Month: January 2024

When he first entered the 2024 Republican presidential race, Vivek Ramaswamy came out swinging — which is to say he said things so dumb Chris Christie took a break from blasting Donald Trump to drag him instead. He’s not had much luck since then. His fellow candidates sure don’t like him. Heck, his polling is so weak he didn’t even qualify for CNN’s forthcoming GOP debate. Instead he’s decided to pull a Trump and hold a competing event, even though Trump could at least have actually gone.

“Forget @CNN’s fake Iowa “debate” on Jan 10 which will be the most boring in modern history,” Ramaswamy tweeted/Xed on Tuesday. “We’re doing a live-audience show that night in Des Moines with @Timcast instead. Won’t hold back.”

Ramaswamy then proceeded to lay out all the ways CNN has been mean to him, including “disgracefully” cutting away from his town hall as he launched into some conspiracy theories (or, as he put it, “uncomfortable truths”) about the Jan. 6 riot. He also didn’t like some CNN commentators who called him out for things like rhetoric that’s “one step away from Nazi propaganda” as well as “damaging to the country.”

When CNN announced they were holding a GOP debate, the only participants allowed on the stage were those who scored at least 10% in “three separate national and/or Iowa polls of Republican caucusgoers or primary voters that meet CNN’s standards for reporting.” Here’s how Ramaswamy’s doing, according to The Daily Beast:

According to Real Clear Polling, Ramaswamy has not hit 10 percent in any survey of Iowa GOP voters since October, reaching a high of 8 percent in an Emerson poll last month. Overall, his polling average in the state is 5.9 percent. Furthermore, national polls have Ramaswamy sitting just above 5 percent, with no recent survey showing him in double digits.

Ramaswamy isn’t the only Republican candidate who didn’t make CNN’s cut. Chris Christie will also have to sit this one out. The only ones attending the event will be Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis. This town hall is intended for Iowa voters; both Ramaswamy and Christie may qualify for the one they have planned later for New Hampshire. Trump, of course, has been skipping all the debates, including this one, figuring he’s so far ahead of everyone in the polls he doesn’t need to bother.

Ramaswamy’s campaign has struggled of late. They even announced they were no longer buying ads in early primary states, which the candidate tried to spin as a money-saving venture. He’s also vowed to pull his name from ballots that have announced they were banning Donald Trump over that whole insurrection thing.

(Via The Daily Beast)

2024 will mark 20 years since the release of Green Day‘s American Idiot album. Often hailed as one of the band’s most significant projects, the album was a controversial release at the time, notably with its title track.

On “American Idiot,” vocalist Billie Joe Armstrong sings “I’m not a part of a redneck agenda,” alluding to American conservatism. 20 years later, some viewers were shocked when Armstrong replaced the line with “I’m not a part of the MAGA agenda” during a performance on Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve. The apparent controversy comes as a surprise to a lot of fans, as Green Day has always been vocal in their criticisms toward American politics, as well as the concept behind American Idiot.

What is Green Day’s American Idiot about?

American Idiot arrived years after 9/11, in the wake of the Bush era and the Iraq war. While much of the songs contain allusions to Bush and American politics, songs like “American Idiot,” “Holiday,” and “Jesus Of Suburbia” were overtly political, criticizing Bush and the Bush administration.

Songs like “Boulevard Of Broken Dreams” and “Wake Me Up When September Ends” were less political in tone, but the latter was used in a PSA following Hurricane Katrina.

You can see the aforementioned performance of “American Idiot” above.

Selena Gomez fans are anxiously waiting for her fourth solo studio album, which has been nicknamed SG3 (as it marks her third on Interscope). Her most recent album, Rare dropped four years ago, and featured hits like “Lose You To Love Me” and “Look At Her Now.”

Last year, Gomez dropped the catchy ladies anthem “Single Soon,” celebrating a break-up on the horizon. Since then, fans have been dying to hear more.

However, today (January 2), Gomez revealed that her upcoming album may be her last. She explained on the Smartless podcast that because she’s always balanced acting and music, she’s beginning to feel worn out.

“I started having a lot of fun with music and then touring was really fun,” she said. “But I was doing my TV show at the same time [2007’s Wizards Of Waverly Place] and I just found it really fun so I just kept going but the older I get, the more I’m kind of like, I would like to find something to just settle on.”

Elsewhere in the episode, she shared she’d rather shift her focus to her acting projects, like Hulu’s Only Murders In The Building.

“I do feel like I have one more album in me but I would probably choose acting.”

At the time of writing, Gomez has not yet announced an official title or release date for her upcoming album.

The Carolina Panthers have had an awful season, going 2-14 through 16 weeks, ensuring they have the worst record in the NFL. Making matters worse, the Panthers don’t even get to enjoy the fruits of that labor, as they traded their first round pick to the Bears back in April to move up and take quarterback Bryce Young first overall.

That pick, to this point, has not yielded the expected results and there’s a lot of work to be done for the Panthers to build an offensive roster that can compete, even in a woeful division like the NFC South. The Panthers will also look to hire yet another new head coach, as owner David Tepper will look to make his third full-time hire in six years after firing Frank Reich less than a year into his tenure in Carolina. Tepper has come under fire from many for being impetuous and meddling, and his public image took yet another hit in Week 17.

During the Panthers latest loss in Jacksonville, a 26-0 shutout at the hands of backup QB C.J. Beathard, Tepper’s frustrations boiled over and he threw a drink on fans below his luxury box before storming away. That, unsurprisingly, was viewed as unacceptable by the NFL, which has fined Tepper $300,000 for the incident.

That’s not a huge amount of money for Tepper, but it does make that a very expensive beverage and the Panthers owner is going to need to keep his emotions in check while watching his team going forward, no matter what noise is coming his way from outside the luxury box.

What if — and hear us out — conservatives aren’t as righteous as they claim to be? The prospective nominee for the party’s presidential ticket in 2024 is an alleged cheater and disgusting boaster with 91 criminal indictments against him. Even those low on the totem pole aren’t so hot either. Per The Daily Beast, a failed candidate for Pennsylvania’s lieutenant governor is now facing multiple charges of buying booze for teens, one of whom she allegedly punched in the face.

That person is Clarice Schillinger, a “parental rights” activist, Donald Trump cheerleader, and prominent anti-lockdown voice who has been accused of inviting 20 minors, ranging from 15 to 18, to an “underage drinking party” at her rented home back in September. The party featured a bar “stocked with alcoholic beverages to include New Amsterdam vodka and Malibu Bay Breeze rum.”

“Schillinger not only provided the alcoholic beverages, but poured shots and drank along with the minors, even participating in drinking games,” reads the affidavit.

Around midnight, though, things went south, after a “disturbance broke out between the intoxicated adults which caused the minors to wanted [sic] to leave.” Around 3 a.m. police were called to Schillinger’s residence, after a call from the mother of a 16-year-old boy who claimed he’d been assaulted by adults.

The boy, listed in the affidavit as “A.M.,” said that Schillinger’s then-boyfriend became “intoxicated” and punched a 15-year-old boy in the face. He then lured A.M. to the second floor, where he punched him in the face. Schillinger then took her turn, punching him in the area of his left eye. That prompted the minors to start leaving.

“Schillinger’s mother then chased A.M. around the kitchen area before assaulting a 17-year-old female (identified as G.H.),” reads the affidavit. “This portion of the evening was recorded from [sic] two separate phones.” Schillinger is also accused of punching another minor “three times on the left side of his face/chin area.”

Schillinger was charged the following month. She’s scheduled to appear in court for a preliminary hearing on January 29. Schillinger blames all of this on an “angry ex-boyfriend.”

It wasn’t the first time the cops had been called to Schillinger’s residence last fall. Mere days beforehand, on September 24, officers who were summoned to her property found “[m]ultiple beer cans” and “approximately 20 minors that fled into the house upon police arrival.”

(Via The Daily Beast)

The annual dance music festival Beyond Wonderland is returning to the NOS Events Center in San Bernardino, California on Friday, March 22 and Saturday, March 23. The festival will include six stages, art installations, interactive experiences, costumed performers, and more. The Chainsmokers, Benny Benassi, and Alesso are among the performers listed on the lineup, while tickets go on sale this Friday, January 5 at noon PT. You can find more information here. See below for the full lineup, in alphabetical order.

999999999
A-Trak b2b Derrick Carter
Afrojack b2b R3hab
Alesso
Alignment
Aluna b2b Kaleena Zanders
A.M.C
Andrew Lux
Andrew Rayel
Andy C
Anfisa Letyago
Angerfist
Atmozfears & Sound Rush: 2/1
Bart Skils b2b Joyhauser
Basscon
Bassrush Experience
Benny Benassi
Biscits
Black Tiger Sex Machine
Black V Neck
Blossom
BOU
Bryan Kearney
Calussa
Chris Lorenzo
Clawz
Coone
Crankdat
Creeds
Crystal Skies
Dabin
Diesel
Dillon Francis b2b Valentino Khan
Discovery Project
Dreamstate
Dustin Husain
DZMA
Eli Brown b2b Lilly Palmer
Factory 93 Experience
Fatima Hajji
Flava D
Frosttop
Funtcase
Gareth Emery Presents: Decade
Ghastly
GRLSKOUT
Hamdi
Hartshorn
Haylee Wood
Highlnd
HOL!
HVDES
I Hate Models
Infected Mushroom
Insomniac Records
ION
J.Worra
Jason Ross
Jawns
Jia
Jorza
JoyRyde
Julian Jeweil
Justin Credible
Kanine
Keltek
Kill The Noise b2b Trivecta
Kyle Walker b2b Sosa
Kyle Watson
Kyruh
Last Heroes
Level Up
Lost In Dreams
Madeon (DJ Set)
Madgrrl
Marauda
Max Styler
Mefjus with Daxta MC
Metta & Glyde
MISS DRE
Muerte
Night Trip Presents
Nightfunk
No Redemption (Tchami x Malaa)
Nurko
OddKidOut
Odd Mob
Omnom
One True God
Paul Oakenfold
Pickle
RaeCola
Ravell
Rezz
RNBW Presents
Sara Landry
SAYMYNITTI
Shay De Castro
SIDEPIECE
Skepsis
Slander
Spartaque b2b Brennen Grey
Subtronics
Sullivan King
Taylor Torrence
Techno Tupac
The Chainsmokers
TNT
Tony Romera
TRYM
Tsu Nami
Vini Vici
Walker & Royce b2b VNSSA
Wax Motif
Whethan
Will Sparks
Zeds Dead

Why does Warner Bros. Discovery honcho David Zaslav hate Looney Tunes so much? At the top of last year his company deep-sixed hundreds of their classic shorts from what was then called HBO Max. This fall they shelved the fully completed Coyote vs. Acme, which would have given cartoondom’s most doomed canine critter his very first movie. After much uproar, they announced they would sell it to a studio that actually wanted to make money off it. Now, for further proof that it’s real, here’s the first image from the film.

On the last day of 2023, Looney Tunes voice actor Eric Bauza shared said picture, which shows an animated Wile E. Coyote sitting in a courtroom next to his lawyer, played by an all-too-live-action Will Forte. “See ya in 2024!!” Bauza wrote alongside a bunch of relevant emojis.

It’s still unknown when exactly anyone will see Coyote vs. Acme, though presumably it will get released in the next 12 months. Whoever nabs it from WBD, who wanted to shelve it for tax purposes, as they did the Batgirl and Scoob! sequel earlier this year, will likely reap some serious riches. The $70 million production wasn’t only completed, it had already been tested, and audiences have been eating it up. Phil Lord, of such projects as The Lego Movie, the 21 Jump Street diptych, and the Spider-verse pictures, was among the superfans.

To make this story all the more delicious, the plot to Coyote vs. Acme sure seems apt, with long-suffering Wile E. finally taking on the heartless corporation that has made his life amusingly miserable. Surely one day the many who helped make the film will get to laugh at Warner Bros. Discovery for leaving all that money on the table.

(Via The Wrap)

On New Year’s Day, it’s common to see people posting their resolutions and intentions for the year ahead, but doing so backfired for one celebrity. Jada Pinkett-Smith, who’s been in the headlines a bunch lately as she promotes her memoir with a collection of eyebrow-raising pull quotes, posted a selfie showing off her latest style innovation, but got a slightly different than perhaps she had hoped.

“I think jean leg warmers is where it’s at for me in 2024,” she wrote. However, the combination of Pinkett-Smith’s doe fur-patterned puffer jacket with her signature bald look and aviator shades brought to mind another popular social media personality: Fat Joe. Many of the commenters wondered whether the Bronx rapper had more weight, while others imagined Jada’s husband Will Smith’s reaction.

Others, meanwhile, found another rapper comparison in Pitbull.

The comparisons were enough to raise “Fat Joe” to the top of Twitter’s trending topics, along with “Pitbull” and “Jada.” And down near the bottom of the top 30, another reference to the photo appeared as of press time: “Skinny Joe,” fans’ apparent new nickname for Jada Pinkett-Smith.

Jada Pinkett-Smith has been the butt of jokes all year as a result of her press tour, but at least this time, they aren’t ALL about her and Will’s unconventional marriage.

In its upcoming season, La Brea will be taking a page from the Lost playbook by throwing even more sci-fi elements into the ever-growing sinkhole. But instead of polar bears and smoke monsters, the fine folks of La Brea will encounter something even scarier: a series finale. And dinosaurs! And more time travel! It’s the final season they are just giving it their all.

Eoin Macken, who plays Gavin Harris in the NBC drama, says that the main event of season three will be the gang trying to survive amongst the dinosaurs. “So many dinosaurs,” Macken told TVLine. At the end of season two, a giant T-Rex appears thanks to some portals. Season three will bring on a whole new slew of challenges as a whole crew of dinosaurs destroys the survivor’s home base.

Macken added, “Think of all the dinosaurs you ever thought of in your life, and they’re all in there.” Allegedly this is some sort of exaggeration, though there are lots of dinos on the way for the final season, in addition to some other stuff, “We’ve got time travel, dinosaurs, romance, death…. All sorts of stuff,” Macken added.

So why bring dinosaurs into the mix? Because they can! Showrunner David Appelbaum said, “One of the fun conceits of the show is these auroras can bring things from any time period, and for us the coolest thing we could think of was to bring dinosaurs [laughs],” Appelbaum told NBC last year. “So that’s definitely a tease of dinosaurs for Season 3, but really anything could be down here from any time period as we saw all these auroras open up at the end of Season 2. Anything could be around the corner.” Even a smoke monster, perhaps.

The final season of La Brea, which will consist of six episodes, premieres Tuesday, January 9th on NBC.

(Via TVLine)

If you had the misfortune to watch Saltburn with your folks this holiday season, there are two scarring moments: 1) the bathtub scene, and 2) Barry Keoghan’s nude dance to “Murder on the Dancefloor.”

Following a resurgence in popularity for the 2001 song, singer Sophie Ellis-Bextor recreated the film’s climax on TikTok. “Heading into 2024 like… Happy Saltburn New Year! Xx,” she wrote. Ellis-Bextor is clothed in the video, unlike Keoghan’s Oliver Quick, but she wore Saltburn appropriate antlers.

You can watch the TikTok below.

“It totally felt right,” Keoghan told Entertainment Weekly about the dance scene. “It’s ownership. This is my place. It’s full confidence in, ‘I can do what I want in this manor. I can strip to my barest and waltz around because this is mine.’ Yeah… it was fun.” The Masters of the Air actor added, “The initial thing was about me having no clothes on. I’m a bit, ehhh. But after take one, I was ready to go. I was like, ‘Let’s go again. Let’s go again.’ You kind of forget, because there’s such a comfortable environment created.”

This is also how I felt dancing to “Mambo No. 5” at my cousin’s bat mitzvah.

Saltburn is available to watch on Amazon Prime Video. But, again, listen to Margot Robbie: don’t watch it with your family.

(Via Entertainment Weekly)