This week, former president the case against Donald Trump goes on trial in the Senate, whose members will vote whether or not to impeach him for his role in early January’s failed MAGA riot. One of the Republican lawmakers who played a key role in hyping up the event that led to the storming of the Capitol was Ted Cruz. In the month that’s followed, the Texas senator has not admitted wrongdoing nor has he apologized to the colleagues who lives were in danger. Instead, he’s spent much of the time trolling Democrats and getting owned online, including by one of the stars of his favorite movie.
That happened again on Monday, when Cruz decided to come for current president Joe Biden, at least online, choosing a most Trumpian line of attack: his relationship with China. He didn’t mention any specific stance, merely tweeting, “Team Biden is soft on China.”
Team Cruz is soft on insurrection, sedition, white nationalism, incitement to violence, cop-killing, domestic terrorism… the list is long… https://t.co/PZFznRNqom
Some people pointed reminded anyone thinking of joining Team Cruz that it’s the one led by someone who goes to bat for people who insult his wife and dad.
As Ted Cruz tries to talk shit on “Team Biden”, he forgets to mention the only way you gain entry to Team Cruz is if you call his wife ugly and then insult his father. Cool story, Ted.
Just a few weeks ago, news broke that Atlanta rapper YFN Lucci was wanted by police as a suspect in a case involving drive-by murder. Days later, the rapper turned himself into authorities — but first he made sure to drop his “Rolled On” video with Mozzy. YFN Lucci has been in jail since and was denied bond while awaiting trail. But now, it seems like his luck has turned around as he’s reportedly been released.
According to a report from TMZ, Lucci is now out of jail on a hefty bond of $500,000, but while he’s no longer behind bars, he still has to abide by certain rules so that the judge can be sure he won’t skip town before his court date. For starters, Lucci has reportedly been ordered to wear an ankle monitor and is required to be inside his house from 7 pm to 7 am. Outside of that 12-hour window, he’s permitted only to see his legal counsel, go to the doctor, and visit with his children.
Lucci’s attorney, Drew Findling, told TMZ that he was released on bond with a number of special conditions. “The bond was negotiated last week and finalized today,” Findling said. “He was released just before 4 pm. There are a variety of conditions which is somewhat consistent with these cases, which included surrendering his passport.”
YFN Lucci is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Along with being a successful musician, Machine Gun Kelly’s other talents include starting beef with Eminem and, apparently, designing memorable merch collections. The rapper-turned-pop-punk musician just added new items to his website, following the release of his pop punk LP Tickets To My Downfall. But with Valentine’s Day right around the corner, the musician is offering some limited-edition items. One addition to his beefed-up collection was the source of a lot of talk on Twitter: a hot pink vibrator with the words “compliments of Machine Gun Kelly” printed on its box.
This actually isn’t the first time Kelly has sold the Lil’ Devil vibrator on his website. Last year, he offered a red version of the sex toy around Valentine’s Day. But seeing as the pink one is version 2.0, it’s sure to have some upgrades.
Along with the vibrator, Kelly is making sure everyone knows he’s dating Megan Fox. His website lists a pink hoodie that has a photo of the couple making out on the front. The design also includes a verse from Kelly’s Tickets To My Downfall track “Banyan Tree (Interlude)” which reads, “She loves a boy so much she wants him to steal her breath.”
Have you ever been watching a Disney movie and had a bit of deja vu? Not just that “Oh, this movie has that familiar Disney look and feel” feeling, but more like, “I swear I’ve literally seen this exact scene before in another movie”?
If you’ve watched a lot of Disney films, you actually have seen the same scenes repeated in different movies. People have been pointing out parallel sequences on social media and it’s got some folks super freaked out.
Check it out:
I’m so confused right now. 😳😬🤯 https://t.co/gnAExj9bin
Watching that “Jungle Book” and “Winnie the Pooh” sequence, there’s no denying it’s exactly the same animation template, just with different backgrounds and characters. But how? And why?
Disney has actually been recycling its animation for various movie scenes since it created Dumbo in 1941. Floyd Norman, a veteran Disney animator who has worked on Disney films as far back as Sleeping Beauty in 1959 and as recently as Mulan and Toy Story 2, weighed in on the reason for reusing animation sequences, saying:
“It was done probably to save time, save money. Although I don’t think it saved much time and I don’t think it saved much money because it was much more of a hassle to go dig this old footage out of the archive. It would’ve been easier to just sit down and animate a new scene than to go back and try to retrofit all this old stuff to something new. We’re looking back to the 1960s and 70s when people weren’t thinking how films would change, how media would change, and how people would be able to look at these various films and compare one film against another.”
This video by Cartoon Hangovers shares various recycled Disney scenes and explains why they were reused, showing how it all began with animators tracing over live footage of real actors to create more realistic animation in Disney’s first full-length feature film, “Snow White.”
Every Recycled Disney Shot & Why – Snow White, Frozen, Toy Story, Moana and More – Cartoon Hangover
Despite the eventual mega-success of the Disney empire, the company’s beginnings were not so rosy. “Snow White” was a surprise box office hit, but follow-up films “Pinocchio,” “Bambi,” and “Fantasia” went way over budget and were considered losses for the studio. “Dumbo” was a success, but then WWII hit. That’s when Disney really got started with resuing animation.
The main reason was purportedly to save time and money. According to Floyd Norman, Walt Disney himself probably never even knew or noticed that animators were recycling scenes. He was focused more on the big picture and not so concerned with the technical processes of the animators.
The practice of reusing scenes continued, with “The Sword in the Stone” and “The Jungle Book” in particular snagging lots of scenes from previous Disney projects. But there are lots of well-known examples, including “The Aristocats” reusing scenes from “101 Dalmations,” and “Robin Hood” stealing scenes—and even parallel characters—from “The Jungle Book” (Ever notice how similar Little John and Baloo are?) and other Disney films.
These Disney films from the 60s, 70s, and 80s can trace their recycled animation primarily back to one director–Woolie Reitherman. He’s not the only one to utilize the reuse of animation, but he’s best known for it. He basically didn’t see a reason to reinvent the wheel.
However, the practice didn’t necessarily save time or money. Floyd Norman has pointed out that it’s a lot of work to go through old footage, find what you want, and remake it into a new animation. In some ways, it would be easier just to animate from scratch.
Even newer Disney movies have reused scenes, though more often not, those serve as an homage to the original films that made the newer films possible. Such is the case with the dancing scene at the end of “Beauty and the Beast,” which mirrors the one at the end of “Sleeping Beauty.”
So no, it’s not your imagination—there is no shortage of Disney scenes that are repeated in different Disney films. No one is complaining, of course, with Disney having made dozens of beloved productions enjoyed by billions of people. Perhaps recycling scenes is even part of what gives us a sense of familiarity when we watch a Disney movie.
At the end of the day, animators are magicians. Whatever tools they use to make the magic happen, so be it.
If we could impart one piece of wisdom with this binge-guide it’s this: don’t sleep on Hulu‘s movie line-up. The streaming service may have started as just a way to watch cable TV without actually paying premium prices for the cord but over the years, it’s morphed into a platform with an impressive film catalog. We’re talking prestige originals, blockbusters, inventive comedies, and so much more. We don’t really need to do much more in the way of hyping it up, so we’ll just let you scroll through our picks for the best films on Hulu and leave you with this warning: your watchlist is going to get full real quick.
It’s hard to quantify a film as stylishly inventive and socially aware as Bong Joon Ho’s comedic thriller. There’s a reason this film won so many Oscars. It flits between instilling empathy for a family struggling to crawl out of poverty by increasingly deceptive means and the clueless elite whose house they eventually infiltrate. Bolstered by some terrific performances and a gripping script, the less said about the story, it’s twists and unexpected turns, the better. Just do yourself a favor and watch it.
Barry Jenkins follows up the success of Moonlight with this adaptation of a James Baldwin masterpiece. Told in a nonlinear style, the film recounts the romance of Tish and Fonny, two young Black lovers living in 1970s New York. When Fonny is accused of a heinous crime, Tish and her family fight to prove his innocence. The story is heartbreaking and hopeful at the same time, and Regina King puts in an Oscar-winning performance as Tish’s devoted mother.
This Sundance Grand Jury Prize-winning documentary tells the unbelievably inspiring story of Hatidze, a bee-hunter in North Macedonia who represents a dying breed of ecological custodians. Hatidze and her ailing mother live on a remote mountain range, where she peacefully coexists with the bees whose honey is her livelihood, but when new neighbors arrive to disrupt this fragile harmony, Hatidze must fight for her simple way of life. It’s a moving, intimate portrait of an inspiring woman, and a larger commentary on how our greed and ignorance can irreparably damage our surroundings.
As flashy and over-the-top as the sequin-spandex numbers that graced the ice back in the ’80s, I, Tonya manages to straddle a thin line. It’s both a biopic of one of the most notorious female athletes in the history of figure skating and a raucous comedy intent on mocking everything troubling about American culture at the time. Margot Robbie is brilliant in her role-playing a woman tortured by talent and her inability to capitalize on it — and you can literally hear Allison Janney chewing every scene she’s in as Harding’s narcissistic, chain-smoking mother. Plus that parrot bite is as funny as you could hope.
Rob Reiner’s ridiculous fantasy romp never fails to entertain, no matter how many times you re-watch it. It plays with classic fairytale tropes in inventive, increasingly absurd ways without ever sacrificing its story: the quest for true love. Cary Elwes plays Wesley, a farmhand who falls in love with a beautiful maiden named Buttercup (Robin Wright), but a cruel twist of fate separates them, leading him to become a notorious pirate and her to be betrothed to a truly awful king. It’s a bit Monty-Python-esque but with more swoon-worthy moments and, if you can believe it, memorable jokes.
Olivia Wilde’s directorial debut is this coming-of-age ode to friendship starring Beanie Feldstein and Kaitlyn Dever. Feldstein plays Molly, a politically ambitious high schooler, who resolves to have one night of teenage fun before graduation. She ropes her best friend Amy (Dever) into her plan, and the two navigate a host of wild mishaps to make it to the biggest party of the year. It’s fun and heartfelt and a surprisingly confident first take from Wilde.
There are forbidden love affairs and then there’s this epic romance from French filmmaker Celine Sciamma. Filled with sexual tension and secret rendevous, this period piece centers on a young painter named Marianne who lives on the island of Brittany and is commissioned to complete a portrait of an aristocratic noblewoman named Heloise before she’s set to be wed. The two women form an intimate bond, one that tests their sense of self and their willingness to sacrifice for love.
Boots Riley’s directorial debut comes courtesy of this dark, absurdist comedy that manages to weave themes of class and capitalism into a bonkers tale about a telemarketer living in Oakland who figures out a way to use his “white voice” to make sales. As he moves up the ladder, selling while hiding his identity, he’s pulled into a conspiracy that forces him to choose between cashing in at humanity’s expense or joining his friends in a rebellion against the system. Lakeith Stanfield gives a riveting turn as Cassius Green, Cash, the kid at the center of this bizarre story, and Tessa Thompson gives a commendable performance as Cash’s radical feminist girlfriend, Detroit.
Wunderkind Paul Thomas Anderson synthesized all his greatest influences — Scorsese’s hyperkinetic camerawork, Altman’s profound empathy for human suffering, Tarantino’s flair for sleazy L.A. dialogue — into something completely original in his breakout film. He wasn’t even out of his twenties, and Anderson conducted a flawless ensemble cast including Burt Reynolds, Julianne Moore, John C. Reilly, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Don Cheadle, and a headstrong kid named Mark Wahlberg in a sweeping statement on Hollywood, America, and cinema in general. At turns side-splittingly funny and unspeakably dark, teeming with life in every meticulously constructed frame, traversing two decades in the life of an industry at a pivotal moment of flux, Boogie Nights remains one of the greatest American films to come out of the ’90s.
Ryan Reynolds and director Tim Reynolds found a new way to explore the superhero universe with this foul-mouthed entry that follows a professional assassin and mercenary who gets a bit of a bad break, first with a terminal illness, then with some government experimenting gone wrong. Reynold’s plays the titled anti-hero, a wise-cracking opportunist dealt a pretty ugly hand who ends up saving the day… kind of.
Adam McKay’s controversial biopic lands on Hulu with its impressive cast of Oscar-winners including Christian Bale, who undergoes a mind-blowing transformation to play former Vice President Dick Cheney. The film follows the build-up to Cheney’s White House appointment, as he gains power first as a Washington insider, then as the man pulling the strings of the Bush administrations. Amy Adams plays his supportive, just as morally compromised wife, Lynne, with Sam Rockwell turning in a hilarious performance as Bush himself.
Ben Affleck stars in this muted thriller from David Fincher, based on a best-selling book by Gillian Flynn. Affleck plays a tormented husband whose wife vanishes, spurring the police and the public to suspect him in her disappearance. As he tries to manage the media circus ruining his life, the truth about his marriage comes to light. Affleck’s fine in this, but Rosamund Pike will blow you away.
Viggo Mortensen and Kathryn Han star in this feel-good drama about an unconventional family’s attempts to stay together despite outside forces closing in on their way of life. Mortensen plays Ben, the father to six children all living in a remote, wooded area. The kids keep a strict schedule, learning on their own, surviving in the wild, eschewing traditional schooling and activities for Ben’s regimen, which pushes them to think for themselves and find their own purpose. When Ben and the kids are forced to leave their utopia and interact with estranged family members in the real world, his teachings and their way of life is challenged in surprising ways.
Set during the touring years of The Beatles’ career, from 1962-1966, director Ron Howard crafts an intimate portrayal of the world’s most popular band with the help of both Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, along with widows Yoko Ono and Olivia Harrison. Featuring 4K restorations of some of the band’s most memorable concerts, this documentary is a must for any film lover, Beatles fan or otherwise.
We know what you’re thinking. Shrek? Really? An animated comedy about an ugly green ogre who rescues a princess, befriends a donkey, and saves a kingdom. Look, it’s a common misconception that Shrek was only for kids. Mike Meyers, Eddie Murphy, and Cameron Diaz all voiced characters in the film, and there were plenty of mature jokes that probably flew right over the kiddos’ heads. Torturing a sweet Gingerbread Man, interspecies hookups, and a show-stopping song and dance number to wrap things up makes this a family-friendly comedy that the adults won’t snooze through.
Michael B. Jordan, Sylvester Stallone, and Tessa Thompson return for round two of this boxing drama reboot. Still training with Rocky Balboa, Adonis Creed (Jordan) tries to bounce back after a dangerous beatdown, resolving to face off against the son of Viktor Drago, the man who killed his father. The film’s tension is heightened, the hits more violent, and Jordan is as confident as ever in his leading man status.
Ozark breakout Julia Garner stars in this tense #MeToo thriller with Succession’s Matthew Macfayden. Garner plays Jane, a recent college grad who just scored an assistant job at a film production company. When she begins noticing her boss sexually harassing young women around the office, she tries to do something about it and runs into various roadblocks from the higher-ups. It’s a dark, seedy drama and Garner is brilliant in it.
Australian director Jennifer Kent follows up her surprise success, The Babadook, with another dark tale, this time one that follows a young woman on a path of revenge. Aisling Franciosi plays Claire, an Irish convict sent to Tasmania in 1825 who chases a British officer (Sam Claflin) through the wilderness intent on making him pay for the crimes he committed against her and her family. Along the way, she recruits help from an aboriginal tracker and the two navigate racial tensions and prejudice on their quest. Franciosi is magnetic as Claire, a woman who refuses to let the horrible abuses she’s suffered break her and Claflin seems to delight in playing the villain of this story.
Merging high art and science fiction, director Lars Von Trier found inspiration for his story after suffering a depressive episode. Focused on two sisters with a strained relationship, they must now face the reality of a rogue planet set to collide with Earth. It premiered at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival, where Kristen Dunst was given the Best Actress Award, and the following year the British Film Institute named it one of the greatest films of all time — a rare honor for any film made in the 21st century.
Tessa Thompson and Lily James deliver magnetic performances in this gritty crime drama from director Nia DaCosta. Thompson plays Ollie, a young woman living in an oil town in North Dakota who starts running drugs across the Canadian border when her mom gets sick. James plays her screw-up sister, Deb, who comes back into her life after their mom’s death with problems of her own. The sisters must find a way to save their childhood home, get Deb the help she needs, and get Ollie out of town before the police and some angry drug dealers catch her. It’s a relentless meat grinder of a film, but it’s also a hell of a watch.
Loosely based on the ground-breaking manga of the same name, Akira is considered a landmark in Japanese animation, as well as one of the best animated films ever produced. Set in a dystopian future in 2019, a teenager named Tetsuo gains tremendous telekinetic powers after a motorcycle crash, eventually going mad with power before bringing the military-industrial complex to its knees. A live action adaptation has been in the works in some form since 2002, but remains in development purgatory for the time being.
Helping to close out a decade of memorable teen films on a dark note, Heathers is a savagely funny deconstruction of the frivolousness of popular cliques that helped set the tone of many dark comedies that would follow in its wake. The plot involves a popular group of girls known as The Heathers who invite Veronica Sawyer (Winona Ryder) to join them, guaranteeing that she would gain popularity by association. Eventually, Veronica finds herself teaming up with a dangerous sociopath (Christian Slater) in an attempt to break the Heathers’ tyrannical hold on the school.
Eva Khatchadourian (Tilda Swinton), who’s unwilling and unable to properly care for her troubled son Kevin, watches her life unravel as her husband (John C. Reilly) ignores their problems and Kevin grows more and more sociopathic and violent. The story jumps around in time, showing Swinton’s character as both a new mother who blames her son for ruining her life and as a woman who eventually blames herself for what becomes of her son. Swinton proves once again that she’s the actress that indie movies need for complex characters that live their lives in grey areas. At its core, We Need To Talk is about the importance of proper parenting, communication, and probably therapy. And it’s not for the faint of heart.
Tom Cruise is joined by Superman himself, Henry Cavill in this latest installment in the action franchise. Cruise returns as Ethan Hunt who leads his IMF team but is joined by Cavill’s CIA Agent, August Walker, who’s tasked with monitoring the group after a mission gone wrong. Hunt is tracking some missing plutonium before a terrorist group called The Apostles can weaponize it against the world but he’s thwarted by a surprising enemy.
The war of the Fyre docs kicked off earlier this year with Hulu releasing their surprise flick just days before Netflix’s planned exposé. Both films rehash the same basic plot: a young entrepreneur scams thousands of millennials and investors out of millions of dollars, but Hulu’s movie takes a closer look the aftermath and damage caused by Billy McFarland and Ja Rule, in addition to interviews and close looks at the events of the Fyre Festival disaster with a critical eye.
Pen15‘s Maya Erskine and ‘ Jack Quaid star in this modern rom-com about a pair of friends, who agree to suffer a summer of wedding invites together. Alice and Ben have been pals since college, but when their mutuals start getting hitched, and they’re left without dates to the happy nuptials, they make a pact to be each others’ “plus one.” What begins as a chance to score free booze and food quickly spirals into a neverending series of interactions that remind them how lonely they both are and force them to confront their hidden attraction.
A charming, unconventional story about what it means to be a family, Hunt for the Wilderpeople follows a juvenile delinquent named Ricky (Julian Dennison), who is adopted by a couple living on a farm in a remote region of New Zealand. After Ricky fakes his suicide and escapes into the bush, his (reluctantly) adopted father Hec (Sam Neill) goes looking for him, and after a series of mishaps, the two are forced to survive in the woods together for months. It was released during SXSW in 2016 (you can read our review here), and after rave reviews from critics the world over, it’s gone on to become the highest-grossing film in New Zealand history.
Before the Tina Feys, Amy Poehlers, and Maya Rudolphs of the world made Saturday Night Live a female-led powerhouse, comedian Gilda Radner starred on the sketch comedy series. She’s an icon, an absolute legend in the world of stand-up, and she played her bigger-than-life characters on the show with a kind of quirky abandon that made you laugh at them and care for them all at once. This doc looks back at her career, her struggles in an industry that wasn’t always accepting of her gender, and her brushes with more serious issues, like illness and eating disorders. Despite those serious topics, it’s a breezy, feel-good watch for comedy lovers of every generation.
Coherence is one of those low-budget sci-fi stories that is extremely tough to explain without either giving too much away or requiring an extended entry. Essentially, a group of friends sifts through their own issues and insecurities during a mind-bending paradoxical experience. Taking place almost entirely in the same room on a single night, the characters struggle to find answers just as much as the viewer. It’s a challenging yet enthralling film, perfect for those who love to overthink things.
This highly-anticipated comedy from SNL alumn and Brooklyn Nine-Nine star Andy Samberg feels like a spiritual successor to a Bill Murray classic, a millennial Groundhog’s Day except this story is set in the sunny world of Palm Springs. Samberg’s Nyles meets Sarah (Cristin Milioti) at a wedding, and the two are pulled through a weird portal that causes them to repeat the same day, over, and over again. Honestly, it’s the perfect quarantine watch.
Bibby recently sat down with Vlad TV for an interview about his music and relationship to Juice. After Vlad asked his and Juice’s experience with rehab, Bibby revealed that they had gotten him signed up prior to his passing. “We already had him signed up for rehab,” he said. “He agreed to go—because that was like pulling teeth with him.”
Bibby also described how concerned he was about Juice’s drug use at the time, saying he alerted his label and team:
“Like I said, he was talking one and a half pills. I thought that was crazy. Because all of my homies, they only take one or one-half. So one and a half compared to one half, I’m looking at him like, ‘Bro, what the f*ck?’ But then, I found out that he was doing like, four pills — the Percocets. So I get to freaking out. I get to telling everybody, ‘Man, look. We gotta send this kid to rehab.’ I’m freaking out, I’m telling everybody from the label, I’m telling everybody because I’m thinking, ‘That’s a lot.’”
Bibby also revealed how Juice responded to their intervention: “We found out he was doing more than four, like a week before he passed. I ain’t going to say the number, but it was a lot. That was the final straw. He didn’t have a choice at this point. […] He said, ‘Alright, I’ll go. But I’m not stopping. I’ll lower my doses, but I like doing it too much.”
Watch Lil Bibby’s poignant interview with Vlad TV above.
This weekend, The New York Timesunveiled their documentary about Britney Spears, which traces the pop star’s journey through the ups and downs of fame, and particularly highlights the legal situation she’s currently in when it comes to her conservatorship. The #FreeBritney movement started by fans over the last couple of years has sought to draw attention to the inconsistencies in the arrangement, particularly regarding Britney’s father, Jamie Spears.
Now that the documentary is available for viewing, musicians are reacting to the vitriol and misogyny Britney endured while in the public eye. Legal experts, on the other hand, who are potentially seeing the details of her case for the first time are even more furious at her current situation. Attorney Lisa MacCarley, who is an expert in conservatorships and probate court, and has been advocating for the #FreeBritney movement and other unjust conservatorships for years now, has urged fellow lawyers to take action in signing a petition calling for Britney’s conservatorship to be terminated.
Attorney Lisa MacCarley has sent a letter to over 100+ attorneys in Los Angeles urging them to request that Judge Penny terminate Britney’s conservatorship in lite of the “Framing Britney Spears” documentary. #FreeBritneypic.twitter.com/LQ35UFooOZ
The letter has been circulating on social media via screenshots, Uproxx confirmed the veracity with MacCarley’s office.
“On Friday night, the NYTimes premiered a documentary called “Framing Britney Spears.” Far from being a lightweight exploration of Ms. Spears’ superlative career and tragic personal life, the program gave a subtle but powerful glimpse into the unconstitutional manner in which Ms. Spears’ conservatorship originally devolved. Ms. Thoreen’s statement that Conservatee’s have “sacred rights” is ironic to the point of absurd. It is irrefutable that an order appointing Sam Ingham was prepared by James Spears’ attorneys and signed on February 1, 2008 by Judge Reva Goetz, who was then commissioner. It is part of the case summary. In other words, one of the “sacred rights” that the California Constitution mentions is the right to Due Process, and the California Probate Code specifies that a person facing conservatorship has the absolute right to be represented by counsel chosen by her, NOT the person seeking to impose a conservatorship.
On February 4, 2008, Mr. Streisand shows up and attempts to represent Ms. Spears, as was confirmed in his interview. What does Judge Goetz do? She replies upon a report by a doctor selected by James Spears’ attorneys AND Mr. Ingham to determine that Ms. Spears “does not have the capacity” to retain Mr. Streisand. The ‘legal team’ for James Spears, including Mr. Ingham, then crafted an order that Ms. Spears was NOT to be given any of the pleadings except for the order appointing Mr. Ingham as her counsel. Ms. Spears was not allowed to see any other attorney, except by approval of her father, per the court orders that I have obtained from the #FreeBritney activists. Was she ever even served with a Citation? Back in 2008, the citation had a statement, front and center, that the person facing conservatorship has the right to retain counsel of her own choice. But not Britney Jean Spears, apparently.
These are facts. I have documents that affirm this transpired: the minute order and the attorney order signed by Mr. Ingham. The oath that we each take upon embarking on our careers as attorneys contains a solemn promise to uphold the Constitution of the United States and California. In all seriousness, what is the point of a “court appointed attorney” if not to protect his client from having her constitutional rights taken away from her? Please forward this email and contact the Los Angeles County probate department, especially the probate staff, and request that Judge Penny terminate the conservatorship, or at least replace the court-appointed attorney with someone who can file a Writ of Habeas Corpus, which is what should have done 13 years ago. We would be complicit in the remarkable violation of Ms. Spears’ constitutional rights if we watch and do nothing. More scrutiny and investigation is coming. It is 2021 and “justice is back in vogue.”
Another letter that MacCarley sent to the California Attorney General’s office back in September of 2020 has also made its way online, and MacCarley also confirmed the veracity of this letter and countless others that the office has ignored. “The #FreeBritney movement is demanding transparency and a legitimate audit from an outside agency,” MacCarley wrote. “I beseech you, a the Attorney General for the State of California, to please AUDIT this file for compliance with the law of the State of California.”
Attorney Lisa MacCarley, who has worked on conservatorship cases in California for over 25 years, wrote a letter to Attorney General Xavier Beccerra about #FreeBritney and the broken probate court system that has taken advantage of her and so many others. pic.twitter.com/QqE9sSbl7E
According to MacCarley, she never heard any response from Becerra’s office. Maybe that will change now that Framing Britney Spears is putting more attention than ever on the case.
Super Bowl LIV may have been a blow-out, with the Buccaneers handily trouncing the Chiefs, but the commercials — usually as much an attraction as the actually game, if not moreso — were unusually all-over-the place. Some were mournful, reflecting a grim last year. Some were weird. Some thought way outside the box. But there was one big trend that stuck out: Ads that exhumed ‘90s pop culture. Wayne’s World got rebooted to sell Uber Eats, while Edward Scissorhands — the beloved Tim Burton movie from 1990 — got a sequel, even if it was just a minute-long promo for cars.
The ad found Timothée Chalamet and his floppy hair slipping comfortably into the role of Edgar Scissorhands, apparently the son of the character played by Johnny Depp and his onetime crush, played by Winona Ryder. (Depp, who’s fallen on hard times, to say the least, was AWOL, though Ryder was very much not.) The commercial turned a lot of heads, and it had one major fan, who also played a key role in it getting green-lit: Tim Burton himself.
According to The Los Angeles Times, Burton personally approved the concept for the ad, which finds many amusing ways for Chalamet’s Edgar to ruin things for people with his pointy fingers. (Though he does make one beautiful-looking sandwich.) Burton said he hoped the commercial wouldn’t just sell Cadillacs, but that it would direct younger viewers to one of his first movies, about a shy outcast shunned by suburban society.
“It’s rare when a work you’re proud of continues to live on and evolve with the times, even after 30 years,” the filmmaker told the publication. “I’m glad to see Edgar coping with the new world! I hope both fans and those being introduced to Edward Scissorhands for the first time enjoy it.”
If you want to revisit Edward Scissorhands or even view it for the first time, it streams with Starz add-ons on both Amazon Prime and Hulu. You can watch the “Edgar Scissorhands” commercial below.
Along with being an acclaimed actor, Jason Momoa has been known to play bass. He’s even been afforded the opportunity to rock oiut with legends like Slash and Les Claypool. But the actor’s true love for bass guitar was realized thanks to one band: Tool.
Momoa opened up about his musical abilities in a recent interview with Guitar World, where he named bands like Pantera, Rage Against The Machine, Primus, Black Sabbath, and Red Hot Chili Peppers as his teenage influences. “Tool, too. I listen to pretty much all of it.”
One Tool song in particular, though, can be attributed to his specific interest in bass:
“We were on the set of Aquaman. I always have instruments on the set, so my son was playing drums and my daughter was playing guitar. It was my assistant’s birthday, and she really loves Tool, so I borrowed a bass from my buddy and we all played ‘Sober’ for her. Right then, my passion for bass really exploded. The moment I put it on, I could just feel the connection – and it was all over. […] I always knew I wanted to play bass. After that I wanted to play standup, so I bought one and now it’s a passion for me, with how it makes me feel and how it sounds. I studied and studied and studied bass, and I was like ‘My God, I wish I would have done this when I was young.’ I wish that I had that opportunity –but I’m making up for lost time”
Elsewhere in the interview, Momoa said that he was never able to afford a proper bass guitar as a child, which is why he’s just now exploring his love for the instrument. “I grew up really, really poor, and my mom worked frickin’ four jobs,” he said. “I didn’t have any money, so I never could get a guitar or a bass. I come from a very small town in Iowa where there was no-one playing bass like that or listening to music like that.”
Last June, before Robinhood became embroiled in the GameStop stock surge, the investment trading app was implicated in the death of 20-year-old Alex Kearns of Massachusetts. Due to a series of errors, the investment app led Kearns to believe he owed $750,000 on a risky stock bet, and the young man received an email demanding an immediate $170,000 payment. When Kearns attempted to reach customer service, all he received was a canned reply that his issue would eventually be looked into, but he should anticipate a delay in response. Fearing that he’d just ruined his life and his family’s finances, Kearns committed suicide. He left behind a note blaming Robinhood for failing to protect a kid who was barely out of high school and placing him in a precarious position that an amateur trader should have never been in.
Compounding the tragedy is the fact that Kearns wasn’t in debt. Had a Robinhood customer service rep gotten back to him sooner, Kearns would’ve been informed that his options were covered. He was notified by email a day after his suicide. While Robinhood has applied some protections following Kearns’ death, his family doesn’t believe the app has gone far enough and has a filed wrongful death lawsuit. News of the suit arrives after Robinhood ran a Super Bowl ad to pull in new users amid their ongoing backlash. Via CBS News:
“We don’t want another family to go through this,” said his mother.
Alex will never know that he likely didn’t lose money on his Robinhood trades. If he had cashed in other options he’d purchased, his lawyers said, he may have even made a profit.
“The information they gave him was just incredibly skewed. And possibly completely wrong, because they make it look like you owe $730,000 when you really don’t owe anything,” said Benjamin Blakeman, one of the Kearns family attorneys. “That could panic just about anybody.”
In light of Kearns’ death, the state of Massachusetts filed a formal complaint against Robinhood in December for its “gamification”of stock trading that is a “deliberate” attempt to lure in young, inexperienced users. In a statement to CBS News, Robinhood denied the state’s claims. “We disagree with the allegations in the complaint by the Massachusetts Securities Division and intend to defend the company vigorously.”
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(@KylaInTheBurgh) February 8, 2021
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