Month: July 2024

Even though Rob and his insane antics have been taking over this season of Love Island USA, couple Kaylor and Aaron have also had their fair share of over-the-top drama, most of which has consisted of Kaylor wandering around the villa in tears.

The Love Island USA duo became paired up on day one and quickly became the house couple…that is until the boys spent time at Casa Amor. At Casa, Aaron quickly attached himself to Daniela while Kaylor stayed single at the Villa. They have since made up and recently won a video call with their families, though it appears that Kaylor’s mom is not a fan of Aaron.

Kara Kaylor-Stewart, Kaylor’s mom, has been passionalty posting on Facebook throughout the season, and she is not shy about her distaste for Aaron. “My heart bleeds for you baby girl and I wish I could take the pain/hurt you will endure,” she wrote in a Facebook post. “Kaylor, you’re a strong advocate for empowering your loved ones, having faith and trusting one another and most of all… your loyalty to your friends and invested allegiance to do whatever it takes for them to feel joy, experience peace and serenity…. A God given Asset you were blessed with!” None of the islanders are in contact with their families, so her mom has only seen what we see.

It turns out Kaylor’s mom was “shocked” when the two were paired up. In another post, she wrote, “Honestly, I was shocked initially when you selected Aaron for a courtship…the absence of physical traits/appearance you’d otherwise insist on or MUST HAVE, prior to considering date potential….and even more astounding…his fragile emotion dysfunction, a caveat to Verbal outbursts, tantrums , utter disrespect and consistent crying bouts reminiscent of a hormonal teenage boy…sincere concern….just sayin!!” The comments are filled with other Love Island fans who are encouraging Kaylor to break it off. Unfortunately….she won’t see them!

Here’s a nothing particularly harsh post from Kaylor’s mom:

It’s not hard to find a loyal man. Sadly for you…the MAN I’m taking about is not AAron (he’s a boy). You presented your self tonight with class, authenticity, and empowerment to know you deserve better! and you know that from your past. Every inch of me aches when I see you cry. that physically aches when you’re in pain/hurting because they love you so much….they are selfless your wellness/happiness that they forget there own. Aaron didn’t think about your feelings, only his own.” Aaron is in for a rude awakening once he leaves the villa.

There are currently six couples left this season, though Aaron and Kaylor were in the bottom three earlier this week, so their time on the island might be up sooner than we think…especially if Kaylor’s mom has anything to say about it.

Love Island is streaming on Peacock.

(Via Us Weekly)

My (and I’m sorry to begin this post with the word “my,” but this is going somewhere, I swear) most popular tweet in the the blurst-of-times era of X, the everything app, is about a bag of chips. But not just any bag of chips: the mad geniuses at Frito-Lay constructed a limited-edition bag of Fritos that are half flamin’ hot and half ranch. I made some easy “we are so back” joke about the salty snack, not expecting the tweet to do much — it has since been viewed over 1.3 million times. There’s two reasons for this, I think: people like stunt food, and they love promotional tie-ins.

The “twisted” flamin’ ranch Fritos were introduced in conjunction with the release of Lee Isaac Chung’s Twisters, the not-a-sequel to 1996’s Twister starring Glen Powell, Daisy Edgar-Jones, and Anthony Ramos. The film is a throwback to a different era of blockbusters when movie stars and spectacle (and CGI cows), not lore and cinematic universes, were the main draws to get people to the theater. But before they were welcomed to Regal Cinemas on a roller coaster, they were bombarded with months of capitalism-fueled hype.

This is still true, as movie tie-ins have been around for decades — the first Happy Meal promotion was for 1979’s Star Trek: The Motion Picture (kids love punishingly long shots of the Enterprise undocking). But at least to me, the Twisters-themed Fritos feel uniquely 1990s. They’re of a piece with the Terminator 2: Judgment Day “Thirst Terminator” cups from Subway, the “dino-sized” meal at McDonald’s for Jurassic Park, and the ubiquitous Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace Pepsi cans. (I’m looking for a Watto if anyone has one.) These products (and don’t get me wrong, these are products) were selling a movie rather a brand.

Twisters is a movie, and even though it technically exists in the same universe as Twister, it’s not dependent on the original in any way. Based on reviews, Twisters sounds like it’s aware of its own silliness, as has the marketing for the film. There’s been billboards that look like they’ve been upended by storms; a tie-in soundtrack — a Barbie the Album for yeehaw America — with song titles like “Ain’t No Love In Oklahoma,” “Stronger Than A Storm,” and “Chasing The Wind”; and Twisters wind booths in movie theater lobbies. Unless a Xenomorph is involved, the popcorn bucket is played out; give me Tom Cruise doing his part to get people “back to the movies” by teaching his protégé the correct way to hold a popcorn bag.

Powell and Edgar-Jones have been particularly charming during the press tour: they seem to enjoy each other’s company (even when she’s calling him a “capybara-looking piece of shit”), and their enthusiasm makes me enthused to see the movie they’re promoting. All that’s been missing is the return of Universal Studios Florida’s Twister… Ride It Out (that ride being replaced with the utterly baffling Race Through New York Starring Jimmy Fallon is one of life’s greatest injustices).

And, of course, there’s Brisket.

“It’s a ruff world out there, so I thought it was about time I hire a proper bodyguard… Meet BRISKET – 1.5 pounds of raw power,” Powell wrote on Instagram when debuting his rescue dog. “Thank you to @thelabellefoundation for all the incredible work you do to advocate for dogs and for making me a dad. I can’t wait to tackle all the adventures of life with this guy!” Most of their adventures together so far have involved Brisket — named after the tastiest BBQ dish from his caretaker’s hometown city, even if he’s more of “a ribs guy” — stealing the show from Powell.

Brisket is a star.

Now, is Brisket in Twisters? Nope. Does Twisters have anything to do with dogs? Probably not. So why is Powell bringing him along to Twisters events? Because it’s entertaining, that’s why.

Think of Twisters this way. After Seth Meyers introduced Daisy Edgar-Jones on Late Night this week, a scene from the movie was played. It’s thrilling, and stormy, and dangerous. But once Edgar-Jones sat down on the couch, Meyers admitted, “I felt terrible watching that clip because your character was so concerned, rightly so, and I was so excited to watch a truck go up in a tornado.” That’s Twisters! It’s not trying to be anything more than – and I say this with respect and admiration — extremely silly entertainment. And the marketing, from the chicken interview to whatever is happening here, has followed suit. Which is what promoting a movie like Twisters should be!

It’s a blockbuster spectacle about hot people chasing storms in Oklahoma. Things, whether a movie or a bag of chips, can just be a mindless (complimentary) delight sometimes. Enjoy the ride.

Twisters opens in theaters on July 19

Last month, Halsey confirmed she would soon release an album with a statement explaining, “Long story short, I’m lucky to be alive. Short story long, I wrote an album.” The release began with “The End,” a ballad chronicling their years-long battle with chronic conditions such as “Lupus SLE and a rare T-cell lymphoproliferative disorder.”

On Thursday, July 18, Halsey hopped on X (formerly Twitter) to answer fans’ questions about the album, which will be her first LP release since the 2021 Grammy-nominated alt-rock/pop triumph If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power.

Someone named Rish asked, “Is this era like Manic and have mixed genres? Or more cohesive??” Halsey responded, “All over the place. when I started writing it, I thought it might be the last album I ever got the chance to make. So I tried to do whatever I’d been wanting to do, but hadn’t tried yet [star emoji].”

Someone more directly asked about Halsey’s inspiration behind the album, leading to Halsey writing, “I wrote a lot about what I was going through. I felt like I couldn’t tell anyone, though it was mostly my choice to not. but the weight of it all and looking at my life wondering if I was happy with who I was. While simultaneously changing against my will. more on that later lol.” More concisely, Halsey described the album as “100% Ashley” — their birth name is Ashley Frangipane — “fist-fighting Halsey.”

Halsey also teased that the director of their video for “Lucky,” her next single due out on July 26 that interpolates Britney Spears’ 2000 song of the same name, is “gonna make everyone flip out.” Halsey assured they “wouldn’t even dream” of releasing the song without Spears’ “blessing” when one fan asked about Spears’ involvement. When someone named Molly asked whether a tour is “realistic,” Halsey reposted that she is “running to the stage” to tour in support of the album.

Most adorably, Halsey shared how Ender, her three-year-old son, has reacted to his mom’s songs.

“I used to listen to demos / mixes in the car when I was driving him to his little pre-school and he would say, ‘Mommy this is a REAL GOOD song!’ sometimes haha,” Halsey wrote.

See Halsey’s posts below.

Donald Glover is gearing up for the release of his “final” Childish Gambino album and visited Hot Ones for the occasion. He fared better than, say, Ice Spice did, and also compared his decision to retire the Childish Gambino name to The Office. And after more than 20 minutes of hot-sauce torture, Glover (who had joked that he would die during this episode) revealed a tidbit that might explained why he handled these wing-shenanigans pretty well.

As it turns out, Glover has eaten plenty of hot sauce over the course of his career, and that would be due to Community star Joel McHale’s dastardly influence. Yes, for real:

“[In] Community, first season, I really looked up to Joel, and like Joel was literally only eating espressos and eggs. That was it because he wanted to get in shape, he had a shirt-off scene, and literally, he was like, ‘Hot sauce will help you, it’s the only flavor you can really [have], so I started with hot sauce, and then we got into a thing together. And then I realized, ‘Oh yeah, that must have boosted my tolerance’ because I remember putting tons of hot sauce on eggs.”

See, McHale recently claimed the blame for the Community movie’s delay, and Donald paid him back with a hot sauce story. There, now they are even, and you can here that story after the 21:30 mark below:

The Weeknd delivered major news for the people of Brazil yesterday, July 17: He’s playing a big one-off concert in São Paulo on September 7. Today, though, he followed that up with a dispatch that’s more applicable to his fans from all over the world.

The two-minute CGI video posted on social media starts with imagery of The Weeknd during the After Hours era, throwing dice in a casino. Then, we get a glimpse of the older, gray-haired version of The Weeknd from Dawn FM. Finally, we see what appears to be a child version of The Weeknd. A spotlight illuminates the kid and expands to reveal verdant-looking grass around him, and on-screen text reads, “There are three chapters to this tale.”

So, it seems The Weeknd is suggesting a third album in the After Hours/Dawn FM trilogy is on the way, and this isn’t exactly a surprising development: Way back in 2022, The Weeknd teased on Twitter (now X), “i wonder… did you know you’re experiencing a new trilogy?”

A number of fan theories at the time speculated that the third album would be about the afterlife, and that appears to still be in play in light of the new teaser: Perhaps the kid version of The Weeknd is some sort of reincarnation.

Check out some reactions to the new teaser below.

Russell Westbrook‘s time as a member of the Los Angeles Lakers came to an end at the 2023 trade deadline when L.A. sent him to the Utah Jazz, which bought him out and opened up a path for him to join the Los Angeles Clippers. Fast-forward to this offseason and after a tumultuous tenure with the Clippers, that exact thing is happening once again.

According to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, the Clippers are sending Westbrook to the Jazz, along with a second-round pick swap and cash, as part of a sign-and-trade to bring Kris Dunn to L.A. After the trade, Westbrook is going to get bought out, which will make it easy for him to join the Denver Nuggets, a team that has had interest in bringing him on board throughout this summer.

Chris Haynes of Bleacher Report brought word that the Clippers will make it a point to keep Dunn around, as the sign-and-trade will give him a 3-year, $17 million deal that adds some defensive tenacity in the team’s backcourt.

A report earlier this offseason indicated that Denver wanted to acquire Westbrook, with Nikola Jokic personally pushing for the team to get him after losing both Reggie Jackson and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope this summer. Westbrook is coming off of a campaign where he largely held a bench role with the Clippers, and averaged 11.1 points, five rebounds, 4.5 assists, and 1.1 steals in 22.5 minutes per game.

Megan Thee Stallion completed her Hot Girl Summer Tour in London on Wednesday, July 17, which coincided with the apex of her involvement in Amazon Prime Day. But as much as Meg is an icon, a legend, and the moment, she’s always finding new ways to use her ever-exploding platform for good.

On Thursday, July 18, the Houston Chronicle reported that Megan Thee Stallion and her Pete And Thomas Foundation partnered with Bread Of Life, Inc. “to launch the Emergency Power Program,” which “will provide generators for senior citizens across Houston and enable them to access electricity during future natural disasters.”

The initiative comes after Hurricane Beryl destroyed Meg’s hometown Houston, leaving at least 18 people dead and two million people without power. According to the Houston Chronicle, six of the deceased passed due to “heat exposure during the loss of power.”

“It’s been painful to watch the elderly population in Houston suffer without electricity during these devastating storms,” Megan said in a statement. “That’s why we wanted to partner with Bread Of Life to take a strategic approach to this problem and secure generators to help protect our senior citizens. We need to do our part to provide our elders with the best resources possible to withstand future emergencies.”

In the upcoming Alien: Romulus, there is no avoiding it: we will see some aliens. Probably quite a few, and they will be terrifying. But there will also be some fun nods to the original 1979 film, including a particular song that echoes throughout the latest (and final) trailer.

The trailer features a haunting rendition of “You Are My Lucky Star” from 1952 musical-comedy classic Singin’ In The Rain, which has been used in the franchise before. At the end of Alien, Ripley sings the show tune while she preps to take the Xenomorph head on. Rumor has it that the song was the idea of Sigourney Weaver, who played Ripley, though that hasn’t been confirmed.

The song is then used again in the 2014 video game, Alien: Isolation, where Ripley’s daughter Amanda sings the lyrics while aboard another infested spacecraft.

Alien: Romulus takes place between Alien and Aliens and follows a young crew as they stumble upon a deserted spaceship and soon discover that they are not alone.

Director Fede Alvarez told The Hollywood Reporter that even though there are callbacks to the other films in the franchise, non-Alien fans should still be able to enjoy the movie. “It is crafted in that way, and hopefully it works that way for everybody, but it is connected to all of them,” he explained. “I love all of those movies. I didn’t want to omit or ignore any of them when it comes to connections at a story level, character level, technology level and creature level. There’s always connections from Alien to Alien: Covenant.”

So, “You Are My Lucky Star” (which is actually even older than Singin’ In The Rain) connects the first film with the latest film, but the real question here is…will there be another cute space cat on board?? Every movie needs one.

Alien: Romulus hits theaters on August 16.

“Scandoval” was well over a year ago, and yet we are still forced to deal with the aftermath of Tom Sandoval’s bad decisions. And this week, the reality star/former cover band singer is now suing his former partner Ariana Madix, who has been living her best life down in Fuji for the past month. Here’s a quick recap of what went down:

Last year, Vanderpump Rules star Ariana Madix found our that her boyfriend of eight years, Tom Sandoval, had been cheating on her with her pal Rachel/Raquel Leviss. This revelation was made when Madix found an explicit video of Leviss on Sandoval’s phone, which was recoreded without Leviss’ consent. Leviss then sued Sandoval and Madix for revenge porn, and claimed that Sandoval recorded sexually explicit videos of Leviss without her knowledge, which Madix send back to her. This is how Leviss learned that not only had her affair has been exposed, but she was also recorded illegally.

Now, Sandoval is suing Madix for allegedly “distributing” the sexual footage (which he had recorded illegally), which is essentially the same reason why Leviss is suing the duo. The lawsuit claims that Madix “obtained access” to Sandoval’s phone without his “authorization or permission” when she found the explicit videos. The filing alleges that Madix “made copies” of the video and distributed it to “Leviss and third parties.” On a semi-related side note, Sandoval’s attorney Matthew Geragos is the brother of Leviss’ attorney, Mark Geragos.

Meanwhile, Madix insists she never shared “any of the video footage she found” with anyone besides Leviss. Jordon Susman, Madix’s lawyer, told Deadline, “It is abhorrent that Tom Sandoval continues to torment Ms. Madix. “For Mr. Sandoval to go from begging Ms. Madix for forgiveness to blaming her for his wrongdoing speaks for itself,” Susman continued. “Even months after the New York Times branded Mr. Sandoval the most hated man in America, he has clearly learned nothing and believes it necessary to continue torturing Ms. Madix in a vain effort to rehabilitate his image,” Susman said, adding. “Ms. Madix is confident that a jury will see through this latest ploy and dismiss his frivolous claims.”

Leviss’ trial against Sandoval and Madix is set to start on November 3, 2025. For now, Vanderpump Rules, which normally shoots over the summer, has been put on an indefinite hiatus.

(Via Deadline)

It’s your weekend, Chicago: From July 19 to 21, Pitchfork Music Festival is going down at Union Park. The lineup is led by Jamie xx, Black Pumas, Carly Rae Jepsen, Alanis Morissette, 100 Gecs, and more.

If you want to know who’s playing when, check out the schedule highlights below and find the full set times here.

Pitchfork Music Festival Set Times For Friday, July 19, 2024

Among the first-day highlights are Tkay Maidza at 3:20 (all times p.m. and local) on the Red Stage, Billy Woods & Kenny Segal at 4:15 on the Green Stage, Amen Dunes at 5:15 on the Blue Stage, Yaeji at 5:15 on the Red Stage, 100 Gecs at 6:15 on the Green Stage, Sudan Archives at 6:30 on the Blue Stage, Jai Paul at 7:25 on the Red Stage, Jeff Rosenstock at 7:45 on the Blue Stage, and Black Pumas at 8:30 on the Green Stage.

Pitchfork Music Festival Set Times For Saturday, July 20, 2024

Those playing Saturday include Hotline TNT at 2:45 on the Blue Stage, Wednesday at 4:15 on the Green Stage, De La Soul at 5:15 on the Red Stage, Jessie Ware at 6:15 on the Green Stage, Carly Rae Jepsen at 7:25 on the Red Stage, and Jamie xx at 8:30 on the Green Stage.

Pitchfork Music Festival Set Times For Sunday, July 21, 2024

Closing the fest out on Sunday are Joanna Sternberg at 1:45 on the Red Stage, Jessica Pratt at 4:15 on the Green Stage, Grandmaster Flash at 5:15 on the Red Stage, Mannequin Pussy at 5:15 on the Blue Stage, Muna at 6:15 on the Green Stage, Crumb at 6:30 on the Blue Stage, Brittany Howard at 7:25 on the Red Stage, Les Savy Fav at 7:45 on the Blue Stage, and Alanis Morissette at 8:30 on the Green Stage.