Month: June 2024

As the nation helplessly watches our highest halls of government toss justice to the wind, a 2nd grader has given us someplace to channel our frustrations. In a hilarious video rant, a youngster named Taylor shared a story that has folks ready to go to the mat for her and her beloved, pink, perfect attendance pencil.

Instagrammer @tabgeezy shared a video of her daughter telling the story of how she put her perfect attendance pencil—the pink one that she had legitimately earned—in the classroom box of pencils to be sharpened. But when she went to retrieve it from the sharpened pencils box, all she found were plain yellow pencils. That’s because Lizzie—who, by the way, had not earned a perfect attendance pencil because she had gone to CANADA—was using it. And not only that, but Canada Lizzie then lost Taylor’s pencil in her desk, and her teacher was no help.

You have to hear Taylor tell it to understand why this travesty of justice has gone viral.

See on Instagram

If you think this pencil battle is of no consequence whatsoever, think again. People on Twitter got hold of the video, and folks are rallying behind Taylor as if that pink pencil is our democracy and Taylor and Lizzie are the House and Senate.

If somebody ever takes my childu2019s perfect attendance pencil which SHE earned cuz she didnu2019t even go to Canada, the entire school getting shut down.

— riley wuz here (@riley wuz here)
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IS THERE NO JUSTICE IN THE WORLD

— Charlotte Clymer ud83cudff3ufe0fu200du26a7ufe0fud83cuddfaud83cudde6 (@Charlotte Clymer ud83cudff3ufe0fu200du26a7ufe0fud83cuddfaud83cudde6)
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“Lizzie” was trending on Twitter as people called out the little girl who went to CANADA and then dared to take Taylor’s perfect attendance pencil.

Me and the crew showing up to school the next day looking for Lizzie and getting to ride out for Tayloru2019s Perfect Attendance Pencil https://twitter.com/_FemGod/status/1223105472393121793u00a0u2026pic.twitter.com/3Hw7ASVmpX

— Matthew A. Cherry (@Matthew A. Cherry)
1580483395

All I am saying is that if Lizzy wanted a pink Perfect Attendance pencil then she shouldn’t have gone to CANADA.nn#JusticeForThePencil

— Gail Simone ud83dudc99ud83dudc9b (@Gail Simone ud83dudc99ud83dudc9b)
1580488889

There were some shout-outs to Taylor’s classmate who understood what that pencil meant to her.

shout out to reece who was the only one who understood the gravity of the situation. don’t let me see lizzie in the streets! https://twitter.com/_FemGod/status/1223105472393121793u00a0u2026

— in charge of the girls (@in charge of the girls)
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But Taylor’s teacher certainly wasn’t getting any love.

Me writing an email to my babyu2019s teacher saying that messy ass Lizzie better come up with a perfect attendance pencil or sheu2019s going to be going back to Canadapic.twitter.com/ZbcjpwBvUr

— u2728La Bruja Buenau2728 (@u2728La Bruja Buenau2728)
1580474199

Twitter’s collective reaction even started getting its own GIFs.

All of Twitter getting ready to go ask Lizzie, who was in Canada, about a certain pink perfect attendance pencilpic.twitter.com/xwIBRzYFF5

— Lana Del Gay (@Lana Del Gay)
1580485811

Twitter uniting to get her perfect attendance pencil back from Lizzie because she went to Canada and DID NOT earn it:pic.twitter.com/4U9qFgB6Jm

— Sarah Guy (@Sarah Guy)
1580477370

People had so. many. feelings. about baby girl getting back her pencil, about the way her mom and teacher dismissed it as “just a pencil,” and about poor little Lizzie who probably still doesn’t understand what all the fuss is about.

Why do we care so much? Adorableness aside, we’re all a little burned out on politics and the methodical dismantling of our country’s checks and balances, so maybe getting charged up over an adorable little girl’s pencil injustice somehow feels cathartic.

John Delaney dropped out of the race… Meh!nnThereu2019s a Presidential impeachment… Yawn. nnSomeone stole a little girlu2019s perfect attendance pencil. nnMe:pic.twitter.com/aXBot4y58G

— AL (@AL)
1580478694

Hope you get your pencil back soon, Taylor. We all need a little glimmer of hope that justice can, indeed, prevail.

This article originally appeared on 01.31.20

Doris Burke is an absolute legend in the world of basketball, and she’s been a trailblazer for women in broadcasting. She first started at ESPN in 1991, began calling men’s basketball in 2000 for the Knicks and MSG, called men’s college basketball games at ESPN in 2003, and became the top NBA sideline reporter in 2009. She was elevated to game analyst in 2017 and, after spending years plying her craft, was elevated to the lead broadcast booth alongside Mike Breen and Doc Rivers (now JJ Redick) going into this season.

That meant Burke would be on the call for the NBA Finals, becoming the first woman to do so on TV in the 76-year history of the NBA. On Thursday night, that momentous occasion arrived and, while Burke tried to shun the spotlight, plenty made sure to give her her flowers. Among them was LeBron James, who shouted out the legend on Twitter for what she does to elevate the NBA and for being “a GOAT.”

Beyond James, many of the women who have followed her lead paid tribute to Burke for blazing a path into the world of broadcasting, as ESPN now has a number of women that call games for the network and nine teams have women as part of their local TV game broadcast booth. Awful Announcing’s Brendon Kleen interviewed many members of the “Doris Burke generation” in a terrific piece on how big her impact has been on the world of basketball broadcasting and the women that have joined it.

Sabrina Carpenter is keeping the pop bangers coming. Her hit single, “Espresso,” is heating up the charts, and she’s certainly not losing her momentum ahead of her sixth studio album, Short N’ Sweet. Tonight (June 6), Carpenter shared the latest taste of Short N’ Sweet, “Please Please Please,” on which, she makes a fairly reasonable plea.

“Please, please, please / Don’t bring me to tears / When I just did my makeup so nice,” she sings on the song’s chorus. As she’s previously said, Carpenter “can’t relate to desperation,” but she’ll be damned if any man is going to make her look stupid.

In the song’s accompanying video, Carpenter is seen in a jail cell, but is bailed out quickly. Upon leaving the jail, she makes eye contact with a handsome man, played by Barry Keoghan, who is being arrested. She later bails him out, however, doesn’t let him leave her sight. She keeps a close eye on him as he robs a bank, and later ties him to a chair and duct tapes his mouth, making sure he can’t escape. She does, however, give him a kiss before walking off.

You can see the video for “Please Please Please” above.

Short N’ Sweet is out 8/23 via Island Records. Find more information here.

Baby Reindeer remains a huge hit for Netflix, although fairly soon after Richard Gadd’s semi-autobiographical series began streaming, a woman named Fiona Harvey came forward to take umbrage with the limited series. Harvey then gave an interview to Piers Morgan and continued to allege that she had been defamed by the Scottish comedian’s brainchild.

In the show, Donny’s trauma culminates with being stalked by the Martha character as portrayed by Jessica Gunning. Gadd did ask people to stop speculating about the identity of the real-life Martha and Darrien characters, and only a few days after that statement, Harvey spoke with the Daily Mail and accused Gadd of “bullying an older woman on television for fame and fortune.” She claimed to be “the victim” and threatened to sue Gadd and Netflix. She has now made good on that threat where Netflix is concerned while “alleging defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligence, and violations of Harvey’s right of publicity.”

Via Variety, Harvey is asking the court for damages of $170+ million:

“The lies that Defendants told about Harvey to over 50 million people worldwide include that Harvey is a twice-convicted stalker who was sentenced to five years in prison, and that Harvey sexually assaulted Gadd,” her complaint says. “Defendants told these lies, and never stopped, because it was a better story than the truth, and better stories made money.”

Variety posted a link to Harvey’s legal filing, which further reads, “As a result of Defendants’ lies, malfeasance and utterly reckless misconduct, Harvey’s life had been ruined. Simply, Netflix and Gadd destroyed her reputation, her character and her life.”

Gadd has been upfront about how, unlike Martha in Baby Reindeer, his real-life stalker was not incarcerated. In an interview with The Times, he called the matter “resolved” and added, “I didn’t want to throw someone who was that level of mentally unwell in prison.” He has not commented upon Harvey’s lawsuit, nor has Netflix.

However, the Netflix series does begin with a title card calling Baby Reindeer a “true story,” although the show actually differs (and Gadd has admitted this) a significant amount, factually speaking, from his real-life experiences. In an interview with Vanity Fair, Gadd declared, “I would say the broad strokes are very much true.” He then added, “I was a bartender, I was a struggling comedian. I was dating Terry and indulging Martha and coming off the back of sexual trauma, so it’s all pretty close.”

Baby Reindeer is currently streaming on Netflix.

(Via Variety)

Fortnite‘s grip on popular culture is honestly pretty impressive. From stealing popular dances for in-game emotes to featuring some of the biggest stars in entertainment as character skins and even hosting virtual concerts from the likes of Billie Eilish and The Weeknd, the game has ingrained itself into music — especially hip-hop — as both a valuable tool for reaching a young audience and a favored pastime of the artists themselves — albeit, a sometimes frustrating one.

The next artist to team up with Epic Games is Don Toliver, who will be the focus of the special game Hardstone. Toliver teased the game/event with a trailer showing off some of the game’s environments, skins, and weapons, which will all revolve around the biker gang theme of his upcoming album, Hardstone Psycho. The collaboration is fitting, considering it was Toliver’s mentor Travis Scott who performed one of Fortnite‘s first-ever virtual concerts, breaking streaming records for the game in the process.

Since Travis’ proof-of-concept success, in-game performers have included Young Thug, Dominic Fike, J Balvin, Ariana Grande, Eminem, and more.

Hardstone will be a “8v8 turf war between two rival biker gangs (Hardstone & Wolves M.C.)… featuring music from Don Toliver’s new album, a fully custom map, immersive gameplay, & more.” You can play the game free on June 10th in Fortnite, by logging onto Fortnite and searching for “Hardstone” from the main menu.

Latto and Megan Thee Stallion have been teasing their “Sunday Service” remix for a bit, promising a secret third collaborator, who they just revealed. While many thought it might be Meg’s tourmate GloRilla, with whom Latto has a friendly dance rivalry going, it actually turned out to be another of rap’s current It-Girls: Flo Milli. The song is about to drop in just a few hours, at midnight on June 7, but if you thought the hype couldn’t get any greater, you’ve got another think coming.

Ironically, it’ll be the first time Flo Milli has worked with either woman, but they’ve all circled each others’ orbits for a while. In November, both Latto and Flo Milli participated in an XXL Cypher Lab freestyle session with Monaleo, Maiya The Don, and Mello Buckzz, and back in 2022, they interviewed each other (while indoor skydiving, no less) for Rolling Stone‘s “Musicians On Musicians” series.

The trio also linked up backstage during the rescheduled Atlanta stop of Meg and Glo’s Hot Girl Summer Tour, where the aforementioned twerk battle took place. All are part of a recent wave of women in rap teaming up with each other to improve all their chances in a male-dominated genre, which has included Cardi B appearing on Flo Milli’s “Never Lose Me,” Cardi rapping on Glo and Meg’s “Wanna Be,” and Meg and Glo teaming up together in first place.

You can listen to the “Sunday Service” remix at midnight Eastern/9 PM Pacific.

Kyrie Irving is part of the dynamic duo that led the Dallas Mavericks to the NBA Finals against the Boston Celtics, and one of his old teammates couldn’t be much happier. Recently, LeBron James discussed Irving getting the Mavs to this point on the “Mind the Game” podcast, and had a ton of good things to say about the man he labeled “the most gifted player the NBA’s ever seen.”

You can watch James’ full comments — in which he expressed his pride in Irving’s growth and his dismay that the two are no longer teammates — right here. But apparently, all of this sat pretty poorly with ESPN analyst Kendrick Perkins, who called out James on Thursday’s episode of The Jump.

“Here we go again,” Perkins said. “Bron weaseling his way into somebody else’s moment. Like, let somebody else … this is not about you. Your team is at home. This is about the Mavs and the Celtics. But yet, you’re so mad and disappointed that you’re not Kyrie Irving’s running mate no more. Here we go again.”

James and Irving were teammates for three years in Cleveland, and were major parts of the team that won an NBA title back in 2016. While Irving eventually wanted out and got traded — ironically enough, to the Celtics — the pair remained close throughout the years, and there have been plenty of rumors during that time that they could end up reuniting, although that has never come to fruition. It’s not surprising that James would say something like this about Irving in the lead-up to the Finals, even if it did rub Perkins the wrong way.

Pat Sajak and Vanna White have been standing alongside each other for over 40 years on Wheel Of Fortune, occasionally spelling out some words and lightly roasting each other. But all good things must come to an end, and sometimes you need to buy your last vowel.

Last year, Sajak announced that he would be stepping down at the end of season 41 of the long-running game show. He will be replaced by Ryan Seacrest for the next season. In 2018, Sajak became the longest-running host of any game show, surpassing Bob Barker, so Seacrest has some large shoes to fill.

Ahead of his final episode, White shared a heartfelt farewell message to her co-host. “I can’t believe that tomorrow is our last show together. I don’t know how to put into words what these past 41 years have meant to me, but I’m going to try. Eight-thousand episodes went by like that,” White said in the video. “When I first started, I was so green. You made me so comfortable, and made me so confident, Pat. You made me who I am. You really did.”

Grab your tissues, because White got even more emotional. She continued:

As the years have gone by, we’ve grown up on television. But we’ve also shared so much more behind the scenes. As much fun as we had on camera, those memories, milestones and life events we shared with our families outside the studio are my favorite. We’ve watched our children grow up together, we’ve traveled all over the world, we’ve eaten hundreds of meals together, we’ve laughed, we’ve cried, we’ve celebrated…. Gosh, what an incredible and unforgettable journey we’ve had, and I’ve enjoyed every minute of it with you. As this chapter of our lives is coming to an end, I know you’ll still be close by. You’re like a brother to me, and I consider you a true, life-long friend who I will always adore. I love you, Pat.

White will remain on the game show, though she isn’t sure how long she’s going to stick around, perhaps especially now that she knows Ryan Seacrest can’t spell.

Check out the video above.

The WNBA has blown up this summer, with more coverage on a national scale from major networks than ever before. With that has come an awful lot of noise, and not all of it has been good. Caitlin Clark has been at the center of much of the discussion, as the top overall pick out of Iowa has appeal well beyond the longtime diehards of the women’s game.

The challenge for the league is capitalizing on that attention, particularly as Clark goes through the typical ups and downs of a rookie. There’s been plenty of talk of her fellow rookies, namely Cameron Brink and Angel Reese, but as is typically the case, it’s the teams led by veteran stars that are dominating the standings at the moment, demanding the attention and respect of the growing audience.

The Connecticut Sun have become the sixth team to start a season 9-0, with Alyssa Thomas and DeWanna Bonner leading the charge to the top of the East. The New York Liberty, helped by Breanna Stewart, Sabrina Ionescu, and Jonquel Jones, remain a top contender after a run to the Finals a year ago. In the West, Napheesa Collier is putting up preposterous numbers to lead the Minnesota Lynx to the top spot early on, but seated behind them are the reigning back-to-back champions in the Las Vegas Aces.

It’s not often the team chasing a three-peat with the reigning two-time MVP aren’t the lead story, but some of that is simply because the Aces haven’t played much basketball this season. While Clark and the Fever played an astounding 11 games in the first 20 days of the season, Las Vegas had played six going into Wednesday night’s Commissioner’s Cup clash with the Dallas Wings.

In that game, A’ja Wilson offered a reminder that, even with all the chatter elsewhere, she is still the dominant force in the WNBA. Wilson became the first player in WNBA history to reach 35 points, 10 rebounds, and five steals in a game, as she piled up a 36/12/6 line in those categories in a 95-81 win in Dallas — playing the second half with a busted nose she got on a no-call late in the first half.

Wilson’s performance was indicative of her season to this point, as she’s averaging an outrageous 27.9 points, 12.4 rebounds, 2.6 blocks, and 2.0 steals per game through seven appearances this season. The Aces are 5-2 to start their three-peat campaign, and while it hasn’t been perfect (and they certainly miss the presence of Chelsea Gray), they have shown the extra gear they possess that few, if any, other teams in the league have.

That gear exists largely because of Wilson, who is the best player on the floor night in and night out. The Aces are far from a one-woman show, with Jackie Young continuing her ascent as a star and Kelsey Plum capable of a big game at any time, but Wilson’s steadiness and dominance on both ends is something truly spectacular to behold.

On defense, the reigning back-to-back DPOY remains as stout a rim protector as there is in the WNBA, helping the Aces wall off the rim in her minutes. As Young explained, Wilson’s presence along with Kiah Stokes gives the Vegas guards the ability to be more aggressive at the point of attack knowing they have a big at the back end who can cover for mistakes.

“Us guards, we’re able to get up and pressure, because we know we have Kiah and A’ja back they’re protecting the paint for us,” Young said. “So that gives us that security, you know, and being able to be aggressive on defense and sometimes gambling when maybe you shouldn’t.”

On offense, Wilson is shouldering an incredible burden so far this season, boasting a 34.5 usage rate through seven games. With Gray out, Young has taken over the lead guard duties with Plum as the secondary creator, but the Aces are running a tremendous amount of their offense through Wilson and leaning heavily on her scoring ability. What’s been impressive is that, even with that additional load (last year her usage rate was a 28.9 percent), she’s remained impressively efficient. She’s finishing at the rim better than ever (74.1 percent) and she’s knocking down 47.5 percent of her shots from the midrange on high volume. While that is a step back from her outrageous 54.8 percent clip from last year, it’s still an impressive figure and shows the diversification of her offensive game, particularly considering her huge leap in volume (6.4 more shots per game).

Wilson has continued adding and refining her face-up and high post game, and you can see the comfort she has in getting her shot off from just about anywhere on the floor.

As the esteemed Steve Jones Jr. points out, her fluidity on these kinds of looks makes it nearly impossible to even send help and try and force the ball out of her hands. That allows Vegas to run even more of their offense through her, because teams can’t load up on Wilson in halfcourt sets — even in an effort to try and take advantage of there being one fewer elite offensive threat on the floor due to Gray’s absence.

Wilson’s ability to handle the ball and create her own shot is an incredible luxury for the Aces, who don’t need their guards to get her the ball in her spots in order to be effective. There aren’t a ton of bigs as self-sufficient as Wilson. When teams trap and blitz Young or Plum, Wilson can step out to help, take a pass, and attack a defense out of position. In transition, she is lethal running the floor, and the Aces look to push it off any turnover or miss.

Along with all of that, Wilson is still a mismatch in the post against most any opponent, but especially smaller teams, bullying her way to the basket or the free throw line. Wilson continues to get better, and the result of this offseason’s work has the back-to-back MVP putting up the best start to a season of her career. That’s a terrifying proposition for the rest of the league, and a reminder that for all of the chatter elsewhere, she is still the dominant force in the WNBA and on pace to become one of the all-time greats.

a href=”https://uproxx.com/tv/julio-torres-my-favorite-shapes-hbo-special/” rel=”noopener” target=”_blank”>Julio Torres’ has been filling screens both small and large for years with his brand of eccentric storytelling, an amalgam of shapes, colors, social commentary, and an enduring love of anthropomorphizing inanimate objects. The result? Singular stand-up specials, memorable Saturday Night Live sketches, thought-provoking indie films, and now, what may be TV’s trippiest comedy.

Fantasmas (which debuts on HBO June 7) is Torres’ latest collaboration with HBO following the cancellation of his beloved Los Espookys series. The two projects aren’t related – one a Peabody Award winning love letter to horror and Latin America, the other a surrealist experiment that sees Torres navigating a dreamy, neon-splattered New York City in search of a lost pearl earring. And yet, Fantasmas shares the same nonconformist comedic DNA as its Spanish-language predecessor, a patented sense of rebellion and curiosity that infuses so much of Torres’ work – from his critically-praised A24 feature Problemista to the bulk of his weirder SNL sketches that somehow made it to air.

When asked to clarify his own cerebral interior, Torres suggests it’s “so cluttered and messy but welcoming, I think.” That’s how Fantasmas could be labeled as well, a collection of whimsical, bizarre vignettes strung together narratively by an overarching quest whose sum of its parts is often more interesting than its whole. Torres binds it all, playing a version of himself intent on avoiding the mundanity of life – like getting a government-issued I.D. – by focusing his time and energy on finding a piece of jewelry, scouring the city and getting sidetracked by its kooky and comical characters. These detours come in all shapes, species, and themes.

There’s Paul Dano, playing the dad in a sitcom parody that quickly turns dark. There’s the underground dance club for Queer hamsters that Julio turns to for help. SNL vets like Bowen Yang and Aidy Bryant pop up to play elves on trial and stylists who take bathroom decorating to the extreme. Emma Stone cameos as a housewife stuck in a reality TV hellscape. Steve Buscemi is here to demand respect for the letter “Q.” And then there’s Martine Gutierrez, Torres’ long-time collaborator, who plays Vanesja (the “J” is silent), a performance artist who’s been masquerading as Julio’s agent for so long, she’s now one of the most powerful players in the entertainment industry.

On paper, it might seem like none of it makes sense, but that’s exactly how you know it’s a Julio Torres project that’s destined to be a hit.

I spoke with Torres about Fantasmas’ connection to his early SNL days, his favorite skits, and making art from an OCD diagnosis.

There are toilet commercials and malfunctioning robots and gossiping mermaids. How do you keep the thread when it comes to the overarching story here?

Everything was so organic. The genesis of making the show is that I missed the short form writing I got to do at Saturday Night Live and I really wanted to get to do that again. I didn’t necessarily want to make the kind of show where it’s like bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, but rather making it a river that you flow down, where you just go in and allow it to guide you. I that same feeling of momentum here. What would be a through line that thematically connects with the themes of the vignettes? It feels like building a sandcastle. You don’t go in it with a plan. You just sort of know the things that you want to include, and then you just sort of hopefully make something cohesive.

With something that’s semi-autobiographical, the obvious path might be to play all these characters yourself. Why did you want to recruit so many guest stars for this?

Yeah, a lot of comedian-driven sketch comedy is the performer, the comedian playing different sketches and different characters. That is something that I really, really admire, but that’s just not my thing. I just don’t have it. I don’t think I’m a chameleon in the way of Fred [Armisen] or Maya Rudolph or any of these people that become household names because of that talent. I think I’m more of a storyteller and think of myself more like a master of ceremonies. I love working with actors, and that brings me so much joy. So this is what felt right.

Which of these sketches felt most integral to the theme of show?

Oh, I think that because of complications with production, which is something that happens in doing any show where you don’t have infinite resources, it’s almost like every single thing that you saw was at one point on the chopping block. But then that’s a very helpful exercise of seeing what actually is important to the show versus what can wait for something else. I think Steve Buscemi playing the letter Q felt integral because it checks a lot of the boxes of what the show is interested in, but also, just any of the very idiosyncratic moments of lonely people being hung up and obsessed with one thing. One of the ones that has a really big place in my heart is the vignette between Kate Berlant and my friend Spike Einbinder, where one is sort of a theme park Marvel superhero, and the other one is the Disney fan kind of person. That, to me, felt very necessary to the show, those kinds of stories.

what does the search for the oyster pearl earring represent?

It’s interesting because in the course of writing this and Problemista — they were both sort of written at the same time — I got my OCD diagnosis and just learned how so many of these obsessions are distractions. We make things the vessel for bigger things. I think that’s what this earring is. It’s a symbol. It’s an object. It’s not the key to anything. It’s a stand-in for the thing. I also like how complicated it becomes, because it’s not even a pearl earring. It’s a little pearl in a golden oyster. You don’t even know what to call it. It’s not crisp and clean and succinct.

Avoidance and obsession definitely go hand in hand here. Is the point to find balance, the right balance between routine and structure vs freedom and creativity?

It’s not so much having a balance as it is facing the reality that we don’t exist in a vacuum. We exist in a context. Art isn’t created in a vacuum, art is in context, and that ignoring the world around us is a disservice to it.

You don’t make art that’s meant for the mainstream and yet, so much of your comedy resonates on a bigger scale. Why do you think that is?

I think because it’s not absurd for the sake of being absurd. It’s rooted in human experience and observations, and I don’t know if any of these vignettes will resonate with people, but they’re real observations.

Is there anything you’ve done in your career that you look back on and think, ‘How did I convince someone to say yes to that?’

Yes, my second sketch at SNL, it was Emily Blunt voicing the sink. No actors, and I was just like, ‘Wow, they’re really just allowing this.’ I mean, the show is a mosaic of the people who worked there at that time, and I think that, because they have so many big, broader mainstream hits, smaller corners of it are allowed to be a little quieter. And I think that at its best, they understand that balance, and those are always the pieces that I was interested in making. They knew what purpose I served there, and I did as well. I felt very privileged to do that.

‘Fantasmas’ debuts on HBO June 7