Month: September 2022

On Saturday night, Donald Trump delivered an awkward — and, yes, vicious and divisive and disturbing and endless — speech at a rally in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. It was awkward because there’s a chance he could wind up indicted, even in prison for absconding with classified government documents. It was nasty because it was a Trump speech. There were a lot of bizarre and obvious lies peppered throughout the two-hour marathon, but perhaps the strangest was when he casually and baselessly accused a Democratic politician of being a drug addict.

Trump was ostensibly in the Keystone State to prop up two Republican candidates who are sagging in the polls: Doug Mastriano, who’s running for governor, and Dr. Mehmet Oz, who’s running for Senate. Trump’s speech, of course, was mostly about him. But he took some time to slam the latter’s opponent, John Fetterman, who’s relentlessly and creatively trolled Oz. The Oz campaign has responded by making light of the stroke Fetterman had in May. Trump, hardly a stranger to low blows, decided to go after his attire instead.

“This guy’s a disaster. He comes in with a sweatsuit on. I’ve never seen him wear a suit,” Trump told the crowd of people wearing t-shirts and sweatsuits. “A dirty, dirty, dirty sweatsuit, it’s really disgusting.” He then reminded the crowd, who look way more like Fetterman than Trump, that he’s a “clean freak,” adding that Fetterman dresses “like a teenager getting high in his parents’ basement.”

Trump then exaggerated Fetterman’s relatively lax stance on certain drugs, claiming he “supports taxpayer-funded drug dens and the complete decriminalization of illegal drugs, including heroin, cocaine, crystal meth, and ultra lethal fentanyl.” Then he casually threw in a baseless accusation: “By the way, he takes them himself.”

Eventually Trump let Oz himself make a little appearance, but his endorsement of “that guy” wasn’t exactly electrifying.

During his second of two shows at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles on his After Hours Till Dawn tour, The Weeknd abruptly ended his show three songs into his performance.

While singing his 2015 hit single, “Can’t Feel My Face,” The Weeknd abruptly stopped in the middle of the song and exited the stage. Shortly after, he returned to the stage and told the audience of over 70,000 that he had lost his voice.

As the crowd expressed their disappointment, The Weeknd assured everyone, “You’ll get your money back. But I’ll do a show real soon for you guys.”

He continued, saying, “You know how much this kills me right now. I’m sorry. I love you so much.”

At the time of writing, it is unclear what The Weeknd’s condition is, however, in a fan-recorded video, viewers can hear a raspiness in his voice as he speaks.

Later that night, the “Out Of Time” singer took to social media, explaining that he had lost his voice earlier during the set, but had tried to push through.

“My voice went out during the first song and I’m devasted,” he said. “Felt it go and my heart dropped. My deepest apologies to my fans here. I promise I’ll make it up to you with a new date.”

While Week 1 of the college football season often features some big time matchups, this year was notable because of a few big games happening in non-neutral site kickoff games. The headliner was No. 5 Notre Dame going to Columbus to play No. 2 Ohio State, but the seventh-ranked Utah Utes made a rare cross-country journey to face the Florida Gators in The Swamp.

Despite Florida being unranked, Utah entered as just a three-point favorite and the game proved to be the kind of tight back-and-forth affair the oddsmakers predicted with the short spread. The Gators led by one at the half, but found themselves twice facing a deficit in the fourth quarter, but on each occasion they were able to turn to their young star QB Anthony Richardson to get the job done.

With under 90 seconds left in the game, Richardson pulled the ball on an option keeper and walked into the end zone to push the Gators back up by three, with Utah holding all three timeouts.

Utah would nearly see their comeback thwarted at midfield, when a Florida defender dropped into coverage and had the ball hit him in the hands, only to drop it. From there, it seemed the Utes might take advantage of that break as they marched inside the 10 where it seemed, at worst, we were headed to overtime.

However, on second and goal, Cam Rising tried to fit a ball in low to a receiver but got jumped by a diving Amari Burney, who held onto the pick this time for Florida and sent The Swamp into pandemonium.

It’s a huge win for Florida to open the season and gives new head coach Billy Napier a signature win under his belt before even heading into conference play. For Utah, it’s a gutting loss after having control of the game on a few occasions, but being unable to come up with the crucial stop in the fourth quarter they needed. It also is a big blow to the Pac-12’s hopes for a Playoff berth, as Utah entered the season as the conference favorites, and still are, but with a loss like this the margin for error to make the top-4 is incredibly thin.

Dean Craig has got a thing for death and dark comedy. The screenwriter behind Frank Oz’s Death at a Funeral (2007) — and Neil Labute’s 2010 remake — is stepping behind the camera for The Estate.

When sisters/business partners Macey (Toni Collette) and Savanna (Anna Faris) learn that their miserable Aunt Hilda (Kathleen Turner) is dying from cancer, they decide that getting on her good side might be their best last chance at inheriting her fortune and saving their soon-to-be-bankrupt cafe. Unfortunately, they’re not the only members of their family who decide that caring for Hilda in her final days could net them a bit of a windfall.

Upon arriving at Hilda’s estate, the sisters realize that their epiphany may have come too late, as it appears their cousins have been doing a better job of keeping up with their would-be benefactor. There’s Beatrice (Rosemarie DeWitt), who admits that Hilda “thinks the sun shines out of my ass,” and Richard, a.k.a. Dick (David Duchovny), whose idea of flattery includes telling his dying aunt that “if I weren’t your nephew I’d be only too happy to be inside you.” Which gives Macey and Savanna a darkly hilarious idea about how to out-maneuver their cousins.

Craig writes and directs the black comedy, which also stars Ron Livingston and Keyla Monterroso Mejia, who practically stole season 11 of Curb Your Enthusiasm as aspiring (terrible) actress Maria Sofia.

The Estate arrives in theaters on November 4, 2022.

It was an emotional day for all at Saturday’s (September 3) Taylor Hawkins Tribute in London. Foo Fighters paid homage to their late drummer with the help of many different major indie bands. The day became so difficult that at one point Dave Grohl, the band’s founder, was brought to tears while on stage.

An attendee shared a video on Twitter earlier in the day of Grohl visibly breaking down while performing “Times Like These.” The vocalist took about thirty seconds to gather himself before getting back into the performance, and right as the video closes, the band erupts into a massive crescendo. Grohl’s moment of tears is understandable, as it has been less than six months since his later drummer’s passing. However, he was able to get back on track and deliver a great set.

The tribute show also played host to members of AC/DC, Metallica, Led Zeppelin, Liam Gallagher, and a special appearance by Them Crooked Vultures who had not performed live in over 12 years. In a special moment, Dave Chappelle appeared on stage to discuss the time he was a guest on Saturday Night Live on the same evening Foo Fighters was the musical guest.

Check out the video of Dave Grohl’s emotional moment in the midst of “Times Like These” above.

The eyes of the college football world are on Columbus, Ohio on Saturday night. That’s because the No. 2 Ohio State Buckeyes are welcoming another top-5 team into their building, as the fifth-ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish made the trip from South Bend for a Week 1 showdown with major College Football Playoff implications.

The game has generated a whole lot of buzz, and not just because of the two teams that are playing. In fact, Ohio State basketball is getting a bit of publicity on Saturday, too, as 4-star 2023 prospect Bronny James has made the trip from southern California to Ohio’s capital on an unofficial visit. It is the first visit that Bronny has taken as he begins to sort out what his next step will be after his career at Sierra Canyon comes to an end next year.

Bronny isn’t the only person named LeBron James in attendance. His old man, a well-documented Buckeye fan, made the trip with him, and the pair were spotted on the sideline before the game with LeBron decked out in an OSU hockey jersey.

Rich Paul was also in attendance, as is Jayson Tatum, former Buckeye basketball great Evan Turner and his podcast co-host, Andre Iguodala.

As it turns out, people like going to big college football games when they are on campuses, who knew?

There is something beautiful about a missed field goal where the ball bangs off of one of the uprights. Is it a good thing? Well, depending on which football team you are rooting for in a given game, it’s either very good or very bad, but with how difficult it is to actually hit an upright, it feels like a kicker should get a point or something if they’re able to kick the ball off of one of the poles.

Taking that one step farther: Wyoming’s kicker deserved at least 10 points for what might be the weirdest doing that I have ever seen. During Saturday afternoon’s game between the Cowboys and the Tulsa Golden Hurricane, Wyoming kicker John Hoyland had the chance to play hero with the teams tied up at 34.

The Cowboys sent their field goal unit out with seven seconds remaining for a 44-yard kick, and to that point, Hoyland had not missed a PAT or a field goal all game. This one looked close right up until the last second, when the ball straight up bounced off of the very top of the upright and fell to the earth without actually going in for a three points.

We’ve seen a whole lot of doinks over the years, but this one is certainly unique.

Like father, like son. After a jam-packed day full of several major bands performing at the Foo Fighters‘ Taylor Hawkins Tribute show in London, Hawkins’ 16-year-old-son Shane joined the band to close the day.

In the above video, Shane Hawkins can be seen taking up the drumset while the Foo Fighters perform “My Hero.” Though it was a clearly emotional moment, it is equally as exciting to see Shane pay homage to his father in such an appropriate way.

The Taylor Hawkins Tribute show was host to many different acts, namely members of AC/DC, Metallica, Led Zeppelin, Liam Gallagher, and a special performance by Them Crooked Vultures, marking their first live appearance in over 12 years.

Dave Chappelle also made an appearance at the show, recalling the time he was a guest on Saturday Night Live on the same evening the Foo Fighters perform. The comedian told a story of how he was backstage at a Foo Fighters show as Madison Square Garden and met a younger Shane Hawkins.

“The kid said, ‘I want to be a drummer, like my father.’ In that room, in Madison Square Garden, even though I met Foo Fighters many nights, I felt like I met [Taylor] for the first time… It was my first time seeing [Taylor] being a dad. And what a cool f*cking dad.”

Check out footage of Shane Hawkins joining Foo Fighters onstage above.

Luka Doncic is among the contingent of NBA players over in Europe right now suiting up for their national teams during EuroBasket. On Saturday, Doncic, Goran Dragic, and the rest of the Slovenian national team took on Hungary in a group stage game, and unsurprisingly, the Slovenians picked up a 103-88 victory.

Doncic, as he is wont to do, was spectacular in the win, leading both teams with 20 points and seven assists. His seven rebounds were the most for Slovenia, and because he is incapable of leaving something blank in a box score, Doncic had a block and a steal, too. He also had one of the most impressive sequences that we have seen out of him up to this point in his career. Doncic stole the ball away for Hungary and had a chance to get out in transition, only there was one player between him and a whole lot of open floor.

So, instead of just running into Hungary guard Benedek Varadi, Doncic nutmegged him and took off. He did not finish the play, but he set up Denver Nuggets forward Vlatko Cancar for the slam.

Doncic and the Slovenians will next take the floor on Sunday when they play Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The first few weeks of the college football season are, in some ways, about getting stuff figured out. This isn’t to say that teams aren’t trying to win, of course, but after a long offseason and whatever changes a program goes through between January and August, mistakes are a little more understandable, so long as they are taken as an opportunity to learn and grow.

Still, some mistakes can be really, really bad, like this one from Saturday’s game between the Arizona Wildcats and the San Diego State Aztecs. Arizona lined up for a punt from its own 1-yard line after a series that didn’t go particularly well. The team’s punter, 2021 first-team All-Pac 12 selection Kyle Ostendorp, lined up at the very edge of his end zone and prepared to boot one away.

That didn’t quite happen. Punting out of your own end zone can be very, very hard due to the lack of space you have, but that’s usually because it means the opposing team can get to you more quickly. In the case of Ostendorp, this meant that he didn’t have a ton of space to get the kick off with where one of his big fellas was standing, so instead of booting the football down the field, his kick was blocked by his teammate, Josh Donovan.

This wasn’t a catastrophic error or anything — it meant that Arizona’s lead was cut to 14. As a result, this means that the Wildcats’ special teams coach will have something he can use to teach his guys this week.