Month: June 2021

Rick Ross is well-known for his luxury lifestyle raps and his big-money boasts, but as it turns out, he has a very responsible outlook toward spending and saving his money, sharing some of his cost-cutting, money-making hacks with Forbes magazine in a new interview. For one thing, all of his investments are in stable markets like real estate, thanks to some advice from his hard-working mom.

“When I became a young millionaire for the first time, I went to my mother because she had always been a registered nurse and worked two and three jobs,” he recalls. “She always bought real estate. She came from Clarksdale, where the real estate was a lot cheaper. She would just keep buying houses. And I would say, ‘Mom, what do you think about the stock market?’ And she would say, ‘Son, I don’t really rock with the stock market. I don’t know much about it, but I know about real estate . . . So when you buy something, make sure you can touch it.’”

However, some of his other tactics are a bit unexpected for a big-time rapper who’s appeared on Forbes’ Hip-Hop Cash Kings list. After buying his 235-acre estate in Georgia from boxing champion Evander Holyfield in 2008, he not only turned the acquisition into a money-maker by renting it out to movie productions like the one for Coming 2 America, but he also saved money by mowing the lawn himself.

“When I bought the Fayetteville estate, locals would see me walk out of a restaurant and scream, ‘You know Holyfield spent $1 million a year to cut the grass,’” he admits. So I decided that I was gonna cut my own grass… I went down to John Deere and asked to see the biggest tractor, the most efficient tractor. I told them I had 200-plus acres that I wanted to keep cut, and they pointed out the right tractor. I bought it right then and there. I bought the extended attachment on the back that would cut even wider. Once I got it back home, I filled it up with gas. I may have sat in the same spot for two hours before I got everything working, but once I got it going, I didn’t stop. I cut grass for about five hours.”

He further explains how he finds the process therapeutic, spending time “connecting with the estate and the animals and the birds and the wildlife.”

Ross also lets it slip that he’d rather buy antiques at swap meets than spend a lot decorating and that he flies commercial instead of owning a private jet. Even a boss keeps to a budget — that’s how he stays a boss.

If there is one thing Nintendo is known for it’s their legendary IP’s. The franchise that created Mario, Zelda, and yes even Metroid. However, many Metroid fans will be quick to tell others about how Nintendo has frequently left them feeling forgotten and underappreciated compared to some of Nintendo’s other franchises. Despite being loved, and creating an entire genre of games, Nintendo has historically been hesitant to release new Metroid games. That said, we know Metroid Prime 4 is in development and they did release Metroid: Samus Returns back in 2017. So everyone’s favorite space bounty hunter has been getting a little more appreciation as of late.

Even with the recent love for the Metroid franchise, nobody expected Nintendo’s announcement during their E3 Nintendo Direct. A new 2D Metroid game, Metroid Dread. While not many details were given, it seems pretty clear that this is a sequel to Metroid Fusion. You know, the Game Boy Advanced game that came out back in 2002. To say that this caught everyone off guard would be an understatement!

The gameplay we saw in the trailer was everything we’d want to see in a 2D Metroid game. Exploration, a large map to explore, and power-ups. However, it’s been almost 20 years since the last official 2D Metroid game and that means that everyone is expecting something a little more modern. The trailer gave us a few signs that we will be getting a modern experience with cutscenes and a couple of cool uses of 3D here and there.

While everyone was expecting Metroid Prime 4 news, this caught all of us off guard and it’s a welcome surprise. The Prime games are really fun first-person adventures, but there’s a whole army of Metroid fans who grew up playing the original 2D games and have been asking for a sequel to Fusion for years. Metroid Dread is the gift we always wanted but never expected to get and that’s awesome.

With her debut album Stranger In The Alps and her 2020 sophomore effort Punisher, Phoebe Bridgers cemented her brand of cathartic songwriting. While her songs have become popular for their relatability, there were moments when the people around her were genuinely concerned about her music’s lyrical content — especially her mom.

The singer recently sat down with W Magazine to chat about the absurdity of hearing her music play during yoga class and growing up as a theater nerd. But she also touched on her vulnerable songwriting, saying her debut album was “so depressing” that her mom nearly intervened. “I play stuff for my mom and my friends,” she said. “After my first record, my mom thought she was going to have to intervene, because every song was so depressing. In fact, I probably needed that, but hey…”

Elsewhere in the conversation, Bridgers mentioned the dangers of building a musical identity around sad music:

“The whole narrative around catharsis is complex. Sometimes it can put you in a box, where you feel like you can’t write anything but heartfelt songs that offer an emotional release. The other day, Lucy Dacus posted this thing about how capitalism commodifies women’s pain. That being said, I started out by copying music that I loved—people like Elliott Smith and Merle Haggard, to name just two. When you write music, if it’s true, it’s useful. But if it starts to feel like you’re playing a character, I think it can get dangerous. Especially if that character is very, very sad.”

Punisher is out now via Dead Oceans. Get it here.

Zoë Kravitz is making her directorial debut, and she’s bringing Channing Tatum along for the ride. In the boldly titled Pussy Island, Kravitz has written a story about a Los Angeles cocktail waitress named Frida, who’s fallen for a tech mogul played by Tatum. After working her way into the tech giant’s inner circle and scoring an invite to his private island for a wild gathering, Frida can tell something is definitely not right under the surface.

According to Kravitz, she’s been working on the story for Pussy Island since 2017 when the #MeToo movement exploded, and she hopes to confront the reality that things still aren’t quite right after Hollywood’s supposed come-to-Jesus moment. Via Deadline:

“As a woman in general, and a woman in this industry, I’ve experienced some pretty wild behavior from the opposite sex. The title was kind of a joke at first, this place where people would go, bring women, party and hang out. The story evolved into something else, but the title wound up having multiple meanings. And it alludes to this time and place we claim to not be in anymore, in terms of sexual politics. People are evolving and changing but there is still a bad taste in a lot of people’s mouths from past behavior. It’s a nod to that, but it’s also playful, and a really playful film in a lot of ways.”

While the lead sounds like something that Kravitz could easily handle, she will be handing the role over to another actress so she can focus on directing the film, which will go into production in early 2022.

(Via Deadline)

Vin Diesel is in three of the 10 highest-grossing movies of all-time: Avengers: Endgame and Avengers: Infinity War as the voice of Groot and Furious 7 as Corona-drinking family man Dominic Toretto. Endgame was the highest-grossing movie ever but it was supplanted by a re-release of Avatar. Sensing an opportunity to reclaim his rightful box office throne, Diesel is hinting that he’ll appear in at least one of the Avatar sequels.

In an interview with MTV News’ Josh Horowitz, Diesel was asked about the rumors that he might “pop up” in one of director James Cameron’s many planned sequels. “I have spent time with him, but I have not filmed yet,” he responded. When pressed further, Diesel, after taking a long pause, added, “I love James Cameron and I love the series. I think it’s safe to say that we will be working together.” The key word in his answer is “yet,” as in, maybe he hasn’t joined Guardians of the Galaxy co-star Zoe Saldana on the Avatar set yet… but he still might. There’s plenty of opportunities.

Avatar (Avintar?) is a natural fit for Diesel. He could seamlessly transition from Groot, a tree, to voicing the Tree of Souls, which we obviously all remember from the first Avatar movie. I can’t go a day without someone making a Tree of Souls reference.

Dana Carvey brought his spot-on Joe Biden impression back to The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on Monday night, but this time, he did it in character. In an interview with Carvey’s Biden ahead of the upcoming G7 Summit where the president is scheduled to meet with Vladimir Putin after referring to the Russian dictator as a “killer,” the comedian rolled out his bumbling, yet affectionate take on the current occupant of the White House.

While talking to Colbert, Carvey’s Biden frequently said, “C’mon,” before every topic, and often mixed up names as the real Biden has done for most of his political career. In fact, here’s how Carvey’s Biden described words, which was a word he also couldn’t remember.

“They’re like Republicans. They don’t wanna work with me, but I keep trying anyway,” he said as Colbert tried to keep his composure. The comedian put a couple digs in at Trump though. While talking about “the other guy,” who was “bananas,” Carvey’s Biden promised that he’s not going to be all “herky-jerky.” While gently moving his hands in front of the camera, Carvey’s Biden said, “I’m slow and easy, slow and easy.”

Carvey had rolled out the impression back in March, and while it does poke fun at Biden’s mannerism and his gaffe-prone speaking style, Carvey made sure to note that he isn’t mocking the president. It’s just fun to imitate the guy who Carvey referred to as the “father of the country” right now. Biden has that dad energy where he likes to list things and, occasionally, go off on tangents, as dads do.

A few days ago, a Tyler The Creator billboard popped up in Hollywood and it featured a phone number, 1-855-444-8888. Calling the number previously played a message, but today, Tyler again tweeted out the number and the audio on the other end has been updated. After calling the number, a 20-second snippet of funky music plays, after which the call is disconnected.

Previously, the number played a recording of Tyler’s mother saying, “I’d kill a mothaf*cka over this one right here, n****. I’d stand in front of a bullet, on God, over this one. My son used to record me beating b*tches’ ass. I would beat your whole family and didn’t give a f*ck. They’d be like, ‘Tyler’s mama crazy. Tyler’s mama crazy.’ Yep. F*ck with my kid. Tyler would be like, ‘Get ’em, mom.’ They’d be like, ‘No, don’t do it.’”

The call then ended with a snippet of new music, which Uproxx’s Aaron Williams noted is “very much in the mode of the synth-heavy style that has defined Tyler’s music since Cherry Bomb.”

Meanwhile, Tyler teased his new era yesterday with a video that stars himself, Helena Howard, and former Odd Future member and current Dave actor Taco.

There are countless adorable pets belonging to celebrities. Some like Megan Thee Stallion are dog lovers, while others like Taylor Swift prefer cats. There are also a handful of celebrities who have some unconventional pets, like Ariana Grande’s pig named Piggy Smallz. But Salma Hayek’s treasured animal is perhaps the most surprising — a pet rescue owl. As Hayek knows all too well, having a pet owl isn’t always easy, like the one time it apparently vomited on Harry Styles‘ head.

Hayek recently sat down with Ellen DeGeneres to chat about the ups and downs of her unorthodox house pet, Kering. Hayek said she sleeps with Kering in her room. The owl can be sweet, but sometimes mistakes Hayek’s toes for prey and attacks them in the middle of the night.

But perhaps the most unpleasant experience is when Kering vomits up a hairball. “There’s this ball of hair that comes out of their mouth,” she says of her owl as Ellen notes that the hair comes from consumed animals. “One time there was a very important celebrity, I will not say his name, and he was really excited about the owl and was hoping that the owl would go on his head because it was on me. He was like, ‘I need an owl in my life. How do you do that?’”

Hayek continued: “The minute he least expected it, he came on his head but then he did the thing and this thing came out, this ball of rat hair was on his head.” Ellen pressed Hayek for details, and she finally admitted that the celebrity in question was Styles. “He was super cool, by the way,” she said. “He was super cool, even with that happening. He’s so good. He’s the best.”

Watch Hayek’s full interview on Ellen above.

We are less than a month away from the start of the men’s USA Basketball camp in Las Vegas, where the 12-man roster will hold a week of camp before tuning up with three games against Nigeria, Australia, and Argentina before departing for Tokyo. However, while camp has set dates, the roster is far from completed, as USA Basketball cast an impossibly wide net this year with 57 finalists for the roster due to rampant uncertainty over what players will be both healthy and willing to compete in the Olympics after a condensed NBA season set to end in mid-July.

LeBron James has already indicated that he won’t be headed to Tokyo, as he has Space Jam: A New Legacy things to attend to this summer, and with so many other stars with Finals hopes right now, not much can be finalized with filling roster spots. That said, two stars who have seen their teams already eliminated have reportedly become the first to commit to playing in Tokyo, as Damian Lillard and Draymond Green are locks to be in Vegas (and one would think assume leadership roles for Tokyo), per The Athletic’s Shams Charania and Joe Vardon.

Green was a member of the 2016 Team USA squad that won gold in Rio by going 8-0 during those Olympics, while this will be Lillard’s first Olympic experience. There figures to be a lot of new faces from that 2016 squad that featured Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, both of whom have dealt with injury issues this year and still are hopeful of extending their playoff run in Brooklyn. Along with reasonable questions about the availability of the Nets’ stars from that squad, Klay Thompson is out of consideration, Carmelo Anthony and DeMarcus Cousins didn’t make the cut for the 57 finalists, and DeAndre Jordan seems highly unlikely to make the team. Paul George likewise has title hopes in L.A. and could skip out, leaving Jimmy Butler, Kyle Lowry, Harrison Barnes, and DeMar DeRozan as the only four players from the 2016 squad likely to rejoin Draymond in bringing Olympic experience to the team.

The results of this second round will likely determine what other stars are willing to commit, as guys like George, KD, Trae Young, Jrue Holiday, Mike Conley, Kawhi Leonard, and Donovan Mitchell all find themselves in a 2-2 tied series with a chance that their July schedule will free up soon. Jayson Tatum is the likely next young star to be at the top of the Team USA wishlist with the Celtics knocked out, particularly as it seems unlikely Devin Booker will be available for camp with the Suns already in the conference finals.

Back in 2010, a fuss erupted when the MPAA initially penalized Blue Valentine for containing a scene in which Ryan Gosling’s character gives oral sex to his then-girlfriend, portrayed by Michelle Williams. This was a bizarre move because the scene didn’t even show nudity, and the effect was that it looked like censors wouldn’t allow women to orgasm onscreen. That’s also the vibe that — in a very giggly way — arose when Harley Quinn co-creator Justin Halpern related how, with the upcoming third season of the ultra-violent, raunchy animated HBO Max (previously DC Universe) series, Batman is not allowed to go down on Catwoman.

To recap, Halpern was reflecting upon how there’s more “leeway” with villain characters, and (as he told Variety) of the envisioned oral sex scene, “DC was like, ‘You can’t do that. You absolutely cannot do that.’ They’re like, ‘Heroes don’t do that.’” Halpern says that this wasn’t a case of heroes needing to be “just selfish lovers,” but rather, “It’s hard to sell a toy if Batman is also going down on someone.’”

Say what? Harley Quinn isn’t a kid’s show, not by any stretch of the imagination, and it’s pretty hilarious to fret over Batman being unmarketable for pleasing a woman, of all things to worry about on that show when it comes to crushing heroic reputations. Well, Twitter is enjoying this ruckus very much, and yes, the DJ Khaled jokes are flowing, among other things, like “Why would Batman’s whole bottom face be open if he didn’t do oral, ridiculous.” We don’t deserve these reactions, they’re so good.

Mark your calendars for this upcoming event, because noted chaos king Rob Pattinson might not be able to resist during The Batman press tour:

Also, another word from Justin Halpern: “So uhhhh watch Harley Quinn on HBO Max?” Listen to the man, you won’t be disappointed.