Links to the past, with relevance today:
BOY CULTURE: ABBA is back! The '70s mega-success, a band that was steadily revived from the '90s on by the cover band Björn Again, by Erasure, by the films The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert and Muriel's Wedding, and — of course — by the Broadway and feature-film version of Mamma Mia!, reformed long enough to crank out an album of 10 songs (coming in November). With two tracks already released, the band will next be seen, sort of, in a stage show that launches at the purpose-built ABBA Arena in London in May 2022 ... featuring digital recreations of the band members that were created by Industrial Light & Magic.
Hit the link to check out details of the announcement, made in various cities across the globe.
DEADLINE: Pedro Almodóvar's Parallel Mothers gets the filmmaker a nine-minute standing O at the Venice Film Festival. He's been making shorts since 1974 and features since 1978. He has two Oscars, one for Best Foreign Language Film and one for Best Original Screenplay.
THR: Fran Drescher (barely) won the contentious SAG-AFTRA race for president, taking 16,958 votes to rival Matthew Modine's 15,371. (Crazy how few people vote in this thing!) Drescher's "running mate," Anthony Rapp, lost in his bid to become secretary-treasurer — Joely Fisher sealed that deal.
HULU: If you haven't caught Soleil Moon Frye's doc Kid 90 on Hulu, seek it out — it's rife with videos she shot during her rise to fame as TV's "Punky Brewster," including incredible early-years footage of everyone from Charlie Sheen to David Arquette to Marky Mark (Wahlberg). P.S. It seems the 45-year-old actress is now dating Seth Binzer, 47, the lead singer of the '00s band Crazy Town.
DO YOU REMEMBER: A popular nostalgia site posted an out-of-nowhere attack piece on Oprah Winfrey (what's she really got to do with their core subject?) ... and the same writer posted it immediately after a piece about Aunt Jemima, in which she wrote the indisputably racist origins of that brand were "allegedly racist." (I mean, even the company admits it.) Coincidence? Don't think so.
KNOWLEDGEWISE: Mike Forster has completed — and is offering for free — a book-worthy deep dive into the nascent film industry in L.A.'s historical Edendale district, where a film colony rose in the early part of the 20th century. The detail is staggering, and it included notated illustrations regarding all the major (and minor) companies and personalities of the era.
