Month: November 2023

Victor Wembanyama appeared in his first TNT game on Tuesday night when the San Antonio Spurs traveled to Phoenix to take on the Suns. While the obvious headline of the game is Wembanyama playing his first game against a future Hall of Fame inductee in Kevin Durant, the Inside the NBA crew took some time to yell at one another about Wembanyama and another member of the Suns.

“He’s never seen a guy like Wembanyama? Yes you have, his name is Bol Bol … Wembanyama is just way more consistent than Bol Bol,” Shaquille O’Neal argued before basically saying that their frames and skill-sets are similar, all while the rest of the set was pretty stunned that he made that comparison.

“First of all, that’s, no,” Charles Barkley said before Shaq repeated his point about consistency. Barkley then lost his mind.

“He’s only played three games!” Barkley exclaimed. “Are you comparing Wembanyama to Bol Bol?”

“Bol Bol is the first 7’4 guy that we’ve seen come out with the handle, shoot the three, yes,” Shaq said. “Y’all acting like you ain’t never seen a guy like that before. Bol Bol is the first guy, that’s what I’m saying … Bol Bol just don’t play hard, that’s all.”

Kenny Smith popped in and attempted to deescalate things by making a joke about Shaq’s mug, but Barkley couldn’t let this one go, as he asked the exact same question of Shaq and got the exact same answer. They then tossed around a few other names before Chuck offered up a few critiques of Wembanyama’s game … but not without taking one more swipe at Shaq.

“Shaq had a great point,” Barkley said. “I mean, the other point about Bol Bol, I don’t agree with that at all.”

Bol is in his first season as a member of the Suns, and has appeared in one game off the bench so far this season.

The 1975‘s concerts always make for an interesting time. Over the course of the past year, the band’s lead vocalist Matty Healy has made headlines for his wild antics during tour stops. Whether he’s making out with fans or eating raw meat on stage, concertgoers know they are in for a show.

But tonight (October 31), during a special Halloween-themed show at Little Caesar’s Arena in Detroit, Michigan, Healy showed fans a side of them they hadn’t seen before.

During the show, Healy recreated a moment from the cult classic The Blair Witch Project. A clip displayed onscreen, featuring Healy on a camcorder. After he hears a noise in a house, he moves the camera rapidly, briefly showing what appear to be his buttocks on-screen.

In another fan-recorded clip from the concert, Healy recreates a scene from American Psycho. As he is speaking to the audience, Healy walks behind the stage, in set resembling a home. He is seen through a window taking an axe to something indistinguishable, prompting screams from fans. When Healy returns to the stage, he is seen covered in blood, catalzying the screams to an even higher level. Also in the clip, a fan can be heard shouting “daddy.”

You can see clips from the show above.

Triple H just cannot stop costing Joel Embiid money. Tuesday afternoon marked the second time in 2023 that Embiid, the NBA MVP and star for the Philadelphia 76ers, picked up a fine from the league for doing D-Generation X crotch chops during a game. Embiid got fined $35,000 for celebrating during the team’s win over the Portland Trail Blazers earlier this week, and during the 2023 playoffs, Embiid got fined $25,000 for doing the same thing against the Brooklyn Nets.

On both occasions, Triple H used Twitter to reach out to the Sixers star, with their first interaction revolving around how he’ll help pay Embiid’s fines if he keeps doing it. And on Tuesday, Triple H decided to use this fine as an opportunity to invite Embiid to WrestleMania 40, which will take place at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia.

Getting to watch L.A. Knight win the World Heavyweight Championship on Saturday night and the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship on Sunday night — ed. note: Everyone at Uproxx Sports is L.A. Knight-pilled — would assuredly be a blast, but unfortunately, Embiid took to Twitter and told The Game that he’s not able to make it because he won’t be in Philadelphia.

Now, Embiid’s future with the Sixers is … let’s say something that people are paying attention to, so saying “I don’t think I’m gonna be in Philly for that” could raise some eyebrows. But Embiid (we assume) wasn’t trying to troll here, as the team is in Memphis and San Antonio, respectively, on both nights of WrestleMania. Here’s hoping that the Raw after WrestleMania happens at the Wells Fargo Center that Monday night so Embiid can attend that.

Doja Cat’s long-awaited Scarlet Tour kicked off tonight (October 31) in San Francisco. Joined by fellow rappers Ice Spice and Doechii on select dates, Doja Cat is set to perform one of the buzziest concerts of the year. And with a line-up this exciting and several hits in Doja and company’s repertoire, fans are certainly going to want to have something to remember this tour.

In clips shared by fans via Twitter, Doja’s merch consists of internet-themed, Y2K-inspired shirts ($45). One of the shirts looks like a digital collage comprised of Microsoft WordArt. This particular shirt has a white fabric and reads “DOJA CAT LOVES HER FANS” in large block letters.

There is also a manila-colored crop top ($45) which reads “Scarlet Tour USA” in red lettering.

One of the sassier options is a simple white tee with lowercase black lettering, reading “i f*cking hate doja cat.” Another one is a shirt that reads “I love penis,” with the latter word crossed out and replaced with “Jesus.” Both of these are $40.

A large black sweater ($85) contains red lettering featuring her website, promising fans their questions will be answered.

But for those wanting a more simple design, a t-shirt with the Scarlet logo ($40) is also available for purchase.

It’s not an especially big surprise that Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN broke the news of James Harden’s trade to the Los Angeles Clippers. Wojnarowski is usually pretty good at being first on things of this magnitude, and on the most recent episode of The Woj Pod, he broke down the extremely unpleasant work that went into reporting this one out.

You see, Wojnarowski sent out a tweet at 2:01 a.m. EST saying the trade happened, so he was obviously up extremely late working on this one. But as it turns out, in order to get the word of this one out there, he had to spend far far far far far too much time at Newark Liberty International Airport in Newark, New Jersey.

“They were grinding through this, really got into it on Monday night,” Wojnarowski said at the 5:09 mark of the pod. “I was at Newark Airport, I was getting ready to fly to L.A. to go out and be out with our NBA Countdown crew this week and NBA Today, and was suggested to me to not get on a plane, that you might be … it’s always my worst fear with this job, is you’re in a plane, and the wireless is spotty, and you can’t get to what you need to do. So, I sat in Newark Airport, watched the place close down and then almost start to reopen again. So, from like 5 p.m., they threw me out of the concierge lounge — or the United lounge, I should say — at around 10:30 p.m. when it closed, and then I just went and sat downstairs until I left about 3:30 in the morning.”

Wojnarowski said at that point he just went home, and at the time of the episode getting published, he was still figuring out when he’s getting on a flight to Los Angeles. He also compared this deal to the one that the two teams worked on in 2019, where the Clippers sent Tobias Harris to the Sixers in the very early hours of the morning.

Now, as someone who is from the great state of New Jersey, my jaw hit the floor when I heard this story, as I do not think there is anything I would dislike to do more than spending nearly 12 hours — many of them during the overnight hours — sitting in the Newark Airport because of a work thing. But there is a reason that Woj is much better at his job than I am at mine, so ultimately, I salute him and hope he’s not stuck at the airport nearly as long the next time he makes his way to Newark.

[h/t Awful Announcing]

The Simpsons predicted Donald Trump becoming president. It’s predicted Olympic events. It even predicted the Disney-Fox merger. (It didn’t, however, predict 9/11.) What if its latest prediction also came true? Fans of what was once called Twitter may hope so, because it involves Elon Musk.

Per Yahoo!, Sunday’s episode — the fourth in its 35th season, entitled “Thirst Trap: A Corporate Love Story” — concerned a young Silicon Valley hopeful voiced by Elizabeth Banks. She was clearly modeled on the incarcerated Theranos honcho Elizabeth Holmes, and she tries to woo Mr. Burns into funding her dream project. At one point Mr. Burns tells her he got her a little gift.

“A Twitter gift card?” she asks, in an episode clearly made before that controversial name change.

“No, I bought you Twitter, the whole company!” Burns replied. “It was a bargain, the previous owner had to sell it after his self-driving Mars rocket crashed into the international space station.”

The Simpsons has been on the air since the Bush I administration, and in that time most of its jokes and references haven’t come true. Still, that didn’t stop some from seeing a glimmer of hope that the world’s most popular social media service may one day be rid of its chaos agent of an owner.

As it happens, Musk himself is a Simpsons guest voice alum. Back in 2015 — long before he’d prolifically damage his own brand, to say nothing of Twitter — he provided his own voice in the episode “The Musk Who Fell to Earth.” Clearly that didn’t stop the writing staff from making him the target of their famous soothsaying.

(Via Yahoo!)

Kelly Clarkson is always showing love to younger artists. With over 20 years in the game, Clarkson has become an icon in her own right, but still has admiration for future generations of singers and songwriters. Today (October 31), in a special Halloween episode of her daytime talk show The Kelly Clarkson Show, Clarkson performed a haunting cover of Olivia Rodrigo’s hit single, “Vampire” during the episode’s “Kellyoke” segment.

The stage was lit up in ominous red lights, with wilting tree branches, fog, and smoke throughout. At the piano was a man, donning an all-black outfit, and wearing white makeup. Clarkson appeared on stage, also wearing all black with pale white makeup and painted teardrops under her eyes.

Musically, Clarkson delivered a stripped-down rendition of Rodrigo’s No. 1 hit, diving deep into her vocal range and reaching high notes, highlighting the pure emotion Rodrigo embeds into her lyrics.

This isn’t the first time Clarkson has covered a Rodrigo song. Back in 2021, Clarkson performed Rodrigo’s breakthrough single “Drivers License,” and then a year later, performed the Sour fan-favorite cut, “Traitor.”

You can see the performance of “Vampire” above.

Kelly Clarkson is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group

Megan Thee Stallion may be the founder of Hot Girl Summer, but she’s also winning Spooky Season. Over the course of the past weekend, the “Bongos” hitmaker slayed in a variety of Halloween costumes, some of which, she wore to her annual Hottieween party. It’s hard to keep up with the iconic figures and characters she nailed this year, but we put together a nifty guide to Meg’s uncanny recreations.

What are Megan The Stallion’s 2023 Halloween costumes?

This year’s Hottieween party was reportedly Tim Burton-themed, and Meg dressed as a flower from Burton’s 2010 adaptation of Alice In Wonderland. In this adaptation, the flowers are colorful plants, with human-like faces and characteristics.

Later on in the weekend, Meg took her Halloween talents to Instagram, where she shared a set of photos of herself dressed as Death The Kid from the anime and manga series, Soul Eater. Meg is an outspoken lover of anime, and the ambitious, driven Death The Kid matches her energy.

In another photo, Meg dressed as Greta from the movie Gremlins. Greta is character known for her allure, as well as her femininity and unapologetic seductive nature.

This Friday (November 3), Meg will drop “Cobra,” her first single since parting ways with 1501 Entertainment.

Over the summer, something unlikely happened at the movies: Two non-franchise movies gobbled up a ton of money. Barbie’s success wasn’t too surprising. Oppenheimer’s was, a bit. It’s a Christopher Nolan movie, and the throngs tend to flock to his work, even when they don’t feature millionaire crime fighters. But it’s also a three-hour downer epic about the father of the atomic bomb. Despite the length and grim subject matter, it killed at the box office, including on IMAX. Some months after opening, it’s coming back to the biggest big screens.

Per The Hollywood Reporter, Warner Bros. is re-releasing their super-sized non-biopic on a select number of IMAX screens. By select, we mean six (6) — four in California and New York City, one in London, and the last in Melbourne. The reissue will only last one week.

Since opening in mid-July, Oppenheimer has grossed nearly a billion bucks worldwide. Of that lofty sum, $183 million came from IMAX screens, some of which — as at New York City’s AMC Lincoln Square — exhibited on 70mm film.

In an age when even the biggest movies hit on-demand mere weeks into their theatrical runs — or, in the case of the new Five Nights at Freddy’s, on the same day — Oppenheimer has been an outlier. It will only hit on-demand streaming on November 21 — months after its release date buddy Barbie crossed over to home video. But starting this Friday, lucky viewers in four cities will get a chance to see it big, as Nolan intended.

(Via THR)

Trick-or-treating is probably a practice you retired many a Halloween ago. Or a few Halloweens ago. Or in 2022.

Let’s face it, a full-grown adult — in a costume — is supposed to be at a bar, or at the very least a house party getting sloshed, not going door to door asking for candy. Yet, many of us likely have fond memories of meeting up with our friends and marauding around the neighborhood, demanding free candy. It was the best sort of tradition for so many of us.

We’d plot our courses carefully in those halcyon days. We knew which houses had the straight dope and who was giving out toothbrushes or, gasp, apples. More often than not, the candy was single servings of Jolly Ranchers or Hershey’s Minis or Tootsie Pops. You know, the one-off bites of candy that no one loves but no one really hates either. But there was always one house where they were giving out full-sized candy bars. Maybe they’d just made a Costco run or perhaps they simply understood that passing out full-sized candy bars would make them legends. Either way, scoring a real candy bar on Halloween made you feel like Indiana Jones, snagging an Incan idol — you’d been through the shitstorm of toothbrushes and peppermint pinwheels and, now, you’d found Halloween gold.

This week, we’re going back to look at some classic American candy bars and ask the ultimate question: Which full-sized candy bar is not only the best but which would you be most stoked about getting while trick-or-treating?

12. 3 Musketeers

The Bar:

Even on a good day, a 3 Musketeers is kinda boring. It’s “filling” covered in chocolate. That filling is a light chocolate fluff that’s basically egg whites and milk chocolate which creates a very subpar nougat.

Bottom Line:

It sort of feels like seeing a full-sized candy bar going into your bag would be exciting. Then seeing it’s a 3 Musketeers would elicit a big ol’ ‘meh’ on the excitement meter.

11. Butterfinger

The Bar:

Hear us out. The actual flavor of a Butterfinger is rad. It’s a burnt creamy peanut buttery delight covered in chocolate.

Bottom Line:

But where this one falls down is the “crispy” consistency. Has anyone ever not been pissed off by how long it takes to clean your teeth after eating a Butterfinger? Exactly.

[Editor’s note: Fuck that, still worth it.]

10. Baby Ruth

The Bar:

Oh, the famous candy bar every thinks is named after infamous baseballer Babe Ruth. It’s named after a President and holder of the most 19th-century name ever Grover Cleveland and his daughter Ruth, for what it’s worth. The bar is a pretty satisfying treat. It’s a more substantial nougat with a layer of sweet caramel and then covered in salty peanuts and enrobed in chocolate.

Bottom Line:

It’s kind of a mess of a bar — the peanuts have exactly zero uniformity — but it’s actually pretty tasty. It’s one of those bars you kinda forget exist, then enjoy finding at the bottom of your trick-or-treat bag.

9. Almond Joy

The Bar:

Imagine a Mounds, but good. It’s amazing what a single almond can accomplish. The coconut base needs that almond-y crack to go along with the chocolate coating. Plus, there are two morsels in each package, which is a big win.

Bottom Line:

The best win though was when you snagged an Almond Joy with two almonds on one piece. Those were the days…

8. Mars Bar (Milky Way)

The Bar:

Here we have that fluffy nougat again. But the addition of caramel makes this bar light years beyond a 3 Musketeers. In this case, that milk chocolate nougat is a bit denser and was originally made to mimic a malted Milky Way milkshake, which was popular back in the 1920s.

Bottom Line:

It’s a pretty good bar, even if that fluffy nougat leaves you a bit wanting.

7. Caramello (Caramilk)

The Bar:

This one shouldn’t work as well as it does. It’s just Cadbury chocolate filled with runny caramel. That’s it! Yet, it’s in that barebones simplicity that this candy bar rises above the rest.

Bottom Line:

Let’s just say it’s great for what it is. Is it the best? Well, no, we’re only at number seven after all.

6. Crunch Bar

The Bar:

Nestlé Crunch bar > Hershey Krackel. Part of that is the simple fact that Nestlé uses better chocolate than Hershey in this case. Both bars contain a genius matrix of rice puffs that give the bar an airy crunch — so we are kinda splitting hairs here.

Bottom Line:

What we’re saying is that a chocolate bar with rice puffs is a pretty good candy bar to score. At the very least you won’t have to eat ten minis to get the same high.

5. 100 Grand

The Bar:

Now, take that Crunch bar and stuff it with sickeningly sweet caramel until it blows up. The crunch from the puffed rice mixed with the chocolate and caramel works a magical alchemy of sweet and savory delights.

Bottom Line:

It’s the perfect candy bar in many ways and the only reason it’s this low is that the rest are too classically great to deny.

4. Twix

The Bar:

The last four really come down to personal preference and the mood we’re in at the time. Twix hits a lot of nails square on the head. Two pieces in each package. Check. Chocolate and caramel. Check. A crispy and slightly savory cookie. Check.

Bottom Line:

It’s a perfect triad of flavors and textures: chocolate, sweet, savory/soft, gooey, and crunchy. Did we mention you get two in every package?

3. Kit Kat

The Bar:

This English candy bar is a global juggernaut. The thin wafers covered in milk chocolate are almost perfect when it comes to candy. The thin wafer and chocolate creme bring a soft and crunchy texture to the smooth chocolate coating. Plus, there are four bars, technically. There’s an interaction with the medium that makes a Kit Kat an outlier in the candy bar world. Breaking off the bars is part of what makes this candy bar so great.

Bottom Line:

Or, you can just bite into the whole bar and watch the world burn.

2. Snickers

The Bar:

Did you know Snickers was named after the Mars family’s favorite horse? Yes, Mars is an actual American family who makes candy (and billions of dollars) — it’s not just a company name. A Snickers is a satisfying candy bar all around. The nougat base is far more substantial than that of a 3 Musketeer for starters. Then there’s a good layer of caramel topped with a uniform row of salty peanuts mixed into the caramel. Then the whole thing’s enrobed with milk chocolate.

Bottom Line:

It’s basically the best parts of a Milky Way, Baby Ruth, and 3 Musketeers done in their best possible form in one candy bar.

1. Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups

The “Bar”:

Are peanut butter cups candy bars? Maybe. Maybe not. But, let’s face it, getting a full-sized package of two Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups is the biggest win of the night. If it’s a pack of the Big Cups, then you’ve officially won Halloween. The creamy chocolate and peanut butter are hard to beat. Mostly because peanut butter filling is better than any faux American nougat.

Bottom Line:

So, call it nostalgia or call our love for the legitimately transcendent pairing of chocolate and peanut butter. But this is hands down the winner.