Month: September 2022

For over a month, Donald Trump and his cronies have been throwing anything they can find at the wall to explain away why he absconded with thousands of government documents, some of them highly classified. One of the most frequent excuses was that as president, Trump could allegedly declassify anything he wanted. He didn’t need no stinking bureaucratic process to make public, say, documents with another nation’s nuclear secrets. Now Trump is going one step further, saying he had the superpower to declassify documents with his mind.

“If you’re the president of the United States, you can declassify just by saying, ‘It’s declassified,’” Trump claimed during his latest softball interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity. Or maybe a president doesn’t have to do that! “Even thinking about it! Because you’re sending it to Mar-a-Lago and to wherever you’re sending it, and there doesn’t have to be a process. There can be a process, but there doesn’t have to be.”

The claim had strong “Michael Scott declares bankruptcy” vibes. It’s also untrue. “He can’t just wave a wand and say it’s declassified,” Richard Immerman, a historian and an assistant deputy director of national intelligence in the Obama administration, told NBC News back in August. “There has to be a formal process. That’s the only way the system can work.”

It’s unlikely Trump ever read the job description before starting his first presidential campaign, much less before he actually took office — or any time that he was in office. But look, he has a lot on his table these days, and he’s not even president anymore. On the same day he said he can zap documents free of their classified status with his brain, he also amplified — without condemning — Vladimir Putin’s dangerous threats of nuclear war, on top of being sued by the New York attorney general’s office. He doesn’t have time to look up all the rules he never learned for a job he no longer has.

After rolling through nonsense, bad CGI, and harrowing primeval adventure, La Brea returns for a second season September 27th on NBC. The trailer affirms that “survival is the only way home.” That’s right. Don’t die! Don’t do it.

The series sees a funky blend of modern-day LA denizens and gruff, sexy people living in mud huts trying to unlock the secrets of a pre-tech world where hunting, gathering, and warring with other clans for territory is a matter of life and death. Somehow, they also go to 1988 and press a button that drains a puddle to reveal some sleek futuristic stairs. It’s kitchen sink LOST, so how can that not be fun?

Natalie Zea is the standout, but this trailer promises that they’ve truly expanded the scope of the ensemble even beyond what fans saw last season. It’s a growing world from a series trying to go bigger and bolder than before. The other big thing about this trailer? The intense feeling of mortal dread and violent death looming over every hill. It may not make much sense, but it’s intense.

Plus, the David Appelbaum-created series proves that we should all be looking for hidden buttons on weird rocks next to disgusting ponds.

Jessie Reyez is riding a wave of momentum after releasing her latest album Yessie. The album’s sole feature is 6lack, but the Toronto artist has had some other major collaborations in the past. She spoke with XXL about collaborating with Eminem in 2018 and what the experience was like.

Reyez appeared twice on Eminem’s surprise album Kamikaze, specifically the tracks “Nice Guy” and “Good Guy.” When asked how the collaborations came together, the “Imported” artist said, “He said he saw me on a late-night show singing ‘Gatekeeper.’ Then, his daughter had brought me up, like a month after.”

As for the session where they recorded “Nice Guy” and “Good Guy,” Reyez said, “I remember praying before that session. Sometimes I get lucky [with] spirit and inspiration. I been blessed to be in rooms with like, f*ckin’ legends. I usually keep my cool. Only two times in my life have I lost it. Em was one of them.”

Jessie Reyez and Eminem collaborated a third time on her 2020 album Before Love Came To Kill Us, on the track “Coffin.” Elsewhere in the interview, she spoke about collaborating with JID on “Far Away II,” saying “JID’s f*ckin’ wordplay and JID’s tone, he can go in.”

Check out Jessie Reyez’s full XXL interview here.

Members of the Blackpool Combat Club battled for AEW’s top prize when Jon Moxley submitted Bryan Danielson
on Wednesday to claim the AEW world heavyweight championship at Dynamite in the finals of the AEW Grand Slam Tournament of Champions.

Danielson and Moxley traded finishing moves, with momentum swinging back and forth between the two competitors including a brutal Death Rider on the stage that resulted in only a two count. Danielson attempted to roll out of a rear-naked choke by Moxley, using the turnbuckle to flip into a pin, but Moxley laid him out and choked him out cold.

With the win, the spotlight turns to MJF, who Tony Khan admitted could cash in his title shot at any point after winning the Casino Battle Royale ladder match at All Out.

“(MJF) is really looming over the championship picture since he returned at All Out and won the Casino Ladder mach which means he’s going to have a shot at the world title any time he wants, I will sanction that match,” Tony Khan recently said. “I think any time, any sanctioned event we can certainly make it happen.”

Moxley and MJF kicked off the tournament with a stare down in the ring, and it appears they’ll pick up right where they left off from here.

Professional wrestling and hip-hop have gone hand in hand for decades, producing many memorable moments along the way. AEW (All Elite Wrestling) rolled out the red carpet for two New York City favorites and hip-hop legends at their Dynamite Grand Slam show on September 21. Trina, Fabolous, and DJ Whoo Kid all made individual appearances at AEW’s Arthur Ashe Stadium show at Flushing Meadows-Corona Park in Queens.

Fabolous walked out with the now former AEW Tag Tag champions Swerve In Our Glory, made up of Keith Lee and Isaiah “Swerve” Scott, sporting a New York Knicks jersey during their entrance. Immediately following that, DJ Whoo Kid walked out with their challengers and now current AEW Tag Team champions The Acclaimed, made up of Max Caster and Anthony Bowens. The Acclaimed, known for rapping during their entrances, dropped some bars before defeating Swerve In Our Glory for the tag team championships in a hard-fought battle.

Later in the show during a backstage segment, current TBS Champion Jade Cargill promoted her upcoming AEW Rampage Grand Slam match with Diamante on Friday, September 23, when they’ll compete for the TBS title. At that point, Florida legend Trina appeared onscreen and exchange words with Cargill.

Check out each rapper’s appearance in the videos above.

After retiring from the wrestling ring in 2018 due to neck injuries, former WWE star Paige has hinted numerous times about interest in a return to the ring. On Wednesday night’s AEW Dynamite, that came to fruition, when she made her debut in the promotion using the ring name Saraya (her real name is Saraya-Jade Bevis).

Toni Storm successfully retained her interim women’s championship in a fatal 4-way against Serena Deeb, Athena, and Britt Baker, when Deeb, Baker, and Jaime Hayter laid out an after-match beatdown following the bell. As Baker pulled a glove onto her hand, an entrance video played on the big screen and Saraya’s name played before she made her way to the ring.

It’s unclear at this point what level of active wrestling she’ll take on. Saraya’s last televised match came on Monday Night Raw at the end of 2017, when she teamed with Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville to earn a win over Bayley, Mickie James, and Sasha Banks.

Fightful had reported earlier in the day that AEW and Saraya had discussions earlier this summer on a potential partnership. That came after Baker named Saraya as a dream opponent in an interview with Sportskeeda. It seems like we may just be getting that dream match sooner rather than later.

You can stop shaking and trying to pop that vein in your head. After years of development hell, the right team has finally come together to make a Scanners series at HBO. It’s been a long, winding road for the cult horror film that too many reduce to its memetic image of a bespectacled scanner’s head blowing up in glorious, gory detail. It’s what happens when you shoot a gelatin head with a shotgun round filled with kosher salt. The first attempt came in 2007, when Darren Lynn Bousman was meant to reboot it, but it fell through because David Cronenberg didn’t give his blessing (and they wouldn’t more forward without it).

Dimension Films announced they’d make a TV version with Alexandre Aja in 2011, but even less is known about how that fell apart.

Now, the pieces have fallen into place with Cronenberg’s blessing and his guidance as an executive producer. The HBO series will be written by Emmy-winning William Bridges, who co-wrote the “USS Callister” of Black Mirror and created the sci-fi romance Soulmates. Yann Demange, who directed ’71 and the pilot for Lovecraft Country, will direct this new vision of warring telepaths.

This is one of those sacred treasures that is ripe for adaptation, especially since it’s shifting to longform instead of being rebooted as a film. It has stark cultural resonance, a biting satirical edge that can work wonders here in 2022, and the personnel involved (especially HBO and production house Media Res) offer hope that it’s being taken as seriously as possible.

Hopefully, this time it doesn’t fall through.

(via The Hollywood Reporter)

The Ben Simmons era in the city of Philadelphia came to an end right before the 2022 NBA trade deadline when Simmons headlined a package that went to the Brooklyn Nets in exchange for James Harden. It marked the end of one of the more acrimonious sagas in recent NBA history — Simmons’ last game with the Sixers was the team’s Game 7 loss to the Atlanta Hawks in the 2021 playoffs, and in the aftermath, a mix of back issues and his need to get mentally ready to play led to him sitting out until he was traded.

We still have not seen Simmons play with the Nets due to lingering back issues that required surgery, but still, the end of his tenure in Philly is one of the more unique things we’ve seen. And in a clip posted of an upcoming episode of J.J. Redick’s The Old Man and the Three, Simmons spoke about his feelings about the city, which he says are largely positive.

“People in Philly just wanna have something to say about f*cking anything, man,” Simmons said. “Like, everything, literally everything. I post a picture of a f*cking dog or car, I got reporters saying, ‘You should be in the f*cking gym.’ Come on, man. But, yeah, for sure, Philly is obviously a sports city, and my experience playing there was incredible. Like, for the most part, it was incredible. I had a great time, the fans are unbelievable. I still have an apartment there, so I do own some real estate in Philadelphia still. So I’m, you know, I feel like I’m a part of Philly still.

“But yeah, it’s just unique,” Simmons continued. “Like even being in Brooklyn now, it’s completely different. Like, this is a different experience for me. And you know, I value that time time I did spend in Philly, cause I was able to learn and grow in that city, and I got friends for life there. My brother lives there, like, I got family there. So yeah, Philly’s great, I think people have a thought that I hate it.”

Simmons and the Nets are slated to play in Philadelphia twice this year. Their first matchup is on Nov. 22, 2022, and a little more than two months later, Brooklyn will make the trek down on Jan. 25, 2023.

It’s not unusual for big actors to never work with each other, and for most of their careers Brad Pitt and Sandra Bullock never appeared on screen save for the occasional awards show. And yet this year there have already been two movies featuring both of them. Granted, they weren’t full-on co-starring roles; Pitt had a small role in The Lost City while Bullock was heard but not seen until the ending of Bullet Train. But it turns out they almost did a big movie side-by-side. They would have even done a lot of fighting.

In a new interview with British Vogue (as caught by Deadline), Pitt brought up a project he was working on with Bullock that, alas, didn’t get that far. “Actually, Sandy and I did once try to develop a whole idea of a husband and wife team, who were QVC’s most successful salespeople, but we’re getting a divorce, we hate each other, and we’re taking it out on air as we sell things,” he said, then added, “That’s as far as we got.”

Pitt hasn’t done too many straight comedies, so this unnamed QVC divorcee romp would have been an outlier in his mostly serious career. He has been loosening up, though, playing cinema’s most laidback maybe murderer in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and pure goofball (who still fights) in Bullet Train. In real life, though, his antics are even more colorful.

(Via British Vogue and Deadline)

Chris Jericho won his eighth world championship to open AEW Dynamite Grand Slam from Arthur Ashe Stadium on Wednesday night in New York when he pinned Claudio Castagnoli to claim the Ring of Honor world championship.

Jericho consistently looked to get the upper hand in questionable fashion, attempting a low blow, a shot with his bat, and eventually gained the pinfall thanks in part to a low blow and eventually a Judas Effect.

Jericho’s win moves him into historic company, having held the WWE, WCW, World Heavyweight, AEW, and ROH world titles during his remarkable pro wrestling run. It also brings the second championship to the Jericho Appreciation Society, with Daniel Garcia recently defeating Wheeler Yuta just two weeks ago to claim the ROH Pure championship.

Castagnoli’s loss comes just 61 days after winning his first world title at ROH Death Before Dishonor against Jonathan Gresham. The ROH reset comes at an interesting time, with no clear plan for the future of the brand under the guidance of Tony Khan. For now, it looks like Khan will rely on the star power that Jericho, and to an extent Garcia, brings as he relaunches the brand. Khan has previously spoken of an ROH weekly television show, but that has yet to materialize.