Month: April 2024

Bradley Beal expressed his belief that the Phoenix Suns would not get swept in their first round series against the Minnesota Timberwolves. Ahead of Game 4 with the team in an 0-3 hole, Beal told the press, “I’ve never been swept in my life … I’ll be damned if that happens.”

Well, Beal finally got to experience being on the losing end of a sweep. The Wolves picked up a win in Game 4 on Sunday night, and to make matters worse, Beal had a terrible game, going for nine points on 4-for-13 shooting and fouling out in 31 minutes of work. It was a spectacular flop in a moment when he had to be at his best, but one day later, and Beal at least had the ability to make fun of himself for the quote that he gave ahead of the game.

Of course, Beal — who also got trolled by the Timberwolves’ Twitter account for the quote — made clear that he’s just trying to keep his head up after the season had the worst possible ending for Phoenix.

“I’m trying to make light of the situation, but it’s a [expletive] feeling, excuse my language,” Beal said, according to ESPN’s Baxter Holmes. “It definitely is. You have huge expectations for yourself as a team and obviously individually to contribute and be a part of something really big and that series just sucked. And, obviously, the last game for me was horrible.”

This weekend, Jelly Roll, The Fugees, and Osesza will headline the Riverbeat Music Festival in Memphis, Tennessee. The multi-genre festival begins this Friday, May 3, and runs through Sunday, May 5, with performances from Jai Wolf, Yung Gravy, Matt And Kim, Mt. Joy, Killer Mike, Tobe Nwigwe, The Band Camino, Black Pumas, 8Ball & MJG, Big Boi of Outkast, and more. The festival takes place at Tom Lee Park along the Mississippi (hence the festival’s name) and has five stages. See the set times below to set your game plan ahead of the festivities and find more information at riverbeat.com.

Friday, May 3

Main Stage: Jai Wolf (5:00-6:00), Yung Gravy (7:00-8:00), Odesza (9:30-11:00)
Bud Light Stage: Kenny Brown(4:45-5:30), Matt And Kim(6:30-7:30), Mt. Joy(8:15-9:30)
Zev Pavilion Stage: Charlie Musselwhite (4:15-5:00), Durand Jones (6:00-7:00), Take Me To The River: Memphis (8:00-9:00)
Beale St Landing Stage: Lucky 7 Brass Band (4:00-5:00), Marcella Simien (5:30-6:30), Rodd Bland and the Members Only Band: Tribute To Bobby “Blue” Bland (7:00-8:00)
Whateverland: DY3 (4:00-5:15), Qemist (5:30-7:00), Phantoms (DJ Set) (7:15-8:15), Mindchatter (8:30-9:30)

Saturday, May 4

Main Stage: Talibah Safiya (3:45-4:30), Killer Mike (5:15-6:15), Tobe Nwigwe (7:00-8:00), The Fugees (9:30-11:00)
Bud Light Stage: Lawrence Matthews (3:00-4:00), Southern Avenue (4:30-5:30), Del Water Gap (6:30-7:30), The Band Camino (8:15-9:30)
Zev Pavilion Stage: Jimbo Mathus (2:15-3:00), Don Bryant Feat. The Bo-Keys (4:30-5:15), Al Kapone & The B.W.A. Band (6:15-7:00), Robert Randolph Band (8:15-9:15)
Beale St Landing Stage: School Of Rock Bands (2:00-3:30), School Of Rock Bands (4:00-5:30), School Of Rock Bands (6:00-7:30)
Whateverland: Witnesse (2:15-3:45), Nico (4:00-5:00), Bizzle Bluebland (5:15-6:15), Aimmia (6:30-7:45), White Panda (8:30-9:30)

Sunday, May 5

Main Stage: Nightly (3:45-4:30), Morgan Wade (5:15-6:15), Black Pumas (7:00-8:15), Jelly Roll (9:30-11:00)
Bud Light Stage: S.G. Goodman (3:00-4:00), 8Ball & MJG (4:30-5:30), Jessie Murph (6:30-7:30), Big Boi (8:30-9:30)
Zev Pavilion Stage: Dirty Streets (2:15-3:00), The Heavy Heavy (4:30-5:15), The Aces (6:15-7:00), Whitey Morgan & The 78’s (8:15-9:15)
Beale St Landing Stage: Mark Edgar Stuart (2:00-3:00), Bailey Bigger (3:30-4:30), The Wilkins Sisters (5:00-6:00), Salo Pallini (6:30-7:30)
Whateverland: Siphne Ayye (2:15-3:45), Alpha Whiskey (4:00-5:00), Sth Memphis Jeff (5:15-6:15), Forester (DJ Set) (6:30-7:45), Coco & Breezy (8:30-9:30)

Netflix takes its Neil Gaiman adaptations seriously, even when those shows are honest-to-god silly like Lucifer. Fantasy drama series The Sandman delivered a stunningly faithful rendition of Gaiman’s creation of The Endless, and the second season of that series has begun its lengthy second-season production process. Fortunately, a stop-gap series from The Sandman universe arrived this month, and Dead Boy Detectives viewers are now wondering whether they’ll see a second round of that show, too.

Will There Be A ‘Dead Boy Detectives’ Season 2?

Netflix hasn’t yet announced whether they will renew the spin off about Edwin and Charles, the ghosts who pick up the paranormal mysteries that stump human detectives. And to be fair, Netflix took its time renewing The Sandman, so we might not hear about the spin off’s status for months. However, should that rewewal happen, co-showrunners Steve Yockey and Beth Schwartz told Variety who they would like as a crossover character:

Yockey says a second season would be a great time to rope in Desire (Mason Alexander Park), who could be a tempting figure to put in front of the Dead Boys as they build relationships beyond their friendship.

Beyond “Sandman,” their wishlist for Season 2 is longer than Esther’s kill list. Also on it, Schwartz says, are more cases in London and more animated sequences, following the finale’s gruesomely fun origin story segment for Esther that was done by Warner Bros. Animation.

As viewers are already aware, Despair (Donna Preston) and Death (Kirby Howell-Baptiste) already appeared in the first season of this spin off. The latter was, of course, particularly suitable for a crossover event given the job that she must do. Surely, nobody would be upset to see Death again, either, but until the streaming service makes its decision known, we await more magic.

The first season of Dead Boy Detectives is currently streaming on Netflix.

All good things must come to an end at some point, and sometimes that good thing is something you don’t know you have until it’s gone, like MoviePass or seasonal Reese’s cups where the peanut butter to chocolate ratio is perfect. NBC’s streamer Peacock used to be a mostly ad-free place, and had a modest $11.99 price point, but as with everything in the ever-changing industry, that ship has sailed, and the streamer is getting ready for yet another price hike.

Starting this summer, the ad-free tier of Peacock known as Peacock Premium Plus will jump up $2 to $13.99, while Peacock Premium (with ads) will increase to $7.99. As for those yearly payers, Peacock Premium’s annual price will increase from $59.99 to $79.99, while Premium Plus will land at $139.99 per year.

The price hike will go into effect in July for new customers, ahead of the Summer Olympics which will kick off the last week in July. The streamer has exclusive rights to the games, which takes place in Paris. Existing customers will see the price alteration on their August bill.

For comparison, Netflix’s basic plan goes for $11.99/month while Hulu’s ad-supported tier jumped to $9.99 last year. So it seems like, for now, Peacock is still the place to be if you are looking to save $2. But you’ll have to make up for it by watching all of that Bravo content, which might cause more harm than good.

(Via Variety)

The only thing more fun than staying up late, swapping manly stories, and making waffles the next morning? Visiting Universal Studios Orlando this summer. The Florida-based resort announced that DreamWorks Land, a new area featuring characters from DreamWorks movies like Shrek, Puss in Boots, and Kung Fu Panda, will open on June 14. There will be coasters (sorry, “Trollercoaster”), play areas for the young ones, and themed foods and drinks. Also, you can finally — finally — visit Shrek’s toilet.

Other summer 2024 highlights coming to Universal Studios Orlando include CineSational: A Symphonic Spectacular, a nighttime show featuring scores and scenes from movies like Harry Potter, Jurassic World, Jaws, Ghostbusters, Back to the Future, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, and Fast and Furious; and on select nights, Hogwarts Always, a castle projection show in The Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Hogsmeade. Both begin on June 14.

Universal has one more event in store: the Universal Mega Movie Parade, which is described as “Universal Orlando’s biggest daytime parade to date” that combines “13 brand new floats, nearly 100 performers – including dancers, skaters, stilt walkers, poi performers, and more – and special effects.” Beginning July 3, there will be a 16-foot Stay Puft Marshmallow Man and a Tyrannosaurus rex aboard the Jurassic World float. No word on whether Jimmy Buffet will be immortalized on a Margaritaville (rum) float(er).

You can see photos from the experiences below:

CineSational: A Symphonic Spectacular

Hogwarts Always

DreamWorks Land

You can learn more, including how to buy tickets, on Universal’s website.

Ever since Jason Kelce announced his retirement from the NFL, one question keeps popping up: What’s next? Kelce, the future Hall of Fame inductee who spent the entirety of his career as a center for the Philadelphia Eagles, is one of the biggest personalities in sports right now, and he’s seen his popularity skyrocket due to his podcast “New Heights,” which he co-hosts with his brother, Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce.

On Monday, we finally got an answer. According to Andrew Marchand of The Athletic, Kelce is headed to ESPN, where he will team up with the Monday Night Football pregame team. Apparently, this was only one option that was presented to Kelce, as a number of networks wanted to try and bring him on board as part of their NFL coverage.

Via The Athletic:

Kelce and his brother, Travis, have a popular podcast called “New Heights.” Jason, 36, has been interested in media and drew interest from NBC, CBS and Amazon, among others. He and his wife, Kylie, already had a pre-existing relationship with Amazon as they did a documentary series called, “Kelce,” which followed him around during his final season. Amazon Prime Video’s Thursday Night set is already pretty packed. NBC and CBS were both interested in adding Kelce to their Sunday desks.

Currently, Monday Night Countdown is hosted by Scott Van Pelt, and features Robert Griffin III, Marcus Spears, Ryan Clark, Alex Smith, and Larry Fitzgerald on its roster of analysts.

Southern California’s annual BeachLife Festival is returning to Redondo Beach this weekend with a lineup that includes acts from a truly impressive variety of genres and generations. The headliners are Incubus, My Morning Jacket, and Sting, with additional performances from Devo, Fleet Foxes, Pepper, Santigold, Seal, Sugar Ray, and more. With four stages, there will be a lot going on at any given time, so you can check out the set times below and schedule your day to make the most of your time. The three-day festival runs from Friday, May 3 to Sunday, May 5 at Seaside Lagoon.

BeachLife Festival was founded in 2019, and its 2023 edition was featured performances by Gwen Stefani, The Black Keys, Pixies, John Fogerty, The Black Crowes, Modest Mouse, Sublime with Rome, Band of Horses, Tegan and Sara, Kurt Vile, and the Violators.

Friday, May 3

Hightide Stage

2:00–3:00 — The Samples
4:00–5:00 — Donavon Frankenreiter & G. Love
6:15–7:25 — Seal
9:00–10:30 — Sting

Lowtide Stage

3:00–4:00 — Bedouin Soundclash
5:05–6:10 — City And Colour
7:30–8:50 — Dirty Heads

Saturday, May 4

Hightide Stage

12:00–1:00 — The Expendables
2:00–3:00 — Chevy Metal
4:00–5:00 — Pepper
6:15–7:25 — Local Natives
9:00–10:30 — Incubus

Lowtide Stage

1:00-2:00 — Sun Room
3:00-4:00 — Steel Pulse
5:05-6:05 — Santigold
7:20-8:50 — Devo

Sunday, May 5

Hightide Stage

11:30–12:30 — Atlas Genius
1:30–2:30 — St. Paul & The Broken Bones
3:30–4:30 — Courtney Barnett
5:30–6:30 — Fleet Foxes
7:50–9:20 — My Morning Jacket

Lowtide Stage

12:30-1:30 — Sugar Ray
2:30-3:30 — Margo Price
4:30-5:30 — ZZ Top
6:30-7:45 — Trey Anastasio & Classic Tab

You couldn’t make Seinfeld today. That’s because Julia Louis-Dreyfus is busy being awesome in other things, but Jerry Seinfeld seems to think it’s because of [world’s longest sigh] cancel culture.

The comedian recently spoke to The New Yorker about how the “extreme left” is ruining comedy. “It used to be, you would go home at the end of the day, most people would go, ‘Oh, Cheers is on. Oh, M*A*S*H is on. Oh, Mary Tyler Moore is on. All in the Family is on.’ You just expected, There’ll be some funny stuff we can watch on TV tonight. Well, guess what — where is it? This is the result of the extreme left and P.C. crap, and people worrying so much about offending other people,” he said.

The death of the sitcom monoculture, where 30 million people would watch the same episode at the same time, isn’t because streaming services destroyed the concept of timeslots, you see. According to Seinfeld, it’s the woke mob’s fault.

Seinfeld continued, “Now they’re going to see standup comics because we are not policed by anyone. The audience polices us. We know when we’re off track. We know instantly and we adjust to it instantly. But when you write a script and it goes into four or five different hands, committees, groups — ‘Here’s our thought about this joke.’ Well, that’s the end of your comedy.”

The Unfrosted director later named a Seinfeld plot, from season nine’s “The Bookstore,” that he thinks wouldn’t fly in today’s culture.

“We did an episode of the series in the nineties where Kramer decides to start a business of having homeless people pull rickshaws because, as he says, ‘They’re outside anyway.’ Do you think I could get that episode on the air today?… We would write a different joke with Kramer and the rickshaw today. We wouldn’t do that joke. We’d come up with another joke. They move the gates like in the slalom.”

Seinfeld pointed out that “there were no sitcoms picked up on the fall season of all four networks,” and that is a big bummer. But I’m not sure if it has to do with “P.C. crap.” It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia and Bottoms, to use two recent examples, are delightfully tasteless comedies that are popular with the younger, more culturally sensitive generations. Seinfeld seems hung up on the way things were, rather than the way they are.

Give Hacks a shot, Jerry. You’ll like it!

(Via The New Yorker)

The highly-anticipated finale of Disney+’s X-Men ’97 will be released in three parts, so you know that enough serious drama will be going down over the next few weeks, hopefully only on-screen.

X-Men 97 picks up where the classic animated series left off in the ’90s and follows the mutant superheroes as they co-exist with those of us normies. The series features familiar favorites like Wolverine, Jean Grey, Cyclops, Storm, and Rogue.

In the previous episode, it was revealed that the presumed-dead Magneto is alive and well, though he is being held by the big bad Bastion. The first installment of the upcoming finale, titled “Tolerance Is Extinction,” will be released on May 1 on Disney+ at 12:00 a.m. PST / 3 a.m. EST. Parts two and three come out on May 8 and 15, respectively. If you can even wait that long.

Is this the end of the road for the X-people? Probably not! Cast and crew have already confirmed that season two is in the works. Composer Taylor Newton Stewart said, “We’re working on season two. But we haven’t started yet. I know a little bit of the storylines and characters. It’s always upping the ante. I mean, it’s pretty intense what happens. Yeah, immediately when I was told, I was just like, ‘Oh my gosh, what’s happening? This is incredible.’ So, just as a fan alone, I am very excited.”

Until then, here is the official trailer for the final batch of episodes:

If you haven’t caught Baby Reindeer yet on Netflix, comedian, creator, and star Richard Gadd‘s limited series is still racking up views on the streaming service. The limited series, which is a version of Gadd’s one-man stage show dissecting a spiral of traumatic experiences, including being stalked by a female dubbed as “Martha,” has even managed to freak out horror maestro Stephen King: “BABY REINDEER: Holy sh*t.”

The show’s rapid ascent also caused internet speculation about the identities of two characters, including Martha, and Gadd has asked people to refrain from speculating, but a woman who now claims to be the real-life Martha has declared that she is not entertained by this series. The Daily Mail spoke with the woman, who they are purposefully not identifying, who claims that Gadd is “bullying an older woman on television for fame and fortune” and that she has received “death threats and abuse” from those who support Gadd. The woman further claims that she is considering a defamation lawsuit, and that “[h]e’s using Baby Reindeer to stalk me now.” She also added, “I’m the victim. He’s written a bloody show about me.”

The Daily Mail writes that this woman “bears an uncanny physical resemblance to Martha” (who is portrayed by Jessica Gunning on the Netflix show) and that other aspects of her life parallel that of the character. That includes the woman’s previous record of stalking, although Gadd stressed that he had changed details to make sure that Martha (and the character of Darrien) couldn’t be traced to their real-life identities. As already mentioned, this hasn’t stopped the speculation, and as Hollywood Reporter previously reported, Gadd took to Instagram: “People I love, have worked with, and admire (including Sean Foley) are unfairly getting caught up in speculation.”

Foley has been fending off accusations regarding the Darrien character, and he responded on Twitter: “Police have been informed and are investigating all defamatory abusive and threatening posts against me.”

Baby Reindeer is currently streaming on Netflix.

(Via Daily Mail & Hollywood Reporter)