Month: July 2021

Festival season is among us, and one of the country’s most esteemed events, Rhode Island’s Newport Folk Festival, just wrapped up its 2021 installment yesterday. Beck performed on Tuesday the 27th, and his appearance featured a handful of surprise guests.

During Beck’s 15-song set (according to setlist.fm), Sharon Van Etten joined Back about halfway through his time on stage to perform “Asshole,” from his 1994 album One Foot In The Grave. Closer to the end of the set, Jack Antonoff popped up to help Beck cover The Korgis’ “Everybody’s Got To Learn Sometime,” which Beck famously recorded for the Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind soundtrack. Then, to close the set, Fred Armisen hopped on the drums as Beck sang “Debra” and “Loser.”

Antonoff has been as busy as just about anybody in the music industry lately. Aside from his own upcoming Bleachers album, he played a major role in the upcoming Lorde album Solar Power and in the recently released Clairo album Sling, as well as Lana Del Rey’s Chemtrails Over The Country Club and Taylor Swift’s late-2020 effort Evermore. Meanwhile, Sharon Van Etten is also fresh off a collaboration with Angel Olsen, “Like I Used To.”

Check out some clips from the performances below.

Rootin’ tootin’ Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) can’t (or refuses to) help herself. She’s only a congressional freshman and is nearly as good at self-owning as Sen. Ted Cruz, especially at the U.S.-Mexico border, where lectured a cardboard standee of VP Kamala Harris. Boebert’s latest mission, however, is to endlessly rage against Covid-19 protocols. Earlier this week, she reportedly threw a mask before (not reportedly) tweeting about House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s “anti-science, totalitarian mask mandate” with a GIF of ex-President Trump saying “bullsh*t.”

Yep, Congress is totally tearing itself apart over the masking issue. On Wednesday, Rep. Jared Huffman (D-CA) and Rep. Byron Daniels (R-NY), got into “a yelling fight outside the House floor” before they started feuding on Twitter. Meanwhile, Boebert continued her own “anti-science” crusade Thursday on Twitter, where she sarcastically asked a question to Apple’s “Siri” app. “Hey Siri, define hypocrite,” the rifle Republican tweeted. “Siri: **shows picture of the House Attending Physician on the day Pelosi re-instated mask mandates in the House**”

Well, people responded with their own questions to Siri and Google. “Monumental congressional failure” was only one of the searches on the board. And of course, someone took a swing Boebert’s rushed GED process before being elected, and the restaurant she owns, Shooter’s Grill. Ouch.

Call off the scientists investigating the who, what, and why of COVID-19’s origins. Tucker Carlson already seems to know that the coronavirus that has killed more than 4 million people worldwide — and is creeping back into our communities via new variants — was created by none other than Dr. Anthony Fauci. On Wednesday night, the Fox News host accused the clearly diabolical octogenarian of being “the guy who created COVID.”

Carlson delivered one of his signature rants, complaining about everything from the updated CDC guidelines on mask-wearing to how government health care workers will be required to be vaccinated. He also went off on a weird tangent about how Kamala Harris and her husband “whose name is either Doug or Douglas depending on the source — kiss each other in public with masks on” and how this might be “some kind of weird fetish ritual they’re into.” (Nicknames are a tough concept, F*cker.) But the real wackadoo moment(s) came when Carlson — after sharing stories of several people who have gotten COVID even after being vaccinated — described Fauci as “the guy who created COVID.” Twice!

In the clip Carlson showed, Fauci was clear that the new delta variant “has changed the entire landscape, because when you look at the level of virus in the nasopharynx of a vaccinated person who gets a breakthrough infection with delta, it is exactly the same as the level of virus in an unvaccinated person who is infected. That’s the problem.” But Carlson — who nowhere in his tirade used the word “variant” — was perplexed:

“So, the level of virus — and we’re quoting now — ‘ … is exactly the same as the level of virus in an unvaccinated person.’ What? What does that even mean? We’re not even going to speculate as to what that means. But if this administration is trying to reassure the country and justify forcing people to take medicine they don’t want, maybe they should wake up and figure out what they’re trying to say and then explain it to people.”

Nothing Fauci said there seems particularly confusing: There’s a new problem, it’s called the delta variant, and it has forced the government to adjust its mandates in order to keep more Americans from dying. Seems logical.

As The Wrap notes, this isn’t the first time Tucker has suggested that Dr. Fauci is an evil genius who is using government money to engineer a deadly virus. Back in March, Carlson claimed that COVID “wouldn’t have happened if Tony Fauci didn’t allow it to happen” and wondered “why isn’t there a criminal investigation into Fauci’s role in the pandemic?”

Unsurprisingly, Fox News did not immediately respond to The Wrap’s request for a comment on Carlson’s most recent bullsh*t — which you can watch above.

(Via The Wrap)

Following up her excellent 2020 debut Look At Us Now Dad, Melbourne pop star Banoffee is releasing her second album this fall. Titled Teartracks, the sophomore project features contributions from Planet 1999, Perto and fellow Charli XCX band member Ceci. Banoffee, aka Martha Brown, has been playing in Charli’s band for a while now, but it’s her left-of-center, shimmering pop that’s taking center stage for the artist lately.

Her album comes long with a new single and video, for the song “Idiot,” a track that certainly helps introduce the themes Teartracks will cover. In the self-deprecating clip, Banoffee reckons with her own past behavior, and how it’s led to a current depressive episode. Like the album title indicates, the record will concern itself with sad moments, and Banoffee said she hopes it helps people cope with their own bouts of misery. This has never been more clear than in the “Idiot” video, which was directed y her frequent collaborator Phebe Schmidt, and depicts the artist in the midst of several public tantrums, as well as wallowing in a heart-shaped bed.

“Making this video was such a joy,” Banoffee said of the clip. “Living out a dream I had about trolling tradies was such a fun experience and of course a moment on a love heart bed was crucial. ‘Idiot’ is about needing to stay indoors and be self-indulgent, it’s about indulging in brattiness, with the help of my amazing creative team I think we made a version of that that’s really fun.”

Along with this new single, the news of her new album comes on the heels of another single released earlier this year, “Tapioca Cheeks,” which will also be featured on the project.

Watch the “Idiot” video above and find the Teartracks tracklist below.

1. “Tapioca Cheeks”
2. “Enough”
3. “illnevergettofuckany1”
4. “I Hate It”
5. “Idiot”
6. “Pill”
7. “Money”
8. “Something Great”
9. “Tear”

Teartracks is out 10/8 via Cascine.

Edward R. Murrow had “good night, and good luck.”

Jimmy Kimmel has “apologies to Matt Damon, we ran out of time.”

It’s become the Jimmy Kimmel Live! host’s signature sign-off, the way he frequently ends episodes of his late-night show — it’s also the basis for a long-running fake feud between the pair, culminating in the “I’m F*ckin’ Matt Damon” music video (it’s no “Scotty Doesn’t Know,” but it’s still good) and subsequent “I’m F*ckin’ Ben Affleck” response.

But why Matt Damon?

“People started to call me and ask like, ‘Hey, what’s your connection to this guy?’ And I’d never met Jimmy,” Damon said on The Jess Cagle Show. “He literally pulled my name out of thin air one night. And the way he told me this story, he said he had like a, he said, ‘I had a ventriloquist and a guy in a gorilla suit as my guests. And I just said kind of as a throwaway, ‘My apologies to Matt Damon, we ran out of time,’ but he could have said Brad Pitt. He could have said, you know, George.” I want to be famous enough where I can say the first name “George,” and everyone knows exactly who I mean.

Anyway, Kimmel could have said literally anyone, “but he just, for some reason, maybe I had a movie out that week or something, but he just said my name. And it changed the course of both of our lives. We’ve kept this feud going for, you know, it’s gotta be 15 years now. I’ve had a lot of fun doing it.” You can relive the full history of the feud here.

(Via the Huffington Post)

DaBaby is in the midst of quite the fall from grace following his set at Rolling Loud last weekend, which featured a homophobic rant about HIV and AIDS. Dua Lipa, who recruited DaBaby to join her on the hit “Levitating” remix, noted that she was “surprised and horrified” by the moment. Now fans have noticed that yesterday, DaBaby liked some tweets criticizing Lipa, which has led to backlash.

The tweets in question focus on “Levitating,” specifically how it was DaBaby that got the song to No. 1 on the charts (even though it actually peaked at No. 2 on the Hot 100) and wondering why the DaBaby version of the track hasn’t been taken off of streaming services yet.

As far as the idea that DaBaby launched Lipa to mainstream relevance, that claim is dubious at best, considering that “New Rules” and “Don’t Start Now” were top-10 singles well before the release of the “Levitating” remix. Whatever the case may be, Lipa fans took to Twitter and went after DaBaby, saying they had never heard of him before “Levitating” and that by some metrics, Lipa has had more commercial success than DaBaby.

Check out some more reactions below.

Dua Lipa is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

It’s interesting to hear James Gunn get just a little cocky. After the much-documented career whirlwind he’s had over the last couple of years, you know, it’s kind of nice to see him in a place where he can get a little cocky. After all, for a little bit there he thought is career was over after Marvel fired him for some unfortunate, but very old tweets. But then a sort of bidding war broke out between Warner Bros. with their DC properties, and then Marvel who, quickly, regretted their decision. And the reason it was “sort of” a bidding war is because Gunn decided he’d just do both. And now he’s in the very rare position of being a director who is allowed to do both. And, yes, that brings us to (the very good) The Suicide Squad.

And this brings us to why Gunn can be a little cocky. You see, Warner Bros. really wanted him to do this movie. The first movie, Suicide Squad (sans the “the”) was, well, pretty much a disaster. It’s incoherent. Once Gunn decided he wanted to make a Suicide Squad movie (Superman and another DC property were on the table, Gunn won’t say what it was), Warner Bros. was so eager for this to happen they gave him full control. Now, does that mean he could Harley Quinn if he wanted to? One of DC’s most popular characters? According to Gunn, “1000 percent.”

Ahead, Gunn takes us through his decision-making process and how he wound up with The Suicide Squad, and he tells us what it was like to call Sylvester Stallone to ask him if he wanted to play a walking, talking shark.

In the interview you did with The New York Times you said Superman was on the table from Warner Bros., but then you decided to do Suicide Squad. How long did you actually contemplate Superman?

Well, it was a little bit different than that. Toby Emmerich came to me through Peter Safran and he kept coming – they work out together, and Peter’s my manager and also the producer of this film.

Right.

And Toby came in every morning and said, “James Gunn’s Superman. James Gunn’s Superman,” and basically trying to get me to do Superman. And Toby said, “But you know, listen, we’ll be happy with whatever James wants to do. You know, what we’d really love him to do is The Suicide Squad.” So it was part of that conversation very early on. In terms of my decision-making process, I went off and I played with it. I didn’t want to commit … one of my problems I’ve had, sometimes, is I commit myself to stuff too quickly. And a lot of times ideas turn me on, but when I turn those ideas into stories, it becomes not as good as the idea was. Like, the story of that idea isn’t as good.

I see…

So I wanted to make sure I was going to commit myself for two years to something that was worthwhile. So, I took a few different things over about a period of a month. And wrote different ideas every day. And I kind of, then, whittled that down to three different projects: two DC projects and one that was something totally different. And I was writing those. And The Suicide Squad was just the one that began to sing.

What was the other DC project?

[Laughs] I can’t tell you!

Oh?

But it was something different. But, yeah…

I guess that’s why I wanted to get in your head a little bit, because I don’t personally think Guardians of the Galaxy and The Suicide Squad are that much alike. They’re very different things…

They are very different.

But I could see, also, how people hear that and go oh, yeah, that tracks. In other words, the idea of Superman, from you, would have been a curveball for those people who think Suicide Squad and Guardians are similar.

To those people, yeah. But I think to the general audience, it might not have been. But I don’t know, I don’t care what they … what interests me is what is the story that’s going to keep me interested for that long, and invested in passion. And that’s not in everything. And it was really the story of Suicide Squad. The truth is, when it was announced they were making the first Suicide Squad, I was jealous. There’s only been a couple of projects that have been like that. You know, I mean I love The Suicide Squad from the comic books. There aren’t a lot of things that I really would be excited about making, but that was one of them. And when I heard it was being made, I was like, ohhhhhhh, goddammit! So this was sort of my chance to do what I would have done in the first place anyway.

It feels like there’s a lot of carnage and chaos in this movie that you weren’t maybe allowed to do in Guardians. It feels like, frankly, you got the freedom to just get rid of whoever you wanted to, other than probably a couple of characters…

No, I was given full freedom.

Because I didn’t know who was going to live or die through the whole movie which is rare for a superhero movie…

I was given freedom to get rid of anyone I wanted to.

Really? If you were like, “I’m killing off Harley Quinn,” they would have let you?

One thousand percent.

How would they have let you do that? She’s one of their big stars.

There are no rules right now.

Okay.

And they wanted me to do the movie. You know, they didn’t really want to do an R-rated movie, either. I came in, I said, “Well, if I’m going to do it, it’s got to be R rated.” It’s a war movie! Like, I can’t be killing people and having this boom, boom, boom, and not having any blood. So, it’s like they trusted me to do what I wanted to do and they let me have full rein in terms of the story. And that was the conditions I came in on.

Sylvester Stallone was in Guardians 2 but I don’t know what your relationship is…

Yeah, we’re buddies.

I keep trying to imagine that phone call to him. “Hey, I’ve got a role for you in The Suicide Squad,” and he’s like, “Oh, is he a tough guy? Like Ray Tango?”…

Well, I called and told him it was a voice role. So I said, “I’ve got a voice role for you. I won’t take that much or that long to do. I wrote it for you. I thought about you. It’s a big, dumb, walking shark.” And he laughed and he’s like, “Anything for you!” And that was really the end of it, you know. And the truth is I wrote the role for Sly. I thought of Sly from the beginning. Today we did our big press junket with Sly as a part of it, and I hear that booming voice, and I go, “That’s why I wanted you for this role.”

But I was afraid at first. You know, I didn’t want to hire him and have it not work out. And so we actually had other voice actors come in and do the role. They did the whole movie and it just never came together. It just didn’t work. And I was looking for that “Groot experience.” I don’t know what else to call it, where Vin came in and did Groot’s voice for the first time and I was like, oh, now he’s filled up. The tank is full. And it was the same exact experience when Sly came in and started doing King Shark. But he was also, he’s so animated, he’s jumping around and doing all this stuff, it was just like amazing to see this guy doing it.

Will we see you guys together again? Because he’s already part of the Guardians universe. I want to see that Guardians character back.

Me and Sly?

Yeah, I want to see Sly back in Guardians 3.

Oh, well, we’ll have to see about that.

During quarantine we watched and rewatched so many Stallone movies. We watched Rhinestone last week, that’s how far into Sly movies we are.

Yeah! I love those movies. I love those movies. But I’m a big Rocky fan. Nighthawks, I don’t know if you’ve ever seen it…

I just watched Nighthawks last week. Yes, that movie is awesome.

It’s a great movie.

Sly does that stunt on the Roosevelt Island tram…

Yep. I watched it not that long ago. It’s just one of my favorite movies from when I was a kid, you know. But I mean I’ve watched it in the past couple years.

I am curious, during this movie, how many times can a director pull the rug out from the audience? It felt like you did that maybe five times and you probably could have kept doing it.

Yeah, well, I think that’s the fun, though, really. You know? I mean I think that really all plots are composed of plot twists, just having something happen that you don’t quite see coming or you don’t see coming when it comes. And in this movie it was really they’re big plot twists where things really change. And I think that it’s a delicate balance, because you’ve got to have the grounding of the story there, but I also think the plot twists are different types of things. There’s emotional plot twists, physical plot twists, plot twist with deaths. And to be able to go on this journey where you don’t quite know what’s going to happen next? And it’s not just about some big reveal at the end that’s like your shock ending? It really is about all of these little fun things throughout the movie. That was what I wanted to do with the screenplay anyway: to create fun twists and turns that we don’t see coming. We don’t necessarily know who the protagonist is at the beginning of the movie. We don’t necessarily know who’s going to have a big part. We’re allowed to go off on Harley’s private journey for 15 minutes. We’re allowed to do anything we want! There are no rules except keep it fun.

‘The Suicide Squad’ will be released on August 5th in theaters and stream via HBO Max. You can contact Mike Ryan directly on Twitter.

Netflix’s Outer Banks is not your typical teen drama. Last season delivered loads of intrigue and flat-out woo-woo revelations following a hurricane that left loads of melodrama in its wake. There are family secrets and a hunt for gold and class warfare between different factions in an overall well-to-do community. There are Kooks and Pogues (with the former being the ritzy kids, and the latter being, well, a little less privileged), and the power was knocked out all season, which sounds miserable, but the mysteries won’t stop. And oh yes, there’s a lot of action to go with the soapiness of the characters’ dynamics that you might lose your footing while slipping towards that sunken treasure. If you thought the first season was preposterous in a guilty-pleasure sort of way, then stay tuned because things get stranger (and I’m not just saying that because two of the show’s stars, Chase Stokes and Madelyn Cline, have done some time in another Netflix show about teens, Stranger Things).

We’ve got — I mean, come on — an idyllic North Carolinian vacation hot-spot, where a bunch of teens are running around trying to party through the summer, and that includes a ringleader whose dad has been missing for several months. Natural disaster strikes, and then they’re trying to solve a National Treasure-esque mystery, and everyone wants a piece of this treasure to the point where seemingly random thugs are popping out of nowhere to, like, go after a freaking compass? It’s nuts already in Season 1. And I’ve got good news for you: Season 2 will steal your crackers.

Recall that the first season ended with a semi-cliffhanger back in April 2020. Fortunately, the production came together to deliver a season in a relatively short amount of time, given all the COVID delays that have plagued Hollywood. So, we can find out what happened after the two main characters were shown to have survived what looked like certain death due to a capsized boat. Every other principal character and the cops believe that the pair is dead. Only they’re not, and they managed to save themselves with a hunk of gold, and they ended up on a rescue boat bound for Nassau.

You know what that means, right? The intrigue is now going international this season.

Here’s where I must concede this: Outer Banks isn’t what could be considered a good show in terms of story and an absence of logical gaps. However, the show’s filled with charismatic characters and a mystery-thriller vibe that vaulted the series to the top of Netflix’s Top 10 list for multiple weeks. That’s because Outer Banks is like Dawson’s Creek and The O.C but with riveting stakes, and there’s the aforementioned ringleader (John B, played by Stokes), who’s like Young McConaughey-lite, the kind of guy who takes off shirts and never puts them back on and began the show with dreams of tasty waves.

(Naturally, John B shows up in the below still while wearing a t-shirt, just to f*ck with my head a bit.)

As viewers know, the desired waves were sidelined when John B. and his crew discovered a boat that sunk during the big storm, which contains a literal key to the first set of metaphorical doors that would, apparently, lead toward a treasure that’s big enough to set a lot of goons on their trail. Soon enough, the group was knee-deep in a heap of trouble that, somehow, likely involved John B’s dad. What followed was a surprising amount of adrenaline-fueled action with some obligatory romance between characters. It’s a teen soap, so it’s hard to avoid that last part, and besides, now fans are invested in the coupledoms. Smart move on the writers’ behalf.

The first season gave us rivalries and fights and murder and rivalries and betrayal and, somehow, these teens attempting to find $400 million, even though surely the goons will get them first. The most villain-y character, Ward, is truly evil not only because he’s a grown-up but because he’s got blood on his hands. He’s still around, but the show, in switching up the initial second-season location, raises the stakes and increases the intensity through which all of the characters start maneuvering for gold.

John and Sarah are now fugitives on the run in Nassau. They’ve gathered a few new allies, supposedly, but trusting anyone is difficult for a damn good reason. Their crew back at home mourns them, but — and this is not a spoiler — eventually, the group reunites for another mission, even though everyone still really wants to find that jackpot. What is wonderfully enjoyable about Season 2 is that these episodes feel like an espresso-fueled version of what already speedily happened; the ridiculousness stays consistent, in other words. The show’s doing the classic “upping the stakes” approach to a sophomore effort. There’s nothing new there, but it’s doing so in the same way that Fast and Furious cranks up feats with every successive season.

Does this mean that John B goes to, like space, or something? No, silly rabbit. But the chase scenes are more intense now, and things are literally exploding, and the pursuit of John B and his lady, Sarah, frequently feel like everyone’s after them. It’s a little absurd, in a way, like that scene where John Wick looks around and realizes that everyone’s been alerted of a bounty on his head, and he’s fair game. This is a convenient place to stress that Outer Banks Season 2 contains bits and pieces that resemble many mystery-thrillers you’ve seen before, on the small screen and large. The way it’s all packaged together, however, makes it slick enough that it’s irresistible to all ages. Don’t feel guilty if you feel a little too old for this show before you begin, because that bonkers mystery will keep you clicking.

Netflix’s ‘Outer Banks’ returns for Season 2 on July 30.

Things just keep getting worse for North Carolina rapper DaBaby, who had risen quickly to become a popular presence in mainstream rap up until this weekend. After his bizarre comments from the stage at Rolling Loud hit the internet, nearly everyone (hey T.I., Tory Lanez and Boosie) responded to his homophobic comments with blatant disgust, but the rapper just kept doubling down. Then, he even released a video that seemed to further double down.

Artists like Dua Lipa, who had previously collaborated with DaBaby on the “Levitating” remix (fans already replaced his verse, natch) and Elton John, a well-known advocate for the LGBTQ community, have already spoken out against his stereotyping and now, GLAAD has weighed in too. GLAADD, aka the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation said

“The rhetoric that DaBaby used is inaccurate, hurtful, and harmful to the LGBTQ community and the estimated 1.2 million Americans living with HIV,” DaShawn Usher, associate director of communities of color for GLAAD, wrote in a statement via Twitter. “It is critical that DaBaby and his fans learn that people living with HIV today, when on effective treatment, lead long and healthy lives and cannot transmit HIV. While DaBaby has made haphazard attempts to ‘apologize,’ actions need to be taken for full accountability. It further confirms what @GLAAD reported last year in the State of HIV Stigma Study that stigma and misinformation around HIV is widespread, and there is much work to be done to educate the public, including entertainers.”

Here’s hoping some of fthis starts to get through to the young rapper… at some point.

The Los Angeles Lakers are in an interesting position entering the offseason, as they are in desperate need of roster upgrades but with no real options to do so through the Draft (picking at No. 22) or in free agency (with just the mid-level at their disposal).

As such, trades are going to be the only real way to shake things up, and numerous reports have indicated that they have been very aggressive in making calls dangling their two best trade chips still on the roster in Kyle Kuzma and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (Woj said that “every team” in the league has gotten offered one or both), as well as exploring sign-and-trade opportunities for Dennis Schröder. The potential deal that has had the most smoke building in recent days on the Lakers trade front is with in-state rival the Kings for sharpshooter Buddy Hield.

There’s plenty of reasons for both sides to be interested in a Hield trade. His relationship with the Kings organization has been a bit rocky at times since re-signing in Sacramento as a restricted free agent, and it might be best for both parties to move on. For the Lakers, Hield fills a massive need as a shooter next to LeBron James and Anthony Davis, and with three years left on his deal, he wouldn’t just be a rental and could be part of a core — something they hoped Schröder would be but that remains to be seen. On Wednesday night, as the NBA Draft drew ever closer on Thursday, word emerged from The Ringer’s Kevin O’Connor that the Lakers were pushing even harder for Hield, being willing to add their first round pick this year into a deal alongside two of three possible players.

Multiple reports have indicated that the Lakers are interested in a deal for Buddy, and with fewer than 24 hours until the 2021 draft, multiple league sources say Los Angeles has stepped up their efforts by adding the no. 22 pick to a deal that’d include Montrezl Harrell, and Kyle Kuzma or Kentavious Caldwell-Pope.

It should be noted that Harrell would have to sign-off on being included in such a deal, as he has a player option he could decline to make himself a free agent, but his market isn’t likely to get him much more than the mid-level deal he’s due next year and the Kings offer plenty of opportunity for him to get minutes and show his value again before hitting free agency.

If Harrell is on board, then it seems to be the Kuzma/KCP portion that could be a sticking point. L.A. would surely prefer to keep Caldwell-Pope, as he would move back into a more comfortable role behind Hield in the rotation and as a secondary shooter as opposed to last year when he was the primary focus of most teams perimeter defenses. How the Kings feel about Kuzma could be the difference in this deal getting done or not on Draft night, but it’s certainly one of the buzzier deals that seems to have a general known framework that we could see take shape by Thursday night.