Month: January 2022

The New York Knicks won a thrilling game against the Boston Celtics on Thursday night. Despite trailing by as many as 25 points to their division rivals, the Knicks were able to storm back and win in front of their home crowd at Madison Square Garden thanks to a buzzer-beater by RJ Barrett.

One moment from the game has drawn a ton of attention. During the team’s comeback in the fourth quarter, Knicks All-Star Julius Randle gave the crowd at MSG a thumbs down after a made basket despite their cheering, which raised a few eyebrows. And after the game, when asked about it, Randle straight up said that he was telling them “shut the f*ck up.”

It appeared to be a way for Randle to express some frustrations about how Knicks fans have booed the team at points this season, including earlier in the game when they were getting run out of the building. In the aftermath, the Inside the NBA crew made clear that they were not fans of Randle’s actions.

“I wouldn’t do that anywhere,” Kenny Smith, a New York native, said. “New York, I could be on Mars, I’m not engaging with the 19,700 that’s in Madison Square Garden, I’m engaging with the 12 dudes on the other team.

“He shouldn’t engage with the fans, he’s too good a player, he’s an NBA All-Star, the Most Improved Player last year,” Smith went on to say. “He doesn’t have to engage with 19,000 people that really are there … they really want to cheer him. They actually want to cheer him. But when they’re not cheering and the Knicks are losing, everyone knows that that is a city that’s going to boo their team, they’re not going to cheer them on.”

Smith, Charles Barkley, and Shaquille O’Neal all spoke at length about how expressive fans in New York can be, with O’Neal saying that Randle, in particular, should not be surprised because he is the team’s best player and “heavy is the head that wears the crown.” Barkley brought up that this exact thing happened earlier in the year with New York Mets infielder Javier Baez.

“And I’m like, wait, you’re playing bad, are they supposed to cheer when you’re playing bad?” Barkley asked. “I don’t understand, as a player, this is the way this thing works. We ain’t doctors, we ain’t lawyers. If you play good, people cheer you. If you play bad, people boo you. That’s the deal you make with fans, and that’s the deal.”

The Knicks will take the floor at Madison Square Garden again on Monday, when they play host to the Spurs.

The Rundown is a weekly column that highlights some of the biggest, weirdest, and most notable events of the week in entertainment. The number of items could vary, as could the subject matter. It will not always make a ton of sense. Some items might not even be about entertainment, to be honest, or from this week. The important thing is that it’s Friday, and we are here to have some fun.

ITEM NUMBER ONE — My only New Year’s resolution is to strum an automatic weapon like a guitar while wearing three watches and a string of pearls

There’s an art to making a trailer. It’s not as simple as slapping some clips together and putting a title at the end. You’ve got to take the viewer on a ride, titillate and tease with spoiling, get the anticipation and excitement bubbling without overselling, give them just enough that they must have more. And you have to do it all in about two minutes. It’s not as easy as it looks. A well-done trailer can be a magic trick. Godzilla vs. Kong was not an especially great movie but the trailer… buddy, that was a thing of beauty.

This brings us to the upcoming Hulu series Pam & Tommy, which focuses on the theft and subsequent release of the sex tape starring Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee, and all the hoopla that surrounded it. The trailer dropped early this week and, with minimal hyperbole, it might be one of the best trailers for a television show I’ve ever seen. I’ll post the whole thing here but please meet me below for a spirited discussion about guns and mullets and prosthetics.

Right? Isn’t that freaking incredible? Tell me you don’t want to watch this show now. I don’t even know if it will be good. I’m not sure how they can string this all out over a bunch of episodes. And, right now, today, as I sit here typing this, I don’t care. I’m in. This sucker has everything.

Let’s start with the most important thing, even if it requires jumping around in the trailer a bit to do so. Look how much Lily James looks like Pamela Anderson…

… and look how much Sebastian Stan looks like Tommy Lee.

That’s not nothing. It’s a lot more than nothing. It’s important. It’s always good to have your characters look like the real people they’re portraying, I suppose, but it’s extra necessary here because Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee have such super-identifiable and specific looks. It could have derailed the whole thing if they didn’t pull that off. So that box is checked off. Which is good. Because now we can get to the important stuff.

Stuff like, for example…

Seth Rogen and Nick Offerman as the thieves who pilfered the tape. I shouted at my computer the instant I saw this shot. This is when I knew I was in. Look at them. Have you ever, in your entire life, seen two shadier-looking dudes? It’s perfect. Perfect casting, perfect hair and wardrobe, just perfect. I love that this is where Nick Offerman went after playing a walking apple dumpling-like Ron Swanson for a decade. I’m legitimately happy for him.

And I’m happy for Seth Rogen, too, because…

Perfect.

Beautiful.

No notes.

Every movie and show should feature a shot of Seth Rogen struggling to move a massive safe he has just stolen. Even the Pixar movies. The Muppets made a heist movie with Charles Grodin. We can do this.

This isn’t even the best shot of Seth Rogen in the trailer. That honor goes to…

Seth Rogen is:

• Wearing three watches and stolen pearls
• Strumming an automatic weapon like a guitar
• Rocking an impressive early 90s mullet

It’s beautiful. Hang it in the Louvre. Oh, hey, speaking of things that let you know this sucker is set in the early/mid-1990s…

It is wild to think this was all just 30 years ago. It feels like the Stone Age now. I don’t even remember what we did before high-speed internet. In my mind, we went straight from, like, cave drawings to Facebook. Maybe not an improvement.

Anyway, other highlights…

• Meat Loaf needle drop
• Andrew Dice Clay perfectly cast as a sleazy sex tape middleman
• Suitcases full of cash being cracked open

Again, flawless, beginning to end. We are definitely watching this show. I don’t know if it will live up to this trailer — or how it can — but I do know that my entire body is ready now. I might strap on three watches and pearls for the premiere. It’s only right.

ITEM NUMBER TWO — I think it’s safe to say I am taking this information with me to the grave

The Hollywood Reporter did another one of their actor’s roundtables this week. These can be a blast when there’s a fun group with good chemistry, or even when there’s just one person who says enough wild stuff to carry everyone else. It helps when things get loose, when people get way off topic and start vibing. It can be something as simple as two people realizing they have a shared experience or a shared passion and lighting up about it, or as nutty as, to choose the craziest hypothetical example I can think of, Nicolas Cage steering the conversation toward a grudge he holds against a horse named Rain Man that tried to kill him.

Something like that. Anyway, let’s see what this crew of thespians ended up discussi-…

CAGE Well, at least you had a nice horse. My horse on Butcher’s Crossing, named Rain Man, wanted to kill me.

God yes. Mother of God in heaven, yes. Yes. This is perfect. Nicolas Cage sitting around with other actors, in this case Jonathan Majors and Andrew Garfield, telling them about a horse named Rain Man that tried to murder him. This is the best day of my life.

Tell me more at once.

MAJORS Rain Man? Where’d you shoot that?

CAGE Montana. I was in Blackfoot Country. Rain Man kept trying to knock me off and would try to run my head into roofs, and then I’d get off and try to be nice to him, and he would headbutt me. It was not fun. I’ve always had good experiences with animals. I always had great experiences with horses, but Rain Man wanted to kill me.

MAJORS Rain Man …

CAGE I’m so glad I got through that movie alive. The director’s name was Gabe [Polsky]. The last shot, it was just like, “Gabe, I’m not getting on a horse again.” Then one of the Native Americans said, “Oh, Nic’s just going to get off the horse. We’ll get on …” “OK, fine. I’ll do it.” So I got on the horse and literally, again, he kept trying to throw me off. I was like, “That’s it. That was my last shot, and you had to make it almost like a stunt. You did make it a stunt. You almost killed me on my last shot in the movie.” As you can tell, I’ve got post-traumatic stress disorder from Rain Man.

GARFIELD We can keep talking about Rain Man if you want.

CAGE I haven’t let go of it.

Three things here:

• I would pay hundreds of dollars to see the raw uncut footage of any of this
• I would watch a feature-length movie — documentary or loosely fictionalized — about Nicolas Cage attempting to befriend a horse that hates him
• I have so much respect for Andrew Garfield for playing instigator here

Moving on…

MAJORS Rain Man is in Montana with, I think, a man named Scotty.

CAGE Do you know Rain Man?

MAJORS I know Rain Man. I’ve ridden Rain Man.

GARFIELD Whoa. Whoa.

CAGE You’ve ridden Rain Man? So was he nice to you? Was Rain Man nice to you?

MAJORS I think he may have been a little older when I got him.

First of all, it’s hilarious that Nicolas Cage was like, “There’s a horse who wants to murder me,” and Jonathan Majors was like, “I know that horse.” That’s just incredible. I want to know everything about Rain Man now. Has he tried to kill other Hollywood stars? Is it just Nicolas Cage? Did Nicolas Cage, like, kill his brother? Do we have a John Wick situation on our hands?

But also, Majors has a point. Maybe Rain Man was just a young stallion who hadn’t settled in and matured yet. Maybe he’s cool now. Maybe it was all just attributed to youthful energy.

CAGE I just wrapped three weeks ago.

AHAHAHA

AHAHAHAHAHA

YES

YES

YES

GARFIELD Isn’t it like horses can feel energy?

CAGE No, I’m good with animals. I mean, seriously, it was a clear decision on Rain Man’s part that he wanted to kill me. And they wouldn’t give me another horse. And then we were being chased by a herd of bison, and I’m on Rain Man, and I’m not sure he’s going to get me out of here. I don’t know. I’ll stop talking.

GARFIELD Please don’t. Please keep talking about Rain Man.

I did not foresee typing this next sentence when I started this week, or at all, ever, really, but here we go: Andrew Garfield understands me better than anyone else in Hollywood.

Give me a Rain Man documentary at once.

ITEM NUMBER THREE — What are we doing here, honestly?

I’ll be honest here: I don’t get NFTs. I don’t understand them and I don’t feel like I have the energy to learn. This could all change, of course. By July, I could be full-on NFT-crazy. Stranger things have happened. There was one year where I was really into the idea of getting a pet lizard. I never did and that’s probably for the best, but I say it here to make a point, which is that I’m kind of an idiot.

Anyway, Quentin Tarantino wants to sell an NFT of the Pulp Fiction script and it’s becoming a whole thing.

When Quentin Tarantino and the movie studio Miramax agreed on the rights to “Pulp Fiction” in the early 1990s, cryptocurrency didn’t exist. Now, Mr. Tarantino is courting controversy — with a crypto twist — over ownership of the cult movie’s script that could set a legal precedent for intellectual property rights.

This feels like an extremely Quentin Tarantino thing to do. Right? Like, if I told you, “Quentin Tarantino is in a legal battle over an NFT of a script,” you’d probably be like, “I can see that,” right? But more importantly, it is deeply, deeply funny to picture some like 88-year-old judge who passed the bar exam while Bill Gates was in kindergarten presiding over this lawsuit. That would make me so happy. Just a slew of lawyers thinking they’re making killer legal arguments and then the judge interrupts to ask if an NFT is “a Nintendo thing.” I would watch a live feed just to see their faces sink.

On Wednesday, the director announced auctions of nonfungible tokens, or NFTs, associated with his original handwritten screenplay, despite a pending lawsuit by Miramax.

I repeat: An extremely Tarantino thing here. He’s going to make a movie about this soon. The plaintiff can be named, like, Guentin Paranpino. Best case scenario is that he releases the movie while the trial is still going on.

Mr. Tarantino has been thwarted before. In November, after he announced plans for an auction, Miramax sued, claiming breach of contract and various intellectual property violations. In December, the director’s lawyers denied the accusations, but the sales did not proceed.

I kind of ran out of things to say about this issue already but I wanted to include this paragraph anyway because it contains the word “thwarted.” That’s a good word. Let’s all try to use it a lot more going forward.

Hey, speaking of NFTs…

ITEM NUMBER FOUR — Richard Karn gets it

This is, with zero hyperbole, one of the greatest tweets I’ve ever seen. Richard Karn, Al Borland himself, popping in on Twitter to update the world on his NFT stance, apparently from a table at a reasonably priced steakhouse. It’s perfect. Let’s go ahead and add it to the Tweet Hall of Fame, alongside such luminaries as this one…

… and this one…

… and this one…

… and this one.

Congrats to Richard Karn. And all of us, really.

ITEM NUMBER FIVE — This is the energy I’m bringing to 2022

I’m of two minds about Cobra Kai, which returned for a fourth season last week and continued its streak of karate teens doing massive amounts of damage to private property in Southern California, to the degree that insurance companies should start offering coverage for it like it’s a flood or a hurricane.

On one hand, I’m still pretty annoyed about the thing last season where they gave one character a spinal cord injury and had him unconscious in the hospital in a halo brace and then just up and healed him over the course of like three episodes with nothing but good vibes and gumption, so miraculously that he now engages in karate combat every episode again like nothing happened. That stunk.

(To be fair, I have a horse in this. I have a spinal cord injury and was in a halo and know it does not work like that even in the best-case scenario. Stuff like this creates a crappy representative for the injury on television for other people who aren’t as familiar with it all, especially for younger viewers who might face the same thing someday in their lives and wonder why they don’t just magically start walking after a real good pep talk from their sensei. I don’t know. It doesn’t matter all that much but it matters a little to me because it’s my thing. Sometimes that’s just how it works. If they wanted to have him overcome something in a couple of weeks, they could have just, like, given him a concussion or a broken leg. I’m cranky.)

On the other hand, this season opened with a man who has flowing blond hair and a luxurious silk robe sitting at a piano, facing out the window of his mansion toward the ocean, pounding away on it like a supervillain. It was breathtaking. I started giggling a little before I even realized who it was. It’s really just incredible energy to bring into the world. I aspire to be this powerful someday.

Anyway, guess if he decides to throw this perfect life away to help an evil old friend ruin a group of rival karate teens. Cobra Kai is rarely anything less than 100 percent Cobra Kai.

READER MAIL

If you have questions about television, movies, food, local news, weather, or whatever you want, shoot them to me on Twitter or at [email protected] (put “RUNDOWN” in the subject line). I am the first writer to ever answer reader mail in a column. Do not look up this last part.

From Greg:

I feel like you might be the only other person who gets this so here goes.

The Christmas truck commercial with the puppy and the truck is driving me insane. You’ve seen it. I know you’ve seen it. It’s been on 100 times every NFL Sunday since Thanksgiving. It’s the one where a guy and his blond wife (girlfriend? mistress?) are walking through the snow covered woods. He whistles and an adorable little puppy comes running toward her. She whistles and a brand new truck comes barreling towards him. Merry Christmas.

But… I mean…

Where was the dog the whole time leading up to this? Was it shivering alone in the frozen woods the whole time? And who is driving the truck? How good of a friend do you have to be to sit in the woods in a new truck for god knows how long until a woman you know whistles at you so you can surprise her husband? Did they all ride home together in the truck? How did they get out to the woods in the first place? WAS THE DOG OKAY OUT THERE?

I have questions.

Greg, thank you. Yes, this commercial has also been driving me nuts. Yes, for many of the same reasons. Let’s go ahead and post it here so the people can feel our rage.

I have two other questions to add:

• Do you think she was upset at all when she realized he got her a puppy and she spent like $40,000 on a brand new vehicle for him?
• Did anyone else think for like two seconds that the lady in this commercial was Reese Witherspoon?

No? Just me and my inferior vision/comprehension? Hmm. Okay. That’s fine. It’s fine.

Anyway, thank you, Greg. This was a good email that I’m glad you sent because it saved me from typing 1000 of my own unhinged words about it and worrying my friends and family. They don’t need that stress.

AND NOW, THE NEWS

To Canada!

Ontario police are investigating the alleged theft of two truckloads of butter worth an estimated $200,000.

BUTTER HEIST

CANADIAN BUTTER HEIST

$200,000 CANADIAN BUTTER HEIST

$200,000 CANADIAN BUTTER HEIST… ON CHRISTMAS DAY

The force’s Quinte West detachment alleges that four suspects broke into the facility on Christmas Day and used the trucks to steal two trailers that each contained approximately 20,000 kilograms of butter

Couple of notes here:

• I say this every time there’s a weirdo massive heist of an odd item but, like, I kind of just want to see what $200,000 worth of butter looks like
• Between this and the Great Canadian Maple Syrup Heist from a few years ago, we are now just one large-scale pancake heist away from a delightful black market breakfast

PANCAKE HEIST

Police say the transport trucks and trailers were found in Toronto on Dec. 27 without their contents, including the butter believed to have “a combined retail value of about $200,000.”

Imagine being a police officer in Canada and having to spend your entire Christmas weekend hunting down stolen butter trucks. I can’t decide if this would be annoying or thrilling. I hope there was a whole task force. A butter task force. I hope when they found the trucks they did the thing from movies where they surround it with guns drawn and send a little robot in to open the doors in case it was booby-trapped.

And then, when they saw the trucks were empty, I hope the chief took his cigar out of his mouth and sighed and said “The butter is in the wind, boys…”

I haven’t been thinking about this a lot. Nope. Not a lot at all.

The Los Angeles Rams were once the darlings of the NFL after a 7-1 start to the season, but three straight losses to fellow Super Bowl contenders bumped them down a tier in the minds of many. Since then, L.A. has rattled off five straight wins to lock up a playoff berth and move one win away from the No. 2 seed in the NFC.

During the Rams current win streak its been the defense that’s started to find its top form, led by perennial DPOY frontrunner Aaron Donald up front and two-time All-Pro corner Jalen Ramsey in the backend. Ramsey is in the midst of what he calls the best season of his career, posting 73 tackles (eight for loss), 15 passes defended, three interceptions, and a forced fumble in his 15 appearances so far.

As L.A. gets set for their regular season finale with the 49ers ahead of the playoffs, we got a chance to sit down over Zoom with Ramsey on behalf of his partnership with Snickers to talk about this season, his growth as a player, how he’s pushed by the other great players in the Rams defensive room, his favorite young DBs to watch around the league, and what the Rams need to do better to make a deep postseason run.

To start, what have been your thoughts on this season as you guys get ready for your last game of the regular season?

I think it’s went well. This is probably the best season that I’ve had in my professional career. I love this team. We’ve been through some ups and downs, good, bad, ugly, all of it. And we still have an opportunity to come out on top of the division, clinch a #2 seed, and go into the playoffs rolling. So, super happy with how the season’s been going. Obviously, we’re always trying to look for perfection and to be elite. So there are times where we wish we could have done things differently, but overall we’re very pleased with how things are going. And we just hope to finish on a high note to end this regular season.

Yeah, I mean, you’re on five game win streak coming in here. You had some hiccups in the middle of the year, but are finishing the season strong. What’s been working this last month?

You know, the heart of this team. The heart, the passion, the unity at the end of the day. I think all those things have really been key to us in this five game win streak. We went through COVID. We went through missing some players in different games, in a few games. So at the end of the day, knowing that we can go through all of that and still come together and find a way to get wins, it says a lot about who we are as a team, and what matters to us, and our heart and our passion for the game and each other. We’ve overcome a lot of adversity, so it’s been great to see us prevail.

You mentioned that you’re always striving for perfection. What are the things that you think you guys can continue to improve on and just do better as you head into the playoffs and the competition ramps up?

Yeah, I think we can just play even better complementary football as far as offense, defense, and special teams all feeding off of each other’s energy and playing well for each other. Defense, we can improve on getting some turnovers. Maybe getting a bunch of them, hopefully at least. We haven’t had any in the past few weeks. We’ve hopefully been saving them for this last game in the playoffs. And then our offense, they’re getting them [turnovers] out of the way right now, so they won’t have any in this last game and in the playoffs [laughs]. And then special teams, they’ll continue to shine for us and come up big for us.

For you personally, you’re a veteran now in this league and when you look back on the player you were when you came in to player you are now, what would you say is the biggest area of growth for you on the field?

You know, I try to find a few things each year to improve on and add to my toolbox and say that I was able to add that to my game or improve that about my game. I try to do that every year. And honestly, I’ve been blessed because I’ve been able to be around some honestly great coaches. I’ve been able to be around some great teammates who have helped me achieve all of these goals. Because honestly, I genuinely do aim for perfection in the hopes that, I know I’ll never get perfection, but on the way there I hope I’ll reach elite status. And I feel like that’s something that I’ve been able to do. I’ve been able to have teammates who are super unselfish, and it allows me to be unselfish and play various roles. I can show my skill set in a bunch of different areas. And then, at the end of the day, having fun. You have so much fun doing what you love. You get to shine a light that is different and that is bright. So that’s one thing I feel like is happening out here in LA with the Rams.

You’ve got future Hall of Fame teammates, guys like Von Miller coming in this year and then you’ve played with Aaron Donald now for a few years. What does it do to play with guys who are that elite their positions to help push you, even if they’re not in the DB room, you see those guys you see the work they’re putting in and how’s that that push you to continue to feed off of that?

Man, they are some of my biggest motivators and influencers without ever saying a word. The times we do have to speak, and we have words, I take it all to heart. But even more than those times are the times where I’m just looking at how they’re going about their business. How they’re going about handling their business. And I just try to learn from it, and I try to grow from it. Those are the times where I really cherish just seeing them in the facility, whether it’s in the film room, whether it’s in the weight room, or whether it’s on the practice field, seeing how they go about their business. And everybody does it differently. Everybody has their own way of winning. It’s definitely something inspiring to see and try to take a little piece from each of them to implement into my life and my professional career.

You’re working with Snickers on this rookie mistake campaign and I got to see the video you did. How fun was that the shoot and kind of how did this partnership come together with you and Snickers?

Yeah, this was a super fun partnership for me to have with Snickers. Like you said it’s the Snickers Rookie Mistake of the Year. And what they’re doing, it’s a campaign they launched that will reward one fan with two tickets to Super Bowl 56 just for sharing examples of their rookie mistakes. So I got to show some of my acting skills. I got to record a video that’s posted on my Instagram that y’all can check out. And it was a mistake where two fans there forgot their luggage on a cruise they were going to, so they had to get all new clothes at the gift shop. And the video was fun. It was funny to us. It’s a voiceover that I’m acting out a little bit, and they definitely needed a Snickers because they were tripping a little bit. But entries to this close this Sunday, the last regular season game. So I hope all the fans get to share their rookie mistakes and submit it to SnickersRookieMistakes.com. And we’ll see which lucky fan gets to win two Super Bowl tickets to Super Bowl 56.

If you were to submit something from your rookie year, what would you look back on and say was your biggest rookie mistake that you think you made?

Ooh, you know, I was actually thinking about this for a while, and I don’t know if I have one rookie mistake, or a few rookie mistakes, or even some rookie mistakes that I made when I wasn’t a rookie. But I guess one common thing that pops up around the NFL a lot is when you go on road trips sometimes you pack your bags, and you try to make sure you have the right luggage and stuff for yourself. So you’re so focused getting your own stuff together, but usually the rookies have to bring food to the plane. So whatever it may be, it might be some chicken, biscuits, french fries, whatever. And I remember I brought some food on the plane for all the veteran defensive backs before, and I forgot ketchup, barbecue sauce, honey, like I forgot everything. So that’s more of a common rookie mistake that a lot of rookies make on the first few times of bringing food to the airplane on the road trips, is we forget all the condiments.

There’s a lot of young DB talent in the league. Do you have some favorite young guys that have come in the last few years that you like to watch and think are going to be the next wave of stars at that position?

Yep, yep. I do. I’m a big fan of A.J. Terrell. I think A.J. Terrell is a baller. I think he doesn’t get enough credit for how he’s been playing, especially this year. Obviously, Trevon Diggs. I mean, he’s an interception machine. He finds a way to make those big plays for his team. Those are the two that stick out to me right away. And then other guys obviously have continued to be consistent in balling, and guys who I’ve been in the league with for various years: Marshon Lattimore, and Darius Slay, and Kenny Moore, and I can go on and on.

The anticipation is building for Gang of Youths‘ upcoming album, Angel In Realtime. Out next month, singer Dave Le’aupepe has been very forthcoming in talking about how the focal point of his songwriting has been in learning how to move forward with his life following the death of his father. Songs from the Aussie band like “The Man Himself” and “Tend The Garden,” have seen Le’aupepe open himself up to the grieving process and it has made for powerful music to say the least. Now on “In The Wake Of Your Leave,” he takes another step forward.

With backing harmonies from the Auckland Gospel Choir and percussion by drummers from the Cook Islands, “In The Wake Of Your Leave” is the most expansive single from the album yet. Propulsive drums, beautiful strings and Le’aupepe’s forceful delivery showcase the sound of a killer band that’s firing on all cylinders. Le’Aupepe shared a statement on the meaning behind the new track:

“I wanted to reflect on how I became dependent on grief for solace and inspiration. The cycle from numbness to acceptance to yearning plays a role in my approach to grieving my dad’s death. As a result, most of the time, I feel a bit futile as a person.”

Gang of Youths are heading towards a peak in their unique rock and roll from down under, and you can listen to “In The Wake Of Your Love” above. Check out their 2022 tour dates here.

Angel in realtime. is out on 02/25 via Warner Records. Pre-order it here.

Gang Of Youths is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Drakeo The Ruler, prolific as he was in life, probably won’t fade from the public consciousness anytime soon. His gritty, DIY work ethic means that we’ll likely see plenty more projects from him, even after his untimely death. The first of those works, the video for “Ain’t That The Truth,” from the album of the same name, has arrived to keep the spark of the West Coast rapper’s fiery creativity alive.

Featuring Drakeo’s brother and Stinc Team cohort Ralfy The Plug, the video sees the two rappers hanging out in their home studio, watching basketball on TV, and imbibing various — ahem — substances while rapping their defiant verses. On the hook, Drakeo declares, “We know the truth, we the truth, and asks, “Ain’t that the truth?” while on the verse, he makes sure to provide all the details needed to back up his boisterous boasts.

Speaking on Drakeo’s death after being stabbed backstage at the Once Upon A Time In LA festival, Ralfy called his brother his “idol,” writing, “You did it by yo self. You was a self made boss and a leader. You was my idol and big brother and I learned a lot from you and I’m definitely gone make sure they still know the truth.”

Watch Drakeo’s “Aint’ That The Truth” video with Ralfy The Plug above.

The last new episode of The Boys premiered less than two years ago, but when you’re waiting for something even more WTF than “Herogasm,” it feels much longer. Luckily, the break between seasons is almost over: Amazon Prime Video announced on Friday that The Boys season three will launch with its first three episodes on Friday, June 3, followed by weekly episodes every subsequent Friday, leading up to the finale on July 8.

The reveal was made “at the very end of Friday’s episode of the Amazon Prime Video web series Seven on 7 With Cameron Coleman, a tie-in to The Boys that has been offering fans glimpses into the show’s world,” according to Variety. The teaser (which you can watch above) mainly focuses on Homelander and his unconvincing crazed smile.

Jack Quaid, who plays Hughie, previously tweeted that fans are “not ready” for “just how f*cked up” season three is going to be. I disagree: we’re ready.

Here’s more:

The Boys is an irreverent take on what happens when superheroes, who are as popular as celebrities, as influential as politicians and as revered as Gods, abuse their superpowers rather than use them for good. It’s the powerless against the super powerful as The Boys embark on a heroic quest to expose the truth about “The Seven,” and their formidable Vought backing.

Season three: there will be head explosions.

(Via Variety)

Ted Cruz is a total p***y. This is a fact, not an opinion, as anyone who has ever watched him snivel and cower while being bullied by the likes of fellow wimps such as Donald Trump—who called Cruz’s wife ugly and accused his father of being responsible for the JFK assassination—knows all too well. More recently, Cruz has been turned into a quivering pile of apologetic goo by Tucker Carlson, of all people.

On the eve of the one-year anniversary of the Capitol insurrection, Cruz decided to finally—after a full year—denounce the events of that day and call it exactly what it was: a “violent terrorist attack on the Capitol.”

But, HOO BOY, Carlson did NOT like that. On Wednesday night, the Fox News host called Cruz a liar, and assured his viewers that: “Of all the things that January 6 was, it was definitely not a violent terrorist attack. It wasn’t an insurrection. Was it a riot? Sure! It was not a violent terrorist attack. Sorry!”

Carlson ended his rant by addressing Cruz directly and asking: “What the hell’s going on here? You’re making us think maybe the Republican party is as worthless as we suspected it was,” then asking Cruz to “reassure us.”

On Thursday night, Cruz dared to enter Tucker’s lion’s den and attempt to walk back his “terrorist” comment, at which point Carlson jumped down his throat. To which Cruz basically responded: “Thank you, sir. May I have another?”

The whole thing played out like an embarrassing soap opera. And, as Raw Story reports, outspoken former Republican strategist Steve Schmidt couldn’t help but chime in, and eviscerate Cruz even further, declaring the whole exchange between Cruz and Carlson as a “depraved spectacle.”

We await the next entry in this embarrassing saga.

(Via Raw Story)

To say that we’re in the midst of another massive COVID outbreak would be a gross understatement. The highly virulent Omicron variant (not to be confused with Omarion) is responsible for approximately 75 percent of all new COVID infections, and the speed at which it spreads it wreaking havoc around the world, including in Hollywood. As The Hollywood Reporter notes, one of the latest major productions to be impacted by the coronavirus is Star Trek: Picard, which had to shut down production on Monday due to an on-set COVID outbreak.

Sources tell THR that on Monday, the production’s first day back following an extended Christmas break, more than 50 people involved in the series, including both cast and crew, tested positive for COVID. While that’s indeed a large number of people affected, Star Trek: Picard—a Paramount+ series that continues the journey of Patrick Stewart’s Jean-Luc Picard—also employs one of television’s largest cast and crew, with more than 450 staffers.

Once the positive tests were reported, production shut down immediately. According to The Hollywood Reporter, producers are hoping to come back to work on Monday, though no official date has been confirmed.

As The Hollywood Reporter notes, “Picard films in Los Angeles, which recorded 26,754 new cases, 2,240 hospitalizations and 27 deaths on Jan. 5. In California, an average of 59,000 cases a day were reported from New Year’s Eve through Monday.”

CBS Studios declined to comment on THR’s story.

(Via The Hollywood Reporter)

Following the confirmation that legendary screen actor Sidney Poiter passed away at the age of 94, the tributes started pouring in on social media as film lovers and colleagues like Whoopi Goldberg and Jeffrey Wright praised the Oscar winner for his trailblazing cinematic output. As the first Black man to win an Academy Award, Poitier was an inspiration to a generation of Black filmmakers, and his legacy is truly being felt as the world reacts to news of his death.

“We are deeply saddened by the news of trailblazer, humanitarian, and cultural icon Sidney Poitier’s passing. May his memory be a blessing,” wrote the Congressional Black Caucus before quoting the late actor. “‘In my case, the body of work stands for itself… I think my work has been representative of me as a man.’ — Sidney Poitier.”

The Lincoln Center also quoted Poitier in its tribute to his life. “‘I learned to hear silence. That’s the kind of life I lived: simple. I learned to see things in people around me, in my mom, dad, brothers and sisters.’ Remembering the great Sidney Poitier, who has passed away at the age of 94.”

As report of Poitier’s passing began to circulate, Whoopi Goldberg was one of the first actors to send her condolences to his family while honoring the late actor’s work.

If you wanted the sky i would write across the sky in letters that would soar a thousand feet high..
To Sir… with Love
Sir Sidney Poitier R.I.P.
He showed us how to reach for the stars

My condolences to his family and to all of us as well

You can see more tributes to Sidney Poitier below:

Everything old is new again. Just days after Tom Holland confirmed that he’ll be playing Fred Astaire in an upcoming movie and rumors that Chris Evans will be playing Gene Kelly, Variety reports that Rooney Mara has signed on to portray Audrey Hepburn in an upcoming biopic.

The as-yet-untitled film is being made for Apple by Luca Guadagnino, the Oscar-nominated director behind Call Me By Your Name (2017), the reimagining of Dario Argento’s Suspiria (2018), and the upcoming adaptation of Evelyn Waugh’s Brideshead Revisited, in which Mara stars alongside Andrew Garfield, Cate Blanchett, Ralph Fiennes, and Joe Alwyn.

According to Variety:

Though plot details are being kept under wraps, Hepburn is an acting legend celebrated for her performances in classics like Breakfast at Tiffany’s, My Fair Lady, Wait Until Dark, Charade and Sabrina. During her four-decade career, Hepburn achieved EGOT status, winning Emmy, Oscar, Tony and Grammy awards, the last of which she received posthumously. She was also a dedicated humanitarian, working with UNICEF to help children in Africa, South America and Asia and receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1992.

Mara first rose to fame in 2010 as the lead in Samuel Bayer’s remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street and in the small but pivotal role of Erica Albright in David Fincher’s The Social Network. In the years since she has been nominated for two Oscars, the first as Best Lead Actress for her very-un-Audrey-like role as Lisbeth Salander in Fincher’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011), and again for Best Supporting Actress for Todd Haynes’ Carol (2015). Most recently, Mara appeared in Guillermo del Toro’s Nightmare Alley (2021).

(Via Variety)