Month: October 2021

Quentin Tarantino has long said his 10th film would be his final film. Well, guess what: he’s up to his 10th film. No pressure. While speaking at the Rome Film Festival where he received a lifetime achievement award from Italian horror legend Dario Argento, Tarantino told Variety that he has “no idea” what his next movie will be. Could it be Kill Bill: Vol. 3, as he’s previously discussed? “Why not?” he replied.

You heard it here first, folks: QT’s final film will be Kill Bill: Vol. 3, unless it isn’t.

But before then, “first I want to make a comedy,” he added. “It’s not like my next movie. It’s a piece of something else that I’m thinking about doing — and I’m not going to describe what it is… There is supposed to be a Spaghetti Western in it. I’m looking forward to shooting that [thing] because it’s going to be really fun. I want to shoot it in the Spaghetti Western style where everybody’s speaking a different language.”

“The Mexican Bandido is an Italian; the hero is an American; the bad sheriff is a German; the Mexican saloon girl is Israeli. And everybody is speaking a different language. And you [the actors] just know: OK, when he’s finished talking then I can talk,” Tarantino laughed again.

No wonder Tarantino’s Star Trek project is on life support: the “universal translator” deflates the, uh, comedy of everyone speaking a different language.

(Via Variety)

Coldplay has a new album, Music Of The Spheres, out now, which means Chris Martin and company are out and about making the promotional rounds. Their latest stop was at The Late Late Show last night, where they brought their No. 1 hit “My Universe” to James Corden’s stage.

While BTS didn’t join them for the performance, the band didn’t strip the Korean lyrics from the song, instead electing to play them pre-recorded while Martin sang along. He actually does know the Korean lyrics, too, as he proved while singing the song to Kelly Clarkson last month.

The band was also on the show on Monday, singing “Let Somebody Go” with Selena Gomez.

Coldplay previously said of the song, “BTS were asked in an interview who they’d like to collaborate with, potentially, and a couple of the guys said they’d love to collaborate with us. A lot of the themes on this album are about bringing people together and taking away divisions and walls and boundaries and all of these human constructs that keep people apart. So we felt like this would be great because it’s an unusual collaboration between people who are known to come from a different genre and completely different part of the world.”

Watch Coldplay perform “My Universe” above.

Music Of The Spheres is out now via Parlophone. Get it here.

Coldplay is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

When the going gets tough, the tough get going. And if you’re Facebook co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, you simply change your company name to something that’s more in line with your goal of “effectively transition[ing] from people seeing us as primarily being a social media company to being a metaverse company.” Yes, that sentence of futurist-leaning, marketing-speak gobbledygook is what Zuck told The Verge back in July. And now they’re reporting that a company name change is afoot, most likely either at or before Facebook Connect, the company’s annual AR/VR conference, which is scheduled to take place on October 28.

According to The Verge’s Alex Heath, who spoke a source with direct knowledge of these social media shenanigans:

“The coming name change, which CEO Mark Zuckerberg plans to talk about at the company’s annual Connect conference on October 28th, but could unveil sooner, is meant to signal the tech giant’s ambition to be known for more than social media and all the ills that entail. The rebrand would likely position the blue Facebook app as one of many products under a parent company overseeing groups like Instagram, WhatsApp, Oculus, and more. A spokesperson for Facebook declined to comment for this story.”

It’s possible the name change has been in the works for years, but the timing of the announcement seems suspiciously convenient. It was just a few weeks ago that Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen went scorched Earth on her former employer, and shared how the company’s algorithm favors profits over their audience’s well-being.

This, of course, wouldn’t be the first time a company changed its name in the midst of scandal. Just ask the folks Academi (a.k.a. Blackwater). Nor would it be the first seemingly unnecessary company rebrand (see: New Coke). And while it’s hard to imagine that it could be worse than The Facebook, Zuckerberg has been talking a lot about “the metaverse” lately. Like, a lot.

So New Facebook is probably out. And something painfully pretentious that you only half understand is likely in. In short, what it means for you is that just when you’ve finally taught your grandma the difference between Facebook replies and Facebook DMs, you’re going to have to explain to her why it’s no longer called Facebook.

(Via The Verge)

The rap supergroup is a concept that could really stand to be further explored. We can point to Jay-Z and Kanye West’s Watch The Throne album, Killer Mike and El-P’s ongoing parade around the sun with Run The Jewels, and Mos Def, Talib Kweli and DJ Hi-Tek’s independent hip-hop triumph in Blackstar as creme de la creme examples. But is it ever really enough? The answer is no.

And if you were tuned E-40 and Too Short’s Verzuz battle last December, you’d have seen the delightfully sauced Bay Area rappers hyping that they were forming a West Coast rap supergroup with Ice Cube and Snoop Dogg. Then in April, at Triller’s Fight Club main event between Jake Paul and Ben Askren, we indeed saw the four rappers of the newly minted Mount Westmore play a new song at the end of their set. But that was it. No further announcements, no song title, no nothing. Just legit heat on the mic.

Finally today, the tireless West Coast titans have delivered as only they can, with a video for their first single, “Big Subwoofer,” of the four of them riding in a spaceship, smoking weed, and getting down with alien honeys. The video has it all, an alien in flannel crip walking on Mars while flanked by back-up dancers that look like they’re right out of the Avatar set, Snoop smoking a joint as he steers a spaceship and ray guns.

But when you clear through the space dust, there’s a banger of a single under the hood. Propped up on a familiar West Coast bass thump, the track rides on both hyphy and G-Funk production leans. Each rapper takes a turn spitting their verse with Ice Cube proclaiming that “You know me I’m up in it like a booger // then I tried the b**** like some dice and I shook her,” and E-40 stealing the show from the get go with, “She got her legs open like a field goal post // booty softer than a King Hawaiian roll.”

It might seem like there’s a comedy rap element here, but it’s obvious that the four are having a lot of fun on this track. And let’s face it, they’ve paid their dues.

Watch the video for “Big Subwoofer” above.

Carmelo Anthony made his debut with the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday night during their 2021-22 season opener against the Golden State Warriors. It didn’t take long for the future Hall of Fame inductee to be at the center of a memorable moment in his new digs, although that’s not necessarily a good thing.

Anthony went to the free throw line with a little less than 90 seconds to go in the third quarter while the Lakers were trying to push their lead to double-digits. Because he is pretty good at free throws, Anthony made the first, but then, when it came time to attempt a second shot from the charity stripe, this extremely weird thing happened.

Anthony’s pump fake is one of the best in league history, but for some reason, he decided to bust it out while shooting a free throw. Let us review the NBA rulebook, specifically Rule 9, Section I:

The more you know! Anyway, Anthony was able to laugh this off, presumably because this was very funny, while LeBron James was caught on the sideline totally flummoxed by what the heck happened. Anthony will assuredly give an explanation for what happened after the game for why he thought this was the ideal time to go to one of the most effective things he has in his bag of tricks.

Despite being in the midst of a promotional run for his newly-released sophomore album, Punk, Young Thug has still found time to tend to Slime City. That’s what the rapper named the 100-acre plot of land he received for his 30th birthday from his manager, 300 Entertainment A&R Geoff Ogunlesi, and realtor Trey Williams. Thug wants to make the area solar-powered, and to accomplish this, he asked for help from Elon Musk over Twitter.

After sharing Slime City with his client, Williams revealed in an interview with TMZ that Thug hopes to build high-quality homes, a waterpark, a camping site, and much more. He also wants to bring his annual Slime Fest there and include a dirt bike trail for folks around the area to use and enjoy. At the time, Williams said that he’d already spoken to architects and engineers and that work on the land would begin as soon as they received a few permits that they’re waiting on.

Thug’s request comes days after he released his latest album, Punk, which features guest appearances from Drake, Future, Mac Miller, Juice WRLD, Gunna, Travis Scott, J. Cole, and more. He also stopped by Saturday Night Live to perform “Tick Tock” and “Love You More.”

Punk is out now via 300 Entertainment/Atlantic Records. Get it here.

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

Dating back to mid-August, Brooklyn Nets general manager Sean Marks expressed the view that he was “very confident” in the team reaching contract extensions with Kyrie Irving and James Harden. While Irving’s situation changed drastically since those comments were made, Harden did not reach an extension with the Nets before opening night. Brooklyn still remains in prime position to contend for the NBA title but, after a season-opening loss to the Milwaukee Bucks, Harden was prompted on why the two sides did not reach a pact.

“Honestly, I’ve just been focused on getting healthy and getting my body ready, and then preparing for a great season,” Harden said. “The contract and money is going to be there. I don’t plan on leaving this organization and the situation that we have. My focus honestly is just focusing on the season and winning a championship. The contract and all that stuff will play itself out as it should, but my focus is definitely locked in on the season.”

This is a non-answer in some respects, though it is interesting for Harden to express that the “contract and money is going to be there.” That is probably a reasonable stance given the always rampant market for star players, but Harden is now 32 years old and perhaps could reach the point in the next couple of seasons in which he is not a no-brainer candidate for the super-max.

For now, Harden is locked in for $44.3 million this season with a $47.3 million player option for the 2022-23 campaign. As such, he could reach free agency after this season if he so chooses, but the Nets and their fans must now hope that Harden’s indication that he does not “plan on leaving this organization” will be backed up by his offseason contractual actions.

Meek Mill kept his fans waiting almost three years for a new album, but now he’s returned with his fifth album, Expensive Pain. Now there’s a menacing new video for the brash track “Northside Southside,” which features a verse from British rapper Giggs.

In addition to Giggs, Expensive Pain also features appearances from Lil Baby, Lil Durk, Kehlani, ASAP Ferg, Moneybagg Yo, Giggs, Young Thug, Vory, Lil Uzi Vert, and Brent Faiyaz. Meek has also been very busy keeping his fans filled with videos from his latest release. In addition to “Northside Southside,” he’s also made ones for “Angels (RIP Lil Snupe),” “Expensive Pain,” “On My Soul,” “Intro (Hate On Me),” “Blue Notes 2,” “Sharing Locations,” and “Flamerz Flow.”

In other news, Meek recently made a comparison between poverty conditions and the popular Netflix show Squid Game “[P]ay attention how fast people switch and kill each other to survive,” he wrote on Twitter. “Now think about the ‘hood’ poverty …it’s the exact same thing.” He added that improving the living conditions in both areas would translate to a reduction in crime and violence. However, people on social media made it clear that they did not agree with his take.

Expensive Pain is out now video Maybach Music Group/Atlantic Records. Get it here.

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

In July, the rumor mill began to churn in earnest with regard to Damian Lillard and his future with the Portland Trail Blazers. Lillard denied any notion that he would be demanding, or even requesting, a trade out of Portland. Eventually, the buzz died down to some degree, but not before it came to light that Lillard pushed the Blazers to upgrade the roster, seemingly putting the pressure back on the organization. Now, on the eve of the 2021-22 season, Lillard gave his strongest on-the-record endorsement yet on the topic, telling Jason Quick of The Athletic that he is “not leaving Portland” and that “it’s not going to happen.”

Quick’s piece, which is certainly worth a full read, goes into Lillard’s comments on new head coach Chauncey Billups, who is seemingly a big reason for Lillard’s renewed optimism in his situation. He did acknowledge that there could be bumps along the way by saying that “a rocky start” would not mean that he is “going to flip and do something different than what I’ve always done.” Still, Lillard was fairly definitive about sticking around.

“I don’t expect all times to be great times. Adversity is going to hit. There’s going to be some tough times,” Lillard said in the interview. “So if (this season) starts off rocky, or if it starts off in a struggle, I wouldn’t be happy about it. Nobody would. But I’m not going to jump ship or bail out when that happens. So, I mean, (him leaving Portland) is the easy thing and popular thing to say, but it’s not going to happen.”

The Blazers have relatively modest expectations this season, at least in terms of the preseason betting market and media predictions. Portland did not overhaul its roster to the degree of some other teams, though Larry Nance Jr. is a nice addition, and will instead rely on Lillard, CJ McCollum and a potentially improved defense to carry the team’s effectiveness. Whether that is a recipe for success remains to be seen, but teams potentially eyeing Lillard in trade may have to reckon with the notion that he simply doesn’t want to leave his current situation.

The last two weeks have seen a furor erupt around the Dave Chappelle’s latest Netflix stand-up special, The Closer. It’s the fourth such show where he’s devoted a chunk of space to jokes about the trans community, which have enraged the company’s trans employees as well as other comics whose specials have aired on the streamer. The response from Netflix top brass has been fairly chaotic, including firing an employee who organized a (still on) walk-out and a number of strange responses from co-CEO Ted Sarandos.

Now Sarandos is walking his response back — sort of. In a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the exec addresses the pushback against his much-disliked attempts to mollify the situation.

“I can tell you I screwed up those communications in two ways. One of them was, I should have first and foremost acknowledged in those emails that a group of our employees were in pain, and they were really feeling hurt from a business decision that we made. And I, instead of acknowledging that first, I went right into some rationales. And so first of all, I’d say those emails lacked humanity, in which I like to and I do generally communicate with our teams.”

He also tried to deflect the criticism by claiming the memos, which were sent to staff company-wide, were from a “leaked email out of context,” and that “it was just very clumsy, internal communications that went public.” But he did reverse course on one of his more controversial claims, which was that entertainment didn’t have real-life consequences. “Of course, content, storytelling causes change in the world, sometimes hugely positive and sometimes negative,” he told THR.

All that being said, as for Chappelle’s new special, he said, “No, my stance hasn’t changed.” But he tried to thread the needle about allowing for “artistic expression” and not, you know, contributing to unfair stereotypes about the trans community:

When we think about this challenge we have to entertain the world, part of that challenge means that you’ve got audiences with various taste, various sensibilities, various beliefs. You really can’t please everybody or the content would be pretty dull. And we do tell our employees upfront that we are trying to entertain our members, and that some of the content on Netflix you’re not going to like, and so this kind of commitment to artistic expression and free artistic expression is sometimes in conflict with people feeling protected and safe. I do think that that’s something that we struggle with all the time when these two values bump up against each other.

Sarandos also said he would not be adding a disclaimer to The Closer, as some employees had asked. “The content is age restricted already for language,” he said, “and Dave himself gives a very explicit warning at the beginning of the show, so I don’t think it would be appropriate in this case.”

He also drew a curious conclusion about the palace revolt still going on in his company. “This group of employees felt a little betrayed because we’ve created such a great place to work that they forgot that sometimes these challenges will come up,” he claimed.

(Via THR)