One of the more popular R&B records from 2021 came from SZA with “I Hate U.” The song stood as her third release in a little over a year, a spike in activity for the singer who was quieter than expected after her 2017 debut Ctrl. In addition to the song breaking records on Apple Music, it’s also been remixed by a few artists, two of those being 6lack and Phabo. There’s a new entry to that list and it comes from Atlanta rapper Deante Hitchcock who offers his take on the track for the latest entry in his New Atlanta Tuesdays freestyle series.
The Atlanta native released the freestyle with an accompanying video that sees him walk up to his former lover’s home with a boombox in hand. As the song’s instrumental begins, Hitchcock unloads a freestyle that details his struggle of watching his ex move on to someone new. In the end, he leaves her with a very salty and spiteful message: “You hate me but I still love you / But if anyone asks I hate you too b*tch / I hate you too b*tch / Yes it’s true, yes it’s true, yeah it’s true b*tch.”
Hitchcock’s new freestyle arrives after he released “Alone,” “Callin‘” with Big KRIT and Westside Boogie, and “All My Children” as singles off his upcoming album, one that would be his first full-length effort since 2020’s Better.
You can watch Deante Hitchcock’s freestyle over “I Hate U” in the video above.
For a Pixar film, Lightyear has been weirdly controversial. The main sticking point, at least for retrograde conservatives and certain nations, is that it features a same-sex kiss between two moms, though its vocal star, Chris Evans, is proud Disney stuck to its guns. Speaking of Evans, his casting also set off a mild firestorm. When the film was first announced, people were angry that it didn’t bring back Tim Allen, who voiced him in the Toy Story films — at least until they learned it was about the astronaut who inspired the character. But it appears one prominent entertainer didn’t get that memo.
Saw the trailer for Buzz Lightyear and all I can say is Disney/Pixar made a HUGE mistake in not casting my pal @ofctimallen Tim Allen in the role that he originated, the role that he owns. Tim IS Buzz! Why would they completely castrate this iconic, beloved character?
Patricia Heaton, best known as Debra Barone on Everybody Loves Raymond, came to the defense of another ‘90s family sitcom star, charging that Disney did Tim Allen dirty. “Saw the trailer for Buzz Lightyear and all I can say is Disney/Pixar made a HUGE mistake in not casting my pal @ofctimallen Tim Allen in the role that he originated, the role that he owns. Tim IS Buzz! Why would they completely castrate this iconic, beloved character?”
It wasn’t just that Heaton didn’t seem to know that this was technically a different Buzz Lightyear. It was that she said the re-casting “castrated” the original character, whom Allen voiced starting in the original 1995 Toy Story and as recently as 2019’s Toy Story 4. Her mentions were soon filled with people explaining the (admittedly kind of laborious) difference between the Toy Story Buzz and the Lightyear Buzz. (Though unremarked-upon is that maybe Allen wouldn’t want to be in another children’s movie anyway because he “hates” kids.)
Eventually Heaton corrected herself, but still stood her ground, arguing that he reason the character became so beloved is because of what @ofctimallen created. Why remove the one element that mak”tes us want to see it?” She tagged it “#stupidHollywooddecisions”
Ok so the current Buzz Lightyear movie is an origin story – but the reason the character became so beloved is because of what @ofctimallen created. Why remove the one element that makes us want to see it?#stupidHollywooddecisionshttps://t.co/bRn1lZgkac
Things haven’t been good for Rudy Giuliani in a long time. In fact, they keep getting worse. Not long after his disastrous surprise appearance on The Masked Singer, the fallen former “America’s Mayor” has come up again thanks to the Jan. 6 hearing, where people reminded the public that he was reportedly three sheets to the wind on Election Night, giving then-client Donald Trump some garbage advice. (He listened, of course.)
Now this. On Tuedsay night’s episode, The Daily Show tackled Rudy’s truly surreal life and career in their new “Dailyshowography,” which has previously covered the likes of Lindsey Graham, Ted Cruz, Vladimir Putin, and more. It starts with his birth to an alleged mob enforcer who did time in Sing Sing, shows his early aspirations towards priesthood (“Giuliani almost became a man of the cloth, instead of a man of sweaty handkerchiefs,” narrator Desi Lydic says over shots of him mopping his forehead), and eventually marrying his childhood sweetheart: his second cousin. At one point George H.W. Bush publicly mangles his surname.
It shows Giuliani moving through the Reagan administration en route to being the mayor of New York City, which he only nabbed after coming after the city’s first Black mayor, David Dinkins — and after helping foment the 1992 City Hall riot comprised of off-duty NYPD officers. (Lydic remarks that “getting a crowd to storm a government building would be good practice for him,” cutting to images from Jan. 6).
Once in office, Giuliani cleaned up the dirty town using “some of the most iconic anti-crime tactics of the time, like stop and frisk, broken windows policing, sexual assault with a broom handle, and shooting an innocent guy so many times Bruce Springsteen wrote a song about it.” (That would be “American Skin (41 Shots).”)
His big break is his calm leadership after the September 11 attacks, but even that didn’t help his presidential aspirations leading up to the 2008 election. He eventually gloms onto Donald Trump, seen in a jokey video from the ’90s sexually harassing a cross-dressing Rudy, who gives him a big slap. Eventually Giuliani would burn his reputation to the ground for Trump, who repaid the favor by leaving him high and dry.
Eventually they conclude that Giuliani is always “standing tall, through 9/11 or a blood alcohol of 9.11.”
You can watch the Giuliani “Dailyshowography” in the video above.
Car Seat Headrest just recently finished their tour with Bartees Strange. The Brooklyn Steel show in April had a lot of people talking—not because of their music or anything, but the fact that frontman Will Toledo took the stage in a furry suit.
In a new interview with Brooklyn Magazine, the band talked about their relationship to the furry community. The article immediately opens with a quote from Toledo that reads: “I wanted more furries in the crowd.” He continued, “It was very impromptu. My friend tried finding someone else to wear the suit but he couldn’t find anybody. So at the last minute, I asked him to bring it and I wore as much of it as I could.”
Drummer Andrew Katz added: “A lot of Car Seat’s music is furry adjacent because, when Will started, it was for that community of people. So obviously a lot of the fans are furries and the rest know he’s a furry.”
“[Brooklyn Steel] was a good show because it was the only time I wore Mortis,” Toledo said. “The costume has been sitting with a friend since I went to a furry convention in February. I haven’t been able to transport the suit back because I’ve been traveling all over.”
Carseat Headrest just recently finished their tour with Bartees Strange. The Brooklyn Steel show in April had a lot of people talking—not because of their music or anything, but the fact that frontman Will Toledo took the stage in a furry suit.
In a new interview with Brooklyn Magazine, the band talked about their relationship to the furry community. The article immediately opens with a quote from Toledo that reads: “I wanted more furries in the crowd.” He continued, “It was very impromptu. My friend tried finding someone else to wear the suit but he couldn’t find anybody. So at the last minute, I asked him to bring it and I wore as much of it as I could.”
Drummer Andrew Katz added: “A lot of Car Seat’s music is furry adjacent because, when Will started, it was for that community of people. So obviously a lot of the fans are furries and the rest know he’s a furry.”
“[Brooklyn Steel] was a good show because it was the only time I wore Mortis,” Toledo said. “The costume has been sitting with a friend since I went to a furry convention in February. I haven’t been able to transport the suit back because I’ve been traveling all over.”
Last week was supposed to be a jovial time for Britney Spears. It was announced that she would marry Sam Asghari, her partner of almost five years, on Thursday which comes nine months after he proposed to her. Prior to last week, there was little to no information about the wedding, but with appearances from Madonna, Selena Gomez, Drew Barrymore, Paris Hilton, Donatella Versace, and more attending as guests, it was clear that things were kept under wraps for quite some time. Unfortunately, the celebratory day was briefly interrupted when Britney’s ex-husband Jason Alexander (not to be confused with the Seinfield actor) crashed her wedding — armed with a knife — in a frantic search for the singer.
Alexander livestreamed the entire ordeal, but his search later proved to be unsuccessful as he was eventually apprehended by the singer’s security team. Ventura County Sheriffs were eventually contacted and Alexander was arrested and removed from the venue. Now, according to TMZ, Britney has reportedly fired her security team. The publication reports that sources close to Spears say that a new security team has already been hired as the old group was let go not too long after her wedding was crashed.
After the incident, Alexander was charged with trespassing, vandalism, and two counts of battery connected to his interactions with Spears’ security team. Spears also received an emergency restraining order against him as well.
Amazon delivery drivers don’t have the easiest job in the world. Sitting through traffic, working in extreme temperatures, hauling boxes … not exactly a fun time. So when a driver goes out of their way to be extra considerate—people notice.
One delivery driver has gone viral for the way she delivered a little bit of safety education, along with some lighthearted advice. The TikTok video of the encounter, which now has more than 4 million views, was shared by Jessica Huseman, who had only recently moved into her new house.
The clip shows the doorbell cam recording of the driver approaching the house. As the delivery driver makes it to the front door, she sings, ”Hello … I hope your Monday’s going well. You have no markers on your house that says what number you are.”
From there, the driver’s song quickly changes tune, going from funny jest to helpful PSA.
“And that is hard to find your house my dude, and it’s unsafe, honestly,” the driver continues, adding, “what if you needed medical assistance and the paramedics didn’t know your town well? Come on.”
“Have a great day!” she says happily before walking off.
Huseman added the caption: “We just moved in and this happened today… she’s not wrong though. Guess I need to get some house numbers.”
The driver’s observation was clearly on point. Several medical pros commented to back her up.
“As someone who works in EMS I can verify house numbers are necessary! BUT ALSO MAKE SURE THEY ARE EASILY VISIBLE FROM THE STREET AT NIGHT,” wrote one person.
Another replied, ”yes! Medic here, we’ve had to call dispatch and ask for them to get [the] caller back on the phone and get [the] description of [the] house because there [are] no numbers.”
Besides her information being vital, people were mostly in love with the driver’s friendly attitude. Here are just a few of the compliments:
“Honestly, give them a raise. That’s awesome vibes right there.”
“She’s a whole friken mood, I love her she gives me pink vibes.”
“I need to meet this Amazon driver!!!! I love her!!”
The delivery driver (named Kelsey) eventually saw her viral video and decided to do a follow-up, where she added other unsafe things she’s seen on the job—primarily unclear entrances and exits—along with an additional sweet message:
“Crisis management and prevention education is essential and literally a part of my soul. So anytime I do go out and deliver packages … if I see something, I say something. Cause that’s how bystander intervention works. But keeping in mind that it’s more than that. It is about reminding each other that we are enough, and being there for one another.”
Whether it’s packages or something to smile about, Kelsey is a master of delivery.
George Lucas is known for creating two of the most popular film franchises of all time, “Star Wars” and “Indiana Jones.” Both sagas are great fantasy and adventure films that were elevated by powerful ideas taken from anthropology, religion and mythology.
Lucas has spent a lifetime thinking deeply about the human condition and weaving those themes into his art. So when he was asked to give a speech at the Academy of Achievement in 2013 about his road to success, his views on happiness were incredibly thoughtful.
They also sound a lot like the ideas that he’s shared in his films.
“Happiness is pleasure and happiness is joy,” he begins. “It can be either one, you add them up and it can be the uber category of happiness. Pleasure is short-lived. It lasts an hour, it lasts a minute, it lasts a month. And it peaks and it goes down. It peaks very high. But the next time you want to get that same peak you have to do it twice as much.”
In the video below he explains why the pursuit of pleasure leads us to only crave more while focusing on joy provides an inexhaustible well of happiness.
Lucas shared a similar observation with the writing staff of “Star Wars: The Clone Wars” and he related the same principle to the Force.
“Only way to overcome the dark side is through discipline,” he said. “The dark side is pleasure, biological and temporary and easy to achieve. The light side is joy, everlasting, and difficult to achieve. A great challenge. Must overcome laziness, give up quick pleasures, and overcome fear which leads to hate.”
Today, powerhouse producer and musician Jack Antonoff has rejuvenated his project Bleachers, releasing a short film titled How Dare You Want More, as well as a bundle of remixes with Earth, Wind & Fire and A.G. Cook.
The remixes are of tracks from Bleachers’ Take the Sadness Out of Saturday Night, which they released last summer. A.G. Cook reimagines “Stop Making This Hurt” while Earth, Wind, & Fire founding member Verdine White transforms “How Dare You Want More.” The film is a sequel to 2015’s Thank You And Sorry, and it’s directed and produced by Bill Benz while Antonoff, Zoë Chao, Rachel Antonoff, Bob Balaban, Ana Gasteyer, and more star in it. Additionally, the film was recorded at Electric Lady Studios.
Meanwhile, a new album is supposedly on the horizon for the band. In January, before bringing “How Dare You Want More” to SNL, Antonoff tweeted: “I am going to put out a bleachers album this year.” Last year, he worked on some of the biggest LPs, like St. Vincent’s Daddy’s Home, Lorde’s Solar Power, Clairo’s Sling, Lana Del Rey’s Chemtrails Over The Country Club, and more.
Watch How Dare You Want More above and listen to the remixes with Earth, Wind, And Fire and A.G. Cook below.
There was an inking after ‘Game 4’ that the ‘Celtics’ group were going to get their due in the next episode of The NBA Finals, mainly given the ample screen time dedicated to the ‘Warriors’ primary protagonist, Steph Curry (Steph Curry), and because the series felt overdue for it. Love it or hate it, Finals distinguishes itself differently than past Adam Silver productions in that we’re five episodes deep and aside from Steph Curry, none of the main characters are especially clear. Instead, we have a rotating cast of characters that on a night by night basis come off like upstarts, antiheroes, everyday baddies, dreamers, extras and, let’s not forget, potential clones. All those roles have given us plenty to theorize over but by now, no clear person to root for.
So again, after the Steph Curry heavy reveal of ‘Game 4’, and its clear motivations for the group we know to be his teammates in this nocturnal conquest, it was exciting to believe we were going to get the same treatment of their adversaries, the ‘Celtics.’ Unfortunately, due to execution, unclear writing, strange acting decisions or a combination of all three, we didn’t get it.
It was a bold choice to have the ‘Celtics’ clarity episode come in the series’ third scene change, back to the comparatively demure approximation of ‘San Francisco’ from that writhing quagmire of green (loosely referred to as ‘Boston’), but then Ime Udoka is a bold co-director, and Silver loves strangely timed surprises.
Very quickly, that window for clarity closed.
By the seven minute mark of the show director Ime Udoka (at this point, also playing himself) called an abrupt scene and had his stars huddle around him. It remains a mystery whether these scene timeouts are points toward the overall plot or simply there for the audience to speculate on, but whatever was said was not enough to stir the voracity of this group into something recognizable from ‘Game 1’ or ‘Game 3’. Really, it seemed like the ire was raised only for Ime Udoka, who at the 12 minute mark was clearly furious with the direction this episode was taking early on. In a rare moment of clarity from the narrators we were told he’d been given a “technical” — hopefully some advice on how to best rouse his stars.
Physical stunts were prevalent in ‘Game 5’ but given the stilted action that stretched on throughout the episode (there were references to stars on the ‘Celtics’ side being “locked up”) the motivation for each was murky. In one scene, setting up a long-awaited confrontation between Draymond Green (Draymond Green) and Jaylen Brown (Jaylen Brown), Jaylen Brown dove and seemed to sit for some time on top of Draymond Green. Thus far in Finals, the only vehicles have been the bodies of the actors, this was the first time it was suggested that those “vehicles” could be co-opted by a rival. Again, it’s tough to say whether this was the intention of this stunt, or really if this was a piece of physical acting or a fumble, but Jaylen Brown really straddled him.
Another stunt later on in the episode came when Marcus Smart (Marcus Smart) got tangled up with novice Jordan Poole (Jordan Poole), and instead of separating, Marcus Smart was held onto by Jordan Poole. Despite the confusion of the earlier stunt, this felt strategic. Especially when Jordan Poole flung his head back to suggest he had been carelessly cast aside by Marcus Smart. It was overwrought, especially as Jordan Poole’s character — spoiler alert: up to then — had been largely absent from the action. Still, it’s interesting to see the actors of Finals so readily encouraged to commit to their own stunt work.
The physicality in ‘Game 5’ was initially what it seemed like this episode was going to be all about. Kevon Looney (Kevon Looney) was limping off set, Robert Williams III fell hard from an aerial stunt and lay flat on his back for some time, but the violence of the episode thankfully cooled in what’s become the show’s approximation of a golden hour — “the third quarter.”
This is a loose qualification of time we’ve grown used to seeing the ‘Warriors’ group use to their advantage, slipping out of binds like their own Scooby-Doo gang, or else restoring their collective honor against accumulating sleights. So the twist in ‘Game 5’ was genuinely shocking when it was instead the floundering ‘Celtics’ that took that stretch for their own. It was enjoyable, had tones of a classic redemptive heist story, but it didn’t last.
Instead, the camaraderie of that group, and any glimpse into the collective psyche of the ‘Celtics’, slipped back into the murky, what-is-even-happening, tone of ‘Game 5.’
If you’ve been watching (and reading) you’ve probably picked up on some of Finals alternate reality beats. They started subtly but have ratcheted up in obviousness as the series has worn on. Two impossible to miss moments came in ‘Game 5’. First, a graphic that loomed superimposed over the court for some time showed Gary Payton II (Gary Payton II), who we now understand to be part of the ‘Warriors’ faction, in no less than eight different previous realities. Is this a Multiverse of Madness rip?
YouTube
The other came before the co-directors called action, when an apparent body double for Klay Thompson (Klay Thompson) took to the set during dress rehearsal. I’d be happy to cast it outside of the rest of the easter eggs placed in plain sight by Silver and the Finals writers, only that the narrators repeatedly referenced the incident, bringing it into the narrative.
And of course, the narration ceased to help at all in tying any of these disparate ends together. Once, prompted by nothing and no one, a narrator mused “The mindset has to be want the smoke, embrace the smoke” (Possible Lost reference? I give up), and later another gave us what could’ve been a riddle, but sounded like someone forgetting a sentence partway with, “Sometimes the pressure of a different role is not the right role for every player.” So I’m literally begging now, what are the narrators trying to tell us? Really, what?
The bright point in everything came of course when Steph Curry’s cast-mates responded to the outbursts we saw from him in ‘Game 4,’ by showing up to work in ‘Game 5.’ Jordan Poole let fly the orb to reclaim the all-important “third quarter” for the ‘Warriors’ and Andrew Wiggins (Andrew Wiggins), typically a more demure method actor, was hard to peel your eyes away from. Really, it was Emmy-worthy stuff from him.
While it does feel like the ‘Celtics’ arc still needs its due for Finals to come to a satisfying conclusion, this series hasn’t been green-lit for another season. For how exciting, how much the actors are putting their bodies through, even for how downright bizarre, you’d hate to see Finals get a rush-job treatment to close out the show.
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