Month: September 2021

There was a time where Roger Rabbit was an A-list Disney character, as popular as Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, and Donald Duck. But as the company has expanded, the slapstick bunny from Robert Zemeckis’ 1988 masterpiece Who Framed Roger Rabbit has been forgotten in favor of Marvel, Pixar, and Star Wars. There’s no sequel (this is not a bad thing), no Disney+ series, and not a ton of merchandise, either.

Outside of the movie itself, the biggest high-profile reminder that Roger Rabbit is a Disney character is Disneyland’s Roger Rabbit’s Car Toon Spin. There would be a riot if the dark ride was torn down, so instead, Walt Disney Imagineering is giving it a “more relevant” update to focus the story on iconic animated sex symbol Jessica Rabbit. Even in his own ride, Roger takes a back seat (inside Benny the Cab, of course).

“Walt Disney Imagineering is rebooting another Disneyland attraction with a female lead character and revamped backstory to make it ‘more relevant’ as the Anaheim theme park continues to update rides that have become culturally outdated,” the OC Register reports. “Some scenes in Roger Rabbit’s Car Toon Spin featuring Jessica Rabbit are being updated to be more relevant and reflect a new twist in the character’s story.”

Roger Rabbit’s Car Toon Spin is the latest Disneyland attraction to undergo a major renovation to remove outdated and problematic scenes — joining Pirates of the Caribbean, Splash Mountain, and Jungle Cruise… The updated Car Toon Spin storyline turns Jessica Rabbit into the newest private eye in Mickey’s Toontown on the lookout for Toon Patrol Weasels responsible for a rise in crime.

Car Toon Spin originally featured Jessica, voiced by Kathleen Turner in the movie, tied up in a trunk, but she’s been removed and replaced with barrels of childhood-scarring “Dip.” Until the renovation is complete, this poster will appear in the ride’s queue:

Disney’s update is getting a lot of attention, both positive and negative:

If you haven’t watched Who Framed Roger Rabbit lately, do it. It’s basically perfect.

(Via the OC Register)

When Joe and Anthony Russo delivered Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, the blockbuster final installments to Marvel’s decade-long “The Infinity Saga,” the two fully demonstrated the awesome might of the Infinity Stones as Thanos wielded all six and ripped apart half of the universe. Those space rocks were a super huge deal, until they weren’t.

In the season premiere of Loki, the Trickster Gods stumbles upon a drawer full of Infinity Stones while attempting to escape the Time Variance Authority. In a rare feat, the silver-tongued protagonist is left speechless when he finds out the celestial rocks are completely worthless inside the confines of the TVA. Employees are literally using the Infinity Stones as paperweights, which stops Loki in his tracks as he realizes he’s dealing with an insanely powerful force.

However, since Loki’s premiere over the summer, the Russo Brothers have remained quiet about the Infinity Stones getting completely nerfed for the Disney+ series, but it appears they’re no longer staying silent on the matter. The two just dropped a new TikTok video with Comic Book‘s Chris Killian where all three men have clown faces as “Everyone who thought the Infinity Stones were important” flashes on the screen.

Granted, the two are probably joking around, but it might also be weird to see their Herculean task of bringing Marvel’s Infinity Saga to a close get flippantly tossed aside during a TV show. The two were previously negotiating a return to Marvel, but those talks have reportedly stalled following the Black Widow lawsuit. It’ll be interesting to see if the Russos come back to Marvel, or if this latest TikTok is a hint otherwise.

(Via AGBO Films on TikTok)

A few months ago, Wale revealed that he’s readying a sequel to his beloved 2012 mixtape Folarin, titled Folarin 2. Even more good news is that it appears he’s in the home stretch of working on something that may or may not be that project: In a new “Good Listeners” video (presented by Uproxx and Samsung), Wale takes viewers behind the scenes of his life for a day, which includes a studio session where he’s putting the finishing touches on new material.

The rapper’s day starts with a photoshoot trying out some different looks, including some shots with his headphones (the Galaxy Buds2, specifically). He says with a smile, “They told me I could listen to what I want to listen to for a couple shots, so I’m going to listen to myself.” Additionally, he noted the headphones offered an assist with multi-tasking, making it easier for Wale to take some phone calls and review songs in progress during moments of downtime.

Speaking of fresh music, Wale later wraps his day up by heading to the studio to listen to some mixes of new material. As he notes, this is another scenario in which having headphones around comes in handy, saying, “I learned from somebody a long time ago about… you can do the studio mixes, they always feel good, everything is right, you’re used to the room. But sometimes you got to step off and listen to the mixes on headphones, off a computer, phone, and just see how I feel. That’s a little bit of the overthinking that I do, but it works for me.”

All in all, the clip is an interesting peek behind the curtain of what it’s like being one of the (justifiably self-proclaimed) greatest rappers of all time, so check it out above.

Since the ’90s, German electronic label Studio !K7 has regularly released its DJ-Kicks mix albums, which arrive a few times a year compiled by various artists. Disclosure are dropping their own entry in the series on October 15, and on it, they’ll be including two brand new songs: “Observer Effect” (which the duo shared today) and “Deep Sea.”

Like their recent material, “Observer Effect” is an energetic tune carried by a propulsive beat, accompanied by a relatively minimal synth arrangement. Guy Lawrence says of the mix, “Our last album Energy, which is just a year old, it’s all club bangers. So that’s what the majority of the mix is going to be: still exploring all these different textures. I like to think the mix resembles a lot of Energy, in terms of texture and how it flows. It’s sitting alongside Energy as a companion.”

Listen to “Observer Effect” above and check out Disclosure’s DJ-Kicks mix tracklist below.

1. Pépe — “Recollection”
2. Harry Wolfman — “LOTF” (exclusive)
3. Cleanfield — “Conflict With Clayton”
4. Disclosure — “Deep Sea” (exclusive)
5. Simon Hinter — “Wanna Make Love”
6. &on&on — “Don’t Say A Word”
7. M-High — “Harmony In The Distance”
8. Slum Science — “Mezmerized”
9. Disclosure — “Observer Effect” (exclusive)
10. East End Dubs — “bRave”
11. Onipa — “Fire (Edit)” (exclusive)
12. Arfa x Joe — “Recognise” (exclusive)

Stephen King’s not nearly as prolific a tweeter as he is a novelist, but some days, that’s a close call (I kid, I kid). The horror maestro frequently uses his account to express his fandom for TV shows; some of those declarations totally make sense (Mare of Easttown) while some are mildly surprising (Manifest). He’s known to get serious, too, like when he pointed the finger at Rep. Susan Collins as the lawmaker who tipped the scales for Texas’ insane abortion ban to prevail. King’s getting political again while taking aim at Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, and it’s not the first time, although the stakes are undeniably high at this moment in time.

King’s remarks follow McConnell’s clear signaling of the GOP’s readiness to tank the economy by refusing to raise the debt ceiling, an act that could spark a credit crisis and more. One can read all sorts of things into McConnell’s position on this subject now, when he’s previously voted in favor of raising the debt ceilings, and clearly, the Kentucky politician has chess moves in mind, probably while prioritizing the 2022 elections over the American people. King appears to note how McConnell is maneuvering, and he’s calling the senator out.

“The current fiscal crisis proves (once more) that Mitch McConnell is the most dangerous man in America,” King tweeted. “He’s smart, he’s been in the Senate forever, and he knows where all the levers of power are.”

This certainly isn’t the first time that King has addressed McConnell-as-villain, either. On previous occasions, the author characterized McConnell as a mastermind who’s “smart, crafty, and amoral” and “a moral flatline,” who is interested in his own career (and the careers of his GOP colleagues) above all else.

Given that a new book (Peril, by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa) has revealed how McConnell (who largely kissed Trump’s tush) reportedly loved it when former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson called Trump “a f*cking moron,” yeah, it’s pretty obvious that McConnell’s all for public posturing for his own party’s survival. That posturing could now lead to dangerous financial repercussions for generations to come. Meanwhile, King has given us Randall Flagg, Pennywise, Raggedy Man, and Annie Wilkes. He knows when he smells evil, and as one Twitter user put it, “When *Stephen King* identifies someone the most dangerous man in America, people better pay attention.”

When Sue Hoppin was in college, she met the man she was going to marry. “I was attending the University of Denver, and he was at the Air Force Academy,” she says. “My dad had also attended the University of Denver and warned me not to date those flyboys from the Springs.”

“He didn’t say anything about marrying one of them,” she says. And so began her life as a military spouse.

The life brings some real advantages, like opportunities to live abroad — her family got to live all around the US, Japan, and Germany — but it also comes with some downsides, like having to put your spouse’s career over your own goals.

“Though we choose to marry someone in the military, we had career goals before we got married, and those didn’t just disappear.”

Career aspirations become more difficult to achieve, and progress comes with lots of starts and stops. After experiencing these unique challenges firsthand, Sue founded an organization to help other military spouses in similar situations.

Sue had gotten a degree in international relations because she wanted to pursue a career in diplomacy, but for fourteen years she wasn’t able to make any headway — not until they moved back to the DC area. “Eighteen months later, many rejections later, it became apparent that this was going to be more challenging than I could ever imagine,” she says.

Eighteen months is halfway through a typical assignment, and by then, most spouses are looking for their next assignment. “If I couldn’t find a job in my own ‘hometown’ with multiple degrees and a great network, this didn’t bode well for other military spouses,” she says.

She’s not wrong. Military spouses spend most of their lives moving with their partners, which means they’re often far from family and other support networks. When they do find a job, they often make less than their civilian counterparts — and they’re more likely to experience underemployment or unemployment. In fact, on some deployments, spouses are not even allowed to work.

Before the pandemic, military spouse unemployment was 22%. Since the pandemic, it’s expected to rise to 35%.

Sue eventually found a job working at a military-focused nonprofit, and it helped her get the experience she needed to create her own dedicated military spouse program. She wrote a book and started saving up enough money to start the National Military Spouse Network (NMSN), which she founded in 2010 as the first organization of its kind.

“I founded the NMSN to help professional military spouses develop flexible careers they could perform from any location.”

“Over the years, the program has expanded to include a free digital magazine, professional development events, drafting annual White Papers and organizing national and local advocacy to address the issues of most concern to the professional military spouse community,” she says.

Not only was NMSN’s mission important to Sue on a personal level she also saw it as part of something bigger than herself.

“Gone are the days when families can thrive on one salary. Like everyone else, most military families rely on two salaries to make ends meet. If a military spouse wants or needs to work, they should be able to,” she says.

“When less than one percent of our population serves in the military,” she continues, “we need to be able to not only recruit the best and the brightest but also retain them.”

“We lose out as a nation when service members leave the force because their spouse is unable to find employment. We see it as a national security issue.”

“The NMSN team has worked tirelessly to jumpstart the discussion and keep the challenges affecting military spouses top of mind. We have elevated the conversation to Congress and the White House,” she continues. “I’m so proud of the fact that corporations, the government, and the general public are increasingly interested in the issues affecting military spouses and recognizing the employment roadblocks they unfairly have faced.”

“We have collectively made other people care, and in doing so, we elevated the issues of military spouse unemployment to a national and global level,” she adds. “In the process, we’ve also empowered military spouses to advocate for themselves and our community so that military spouse employment issues can continue to remain at the forefront.”

Not only has NMSN become a sought-after leader in the military spouse employment space, but Sue has also seen the career she dreamed of materializing for herself. She was recently invited to participate in the public re-launch of Joining Forces, a White House initiative supporting military and veteran families, with First Lady Dr. Jill Biden.

She has also had two of her recommendations for practical solutions introduced into legislation just this year. She was the first in the Air Force community to show leadership the power of social media to reach both their airmen and their military families.

That is why Sue is one of Tory Burch’s “Empowered Women” this year. The $5,000 donation will be going to The Madeira School, a school that Sue herself attended when she was in high school because, she says, “the lessons I learned there as a student pretty much set the tone for my personal and professional life. It’s so meaningful to know that the donation will go towards making a Madeira education more accessible to those who may not otherwise be able to afford it and providing them with a life-changing opportunity.”

Most military children will move one to three times during high school so having a continuous four-year experience at one high school can be an important gift. After traveling for much of her formative years, Sue attended Madeira and found herself “in an environment that fostered confidence and empowerment. As young women, we were expected to have a voice and advocate not just for ourselves, but for those around us.”

To learn more about Tory Burch and Upworthy’s Empowered Women program visit https://www.toryburch.com/empoweredwomen/. Nominate an inspiring woman in your community today!

The R. Kelly trial moved into its defense stage yesterday, with Rolling Stone remarking that Kelly’s defense seemed to be well behind the eight-ball, failing to produce one of its witnesses, who it claimed was out of town. This was after the defense also apparently scrapped a list of witnesses at the last minute. The two witnesses who remained maintained R. Kelly’s innocence of the crimes against him — kidnapping, sexual exploitation of a child, racketeering, and more — and tried to characterize the singer as chivalrous.

However, on cross-examination, the prosecution worked to establish their unreliability as witnesses. The first, Dhanai Ramnanan, apparently couldn’t remember specific details of his dealings with R. Kelly and the prosecution pressed him to identify himself in photos of the singer with women on his tour bus. He was unable to, which allowed the prosecution to present an argument that there was no way for Ramnanan to know what Kelly was doing when he wasn’t around. Ramnanan was also colored by his need to remain on Kelly’s good side.

The second witness, Larry Hood, was the singer’s bodyguard and a former Chicago police officer; however, the prosecution brought up Hood’s prior conviction for felony forgery. While Hood maintained he did not know that he was spending counterfeit $100 bills in 2007, he still pled guilty. Likewise, while he claimed he didn’t know about Kelly’s marriage to a then-underage Aaliyah, the prosecution implied that this could also be a falsehood or a gross oversight by Hood.

Meanwhile, it doesn’t seem that R. Kelly’s chivalrousness precludes any of the testimony against him.

The trial is set to continue Tuesday and Wednesday. Rolling Stone notes that the defense still had not furnished a list of witnesses.

This week in pop music saw some anticipated releases. Lil Nas X dropped his debut album, Kehlani released a shimmering new single, and Lady Gaga shared another look at her Tony Bennett collaboration.

Each week, Uproxx rounds up the best new pop releases. Listen up.

Lil Nas X — “Am I Dreaming” Feat. Miley Cyrus

After months of teasing, Lil Nas X finally released his debut album, Montero. Though the musician previously linked up with Billy Ray Cyrus for his chart-topping “Old Town Road” single, his new track “Am I Dreaming” sees a feature with a different Cyrus family member. Over an acoustic guitar, Lil Nas X and Miley Cyrus sing a tender tune about keeping loved ones in your memory.

Lady Gaga, Tony Bennett — “Love For Sale”

Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett are just weeks away from the release of their second collaborative album Love For Sale. This week, the pair dropped the LP’s title track, a jazzy number that sees marvelous harmonization from the two talented singers.

Kehlani — “Altar”

After teasing her new era of music with an eerie trailer, Kehlani served up her swooning track “Altar” this week. The song marks the first single off her forthcoming album Blue Water Road, which is expected to arrive later this winter, and showcases the singer’s honeyed vocals over a watery beat.

Jonas Brothers — “Who’s In Your Head”

Jonas Brothers returned this week with one burning question: Who’s in your head? Their groovy new single, which they previously teased on tour, features a dancefloor-ready beat with sparkling production and was co-written by Britney Spears and N’SYNC collaborators Max Martin and Rami Yacoub.

Magdalena Bay — “You Lose!”

LA pop duo Magdalena Bay offered another preview of their upcoming album Mercurial World, this time with the glistening track “You Lose!” The new single boasts crunchy synths and an upbeat rhythm that offers a perfect backdrop for singer Mica Tenenbaum’s breathy vocals.

Alec Benjamin — “Older”

After releasing his 2020 album These Two Windows, songwriter Alec Benjamin returns with another wistful single. On his new track “Older,” Benjamin sets the tone for the anxieties that arrive with age. It’s a nostalgic and tenderhearted tune that perfectly encapsulates the singer’s vulnerable songwriting.

KAINA — “Casita”

Chicago singer KAINA lays out a hopeful wish for the future with her new Y2K R&B-inspired single “Casita.” Pulling inspiration from The Cheetah Girls and salsa-maestro Oscar D’Leon, KAINA soulfully serenades a love letter to her friends and family over endlessly dreamy instrumentals. “‘Casita’ is about all the people I miss,” KAINA said about the single in a statement. “I miss sharing space in my home, staying up way too late talking sh*t and laughing — I miss sharing my mother’s cooking with friends and family.”

Jeremy Zucker — “Therapist”

Platinum-certified pop singer Jeremy Zucker shared the addictive tune “Therapist” this week, offering a preview of his upcoming sophomore album Crusher. Co-produced by Ethan Gruska, the new single is a driving ballad about the emotional labor of carrying someone else’s burden.

Boylife — “Amphetamine”

LA-based producer Boylife (aka Ryan Yoo) dropped the deliciously sultry single “Amphetamine.” With playful production and some NSFW lyrics, Boylife’s new track follows a handful of singles released in the past year. “This song is a tribute to women being in the driver’s seat of a sexual relationship,” he said in a statement to Apple Music. “And also Prince.”

Naliya — “Whatever”

Rising Canadian pop singer Naliya shared the shimmering breakup track “Whatever.” The new single combines sugar-coated keys with a blown-out bass and her airy vocals to create an intimate and catchy tune.

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

JJ Redick was once the most hated basketball player in America during his time as a star at Duke, embracing his role as college hoops’ villain as he lit up opposing teams from three-point range, preening for the adoring fans at Cameron Indoor or for a furious road crowd all the same.

In the NBA, he became a much less polarizing face, one of the league’s best and most consistent three-point shooters, able to carve out a 15-year career thanks to the steady increase in the importance of the deep ball from when he entered the league in 2006 to when he leaves it now in 2021. Redick announced on Tuesday morning on his podcast that he would be retiring from basketball.

On the court, Redick will retire with a career average of 12.8 points per game on 44.7/41.5/89.2 shooting splits, as he steadily carved out a role as one of the league’s most reliable three-point shooters at a time when that was starting to become increasingly important to teams.

Redick says in the video that last season was a “seven month exercise in coming face-to-face with my own athletic mortality,” noting the difficulty in being away from his family due to COVID protocols as well as simply not playing up to his usual standards. At the end, he notes that he’s excited to be a full-time dad, able to help out more and watch as his kids grow up.

Peril, the new book by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa, hits bookshelves today and is guaranteed to include a couple of major bombshells and some laugh-out-loud commentary about Donald Trump’s lame duck period and the fraught transition between the Trump and Biden administrations.

Details from the book have been leaking out over the past several days, including—as Raw Story reports—what sounds like a few amazing moments back in July 2017, after former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson called Donald Trump a “f*#&ing moron” during a meeting with the Pentagon.

The incident made headlines back when it happened, but Tillerson repeatedly denied that he called the then-president a “moron.” But, according to Peril, there’s a reason why Tillerson felt completely justified in asserting that he did not call Trump that insult specifically. A passage from the book reads:

“Do you know why Tillerson was able to say that he didn’t call the president a ‘moron?’” McConnell would dryly ask colleagues in his Kentucky drawl. “Because he called him a ‘f*cking moron!’”

McConnell wasn’t the only one having a laugh about the exchange. While speaking with Lawrence O’Donnell on Monday night, Woodward and Costa explained that a gaggle of Senate members their way to a cloakroom following Tillerson’s f-bomb—to chuckle about the incident.

While, at least publicly, McConnell usually seemed to have Trump’s back, the book claims that it was the then-Senate Majority Leader (now Senate Minority Leader) who worked with Biden’s team behind the scenes to ensure a successful transition of power between the outgoing president and the incoming one—because Trump refused to play along.

One other telling gem, according to Raw Story: On a very chilly January 5th, Trump let employees of the West Wing freeze their asses off so that he could leave the windows to the White House open and hear the crowds of MAGA sheep outside who had gathered to cheer on their führer.

“Isn’t that great!” Trump reportedly said, noting that: “Tomorrow’s going to be a big day.”

[insert Law & Order “dun dun” music]

Peril is available today.

(Via Raw Story)