Month: September 2020

Orphan Black star Tatiana Maslany will channel the rage the internet felt when she wasn’t nominated for an Emmy (until she was) for her next role: She-Hulk.

The Canadian actress will portray the Marvel character in a new Disney+ series, which centers on “Jennifer Walters, an attorney and cousin of Bruce Banner, a.k.a. The Hulk. An emergency blood transfusion from her cousin gave Walters her powers, but unlike Banner/Hulk, She-Hulk was able to keep her intelligence and personality when she Hulked out,” according to Deadline. The casting announcement comes months after a rumor suggested that Marvel was looking for an “Alison Brie-type” to play the character. Brie is great, obviously, but she already has Glow; besides, the more Maslany, the better, as Perry Mason viewers and Comedy Bang Bang listeners know all too well.

The She-Hulk pilot will be directed by Kat Coiro (It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia), while “Rick and Morty writer Jessica Gao has already been tapped to lead the writers room,” Deadline reports. Other Marvel-based series on Disney’s streaming service include The Falcon and Winter Soldier, Loki, and WandaVision, which is expected to debut this year.

Let She-Hulk sing, I say.

She-Hulk does not currently have a premiere date.

(Via Deadline)

We don’t have to tell you how important the topic of climate change is. Global warming and extreme shifts in weather patterns are more than concerning. Dogfish Head understands the importance of implementing fundamental changes to how businesses operate to ensure future generations don’t have to worry about the effect of our global emissions and other environmentally damaging actions.

Just in time for Climate Week (September 21-27), the Rehoboth, Delware-based brewery is releasing a beer called Re-Gen-Ale. But the brew is more than just a reference to renewable, sustainable resources. The beer itself is the first traceably sourced beer, hoping to address climate change by focusing on sustainable supply chains.

In an effort to bring attention to the effects of global warming and other environment-related problems, the brewery collaborated with Indigo Carbon — a company that bases its business on providing money for farmers and growers to add carbon to their soil to improve soil health.

The beer itself was made using Indigo Carbon’s Grain Marketplace. This platform was created to connect sustainable growers and purchasing companies. With the company’s help, Dogfish Head acquired traceably sourced and sustainable wheat that was grown using regenerative farming — a practice that focuses on the rebuilding of topsoil and restoring soil biodiversity. The brewery also purchased well over the number of carbon credits required to offset the production process.

“Though this beer is just one small step toward developing more sustainable business practices, working with Indigo to brew Re-Gen-Ale has been a truly rewarding and thought-provoking experience,” Sam Calagione, founder of Dogfish Head said in a release. “It’s shown us how thoughtful and sustainable choices, both big and small, can impact our environment. It has also taught us about new, nature-based solutions we can implement to reduce our carbon footprint and help combat climate change while brewing unique and delicious beers, like Re-Gen-Ale.”

The limited-edition beer is a farmhouse saison that was brewed with Willamette and Zuper Saazer hops as well as house-made saison yeast. It will be released on Saturday, September 19 at Dogfish Head Brewings & Eats in Rehoboth in 4 pack cans as well as on draft. An added bonus: even the packaging used is bio-degradable and ocean-life friendly.

Despite being one of rap’s poster boys for creative and off-kilter abstract music making, Open Mike Eagle is also friends with much of Los Angeles’ stand-up comic community — which likely led to and spun out of his show with Baron Vaughn, The New Negroes. For his new video, “Bucciarati,” Mike taps Paul F. Thompkins, Jordan Katz, and Demi Adejuyigbe to star and direct, respectively, in an amusing narrative that takes place in a divorce court which finds lawyers Mike and Thompkins debating in front of Judge Katz.

The twist, though, is that due to the missing Kari Faux (who appears on the track but missed the video shoot due to the pandemic), Thompkins lip-syncs all of Mike’s raps, while Mike lip-sync’s all of Kari’s. The overall effect is as amusing as Mike’s satirical videos from the New Negroes, which found him commenting on everything from the consent conversation to being the wokest person in a barbershop argument.

Bucciarati is the first single from Open Mike Eagle’s upcoming album Anime, Trauma And Divorce due October 16 on his own Autoreverse Records.

Watch Open Mike Eagle’s “Bucciarati” video with Kari Faux above.

Anime, Trauma And Divorce is out 10/16 on Autoreverse Records. Pre-save it here.

The Boys fans have punished the show’s Amazon rating over the last few weeks because of its weekly release schedule, and now we know that Homelander is very much aware of the situation. We already knew that showrunner Eric Kripke saw the review bombing, as he addressed it last week and wasn’t thrilled about fans giving a bad review to something, which they apparently like so much that they demand more of it instantly.

Kripke went a bit further on Thursday, though, posting a repurposed clip from Season 2 that superimposed real one-star reviews of The Boys that all criticize Amazon and the show for its format. Those have come since its initial three-episode Season 2 drop, with single weekly episodes now coming out every Friday. As they play on the screen, Homelander scrolls through them growing increasingly angry. And no one likes it when he gets angry.

The Boys isn’t the only show in the streaming era that has embraced the more broadcast television-like format of a weekly episode release. The Mandalorian did it last fall and will likely do it again, and no one is threatening Baby Yoda or review bombing Disney+. But perhaps the more brutal show has fans willing to go to greater risks to get what they want: more of the show with less of the wait.

Whether the clip posted was more of an acknowledgment of frustration rather than a tease of something actually happening is unclear, but perhaps we’ll know more when the fifth episode (or more?) of the show drops on Friday.

If nothing below suits your sensibilities, check out our guide to What You Should Watch On Streaming Right Now.

Dragon’s Dogma (Netflix series) — This anime series follows Ethan, who resolves to vanquish a dragon who shattered his humanity, and there are demons afoot. Based upon the open-world action game from Capcom, the series revolves around the seven deadly sins in an epic action-adventure story. The CG animation arrives courtesy of Sublimation as part of an overarching partnership with Netflix, so there’s probably more where this came from in the future.

Departure (Peacock series) — In this six-part series, Archie Panjabi and Christopher Plummer play investigators who attempt to track down a commercial aircraft after it literally vanishes into thin air. A mysterious survivor ends up becoming a terrorism suspect, so watch out, logic.

GIMS: On The Record (Netflix documentary) — Rap superstar Gims takes viewers through the year leading up to his 2019 Stade de France performance.

The Last Word (Netflix series) — Death and funerals might not sound like the focus of anything that you’d want to watch right now, but this series involves the protagonist discovering her own lust for life. And she shakes up the funeral business to prove that death does not have the last word.

Late Show With Stephen Colbert — Sarah Paulson

The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon — Seth MacFarlane, Evan Rachel Wood, Penn & Teller

The Late Late Show With James Corden — Neil Patrick Harris, Ziggy Marley feat. Ben Harper

In case you missed these offerings last week:

Unpregnant (HBO Max film) — A 17-year-old Type A student, Veronica (Haley Lu Richardson), deals with a never-taken-lightly decision by taking a 1000-mile road trip with her former BFF, Bailey (Barbie Ferreira), and it’s a wild ride that neither of them suspected was afoot. The value of renewed friendships with a dash of both Thelma And Louise and Fast And Furious make this an unexpectedly funny film with costars including Alex MacNicoll, Breckin Meyer, and Giancarlo Esposito, and Betty Who.

Woke (Hulu series) — This show is the comedy series that Lamorne Morris (and the rest of us) deserves with a little bit of everything. It’s surreal, it’s funny, it’s serious, it’s got talking toast and trashcans, and it’s in good hands with director Maurice “Mo” Marable. The quest to “keep it light” never felt so real as Keef (based upon the life and work of artist Keith Knight) experiences a rude awakening and transformation to follow.

The Killing of Breonna Taylor (Hulu series) — The New York Times investigates the life of Bronna Taylor and her police killing (following a no-knock warrant) on March 13 while the case still unfolds.

Rico Nasty‘s debut album Nightmare Vacation is still in the works without a release date in sight, but that hasn’t stopped her from sharing the project’s latest single. “Own It” arrives with a surreal video that finds Rico performing the upbeat track while surrounded by unexplained wildlife like ducklings, possums, and raccoons. In one scene, Rico dons a spike covered, bright yellow vinyl mask that covers everything but her mouth, while in another, she presents as a twisted housewife. Her makeup and hair are the stars of the video, pushing the boundaries of even what we’re used to seeing from the quirky star.

While the COVID-19 outbreak delayed Rico’s debut, she told Uproxx that she’s using the extra time to polish her product. That extra effort resulted in her videos for “Popstar” and “iPhone,” a feature appearance in Kali Uchis’ video for “Aquí Yo Mando,” and a plethora of soundtrack contributions, including “Dirty” for Insecure, “495” with IDK from Basketball County, and “My Little Alien” for Scoob! Cardi tabbed Rico as “up next” last year and it looks like she’s soon to make good.

Watch Rico Nasty’s “Own It” video above.

Rico Nasty is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Anyone who’s been out of a job knows that filling out applications online can be terribly frustrating. Sometimes, it feels like you’re sending your resume into a black hole or straight into a garbage shoot on the other end.

According to Zip Job, around 250 resumes are sent to the average job opening and the most people receive a response to around 10 to 20% of the applications they submit. Someone with a grade-A resume will get a response rate somewhere around 30%.

Patrick Hoagland, a father in Arizona, was laid off of his job at a metal recycling company and it hit his family hard financially.

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“I definitely had fear,” Hoagland told “Good Morning America.” “My wife and I, we don’t make a whole lot of money individually. Once I lost my job, everything was put on her.”

So, after sending out countless resumes online, he decided to get aggressive in his job search by standing on a street corner, in 110-degree Phoenix heat, and passed out his resume to anyone who would take it.

“I wasn’t getting any responses,” he said. “I was getting frustrated. It popped into my head, stand on a corner and hold a sign and hand out resumes. At first, I laughed about it…and then it kind of went crazy.”

For a few hours a day for three days, he stood on a street corner with a sign that read: “Please take a resume. Laid-off. Looking for a job.”

Melissa DiGianfilippo / Facebook

One of the people who accepted a copy of his resume was Melissa DiGianfilippo, the owner of a PR firm. She was so impressed by Hoagland’s tenacity, she posted a photo of his resume on Facebook.

“I figured, ‘I have a pretty wide network. I’ll share on social media,'” DiGianfilippo said.

“I was driving down Camelback Road near my office and spotted this guy, Patrick, on the side of the road with a huge smile on his face in 110-degree heat, with a sign asking people to please take his resume,” she wrote. “I love that he was not asking for a handout, just for people to consider him for a job.”

Immediately, the job offers poured in by the hundreds to his LinkedIn page. Eventually, he landed a job at Flatline Concrete as a concrete grinder.

“They reached out to me over email phone, and I am glad that they did,” he said. “It’s my dream job scenario.”

“I can’t say thank you enough to everybody,” Hoagland said. “I had a lot of people who sent messages that weren’t necessarily job offers but were well-wishes [saying], ‘Good luck in your search.’ It was nice to see that.'”

Times are hard for a lot of people these days and there’s no assurance that in today’s tough job market, Hoagland’s strategy will work for everyone. But his story is a great example of how people genuinely want to help those who are down on their luck and are willing to work hard to get back on their feet.

At the end of Steve McQueen’s Lovers Rock – a new film that both opens the New York Film Festival Thursday night and opens McQueen’s five part anthology coming to Amazon, Small Axe (a West Indian proverb meaning “together we are strong”) – he dedicates it to “lovers and rockers.” After watching Lovers Rock, it’s hard to think of a better dedication. At a running time of around 70 minutes, the movie is a celebration of music and love. It’s literally a party. It’s an all-encompassing experience that McQueen directs with the same urgency of his other, more inherently intense films – the urgency that has made him one of the best directors today (and one of my own personal favorites, if not just plain “favorite”).

As I write this, I have yet to see any of the other four installments of McQueen’s five-part series. From what I understand, the series will get more fraught in the later installments (the whole series is, according to McQueen, “stories being told to me by my parents, my aunt, and by experiencing racial discrimination myself growing up in the ‘70s and ‘80s), but McQueen wanted to open up with something joyful. (Also, this first installment is the only one of the five based on fiction.) Part of me wanted to wait before writing about the series at all until I had seen the whole thing, but Lovers Rock works so well on its own as an experience I decided to just go ahead and write about it anyway.

The term “Lovers Rock” refers to the romantic reggae genre of music and is featured prominently in McQueen’s film. McQueen says he had the idea for this whole anthology just after his first film, Hunger. After watching, this makes a lot of sense because Lovers Rock feels like a throwback for McQueen – an intense focus on one subject. But instead of Michael Fassbender slowly starving himself to death in political protest, it’s a celebration of early 1980s London Black culture in its own form of political protest. At least in as much that this was a group that wasn’t welcome at local clubs, so they had to build their own house parties. And Lovers Rock basically acts as a time machine, being able to almost fully transport us to one of these parties.

Lovers Rock is more about the experience than the plot. At least, that’s to say, the plot is a little more enveloped in the sights and sounds than a traditional film. The story centers on Martha (Amarah-Jae St. Aubyn) who, along with her pal Patty (Shaniqua Okwok), are headed to a party as this is interlaced with preparations for the party – which basically consists of watching giant speakers being installed. At the party, Martha meets Franklyn (Michael Ward) and a romance starts to blossom. But, again, this isn’t the traditional narrative. The plot is entirely driven by the party. It’s a movie where, almost spiritually, you just have to give yourself over to what you’re watching. You have to be at this party. If you resist (and it’s a hard movie to resist) – if you don’t want to be at this party – in that case this could be a frustrating movie to watch.

Including 2008’s Hunger, we’ve now only had a grand total of four feature-length films from McQueen – which include Shame, 12 Years a Slave, and 2018’s Widows. So it’s pretty remarkable, now, McQueen is basically giving us five brand new movies all at once. Honestly, this is such a gift to anyone who enjoys his films (me) and I cannot wait to see the rest of the anthology. But McQueen’s movies always tend to deal with some sort of pain, both existential and physical. So, it’s just nice to see McQueen make something so full of joy (even though there are danger and prejudices lurking just outside of the confines of the party), just for his own sake. Over the years he’s become my favorite director to interview because he’s such a lightning rod of ideas and opinions (and he expects anyone interviewer to be meeting him at his level, which is basically impossible, but I enjoy at least trying), that for his own well-being, I’m glad he let himself have this. Just to let loose end enjoy himself, at least momentarily. McQueen calls this his musical, which is accurate, because it’s a musical in the sense that, the way it’s presented, is only something McQueen could really pull off. And, my goodness, I’m glad he did.

You can contact Mike Ryan directly on Twitter.

David Byrne has always gone beyond just music to get his ideas across, and his next endeavor continues on that thread. Today, Reasons To Be Cheerful, his online magazine, is launching We Are Not Divided, a “multimedia editorial project.”

Press materials describe the endeavor as “a six-week collaborative journalistic exploration of our capacity to overcome division,” adding, “We Are Not Divided tells the stories of places and institutions that are succeeding in overcoming division. The multimedia series brings together dozens of written features, infographics, video content and other powerful interactive storytelling to infuse the public dialogue with a perspective that highlights the human capacity for finding ways to move toward each other.”

The project, which launches today and will run until November 2, will feature original hand-drawn illustrations by Byrne. He says of the project:

“This series is hopeful at a time when that is in short supply. I realize the title might come as a shock. Not divided? Are you kidding me? What world are you living in? I am more than a little aware of what’s happening, but the truth is there is evidence that we can find ways to come together — I have to believe that or I would sink into despair. Luckily, there are people and initiatives out there that we can look to for inspiration, and boy do we need it.”

Press materials further lay out what We Are Not Divided will entail: “Topics will include a British Columbian city that toppled a statue in a way that led to reconciliation rather than acrimony; a community of Congolese refugees in New York who used theater to end the tribal strife that had followed them to their new home; how Ireland’s unusual model of having citizens advise the government led to a lasting friendship between a conservative postal worker and a gay IT manager who helped change the fate of Ireland’s gay marriage law; a ‘pro-voice’ non-profit offering non-partisan abortion services to everyone from California feminists to Bible Belt churchgoers; and many more.”

Find We Are Not Divided here.

If you’ve never seen Rick and Morty (what are you waiting for?), it’s an Adult Swim cartoon about a bumbling mad scientist named Rick who not-so-vaguely resembles Doc Brown from Back to the Future. He and his grandson Morty travel through space and time on adventures that really never pan out the way they envision.

To pay homage to this over-the-top, cosmically ridiculous show, Adult Swim collaborated with well-known hyperbolic paraboloid potato chip brand Pringles to release Pickle Rick-flavored chips in February. This week, the brand announced that it would be adding to the Rick and Morty Pringles collection with “Honey Mustard Morty” and “Me! I’m Cheddar & Sour Cream.”

You don’t need to use your portal gun to get this goodness inside of you because these three limited-edition flavors are available this September at Walmart (and Walmart.com). Since we also enjoy unintentionally changing time and space and also like munching on potato-based chips, decided to try these three flavors. Don’t worry, we tirelessly tasted and re-tasted each flavor so you don’t have to.

Honey Mustard Morty

The Story:

This flavor was created to pay homage to the ignorance is bliss, bumbling, good-natured personality of Morty. Honey is used to describe the sweetness of the young man, while mustard is used to describe the fact that he’s got a little spicier side that allows him to jump headfirst into his grandpa’s adventures.

Tasting Notes:

Not surprisingly, when you pop to top of the can you’re immediately met with a thick layer of honey mustard. This is followed by subtle crisp potato and savory salt. The first bite brings more mustard but its nicely subdued. It’s very sweet and has an almost barbecue sauce flavor that follows close behind. The aftertaste is all tangy honey, mustard, and sweet sugar.

Bottom Line:

While this chip has a strong fragrance of mustard, it’s surprisingly light in mustard flavor. It is sweet though and becomes cloying over time — a downside for those not looking for sugar with their savory snacks.

Look at Me! I’m Cheddar & Sour Cream

The Story:

The Mr. Meeseecks Box summons the Meeseecks, a race of giant, blue humanoids. To pay tribute to this very strange group of characters, Pringles made a flavor designed to be eaten fast. Since, as you know, Meeseecks absolutely loath existing.

They’re cheddar and sour cream because why wouldn’t they be?

Tasting Notes:

Cracking open the cans brings up not-so-pleasant fragrances of old cheese and wet laundry. Your best bet is to not smell this one before you take a bite. The flavor is really in your face, not unlike Rick when he’s dragging Morty around the universe. The flavor is much better than the aroma. It’s high in chemically pleasing cheddar cheese flavors with a subtle sour cream backbone.

The finish is full of so much cheese that you’ll feel like you need to brush your teeth after indulging.

Bottom Line:

Not the best of the bunch. This is a chip for fans of overly cheesy, sweaty socks flavored potato chips. If you can only buy two flavors, don’t get this one.

Pickle Rick

The Story:

One of the most popular episodes of ‘Rick and Morty’ revolved around Rick turning himself into a terrifying pickle in an attempt to avoid attending family therapy. To pay tribute to this horrific character, Pringles made a pickle-flavored chip you won’t soon forget.

Tasting Notes:

Opening a can of Pickle Rick immediately unleashes a new dimension of dill. In fact, it’s like a cloud of dill and salt and not much else. But, it’s somehow pleasing and will draw pickle fans in for more. The first taste is all dill, but it’s not as overpowering as the cheddar and sour cream chip. In fact, this might be the blandest of all the flavors. Thereby making it the most munchable for an extended period of time.

The finish is mostly just crispy potato and salt with just a bit of dill left on the palate.

Bottom Line:

Of the three, this one is definitely the best. There’s a reason why this was the first Pringles variety released. It also should have been the only one released. The others are just okay by comparison.