Month: May 2023

When Shania Twain initially said “Let’s Go Girls,” she didn’t know the type of crowd she would attract. Yes, perhaps she really just meant for the girls to get going, but it resonated with people from all walks of life around the world, including Tom Hanks who attended Twain’s concert over the weekend. But in typical Hanx fashion, he could not just enjoy the moment with the rest of the crowd, he had to photobomb an unsuspecting couple on their date night. That couple happened to be Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard, who were seemingly also trying to rally the girls to, as Shania puts it, “Go.”

Bell and Shepard were seated in front of Hanks and his wife Rita Wilson as the two couples attended Twain’s concert at the Hollywood Bowl on Sunday. As Bell lovingly put it, they sat next to some “really nice randos” who kept photobombing them. Hopefully, this will also happen when Taylor Swift arrives in LA at the end of the summer.

The couples seemingly enjoyed the show, though Bell admitted her father was crying by the time the first song was sung. Twain just has that effect on people. The country-pop star just set out on the road for her Queen Of Me Tour in support of her latest album.

It’s good that Hanks didn’t feel the need to hop up on stage and become Twain’s manager, though, because that has not worked out for him in the past. That would not impress her much.

Jeremy Strong‘s devotion to Method acting has been a recurring topic as Succession became the prestige TV series of the moment, so it’s no surprise that the actor took that commitment all the way to the final episode of the show. In the closing moments of the series finale, a devastated Kendall is left staring at the water, but there’s a much heavier sense of foreboding than his prior stares into the sea.

“To me, what happens at the board vote is an extinction level event for this character,” Strong told Vanity Fair. “There’s no coming back from that.”

While the finale leaves Kendall’s fate open to the imagination, Strong revealed that he attempted to create an alternate ending that would have been much more definitive:

Listen to the John Berryman poem that Jesse has named these finales after. John Berryman himself died by suicide, jumping into the frozen river. I tried to go into the water after we cut—I got up from that bench and went as fast as I could over the barrier and onto the pilings, and the actor playing Colin raced over. I didn’t know I was gonna do that, and he didn’t know, but he raced over and stopped me. I don’t know whether in that moment I felt that Kendall just wanted to die—I think he did—or if he wanted to be saved by essentially a proxy of his father.

Despite his on-set improvisation not making the final cut, Strong “loves” how Succession creator Jesse Armstrong ultimately ended the series.

“It’s a much stronger ending philosophically, and has more integrity to what Jesse’s overall very bleak vision is of mankind — which is that fundamentally, people don’t really change,” Strong said. “They don’t do the spectacular, dramatic thing. Instead, there’s a kind of doom loop that we’re all stuck in, and Kendall is trapped in this sort of silent scream with Colin there as both a bodyguard and a jailer.”

Strong is also no longer sure that Kendall “would’ve had the courage to actually go in that water.”

“My God, it would’ve been hard to do,” Strong said. “But I think you even feel on a cellular level the intention or the longing to cross that threshold. The way [Armstrong] leaves us with a kind of ambivalence stays true to his vision.”

(Via Vanity Fair)

Jeremy Strong‘s devotion to Method acting has been a recurring topic as Succession became the prestige TV series of the moment, so it’s no surprise that the actor took that commitment all the way to the final episode of the show. In the closing moments of the series finale, a devastated Kendall is left staring at the water, but there’s a much heavier sense of foreboding than his prior stares into the sea.

“To me, what happens at the board vote is an extinction level event for this character,” Strong told Vanity Fair. “There’s no coming back from that.”

While the finale leaves Kendall’s fate open to the imagination, Strong revealed that he attempted to create an alternate ending that would have been much more definitive:

Listen to the John Berryman poem that Jesse has named these finales after. John Berryman himself died by suicide, jumping into the frozen river. I tried to go into the water after we cut—I got up from that bench and went as fast as I could over the barrier and onto the pilings, and the actor playing Colin raced over. I didn’t know I was gonna do that, and he didn’t know, but he raced over and stopped me. I don’t know whether in that moment I felt that Kendall just wanted to die—I think he did—or if he wanted to be saved by essentially a proxy of his father.

Despite his on-set improvisation not making the final cut, Strong “loves” how Succession creator Jesse Armstrong ultimately ended the series.

“It’s a much stronger ending philosophically, and has more integrity to what Jesse’s overall very bleak vision is of mankind — which is that fundamentally, people don’t really change,” Strong said. “They don’t do the spectacular, dramatic thing. Instead, there’s a kind of doom loop that we’re all stuck in, and Kendall is trapped in this sort of silent scream with Colin there as both a bodyguard and a jailer.”

Strong is also no longer sure that Kendall “would’ve had the courage to actually go in that water.”

“My God, it would’ve been hard to do,” Strong said. “But I think you even feel on a cellular level the intention or the longing to cross that threshold. The way [Armstrong] leaves us with a kind of ambivalence stays true to his vision.”

(Via Vanity Fair)

After FX aired its recent documentary, Dear Mama: The Saga Of Afeni & Tupac Shakur, other musicians are chiming in with their thoughts about the portrayal of the late musician. One of which is Chance The Rapper, who took to Twitter to express his love for the series.

“Did y’all watch the Tupac & Afeni Shakur documentary series yet?” Chance said. “What’s y’all honest thoughts? Cause I would say without exaggeration or hyperbole it’s probably the best documentary I’ve ever seen.”

And many seemed to agree with his assessment, as the show held a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes earlier this month, according to HipHopDX. The series has five parts and kicked off on April 21, exploring the relationship between Tupac and his mother. It also became the channel’s most-watched unscripted program in its history.

“I was glad to see a documentary that included Afeni’s story,” one fan replied to Chance’s post. “I’ve always felt that Tupac can be difficult to understand unless you know about the person that raised him. And to see how the struggle within the Black Panthers mirrored the struggle within 90s hip hop was incredible.”

“In the final episode they insinuated things about Death Row scheming on Tupac without elaborating which was disingenuous I feel,” another added. “But in whole it was the best Tupac documentary ever made.”

Continue scrolling for some more fan reactions to Chance’s post about the Tupac documentary.

After FX aired its recent documentary, Dear Mama: The Saga Of Afeni & Tupac Shakur, other musicians are chiming in with their thoughts about the portrayal of the late musician. One of which is Chance The Rapper, who took to Twitter to express his love for the series.

“Did y’all watch the Tupac & Afeni Shakur documentary series yet?” Chance said. “What’s y’all honest thoughts? Cause I would say without exaggeration or hyperbole it’s probably the best documentary I’ve ever seen.”

And many seemed to agree with his assessment, as the show held a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes earlier this month, according to HipHopDX. The series has five parts and kicked off on April 21, exploring the relationship between Tupac and his mother. It also became the channel’s most-watched unscripted program in its history.

“I was glad to see a documentary that included Afeni’s story,” one fan replied to Chance’s post. “I’ve always felt that Tupac can be difficult to understand unless you know about the person that raised him. And to see how the struggle within the Black Panthers mirrored the struggle within 90s hip hop was incredible.”

“In the final episode they insinuated things about Death Row scheming on Tupac without elaborating which was disingenuous I feel,” another added. “But in whole it was the best Tupac documentary ever made.”

Continue scrolling for some more fan reactions to Chance’s post about the Tupac documentary.

The West Coast’s favorite cousins continue their collaborative chemistry as Baby Keem and Kendrick Lamar reunite and return with their first new single in almost two years, “The Hillbillies.” Over a bass-led, Jersey Club-inspired beat that samples Bon Iver’s “PDLIF,” the dynamic duo trades cheeky bars about their favorite subjects: girls and clothes. In the grainy, low-fi video accompanying the release, the cousins galivant through LA’s Beverly Center Mall (get it? “The Hillbillies?”) and get a private tour of Dodger Stadium.

Tyler The Creator also makes an appearance toward the end of the video, hanging out with Keem and Kenny at the Dodger Stadium entrance, where he reveals (via a button on a T-shirt) that his Camp Flog Gnaw Carnival is returning to the venue in 2023 after being away since the pandemic. Since he’s revealing it in their video, presumably the pgLang boys will be involved somehow — either as investors or performers.

We last heard from Baby Keem in October, when he released a deluxe version of his debut album The Melodic Blue after both headlining his own tour for the album and joining Kendrick on the Big Steppers Tour, where Kendrick called him a “musical genius.”

Listen to Baby Keem & Kendrick Lamar’s “The Hillbillies” above.

For months, HBO had been advertising the latest (and now completed) seasons of Succession and Barry as the final seasons, while Amazon Prime Video did the same with The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. But Apple TV+, for whatever reason (denial), has not confirmed that Ted Lasso, or at least the current version of Ted Lasso with Jason Sudeikis as the star, is ending with the season three finale. The speculation is now over, kind of, and it came in the form of a tweet from the Twitter account “run” by the AFC Richmond coach.

“A few years ago I hopped on a plane with Coach Beard headin’ to a little town in London. Tonight we play our final match. It’s like what I say about the films of David Lynch. I can’t tell you what’s happenin’, but I sure as heck don’t want it to end,” he tweeted. Maybe in 20 years, Ted Lasso will be resurrected, a la Twin Peaks: The Return, but with Roy Kent in the Wally Brando role. (There will almost certainly be multiple spinoffs in the future.)

“This is the end of this story that we wanted to tell, that we were hoping to tell, that we loved to tell,” Sudeikis told Deadline. “The fact that folks will want more and are curious beyond more than what they don’t even know yet — that being season three — it’s flattering. Maybe by May 31, once all 12 episodes of the season [have been released], they’re like, ‘Man, you know what, we get it, we’re fine. We don’t need anymore, we got it.’ But until that time comes, I will appreciate the curiosity beyond what we’ve come up with so far.”

The Ted Lasso series finale debuts on Apple TV+ on May 31st.

The West Coast’s favorite cousins continue their collaborative chemistry as Baby Keem and Kendrick Lamar reunite and return with their first new single in almost two years, “The Hillbillies.” Over a bass-led, Jersey Club-inspired beat that samples Bon Iver’s “PDLIF,” the dynamic duo trades cheeky bars about their favorite subjects: girls and clothes. In the grainy, low-fi video accompanying the release, the cousins galivant through LA’s Beverly Center Mall (get it? “The Hillbillies?”) and get a private tour of Dodger Stadium.

Tyler The Creator also makes an appearance toward the end of the video, hanging out with Keem and Kenny at the Dodger Stadium entrance, where he reveals (via a button on a T-shirt) that his Camp Flog Gnaw Carnival is returning to the venue in 2023 after being away since the pandemic. Since he’s revealing it in their video, presumably the pgLang boys will be involved somehow — either as investors or performers.

We last heard from Baby Keem in October, when he released a deluxe version of his debut album The Melodic Blue after both headlining his own tour for the album and joining Kendrick on the Big Steppers Tour, where Kendrick called him a “musical genius.”

Listen to Baby Keem & Kendrick Lamar’s “The Hillbillies” above.

For months, HBO had been advertising the latest (and now completed) seasons of Succession and Barry as the final seasons, while Amazon Prime Video did the same with The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. But Apple TV+, for whatever reason (denial), has not confirmed that Ted Lasso, or at least the current version of Ted Lasso with Jason Sudeikis as the star, is ending with the season three finale. The speculation is now over, kind of, and it came in the form of a tweet from the Twitter account “run” by the AFC Richmond coach.

“A few years ago I hopped on a plane with Coach Beard headin’ to a little town in London. Tonight we play our final match. It’s like what I say about the films of David Lynch. I can’t tell you what’s happenin’, but I sure as heck don’t want it to end,” he tweeted. Maybe in 20 years, Ted Lasso will be resurrected, a la Twin Peaks: The Return, but with Roy Kent in the Wally Brando role. (There will almost certainly be multiple spinoffs in the future.)

“This is the end of this story that we wanted to tell, that we were hoping to tell, that we loved to tell,” Sudeikis told Deadline. “The fact that folks will want more and are curious beyond more than what they don’t even know yet — that being season three — it’s flattering. Maybe by May 31, once all 12 episodes of the season [have been released], they’re like, ‘Man, you know what, we get it, we’re fine. We don’t need anymore, we got it.’ But until that time comes, I will appreciate the curiosity beyond what we’ve come up with so far.”

The Ted Lasso series finale debuts on Apple TV+ on May 31st.

Snoop Dogg has been commanding the West Coast since his 1993 debut album, Doggystyle. For three decades, the public has saluted his musical legacy and addictive catchphrases. But before he was dropping it like it’s hot on a track, he was almost on the front lines of the armed forces.

In a video uploaded yesterday (May 29) for Memorial Day, as the entertainer paid homage to the country’s service people, he shared that he nearly enlisted in the military’s Air Force branch before his music career took flight.

As he recounted the moment, Snoop set the stage, saying, “1989, man. We were finna graduate from high school, right? So we went down to the registration office downtown at Long Beach. Me, Duke, and a couple of other homies. So we’re in there filling out the paperwork, and I’m looking at all the questions that they asking me and tryna decide, ‘Do I really wanna go through with this Air Force thing?’”

Adding, “I told Duke, I said, ‘Duke, give me a minute. I’ll be right back. I’m a go the car.’ Went to the car and never came back. And then, four years later, my homeboy was a true vet, an Air Force soldier.

The mogul closed the tribute video saying, “I love you for that, man. Appreciate the love, man. All the troops out there, y’all know I love y’all. It’s Snoop Dogg, man. One love. I wish I coulda been, shoulda been, but it ain’t no thing but a chicken wing ’cause I’m a soldier at heart.”