Month: June 2021

After DaBaby was reportedly detained and questioned by Miami police after a shooting Monday night, one of his Billion Dollar Baby artists, Wisdom, has been arrested for attempted murder, according to XXL. Police reports obtained by XXL describe a shooting near Prime 112 restaurant on Ocean Drive in which two people sustained injuries; one person was shot in the leg, treated, and released, while the other was hit in the back and is reportedly still hospitalized and possibly paralyzed.

21-year-old Wisdom Awute and 29-year-old Christopher Urena were arrested, with Miami Police Department representatives telling XXL, “In less than 24 hours, Miami Beach detectives were able to ensure those responsible for the shooting were arrested and charged. We will now work closely with the State Attorney’s Office to ensure a successful prosecution.” Wisdom was charged with attempted first-degree murder with a deadly weapon and aggravated assault with a firearm and is being held without bond. Urena’s charges include attempted first-degree murder with a deadly weapon and aggravated assault with intent to commit a felony, third-degree grand theft, and firearm possession by a convicted felon. Each man is charged with shooting a separate victim.

According to the police report, an altercation between two groups had escalated, Wisdom pulled out a gun and shot Emerson Delgado in the calf as he tried to run away. Wisdom was arrested at the JV Marriott Marquis Miami Hotel. DaBaby was released and not charged, according to his lawyer.

Honestly, I am not sure how to introduce what happens below other than to make three things clear: One, this is an interview with both Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson because they have their third movie in The Conjuring series coming out this weekend, The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It, in which they once again play paranormal investigators, Lorriane and Ed Warren. (In this one, based on a true story, they investigate the case of a man who killed a person while, he says, he was possessed by the devil.)

Two, no matter how anything reads, the mood was always pretty light – in that there was a lot of laughing. And three, when my Zoom call started the first thing I heard was a publicist sarcastically saying, “Okay … that went well.” Which means something did not go well and I was being thrust into the situation right after. And what happens next, well, let’s just say that both Farmiga and Wilson’s personalities are true forces of nature and this went to some very strange places.

See, now I feel like I’m following something sinister. And now me, the chucklehead, comes in…

Patrick Wilson: This is all true. This is good. Especially the word “chucklehead.” Well done.

The last time I talked to Vera was in 2010 and I remember you had just worked with James Caan and I had said I bet you have some stories and I’ll never forget: you paused, sighed, and just said, “Jimmy Caan.”

Vera Farmiga: Oh, lord. Jimmy Caan… Yeah. My lips are still zipped.

Patrick Wilson: Anytime you can say, “Jimmy Caan,” it’s good to go. You’re good by me.

Now that this is the third Conjuring movie, are you two friends? Do you text outside of work? Like how we hear, “oh, The Avengers are friends”…

Patrick Wilson: Well, they’re lying. No, I’m kidding. Yes, we text outside of work. Yes, we do.

And if secretly you don’t like each other, then I feel bad I brought that up.

Patrick Wilson: [Laughs] No. We like each other a lot.

Vera Farmiga: He is a solid presence in my life.

We’re really far into this franchise now. So I just assume you two have a good working relationship by this point.

Patrick Wilson: No one’s forcing us to do these movies. This is a choice. So I believe in making good choices in life, and this would be one of them, over and over.

So you didn’t sign a 10-movie contract eight years ago, and now you’re like, “Damn, I have seven more of these to do”?

Patrick Wilson: We did not. No.

So here’s something I keep wondering about when I watch these movies…

Patrick Wilson: You do a lot of wondering.

Yes, I do.

Patrick Wilson: Sorry. Keep going, keep going, keep going. [Laughing] Like I said, this is going great, this is going great. Keep going.

Would you prefer if I didn’t wonder? “Look, I literally have no questions for either of you. I’m sorry.”

Vera Farmiga: [Laughing] Never lose your sense of wonder, Mike, never.

Patrick Wilson: That’s exactly right.

“I watched this movie and I came away with nothing and I don’t know why they want me to talk to you.”

Vera Farmiga: Come on, what did you walk away with, Mr. Ryan?

I walked away with this…

Vera Farmiga: What did you walk away with?

I know these are based on a true story, but I don’t really believe these stories at all, but I love these movies.

Patrick Wilson: [Laughing] I love it. I love it. I love that so much.

Vera Farmiga: So, Mike, you do not believe in spiritual warfare, in any form?

I don’t believe the Devil made this person murder another person, no.

Vera Farmiga: I didn’t ask that question, Mr. Ryan.

Then I misunderstood.

Vera Farmiga: I asked, do you believe in spiritual warfare? He doesn’t want to just answer these questions.

I don’t know what happens when we die, I’ll say that.

Vera Farmiga: I’m not asking about death. I’m asking about spiritual warfare, warfare of the spiritual sort.

I don’t even know what that means. Spiritual warfare? Like spirits fighting? Do I believe in spirits?

Vera Farmiga: Do you believe that there are negative forces at play in this world and beyond?

Yes, from other human beings.

Vera Farmiga: And beyond?

And beyond?

Vera Farmiga: Yeah.

Well, what do you think?

Vera Farmiga: No, no, no, this is you first.

No, I don’t. I don’t think there’s a demon possessing someone to commit murder. You said that’s not the question, but that sounds like that’s part of “spiritual warfare.” So if you’re asking if I believe in possession, no, but I like these movies. I think I just like watching you two do this stuff.

Vera Farmiga: I love that.

Patrick Wilson: Fantastic.

Vera Farmiga: That’s an awesome answer. I love that, Mike Ryan.

Patrick Wilson: Love it. I’ll take it.

Do you believe in spiritual warfare?

Vera Farmiga: Mike, I look at the news today, and I’m feeling like there is negative mysticism at play. I look at everything that comes in, on my little notifications I get, where it’s a kidnapping. There’s so much negativity. It makes me wonder, it makes me wonder. Something, the synergy, these negative forces seem really real at the moment. Whether I believe it or not, I don’t know.

You went with “kidnapping” over the pandemic, or the attempted coup. There’s a lot to choose from.

Vera Farmiga: No, that’s the last thing that I just received.

Oh, I see.

Vera Farmiga: Where the little girl is at her school bus stop in a rural area. And she’s kidnapped by a very large man. And she fought her way out of his claws.

Is she okay?

Patrick Wilson: She saved her own life. Yeah.

Vera Farmiga: She saved her own life, so I’m like, show the kids, show that this is real. Show that there are evil, evil people out there, doing evil things. So, Mike, that’s just one of the bazillion things that I noted today. What is going on? Why is going on? Anyway, we digress. I’m so glad that you loved watching us do this.

That’s a good transition.

Patrick Wilson: Very good. Very good. Vera should be a TV anchor.

She could do it.

Patrick Wilson: Turn on a dime. Keep going, Mike. Keep it going. Give us a good question.

How do both of you wrap your heads around these characters? Who I think, in real life, believed what they’re saying. I think?

Vera Farmiga: Well, our characters do, hook, line, and sinker.

Well, I know your characters do. I’m talking about the real people they are based on, I think believe, too. You have to take people on a journey that’s based off a true thing, that if you read about the real story, there’s more to it. But like I said, I do like these movies.

Vera Farmiga: I get it. I’m not judging like that, dude. I’m not judging. I just do. I just do. You know?

Patrick Wilson: I also think it’s totally normal and commonplace and I think required that people judge – maybe not judge – that question their religion and their upbringing. You know? So that’s kind of how I wrap my head around it. Because if being a devout religious person keeps you morally sound and keeps you happy and have a steady life, then more power to you. So, I feel like our way in with these guys is that they are devout Catholics. My views of Catholicism have no bearing. Who cares?

Well, I care.

Patrick Wilson: Well …

Vera Farmiga: The way that I digest this is that I look at Lorraine, she cares so deeply for others. Compassion. She’s full of compassion. I find her to be just someone who’s full of joy and hope, compassion and gratitude and a sense of wonder. [Laughs] Just like you, Mike.

Thank you.

Patrick Wilson: By the way, also, because we really kind of don’t dig into, “Oh, come on. Do you really believe what they did?” And the reality is, I mean, man, I was looking at some video of Joel Osteen, peddling his book. Right?

Sure, yeah.

Patrick Wilson: And you look at the house that dude lives in, and the private jets, and all this just excessive money? Wow, how do you justify a that wrapped around Jesus’s teachings? Right? How do you wrap your head around that? And so, then I think of Ed and Lorraine Warren, and it just pales in comparison. How do you question these people that really, as far as financially, certainly lived a very humble life, their entire lives? I mean, same house, we’ve been to it. So there’s not really any great mystery of like, “Ha ha, we got these people that give us tons of money.” That didn’t happen. That didn’t happen.

Vera Farmiga: No, they didn’t charge. You know? Not a single penny.

Patrick Wilson: And so, if somebody gives an exorcism and it works, now we can sit here and question. And you can sit with 10 doctors and priests and ask, “Do exorcisms work? Is it just mental illness?” At the end of the day, I try to justify it with it: That person can be free from whatever were their shackles. Right? Their metaphoric shackles, whatever it is. If they’ve gotten psychiatric care, or spiritual guidance. If that helps them in their life, who cares?

Vera Farmiga: Absolutely. Right. That ritual just might be the key.

Patrick Wilson: That’s exactly right. I think the ritual of the church, it’s exactly right.

That’s a good way to put it.

Vera Farmiga: Yeah, it is. I was just remembering, just retelling stories, my two-year-old, I brought to South Africa when I was filming, and he had this nasty habit of sucking on his pacifier. And he had this massive pink rash around his whole face. And I said, “We’re going to go up to Table Mountain, the seventh wonder of the world, and you’re going to toss that pacifier into the sea, and you will be healed of it.” And he did.

Patrick Wilson: That’s awesome.

Vera Farmiga: And he did. And then he threw it overboard and he never thought about another pacifier ever again. But that ritual, sometimes extreme rituals are important.

Patrick Wilson: Did you retrieve the plastic?

Vera Farmiga: No, I didn’t. I know.

Patrick Wilson: Sorry, the environmentalist in me is just…

Vera Farmiga: Trust me. I know. Trust me. I didn’t know if I wanted to tell this story on record.

Patrick Wilson: Aw, dang it.

Vera Farmiga: I’m sorry.

Patrick Wilson: My god. I’ve got to go to South Africa now.

Vera Farmiga: God, I know, and my husband, man, he’s like save the oceans and all that, and I tossed it right in the water. I know. I apologize for that.

I feel we’re breaking through here, and we’re out of time. We’re finally getting into it…

Vera Farmiga: [Laughs] Oh, Mike…

We’ve dug deep into this. We’re getting there, and now I’m out of time.

Patrick Wilson: Like I said, this is going well.

See, what’s going to happen now, I’m going to get off here, and everyone’s going to be sarcastic about me, but I had fun. This was good.

Patrick Wilson: You know what? I’m never using the word “chucklehead” again. But if I do, it’s going to go with Mike Ryan. So it’s all good, man.

‘The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It’ opens in theaters and streams via HBO Max on June 4th. You can contact Mike Ryan directly on Twitter.

Despite helping launch the powerhouse franchise for HBO that’s currently developing a horde of spinoffs, Sean Bean still hasn’t seen the Game of Thrones finale, and he apparently doesn’t have any plans to because the actor couldn’t care less about hearing details of the final event. In fact, he pretty much stopped following the show after his Season One stint, which (ten-year old spoiler coming through) ended with his character Ned Stark being shockingly beheaded in front of his whole family.

Bean revealed that he had no idea what’s been happening on the show during a lengthy interview with The Sunday Times, to which he was clearly unaware of the show’s divisive ending. Although, he did enjoying hearing some details. Via IndieWire:

“I have a silly question about whether the end of ‘Game of Thrones,’ when the Starks’ inward-looking kingdom secedes from the rest of the continent, had any parallels with Brexit. It’s wasted on Bean. As is his unbothered way, he didn’t keep up with the show after Ned had his head chopped off at the end of season one. So he hasn’t seen the final episode? ‘No. What happened?’ Does he really want to know? Surely he may watch it one day. ‘I’ll have forgotten by then, go on.’ I describe how Ned’s son becomes king of Westeros and his daughter queen of the North. ‘So did Winterfell stay separate? Oh, good for them,’ he says with grandfatherly vagueness.”

Of course, Winterfell only gained its independence after the entire North was almost wiped out by the Night King and his White Walker army, but sure, it’s neat that those spunky Stark kids turned out alright.

(Via The Sunday Times)

On the heels of her announcement as Apple’s Up Next Artist for the month of June, breakout artist Fousheé offers a final preview of her upcoming debut project Time Machine. Days before the mixtape’s release, Fousheé shares the single “My Slime” as a softhearted reflection on newfound love.

The tender track leans on a gently strummed acoustic guitar to support Fousheé’s breathy lyrical delivery. The single’s room-filling production gives the song an intimate feeling as Fousheé sings about the euphoria of finding a new crush. “You’re my slime / My partner in crime / We just blow a day but you’re still on my mind / Let’s go to Paris some time,” she lilts.

Time Machine arrives following Fousheé’s viral track “Deep End,” which gained popularity on TikTok after it was sampled by a rapper. The song has racked up millions of streams and hit the top 10 of the Billboard Alternative Airplay chart. Landing a spot on the chart made her the first Black women in over 30 years to do so. The last woman to achieve the feat was Tracy Chapman for “Crossroads,” which made the Billboard Alternative Airplay chart’s top ten in 1989.

Listen to Fousheé’s “My Slime” video above and check out her Time Machine cover art below.

Time Machine is out 6/4 via Trackmasters Entertainment/RCA Records. Pre-order it here.

In Stranger Things, David Harbour plays a character who ends up in a Russian prison. In Black Widow, David Harbour plays a character who we meet in a Russian prison. It’s not a case of typical Hollywood casting, but rather an odd coincidence, as the No Sudden Move star explained on Tuesday’s episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live.

Harbour finished shooting Stranger Things season three in March 2019 and “then literally a month later, I got a call from Marvel that they wanted me to play a guy who starts out in a Russian prison,” he told host Jimmy Kimmel. “This is fantastic. I can’t wait to see what Twitter and Reddit and all those guys do with it.” But Harbour intentionally got ahead of r/StrangerThings by requesting a new look for Chief Hopper.

“I had this long hair and this beard and I was big and I thought, ‘I can’t be the same guy with long hair and a beard in the same prison,” Harbour said. He covertly took pictures of the Black Widow set and sent them to Stranger Things creators Matt and Ross Duffer to make sure that they “didn’t use any of the same colors as the set and making sure the looks were different and the outfits were different.” He continued:

“I had all this hair and all this beard and we had planned to do it that way. I was like, ‘We can’t do this. I’m coming out with this Marvel movie. I can’t have the beard and the hair,’ so we came up with a whole different look for [Hopper]. We had him shave his head and the whole thing.”

That’s a nifty way of not wanting to deal with facial hair maintenance (“Uh… yeah… it’s totally for a Marvel movie”). Respect. Watch the interview above.

But his emails!?

For the first time in several years, the whole of Washington, D.C. is talking about someone’s emails other than Hillary Clinton’s. On Tuesday, BuzzFeed published more than 3,200 pages of emails that were sent to and from Dr. Anthony Fauci between January and June of 2020 (this just one day after The Washington Post published more than 800 pages of the same). But anyone poring over them on the lookout for any sort of suspicious shenanigans on the part of the good doctor will be sorely disappointed.

As BuzzFeed noted, the immediate conclusion made after reviewing thousands of correspondences “show how Fauci tried to keep Americans calm and develop an effective strategy despite conflicts with the Trump administration.” The Post’s take? “The correspondence from March and April 2020 opens a window to Fauci’s world during some of the most frantic days of the crisis when the longtime director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases was struggling to bring coherence to the Trump administration’s chaotic response to the virus and President Donald Trump was seeking to minimize its severity.”

In both cases, it’s clear that Dr. Fauci—the longtime director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases who has served as the chief medical advisor to seven presidents—made a Herculean effort to respond to as many emails as he possibly could, whether they were from world leaders or a concerned citizen looking to make sense of the inconsistent information they were hearing from various sources.

While a good portion of the text in many letters is redacted, they still provide an eye-opening insight into how integral Fauci was in helping to disseminate information on the coronavirus, and just how little sleep the 80-year-old immunologist got during this hectic time.

While then-president Donald Trump was desperately trying to make “China virus” happen, Fauci was forging a professional alliance with George Gao, director of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, with Gao writing: “Let’s work together to get the virus out of the earth.”

Then there’s Mark Zuckerberg, who wrote to inform Fauci of the steps Facebook was taking to become a sort of “hub” for COVID-19 information. Most interestingly in this email is that he had the audacity to address him as “Tony.” Rude!

While Fauci did admit that there are “some crazy people in this world” and that “there is much misinformation,” he took the time to assure a total stranger who seemed concerned that he wasn’t able to voice his opinions fully that he had not “been muzzled at all” by the powers-that-be—which is one of the reasons Trump always seemed to be hinting that he was ready to tell him “you’re fired,” and why Fauci stood as the one true beacon of honesty in an otherwise confusing time.

(Via BuzzFeed)

Anthony Davis sat and watched as the Phoenix Suns beat the brakes off of the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday night. Davis was held out of Game 5 due to the groin strain that he suffered in the previous contest, and as a result, the Lakers couldn’t get much of anything going on either end of the floor. Phoenix led by 30 at the half, went on to win 115-85, and now boast a 3-2 series lead as things shift to the Staples Center.

During halftime, the Inside the NBA crew discussed the beatdown they just saw, which led to Charles Barkley turning his attention to Davis not being on the floor. While explaining how he thinks the Lakers are going to lose to the Suns if Davis can’t play, Barkley gave the All-NBA big man a nickname that is … kinda weird.

“I told you, the Lakers can’t win this series — forget about the championship, they can’t win this series without Street Clothes,” Barkley said.

When asked by Ernie Johnson the origins of that nickname, Barkley simply said, “I call him Anthony ‘Street Clothes’ Davis, cause he’s always in street clothes.”

It is, admittedly, a very silly nickname, but an important thing here is that Draymond Green — who was filling in for Kenny Smith on the evening — appeared to find it very funny. If the only active player on the panel thinks it’s pretty good, then perhaps it’ll end up sticking to Davis for a while.

Neil Gaiman is known for giving a f*ck about the finer details that really matter, like what would happen if a werewolf bit a goldfish. When it comes to casting the long-awaited live-action adaptation of The Sandman (for a Netflix series), however, Gaiman is perfectly comfy with telling people to shove it over casting complaints. The recently revealed principal cast includes Patton Oswalt as Matthew the Raven (and Gaiman’s explanation for that decision is something that comic book fans will dig), along with several other revelatory names, as you can see below.

Of relevance here would be the casting of Kirby Howell-Baptiste as Death and Mason Alexander Park as Desire. On social media, some people predictably (and sadly) freaked out because they can’t conceive of how Death, who is drawn in the comics as a pale, spiky-haired, ankh-sporting goth, will be portrayed by a Black actress. They also apparently take issue with Mason Alexander Park, who identifies as non-binary, playing Desire, a genderfluid character in the comics. Granted, Death is portrayed by Kat Graham in the Audible version of The Sandman, and she is so good in the role, but there’s no reason at all why Death — a member of the Endless, none of which have a specific race — can’t be portrayed by the actress who is best for the live-action portrayal.

As Gaiman previously wrote in a blog entry, “[W]e saw Kirby Howell-Baptiste’s (she/her) audition and we knew we had our Death.” And Gaiman is defending the casting of both Baptiste and Park while tweeting, “I give zero f*cks about people who don’t understand/ haven’t read Sandman whining about a non-binary Desire or that Death isn’t white enough. Watch the show, make up your minds.”

The author continued tweeting about how people who believe that the Endless “have any specific human race or form” probably didn’t read The Sandman too closely. Gaiman added, “I’m astonished to find that, for some people, what they thought she was, was a white woman, and just a white woman.” He finished with a reference to “shouty people” who “might not have read Sandman” at all.

Previously, Netflix announced that Gwendoline Christie would rule Hell as Lucifer, and yet, no one seems to be complaining that Gwendolyn Christie’s portraying the same role that Michael Sheen embodied in the Audible version. Selective outrage is definitely a thing, man.

Last week, Billie Eilish announced she had a new song on the way. She later suggested that song would be “Lost Cause” with an Instagram post that she captioned, “nothing but a lost cause.” Eilish has since confirmed that “Lost Cause” is indeed her next single, and as the song is out now, along with a new video.

Ahead of the video’s release, Eilish posted a teaser for it on social media. That caught the attention of Kim Kardashian, who shared the clip on her Instagram Story and pointed out that people in the clip were wearing clothes from her Skims line. Eilish seemingly confirmed that by re-sharing Kardashian’s Story and adding a heart eyes emoji.

With “Lost Cause,” Eilish is presumably hoping for a chart hit to follow “Your Power,” which has so far only achieved a relatively low peak (by Eilish’s standards, at least) of No. 10 on the Billboard Hot 100. Meanwhile, her first two Happier Than Ever singles, “My Future” and “Therefore I Am,” peaked at Nos. 6 and 2, respectively.

As far as Happier Than Ever, Eilish hasn’t spoken much about specifics of it. In February, though, she told Stephen Colbert that in terms of her vocals, she “[pulls] some tricks out.” She also noted the pandemic’s influence on the album, saying, “I made an album in it, and I just don’t think I would have made the same album, or even the album at all, if it weren’t for COVID. That doesn’t mean it’s like about COVID at all. It’s just that when things are different in your life, you’re different. That’s just how it it. I have to thank COVID for that, and that’s about it.”

Watch the “Lost Cause” video above.

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