Month: July 2020

A month ago, Blackpink made their return with their first new song in a year, “How You Like That.” The K-pop titans’ comeback was clearly anticipated, as the song’s video shattered a YouTube record upon its premiere. Now, they’re preparing to give fans what they’ve been waiting for since 2018’s Blackpink In Your Area: a new album. They announced the record yesterday (but not its title), revealing that it will be released on October 2 via YG Entertainment/Interscope Records. Promotional materials seem to indicate the album is titled The Album, but no title is used for the album on the pre-order pages.

The group previously revealed they would be releasing a single from the album in August. That teaser came with the promise of a mystery guest on the song, who fans now believe to be Selena Gomez. Korean publication MyDaily reported that Gomez is featuring on the song, and YG Entertainment commented simply, “Please wait for the official announcement later.” Before Gomez became unofficially attached to the song, a prevalent rumor was that Ariana Grande would be the one to appear on the song.

YG Entertainment previously laid out their plans for the group’s comeback, saying back in May, “BLACKPINK’s first new song, which will be released in mid-June, is a pre-release title track. The BLACKPINK members are currently preparing to film the music video for the song, and they are picking up the pace of their final preparations, including practicing their new choreography. The second new song, which is a special kind of a new song, is scheduled for a release in July or August. As it’s a first studio album that [BLACKPINK] has been preparing for a long time, we hope to create more opportunities for the group to greet fans through performances and other content than in any year before through a three-step, multi-phased release.”

Pre-order Blackpink’s new album here.

After winning the Golden Globe for Best Actor – Television Series Musical or Comedy, Ramy star Ramy Youssef began his acceptance speech with, “Well, yeah, so I would like to thank my God. Allahu Akbar. Thank you, God.” Later in the evening, he was asked whether thanking God was a jab at loud atheist / Golden Globes host Ricky Gervais, who kicked off the ceremony by saying, “If you win, come up, accept your little award, thank your agent and your God, and f*ck off, OK? It’s already three hours long.”

It wasn’t. Youssef is a religious man, as anyone who’s watched Ramy knows (you should watch Ramy). Besides, as he recently explained to the Guardian, he thinks Gervais is “a really funny and a really cool dude,” even if you wouldn’t know by their roundtable chat.

“The timing of it was funny after what Ricky said, but it was really important,” Youssef says… He even reached out to Gervais about how the line between atheists and believers has come full circle. “I told Ricky that he talked about God so much, he might be Muslim!”

Ramy was renewed by Hulu, so can we expect a Ricky Gervais cameo in season three? After Mia Khalifa showed up in season two, anything is possible.

(Via The Guardian)

Talking to The Umbrella Academy‘s Robert Sheehan is like injecting espresso straight into your veins. He’s a gregarious Irishman — who I suspect was wildly gesticulating during our phone call to discuss the Netflix show’s second season — as well as whip smart and extremely funny. As Klaus Hargreeves, Sheehan nailed down fan-favorite status while portraying the black-sheep sibling whose powers include communing with the dead. This ability doesn’t come without major downsides, which frequently leads Klaus into substance abuse, but this year, he’s got a whole new outlet.

Sheehan was cool enough to speak with us about Klaus’ adventures this season, including a key scene inspired by a Darren Aronofsky film. Klaus also becomes a doomsday cult leader, which is how he adapts to 1960s Texas, where siblings land (through botched time travel) ahead of yet another apocalypse. So, there’s plenty going on for him this season, and even though fans suspect Sheehan of being Klaus-In-Real-Life, he’s got quite the extensive list of credits and was, frankly, overdue for a major breakout role. During the course of this conversation, Sheehan broke into song twice (I noted one instance and will leave the other up to your imagination) and deftly ricocheted answers, no matter how strange the inquiries.

Robert Sheehan: How are ya? I’m lathered in soap as we speak.

I’d expect no less from you, so we might as well stick with that vibe. You recently Instagrammed a Season 2 poster while asking, “Who farted?” Do you know the answer to that question?

Yes, I do, in fact. Yes, I do. You wanna know the answer?

This is already an experience.

Tom. Hopper. It’s always Tom! [Tom plays the musclebound “gorilla,” Luther.]

I was totally off base. I suspected Justin L. Min’s Ben character. It seems like something that a ghost would do.

He can be quite straight-laced, though.

Well, Ben is still haunting Klaus this season. Who would you like to be haunted by?

St. Francis of Assisi. Just because there’d be little ghost woodland creatures following him around. That’d be quite eventful. You’d have little ghost hamsters, little ghost squirrels, little ghost centipedes, just following him around like a little ghost animal parade. It’d be like Ghost David Attenborough.

Have you ever personally had experiences with the paranormal?

I have a few friends who get a few pints and get a little paranormal, but apart from that, nooooo.

There’s a scene this season that I think people will talk about. You’re dancing, and the camera work is nuts.

Oh yeah, the liquor store. The camera was attached to me. It was clumsy, but we press on, regardless. Darren Aronofsky’s Requiem For A Dream is what inspired it. They strapped one to Jennifer Connelly when her character was strung out on drugs. And I think all of the lead actors did that in that movie. And I think Mick Jagger had popularized that rig in some music video.

The song fits Klaus’ state of mind. Do you have a personal theme song?

No, if I like a song, I can play it to death, but nothing in particular, other than [starts singing loudly] “heigh-ho, heigh-ho, it’s off to work I go!”

Klaus isn’t working, but he’s digging the 1960s as a cult leader. Do you see that as an extension of his personality, hedonistically, or is it a way of coping?

Yeah, exactly. It’s a way of coping, a coping mechanism, and I think it’s a replacement for drugs, like an anesthetic: praise and adoration and all that. I think praise and adoration is a form of an anesthetic that many people use, in the form of social media. You go on there, and they tell you how healthy you are and how great you look, and you think, “Oh, I should really stick with that filter. It behooves my skin tone!” And so on and so forth, so I think that with Klaus, it’s a bit like laying down at a shooting gallery, or as you guys call them, a heroin den.

If you had your own personal cult, what would your teachings be?

First off, I get first dibs on bank accounts and wives. It’s going to be a medieval cult, like kings, back in the day. First dibs! That’s a joke. But I think peace and love and let’s all have a cuddle and think about family. That’s a bit old-fashioned these days.

Did you do any studying up on cults or base your cult persona on any leader in particular?

Not really. We’re making the occasionally dramatic show, and I wasn’t playing a real-life cult leader. I was fascinated by cults anyway, because it’s a new design for living. They’re not necessarily all bad. In fact, I’d assume that there are quite a few good-meaning cults out there, like I don’t think there’s much difference in a society and a cult really. It’s hard to define a cult as anything but a society, that’s my point. So, there are probably good examples of that, and the bad ones get all the press, of course, but I’m sure there are some that are growing food, helping each other to be self-sufficient.

So, like a utopia? Your leader is a benevolent one.

The fact that the words “cult” or “commune” have been associated with drinking the kool-aid. Eventually, if everybody says that different designs of living are a threat by definition, you go, “Oh well, you’re a lunatic.” If you think outside the society that you’ve been born into, which frankly is great and all but can be deeply flawed and wanting, spiritually. It can leave people lonely. It can leave people broke. And I’m sure that there are [organizations] out there that are dedicated to love and self-sufficiency, not handing your power over to every Tom, Dick, and Harry in the name of convenience.

You do a lot of physical comedy in this season, including with the cult. Do you ever want to go really gung ho and maybe get ripped for a role?

Oh yeah, of course. I’d enjoy that! If you’re an actor, and you’re in it for the right reasons, you enjoy transformation. That’s the whole kick, so absolutely, I’d transform for a role.

The siblings land in Texas after Five screwed up the time travel. Have you ever been to the Lone Star State?

Yes, I have been to Texas once. I was at the SXSW film festival for Moonwalkers and had a whale, an entire whale, of a time.

Did you see any interesting bartenders like Bill Murray there?

No, I didn’t see Bill Murray, but I saw many more bartenders, but they were bartenders, so I wasn’t making any solid memories. But we screened the film in what was essentially a glorified pub cinema called The Alamo Drafthouse. That was the place, and they were slinging drinks during the screening. The waiter would come in as we were watching, and fling you tequila. This was quite a few years ago, but when we were due up on stage to talk about the film, (1) I hadn’t seen the film and was quite shocked; and (2) Was quite, quite drunk, so it was hard to talk tangibly about the thing and waffled like a mad man up there for about 20 minutes.

The apocalypse is upon the show again. Do you see any hope for society staving off an apocalypse like these characters?

Well, I think that kind of defeats the definition of an apocalypse, which means that most of humanity won’t survive. Christians are into that in a big way, they invented the idea, so I suppose there’s always a chance that someone would survive. Men and women are very, very adaptive, like cockroaches. We’re very, very good at survival.

During an apocalypse, would you rather be a warrior or a nun?

Oh, I’d be the nun. 100%.

‘The Umbrella Academy’ launches its second Netflix season on July 31.

The Chainsmokers performed a benefit drive-in concert in the Hamptons this weekend, and it turned out the festivities spawned more than the humorous headline of Goldman Sachs’ CEO doing a DJ set. Video from the performance show that social distancing did not appear to be enforced, and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is upset. In fact, he promised the Department Of Health will investigate the event.

Sharing a video that shows attendees packed together in front of the stage, Cuomo tweeted, “Videos from a concert held in Southampton on Saturday show egregious social distancing violations. I am appalled. The Department of Health will conduct an investigation. We have no tolerance for the illegal & reckless endangerment of public health.”

New York health commissioner Dr. Howard Zucker sent a letter to Southampton Town Supervisor Jay Schneiderman yesterday, in which he expressed great dissatisfaction with the situation: “I am greatly disturbed by reports concerning the ‘drive-in’ concert held in your town this past weekend, which apparently involved thousands of people in close proximity, out of their vehicles, a VIP area where there was no pretense of a vehicle, and generally not adhering to social distancing guidance. I am at a loss as to how the Town of Southampton could have issued a permit for such an event, how they believed it was legal and not an obvious public health threat.”

Meanwhile, Schneiderman blamed the event’s organizers for what happened, telling the New York Post, “The cars weren’t going to be right next to each other. It was going to be like a checkerboard. The design met the guidance — it was a drive-in event. The organizer was supposed to make sure that people stayed in their square — they didn’t have enough security. […] I had conversations with the organizers making sure they were going to enforce the rules. It’s unfortunate that they allowed that to happen. […] I want to know why the town’s police did not break up the VIP area. I never would have permitted the event. The organizers will be cited for that.”

On Monday, Senate Republicans unveiled a fifth round of relief aid to help Americans combat the losses incurred by the COVID-19 pandemic. Dubbed the HEALS Act, the proposed spending package is a follow up to March’s CARES Act — which brought an expansion to Federal Unemployment benefits, a $1,200 stimulus check for qualifying Americans, and programs and loans to aide small and struggling businesses.

According to CNET, the Senate Republicans’ $1 trillion HEALS Act package is set to include a continuation of the enhanced federal unemployment benefits (albeit at an undisclosed but reduced rate from CARES’ $600), an additional stimulus check of $1,200, increased Paycheck Protection Program loans to help small businesses keep employees on the payroll, and additional money and incentives for reopening schools. But according to the Independent Restaurant Coalition, the HEALS act does not offer sufficient aid to the 500,000 independent restaurants and bars that are struggling to get by as a result of the pandemic, which equates to around 11,000,000 jobs nationwide.

“Look around your neighborhood: there’s a good chance one of your favorite restaurants or bars has closed forever. The longer Congress waits to deliver relief to independent restaurants, the more businesses risk permanently shuttering and wiping out at least 16 million jobs across the country,” begins a statement released by the IRC after Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell officially announced the stimulus plan on Monday, July 27th, noting that restaurants need direct relief rather than additional loans.

“The changes to the Paycheck Protection Program… are a good start, but independent restaurants don’t need another loan when we are accumulating more debt and taking more losses due to circumstances out of our control… we need immediate relief now.”

The statement — drafted and signed by José Andrés, Sean Brock, Tom Colicchio, Nina Compton, Gregory Gourdet, Will Guidara, Ivy Mix, Kwame Onwuachi, Nancy Silverton, Andrew Zimmern and scores of other premier chefs — points out that the restaurant industry has been the hardest hit as a result of countrywide closures, as lockdown orders make it hard for independent eateries to remain open and continue to pay their full staff of employees. As it stands, the HEALS Act is unlikely to pass. It’s already being met with pushback from Senate Democrats, but the clock is ticking. The CARES Act is set to expire on July 31st and the Senate is quickly approaching a recess scheduled for August 7th.

The annual San Diego Comic Con did the right thing this year and went 100% virtual, to comply with safety recommendations during our fun out-of-control pandemic. But was doing everything, from panels to trailer and news drops, entirely over Zoom as well-regarded by fans as doing it in person? Judging by some numbers dug up by Variety, absolutely not, not even with help from Keanu.

According to data supplied by social media analytics firm ListenFirst, everything was way, way, way down, despite the presence of numerous A-list talent talking about big movies and shows. ListenFirst claimed tweets that mentioned ComicCon@Home were down 95% from last year’s live brouhaha, with just 93,681 tweets vs. last year’s 1,719,000. Among those, tweets about the top 10 TV events were down 93%, while ones about the Top 5 movies were a staggering 99%.

YouTube views were even less promising. The panels all wound up online, but the average view count per panel was a paltry 15,000. As Variety pointed out, that’s twice as many who fit in the storied Hall H. On the other hand, even with the whole world granted access to big talks with big people, that’s…well, not terribly encouraging for future virtual Cons.

The best performing panel was, perhaps surprisingly, the one for The New Mutants, the cursed X-Men spin-off still scheduled for theatrical release next month, raking in 208,000 views since last week. That’s even far more than the TV champion, the panel for The Walking Dead, which nabbed 84,000 views.

One possible reason for such a law view count? No interaction. The panels may have occurred over Zoom, but they were dropped on YouTube, where fans couldn’t interact with creators and talent. There was also a dearth of panels from Lucasfilm and DC Films, and, for the most part, Marvel, aside from The New Mutants, from the Fox wing of the Marvel-verse, aside, as well as the documentary series Marvel 616. Indeed, the weekend’s biggest virtual fan event wasn’t at Comic Con but Zack Snyder debuting a short clip from the “Snyder Cut” of Justice League at an unrelated online event, which he did live, with plenty of fan interaction.

Granted, the reworked virtual version of SDCC had to be done with almost no time, and with interactive on-line technology still not close to the standards of in-person Cons. Considering America isn’t even close to the end of the first phase of Covid — to say nothing of any future phases — maybe everyone involved will have plenty of time to get it right next year, should large clumps of humanity still be unable to hang together indoors.

(Via Variety)

“Think about the honor of the opportunity,” B.A. Sheppard says in his viral video, which is the perfect way to think about things during this pandemic. His son is mowing the lawn and he seized the moment to remind us all of the importance of individuality and doing things not necessarily the “right way,” but the way that feels right for you.

“This young man coming toward me in this lawn mower, thats my son,” Sheppard says, smiling into the camera. “He’s cutting the grass and zig zagging all over the place. And you know what? Its perfectly fine. While I might have cut in a certain pattern, he’s doing his thing in the way that he wants to do it. And it’s totally okay. He is getting the grass cut. It may not be dad’s way, but he’s getting it done. And therein is the honor of the opportunity.”

Sheppard continues by saying that being able to give his son space where he can figure out how he wants to get things done is a great privilege. “As a young man, I don’t need him doing things exactly the way I did it,” he says. “Right now, it seems like he’s just cutting grass. But in my mind, because I know my son wants to be an engineer, I see his mind at work and I know that what he is producing now… it’s going to help him in the future.”

I walk to the beat of a different drummer, so Sheppard’s words are very personal to me. When I was fifteen, I started playing guitar and writing music. I knew I wanted to be a musician and there was no way anyone was going to talk me out of it. Learning that your son wants to make music for a living isn’t exactly what every parent wants to hear. But my parents always supported me. Always. The path I chose was not an easy one, but I knew it. I cannot imagine what it would have been like if my parents shamed me into working in an office or becoming a lawyer or doctor because that is what they wanted for me. I would have constantly been looking out the metaphorical window wondering what could have been. That is no way to live life.

My mother Ellie, 79, and my father Peter, who will be turning 81 years old this month, had the wisdom, patience and the compassion to stand behind me every step of the way. It’s the same way that this father sees his son. Sheppard concludes by giving us all a beautiful task. He challenges us to look for the honor in the opportunity of relationships that you have. I’m grateful to my parents for always supporting me and allowing me to march to that beat the way I wanted to. It allowed me to be the man I am today. For all the children out there, this video is an inspiration and reminder to find your path and not to live in the shadows of what others think you should do or be. Always, be yourself.

Major League Baseball’s opening night saw the Washington Nationals host the New York Yankees last Thursday, in what turned out to be a rain-shortened beginning to a pandemic-shortened season. To open the festivities in the otherwise empty Nationals Park, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the head of the National Institutes of Health, threw out the first pitch to a rather disastrous result, as the pitch scuttled well short and wide of the plate.

Ahead of that game, the president spoke on ESPN and claimed he would be throwing out the first pitch at a Yankees home game on August 15. However, according to the New York Times, neither the Yankees nor the White House had planned on him throwing out the first pitch on that date, as he was apparently incensed over Fauci getting the nod in Washington and decided to make that proclamation on his own.

There was one problem: Mr. Trump had not actually been invited on that day by the Yankees, according to one person with knowledge of Mr. Trump’s schedule. His announcement surprised both Yankees officials and the White House staff.

But Mr. Trump had been so annoyed by Dr. Fauci’s turn in the limelight, an official familiar with his reaction said, that he had directed his aides to call Yankees officials and make good on a longtime standing offer from Mr. Levine to throw out an opening pitch. But no date was ever finalized.

What resulted was a scramble drill from Yankees PR as well as the White House, with the result ultimately being Trump saying he had to cancel his appearance to throw out the first pitch due to needing to continue spending time on the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic that has killed over 140,000 Americans. In the end, Giancarlo Stanton’s response when asked about it of “That’s in August. We don’t need to worry about that right now,” turned out to be prescient — both in the swift cancellation by Trump and also the fact that baseball’s season lasting that long now seems in serious jeopardy amid an outbreak on the Miami Marlins.

The Times piece outlines the contentious relationship between Trump’s administration and Fauci, which has led to the nation’s top expert on epidemiology being marginalized at a time when the country has failed to mitigate the virus’ spread in the way nearly every other country has through sweeping national protocols and lockdowns.

Is Harrison, Arkansas truly America’s most racist town? It’s not like there are official statistics kept on such things, but the town of 13,000 in the Ozark Mountain region does have a reputation. According to the Arkansas Democrat Gazette, Harrison was the site of riots in the early 1900s that drove most of the Black population out. (Current demographics put the town at over 95% white, with less than 1% of the population being Black.) The Knights of the Ku Klux Klan and the white supremacist group Kingdom Identity Ministries are based in the area. The KKK uses a Harrison post office box for its mailing address, and its national director lives outside of town.

Though city leaders insist that the town’s reputation has been tarnished by a small group of people, there have been signs—literal signs—that white supremacist views aren’t that uncommon. One billboard in town in 2013 read “Anti-racist is a Code Word for Anti-White,” and another advertises “WhitePrideRadio.Com” and “AltRightTV.Com” with an image of a white family holding an American flag next to a cross and a message that says “For the Family.”

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Yeesh.

Rob Bliss recently tested the waters in Harrison by holding up a Black Lives Matter sign where townsfolk drove by. The responses were…not surprising, unfortunately. But a note from one young person helped dilute the ugliness that simply standing and holding Black Lives Matter sign revealed.

Please be aware that the video contains racist slurs and profanity. Watch with discretion.

Holding a Black Lives Matter Sign in America’s Most Racist Town

www.youtube.com

Unless you were living under the illusion that racism no longer exists, or still think that “All Lives Matter” is an okay response to Black Lives Matter, or somehow missed the memo that Black Lives Matter does not now and has not ever meant that Black Lives Matter more than others, the responses are appalling. As one commenter pointed out, it almost comes across like a South Park episode with exaggerated caricatures of real people. Only these are real people.

Thank goodness for that young person at the end—wearing a mask, no less—offering encouragement and praise for his statement. All it take sometimes is one person to offer a ray of hope to help keep a movement moving forward in the face of resistance.

Just think, if this is the kind of racist abuse a white man takes just for making the simple statement that Black Lives Matter, imagine what Black people have to deal with. This racist garbage is why BLM exists in the first place. Be like Rob and stand strong in the face of hate, America.

Ryan Reynolds may get into fake fights with the likes of Hugh Jackman, but only nice people get into imaginary beefs. For proof that our current Deadpool is an upstanding human being, witness this: He took to Twitter to not only help a total stranger out, but also to personally offer a cash reward.

That person is one Mara Soriano, whose backpack, according to CBC, was stolen in Vancouver’s West End, when she was busy moving. The bag contained her iPad and Nintendo Switch, but much, much more importantly it held an item that’s irreplaceable: a custom-made Build-a-Bear teddy which contained an audio recording of her mother’s final message before she died of cancer.

“It just makes me feel devastated,” Soriano told CBC. “I’m absolutely crushed.”

Soriano’s mother, Marilyn, had recorded the message for her before going into hospice

Soriano said her mother recorded a message for her and had the audio put it in the bear shortly before going into hospice. “At hospice her voice was different. Much softer. Not the mom I grew up with,” Soriano said. “That bear is the last memory I have of her speaking in her normal voice.”

The message, as per Soriano: “She said that she loved me and she was proud of me and that she’ll always be with me.”

Soriano’s message was picked up by, among others, CBC journalist Deborah Goble, whose tweet was re-tweeted by one of movies’ biggest actors. “Vancouver: $5,000 to anyone who returns this bear to Mara. Zero questions asked,” Reynolds wrote. “I think we all need this bear to come home.”

If you have any leads, please help out.

(Via CBC)