Month: January 2021

The voice cast for Avatar: The Last Airbender virtually reunited over the weekend to discuss Nickelodeon’s beloved animated series that saw a massive surge in popularity last year after being added to Netflix. Those in attendance included Dee Bradley Baker, the voice of Appa and Momo, and Olivia Hack, the voice of Ty Lee, and they shared their thoughts on the streaming service’s upcoming live-action remake.

“I just don’t know how you fulfill that any better than this show did. I’m open to whatever they do with the live-action series, which I know nothing about, but it’s like, ‘Well, how do you do this better than the way that it was rendered on this show?’ I don’t know how you do that! I hope you can,” Bradley Baker said. Hack added, “Especially when you’re doing the exact same series, but as a live-action. You’re not adding onto it or expanding the universe. You’re doing the same thing, which feels redundant, but I don’t know.”

I will watch the live-action The Last Airbender remake partially because the original series is one of the greatest animated shows of all-time, and partially out of morbid curiosity. But Bradley Baker and Hack make a good point: why mess with perfection? We all know what happened the last time someone made a live-action The Last Airbender…

Speaking of, the show’s voice director Andrea Romano also took part of the reunion, and she called M. Night Shyamalan’s film “very disappointing. It’s not good, I’m sorry. The first thing is: we were so good with what we set up. That’s it. Because it was animation and because we were setting the bar… I believe there was an ego involved about, ‘This is mine and I’m doing it this way. I don’t care that you two guys [creators Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko] created this incredibly successful series and have all this information you could give me. I’m pretty much not gonna listen to you and do what I wanna do.’ Which is fine, that’s his prerogative, but that’s why [it didn’t work].”

Also this:

Dante DiMartino and Konietzko departed the remake over “creative direction.”

(Via Winter is Coming)

My theory, disputed by many doctors, is that the human brain has tiny fishing hooks inside it. Not a lot of them, maybe half a dozen. They just kind of sit there hanging out into the open thoroughfares that our thoughts pass through. Most thoughts, especially the important ones (“hey, remember to pay your credit card bill”; “this person looks like a Mike but his name is actually Greg and he will get mad if you screw it up”), zip right on by undisturbed, sometimes gathering the escape velocity to shoot straight out of your head completely. Sometimes, though, a thought gets stuck on one of those hooks, and then it just stays there, wriggling around, refusing to leave no matter how hard you shake and jostle it. They’re usually useless ones, too, like facts you have no need to remember (“Liam Gallagher owns over 2000 tambourines”) or song lyrics that haunt you for decades (“Man, it’s a hot one…”). Every now and then, though, an idea will get snagged. A really good one. One that someone else might have tossed out as a joke and forgotten about but stays on the hook in your brain for weeks, shouting at the other thoughts passing through, altering each of them, and consuming you completely.

This is happening to me. It started on December 21, when I saw this tweet:

It is so true and so obvious in hindsight that I’m angry no one thought of it years ago, especially me. I would watch that movie every weekend. Danny McBride and Walton Goggins are perfect together, as we’ve seen, multiple times, with evidence, and yes, this is me talking about Vice Principles and The Righteous Gemstones again, two mostly perfect little shows that highlight each actor’s strengths. So they’ve already been in things together. They can be in more things together going forward. Like, for example, that Prestige remake, or, for many other examples, the other movie remakes my brain has been cranking away on since that tweet got stuck on one of its hooks.

Yes, I’m sorry (but also you are welcome), we are doing this. Here is an incomplete list of movies that I would like to see remade with Danny McBride and Walton Goggins. Any or all will be acceptable.

The Fugitive

The key to this one is that McBride has to play the Harrison Ford character and Goggins has to play the Tommy Lee Jones character. I don’t think anyone will have any objections to this, but for those who may be questioning it, consider:

• Walton Goggins giving the “warehouse, farmhouse, henhouse, outhouse” speech
• Danny McBride storming into a crowded ballroom and shouting “This corrupt motherfucker switched the samples!”

I know there’s no cussing in the original version of that line. But get a good picture in your brain of Danny McBride saying that. I think you’ll agree that it plays.

Face/Off

Goggins as Travolta, McBride as Cage, also for two important reasons:

• I really want to see Walton Goggins’ take on John Travolta’s take on Nicolas Cage, right down to the deranged smirking and eyes flooded with chaos
• I really want to see Danny McBride brandish two solid gold handguns as he leaps out of an airplane

I consider these requests to be reasonable in every way.

Batman

Any Batman movie will do, honestly, but the obvious choice here is one that features Joker, just for the historic rivalry. The Dark Knight, yes, sure, fine, but also the original Batman with Michael Keaton and Jack Nicholson. That one might be preferable, now that I think about it, in part because it’s not the second film in a trilogy and will be somewhat less confusing (I said somewhat), and in part, because I love a big cartoony Joker in big cartoony suits. So, let’s do that one.

The tricky part of this one is who plays who. And it’s extra frustrating for me because I’m the guy who wrote a whole thing about how every actor is either a Batman or a Joker and how it’s kind of obvious once you think about it. But even then I admitted that these two are confusing, saying, apologies for quoting myself, “Danny McBride is such a Joker that he might be a Batman as a prank” and “Walton Goggins is, at present, a Joker, but is one perspective-shifting supporting role away from becoming the most fascinating Batman of all.” Do you see the problem here? I, the self-appointed expert on the subject, couldn’t decide back then when I had tasked myself with deciding. It’s a conundrum. It might keep me awake for a week. That’s why I propose a compromise, one I think you will agree is fair and equitable…

We make two Batman remakes, one with Goggins as Batman and McBride as Joker, one with McBride as Batman and Goggins as Joker, and we let the public decide. Democracy in action. Plus, I want to see both of these. Not a losing side to be found anywhere.

Good Will Hunting

This one requires some cheating, to the extent that any of this contains rules that can be broken, which it does not. Here’s how we do it: Goggins plays the Matt Damon character, aged down a few decades with the Benjamin Button machine; McBride plays BOTH the Ben Affleck and Robin Williams roles, also via the Benjamin Button machine. God, I want to see this. I want to see Goggins doing a thick Boston accent. I want to see McBride give the “The best part of my day speech,” I REALLY want to see the “It’s not your fault” speech, with Goggins acting his heart and crying and McBride twisting the whole thing by complaining that there’s snot on his sweater or something.

This is a pretty bad idea. I stand by it completely.

All the President’s Men

Goggins as Redford/Woodward, McBride as Hoffman/Bernstein. Neither of these is perfect, I’ll admit that right up front. But I’ll tell you how I got there: hair. Robert Redford has had perfect shampoo commercial hair for almost a full century now (he still does today, Google it). Walton Goggins had an incredible hair situation on Justified. His hair seemed to get more spiky and unkempt as his character became more unhinged, kind of like a follicle mood ring. The two men are similar in the way they are opposites: one a blonde Adonis with the hair of a teen pop star; one a menacing brunette whose hair appears to be running away from his face. It’s so wrong it’s right.

As far as the other half of this one… I don’t know. I just want to see Danny McBride and Walton Goggins take down Nixon. I shouldn’t have to explain any of this beyond that. And the hair.

Fight Club

I have five words for you and I want you to think about them for the rest of the day. Are you ready?

Okay, here we go…

Danny McBride as Tyler Durden.

Thank you. Moving on.

Tombstone

This is another tricky one because there are a bunch of characters in Tombstone and a fair amount of them could go either way. I’ve been thinking about it a lot, and here’s what I’ve settled on:

• Danny McBride as Wyatt Earp because I want to see him with a luxurious mustache like the one Kurt Russell sported
• Walton Goggins as Doc Holiday because I pictured him saying “I’m your Huckleberry” just now and it felt delightful
• Sam Elliott reprises his role over two decades later with no explanation
• Chalamet as Johnny Ringo

Get them all cowboy hats and start production.

Gladiator

I’m very sorry, truly, but if you don’t want to see an alternate version of Gladiator that stars Danny McBride as Maximus and Walton Goggins as Commodus, I don’t know what I can do to help you. You’re a lost soul. You just have to make this journey on your own, a solitary search for what ails your broken spirit, as soon as you can. Just picture Walton Goggins stabbing Danny McBride and whispering “Smile for me now, brother,” and then picture Danny McBride screaming “ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?” That could help. Maybe rewatch the whole movie tonight to get a better feel for it. I feel pretty certain that you don’t have anything better to do.

Toy Story

The first Toy Story, exactly the same, not a single frame of animation changed or a fraction of the plot altered, with the exception of three things:

• Walton Goggins as Woody
• Danny McBride as Buzz Lightyear
• Rated R due to the addition of 100+ swear words

I’ll still cry at the end. There’s no getting around it.

The First Season of True Detective

Technically cheating again because this is a television show instead of a movie, but consider this: Danny McBride sitting in an interview room with a Lone Star pounder on the table in front of him and a lit cigarette —wait, no, definitely a joint — in his hand that he lifts to his mouth and takes a long drag from before saying “Time’s a flat circle, hombre” and exhaling a thick cloud in the stale room. That’s pretty good. And doing this also allows me to type the phrase “Walton Goggins as Woody Harrelson,” which is both a fun collection of words and a biopic I kind of want to see now.

So, let’s get to work on that one, too. After these. Priorities, etc.

After years away, The Antlers began their return last year with some new music. Those new singles didn’t come with official news of a new album, but now that reveal has finally arrived: Green To Gold will be released on March 26. Today, they also shared a new song called “Solstice,” a relaxing number that sounds like a natural continuation of Peter Silberman’s sparse 2017 solo album Impermanence.

Silberman says of the track, “‘Solstice’ is a flashback to the infinite days of peak childhood summer, innocent barefoot hikes, staying outside all afternoon and late into the evening, well past it being too dark to see. But it’s remembered from the vantage of a present day that feels unbearably long rather than joyously endless. It’s an invocation of those simpler times, an attempt to conjure the lightness of youth, before life got so damn complicated.”

He also says of the album more broadly:

“I set out to make Sunday morning music. […] Most of the songs on Green To Gold are culled from conversations with my friends and my partner. It’s less ambiguous about who’s speaking and who’s listening. I think the shift in tone is the result of getting older. It doesn’t make sense for me to try to tap into the same energy that I did ten or fifteen years ago, because I continue to grow as a person, as I’m sure our audience does too. Green To Gold is about this idea of gradual change. People changing over time, struggling to accept change in those they love, and struggling to change themselves. And yet despite all our difficulty with this, nature somehow makes it look easy.”

Watch the “Solstice” video above and check out the Green To Gold art and tracklist below.

1. “Strawflower”
2. “Wheels Roll Home”
3. “Solstice”
4. “Stubborn Man”
5. “Just One Sec”
6. “It Is What It Is”
7. “Volunteer”
8. “Green To Gold”
9. “Porchlight”
10. “Equinox”

Green To Gold is out 3/26 via Anti-. Pre-order it here.

The effects of the failed MAGA coup on the U.S. Capitol are somewhat ironic, given that some GOP lawmakers who were in the process of objecting to the Electoral College vote (and helped to incite the insurrection) are now also upset about increased security measures on Capitol Hill. It’s mind-boggling that members of Congress weren’t already required to go through metal detectors, given that it’s a requirement for people who work in most federal buildings already. Well, some lawmakers like freshman Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) actually threw a hissy fit and refused to reveal what was in her bag.

So, what was in Boebert’s bag? It’s not too hard to guess what she wished to hide (or wanted people to think she was hiding), since Boebert’s viral-semi-famous for her “I will carry a Glock” video, in which she brags that she will carry a firearm into the Capitol. What a mess, and incoming Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO) has some harsh words for Boebert and the rest of her colleagues who don’t want to comply with the requirements of their job: find another one.

“For those that did that, first of all, we’re talking about your job,” Bush said to MSNBC’s Chris Hayes. “Let’s just look at it from the most basic level: If you work at McDonald’s you have to wear the uniform, or you’re not working today.” She wasn’t done yet. “Have they ever had a job before? Also, how do you get on a plane? Do you rush through and not go through the detector? That’s a bunch of bullcrap.” And then came the kicker. “If they won’t abide for the simple things this job calls for, then go find another one!”

Chris Hayes busted out laughing at round the 1:30 min mark in this clip.

On a related note, Rep. Bush is also pushing for lawmakers who helped to incite last week’s Capitol violence to be expelled. Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley, you may have met your match.

With over 100,000 people watching on Instagram Live, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) detailed the “close encounter” she had with the MAGA rioters during last week’s failed coup at the Capitol building. “Wednesday was an extremely traumatizing event. And it was not an exaggeration to say that many members of the House were nearly assassinated,” she said. “I didn’t even feel safe going to that extraction point because there were QAnon and white supremacist members of Congress who I felt would disclose my location and create opportunities to allow me to be hurt.” AOC, who “didn’t feel safe around other members of Congress,” thought she “was going to die.”

The rioters brought pitchforks and zip-ties and Confederate flags to the U.S. Capitol; a wooden gallows was erected on the lawn; and Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), one of the members of “The Squad” (AOC is also part of the group), told the Boston Globe that “every panic button in my office had been torn out — the whole unit.”

Ocasio-Cortez was “unable to provide further details about the January 6 incident due to security concerns,” according to the Huffington Post, but she did later senators Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) for their role in the riot. “Ted Cruz, you do not belong in the United States Senate. Josh Hawley, you do not belong in the United States Senate, so get out,” she said. More generally, Ocasio-Cortez told any Republican who supported President Trump’s efforts to overturn the election that “you will never be president. You will never command the respect of this country, never… And you should resign, and so should every member of congress who voted to overturn the election results because they would rather cling to power instead of respect our democracy.”

Here’s a thread of her Instagram Live talk, along with reactions:

(Via the Huffington Post)

Last summer, Cardi B revealed that while making her monumental “WAP” video, she spent $100,000 just on COVID-19 testing to ensure a safe set. It turns out that was just a small portion of the video’s overall cost, as Cardi has revealed she spent a million dollars on the whole production.

Cardi decided to bless her Twitter followers last night with a random “Bodak Yellow” fact, writing, “Fun fact : Bodak yellow music video cost me 15 thousand dollars .I was in Dubai and I said ….I gotta fly picture (videographer) out here …BOOM BOOM BANG ! Ya know the rest.” A fan responded by noting, “girl that’s a lot,” and Cardi replied, “Naaaa honey ….Money cost 400K ,Please me Cost 900K ,Wap Cost a M !”

This got fans curious about how much Cardi’s other videos cost, and Cardi offered a lot of answers to their questions: “Be Careful” cost “not much …Probably like 200K,” “Bartier Cardi” “was like 150K,” and “Lick” ran her “I think like 15K.”

Cardi also offered some behind-the-scenes info on what it was like to shoot some of her visuals. She said of “I Like It,” “I was extremely annoyed that day .I was pregnant and hot and paparazzi was being so annoying and rude.” She also said of the “Lick” video with Offset, “Offset had a 40K wardrobe fee for videos so I had to pay it out my pocket cause I didn’t wanna look like a small artist with a tiny ass music video budget …..I told him like a year later.” She later expanded on “Lick,” writing, “Ugh it was very [expressionless face emoji] .We shot the video at a casino in a Holiday Inn in Jersey and I was embarrassed cause it look so low budget and Set was about to pull up and I barely knew him so I was so shy and when he kissed me on camera my heart sinked [heart eyes emoji] Every1 was like [shocked emoji].”

She also said of her “Taki Taki” video with DJ Snake, “TAKI TAKI I had fun but I was alil off .It was my first music video after giving birth and my body was so skinny.I felt like it was my first day back at school but DJ SNAKE made sure I felt like a comfy princess.” Cardi also noted of “Bartier Cardi,” “I was pregnant so I was trying my best to conceal my tiny belly .I felt uncomfortable in the car cause I really wanted to be sexy with offset but I was looking very pregnant so I didn’t felt sexy I was looking fat .”

Check out Cardi’s tweets about her videos below.

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

After a lopsided defeat at the hands of the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday evening, Houston Rockets guard James Harden sent shockwaves through the NBA landscape with candid comments on the podium. The superstar said “this situation is crazy, it’s something that I don’t think can be fixed” when referring to the Rockets and, given previous rumblings about Harden’s desire to find a new team via trade, things seem to be reaching a peak of sorts in Houston.

Moments later, John Wall addressed the media and, at first, he offered a swift sidestep when prompted with what Harden said.

From there, however, Wall referred to “certain guys in the mix who don’t want to buy in” and expounded on his current viewpoint.

Wall was also candid in saying his new pairing with Harden has been “a little rocky” since he arrived in the trade that sent Russell Westbrook to the Washington Wizards.

Finally, Wall did credit Harden for competing and coming to practice, even if the statement of support wasn’t overwhelming.

In some ways, Harden’s unhappiness isn’t a surprise, but this is not the kind of public sentiment usually expressed in the aftermath of a regular season game in January. As such, Wall was put in an interesting and difficult position in having to speak right after it, especially on a new team. Still, this is a situation that has far-ranging effects, and Wall didn’t run and hide from the turmoil, perhaps creating even more discussion and intrigue along the way.

Tensions between Snoop Dogg and Eminem have grown steadily for the past month after the latter dissed the Long Beach legend on the track “Zeus” off Music To Be Murdered By — Side B. A couple of weeks after he released the project, Eminem explained that his diss was rooted in comments Snoop made about him back when he shared his list of the greatest rappers of all-time — which did not include him. Eminem took particular umbrage with him saying, “Far as music I can live without, I can live without that s*it,” which he found “disrespectful.”

Snoop struck back on Instagram, telling him to “pray” that he doesn’t deliver a response to his “Zeus” diss. This back and forth left fans of both rappers wondering if things would escalate further, but according to Snoop, it’s now all a thing of the past. A fan recently shared an Instagram post of a throwback picture of Eminem, Snoop Dogg, and Dr. Dre together with a caption that read, “I wonder what changed…” Snoop Dogg caught wind of the post and cleared the air with a simple message. “We good,” he said with the flexed biceps emoji. While it’s unknown what went down between them, it’s for the best that the two decided to forgo an all-out rap beef and preserve their longtime relationship.

Things are not going well for James Harden and the Houston Rockets. The team is 3-6 on the season and got rinsed by the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday night — they fell behind by as many as 30 points before ultimately losing, 117-100. In the midst of the on-court product not being good, Harden’s trade demand looms large over the team, and the Rockets’ reported ultra-high asking price means there hasn’t been much speculation on that front.

All of this seemed to boil over after the loss the the Lakers on Tuesday. Harden, fresh off of a 16-point performance, gave a startling quote the the assembled media in Houston that appeared to come of as a goodbye, regardless of whether a trade is imminent.

“This situation is crazy, it’s something that I don’t think can be fixed,” Harden said. “So, um, yeah. Thanks.”

He then proceeded to get up and walk out of the press conference, but that was not all that he had to say. Harden spoke about the current state of the team, which he thinks is nowhere near where it needs to be, and stressed that he loves the city of Houston, even if he wants to move on to greener pastures.

Despite all of this, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN reports that Harden is staying in Houston for the time being, as there’s nothing on the horizon regarding a trade.

It seemed inevitable that Harden would eventually get to the point of being super frustrated with how things are going, but nine games is pretty quick to go nuclear like this. Now, the thing to watch is whether the timetable for a trade gets moved up, or if Harden decides to take a more extreme measure like staying away from the franchise as his tenure with the Rockets comes to an end.

As the walls have seemingly finally closed around the president — not that he hasn’t escaped what seemed like inescapable disaster before! — he’s had an unlikely critic: Geraldo Rivera. The two have been friends for ages, and though Rivera has sometimes tried to rein in his worse tendencies, he’s always stuck by his side — at least until he lost re-election in November. He’s had zero patience for Trump’s baseless cries of voter fraud. And now that it seems likely he’ll receive a second impeachment in about a year, Rivera’s for that, too.

Rivera started out seemingly pro-Trump. “A loyal friend, hounded without mercy by Democrats intent on destroying him from Day 1,” Rivera recounted. “Then he lost the election. It made him crazy or revealed a dysfunction I had refused to see. He then unleashed a mob to make war on their own government. 5 to their doom.”

He then twisted the knife, writing “@LizCheney is right” — referring to the third most powerful House Republican, who hours earlier announced she was voting for impeachment.

When Trump first refused to concede in mid-November, Rivera took a more empathetic approach, claiming the two had had a “heartfelt” conversation, even suggesting he could be appeased if the COVID-19 vaccine was named in his honor. But soon he’d officially thrown up his hands, calling Trump’s many enablers “knuckleheads,” snapping at young Republican Charlie Kirk, even calling the outgoing president himself “an entitled frat boy.” But hey, at least Trump still has Beavis and Butt-Head.