I love the Cannes Film Festival. Interesting mix between great films, odd films, crap films and of course the glamour associated with the south of France. 

It’s my favourite time of the year, especially since it takes place a few days after my birthday, so as people who know me, I love film, TV and great fashion.

Already I’m happy with what I’ve seen, style wise. The ladies have started looking great in couture i.e Carey Mulligan, Nicole Kidman (she’s killing it like Diane Kruger), Fan Bingbing and Audrey Tatou. 

The gents haven’t been anything to write home about. I miss Jude Law and Ryan Gosling’s style, so I can’t wait until they get to Cannes.

The L’Oreal girls have started already, Freida Pinto, Julianne Moore and Sonam Kapoor making sure they are photographed like never before. I wonder when Eva Longoria, Aishwarya Rai Bachan and Jane Fonda are arriving. A question- why isn’t Terry Pheto ever invited to Cannes? I mean she’s the only African L’Oreal spokesmodel…

Anyway I’ll be bring you cool pics, courtesy of the wires of AP and Reuters, as always. 

Here’s to two weeks of great films, great fashion, parties and the South of France 

*This is a rant about my feelings being a TV writer in SA*

I’m just going to come out and say it: being a TV writer is damn hard in South Africa.

I watch a lot of TV, not for my enjoyment, but mainly to keep abreast of what is happening in TV, locally and internationally. However when it comes to South African TV, I’ve stopped watching. 

Not all the TV shows are bad. There are some really good productions, like Isibaya, Highrollers, Scandal and even Skeem Sam.

Isibaya has impressed me a lot and just goes to show that we DO have excellent writers, directors  producers and actors in this country. To produce a show that good is a triumph for local TV and I’m really happy for The Bomb Shelter for the success of the show. Also the talent on the 

But dammit man, that’s all there is. No other local show is doing great.  I never want to be negative in my writing as that never helps anyone and that’s the reason why I stepped away from news reporting. However, I don’t ever want to write fluff pieces. I’m not saying I’m a perfect writer, God knows I’m far from where I want to be and should be, but I try. I try my best. But I’ve asked myself whether it’s time I started calling out some people for the ridiculous shows they commission on my column, The TV Snitch, published every Sunday on the Sunday Tribune. 

I always ask myself after speaking to a certain actor and they give me crap answers, whether it’s my questions or he just wasn’t interested in the interview. Either you get vague answers, or they say they are the best thing that’s ever happened to the production. They may be, in their mind, but it doesn’t translate well on screen but you don’t see that on screen. I’ve had people come with their ego and act all high and mighty and then when the interview starts, I realise they don’t even know a thing about their character. 

I read industry publications like THR, Variety, Collider, NYTImes, Vulture etc and I always make sure that my method of questioning is never the same. I study works by Tim Goodman and the THR team, Maureen Ryan and the HuffPost TV staff and even Dalton Ross of EW. I always want to make sure that I don’t cheat my interviewee or the readers. Yes, sometimes I have crap, generic questions, which happens to the best of us and I’m not defending myself, but I’m being honest here. Sometimes I don’t even bother asking THOSE questions because judging from the actors’ previous interviews, they’ve been nonsense. 

Sometimes I ask myself why I should bother thinking my questions through when I know I will get crap answers that bore me to death. Worse is when you push the actor to say what he really wants to say, he backs off. And then one is left with a damned puff piece which tells you nothing about the characters and nothing about the actors’ opinion about the character. I can’t with that. It helps on one. No one benefits. By doing it, I feel like I’m aiding in this mediocrity. 

I’m very critical of our local industry because I believe that we have so many talented people. Yet we keep seeing the same faces all the time. And it’s not because they are so good, no. It’s more a case if they are pretty or handsome and look great on TV, but when it comes to talent I’m left wanting. Which is why I’ve stopped watching. Which is bad. I dedicate one day a week for local shows, and sometimes I don’t even finish the episode. 

I’m not saying that international TV is amazing. There are some really great shows with a great premise and cast, but the writing staff fails them. Or the acting. I was so disappointed with the second seasons of Homeland and Revenge. Don’t get me started on anything that’s on The CW. 

There are some great UK shows like Broadchurch, that I loved watching and I was invested in the story line. May Day was also great, but the ending sucked and there were so many things I could have done differently. I’m currently loving The Killing on AMC. So much character development, it’s impressive. 

These past few weeks I’ve been trying to get an interview with a rising star (not because she’s so talented, but more because she’s hot) and it’s been so difficult. It’s taken me three weeks to try and speak with her, while it took ONE weekend for Mayim Bialik, who plays Amy Farrah Fowler on The Big Bang Theory, to reply to my email. 

It’s damned tough being a TV writer in SA and I really wish that it was easier. I wish our local stars weren’t so touchy about critique. I wish when one asks intelligent questions, we get intelligent answers. Is it because they are scared of speaking the truth and maybe upsetting the producer? I don’t know. But oh do I wish I could do something about it. 

PS: Shout out to Thinus Ferreira for trying to uphold the standards in TV reporting in South Africa. It’s appreciated. Keep at it man. 

I’ve had this conversation with many of our local TV publicists and I think I’ve given up. 

I write about TV, review shows and have interviews with various actors. But it’s with great difficulty doing stories on local TV shows because I have to watch the shows and major story lines at almost the same time as the viewers, meaning that if I DO get a preview, it’s stuff I would have read from their episode snippets and not a proper screener. 

Is it too much to ask for local TV shows to supply TV critics and writers screeners of their shows? Yes, I understand that the local TV industry is SO sensitive to any form of criticism, but sometimes we have nothing to go on with and that’s why you’ll find that it’s difficult to do pre-interviews with cast members of any show. 

All I’m asking is that we get a proper press pack with info about a particular story line. I watch so much TV, it’s hard to keep up with it. Really. I can’t keep up with local TV as I can’t keep up with US and UK TV (even though my tweets may say otherwise). 

I want to produce better work and that also lies in the publicists and channel heads meeting us halfway. Not only will I get a better story, but your star gets much better coverage and the viewers get to know more about that particular character, story line and TV show.

PIC: gregarnette.com 

Take THAT James Bond. Tony Stark is coming for that ass.*

Iron Man, which opens in cinema’s soon, sees Tony Stark played by RDJ drive one of the hottest cars I’ve seen in a while, the beautiful and super fast Audi R8 e-tron!

All I’m saying is I can’t wait to see it in action, especially since, according to Audi:

• With a lap time of 8:09.099 minutes, the R8 e-tron has just become the fastest production vehicle with an electric drive system around the fabled Nürburgring in Germany.
• While Iron Man gets people talking, the Audi R8 e-tron is all about torque: 4,500 Nm to be exact courtesy of four electric motors mounted to each wheel. 

I’d love to drive one! Really. But then I will never, so I’ve stopped dreaming of ever driving one. 

*This is from The Boondocks Season 1 Christmas episode where Riley Freeman talks about coming for Santa Claus’ ass. I don’t believe in coming for people’s asses. #Thatsall 

I’m not a Rita Ora fan. I just don’t get her and her music. Yes, she has a decent voice, but she’s not bringing anything to the pop music circuit.

But she takes a damn good picture. In couture even. Impressive. 

She’s one of three musicians on Elle USA’s music issue. Her, Adele and Alicia “I Broke a Home” Keys. 

Love her spread. 

And this is all due to the covers of True Love magazine. 

I’m the target market, but I have a (bad) habit of buying magazines purely because of the cover because surely the pictures inside would be just as awesome. 

Ever since Lerato replaced Sbu Mpungose as editor of True Love magazine, TL has been ruling the covers wars and that last happened when Khanyi Dhlomo was still the editor. 

This month’s music issue cover is so beautiful. Really. No other word describes it. I love it and I’ll buy it just because of that. 

I’ve been a fan of Lerato since her days at the Sunday Times Lifestyle magazine. In second year my bedroom was plastered with the many different covers of the Lifestyle magazine. They were just so cool. I see she’s taken her cover skills over to TL and I’m not complaining.

Well played lady. 

PIC: True Love SA

She’s back! She was one of the models I picked as one to watch back in 2008 when I had a fashion blog. And it came true. She ruled the fashion scene for three and half years and then she disappeared. She didn’t even appear on Kaiser Karl’s shows, which is strange. 

Anyway she’s on the May 2013 cover of Paris Vogue! Kudos to Emmanuel Alt for bringing the Freja back with a bang!

PIC: Paris Vogue

And another Great Gatsby cover for May 2013. It’s madness

I actually cannot wait for this. I love the 20s. My favourite era after the 60s. 

PICS: Esquire

Photographed by Testino, British actress, Carey Mulligan, looks great in the spread as The Great Gatsby character, Daisy Buchanan.Daisy is a polarizing character on the book and while Gatsby loves her, she’s a very vindictive, selfish and shallow woman. 

Anyway with the movie coming out in May, launching at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival, the film is getting so much media coverage its crazy. I’m so scared though because there’s so much expectation and what if it fails? 

Even Vogue Australia has Karlie Kloss on the cover in Roaring 20s costume (see picture below- funny how I like this cover more than the US Vogue one with Carey, which is rather ugly and the dress is just as awful)

Anyway the pictures were taken by Mario Testino and I believe the issue is on sale now in the US and all airports and reputable book stores in South Africa. 

So I’ve been waiting for this epic editorial since last year November, when Rihanna Instagrammed the shot of her and Kate Moss posing for Mario Testino for the Spring 2013 issue of V Magazine. Music’s Bad Girl and Fashion’s Bad Girl, together in a shoot for an edgy magazine with the legendary Testino? Of course I wanted to see more. 

I’ve decided to NOT have as many ‘graphic/naked’ pictures on my Tumblr, so I could only use a few. But I can totally appreciate the hotness of the shoot and how amazing they look. 

What I like though is the story they are featured on. It’s well written and it’s weird how they met… At the Met Ball in 2009 and they hooked up for the shoot last year after Testino told Rihanna he wanted to work with her and Kate wanted to be in with it!

Check out the full story here

But here’s an excerpt 

• Both women have made entirely their own choices, and done a terrific job at keeping writers for high-fashion glossies and down and dirty tabloids extremely busy. They have been bold, beautiful, and unapologetic. They are, put bluntly, our culture’s favorite badass bitches. Though when I ask Moss if she would call herself a bad bitch, she shuts me down: “That’s not very English, darling.” Rihanna, not surprisingly, was a little more into the classification. “That is true!” she cheers. “I know for sure I’m a control freak. I am definitely in control. That’s the kind of woman I am.”
• Moss is notoriously tight-lipped when it comes to the media, and though she loosened up a little to grant a few interviews last year, in conjunction with the publication of her eponymous book, she remains mum today on the topics of tabloids. Rihanna’s personal life has always been part of the public domain. “But I don’t read it anymore,” she says, adding that all the opinions coming at her via the Internet and her active social-media streams can sometimes overwhelm her. “I already have too many voices in my head right now! I don’t have room for that other stuff. If I let that other stuff in, it’ll take the space of productive shit, and that isn’t good.” Has she ever posted anything on the Internet that she wanted to take down, or tried to correct a rumor? “It wouldn’t make a difference. There’s nothing we can do about that. There will always be them, and there will always be me.”
  

So Rolling Stone exposes Jon Hamm’s character on AMC’s Mad Men, Don Draper in their April issue. Of course the issue has been getting attention, thanks to Jon’s comments about his Hamm and how he finds people’s comments about it childish and rude.

I like the spread. It’s pretty boss. I wish I had more pictures of it, but I love how cool and nonchalant he is on the poolside picture. Such a douche.

PICS: Rolling Stone US April 2013