Month: August 2020

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World was a box office dud at the time of its release in 2010, much to Seth MacFarlane’s delight, but the Edgar Wright-directed film has gotten the respect it deserves in the decade since. We named it the third best comic book movie of the 2010s, and nearly everyone in the cast has gone on to other acclaimed projects: Chris Evans and Brie Larson in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Aubrey Plaza in Parks and Recreation, Kieran Culkin in Succession, Alison Pill in every prestige TV drama, etc.

Scott Pilgrim was such an in-demand project that you could build an impressive roster from the now-famous actors who weren’t cast in the movie. For instance, Wright revealed to Vanity Fair that Betty Gilpin, who is the best (only) reason to watch The Hunt, auditioned to play drummer Kim, as did Rooney Mara and Zoe Kazan.

“Sometimes there will be an [actor] I see… Like when I saw Betty Gilpin in GLOW. I was like, ‘Why does this woman look familiar? She’s amazing, oh, my God. Why do I know her? Why does that name sound familiar?’ And it’s like, ‘Oh yeah, she read for Scott Pilgrim.’ That’s what I do feel quite good about,” he said, “because I looked at my notes again and I had written by Betty Gilpin: ‘She’s great.’ At least I feel good about the fact that even if people lost out on the roles… there’s a lot of people who were kind of next.”

Other nexts include: Robert Pattinson as evil ex-boyfriend Lucas Lee, which went to Evans, and Sebastian Stan, who auditioned for Sex Bob-omb lead singer Stephen Stills; the part was given to Mark Webber. Wright is satisfied with the cast he ended up with (rightly so!), but “even when I look at the list of people who did audition, they’re all people I would still kill to work for,” he said. Edgar Wright Batman movie, when?

(Via Vanity Fair)

The iconic Netflix introductory sound nailed the ideal length for binge-watching sessions. If you’re gonna pound 20 episodes of, say, Cobra Kai (the first two seasons come to Netflix on August 28 with a third season to follow), then you definitely don’t need a 16-second intro before each part. You already know where you’re at, what you’re watching, and so on, with no reminder/reassurance needed beyond a “ta-dum.” However, if you’re gonna go watch a Netflix movie in a theater, then 16 seconds is a drop in the bucket compared to the 80 trailers that have already played.

To that effect, Netflix decided to snazz things up for the future (for whenever movie theaters are safe places to go again, and people can go watch the next feature-length Spike Lee joint while surrounded by other humans). As detailed by the Twenty Thousand Hertz podcast, Netflix is thinking ahead to those brighter times (not with a goat noise, though that would be something) and commissioned Hans Zimmer to compose an extended intro. Twitter user Siqi Chen plopped this up on Twitter.

Given that Tenet has been having quite an un-fun ride getting into theaters, hearing this work from the Interstellar, Inception, and Dunkirk composer is a reminder that we need life to get back to normal soon. Christopher Nolan’s giving it a shot, though, by rolling Tenet out globally in the coming weeks for Warner Bros. In the meantime, we can all press “play” again on the above sound and then go binge some more Netflix shows.

ASAP Ferg and Nicki Minaj don’t appear in the video for their new collaboration, “Move Ya Hips.” Instead, they opt for the cinematic approach, turning the video into a short film resembling the plot of the sci-fi thriller Ex Machina. When the video’s horny protagonist orders a RealDoll-esque Sex Bot, he gets a lot more than he bargained for. Not only does the bot shoot hoops like a pro, it also malfunctions, showing off a secret feature that its new owner comes to regret.

“Move Ya Hips” is the latest collaboration between the two New Yorkers after “Runnin” with Mike Will Made-It from the Creed II soundtrack. It’s Ferg’s second official lead single of the year after April’s “Value” and his second major collaboration of 2020 after working with IDK on the exuberant “Mazel Tov.” It’s also a reunion with MadeInTYO, who provides the hook on “Move Ya Hips,” after the two previously linked up on the Floor Seats banger “Wam.”

Meanwhile, “Move Ya Hips” completes a hat trick of collaborations for Nicki Minaj which includes the controversial Tekashi 69 reunion “Trollz” and Nicki’s remix of Doja Cat’s viral hit “Say So,” both of which are Nicki’s first two No.1 hits.

Watch ASAP Ferg’s “Move Ya Hips” video featuring Nicki Minaj above.

Future Islands’ last three albums have come about three years apart, and since The Far Field came out in 2017, if the group keeps up that rate, they’re due for a new release this year (especially after debuting a bunch of new material at a 2019 concert). Sure enough, they will be releasing an album in 2020, as they announced today that As Long As You Are drops on October 9.

The announcement is also accompanied by a video for the new single “Thrill,” a more slow-burning and emotional number than the single that preceded it, “For Sure.” The video is just a close-up shot of Samuel T. Herring singing the song in front of a plain white wall, which is honestly enough thanks to Herring having one of the most emotive faces in music.

Additionally, on the day the album comes out, the group will be livestreaming a “very special” show from their Baltimore hometown.

Watch the “Thrill” video above, and find the As Long As You Are art and tracklist below.

01. “Glada”
02. “For Sure”
03. “Born In A War”
04. “I Knew You”
05. “City’s Face”
06. “Waking”
07. “The Painter”
08. “Plastic Beach”
09. “Moonlight”
10. “Thrill”
11. “Hit The Coast”

As Long As You Are is out 10/9 via 4AD. Pre-order it here.

Julia Garner is known for a lot of things — starring in one of the best movies of 2020 (The Assistant) and appearing in one of the best shows of the 2010s (The Americans) — but she’s best known for playing Ruth on Netflix’s Ozark. In fact, showrunner Chris Mundy said that it’s Garner, not Jason Bateman or Laura Linney, who gets recognized the most when they’re shooting in Atlanta. She won an Emmy for the performance and now appears on the cover of magazines, but Garner does have one Ruth-related regret:

When news photos circulated this summer of revelers ignoring social distancing recommendations over a holiday weekend at the Lake of the Ozarks, Garner wondered if she should have made an Instagram post of Ruth chastising them. “Oh my God. I got so furious about that,” she says. “The one thing I regret this year is, I wish that I put out a video, like, Ruth does not approve.”

Those revelers truly don’t know sh*t about f*ck.

Production is set to begin on Ozark season four in October, but Garner also has to finish shooting the final five episodes of Netflix’s Inventing Anna, in which she plays real-life Russian scammer Anna Sorokin in the Shona Rhimes-created series. As for which comes first, “It depends on which state is deemed safer. It’s a question I’m curious about every day. They’re complicated roles. It’s very tiring to be two different people at the same time,” she said, adding, “Something I learned during COVID that I was struggling with was, for me acting is like meditating. I had a problem. I was like, why am I not feeling so present? It was because I haven’t been acting.” She can’t get back to acting soon enough, not only for herself, but for everyone who’s followed her career since The Americans.

(Via Hollywood Reporter)

XXL, as it does every year, has revealed its 2020 Freshman Class, and being named to this exclusive list is one of the highest honors a young rapper can receive. Fans usually take issue with some artists who were included or excluded from the list, and one big-time figure who didn’t make this year’s issue was Pop Smoke. However, XXL revealed that their original plan actually was to put the late rapper on the list, but they couldn’t due to “circumstances out of our control.”

When announcing the list, the publication wrote:

“One of the bittersweet memories of the 2020 Freshman process was meeting with Pop Smoke a month before his tragic death. Pop was chosen as the first Freshman in the class, to which he happily accepted. Circumstances out of our control prevented us from including Pop as part of the cover posthumously, but to us, he is still part of the class. The issue features an unreleased interview from Pop’s January visit with us where he discussed his career and the Brooklyn drill scene. R.I.P. Pop Smoke.”

The artists who are an official part of this year’s list are happy to be included, as artists like Chika, Jack Harlow, and more shared excited reactions.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Lindsey Broad was only on The Office for a dozen episodes in season eight, as widely despised character Cathy, while Leslie David Baker, who played Stanley, was a lovably grumpy fixture from episode one. But both actors have been targeted by trolls online.

Broad recently tweeted about how she was told “f*ck you, Cathy” after she posted something about her dog being “murdered,” while on Instagram, Baker shared the racist abuse he’s received since announcing his Stanley-centric spin-off.

“For those of you who don’t believe racism is still alive in the world… here’s the proof,” Baker wrote. “Our goal has simply been to entertain and give the fans a quality series. These rants are evidence that there is still a great deal of work that needs to be done here in America regarding racism. Bigotry and hate will not be allowed to irradicate art or Black people. Enough said.” Baker shared the hateful messages with his hundreds of thousands of Instagram followers, while censoring one frequently-used slur

As for the Uncle Stan spin-off: the series reached its fundraising goal on Kickstarter last month, and now Baker and “his business partner — Hollywood producer Sardar Khan — plan on shopping it to potential networks and streaming platforms.” Here’s the synopsis:

“After several years of enjoying a relatively uneventful retirement lifestyle, Uncle Stan receives an urgent call for help from his favorite nephew, Lucky: a recent widower with two small children and a motorcycle repair/flower shop in Los Angeles. Soon Uncle Stan finds himself dishing out all the support and guidance he has to offer in his new California home.”

The more Stanley in the world, the better.

Earlier this month, Cardi B teased that she would be launching a page on OnlyFans, a platform that is most commonly associated with adult entertainment but that has seen more widespread adoption in other industries in recent times. She hasn’t mentioned that thought much since then, but now her page is officially live.

Making the announcement, Cardi wrote on Instagram, “Ok guys so now you can subscribe to my only fans! Yes I’ll be putting by BTS from WAP there ! And my day to day content.Also any rumors floating around.NO I WONT BE SHOWING P*SSY , TITTIES AND ASS .LINK IN BIO…It will be a place for only me and my fans.”

As of press time, there are currently no posts on the page. Aside from her profile images, the only content on the account so far is her bio, which reads, “WELCOME TO MY WORLD!” When Cardi does start posting, it will cost fans $4.99 per month to see what she’s up to. She actually dropped her price down from $10, as she tweeted last night, “Ummm I did not know my onlyfans was charging ten dollars …I’m bringing it down to 4.99.Ya spend too much on vinyls and my merch coming next week.”

She apparently also had a bit of trouble activating her account, as she tweeted, “How the f*ck I go live on onlyfans? Wtfff.” She apparently got it figured out, though.

Cardi previously teased how she could use the platform, writing in a now-deleted tweet, “I’m doing a partnership with only fans .Everytime some1 start a rumor I will be addressing it there …..what else should I post besides rumors and behind the scenes ? Maybe a video of me cleaning my home with my nails ?” She also teased her OnlyFans arrival a month ago when she tweeted, “Which platform I should I put my content on ? YouTube or Onlyfans ?I be wanting to interact with my fans and show ya what I’m up too but I also don’t want the eaters on my sh*t.”

Cardi B is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Most of us don’t think of a bird as a cuddly pet, but Swoop the snuggly magpie didn’t care what humans think. After he was rescued by New Zealander Matt Owens, the baby bird became a beloved part of the family—the family being Owens and his cat, Mowgli.

“It was just sitting there bleeding, sort of unable to walk properly and it looked like it had been abandoned by its mum so I just picked it up and decided to take it home,” Owens told Newshub. The timing of finding Swoop couldn’t have been better. Owens’ dad had just been diagnosed with terminal cancer, and the bond he formed taking care of Swoop gave Owens an extra dose of love and comfort.

Mowgli wasn’t sure about the new family member at first, but soon took to Swoop and the two became fur-feather friends. The Dodo recently shared a video on Facebook highlighting Owens, Swoop, and Mowgli’s story, and it’s unbelievably adorable.

There’s more to the story, though. Owens documented Swoop and Mowgli’s story on Instagram, and in February, he posted an update on Swoop’s life:

“When I found wee swoop as an injured baby and decided to raise him/her. I always had the intention of getting him/her healthy and capable of looking after him/herself in the wild. It seems that time has finally arrived. Swoop came to me when I found out about my dads illness and Ironically now dad has left us, swoop has also decided to leave the nest, I’m sure he/she will be out the with a new family or partner and I’m sure he/she will be back one day. Maybe with babies :O What an amazing experience it has been looking after this beautiful creature that bought me so much joy at a time I needed it the most. Ill miss ya buddy ❤️ I’ll continue to post memories from time to time for all you swoop lovers out there. 🙂 love, Dad.”

Owens has since adopted another bird named Niwa. He does still share photos of Mowgli and Swoop, though, as fond memories.

How sweet is this?

And this?

Come on…

You never know when life will bring you exactly what you need, whether you’re a man or a bird or a cat. Best wishes to Scoop in his/her new life beyond the Owens nest. And thanks for sharing your sweet little family and giving us all the uplifting dose of sweetness we could all use right now.

Bill Gates has always been passionate about providing vaccines to the parts of the world that lack resources. On Friday he came through again by announcing that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is committing $150 million toward efforts to develop and distribute a low cost COVID-19 vaccine to some of the poorer countries of the world.

According to Vox, this latest financial commitment brings the total Gates has dedicated to the pandemic to around $500 million. He is hoping the funds will keep vaccine costs down to increase accessibility beyond just the wealthier populations. As Gates told Bloomberg, “We’re trying to make sure we can end it not just in the rich countries.” Gates is working with the Serum Institute, which is the most prolific vaccine producer in the world, to make $100 million doses that would not exceed $3. In general, companies producing the vaccine have agreed to keep the profit margin low.”

The affordability will also be influenced by which vaccines prove to be the most effective. There are over 100 vaccines being developed worldwide, and 28 have made it to human trials. The cost will be hire if companies like Moderna and Pfizer provide the best solution, as they are developing RNA vaccines, which typically cost more to produce.

In an interview with WIRED, Gates said, “Because of the way you manufacture them, and the difficulty of scaling up, they are more likely — if they are helpful — to help in the rich countries. They won’t be the low-cost, scalable solution for the world at large.” There are pharmaceutical companies like Johnson & Johnson, AstraZeneca and Novavax that are pursuing a more affordable solution so that it would be available to a wider range of economic demographics. He says, “Those are the ones most scalable and low-cost.”

The Gates Foundation is also heavily involved in GAVI, a worldwide vaccine alliance, by pledging $1.6 billion dollars to the organization over the next five years. This is on top of the $4 billion has given to GAVI over the past few decades.

Not only is Bill Gates using his fortune to help contain the pandemic, he has also been very outspoken interviewing for what seems to be every news outlet there is. One of his concerns is the involvement from the United States regarding the global scale of the pandemic. He has spoken with multiple high ranking officials in the White House, but the U.S. has yet to show up to any of the GAVI meetings. Gates is hoping this is not a sign of “vaccine nationalism,” which is if a country hoards vaccines that could be used to help other parts of the world. It is not so far fetched if you recall how cutthroat people were about toilet paper not too long ago.

With all the time, money and effort Bill Gates is putting into helping the world recover from COVID-19, in the grand scale of things wearing a mask doesn’t seem like that much of a sacrifice. Even if you are one of the people who think the whole thing is a hoax or a conspiracy, wear the mask anyway just in the off chance all those doctors and scientists know what they are talking about.