Year: 2022

Last night’s Saturday Night Live episode was one for the books. Not only were New York indie legends LCD Soundsystem back in the house, but after a fairly rough time in the public eye of late — in a few month streak that included a stint in rehab, a divorce, and a baby with new girlfriend Olivia Munn — John Mulaney returned to host the comedy show. As a staple of the show, and in today’s comedy scene in general, Mulaney was entering his fifth time hosting the show, a “five-timers club” distinction that comedians and actors are proud to achieve.

What else should he be proud of achieving? Enlisting LCD Soundsystem as his guardian angels! Well, it was just for a sketch on the show, but the “Subway Churro” episode, which is, of course, also somehow a musical, casts Mulaney as a newsstand worker in a subway station. At one point, he adopts the stylings of Fiddler On The Roof to wax poetic on the joy of going off the grid, and as more characters emerge, LCD shows up as “Guardian Angels” a group who emerged in reaction to the lawless atmosphere in the New York subway during the ’80s. It’s a perfect casting choice for the rockers, and puts them at the center of one of the funniest sketches of the night. Check it out above.

Green Day have always been a fairly political band, so it’s not surprising that they’ve decided not to perform in Russia due to recent global events. After the conflict between the two nations erupted into a full-blown invasion, with Russia’s violent encroach on Ukraine’s borders, artists like Cardi B and The Weeknd have commented on the situation.

As for Green Day, they had a show scheduled to take place in Moscow on May 29, but have let fans know well in advance that given the current situation, that show will not be happening. “With heavy hearts, in light of current events we feel it is necessary to cancel our upcoming show in Moscow at Spartak Stadium,” the band commented in an Instagram story posted a few hours ago. “We are aware that this moment is not about stadium rock shows, it’s much bigger than that. But we also know that rock and roll is forever and we feel confident there will be a time and a place for us to return in the future. Refunds available at the point of purchase. Stay safe.”

In this statement, it feels like the band are leaving room to reinstate the show if the situation is resolved before May. As of today, Ukraine has agreed to meet with Russia “without preconditions,” and many people are hopeful this will lead to a resolution and stop the violence and threat of nuclear firepower.

Foo Fighters have been going strong for nearly three decades now. The band came together in 1994 and since then they’ve released ten albums and ten EPs, with their last project being last year’s Medicine At Midnight. The group has also won 12 Grammy Awards with their first coming back in 2000. Additionally, in 2021, Foo fighters were also inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. By all means, Foo Fighters has achieved everything and more together and it’s something that that their lead vocalist Dave Grohl recognizes.

Grohl and company are currently promoting the Foo Fighters’ new horror film Studio 666. During a recent interview with Sky News, Grohl spoke about his tenure with the band and how he doesn’t want to be like the main character of Studio 666. “The premise is based on a lot of really hilarious rock and roll cliches and stereotypes, right?” Grohl said. “The lead singer that wants to go solo and is at a creative war with his own band – and some lead singers do exactly that.” He added, “That’s something I would never wish to do because I actually like being in the Foo Fighters.”

These comments arrive as Foo Fighters are gearing up to bring their talents to a few festivals this year. The band will make appearances at Osheaga Festival, Boston Calling, Lollapalooza’s Brazil and Argentina festival, and more in 2022. They will also continue their North American tour with additional dates this year.

Over the 20-plus years, the Fast and Furious franchise has amassed quite the alumni roster. Every movie they add more and more actors to the Toretto “family.” Among the more improbable additions was Dame Helen Mirren, the beloved, Oscar-winning English thespian who first appeared in 2017’s eightquel The Fate of the Furious, playing the criminal mother of Jason Statham and Luke Evans’ Deckard and Owen Shaw. But it wasn’t them begging Dane Helen to join the team. It was somehow the other way around.

In a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Mirren was asked about the rumor that Vin Diesel, the series’ resident Dom, asked her to take a small but scene-stealing role. That rumor was almost true, just inverted.

“I didn’t ask, I begged!” Mirren recalls:

“I think I was at some function, and he was there, and I got introduced to him. And I was shameless: ‘Oh God, I’d just love to be in one of your movies! Please let me be in it.’ And then Vin, with that beautiful, deep voice of his, said: ‘I’ll see what I can do.’ And he did it for me. He found this great little role for me, which was perfect. I’d just never done anything like that before — one of those big, big movies. And, in my vanity, I just loved driving and really wanted to do my own driving in a fast car.

Last year, when F9 came out, Mirren revealed that she was willing to do more Diesel than maybe drive him around.

The Fate of the Furious wasn’t the first time that Mirren — who got her start at the Old Vic in London, has acted for legendary filmmakers like Michael Powell, Ken Russell, John Boorman, and Peter Greenaway, and who has played two separate Queen Elizabeths, on both stage and screen — did action. She appeared in two RED movies, alongside Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich, Brian Cox, Ernest Borgnine, and more. That’s range.

(Via THR)

Ever since Russia invaded Ukraine on Thursday, there’s been an influx of worldwide support for the beleaguered nation. Last week, the United States announced a “first tranche” of sanctions against Russia, while other countries have levied their own against the country as well. The conflict has other people doing what they can to support the cause. One small example of that is Twisted Sister’s Dee Snider allowing Ukrainian supporters to use “We’re Not Gonna Take It” for their cause.

Some, however, asked Snider why he didn’t do the same for those who were fighting against mask mandates throughout America. Snider answered these questions with a simple, yet effective tweet. “Well, one use is for a righteous battle against oppression; the other is a infantile feet stomping against an inconvenience,” he wrote in his post.

It’s not the first time in recent years that Snider has approved the use of “We’re Not Gonna Take It” for certain causes. Back in 2015, he gave permission to then-Presidential candidate Donald Trump to use the song at his campaign rallies. “I said, ‘Look, we don’t see eye to eye on everything — there are definitely issues that we’re far apart on,’” he recalled at the time. “But thinking back to when I wrote the song and what the song is about, it’s about rebellion, speaking your mind and fighting the system. If anybody’s doing that, he sure is.”

Amazon is taking over as the exclusive home of Thursday Night Football this fall, and it has spent the past few months going big game hunting for its first ever NFL broadcast booth only to come up empty.

Al Michaels is reportedly close to signing on as their play-by-play man, but hasn’t inked a deal as he seemingly awaits Amazon finding an experienced name as an analyst alongside. There was a lot of buzz about Troy Aikman heading to Amazon after his season ended with Fox, but ESPN swooped in and has apparently signed Aikman on for 5 years and $90 million to be their new face of Monday Night Football — with a new play-by-play man joining him, potentially his current Fox partner Joe Buck.

Amazon has taken swings at big names currently residing in the NFL, but has been rebuffed by the likes of Sean McVay despite offering nine figures to leave the sidelines for the booth. On Sunday, Andrew Marchand of the New York Post reported that Amazon has turned its attention away from poaching the NFL sidelines and towards ESPN’s top college football booth and will make a push to bring on Kirk Herbstreit — who has done a few Monday Night Football broadcasts when ESPN has had doubleheaders. Marchand notes that Herbstreit’s contract allows for him to pull double duty, doing college at ESPN while also calling NFL elsewhere.

While Herbstreit is under contract with ESPN for around $6-plus million per year, sources have told The Post that with the way his deal is written, he would be allowed to do the NFL with another entity, while continuing on college for ESPN.

…

If Amazon and Herbstreit were to make a deal, ESPN, according to sources, would want the option to still use Herbstreit on some NFL games. While continuing as the home of “Monday Night Football,” it will extend to 25 games a year in the next two years.

It would be fascinating to see if Herbstreit could balance the rigors of calling Thursday night NFL games while also still doing ABC’s primetime game and College Gameday on Saturdays, but if anything, Amazon having Thursday nights would make it easier to compartmentalize rather than needing to bounce from college to the pros over the course of Saturday to Sunday. Marchand points out that there could be some lawyer fighting that takes place over whether ESPN has to let Herbstreit go to Amazon for NFL should he want to double dip, but the Worldwide Leader may also not have much of a choice if it doesn’t want to have to shuffle its top college football booth and road show.

(SPOILERS for this season of Euphoria will be found below.)

This season of Euphoria has explored most of the storylines around each of the characters. There’s Rue’s struggle with drug addiction, Nate, Maddy, and Cassie’s love triangle, Lexi’s play and her journey towards coming out of her own shell, and more. Aside from cliffhangers in the show, there is one thing that hasn’t been answered on this season of Euphoria and it has to do with Nate Jacobs and his family. A Jacobs family photo shows a third son together with Nate’s mom and dad, Marsha and Cal, as well as his older brother Aaron. So with no information given about Nate’s younger brother, it begs this question:

What Happened To Nate’s Other Brother On ‘Euphoria?’

Long story short, we have no idea. Fan theories have led the way in the search for answers about Nate’s younger brother. Some suggestion that Ashtray, who is Fezco’s adopted brother, is actually Nate’s younger brother as a baby photo of him is a bit similar to that of unknown Jacobs. Others believe a more dramatic story is in play as one person suggested that Nate killed his younger sibling, whether it be by accident or purposely, and it’s the reason that Cal dislikes him so much.

A more common theory is that Elliot, who’s played by Dominic Fike, is Nate’s younger brother. Fike admitted that he was almost convinced to believe this theory during a recent appearance on The Tonight Show. “I looked at it for a while and there were so many things connecting and so many people were talking about it all through these Reddit threads, and at the end of it, I was like, ‘Am I Nate’s brother?’” he said. “I almost called him up and asked him.”

The hope is that the question about Nate’s younger brother will be answered during the season two finale, but if not, we’ll have to wait until at least season three to find out.

HBO’s ‘Euphoria’ airs on Sundays at 9:00pm EST.

Mitt Romney has had arguably the most interesting last decade of anyone in the GOP. Ten years ago, he was the Republican presidential nominee. Today he’s one of the only members of his party to speak out against Trump (following a brief dalliance in his orbit, of course). On Sunday, he even went on CNN, the enemy to most on the far right, where he called certain extremist members of his party “morons.”

Over the weekend, while Ukraine is fighting off invading Russian forces, the GOP is throwing their annual Conservative Political Action Conference in Florida, which features speakers such as former president Donald Trump praising Russian leader (and good buddy) Vladimir Putin. At the same, a kind of counter-conference is being held. That one is run by noted white nationalists. Very few key Republican lawmakers are speaking there — with the exception of Marjorie Taylor Greene and Paul Gosar, the Arizona representative so despicable his own siblings hate his guts.

During his CNN appearance, Romney was asked about the tiny anti-Trump wing of his own party, especially those who’ve sung the praises of Putin. Liz Cheney, the daughter of former vice president Dick, who was censured by her own party for standing up to Trump, even tweeted, “All Americans should renounce this garbage and reject the Putin wing of the GOP now.”

Romney concurs. “Obviously, Liz Cheney was right with that statement and she has been right for a long time,” he told CNN’s Dana Bash. “I also saw that Ronna McDaniel came out with a statement as well talking about how repugnant these white nationalists are.”

They then moved onto that white nationalist gathering. “There’s no place in either political party for this white nationalism or racism,” Romney stated. “It’s simply wrong. As you’ve indicated, speaking of evil, it’s evil as well.”

He then addressed the two representatives who attended that conference. “Marjorie Taylor Greene and Paul Gosar, I don’t know them,” Romney said. “But I’m reminded of that old line from the Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid movie where one character says, ‘Morons, I have morons on my team!’”

Romney added, “And I have to think anybody who would sit down with white nationalists and speak at their conference was certainly missing a few IQ points.”

Romney also addressed the pro-Putin members of his party, including Trump, who’s praised the Russian leader’s actions as “genius” and “very savvy.”

“Well, I said it’s nearly treasonous,” Romney remarked. “Standing up for freedom is the right thing to do in America. Anything less than that, in my opinion, is unworthy of American support.”

In the last couple days, Trump and even Fox News host Tucker Carlson, who’s gone so far as to denounce Ukraine as “corrupt” while praising Putin, have tried to walk back their statements. In Trump’s case, he couldn’t help himself from both formally condemning the invasion while calling Putin “smart.”

Meanwhile, other members of Romney’s party refuse to condemn Trump’s remarks, even when asked no less than four times.

(Via The Daily Beast)

For the last seven long years, the Republican party has had a loose cannon in their midst. He even became president for a single term. His name is Donald J. Trump, and his latest deplorable act is praising his good friend Vladimir Putin, the Russian president currently being condemned worldwide for invading Ukraine. While the move has been widely condemned by Democrats and much of the Republican party, there have been a few outliers heaping praise on Putin. One is Tucker Carlson. Another is Trump, who called his actions “savvy” and “genius.”

That puts fellow Republicans in a sticky situation, as Senator Tom Cotton discovered on Sunday. Appearing on ABC’s This Week, the Arkansas lawmaker — best known for a deranged New York Times op-ed in which he recommended sending the National Guard to violently suppress Black Lives Matter protests during the summer of 2020 — was asked by host George Stephanopoulos no less than four times if he would condemn Trump’s remarks. And he failed each and every time.

Stephanopoulos began gingerly, highlighting Cotton’s own critical stance of Putin’s actions and pointing out that they don’t exactly gibe with Trump, who was calling Putin “smart” just the night before during the ongoing Conservative Political Action Conference in Florida.

“If you want to know what Donald Trump thinks about Vladimir Putin or any other topic,” Cotton testily responded, “I’d encourage you to invite him on your show. I don’t speak on behalf of other politicians. They can speak for themselves.”
But Stephanopoulos was undeterred, bringing up some more of his Putin praise and asking him, “Are you prepared to condemn that kind of rhetoric from the leader of your party?”

Cotton wasn’t. “George, you heard what I had to say about Vladimir Putin: That he is a ruthless dictator who’s launched a naked, unprovoked war of aggression,” he said.

Stephanopoulos continued to grill him, asking, “Why can’t you condemn Donald Trump for those comments?”
When Cotton mostly repeated himself, Stephanopoulos dug in deeper. “You’re a senior member of the Republican party. Donald Trump is the leader of the Republican party. He said last night again, suggested that he’d be running for president. When Fox News asked him if he had a message for Vladimir Putin, he said he has no message,” he said. “Why can’t you condemn that? I feel quite confident that if … a Barack Obama or Joe Biden said something like that, you’d be first in line to criticize him.”

Cotton kept up appearances, saying, “Again, George, if you want to talk to the former president about his views or his message, you can have him on your show.”

Of course, Trump has long had a habit of saying the quiet part loud, which is almost always met with silence from members of his party. Then again, Cotton — who quietly helped Mitch McConnell thwart Trump’s plans to overturn democracy on Jan. 6 — should know full well what happens to members of his party who speak ill of the one-term former president who now rants to strangers in resorts.

You can watch Cotton’s appearance on ABC’s This Week in the video above. The back-and-forth about Trump starts around the 4:10 mark.

(Via The Guardian)

Pokémon is one of the biggest franchises in the world. What started off as just a couple of games has evolved into a multi-media giant with trading cards, tv shows, and apparel bringing in billions. So anytime anything new in relation to Pokémon comes out, it’s usually a big deal.

For that reason, The Pokémon Company usually tries to keep the franchise fresh with a constant output of new games to make sure there’s always new Pokémon for fans to be excited about. The last games in the franchise, Sword and Shield, came out in 2019 so we all knew an update was going to be on the way soon. What we didn’t know is just how close it actually was. On Saturday, The Pokémon Company announced that the ninth generation of the franchise is on the way and it will release in 2022. The big hook to this one? It’s the first mainline game in the series that will be open world, an obvious plus for anyone that’s been diving into Pokémon Arceus the last month.

What will separate this game from Legends Arceus however, besides being a mainline title, is that this open world is going to be seamless. While the trailer didn’t make that explicitly clear, a website that was launched to showcase the upcoming game confirms what everyone was hoping for. We will be able to explore this entire world with no borders.

Various towns blend seamlessly into the wilderness with no borders. You’ll be able to see the Pokémon of this region in the skies, in the seas, in the forests, on the streets—all over! You’ll be able to experience the true joy of the Pokémon series—battling against wild Pokémon in order to catch them—now in an open-world game that players of any age can enjoy.​

This is a huge deal for fans of the franchise because while everyone really enjoyed Legends Arceus, a small criticism against it was how the game didn’t have a truly open world. It instead had open regions that the player could explore, but to go from region to region the player would have to select it on a map. This upcoming game, based on everything we’ve been told, will not be like that.

Alongside this announcement came three new starters! According to the Pokémon website, Serebii.net, the three new starters’ names will be Sprigatito, Fuecoco and Quaxly. All three are absolutely adorable and soon enough they will evolve into destructive forces that can take us to the top of the Pokémon world once again.

It’s kind of incredible to realize that all of this will be coming to us in late 2022. Get excited Pokémon fans!