Month: February 2021

There are nine teams in the NBA that are currently allowing a limited number of fans in their arenas and already twice on this East coast road trip, LeBron James has found himself the target of some courtside jawing.

Last week, it was a Cavaliers’ executive excitedly clapping and yelling after James missed a jumper to end the third quarter, which LeBron said after the game gave him the spark he needed to torch the Cavs in the fourth as the Lakers ran away with a win. On Monday, James and the Lakers were in Atlanta where fans were courtside and in the fourth quarter, referees stopped the game to have security come and eject two women who were standing and yelling at James — with their masks not on.

The two women would be escorted off the floor and, per The Athletic’s Chris Kirschner, one gave the old two finger salute on her way out.

The lack of overall fans in the stands makes any courtside talking stand out, and it certainly didn’t seem like James was getting too bothered by it as he laughed with some of his teammates and Hawks players at the free throw line. Still, given everything going on, a fan being courtside and barking at players with a mask as a chinstrap isn’t a great look and there probably needs to be a bit more aggressive policing of mask policies, at the very least, for those seated courtside.

Despite all that occurred in the world, Ariana Grande had an eventful 2020. The singer showed a new, sultry side of herself on her No. 1 album Positions, starred in the Netflix tour documentary Excuse Me, I Love You, and also announced that she is officially engaged to her now-fiancé Dalton Gomez. Now, just in time for Valentine’s Day, she’s showing love and gratitude for her fans’ continued support by blessing them with a handful of new tracks.

Grande took to social media to make a surprise announcement Monday, revealing the deluxe version of her recent album is coming, and it features four previously-unheard tracks. She shared the news in the form of a tracklist, which includes her Doja Cat and Megan Thee Stallion remix of “34+35” and four additional songs whose titled are scratched out. “happy february,” she wrote alongside the post.

Grande’s announcement also includes a cryptic close-up photo of a vintage television screen showing the date of January 28, 2021. She has yet to reveal the exact date of the deluxe album’s debut, but, per the singer’s caption, its likely to see a release this February.

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

The military coup that began in Myanmar on Sunday, with the detainment of its state counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, is a terrifying ordeal, to put it lightly. But there can be a lighter to just about anything. That includes, apparently, this: Amidst the confusion and panic that spread with the news came a viral video of a woman recording an aerobics tutorial while the actual coup occurs right behind her.

According to BuzzFeed News, the woman in question is one Khing Hnin Wai, and she’s a physical education teacher in the employ of Myanmar’s Ministry of Education. In the video, which lasts three minutes, she appears to be oblivious to the armored vehicles rolling up behind her.

As the video made the rounds on social media, some internet sleuths deduced that the PE teacher was filming not far from the nation’s Parliament.

There was, as per BuzzFeed News, some question of whether the teacher was performing in front of a green screen, but other videos from her show her in the exact same spot.

The absurd video was greeted as a masterpiece of 2021 content.

Some set it to different music.

In the meantime, things are still scary in Myanmar. According to The New York Times, though she won a landslide election in 2015, Aung San Suu Kyi had to share control of the country with military powers. Her job was seen as keeping the generals in check, but their stalemate ended after an election in November, in which the public had overwhelmingly voted for her National League for Democracy. The military then complained of mass voter fraud and demanded a recount. By Monday they had seized control of the nation by force.

Is it any wonder everyone’s turning to a video of someone blissfully unaware of the nightmare around them?

(Via BuzzFeed News)

The last single Cardi B released was in August, and it was a biggie: “WAP,” her collaboration with Megan Thee Stallion, went on to break the internet, swiftly debut at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and became the most-Googled term of the year. Fans have been patiently (and not so patiently) awaiting new music from the rapper since. After teasing a special “announcement” Sunday evening, Cardi has finally shared details about her next single — and you don’t have to wait long to hear it.

Cardi took to social media to share the exciting news: Her next single “Up” is debuting on Friday. The song is going to be available on streaming services, as well as in the form of a limited-edition CD, which Cardi is making available for pre-order alongside the single’s debut.

Ahead of the single’s announcement, Cardi revealed how costly it has been for her team to maintain productivity during the pandemic. Not only does she get COVID-tested about four times a week, but she also has to pay for regular tests for her glam team as well, which cost about $250 each. After releasing the video alongside her song “WAP,” Cardi also said she spent nearly $100,000 on COVID tests for the entire crew.

Cardi B is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Skullcrusher, the moniker of songwriter Helen Ballentine, got her start in music at a young age. But it wasn’t until she quit her art gallery 9-to-5 gig to pursue her creative side that Skullcrusher was born. Ballentine released a collection of songs under her stage name last year in the form of her self-titled debut EP. Ballentine now teases a new era of music by sharing a love letter to one of her favorite musicians with “Song For Nick Drake.”

Ballentine says the t rack is an ode to how Nick Drake’s music has influenced her own career. “‘Song for Nick Drake’ is about my relationship to the music of Nick Drake,” she said. “It recalls moments in my life that are viscerally intertwined with his music, specifically times spent walking & taking the train. The song is really my homage to music and the times I felt most immersed in it.”

“Song For Nick Drake” may be Ballentine’s first new track of the year, but it’s not the only single she’s released since her EP. Back in October, Ballentine found herself reflecting on her early childhood by penning the chilling track “Farm.” She accompanied the single with a wistful cover of Radiohead’s 1995 song “Lift.”

You can watch Skullcrusher’s video for “Song For Nick Drake” above.

Following Chicago rapper Noname‘s dreamy debut studio album Room 25, fans have been on the lookout for more. She’s intermittently released music since he breakthrough, but she’s been putting most of her energy towards her Noname Book Club, which highlights works by authors of color and donates books to incarcerated folks. But now there’s some good news.

On Monday Noname — who is not signed to a label, by the way — took to Twitter to give an update about the status of her new music in the most Noname possible: by casually tweeting about it. “lmao i don’t even know how to promote myself as a rapper anymore but my song Rainforest drops in a few weeks,” she wrote.

One person replied to her tweet with clear excitement, saying they plan on supporting her by purchasing merch. But instead of selling vinyl and various apparel, Noname says she’d rather have fans join her book club.

The new single could mean the rapper is on track to release her anticipated sophomore album Factory Baby in 2021, as stated in her Twitter bio. Back in 2019, Noname said she wants to quit music after the release of Factory Baby because her “heart isn’t fully in it anymore.” Time will tell if Factory Baby really is her final release or if she will continue making music in the future.

There are a number of unique elements to the NBA this season, most of which the league hopes will be just a temporary change, like a December start date, putting the schedule out in segments, and, obviously, the lack of fans in arenas.

However, one change that could be around to stay is the league having teams play two-game series in the same market. It was a change made to limit travel for exposure reasons, but it’s something that the NBA should consider moving forward because even in non-pandemic years, fewer flights and less travel are a good thing for players.

Coaches are a big fan of the series format as well, as it simplifies game prep by not needing to turnaround a new gameplan for a new team in a day or two, and also allows for some tweaks to that plan between games once you’ve learned from the first. Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau expressed his appreciation for the two-game sets prior to Monday’s game in Chicago, where they’ll face the Bulls again on Wednesday, and said it’s something he’s heard from a lot of others around the league.

It makes sense and it is something that the NBA should consider, given they’ve been working in recent years to try and cut down on travel and back-to-backs. Having teams play in the same market provides greater rest opportunities, along with the benefits coaches seem to see from the series format, and it’s actually a bit of a surprise that the league didn’t look into playing more of them this year than they did. The league could go more aggressively towards the series format by adopting more of a baseball type schedule that has interleague (in this case interconference) games taking place all at the same time, which would allow for an in-conference segment of the season for more series.

That seems unlikely but could be something they explore. At the very least, though, it seems they should look into keeping the series format they adopted this year because it’s a hit with the coaches and players.

If you know the name Jordan Belfort, it’s probably because Leonardo DiCaprio played him in The Wolf of Wall Street, Martin Scorsese’s epic satire about crooked brokers who gamed the stock market in the ‘90s. (Or maybe you were one of the many he and his cronies gamed.) That film, along with The Big Short and Oliver Stone’s Wall Street, have been big streamers recently, and with good reason: We’re in the midst of the GameStop-Reddit saga, in which amateur traders have been exploiting loops in the system, with possibly game-changing results.

Well, Belfort apparently isn’t going to pass this moment up. Now that the general public is thinking about stocks again, the broker-turned-motivational speaker has recorded a parody video, in which he acts out one of Wolf of Wall Street’s key scenes. About halfway through the film, DiCaprio’s Belfort has been advised to leave his firm after the FBI starts sniffing out its many underhanded deeds. But midway through what was supposed to be his big farewell speech, he announces he’s staying on. It’s a big, thrilling moment…that more or less leads to the destruction of his company and his eventual imprisonment.

So Belfort recreated the speech, for the age of this latest wave of upstarts taking on the system, inserting himself into the scene from the movie. One big difference: What the GameStop Redditers are doing doesn’t appear to be illegal. What Belfort and team did — including securities fraud and money laundering — were. But whether Belfort realizes that Scorsese was definitely not making a hagiography — it’s possibly his angriest film, mired in deep sarcasm and concluding with a disturbing reminder that too many Americans are attracted to charismatic criminals — seems to be up in the air.

You can watch the full video above.

The reboot train has come for so many shows in the last handful of years, but it’s never stopped at one of sitcomdom’s most rewatchable titans: Frasier. It’s not for lack of trying: People who can get this stuff done — e.g., star Kelsey Grammer — have been attempting a revival for years, though they have been picky about how it comes back, if at all. But now, as per Deadline, there’s a better chance than ever before about bringing back the good doctor.

It’s still in the early talks, but Grammer and team are reportedly pitching a 10-episode return to Paramount+, the studio’s forthcoming streamer. One catch (apart from that it isn’t an official go just yet): Both Grammer and David Hyde Pierce, who played even more fastidious brother Niles, already have prior commitments: Grammer to an ABC comedy co-starring Alec Baldwin and Pierce to the HBO series Julia. (And of course, Grammer is hot off his memorable turn in last year’s Money Plane.) So they might not start with the tossed salad and scrambled eggs till 2022 at the earliest.

Grammer isn’t the only one pushing more Frasier. The head creative team will include Chris Harris and Joe Cristalli, the latter who runs the much-liked parody account @FrasierContempo. Cristalli, whose previous credits include a staff writer gig on the bygone Colin Hanks show Life in Pieces, celebrated the news on Twitter, declaring victory ahead of the hoped-for green light.

So if there’s some show you want to bring back, one good way to do so is to create a beloved parody account on Twitter. You hear that, fans of the old Jon Cryer show The Famous Teddy Z?

(Via Deadline)

Google Stadia is hoping the future of its console will come from game developers outside of the company. Google announced on Monday that it would shut down its in-house game studio, instead hoping other game developers continue to support the platform and use its technology to continue supporting the streaming platform in the future.

Given our focus on building on the proven technology of Stadia as well as deepening our business partnerships, we’ve decided that we will not be investing further in bringing exclusive content from our internal development team SG&E, beyond any near-term planned games. With the increased focus on using our technology platform for industry partners, Jade Raymond has decided to leave Google to pursue other opportunities. We greatly appreciate Jade’s contribution to Stadia and wish her the best of luck in her future endeavors. Over the coming months, most of the SG&E team will be moving on to new roles. We’re committed to working with this talented team to find new roles and support them.

The movie is tough news for the future of Stadia itself, though Google assured gamers in the statement that it will work with other companies to bring titles to Stadia and continue to support the streaming console, which needs a $9.99 montly subscription to use. It touted titles like Cyberpunk 2077 and others as successes on Stadia, which uses Google’s cloud services to run games without requiring a true in-home console to play.

Still, it’s huge news in the gaming industry because of the level of talent that was lured away from other established game developers to create the in-house Stadia team.

Those developers will now either move to other non-gaming Google projects or look for work elsewhere.

The news also comes on the heels of a Jason Schreier report in Bloomberg about the struggles Amazon Game Studios has had in making games of its own, another example of an established tech giant struggling to tackle video games with consistent success.