Year: 2022

The right has been floundering when it comes to addressing the Russian invasion. The presumptive Republican presidential nominee for 2024 has had to be told to stop praising President Vladimir Putin. Tucker Carlson only recently realized Putin may not be such a stand-up guy. Marjorie Taylor Greene, meanwhile, didn’t exactly deny being for the despised world leader.

Meanwhile, over at Newsmax, they’re having trouble with their guests. The issue? They keep saying mean things about Putin. On Monday, the Trumpist network brought on Alexey Goncharenko, a Ukrainian MP who’s appeared on the channel many times, one of them while brandishing an AK-47. Host Eric Bolling asked Goncharenko about Putin’s list of demands for ending the invasion, among them changing its constitution and surrendering Donetsk and Luhansk to Russia. Goncharenko was not for it, to put it lightly.

“I want to say some bad words,” Goncharenko told Bolling. “Blank you, Putin, you know? I don’t know how to say this is–not to offend your viewers. I just want to say to Putin… what our soldiers told to his Russian military ship. I’m sorry, go f*ck yourself with all this.”

Goncharenko did elaborate, saying he doubts the sincerity of Putin’s offer. “In half [a] year he will start another war and say, ‘I want another part of Ukraine, then another part of Ukraine,’” he said. “We will never accept this. This is our territory. Crimea is Ukraine. Donbas is Ukraine, and he’s the aggressor, and he cannot demand from us anything.”

Despite repeatedly inviting on a rabidly anti-Putin Ukrainian politician, Newsmax is far from pro-Ukraine. Indeed, in December’s issue of their magazine (yes, there’s a Newsmax magazine), the cover was devoted to Putin, with the headline, “Vlad the Great: Putin’s War on the West.” The current issue, meanwhile, gives the same real estate to Dr. Oz.

(Via Mediaite)

People react differently to receiving their first Oscar nomination. For Kirsten Dunst, it involved a lot of screaming. Kristen Stewart, meanwhile, responded a little differently. When the Twilight alum scored a Best Actress nom for Spencer, in which she plays out a few stressful days in the life of the late Princess Di, she didn’t go hog-wild. Instead, she hit the golf course.

While attending the weekend’s Independent Spirit Awards, Stewart spoke to Variety (as caught by People) about how she celebrated her first Oscar nod. Instead of freaking out or partying, she simply rounded up some colleagues, plus her fiancée Dylan Meyer, and broke out the clubs.

“I went with my girls at Neon [the distributors of Spencer] and played nine holes in Los Feliz,” Stewart revealed. “We all became really good friends, so we were just like, ‘Let’s go hit some balls into small holes.’ ”

Stewart has been a critics’ darling for ages now. And she’s won plenty of awards. She even has a César, the French Oscar, which she nabbed playing opposite Juliette Binoche in Clouds of Sils Maria. So perhaps getting Oscar-nominated isn’t as big a deal as it would be otherwise. Or maybe she just likes golf.

That said, Stewart did admit she was “stunned” when she found out, and that even now she’s still “sort of floating around” about the whole thing. “Little kids have little fantasies in their heads … but, obviously, I didn’t start making movies to be an Oscar nominee,” Stewart added. “I bet as a little guy, I was probably like, ‘Yeah, if you’re going to do something, you should do it right.’ But now, I can’t believe it.”

(Via Variety and People)

Zoë Kravitz and Robert Pattinson are continuing their quest for world domination as they have been killing it during their press cycle for The Batman over the past few weeks. The two have such amazing chemistry, it’s kind of hard to imagine Catwoman and The Batman being played by anyone else in any other movie. But, in a recent interview, Kravitz mentioned this wasn’t the first time she had wanted a part in the DC universe — but she wasn’t even offered an audition because of her skin color.

The actress initially wanted a role in Christopher Nolan’s acclaimed Dark Knight trilogy, but was told she looked too ‘urban.’

“I don’t know if it came directly from Chris Nolan. I think it was probably a casting director of some kind or a casting director’s assistant.” Kravtiz told The Guardian. “Being a woman of color and being an actor and being told at that time that I wasn’t able to read because of the color of my skin, and the word urban being thrown around like that, that was what was really hard about that moment”

Kravtiz went on to mention that she didn’t realize how much it affected her until years later. “Even though it’s sometimes hard to see that in the moment, usually a few years later, you’re like, ‘Okay, this is why this didn’t happen.’” Still, Kravtiz is receiving praise for her portrayal of Catwoman in Matt Reeve’s Batman film, which just proves that the best is yet to come for Kravitz.

In the same interview, Kravtiz said she received nothing but love from friends and fans when she was cast: “My phone was blowing up more than any birthday I’ve ever had.”

The Muppets are headed to Disney+, though, unfortunately, not for a new Star Wars show. The lovable group of puppets will have their own show called The Muppets Mayhem which will follow their musical journey to record their debut album as The Electic Mayhem Band.

Real-life human Lilly Singh will play Nora, who will manage the puppet-fronted band as they break out into the music scene. The Electric Mayhem Band consists of Dr. Teeth on vocals (obviously) and keyboards, Animal on drums, Floyd Pepper on vocals and bass, Janice on vocals and lead guitar, Lips on trumpet (also an obvious choice), and Zoot on saxophone. Hopefully, Elmo will guest star as their overly assertive PR manager. Singh most recently wrapped up her role as a host of her own late-night show and starred on the second season of Hulu’s Dollface.

The show comes from Adam F. Goldberg, creator of the hit ABC show The Goldbergs, along with Muppets veteran Bill Barretta and Jeff Yorkes. Ayo Davis, president of Disney Branded Television, welcomes the little furry monster puppets to the Disney+ family with open arms. “The Muppets are renowned for quality, creativity, and unrivaled, fun storytelling for the whole family. We are thrilled to have Adam, Bill and Jeff at the helm to bring all of these iconic and great new characters to life in fresh and dynamic ways.” The show is expected to air later this year.

Death Cab For Cutie already had a a handful of festival dates on the docket in 2022, but now they’ve added a full slate of July tour dates in the midwest and Northeastern US.

The prolific rock band from Seattle has nine studio albums under their belt and last year, released an impressive 20th anniversary edition of The Photo Album. What stands out about these newly announced dates (where Illuminati Hotties will be on board as direct support) is how Ben Gibbard and company are playing many cities that don’t typically get the major tour love. While the tour begins in Cincinnati, the final stops include Harrisburg, PA, Uncasville, CT, and Poughkeepsie, NY. Because who says fans are only in major cities, amiright? Props to Death Cab for showing love to cities surrounding America’s bustling metropolitan centers as well.

Check out Death Cab For Cutie’s full upcoming tour dates below and sign up for the July tour ticketing pre-sale code/get tickets here.

04/27/2022 — Oklahoma City, OK @ The Criterion
04/28/2022 — Houston, TX @ 713 Music Hall
04/29/2022 — New Orleans, LA @ New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival
04/30/2022 — Memphis, TN @ Beale Street Music Festival
05/01/2022 — Atlanta, GA @ Shaky Knees Music Festival
05/21/2022 — Guadalajara, MX @ Corona Capital Festival
07/07/2022 — Cincinnati, OH @ PromoWest Pavilion At Ovation
07/08/2022 — Grand Rapids, MI @ GLC Live at 20 Monroe
07/11/2022 — Buffalo, NY @ Artpark
07/12/2022 — Lafayette, NY @ Beak & Skiff Apple Orchards
07/14/2022 — Harrisburg, PA @ Harrisburg University At Riverfront Park
07/15/2022 — Uncasville, CT @ Mohegan Sun Arena
07/16/2022 — Poughkeepsie, NY @ MJN Convention Center

Death Cab For Cutie is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

LeBron James is betting big on Kittch, a new platform that is positioning itself to be the Twitch and TikTok of the culinary world. Page Six reports that James, a known food aficionado (a word which is roughly 2000x cooler than “foodie”), has just joined on as an investor of the new platform, which is set to launch to the public on Tuesday after a four-month Beta test.

At first glance, it might seem redundant to launch a platform like Kittch when TikTok and Twitch already exist and are both great places to pick up culinary hacks and recipes. But Kittch is taking a different approach by supplying users with a deeper dive into the culinary world by relying on the expertise of star chefs to deliver long-form content.

The new platform promises 24/7 live streams of James Beard award-winning, Michelin Star, and up-and-coming chefs preparing meals live from their home kitchens and restaurants.

Much of the content will be free to access across Kittch, and Fast Company reports that chefs can opt to stream for free or charge viewers for more extensive cooking classes and workshops, and users will be able to directly tip the chefs, adding an important new revenue stream for chefs outside of the restaurant.

Ultimately Kittch is setting itself up as a community-focused solely on food (something that Twitch and TikTok aren’t explicitly designed for) and eventually plans to rope in the community as the platform grows, turning users into content creators, much like Twitch.

Speaking to Fast Company, Kittch co-founder Brian Bedroll says his goal for Kittch is “to be a diverse, democratic place where as you build a following, you build the ability to monetize, and you’re able to really take advantage of the platform as a place of discovery and a place of community.”

Considering LeBron’s business game is as strong as his on-court skills, (the GOAT owns franchises, entertainment companies, and is an active investor), we’re very intrigued to see how, if, and when Kittch takes off.

There has never been a great video game movie, but there’s about to be a whole lot of promising-looking video game shows. HBO has The Last of Us; Paramount+ will premiere Halo this month; Netflix is the home of Resident Evil; and Amazon is throwing god-knows how much money at adaptations of Fallout (starring Justified and The Righteous Gemstones great Walton Goggins) and Mass Effect (supposedly). Jeff Bezos will use a few gold coins from his vault for a God of War show, too.

Deadline reports that Prime Video is “in negotiations for a live-action TV series based on the hugely popular ancient mythology-themed game” with The Expanse creators and executive producers Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby and The Wheel of Time executive producer and showrunner Rafe Judkins in charge. They’re already hard at work figuring out how many times Kratos will say “BOY” in the pilot (my prediction: seven).

Fergus and Ostby shared an Oscar nomination for co-writing Children of Men and also co-wrote the script for Iron Man, which teed off the box-office reign of Marvel Studio. Judkins also has Marvel ties, he was a writer/producer on ABC’s Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.

It’s unclear whether the show will be based on Greek mythology, like the pre-Playstation 4 games, or Norse mythology, like 2018’s Game of the Year-winning God of War. Either way, it will, well, it might not be Lord of the Rings-level expensive, but close to it. World Serpents don’t come cheap.

The next game in the series, God of War Ragnarök, supposedly comes out this year.

(Via Deadline)

At the beginning of the year, prolific porn star Jenna Jameson revealed that she’s battling a mystery illness, which she has adamantly stated is not from the COVID vaccine. If you’re thinking, “Oh, that’s nice, Jenna Jameson doesn’t want to discourage people from getting the vaccine,” quite the opposite! She knows it’s not from the vaccine because the vocal anti-vaxxer “did NOT get the jab or any jab.”

While her mystery illness left the doctors baffled, according to Jameson’s social media posts, she appears to be recovering. In a new video posted to her Instagram Stories, the adult film star revealed that she’s now able to move around using a walker after being bed-ridden and unable to stand for several weeks. Via Page Six:

“I am still sick, as you can see. I am in bed, but I am at home which is really nice. I’ve been getting a lot of sleep. We don’t know what exactly is going on. I still am unable to stand, but I am feeling better and things are going a lot better so thank you for your support,” she said in an Instagram video.

The actress reportedly spent a month at a hospital in Hawaii receiving treatment for the illness that left her unable to walk from her bed to the bathroom without her legs giving out, according to a now-deleted Instagram post from her partner Lior Bitton.

On top of sharing Instagram Stories about her condition, Jameson has also been posting regular updates like the one below:

(Via Page Six)

Multiple times per week, our TV and film experts will list the most important ten streaming selections for you to pop into your queues. We’re not strictly operating upon reviews or accrued streaming clicks (although yes, we’ve scoured the streaming site charts and ratings) but, instead, upon those selections that are really worth noticing amid the churning sea of content. There’s a lot out there, after all, and your time is valuable.

10: (TIE) Our Flag Means Death (HBO Max series)

Got room for What We Do In The Shadows but with pirates? Don’t mind if we do. Taika Waititi’s once again everywhere all at once, and in this series, he portrays the notorious Blackbeard, and this is a workplace comedy upon the high seas. It’s just weird enough that it works, and Blackbeard is actually quite tired of working. He’d rather retire because a life full of plundering is hard work, and meanwhile, Rhys Darby’s Stede Bonnet (Gentleman Pirate) wants to gentrify the whole ship, and there’s a mutiny afoot. It’s all completely ridiculous and entertaining to behold.

10: (TIE) Pam & Tommy (Hulu series)

Get ready for the finale of this debauchery-filled real-life tale, a week after Lily James’ Pamela Anderson put on an Emmy-worthy deposition episode. Then come the discussions on who deserves the Emmy more, James and Sebastian or Jason Mantzoukas in the “voicing an animatronic penis” category. This series needed a tad more Nick Offerman, but at least we got to see some mullets on his head and that of a safe-hauling Seth Rogen.

9. The Power of the Dog (Netflix film)

Sam Elliott is not a fan of this movie that will, nonetheless, scoop up some well-deserved Oscars in a few weeks. Benedict Cumberbatch is a sinister rancher with a past that he’d love to bury, and he’s lashing out while fueled by toxic masculinity. He terrorizes Kirsten Dunst’s character, and they both put in fine performances, along with likely awards coming on the technical side, as well as for director Jane Campion.

8. From (Epix series)

If you were looking for another show like Lost (and can there be enough of them?), then you’ll want to give a look at this story about a seemingly innocuous town that traps its residents. Naturally, there are monsters in there, but this show favors the slow-burn approach while doling out secrets. Hopefully, this selection will receive more of a chance than Manifest (initially) did while unfolding its own story before premature cancellation (and subsequent) resurrection on streaming.

7. Severance (Apple TV+ series)

What’s a work-life balance? Regardless of whether or not you know the answer to that question, you should at least spare a few of your non-working moments to click on this series from the mind of Ben Stiller. Adam Scott stars in a relatable role that turns all-too-unrelatable, and supporting turns come from Patricial Arquette and Christopher Walken. Get your Blue Steel on, guys.

6. Inventing Anna (Netflix limited series)

The streaming realm has been chock full of Julia Garner lately (fist bump to Ozark‘s Ruth Langmore), and she puts on a most affected accent here while portraying Anna Delvey, the mega-grifting subject of Jessica Pressler’s New York Magazine article. It gets surprisingly suspenseful around the 3/4 mark, so get ready to grip some metaphorical seat handles.

5. Euphoria (HBO series on HBO Max)

The time has come to catch up on the devastating happenings of this past season, and no one on earth should have to endure high school phases like these. The musical selections will hopefully keep you from feeling too glum because there’s so much talent onboard, and there’s plenty of fuss (and Fez) to still be had about this show.

4. Snowfall: Season 5 (FX series)

The legacy of John Singleton is alive and well as his brainchild continues with power games and big-crime clashes afresh. The Franklin family’s now poised to enjoy the realization of their dreams, but that doesn’t exactly happen here. Instead, the cocaine-associated death of Len Bias pretty much ruins everything, and the heat is on while the South Central LA surroundings of this story grown increasingly dangerous. The 1980s weren’t all fun and games.

3. Killing Eve (BBC America series on AMC+)

Villanelle and Eve are at it again, only this time, the mouse is entirely exhausted by the cat’s games, and god only knows if one of them will manage to kill the other before all is said and done. Before that happens, Carolyn and Eve must avenge Kenny’s death, and hopefully, Konstantin will continue his political rise while being kicked in the nads a few times. Can we get a Niko check in one of these days, too? Wish lists never hurt anyone.

2. Fresh (Searchlight Pictures film on Hulu)

Adam McKay produces, Mimi Cave directs, and Sebastian Stan is here to make sure that you never want to date again after watching this slightly gory romcom, in which he mightily dances as a Mr. Right-turned-very-Wrong opposite Daisy Edgar-Jones. The project will keep you guessing for the first 30 minutes or so, after which you’ll be freaking the hell out while also marveling at how Stan’s outside-the-MCU career choices only keep getting better.

1. The Dropout (Hulu series)

If you weren’t fascinated by the rapid rise and downfall of Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes, you will be after getting a whiff of Amanda Seyfried’s baritone-morphing portrayal. She’s also got the Steve Jobs-esque turtleneck to go with that “voice,” and all the desperation she needs to follow up her long-game grift. The series co-stars Naveen Andrews (as Sunny Balwani, Holmes’ ex-lover and Theranos COO), William H. Macy, and Alan Ruck, all of whom help escalate this series into as unbelievable an account as the true story demands.

The NFL took over sports headlines on Monday afternoon when the league announced a one-year suspension for Falcons wide receiver Calvin Ridley for betting on NFL games during last season.

The bets in question were placed during a five-day period while Ridley was away from the team, but he did reportedly bet on the Falcons, although there was no evidence of inside information (beyond, you know, that he’s a player for the team and knows a lot about them) or other Falcons being aware and it impacting the game. Ridley apparently placed three separate parlays, including the Falcons to beat the Jaguars (which they did) in those bets.

Much of the talk about this story focused on the NFL’s partnerships with gambling companies and what it meant going forward, but Ridley decided to tweet through it by defending himself against the idea that he has a gambling problem in rather hilarious fashion.

Listen, this is a man who makes millions of dollars so that is, in fact, not much money for him to bet, but this is exactly the sentence someone with a gambling problem would say, which led to plenty of jokes.

Moreso, the fact that he was only betting $1500 — one would assume $500 on each parlay — means he was risking a lot, as he’ll lose out on $11 million next year for the chance at a rather marginal gain. If nothing else, the league has made its message clear about how it will handle these kinds of situations and players will need to make sure they keep any sports betting they do to outside the NFL.