Month: February 2023

With Party Down about to kick off its highly-anticipated revival on Starz, Adam Scott has opened up about the show’s 2010 cancellation, which took place not long before the actor made his Parks and Recreation debut as former child mayor Ben Wyatt. The character would quickly become a fan-favorite and a love interest for Amy Poehler’s Leslie Knope, but the career move inevitably led to speculation that Scott taking the job led to the demise of Party Down.

However, Scott recently revealed that Party Down‘s future wasn’t looking great thanks to a new president at Starz. “We weren’t sure what he wanted to do with it,” Scott said before sharing how he made the decision to take the Parks and Rec offer without screwing over Party Down. Via Rolling Stone:

I made a backchannel call to someone high up at Starz and asked him as a favor, “Will you let me know if I take another job, am I killing Party Down or is Party Down already dead?” And he said, “I can’t really officially tell you anything, but if I were a friend of yours, I would tell you to take that job.” And I had to make a decision or the Parks job was going to go away, and they weren’t going to announce Party Down till a month later. This person did me a huge favor and told me, “If you want to be employed, you should take that job.”

So there you have it. Scott got the inside scoop that Party Down was pretty much doomed, and he’d be out of work if he didn’t make the jump to Parks and Recreation. Mystery solved, and it all worked out in the end. TV fans got to watch Leslie and Ben’s love blossom, and Party Down already has a new season in the can. Everybody wins. Even Jerry.

Party Down Season 3 premieres February 24 on Starz.

(Via Rolling Stone)

Apparently, Lizzo concerts are the best show on Earth, as SZA declared. As the “Special” singer embarks on the international stretch of her Special Tour, she is finding little ways to insert pops of fun outside of her festive bops. The songwriter’s animated personality isn’t just limited to her upcoming appearance on The Simpsons, but to her ticket-holding fans as well.

Yesterday (February 23), while performing in Amsterdam, the Grammy winner took a moment in between her original songs to sing a snippet of the internet’s new favorite jingle. Lizzo is not a stranger to covering songs she likes, having recently performed Sam Smith’s song “Unholy” featuring Kim Petras for BBC Radio 1. But who would’ve thought West Side Story actress Ariana DeBose’s viral opening number at this year’s BAFTA Awards would be next on the agenda?

In the song, DeBose sang the lyrics, “Angela Bassett did the thing / Viola Davis my Woman King/ Blanchett, Cate, you’re a genius/ Jamie Lee, you are all of us,” to honor the evening’s women nominees. Well, DeBose’s pronunciation of Angela Bassett’s name, along with the subsequent choreography, became an instant viral moment. Eventually, DeBose deactivated her social media account because of the unexpected attention. However, that didn’t stop Lizzo from showing love to the number will on stage, shimming her shoulders while singing, “Angela Bassett did the thing.”

When Lizzo returns to the States for the Special 2Tour in April, who knows what other viral track she’ll include in her repertoire.

Watch the fun clip above.

Lizzo is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Succession‘s f-bomb dropping patriarch, Brian Cox, might be rejoicing. He won’t have to endure what he called Jeremy Strong’s “f*cking annoying” method acting for much longer. The HBO juggernaut series is coming to an end while it’s still a highly anticipated weekly watch, and there’s something to be said for that approach. Not every show can announce its impending departure and launch such emotional memes overnight, after all.

There’s also something to be said for how Shiv Roy remains the series’ least likable character (with some stiff competition), but at the moment, Shiv is not doing so well following Tom’s stunning (and perhaps inevitable) betrayal. We only have one more season to find out how she copes with this reality, but why is the series coming to an end after Season 4?

As creator Jesse Armstrong told The New Yorker, the on-its-face dilemma of the series (who will succeed Logan Roy and whether Waystar Royco will even continue to exist in its current capacity) will likely be tied up soon. And the show feels so “muscular” while addressing this matter that Armstrong believes anything else would feel inferior. The tone would need to change, and it wouldn’t be as consistently compelling. Armstrong would rather “go out sort of strong” than head somewhere subpar. He had more to offer:

“[T]hat was definitely always my preference. I went into the writing room for Season 4 sort of saying, ‘I think this is what we’re doing, but let’s also keep it open.” I like operating the writing room by coming in with a sort of proposition, and then being genuinely open to alternative ways of going. And the decision to end solidified through the writing and even when we started filming: I said to the cast, “I’m not a hundred per cent sure, but I think this is it.’ Because I didn’t want to bullsh*t them, either.”

You heard him. Now I will cross my fingers for Gerri to rise up, recover from the di*k pic scandal that was definitely not her fault, and destroy everyone. Laser eyes! The Boys crossover. Let’s do this.

(Via The New Yorker)

I get it, the news is hard to take. But it’s easy to forgive a show like Succession for ending on high if you accept that nothing is promised, especially an endless supply of great television. Actors and writers leave, storylines repeat or get exhausted, and then legacies get called into question. With only 10 more episodes to go, we may dodge all those bullets to get something truly historic. That’s the silver lining to the revelation that our allotment of Logan Roy “fuck offs” is hereby capped.

Allow me to sidebar the overall notion of diminished legacies for a second. It sucks that we deduct points from shows that don’t know when to get off the stage. But while their greatest moments aren’t somehow recut or otherwise desecrated by the drag of the shiftless episodes and zombie casts to come, one can’t deny that nothing kills a first impression like a last impression. And a needlessly extended universe.

To that last thought, I’m really grateful that we’re not immediately being fed the concept of a spin-0ff to ease our pain. While Succession does an amazing job of creating compelling side characters with their own agendas and orbits, I’m not interested in seeing a show centered on Frank and Karl, the Pierces, or Alexander Skarsgård’s Lukas Mattson being bored at parties (okay, maybe that last one). I also never want to see a version of the show that would have to stray from its initial formula or cast.

Yesterday, I would have taken my shirt off and fought you in the street had you suggested Succession shouldn’t go at least three more seasons. I wanted more Greg as an evil extra tall cherub! More Shiv/Tom dysfunction! More grand political aspirations for Connor! More Jeremy Strong and a microphone! In light of this news, however, I do have to acknowledge one slow-developing flaw in the show’s model that might have presented a problem in later years: I don’t know how many more rounds Logan could have realistically gone before it started to strain credulity.

He was in a coma for a chunk of season one and Adrien Brody’s al fresco Hamptons dining plans nearly put him in the ground in season three. I’m quite sure the Grim Reaper (like everyone else) is terrified of Logan Roy, but after so many battles and health scares, there comes a point where you start veering away from “what a tough sonovabitch” to “is Logan a meta-human?” I don’t think we’re there right now, but with a season five or season six, maybe. And then what? You need Logan upending every room he’s in and sparking chaos as his brood of grown nepobabies try to contend with his hyper volatility. Without that or with less of it, Succession isn’t Succession.

So, here we are, a probably well-timed final chapter that fits so well as a response to the stunning season three closer. That seismic shift in the power dynamics and alliances of the main players feels like even more of a masterstroke now that we know that it was, essentially, the start of the end game. The news also lends a sense of unpredictability to these next ten episodes because suddenly there’s no need to think about the future. Just about ending with a roar.

As I said up top, great TV isn’t guaranteed (there are plenty of shows that have failed to stick the landing after great runs), but Succession‘s track record commands respect and honor. We’ve had 29 episodes, no skips. That ratio is unheard of. Showrunner Jesse Armstrong and his writers have been throwing a perfect game, now we know they’re heading into the final innings. If they end the show on par with everything else they’ve done, Succession‘s place among the best shows of all time is locked, a standing that might have been diminished had the show hung on years past its expiration. Is that fair? No, but when has fairness ever been anything more than a joke in the world of Succession?

Succession is ending at the exact right time. That’s incredibly hard to say about something that has given me so much joy, but to quote Kendall Roy and Billy Joel, “honesty is such a lonely word.”

To quote Billy Joel once more, “only the good die young.”

James Corden’s final episode as the host of The Late Late Show will air on April 27th. I’m happy for you, sorry that happened, etc. That’s not what’s important here. What is important is that for his final episode, Corden convinced Tom Cruise — that Tom Cruise — to sing while dressed as a farting warthog.

“Here’s to finding the Pumbaa to your Timon. And to one last sketch with @TomCruise before we turn out the lights on the #LateLateShow,” the late night show’s Twitter account tweeted. “Catch James and Tom’s @thelionking performance on The Last Last Late Late Show Primetime Special airing Thursday, April 27th on @CBS.” There are videos of the performance floating around social media, but I would suggest watching The Lion King Starring Tom Cruise As a Flatulent Pig the way it was meant to be seen: after an episode of Young Sheldon, or whatever’s on CBS that night.

CBS said additional details for the special will be announced in coming weeks along with guest stars who will join Corden during his last two months on the program. Corden is the fourth — and last — person to lead The Late Late Show, which has its genesis as a second late-night hour at CBS that was originally conceived as something to follow David Letterman and The Late Show.

If Corden can get Letterman to play Ratigan from The Great Mouse Detective, all will be forgiven for the Balthazar thing.

(Via Variety)

Marjorie Taylor Greene is not frequently ruffled, even when people point out that she really missed the mark while not realizing that Chris Stapleton’s mutual “wokeness” was a big reason for his involvement in the Super Bowl’s Black National Anthem showcase. She also recently made headlines by advocating for a “national divorce”/possible civil war, and although she is no stranger to being hyperbolic in general, her criticism of President Biden led to a truly outlandish figure that no one could possibly believe is true.

It is, in fact, not at all true. “$113 Billion has been appropriated to Ukraine in just 1 yr,” Greene tweeted while sitting alongside the bandwagon of people praising Trump for bragging to McDonalds employees in East Palestine while Biden visited Ukraine. “Trump’s wall would have only cost $22 billion, but Congress refused to fund it. 6 Billion people illegally crossed our border since Biden took office, but Ukraine’s border is the only border that matters to Washington.”

Greene did double back with a corrected tweet that reads “millions,” but screenshots exist, as seen below.

The “billion” is, of course, the word that sticks out. The total global population is sitting at right under 8 billion, and Greene’s initial tweet appeared to claim that Biden allowed the majority of humanity to illegally galavant across the U.S.-Mexico border. And you know, we all make typos. I clearly make them, but this is a significant enough error that one wonders whether Greene was genuinely mistaken and believed that “billion” was the correct word to use.

This is, after all, the same congressperson who believed that “Jewish space lasers” were, in fact, a real thing. Whatever the case, people screenshotted the “billion” tweet and believe that this is no mere typo. In fact, they’re questioning Greene’s place in Congress (and on committees vital to national security) for real.

DDG declared that he was in love with a mermaid (that mermaid being his girlfriend, Halle Bailey) back in December. However, despite the Potomac native sharing how the singer served as an inspiration to him to be better, rumors began to circulate that the pair had broken up earlier this month.

For weeks, social media users urged Bailey to leave the rapper as they claimed he was damaging her buddy brand. The calls only grew louder when DDG’s ex-partner, fellow recording artist Rubi Rose, shared a screenshot alleging that he was still attempting to contact her, and weirdly enough gifted Bailey a t-shirt that once belonged to her. On his latest single, “Way Too Petty,” DDG is addressing all of the online chatter and more.

The rapper doesn’t mince his words, rapping, “Hoes screenshotting, that sh*t lame / Keep her on the side, she could never be my main,” and, “She just wanna make it, she be f*cked for the fame / Posting pictures naked, baby, you should be ashamed,” seemingly direct jabs at Rose. He didn’t stop there, rapping, “Tell them n***** do they research / I could fall off and come right back like it’s rebirth / Don’t believe the internet, it’s not that b*tch’s t-shirt.”

DDG then took a moment to respond to critics questioning why Bailey remains with him despite the circulating rumors, to which he answered, “I got a mean d*ck,” a line he’s used on social media in the past.

In the accompanying video directed by LewisYouNasty, take it a step further, calling out a few blogs and online users by name.

Watch the video above.

This story originally appeared on 02.01.22

Last November, Upworthy published a popular story about Chloe Sexton, a mother who went viral on TikTok for a video she made explaining “daddy privilege” or the idea that fathers are applauded for doing things that mothers are supposed to do.

“In my opinion, ‘daddy privilege’ is that subtle upper hand men sidestep into as parents that allows them to gain praise for simply…being a parent,” she said. “You fed the baby? What a great dad! You held the baby while mommy bathed? So considerate of you! You picked up something for dinner? What would your family do without you?! It’s all the little ways mothers do exactly what the world expects of them without a second thought and then watch fathers get praised for simply showing up.”

Sadly, the post resonated with a lot of mothers, because it’s true. Expectations for fathers are so low that men are commended for handling basic parenting tasks. But if a mother falls short of perfection, she faces harsh criticism.

Mary Catherine Starr, a mother living in Cape Cod who owns a design studio and teaches yoga, is getting a lot of love on Instagram for her cartoon series that perfectly explains daddy privilege.

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In “An Illustrated Guide to the Double Standards of Parenting,” Starr shares this concept by showing that when a man comes home with fast food for his kids he’s the “fun dad.” But if a mom comes back with a bag from McDonald’s she is seen as a “lazy mom.”

In the comics, the same double standards apply whether it’s how they handle technology or parent at the park.

(Note: Click the arrow on the right-hand side of the image to see the slideshow.)

See on Instagram

Starr was quick to point out in the comments that the target of her comics isn’t fathers, but society at large. “This is not a dig at dads, it’s a dig at our society—a society that applauds dads for handling the most basic of parenting duties + expects nothing short of perfection from mothers (or even worse, shames them for every decision and/or move they make!),” she wrote.

The comics resonated with a lot of women.

“This hit a nerve with so many women! I was a single mom living in an apartment,” an Instagram user named Saturdayfarm wrote in the comments. “Next door – a single dad. Neighbors felt so bad for him that they helped him with his laundry, brought over food, and babysat. For nothing. I just shakily carried on somehow. And I had so much less money and opportunities.”

“This is exactly part of the why I feel like being ‘just’ a mom isn’t as valuable. Being so run of the mill. But if my husband has the baby in a sling, the toddler in the pram and is out walking the dog, he’s superman for letting me have one hour for zoom work,” rebecca_lee-close_yoga wrote.

A father who understands his privilege completely supports Starr’s message.

“It actually annoys me when I get those types of comments / ‘compliments’ knowing it’s totally a double standard,” JonaJooey wrote.

Starr’s comics and Sexton’s TikTok videos won’t stop the double standards when it comes to parenting, but they do a great job at holding a mirror up to the problem. Where do we go from here? We can start by having greater expectations for fathers and holding them up to a higher standard. Then, we should take the energy we put into praising dads for doing the bare minimum and heap it on mothers who thanklessly go about the most important job in the world.

This article originally appeared on 03.29.21

One of the biggest problems with coffee production is that it generates an incredible amount of waste. Once coffee beans are separated from cherries, about 45% of the entire biomass is discarded.

So for every pound of roasted coffee we enjoy, an equivalent amount of coffee pulp is discarded into massive landfills across the globe. That means that approximately 10 million tons of coffee pulp is discarded into the environment every year.

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When disposed of improperly, the waste can cause serious damage soil and water sources.

However, a new study published in the British Ecological Society journal Ecological Solutions and Evidence has found that coffee pulp isn’t just a nuisance to be discarded. It can have an incredibly positive impact on regrowing deforested areas of the planet.

In 2018, researchers from ETH-Zurich and the University of Hawaii spread 30 dump trucks worth of coffee pulp over a roughly 100′ x 130′ area of degraded land in Costa Rica. The experiment took place on a former coffee farm that underwent rapid deforestation in the 1950s.

The coffee pulp was spread three-feet thick over the entire area.

Another plot of land near the coffee pulp dump was left alone to act as a control for the experiment.

“The results were dramatic.” Dr. Rebecca Cole, lead author of the study, said. “The area treated with a thick layer of coffee pulp turned into a small forest in only two years while the control plot remained dominated by non-native pasture grasses.”

In just two years, the area treated with coffee pulp had an 80% canopy cover, compared to just 20% of the control area. So, the coffee-pulp-treated area grew four times more rapidly. Like a jolt of caffeine, it reinvigorated biological activity in the area.

The canopy was also four times taller than that of the control.

The coffee-treated area also eliminated an invasive species of grass that took over the land and prevented forest succession. Its elimination allowed for other native species to take over and recolonize the area.

“This case study suggests that agricultural by-products can be used to speed up forest recovery on degraded tropical lands. In situations where processing these by-products incurs a cost to agricultural industries, using them for restoration to meet global reforestation objectives can represent a ‘win-win’ scenario,” Dr. Cole said.

If the results are repeatable it’s a win-win for coffee drinkers and the environment.

Researchers believe that coffee treatments can be a cost-effective way to reforest degraded land. They may also work to reverse the effects of climate change by supporting the growth of forests across the globe.

The 2016 Paris Agreement made reforestation an important part of the fight against climate change. The agreement incentivizes developing countries to reduce deforestation and forest degradation, promote forest conservation and sustainable management, and enhance forest carbon stocks in developing countries.

“We hope our study is a jumping off point for other researchers and industries to take a look at how they might make their production more efficient by creating links to the global restoration movement,” Dr. Cole said.

The White Lotus makes everything look cool. Dressing like Peppa Pig? Cool. Adultery? Cool. Aperol Spritz? Cool. The refreshing, easy-to-make cocktail — a mix of Aperol, club soda, and prosecco, garnished with an orange slice — has seen a spike in popularity due to season two of the HBO series.

“Campari Group, the spirits company behind Aperol, just announced that the bitter apéritif saw 50 percent growth in the U.S. in 2022 and is currently slated to become its fastest-growing offering,” Tequila Raiders reports.

Aubrey Plaza drinking your cocktail? Cool.

“If you look at White Lotus, which is a key Netflix TV series, you’ll see so many orange glasses – the Aperol perfect serve throughout every single show. That clearly is having an impact,” said Campari Group CEO Robert Kunze-Concewitz. It’s not enough of an impact to know that The White Lotus is on HBO, not Netflix, apparently, but point taken.

Campari isn’t the only business to see a boost from what has been dubbed as The White Lotus effect. According to the travel app Hopper, searches for Sicily flights and hotels increased by 50% during the time the show aired at the back end of 2022.

If you want to feel as cool as Mia and Lucia (in Sicily), we got you covered.

(Via Tequila Raiders)