Year: 2022

Ted Cruz is by far the most dunkable lawmaker on Capitol Hill, and not without good reason: The Texas senator always steps in it, even when it’s the star of his favorite movie trashing him. But ragging on Cruz means admitting when he’s innocent. So it is that those viral tweets of him making bizarre claims about Austin Power were, as it were, fake news.

It began with an Austin Powers commercial set to air during the Super Bowl on Sunday — one of a number of high-profile ads dusting off iconic ‘90s movie characters. Shortly thereafter, writer Keaton Patti shared screenshots allegedly showing Cruz repeatedly tweeting bonkers Austin Powers claims.

In one, Cruz “wrote” that “Joe Biden thinks he’s Austin Powers, but he’s actually Dr. Evil,” referring to the hero and villain of the franchise, both played by Mike Myers. He “did it again” for Obama, then reversed the formula for Trump, who was purported to be the swinging secret agent, not the global terrorist modeled on Donald Pleasence’s version of Bond baddie Ernst Blofeld. The final one finds Cruz “discovering” that Myers plays both characters, back in 2015.

Alas, these tweets were too pure for the real world.

Both PolitTweets and CNN’s master fact checker Daniel Dale — hot off proving that a Trumpist lawmaker who thought he was quoting Voltaire but was actually quoting a neo-Nazi busted for child pornography — soon debunked the tweets’ veracity. How? By simply searching Cruz’s Twitter feed for “Austin Powers,” which produces no results. Furthermore, Dale noted that Patti has a history of posting “fake political images as alleged comedy.”

Cruz eventually caught wind of this kerfuffle and made a kind of victory post.

So kudos to Cruz for not actually tweeting weird things about Austin Powers. But fret not: He’s bound to post something mockable again any day now.

(Via The Daily Dot)

Arnold Schwarzenegger’s film career still hasn’t gotten back on track after his stint as governor of California. Perhaps Triplets, the forthcoming belated sequel to Twins, will be the one to atone for multiple underperforming Terminator romps. In the meantime, he’s got that jokey Zeus Super Bowl commercial. And speaking of Twins, he recently went on late night TV to tell a pretty good story about co-star Danny DeVito pranking him by getting him high.

The former Governator went on Jimmy Kimmel Thursday night to talk anecdotes and discuss living with a bunch of animals in his home, including a mini-horse and a mini-donkey. (Kimmel’s team also provided a supercut of his guest repeatedly beating up animals in movies, including an aggressive reindeer in Jingle All the Way.)

There was also a bit about DeVito, a famous on-set prankster. Schwarzenegger told a story about their second film together, 1994’s Junior, the one where the erstwhile Conan the Barbarian gets pregnant. The two were lunching together during a day of shooting, and DeVito — wanting to pay it back due to Schwarzenegger’s habit of gifting him with fine cigars — offered him some good pasta. When they returned to set, Schwarzenegger realized he couldn’t remember his lines. That’s because DeVito had slipped a little something into his food.

You can see Schwarzenegger discuss trying to act while unwittingly high — as well as other fun tales — in the video above.

(Via The AV Club)

On Friday night, Justin Bieber held a performance in West Hollywood at the Pacific Design Center. Afterward, he threw a after party nearby at The Nice Guy, and according to TMZ, the event featured a stacked guest list that included Drake, Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire, Kendall Jenner, and Khloe Kardashian. Things were initially smooth sailing, but at around 3 am local time, a fight broke out outside the after venue. Before the chaos began, Kodak Black was standing on the street smiling and talking alongside Gunna and Lil Baby. When things got out of hand, he reportedly got involved, taking a swing at someone.

The fight was caught on camera and video was provided by TMZ. Shortly after Kodak throws a punch, gunshots can be heard, which causes everyone in the area to flee the scene. Law enforcement told TMZ that four people were injured after ten rounds of gunshots were fired. Officers add that the wounded individuals are all in stable condition and that the suspect(s) remain at large.

The fight and the shooting that followed come after Kodak Black had his trespassing charges from a Florida arrest dropped. He was detained on New Year’s Eve in his hometown of Pompano Beach for failing to comply with a cease and desist letter.

You can view a video of the incident on TMZ here.

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

While Nicki Minaj might not be the most prolific artist of the 2010s, she’s been celebrated as part of the rap Mount Rushmore due to influence alone. Though her last full-length release, Queen, fell flat, and Nicki herself has been embroiled in a back and forth with an accuser who says Nicki’s husband sexually assaulted her, though he tells a different story. Either way, some fans might be caught up in the logistics of Nicki’s complicit behavior defending her husband, Kenneth Petty, but plenty are asking only one question: Is there new music coming? And more importantly, is there a new album coming? The answer, on both fronts, is a resounding yes.

Does Nicki Minaj Have A New Album Coming?
As noted, the short answer is yes, and it’s likely coming very soon. Not only has she confirmed to fans that a new project is in the works, but she’s told press to expect the return of “Mixtape Nicki” — as in, bars on bars. Kicking off what seems very much like an album rollout with her Lil Baby collaboration, “Do We Have A Problem?” she followed that first single up much quicker than anyone expected with a follow-up single: “Bussin.” This second single also features Lil Baby, so with those two songs in the universe, fans have a bit of a taste of what might be in store for Nicki LP5.

Joel Embiid played his first game as a member of the Philadelphia 76ers in the post-Ben Simmons era on Friday night. One day after Simmons was sent to the Brooklyn Nets as part of a package in exchange for James Harden and Paul Millsap, Embiid led the Sixers to a 100-87 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder in which he had 25 points, 19 rebounds, five blocks, and four assists.

Embiid unsurprisingly got asked about the Simmons trade after the game, and after reacting to that, he was asked about a tweet that he sent in the aftermath. Here is the tweet:

You will be shocked to know that Embiid did not say that he posted this because he viewed Simmons as his biggest hater, or he wanted to make sure his tenure with the Sixers was dead, or anything like that. Instead, he decided to claim he had no idea what was going on.

“Honestly, I don’t even know what the tweet was about,” Embiid said. “I just tweeted a random person.”

After the reaction in the room made clear that absolutely no one believed him, Embiid went on to say, “I just saw the picture on the internet. I thought he was well-dressed, he had a nice suit on, good-looking. So, he had some swag, so I thought it was a good picture.”

Our hunch is that Simmons will not have nearly as much fun responding to this tweet when he is inevitably asked about it.

One of the more under-the-radar elements of the James Harden-Ben Simmons trade is that the Philadelphia 76ers had to give up backup big man Andre Drummond. While backup centers don’t normally get a ton of love, Philly has struggled for years to figure out what to do when Joel Embiid is on the bench, and Drummond has easily been the best backup 5 that they’ve had.

As such, the minutes behind Embiid have to go somewhere, and beloved Sixers reserve Paul Reed got a chance to fill in for the MVP candidate on Friday night against the Oklahoma City Thunder. Reed is known for being a tenacious defender, which he put on display in the second quarter when he took an inbound pass away from Darius Bazley. Reed had a clear path to the rim after that, and appeared to think it was time to do something flashy.

The catch: Reed misjudged his path to the rim, so instead of doing what I think was supposed to be a LeBron-esque dunk where he rocks his arms to the side and then back around and dunks with both hands and his back facing the rim, this happened.

“You just gotta come up with the two points here” is some excellent analysis. Anyway, the Sixers led at halftime, 46-41, while Reed had two points, three rebounds, two blocks, and two steals in seven minutes of work in the first half.

Street artists are a special breed. While “the art world” can sometimes be a snooty, elite place for those with means, street art is made for everyone. Sometimes that means large public murals, but street art can be small, too. In fact, some of the best street art is so small you might miss it if you’re not paying attention. But those who are can discover some delightful surprises.

Just imagine walking down a sidewalk and seeing this little fella at your feet:

See on Instagram

Or this young lady:

Or this creature:

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That would make your day, wouldn’t it? Or at least bring a smile to your face for a while?

Public art is an act of love to strangers, a way of connecting to people without saying a word. It says, “Hey there, fellow human. Here’s a little something to make you smile, just because.”

That’s the beauty of David Zinn’s street art. It’s meant for the public—just average passers-by—to enjoy, individually and collectively.

Zinn has created an entire world of characters who pop up in unexpected places. For instance, meet Gerald the otter, who is waiting for a blind date in this tree stump.

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Zinn uses chalk and charcoal to make his cast of characters come to life in cracks and crevasses, sidewalks and tree trunks. His creations aren’t meant to last forever; in fact, as Zinn points out, the temporary nature of them adds value to them.

“Famous works of art hanging in museums get seen by thousands of people every day. But this? You could be among the dozens of people who get to see this while it exists,” he told CBS Mornings. “That’s pretty special.”

Watch how he takes something he finds in the sidewalk and transforms it into a sweet little duo.

Sometimes he uses natural things he finds as inspiration for a piece.

See on Instagram

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Other times, he uses something human-made, like this upside down terra cotta pot:

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Or this manhole cover:

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Sometimes the shape of a rock lends itself to a character, like Keith and his emotional support chick here:

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Or the space itself serves as inspiration.

Nadine the mouse features in many of Zinn’s pieces, probably due to her small size making it easy for her to fit into small spaces.

See on Instagram

Usually his pieces use what’s already there—like a crack in the sidewalk—to tell a story.

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The 3D nature of his drawings make it feel as if his characters are truly there.

“Looks like another long day of things stubbornly refusing to be impossible,” he writes in a caption of one of his “pigasuses.”

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(Speaking of having wings, Nadine found a pair for herself.)

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Watch Zinn turn a simple pot into a character with personality in a matter of minutes:

His entire Instagram page, Facebook page and TikTok channel are filled with endless delight. It was nearly impossible to decide what to include in this article because I wanted to include everything.

See on Instagram

This is all well and good, you might say to yourself, but how does Zinn make a living if he’s not selling this art?

He sells books and prints of photos of his artwork on his online store. He also gets invited to schools and events. He has created a career for himself by rejecting blank canvases, putting his imagination out on the street for everyone to see for a while, then selling versions that will actually last. Pretty brilliant, really.

Zinn gave a fascinating TEDx Talk explaining how he found his own artistic niche. You’ll never look at a parking meter or sidewalk the same way again.

Despite the fact that his future seemed up in the air in the days leading up to the NBA trade deadline, Russell Westbrook made it past Thursday afternoon at 3 p.m. EST without getting moved. As a result, the Los Angeles Lakers are hoping that this group can figure it out after a less-than-convincing first 56 games.

Westbrook did not play in the Lakers’ final game before the deadline, as he sat out for the first time all season. The official reason that the team game was Westbrook was dealing with back tightness, and on Friday, Westbrook met with the media and discussed the ailment. He even gave his theory for why he thinks he’s dealing with back issues: extended time on the bench.

Westbrook is third on the Lakers, behind LeBron James and Anthony Davis, in minutes per game and first in total minutes played this season, but there have been games this season where Frank Vogel has elected to keep him on the bench for long stretches — there have been two instances lately, following games against the Indiana Pacers and New York Knicks, where Vogel has made clear he benched Westbrook because his performance was not up to par.

Next up for the Lakers is a showdown with the Golden State Warriors on Saturday night in San Francisco. It is unclear if Westbrook will play or if his back tightness will continue to keep him sidelined.

Before we begin this post: If you have not done the Wordle puzzle for Friday, Feb. 11 yet and are the kind of person who gets upset when things are spoiled for you, we highly recommend going and doing that before you continue reading, because in order to understand why people think Karl-Anthony Towns might be — as Jack Baer of Yahoo Sports so eloquently put it — a Wordle fraud, you have to understand that Friday’s word is rather unique.

Why is that the case? Well, because the word is…

[stop reading here if you don’t want it spoiled]

…ulcer. Ulcer! That’s a weird one. I tend to struggle with letters that appear twice in the same word and words that begin with vowels, and this one falls into that latter category. If you’ve never played Wordle before, here’s an explainer, but the quick description is you get six guesses at a five-letter word and you’re made aware of whether or not a letter is in the right spot, is in the word but in the wrong spot, or just flat-out wrong with each guess. It’s fun, I play it every day and get mad at myself that I don’t get it in one fewer word every time.

If you have Twitter, you have assuredly seen people post their Wordle scores, because it happens all the time. Towns got into the game recently, and he appears to be very, very good at it. Here is every Wordle tweet he has sent up until Friday:

He is consistently putting forth good efforts, which is very impressive! But now, we get to Friday. Look at this:

Again, the word is ULCER. This means, based on the blocks, Towns went:

GUESS 1: U _ _ E R
GUESS 2: U C _ E R
GUESS 3: U L C E R

Ignore the fact that this implies he just knew to guess a word with the letter U on his first attempt. We know that the above has to be what guess 2 is because the little yellow brick indicates the letter appears elsewhere in the word, and the only empty spot is the third letter. Therefore, he had to guess U C _ E R. Twitter caught onto this and thinks that something funny might be going on.

There are five explanations here: 1. KAT is somehow getting different words than anyone else, which seems … extremely unlikely. 2. KAT is on a different day, which can’t be true, because Friday was Wordle 237. 3. KAT is playing a different Wordle than the official Wordle. 4. KAT is lying. 5. KAT has never actually played Wordle and is just posting stuff. Minnesota has four more games before the All-Star break, and it is our sincere hope that Towns clarifies what is going on here.

Julia Garner’s portrayal of con artist Anna Delvey has created quite a buzz, as Inventing Anna premieres on Netflix today. To prepare for the role, Garner went to great lengths to create the look and distinct accent of the Soho scammer and even visited her in jail.

But Delvey recently wrote about how she was unsure if she would even watch the show. In an essay for Insider, Delvey, who’s real name is Anna Sorokin, wrote about her hesitation to be involved with the show. Written from her jail cell, Sorokin said, “For a long while, I was hoping that by the time Inventing Anna came out, I would’ve moved on with my life. I imagined for the show to be a conclusion of sorts summing up and closing of a long chapter that had come to an end…Even if I were to pull some strings and make it happen, nothing about seeing a fictionalized version of myself in this criminal-insane-asylum setting sounds appealing to me,” she said. Okay, but she’s probably at least a little bit curious about the accent, right?

In response to Sorokin, Garner says acknowledges Anna’s perspective, and doesn’t blame her for not wanting to watch. “Here’s the thing, I respect whatever Anna does in terms of whether she wants to watch the show or doesn’t want to watch the show,” the Ozark actress says. “That’s her choice and that’s totally fine. She doesn’t have to watch the show.”

Garner added, “I never made the show in anticipation, thinking that she’s going to watch it. If she did watch it, great. If not, that’s fine, too. I respect whatever she wants to do.”

All episodes of Inventing Anna are now streaming on Netflix, while Sorokin is still in ICE custody.

(Via Insider)