Mariah Carey's 'Me. I Am Mariah... The Elusive Chanteuse' album may have been dead on arrival, but Mimi isn't done with the era just yet.
The diva just relaunched her official website, and as part of the grand re-opening she left a special message for her lambs that hinted that there's more to come --including a possible tour-- from The Elusive Chanteuse.
"Lastly, I just wanted to thank everyone for always supporting me," she said. "You know Me. I Am Mariah... It's only the beginning! The elusive Chanteuse dahhlings!
"I can't wait to see you when I hit the road, starting very soon and I'm very excited about it! Love ya much, bye bye!"
Mimi's manager, Jermaine Dupri, has also hinted multiple times that there's more in store for the album, but I'll believe it when I see it. If you can recall, Mimi also tried to keep her floundering Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel era going with an official remix album -- which was eventually scrapped due to Memoirs' poor sales.
The Elusive Chanteuse has only sold around 100,000 copies in the U.S. since its release two months ago, and it's currently sitting at No. 124 on the Billboard 200. So, as much as we'd all like to see a huge tour or another music video, I wouldn't get too excited just yet.
Film News
Gal Gadot's Cleopatra Biopic Is Missing Intersectionality
A very simple question: Was Cleopatra an Egyptian ruler?
10.19.2020
A very simple question: Was Cleopatra an Egyptian ruler?
If you didn't know, the answer is yes. Do we, as a global consumer society, have access to internationally-acclaimed Egyptian actors who could potentially play the role of Cleopatra? That answer is also yes. So, could Patty Jenkins, the director of an upcoming Cleopatra biopic, have picked an Egyptian actor to portray one of the most iconic Egyptian rulers in the country's history? Say it with me: Yes.
<div id="5186e" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="33b563b6656286b7184d80fc0bfbe392"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1315443922957729792" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">As you might have heard I teamed up with @PattyJenks and @LKalogridis to bring the story of Cleopatra, Queen of Egy… https://t.co/LUtuQQuAB3</div> — Gal Gadot (@Gal Gadot)<a href="https://twitter.com/GalGadot/statuses/1315443922957729792">1602461245.0</a></blockquote></div><p>In light of <em>Wonder Woman</em>'s Gal Gadot being announced to play the historic Egyptian queen, Twitter has been in an <a href="https://twitter.com/Complex/status/1315375321131167746?s=20" target="_blank">uproar</a>. As an Egyptian American, I feel like it's helpful to acknowledge simple history before we get too carried away breaking down each other's 23andMe scores. <a href="https://twitter.com/AbdulElSayed/status/1315431912895320065?s=20" target="_blank">Many</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/SameeraKhan/status/1315338540306313217?s=20" target="_blank">feel</a> that picking an Egyptian, or even North African, actor to portray Cleopatra would have been more faithful to her cultural heritage.<br></p><p><div id="ezoic-pub-ad-placeholder-632"></div>
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<!-- End Ezoic - under_second_paragraph - under_second_paragraph --><p></p><p>The debate gets even dicier as defenders of Gadot's casting have been <a href="https://twitter.com/BlackMajikMan90/status/1315323196548276224?s=20" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">all</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/NathalieWriter/status/1315349521271054336?s=20" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">too</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/roberthchapman/status/1315532547019988992?s=20" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">eager</a> to point out that Cleopatra herself was of Greek descent, and therefore the role is up for grabs for any Greek-passing actor. Probably the most infuriating, gaslighting<a href="https://twitter.com/LKalogridis/status/1315426753175785472?s=20" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> tweet</a> is from the writer of the untitled film, Laeta Kalogridis, who undercut Cleopatra's Egyptianness entirely by calling her the "the most famous Macedonian Greek woman in history." Pardon my language, Kalogridis, but kindly f*ck off. Why don't you wait until you've written the movie before you try to rob Egypt of its history? </p><p><div id="ezoic-pub-ad-placeholder-633"> </div>
<!-- End Ezoic - incontent1 - mid_content --></p><p>What are we even debating?</p><p>First, race-matching doesn't work here. As NYU historian Arash Azizi<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/gal-gadot-cleopatra-new-movie-about-egyptian-queen-causing-misplaced-ncna1243743?cid=sm_npd_nn_fb_ma&fbclid=IwAR3Uzwtycn1GPnOSxusc-hMEmwFpk6Ll1fPXWMKeXVfow7WhFJcqXN1xCqk" target="_blank"> puts it</a>: "The fact that neither [Cleopatra's or Gadot's] background can be easily distilled shows why it's wrong to insist that artists fit rigid identity boxes to qualify for a role." So if you fell down this Twitter rabbithole of people pointing fingers about who's more qualified to portray whom, then you might not make it out the other side.<br></p><p><div id="ezoic-pub-ad-placeholder-635"> </div>
<!-- End Ezoic - incontent2 - long_content --></p><p>So let's keep it simple: Gal Gadot is of Middle Eastern descent. As white-passing as she is, her DNA isn't up for debate. So if you want to say casting her as a Middle Eastern leader is culturally appropriate, fine. But apparently, hiring an Egyptian actor was never an option for the project in the first place, since the idea reportedly came from<a href="https://deadline.com/2020/10/cleopatra-gal-gadot-patty-jenkins-movie-deal-paramount-pictures-wonder-woman-reteam-laeta-kalogridis-writing-1234595246/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> Gadot herself</a>. So the reason <a href="https://twitter.com/MorganJerkins/status/1315333271438462981?s=20" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">people are upset</a> that a darker-skinned actor wasn't chosen to play Cleopatra has nothing to do with historical accuracy and more to do with North Africans not seeing ourselves in films about our own history. When Americans think of Cleopatra, they may think of <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/news/1998/03/elizabeth-taylor-199803" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Elizabeth Taylor</a>, but when I think of Cleopatra, I think of an Egyptian.</p><p><div id="ezoic-pub-ad-placeholder-636"> </div>
<!-- End Ezoic - incontent22 - long_content --></p><p>What worries me about this Cleopatra biopic is what it has in common with every single other Cleopatra biopic: an entirely white creative team. Jenkins herself is no slouch; she reached international acclaim for her 2003 Academy-award-winning film, <em>Monster</em>, starring Charlize Theron and Christina Ricci. When she was tapped to direct the first Wonder Woman film in the DC Extended Universe in 2017, she made arguably the best-received blockbuster of that summer. In addition to its critical success, <em>Wonder Woman</em> brought in over $800 million against a reported $120 million budget. This was in no small part to Gal Gadot's <a href="https://time.com/4606107/wonder-woman-breaks-through/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">fan favorite</a> performance as the Amazonian Princess, reprising her role from the critically disastrous, albeit financially successful, <em>Batman v Superman</em> film in 2016.</p><p><div id="ezoic-pub-ad-placeholder-637"> </div>
<!-- End Ezoic - incontent3 - longer_content --></p><p>Jenkins and Gadot were <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/01/movies/wonder-woman-gal-gadot-patty-jenkins.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">regarded as an unstoppable duo</a>, successfully shattering a cinematic glass-ceiling that seemingly existed purely out of<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/may/26/wonder-woman-director-patty-jenkins-people-really-thought-that-only-men-loved-action-movies" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> patriarchal ignorance</a>. Together they proved that not only was there room in Hollywood for a summer blockbuster with a leading woman – there was a craving for it. So after the inevitable <em>Wonder Woman</em> sequel wrapped in 2018, Jenkins and co. set their sights on… a Cleopatra biopic?</p><p><div id="ezoic-pub-ad-placeholder-638"> </div>
<!-- End Ezoic - incontent33 - longer_content --></p><p>This film is less about telling an authentic story of Cleopatra and more a vehicle for Gadot and Jenkins to flex their filmmaking might. This is made all too clear by Gadot's<a href="https://twitter.com/GalGadot/status/1315444129346789376?s=20" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> tweet</a> regarding the film: "To tell [Cleopatra's] story for the first time through women's eyes, both behind and in front of the camera." Nowhere in that statement does she mention an interest in honoring or elevating the history and culture of Egypt – which, personally, I find more important than simply telling the story of Cleopatra "through women's eyes." By that, I mean it matters <em>which</em> women's eyes.</p><p><div id="ezoic-pub-ad-placeholder-639"> </div>
<!-- End Ezoic - incontent4 - longest_content --></p><p>America (and the West at large) has a duplicitous habit of producing Euro-centric depictions of the Middle East whereby<a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/47/Philippe_de_Champaigne_-_Moses_with_the_Ten_Commandments_-_WGA04717.jpg" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> white people are portrayed</a> as the main arbiters of influence. I appreciated writer Hannah Flint's <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2020/oct/14/gal-gadot-cleopatra-backwards-step-for-hollywood-representation" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">succinct take</a>: "From <em>The Ten Commandments</em> to… nearly every movie in <em>The Mummy</em> franchise… North Africans are either sidelined, underwritten, negatively portrayed or erased to centre white characters and – especially – to champion white saviors."</p><p>This is harmful representation for all Middle Easterners – and that includes Gal Gadot. It indirectly asserts that white people are the ones who are important to Middle Eastern history, and we, as darker-skinned descendants of the people of that time, are less important. </p><p>To be clear, when you look at Hollywood's track record for depicting Cleopatra in particular, it's <a href="https://youtu.be/UsKK9Z4EUrQ" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">very clear</a> she deserves to be portrayed in a story outside the licentious bounds of the male gaze. On the whole, Patty Jenkins and Gal Gadot make an incredibly capable and invigorating team; they are without a doubt the future of big-budget Hollywood hit-makers.</p><p>But when it comes to depicting Middle Eastern history that has long been marred and exploited through a western lens, intersectionality – not just feminism – is needed to give our stories the dignity and respect they deserve. If the only thing Patty Jenkins, Laeta Kalogridis, and Gal Gadot are attempting to do with this film is <em>not</em> to depict Cleopatra from a male gaze, I don't feel that's enough to sincerely do justice to my country's history.</p><p><div id="ezoic-pub-ad-placeholder-640"> </div>
<!-- End Ezoic - incontent44 - longest_content --></p><h2></h2><p>But when it comes to depicting Middle Eastern history that has long been marred and exploited through a western lens, intersectionality – not just feminism – is needed to give our stories the dignity and respect they deserve. If the only thing Patty Jenkins, Laeta Kalogridis, and Gal Gadot are attempting to do with this film is <em>not</em> to depict Cleopatra from a male gaze, I don't feel that's enough to sincerely do justice to my country's history.</p>
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What's a good scary movie without an equally spooky score?
Great horror can't always rely just on blood, demons, and jump scares. It takes a village—or, rather, the addition of a good composer—to create films that hold the power of keeping their viewers awake at night, and one of the most effective ways to instill fear is with a soundtrack.
We've already discussed <a href="https://www.popdust.com/an-alternative-halloween-popdusts-ultimate-spooky-playlist-2648196808.html" target="_self">our favorite songs that evoke the Halloween spirit</a>, but it's important that we don't let composers go unnoticed as we dive into our favorite spooky music. Below, we've rounded up our favorite scary movie soundtracks, from blockbusters to cult favorites, to help ring in the season<br/><br/><p><!-- Ezoic - under_second_paragraph - under_second_paragraph -->
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Midsommar (by Bobby Krlic)
<span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="10013b7a6e02d9ef036dbe6c822a3cc5"><iframe lazy-loadable="true" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/XjdvgW58J3M?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span><p style="margin-left: 20px;">How is it possible to make a movie that takes place almost entirely in daylight while still conveying a sense of sheer terror? To help tell his story of a murderous cult in the idyllic Swedish countryside, <em>Midsommar </em>director Ari Aster turned to British composer and producer Bobby Krlic—AKA The Haxan Cloak—to construct an appropriately terrifying soundtrack. Krlic's score relies on atonal strings and elements of ancient Scandinavian music, juxtaposing blissful moments with bursts of unadulterated, violent madness.</p>Psycho (by Bernand Herrmann)
<span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="949c14ae449272c75e4ce91c3183ef95"><iframe lazy-loadable="true" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/qMTrVgpDwPk?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span><p>After filming the iconic shower scene in Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 thriller <em>Psycho, </em>the film's star, Janet Leigh, went to great lengths to avoid taking showers for the rest of her life: "I take baths, only baths," <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1995/05/01/movies/psycho-in-janet-leigh-s-psyche.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">she told the <em>New York Times</em></a> in 1995. "I have absolutely no intention of stepping into a shower." And while murder scenes might not have been the most realistic 60 years ago, <em>Psycho</em>'s climax is bolstered by a screeching string section, courtesy of Bernard Herrmann. </p>Halloween (by John Carpenter)
<span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="bb1fc191c6eee671ee2826e6f7dc5422"><iframe lazy-loadable="true" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/pT4FY3NrhGg?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span><p>Janet Leigh's daughter, Jamie Lee Curtis, would go on to continue the family's horror legacy when she was cast as the teen heroine in John Carpenter's <em>Halloween. </em>The film's score, also composed and performed by Carpenter, remains one of the most terrifying horror theme songs to date. With little more than just a simple piano riff, a swelling string section, and a ticking beat that rattles like a time bomb, "Halloween Theme" might be the scariest song of all time. </p>Eraserhead (by David Lynch, Peter Ivers, and Fats Waller)
<span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="4c45ec9d000ff20d7bec09360a6f02e7"><iframe lazy-loadable="true" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/4b5WTcePU2k?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span><p>Released in 1977, <em>Eraserhead </em>marked the first feature-length film by David Lynch, who has since become perhaps the most popular surrealist in American cinema. For the body horror film's soundtrack, Lynch laid the groundwork for the forthcoming era of dark ambient music, leaving in non-musical cues that place the listener in the film's black-and-white gloom. Ominous and foreboding throughout, the <em>Eraserhead </em>soundtrack is a transfixing one-way ticket to the distorted Lynchian universe.</p>The Conjuring (by Joseph Bishara)
<span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="946f7da2ded23da0a6b5f6343c1fc40e"><iframe lazy-loadable="true" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/8IpwsbJexZU?start=5&rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span><p>While <em>The Conjuring </em>is a more recent addition to the scary movie canon, the supernatural horror film should still be remembered for its chilling score. Courtesy of go-to thriller composer Joseph Bishara, <em>The Conjuring</em>'s original soundtrack doesn't stick out quite like that of <em>Psycho </em>or <em>Halloween</em>; instead, like <em>Eraserhead,</em> the score creates an unequivocally spooky ambience with gentle hums of off-kilter orchestration. Rather than creating an instant pang of fear, the music steeps in a brooding sense of suspense—which, when done right, is even scarier.</p>Jaws (by John Williams)
<span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="75144bd81d0d150a00a23c17453e2aab"><iframe lazy-loadable="true" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/A9QTSyLwd4w?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span><p>Even if you've somehow never seen it in your life, few movie theme songs are as embedded in society's collective consciousness as that of <em>Jaws. </em>The 1975 film was scored by John Williams, who drew inspiration from left-wing compositions like Igor Stravinsky's <em>The Rite of Spring </em>and Claude Debussy's <em>La mer. </em>Using just two alternating notes that gradually speed up into a rousing crescendo, the <em>Jaws </em>theme was written to mimic the relentless terror of a shark attack. Like a twisted ballet, the music of <em>Jaws </em>hints at the gruesome fate to come.</p>Suspiria (by Goblin)
<span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="d737c57c497d6272e5b36196ba6e9b30"><iframe lazy-loadable="true" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/pins1y0XAa0?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span><p>While Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke was a perfect choice to score Luca Guadagnino's 2018 remake of <em>Suspiria, </em>it's impossible to top the soundtrack of the original 1977 version. Composed by Italian prog-rock band Goblin, the soundtrack of Dario Argento's <em>Suspiria </em>blends elements of guitar music, industrial electronics, and sound effects that encapsulate the film's bone-chilling aesthetics.</p>
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