Month: November 2021

It’s been a long road for Britney Spears, who was only very recently freed from the abusive conservatorship she’s endured for years. After the singer opened up about how much she was suffering, including being forced to take medication that dehabilated her, Britney’s father was removed from the situation and then the setup was finally terminated. Things are looking up for Britney even though she clearly has a lot of healing and adjusting to do, and as we head into the holiday season she shared a picture of a cozy fire to Instagram, along with some updates for fans.

“That beautiful … nice … and warm fucking fuzzy feeling when you’ve been waiting patiently for 13 years to be able to live your life however you choose and it’s finally here !!!!” she captioned the post. “Lighting my candles sure is a joy folks !!! And you might be surprised cause my prayers are pretty damn powerful ESPECIALLY when you’re on the right medication just a month ago !!!! Damn I can actually pray …. it feels so good to just BE HERE !!!! I’M HERE … thanks to no doctor or conservatorship people … good God my friends … it’s good to BE HERE and be PRESENT !!!! Since I can actually PRAY now hopefully in just 3 months there will be a shift for me … I mean who knows … I’m not gonna thank anyone I’m gonna pull a @snoopdogg and say I thank ME for believing in ME !!!!! Let’s watch watch watch some TV folks !!!! ”

On that note, how about this latest season of Succession, eh?
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Chucky the killer doll has been with us for nearly 35 years now, surviving countless sequels, a couple tonal revamps, a big screen reboot, one vocal change that was quickly reversed (sorry, Mark Hamill), even a blundered Amber alert. And it appears he’ll live to terrorize unwitting everyday folk yet again: As per Variety, the Chucky TV show is coming back for a second season.

The series, whose first season only boasted seven episodes, debuted on both USA Network and SyFy in early October, with Brad Dourif returning as the serial killer who finds himself trapped in the body of a freckled, ginger doll. This time he winds up in a yard sale in the sleepy city of Hackensack, New Jersey. On top of providing the audience with killer doll kills, it’s also a coming-of-age story about his 14-year-old charge, dealing with real issues, such as sexuality and bullying.

Along with Dourif, Jennifer Tilly also returns, revamping Tiffany Valentine, his main squeeze in the before-time, who joins him in dolly possession and murder. Tilly was added to the franchise with 1998’s Bride of Chucky, which revived the series by amping up the winky-winky camp element and offering a more lighthearted look at serial murder. A movie reboot, from 2019 starring Aubrey Plaza, only did moderate business.

(Via Variety)

According to a report from TMZ, Trey Songz is linked to a sexual assault investigation in Las Vegas. The R&B singer has been under scrutiny for this kind of behavior many times in the past, including allegations from earlier this year that he hit a woman with his car, allegedly punched a bartender, and fought with a police officer at an NFL game (he won’t face charges for this one). He also faced allegations of sexual misconduct in 2020, including a surprise “golden shower” and actions that are in the realm of kidnapping and coercion. Songz denied those at the time.

The latest allegations involve the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department investigating a sexual assault incident at The Cosmopolitan hotel. Songz is reportedly cooperating with the police, and no charges have been filed so far in the investigation, which began on Sunday. The performer was in Vegas to celebrate his 37th birthday, and also performed at Drai’s Nightclub on Saturday night. According to TMZ’s source, a group of women accompanied Trey and his crew back to The Cosmopolitan, which is when the incident occured. So far, there’s no comment from Trey’s camp, though TMZ did reach out to get his side of the story. This is a developing story and might be updated as more details come to light.

Orlando Magic rookie Jalen Suggs put together one of his best statistical games of his young career on Monday, scoring 17 points and dishing out five assists in 29 minutes of action against the Philadelphia 76ers. However, Suggs was forced to the sideline after 29 minutes on the court after getting hit on the hand by Joel Embiid swiping down on the ball as Suggs drove into the paint in the fourth quarter.

After the game it was announced by the team that the No. 5 overall pick in the 2021 NBA Draft will miss “an extended period of time” with a fractured right thumb.

While that timetable is flexible in nature, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reports it will be “several weeks” before Suggs can return.

Prior to Monday’s game, Suggs was shooting just 33.6 percent from the floor and 24.8 percent from three-point range in his first 20 games. Those scuffles are not out of the ordinary for a rookie guard, though, and Suggs is not in the best offensive context with a limited cast and limited spacing for the Magic this season. Still, his start has not been outstanding, and this is an unfortunate hiccup in the middle of his rookie season.

In Suggs’ stead, the Magic will likely turn to fellow youngster RJ Hampton, particularly with Cole Anthony nursing an ankle injury and Markelle Fultz still sidelined with a knee issue. Orlando does have options, but Suggs was selected with an eye toward the future, and the Magic will have to put his development on hold, at least for a few weeks.

Mike Lindell has been waging war against an unexpected source: rightwing media. Last week, MyPillow Guy, who’s so ride-or-die for Trump he’s willing to lose his entire fortune over baseless voter fraud claims, fomented a protest against Fox News. Almost no one showed up. Then he failed to pull off a 96-hour Thanksgiving marathon dedicated to conspiracy theories about the 2020 election. Dozens tuned in. Then he pulled ads from a popular rightwing Christian news network who he felt were insufficiently bonkers. Thing is, they don’t care.

As per The Daily Beast, Lindell spent part of his aforementioned marathon railing against Salem Radio Network, which airs the likes of Seb Gorka and Dennis “I’m Happy I Caught COVID” Prager. They hadn’t had him on in a while, he whined, and called them “worse” than Dominion, the voting system company suing him for $1.3 billion. So he took his toys — i.e., ads that could have convinced people to purchase his product and therefore supply him with cash flow — and went home.

But a spokesperson for Salem said they’re unfazed. “No, we’re not upset. He has the right if he wants to do that,” they told The Daily Beast, adding that no one is making a concerted effort to convince him to reverse that move. Do they at least hope he’ll reconsider? The spokesperson said, simply, “No.”

What they did say is that, despite what Lindell told his dozens of listeners, none of their hosts are prohibited from discussing conspiracy theories. “There is no block on any of my hosts from talking about the Supreme Court or anything else,” they said. “My hosts are not banned from talking about anything.”

It’s not the first time Lindell has pulled MyPillow ads from conservative media. He did the same to Fox News, which must have hurt, considering they have so few big time advertisers considering the sometimes dangerous nonsense that spews from their hosts’ mouths. But then he changed his mind.

(Via The Daily Beast)

Ever since it was announced that none other than Ariana Grande would be replacing Nick Jonas as a judge on The Voice, Ari and fellow judge Kelly Clarkson have become fast friends. There was that time they teamed up to give Aretha Franklin’s “Respect” the proper dual cover it deserves, and it looks like Ariana is always having fun when she’s with her new coworkers. And what could be more fun than getting into a diva medley face off? During an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon‘s segment “That’s My Jam,” Ari and Kelly went head to head singing snippets from famous diva bangers.

Since this happened last week when plenty of people were already completely checked out for the holiday, and maybe even traveling since that wasn’t really an option last year, I’m posting it now so everyone can see what happens when Ari tackles a little bit of Britney. Coming on the heels of the announcement that Britney is finally free of the conservatorship that ruled her life for years, Ari happily launched into “Oops I Did It Again” when that track came up on the wheel. She even remembers all the dance moves to the song, and does Britney proud with the snippet. Check it out above, along with Ari’s take on Cher and Kelly’s take on Shania, plus many more.

Back in October we first learned that Ed Sheeran and Elton John had made a Christmas song together, and in November Sheeran let us know the song title. Though “Merry Christmas” might not seem like the most original name, apparently there were no other songs with that exact title! Who knew.

Anyway, the song is going to be here very soon, as in, this week soon. And in order to let fans know that his very quick follow-up to a brand new album, =, would be coming this week, Ed did a little Love Actually cosplaying. Recreating that infamous scene from the movie when a friend of Natalie Portman’s husband comes to the door to privately let her know he loves her, Sheeran let us all know that Elton would be helping him bring some cheer very soon. Check it out below.

Here’s the news the video delivers, via the notecard trick: Hello, Last Christmas I received a call from my mate Elton John. And he told me we should do a “Christmas Song” and I replied, ‘Yeah, maybe in 2022.’ But I actually wrote the chorus that day, and here we are. Our Christmas song, “Merry Christmas,” is out this Friday. Go pre-order or pre-save it now. It has sleigh bells a lot of them…”

As Elton notes in his tweet, all the proceeds from this year’s Christmas period are going to the Ed Sheeran Suffolk Music Foundation and the Elton John AIDS Foundation.

The college football coaching carousel has been spinning at an alarming rate this season, reaching mach speed on Sunday when Lincoln Riley shockingly left Oklahoma to become the new head coach at USC, completely overshadowing Florida’s hire of Billy Napier earlier in the day.

Along with a sudden opening at Oklahoma, LSU still was seeking a new head coach — ironically, Riley was shooting down LSU rumors on Saturday night, less than 24 hours before bolting for USC. The Tigers were always expected to try and make a splash, and with Riley getting poached it seems the folks down in Baton Rouge got an idea for how to try and do the same. On Monday, rumblings began picking up that Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly was atop the Tigers wish list, but few expected him to be able to be wooed away from South Bend.

However, later in the evening Yahoo’s Pete Thamel — who broke the Riley to USC news on Sunday — brought word that a deal was expected to be done within the next 24 hours, creating another massive domino situation in college football. Ross Dellenger of SI confirmed the news shortly after.

Kelly officially has a 113-40 record in 12 seasons at Notre Dame, including an 11-1 record this season that has the Irish, potentially, eyeing another Playoff berth should some things shake out in their favor this coming weekend. For him to leave for Baton Rouge means the money must be outrageous, and also means Notre Dame is in the market for a new coach — which will surely lead to another major opening.

Cincinnati head coach Luke Fickell will be the expected frontrunner for the Notre Dame job, as he’s led the Bearcats to an undefeated 12-0 season, handing the Irish their only loss of the season in the process, and if there’s a non-Ohio State job he’d leave Cincinnati for, most feel Notre Dame would be it. Otherwise, you could see a number of other prominent coaching names on the Irish wish list, but what’s certain is there will only be more and more ripple effects felt from this seismic shift.

The tragedy that was this year’s Astroworld festival left a number of attendees dead, and the youngest of which is a nine-year-old boy. Though Travis Scott has been deeply apologetic about his deadly event, and even offered to help cover funeral costs for those who lost loved ones at the festival, some families of victims aren’t interested in his money.

The lawsuits against Travis and the festival organizers are still coming in, though, including one filed by Treston Blount, the father of Ezra Blount, the nine-year-old who was trampled to death during the festival. Ezra was laid to rest last without any help from Scott, though Scott’s lawyers said the rapper’s offer to cover expenses would have no impact on the lawsuit.

“Your client’s offer is declined,” Blount family attorney Bob Hilliard said in a response obtained by Rolling Stone. “I have no doubt Mr. Scott feels remorse. His journey ahead will be painful. He must face and hopefully see that he bears some of the responsibility for this tragedy. There may be, and I hope there is, redemption and growth for him on the other side of what this painful process will be — and perhaps one day, once time allows some healing for the victims and acceptance of responsibility by Mr. Scott and others, Treston and Mr. Scott might meet, as there is also healing in that.”

Ezra was on his dad Treston’s shoulders during the festival, until the two were trapped in a crowd surge and Treston passed out. Ezra was later found in a coma at a nearby hospital, but ultimately succumbed to his injuries.

As the old saying goes, “do good and it will come back to you in unexpected ways.”

Sometimes those “unexpected ways” come in four-wheel drive.

Oscar Rodriguez is a Navy veteran, church leader and personal trainer in Culver City, California. More important than that, he is a good person with a giving heart. In addition to taking care of his 75-year-old mom, he also makes meals for women victims of domestic violence.

Rodriguez thought he won the ultimate prize: going to a special VIP screening of Dwayne Johnson’s new film “Red Notice,” and getting pulled up on stage by The Rock himself. But it only got better from there.

Thanking him for his service, praising him for giving back to his community and bonding with him as a fellow “mamma’s boy,” Johnson stands with Rodriguez on the stage exchanging hugs … until Johnson says “I wanna show you something real quick.”

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A video on The Rock’s Instagram shows the two walking out to a giant black Ford Raptor pick-up truck, where Johnson grabs a note and hands it to Rodriguez, saying, “I wrote this card for you. It’s a little thing.”

Playing along, a bewildered Rodriguez reads: “Thank you for your service brother. Enjoy your new tru-”

Rodriguez collapsed with tears before finishing his sentence. And rightly so. It’s not every day you’re gifted Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s very own custom truck.

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The caption on Johnson’s post explains that he originally planned to give Rodriguez the same Porsche Taycan driven in the movie. Porsche said no, but the Rock still said yes, and aimed to “do one better.”

Honestly, I don’t know which is more heartwarming: the fact that this fan gets the ultimate surprise from one of his heroes, or seeing two grown men with such a huge display of emotion.

Bursting up from the ground, Rodriguez goes in for yet another hug with the Hollywood icon. His voice high and cracking from passion, he exclaims, “Yo, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen you in this truck,” while sobbing and holding his chest. Rodriguez then Facetimes his girlfriend, and shrieks of “oh my god” can be heard from the phone.

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As Rodriguez peels out of the parking lot in style, Johnson tells viewers “his laundry list of caring credentials, it’s pretty amazing. So it’s just an honor for me to bring a little bit of joy to a dude who deserves probably a lot more than just my truck.” Not missing a beat, he adds “and now I can figure out…how to get home.”

The Rock might be without a car, but Oscar Rodriguez now has a daily reminder that kindness matters, and that acts of generosity do get noticed. Something tells me that he does these things from something other than extrinsic motivation. Still, a new car always helps.

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On Thanksgiving, Rodriguez posted that he plans to emulate Johnson’s positivity, using the “new whip” to pay it forward by encouraging people and lifting their spirits, bringing cheer.

As Rodriguez’s story reminds us, “it’s just love.” Wonderful, surprising moments happen when we remember to act from our hearts.