derrick Johnson, President and CEO of the NAACP. “Now more than ever, we need Black voices to push the envelope, educate, and inspire audiences around the world. We’re proud to once again provide a space that both elevates and celebrates these voices through the 53rd NAACP Image Awards.”
Nominations for the 53rd NAACP Image Awards will be announced on January 11.
The days are getting shorter, but luckily as we head into the holidays, Disney+ already has a full slate of seasonal goodies for you to unwrap on those cold winter nights.
Have a movie night with friends and family with the newly released Home Sweet Home Alone, starring Archie Yates, Ellie Kemper, Rob Delaney, and Aisling Bea, or spend a weekend binge watching all of The Simpsons’ Christmas specials.
Marvel Studios’ latest show Hawkeye debuts on November 24, with a decidedly “Christmas in New York” settling. Classics such as The Nightmare Before Christmas, Home Alone and The Santa Clause are also available to watch on Disney+, and there are even holiday-themed episodes of throwback shows like Kim Possible and Even Stevens to check out this season.
Disney is the parent company of ABC News.
Here’s the full list:
Movies and specials
‘Twas the Night 12 Dates of Christmas A Muppets Christmas: Letters to Santa — premiering Nov. 19 Babes in Toyland Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas Christmas…Again?! — premiering Dec. 3 Cloud 9 Cool Runnings Decorating Disney Holiday Magic’ Disney’s A Christmas Carol (2009) Disney Channel Holiday House Party Disney Channel’s Epic Holiday Showdown Disney’s Fairytale Weddings: Holiday Magic Duck the Halls: A Mickey Mouse Christmas Special — premiering Nov. 26 Ernest Saves Christmas — premiering Nov. 26 Frozen Frozen 2 Full-Court Miracle Good Luck Charlie: It’s Christmas! High School Musical: The Musical: The Holiday Special Home Alone Home Alone 2 Home Alone 3 Home Alone 4 — premiering Dec. 17 Home Alone: The Holiday Heist — premiering Dec. 17 I’ll Be Home For Christmas Ice Age — premiering Dec. 3 Ice Age: A Mammoth Christmas — premiering Nov. 26 Jingle All The Way Jingle All The Way 2 Life Size 2 Mickey & Minnie Wish Upon a Christmas — premiering Dec. 10 Mickey’s Christmas Carol Mickey’s Once Upon a Christmas Mickey’s Twice Upon a Christmas Richie Rich’s Christmas Wish Santa Buddies: The Legend of the Santa Paws Santa Paws 2: The Santa Pups Snow Buddies Snowball Express Snowglobe The Christmas Star The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe The Disney Holiday Singalong The Mistle-Tones The Muppet Christmas Carol The Nutcracker and the Four Realms The Santa Clause The Santa Clause 2 The Santa Clause 3 The Search for Santa Paws The Ultimate Christmas Present Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas Togo Toy Story: That Time Forgot While You Were Sleeping Winnie The Pooh: A Very Merry Pooh Year
Disney+ Originals premiering during the holiday season
Hawkeye — premiering Nov. 24 Arendelle Castle Yule Log: Cut Paper Edition — premiering Dec. 17 Godmothered High School Musical: The Musical: The Holiday Special Home Sweet Home Alone LEGO Star Wars Holiday Special Noelle Once Upon a Snowman Arendelle Castle Yule Log
Duck the Halls: A Mickey Mouse Christmas Special From Our Family to Yours Olaf’s Frozen Adventure Once Upon a Snowman Pluto’s Christmas Tree Prep & Landing Prep & Landing: Naughty vs. Nice Prep & Landing: Operation Secret Santa Puppy for Hanukkah — premiering Nov. 19 Santa’s Workshop The Small One
The Simpsons Christmas episodes
“Bobby, It’s Cold Outside”
“Grift of the Magi”
“Holidays of Future Passed”
“I Won’t Be Home for Christmas”
“Kill Gil, Volumes I & II”
“Marge Be Not Proud”
“Miracle on Evergreen Terrace”
“She of Little Faith”
“Simpsons Christmas Stories”
“Simpsons Roasting On An Open Fire”
“Skinner’s Sense of Snow”
“The Burns and the Bees”
“The Fight Before Christmas”
“The Nightmare After Krustmas”
‘”Tis the 30th Season”
“‘Tis The Fifteenth Season”
“White Christmas Blues”
