Month: February 2022

19-year-old Memphis rapper NLE Choppa (born Bryson Lashun Potts) has come a long way in two years. After breaking out in a big way back in early 2019, then just 17, Choppa slowly but surely began to build out his discography beyond his viral hit “Shotta Flow.” Signing a deal with Warner Records, the teenage rapper released his Cottonwood EP in early 2020, along with his debut album, Top Shotta, and a mixtape shortly after called From Dark To Light. Given his output during that short one year span, it makes sense that Choppa held off on full-length releases last year, but came back in strong at the top of 2022 with his second album, Me Vs. Me just last Friday.

Now, he’s following up the album’s release with a new video for “Stompin,” in which he plays a whole host of characters, including none other than The Dark Knight himself. Switching gears for other visceral roles like a butcher tenderizing meat (with lots of blood splatter), and even finds himself in a similar situation to the lethal hypnotism that trapped Daniel Kaluuya’s character in Get Out. Check out the new video for “Stompin” above and stream the Me Vs. Me mixtape, which includes features from Young Thug, Polo G and G. Herbo, right here.

A time-honored tradition of NBA in-arena entertainment is getting incredibly frustrated at whatever fan fails at a game or challenge. Whether it be a halfcourt shot that doesn’t even come close to making it to the basket or someone making a terrible guess at trivia, part of the allure of the Jumbotron games is the belief that, if you were ever put in that position you would succeed and win the prize.

On Monday night in Philadelphia, we got an all time Jumbotron Hall of Shame moment during a casino-sponsored game of blackjack, where the fan simply was trying to beat the Sixers mascot, Franklin, serving as the dealer for a prize. What transpires during this game is something absolutely awe-inspiringly dumb.

First off, hitting 17 against a 7 is decidedly not a “by the book” move, but he is somehow rewarded for that with a 3, which is the second-best possible outcome. When I first saw this video, I assumed that was going to be the crazy part, but he then hits a 20 to the dismay of the arena host, the entire crowd, and even Franklin appears to be judging him as he slams a jack down on the table to give the fan 30, which is an incredibly difficult total to get to in a game of blackjack.

I have seen a lot of things at a blackjack table that have baffled (and infuriated) me. I’ve seen someone split 10s four times. I’ve seen people stay on 14 against a face card. But never in my life have I seen someone hit 20. It is such a terrible decision that I’m almost impressed by it.

It’s a safe bet that Voltaire, the nom de plume of French Enlightenment writer, historian, philosopher, and wit François-Marie Arouet, has rarely if ever trended on Twitter. But on Monday, thanks to an obscure Republican who pals around with Marjorie Taylor Greene, Jim Jordan, and Lauren Boebert, he did, and for reasons unbefitting of the genius who wrote Candide.

Over the weekend, Kentucky representative Thomas Massie decided to become the umpteenth member of his party to go after the nation’s top immunologist, who somehow managed to keep his job through the final stretch of the Trump presidency while still doing his job. “You mustn’t question Fauci, for he is science,” Massie sarcastically tweeted above a quote, allegedly from Voltaire: “To learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize.”

Problem is, Voltaire never said that. But a neo-Nazi who was arrested for child pornography did.

As per expert CNN fact checker Daniel Dale, “there is no record” of Voltaire writing or uttering those words. Still, it’s a popular quote among certain types, even though it’s commonly attributed to Kevin Alfred Strom, said child porn-having neo-Nazi, who said the following in a 1993 broadcast: “To determine the true rulers of any society, all you must do is ask yourself this question: Who is it that I am not permitted to criticize?” Strom was, in fact, referring to Jewish people. (Dr. Fauci, incidentally, is Jewish.)

Massie’s far from the first person to fall for this misquote. In 2015, an Australian senator misattributed the quote to Voltaire and, after receiving pushback like Massie is now, deleted all of his tweets.

As of this writing, Massie’s tweet remains live.

Speaking of, in August Massie was condemned after tweeting out an image that compared vaccine cards to Nazis tattooing numbers on concentration camp prisoners. He deleted that one.

In the meantime, perhaps Voltaire’s Candide (or one of his many history books) will become yet another work of great literature to hit the sales charts, much like Art Spiegelman’s Maus.

(Via CNN)

Rosalía decided to share the album artwork for her upcoming record with the world today, and in the process, she’s sharing quite a bit. The Spanish singer/songwriter and rising mainstream pop star is pretty much naked on the cover, with her hands and some scribbles and spray paint strategically covering certain areas. On her head, she sports a massive black helmet and teased out hair that blends it all into what looks like one big headpiece. With the contrast of her naked body, the result is quite striking.

She shared the image to Instagram today, along with a caption in her native Spanish and in English. “Madre miiiiia aquí tenéis la portada de MOTOMAMI y este viernes adivina k nuevo tema se vieneee,” she began, including a string of heart and fire emojis before offering the translation as well: “Omg here you have the cover of MOTOMAMI and guess what new song is coming this Fridayyyy.”

Keep an ear out for that new music that’s coming later this week. If you’re trying to get caught up on the rising singer before her third album comes out, check out her collaboration with Billie Eilish or Motomami‘s first single, “La Fama,” which features The Weeknd.

Lately there’s been some quiet parts loud said loud — very loud. Over the weekend, former president Donald Trump — who effectively told his supporters to go nuts if he’s ever prosecuted for his alleged crimes while vowing to pardon Jan. 6 rioters — straight-up admitted he wanted his ex-veep Mike Pence to “overturn the election.” Now his good buddies at Russian state TV let slip that they helped get him in the White House.

Vladimir Putin and cronies are big mad at America right now, all because they’re threatened major sanctions should they invade Ukraine. (Ditto Don Jr.) As per The Daily Beast, Olga Skabeeva, the host of the show 60 Minutes (likely not an official spin-off of the American show of the same name), came out blazing over what she called “the mother of all sanctions.” But though Skabeeva, an infamous Putinite, was peeved at Biden, she remained hopeful for the future.

“The city on a hill is again being taken over by the Trumpists. Donald already declared that he will become the 47th president of America and will figure things out with Russia and Putin,” Skabeeva said. “Donald, we’re waiting for you and are ready to elect you again.”

The “again” rather jumped out, as did the idea that a far-flung nation was “ready to elect” an American president. Of course, it’s not the first time a Russian TV host has let slip — or simply boasted — that they may have played a part in electing the 45th president. After the publication of the Mueller report in 2019, Skabeeva’s husband and co-host Evgeny Popov told The Daily Beast, “Soon, we will help you elect Trump once again. Just like the last time. Get ready!” (Well, at least that time they were wrong.)

On Monday’s episode, Skabeeva also played translated clips of Trump bashing Democrats and praising Putin. She also repeated one of his insults aimed at Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, namely when he called her “crazier than a bed bug.” When a guest on Skabeeva’s show said that was “insulting to bed bugs,” Skabeeva responded, “Nancy Pelosi is a bed bug. Could you say he’s wrong? You can immediately see that he is our guy. Donald, please come back.”

(Via The Daily Beast)

There are few things more satisfying than knowing you left a party before things turned sour. You came, had a good time and had the sense to hit the exit before a fight broke out, the cops showed up or a bunch of people got into a drunken debate about politics.

There’s one rule my wife and I have: When the couple throwing the party starts to fight, that’s when you grab your things and go.

When you’re younger, it’s a bit harder to recognize the telltale signs that a party is about to go sideways. But when people age and have seen a thing or two, they start to develop a Spidey sense for the moment when it’s time to hit the exit before all hell breaks loose. They also know how long to stay before they’ve become an unwanted house guest.

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It’s one thing to know how to leave before things get lame. But it’s seriously important to identify situations that could lead to physical violence or sexual assaults.

Reddit user u/mharris1405 must have gone to a rager over the weekend, because on Sunday, they posted a great question to the online forum,“What are some signs you need to leave the party?” The Reddit community responded with some funny and practical advice on when they know it’s time to hit the exit.

Here are 18 of the best responses.

1. A party rots from the host down

“When the host is the cause of any form of drama,” – Nova_Phoenix

2. When the drunks are the only folks left

“When all the fun people have left and it’s just the last of the fucked up people hanging out,” – ParsnipBusy.

3. Don’t be the last person standing

“When it suddenly goes from 30 people to you and 2 randoms,” – hoot69

4. When things turn sloppy

“When people start getting obnoxious. If you see drunk or high people breaking shit, or screaming, interrupting others’ conversation, that’s when you can see that the party is going to get worse,” – ToastedMaple

5. “Who invited these dudes?”

“When a group of 5-10 unknown men arrives, which weren’t invited,” – Katsudonisyummy

6. When the antisocial crew arrives

“If a group of guys come in and don’t greet anybody, they just stand around looking around, someone is about to be jumped or shot. Leave.” – CGY-SS

7. When the night has peaked

“There usually comes a point in the night, usually around 2-3am, where everyone’s drunkenness wanes from energised to a bit sloppy. A lot of people start sitting down in increasingly insular circles, and drinks just stop going down so well. A lot of people will just hang around because it was fun earlier and they don’t want the night to end, but you start to really compromise on tomorrow’s happiness by drawing out the night.” – Tosslebugmy

8. When it devolves into a sausage fest

“When you’re a young female and suddenly realize the male-female ratio is more than 12-1 and the crowd is taking on a shark-like circling motion with a lot of side-eye. The actual nice guy I was chatting with suddenly said, ‘You need to leave’ and I jumped to my feet and bailed like the place was on fire. I suspect the nice guy covered my exit. See, there are nice guys and scary ones and fools like I was,” – Melina26

9. When your phone is more fun

“You’re starting to be on your phone WAY too much,” – Pillsbury Toasters

10. Guns? No thanks

“I once walked into a party and saw a bunch of guns just laying around and I grandpa Simpson’d myself right back out the door,” – popcornkernels

11. Leave before you get pulled in

“When you realize you’re just standing there watching the shit show. There’s a time limit to that. No need to become part of the show. Get out while you can,” – toriaehi

12. When you’re the third wheel

“Everybody is hooking up except you and you’re sitting next to a couple making out on a couch,” – OliveaSea

13. When the cops arrive

“I have a rule. No matter how good a time I am having, even if I have done nothing wrong, when cops show up, I leave then,” – Latvian_Pete

14. When your friends have left

“When you feel as though you’re ‘on the outside looking in,'” – Back2Bach

15. Trust your gut

“I saw no one mentions this so here I go. When your 6th sense or danger sense is screaming at you. You know that feeling when you suddenly feel unsafe, where there is no reason to be so? That is basically your unconscious mind screaming at you, because you unconsciously noticed something wrong, but cant put your finger on what. For those who have not had this yet, the most easily identifiable signs are, cold running down your neck, sudden extreme vigilance, the hair all over your body stands, and in general you feel like death itself is breathing down your neck.

If you have this (gut) feeling, flee. I am not kidding. Run like the wind. This saved me from some hairy situations.
As for an example that would be, something along the lines of seeing someone spike a drink at the edge of your vision, you personally did not notice it, but deep down you realized what is what so your body warns you about it. Even if this gut feeling is only correct 1 out of 10 times, you will thank it when it does,” – TehBuckets

16. The rule of two

“Never be the drunkest person in a room. If you are at a party and can’t identify 2 people more intoxicated than you, find a safe ride home or quit drinking for awhile,” – YeaahProlly

17. Terrible DJ

“When the music just sucks,” – JuliusTaka

18. Again, trust your gut

“When you can tell there is an emotionally unbalanced person there who you have a feeling will be a problem, you may consider leaving if it escalates. Whether it be starting a fight, or you can tell they are going to cause a problem later in the night or you feel uncomfortable around them always trust your gut. The same goes with a person you just feel is ‘off’ around. You are there to have a good time, not be anxious,” – foofighterfoos

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Coughlan began her post with both civility and directness. “Hello! So just a thing- if you have an opinion about my body please, please don’t share it with me.”

This was apparently after receiving messages every single day following her breakout role.

See on Instagram

She continued:

“Most people are being nice and not trying to be offensive but I am just one real life human being and it’s really hard to take the weight of thousands of opinions on how you look being sent directly to you every day.”

Her approach reminds us of the very real people we are often damaging through projections of outdated beauty standards and downright unfounded opinions.

“Yellowjackets” star Melanie Lynskey had also recently been invaded by an influx of supposedly well-intentioned spectators since the hugely successful Showtime series premiered.

“Most egregious are the ‘I care about her health!!’ people,” Lynskey tweeted. “You don’t see me on my Peleton! You don’t see me running through the park with my child. Skinny does not always equal healthy.”

I got to talk to the wondrous, wonderful @midwestspitfire again! How lucky am I?! https://t.co/SxsVEVx7l9

— Melanie Lynskey (@melanielynskey) January 25, 2022

And of course, she’s not wrong. Despite our general assumptions, being thin is no real indication of a person’s health. And in some cases, it can reveal a risk for certain diseases. Even the formerly gold standard of measuring a healthy weight, the BMI, aka body mass index, is considered flawed today by experts.

Clearly, the only weight needing to be shed is our truly unhealthy relationship with outdated body expectations.

Coughlan knows that being a public figure often invites a public examination. “If you have an opinion about me that’s ok, I understand I’m on TV and that people will have things to think and say,” she wrote, with the caveat, “but I beg you not to send it to me directly.”

Certainly, Coughlan shouldn’t have to resort to begging. But here we are. And maybe this is how the message needs to be heard. When it’s so easy to leave thoughtless or downright toxic messages on social media, we need to be reminded how it affects the hearts of real people on the receiving end. Empathy online is just as important as it is IRL.

That’s what makes her plea a masterclass in grace. She speaks out without anger or accusation, though she could. Instead she comes from a place of compassion.

Coughlan ended her post by saying, “anyways here’s a pic of me in my hotel in NY about to go to SNL, it’s unrelated to this post but delighted with my hair in it.”

Even in a battle for boundaries, Coughlan’s never one to refrain from having a sense of humor (she did also star in the hilarious “Derry Girls”, after all). And, she wasn’t wrong about the hair.

See on Instagram

Reading Coughlan’s post, I can’t help but wonder, if she was able to treat perfect strangers with so much respect and kindness, can we not return the favor?