Month: November 2021

The college football world became enthralled this week by a story out of Texas so wild that it was initially hard to believe. A report emerged on Monday night that Texas special teams coach Jeff Banks’ pet monkey had bitten a trick-or-treater on Halloween.

What followed was one of the best nights college football twitter has had this side of Bobby Petrino, as Banks’ girlfriend took to the internets to clear the air. Danielle, fka Pole Assassin from her days as a stripper, has a monkey named Gia who used to help out in her act — the monkey has its own Instagram that is pretty incredible. She confirmed that a child had gotten bitten, but explained it was the child’s fault for going through multiple gates that said not to enter, ultimately ending up at the monkey’s habitat area where the kid got bit. She even gave a video tour of their backyard to provide evidence of all of this, before someone explained that was a terrible idea and the entire account got deleted.

The adventures of Pole Assassin and her monkey have since been the lead topic of college football shows, and on Thursday, Texas head football coach Steve Sarkisian was finally asked about it and brushed it aside, insisting it isn’t a distraction.

It’s what you have to say in this situation, but with all due respect, a coach’s ex-stripper girlfriend’s monkey biting someone and becoming national news is, without a doubt, a distraction in some form. It might not even be a particularly detrimental distraction, but I can guarantee it has been discussed a lot by players when they are away from the coaches, even just laughing about how ridiculous it all is. Texas goes to Ames on Saturday night as a 6.5-point underdog to Iowa State and we’ll find out how focused they are then.

While the Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them series is, somehow, still underway, let’s face it: a Harry Potter movie isn’t quite a Harry Potter movie without, well, Harry Potter. Fortunately for us, Chris Columbus — the director behind The Sorcerer’s Stone and The Chamber of Secrets — completely agrees, and is actually advocating for the Harry and the rest of the golden trio to return in a new entry in the series.

In a recent interview with Variety, the director shared a number of heart-warming stories from the set of the first two Harry Potter films, as well as a “small fantasy” of his: directing an adaption of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child with the main series’ golden trio. According to Columbus, the timing is actually perfect for the director to tackle to project, as Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter), Rupert Grint (Ron Weasley), and Emma Watson (Hermione Granger) are now all in their early 30s — roughly the same age as their on-screen counterparts.

“I would love to direct The Cursed Child. It’s a great play and the kids are actually the right age to play those roles. It’s a small fantasy of mine.”

As Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is set around 20 years after the start of the original Harry Potter series, Columbus is spot on in saying that Radcliffe, Grint, and Watson are the perfect age to reprise their former roles — even if it is sometimes a bit hard to see the trio as parental figures rather than brave and mischievous teens. However, with each of the three stars having their own independent, successful, and decidedly more mature careers now, the intense controversy surrounding author J.K. Rowling (which ultimately led to the trio condemning her transphobic sentiments), and the poor reception to the time-skip epilogue in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part 2, asking the trio to return to the series’ seems a pretty tall order — even if the play they’d be adapting is critically-acclaimed.

Released in 2016, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child went on to win six Tonys during the 2018 awards, including Best Play. It also set the record for the highest weekly ticket sales of all time, shattering the record previously set by All the Way in 2014. For those of you who didn’t catch it before, the two-part play is returning to London, Melbourne, and Hamburg soon, followed by a re-staged, single show version of it that will hit Broadway beginning in November 2021 and San Francisco and Toronto in 2022. And hey, if we’re really lucky, we might even get to see it hit the big screen sometime in the next few years, perhaps even with the original cast and Columbus at the helm.

I know we’re not even a full week into November but compared to all the excitement we had last month with travel continuing to open up and a proper Halloween party season, this month is moving at a snail’s pace. Maybe it’s because all we have to look forward to now are New Year’s Eve parties, and to get there we have to go through Thanksgiving, Black Friday, and the dreaded holiday shopping season. Or maybe it’s just because there are few holidays that are as fun as Halloween — especially if you spend your weekends partying the festival circuit.

Festivals, in general, tend to be havens of modern fashion. An environment where you can rock your best fits, no matter how extreme. That gets turned up to 11 when you throw Halloween into the mix, as exhibited by these unhinged photos we received from CircoLoco Halloween 2021 weekend.

Last weekend, Teksupport and Ibiza’s CircoLoco joined forces to throw their sixth annual CircoLoco Halloween at an undisclosed Brooklyn warehouse where festival-goers were treated to wall-shaking performances from the Grammy-nominated Black Coffee, Virgil Abloh, DJ Tennis, Chloè Caillet, and more. Partiers rocked some seriously intricate costumes, the level of high fashion craft here even rivals some of the best celebrity Halloween costumes from this year, and those people have access to costume designers and make-up artists.

Check out some of the photos from last weekend’s CircoLoco Halloween below and catch the next CircoLoco event on December 3rd at Art Basel Miami.

DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince broke out in the late 1980s with their fun, poppy, rap-lite tune “Parents Just Don’t Understand,” which earned them a Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance in 1989 and the devotion of tweens everywhere. But for anyone who reads Will Smith’s new memoir Will, which arrives next week, the title of the song may take on a new—and much darker—meaning.

This week’s issue of People includes an excerpt from the book, which Smith digs into some pretty dark territory—including the time he witnessed his father be physically abusive toward his mother. “My father was violent, but he was also at every game, play, and recital. He was an alcoholic, but he was sober at every premiere of every one of my movies,” Smith writes of the two different sides to his dad. “He listened to every record. He visited every studio. The same intense perfectionism that terrorized his family put food on the table every night of my life.”

But when Smith was a child, he says he witnessed an act of physical abuse that forever changed his life:

“When I was nine years old, I watched my father punch my mother in the side of the head so hard that she collapsed. I saw her spit blood. That moment in that bedroom, probably more than any other moment in my life, has defined who I am.”

Though he was just a child, Smith says that that moment—and his response to it—has tainted some of his greatest achievements. “Within everything that I have done since then—the awards and accolades, the spotlights and attention, the characters and the laughs—there has been a subtle string of apologies to my mother for my inaction that day. For failing her in the moment. For failing to stand up to my father. For being a coward.”

Smith’s parents separated when he was a teenager and officially divorced in 2000. And while the actor-musician-producer remained close with his father, he admits that the anger over what he had seen that day always haunted him and was bubbling just below the surface of every smile.

When Smith’s dad, Will Sr., was diagnosed with cancer, it was his namesake who cared for him. But doing so apparently brought those past feelings closer to the surface, and Smith recounted one particularly dark thought that crossed his mind.

“One night, as I delicately wheeled him from his bedroom toward the bathroom, a darkness arose within me. The path between the two rooms goes past the top of the stairs. As a child I’d always told myself that I would one day avenge my mother. That when I was big enough, when I was strong enough, when I was no longer a coward, I would slay him.

I paused at the top of the stairs. I could shove him down, and easily get away with it. As the decades of pain, anger, and resentment coursed then receded, I shook my head and proceeded to wheel Daddio to the bathroom.”

Smith’s father passed away in 2016, but the incident taught his son an important lesson: “In the end, it will not matter one single bit how well [people] loved you—you will only gain ‘the Smile’ based on how well you loved them.”

Will will be published on November 9th.

(Via People)

20 years ago, the world was introduced to the first ever “virtual band.” It seems like a prescient creation in hindsight, considering how much of music went online in the two decades since. But Gorillaz have leaned very much into the live aspect and while 2-D, Noodle, Murdoc Niccals, and Russel Hobbs are still fixtures, the project is very much about Damon Albarn, Jamie Hewlett, Remi Kabaka Jr, and their incredible cast of collaborators.

Now for the 20th anniversary of the debut album (out December 10th), Gorillaz have announced the Gorillaz (20th Anniversary Super Deluxe Vinyl Boxset) and it’s LOADED. There’s over four hours of new recordings, including demos, b-sides…. errr… “G-sides,” and a Live At The Forum. The 8-disc vinyl set also comes with a 27 page dossier-style art book of Gorillaz ephemera that all feed back into the theme of the outlaw virtual band’s creation in a post-apocalyptic world. Virtual drummer Russel Hobbs added some words on the findings that are all contained within the box set:

“Whistles have been blown. Truths have come to light. What started out as a trip down memory lane took a damn sideways turn into the heart of darkness. They say the past is another country. Turns out, it’s a whole other dimension.”

Along with the album release, comes the Song Machine LIVE concert film. It features concert footage, and also a behind-the-scenes featurette with commentary from Albarn and Hewlett. It’ll be in theaters on December 8th with tickets available next week. There’s also a Christmas themed Gorillaz store that’s open now.

Gorillaz (20th Anniversary Super Deluxe Vinyl Boxset) is out on 12/10 via Warner. Pre-order the first edition here.

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

Taste the Nation With Padma Lakshmi: Holiday Edition (Hulu series) — The Emmy-winning host returns for a new quartet of journeys in this four episodes that will celebrate indigenous traditions and immigrant-based holidays across America. Once again, Padma’s breaking bread while exploring stories that explore exactly what it means to be American. Journey with her to Los Angeles (for Korean New Year) and Miami (for Cuban Christmas), along with other feasts that take place in Cape Cod and Martha’s Vineyard.

Head of the Class: Season 1 (HBO Max series) — Bill Lawrence executive produces this reboot of the 1980s sitcom. Robin Givens is back as the grown-up Darlene, and the show focuses heavily upon a group of overachieving teenagers that must adapt to an unorthodox teacher, who wants her students to experience life rather than focus so heavily upon their grades.

Law and Order: SVU (NBC, 9:00pm) — A teenage sex worker goes missing, which leads Rollins and Velasco on a wild dive into a pile of previously overlooked missing persons reports, from which a clue emerges.

Law and Order: Organized Crime (NBC, 10:00pm) — Elliot Stabler and his newfound beard been doing the undercover thing, which has grown progressively more dangerous. This time, he’s in true jeopardy of being exposed or being double crossed in what looks like a literally explosive episode.

Ghosts (CBS, 9:00pm) — A freelance journalist and a chef move into a massive country estate while hoping to transform it into a bed-and-breakfast. As the title indicates, however, there are ghosts afoot, and they’re comedic. So, there’s a Prohibition-era lounge singer, a hippie who indulges in hallucinogens, a scout leader, and a Militiaman.

Doom Patrol: Season 3 (HBO Max series) — DC’s struggling misfit superheroes are back for another round of being portrayed by an incredible cast. Brendan Fraser has received plenty of raves for his fury-filled Cliff Steele/Robotman, and more kudos should go to Diana Guerrero (Orange is the New Black) as Crazy Jane, which is actually a role that requires Diane to play dozens of incarnations, including a timely take on a Karen.

The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon —

Late Night With Seth Meyers —

In case you missed these picks from last week:

Love Life: Season 2 (HBO Max series) — Love Life ended up being the HBO Max original show to launch the service, and Season 2 is upon us with Anna Kendrick’s Darby passing the baton to a new unlucky-in-love protagonist, Marcus, who will be portrayed by William Jackson Harper. He did the whole sunk-cost investment thing, apparently, and now, he’s finding himself in the hell hole known as the dating world. Godspeed, Marcus.

Star Trek: Prodigy: Season 1 (Paramount+ series) — This animated series sees the return of Kate Mulgrew’s Captain Janeway to this universe, sort of! She’ll appear in hologram form, and she’ll guide a ragtag group of alien youngsters who end up on the U.S.S. Protostar ship. Jason Mantzoukas voices one of those aliens, all of whom are outcasts and completely out of their league but ready for the Starfleet life, its ideals, and all of its inherent adventure.

Just a few months after he was censured over making questionable comments during a concert in Miami, DaBaby has bounced back, announcing his Live Show Killa Tour hitting 22 major cities over the next three months. The tour is presented by Rolling Loud, the festival where he initially got into trouble and started his comeback by appearing at the festival’s New York iteration this past weekend during his mentor 50 Cent’s headlining set.

According to TMZ, a representative for Rolling Loud says the festival’s organizers believe that DaBaby has learned his lesson and grown as a person. In the aftermath of the initial backlash against him, he was removed from several festivals‘ previously-booked lineups and publicly rebuked by a number of public entities, including his “Levitating” collaborator Dua Lipa, pop icon Elton John, and GLAAD, which issued a statement calling his words “inaccurate, hurtful, and harmful.”

During his Rolling Loud set in July, DaBaby tried to hype up the crowd, but his awkwardly-worded exhortation wound up coming across as homophobic and discriminatory. “If you didn’t show up today with HIV, AIDS, any of them deadly sexual transmitted diseases that make you die in two or three weeks, then put your cell phone light in the air,” he said. “Fellas, if you ain’t suck a n****’s dick in the parking lot, put your cell phone light in the air.”

Throughout the wave of criticism elicited by his statements, DaBaby either flat-out refused to apologize or egged on his detractors, although he did meet with a number of HIV/AIDs advocate groups. The incident extended into a bit in Dave Chappelle’s new Netflix special and became a hot topic of debate, but that didn’t stop LGBTQ nonprofit organization Relationship Unleashed from issuing a statement about both that spawned a mini-controversy of its own.

Rihanna fans, rejoice! She’s turned her attention back to music, at least briefly. And well, it might not be new music but at least it’s a start. The pop icon announced a career-spanning, limited-edition vinyl collection today, the ship date for all of the reissues is November 11, so it’s coming up quite soon.

The newly-minted billionaire has been notably more focused on her other business ventures of late, and Fenty Beauty, Fenty Skin, and Savage Fenty are all part of what has turned her into one of the richest women in the world. But fans of her music are still clamoring for more. And to be fair, it has been a whopping five years since Anti came out — so they’re not even being dramatic.

Anyway, perhaps the chance to own some exclusive Rihanna vinyl and merch will be a balm. According to a press release the collection offers “a special limited-edition packaging of the first eight albums” with “vinyl records [that] have been re-pressed in unique colorways and paired with album-specific, exclusive apparel items. Each set comes carefully enclosed in packaging curated by Rihanna and will be a must-have addition to any record collection.” Here’s the video Rihanna shared on Instagram with more details:

And check out some images of the record reissues and accompanying merch below.

Pre-order the collection right here.

Jay-Z may not be the best at using social media, but the billionaire is still a savvy businessman, and his Roc Nation company wants to help lift up others in the working world. That’s why they’re set to host a massive job fair in New York City’s Madison Square Garden later this month. There, job seekers can learn to leverage their skills and be interviewed for perspective roles on the spot.

The fair takes place November 18 in Madison Square Garden. Those in attendance will be able to speak with companies like Zara, Lowe’s, Madison Square Garden, Amazon, Foot Locker, Live Nation, Vice, and 40/40 Club and more. They’ll also have the opportunity to seek advice on resume building, professional attire, and receive styling and grooming services.

In a statement about the job fair, Team Roc’s managing director Dania Diaz talked about the opportunities that are created by the event:

“The Team Roc New York Job Fair is a real opportunity for socio-economic mobility for New Yorkers – those who want to work, yet have not had the exposure or connections to the right-fit jobs, or to the support services that can strengthen their prospects for employment. My hope is this event will not only stimulate New York’s economy but pair the state’s best and brightest employees with the country’s leading organizations. It is also a chance for us to work together – public, private, nonprofit sectors – to address the state’s labor shortages in a meaningful way.”

Sign up for Roc Nation’s job fair at Madison Square Garden here.

As if we needed more proof that Harry Styles is currently putting on one of the best live shows of all-time… NBA star Giannis Antetokounmpo just gave the pop star a huge compliment. It’s been well-documented that Harry’s fan base is primarily teen girls, and unlike other performers before him, he’s always honored and respected their fandom with a beautiful reverence. But despite the fact that the show was overwhelming attended by women, Antetokounmpo was undeterred in his own fandom. The “Greek Freak” as he’s affectionately called by some NBA fans had to let the internet know that he loved Styles’ show: “I just went to @Harry_Styles concert and it was 99% women and me ,” Antetokounmpo tweeted. “I’m a big fan, what a great performer.”

Eagle-eyed fans caught Giannis — who, let’s face it, is a little hard to miss — fully vibing to the music. That’s proof he’s a real head, not just a poser. We have no choice but to stan this man:

And actually, this isn’t even the first time Giannis has proven he knows the power of One Direction. Back in 2020 he posted himself on Instagram enjoying One Direction classics like “Best Song Ever” and “What Makes You Beautiful.”

This man is a true fan, and officially a Directioner in my book.