Category: News

Alex Lahey has been busy turning unfortunate events into relatable anthems. The Australian indie-rocker treated us to “Congratulations” in September, a sarcastic, tongue-in-cheek farewell. “Two of my exes got engaged within an improbably short space of time of one another,” Lahey said about the song. “What are the odds?”

With today’s (November 10) “Sh*t Talkin’,” Lahey is contemplating the odds that people are doing exactly that behind her back.

The melodic, uptempo single finds Lahey sizing up her social interactions with a healthy dose of cynicism and suspicion — weighing how much of herself to share with people just in case her vulnerability be used against her. “Maybe they’re just racking up / All the ways that I f*cked up,” she sings. “I bet you when you’re on their own / They’re sh*t talkin’ all the way home.” By the of the song, she’s still isn’t definitively sure if putting herself out there is worth it: “Next time maybe I’ll stay home / I do better on my own / Puts me in an awful mood / To test my social aptitude.”

Fittingly, Lahey celebrated the release of “Sh*t Talkin’” by posting Instagram selfies with her cats.

Listen to “Sh*t Talkin’” above.

The fallout from Drake and 21 Savage’s recent collaboration, Her Loss, continues to reach new depths. Most notably, Conde Nast — the publisher of Vogue magazine — has decided to sue the rappers for copyright infringement.

Conde Nast alleges that the duo’s “entire promotional campaign” was built around the unauthorized use of Vogue trademarks, but more importantly, the move was made without the “love and support” of editor-in-chief Anna Wintour, Reuters reports.

According to Conde Nast’s complaint, the defendants (Drake and 21 Savage) “created a counterfeit issue of Vogue that was distributed in major metropolitan areas, accompanied by posters whose layout mimicked Vogue‘s own.”

The magazine publisher said the imagery was “unmistakable” and falsely touted the rappers as Vogue‘s “newest cover stars.”

Conde Nast, also known as Advance Magazine Publishers Inc., is seeking either $4 million in damages “or triple the defendants’ profits from their album and ‘counterfeit’ magazine.”

The publisher also seeks punitive damages and an end to any trademark infringement.

Drake and 21 have been silent since the announcement of the lawsuit, and their lawyer declined to comment earlier this week, having yet to review the complaint.

While it’s unclear what the outcome of this case will be, the controversy surrounding the rappers seems to be more than the duo bargained for when releasing their album.

If there wasn’t already enough instability in the United Kingdom with the death of a longtime monarch and three prime ministers in one year, now there’s been an egging that has set the island into a scrambled frenzy.

Earlier this week, King Charles was the target of an egging attempt by a protester in York, England. As the New York Post detailed, Charles seemed to “barely” acknowledge the attack, which missed him completely. Though he did take a look at the aftermath “just briefly pausing to look at the cracked shells.”

The lone protester — exposed by UK outlets as Extinction Rebellion activist and former Green Party candidate Patrick Thelwell — was heard shouting, “This country was built on the blood of slaves!”

Thelwell, 23, is well-known for his left-wing politics and has been arrested at least five times for various climate campaigns, according to Metro. In September 2020, he was fined for blocking London Bridge for Extinction Rebellion.

The incident resulted in a dramatic scene, which you can witness below. As a warning, it’s pretty graphic.

As a result. Thelwell was detained and handcuffed and now he will face consequences for his eggstraordinary crime. In an interview with Jezebel, Thelwell said part of his punishment was originally that he would be completely banned from having eggs on his person in person. Then a stipulation was added.

“They thought about [it] and said, actually that’s a bit harsh, what happens if he wants to eat some eggs?” Patrick Thelwell said of his bail hearing in a Thursday phone call with Jezebel. His amended punishment stipulates that he must have a receipt if he’s coming back from the grocery store with eggs.

Proof of purchase is a nice touch here, but as the egg man says he doesn’t think it will actually come to the night man checking his parcel for a receipt every time he walks groceries home.

“It’s unlikely that I’m going to get stopped,” he told Jezebel. Meanwhile, he is no longer allowed to be within 500 meters of the king and will face charges for his crimes next month.

As the Republican Party continues to grapple with the midterm election results that failed to produce a “red wave,” at least one Fox News pundit is openly telling Donald Trump not to run for president in 2024. While appearing on Outnumbered, Michele Tafoya joined Kayleigh McEnany and others to discuss the future of the Republican Party. McEnany appeared to be walking back her criticisms of her old boss following the midterm results, prompting Tafoya to apologize for what she was about to say.

Via Mediaite:

When Tafoya got into the mix, she pointed out “some of the Trump-backed candidates really struggled, and some of that had to do with the election-denialism.” Tafoya then apologized to McEnany while referring to an open letter she posted on Substack to implore Trump not to run again.

“It says ‘Please Mr. President, don’t run again,’” Tafoya said. McEnany told Tafoya she didn’t owe her an apology, so the latter continued to remark on how abortion factored into the election.

While Tafoya highlighted Roe v. Wade as a factor in the midterm results, her open letter to Trump urged him to consider another touchy subject: January 6.

“Mr. President, if you run again, there will be a re-litigation of January 6. There will be screaming and yelling about “Mega-Maga” republicans. There will be name-calling. There will be insults. Civility will take another brain-rattling hit. There will be more division,” Tafoya wrote on Substack. “About half the country loves you. The other half can’t stand you or are afraid of you. Meanwhile, there is a deep bench of promising young, diverse candidates that America, on the whole, may be willing to consider.”

However, Tafyoa’s letter will surely fall on deaf ears. For starters, Trump’s not a big reader. More importantly, she breaks down the deep bench of promising candidates and Trump won’t like who’s at the lop of that list: Ron DeSantis.

(Via Mediaite)

The 65th Annual Grammy Awards are still a little while away, as the ceremony is set to go down on February 5, 2023. Grammy season is starting next week, though, as the 2023 nominations are set to be announced on Tuesday, November 15 starting at noon ET. Now, we know who’s going to be a part of that process.

As Billboard reports, artists set to participate are Olivia Rodrigo, Machine Gun Kelly, John Legend, Luis Fonsi, Smokey Robinson, Jimmie Allen, and Ledisi, along with Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. and CBS Mornings co-anchors Gayle King and Nate Burleson.

It remains to be seen how the aforementioned artists will fare in terms of nominations this year, but there’s certainly some history there. Rodrigo has been nominated seven times and come away with three wins, all at this year’s show: Best New Artist, Best Pop Solo Performance (for “Drivers License”), and Best Pop Vocal Album (for Sour).

Meanwhile, MGK actually had a bone to pick with The Recording Academy when the 2022 nominees were announced around this time last year: His work wasn’t considered at all, so he tweeted, “wtf is wrong with the grammys.” His 2020 album, Tickets To My Downfall, was released near the tail end of the 2022 Grammy eligibility window.

Everyone (except for right-wing weirdos, apparently) has known for a long time that Mystery Incorporated’s resident nerd Velma is gay, but it wasn’t made canon until this year’s Trick or Treat Scooby-Doo. It took years to get there: James Gunn “tried” to make Velma “explicitly gay” in his live-action Scooby-Doo films, but “the studio just kept watering it down & watering it down, becoming ambiguous (the version shot), then nothing (the released version) & finally having a boyfriend (the sequel),” he tweeted.

The actress who played her, Linda Cardellini, is happy that Velma is living her truth.

“Velma has been around since 1969; I just went trick or treating with my daughter and there were a lot of Velmas out there, so I love that she still has this place in culture that is sort of always active for decades,” the Freaks and Geeks actress told Entertainment Weekly. “And I love — you know, I think it’s been hinted at so many times, and I think it’s great that it’s finally out there.” Would Cardellini be interested if she was asked to reprise the role? “Oh God, yeah!” she replied, but “I’m probably too old.”

Don’t give up. If Scooby-Doo can return to Zombie Island (call me crazy, but one visit to Zombie Island would be good enough for me), anything is possible.

(Via Entertainment Weekly)

A few preliminary notes, which we will attack via bullet point because there is no time for paragraphs:

• This is the trailer for the fourth movie in the John Wick franchise
• The summary of this installment, as per Lionsgate, goes something like this: “With the price on his head ever increasing, Wick takes his fight against the High Table global as he seeks out the most powerful players in the underworld, from New York to Paris to Osaka to Berlin”
• It is beyond thrilling to me that a movie franchise that started with Theon Greyjoy from Game of Thrones killing a dog has morphed over the last decade into a worldwide revenge tour against a mysterious organization of assassins that has featured multiple shootouts on horseback and in various discotheques

Below, please join me for a breakdown of this new trailer, which is 149 seconds long and still somehow better than a substantial portion of the full-length movies I’ve seen this year. To be fair, very few of those movies featured Keanu Reeves and Ian McShane having an outdoor rooftop meeting with Bill Skarsgard as a flock of Parisian pigeons flutters away in the background. This is a problem I have had with movies for a while now. I am glad someone finally addressed it.

Grab your black suit and katana. We are diving in.

The action opens in a church with Keanu lighting candles to honor the wife he lost early in the first movie. It’s easy to forget that’s where this all started. He was a legendary assassin who got out of the game to be with his soulmate, she got very sick and gave him a puppy to keep him company when she passed away, Theon and some goons came into his house and stomped the puppy because he was kind of rude to them at a gas station, and now we’re here, hundreds of bodies later, in this church, with Donnie Yen telling John Wick he is going to die.

I wouldn’t change a single thing. Also, I am really nice to people at gas stations now. Not that I was rude before, but still. Can’t be too careful.

Speaking of new cast members in this installment, look at freaking Bill Skarsgard. Look at him. Imagine walking into a meeting with someone and they are just clad in an immaculate creamy white suit with their legs crossed on an immaculate creamy white couch and some sort of goateed goon standing 10 feet away. I would be so excited. And terrified. But mostly excited. The only way it could be better is if he had been introduced with his back to the camera as he stared out the window into a driving rainstorm.

It does look pretty sunny there, though. Maybe the couch was his backup plan. I’m really in no place to question anything going on here as I type this in pajama pants and a fleece pullover with a coffee stain on the sleeve. I would be a terrible villain.

Oh, I forgot to tell you that Bill Skarsgard’s character is named “The Marquis de Gramont,” which is:

• Perfect
• An absolute delight to hear Ian McShane say out loud
• A name you can only get away with if you can pull off that suit

High degree of difficulty here. Proud of everyone involved.

Yes.

YES.

YES.

Very few action movies in the history of film have staged action sequences as well as these suckers, and I am pleased to report that this appears to still be the case. Keanu Reeves drifting through the streets of Paris firing a handgun out of a muscle car that appears to have recently had its driver’s side door ripped off. This is cinema to me.

I hope one of those other cars contains a couple from like Iowa who is in Paris for their honeymoon. I might just pretend that’s happening. A little treat for me.

What I like here is that this shot means we now have two consecutive movies where John Wick engages in a shootout/chase where he is on horseback while wearing a full suit, after the thing in the third one where he was galloping through the streets of New York.

I don’t really have anything to add here. I just like it. I hope he rides a zebra in the next one.

Three things I need to note about this shot:

• It dawns on me that my daily schedule does not feature enough rooftop meetings at immaculate desks with powerful underworld figures
• While these appear to be pigeons fluttering away in the background instead of doves, someone involved in this movie needs to write a royalty check to John Woo immediately
• I would like to look as cool as Ian McShane looks in this shot for one single second of my pathetic life

Moving on.

I really respect the commitment this franchise has shown to giving most of the main characters a loyal dog who growls at and/or attacks anyone who opposes its owner. I hope Halle Berry and her dogs show up again at some point. I kind of hope one of the dogs just starts taking in one of these, if not out loud for the people in the movie to hear, then at least in an internal monologue voiceover for the audience. Let Tracy Morgan do the voice. This is not a good idea by any reasonable set of criteria but I stand by it.

This screencap alone got me so excited for this movie that a little kind of guttural squeak slipped out of my mouth before I realized what was happening. I’m glad no one else was in the room. It sounded like I got punched in the stomach but was happy about it? I don’t know. I’m not proud of it but here we are.

The main things I’ve learned from these movies, in no real order:

• Do not mess with anyone’s dog
• Any ballerina you meet could also be an assassin
• Most assassins love to go to neon techno discos to blow off steam

Which has been useful. Probably. At the very least, I have yet to be murdered at a discotheque by a ballerina whose dog I killed. Which is something. You can’t argue with results.

COLORS

RAIN

HATCHETS

CLOTHELINES

WHIPPING SOME DUDE IN THE HEAD WITH SOME NUNCHUCKS

YES

These movies don’t get enough credit for being really funny in little surprise spurts. The “I get it” John gives Sofia after she freaks out because someone shot her dog. The thing where the dude who spent half the third movie trying to kill him was revealed to be a massive fanboy. And now… this. I full-on giggled. Out loud. About 40 seconds after I did that weird gruntsqueal. If anyone has my living room bugged, they are going to think I lost my entire mind earlier today.

Everything is fine.

A few more notes:

• I am vibrating with excitement at the idea of Keanu Reeves and Donnie Yen having a damn swordfight to the death to see if John Wick gets to extricate himself from the High Table a second time
• I don’t know if this scene can possibly look as cool as the scene in the third movie where he fought some dudes in a glass room lined with skulls inside a New York skyscraper but it sure looks like it’s trying
• I have no clue how I can be expected to wait FOUR MONTHS for this movie to hit theaters in March

In conclusion…

… more movies should feature scenes in their trailer where the subtitle simply reads “[swords clattering]” like this. That’s how you know the movie will be good. Which this one appears to be.

We are zeroing in on the end of this franchise. That much is becoming clear. Let’s appreciate this while it’s still around. Never take Keanu for granted. Especially when he is on a horse or has a sword. Or both. It’s way too soon to rule that one out.

Treefort Music Festival is one of the best true independent music festivals in the country. In its decade of existence, Treefort has helped transform Downtown Boise into a bustling cultural hub that reaches its peak every March, bringing diverse programming to multiple venues. Now the festival has announced the 2023 lineup’s first wave, headlined by indie psych band Unknown Mortal Orchestra, rapper Leikeli47, and Nashville singer-songwriter Margo Price. Treefort’s 11th edition will also mark the first year of an expanded footprint with the main stage shifting its locale within Downtown, and there’s more in store.

“In addition to moving the Treefort Main Stage to a new home within Julia Davis Park, we are reimagining the festival experience for Boise and our visiting attendees from around the world,” said co-founder and festival director Eric Gilbert in a statement.

Treefort 2023 will also mark the inauguration of the new Treefort Music Hall, which is owned and operated by festival promoter Duck Club. It’s a refreshing advancement, considering most festivals entering their second decade of existence are announcing partnerships with corporate promoters instead.

The first wave of the lineup announcement also features acts like Ani DiFranco, Cautious Clay, Boise staples Built To Spill, Godspeed You Black Emperor!, Hermanos Gutierrez, Pinback, and a number of Uproxx’s On The Up artists like Lady Wray and Butcher Brown. Comedyfort is back with Tig Notaro as this year’s headliner, as well as Yogafort, Hackfort, and the excellent Alefort.

Check out the lineup poster below and festival passes are on sale now here.

With the one-year anniversary of Young Dolph approaching, Mia Jaye, his longtime partner, and mother to his two children, reflects on the Memphis rapper’s death.

On Thursday, Jaye posted a video on Instagram revealing how she and her two children, Tre and Aria, have been dealing since the rapper’s death, which happened in 2021 on November 30.

“Today is a week from the anniversary of me losing Adolph, and this almost year has been the most challenging year I’ve ever had to face in my life,” Jaye said in the emotionally charged video. “And it’s like the closer I get to this earmark … it’s like trying to be positive about something so messed up, it comes to a breaking point to where it’s like it’s really just unfair, man.”

In the video’s caption, Jaye called Dolph’s death unfair and noted that the rapper’s death has caused a “nagging heartache.”

“This journey is not for the faint at heart… or for whatever type of heart I have…” she wrote. “Death is such a cruel part of life…”

Dolph, who was only 36 years old at the time of his death, was visiting a local bakery in his hometown of Memphis, where he was tragically shot. Just before his passing, the “Get Paid” rapper was presumably gearing up to make new music after announcing he had changed his mind about retiring earlier this year.

Jason Momoa, a gentle soul who has done very little wrong in his life, decided to take a souvenir from his latest family adventure film Slumberland — a tiny little pig. Even though it is a little unconventional, it makes sense with the movie’s theme, so let’s go with that!

Momoa took to Instagram to show off his new pet pig who he met on the set of the film. “This is why I can’t work with animals,” the actor said. “I want to bring them home. Wild and feral like his pops.” Momoa has named his lil guy Manapua, which is really cute when you don’t think about the fact that Manapua is a traditional Hawaiian pork dish. It’s fine!

The actor stars in Slumberland, which follows a young girl who escapes into a dream world in order to spend time with her deceased father. Even though Manapua seems like a worthy companion, Momoa was unable to bring him to the movie’s premiere. He told ET, “Oh, he’s in Hawaii! He’s a wild boar, so I couldn’t bring him with me,” he explained, showing off his perfectly adequate substitute, a stuffed pig just like in the movie. “I think it would’ve been pretty gnarly, though.”

The Aquaman actor also decided that Manapua should get a little makeover. “We can paint your nails pink and put a little top hat on you,” Momoa told the pig in an Instagram video, to which Momoa’s mother replied, “I think that’d be a little over the top since you just got him.” Momoa is historically very elaborate in every aspect of his life, so this isn’t surprising. “Well, mom, I’m kind of over the top,” the actor rightfully explained.

Summerland hits select theaters this weekend before premiering on Netflix on November 18th.

(Via Page Six)