Month: December 2020

The Sopranos has come and gone and changed prestige TV with its presence, but that doesn’t mean the crew behind one of the most influential shows in modern history can’t add a bit to its canon. Especially when it’s for a good cause.

Which is why the cast of the HBO drama that debuted in 1999 is apparently reuniting to perform new material written by creator David Chase and another frequent show writer, Terrance Winter. According to Entertainment Weekly, the show will perform a new sketch to raise money for Friends of Firefighters, a non-profit that helps New York firefighters:

The cast of The Sopranos — including Edie Falco, Lorraine Bracco, Michael Imperioli, Drea de Matteo, Steve Schirripa, Jamie-Lynn Sigler, Robert Iler, Maureen and Steven Van Zandt, and Steve Buscemi — are reuniting for a virtual event to benefit Friends of Firefighters, a not-for-profit organization that supports active and retired Fire Department of New York firefighters.

The fundraiser, powered by Tiltify, will be available to stream on Twitch Friday, Dec. 18 at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT.

Buscemi, who worked as a firefighter in New York in the ’80s, is certainly excited to get the show back together for a good cause.

“This has been a very difficult time for everyone, but especially for our first responders,” he said in a statement. “Friends of Firefighters is a crucial support service for our firefighters and I’m looking forward to reuniting with my friends to help raise some awareness and funds for this wonderful organization.”

It’s not the first time the show has seen some of its surviving cast get together for a reunion, as they did hold an event in 2019 to celebrate the 20-year anniversary of its debut. And then there’s all of the Sopranos extended podcast universe to take into consideration. But charity is as good a reason as any to get the gang back together. And plenty of show fans are interested in new material.

(Via EW)

Amber Heard recently finished work on two genre projects, the reshoots for Zack Snyder’s highly anticipated director’s cut of Justice League and Josh Boone’s upcoming adaptation of The Stand, and she’s very excited for both thanks to a deep love for “nerd passion.” During a recent interview with Comic Book, Heard gushed about the Justice League reshoots, and the Mera actress couldn’t stop herself from blurting out that she “f*cking loves nerds” while talking about how much she enjoys working with geeks:

“He’s a perfect example, Zack [Snyder] is a perfect example of a nerd,” Heard said. “You know, I got into this project on The Stand because of another true, die hard nerd, which is Josh Boone, who connected all of us on this project as he was adapting the book for Stephen [King}. And I think it’s just a good rule of thumb to follow, especially in this genre which I love. It’s like follow the nerd, the nerd passion is where you want to be.”

If Heard seems particularly excited about nerds lately, the actress has nothing but love for the comic book community after they rallied behind her performance in Aquaman. According to Heard, that enthusiasm staved off a “paid social media campaign” to get her fired from the sequel in retaliation for Johnny Depp getting fired from Fantastic Beasts 3 franchise after a UK judge officially shut him down in his “wife-beater” libel trial. “Paid rumors and paid campaigns on social media don’t dictate [casting decisions] because they have no basis in reality,” Heard told Entertainment Weekly in November while confirming her casting. “Only the fans actually made Aquaman and Aquaman 2 happen. I’m excited to get started next year.”

In stark contrast to Heard’s flourishing projects, Depp was the subject of a brutal profile in The Hollywood Reporter that labeled the troubled actor as “radioactive” and revealed even more of his problematic behavior. Meanwhile he continues to pursue a lawsuit against Heard in Virginia despite his extremely damaging court loss in the UK, which looks to be a devastating blow to the former Jack Sparrow’s career.

(Via Comic Book)

Here we are again, looking for things to listen to and fill the time. With digital streaming platforms, we have all of the music in the world at our fingertips, but still can’t seem to figure out exactly what we want to hear. Lucky for all of us, Geoff Rickly is here to help with Making A Mixtape, the new video offering from Uproxx’s Indie Mixtape. As the singer for the post-hardcore band Thursday, Rickly has a unique and experienced perspective on what it takes to craft an impactful mixtape.

After crafting a “Cinematic” mixtape with Dogleg’s Alex Stoitsiadis and a “Mindblowing” mixtape with Bartees Strange, Rickly is joined by Jeff Rosenstock to put together a “Road Trip” playlist for those moments when you just need to roll down the windows and drive. Back in May, Rosenstock surprise-released his latest album NO DREAM, a powerhouse of a punk rock record that cemented his role as a voice for a disenfranchised generation.

Check out the sixth episode of Making A Mixtape above and the “Road Trip” playlist below.

The Killers — “My Own Soul’s Warning”
Haim — “The Steps”
Phoebe Bridgers — “Kyoto”
Waxahatche — “Fire”
Arcade Fire — “The Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)”
Jeff Rosenstock — “Scram!”
Fountains Of Wayne — “Radiation Vibe”
Mount Kimbie — “Blue Train Lines” (ft. King Krule)

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

For the last several weeks, TikTok users have been jamming out to a new song featuring a bouncy hook, a video-gamey beat, and an absurdly catchy intro adlib by the name of “Adderall” by 19-year-old North Philly rapper Popp Hunna. In fact, the refrain of “Corvette, Corvette” is so popular, it was retroactively added to the song’s title — a convention that has been adopted across the platform as more and more rappers see their songs blow up on the app largely as a result of short excerpts that leave fans guessing about their hits’ actual titles.

However, the fact remains that the song seems to advocate the abuse of prescription drugs, from the titular stimulant Adderall (used to treat ADHD) to lean (the combination of promethazine/​codeine cough syrup and Sprite). Considering the song’s immense popularity — everyone from Kevin Hart to Sasha Obama has been seen dancing to the song on TikTok — Popp addressed this aspect of its potentially inflammatory lyrics while breaking them down on Genius’ Verified. He also excerpted the moment onto his own Instagram.

“I just want to tell everybody out there, do not take Adderall if you do not need it,” he warns. “I’m not trying to promote it for, you know, anybody that just wants to take it for fun. Like, it’s not for fun, it’s for people who might actually need it to you know, work or concentrate. Make sure you get your prescription from a doctor.” Hunna, who is actually studying at the University of Michigan, might be speaking from experience here, as Adderall is sometimes used as a “study drug” by college students.

Watch Pop Hunna’s prescription drug PSA above.

Netflix knows that a little candy for the Christmas season will be extra welcome as a distraction this year, which means that it’s perfect time for a highly scandalous show to touch down. Enter Bridgerton, a Shondaland production (and Shonda Rhimes’ first series with the streaming service), which was created by Chris Van Dusen of Scandal and Grey’s Anatomy fame. As the trailer swiftly indicates, this show has a huge Gossip Girl feel with the narrator — and high-society scandal sheet author — being voiced by Julie Andrews. Off camera, she portrays Lady Whistledown, whose secret identity sends chills down the spine of families who are hoping to avoid a bad look during debutante season. And no one is immune to Whistledown’s biting commentary.

The show’s a Regency London-set confectionery of sorts and revolves around the powerful Bridgerton family as the eldest daughter, Daphne (Phoebe Dynover), comes together in a grand scheme with the rake-ish Duke of Hastings (Regé-Jean Page) to meet their mutual goals while the vultures descend. Bridgerton‘s based upon Julia Quinn’s best-selling novel series, and while the action’s predictable, everything’s executed in such a sharp-witted, tongue-and-cheek manner that it’s hard to hate on the fluff factor. And god help Regé-Jean Page because the Twitter’s thirst for his character will be insurmountable over the holidays. From the synopsis:

Bridgerton follows Daphne Bridgerton (Phoebe Dynevor), the eldest daughter of the powerful Bridgerton family as she makes her debut onto Regency London’s competitive marriage market. Hoping to follow in her parent’s footsteps and find a match sparked by true love, Daphne’s prospects initially seem to be unrivaled. But as her older brother begins to rule out her potential suitors, the high society scandal sheet written by the mysterious Lady Whistledown casts aspersions on Daphne. Enter the highly desirable and rebellious Duke of Hastings (Regé-Jean Page), committed bachelor and the catch of the season for the debutantes’ mamas…

Netflix’s Bridgerton will stream on December 25.

Hanukkah kicked off a few days ago, so celebrants all over are receiving gifts to mark the occasion. One custom present that can end up being a big hit is a Cameo video from a famous person the giftee admires (we put it in our recent holiday gift guide). That’s what somebody named Jeff Jacobson did, getting Smokey Robinson to make a video for his mother, who actually grew up on the same street in Detroit as the music legend.

The video starts off normally enough, with Robinson acknowledging his old neighbor. The second half of the video was less expected, though. Before we continue, this video is best experienced without any advanced knowledge about what the twist is, so please watch it if you haven’t already before reading on.

Based on the clip, it appears Robinson has never seen the word “Chanukah,” as Hanukkah is sometimes alternately spelled. Jacobson asked Robinson to wish his mother a happy Chanukah, but Robinson was confused by that request because he had never heard of “chuh-noo-kah,” as he mispronounced the word. He said, “But anyway, you’re living in Vancouver now and they wanted me to wish you happy Chuh-noo-kah. I have no idea what Chuh-noo-kah is, but happy Chuh-noo-kah because they said so. Anyway, God bless you, babe, and enjoy Chuh-noo-kah. Have a wonderful time.”

Watch the video above.

As the U.S. crosses the 300,000 COVID-19 deaths milestone, let’s take a step back and look at what got us here.

But first, let’s tip our hat to those who aren’t where we are—to the countries that took swift, decisive action, got the population on the same page about what needed to be done, and kicked pandemic ass. The countries that not only have a tiny fraction of our death toll, but who also have been able to resume normal life in all its glory.

While mandatory quarantines for travelers and contact tracing systems for any cases that slip through the cracks are still in place, countries like Australia, New Zealand, Vietnam, Thailand, and Taiwan are experiencing a level of collective and individual freedom that America—and much of Europe—simply does not have right now. People are attending concerts, plays, sporting events, weddings, etc. without masks or social distancing. People can hug one another without worrying about killing someone. It’s literally like a whole other world.

Sure, some of those countries are islands and they all have smaller populations than we do. But the U.S. is bordered by just two countries. Thailand borders four and Vietnam borders three, including China—and our not controlling the coronavirus spread has nothing to do with people crossing our physical borders. And as far as population goes, our large size accounts for raw numbers, but not deaths proportional to population.

Check out the deaths per million statistics among these countries:

Australia: 35

New Zealand: 5

Vietnam: 0.4

Thailand: 0.9

Taiwan: 0.3

United States: 924

We currently have the 12th highest deaths-per-million rate in the world. So much winning, we’re sick of winning, right?

It’s been said a million times that it didn’t have to be this way, and it didn’t. But while our government has been blamed for its abysmal response to the pandemic—and while those criticisms are legitimate—that’s not the whole problem. It’s nice to think that if we had a president that listened to public health officials and provided coherent guidance, we’d be in better shape, and we probably would be to some degree. But a big part of the problem is the American people ourselves.

I love us, but a huge key to controlling a pandemic is getting a population on the same page and getting people to make personal sacrifices for the greater good. It requires a collective commitment, and I’m just not convinced the U.S. is capable of that without a serious rethinking of what our core national value actually means.

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The world knows—because we really, really like to shout it from the rooftops—that the U.S. is all about freedom. It’s what we were founded on, what we take pride in, and what we cling to as our highest ideal. And we most often define freedom in terms of personal liberty—the right to live our lives the way we choose.

But in a pandemic, personal liberty can be problematic. I know that’s hard for some Americans to hear, but it’s true. If we all just do whatever we please, we end up right where we are—with an out of control virus killing a 9/11’s worth of Americans every day, ten months in, and the ongoing economic hardship that goes along with a half-assed, incohesive attempt to maybe save businesses or maybe save lives. We’ve ended up with the worst of both worlds—mass death and economic demise—largely due to Americans’ insistence upon personal freedom to the deadly and devastating exclusion of everything else.

Let’s be clear about the fact that the federal government has not established any mandates or restrictions that violate American freedoms during the pandemic. Decisions about mitigation measures have been left to the states, which is both good and bad. The United States is huge, and logistically it makes more sense for local conditions to guide local responses. However, our borders between counties and states are imaginary lines with no checkpoints or restrictions for travel, which makes for a lot of holes in our collective pandemic control.

I’m not saying that the government should go all willy-nilly with our freedoms; I’m saying that Americans are short-sighted in our vision of what freedom actually means. Too many Americans have exercised their personal liberty in a way that limits our collective freedom (because it leads to out-of-control viral spread) and also ends up limiting personal liberty anyway (because out-of-control viral spread means having to take measures to keep our healthcare system from getting overwhelmed).

I know some people say “collective freedom” isn’t a thing, please see the difference between daily life in the U.S. and daily life in Australia right now. Our Aussie friends are living a far freer life than we are, both individually and collectively, because they chose to sacrifice individually so that the whole society could be free from the virus. That’s what collective freedom looks like, and they didn’t succumb to tyranny to get it. That could have been us, if we stopped seeing everything that isn’t “go ahead and do whatever you want” as tyranny.

In a viral pandemic like this one, doing whatever we want is inconducive to true freedom. We’re watching this play out in states that were reticent to implement restrictions until now, as hospitals spill over and mandates become necessary for public safety. People exercising their personal freedoms with no regard for public health guidelines results in out-of-control viral spread, which results in social and economic devastation as huge numbers of people get sick and die.

Exercising personal liberty without personal responsibility in a viral pandemic leads to limited freedom for longer, with a lot more pain and suffering, than using our liberty to do what needs to be done to prevent that.

I can already see people bringing up Benjamin Franklin’s quote—”Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.” Some version of it comes up any time the government tries to enact anything Americans view as limiting their freedoms, but there are a couple of problems with bringing it up now. Franklin, as it turns out, was specifically talking about a dispute over taxes to fund securing the frontier, not public health in a pandemic. (And despite what people might assume, his quote was actually pro-taxation.) While that quote pushes all the right “my personal freedom” buttons, I’m quite sure that Ben Franklin would be losing his mind over Americans rejecting public health guidelines in the name of “I do what I want” if he were here today.

As an American, I appreciate our nation’s commitment to personal liberty. I really do. But we seem to have forgotten that the founding premise of our republic wasn’t just an inalienable right to liberty, but to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” When exercising personal liberty costs another American their life, then our national values are in conflict. “Give me liberty or give me death” is great when we’re not in a viral pandemic, but “Give me liberty and I will give you death” is what we’re currently experiencing.

Freedom can’t be merely seen as an end, but as a means. In the next pandemic, I hope my fellow Americans will use their personal liberty to choose do what needs to be done to help us reach collective and individual freedom, rather than cutting off our nose to spite our face by insisting on a puerile version of freedom that only leads to all of us losing both.

After touring for nearly seven years, Anne-Marie was begging for a break. But once she finally got it, she hit rock bottom. In time, the singer learned the power of facing her problems with positivity and hopes to spread the same message through her upcoming sophomore record.

The UK singer detailed her newly confident outlook in a new Bose Studio Visit video, describing how her next album differs from her 2018 debut Speak Your Mind. “The first album I think was a massive diary for me,” she said. “If I feel like there’s any difference between back then and now, it’s that I write with a much more positive brain and that has changed my music.”

Learning how to write with positivity and practicing being present has been especially helpful for Anne-Marie during quarantine. She’s been focusing on the little things that bring her joy, whether it’s looking up at the stars or getting her hands on a high-quality vacuum cleaner. “There’s a lot of bad stuff going on in the world and we almost have to see the light and bring ourselves to see the positives,” she said. “It has taken so long but I have finally gotten there.”

Anne-Marie also discussed how the “crisp” sound quality of Bose QuietComfort Earbuds can help her fans connect to her music’s message. “When they’re listening to my album, or even just one song, I want them to feel the music, feel the vocal, feel the lyrics,” she noted. “That’s my aim, really, and each song is just to make sure it makes someone feel better.”

Watch Anne-Marie discuss her newly positive outlook in an interview Bose Studio Visit above.

Anne-Marie is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

NLE Choppa has been on a health kick for a few months, resulting in the 18-year-old rapper dropping a new mixtape and encouraging fans to pursue meditation and veganism. Unfortunately, it looks like he may have gone too far down the wellness rabbit hole, joining the growing cadre of hip-hop stars who probably should have paid better attention in bio class. “Stay away from the vaccines,” he tweeted on Sunday. “I repeat stay away from THEM VACCINES.”

His tweet puts him firmly on the side of anti-science stars like Kanye, who refuses treatment for his bipolar disorder, and Pete Rock, who also recently came under fire for tweets questioning the efficacy of vaccines and reposted a social media hoax about vaccines causing Bell’s Palsy.

In truth, they’re just the latest victims of widespread misunderstanding about what vaccines are and how they work, as well as the burgeoning anti-vax movement begun by aggrieved parent groups looking for explanations for childhood disorders like autism. As anti-vaxxers spread misinformation about the side effects of the treatments online, that misinformation often morphs, taking on bits of other conspiracy theories and giving people who already have valid reasons to mistrust authority even more reasons to do so.

However, the fact remains that the anti-vax movement puts more people at risk than it could ever potentially “save,” even if those fears were founded. Vaccines have helped eliminate diseases like smallpox and polio in the United States, which could have run rampant and harmed thousands left unchecked. As COVID-19 has already contributed to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people in America this year alone (not to mention those who could have been helped had the medical infrastructure not been overwhelmed treating coronavirus cases instead of other serious illnesses), a vaccine could save even more people in the near future.

When it comes to beats and rhymes, trust the rappers. But for everything else, please listen to the experts, not YouTube conspiracy theorists and hoax memes on Instagram — which is where those rappers are usually getting their information from.

PornHub is removing all non-verified content following a New York Times report that found the website included videos of child abuse and non-consensual sexual violence.

“Last week, we enacted the most comprehensive safeguards in user-generated platform history. We banned unverified uploaders from posting new content, eliminated downloads, and partnered with dozens of non-profit organizations, among other major policy changes,” PornHub wrote in a statement. “As part of our policy to ban unverified uploaders, we have now also suspended all previously uploaded content that was not created by content partners or members of the Model Program. This means every piece of PornHub content is from verified uploaders, a requirement that platforms like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Snapchat, and Twitter have yet to institute.”

This wasn’t a minor purge, either. As of Monday morning, there were 4.7 million videos on PornHub, down from 13.5 million the night before, according to Vice, “including the most-viewed non-verified amateur video, which had more than 29 million views.” To become verified, a user needs an account, an avatar, and a “verification image,” like “a photo of you holding up a sign with your username and pornhub.com written on it (or on your body).” If those actions are met, the user will be allowed to upload videos:

Porn performers who use the platform as a source of income told Motherboard that the change would seriously damage their livelihoods. The change to banning unverified users from uploading or downloading, however, was a shift that models on the site have been asking the company to act on for years, both to prevent abuse and stop content piracy.

The New York Times spoke to “The Children of PornHub,” one of whom was forced to appear in sexually explicit videos when she was only nine years old, and “some videos of her being abused ended up on PornHub and regularly reappear there.” She called the website her “trafficker.” After the article was published, Visa and Mastercard vowed to investigate the “financial links” MindGeek, the company that owns PornHub.

(Via Vice and New York Times)