Month: May 2021

Special: Season 2 (Netflix series) — This season, the main characters start to come into their own power while realizing that happiness can most reliably be found inside of oneself. Karen and Ryan can’t get it together enough to speak since their big blowout fight. Ryan’s dealing with writer’s block, too, which eases when he meets someone else who isn’t entirely available, and meanwhile Kim meets a tech mogul, and they have a predictably complicated relationship. And Karen realizes that it’s time to focus on herself and stop taking care of everyone else.

Too Close: Season 1 (AMC+ limited series) — Emily Watson (Chernobyl) stars as forensic psychologist Emma Robinson, who falls under the spell of Connie, a manipulative yet charismatic criminal suspect. Their sessions transform into a complex psychological game, all while Emma’s supposed to be trying to help solve a murder. This sounds Joker and Harley-esque, of course, but the three-part drama promises a lot of layers to unravel.

Gomorrah: Season 4 (HBO Max+ series) — The Italian crime drama shifts focus toward the lone Savastano dynasty survivor, Genny, who’s morphed from a Mafia brat into the family boss. Naturally, he’s also dealing with family drama, and he’s currently on his best behavior while there’s (of course) that Corleone-like struggle going on with some parties (to shift into legit business interests) while others embrace the life of underground crime.

Adventure Time: Distant Lands – Together Again(HBO Max series) — Cartoon Network heroes Finn and Jake are far from home following a break from adventuring. Mysterious events have transformed their current situation beyond expectations, and they must face off with an evil entity and, as the title indicates, take another grand adventure.

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (NBC, 9:00pm) — Rollins must deal with an old case after a child sent to juvie gets released upon adulthood, and the episode is called “Post-Graduate Psychopath,” so I think we all know where this goes.

Law & Order: Organized Crime (NBC, 10:00pm) — Richie’s ready to join the Wheatley family business as the Octopus Wielder sets up shop with a new client.

From Cradle To Stage (Paramount+ series) — This Dave Grohl-directed series follows Dave and his mom, Virginia, meeting up with another artist and their mom each week. This time, Miranda Lambert joins in the fun. Moms rule, and so does Dave Grohl.

Rebel (ABC, 10:00pm) — Rebel and Lana recruit their secret weapon against Stonemore Mecial, and Ziggy learns the truth from Sean.

The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon — Keegan-Michael Key, Zoey Deutch, Conway The Machine Ft. J.I.D & Ludacris

Late Night With Seth Meyers — Anthony Mackie, Jean Smart

In case you missed this pick from last Thursday:

Hacks: Episodes 3 & 4 (HBO Max series) — 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 (Paul W. Downs, Lucia Aniello, and Jen Statsky) in the writers’ room, so get ready for a (Las Vegas) buffet of complex female characters. Smart portrays a legendary Vegas-rooted comedian who forges a “dark mentorship” to a 20-something newcomer in town. Among other highlights of this trailer, we see Smart shouting, “Eat your heart out Celine!” Don’t even think about missing this one.

In a new promotional video for Marvel’s Loki on Disney+, Tom Hiddleston gets to work rehashing the Trickster God’s cinematic history in just 30 seconds. Doing his best impersonation of a Micro Machines commercial (Remember those?), Hiddleston runs through everything that’s happen to Loki since he first made his big-screen debut in 2011’s Thor and doesn’t stop until he gets to God of Mischief’s upcoming adventures with the Time Variance Authority and its oddly chipper animated clock, Miss Minutes.

As Hiddleston tells it, Loki’s troubles began after being denied the throne of Asgard by Odin, who wasn’t even his real dad anyway, so Loki concocted a devious plot to put himself in line for the throne by having his real father, the king of the Frost Giants, attempt to murder Odin, only to be stopped by Loki. This deception didn’t go as planned and landed him in a battle with his brother Thor. After getting bested by the Lightning God, Loki sets about trying to conquer the Earth, but this time, he’s beaten not just by his brother, but by the newly formed Avengers.

At that point in the story, Loki should go on to be imprisoned and ultimately die at Thanos’ hands following the events of Thor: The Dark World and Thor: Ragnarok. Instead, the Avengers time-traveling shenanigans create an opportunity for Loki to steal the Tesseract and escape his fate as he jumps through a portal before he can be imprisoned.

Loki’s escape shatters the timeline, and now, Agent Mobius at the TVA is convinced he’s the only one who can fix it, which places Loki in an unusual position where the fate of reality now rests in his questionable hands.

Here’s the official synopsis:

Picking up immediately after Loki steals the Tesseract (again), he finds himself called before the Time Variance Authority, a bureaucratic organization that exists outside of time and space, forced to answer for his crimes against the timeline and given a choice: face deletion from reality or assist in catching an even greater threat.

Loki starts streaming Wednesday, June 9 on Disney+.

Two weeks ago, a girl in the sixth grade at Rigby Middle School in Idaho, brought a gun to school and shot three people. Fortunately, the two students and custodian who were shot all survived and are recovering.

In the aftermath of the tragic shooting, a hero has emerged that everyone should know about, teacher Krista Gneiting. In an amazing feat of bravery and compassion, she disarmed the girl and then hugged her until police arrived. Her quick thinking and composure may have saved countless lives.

Gneiting was preparing her students for final exams in her classroom when a shot rang out down the hallway. She looked outside the door, saw the custodian lying on the ground, and then heard two more shots.

“So I just told my students, ‘We are going to leave, we’re going to run to the high school, you’re going to run hard, you’re not going to look back and now is the time to get up and go,'” Gneiting told Good Morning America.

Sixth-grade girl shot two students and custodian at Idaho middle school before being disarmed by a teacher

A victi… https://t.co/PdgO4VRGXI

— Lilian Chan (@bestgug)
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While Gneiting was trying to help one of the students who was shot, she noticed the girl standing a few feet away with the gun. She told the injured student to stay still and she bravely approached her.

While most people’s instincts would be to run or react violently, she calmly walked toward her.

“It was a little girl, and my brain couldn’t quite grasp that,” she said. “I just knew when I saw that gun, I had to get the gun.”

“Are you the shooter?” she asked. Then she grasped the girl’s arm, pulled it slowly down her sleeve, and took the gun from her.

“I just slowly pulled the gun out of her hand, and she allowed me to. She didn’t give it to me, but she didn’t fight,” Gneiting said. “And then after I got the gun, I just pulled her into a hug because I thought, this little girl has a mom somewhere that doesn’t realize she’s having a breakdown and she’s hurting people.”

She then held the young girl tightly and consoled her until police arrived.

Hero teacher who stopped Idaho school shooting breaks silence l GMA

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“After a while, the girl started talking to me, and I could tell she was very unhappy,” Gneiting said. “I just kept hugging her and loving her and trying to let her know that we’re going to get through this together. I do believe that my being there helped her because she calmed down.”

When police arrived she was placed in handcuffs.

“She didn’t respond, she just let him. He was very gentle and very kind, and he just went ahead and took her and put her in the police car,” she said.

Gneiting knew that the girl was obviously in serious psychological and emotional pain and instead of exacerbating it, she showed her incredible compassion. Because, after all, she’s a child.

Now, Gneiting believes the focus should be on the girl’s mental health instead of punishment.

“She is just barely starting in life and she just needs some help. Everybody makes mistakes,” she told ABC News. “I think we need to make sure we get her help and get her back into where she loves herself so that she can function in society.”

The girl has been charged in the shooting but no further details are available because she’s a juvenile.

One hundred years ago, the Greenwood district of Tulsa, Oklahoma was a bustling Mecca of Black-owned businesses and a community where Black Americans thrived. It was known colloquially as “Black Wall Street,” and was an anomaly in a state where the KKK actively worked to keep Black people oppressed.

On May 31 and June 1, 1921, it all changed. An alleged assault attempt by a young Black man against a young white woman (which never amounted to anything, as all charges were dropped) sparked protests, violence, and ultimately, a massacre by white mobs who murdered, looted, and set fire to Black Wall Street. More than 1200 homes were destroyed, churches were burned, and businesses wiped out. Thousands of white people descended on Greenwood and obliterated 35 city blocks in 24 hours, causing irreparable financial damage in addition to the emotional toll of the massacre.

The death count has never been verified. One newspaper initially only reported that two white people were killed in the “race riot.” Current estimates put the number killed at around 300, almost all of them Black residents. Thousands of those left behind had to live in tents and try to pick up the pieces of their lives, literally and figuratively.

But many Americans never learn this history. It has rarely been taught in schools, even in Oklahoma, partially because much of the documentation of the massacre was covered up. A 1997 commission organized by the city examined documents and interviewed survivors to piece together what really happened on those days, and they released a report on their findings in 2001. Of their many notable findings, the commission determined that white Tulsa officials participated in the violence, even providing the white mob with firearms and ammunition to terrorize the Black residents.

The massacre of Tulsa’s “Black Wall Street”

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The survivors that the city interviewed are gone now, but there are still a few people left who witnessed the massacre.

107-year-old Viola Fletcher, the oldest living survivor, testified this week before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties, asking the U.S. to formally “acknowledge what happened in Tulsa in 1921” on its centennial. Her testimony was powerful.

“I still see Black men being shot, Black bodies lying in the street. I still smell smoke and see fire,” Fletcher told lawmakers. “I still see Black businesses being burned. I still hear airplanes flying overhead. I hear the screams. I have lived through the massacre every day.”

“I am 107 years old and have never seen justice,” she said. “I pray that one day I will. I have been blessed with a long life — and have seen the best and worst of this country. I think about the terror inflicted upon Black people in this country every day.”

Watch her powerful 7-minute testimony:

POWERFUL: Oldest living survivor of Tulsa race massacre testifies in front of House

www.youtube.com

Another survivor, 106-year-old Lessie Benningfield Randle also testified about what she witnessed when she was six.

“They burned houses and businesses. They just took what they wanted out of the buildings then they burned them,” she said.” They murdered people. We were told they just dumped the dead bodies into the river. I remember running outside of our house. I ran past dead bodies. It wasn’t a pretty sight. I still see it today in my mind—100 years later.”

The remaining survivors have called for reparations, citing the inability of the community to rebuild following the massacre, especially in light of the Jim Crow laws and racist economic policies that followed.

Many Americans tend to think of the history of blatant, violent, government-sanctioned racism as something in the distant past, but there are still people alive today who remember this massacre that took place in 1921. And that year was a mere 50 years after the start of the Civil War, which means many Black Americans living in the South at that time had been born into slavery. That history is simply not that far away.

All three of the testimonies from survivors of the Tulsa-Greenwood Race Massacre are powerful. You can watch the full House Judiciary hearing here:

Continuing Injustice: The Centennial of the Tulsa-Greenwood Race Massacre

www.youtube.com

Nicki Minaj has worked with so many artists over the years, but she may share the closest bond with two of them: Lil Wayne and Drake. The trio has been through a lot together, as Minaj and Drake both launched their careers and first found major commercial success while working with Wayne and his Young Money Entertainment label. The trio reunited recently on “Seeing Green,” a new song shared as part of a reissue of Minaj’s early-career mixtape Beam Me Up Scotty. Now Minaj has shared a new behind-the-scenes video for the song, which doubles as a look back on her relationships with Wayne and Drake.

Aside from recent clips of Minaj showing off various looks, the video also features images and videos, both recent and from various other points in her career, of herself with Drake and/or Wayne. The video isn’t really much of a behind-the-scenes look at how “Seeing Green” was made, but it does serve as a touching display of how much Minaj values what she has been through with Wayne and Drake.

After the song was released, Minaj admitted that both Drake and Wayne bested her on the song, writing, “All I know is that they washed me on #SeeingGreen I’m a woman enough to admit when I’ve been washed on a track by the Greats [laughing emoji]. and it’s ok #Barbz I’ve washed them b4. We’ll live through this one. I was still a lil rusty. I washed them in my head on #Fractions.”

Check out the “Seeing Green” behind-the-scenes video above.

Fousheé’s music has been turning heads ever since a sample of her song, which later became “Deep End,” blew up on TikTok. In the months following, Fousheé remained hyper-focused on her artistry, releasing more tunes and even teaming up with Lil Wayne for a track. Now, the singer has another exciting project on the horizon — a campaign video for H&M’s summer clothing line.

Fousheé’s music is the soundtrack for a video to the clothing company’s new campaign, Find The Strength In Silence. It’s a cover of Depeche Mode’s “Enjoy The Silence,” which she transformed from a synth-heavy anthem into a more sultry R&B tune. In press materials for the campaign’s accompanying film, which was shot in LA, it’s described as standing “for the women who face public opinions daily.”

The project follows an exciting accomplishment for the singer. After “Deep End” went viral on TikTok, the song began racking up streams. Thanks to its viral success, the song achieved a peak at No. 10 on Billboard‘s Alternative Airplay chart after hovering on the chart for sixteen weeks. The new spot marked the first time a Black woman occupied the chart’s top ten in 32 years. The last person to achieve the feat was Tracy Chapman for the song “Crossroads,” which hit the Billboard Alternative Airplay chart’s top ten in 1989.

Listen to Fousheé cover “Enjoy The Silence” above.

Elon Musk’s name-dropping on Saturday Night Live did little to take the joke cryptocurrency to the moon, but his tweets about the dog-based crypto apparently sparked another surge in its price on Thursday. And that attention, it seems, has gotten lawmakers interested in regulating the wild fluctuations the market has seen in 2021.

As CNBC detailed, Musk’s series of Dogecoin-related tweets coincided with another price spike for the cryptocurrency, which was once worth fractions of pennies but has found actual value in the NFT and crypto bubble:

The price of dogecoin spiked on Thursday after Tesla CEO Elon Musk mentioned the coin on Twitter, adding another chapter to the volatile history of a cryptocurrency that started as a joke.

The price of the digital coin was up more than 11% to about 40 cents in midday trading, hours after the first Musk tweet.

That’s still not near the high-water mark the coin had in the leadup to his appearance on SNL, but Musk tweeting to his 54 million+ followers on Twitter seems to have a huge impact on its price. Especially when those tweets indicate that he’s not selling his shares of the crypto.

But amid that wild variation for the cryptocurrency, there are rumblings that the US government wants to get involved in regulating crypto like it does other markets. Another CNBC report on Thursday detailed the Treasury Department warning traders that any transaction worth $10,000 or more would need to be reported to the IRS.

“Cryptocurrency already poses a significant detection problem by facilitating illegal activity broadly including tax evasion,” the Treasury said in a release.

That’s just part of the government’s creeping interest in cryptocurrency markets. Protocol detailed that several different layers of government may want to help regulate cryptocurrency and the companies who are making big money buying, selling and mining various currencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum and, yes, even Dogecoin. While all of that could give people protections from the huge spikes of the boom and bust crypto market, it may also mean Musk’s tweets about the coin see increased scrutiny as things get more regulated. That’s something he is certainly familiar with at this point.

Marjorie Taylor Greene and picked her hill and she is prepared to die on it, folks.

The controversial GOP representative from Georgia continues to make headlines for her outrageously childish antics, but fortunately, this latest temper tantrum isn’t as disturbing as her ongoing obsession with Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has proven to be. Greene, who’s been whining about having to wear a mask on the House floor ever since she took office, refused to don a face covering in the chamber on Tuesday — a direct violation of a rule put in place by Speaker Nancy Pelosi requiring all representatives to be masked while the House was in session.

Greene, who’s used her platform in the past to make some truly laughable connections between mask mandates and discrimination tactics, was warned that if she didn’t put on a face covering, she’d be fined. She wasn’t the only Republican protesting the mask mandate, but while fellow representatives like Lauren Boebert decided to comply and wear their masks during a meeting Wednesday, Greene continued to flout protocols, leading Pelosi to send her a letter listing out a series of fines she’ll be hit with should she continue to break the rules. Of those, Green could be charged a $500 fine the next time she goes without a mask and a further $2,500 for her third mask violation.

Of course, this is the woman who openly harasses her fellow lawmakers on Capitol Hill and bullies teenagers on the street so Greene reacted to news of the fine in an expectedly juvenile way: by shredding the damn thing.

Honestly, if you’re that triggered by wearing a piece of cotton on your face, maybe the high-stress environment of D.C. politics just isn’t for you? Though the CDC now says people who are fully vaccinated can forego masks indoors, Republicans like Greene have been outspoken in their refusal to get the shot. According to Pelosi, some 25% of Congress has yet to be vaccinated, which puts their fellow lawmakers (and civilian Capitol workers) at an increased risk of contracting the virus.

But sure, take a “stand” by showing you know how to use a piece of office equipment, Marjorie. We’re all very impressed.

Pride Month is just a couple weeks away now and iHeartRadio has announced how they’ll kick off June: They (along with Procter & Gamble) will be hosting their second annual “Can’t Cancel Pride” virtual event on June 4.

Bebe Rexha is set to co-host alongside Elvis Duran and will also perform her single “Sacrifice.” Meanwhile, also taking part are Lil Nas X, Demi Lovato, Hayley Kiyoko, Pink Brothers Osborne, Marshmello, Busy Phillips, Gus Kenworthy, Jennifer Hudson, JoJo Siwa, MJ Rodriguez, Nina West, and more.

Gayle Troberman, Chief Marketing Officer for iHeartMedia, said in a statement, “As the country is returning back to normal and we are slowly starting to gather again, LGBTQ+ communities around the world are still feeling the devastating effects of COVID-19. “We look forward to once again celebrating the incredible voices and allies of the LGBTQ+ community with an amazing night of music that will honor Pride and the communities’ fight for equal rights, all while benefitting six remarkable nonprofits that make an everyday positive impact.”

This news comes a few days after Lil Nas X declared, “i wanna do something special for homosexual month in a few weeks.” It also quickly follows Lovato revealing she now identifies non-binary and changing their pronouns to they/them.

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

The craft beer industry is facing yet another reckoning for sexual misconduct. Over the past week, Brienne Allan (@ratmagnet on Instagram) has been reposting (admittedly unverified or vetted) stories that women have sent her of sexual misconduct and assault that they’ve experienced at the hands of men in the craft beer industry around the world.

The thread started with Allan asking on her IG, “What sexist comments have you experienced?” Allan received so many replies, that there’s now an eight-part series of IG stories full of accusations of everything from customers dismissing women as brewers to verbal abuse to physical abuse to sexual assault against female co-workers, female industry professionals, and even female guests at brewery taprooms. It’s a harrowing wave of first-person accounts of an industry that has continually been unable to make real progress on sexism year after year.

The craft beer industry has been struggling to exorcise itself from rampant and blatant sexism for literal decades now — sexism that is almost always linked to the dismissal of women working in beer. Trillium, Founders, Rogue are just a few breweries that have faced down sexual and racial discrimination accusations over the past decade. Some have faced legal action and issued boilerplate apologies. But, as Allan’s posts make painfully clear, these issues remain.

There has been a shift over the past week, as male brewers who are specifically being called out are facing real-world repercussions. Breweries like BrewDog, Tired Hands, Modern Times Beer, Lord Hobo Brewing Company, Union Beer Distributors, and Hill Farmstead have all been called out by name. Vinepair reports that Søren Wagner, head brewer of Copenhagen’s Dry & Bitter Brewing Company, was put on leave due to allegations surfacing from Allan’s posts. Shaun Hill, brewmaster at Hill Farmstead, has issued a non-apology/”we’ll do better” letter to Vinepair in response to the current postings alleging several counts of sexual misconduct and bullying that have been corroborated by multiple women.

Modern Times Beer issued an apology via Vinepair for the misconduct actions carried out by some of its 300 employees and also promised to “do better.” Modern Times’ statement starts with, “First and foremost, we want to deeply apologize to anyone who has been harassed, discriminated against, prevented from succeeding, and otherwise hurt, either as our employee or by one of our employees. We can do better and be better, both as individuals and an organization.” At the very least, that feels like the San Diego brewery is acknowledging the problem and their part in it.

Perhaps the most important aspect of this week’s revelations is the empowerment it has given women to speak out en masse and highlight the continuous bullshit they face damn-near constantly as women in a white male-dominated industry.

Brewer Megan Murzyn (@isbeeracarb) has been posting about the sexism she’s faced in the industry for years. Her most recent post on Instagram compiles quotes she’s heard while brewing beer across the country and is a small glimpse into how deeply toxic this male-dominated industry can be on a day-to-day basis.