Month: August 2023

Ron DeSantis is many things: a human pudding spoon, an apparent meatball, and even an unsettling bobblehead. He also might have never learned to properly eat a slice until last month, and he can’t get hardly anyone to drink beer (for only $1) with him despite being a super fun guy. It’s rough out there.

DeSantis also has no luck when it comes to microphones. This slip-up technically wasn’t his fault, but it’s still amusing due to the general sense of confusion on his face. During a Friday morning campaign event, a Mic Guy noticed that DeSantis was having some issues, so he passed a spare to the Florida governor. Well, it didn’t work, and because it’s Friday, and I’m in a silly mood, enjoy this clip of a confused meatball pounding on a mic.

He sure is a man of many modes. One cannot help but notice that DeSantis is also favoring dark vests even during these hot summer temps. The better to hide the sweaty dress shirt? Earlier this week, DeSantis was also talking like a mobster while threatening to “slit throats” of bureaucrats as president. That’s all the talk of a Trump with none of the (inexplicable) charisma.

Mark Margolis, the Emmy-nominated actor who played Hector Salamanca on Breaking Bad and the spinoff series Better Call Saul, died on Thursday following a short illness, according to the Hollywood Reporter. He was 83 years old.

Outside of Vince Gilligan-created shows, Margolis also appeared in Scarface, Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, multiple episodes of HBO’s Oz, as well as almost every Darren Aronofsky movie. “Yeah, he thinks he has an obligation!” he told the Hollywood Reporter about his frequent collaborations with the director. “I started with him on his first movie, the $60,000 Pi when he was unknown. I chased him for three months because he kept lying to me about when I’d get my money. I finally threatened to call his mother, who was craft services on the film. Then he finally paid me.”

In that same interview, Margolis discussed how he got the part on Breaking Bad.

“I first popped up in the middle of season two. I’d gotten the role through a casting lady, Sharon Bialy, I’d worked with on an early HBO film with Eric Roberts and Diane Lane. I was only coming onto Breaking Bad as far as I knew for that one episode, but there’s no accounting for taste, and the fans took a fancy to me. Somebody asked me recently, ‘How did you manage to play such a horrible guy?’ and I said, ‘Have you talked to my friends?’ They’ll tell you I’m pretty miserable to begin with.”

In lieu of flowers, his family is asking for donations to be made to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.

(Via the Hollywood Reporter)

In 2021, electronic music fans were devastated upon the breakup of Daft Punk. They returned earlier this year for the 10th anniversary edition of Random Access Memories and Thomas Bangalter shared his debut solo album Mythologies.

Bangalter appeared on BBC Radio 6 Music and reminisced on the end of Daft Punk, according to NME. “The question I ask more myself is why we did end it rather than how it could last for so long,” he said. “It’s a lot like a story or mini saga — sometimes there’s a TV show that has a special place in people’s hearts and it keeps that place, and it runs for one, two, three, four, five, sometimes 10 seasons.”

He continued, “There’s a moment where it ends and I think it’s actually interesting to have this opportunity to start, have the middle and to end it… [I was] relieved and happy to look back and say: ‘OK, we didn’t mess it up too much.’”

In April, he waxed poetic about their breakup. “I almost consider the character of the robots like a Marina Abramović performance art installation that lasted for 20 years,” he said. “We tried to use these machines to express something extremely moving that a machine cannot feel, but a human can. We were always on the side of humanity and not on the side of technology.”

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

Before Donald Trump even stepped into the courtroom to be arraigned for his third indictment on Thursday, his attorney Alina Habba made a startling confession while talking to reporters: The former president knew he lost the 2020 election. This admission flew in the face of Trump’s defense that he “believed” the election results were false, and therefore, his actions were protected speech.

Habba’s remarks were a pretty stunning admission, and apparently, only the beginning. That same day, another Trump attorney John Lauro seemingly confessed to another one of the former president’s crimes during an interview.

“President Trump wanted to get to the truth. He desperately wanted to get to what happened during the 2020 cycle. He did it in the courtroom. He did it in lobbying legislatures, that’s all First Amendment,” Lauro told Newsmax before making another startling admission. “And then at the end, he asked Mr. Pence to pause the voting for 10 days, allow the state legislatures to weigh in, and then they could make a determination to audit, or re-audit, or recertify. But what he didn’t do is send in the tanks.”

To be clear, Trump is being charged with obstructing the election certification process, and asking for a 10-day “pause” is exactly that. It was a surprising admission from Lauro, who admitted it again while talking to Fox News’ Laura Ingraham.

“What President Trump said is, ‘Let’s go with option D,’” Lauro said via Newsweek. “Let’s just halt, let’s just pause the voting and allow the state legislatures to take one last look and make a determination as to whether or not the elections were handled fairly.”

Just like Habba’s admission, Twitter went wild over the fact that yet another Trump attorney was on camera basically admitting to the charges against him.

You can see some of the reactions below:

(Via Newsweek)

A quarterback dating a famous person isn’t anything new, but there’s something different about Josh Allen and Hailee Steinfeld (at least compared to Tom and Irina). Maybe it’s because he’s the (very good) QB for the Bills; there must be a spark if the Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse actress is willing to spend her winters in Buffalo. Whatever the reason, there’s been a lot of attention surrounding the couple, which Allen called “gross” in a recent interview.

While appearing on the Pardon My Take podcast, Allen said, “The fact that anybody cares about that still blows my mind.” He also addressed the paparazzi pictures, taken by a photographer on a boat, of him and Steinfeld making out. “I just, like, felt this gross feeling,” he said. “Insecurity. No privacy. [I was] like, ‘What is wrong with people?’”

The NFL player and Dickinson star, 26, first sparked romance rumors in May when Page Six broke the news that they dined together at Sushi by Bou and were “making out during dinner. They were definitely canoodling… It wasn’t platonic. After a few cocktails and sake shots, they started to make out at the sushi bar. They seemed very happy together.”

If their relationship is anything like the last few seasons for the Bills, Allen and Steinfeld will get engaged, only for few things to fall apart as she’s walking down the aisle. (Please don’t get mad at me, Bills fans. I root for the Panthers. I wasn’t even invited to the wedding.)

You can listen to the podcast below.

(Via Page Six)

According to Post Malone, his short-term memory temporarily took a hit due to his recreational activities. But nothing could erase the deep love he has for his fans. The “Mourning” rapper showed how much he appreciates his supporters during his latest If Y’all Weren’t Here I’d Be Crying Tour stop. On Tuesday (August 1), while in Tampa, Malone briefly encountered fans after leaving the MidFlorida Credit Union Amphitheatre stage.

During the endearing exchange, Malone, seemingly overwhelmed by the love shown by fans, decided to give fans the shirt off of his back, an electric guitar, and, oddly enough, a pair of socks. The video shared by Pop Crave shows the musician thanking the crowd before being whisked away by security.

In the post’s thread, fans online were moved by Malone’s generosity. “This man is literally giving fans the shirt off his back. He’s so cute ,” wrote one fan.

Another chimed in to tell a secondhand story of their own, emphasizing that this sweet moment was not an anomaly. “My friend worked one of his gigs, and he stopped to talk to her backstage. She said he was very nice and genuine ,” penned the user.

Another wrote, “This man has been nothing but kind to people. God bless him.”

While others jumped into the conversation, firing off jokes. “F*ck the guitar and shirt. Give me those socks,” wrote one person.

“Not the socks ,” laughed off another.

Malone’s decision to gift socks had users torn. Some found it humorous, but others were disgusted by the thought alone. “I know them socks salty af,” added one person.

“And socks?!?!?!?!!! ,” added a user.

The Rundown is a weekly column that highlights some of the biggest, weirdest, and most notable events of the week in entertainment. The number of items could vary, as could the subject matter. It will not always make a ton of sense. Some items might not even be about entertainment, to be honest, or from this week. The important thing is that it’s Friday, and we are here to have some fun.

ITEM NUMBER ONE – LISTEN TO ME

HEY

HEY

ARE YOU MAKING A MOVIE?

OR EVEN JUST THINKING ABOUT MAKING A MOVIE?

THAT’S COOL

YOU SHOULD PUT RYAN GOSLING IN IT

YOU SAW BARBIE

YOU SAW HOW GOOD HE WAS

WITH THE LITTLE FACES HE MAKES

REMEMBER WHEN HE SANG THE SONG?

THIS ONE

THAT WAS SO GOOD

IT FREAKING MADE THE BILLBOARD CHART

COME ON

IT’S KIND OF FRUSTRATING

YOU SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED TO BE THAT GOOD-LOOKING AND ALSO FUNNY AND CHARMING

LET THE NORMAL PEOPLE HAVE ONE THING, RYAN GOSLING

GEEZ

BUT STILL

HE’S JUST SO GOOD

REMEMBER THE NICE GUYS?

REMEMBER THE THING WHERE HE SAID “I HAD TO QUESTION THE MERMAIDS”?

THIS THING

UGGGHHH

IT’S SO GOOD

I SHOULD BE MAD

I SHOULD HATE HIM A LITTLE BIT

HE HAS TOO MANY THINGS

I CAN’T DO IT, THOUGH

HE’S TOO LIKABLE

HE’S SO GOOD

PUT RYAN GOSLING IN THE MOVIE

YOUR MOVIE

THE ONE WE TALKED ABOUT EARLIER

HE’LL PROBABLY DO GREAT

EVERYONE WILL LOVE IT

HE’LL DO A GOOD JOB

HEY

REMEMBER THAT TIME HE AND HARRISON FORD WERE DOING ONE OF THOSE SOUL-SUCKING PRESS JUNKETS AND GOT THE GIGGLES?

THIS ONE

UGGGHHHHHH

EVEN HARRISON FORD LOVES THAT GUY

AND HE’S USUALLY A LITTLE CRANKY

YOU NEED THIS ENERGY

FOR YOUR MOVIE

TRUST ME ON THIS

PUT RYAN GOSLING IN THE MOVIE

IT’LL BE GREAT

THANK YOU

YOU ARE WELCOME

ITEM NUMBER TWO – What a freaking legacy

Paul Reubens passed away this week after a private battle with cancer. That’s a bummer. He will forever be remembered for playing Pee-Wee Herman, which, as far as legacies go, isn’t too shabby. Go back and watch the movie sometime. Watch some episodes of the show. Or just go to YouTube and type in “pee-wee herman” like I did this week and get lost watching clips for an hour or two. The one up there is him being a goofball with Letterman. It’s a pretty good place to start.

The loving tributes came in fast after his death was announced, which, as far as legacies go, ain’t too shabby, either. It seemed like everyone who ever met him had a nice thing to say about him. It’s a pretty good sign of a life well-lived when there’s that kind of outpouring in your honor. It’s also a good sign of a life well-lived when The Muppets pay tribute to you. That happened, too.

Something jumped out at me when I saw that, though. Maybe it jumped out at you, too. The thing about him being named an honorary Muppet. It sent me down a crazy Google tailspin where I learned some truly fascinating information. Information, for example, like this…

In 1986, Muppet Magazine published the first and only Honorary Muppet Awards. The honorees were awarded a special “Kermie” and photographed for the magazine.

… which led me to the Muppet dot Fandom dot com site for Muppet Magazine, which itself led me to the recipients of the aforementioned “Kermit” award for honorary Muppets.

“1986 Honorary Muppet Awards”: The Muppets award Robin Williams, Dolly Parton, Pee-Wee Herman the Honorary Muppet Award

This is… it’s incredible, right? The only three humans to ever be officially named Honorary Muppets were Robin Williams, Dolly Parton, and Pee-Wee Herman. There have been 18 EGOT winners to date. The Kermie Award club is SIX TIMES more exclusive than that, and all of its winners are straight-up icons. It also means Dolly Parton is the last surviving member. We must do whatever is necessary to protect her. We should have been doing that anyway. But now we should, like, super protect her. There is a rich cultural tradition at stake.

Hey, remember earlier when I said “everyone who ever met him had a nice thing to say about him”? It’s okay if you forgot. I have thrown a lot at you since then. But I did say it. And I meant it. Which brings me to this

Here’s what I need you to do…

Picture it’s like 1987. Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure came out two years ago and cemented Reubens as a recognizable figure in American pop culture. Knight Rider just ended its four-season run on television, doing the same for David Hasselhoff. You’re on vacation in Los Angeles and driving your rental car through Beverly Hills. You’re looking around and seeing the sights and you glance over at the outdoor seating section of a fancy restaurant and, right there on the sidewalk, in front of God and Merv Griffin and everyone, you see David Hasselhoff and Pee-Wee Herman sitting at a table eating lunch and laughing it up like old friends.

How far do you make it down the street before you crash into a parked car?

I’ll go as high as 500 feet.

What an incredible life. Rest in peace.

ITEM NUMBER THREE – This is a good precedent

BAD NEWS: Wrexham soccer player Paul Mullin has a punctured lung, which ranks pretty low on the list of injuries I would ever want to have.

GOOD NEWS: His recovery plan sounds cool.

Wrexham striker Paul Mullin will recover from injury at the home of Rob McElhenney before leaving the United States.

The context here is that McElhenney, in addition to creating and starring in both Always Sunny and Mythic Quest, also co-owns this soccer team with Ryan Reynolds, although it’s probably even funnier without the context. But anyway…

In an interview with S4C, McElhenney said: “This Paul thing is devastating to the club but, again, it’s a contact sport and these things happen.

“He’s OK. I just texted with him this morning. He’s in San Diego and he’s going to come over and stay with us for a couple of weeks until he can leave and head back to Wales.”

Two things worth noting here:

• This is an excellent precedent to set and we should all be allowed to chill at our bosses’ houses for a while when we are not feeling good, especially if our boss is a big-time celebrity and owns a mansion in the Hollywood hills
• Rob McElhenney seems like a pretty cool dude

I have this image in my head of him carrying a tray with a lovely breakfast spread on it up the stairs and knocking on the door like room service.

ITEM NUMBER FOUR – I must try Cherlato

Guys.

GUYS.

Cher has an ice cream truck.

CHER.

AN ICE CREAM TRUCK.

IT’S CALLED CHERLATO.

LIKE GELATO.

BUT WITH CHER.

The Cherlato ice cream truck will travel around LA to different locations every day throughout the summer months so everyone can get a taste of the frozen treats, according to a release. Fans can track the Cherlato truck on their website, cherlato.com

CHERLATO DOT COM

I MUST HAVE IT

CHER

DRIVE THIS TRUCK TO PENNSYLVANIA

COME TO MY HOUSE

I KNOW I JUST DID THIS ALL-CAPS SHOUTING BIT IN THE SECTION ABOUT GOSLING

I DON’T KNOW

I GET EXCITED

Flavors including the “Snap Out of It! Kefir and Cardamom,” Breakfast at Cher’s Coffee & Donuts” (that gets topped with an actual glazed donut) and “Chocolate XO Cher” are just the start of the singer’s inventive gelato menu.

CHER

I NEED THIS DONUT ICE CREAM

Cher and her partner Giapo Grazioli also came up with a zanier option like “SoCal’s Coldest Avocado on Toast,” which features creamy avocados and crunchy bread crumbs, plus a vegan creation called “LA, I Love You” made with vibrantly colored pluots to symbolize the Lakers’ colors.

God, I love this. There’s no reason for it to exist. Cher didn’t, like, need to start an ice cream truck called Cherlato. She’s Cher. But she woke up one day and decided to do it anyway. She told some of her friends — and I need you to picture Cher doing this, with her distinctive Cher voice — that she was thinking of starting an ice cream truck and then she went ahead and did it. That’s awesome. Good for Cher, man.

Two notes in closing: One, I’m sure she has this sucker staffed with employees who are not Cher but it really is fun to imagine her running this whole thing by herself, from driving it to parking it to scooping out the actual product; two, I would absolutely watch a reality show about Cher and her ice cream truck on a cross-country journey from Los Angeles to Pennsylvania to serve a double scoop to a handsome television blogger. The handsome blogger is me.

It could work.

CHER

THINK ABOUT IT

CHER

ITEM NUMBER FIVE – A brief note about the beach and/or science

Okay, quick story…

I was at the beach last week. It was lovely. I only used the internet to look at restaurant menus and sports scores and the weather, which was beautiful almost the whole time I was there. It did rain one afternoon, though, only for about an hour. It really did pour. And because, as regular readers of this column know, I use a wheelchair powered by electricity, I figured it would be smart to duck into a little ice cream and coffee spot until the rain ended. So I didn’t get, like, electrocuted at the beach. I do not think I would have enjoyed that.

There was a family sitting at a table near me, a mom and a dad and two kids, probably like 4 and 8 years old. The little guy was on a roll. He pointed outside at the rain and shouted “SCIENCE IS HAPPENING” and then a car drove by and he shouted “CARS ARE MADE OF SCIENCE,” neither of which are wrong, technically. His brother was doing the thing older brothers do where they kind of egg on and/or taunt and/or wind up their younger siblings. Just being a real brat, which is behavior I recognize from being an older brother myself. The little guy was getting fed up. He stopped the various scientific experiments he was doing and shouted the following words of warning at his older brother…

“DON’T LET ME HAPPEN”

This was last Wednesday. I have thought about it at least once every day since then. I suspect I’ll think about it again tomorrow, too. And the day after that. Don’t let me happen. Just a fascinating collection of words in a fascinating order. And a great title for like a memoir by a reformed celebrity troublemaker. Or for an album by the bad boy of a music act who is giving it a go as a solo artist. I might get it tattooed on my back. It somehow makes no sense at all and all the sense in the world. It’s almost profound.

Don’t let me happen.

You wouldn’t like me when I happen.

READER MAIL

If you have questions about television, movies, food, local news, weather, or whatever you want, shoot them to me on Twitter or at [email protected] (put “RUNDOWN” in the subject line). I am the first writer to ever answer reader mail in a column. Do not look up this last part.

From Matt:

My wife and I have started a little weekly tradition where she (works in the city, commutes every day) will grab takeout from a fun restaurant on Friday and bring it home after I (work from home, wears sweats a lot) call it in. The last two times I’ve placed the order under a stupid fake name and texted it to her so she knows what to tell the hostess when she gets there. I need to do it again this week so I figured I’d go to the expert on fake names for inspiration. For reference, I’ve already used “Bucky St. Thomas” and “Steve Mug.”

Oh, God. I kind of don’t want to help you here just for the sake of your marriage. Your wife seems like a very patient and/or frustrated woman. But I can’t help myself. I saw this sign last week on vacation…

… and I’ve been thinking about it ever since. Toss a “Detective” in front of it for added effect.

“CHICKEN QUESADILLA SUPREME FOR DETECTIVE RIP CURRENTS”

Please tell your wife I am very sorry.

AND NOW, THE NEWS

To California!

A semi-truck carrying 40,000 pounds of chocolate went up in flames on Monday morning in Northern California’s Placer County, according to CAL FIRE Nevada-Yuba-Placer.

This is an amazing sentence, start to finish, from 20 tons of blazing chocolate straight to “CAL FIRE,” which would be an incredible name for like a mustachioed lefty relief pitcher who throws sidearm and always has a massive wad of chewing tobacco tucked into his cheek.

When crews arrived on scene they found a fully involved fire in the trailer of the semi-truck and were able to keep the flames from spreading into the surrounding forestland.

I don’t want to tell these firefighters how to live their lives but if they don’t use “I had to stop a river of boiling chocolate lava from flowing into the forest and killing hundreds of woodland creatures” on their next first date with a man or woman they’re interesting in seeing long-term, I mean, that’s a real missed opportunity.

Footage from KCRA showed large heaps of chocolate melting in the heat, dripping off the wreckage of the vehicle and rocks along the side of the road.

I understand this is serious. I know it’s a problem and an emergency and a traffic nightmare. I get that. But I am so, so hungry after reading that sentence. Like, I might eat that chocolate-covered rock if someone plopped it down on my desk right now. It wouldn’t be the grossest thing I’ve ever eaten.

“Chocolate, or more so cocoa, is highly flammable. If it catches fire, the blaze is difficult to extinguish since cocoa powder contains 10 to 20 percent fat and has a huge surface area,” according to the DSV website. “The main danger lies when storing or transporting cocoa in large quantities.”

Three things:

• We are learning so much today
• I would like to see a Batman movie where the Joker commandeers a chocolate truck and uses it to set half of Gotham on fire, standing on top of it and spraying molten chocolate out of a big hose like a delicious flamethrower
• I like to imagine this comes up in Day One of training for the fire department in Hershey, Pennsylvania

Okay, time for dessert.

Myles Turner is a very good professional basketball, something that he has proven over the course of his career as a member of the Indiana Pacers. Turner, who signed a contract extension back in January that will keep him with the team through 2025, is one of the reasons why there is excitement over the Pacers potentially making some noise in the Eastern Conference sooner rather than later.

One could assume, based off of all this information, that Turner would be able to dominate a basketball game involving a bunch of children. Having said that, it’s impossible to know this for sure until Turner actually proved it, and fortunately for everyone, his basketball camp gave him the chance to do just that. Turner posted a video to his TikTok account of a game at his camp in Dallas where one team held a 42-7 lead. With the losing team needing a boost, Turner hopped in and things went about how you would expect, particularly because the rim was lower than the standard 10 feet.

This is an extension of one of the most entertaining bits of NBA offseason content, which is when players hold camps, stand near the rim, and dare children to try and score on them while they swat the ball away like it’s a gnat. It is also very easy to compare this to the basketball game on Parks and Recreation between the high schools from Eagleton and Pawnee where Chris Bosh was a ringer for Eagleton. Despite that, we are unable to confirm or deny if Turner dunked on any of the children, pointed at them, and let them know that he is also better than they are at French horn.

Shortly after Donald Trump was hit with a third indictment for his efforts to overturn the 2020 election, Mike Pence has shown a surprising willingness to finally attack his old boss.

Despite being targeted by a throng of MAGA insurrectionists chanting “Hang Mike Pence,” the former vice president has been hesitant to hammer Trump for the January 6 attack. That all changed this week as Pence took to the campaign trail and blasted Trump for being a “distraction” and “unfit for office.” More recently, Pence fired a barb at Trump’s inner circle.

“You know, I’m a student of American history. And the first time I heard in early December somebody suggest that as vice president I might be able to decide which votes to reject and which to accept, I knew that it was false … I dismissed it out of hand,” Pence said during an appearance at the Indiana State Fair via The Hill. “Sadly, the president was surrounded by a group of crackpot lawyers that kept telling him what his itching ears wanted to hear.”

Clearly, Rudy Giuliani caught wind of Pence’s “crackpot” remarks. The embattled attorney ranted about Pence while appearing on Newsmax to discuss Trump’s latest arraignment. Instead, Giuliani fired insults at the former vice president.

Via Mediaite:

“I always worried about him following Trump ’cause I would see him with his wife having something around his neck every night.” Making a leash gesture around his own neck, the former New York City mayor and Trump attorney claimed, “She doesn’t let him go to the— no, she let’s him go to the bathroom by himself, that’s about it, but imagine that skunk doing what he did today?”

On top of claiming that Pence’s wife Karen, or “Mother” as she’s more commonly known, keeps him on leash, Giuliani trashed Pence’s education as well as his presidential prospects.

“I don’t think he’s ever been in a courtroom and he went to the law school nobody even knows,” Giuliani ranted. “That guy, I mean, I thought before this all happened that he was a really good guy, but too weak to be president.”

(Via Mediaite)

Last month, Tony Bennett sadly passed away at the age of 96. His frequent collaborator Lady Gaga shared a heartfelt tribute to him on Instagram about how much she’ll miss him, and Thursday (August 3) she posted another for what would’ve been his 97th birthday.

“Happy Birthday Tony. August 3rd is Tony Bennett Day,” she wrote. “A day for smiling. But I’ll be celebrating you a lot more than once a year. I’ll celebrate you every time I’m on stage singing jazz music, every time I’m with your family, every time I walk down the streets of New York I’ll look around and remember all you did for this city and the whole world.”

In her original tribute, she wrote, “Our relationship was very real. Sure he taught me about music, about showbiz life, but he also showed me how to keep my spirits high and my head screwed on straight. ‘Straight ahead,’ he’d say. He was an optimist, he believed in quality work AND quality life. Plus, there was the gratitude…Tony was always grateful. He served in WWII, marched with Martin Luther King Jr., and sang jazz with the greatest singers and players in the world. I’ve been grieving the loss of Tony for a long time. We had a very long and powerful goodbye.”