Mariah Carey’s team is setting the record straight regarding the creation and songwriting behind her No. 1 hit, “All I Want For Christmas Is You.” The drama started when the song’s co-writer, Walter Afanasieff, appeared on the Hot Takes & Deep Dives With Jess Rothschild podcast, claiming that she didn’t write it by herself or as a child.
“She doesn’t play anything, she doesn’t play keyboard or piano,” he said. “She doesn’t understand music, she doesn’t know chord changes and music theory or anything like that. She doesn’t know a diminished chord from a minor seventh chord to a major seventh chord. So to claim that she wrote a very complicated chord-structured song with her finger on a Casio keyboard when she was a little girl, it’s kind of a tall tale.”
Following Afanasieff’s podcast interview, Carey’s rep rebutted his claims to the New York Post.
“Mariah has never claimed to write ‘All I Want For Christmas’ by herself or as a child. She has always credited Walter, as he is cited as a writer on the song, so that would be ridiculous,” the rep shared. “Not sure where that rumor came from, but Mariah is very respectful of writers and the craft, as she is a songwriter herself.”
However, in a 2017 interview with Billboard, Carey actually did do what Afanasieff claimed, telling the publication, “I am proud of this song that I wrote basically as a kid on my little Casio keyboard.”
Carey and Afanasieff have an equal credited part in the song, as she came up with the melody and lyrics, and he contributed the music and chords.
His lengthy and eclectic filmography is dotted with spy thrillers, comedy capers, and mob movies that all ask something different of the scene-stealing star. Whether he’s thwarting bad guys as the smoothly sophisticated James Bond, inciting chaos as a mischievous, colorfully-cadenced detective in a Rian Johnson mystery, or taking part in poorly-planned motor speedway heists, crime is something Craig excels at on-screen. And with the Netflix release of yet another unforgettable turn in Johnson’s Knives Out follow-up, the time is exactly right to get up to speed on Craig’s criminally good filmography by watching some of the movies on this list.
Bleecker Street
Logan Lucky
Year: 2017 Cast: Daniel Craig, Channing Tatum, Adam Driver, Riley Keough, Katie Holmes Genre: Comedy, Crime Rating: PG-13 Runtime: 118 minutes Director: Steven Soderbergh Trailer:Watch here
Plenty of entries on this list highlight Daniel Craig’s unrivaled ability to play a grim-faced anti-hero, but this isn’t one of them. In fact, Steven Soderbergh’s southern-fried crime caper sees Craig as far from his Bond persona as possible, to our collective benefit. The film follows a pair of small-town brothers (Adam Driver and Channing Tatum) who plan a heist at a local Nascar speedway. Craig’s in-car-cer-ra-ted bomb expert — aptly named Joe Bang — is a savant when it comes to explosives and he’s got a personality to match. Brash, cheeky, and a bit off-his-rocker, Bang is key to pulling off the brothers’ scheme, but he’s also one of the biggest liabilities in their plan, and Craig has a blast toeing that line.
Year: 2011 Cast: Daniel Craig, Rooney Mara, Christopher Plummer, Robin Wright Genre: Drama, Crime Rating: R Runtime: 158 minutes Director: David Fincher Trailer:Watch here
This riveting murder mystery from David Fincher feels a bit like the darker, more austere cousin of a movie like Knives Out — at least where Daniel Craig is concerned. Like Rian Johnson’s crime comedy, this thriller sees Craig playing the role of investigator, visiting the estate of a wealthy Swedish family at the request of its patriarch — played, weirdly enough, by Christopher Plummer — to solve a murder. Here, he’s a disgraced journalist named Mikael Blomkvist who partners with a heavily tattooed and pierced research assistant named Lisbeth Sanders (an excellent Rooney Mara). The two must survive the machinations of paranoid family members to find the culprit of a heinous crime as Craig injects some much-needed levity and a kind of roguish apathy into his character that makes his unlikely friendship with Sanders even more interesting.
Year: 2004 Cast: Daniel Craig, Sienna Miller, Burn Gorman, Colm Meaney, Tom Hardy Genre: Drama, Crime Rating: R Runtime: 105 minutes Director: Matthew Vaughn Trailer:Watch here
This slick British gangster movie marks the directorial debut of Matthew Vaughn and gives Craig the opportunity to play a cool, stylish drug dealer who takes his criminal exploits a bit too seriously. As XXXX, Craig gives a performance that likely helped land him the Bond role, playing a cocaine distributor forced to associate with the dull-witted henchmen of London’s criminal underground. He’s always one step ahead — despite his best-laid plans being thwarted by the idiot lackeys that surround him — and his strange code of ethics makes him one of the more memorable gangsters we’ve seen on film.
Year: 2002 Cast: Tom Hanks, Paul Newman, Daniel Craig, Tyler Hoechlin, Jude Law, Jennifer Jason Leigh Genre: Drama, Crime Rating: R Runtime: 117 minutes Director: Sam Mendes Trailer:Watch here
Before Craig and director Sam Mendes would partner on two of the best Bond films made during the actor’s run as 007, they worked together on this thriller about a mob enforcer who goes on the run with his young son after his kingpin boss puts a target on his back. Tom Hanks plays the gun-toting dad while Craig inhabits a smaller but vital role as the boss’ son Connor, an ambitious, cutthroat criminal with dreams of usurping his father’s throne and running the outfit on his own terms. Craig’s completely unlikeable here, especially when he faces off against with Hanks, and his character is the kind of ruthless, irredeemable thug we rarely see the actor play anymore.
Year: 2019 Cast: Daniel Craig, Ana de Armas, Chris Evans, Michael Shannon, Toni Collette, Christopher Plummer, Jamie Lee Curtis Genre: Comedy, Crime Rating: PG-13 Runtime: 130 minutes Director: Rian Johnson Trailer:Watch here
Rian Johnson’s whodunnit masterpiece wouldn’t work without Craig’s commanding performance as Detective Benoit Blanc, a sharp, perceptive investigator with a Southern twang and a flare for the dramatics. He’s called in to solve the murder of a wealthy novelist named Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plummer) and is soon thrown into the deep end of exhausting family politics, questions of inheritance, and an Agatha Christie-sized mystery with more than one suspect. It’s a testament to Craig’s on-screen magnetism that he stands out amongst a cast that includes a spontaneously-vomiting Ana De Armas, an over-the-top entitled bimbo played by Toni Collette, a shrewd, calculating Jamie Lee Curtis, and a cable-knit wearing, sh*t-stirring Chris Evans.
Year: 2006 Cast: Toby Jones, Sigourney Weaver, Daniel Craig, Sandra Bullock Genre: Drama, Crime Rating: R Runtime: 110 minutes Director: Douglas McGrath Trailer:Watch here
This crime biopic had the unfortunate luck of following in the footsteps of Philip Seymour Hoffman’s Oscar-winning Capote performance a year prior, but the weird timing doesn’t mean this often-overlooked crime movie isn’t worth a watch. Toby Jones plays the singular writer here as he researches the sensational true story that inspired his bestseller, In Cold Blood. Craig plays Perry Smith, one of the accused murderers in the brutal slaying of a farming family in Kansas, who Capote becomes close with while writing his book. The two share a fraught relationship, one that totters between genuine friendship and transactional trauma sharing, but through it all, Craig manages to keep you guessing as to his true motivations and feelings — about the writer and the terrible crime he’s accused of.
Donning the tailored tuxedo of cinema’s most recognized spy couldn’t have been easy, but over nearly two decades and five films, Craig has managed to put his own mark on a role previously inhabited by greats like Sean Connery, Pierce Brosnan, and Roger Moore. Craig’s bond is sly, skillful, filled with angst, and a consuming need to rebel against the very system that employs his talents. He’s got a bit of a chip on his shoulder, a need to prove his way is the only way, and yet, he’s as charming, charismatic, and suave as you’d expect. From his first entry as a roguish MI-6 newcomer in Casino Royale to his more vulnerable turns in Skyfall and Spectre and the stunning, action-packed conclusion of No Time To Die, Craig gave his Bond space to evolve and grow, forming relationships and finding purpose beyond just employing cool gadgets, driving slick cars, and wooing beautiful women. His Bond felt lived-in, real, and like the toughest iteration of the character we’ve seen thus far.
Year: 2022 Cast: Daniel Craig, Janelle Monae, Edward Norton, Kate Hudson, Dave Bautista, Kathryn Hahn Genre: Mystery, Comedy, Crime Rating: PG-13 Runtime: 140 minutes Director: Rian Johnson Trailer: Watch here
Rian Johnson delivers a deliriously fun follow-up to his breakout 2019 murder-mystery with Daniel Craig returning to play famed detective Benoit Blanc. This time around, Blanc, equipped with a colorful new wardrobe and his same slow, Southern drawl, heads to Greece to investigate a murder amongst a group of friends reuniting for an island holiday. Most of the culprits are out-of-touch elites – to the nth degree – with stars like Kate Hudson, Dave Bautista, Kathryn Hahn, and Edward Norton playing supermodels, Twitch streamers, politicians, and tech moguls who are as ridiculous as they are corrupt.
Deadpool 3 hasn’t even started filming yet, and its release date is still a long ways off, but fan anticipation is through the roof for the heavily-anticipated sequel thanks to a surprising cast addition. Not only will the film bring Deadpool into the MCU, but Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine is along for the ride. Granted, Jackman made a huge deal about saying that his critically acclaimed performance in Logan would be his last time playing the character, and he recently revealed that he immediately regretted that decision 20 minutes into the first Deadpool.
As for what brings Deadpool and Wolverine together, no one is saying as of yet. However, Jackman opened up a little bit about their relationship at the start of the film, and it’s not great. Here’s what he told the Empire Film Podcast when asked to rate their friendship on a scale from one to 10. Via ScreenCrush:
“10 being really close, zero being the reality, we’re zero, we’re opposites, hate each other. I’m just talking from my perspective, [Logan’s] frustrated by him, wants to be a million miles away from him or wants to punch him in the head. Unfortunately, he can’t be a million miles away from him in this movie, so I’m probably going to punch him in the head a lot.”
That sounds about right. Logan is the quiet badass type while Deadpool is, well, definitely not that. But they both love stabbing people, so it’s not like there isn’t fertile ground for a budding relationship between the ultra-violent mutants.
It’s hard to really put the special brand of nostalgia that people have for Casa Bonita into adequate words. On one hand, this food of childhood outings was pretty darn awful, other than the sopapillas. On the other, the possibility of unlimited sopapillas was great, along with the opportunity to watch cliff divers and eat near a fake volcano and so on. “Entertainment” is truly a brilliant concept.
That’s probably why South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone (who showcased the restaurant in a Season 7 episode) decided to resurrect their childhood by purchasing a Denver-area location (after all Casa Bonitas shuttered) and resolving to make it better. In other words, they even promised “good food”! They did the deed under their “The Beautiful Opco, LLC” umbrella and hired Chef Gina Rodriguez, but the project quickly swirled into money-pit territory with Stone telling theDenver Post that the duo poured “all of our money” into bringing everything up to code and fully renovating the joint. This was a “nightmare” scenario, according to the pair, but finally, there’s some powdered sugar at the end of the tunnel.
On Twitter, Casa Bonita officially revealed an opening date: May 2023.
The pink palace is shaping up, and that fountain is brand new after the old one had to be demolished. Much of the downtime sure went to good use as well. Parker and Stone kept up payroll for the restaurant’s existing employees while asking them to volunteer at organizations including Habitat for Humanity. In addition, employees attended complimentary bilingual classes, which should increase camaraderie come opening time. And it’s coming! Please don’t tell Cartman, though.
Movies don’t really exist on their own lately. If it’s a hit, there will likely be more installments book tie-ins, or various television programs in order to keep that magic alive. It makes sense! If it works, why not milk it for all its worth? That’s why we get oh so many Star Wars tales.
“I’ve tried hard to make them self-contained,” Johnson told The Atlantic recently. “Honestly, I’m pissed off that we have A Knives Out Mystery in the title. You know? I want it to just be called Glass Onion,” he added. The choice was likely pushed by Netflix in order for audiences to associate it with the hit film from 2019. Though then people might assume Chris Evans and his fancy sweaters are in the sequel (sadly, he is not).
Johnson then continued, “I get it, and I want everyone who liked the first movie to know this is next in the series, but also, the whole appeal to me is it’s a new novel off the shelf every time,” the director continued, explaining that he wants to stories to exist on their own without needing any backstory. “But there’s a gravity of a thousand suns toward serialized storytelling.”
Still, it seems like the subtitle worked! Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery became a hit in theaters, though Johnson would have preferred it to stay a bit longer before heading to Netflix last week. “I’d love it to be [in theaters] longer; I’d love it to be in more theaters,” he said. “But also, I appreciate that Netflix has done this, because this was a huge effort on their part, and the theater chains, to reach across the aisle and make this happen. I’m hoping it does really well so we can demonstrate that they can complement each other.” Hopefully, with this new move, more movies will get the option for streaming and theatrical releases. Nicole Kidman would really love that!
Ticketmaster is not having the most pleasant run this holiday season. While they’ve very publically endured the wrath of the Swifties, who have filed two lawsuits since the disastrous pre-sale for Taylor Swift’s Eras tour, several other fanbases have jumped on the “Ticketmaster is cancelled” train.
Earlier this month, Bad Bunny fans in Mexico were distraught to find that Ticketmaster had allegedly sold them fake tickets through their official sales outlets, resulting in them being turned away at the entry point.
The sales for Death Grips’ upcoming tour, their first in four years, were also handled by Ticketmaster. But like the presale for Swift’s upcoming tour, several fans alleged that many of the Death Grips presale tickets went to bots and resalers.
Tickets for Bruce Springsteen And The E-Street Band’s were going for over $5,000 in some cities. While Springsteen defended the prices, he promised fans who weren’t satisfied on the way out of the tour that they could have their money back.
Some of the issues fans have been having with Ticketmaster date back to last year, when Olivia Rodrigo fans were unable to purchase tickets for her Sour tour due to technical difficulties.
But these recurring issues have fans nervous going forward. Recently, tickets for SZA’s SOS tour with Omar Apollo proved to be rather pricey. And although Beyoncé has yet to formally announce her Renaissance tour, the prices for SZA tickets prompted fans to start saving, so they can be ready for when Bey finally does make the announcement.
As a late Christmas gift, country singer Zach Bryan decided to give the gift of live music to his fans, so they wouldn’t have to pay Ticketmaster prices. The album is appropriately titled, All My Homies Hate Ticketmaster.
Some of the artists mentioned are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
After getting pelted with criticism over his Mario voice despite proclamations from his co-stars that it’s The Sopranos-level, Chris Pratt recently decided to try his hand at beekeeping. That, predictably, did not go well. In a video shared on Instagram, Pratt revealed that he’d been watching a lot of videos of Texas beekeeper Erika Thompson, and she made wrangling the stinging insects look so easy.
“She’s so cool and brave and she goes in front of these hives of bees and says, ‘They’re very calm today. I’m going to remove the bee, I’m going to use my bare hands to sift through the bees and look for the queen,’” Pratt told his Instagram followers while oddly wearing sunglasses indoors. “So it’s built up this false sense of security in me to where I said, ‘I think I can control bees, too.’”
He could not. As Pratt reveals in the video, his attempt to just go ahead and touch the queen was not a calm experience.
According to the Guardians of the Galaxy star, he came across a beehive and thought this was his moment to assert his dominance over the bee kingdom.
“I went towards it and the man standing next to me said, ‘Be careful, there’s bees,’ and I said, ‘These bees look very calm,’” Pratt said. “And I just stared at these bees and then one of the came out and stung me in the eyeball.”
The whole experience gave him a new perspective on Thompson’s viral videos (and a very swollen eyeball). “So, anyways, f*ck that bee lady,” Pratt said.
One of the greatest defensive players in NFL history will retire at the conclusion of the 2022 NFL season. Arizona Cardinals defensive end J.J. Watt, a three-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year winner, posted on Twitter that Sunday night’s game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers was the final home contest of his career.
Koa’s first ever NFL game. My last ever NFL home game.
My heart is filled with nothing but love and gratitude. It’s been an absolute honor and a pleasure.
The Cardinals have two more games left this season, as the team has already been eliminated from postseason contention. The team will travel to Atlanta to take on the Falcons this week before wrapping up the year with a trip to San Francisco to play the 49ers.
Watt, who turns 34 in March, joined Arizona’s roster in the 2021 offseason. Prior to that, he established himself as one of the most fearsome players to ever rush the passer during his decade-long tenure with the Houston Texans. While injuries hampered him towards the end of his time with the franchise, Watt is the greatest player in the Texans’ short history. In addition to his trio of Defensive Player of the Year wins in 2012, 2014, and 2015, Watt was a seven-time All-Pro selection with the team. Five of those selections came as a first-team player.
For his career, Watt has accrued 111.5 sacks, which puts him in 38th in NFL history.
The producer used a few emojis, including the hands of praise and applause, to second the organization’s #IStandWithMeganTheeStallion caption. While fellow commentators enjoyed seeing Shebib’s outward support of Megan, several were confused due to his long-time friendship and business partnership with Drake.
As the co-founder of the OVO Sound label, Shebib has worked on all of Drake’s albums, including his collaborative project Her Loss with 21 Savage. His public support of Megan Thee Stallion directly contradicts his professional work on the album. On the song “Circo Loco,” featured on the album, Drake subliminally disses Meg, rapping, “This b*tch lie ’bout getting shots, but she still a stallion / She don’t even get the joke, but she still smiling.”
“The first one was more fun because we didn’t know what we were walking into and it was a lot less flying all over the place; it was all in Chicago. Also it had 100 percent less Trump,” The Pizza Underground singer said in 2018. Culkin even supports Trump being removed from Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, which “he [bullied] his way into the movie,” according to director Chris Columbus. But even though basically everyone (except Rob Schneider, probably) wishes he wasn’t in the film, Trump is still proud of the time that he told Kevin McCallister that the lobby is down the hall, to the left.
In response to a Truth Social user who called Trump’s Home Alone 2 cameo the “best part of the movie,” the former president wrote, “Thank you!” I’ve always said movies should have more scenes where characters give directions. That’s way more exciting than the Wet Bandits, Tim Curry, or the Pigeon Lady, who definitely isn’t Piers Morgan.
truth social
The rest of Trump’s Truth Social feed is the usual mishmash of bad nicknames and inexplicable uppercase letters. “Merry Christmas to EVERYONE,” he posted on Christmas, “including the Radical Left Marxists that are destroying our Country, the Federal Bureau of Investigation that is illegally coercing & paying Social and LameStream Media to push for a mentally disable Democrat over the Brilliant, Clairvoyant, and USA LOVING Donald J. Trump, and, of course, The Department of Injustice, which appointed a Special ‘Prosecutor’ who, together with his wife and family, HATES ‘Trump’ more than any other person on earth.”
The post ended with “LOVE TO ALL!” But especially to Kevin McCallister.
Out of curiosity, I wanted to see what it would look like if you took Trump’s scene out of Home Alone 2. It’s pretty seamless and you wouldn’t really know anything was missing. pic.twitter.com/DkMjwDEufT
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