Month: June 2023

For some reason only known to capitalism, there’s been a slew of Wild Business Origin Stories lately. Blackberry, Tetris, and now the faddiest of fads is getting its turn. The Beanie Bubble illustrates the dramatic rise and uncomfortably continued rise of Ty Warner — the guy who would get mad if others got co-credit for building the Beanie Baby empire.

Zach Galifianakis stars as Warner with Elizabeth Banks as his business partner Robbie, Sarah Snook as his wife Sheila, and Geraldine Viswanathan as Maya, a crucial employee. “Maya” is undoubtedly meant to be a stand-in for Lina Trivedi, the woman who wrote the original poems on the Beanie Baby tags and basically invented e-commerce by running the Beanie Baby website to sell directly to customers. There’s an excellent You’re Wrong About episode about the Beanie Baby craze if you want to get all journalistic about it.

Meanwhile, The Beanie Bubble looks like it’s going to go bonkers with it.

Here’s the official synopsis:

“Why did the world suddenly treat stuffed animals like gold? Ty Warner was a frustrated toy salesman until his collaboration with three women grew his masterstroke of an idea into the biggest toy craze in history. “The Beanie Bubble” is an inventive story about what and who we value, and the unsung heroes whose names didn’t appear on the heart-shaped tag. From the married directing duo Kristin Gore (<em>Her</em>, <em>Foxcatcher</em>) and Damian Kulash, Jr. (lead singer of OK Go), and written by Gore, comes one of America’s most outlandish success stories.”

The Apple TV+ movie about false scarcity and half-stuffed stuffies lands in select theaters July 21st, with a streaming debut July 28th.

As Donald Trump stares down a seemingly endless parade of legal troubles, one woman has stood dutifully by his side through thick and thin: Kari Lake. According to a new report, the failed Arizona gubernatorial candidate has been a frequent fixture at Mar-a-Lago to the point where it’s basically her second home.

“Kari Lake is there every night … She’s there all the time,”a source told PEOPLE. “There’s a suite there that she practically lives in.”

Granted, Mar-a-Lago is a golf resort. However, due to the Florida heat, it “generally clears out for the summer,” so Lake is mainly there with Trump and his inner circle. On top of aggressively denying Trump’s brand of election denial (Lake continues to insist the Arizona election was stolen), there’s another reason for Lake’s constant presence: She wants to be Trump’s VP.

Via PEOPLE:

Lake’s frequent appearances at Mar-a-Lago come months after Trump officially announced his 2024 campaign for president in November, and after sources told PEOPLE that Lake has been vying for the role of his running mate.

“She is working the deal. She wants something bigger, fast, to compensate for her loss in Arizona,” one source previously said.

Lake isn’t exactly hiding her presence at Mar-a-Lago. She recently tweeted a swimsuit photo of herself wearing an inflatable Trump float while boating off the Florida coast.

While Lake’s presence certainly raises eyebrows, PEOPLE reports that Trump continues to make public appearances at his golf resort during the weekends, and Melania has been seen joining him for dinner. The former president also continues to act as a DJ and personally curates the golf club’s evening music.

(Via PEOPLE)

Ian Shelton envisioned Militarie Gun as a witness to the absurdity of context collapse. Now, he accepts they’re an example of it. Take “Militarie Gun” itself, originally a goof on an actor’s once-farcical and now disgraced name, and now something that they’re stuck with “for the rest of our lives.” Or, the very moment Shelton realized he could relate to Kanye West in any way whatsoever. The word-of-mouth success that followed Militarie Gun’s 2021 All Roads Lead To The Gun EPs put them on the radar of Roc Nation Management, and when the two parties were in discussion, Shelton was coincidentally watching jeen-yus – which, at least for its first third, is probably the last time Kanye West can be remembered in a sympathetic light. Though Shelton never went to the Roc Nation offices trying to throw the diamond up or spit a verse from “Don’t Pick Up The Phone,” “I’m low key chasing the same guys he was chasing back then,” he laughs. “Which I never thought would be the case.”

And now on the verge of releasing their debut LP Life Under The Gun, as the man once said, Militarie Gun are major. Go to the Roc Nation website and there they are, smack between Miguel and Moneybagg Yo. After linking up with Loma Vista Records in late 2022, they’re also labelmates with Killer Mike, St. Vincent, and Korn. Life Under The Gun already crashed some mid-year album lists two weeks before it actually dropped, a testament to Shelton’s elevation of immediacy above all else. “I don’t care what you do, just do it faster,” he barks on the album’s lead single, setting the course for an album that’s both buffed and buff; the goofball videos for “Do It Faster” and “Very High” are fairly blatant throwbacks to a time when bouncy hardcore acts like CIV could sneak into the Buzz Bin alongside Weezer. “I’ve always been a very impatient person, I want the answers now, I want the result now,” he explains. Not coincidentally, the IRL conversations I’ve had about MLife Under The Gun have led to descriptions like “Guided By Voices with good production” or “swole Joyce Manor.”

The former is pretty much what Shelton envisioned; “I wanted to make a band that sounded like Guided By Voices eight years ago but was not a competent singer,” he admits. By the time Militarie Gun started making headway, he cautiously asked a friend, “Do you ever think this band could be as popular as Fucked Up?” For most of the past 15 years, this was indeed the best-case scenario for any hardcore band hoping to avail themselves of Big Indie’s spoils – i.e., Best New Music, Rolling Stone profiles, opening for the Foo Fighters, late-night TV appearances that couldn’t say the band’s actual name. But for all of the impact of David Comes To Life, Fucked Up were a band whose ambitions recalled The Who as much as Hüsker Dü, oftentimes celebrated as an exception that justified ignoring whatever else was happening in hardcore. They were a unicorn, not one that had listeners and industry types seeking out “the next Fucked Up.”

Meanwhile, Life Under The Gun is something of a heat check for hardcore itself. More specifically, the “Turnstile Effect,” in which the immediate acclaim and long-tail success of GLOW ON has been likened to a small-scale Nevermind – a wave that potentially lifts respected lifers up to the majors as a kind of credibility-based loss leader for the copycats. In other words, will there be Melvins and Meat Puppets to justify the inevitable Candleboxes and Bushes to come?

Though Life Under The Gun is technically a debut LP from a band that’s been releasing music for less than three years, it’s misleading to call it anyone’s introduction to Militarie Gun. “We had all these songs written and demoed for the third time before we ever played a show,” Shelton reveals, and indeed, the album has been completed for about a year and a half. “If we were impatient, we could’ve released All Roads Lead To The Gun earlier and went straight into releasing these songs before we ever started touring, but we knew how good the songs were so it was easy for us to have restraint.”

Prior to his move to Los Angeles, Shelton had been a veteran of Seattle’s hardcore scene and, eventually, a member of the chaotically creative punk institution Self Defense Family. As recently as 2021, Militarie Gun was likely to be viewed as a spinoff of Regional Justice Center, probably the most successful band of its time that could accurately be described as “powerviolence.” RJC took its name from the for-profit prison complex in which Ian’s brother Max had been incarcerated since 2016, yet he describes their music as “emotionally political and not outwardly political”; intended as much to honor the experience of his brother as it was to avoid the didacticism that infested hardcore and really just about every other form of art during the onset of the Trump administration. “It was an era that was fucking bleak to be a part of artistically,” Shelton explains. “It was so introductory in its approach to politics, so robotic, not interesting, regurgitated half-thought ideas.” Regional Justice Center provided catharsis and connection, though as to be expected from a band that plays extremely fast and angry music, it was liable to collapse at any time.

Whether or not Militarie Gun was conceived as something more sustainable than Shelton’s other bands – another goes by the name S.W.A.T., aka “Sex With A Terrorist” – they’ve been buoyed by a concurrent trend of ascendant bands who’ve emerged from hardcore while conducting themselves like a Britpop or power-pop act; play “Never Fucked Up Once” or “My Friends Are Having A Hard Time” on an acoustic and you might have a Lemonheads or Teenage Fanclub song. But ask anyone about Militarie Gun’s way with a hook, and they’ll point to Shelton’s “OOF! OOF!” ad-lib, a sound both gruff and endearing, like getting pummeled by a playful bull mastiff. “I probably had eight songs with it before we played a show and thinking this is kind of a big swing to come in so hard before anyone knew it,” Shelton recalls. It likely became his signature on 2022’s “Pressure Cooker,” a collaboration with lo-fi power-pop wizard Dazy that already feels like genre canon.

Or at least a culmination of trends that date back much farther than Militarie Gun itself. “It took a long way to break down this kind of wall, [and acknowledge] that people who come from hardcore are capable songwriters,” Shelton explains, crediting acts like Angel Du$t and Ceremony for swinging the hammers first. Still, Shelton recognizes that he’s more likely to be considered an elder statesman at this point in his career, or at least he’s willing to act as one. “It took me a really long time to get to where I’m at and if I can save someone the hassle of the same exact things I did, I’d love to do that.” Take his willingness to “interject myself into the creative process” with MSPAINT, the Hattiesburg synth-punk firebrands who will be joining Militarie Gun on the road this fall. In addition to his guest vocals on “Delete It,” Shelton is credited as a co-producer, even if he sees that role as a kind of motivational speaker. “I told them I didn’t think the recordings were good enough and we should do them again together,” he recalls. “And I couldn’t ask for a better result.” That end result was Post-American, an album that’s neck and neck with Life Under The Gun as the most impactful album to emerge from the extended hardcore universe in 2023 – debut or otherwise.

The tougher job is learning how to parlay those managerial skills into Militarie Gun itself. “I’ve demanded enough of everyone’s life where I’m pretty much responsible to make sure they have their bills paid,” he says. “That’s a scary thought.” Indeed, it’s possible that his last day job will have come functioning as an essential worker during the pandemic (i.e., weed delivery guy). While Militarie Gun is striking while the iron’s hot, Shelton is grateful that it’s been a slow, slow burn. “If I was younger and experiencing these things, I would not have been as well adjusted,” he jokes. “I would’ve been an idiot.”

Adele‘s about to have an eventful summer since she extended her Las Vegas residency. She also reportedly bought the actor Sylvester Stallone‘s Los Angeles mansion last year for $58 million and it came with something quite special: his Rocky statue. In fact, the statue was apparently a critical factor in the deal.

Stallone elaborated the arrangement in a new interview with The Wall Street Journal, revealing that he wanted to take the statue with him but the singer refused. “That’s a no deal. That’s gonna blow the whole deal,” she allegedly said. He gave in and let her keep it, saying, “I like what she’s doing, she’s making it gorgeous.”

Her longtime friend and “Carpool Karaoke” host James Corden recently sang her praises, telling Howard Stern he wasn’t surprised when she got famous. “I couldn’t have been less shocked,” he said. “I couldn’t have been less shocked. That’s how I went up to her — I went up to her because she has the cover of [Bob Dylan’s] ‘Make You Feel My Love’ on that album and I’m always of the feeling of, ‘How can any cover version be better than the original because it couldn’t exist without the original.’ But I think that there’s a couple that come real, real close, like Amy Winehouse’s ‘Valerie,’ James Blake’s ‘A Case Of You,’ and Adele’s ‘Make You Feel My Love’ and it’s extraordinary.”

Orville Peck embodied the full spectrum of human emotion this week. On Tuesday, June 20, the country artist kicked off the summer leg of his Bronco Tour (supporting his 2022 album of the same name) at The Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York City, but that will be his last show for a while.

On Wednesday, June 21, Peck postponed all scheduled live dates “effective immediately” to prioritize his overall well-being.

Peck posted his vulnerable statement to Instagram:

“Hey y’all,

I am completely heartbroken as I share this news, but I have made the incredibly difficult decision to postpone all of my upcoming shows effective immediately.

This was one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever had to make, but I’ve come to realize that my current mental and physical health won’t allow me to bring you my best. My fans mean the absolute world to me and I am so incredibly thankful to every single person who has bought a ticket to come and see us play, I do not take it for granted. Being on stage is my favourite thing in the world.

But I have to take this time to replenish my mind and body so that I can come back stronger and healthier than before, in order to do what I love for many years to come. I truly hope you can understand.

See you soon and sending all of my love.

Orville.”

Peck received many encouraging and supportive comments. Noah Cyrus wrote, “i love you beyond this world.” Joel McHale added, “Hang in there. Take care of yourself. Take your time and we’re all looking forward to when you want to come back and when you do–it’ll be a barn-burner.”

The likes of Charlie Carver, Dylan Mulvaney, and Dorian Electra also sent their love.

Earlier this year, Peck performed “Cowboys Are Frequently Secretly Fond Of Each Other” at the Hollywood Bowl for Long Story Short: Willie Nelson 90, a sprawling concert celebrating Nelson’s 90th birthday that Uproxx attended. Peck was next scheduled to take his Bronco Tour to Columbus, Ohio on July 25.

Donald Trump has handed out countless insults over the years. Sleepy Joe, Lyin’ Hillary, Low Energy Jeb, etc. Kayleigh “Milktoast” McEnany is not one of his better nicknames, mostly because it’s so weird, but it did the job in that it got under her skin. The former press secretary initially wasn’t bothered by the insult, as she continued to praise Trump. “He’s very good at that,” she said about his ability to connect with his supporters. “In fact, I don’t know if there is anyone in the race that can do it quite like him with a room with voters.”

On Wednesday, McEnany spoke to another Republican candidate in the race to become president, Ron DeSantis, except this one lacks that ability to connect with his supporters and, y’know, act like a normal human being.

Ol’ Milktoast seemingly took a shot at her old boss during in the interview,

“I have this very distinct memory. I was in the Oval Office with Dr. Anthony Fauci in the Situation Room with him. I mean, this man made you think like, your days were numbered, all of our days were numbered, all 323 million of us, you know?” she told DeSantis. “But then I go to Florida. I met you on a tarmac. And you were saying some pretty bullish things about opening the state. I was a bit taken aback because it was such a contrast to kind of the groupthink I was hearing in Washington. But you earned the ire of the left on your COVID response. Now you’re getting attacked from the right there. There were a variety of responses to COVID. Why was yours the right one?”

Another hard-hitting question from Fox News. Trump will never recover.

Trump hasn’t replied to McEnany’s comments, but maybe he’ll learn it’s “milquetoast” by the time he does.

(Via Mediaite)

In April 2022, it was announced that Bad Bunny would play the lead role in El Muerto, a Spider-Man spin-off movie. The film was set for a January 12, 2024 release, but now its future appears unclear.

Deadline reports that now, Sony Pictures has removed El Muerto from its release schedule. The publication notes, “We’re hearing that the film remains in development, but that between Bad Bunny’s tour schedule and the ongoing WGA strike, it makes finalizing a date complicated.”

Now, The Book Of Clarence is set to take over the January 12 release slot. The Jeymes Samuel-directed and LaKeith Stanfield-starring movie was previously set for a September 22, 2023 release.

IGN previously described the El Muerto character, “In the comics, El Muerto is a super-powered wrestler who has had their mask and abilities passed down through the generations. To become worthy, new wrestlers would need to prove themselves against El Dorado. Juan-Carlos Estrada Sanchez was one of these chosen descendants, but he was unable to fight El Dorado when his father Marcus Estrada presented him. As a result, Marcus sacrificed himself to save his son. Following the tragic death, El Dorado would give Juan-Carlos ten years to become stronger to face him again and earn the right to become El Muerto.”

Explicit music lyric offendee Ben Shapiro is making the rounds again. This time, he shared a video criticizing Sexyy Red’s “Pound Town” and the “Pound Town 2” remix with Nicki Minaj. Long story short, Shapiro isn’t a fan of the song, which he sarcastically dubbed “one of the great pieces of art in the history of Western civilization” and declared makes Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion’s “WAP” (which he famously has a viral history with) “look childhood-friendly.”

Minaj later clapped back on Twitter, writing, “Roman said leave his ass out of it sir! No pun intended.” Now, the two are officially beefing.

Yesterday (June 21), Shapiro responded to Minaj’s tweet, “Not possible, @NICKIMINAJ, since you have apparently never recorded a song that left your ass out of it.” To that, Minaj replied, “Next time I’ll be sure to add my dick. So you can suk it. Love you [tongue out emoji] [face surrounded by hearts emoji] [kissy face with heart emoji].” Shapiro fired back, “Surprise twist: @NICKIMINAJ was the one with the anaconda all along.” As of now, that’s the end of the dialogue between the two.

So far, Red hasn’t responded to Shapiro’s video except by retweeting some clips from it.

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

Back when I first reviewed The Bear, I appreciated the show’s authenticity and simply hoped that more than a few people would find it in this crowded TV landscape. And sure, I figured that Shameless-heads would tune in for Jeremy Allen White’s return to Chicago, but I didn’t fully anticipate that the masses would soon be firing off thirsty tweets about their lust for line cooks. I also didn’t realize that I’d have a chance to wonder out loud whether sexy times would eventually be in store for Carmen “Carmy” Berzatto, the former fine-dining chef who comes home to run his family’s sandwich joint.

Fortunately, people very much tuned in. Perhaps the sex tweets enticed them to do so, and that’s fine because underneath the sweat and the casually tousled hair was a damn good story. The show’s portrayal of a flowing-yet-chaos-filled workspace, the quick-and-dirty style of shooting that makes you feel the steam and the grime and the pounding and whistling, and my god, the sound design on this show — all of it worked. Yes, much of the ordeal was stressful to witness, but it was an addictive brew. As toxic as that kitchen got, viewers grew invested in these characters and how they were swallowed up in this churning world and simply rolling with it.

Much of the entire show’s vibe can be encapsulated in the first season’s penultimate episode, “Review,” where the kitchen went off the rails. Carmy lost it in Tantrum City, Ayo Edebiri’s Sydney accidentally stabbed Ebon Moss-Bachrach’s Ritchie in the butt, and he walked it off like it’s not the worst thing that happened all day. And you know what, he was right. Look, the thing is this: Carmy is the captain, Sydney is the brains, Marcus (Lionel Boyce) brings the donut obsession, and so on. Ritchie, though? He’s the underbelly of the show. He has bite, and we should probably hate the guy, but the show makes him so human despite his assholery. Underneath that exterior, Cousin wants to do better, and he’s got a real shot at achieving something in Season 2.

I’m very pleased with Ritchie’s arc in this sophomore season, but the same can be said for every character on the scene. Season 2 is about taking these souls out of the kitchen and bringing them back together. Many of them improve their professional game, but they also take fruitful side trips outside of The Beef, which is now The Bear. Or it will be, if the revamp ever comes together. That’s what the first season finale promised, and Carmy leads his motley crew again while the restaurant stays closed for most of this season.

Do not mistake this for an absence of glorious commotion.

Everything that can go wrong does go wrong in the course of retooling the restaurant. More than that, the show manages to take us on a journey to Europe for one character and into the hopes and dreams and fears of others. There’s downfall and redemption and inspiration found for them where one least expects it. Carmy shoots himself in the foot by engineering a deadline, which keeps the pressure on, and beneath all of this mayhem, there’s humanity and connection to be witnessed. That last term might cause you to wonder if Carmy does, you know, have time for a personal life. A trailer more than hints at him going there. I suspect that we will return to this subject after people have had a chance to watch. (Let’s do that.)

For now, I can promise you that this season passes with such momentum and so swiftly — despite a few much longer episodes than usual — that you’ll find yourself cursing about the wait for Season 3. And the season’s finale is as tension-filled as the “Review” episode, yet it’s twice as long in runtime. Throughout, we learn more about what “The Bear” truly means as a concept and a sometimes interchangeable label, and hot damn, there. are. so. many. guest. stars. That’s especially the case during an hour-long episode where food not only brings people together but also represents an act of war. Those of you who dug the Jon Bernthal cameo last time will be thrilled to see more of him this year. And there are some guests who were preannounced — like Will Poulter and Bob Odenkirk — but several surprises on the way. (I clapped my hands in glee upon seeing a few of them and am not ashamed to admit this.)

What’s staggering about The Bear‘s second season is that the show takes us to highs and lows that we couldn’t have possibly hoped to see in Season 1, but the production never feels like it’s attempting to be “bigger and better.” Rather, everything unfolds organically, even the offshoot stories, and it’s almost unbelievable that this season fully came together in just under a year. We get to explore endless nooks and crannies with these characters beyond the kitchen, but the writers never forget to place them into scenarios where food is also a manner of expressing one’s self.

So yes, Season 2 is on par with Season 1, and in fact, I do think that this season is more enjoyable, to the point where you’ll possibly be inspired to do an immediate rewatch. Also, it’s worth mentioning that the season ends in a way that makes one curious about what’s next for Carmy, but it doesn’t go overboard with a cliffhanger. Again, the interest that this show sparks always feels unforced while it carries the viewer along in the spiraling mayhem. The same goes for transitions between seasons so far.

In other words, The Bear expands breadth of character and does stop to smell the culinary roses, but it never feels like it’s naval gazing for the sake of it. That’s much like Carmy seeking to elevate The Beef into The Bear without regard for status, only for the food itself and the people who enjoy it.

Hell yes, these Chefs are back with another first-rate season.

FX’s The Bear will stream all of Season 2 on June 22.

After a disappointing (and rather shocking) first round exit at the hands of the Miami Heat, the Milwaukee Bucks faced a number of decisions this offseason. The first was to make a coaching change, firing Mike Budenholzer and hiring Adrian Griffin from Toronto to bring a fresh perspective to the Bucks bench.

The second was figuring out what would happen with Khris Middleton, who has been a long-standing part of the Bucks’ core, going from a promising young player to a three-time All-Star and a near-perfect complement for Giannis Antetokounmpo en route to a championship. But as it turns out, Milwaukee will need to battle to keep him around, as Middleton declined his player option for $40 million ahead of next season and will become an unrestricted free agent.

Wojnarowski did add that the door is not shut on a reunion between the two sides.

This past season was a tough one for Middleton as he worked his way back from the knee injury he suffered in the 2022 playoffs, playing in just 33 games and averaging 15.1 points and 4.9 rebounds per game on 43.6/31.5/90.2 shooting splits, as he was kept on a minutes restriction and sat out here and there to manage his knee. However, he showed a return to form against the Heat, serving as the most consistent offensive threat the Bucks had in the series, averaging 23.8 points, 6.4 rebounds, and 6.2 assists per game on 46.5/40.2/86.7 splits.