Month: December 2020

For the last month, Donald Trump’s legal team has been going around the nation’s courts, alleging widespread voter fraud. And they’ve lost every case apart from one. Not only that, they’ve inspired widespread mockery, from their bungled press conferences to their typo-ridden lawsuits. They can’t do anything right. The same day one “Elite Strike Force” lawyer actually told Republicans to not vote in Georgia’s Senate runoff, a star witness at a hearing in Michigan captivated social media — and, of course, not in a good way.

According to The Detroit News, Trump team attorneys Rudy Giuliani and Jenna Ellis attended a Michigan House Oversight Committee hearing, during which they pushed the same discredited claims that have been shot down everywhere else. They also had guests.

One of them — a blonde woman who appeared to a poll watcher — made many bold claims, including that one country’s poll book was off by “over 100,000.” When Representative Steve Johnson patiently explained that they weren’t seeing any evidence of that in the poll books, she replied, “What did you guys to do to…do something crazy to it?” She claimed that she “signed something saying if I’m wrong I can go to prison.” She was sarcastic, she was aggressive, she was condescending, she slurred her speech. Social media was in love.

Others were also convinced she’d had something before testifying.

Many simply could not believe what they were seeing.

Some pointed out that even Rudy “Melting Goo” Giuliani had to calm her down at one point.

Many weren’t sure if they weren’t actually watching sketch comedy.

Or maybe she was former SNL star-turned-far right loon Victoria Jackson.

A Rick and Morty writer claimed it was actually her.

While the woman inspired a lot of jokes, some sort of admired her.

Then again, at least she didn’t say racist stuff, as another witness did.

In any case, Trump appears to be no closer to conceding than he was almost a month ago, and not his team nor their army of poll watchers has offered any concrete evidence. Until he does, all any sensible person can do is laugh at them.

Spotify seems to have a new solution for artists that may find themselves caught in copyright infringement cases. The streaming platform is currently working on a patent that lets songwriters know if they have plagiarized another artist’s work. According to Music Business Worldwide, Spotify’s proposed Plagiarism Risk Detector And Interface allows for an artist’s music sheet — which includes the song’s melody, chords, and lyrics — to be put into an AI system that is “trained on a plurality of preexisting encoded lead sheets” to determine a “similarity value” towards other bodies of work in the database.

The tool, which is credited in part to AI expert François Pachet, includes a GUI that “provides dynamic visual feedback in substantially real-time” and lets artists discover elements of possible plagiarism and allow them to fix it as they work on their song. The patent’s filing also says that it “would allow artists to generate lead sheets more quickly and confidently by detecting and providing visual feedback as to whether any aspect of the work has a probability of being deemed plagiaristic.”

The streaming platform says the upcoming product will be more efficient and precise than previous products like the Music Plagiarism Detection System which is based on similarities in melodies and the Audio Forensics Meets Music Information Retrieval – A Toolbox For Inspection Of Music Plagiarism which uses sampling, melody, and rhythm to detect possible plagiarism.

(via Music Business Worldwide)

It was hailed as a worthy successor to the beloved ’80s original, but, sadly, the reboot of DuckTales is coming to an end, and only after three seasons. According to Deadline, Disney XD has decided not to pursue a fourth spin with unimaginably wealthy Scrooge McDuck and his precocious nephews Huey, Dewey, and Louie. Hopefully this doesn’t affect Seth Rogen’s proposed redo of Darkwing Duck, another Disney staple from the same era.

Mind you, the original DuckTales didn’t last much longer. After debuting in 1987, the weekday afternoon show only four seasons, with a theatrical movie, Treasure of the Lost Lamp, squeezed in between the third and final gos. The revival began in 2017, and it did a do-over, starting anew with Scotsduck Scrooge forced to babysit his nephews, and quickly realizing that they inspire him to go off on daring explorations and get into assorted mischief. The cast was big, too, with David Tenant doing Scrooge and other roles voiced by Danny Pudi, Ben Schwartz, Bobby Moynihan, and Kate Micucci. It even gave a more sizable role to Donald Duck.

You can still watch its 65 episodes, which may be well shy of the original’s cool 100, but that’s nothing to sneeze at. May Scrooge McDuck get to do laps in his money bin another day.

(Via Deadline)

For the first time in nearly four years, Joyner Lucas and Logic reunited, teaming up for their track “Isis” off the former’s debut album, ADHD. The collaboration came after a long beef, which started when the rappers did not see eye to eye after a disagreement they had while working on Tech N9ne’s 2016 track “Sriracha.” Lucas stopped by The Breakfast Club, where he was asked about the origins of their feud.

“I think I was jealous of him,” Joyner said after Charlamagne Tha God asked him the question. “But I think… The reason why I say that, though, is because I felt like where he was at at the time is where I wanted to be so much.” He explained how Royce Da 5’9″ helped him patch things up with Logic. “I had called that man because I had an epiphany,” he said. “I had got to a certain place, in which people started expecting things of me. And people started expecting that I just do sh*t. People that I didn’t really know like that. And, I lost a lot of people and it clicked. I said everything that I accused this guy of or I was [jealous] of, it’s happening to me. I know how it feels and it sucks.”

Joyner also revealed what he said to Logic to heal the rift, saying, “I felt like I was jealous of you because you were doing everything I wanted to do. You were dope, you were lyrical. You was ripping down tours. You had all these relationships with all these artists that I loved and respected. And, I really idolized you and I didn’t even realize how much I did.”

You can watch Joyner’s conversation on The Breakfast Club above.

The long-rumored trade between the Houston Rockets and the Washington Wizards that featured a pair of high-profile point guards has finally happened. According to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, Russell Westbrook is headed to D.C. in a trade that will see John Wall go to the Lone Star State. In terms of added compensation to make the move happen, the Wizards attached a future first-round pick.

Shams Charania of The Athletic confirmed the trade, noting that the first is a protected selection in the 2023 NBA Draft.

Rumors had been swirling for some time that Westbrook wanted out of Houston, with word leaking that he wanted a deal shortly after a story went public about him and James Harden having concerns about directions of the franchise. Wall came into this soon after, with his contract being such that he could be flipped for Westbrook. Following word of talks about this sort of move hitting the internet, word then came out that Wall wanted out of the nation’s capital.

It’s a fascinating trade of two highly-paid athletes with questions about what they can do in the NBA in 2020 — Westbrook struggled until the Rockets embraced microball and then struggled in the NBA’s Orlando Bubble following a bout with COVID-19, while Wall has been dealing with injuries for years and has not appeared in a game since late 2018. Now, the pair are getting moved for one another, and in the aftermath, all eyes will turn to their star running mates — Harden in Houston and Bradley Beal in Washington — about what the future holds for them.

Because Beyonce is so much smarter than the rest of us, she has long abandoned social media platforms like Twitter, and primarily uses her own personal website to communicate her thoughts and feelings to the world. (Yes, I know she uses Instagram, but mostly just to flex.) In the spirit of Tumblr days, Bey often changes the cover of her site to celebrate special events or promote new material. Today, she used it to wish Britney Spears a happy birthday:

Spears is turning 39 today, and has recently been making headlines, not for her Vegas residency or new music (although she did put out a new song today to commemorate the occasion), but because she’s been trying to get released from a conservatorship that’s been legally imposed on her for quite a while now. But her father, Britney’s current conservator, thinks the #FreeBritney movement formed to advocate for the singer to control her own affairs is a joke, and courts recently ruled he would remain in charge of her estate until at least next year.

But some might take this show of support from Beyonce as a sign she’s on Britney’s side when it comes to ending the conservatorship and being released from her father’s control. After all, Beyonce’s career didn’t kick into overdrive until she dismissed her father from working on her career, so who knows the situation better? Either way, it was a classy, gracious move by Beyonce, as usual.

On Wednesday, G Herbo found himself in hot water after being named in a federal fraud case brought up in Massachusetts. According to the Chicago Tribune, the PTSD rapper, whose real name is Herbert Wright III, his music promoter, and other members of his crew are accused of fraud and identity theft. The case alleges that Herbo and his crew used stolen IDs to access more than one million dollars worth of luxury items over a four-year period.

According to court documents, Herbo and company allegedly used the money for private jets, limousine rides, car rentals, a villa in Jamaica, and the purchase of two designer puppies. The charges were initially filed in September through a Springfield, Massachusetts U.S. District Court, but the court documents were not made public until Wednesday. The 14-count indictment charges all members with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. Herbo also faces an additional charge of wire fraud as well.

Antonio “T-Glo” Strong, who is Herbo’s music promoter, was, as per the Tribune, “alleged to be the ringleader of a $1.5 million fraud” by U.S. District Judge Robert Dow. As for Herbo himself, it’s unclear if he’s made any plans to appear in court to face charges. The charges also come days after he was included on the 2020 issue of the Forbes 30 Under 30 list.

(via Chicago Tribune)

The Godfather Part III never got the love its two predecessors did. Quite the contrary: Its reputation is so bad that Francis Ford Coppola went back, three decades later, to make a new (and many say better) cut. But when it came out, the reaction wasn’t so hostile. It even received seven Oscar nominations, including one for Best Picture. Another was for Andy García, who played Michael Corleone’s hotheaded nephew Vincent, and received across-the-board raves. It was a big moment for García, and he, at least, has never understood the hate.

In a new interview about the new cut — entitled The Godfather Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone — with The Hollywood Reporter, García defended the film that helped make him a star. “I never had an issue with the first one, but I am very close to it,” he said, saying that the negative press it received — especially re: Sofia Coppola’s performance — was not always fair. “I thought a lot of things were unjust about it, especially how Sofia was treated.”

García does admit that the new cut is excellent. “There is a clarity to this version that Francis wanted,” he said. But he hopes people will give the original version another chance. “I think if people revisit this film, they will see a very honest, deep and soulful performance by Sofia. I think there is great tragedy in the character, a very courageous performance, and I am very proud of the work we did.”

You can see for yourself on Friday, when Coda hits whatever theaters are open, or on December 8, when it arrives on VOD.

(Via THR)

The NBA brought players back to their home markets last week and began to administer COVID-19 testing in preparation for facilities opening up and training camp beginning on December 1. The league’s efforts to start a season outside of a bubble atmosphere presents a precarious situation with the understanding that positive tests will happen, and it’s simply a matter of the league and teams trying to do their best to mitigate positive tests and the potential spread through a team.

On Wednesday, the league announced the results from their first round of testing last week and, unsurprisingly, there were a fairly significant number of positive tests. The NBA said 48 players tested positive out of 546 tests (8.8 percent positivity rate) and those players are now in isolation and will follow CDC guidelines prior to their return to team facilities. Positive tests were expected, so this is not something that is catching the league off guard, and the upcoming rounds of testing will be far more indicative of whether this season is able to begin as planned and have any kind of successful start. The Warriors have already announced they had two of those positive tests and as a result have pushed the start of their full team workouts back a day from Sunday to Monday of next week.

The positivity rate should begin to decline, particularly during camp, but this will be an ongoing issue for the league as they begin traveling and playing games. We have seen how difficult it has been for the NFL to get through this season, and they have the benefit of playing games just once a week with significantly less travel. The NBA schedule will tell us a lot about how the league plans to handle the travel load of teams and while they’ve been insistent on having as normal a season as possible, how they set up team travel schedules for road trips is more important than ever to try and limit the possibility of spread.

Just a spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down…in the most delightful way.

There are certain songs from kids’ movies that most of us can sing along to, but we often don’t know how they originated. Now we have a timely insight into one such song—”A Spoonful of Sugar” from “Mary Poppins.”

It’s common for parents to try all kinds of tricks to get kids to take medications they don’t want to take, but the inspiration for “A Spoonful of Sugar” was much more specific. Jeffrey Sherman, the son and nephew of the Sherman Brothers—the musical duo responsible not just for “Mary Poppins,” but a host of Disney films including “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang,” “The Jungle Book,” “The Aristocats,” as well as the song “It’s a Small World After All”—told the story of how “A Spoonful of Sugar” came about on Facebook.

He wrote:

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“When I was a kid, they rolled out a vaccine for polio. We were given it at school on a sugar cube. I went home and my dad, who was working on Mary Poppins, asked how my day was.

What I didn’t know was that Julie Andrews who was hired to play Mary had not really liked the song my dad and uncle had written -‘Through the Eyes of Love’ – and it was rejected. It was their favorite song for the movie.

Walt asked the Sherman Brothers to come up with a new song that would be in line with Mary’s //Julie’s philosophy.

Dad asked me how my day was and I told him about getting the polio vaccine at school.

I was known for rejecting the booster shots at my doctors’ office and running away.

He said, ‘Didn’t it hurt?’

I told him they put it on a sugar cube and you just ate it.

He stared at me, then went to the phone and called my uncle Dick.

They went back to the office and wrote -‘A Spoonful of Sugar’ (‘Helps the Medicine Go Down.’)

It’s my little corner of film music history I suppose. Inadvertently.”

Sherman added a timely note about our current circumstances as well:

“For anyone I know here on FB, trust the doctors. When the vaccine for Covid comes out, get it.

We are all codependent on each other in this pandemic. Trust science and doctors and epidemiologists.

We are a small world and we will beat this enemy if we listen to those who know.

Be safe. Wear a mask. Be kind and thoughtful and considerate to your fellow man and woman.

We will beat this.”

It’s good to recall how devastating diseases like polio and smallpox have effectively been eradicated through widespread vaccinations. Most of us aren’t old enough to remember when polio was around in the U.S. (we haven’t seen it here since 1979), but talk to older folks who lived through people being disabled by it and they’ll tell you it wasn’t fun. It’s easy to take for granted the fact that we don’t have to worry about our kids contracting polio, but that’s not something that just miraculously happened. Smallpox and polio vaccines are great success stories of modern medicine. Time will tell, but the COVID-19 vaccine may end go down in history as one of humanity’s most impressive scientific achievements as well.

Unfortunately, a spoonful of sugar won’t help make the COVID-19 vaccine. But if we’re able to safely return to normal life in the near future, the outcome will be sweet indeed.