There’s a great trend happening in fashion right now, for those who look forward to enveloping themselves in all-things-soft come fall: knit pants. It’s not a particularly groundbreaking innovation—they’ve been here, and have gained more popularity with the rise of leisurewear—but we’re starting to see trend-focused brands (think the Free Peoples and Pixie Markets of the world) introduce knit top-and-trouser sets in their autumn collections, presenting them as a polished everyday alternative to your denim and pretty much giving us license to live our coziest lives. Who are we to say no to that? Check out 20 soft trousers that are just as comfortable as your favorite sweats, only a bit more put-together.
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There are several scenes in episode two of Netflix’s new series The Haunting of Hill House that made me distinctly think, “Yup, I’m watching This Is Us with ghosts.” The first is a flashback when Shirley, the second oldest of the Crain children, is mourning the loss of her pet kitten and becomes horrified when a bug crawls out of its mouth. That’s scarring enough for any preteen, but then cut to a few days later when all of her other pet kittens die. Shirley freaks out—as any of us would—and her parents, Hugh and Olivia, have an argument. Olivia berates Hugh for giving Shirley the cats because she’ll now have a warped perception of death for life. Fast-forward some 20 years later, and what do you know? Shirley owns a mortuary with her husband.
To be clear, I’m not suggesting there’s something wrong with morticians, but this sequence of events is just so on the nose. Singular Childhood Incident Directly Impacts Adult in the Most Obvious Way: That’s straight out of the This Is Us playbook—just with, ya know, maybe-possessed cats.
PHOTO: Netflix
For those who don’t know about The Haunting of Hill House, let me back up. It’s a 10-episode horror series from Netflix based on the popular 1959 novel by Shirley Jackson. The show takes a lot of creative liberties, though. It’s set in present-day, and now based on the Crain family, which is comprised of mom Olivia, dad Hugh, and kids Steve, Shirley, Theodora, Luke, and Nell. Olivia and Hugh are house flippers who’ve decided to take on a mammoth, creaky mansion as their next project. The only problem, however, is that it’s haunted as fuck—like so, so haunted. There are ghosts all over this joint and even a red door in the upstairs they can’t open. A specter named the Bent-Neck Lady lurks around the kids’ rooms like Kim Kardashian in this GIF:
All the creepiness comes to a head one night when Hugh rushes the children out of the house and leaves Olivia behind. And then Olivia dies under mysterious circumstances. Twenty-plus years later, we see these kids as estranged adults who are still extremely traumatized—from the house, their mother’s death, and other reasons.
Saying anything more will give away key spoilers, so you’ll just have to watch if you’re now intrigued. From that synopsis alone, though, you can see the This Is Us parallels clearer than Haley Joel Osment saw dead people in The Sixth Sense. Melodramatic siblings! Flashbacks! A central mystery! The list goes on and on, so let me break down the key ways The Haunting of Hill House could easily be called This Is Us But Spooky:
1. The dynamic between the five siblings. The child Crain siblings are fairly happy go-lucky in their mansion despite all the ghosts, but as adults, not so much. Shirley and Theodora are tight, but Shirley is on the outs with Steve. Steve is on the outs with Luke. Nell just wants everyone to get along. You get the idea! There’s a lot of latent sibling tension that rings very close to the time Kevin called out Randall for being the favorite on This Is Us. The amount of drama between the Crains makes the problems on This Is Us seem like cake. At least Kate doesn’t have to worry about spirits from the beyond.
2. All those flashbacks.The Haunting of Hill House thrives on the art of flashback, much like This Is Us does. We’ll start with a scene from the past, and then see how those events have affected the family in present times. It’s eerily similar to the narratives on This Is Us. Just swap Mandy Moore’s grandma wig for paranormal activity. (The wig is still scarier.)
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3. What happened to Olivia? The Crain matriarch passes away mysteriously after the rest of the family leaves the house. The official report is that she died by suicide, but Hugh is convinced Hill House played a role in her death. After the first episode, you watch the series knowing Olivia is dead, but flashbacks help tell her story—much like Jack’s on This Is Us—and her demise is a central question on the show. (Stay tuned to see if a Crock Pot is involved.)
4. Thirst trap family members. On This Is Us, Justin Hartley is always walking around with his shirt off, and Randall exercises 5,000 times a day. Meanwhile, Michiel Huisman (who plays adult Steve on Hill House) has smolder for days that’s only enhanced by his hipster glasses. An atmospheric thirst trap!
5. The crying. Nell spends the entire first episode crying. Shirley spends a large chunk of the second episode crying, as does Luke. Hot Steve cries, too. I’m not judging them, of course—they’re dealing with literal ghosts—but the sheer amount of tears shed in just two episodes absolutely puts Hill House in This Is Us territory. Have tissues on hand when you watch—to cover your eyes when things get terrifying.
The Haunting of Hill House is now streaming on Netflix.
Netflix is debuting a new reality TV show next month, and it’s basically the IRL version of A Star Is Born. On Thursday (October 11), the streaming giant dropped the trailer for this new show, which is called Westside and follows nine aspiring singer-songwriters as they attempt to pursue their dreams of stardom.
In the clip, the celebrity hopefuls alternate between belting their hearts out, butting heads over their competing egos, and casually dropping one-liners like, “We’re going to mine our lives for the truths we want to share.” Yup. It goes deep!
You may recognize some of the faces of Westside. According to Entertainment Weekly, the cast includes Pia Toscano, who appeared on the 10th season of American Idol and placed ninth, as well as Taz Zavala, Arika Gluck, James Byous, Caitlin Ary, Leo Gallo, Alexandra Kay, Austin Kolbe, and Sean Patrick Murray, all of whom have already released a few songs on their own, to minor success. On the show, they’ll put out at least 18 songs, per EW, likely a mix of solo singles and group collabs.
Watch the trailer for yourself, below:
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Westside starts streaming on Netflix November 9. If you’re already hungry for more of this Glee meets The Hills goodness, you can stream one of the songs featured in the trailer, “We Are the Ones,” right now.
This isn’t the only music-inspired movie or TV show premiering this year. You also have Bohemian Rhapsody, the Freddy Mercury biopic, to look forward to in November, as well as Vox Lux, the explosive indie movie coming out in December where Natalie Portman plays a Gaga-esque pop star.
The honeymoon stage of Ariana Grande and Pete Davidson‘s relationship has arrived, and it’s arrived in the form of minimal household decoration. So minimal, in fact, that we could argue it borders on dorm-room chic.
The couple recently moved into an incredibly, incredibly fancy apartment in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York City, which is estimated to cost around $16 million. Let us reiterate incredible for a moment — the apartment reportedly measures more than 4,000 square feet, has five bedrooms and four and a half baths, an IMAX theater, a sauna, a private spa, and a pool. (Yes, this would be considered their “starter” home.) But you know what the duo hasn’t bought for their swanky new nest yet? Anything of substance, really.
In a new interview with GQ, Davidson admitted he’s still in shock that he’s living in such a sprawling apartment with his new fiancée (who purchased the swanky digs herself). His contribution to the household, he joked, is that he keeps the refrigerator stocked, although he realizes he and Ari could indeed step it up when it comes to decoration. “She’s really sweet. She’s like, ‘This is our house,’ and I’m like, ‘You’re very nice for saying that. Thank you for letting me stay here,'” he told the magazine. “She’s like, ‘We’re getting married!’ And I’m like, ‘I know, thank you for letting me stay here.’ It’s like, we have six beanbags, but we have no forks — you know what I mean? We’re learning how to be adults. We’re having a really fun time.”
Yeah, we’d argue owning utensils is one of the fundamental tenants of a household. And plates. And cups. And a few bowls. But they’re trying! Ari even joked about having “no furniture, one speaker, and red vines” when the couple moved in together two months ago. But many trips to Restoration Hardware have ensued since. That gets an “A” for effort from us.
MTV is clearly aware of the world’s obsession with royals: Variety reports that the network is currently in the process of creating The Royal World, a Real World spin-off of sorts that will center on different “ladies, baronesses, and counts” from around the world. The lineup, per Variety, will reportedly include “descendants of aristocratic families from the U.K., Russia, Austria, Nigeria, and Ireland, as well as a ‘royally connected American.'” (Let the theories begin for who that “royally connected American” is!)
“The Royal World is a brilliantly entertaining show that invites you into a world which is utterly closed to most of us: the world of young, titled royals and aristocrats,” Katy Manley, creative director at Initial, the production company behind The Royal World, tells Variety. “Expect headline-grabbing gossip that’ll leave palaces squirming as we get to know the real people behind the titles.”
The series will air on MTV International before the end of 2018, and be available in 180 countries. “MTV has a deep-rooted history of shining a light on original characters and unique subcultures. The Royal World brings this to a whole new level,” Kerry Taylor, EVP youth and music and cohead of MTV International, tells Variety.
This isn’t the only exciting new MTV project on the docket. The channel is also planning on releasing a Vanderpump Rules–style series based on Lindsay Lohan’s new beach club in Greece (working title: Lohan Beach Club). So it’s safe to say our DVRs will have a heavy MTV rotation for the next year.
Relax, world: Miley Cyus and Liam Hemsworth didn’t break up. Well, that’s what the video Hemsworth just posted to Instagram suggests, at least.
Background: Earlier today, rumors started swirling that Cyrus and Hemsworth called off their engagement. There wasn’t any proof of this—no quotes, no statements—but people took Cyrus recently deleting every post from her Instagram account as signs there was trouble in paradise.
But that doesn’t seem to be the case. Fan accounts were quick to point out this video of Cyrus and Hemsworth walking together in the Nashville airport yesterday as proof they’re still in tact. If that’s not enough to calm your nerves, though, then a video Hemsworth uploaded himself to Instagram Stories today should do the trick. The clip shows him and Cyrus driving and jamming to a random techno song before he pranks her by screaming, as if he’s about to hit something with his car. Cyrus acts shocked at first, and then jokingly says, “I’m gonna beat the shit [out of you].” Hemsworth just smiles and says, “Number one!”
Is this a full-fledged rumor shutdown? Not exactly. Hemsworth and Cyrus don’t verbally address the split reports; however, by just uploading this video they’re saying a thousand words. These two don’t live in a vacuum, so they’re probably well aware of the breakup chatter. What better way to put an end to it than posting a video of them together having a blast? Of course, there’s still a small possibility these rumors are true, but this clip makes them hard to believe. I mean, why would you post a video of yourself goofing off with your ex-fiancée right after you called it quits?
So rest easy, my friends. It appears Hemsworth and Cyrus are still together, which means love isn’t dead after all.
