Month: February 2022

West Coast gangsta rap godfather Snoop Dogg vowed to purchase his onetime label Death Row Records last year and now, he’s done just that, according to Variety. Snoop acquired the label’s brand from MNRK Music Group and the private equity fund that owned it managed by Blackstone investment firm. While the terms of the deal were not disclosed, a source said Snoop will also begin acquiring the rights to some of the label’s music — including his own — in the near future.

In a statement, Snoop said, “I am thrilled and appreciative of the opportunity to acquire the iconic and culturally significant Death Row Records brand, which has immense untapped future value. It feels good to have ownership of the label I was part of at the beginning of my career and as one of the founding members. This is an extremely meaningful moment for me. I would like to personally thank the teams at Blackstone, MNRK, and especially David Kestenbaum, who worked collaboratively with me over several months to make this exciting homecoming a reality. I’m looking forward to building the next chapter of Death Row Records.”

Death Row Records was Snoop Dogg’s first label home when he debuted in 1992 on Dr. Dre’s debut solo single, “Deep Cover” and where he released his first two albums Doggystyle and Tha Doggfather, as he proudly proclaimed on “Nuthin’ But A G Thang” with Dr. Dre in 1992. “Death Row is the label that pays me,” he rapped, pledging his allegiance to the label founded by Suge Knight which also put out Dr. Dre’s The Chronic and Tupac Shakur’s catalog. Unfortunately, tensions within the label led Snoop to part ways with Knight in 1998, aligning with Master P’s No Limit Records, then Priority in 2002, and Geffen in 2004. More recently, Snoop has released his music via his independent label Doggystyle in joint ventures with eOne, Empire, and Create.

In 2021, he took an executive creative consultant gig at Def Jam, A&Ring the compilation album Snoop Dogg Presents Algorithm. Now, the original label that paid him will pay him once again, albeit in a new capacity as owner of the brand — and possibly its lucrative publishing catalog.

Supply chain issues continue to surface here and there during this stage of the pandemic, which has seen vinyl shortages and associated delays, and grocery stores are now feeling their way through some unexpected fallout. First it was toilet paper, right? Now, of all things, people can’t find Nabisco saltine crackers. We’ve all (of course) seen some empty store shelves over the past few years, and this has been a global issue, as evidenced in the above photo from March 2020 in France.

Now, people are flummoxed that the saltines appear to have gone. They ease nausea, satisfy snack cravings, and more. They’re simple but delicious in soups, they are strong enough to hold scoops of hummus, and they’re (usually) relatively inexpensive for what you get. Well, those days are temporarily (we hope) over, given that you don’t really want to know how much saltines are currently going for on Amazon. Heck, I looked for them at the grocery store again last night (after being unable to find them for a month), and two other people were also sadly staring at the same empty shelf.

People sure miss these underrated, mainstay crackers a lot right about now (fingers crossed that they’ll return to shelves soon), and Twitter tells the tale.

People are pretty worked up about this!

Good news sometimes comes alongside bad news. And so it goes with this item. The good news: Futurama, Matt Groening’s sci-fi comedy spectacular, is coming back yet again. The bad news: It will return minus one of the key vocal talents that made it so pure.

As per Deadline, when the show returns, it will do so with most of its original cast in-tact. But there’s one, very significant exception: John DiMaggio, who voiced, among others, Bender, the fun-loving alcoholic robot, is sitting this one out. Negotiations between the esteemed voice actor — whose CV also includes Samurai Jack, Kim Possible, Teen Titans, and more — and the studio, 20th Century Animation, reportedly came to a “standstill,” though there is hope that he’ll return after all.

Nevertheless, everyone else is back, including Billy West, whose duties included the ensemble’s central character Philip Fry, an unremarkable late ‘90s pizza delivery man who is unwittingly frozen for 1,000 years, only to awaken in “New New York” and start working for an elderly descendant, mad scientist Professor Farnsworth (also West).

West — who also voiced depresso lobster-like doctor Zoidberg — will be joined by the likes of Katey Segal (Turanga Leela), Lauren Tom (Amy Wong), Phil La Marr (Hermes Conrad), and more. This will be the third iteration of Futurama, which debuted on Fox in 1998, was cancelled in 2003, was revived on Comedy Central in 2008 (beginning with three DTV feature-length specials), and ended again in 2013. Its new home will be Hulu, which also exhumed Animaniacs in 2020. Here’s hoping they can get real Bender back, and not only because no one can say the word “pimpmobile” quite like John DiMaggio.

(Via Deadline)

When The Tinder Swindler documentary started streaming last week on Netflix, the film made a shocking revelation at the end. Simon Leviev, “The Tinder Swindler,” was still active on the dating app despite allegedly scamming millions of dollars (total) from several women. According to the documentary, Leviev pretended to be the son of an Israeli diamond tycoon in order to connect with woman. After initially taking them on lavish dates, he allegedly spun a series of tales about his life being in danger as well as using other tricks to gain access to their cash and credit cards.

However, Tinder has since responded to the documentary’s claim, and in a statement to NBC News, the dating app said Leviev (real name: Shimon Hayut) has been banned:

“We banned Simon Leviev and any of his known aliases as soon as the story of his actions became public in 2019,” a Tinder spokeswoman said. “In the lead up to the release of the documentary, we conducted additional internal investigations and can confirm Simon Leviev is not active on Tinder under any of his known aliases.”

According to NBC News, Hayut is also banned from Hinge and “dating sites and apps under Match Group Inc., including Match.com, Plenty of Fish and OkCupid.” His Instagram account has also been reportedly deleted.

As shown in The Tinder Swindler documentary, Hayut denies all of the allegations and has threatened a lawsuit for “defamation and lies.”

(Via NBC News)

Today is National Pizza Day which means it’s the perfect day to eat pizza. Well, do we really need a reason to eat pizza? We’re willing to eat pizza any day of the week, any hour of the day, it’s f*cking pizza! But sure, give it the national day treatment because the only thing better than pizza is pizza that you can get for cheap.

As with all national food days, there are some good deals out there that will save you some dough (see what we did there?). So we’ve rounded out the best deals on the market to help you get fed on the cheap.

Considering we’re just days away from Super Bowl Weekend, you’ll be happy to know a lot of these deals extend through the weekend. So even if you don’t plan on eating pizza today, you should find something that comes in handy for the next couple of days.

Let’s eat!

BJ’s Restaurant & Brewhouse — This is probably the best deal of the day. BJ’s is offering 50 percent off any deep dish or tavern-cut pizza order when you use the promo code “HALFOFF” from today through Sunday. Hit them up today, and then every day until Super Bowl Sunday!

Blaze PIzza — All members of Blaze Pizza’s loyalty club will receive double points for any order placed on National Pizza Day. If there was ever a time to download that Blaze Pizza app, it’s today!

Casey’s — Use the checkout code “3OFF” to receive $3 off any large pizza order.

Chuck E. Cheese — Today only, Chuck E. Cheese Rewards members can score a free large one-topping pizza when they order an additional large one-topping pizza. This deal is valid for both takeout and delivery orders.

Domino’s Pizza — This isn’t explicitly a National Pizza Day deal, but right now Domino’s is offering a Mix & Match menu that will get you two menu items for just $5.99.

Donato’s Pizza — Donato’s is offering double points on any pizza order for Donato’s Rewards members.

Hungry Howie’s — At Hungry Howie’s you can choose any two items from the chain’s Mix & Match menu for just $6.99. It’s just like the Domino’s deal but a dollar more. Do better, Howie’s.

Marco’s Pizza — Use the checkout code “PEPMAG” to receive a free large Pepperoni Magnifico for $10. Your order must be placed online to score the deal.

Mountain Mike’s Pizza — Mountain Mike fans will receive 15 percent off any order when using the checkout code “PIZZADAY22”. That’s the kind of deal we’d like to see.

Papa John’s — The Papa is offering their new NY-style pizza with giant foldable slices for just $13 from today until March 13th.

Peter Piper Pizza — Grab two large one-topping pizzas for just $24 dollars from Peter Piper from today until Sunday. It’s on the pricier end, but that’s enough pizza to feed your whole crew!

Pieology — All Pieology Pie Life members will receive $2 off any order placed today. That’s a pretty good deal unless you’re not living that Pie Life.

Pizzanista! — This only applies to people living in or near Los Angeles, but right now Pizzanista! is offering a Joan Jett-inspired vegan pizza (made in collaboration with PETA) complete with a black heart-shaped crush. The pizza is made on a sourdough crust and topped with Abbot’s Butcher vegan sausage, vegan bacon, and sliced jalapeños.

Round Table — Round Table Royal Rewards members will receive either 10, 15, or 20 percent off their dine-in, carry-out, and delivery orders. The discounts are chosen at random so fingers crossed you score the big 20!

Whole Foods — Whole Foods probably isn’t the first place that comes up when you think “pizza.” But hey, it’s a little hard to not be psyched over picking up an 18-inch cheese pizza for just $10. This deal lasts from today until February 15th. And if you’re a Prime Member, you’ll score an additional 10 percent off.

Adam Driver has been cast in Michael Mann‘s passion project– an Enzo Ferrari biopic based on Brock Yates’ book Enzo Ferrari – The Man and the Machine. Driver will be joined by his House Of Gucci co-star Penélope Cruz, and Big Little Lies star Shailene Woodley. Production is slated to begin in Italy this spring.

Director Michael Mann said of the casting, “Being able to have these wonderfully talented artists, actors Adam Driver, Penélope Cruz and Shailene Woodley, bring to life these unique characters on location in Modena and the Emilia-Romagna is a vision fulfilled.” Mann has famously been working on the film for nearly two decades. Hugh Jackman was attached to the project earlier.

The story of Enzo Ferrari will take place in 1959, when the race-car driver is facing bankruptcy, and decides to do a 1,000-mile race across Italy.

Mann has acquired numerous accolades over the years, including four Academy Award nominations. Cruz was recently nominated for an Oscar for her work in last year’s Parallel Mothers. While Driver wasn’t nominated for his role of Maurizio Gucci in House Of Gucci, he was nominated for his roles in BlacKkKlansman and Marriage Story in 2019 and 2021, respectively. He didn’t win, but he does have a Teen Choice Award for his role in Star Wars, which is better than nothing.

Betty Davis, the pioneering icon of funk and soul music who was at one time married to jazz legend Miles Davis, has passed away at the age of 77 according to Rolling Stone. Ethnomusicologist Danielle Maggio, who performed on Davis’ 2019 song “A Little Bit Hot Tonight” — the singer’s first in 40 years — confirmed Davis’ death of natural causes.

Although Davis did not have a vast collection of mega-hits to her name, she proved to be one of the most influential musicians of the 1970s funk movement, developing a cult following and growing in public esteem in more recent years due to her music receiving more recognition in pop culture, with placements of television series such as High Fidelity, Mixed-ish, and Orange Is The New Black. Miles Davis also credited his ex-wife — his second after Frances Davis — with introducing him to Jimi Hendrix and Sly Stone, leading to his experimental jazz fusion work in the ’70s.

Betty recorded four albums during the period: Betty Davis, They Say I’m Different, Nasty Gal, and Is It Love Or Desire? although the last of the four wasn’t released until 2009. Musicians who played on her albums included members of the Family Stone, Buddy Miles, Herbie Hancock, and more, although she became disillusioned with the music industry and retired after the release of Nasty Gal in 1975. Contemporary artists who cite her as an influence include Erykah Badu, Jamila Woods, and Janelle Monae.

During his Tuesday night monologue, long-time Marvel fan Jimmy Kimmel blasted the Academy Awards for not giving one of its 10 Best Picture nominations to Spider-Man: No Way Home. The late night comedian couldn’t believe the film was passed over for Adam McKay’s Don’t Look Up, which Kimmel clearly was not a fan of.

“Forget the fact that the movie made $750 million [in the U.S.] and is still going,” Kimmel said in defense of No Way Home. “This was a great movie. It wasn’t in the top 10 best movies of the year? There were three Spider-Men in it. You’re telling me ‘Don’t Look Up’ was better than ‘Spider-Man?’ It most certainly was not.”

But that wasn’t the only jab that Kimmel took at Don’t Look Up. After comparing the two films Rotten Tomatoes score (Spidey had 90% to Don’t Look Up‘s 46%), the late night host accused Academy voters of being star struck by the Netflix film’s cast. Via Variety:

You wanna know what happened? Voters looked at the list and saw the names Leonardo DiCaprio and Meryl Streep and they checked the box and then they put their kids in the car and went to see the movie ‘Spider-Man.’ And they loved it! But they didn’t vote for it.

While Kimmel’s life-long dream of being a comic book artist and his love for the medium is well-documented, it probably should be noted that ABC and Marvel are both owned by Disney. Not to take anything away from Kimmel’s passionate love for Spider-Man, but just doing our journalistic diligence.

(Via Variety)

High schools are a perfect breeding ground for weirdness. First of all, you have a bunch of teenagers who are starting to deal with adult problems but they don’t have the experience or the brain development to figure out how to navigate complex feelings and relationships.

Then you add sex, drugs, learner’s permits, the stress of trying to get into college and really bad facial hair to the situation and you have all the ingredients for people and situations to go completely sideways.

Then there are the teachers. High school teachers tend to be a bit more eccentric than those in the younger grades because they are hired as specialists in a given field, such as history, math or science. Whereas teachers in younger grades have to be nurturing and have a more holistic approach to child development.

Also, hindsight makes a lot of things that seemed normal at the time begin to seem a bit strange. As we get older and have a firm grasp on the realities of being an adult, there are some things that we can’t believe we lived through as teenagers in high school.

When I was in high school we had a drama teacher that sat in the gym and chain-smoked while we rehearsed the play and we didn’t think anything of it. I’m pretty sure my home economics teacher hit the cooking sherry during lunchtime, and we got a day off from school due to the L.A. riots in 1992.

Everyone dealt with some amount of weirdness while they were in high school, so Jimmy Fallon asked his “Tonight Show” audience to share their stories with #MyHighSchoolWasWeird and he read some of his favorites on his show.

We took a look at the hashtag and picked some of the responses we liked the most. Here are 19 of them. Why was your high school weird? Tell us in the comments on Facebook.

Itu2019su00a0Hashtagsu00a0time! Tell us something weird or funny about your high school, and tag it with #MyHighSchoolWasWeird. Could be on the show!

— jimmy fallon (@jimmy fallon)
1643049328

1.

My chemistry teacher would give us an example a day of how to kill your mother in law with chemical compositions #MyHighSchoolWasWeird

— Liisa Spink (@Liisa Spink)
1644342578

2.

We had a kid nicknamed Johnny Appleseed ( JohnA for short) who placed marijuana seeds in any available place they could grow. Our school had pot plants popping up so often they had to get rid of all the potted plants in classrooms and offices . #MyHighSchoolWasWeird

— OldHippie (@OldHippie)
1643055449

3.

#MyHighSchoolWasWeirdnOne teacheru2019s bathroom pass was an actual toilet seat that you had to carry with you to the restroom. pic.twitter.com/tesVLEpKe9

— Robin Smith (@Robin Smith)
1643063750

4.

My high school was across the street from a another high school #MyHighSchoolWasWeirdpic.twitter.com/iPXC7SQx7b

— Timmy Stotlar (@Timmy Stotlar)
1643056920

5.

This is the mascot at the high school i went to. nPart anthropomorphic sugar beet part food processing machinery. nn#MyHighSchoolWasWeirdpic.twitter.com/2R42p5zCYu

— omicrust prime (@omicrust prime)
1643070771

6.

#MyHighSchoolWasWeird because we had free periods during the day where we would sleep or hang out in the halls.pic.twitter.com/UCYxZPz4Dv

— nikkiu2728 (@nikkiu2728)
1643061702

7.

#MyHighSchoolWasWeird because Grimace won every student vote by a landslide. If you werenu2019t writing in Grimace on your ballots you were a narc. Youu2019d think Mayor McCheese would make more sense, being an actual politician, but I guess enough kids couldnu2019t spell it or something.pic.twitter.com/N6CrLw4v7r

— Mike-o Neill (@Mike-o Neill)
1643060956

8.

The mascot was a literal mop #MyHighSchoolWasWeirdpic.twitter.com/ypvheLGnZ2

— Courtney (@Courtney)
1643089724

9.

One time a swim meet was canceled at my friend’s high school because the pool “caught on fire.” Still have no idea how that’s possible. #MyHighSchoolWasWeird

— jimmy fallon (@jimmyfallon) January 24, 2022

10.

My high school had the mayonnaise bandit who would put mayo on the under side of the stair railings from the cafeteria making them useless or risk getting a handful of slimy mayonnaise on your way to class #MyHighSchoolWasWeird

— Rachel Lambert (@rlambert1201) January 24, 2022

11.

My high School was called Start. The student motto for it was Start High Stay High#MyHighSchoolWasWeird

— Kelly Reads (@ReaderofBook) January 24, 2022

12.

I graduated from North Pole High School in Alaska. We had to answer letters to Santa for an English grade. #MyHighSchoolWasWeird

— Nancy J. (@LifeboatSinger) January 24, 2022

13.

My Junior year of high school there was a competition for one of the teachers to kiss a cow. Of course the most disliked teacher ended up kissing the cow. #MyHighSchoolWasWeird

— Edward Schmidt II (@edwardschmidtii) January 24, 2022

14.

There was this kid that would run around during highschool and hiss at people. He was really smart but he would just randomly hiss lol #MyHighSchoolWasWeird

— The Zelda Corner (@ZeldaCorner) January 24, 2022

15.

Got a new principal in my senior year who decided to enforce the dress code with bright orange “Dress Code Violator” t-shirts. They became badges of honor instead of the intended punishment… 🤦‍♀️ #MyHighSchoolWasWeird

— Kelsey K 켈시 (@krklemm) January 24, 2022

16.

Our cafeteria’s chicken fries were such a rare and glorious experience, once people GRADUATED, they would still come back to buy them. #myhighschoolwasweird

— EmmyAnn (@EmmyAnn412) January 24, 2022

17.

#MyHighSchoolWasWeird because we had a bring your tractor to school day, those who brought one in got to skip all classes and just talk with others about their tractors. It always causes traffic delays because there was one main road into the school.

— Mary Olmsted (@MaryOlmsted13) January 25, 2022

18.

My science teacher was convicted of a double murder during summer break. I wish I was kidding!

— Mike Bennett (@MikeBennett11) January 24, 2022

19.

Weird Al graduated from my high school. On the opposite end of the spectrum, Suge Knight also graduated from my high school. #MyHighSchoolWasWeird

— Cindy Price (@Cinderella1976) January 24, 2022

If you look back at how you acted, dressed and behaved in high school and have a little bit of shame, that’s probably a good thing. If you cringe a little when you think about your former self, that shows that you’ve grown as a person.

But wouldn’t it be great if you could go back to high school knowing what you know now? How much easier would it be to approach that special person you wanted to ask to the dance but couldn’t muster up the courage? How much more would you appreciate those carefree days when all you had to worry about was a bio test or who had a crush on whom in homeroom?

Personally, if I went back to high school I’d have a lot more appreciation for my teachers knowing just how hard of a job they have. Now that I’m an adult I have a lot more sympathy for what we put them through and I can totally understand why teaching at a high school can turn someone a little weird.

Here’s Jimmy Fallon reading off some of his responses to #MyHighSchoolWasWeird.

We all have that song that gets us every time. No matter our mood, no matter where we are or who we’re with, when the rhythm starts popping, we just have to dance.

Okay, maybe not all of us. But if you know, you know. And this Punjabi momma knows.

Self-described actor and prankster Gagandeep Anand shared a video on TikTok and Instagram of him and his brother Ishwardeep surprising their mom by playing her favorite song. She was cooking in the kitchen when Gagandeep walked in with a stereo and Ishwardeep with a dhol (a traditional Indian drum) and as soon as they started playing, her face lit up like a firework.

Then the most joyful 30 seconds of dancing took place, right there in the Anand kitchen.

The song, “Dhol Jageero Da” by Master Saleem, is commonly played at weddings in Northern India. It’s a song that’s hard not to dance to just by its nature, but Momma Anand clearly has her own personal history with it. The sheer joy she exudes as she drops her cooking to break into dance? Infectious. And her disappointment when the music stops? Just precious.

Watch:

Her smile and youthful energy, holy moly. And when Gagandeep said he has to dance when he sees his momma dance was adorable. If only they hadn’t stopped the music so quickly.

People are loving the video, claiming Momma Anand as their own and delighting in her delight.

“Your momma?” one commenter wrote. “She is now our Momma.”

“She literally got younger the moment the music started,” wrote another person.

“OMG I’ve watched this too many times….she was so happy, I couldn’t stop smiling,” wrote another.

Others scolded the boys for leaving her hanging:

“How y’all gonna tease mom like that… her favorite part was coming up.”

“You better go back right now and do it again for her!!!”

“YOU GO BACK IN THERE AND FINISH HER SONG RIGHT NOW!!”

Gagandeep frequently features his mom (and dad) in his videos, which usually feature silly pranks. And Momma Anand has her own Instagram page too, where she shares cooking tips.

For more fun with the Anand family, follow Gagandeep (@guggin94) on TikTok, Instagram or YouTube.