Month: August 2021

Over the last few years, comic book characters have been tumbling out of the closet. There’s Batwoman’s Kate Kane, the first lesbian superhero on television, and earlier this year Aaron Fischer became the first gay Captain America. Last year Star-Lord went bi, at least in the Guardians of the Galaxy comics, and last month, Tom Hiddleston’s Loki strongly implied he swung both ways, too. And now one of the most iconic comic book characters in history (since 1940) has revealed he does as well.

As per Entertainment Weekly, in the latest issue of Batman: Urban Legends, Tim Blake (this comic’s iteration of Robin the Boy Wonder) makes a big life decision. He reunites with an old friend named Bernard, but their dinner is interrupted by a baddie named Chaos Monster. The two click, and a few pages later, Tim goes to visit him at his home, at which point Bernard makes his move.

“Tim Drake… do you want to go on a date with me?” Bernard asks him.

“Yeah… Yeah, I think I want that,” replies Tim.

Though a conservative backlash may be en route, right now the response has been extremely positive. One of the comic’s illustrators, Belén Ortega, said, “It’s overwhelming all the comments and love I’m receiving from you guys, thanks for your support on my very first series with @DCComics.”

Batman’s relationship with Robin has long been the subject of speculation, but with the latest Urban Legends, it appears Robin’s finding himself by going his own way.

(Via EW)

NBA free agency has slowed to an almost complete stop, as money has dried up around the league after an initial spending spree in the opening hours. As is always the case, there were a few players that cashed in early and a few others who have been left out in the cold, with no real opportunity at this point to recoup much money on the market.

As such, the priority for those younger players has to shift to finding the best opportunity and fit on a short-term deal in order to rebuild their value next season and, hopefully, cash in next summer and get the deal they hoped to this season. The rest of the veterans will be shopping their talents to contenders, looking to make a title run,

Here, we’ll try to find the best possible fit for the best free agents left on the market to shine in what could be yet another contract year in 2021-22.

Dennis Schröder: Dallas Mavericks

The unfortunate poster child for how betting on yourself can go horribly wrong, Schröder has gone from turning down a 4-year, $84 million extension to, likely, a mid-level deal at best. The initial thought was that, no matter what the market really presented, the Lakers with their cap situation would be so desperate to keep him he could get the same offer again this summer, but L.A. trading for Russell Westbrook (and not in a sign-and-trade involving Schröder) turned that on its head. Now, Schröder needs a place he can start and show why he’s deserving of a big-time deal.

The Mavs don’t have any cap space remaining, but they do have a $10 million TPE from the Josh Richardson trade that would allow them to offer a mid-level type 2+1 to Schröder (a sign-and-trade has to be three years) and send L.A. a second round pick for his services. I like Dennis’ fit in Dallas more than Boston, where he reportedly has an offer for the taxpayer mid-level, as I think it provides an opportunity to return to the role he thrived in with the Thunder. In Dallas, he’s the secondary ball-handler alongside Luka Doncic. He can look to show he can bump his three-point shooting back to his OKC efficiency and attack defenses off the dribble already in rotation. His defense at the point of attack would be a welcome addition for the Mavs, and for a team that needed to upgrade its point guard position, Schröder fits the bill. Even if it’s just for a year, he would be quite the stopgap in Dallas for a team looking to take a step forward as a contender.

Lauri Markkanen: OKC Thunder

The Thunder are one of the only teams that still has cap space, but that is likely reserved to take on a big veteran contract to help facilitate a trade in exchange for more draft picks as Sam Presti continues his quest to gather every future pick in the NBA. However, some of that space could also be used to take a flyer on Markkanen on a shorter deal (two or three years) and offer him a bigger role than he’ll find anywhere else on a team that could use someone else that can shoot. If Markkanen would agree to a three-year with a team option, he could spend a year in OKC putting up shots and proving his skill on a non-contender and then, likely, get shipped off to a different team next season in a trade.

The Thunder need frontcourt help, and while Markkanen has his questions, they really don’t matter for a team with no plans on competing immediately. More floor spacing for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander would be helpful, and if Markkanen pops, he could fetch a decent price on the trade market. If he doesn’t, then he takes up some cap space for a couple years and the Thunder can cut bait.

Josh Hart: Portland Trail Blazers

If I’m Josh Hart, I would be looking very closely at what Bobby Portis was able to do last year in attaching himself to a contender and thriving in a smaller role. Portis reupped in Milwaukee on a hometown discount for the Bucks after winning the title, but he would’ve been in line for some full mid-level deals or more had he decided to open up his free agency. Hart is they type of player that is likely best served by being on a contender with his defensive skillset and spotty shooting history. Going somewhere that will get him better shots will likely make his shooting look improved (like Portis) and his defense can pop better.

The Blazers signing another guard/wing would get laughs, but I think Hart fills a role that they don’t really have anyone taking on that bench. They have plenty of scorers but having a versatile defensive wing would be very welcome in Portland. For Hart, he gets into a better situation and I think there would be ample opportunity for minutes given his ability to guard the two and the three, something Portland is rather desperate for even if their closing lineups will have the Dame/CJ/Norm trio out there most nights.

J.J. Redick: Miami Heat

Redick really wants to be in the northeast to be near family, but I’m not sure any of the teams in that area have a great desire to bring him on board. Brooklyn doesn’t even have a training camp roster spot right now, Philly has two veteran shooters in Danny Green and Seth Curry, the Knicks have a very crowded backcourt, and the Celtics would, I think, prefer to add a ball-handler to their backcourt rotation rather than just a shooter. From a sheer basketball perspective, the best fit for Redick at this point seems to be Miami. They have roster spots and, as a team that wants to contend for a title, have a need for a veteran shooter right now.

Redick would be that shooter, something they don’t have beyond Duncan Robinson and Tyler Herro (and Redick is far more of a sure bet for shooting consistency than the latter). Miami just needs more guys they can trust in playoff spots in the backcourt with so much uncertainty about Victor Oladipo and Redick is about as good as they could hope for on a minimum. Whether he’d be amenable to that would remain to be seen, but in terms of contenders with a need for shooting, Miami fits the bill better than most any team.

Paul Millsap: Milwaukee Bucks

This one feels almost too easy. The Bucks need to add another veteran to the frontcourt after seeing PJ Tucker walk and still have their taxpayer mid-level after bringing Bobby Portis back on early Bird rights. Millsap and Mike Budenholzer have a terrific history together and while there’s some overlap in Portis and Millsap, that’s not a bad spot to have two quality players. Milwaukee is going to need to add some more frontcourt help and there’s not anyone on the market that would be a better get or a better fit than Millsap, who in turn gets to play in a system he’s very comfortable with and get on a genuine title contender.

The Sonic the Hedgehog movie stumbled out of the gate, its initial trailer so ruthlessly derided on social media that Paramount spent an extra $5 million to fix its title character’s design. But it all worked out in the end, sort of. It wound up being arguably the last cinematic blockbuster before the pandemic effectively shut the industry down for about a year. It even got a sequel, which now has its own extremely qualified actor voicing its big addition, Knuckles.

As per The Hollywood Reporter, no less than Idris Elba — Stringer Bell himself — will help bring to life the beloved hedgehog’s echidna frenemy. First introduced in 1994’s Sonic the Hedgehog 3, Knuckles began as an enemy, known for his ability to scale walls and smash through walls. He soon became a reluctant ally. He even got his own semi-spin-off later that year: Sonic & Knuckles, which allowed players to play as him.

Knuckles was originally supposed to have a Jamaican accent, but presumably, Elba will just give him his native English drawl, which he now seems to use more frequently than the American one he did earlier in his career, most notably on The Wire. Or maybe he’ll try his stab at doing Larry King’s take on Sonic’s voice, even though the late talk show host was clearly doing a hedgehog.

(Via THR)

Stargirl (CW, 8:00pm) — Season 2 brings back a breath of unadulterated joy in 2020 starring Brec Bassinger in the title role with Luke Wilson doing the stepdad/former superhero sidekick honors. The first season arrived with a fairly simple setup: Stargirl is a good (and relatable) person who simply enjoys kicking evil people’s asses, and she’s thrilled that she can do it. Sometimes you just wanna watch the bad guys — who are clearly bad guys — go down, right? Stargirl is here for you in that way. After the leading lady worked hard to recruit her new JSA, it’s time for a family summer vacation, and Beth digs up her parents’ secret.

Miracle Workers: Oregon Trail (TBS, 10:30 pm) — Season 3 of this anthology series continues in 1844, when an idealistic preacher (Daniel Radcliffe) must join forces with a wanted outlaw (Steve Buscemi) as they set off on the eponymous trail by wagon. TBS suggests that the promise and peril that they encounter might remind us of our own times. Following last week’s butt-shaking Radcliffe, a holy prophet leads another group that’s moving West, and Benny’s got his own mission.

Untold: Malice at the Palace (Netflix film) — The Wild Wild Country creators bring a fresh, five-part sports docuseries that will drop weekly. The episodes will cover basketball, boxing, tennis, and more, to tell stories that you’ve not heard before about pivotal moments, including playoff and the Olympics. Each episode will go beyond the headlines to reveal what really happened to those at the center of the stories. Yes, there will be a deep dive into the “Malice at the Palace” Pacers-Pistons brawl, but also Caitlyn Jenner reflecting on what it took to win gold. Also, the show shines light on the Trashers, a misfit band of hockey players who were in deep with the mob. Oh boy.

Superman & Lois (CW, 9:00pm) — Lois is fretting over Jordan, who’s growing closer to Sarah, while Clark pays a visit to Lana.

Fantasy Island (FOX, 9:00 pm) — Time for another reboot? Looks like it. Visit this mysterious island, where Elena Roarke, descendent of (obviously) Mr. Roarke, takes charge while Javier’s the jack of all trades.

Hard Knocks: The Dallas Cowboys (HBO, 10:00 pm) — The Dallas Cowboys head back to this all-access training camp series while gearing up for a football season like no other.

Late Night With Seth Meyers — Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Kevin Smith

In case you missed this recent streaming pick:

Mr. Corman: Season 1 (Apple TV+ series) — Joseph Gordon-Levitt has proven himself to choose his roles carefully after stepping away from blockbuster-land, and that makes his choice, in general, worth watching. In this series, he plays a public-school high school teaser who’s in the midst of an existential crisis. Granted, the word “existential” might make some eyes glaze over with assumptions that this show will contain a lot of naval gazing. However, Gordon-Levitt’s character is fueled by “a sinking suspicion that he sucks as a person.” That’s not only darkly funny but shows that there’s plenty of juice to mine from seemingly mundane life concerns and the fear, which many of us share, that we’ll all feel like impostors while pretending to grow up.

When Sonic the Hedgehog released its first movie trailer it wasn’t possible to have a more negative reaction. Sonic’s design was upsetting to many, the jokes in the trailer were painful, and for some reason “Gangsta’s Paradise” was playing. It felt like they completely missed the energy and feelings of why people loved Sonic.

After a delay and one redesign later, the movie came out and it surprised a lot of people. It was far better than the original trailer made it look and many people came out of it pleasantly surprised. As such, when a sequel was announced the reaction was completely different. There was genuine excitement about how they could build off the last movie and make a sequel better. One thing that was a requirement for every Sonic fan was the introduction of Sonic’s friends like Tails and Knuckles.

We received confirmation that Tails was coming when the sequel teaser was released, but we didn’t know anything about Knuckles and if he would make an appearance. While rumors flared up everywhere that he would make an appearance, there was no official confirmation that he would be appearing in the game. Until a tweet from Idris Elba came through on Tuesday.

It’s so simple and yet it tells us everything we need to know. Not only is Knuckles going to be in the upcoming sequel, but he’s going to be voiced by Elba. While we’ve currently heard no lines from Elba, there’s an obvious excitement about his casting. He’s going to bring an energy to Knuckles character that should work really well with Ben Schwartz returning as Sonic.

Now the question is how are they going to portray Knuckles? In the original Genesis games, he was a nemesis turned anti-hero before he became a hero alongside Sonic in the Adventure games. His character in a lot of the later games has been inconsistent, ranging from the serious straight man in Sonic Forces, to the unintelligent muscle head in Sonic Boom. We’ll just have to wait for a new trailer to find out more.

In recent days, there has been a fascination with celebrities and their bathing habits. It started towards the end of July, when Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis revealed that they only bathe their children when “you can see the dirt on them.” Fellow celebrity couple Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard revealed they share a similar philosophy, with Bell saying, “Once you catch a whiff, that’s biology’s way of letting you know you need to clean it up.”

Famous people like Jake Gyllenhaal, Jason Momoa, and The Rock have all since declared that they are regular bathers. Now, on a related note, Rihanna is reminding the world how good she smells: Yesterday, she shared a montage of celebrities noting how good she smells and the clip features people like Lil Nas X, Cardi B, Jennifer Lawrence, and many others.

“Just sayin’,” Rihanna captioned her post.

Rihanna’s tweet likely has more to do with her recently released first Fenty fragrance, Fenty Eau de Parfum, than it does the current fascination with celebrity bathing, but the timing is too perfect to ignore.

As for the perfume, it went on sale today, and unsurprisingly, it has already sold out. Interested parties can sign up to be notified when it’s back in stock, though, so learn more about that here.

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

In the most Doctor Who-ish episode of Loki, Tom Hiddleston’s Loki of Asgard became the first openly queer lead character in Marvel Cinematic Universe canon. But an actual Doctor Who writer has criticized the Disney+ series for its “feeble gesture” at inclusion.

“I think huge, cleaning warning bells are ringing as the giants rise up with Netflix and Disney Plus especially,” Russell T Davies, who created Queer as Folk and It’s a Sin (one of the best shows of 2021) and served as showrunner for the Doctor Who revival from 2005–2010, said during a virtual Pride month panel for Swansea University. “I think that’s a very great worry. Loki makes one reference to being bisexual once, and everyone’s like, ‘Oh my god, it’s like a pansexual show.’ It’s like one word. He said the word ‘prince,’ and we’re meant to go, ‘Thank you, Disney! Aren’t you marvelous?’ It’s a ridiculous, craven, feeble gesture towards the vital politics and the stories that should be told.”

In the scene, Sylvie asks Loki (who is gender fluid) about his love life and whether he’s been involved with any “would-be princesses, or perhaps another prince.” He replies, “A bit of both. I suspect the same as you.” Davies is concerned that streaming shows will “damn us” with “their condescension in the end” when it comes to LGBTQ+ stories. But Loki director Kate Herron, who called it her goal “to acknowledge Loki was bisexual,” hopes the MCU will continue to explore the character’s bisexuality in the future.

“I don’t know plans for the future with Loki — I’m so focused on this story. But I would say that part of my thinking was, well, if it’s canon and it’s acknowledged, then yeah I hope there’s obviously more road to travel with that aspect of his personality. And I hope it has opened the door to more stories, definitely,” she told Collider.

(Via Pink News)

If commercial and critical success had anything to do with which of Stephen King’s stories were his all-time favorites, you might expect to see It, Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption, The Shining, Carrie, and a whole lot of other familiar tales on that list. However, it turns out the “King of Horror” has some slightly unpredictable takes on which of his stories he thinks are the best. In an appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Colbert asked King what his favorite Stephen King stories are and his top five are a bit surprising.

The first title King shared was his short story “Survivor Type,” which was first published in the 1982 horror anthology Terrors and was later included in King’s 1985 collection Skeleton Crew. The story, which King once said in an interview “goes a little bit too far, even for me,” follows a surgeon who is marooned on an island and resorts to eating parts of himself to survive until… he doesn’t. It’s an interesting and incredibly grisly choice, even by King standards.

The next short story King mentioned was “The Body” which you might recognize by its more well-known film adaptation Stand By Me. Interestingly enough, “The Body” was also published in 1982, making that year a pretty big one for King, apparently. “The Body” follows a man as recounts the year he and his group of friends found the body of a young boy in hopes of becoming famous for the discovery. It’s a grim coming-of-age story that delves into how just children process death.

As for what novels King likes best, the author shared that The Stand, Misery, and Lisey’s Story are among his favorites. In the year 2021, The Stand is an interesting choice considering the behemoth of a book is all about a virus that all but wipes out mankind and feels a little too close to home. This also might be part of the reason the new CBS miniseries based on the book didn’t fare too well when it premiered in December of 2020. Misery and Lisey’s Story are also curious choices, albeit for different reasons. Both titles revolve around a male author and the mania and madness surrounding them, leading many to believe they might come from a fairly personal place — though perhaps that is what makes them so resonant to King.

All in all, we shouldn’t be all that surprised that such an unconventional person would have some unconventional takes on his own catalog. If anything, it just means now we have a few new titles to go back and check out.

Well, that moved quickly. After The White Lotus creator Mike White recently revealed that discussions for a second season were happening, but were “unresolved” at the moment, HBO has officially confirmed that the show all your cool friends are talking about is returning for a second “installment.” While initially announced as a limited series, The White Lotus — which airs its first season finale this weekend — will now become an anthology as the next chapter will involve new guests and a new location, according to HBO:

With the finale episode debuting this Sunday, THE WHITE LOTUS is a social satire set at an exclusive Hawaiian resort and follows the vacations of various hotel guests over the span of a week as they relax and rejuvenate in paradise. But with each passing day, a darker complexity emerges in these picture-perfect travelers, the hotel’s cheerful employees and the idyllic locale itself. Episodes are available to stream on HBO Max.

The next chapter of THE WHITE LOTUS leaves Hawaii behind and follows a different group of vacationers as they jet to another White Lotus property and settle in temporarily amongst its inhabitants.

Shortly, before the season two renewal was confirmed, White spoke to Entertainment Weekly where he revealed the reasoning behind switching to a new location if HBO gives the green light on the next installment, which we now know is a “go.”

“We would go somewhere different because there’s no way we could be able to afford the Four Seasons in Maui, not in a pandemic,” White said. “So yeah, it would have to be The White Lotus: Kyoto or something. Which would be fun too, because we could get into culture clash ideas and stuff like that.” So the gears are already turning, it appears. This is good news.

(Via Entertainment Weekly)

While the NFL’s vaccination rate leaguewide has increased to over 90 percent, there remain a few prominent holdouts who have found themselves in the news recently. Kirk Cousins missed some of training camp as a close contact and made headlines by talking about how he planned on putting up plexiglass all over the Vikings facility in places like the QB room to protect himself and teammates instead of just getting the vaccine.

In Baltimore, Lamar Jackson missed time as well after testing positive for the second time since last year, as he missed a game during the 2020 season after a positive test. Jackson spoke with the media recently and said he still didn’t plan on getting the vaccine despite a second positive test. On Tuesday morning, Stephen A. Smith and Max Kellerman pointed out how ridiculous that was on ESPN’s First Take, with Kellerman calling out the absurdity of people believing they can do better independent research on the internet than doctors and scientists.

Smith leaned more on the football side of things when speaking about how irresponsible it is for Jackson, as the quarterback of the team, to refuse the vaccine and put his teammates at risk — citing that they had to bring the same energy for Jackson they had for Cousins, saying Jackson’s situation was arguably more “egregious” since he’s already had it twice. He particularly took issue with Jackson saying he’d talk to his teammates to see how they felt, wondering how a supposed leader of the team could have gone this long without having those conversations.

“It’s incredibly alarming that he’s 24 years of age and he says, ‘Well, I got to talk to my teammates.’ Well, where the hell have you been?” Smith said. “Have you not been talking to them? What have you been doing?”

He also echoed Kellerman’s sentiment about athletes in particular saying they want to know everything in the vaccine when they regularly take pain injections and supplements from team doctors and their nutritionists without nearly the same screening process.

“Suddenly you need to know everything and all the ingredients about this vaccine when throughout your professional career, your collegiate career, stuff was injected into your body that you had limited knowledge about,” Smith ranted. “Give me a break. Come on man. It’s ridiculous.”

We’ll have to see if Jackson’s conversations with teammates change his mind, but there’s no doubt that, at minimum, he is keeping the Ravens in a precarious position by not getting the vaccine given the NFL’s policies this coming season.