Month: December 2023

There’s still some time left for holiday shopping, and those of you who haven’t finished that process yet know that some people can be difficult to buy for. Then, there’s Halle Bailey’s to-buy-for list, which features Beyoncé and Oprah. What does one get for two people who can buy essentially anything they’ve ever wanted? That’s the situation Bailey faces right now, and she asked Jimmy Kimmel for some help.

Bailey was a guest on Jimmy Kimmel Live! last night (December 7) in promotion of her role in The Color Purple, and towards the end of the chat, they talked about Oprah Winfrey (a producer on the movie) and building a relationship with her. Kimmel wondered if Bailey has to buy her a Christmas present, and Bailey responded, “So that’s really hard to think about, because I’ve been thinking about all my Christmas presents I have to give this year, because there’s so many people that have helped me on this journey of this whole year: Beyoncé, now Oprah’s one of them. And it’s so hard to think of: What could you get them? Do you have any ideas? Because I don’t know.”

Kimmel had an idea ready to go quickly, but that speed came at the expense of quality: He responded, “Well, you know, everybody likes a popcorn bucket. Maybe find out what their favorite team is. Beyoncé’s from Houston, maybe get her an Astros popcorn bucket?”

After offering a couple more ideas (fancy pretzels and bath soaps), he asked Bailey how his attempts were landed and she gave a polite, “You know, they’re OK.”

A cruel twist of fate would be Bailey thinking gifts like those are beneath Beyoncé and Oprah, but it turns out they’re used to fancier things and would therefore actually appreciate a change of pace with a more humble present. (Maybe Bailey could find something on one of our 2023 holiday gift guides?)

Check out the interview above.

We all know that Keanu Reeves isn’t really John Wick, but he might as well be. He knows the stunts, he drives the cars, he even watches Formula 1, which is infamously dangerous and hard to understand (mysterious!). He’s the real deal, so it’s honestly absurd that someone could watch John Wick and think “hey, that’s the guy I want to rob.” But it happened and now we all have to face the reality that someone out there will have to pay for these crimes.

While Reeves is out on tour with Dogstar, his ’90s alt-rock revival band, his Los Angeles home was robbed after a group of burglars in ski masks broke in. According to TMZ, at 7 pm on Wednesday, police arrived at Reeves’ house after an anonymous tip, though they were unable to find anyone. Then, they returned at 1 am:

TMZ also reports that “the culprits took one firearm from the home before making a run for it,” though it’s unclear if anything else was taken. Unfortunately, this seems to be a common occurrence for Reeves, who has had intruders in the past.

Obviously, Reeves won’t resort to violence to solve this (those days are over, allegedly) but it’s astonishing that the burglars were able to get away with it in the first place. Do you really want to piss off a guy who can do this? Or this? His stamina should scare any normal person.

(Via TMZ)

Pardon me while I compose myself; I have real tears streaming down my face after watching Tokischa‘s hilarious new video for “Daddy” with Sexyy Red. In the video, Tokischa plays the titular sugar daddy character, complete with a padded bodysuit, fake facial hair, and gold teeth, and treats Sexyy to a shopping spree and fine dining. Red, meanwhile, appears less than engaged — although she is perfetly willing to accept the expensive gifts.

She also meets the real Tokischa sans makeup in the bathroom where they bond over the travails of tricking before heading off to a ball party where Sexyy spits her verse for the appreciation of the gworls. If you didn’t think you’d ever see queens voguing to a Sexyy Red verse, you’ll find that you were wrong, but you won’t be disappointed. Tokischa and Sexyy might have been an unexpected combination, but they’re a match made in heaven.

Tokischa has been slowly but surely establishing a foothold on popular culture stateside thanks to her strategic collabs over the past year or so, which have included Madonna (“Hung Up“), Coi Leray (“Players“), and Kali Uchis (opening for the Red Moon In Venus Tour). Meanwhile, Sexyy Red has easily been one of rap’s biggest it-girls of the year with an appearance on Drake’s new album, a team-up with Latto and Young Nudy, and her breakout project, Hood Hottest Princess.

Watch the “Daddy” video above.

Taylor Swift has ruled that her short-but-prolific 1989 (Taylor’s Version) era is over, despite the re-recorded album still sitting at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. This morning, December 8, Swift reverted back to Midnights imagery across her social media accounts. This isn’t notable on its own, but this summer, Swift switched from Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)-coded profile pictures back to Midnights days before announcing 1989 (Taylor’s Version).

So, we must address the question again.

When Does Reputation (Taylor’s Version) Come Out?

We’ve been fooled before. Swift performed her final The Eras Tour show of 2023 on November 26 in São Paulo, Brazil and had Swifties convinced that she would announce Reputation (Taylor’s Version) as her next re-recorded album. There were several signs perceived as obvious clues, including her backup dancers all using black heart emojis in their Instagram posts and an eerie message from the Empire State Building (complete with a black heart emoji). Veteran Swifties even noticed that, suspiciously, the Reputation phone case on Swift’s official store was 66 percent off while she performed her 66th The Eras Tour show.

No such announcement came, and Swift’s The Eras Tour is on hiatus until February. But Swift’s social media activity sparks hope that we still might get a Reputation (Taylor’s Version) release date before the end of the year. Her 34th birthday is next Wednesday, December 13, after all — prime real estate for a big-time announcement.

Lil Yachty’s rockstar days are far from over. On his latest album, Let’s Start Here, the musician aimed to break free of his “Soundcloud rapper” label by making a sharp turn into psychedelic rock. With the past releases “Another Late Night” with Drake and “The Secret Recipe” with J. Cole, Yachty demonstrated that he can still rap with the top dogs.

However, he dips back into rock for his appearance on Netflix’s Leave The World Behind soundtrack. The featured record, “The Paradigm,” blends Yachty’s rap and rock sonics. “My baby a real geeker / My baby a real geeker / Baby off a 60, lookin’ pissy / I don’t drink no trissy, sh*t get tricky / Call them boys in person, sh*t got sticky / F*ckin’ up a sack, on that p*ssy / Give me the light,” melody sings Yachty.

Listen to “The Paradigm” above. But “The Paradigm” isn’t the only new release from Lil Yachty. On the rap front, Yachty linked with producer Southside for his new single, “Gimme Da Light.” Despite the track’s title, the song isn’t in any way a tipping of the hat toward his foe Sean Paul’s dance hall classic.

Check out Southside & Lil Yacthy’s “Gimme Da Light” below.

Thanks to the recent surge in popularity for Suits, which has stayed at the top of streaming charts for the back half of the year, USA Network is starting to realize that people really like its breezy “blue sky” series. While the Meghan Markle series is obviously the big one right now, there’s has been a surge of interest in shows like Monk, White Collar, Burn Notice, and Psych. Strap in for more shows like that.

USA Network is reportedly making a pivot back to “light, frothy character-based procedurals,” which have been a huge draw on streaming services.

Via Deadline:

After the end of the WGA strike, NBCU scripted executives put out feelers about their USA plans and already have identified a handful of ideas they are considering for development but there are no deals yet, sources said. The goal is to roll out the first new series in 2025.

Mindful of the economic realities of basic cable, which has been heavily impacted by cord-cutting and the overall decline in linear viewing, I hear budgets are being capped at $2M-$3M an episode.

Considering USA is a subsidiary of NBC Universal, viewers can expect this new batch of “breezy dramas” to most likely appear on Peacock next to the original batch of USA favorites.

(Via Deadline)

Yellowstone creator Taylor Sheridan’s first hit Paramount show will eventually wind down while possibly being fraught with drama, but before that happens, the ex-Sons of Anarchy cop will continue working on his 8,742 other shows. This, of course, is a slight exaggeration, and Sheridan addicts do have Lawmen: Bass Reeves to occupy them at the moment while looking down the road for 6666 and more 1923. However, more non-Yellowstone action will also arrive in the form of Land Man starring an 1883 actor.

The title of this show unfortunately reminds me of Sex and the City‘s Mr. Big talking about the “Jazz Man,” but you’d better believe that we can change the subject and discuss what will be coming with Land Man:

Plot

Billy Bob Thornton is already a Sheridan veteran after portraying U.S. Marshal Jim Courtright in 1883, but he will zoom ahead to a different century in this show that does not exist inside the Yellowstone timeline. The story is based upon the same-named hit podcast, and Thornton picks up the role of an oil company crisis manager. Sheridan hasn’t yet elaborated on what decade this show will take place, but a brief promotional clip shows not only an oil field but also contemporary Dallas, Texas, including the famous Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge that opened in 2012.

Thornton’s character will wheels and deal throughout Texas while tangling with “roughnecks” and “wildcat billionaires” who found their fortune in, you guessed it, Texas Tea. Yes, this sounds like a role made for the lead actor, and in an interview shared by Paramount Plus, Sheridan revealed that he specifically developed this role and series for Billy Bob. The actor responded by gushing, “When you see writing that good, it really excites you.” Thornton further revealed, “It’s about the world of the oil business that we generally don’t see.”

Cast

Paramount+ (where this series will presumably stream before airing on old-fashioned TV) has not yet announced the inevitable A-listers who will accompany Billy Bob. However, casting for extras appears to be happening as we speak. On Facebook, Legacy Casting seems to have put out a casting call those with relevant experience who’d like to make some magic happen:

Hey all! We’re looking for REAL PEOPLE who have experience as Oil and Gas Workers in the FIELD and would want to possibly be on camera for a MAJOR TV SHOW for Paramount+. This is a Taylor Sheridan show that will start filming in 2024 in North Texas (as well as other parts of TX too.)

Release Date

Land Man doesn’t have a precise release date yet, but that casting announcement claims that filming will begin in 2024, so it’s entirely possible that this show could arrive before the final Yellowstone episodes, which will start filming in late 2024.

Trailer

Obviously, no trailer can exist yet since not even Taylor Sheridan can work that fast. However, here he is discussing how all of his shows harken back to “a forgotten part of the American experience.” The Land Man section arrives close to the end of this video.

Fingers crossed for a Land Man release date soon.

Napheesa Collier is entering her prime as a WNBA star and a voice of women’s basketball. After a season away from her Minnesota Lynx in 2022 following the birth of her first child, Collier returned in 2023 and made the All-WNBA First Team for the first time in her career.

Off the court, Collier continues to be a driving force for the game. Rather than playing overseas like some WNBA athletes, she stays home in the winter on one of the WNBA’s player marketing agreements, advocating for the league and her team during the offseason. Collier also recently announced a touring 3-on-3 women’s pro league called Unrivaled alongside reigning WNBA MVP (and fellow UConn alum) Breanna Stewart that is expected to launch next offseason.

This winter, Collier is working with U.S. Bank, a recent addition to the WNBA Changemakers group as the league’s official bank, to help develop personalized resources for WNBA players to develop greater financial literacy and plan for their futures as athletes. U.S. Bank not only is a league sponsor but a partner to players finding their footing with new income streams and a major lifestyle change in the W.

“As part of the Changemakers platform, U.S. Bank has championed the efforts of WNBA players beyond the court and has demonstrated their support by providing diverse opportunities and platforms to empower these athletes,” says Colie Edison, chief growth officer at the WNBA.

Collier spoke with Dime about her work with Changemakers, her career year in Minnesota, and how she continues to improve on and off the court heading into her fifth season.

What did it look like for you to get involved with this partnership and be a little bit more personalized and use your experience to craft resources for WNBA players and kind of make it something that might be used more? What was your mindset and how did you work with U.S. Bank to get it done?

Yeah, it was awesome. What I really liked about U.S. Bank as a Changemaker is that they weren’t just you know, like, giving us money. And just saying that, we support the W, we support women’s sports, they’re actually making a change.

So they interviewed a bunch of us asking what our individual needs were, because, I mean, the way that we deal with finances is a little bit different than the average person. First of all, you’re coming into like a lot of money at one time. It’s the first job for many people, and they’re doing it even earlier, but we don’t learn about financial anything really in school, like through mandatory classes in your major or something.

So a lot of us are coming in blind. So they talked to us one on one asking what specifically we need. So, for example, we have to pay taxes in every state that we play in, how to deal with the money that you get overseas and what to do with the taxes there, things like that, that average non-professional athletes don’t have to deal with.

And they created this microsite with just basic financial information, like to learn about that and then about our individual needs, and then they also set up where you can talk to someone on a one-on-one basis, if you have further questions, so it was just really in depth and really personalized, and I thought it was awesome.

I don’t want to ask the question in a way that throws UConn or anything else under the bus, but it does surprise me to hear that even at a big program like that, that there weren’t more of those resources. I mean, I guess it probably has changed with NIL, but what did you have available to you in college to kind of get prepared?

Honestly I don’t remember anything. Again, we didn’t have NIL so it’s not even like we had this money but yeah, we were preparing to be athletes. So we knew that was coming one day. But I honestly think it needs to start even earlier, in like middle school and then high school, learning how to manage your money. Because what percentage of people become professional athletes, even if you go to UConn? Not everyone becomes a professional athlete. So you still have to learn how to manage your money no matter how much it is. So I think we need to start in schools way earlier than when you get to college.

I know part of what U.S. Bank is doing here involves some orientation sessions at the Draft. What have you heard about or seen from players who have the experience with NIL, whether that’s your connection still with the players still at UConn, or rookies and young players coming into the league now, and how is that changing things from your point of view? What do you think the W can do to kind of bridge that gap?

I have talked to a couple players and it’s honestly just like such a different world. It’s crazy. I mean, they’re getting offered like $100,000 to go to the school and that’s just baseline. That isn’t included in the other endorsements or anything when they get there.

So it’s just like a crazy amount of money for kids so young, and especially if you’ve never seen anything like that before, which most people haven’t. But I think education is just so important. Like I think it should be mandatory for all student athletes, especially with all these NIL deals, that they have to take a financial literacy course. So many people come in, we’ve had rookies before that come in that didn’t even know you had to pay taxes. So it’s just like, things that just a basic baseline I think needs to be taught to these kids that are coming in and they’re getting money earlier. So it needs to really begin like our freshman year in college at the very latest hopefully it would be done earlier, but for NIL (athletes), first year in college.

We’ve seen some cities back down on the idea of bringing a W franchise in and we don’t know what’s true and what’s not with all that. But what would your message be to a potential investor or local leader who is thinking about bringing an expansion franchise to the place that they live or the place that they lead? What’s the case? Why do you think it should be done when we’re seeing some people think maybe it shouldn’t?

Well, I mean, setting aside you know, all the amazing things and opportunities that women’s sports provides and growing the game and all that stuff, you’re talking to business people. This is a great business investment.

Women’s sports is on the rise, and even in the past five years, like the value and the valuation of our teams has gone up millions of dollars. And so, in my opinion, you’re able to get in for cheap right now. I mean, the NBA teams are going for like a billion dollars, so get in on the ground. I think it’s a really sound business investment.

And I hope that they start to recognize that because the train is moving really fast. I mean, like I said, the growth that we’ve even had the last couple years, the prices going up millions and millions of dollars. So get in while you can would be my suggestion.

If we can go on the court for a couple of questions — it was cool to see your development this season, obviously, especially coming back from having a child and being away from the court and everything else, but even just continuing to develop as a player, high usage, high level of efficiency and you we didn’t see the turnovers go up much at all. What are you unlocking in your game that has kind of allowed you to do more without sacrificing efficiency or you know, caring for the ball and being able to handle so much for your offense and defense on a nightly basis?

I think just the mentality that I’m the leader on the team now and especially on the court. I knew that it was my job and I had to perform otherwise we weren’t going to have a chance to win the game. So picking up that responsibility and being there for my team and wanting to do my job within the team, I think really pushed me to do that.

It forced me to work really hard this offseason, come back after having my daughter because I knew that I was going to have this responsibility and I didn’t want to let my team or myself down.

I’m sure this is something you’ve been asked before but especially just as do create more offense for your team more consistently, are there players you model your game after? I know I’ve seen (Collier’s husband and trainer) Alex (Bazzell) on Twitter pumping up your inside the arc, one on one, face up game and those fallaway jumpers and some of that stuff and driving to the basket.

​​Yeah, I’ve always kind of modeled my game after how Kobe was in the mid-post game. And so that was kind of the foundation for myself as a player. You know, I love being in close. I love that area. And then just growing from there.

I feel like I take things from a lot of different players. I really like the things that Stewie does, and I think we have similar body types. We’re both really long, obviously she’s longer than me still. But I’ve taken stuff from her.

I like the things that Elena Delle Donne does, that KD does. I feel like I try to find people in my position that have a similar body type and skill sets for what I do and see what I like, see what is hard for me to play against when I’m playing them, and what works and then you know, take it and model it and you know just be myself.

Alright, last thing would just be what surprised you the most or impressed you the most about the season that (2023 No. 2 overall pick) Diamond Miller had this year with the Lynx? What stood out what do you what do you think people maybe didn’t notice about her season that you would want to shine a light on?

Diamond was awesome. I mean, first of all, she’s just so fun to be around, so coachable. And I think her confidence in herself is just unmatched, and so rare to see in any player but let alone a rookie. It didn’t matter, as always with rookies in your rookie year she had ups and downs and she got frustrated of course, but he was always super confident in herself and took the adjustment to whatever coach was saying or any of us were saying, anything. She took it in stride, she tried to be better, she never let it get her down. So just the resilience I think was really impressive to watch and see.

How do you measure a year? If you’re pop culture fans like we are, it’s by looking back on the wildest, most inspiring, and totally unforgettable stories that happened in the world of TV, film, music, and beyond.

That’s what the latest episode of Culture Quickbites is ready to do, recruiting host Drew Dorsey to run through the list of moments that crowded our timelines and took up too much space in our group chats. We’re talking about the live music takeover with pop icons like Beyonce and Taylor Swift dominating on stage and helped to save the box office. Speaking of saving, some of TV’s most beloved shows just couldn’t be this year, and while finales are always sad, prestige dramas like Barry and Succession went out on a high. What’s next for the streaming small screen? We’re dying to find out.

And while most of the episode’s highlights center around all the ways we entertained ourselves during this strange year, Culture Quickbites couldn’t reflect on 2023’s biggest moments without reminding everyone that this was the year we finally learned we’re not alone. (E.T., we’ve got your number.)

Check out the full episode above for our full 2023 pop culture celebration.