Month: December 2023

The 2023 NFL season has been a strong one for the Jacksonville Jaguars, but the team’s fortunes were thrown into the realm of uncertainty on Monday evening. The Jaguars hosted the Cincinnati Bengals in a nationally televised clash and, with the score tied at 28-28 in the fourth quarter, Jacksonville was driving for a potential go-ahead score with Trevor Lawrence at the helm. However, Lawrence suffered an apparent leg injury after he was stepped on by an offensive lineman during a drop-back on third down.

Lawrence was visibly frustrated and clearly hampered, reacting strongly as soon as the play was over. Ultimately, he went to the locker room immediately and needed help to do so.

To make matters worse, the Jaguars missed a go-ahead field goal attempt on the next play, placing the game in further peril. Beyond the impact on Monday’s game against Cincinnati, however, Jacksonville simply is not the same team if Lawrence is sidelined for any length of time. At the time of this post, there are scant details on the nature of the injury, but Lawrence is the most valuable piece on Jacksonville’s roster and members of the franchise and its fanbase are undoubtedly experiencing anxiety as a result.

With just a few more weeks left in the year, late-night staple The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon is pulling out the stops for its last rounds of in-studio entertainment. There was nothing to write home about during last week’s airings (excluding Offset and Don Toliver’s performance of “Worth It“). This week is a complete about-face.

Here are the musical guests for The Tonight Show this week (December 4 through 8). All performances are subject to change.

Dua Lipa — Monday, December 4, 2023

On Monday, “Houdini” singer Dua Lipa will serve as the musical guest. In addition to Dua Lipa’s appearance, Oppenheimer actor Benny Safdie and Brad Paisley are scheduled to grace the show’s set.

Busta Rhymes — Tuesday, December 5, 2023

On Tuesday, Leave the World Behind actor Julia Roberts and comedian Hasan Minhaj will join Fallon for interviews. As for musical entertainment, Busta Rhymes is set to perform tracks from his latest album, Blockbusta, alongside special guests Cie, Trillian, and Rai.

J. Balvin — Wednesday, December 6, 2023

Wednesday’s episode is relatively light compared to the rest of the week. The Last Tycoon actor Matt Bomer will join Fallon for an interview. Meanwhile J. Balvin is set to be the musical performance for the night.

Olivia Rodrigo — Thursday, December 7, 2023

Thursday’s episode will feature two musicians. Ashley McBryde and Olivia Rodrigo are scheduled to appear, but only Rodrigo is confirmed as a performer for the evening. The highlighted interview for the broad will feature the finalists from Squid Game: The Challenge.

No Performer — Friday, December 8, 2023

For its final episode of the week, The Tonight Show will broadcast a cooking demonstration with Chef Daniel Humm instead of a musical performance. The episode will be filled with interviews with Eileen actor Anne Hathaway, Memory actor Peter Sarsgaard, and comedian Fumi Abe.

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

The Cincinnati Bengals entered Monday night’s game against the Jacksonville Jaguars with Jake Browning under center, as Joe Burrow is out for the season due to an injury. Browning, a veteran backup in the league, had never started until Burrow went down, but looked rather comfortable going up against the Jacksonville Jaguars on the road.

This is what makes the fact that the team had Tyler Boyd, who is a wide receiver, throw a pass all the more insane. While Boyd had thrown five passes over his NFL career coming into Monday night, he had never thrown an interception. But his sixth pass, which came on a first-and-10 in the third quarter with the ball deep in Bengals territory, was destined to fail from the jump. Here’s what happened.

I think the idea here was to have Browning throw it back to Boyd, who then threw to Ja’Marr Chase down the field. That didn’t happen, while the Jags made it a point to take out Browning, which took away any chance for Boyd to throw the back to him. It appears that Boyd then noticed that Joe Mixon had blockers and a ton of space, so he attempted to get it over to him, but Boyd threw it on a rope instead of lofting it over Josh Allen, which meant that Allen had one of the easiest picks of his career. And a few plays later, Trevor Lawrence was able to make Cincinnati pay by reaching into the end zone for a touchdown.

The 2023 NBA In-Season Tournament continued on Monday evening with the first two quarterfinal matchups in the event’s history. Fittingly, the evening began with a memorable clash between the Indiana Pacers and Boston Celtics in Indianapolis, with the Pacers ultimately advancing with a 122-112 home win. The game was riveting for both casual and die-hard observers, but the major storyline was the play of All-Star guard Tyrese Haliburton, who erupted for his first career triple-double and keyed the closing kick that sent the Pacers to Las Vegas.

Boston led by seven points at the half, taking advantage of poor two-point shooting in the first half from the Pacers. In fact, Haliburton had only seven points on 3-for-8 shooting before halftime, but the barrage was on the way. Some of the most important work came in the third quarter when the Pacers won the period by a 37-23 margin and Haliburton produced 12 points and five assists in fewer than nine minutes of action.

Indiana led for the majority of the fourth quarter, though Boston delivered a 7-0 run to tie the game at 94-94 with approximately six minutes left. In fact, the Celtics led briefly in the final minutes, but the Pacers saved the best for last. Jayson Tatum tied the game for Boston with 1:57 to go, and that was countered by a 9-0 run that put the game away for Indiana.

Haliburton kicked off the run with a four-point play, and the rest of the spurt seemed to happen in an instant.

When that explosion was over, the win was all but academic for the Pacers, and the atmosphere was wild at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. Haliburton stole the show with his first career triple-double, finishing with 26 points, 13 assists, and 10 rebounds. However, Indiana had seven players in double figures, and the Pacers lived up to the hype of the league’s No. 1 offense by shooting 19-for-40 from three-point distance.

Throughout the season, Indiana has relied on the ability to simply out-score opponents, and that was also the case in this contest. Not only did the Pacers put up 122 points against a top-flight Boston defense, but the Pacers shot 55 percent from the field and 50 percent from three-point range in the second half to finish it off.

From here, the Pacers will take on either the New York Knicks or Milwaukee Bucks in one of the semifinal tilts on Thursday in Las Vegas. In the meantime, Haliburton and the Pacers garnered exposure in front of a national audience on Monday, and the NBA enjoyed a fantastic advertisement for its product with a memorable and exciting win for an up-and-coming team.

Traveling can be stressful for anyone, but it’s particularly challenging for parents with really young kids. The sitting still for long periods of time, the changes in schedule, the abundance of stimuli, the unexpected stomach bugs, the suddenly running out of diaper wipes…all the things that make trips triggering for toddlers and therefore chaotic for mom and dad.

And while there might not be a way to completely avoid every travel-induced aggravation (it’s all part of the journey!) there are definitely tips and tricks and tools to make it a bit smoother of a process.

For one mom, a peaceful trip always begins with a roll of painter’s tape.

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“I swear to you. It’s great on the plane but also on vacation,” Nichola Knox, a Canada-based mom wrote on Instagram last month.

“It’s great on the plane but also on vacation,” she continued. “Label the kid’s cups, a bandaid for when your toddler ‘really needs one,’ taping over locks and drawers you don’t want them getting into. The list goes on. It’s forever the ‘weird’ thing I bring on trips.”

In Knox’s video you can see the tape being used in myriad ways—both practical and creative. On the plane, it’s used as a snack holder and extra cup holder, a button block, plus as various ways to keep her kid entertained—window stickers, a “bridge” for his toy car, letters for a little arts and crafts time, etc.

Then at the hotel, she created little crawling roads mapped out on the floor. Nifty.

See on Instagram

The video received a ton of positive feedback, with views calling the idea “expert-level parenting.”

Even the official Instagram account for airline WestJet left a comment saying “Inflight entertainment that we never thought of! Very creative. ✈️.”

Meanwhile, one person added, “If I was sitting with you I would totally be participating in all the fun tape-based shenanigans! This is brilliant.”

Knox isn’t the only one on the painter’s tape bandwagon. Another mom called it a “baby proofing workhorse” in a TikTok video saying it’s great for keeping anything dangling above out of reach, as well as covering up and outlets while at hotels.

Meanwhile, another mom shared that when flying, she would board earlier than her husband and son and put a little tape over the latch to the dining tray table, since he was “going through a phase where he liked to open and close everything.”

Honestly, it does make sense that this item could be such a travel friendly tool for parents. The beauty of painter’s tape is that it usually doesn’t cause any mess or damage to the surfaces we stick it on. It’s super easy to simply peel off and go, especially when it’s only going to be used for a few hours.

And of course, parents can find plenty of ways to use painters tape at home, too. Mom blogger Kelsey Pomeroy has a few suggestions—makeshift chip clips, light blockers, lint rollers, reminders notes…just to name a few.

Sometimes the biggest parenting win is finding an easy solution that allows for more time to simply enjoy the moment. Seems like this hack is one of those wins. Happy traveling, moms and dads!

This week, Jimmy Kimmel Live has a lot to offer viewers. Each episode is sure to deliver a comedic punch, especially when politicians are the butt of a joke. But this week’s programming hopes to kick things into overdrive on the musical front, with several musicians are set to appear in varying capacities.

Here are the musical guests for Jimmy Kimmel Live this week (December 4 through 8). All performances are subject to change.

No Performer — Monday, December 4, 2023

Today, there won’t be a formal musical performance. However, Somewhere in Queens actor Ray Romano and Bookie star Sebastian Maniscalco will appear as special guests.

Joshua Ray Walker — Tuesday, December 5, 2023

The show will have its first musical guest of the week on Tuesday. Budding country music talent Joshua Ray Walker is set to serenade the studio audience. With a new holiday single, “Christmas In Dallas,” and his latest album, What Is It Even?, available on streaming platforms, Walker has options on what to treat the crowd to.

Other guests slated to make a cameo on Tuesday’s episode include Leo comedian Bill Burr and Killers of the Flower Moon actress Lily Gladstone.

Grupo Frontera — Wednesday, December 6, 2023

Leave the World Behind actor Mahershala Ali and Past Lives star Greta Lee will sit down for interviews with Kimmel. Mexican rock band Grupo Frontera is the featured performer. Grupo Frontera has collaborated with other Latin stars, such as Bad Bunny.

Atarashii Gakko! — Thursday, December 7, 2023

On Thursday, all of the guests are musicians by trade. Adam Levine is set to appear. Halle Bailey will also appear, not to perform her solo debut single, “Angel,” but to discuss her role in the new film version of The Color Purple. The confirmed musical guest for the evening is the girl group Atarashii Gakko!

No Performer — Friday, December 8, 2023

At this time, Jimmy Jimmy Live! hasn’t confirmed any special appearances or musical guests for Friday’s show.

The good news: There’s a new trailer for Grand Theft Auto VI. It’s the series’ first since Grand Theft Auto V from all the way back in 2013. But the wait is over, right? Well, there’s also bad news: Round six isn’t due until sometime in 2025. And people inevitably lost their minds over the news.

First off, the trailer promises more sociopathic mayhem, this time with the series’ first female protagonist. Her name is Lucia and she’s one-half of a criminal couple tearing through a fictionalized version of Miami. The latest installment promises what a press release described as “the biggest, most immersive” installment yet, allowing players to travel to “the state of Leonida, home to the neon-soaked streets of Vice City and beyond.”

Sounds fun! What many didn’t think sounded fun, though, was that it won’t drop for another year-plus.

While GTA fans will have to be extra patient for more, they did get something early: The trailer, which was supposed to drop on Tuesday, instead arrived on Monday. Perhaps the early release had something to do with it being leaked early, prompting a quick response from Rockstar and/or Twitter/X.

The mixup caused a lot of jokes as well.

Grand Theft Auto 6 has a history with leaks. Last year someone surreptitiously released chunks of the in-development game online, in what was dubbed one of the biggest leaks in history.

After the trailer was released, another funny thing happened: People started talking about Grand Theft Auto 7, which, given the lengthy wait in between GTA releases, should be a good long while, too.

Anyway, hold steadfast, GTA heads. You can watch the trailer for 6 in the video above.

The ManningCast is known for going in … let’s call it pretty strange directions. Peyton and Eli Manning’s occasional simulcast during Monday Night Football games will bring in folks from worlds of sports and entertainment who use the laid back environment as an opportunity to have a little bit of fun, which occasionally leads to things like “Arnold Schwarzenegger brought his donkey onto the show.”

Fast forward to Monday night, when Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa joined the Mannings during the game between the Cincinnati Bengals and the Jacksonville Jaguars. While it’s a game that Tagovailoa could watch closely due to the way it impacts the Miami Dolphins — Jacksonville is fighting for the No. 1 seed in the AFC, Cincinnati has a shot of sneaking into the playoffs and potentially being a team Miami will have to play — he decided to go in another direction and show off his ability to play Eric Clapton’s “Tears in Heaven” on a guitar.

After responding to Peyton’s request for “Rocky Top” by playing “Sweet Home Alabama,” Tagovailoa thought for a second about what he could do. He then confidently said that he could play “Tears in Heaven,” and credit to him, that is certainly “Tears in Heaven.” Peyton tried to have some fun by singing stuff that happened in the game to the tune of Clapton’s song, but I will be 100 percent honest: That is second here to the fact that I could have had 1,000 guesses as to what Tua would play here and I would have not ended up on “Tears in Heaven.”

The team at The Late Show With Stephen Colbert has kicked things into overdrive following its relatively relaxed Thanksgiving week programming schedule. Last week, David Letterman returned triumphantly to the beloved late-night program, but the musical guests were sparse. That currently isn’t the case this week.

Here are the musical guests for The Late Show With Stephen Colbert this week (December 4 through 8). All performances are subject to change.

Jason Isbell And The 400 Unit — Monday, December 4, 2023

Tonight, to start the week off, host Stephen Colbert will sit down for a chat with The Bear actress Sarah Paulson and musician Jason Isbell. Isbell and his band, The 400 Unit, will also serve as the featured entertainer for Monday’s episode. The group is expected to perform tracks from their album Weathervanes.

Daniel Ceasar — Tuesday, December 5, 2023

Mark Ruffalo will join Colbert for a conversation on the couch. As far as the guest performer, Daniel Caesar will take up that mantel. Viewers are hoping to hear records from his latest project, Never Enough.

Nicki Minaj — Wednesday, December 6, 2023

According to The Late Show’s programming schedule, Wednesday is set to feature two special guests. Both Nicki Minaj and Sara Bareilles are listed as featured cameos. Although the schedule does not explicitly state that Nicki will perform, fans have their fingers crossed. On Friday, December 8, Nicki’s long-awaited album, Pink Friday 2, is set to hit streaming platforms, so a surprise live set will serve as a cherry on top.

Sara Bareilles — Thursday, December 7, 2023

While Sara Bareilles is scheduled to appear the day prior, the show’s schedule notes that her performance won’t air until Thursday, December 7. As for the interviewee for the show, former representative Liz Cheney and Oath and Honor author will take up that mantle.

No Performer — Friday, December 8, 2023

As of today, no new episode will air. Instead The Late Show will re-air its’ October 25, 2023 broadcast in which both the band Talking Heads and comedian Mae Martin sat down for interviews.

Over the years, Ashanti has been revisiting her music catalog. The “Gotta Move On” singer is aiming to pull a Taylor Swift, which is to say hoping to regain the masters of her older albums. While reminiscing on the past, Ashanti happened to reconnect with a very famous ex, Nelly. Since their lovey-dovey Las Vegas performance in April, the pair haven’t left each other’s side. Now, their romantic party of two might be expanding soon.

On Monday, December 4, US Weekly alleged that Ashanti and Nelly are expecting their first child together. Fans online quickly elated over the rumor, given that the couple dated on and off for nearly 10 years. Given the news, it’s worth asking how many kids does Ashanti have?

The answer is: Ashanti doesn’t have any children. As for Nelly, he has four children of his own: two children (a daughter and son) from prior relationships and two adopted children. Nelly’s adoptive children are his biological niece and nephew. Nelly formerly adopted his niece and nephew following the death of his sister Jackie, who battled health complications from leukemia.

If Ashanti is indeed expecting, this would make for Nelly’s third biological child.