Month: August 2024

With the Golden State Warriors and Los Angeles Lakers both spending the past few seasons outside of title contention and instead battling for Play-In spots in the West, there has been some chatter about whether either of their veteran stars would look for a change of scenery. LeBron James and Stephen Curry are still playing at an extremely high level deep into their 30s, but each of their windows to win another title is shrinking.

Those rumblings hit a fever pitch this summer after the two clearly had a blast playing together on Team USA on their way to a gold medal in Paris, leading to plenty of fans wondering if it was possible to get the two teamed up in either L.A. or San Francisco. The Warriors tried to approach that conversation at the deadline this past season, but talks got shut down quickly (reportedly at the urging of Rich Paul) and there’s no real indication either star would be gettable or willing to leave beyond fans (and media) trying to wish it into existence.

There was a chance that, if LeBron played long enough, the two could hit free agency together in 2026 and join forces, but that’s no longer the case after Stephen Curry agreed to a 1-year contract extension worth an incredible $62.6 million that will keep him in the Bay through the 26-27 season. Curry has noted that he expects to contend and wants the Warriors to do what’s necessary to build a team around him that can do that, but he’s also extremely loyal to the only team he’s ever played for and seems content to stay with Golden State and give the front office time to find the right moves to make.

The Acolyte gained a hefty amount of buzz before it even landed on Disney+ earlier this year. The show had the most diverse cast of any Star Wars story and also aimed to bring younger viewers to a new part of the galaxy. But the series was seriously review-bombed by audiences who were less open to the newbies, and now that the series is cancelled, the stars are speaking out.

Amandla Stenberg, who plays Jedi twins Osha and Mae in the series, took to Instagram to address the cancellation, which didn’t surprise her. “I’m gonna be transparent and say it’s not a huge shock for me. For those who aren’t aware, there has been a rampage of vitriol that we have faced since the show was announced,” the actress said in a series of candid Instagram stories.

Stenberg started out by thanking the fans for their support, “I don’t use social media very much anymore. But there are many folks out there that I want to acknowledge and I want to show appreciation and love and support for. So that’s why I’m hopping on here.” Despite the support from fans of the show, backlash from online trolls and haters was hard to ignore.

“We started experiencing a rampage of, I would say hyper-conservative bigotry and vitriol, prejudiced hatred, and hateful language towards us,” Stenberg explained. “This really affected me when I first got the job, because even though I anticipated it happening, it’s not something you can fully understand what it feels like until it happens to you.” Stenberg, who is no stranger to fandoms after their breakout role in The Hunger Games, decided to keep going despite the negativity.

“I had this very unique experience of experiencing the world at large, which is super divisive right now, through the lens of this unique opportunity of being in Star Wars,” she said of her decision to continue the show despite the initial casting backlash. “It has been an incredible honor and dream for me to be in this universe. Of course I’m sad about the show being cancelled, I still feel a lot of joy that I got to experience it and that people loved it and people were so responsive.”

Even though the series was cancelled (despite an open-ended finale and a planned season two arc) Stenberg doesn’t see the experience as a failure. “I just want to let people know who supported us in that way, despite all the vitriol we received and the targeted attacks…just that you are deeply loved and appreciated, it made this job all the worthwhile for me.”

Maybe, if we’re lucky, in 10 years the show will land on Netflix and get a whole new generation hooked enough to warrant a reboot. It has happened before!

(Via Deadline)

The 2024-25 NFL season is due to start next Thursday, September 5, when the reigning Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs host the Baltimore Ravens. The game will be broadcast on NBC. ESPN will handle the final Week 1 game between the New York Jets and San Francisco 49ers — the season’s first Monday Night Football matchup.

It will double as J Balvin’s first of seven curated Monday Night Football broadcasts.

On Thursday, August 29, ESPN announced that J Balvin “will work with ESPN throughout the 2024-25 NFL season to curate music for select ESPN Monday Night Football games,” as per a press release.

The release continues, “The curated music from J Balvin will run in Monday Night Football promotional spots, live telecasts, and Monday Night Countdown for seven weeks this season, inclusive of two NFL Playoffs weeks.”

It all begins with “Doblexxó” featuring Feid (a recent Uproxx “Best New Pop Music From This Week” selection) from Balvin’s freshly released RAYO.

Below, check out Balvin’s full ESPN curation schedule, with the note that it is subject to change.

Week 1: New York Jets at San Francisco 49ers on Monday, September 9
Week 5: New Orleans Saints @ Kansas City Chiefs on Monday, October 7
Week 6: Buffalo Bills at New York Jets on Monday, October 14
Week 11: Houston Texans at Dallas Cowboys on Monday, November 18
Week 18 Doubleheader: TBD
Monday Night Super Wild Card: TBD
Divisional: TBD

To be perfectly frank: the past few years have been chaotic for streaming services as they find their bearings, seek profitability, and even find themselves consolidating. At WBD especially, a 2022 merger led to some films becoming write offs, much to the dismay of both creatives and viewers. That finished-film collateral damage included Coyote Vs. Acme and Batgirl, and for awhile, it looked as though the feature film adaptation of Stephen King’s Salem’s Lot (which follows a 1979 Tobe Hooper-directed CBS miniseries ^^^ and a 2004 TNT version starring the late Donald Sutherland, Rutger Hower, and Rob Lowe) could be on the chopping block, too.

Then, a twist. In February, the notoriously never-subtle King — who has also been busy using his powers to help rescue Evil on Paramount+ — let loose on X/Twitter, where he called the movie “quite good” and an example of “Old-school horror filmmaking: slow build, big payoff.” The prolific horror author then dropped the hammer: “Not sure why WB is holding it back; not like it’s embarrassing, or anything. Who knows. I just write the f*cking things.”

This storied project began filming amid whispers years ago. Gary Dauberman (the recent IT movies) climbed aboard as writer, director, and executive producer with James Wan‘s Atomic Monster (The Conjuring, Insidious) nabbing executive producing duties. The New Line Cinema film was apparently complete before falling off the Warner Bros. Pictures theatrical schedule. And following King’s nudge, wheels began turning again, and a release is finally happening. The updated aesthetics do look promising:

Max will officially stream the Salem’s lot movie for this Halloween season, and Dauberman recently revealed to Vanity Fair, “I’m excited it’s finally getting out there and people can see it.” I bet. With that said, let’s talk about what to expect from the long-overdue Salem’s Lot movie.

Plot

Although this story has been brought to the small screen twice already (to largely positive reception), King appears to be confident in what he’s seen for the updated version, so we must trust the process, and King has teased that a pivotal scene “could have been directed by John Carpenter in his prime.” To more of that teasing end, Max has previewed several images that we’ll scatter throughout this post, and that includes the above look at Marsten House, which appears to be the source of a vampire plague overtaking Jerusalem’s Lot, Maine. The story will adapt King’s 1975 novel (only his second after Carrie), which follows fictional author Ben Mears (Lewis Pullman) as he returns to his hometown to find inspiration for his next book.

As the adage goes, perhaps he should have been more careful about what he wished for. The logline confirms that Mears “discover[s] his hometown is being preyed upon by a bloodthirsty vampire.” Residents are disappearing on a regular basis, and a “deceased” person will apparently vamp out and escape the morgue (with Alfre Woodard’s Dr. Cody shown reacting here):

Dauberman told Vanity Fair that viewers should expect Mears to provide the audience POV of this film with a “groundedness” on display, and more of a wildcard will be found in the character of Richard Straker, an antique store purveyor who is also new to town and lives in that ominous mansion. His silent partner, Kurt Barlow, only surfaces at night, but Straker is the guy who is selling more wares than meet the eye. Pilou Asbæk will appear in this key role (once encapsulated by Donald Sutherland), and you might remember Pilou giving villainous face vibes from a little HBO show called Game of Thrones:

Expect Pilou to “run” with his Straker version while being “just f*cking crazy charismatic,” according to Dauberman. How close will Straker be to versions that King fans have previously seen? The director addressed that topic, too:

“I was kind of wrestling with what this Straker was going to be? Is he going to be more like the book? Is he going to be more James Mason from the [1979] series? He’s an outsider in this town. And I think outsiders can sometimes be looked at as something very interesting, where people start to lean in. ‘Oh, this guy, he’s opening this antique store and he’s got all this cool stuff…’ He’s weaving his web and drawing people in.”

Also, a vampire tease is upon us:

Cast

Who will portray Barlow? Nobody has let that slip yet.

As noted above, Straker will be portrayed by Pilou Asbæk with Alfre Woodard (See) as Dr. Cody and Lewis Pullman (The Strangers: Prey At Night, Outer Range) as Ben Mears. The characters will be rounded out as follows: the conflicted and somewhat inept Father Callahan (John Benjamin Hickey), teacher Matt Burke (Bill Camp), Susan Norton (Makenzie Leigh), and Mike Ryerson (Spencer Treat Clark).

Release Date

The film will surface (for real this time) in October on Max.

Trailer

Max isn’t doing the trailer thing yet for Salem’s Lot, but if you need to swiftly enjoy a cross-medium remake of a classic vampire story, please meet the acquaintance of AMC’s version of Anne Rice’s Lestat of Interview With The Vampire, now streaming two seasons on AMC+:

To be perfectly frank: the past few years have been chaotic for streaming services as they find their bearings, seek profitability, and even find themselves consolidating. At WBD especially, a 2022 merger led to some films becoming write offs, much to the dismay of both creatives and viewers. That finished-film collateral damage included Coyote Vs. Acme and Batgirl, and for awhile, it looked as though the feature film adaptation of Stephen King’s Salem’s Lot (which follows a 1979 Tobe Hooper-directed CBS miniseries ^^^ and a 2004 TNT version starring the late Donald Sutherland, Rutger Hower, and Rob Lowe) could be on the chopping block, too.

Then, a twist. In February, the notoriously never-subtle King — who has also been busy using his powers to help rescue Evil on Paramount+ — let loose on X/Twitter, where he called the movie “quite good” and an example of “Old-school horror filmmaking: slow build, big payoff.” The prolific horror author then dropped the hammer: “Not sure why WB is holding it back; not like it’s embarrassing, or anything. Who knows. I just write the f*cking things.”

This storied project began filming amid whispers years ago. Gary Dauberman (the recent IT movies) climbed aboard as writer, director, and executive producer with James Wan‘s Atomic Monster (The Conjuring, Insidious) nabbing executive producing duties. The New Line Cinema film was apparently complete before falling off the Warner Bros. Pictures theatrical schedule. And following King’s nudge, wheels apparently began turning again, and a release is finally happening. The updated aesthetics do look promising:

Max will officially stream the Salem’s lot movie for this Halloween season, and Dauberman recently revealed to Vanity Fair, “I’m excited it’s finally getting out there and people can see it.” I bet. With that said, let’s talk about what to expect from the long-overdue Salem’s Lot movie.

Plot

Although this story has been brought to the small screen twice already (to largely positive reception), King appears to be confident in what he’s seen for the updated version, so we must trust the process, and King has teased that a pivotal scene “could have been directed by John Carpenter in his prime.” To more of that teasing end, Max has previewed several images that we’ll scatter throughout this post, and that includes the above look at Marsten House, which appears to be the source of a vampire plague overtaking Jerusalem’s Lot, Maine. The story will adapt King’s 1975 novel (only his second after Carrie), which follows fictional author Ben Mears (Lewis Pullman) as he returns to his hometown to find inspiration for his next book.

As the adage goes, perhaps he should have been more careful about what he wished for because, as the logline confirms, Mears “discover[s] his hometown is being preyed upon by a bloodthirsty vampire.” Residents are disappearing on a regular basis, and a “deceased” person will apparently vamp out and escape the morgue (with Alfre Woodard’s Dr. Cody shown reacting here):

Dauberman told Vanity Fair that viewers should expect Mears to provide the audience POV of this film with a “groundedness” on display, and more of a wildcard will be found in the character of Richard Straker, an antique store purveyor who is also new to town and lives in that ominous mansion. His silent partner, Kurt Barlow, only surfaces at night, but Straker is the guy who is selling more wares than meet the eye. Pilou Asbæk will appear in this key role (once encapsulated by Donald Sutherland), and you might remember Pilou giving villainous face vibes from a little HBO show called Game of Thrones:

Expect Pilou to “run” with his Straker version while being “just f*cking crazy charismatic,” according to Dauberman. How close will Straker be to versions that King fans have previously seen? The director addressed that topic, too:

“I was kind of wrestling with what this Straker was going to be? Is he going to be more like the book? Is he going to be more James Mason from the [1979] series? He’s an outsider in this town. And I think outsiders can sometimes be looked at as something very interesting, where people start to lean in. ‘Oh, this guy, he’s opening this antique store and he’s got all this cool stuff…’ He’s weaving his web and drawing people in.”

Also, a vampire tease is upon us:

Cast

Who will portray Barlow? Nobody has let that slip yet.

As noted above, Straker will be portrayed by Pilou Asbæk with Alfre Woodard (See) as Dr. Cody and Lewis Pullman (The Strangers: Prey At Night, Outer Range) as Ben Mears. The characters will be rounded out as follows: the conflicted and somewhat inept Father Callahan (John Benjamin Hickey), teacher Matt Burke (Bill Camp), Susan Norton (Makenzie Leigh), and Mike Ryerson (Spencer Treat Clark).

Release Date

The film will surface (for real this time) in October on Max.

Trailer

Max isn’t doing the trailer thing yet for Salem’s Lot, but if you need to swiftly enjoy a cross-medium remake of a classic vampire story, please meet the acquaintance of AMC’s version of Anne Rice’s Lestat of Interview With The Vampire, now streaming two seasons on AMC+:

The news that Oasis fans thought would never come arrived earlier this week, when the band announced they would be reuniting for a 2025 tour, Oasis Live ’25.

Naturally, this has some folks wondering if this reunion could extend to a new Oasis album, which would be the band’s first since 2008’s Dig Out Your Soul. Well, Liam Gallagher seems to have already answered that question.

As NME notes, fans have recently taken notice of an April 2024 tweet from Gallagher. A fan wrote, “So when does the recording of the next Oasis album start? I’m assuming that’s why Noel scrapped his acoustic album for a Rock n Roll album,” and Gallagher responded, “November.”

Before the reunion news, most people who saw that probably assumed Gallagher was being sarcastic, but his response takes on a different tone now that the band is officially getting back together.

Beyond that, a few hours ago, the band announced that “due to unprecedented demand,” they added three new UK tour dates: Manchester on July 16, London on July 30, and Edinburgh on August 12. Find the updated list of upcoming dates below.

Oasis 2025 Tour Dates: Oasis Live ’25

07/04/2025 — Cardiff, UK @ Principality Stadium
07/05/2025 — Cardiff, UK @ Principality Stadium
07/11/2025 — Manchester, UK @ Heaton Park
07/12/2025 — Manchester, UK @ Heaton Park
07/16/2025 — Manchester, UK @ Heaton Park
07/19/2025 — Manchester, UK @ Heaton Park
07/20/2025 — Manchester, UK @ Heaton Park
07/25/2025 — London, UK @ Wembley Stadium
07/26/2025 — London, UK @ Wembley Stadium
07/30/2025 — London, UK @ Wembley Stadium
08/02/2025 — London, UK @ Wembley Stadium
08/03/2025 — London, UK @ Wembley Stadium
08/08/2025 — Edinburgh, SCO @ Scottish Gas Murrayfield Stadium
08/09/2025 — Edinburgh, SCO @ Scottish Gas Murrayfield Stadium
08/12/2025 — Edinburgh, SCO @ Scottish Gas Murrayfield Stadium
08/16/2025 — Dublin, IRE @ Croke Park
08/17/2025 — Dublin, IRE @ Croke Park

SZA performed her “last show for a while” earlier this month, which frees her up to spend her time like non-chart-topping citizens: Perusing the internet.

On Wednesday, August 28, SZA posted a screenshot of an interaction she had with someone in her Instagram DMs. The person’s username isn’t visible, but God bless them, whoever they are.

“SZA I’m failing geometry can you give me math tips,” they wrote. SZA replied in four messages, “Lmaooo ma’am I’m a math dummy. I’m not sure what u expected [laugh-crying emoji]. Tell me about the shapes chile. How can I help[?]”

The person replied with a photo of their (alleged) geometry homework along with, “I just can’t do this [three crying emojis, three heartbroken emojis].” SZA wrote, “Oh b*tch ur cooked.” And a new meme was born.

Atop the screenshot in her Instagram Story, SZA wrote, I appreciate the faith in me.”

Luckily, math is not required to pump out bangers like “Kill Bill” and “Snooze.”

While SZA won’t be performing in the immediate future, she might be preparing to officially release Lana after the album was delayed due to leaks. SZA last dropped SOS in December 2022, and her sophomore LP spent 10 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200.

For two decades, the SEC’s marquee game each week took place on CBS, and at 3:30 p.m. ET, fans were greeted to the biggest matchup of the week by the iconic SEC on CBS theme song.

With the SEC moving completely to ESPN and ABC as its broadcast home in 2024 (with CBS taking on Big Ten rights in place of the SEC), the league needed a new theme for its new home. The challenge there is, creating something new that fans will enjoy is always difficult, especially in the social media world where the first instinct is to call anything new (uniforms, theme songs, logos, mascots, etc.) bad. That’s particularly the case when following up something iconic that fans associate with the product, and so ABC was behind the 8-ball from the jump with needing to create a new SEC theme.

They attempted to tap into some nostalgia by taking inspiration from their early 2000s college football theme, but spinning it into something new for the SEC on ABC. However, the theme is just lacking a little something, it doesn’t really have the hit you want from a football theme — my first thought was it sounds like the music that plays after you beat Mario Tennis.

I’m sure in a few years we will all be used to it, but I think it could use a little more punch to become a theme people really latch onto. That said, the video also debuts their graphics package and I do think the new scorebug looks good and am encouraged by the visuals they’ll be running on broadcasts.

A tragic situation was avoided earlier this month, when Taylor Swift was forced to schedule a run of The Eras Tour concerts in Vienna, Austria due to a planned terror attack, which was thankfully prevented before it had a chance to start.

Austrian officials later said a suspect confessed his intent to “kill as many people as possible outside the concert venue.” Now, a CIA official has said something similar.

As People notes, CIA Deputy Director David S. Cohen spoke to reporters yesterday (August 29) and talked about the Swift situation. He said, “They were plotting to kill a huge number, tens of thousands of people at this concert, I am sure many Americans. The Austrians were able to make those arrests because the agency and our partners in the intelligence community provided them information about what this ISIS-connected group was planning to do.”

Around 200,000 people were reportedly expected to attend the three scheduled Vienna concerts.

Swift previously shared a statement about the canceled shows, saying, “Walking onstage in London was a rollercoaster of emotions. Having our Vienna shows cancelled was devastating. The reason for the cancellations filled me with a new sense of fear, and a tremendous amount of guilt because so many people had planned on coming to those shows. But I was also so grateful to the authorities because thanks to them, we were grieving concerts and not lives. I was heartened by the love and unity I saw in the fans who banded together.”

On Thursday, August 29, the New York Mets and Siegelman Stable unveiled an exclusive hat collection in partnership with New Era. It marks Siegelman Stable’s first-ever MLB collaboration and harkens back to a formative first for Siegelman Stable founder Max Siegelman.

“As a kid from Long Island whose first internship ever was for the New York Mets, it feels like a full-circle moment,” Siegelman said in a statement.

In the summer of 2011, Siegelman was a distribution intern in the Mets’ sales department. Siegelman had grown up twenty minutes away from Shea Stadium, home to the Mets until Citi Field opened in April 2009, so working for the Mets wasn’t lost on him. But the experience taught him what he didn’t want to do with the rest of his life. He hated cold calls, public speaking, and selling people on why they should believe in something.

Come June 2020, Siegelman knew precisely what he wanted to do with the rest of his life. He founded Siegelman Stable, a luxury fashion-meets-streetwear brand carrying forward the legacy of his father’s Robert Siegelman Racing Stable founded in 1982. One of Siegelman’s earliest produced hats was adjacent to the Mets’ blue-and-orange colorway, which caught the eye of Josh Cohen, son of Mets owner Steven Cohen.

Cohen inherently knew he believed in Siegelman Stable — no cold calls necessary.

The Siegelman Stable x New Era x New York Mets collection features Mets caps in three colorways. As per press release, “Each piece is designed to appeal to Mets enthusiasts and fashion-forward individuals alike, offering a fresh take on fan gear.” Two of the three colorways will be available at Citi Field on Monday, September 2, while the Mets host the Boston Red Sox. They will also be available at the New York City MLB store and on New Era’s official website. The third colorway will enjoy a separate drop exclusively on Siegelman Stable’s official website at 10 a.m. ET on September 2.

Below, Max Siegelman offered more insight into the unique collaboration.

How did this collaboration come to be?

It has to go through New Era, and that has been quite the process for us. The owner’s son, Josh Cohen, came across our brand and started wearing our hats. He also works for the Mets, and we did a Mets-inspired colorway [three years ago]. He couldn’t get his hands on it, reached out to me and wanted it. We just started talking, and it’s been like 18 months of talking to get it to this point.

I know that you do not commit to collaborations unless you find an obvious authentic tie to Siegelman Stable’s origin story. So, what made the Mets a no-brainer for you?

Yeah, this one was pretty easy. There were multiple lines of storytelling. The Mets being my first internship ever, growing up so close to the stadium, and our alignment on doing a lot for veterans through equine therapy. The Mets and Cohens do so much for veterans off the field. The alignment there couldn’t have been any more perfect. When I first met Alex Cohen, she started talking about all the philanthropic things that they do with veterans, it just got me excited to want to do something with them. I think that that was probably the biggest thread. All of the other ones obviously just fill in that space of making a complete story.

Harrison Bader has rocked Siegelman Stable for a while, so I assume making him the face of this campaign was an organic development.

He became brand-friendly when Aaron Judge started wearing the hat — when he was on the Yankees with Aaron [in 2022-23]. I was very happy that he was brought back to New York, even if it was in a different color. He always just continued to be a good friend and supporter. I knew when he got picked up by the Mets [in January] that we were doing this project. I might’ve texted him immediately when I saw that news. I was like, “One congrats. Two, you’re our model.” Literally, the day he signed that one-year contract.

This Mets collaboration only further cements Siegelman Stable as the unofficial logo of New York City. Aaron Judge and Jalen Brunson consistently incorporate it into their wardrobe. You did exclusive collections with the Knicks and Rangers last year. It always feels good to see anyone wear Siegelman Stable, I imagine, but as a born-and-bred New Yorker, does it mean a little more to see the New York-based stars embrace your brand?

Yeah, I mean, it’s home territory. It’s the biggest names in sports in New York wanting to wear your brand, whether they know the actual story of Siegelman Stable or they just like the pieces that we’re making. This week, actually, Jalen had his [Jalen Brunson Charity Golf Classic] at Westchester Country Club. Without him even knowing, his mom reached out to us to see if we’d be open to making custom hats for his charity golf outing, which we ended up doing. So, it’s kind of crazy. It’s amazing.

We want to replicate what we’ve done here with New York athletes and teams in different cities. But that’s what they say. If you can make it in New York, you can make it anywhere. So, now, we just need to make it anywhere.