Today is Tuesday, January 21, 2025.
It is the 21st day of the year.
344 days remain.
WHAT’S ON TAP
NOTABLE & NOTEWORTHY: All the details from Inauguration Day, plus the nation’s hottest housing market and slumping sales of a bubbly beverage.
MATT HEALY may or may not have penned a song about his relationship with TAYLOR SWIFT. More in SHOWBIZ.
JOSH GAD almost had a role in “Avatar” and Steamboat Willie gets a scary makeover. Details in CASTING CALL.
Monarchs from around the world send well-wishes to President DONALD TRUMP. Details in ROYALS
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President DONALD TRUMP and Vice President JD VANCE took their respective Oaths of Office Monday.
In his inaugural address, Trump promised, “The golden age of America starts now.”
Almost immediately upon taking the Oath of Office, the CBP One app, which allows asylum-seekers the ability to enter the United States by circumventing the typical immigration process, went offline, and all future entry appointments were canceled.
In an awkward moment, the backing track for “America the Beautiful” to be sung by CARRIE UNDERWOOD started and stopped. After a few uncertain seconds, Underwood called on the crowd to sing along with her and she performed without the instrumental backing.
Some other odds and ends from the day:
– Trump’s Oval Office will use the sunburst-patterned rug used by Ronald Reagan.
– Real Clear Politics reporter Susan Crabtree posted that Secret Service sources told her that while the temperatures were cold, the inauguration was moved indoors over security concerns. (Trump later denied this while speaking to reporters in the Oval Office).
– A refreshed White House website went live right around the time Trump took the Oath on Monday.
– The American Federation of Government Employees filed a lawsuit against the Department of Government Efficiency just minutes after Trump was sworn in. The suit alleges that the extra-governmental organization needs to comply with certain transparency and disclosure requirements as an advisory group to the President.
– Former Vice President KAMALA HARRIS flew home to California on a flight operated by an all-female Air Force flight crew, the first time a C-33 has been staffed entirely by women.
– Amid the inaugural festivities, the Senate unanimously confirmed MARCO RUBIO as the Secretary of State.
Get a full rundown of the Day One Executive Orders in TOP SHELF.
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On the heels of news that wine sales have slumped year over year, another report suggests that Champagne isn’t faring particularly well, either.
France’s exports of the bubbly beverage dropped 10% year-over-year, its second straight year of decline. An industry analytics firm says a variety of factors have contributed, but mostly a global mood that doesn’t want to celebrate. The report from the firm, Comité Champagne, cites “inflation, conflicts around the world, economic uncertainty and a political wait-and-see attitude in some of Champagne’s biggest markets.”
Even domestically, sales in France fell 7%. [via CNN]
Following reports that awards season favorite flick “The Brutalist” used A.I. technology in post production, director BARRY CORBET defended the practice, even as some Hollywood insiders expressed worry the expansion of the technology might eliminate more jobs in the production process.
Corbet insists that the technology was used specifically to refine the accents of ADRIEN BRODY and FELICITY JONES, who had dialogue in Hungarian. “They worked for months with dialect coach Tanera Marshall to perfect their accents,” Corbet says. He adds that a specific program, called Respeecher, was used only when editing the foreign language dialogue, “specifically to refine certain vowels and letters for accuracy.”
Deadline reports that using the technology in this case actually created jobs rather than cut them from the post-production process. [via Deadline]
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A copy of BOB DYLAN’s old will is hitting the auction block.
Moments in Time has an old copy of the legal document from 1975, which features the signature “Robert Dylan.”
In the will, Dylan leaves his home and $50,000 to his brother David Zimmerman, and provisions for his children, of which he had five at the time.
The asking price is $27,500. [via TMZ]
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Steamboat Willie is getting a scary makeover.
“Screamboat” stars actor DAVID HOWARD THORNTON as a killer mouse, offering a terrifying twist on the classic character.
The flick is expected to hit theaters this month. [via The Sun]
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UP NEXT: A full rundown of Trump’s Day One orders, TAYLOR SWIFT might get a taste of her own medicine, the big-movie role JOSH GAD almost landed, and the death of King Louis XVI on this date in history.
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