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The first act of the first Star Wars film follows two droids who hate each other but are stuck together. The even goofier Star Wars prequels include characters like Jar Jar Binks, a diner owner named Dexter Jettster, and the incredibly annoying lightsaber collector General Grievous. The Last Jedi is the most harrowing, darkest, and (most importantly) horniest entry in the Star Wars franchise, but it includes Porgs and Kylo Ren in high-waisted pants. Even in its darkest moments, Star Wars has always had a campy undercurrent that makes it unique amongst other sci-fi and other film franchises.

In the ultimate lightsaber battle in the Obi-Wan Kenobi finale, Obi-Wan Kenobi faces Darth Vader/Anakin Skywalker. Obi-Wan strikes Vader’s face and his iconic helmet breaks, revealing one-half of Anakin’s face. For the first time since Obi-Wan Kenobi left Anakin Skywalker for dead on Mustafar in Revenge of the Sith, Obi-Wan sees that Anakin truly is Darth Vader. The boy Obi-Wan trained for so many years and lost to the dark side is lying right there in front of him, desperate for revenge on his former master. Darth Vader continues to shout threats at Obi-Wan, but now, his helmet’s voice distortion feature (I don’t know what it’s called) is broken. His voice weaves between sounding like James Earl Jones and Hayden Christensen, from monster to boy.

For years, Obi-Wan, ignorant of the medical marvels Emperor Palpatine had at his disposal, assumed that Anakin was dead at his own hands. He spent a decade drowning in grief and guilt, feeling responsible and punishing himself for not only Anakin’s downfall, but the downfall of the Republic. Once Obi-Wan discovers Anakin’s new identity as Darth Vader in Obi-Wan Kenobi, he is in denial that they could possibly be the same person. Looking into Anakin’s eye and hearing Anakin’s real voice emotionally affects an already emotionally affected Obi-Wan. But moments later, Obi-Wan, as he did many years ago, abandons a helpless Anakin Skywalker by riding off in a ship, leaving his former padawan with a cold but confident, “Goodbye, Darth”. Obi-Wan’s snappy exit embodies the character, but not the moment. Almost is the theme of Disney+’s Obi-Wan Kenobi. This lightsaber battle was almost iconic. “Goodbye Darth” was almost funny. Obi-Wan Kenobi was almost a good show. But ultimately, the entire thing fell flat because it did not allow itself to be fun.

Despite its best moments including that lightsaber battle and Ewan McGregor’s facial hair, Obi-Wan Kenobi feels very fleeting. We got almost six hours of storytelling but learned nothing new about characters we already knew, and also learned absolutely nothing about new characters. Obi-Wan Kenobi was sad. Darth Vader was violent. Obi-wan was sad. Leia Organa was feisty. And Reva, the former padawan who was on a mission to avenge her peers Anakin Skywalker murdered has a narrative arc that’s shaped more like a twig and adds nothing to Obi-Wan’s journey.

The Obi-Wan Kenobi finale is peppered with attempts at quick references to Obi-Wan’s sly, slightly rude but ultimately very charming (and hot, sorry) attitude. None of the lighter, sillier moments work because Obi-Wan Kenobi, like the rest of the Disney+ shows, thinks Star Wars is not camp. Even “Hello there,” an Obi-Wan moment that one could argue is the reason why this series exists in the first place (that’s a blog for another day when I am way less tired), was crammed into the final episode out of desperation, a studio note in visual form.

Star Wars should be fun. Obi-Wan Kenobi should have been the most fun, with so much potential for a good, weird time in space. But the franchise has quickly become a soul-sucking bore. The last time Star Wars was fun, really, was when we as a society were first introduced to baby Grogu during the first season of The Mandalorian. Since the appalling Rise of Skywalker and the middling, Skywalker Saga-focused second season of The Mandalorian and The Mandalorian-focused first season of The Book of Boba Fett, the initially promising Disney+ Star Wars shows have all but eliminated the goofy soul from Star Wars by taking it too seriously.

While Joe Rogan‘s political views in recent years have been closely aligned with America’s right-wing, namely on topics like the COVID vaccine and transgender issues, the controversial podcaster wants it known that he’s not a fan of Donald Trump. Rogan stopped by Lex Fridman’s show where he revealed that he’s had numerous opportunities to have Trump as a guest, but he turned them all down.

“I’m not a Trump supporter in any way, shape or form,” Rogan said via Mediaite. “I’ve said no, every time. I don’t want to help him.”

It’s a surprising admission considering Rogan has a low opinion of President Joe Biden, who he constantly refers to as a “dead man” that’s not getting enough criticism from the media. “Biden, shakes hands with people that aren’t even there when he gets off stage,” Rogan quipped. “I think he’s seeing ghosts.”

But even though he thinks Trump will get a chance to run again in 2024, Rogan wants nothing to do with him, which Fridman had a hard time understanding given Rogan’s penchant for sitting down and talking to anyone. Fridman argued that, ultimately, Rogan will have Trump on his show at some point, but Rogan held strong.

“You’ve had a lot of people that I think you might, you may otherwise be skeptical,” Fridman said. “‘Would I have a good conversation?’ Which I think is your metric, you don’t care about politics … And I think you had like Kanye (West) on, for example and you had a great conversation with them.”

“Kanye doing well, or not doing well, doesn’t change the course of our country,” Rogan fired back.

(Via Mediaite)

A Drake impersonator who apparently had the real Drake’s approval was banned from Instagram, despite having the star’s co-sign for his activities. “Izzy Drake” recently gained attention for his resemblance to the Canadian rapper/singer and capitalized by making public appearances. He’s even gone as far as cutting Drake’s signature heart-shaped design into his hairline while Drake bore the look to promote his 2021 album Certified Lover Boy. Most recently, Izzy Drake gained more notoriety after challenging the real one to a boxing match with a $1 million prize.

It looks like the impersonator’s antics violated Instagram’s terms of service, which forbid impersonating public figures — apparently even if said impersonators have the originals’ blessings.

If there were a star whose life you’d want to live lately, it’s Drake. Despite taking some flak from fans about his recent work including fellow rapper Denzel Curry, Drake appears to be living the dream. Although he’s known for making sadboy anthems for the clubs, he’s was all smiles as he crashed Backstreet Boys recent Toronto show and met Haim at a “random restaurant” in his hometown (of course Drake’s a big fan of both boy bands and girl groups). He also has lots of other reasons to grin; his new album, Honestly, Nevermind, recently became his 11th Billboard No.1 with every song charting on the Hot 100. Oh, and he just made a lot of money selling one of his houses and betting on UFC.

Who wouldn’t want to be Drake?

The Boys‘ very first scene began with a great trauma — Hughie stood outside with his lady love, Robin; A-Train zoomed by and pulverized her; Hughie was left holding her detached and bloodied hands, ain’t that romance? — and charged straight into amplified mayhem and raunchiness galore. Amid that chaos, the show’s digging deep into great characterization, and two backstories are finally coming to the forefront in Season 3. All of this is making me reflect back upon what Slipknot’s Corey Taylor (speaking about the band’s “Solway Firth” making a first-season video tie-in) told us about Season 1:

“[W]ith Butcher’s character in there, the catastrophe that happens with him, the catastrophe that happens with Hughie, the fact that there is a real hatred that develops for the abusers, towards the abusers. And that’s reflected in that song. It is your moment to spit back in the face of the people who have taken advantage of you and abused you and harmed you and controlled you.”

Three seasons into this show, and I’m chuckling about how, prior to The Boys launch, the comic book-movie-loving TV audience endured a more innocent time. There was definitely something lacking, given that fans couldn’t forever make do with jokes about Captain America being the Language Police of the MCU while Zack Snyder attempted the “dark and gritty” thing with DC/Warner Bros. Yet The Boys (as those rarely successful satires tend to do) blew all of that out of the water. After one season, the show went weekly, which made some people very angry, but the episode-by-episode “digestion” phase also brought some stunning character rollouts. And those developments are much more impactful (and insightful) when absorbed weekly.

One major example of this: Antony Starr’s raunchy rooftop solo act landed as much more than a jerk-off session, and Starr has subsequently veered further into a terrifyingly layered performance. The show’s weekly pacing has allowed for the incremental reveal of exactly how flailingly desperate he is for true connection (even if he arguably isn’t capable of it), and as the show still follows Hughie, he’s obviously not handling his traumatic sh*t well by putting as much Compound V into his veins as possible.

Yet there are two more profound backstories now rising in Season 3. These stories provide the perfect opportunity to talk about how this show piles on the comically disgusting moments like no one else’s business, but showrunner Eric Kripke does not forget that the whole project is rooted in catastrophe and trauma. One story, in particular, resonates with me as an anxious person. I’m talking about Mother’s Milk (Laz Alonso), who differs from the comics (where he literally got Supe powers in utero from his mother) and whose backstory (on the show) remained murky until this season. He’s also (and this has been alluded to plenty before now) nursing some hefty anxiety that manifests itself in obsessive-compulsive disorder, and this season, we find out why that’s the case.

Now, I’m not going to go into DSM-5 depths of OCD here, but let’s just say that the show worked out how to have (appropriate) fun with this affliction, too, and it does so in a way that’s consistent with the spirit of the show. Poor Mother’s Milk is not only obsessed with keeping things orderly, but he’s also the guy who got attacked by Love Sausage last season, and — this had to happen to someone — he had the worst time during the “Herogasm” episode. Not only did the Ant-Man-sex guy ruin MM’s jacket, but then another hero really ruined it. This Twitter reaction says it all.

Not only is there an unspoken “Father’s Milk” joke in there, but this horror would be more horrific to an OCD sufferer (who’s prone feeling immense anxiety about disorder and/or having germaphobia in the mix) than anyone else. And the miraculous thing is that The Boys is roasting this affliction, something that can really affect one’s quality of life, and it actually works. It’s funny (and I can say that, having experienced with the disorder), but the origins of MM’s OCD are much more serious. In fact, he’s arguably got the most tragic backstory in all of The Boys (the show and the group).

As this season informs us, MM feels pure hatred toward Soldier Boy while Butcher and Hughie are keen to recruit him to take down Homelander. That hatred is perfectly justified, given that Soldier Boy killed members of MM’s family. And that’s what sparked the OCD, as MM described while speaking of his compulsion to check the stove burners over and over again, out of fear that Soldier Boy will come back and keep killing his family. As MM phrases things, “I gotta get this motherf*cker out of my head,” but as we see leading up to the finale, Butcher shuts down the realization of that vengeance. Yet all scenarios are on the table for the season’s ending.

In addition to MM’s story, this season’s also been filling us in on Black Noir. He is, of course, the completely silent, never-unmasked ninja who received the backstory that we never knew we needed. Imaginary friends!

My goodness, the show’s leaping to such creative heights this season, after putting Kimiko and Frenchie into a musical scene, and now, we’re meeting Black Noir’s imaginary cadre of animated best friends. It’s a little bit Snow White (with some Roger Rabbit), and these creatures (who have apparently been keeping him company for the entire show) told the audience why Black Noir cut and ran from The Seven after hearing of Soldier Boys’ unfrozen-hero arrival. That realization upset Black Noir enough that he ripped the tracker out of his arm and left the tower. There’s a deep fear and trauma there that no one realized existed, and the way that The Boys introduced this was stunning and perhaps the only believable way that Noir’s backstory could be told.

Those cartoon characters told Noir’s backstory in a way that stayed consistent with the character, but Noir did not passively sit by and listen. Instead, Nathan Mitchell acted the hell out of these scenes without showing us a facial expression or uttering a word. Sure, there was a sigh here and there, but the heavy lifting came from Mitchell’s body language. And we learned why he feared Soldier Boy, given that Noir was once part of Payback, which worked together to put Soldier Boy down, given that he’s an awful, jingoistic, loathsome Supe. And we don’t know precisely why Noir’s mind is inhabited by these animated creatures, but there are clearly some serious layers at work.

Where those layers go, we may soon find out in the season finale. Soldier Boy’s arrival stirred up much of what we learned about both MM and Noir this season, and there’s surely more to come this week, given the emotional heft of both their backstories. Yet what I’m very much appreciating is how The Boys is not only committed to giving us all of the unbelievable scenarios when it comes to the show’s outrageousness, but the essences and motivations of these characters always feel believable through the show’s writing. Like I said earlier, The Boys was born from trauma, and it never let up. There’s no reason to believe that the show’s traumatized characters will ease their pain, but at least we know that the show will do their stories justice. The season finale’s a satisfying one, too, so gather ’round to see how everyone will deal with the Soldier Boy problem.

Amazon’s ‘The Boys’ releases new episodes on Fridays.

(Spoilers for Season 3 of The Boys will be found below.)

People have strong feelings after The Boys (er, Vought International) posted a Fourth Of July tribute to Homelander. And some of those feelings are difficult to parse, after far-right fans of the show actually did have a raging meltdown after finally realizing that Homelander’s a villain. That kind of confusion and back-and-forth to be expected when the show manages to be a rarely successful satire that skewers superhero culture. Homelander has always been a dirty dog and pure evil; he sent an entire plane full of people to their deaths. Now that he’s facing off with Soldier Boy (that time-capsuled MAGA prototype) about who’s the “upgrade,” laughter has ensued after the far-right’s dismay that a rapist and a murderer would dare to be publicly homicidal and do something bad like make a woman commit suicide because it’s his birthday.

Homelander ain’t the good guy, obviously. Most of the show’s viewers get this, and on Twitter, people are having quite the reaction to a tweet from a The Boys‘ sub-account, Vought International, which made a Fourth of July declaration. During a year when the Supreme Court has made it difficult for a lot of people to feel patriotic, this tweet feels like an intentionally pointed barb:

“It’s our patriotic duty to trust those who can get the job done. And there’s no one better at defending American values than Homelander. Don’t listen to anarchists and the lamestream media, this country is PROSPERING! Happy Independence Day, and thank you, Homelander!”

People who watch the show decided, “Heck, why not?” and joined in on the joke while pretending to be on Homelander’s side after his breakup with Starlight. As fans know, however, Annie January is the one who torched Homelander while quitting The Seven and exposing their leader’s real nature to citizens of The Boys universe.

Not everyone was onboard for the holiday spirit, and here’s an enormously valid point (note: not an actual response to Vought) from Joanna Robinson of The Ringer.

And there were people who pushed back at the Vought tweet, too.

For the moment, Vought seems to have the last (officially timelined) word. In a tweet, they accused Annie January of being “a glory hound who became hysterical after Homelander ended their relationship.” They also declared that she had headed “into insurrectionist territory and made a reconciliation impossible.” Man, the season finale can’t come soon enough this week.

The Boys is currently releasing weekly Season 3 episodes on Amazon.

Olivia Rodrigo completed the North American section of her Sour Tour at the end of May, and after a brief break, she journeyed across the pond to pick things up for the European section of the tour. So far, she’s performed at Glastonbury while also doing shows in Germany, Switzerland, Italy, France, and more. After her Glastonbury set, Rodrigo stayed put in the United Kingdom, as she is set to perform four shows across five days. On July 3, she was scheduled to perform in Manchester, but prior to taking the stage, she decided to stop by a dive bar in this city to deliver a surprise performance with her band.

“I’m dead sober,” Rodrigo said before launching into a cover of Natalie Imbruglia‘s 1977 pop record “Torn” at Bunny Jackson’s, a dive bar in Manchester. The record proved to be a hit for Imbruglia, but it was also one for Rodrigo at dive bar as folks in attendance absolutely loved her performance. Unsurprisingly enough, they also shared videos and posts about her performance on social media.

“Why yes Olivia Rodrigo, of course you can turn up at Bunny Jacksons on a bloody Sunday evening and play a song for a laugh before our 3rd set,” one person wrote. According to Billboard, they later added, “Mate, it was wild. They just showed up after playing the arena and her TM asked to jump on between our sets! They were all very lovely.”

You can watch Rodrigo’s dive bar performance in the video above.

The hit Harry Styles single “As It Was” has spent a lot of time at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart this year, but it hasn’t had a ton of consecutive weeks on top. It spent its first week (the chart dated April 16) on top; got knocked out by Jack Harlow’s “First Class;” spent two more weeks at No. 1; got dethroned by Future, Drake, and Tems’ “Wait For U,” later enjoyed another four frames atop the chart; and last week got ousted by Drake and 21 Savage’s “Jimmy Cooks.”

Well, it turns out “As It Was” is one of the most resilient songs in chart history: On the new Hot 100 chart dated July 9, the Styles single is one again back at No. 1 for an eighth total week.

This is the fourth total stint at No. 1 for “As It Was,” which actually ties the all-time record for most separate trips to the top. In that regard, it now stands alongside Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas Is You” (from 2019 to 2022), 24kGoldn and Iann Dior’s “Mood” (in 2020 and 2021), and Drake’s “Nice For What” (2018).

Meanwhile, new to the top 10 is Beyoncé’s “Break My Soul,” which debuted at No. 15 last week and now, in its first full week of tracking, has risen to No. 7. Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)” is also sticking around, as it rises from No. 9 last week to No. 6 this week.

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

July 4, 2022 will be remembered as a day of sorrow. Throughout the country, many Americans woke up to the news that at least six people had been killed and dozens more injured when, shortly after 10:15 a.m. ET, a gunman began shooting into the crowd of families and revelers who had gathered for what should have been a celebratory Fourth of July parade in the picturesque Chicago suburb of Highland Park, Illinois.

Approximately 45 minutes earlier, at 9:30 a.m., The NRA had sent out a tweet reminding its followers (and anyone else who unfortunately stumbled across it) that the reason Americans have an Independence Day to celebrate at all is because of men with guns.

They then followed that tweet up with this:

Approximately 12 hours later, Philadelphia’s Parkway Fireworks were interrupted by yet another active shooter situation:

Yet through it all—and yes, even right now—The NRA’s tweets remain posted. While it’s very likely that the posts had been previously scheduled, that they opted to leave them up while the country mourned yet another deadly mass shooting speaks volumes about the gun-lovin’ organization’s frequently indecorous manner, which almost seems to have become part of their mission statement.

The only other statement The NRA has made sense the deadly attack is a woe-is-us retweet:

Which indicates that someone was behind the Twitter controls at some point and could have easily either deleted the earlier sentiments, given the violence that erupted shortly after they were sent, or issued a statement lamenting the loss of life. That they chose neither should hardly be surprising.

In 1999, just over a week after the massacre at Columbine High School, The NRA chose to forge ahead with a previously planned event in Denver, less than 15 miles from where the violence had occurred. In May, the group held its annual “meeting of the mindless” over Memorial Day weekend in Houston, Texas just days after a teenager killed 21 people—including 19 children—a Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, with both Ted Cruz (who got heckled after his speech) and Donald Trump (who danced his way offstage) in attendance.

As of July 5, 2022—just a little over halfway into the year—there have been a total of 351 mass shootings in America, which have claimed the lives of more than 400 people and injured more than 1,300 individuals. But The NRA, with its only tweet since the tasteless early morning messages from July 4, seems to be suggesting that they are victims, too.

Miley Cyrus has often shared her mixed feelings toward her breakout television series, Hannah Montana. While the series took its toll on her, it was also rough on her younger sister, Noah.

Ahead of her upcoming debut album, The Hardest Part, Noah Cyrus spoke with Rolling Stone about her anxiety, which spawned into an addiction to Xanax. In the interview, she mentioned that her anxiety stemmed partly from growing up in a family that was constantly under the spotlight — especially when Miley was on Hannah Montana.

“I had a really hard time being a part of a public family, and I struggled a bit with that, because it wasn’t exactly my first choice,” said Noah. “I had a hard time with people coming up to me and saying, ‘Are you Miley Cyrus’ little sister,’ or, ‘Are you Hannah Montana’s little sister?’ I did not like that, and it stripped me of my own identity for a long time.”

Noah revealed that there were times she’d reply “no” when asked if she was related to Miley.

As a child, Cyrus enjoyed riding horses at Far West Farms in Los Angeles. Training under acclaimed rider Nick Karazissis allowed her a reprieve from unwanted attention.

“Obviously, I had a family that was split up a lot,” Noah said. “Here I had something so permanent. […] They would always make sure that when I came here I was Noah. I wasn’t a Cyrus, I was just Noah.”

The Hardest Part is out 9/16 via Columbia Records. Pre-save it here.

TJ Warren has played in just four games over the last two seasons, including missing all of last year, with stress fractures in his left foot, which derailed what was a breakout 2020 campaign in Indiana.

As Warren has been sidelined, the Pacers have launched a rebuild and when Warren hit free agency this summer, there was plenty of mystery about his medicals and what his market might be. On Tuesday, word emerged that Warren had agreed to a one-year deal with the Brooklyn Nets, as he’ll hope to get healthy and prove himself next season before hitting free agency again in 2023.

Warren was terrific in 2020, particularly in the Bubble, but never got a chance to back that up. His health will dictate a lot about what comes next in his career, but he’ll also be beholden to what happens on the Nets roster between now and camp, as Brooklyn looks to figure out trades for Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant. Aside from the disaster happening on the star front, the Nets have actually had a decent start to free agency, inking Patty Mills and Nic Claxton to two-year deals that provide solid value and now adding a buy-low candidate in Warren who could be a real contributor if he can get healthy.