Month: October 2021

Illinois was a 23-point underdog on Saturday when they arrived in Happy Valley to take on Penn State as the Nittany Lions got quarterback Sean Clifford back on the field.

However, the Illini were able to gash Penn State on the ground, controlling the tempo and grinding the game to a slog. On the other side, Clifford and the Penn State offense couldn’t get going aside from an early TD drive, and late in the fourth quarter the two teams found themselves tied at 10-10. Neither seemed particularly interested in making a costly mistake that could lose the game in regulation, and ultimately we arrived at overtime with the seventh ranked Nittany Lions needing to figure out something quickly on offense.

That moment of inspiration never came, as they managed just eight points in a record-breaking nine overtime periods, with none of those coming via touchdown. How does that happen? Well, the new rule from the NCAA meant to speed games up is that after double overtime, both teams simply get one attempt at a two-point conversion. After trading field goals in the first two overtimes, the two teams managed to fail on 10 consecutive two-point conversion attempts, with some of the closest calls below.

Penn State opened the ninth overtime with another failure, which gave Illinois yet another chance to win the game with a conversion. This time, Brandon Peters, who entered in 5OT after Art Sitkowski got hurt, threw the game-winning pass to mercifully put an end to the game.

It was a painful, yet hysterical game to watch, as neither offense could do anything all game and that even managed to continue despite being put on the three yard line over and over and over again. For Penn State, it’s a brutal loss that all but ends their hopes at a Big Ten title or a New Years Six bowl, while Illinois, which has looked hapless at times this season, now has wins over Penn State and Wisconsin because, well, college football.

Earlier this month, Lil Uzi Vert announced that his upcoming album, The Pink Tape, would arrive before Halloween. He said it was in the “mixing process right now” during an interview on the blue carpet for Jay-Z’s anniversary event at the 40/40 Club in August. But it now appears the wait will go on a bit longer than expected.

In a video posted on social media, Lil Uzi Vert revealed the upcoming album is delayed for creative reasons. When asked if The Pink Tape would arrive before Halloween, he simply replied, “No it’s not.” He elaborated, saying, “Then it drops next week and then it sounds like sh*t and I gotta hear it from, well not from you, but I gotta hear it from 100,000 people on the internet saying, ‘This sucks!’ So you gotta let me take my time!” A fan assured the rapper that the project would not suck and Uzi replied, “But I’m taking my time so it won’t suck.”

In the meantime, you can check out Uzi’s latest release, “Thankful,” from the compilation Culture Jam Vol. 1, which Kawhi Leonard co-executive produced.

Lil Uzi Vert is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

The 2021-22 season hasn’t gotten off to a great start for the Los Angeles Lakers, as they’ve dropped their first two games at home to fellow Western Conference contenders against Phoenix and Golden State.

In that second loss to the Suns, the early frustrations were apparent, as Anthony Davis and Dwight Howard had to be separated on the bench after getting into an altercation during a timeout. Later in the loss, a fan got ejected from their courtside seat for slapping away the hand of Rajon Rondo, as things are far from rosy in L.A. at the moment.

As the Suns cruised to a 115-105 win that wasn’t as close as that final score indicates, they were clearly enjoying themselves and had some words for the West favorites. Cameron Payne was among those doing a lot of jawing, and his comments apparently got LeBron frustrated enough to respond, as he reminded Payne he was out of the league not long ago from the bench.

I don’t think this comment hits the way James hopes, as if anything it’s a reminder of the rather tremendous turnaround Payne’s made in his career to go from out of the league to a key contributor on a team that made the Finals a year ago (beating the Lakers in the process). Mostly though, this all seems harmless and like the kind of interaction that happens a lot during games, just not often within earshot of a camera.

“Nearly six months after its release, Moneybagg Yo returned with a reloaded version of his fourth album, A Gangsta’s Pain, which added seven additional songs to the album’s original 22 tracks. One of those is “Switches & Dracs,” featuring Lil Durk and EST Gee. Now there’s a video, in which the rappers stand tall and flex heavy muscle while delivering rhymes about their loyalty.

The album’s extended version also includes new appearances from DJ Khaled, Lil Wayne, Ashanti, Yung Bleu, Ja’niyah, and Big Homiie G. They join acts such as Polo G, Kaash Paige, Pharrell, Future, Big30, and more, who appeared on the album’s standard version. Shortly after A Gangsta’s Pain was originally released, it topped the charts, becoming Moneybagg’s first No. 1 album. A couple of weeks later, it returned to No. 1, making it one of eight albums in 2021 to spend multiple weeks atop the albums chart.

Prior to releasing the extended version of A Gangsta’s Pain, Moneybagg released a sultry video for “One Of Them Nights” and got lost in the sunken place in his video for “Wockesha.”

You can watch the video for the new track above.

A Gangsta’s Pain: Reloaded is out now via CMG/N-Less/Interscope Records. Get it here.

Like Jim Jordan, the Beavis to his Butt-Head, Matt Gaetz seems to delight in being dunked on Twitter. Perhaps being widely mocked helps distract him from the federal investigation into his ties to a sex trafficking ring. On the same day that The New York Times reported that said investigation had ramped up even further than it had been already, Gaetz took to Twitter to release a statement: He’d come up with a name for himself and fellow Trumpists Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert.

Over a picture of the three sitting together — and not even looking especially happy together — Gaetz wrote the words, “The Pro-America Squad.” That, of course, is a reference to the Squad comprised of congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashia Tlaib, Ayanna Pressley, and Ilhan Omar (though Jamaal Bowman and Cori Bush are sometimes also included). And it wasn’t even a particularly creative riff.

But what it did do was open the floor to people on social media to come up with other names.

Others pointed out their lackluster résumés.

Some flipped it around.

There were all manner of other jokes.

Some people thought the picture looked awfully familiar.

And some pointed out that some if not all of them may wind up subpoenaed by the Jan. 6 committee, if not worse.

On Thursday, a tragic accident on the set of the low-budget Western Rust resulted in the wounding of its director and the death of its cinematographer. Star Alec Baldwin unwittingly fired what turned out to be a loaded prop gun. Details are still emerging and an in-house investigation is under way. But the news sent shock waves across the industry, and in the aftermath, one show has already taken extra safety precautions.

As per The Hollywood Reporter, The Rookie — the police procedural about a divorcee (Nathan Fillion) who joins the LAPD in his 40s — was banning any “live” weapons from the set:

Showrunner Alexi Hawley led the charge for the change as sources say he informed ABC executives that production would no longer be using quarter or half loads while filming the Nathan Fillion-led drama. The series has, over the past two seasons, primarily used CGI to portray muzzle flashes but occasionally used “live” weapons on “big, outside set pieces.” That policy ended Friday as Hawley sent a memo to staff, exclusively obtained by THR, outlining the changes designed to improve the safety on the set of the Entertainment One and ABC Signature series.

“As of today, it is now policy on The Rookie that all gunfire on set will be with Air Soft guns with CG muzzle flashes added in post,” Hawley wrote in the memo (read it in full, below). “There will be no more ‘live’ weapons on the show. The safety of our cast and crew is too important. Any risk is too much risk.”

The show uses what are called Air Soft guns, which THR says are “effectively BB guns that use a form of pellet instead of bullets, meaning they produce less energy than a gun.” They also look identical to real guns. The Rookie has long used “a mix of guns with mostly quarter loads or Air Soft guns with CGI muzzle flashes added in postproduction.”

The incident on the Santa Fe set of Rust led to director Joel Souza being wounded and its cinematographer, Halyna Hutchins, being killed. Baldwin, who fired the gun, is cooperating with police. Souza, who was shot in the shoulder, told Deadline, “I am gutted by the loss of my friend and colleague, Halyna. She was kind, vibrant, incredibly talented, fought for every inch and always pushed me to be better.”

Hutchins’ husband, Matt Hutchins, posted a statement about his loss on Twitter.

“Halyna inspired us all with her passion and vision, and her legacy is too meaningful to encapsulate in words,” he wrote. “Our loss is enormous, and we ask that the media please respect my family’s privacy as we process our grief. We thank everyone for sharing images and stories of her life.”

(Via THR and Deadline)

ESPN’s College Gameday rolled through Los Angeles on Saturday ahead of UCLA playing host to Oregon in the biggest game of the Pac-12 season so far. There was, really, only one choice for a Gameday trip to UCLA for guest picker, as ESPN brought Bill Walton out to his old stomping grounds to bring a little extra life to the Gameday set.

What transpired was almost 25 minutes of chaos, as the show steamrolled into the 12:00 hour thanks to Walton’s ramblings about famed basketball alums from every school, booming business in the state of Utah, and all manner of other Walton-isms. Watching the Gameday crew trying desperately to move things along while Walton commandeered the ship was truly incredible to watch, and it took approximately five seconds from his arrival on the set for things to go off the rails as he asked, “have you ever seen a bear fight a duck?”

Poor Rece Davis got to know what Dave Pasch’s life is like during college hoops season as he tried in vain to keep the train rolling along, telling Bill at one point he needed to introduce a sponsor, which Bill was delighted by.

Almost every school that came up, Walton had some strong takes on, whether that was picking Wake Forest because of Tim Duncan and Chris Paul or expounding on Utah’s burgeoning business scene for, no joke, 60 seconds before taking the Utes. The man was prepared, but the best parts were where he was reacting to something, like learning that a “poke” is a cowboy, noting that he is a space cowboy.

When it came time for Washington State’s game to get picked, Rece tiptoed around their “strange” week where Nick Rolovich was dismissed for refusing to get the vaccine, but Walton was more than happen to go into that territory, saying “get a vaccination, please.”

There were also lots of animal noises, from cougars to tigers to bears. At the end, Corso finally got to throw on his headgear, picking UCLA in spite of Puddles’ presence on set and earned a smooch from Walton — who even got a jab in at Kirk that he can’t read.

Gameday needs this kind of chaotic energy more, and I think once a season they should invite Walton on as the guest picker. They might just want to start picks at 11:30 instead of 11:45 next time.

Lana Del Rey released her eighth album Blue Bannisters on Friday and to promote it, the singer stopped by The Late Show With Stephen Colbert to perform a track from the new album. Del Rey selected “Arcadia,” delivering a tender performance that found her accompanied by just a piano. It was also shot in black-and-white, which that made the performance feel even more intimate.

Blue Bannisters boasts 15 songs and zero guest appearances. It’s her second full-length release of the year, following March’s Chemtrails Over The Country Club. Weeks after she released the latter album, Del Rey began the promotion run for Blue Bannisters, releasing three singles from her subsequetn album: “Wildflower Wildfire,” “Blue Banister,” and “Text Book.”

Before releasing Blue Bannisters, Lana Del Rey shared some insight about the project and explained her intentions behind it. “I guess you could say this album is about what it was like, what happened, and what it’s like now,” she said. “If you’re interested go back and listen to the first three songs I put out earlier. They chronicle the beginning.”

You can watch Del Rey’s performance on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert above.

Blue Bannisters is out now via Polydor/UMG. Get it here.

In the Fast and/or Furious movies, Vin Diesel’s Dom is always going on about family. It’s the most important thing in the world, he says, and it transcends blood relations: It’s also about the friends you meet along the road. But Diesel himself apparently believes that, too. Over the weekend, people lost their minds over images of Meadow Walker, the daughter of the late Paul Walker, being walked down the aisle at her wedding by her father’s costar.

Meadow herself shared images from her wedding, where she tied the knot with her fiancé Louis Thornton-Allan on a beach in the Dominican Republic. Accompanying her was her godfather, Diesel. Meadow told Vogue that the pandemic had impacted the wedding. “Louis’s family wasn’t able to attend,” she said. “A lot of close friends whom we consider family were also unable to attend due to travel restrictions.”

She also released a video, which showed the happy couple getting into a car afterwards.

When images of Diesel and Meadow Walker went public, the internet went nuts.

Both Paul Walker and Diesel rose to fame with the first Fast and the Furious movie, and though Diesel skipped the next two installments — and Walker bailed on the third — the two reunited with 2009’s Fast & Furious, which put the franchise on the track to become the behemoth it is today. Walker tragically died in 2013 after a freak car accident. He was only 40 years old.

(Via Vogue)

Details about the tragic accidental gun discharge on the set of the low-budget Western Rust are still emerging, painting a damning portrait of an industry that doesn’t do right by its employees. On Thursday, star Alec Baldwin fired a prop gun that was reportedly loaded. It resulted in the wounding of director Joel Souza and the killing of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. Now we’re learning that conditions on set were already febrile beforehand, and that it wasn’t even the first time a prop gun had gone off.

According to The Los Angeles Times, sources from the Santa Fe set said that, hours before the shooting, a half dozen camera crew members had walked off the set in protest of terrible working conditions, including “long hours, long commutes and waiting for their paychecks.”

What’s more, safety protocols, including gun safety inspections, were not being strictly followed. Last Saturday, mere days before the fatal shooting, there had even been another accidental discharge:

Baldwin’s stunt double accidentally fired two rounds Saturday after being told that the gun was “cold” — lingo for a weapon that doesn’t have any ammunition, including blanks — two crew members who witnessed the episode told the Los Angeles Times.

“There should have been an investigation into what happened,” a crew member said. “There were no safety meetings. There was no assurance that it wouldn’t happen again. All they wanted to do was rush, rush, rush.”

A colleague was so alarmed by the prop gun misfires that he sent a text message to the unit production manager. “We’ve now had 3 accidental discharges. This is super unsafe,” according to a copy of the message reviewed by The Times.

The person in charge of the gun props, known as the armorer, was 24-year-old Hannah Gutierrez Reed, the daughter of a veteran armorer and who had recently completed The Old Way, with Clint Howard and Nicolas Cage. She could not be reached for comment by the Times.

Meanwhile, crew members were forced to make alarmingly long commutes. They had been promised that they would receive hotel rooms in a nearby Santa Fe hotel.

But after filming began, the crews were told they instead would be required to make the 50-mile drive from Albuquerque each day, rather than stay overnight in nearby Santa Fe. That rankled crew members who worried that they might have an accident after spending 12 to 13 hours on the set.

Hutchins had been reportedly advocating for better conditions for her crew. When they walked off, she was heartbroken about how badly they’d been treated. “She said, ‘I feel like I’m losing my best friends,’” a source told the Times.

(Via The Los Angeles Times)