Each year, the League Of Legends World Championship gets an anthem from a contemporary star that highlights just how big the world of Esports really has become. The 2023 anthem was NewJeans’ “Gods,” following Lil Nas X’s “Star Walkin’” in 2022. This year, Riot Games has recruited the reconstituted Linkin Park to lend a more hardcore edge to the proceedings with “Heavy Is The Crown.” The track heavily emphasizes Mike Shinoda’s rapped lyrics with a pyrotechnic vocal performance from new member Emily Armstrong near the end.
The new song was, of course, accompanied by an animated music video showcasing some of this year’s competitors, as well as an animated version of the band performing in the same painterly style as the League Of Legends Netflix show, Arcane, which will be making its return to the streamer in three parts this November 9 after nearly three years between seasons. The show also employed the use of popular musical acts in its theme song, “Enemy,” which was performed by Imagine Dragons and Atlanta rapper J.I.D. and charted on the Billboard Hot 100.
The League Of Legends Worlds Finals will take place on November 2, 2024 in London.
You can watch Linkin Park’s video for “Heavy Is The Crown” above.
Current reigning video-game show queen Ella Purnell’s profile has been rising since Showtime’s Yellowjackets took off, but this wasn’t her first TV role. She previously shone in two seasons of Starz’ Sweetbitter (The Bear fans would love it) and has since hit star status with her performance as another survivor on Prime Video/Amazon’s Fallout. Since that show landed a speedy renewal and brought in both ratings and accolades, the TV gods decided to resurrect a Purnell series that came together years ago but never saw the light of day.
Sweetpea was filmed in 2020 as a Sky-produced TV series that has been rescued by Starz, so let’s talk about the dark comedy to come:
Plot
Purnell previously told UPROXX that she is fascinated by and feels “lucky enough to get to explore survival as a theme in my work,” but with Sweetpea, she explores death in a different way. That would be an updated version of Heathers mixed with Bridget Jones and topped off with a hefty dose of (and this is the overriding Internet take) Patrick Bateman from American Psycho.
The series is described by Starz as a “coming-of-rage” story that is based upon C.J. Skuse’s same-named novel, in which Rhiannon (Purnell) has grown frustrated at being ignored in life, so she develops a new killer pastime after losing control and loving how it makes her feel. From the synopsis:
Rhiannon Lewis doesn’t make much of an impression – people walk past her in the street without a second glance. She’s continually overlooked for a promotion at work, the guy she likes won’t commit, and her dad is really, really sick. So far, so sh*t. Then everything in her life turns upside down. Rhiannon is pushed over the edge, and loses control. Suddenly the wallflower is gone, and in its place is a young woman capable of anything… Rhiannon’s life transforms as she steps into a new, intoxicating power, but can she keep her killer secret?
The darkly comedic tone of the series is apparent in the trailer, and if Purnell’s character name sounds familiar (and it will to 1970s Fleetwood Mac fans), rest assured that the moniker did not arrive by chance. Skuse admitted that the main character went by a different name that shifted to Rhiannon after the author listened to Stevie Nicks’ lyrics, and something clicked.
By the way, Nicks did write that song about a witch after reading Mary Leader’s 1972 book, Triad: A Novel of the Supernatural, although Starz has remained close-lipped on whether anything supernatural is afoot in this series. There is, however, a bit of a haunted feeling in Rhiannon’s psyche, so it’s not terribly surprising that the trailer shows her outlining a Kill List.
Cast
In addition to Purnell, Sweetpea stars Leah Harvey, Jessica Brindle, Tim Samuels, Lucy Heath, Dino Kelly, and Elliot Cable.
Release Date
Starz will debut the six-part series on October 10, which sure isn’t 2020, but we are lucky to see it now.
It’s not often that a ten-year-old mixtape can come back with as much impact as Days Before Rodeo. Travis Scott‘s breakout 2014 mixtape was recently re-released for streaming and despite its age, has had an outsized effect on the charts.
It also provided Scott an opportunity to go back and release music videos for his favorite songs from the project with the resources he’s accumulated since then — for instance, “Mo City Flexologist,” which is an ode to the Houston suburb Travis grew up in, Missouri City. While he certainly could have gone all-out with the new visual, though, Travis opts to keep things looking homemade and low-fi, mixing in shots of his old high school with shots showing off the cityscape and archival news footage of coverage of his accomplishments. There are even some old black-and-white cartoons thrown in, along with a cameo from the Compton Cowboys.
Despite the success of Days Before Rodeo in its streaming debut, Travis said he’s already back in album mode working on the follow-up to his hit 2023 album Utopia, for which he wrapping up the international legs of his Circus Maximus Tour in the next month.
You can watch Travis Scott’s ‘Mo City Flexologist’ video above.
Days Before Rodeo is out now via Cactus Jack Records and Epic Records.
One of the great lines in NBA history is Rasheed Wallace’s “Ball Don’t Lie.” It has become the favorite response of players to a missed free throw after a call they think the referees got wrong — Sheed used to yell it so loudly he would occasionally get a T tacked on by the refs.
While it’s become a beloved refrain from players, the truth is the ball lies a fair amount — both in made free throws after bad calls and in missed free throws after good ones. For one NBA referee, James Williams aka Gucci Ref, he’s decided to make a stand for referees by creating t-shirts that say “Ball Does Lie,” explaining in a video “that ball lie every day.”
We don’t often see referees taking a stand like this, but as Williams notes, he wanted to make something for all the refs out there who want to talk a little smack on the floor. Refs hear it from players all the time (sometimes deserved, sometimes not), and the man players simply call “Gucci” for his resemblance to the Atlanta rapper wants to fight back a little bit and have some fun. I doubt this will catch on too much with fans, but I have no doubt this will be a hit with fellow refs.
If Sydney Sweeney is looking for a Halloween costume, and Party City is all of out of Minions outfits, she can always go as herself. The Euphoria actress sat down with Vogue for a video interview where she showed off the contents of her ludicrously capacious bag. There’s gum, a book, and a wallet full of unused gift cards (“We got BJ’s [Brewhouse] for Pizookies, ’cause I love Pizookies”). You know, the usual stuff — with the exception of one of those head-on-a-stick fans of her own blood-splattered face from Immaculate.
“An old picture of me. Sometimes I like to surprise my friends and just say, ‘What’s up’? Or I’m driving and someone’s like honking at me and I’ll turn,” she said while putting the fan in front of her blood-free face.
Sweeney got hers from the premiere of Neon’s acclaimed indie horror film, and “my team and I thought these were hilarious, so we took a bunch and we have a group chat where they’ll just like take pictures and send it to each other at random jump scare moments. So I have one in my car now.”
No wonder Sweeney builds cars: she keeps crashing hers after covering her face while driving.
People not from a select few parts of the world might not know this, but TikTok has a streaming music app: TikTok Music launched in July 2023 and is currently available in Australia, Brazil, Indonesia, Mexico, and Singapore. If you’re a user of the platform, enjoy it while it lasts: TikTok announced today (September 24) that TikTok Music will shut down on on November 28, just over a year after its launch.
TikTok Music shared an announcement online, reading in part, “Dear users, We are sorry to inform you that TikTok Music will be closing on November 28, 2024. After this date, access to TikTok Music, including login, subscriptions, and all other functionalities, will no longer be available.”
It goes on to encourage users to transfer their playlists to other platforms by October 28, and to request refunds by November 28. The TikTok Music website has more instructions.
Ole Obermann, TikTok’s global head of music business development, said in a statement (as Billboard reports), “Our Add to Music App feature has already enabled hundreds of millions of track saves to playlists on partner music streaming services. We will be closing TikTok Music at the end of November in order to focus on our goal of furthering TikTok’s role in driving even greater music listening and value on music streaming services, for the benefit of artists, songwriters and the industry.”
At the time of TikTok Music’s launch in 2023, Obermann hailed the platform as “a new kind of service that combines the power of music discovery on TikTok with a best-in-class streaming service.”
Future’s NSFW new video for “Teflon Don” cheekily references the Atlanta rapper’s past preoccupation with pills with references to anti-overdose medications. Throughout the video, Future raps the Mixtape Pluto standout while flanked with stock cars wrapped in blown-up drug info labels for Suboxone and Narcan — two drugs designed to help treat opioid addiction or its consequences. Some of the cars are also wrapped with blown-up black-and-white photos of nude women from old gentleman’s magazines.
Ironically, Future admitted in a 2019 interview that he’d given up drinking lean and popping prescription pills, but that he didn’t stop rapping about them for fear of disappointing fans who’d become accustomed to his substance abuse subject matter. He even expressed dismay at the idea that it was those lyrics that inspired his WRLD On Drugs collaborator Juice WRLD to first try combining codeine and soda pop. Still, that hasn’t stopped Future from rapping about those subjects, such as on his Save Me standout, “Xanax Damage” — although more recent releases such as I Never Liked You and We Don’t Trust You shifted focus to his toxic approach to romance rather than his fascination with getting high.
How do you follow-up the biggest movie of your career? If you’re Margot Robbie, we’re beginning to find out.
It was a mere 14 months ago that Barbie depleted the world’s supply of pink on its way to becoming the 15th highest-grossing film of all-time, with a $1.4 billion total at the box office. Since then, the film’s star, producer, and greatest champion has gone off the radar — partially because she and husband / LuckyChap Entertainment producing partner Tom Ackerley are expecting their first child (congrats!), but it’s also a calculated move on Robbie’s part.
After months of promotion of Barbie, including recreating the doll’s most iconic outfits during the press tour, Robbie was asked by Deadline about whether she planned on taking a break from the spotlight. “[I] think everyone’s probably sick of the sight of me for now,” she answered. “I should probably disappear from screens for a while. Honestly, if I did another movie too soon, people would say, ‘Her again? We just did a whole summer with her. We’re over it.’ I don’t know what I’ll do next, but I hope it’s a little while away.”
Well, it’s been a little while, and Robbie has been busy planning what’s next.
First up, she has A Big Bold Beautiful Journey, the new project from Columbus and After Yang director Kogonada. The film is described as “an original tale of two strangers and the extraordinary emotional journey that connects them,” with the strangers being played by Robbie and Colin Farrell (the impressive cast also includes Lily Rabe, Jodie Turner-Smith, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Hamish Linklater, and Billy Magnussen). Not much else is known about the “female-focused”A Big Bold Beautiful Journey, other than Robbie has a new look and it comes out on May 9, 2025, Mother’s Day weekend.
Robbie will go on a different kind of journey in Wuthering Heights. She was cast as Catherine Earnshaw to Jacob Elordi’s Heathcliff (not the cat) in the adaptation of the classic Emily Brontë novel from writer and director Emerald Fennell in her follow-up to Saltburn. And just like with Saltburn and Fennell’s Oscar-winning directorial debut, Promising Young Woman, Robbie is producing the film through her production company, LuckyChap Entertainment.
That’s where much of Robbie’s attention is these days. To return to the Deadline interview from above, she called producing a “24/7” job, in which “we don’t get a break.” Outside of Wuthering Heights and the recently released My Old Ass, LuckyChap is behind a number of upcoming titles, including the following:
– Avengelyne, based on the character from Deadpool co-creator Rob Liefeld
– An adaptation of the acclaimed novel My Year of Rest and Relaxation, possibly directed by Yorgos Lanthimos
– Movies based on video game The Sims and board game Monopoly (hey, it worked for Barbie)
Not all of LuckyChap’s previously announced films will see the light of the day (I’m rooting for you, Big Thunder Mountain!), and that’s probably keeping the founders up at night. But Robbie is up for the challenge, especially if it means more opportunities for female filmmakers, writers, and producers. “We set out to break barriers with and for female talent, and if it isn’t a project that could potentially do that, then it’s not a project for us,” she said earlier this year.
Robbie doesn’t control the railways or the flow of commerce, but she does have a large influence on Hollywood, and she’s using the massive blank check that Barbie provided her to make the movies she wants to see. Her job isn’t beach. It’s actor, producer, mogul.
The Indiana Fever will be facing elimination on Wednesday night in Connecticut, as they dropped Game 1 of their best-of-3 first round series with the Sun in lopsided fashion on Sunday afternoon. The Sun gave the Fever fits with their defense, and Indiana went ice-cold from beyond the arc (6-of-28 from three) in a 24-point loss.
Internally, the focus for the Fever has to be how to get Caitlin Clark and Kelsey Mitchell back into the rhythm that saw them dominate the second half of the season to get the 6-seed. Those two combined to go 4-of-23 from deep and have to crack the code of Connecticut’s length and pressure on the perimeter if they’re going to force a Game 3 in Indiana. However, on the outside, some have focused on a play that happened early in the game in which Clark got poked in the eye after making a pass, as DiJonai Carrington’s follow through as she reached for the ball saw her catch Clark in the eye.
It was, pretty clearly, an inadvertent poke, but as is the case with everything involving Caitlin Clark, some have opted to make it a much bigger deal. Most notably, the LA Times ran a post on it highlighting how earlier in the season Carrington had mocked Clark for flopping, insinuating this was something intentional and drumming up some outrage.
On Tuesday, Clark was asked about the incident and those that think it was intentional and laughed at the idea it was anything malicious or purposeful.
Asked Caitlin Clark on what she’d say to the crowd that thinks the Carrington hit to her eye was on purpose: “It wasn’t intentional by any means. You just watched the play, it wasn’t intentional.” pic.twitter.com/HiMNiibpy5
This has, unfortunately, been a regular occurrence this season for Clark, as she has had to answer questions about a certain subset of her fans overreacting and at times crossing a line with other players throughout her rookie season. As always, she handles it extremely well, whether it’s about an eye poke or how she’s been used as a proxy in a larger culture war, but it would certainly be better if everyone could just be normal about things that happen with her on the court.
Carrington was also asked about the play and likewise laughed off the idea there was anything intentional about it, explaining she was making a play on the ball and accidentally caught Clark with one of her fingers.
I asked DiJonai Carrington about that moment early in Sunday’s Indiana-Connecticut game when she caught Caitlin Clark in the eye. Here’s her answer: pic.twitter.com/DnQVYi0r6J
It is sadly not the first time this has happened, as we went through a whole round of discourse after an early season foul by Chennedy Carter led to some insane takes that Clark was dismayed by — and Colin Cowherd, of all people, being the voice of reason. This time, at least, the conversation was not as loud (it wasn’t leading TV talk shows) but that’s partially because it’s a truly egregious reach to try and paint this as anything more than an unfortunate accident that sometimes happens on the basketball court.
Post Barney and long before Only Murders In The Building (and that first acting Emmy nomination), Selena Gomez became a household name while starring in four seasons of Disney Channel’s Wizards Of Waverly Place as smart-aleck sibling Alex Russo. Somewhere in between, she also bested Adam Sandler on the red carpet, but on a more serious note, Selena previously lamented losing touch with her Wizards co-stars after rising to global superstar status, and now, she’s making up for lost time by helping to launch the revival series, Wizards Beyond Waverly Place.
How big is Selena’s updated role as Alex Russo? Not too terribly huge. She is, after all, in the midst of her own incredibly busy acting career, which could yield an Oscar nomination for her Emilia Pérez performance, and Only Murders was renewed by Hulu for a fifth season of murder-comedy shenanigans.
Still, expect to see Selena in the series premiere alongside David Henrie, who portrays older brother Justin Russo, this fall on Disney Channel and Disney+. From the show’s synopsis:
The series follows an adult Justin Russo, who has chosen to lead a normal, mortal life with his family, Giada, Roman and Milo. When Justin’s sister Alex brings Billie to his home seeking help, Justin realizes he must dust off his magical skills to mentor the wizard-in-training while also juggling his everyday responsibilities — and safeguarding the future of the Wizard World.
Wizards Beyond Waverly Place co-stars Janice LeAnn Brown, Alkaio Thiele, Taylor Cora, Mimi Gianopulos,and Max Matenko. The series lands on Disney channel on October 29 and Disney+ on October 30. Take a peek at Selena’s guest appearance (she is also executive producing) here:
This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. Cookie settingsACCEPT
Privacy & Cookies Policy
Privacy Overview
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
