Month: January 2021

The last week has been a rocky one for the stock market, with the GameStop-Reddit business changing the way many look at it in the first place. In the wake of trading apps like RobinHood limiting buys of soaring stocks, many have looked to other stocks or even other currencies worth investing in, hoping the same crowdsourced push can lead to a rise in value.

One fairly popular topic has been Dogecoin, the cryptocurrency based on a meme about a smiling Shiba Inu. The price of Dogecoin has stayed extremely low since it was first created in 2013. But with a massive influx of people now looking to make memestocks popular, it’s apparently one of the next targets of Redditors to, as they say, go “to the moon.”

Elon Musk has even gotten on board, causing Reddit day traders to freak out.

By Sunday, the hashtag #dogetothemoon was trending, the latest Doge-related hashtag to gain momentum ahead of what could be another hectic week of trading. Things haven’t been so smooth for the cryptocurrency, though, which has been unstable to say the least. According to Bloomberg, Dogecoin dipped precipitously on Saturday before seeing a slight rise on Sunday.

The digital coin fell 46% in 24 hours to $0.02582 as of 4:35 p.m. in New York on Saturday, according to CoinMarketCap data. It recovered to $0.03 Sunday, although still less than half of its Friday high, when a blistering sevenfold surge sent the coin to more than $0.07.

Amid the rally, Robinhood temporarily halted instant deposits for crypto buying on Friday, citing “extraordinary market conditions,” a spokesperson told CNBC. Users could still use funds already deposited in the platform to buy cryptos.

Time will tell if the coin, which is worth a fraction of a dollar right now, will ever reach the point Redditors hope. But if you’re hoping to join in, it’s important to know that RobinHood is already limiting buys on the coin as well, meaning it may be just as tough to keep things going for Dogecoin, as it has been for other retail stocks in recent days.

The Warriors thrashed the Pistons on Saturday night but after the game the conversation was focused on some postgame chirping that happened between Juan Toscano-Anderson and Rodney McGruder, which got Golden State’s All-Star vets strangely fired up. First, Klay Thompson who was on the Warriors broadcast for the night, ethered McGruder, saying he’s probably mad because he might be “out of the league” soon.

Draymond Green then followed that up with a two-minute rant on how there’s a lot of “fake tough guys” he’s noticed in the NBA this season, and wanting to know why McGruder of all people is being the enforcer for the Pistons. All of this stemmed from McGruder apparently taking offense to something Toscano-Anderson said to Wayne Ellington in the first half of the game, and Ellington addressed the sudden beef on Sunday.

Ellington called out Thompson and Green for attacking McGruder and his career, while also saying that Green was the one embodying a fake tough guy when he went after McGruder in his postgame presser.

In all, this is, by far, the strangest NBA beef of the season, and the two sides won’t meet again until the yet to be announced second half of the season schedule in Detroit to settle any outstanding issues. Ellington has now said his piece and all parties involved will probably move on, but it is pretty incredible that for a 24-hour period the talk of the NBA world was a Klay/Dray/JTA vs. Ellington/McGruder war of words.

Comic book movies have gone reunion crazy of late, bringing back actors who used to play beloved characters and having them do it again in some kind of multiverse tomfoolery. Both Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield are both popping up in the third Tom Holland Spider-Man (and ditto Alfred Molina’s Doc Ock and Jamie Foxx’s Electro), while Michael Keaton will return as Batman in the long-in-the-works Flash movie.

One person who hasn’t been asked back is Michelle Pfeiffer, but maybe she should be. In Batman Returns, the actress memorably played Catwoman. And though she has a side hustle as a minor part in the Ant-Man wing of the MCU, she told ScreenRant she’d be down to return, saying, simply, “I would if anyone asked me but no one’s asked me yet.”

You hear that DC? Get your priorities straight! Pfeiffer’s version of the Catwoman was as a woman done wrong — killed, actually, by a rich and powerful man — who comes back as an avenging angel decked out in leather and whips. Her performance is arguably the most raw and righteously furious in the entire comic book movie canon. Besides, at Batman Returns’ end it was suggested that Selina Kyle hadn’t wasted all of her nine lives. And on top of that, Michelle Pfeiffer is a great actress who should be in everything. For now, you can catch her in the quirky cruise ship comedy French Exit, opposite Lucas Hedges, which should hold you over until DC gets on the trolley.

(Via ScreenRant)

It’s been 32 years since Mike Myers and Dana Carvey first teamed up as Wayne Campbell and Garth Algar, Illinois music and pop culture nuts with their very own public-access TV show. Over the last handful of years the two have dusted off the beloved characters, popping up on SNL’s 40th anniversary special and, out of costume, at the Oscars and over a mid-pandemic virtual hang. On Saturday they reunited yet again, this time in full Wayne and Garth regalia, for the loftiest reason possible: an Uber Eats Super Bowl promo.

The ad found the pair — now in their late 50s and mid-60s, respectively — recreating their old show, complete with cut-rate logo and basement setting. “2020 was a great year…NOT!” they joked, before trying to sell people on the delivery app for next Sunday’s big game.

There was one catch: They couldn’t legally say the words “Super Bowl.” As per Entertainment Weekly, the term is trademarked by the NFL, and they charge a pretty penny for ads that mention the game, even ones ostensibly reminding viewers about it. And so Wayne and Garth had a little fun with the legal loophole.

“We just wanted to say that we’ll see you soon for the game, which for legal reasons cannot be named,” said Myers’ Wayne, while Garth later mentioned the “gigantic bowl.” It’s not quite up to the classic bit in the first Wayne’s World film in which they mocked product placement, but they gave it the old college try.

You can watch the commercial in the video above.

(Via EW)

Neil Young is currently in the midst of sharing a number of projects from his large archive collection. Last year, he dropped his Homegrown album, which was made up of material Young recorded between June 1974 and January 1975, as well as a compilation project of records he made between 1972 and 1976. Now, thanks to an announcement he made on his official website, it looks like 2021 will see the arrival of a “lost” album from his archives as well.

The singer revealed that the unearthed album, which is titled Johnny’s Island, will see the light of day at some point in the near future. The project dates back to 1982 and was recorded at Commercial Recorders in Honolulu, Hawaii, with help from the same crew that recorded his 12th album, Trans.

“‘Johnny’s Island’ a complete album now being prepared for release at NYA, includes a majority of unreleased tracks including ‘Big Pearl,’ ‘Island In The Sun,’ and ‘Love Hotel,’ plus others you may have heard before,” Young said in the announcement on his website. “It’s a beautiful record coming to you soon.”

If Johnny’s Island arrives this year, it will join Young’s upcoming live album, Way Down In The Rust Bucket, as two of the projects his fans will receive in 2021. Way Down In The Rust Bucket is set to arrive on February 26 with a concert film that was recorded during a 1990 show with Crazy Horse in Santa Cruz, California, which occurred shortly after he released his 18th album, Ragged Glory.

For more information on Johnny’s Island, click here.

Neil Young is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Last summer Blackpink released their long-awaited debut album, The Album, to massive fan excitement and critical fanfare. The group had arrived, even if their ability to perform these gargantuan pop songs live was hampered by the restrictions on concerts globally imposed by the pandemic. Still, the live show is just as much a part of who Blackpink are as anything they’ve ever recorded, so the group concocted a special livestream concert they dubbed “The Show” to run live on Youtube. The live event went down last night, and fans were thrilled to see some of the group’s songs off The Album performed live for the first time.

They were also pleasantly surprised to get a glimpse of Blackpink busting out their collaboration with Lady Gaga on her album Chromactica, which came out last spring. Now a beloved part of the K-pop group’s canon, obviously this track hasn’t been performed live either because Gaga has faced the same touring restrictions they have. And though Gaga didn’t have the ability to appear for her part on the song, the group still pulled it off with flawless choreography and vocals. Clearly, as soon as they can get back on the road this track is going to be a fan-favorite — and the chance to see them perform it with Gaga is hopefully something we’ll all get to experience soon. Check out the clip above.

The Boston Celtics lost a heartbreaker on Saturday night to the Lakers in a 96-95 back and forth affair, but the bigger news coming out of the game was Marcus Smart leaving with a calf injury early in the fourth quarter.

Smart was initially diagnosed with a calf strain, with an MRI to come on Sunday to determine the severity of the injury and the timetable for his return. The results of that MRI were a Grade 1 tear of his “right medial gastrocnemius” muscle, which is the calf muscle, that will keep him out for 2-3 weeks.

The good news is that the injury isn’t so severe to require any surgery, and Smart seems to be in good spirits following his MRI.

Smart’s absence is obviously notable for the Celtics, as he logs the third most minutes on the team and is their fourth leading scorer, which doesn’t even begin to address what he does for Boston’s defense. With Payton Pritchard also out with a knee injury, the backcourt rotation in Boston becomes quite thin, and we’ll have to see if they’re willing to extend Kemba Walker’s minutes a bit more — he’s yet to play more than 29 minutes in a game — as well as who else gets the nod for more minutes in Smart’s absence. Rookie Aaron Nesmith could see more of the floor just to have a larger guard out there.

At the beginning of 2020, Megan Thee Stallion was ready to bless her fans with new music ahead of her debut album, but things quickly went left after the Houston rapper put her 1501 Certified Entertainment label on blast last March. She revealed that the label refused to let her release music following a disagreement with her contract. While she was eventually able to drop her Suga EP and debut album, Good News, the contract dispute had not been resolved. However, according to an update from J. Prince, the Houston rapper should be receiving a new deal in the near future.

During a recent appearance on The Breakfast Club, J. Prince revealed that he and Jay-Z, who owns Roc Nation which manages Megan, are finalizing a new contract for the Houston rapper.

“Me and the homie Jay-Z spoke last week on the last point of closing that deal. He and I, you know, I think we was on the phone for 2 minutes but we was in agreement with reaching the last deal points,” he shared. “I’m looking for that to be wrapped up.”

He also confirmed that the new deal would keep Megan on 1501 Certified Entertainment.

“Everything will be smooth. She’s still with 1501, you know, slash 300. And Roc Nation is managing her,” he added.

You can listen to J. Prince’s comments on The Breakfast Club above.

Megan Thee Stallion is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

The theme song to The Office is probably one of the most recognizable in TV history, but John Krasinski feels that some changes need to be made. The show streaming on Peacock was a constant presence on Saturday Night Live, which is probably no coincidence given who owns NBC and its streaming service’s biggest draw.

Krasinski couldn’t escape Office jokes in his opening monologue, and he carried them into a later sketch that featured cast members of popular TV shows singing the theme song of the show itself. The sketch gives a few cast members to shine like Chloe Fineman and Melissa Villaseñor, as they covered shows like The Queen’s Gambit, Frasier and The Undoing. The show’s Baby Yoda character also pops up to rap over The Mandalorian theme.

But the sketch saved the best for last, with the show’s host bringing new life to the song performed by The Scrantones. Though it doesn’t exactly start out as a masterpiece of the written word.

The song mostly narrates what’s going on in the clips that are shown while the theme plays, though Krasinski does note that Jim is the hero and Dwight is the bad guy. Interestingly enough, it was Krasinski who apparently filmed much of the footage of the town that was actually used in the show’s opening credits, so he’s really taking ownership of the whole package here.

Matthew Stafford’s tenure with the Detroit Lions finally came to a close on Saturday night when he was dealt to the Los Angeles Rams in a blockbuster that saw Jared Goff head back to Detroit along with a pair of first round picks. It was a hefty price for the Rams to pay to not only unload Goff’s contract, but also to get a more than capable starter back in return, which immediately vaulted them up the 2021 NFL odds list.

The Stafford trade helps set the market for what a Deshaun Watson deal might have to look like, as Watson is a younger, better quarterback with his entire prime still in front of him. There were a number of teams interested in Stafford, and it appears he was fairly comfortable going most anywhere outside of Detroit, with one notable exception.

According to Tom Curran of NBC Sports Boston, the one team Stafford had on his “do not trade” list was the New England Patriots, who are obviously one of the teams in the market for a new starting quarterback after the Cam Newton signing didn’t pan out as hoped this year. There are a number of reasons for Stafford to potentially have the Pats as his one veto, but it seems likely his experience with Matt Patricia as his head coach in Detroit certainly played a role in that choice. On top of that, the Pats offense isn’t exactly bursting with talent and a true rebuild seems likely over the next few years in New England.

Still, there are a lot of teams with some talent issues that apparently weren’t on Stafford’s list of veto spots, and that speaks volumes about how miserable the Patricia experience must have been in Detroit.