Month: May 2023

In his eight years as Texas’ attorney general, Ken Paxton has always leaned far to the right. A Trump stooge, he subscribes to all the deplorable beliefs: He’s against trans people and immigrants, and last year he gleefully celebrated the dismantling of Roe v Wade. On Saturday he was impeached. The state’s House had enough of Paxton’s alleged corruption, which involves seeking favors for his possible mistress. Now his fate is in the hands of his wife.

As per Texas Tribune, the vote to expel Paxton from office moves to the Senate. It’s likely that he’ll get a pass; the chamber leans aggressively Republican. What’s more, one of its members is Angela Paxton, who has stayed by her husband’s side through thick and thin.

And things have sure been thick. At the center of Ken Paxton’s scandal is his dealings with real estate investor Nate Paul. Ken is alleged to have used his office to help Paul out in exchange for remodeling his house and getting his mistress, a former aide, a job. Ken acknowledged the extramarital affair in 2018 but claimed it had ended. After the bribery allegations surfaced, several senior members of Ken’s staff either resigned or were fired. Some of the latter sued him.

If the alleged affair and corruption charges have left Angela shaken, she hasn’t shown it publicly. As per the Tribune:

But in the public eye, at least, these incidents didn’t weaken the Paxton power couple. When they were both up for reelection, they campaigned together and celebrated another year of marriage at the polls.

“Nothing says romance like voting for each other on your anniversary!” Angela Paxton tweeted, tagging her husband. “It’s an honor to serve the State of Texas with you, but most importantly to follow Christ together.”

Last year, when Ken faced an abortion-related lawsuit, Angela even drove the getaway car, leaving the process server in the lurch.

It may seem likely that Angela will either recuse herself from the vote or vote for her husband. It may be the latter; after all, she didn’t recuse herself when voting on the state’s budget, which determines her husband’s salary. But who knows? Maybe this is her chance to take revenge on being cuckqueened.

(Via Texas Tribune)

Every single week, our TV and film experts will list the most important ten streaming selections for you to pop into your queues. We’re not strictly operating upon reviews or accrued streaming clicks (although yes, we’ve scoured the streaming site charts) but, instead, upon those selections that are really worth noticing amid the churning sea of content. There’s a lot out there, after all, and your time is valuable.

TIE: 10. Euphoria (HBO series streaming on Max)

This Zendaya-starring series currently sits between seasons yet is seeing a streaming resurgence with everyone talking (and not positively) about The Idol. Creator Sam Levinson and Abel “The Weeknd” Tesfaye surely whipped up some controversy there, but before the rest of the world watches Lily-Rose Depp as not-Britney Spears, you can revisit the most miserable high school students to ever grace TV screens. Yes, the series remains as triggering as always, but the performances keep people coming back.

TIE: 10. American Born Chinese (Disney+ series)

Whose life wouldn’t be changed after befriending a mythological god’s son? This series follows an “ordinary” American teenager who experiences that wildness in this adaptation of Gene Luen Yang’s graphic novel of the same name. Naturally, the whole coming-of-age concept blows up a bit with a lot of Kung-Fu in the mix, and then there’s a quest for the Fourth Scroll while high school troubles also swirl, so expect this to have the themes of identity at the forefront but also some comedic touches, too.

9. Mother (Netflix film)

This streaming service knew what they were doing when scheduling this Jennifer Lopez action picture to come out on Mother’s Day weekend. It’s a rough-but-tidy little movie that doesn’t qualify as John Wick royalty by any stretch, but few could resist watching JLo kick some butt. Mrs. Ben Affleck stars as a military-trained assassin, who must save her daughter from horrible criminals who didn’t choose their target out of the blue. Joseph Fiennes and Gael García Bernal co-star, but this is JLo’s movie, through and through.

8. Platonic (Apple TV+ series)

From the outside, you may think that you know where this series is going, but the show promises to be even more chaotic than you expect. Rose Byrne and Seth Rogen play old friends who reunite after people grow apart (as they do), and it soon grows apparent that he shakes up her little world. Fortunately, she does appear to be happily married, and her husband approves of (and, in fact, encourages) this rekindled friendship — at least, until the horse tranquilizers come into play. It happens.

7. FROM (Epix/MGM+ series)

Stephen King gives this sleeper series a rave review while calling it “beautifully handled.” He added, “That spike through the head…holy cow.” This series will likely appeal to Lost fans for many reasons that will be obvious to those who watch, and Manifest addicts will dig it, too. To sum up, the show revolves around a middle-American town where no one can escape, no matter how hard they try to escape the monsters and secrets that run amuck.

6. Silo (Apple TV+ series)

This diamond in the rough might be hundreds of stories deep, but this Graham Yost show is worth the dive. Rebecca Ferguson stars as an indispensable engineer that keeps humanity alive before rising to become the unlikely sheriff of the whole joint. Don’t expect that to go well, however, because Juliette has suspicions that the mysterious founders wanted to ensure would remain secret. Common’s leather jacket might be too sinister for this silo, which somehow keeps around 10,000 people alive after an unnamed apocalyptic event put humanity underground. Rashida Jones, David Oyelowo, Tim Robbins, and Harriet Walter deliver spot-on performances to round out this story based upon Hugh Howey’s self-published runaway literary hit, the Wool omnibus.

5. Ted Lasso (Apple TV+ series)

Too many cultural juggernauts are ending this year, but of course, TV will always sprout new hydra heads to entertain us in the aftermath. This season follows up on Nate’s embrace of the dark side while Jason Sudeikis’ title character remains eternally chipper, and Brett Goldstein’s character has been attempting to convince everyone that he doesn’t have a hairy ass. Everyone has priorities, man.

4. John Wick Chapter 4 (Lionsgate movie streaming on VOD and Amazon Prime)

Those who have seen this installment know that the story of Keanu’s dog-loving assassin could handily end here. However, this franchise has now raked in over a billion dollars, which means that Chad Stahelski, Reeves, and Lionsgate are officially working on a believable way to make a fifth film happen. So, bring on the ninjas and the mad dashes on horseback and Keanu wildly fighting with seemingly the whole world against him. Give me more rain in nightclubs and busting through glass boxes, please. Also, Ana de Armas will star in the Ballerina spinoff, and The Continental prequel series is coming, too.

3. Barry (HBO series streaming on HBO Max)

The final season of Bill Hader’s brainchild has convinced many fans that he will be a ghoulish, delightful nightmare of a horror director, and yes, here’s another beloved show coming to an end. Still, this darkly comic hit will have lasting power (even after the end of NoHo Hank season), and peoplew will surely be ready for whatever Hader and Anthony Carrigan and Henry Winkler do next.

2. The Super Bros. Mario Movie (Universal Pictures film streaming on VOD and Amazon Prime)

If you haven’t yet heard Chris Pratt’s controversial Mario voice or (possibly masochistically) want to relive it, now’s your chance. Yes, of course there will be a sequel, and hopefully, Anya Taylor Joy and Jack Black shall return with more “Peaches.” This year has now seen multiple successful video game adaptations, which is an almost unheard of mini-streak, so even if you aren’t into this particular game, you can appreciate, you know, the game.

1. Succession (HBO series streaming on HBO Max)

Alright, pre-grievers, get ready for the successor to finally be revealed, or at least, we hope so? Our own Jason Tabrys has made the case that a Greg victory would actually be befitting for this “dear world” of a show, especially after he ridiculously enjoyed turning into a mass-firing monster. Yet will Kendall get everything he wants but then realize that he has nothing that he needs? Or will Shiv actually manage to not get screwed over by Matsson? Only time will tell, and then, it will all be over too soon. If you didn’t or don’t plan on catching this live, you’ll probably want to avoid the Internet for days.

The Miami Heat will have to try and win a third road game in the Eastern Conference Finals after coming 0.1 seconds away from reaching the NBA Finals.

Derrick White’s season-saving tip-in at the buzzer gave the Celtics a 104-103 win in Game 6, avoiding a catastrophic loss for Boston and delivering a gut-punch to the Heat at the same time. That the Celtics even needed that play was unbelievable, as they led by as many as 13 and dominated play for most of the night. However, their cold shooting (7-of-35 from three) and Miami’s “others” stepping up kept things close until Jimmy Butler finally got himself involved as a scorer in the fourth quarter.

Butler scored 15 of his 24 points in the fourth, as he finally got more aggressive attacking the paint and drawing fouls. Butler was 12-of-14 on free throws, including the three makes with three seconds to go to give Miami the lead, but he was just 5-of-21 from the field and didn’t look like his normal self for the first three quarters. Given Boston’s shooting woes, the Heat will feel like they missed a great opportunity to end the series and advance to the Finals, but the struggles of their stars for most of the night kept them from ever taking advantage of Boston’s rough shooting.

Butler agreed with that assessment, explaining after the game that his message to the team was that “if I play better, we’re not even in this position.”

While Butler tries to spin this positively, insisting he’s not going to have another night this bad in Game 7, you also have to expect Boston to shoot better at home. Whatever team lost tonight was going to feel like it was a missed opportunity. Boston would’ve lost the series in a game Jimmy and Bam Adebayo were non-factors for most of the night offensively. Miami did lose the game on a night Boston shot 20 percent from three and Jayson Tatum didn’t have a second half made field goal. That’s going to be tough to bounce back from, and while Butler is right to try and keep things positive right now for the good of the team, there’s plenty of reason to wonder if this will end up as the game that got away from Miami.

Game 6 between the Celtics and Heat in Miami was a chaotic, sloppy affair that fittingly featured a chaotic, sloppy ending.

After Boston led by as many as 13 in the second half, Miami was able to take the lead in the closing seconds thanks to Jimmy Butler, who had a rough night for most of the evening (5-of-21 shooting), but found his way to the free throw line over and over late. His last trip to the line almost won it for the Heat, as he got fouled by Al Horford in the corner, somehow keeping his feet behind the three-point line.

The foul was initially ruled a two, but was challenged by Boston and not only upheld as a foul but changed to a three-shot foul thanks to Butler’s footwork. Butler would go on to sink all three free throws, giving Miami a one-point lead with three seconds to play.

On the ensuing inbound, Derrick White got the ball into Marcus Smart, who put up a turnaround three that rimmed out, but by taking the three off the catch, there was just enough time for White to dart in from the corner and tip it in off glass before the buzzer sounded to save Boston’s season.

It’s a ridiculous play by White, who deserves a ton of credit for crashing in to even be in position to try that tip, much less to know he had such little time that he just had to catch and release it as fast as possible to beat the buzzer. It is an absolutely insane way for one of the oddest games of the postseason to come to an end.

Boston winning isn’t a surprise as they seemingly had control of this game for most of the night, but their inability to knock down threes (7-of-35) allowed Miami to stay in it with the long ball despite Butler’s rough night prior to the final couple of minutes. Butler almost showed up at just the right time to send the Heat to the Finals, but instead the two teams are headed back to Boston for Game 7.

Quality is better than quantity. Witness I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson. The Netflix sketch show debuted in 2019 with a mere six episodes. Two years later, Season 2 followed the same path. Together there are only 55 sketches total. Season 3 bows on May 30, but will it, too, only boast six episodes? More? Fewer?

The answer is: yes, there are only six episodes in the third season. That means that, as of next week, there will only be 18 episodes total, each running a little over 20 minutes. Since Season 1 boasted 29 sketches and Season 2 24, that means there will probably be 25 or so, bringing the total sketch number to the vicinity of 80.

Ever since it premiered, I Think You Should Leave has proven the quality-over-quantity maxim to be true. Its two seasons thus far teem with instant classic sketches and bits that break out into memes. Every time a politician or businessman vows to get to the bottom of a mess they themselves created — think Warner Bros. Discovery honcho David Zaslav claiming to support the WGA strike he helped cause, prompting public booing — social media yuksters post the hot dog car sketch. And that’s just to name one.

I Think You Should Leave Season 3 hits Netflix on May 30.

Roman Reigns reached the 1,000 day mark as the WWE Universal Champion on Saturday, and as he crested that milestone mark, he had the opportunity to add the undisputed Tag Team Championships as he and Solo Sikoa faced Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens in the main event of Night of Champions.

Late in the match, after spearing the referee clearing the way for the Usos to interfere, it seemed like Reigns just might be headed to holding four belts at once. The Usos ran in and made the save for Reigns, took out Owens, and went into the ring to do the same to Zayn. However, Zayn moved out of the way of a superkick, leading to Solo taking it, which is Reigns saw from ringside.

Reigns jumped in the ring and started pushing them around and berating them for the mistake, which caused Jimmy Uso to snap as he turned on the Bloodline leader in a continuation of the best story going in professional wrestling.

Jimmy superkicks Reigns not once but twice to allow Zayn and Owens to ultimately pin Sikoa and retain the titles. The pop as Jimmy hits Reigns with the first superkick is incredible, before Jimmy tells his brother Jey he’s “doing what you should’ve done a long time ago,” and kicks Reigns one more time while he’s on his knees. Paul Heyman does what he does best from ringside, losing his mind at the latest act of betrayal against the now-1,000 day champion. It is superb storytelling from all involved, and will only add to the excitement about what comes next for the Bloodline as it seems to maybe be splintering for good.

Like a lot of actors who work with Marvel, Elizabeth Olsen was an acclaimed actress who mostly did serious indie fare before she signed up to play Wanda Maxmioff, aka Scarlet Witch. She’s back to character work again, with the new Max show Love & Death, and it’s unclear when — or if — she’ll ever return to the MCU. But she’s worked with them long enough that she has a piece of advice for actors: If Marvel offers you a job, don’t sign on to multiple films. Only say you’re doing one, for now.

“That way you have more control,” Olsen explained on the podcast Happy Sad Confused (as caught by The Hollywood Reporter). “Let’s say you’re like, ‘Oh my God, this was the most fun I’ve ever had and I love this character so much. I want to do it again.’ You now have more creative controls for the next one.”

Olsen’s maiden voyage with the MCU was in a post-credits scene in Captain America: Winter Solider, which set up her character’s big role in Avengers: Age of Ultron. She went on to play the character four more times, including on the TV series WandaVision. The last time we saw her as Scarlet Witch, she was the semi-sympathetic villain of Doctor Strange in the Multitude of Madness.

Should Olsen return to Marvel, it may be her last foray into franchise acting. She said she has no desire to sign up for some other extended universe deal. Instead, by doing the drama series Love & Death, she’s “trying to like, make a left-hand turn a bit … steer back a little bit.”

(Via THR)

When you start up The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom it all feels very familiar to the franchise’s previous game, Breath of the Wild. You start off very weak in a tutorial area, you gain some new powers, the game thrusts a massive quest upon you, and then the training wheels are taken off and you are free to your own devices. How the player chooses to approach this open world is entirely up to them. You can tackle the world’s many shrines, go to the main objectives and try to complete those quests, complete the map, or collect all the Korok seeds. This level of freedom is everywhere in both games and it’s part of what makes them such wonderful experiences. It’s also made the franchise the best it has ever been.

Not everyone is going to agree with that assessment. For many, the formula that Zelda had established with Ocarina of Time back on the Nintendo 64 is their preferred way of playing Zelda, as this newer era of breakable weapons, no consistent direction, and a smaller arsenal of items feeling far more off-putting. People who feel this way aren’t incorrect, because this is a preference and there is more than one way to make a great video game, but they’re going to be disappointed to know that this new formula is going to take hold of the franchise for the foreseeable future. Nintendo has confirmed as much in an interview with GameInformer.

When you think about people… cheating is fun! [laughs] They like it! Finding that shortcut is enjoyable. People will look for an easy way to do something if they can avoid struggling. We want to make sure that is something that stayed in this game. When thinking of games in the past that we’ve worked on, where there was a puzzle to solve and only one answer, that’s kind of the past way of developing games. Now, I’m happy that we’ve arrived at this method where we’re giving people lots of options, and there are many answers to a single problem, and all of them can potentially be correct. I feel happy that we’ve arrived at this type of development style.

That freedom that producer Eiji Aonuma and director Hidemaro Fujibayashi talk about is why this current form is the best Zelda has ever been. No longer are players constrained to a single path that the game forces them on. Players are now able to approach every single decision they make with a results-over-process kind of mindset. Why does this make the franchise the best it’s ever been? It’s the creativity it inspires. In previous games, the reward for finishing a puzzle was a feeling of accomplishment and the opportunity to move on to the next puzzle. In this new formula, players’ reward for puzzles is that they came up with a solution that works. Sometimes it’s the way the developer intended, but other times they found a solution that works better for them, and it’s great that players are rewarded for this instead of punished.

A great example of this in Tears of the Kingdom is the Korok’s. Spread throughout the world are Korok spirits who have been separated from each other and the player is tasked with reuniting them. Typically when you find one you’ll have the tools necessary to get them where they need to be usually by building some kind of contraption. Of course, the player doesn’t actually have to build the contraption. Multiple times I’ve simply picked them up and brought them to where they needed to go. Other players have used those devices for…other means.

As funny as it is to see how players are choosing to “rescue” the Koroks, it’s also leading to a natural next step in player freedom: conversation around the game. One of the most fun aspects of Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom has been the community that they have created. Players sharing their own experiences with one another, showing off secrets, or helping each other out to solve puzzles is the kind of thing that an open formula like this creates. There is a sense of camaraderie among players as they all get this feeling like they’re playing through the game together that isn’t there when everyone is going through a linear experience. In an internet that becomes increasingly hostile to anything that could be considered a spoiler, it’s nice to be able to share a game with your friends and not be worried that you’re ruining their own experience in some way.

Tears of the Kingdom is a phenomenal game. Not that anyone is shocked by that, but it also is a legacy defining moment for the Zelda franchise. Breath of the Wild was considered this incredible departure from the norm by Nintendo as it bucked a formula that, at the time, they had been falling back on for 19 years. There is a huge amount of risk that comes with that, and it could have very easily been a one off as the developers chose to go back to what was familiar in the sequel. They didn’t do that. Instead, they iterated on it and made a game that is arguably better but follows that same formula. Breath of the Wild established the new formula and Tears of the Kingdom solidified it. The result is the best The Legend of Zelda has ever been.

It’s been a busy month for Houston rapper Monaleo. On top of dropping her full-length debut project, Where The Flowers Don’t Die, she revealed that she welcomed a newborn baby last week. Still, she is finding time to keep fans fed.

In tandem with the release of Where The Flowers Don’t Die, Monaleo dropped the video for one of the project’s standout tracks, “Wig Splitter.”

In the video, she is seen streaming live on Instagram, in the fashion of a “get ready with me” type video. As she applies make up and switches up her looks, she stands on guard in her home, letting her opps know that while she is, in fact, with child, she hasn’t softened.

On the song itself, she delivers jaw-dropping, raunchy bars, one of the most memorable being “He wanna eat it and save the rest for later like a meal prep.”

Monaleo has long been open about her struggles with mental health, and in an interview with Rolling Stone, she shared that she often uses comedy as a healing mechanism.

“I’ve been through really heavy things and I could very easily dip into those serious topics,” says Monaleo, “but I think just kind of joking about things really does help me cope.”

You can see the “Wig Splitter” video above.

Where The Flowers Don’t Die is out now via Stomp Down. Find more information here.

Friday, May 26th marked a sad anniversary: It’s been a year since the unexpected passing of Ray Liotta. The beloved actor was 67. At the time of his death, the Goodfellas star was engaged to Jacy Nittolo. On Friday Nittolo posted a moving tribute to her late fiancé.

“A year ago today I was on a flight home from the Dominican Republic by myself in shock. My entire world unexpectedly turned upside down,” Nittolo wrote on Instagram. She recounted how a stranger comforted her by sitting next to her and not saying a word. “She gently grabbed and held my hand the entire flight as I cried and looked out the window. When we landed she looked at me and said everything is going to be ok. Your going to be ok.”

“It’s been a heavy year of pain, heartache, healing, growing and accepting what is,” Nittolo wrote. “Learning to smile at what was. It supposedly gets easier with time. No time will change a loss so great.You just learn to live with it and keep going, trusting that all will be ok.”

It took almost a year for Liotta’s family to publicly reveal the cause of his death: As per TMZ, it was “respiratory insufficiency, pulmonary edema — a.k.a. fluid in his lungs — and acute heart failure.” He also suffered from “atherosclerosis — a thickening of the arteries caused by a buildup of plaque in the inner lining — something that often leads to diabetes and other health issues.”

Liotta passed away in his sleep while filming the movie Dangerous Waters in the Dominican Republic. One of what turned out to be his final films, Cocaine Bear, was released earlier this year.

(Via HuffPost)