Ja Rule last released an album in 2012. Pain Is Love 2, the Queens rapper’s seventh studio album, was released during his incarceration for tax evasion and gun possession. While it did make the Billboard 200 chart, it only reached No. 197, selling just over 3,000 copies its first week. Since then, Ja has been better known for three things: his undying feud with 50 Cent, a meme started by a Dave Chappelle bit, and co-signing the Fyre Festival boondoggle, which almost landed him right back in prison for fraud.
It looks like that may change soon, though. Although no one has really asked for one, it appears that the mogul has been working on a new project, writing on Twitter, “In full Album mode… #CWWTST.” Intriguingly enough, it might be a good time for it; Ja’s billed to perform in the UK, Ireland, and Scotland this spring for The Sunrise Tour celebrating 25 years since the release of his debut album Venni Vetti Vecci.
We’re not entirely sure what a Ja Rule album would sound like in 2024, but he’s not alone in making a turn back to his original day job. 50 Cent has been promising his own new album, saying it’ll be his last.
It looks like we may finally be getting new music from The XX. In an interview with NME, member Romy Madley Croft revealed that she is back in the studio with her bandmates, Oliver Sim and Jamie Smith.
Both Sim and Croft released their debut solo albums in 2022 and 2023, respectively. However, Smith hasn’t released a full-length solo album since 2015’s In Colour, under the moniker Jamie XX.
“It’s quite different being back in the studio with The XX,” Croft said. “I think Oliver and Jamie and I have all tried new things and have learned a lot from the different projects, and I think that’s quite healthy to be like, ‘What have you learned? What should we do now?’ I think it’s wide open, and it feels exciting to sort of be starting again in a way.”
Croft says it’s too early to tell what the band’s new music will sound like, but she’s excited to apply what she’s learned in the seven years since the release of the band’s 2017 album, I See You.
“I think that, for me, I’m excited to pick up the guitar again and embrace that sound, but do something in a new way,” she said. “I think I want to keep evolving though. I think we all do. That’s why I wanted to do this project, to learn and specifically to work with other people. To learn how they work. To come back to Oliver and Jamie and think, ‘Well, I learned this stuff from these other people, and we can bring that fresh energy into things.’”
The Oklahoma City Thunder have gone from one of the best stories of the young NBA season to a full-fledged threat in the Western Conference. Their recent run of wins since Christmas has sent a clear message that they are capable of not only hanging with but beating up on the best teams in the league, taking down the Timberwolves, Nuggets, and Celtics in succession — with the wins over Minnesota and Denver being by 20+ points each.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has a strong case for being the MVP favorite as we start 2024, as the Thunder point guard is averaging 31.4 points, 6.4 assists, 5.7 rebounds, and 2.6 steals per game with a 64.5 true shooting percentage. His performance against the Celtics on Tuesday night was emblematic of the continued growth of his game, and how he’s at the point where he can seemingly get to his spots and get his shot off at will.
Gilgeous-Alexander plays at his own pace and with a unique rhythm that seems to bother defenders, as he moves off-beat compared to most players but is always on balance. His style may not be the most aesthetically pleasing, but it’s unbelievably effective and because he has become so comfortable and confident in playing his game. The Celtics tried everything they could to slow him down, sending various combinations of size, length, and speed at him, but SGA was undeterred, pulling up over smaller defenders (or bigger ones who sagged off) and driving by those that tried to crowd him with his long strides.
While Gilgeous-Alexander is the engine that makes the Thunder go, he has an unbelievably well put together supporting cast around him. OKC is the best shooting team in the NBA by a good margin, knocking down 39.3 percent of their threes as a team — and that’s with SGA in a down year at 33 percent from three. Jalen Williams, Chet Holmgren, Luguentz Dort, Cason Wallace, Isaiah Joe, Aaron Wiggins, and Kenrich Williams are all shooting better than 40 percent from deep. Holmgren, in his redshirt rookie year, has been dynamic on both ends of the floor, serving as the rim deterrent they were missing a year ago on defense (2.7 blocks per game), while giving them spacing beyond the arc and spacing above the rim when he rolls to the hoop. Jalen Williams continues to blossom into a terrific No. 2 on the wing alongside SGA on offense, while wreaking havoc on defense with his length — something the Thunder have in spades across the roster.
They have taken their success from last year and built on it, playing with a tremendous confidence and belief that they belong with the NBA’s best. Oklahoma City boasts top-6 rankings in both offensive and defensive rating, and are allowing the lowest field goal percentage to opponents in the NBA this season. As a team they don’t shy away from big games or big moments, and they have a superstar who is the best player on the court most nights and thrives in late game situations. That’s a recipe for success, and while there’s still a long way to go this season and plenty to prove once the postseason arrives, the Thunder will believe they’re ready for a deep run even if questions persist from the outside.
Where do the Thunder feature in this week’s DIME Power Rankings (back after a week off due to holiday travel disasters)? Let’s find out…
TIER I: The Contenders
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1. Oklahoma City Thunder (23-9, Last week: 4)
2. Boston Celtics (26-7, Last week: 2)
3. Minnesota Timberwolves (24-8, Last week: 1)
4. Milwaukee Bucks (24-9, Last week: 3)
5. Philadelphia 76ers (23-10, Last week: 5)
6. Denver Nuggets (24-11, Last week: 6)
7. Los Angeles Clippers (20-12, Last week: 7)
At this point I think we can comfortably trim the contenders list down to this top 7. With wins over the Minnesota, Boston, and Denver since Christmas, I couldn’t help but move the Thunder up into the top spot. Boston still looks fantastic and keeps hold of the No. 2 slot, with their lone recent blemish being the loss to OKC. The Timberwolves have stumbled a bit of late, but still hold the West’s best record. I do think we’re going to learn a lot about this team over the coming weeks as I’m interested to see how they respond to a drop in their level and how quickly they can get things back on track. The Bucks aren’t a team I think anyone believes is playing to their full potential (or trusts to make a deep playoff run), but they just keep beating the teams they’re supposed to and that’s how you get a high seed out of the regular season. Philly, unsurprisingly, looks better with Joel Embiid than they do without him, but were able to tread water thanks to Tyrese Maxey. Denver just keeps winning even with Aaron Gordon out and while they’d rather him be playing, it might help them some down the road getting more burn for their reserve bigs. The Clippers, likewise, keep humming along, with James Harden playing incredibly well still and Kawhi Leonard back in the fold.
TIER II: Playoff Hopefuls
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8. New Orleans Pelicans (20-14, Last week: 13)
9. Sacramento Kings (19-13, Last week: 9)
10. Miami Heat (19-14, Last week: 15)
11. Phoenix Suns (18-15, Last week: 18)
12. Indiana Pacers (18-14, Last week: 19)
13. Orlando Magic (19-14, Last week: 8)
14. Dallas Mavericks (19-15, Last week: 10)
15. New York Knicks (18-15, Last week: 11)
16. Cleveland Cavaliers (18-15, Last week: 12)
17. Houston Rockets (16-15, Last week: 16)
From there we move to the playoff hopefuls, which is a group of good teams that are simply more volatile (and less trustworthy) than the tier above. There’s a really high level all of these teams can tap into, but doing so consistently has been an issue for all of them. Right now the Pelicans, Heat, Suns, and Pacers are the hot teams of this group, with the others stalling out and hitting rough patches. This group has been shuffling between these positions all year and I expect that to continue as they each take turns getting hot and then cooling off.
TIER III: Teams In An Identity Crisis
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18. Golden State Warriors (16-17, Last week: 17)
19. Los Angeles Lakers (17-17, Last week: 14)
Here we have two teams that expect to compete for championships, but right now they cannot figure out what they are supposed to be. Both fan bases are fed up with the head coach for starting lineup and rotation choices, they each have stars still playing at an incredibly high level, but lacking the support needed to really get in the hunt for one of those top-6 seeds. As such, the next month is going to feature both teams in trade rumors as neither is particularly happy with their roster right now, but I don’t think there’s a clear and obvious move that fixes everything for either — and that’s the difficulty these front offices face in righting the ship.
TIER IV: Trade Rumor Fodder
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20. Chicago Bulls (15-20, Last week: 21)
21. Utah Jazz (15-19, Last week: 24)
22. Brooklyn Nets (15-19, Last week: 20)
23. Memphis Grizzlies (11-22, Last week: 25)
24. Atlanta Hawks (13-19, Last week: 22)
25. Toronto Raptors (13-20, Last week: 23)
The Raptors finally pulled the trigger on a deal, sending OG Anunoby to New York, and the early returns on that trade were positive as they got a win Sunday with RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley both having solid debuts. That said, that came a game after a shorthanded Toronto squad lost to Detroit, allowing the Pistons to snap a 28-game losing streak, so there’s still work to be done. With Anunoby moved, attention shifts to Pascal Siakam’s future in Toronto, Zach LaVine’s status in Chicago (he’s supposed to return to the floor soon), and what the rest of these teams that have fallen out of the playoff race in this tier will do to try to at least capture a Play-In spot. Memphis joins this group now with Ja Morant back and leading them to some wins, but the Grizzlies also will be a team to watch at the deadline, as they still probably need some frontcourt help and will have to determine if this is a season worth pushing chips in on even after their dreadful start.
TIER V: Tank Generals
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26. Portland Trail Blazers (9-23, Last week: 26)
27. Charlotte Hornets (8-24, Last week: 27)
28. Washington Wizards (6-26, Last week: 28)
29. San Antonio Spurs (5-28, Last week: 29)
30. Detroit Pistons (3-30, Last week: 30)
We’re expanding this tier to include the Blazers and Hornets because their work deserves inclusion here at this point. There are undoubtedly levels to the tanking business this year, as no one is doing it like the Pistons (who I don’t think are even doing it purposefully, which makes it all the more impressive). Detroit did finally get a win, but went right back to getting smoked by the Rockets in their next outing. San Antonio and Washington also won games, but both still maintain a solid hold on sharing the best odds for the top pick in the lottery.
Letterboxd, the site where movie lovers go to fight over cinematography, is finally ready to show off its 2023 year-end stats. It doesn’t matter that we are in the new year and everyone is a little tired of rehashing past opinions! Let’s make a goal to keep talking about Barbie in 2024. And 2025! And 2026!!!
Letterboxed Wrapped, which is known as Year In Review, will drop on Friday, January 5th, when users will receive an email that contains general select stats, in addition to personal stats, like how many films you watched and which directors you preferred. Keep in mind that Martin Scorsese is active on Letterboxd so he could theoretically see your review of Killers of the Flower Moon. Or your TikTok about it.
The site also outlined some important info about the Year In Review, including how to access your stats and more:
A few handy things to know:
-The overall community Year in Review is available to everyone.
-Pro and Patron members have access to their personalized stats all-year round.
The wrapped email, which contains select stats, will be sent to all members once the YIR published. To ensure you receive the wrapped email, you need to have logged at least ten movies in 2023, and are opted-in to receive our Call Sheet newsletters via your email notifications. The wrapped can also accessed on web at http://letterboxd.com/wrapped (if you visit this link before the 2023 Year in Review published, you will only see the 2022 stats).
It seems like there is some more fun stuff coming this year, as the official Letterboxd X/Twitter account confirmed that TV shows would finally make an appearance on the movie-centric app. Just in time for that new Ted show.
At the end of episode five, Unique is killed, and so Badass will also be leaving the show. In an interview with People Magazine, the rapper and actor discussed how he felt about the choice.
When asked whether he was shocked while reading the script, Badass responded, “Absolutely. I was devastated. But all good things come to an end, and I feel like this character has helped me spread my wings in the TV and film industry. I mean, it’s very unfortunate. I hate to be leaving the Kanan family.”
He also apparently tried calling the showrunner, Sascha Penn, to possibly change the death of his character. As the rest of the cast knew it was his final moment on the show, Badass expressed how some of the fans might be feeling after watching it.
“I think a lot of people are going to be a little let down,” he added. “It’s like, ‘What the f*ck? He’s dead?’ It is not even the end of the season! It’s the f*cking middle of the season!”
Raising Kanan is still set to finish the season by airing every Friday on Starz.
Thanks to the compelling cast performances and fraught storytelling, Severance became a hit with both audiences and critics as the dystopian office dramedy unfolded its first season on Apple TV+. However, it been almost two years since viewers met the crew at Lumon Industries, and fans are getting antsy for a Season 2. Fortunately, it’s starting to look like a release date is imminent as Apple TV recently started dropping hints that more Severance is on the way.
Here’s everything we know about the upcoming season:
Plot
Severance revolves around a secretive floor of the Lumon Industries were employees have agreed to an experimental procedure where their work and home lives are completely separated. They became their “innies” personalities upon taking the elevator down to their offices, and they become their “outies” upon leaving. Neither one is aware of what the other doing, essentially making them two different people. Or at least, that’s the plan.
In Season 1, Mark (Adam Scott) and his group of co-workers began to poke at the confines of the severed floor at Lumon and what they start to find could threaten the company’s potentially lucrative rollout of the controversial procedure.
While little is known about the plot for Season 2, creator Dan Erickson did tease a deeper dive into the show’s characters. Via Entertainment Weekly:
In season 2, we’re going to be showing all of these people on the outside. Similar to Mark, they each had their own reason for getting this procedure, and they’re all at some stage of a healing process for one thing or another. I just can’t wait, because these actors are all obviously so good. And being able to take what Adam did in the first season — with the differentiation between his innie and outie, and how they feel like the same person but with this vastly different lived experience — seeing the other three characters’ version of that dichotomy is, I think, the most exciting part. In season 2, we’re really going to expand and get into all of that.
Cast
Here are the main cast members for Severance:
– Mark Scout (Adam Scott), a Lumon employee who took the “severance” procedure to avoid the grief of losing his wife.
– Harmony Cobel (Patricia Arquette), the manager of the severed employee floor who’s been suspiciously keeping an eye on Mark outside of work.
– Irving Bailiff (John Turtorro), Mark’s co-worker who’s always been a stickler for company policy until he forms a close relationship with Burt Goodman (Christopher Walken) in the Optics and Design division.
– Also working with Mark is Dylan George (Zach Cherry), another severed employee who’s all about racking up company perks.
– And, finally, Helly Riggs (Britt Lower) is a new addition to the group who forms a close bond with Mark after replacing his best work friend Petey, who disappeared under mysterious circumstances.
Release Date
Apple TV has yet to confirm a release date for Severance Season 2. The show was well into production before the writer’s strike, so the likelihood of Season 2 arriving in 2024 is looking pretty good. Apple TV has already started tweeting about the show, so that’s yet another sign that the new season should be arriving sooner rather than later.
Trailer
As of this writing, there’s no trailer for Severance Season 2. However, with Apple TV notably ramping up social media promotion for the approaching season, we wouldn’t be surprised if a trailer dropped in the very near future. We’ll keep you posted.
Severance Season 1 is available for streaming on Apple TV+.
Good news for Reacher fans surfaced last week. They might have never wondered how their favorite human wall would fare while going up against a biker gang while wearing a suit, but the answer was nonetheless a satisfying one. Granted, this was not as satisfying an outcome as Paula Abdul once might have hoped for while getting horny for a singing Alan Ritchson, but everything has worked out for the best, and viewers were instantly ready for more of the Special Investigators.
When does Season 2, Episode 6 arrive?
“New York’s Finest” will surface on Friday, January 5. Yes, we recently learned that the honorable hobo cleans up well, but there’s no time for him to rest. Next, expect Reacher and the gang (Neagley, Dixon, and O’Donnell, all of whom are also pulling their weight in the muscle department) to continue digging into who is methodically tossing team members out of helicopters. They end up pursuing a suspected double-crosser, and here’s the rest of the episode’s post-funeral synopsis:
Back in the city, Russo has a difficult conversation with Marsh and makes a discovery about his boss. Meanwhile, Neagley locates Marlo, who reveals the truth about New Age’s plan and Tony Swan. With Russo’s help, Reacher and the team try to lure Langston into a trap, but the plan backfires with tragic consequences.
There’s perhaps too many complicated details in that synopsis, but as the Amazon show’s devotes know, “Details matter!”
Speaking in 2020, president of programming Casey Bloys told Deadline about HBO‘s unique arraignment with Larry David for new seasons of Curb Your Enthusiasm. “The deal with Larry is that he tells us when he is ready to go. If he tells us he wants to do more, we’ll do more,” he said.
David is ready to go one last time.
Curb Your Enthusiasm, one of TV’s crankiest and funniest comedies of all-time, is wrapping up after the show’s upcoming season, its 12th.
“As Curb comes to an end, I will now have the opportunity to finally shed this ‘Larry David’ persona and become the person God intended me to be — the thoughtful, kind, caring, considerate human being I was until I got derailed by portraying this malignant character,” David said in a tongue-in-cheek statement about the final season. “And so ‘Larry David,’ I bid you farewell. Your misanthropy will not be missed. And for those of you who would like to get in touch with me, you can reach me at Doctors Without Borders.”
Here’s everything we know about season 12.
Plot
The official logline for the season reads: “Starring Larry David as an over-the-top version of himself, Curb Your Enthusiasm offers a tongue-in-cheek depiction of the writer/producer/comedian’s fictionalized life. The comedy series continues to prove how seemingly trivial details of one’s day-to-day life can precipitate a catastrophic chain of events.” So don’t worry that Curb turned into a home renovation reality series between seasons 11 and 12 (you never know with the Warner Bros. Discovery overlords…)
Cast
Besides David, returning cast members include Cheryl Hines (hopefully without a cameo from her nutball husband) and Jeff Garlin, who was fired from The Goldbergs for allegedly problematic behavior, as well as Susie Essman, J.B. Smoove, and Ted Danson. Richard Lewis, who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, confirmed he’ll be back. Vince Vaughn and season 11 standout Tracey Ullman, too. Maybe another Seinfeld reunion?
Release Date
Curb Your Enthusiasm season 12 premieres on February 4. It will consist of 10 episodes, releasing weekly on Sundays at 10 p.m. EST.
Trailer
There’s no trailer yet. But here’s something even better: the time Larry David was on Hannah Montana because his daughter was a fan.
You can watch every episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm on Max.
The Weeknd‘s new movie — starring Jenna Ortega, Barry Keoghan, and himself — will be released later this year, according to a report from HotNewHipHop. An update on the movie’s IMDB page shows that The Weeknd, whose real name is Abel Tesfaye, will also be a co-writer, along with director Trey Edward Shults and Reza Fahim.
Not a whole lot is known about the upcoming movie, like a plot or even a title, but the film marks Shults’ first since 2019’s Waves.
The movie was first announced last year via Deadline, with Shults and Ortega tapped as executive producers.
This will mark The Weeknd’s first starring role as a character, after briefly playing a fictional version of himself in 2019’s Uncut Gems. Last year, he also starred as a club owner and cult leader named Tedros in HBO’s controversial series, The Idol.
While The Weeknd’s acting has left fans divided, viewers can likely look forward to seeing him in more projects. In an interview with W Magazine, he shared that his upcoming album will likely be his last under the stage name.
“I’m going through a cathartic path right now,” he said. “It’s getting to a place and a time where I’m getting ready to close the Weeknd chapter. I’ll still make music, maybe as Abel, maybe as The Weeknd. But I still want to kill the Weeknd. And I will. Eventually. I’m definitely trying to shed that skin and be reborn.”
Bree Runway is continuing to live her best life, after discovering that one of her favorite artists is a fan of her song, “That Girl.” Over the weekend, Christina Aguilera incorporated the track into her performance of “Glam” at her Vegas residency. Runway excitedly shared a video of the moment to social media.
“THAT GIRLLLL!!!!! IN YOUR SET?!?! get me on a flight to vegas NOWWWWW!!!!!!” Runway captioned. “I almost FELL when I heard my voice omg.”
Things got even crazier to kick off the year, when Aguilera herself hopped on and responded to a Rolling Stone tweet about Runway’s series of posts. “Come to Vegas anytime,” the pop star shared, tagging Runway with a kiss emoji.
“OHHHHH MY GOODNESS??? What is GOING ONNNNNNNNNN,” Runway continued. She then replied back to Aguilera, “SAY NO MORE MY GOOD SISTA,” with an equally-sweet crying emoji and a heart.
Runway also revealed that she used to help choreograph Aguilera’s “Dirrty” song for the band she was in during high school, making it feel like a truly “iconic” moment.
likeeee i choreographed dirty for me and the band i had in school, to eat our opps up and we did ?!?! Like do you know how iconic this shit is ?????
As many fans pointed out, this is just the first sign that 2024 will be a wonderful year for Runway.
Check out Runway’s tweets, along with Aguilera using “That Girl,” above.
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