Month: March 2023

During The Last of Us season finale, Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey) recreate an iconic moment from the critically acclaimed video game by stumbling upon a giraffe while looking for the Fireflies camp in Salt Lake City. Ellie is first to spot the creature, and Joel joins her as the two marvel at the sight while standing on the open ledge in a collapsed building. Soon, the two are feeding the animal and even petting in a touching scene that fans of the game were waiting for all season.

However, in a surprising twist, the giraffe in the scene is actually real. Audiences today are so used to CGI creatures that many suspected the animal was created in a computer, but not so much. While the giraffe’s surroundings were digitally added, Pascal and Ramsey were working with the real deal for the scene. According to production designer John Paino, it wasn’t easy task for him and visual effects supervisor Alex Wang while on a tight deadline.

Via Variety:

“The trainers worked to get them to eat out of a stranger’s hand. So, when Ellie and Joel walk up at the enclosure, that’s the giraffe eating those branches of food,” Paino says. “That’s Hollywood magic of Alex isolating the giraffes and putting them on our set. That was probably the most complicated piecing of VFX stage, scenery and location I’ve worked on.”

Clearly, their work paid off. The season finale put up huge ratings for HBO and the giraffe scene has been almost universally praised in every review of the episode. They crushed it.

The Last of Us Season 1 is available for streaming on HBO Max.

(Via Variety)

Lamar Jackson is still a member of the Baltimore Ravens, although his future with the team is unclear. After efforts to hammer out a long-term contract extension failed to lead to a new deal, Baltimore put the non-exclusive franchise tag on the former NFL MVP last week. The two sides can still negotiate on a deal, but the catch is that Jackson can agree to a contract with another franchise, and if Baltimore does not choose to match it, Jackson would change teams in exchange for a pair of first-round NFL Draft picks. There has, however, been reported a lack of interest in doing that around the league, which has raised some eyebrows.

On the most recent episode of Adam Schefter’s podcast, the ESPN insider brought word that Jackson turned down a deal that could have brought him up to $200 million, with Schefter claiming that it was $200 million in guaranteed money. Jackson caught wind of that report and made clear that it is not true.

Now, as Schefter laid it out, Baltimore never actually offered Jackson $200 guaranteed. The star signal caller would have gotten $133 million guaranteed at signing, and then, there were additional incentives that would have brought it up to $200 million. But because the NFL has weird verbiage on things, Schefter said the deal would have given Jackson “$200 million in guarantees.”

“Chris Mortensen and I reported on this last September when Lamar Jackson was offered a deal that he turned down. A deal that included at the time he was offered $133 million due at signing,” Schefter said, per Baltimore Beatdown. “$133 million guaranteed. The contract also had injury guarantees that brought the guarantees to $175 million and it then had a springing guarantee that could’ve brought the value for the contract, the guaranteed money of the contract to $200 million in guarantees… and yes, those were the actual numbers and that was the situation. So those really were the guarantees for Lamar Jackson.”

As of right now, Jackson is slated to make $32.4 million with the Ravens next year.

In a lot of ways, Dreamville was the perfect record company to produce the soundtrack for Creed III. Much like the label’s founder, J. Cole, and the film’s protagonist, the rappers represented on Dreamville’s roster could best be described as underdogs. Like Adonis Creed, they work hard at their craft; the recording session for Revenge Of The Dreamers III could be seen as one big sparring session in which the rappers tested their skills against each other.

And in the new video for “Ma Boy,” featuring JID and Lute, neither rapper pulls a single punch — they go hard all the way through the three-minute rap drill. Thematically, “Ma Boy” mirrors one of the film’s primary dynamics: the fractured relationship between Donnie and his former friend Dame, who returns after an 18-year prison stint to challenge the junior Creed via survivor’s guilt. JID, who’s a huge movie buff, opens the track with a perspective that almost sounds Dame-like, while Lute answers with a lyrical counterpoint from Donnie’s.

Dreamville isn’t stopping with the Creed III soundtrack this year; a few weeks ago, they announced the lineup for this year’s Dreamville Fest featuring Drake and Usher.

Watch JID and Lute’s “Ma Boy” video up top.

Willie Nelson is heading out on the road again, and this time, he’s bringing some friends. Today (March 14), the 89-year-old country superstar announced another edition of the Outlaw Festival tour, an annual tour in which he, along with several country and rock acts, brings live music to several cities.

Joining Nelson on this year’s Outlaw Festival are Robert Plant & Alison Krauss, John Fogerty, the Avett Brothers, Margo Price, Kathleen Edwards, and Kurt Vile And The Violators.

The acts joining Nelson will vary city by city. Tickets will be available for purchase via Ticketmaster on Friday, March 17 at 10 a.m. ET.

Find the tour dates below.

6/23 – Somerset, WI @ Somerset Amphitheater (with Robert Plant & Alison Krauss, Trampled By Turtles, Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway, & Particle Kid)
6/24 – East Troy, WI @ Alpine Valley Music Theatre (with Robert Plant & Alison Krauss, Trampled By Turtles, Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway, & Particle Kid)
6/25 – St. Louis, MO @ Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre (with Robert Plant & Alison Krauss, Trampled By Turtles, Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway, & Particle Kid)
6/29 – Rogers, AR @ Walmart AMP (with Margo Price, Flatland Cavalry, & Particle Kid)
6/30 – Dallas, TX @ Dos Equis Pavilion (with Whiskey Myers, Flatland Cavalry, Brittney Spencer & Particle Kid)
7/02 – The Woodlands, TX @ Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion (with Whiskey Myers, Brittney Spencer & Particle Kid)
7/28 – Columbia, MD @ Merriweather Post Pavilion (with Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats, Kurt Vile And The Violators, Kathleen Edwards, & Particle Kid)
7/29 – Bethel, NY @ Bethel Woods Center for the Arts (with Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats, Gov’t Mule, Kathleen Edwards, & Particle Kid)
7/30 – Darien, NY @ Darien Lake Amphitheater (with Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats, Gov’t Mule, Kathleen Edwards, & Particle Kid)
8/02 – Gilford, NH @ Bank of New Hampshire Pavilion (with the Avett Brothers, Kathleen Edwards, Flatland Cavalry, & Particle Kid)
8/04 – Hershey, PA @ Hersheypark Stadium (with the Avett Brothers, Marcus King, Kathleen Edwards, Flatland Cavalry, & Particle Kid)
8/05 – Philadelphia, PA @ TD Pavilion at The Mann (with the Avett Brothers, Marcus King, Kathleen Edwards, Flatland Cavalry, & Particle Kid)
8/06 – Holmdel, NJ @ PNC Bank Arts Center (with the Avett Brothers, Marcus King, Kathleen Edwards, Flatland Cavalry, & Particle Kid)
8/11 – Cleveland, OH @ Blossom Music Center (with John Fogerty, Kathleen Edwards, Flatland Cavalry, & Particle Kid)
8/12 – Pittsburgh, PA @ The Pavilion at Star Lake (with John Fogerty, Kathleen Edwards, Flatland Cavalry, & Particle Kid)
8/13 – Cincinnati, OH @ Riverbend Music Center (with John Fogerty, Gov’t Mule, Kathleen Edwards, & Particle Kid)

There were some fireworks at the end of Tuesday night’s game between the Milwaukee Bucks and the Sacramento Kings. According to De’Aaron Fox, Kings players took umbrage with how Giannis Antetokounmpo dribbled out the clock at the end of the Bucks’ 133-124 win, which led to Trey Lyles shoving the two-time NBA MVP in the back. Brook Lopez didn’t like that, which led to a brawl between the two squads.

“Giannis could just dribble the ball out,” Fox said after the game. “That’s all he had to do, and nothing would have happened.”

During his postgame press conference, Antetokounmpo expressed his appreciation for Lopez, and said that when the NBA hands out a fine for the incident, he plans on footing the bill.

“To be honest with you, I didn’t understand what happened,” Antetokounmpo said at the 4:20 mark of the above video. “They told me that he pushed me in my back. I didn’t know if he pushed me or he — you know, because I’m not seeing, I didn’t fall. I just kind of keep on moving, and then I just saw Brook being upset, and he usually is not that upset. He was yelling, ‘Don’t do that again, don’t push him like that.’ Then I realized, oh man, he pushed me in my back. And obviously, I appreciate Brook having my back. That’s my guy, not just on the court, off the court for life, he’s my guy. And I’m definitely going to pay for his techs. I’m gonna, what you call it? Reimburse him. I already told him. But I just appreciate people having my back.”

There’s no word on how much Lopez will be fined or if he’ll miss any games for the incident.

Vladimir Putin cannot keep up with restocking his troops for his deadly Ukraine war. That much is clear, given that he’s instituted multiple massive drafts within a year, and he’s even reportedly grown so frustrated with a lack of progress from private mercenary hired guns in the Wagner Group that he’s cut off their ammo supply, presumably to divert resources elsewhere. Where are those resources going, exactly? Well, Putin has been recruiting from prisons over the past year after running short on civilian troops in order to combat Volodymyr Zelensky’s forces, who refuse to yield their country.

Apparently, the prison supply is waning, too, because The Moscow Times reports that Putin is now drawing from women’s institutions. One can assume that this is probably not something that he’s doing for the sake of female empowerment, given that Putin hasn’t hasn’t made the most representative statements about women in the past. Following word from an independent watchdog and Ukrainian officials, The Moscow Times passed on word that a train full of Russian female convicts was headed towards Ukraine’s Donetsk region. Activist Olga Romanov (of the Russia Behind Bars organization) believes that this has been in the works for awhile, and here’s more:

“They were taken from penal colonies in southern Russia. I don’t know the exact ones, but they worked in Kushchevka [in the southern Krasnodar region],” Romanova told iStories.

As many as 100 female prisoners are believed to have been transferred to fight in Ukraine so far, according to the human rights defender, though it remains unclear if the recruitment was carried out on a voluntary basis or whether the inmates had been press-ganged into the Russian military.

This news arrives shortly after word that Russia recently suffered their deadliest day in the war with over 1,000 soldiers losing their lives in Ukraine in one swoop. And it’s not good news for these female convicts, obviously. Recruitment is tantamount to a death sentence at this point, and Putin apparently has no intention of stopping this war, to the point where he’s more worried about cabbage than the loss of life. At this point, he’ll likely die while trying to win what looks like an unwinnable war for anyone.

(Via The Moscow Times)

Jenna Ortega has starring roles on many of your favorite bingeable shows over the last decade, including You and Jane The Virgin, but her latest hit Wednesday is what helped launch her into viral fame. But before she was cast as the gothic daughter in Tim Burton’s adaptation, she initially turned it down in favor of her budding movie career.

Ortega recently told The Sunday Times that she wasn’t interested in the series at first. “I got the email, passed on it. I had done so much TV in my life, all I’ve ever wanted to do is film,” she explained, adding that she had already felt like she had done enough television roles. “When I first started acting, I don’t want to say nobody believed in me, but at the same time nobody believed in me. You have to prove yourself. It’s only in the last three or four years that I’ve been able to start going up for film.”

The actress had recently done a string of successful slasher movies, X and Scream, and she explained that she felt like being tied down to one show would cause her to miss out on other opportunities, like perhaps a buddy comedy with Aubrey Plaza? She added, “I was scared that by signing on to another television show it could prevent me from doing other jobs I really wanted and cared about.”

Despite not wanting to do yet another show, Ortega finally decided to take on the role in order to work with legendary director Tim Burton. “The only reason I went back is because Tim [Burton] is such a legend, and we just happened to get along very well. But even then I said, ‘Ah, no, I think I’m OK,’ a couple [more] times.” There are currently unconfirmed rumors that Ortega could end up in a Beetlejuice remake.

Ortega is definitely not the first actress to pass on a show at first due to fear of contractual obligations or even being typecast. Even though the actress has been on a hot streak since the show debuted, she might be a little over her Wednesday fame at the moment. Maybe she can head back to the You-niverse to shake things up a bit! We miss her there.

(Via IndieWire)

The Blue Note Jazz Festival is set to return to New York City this summer. On June 24, several jazz and R&B acts will perform across seven venues in New York City, including the famed Greenwich Village jazz club Blue Note, Sony Hall, the iconic Beacon Theatre, and more.

Taking one of these legendary stages is Grace Jones, whose performance will mark her first headlining solo show in over a decade. Fans can also look forward to seeing Anderson .Paak and Knxwledge’s supergroup NxWorries, as well as Robert Glasper with Lalah Hathaway, Buddy Guy, BJ The Chicago Kid, and more.

“The Blue Note Jazz Festival is celebrating the pulse and culture of New York City, and there is no better way to do that than by experiencing iconic artists throughout iconic venues this summer,” said Alex Kurland, Blue Note’s director of programming, in a statement. “We’re proud to spotlight multi-generational, legendary artists who have had an extraordinary impact and influence on music and culture.”

Fans can purchase tickets and view a full schedule of events here.

You can see the full line-up below.

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

Metallica, to keep up with the demand of their vinyl sales, officially purchased the Furnace Record Pressing plant in Virginia. According to Billboard, they sold “more than 902,500 pieces of vinyl for more than 620,000 packages” last year, with half being purchased in the US.

While not all of these were pressed at Furnace, they have a lot of needs for box sets during a time when the vinyl industry is facing factory delays. This purchase could help them continue to meet that high demand.

“We couldn’t be happier to take our partnership with Furnace… to the next level,” the band’s drummer, Lars Ulrich, shared in a statement to the publication. Lead singer James Hetfield also noted that Furnace has been “great to Metallica and more importantly to our fans” and they “will have continued access to high-quality records in the future.”

“Metallica over-indexes dramatically with physical product,” Blackened Recordings’ Marc Reiter added, as a representative from the band’s label. “The fans enjoy owning the physical product.”

Next month in April, Metallica are set to return with 72 Seasons, their first new album since 2016. On the same day as their record’s release, the band will kick off their European tour, before heading to North America and other global cities through 2024.

72 Seasons is out 4/14 via Blackened Recordings. Find more information here.

Jake Johnson offered New Girl fans a heaping bucket of hope about the fate of his character Nick Miller and Zooey Deschanel‘s Jessica Day. The two ended up together by the time the wildly popular sitcom reached its series finale, and according to Johnson, not much has changed. While promoting his directorial debut, Self-Reliance, Johnson opined on the fan-favorite characters.

“I think they would definitely make it work. I don’t think they would break up,” Johnson told a SXSW panel. “They have a kid, they’re jumping around on that bed, you guys know it way more than me. I don’t think Nick or Jess would ever fall out of the commitment to do this thing together.”

Johnson expanded even further by saying the only thing would be a little different is everyone’s hair and waistlines. Via IndieWire:

“Liz Merriweather has created a very optimistic show, it’s people who are sweet to each other. So if it’s real and they’re alive, they’re all still together. They’re just a little fatter, besides Schmidt, the hair is a little thinner besides Schmidt…If we did a reunion, Schmidt needs to be in a toupee.”

As for interacting with New Girl fans, Johnson is, of course, appreciative for the love, but he got into directing because he wanted to make something a little more engaging. While the fan love is great, he said every interaction seems to always involve people having the show on while doing housework.

“‘Yeah, it’s the best, I can do my laundry, I have you on in the background,’” Johnson said of running into fans. “‘You’re just a voice in our house in the background, always.’”

(Via IndieWire)