Month: August 2022

[Potential spoilers for future episodes of Better Call Saul]

If you watched the latest meme-inspiring episode of Better Call Saul, “Breaking Bad,” on AMC Plus, here’s what the closed captioning for Jimmy / Saul / Gene’s call that ends with him angrily smashing the phone against the booth reads.

Saul (not doing Jimmy / Saul / Gene every time) was trying to get in touch with Kim, who has apparently left New Mexico for the swampier pastures of Florida. Did he succeed? According to a German-speaking Better Call Saul fan on Reddit, he did — and the contents of the phone call may have been revealed, too.

“The ‘inaudible’ conversation in the phone booth is actually pretty audible in the German dub. Here is what is said,” the title of the post from Redditor mcmike8 reads.

German: „Du hast keine Ahnung was ich getan, oder nicht getan habe, okay? Wieso stellst DU dich nicht, auf mich musst du keine Rücksicht nehmen, ich kann nur EINMAL gehängt werden. Okay, hör zu, Kim, wieso reden wir überhaupt darüber. Wir beide sind zu clever…

English translation: (The beginning is inaudible…but it’s mid-sentence and he is already upset about what Kim must have said): “(…) you have no idea what I did or didn’t do, okay? Why don’t YOU turn yourself in, you don’t have to be considerate of me, I can only be hanged ONCE. Okay, look, Kim, why are we even talking about this. We’re both too smart…“

Saul writer Thomas Schnauz confirmed that “we will learn the details of the phone call” in a future episode (there are only two left), but if the Reddit transcription is true, Gene and Kim are a long way from a possible reunion. This makes me… something like this.

(Via Reddit)

Last year, Kathy Griffin was “locked out” of Twitter for reposting a 2017 photo where she’s holding the bloody, decapitated head of Donald Trump. The gory pic cost the comedian and My Life on the D-List star jobs and she was “erased” from culture, but she’s continued to criticize the former-president on social media, including a recent tweet where she’s drinking from a “F*CK TRUMP” mug.

Although maybe it should read “F*CK ROGAN.”

Griffin recently appeared on the Pivot podcast, where she expressed her concerns about the influence of The Joe Rogan Experience host. “It’s kind of the Roganization of America that I now am more worried about than Trumpism,” she said.

While Griffin didn’t specify the source of her concerns about Rogan, she told Interview earlier this year that she makes a point of avoiding “guys like Joe.” “His fan base is very frightening because the misogyny runs so deep,” she explained. “When I make fun of his show, the Elon Musk army comes after me, the Rogan army comes after me…They’re very into swarming. I’ve known guys like Joe my whole career, and guys like that are best to stay away from. There are other people that can get in the arena with him.”

To recap, this is a star of Suddenly Susan being worried that a NewsRadio actor is more dangerous than the host of The Apprentice. NBC has an oversized influence on American politics in the 21st century. In this essay, I will…

(You can listen to the podcast below.)

Warner Bros. Discovery stunned DC Comics fans on Tuesday when the studio announced that it was pulling the plug on the Batgirl movie. While the film was originally headed to HBO Max, there was talk of expanding it to theaters, which made the sudden decision to completely shelve the project altogether all the more surprising. Not only did the film have Michael Keaton reprising his role as Batman, but Brendan Fraser had been tapped to play the movie’s villain Firefly.

“A minute after this story posted got a call from a rival studio exec who was floored by move,” Deadline reporter Justin Kroll tweeted. “‘Worked in this town for three decades and this is some unprecedented sh*t right here.’”

Naturally, fans on social media have been reacting heatedly to the news, but Brendan Fraser fans seem particularly aggrieved. The actor started trending on Twitter as fans couldn’t believe that Warner Bros. would just go ahead and shelve a film that locked down The Mummy star as a Batman villain. It just didn’t make any sense.

You can see some of the reactions below:

As for why Warner Bros. made the unprecedented move to shelve a superhero blockbuster that was, by accounts, mostly finished, it’s a tale as old as time: For the tax write-off. Via Variety:

Releasing the movie on HBO Max would seem to be the most obvious solution. Instead, the company has shelved “Batgirl” — along with the “Scoob!” sequel — and several sources say it will almost certainly take a tax write-down on both films, seen internally as the most financially sound way to recoup the costs (at least, on an accountant’s ledger). It could justify that by chalking it up to a post-merger change of strategy.

Needless to say, #ReleaseBatgirl has already become a thing, but after recently getting burnt by the “Release The Snyder Cut” campaign, maybe don’t hold your breath on Warner Bros. giving into this latest hashtag.

(Via Variety)

Whether or not Time Skiffs was Animal Collective’s comeback record, Panda Bear has never fallen off. 2019’s Buoys and especially 2015’s Panda Bear Meets The Grim Reaper were bona fide slaps and just like he always has with Animal Collective, Panda Bear’s Noah Lennox has always explored child-like dreamworlds and nostalgia. He’s picking up in that familiar sphere with his new collaborative album with Sonic Boom (the moniker of Beach House and MGMT producer Peter Kember). Their album, Reset, is due out next week and the latest single, “Edge Of The Edge,” hearkens back to ’60s doo-wop with a decidedly modern message.

Kember fancies himself a collector of ’60s records and a sample of “Denise” by Randy & The Rainbows is prominently featured on “Edge Of The Edge” as soon as the track begins. The video, directed by Danny Perez, is chock full of emoticons and digital-age imagery. Over clicks and dial tone effects, claps and bells, Panda Bear seems to warn us of the perils of our addictions, and in the video’s case, of online fixations, singing: “One taste to break the fall, one wave to take us all to the shore. Can’t say it’s what you bargained for, it’s forever at the push of a button.”

Watch the “Edge Of The Edge” video above.

Reset is out 8/12 via Domino Recordings. Pre-order it here.

The boys of BTS are working harder than ever, despite being on a hiatus collectively. While it may be a while until we get new music from them as a band, BTS has something special cooking up. This October, BTS will release a cookbook featuring each of the member’s favorite recipes.

The book, called BTS Recipe Book: Book Of Tasty Stories, will contain recipes that the BTS members use themselves, paired with anecdotes about the band, as well as the backstories behind the dishes.

“We hope that you will enjoy every moment as you follow the steps of these recipes, imagining the conversations and feelings of BTS when they were making these dishes,” reads a description for the book on Weverse.

The book will be published in Japanese, and in Korean, with the latter version containing English translations. Although a release date has not yet been announced for the book, however, it is expected to ship during the week of October 17, according to Weverse.

Additionally, Benny Blanco is dropping a new single this Friday called “Bad Decisions,” which features Snoop Dogg, as well as Jin, Jimin, V and Jung Kook of BTS.

“I’m still pinching myself,” said Blanco in a statement. “I can’t believe I have a song coming out with Jin, Jimin, V and Jung Kook of BTS and Snoop Dogg. It doesn’t even feel real.”

You can pre-save the single here.

There are tell-tale signs in a country with a majority continental climate that summer has, or has just about, come to a close. A nip in the air most mornings, foliage flickering through a beautiful array of fall tones, people wearing jean jackets again, and of course, a renewed frenzy and ramped up pride around the Toronto Raptors and their imminent season.

Since 2012, NBA Canada, in tandem with the NBA, have tapped into that excitement and actively sought to broaden it by hosting the NBA Canada Series — official, pre-season games held outside of the league’s lone market of Toronto. Previous match-ups have featured franchises like the Clippers, Bulls, Knicks, and Nuggets in cities such as Montreal, Ottawa, Winnipeg, Calgary, and the Grizzlies’ former home of Vancouver. The series was put on pause in 2019 due to the COVID pandemic, but is set to make its return this fall with two games presented by Bell.

On Oct. 2, the Raptors will take on the Jazz in Edmonton, a first for Utah as a team featured in the series and for the city as a host for an NBA game. On Oct. 14, the Raptors will face the Celtics in Montreal, a second-time appearance for the recent Eastern Conference in the city and hometown of the Raptors own Chris Boucher, who hasn’t played there since the preseason of Toronto’s title winning season in 2019.

“It’s so good to once again be able to play in front of our fans across Canada,” Raptors general manager Bobby Webster said of the Canada Series’ 10-year anniversary and return. “We’re looking forward to returning to Montreal, and to playing at Rogers Place in Edmonton for the first time. It’s a fantastic reminder, as we begin a new season, that we are Canada’s team, and we look forward to making Raptors fans proud, no matter where they are cheering from.”

Of the Jazz’s inaugural appearance in the series, Utah general manager Justin Zanik echoed those sentiments. “We’re excited to be featured in the preseason NBA Canada Series,” he said. “It is a unique opportunity for our organization to engage with the league’s Canadian fans in Edmonton. Our players and staff are looking forward to it.”

Canada, oft touted as a kind of tacked on extension of the U.S. market, has a rich history in and rapidly growing fanbase for basketball. The rise of exciting, Canadian stars in the NBA like Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Andrew Wiggins, Jamal Murray, and Dillon Brooks — not to mention the Raptors rostering three Canadian players including Toronto-born Dalano Banton — has created a renewed awareness for Canadians of a flourishing Canadian identity in the league. On and off court the stylistic nuances of Canadian players, aided by the volume of talented players being drafted into the NBA each season and expansion of national leagues like the CEBL, has underscored not only that the culture of basketball in Canada is thriving, but that a budding regionality is taking shape. The return of the NBA Canada Series underscores the necessity and value in treating Canada not as a far-flung outpost, but a compelling and completely unique country of basketball, symbiotic in the league’s goal to take the game global.

Generally speaking, when a lawmaker’s attempting to show off movie-based knowledge, this involves Ted Cruz falling all over himself. The Princess Bride superfan previously feuded with Cary Elwes and botched both Watchmen and The Avengers. But Lauren Boebert is here to threaten Ted’s crown of stumbling into Twitter traps. No, she’s not “liking” saucy tweets (like Ted presumably did) late on a Monday night, but she is taking issue with Kevin Costner, and she got trolled mightily as a result.

Costner had decided to throw his Yellowstone weight behind Liz Cheney to support her House reelection campaign. Cheney, although a Republican, regularly angers the MAGA crowd and continues to do so as a prominent figure in the House’s investigation into Jan. 6. And Boebert couldn’t resist tossing a barb at the Bull Durham actor. “How did Kevin Costner go from Dancing with Wolves to slumming with RINOs?” she tweeted.

It’s one of those silly tweets that begged for a little trolling, so the notorious Three Year Letterman account stepped up to do so. He baited Boebert with an equally mindless (and purposefully inaccurate) tweet. “Kevin Costner was not in Dances with Wolves, Senator,” Letterman responded. “He was in Field of Dreams. You’re thinking of Jeff Bridges, so delete and correct this.”

Boebert took the bait, and while this might seem inconsequential (obviously, Costner really was in Field of Dreams), it’s quite something that Boebert’s entrenched enough on Twitter to express well wishes for “Catturd2” but not recognize the Letterman account for what it is. And she fired back: “I’m not a Senator, and Kevin Costner acted in and directed the dang thing. Next!”

Letterman continued to tweet random gibberish about DVDs and how he’d like to be addressed.

And it doesn’t matter, at all, except for the “owning the libs” angle. Also: “Next!”

A young Lizzo fan got some viral attention recently, as a video shared by her mother of her dancing to “About Damn Time” has racked up over 360,000 views on TikTok, with a second featuring more dancing attracting over 420,000 plays. The moves even caught the attention of Lizzo herself, who was moved to tears by them.

Lizzo stitched that first video on TikTok, showing herself smiling and covering her mouth as she’s seemingly on the verge of getting emotional.

In a follow-up video, Lizzo has tears coming from her eyes as she explains, “I’m like… still processing that feeling of, like… you never think when you’re making music, you have an effect on people or you have an impact on people’s lives, and… it’s like, this is literally why I do it. I’m so grateful that people take my music and do good things with it. It makes them move, it makes them dance, it makes them happy, it makes them feel confidence in themselves. I don’t care about all the other sh*t. The numbers: I don’t give a sh*t. That video is my Grammy right there. That is my award and I’m so grateful.”

After Lizzo’s reaction, the girl’s mother shared a video of her and her daughter thanking fans for the support. The mom also noted how emotional the video made Lizzo and asked her daughter why she thinks that happened. The mom explained, “Because all she wants to do is be an inspiration to little girls like you. Right? And we love watching her videos, right?”

Check out all of the heartwarming clips above.

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

As you might have heard, Game of Thrones had a lot of issues in its final season, from pacing to character motivation to the episodes being too dang dark. “The Long Night,” in particular, was dubbed “one of the most expensive missed opportunities in the history of television” due to how difficult it was to follow the action. Excuses were made, with director Miguel Sapochnik explaining the darkness was an intentional choice to mimic the “feeling of claustrophobia, anxiety, and at times frustration” that the characters were facing. But the only frustration most viewers felt was from having to squint.

It might be worth checking out “The Long Night” again, or maybe even a full series re-watch: every episode of Game of Thrones (including the good ones!) has been remastered on HBO Max ahead of the August 21st premiere of House of the Dragon.

Tom’s Guide reports that “HBO Max added the entirety of Thrones in 4K UHD quality. And it’s not just sharp, either. The seasons are presented in HDR 10, Dolby Vision, and Dolby Atmos. That means you’ll see all eight seasons of Thrones with high contrast and strong colors. And it’ll sound immersive.” (The 4K-quality episodes are not available to stream on every device, including PS5s for some reason, but you can find the list here.)

That should help the too-dark issue. Daenerys going full girlboss? That’s a tougher fix.

(Via Tom’s Guide)

King Princess’ (real name Mikaela Straus) new album Hold On Baby dropped last week and it was something Foo Fighters die-hards were surely paying attention to, as the late Taylor Hawkins plays drums on “Let Us Die.” King Princess brought the song to TV last night with a Tonight Show performance, during which she found a simple way to honor her collaborator.

After Jimmy Fallon’s introduction, the first shot of the performance was of the kick drum, which had “TAYLOR” printed on it. From there, Straus and her band put on a dynamic and rocking performance of which Hawkins would have been proud.

Straus recently told Apple Music’s Zane Lowe about working with Hawkins, “In between takes, we’d FaceTime and he was just so kind. […] He was just saying he loves playing drums. And to hear that from somebody who’s lived such a life that, at his age and playing for as long as he has in so many different bands and his own projects, for him to just love to play the f*cking drums, that to me is just what we should all strive to be: Somebody who does not lose that love of their instrument.”

Watch King Princess perform “Let Us Die” on Fallon above.