Five things about Lady Gaga
Gaga: Five Foot Two, a doc now streaming on Netflix, sheds light on the star, Stephanie Merry writes.
A painful life She suffers from constant, debilitating pain. We knew this much already from recent headlines: Lady Gaga postponed the European leg of her tour because of chronic physical pain. She’s been open in the past about her fibromyalgia, but this is the first time fans will see for themselves what she’s going through, and it really is awful to watch.
Madonna envy ... maybe She still admires Madonna. Or claims to, anyway. In 2015, Madonna complained in Rolling Stone that Lady Gaga had ripped off one of her songs. (Born This Way shares a lot in common with Express Yourself.) Madonna wasn’t entirely harsh. She also said, “I do think she’s a very talented singer and songwriter. It was just that one issue.” In the movie, Gaga addresses the beef, saying that, while she still admires Madonna, she wishes the singer had the courage to just come to her directly rather than in the media.
Imagine that She puts a lot of thought into her image. Gaga decides to change her look during the leadup to her album Joanne, which was named after her father’s sister, who died at 19 from complications related to lupus. While doing publicity for past records, she was usually glammed up in crazy couture, but she wants to be more stripped-down for her new music. So she ditches the fancy dresses for a uniform of T-shirts and jeans or shorts.
Balancing act She struggles to find balance in her life. When one part of the singer’s life is going well, another part is tanking. During filming, for example, she’s doing extremely well professionally — she just landed the Super Bowl gig, after all. But her engagement to Taylor Kinney has just ended, which is the latest in a trend: Every time her career hits a new high, her current romantic relationship falls apart.
Always thinking She cares about how her album is displayed in stores. At one point, Gaga goes to Walmart and complains about how few copies of Joanne are on display. So she takes matters into her own hands and rearranges things, placing a copy of her CD at the front of each row for maximum exposure. She even buys a couple of copies to take home. Hey, when you’re trying to hit No. 1, every sale counts. The Washington Post
MOVIES
Big releases on Oct. 20: Geostorm; The Snowman
Big picture: After a seemingly endless string of weather-related disasters, Geostorm couldn’t be timelier. When an elaborate system of satellites used to control the Earth’s weather go haywire, a planetwide “extreme weather alert” is issued. Enter the “geostorms.” This flick is every environmental action movie in one. Earthquakes. Check. Lava. Check. Tornadoes. Check. Hurricanes. Sure, why not? Tsunamis. You betcha. Blizzards? Totally. This is the kind of movie where landmark cities get wiped out in 30-second montages, and authority figures yell things like, “We have to shut the system down!”
Meanwhile, Snowman finds a troubled detective (Michael Fassbender) facing the ultimate cold case — a resurgent serial killer who kills with the snowfall, and likes to make macabre snowmen and snowwomen out of his victims. I’m betting on a twist ending. Audiences will learn this is, in fact, the sequel to the 1998 family drama, Jack Frost, about a dad (Michael Keaton) reborn as a snowman. Because you’d go crazy, too, if you came back from the dead as Frosty.
Forecast: Finally, a movie to help us get over our irrational fear of Sharknadoes. It can always be worse.
TV
Big events: The Walking Dead (Oct. 22, AMC); 1922 (Netflix, Oct. 20)
Big picture: Rick Grimes and company are back. And it’s payback time against Negan and the Saviors. Last year’s dark journey of failure is off-set by an actionpacked season of comeuppance. The zombies better get out of the way or face being collateral damage. Meanwhile, 1922 is the adaptation of a Stephen King story about a farmer who conspires with his son to kill his wife. But some secrets don’t stay buried as his farmhouse rapidly turns into a house of horrors.
This period horror drama is at least the third Stephen King adaptation this year. The King of Horror could write horror haiku on toilet paper and someone would pay him for it.
Forecast: The Walking Dead will end its season in a big reveal. The zombies are being controlled by the White Walkers’ Night King. Earth and Westeros are the same place. Rick will join the night’s watch and Daryl will be revealed as secret Targaryen.
MUSIC
Big releases on Oct. 20: Destroyer (ken); Margo Price (All American Made)
Big picture: Vancouver’s Dan Bejar, better known as Destroyer, is back to simultaneously impress and depress you in the followup to 2015’s Poison Season. New tracks include, Tinseltown Swimming in Blood and Saw You at the Hospital. We’ve learned one thing, Dan may be one of our most talented indie artists, but never let him play your kids birthday part. Meanwhile, Margo Price’s sophomore effort is All American Made. Tracks include Cocaine Cowboys, Wild Women and Learning to Lose with Willie Nelson. You got to know when to hold ‘em and know when to fold ‘em.
Forecast: Destroyer has a gift for creating, but am I the only one who thinks this should have been a dark double album called Ken and Barbie?