Month: April 2022

Since ending her reign as Arya on HBO’s massive series Game Of Thrones, Maisie Williams has starred in a few one-off movies, including the cursed film The New Mutants, but her next big role will be nothing like she’s ever done before.

In a new profile with GQ, Williams goes in-depth about her preparations for the upcoming miniseries Pistol which will follow The Sex Pistols and their massive rise to fame during the 70s in London. Williams is tapped to play Jordan (aka Pamela Rooke) an edgy punk rocker. Though Williams is clearly used to major hype, this project would be a much more mature role for her, including some topless scenes.

The Game Of Thrones actress was hesitant to do nudity, “just because of everything that happens in the industry and all the horror stories I’ve heard,” the actress said. “I want to be in this show because I’m the best person to do this, not because I’m the only girl who’ll take her top off.”

She shared her concerns with director Danny Boyle, who convinced her it was deeper than just nudity. “Jordan was a political statement,” Williams concluded. “Her entire ethos was turning the male gaze in on itself, and it was overtly sexual in a way that made other people feel ashamed…If I take my top off, I want to make other people feel uncomfortable.” Williams assured fans she didn’t go method: “I definitely didn’t like, do any drugs.”

Williams got the part after embodying Jordan in a virtual audition. The series was shot last spring and is expected to be released on May 31st…unless there’s another New Mutants situation.

Migos member Offset wants a court to reverse a recent default judgment against him for allegedly stealing a rental car. Rolling Stone reports that Offset filed a statement in the case for the first time, denying that he kept the car, a Bentley, and disputing the massive $950,027 award, which is more than five times the value of the vehicle.

According to Offset, the car was rented by Oriel Williams, the mother of one of his five children, a fact that was made clear to the rental company, Platinum Transportation Group. He had agreed to cover the cost, but when Williams alerted him that the car had gone missing in July 2020, he says he immediately informed the company and was told that PML would report the car stolen.

However, it seems he didn’t know he would be held liable for it, as he was never listed as an additional driver on the rental agreement to his knowledge. “Not hearing otherwise from PML or the Los Angeles Police Department in 2020 or thereafter, I assumed that the Bentley — which was very unique and which I believed was protected with OnStar or some other electronic detection device — had either been recovered or that any loss had been covered by PML’s insurance,” he wrote in the statement.

However, the car was worth only $177,521, and Offset says PML misled the court to obtain a higher judgment. He says he was never served the lawsuit in the first place, due to the company mailing it to an address previously rented by his father and where he never lived. In addition to saying he did not authorize his father to receive his mail, Offset also asserts that he only found out about the lawsuit when his wife Cardi B’s entertainment law firm noticed it in the LA Superior Court computer system.

A hearing has been set for May to resolve the issue, with no comments on the record as yet from Platinum’s legal counsel.

South Korean indie favorites Say Sue Me recently announced their new album, The Last Thing Left, which is due on May 13. The band’s Sumi Choi previously said of the upcoming LP, “This album has the theme of some realization, eventually the realization of love. Love in relationships, love for oneself, and the ultimate love gained after realizing those two things.”

Now, the band will get to share that love with fans in North America later this year, as they announced a new run of tour dates across the continent today. Kicking off in late October and running through the end of November, the group will hit hotspots like Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, Austin, and other major areas.

When announcing the album, the band also shared a single, “Around You.”

Check out the band’s upcoming tour dates below.

10/29 — Chicago, IL @ Empty Bottle
11/02 — New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom
11/03 — Vienna, VA @ Jammin’ Java
11/05 — Atlanta, GA @ The Earl
11/07 — Dallas, TX @ Club Dada
11/08 — Austin TX @ Parish
11/10 — Denver, CO @ Hi-Dive
11/11 — Ft. Collins, CO @ The Coast
11/13 — Los Angeles, CA @ The Roxy
11/14 — Santa Ana, CA @ Constellation Room
11/16 — San Francisco, CA @ The Independent
11/18 — Portland, OR @ Holocene
11/19 — Seattle, WA @ Crocodile Madame Lou’s
11/20 — Vancouver, BC @ Future Sound Club

The Last Thing Left is out 5/13 via Damnably. Pre-order it here.

Nelly, who recently posted a video of himself receiving oral sex (“accidentally,” according to him), was having a good time at a Miami club last night. A video shows him sipping a cocktail in the VIP section, with a glowing bottle service bucket filled with bottles of high-end vodka at his disposal, bobbing his head as the DJ plays “Mo Bamba” by Sheck Wes. Trouble is, the fun didn’t last very long for Nelly.

Not sooner than he can say “Grey Goose,” does an object come flying down from the upper level of the club and smacks Nelly on the head and ricochet’s onto his shoulder. A video posted by TMZ shows Nelly looking stunned as he clutches his head a for a second and looks up into the crowd to see who threw what looks like a full cup at him. Then, sooner than you can say “Hot In Here,” Nelly goes full Ron Artest and charges into the club crowd a la “Malice At The Palace.” He disappears into the club and we’ll have to use our imaginations to know whether or not Nelly found the perpetrator of this senseless act for now.

Watch the video of the incident above.

I had been in Boise for maybe two hours, and I was already seeing the city’s most renowned musical product performing on the Treefort Festival Main Stage: Built To Spill. It was the Pacific Northwest equivalent of having a hula dancer put a lei around your neck upon arriving in Hawaii. But instead, it was like “Welcome to Boise, Idaho! Here’s Doug Martsch on stage!” Sure, it felt like an immediate rite of passage to see Martsch singing and shredding his way through “I Would Hurt A Fly,” but it was really a function of Treefort‘s concentration in the Downtown area. No sooner than you set your bags down, are you immediately wrapped up into the fold. And so began my four days in Boise…

It’s a refreshing feeling to be able to travel to a music festival again. After nearly two years of the live music industry going dark, festivals obviously didn’t escape the virus’ wrath. The beauty in traveling to a festival is in witnessing the vibrant communities that are formed that leave the most lasting marks. Sure, chasing headliners and stacked lineups is fun in and of itself, but if there isn’t a distinct community feel that takes shape at a music festival, then everything just becomes that proverbial “large empty field to do drugs in.”

Downtown Boise has a perfect setup for the effective exercise in community that is Treefort. There are dozens of venues within a stones throw of each other and for the 10th time, they all became the grounds for the yearly ritual which saw over 500 artists performing in a variety of capacities. It’s a showcase of artists from all over the world just as much as it is for Boise’s diverse venues, and you can literally walk everywhere.

Later that first night, Australian rapper Genesis Owusu would be putting down one of the best, most theatrical sets of the weekend over at El Korah Shrine. El Korah is run by the Shriners, a Masonic fraternal organization with roots in Boise for over 100 years. They’re staffing the shows and donning their ceremonial fez caps while they hawk casino-style chips that you use to buy drinks and sneaky good pulled pork sandwiches from Brother Brown’s BBQ in the basement of the venue. I went to El Korah time and time again and I came to love the quirks of its humble operators as much as the acts I saw on stage, like London saxophonist Nubya Garcia, New York’s 10-piece soul explosion Ghost Funk Orchestra, and yes, Built To Spill again at the tail end of the festival on Sunday night.

“It was a big boost to be able to say that we had Built To Spill playing the festival in that first year and it helped us attract other talent to Treefort early on,” festival director and co-founder Eric Gilbert says. “Now it’s this national stage in town once a year and there’s so many opportunities for local bands to learn from. There was no framework for that before.”

Gilbert also books Downtown venues in Neurolux, The Olympic, and The Knitting Factory year-round, and Treefort has helped maintain the city’s continuity as a solid tour stop for bands coming through the West Coast or Pacific Northwest. “Neurolux is the anchor for our independent rock scene,” Gilbert says of the 300 capacity room. And you feel that when you’re at Treefort; the independent ethos of Boise’s live music scene.

But there were also experiences that I knew were special to the festival. When I walked into the two rooms of the Sonic Temple venue (an old Masonic Lodge which I was told would soon be converted into lofts), I was immediately enveloped by Mad Alchemy’s liquid light show projected on every wall of the room. This place was transformed into a haven for different forms of psych rock. I saw bands I wasn’t especially familiar with, but people were going nuts over. Acts like Chicago’s Paul Cherry, Atlanta’s The Muckers, and Portland’s Spoon Benders performed, all while live lighting technicians were dropping colored dyes on spinning plates under projectors that made it feel like we were dancing inside of a kaleidoscopic. It was surreal.

I was weary on Sunday night and laid on the grass of a small natural amphitheater to bask in the ambient glory of NYC’s William Basinski at Kin — a noodle bar with a small stage in this outdoor setup. I went to see the technologically-charged hyperpop of LA’s Magdalena Bay at the Egyptian Theater, a classic movie house encrusted with Egyptian iconography that while technically seated, most revelers stood up and danced in what was likely one of the biggest crowds the band had on their headlining tour.

And everywhere I went, I kept bumping into artists I had seen earlier that day. I watched a sweet set from Toronto indie band Ducks Ltd early one afternoon and later that evening, I spotted singer Tom McCreevy outside of El Korah. It gave me an opportunity to pat the dude on the back and tell him I dug his set. It was a warm and convivial feeling that felt like well… community. Heck, I had a laugh with Doug Martsch one morning hanging around the “Rigsketball” court. Rigsketball itself was a welcome attraction — a basketball hoop mounted on the back of a tour van where standing on the van for alley-oops or blocked shots is highly encouraged. Bands duked it out in a tournament but Martsch said he was done making it rain for the day and drifted off towards downtown.

I caught the hypnotic psych-pop of Brazilian band Atalhos at Neurolux on Friday and on Sunday, I found myself watching Montréal band Men I Trust with them and the absolute perfection of Kim Gordon’s indie-rock royalty on the main stage. Atalhos had just made their way to Boise from South By Southwest (SXSW) in Austin and singer Gabriel Soares was relishing in how welcomed the band had been in Boise on their first time touring in America from São Paulo. It was also refreshing to know that unlike a broad scope of SXSW’s performers, artists at Treefort are paid and have their lodging covered as well. What a concept!

“It was a surprise for us to be received like this,” Soares said. “Sometimes we don’t even have this in Brazil. People were so warm and stopped us on the street to tell us they thought we were amazing. We got fed, paid to play, a hotel… We really felt valued as artists.”

The main stage was a homebase that I returned to every day. It was a great place to see established acts like Sinkane, Caroline Rose, and Deerhoof without having to worry about how much space you needed in the lively crowd. And there were free earplugs for all! (Protect your ears, live music lovers.) There was an on-site beer garden with an awesome selection of Idaho breweries like Mother Earth and Payette. It was a plastic-free zone, so everyone had an aluminum pint glass (I clipped mine to my belt loop), making it so the end of each night wasn’t that dreadful festival sea of plastic cups on the ground. It was a thoughtful and sustainable wrinkle that everyone bought into. And if you wanted even more beer options, the adjacent “Alefort” (one of many other Forts) was craft beer heaven, with dozens of beers from all over to country, albeit with a palpable focus on the PNW.

There were times when I wanted to chase the bands from my hometown Bay Area scene, like French Cassettes and Sour Widows. And I did. At other times, I wanted to check out bands from somewhere else, like Brooklyn’s Nation Of Language and the beautiful Long Island punk of Jeff Rosenstock. So I did that, too. And one night, I just wanted to get as far away from the Downtown grid as possible to see what else was out there, so I hopped on a scooter and went across the Boise River for a seven-minute ride to see San Diego jazz fusion guitarist Jared Mattson explore the sounds of a future album at Lost Grove Brewery. And I loved it. And after a while, I found harmony in knowing that I controlled every aspect of this experience. Because that’s what a good festival should provide: the ability to choose your own adventure.

On Saturday afternoon, I was basking in the Idaho sun seeing the pioneering African Zamrock band WITCH on the main stage. And it felt like a number of scenes and communities were converging at Treefort, supporting each other and building community with other scenes. Yes, the festival definitely builds up the Boise independent scene, but it also leads to a greater interconnectedness among us all. Treefort felt full of music lovers from all walks of life. Like… actual music fans and not so much the trust fund crowd you see having their way at mega-festivals.

There were friends finally being able to greet each other with a hug again, a mom deeper into the moment than her teenage daughter, people dancing drunkenly through the crowd, and artists getting a chance to relax and catch a show after they had already played. It felt so good, and like such a privilege to be back amongst this, and then I paused to focus on WITCH singer Jagari. This was a man whose band was at their peak in the ’70s in their native Zambia and didn’t tour in the US until 2019, just before the pandemic began. Donned in a traditional garment, he exuded gratitude as he shared his gift with the people. Our journey back to being at music festivals was long, but it was nothing compared to this man’s rebirth, and finally getting an opportunity to take his music to the world.

“I don’t know about your past,” Jagari said to the crowd. ”But we are meeting at this future.”

Uproxx was hosted for this event by Treefort. However, Treefort did not review or approve this story. You can learn more about the Uproxx Press Trip policy here.

On the surface, Tunic and Elden Ring could not be any more different. One game features an adorable little fox, sword and shield in hand, on the adventure of a lifetime. The other is the adventurer of your choosing embarking on a journey of death in a grim land. One is bright and colorful. The other is dull and muted. Look past appearances though and it becomes apparent very quickly that Elden Ring and Tunic, two of the best games of the year so far, have a lot more in common than we may realize at first.

Some of these similarities are shared gameplay features, which in some cases are so similar that it’s easy to assume Tunic is a souls clone near the beginning, but there are some more subtle comparisons that make these two games feel like they share the same spirit. That said, while Tunic and Elden Ring may share a lot of familiarities they are still very different games. So different that people who have tried to play both games at the same time have found one game way more difficult to return to than the other. We’re gonna break down what it is that makes these games feel so similar, but also what helps them stay separate so they remain two completely different and incredible experiences.

Addicting Exploration

Exploring Tunic is one of the most satisfying experiences of any game maybe ever. That’s because the world is full of secrets to discover and knowledge to help the player on their journey. Anytime there’s a new discovery it feels like the most important moment in the entire game. These discoveries can change everything and create a constant feeling that you’re one more piece of the puzzle away from figuring this whole thing out, and it’s that desire to explore every nook and cranny that anyone who’s fallen in love with Elden Ring also understands.

There is something about exploring Elden Ring that is so addicting everyone who plays it can’t stop talking about it. The exploration of that world is easily the biggest hook of the game and it’s led many people who have never played a FromSoftware game before to give it a try. Like Tunic, there is this constant need to see what’s over that next hill, or in that cave, or around the next corner. One of the biggest rewards of Elden Ring is finding new pieces of the map to help connect where everything is. It’s all a part of a journey that feels special.

It’s really easy to say that both games emphasize exploration and say that’s the big similarity, but what makes exploring these worlds different is how it handles that exploration. There are very few roadblocks in both these games. They set the player free and tell them to decide their own path. They point the player in a general direction of where they should go, but nothing is forcing them to do that. It’s that freedom as the player discovers something new that makes the exploration of these two games feel so similar to one another.

Storytelling and Lore

Tunic and Elden Ring are not the kinds of games that hold the players hand on their journey. While there are main story beats that the player follows along with, a lot of the details around those story beats are shown rather than told. It’s really up to the player to discover everything. Elden Ring can be frustratingly vague sometimes with items and NPCs not appearing except under very specific circumstances and there are aspects of Tunic that can feel similar. The key difference though is that, while in Elden Ring it is there to create the feeling of a living breathing world, in Tunic it’s to once again assist with that feeling of discovery.

A player can meet an NPC at the beginning of Elden Ring and find them later on in their journey at a different location. They can even see them die, because a decision the player made early on doomed them, or they were on their own journey behind the scenes that the player was fully unaware of. These subtle moments are what make the world of Elden Ring special. Tunic, while also very vague in its world building approach, isn’t quite as alive in its presentation of that world.

The key to Tunic is knowledge. When the player moves forward they usually do so because they discovered something in one of the many manuals that are spread throughout the world. The way Tunic teaches the player about its world, mechanics, and tools are pages of a game manual. The game manual is what would be the game manual of Tunic if it was a classic NES game that came with a box. What’s shocking though is just how much the manual actually manages to teach the player. Many skills and features are available right from the start, but the player had no idea because they had just never tried it. Like Elden Ring, it’s extremely vague at first but extremely rewarding in the end.

Elden Ring and Tunic are not the same game. Not even close to it, but they have a lot of similar themes that are really noticeable when playing the games so close one another. It’s more than just the souls-inspired gameplay mechanics, but in how each game chooses to present itself. We’d likely assume that one was inspired by the other had the two games not been released so close to one another. It’s the subtle details of that make the two games so different though that sets them apart in the best ways.

How Each Game Approaches Death

When you play Elden Ring you’re going to die. A lot. It’s kind of what the game is all about. When playing Tunic, while death is commo,n it is not an overwhelming part of the gameplay experience the way it is in Elden Ring. Tunic even goes so far as to include a no fail mode option for players that want to spend less time worried about combat and more focused on the puzzles. This makes death just not a major part of experiencing what Tunic has to offer in comparison to what Elden Ring wants the player to experience.

That said, if the player chooses to play with death as an option in Tunic then they’ll see a lot of similarities to when they die in Elden Ring or any other Souls game. Experience points are lost upon death, but can be picked back up if the player reaches the spot they died at, and when they respawn it’s at the last location they rested at. These gameplay mechanics are features of any Souls game and a key part of Elden Ring and the inspiration is clear when playing through Tunic.

(Spoiler Alert for Tunic): Death even plays a role in both games’ plot lines. In Elden Ring the player is a tarnished, that which is neither dead nor alive. In Tunic, as the player goes on their journey they will eventually discover that part of what they are seeking out is a treasure that allows the user to escape death. The theme of death is very prevalent in both games and these subtle similarities can be seen when playing both games so close to one another.

Legendary standup comedian Gilbert Gottfried has died “after a long illness,” his official Twitter account announced on Tuesday. He was 67 years old.

“We are heartbroken to announce the passing of our beloved Gilbert Gottfried after a long illness. In addition to being the most iconic voice in comedy, Gilbert was a wonderful husband, brother, friend, and father to his two young children. Although today is a sad day for all of us, please keep laughing as loud as possible in honor,” the tweet, signed by the Gottfried family, reads.

Gottfried would have appreciated that the news was broken by, of all people, George Costanza himself, Jason Alexander. “Gilbert Gottfried made me laugh at times when laughter did not come easily,” he tweeted minutes before the family’s confirmation. “What a gift. I did not know him well but I loved what he shared with me. My best wishes and sympathy to his family.”

Comedy Central has a 23-minute compilation of Gottfried’s best roast jokes, but the video could be twice as long, and still not include all of his most devastatingly hilarious insults. Here he is telling the “best joke of all-time,” and of course, there’s his famous 9/11 joke where he lost the audience “bigger than anybody has ever lost an audience.” He was also an in-demand voice over actor, including as Iago in the Aladdin movies and the Aflac duck, as well as a popular podcaster and Cameo star.

Please enjoy some of his finest work.

After advancing to the Top 24 and being hailed as one of the show’s “biggest stars we’ve ever seen,” American Idol contestant Kenedi Anderson has left the singing competition series, despite appearing to be a lock for the finale. Longtime host Ryan Seacrest announced the news during Sunday’s episode.

“You might have noticed that there was no voting information during Kenedi’s performance just now,” Seacrest said via The Wrap. “Since we taped these shows in Hawaii earlier, Kenedi has decided to withdraw from our show for personal reasons. We send her well wishes.”

Following Sunday’s episode, Anderson confirmed on Instagram that she did, in fact, step away from Idol for personal reasons, which she did not elaborate on:

For personal reasons, I’m unable to continue on American Idol. This has been one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever had to make, but I know it’s necessary. I’m so grateful to American Idol, the judges, the producers, the amazing contestants, and all the fans who have supported me. Thank you for giving me such an amazing opportunity to share my voice, chase my dreams, feel so much joy and happiness doing what I love, and make lifelong friends along the way.

Anderson’s surprise exit was particularly sad because she was such a fan favorite and even blew away this season’s judges Luke Bryan, Lionel Ritchie, and Katy Perry.

“Well I believe you might be the biggest star we’ve ever seen,” Bryan said after one of Anderson’s performances in March. “No doubt, I believe top 10.”

“I don’t know how you haven’t been recruited, but you check every box and a lot of all of them,” Perry said. “Get ready to become your own hero.”

(Via The Wrap, Audacity)

DJ Khaled has claimed yet another major key, and this one is forever. The DJ, producer, hype man, and all around party starter, was honored with the 2,719th star on the illustrious Hollywood Walk Of Fame. People came out in droves on Hollywood and Vine to witness the “I’m The One” maestro be honored with a star on the famous sidewalk and DJ Khaled was joined in the ceremony by some high profile friends in Jay-Z, Diddy, and Fat Joe.

“It’s just not me, it’s we,” Khaled said when standing on the podium. “I’m doing this for my kids… I just wanna make it super clear, we’re just getting started. Anything you’ve seen me do before. Just imagine at the more trillionth power level ever. Cause I’m not stoppin’, I’m making more music… they ain’t believe in us!”

He thanked his wife and kids profusely, before Fat Joe took to the stage to say some words on Khaled. “When I met him, he made me move out of New York to Miami,” Joe said. “When I think of Khaled, I think of love. That’s the only reason why you see the heavyweights here like you see them.”

“I remember that day when you told me, ‘They don’t believe me, Puff.’ I was like ‘Khaled, what are you talking about? You’re doing great…’But they don’t believe me.” Diddy began. “I remember from that day, you worked all the way up. You’re a pioneer; you’re an icon and a brilliant businessman. But most importantly, you’re a great friend to all of us here…Your energy and your work ethic is unmatched, we celebrate you for everything.”

Khaled was overcome and his Instagram page currently filled with photos and videos illustrating how grateful he is for the honor. “This right here, my star, I want my star to represent the light, the love that shines on everybody,” Khaled told the crowd, before adding, “There’s only one Khaled, that’s all I have to say.”

https://www.instagram.com/djkhaled/

Mark Wahlberg has a complicated relationship with Boogie Nights. It was the first movie that took him seriously as a leading man after his Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch days (it’s also his best performance). But in 2017, the actor said that he hopes “God is a movie fan and also forgiving, because I’ve made some poor choices in my past. Boogie Nights is up there at the top of the list.” Wahlberg starred in Planet of the Apes, and Transformers: Age of Extinction, and Entourage, but Boogie Nights is his biggest regret? Sounds like someone has been drinking too much olive oil and sleeping too little.

But Paul Thomas Anderson’s best movie means enough to Wahlberg that he still owns Dirk Diggler’s comically large prosthetic penis. “It’s in a safe locked away,” he told host Ellen DeGeneres on Tuesday’s episode of The Ellen DeGeneres Show. “It’s not something I can leave out. My kids are looking for, y’know, the spare phone charger and pull that thing out, like, ‘What the heck is this?’ It wouldn’t be a good look.”

Maybe Wahlberg and Chris Hemsworth can trade sometime? See if anyone notices.

You can watch Wahlberg’s interview with Ellen above.