Melena Ryzik

6 days ago | nytimes.com | Melena Ryzik

A new Netflix series adapts Judy Blume's 1970s novel with a contemporary Black cast, flipping the gender roles but preserving its emotional innocence. In Judy Blume's taboo-busting 1975 novel "Forever ...," a teenage girl has sex for the first time. It does not destroy her life. (That's the plot twist.) But she is still surrounded by cautionary tales: unwanted pregnancies, untimely marriages and dreams deferred.

3 weeks ago | seattletimes.com | Melena Ryzik

Comedians have always wanted to be pop and rock stars — or at least, enough of them have gotten comfortable with a guitar and a drum track to make it seem so. It’s a long and eclectic tradition, including Steve Martin, Weird Al, Bo Burnham, Rachel Bloom, Donald Glover, Randy Rainbow and John Early. Now there’s a new crop of albums from entertainers across the comic spectrum. Some of them regularly use music as part of their act, like Cat Cohen, whose repertoire is all cabaret style.

4 weeks ago | nytimes.com | Melena Ryzik

The stand-up and actor Mae Martin has carved an unusually sincere path as a comic, plumbing their life, sexuality and addictions with a lot of charm, and little sarcasm. Their album "I'm a TV" is also a departure - no punchlines, no bits, just dreamy indie rock that explores longings, identity and friendships on the verge of something else. With Martin on guitar, piano, bass and harmonica, the album was produced by Jason Couse and Wes Marskell of the Canadian art-rock duo the Darcys.

4 weeks ago | flipboard.com | Melena Ryzik

1 hour agoIn 2024, the Malayalam film industry faced scrutiny over reports of alleged drug abuse. Malayalam actor Vincy Aloshious had previously announced her refusal to work with actors who use drugs, triggering online debates. She has now clarified her position, citing a disturbing incident where a drugged …

1 month ago | nzherald.co.nz | Melena Ryzik

The actress is building a community of artists, thinkers and doers of all kinds, in a storied building in downtown Manhattan. It was a Saturday night, and behind the graffiti-scrawled facade of Atelier Jolie, her downtown creative space and gallery, Angelina Jolie was in conversation with artist Shirin Neshat. The topics were heady: the plight of refugees, the rights of women, how to wrench meaning from exile; the value of art in all that.