Month: May 2024

Billie Eilish‘s new album, Hit Me Hard And Soft, comes out this week, and while streaming is making it easier than ever to listen to new music, sometimes, you just want to own physical copies of your favorite albums.

For that, vinyl is a collector’s dream. While audiophiles debate the sound quality and those of us with tiny apartments struggle to make space, there’s just no arguing against the tactile feel of putting a record on a turntable for the first time.

So, is Billie Eilish putting Hit Me Hard And Soft on vinyl?

Of course she is. Not only that, but she’s also got multiple different options to choose from on her online store. Each color vinyl will be available at a different brick-and-mortar retailer. Target will get yellow, Walmart grey, Amazon crimson, Urban Outfitters white, and independent stores will get a sort of forest green.

The variety of different colors may be confusing to some fans, after Billie criticized the wastefulness of such practices in a recent interview. “I can’t even express to you how wasteful it is,” she said. “I find it really frustrating as somebody who really goes out of my way to be sustainable and do the best that I can and try to involve everybody in my team in being sustainable — and then it’s some of the biggest artists in the world making f*cking 40 different vinyl packages that have a different unique thing just to get you to keep buying more.”

However, details on Billie’s store explain her efforts to mitigate such waste. The discs on offer are made of recycled parts, the packaging is made of recycled paper, and even the ink is specialized to reduce processing and waste.

Hit Me Hard And Soft is due on May 17 via Darkroom/Interscope Records. Find more information here.

The Los Angeles Lakers coaching search is ramping up as the team has begun making formal interview requests of a number of candidates this week at the NBA Draft Combine. While there are a handful of assistants around the league that figure to get calls from the Lakers, three names have jumped to the top of the list for L.A., according to Shams Charania.

Former Hornets coach James Borrego, Celtics assistant coach Sam Cassell, and ESPN analyst and podcast host JJ Redick are the presumptive favorites going into the interview process, which Adrian Wojnarowski noted would be “thorough.” Woj has also stated that the Lakers are “digging deep” on Redick, and it seems he has a very strong chance at landing the gig. It certainly doesn’t hurt his chances that he hosts a podcast with LeBron James, but he’s also been a candidate in Charlotte and the Lakers will have to make this hire with the post-LeBron era in mind, as James is likely not going to play for too many more years.

According to Charania, aiding in the Lakers coaching search is former Duke and USA Basketball head coach Mike Krzyzewski, who rather famously coached Redick for four years in college.

https://twitter.com/ClutchPoints/status/1790393234889298157

It certainly seems like all of this is lining up for Redick to get the job. Even if Coach K is just an “unofficial resource,” one would have to think he’s going to be offering his voice of support for his former pupil. We’ll find out in the coming weeks if that indeed is the case (and ESPN has to find yet another new game analyst), or if someone else stands out in the process and is able to leap to the top spot on the Lakers wishlist.

Almost exactly a month ago now, Cassandra Jenkins announced My Light, My Destroyer and shared “Only One,” a single from the album. The project is set to drop in July, but until then, Jenkins has two significant pieces of news today, May 14: She’s going on tour, and the single “Delphinium Blue” is out now alongside a new video.

Jenkins says of the song (as Pitchfork notes), “Sometimes when I don’t know where to turn, I look for something reliably beautiful. Applying for a job at my local flower shop felt like survival instinct kicking in, and that job got me through one of the bluest periods in my life—being surrounded by flowers didn’t just make the weight easier to bear—it helped me understand it and myself better. I began to dream in technicolor; flowers became the language of my subconscious.”

Watch the “Delphinium Blue” video above and find Jenkins’ upcoming tour dates below.

Cassandra Jenkins 2024 Tour Dates

06/08 — Toronto, Ontario @ Luminato Festival
07/11 — Brooklyn, NY @ Public Records
09/19 — Chicago, IL @ Sleeping Village
09/21 — Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda’s
09/22 — Boston, MA @ Sinclair
09/27 — Montreal, Quebec @ Pop Montreal
10/09 — Seattle, WA @ Barboza
10/11 — Portland, OR @ The Old Church
10/13 — San Francisco, CA @ Rickshaw Stop
10/14 — Los Angeles, CA @ Zebulon
10/30 — Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
11/09 — Amsterdam, Netherlands @ Paradiso Main Hall
11/11 — Copenhagen, Denmark @ Lille Vega
11/12 — Hamburg, Germany @ Nachtasyl
11/13 — Berlin, Germany @ Silent Green
11/15 — Paris, France @ Le Hasard Ludique
11/16 — Brussels, Belgium @ Grand Salon
11/18 — Manchester, England @ Yes Pink Room
11/20 — Dublin, Ireland @ Whelan’s
11/21 — Leeds, England @ Brudenell Community Room
11/22 — Glasgow, Scotland @ Stereo
11/24 — Bristol, England @ Rough Trade
11/25 — Brighton, England @ Komedia Main
11/26 — London, England @ Earth Theatre

My Light, My Destroyer is out 7/12 via Dead Oceans. Find more information here.

Prime Video (Amazon) has been going hog wild during Tuesday’s Upfront presentation. Not only has the streaming service announced the first Nic Cage TV show but also a new trailer for Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power and some The Boys goodness, too.

Additionally, Amazon has addressed Mr. and Mrs. Smith, the wonderfully reimagined story starring Donald Glover and Maya Erskine. The question of whether a second season was possible had been swirling, and it didn’t look great, given that the couple had been barricaded in a safe room with John about to die and Jane looking that way, too, while Parker Posey’s high-risk Jane stood ready for battle.

Well, we finally know whether there will be more of the show. Amazon renewed the series, as announced in a press release lauding the show’s creators including Francesca Sloane:

“We are excited to announce that a second season of our groundbreaking spy series, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, is in the works for our global Prime Video customers,” said Jennifer Salke, head of Amazon MGM Studios. “The success of the first season, with its incredibly modern, sexy reinvention of the original film, is a testament to the brilliant creators Donald Glover and Francesa Sloane. We are proud to bring you another season filled with unforgettable journeys and new adventures.”

However, it also sounds like we are learning the (probable) fate of Our John and Jane. That is to say, Maya Erskine will not be farting any longer in front of Donald Glover, unless they choose to do so on their own time.

Variety is reporting that “stars Donald Glover and Maya Erskine will not be returning to star in Season 2.” Glover will remain onboard as co-creator and executive producer, but he won’t be seen onscreen in Season 2. Amazon and representatives of Glover and Erskine have not confirmed this report, but do you know what this means?

The way is now cleared for that silly joke I made about an Alexander Skarsgård and Eiza González prequel to come true. Hey, “the little squirrel is back!” You know what to do, Amazon.

Maya-Jane, you will be missed 🙁

Look, if you made The Godfather and The Godfather Part II and The Conversation and Apocalypse Now and Bram Stoker’s Dracula, you should be allowed to make (in the immortal words of Blank Check) whatever passion project you want. Francis Ford Coppola is finally making his passion project.

Coppola first conceived of Megalopolis in the 1970s, but long story short (Vanity Fair has a short story long history of the project), he reportedly spent $120 million of his own money to finance the film. Coppola also put together an all-star cast, including Adam Driver, Aubrey Plaza, Giancarlo Esposito, Nathalie Emmanuel, Shia LaBeouf, Jason Schwartzman, Talia Shire, Grace VanderWaal, Laurence Fishburne, Kathryn Hunter, and Dustin Hoffman.

Megalopolis still doesn’t have distribution, but a teaser trailer was released ahead of the film’s Cannes Film Festival premiere, and this thing looks wild. “Wild” in the best, work-of-staggering-genius way possible. Here are some of the craziest (complimentary) moments, from crazy to most crazy:

8. A Russian satellite hurtling towards Earth

7. Chariot racing is back — and indoors

6. The Shia LaBeouf face fan will be sold out by Halloween

5. I’m not entirely sure what’s happening here, but I can’t wait to find out

4. Statues, including Lady Justice, come to life

3. Is that God (a god?) grabbing the moon? Maybe!

2. This isn’t in the trailer, per se, but Aubrey Plaza’s character is named Wow Platinum. As in, “Wow, her name is Wow Platinum.”

1. The dissolve from Adam Driver’s face into the title card

Let Coppola cook. Here’s the official plot synopsis:

Megalopolis is a Roman Epic fable set in an imagined Modern America. The City of New Rome must change, causing conflict between Cesar Catilina (Adam Driver), a genius artist who seeks to leap into a utopian, idealistic future, and his opposition, Mayor Franklyn Cicero (Giancarlo Esposito), who remains committed to a regressive status quo, perpetuating greed, special interests, and partisan warfare. Torn between them is socialite Julia Cicero (Nathalie Emmanuel), the mayor’s daughter, whose love for Cesar has divided her loyalties, forcing her to discover what she truly believes humanity deserves.

Megalopolis premieres at the 77th Cannes Film Festival on May 16. It does not have a theatrical release date… yet?

There is a ton of hype for the 2024 WNBA season, which will begin on Tuesday night, with the Las Vegas Aces looking to three-peat as champs, Caitlin Clark making her debut as a pro in Indiana, and the league filled with talent across the board.

However, there are also some big changes on the horizon for the WNBA, as a 13th team in San Francisco will be joining the league in 2025 and a 14th team in Toronto will reportedly join in 2026. While we await the official announcement on the Toronto franchise, the new Golden State team finally has an official name and branding.

The Golden State Valkyries unveiled their team name and logo on Tuesday, showing off a violet and black color scheme.

Valkyries is a fitting name for a team that will share an arena and ownership group with the Warriors, and they’ll certainly stand out with violet as their main color. Picking a new team nickname and design is always tricky, because fans tend to push back on just about anything that’s new, but I do appreciate them going for something different here. We’ll have to wait to see what exactly they do with their uniforms, but fans in the Bay Area can finally start picking up merch and know what to call their new team.

There’s about the be a new music festival in town: Bridgeport, Connecticut will host the inaugural edition of the Soundside Music Festival later this year, with the two-day event going down on September 28 and 29 at Seaside Park, along the banks of the Long Island Sound. They’re kicking things off with a bang, too: Noah Kahan will headline the festival’s first day while Foo Fighters will lead the second.

Beyond them, Saturday will feature Goo Goo Dolls, Fleet Foxes, Boyz II Men, Grace Potter, Thee Sacred Souls, Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, Lisa Loeb And Nine Stories, Madi Diaz, and Rijah. Also performing on Sunday are Queens Of The Stone Age, Norah Jones, Teddy Swims, Gregory Alan Isakov, The Kills, Drew Holcomb And The Neighbors, War & Treaty, Hurray For The Riff Raff, and Darren Kiely.

There’s an SMS pre-sale for tickets happening on May 16 from 10 a.m. to noon ET. The public on-sale begins immediately after, at which point ticket prices will increase. Find more information about tickets on the festival website.

As Connecticut Post notes, Soundside isn’t a completely new event, as it’s a rebranded version of the pre-existing Sound On Sound festival. The publication also notes that Founders Entertainment, which was an organizer of Sound On Sound, has combined with C3 Presents, the Live Nation-owned event production company behind events like Lollapalooza and Austin City Limits, and C3 will operate this year’s Soundside fest.

Nic Cage recently put it out there in the world that he was quitting movies and had become so enraptured by discovering Breaking Bad that he was going to find himself a TV role instead, and oh boy, he did just that.

In an interesting development as well, Cage will sort-of be reprising (in live-action form) his animated Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse character, Spider-Man Noir. Cage previously prepared audiences by promising that Humphrey Bogart lives within his portrayal of “Peter Parker from the ’30s,” and although Cage recently suggested that he’d had enough of comic-book movies, that doesn’t mean that he can’t do the comic-book thing on TV.

In Tuesday’s Amazon Upfront presentations, Cage’s new TV show was revealed to the called Noir, which will have the backing of ex-Sony Co-Chair Amy Pascal as an executive producer along with Steve Lightfoot, Phil Lord, Christopher Miller, and Oren Uziel. The series will premiere on MGM+ followed by a debut on Prime Video (Amazon), and again, this will be a live-action series. From the description:

Noir tells the story of an aging and down on his luck private investigator (Cage) in 1930s New York, who is forced to grapple with his past life as the city’s one and only superhero.

This might even be event TV? Perhaps. That determiniation remains up in the air, of course, but here’s a certainty: this makes that spider-fighting cameo in The Flash even funnier.

Following the unexpectedly huge debut of Fallout, Prime Video’s other record-breaking genre series is returning soon.

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season two will premiere on the Amazon-owned streaming service on Thursday, August 29. Prime Video also released a teaser trailer for the new season, which shows the ascendance of the evil Sauron, as well as the return of characters including Galadriel (played by Morfydd Clark), Elrond (Robert Aramayo), Prince Durin IV (Owain Arthur), Arondir (Ismael Cruz Córdova), and Celebrimbor. (Charles Edwards).

Here’s more:

In season two of The Rings of Power, Sauron has returned. Cast out by Galadriel, without army or ally, the rising Dark Lord must now rely on his own cunning to rebuild his strength and oversee the creation of the Rings of Power, which will allow him to bind all the peoples of Middle-earth to his sinister will. Building on season one’s epic scope and ambition, the new season plunges even its most beloved and vulnerable characters into a rising tide of darkness, challenging each to find their place in a world that is increasingly on the brink of calamity. Elves and dwarves, orcs and men, wizards and Harfoots… as friendships are strained and kingdoms begin to fracture, the forces of good will struggle ever more valiantly to hold on to what matters to them most of all… each other.

You can check out the season two key art below.

Does… does Donald Trump know Hannibal Lecter isn’t a real guy? I’m genuinely asking. Over the weekend at a rally in New Jersey, the former president praised the fictional cannibal, played by everyone from Anthony Hopkins to Mads Mikkelsen, for being a “wonderful man.”

Trump’s full comments: “Has anyone ever seen The Silence of the Lambs? The late, great Hannibal Lecter. He’s a wonderful man. He oftentimes would have a friend for dinner. Remember the last scene? ‘Excuse me, I’m about to have a friend for dinner,’ as this poor doctor walked by. ‘I’m about to have a friend for dinner.’ But Hannibal Lecter. Congratulations. The late, great Hannibal Lecter.” He then continued to rant about immigration, or whatever.

After playing the rally clip during Monday’s episode of Late Night, host Seth Meyers tried to make sense of the insanity. “At this rally, Trump talked about The Silence of the Lambs character Hannibal Lecter and said he was a ‘wonderful man.’ First of all, Hannibal Lecter isn’t real. He’s a character played by Anthony Hopkins, a wonderful man who is real. Second, the character Hannibal is not a wonderful man, he’s a cannibal who murdered a bunch of people. And third, please tell me this is not your VP announcement,” he said. If I may add one more: Lecter doesn’t die in The Silence of the Lambs, so he’s not the “late” Hannibal Lecter. But the fact that Meyers doesn’t bother bringing that up shows how nutty Trump’s comments are.

You can watch the Late Night video above.