Negromancer News Bits and Bites from June 13th to 19th, 2021 - Update #23

by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"

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ENTERTAINMENT AND CULTURE NEWS:

BLM - From Variety:   Ms. Opal Lee, the "Grandmother of Juneteenth," and Grammy Award-winning recording artist, Pharrell Williams, talk about their fight for the "Juneteenth" holiday.

NETFLIX - From Deadline:   Netflix has given a 10-episode straight-to-series order to a half-hour workplace comedy inspired by the front office of the NBA's Los Angeles Lakers. The project hails from Mindy Kaling, former star/executive producer of one of the all-time great workplace comedy series, "The Office;" "Modern Family" alumna Elaine Ko; Lakers’ President and Governor Jeanie Buss; and Warner Bros. TV.

MOVIES - From Deadline:   "Mortal Kombat" actor Hiroyuki Sanada has joined "John Wick: Chapter 4."

TELEVISION - From Deadline:  CBS latest "NCIS" installment, "NCIS: Hawaii," has begun production in Hawaii with a traditional Hawaii blessing.

MOVIES - From Deadline:  Warner Bros. will finance the biopic of music legend, Marvin Gaye, entitled "What's Going On."  At 80 million dollars, it will be the biggest budget for an American-African musical biopic.  Allen Hughes will direct with Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine among the producers.  The Gaye estate and Motown are also onboard the production.

CULTURE - From YahooNews:   President Joe Biden and Vice-President Kamala Harris have signed "Juneteenth" (June 19th) into a federal holiday - beginning immediately.

POLITICS - From APNews:   The U.S. Supreme Court upholds the Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as "Obamacare," a third time.

LGBTQ - From Queerty:   In honor of Pride Month, actor and Grammy-nominated recording artist Adam Lambert declares, "I like dick."

STAR TREK - From YouTube:  Here is a new teaser trailer for "Star Trek: Picard" Season 2, which debuts next year. 

From TrekCore:  The site offers a breakdown of the new teaser trailer for "Star Trek: Picard" Season 2.

ANIMATION - From YahooNBC:   Last week a Warner Bros. representative announced that “Scooby-Doo” character, "Velma Dinkley," would be reprised as East Asian in Mindy Kaling’s new adult HBO Max show.  This article addresses the social media reaction (some of it racist) to the news.

MOVIES - From Deadline:   Zoe Kravitz will make her directorial debut with the film, "Pussy Island."  In this genre thriller, Channing Taturm will play a tech billionaire with a mysterious tropical island.

MUSIC - From RollingStone:   Roger Waters has said that Facebook approached him about using the 1979 Pink Floyd classic song, “Another Brick in the Wall, Part 2," which Waters wrote, in an upcoming advertisement for Instagram (which Facebook owns).  Despite the offer of a "huge, huge amount of money," Waters turned down the offer - saying "Fuck You. No fuckin' way."

NETFLIX - From Variety:   Jeb Stuart, who wrote such late 1980/early 1990s movies such as "Die Hard" (1988), "Another 48 Hours" (1990), and "The Fugitive" (1993), will write Netflix's "Assassin's Creed" TV series.

STAR TREK - From Deadline:   Paramount+ and Nickelodeon's animated "Star Trek: Prodigy" reveals its cast and unveils some first-look images.

MOVIES - From Deadline:  "Sideways" director Alexander Payne and star Paul Giamatti reunite for "poignant" comedy, "The Holdovers."

SCANDAL - From YahooNews:   Exclusive: Saudi assassins picked up illicit drugs in Cairo to kill "Washington Post" columnist, Jamal Khashoggi, in 2018 in the Saudi Arabian consulate in Turkey.

BOX OFFICE - From Variety:   The winner of the 6/11 to 3/13/2021 weekend box office is "In the Heights" with an estimated gross of 11.4 million dollars.

From Variety:  "A Quiet Place II" has become the first movie of the pandemic era to surpass $100 million in U.S. tickets sales.

NETFLIX - From Deadline:   Melissa McCarthy and Ben Falcone’s Netflix comedy series, God’s Favorite Idiot," has wrapped up production earlier than expected in Australia, and "Deadline" explains why.

TELEVISION - From Deadline:   The CW has rounded out the cast for its original made-for-TV movie "The Waltons’ Homecoming."  The Waltons’ Homecoming marks the 50th anniversary of "The Homecoming: A Christmas Story" television movie, which aired December 19, 1971, and launched the long-running series "The Waltons," created by Earl Hamner.

OBITS:

From THR:   The television actor and director, Frank Bonner, has died at the age of 79, Wednesday, June 16, 2021.  Bonner was best known for the role of "Herb Tarlek" on the former CBS sitcom, "WKRP in Cincinnati" (1978-82).  Bonner was also a prolific director of episodic TV and directed all 105 episodes of the former NBC Saturday morning TV series, "City Guys" (1997-2001).

From YahooEntertainment:   The stage, screen, and television actress, Lisa Banes, has died at the age of 35, Monday, June 14, 2021, a victim of a hit and run accident in New York City.  She was hospitalized June 4th after being struck by a scooter or motorcycle while crossing Amsterdam Avenue at 64th Street, in a crosswalk, on Manhattan's Upper West Side.  Her best known film work includes "Cocktail" (1988) and "Gone Girl" (2014).  She appeared in numerous TV series, including "L.A. Law," "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine," "Murder, She Wrote," "Son of the Beach," and "Nashville," to name a few.

From Deadline:   The prolific film actor, Ned Beatty, has died at the age of 83, Sunday, June 13, 2021.  Beatty had more than 160 screen credits, so his "best known for" list his long.  His most notorious role was probably as rape victim, Bobby Trippe, in 1972's Deliverance.  He also had memorable turns in "White Lightning" (1973), "Superman" (1972), "Rudy" (1993), "Shooter" (2007), "Toy Story 3" (2010), and the 1979 TV movie, "Friendly Fire."  Beatty was nominated for a "Best Supporting Actor" Oscar for "Network" (1976).  He was twice nominated for an Emmy Award, "Friendly Fire" and "Last Train Home" (1989).