Month: December 2021

Here’s to copy editors! They clean up sloppy copy, make writers sound smarter than they perhaps are, and catch grammatical errors so egregious they can sometimes invert what you actually mean to say. That’s what happened to Donald Trump Saturday. The president-turned-failed blogger released another of his glorified press releases, and clearly no one bothered to give it a once-over because he perhaps inadvertently called BS on himself.

Apropos of nothing much at all, the guy who’s having trouble launching his own social media platform decided to tweet once again about how he lost re-election by millions of votes. “Anybody that doesn’t think there wasn’t massive Election Fraud in the 2020 Presidential Election is either very stupid, or very corrupt!” Trump wrote.

One problem: that double negative has him saying unflattering things about both himself and all his 2020 dead-enders, such as the guy who sells pillows. Presumably Trump didn’t mean to call people who believe in baseless voter fraud nonsense “very stupid,” much less “very corrupt.” He probably just doesn’t know what words mean.

Whatever the case, calling people who believe in 2020 election balderdash “very stupid” is perhaps the most truthful thing he’s ever said.

Meanwhile, it’s been over a year since Trump’s re-election hopes were dashed after more people voted for his successor than for him. Since then he’s continued to spread lies, although at least one of his former close allies, Michael Cohen, has a theory about that: He’s not doing it so he can win back his old job in 2024. He’s doing it so he can grift his cash-strapped supporters out of money.

(Via The Daily Beast)

There’s a lot of Spider-Men these days! As of this writing, we’re less than two weeks from Spider-Man: No Way Home, the third in the Tom Holland iteration, which finds our Queens hero running afoul of the multi-verse. Speaking of, one of the other Spider-Men, Miles Morales, is gearing up for another animated hoe-down, as witness the first look at the sequel to Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.

It’s called Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (Part One), and the ad is not so much a trailer as a long scene followed by some web-slinging action. Morales (Shameik Moore) is awoken in his Brooklyn home by Gwen Stacy, aka Spider-Woman (Hailee Steinfeld), who wants him to come out and play. He’s grounded, he says, but surely parental rules can’t keep a bona fide superhero indoors.

Released three winters ago to acclaim and even an Oscar, Into the Spider-Verse expanded the franchise’s scope, introducing a number of very different Spider-folks, among them a 1930s-style version voiced by Nicolas Cage and even a pig. (And it was originally supposed to have even more.) It was very much a movie by producers Phil Lord and Chris Miller (21 Jump Street, The Lego Movie), clever and witty and dynamic.

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (Part One) will hit theaters on October 7, 2022. You can watch the first look above.

Every year Variety compiles a list of the teams behind songs they think were the most impactful of the year, dubbing those honored as “Hitmakers.” During the magazine’s annual brunch, musicians involved with songs that were honored come together to give speeches and receive awards for their work. But what might’ve just been another boring industry brunch was ramped up to eleven by 2021’s class of young artists, who know how to use TikTok to turn pretty much anything into content. And with a powerhouse cast of stars like Olivia Rodrigo, Chloe Bailey, Jack Harlow and Normani in the house, what choice did Lil Nas X have, really, but to turn in a hilarious parody video that quickly started going viral on multiple platforms.

Hopping on the rather infamous one minute TikTok interviews that @SidetalkNYC has been doing with colorful New Yorkers, each musician took a different viral snippet to lip sync, and spliced all together the parody clip was a brand new bit of content that anyone who has enjoyed the “bing bong” videos would obviously enjoy. And this video just goes to prove, once again, that nobody — nobody — understands TikTok like Lil Nas X. Take a look at the celebrity-filled parody clip below, along with a few of the original SidetalkNYC videos for context if you haven’t seen them.

The ACC Championship Game has a pair of teams that don’t normally make it going head-to-head on Saturday night, as 15th ranked Pitt and 16th ranked Wake Forest will play with a spot in the Fiesta or Peach Bowl on the line. The Panthers got the ball first on the evening, and their Heisman Trophy contender of a quarterback started things off with a bang.

Kenny Pickett, who has been in college for what seems like 30 years, took a snap on a third-and-5 from Pitt’s 42. He dropped back, looked to throw, then tucked it and ran. Fifty-eight yards later, he found himself in the end zone, and let’s see if you can spot the little bit of cheekiness that we got out of Pickett on this one:

That’s right, Pickett faked a slide at Wake’s 40 or so, froze a defender, and was able to take off down the sideline for six.

It turns out this is not legal — once a QB starts sliding, defenders have to let them go down or else they’re going to get hit with a flag, so a fake slide puts the defense at a major, major disadvantage.

But hey, the refs didn’t call it, so you might as well take advantage of it. Pickett did, and as a result, Pitt got on the scoreboard early.

The year began well for the Cuomo brothers. Andrew was very pleased with himself, even writing a book about how he handled the pandemic as governor of New York. Chris had his own weeknight show on CNN. But it appears 2021 will end badly for both. First Andrew resigned in the wake of multiple accusations of sexual misconduct. Now Chris has been fired from his network gig.

As per The Hollywood Reporter, Chris Cuomo is out of a job “effective immediately” following an internal investigation into how he comported himself in relation to his brother’s harassment scandal. Last week, a New York Times piece revealed that Chris was a lot more involved in Andrew’s defense than he had let on. He even used his position in an attempt to dig up dirt on his brother’s accusers. After the report surfaced, CNN let him do what amounted to his final show. The next day they took him off the air indefinitely.

“Chris Cuomo was suspended earlier this week pending further evaluation of new information that came to light about his involvement with his brother’s defense,” CNN said in a statement. “We retained a respected law firm to conduct the review, and have terminated him, effective immediately.”

They added that during the investigation, “additional information has come to light.” They didn’t specify what they meant, adding, cryptically, “Despite the termination, we will investigate as appropriate.”

Chris’ downfall at CNN came after the New York State Attorney General’s office released transcripts and other documents that wound up shedding more light on his involvement with his brother’s defense team, which included phoning into meetings. After his suspension, Chris said, on his podcast, that he was embarrassed by his actions and that “can understand” why they did what they did.

(Via THR)

Houston rapper Monaleo is among the freshman rappers to keep an eye on for 2022. The 20-year-old independent musician has caught the eye of many thanks to the success of her debut single “Beating Down Yo Block,” which boasts a sample of Yungstar’s “Knocking Pictures Off Da Wall” plus her sharp confidence as she relays her anger about a past lover who did her wrong. Monaleo concludes her strong year with the new single “We Not Humping.”

The track features Monaelo’s trademark energy and hard-hitting bars, which she uses to shut down a man’s request to get intimate. She gets straight to the point with lines like “Put a bag on your head ’cause it’s in my budget / All I gotta do is push a button” and “He don’t like my ways but I’m not changing / I don’t text him back ’cause that sh*t draining.”

The new song comes after Monaleo teamed up with fellow Houston native Maxo Kream for “Cece” off his latest album, Weight Of The World. Prior to that, she dropped a strong follow-up to “Beating Down Yo Block” with “Suck It Up,” which took aim at the women who have an issue with her confidence, success, and ability to attract the attention of men.

You can listen to “We Not Humping” above.

For months, the highly transmissible virus that has thrown the world into disarray over the last two years has overwhelmingly targeted conservatives. And there’s a good reason for that: The GOP has been downplaying its danger, attacked masks and vaccines, and all but ensured that a large portion of its base won’t ever take precautions that good save their own lives. (Then again, there’s this nonsensical attempt to blame it all on the libs.) As winter looms and a new variant tears across the planet, cases and deaths are bound to go up. And yet people like Marjorie Taylor Greene are still out there, spreading patently moronic misinformation.

The Georgia lawmaker (who hasn’t made many laws since she’s been booted from most of her committee duties) took to Twitter on a cold, lazy December Saturday, unleashing what she thought was a damning “gotcha” on the scientific community and the politicians who listen to their expertise.

“Every single year more than 600,000 people in the US die from cancer. The country has never once shut down,” Green wrote. “Not a single school has closed. And every year, over 600,000 people, of all ages and all races will continue to die from cancer.”

She went on, praising the horse drug, claiming that COVID deaths mostly target the obese and elderly (and not those who are unvaxxed), and that people should be free to “choose natural immunity or vaccines, w/o discrimination.”

There’s just one thing. Actually, there’s a few things, but one is more obviously false than the others: Cancer, unlike COVID, isn’t contagious. Whoopsidaisies! And when people caught wind of Greene’s tweet, they not-so-gently reminded her of that pesky factoid.

Then again, there is one way cancer is contagious: Non-smokers can contract lung cancer through secondhand smoke. But then, we do have rules about public smoking.

Other people didn’t feel like pointing out Greene’s illogic. They just called her dumb.

In the meantime, please remember to listen to scientists when it comes to matters of immunology, and not people who were in their late 40s when they learned about the Holocaust.

Ben Roethlisberger‘s time in the NFL might be coming to an end. According to a report by Adam Schefter of ESPN, Roethlisberger, the two-time Super Bowl winning signal caller who has spent the entirety of his NFL tenure in the Steel City, has told people around him that his expectation is this will be his final season with the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Roethlisberger is going to turn 40 years old in March and will no longer be under contract at the conclusion of this year. While the door could remain open for him to play elsewhere, Schefter explains that there are a few reasons why that is probably not going to happen.

Roethlisberger has told many that he never would want to play anywhere other than Pittsburgh, where his time is coming to an end. It doesn’t mean he couldn’t surface next season in another NFL city, but that is “highly unlikely,” according to one source.

The Steelers currently find themselves 5-5-1 on the year and sit in last place in the AFC North, but are firmly in the mix for a Wild Card spot. On the year, Roethlisberger is 248-for-384 (64.6 percent) with 2,522 yards, 14 touchdowns and six interceptions. He’s played in all but one game this season, which he missed after getting placed on the NFL’s reserve/COVID-19 list.

Kyle’s last album, See You When I Am Famous!!!!!!!!!!!!, arriv ed in the summer of 2020, with features from Rich The Kid, K Camp, Bryson Tiller, Trippie Redd, Tyga, and more. The rapper originally considered delayed it due to the pandemic but he changed his mind. A year and a half later, Kyle is ready to deliver another work, this time with a twist: He announced his fifth project, It’s Not So Bad, on social media and explained how it will be a little bit different.

“IT’S NOT SO BAD – MY FIFTH PROJECT – JAN 28th,” he tweeted. “Instead of splitting the royalties with the label, I’ll be selling this project as an NFT to give an opportunity for my fans to own this project with me. We’re in this together. Forever & Ever. [two hearts emoji].”

This year Kyle released a bunch of singles that will presumably appear on the project, including “Love Me Like You Say You Love Me,” “Optimistic” with Dougie F, and “Sunday.”

As for It’s Not So Bad, it remains to be seen what guest features Kyle will include on the project. Thankfully, we’ll learn about that within the next few weeks, as it’s less than two months until It’s Not So Bad becomes available.

In 2002, Halle Berry made history: With her turn in the drama Monster’s Ball, she became the first Black woman to win a Best Actress Oscar. Three years later she received a more dubious trophy: Worst Actress at the Razzie Awards for 2004’s Catwoman. Berry even collected it in person, much as Tom Green did for the five such awards he earned for Freddy Got Fingered. In a recent interview for her directorial debut, Bruised, the actress opened up about why she showed up — and what she did to the trophy afterwards.

Berry spoke with Vanity Fair (as caught by The Hollywood Reporter) about her career, and about that night, when she took the stage, holding her Oscar in one hand and her new, crappier one in the other.

“I went to the Razzie [Awards] because I feel like we all take ourselves so seriously,” she said. “If we get an award, if we get the Oscar, we somehow are made to feel like we’re somehow better than everybody else, but we’re really not. You were just chosen that year by your peers, and you were acknowledged for doing what they considered stellar work.”

She even took the anti-accolade in stride. “If you find yourself face to face with a Razzie, does that mean you’re the worst actor there ever was? Probably not,” she said. “You just got the piss taken out on you that year by a group of people that can.”

Besides, it’s a good display of modesty. “If I can show up to collect an Oscar when you’re honoring me, I can certainly show up to collect a Razzie when you say, good try, but do better,” Berry explained. “I always learned that if you can’t be a good loser, then you don’t deserve to be a good winner. So I went there and made fun of myself.”

All in all she doesn’t regret going, although the award wasn’t long for this world. “I had a great time and then I set that thing on fire,” she said.

Berry has opened about Catwoman before, saying she doesn’t regret doing it and that, piss-poor cinema or not, it was one of her bigger paydays. Not that she’ll ever return to the role à la the alumni cast members in the next Spider-Man. Besides, she’s about to get another trophy anyway.

(Via Vanity Fair and THR)