Month: September 2021

He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (Netflix series) — Kevin Smith’s recent Masters of the Universe: Revelation sequel series sparked some overwrought backlash after continuing He-Man and Skeletor’s story in a way that some nerds didn’t enjoy, given that there was plenty of focus (like the original series) on other characters. Well, here’s a kid-appealing update of the classic ’80s cartoon, and this one has a much different feel with a He-Man-focused story, so maybe that will make the angry people happy? It’s got a whole lot of dude-on-bony-dude battling, looks like, while they fight for the ultimate control of Eternia and Castle Grayskull.

The Premise (FX on Hulu series) — B.J. Novak (The Office, Inglourious Basterds) writes all of the episodes on this show, which aims to use dark comedy to tackle tough topics, including sex, social media, Black Lives Matter, police brutality, and immigration. Along the way, there’s apparently the “the worst sex tape ever,” and a lot of this show translates as satiric. It’s not the easiest show to comprehend at times, but the all-star cast includes Ben Platt, Tracee Ellis Ross, Daniel Dae Kim, Soko, Kaitlyn Dever, Jon Bernthal, O’Shea Jackson Jr., and the late Ed Asner.

Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol (Peacock series) — The international bestseller is here to translate those thrills to the small screen. Settle in for Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon’s earliest adventures, which include saving his kidnapped mentor while squashing a global conspiracy by defeating a ton of deadly puzzles.

The Harper House (Paramount+ series) — This animated show follows a female head-of-household, who wishes to raise her family’s standard of living. This, of course, an uphill battle, and everyone involved is a real oddball.

Tig n’ Seek: Season 3 (Cartoon Network series on HBO Max) — Enjoy the latest adventures of a young Tiggy with his cat Gweeweek, who happens to be an expert at building gadgets.

What We Do in the Shadows (FX, 10:00 & 10:30pm) — Well, well, well. Guillermo turned out to be a vampire killer, which sure as heck came as a surprise to Nandor, Nadja, and Laszlo, and Colin. The four Staten Island roommates must figure out how to handle this conundrum, along with tackling the other challenges of this season. Those include dealing with wellness cults and gym culture, along with gargoyles, werewolves who play kickball, casinos, and more. In addition, the vamps also receive a higher level of powers while Nandor experiences an eternal-life crisis, which forces him to examine whether he should be a bachelor for eternity or embrace love. This week, it’s doomed road-trip time.

The Late Show With Stephen Colbert — Melissa McCarthy, Lindsey Buckingham

Jimmy Kimmel Live — Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, James Blake

The Late Late Show With James Corden — Angela Bassett

Kin: (AMC+ series) — Charlie Cox stars in this new Irish series about a tight-knit crime family that’s drawn into wartime mode with a mighty drug kingpin. The family soon discovers that this is an unwinnable war, yet as the losses begin to mount, it becomes clear that the cartel is at one distinct disadvantage: they’re not bound by unbreakable blood bonds. The cartel does, however, have a host of exotic pets and some snazzy costumes and celebrity status, so this is a heck of a story.

Star Trek: Lower Decks: Season 2 (Paramount+ series) — This animated series from Rick and Morty writer (and Solar Opposites creator) Mike McMahan takes things to the year 2380 (after the original Star Trek beginning in 2265), where the U.S.S. Cerritos aren’t the heroes that you’re expecting. These are junior officers who are not pleased at their lack of power while confronting bizarre alien anomalies like enormous bugs and other such comedic-slanted creatures. This violent show’s got a PG-13-like feel.

It might seem hard to believe comedian and fan-favorite SNL veteran Norm Macdonald passed away only two days ago considering the countless hours of touching stories and memorable videos of the star we’ve seen in such a short time, but it just goes to show how universally adored the comedy icon was. Among the countless friends and fellow comedians paying tribute to Macdonald is his life-long friend and Full House star Bob Saget, who took to YouTube to share an emotional, 37-minute long video called Remembering Norm. Saget shared the video earlier today, “when most of you who loved Norm won’t be awake and the people close to him will be up because we’re f*cked up and just can’t sleep,” the actor solemnly joked.

In the video, Saget recalls his friendship with Macdonald throughout the years, starting from their early days in Ottawa comedy clubs and working on the 1998 movie Dirty Work, to the final words they said to one another. Saget emotionally confessed the pair were still making plans to go out and do things prior to Macdonald’s passing, and called the loss “a f*cking knife in the heart for all of us who were close to him and all of you who loved him.”

Saget also shared the true story behind an iconic Macdonald moment: his 2008 Comedy Central roast. According to Saget, in the week leading up to his roast, he spoke with Macdonald and was told by the comedian, “I can’t say mean things about you because you’re my friend.” Saget then said Macdonald warned him that if he was called to roast him, he would instead “read jokes from a ’40s joke book,” and sure enough, that’s exactly what happened. Saget recalled that his jokes were met with complete silence by the audience and ultimately his segment was cut from the show, before remarking, “I can’t accept that he’s gone.”

According to Saget, he had a feeling Macdonald’s health had taken a dip recently based on the way he had been communicating. A week before Macdonald passed away, the pair shared this exchange:

“Last week, I got a text and it just said ‘I love you.’ And I didn’t say much back. I just said ‘I love you Norm.’ And that was my [final] communication with him…One of the gifts of my life is that he loved me, and that I loved him.”

Logan Paul, a Youtuber who once visited Japan’s “Suicide Forest” and filmed bodies he found there for clicks, is incredibly upset over a bit of name-calling from late-night host Jimmy Kimmel.

Earlier this month, while dragging Donald Trump‘s decision to moderate a senior citizen boxing match on the anniversary of September 11th, Kimmel made a joke equating Paul with the twice-impeached, white-supremacist-supporting former president.

“Between Logan Paul and Donald Trump, boxing is once again the top source of income for the very worst people in the world,” Kimmel said, receiving a fair amount of laughs from his audience in response. Now, whether Paul watched the show live and just needed time to stew in his outrage, or he just saw the Google Alert he’s undoubtedly pinged to his name so that any mention of him on the internet can get blown out of proportion for more clicks on his channel, we’re not sure. But y’all, Paul is pissed.

During Wednesday’s airing of his Impaulsive podcast, the host called out Kimmel for targeting him, despite being a guest on the late-night show a year ago.

“I’m upset with Jimmy Kimmel, dude,” Paul said. “How are you about to invite me on the show, and have a cordial, friendly, familial relationship, and then a year and a half later — when, by the way, I’m doing well. That is the lamest shit to me. That is so fucking lame. Your writers were so, so lacking content and creativity that they had to do some lame-ass Paul joke?”

Look, I’m sure Kimmel has had a bunch of people on his show as guests that he secretly dislikes, so why Paul seems so upset that they’re not besties IRL is beyond us. But he had some pretty harsh parting words for the talk show host, who’s likely to mine this feud for all the comedic gold it’s worth.

“You f*cking a**hole, Jimmy Kimmel. Honestly Jimmy, fuck you, bro.”

Frank Ocean is notoriously tight-lipped about any possibility of any new music from him. It’s been nearly five years since the musician’s last full-length release and it was looking like he was starting to gear up for a new era of music in 2019 with his “In My Room” and “DHL” singles, which eventually ended up being one-off releases. But now, fans can hold onto hope that a new album is right around the corner thanks to new allegations that Ocean is in talks with several record labels.

Every once in a while, the internet lights up with reports that a new Ocean album is right around the corner. This time, the report comes from Hits Daily Double, which alleges Ocean is “shopping a new album” to several label heads. The report states that the musician has been “taking meetings and playing the music for execs,” and that the new album is “f*cking great.” Apparently, Ocean is being represented by attorney Laurie Soriano, who Complex reached out to for comment about Ocean’s alleged album.

If Ocean was in fact planning on rolling out an album on a new label, it would line up with his confirmed appearance at Coachella 2023. The California festival’s co-founder Paul Tollett recently revealed that Ocean was unavailable for next year’s Coachella, but is expected to headline in the future.

Why is every game franchise a trilogy? For one reason or another, major video game franchises almost always tell their story over the course of three games. Halo, Mass Effect, and Dead Space are three franchises that come to mind, but there are countless others. While many of these games and franchises tell excellent stories within a trilogy, there are others that take it a step too far in trying to force a trilogy to make sure that they can meet that magical number of three.

One franchise that will not be forcing a third game? The new God of War series. While the original games revolving around Greek mythology were told within a series of three major titles, the new games that are set within Norse mythology will stop after two. God of War: Ragnarok is going to be the final God of War game in its current story arc. That doesn’t mean a later game can’t pick up where this one leaves off, but it does mean that the current stories being told will be wrapped up by the end.

For some, this might be a little strange! The most recent God of War received incredible praise for its storytelling and taking the series in a surprisingly mature direction. Why would they only allow that to be two games? The answer? It would take way too much of their time for just one story, potentially 15 years, and that’s just not something any developer wants to commit to. Director of the first game Cory Balrog and director of the upcoming Ragnarok, Eric Williams, explained their reasoning in an interview with Kaptain Kuba on YouTube.

“I think one of the most important reasons is the first game took five years, the second game, I don’t know how long it’s going to take but I’m just going to throw out that it’s going to take close to a similar time to do this and then if you think, a third one in that same [amount of time], we’re talking like a span of close to 15 years of a single story and I feel like that’s just too stretched out. I feel like we’re asking too much, to say the actual completion of that story taking that long just feels too long, and given sort of where the team was at and where Eric was at with what he wanted to do, I was like look, I think we can actually do this in the second story. Because most of what we were trying to do from the beginning was to tell something about Kratos and Atreus.”

While some fans may be disappointed to see the developers are planning to move away from the stories within Norse mythology, this is honestly such a breath of fresh air considering how game development is usually handled. So many great franchises in the past have been hampered by the desire to stretch them into a trilogy. A story should always be as long as it needs to be and if the directors of these new God of War games think they can wrap this up in two games then they should do exactly that. Tell the story they want to tell and then go from there.

Expertly curated with an eye on memorable, currently-viable adventures in this very unique year — the Uproxx Fall Experience Guide is here

While Nicki Minaj exercises her right to free speech (which, again, is not a blanket protection against being ridiculed over said speech), her fans are exercising their right to assembly, as Atlanta’s Tori Cooper of CBS46 reports. Cooper has posted a video on Twitter from outside the Center For Disease Control And Prevention (CDC) headquarters in Atlanta depicting a crowd holding signs, marching, and chanting in an apparent protest of the agency’s vaccination recommendations. Among other slogans, they can be heard shouting, “Nicki Minaj told the truth to me, Fauci lied to me.”

I made this joke before, but it bears repeating: Yikes, indeed.

Nicki Minaj has become an unlikely avatar of the anti-vax movement supported by right-wing pundits and internet forum conspiracy theorists since tweeting on Monday, “If I get vaccinated it won’t for the Met. It’ll be once I feel I’ve done enough research. I’m working on that now.” That tweet was accompanied by one in which she referenced a cousin in Trinidad who told her about a friend who suffered an adverse reaction from the vaccine: Swollen testes and impotence. Since then, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (which is a completely separate organization from the CDC, by the way) and Chief Medical Advisor to the President of the United States, debunked the story, reminding the public that there’s no mechanistic reason for the vaccine to have such an effect.

Trinidad’s Health Minister Dr. Terrence Deyalsingh went one step further, holding a press conference to denounce the story as a tall tale after taking stock of hospital admissions and finding no one suffering from such symptoms. Meanwhile, television hosts like Stephen Colbert lampooned the anecdote for its middle-school-dating-rumor-style sourcing and the apparent hilarity of blaming obvious STD symptoms on COVID-19 vaccine side effects rather than owning up to infidelity. However, despite the obvious funny factor of the backlash against Nicki Minaj, the protest at the CDC, though anemic it may be, highlights just how unfunny Nicki’s misuse of her platform really is.

While discussing Tucker Carlson‘s obsession with Nicki Minaj‘s cousin’s friend’s allegedly swollen testicles, The View guest host Ana Navarro dropped probably one of the greatest lines in the daytime talk show’s 25 years on the air. It was so good that it left Whoopi Goldberg nodding in approval while slapping the table.

The hilarious moment came during Navarro’s turn to respond to Carlson offering an invitation to Minaj’s cousin’s friends to appear on the show even though the entire Trinidadian government couldn’t find him or his significantly engorged nutsack. After laughing at the ridiculousness of the international incident that Minaj’s vaccine disinformation has caused, Navarro zeroed in the surprising silver lining.

“Well, at least it got Tucker Carlson to defend a black woman,” Navarro quipped. “Didn’t see that one coming!”

This left of the ladies of The View laughing while Whoopi nodded proudly. People on social media were also big fans of Navarro’s zinger, and they also made it a point to note how much better the show is when she’s on the panel:

Ever since the testicle tweet heard ’round the world, the Minaj incident has been a roller coaster ride that’s included everything from alleged invites to the White House (it was just an offer to get Minaj on the phone with medical experts) to accusations of being placed in Twitter jail (also dubious). But one thing Minaj has quickly learned: Spreading vaccine misinformation is the quickest way to become a darling of the right as top conservative pundits like Carlson have rushed to her side.

Niger band Mdou Moctar have made a name for themselves among US and global fans for their unique style of African-influenced rock music. Their recent album Afrique Victime was released in March of 2021, but was written during a time when Niger dealing with the pandemic and under the control of guerrilla organization Boko Haram. Their new Afrique Victime documentary details the hardships of playing music in Niger under the organization’s command.

Mdou Moctar’s 10-minute Afrique Victime documentary was filmed by American bassist Mikey Coltun, who flew to the Niger capital to meet up with the rest of band. The film’s opening gives some background to the situation in Niger, explaining that travel within the country had been restricted for white travelers:

The global pandemic trapped Mdou Moctar and his band in their home country of Niger. They could not leave to promote their upcoming album, Afrique Victime. Instead, American bassist Mikey Coltun flew to Niger, carrying cameras and recording equipment. Shortly after Mikey arrived, it became clear that it was too dangerous to travel within Niger due to the presence of guerrilla groups such as Boko Haram, which have come to prominence in the country’s power vacuum. So Mdou, Mikey, Ahmoudou and Souleymane met in Niamey, the capital. It was their first time together as a band since they played over 200 concerts worldwide in 2019.

Throughout the film, Coltun interviews members of the band about their experience making music in Niger. Guitarist Ahmoudou Madassane explained that it was dangerous to play shows in the country at the time, because there was a chance it would be met with violence by Boko Haram.

Watch Mdou Moctar’s Afrique Victime documentary above.

Afrique Victime is out now via Matador. Get it here.

Despite having a slew of inescapably catchy singles under her belt and an album on the way, Saweetie has become just as well-known for her brand partnerships and cast-iron gut over the past few years. So, it should come as no surprise that her latest endeavor combines both for an unlikely, yet fitting collaboration. The Bay Area rapper has teamed up with Crocs, which has increased its visibility thanks to collaborations with Justin Bieber, Nicki Minaj, and Post Malone, and Hidden Valley Ranch, which she’s been known to slather on her spaghetti, to promote a new pair of the slipper brand’s signature rubber clogs adorned in food-related Jibbitz charms.

The Hidden Valley Ranch x Crocs Clogs are off-white-colored and accented with green speckles, drawing a resemblance to the dressing. Each of the Jibbitz charms are based on the items that folks love to dip in their ranch like fries, chicken nuggets, and vegetables. There are nine charms in all, and all are included with the clogs, which will only be available for purchase online through a drawing system. Entry is open from today to Monday, September 20 at 12pm ET. You can also check out Saweetie’s Instagram Story for a link to enter the big-city exclusive sweepstakes to win the shoes and a free pizza (in Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York).

Check out some shots of the shoes (and some choice fan reactions) below.