Month: June 2022

During Thursday’s January 6th hearing, we learned that 150 members of the Department of Justice were prepared to resign en masse had Donald Trump gone through with his plan to appoint Jeff “Whatever You Say, Mr. President” Clark as acting attorney general in order to complete his attempt at dismantling democracy. And sure, it would be easy to call those folks “heroes.” But Jordan Klepper is equally deserving of hero status.

On Thursday, The Daily Show posted Klepper’s latest “Fingers on the Pulse” segment, in which he traveled to a Trump rally in Mississippi to share footage from the hearings and get the MAGA take on whether the former president may have lied about that whole election fraud thing and/or acted just a teeny weeny bit shady. Unsurprisingly, the attendees—who paid anywhere from $9 to $4,000 for their tickets—weren’t having any of it.

While not everyone was aware of the attacks on the Capitol (!!) or clued into “January 6th” being anything more than just a random date of the year (yes, really), those who did witness the violence of that day seemed far more offended by the hearings themselves. “An abomination,” “McCarthyism,” and “a witch trial” were a few of the terms used to describe the hearings, while one Trumpster was convinced that Nancy Pelosi planned the Capitol riots. When Klepper asked why Pelosi would “plan to get attacked by a mob of Trump supporters,” the answer was obvious: “Because she wanted to be able to blame it on the Trump supporters and have something bad to say about them.” When Klepper suggested that we should probably investigate that, the woman wholeheartedly agreed. When Klepper guessed that she must be watching the hearings then, her response sounded something like a cat coughing up a hairball, which we’ll assume was Trumpspeak for “no.”

Instead, Klepper decided to bring the January 6th hearings to the rally. While many people refused to watch even just a few seconds of the clips he had with him, those who did had a range of reactions—all of them stupid. Several people cheered on Bill Barr’s declaration that any claims of election fraud were bullshit—until Klepper explained to them what Barr was saying (at which point, he had clearly been paid off). As for Ivanka Trump saying she believed Barr, one man suggested “it might be one of those, what they got clones out there these days.” Which sounds totally reasonable.

You can watch the full clip above.

We can almost always expect to see amazing acts and rare skills on “America’s Got Talent.” But sometimes, we get even more than that.

The Mayyas, a Lebanese women’s dance troupe whose name means “proud walk of a lioness,” delivered a performance so mesmerizing that judge Simon Cowell called it the “best dance act” the show has ever seen, winning them an almost instant golden buzzer.

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Perhaps this victory comes as no surprise, considering that the Mayyas had previously won “Arab’s Got Talent” in 2019, and competed on “Britain’s Got Talent: The Champions.” But truly, it’s what motivates them to take to the stage that’s remarkable.

“Lebanon is a very beautiful country, but we live a daily struggle,” one of the dancers said to the judges just moments before their audition. Another explained, “being a dancer as a female Arab is not fully supported yet.”

Nadim Cherfan, the team’s choreographer, added that “Lebanon is not considered a place where you can build a career out of dancing, so it’s really hard, and harder for women.”

Still, Cherfan shared that it was a previous “AGT” star who inspired the Mayyas to defy the odds and audition anyway. Nightbirde, a breakout singer who also earned a golden buzzer before tragically passing away in February 2021 due to cancer, had told the audience, “You can’t wait until life isn’t hard anymore before you decide to be happy.” The dance team took the advice to heart.

For the Mayyas, coming onto the “AGT” stage became more than an audition opportunity. Getting emotional, one of the dancers declared that it was “our only chance to prove to the world what Arab women can do, the art we can create, the fights we fight.”

The Mayyas went on to fulfill their promise of a truly hypnotic performance. Starting in a single file line, the women created magnificent shapes while moving in flawless synchronicity. At one point the group even became a pair of eyes (a major crowd pleaser).

According to ET Canada, Cherfan blended moves from both Chinese and Lebanese folklore. It made for a wholly original celebration of cultures, not to mention one breathtaking spectacle. The judges—and the audience—were left dumbfounded.

It was no time at all before judge Sofia Vergara leapt up to give the Mayyas their well-deserved golden buzzer. “There are no words to explain to you what we were feeling over here. It was the most beautiful creative dancing I’ve ever seen,” she told the team.

Howie Mandel added, “You said you were going to hypnotize us. When we sat here and we watched the movement and the perfection and the time and effort that went into that, we were hypnotized by what you did.”

You can watch the Mayyas’s spell-binding act below. Prepare to be hypnotized yourself.

Fred Rogers was truly one of humanity’s greats, in every sense that counts most. He wasn’t a titan of industry or a builder of empires. He wasn’t a man of great means or a wielder of political power. He was humble, gentle and kind. He was a teacher, a learner and a leader in his own way.

For generations of children, he was a consistent voice of compassion, curiosity and caring. He was a calm haven in our television set, a safe space where we always knew we were loved just the way we are.

And yet he was strong, too, just not in the way we often think of strength. He was a fierce defender of children and a champion of justice. His testimony before Congress about public television totally turned around the sentiments of a judge who was extremely skeptical before Rogers started speaking. He wasn’t forceful, he didn’t yell or cry, he just shared his feelings, indicated his trust in the judge’s conscience and explained the value of quality children’s television programming in a way that was impossible to disregard.

No one could deny the wholesome awesomeness of Rogers. No one. He was the real thing, tried and true, through and through and the world misses him greatly.

It’s quite well known that Rogers was the same man off-screen as he was on his show, and a video of his cast and crew pranking him once during his opening song offers a bit of delightful proof.

Check this out:

Seriously, he was the most delightful human. His laugh when he sticks his foot in the second shoe—priceless. His “Thanks ever so much”—epic.

People have responded to the video on Reddit with gushing praise.

“Mr. Rogers thanking that man for a delightful practical joke just changed something in me for the better,” wrote one commenter. “Off to go thank my husband for some stuff.”

“What a magical person that just a clip of him having a laugh is making me well up,” wrote another.

“My childhood was a scary place but when I turned on Mr. Roger’s, it all disappeared for awhile,” shared another. “Thank you for being a light to so many children. May you Rest In Peace.”

“An amazing human being and an utterly sweet person,” wrote another. “We should all aspire to be the person Mr. Rogers knew we could be.”

Indeed, we should.

There may be many wonderful people who walk this earth, but there will never be another Fred Rogers. What a precious gift that we have so many hours of him on film to enjoy and share with generations to come.

Lil Nas X was recently honored by the Songwriters Hall Of Fame with the Hal David Starlight Award, which recognized the significant impact he’s made on the music industry in his relatively short time in the spotlight. However, it doesn’t look like he’s letting that success go to his head. He’s still got the same absurdist sense of humor he came into the music business with, as illustrated by his low-key reaction to the recognition on social media.

Tweeting a screenshot of a Variety tweet reporting on the Songwriters Hall Of Fame honor, Nas accompanied the image with another screenshot taken from the lyrics scroll of his new song, “Late To Da Party” with YoungBoy Never Broke Again, from Apple Music. The lyric in question reads: “Farted on these n****s [fart noise] / Oops, I think I sh*tted,” undercutting the austerity of receiving an award for songwriting with an example of just how silly his songwriting can be. It’s Nas showing that he doesn’t take himself too seriously — a trait that will probably help him remain grounded in an industry that can quickly make artists lose touch.

However, he also seems to appreciate his position in the business. During his speech at the Songwriters Hall Of Fame 51st Annual Induction And Awards Gala in New York earlier this month, he said, “This award means a lot to me for the simple fact that, somehow, I keep just doing things and it keeps working out. I don’t know why the universe is letting me have these moments, but thank the universe.”

George Miller has an entirely unique filmography. After directing three gritty and violent Mad Max movies and the best segment in the Twilight Zone: The Movie, he made: a talking pig movie that was nominated for Best Picture; a “nutso” sequel to the talking pig movie; an animated film about dancing penguins; another dancing penguin movie for children; and Mad Max: Fury Road, arguably the best movie of the 2010s.

Fury Road could have been the remarkable capper to an unpredictable career, but the 77-year-old has a new movie coming out this year, Three Thousand Years of Longing, in which Idris Elba plays a genie, and he’s also working on Furiosa, a prequel to Fury Road centered on Imperator Furiosa. The younger version of the character made famous by Charlize Theron will be played by Anya Taylor-Joy; the film also stars Chris Hemsworth.

Warner Bros. has released the synopsis for Furiosa, which you can read below:

As the world fell, young Furiosa is snatched from the Green Place of Many Mothers and falls into the hands of a great Biker Horde led by the Warlord Dementus. Sweeping through the Wasteland they come across the Citadel presided over by the Immortan Joe. While the two Tyrants war for dominance, Furiosa must survive many trials as she puts together the means to find her way home.

“Warlord Dementus” instantly ranks in the top 10 of Best Mad Max Names, along with Toecutter, the Lord Humungus, and Rictus Erectus.

Furiosa is expected to come out on May 24, 2024.

(Via Collider)

Last week, news broke that a Game of Thrones sequel series centered on Jon Snow is in the works and that Kit Harrington would reprise his role as the now-exiled hero. While initial reports had very little in the way of details, Thrones author George R.R. Martin has now confirmed the series’ development in a new post on his official blog. Martin also offered updates on the series’ current status as well as its working title.

According to Martin, the sequel series is currently titled Snow, and the author is surprised that its existence is only just now being leaked because it’s been in development nearly as long as the other numerous Game of Thrones spinoffs. Martin also confirmed comments by Emilia Clarke that the series is actually Harrington’s idea.

Via Not A Blog:

Yes, it was Kit Harrington who brought the idea to us. I cannot tell you the names of the writers/ showrunners, since that has not been cleared for release yet… but Kit brought them in too, his own team, and they are terrific.

Various rumors are floating around about my involvement, or lack of same. I am involved, just as I am with THE HEDGE KNIGHT and THE SEA SNAKE and TEN THOUSAND SHIPS, and all the animated shows. Kit’s team have visited me here in Santa Fe and worked with me and my own team of brilliant, talented writer/ consultants to hammer out the show.

Despite Harrington and Martin’s involvement, the author cautioned Game of Thrones fans that Snow is still in the “script stage” and “nothing has been green lit yet.” In other words, the sequel series is anything but a sure thing at the moment.

“There are all sorts of reasons pilots never get picked up to series, all sorts of reasons scripts never got shot as pilots, all sorts of reasons great treatments never get sent to script,” Martin wrote. “That’s the way the business works.”

(Via George R.R. Martin)

In May, when reports of Roe v. Wade potentially being overturned started to surface, Phoebe Bridgers shared that she had an abortion herself in 2021, writing, “I had an abortion in October of last year while I was on tour. I went to planned parenthood where they gave me the abortion pill. It was easy. Everyone deserves that kind of access.”

Now, in a new interview with The Guardian, she has spoken more about it, saying the process “wasn’t f*cking emotional at all.” (The interview was published this morning, shortly before the Supreme Court officially overturned Roe v. Wade.)

Bridgers said:

“I’ve always found comfort in talking to people in passing — when someone’s mom says, ‘I had an abortion when I was a teen.’ It normalized it for me. I was, ‘All right, it’s time to throw my hat into that pool’… That’s not a phrase, I just made that up. But I didn’t think about it, really, at all. […]

As a white, upper-middle-class woman from California, even if it were to be overturned, I will always have access. I have a friend who went to medical school — every time I need a doctor, I say, ‘Do you have someone that you recommend?’ So I would just go, ‘Hey, where do I go for the thing? Wink-wink.’ The people with access will always have access. What pisses me off is that we’re not talking about me. It’s so easy: I played in Texas the same week, and then I went home and was like, ‘Oh my God.’ Made the appointment. It was 12 hours of my life.”

She also noted she was bothered by “people with good intentions saying, ‘Don’t say it was easy for you to make that decision – it was clearly really emotional.’” She continued, “And I wasn’t f*cking emotional at all. Hormonally crazy! But I don’t think you should assign ‘it tore me up’ to me. No! I don’t think about it as a baby, of course not.”

Read the full feature here.

Billie Eilish may be one of the youngest stars to break into stardom as of late, but she’s definitely one of the wisest. The “Bad Guy” singer has always been vocal about her qualms with the music industry, like when she was reluctant to accept her Grammy because of the accusations of unfair voting and a toxic culture at the organization. In a new interview with NME, she discussed the lack of representation for women at music festivals.

“It’s so cool to be a young woman and headline festivals, because it’s so male-dominated,” she said. “I went through a rough patch in 2017 and 2018, feeling hopeless about the future of women in music. I would see these line-ups for festivals and it was all dudes. And it was all artists I liked, but it was just like, ‘When will women be involved?’”

She added: “Women have to have a million back-up dancers and a million costume changes and their hair done, and crazy costumes and stage set-up. I love male performers, but they barely have to do shit to have a show that people like, and women are expected to have the biggest show. I’m tired of feeling like we have to do that to feel adequate. If you want to do that, then that’s so great, but I remember thinking that I would never be able to headline anything because of those expectations.”

If you engage with pop culture on any level at all, you likely know that there’s a new Minions movie on the way. While your reception of this news largely depends on how you feel about the Minions as characters — and whether or not you have kids, the determining factor in how likely you are to end up in a movie theater to see the little yellow creatures on July 1 — there is one universal good that comes with the new film: Its soundtrack.

For whatever reason, the Despicable Me cinematic universe has always had absolutely stellar music. While some of that music gets run into the ground — even Pharrell got sick of “Happy” — Illumination, the studio behind Gru and his gibberish-speaking allies, undoubtedly churns out banger after banger for their films from covers to original songs.

This is, in part, because they secure some great collaborators for them. While Pharrell worked on the soundtrack for Despicable Me 2, the soundtrack for Minions: The Rise Of Gru is produced by Jack Antonoff, featuring contemporary artists covering 1970s soul, funk, and pop hits. The latest one to surface is a cover of Sly And The Family Stone’s signature hit “Dance To The Music” performed by the multitalented HER.

Listen to HER’s cover of Sly And The Family Stone’s “Dance To The Music” above. The full soundtrack, which also features Brittany Howard, Brockhampton, Caroline Polachek, Diana Ross, Gary Clark Jr., Jackson Wang, Kali Uchis, RZA, St. Vincent, Tierra Whack, and Thundercat, is also out on 7/1 via Decca and Verve.

Soccer Mommy’s Sophie Allison quickly became one of the buzziest indie songwriters with her 2018 debut, existing at the nexus of ’90s indie, alt-rock, and 2010s DIY music. On this week’s Indiecast episode, hosts Steven Hyden and Ian Cohen discuss her new album, Sometimes, Forever, and debate whether it’s an instant Album Of The Year contender or if it missed the mark.

Along with discussing Soccer Mommy, Indiecast talks about news from arguably the two biggest names in music: Beyoncé and Drake. Both celebrities announced new albums just hours apart from each other, with Drake’s house-leaning Honestly, Nevermind debuting the next day.

In the Recommendation Corner this week, Ian tells listeners to check out Candy, a Richmond, VA metalcore band who have leveled up their music in recent years. Steven shouts out Kentucky songwriter S.G. Goodman, whose sophomore album Teeth Marks is out now.

New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 94 below, and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. You can submit questions for Steve and Ian at [email protected], and make sure to follow us on Instagram and Twitter for all the latest news. We also recently launched a visualizer for our favorite Indiecast moments. Check those out here.