Entertainment news in brief
Taylor Swift ends intrigue, announces new album
NEW YORK — Yes, Taylor Swift fans, Wednesday was a lucky one for you.
The pop star who whipped her army of Swifties into a frenzy with video snippets of slithery snake parts on social media posted the title of her new album, “reputation,” and announced on Instagram it will be out Nov. 10.
The first single, she said in a series of posts, will drop tonight. And she threw in the album’s cover art for good measure: a black-and-white photo of herself — head and shoulders in slouchy sweatshirt — against a backdrop of newsprint reading, simply, “Taylor Swift” over and over again.
Swift, who is followed by millions on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, wiped her feeds clean Friday and replaced the void Monday with the first of three reptilian videos, each offering just a tad more of a snake, from tail to squirmy middle and finally its beady red-eyes and ominous fangs lunging briefly at the camera.
The album would be her sixth studio effort since the 2014 release of her “1989,” which is the last time she teased fans online, that round with mysterious Polaroid photographs.
Showtime plans to air rare Prince music film
NEW YORK — A rare Prince music film, “Sign O’ the Times,” will air on Showtime beginning Sept. 16.
Directed by Prince himself, the film was created as an in-theater companion to his 1987 double album of the same name. The movie features performances and other scenes shot mostly at his Minneapolis studio complex, Paisley Park, with some tour footage from concerts in the Netherlands and Belgium.
The 84-minute film captures Prince at a critical period, just after he disbanded his band, The Revolution, but it didn’t perform well in U.S. theaters and his vision of a true live concert documentary was dashed by poor sound quality.
Some critics have hailed “Sign O’ the Times” as one of the best concert films ever made.
Farm Mark Twain bought for daughter on market
REDDING, Conn. — A Connecticut farm once owned by Mark Twain is for sale for $1.8 million.
The Connecticut Post reports the 18.7-acre property in Redding is next to Twain’s country home, known as “Stormfield.”
He bought it for his daughter, Jean Clemens, in 1909 and named it “Jean’s Farm.” But Clemens died soon after. Twain died five months later, in April 1910.
The real estate agency, William Raveis, says the house includes five bedrooms and four bathrooms. The property also includes a movie theater, saltwater swimming pool, fish pond and a barn built in the 1860s that includes an extra apartment.