Month: May 2022

Mattea Roach has the longest winning streak of any Canadian contestant in Jeopardy! history, but her achievements go further than the land of Rush and Timbits.

Following her win during Monday’s episode of the game show, the 23-year-old tutor from Toronto is tied with Julia Collins for fifth place on the list of consecutive games won with 20. The only contestants ahead of her: Ken Jennings (74), Amy Schneider (40), Matt Amodio (38), and James Holzhauer (32). That 12-game gap will be difficult to close, but if anyone can do it, it’s the Jeopardy! meme queen. Roach is also in sixth place for (non-tournament) earnings with $476,985. Next up: Jason Zuffranieri with $532,496.

Roach recently spoke to GLAAD about her winning streak, which she highlighted in a Twitter thread. “I don’t really talk about being a lesbian in any of my contestant anecdotes on the show, so I appreciated the opportunity to discuss what being a queer person on Jeopardy means to me,” she wrote. Roach has “seen a lot of people over the past few weeks offer different takes about why my sexual orientation does (or doesn’t) matter to my appearance on Jeopardy, and so I wanted to throw my two cents in.”

She continued:

“I think it does matter, but in a limited way. My identity isn’t relevant to how well I performed on the show, but it is relevant in that I am someone who is read as queer in real life because of the way that I dress, talk, move my body, and other intangible factors… By identifying myself in my Twitter bio and elsewhere, I hoped to show LGBTQ+ Jeopardy viewers who saw something of themselves in me that what they were seeing was true, as well as take power away from people who would call me gay pejoratively.”

You can watch the interview here, and read the thread below.

More “Good Days” may soon be upon us: At last night’s Met Gala, SZA mentioned that her much-anticipated sophomore album is complete and its release is imminent.

When speaking with Vogue, SZA said, “The album’s finally ready to go — more than I’ve ever felt before. So this summer, it’ll be a SZA summer.”

SZA’s upcoming album will be her first release since her debut album CTRL, which dropped in 2017. She first gave us a taste of a new era back in 2020, with The Neptunes-produced “Hit Different,” which featured Ty Dolla Sign. On Christmas Day of that year, she surprised fans with a single called “Good Days.” Since then, fans have been eagerly waiting for a new full-length project.

Also coming soon is SZA’s Top Dawg Entertainment labelmate Kendrick Lamar’s upcoming fourth and final album on the label, Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers, which is set for release on May 13. If Top Dawg’s release schedule parallels that of 2017, SZA’s album could follow shortly after.

In addition to new music, SZA will perform at the Outside Lands festival this August. Perhaps we’ll get new music ahead of her performance. She also teased an acting role earlier this year, but has not confirmed the character or the film to which she is attached.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Music stars made their presence know at this year’s Met Gala (officially named the Costume Institute Benefit): Lizzo busted out a $55,000 flute and Billie Eilish graced the red carpet with a striking look. There’s plenty to love about the gala, but Eilish noted in her eyes, the best thing about it is “judging” everybody’s looks, but not in a mean-spirited way.

At the end of a Vogue red carpet interview with internet personality Emma Chamberlain, Chamberlain asked Eilish what her favorite part of the gala is and Eilish quickly answered with a laugh, “Judging! I love to judge.” As Eilish started to clarify, Chamberlain jumped in, noting the judgment was “loving.” Eilish continued, “Oh yeah, that’s what I mean. Judging doesn’t have to be bad.”

Earlier in the interview, Eilish noted her outfit was made of “existing Gucci materials,” including her “custom vegan leather Gucci shoes.” That led to conversation towards thrift shopping, with Eilish noting that she’s a big fan, saying, “I only thrifted. I literally, until… no, I don’t remember the last time I was in a store to buy clothes. I never… when I was like 11, it was, like, Target, but thrifting was the only thing I did. It was my favorite thing, I was so good at it, and it was my world.”

Vogue described Eilish’s outfit as “a custom Gucci ivory and duchesse satin corseted gown, complete with a green lace underlay and gathered ivory skirt — and a padded bustle, of course.” Elle also called the overall look “a pale green and cream Gucci corset gown, crystal-adorned black choker, and a messy-chic updo.”

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

To call Marjorie Taylor Greene a woman of many contradictions would be an insult to contradictions. But if ever there was a moment to witness her seemingly total lack of interest or concern about women and women’s rights, recovering Republican Ron Filipkowski laid out a perfect example of Greene’s anachronistic beliefs.

On Monday night, Filipkowski shared two separate videos of the Georgia congresswoman, each one expressing a very different emotional reaction to some news she had just received. In the first video, which was originally posted on April 8, Greene—gold crucifix necklace firmly affixed to her chest—expressed her shock and disgust about Caitlyn Jenner being hired by Fox “to be its newest female political contributor” in the most offensive way possible: by deadnaming Jenner.

“[T]oday, Jenner believes she is a woman,” Greene explained in a tone that seemed to be reeking of utter contempt. “I’d love to know which female contributors were passed over or perhaps even made redundant to clear space for Fox’s newest star transgender commentator… Bruce Jenner was hired on the last day of Women’s History Month. But for many of us, it felt like the last day in women’s history.”

Fast forward to Monday, just over three weeks later, and we got a very different MTG on our screens. One in which the congresswoman can barely keep her composure because she’s so “overcome with emotion” upon learning that the Supreme Court is poised to overturn Roe v. Wade and set our country back by half-a-century.

Through tears, a kinder, gentler-seeming Greene shared the report that Roe v. Wade could soon be overturned, a development she deemed “the best news of our lifetime.”

“This is a great victory,” Greene said. “This is a great victory for god. And the unborn, who have been innocently slain.”

But the women who are about to have autonomy over their own bodies taken away? If you’re Greene, who cares!

(Via Ron Filipkowski)

Kim Kardashian is a mainstay at the Met Gala, having appeared at the fancy fashion event every year since 2013. There was the floral dress; the gold Versace gown; and the dripping wet look, among other highlights. At this year’s Met Gala, where the theme was “In America: An Anthology of Fashion,” she walked the red carpet (with her “homely” but “adorable” boyfriend Pete Davidson) in the same dress that Marilyn Monroe wore when she sang “Happy Birthday” to President John F. Kennedy in 1962.

“Well, this is Marilyn Monroe’s dress and it is 60 years old and she wore this when she sang ‘Happy Birthday’ to President John F. Kennedy in 1962,” Kardashian said. “I had this idea to try it on and then they came with armed guards and gloves.” The dress had been on display at a Ripley’s Believe It or Not! in Orlando, Florida, which purchased “the most iconic piece of pop culture that there is” for $4.8 million in 2016.

But getting into the vintage gown was not an easy feat. “I tried it on and it didn’t fit me. I said, ‘Give me three weeks.’ I had to lose 16 pounds down today,” Kardashian admitted. “It was such a challenge. It was like a [movie] role. I was determined to fit [into] it. I haven’t had carbs or sugar in about three weeks. We’re having pizza and donut party back at the hotel [after the Met Gala].”

The donuts looked… not great. Honestly? Not worth it. If I ever lose nearly 20 pounds in less than a month to fit into a multi-million dollar dress, as I hope to do someday, I would at least treat myself to a chicken sandwich from Popeye’s.

(Via People)

It’s funny to think back to the original Iron Man. Just a guy who builds a suit. Now, 14 years later, the Marvel Cinematic Universe is skipping through the multiverse at full speed. Are these movies still accessible? I’m pretty sure Spider-Man: No Way Home was accessible. But Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness will probably test these limits. For hardcore comic book fans, this movie has some moments that I couldn’t believe I was seeing in a movie that will make a lot of money. To the uninitiated – to those who haven’t watched at least every MCU movie – boy, this one would be kind of a confusing place to start.

Don’t get me wrong, I mostly enjoyed Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. I’m just more thinking about the person who (and they must exist, right?) decides to check out an MCU movie, finally. And then throw in the Sam Raimi factor, which is very much a factor here, as Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is the closest the MCU has ever come to a straight-up horror movie. And not in a scary way, but in a Sam Raimi hyper-visual style that mixes gore with comedy. Honestly, it’s kind of remarkable what Marvel let Raimi get away with, but all that doesn’t really kick in until maybe an hour into the movie, and it becomes a much better movie once that happens.

Which is kind of the inherent problem with all the multiverse stuff. Marvel can’t just tell the audience, “Look, before you watch this, you really should check out Loki on Disney+, which kind of explains what’s going on.” (And it’s not a coincidence that Michael Waldron wrote both Loki and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and seems to be Marvel’s official Master of the Multiverse; I hope he starts calling himself that.) So Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness has to spend a good amount of time re-explaining the rules of the very movie we are about to watch. But once those rules are established, it’s a good amount of fun.

What’s kind of surprising is the plot isn’t a direct result of anything that happens in Spider-Man: No Way Home. And being as vague as possible, the plot isn’t quite the game-changer people might be expecting. Yes, there are quite a few fun cameos (many have been rumored), but nothing here seems like it has to be anything permanent. To manage expectations, this isn’t a movie where all the former Fox-produced X-Men are all of a sudden in the MCU. I think the narrative may have gotten away from Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness a bit because this is more a crazy romp than it is a way to combine a bunch of universes. Which, honestly, is a pleasant surprise. This movie is still a lot, but it’s not that.

With no explanation, we are dropped into the plight of America Chavez (Xochitl Gomez), who has the ability to travel across universes and, while being chased by some ghouls, winds up in the universe of the Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) we already know. Doctor Strange visits Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) asking for help, since America’s situation could impact multiple universes, but let’s just say, she is not sympathetic to Doctor Strange’s request. Beyond that, Wanda wants to use America’s powers to jump to another universe where she can live happily with the children she created in WandaVision. That is the showdown and the motivation: Strange, trying to protect America, versus Wanda, who is under the influence of an evil book called the Dark Hold (yes, Sam Raimi has a history with evil books) and who will stop at nothing to get to that other universe.

This is getting to the point in this piece that, if I keep going, I’m going to wind up inadvertently spoiling something, so I’m going to go ahead and wrap this up, but – again – at the heart of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is a Sam Raimi movie. I was actually a little worried about this, because there’s not really much in Raimi’s Spider-Man movies that would lead us to believe he had any desire to bring the sensibilities of an Evil Dead movie to the superhero genre. But, looking back, I think that was by choice then: that Raimi wanted to prove he could make great superhero movies without having a zombie in the movie with half a face. But Raimi has no reservations this time.

I get the sense that was Marvel’s pitch to Raimi: Make this an Evil Dead Marvel movie. And, remarkably (eventually, after the exposition), he certainly did.

‘‘Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness’ opens on May 6th. You can contact Mike Ryan directly on Twitter.

There is, at the moment, perhaps no flutist more famous (at least in mainstream music) than Lizzo. She’s happy to bust out the instrument any chance she gets and she found plenty of opportunity last night while walking the red carpet at this year’s Met Gala. As Lizzo entered the event, she periodically took a moment to bust out some notes for delighted onlookers.

As for her look, she broke it down a little bit in a quick Variety red carpet interview, revealing her coat took “22,000 hours” to make and that her flute of the day was rare and worth $55,000.

Vogue notes Lizzo’s Thom Browne-designed outfit featured “an ornate black cape detailed with golden vine embroidery” that was “worn over a black corseted dress with a skirt held together by garters.” Meanwhile, Classic FM reports the flute is called The Dryad’s Touch and is made out of 18 karat green gold. They also note that Lizzo was playing the opening lines of French composer Claude Debussy’s Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune.

Lizzo also shared some posts from the event, including a video of her playing the flute, which she captioned, “Y’all I was gonna play Debussy but I got nervous.”

Check out Lizzo’s posts below.

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

The Dallas Mavericks finally won a playoff series for the first time since 2011 and their reward was the best team in the league, finally healthy again after being banged up in the first round, looking to make a statement at home.

The Suns opened the game with a 20-6 run, fueled by some spectacular play by Devin Booker and Deandre Ayton, as well as a strong defensive effort, as the Mavs didn’t have an answer early for Phoenix’s size and energy.

The Mavs did respond in the second quarter, with Luka Doncic leading the way and Maxi Kleber providing a needed offensive lift with a hot shooting first half.

However, while they cut the lead to as few as four, it ballooned back to 13 at the half, as Phoenix shot over 60 percent from the floor, with seemingly everyone getting in on the act.

The Suns pushed their lead out to 17 at the end of the third quarter, as Booker continued his sensational play and Dallas just could not keep up with the onslaught from Phoenix on either end.

The most unbelievable play of the night came in the fourth quarter when JaVale McGee ripped Doncic clean in isolation, dribbled all the way down the court, and threw down a big dunk to finish off a one-man fastbreak to put the Suns up 21.

At that point, it appeared the game was over, and the Suns seemed to let up accordingly. The Mavs would steadily reel them in for the rest of the fourth quarter, cutting the Phoenix lead to just six with a minute to go, as the Suns offense stagnated and Dallas kept chipping away, led by Doncic and some suddenly timely shooting from Jalen Brunson and Dorian Finney-Smith.

The Suns were able to hold on, though, thanks to some tough (and lucky) buckets from the likes of Chris Paul, but it was a much more perilous situation than they expected to be in for the closing minutes.

A Luka three cut the lead to five with 7.2 seconds to play, but the Dallas rally wasn’t enough to fully close the gap as the Suns did enough at the free throw line to put away the Mavs in a 121-114 final. Leading the way for the Suns was Deandre Ayton, who had 25 points and eight rebounds, but was not heard from much in the fourth quarter as the Suns big man cooled off a bit after a 9-for-12 start, hitting just three of his final eight shot attempts. Booker finished the game with 23 points, nine rebounds, and eight assists, likewise cooling off a bit in the second half, while Chris Paul added 19 points and Cam Johnson had 17 off the bench.

Phoenix shot over 60 percent in the first half, unsurprisingly coming back to earth late to finish the game at 50.5 percent as a team from the field and 39.3 percent from deep. The Mavs will look to take some positives away from their late game execution on both ends, as they stopped giving up as many open shots and did a better job keeping Ayton from easy buckets inside in the fourth quarter, while also starting to get Brunson and Finney-Smith going after dreadful starts.

Doncic had 45 points, 12 rebounds, and eight assists in the loss, with Kleber chipping in 19 off the bench (most of which came in the first half), which is why getting Brunson and Finney-Smith some positive thoughts on the offensive end is so important to bringing some semblance of floor balance to the Dallas offense. We’ll see if that late rally was something real they can build off of in Game 2, or if it was simply a matter of the Suns letting off the gas pedal a bit too early.

Politicians make a lot of promises when they run for president, and they don’t always get to follow through if they win. So it went with Joe Biden, who inspired record turnout by, among other things, vowing to enact a slew of progressive legislation. One of them was not only ensuring Roe v. Wade, which has kept abortion safe and legal in all 50 states since 1973, would stay in place but actually making it a federal law.

Well, a year and a third into his presidency and guess what? On Monday night, Politico reported a leaked draft from Supreme Court justice Samuel Alito all but confirming they were about to overturn Roe v. Wade. Democrats have had control of the White House and both branches of Congress since late January 2021, and yet it’s unlikely they’ll even be able to codify the landmark decision, which they tried and failed to do in February, partly thanks to stubborn senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema. And now women’s right to choose — and perhaps other rights as well — could be doomed.

When news of the leak broke, there was much dismay and fury. People dug up old clips of moderate Republican senator Susan Collins defending future justice Brett Kavanaugh, who is poised to vote to overturn the decision, and saying it was “settled law.” Many also dug up an old tweet from Biden himself, back when he was on the campaign trail. In late June of 2020, Biden reacted strongly to a Supreme Court decision keeping Roe v. Wade in place, in reaction to Republicans’ mounting efforts to erode it.

“Today’s decision reaffirmed that states can’t put in place laws that unduly burden a woman’s right to make her own health care decisions—but the fight isn’t over,” he tweeted almost two years back. “As President, I’ll codify Roe v. Wade and protect a woman’s constitutional right to choose.”

Granted, it was a long time ago and much has happened since. So people politely reminded him.

Some pointed out that keeping one of his campaign promises might help his dismal poll numbers.

And others responded with gallows humor, because what else can you do?

Despite the leak, the Supreme Court’s decision likely won’t be made official until June, leaving a lot of time for some action to be made.

Typically on Inside the NBA, Ernie Johnson’s job is to keep the train on the tracks (or as close to the tracks as possible), while Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith, and Shaquille O’Neal go off on tangents and arguments and generally threaten to derail the show off course.

On Monday night, though, Ernie decided to be the one to drag the show off track when he made sure to not let Charles Barkley’s disastrously tied tie escape ridicule on national TV by hiding behind the desk. Johnson stopped a discussion of the first half of Mavs-Suns to call a “fashion foul” on Chuck and make him stand up and show the TNT audience how badly he screwed up tying his tie, with Kenny Smith loving every second of it.

Tying ties is a tough thing to master when you’re a young man (or just generally someone who wears them rarely), but you would think someone who has been on television for two decades wearing a shirt and tie every night wouldn’t have that issue. However, we learned that Kenny is the mastermind behind Chuck’s ties normally, but on this night Barkley decided to go it alone and Smith joked that he needs to be put back in charge of tying Barkley’s ties going forward.

The best part was Chuck’s “solution” during the next commercial break was to stuff the back part of his tie into his shirt so it wouldn’t hang down, which of course he did on camera so they put him on blast immediately.