Month: June 2022

After the climactic ending to Avengers: Endgame, Chris Evans has been keeping a relatively low profile. Maybe starring in a Pixar movie isn’t that low of a profile, but still! While promoting Lightyear, Evans spoke about his post-MCU life, which consists of very little working out, as it turns out.

“I’ve shed like 15 pounds,” Evans told Yahoo at a recent press event. Since he no longer has to be the gigantic Captain America, he can take it pretty easy. “Every time people see me they’re like, ‘Are you OK? You lost a little bit of weight.’ I haven’t had to hit the gym as hard.” That does not sound like a bad thing.

Not only is he taking it slow at the gym, but he also just generally lives a calmer life since hanging up his superhero costume. “For 10 years you always have a movie around the corner. For 10 years, you finish one, your life is scheduled by, ‘OK, in six months we have press, six more months we start the next movie.’ To kind of have open waters… there are parts of it that are nice, and there are parts of it that I really, really miss because it was a role that meant a lot to me.” Evans adds. “And I love those people. And it’ll be the best 10 years of my professional life without any question, forever.”

While Evans seems relieved to be a retired Captain America, he is also excited to see how Anthony Mackie takes over the role. “No one better to do it,” Evans said. “I mean he does it justice and I’m so proud of him and I can’t wait to see what they do in the future with it.”

As for Evans, he is booked out for the foreseeable future, starring alongside Ryan Gosling in Netflix’s massively expensive The Gray Man and gearing up to film a Christmas movie with The Rock. But where will Buzz’s robotic cat companion Sox fit into this? Where is HIS spin-off movie?!

(Via Yahoo!)

In the words of NBA Finals star and one of the sunnier characters we got to know throughout the series, Klay Thompson (Klay Thompson), “Holy cannoli!”

‘Game 6’ turned out to be the surprise ending no one saw coming, wrapping the show an episode earlier than expected. Was this a case of budgeting restraints? Summer blockbuster competition? Performer fatigue? Or was it the plan all along? Let’s dive into the dramatic closing of the series to figure it out.

Early on, ‘Game 6’ began to feel familiar in that it shared a lot of the pacing problems of the last couple of episodes. Any momentum gained in the storyline for either the ‘Warriors’ or the ‘Celtics’ was pretty much immediately snubbed out by the other in a lurching, effortful call-and-response. The physicality of ‘Game 5’ was also back, though the stunts seemed ill-timed and awkward. For example, Draymond Green (Draymond Green) doing the rote dance moves for the song ‘YMCA’ in Jayson Tatum’s (Jayson Tatum) face within the first 12 minutes, a choice even co-director Steve Kerr appeared confused about.

However just when it seemed like we were bound for the same pacing pitfalls and rote corporeal concerns, and that Finals was going to be remembered as a show that shifted to stunt work to save itself, ‘Game 6’ suddenly turned to comedy.

It started subtly, a few off the finger losses of the all-important ball that this series has been centered on. At first it was easy enough to think, “Okay, here we go, another clumsy allegory of how the tools of daily life have come to overtake us,” but the slapstick sloppiness continued to pile up. There was Draymond Green bungling a behind the back transfer of the ball to Klay Thompson when the two had just deftly stolen it away and gone running down the length of the floor. There were even more misfired transfers ricocheting off the actors feet, hands and shoulders. There were cartoon pile-ons where a tangle of bodies looked like a Looney Tunes fight — and indeed, involving Kevon Looney (Kevon Looney).

The break of ‘halftime’ saw a lopsided tally of points — 54-39 — in favor of the ‘Warriors’ group, who found themselves again on the parquet floors of a believable interpretation of a demoralized ‘Boston.’ Before there was time to consider whether numerology was meant to play a role (the ‘Warriors’ had a tally of 27 in both of the show’s first two acts), and really it was for the best because it felt late, even for Adam Silver, to introduce yet another mystical element, there was the over the top somber mood the ‘halftime’ scene worked to strike.

Huge funeral-esque bouquets flanked the half moon desk where the four familiar men sat hunched together — an aside: there haven’t been five of them again since ‘Game 1’ and the absence of Magic Johnson (Magic Johnson) was never explained, is he back consulting on season two of HBO’s Winning Time? — and their collective tone was made pitch-perfect to match. All four of the hosts sounded on the verge of terror when consulting on the action that had just unfolded, but rather than shroud ‘Game 6’ in doubt, they helped dial up its comedic energy. Here were four modern day Pagliaccis but without any of the murderous intent, only the dole dour demeanors.

The transition into the second half of action was swift and moved adeptly from slapstick comedy into high-stakes drama in major part to the show’s prevalent hero, Steph Curry (Steph Curry). The fabled third quarter opened into what the narrators adeptly (for the first time) labeled “Curry chaos.” Oh, this isn’t a comedy, Steph Curry seems to say, casting a calm glance across the floor and shifting the action into a high-flying content of gymnastics. Indeed, we saw that done very well by his co-star, Klay Thompson, who seems to have figured out a way to move faster through space and time.

Ever the showman, Steph Curry’s character has appeared to take the earlier strife he felt in the series and his usual metronomic bearing and alchemize them into something playfully austere. He single-handedly flung the ball on five long arcs toward the solitary stanchion, sinking three cleanly and gracefully through that circle of consequence. The only adversary brave enough to try and stop him came in the late series emergence of Al Horford (Al Horford), who, after seeing his companion Grant Williams (Grant Williams) bloodied and battered, seemed ready to take revenge.

It was a deft though no doubt difficult decision by co-directors Steve Kerr and Ime Udoka to tarnish that once golden third quarter with a blood price, but after the camp and satire ‘Game 6’ started with, the move makes sense. And Steph Curry worked to further incense his opponents on the ‘Celtics’ by kissing his ring finger, the place we understand to be wanting for him and where the prize of this match-up will sit for its winner.

There were still a few confusing cuts in Finals penultimate episode. The genie Steve Javie (Steve Javie), for example, was back to talk about blood. The camera cut to him in a peaked sequence of events and took us visibly far from the action, to that dark and sparsely maintained control room somewhere. Then after all their success in “making shots,” the ‘Warriors’ group suddenly went cold, missing ten attempts in a row but without it meaning much for the ‘Celtics.’ A missed opportunity to further elaborate on how the narrative trope of a hero’s journey is overused in today’s television.

While the finale was quiet — the ‘Warriors’ group holding close to the ball as if hesitant to part with it, the ‘Celtics’ group tired, replaced by extras so close to the finish and unable to muster much of their earlier energy for the stage — the emotion was raw. Steph Curry openly wept as the production ended and turned meta, stagehands scrambling to build a stage on the stage. All of the actors embraced at length while the green-clad and once furious crowd stirred in their seats, confused at what to do, or else streamed to the exits like exorcised ghosts.

The theme in ‘Game 6,’ and certainly the whole of NBA Finals, was that for triumph to really take hold, poise had to be thrown through a window, like a brick, in real time. This was a series that was as elaborate as it was bizarre, played with concepts of masculinity, vulnerability, the limits of physicality and even of our concept of the universe as we know it. While all the hints at alternate realities and clones never came to anything, we can appreciate how creative showrunner Silver was in this production (thought he was, perhaps not wanting to hog the spotlight, absent in it’s award ceremony) even if those risks didn’t quite have the big payoff fans of his earlier shows wanted.

And really, wasn’t this all to show that life is the biggest production within a production of all?

South Shore-style bar pizza has been kicking off on the socials lately. The hyper-regional take on pizza is finding fans outside of the small communities south of Boston and along Cape Cod, which have been enjoying this style for decades. And, as a lover of unique regional pizzas, the buzz inspired me.

It was time to make a pie. One which I’ve had before but haven’t actually cooked very much.

Before we dive into the recipe, let’s get a little pizza context. South Shore-style bar pizza — or just “bar pizza” if you’re actually in South Mass or on the Cape — does have its own nuances. The crust is the biggest variable. Like all bar or tavern-style pizzas from Portland, Oregon to Portland, Maine, it’s cooked at high heat in an electric oven in a pan with a ton of oil. But in this case, the dough has a lot of fat — butter and corn oil — and is flattened, not stretched, to create a bit of a harder crust. Some crusts will be close to a thick cracker like Massachusetts Greek-style (a recipe post for another day). Other crusts will just be buttery but a tad soft while still holding their shape when sliced (no NY slice folding here). Of the few bar pizzas I’ve had in the region, I remember that buttery semi-hard crust character the most.

The next nuance is that the cheese is all (or mostly, depending on who you ask) white cheddar. Which, yeah, that’s cool. I love white cheddar. Some recipes call for a mix of white cheddar and low moisture mozz as well. Then there’s the presentation. The dough is pressed up against the edges of the pan and the toppings (tomato, cheese, etc.) all hit the edges of the pan too, making this a “no crust” pizza. But that does create the crucial “lacing” effect on the edges of the crust that are touching the pan’s edges (more on that below).

Then there are the toppings. I’ve had the hyper-local baked bean pie and it’s … fine. I actually kind of dig the crinkle-cut french fry version. It reminds me of the french fry and hot dog pizzas you get in Sicily. Other than that, it’s basically dealer’s choice of toppings with classic pepperoni being the most iconic.

Lastly, the pizzas are usually baked and then packed in brown grocery store bags for transport/service. This is very close to how street margherita pies are served up in Naples (portafoglio) and in both cases adds something quaint and rustic to the whole experience. While I didn’t wrap mine in brown paper, the crust did get a little denser as the pie cooled. So, take that into account when making this kind of pizza.

To make this at home, I scoured the internet for recipes and found this was the most local and used it for reference. I also used the look and the size of Boston’s Hot Box as my guide in this endeavor.

One last quick note before we dive in. I made one pizza in the requisite ten-inch pizza pan and the crust pretty much did as was expected. I only had one of those pans though. So I put the other dough into an eight-inch cast iron skillet. Because I couldn’t stretch the dough as far, it did puff up a little more and created a very buttery slice that was closer to a grandma-style than bar-style. So make sure to use the right pan.

Okay, let’s get into it!

Related: The Only Cornbread Recipe You Need For The Best BBQ Season Ever

South Shore-Style Bar Pizza

Makes two ten-inch pies

Ingredients:

• 500 grams 00 pizza flour (or all-purpose)
• 9 grams of dry yeast
• 6 grams of white sugar
• 6 grams of sea salt
• 30 grams of corn oil
• 30 grams of melted butter
• 1 cup hot tap water (around 100F)
• 1 can of diced tomatoes, strained
• Dried oregano
• 3 cups of shredded white cheddar
• 1.5 cups of shredded low-moisture mozzarella
• Pepperoni
• Toppings of your choosing
• Extra corn oil and flour
• Salt

I have a lot of 00 pizza flour on the shelf, so I just used that. Traditionally, you’ll want to use standard AP flour. I also went the “mix of cheddar and mozz” route as a lot of recipes called for it. If you’re going very old-school, just use the white cheddar — it’ll be greasy AF though.

Lastly, always weigh out your bread ingredients. Accuracy is important in the chemistry of bread making. And if you have a scale, just set it to grams. It’s more accurate in that one gram equals 0.035 ounces. Most scales measure ounces by 0.1 increments. Moving on!

What You’ll Need:

• 10-inch pizza pan (like the ones from Pizza Hut)
• Large bowl
• Stand mixer with a dough hook
• Plastic wrap
• Pizza cuter
• Strainer

Method:

• Add the water, yeast, and sugar to a small bowl and let activate (about five minutes) until it’s frothy.
• Add the dry flour and salt to a mixing bowl of a stand mixer with the dough hook attachment. Add the frothy yeast water and start mixing. While mixing add the corn oil and melted butter. The dough should come together quickly. If it’s not coming off the sides of the bowl, add a little more flour until a ball forms. Once a cohesive ball has formed, stop the mixer and place. You don’t want to over-knead this dough. Place the dough ball in a pre-oiled (again with corn oil) bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate the dough for 48 hours to allow it to cold ferment.
• Take the dough out of the fridge and cut it into two pieces. Roll it into a ball and place it in your pre-oiled (yes, with corn oil) pizza pans. Place the pans on the stovetop and turn on the oven to preheat to 500F. The dough will warm up on the stovetop thanks to the excess heat from the oven as it heats up.
• Once the dough is proofed (soft and malleable to touch), push/press it out toward the edges of the pizza pan. The dough should easily stretch to fill in the whole pan.
• Once the dough is stretched, prick the dough with a fork to stop it from bubbling/raising up later in the oven, and then add a layer of strained tomatoes (water is not your friend with this crust) with a good pinch of salt and a mix of both kinds of cheese (I used 2:1 cheddar:mozz). Make sure the sauce and cheese go all the way to the edges of the pan. Then top the other pizza however you like. I’m using bell pepper, onion, sausage, mushrooms, and olives — a classic supreme pizza to go with a classic pepperoni.
• Bake the pies in the oven for 12 to 15 minutes, depending on how many toppings you’re putting on there.
• Once the pies are nice and bubbly on top and crispy around the edges, remove them from the oven and plate them up on a pizza plate and let them chill for a few minutes. Hit them with some dried oregano, cut, and serve.

Bottom Line:

So, let’s talk about “lacing” first as that’s something people seemed obsessed with up in Massachusetts. This had it in spades! Look at that crunchy edge on that crust.

Even the cast iron pie had good lacing all around the edges, as you can see below.

Okay, let’s talk about the pie. I’m going to focus on the classic pepperoni one as that crust turned out very close to a bar pizza.

The crust was nice and buttery with good heft. The bottom layer of the crust and the edges were crunchy and almost cracker-like with plenty of butteriness. The inner layer of the crust (near the tomato and cheese) had a softness to it that wasn’t airy but was leaven. As the pizza cooled, that heft and crack to the outer layer of the crust heightened while the beard near the toppings stayed softer but did compress.

As for the topping and overall vibe, this pizza rules. There’s a great sharpness thanks to the white cheddar. The pepperoni was nice and spicy, providing that classic cheese/fat/spice matrix.

Overall, this is totally worth making at home if you’re not in Massachusetts. The dough just has to sit in the fridge. So it’s out of sight, out of mind. And in the end, you’ll have a very flavorful and comforting pizza to enjoy.

Back in January, during Sundance (which was, once again, virtual only for the second year in a row), I got a text from a friend of mine telling me I had to watch Brian and Charles before the festival ended. I, in turn, texted back, “What’s that?” He then sold me on the movie in one sentence, “It’s about an inventor who invents things that don’t work, but then accidentally invents a robot with actual artificial intelligence.” Alright, I’m in. I watched Brian and Charles. So late, in fact, that we had already done our site’s “best movies of Sundance” list, which is why I didn’t get to include Brian and Charles, or I certainly would have. Anyway, I was smitten. It’s the kind of movie that, if the festival had been in person, it would have gotten the word of mouth bump. But now, it was relegated to word of text message.

Brian (David Earl) is that said inventor, who has played this character on a stage show and in a short film, but as director Jim Archer says ahead, the character in the feature film is far less crude. Here, he’s incredibly sweet. And by the time Brian invents Charles (Chris Hayward) out of a mannequin head and an old washing machine (who gives himself the last name Petrescu, and it’s never not funny when Charles says, “I’m Charles Petrescu,” and he says this a lot), we, the audience, are just so happy Brian finally has a friend. Of course, local town bullies take notice of Charles Petrescu.

Being released by Focus Features in theaters, Archer doesn’t know what to expect really. It seems like he just hopes enough people see it, tell their friends, then someday it becomes enough of a cult classic where they can make another one. Or, as he suggests, maybe they can put Paddington in the movie then people will see it. (But, seriously, if you have a chance to see Brian and Charles, you will love Brian and Charles.)

This feels like a true word-of-mouth movie. The only reason I saw it is because during virtual Sundance a friend texted me and said I’d like this.

I mean, I think that’s basically our marketing campaign from now on. Some people see it and then some people say it’s good. Folks do an amazing job. But we’re still a low-budget thing so I think word of mouth is the key.

I didn’t expect to feel so emotionally connected to Charles Petrescu. First of all, where does that last name come from?

Well, Petrescu actually, do you know what? The original thing, I think it’s probably just because it’s funny.

It is a funny name for a robot. Every time he says it I laughed.

Yeah. And I like that. I like that he just literally comes up with it on the fly. But if you pause the film at the right moment, there is one of the books on the shelves is by someone Petrescu. We have printed and put something in there. I think it’s just funny. It’s funny that he gives himself some sort of Eastern European surname for no reason.

Was the look of Charles difficult? Because I feel there’s a fine line between Charles looking grotesque and Charles looking too funny. Because you want to hit that sweet spot where people feel empathy towards him.

Yeah, exactly. I think he is a very kind of blank slate, which works for that. I mean, he is actually, weirdly, he’s quite handsome. This sort of mannequin head. It’s a real mannequin’s head so it’s got all the high cheekbones and stuff like that. But we just sort of made him into this old man thing. And I think the first version of him, the one that we did for the short, was slightly more janky and a bit probably more on the side of scary. So when we did the film version, we slightly wanted to give it a bit more logic, and make the eye metal, and make him look more like he’s been built from a washing machine.

The concept is easy to pitch to people: “This inventor who invents things that don’t work accidentally invents artificial life.”

“It’s a park full of dinosaurs that come to life.” Okay. I’m in.

Yeah, that one did really well.

Yeah, I’ve heard of it.

That should be your new line. “We are the new Jurassic Park.”

Yeah, exactly. I think that sounds like a slightly different version of the film we could have made.

What are you hoping for, release-wise, with the release date? As we were saying, it’s the kind of movie that needs people to see it, then tell someone.

I don’t know. I don’t know. This is my first film and so this is my first experience of all this stuff. You’re right, though. I think it’ll be a slow open, and hopefully people will see it and like it and tell their friends to watch it. But I think it will still be… it’ll be a slow burn. Or it’ll just fizzle out and its life will be beyond that. Maybe it’ll be a cult film in a year’s time. Or maybe it’ll live on on-demand. Who knows? But hopefully, everyone goes to the cinemas to it.

I know there’s a short film. But how does this come to fruition?

I sort of got involved halfway through. But it existed, David Earl was doing the character of Brian Gittins as a live comedy act. Since 2006 or something. And then there was a radio show where Rupert did a call-in with the voice of Charles, so that started to do a thing. And then Chris listened to that and was like, Oh, maybe I’ll build the robot and we’ll do this as a live act. And then I came involved when they’re like, we want to make a short film. The live act is kind of crude and big and completely chaotic.

And this movie is very sweet and not crude.

Do you know what? I think just when translating that to cinema, you want people to engage with the characters most. And to do that, you just need to find the heart. And just treat everything super seriously and cinematically. And suddenly, you take these characters that are in this chaotic, weird universe on live comedy stages and then be like, right, let’s make them as real as we can.

If these characters are crude, maybe I’m not feeling as bad for them when they’re being picked on by the bullies.

Exactly. Yeah, it just doesn’t work.

Let this man have his friend that he built.

Exactly. When we are doing Brian, we were like this is our version of Brian, not the stage version. We even softened his voice a little bit.

I would watch more movies with Brian and Charles.

Well, we are up for it. I think it requires this film to do well which is… It’s not Paddington. It’s a low-budget, British feature, so we’ll see. If it does well, maybe there will be more. Although maybe there will be a TV show? Who knows?

Paddington fans should see this. “You’ll like this thing just as much. The fun bear and Charles are the same thing.”

So I’m seeing Charles pop up in the Paddington universe…

Now you’re thinking. That’s the future, here. Get Charles and Paddington together.

Yeah, I’ll call Paul King and see what he says.

‘Brian And Charles’ opens in theaters this weekend. You can contact Mike Ryan directly on Twitter.

In another crushing financial blow, Mike Lindell has revealed that Walmart won’t sell MyPillow products anymore. Lindell disclosed the news in a rambling Facebook video where he accused the retail giant of “cancel talk.” According to the crazed MyPillow CEO, Walmart’s decision is a whopping $100 million loss in wholesale sales, which arrives on the heel of Lindell disclosing that he’s dropped at least $30 million of his own money in his election fraud crusade. Lindell has vowed to go down in flames proving that the election was stolen from Donald Trump, and he just might get his wish.

As for what made Walmart pull the plug, Lindell has had trouble getting a straight answer thanks to executives ignoring him, which only further angered the hot-tempered CEO. Via New York Daily News:

Initially, according to Lindell, he was told sales had “fatigued” which is why the retail giants moved his product out of a highly visible “As Seen On TV” section. Now, the store will stop selling MyPillow products altogether. The 60-year-old Minnesota native said that after some back and forth, he got an executive vice president who was “kind of ignoring me” on a video conference call.

According to Lindell, Walmart claims his products no longer meet a satisfactory customer rating. Lindell blames “bots and trolls” for trying to shut him down by posting fake reviews. However, he didn’t help his case by losing his cool and blasting Walmart for selling “China pillows.” He also accused the retail giant of being “liars.”

“You’re a liar, liars and you’re liars, just like people on that January 6 committee,” Lindell ranted.

(Via New York Daily News)

A couple of days ago, Foo Fighters announced tribute shows in honor of their drummer Taylor Hawkins, who tragically passed in March. One will take place at London’s Wembley Stadium on September 3rd, and the other at the Kia Forum in Los Angeles on September 27th. New guests have just been announced.

In Los Angeles, the artists added to the roster are Pink, LeAnn Rimes, John Paul Jones, Alain Johannes, Nancy Wilson, Krist Novoselic, and Greg Kurstin. In London, the additions are John Paul Jones, Alain Johannes, Nandi Bushell, Nile Rodgers, Krist Novoselic, Greg Kurstin, and a special appearance by Chris Rock.

Already-announced guests for Los Angeles are Miley Cyrus, Joan Jett, Chris Chaney of Jane’s Addiction, Gene Simmons of Kiss, Alanis Morissette, Nikki Sixx of Motley Crue, Chad Smith of Red Hot Chili Peppers, Luke Spiller of The Struts, The Mars Volta drummer Jon Theodore, Brad Wilk of Rage Against The Machine, Mark Ronson, and an appearance by Hawkins’ cover band Chevy Metal.

For London: Brian May and Roger Taylor of Queen, Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson of Rush, Josh Homme of Queens Of The Stone Age, Mark Ronson, Oasis’ Liam Gallagher, former Police drummer Stewart Copeland, Chris Chaney of Jane’s Addiction, Chrissie Hynde of the Pretenders, Wolfgang Van Halen, members of Hawkins’ cover band Chevy Metal, Supergrass, drummer Omar Hakim, and a special appearance from Dave Chappelle.

Ted Cruz lives a charmed life. Instead of worrying about the stuff that keeps normal people up at night, like paying the bills or if his co-workers like him (he clearly doesn’t care about that), he frets about “Mickey and Pluto going at it” and “lesbian toys.”

Following his recent (and “pervy”) “Woke Disney” comments, the Texas senator took to his podcast to discuss the new Pixar movie, Lightyear. Cruz apparently hasn’t seen it, but he’s read the headlines about two female characters kissing, which is enough for him to turn into a live-action Helen Lovejoy. Thank god he didn’t do that impression.

“These lunatics, they want to see Mickey and Pluto going at it. And the press lost their mind, and then what do they do? Boom! The next movie they come out, Buzz Lightyear. What do we need? We need lesbian toys,” Cruz whined. “Now, never mind that the last time I checked, most toys are kinda androgynous. They are usually without genitalia…”

He continued:

“I gotta say, it’s a wild twist where Hollywood has been willing to grovel to China and let China censor its movies, to embrace anti-Americanism, to avoid any criticism of China because they want to get access to the Chinese movie market. But when it comes to their culture agenda, apparently now they’ve suddenly discovered, ‘Alright, give up the money because lesbian toys are more important.’ And I must say, it brings a whole new meaning to the phrase, to infinity and beyond!”

Sigh.

First off, and I realize this is besides the point, but the same-sex couple in Lightyear — Alisha and her wife — aren’t toys; that’s the entire point of the movie (someone hasn’t read Chris Evans’ tweet). Also, where was this “androgynous” concern over Woody and Bo Peep or Mr. Potato Head and Mrs. Potato Head? And don’t even get Ted started on Andy’s mother raising children without a strong father figure in the house.

Cruz needs to go back to doing what he does best: feuding with the stars of his favorite movies, who hate him.

A little over seven months after the passing of fashion designer Virgil Abloh, his global impact is still making itself known. Virgil’s influence is all over Drake’s new surprise album Honestly, Nevermind and in Spotify’s new documentary short film about Kendrick Lamar, the Compton rapper learns just how well-known Abloh was on his first trip to Ghana. Visiting a skate park in Accra, Kendrick reveals he’s been chatting with the local kids about the late designer, discussing “what he means to them, as far as letting them have this creative space to enjoy themselves.”

The park was opened in December, just after Virgil’s passing, with support from Off-White, Abloh’s own brand, Daily Paper, and Surf Ghana. At the time of the opening, Daily Paper co-founder Jefferson Osei said in a statement, “With this initiative, we hope to evolve the skate culture in Ghana to the next level and give locals a platform to grow their talents within a space that will hopefully become their biggest training ground to date. More than board sports, the park will be a creative hub for young Ghanaians to come together, exchange ideas, inspire each other, and build their futures through recreational activities. They now have a place where they can be themselves, freely develop their skills together with like-minded people, and reach their true potential. Hence the name, Freedom Skate Park.”

Kendrick also discussed his favorite lines from his new album Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers, explaining why a line about going to therapy resonates with him. “We learn to hold all our sh*t in,” he admits. “That wasn’t my forte when people mentioned it to me. I’m still stuck how my pops thinks: ‘F*ck I need therapy for?’” He also allows, though, that going would represent “growth” and seems more open to the idea than he initially lets on.

You can watch the mini-doc “A Day In Ghana With Kendrick Lamar” above.

Earlier this month, Justin Bieber postponed some concerts due to an undisclosed illness. A few days later, he revealed he was diagnosed with Ramsay Hunt syndrome, which has left one side of his face paralyzed. That was clear in the video Bieber shared revealing the news, as the movements of his eyes were out of sync and he was talking out of one side of his mouth.

Now, the condition has forced Bieber to postpone all of the North American concerts he had scheduled for June and July.

In a statement, Bieber’s tour promoter AEG Presents wrote, “In light of Justin’s ongoing recovery, the remaining US Justice Tour shows scheduled for June and early July, including at Summerfest at the @amfamamp in Milwaukee, WI on Friday, June 24, 2022 will be postponed. Justin continues to receive the best medical care possible, is upbeat about his recovery, and is looking forward to getting back out on the road and performing for his fans overseas later this summer.”

Currently, Bieber’s website only lists upcoming tour dates for Europe, the UK, and others parts of the world that aren’t North America. His next scheduled concert is on July 31 in Lucca, Italy.

A few days ago, Bieber offered an update on how he’s doing, writing in an Instagram Story that “each day has gotten better.”

Despite Elon Musk‘s frequent claims of being a “free speech absolutist,” several SpaceX employees have been fired after writing an open letter calling him an “embarrassment” to the company. For the past few months, Musk has tanked both the stock of Tesla and Twitter in pursuit of his acquisition of the latter, and SpaceX employees feel his constant trolling reflects poorly on their hardwork. There’s also the alleged sexual harassment of a SpaceX flight attendant, which was also cited in the letter.

The writers, who have been terminated for sharing the document in the company’s internal chat system, implored SpaceX to live up to its “No Asshole” policy and it’s “zero tolerance sexual harassment policy.” Via The Verge:

“Elon’s behavior in the public sphere is a frequent source of distraction and embarrassment for us, particularly in recent weeks,” the letter states. “As our CEO and most prominent spokesperson, Elon is seen as the face of SpaceX — every Tweet that Elon sends is a de facto public statement by the company. It is critical to make clear to our teams and to our potential talent pool that his messaging does not reflect our work, our mission, or our values.”

Following its publication, several employees involved in the drafting of the letter were fired by SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell. “The letter, solicitations and general process made employees feel uncomfortable, intimidated and bullied, and/or angry because the letter pressured them to sign onto something that did not reflect their views,” Shotwell wrote in a company-wide email. “We have too much critical work to accomplish and no need for this kind of overreaching activism.”

The chilling termination of his critics flies in the face of Musk’s constant proclamations that he loves free speech. His entire pursuit of Twitter has been hinged on ridding it of censorship, which has resulted in Musk firing off tweets that have, clearly, not aged well.

“I hope that even my worst critics remain on Twitter, because that is what free speech means,” Musk wrote back in April.

(Via The Verge)