Category: News

Every once in a while, the internet likes to remind you of a viral performance that you’ve already seen 35 times by making it go viral again. After all, the internet is just an echo chamber, anyway. But when you’re scrolling with nothing else to do, you might as well re-watch Beyonce’s Coachella video whenever it pops up. It’s kind of the only thing to do. And the same goes for that one video of Tom Holland performing Rihanna’s “Umbrella” while on Lip Synch Battle, which was the absolute peak of entertainment in 2017.

Contextually, the video has only gotten better. At the time, Holland and Zendaya were promoting Spider-Man: Homecoming, which hadn’t hit theaters yet, though it went on to become one of the biggest movies of the year. The pair were also rumored to be dating, even though it wasn’t confirmed for another four years. The performance features Holland going all-out while singing the rain anthem, blissfully unaware that he was about to become a huge star and that this clip would haunt him for the rest of his life.

And like clockwork, the video is once again resurfacing, though this time it’s because of Rihanna’s Super Bowl Halftime Show, where she, unfortunately, did not bring Holland out to perform. But what a moment that would have been. Still, fans took to the internet to remind everyone that Holland can really channel Rihanna with surprising accuracy and enthusiasm… while also being upset that Rihanna didn’t invite him on stage.

Noted Rihanna fan Zenndaya also re-posted her infamous reaction image from Holland’s performance on Instagram.

And with a little bit of savvy editing work, Holland himself finally appeared at the Super Bowl! Go team.

Even though Holland didn’t appear at the big game, the actor is slated to appear as Fred Astaire in the upcoming biopic from Paul King, mayor of the Paddington universe. At least he will be able to use his singing and dancing skills there, where they won’t be overshadowed by Rihanna.

Rihanna’s Super Bowl Halftime Show still has fans buzzing, whether it’s over her ASL interpreter’s awesome accompaniment, her newly-announced second baby’s front-row experience, or her video game-like set design.

Another aspect of the show that’s captured fans’ attention is Rihanna’s wardrobe, which consisted of a bright red coverall with a matching molded breastplate underneath it. Meanwhile, Rihanna could be seen touching up her makeup just before the performance, applying (of course) a little powder from her own Fenty Beauty line.

Obviously, the question on plenty of fans’ minds is, “Where can I get that look?” Well, while much of the ensemble was custom, there’s good news: Most of the pieces are readily available for public consumption — although they aren’t cheap.

Rihanna’s two coats (she changed midway through the performance) were Alaïa originals according to Russh. Meanwhile, the jumpsuit and vinyl bustier were designed by Spanish brand Loewe. Her sneaker, were Maison Margiela X Salomon. The MM6 Cross Low retails for $360, while the Fenty Skin collection (Fenty Skin’s Pre-Show Glow Instant Retexturizing 10% AHA Treatment, Hydra Vizor Invisible Moisturizer with SPF 30, Pro Kiss’r Lip-Loving Scrubstick, and Plush Puddin’ Intensive Recovery Lip Mask) will run a little over $100 according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The Kansas City Chiefs put on an offensive clinic in the second half against the Philadelphia Eagles to win their second Super Bowl title in four years, scoring on every single possession after trailing 24-14 at the break.

Andy Reid and Eric Bieniemy identified what the Eagles were doing and pushed on Philly’s pressure points until they broke, most notably running the same exact play for their last two touchdowns of the game. The first time was to Kadarius Toney on the right side of the formation, as he motioned in like he was going on a jet sweep before pivoting back outside at the snap, ending up wide open while the Eagles defense was scrambling to communicate how they’d switch the motion.

On the next possession they got down to the same spot in the red zone and dialed it up for a second time, this time to Skyy Moore on the left side of the formation, resulting in the exact same breakdown from the Eagles defense.

Given how complex most of the verbiage is around the NFL for offenses, you’d expect this to have a pretty elaborate playcall name. You would be wrong, because that’s not how Andy Reid rolls. The play that effectively destroyed the Eagles defense is simply called: Corn Dog.

Reid: It’s called Corn Dog.
King: It’s called what?
Reid: It’s called Corn Dog.
King: It’s not called Corn Dog.
Reid: Oh yeah it’s Corn Dog.
King: Is it called Corn Dog?
Reid: There’s nothing better than a good corn dog with some mustard and ketchup.
King: But he doesn’t step into the huddle and say “Corn Dog.”
Reid: Oh no, he says Corn Dog.

I love Peter King’s disbelief, because it really does seem like Andy Reid is messing with him. But Reid insists this is just Corn Dog. There’s not some wild, 20 word long call in the huddle for it. Patrick Mahomes just strolls into the huddle and tells the fellas “Corn Dog on 1” and off they go, scoring touchdowns and winning Super Bowls.

Sheryl Lee Ralph owns the limelight. The Abbott Elementary standout soaked up her first career Emmy win last fall, accepting flowers from Kid Cudi and another gift from Beyoncé. Ralph didn’t let 2022 before asserting her star power in different way, as she starred in Rihanna’s Savage X Fenty Vol. 4 show.

And so, no, Ralph was not here for anyone trying to dim her light at Super Bowl LVII on Sunday, February 12. She performed “Lift Every Voice And Sing,” the Black national anthem, before the Kansas City Chiefs kicked off against the Philadelphia Eagles at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.

Ralph was extremely excited to be part of such a historic moment, boosted by the fact that Super Bowl LVII was the first-ever Super Bowl to feature two Black quarterbacks in Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes and Philly’s Jalen Hurts:

But there were a few haters who speculated that Ralph lip-synced her powerful performance.

“Does it matter? Does it matter? No. Thank you,” Ralph told The Hollywood Reporter in response to the criticism.

She added, “It’s just so amazing that they chose me. And then the Eagles are in the Super Bowl. I mean, come on. You know God must be a woman because all of this is just too perfect.”

Ralph noted to THR that the significance of signing in a Super Bowl in which the Eagles were competing in mattered to her because “Abbott Elementary takes place in Philadelphia. My husband is a senator in Philadelphia. And this year the Eagles [went] to the Super Bowl — I had already been chosen to sing.”

Unfortunately for Ralph and all Philadelphians, the Eagles fell to the Chiefs 38-35.

Ahead of the Super Bowl in Glendale, Arizona, there was a lot of discussion about the field the teams would be playing on. Arizona is one of two stadiums (Vegas being the other) that have a retractable grass field that lives outside of the dome before being rolled in for gameday, but despite not being fake turf, it is routinely considered one of the worst surfaces in the league.

The NFL tried to get ahead of that problem by investing a ton into the Super Bowl field, spending $800,000 and two years growing a new hybrid of grass at a Scottsdale sod farm specifically for this event.

Unfortunately, that didn’t stop the playing surface from being a considerable talking point during and after the game, as players were routinely losing their footing on what appeared to be an incredibly slick surface.

During halftime, Terry Bradshaw ripped the NFL for painting so much of the field, suggesting that all of the logos painted on the field were contributing to the issues. Rihanna’s halftime show stage only exasperated issues, as field staff tried desperately to fill in divots from the stage and dancers before the teams came back on the field. After the game, players on both sides said the field was a disaster, although they all noted it didn’t really hinder one team more than the other because everyone was dealing with the same issues — via The Athletic.

“I’m not going to lie: It was the worst field I’ve ever played on,” Reddick said.

Eagles left tackle Jordan Mailata said he was no grass expert, but the field was “definitely subpar.”

Chiefs defensive end Frank Clark called the field conditions “kind of terrible” and said as the game unfolded, he just started digging his feet into the turf to help his footing because he was slipping so much.

The field was likened to a water park, which shouldn’t come as a huge surprise given the location of the field. Out in the desert, the only way to get lush, green grass is to oversaturate it with water to compensate for how quickly it can dry out. In this instance, it’s less likely it was an issue of the grass hybrid type or the retractable field system, but just too much water being used to get the right aesthetic of a green field in a place that can bake out grass if it’s not heavily watered. Ask anyone who’s played golf on a desert course with grass that looks as green as the field did Sunday night, and they won’t be surprised to find out players found it slick and soft.

The NFL could’ve undoubtedly done better with the handling of the grass, but at the same time, if the field was showing signs of browning and drying out, they would’ve gotten buried for that too by fans — although it likely would’ve been far superior to play on for the players.

Conservatives were bound to be upset about the Super Bowl musical performances. Unsolicited opinions are still volleying through the air, and that includes Donald Trump’s distaste for Rihanna’s halftime show. Likewise, Marjorie Taylor Greene complained about too much National Anthem “wokeness” while seemingly not realizing that country singer Chris Stapleton has expressed wholehearted support for the Black Lives Matter movement.

As well, the Super Bowl opened with the a performance of “Lift Every Voice and Sing” (regarded by the NAACP as the Black National Anthem) from Sheryl Lee Ralph along with an all-female pilot team doing Navy flyover duties. So, it’s no wonder that the right-wing didn’t love it, but White House physician and current Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-TX) made clear that he wasn’t a fan of the halftime show in particular.

Jackson didn’t explain his reasons but simply tweeted, “Ted Nugent would’ve been a MUCH BETTER halftime performer!!”

Jackson’s lack of specificity didn’t help matters, but soon enough, his replies filled themselves with references to a CNN report about watchdog findings that Johnson had uttered “sexual and denigrating” remarks during the course of his White House duties. The report also detailed how Jackson had “violated the policy for drinking alcohol while on a presidential trip” among other offenses. In response, Twitter users wondered if, perhaps, alcohol was involved with Johnson’s wish for Ted Nugent on the Super Bowl field, but perhaps he would have tweeted the same sentiment, alcohol or not.

Also, Johnson probably wasn’t wild about this:

Usually, when you think of NPR Music’s Tiny Desk Concerts, you tend to think of rappers, singers, and other vocalists. Although it’s a live band music series, the focus is usually on the frontmen, women, and people, rather than on the musicians that make up the band or the producers who create the music.

However, that doesn’t mean there’s no place for producers at the forefront. Kenny Beats, who is best known for providing pounding hip-hop bangers to rappers like Denzel Curry, Rico Nasty, and Vince Staples (who he previously played a Tiny Desk with), sits on the backline for his Tiny Desk performance, but there’s no doubt that he and the soulful production from his debut solo album Louie are the stars of the show.

In a pretty cool flip of the usual dynamic, Kenny plays the backbeat on drums while his backup singers soulfully reproduce the samples that populate the album. Kenny also brings in a few guest performers, including Jpegmafia, who raps on “Still” and Remi Wolf, who sings on “Last Words.” Nami closes out the set with “Rotten.”

Kenny’s album is dedicated to his dad, and he addresses the complexity of making music for your family. “This is an album about family I made with my friends,” he explains. “Usually, music about familly is about how much you love them, how much you care about them… everybody knows family is a much more difficult thing to explain in 2-3 minutes.”

Watch Kenny’s Tiny Desk performance above.

Post Malone is a multifaceted entertainer. His multiplatinum music — most recently, Twelve Carat Toothache — can sometimes be an afterthought. That’s a credit to his personality, not a knock on his artistry.

Posty’s headlining Twelve Carat Toothache Tour involved an on-stage gender reveal and a wedding, and he brought his showmanship as a supporting act on Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Australian stadium run that wrapped last night, February 12.

Post drank beer from a fan’s shoe while performing in Sydney, Australia’s Accor Stadium on February 5. Unfortunately, he was not allowed to enjoy a drink at QT Perth’s rooftop bar this weekend because of his signature facial ink.

“They turned me away for my tattoos. I’ve never really experienced anything like that,” Post told The West Australian, which also relayed the QT rooftop dress standards lists “face, neck and offensive tattoos” as “strictly not permitted.”

The QT issued an apology to the publication: “At QT, we aim to welcome everyone and celebrate the uniqueness of each individual. QT has recognized this for many years. However, on Saturday night, our third-party security did not exercise the appropriate discretion and we take full responsibility for this. We sincerely apologize to the individuals affected.”

Post added to his ink collection last October with a tattoo reportedly honoring his infant daughter on his forehead.

As a GQ cover star in 2020, the 27-year-old star bluntly described why he started getting so many tattoos in the first place, especially on his face.

“I’m a ugly-ass motherf*cker,” he said back then. “It does maybe come from a place of insecurity, to where I don’t like how I look, so I’m going to put something cool on there so I can look at myself and say, ‘You look cool, kid,’ and have a modicum of self-confidence, when it comes to my appearance.”

A few notes before we dive into a review of the best and worst of the 2023 Super Bowl commercials:

• As always, I have separated the ads into three categories: Good, Bad, and Ugly
• I have not included every ad, just the ones that merited an official response, for any number of reasons
• I am an Eagles fan and I’m not doing great in the aftermath of that game, so please understand that as you scroll down
• The nostalgia and cameos were a little out of control but at least there were no crypto ads this year, which we have to consider progress

Baby steps. Here we go.

GOOD

This was…

• Fun
• A twist I did not see coming after years of various commercials about beers doing battle on football fields
• A weird reminder that Miller, Coors, and Blue Moon are all owned by the same company

Still. A good time.

I’m the guy who just pitched about a half-dozen movies where Ben Affleck plays a Dunkin employee or customer, and I’m writing this with a medium Dunkin coffee sitting about 18 inches to my left, so I could be biased. I don’t know. This commercial had every opportunity to be very stupid and it came off almost… charming (?) and I think we should acknowledge that. Good for Ben.

It’s always tricky to thrust a meme into the real world. Even trickier when it’s thrust into a full-on Super Bowl commercial, where lots of people who are less than internet savvy are tuning in and capable of getting really confused really fast. This was cute, though. I’m so thrilled for my dude here. Let him become the new full-time spokesman. Give him free food for life. Me, too. Give us both free food for life. I think we’ve earned it.

Three notes about these two commercials:

• I was predisposed to liking them because I love Will Ferrell and Danny McBride and you could honestly put them in an ad for anything, even a product designed to kick me — like, just me, specifically — in the kneecaps twice a day and I would still be like “those are some good dudes”
• It would’ve been funny if one of the Netflix shows they slipped Will Ferrell into was American Vandal and he was just spray painting dicks all over some electric cars
• More commercials should give Danny McBride a golf cart and some sort of weapon

Thank you.

This is cheating. This commercial for Wawa aired only in the Philadelphia area before the game. Not even during it. And yes, it’s tainted a little bit by the fact that my beloved Eagles lost in heartbreaking fashion. I do not care. I love hoagies very much. This one makes the cut.

Put

Jennifer

Coolidge

In

A

Super

Bowl

Commercial

Every

Year

I’m sorry. I am. But if you give me a sweet little commercial about a rascal dog who gets a surprise little buddy at the end, I’m going to put it in the GOOD category. These are the rules.

There is controversy here, sure. And maybe a commercial about cars demolishing children could bring the vibes of your Super Bowl party down a little. I get that. But I do love the idea of spending millions of dollars to roast your enemies in front of the whole world. This is what I would do if I had a billion dollars. I would buy up huge ad blocks just to bust on people who have wronged me. I have no choice but to respect this on principle.

BAD

There’s really nothing wrong with this. It’s fine. It’s lovely. I’m glad to see Alicia Silverstone doing things and getting checks for them. I’m just kind of upset that I’m now old enough that it’s my age group getting pandered to in these commercials. I do not enjoy that. More of a me thing. My apologies to Ms. Silverstone.

Lots of musicians doing various ads for various things. Rock stars and one-hit wonders and Diddy, all in there doing it. I did not expect to see Donna Lewis in a Super Bowl commercial, this year or almost any year, which is not so much a comment on Donna Lewis — a sweet woman, I’m sure — as it is on the nature of time and the way it marches on. My biggest problem with any of it is that I have all of these stuck in my head now. Gonna be a long week.

While I certainly appreciate that The Big Game is embracing its female viewers of a certain age, and there is something to be said for making these discussions more open and acceptable, I just, as a general matter, do not enjoy advertisements for medicine during the Super Bowl. Do not make me contemplate my mortality during a football game. It’s a simple request.

ON ONE HAND: I love these guys and am always happy to have them on my television together again.

ON THE OTHER HAND: It is also okay to just, like, let old things go and try to create new things. There’s an allure to nostalgia, especially when everyone is spending close to eight figures for a 60-second clip, but you could probably get the same lizard brain response from me — “OO OO LOOGIT THE TEEVEE” — by putting a cool dog on a skateboard and rolling him through an amusement park. Free idea for anyone who wants it. Probably a lot cheaper. Here to help.

Babies should not get married.

There, I said it.

I watched this again this morning and I cannot for the life of me figure out why it happened. I bet you didn’t even remember what the ad was for until you looked at the little words on the YouTube link just now. Why are JD and Turk from Scrubs singing Grease songs with John Travolta? How did we get here? It’s like someone just tossed some ideas in a blender and hit Purée. I don’t know. Maybe next year just let Donald Faison do his “Poison” dance for 60 seconds. I would enjoy that.

UGLY

Okay, bullet points:

• This was a sweet commercial and I love these dogs very much
• I do not want to feel this many emotions during the freaking Super Bowl
• DO NOT MAKE ME CRY

COME ON.

Here’s the problem: We’ve only had like four Super Bowls in the last 20 years that didn’t feature either the Patriots and/or Tom Brady. We went through an era there where everything was Boston. Scorsese made a movie set there. The Town happened. It got to be kind of a lot. I’m still sick of it. Enough. Gimme a break. Moratorium on all Boston-related things until 2030. I say all of this while knowing three things:

• I just put the Affleck Dunkin ad in the GOOD section even though it is the most Boston thing ever created
• People are starting to get sick of Philadelphia things happening everywhere, even if I’m a little blind to it because Philadelphia things are MY things (see above, re: Wawa)
• This is all just extremely petty of me

I feel okay about it.

I was so mad when I realized what was happening here. I’m still mad. You can’t do this to people. It’s not right.

There should be a law. I’m serious. Like, I’m really very serious. I’m going to write a letter and put it in the mail.

The Mr. Peanut business is out of control. One year he died. Then he was a baby and a teen. Now, he’s getting “roasted.” Get it? Do you get it? Because it has two meanings. Very deep stuff here.

Maybe I’m still on edge after the Tommy Lee thing from last week. I probably am. I might never get over that. This is not how I intended to close out my review of the 2023 Super Bowl commercials, with a reference to the thing where Tommy Lee from Motley Crue tweeted a picture of his testicles to the official verified Mr. Peanut account, but a lot of things didn’t work out how I intended in the last 24 hours.

It’s fine. I’m fine. I told you things could get weird.

When it comes down to it, who would really win in a fight? A bunch of dragons or a teenager with an attitude problem and a pet severed hand? The answer might surprise you!

Netflix’s hit teen mystery Wednesday has beaten out the dragon drama, House of the Dragon, as the most-watched premiere from the second half of 2022, according to a new report from Samba TV.

The series, led by Jenna Ortega, also had the most extended “shelf-life” of the most popular shows, meaning that new people were still tuning in after the prime two-week mark. Samba credits this to Gen Z and their ever-impressive TikTok trends that dominate the app, causing new viewers to tune in much after the fact, and then re-watch a million times so that they can get the moves just right. It’s hard work being an internet star, but someone’s gotta do it.

In contrast, House of the Dragon managed to be the top premiere in the first 15 days of its release, but Wednesday managed to blow past that after its 40-day window, with almost twice as many new views per day as Dragon. Wednesday also managed to attract a wider audience than other popular shows from June-December, thanks to its diverse cast that appealed to multiple age groups and demographics. According to the report, Wednesday was more popular among Black and Hispanic households, in addition to more female viewers.

Maybe if HBO can get genius Matt Smith to do a whimsical little dance then they might beat some more records. Just an idea.

(Via Deadline)