Category: News

Life moves pretty fast. This time last week the social media service known as Twitter was still known as Twitter. Now it’s X. Being an Elon Musk production, the transition has been speedy but it’s not been smooth. Are posts now called Xes? Will the word “Twitter,” still present in the search function and elsewhere, eventually be completely removed? Who knows! But it’s not just the service itself that’s been thrown into chaos. The company’s San Francisco headquarters is a mess, too, including with a new sign that’s already annoying neighbors.

On Saturday, someone posted a video of the new X sign that’s now perched atop the company’s main building. At night it gets awfully bright. Really bright. “I would be f*cking LIVID,” wrote the poster. “Imagine this f*cking X sign right across from your bedroom.”

The video eventually caught the eye of Christopher J. Beale, a journalist and audio engineer whose apartment is directly across from the Twitter/X building. They posted their own videos, showing the sign beaming blinding light across the way.

“Imagine no more. This is my life now,” Beale wrote. He posted another video, in which the sign segued into strobing effects.

Beale also replied to someone who took pity on him, writing, “It legit hurt my eyes when they were testing it in daylight…it’s hard to describe how bright it is.”

Beale elaborate further in an interview with local news station KTVU. “Around 11 last night they had it at full blast, strobing, and it lit this entire area up like it was daylight,” he explained. “Even with the shades down…, it was to the point where we couldn’t even watch the movie we were trying to watch in the living room and we had to move to the other side of the apartment.”

Annoyed as he is, Beale won’t be filing a complaint with the city. But he does hope one of the many other neighbors will do just that.

Last week, as Musk aggressively rebranded the company he purchased — and has subsequently turned into a trainwreck — late last year, he ran into problems with city police, who briefly halted removal of the famous Twitter sign. There were also lots of weird business inside the headquarters involving terrible renamings of conference rooms. It’s Elon Musk’s world, and we’re just stuck inside it.

(Via Insider)

The disturbing trend of assaulting musicians at their concerts might have just come to an end, and it’s all thanks to Cardi B. Over the past few months, several entertainers have had objects hurled at them in the middle of their sets, including Lil Nas X, Drake, and Bebe Rexha. While singer Adele gave fans a stern warning if they dared to attempt such a thing, rapper Cardi B took it a step further.

While performing in the Las Vegas heat, a fan in the crowd tried to douse Cardi B with a drink. It was probably meant as a joke. Cardi B didn’t find it funny. Soon after the liquid from the fan’s styrofoam cup made contact with Cardi B’s skin, the rapper leaped into action by throwing her mic in retaliation.

After one clip of the incident went viral, people on social media were upset that the concertgoer who threw the drink was not hit directly with the microphone. However, from another angle, it seems that the person was hit, thanks to Cardi B’s precise aim.

Cardi B spoke her piece with the fan as they were escorted out by security, after which she went back to her set.

Later, Cardi took to Instagram to issue a simple response. “Jealous ass b*tch,” she wrote, while continuing to promote her new single, “Jealousy,” made with her husband and fellow rapper Offset.

People on social media praised Cardi for standing up for recording artists that have been grazed by objects in the past few weeks. “Even Adele said you throwing stuff at her, she would be throwing hands,” wrote one fan. “Why are people thinking this is an acceptable thing to do. I don’t condone violence but come on now some people gonna react like Miss Cardi, don’t be shook when you acted first.”

Another wrote, “She did what exactly needed to be done. now we can finally stop the trend of throwing objects at celebrities on stage.”

“People need to seriously stop throwing stuff on stage… like I thought people would’ve learned that by now,” penned another.

One person complimented Cardi B form, writing, “Watch the switch to the left hand. Watch the aim and precision. Watch a random woman point down to single out who threw the drink in case it wasn’t clear. This is art. ”

“If Cardi wasn’t famous, baseball would’ve been her thing,” declared another.

Las Vegas hasn’t been too kind to Cardi B. Prior to her performance, the musician’s husband, Cardi B, allegedly launched a microphone at her on-stage DJ while performing in Las Vegas. The reason behind this incident has not yet been revealed.

Cardi B is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

So what if John “Jigsaw” Kramer died at the end of Saw III? Horror franchises have routinely resurrected baddies. Usually they’re supernatural monsters, like Freddy or Jason. Still, why not bring back a very human quasi-baddie with terminal cancer? So it goes with Saw X, which has a semi-sensible reason for bringing Tobin Bell back to the fold: It’s actually set in the early days of the franchise.

A new trailer dropped for the nearly two decade-old series, which finds Jigsaw still very much alive if seeking experimental treatment to have that pesky tumor removed. After the doctors turn out to be grifters, he does what he does best: He kidnaps everyone involved and treats them to some death-defying games. Even if they survive, they’ll probably be missing a body part or part of their brain.

Not mentioned in the trailer is that Saw X takes place between the events of the original Saw and its first sequel. That means it’s set in or around 2004 and 2005. Bell, now 80, hasn’t been treated to de-aging CGI à la The Irishman or Indy 5. We’re either supposed to believe Bell is almost 20 years younger — or we’re just not supposed to care. It’s a Saw movie, and one that won’t have to deal with the Chris Rock-starring ninth entry.

You can watch the trailer for Saw X, which hits theaters on September 29, in the video above.

The 2024 election is still a good year-and-a-half away, but things are already heating up. Unless Ron DeSantis somehow gets his stuff together, it looks like it will be a repeat of 2020, with Donald Trump once again facing off against Joe Biden. Last time they duked it out, Trump did things like sadistically mess with Biden’s stutter during a debate. Trump is already going way low, including hitting him with a classy slur on the trail.

At a rally in Erie, Pennsylvania, Trump talked up all the “smart people” in his camp, who “know what they’re doing.” (Nevermind that he has a long history of hiring what he calls “the best people,” only to wind up firing and/or turning on them when they disappoint.) He then turned to his successor, who has actually gotten a lot done in his two-and-a-half years in office.

“We have somebody who’s not at the top of his game — never was the top of a game,” Trump said. “We have a guy who’s a dumb son of a b*tch.”

Speaking of being at the top of his game, Trump is currently drowning in legal woes, including three separate charges from Department of Justice special counsel Jack Smith. Perhaps one is the top of their game if they can juggle all that and run a so-far-successful campaign for a job he already lost once.

(Via The Daily Beast)

Every single week, our TV and film experts will list the most important ten streaming selections for you to pop into your queues. We’re not strictly operating upon reviews or accrued streaming clicks (although yes, we’ve scoured the streaming site charts) but, instead, upon those selections that are really worth noticing amid the churning sea of content. There’s a lot out there, after all, and your time is valuable.

TIE: 10. Special Ops: Lioness: (Paramount+ series)

The newest Taylor Sheridan series is only getting started, but this joint places Zoe Saldaña back into non-MCU ass-kicking mode, over a decade after Colombiana put her on the action map. Nicole Kidman co-stars as the chief of the Lioness Program, meant to ward off any future 9/11-type plots, and Saldaña portrays an operative who works with recruits to mold them into fearsome assassins. Expect the personal to clash with the professional and dramatic sparks to fly along with the action.

TIE: 10. Foundation (Apple TV+ series)

Lee Pace has a naked fight scene this season because he can’t let Alexander Skarsgård have all the fun. Beyond that treat for Pace fans, this Isaac Asimov adaptation pays equal attention to striking visuals and a slow burn of a script to keep expanding this show into the Milky Way-spanning, world-building heights that it deserves to be. This show should hit a sweet spot for those who are frustrated with Dune 2 delays, and Jared Harris as a prophet is icing on the existential cake.

9. The Deepest Breath (Netflix documentary)

This project inadvertently has both the worst and best timing possible. Feathers did get ruffled when promotion began amid the recent plight of Oceangate submersible passengers, none of whom survived. On a related but still contrasting note, this documentary revolves around the sport of freediving, which does involve a substantial risk, given that divers head as deep as possible without taking an air supply with them. In other words, they had better be able to hold their breath as long as humanly possible because this is one hell of a risky pastime.

8. Twisted Metal (Peacock series)

Anthony Mackie will soon resurface as Captain America in the MCU, but he’s sliding in on the more profane side in this video game adaptation that hopes to match the streaming success of The Last Of Us. Can it succeed? This year has seen some unusually well-received adaptations including The Super Mario Bros. Movie (even with Chris Pratt’s Mario voice), and Anthony Mackie portrays a wise-cracking outsider who would probably be satisfied if he could only find some toilet paper in the post-apocalyptic hellscape. Sweet Tooth, the killer, ice-cream dealing clown jointly played by Samoa Joe and Will Arnett, will terrorize all, and other costars include Neve Campbell, Richard Cabral, Stephanie Beatriz, and Thomas Haden Church.

7. They Cloned Tyrone (Netflix movie)

John Boyega recently told Uproxx how he’d love to have some romance onscreen, but before that happens, he stars in this homage to Blaxploitation cinema. The story revolves around Boyega as an antihero/drug dealer, along with Teyonah Parris as a sex worker and Jamie Foxx as a pimp, who descend into a conspiracy-laden rabbit hole after they discover that a government agency has weaponized Black cultural tidbits against the Black community. Expect reality to bend in upon itself in a funny and sharply absurdist adventure.

6. The Crowded Room (Apple TV+ series)

After a rough launch, this drama earned the loyal viewership of Tom Holland devotees, who received a handsome reward in the form of a devastating overall performance from the sometimes-Spider-Man actor. The story takes plenty of creative liberties but found inspiration in the real-life story of murder defendant Billy Milligan, who invoked a legal defense that had never been successfully used on a previous occasion. Holland’s character, Danny Sullivan, slowly unravels through his alternate personalities that emerge while an investigator (portrayed by Amanda Seyfried) explores what really happened inside of his terribly troubled mind.

5. The Bear (FX series streaming on Hulu)

This kitchen isn’t cooling down yet, so gather round for another pressure-cooker of a season with Carmy Berzatto, his legion of Chefs, and so many stellar guest stars as wayward (to put it mildly) family members. Surely, FX will begin discussing a third season soon, and we’ll find out if Carmy got out of that bind that he found himself in the season finale. Dude needs to realize that he is bad at romance and not gather any more collateral damage in that way, but nearly everyone else made genuine strides this season and are living their best lives. That especially goes for Richie, but I’m plenty pleased for Marcus, Tina, and Sydney, too.

4. Justified: City Primeval (FX series streaming on Hulu)

Clement Mansell and his tighty-whiteys proved to be even more fixated upon The White Stripes this week, and boy, he knows how to get under Raylan Givens‘ skin. He does so with ease, and since his attorney, Carolyn Wilder, won’t roll over, and Willa Givens knows exactly how to push buttons, the Cowboy Hat is not having a swell time in Detroit. Of course, that means that the audience is having a fantastic time as this season swaggers along.

3. Suits (USA series streaming on Netflix)

What is (still) happening? This series ended in 2019 after nine seasons, but what’s old is apparently new again. This show somehow ended up being the summer streaming hit that no one expected, so let’s hope that the castmates (including Meghan Markle) enjoy their places in a renewed pop-culture phenomenon. They probably earn more residuals through syndication rather than streaming, but I suspect that they are nonetheless tickled, although Prince Harry surely isn’t rewatching those sex scenes that disturb him.

2. Bird Box Barcelona (Netflix film)

Sandra Bullock launched this franchise, which still easily sits in Netflix’s all-time most-streamed lists. This Spanish-language followup goes back in time a bit to where the outbreak began in Spain. Keeping with the brand appeal, of course, this story doesn’t make total sense and still goes for easy thrills, but the franchise remains solidly B-quality, and there’s both the promise of fun and watchability in that kind of universe. Given the success of this second installment, we may very well hear about a third story in the works, too.

1. Interstellar (Paramount movie streaming on Paramount+)

Oppenheimer has already exceeded box-office expectations with Cillian Murphy starring as the so-called “Father of the Atomic Bomb.” The film almost rolls out like a theater production, albeit an explosive one, with an ensemble cast (Emily Blunt, Florence Pugh, Robert Downey Jr., Matt Damon, and so many more) that cannot be beat. If you haven’t caught it yet, go now, but additionally, Christopher Nolan fans are tucking into some of his most well-regarded hits, and that includes this twisty Matthew McConaughey/Anne Hathaway wormhole jaunt with Damon in an uncredited but essential role.

The most anticipated fight of the year in boxing arrived on Saturday night in Las Vegas, with Terence Crawford (39-0-0, 30 KOs) met Errol Spence Jr. (28-0-0, 22 KOs) for the title of unanimous welterweight champion of the world, as the IBF, WBA, WBC, and WBO belts were all on the line at T-Mobile Arena.

Crawford entered the ring with Eminem, as the stars were out for the massive event, with Spence Jr. being joined by fellow Texas native BigXthaPlug, and with the atmosphere in T-Mobile absolutely electric, the fight began. However, it became clear early that Spence was going to have his hands full, as he simply could not figure out the Bud Crawford jab, as he peppered him early and often, earning a knockdown in the second round with a jab combination to give Spence his first taste of the canvas in his professional career.

The early rounds didn’t see Spence gain much ground, as he just consistently got outworked and outlanded by Crawford, who was absolutely on top of his game in this fight. In the seventh round, things began to spiral for Spence as he got sent down for the second time by a counter right hand.

Then, right before the bell Spence took another flush right hook to the chin that dropped him for the third time, as it was starting to get late early.

In the ninth round, Spence continued to take a beating and after a flurry of punches with no real response, the referee jumped in to mercifully stop a one-sided beatdown, giving Crawford a TKO win and the title of the first 4-belt welterweight champion in boxing history.

It was an absolute clinic from Crawford who landed 185 of his 369 punches in the fight including 87 of 206 with the jab and 98 of 163 power punches, as he was simply lethal with the counters. Spence, meanwhile, could not hit Crawford much of anything, as he landed just 96 of 480 punches overall, including a dismal 33 of 296 with the jab. There will be no disputing whether Crawford earned the crown of undisputed welterweight champion of the world, and now the question is simply who is next after an all-time performance.

Boxing continued its incredible run of fights on Saturday night with one of the biggest in recent memory, as Errol Spence Jr. (28-0-0) and Terence Crawford (39-0-0) met in a battle of undefeateds for the right to be called boxing’s undisputed welterweight champion in Las Vegas.

It was set to be the biggest fight of the year, as it was two undefeated champions meeting in their prime, a rarity in the sport. As such, they made sure to make it a full spectacle by bringing out stars for their ring walks, with Terence Crawford making his way to the ring flanked by Eminem as he walked out to “Lose Yourself.”

It is a bit odd that Eminem didn’t actually perform the song, as typically happens when an artist joins a boxer for his ring walk, but he introduced Crawford and strode to the ring by his side as his iconic song played. We got a glimpse at maybe why Em didn’t perform when Errol Spence Jr. came out with BigXthaPlug, who was just off with the lyrics compared to the song playing over the arena speakers.

It was quite the scene in T-Mobile Arena, as the fight had brought out some of the biggest stars in entertainment to watch ringside, ready to witness one of the biggest fights the sport’s had in the last decade.

Saturday night was a highly anticipated fight night in both the boxing and mixed martial arts world, with Errol Spence Jr. and Terence Crawford fighting to be the undisputed welterweight champion in Las Vegas, while UFC 291 in Salt Lake City was pitting Dustin Poirier against Justin Gaethje for the second time as the main event of a loaded card.

Before the main card even got started, the fireworks began as Roman Kopylov set the bar extremely high for the best knockout of the evening when he sent Claudio Ribeiro to the canvas with an absolutely brutal head kick early in the second round to force a stoppage.

The sound of the kick is just vicious, and the referee tried to jump in before Kopylov could even deliver any strikes on the ground — although he did get one punch in before the referee could fully stop things. The commentary team absolutely loses it cageside, with Daniel Cormier in total disbelief, noting “that was BAD” as Kopylov strode triumphantly around the Octagon. It’s about as clean a head kick as you will ever see and Ribeiro never saw it coming, immediately going out as he fell backwards to the mat. The KO win moved Kopylov to 11-2, while Ribeiro dropped to 11-4 after a painful defeat.

As the Indianapolis Colts entered training camp, they did so with one of their best players not exactly happy with his current contract situation. Running back Jonathan Taylor, who is just two years removed from an 1,811 yard rushing season in his sophomore campaign, is entering the last year of his rookie deal and wants an extension. The Colts aren’t particularly interested in making the long-term offer he wants, and as such he has been clearly frustrated as camp has begun.

Taylor has been among the many running backs to voice their frustration with the general running back market on social media, prompting Colts owner Jim Irsay to tweet about the overall running back situation, but very clearly sending a message to Taylor.

The response to that came from Taylor’s agent, making it clear this was going to get messy.

Things got so bad that on Saturday, Irsay and Taylor had a meeting and the only thing that came out of it was Taylor requesting a trade, per Ian Rapoport.

Irsay’s response to the trade request was…dark.

That’s a pretty wild statement to make, but it’s clear he doesn’t plan on budging on his stance in these negotiations and now Taylor will do what he can to find a new team that will pay him what he believes he’s proven to be worth.

Last year, Taylor rushed for 861 yards and four touchdowns in 11 games, battling injuries and just generally dealing with the issues of trying to run the ball when your team has almost no passing attack to threaten defenses. In his first two years, Taylor rushed for just shy of 3,000 yards combined and 29 touchdowns, earning All-Pro honors for his sensational second season. His talents are clear, but what remains to be seen is whether there’s a team out there willing to trade for him knowing he wants a long-term deal wherever he goes.

From Taylor’s side, it’s more than understandable to want to get some financial security after being on a discount making less than $2 million per year. While there are teams willing to pay for a big-time back, it’s not league-wide and he’ll have to hope some team sees his productivity and views him as a franchise type player they want to trade for. Meanwhile the Colts are now staring at the potential of having their new rookie quarterback Anthony Richardson having to start the season without the safety blanket of one of the league’s best running backs.

The Chicago Bulls are coming off of a disappointing 2022-23 season that saw them finish 10th in the East before ultimately losing to the Heat in the final Play-In game. Despite rumblings that Zach LaVine could be available in trades, the Bulls are set to enter the 2023-24 season with the same core group intact, hoping to recapture the magic of the start of the season two years ago.

However, like last season, the Bulls aren’t expected to have Lonzo Ball for any of this upcoming season, leaving a continued hole at point guard. This summer, they mostly went to work keeping their roster as is with a few additions to bolster their rotation, as their hopes for improvement mostly rest on internal improvement. Here we’ll hand out grades for their offseason work so far in the Draft, free agency and contract extensions, and on the trade market.

Draft: B-

The Bulls traded into the top of the second round to take Julian Phillips out of Tennessee at No. 35 overall, adding a long, defensive-minded wing to their bench. The question for Phillips is whether he can refine his jump shot to make himself functional enough offensively to keep him on the court so his defensive abilities and athleticism can shine through, but for a Bulls team needing to try and add some young talent, they took an opportunity on a guy with terrific upside defensively provided he can figure things out on the offensive end.

Free Agency/Contract Extensions: B+

As noted at the top, much of what the Bulls did was taking care of their biggest free agents. They re-signed Nikola Vucevic to a 3-year, $60 million deal that might be a bit steep, but given the lack of other options for replacing him, the Bulls ensuring they brought him back on board made sense. Vucevic averaged 17.6 points and 11.0 rebounds per game a year ago, and while he’s not quite been as efficient a scorer as he was when he was an All-Star in Orlando, that’s still pretty strong production. His issues in Chicago have been two-fold, starting with the fact that he’s just not a particularly good defensive center or rim deterrent. That has been magnified by the absence of Ball, who, along with Alex Caruso, gave them constantly strong point of attack defense to mitigate some of Vucevic’s weaknesses on the back end. The other issue is his offensive fit with DeMar DeRozan, as Vucevic is more of a finesse post player (to the frustration of Bulls fans who want him to play with more force near the rim) and, as such, likes to operate in many of the same places as DeRozan when he posts up. That creates a bit of a spacing issue when he’s not outside the three-point line, where he is a good shooter for a center, but has not been able to top 35 percent in his two full seasons with the Bulls. Figuring out how to maximize his abilities alongside DeRozan (and to a lesser extent Zach LaVine) is a question they haven’t found quite the right answer to yet in Chicago. The Bulls also re-signed Coby White and Ayo Dosunmu, keeping their two young guards around for the next three years as well. White was their best bench shooter a year ago, knocking down 37.2 percent of his threes, while Dosunmu gives them a guard who likes to run and can get downhill.

Their biggest new roster addition is Jevon Carter, who I think is their best signing of the offseason. Calling Carter a Lonzo Ball replacement isn’t really fair to him, because he is far from the same player, but he will allow them to once again have 48 minutes of strong point of attack defense every night when he comes in to spell Caruso. That’s been missing in Chicago without Ball, and if Carter can continue to be a very good three-point shooter as he has been recently (he hit over 40 percent from three in Milwaukee last season), he should be a very helpful backup point guard even if he is not necessarily the kind of facilitator this offense could use. The Bulls also signed Torrey Craig, who gives them another 3-and-D wing option and is a nice addition to their rotation as well. Overall, while not exactly an exciting summer of signings, I think Chicago did well to address an area of need with the Carter signing, kept the players they needed to keep if they’re going to stay on this path (and it’s clear they want to), and made their roster a little better than it was last year.

Trades: INC

As mentioned earlier, there were the annual rumors about LaVine’s availability, but at this point it seems the Bulls are going to give it one more year (or at least the start of another year) to see if this group can figure it out before they consider making major changes. That’s understandable, but if this is a team in the Play-In range come January with little signs of life, you can bet we’ll hear more rumors about LaVine and DeRozan being part of trade talks. This offseason wasn’t a spot to really hit the reset button for Chicago, simply because they were without a first round draft pick and the league is still in a very weird place when it comes to star trade value after last summer’s bonanza of draft picks exchanging hands. As such, LaVine never came close to drawing the interest the Bulls hoped he would, and if they can’t get the kind of return to fully kickstart a rebuild, there’s no real use in just selling low on him. Still, the clock is ticking for this particularly group in Chicago and if they haven’t shown much improvement by the start of 2024, I would expect a more serious discussion of larger changes ahead of the deadline.