Month: July 2021

Well, the first Capitol rioter was sentenced Monday after being charged with a felony for his role in the Jan. 6th insurrection, and people are not happy with how brief his prison term looks to be.

Paul Allard Hodgkins was the Florida native who breached the U.S. Senate chamber carrying a Trump flag earlier this year. While he wasn’t one of the main instigators of the MAGA assault, he is one of the hundreds of rioters who’ve been charged with lesser crimes related to that fateful day. Hodgkins cut a deal with prosecutors, pleading guilty to one count of obstructing an official proceeding — a crime that carries a maximum 20-year prison sentence — in exchange for a few lesser charges being dropped. Prosecutors asked that Hodgkins be sentenced to 18 months behind bars, but a judge ruled that while he played a role in the assault that would leave a “stain on the country for years to come,” that offense only warranted an eight-month prison sentence.

That’s right. A man who boarded a bus from Florida equipped with rope and latex gloves and took selfies with the QAnon Shaman after the mob he was part of vandalized a government building and began hunting down the lawmakers who worked there is only getting eight months behind bars.

Twitter is, in two words, not impressed.

(Via Associated Press)

Basketball players and rappers occasionally crossing into one another’s worlds is by no means a new trend. For years, some hoopers have viewed music as an interest to pursue when they’re not out on the hardwood, while rappers have viewed the basketball court as a place to go have some fun in between recording sessions.

In today’s Dime Breakdown, we decided to look at both sides of the coin. We start by highlighting a pair of NBA players who are two of the best on the mic right now. Of course, Damian Lillard is at the top of the NBA’s rap game right now, but there are plenty of other dudes on the come up. One of them, Sacramento Kings youngster Marvin Bagley III, has actually gotten into it with Dame (and, if we can be honest, came up short), but can still hold his own in the booth.

On the other side of things, we highlighted a pair of rappers who have game for days. J. Cole was an easy mention here, as he’s coming off of a spell as a professional basketball player in the Basketball Africa League earlier this year, while NLE Choppa is as bright a star on the court as he is in the studio.

Dr. Dre‘s son Curtis Young has reportedly landed a role in the new film Charge It To The Game. He’ll apparently also be composing original music for the film.

According to TMZ, who spoke to Young, Charge It To The Game is a coming-of-age story about four best friends with Young playing “Kong,” one of the friend’s older brothers. And, making it a veritable who’s-who of famous rappers’ offspring, Snoop Dogg‘s son Julian Broadus is also in the movie, playing Kong’s younger brother, and Swiss Beatz‘s son is reportedly making his acting debut as one of the four friends (plus scoring the film with Young).

“This is my first movie and I wanted to get into acting… I always loved the art,” Young told TMZ. “It’s just an art form I’ve always loved. I’m playing a role, Kong, which is a gentleman named Hardtime — it’s Julian Broadus, which is Snoop’s son — I’m playing his older brother. So, I’ve been reading the script, just preparing, getting motivated, behind it and getting engaged with it.”

Talking about scoring the film, Young said, “I was asked and I’m honored to score the film and I believe they just yesterday announced that note. Swizz Beatz’s son is gonna be scoring it with me, so I’m just honored to have this opportunity.”

Young also offered an update on Dre’s health since his father suffered a brain aneurysm earlier this year. “My pops is healing,” he said. “He appreciates me for what I’m doing and doing on my own… It’s been a while since I had an opportunity like this to really step out of that shadow, but at the same time show respect and understand that people came before me.”

The Last of Us, one of the most acclaimed video game series of all-time, is being turned into an HBO series. There’s a big star (Pedro Pascal), a big-name showrunner (Craig Mazin, formerly of the Emmy-winning miniseries Chernobyl), and a BIG budget.

“The Last of Us, which commences photography this week, is indeed a monster,” International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees 212 union president Damian Petti told CTV News (the show is being filmed in Alberta, Canada). “It has five art directors and employs an army of hundreds of technicians. It has had six months of prep and shoots for 12 months. I cannot confirm the official budget numbers, but will say it is likely the largest project shooting in Canada. This project well exceeds the eight-figure per episode mark, so there is a multiplier effect on our economy in terms of its impact. There are hundreds of related businesses benefitting from the plethora of work.”

Game of Thrones cost $15 million/per episode in its final season, meaning The Last of Us is likely in the $10-$20 million range. Pascal has expensive taste.

The Last of Us doesn’t have a sprawling (read: expensive) ensemble cast — Pascal’s Joel and Ellie, played by Bella Ramsey, will be the only characters on screen for much of season one — but turning Canada into a wasteland of fungus dens, molotov cocktails, and monsters isn’t cheap. There are no dragons, but there are clickers. Lots of them.

(Via CTV News)

After years of looking like the final chapter of the trilogy would never get made, Lionsgate has acquired the worldwide rights to Kevin Smith’s Clerks III. The long-gestating third installment is currently in pre-production in New Jersey and is slated to start filming next month. According to Smith, the film will continue the events of Clerks II, which was released over 15 years ago in 2006. All of the original cast members will return, including Rosario Dawson, who recently lit the geek world on fire with her live-action portrayal of Star Wars’ favorite Ahsoka Tano.

However, this time, the crew will not be slinging burgers at Moobies, and instead, Dante and Randal will be back in the convenience store where it all started. Via Deadline:

“There’s a saying from the Tao that goes something like ‘To be great is to go on. To go on is to go far. To go far is to return.’ Thanks to Lionsgate, we get to return to where it all started with almost the whole cast that started it all! And for the first time since the first time we ever made a movie in 1993, we’re shooting the entire flick on location in New Jersey, as an ode to both the enduring allure of cinema and the resourcefulness and lunacy of its storytellers. Years ago, Dante and Randal made me a filmmaker – so now it’s time I return the favor.”

The news arrives as Smith is also blowing minds in the nerd realm thanks to his work creating the He-Man revival, Masters of the Universe: Revelation, that’s set to arrive on Netflix later this month.

(Via Deadline)

Piers Morgan must not be deterred after people came for him when he and Prince William condemned racist attacks against soccer stars in the wake of their treatment of Meghan Markle. And Piers also hasn’t learned his lesson after growing publicly outraged over Meghan’s children’s book before people couldn’t stop laughing at him over his continued obsession. Nope, the anger bear still rages, and this week, Piers is very upset over news that Prince Harry will publish a memoir.

Random House tweeted news of the late 2022 project and this quote from Harry: “I’m writing this not as the prince I was born but as the man I have become.”

As one might easily predict, Piers did not take the news too well. “You’ve got to be f*cking joking?????” soon surfaced in tweet form. “Ready to tell his story?” he asked with more laughter emoji. “Prince Privacy hasn’t stopped yapping, whining & trashing his family all bloody year.”

Piers will stop at nothing to defend his Queen. He even left Good Morning Britain after his on-air temper tantrum over Markle and what he views as an attack (and he continues to call Meghan a liar) on the monarchy. He’s clearly still salty over Meghan “ghosting” him after a pub date several years ago, which has apparently led him to dismiss her claims of racist statements from Royal family members over Harry and Meghan’s son. Well, people still find Piers’ tantrums over Meghan and Harry to be quite amusing.

That’s a solid point there at the end, yes. Piers “yaps” about everything, all while obsessing over Meghan’s life, and he appears to be aghast the the couple fled the United Kingdom for Montecito, where they’re presumably living their best life. Yes, they’re taking gigs, but they’ve got a hefty security bill to pay, and that money ain’t coming from the British Royal Family.

With every generation of games, there are usually a handful of genres that we see above all else. It’s usually game studios that attempt to follow up on a popular trend, add their spin on it, and sometimes redefine the way it’s viewed. These days those two genres are battle royales and class-based shooters.

So when Ubisoft began to tease a new entry into their popular Tom Clancy franchise, with a little teaser from IGN, the direction they were going in was clear. They were throwing their hat in the ring of the class-based shooter. On Monday, they revealed Tom Clancy’s XDefiant, a game that is going to pull from previous Tom Clancy games to form factions that will compete against each other while accomplishing objectives. Typical class shooter stuff. That said, the trailer made sure to emphasize that this is a game that is going to focus on the shooting part of their shooter so we can expect a heavy emphasis on gameplay.

The developers in the video were right to put an emphasis on the shooting aspect of their game because class based shooters typically go one of two ways. They either take the Overwatch route and give everyone unique quirky powers, or they take the Apex Legends route and make the game about who is better at using their guns. This game appears to be more like the latter, but there could be some unique quirks to it that make it more than just an Apex clone. For starters, the factions from previous Tom Clancy games are all very unique and that feels like an opportunity to get really weird with the classes. If Ubisoft leans into that weirdness then they may have something on their hands here.

It will be interesting to see what direction they choose to take this game post-launch. A lot of these kinds of games have aspirations of being the next great esport, and put a heavy emphasis on their competitive modes, and with how much the trailer emphasized the shooting it sure feels like this will also be heading in that direction. If that is the direction they are taking, however, then they’ll need to make sure that the unique aspects of their game really stand out.

The way things have gone with recent Kanye West albums is that ahead of their release, West goes from completely off the radar to drumming up unreal amounts of hype. Well, the latter step seems to be taking place now. He apparently hosted a listening event for Donda over the weekend, and an associate declared the album is dropping this week. Now, another listening event is on the way, and it’s a big one.

Some West associates, including Pusha T, shared a minimalist flyer for the event, which is scheduled for July 22 at 8 p.m. at Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium, a 75,000-capacity venue where the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons play their home games.

The reported cover art for the album has also surfaced, and it’s an abstract painting that looks like a woman, painted in red on a gray background. The art was made by the late French-American artist Louise Bourgeois (and not West’s daughter North, as some have speculated), who died at 98 in 2010.

A couple days ago, what may be the tracklist for the album also leaked. Furthermore, a post on the Kanye West subreddit r/WestDayEver collects information from users who were supposedly at the first listening party. The thread indicates that the album will feature appearances from Lil Baby, Post Malone, Griselda, KayCyy, Travis Scott, and Baby Keem.

Of course, West has famously not released albums on their expected street dates — he previously said Donda was coming in 2020 — so only time will tell if this week actually brings new music from West.

Call of Duty: Warzone is one of those games where the element of surprise can be the ultimate advantage in a fight. A death potentially means the end of an entire run and heading back to the main menu. If someone gets the advantage on you and gets a few cheap shots off then that could be the difference they need to win a firefight.

That’s why the latest glitch we’re seeing out of Call of Duty: Warzone is extremely concerning. While we expect a game like this to have a lot of glitches, because it’s over 100 players all going into one giant map, there are certain kinds of glitches that can ruin the entire experience. Apparently, there are red doors that, if players go through an elaborate sequence of events, can make the player invisible. This is starting to become noticed among players and the videos are really a sight to behold. It’s like a bad magic show.

Nothing is more frustrating in a multiplayer shooter than being unable to see where you’re getting shot from, but when that player was, in reality, standing in front of them the entire time then that merely enhances that frustration. It also raises an interesting question though. Since the way players have to activate this glitch is so elaborate then shouldn’t Raven Software be able to ban players exploiting it? They recently had a huge ban of over 50,000 players for rampant cheating. Does this fall into that category?

It could, but that depends on how much of a problem these players exploiting this glitch actually are. One of the bigger issues with Warzone right now is the players making an active effort to cheat through programs like aimbots. These cheaters have been a problem since launch and are getting more creative.

Between players cheating intentionally, and some exploiting a glitch, Warzone is often not a very fun game to play at the moment. Which is disappointing, because it’s one of the better battle royale games out there.

Clairo, who just released her sophomore album Sling last week, has said that she doesn’t plan to play any live shows unless there’s added security in place for her fans.

Speaking to NME, Clairo (real name Claire Cottrill) said she wanted to look out for fans’ safety around assault, harassment, and other such uncomfortable situations at her shows. Overall, she wants to create a safer environment, saying, “We’re talking to some companies right now. We’ve made extra room on our tour bus for at least two more members of security.”

She expanded on that point, saying, “I’m lucky that [misconduct] never happened to me, but experiencing some of that in my adult life, I can’t believe how brave I was to go to shows by myself and be so carefree. If I can’t provide this [security] on tour, then I won’t tour – that’s my mentality at the moment. […] I really do feel in my heart of hearts that there’s going to be a wave of tours that are really stamped as the ‘safe tour’ and provide all this. Touring is one of the only things that hasn’t changed much. Granted, a lot of things need to change in the industry, but this is definitely one of them.”

Slingis out now via Fader Label/Republic Records. Get it here.