EXCLUSIVE How the Hamptons turned hideous: Local MAUREEN CALLAHAN exposes dirty secrets of wealthy elites... and shames the worst A-list offenders (like a certain TV host with a filthy proclivity)
America's wealthiest, unhappiest people congregate here every summer, solely to compete for A-list party invites, the best tables at the most exclusive restaurants, the last $100 pound of fresh lobster, and the chance to splash their vacuous, conspicuous consumption all over social media.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
BBC News
an hour ago
- BBC News
'Nolan may be the only person who could do this': How The Odyssey is already gunning to be 2026's biggest film
Christopher Nolan's adaptation of Homer's The Odyssey has taken the unusual step of selling some tickets a year early. Is it a way forward for beleaguered studios – or just a stunt? Marketing campaigns for summer blockbusters have traditionally kicked in around six months before release. But one film not playing by these rules is Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey, his much-discussed take on Homer's epic, starring Matt Damon, Zendaya, Tom Holland, Lupita Nyong'o and many more. Earlier this month, more than a year in advance of its 17 July general release date, a teaser trailer started showing in cinemas. And then on 17 July itself, in an unprecedented move, tickets went on sale for opening weekend screenings in Imax 70mm – Nolan's preferred format for all his films. Less than a day after those tickets were made available, most of them were sold out, and scalpers were reselling them for upwards of $200 (£148). It's a testament to Nolan's remarkable pulling power that he, along with Imax and Universal Pictures, has been able to get audiences flocking to buy tickets for a film this far in advance, when it hasn't even finished shooting yet. And specifically, he's got fans excited about seeing it in 70mm – a traditional large-scale film stock known for providing a matchless visual experience, which was developed in the 1950s and has been making a comeback in recent years thanks to filmmakers including Quentin Tarantino, Paul Thomas Anderson and Ryan Coogler. Earlier this year, Coogler urged people to see his hit vampire thriller Sinners in this same film gauge – but without the dramatically-timed ticket release to boot. Indeed, entertainment journalist Tatyana Arrington thinks that the success of Imax screenings of Sinners may have played into the thinking behind The Odyssey's unique sales strategy. "I feel like there was such a charge for [Imax screenings of Sinners] that Hollywood couldn't help but see the success of that," she tells the BBC. "And with [The Odyssey] being a film that everybody's looking forward to, [the team behind it must have thought] 'how can we maximize on that even further?'" This latest strategy slots into Nolan's ongoing mission to encourage audiences into cinemas by making films into a real event. And The Odyssey has a winning combination – of huge star power and a universally recognised story – that motivates people to make that happen. As Arrington says: "The kids like Zendaya. The older generation likes Matt Damon. This person likes Lupita. There's something for everybody. A lot of people are into Greek mythology." It comes at a time when theatrical revenues have been on the slide; last year's US and Canada box office total was 23% down from 2019. The pandemic and the Hollywood strikes have played their part in that, but there is also the rise of the streaming platforms, and the fact that many films are now made available to stream mere weeks after opening in cinemas. "Studios need to consider creative marketing solutions to hype up film releases because they are competing against not only other media content and formats but changing consumers with shortened attention spans," Sanjay Singh, founder of film studio Nukhu, tells the BBC. It's about the best way to get distracted audiences to, as Singh puts it, "take action and engage". The issues with the strategy But could any other films replicate such a long-tail release strategy or is Nolan, and the excitement around his films, an anomaly? "I feel like Nolan may be the only person who could get this sort of one-year-in-advance ticket sellout type of deal," Nolan fan and Chicago-based moviegoer Jack Cunningham tells the BBC. "I just don't see that happening with any other film-makers." There's also an issue of Nolan and other film-makers championing the high-quality viewing experience in Imax 70mm, when accessibility to that format is still so limited; there are currently only 16 cinemas across the US that have the required equipment. Indeed, certain markets don't even have access to a cinema to see a film whether it's in Imax 70mm or not. That was highlighted earlier this year when audiences in Clarksdale, Mississippi, where Sinners was set, didn't have an opportunity to see the film in their own town, until a viral call led to a special screening with Coogler in attendance. Additionally, ticket prices for Imax and Imax 70mm screenings are significantly higher, which can make the emphasis on them for creating buzz feel exclusionary – and that's before taking into account, in this case, ticket reselling by scalpers at exorbitant prices. According to Singh, that's one of the key issues with this type of ticket rollout right now, should it be used going forward. "If Imax doesn't use this data to expand [its network of screens], by selling tickets this far in advance, there's the potential for a reseller market to be created, which could cause early release ticket prices to skyrocket," he says. More like this:• The Fantastic Four is 'pleasant enough'• The K-pop film that swept the world• Why original kids' films are flopping Even some Nolan fans are not convinced by this buzz-making sales move. Cunningham has been happy to travel three hours to Indianapolis (the nearest Imax theatre to him) in the past to see three of the director's previous movies – Tenet, Interstellar and Oppenheimer – in 70mm. But he wasn't interested in picking up Odyssey tickets now, calling it a "marketing stunt". "The general premise of having to think about where I'm going to be in a whole calendar year to buy tickets to a film is just kind of ridiculous," he says. And while The Odyssey ticket rollout has become a success, Arrington says that it's unlikely that it's a sign of what's to come for the Hollywood blockbuster. "I don't think it's going to happen for every movie," she says, "because every movie is just simply not good." Additional reporting by Candice Frederick. -- For more Culture stories from the BBC, follow us on Facebook and Instagram.
Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
Denise Richards' estranged husband Aaron Phypers reveals her alleged affair with 'marine lover' and their insane home life
Denise Richards has allegedly had a months-long fling with a former Special Forces soldier, who showered her with X-rated photos and videos - including a graphic clip that shows him naked and pleasuring himself. The actress's outraged estranged husband Aaron Phypers claimed he caught wind of his her alleged affair in April, and said she had promised to break it off but he catch her lying about another hook-up with 'lover Rudy Reyes' that took place at Hilton Garden Inn, Burbank, California, the following month. Phypers said his discovery of the 'tryst' then led to an explosive showdown over the July 4 holiday weekend, during which she 'smashed up' his phone, but she hit back at him with allegations of being the victim of domestic abuse. SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO Evidence? Phypers claims he discovered 107 raunchy texts between Richards and her 'Special Forces' lover on her phone in April Phypers filed for divorce the following Monday and was hit with an avalanche of abuse allegations from Richards in court papers, including that he'd given her a black eye. Phypers said: 'I'm broken-hearted and f***ing tired. Really, she's f***ed me up. 'We've been together nine years and for her to do that and to lie to me consistently - I'm totally tired and drained.' He said his relationship with Richards had been deteriorating for some time before their split, and worsened at the start of the year partly due to what he said was her insatiable appetite for prescription pills and tequila. Regarding the topic of pills, Phypers said of Richards: 'She's got a real problem. She mixes it too with booze and she stays up all night. 'She's there on her computer and taking stuff, then she hides the bottles. It's gotten out of hand, and I'm really concerned. 'She buys them in bottles of 500 pills. I don't know where she gets them from, but she always has them. 'I don't know what the market rate for those are but it's $10, $20, $30, $50 each pill. You do the math - a lot of money is going out the window for that.' Sordid location: Phypers shared what he said was a text conversation that revealed details of the multiple sordid hotel hook-ups his wife and her lover enjoyed Despite the alleged drugs and boozing, Phypers said the marriage muddled along until he claimed to have discovered 107 raunchy texts between Richards and Reyes on her phone, along with details of the multiple sordid hotel hook-ups they enjoyed. He said the discovery made clear to him that Richards was allegedly having an affair, which led him to file for divorce. The proceedings and tension between the couple were widely reported thereafter. He said: 'I just had this feeling that something was off because her behavior had changed - she was being kind of cool to me. 'I opened her phone - we both know each other's passwords - so I opened it up and then I went to her deleted texts and there were 107 of them between her and this guy. 'I went through them and it just broke my heart.' Of her alleged lover, Phypers added: 'As for him, he's really is a w**ker.' Richards met Reyes during her stint on Fox reality show Special Forces: World's Toughest Test. Reyes, a former Recon Marine, appeared as one of the show's presenters and 'directing staff' instructors. A review of what Phypers claims was their text messages revealed multiple discussions about setting up hotel sex sessions as well as scores of raunchy photos shared between each other. Along with graphic naked photos and videos of Richards' alleged soldier lover, there were also X-rated photos of the actress, including one of her exposing her breast. When he first discovered the fling, his wife apologized profusely and promised to break it off, according to Phypers. She also offered to let him look at her phone whenever he wants to 'rebuild trust' but, he said, she soon returned to making plans to meet up with her lover. Phypers said: 'When I first found out, it really stung but she offered to rebuild trust by letting me see her phone. 'Well, it turns out she's got another number, too, which I just found out about. 'It kills me. She's been setting up times to meet him out of town while creating fights with me.' The couple's showdown came after he said he discovered that the affair was still going on and he took photos of the raunchy conversations -at which point, Richards snatched his phone. Phypers said he later discovered the device 'smashed to powder' in the garbage can. He said: 'I run up to her and I go, "What the f***k did you do this for?" And she goes, "I did not do anything to your phone." Just denied it. 'And then I'm like, so it was Casper the Ghost? And she still denied it, so I ran out. I was in disbelief, and I took off. 'I just feel like I've been taken for a fool. It's been a nightmare. Just a huge nightmare.'
The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
Lewd, crude and politically astute: South Park's history of controversy
It's been a banner week for South Park. On Tuesday it was announced that parent company Paramount had just struck a five-year, 10-episode-per-season deal with series creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone for the whopping price of $1.5bn. This comes amid public uproar against Paramount for their cancellation of The Late Show after host Stephen Colbert's criticism of the studio settling a $16m lawsuit with Donald Trump against CBS (which belongs to Paramount) in alleged exchange for FCC approval for their proposed $8bn merger with Skydance. (Said approval was announced on Thursday, with the extra caveat that Paramount would refrain from producing programs based on supposed diversity, equity and inclusion standards.) On Wednesday, the season premiere of South Park's 27th season debuted, and lest you think that Parker and Stone's billion-dollar deal would keep them from biting the hand that feeds, they came out chomping, delivering sharp digs at Paramount and CBS for their kowtowing to the president's demands. But their most brutal stuff was reserved for Trump himself, depicting him as a petty, predatory tyrant (à la their past caricature of Saddam Hussein) overcompensating for a tiny penis – which, in the episode's jaw-dropping closing moments, they show in graphic detail via a fake ad using the most realistic AI animation seen to-date. The episode has, in the short time since it aired, proven to be the most show's most controversial in years. But of course, it's nothing new for South Park, which is certainly the most controversial American sitcom – animated or otherwise – of all time. South Park proved controversial even before it went into production. Fox was originally meant to pick up the series – an expansion of Parker and Stone's 1992 short student film The Spirit of Christmas (Jesus vs Frosty) and it's viral follow-up The Spirit of Christmas (Jesus vs Santa). But when members of the network objected to the character of Mr Hanky – a talking piece of poop – Parker and Stone nixed the deal, eventually landing at the Paramount unit Cartoon Network. While other adult-oriented cartoons had paved the way in terms of both popularity and controversy (The Simpsons debuted in 1989 and Beavis and Butt-Head in 1993), it was clear from the start that South Park meant to push the envelope further than anything that came before it, so much so that a tongue-in-cheek disclaimer was inserted at the start of each episode: 'All characters and events in this show – even those based on real people – are entirely fictional. All celebrity voices are impersonated … poorly. The following program contains coarse language and due to its content it should not be viewed by anyone.' This did little to curb its popularity with young audiences. Within a few episodes of the first season, South Park was a cultural force to be reckoned with. And reckoned with it was, particularly by educational and parental groups who, outraged at its unrelenting dedication to toilet humor, violence and especially profanity, tried their best to get it taken off the air (and, failing that, to ban its merch from schools). The series embraced this outrage, using it as fodder for meta-commentary by way of a fictional show-within-a-show, Terrance and Phillip, a constant source of outrage for the idiotic and easily led parents of the show's main foursome. This would culminate in the 1999 feature film, South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut, which would – to the surprise of any number of cultural commentators – go on to earn as many accolades (including an Oscar nomination for best original song) as it did objections. As the series continued, its focus started to shift. It dropped popular but stale gags (such as the recurring 'You killed Kenny!' bit), while evolving its characters in fascinating ways. Nowhere is this more evident than Eric Cartman, the spoiled, obese, bigoted breakout character. While always something of an antagonist, by the fifth season he was murdering the parents of a school rival and feeding them to him à la Titus Andronicus. Things only got darker from there, with Cartman coming to embody seemingly every hateful and degenerate vice humans are capable of. The fact that he would simultaneously remain the show's most popular and beloved character brooked no shortage of handwringing from the show's detractors (and often even their fans), who worried that viewers, particularly impressionable youngsters, were taking all the wrong messages from it. At the same time, messaging became a central part of South Park. While it always contained some level of social commentary and political satire, that aspect moved to the forefront. The singular schedule that Parker and Stone kept – episodes are developed and produced within a week of airing – allowed for them to take on hot button news items while they were still in the headlines. This was, and for the most part remains, unheard of when it comes to sitcoms (especially animated ones, which usually require a longer production schedule). Viewers were shocked when South Park ended up airing episodes about the Elián González custody and Terry Schiavo medical battles in real time (the latter airing mere hours before Schiavo died). Parker and Stone have described themselves as libertarians (although they're Gen X libertarians and thus less simpatico with today's breed) which meant that they were often pissing off both liberals and conservatives. For the most part, they were less interested in preaching their personal ideology than they were calling out others' hypocrisy. As a result, no sacred cows were left untipped. Given the show's sacrilegious origins, it's no surprise that it's biggest controversies came from their skewering of religion. Perhaps their most infamous episode to date is season nine's Trapped in the Closet, which used the ridiculous R Kelly song to poke fun at famous Scientologists Tom Cruise and John Travolta. Even though the crux of the episodes revolves around those stars' rumored sexuality, the real target was the Church of Scientology itself, which Stone and Parker depicted as a cult and scam, going so far as to animate, in detail, the bonkers mythology at the heart of the religion, which the church had strived to keep secret from the larger public. (Knowing how litigious the Church of Scientology is, everyone who worked on Trapped in the Closet was credited as John/Jayne Smith.) Comedy Central moved the episode from its original air date, purportedly at the demand of Cruise, who was starring in Paramount's upcoming blockbuster Mission: Impossible 3, although all parties have denied this. What's not disputed is that Parker and Stone threatened to quit the show if the episode wasn't released. It eventually did air (after the action sequel came out), and although the cultural impact is impossible to quantify, it's not coincidental that it marked the start of a hard public scrutiny of the Church of Scientology. One proven result of the episode was the high-profile departure of one of the show's original voice actors, Isaac Hayes, who was a Scientologist. This, in turn, would lead to the show killing off his character, Chef, just a couple of years before Hayes himself passed away. Similar episodes targeting Mormonism and Catholicism followed, and while they brooked their share of objections from the Church of Latter-day Saints and various Catholic leagues, they were teacup tempests compared with what came in season 10. Amid an increasingly violent reaction from Islamic extremists over European cartoonists' satirical depictions of the prophet Muhammad (something forbidden by certain sects within the broader religion), Parker and Stone inserted themselves into the issue by attempting to do just that (albeit by using rival animated show Family Guy as their in-universe proxy). Despite the unassailable moral point they were attempting to make – if they were allowed to make fun of every other religion's sacred figures, they should be able to do so with Islam without fear of violent reprisal – the network once again balked, airing the episode but placing a black 'censored box over the character of Muhammad. Thankfully, this did not lead to any violence, although when Stone and Parker touched on the issue again during the 14th season (in episodes 200 and 201, where the mere name Muhammad was censored by Comedy Central) it did lead to public death threats against them, as well as a demanded apology from Malaysia's main conservative party. What's most ironic about all of this is that South Park had already shown Muhammad in an early season, and even included the character in its original title sequence. No one objected to this at time, although this was before 9/11, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and the global sea change those atrocities ushered in. Today, all these episodes have been scrubbed from streaming, although some are available on their respective seasons' original DVD releases. Attempts to get South Park banned in various parts of the globe have been hit and miss, but China eventually succeeded. Already angry with the show for dealing with banned subject matter (including the Dalai Lama) and its intentionally over-the-top ethnic humor, the final straw came via the season 23 episode Band in China, which directly targeted American corporations' expansion into the Chinese market in spite of the Chinese Communist party's broad censorship and brutal repression of political dissidents. As much as they have managed to piss off social/religious conservatives and authoritarian regimes, Parker and Stone have also proven a constant thorn in the side of outraged liberals and leftists, less so because of any single issue they have dealt with – although their mocking of Al Gore's warnings over climate change (represented in the show as a made up cryptid called ManBearPig) certainly earned them lots of criticism, which they eventually acknowledged, going so far as to issue a begrudging on-air mea culpa – than a larger feeling of irony-poisoned political nihilism. Certainly, much of modern conservative ideology is indistinguishable from the intentionally offensive antics of Cartman. One need only look at the volume of social media accounts belonging to rightwing shitposters that use South Park-style illustrations for their avatars and profile pics (although this trend isn't nearly as prevalent as it was between 2010 and 2020). Over the past several seasons, as well as the handful of direct-to-streaming 'movies', South Park has taken on the right's favorite issue, wokeness (in 2015, they introduced a new character, PC Principal, who embodies all of the worst qualities of overly sensitive millennials). At the same time, they were lampooning Trump, although in a less direct way than past public figures, choosing to use the character of Mr Garrison – the show's resident hedonist reactionary – as an analog. But in 2017, Parker publicly announced that they would stop making Trump jokes, as he'd grown bored of them and didn't want South Park to resemble supposedly liberal institutions like CNN. This response earned praise from the conservative figures, including Donald Trump Jr (who would also go on to praise a recent South Park special for its woke pop culture reboots). Which brings us to the surprise of this most recent season premiere. While it's hardly surprising that Parker and Stone would reverse course, given the extremity of Trump's corruption and attacks on the first amendment, the directness of their attack still came as a surprise to both fans and detractors alike. Hours after episode aired, the White House released an enraged response, in which they accused South Park and its creators of being hypocritical and inauthentic, while also claiming it hadn't been relevant in 20 years. Obviously, any show that just inked a $1.5bn deal can't be realistically called irrelevant, but it has been a minute since South Park has made headlines. While this isn't new territory for the series, something feels different this time. There is a real sense of shock and betrayal coming from the right. Undoubtedly, this is because they recognize that much of the show's fanbase is composed of their supporters. Unlike the weak tea being slung by Colbert and his ilk, this isn't a case of preaching to the choir. While it's ridiculous to think that South Park will be the catalyst for any real political change, it's telling how hysterical the right's ferocity against it has been over the course of just a few hours. That this is coming on the heels of broader backlash against the president from supposedly sympathetic sources over his refusal to release the Epstein files shows that, for the first time since the election, their back is truly against the wall. Trump is the most easily offended man alive, while Parker and Stone have never backed down from a fight. If the history of South Park is any indication, this latest controversy is just the tip of the iceberg (or, rather, the tip of a minuscule talking phallus).
