Month: August 2023

Mdou Moctar have always made their commitment to their native Niger abundantly clear, from Niger EP Vol. 2 to Afrique Victime.

On July 26, Niger’s democratically elected President Mohamed Bazoum was held hostage and eventually overthrown in a coup, which “could deal a fatal blow to Niger’s nascent democracy” (as explained by The New York Times).

This makes it impossible for Mdou Moctar to return home safely, so they’ve started a GoFundMe in hopes of being able to afford an extended stay in the United States, where they’ve been touring.

“Last week while we were on tour our home of Niger was plunged into chaos when a Coup took place,” Mdou Moctar posted to Instagram on Thursday morning (August 3). “As a result, we are unable to return home to our loved ones and must remain abroad indefinitely. We have launched this @gofundme to help offset the living costs associated with that. We are so appreciative of our fans and community and their unending support and are so appreciative of whatever you are able to do to help us in this unprecedented and scary time. Thank you so much.”

The GoFundMe page additionally contextualizes the bleak situation, stating, in part:

“Borders in and out of the country have been closed, along with financial institutions, and foreign nationals have left the country on emergency flights, in fear of an imminent civil war.

At present, the band is stuck in the United States indefinitely. The costs associated with finding emergency housing and living expenses for the band while they are stuck here in the US are considerable as well as undefined, as there is no timeframe for when peace may return to the region. As the band’s touring activity regularly supports their families at home in Niger, this extended stay in the US will, unfortunately, divert that income away from their dependents.”

As of this writing, the GoFundMe has raised $26,900 of its $50,000 goal from 668 donations.

Game of Thrones ended over four years ago, but the cast still has some thoughts on the polarizing final seasons.

Conleth Hill, who played Varys on the HBO series, went viral for his annoyed reaction to his character’s death during a table read for season eight. “I thought I’d done something wrong,” he told the Times. Hill then got into his specific complaints about the post-source material seasons: “Right up until the last two series, I had no complaints at all. I just felt frustrated with the last couple of series because Varys wasn’t the all-knowing character he had been.”

Hill thinks the writers, including co-showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, “wanted to do one thing to end it and the studio HBO wanted to do another. I felt that last series was a bit rushed. I was inconsolable, but now I’m fine about it.” A Song of Ice and Fire author George R.R. Martin is less fine about it, but that’s what the books are.

Martin offered an update on The Winds of Winter in a recent post on his website. “Yes, yes, of course, I’ve been working on WINDS OF WINTER. Almost every day. Writing, rewriting, editing, writing some more. Making steady progress. Not as fast as I would like… certainly not as fast as YOU would like… but progress nonetheless,” he wrote. Martin, like everyone else, was waiting for Barbie to come out. Now he’s ready to cook.

(Via the Times)

With Barbie continuing to shatter box office records as the film cements its status as a pop culture phenomenon, the big question is when can viewers start streaming the movie at home. Because the Greta Gerwig film is a Warner Bros. production, Barbie will ultimately land on Max, the streaming service formerly known as HBO Max. However, don’t expect the studio to stick to its shortened release window that caused a considerable amount of controversy during the COVID pandemic.

During a recent investors call, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav offered a hint at when Barbie will start streaming, and it’s probably not as soon as fans were hoping.

Via Collider:

“We really believe in the motion picture window. Let this movie go to the motion picture window, play it up, build up that brand, then have it go into PVOD. Take it through these windows of economics that have worked forever, and we think work extremely well. And then put it on Max. And when it goes on Max, we think it’ll have a very good impact and that’ll be in the Fall.”

Since the merger between Warner Bros. and Discovery, Zaslav has been a vocal opponent of the previous regime’s release strategy, which infamously saw the studio dump its entire 2021 film slate onto HBO Max. That move caused Christopher Nolan to exit the studio and give Universal hit with Oppenheimer.

Warner Bros. then shifted to a 45-day release window before putting movies on HBO Max, but Zaslav has already determined that’s not long enough. Despite bombing at the box office, The Flash surprisingly dominated the PVOD charts, so clearly, Warner Bros. would like to see how well Barbie can do in that arena before delivering it to Max subscribers later this year.

Barbie is now playing in theaters.

(Via Collider)

Tory Lanez’s August 7 sentencing hearing is rapidly approaching, and after doing everything in their power to delay the inevitable, his lawyers are now asking for leniency from the court, according to Meghann Cuniff via Rolling Stone. While prosecutors have recommended 13 years in prison for the Canadian entertainer, his defense team filed a 41-page memo requesting he instead be sentenced to probation and sent to rehab, citing an alcohol addiction and childhood trauma.

Don’t be alarmed. That noise you just heard was me rolling my eyes so hard that they actually made a sound audible through your device’s screen. Strap in, it’s going to get louder.

The memo is quoted saying that the evidence against Tory is “questionable at best and by no means overwhelming” (roll), writing, “Assuming the allegations are true, Mr. Peterson’s psychological, physical, and childhood trauma was a factor in the commission of the offense” (roll). “Likewise, the current offense is connected to Mr. Peterson’s childhood trauma and mental illness, alcohol-use disorder,” it continues. “compromised his ability to manage and regulate his emotions and behaviors and that his alcohol use disorder played a significant role in the alleged offenses” (mega roll).

Tory Lanez, lest we all forget, was found guilty of committing assault with a firearm causing great bodily injury; concealing a loaded, unregistered firearm in a vehicle; and discharging a firearm with gross negligence. He was accused of shooting fellow rapper Megan Thee Stallion in the back of her feet in July 2020 and although he maintained his innocence, he was also never able to explain the shooting, insinuating her friend Kelsey was the one who pulled the trigger.

However, it was his own defense’s witness who identified him as the shooter during the trial, which also considered gunshot residue on Tory, text messages, and calls from jail that pretty thoroughly suggested he tried to not only apologize for the shooting, but also bribe the women to keep quiet. He also apparently led a harassment campaign against Meg, trying to paint her as a liar, leading to her admitting to suicidal thoughts.

Mac Miller’s presence is still felt nearly five years after his September 7, 2018 death at just 26 years old from an accidental overdose of alcohol, cocaine, oxycodone pills laced with fentanyl (as found in an autopsy relayed by Variety in November 2018). His estate has kept his discography — and, by proxy, his spirit — alive with vinyl releases, such as Faces in 2021 and Macadelic (10th Anniversary Edition) in 2022.

Today (August 3) marks five years since Miller dropped Swimming, his final album before his passing that posthumously became his first-ever platinum-certified record in early 2021.

Accordingly, the Swimming 5-Year Collection is available on Miller’s official website. The expansive collection includes Miller’s August 2018 NPR “Tiny Desk Concert” pressed to vinyl for the first time, a Swimming 5-year anniversary vinyl, customized Vans Authentics, several graphic tees, hoodies, hats, shorts, and other miscellaneous items.

“We are continually inspired by all the love for Malcolm’s Swimming from fans old and new,” Miller’s Estate posted from its @92tilinfinity Instagram account. “We are thankful to be able to have worked with @nprmusic to press his Tiny Desk performance on vinyl for the first time so that more people can discover Malcolm’s little corner of the Internet that we love so much.”

Producer Jon Brion told The New York Times that Miller had intended for Swimming and Circles, posthumously released in January 2020, to be two-thirds of an album trilogy.

“He had this whole aquatic theme that came out of something we’d talked about when he was working on Swimming. I’d noticed he mentioned water a few times in the lyrics, and then that grew into all these discussions about water and what it sounds like that became kind of a running joke,” Brion told the publication in an interview published January 20, 2020.

“There were supposed to be three albums: the first, Swimming, was sort of the hybridization of going between hip-hop and song form. The second, which he’d already decided would be called Circles, would be song-based. And I believe the third one would have been just a pure hip-hop record. I think he wanted to tell people, ‘I still love this, I still do this.’”

See the Swimming 5-Year Anniversary Collection below.

Mac Miller is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

In June, Queens Of The Stone Age released their new album In Times New Roman…, which contained songs like “Carnavoyeur” and “Paper Machete.” Now they’re back with a video for the track “Negative Space.”

The extraterrestrial video is directed by Liam Lynch, who said in a statement, “Acceptance is lonely, messy, and tough, especially when it’s all that is left. This video takes place between the end and a beginning. It’s the desperate and lost, message-in-a-bottle emotions that are tossed out and let float away. No action required.”

It goes well with the cosmic nature of the lyrics: “There’s gotta be someway back to earth / I’m drifting away as the world turns / We’ll never get back to where we were / Facing oblivion, there’s no words,” frontman Josh Homme sings.

Meanwhile, Homme also recently spoke about the importance of playing hits while performing shows. “I understand that I’m always going to play ‘No One Knows’ because I still like playing that song and that’s something that it’s an agreement with the audience,” he said on a podcast. “I assume that this is a part of coming here to see us, and here you go.”

Watch the video for “Negative Space” above.

If you haven’t seen Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, this is your warning there are a lot of spoilers ahead.

As stated in the first part of this interview, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles director Jeff Rowe is in a pretty good mood this week. The reviews are great and he’s already been asked to come back for the sequel and the 1st day box office numbers were pretty good. He’s in such a good mood he wanted to dive right into the mid-credit scene and talk about some of the plans for the next installment. But, it was probably a good idea not to publish that until after the movie was at least in theaters, which is now.

At the end of Mutant Mayhem, the Ninja Turtles along with all their new mutant friends are now living with Splinter and the cardboard cutouts of the three Chrises. Maya Rudolph’s Cynthia Utrom, in an attempt to recapture the Turtles in an effort to “milk” them, calls in for help. And, from there, leering out over New York City, we see Shredder from behind, very much teasing his involvement in the next film.

As it turns out, Shredder was going to be a big part of this first film, but Rowe and his team just couldn’t figure out how to incorporate Shredder this soon and decided, instead, to fully focus on the Ninja Turtles being outcasts from society and their dream of, one day, attending high school.

Ahead, Rowe explains the big reason he even wanted to come back for a second film is because of Shredder and tells us what Shredder would have been in this first movie and why it didn’t work.

Yes, it’s safe to talk about spoilers…

I wasn’t sure if I could do another Ninja Turtles movie. I’m like, I don’t know. I feel like you never do a sequel. Get in, get out, never do it. And then our production designer, Yashar Kassai, did this painting for that Shredder moment in the mid-credits.

Oh yeah, that looked great.

The tag. And I’m like, Oh, that’s so cool-looking.

That’s what swayed you? That you have to come back for Shredder?

Well, that’s the coolest thing I’ve ever seen. What am I going to not do in that movie? Oh, man. So that tipped me over the edge.

To be fair, it’s not really that big of a surprise Shredder shows up. Who else would it be?

Yeah. I mean, people already know, I think on the internet. They pick up on that stuff quickly.

Well, how hard was it to keep him out of this first movie? Because everyone wants to go to Shredder immediately.

In fact, he was in the movie for a long time, for a year and a half. And then it just did not work. And we were just banging our head against the wall and we had two big story problems. One, the Turtles were in high school on page 30, so they got exactly what they wanted way too early.

Right, which now is the full movie.

And it also meant that the movie was a reset 30 minutes in, which was just broken. And then Shredder was the villain and it was too big of a character too soon. And you didn’t understand how a crime boss, which is how we were playing him, was connected to these teenagers. And it just got too far away from the most simple essential story, which is teens wanting to fit in – the metaphor being that they are actual mutants and actually shunned by society. It’s not just a feeling for them. And having a villain that was also a mutant and had similar experiences just made the themes and the story all kind of come together.

Are you going to use elements of that version of Shredder in the next one?

No.

Okay.

I mean, I don’t know yet. We could! We’ve storyboarded and edited so many different versions of the film that will never see the light of day. We have scenes that we could just take and recycle them for the new movie. But I think you always have to start from a place of story and character and what is the specific emotional journey that these characters are going on this time. And if anything old happens to be relevant still, I’m happy to dust it off.

I love how you call it old, this new stuff that we just haven’t seen. It’s not even old.

Yeah, the cutting room floor stuff. Yeah.

You can contact Mike Ryan directly on Twitter.

This weekend, the self-styled “hybrid management, record label, video production, and marketing company” 88rising returns to the Rose Bowl in Pasadena for its fourth annual Head In The Clouds Festival. It also continues its partnership with Honda. In addition to sponsoring the Double Happiness Stage, which will host performances by Eyedress, Phum Viphurit, Spence Lee, Stephanie Poetri, and more, Honda is also teaming up with 88rising for an exclusive apparel capsule, “88 Type R” — a nod to Honda’s high-performance Civic model which is favored among California’s import tuner community.

The collection drops August 5 — the first day of the Head In The Clouds Festival — at both the festival grounds and on the 88rising online store, 88nightmarket. In a statement, 88rising’s senior vice president of brand partnerships, Jason Ve, said, “88rising’s mission is to celebrate Asian creatives. We’re appreciative of our partnership with Honda, as it puts a spotlight on the most exciting artists and allows us to share their stories with the world.” If you know, you know, but sometimes a brand partnership just makes perfect sense.

In addition to the artists mentioned above, this year’s HITC Festival also features DPR Live, DPR Ian, Jackson Wang, NIKI, Rich Brian, and Rina Sawayama. Check out some samples from the Type R collection below.

It’s been a few days since Love Island season 10 came to a close, but the finale brought a shocking end to the series for many. In an unexpected finish, Sammy and Jess were crowned the winner of season 10 while Whitney and Lochan — who were previously voted the most compatible couple on the island — finished second. Tyrique and Ella finished third and Molly and Zach came in fourth.

The aforementioned couples will leave the villa and join Mitchel and Ella B, Ouzy and Kady, Catherine and Elom, and Montell and Leah as islanders who successfully found love before exiting the villa. The question that remains is will these couples last? Scroll down to see the current relationship status of couples from Love Island season 10 and make sure to check back for updates as time goes on.

Sammy & Jess: Together

Sammy (22) and Jess (22), the season 10 winners of Love Island, will exit the villa with £50,000 to their name and a new relationship to continue. The pair made it official as boyfriend and girlfriend in the final weeks of the season. Their new status as a couple came after a plethora of ups and downs throughout the season which included Sammy, a Day 4 bombshell, frequently speaking with other girls in the villa, and even bringing one back from Casa Amor, before the two were able to settle into their current relationship. Hopefully, the ups and downs are in their past, but we’ll see how things go now that they’re out of the villa.

Lochan & Whitney: Together

Lochan (25) and Whitney (25) are the season 10 runner-ups of Love Island, though many believed the two would end the season £50,000 richer. Lochan and Whitney’s relationship began in Casa Amor where the two met after Whitney was left to be single for a few days after Medhi’s exit. Unlike the other couples in the villa, Lochan and Whitney had a very drama-free path toward love in the villa. There were no arguments between them and they took their time working toward their current status as an exclusive relationship. There was even a point where they were voted most compatible in the villa, something many fans believed is why they were not voted the winners of this season. Nonetheless, Whitney and Lochan seem to be smooth sailing heading out of the villa, and fans want it to remain the same going forward.

Tyrique & Ella: Together

Tyrique (24) and Ella (23) finished in third place for Love Island season 10, despite being this season’s longest-tenured couple. Ups and downs and drama aside, Tyrique and Ella were more or less together since day one. They were in a couple for all of their 58 days in the villa outside of two weeks in the season: days 9-14 when Leah picked Ty for a couple and days 31-37 after Ella returned from Casa Amor with Ouzy. Ty and Ella’s relationship delivered a number of shocking and dramatic moments throughout the season, for better (the entertainment) and for worse (the perception of their relationship). They ranged from Ella’s decision to bring Ouzy back from Casa Amor and Ty’s various out-of-pocket remarks and days of flirting with Kady.

On their best days, the two were in a great place, cuddled up, giggling, and enjoying each other’s presence. On their worst days, arguments between themselves or the other islanders occurred that didn’t paint them in the best light. Despite it all, the duo has gained a supportive and fairly loyal fanbase, all of whom wish that Ty and Ella’s best days are the only days they have going forward.

Zach & Molly: Together

Zach (25) and Molly (21) didn’t begin Love Island season 10 as a couple like Ty and Ella did. Instead, they sought to make things work in other couples before gravitating toward each other. Zach, a Day 2 bombshell, was with Catherine and Molly was with Mitchel, but two weeks into the season, following a kiss during a challenge, Zach and Molly began their couple and the rest was history. Their relationship, which was made official in the final days of the season, almost came to an end as Molly was dumped from the island on Day 19. However, in a shocking twist of events, she was brought back in for Casa Amor on Day 27. She and Zach picked up where they left off and cruised to the finale where they finished in fourth place. Some islanders feared that the two would struggle to make their relationship due to Molly living in North London and Zach residing in South London, but it all remains to be seen if they can find a way to make their love last.

Mitchel & Ella B: Together

Mitchel (26) had been in four couples before he found something that seemingly worked for him with bombshell Ella B (23), who entered the villa on Day 39. He tried to make it work with Molly, Jess, Leah, and Abi, but they were all to no avail. Luckily for him, he and Ella B seemed to be a perfect match, though, just two weeks together in the villa made it hard for many to see if they were really compatible, as their fellow islanders made clear. Mitch and Ella B were voted out of the villas prior to the finale as they were deemed the least compatible out of the remaining couples in the villa. Mitch’s early indecisiveness between Abi and Ella B, as well as his “Messy Mitch” moniker, certainly didn’t do much to help his appeal, but who knows? Maybe Mitch is done with the mess and ready to settle into his relationship with Ella B.

Ouzy & Kady: Together

Ouzy (28) and Kady’s (27) relatonship is another example of a post-Casa Amor couple in this season of Love Island. Kady, Love Island season two alum, entered the villa with her eyes set on Zach, and while she was able to land in a couple with him, it didn’t last too long as Casa Amor began a week later, which as we now know, ended their relationship. Ouzy was one of the guys to enter Casa Amor and successfully make it into the villa, but it was originally through a couple with Ella. That didn’t last too long either as Ella instantly regretted her decision and returned to Ty. In the week that followed Casa Amor concluded, Ouzy and Kady found a spark between each other, and on Day 37, they officially began their journey as a couple. It didn’t last too long as they were dumped on Day 44, but in Kady’s own words following the exit, things are going well. They just haven’t had time to have a date yet, for good reason though.

“We were meant to go on a date the other day, but I was bedbound, because I was ill,” Kady said to Closer in a joint interview with Ouzy. “We were meant to go to lunch but I kind of ruined it because I was in bed all day.” Ouzy wasn’t too worried about things as he chalked it up to “everything that’s been going on.”

Montell & Leah: Split

One of the early official post-villa splits from Love Island this season came from Montell (25) and Leah (27). The two were together since Day 18 of this season, and it looked like they would have a strong chance of making it to the finale as an extremely compatible couple. All of that changed through Montell’s actions in Casa Amor, which set their relationship back to its starting point. Montell and Leah never fully recovered, though they did continue forward as a couple until their dumping on Day 38, just a week after Casa Amor concluded.

Shortly after their exit from Love Island, Leah revealed that she and Montell decided to “just be friends” moving forward. “Our time in the villa was absolutely incredible, but we’ve actually decided to just be friends,” she said to Kennedy News and Media according to Daily Mail. “We get on really well and I do really like him, but I feel like for me it’s never enough. I’m obviously looking for someone long-term and shares the same values and morals as me. I’m glad we built a really good connection while we were there and I know that we’re always going to be friends, but in terms of romantic; we’ve decided to end things.”

Elom & Catherine: Split

Elom (22) and Catherine’s (22) romance was birthed in Casa Amor, something that quickly proved to be controversial in the villa. That’s because Catherine decided to ditch what seemed like a great relationship with Scott in favor of a new one with Elom. Controversy aside, Elom and Catherine seemed to be a perfect match and they continued to grow as a couple in the days that followed Casa Amor. Unfortunately for them, they were shockingly dumped from the island on Day 38 after they were voted least compatible in a public vote.

According to The U.S. Sun, Elom and Catherine’s relationship would not last long after their dumping. Speaking to New Magazine, Catherine said, “Me and Elom, we get along. But we were already going through the bombshell comments and dealing with that.” She added, “So our relationship already had holes in it, but early on we decided that we were going to be friends.”

André & Ruchee: Together (It Seems)

André (21) and Ruchee (24) seemed to be a good match for each other as they cozied up to each other towards the end of week one. On Day 5, they officially became a couple, but that was short-lived as André opted to return to his original couple with Catherine on Day 9. That was also short-lived as he was dumped from the island three days later. In later discussions, André expressed his hope to get a second chance with Ruchee, but that idea was initially shut down by her. It turns out that André may have gotten his wish granted.

At the end of June, images circulated of André and Ruchee on what appeared to be a date. The two were cuddled up at what seemed to be a restaurant, and later on, more images arrived to prove that the two were spending a lot of time together. Ruchee also shared an Instagram photo, with the caption, “Me walking around Paris looking for Medhi so I can ask him where he was getting all that attitude from?” Mehdi replied, “Only if we get to eat snails” and André added, “count me in too.” However, it’s the comment from another fan that got the most attention. One fan wrote, “Boss lady of @dre.furtado,” while tagging André’s Instagram page and Ruchee pinned the comment to the top of the post. Long story short, all signs point to yes, but we’ll have to wait for confirmation from the two.

‘Love Island’ series 10 is available to stream on ITV2 and ITV.

A new, tough-talking Ron DeSantis revisited New Hampshire this week where the Florida governor and his trimmed-down campaign stuck to their strategy of focusing exclusively on early primary states. However, the struggling candidate used some noticeably stronger rhetoric this time around.

While speaking at a barbecue for local Republicans, DeSantis tried out to out-strongman Donald Trump by making bombastic, if not outright violent promises that sounded awfully similar to the former president’s past desire to shoot migrants crossing the border. Not to mention the time Trump encouraged his supporters to literally attack Congress for which he’s currently being indicted.

Via New Hampshire Public Radio (which has an audio clip):

“We’re going to ensure the woke agenda ends up in the dustbin of history,” DeSantis said Sunday.

Throughout his trip to New Hampshire, he appeared bent on demonstrating that no candidate talks tougher. He promised that, under his presidency, Mexican drug cartels would be “shot stone cold dead,” and vowed that when it comes to federal bureaucrats, “we are going to start slitting throats on Day One.”

Considering it was a predominantly GOP event, DeSantis’ talk didn’t entirely rankle the crowd who has grown accustomed to their party’s rapid descent into fascist rhetoric. However, NHPR reports that some Republicans in attendance were not buying DeSantis’ tough guy schtick, and more importantly, they also had serious doubts about how well it would play on the national stage.

“If I was in charge of his PR, I would have said, ‘Don’t use that terminology,’” a New Hampshire primary voter said about DeSantis’ newfound penchant for “slitting throats.”

(Via New Hampshire Public Radio)