Year: 2022

The Grammys are all about celebrating the best and brightest in music, but in another sense, it’s about picking winners… and therefore losers (or non-winners if you want to soften the blow of that descriptor). While there’s a general formula to an awards show like this, there’s always room for the unexpected to happen, whether that’s an award win nobody saw coming (those definitely happened at last night’s 2022 ceremony) or an especially noteworthy performance (ditto).

When it comes to winners, losers, and surprises, some stand out more than others, so let’s run through some of the evening’s biggest figures and moments in those three categories. (Also, in case you missed it, check out the full list of last night’s winners here.)

Winner: Jon Batiste

The Late Show bandleader’s run as one of the biggest winners of the 2022 Grammys actually started in 2021, when it was revealed he had racked up an amazing 11 nominations. Batiste’s nominations in R&B, jazz, American roots, soundtrack, contemporary classical, and visual categories tied him for the second-most Grammy nominations in a single year, with Kendrick Lamar’s 11 in 2016 and behind Michael Jackson and Babyface’s 12 in 1984 and 1997, respectively. Even if Batiste ended up not winning a single one of those awards, what he achieved still would have been phenomenal. With as many chances as Batiste had, though, he of course managed to pick up at least a couple trophies: Before the actual ceremony even started, he won four Grammys.

Of course, he also put on perhaps the evening’s most dynamic, feel-good, and exciting performance with “Freedom.” But wait, there’s more…

Surprise: Jon Batiste

I write this with all due respect to Batiste’s extraordinary abilities as a musician and entertainer, but his 2021 LP We Are won the Grammy for Album Of The Year and there’s just no way that should have happened.

I don’t think Batiste would even take exception to me saying that: In the moment his victory was announced, nobody in the room showed more visible confusion than Batiste, who held a perplexed expression and uncertain shrug for a good ten seconds before making his way to the stage. Feigning shock is a common reaction to winning a major award like that, but if he wasn’t as genuinely dumbfounded as he looked, he should get an Oscar, too.

The Grammys are not meant to be a popularity contest, so the Recording Academy says, but rather, the aim is to honor the best in music. That said, if We Are truly was the best album of the past year, few people were aware of it; We Are was nominated against works by Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber, Doja Cat, Billie Eilish, HER, Lil Nas X, Olivia Rodrigo, Taylor Swift, and Kanye West, and Batiste’s LP is really the only nominated work that wasn’t a part of the mainstream pop culture conversation when it was released.

Loser: Billie Eilish

Billie Eilish had an unbelievable first year at the Grammys in 2020, when she swept the four major categories and ended up winning five of her six total nominations. Converting at that high of a rate was an aberration, though, and since then, there’s been a clear regression toward the mean, especially after last night.

At the 2021 Grammys, she still did well, winning two of the four awards for which she was nominated. This year, though, things were different. Eilish was one of 2022’s most-nominated artists, with seven total nods (a personal best for her), including nominations in three of the four major categories (not Best New Artist for obvious reasons). When the night was over, Eilish didn’t have to worry about dropping any Grammys like Olivia Rodrigo did because she didn’t win a single one.

Overall, though, Eilish is still doing quite well over her Grammy career, as her lifetime total sits at 7 wins out of 17 nominations. She’s also probably not too upset about how yesterday went considering she put on one of the show’s most thrilling music performances and was seen smiling and having a heck of a time throughout the broadcast.

Surprise: Everything about Doja Cat and SZA’s acceptance speech

Doja Cat and SZA picked up the Grammy for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance with “Kiss Me More,” and even before it started, their acceptance speech was an affair, no element of which could have been predicted. After the victory was announced, SZA struggled to walk to the stage as she contended with her crutches. Shortly after she made it up there, Doja came rushing in from another part of the venue. Doja, out of breath and adjusting her clothing, declared, “I’ve never taken such a fast piss in my whole life.”

That bathroom sprint would have been enough to make this moment noteworthy, but almost immediately after she started speaking, she got so emotional that she could hardly keep it together as she expressed how important the award was to her. This carries extra weight given that she has in recent days insisted she plans on quitting the music industry. There was a lot going on here, but a takeaway to consider is that perhaps this recognition will make Doja consider sticking around the music biz. At the very least, it illustrates how meaningful her work is to her.

Surprise: Olivia Rodrigo

Olivia Rodrigo has been focusing primarily on music lately, which makes sense given that she’s become a global superstar over the past year. She apparently didn’t want us to forget that she’s also an actor by trade, so she went full thespian for a surprise appearance during BTS’ Grammy performance of “Butter.” BTS went super theatrical with their rendition, opening with basically a live-action spy movie, in which she flexed her emotional range, showing off happiness, shock, and intrigue in a matter of seconds. BTS’ shtick would have been fine without Rodrigo, sure, but her cameo was fun and the kind of small touch that pushes moments over the top.

Meanwhile, in not-so-surprising Rodrigo news, she also won the Grammy for Best New Artist.

Loser: Lil Nas X

Lil Nas X has come a long way since he was a potential one-hit-wonder with “Old Town Road,” which won him his first two Grammys back in 2020. He didn’t do so hot this year, though, as he earned five nominations (including three in the major categories) but didn’t win a single won, bringing his lifetime Grammys record to two wins out of 11 nominations.

Another way to look at it, though: If you’re of the school that it really is an honor just to be nominated, then Lil Nas X is one of the most decorated artists of the past few years. He also put on a pretty killer performance that’s sure to ruffle some feathers, a favorite Lil Nas X pastime. So, all in all, despite the losses, it was still a pretty good night for him.

Winner: Questlove

Save for being a footnote in the most infamous pop culture moment of 2022 so far, Questlove has had himself a terrific week. Immediately after Will Smith went ahead and smacked Chris Rock on stage at the Academy Awards, Rock gathered himself and gave Questlove the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature, for Summer Of Soul (…Or, When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised). While that moment (which Quest made a quick joke about while presenting) was overshadowed by shenanigans, Questlove’s victory for Best Music Film wasn’t. His movie earned yet another major award, and this time, Questlove actually got to enjoy his deserved spotlight, distraction-free.

Surprise: Baby Keem

Baby Keem is a capable rapper: His 2021 debut album The Melodic Blue was top-5 in the US and its standout single, the Kendrick Lamar-featuring “Family Ties,” was top-20 and platinum-certified. Now, with that said, if you list his name alongside Cardi B, J. Cole, Drake, and Megan Thee Stallion, which one of that group feels like the odd man out? Without a doubt, based on fame and success and no disrespect, it’s Keem.

So, some hip-hop fans certainly had at least one eyebrow raised when “Family Ties” won the Best Rap Performance Grammy over those aforementioned rap icons (although the Lamar bump surely helped). I’m not necessarily saying Keem isn’t deserving of the honor, more so just pointing this out: I tried finding the Vegas betting odds for the category and wasn’t successful, but I’d have to imagine Keem would have been in last. So, congrats on the upset, Keem.

Loser: J. Cole

Over the years, J. Cole has had an up-and-down relationship with the Grammys: Up in the sense that he’s earned an impressive 16 nominations since his first (for Best New Artist) in 2012, but down in the sense that he’s only managed to win one: Best Rap Song for “A Lot” in 2020. That includes last night, where his luck didn’t change: He was up for Best Rap Performance, Best Melodic Rap Performance, Best Rap Song, and Best Rap Album but lost to Baby Keem, Kanye West, Kanye West again, and Tyler The Creator, respectively. Given that The Off-Season was a well-received No. 1 album and Ye isn’t in what most people would consider the peak of his music career, those losses especially have to sting.

Winner: Taylor Hawkins

The Foo Fighters drummer had a big night at this year’s ceremony, but as the music world knows by now, sadly, he was not able to enjoy it himself after his recent death. In the days leading up to the big night, the Recording Academy said they were working on some sort of way to honor Hawkins and his presence was certainly felt. He got a nice video tribute separate from the in memoriam segment, replacing Foo Fighters’ canceled performance slot. He also got a major shout-out from Billie Eilish, who wore a shirt with his face on it during her show-stopping performance of “Happier Than Ever.”

On top of that, Foo Fighters won a few Grammys, giving Hawkins some posthumous awards: Best Rock Album, Best Rock Song, and Best Rock Performance. While it is awful to have to say goodbye to one of the most beloved drummers of the past couple decades, last night was a fitting farewell.

Find the full list of this year’s Grammy nominees and winners here.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Canadian pop star The Weeknd has probably heard every iteration of every possible joke about his stage name by this point. After all, when you name yourself something as common as a pair of days on a calendar, there’s bound to be a little confusion if the context isn’t set up just so. I mean, word processors were red-lining his name for something like a year after he initially debuted. So it makes sense that he’d want to change it up after a little over a decade, as he hinted recently on Twitter.

It seems he was at least partially prompted by his fans on Twitter, who have taken to addressing him by his first name, Abel. And while his government name, Abel Tesfaye, would be more than serviceable in the search engine optimization department, he joked that he wanted to take it even further, removing his last name entirely. “You guys are hilarious,” he wrote. ” I feel like i should change my stage name to ABEL at this point lol. Maybe pull a YE and just legally change my name to ABEL. no last name. Like Madonna or Cher or Prince.”

However, he didn’t seem completely sold on the idea, either. “I don’t know it seems like a lot,” he noted. He did get a vote of confidence from noted fantastic stage name bearer John Legend, though. “ABEL is dope,” said the crooner, prompting The Weeknd to reply, “I’m tempted…”

Let’s face it, though: If he does change his name to just Abel, it’ll almost certainly take a while to get the masses to connect the old identity with the new one. Even Prince had trouble getting people to accept “The Artist” during his rights war with Warner Bros. Records in the ’90s. On the other hand, Mr. Tesfaye has blossomed into a big enough star that he’s one of the few folks who might be able to get away with it. After all, he’s appeared in animation multiple times, most recently on The Simpsons, and his After Hours Tour with Doja Cat will play stadiums instead of arenas. He’s about as big as a star can get — maybe even mononymously so.

Many were hoping that the last, and arguably the most important, award at the Grammys — Album Of The Year — would be the moment that Billie Eilish would finally take home a trophy after not winning any of her other nominations. However, Jon Batiste won, looking visibly perplexed and turning to hug Eilish. This caused a flood of bewilderment and outrage on the Internet, having nothing to do with the quality of Batiste’s music; it’s just that his chances of winning were pretty low, considering he was in a category with world-dominating pop stars like Eilish, Olivia Rodrigo, and Taylor Swift. Eilish fans, in particular, though, were livid that Happier Than Ever, one of the biggest records of 2021, did not receive any recognition.

When the Grammys ended, Eilish’s brother and frequent collaborator Finneas took to Twitter for damage control. “We love silk sonic!!” he wrote. “We love Jon batiste!!! We love everyone who won tonight!! I don’t wanna see anyone talking any trash at ALL!! Nothing but love!! Talented musicians won tonight!! We were lucky to be nominated!! And lucky to perform!!”

She was nominated for 7 categories: Album of the Year, Best Pop Vocal Album, Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Best Pop Solo Performance, Best Music Video, and Best Music Film. She still has seven Grammys at home, though, so maybe things aren’t all that bad.

It’s been a lengthy Tina’s “uhhh” amount of time since The Bob’s Burgers Movie was announced. But following a pandemic-related delay, the big-screen adaptation of one of TV’s most delightful shows is finally almost here.

The Bob’s Burgers Movie is described as an “animated, big-screen, musical comedy-mystery-adventure,” which makes it sound like a mashup of some of the show’s best episodes, like the two-part “Wonder Wharf” saga and “The Belchies, also known as The One with “Taffy Butt.” If Disney’s first hand-drawn animated film to be theatrically released since 2011’s Winnie the Pooh (!) has even one song about butts, will it set the record for Most Songs About Butts in a Disney-Produced Movie? Someone — preferably someone who doesn’t mind doing a Google search for “donald duck butt” — needs to figure this out. Meanwhile, I’ll be watching The Bob’s Burgers Movie trailer above.

Here’s the official plot description:

The Bob’s Burgers Movie is an animated, big-screen, musical comedy-mystery-adventure based on the long-running Emmy-winning series. The story begins when a ruptured water main creates an enormous sinkhole right in front of Bob’s Burgers, blocking the entrance indefinitely and ruining the Belchers’ plans for a successful summer. While Bob and Linda struggle to keep the business afloat, the kids try to solve a mystery that could save their family’s restaurant. As the dangers mount, these underdogs help each other find hope and fight to get back behind the counter, where they belong.

The Bob’s Burgers Movie, featuring the voices of H. Jon Benjamin, Kristen Schaal, John Roberts, Dan Mintz, Eugene Mirman, Larry Murphy, Zach Galifianakis, and Kevin Kline with a screenplay from Loren Bouchard and Nora Smith, opens on May 27.

Following a disastrous appearance on The Problem with Jon Stewart, conservative writer Andrew Sullivan accused the Apple TV’s show booker of essentially duping him into a panel discussion racism where he was eviscerated by host Jon Stewart. In a lengthy and on-brand Substack post, Sullivan claimed he was initially told that he’d be taking part in a one-on-one interview with Stewart. However, 24 hours before taping, Sullivan said he was “ambushed” by the news that it would be a panel discussion titled “The Problem with White People,” which Sullivan wrote was a “a title I’d never have been a party to, if I’d known in advance.”

Unfortunately for Sullivan, Stewart was not taking this accusation lightly. The host took to Twitter where he defended his booker and called out Sullivan for attempting to shift the blame for his embarrassing performance:

Nonsense ⁦@sullydish. Our booker handled this last minute ask impeccably. Mr Sullivan was told, texted and emailed a detailed account of who was on the program, the content and intent of the discussion. She patiently handled his high maintenance shenanigans and gave him every opportunity to excuse himself. This man wasn’t ambushed. Any damage incurred was self inflicted.

Stewart than tapped into his trademark defiance and blasted Sullivan for accusing The Problem With of being “woke” because he was met with some resistance during the discussion. “And can we stop with the lazy ‘woke’ sh*t anytime someone disagrees with a conservative,” Stewart tweeted. “F*ck man.”

(Via Jon Stewart on Twitter)

Although the 64th annual Grammy Awards were better than usual, some hip-hop fans still have a bone to pick with the Recording Academy over one segment in particular. During the Grammys’ in memoriam segment Sunday, fans were distraught to learn that LA rapper Drakeo The Ruler, who died in December of 2021 after being attacked at the Once Upon A Time In LA festival, had been left off the reels of those musical figures who were remembered for their contributions.

The exclusion rubbed salt into a still stinging wound for many rap fans, especially those who knew Drakeo in life. Journalist Jeff Weiss, who had championed Drakeo extensively and covered the rapper’s stint in a Los Angeles County jail awaiting retrial for various gang-related crimes for over a year, had this to say about the Grammy Awards on Twitter: “Drakeo didn’t make the Grammys memoriam tribute, another reminder why they’re worthless.”

Another writer addressed the omission by posting Drakeo’s video for “Pippy Long Stockin” and writing, “The Grammys slept on him but we know the truth.”

The insult was added to the injury of the Grammys moving the Best Rap Album award off of the program, harkening back to the show’s earlier attitude toward rap and the 1989 boycott against the show for its decision not to televise its first-ever hip-hop awards. Drakeo wasn’t even the only California rapper left off the in memoriam segment; Bay Area rapper Gift Of Gab, who formed one-half of seminal rap duo Blackalicious, was also omitted from the rolls.

The Grammys have come a long way since 1989, but it seems they have further still to go.

As a teenager, while my WWE-loving friends were obsessing over The Rock, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, and Big Show, I was that obnoxious kid who reminded them at every opportunity that wrestling “wasn’t real.” I was not fun to be around. I’m sorry, Kyle, for the time that I said “Bret Hart? More like Bret Fart.” I didn’t mean it. My anti-wrestling snobbiness was particularly dumb and hypocritical because it’s not like I didn’t enjoy watching proudly shirtless dudes beat the crap out of each other. I loved Jackass.

Actually, let me rephrase that: I love Jackass. Jackass Forever is one of the best movies of 2022, and while I won’t go so far as to call myself the biggest fan on staff (that honor belongs to Vince Mancini, who ranked the greatest Jackass movie stunts of all-time), I am enough of a giant hand connoisseur that I made the trek to Arlington, Texas, this weekend to watch Johnny Knoxville settle his feud with Sami Zayn at WrestleMania 38.

But first, some background. These two have been going at it since January when Knoxville announced that he was going to participate in the Royal Rumble while promoting Jackass Forever. Zayn said that he wasn’t qualified for such a high-profile event, and quickly eliminated Knoxville from the Rumble. Things have only gotten more heated since then. Zayn was kicked out of the Jackass Forever premiere; there was a SmackDown attack; and Knoxville “leaked” Zayn’s phone number on a banner attached to a plane that flew over Los Angeles. “So yesterday, Sami Zayn got my personal phone number and was texting and stalking me all day. So today, for my birthday, I am flying his phone number over Los Angeles. 407-574-1532. See ya at WrestleMania, Shnookums,” Knoxville said. Zayn received more than 300,000 text messages and 250,000 calls.

This brings us back to Wrestlemania 38.

Knoxville vs. Zayn was no regular “anything goes” match. It was a live-action cartoon. Knoxville, looking like Artie, the Strongest Man in the World from The Adventures of Pete and Pete, took out a trash can, stop sign, and crutches from underneath the ring. (Chekov’s stop sign would make a return appearance.) Zayn, who should play Tormund’s brother in a Game of Thrones spinoff, was thrown on a table full of mouse traps, zapped by a taser, and had his nuts crushed by a bowling ball. Other members of the Jackass crew came out to help Knoxville, including Chris Pontius, a.k.a. Party Boy, who wiggled his butt in front of Zayn while wearing even fewer clothes than Brock Lesnar, and Wee Man, who got the biggest pop of the match when he body slammed Zayn.

Other highlights include: Knoxville setting off an airhorn near Zayn’s ears; Zayn’s “Sami Zayn Forever” pants; me having to explain who Chris Pontius is to the guy in his 60s sitting next to me; Zayn getting smashed by a giant hand; and the 78,453-strong crowd going wild the first time the Jackass theme song was played. I never thought I would hear the Minutemen in the Dallas Cowboys stadium, but here we are. For that, and many other things, I want to thank the Jackass guys (and girl — Rachel would have been great at WrestleMania). The match ended when Knoxville, with assistance from Wee Man and Pontius, tased Zayn, who got trapped in a comically large (and slightly malfunctioning) mouse trap. The winner: in his WrestleMania debut, Johnny Knoxville.

I’m sure there are some wrestling traditionalists out there who didn’t enjoy the slapstick nature of the match. To them I say:

I can’t believe I ever thought wrestling wasn’t great.

You can watch every WrestleMania on Peacock.

Before you read this, I want you to know I think Daniel Espinosa is a terrific filmmaker. Life is a fantastic horror, thriller, and a whole lot of fun. And Safe House has turned into one of those movies that’s on cable non-stop and I watch it every time it’s on; I’ve probably seen at least parts of it 20 times by now. So that’s why Morbius is such a headscratcher. Espinosa makes good movies. Morbius literally feels like there are scenes missing. (Though, it performed okay at the box office this weekend.) At the time of this interview, the review embargo had broken, unleashing historically bad reviews, so I asked him directly what happened. (I really want to give Espinosa credit for doing this interview. A lot of people by that point would have just canceled.) To the point I told him that I didn’t believe for a second that this movie that was released in theaters is the one he turned in. Morbius is taking such a beating online, I wanted to give a filmmaker I like the chance to, at least, have some say in the narrative that’s being painted. Honestly, I worry he’s going to get blamed, but my gut feeling is this wasn’t completely his fault.

(Editor’s note: Spoilers ahead.)

I also asked him about that post-credit scene with Michael Keaton as The Vulture that makes absolutely no sense. Keaton was touted as one of the stars of the movie. He’s in the trailer! But now he’s in a post-credit scene being transported from the MCU to the universe of Dr. Michael Morbius and Venom? And then he asks Morbius – who in the whole film is painted as this ambitious guy who just took things too far – if he wants to team up and fight Spider-Man. At no point does Morbius even mention Spider-Man, nor is there any reason to believe Morbius would have any beef with Spider-Man, let alone have any interest in teaming up with this criminal to fight Spider-Man.

Also, when Morbius was being filmed, I heard a story about something that happened on set that I always wondered if it was true. So I asked Espinosa if that actually happened and, to my somewhat shock, he did confirm that what I had heard was indeed true.

I’m a big fan of two of your movies, Safe House, which is on cable all the time and I watch it every time…

Oh, nice.

And Life is amazing.

Thank you, that means a lot. Those two movies are really close to my heart. Safe House was my beginning of coming to America, really cocky and wanting to do everything super real. What’s funny is one is super real, another one is a space movie. But I did a space movie!

Yeah, but it’s not just a space movie, it’s also a horror movie.

One thing with Life, too, is that the ending of Life was always misunderstood, because our perspective was it was the tribute to The Twilight Zone years, and then everything turns to shit. That’s how those movies end. And then people were like, “Oh, it will have a sequel.” I’m going, “No, man, it’s The Twilight Zone ending. It turns to shit.”

I don’t know if you saw this, people at the time thought it was the beginning to a Venom movie. Do you remember that?

I know, I know. Yeah, exactly.

In Morbius, Michael Keaton is in the trailers, but then in the movie he doesn’t show up until the post credit. It does seem like some things were reworked. I’m wondering, after Spider-Man: No Way Home, did you have to change Michael Keaton’s role in this to match up with the events of that movie? Is that what happened?

It was more that when Spider-Man came out, they said, “We know how this works and we have a visual concept of how to make this.” But the idea of having different timelines was something that was, for me, introduced within the movie universe with Into the Spider-Verse. When we were talking about making the movie, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse had just come out and it was a huge success. I told the guys, I said, “This is super common among comic book readers.”

Well, there are scenes of Michael Keaton in the trailer that aren’t in the movie, so that’s why I was wondering if some things had to be reworked to match with No Way Home?

Yeah. Exactly. The first thing that happened was that we had Michael Keaton because we were planning on doing this. But then when Spider-Man: No Way Home came out, it said, “This is how the visual effects are.” And then the idea of having him just encountering him in that universe seemed too complicated, and then we put it in the end.

Okay, so you did have to cut some things to make it match up with No Way Home, is that accurate?

Yes, because we have to match… I didn’t know how the transportation would look like in that.

Like the crack in the sky thing?

Yeah, exactly. That wasn’t done, that didn’t exist, so there were all these small things that had to be addressed. But I think that the concept of having different timelines were, I believe, came from Sony, not from Kevin Feige. It was Sony that initiated that idea. I think tha Miles Morales that you have in Spider-Verse, I would bet your life on that you would have Miles Morales from the Spider-Verse in the Marvel Cinematic Universe at some point.

The thing I wasn’t clear on in the post credit scene is when Vulture says, “I think this is a Spider-Man’s fault. We should team up and fight him,” how does Morbius know who Spider-Man is? Also, the movie establishes that Morbius is a good man who got too ambitious and created this serum and some bad things happened. But at his heart, he’s not a bad person. Why would Morbius be interested in teaming up with this criminal?

First of all, Vulture is not a criminal in that universe just yet.

That’s fair. But why would Morbius be interested in what Vulture has to say in the first place?

Exactly. I think it’s a meeting of those… because in this world, Spider-Man exists. In all the different Marvel timelines, you have a Spider-Man, it’s a totem. In the Marvel Universe, what you say is that you have to have a Spider-Man in each universe for it to function. He’s one of the fundamental beings. Now, that’s how it is in the comic books.

Okay sure, but there’s nothing in the movie that establishes that Morbius has any beef with Spider-Man whatsoever, though.

Oh, exactly. I think that’s more one of those scenes that are made that when you have scenes before that in a movie comes along, that will explain that reposition.

I heard a story about filming and I want to see if this is true. Someone told me that Jared Leto was so committed to playing Michael Morbius that even when he had to go to the bathroom, he would use his crutches and slowly limp to get to the bathroom. But it was taking so long between for pee breaks, that a deal was made with him to get him a wheelchair so someone could wheel him there quicker and he agreed to that. Is this true?

Yes.

All right.

Yeah. Because I think that what Jared thinks, what Jared believes, is that somehow the pain of those movements, even when he was playing normal Michael Morbius, he needed, because he’s been having this pain his whole life. Even though, as he’s alive and strong, it has to be a difference. Hey, man, it’s people’s processes.

Yeah.

All of the actors believe in processes. And you, as director, you support whatever makes it as good as you can be.

Right. But from your angle, can that be, “This is really slowing down production and I have to talk to the big wigs and tell them why we’re behind.” I could understand why that might be, I don’t know, frustrating, is that the word?

But it’s more that I think the directors that don’t like actors get really frustrated about that. I think it’s really mysterious, what they do. Almost all actors, in general, have their own reputation of being an interesting person how he works with their characters. I think that all of them have these traits. If you want a completely normal person that does only things that you understand, then you’re in the wrong business. Because what’s different is what makes them tick. It’s very hard to be able to say, “I can take this part away and I will still get the same stuff from him.” I don’t do that. I’m more to see like, “Hey, if you’re doing this, we have to do this.”

Again, like I said when we started, I am a huge fan of Safe House. I’m huge fan of Life. I’m sure you’ve seen the reviews for this. This doesn’t feel like one of your movies and I’m curious, was this what you turned in? Is there something else? Because it feels like at some points, there’s some scenes missing. I don’t believe for a second this is what you turned in.

These movies are big ideas…

Because I think you are a very good director, and I think there are some decisions that were made that weren’t always in your hands here.

You’re very sweet. You’re very kind. I think that I work at my best if I get a lot of decision power. But, in this movies, they’re big movies that have a lot of people’s interest. It’s different processes every time.

‘Morbius’ is in theaters everywhere. You can contact Mike Ryan directly on Twitter.

Every year, there are always at least a couple Grammy nominations that stick out. This year, one of those was in the Best Arrangement, Instrumental Or A Cappella category: Nominated was an arrangement of “Meta Knight’s Revenge,” a song from the 1996 Super Nintendo game Kirby Super Star, as arranged by Charlie Rosen and Jake Silverman and performed by The 8-Bit Big Band featuring Button Masher (Silverman’s performing name).

Video game songs aren’t nominated that often so what happened last night was big: “Meta Knight’s Revenge” (which appears on The 8-Bit Big Band’s 2021 album Backwards Compatible) actually won the award.

This is a huge moment in Nintendo history and in video game history more broadly; Eurogamer notes this is only the second time a song originally from a video game has taken home a Grammy, following Christopher Tin’s 2010 win for Best Instrumental Arrangement With Vocalist(s), for a song composed for Civilization 4. Previously, Journey composer Austin Wintory got a nomination in the Best Score Soundtrack For Visual Media category in 2013 but didn’t win.

So, that means this Kirby win is the first time a song from a Nintendo game has ever won a Grammy. This news arrives with especially good timing, as it quickly follows the March 25 release of the latest Kirby game, Kirby And The Forgotten Land for Nintendo Switch.

Rosen shared an excited reaction on the social media pages for The 8-Bit Big Band, posting a photo of himself and Silverman with their trophies and writing, “HOLY SH*T WE WON THE GRAMMY!!LONG LIVE VIDEO GAME MUSIC!! Thank you to everybody who’s ever listened to [The 8-Bit Big Band], the 100s of artists who have contributed their time/talent/musicianship, and of course HUGE thanks to my co-arranger on Meta Knights Revenge the one and only [Jake Silverman] !! MUCH LOVE, [Charlie Rosen].”

Rosen also posted this pretty terrific Kirby graphic a few days ago:

Watch The 8-Bit Big Band and Button Masher perform “Meta Knight’s Revenge” above. Also check out where Kirby Super Star (and another SNES Kirby game) ranks on our list of the 100 best Super Nintendo games (according to over 200,000 players) here.

After Madison Cawthorn admitted he lied about seeing his fellow Republican colleagues in Congress doing coke and inviting him to orgies, the North Carolina representative became the subject of a John Oliver rant as the Last Week Tonight host hauled Cawthorn’s repeated penchant for telling tall tales. But, first, Oliver had words to say about the now-infamous coke and orgies accusation, particularly Cawthorn’s odd choice of words.

“I’m pretty sure that people having coke-fueled orgies don’t call them ‘sexual get-togethers,’” Oliver quipped. “A ‘sexual get-together’ sounds like a sex-toy party at your friend Brenda’s friend Shanae’s house where you realize halfway through that the whole thing’s a pyramid scheme.”

Oliver then turned his attention to Cawthorn’s documented history of lies. Via Mediaite:

“He implied the car crash that left him partially paralyzed derailed his plans to attend the U.S. Naval Academy, even though his application had already been rejected before the crash,” Oliver said. “He frequently claimed to be training for the Paralympics, which was news to actual Paralympians like Amanda McGrory, who pointed out he’s not even in the official registry for Paralympians, which you would have to be in order to compete.”

After noting Cawthorn’s relationship with the truth is “unrelentingly bad,” Oliver also made sure to note that the young congressman was the subject of a “scathing public letter signed by more than 150 of his fellow college classmates alleging that he engaged in ‘sexually predatory behavior’ while in college.”

(Via Mediaite)