Category: News

The Last of Us? More like The First on… Rotten Tomatoes?

OK, so that wasn’t great, but apparently the HBO adaptation of one of the most acclaimed video games of all-time is. The Last of Us currently has a sparkling 97 percent “Fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with critics calling it “a gripping and ambitious work that seems fated to become the premium cable network’s next Twitter-trending hit” (Vulture) and “not just a love letter to the original video game — it may just be an improvement upon it” (Inverse). Assuming that sky-high (or should I say, giraffe-high) 97 percent rating doesn’t plummet, The Last of Us will have the “highest ever score for a live-action video game adaptation” on Rotten Tomatoes.

That includes both TV shows, like The Witcher (81 percent) and Halo (70 percent), and movies, a list that’s topped by the Sam Richardson-starring Werewolves Within (86 percent). If you include animated TV shows, The Last of Us only slips to third, behind Arcane: League of Legends (100 percent) and Cyberpunk: Edgerunners (100 percent).

In case you’re wondering: the lowest-rated video game show on Rotten Tomatoes? 1993’s Sonic the Hedgehog animated series, which is honestly very rude to Jaleel White. And the worst video game movie? Uwe Boll’s Alone in the Dark, starring Christian Slater and Tara Reid. If The Last of Us had been made in the mid-2000s, Joel and Ellie would have somehow been played by those two. We dodged a real bullet there.

The Last of Us premieres this Sunday on HBO.

Part of what makes the story of George Santos so fascinating — whatever that story may really be — is that while we’ve had plenty of known liars working in various high-ranking government jobs (see: Donald Trump), few of them have ever admitted to being a total fibber. Santos is different. In addition to lying his way into office, he has also freely admitted to many of these lies. But when it comes to the legalities of what he has actually done wrong, and what sort of punishment that requires, we’re a bit in the dark about it all. But if a former Santos staffer is right, the freshly sworn-in congressman — who lied about being a volleyball savant, of all things — could be leaving the Capitol in handcuffs.

As Mediaite reports, two former Santos employees — one of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity — don’t see a bright future ahead for their former boss. Unless you’re talking about the bright orange of a prison-issued uniform. The two individuals spoke with Talking Points Memo, one of whom said that it didn’t take long for them to become suspicious that all was not right with Santos’ campaign. “I got nervous and I got defensive that things were not on the up and up. I felt like things were not right,” they said.

Most troubling, said the former staffer, was just how messy the wannabe congressman’s bookkeeping was. “I thought that the lack of a financial disclosure, the messiness of the books, and the reporting were not great,” the former aide said.

As Hunter Walker and Josh Kovensky wrote for Talking Points Memo:

The irregularities didn’t go unnoticed by regulators. During the last election cycle, the FEC sent the Santos campaign over 20 letters notifying it of issues with its campaign filings. These included 14 letters about “apparent excessive contributions” from donors and eight citing insufficient information about loans made to the campaign. The FEC also raised multiple red flags about totals of spending and cash on hand that did not add up between the various reports. These notifications instructed the campaign to amend filings if a mistake had been made.

According to the ex-staffers, however, Santos didn’t do much to clean up the mess. It’s for that reason that one of the staffers only sees this story ending one way: with Santos in handcuffs.

“Lying on your resume is one thing,” said the former staffer. “But I think George is going to be perp walked out of a building because of this financial mess.”

(Via Mediaite)

It’s no secret that the music of the Native Tongues — consisting of A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul, and Queen Latifah — was a huge influence on Pharrell Williams. In fact, he was one in a Tribe-inspired rap trio along with Timbaland and Magoo that emulated much of that group’s early work. So, when he shares his views on which De La Soul albums will be absolutely essential to stream when they become available on DSPs this spring, it’s probably worth paying some credence.

The Virginia superproducer shared his thoughts in a new fan Q&A session via The Guardian, replying to saintpelligrino‘s inquiry, “What album, past or present, does everybody need to hear?”

Pointing out that De La Soul’s catalog is finally coming to streaming this year, Pharrell recommended, “Everybody needs to get 3 Feet High And Rising and De La Soul Is Dead.” Explaining why he thinks the trio’s first two albums are so important, he also namechecks Damon Albarn, creator of the animated band Gorillaz, with whom De La has collaborated on songs like “Feel Good Inc.”

“Even when they were going through all their stuff [a protracted dispute over the rights to their catalog], Damon [Albarn] from Blur put them on the Gorillaz albums, because he gets it,” Pharrell enthused. “He knows those guys are responsible for making so many of us misfits feel like we actually fit. The De La tribe were the forefathers and founders of the way we see things. I was nearly 16 when 3 Feet High and Rising came out. It was a total game-changer. It changed my life, period. Would I like to work with them? I would do anything for them, they know that. If they don’t, they should.”

So there you have it. Check out 3 Feet High — which he’s right about, by the way — and De La Soul Is Dead to learn why they are such an important piece of hip-hop history. But, don’t overlook their latter works, though; Stakes Is High was one of the albums that first introduced the late-90s unofficial second wave of Native Tongues acts like Mos Def, Common, and J Dilla, while the production on the two Art Official Intelligence projects, Mosaic Thump and Bionix sounds as fresh today as it did futuristic in its time.

In 2022, Joni Mitchell made her triumphant return by giving her first full live performance since 2002 at The Newport Folk Festival. She’s earned her prestige throughout the years, from winning the Polar Music Prize in 1996 and being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. At 79, she’s still not done racking up accomplishments for her work.

The Blue performer was just awarded the Gershwin Prize for Popular Song from Library Of Congress. Past musicians to receive it include Paul McCartney, Garth Brooks, Stevie Wonder, and Lionel Richie. She’s the third woman to earn it, following Carole King and Gloria Estefan.

“Joni Mitchell’s music and artistry have left a distinct impression on American culture and internationally, crossing from folk music with a distinctive voice whose songs will stay with us for the ages,” said Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden in a statement. “Joni Mitchell’s music has so many artists and music lovers all singing her tunes. We are honored to present the Gershwin Prize to this musical genius.”

“This is a very prestigious award,” Mitchell said in the press release. “Thank you for honoring me.”

The award will be presented during a concert. It will broadcast nationally on PBS on March 31.

Jerrod Carmichael took a surprising jab at Scientology that left the Golden Globes gasping on Tuesday night. While mocking Tom Cruise for returning his trophies, Carmichael joked that maybe the three awards could be exchanged for the safe return of Shelly Miscavige, the allegedly missing wife of current Scientology leader David Miscavige. Cruise’s ties to Scientology is rarely acknowledged by the actor’s Hollywood peers, so Carmichael’s joke made for a shocking moment that Leah Remini was definitely here for. (Remini famously left the church after allegedly being punished for asking about Shelly’s whereabouts.)

Thanks to Carmichael’s gag, a 2021 interview with Seth Rogen has surfaced. While promoting his book, the Knocked Up actor shared an anecdote with Howard Stern about the first time he met Cruise and how the Top Gun star immediately tried to pitch him Scientology. Via IndieWire:

“A few hours into the meeting, the Scientology stuff comes up,” Rogen recalled of the past discussion with Cruise. “He said, ‘I think the pharmaceutical industry is making me look bad. You should see what they do to my friend Louis Farrakhan.’”

Rogen continued, “I’ll never forget the wording he used: ‘It’s like with Scientology. If you let me just tell you what it was really about, just give me like 20 minutes to, like, really just tell you what it was about. You would say no f*cking way. No f*cking way.’ I remember being like, the wording was like, is that a good thing to be saying?”

Rogen admitted to Stern that he immediately became concerned about what kind of “repercussions” would go down if he rejected Cruise’s pitch. Fortunately, Rogen’s friend and longtime collaborator Judd Apatow quickly steered the conversation towards movies.

“I don’t know if I am — I’m generally a weak-willed, weak-minded person — I would assume on the grand scale of people. If they got him, what chance do I have?” Rogen told Stern. “Thank God Judd was like, ‘I think we’re good, let’s just talk about movies and stuff.’ Woof. Dodged that bullet.”

(Via IndieWire)

Now that Atlanta has officially run its course, FX’s offerings for comedic rap-related television series are down to just Lil Dicky’s surrealist, semi-autobiographical Dave, which follows a fictionalized version of Dicky’s misadventures in the music industry. After renewing the show for a third season in February 2022, FX has announced its official return date: April 5.

This season will accompany the awkward rapper on his first tour as he looks for love, encounters more sticky racial situations, and sees tensions rise among his motley collection of weirdly loyal but increasingly independent friends.

Meanwhile, April will see even more hip-hop content make its premiere on FX. On April 7, the New York Times documentary about groundbreaking producer J Dilla will air, detailing the life and legacy of the Detroit legend. Known for his work with acts like A Tribe Called Quest, Busta Rhymes, Common, D’Angelo, Erykah Badu, and The Roots, as well as the pioneering trio Slum Village, Dilla changed the sound of hip-hop in the late ’90s and 2000s only to pass away from lupus at the age of 32. Since then, his influence has continued to reverberate — no pun intended — throughout hip-hop, influencing future generations of artists. This is a different documentary than the one being produced by Questlove titled for Dan Charnas’ book, Dilla Time.

Then, on April 21, Dear Mama, the five-part docuseries about Afeni Shakur, the mother of Tupac, will premiere with two episodes.

Even though Alison Brie and Danny Pudi are set to reunite in the upcoming Community movie, it’s still nice that they get some time to hang out without the rest of the crew. They were always the best duo after all. This time, the two star alongside each other in Somebody That I Used To Know, the upcoming rom-com from Brie’s husband Dave Franco, who, as it turns out, is really good at making movies.

Somebody I Used To Know stars Brie as a young woman named Ally, who returns to her hometown after career missteps and runs into an ex, played by Insecure’s Jay Ellis. Things get even more complicated when Ally learns he is getting married, and she begins an interesting relationship with his betrothed while learning about herself in the process. The two even go streaking on a golf course together, which is a sign of true friendship.

The movie also features Kiersey Clemons, Haley Joel Osment, Julie Hagerty, and Amy Sedaris. Brie and Franco co-wrote the script together, while Pudi stars as his normal “best friend with morals” type that we all know and love. Just look at that mustache!

Somebody I Used To Know premieres on February 10th on Amazon Prime. Check out the trailer above.

In December 2020 — just about a month before he was almost murdered by a group of MAGA insurrectionists at the Capitol — Mike Pence made the kind of history that only the then-VP could when he excitedly pranced his way onto the stage at a Georgia campaign rally for Republican senators Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue. And became a total laughingstock for what seemed to be a terrible imitation of a seal.

Why are we bringing this up now, more than two years later? First, because it will never NOT be funny. But also because, while discussing just how f***ed up the House of Representatives is bound to be for the next several years, after Kevin McCarthy sold his soul and every last bit of dignity he might have had in the first place in order to secure his position as Speaker of the House, Seth Meyers found a way to work it into the conversation. Because the clip will never get old!

While Meyers was talking about shifty Montana senator-turned-newly elected congressman Ryan Zinke, who was once questioned about spending $6,250 of taxpayers’ money on a roundtrip helicopter trip to go horseback riding with Pence. Which is all it took for Meyers to have a reason to dust off this classic clip. As the host explained:

First of all, I’m surprised Mike Pence would ever engage in such an unnatural activity as horseback riding. ‘Man and beast were not meant to consort in such a devilish fashion.’ Also, I can’t imagine Pence riding a regular trail horse. He seems to have more of a dressage horse kind of vibe. I mean, have you ever seen him run? He prances like one of those stallions at the Olympics…

Also you guys: Clapping while running is NOT a good look. It looks like he should be holding two coconuts, Monty Python-style. I’m guessing this is what Trump had in mind when he sicced that mob on Pence on January 6th. ‘He’s faster than he looks, but the clapping! The clapping gives away his location!’

You can watch the full clip above.

Gunna accepted a plea deal and was released from jail in mid-December, avoiding the RICO trial against Young Thug and his other fellow YSL members, but he didn’t return to social media until this week.

“N****s acting like they switching to a side But it’s only one side. #YsltheLabel #FreeThug&Yak GUNNA BACC!!!!!” Gunna wrote on Instagram. Over on Twitter, he wrote, “R.I.P. KEED ILY & IMY TWIN.”

Both posts, predictably, generated a lot of chatter. Gunna’s Instagram caption rubbed DJ Akademiks the wrong way, as he tweeted, “YSL having a civil war beef on instagram. Gunna came out and tried testing the water … claiming YSL the label and said Free Thugga … and everybody in ysl lookin at gunna like ‘N***a u the reason he in there’ … they all unfollowed him right after even thug sister.”

Meanwhile, Lil Gotit posted “Don’t call me twin” on his Instagram Story, prompting some fans to connect his post to Gunna’s, even though it appears Gunna was calling Keed “twin,” not Gotit.

However, as captured by No Jumper’s Instagram, Lil Gotit went live on Instagram and downplayed Akademiks’ claim of a “civil war” with YSL and disavowed “fake love” being shown to the late Lil Keed, his brother who passed away in May 2022 from “natural causes prompted by eosinophilia“:

Some are connecting Lil Gotit’s comments about Lil Keed to Gunna’s tweet about Keed, even though Gotit said in the video, “This go for anybody.”

Last May, Gunna, Young Thug and 26 other YSL members were arrested and charged in a 56-count grand jury indictment including “conspiring to violate the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, murder, armed robbery, participation in criminal street gang activity,” as reported by WSB-TV’s Michael Seiden at the time.

Gunna, as part of what’s called an Alford plea, pled guilty to one charge of conspiracy to violate the RICO Act on December 14:

As of late December seven YSL members had entered guilty pleas. Young Thug is facing eight charges.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Music has the magic ability to help us express ourselves when words just aren’t enough. It has a unique power to help us live in the moment as we focus on each note, beat and lyric. Music can also bring people together like nothing else whether it’s through dancing, singing or simply listening.

A beautiful video posted to TikTok by Kelsey Fry shows how music helped create a moment between mother and daughter that they both hoped could last forever.

According to Good Morning America, Fry’s mother, Christie Geraty, has been battling terminal non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma for 15 years and she knew that last Christmas would be the final one with her family. On that bittersweet holiday, Fry took a moment to play Taylor Swift’s “The Best Day” for her mother to show how much she cared.

“Taylor Swift has been in my life for as long as my mom has had cancer,” Fry told Good Morning America. “[My mother’s] battle is coming to an end now, but after 15 years, I can honestly say that [Swift’s] music is like therapy for us.”

Swift wrote “The Best Day” about her family but its primary focus is when her mother was there to support her during difficult times. The song was the perfect way to pay tribute to her mom on the family’s last Christmas together.

I didn’t know if you knew

So I’m taking this chance to say

That I had the best day with you today

@kelseymorganfry

needed a permanent spot for this moment ❤️

It’s incredibly moving to see how Geraty wants to take in every moment with her daughter because she won’t have many more left. It’s a reminder to all of us to appreciate the people we love in our lives because our time is finite.

“The wonder on her face watching you it’s like she’s memorizing everything about you,” Rachel wrote in the comments.

Fry’s voice breaks up a bit when she sings the line “God smiles on my little brother, inside and out he’s better than I am,” because her 16-year-old brother passed away unexpectedly in February.

“I know a lot of people don’t understand the Taylor Swift obsession, but her lyrics have gotten me through every season of my life, including this last Christmas with my mama,” Fry captioned the video.

@kelseymorganfry

Fry posted a follow-up video of her playing Swift’s song “Soon You’ll Get Better” for her mother while her own daughter sings along.

And I hate to make this all about me

But who am I supposed to talk to?

What am I supposed to do

If there’s no you?

If her mother’s terminal cancer and brother’s unexpected death weren’t enough, Fry’s third child was diagnosed with a rare liver disease that requires a transplant. But the lessons she’s learned from her mother have carried her through all the pain.

“After wrestling how to handle such crummy situations, we decided that we didn’t really have another choice other than to choose joy for the rest of our lives and that’s something that my mom has taught us time and time again,” said Fry.