Month: November 2021

After nearly nine years as a band and three full-length studio albums, Montreal-based post-punk group Ought are calling it quits. After putting out the 2018 LP Room Inside The World as their latest piece of new music, Ought have announced they are breaking up as a band.

The band announced their split on social media, thanking fans for all their support:

“To everyone who supported us, came to a show, and cared about us: We are no longer active as a band. When we started Ought in 2012 we had no greater aspiration than to play and write music together, and the fact that we were able to tour the world to such an extent and share so many rooms with so many of you has meant the world to us. We send lots of gratitude and love to all those we met and worked with along the way.”

Though the band is no longer active, fans of Ought can rest assured that there will still be some new music on the horizon, even if it’s in the form of a different project. Ought’s Tim Darcy and Ben Stidworthy are teaming up with U.S. Girls’ drummer Evan Cartwright for the brand new project Cola, which just signed to Fire Talk Records. Cola’s debut single “Black Curtain” dropped today in tandem with Ought’s breakup and features similar lo-fi vocal treatment and discordant guitar chords.

See Ought’s full breakup announcement above and listen to Cola’s debut single “Black Curtain.”

Squid Game is Netflix’s biggest series ever (according to Netflix), but it’s also bringing attention to other shows on the streaming service.

Once subscribers finished Squid Game, they were directed to other Netflix titles that might appeal to the interests of someone who watched all nine episodes of a violent dystopian series in a weekend. Something like Alice in Borderland, a Japanese series about “an aimless gamer and his two friends [who] find themselves in a parallel Tokyo, where they’re forced to compete in a series of sadistic games to survive.”

Viewership for Alice has mightily increased since Squid Game premiered in September. “We were thrilled to see that many members who discovered and watched Squid Game also started discovering Alice for the first time,” Michael Smith, Netflix’s product innovation manager, said at the Tokyo International Film Festival on Tuesday (via Variety). “Our service picked up on this connection and started recommending Alice to more members who hadn’t already seen the show.”

The result was what Smith describes as a “sizable uptick in global viewing” for Alice. “It landed back in the top ten series ranking in more than fifty countries around the world, more than nine months after its initial launch,” he said.

If Squid Game could also direct people towards the 1996 Tim Burton film Mars Attacks!, that would be swell. Not enough people talking about Mars Attacks! these days.

(Via Variety)

The video for Philly soul singer Pink Sweats’ new single “Nothing Feels Better” hearkens to a simpler time when making a love connection was as simple as passing a note in class. The first single from Sweats’ upcoming follow-up to Planet Pink, “Nothing Feels Better” details the euphoric feeling of real love, with the singer promising, “Forever I’m yours / just know that I’m all in.”

The colorful visuals in the accompanying clip reflect those feelings, casting the singer as a student who makes a bid for his crush’s heart by scrawling a love letter and sending it her way. Throughout the video, the classmates also pursue their various passions, from rollerskating in the hall to dancing in an empty classroom, drawing a parallel between the romantic love of the song and the sense of fulfillment that comes from chasing any other dream.

A year removed from his shimmering debut, Sweats is preparing to release a new project, Pink Moon, in early 2022. He also intends to promote Pink Moon with a tour beginning this Friday, November 5 in San Diego, California, and running through December 16 in Dallas. You can find out more about the tour here.

Watch Pink Sweats – Nothing Feels Better video above.

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

Streaming on Twitch is not easy. It requires a severe amount of dedication, effort, and a little bit of luck to make a living wage of some kind doing it. One streamer based in the United Kingdom named SquidGame, whose real name is Lydia Ellery, has been at it for years now. She’s been slowly building up a community and has reached the status of Twitch partner. She’s also been uploading gaming content on her YouTube channel for 10 years now under the names “SquidGaming” and “SquidGame.”

Unfortunately for Ellery, many people who have never heard of her have been attacking her online as of late because of her username in light of Netflix’s hit show Squid Game. Ellery recently talked to BBC News about how the explosion in popularity for Squid Game has been leading to her being harassed, having her Instagram account banned, and losing out on job opportunities.

“I’ve received a lot of hate from the fans and I’ve been turned down for work because of it [the name],” she told the BBC.

…

“I started getting abusive messages from people. People were getting angry with me because they were mega fans… and thought I took the account from the show.

“I had to turn off notifications on my Instagram because it was just constant. My phone has been flooded.”

Ellery’s situation with her account name is getting so bad that she’s considering changing her username on all her social accounts, in part because it’s making her job more difficult. When someone uses a search engine to search “SquidGame,” they used to find her Twitch channel. Now, they’re directed to the TV show. It’s hard enough to build up a community on Twitch, but having to compete for attention from an extremely popular Netflix TV show is too much for anyone that isn’t in the class of extremely popular streamers like Ninja or TimTheTatman.

As the investigation into the shooting death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of Rust continues, the attorney for the film’s armorer, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, is now suggesting that a disgruntled employee deliberately sabotaged the gun used by Alec Baldwin. Jason Bowles made the morning talk show rounds on Wednesday where he attempted to seed a theory that someone slipped live ammunition into the film’s props without Gutierrez-Reed’s knowledge. Here’s what he told TODAY via The Daily Beast:

“We know there was a live round in a box of dummy rounds that shouldn’t have been there,” Bowles added. “We have people who had left the set, who had walked out because they were disgruntled. We have a time frame between 11 and 1 approximately, that day, in which the firearms at times were unattended, so there was opportunity to tamper with this scene.”

Ammunition was kept in a prop truck on set, according to Gutierrez-Reed’s second attorney Robert Gorence, who said the vehicle was “completely unattended at all times, giving someone access and opportunity.”

According to Mediaite, Bowles repeated the claim on Good Morning America, but he also took the extra step of highlighting the fact that Assistant Director Dave Halls was the last person to touch the gun before it was handed to Baldwin, and then Bowles said this:

Somebody put that live round or live rounds in that box. When you do that, you can only have bad intentions because you’re going to confuse the rounds if you’re the armorer and they appear very similarly. The dummy rounds look like a regular live round…We’re afraid that could have been what happened here, that somebody intended to sabotage this set with a live round intentionally placed in a box of dummies.

Adding an interesting wrinkle to this new narrative is the fact that Baldwin has begun pushing back against numerous reports, and remarks by the Sheriff’s department, that the Rust set was “unsafe.” Baldwin recently retweeted a Facebook post that called the growing reports of a dangerous work environment “bullsh*t.”

(Via The Daily Beast, Mediaite)

QT is getting into the NFT business. On Tuesday, as reported by The Wrap, the two-time Oscar winner (and noted fan of women’s feet) shared that he’s partnering with Secret Network to auction off seven totally uncut scenes from Pulp Fiction as non-fungible tokens.

According to the official press release: “Each NFT at auction contains ‘secret’ content viewable only by the owner of the NFT, a groundbreaking and unique feature enabled by Secret NFTs. The secret content itself is one-of-a-kind, has never been seen or heard before, and will include: the uncut first handwritten scripts of Pulp Fiction and exclusive custom commentary from Tarantino, revealing secrets about the film and its creator. The public metadata of the NFT—the ‘front cover’ of this exclusive content—is rare in its own right: a unique, never-before-seen, public-facing work of art.”

The owners of these NFTs will be the only people able to access the content.

While 1992’s Reservoir Dogs brought Tarantino to Hollywood’s attention as a director, it was 1994’s Pulp Fiction that was his breakout film. The indie movie redefined the rules of cinema, and ended up grossing more than $210 million against a $10 million budget. It also earned a slew of Oscar nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director. Ultimately, Tarantino and co-writer Roger Avary ended up taking home the statuette for Best Original Screenplay.

Now, more than a half-dozen lucky film fans will get the chance to not just experience, but own, Tarantino’s original, uncut vision for the film. “I’m excited to be presenting these exclusive scenes from Pulp Fiction to fans,” Tarantino said in a press release. “Secret Network and Secret NFTs provide a whole new world of connecting fans and artists and I’m thrilled to be a part of that.” You can learn more here.

(Via The Wrap)

We regret to inform you that JFK Jr. did not show up in Dallas on Tuesday—nor did his father, mother, or any other long-deceased member of the Kennedy clan (not Joseph, not Kick, nope on Bobby or Michael, and most certainly not Ted). This miraculous event, in which John F. Kennedy Jr. was reportedly not only going to reveal that he was indeed still alive, but was also planning to “declare” Donald Trump president again. (On who’s authority? That part didn’t seem to be worked out yet.)

According to the Daily Beast, this blessed even was expected to occur around 12:30 p.m.—approximately the same time JFK was assassinated while riding in his open-top car in Dallas. (These folks are aware that didn’t happen until November 22nd, right? Never mind—don’t answer that.) The entire event was livestreamed, and as the magic hour approached, hundreds had gathered to chant “God Bless America!” and “JFK!”

They were undoubtedly disappointed when this Q declaration turned out to be false, and some began to express skepticism, which the livestream host said would not help the situation and that they needed more faith. But most of the group didn’t let a little thing like reality keep them down for too long. Instead, they quickly shifted gears—and locales—to a Rolling Stones concert being held in Dallas for later the same day, with the idea that that’s where the Kennedys would be. Because if there’s any place one might expect the always-impeccable Jackie to reemerge, it’s definitely a Stones concert.

Then the rumors began to grow beyond the Kennedys; word was that a whole slew of dead celebrities would be coming back to show themselves, including Robin Williams, Richard Pryor, Kobe Bryant, and Debbie Reynolds. How did such a random assemblage of names come to be? Who knows! It’s QAnon!

Alas, none of them showed either. According to the Daily Beast:

The crowd in Dallas represented a splinter faction of a splinter faction within the larger QAnon movement, and one that’s been denounced by some of QAnon’s leading figures as a scheme meant to embarrass QAnon believers. But the willingness of hundreds of people to travel to Dallas from as far away as New York and California demonstrates QAnon’s persistent popularity nearly a year after “Q”—the mysterious figure behind QAnon—last posted.

John F. Kennedy Jr. has long been an obsession for a faction of QAnon supporters, even as their beliefs that JFK Jr. faked his 1999 plane-crash death and will return to run as Donald Trump’s vice president have faced ridicule from other QAnon believers. On Tuesday, the conspiracy theorists were drawn to the site of the Kennedy assassination by claims made by obscure channels on the social media app Telegram with names like “Negative48” and “Whiplash347.”

Unfortunately, in addition to being an obsession, JFK is also sort of their Great Pumpkin.

(Via Daily Beast)

It’s been nearly half a year since Lucy Dacus released her reflective third studio album, Home Video. So far, the singer has brought her music to The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, NPR’s Tiny Desk concert series, and several festivals across the US. Now gracing her fans with yet another late-night TV performance, Dacus takes The Tonight Show stage for a soaring performance of her fan-favorite track “VBS.”

For her set, Dacus turned the Fallon stage into a cathedral with faux-stained glass windows and church pews. The stage design mirrors the theme of “VBS,” which chronicles the singer’s experience attending vacation bible school when she was young. Dacus’ rendition of the track itself showcases her playful humor and moving vocals.

Ahead of Dacus’ showstopping performance on late-night TV, the singer recently decided to use her North American tour to give back. Ahead of her Texas shows in September, Dacus announced that all the proceeds earned from her performances would be donated to abortion funds following the state’s ban on abortion after only six weeks. “all the money I make at our upcoming shows in Texas will be going towards abortion funds [just so you know], if you’re not cool with that don’t come.” She wrote, following up with: “if you are cool with that (and are vaccinated) Austin and Dallas are sold out, but Houston and San Antonio are not, come thru and bring extra $ cause I’m gonna figure out a donation situation.”

Watch Dacus perform “VBS” on The Tonight Show above.

Home Video is out now via Matador. Get it here.

Six-year-old Julian Worsham of Beaverton, Oregon is like a lot of other first-graders: he loves Super Mario and Taekwondo. But he has achondroplasia, the most common form of dwarfism, and goes to a school that wasn’t built for kids his height.

“He’s born into a world that just, in some ways, is not built for him,” Julian’s father, Brett, told WHAS11.

His mother did a walk-through before his first day at school to make sure he wouldn’t run into any problems because of his height but forgot to check the cafeteria. [We] “noticed that where the food was, was right at his head,” Heather told the Beaverton School District. Then, to make things more of a struggle, he had to carry his tray outside to the lunch benches.

The school made him a makeshift cart out of an upside-down milk crate on wheels to help him transport his lunch from the cafeteria to the benches.

“When I saw it I thought, ‘Wow,'” said Enedelia Mottram, who’s served lunch for the school district for 18 years. “I just wanted to help Julian, because I mean his head barely reaches the lunch line. He can’t see anything.”

That night, she talked to her husband, James, a metalworker, to see if he could come up with something better. He got his team together at Wright Manufacturing in Portland to create a new cart that allowed Julian to transport his lunch tray and see over the counter.

James told the Beaverton School District that he wanted to make something that Julian would be “proud to push around.”

James and his team put together a badass cart with adjustable, handlebar grips just like a motorcycle that has a stool inside so he can reach the countertop. It is adorned with flames and a personalized license plate that says, “JULIAN.”

Julian’s parents were blown away by the care and creativity that was put into creating his cart.

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“They took the time to get those license plates with his name, which is just like, they just really put a lot of heart into it. So when I saw it, the first thing I saw was actually a picture of James and his team who made the cart and I cried. It’s just such a sweet thing,” Heather said.

Julian loves the license plate and the flames and is now able to grab his lunch and get out to the benches in style.

“He’s independent now,” said Mottram. “Before, a staff member [would] have to be there to help him,” she said.

Heather hopes that the story will inspire others to reach out and help other people in need.

“There’s just wonderful people in this world that, you know, they have their eyes open. They’re seeing needs that need to be met and they’re meeting them. So I hope that other kids can get their needs met through this,” she said.

With today’s prevalence of social media, it’s hard to imagine a celebrity who decisively stays off popular platforms like Instagram. Some artists like Lorde keep their accounts active but remain radio silent until they’re ready to roll out a new era of music. But other artists like Jay-Z managed to stay off Instagram altogether — until now. The rapper officially rejoined the platform this week to promote his upcoming work and was able to reach a major milestone: He’s now the only person followed by Beyonce on Instagram.

In less than 24 hours after Jay-Z relaunched his Instagram account, he’s already racked up nearly 2 million followers. One of those followers includes his wife, Beyonce — though he has quite a long way to go until he can compare to Beyonce’s follower count, which is at over 216 million. It will come as no surprise that Jay-Z reciprocated Beyonce’s follow and she is also the only person he’s following on the platform as well.

Jay-Z’s reason for rejoining the platform is quite simple. He’s there to promote his upcoming film, The Harder They Fall, of which he is the executive producer. It marks the first time the rapper has posted on the social media platform in nearly six years. Jay-Z did give Instagram a go back in 2015, but he promptly deleted his account just 14 hours later after he reportedly posted a photo of himself with Michael Jackson. It’s been almost 14 hours since Jay-Z relaunched his account, so it’s looking like it will have a greater longevity this time around.

Check out Jay-Z’s first Instagram post above.