Category: News

Ever since The Rock took on the role of Black Adam, he’s been asking for one thing: A fight with Superman. Specifically, Henry Cavill’s Superman. (The two share an agent. Hollywood, baby.) However, that’s not been an easy order to fill. Following the box office failure of 2017’s Justice League, Warner Bros. went into panic mode over the state of its DC Comics movies. In the midst of all that, Ben Affleck walked away from his Batman role, and the character was given a separate film universe with Robert Pattinson taking over the Dark Knight in The Batman. Meanwhile, Cavill’s time as Superman appeared to be over through no fault of his own.

However, Affleck’s Batman exit proved to be temporary. He’s already filmed appearances for The Flash and Aquaman 2, which got the drums beating for Cavill to also return as the Man of Steel. Online rumors have been building that he does have a cameo in Black Adam, and in a new interview, The Rock noticeably stops just short of confirming that news. Here’s what he told CinemaBlend after being asked if Black Adam will fight Superman in a movie:

Absolutely. That is the whole point of this man. Thank you for asking that. And I have been saying for some time, there’s a new era in the DC Universe that’s about to begin.

Of course, it should be noted that The Rock never specifically says that Black Adam fights Superman in his debut film. However, building towards that conflict seems to be The Rock’s goal for the film, which would heavily suggest that, at the very least, Cavill’s Superman will appear in an end-credits scene. Or not!

Warner Bros. is in a massive state of flux after merging with Discovery this year, and its DC Comics properties have felt the biggest brunt starting with the drastic cancellation of Batgirl. Cavill is also a busy guy with The Witcher series on Netflix, and he may not want to get caught up in another round of DC Comics drama after his experience with the Zack Snyder films. It’ll be interesting to see what happens when Black Adams arrives later this month.

Black Adam starts a new hierarchy of power on October 21, 2022.

(Via CinemaBlend)

Among the various changes, shakeups, and bad jokes from the new season of Jeopardy!, the gameshow is adding a long-awaited tournament that fans have been requesting for forever: the Second Chance Tournament.

The latest Jeopardy! endeavor (sponsored by Moderna) will bring back contestants who didn’t win the game, but won the hearts of viewers everywhere! Simu Liu probably won’t be invited back, though. The three finalists will go head to head in order to earn a spot in the coveted Tournament of Champions alongside Jeopardy legends. According to the press release:

Second Chance, brought to you by Moderna, features 18 select contestants who didn’t become JEOPARDY! champions in their initial appearances returning to the stage for an unprecedented opportunity to change history.

The competition will air over the course of two weeks; each week will feature three semifinal games and a two-day final. The winner of each week’s mini-tournament will earn a spot in the upcoming Tournament of Champions, which begins Monday, October 31.

Jeopardy already brings back its top competitors throughout the season for one-off games and charity events, but fans have been begging for a dedicated series (brought to them by Moderna) that will bring back non-champions who want a second shot. “It seemed ridiculous to me that we have this sport where every single year we take all of our best players — we take our LeBrons and our Dwyanes — and we switch them all out,” Michael Davies, Jeopardy’s newest executive producer, said earlier this year. You can check out the competitors here, and even make your own bracket if you’re into that.

This means we are likely just a few short years away from Taylor Swift headlining the inevitable Jeopardy! Super Bowl Tournament brought to you by Moderna. (probably).

(Via TVLine)

It’s been a rough couple of weeks for Prince William. First, his grandmother dies and now he’s no longer the world’s hottest bald man. Poor guy can’t catch a break (except for the whole next in line for the British throne thing).

A recent study by Reboot has determined that Vin Diesel is the best bald boy of 2022. “This year’s study looked at a wider number of factors, such as facial Golden Ratio, Twitter sentiment analysis, net worth, and height. Reboot also looked at the cranial shine factor for each heartthrob. These aspects were then used to create an index score out of 10,” the New York Post reports. Michael Caine’s best friend scored “very highly” in every factor, “giving him the sexiest score of 6.46.” That’s also the number of times Diesel and The Rock are allowed to punch each other in the Fast and Furious movies.

Well, were allowed.

The study shows that [Diesel’s] head is rather shiny, with a cranial luminance of 563.65 candelas per square meter, which means his head reflects light with 70.46 percent of the luminous intensity of a standard light bulb.

The rest of the top 10 (with their scores) goes Stanley Tucci (6.33), Shemar Moore (6.25), Pitbull (6.16), Prince William (6.13), Jason Statham (5.96), Bruce Willis (4.75), Joe Rogan (4.37), Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson (3.62), and Mike Tyson (2.50). Mike from Breaking Bad / Better Call Saul was cruelly and unjustifiably snubbed.

(Via the New York Post)

This article originally appeared on 02.28.20

Robert Bush Sr. is an avid outdoorsman who runs a Facebook page called “Bob’s Pennsylvania Wildlife Camera.”

He set up a secret camera on a log that lays across a steam to capture footage of all the different animals that walked across it. The result is a relaxing video featuring all sorts of wildlife including a black bear, chipmunk, coyote, turkey, and great horned owl.

You may have noticed the video is called “The Log 2.” Well, here’s the original.

This article originally appeared on 11.08.19

Christina Hunger, 26, is a speech-language pathologist in San Diego, California who believes that “everyone deserves a voice.”

Hunger works with one- and two-year-old children, many of which use adaptive devices to communicate. So she wondered what would happen if she taught her two-month-old puppy, a Catahoula/Blue Heeler named Stella, to do the same.

“If dogs can understand words we say to them, shouldn’t they be able to say words to us? Can dogs use AAC to communicate with humans?”
she wondered.

Hunger and her fiancé Jake started simply by creating a button that said “outside” and then pressed it every time they said the word or opened the door. After a few weeks, every time Hunger said “outside,” Stella looked at the button.

Soon, Stella began to step on the button every time she wanted to go outside.

They soon added more buttons that say “eat,” “water,” “play,” “walk,” “no,” “come,” “help,” “bye,” and “love you.”

“Every day I spent time using Stella’s buttons to talk with her and teach her words just as I would in speech therapy sessions with children,” she wrote on her blog.

“Instead of rewarding Stella with a treat for using a button, we responded to her communication by acknowledging her message and responding accordingly. Stella’s voice and opinions matter just as our own do,” she continued.

If Stella’s water bowl is empty, she says “water.” If she wants to play tug of war, she says, “play.” She even began to tell friends “bye” if they put on their jackets by the door.

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Stella soon learned to combine different words to make phrases.

One afternoon, shortly after daylight savings, she began saying “eat” at 3:00 pm. When Hunger didn’t respond with food, she said, “love you no” and walked out of the room.

Today, Stella has learned over 29 words and can combine up to five at a time to make a phrase or sentence.

“The way she uses words to communicate and the words she’s combining is really similar to a 2-year-old child,” Hunger says of her blog.

She believes her work has the potential to transform the bond between humans and dogs.

“I think how important dogs are to their humans,” Hunger says. “I just imagine how much deeper the bond will be.”

Stella asks to play ball outside.

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Stella clearly wants some more breakfast.

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After a fun day at the beach, Stella wants to go back.

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Stella telling Hunger that she doesn’t want her to leave to work.

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Soon, Stella began to step on the button every time she wanted to go outside.

They soon added more buttons that say “eat,” “water,” “play,” “walk,” “no,” “come,” “help,” “bye,” and “love you.”

“Every day I spent time using Stella’s buttons to talk with her and teach her words just as I would in speech therapy sessions with children,” she wrote on her blog.

“Instead of rewarding Stella with a treat for using a button, we responded to her communication by acknowledging her message and responding accordingly. Stella’s voice and opinions matter just as our own do,” she continued.

If Stella’s water bowl is empty, she says “water.” If she wants to play tug of war, she says, “play.” She even began to tell friends “bye” if they put on their jackets by the door.

This article originally appeared on 01.24.20

In June 2015 The Supreme Court of the United States declared same-sex marriage legal in all 50 states.

The legalization of gay marriage granted over 1100 statutory provisions to same-sex couples, many of them granting rights and privileges previously only afforded to heterosexual couples.

After the decision, President Barack Obama said the ruling will “strengthen all of our communities” by offering dignity and equal status to all same-sex couples and their families.

He called it a “victory for America.”

However, the law didn’t just benefit same-sex couples who want to get married, it also had a dramatic affect on LGBT youth. Two years after the legalization of gay marriage, the suicide attempt rate among LGBT youth declined significantly according to the Associated Press.

Suicide is the second-leading cause of death for U.S. teens. LGBT teens are five times more likely to make an attempt than their straight peers.

The study was conducted with over 26,000 LGBT youth participants in the 32 states where gay marriage was legalized up through the 2015 Supreme Court decision. The study found that suicide attempt rates dropped 7% among all students and 14% among gay kids after same-sex marriage was legalized in each state.

Part of the drop in suicide attempts by kids who didn’t publicly identify that they were gay could be because they were closeted or questioning.

There was no change in states where same-sex marriage wasn’t legalized.

While the change in suicide attempts doesn’t prove there’s a direct connection, researchers believe that the law made LGBT kids feel “more hopeful for the future.” They also believe the measures increased tolerance among their straight peers while reducing the stigmatization felt by gay kids.

A study out of Denmark and Sweden published in 2019 found similar results among married gay couples.

Same-sex marriage was made legal in 2009 in Sweden and 2012 in Denmark.

The study found that couples in same-sex unions saw a 46% decline in suicide suicide, compared to 28% of those in heterosexual unions.

“Although suicide rates in the general populations of Denmark and Sweden have been decreasing in recent decades, the rate for those living in same-sex marriage declined at a steeper pace, which has not been noted previously,” researchers noted.

These studies show the power that societal recognition can have on stigmatized minority groups. When one is protected by the “law of the land” it means a lot more than what happens in a courtroom or at city hall.

It shows that you are accepted by the community and protected by those in power. For to love flourish — whether it’s loving oneself or sharing it with a partner — first it must first be protected.

This article originally appeared on 02.20.20

As a soccer match between German teams Preussen Munster and Würzburger Kickers went into its final minutes, a defender from the Kickers, 23-year-old Leroy Kwadwo, stopped to point out a problem in the stands.

A Munster fan was making monkey noises at Kwadwo, a black player of Ghanaian descent. It was a clearly racist heckling—an issue that has publicly plagued the international sport in various venues, even as recently as last week. But this time, the response from the crowd far outshined the racist in the stands.

First, the man was quickly identified by his fellow Munster fans and ejected from the game. While stewards escorted him from the stadium, the crowd chanted, “Nazis out! Nazis out!”

Some fans also stood and applauded Kwadwo and the player received supportive pats on the back from opposing team members as well.

u201cChills.nnIn Germany, a fan hurled racist slurs towards Leroy Kwadwo, a Ghanian football player.nnWhen other fans saw it, they alerted security, who escorted the man out.nnThen, as opposing players came to hug Kwadwo, the entire stadium stood up and chanted “Nazis Out!”u201d

— Muhammad Lila (@Muhammad Lila)
1581795227

This is how it’s done, folks.

Kwadwo thanked fans via social media the next day for their “exemplary” reaction, the Associated Press reported:

“I was racially abused by one single spectator. It just makes me sad. I indeed have a different skin color, but I was born here in this wonderful land that has given my family and I so much and made so much possible. I am one of you. I live here and can live my calling as a professional with the Würzburger Kickers.

Something like yesterday just makes me sad and angry because everyone has to know, racism does not belong in OUR world. We all have the opportunity to oppose it and stop it if it happens.”

Munster said it would seek to ban the racist fan from all German stadiums for three years, which is the toughest sanction the sport itself can implement. However, the man also faces legal consequences and is being charged with incitement.

“As repulsive as the monkey noises against the player were, the subsequent response from the rest of the spectators were so impressive,” the Preussen team said in a statement.

According to CNN, Preussen Munster president Christoph Strasser said of the heckling: “It is not something that belongs on the soccer field and certainly not in our stadium. We don’t want and need people like that here. We clearly distance ourselves from such statements and I apologized to the Würzburgers immediately after the game.”

If we have to live with nasty racists in our midst, it’s at least encouraging to see a huge crowd reject it with such immediacy and fervor. Nazis out, indeed.

This is how it’s done, folks.

Kwadwo thanked fans via social media the next day for their “exemplary” reaction, the Associate Press reported:

“I was racially abused by one single spectator. It just makes me sad. I indeed have a different skin color, but I was born here in this wonderful land that has given my family and I so much and made so much possible. I am one of you. I live here and can live my calling as a professional with the Würzburger Kickers.

Something like yesterday just makes me sad and angry because everyone has to know, racism does not belong in OUR world. We all have the opportunity to oppose it and stop it if it happens.”

Munster said it would seek to ban the racist fan from all German stadiums for three years, which is the toughest sanction the sport itself can implement. However, the man also faces legal consequences and is being charged with incitement.

“As repulsive as the monkey noises against the player were, the subsequent response from the rest of the spectators were so impressive,” the Preussen team said in a statement.

According to CNN, Preussen Munster president Christoph Strasser said of the heckling: “It is not something that belongs on the soccer field and certainly not in our stadium. We don’t want and need people like that here. We clearly distance ourselves from such statements and I apologized to the Würzburgers immediately after the game.”

If we have to live with nasty racists in our midst, it’s at least encouraging to see a huge crowd reject it with such immediacy and fervor. Nazis out, indeed.

Most of us who fly on commercial airlines with any regularity at all have heard the preflight safety presentation so many times we tune it out. Emergency exits forward and back, seat cushions act as flotation devices, put your oxygen mask on first before assisting others, and so on. Once you’ve heard it a couple of times, you feel like you’ve got it down.

However, we’ve seen evidence that most people actually don’t have it down. In 2018, a Southwest flight had an emergency midflight and passengers were asked to put on their oxygen masks. Photos from the flight showed that the majority of passengers put them on incorrectly, indicating that people actually do need to be paying attention to the flight crew’s standard safety spiel.

Let’s face it, though. Even most flight attendants appear to be robotically going through the motions in those presentations, and who can blame them? They have to do the same thing over and over hundreds if not thousands of times.

But occasionally a flight attendant comes along and breathes new life into the routine with some unexpected humor and flair.

Case in point: A WestJet flight attendant whose physical comedy was nearly impossible to ignore. Watch how he makes a standard safety demonstration into a hilarious comedy routine:

u201cThis guy is truly living his best lifeu201d

— Giles Paley-Phillips (@Giles Paley-Phillips)
1665301402

According to Narcity, the flight attendant’s name is Michael McAdam and videos of his hilarious safety presentations have been circulating since at least 2011.

Here’s a longer version of the above video. This is a guy who truly makes the most of his job.

While McAdam’s dramatic antics are entertaining, they could actually make passengers on his flights safer if an emergency actually happened. Instead of zoning out while he demonstrated the aircraft’s safety features, people were giving him their rapt attention. Who’s going to forget his goofy face when he pulls on the straps of the oxygen mask? Humor is a clever way to get people to actually tune in, which may make it easier for people to remember what to do in case of an actual emergency.

Getting passengers to laugh is also a wise way to influence the overall emotional tenor of the flight. Travel can be stressful, and the COVID-19 pandemic has only added to passengers’ stress levels. Setting a light, jovial tone at the beginning of a flight and getting everyone’s feel-good chemicals flowing with some collective laughter might preemptively fend off conflict between cranky flyers or conflicts with crew members.

Finally, some people are very nervous to fly. Hurtling through the sky at 500 mph with nothing between you and the Earth 30,000 feet below you but few layers of sheet metal and a fairly uncomfortable chair can do that to a person. Having a flight attendant put on a mini comedy show might put them at ease, lessening the likelihood of panic setting in as the crew explains what to do in an emergency.

While we can’t expect all flight attendants to be this entertaining, it is a treat when you get a funny one. Thanks, Mr. McAdam for giving us all a good giggle.

Indie music has grown to include so much. It’s not just music that is released on independent labels but speaks to an aesthetic that deviates from the norm and follows its own weirdo heart. It can come in the form of rock music, pop, or folk. In a sense, it says as much about the people that are drawn to it as it does about the people that make it.

Every week, Uproxx is rounding up the best new indie music from the past seven days. This week we got new music from Alvvays, Sharon Van Etten, Weyes Blood, and more.

While we’re at it, sign up for our newsletter to get the best new indie music delivered directly to your inbox, every Monday.

Alvvays — Blue Rev

This Canadian band’s new album Blue Rev is a comeback of sorts, seeing as their last LP arrived over five years ago. They picked a perfect time to share the lush, 14-track project since it arrived just in time for sweater weather. Tracks like “Very Online Guy” and “Tom Verlaine” makes it clear the band is holding on to the fuzzy, dream-pop sound fans know and love, but updated for the year 2022.

Sorry — Anywhere But Here

Fontaines DC lead singer Grian Chatten called this UK post-punk group “genius,” and their sophomore album Anywhere But Here proves why. It flows between moody, dark jams like “Key To The City,” stripped-back ballads like “Quit While You’re Ahead,” fuzzy jams like “There’s So Many People That Want To Be Loved,” and joyous anthems like “Let The Lights On.”

Dayglow — People In Motion

It might be the time of the year when we begin to break out the blankets and cozy up, but Dayglow just dropped a celebratory album fit to soundtrack sunnier days. His third LP People In Motion is groovy, danceable, and aptly titled since it makes you want to get up and move. With tracks like “Then It All Goes Away” and “Radio,” Dayglow’s new release is exactly the kind up upbeat music we need to stave off seasonal affective disorder.

Disq — Desperately Imagining Someplace Quiet

Buzzy Wisconsin-based five-piece Disq first set themselves ahead from the pack with their 2020 debut LP, but now, they are showing off their playful and dynamic approach to songwriting with their sophomore effort, Desperately Imagining Someplace Quiet. The album as a whole combines driving riffs, pastoral anthems like “Prize Contest Life,” and simmering power chords on tracks like “(With Respect To) Loyal Serfs.”

Jean Dawson — Chaos Now*

Jean Dawson has already positioned himself a pop-punk innovator with his 2020 album Pixel Bath, but this week’s new LP Chaos Now* cements his trailblazing status. The album is filled with biting hooks on tracks like “Glory*” and revved-up hits like “Pirate Radio*” that carry both a swaggering and vulnerable edge.

Will Sheff — Nothing Special

It might come as a surprise that Will Sheff dropped his moniker Okkervil River two decades after his initial debut, but his new album Nothing Special‘s haunting, stripped-back sound gives a clear reason for the name change. The album is a sprawling reflection on past ambitions and realigning a sense of self, complete with heart-tugging prose and atmospheric production.

Sharon Van Etten — “Never Gonna Change”

Sharon Van Etten released her standout album We’ve Been Going About This All Wrong earlier this year, but now the venerable indie musician is readying a deluxe version with a few new singles. One of those is “Never Gonna Change,” a cathartic ballad that shows off the singer’s ability to create an enveloping and emotionally charged tune.

Sigur Rós — “Untitled #7”

Icelanders Sigur Rós are breathing new life into their past songs and celebrating the 20-year anniversary of their breakthrough album () by remastering it. The new version of the album includes b-sides and never-before-heard singles alongside new versions of the classic album tracks, including the stirring number “Untitled #7.” The 12-minute epic takes the band’s boundary-pushing catalog to soaring new heights and is a reminder of the group’s cutting-edge sound.

Weyes Blood – “Grapevine”

Weyes Blood, aka songwriter Natalie Mering, has a unique ability to translate social ills into gripping ballads. Her 2019 LP Titanic Rising took aim at climate catastrophe, but her latest song “Grapevine” leans on her recognizably poignant vocals to unpack stubbornness in a relationship. “Technology is harvesting our attention away from each other,” she says of the song. “We all have a ‘Grapevine’ entwined around our past with unresolved wounds and pain. Being in love doesn’t necessarily mean being together. Why else do so many love songs yearn for a connection?”

Fever Ray – “What They Call Us”

Karin Dreijer, the pioneering mind behind Fever Ray, returned this week with their first new music since 2017. The single, “What They Call Us,” mixes an industrial beat with a reverberating cello and, like Fever Ray’s previous works, is enchanting, eccentric, and just a touch unsettling.

Ed Sheeran likes to push boundaries when it comes to gift-giving. Last year, he spoke about the leather gimp masks he regularly gets for pal Courteney Cox, and now a different Sheeran buddy has spoken about a present they got from the pop star.

In a new interview on The Kelly Clarkson Show, Sam Smith revealed Sheeran bought them an inconveniently large marble penis. Smith said, “It’s actually wild. I thought it was a joke: It’s a 6-foot-2 marble penis that is… it’s two tons! It’s two tons, and I’m going to have to get it craned into my house.”

An incredulous Clarkson replied, “What… where? What… in your foyer? Like, what’s going to happen?” Smith continued, “Well, I want to turn it into a fountain, which I think will be hard to do,” which got a big throw-your-head-back laugh from Clarkson.

Smith continued, “He gives people concrete penises, yeah, yeah. I’m not the first: Elton [John] got the first.”

The pair then decided they ought to name the statue, eventually settling on Duke Of Hastings, a reference to the Bridgerton character, and not once mentioning other names more commonly referenced in scenarios such as these, like Richard, Dick, and so on.

Check out the interview above.

Ed Sheeran is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.