Month: May 2021

If you’re a fan of the show Friends, then all the recent reunion content has really been a welcome return to form for the show’s cultural impact, or maybe just a chance to zone out this holiday weekend. Aside from ranking seventeen of the best episodes of the show last year, we’ve also been following along with all what’s come about these past few days, like Lady Gaga filling in for an iconic “Smelly Cat” performance, and those Justin Bieber and BTS cameos — that got cut in China — along with the fact that ratings for the reunion have been incredibly high, like Wonder Woman 1984 high.

But this weekend’s hilarious recreation of Monica and Ross’ dance routine from the episode appropriately named “The One With The Routine” might just take the cake. Enlisting none other than global pop star Ed Sheeran to play the part of Ross, Monica had Ed help her get the retired routine back out of retirement once more. You’ll remember on the show, Ross and Monica were trying to attract the attention of the cameras when they were extras on Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve. In this case, her and Ed are out in a field on their own, but those classic moves are funnier than ever with Sheeran hamming it up alongside her. “Just some routine dancing with a friend…” Cox casually captioned the post, adding the hashtag #ReRoutine and tagging Ed’s account.

For his part, Ed is gearing up to start a new album cycle with a massive new single looming on the horizon for the “next stage” of his career. Keep an eye out for more new music from Ed very soon and check out the hilarious dance routine above.

Rightwingers didn’t have a very chill Memorial Day weekend. Fox News tried to turn an innocuous tweet by Kamala Harris into a culture war firestorm. Texas Republicans stayed up late Saturday pushing through legislation to make voting more difficult. There was even a QAnon conference. Then there’s congressional hopeful Omar Navarro, who got really, really mad when a Disney spin-off dared feature an out-and-proud gay character.

Navarro isn’t that well-known. He is, in fact, what one calls a “perennial candidate,” which is to say a politician who frequently runs for office and rarely, if ever, wins. Indeed, Navarro’s claim to fame is that he has thrice been defeated by 15-term California representative Maxine Waters, who is also the most senior of the 12 black people serving in Congress. But on Memorial Day itself, he became better known as the guy who got mocked for dropping some old school homophobia about a Disney movie.

“The new Disney Cruella with Emma Stone just ruined my childhood with an openly flamboyant gay in the movie,” wrote Navarro. “Disney persist shoving the LGBT agenda down our throat.”

This isn’t the first time Navarro has clutched his pearls over an LGBTQ+ character in Disney content. According to Pink News, in 2019 he came for the Disney Channel show The Owl House after it introduced a bisexual character.

“I don’t agree with this crap being pushed down our throats,” he wrote, using similar language. “What people do at home is there business but publicly I shouldn’t have to be forced.” He added, “Will Christians please stand up?”

He also served six months in prison after violating a restraining order against an ex-girlfriend, who claimed he was stalking her.

Navarro’s tweet was quick to earn the scorn and mockery of social media.

Some pelted him with the far right’s favorite insult: snowflake.

Some pointed out that Cruella De Vil is not exactly a role model whose reputation can be sullied.

Others dwelled on his weird use of sexual imagery.

And others were newly enraged at the wing of Star Wars and Ghosbusters fans who introduced the words “ruined my childhood” into the cultural lexicon.

That said, Navarro’s tweet did make some people actually want to watch Cruella.

Cruella is now in theaters and can now be streamed, for about $30, on Disney+. Navarro, meanwhile, is planning to run against Maxine Waters, again, in 2022. Maybe fourth time’s the charm!

(Via Pink News)

For outfielders, there is nothing more unnerving than chasing a deep fly ball to the wall and trying to find the balance between selling out to possibly make a key play to save a home run or extra bases and protecting yourself from a collision with the padded, yet still painful immovable object. The danger of the wall is the entire reason the warning track exists, an effort to alert fielders to the impending pain that awaits them if they don’t change course once they hit that dirt.

Most will start putting a hand out as they get close to the wall, an extra feeler to find it so they don’t suffer the fate of poor Minnesota centerfielder Rob Refsnyder on Monday afternoon in Baltimore. In the bottom of the fifth inning, Ryan Mountcaste hit a deep fly ball to centerfield that put Refsnyder on his horse to try and go get it. However, Refsnyder failed to put out an arm and failed to heed the warning of the track and ran smack into the wall as the ball sailed over it for a solo home run to tie the game.

The close-up angle really shows how hard he hits the wall, although he at least wasn’t at a full sprint when he got there.

Happily, he was alright and remained in the game in what became a 3-2 Twins victory, but his tumble after slamming into the wall will serve as a lasting memory and a sure reminder to get that off hand out to find the wall before it finds him.

Tulsa: The Fire and the Forgotten (PBS, 9:00pm) — HBO and Damon Lindelof’s Watchmen (2019) brought the Tulsa Race Massacre into mainstream consciousness. This Greenwood-district event — the total decimation of what Booker T. Washington dubbed as “Black Wall Street” and one of the most horrific instances of racially-motivated violence in U.S. history — was excised from the books, and this documentary (directed by Emmy-winning Jonathan Silvers) contextualizes the tragedy alongside systemic racism that persists today. During the massacre, a violent white mob killed up to 300 Black Tulsa residents and left thousands without homes and businesses; and this documentary charts a search for mass graves and ongoing efforts for renewal, justice, and reparations. The project features interviews with Greenwood descendants and several local leaders, including current Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum, along with civil rights activists, including Greg Robinson II, who we spoke with about his hopes for justice.

In case you missed these top streaming picks from the weekend:

Mare Of Easttown (HBO series streaming on HBO Max) — It’s finale time! Kate Winslet returns not only to TV but to HBO (a decade after her award-winning Mildred Pierce turn) to star as a hard-vaping detective in a small town where she both portrays and elevates the “complicated” cop trope. She’s captivating while digging into a murder mystery that has rocked her small town and caused the community to feel utterly claustrophobic. This show will suck you in, and you won’t mind one bit. Also you’ll be wondering about this: what the heck was in that picture?

Cruella (Disney movie on Disney+) — Yes, Cruella de Vil is finally getting her origin story. Even if you don’t agree that she needed one, no one can argue that Emma Stone is the actress who could deliver a damn good time in this role. Granted, the film starts out slow (the runtime’s over two hours) with a protracted childhood era that doesn’t illustrate much about why she villained out and murdered puppies. Yet it does speed up, with lots of mayhem and a cackling Emma hanging off a truck in a billowing dress. Fashion can be evil! Also, the soundtrack feels like a character in its own right.

Plan B (Hulu film) — Oh boy, does this story ever hit home for countless ladies who find themselves driving from drug store to drugstore in the heartland. That’s exactly what happens in this film, after a regrettable sexual encounter sends a high school student (Kuhoo Verma) and her best friend (Victoria Moroles) on a bit of a road trip with the clock ticking to find Plan B in America’s heartland. It’s actually a twist on the teen sex comedy, and it arrives by way of Cobra Kai and Harold & Kumar producers.

Lucifer: Season 5B (Netflix series) — The Devil is still up to no good. Even worse, Lucifer is still plagued by his twin brother, Michael, who’s trying to take his place, and Lucifer also decides that he wants to be God? Alright. Well, God’s apparently retiring, so there’s an opening for that gig. Heaven help us all if this show ever starts to make sense (and Tom Ellis has so much swaggering fun with his lead role), but Netflix’s synopsis promises that “God himself comes to Earth. Secrets will be revealed, heroic sacrifices will be made, and the world will never be the same.” Season 6 will be the show’s final run, and I’m secretly rooting for Chloe to shake off her destiny and ditch the Devil.

Friends: The Reunion (HBO Max feature-length special) — The whole O.G. gang is back in one place, which means that Rachel (Jennifer Aniston), Monica (Courteney Cox), Phoebe (Lisa Kudrow), Chandler (Matthew Perry), Ross (David Schwimmer), and Joey (Matt LeBlanc) are all here. Sadly, Paul Rudd is not on the scene, but there’s a buffay (get it?) of guest stars here to reinforce why this pop-culture phenomenon remains popular to this day, and why, oftentimes, friends can become your family.

Panic: Season 1 (Amazon Prime series) — This show’s a bit like The Purge in concept, only it revolves around a dangerous game that takes place over the course of a summer for graduating seniors in a tiny Texas town. They compete for a pot of money (while hoping to escape their tiny-town lives, of course), but the stakes are high and risky as players must confront their deepest fears. The story, which is based upon the bestselling novel by Lauren Oliver, will likely hook you, so be ready to binge.

Hacks (HBO Max series premiere) — Jean Smart’s not-so-quiet domination of recent prestige TV shows (Fargo, Watchmen, Mare of Easttown, Legion) and other popular shows of late (Big Mouth, Dirty John) has finally culminated with this leading-lady turn in a role she was arguably meant to play. Hacks hails from executive producer Michael Schur and has three Broad City alums in the writers’ room, so get ready for a (Las Vegas) buffet of complex female characters. Smart portrays a legendary comedian who forges a “dark mentorship” to a 20-something newcomer in town. Don’t miss this one.

Last week was supposed to bring a new joint project from Lil Baby and Lil Durk, Voice Of The Heroes. Instead, the release was pushed back, and for good reason: The rappers decided to delay the album out of respect for DMX and his posthumous album Exodus, which was released last week. Now, the project is set for release this Friday, and ahead of them, the duo has shared the title track and a video for it.

On the track, the rappers tell stories about their paths to the top of the rap world and how they’ve become role models. For example, Durk expresses the importance of looking out for those close to you, rapping, “Take care of your family and them kids, ’cause I’m too big on family / F*ck them fast cars, before that shawty ‘nem gon’ slide in Camrys.” Elsewhere, Baby raps about leading by example: “I showed all my n****s in the trenches it’s a better life / Never get too big for me to listen, I’ll take your advice.”

Lil Baby previously said of the album, “We coming. Me and Durk dropping an album, fa sho. When it comes to that street sh*t, the streets is like, we the voices and the heroes of this sh*t. You know what I’m saying? Kids look at us like heroes. I know they look at me like one and [Lil] Durk, too. That n**** been holding it down for a minute.”

Voice Of The Heroes is out 6/4 via Quality Control Music/Wolfpack Global Music/Motown Records/Alamo Records.

Warning: This post contains major spoilers for the very famous ending of The Sopranos.

Alec Baldwin has had a diverse career. He’s done drama and comedy. He’s done Broadway and SNL. He’s played Donald Trump as well as Jimmy Swaggart, Al Capone, Robert McNamara, even Mr. Conductor in the Thomas the Tank Engine movie. But there’s one role he coveted that he never got to do: whoever (probably!) whacks Tony Soprano.

The beloved actor appeared on Talking Sopranos, the podcast hosted by alumni Michael Imperioli and Steve Schirripa, in which, among other things, he revealed that he tried to get in on what would prove to be a big piece of television history.

“I called up whoever it was, I forget, and I said tell them, when it’s time to kill Jimmy,” he recounted, referring to James Gandolfini, “tell them — this was early, before you get to the end — there’s only one man in this business who should come in, whack Jimmy, and ride off with Edie [Falco], and I am that man.”

Baldwin clearly had no clue what creator David Chase had in mind for the ending, so he even came up with a possible conclusion that in no way resembled the controversial one we ultimate got. “I am the guy who needs to blow Jimmy away and take Edie, who I’m madly in love with, away,” he said. “And they were like, ‘Sure, great, we’ll add your name to the list of all the Irish actors who think that they should be on The Sopranos.”

Obviously none of that ever happened. Indeed, technically speaking, we don’t know what happened to Tony Soprano. The final shot famously (infamously?) cuts to black before anything happens. So technically speaking, Tony never died. And we can’t be 100% sure which person in the diner was the one who was (again, probably!) going to rub him out. But we know Alec Baldwin was nowhere to be seen.

But that wasn’t the only thing Baldwin revealed. He also offered his theory about why he never made any appearance on a show that featured tons of guest spots, even Lauren Bacall as herself. He blames it on an awkward first meeting with Chase on a hot day in Los Angeles — and much like his most famous SNL character, it involves the Four Seasons. He got the hotel confused with the restaurant, which wound up leaving him sweating through his suit.

“I go into the bathroom of this super chic restaurant, take my jacket off, take my shirt off. I’m mopping the sweat up off my body, and I’m holding my shirt up to the mechanical dryer,” Baldwin said. “And the door opens — and it’s David Chase. This is my introduction to David Chase. And he goes, ‘Alec Baldwin? What the f— are you doing drying your shirt in the bathroom at the Four Seasons restaurant?’ And I think based on that alone, I was never cast on your show. Ever.”

(Via EW)

The Brooklyn Nets regained full control of their series with the Celtics on Sunday with a 141-126 win in Boston to take a 3-1 lead and move a game away from a second round showdown with the Milwaukee Bucks. The Nets Big 3 were all incredible in the win, with Kevin Durant scoring 42 points, Kyrie Irving scoring 39, and James Harden putting up a 23-point, 18-assist effort. However, after the game the conversation was about everything but how the Nets stars put together one of their best games as a group this season, as postgame incidents dominated the news cycle.

Irving had a water bottle thrown at his head by a Celtics fan who was arrested and faces felony assault and battery with a dangerous weapon charges for his actions, drawing further commentary about the current state of fan-player interactions and the upsetting number of incidents of fans crossing the line already this postseason. Prior to that, as Irving met his teammates at midcourt to celebrate, he stomped and dragged his foot through the head of Celtics’ logo at midcourt, drawing the ire of Celtics fans.

On Monday morning, Kevin Garnett added his name to the list of people associated with the Celtics who decided to call out Irving, saying “that’s not coo on no level.”

KG isn’t the only former Celtic upset by the act, as Cedric Maxwell also called it a “classless” act and Glen “Big Baby” Davis got very mad on Instagram about it, only to get laughed at by KD.

Had no one thrown a water bottle at Irving, this would’ve been the lead story coming out of the game because there is nothing folks in sports love to discuss more than logo disrespectin’. Stomping on the logo is, typically, a football thing — the gold standard remains Terrell Owens in Dallas — but it appears basketball players take it just as seriously.

Irving clearly isn’t a fan of the Celtics after his time there and made that known, but, despite what some have said, him stepping on a logo out of spite does not in any way offer a defense of the fan who threw a bottle at him. That’s where the conversation jumps the shark is equating smushing a logo painted on the floor people have been running over for 48 minutes with being equally as bad as throwing things at actual people’s heads. As long as we can acknowledge that, let the logo disrespect debates fly.

Russia still doesn’t seem to have gotten the memo that it’s not 1991 in Hollywood. For years, the country has pedaled former action “star” and noted creep Steven Seagal as the poster boy for a kinder, gentler relationship between the U.S. and Russia. In late 2016, the Under Siege actor was granted Russian citizenship. In 2018, Russia named Seagal a special envoy to the United States. And now, as The Wrap reports, the 69-year-old Lansing, Michigan native has been asked to join A Just Russia – Patriots – For Truth, a pro-Vladimir Putin organization with lots of oddly spaced dashes.

On Saturday, the group released a video of Seagal, decked out in his signature shades, being inducted into its ranks. The organization, which only came into existence earlier this year, is made up of three previously existing pro-Putin parties.

Seagal, clearly touched by the invitation to join his fellow Putin-heads, shared a few words to mark the moment—though mostly about how he’d like to arrest more people when it comes to businesses that damage Russia’s precious environment.

https://twitter.com/Reuters/status/1399051730289971204?s=20

“Without being able to arrest people, when we just fine them, they are probably making more money of the production of the things that are defiling the environment,” Seagal said.

The man, of course, knows what he speaks. In addition to his “acting” work, Seagal—who has praised Putin as “one of the great living world leaders”—has logged some time in law enforcement. Seagal was a reserve deputy chief in the Jefferson Parish, Louisiana; though the position was largely ceremonial, it became the basis for Steven Seagal: Lawman, the A&E reality series no one asked for. None of which gives Seagal any authority to arrest anyone—companies, individuals, or otherwise—in Russia… but who knows what appointment Seagal will receive next.

(Via The Wrap)

It was revealed over the weekend that Olivia Rodrigo has landed her first No. 1 album with Sour. Also over the weekend, she chatted about the release on the Zach Sang Show. During the conversation, she spoke about album highlight “1 Step Forward, 3 Steps Back,” which famously interpolates Taylor Swift’s “New Year’s Day.”

Rodrigo revealed why she ended up borrowing from the Swift song, saying:

“We interpolated ‘New Year’s Day,’ which is Taylor’s song from Reputation. I came up with the ‘1 Step Forward’ concept and I sort of wrote a verse and a chorus, and when I got home… I was in the car on a road trip, and when I got home, I decided to sing it over the chords of ‘New Year’s Day.’ I think they’re really beautiful chords. I was lucky enough to get that approved, and it’s on the record now.”

She also said of the song, “I really sort of loved that concept of ‘1 Step Forward, 3 Steps Back.’ Somebody texted it to me once, and I was like, ‘Ooh, that’s really interesting. I’ve never heard somebody say something like that.’ I thought it would be a cool way to describe this toxic, sort of manipulative, relationship.”

Watch the full interview above.

Billie Eilish is set to share a new single this week, as she declared on Friday. When she made the announcement, she wasn’t forthcoming with info about the song, but now she has offered what seems to be a not-so-subtle hint at what the new song will be.

Taking to Instagram to share a couple different photos of herself and one of a car wheel, Eilish wrote, “nothing but a lost cause.” Since the Happier Than Ever tracklist features a song called “Lost Cause,” it appears Eilish is strongly suggesting that “Lost Cause” will be her next single.

Whatever the new song is, Eilish is perhaps hoping it will be a bit of a bounce-back (by her lofty standards, at least): Her latest single, “Your Power,” wasn’t a major chart hit, as it has so far only peaked at No. 10 on the Billboard Hot 100. Her other two Happier Than Ever singles, “My Future” and “Therefore I Am,” achieved peaks of Nos. 6 and 2, respectively.

Meanwhile, Eilish recently figured out what she’s going to be doing for a healthy chunk of 2020: Earlier this month, she announced a months-long stretch of tour dates.

Happier Than Ever is out 7/30 via Interscope. Pre-order it here.