Month: March 2022

Like another show that premiered in 2016, Stranger Things is coming to an end after two more seasons. Season four of the Netflix series will be split into two parts, with the first half of the season premiering on May 27 and the second half on July 1, while the fifth and final season will hopefully debut sometime before the kids are in their late 30. Early 30s? The CGI team can handle that. But mid-to-late 30s is tough. Believe me.

Stranger Things producer and director Shawn Levy explained the decision to end the show in a recent interview with ScreenRant. “We never wanted to run on fumes and we wanted to only tell as much story as [creators Matt and Ross Duffer] saw and feel with clarity. So it’s been clear for a while that they know exactly where we’re headed and this is the arc. We wouldn’t want to stick around for one moment beyond that vision and the clarity of that voice,” he said. “So rather than focusing on that sad day that happens who knows when, the end of season five, I’ll just once again reaffirm what I’ve told everyone, which is it has been a long-ass wait for season four.” Levy added:

“I swear to God, the world will realize it’s worth it.”

David Harbour agrees:

(Via ScreenRant)

The Brooklyn Nets are making the trek down to Philadelphia on Thursday night for a showdown between two teams that pulled off the biggest trade of the season last month. Brooklyn parted ways with James Harden and Paul Millsap, and in exchange, the 76ers gave up Ben Simmons, Seth Curry, Andre Drummond, and a collection of draft picks.

Thursday will be the first time those teams have gone head-to-head since the move, and while he’ll watch the game from the bench as he works his way back from a back injury, Simmons’ return to the City of Brotherly Love is in the spotlight, as the expectation is that Sixers fans won’t exactly give him a warm welcome.

In the aftermath of the team’s 132-121 win over the Charlotte Hornets on Tuesday night, Kevin Durant was asked if he’s discussed the hostile environment Simmons will walk into.

“Absolutely not,” Durant said. “That’s one of those things he’s gonna have to experience for himself. I can’t go over there, nobody’s gonna hold his hand, I’m sure it’s gonna be personal attacks, there’s gonna be some words that may trigger you, personally, but that’s just how fans are. They wanna get under our skin, let their voices be heard. Part of the experience of coming to an NBA game is to heckle — some people don’t even enjoy basketball, their lives are sh*tty that they just get to aim it at other people, so it’s easy to kinda get that release at a basketball game.”

Durant did say that he believes Simmons understands this, and that some of the stuff he might hear could end up being pretty funny.

“But at the end of the day, we realize that life is amazing, we play the game of basketball for a living, and a little bit of trash talk is what it is,” Durant finished.

In a follow-up, Durant said that Simmons hasn’t asked him about his first game back in Oklahoma City after leaving the Thunder to join the Golden State Warriors. Durant famously faced a pretty hostile crowd that evening, but if the Nets are lucky, Simmons’ return to Philly will end the same way that Durant’s return to Oklahoma City ended — the Warriors won that game, 130-114.

Lauren Boebert has been in rare form lately. The Colorado representative, whose antics can be easily confused with that of bestie Marjorie Taylor Greene, is hot off of publicly showing how little she knows about Russia. Then there’s last week’s State of the Union, in which both she and Greene were total nuisances but only Boebert heckled President Joe Biden as he was ahout to talk about his dead son Beau. Her timing is terrible, as further evidenced by her attempt at a Biden diss involving a mysterious “Prince John.”

As per Mediaite, Boebert was one Fox News’ newish hit show Jesse Watters Primetime, where she was talking about high gas prices again. Specifically, they discussed how leaders of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates both reportedly refused to speak with Biden about exporting more oil. They suggested Biden isn’t respected, with Boebert getting into some convoluted joke about him selling oil to foreign powers, then buying it back, or something.

“I’m just worried if we are going to call on Alaska to start producing this, is Biden going to want to sell it to the Saudis or Venezuela, and think that’s the only way that he will be able to buy oil and gas from Alaska?” Boebert tried to joke. “But, in all seriousness, here’s Biden’s energy policy: anyone but America. OPEC, Venezuela, you name it, if it’s not American energy, Joe doesn’t want it.”

She then badly fumbled another joke. “And I don’t know who is running the federal government these days, Joe Biden or Prince John from, uhh — Prince John,” she said, visibly realized she forgot the punchline, if there ever was one. “But they are taxing us into poverty.”

There are a number of Prince Johns throughout British history, but perhaps she was referring to the prince regent who ascended to the throne in 1199, reigning over the following 17 years. Historians take a complicated view of his tenure, but his negative qualities inspired many villainous depictions in fiction, amongst them in the legend of Robin Hood. Prince John doesn’t always play a big part in modern day Robin Hood retellings; he’s not in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (nor the Taron Egerton one you may have already forgotten), and he plays only a smallish role in the one with Russell Crowe. But he’s a memorably louche baddie in Disney’s 1973 animated take, in which he’s a sleepy lion voiced by Peter Ustinov.

Did Boebert’s brain stop on a Disney movie she probably watched as a kid then break down mid-joke? Is even that giving her too much credit? Whatever the case, when the clip hit social media, people tried to figure what on earth she was talking about.

Some just made jokes.

Or maybe she was telling the truth, but only about herself.

In the meantime, Boebert has a challenger to her congressional seat, and he recently released an ad featuring lots of literal s*it.

(Via Mediaite)

It’s been almost three years since Nicki Minaj released an episode of Queen Radio. The platform, which Nicki has used to promote her music and share announcements in addition to some other controversial moments, has not held an episode since 2019. That same year, she promised that Queen Radio would make a return alongside the release of her single “Megatron.” While “Megatron” was released on time, there was no episode of Queen Radio. Now, at long last, it’s coming back.

On April 8, Queen Radio will make its return, though it won’t do so on Apple Music’s radio platform, where it was previously housed. Instead, it will make its return on Amp, a new app from Amazon. Through Amp, listeners will be able to enjoy music and commentary from Nicki and even call in to speak with her — if she decides to allow them to. They can also share the tracks that they’re enjoying. Amp has access to tens of millions of songs from Universal Music Group artists, while other names like Big Boi, Tinashe, and Pusha T will also host shows on the platform.

Nicki shared the announcement about her show’s return during a livestream on Instagram. You can watch a clip from the livestream above.

It’s been a minute since the Oscars had a host. The last time was all the way back in 2018 with Jimmy Kimmel, who’d also played emcee during the ceremony that notoriously ended with the Best Picture trophy almost going to the wrong movie. Since then, for a variety of reasons, the show has gone hostless. Not this year. The telecast that occurs at month’s end already has plenty of controversy, but they at least made up for the three years without a host by hiring, well, three hosts.

That trio is Amy Schumer, Regina Hall, and Wanda Sykes, who were named after a long search that included such possible hosts as Pete Davidson and the heroes of Only Murders in the Building. So how’s their chemistry? Pretty solid, as judged by the first promo for the show.

It finds the three sitting at a kitchen table right out of a Nancy Meyers movie, vowing to do “better than last year’s host.” Who was last year’s host? Whoever it is, Schumer jokes, “they must have sucked.” Only Hall remembers that there wasn’t a host last year, or the year before, or the year before. “Boom! We’re already winning,” cracks Sykes.

It’s a lighthearted promo for a show that’s already mired in heartbreak. The producers, under intense pressure from ABC to fun up a show whose ratings have fallen into the toilet, announced they wouldn’t air about a third of the winners live, leading to much pushback. But even bad press is good press, right? We’ll find out on March 27.

(Via Entertainment Weekly)

May we all find something that makes us as off-the-charts happy as this grandpa and his wholesome love for Dua Lipa.

For his 80th birthday, Papa Richy’s granddaughter Kadie Bernstein knew she got him a gift he’d never forget (surprise tickets to see Dua Lipa in concert) so she decided to film his reaction. His literal squeals of delight became a viral sensation, and racked more than 7 million views on TikTok.

But thanks to Jimmy Fallon, Papa Richy’s birthday surprise became a double whammy.

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As Fallon welcomed Dua Lipa onto his Thursday episode of “The Tonight Show” last week, he revealed that Papa Richy had been tricked into thinking that he had won “#1 TikTok of the Year” on a radio show. The show flew Papa Richy and his granddaughter to the studio for a fake radio interview. But instead, he was walked right on stage to meet his beloved pop star. Pure giddiness ensued.

Perhaps the best part: It didn’t instantly dawn on Papa Richy who he was sharing the stage with. But rest assured, as soon as it hit him, he completely lost it. This 80-year-old has definitely held onto his inner child.

They both hold hands, share a shimmy, he even praises her neon green outfit from an earlier show in Miami. Fallon saw it as flirting, I personally saw it as innocent fanboying. Papa Richy can do no wrong!

Making his exit, we hear Papa Richy shout, “I got to dance with Dua!” And the adorable moment won hearts all over the internet.

“So happy that sweet man got one of his dreams to come true,” one person wrote.

Another commented, “You have me crying and laughing at the same time. It’s so adorable. So happy for him.”

Thanks Papa Richy (and Dua Lipa) for proving that joy truly is contagious.

I was a teen when the Cold War ended, so my childhood memories are marked by the ever-present threat of nuclear war with Russia. This was pre-internet, obviously, so we didn’t have easy, direct access to people in different countries around the world like we do now. It’s probably hard for younger generations to imagine, but the only Russians we ever saw were in TV shows and movies, and maybe occasionally on the nightly news.

Spoiler alert: They were not usually portrayed favorably. Russia was our country’s longtime mortal enemy, after all. The Red Scare was over, but anti-communist and anti-Russian sentiment in the U.S. still lingered.

However, in the mid-1980s there was a peace movement that influenced—and was influenced by—artists and entertainers. We saw Russian ballet dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov’s humanity in the movie “White Nights” in 1985. And we were compelled to consider that Russians were really no different from us on a human level in Sting’s 1986 song, “Russians.”

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The former frontman of The Police included the song on his debut solo album “The Dream of the Blue Turtles,” and he told the British daily newspaper the Express that the song was inspired by his watching illegal broadcasts of Russian children’s television shows.

“I had a friend at university who invented a way to steal the satellite signal from Russian TV,” he told the Express. “We’d have a few beers and climb this tiny staircase to watch Russian television. At that time of night we’d only get children’s Russian television, like their ‘Sesame Street’. I was impressed with the care and attention they gave to their children’s programmes.”

Hence the iconic line about hoping the Russians love their children too.

The song fit the era perfectly, coming out the year after “We Are the World” and a few years before the Cold War finally came to an end. Listening to it has always felt like looking at a snapshot of a specific moment in time, with time giving it a bit of the sepia tone of a bygone era. But now here we are again, with the threat of nuclear war with Russia hanging over our heads. And here we are again with anti-Russia sentiment too easily morphing into anti-Russians sentiment, making Sting’s “Russians” almost feel like it could have been written yesterday (minus the references to “the Soviets” and Reagan).

It’s a little easier this time around to remember the humanity in the people on the other side, especially seeing how many Russian soldiers have been young conscripts with no idea what they were being sent to Ukraine to do. But there are still people lumping the Russian people in with the sins of their government, which is both unfair and inhumane. Many Russians are victims of intense state-run media propaganda and censorship of outside information sources and genuinely have no idea what’s really happening in Ukraine. Many people in Russia who do understand what is happening have risked their lives protesting the war, with arrests of protesters growing into the thousands.

Sting shared a new live performance of the song with a message that reflects what many of us are feeling.

“I’ve only rarely sung this song in the many years since it was written, because I never thought it would be relevant again,” he wrote. “But, in the light of one man’s bloody and woefully misguided decision to invade a peaceful, unthreatening neighbor, the song is, once again, a plea for our common humanity. For the brave Ukrainians fighting against this brutal tyranny and also the many Russians who are protesting this outrage despite the threat of arrest and imprisonment – We, all of us, love our children. Stop the war.”

It’s a beautiful rendition. And for those who may not know, the cello part of the song is actually a theme from “Lieutenant Kijé Suite” by Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev.

The combination of war and media can influence people’s thinking about a group of people. In war times, it’s far too easy to start dehumanizing people on one side or the other, especially when one side is quite clearly the aggressor.

But everyday people don’t choose to go to war. Those decisions are made by government and military leaders, with no input from the people they are charged to protect and defend. So we have to guard ourselves against blaming an entire people for the evil deeds of those in charge.

Calls to our common humanity are always needed, but they’re especially needed in times of war.

Three years after Fifth Harmony announced their decision to go on an indefinite hiatus and pursue individual projects, member Lauren Jauregui released her debut project Prelude. It made her the third part of the group, joining Camila Cabello and Dinah Jane, to release a solo work after the band’s split. Five months after she released her EP, Jauregui has launched her own mental health podcast titled Attunement, which premiered exclusively on Patreon on Tuesday.

Jauregui promised that the series will “strengthen care for mind, body and spirit.” She also said that it’s inspired by her own journey toward peace and clarity. “Attunement is an empowering space where love meets through reflection and honest,” Jauregui said on social media. “For so long, I wanted to embrace the process of my own growth, my path to healing and the connections that guide me.”

She continued, “Launching a podcast was my way of being able to connect with the most brilliant minds I have encountered throughout my journey here on Earth. These conversations thread life moments; where we’ve been, where we’re headed and the in-between. Attunement offers a vision of a new Earth. A life long quest to care for mind, body and spirit. A dais where we can exist as we are and where we allow contrast and nuance to heal us.”

New episodes of Attunement can be found every Tuesday on Patreon.

You can view Jauregui’s post about Attunement above.

It’s been a little over a year since Ted Cruz’s Cancún misadventures, when he abandoned his freezing constituents to escape to warmer climes. You would think he’d learn to steer clear of airline-related stories. But on Tuesday, the man who made questionable jokes about said mishegoss ahead of this year’s Texas storm slipped up.

As per The Washington Post, Cruz and fellow GOP senator — and Jan. 6 downplayer — Ron Johnson met with the “People’s Convoy,” aka the group of Trumpist truckers who’ve spent the last month threatening to annoy and inconvenience the residents of D.C. in an attempt to replicate the protests that recently did the same to certain Canadian cities.

The group has been protesting vaccine mandates, even after many in pandemic-stricken locations have been lifted. Despite this — and despite their repeated failures to cripple American cities and their inhabitants — they vowed to cruise around the metro area “indefinitely,” hoping to score more meetings with famous politicians, like the one that happened Tuesday.

Though there were few details from either the convoy leaders or the two Republican senators that met with them, it did produce one perhaps performative outburst from Cruz. No fan of the mandates that have resulted in a massive uptick in vaccinated Americans, he pivoted the discussion into a dig at the nation’s airlines, which required their employees to be vaxxed, resulting in safe air travel (minus a smattering of outbursts from unruly passengers).

“I fly back and forth to Houston. Almost without exception, every time I’m on an airplane, either the captain or a flight attendant will come up to me, will hug me and say, ‘Thank you for fighting for us,’” Cruz railed. “Because I’ll tell you, American Airlines — sadly, Houston’s a hub of them — has fired thousands of pilots and flight attendants.” He also slammed his hand on the table for dramatic effect.

As per a Fortune report from this past January, American Airlines did not fire “thousands,” as the Texas senator claimed. The estimate was closer to 200. The airline was the first in America to impose a vaccine mandate. A month later, more than half of their 67,000 employees had been fully vaccinated, with the rest either awaiting their first dose or on the verge of termination. You can probably do the math as to how many stood their ground, surrendering their job for a safe, effective, and free vaccine.

When a clip of Cruz’s outburst was made public, some dwelled on his embellishment. Others simply could not believe that one of the most dunkable people on social media was constantly being hugged by appreciative airline staff.

To some, it sounded suspiciously like one of Donald Trump’s equally far-fetched tales about strangers coming up to him, tears in their eyes, calling him “sir.”

There were also Cancún jokes.

And other jokes of different stripes.

Some pointed out that what Cruz was doing — lending voice to people with a dodgy agenda, targeting the lives of everyday citizens just trying to get by — was not funny.

(Via WaPo)

The Warriors are in the midst of a five-game losing streak and entered Tuesday night’s game against the Clippers desperate to turn things around as they continue to see their once massive lead for the 2-seed slipping away.

In an effort to turn the vibes around, they called in a master of positivity, Jackie Moon, to help them out. Yes, Will Ferrell took the court in full Flint Tropics regalia to warm up with Warriors stars, bringing some smiles and levity to pregame warmups for Klay Thompson and Stephen Curry. Thompson, who has embraced the entire Jackie Moon look this season, had an incredible reaction to Ferrell’s appearance.

Curry also had some fun with Ferrell on the floor as the Warriors stars seemed pretty thrilled to have the movie legend out there with them.

Ferrell wasn’t just out there for a minute either, he was committed to the bit, shooting jumpers opposite Thompson and Curry, and also providing some defensive pressure for Thompson to get game ready.

He even banked in a logo three.

If the Warriors get a win on Tuesday night against a surging Clippers team, they might have to consider having Ferrell join them for pregame more often. We know the Semi-Pro star is a huge Lakers fan, but after getting spurned for the role of Dr. Jerry Buss in HBO’s Winning Time, it’s good to see him returning to his roots playing a basketball player at least for a night.