My Publicist Note Book

It's officially countdown time! We're this close to the 2018 Oscars. After a jam-packed start, award season officially comes to a close Sunday, March 4 when Hollywood's brightest stars are celebrated for the masterful performances that made us laugh, cry and challenge the way we view the world. Ahead of the main event, we're breaking down all the Academy Awards basics to guarantee a one-of-a-kind viewing experience. What are you waiting for? Sit back and grab the pop corn! Who's hosting the Oscars? Jimmy Kimmel, but of course! The late-night funnyman returns as the evening's emcee for a second consecutive year. Where are the Oscars? The star-studded event will take place at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood. When do the Oscars start? Gather your viewing party on Sunday, March 4 at 1 p.m. ET/10 a.m. PT for the two-hour Countdown to the Red Carpet: The 2018 Academy Awards special on E!, followed by Live From the Red Carpet: 2018 Oscars...

Good Morning America is one of the country's top-rated morning news programs, but if tabloid rumors are true, it's also the show with the most backstage drama. Who's the diva on set? Which anchors can't get along? Find out why GMA sometimes makes the news instead of reporting it. ABC reportedly went into "crisis" mode in May 2015 after George Stephanopoulos admitted to donating $75,000 to the Clinton Foundation since 2011. Strahan's run on Good Morning America has already been plagued by nasty rumors. Included on the list: a Sept. 1, 2017 report from Page Six alleging that Strahan ticked off ABC News when he refused to cut short his holiday to cover Hurricane Harvey–the storm that devastated his hometown. "ABC News asked Strahan to come home from his vacation. He's from Houston. But he refused and is still floating around on a yacht in Greece somewhere. ABC is really upset with him," said one source, with another adding the staf...

Queen Elizabeth II has always dressed with style and flair — but Tuesday marked her first visit to London Fashion Week. The monarch squeezed in the front row, chatting with American Vogue editor Anna Wintour — who wore her trademark sunglasses — and presented an award recognizing British design excellence. The lucky recipient was Richard Quinn, a recent fashion graduate of Central Saint Martins who started his own label in 2016 and has quickly earned recognition as part of the next wave of talented young British designers. The 91-year-old monarch gave the London-based Quinn the first Queen Elizabeth II Award for British Design. She took to the catwalk to address the crowd and honor Quinn, who was chosen for the prize by the British Fashion Council. "From the tweed of the Hebrides to Nottingham lace, and of course Carnaby Street, our fashion industry has been renowned for outstanding craftsmanship for many years, and continues to produce world-class textiles and c...

Ryan Coogler’s highly anticipated superhero movie is even better and richer than could have been imagined, thanks to a fantastical world that evokes real questions about history! As wonderful as  Black Panther  is—and it’s as good as we’d hoped, maybe even better—nothing in it is a match for the carefree, infectious joy displayed last week by a group of middle school students from Atlanta’s Ron Clark Academy.  Maybe you’ve seen them. They went viral after  videos of their celebratory dancing  on school cafeteria tables hit Instagram, then Twitter, then the news. The students had just found out that they—like middle and high school students  across the country , boosted by  fundraising campaigns  and the wise support of their  principals , teachers, parents, and  local community leaders —were taking a school trip to see  Black Panther  for free. Fundraisers to send students like these to see the movie have become a nat...

There are some opportunities people work for, and then there are some that are just God given. You can tell which is which by how things fall into place. Well, when I got the call from a company named  Divine Engineering,  I should have known by the title that this mission was ordained by a higher power. Vince asked me if I knew who  Tony Terry  was, and me being a music historian, I excitedly said yes. From there, Vince told me that Terry had a single out and if I’d be interested in writing a few blogs to help promote the song. As a rule in show business, a journalist must remain cool at all times, but inside, I was jumping up and down.  This was a singer I watched on  Video Soul  chopping it up with Donnie Simpson on the couch. Tony Terry had a song called  She’s Fly  that our neighborhood crew practiced dance steps to. There was no need to research the crooner, I already knew his resume. My mind dates back to being a senior at N...

Instagram will soon notify accounts when you screenshot or screen record their stories, a feature that its rival Snapchat started. Instagram is currently testing a feature that identifies users who take screenshots of public Instagram Stories. Instagram already identifies users that take a screenshot of a photo or video that’s sent as a direct message. This new feature — the latest to be lifted from Snapchat — hasn’t been turned on for all users in order for Instagram to first gauge response. Instagram acknowledged it was testing the feature. Some users guilty of screenshotting stories have already received pop-up warnings from the app that states rather ominously, “Next time you take a screenshot or screen recording, the person who posted the story will be able to see it.” However, the security feature can be worked around by taking a screenshot in flight mode. The Stories feature tells you who has watched your story when you tap on the “seen by” area in the bottom le...

A 12th-century Italian skirmish, reenacted with 500,000 pounds of flying citrus.  The largest food fight in Italy - These Kats are serious .....Each year in the days preceding Fat Tuesday, townspeople of Ivrea divide up into nine different squads.  Dressed in their battle attire, they make their way to certain streets of Ivrea that are designated for war. Over the course of the next three days leading up to the holiday, men, women, and children hurl oranges at each other, attempting to “kill” the other teams. Although the origins are historically unclear, most people know the tale of the evil Marquis, who attempted to rape a young woman in the town but was instead decapitated by the woman.  In the aftermath of his death, the townspeople stormed his palace in revolt. It is this revolt, which is symbolized by the Battle of the Oranges every year. To add a certain level of authenticity to the event, a young woman is chosen from the town to represent the...

Universal/Comcast Corp.’s  Fifty Shades Freed  earned $18.5 million on its first Friday of domestic release, including $5.6m in Thursday previews. That’s down an understandable 14% from  Fifty Shades Darker  ($21.4m last February) and -38% from the boffo $30m opening day of  Fifty Shades of Grey  back in Feb. of 2015. One slight cause for concern is that  Fifty Shades of Grey  earned 28% of its Friday business on Thursday and  Fifty Shades Darker  earned 26% on its Friday business on Thursday, while  Fifty Shades Freed  earned 30% via Thursday previews.   Should this third offering crashes due to frontloading, there might not be a sequel! In all seriousness, this is a $55 million trilogy capper to a series that had already earned $952m worldwide ($571m for the first film and $381m for the second) on a combined budget of $95m. So, no matter how far above the $1 billion mark this series gets,  Fifty Shades Freed...

Jermaine Dupri, Cameo, Richelieu Dennis, Tamika Mallory, Marley Dias, Dr. Lonnie Johnson, Rhyon Brown Announced as Recipients of 2018 Bounce Trumpet Awards Performers to Include Doug E. Fresh, Keke Wyatt, Anthony Hamilton, Bow Wow, Sir the Baptist, Arrested Development, Estelle Cee Lo Green, Omar Gooding, Angell Conwell Among Presenters Larenz Tate (Power) and Erica Ash (Survivor’s Remorse) to Host 26th Annual Event World Premieres on Bounce Sun. Feb. 11 at 9:00 p.m. ET ATLANTA, GA —  The 2018 Bounce Trumpet Awards,  the prestigious annual event celebrating African-American achievements and contributions. The gala black-tie ceremony was held at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre in Atlanta, Georgia on Sat. Jan. 20, 2018 and will air exclusively on Bounce on Sunday, February 11 at 9:00 p.m. ET. Bounce recently acquired all assets of The Trumpet Awards and now owns, produces and exclusively premieres the star-studded ceremony. Larenz Tate, Scr...

Say cheese. In honor of MCU's 10 th  anniversary celebration, Marvel has released an epic "class photo" and special behind-the-scenes video of an instantly iconic photo shoot that happened in October, bringing all the Hollywood stars who've ever appeared in its blockbusters together in the same room for the first time. This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, stretching back to the release of the original  Iron Man.  To celebrate, the MCU assembled just about every superhero who’s ever been involved in the franchise for one epic class photo. About 80 actors and filmmakers gathered in Atlanta on Oct. 7, 2017, to celebrate the anniversary and strike a pose. All the core Avengers — including Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Scarlett Johansson, and Jeremy Renner — were there, along with newcomers like Michelle Pfeiffer (who’ll appear in this year’s  Ant-Man and the Wasp  as Janet Van Dy...