Month: September 2021

Gus Johnson hasn’t been on the call for an NFL game in some time as his focus has been on college football in the falls as Fox’s lead play-by-play man on Saturdays. However, Johnson (who used to call games for CBS) made his return to the pro football booth on Sunday with Aqib Talib and the man known best for his incredible enthusiasm was fittingly greeted with the craziest game of the day in the NFL.

The Cardinals played host to the Vikings and the two teams traded big plays, big mistakes, and in the end, it came down to a game-winning field goal attempt from Minnesota kicker Greg Joseph. Now, a 37-yard field goal attempt doesn’t normally produce incredible commentary, but when Joseph pushed the kick wide to gift Arizona a 34-33 win, Gus Johnson went wild.

There are some that find Johnson’s schtick a bit grating, but I can’t get enough of it. I love that he still loves calling big plays and big moments and can get this excited despite how long he’s been doing this. For him to bring this kind of energy to a Week 2 NFL game is part of what makes him so good, because he treated that missed field goal like it was a win-or-go home situation in the playoffs.

However, Gus’ call wasn’t as funny (for non-Vikings fans) as the Minnesota radio call in which the announcer initially freaked out yelling “IT’S GOOD” before being informed it was, in fact, not good.

Whoops!

During tonight’s 73rd Primetime Emmy Awards, anything could truly happen on the CBS broadcast. It does feel unbelievable that we’re actually in the midst of the second “socially distanced” Emmys, because humanity hasn’t kicked this pandemic yet. Here we are, still in the bizarre time that several-time Emmy winner John Oliver has been calling a “white void.” Will Oliver win again, and will wear a fancy hoodie to accept a sixth consecutive Best Variety Talk Series? We’ll find out the answer to that question very soon.

The even itself will be largely virtual with a limited in-person attendance. We should expect Apple TV+’s Ted Lasso to fare well in multiple categories, and despite some recent backlash, the show’s never been needed more than during our current times. Netflix’s The Crown and The Queen’s Gambit will also certainly scoop up awards, along with HBO’s Kate Winslet-starring Mare of Easttown, for which Jean Smart is nominated for one of two awards tonight (shout out to Hacks). Host Cedric the Entertainer is ready to roll, and let’s hope that he, you know, entertains us.

Below, you can find the full list of winners in order of announcement, with the winner listed first in bold. So sit back and enjoy.

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series
Hannah Waddingham, Ted Lasso
Aidy Bryant, Saturday Night Live
Hannah Einbinder, Hacks
Kate McKinnon, Saturday Night Live
Rosie Perez, The Flight Attendant
Cecily Strong, Saturday Night Live
Juno Temple, Ted Lasso

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series
Brett Goldstein, Ted Lasso
Carl Clemons-Hopkins, Hacks
Brendan Hunt, Ted Lasso
Nick Mohammed, Ted Lasso
Paul Reiser, The Kominsky Method
Jeremy Swift, Ted Lasso
Kenan Thompson, Saturday Night Live
Bowen Yang, Saturday Night Live

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie
Julianne Nicholson, Mare of Easttown
Renée Elise Goldsberry, Hamilton
Kathryn Hahn, WandaVision
Moses Ingram, The Queen’s Gambit
Jean Smart, Mare of Easttown
Phillipa Soo, Hamilton

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie
Thomas Brodie-Sangster, The Queen’s Gambit
Daveed Diggs, Hamilton
Paapa Essiedu, I May Destroy You
Jonathan Groff, Hamilton
Evan Peters, Mare of Easttown
Anthony Ramos, Hamilton

Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series
The Crown (“War”), Peter Morgan
The Boys (“What I Know”), Rebecca Sonnenshine
The Handmaid’s Tale (“Home”), Yahlin Chang
Lovecraft Country (“Sundown”), Misha Green
The Mandalorian (“Chapter 13: The Jedi”), Dave Filoni
The Mandalorian (“Chapter 16: The Rescue”), Jon Favreau

Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series
The Crown (“War”), Directed by Jessica Hobbs
Bridgerton (“Diamond of the First Water”), Directed by Julie Anne Robinson
The Crown (“Fairytale”), Directed by Benjamin Caron
The Handmaid’s Tale (“The Wilderness”), Directed by Liz Garbus
The Mandalorian (“Chapter 9: The Marshal”), Directed by Jon Favreau
Pose (“Series Finale”), Directed by Steven Canals

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series
Gillian Anderson, The Crown
Helena Bonham Carter, The Crown
Emerald Fennell, The Crown
Ann Dowd, The Handmaid’s Tale
Yvonne Strahovski, The Handmaid’s Tale
Samira Wiley, The Handmaid’s Tale
Madeline Brewer, The Handmaid’s Tale
Aunjanue Ellis, Lovecraft Country

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series
Tobias Menzies, The Crown
Michael K. Williams, Lovecraft Country
Bradley Whitford, The Handmaid’s Tale
Max Minghella, The Handmaid’s Tale
O-T Fagbenle, The Handmaid’s Tale
John Lithgow, Perry Mason
Giancarlo Esposito, The Mandalorian
Chris Sullivan, This Is Us
—–
Outstanding Limited Series
WandaVision
Mare of Easttown
I May Destroy You
The Underground Railroad
The Queen’s Gambit

Outstanding Actor in a Limited Series or TV Movie
Paul Bettany, WandaVision
Hugh Grant, The Undoing
Ewan McGregor, Halston
Lin-Manuel Miranda, Hamilton
Leslie Odom Jr., Hamilton

Outstanding Actress in a Limited Series or TV Movie
Kate Winslet, Mare of Easttown
Michaela Coel, I May Destroy You
Anya Taylor-Joy, The Queen’s Gambit
Elizabeth Olsen, WandaVision
Cynthia Erivo, Genius: Aretha

Drama Series
The Boys
Bridgerton
The Crown
The Handmaid’s Tale
Lovecraft Country
The Mandalorian
Pose
This Is Us

Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series
Sterling K. Brown, This Is Us
Jonathan Majors, Lovecraft Country
Josh O’Connor, The Crown
Regé-Jean Page, Bridgerton
Billy Porter, Pose
Matthew Rhys, Perry Mason

Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series
Uzo Aduba, In Treatment
Olivia Colman, The Crown
Emma Corrin, The Crown
Elisabeth Moss, The Handmaid’s Tale
Mj Rodriguez, Pose
Jurnee Smollett, Lovecraft Country

Outstanding Comedy Series
Black-ish
Cobra Kai
Emily in Paris
Hacks
The Flight Attendant
The Kominsky Method
Pen15
Ted Lasso

Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series
Anthony Anderson, Black-ish
William H. Macy, Shameless
Michael Douglas, The Kominsky Method
Jason Sudeikis, Ted Lasso
Kenan Thompson, Kenan

Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series
Jean Smart, Hacks
Kaley Cuoco, The Flight Attendant
Tracee Ellis Ross, Black-ish
Aidy Bryant, Shrill
Allison Janney, Mom

Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series
Courtney B. Vance, Lovecraft Country
Charles Dance, The Crown
Don Cheadle, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier
Timothy Olyphant, The Mandalorian
Carl Weathers, The Mandalorian

Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series
Alexis Bledel, The Handmaid’s Tale
Mckenna Grace, The Handmaid’s Tale
Claire Foy, The Crown
Phylicia Rashad, This Is Us
Sophie Okonedo, Ratched

Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series
Chris Rock, Saturday Night Live
Dave Chappelle, Saturday Night Live
Daniel Kaluuya, Saturday Night Live
Dan Levy, Saturday Night Live
Morgan Freeman, The Kominsky Method

Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series
Maya Rudolph, Saturday Night Live
Kristen Wiig, Saturday Night Live
Issa Rae, A Black Lady Sketch Show
Jane Adams, Hacks
Bernadette Peters, Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist
Yvette Nicole Brown, A Black Lady Sketch Show

Variety Talk Series
Last Week Tonight With John Oliver
The Late Show With Stephen Colbert
Conan
The Daily Show With Trevor Noah
Jimmy Kimmel Live!

Reality-Competition Series
The Amazing Race
Nailed It!
RuPaul’s Drag Race
Top Chef
The Voice

Variety Special (Live)
Celebrating America – An Inauguration Night Special
The 63rd Annual Grammy Awards
The Oscars
The Pepsi Super Bowl LV Halftime Show Starring The Weeknd
Stephen Colbert’s Election Night 2020: Democracy’s Last Stand Building Back America Great Again Better 2020

Variety Special (Pre-Recorded)
Bo Burnham: Inside
David Byrne’s American Utopia
8:46 – Dave Chappelle
Friends: The Reunion
Hamilton
A West Wing Special to Benefit When We All Vote

The WNBA reached the final day of the regular season on Sunday, with three teams still holding out hope for the eighth and final spot in the playoffs. The Mystics were the first to play, needing a win over the Minnesota Lynx to lock up the 8-seed, but Minnesota had something to play for themselves, as a win gave them the 3-seed and moved Seattle to the four spot.

Despite a fourth quarter rally by Washington, the Lynx held on to win 83-77 to lock up the 3-seed and knock Washington out of the postseason. With the Mystics losing, the Sparks would have an opportunity to play their way into the 8-seed, as they had to beat 7-seed Dallas on the road, or else the Liberty would get in by virtue of the tiebreaker after beating Washington on Friday night. The Sparks and Wings battled in a tight game throughout, but Dallas was able to edge out a win behind 20 points from Arike Ogunbowale to leave the Sparks out of the playoffs and send the Liberty, one year removed from a 2-20 season, to the postseason.

It’s an incredible turnaround for the Liberty, led by Betnijah Laney, Natasha Howard, and Sabrina Ionescu, and their reward will be a matchup with Phoenix Mercury in a single-elimination game. The rest of the final WNBA standings look as such:

1. Connecticut Sun
2. Las Vegas Aces
3. Minnesota Lynx
4. Seattle Storm
5. Phoenix Mercury
6. Chicago Sky
7. Dallas Wings
8. New York Liberty

The first round games will be Mercury-Liberty and Sky-Wings, with the winners advancing to the second round for another single-elimination showdown with the Lynx and Storm, while the Sun and Aces get a double bye and will host a 5-game series in the WNBA semifinals. Teams are re-seeded after each round, so the Lynx will face the lowest-seeded first round winner and the Sun will face the lowest-seeded second round winner.

In unsurprising fashion, Drake’s Certified Lover Boy posted a huge debut last week. After delays that stretched out over eight months, the rapper released the album, which came with a stacked lineup of features: Jay-Z, Travis Scott, Future, Young Thug, Kid Cudi, Rick Ross, Lil Wayne, 21 Savage, Ty Dolla Sign, and more all appeared on the project. It wound up giving Drake his tenth No. 1 album on the Billboard 200, making him one of only eight artists to do so. Now, for its second week on the chart, Certified Lover Boy maintains its position at the top.

Certified Lover Boy held on to the top spot on the Billboard 200 thanks to 236,000 album units for the chart dated September 25. This number is comprised of 227,000 streaming equivalent album units thanks to 305.43 million on-demand streams of the album’s 21 tracks. The album also scored 6,500 pure album sales. It’s only the fourth akbum of his career to spend multiple weeks at No. 1, joining Views, More Life, and Scorpion.

Other highlights on this week’s chart include Kanye West’s Donda at No. 2, Kacey Musgraves’ new album Star-Crossed at No. 3, and Baby Keem’s The Melodic Blue at No. 5.

Certified Lover Boy is out now via OVO Sound/Republic. Get it here.

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

Halsey has a lot going on. The singer just released her fourth album, If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power. Prior to that, she gave birth to a son, Ender Riley. While she has the right to take a break and enjoy life, she’s already sharing plans for her next move as an artist. She recently took to Twitter to reveal her newest idea.

“One day I wanna press vinyls that are songs from my catalogue based on mood and vibe no matter what LP they were a part of,” she wrote in a tweet before revealing examples of what the vinyls could look like. “Like: “gasoline,” “nightmare,” “killing boys,” “easier than lying,” “the lighthouse,” “EOM,” etc on one.” Another example listed the following songs for another vinyl: “Darling,” “929,” “100 letters,” “forever is a long time,” “finally / beautiful stranger,” and “is there somewhere.”

Halsey went further and gave one last example of the mood-based vinyl. She named “Girl is a gun,” “bad at love,” “honey,” “alanis,” “I hate everybody,” “colors,” and “graveyard” as records that would appear on the collective project. Seemingly excited by the idea, Halsey concluded her message by writing, “Think of the MATERIAL.”

You can view Halsey’s tweets above.

Call of Duty: Vanguard had an open beta for players to get a taste of the multiplayer recently. These beta periods serve a lot of purpose for developers, because they can not only get some immediate feedback on the game but do some stress tests with actual players. Unfortunately, these are also an opportunity for players to expose flaws in the game and one flaw, in particular, has been a continuous problem for the developers of CoD.

Hackers are once again invading a Call of Duty game. Players of Warzone are well aware of the hackers that have been prevalent throughout the game’s history. As developers try to ban and come up with new ways to combat the hacks, ways to get around those safeguards always seem to be popping up. Unfortunately for the developers of Vanguard, it looks like they’ve found a way around whatever safeguards they had for the Beta because hackers have already been spotted throughout the weekend.

Obviously, the players who are caught hacking are going to be banned but this is a part of a much larger issue for Call of Duty and, generally, anyone who plays online shooters. Cheating is more prevalent than ever with the technology surrounding hacking becoming just as, if not more, advanced than most anti-cheat software that is being installed in the game. It leaves developers with two options. Either constantly try to work to stay ahead of these cheaters, which is a challenge in itself, or use anti-cheat devices that while effective are controversial and invade player privacy. Hacking has become such a problem in games like Apex Legends and Titanfall 2 that it has led to players protesting the game and uninstalling it in fear of hacks more malicious than cheating.

For players who aren’t on PC don’t think that this issue doesn’t impact you as well. As more games move towards allowing crossplay these cheaters are now gaining access to lobbies full of console players as well as PC players. This means that nobody is safe from the wave of cheating that is currently taking place in video games. It might not be a crisis right now, but it’s only getting more prevalent and it feels like fewer companies are aware of how to do much more than slow it down. This is a problem that isn’t going away anytime soon. If anything it’s about to get worse.

When Phasmaphobia first came out it surprisingly took the gaming world by storm. Despite being a game still very early in its development life cycle, people clung to its very simple concept. That house is haunted, use these ghost hunting tools at your disposal to try and figure out what kind of ghost it is, fulfill objectives to earn money, and don’t die.

While haunted houses are nothing new in video games, Phasmaphobia had a few very cool ideas that made it unique and fun to play. For starters, the game is best experienced with an active microphone and a group of friends, because the game actually listens to you while you talk. The ghost can respond to what you are saying and the player can even anger it if they start using a few choice words. It also creates tense moments during hunts where the radio cuts out and the players are forced to hide while the ghost looks for a new victim.

That was one year ago, and thanks to Phasmaphobia’s popularity it’s been receiving steady development throughout the year such as patches, bug fixes, and the occasional quality of life update. A recent one actually made the ghosts more challenging, more aggressive, and forces the player to shut off any electronic devices. That update made the game more terrifying, but one particular update to celebrate the anniversary of the game made it a whole lot more fun. Party hats anyone?

Over the weekend, players logging on to Phasmaphobia were greeted with the waiting lobby being full of party balloons and music to celebrate the game being one year old. Also all the players will wear party hats into haunted houses which is hilarious. A stark contrast to the usual setting which is eerily quiet and lends itself to the spooky atmosphere that makes Phasmaphobia so interesting.

Is Phasmaphobia a good game? That depends on who you ask. Some people find the game too janky and buggy to enjoy, but the horror aspects of it can be very spooky. The best way to play it is with a group because it becomes a mix of social bonding and ghost hunting. The best part is that clearly this is a game that developers are committed to improving so getting in early is an opportunity to watch it grow and improve. It also means party hats sometimes. An essential ghost hunting tool.

The Delta variant continues to run roughshod over parts of the nation that still refuse to take the pandemic seriously. (Or maybe it should be called “the DeSantis variant.”) Right now the national hotspot is Mississippi. AP News recently reported that the Southern state has the highest COVID death rate in the country. And when its governor, Tate Reeves, went on CNN Sunday, host Jake Tapper wouldn’t let him duck some very serious questions.

Previously, Reeves had come out against President Joe Biden, who has called for a national vaccine mandate to get cases down. The governor, who also resisted lockdowns early in the pandemic, described it as a “tyrannical-type move.”

But when Reeves showed up on CNN, Tapper was ready. The host pointed out that Mississippi doesn’t just have the worst death rates in the country. “If Mississippi was its own country, you would be second in the world only to Peru in terms of death per capita,” Tapper reminded him. “With all due respect, governor, your way is failing. Are you going to try to change anything to change this horrible statistic from what you’re doing already?”

Did Reeves answer Tapper’s question? Of course not. Instead he suggested the high death rate would lower eventually, claiming it was a “very quick spike” like ones seen in Israel and the United Kingdom. He also attacked Biden, of course.

But Tapper didn’t move on. “My question is, what are you going to do to change this?” Reeves again didn’t answer, putting the onus on people to “protect themselves.”

“So you’re not going to change anything?” Tapper responded.

Reeves eventually said people are singling out “Republican governors” for their handling of the pandemic, failing to note that there’s a reason for that: For the most part, that’s where cases are surging. But it appears the plan of stubborn governors is to just wait it out. In other words, the plan seems to be to do nothing.

(Via The Daily Beast)

Daniel Craig’s final stint as James Bond is finally, after a year-and-a-half delay, hitting theaters in a couple weeks. After No Time to Die drops, the future is unclear for the franchise. Craig’s replacement has still yet to be chosen, although for years many fans have called for one person in particular: Idris Elba. Trouble is, Elba isn’t into the idea. (Or at least he wasn’t back in 2018.) But at least we know he’s a fan of the series.

Over the weekend, an old video started making the rounds. It’s from 1995 and it shows people in the United Kingdom emerging from a showing of GoldenEye, the first Bond film to star Pierce Brosnan, only to be interviewed by a camera crew, asking them about their thoughts on the new 007. “Spot anyone interesting toward the end?” the person who posted it wrote. Sure enough, about 25 seconds in there he is: Idris Elba, circa 1995.

“He’s really good,” says Elba about Brosnan. “He’s got all the charm. He’s got all the looks. And he’s fit and strong and blah, blah, blah. He’s all right.”

At the time, Elba had just broken into the industry, appearing on shows like The Bill, Brammel, even Absolutely Fabulous. The Wire, which would make him famous in America, was still seven years away.

When the video dropped, people online freaked out.

And there were jokes.

Anyway, not too late for Elba to reconsider. After all, he’s got the charm, the looks, etc., too.

(Via THR)

It’s been about a month since Kanye West’s finally released his tenth album, Donda, which arrived after multiple pump fakes, including three listening sessions and numerous un-met release dates. Now West has taken to Instagram to unveil a new video for “Donda Chant,” the album’s big opener. It finds the rapper using clips from the Chicago listening event for the album as well as images of his late mother, who died in 2007.

The video arrives after Mike Dean shared an interesting tidbit about the creative process behind Donda. “Kanye had three listening parties, so each listening party was like a test, kind of,” he said during an interview with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe. “And after each one, I think he wanted… I can’t talk too much about his process. He took all the information he got from everyone — including online reviews, personal friends’ reviews — and he just kind of digested it all and adjusted the album the way he wants.”

In addition to “Donda Chant,” Kanye has also released videos for “24” and “Come To Life.” Donda also became the rapper’s tenth No. 1 album, making him one of eight artists to do this.

You can watch the video for “Donda Chant” above.