Month: November 2020

“I learned that I had to deal with the things that hurt me… I didn’t really have anybody to talk to… in the hood, nobody wants to hear that… Talking about your problems is viewed as a sign of weakness when actually it’s one of the bravest things you can do. One of the bravest things you can do is put it on the table, chop it up, and just let it out.”

In this clip from next week’s People’s Party with Talib Kweli, Kweli and Jasmin Leigh go deep with legendary rapper DMX — discussing the roots of his crack addiction. X explains how his struggles with the drug began at 14-years-old, when he unknowingly smoked a crack-laced blunt given to him by the same person who introduced him to hip-hop. He goes on to detail how this trauma would inspire much of the confessional output of his rhymes.

In a moment filled with pathos, DMX breaks down –reminiscing about this pivotal moment in his life and how it set him on the trajectory that would ultimately shape his career. As he explains, he considers himself “blessed with a curse.”

“Thank you for helping me open that door because that’s actually the biggest problem, not addiction. Drugs were never a problem, drugs were a symptom of a bigger problem. There were things I went through in my childhood where I just blocked it out. You never know when the things you stored away are going to come out and just fall all over the place… Let me open this door and start dealing with this shit right now before it comes out at the wrong time and I just have a meltdown… that’s what’s helped with addiction and sobriety.”

Catch this rare and deeply resonant moment with DMX above and watch the full People’s Party interview on Monday, 11/9 at 6amPT / 9amET.

After causing an intense backlash from Muslims in the Parisian suburb of Essonne, provocative posters for Borat Subsequent Moviefilm have been permanently removed from buses. The posters offended the Muslim community due to Sacha Baron Cohen posing nearly nude while wearing a ring that with the word “Allah” on it. Here’s a look at the poster in question.

While courting controversy is par for the course for Cohen, the situation in Essonne is particularly fragile right now as well as the rest of Paris. Via Variety:

The suburb of Essonne has been shaken up in recent weeks by the murder of Samuel Paty, a French middle-school teacher who was beheaded after showing cartoons to his students of the Prophet Muhammad from the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo. The murder of Paty sent shockwaves through the entire country. The issue of mocking religion has long been sensitive in France. Charlie Hebdo was the target of a terrorist attack in 2015 that decimated its newsroom. A trial for this attack has been underway in Paris since September.

The Borat sequel ignited a gleeful firestorm with American audiences, thanks to Cohen brutally roasting the Trump administration, QAnon conspiracy theorists, and pro-life activists, along with catching Rudy Giuliani in a particularly compromising position for the film’s final scene. But while Cohen routinely put his own life at risk for the film, the recent situation in Essonne has turned into a tough one for the local populace to navigate. Amazon and Baron Cohen appear to be erring on the side of caution by removing the offensive posters. Although, it will be interesting to see if the comedian has thoughts on the matter at a later date.

(Via Variety)

I recently bought an old-ish $40 PC from somebody on Facebook Marketplace. I cleaned it, made minor upgrades to it, and connected it to my television to basically use as a beefier (and admittedly less energy-efficient) Fire TV Stick. Since then, I’ve sought new ways to enjoy my newly computerized TV. In the process, I made a personal discovery.

Remember channel surfing, the act of flipping through dozens of cable channels you paid for but seldom watched and checking out whatever’s on? For cord-cutters like myself, Pluto TV brings that back. In fact, that’s basically their slogan: “Drop in. It’s free.”

For the unfamiliar, Pluto TV is a ViacomCBS-owned TV streaming platform that launched in 2013 and is distinctly different from services like Netflix and Hulu. There are two major factors that set it apart: (1) It emulates traditional cable TV in that shows are broadcast on a variety of live channels; (2) It’s free, with advertisements much like regular TV.

Pluto TV isn’t going to replace any of the streaming platforms you subscribe to. That’s not the goal. What it should do for you, though, is serve is a worthwhile complement to them.

A common streaming TV quirk to which everybody can relate is the analysis-paralysis that comes with trying to pick what to watch. A report from 2019 said the average U.S. adult spends 7.4 minutes deciding what to watch on a streaming service. It also noted that 21 percent of users opt to not watch anything at all if they can’t make up their minds.

I don’t have data to back this up, but it seems like picking what to put on wasn’t as big a deal with cable. Back in those days, I’d throw on the TV, check my rotation of go-to channels, and just watch whatever was on. “Watching whatever is on” is a foreign concept to cord-cutters, though, because in order for something to be on, you have to put it on. It’s a low-stakes situation, but there’s definitely a pressure to choose the “right” thing to watch, which usually leads to frustration and an 80th The Office binge.

It’s in these situations, when you don’t know what you’re looking for, when Pluto TV comes in handy.

Recently, I’ve enjoyed sitting in front of the TV for a bit after dinner and checking out what’s playing on Pluto TV. The service boasts hundreds of themed channels, like one with classic Comedy Central content and another that just plays Deal Or No Deal reruns, all of which combine to offer over 100,000 hours of content.

On one weekday evening, for example, across all Pluto TV channels, I had the option of checking out reality/competition staples like Fear Factor, RuPaul’s Drag Race, and America’s Next Top Model; Nickelodeon classics SpongeBob SquarePants, Rugrats, Rocko’s Modern Life, All That, The Fairly OddParents, and Doug; music programming like Prince’s Sign O’ The Times concert film and a Britney Spears documentary; nature survival shows The Island With Bear Grylls and Survivorman; comedy favorites The Sarah Silverman Program, Crank Yankers, Reno 911!, Beavis And Butt-Head, and Everybody Hates Chris; anime hits Naruto and JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure; and food shows Iron Chef America, Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations, America’s Test Kitchen, and Secret Eats With Adam Richman.

That’s not an awful slate of programming, especially for free! A lot of those shows are ones I used to watch during channel-surfing sessions, except now I’m not paying for them.

So far, I’ve gravitated towards the IFC channel to re-watch Portlandia and the Comedy Bang! Bang! TV series. I’ve also gotten a kick out of Idiotest, a GSN game show which ran from 2014 to 2017 and tasked contestants with answering brain-teasers and trick questions. Part of the appeal is that it’s not a major network-type of game show (the indie to Family Feud‘s pop, if you will), and that’s evident in the contestants’ winnings; the victors of one episode I saw recently went home with $760, and that was for two people. I hope the network paid for their flights, because otherwise, they maybe broke even on the trip.

Discovering an old show by chance like that is a rarer thing these days. Now, new shows usually enter your radar via some sort of recommendation. That’s the beauty of channel surfing and the revival of it via Pluto TV: it offers one less decision to make and the opportunity to let fate guide your life for a few minutes, potentially to an entertaining place you didn’t see coming.

A lot of things about traditional cable suck, but channel surfing isn’t one of them. So thank you, Pluto TV, for letting me have that again.

A day after shooting down a possible collaboration between himself and Travis Scott, Denzel Curry wants Travis Scott fans to stop overreacting to his tweet about the Houstonian rapper. When the “Black Balloon” rapper told a fan that Scott had a “funky” attitude in response to a question about working with him, Travis’ fans apparently took the comment personally. Today, Denzel sent a string of tweets commenting on the situation, saying, “I got stans and n****s with no hairline coming at me about their favorite rapper.”

Curry seemed nonplussed about the feedback, tweeting, “Lol people really mad about me keepin it real about their favorite artist,” and characterizing the response with a typically sardonic quip. “They actin like I DDT Their grandma or sumn,” he ribbed. He added in his own suggestion for resolving the issue: “Let’s start a boxing league for rappers that don’t like each other.” Considering how often fans clamor for a sequel to EA’s Def Jam Vendetta rap-wrestling game, it does seem like there’d be some interest.

Denzel did have a boxing-adjacent tour series going late last year and earlier this year but his Red Bull Zeltron World Wide battles were, like the rest of the live entertainment industry, struck down by the COVID-19 response. Before that, his planned joust with JID was postponed due to JID’s wrecked vocal cords, while his matchup with Rico Nasty was outright canceled by the coronavirus quarantine. Maybe when all this is over, they can make another attempt — and get Travis Scott on the bill, funky attitude or no.

HBO Max’s first original TV show, Love Life, included a sharp performance from Anna Kendrick, but given that the romantic dramedy is an anthology series, a changing of the starring guard was expected. This summer, executive producer Paul Feig told us that they had Season 2 all plotted out, and they were figuring out casting details. Well, the series has found its new star, William Jackson Harper of The Good Place fame.

Deadline reports that although Kendrick will sporadically appear in the sophomore season, Harper’s definitely the toplining leading guy. He’ll play a character who’s escaping a starter marriage of sorts (to a mistaken soulmate), and now, he’s single again in New York City, which means that the Jacked Chidi physique might serve a more clear-cut purpose. Here’s more:

Season 2 will focus on Harper’s character as he comes out of a years-long relationship with the woman he thought was going to be his person. The rug pulled out from under him, he is plunged back into the search for the romantic fulfillment that he thought he had already found.

Yep, a whole lot of us have been there, so it sounds like the show will keep viewers empathizing with the season protagonist. That made the first batch of episodes occasionally difficult to watch but ultimately rewarding in a realistic way, even if Harper’s character (like that of Kendrick) will probably have a much better apartment than his young-and-single status will suggest. Can he please be a firefighter? That’d be some news that could only make 2020 better.

(Via Deadline)

One of the most confounding things for many people in the Trump era is how on Earth a porn star banging, pussy grabbing, serial lying, charity stealing, student defrauding, non-church-going, faith-mocking, unrepenting president could have won the support of conservative evangelical Christians. The hypocrisy has always been a bit stunning, but a viral video of Trump’s “spiritual adviser” Paula White offering a prayer—or something—for his reelection really puts a feather in the cap of the absurdity of it all.

Known for her charismatic televangelism and for asking people to send her part of their January salaries before anything else, White’s preaching often focuses on the “prosperity gospel” (which basically preaches that God wants us to be rich, so if you’re rich you’re clearly doing the right thing in God’s eyes—Hallelujah, unbridled capitalism and materialism!). But this week, she was focused on Trump’s reelection, and phew, this is a performance you just have to see.

So, there’s a lot to talk about here. For people who come from this particular tradition, this might seem normal, but the repetitive, rhythmic chanting feels a bit brainwashy to many of us. The summoning of angels from Africa and South America thing was…interesting. We’ll get to that in a bit. The speaking in tongues part was also…interesting. There’s too much to dive into on that front, so I just won’t go there.

In addition to all that, what has people really scratching their heads is the dude walking back and forth behind White on the stage. Seriously, who is that guy and what is he doing?

People were mesmerized by the guy just popping in and out of the camera shot.

Sooooo many questions about wandering back and forth man. Is he one of the angels from Africa or South America that she summoned? Doesn’t really look like it. Is that a towel draped over his arm? Did he get lost on his way to the shower? Why is he wearing a t-shirt and shorts up on the stage? Why is he even up on the stage at all? Does Paula even know he’s there? Is that a Bible he’s carrying? Or is he just getting some pleasure reading in while he’s out for a stroll?

Carl T. Bergstrom, a virologist at University of Washington, tweeted a screenshot of the man walking behind Paula White with the caption “We are all this guy,” and it’s painfully true. People like Bergstrom—who has been on the front lines of COVID-19 research since the beginning of the pandemic—have been calmly going about their business while nuttiness raves around us for months (or years, really). This guy is every sane American trying to act like everything is normal in the face of total insanity.

People have parodied the video on TikTok:

And remixes have taken over Twitter.

So that’s fun.

In all seriousness, though, what’s with the summoning of angels from Africa and South America thing all about? While White’s purpose may have been different than this, one Twitter user explained her Pentecostal upbringing and said that it could, at its heart, be what many of us suspected (ahem, racism).

Wow. That’s…something.

And the former Pentecostal woman also had a possible answer to the wandering guy mystery as well.

Huh. Seems like kind of a strange thing to do in sneakers and shorts, but who’s judging.

So yeah. Just another super normal day in Trumpland, everyone. Carry on.

Darkside, the short-lived collaborative project between musicians Nicolás Jaar and Dave Harrington, parted ways to focus on other projects following their 2013 debut record Psychic. Before they disbanded, Darkside toured behind the record until 2014. They made stops in North America and Europe, with one of their last-ever shows being their set at Belgium’s Dour Festival in 2014. Recently, the group came across a recording of that performance, and Darkside has now turned it into a live album.

Titled Psychic Live July 17 2014, the live album consists of six tracks and concludes with their Psychic album opener “Golden Arrow.” Announcing the unearthed live record, Darkside wrote on Twitter, “Earlier this year we found a recording of one of our last live shows from 2014. It was recorded by our longtime live engineer V. Galloway and has been mixed and mastered by R. Becker. We’ve put it up for free on Bandcamp & wherever you like to stream music.”

Jaar and Harrington formed the project after they met while attending Brown University. Their first release was in the form of a self-titled EP, which they debuted in November 2011 after honing their sound together as musicians. Later, the duo briefly re-named their duo Daftside to remix Daft Punk’s Random Access Memories in full.

Listen to Psychic Live July 17 2014 below.

In early 2019, Marshmello dropped half a million dollars on a custom Hennessey Ford VelociRaptor truck, which is 26 feet long, has a train horn, and is otherwise a more extravagant vehicle than anybody really needs. It’s a truck that stands out, which presumably made it easy to track down when it was stolen earlier this week.

TMZ reports that on Wednesday, Marshmello dropped the vehicle off to get serviced at a Malibu Ford dealership. The keys were in the vehicle, so the suspected thief took them and brought the car out for a ride, which kicked off a police chase. The LA County Sheriff’s Department and California Highway Patrol tried to pull the suspect over for reckless driving, but they instead took off and pulled into a Taco Bell parkling lot. The driver then took a sharp turn and crashed into a utility pole. That ended the chase and the driver was arrested for felony evading and possession of a stolen car.

This isn’t the best interaction Marshmello has had in recent months. The DJ has teamed up with a roster of collaborators on various tracks lately: He linked up with Demi Lovato for “OK Not To Be OK,” with Juice WRLD on “Come & Go,” and with Halsey on “Be Kind.”

Voter fraud is a real issue, but it’s not as rampant as the average Fox News viewer — including the president — thinks it is. Study after study has shown that “fraud is very rare, voter impersonation is virtually nonexistent, and many instances of alleged fraud are, in fact, mistakes by voters or administrators,” according to nonpartisan institute Brennan Center for Justice. But that hasn’t stopped Last Week Tonight target Sean Hannity from searching for the “Loch Ness Monster of the Republican party.”

“PROTECT THE VOTE: Send Us Your Photos & Videos of Election Abuse, Fraud, Voter Intimidation HERE,” the Hannity host tweeted, along with a link to his website:

“The 2020 Race for the White House still hangs in the balance in a handful of pivotal battleground states. Despite President Trump winning by big margins on Tuesday, ballots for Joe Biden continue to be added to the tally days after polls closed in all 50 states. If you have any evidence of fraud, election abuse, or voter intimidation send them to [email protected] NOW. This is the biggest election of our lifetime. Hold them accountable. Protect the Vote.”

First off, Trump didn’t win by “big margins” on Election Day; he’s losing in the Electoral College count and popular vote. Also, anyone who spends as much time on the internet as Sean Hannity does should know what was going to happen here. It’s like Melania and her green screen dress all over again. Let’s see what Hannity has found so far!

He’s going to crack this case wide open any minute now, I feel it.

The entire world is sitting and watching as the United States is in what should be the final days of trying to determine whether Republican incumbent Donald Trump or Democratic challenger Joe Biden will serve as president for the next four years. A number of states are in the process of sorting out ballots cast in the lead-up and on Election Day, and with razor-tight margins in those states, it’s unclear whether Trump will return to the White House or Biden will ascend to the presidency.

As this is happening, Trump is doing what he can to sew discord about the legitimacy of the election. His camp has filed lawsuits in most of the remaining states, urging that counts be stopped in some states and be allowed to continued unabated in others, with judges in Michigan and Georgia dismissing cases in recent days. This came to a head on Thursday morning, when he tweeted that he wants states to “STOP THE COUNT!”

We won’t link to the tweet, but it did lead to a whole lot of reactions in the world of sports, as fans used a moment meant to upend our democracy as an opportunity to look back on famous blown leads.

The moral of this story: There is no amount of yelling that anyone can do to successfully impact the outcome of things like this that are out of their hands. This applies to Falcons fans, Kentucky basketball fans, and even the president.