Month: March 2022

The Oscars telecast is always a magnet for controversy, be it hosts known for homophobic jokes or a ceremony plagued with sketchy pandemic safety measures. This year’s flap is over a more dramatic overhauling than ever before. It was recently revealed eight of the over two dozen trophies won’t actually be aired live. The pushback has been severe, but now it gets worse.

As per The Hollywood Reporter, Tom Fleischman — a longtime sound mixer who won an Oscar for Martin Scorsese’s Hugo a decade ago — has resigned from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences over the show’s controversial plan. Indeed, had the plan been in effect when he won in 2012, audiences worldwide watching from home would not have seen it live. The two sound Oscars are among the trophies that will still be handed out during the ceremony, then aired later during the program.

Fleischman’s CV is immense, with over 200 credits stretching back to Errol Morris’ first feature-length documentary, Gates of Heaven, from 1978. Over the years, he’s worked with directors like Jonathan Demme, Brian De Palma, John Sayles, Spike Lee, Susan Seidelman, Noah Baumbach, Ron Howard, and more. On top of his Hugo win, he’s been nominated for four other Oscars, including Warren Beatty’s Reds, Demme’s The Silence of the Lambs, and two more with Scorsese: The Aviator and Gangs of New York. He’s also Hollywood royalty: His mother is Dede Allen, the legendary, game-changing film editor of Bonnie and Clyde, Dog Day Afternoon, and more.

The other Oscars being downgraded for the telecast are documentary short, film editing, makeup/hairstyling, original score, production design, animated short, and live action short.

The Oscars broadcast has come under pressure, reportedly largely from ABC, who’s long aired it, to re-tool it in an attempt to improve ratings. Last year’s show saw a ratings nadir of only 10.4 million, down considerably from the show’s peak of 57.25 million in 1998, when Titanic — for a good while the highest grossing movie ever made, not adjusted for inflation — took home Best Picture, among other trophies. Whether viewers will tune in to see less, all while ABC and the Academy alienate its talent, is something we’ll learn on March 27, when the ceremony hits the airwaves.

(Via THR)

Things could be going better for the Los Angeles Lakers. The team entered this season with championship-or-bust aspirations, and as of right now, they run the risk of not even making the play-in tournament — L.A. is 27-35, which puts them in the 9-seed in the Western Conference with only a two-game lead on the Portland Trail Blazers for the 11-seed.

There are about a million different reasons why they’ve underperformed this season, with one of the primary ones being Russell Westbrook‘s season-long struggles to fit alongside LeBron James and Anthony Davis. There’s plenty of blame to go around for why the Westbrook experiment has gone awry, and perhaps they’re able to figure some things out down the stretch of the season — particularly once Davis returns from an ankle injury — but banking on Westbrook to be the team’s third star simply has not worked.

With one year left on his contract after this season, questions exist about his future with the team. According to Marc Stein’s most recent newsletter, though, there’s not much of a question among those in the know about what’s coming once Los Angeles gets to the offseason.

Jousting with reporters in press conferences is apparently not the lone source of pushback these days from under-fire guard Russell Westbrook. There has been no shortage of defiance behind the scenes, I’m told, when coaches and teammates have tried to broach changes in role or approach with the former MVP. For all the obvious complexities involved in trying to move Westbrook when he’s owed a whopping $47 million next season at age 34, one league source described the idea of bringing him back next season as “impossible” based on current tension levels. The question then becomes: If the Lakers can’t construct a palatable trade, do they try to just buy Westbrook out? Or waive and stretch him?

The report comes days after the Lakers lost to the Clippers and Frank Vogel responded to a question about possibly benching Westbrook by cryptically saying that the coaching staff has discussed everything. During his press conference following the loss, Westbrook expressed that he is still trying to figure out his role with the team, as he claims it changes on a nightly basis.

In 2019, Sam Smith and Normani joined forces to release their first collaboration “Dancing With A Stranger.” “It bottles everything I was feeling whilst juggling my personal life and touring,” Smith said about the song at the time. Unfortunately, three years later, the track has landed the duo in some legal trouble as they were recently sued for copyright infringement.

According to Rolling Stone, in a complaint that was filed in federal court in Los Angeles, songwriters Jordan Vincent, Christopher Miranda, and Rosco Banlaoi claim that “Dancing With A Stranger” copies important elements, including its title, chorus, composition, and music video, from Vincent’s 2017 song “Dancing With Strangers.”

“The hook/chorus in both songs — the most significant part and artistic aspect of these works — contains the lyrics ‘dancing with a stranger’ being sung over a nearly identical melody and musical composition,” they allege. “Both videos consist of a girl performing interpretive dance alone in a minimalist studio, interspersed with shots of the male vocalist.”

This is not the first time that Smith has had to reach a legal settlement over one of their songs. Back in 2015, Tom Petty was awarded a song credit on Smith’s 2014 song “Stay With Me” due its similarities with “Don’t Back Down.”

Donald Trump has had it bad before. After all, his businesses have declared bankruptcy six times, and he lost the popular vote both times he ran for president. But he’s really not doing so hot right now. He’s in legal and financial jeopardy. His Twitter clone may wind up being yet another of his many failed ventures. His blog died a quick death. And now comes one of his fiercest Republican critic to kick him while he’s down.

In a new op-ed for The Washington Post, George Will — the longtime conservative commentator who formally left the GOP in 2016 over Trump’s nomination — all but declared the 45th president down for good.

“Floundering in his attempts to wield political power while lacking a political office,” Will wrote, “Donald Trump looks increasingly like a stray orange hair to be flicked off the nation’s sleeve.”

Will argues that over a year out of office, Trump has one power move left: “to influence his party’s selection of candidates for state and federal offices.” He then examines how his preferred candidates are doing. The answer: Not well. David Perdue, Ted Budd, Janice McGeachin — all have bombed or are bombing at the polls with their respective races.

He also accused Trump of being a broken record, spinning a record that’s well out of date:

Trump is an open book who has been reading himself to the nation for 40 years. In that time, he has changed just one important word in his torrent of talk: He has replaced “Japan” with “China” in assigning blame for our nation’s supposed anemia. He is an entertainer whose repertoire is stale.

Will doesn’t only come for Trump. He also singles out Fox News host Tucker Carlson and novelist-turned-Trumpist political aspirant J.D. Vance, for scorn. All three have been on record either flat-out praising Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine (then backpedaling, sort of) or, in Vance’s case, saying he doesn’t “really care” about what’s happening abroad.

Will’s conclusion? “For Trump, the suppurating wound on American life, and for those who share his curdled venom, war is a hellacious distraction from their self-absorption,” he writes. “Fortunately, their ability to be major distractions is waning.”

Then again, how many times have people, even people as smart as George Will, declared Trumpism over? Regardless, you can read Will’s full laceration over at WaPo.

The New Orleans Pelicans have crept up the Western Conference standings in recent weeks. The team has won four in a row and six of its last 10, and after an absolutely wretched start to the season, they’ve managed to find themselves with the 10-seed in the Western Conference with the free falling Los Angeles Lakers only a half game ahead of them.

All of this has happened without the services of Zion Williamson, the former No. 1 overall pick who has been sidelined for the entirety of this season due to offseason foot surgery. The whole situation has been a bit odd, as the news of the surgery came out of nowhere in the preseason, his initial timeline indicated he’d be fine by the start of the year, and after a number of setbacks, the two sides mutually agreed for him to go rehab the injury away from the team in Portland.

Earlier this week, the Pelicans announced some good news, as Williamson’s foot is healing well and he can start progressing in his rehab. And now, according to Shams Charania and Will Guillory of The Athletic, Williamson will hop on a plane and head back to New Orleans to continue his rehab.

There is still no word on whether or not Williamson will be able to play this season.

It appears that Pusha T is dangerously close to releasing his fourth solo album, which is reportedly titled It’s Not Dry Yet. So far we’ve received one single: the Kanye West- and 88 Keys-produced “Diet Coke.” Pusha also dropped a video for the track and it features an appearance from Kanye, who dances beside him throughout the visual. More recently, Pusha teamed up with DJ and fashion designer Nigo for their new song “Hear Me Clearly.” After the song was officially released, Pusha shared a devastating comment that he received from Pharrell.

“Fun Fact: @pharrell heard this song and told me ‘it’s cool, but I don’t want you to be a mixtape rapper for the rest of your life,’” Pusha wrote in an Instagram post. “I was devastated. He then flew me to Miami and proceeded to produce the first half of the best album of the year.” He concluded, “Moral of the story…always ‘push’ your friends to be greater, even when they’re the greatest.”

Pusha previously confirmed that Pharrell and Chad Hugo, who make up the famed duo The Neptunes, and Kanye West will produce his next album. The Neptunes will produce the first half while Kanye will take on the second. West previously produced Pusha’s first solo album My Name Is My Name, while The Neptunes produced albums by Clipse, the former hip-hop duo of which Pusha was a part alongside his brother No Malice. Pusha also revealed that the album will contain a feature from Jay-Z.

According to Russian news agency TASS, Brittney Griner is being detained on drug charges. The Russian Federal Customs Service announced on Saturday that an unnamed basketball player was arrested at an airport near Moscow after hashish oil was allegedly found in her belongings. ESPN noted that the maximum penalty for this in Russia is 10 years in prison.

A video was released by Russian Customs of the incident, and while it did not specifically identify Griner, it does appear to be the Phoenix Mercury center who has spent her WNBA offseason playing for Russian side UMMC Ekaterinburg since 2014. She is, however, identified as a two-time Olympic basketball champion with the United States — Griner has won Olympic gold medals in 2016 and 2020.

“We are aware of and are closely monitoring the situation with Brittney Griner in Russia,” the Mercury said in a statement, per the New York Times. “We remain in constant contact with her family, her representation, the WNBA and NBA. We love and support Brittney and at this time our main concern is her safety, physical and mental health, and her safe return home.”

“We are aware of the situation in Russia concerning one of our members, Brittney Griner. Our utmost concern is BG’s safety and well-being,” the WNBA players’ union told ESPN. “On behalf of The 144, we send our love and support. We will continue to closely monitor and look forward to her return to the U.S.”

The WNBA additionally released a statement offering support for Griner, while also noting that all other players who were in Russia have since left the country. Griner’s agent, Lindsay Kagawa Colas of Wasserman, told ESPN that the agency is “in close contact with her, her legal representation in Russia, her family, her teams, and the WNBA and NBA.”

In the caption, it is alleged that the incident occurred in February of this year, and while it is unclear exactly how long Griner has been detained, Angel McCoughtry wrote in an Instagram caption that this situation has been ongoing for three weeks.

Earlier this week, it was revealed that Dua Lipa was being sued by Artikal Sound System, a Florida reggae band, for copyright infringement. The band alleges that the singer stole from their 2017 song “Live Your Life” for her 2020 song “Levitating,” which peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard 200. When the two tracks were compared side by side, it was clear that they shared numerous similarities. However, a TikToker is saying not so fast.

A TikTok-er with the handle @mathiasmorte claims that the lawsuit could be a hoax of some sort. He points out that the YouTube versions of the song were only posted within the last few days while noting that the Soundcloud post of the song dates back to March 2017. He adds that Soundcloud allows users to replace audio files without having to change the song’s post date. Additionally, Soundcloud’s website says this replacement can happen without losing any stats or comments that were originally on the song. Despite this, the oldest comment from the song only dates back to a few days ago.

Towards the end of the video, he points out that it’s highly unlikely that Dua Lipa discovered this song, which had no comments when “Levitating” was released, and decided to copy it nearly note for note. Lastly, TikToker @mathiasmorte questions the timing of the lawsuit as it comes two years after “Levitating” arrived, but a little over a month after Artikal Sound System released their new album Welcome To Florida.

For what it’s worth, it would be extremely bizarre for Artikal Sound System to file a lawsuit over a claim that could be so easily disproven. For starters, Soundcloud could have a record of if and when Artikal Sound System swapped records on their page, as the TikTok video suggests. Furthermore, Artikal Sound System’s “Live Your Life” was a part of their 2017 EP Smoke & Mirrors, and while you can’t listen to it on Spotify, as it was removed from the platform, you can view its greyed-out listing here.

Dua Lipa is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Warning: This post contains spoilers for the 2007 blockbuster I Am Legend.

Fifteen years ago, Will Smith had one of his biggest-ever hits with I Am Legend, another take on Richard Matheson’s classic post-apocalyptic novel about a lone survivor fighting off the undead that have replaced much of humanity. Now that film is becoming the latest IP retread, with a twist.

As per Deadline, Smith is teaming up with Michael B. Jordan to produce a belated sequel. Details are currently thin on the ground, but among the things the follow-up will have to do is resurrect Smith’s character, who sacrificed himself to save two of the only other humans left on a planet whose population was [deep sigh] wiped out by a super-virus (albeit a human-made one, meant to eradicate cancer).

I Am Legend hails from a very different time. In the late period George W. Bush era, franchises hadn’t yet taken over Hollywood. Thus, I Am Legend was a one-off that even killed off its valiant hero, with little hope for a sequel. What’s more Smith spent the majority of the film wandering an eerily empty New York City by himself, his only company a German Shepherd, who, of course, doesn’t survive to the end either. Still, Hollywood brings the dead back to life all the time.

Matheson’s source has been adapted for the big screen multiple times, notably with Vincent Prince (in 1964’s The Last Man on Earth, filmed in Rome) and Charlton Heston (in 1971’s L.A.-set The Omega Man). Of course, the Will Smith-led I Am Legend plays very differently now in other ways. The species is still fending off its own deadly super-virus, which turned New York City into a ghost town for a few months two years back. Many noticed the similarities, though a few even got some key points incredibly, irresponsibly wrong, forcing one of the film’s screenwriters to set things straight.

(Via Deadline)

In late 2020, Phoebe Bridgers launched her own label called Saddest Factory Records. The new imprint is under the Dead Oceans record label and Bridgers has a simple vision for it: “good songs, regardless of genre.” Soon enough, she signed singer Claud as well as the indie band Muna. Soon enough, it became clear that Bridgers had more envisioned for the label. She recently launched a radio show under the same name. And during the show’s inaugural episode on Thursday, she shared her cover of Billie Eilish’s “When The Party’s Over.”

“Don’t you know I’m no good for you?/ I’ve learned to lose you, can’t afford to,” Bridgers sang over a soft piano. “Tore my shirt to stop you bleeding/ But nothing ever stops you leaving.” Bridgers’ cover stuck to the original song’s moody production.

After announcing the radio show earlier this week, Bridgers shared her goal and excitement behind the near endeavor. “My favorite way to consume music is incidentally,” she told Rolling Stone. “I hope I can offer something like that to people who tune in.” She added, “In my personal life, I have always had a radio show. Punishing my friends on road trips with hours of dirges and ambient music, I can’t wait to do it professionally.”

You can listen to clips of Bridgers’ cover above.