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John Mayer Has A Vibrant Fever Dream In His Psychedelic ‘Wild Blue’ Video

John Mayer found success with his recent LP Sob Rock (and on TikTok, too). The album, which embraced his full “tuneful cheeseball” self, impressively landed at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 albums chart after its release. To celebrate, Mayer has graced his fans with a trippy video to his track “Wild Blue.”

The new visual takes viewers on a psychedelic fever dream. It was directed by Mathew Miguel Cullen, who co-founded of Mirada Studios with acclaimed director Guillermo del Toro. The clip opens with Mayer and his trusty electric guitar in front of a green screen. Vibrant and disparate images float around his figure, taking him on a ride across scenic landscapes.

Ahead of the release of Sob Rock, Mayer sat down with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe to talk about the LP’s themes. The singer said his intention with the album was for it to essentially be one giant sh*tpost:

“And I made a record that, to me at the time, only in a way to coax something out of me that I wouldn’t have normally done, sh*tpost a record. It’s called Sob Rock because it’s a sh*tpost. But more importantly, it’s what I thought was a sh*tpost, and this gets down to where artists sit in front of you and play you what they think is their garbage, and you go, ‘That’s the best thing I ever heard you play.’ It makes a mockery of their interpretation of the experience, which is just enough to break out of the mold and make something unique.”

Watch Mayer’s “Wild Blue” video above.

Sob Rock is out now via Columbia. Get it here.

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‘NBA 2K22’ Dropped Its First Round Of NBA And WNBA Player Ratings

With the latest release in 2K Sports’ basketball franchise set to drop in a little less than a month, NBA 2K22 announced its first round of player ratings. This includes the top-10 players in the NBA, the top-5 players in the WNBA, and the five-best dunkers and three-point shooters that the NBA has to offer.

The game did not name one clear-cut best player in the NBA, instead deciding to hand out its top rating to four players. All of Giannis Antetokounmpo, Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, and LeBron James eared 96 overall ratings, with a handful of other dudes receiving 95 and 94s, with cover athlete Luka Doncic being included among that latter group.

For the W, Breanna Stewart got a 95 overall, making her the top player in the game. The remainder of the top-5 includes A’ja Wilson and Jonquel Jones getting 94s, cover athlete Candace Parker receiving a 93, and Brittney Griner being named a 92 overall.

The pair of skills the game decided to highlight, dunking and three-point shooting, are pretty difficult to argue. Curry is the best shooter in the game, receiving a rare 99 three-point rating, with teammate Klay Thompson getting a 95. The top dunker in NBA 2K22 is Zion Williamson with a 97 rating.

NBA 2K22, which includes three separate covers this year, is slated to hit consoles on Sept. 10, 2021.

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Michael Keaton On Why He’s Reprising His Batman Role 30 Years Later: ‘I Bet I Could Go Back And Nail That Motherf*#er’

We’re just over a year out from the big return of several key members of 2017’s Justice League in the upcoming The Flash movie and while all that’s pretty damn exciting, personally I can’t stop thinking about the film’s most shocking reprisal: Michael Keaton as Batman. For the first time since 1992, Keaton is busting out the ol’ Batarang and readying up to fight some crime in an adaptation of the famous, multi-dimensional DC story Flashpoint and it’s the kind of unexpected casting that honestly feels too good to be true.

While this role might seem a far stretch from a lot of Keaton’s more dramatic undertakings in recent years, such as Birdman and Spotlight, in an exclusive interview with The Hollywood Reporter the actor revealed a pretty compelling reason as for why he decided to rejoin the DC Cinematic Universe: he wanted another bat at, well, the Bat. According to Keaton, reprising his role as Batman has long been something he’s wanted to do — so he couldn’t pass it up when he got the option to return 30 years later:

Frankly, in the back of my head, I always thought, ‘I bet I could go back and nail that motherfucker,’ And so I thought, ‘well, now that they’re asking me, let me see if I can pull that off.’

While taking on the role of arguably one of the most iconic and beloved superheroes of all time at the age of 69 (he’ll be 70 in early September) might seem like quite the undertaking, we’re pretty convinced that it’s one only the likes of Keaton is capable of. Funnily enough, the actor went on to say the most challenging part of the ordeal has merely been keeping up with the lore, which is extremely valid. While Keaton said he was impressed by Birds of Prey writer Christina Hodson’s script as well as director Andy Muschietti’s vision, he was still pretty intimidated by just how much ground has been covered by DC throughout their movies and the heights Batman has soared since 1992.

I had to read it more than three times to go, ‘Wait, how does this work?’ They had to explain that to me several times. By the way, I’m not being arrogant, I hope, about this. I don’t say it like, ‘I’m too groovy.’ I’m stupid. There’s a lot of things I don’t know about. And so, I don’t know, I just kind of figured it out, but this was different. What’s really interesting is how much more I got [Batman] when I went back and did him. I get this on a whole other level now. I totally respect it. I respect what people are trying to make. I never looked at it like, ‘Oh, this is just a silly thing.’ It was not a silly thing when I did Batman. But it has become a giant thing, culturally. It’s iconic. So I have even more respect for it because what do I know? This is a big deal in the world to people. You’ve got to honor that and be respectful of that. Even I go, ‘Jesus, this is huge.’

While the upcoming film is surely no “dance with the devil in the pale moonlight” for Keaton, we are incredibly excited to see what the “Golden Age” actor brings to a contemporary superhero film. Seeing how much of a punch he packed as Vulture in Spider-Man: Homecoming (another role he will be reprising in 2022’s Morbius) we have extremely high hopes. As of right now, The Flash is scheduled to hit theaters on November 4, 2022.

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‘Aquaman And The Lost Kingdom’ Is Inspired By A Pulpy 1960s Science-Fiction Horror Movie

The best way to describe James Wan’s career is to look at his 2015-2018. He went from one fun movie that made over $1 billion at the box office (Furious 7), to a spooky low-budget (comparatively speaking) horror movie (The Conjuring 2), to another fun movie that made over $1 billion at the box office (Aquaman). He’s able to exist in two worlds, like Arthur Curry reconciling his human and Atlantean sides, and he’ll combine his horror roots with his blockbuster expertise in Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom.

Wan told Total Film that the Aquaman sequel owes a debt to a 1965 Italian science-fiction horror film. “Aquaman 2 is very heavily inspired by Planet of the Vampires,” he said. “You can take the boy out of horror but you can never take the horror out the boy.” In the trailer for Planet of the Vampires, a spaceship crew land on a planet where “the living dead try to escape into life.” Jason Momoa would’ve decked the life out of them.

Wan continued:

“Well, the first movie took a lot of people by surprise, right? And that’s partially because they were not familiar with the comic book, which deals in this very lurid, strange world. People were taken aback that I didn’t throw all that stuff away and make a dark, heavy film. But I didn’t feel that would have been right for it. So with the second film, I feel it will be easier for people to accept where we go because I’ve already laid the foundation.”

As long as the octopus drummer is back, I’m in.

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom opens on December 16.

(Via Total Film)

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It’s Impossible To Make Any Sense Of Mike Lindell’s Latest Rant About A $5 Million Reward And His Cyber Symposium

It’s been a full week since Mike Lindell’s failed Cyber Symposium, and the “Big Lie” event is still continuing to plague the bonkers MyPillow CEO who bet a little too big on his “proof” that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from Donald Trump. This time around, Lindell is scrambling after cyber security expert Bill Alderson has come forward demanding the $5 million reward offered to anyone who can prove that Lindell was not sitting on data that shows the election was stolen. For the record, Alderson is a completely different cyber security expert than Josh Merritt, who was hired by Lindell to prove his terabyte of data was real, but Merritt refused to play along, which caused the Cyber Symposium to go down in flames.

Here’s what Alderson told Dakota News Now about Lindell’s data:

He says he’s followed the specific rules that were agreed to when he registered for the challenge. His proof that Lindell is wrong, is arriving at Lindell’s attorney’s office today.

He kept a copy of the documents for himself, which he shared on a zoom call with our I-team.

“With all of my exhibits, proving what my belief was about the packets and why they were not packets and why they did not contain IP headers, why they did not contain Ethernet addresses, why they did not contain congruent, you know, request-response packets, while they were not in P-PCAP format, and they didn’t contain any dating or anything of that nature,” said Alderson.

During a Wednesday morning appearance on Steve Bannon’s Real America’s Voice podcast, Lindell was asked about Alderson’s claim that he bested the Cyber Symposium challenge by disproving Lindell’s data, which caused the MyPillow Guy to scramble and accuse Alderson of looking at the wrong data.

“The whole rumor going around the symposium was that this data is not from the 2020 election,” Lindell said. “Well, the whole challenge was [to] validate data from the 2020 November election. It had nothing to do with my data.”

Lindell then said his attorneys are looking at Alderson’s claim that he’s entitled to the $5 million reward, which was withdrawn during the symposium when Lindell’s own expert wouldn’t go on record saying his alleged election data was legit.

(Via Dakota News Now, Raw Story)

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Kevin Morby Announces A Collection Of ‘Sundowner’ Demos, ‘A Night At The Little Los Angeles’

Kevin Morby had a good 2020 thanks to Sundowner, and now he’s ready to offer a behind-the-scenes look at the album with A Night At The Little Los Angeles, his 4-track demo recordings of the album’s songs. That’s set to be released on October 8.

Morby says of the album:

“I am pleased to announce A Night At The Little Los Angeles, the 4-track demo version of my album Sundowner. Recorded at home and in my back shed — aka The Little Los Angeles – in Kansas during the summer and winter of 2017 and 2018, this is the sound of me alone in a room with a 4-track to catch my songs as they — quite literally — fell out of my mouth. When I later went into a proper studio to make what would become Sundowner, my goal was to capture the essence of these initial recordings, and here you will now have access to the very essence I was chasing.

I am excited to, for the first time, share this side of my songwriting process with the public. Many of my favorite recordings have been made inside of an artist’s home with little to no regard of the outside world, but instead deep in their own that they are building in real time. And with that — I’d like to invite you into my own little world here and now and ask you to please step inside and spend A Night At The Little Los Angeles.”

Listen to “Campfire (4-Track Demo)” above and find the A Night At The Little Los Angeles art and tracklist below.

Dead Oceans

1. “Campfire (4-Track Demo)”
2. “Sundowner (4-Track Demo)”
3. “A Night At The Little Los Angeles (4-Track Demo)”
4. “Wander (4-Track Demo)”
5. “Velvet Highway (4-Track Demo)”
6. “Valley (4-Track Demo)”
7. “Brother, Sister (4-Track Demo)”
8. “Don’t Underestimate Midwest American Sun (4-Track Demo)”
9. “Provisions (4-Track Demo)”
10. “U.S. Mail (4-Track Demo)”

A Night At The Little Los Angeles is out 10/8 via Dead Oceans. Pre-order it here.

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Mom teaches daughter a perfect lesson after she threw her new pencil case in the trash

This article originally appeared on August 24, 2019

Kids can seem pretty unappreciative at times. Parents often sacrifice a lot to give their child the best, just to have it thrown in their face, or in the bin. This is something that Haley Hassell recently discovered when she went to three different stores to get her daughter the latest trendy pencil case.

When Hassell gave her daughter the pencil case, she threw it in the bin complaining that everyone already had it. That’s when Hassell decided to teach her daughter the perfect lesson.

In a Facebook post, Hassell explained:


“[Daughter] learned a tough love lesson today… I went to 3 different stores to get that LOL pencil box you see in the trash there. When I surprised her with it this afternoon (just knowing she would be ecstatic) she stared at it and threw it in the trash and slammed the bedroom door. She yelled ‘that’s stupid, everyone in my class has that..I don’t want it anymore!'”

“OK So by this time there was probably smoke coming out of my ears and I’m trying real hard not to completely lose it on this kid that I have worked so hard to completely take care of financially on my own & make sure she always gets what she needs and then some. BUT I thought I had always taught her to be grateful & know how lucky she was but apparently sis needed a small wake up call!”

“SO before completely going Madea mad on my child I check myself and say, ‘okay that’s fine, let me go get the one you’re going to use.’ Came back with her new pencil box, which is the Ziploc bag. She lost her mind! Suddenly the LOL Box she just trashed was good enough and the Ziploc bag was horrible…but it’s too late for all that.”

Yes, Hassell gave her daughter a Ziplock bag as a pencil case since she didn’t appreciate the LOL one.

“I told her to get the LOL out of the trash and we would be finding a child to give it to tomorrow..one whose mommy and daddies don’t have money for any school supplies or someone who may not even have a mommy or daddy.”

“I explained to her she’s not entitled to anything special and she is taking for granted how lucky she is. So for now she will be using a Ziploc bag & will personally be delivering the nice box to a child that could benefit from it. Maybe I overreact sometimes but I would’ve done anything to have all the things she does as a child. I truly believe changing your perception & just being grateful can turn around any situation in life.”

Commenters seemed to love the punishment, with one user writing: “I’m down for this. Yes it’d be easier to give in, but sometimes you gotta teach them the principle of the matter.”

While another added: “I think you responded appropriately. Maybe she can earn the one she decides she wants at some point.”

Others were less receptive of the idea, with a commenter writing: “I guess I pretty much interact with my child on a regular basis, you know, take them with me when buying stuff for THEM so I know what they want. I talk to my child and care about their feelings. I don’t fear monger them. But hey, good job being a monster mom!”

Personally, I fully support mom on this one and think it’s important to teach kids to appreciate what they have. If you don’t, they’ll most likely turn into terrible adults.

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Father takes daughter’s bullying victim on a shopping trip to teach her a lesson

This article originally appeared on December 4, 2019

Bullying is a huge problem. According to DoSomething.org, 1 in 5 students ages 12-18 in the United States are bullied during the school year, and approximately 160,000 teens have skipped school because of bullying.

So when Randy Smalls of South Carolina discovered that his teenage daughter was making fun of a classmate over her clothes and makeup, he took swift action.

Smalls instantly felt sympathy for Ryan Reese, a seventh-grader at Berkeley Middle School, having been bullied in his youth. So he took money meant for his daughter and went on a shopping spree with Ryan to get some new clothes and a makeover.


Smalls’ wife and Ryan’s mother Richauna Reese are friends, but they weren’t aware of the bullying until recently. The families got on the phone after speaking to Ryan, and Smalls asked if he could take Ryan to buy new clothes and get a makeover at the beauty salon.

Smalls used money initially intended to buy his 13-year-old daughter some new clothes, but after learning about her bullying, he decided to spend the money on Ryan instead.

“I say, ‘When you laugh along, you’re co-signing the bullying,” Smalls told Yahoo News.

“My daughter was upset, especially because she is into fashion,” he said. “So she came with us and helped pick out Ryan’s new clothes.”

While his daughter was at church, Smalls took Ryan to the beauty salon and paid for twice-a-month appointments until the end of the year.

After hearing about the good gesture, local salons have also offered to keep Ryan looking stylish for the next few months.

Richauna, Ryan’s mother, told Yahoo News that her daughter was struggling after the recent deaths of her father, grandfather, and aunt, as well as non-epileptic seizures caused by the stress.

The shopping trip has helped Ryan immensely. “I wasn’t expecting it. I just started to cry. It (the bullying) was really sad for me because I had lost my grandpa, father, and aunt, and it really took me deep down in my depression,” Ryan explained.

“This is the first time I have seen a parent take such a stance on bullying,” Richauna added.

Smalls was overwhelmed by the response and says that it’s helped his daughter see her mistake.

“I didn’t expect for this to get big but I’m glad if other parents [can learn from it],” Smalls said. “My daughter learned her lesson.”

“As parents, we have to take responsibility for what our children do,” Smalls told ABC’s Strahan, Sara, and Keke. “We can teach our children, but when they go and are around other children they can veer off a little bit. When situations like this happen, we have to take action and be the parent and not the friend.”


This Father Took His Daughter’s Bullying Victim On A Shopping Trip

youtu.be

And the pair seem to be getting along better for the experience. “They’re cool now,” Richauna said.

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Mom calls out ‘dirtbag drivers’ like her son after he killed five people drunk driving

This article originally appeared on September 13, 2019

Losing a child is a pain that many of us simply cannot comprehend. Given how much mothers and fathers love their sons and daughters, we can only begin to imagine how much pain they would feel when something terrible happens to their children. But for Melissa Hayes-McGuinness, a mom from Australia, the pain is even greater.

Her son, Jordan, died in a car crash in December 2012 at the age of 18. As did five other people who were unfortunate enough to cross Jordan when he was drink and drug driving at high speeds down a Gold Coast highway following a Christmas party. The five victims were sitting in a broken-down car waiting for help when Jordan collided with them at speeds of up to 87 miles per hour.

The sheer force of the crash caused the parked car to burst into flames. The only survivor was the 16-year-old driver of the parked car, who had to climb over his friends to escape the burning vehicle and suffered from severe burns and a head injury that still affects his memory to this day.

Among those killed in the parked car were a 20 and 23-year-old, their 15-month-old girl was orphaned. The other victims were 16, 17, and 18.


As you can imagine, Melissa has to deal with unimaginable grief on a daily basis. Not only for her son, but for those he killed, and those they left behind. But thankfully, Melissa has found a way to channel that grief positively. Every year, she travels across Australia speaking to teenagers about road safety. As part of her talks, she reads an incredibly powerful speech which she calls “Jordan’s confession.”

Her speech reads, in part:

SOURCE: YOU CHOOSE / MELISSA MCGUINNESS

“I would give anything that night to have just hit a tree and not left this horrendous legacy,” Melissa begins. “Those kids didn’t deserve what happened to them. In truth, I guess I did.”

“I screwed up and paid the ultimate price. What I did was unforgivable,” McGuinness continues, speaking on behalf of her son and addressing the orphaned girl, “I’m the reason you’ll never see your mummy and daddy [again].”

Throughout the speech, Melissa shows photos of her son, including on his last day of school. Then, the photos changed to a news clip of the accident, showing blue flashing lights and twisted metal.

“Jordan was smart. Jordan was funny. Jordan was a great person, but none of that means anything now. None of it,” McGuinness continues to tell the teenagers sitting in silence before her, many of whom are usually crying at this point.

“That’s because he defined himself by his choices that night. He shaped a terrible and permanent legacy for himself, his family and his victims’ families because he chose to drink, smoke [marijuana] and speed down that highway.”

“And everything he did before that just pales in comparison.”

“As much as there are hundreds of reasons to be proud of Jordan… he died in shame,” his mother tells them, “This is how he’s going to be remembered. There’s no getting around that.

“My husband and I did not raise him to think that drink or drug driving was acceptable behavior, yet I stand up here as the mother of a kid responsible for the death of four kids from drinking and drug driving.”

“Think of all the good stuff that you’ve done. Think of all the effort you’ve put into your life. Think of all the effort people who have loved you put into your life. And imagine all of that being wiped out by one stupid choice. Because that’s the brutal reality of what happens.”

“I still love Jordan profoundly, I miss him terribly… but this can’t be sugarcoated. He defined himself permanently by his actions that night.

“There are accidents and there are choices. Jordan didn’t have an accident that night. That’s what happened to his victims. Jordan made a choice.”

SOURCE: YOU CHOOSE / MELISSA MCGUINNESS

Melissa affectionately calls the teenagers she’s talking to, particularly boys, “dirtbags.” Why? Because they often think they’re “ten foot tall and bullet-proof.”

Following the death of her son and his victims, Melissa started the You Choose – Youth Road Safety campaign. It teaches young drivers about the devastating, life-long consequences of being reckless behind the wheel.

Melissa knew that most teenagers won’t learn anything through a lecture, so instead she channels her own grief by telling her own story.

“I’m not lecturing them about right or wrong, I’m demonstrating through actual lived experience what it’s like to be on the receiving-end of what I was,” Melissa told Yahoo News.

“I show them a clip from Jordan’s memorial ceremony and I ask them to imagine while they’re watching it what it might be like if their family was in the same predicament that my family’s [going through].”

“But pretty much just taking them on this entire grief journey from where it started—as the excited teenager about to start his life to the horrible accident through one stupid choice one night. Then what it looked like for everybody else involved.”

“The thing with… Jordan is he’s relatable because he’s just like any other other kid there that’s sitting in that auditorium… and I’m also relatable as the mum.”

“[Through Jordan they’re shown] this great kid that made this one stupid choice that could be any of those kids. Any of them.”

Melissa says her talks are so powerful because she’s the “perpetrator’s mother.”

The guilt of her son’s actions have weighed so heavily on Melissa that she often felt like she “didn’t have a right to grieve her son”.

“Those kids were innocent kids, they were doing nothing wrong and my son behaved 100 percent irresponsibly and was completely responsible for their deaths.”

SOURCE: YOU CHOOSE / MELISSA MCGUINNESS

Each time Melissa talks to a group of kids, it gets a little easier for her. It gets easier to watch footage from the crash, and somehow, it gets easier to watch footage of Jordan’s then 10-year-old sister breaking down at the memorial service.

But one thing doesn’t change. The reaction from the kids she’s speaking to. Melissa says that no matter the type of school or the age of the kids, with very little encouragement, the kids always swarm her with hugs at the end of her speech. In most instances, she says, the instigator is usually the “biggest dirtbag in the room”

“I have a remarkable story to tell. It’s the worst story. And I feel really compelled to share that with teenage kids,” she told 9now.

“This is what is left behind: Here is the mum that has to attend your funeral, has to pick up the pieces. That car can become your own coffin.”

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Bored guy spent quarantine building a restaurant for the squirrels in his yard

This article originally appeared on April 5, 2020

One man from the Detroit area put his quarantine creativity to great use. James Vreeland used his newfound free time to, as he put it on Instagram, “get into the restaurant game.”

He did that, of course, by building an entire tiny restaurant in his yard specifically for squirrels. It’s hilarious and also weirdly very impressive.

It’s an open-air concept with communal picnic-style tables and natural grass floors, which really brings a sense of connection to the earth and the source of the squirrel food. It’s a brilliant design.


It’s called Maison de Noix, or “The Nut House” in English, and it’s the newest, hottest neighborhood spot that all the squirrels are chattering about. If they didn’t have to social distance, there would be lines out on the sidewalk every day to get a table. It’s very exclusive.

James Vreeland/Instagram

It has a tiny coat rack with wire hangers for squirrel jackets and everything! And even though the restaurant is aimed at its squirrel patrons, it’s open to all sorts of creatures. James said that the blue jays in the area are also loving the new place.

Not only did James build an innovative restaurant, but his menu is like nothing I’ve ever seen. It’s so diverse, and yet, so streamlined. And don’t worry; he’s printed out the menu and stationed it at the front of the restaurant for those who might be interested. Let’s take a closer look, shall we?

James Vreeland/Instagram

So simple, yet so sophisticated, you know? A mixed seed trio! How intriguing. And you can’t go wrong with stale bread or pizza crust. I appreciate that the chef leads with what he has on hand and fresh (I mean, stale) that day, instead of shoehorning out-of-season ingredients into a year-round menu.

Raw peanuts on the shell are a known squirrel favorite, and counter-softened apples, well, that’s an application you don’t see very often, mainly because they’re so hard to get just right. But I have faith in the kitchen staff of Maison de Noix.

James Vreeland/Instagram

For a brand new restaurant that opened during a global pandemic, Maison de Noix is doing very well. It helps when you are the only restaurant that caters to squirrels in the whole United States. They really cornered the market.

He has even started doing Facebook Live videos that are just a live stream of the restaurant. You can tune in each day to see the animals stop by. At one point during the last live stream, James commented, “Sorry for the shaky cam — there is a bluejay sitting on the camera.”

A time-lapse of the “brunch rush” can be found on his Instagram, and it’s just delightful. This whole venture is just entirely lovely, and I thank James for his efforts. I hope things like squirrel restaurants don’t go away once the pandemic ends. We need them now, and we’ll need them then.