Cas Stark

Chaos, drama and recriminations follow them wherever they go, whatever they do. There have long been industry rumors that Spotify was unhappy with the delay in getting any product out of them. It's on record the insane number of producers and staff who worked on her podcast and that the Archewell person who had been in charge no longer works for them. There are also rumors of, dare I say, grifter like demands, such as trying to bill Spotify for building a studio at their house. No one would care about any of this if her podcast was really a hit and was bringing in millions in audience. I would suggest that despite the PR about 'number 1' that was either a seriously massaged number 1 or there was a massive fall off after the first couple of episodes. Even if the podcast wasn't generating a huge audience, it was still getting a huge amount of free media....which suggests that perhaps they are difficult to work with behind the scenes. Part of the blame certainly rests with Spotify in giving $20M to two people with not much discernable talent or creativity.

I doubt it. The 'near catastrophic car chase' fiasco was only a few weeks ago. Harry seems still fully tilting at the windmill of changing the media, although granted they haven't sued anyone in a while. You could certainly read the last six months as Meg making a conscious effort to uncouple herself from Harry's agenda, what that might mean in the long run, I guess we will find out. Being called grifters by a Spotify exec, after it was revealed they didn't get their full pay out for lack of productivity can't be very good for their ability to create new multi million deals.

Meg and Harry use the exact same strategy of 'friends and sources close to the couple say XX' to maintain control of the story without being directly quoted that they have criticized the royal family for using. It was very recent that 'friends and sources' said that Harry and Meg intend to stop bashing the RF, and that Meg is in the midst of undergoing a 'rebranding' that will be more positive, and 'sources say' right now she is allegedly in negotiations for a Dior deal. Also worth remembering that Harry's book came out 5 months ago, the 6 hour reality series was 6 months ago, and their award/car 'chase' event was only 1 month ago, Harry's testimony in court only a couple of weeks ago. Not what I would really call a low profile.

You could also try ebay. I've never had much luck with it for home goods, but I have an acquantance who has bought several big items...large bed frame, chairs, cabinets, etc. and has gotten incredible deals. She lives in London.

Yes. You can look on craigslist in the US, it lists items as well as has a section for estate/garage sales. There must be some kind of antique/vintage shops and or flea markets in Israel that you could check out also. I think that FB marketplace is probably everywhere so you could look there as well.

I don't know about mattresses, but I wouldn't think any bugs would be living in solid wood furniture. The pressboard crap, absolutely, anything, moths, ants, bed bugs.

I've gotten amazing things from craiglist, less so FB marketplace, also flea markets. Gorgeous vintage solid wood pieces, original art, china sets, you name it. As a contrast to you minimalists with nothing on the walls.... my bathroom has 3 prints, 1 painting, 1 large mirror, 1 homeade shadow box full of shells, and a concrete green man thing. #maximalist

I guess I can see where you would think there is nothing to being an 'entertainment mogul' beyond hiring the right staff. "Anyone can do it" if they have the $$. But it appears that at the very least there has to be something else, otherwise Meg and Harry's various non royal gossip initiatives wouldn't have failed. Of course, they still have a hard time keeping staff, which isn't ever reported by the US media, so that may play into it.

Any other family would be the same. There would be a mix of hard workers, grifters, smart/dumb, rebels, and once in a while a real talent, etc. Has anyone anywhere ever lauded the Windsors for being 'talented'? I don't think so.

It's almost as if when you pull back the curtain of performative 'humanitarian' speak, what you have are two not very nice, not very talented people who can't get along with anyone, behind or in front of the camera for any length of time.

I tried again to get through Del Toro's cabinet of curiousities. This is another instance where I can't exactly put my finger on what is wrong with the show. It looks so gorgeous, the sest design is incredible, and must have cost barrels of money, but the episodes are meh. Oh and when did Del Toro morph into Orson Welles? Yikes.

Even though Tom is/was a feckless kiss ass, he's also, of the Roy and Roy adjacent family members the only person with any claim to merit. He was already a senior executive before he married Shiv,so presumably, he has some talent aside from being a lackey. The actual Roy children, not so much.

You have already won, you got the job offer and gave notice. The rest is cake, you will thank yourself for sticking out your notice period so you can leave on professional terms with whomever is worth it. You also probably won't be working too hard these next couple of weeks. In my past life I always found the post resignation period kind of freeing...you can dispense advice, ignore jerk colleagues, take stock of anyone you want to stay in touch with and will also be reminded of why you quit.

Guy Ritchie is talented, he's just missing some kind of director 'edit' button and so much of his output is overly chaotic. Not sure where this goes, it is a very, very long piece on the Marvel universe. I'm not a huge Marvel fan, but this is interesting in terms of the business end. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/06/12/how-the-marvel-cinematic-universe-swallowed-hollywood

I honestly thought it was a local fire at first, because the smoke is so thick and the smell is very pungent.

The NY tri state area smoke haze is CRAZY. I wouldn't believe it if I wasn't smelling and seeing it. #apocalypseiscoming

Oh brother

Long Plane Ride. Tar, loved it, and while Yeoh is fine, I think CB gave the better performance speaking of MY, watched Everything/Everywhere, I didn't hate it as I expected to, it was fine, charming even, but really, really silly, not sure I would have given JLC the Oscar either, but she was legit hilarious. I'll see it again on larger screen and maybe it will improve my opinion that it is good, and good that it's something original, but not great. To Leslie, AR also better than Yeoh, movie was fine, nothing special, a by the books the arc of the alcoholic film, but AR was phenomical. Finally saw Parasite. Um, really? It was good, a well done satire, but a sweep of all the major awards? I didn't see it. At all.

Really? I love it, you're kind of out of it during the procedure but once the tap is off, you are perfectly normal again. I have a lot of stress around dental procedures, so it makes it much better for me and the dentist.

I always get nitrous for dental work, it's lovely.

There is no reason to be depressed about the phone person, everyone in RL and here has told you that you dodged a bullet. Be happy 1) you dodged a bullet before you were really invested and 2) you have RL and virtual friends who give good advice and care. A lot of people don't even have that.

1) Let it be known that there are more than 75 posts on this thread and this is the first I am making here. 2) Harry lost one of his cases to force the UK to provide security if he paid for it.

I don't see that. The show has shown us that nothing much ever changes for the Roys. Their wealth insulates them from consequences and even reality. They will 'lose' something, probably control of their father's company, probably a few billion, but I can't see some kind of catastrophic 'now they're poor' type of ending. It would be inconsistent with the show's general theme on extreme wealth, and also unrealistic. Even losing the company and if all the deals go bad, they would each still be worth many millions. I don't think either they will do another death.

That's part of what makes it great. It's uncompromising. While all of the characters have their vulnerabilities and their moments, no one is going to 'learn lessons' and emerge a changed person or a good person let alone a typical hero protagonist. They have remained terrible, sad people, nobody exhibiting any growth at all. Okay, maybe Cousin Greg has gotten a little more savvy, but in return the whole soul thing.

I love the trilogy and for quite some time if I couldn't find anything to watch, I'd watch LOTR, though Return of the King is my least favorite. It IS totally bloated, with Sam and Frodo blah blah, over and over again for what felt like hours. It was sadly a precurser to the awful Hobbit movies. **I did like the directors cut version of all three and it's weird that they are not shown anywhere.