Month: January 2023

War is never pretty, obviously, but Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine appears to be of the particularly dismal variety. His mercenary soldiers are being turned into hamburger meat, and he’s been drafting hundreds of thousands of “regular” soldiers to replace those who have swiftly been killed. He’s still claiming that the war is going well, and says he will surely win, even if his declarations are being called out as false by Ukrainian territories that he claimed to have taken. And to add more insult to plentiful injury, Putin is now being undermined by a bunch of Russian rascals who are doing things like blow up bridges meant to carry valuable war supplies to Russian troops.

Al Jazeera reports upon an early January incident, in which Russian activists took out some tracks on the Trans-Siberian Railway. This wasn’t an isolated instance but apparently the sixth successful attempt since Putin invaded Ukraine, and the organization refers to itself as “BOAK, the Combat Orga.” The outlet spoke with a representative who claimed responsibility and did not mince words:

“We are disgusted by this fratricidal bloodbath, and we believe only by halting Putin’s aggression we can hope for this to stop and to never happen again.”

Journalist Jake Harman also pointed towards an October 2022 incident in which BOAK claimed responsibility for another set of train tracks that were torn to shreds by an explosive device. Al Jazeera notes further word from the BOAK representative, who declared, “The government’s defeat in this imperialist war opens up opportunities for the revolutionary movement, giving people the chance to realise how oppressed they were, and what needs to change.” Putin cannot be thrilled about this group’s existence while his first (official) year of Ukraine warmongering comes to a close.

(Via Al Jazeera)

It was reported yesterday (January 24) that Justin Bieber has closed on a deal for the publishing rights and royalties from his master recordings, making about $200 million in the sale to Hipgnosis. While the trend seems to be mostly older artists making these sorts of deals, Bieber is only 28 years old and likely still has plenty of hits to come. Now, Mark Ronson, who sold 70 percent of his music publishing catalog to Hipgnosis in 2020, has shared his perspective on the situation with a TMZ cameraperson.

Ronson seemingly first learned about the Bieber news from the interviewer, as he offered an “oh wow” when they brought it up. He then offered his thoughts on Bieber’s potential mindset with the sale, saying, “I think you’re kind of banking on the fact that like, ‘OK, hopefully I’m still going to write a few more songs,’ you know? ‘So this is what I did up to now, I can live a bit comfortably, not worry about…,’ I mean, I don’t think Justin Bieber’s worrying about living check to check. I think it just gives you, like, a breathing space, and hopefully you’re not done writing songs. That doesn’t mean, like, that that’s everything I’ve ever done.”

As for why Bieber opted to make the sale now specifically, Ronson offered only tongue-in-cheek speculation: “I don’t know… you want to add a wing to the house in Malibu. I don’t really know.”

Jeremy Renner is a hero in real life, too. The Marvel Cinematic Universe actor was protecting his adult nephew when he was crushed by a snow plow weighing over 14,000 pound, according to a Nevada sheriff’s office incident report. “The Pistenbully snow groomer began sliding causing Renner to exit the vehicle without setting the emergency brake,” it reads. “Although the Pistenbully had some mechanical issues, it is believed based on our mechanical inspection that the parking brake would keep the Pistenbully from moving forward. When Renner attempted to stop or divert the Pistenbully to avoid injury to (his nephew), he was pulled under the vehicle by the track and run over.”

Here’s more on the incident:

Renner was “completely crushed under a large snowcat (vehicle)” and had “extreme (difficulty) breathing,” with “the right side of his chest … collapsed – upper torso is crushed,” a 911 call log obtained by CNN said. “The Pistenbully rolled over him and continued down the road,” the report says. “He laid on the ground and focused on his breathing while (his nephew and others) rendered aid to him until medical personnel arrived on scene.”

Renner broke more than 30 bones in the accident, which left him “much worse than anyone knows.” The two-time Oscar nominee is recovering at home, though, and his Marvel co-stars have even started cracking snow plow jokes.

His nephew better get him one heck of a Christmas present this year.

(Via CNN)

Yesterday (January 24), Brendon Urie announced that Panic! At The Disco was coming to an end after 19 years. While most people probably remember Panic as the four-piece band behind the top-10 hit “I Write Sins Not Tragedies,” the project has undergone a number of lineup changes. Ever since the 2016 album Death Of A Bachelor, Panic has actually been a solo project featuring only Urie.

In his announcement, Urie did not call Panic a “band” when he wrote, “Panic! At The Disco will be no more,” although he did refer to the project with the plural “us” on multiple occasions. Semantics aside, after the news broke, fans couldn’t help but make different versions of the same joke, about the “band” being just Urie.

One fan, for example, repurposed an edited clip of Paul Rudd seemingly talking with a clone of himself on Hot Ones, captioning it, “Live footage of brendon urie breaking up panic! at the disco.”

Others took it in a different direction. One Twitter user wrote, “panic at the disco split up…you mean brendon urie experienced self-induced mitosis…” Another tweeted, “as brendon urie was the only member of the band i presume this means he’s been cut up into little pieces.”

Check out some more comedic takes on the end of Panic! At The Disco below.

Panic! At The Disco is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Athletes of all levels, particularly on the professional scale, are known to embellish contact from time to time in hopes of a more favorable whistle from officials. Patrick Beverley has been no stranger to this concept throughout his NBA career, much like many of his peers. During Tuesday’s game between the Los Angeles Lakers and Los Angeles Clippers, the veteran point guard took selling the call to a whole new level when he was stripped on a drive by Terance Mann and tumbled to the floor.

As the replay flashed across the broadcast, color commentator Stan Van Gundy made clear that the foul Beverley was trying to pitch did not, in fact, occur at all.

“Patrick Beverley going down like he got hit in the head,” Van Gundy said. “He did not get hit in the head. That was a pretty good acting job.”

The brief pause from Van Gundy after his first statement is the patience of a wise comedian. Van Gundy knows humor is all about timing. The silence builds suspense, and he delivers. Brian Anderson, running play-by-play duties on the call alongside Van Gundy’s analysis, rewards his co-host with a hearty chuckle. Van Gundy relishes his joke as well. Well done, fellas.

Beverley’s embraced the theatrics of NBA basketball since joining the league in 2012. Tuesday was no different, and Van Gundy lightheartedly wasn’t letting it slide.

Glass Onion dared do something few sequels do: It came up with a completely different title. Well, not completely: The official name of the film is Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery. It’s a clumsy title and even writer/director Rian Johnson confessed he didn’t exactly like it either. But for the franchise’s third outing, he thinks he’s come up with a new solution that will keep the moneymen happy.

In a new chat on the podcast The Filmcast (as caught by Deadline), Johnson said he “understood” why Netflix wouldn’t let him call it simply Glass Onion. He even said the move wasn’t “done against my will or something.” He explained that people who enjoyed Knives Out probably knew the title Knives Out more than they knew the name of Benoit Blanc, the sleuth played by Foghorn Leghorn-accented Daniel Craig. He’d even go so far to say that had he told people he was making another Benoit Blanc movie and not a Knives Out sequel, he “would’ve gotten blank stares.”

Still, Johnson admits the subtitle “kills me a little bit,” and that he wants to “see how quickly we can lose that subtitle.” He would much prefer a different one, specifically “A Benoit Blanc Mystery.” He thinks it might even be time to switch it up:

“I will say, with [Glass Onion], with the reach of Netflix and just how many more people I feel like have seen it and how much more it feels like it’s actually in the culture, we’re at least getting closer to being able to get away with ‘A Benoit Blanc Mystery’ and people would know what we’re talking about.”

So is it safe to say Benoit Blanc a major movie character now? If you told people there was a third Benoit Blanc movie coming, might everyone know what you were talking about? More importantly, which semi-deep cut song by an absurdly popular band will Johnson name the threequel after? Steely Dan certainly has a lot of cool song titles, to name one. How about Glamour Profession: A Benoit Blanc Mystery?

(Via Deadline)

There’s a game out there called War Thunder that not a whole bunch of people have played. It’s not an unknown game by any means, but it isn’t at the forefront when folks think of military shooters. What really separates War Thunder apart, though, is its attention to detail. If you have ever wanted to know what it was like to go through a battle with a military vehicle, then War Thunder is the game to play. It has been frequently praised for having gameplay that is as close to realistic as possible, and it’s that realism that draws in fans.

Unfortunately, because the internet is what it is, that realism also leads to fans who think they know better than the game or even each other. War Thunder has a very active message board for fans to discuss the game or, if they’d like, actual military vehicles. Sometimes those discussions get heated, as any internet argument will, and people will begin pulling out their knowledge to prove they are the smartest person ever. This can lead to rather funny — or terrible, depending on your security clearance — results where people will post actual classified documents to an internet forum. This has happened so often that it has its own section on Wikipedia.

Unfortunately for the poor moderators over at the War Thunder forums, it appears to have happened again, this time in regards to an F16, and then shortly after, someone else went ahead and shared classified information about the McDonnell Douglas F-15E Strike Eagle. This led to the moderators and even the game’s social person to once again beg people to stop sharing classified information on their forums.

This has become such a problem that someone on Reddit went so far as to claim that a friend of theirs interviewed for a position at Raytheon, only to be asked if they had played War Thunder as part of their security clearance. This was quickly debunked by VideoGame Sports Illustrated, where a comment from Raytheon confirmed that the video games you play have nothing do with your job prospects or your clearance. The social person for War Thunder was happy with this, but also seems pretty exhausted by everything.

If you happen to find yourself in an argument over military vehicles on the War Thunder forums, please do everyone a favor and keep classified documents out of your argument.

Ella Mai has some big plans for the new year — along with planning for her upcoming tour — the London singer has just announced she will be releasing a deluxe version of her Heart On My Sleeve album. The album, which was released this past May, featured some of music’s top artists, including Latto, Roddy Ricch, and Lucky Daye. The 15-track project was produced by Mai’s longtime collaborator DJ Mustard.

Mai shared the announcement on her official Instagram account, as well as dropping her upcoming North American tour dates.

“And now for my favorite part of it all! THE HEART ON MY SLEEVE TOUR – NORTH AMERICA,” she wrote. “Head to ellamai.com for presale information, general tickets [are] on sale this Friday, 1.27. I’ve been waiting for this for as long as you have & I cannot wait to see you sooooooooon.HEART ON MY SLEEVE DELUXE EDITION ON THE WAY.”

While there has been no official release date for the deluxe project, it will presumably be coming soon.

Mai’s upcoming tour will trek through 34 cities (including New York, Los Angeles, Toronto, and more), kicking off its first show in March at the Toyota Oakdale Theatre in Wallingford, Connecticut.

Tickets for the Heart On My Sleeve Tour will be available for pre-sale on Wednesday, January 25, at 10 a.m., with general tickets going on sale Friday, January 27.

You can find more information about purchasing tickets here.

In 2020, King Von tragically died at the age of 26 after being shot at an Atlanta nightclub. The hip-hop world was shaken with many icons sharing tributes such as Chance The Rapper, Calboy, Dreezy, Joey Purp, and Queen Key. Since then, a lot of posthumous music has been unleashed; 2022’s What It Means To Be King was a goldmine. There were also plenty of posthumous videos, for tracks like “Get It Done,” “Too Real,” “Don’t Play That” with 21 Savage, and more.

It looks like even more posthumous music is coming — a whole album, in fact. Von’s manager, 100k Tracks, teased fans on social media: “Yup it’s that time again @kingvonfrmdao ?/?/23 Album Ready @nima_empire @ghazi @empire @otf @_gbg_gbg_ @100kmgmt @__tmac__1 @_djbandz – what would von name it though,” he wrote.

Just days before the rapper was killed, Von talked with Uproxx and talked about who he made music for. “People that grow up in Parkway with single mothers. You know, that Section 8 sh*t,” he said. “Grow up around there, with drug dealers around. People that grew up in sh*t like that and f*cked up predicaments. It’s a lot of people. And then people, just as entertainment, and sh*t, I guess. The suburban kids. Everybody who f*ck with the music, man.”

Fans won’t be able to keep their “poise and rationality” after hearing this news. Panic! At The Disco founder Brendon Urie announced that the pop-rock project — after almost 19 years — will be disbanding. A note penned by Urie was posted to the band’s official social media pages on Tuesday (January 24), explaining the reason behind the breakup.

In the letter, the group’s frontman explains that he and his wife, Sarah, are expecting a child, therefore, he would be stepping away from the band — which at this point is only him — to focus more on his family.

“The prospect of being a father and getting to watch my wife become a mother is both humbling and exciting. I look forward to this next adventure,” he wrote. “That said, I am going to bring this chapter of my life to an end and put my focus and energy on my family, and with that, Panic! At The Disco will be no more.”

Later in the post, Urie thanked his fans for all the support over the years.

“I’ve sat here trying to come up with the perfect way to say this, and I truly can’t put into words how much it has meant to us,” he said. “Whether you’ve been here since the beginning or are just finding us, it has been a pleasure to not only share the stage with so many talented people but also share our time with you. I am looking forward to seeing everyone in Europe and the UK for one last run together.

But there is some light at the end of the tunnel. Urie shared that Panic! will still go on their European tour in the coming months.

Panic! At The Disco is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.