Month: September 2023

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 – Honestly, good for them

I am really enjoying the third season of Only Murders in the Building so far, which is a little strange, I think, mostly because I’m still not sure if it’s as good as the first two seasons. There is so much going on. Everyone is splitting up and there are hallucinations and marriage proposals and dangerous stalkers and maybe ghosts and it’s all going very Scooby-Doo all of a sudden. But I do love it. And I think the reason why I love it is because it seems like everyone on the show is having an absolute blast.

It doesn’t hurt that the show just went ahead and added Paul Rudd and Freaking Meryl Streep this season. Or that it’s letting both of them chew up all the scenery they can cram into their mouths playing against type. I mean, we’ve got Paul Rudd as our murder victim playing a dipshit pretentious actor with a massive inferiority complex, kind of like if his character from Wet Hot American Summer was in a theater camp and wore a scarf instead of a leather jacket. And we’ve got Meryl Streep playing a struggling actress who sometimes bungles her way through an audition — yes, I consider Meryl Streep pretending to act poorly to be one of the best acting performances I’ve seen this year — and is also our most likely murder suspect so far. And Tina Fey showed up again this season but with blonde hair. It’s really just an embarrassment of riches for a show that already featured Steve Martin and Martin Short and Selena Gomez. It’s almost unfair, really.

And again, it seems like everyone is just having the best time of their lives, which counts for a lot in my book. Even in the small ways. Like, for example, in this shot where Selena Gomez is poking around Paul Rudd’s character’s apartment after the murder.

Do you see it?

Do you?

ENHANCE.

Paul Rudd’s character has a poster hanging in his own hallway for a fictional movie he starred in called Sex Panther, which is notable because, for those of you who never saw Anchorman or used the internet between about 2003 and 2011…

This is what I mean. They didn’t have to do that. Reasonable arguments can be made that they shouldn’t have done it. But they did it because… they wanted to. Because it made them laugh. And everyone involved has enough juice that no loser in a suit can tell them no. I kind of dig that.

Could all of this fall apart before the season ends, all the spinning plates crashing to the ground and everyone cutting their feet on the shards of glass strewn about the floor? (WHY ARE THEY SPINNING PLATES BAREFOOT?) I mean, sure. But it’s cool that they’re taking some big swings. And having fun. That really does need to count for something sometimes. Good for them.

ITEM NUMBER TWO – Hey, speaking of murder-related shows that are still unreasonably fun

The second season of The Afterparty shouldn’t have worked. The first season shouldn’t have worked either, probably, if only because the degree of difficulty on “a high-concept murder mystery where each episode is told from a different character’s POV using a different genre of storytelling in the silliest way you can imagine” is high enough that you could sprain your ankle leaping down from it. And yet, here we are. Sure, season two didn’t quite do it for me like season one, in part because this week’s finale — which I will not spoil here — somehow tied things up kind of messily and kind of too neatly, but still. I very much enjoyed the ride. And a big part of that was due to Paul Walter Hauser’s performance as Travis, a goofy Reddit bro in a fedora who was constantly doing stuff like, well, this.

Every moment he was on screen made me unreasonably happy. I fell down a Google trapdoor this week and discovered he actually has a history of appearing in shows I enjoy, like Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Superstore, Key & Peele, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Community, and Cobra Kai. I also learned he’s up for an Emmy this year for his performance in Black Bird. And I learned I’m not the first person to be blown away by one of his performances, based mostly on this 2018 Newsweek article titled “Paul Walter Hauser Steals Every Scene as Harding’s Bodyguard in I, Tonya.”

What makes the actor stand out, though, in a film stacked with bravura performances (including Margot Robbie and the Golden Globe-winning Allison Janney) is his ability to turn Eckardt into something more than a caricature. Director Craig Gillespie praised Hauser, his “secret weapon,” for delivering “an entertaining performance with such humanity.”

Some of the Eckhardt’s best moments, the ones that made his loony tunes character relatable, were Hauser ad libs. At one point, Eckhardt, who naturally lives in the basement of his parents’ house, yells up to his mother to make a call: “It’s local, Ma!,” he screams. Later, he orders her to bring shortbread for the FBI agents interrogating him, improvising the line, “I shouldn’t even be saying his name… Derek.” It’s uncomfortable watching Eckardt because we all know someone like him.

There are two takeaways from all of this:

• Paul Walter Hauser should be in more things
• I meant for this to be more about The Afterparty but I am easily distracted

Moving on.

ITEM NUMBER THREE – THE TRUMPET

One of the cool things about living in the future is that there is so much information accessible to you all the time in so many formats that sometimes it feels like you have seen everything there is to see, and yet, once in a while, you’ll stumble across something new that will genuinely flabbergast you. Something like, to choose an example not so much at random, this excerpt from a new interview at Rolling Stone where noted horror novel icon Stephen King professes his undying love for the 1999 smash hit “Mambo No. 5” by Lou Bega.

Oh, yeah. Big time. My wife threatened to divorce me. I played that a lot. I had the dance mix. I loved those extended play things, and I played both sides of it. And one of them was just total instrumental. And I played that thing until my wife just said, “One more time, and I’m going to fucking leave you.”

I am honestly thrilled to have this information in my head now, and I suspect it will stay there forever, but I am a tiny bit disappointed that Stephen King hasn’t already used it as the inspiration for a book where a frazzled wife gets fed up and murders her husband for playing a song over and over and over and then is haunted by it for the rest of her life when she hears it in the supermarket or in a movie trailer or blasting out of a car that’s driving past her house, unsure each time if she’s really hearing it or if it’s all in her head.

I mean, come on, Stephen King. This is a layup. Pound it out in a month, call it “Murder No. 5” and let’s all move on. Here to help.

ITEM NUMBER FOUR – Keanu is so cool

A good thing to remember is that all news is local news somewhere. For example, for most of us, the big takeaway from the band Dogstar going on tour again this year is “holy crap, the band that Keanu Reeves plays bass in is going on the road.” But for the journalists at the New Haven Register in Connecticut, the story here is “local drummer continues to know Keanu Reeves.” Here, look:

One day in 1991, Robert Mailhouse, a drummer and New Haven native, decided to wear a Detroit Red Wings jersey to the store. What happened next can be summed up in one word — “whoa.”

Fresh off a string of hit movies like “Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure,” “Parenthood,” and “Point Break,” actor, musician and ice hockey fan Keanu Reeves noticed Mailhouse’s jersey.

Three notes here:

• I love that Keanu has starred in multiple billion-dollar movie franchises since the Bill & Ted movies but “whoa” will follow him around until he dies
• It’s kind of funny that the band where one of the biggest movie stars in the world plays bass has the most boring origin story ever
• This guy’s last name, Mailhouse, sounds kind of like what your brain would spit out some morning when you’re too hungover to remember that it’s called a post office

It gets better.

“It was mostly women, believe it or not,” Brian Phelps, owner of Toad’s Place, said of the crowd. “Basically, (Keanu) was playing bass guitar and anytime he looked up from the floor and onto the people, the women would start screaming and they would keep screaming until he would put his head back down.”

The thing I like most about Keanu is that, despite being a box office mega-draw for over 30 years now, and turning weird little action movies — “computers secretly control people,” “hitman’s dog gets murdered” — into worldwide franchise phenomena, he seems like he’s just… like, a dude. Like he’d be just as happy if he worked in a garage and tinkered with motorcycles all day. Like he doesn’t need all this in the way some actors very clearly crave it. The man plays bass in a rock band. Not lead guitar. Not lead vocals. Not even drums.

Bass.

He fascinates me deeply.

ITEM NUMBER FIVE – I need to talk to Michael Imperioli and Paul McCartney at once

Two things are true here:

• If I had a magic lamp with a genie inside it and I had three wishes to burn, I suspect I would use one on like “the ability to wrangle any person on Earth for a conversation where they have to patiently answer all the questions I have for them, no matter how stupid”
• I bet I am the first person to ever type the words “I need to talk to Michael Imperioli and Paul McCartney at once” in that exact order

But, come on. Look at Michael Imperioli just casually talking about enlisting the services of a witch to get a movie made.

“I had just begun writing ‘Summer of Sam’ with Victor Colicchio — we wrote that script together,” Imperioli says in an exclusive clip from “Ghosts of the Chelsea Hotel.” “I really wanted to get it made. So I met somebody who was living here who was a witch, who said she could help me get it made, but it wasn’t going to happen the way I thought it would. I was very ambitious at the time and wanted to get that made, so [I] resorted to tapping into otherworldly means to get it through the studio system.”

HOW

EXPLAIN

HOW

Imperioli did not elaborate on exactly what types of spells or rituals he may have cast upon the film, but “Summer of Sam” went on to be directed and co-written by Spike Lee and released by Buena Vista Pictures. Imperioli and Lee also played small roles in the movie.

This is what I’m talking about. I would pepper this poor man with 8000 questions about the logistics of a witch getting a movie made. It would span multiple days. I’d wake up with more questions and go back for follow-ups. Neither of us would ever get any work done ever again.

I’d have to leave him alone eventually, though, because I would need to talk to Paul McCartney about, well, this answer from a little Q&A he did with his own website about what he does to pass the time on the road.

PaulMcCartney.com: Do you plan the movies you’re going to watch?

Paul: No, I just go to ‘New Releases’ and unfortunately they’re not new – I’ve seen most of them! They don’t update them quick enough for me. I scan through and think ‘ah, I’ve been meaning to see that’.

On car journeys, I watch stuff on my iPad which can be films or series. I’m currently on Better Call Saul and it’s a good one.

I need to talk to Paul McCartney about Lalo Salamanca. This is serious. I am not joking. If you know or can put me in touch with him for like a 10-minute interview, I promise I will only ask him Lalo questions. It will be such a tremendous waste of a career-making interview opportunity and it would make me so happy I would float off into space.

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:

Please describe the exact set of circumstances it would require for you to willingly sit through a 4.5 hour historical drama.

Okay, first of all, I assume Matt is talking about this, which I joked about on Twitter last week.

Ridley Scott’s historical epic “Napoleon” clocks in at a whopping 158 minutes, but even at over two-and-a-half hours a lot of material was left on the cutting room floor. In the September 2023 issue of Empire Magazine, Scott reveals that he has a “fantastic” cut of the movie that runs nearly four-and-a-half hours.

So, there are a few things at play here. One, as I’m sure all of you can tell from reading any paragraph I’ve ever written, is that I was a massive ADHD kid — scribbling on my desk, whipping pencils into the ceiling above my seat, all of it — and remain so in many ways as an adult. But I’m also the kind of sicko who can sit around and watch an entire extra-inning baseball game with no issue. And if anyone can make a 270-minute historical drama tolerable, it’s the dude who made Gladiator

With that said, the circumstances for me, personally, are as follows:

• At home, not in the theater, because I will need to pause at least twice for kitchen runs
• A snowy Saturday or Sunday afternoon in like mid-February when there is no sports to watch and it is too cold/slushy to go anywhere
• A low-grade fever that saps my energy to the degree that finding anything else to do feels like an insurmountable task

That said, under those circumstances, I could see myself enjoying an afternoon-long cut of a Napoleon movie.

AND NOW, THE NEWS

To Spain!

A group of thieves stole $500,000 worth of extra virgin olive oil from a Spanish oil mill, El Mundo reported, as the liquid soars in price.

$500,000 OLIVE OIL HEIST

The olive oil was stored in a warehouse waiting to be bottled when it was stolen, according to local newspaper Diario Córdoba.

Martin Parra, the manager of the company victim to the theft, told the outlet he believed the thieves must have used two large tankers to transport it, which take up to an hour to fill.

I would, no joke, watch a movie about an Ocean’s Eleven-style group of highly organized thieves acquiring two large tanker trucks and stealing half a million dollars worth of olive oil. Someone, please get Steven Soderbergh on the phone.

The price increase is largely due to droughts sparked by heatwaves across Spain, impeding the country’s agriculture industry.

Dammit, do not ruin my fun by bringing global warming into this.

Please.

Just let me have this one.

Please.

According to trade publication Olive Oil Times, estimates for production have been continually revised. Last August, agricultural associations predicted Spain would produce 1 million tons of olive oil in the 2022/23 crop year — a 27% fall from the previous year. But by the end of the harvest, there was around 680,000 tons; a 50% decrease, per Olive Oil Times.

Is it weird that, immediately after reading this paragraph, the most interesting thing about this story for me swapped from “a group of highly organized thieves acquired two large tanker trucks and stole half a million dollars worth of olive oil” to “there is a trade publication about the olive oil industry called The Olive Oil Times”?

Make that movie instead. The one about two investigative reporters at the Olive Oil Times tracking down leads in this case. Woodward and Bernstein but with olive oil.

Think about it.

Thank you.

Danny Masterson’s 30-year prison sentence follows several years of legal proceedings after his victims saw their cases frustrating languish in the court system, allegedly due to pressure from Scientology. Two decades later, Masterson is actually in prison — and will be for three more decades — after being convicted in May of two 2003 forcible rapes at his Hollywood home.

At the close of the sentencing hearing, the Judge Charlaine Olmedo told Masterson, “You are not the victim here. Your actions 20 years ago took away another person’s voice and choice.” Ex-second-generation Scientologist Leah Remini was in the court room, several years after she interviewed Masterson’s victims. Remini has long since vowed to never stop fighting against Scientology, and on Twitter, she reflected on Masterson’s sentence while going off on the L. Ron Hubbard-founded organization:

“I am relieved that this dangerous rapist will be off the streets and unable to violently assault and rape women with the help of Scientology, a multi-billion-dollar criminal organization with tax-exempt status.

“Hearing the survivors read their victim impact statements aloud in court while the man who raped them and some of the very Scientologists who terrorized them over two decades were just a few feet away displayed a level of bravery that I am in awe of.

“These women not only faced the living hell of being raped, having their rapes covered up by the very organization that promised to protect them, but they have also faced ruthless and criminal harassment by Scientology and its agents since they came forward to law enforcement.”

That’s less than half of Remini’s full statement, which you can read below.

The King of Queens star also asserted that this verdict and sentencing are “indictments” against the “criminal leader” of Scientology, David Miscavige, as well as the organization itself. In early August, Remini sued Scientology (and Miscavige) for the harassment, defamation, and emotional distress that she claims to have endured since the very day she left the organization a decade ago and was labeled as a “Suppressive Person.” Via Entertainment Weekly, here’s language from the suit:

“Defendants’ course of conduct includes, but is not limited to, following, surveilling, and stalking Plaintiff, sending Scientology operatives to break into Ms. Remini’s gated community, stealing her personal residential mail, vandalizing her mailbox, planting and/or attempting to plant spyware in close proximity to her home, sending harassing correspondence to Plaintiff and to others, including business associates and sponsors regarding Plaintiff, and creating a social media smear campaign against Plaintiff that includes false and malicious accusations made against Ms. Remini, and at times, her family.”

The lawsuit could bring groundbreaking results, long after South Park blew the doors off the OT-Level III “Xenu” fable. Additionally, Alex Gibney’s Going Clear documentary exposed the inner workings of the organization and laid out its many alleged human rights violations for the masses.

As for Masterson, he seemingly hasn’t ever wavered from Scientology, which strenuously backed him throughout his trial, but he’ll have to fashion his own E-meter to use for the next three decades. After all, he won’t be hitting the Celebrity Centre until he’s at least 77 years old.

(Via Leah Remini on Twitter & Entertainment Weekly)

Cardi B is back. Of course, she also never left. Over the five years since she released her groundbreaking debut album, Invasion Of Privacy, the Bronx rapper has been a near-constant force in the hip-hop/pop landscape. Her collaborations become instant classics. Her unfiltered observations on current events are the most salient commentary we’re ever going to get. Even her feuds dominate headlines — whether real, imagined, or just plain silly.

But with the release of her new single “Bongos” with Megan Thee Stallion, Cardi promises that she’s finally kicking off the rollout for her long-awaited second studio album. So, it seems important to say: Welcome back, Cardi (and if you sing it to the tune of the Welcome Back, Kotter theme song, it just resonates even better). And “Bongos,” Cardi’s second high-profile collaboration with Meg, seems like the perfect way to start the ball rolling, if only because it also represents a second chance for both artists.

In 2020, “WAP” was everywhere. Kids loved it, even if they didn’t understand it. Conservatives hated it, seemingly because they couldn’t relate. Everyone sang it, even if they had to adjust the lyrics in a way Cardi herself wasn’t too fond of. And it entered the social lexicon the way Judd Apatow movie quotes dominated dorm room conversations throughout the mid-aughts. The song was every bit as ubiquitous as Cardi’s first breakout hit, “Bodak Yellow,” seemingly presaging the inevitable release of another world-shaking full-length LP.

Cardi, though, had other plans. Despite the success of “WAP” and its follow-up “Up,” the outspoken artist decided to instead focus on her family and building her empire with a succession of endorsement deals, acting roles, and other business moves. Where many artists would have struck while the iron was white hot hoping to maintain the momentum, Cardi showed that she was perfectly confident that her brand would withstand taking a couple of years off.

She was right, of course, but mostly due to her own hustle. She maintained her iron grip on the public’s attention by releasing a string of high-profile collaborations. Smartly, she mixed it up; there were guest features from Cardi on songs from mainstream hitmakers like Normani, Lizzo, and Summer Walker, as well as a run of remixes to fan-favorite street hits from GloRilla, FendiDa Rappa, and Latto. In the meantime, roles in films like Hustlers and Fast And Furious sequel F9 kept Cardi’s face in front of appreciative audiences’ eyeballs until she was ready to return on her own terms, shaking off the anxiety that came from achieving so highly on her first musical outing.

“Bongos” displays that reinforced confidence deftly, while also expanding Cardi’s toolbox in fun and interesting ways. Back in 2018, I wrote in my review of Invasion Of Privacy that I wished Cardi had included more songs like the boogaloo-sampling, reggaeton-featuring “I Like It,” because the song’s Latin flair both evoked Cardi’s Dominican roots, giving listeners a better sense of who she is, and stood out from anything else in hip-hop at the time. She also sounded like she was having the most fun on the record, which resonated outward to the listener.

Apparently, audiences at least somewhat agreed with me; the song became Cardi’s second No. 1 hit and appeared at No. 7 on Uproxx’s Critics Poll in 2019. It was the sort of smash most artists can only dream of having. As far as hits go, I hope “Bongos” has similar success to “Bodak Yellow,” “I Like It,” and “WAP,” because it’s the sort of hard left turn that Cardi’s been executing her whole career, but at a higher level of performance. Not only has her flow improved — where it was once a locomotive, it’s now like a bullet train — but she also raps in Spanish, displaying yet another facet of who she is without needing to tell us.

The song also functions as a bit of a pick-me-up for her friend Meg, who’s had a rough go of it over the past couple of years. She could also use a fresh start, and what better way than with a reunion with the peer who helped her net her own first No. 1 hit? The song is certainly a departure for Meg, who has dipped her toes into the pristine disco-pop of Dua Lipa and house renaissance (sorry, not sorry) of “Her,” as well as a K-pop swing with BTS’s “Butter” remix. But so few of those songs have connected the way “WAP” did. “Bongos” offers her another chance for an inescapable ubiquitous hit like earlier singles “Big Ole Freak” and “Savage.”

I don’t know if it has record-breaking, culture-shifting potential like Cardi’s past big hits, but it’s a perfect place to restart her solo career and remind folks that she’s more than a “features artist” or a one-hit wonder. It reveals just enough of a peek at Cardi’s growth to leave us hankering for more. With its repetitive sample, quirky beat, and catchy lyrics (“he look like a brokie” is the one), “Bongos” is also guaranteed to get stuck in more than a few cerebrums as Cardi prepares her next album. Cardi never went anywhere, but now, it looks like she might never go away.

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

When Green Day isn’t poking fun at some of America’s biggest idiots by way of their merchandise drops, the band is causing great mischief with their music. Their forthcoming 30th-anniversary reissue of their album Dookie is a reminder of when the group’s rebellious spirit was birthed.

Ahead of the project’s release, Green Day has dumped out three glorious outtakes from their vault: “Walking The Dog,” “Christie Road,” and “409 In Your Coffeemaker.”

When the trio — consisting of Mike Dirnt, Billie Joe Armstrong, and Tre Cool — first announced the reissue, they took to social media to share a touching note. On the group’s official Instagram profile, they shared the cover image to the pop-punk classic with the caption, “Sometimes you take a gamble, and luck’s on your side. Back in the summer of ’93, Green Day went into the studio to record Dookie and had no idea what their destiny would be. They were young, rebellious, and absolutely scared sh*tless. There was no telling if they were about to prove everyone wrong or make the biggest mistake of their lives.”

Take a listen to “Walking The Dog,” “Christie Road,” and “409 In Your Coffeemaker” above and below.

Dookie 30th Anniversary Deluxe Edition is out 9/29 via Reprise. Find more information here.

Green Day is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Just about three months removed from the release of his sixth studio album Michael, Killer Mike has announced the impending release of a deluxe version of Michael alongside a new single, “Maynard Vignette.”

An ode to one of his heroes, former Atlanta mayor Maynard Jackson, “Maynard Vignette” features fellow A-Town rappers JID and T.I., along with singer Jacquees, as Mike reflects on the impact of Jackson’s tenure — and his own.

“I’m a young, Black Maynard, mama gospel singer / Daddy dope slanger, born from the anger,” he raps, while his collaborators also look back on the unlikelihood of their various successes.

Jackson’s success was also unlikely; as the 54th mayor of Atlanta, he was also the first Black mayor of Atlanta and of any major city in the South at a time when sentiments against Black folks in leadership were… let’s just say, “shaky.” He served from 1974 to 1982, then again from 1990 to 1994. His terms were marked by his commitment to public works projects and his work to improve race relations in and around Atlanta.

Mike just wrapped up his High And Holy Tour, while JID is working on multiple follow-ups to his album, The Forever Story. Watch the “Maynard Vignette” video above.

On Friday, USA Basketball was bounced out of the FIBA World Cup semifinals by Germany in a 113-111 shootout that saw the Americans unable to slow down the Germans at any level of the floor.

It was the second loss by Team USA, who dropped their last game of the second group stage to Lithuania, with both coming against opponents with big rosters that could punish them inside while also being capable shooters from long range. Size was always the concern for this USA Basketball roster, as they simply did not have much of an interior presence. Reigning DPOY Jaren Jackson Jr. was supposed to be the defensive anchor of this team, but against bigger teams his impact was muddled, particularly against Lithuania and Germany squads that deployed bigs capable of popping to the perimeter and drawing him out, leaving the rim unprotected given the lack of size throughout the rest of the USA roster. Beyond Jackson, the Americans played Bobby Portis and Paolo Banchero at center, with Walker Kessler — the lone true center on the roster — remaining glued to the bench.

With the 2024 Olympics right around the corner, USA Basketball clearly has work to do in figuring out how to construct their roster, particularly what to do at the center position where they figure to face an even stiffer test in Paris, as the likes of Nikola Jokic, Domantas Sabonis, and others who sat out the World Cup should be in the mix. The good news for Team USA is they also should have a deeper player pool to pick from for the Olympics than they do the World Cup, as the World Cup simply isn’t enough of a draw to get top American players to put extra miles on their bodies in the already short NBA offseason.

The Olympics is, though, and while we figure to see more familiar faces on next year’s roster in the backcourt and on the wing, center depth will likely remain the biggest concern. There are a few different options and directions for Team USA to potentially go in, but it all starts with having a more coherent roster building plan than what was shown for the World Cup.

Jackson Jr. is a tremendous defender, but is at his best as a roaming agent of chaos, blowing up opposing team’s actions with his length, quickness, and anticipation. He’s freed up to do that in Memphis by playing alongside Steven Adams, who is the anchor that grounds the Grizzlies defense, providing cover for Jackson to take risks because he mitigates the potential for disaster by being a capable rim protector himself and, maybe most importantly, being an elite rebounder to clean the glass when Jackson is away from the rim hounding perimeter players.

Team USA seemed to take none of that into account when building this roster, asking Jackson to slide into that center role with no one grounding the defense to allow him to wreak havoc in the way that makes him such a nightmare to play against. The result was a lot of defensive variance, as there were times Jackson was able to erase shots at the rim and engulf driving opponents with his length, but there were also times where he’d get drawn away from the rim and there was no one home when the ball got moved and a new attack started. Against big teams, they also had few answers on the glass, with Jackson not being a dominant rebounder as is, in part because of how often he switches and defends outside the paint.

Compounding those issues was the fact that they paired Jackson with an awful lot of mediocre perimeter defenders who didn’t have the size or abilities to take on a switching, havoc-inducing defense that you’d want to try and run if you are deploying Jackson as your main center. Their best offensive lineups featured Tyrese Haliburton and Austin Reaves, but those were fairly flammable defensively, particularly on switches where teams would happily post them up to great success.

The smaller Jalen Brunson faced similar issues in switches, and just generally the American side lacked the strength and size in the perimeter to handle some of the top teams. Simply put, there has to be a much more cohesive plan built around what bigs Team USA brings to Paris and how the guard play complements their skill set.

The one potential ace in the hole for USA Basketball is convincing Joel Embiid to play for them over France, as he has yet to make that decision and would, obviously, be the best center option available given he is the reigning NBA MVP. Embiid fixes an awful lot of Team USA’s problems, but he’s not a guarantee to be available for a couple of reasons. For one, he could choose to play for France and try and help the home side in Paris bounce back from the embarrassment of being knocked out in the first group stage at the World Cup. Beyond that, Embiid has to be coming out of the playoffs healthy enough to be able to play international ball, which is far from a guarantee for the Sixers star.

As such, they cannot put all their eggs in the Embiid basket. Beyond Embiid, the list of obvious answers for the Americans at the center position gets pretty short pretty quickly, and if any of those names can’t play for health reasons, age reasons, or don’t want to commit if they’re coming off of a deep playoff run, it could get very interesting.

Bam Adebayo and Anthony Davis would be at the top of the list for Steve Kerr and Grant Hill, and I would bet Adebayo, who won gold in the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, will be on the roster. Davis, on the other hand, might not be particularly interested in adding wear and tear to his body, and also just generally isn’t particularly keen on playing the center position — there’s already a report he’d like to play less at the five this coming year in L.A.

Draymond Green also figures to get the call, as he was on the 2020 Tokyo squad as well and it’s possible both he and Steph Curry decide to suit up for their guy Steve Kerr. Green would bring an obvious fit for what Kerr wants to do and he and Adebayo would be one helluva versatile center rotation, albeit a touch of an undersized one.

Finding the traditional big man to eat up minutes against bigger teams is the real question if Embiid doesn’t go. Brook Lopez would be the ideal option, but beyond him it gets a bit dicey should he not feel healthy enough coming off of the playoffs to go. The best young American centers all tend to be more of JJJ types — very lean frames, with hyper athleticism and skill, but lacking a dominant physical presence. USA Basketball doesn’t need more players who can hit crossovers into pullup jumpers, they need more players who hit the buffet line and the glass. Kessler could maybe get the call again to fill that role, but given he didn’t touch the floor against teams dominating them with size in the World Cup, it’s hard to have much confidence in a year this staff will have the belief in him to throw him out there in the Olympics.

From there you have a bunch of guys that present the same problems. Chet Holmgren, Myles Turner, Nic Claxton, Evan Mobley, Jarrett Allen, and, of course, Jaren Jackson Jr. will all be in the potential player pool, and depending on what you want offensively (floor spacing, rim-running, screen setting) you can find someone you like and all are good rim protectors, but all are also undersized against the best international bigs.

If they can get commitments from three of Embiid, Adebayo, Green, Davis, and Lopez, this is all probably a moot point. However, as we know it’s not always a guarantee you get your top picks — JaVale McGee was the third center in Tokyo. With more veteran stars at the other positions, the issue at center is mitigated, but it is the one thing that can present real problems for Team USA on the international stage. There are so many teams that just have a ton of size to throw out there, and when those teams can combine that with shooting (as many of the best international teams can) the recipe is there to upset the Americans if they don’t have the answers inside.

All eyes will be on Embiid’s decision, whenever he makes it, and from there we’ll know where to set the panic meter going into Paris.

Italy’s beloved Måneskin are on the road. The polarizing group are known for controversial performances that fans adore, whether they’re topless at the VMAs or covering a classic Britney Spears hit.

The Rush! World Tour kicked off on September 3 in Germany, and they’ll be traveling over to North America later this month. The tour will hit Japan, Ireland, Australia, and several more countries as well before ending in December.

About performing topless at the VMAs, bassist Victoria De Angelis said in a pre-show interview, “I think it’s very important for us to share a message of freedom, generally. So just for everyone to be free to be themselves and express who they are […] and also to have more equality [between showing] a woman’s body and a man’s body.”

Check out their setlist from their first night of their tour in Germany, according to setlist.fm.

1. “Don’t Wanna Sleep”
2. “Gossip”
3. “Zitti E Buoni”
4. “Honey (Are U Coming?)”
5. “Supermodel”
6. “Coraline”
7. “Beggin’” (The Four Seasons cover)
8. “The Driver”
9. “For Your Love”
10. “Gasoline”
11. “If Not For You” (Acoustic)
12. “Timezone” (Acoustic)
13. “Formidable” (Stromae cover)
14. “I Wanna Be Your Slave”
15. “In Nome Del Padre”
16. “Mammamia”
17. “Bla Bla Bla”
18. “Kool Kids”
19. “The Loneliest” (encore)
20. “I Wanna Be Your Slave” (Reprise) (encore)

Scream VI was the first Scream movie without Neve Campbell. And hopefully the only.

Kevin Williamson, who wrote the screenplay for Scream, Scream 2, and Scream 4, shared his thoughts on Campbell not returning for Scream VI after the actress declined a salary offer that she thought “did not equate to the value” she brought to the horror franchise.

“I know exactly where she’s coming from,” he said on the Happy Horror Time podcast, according to Variety. “I know her well. I love and adore her, and that’s what she did and it’s great for her. I love everyone involved with Scream and all I can say is pay her the money. Yes, you heard it, everyone. That’s what I would do. I would give her the money.” He added, “I’m sure there’s a number they can agree on that will make them both happy so hopefully one day they will figure that all out, and who knows. One day.”

Campbell, who plays Sidney Prescott in the meta-horror series, previously told People that the salary dispute would not be an issue if she was a man. “I honestly don’t believe that if I were a man and had done five installments of a huge blockbuster franchise over 25 years, that the number that I was offered would be the number that would be offered to a man,” she said. “And in my soul, I just couldn’t do that. I couldn’t walk on set feeling that — feeling undervalued and feeling the unfairness, or lack of fairness, around that.”

You can listen to the podcast with Williamson below.

(Via Variety)

Busta Rhymes and Coi Leray already demonstrated impressive lyrical chemistry when he remixed her hit single “Players.” But that chemistry is even more advanced on “Luxury Life,” where the two rappers trade dynamic back-and-forth rhymes over a sample of The Whole Darn Family’s “Seven Minutes Of Funk.” In fact, it’s the very sample from Jay-Z’s second Reasonable Doubt single “Ain’t No N****” with Foxy Brown, which used a similar rhyme scheme. Busta and Coi even sing the hook in the same style, which was originally lifted from the Four Tops’ “Ain’t No Woman (Like The One I’ve Got).”

The video is similarly an ode to the ’90s, with Busta and Coi sticking up a diner in a visual homage to Pulp Fiction (a scene that gets referenced quite a lot in hip-hop, such as in Sleepy Brown and Outkast’s “I Can’t Wait” video), then battling it out in a dojo with references to The Matrix. There’s also a pull of Bruce Lee and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s fight scene from Game Of Death. Busta loves his movies, it’s nice to see him keep that trend going while passing the torch to the next generation.

So far, Busta’s last two videos have featured BIA (“Beach Ball“) and Coi Leray… can we get a Rah Digga reunion, too??

Watch Busta Rhymes’ “Luxury Life” video featuring Coi Leray above.

When Beyoncé tells the world to stop, typically it does. However, that wasn’t the case for Hairspray actress Sarah Francis Jones. In fact, the excitement from the Grammy Award record holder’s final Renaissance World Tour stop in Inglewood led the actress to give birth to the Beyhive’s youngest member.

While attending the recording artist’s September 4 birthday performance at SoFi Stadium, Jones recorded herself having a grand ol’ time dancing and singing along but by the end of the night, the audience around her was a medical team as she was set to deliver her baby girl. During an interview with KTLA, the star revealed that initially, she thought the sharp aches she was experiencing when at the concert were false labor pains (medically referred to as Braxton Hicks).

“I said, ‘Something’s happening.’ Usually, I like to dance at the concert, and I was like, ‘OK, I need to sit down for a second,” said Jones.

But as the discomfort increased, Jones and her partner, Marcel Spears, knew it was time. “The biggest contractions happened during ‘Virgo’s Groove.’ As the concert went on, we were like, ‘I don’t know about this.’ By the time we got to the car into the parking lot, it was full-on intense,” Spears added.

Jones vlogged the experience on her official Instagram page. In the video, as she participated in the ‘Eerbody On Mute’ challenge, you notice a shift in her bubbly personality.

Although Jones and Spears’ baby girl is indeed a Virgo, just like Beyoncé, their daughter missed the cut-off date to share the same birthday with the star as she was officially born on September 5. Friends and family of Jones, as well as fellow Beyhive members, took to the entertainer’s comment section to offer their well wishes.

See their responses below.