Month: January 2023

Voting in a new speaker of the House is usually a boring affair. Not so with the 2023 version of the Republican Party. What should have been a mere formality dragged on for four days, to the boredom of many Democrats. It wasn’t resolved until the wee hours of Saturday morning. It took 15 votes for the chamber to elect former minority leader Kevin McCarthy, who was aggressively opposed by a small but pivotal faction of extremists within his own party. Things got so heated that a fight nearly broke out.

One of the ringleaders of the quisling cadre was Matt Gaetz, the longtime MAGA lawmaker who’s spent the last two years under investigation for ties to a sex trafficking ring. He was so against McCarthy taking the gig that he threatened to quit if he won. (We’ll soon see how serious he was about that one.) After the 14th time McCarthy lost — 15 times, as it turned out, was the charm — McCarthy himself stormed up to Gaetz, and shared a heated exchange. But it was another GOP representative, Alabama’s Mike Rogers, who took things further.

As McCarthy headed back to his seat, Rogers swooped in and got visibly testy with Gaetz. It got so bad that he had to be restrained by fellow lawmaker Richard Hudson, who went so far as to grab his face with his hand. It’s not yet been public what Rogers said, or what McCarthy and Gaetz discussed during their own confrontation. But less than an hour later, cooler heads belatedly prevailed and McCarthy just barely clinched his dream job.

Should be a fun next two years in the House!

(Via Mediaite)

It doesn’t seem like Celine Dion fans are letting their hearts go on after Rolling Stone‘s controversial list of “200 Greatest Singers Of All Time.” Yesterday, fans protested outside of the Rolling Stone office, blasting some of her biggest hits.

Why Are Celine Dion Fans Mad At Rolling Stone?

On New Year’s Day, Rolling Stone published a list of their rankings of the 200 greatest singers of all time. As fans and stans were bound to take to their Twitter and TikTok timelines to argue about where their faves ranked, many fans were upset that Dion was completely left out of the list.

Anticipating that the list would be polarizing, Rolling Stone issued a statement on social media, saying, “Before you start scrolling (and commenting), keep in mind that this is the Greatest Singers list, not the Greatest Voices List. Talent is impressive; genius is transcendent.”

A fan quickly responded, saying, “because céline dion singing in 9 languages, having sung diverse genres, and reinventing herself in every album isn’t ‘genius,’ right?”

Another fan wouldn’t even bother to look at the list, due to the omission.

“Any music list for best singers ever that doesn’t include Céline Dion is automatically invalid to me,” said the fan. “That’s the rule. ‘Falling Into You’ was the first CD I ever bought with my own money, and that album is still flawless, and her entire discography is superb.”

Even some of her peers in the industry have vocalized their chagrin toward Rolling Stone.

“One more reason these stupid ass lists don’t mean sh*t,” said songwriter Diane Warren, who co-wrote “Because You Loved Me,” one of Dion’s biggest hits. “Really??? A list of greatest singers @RollingStone and #CelineDion isn’t on it??”

Needless to say, it doesn’t look like Rolling Stone is getting out of this one anytime soon.

Steven Spielberg has accomplished a lot in his lifetime. Before he was 30 he had changed movies forever with Jaws. He’s won three Oscars. He directed the first proper episode of Columbo! And yet there’s one thing he’s never done: gotten high. His latest film, the semi-autobiographical The Fabelmans, features one of the most prominent stoners in America: Seth Rogen, who’s accomplished a lot as well. But while they work well together, Rogen never got the chance to get him high.

Variety recently caught up with Spielberg and Rogen at the Palm Springs International Film Festival Awards Gala on Thursday. Spielberg was asked which of Rogen’s “stoner movies” was his favorite.

“Well, having never been stoned, I don’t see them as stoner movies,” he joked, Rogen standing next to him. “I see them as movies about a police officer giving solid, sound advice to an impressionable person.”

That’s a reference, of course, to Superbad, co-written by Rogen, in which he and Bill Hader play doofus cops more interested in getting drunk and hanging with an underage kid than policing. Is that Spielberg’s favorite Rogen movie? If so, it’s a good one, even if it depicts youthful pulchritude that, based on The Fabelmans, is nothing like his own upbringing.

Rogen, of course, is a high-functioning stoner. How many people who get blazed on the regular star in, write, and direct movies, on top of writing children’s books and learning ceramics? Still, different strokes for different folks.

(Via Variety)

In the wee hours of Saturday morning, Kevin McCarthy was finally voted in as Speaker of the House. It only took four days, and 15 votes. The former House minority leader, who had spent the last two years appeasing the extremist wing of his party, won by a narrow margin after winning over a small but powerful cadre who refused to let him in. It must have been boring for most of representatives, who had to sit there for days, awaiting cooler heads to prevail. But one member found a good way to kill the time.

On Friday, hours before McCarthy belatedly clinched the gig, California Democratic representative Katie Porter was spotted leaning back in her chair reading a book. Which book? The Subtle Art of Not Giving A F*ck, the bestseller by Mark Manson. Manson’s book, which is both an anti-self help book that’s also a self-help book, preaches the gospel of ignoring the things you can’t control and focusing on those you can. For instance, if you’re a Democratic House representative and the Republican side is self-imploding? It’s best of your mental health to let it burn.

People observing the House mishegoss from afar seemed to relate to Porter’s stance.

Porter’s chill attitude contrasted nicely with the Republicans, who at one point almost got into a fight.

Porter, like most Democrats, seemed to spend the last week doing little but killing time as Republicans duked it out, proving that they’re more interesting in in-fighting than governing. It’s bound to be a, uh, interesting two years in Congress, although presumably the biggest drama queen is resigning, as he promised, right?

In between legs of her Yessie tour, Jessie Reyez stopped by The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon last night (January 6). She took to the stage, performing “Still C U,” a fan-favorite from her latest album, Yessie.

On the song, she is content with being done with an ex, however, she still finds herself thinking of them from time to time.

“I still see you in my sleep / How come I still see you when I dream? / I been running from the truth / But it don’t matter what I do / It never matters what I do / I just can’t get away from you,” she sings on the song’s chorus.

During the performance, she wore a white tank top and matching skirt, the simple colors allowing for a minimalistic aesthetic, as her vocals shine through. She delivered her signature raspy vocals throughout the song, and visibly appeared to be fighting back tears.

Reyez is known to be candid about her emotions in her songs. She also has said she is working to let go of the anger she felt while recording her earlier material.

“What I’ve understood is that sometimes you need to use that anger as a lily pad to keep it moving,” she said in an interview with CBC.

While her Yessie tour may be coming to an end, Reyez doesn’t plan to slow down anytime soon. Later this year, she plans to join Sam Smith on their Gloria tour.

In the meantime, you can watch the performance of “Still C U” above.

Rudy Gobert had a pretty good night against the Los Angeles Clippers. The veteran big man helped lead the Minnesota Timberwolves to a 128-115 win over their Western Conference foes, which went into the game with both Kawhi Leonard and Paul George on the sideline. Gobert had 25 points, 21 rebounds, three blocks, and one moment where he showed off some pretty impressive handles before coming up short on a layup.

Gobert pulled down a rebound off of an Amir Coffey miss in the fourth quarter. Instead of giving it to a guard — D’Angelo Russell was tied up with Robert Covington — Gobert saw that he had the entire court in front of him. So, the big man decided to just bring the ball up the court on his own, and by the time he got to the three-point line, only Moses Brown stood between him and the rim. Instead of picking up this dribble, Gobert was able to get by the Clippers big man, get to the rim, do a little head fake, and get him in the air.

There was, quite literally, nothing between Gobert and the rim, but something happened and caused him to miss the layup, which led to Gobert just grabbing the stanchion for a second.

Ultimately, this is a moment Gobert can laugh at, as he otherwise had a very good night.

Britney Spears can do it all. Even bring back the dead… Sort of. The pop star’s hit song, “Toxic,” got the remix treatment with an Elvis classic to create the mashup, “Toxic Las Vegas: Jamieson Shaw Remix.” While the song appears in Baz Luhrmann’s 2022 film, Elvis, it had yet to see an official release.

“I Love Brit Brit and I love ‘Toxic’… but when you’re doing that kind of pop, you’re just in a bubble,” Luhrmann previously said of the mashup decision during an interview with Entertainment.ie. “And that bubble will break, as it does for Elvis.”

Spears herself even has paid homage to Elvis in the past, as she channeled his iconic white jumpsuit for promoting her 2001 Live From Las Vegas special.

Presley’s birthday would be this Sunday. So, in spirit, the remix is part of a large-scale tribute package.

In addition, Elvis will be screened for free across North America — and is available to stream on HBO Max, in case you don’t feel like leaving your house. The streaming platform is honoring the King by dropping a 30-minute behind-the-scenes special, Just A Boy From Tupelo: Bringing Elvis To The Big Screen.

Last but certainly not least, Elvis’ Graceland home is hosting four days of fun events, including “The Making Of Elvis” exhibition that lets fans see costumes and other gear from Luhrmann’s blockbuster film.

Listen to Britney Spears and Elvis join forces on the “Toxic Las Vegas: Jamieson Shaw Remix” above.

Matthew Schultz, lead singer of Cage The Elephant, was arrested last night (January 5) in New York City. Schultz was caught at the Bowery Hotel with two loaded firearms, according to a report from New York Post.
Schultz was then reportedly arrested and charged with criminal possession of a firearm.

According to New York Post, Schultz was caught by a worker who saw him pull a gun from his pocket in a common area of the hotel, which was noted by prosecutors at Schultz’s arraignment tonight. The person then called 911, and police entered Schultz’s room on a search warrant.

Two guns were later reportedly found and recovered from a bag in the room, as well as 11 Polaroid photos of the guns including some with “a hand holding, pointing of the firearm,” as noted by prosecutors.

Prosecutors also reportedly noted that Schultz appeared to be intoxicated at the time when the gun was spotted.

Cage The Elephant is known for songs like “Cigarette Daydreams” and “Trouble.” Their most recent release was their 2019 album, Social Cues.

At the time of writing, the band has not yet issued a statement regarding Schultz’s arrest. Representatives for Cage The Elephant did not immediately return our request for comment.

Earlier this week, a game between the Boston Celtics and the Denver Nuggets included a delay of a little more than half an hour because a Robert Williams dunk in the fourth quarter caused the rim at Ball Arena to bend a little. Things took a little to get all sorted out, but apparently, the problem is back again during Denver’s home tilt against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Friday night.

Early on in the fourth quarter of a game the Nuggets led, 96-82, someone noticed that the rim the Cavs were shooting on was bent after Evan Mobley grabbed the rim on an unsuccessful dunk attempt where he was fouled. It led to a delay of about eight minutes, but everything got sorted out pretty quickly.

Still, having this happen again is extremely annoying, and no one was more annoyed over the whole thing than Denver coach Michael Malone. Here he is, absolutely furious that this is happening again and making his way onto the floor to try and get a sense of how bad it is.

While Jamal Murray used this as a chance to chill on the sidelines with fans, please wait for the camera to cut to Malone at the 1:31 mark of the below video, as he is having an extremely bad time.

No one is happier than Michael Malone that this didn’t take half an hour.

Back in 2021, Radiohead members Thom Yorke and Johnny Greenwood launched a side band project called The Smile. However, with that announcement came rumors that the original band was breaking up or being replaced by this new endeavor.

Radiohead’s drummer, Philip Selway, sat down for a recent interview with Spin to clear the air on all the fans’ biggest fears. (No, they are not breaking up — at least to his present knowledge.)

“As far as I know, we’re still a band,” Selway said. “If anybody knows any different, I’d be very interested.”

“For me, whatever we do, it all falls under that umbrella of the five of us,” he added. “Ultimately, it all feeds into it.”

The band’s last tour ended back in 2018. While they might be due for another album release soon, the members are currently stacked in terms of other career projects, from recording and releasing solo projects (in Selway’s and Ed O’Brien’s cases) to touring live with Nick Cave (Colin Greenwood).

Selway also touched on Radiohead’s recent Kid A Mnesia compilation that dropped in November 2021 to commemorate the anniversary. This year marks 20 years since their album Hail To The Thief — so we might see a return in that form.

“We’ve been very focused on the whole Kid A/Amnesiac thing, and I think that’s coming to its natural conclusion, going back through the reissue and the game scenario around that,” he said. “We’re going to get together at the start of [2023], and I’m sure we’re going to start looking at other ideas for what comes next. Hail to the Thief — it’s a long time since that record, isn’t it?”

One thing is for sure: Radiohead won’t be going away anytime soon.