Month: August 2022

Jon Hamm is returning to his lovable but dorky comedic roles, only this time he might be a murderer. Hamm is starring in the murder mystery Confess, Fletch based on Gregory McDonald’s character from his Fletch novels.

The movie follows Fletch, a former investigative reporter who has been laying low in Europe, though he quickly finds himself in the center of a murder investigation, though he plays it totally cool!

Despite being an ’80s character, Fletch has been updated for a modern audience, which means he will riff on social media and also find a dead body at an Airbnb. You know, millennial things. “Fletch comes to Boston to track down a bunch of stolen paintings, and the first day he’s there, he discovers a dead body in the Airbnb he’s staying in,” Director Greg Mottola explains. “The police think he’s the murderer, so he has to simultaneously find the stolen art and clear his name.”

The movie also stars Marcia Gay Harden, Lorenza Izzo, and Kyle MacLachlan. There is also a mini Mad Men reunion, as John Slattery plays Fletch’s friend and newspaper editor, with whom he has a love-hate relationship.

Fletch was previously portrayed by Chevy Chase in a 1985 adaptation of the popular book series, though you won’t see Chase and Hamm trying to outwit each other on screen. Mottola said that he wanted this to be a “new thing,” instead of a remake. “We reference the original, we pay homage to it, but we tried to really balance it halfway between a detective mystery and a comedy, possibly more than the original.” If anything, audiences will be awestruck by Hamm’s unshaven face they won’t even notice if the movie is good or not!

Confess, Fletch will be released in theaters and on-demand on September 16. Check out the trailer above.

A rapper signed to Lil Baby‘s record label, 4PF, has been arrested and accused of shooting a three-year-old during a drive-by, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. On Friday, August 19, Kentavious Wright, who raps as Dirty Tay, was arrested during a traffic stop and booked into the Fulton County Jail on suspicion of his involvement in the shooting, which took place on August 3 at the Off The Hook barbershop in Atlanta.

An adult victim, the father of the three-year-old who was shot, said that a Kia pulled up alongside them after he and his son had gotten into their own car, and a passenger opened fire with a 9mm. The child was hit in the head but survived; he’s reportedly in stable condition after having the bullet removed.

Dirty Tay was charged with attempted murder, aggravated assault, first-degree cruelty to children, and three counts of violating Georgia’s Street Gang Terrorism and Prevention Act, as authorities believe the shooting was intended to either gain membership or increase status in a criminal organization. A woman who was arrested with him was reportedly discovered to be holding a gun that authorities believe belonged to Tay. The rapper himself denied his involvement in a post on his Instagram Story, writing, “I’m innocent the news is not always right don’t bash me because of allegations.”

Lil Baby has yet to respond; incidentally, he’d recently launched an Atlanta jobs program intended to help reduce gang violence after spending weeks promoting a documentary about his own struggle to quit the street life in favor of his rap career.

It wouldn’t have taken some sort of brilliant mathematician or even a halfway decent political analyst to figure out that the Supreme Court’s bold move to overturn Roe v Wade — a nearly 50-year-old decision that the vast majority of Americans are totally fine with —would have a ripple effect when it comes to the midterm elections. Case in point: Even Fox News’ Jesse Watters knows enough to be concerned.

As Mediaite reports, the brilliant minds on The Five spent part of Wednesday discussing the results of Tuesday’s primaries, and really just wanted to celebrate the fact that it wasn’t a great night for progressive Democrats, a.k.a “The Squad” in Fox News parlance, but Watters, who always looks somewhere between troubled and constipated, admitted that he actually was worried about some of what he saw on Tuesday. Namely: In races where abortion seemed to be one of the biggest issues, pro-choice candidates seemed to have the edge.

Jeanine Pirro, who never had a student loan, took a few minutes away from being mad about student loan forgiveness to note that people had talked about Dobbs decision “not really affecting that many people,” but seemed to sense that maybe the number-crunchers were wrong when they predicted that people wouldn’t care about women being stripped of their bodily autonomy and the right to make decisions about their own health care. Wow, ya think?! When she asked Watters whether he thinks Republicans should be concerned, he made it clear that his answer was yes:

“I am concerned about it. So they should be concerned about it. Yeah, I’m a little concerned about it. I am concerned. I mean, it’s a big concern. All right. I’m not going to lie.”

You can watch Jesse Watters be a little concerned, a normal amount of concerned, and very much concerned at Mediaite here.

(Via Mediaite)

Netflix’s newest addition to its slate of addicting and mind-numbing reality dating shows, Dated & Related, is not what it sounds like (Lannister twins vibes). Dated & Related is a Love Island and Too Hot Too Handle hybrid with a familial twist. In the villa full of hot, horny twenty-somethings, are pairs of siblings who are in this together, but not the dating part. The idea, apparently, is that it’s easier with a support system present, it’s awkward to flirt and make out (or more) when your sibling is around, and anyone wronged will experience the wrath of the sibling. And also? The contestants could win money in the end. The trailer indicates such drama.

Here’s the description of Dated & Related from Netflix:

Imagine having to think about your sibling dating… how they flirt, how they treat their partners, and what their signature moves are. In this brand-new reality dating series, pairs of siblings will be seeing each other’s love life up close and personal as they search for ‘the one’ together. Having the person who knows you better than anyone should help you navigate the tricky world of dating. But will they act as the ultimate wingman and help you find love? Or scupper your plans and call you out on all your bullsh*t? Either way it might just be Awkward. As. Hell.

Dated & Related, which is hosted by Too Hot Too Handle’s Melinda Berry drops on Netflix on September 2.

Carlsey Bibb and Caden Mills went viral this week for taking their engagement photos in front of an Olive Garden in Cookeville, Tennessee, pretending it was Italy. The photos turned out gorgeous and fooled some folks, while many of those who got the joke saw it as a statement against the social pressure to be perfect for Instagram.

The photo shoot was the brainchild of photographer Shea Cravens. “A little over a year ago I had the idea of doing a session at Olive Garden. I mentioned it to some friends but never got around to doing it,” Cravens wrote in an Instagram caption. “Fast forward to today, it finally happened and I am so happy with the outcome.”

Most importantly, the couple was over the moon with the tongue-in-cheek photos. “They were way better than we could’ve ever imagined,” Carlsey told BuzzFeed. “We’ve never been to Italy so I didn’t know what to expect from the pictures, but when we got them back we loved them,” she added.

See on Instagram

A video of the couple on TikTok has more than 260,000 views.

@hunterlasheaphotography

tennessee but with Italy Vibes✨ #engagementphotos #engagementphotoshoot #engagementpictures #bride #weddingtiktok

The couple was even mentioned in “The Tonight Show” host Jimmy Fallon’s monologue.

@hunterlasheaphotography

I AM SLIGHTLY FREAKING OUT. @jimmyfallon YOU MADE MY YEAR🙌🏼 MY PHOTOS GOT PUT ON TV. LIKE WHATTTTT. #thetonightshowstarringjimmyfallon #jimmyfallon #jimmyfallontonightshow #olivegarden

One of the reasons for the couple taking their photos at Olive Garden is they haven’t had a lot of time to plan their wedding. They got engaged in July and their wedding is in October. “We’ve had three months to do everything,” Carsley told Good Morning America while standing in front of the Olive Garden in Cookeville, Tennessee, adding that they “have just about everything done, but still trying to plan a honeymoon.”

“We’ve been pretty busy with everything else, so we’re just waiting around, trying to see the best time for everything for both of us so that’s where we’re at right now,” Caden told Good Morning America.

Then Good Morning America host Michael Strahan surprised them with the ultimate gift, an all-expenses-paid honeymoon in Italy.

“We want to help make memories in actual Italy, not just an Italian restaurant,” Strahan told the couple. “I love the Olive Garden, and they love you so much they’re sending you on an all-expenses paid trip to Italy for your honeymoon.”

“Wow, that’s great,” Caden exclaimed. “Thank you guys.”

u201cCarlsey Bibb and Caden Miller’s engagement photos in front of an Olive Garden went viral u2014 so we surprised the couple with a trip to ITALY! ud83cuddeeud83cuddf9 https://t.co/kWY5S6wpLCu201d

— Good Morning America (@Good Morning America)
1661344022

Obviously, the couple’s viral photoshoot was great publicity for the folks at Olive Garden so it makes sense for them to give them the trip. The shots show that the restaurant has made a nice attempt to give people the feeling of being in Italy with its Tuscan farmhouse-inspired facade. But the couple deserves the trip as well. They took engagement photos that were out of the box and thumbed their nose at a current-day Instagram culture that pressures everyone to be perfect.

They also gave a lot of people a good laugh.

Carlsey and Caden had a bright future together as a married couple because they already know what matters most—it’s not status or keeping up with the Joneses—but loving one another in their own unique way, regardless of what anyone thinks. It’s also about breadsticks and all-you-can-eat salad.

This article originally appeared on 04.15.16

What are women up to when no one is watching?

Artwork courtesy of Sally Nixon, used with permission.

Well, take a look at Sally Nixon’s illustrations and you’ll see.

The subjects in her artwork aren’t aware we’re looking at them.

And that’s the point. They’re living in a world free from the pressures that exist in the real one.

“I like drawing girls doing their everyday routine — just hanging out, not worried about what others are thinking,” Nixon told Upworthy. “They’re usually alone or with other girls. Their guard is down.”

Editor’s note: An image below contains partial nudity.

Capturing her subjects in this liberated light wasn’t intentional at first, she explained.

But when she started a 365-day challenge last April to create one art piece a day, the work started reflecting the nuances of her own life away from prying eyes — “I was kind of like, ‘Oh, I’m brushing my teeth, so I’ll draw that.'” — and a theme began to form.Her illustrations show how women look, away from the exhausting world where they’re often judged more harshly than men.

You also might notice none of the girls in her illustrations are smiling.

According to Nixon, that’s a deliberate choice.

“I don’t sit around smiling to myself,” Nixon said, noting the double standard that exists in thinking women should always appear cheerful.

“I’ve been told, ‘You need to smile more.’ It’s so infuriating. I wanted to show the way girls actually look, comfortably.”

The theme of friendship is also an important one in Nixon’s drawings.

“I have four older sisters, so female friendship has always been a big part of my life,” Nixon told The Huffington Post. “You gotta have someone to talk about periods with, and dudes just don’t get it.”

Creating relatable scenes was key to Nixon, too — from the details of women’s lives to the physical shapes of their bodies.

“It’s important that the women I draw aren’t rail thin with huge boobs,” Nixon said. “I think there are enough images of bodies like that out in the world. The ladies I draw typically have small-ish, droopy breasts and thick thighs. They’re kind of lumpy but in an attractive way. Just like real people.”

The women in Nixon’s work aren’t real, but she hopes their stories are.

“One of my absolute favorite comments [on my work] is, ‘Oh my God, it’s me!'” she explained of the depictions.

“There’s a little bit of beauty in [everyday life] and I wanted to bring that out.”

You can view more of Nixon’s artwork on her website and check out her prints for purchase on Etsy.

The artist best known as Christine And The Queens has been in the midst of change lately. Chris, as he is also known, announced Redcar Les Adorables Étoiles, his first album as Redcar, in July. Chris also noted he’s now using he/him pronouns (which is currently reflected on his social media pages) and has expanded more on that in a recent TikTok video.

In the clip, Chris speaks in his native French and as Billboard notes, he notes he has identified as a man for some time now. He says, “I’ve been a man for a year now — a little more officially in my family and in my relationship. It is a long process.”

In a New York Times interview from earlier this year, Chris also noted, “My journey with gender has always been tumultuous. It’s raging right now, as I’m just exploring what is beyond this. A way to express it could be switching between ‘they’ and ‘she.’ I kind of want to tear down that system that made us label genders in such a strict way. I remember talking about being pansexual in France in 2014 — it was a conversation that few opened up, and I was advised in, like, offices to maybe tone it down. I’m really trying to address it the right way now, and I’ve been sometimes pressured to give an answer. But I think the answer is to be flickery, fluid, escaping.”

Every series could use Jeffrey Dean Morgan as a guest star. He stole the show on the final season of The Good Wife, he became a fan favorite on Supernatural, and who could forget how whirlwind romance with Katherine Heigl on season two of Grey’s Anatomy? Now, Morgan has achieved the world’s highest honor: a recurring guest star slot on the upcoming season of The Boys.

Morgan will reunite with Supernatural creator Erik Kripke for the upcoming fourth season of the superhero series The Boys on Amazon Prime, which just began filming this week. His character remains under wraps but rumors of a guest appearance have been swirling for some time now, as Morgan has been an outspoken fan of the show.

Earlier this year, Kripke admitted that Morgan was in talks to join the series for the upcoming season. He told E! News, “[Morgan] is a superfan of the show, so he and I are talking. We’re trying to figure out something for season four. Nothing finalized yet, but he and I are chatting and e-mailing and seeing it we can make it work with his busy schedule. So, stay tuned on that.” Clearly, begging and waiting works!

After spending the last five years on The Walking Dead, Morgan is set to star in the upcoming spinoff Dead City sometime in 2023. This guy is busy!

(Via Deadline)

Earlier this year, Megan Thee Stallion sued her label, 1501 Certified Entertainment. Despite having a very successful career to date, the Houston rapper had previously expressed discontent with her record deal after hiring Roc Nation management.

According to Megan, there were a number of terms in the contract that she felt gave 1501 profits from her music the company didn’t deserve — including from such peripheral revenue streams as merch and touring. Things came to a head in March when Megan filed her lawsuit, asking a court to rule that her 2021 release, Something For Thee Hotties, had fulfilled the terms of her contract. In short, she wants to be released from 1501 ASAP.

However, 1501 countersued, arguing that Something For Thee Hotties should not count as an album, because it was not made up of all original material. Meg says that shouldn’t matter because it fulfills the length requirements set forth in the contract and should count as her fourth album, satisfying the five-album term of the contract. Even without it, she feels the recently released Traumazine would also count. After Traumazine‘s release, Megan amended her lawsuit, adding a request for $1 million from 1501, saying that the label hadn’t given her all the royalties she was owed for the albums she created in her time there.

On Twitter, Megan defended her lawsuit reasoning, asserting that her success was self-made and that 1501 did not have as great a hand in her career as its founder, Carl Crawford, has said. If the two sides can’t come to an agreement — which doesn’t seem likely, considering this dispute has been going on since 2020 — it’ll likely come down to a judge to determine whether Megan gets off 1501, 1501 gets a cut of Meg’s merch profits, or Meg gets $1 million from 1501.

Megan Thee Stallion is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Whitney announced their new album Spark in June, the follow-up to 2020’s Candid. The lead single “Real Love” showcased the duo moving in a poppier direction, and “Twirl” and “Blue” ventured further into that sonic palette. Today, they’re back with “Memory” and “County Lines.”

The tracks continue to emanate a colorful pop aura, retaining an infectious groove and catchy melodies despite their dark subject matter, such as mortality and loss.

“The lyrics of ‘Memory’ illustrate someone processing and eventually accepting their fear of death,” the band explained in a statement. “Halfway through writing the song our bandmate Will Miller sent along the chords for what would become the outro of the song without ever hearing ‘Memory.’ It was one of those harmonious moments where two separate ideas somehow fit together immediately. The final third speaking to the afterlife in a way we wouldn’t have been able to match with words.”

They’re set to head out on a tour this fall; they recently announced a North American run spanning from late September to late October, and they’ll definitely be bringing these new tunes to fans.

Listen to “Memory” above and “County Lines” below.

Spark is out 9/16 via Secretly Canadian. Pre-order it here.