#i mean ive only been out and about as oscar in public for a bit over one year

[spaghett-onaplate]

in all my (like three) years of being trans never once have I corrected someone when they misgender me. apart from today

[marithlizard]

Thoughts on RWBY v8c1, “Divide”

Summary: Much as expected!   Top-notch animation and imagery, terrifying plot, sloppy writing.

(I am just going to have to accept that RWBY no longer cares if details make sense, or are strictly in character, as long as they lead to Something Cool.  Which is frustrating! I’ve never been particularly a fan of most of the big story franchises for precisely that reason  -  I want a canon text that holds up to my obsessively analytic fangirl scrutiny.)

(Yes OKAY I know, they sent a dog through the mail way back in v2 and that should’ve been a clue, but the plot holes didn’t get big enough to actually annoy me until v5-v6. And I still love my favorite characters so I’m going to have to suck it up.  Onward to the episode!)

CINDER BACKSTORY ALERT

Oh, now that's a lovely transition,  present-day Cinder’s nails scratching in time with past-Cinder’s scrubbing of the floor. 

Damn it, Neo, you should not be here. You're not evil enough for  this crowd no matter how many people you may have killed.  And you know it, from that look of fear.  Roman would be yelling at you to run.

Did they - are those the murderwhale's gills?  Turned into landing pads for small airships? And those are teeth. Salem's throne room/bridge is in its mouth. So cool.

Credit? No, you  don't get credit,  Neo. That's not how this works.

Oh,  no. No, Emerald, don't - yeah.  

I love the weird biomagical-Grimm technology Salem uses.  It pulsates.  Of course it pulsates.

"Without you I am nothing".  I still don't think Cinder is delivering that line sincerely, not one bit.  She just knows the situation. 

And Salem just shoos them away with a little wave of her fingers, go away minion-flies.   There are only two players in the entire world as far as she's concerned.  Only two people, really.  Humanity 2.0 doesn't count.

Oscar and Ozpin in a freezing little collection of hovels. Probably still the same quarry or mine they fell into.   Oh YAY reunion approximately 1000% sooner than anyone was predicting!  But...Oscar doesn't actually look relieved to see Ruby.

Yeah, he hasn't told them about Oz being back.  

So they've joined forces with the Huntresses, excellent. And May Marigold on top of things as dispatcher!

AWWWW Nora didn't bowl him over.  Hopefully it's not just that she has no exuberance in her, and she has actually picked up the clear signals that he doesn't like it.

Wanting to talk it out with Ozpin first is a good reason. Not done talking? You haven't even started.  But...it's going to make the others mad all over again, and this time they'll be mad at you, Oscar.  

Ozpin has had only two lines so far, but there's a different quality to his voice now.  I think they changed up the sound effect but it's more than that.  Oz used to always sound at least a bit smug and very self-assured.  Every trace of that is just...gone.  And Oscar himself is sounding very Oz-like, with the “every choice I’ve made has been the wrong one” angst.   I’m starting to really worry we will lose Ozpin this volume. :( 

Qrow and Robyn's arrest hasn't been publicized.  But their pictures are gone from the wanted mug shots.  Arrested or dead seem obvious conclusions - I guess they're too afraid of the second to make any guesses.

Ironwood's rationale last season for stopping the Mantle evacuations was that they were going to raise Atlas so there wasn't time.  But that no longer applies, Atlas can't be raised without Penny.   So he's just decided their lives aren't worth spending resources on.  Which makes me wonder what's happened to the Mantle residents who have already been evacuated.   Being warehoused somewhere in poor conditions with no one having a clue what to do with them?  We probably won't find out. It's not the kind of detail RWBY is good at following up on, unfortunately.

Huh.  I see the logic of the crater being warm and centralized...but when Salem attacks Atlas they're going to be directly underneath.  

Ouch, that photograph and broken luggage are effective. I may have complaints about the writing but RWBY's storyboarders and animators do a stellar job.

Speaking of which, apparently we really ARE handwaving physics and major  engineering projects so that Amity can be launched with Pietro's knowhow and a  roll of duct tape.  The only requirement is to push the equivalent of the big green button on a computer.  

AND Ruby wants to go ahead with telling the world about Salem?  Despite it having been acknowledged last volume that there would be global chaos and Grimm invasions?  Ironwood's plan to "lend forces"  after the fact was hopelessly inadequate and would have killed millions.  Now there's no plan for  aid at all.  

ARGH - hm.  Well.  I guess I do see Ruby's point about feeling obligated to warn everyone Salem's army is on the move.  But what defense can anyone else in the world mount?  Atlas is the only place with a real army anyway.   And the Beacon footage already triggered waves of despair and Grimm, I don't think Lionheart was lying about that.   Ruby's plan just means people will die sooner.   I'm with Yang, they should help Mantle and concentrate on fighting  Salem here and now.

...wait,is Yang rebelling?  Just like that?  Is it v6c2 all over again with even less buildup?  Ooh, no, because  Ruby's not alone. It's a genuine party split.

Oh god, someone explain to Penny that she must stay out of Salem's clutches at all costs.  That's a frightening level of naivete.  In fact, they should be getting Penny the fuck out of Atlas and as far away as possible.

RNBWP and YJOR,  Rainbow-P and, er,  hm, the fandom will doubtless come up with a better name than "Orgy".  An interesting breakdown.  I'm just glad they were able to do it peacefully. (Although Nora sounds salty in the extreme and Ren looks betrayed.)

I'm just going to assume Pietro disabled the tracking on their scrolls, and that James can't find them using this phone call.

Oh, Ironwood.   That is...not remotely convincing.  But you think of her as a little kid still, one who was always eager to please before.

He's got a valid point from  his chess-game perspective, it's true.  If Salem gets all four relics, Remnant really is doomed.  (He doesn't know about the summoning-gods clause, but even without that she could reshape the planet).  But raising Atlas to keep it safe while she rains down destruction on the rest of the world is not a viable plan either morally or strategically.  

Annd we cut to the Ace Ops without hearing Ruby's answer. Ace Ops looking variously depressed, impassive, and pissed off.

..er.  Clover IS dead, right?  Must be, or he'd be covered in IVs and monitors, but that we're standing in a medical facility next to Winter getting treatment makes it seem  ambiguous. That's pretty cruel to the FairGame shippers, c'mon, they've suffered enough.

I wish I hadn't learned about the robot arm, because it would've been a nicely shocking reveal.  It's not Pietro's  work, James.  Pietro left you and you'll be reminded of that every time you clench your inferiorly-made fingers.

Oof, Winter is tied to Ironwood by his sincere gratitude, as well as duty and loyalty.  That bond is going to be tested further.

Okay the Councilors are acting like idiots. Martial law is a terrible idea 99% of the time. But when you have an massive Grimm army, a flying murderwhale and the queen of evil on your doorstep might be a reasonable time to contemplate the 1%.    

did you - did you just kill a councillor

please tell me that was a warning shot

Harriet and Winter both have "my boss is going round the twist fast, oh shit" looks on their faces.  And they exchanged a glance there.

And we end with the scene from the trailer of Salem ordering a flying monkey-bloodhound to fetch Oscar.  She's talking to the lamp - I wonder if Jinn can hear?  Probably not, it was definitely implied she was waking up from sleep in v6c2.

New opening!  I've already commented on the dramatic title card of the others "turning their backs" on Ruby.   Ooh,  Clover's shadow is going to hang long over this season, apparently!  And - whoa,  THAT'S an unexpected juxtaposition of characters.

Are they going to team up? Is Harriet going to break Qrow out of prison,  yell at him to stop being a lump and avenge Clover?   Definite teamup for him and Robyn, unsurprising but good.  (I don't think romance is in the cards for Qrow this volume, it'll be wall-to-wall doom, but for the record anyone who can give this man a happy ending is okay by me.)

It's just not looking good for Oscar and Oz at all.  :(    

Whitley and Willow in the credits!   Yes please, they both have so much potential to grow out of Jacques' shadow.

Watts, you smug little fucker.   Smug tall fucker. You know what I mean. Oh no - he’s going to hijack Ruby’s broadcast from Amity.  It’ll be like Beacon but worse. That’s such a horrible idea that it is now my official prediction. 

Interesting use of mirrors here.

That little glance between Yang and Ruby suggests they won't truly come to enmity, thank goodness.  

I wonder if there's something significant in the relative positioning of Emerald and Mercury.  Is he going to rise higher in Salem's ranks while she and Neo are reluctant, and possibly team up to escape? 

"Some lives will end much too soon,some evil will never ever die"  YES THANK YOU CASEY AND JEFF WE GET IT

Oh MY.  RWBY falling into deep water just like Cinder, with golden sparkles that sure do make it seem a lot like the buried GoL pool of creation. The staff floating above out of reach.  Is this hinting at an unwelcome transformation of some  kind?  

Scribbly outlines of weapons and Grimm and Penny, her colors changing.  "HAPPY EVER AFTER" being crossed out and replaced by "HAPPY NEVER AGAIN".  

hello yes I'm scared for the entire team, you can stop any time now.

[be-the-spark-flyboy]

heyy congratulations💕✨!! can i actually have a (male) ship for all the fandoms (if not, just do oscar characters (you have immaculate taste in movies, by the way)). im an entp and my star sign is capricorn. im very all over the place with my thoughts and i like talking a lot. like i already know this request is gonna be super long just ‘cause i ramble (im glad tumblr doesnt have a character limit anymore). in fact, i’ll send this short part in first and then the rest so you can like hide it under the cut or something. im so sorry 😂

so, my ramblings are probably why im considered an extrovert even though i feel like i might be an introvert sometimes. in my free time, i really like trying new things. i have a lot of hobbies that i pick up and drop at random but ive always been really into music (i think im a pretty decent singer. not good enough to make a career but enough to surprise people during karaoke).

ok, i feel like i kind of have to say this because the biggest stereotype of entps is that we’re argumentative... but im not that. i try to be very openminded and i hear people’s arguments before deciding on a stance (a lot of times, my opinion changes every time i talk about the topic. unless the topic, itself, is dumb. then i’ll be comedically stubborn (cereal’s a fucking soup, ok?)) and i’m also weirdly sensitive to other people’s emotions and i try not to say stuff that i know will offend them. i do thoroughly enjoy correcting people though. and debates are still very fun for me... a lot of times i come off as enfp/infp because im very excited/bubbly (when im horny (all the time)) and im very caring with my friends/family but i did my research and im definitely entp. im hella disorganized and i hate commitment (once i like you, though, prepare for me to sacrifice my life for you).

im good with other people’s emotions but the part i struggle with is managing/expressing my own. ive been told by multiple people that im very cold, which always surprises me because i try to act really “out there” with friends. i never dont expect them to see through it. most of the times, though, im not sure what people think of me. i kind of have a lot of different personalities that just ~materialize~ when im talking to a different person (woo defense mechanisms). one thing people dont realize is that im sarcastic but only with people i like. oh... yeah, when i have a crush on someone, i like to tease them. but im also stupid so sometimes i end up offending them instead of being lighthearted like with my friends (sometimes, but rarely, i will go too far with my friends too. even when i try not to). its my way of trying to reach out to them and show them im cool but it painfully backfires every. single. time.

uhhh, last thing, im a switch but definitely more on the “bratty-sub” side than the dom side. sometimes i go full on sub (degrading, praise, worship, bondage, etc) and i come back from it and im super confused because did that just happen?? this is just for your consideration, but usually, i really like hate to love type situations because the whole like “arguing as flirting” thing is just 👏🏻🥵 but im also really into best friends to lovers because in real life, i usually wouldnt like someone romantically unless i could potentially see them as my best friend, platonically.

ok, so. i just stalked your ENTIRE page and i ship you with llewyn because youre really sweet (you deserve each and every follower, by the way. id die for you) and i feel like he needs that in his life. i also think maybe nathan(?) could work because he could learn a lot from you, emotionally. if not, i was thinking abel too. IDK. for starwars, poe because you seem just sane enough to stop him from like killing himself on accident because hes so dumb? also i could totally see you two as “arguing for a good amount of time before getting together” BUT i could also see “we were good friends before getting together” which- 😫😫 having to pick a scenario from my two favorite tropes for you and poe is a good sign for me. same reasoning for anakin. i think mando could also really appreciate your presence on his ship because youre kind and could take care of the child. for marvel, you lowkey could be really good with peter parker or scott lang (one of the soft, silly boys).

sorry for making this so long 😂

Thank you!! And don’t apologise it was an entertaining read🤣

---

MCU:

I ship you with...

Bucky Barnes 😎

It takes a while for Bucky to feel comfortable around you. He sees you with Sam often when you’re having one of your movie marathons or you’re just hanging out. He really wants to talk to you but he’s shy?? You find him attractive but then he is also intimidating.

Then Sam interferes and his solution is to set up a blind date for the two of you. It’s a little awkward in the beginning but you find his shyness endearing as hell. As time goes by, his true self shines through, you realise he is such a romantic and he always finds a way to sweep you off your feet. Horny all the time? He’s literally a super soldier so the stamina...

Star Wars:

I ship you with...

Finn🥰

Imagine, you always lean on each other to vent about things and gossip about other people. Rey is busy as hell and Poe is a dumbass (the the topic of the vent most of the time). Plus he’s General now so a distraction from all the work is very welcome and hence a lot of meet me outside i got a bottle of whisky texts from him. Eventually that turns to just hanging out because he wants to spend time with you.

He probably knows everything about you because he loves to listen to you ramble about anything and everything. Hence he’s one of the few people who you feel comfortable enough to be yourself. And then that turn to making out under the stars on a picnic mat and the rest is history.

Oscar Issac Characters:

I ship you with...

Nathan Bateman😈

It’s almost like you have a seventh sense to detect Nathan’s true emotions despite how much he tries to cover them up. He hates it. So he’s mean to you hence creating a vicious feedback loop of hatred. Queue 100k enimies to lovers slow burn But eventually things work out and Nathan learns to open up a tiny bit to you.

Bratty sub you say? Nathan loves a partner who bites back. Speaking of, on the rare occasion that the two of you show face in public, no one can stand to be around you two since you are always bickering. But trying to one up each other is just your love language.

[gatewaygeek]

“To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.” -Oscar Wilde

Jim Kirk has spent his life trying to be more than the sum of his circumstances. He was born with a lot of advantages; born in the Federation, born with a family, had a roof over his head (for the most part), he was intelligent and did well in school, and always managed to find food and comfort. That being said, he was also given a fair few disadvantages; father died the day he was born, forced to live with an abusive Uncle, lost almost all connection with his brother, forced to go to a boarding school, forced to survive and take are of nine other children during the Tarsus IV massacre. And though it was many years before he became the noble, honest Captain that Spock befriended, Spock knew that there were aspects of Jim Kirk’s confidence, perseverance, and determination that could not be learned, only born with. He was a man who fought tooth and nail to survive, to make a name for himself, and to prove to the universe that anyone can overcome the space they occupy and be more. 

As much as Spock didn’t want to admit it to himself, and would never admit it out loud (partly out of fear that Doctor McCoy would hear it), Spock was jealous of the man’s at times reckless, or even aggressive, optimism. The Vulcan had been born into a life of luxury, his father was one of the most well-known ambassadors in the quadrant and had even made strides to make peace talks with the Romulans, often seen as a modern day Surak with his impressive use of logic--despite his “lapse in judgement” when he married Amanda Grayson and fathered a hyrbid son. Spock had a large, protective pet who imprinted on him when he was born, and a loving, doting mother who sacrificed everything to give him a good life. However, that’s not to say he didn’t face his own adversity, being half-human on Vulcan was hardly something to be proud of. He had more than his fair share of abuse and general degradation from his peers, and spent the majority of his life up to this point confused and frustrated over who he was supposed to be. Xenophobia is alive and well, no matter the species, and no matter the age.

But when Spock met Jim, the man gave him a wide smile and told him that he liked how blue looks on him, gave him an almost perfect ta’al, and then got to showing Spock around the ship and discussing ways they might improve certain areas. He was generous, and thoughtful, and Spock thought it might be easier if Jim wasn’t so... warm. He remembered thinking rather naively that this is how all humans were, acting without a care in the world, oblivious to the hardships they were likely to face on this journey, and then he read Jim’s file. He noticed that it was a public file (meaning any officer could open it, including ensigns and cadets), and Jim didn’t hide anything. He noted his time on Tarsus IV, his only living relative being his mother, and that his father was, indeed, George Kirk. Spock learned the rest over the next three years as the two became more trusting of each other; Jim had even referred to Spock as his best friend, knowing more about him than anyone on the ship (except perhaps for the aforementioned Doctor McCoy). Jim had been through so much more difficult and pressing things, and yet, never once seemed annoyed when Spock admitted his own hardships as a child. 

Spock had asked him about this once. His Captain explained to him that only a fool uses his pain to judge others. Spock pointed out that most humans use their pain as a reference point. Jim just smiled and said;

“Well, that says a lot about them, doesn’t it?”

Spock knew that it said a lot about himself, too. 

Another thing that Jim did that had it been any other human, would have inhibited them from doing was that he was so unabashedly kind. Spock was cold, even by Vulcan standards, mostly because he spent a large portion of his life trying to achieve the idea of the perfect emotionless Vulcan, and partly because of his own trust issues. But Jim was authentic and warm, and had so much love to give to all of his crew, all the while remaining respectful and professional. He was absolutely diplomatic in everything he did, and firm when he needed to be, and seemed to always know when it was the right time to speak, and when it was the right time to remain silent. And while Spock had a general sense of the same thing, when he didn’t know, he often just remained silent, whereas Jim knew exactly the right thing to say and how to say it. There was a reason Starfleet sent the Enterprise to handle delicate negotiations. 

“Jimmy can sweet-talk his way into anything.” 

The words had been spoken at a party that Jim had coerced Spock into going to six months into their five year mission by a drunken Doctor McCoy. Spock was aware of the meaning, it was something his mother mentioned every now and again. He remembered her being especially capable in the skill, managing to ‘sweet-talk’ his father into talking the two with them on trips to the safer planets. Those trips eventually died out when Spock got older. But the First Officer didn’t know just how true those words would eventually become over time. 

But perhaps the most astounding thing about Jim Kirk was his honesty. Spock spent a long time lying to himself about what he was, telling himself that if he abided by Surak’s teachings, had some kind of disregard for Humans as most Vulcans do, and repeated the mantra of ‘I am Vulcan’, then maybe one day he could believe it, and maybe then he would no longer be questioned about being Vulcan. But Spock has come to understand that the questions will never stop, only be repeated, and if people stop asking them, the truth never changes. But truth is an ever-evolving concept, especially regarding the development of a person. Spock had to come to terms with the truth: and the truth is, Spock wasn’t entirely Vulcan, and he had to accept that, or his true self would never fully be realized. It is incredibly hard to lie around such an honest man, even to oneself. 

It was these things that made Spock realize he had developed something of a romantic attraction to Jim. It wasn’t logical, not in any right. It was never logical to want to mate with a superior. But Jim was so respectful of his boundaries and his heritage, challenging him, and stroking his ego when he needed it. He would compliment Spock, and Spock knew that he truly meant it, because Jim didn’t lie unless he was under order to (and Jim liked to compliment Spock quite a bit). He would stand up for Spock, and he would let Spock fight his own battles. He was everything that the universe told him he couldn’t be. And Spock loved him. 

Oh, Spock loved him.

[devoursjohnlock]

Raffles, Holmes, and Wilde

In response to a quote from E.W. Hornung’s Wikipedia page that was posted today, I thought I’d put together some thoughts about Raffles, Sherlock Holmes and their creators. I’m researching a larger piece about this, but here are a few interesting bits, since people are thinking about this connection today.

First, we don’t have complete records about these men and their connections; particularly on Doyle’s side, letters and other papers have been lost (according to family members, probably deliberately destroyed), so it can be difficult to infer how well some of these people knew each other.

So, while we all know that Wilde and Doyle shared that one “golden evening” at the Lippincott dinner in 1889, which inspired The Picture of Dorian Gray and The Sign of Four (and that they exchanged a letter afterwards), it’s difficult for me to believe that this was the only time they met. This is partly because The Red-Headed League (1891) is populated with Wilde’s friends and partly because of their connection through Hornung.

In 1893, Hornung married Doyle’s sister Connie; their first child was born on March 24, 1895, the same day Wilde’s friends tried to persuade him to drop his libel case against Queensbury, for fear that it would lead to a sodomy charge (which of course, it did). The Hornungs named their son Arthur Oscar Hornung (called Oscar) after both Doyle and Wilde. Wilde was arrested on April 6.

Hornung published the Raffles story The Ides of March in 1898, the first in a series he called The Chains of Crime. The two public figures most often cited as the basis for Raffles are George Cecil Ives, who campaigned for homosexual law reform, and Oscar Wilde. I doubt the “chains” had anything to do with theft.

Hornung dedicated the first Raffles collection to Doyle (“To A.C.D., this form of flattery”), but it appears that he also expressed his intentions to Doyle before he began to write. Doyle said this in Memories and Adventures (1925), many years after the stories had become become popular:

I think I may claim that his famous character Raffles was a kind of inversion of Sherlock Holmes, Bunny playing Watson. He admits as much in his kindly dedication. I think there are few finer examples of short-story writing in our language than these, though I confess I think they are rather dangerous in their suggestion. I told him so before he put pen to paper, and the result has, I fear, borne me out. You must not make the criminal a hero.

I don’t particularly take anything Doyle said in Memories and Adventures at face value, so this discussion may or may not have taken place, but what an interesting judgment from the creator of Sherlock Holmes! To an uninformed audience, “they are rather dangerous in their suggestion” sounds like simple writing advice: don’t divide your readers’ loyalties.

With more knowledge of Doyle, his times, and especially his voice, the meaning becomes clearer. In Sherlock Holmes, Doyle had also “made the criminal a hero”. What both writers did was dangerous—Wilde had proven just how dangerous, as Dorian Gray was used against him at trial—and Hornung rather raised the stakes for Doyle by parodying Holmes and drawing the connection to Wilde more directly than Doyle had.

At least Sherlock Holmes was dead when Raffles was created. But I would very much have liked to see Doyle’s reaction on reading the first Raffles story. If that discussion with Hornung before its publication did take place, I suspect that “I told him so before he put pen to paper” is a mild account of it.

[nandini--sharma]

I. Hi! We’re happy to have you with us. First thing’s first, can you slate for us please? (Name, Age, Pronouns, Occupation, Faceclaim)

“Of course. Hi,my name is Nandini Sharma, I’m forty-three years old, a former model, actress,and dancer and the current COO of __.I use feminine pronouns and as strange as it sounds, people often compare me to Aishwarya Rai-Bachchan.”

II. It’s great to meet you. So you have to know that everyone’s been curious about you, why don’t we start with where you’re from? Tell us where you grew up and what your childhood and family were like.

"Oh, well, I was born in Mumbai, but that was only because my mother needed a C-section and was carried to a large hospital after she passed her due date. She loved to say that I was a diva since in the womb. Anyway, not long after that I was brought back to my village, it wasn’t the small type or rural place you’d see on television, but it wasn’t the big city, either. But it was home. We lead a simple life there and I was very happy playing among the nature out there. You know, fields, cows, goats... “

III. Well, they say our upbringing molds who we become. I’m sure that you got your reputation for being humble, hardworking,  active/ dramatic, impressionable, demanding from that.

IV. And what about that lead you to your current career? How did that impact you enough to want to do what you do now?

" It was luck, honestly. I think from a very young age people realized that I wasn’t like the other girls around, who played, did chores, went to school, and were all accepting of their future to become a wife and mother. I was always told I was pretty, and I suppose it got to my head a bit, because I was only about fifteen when I told my mother I wanted to be a model. I always saw magazines on stands with such pretty women on them and thought ‘ well I can do that too’. Of course, it didn’t have the same stigma that it used to, but my mother still was very much against the idea. I think she didn’t want to send me to the city and see me get hurt or lose the values and virtues she had given me, but I was adamant and eventually took it upon myself to try to run away to Mumbai and become one. I cam home not even a day later but she realized that keeping an eye on me was better than me going out there by myself, so she allowed me to  start modeling small time so long as I put my studies first.”

V. That’s awesome. I’m sure our readers will love to hear that. So you knew you had a calling, what came next? How did you get yourself to Hollywood? What was your first job?

“Oh well Hollywood came much, much later. It wasn’t even until I reached nineteen that I got to New York. Modeling in India is very different than modeling internationally, but someone saw my face and decided they liked it and gave my then agent a call. It was a huge deal for me, of course, as I’d been modeling creams and things but not much clothes. Fashion was the big league and I wasn’t going to turn that down. After an international campaign, even though I was just one of three models in it, I got a call to see if I wanted to be in a film -- and Indian film, which you’d call a Bollywood, but I was excited. Like most girls where I come from, I’d learned some traditional dance so that finally came in handy, and one film turned into two and so on before the calls kept coming in and one of them just happened to be from an American director. I think I was twenty-two at the time. but it seems like a lifetime ago now.”

VI. Of course, but we all know there’s a sea of faces out here trying to get famous as well, right? It must have been hard, the first few rejections or being told something wasn’t good enough. What was the most difficult thing you faced on your journey?

“Oh God, I don’t want to sound arrogant, but I never got rejected. At least not when modeling. I was charmed that way, always being chosen for things. I think the one time I was rejected came from a role I actively sought that I didn’t look the part for -- I think you can guess what that means. But I didn’t let it set me back. I think the hardest part came not from my career, but my personal life. I was still young, barely twenty-five when I met my husband and fell madly in love as one often would. But in spite of my family supporting me in everything else, they were still were still very traditional and my beloved wasn’t Indian. It caused a rift between myself and my parents and was heavily criticized by the media back home and highly covered here, but we were in love and I was willing to give up everything for him because I believed that my parents would come around. It was very hard being at odds with my family, and even when my first child came things still hadn’t been reconciled. I felt so alone; I think that was my darkest time. It even effected my work. Of course my divorce and the public embarrassment I faced wasn’t great either, but I still have my children to keep me from being lonely and being at good terms with my parents again makes up for it.”

VII. So then what was the moment that you realized you made it? Or are you still waiting for that moment?

" Made it... That’s subjective in a way, isn’t it? Everyone has a different opinion on that, don’t they? For me, I made it when I began getting calls from top designers to model their clothes on a runway, but I was twenty years old and had a lot of life to go through still. I’ve never won and Oscar or anything but I think the height of my career was around the time of my second or third Hollywood film. Of course getting pregnant slowed down my acting career and that in turn made me less spoken about. Not that I regret it, of course, because I would trade nothing for my children. But am I going to be on the cover of a gossip magazine again?  God I hope not. I like being moderately spoken about now and living my life in peace. (4)

VIII. It’s amazing when you make it far enough in this town when so many people end up giving up and going home, isn’t it? So now that you’re here, what’s next for you?

"It is, and I’m thankful for every moment I lived, but I’m much too happy where I am now to go backwards. I know that it was at the cost of a messy divorce, but in spite of the fact that I have to see the man who cheated on me too often, I like that I can sleep eight or nine hours every night and that I get to spend lots of time with my children. I can’t even imagine working eighteen hours on a  a set and getting three hours of sleep before having to do it all again and missing out on my children’s lives. No, I like where I’m at now. Love it, in fact. In the future the only thing I want to do is help this company grow if only so that I can leave something behind for my kids and maybe help a few people’s dreams come true in the process. I had my time.”

IX.  Now we know it’s personal but we have to ask,  do you have any comment about the rumors going around about you?

"Oh God, haha, of course. I think I’ve just taken care of myself and my skin over the years and people can’t find it in them to believe that I’ve just aged well. Honestly, saying I’ve had work done is just outlandish. I have not had cosmetic surgery of any kind ”

X. Thank you so much for talking to us today. Lastly, is there anything you want our readers to know about you?

" I think I’d like readers and fans to know that I am still keeping my vegetarian diet as I have all my life and that in spite of not having been there a few years, I’ve still retained all of my French.”

[norman-reedus-gossip]

bulk

– mod–
I’ll add to the comments as usual. Anon:
The DM ran photos of DK in the exact same outfit with the exact same shopping bags iSaturday – walking alone. Check it out. No way she wore the identical outfit and had the same bags yesterday. The story conveniently tags them as yesterday when it was known N was back in NYC. The “getaway” makes for a much better story than 2 friends hanging out like he’s done with several female friends in the past few weeks (Ira, Jarah, Liz) – and been photographed with them too. These pics were set up.

Anon:
what is everyone talking about with norman and what did this DK woman do? i’m late and curious because i really don’t want to find a way to dislike norman

Anon:
grooooooooossssssssssssss. well if the other rumours are true, she wants a baby w him.

Normansweetpie:
I honestly am surprised about Norman and Diane. And to the person that said Norman is a horrible person, you’re wrong. Norman liked Diane and I believe that Norman can do whatever he wants to do with his life. If Norman wants to date Diane, that’s fine.

Anon:
So he is w a disgusting famewhoere. completely changes the way i see him. bye bye norman, no longer your fan (and im a lesbian, so this isn’t butthurt shit here)

Anon: If this is true, I don’t want to go to WSC London now. I don’t feel like meeting him if he has been lying to us this whole time.

Anon: Norman has to address this. He’s getting so much hate. I hope he shuts it down. Please Norman say it’s not true.

Anon:
I can’t believe he lied to us. If this really is true, then everything he says is bullshit.

Anon: Mod, I am at a loss how this whole narrative in the NR fandom went from “DK is vile, they’re not friends ” to “DK is vile they’re definitely not dating cuz NR is sweet and great” to “They’re dating! They’re both vile!”…. Like, where is this coming from? Norman’s own fans would rather believe he’s some sort of vile scumbag than the alternative that maybe, just maybe 1) NR and DK are both decent people? And 2) none of us knows the private details of when/how they got together?

Anon: Mod in your opinion do you think he would have done that? He did things that made us believe he was single so do you think he was really lying to us the whole time? I want to cry if he was. I thought he was different. Do you think there’s a chance that he is just friends with her?

Anon: Just friends my ass. They’ve been together off and on for over a year. Time for fans to take off the delusional glasses and accept it. He’s a good ACTOR, isn’t he?

Anon: II thought that if this happened I would feel angry and sad and disappointed. But I feel relaxed and calm and I wish Norman finally have found the woman that will stay with him till the end. I feel really happy for him.

Anon: I hope that Norman realizes that Diane probably called the paparazzi and set that whole thing up so they would finally be outed as a couple. She is a real piece of work.

Anon: A few choice words like unwise, irresponsible, childish, selfish, asinine, and dishonest, as well as many more like them are all coming to mind right now.

Anon: I know it’s his life but I think he needs to say or do something for his fans now. Just like when he shut down the EK rumor. Btw, TMZ also reported that as official too, if I recall and that was never true either. Please say something about the truth of this, Norman

Anon: In the midst of this DK stuff, someone on Facebook who works at LaGuardia airport says she talked to Norman at work today. Do you know if he’s heading somewhere?

Anon: What had Diane done and why does everyone hate her?

Anon: I am an extremely disappointed… I was gonna say fan, but I can no longer even bring myself to write that much less say it. What an effing nightmare. Seriously, I’m not sure if Norman could make a more foolish decision.

Anon: I want to be clear this is not a DK hate (or even dislike) post. I have to say I find it a bit ironic of NR fans blaming the trash mags for NR not being able to “live his personal life”. If I’m not mistaken didn’t the pap pics originate in daily mail? Doesn’t DK and her people have a deal with them and they set up pics all the time? So I’m assuming DK or both of them are courting this attention, yes? I think we need PR wife again, lol.

Anon: Ok wait, it doesn’t have to mean they are together. She could have been hanging with him like he does with a lot of his female friends. And I stil think the pics are only one day. Not a “weekend getaway” I really hope he says something now, though. This back and forth is too much. I pray it’s friendship and nothing more because I don’t want to have to stop supporting him. Say something Norman.

Anon: 
I cannot think of a single nice thing to say about Norman right now and I’m not sure I will ever be able to again. Anon: Dont you think that this is kinda ridicilous , this whole dk / nr is going on since 2015 , if they were together , they would already admit that and dont forget joshua and diane broke up a long time ago , so nr and her had a long time chance to admit it 🙄(sorry my english is not very good ) 


Susa206: Everybody should calm down! In my opinion it´s obviously, that they are a couple. I think we don´t have the right to judge about his or her life! Nobody knows what really happened between DK and her former boyfriend….. I never liked her … but the most important thing, is that he is happy…. and we have to accept his choice…. ( sorry again for my bad english)

Anon: So are we to believe they have been so careful to not be seen out together in more than a year and now they are caught in his parking garage? Set up

Anon: she is just so unlikeable. ive read her interviews and seen her interviews. she is not likeable. this is bad new for his brand, but its his life. i know i won’t tune into anything he does if she is accompanying him or being mentioned. i know celebs are humans, but i also consider them brands that i choose to consume. ive no interest in using my money & attention to help her brand, and won’t consume anything she is attached to. sorry normski, not interested if you come w her as an add on

Anon: But hold on remember when he was photographed with Elsa Hosk? and they aren’t together. I know because of DK, it’s strange but I don’t think it proves it yet. Until Norman comes out and says it.

Anon: Mod , i would like to help you a bit. I also dont believe that they are together , in fact i do believe Diane might have a crush on Norman (who not) and im sure Norman knows that , but it seems he is enjoying his single life and told her that , and still wants to hang out as friends with her , because why not? Maybe they were out having dinner , maybe he or she made dinner at their homes! 😊( just what i think about the whole dk/n thing)

Anon: this norman stuff with TMZ, is utter bullshit. they are probably just friends and so what if they are dating, they should be happy that they are happy.

Anon: Mod , it seems you doubt about if they are friends or not ….

Anon: Mod, do you think they really are together or do you think the friends theory is possible? I just want to cry if it’s true. It’s not that he’s with someone but that it could be her! I hate her. She is nothing like him she is so full of herself and now he looks like a cheater and a liar. I didn’t think he was anything like that but now he looks like such a fake person. Not who he said he was to his fans. I’m so sad. What do you think Mod??

Anon: If them unloading a car together is the smoking gun on their relationship… damn! I am in a relationship with a bunch of cab drivers! Dammit… and here I am thinking I’m single! 


Rebellacycle: I’m sorry I’m laughing at a lot of this this man can’t be any where near a woman or his female fan loose their shit “ oh he’s with her no ” if he is dating her at least she is close to his age if she slept with him I’d hi- five her good for you Diane 😂🤣💪🏹 let him live his life I don’t know her we really as fans don’t know the both of them it’s his and her business if they are dating or not what ever and I would love to be at his next convention to see if these “ fans ” ask him about it

Anon: Sorry!! I meant good luck to HIM. I want the man to be happt but she is just YUCK. My bad. You always rule. I’m going to drink whiskey til I puke this weekend. Why do I care? I have no clue but am just disappointed.

Anon: Can someone post the pics of DK that are supposedly from Saturday, please. Also, are those pics on tmz from yesterday or Thursday. I’m confused!

Anon:
Sooooooo are they together or were they just carpooling to like Whole Foods and Best Buy or something?

Anon:
I’m done with NR. Cannot support this disgraceful behaviour whatsoever. More to the point how can he be okay with a supposed partner calling the paps on them? Entire thing is a mess. he is not who he pretends he was.

Anon:
NR and DK kept their relationship hidden this long because they knew people would never forget about how their relationship got started (cheating) and they knew if they went public they would be one of the most hated couples in Hollywood. I seriously want to throw up she is such a horrid human being. N has developed really shit taste in women.

Anon:
Here it goes. Seems like we finally got our proof and Norman and DK came out and made it public finally. They are together. You can’t tell me she’s just a friend cruising around with him and unloading his car. Not after all. I’m so disgusted, I almost vomited. I can’t believe Norman fell for this woman. I’m SO SO disappointed and disgusted! 😞

Anon:
Those two horrible people deserve each other. And they deserve every ounce of hate that they get as long as they are together.

Anon:
Isn’t there a simple way to clear it up? One or both of their reps will confirm or deny the rumors, right? NR had to do that with the EK thing. Plus I think isn’t DK going to LA for Oscar weekend stuff? If she gives any interviews I’m sure they’d ask about this, right?

[joescanlan-blog]

Fun’s Not Dumb: An Art World of Entertainment

For a while there, many lived under the delusion that comprehensive exhibitions about relevant cultural phenomena had the power to become paradigm-shifting events, not only for art but for the culture-at-large. Students of history will recall Harald Szeeman’s “ When Attitudes Become From” at Kunstalle Bern in 1996, or Thomas Lawson’s “A Fatal Attraction: Art and the Media” at The Renaissance Society in 1982, or even Elizabeth Sussman’s 1993 Whitney Biennial—exhibitions that officially acknowledged coming changes in the accepted form and content of art. Of course, such “ timely” exhibitions marked the end rather than the beginning of the trends they chronicled and painstakingly maintained the perception of art as a harbinger of things to come.

Art continues to enjoy the illusion of cultural authority, not because it is vital or intelligent but because it refuses to recognize its competition. In fact, Szeeman’s show postdates Marshall McLuhan’s Understanding Media by five years, Lawson’s the home video recorder by seven, and even Sussmans’s—diverse as it was by art-world standards—appears in hindsight to be a mere provincial reflection on the democratization of the Internet. “ Let’s Entertain: Life’s Guilty Pleasures,” a show organized by Philippe Vergne at the Walker Art Center, tries to embrace the notion of art as just another form of popular culture, without being critical or condescending. And while I doubt that it will be as paradigmatic as the iMac or the Star Wars trilogy—which is, by the way, the height of the bar these days—the exhibition is nonetheless an impressive, if problematic, arm’s-length look at one of the art world’s more uncomfortable taboos.

Art history abounds with aphorisms denigrating all forms of audience concession, from Andy Warhol’s “Cute rots the intellect” to Oscar Wilde’s “Art should not try to be popular, the public should make itself more artistic.” Disdain for popular appeal, however, often masks a jealous desire for the breadth of influence and depth of feeling that entertainment imparts on the general public. Indeed, in “Come Back to Pleasure,” the keynote essay in the exhibition catalogue, philosopher Richard Shusterman credits no less a snob than T.S. Eliot with the remark that the poet “ would like to be something of a popular entertainer…As things are, and as fundamentally they must always be, poetry is not a career, but a mug’s game.” Of course, in the mug’s game of entertainment, the audience either already knows the source or simply assumes the present mug has invented it. The free use of good material is a vital aspect of the entertainment industry, from song hooks and sitcom quips to computer animation and period drama. Familiarity breeds success, and the dizzying speed at which a phrase or gesture can be assimilated is the main reason such phenomena are not taken seriously. “Let’s Entertain” begs to differ—largely on the premise that pleasure and democracy have replaced difficulty and elitism as yardsticks of important art. In so doing, it suggests that power, culture, and class politics have entered into serious flux.

There is no better evidence of this Machiavellian shift than a 1980 appearance by Johnny Lydon on American Bandstand. Video tape of the performance is one of the earliest bits of evidence in “Let’s Entertain,” and the ethical question of whether Lydon has “evolved” or “sold out” haunts all those who follow. With the Sex Pistols gone in a burst of flames and wreckage, Lydon’s reincarnation as the frontman for Public Image Limited averred that anarchy was no longer an agent for social change. By appearing to give the public what it wanted, the slick, media-friendly PIL suggested that a darker, more insidious form of cynicism than punk might be, well, catchy lyrics and a danceable beat. Throughout the performance, Lyndon flaunts the fact that he is lip-syncing (then still an industry no-no), and at one point even sticks his microphone to a young woman’s lips just in time for her to mouth his next lyric. It’s a great, black, hopeless bit of humor that has the effect of setting you free.

This precious moment is a how-to video for viewing the rest of the show. Where art institutions have a long legacy of promoting art as a means of social betterment—regarding its viewers as passive subjects in need of inoculation against the baseness of more popular diversions—Lydon regards his shiny young fans as willing recipients of an infection. The idea of entertainment as a virus is well-exploited by popular music and film, but it was not until the late nineteen seventies that visual artists became knowingly and willingly contaminated, treating their minds and bodies like lengths of pipe through which so much behavioral information flows. And while “Let’s Entertain” accurately identifies the beginning of art’s liberation from forty years in the Modernist desert, much of the recent work in the show adds little to the instincts of Lydon’s generation.

Such is the case with Kyupi Kyupi, a current Japanese collaboration that makes music, videos, and performances that get spun off as CDs and books. Assuming the mantle of such nineteen-seventies art-school-assignments-turned-pop-culture-footnotes as Devo or Kraftwerk, Kyupi Kyupi takes the anxiety of influence one step further—by leaving out the anxiety part altogether, demonstrating a lack of interest in subverting anything except the expectation of art as subversion. Fishheads (1999-2000) is a short videotape in which three young men are dressed in primary-colored wetsuits with matching fishhead-shaped helmets. They do some primitive, martial choreography for a while before pursuing a leggy, Japanese version of Pam Grier. Or is that a Pam Grier version of a Japanese? Who cares? Decisions get made, things happen, the tape ends. That’s about it.

I like that approach to art-making and even admire its expendability. However, Kyupi Kyupi’s antics too often typify Vergne’s criteria for what it means to be entertaining, implying that all entertainment, by its very definition, is vacuous, derivative, and forgettable. This explains the “Life’s Guilty Pleasures” apology that is the tag line of the show, as if running home to watch The Simpsons was morally inferior to running out to see your local William Kentridge retrospective. Thus, my disappointment with “Let’s Entertain” is that it hypes a clichéd, obsequious notion of entertainment over subtler or nastier forms, a slant that not only limits the possibilities of the premise but also betrays a lack of confidence in the viewer’s ability to be comfortable with what they like. To my mind, Stan Douglas is more entertaining than Piotr Uklanski, but I doubt Douglas’s Monodramas—a series of short establishing shots lacking any subsequent action or dialogue—will get held up as an example of good entertainment to the same extent that Uklanski’s readymade installations of disco floors and mirrored balls are.

While it could be suggested that “Let’s Entertain” merely wants to knock art down a peg or two in the process of making it more competitive with the wider culture, I would counter that in its haste to be immediately relevant it obliterates the arcana that is art’s strength. Instant Gratification can be fun, but some things are ultimately more desirable when they’re at least unfamiliar, if not offensive. Indeed, that may be precisely the effect “Let’s Entertain” will have on the art world, but such discomfort is still rooted in an unwillingness to consider art as entertainment in the first place. If bearing the anxiety of whether or not we’re attracted to art is the foundation of the pleasure it gives us, then whatever anxiety “Let’s Entertain” induces only serves to entrench an old belief: that art is special and everything else is not, until proven otherwise (as art).

This class distinction is underscored by the fact that some of art’s most impressive entertainers are not part of the exhibition. Had Edward Ruscha or Allen Ruppersberg been included in the show—let alone Laurie Anderson, Talking Heads, or Sonic Youth—then most of the art in “ Let’s Entertain” would pale in comparison. Furthermore, while Dike Blair’s collected interviews with Karen Daroff (theme restaurant designer), Jonathan Ive (Apple Computers), J Mays (vw bug), Gordon Thompson III (Nike), and Jack Womack (pulp-fiction writer) in the catalogue demonstrate a prescient eye for the cultural powerbrokers of our time, their inclusion in the discussion ultimately serves to make art seem all the more puny and derivative. Which is fine, if art is willing to acknowledge the fact that it is puny and derivative, in which case we’d finally be free to enjoy whatever great or small insights our experience of it might give us.

Musician Kim Gordon once observed that, after Pop art, it is better to enter into popular culture than to go on making art that merely comments on it. She was right, but being right means having to be truly competitive in you cultural field of choice. This is neither an easy nor very promising task for contemporary artists, unless we approach art as just another form of popular culture. In such an environment, many of today’s artists no longer make “ challenging” work but work that commands an exclusive market niche, a brand of structural rigor and dry humor that reflects the consumption patterns of a small but loyal demographic. Does that make their work any less interesting? No. Does it shed light on their motivations and demonstrate that their works are not tainted by the admission of a little audience savvy? Certainly.

For example, in Fresh Acconci (1995), Mike Kelley and Paul McCarthy put their marketing pitch up front as the simultaneously transform it into art. In the original videotapes, Vito Acconci’s lugubrious threats and come-ons are a kind of last stand of the self, a schizophrenic whose livelihood depends on his ability to persuade us of his fears and desires. In Kelley and McCarthy’s remake, Acconci’s scripts have been slavishly adhered to, but their mood has been radically altered through the use of spokesmodels and exercise video extras who are by turns reclining languorously on a bearskin rug, tangling in a sudsy tub, or wrestling in a stucco rotunda. Whatever angst dripped from Acconci’s originals has been burned off by movie lights, replacing Acconci’s lone rendition of the self with no less sinister, interchangeable androids. Fresh Acconci’s “fuck you, here’s more of the same, on re-mastered” attitude is a blunt acknowledgement of the pre-packaged art historical legitimacy that can separate a knowing artist from the pack.

Thirty-three years ago, Robert Smithson was complaining about curators wanting to liven things up in museums, tending to make of them a kind of specialized entertainment venue. (Smithson, of course, preferred the institution’s inherent emptiness to the human impulse to “fill it up.” ) It apparently never occurred to Smithson that museums had always been in the business of specialized entertainment, nor did it occur to him that his concepts of emptiness and displacement could just as well be seen as sly inversions of industry standards, no more or less clever than Jerry Seinfeld’s television show about nothing or Gary Shandling’s partially buried career. Most importantly, entertainment itself might be a kind of profound emptiness. Indeed, the only thing emptier than an empty museum might be a museum full of entertainment. What’s interesting now about museums is the fact that it really doesn’t make much difference whether their “emptiness” is provided by Robert Smithson or Maurizio Cattelan—just so their ever-expanding spaces get filled. That’s neither the fault nor the revelation of “Let’s Entertain,” merely the condition it finds itself observing without the nerve to be skeptical of it.

No matter. I have only ever been interested in art because I found it entertaining, and while I can’t understand why someone would look at art for any other reason, I would also suggest that no one really does. I know that there are people who look at art because they believe its good for them, and that there are just as many whose livelihood is to propagate that belief, but doing something because it’s good for you still boils down to the desire to be entertained by your own behavior. If I have a predilection for Samuel Beckett or Agnes Martin, then it’s because I find their work entertaining—and, of course, beautiful. That doesn’t make me special, just a particular (and marginally profitable) consumer whose favorite products are seldom on the display. Were such artists presented as the unadorned Wasa crackers that they are, instead of birthday cakes with useful implements hidden inside, then their infrequent appearances might at least be accompanied by a less desperate, more contented mood, one that refrains from ascribing reasons and simply acknowledges our delight in their existence.

First Published in Art Issues 64 (Sept., 2000): 20-22.

Visit Joe Scanlan’s website to see more of his written works.

[viralhottopics]

‘The Arrangement’ Will Satisfy All Your Curiosities About Fake Celeb Relationships

The first thing you need to know about The Arrangement E!s new Hollywood-centric drama about a television actress who signs a contract to marry a movie star is that its definitely not, in no way,inspired by Tom Cruise, Katie Holmes and Scientology. At least thats what the shows cast and creators claim.

Weve all heard the rumors that the Church of Scientology allegedly auditioned actresses to become Cruises girlfriend before Holmes snagged the role and married him. Thats why comparisons between the shows Kyle West (Josh Henderson) and Megan Morrison (Christine Evangelista) the aforementioned movie star who belongs to a suspicious organization called The Institute of the Higher Mind and the struggling actress who is contracted to play his girlfriend and their suspected real-life counterparts are so hard to resist.

E/Getty

Josh Henderson and Christine Evangelista in “The Arrangement” and Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes at the Vanity Fair Oscars Party in 2012. 

The Arrangement may seem very much inspired by Cruise and Holmes relationship on the surface, but the show is more about the machinations of the Hollywood PR machine and every over-the-top relationship rumor tabloid addicts read over the years.

The concept of the Hollywood contract relationship, otherwise known as a fauxmance or promance, dates back to the studio system of the early 20th century. Actor Rock Hudsons 1955 marriage to secretary Phyllis Gates was famously arranged by the actors agent, Henry Wilson, in an effort to hide Hudsons sexual orientation from the public. Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn had audiences convinced of their love both on- and off-screen, but a 2012 memoir by Hollywood fixer Scotty Bowers claims their 26-year relationship was a decoy to distract from the same-sex relationships they both reportedly enjoyed.

Today, while Hollywood has become a friendlier place to openly queer actors, its possible there are relationships that are arranged to conceal a stars true sexual orientation; however, its far more plausible that a fauxmance might be concocted to promote a shared project or raise a couples collective profile.

Take Kaley Cuoco and Henry Cavills fleeting 12-day fling back in the summer of 2013, which was widely believed to be a fauxmance not that anyone could officially prove it, of course. There just seemed to be something curious about the fact that the two started dating right around the time Cavill was promoting Man of Steel, and that somehow the paparazzi seemed on-hand to document every single one of their dates. The fact that their relationship ended just as quickly as it started, combined with a suspiciously short timeline between Cuoco and Cavills breakup and her new romance with soon-to-be fianc Ryan Sweeting,added to suspicions their romance was less than authentic. Their coupling reeked of a PR-set up. Cuocoeven admitted to Cosmopolitanthat it brought her more attention than she ever received before.

I had no one following me until I met Superman. Ive been in this business for 20 years, and my whole life, I could go anywhere, do anything. There had not been one paparazzi photo of me until like seven months ago. The recognition has been crazy, she told the magazine in a 2014 cover story.

Splash News

Kaley Cuoco and Henry Cavill go shopping hand-in-hand at Gelsons in Sherman Oaks, CA on July 3, 2013. 

The problem with Cuocos statement is that while it used to be commonplace for the paparazzi to be out in full force following celebrities around town, hunting for that perfect picture, that happens far less often today unless you occupy the A-list.

Thanks to the tabloid boom in the early 2000s, being a paparazzo was a lucrative job.There seemed to be a heightened interest in seeing celebs doing mundane things, sparked in part by Us Weeklys Stars Theyre Just Like Us! feature. In the mid-2000s, the right photo could fetch hundreds of thousands of dollars,but that kind of payout has dried up since the introduction of social media, allowing celebrities more control over their own image.

And for someone like Cuoco, who was able to keep her relationship with her Big Bang Theory co-star Johnny Galecki secret for two years without anyone finding out, its difficult to believe the paparazzi were suddenly able to capture intimate moments of her 12-day romance with Cavill unless, of course, they were specifically tipped off.

For all we know, Cuoco and Cavills brief dalliance with one another could have been real, but its hard to deny the overwhelming professional benefits they both enjoyed from the blink-and-you-missed-it affair. Such is the case with what is probably the most-discussed alleged fauxmance in recent history Hiddleswift.

From their humble beginnings born out of totally not staged photos on the rocky shores of Rhode Island, Taylor Swift and Tom Hiddlestons extremely camera-ready relationship simply did not ring true for many fans. Hiddleston has gone on record claiming that of course [the relationship] was real, but believing that means ignoring aspects of their relationship that feel orchestrated.

The Hiddleswift relationship materialized seemingly out of nowhere, becoming public knowledge a mere day before Kim Kardashian accused Swift of lying about having approved lyrics to Kanye Wests song Famous. From a PR perspective, a new, showy relationship not only distracted from the allegations, but also drew focus from Swifts recent breakup with Calvin Harris.

If Swift benefited by trying to distract from negative attention, then Hiddleston, who was then known as a respected British actor, soaked up more attention both good and bad than hed ever experienced up to that point.

Though he took some flak for some of the more attention-grabbing moments of the relationship, like wearing an I T.S. tank top at the beach, becoming fodder for tabloid gossip seems to have proven beneficial for his career. During the time Hiddleston and Swift dated, the actor capitalized on his newly raised profile by growing his Twitter following from 2.8 million to 3.8 million, and he took the opportunity to join Instagram, where he amassed 1.1 million followers in a matter of weeks, according to Refinery 29.

Hiddleston wasnt an unknown before he dated Swift. In fact, he has two blockbuster movies Kong: Skull Island and Thor: Ragnarok due out this year. But every little bit of recognition helps when it comes to promotion and landing that next coveted role.

Observers of celebrity culture can only speculate over the authenticity of relationships like Hiddleswift and others that set off our collective bullshit detectors. Thats why gossip addicts will relish The Arrangement for painting Hollywood the way we assume it really is calculating and manipulative. From the specifics laid out in Kyle and Megans relationship contract, to staged interactions with celebrity exes, and the overreaching publicists and managers who pull all the strings, The Arrangement is rich in detail and probably more reflective of Hollywood than it would like to admit.

The Arrangement premieres Sunday, March 5, at 10 p.m. ET.

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from ‘The Arrangement’ Will Satisfy All Your Curiosities About Fake Celeb Relationships