Category: News

The Los Angeles Lakers season, by just about any way you slice it, was a gigantic disappointment. L.A. entered this year with championship aspirations, and instead, the team won’t even make the Western Conference play-in tournament. A new piece by Ramona Shelburne of ESPN dives into some of the ways things went wrong for the Lakers this season, and unsurprisingly, it turns out the decision to trade for Russell Westbrook had quite the domino effect on the franchise.

The biggest question from the moment the Lakers acquired Westbrook — something that Shelburne reports happened because “[LeBron] James and [Anthony] Davis’ enthusiasm for Westbrook were what moved the process in that direction” — was how he would fit on the court alongside Los Angeles’ other stars. The answer ended up being not particularly well, but beyond that, Shelburne reports that Westbrook found himself in a situation where he didn’t always have people publicly defending him, with some folks thinking this was a necessary thing.

There were those in the organization who felt only humiliation would spur Westbrook to change his style of play to fit better within the team structure. Vogel, for his part, believed they should stand by him and give him the space to figure it out, just as he had in other situations over the years, team sources said. While Vogel did eventually bench Westbrook at the end of games when he was not effective, he continued to start him, give him chances and praise him when he played well.

While there was apparently a belief that Westbrook was not receptive to feedback from efforts to reach out to him, someone close to him was quoted as saying, “Why is he going to listen if he feels like you’ve been letting him get crucified all year?”

Westbrook’s name popped up in trade conversations midseason, but ultimately, he stuck around past the deadline. He has a player option for 2022-23 worth approximately $47 million before he becomes an unrestricted free agent.

Charlie Puth was playing games with fans when it came to the release of “Light Switch,” a highly-anticipated single he’d been building up and teasing on TikTok. Now, he’s clearly shifted back to album release mode, and already put a new single out.

“That’s Hilarious” is anything but funny though, and shows a petty side. Berating an ex who clearly put him through the wringer, Puth laments that someone “took away a year / Of my f*cking life / and I can’t get it back,” before adding that “So when I see those tears / coming out your eyes / I hope it’s me they’re for.” Then, the pettiness hits on the chorus: “You didn’t love when you had me / But now you need me so badly / You can’t be serious / That’s hilarious.” During that part of the song, a synthesized laugh track also plays in the background.

The visualizer he shared with the song intersperses clips of Charlie as a child with footage he described as “when I was secretly dying inside” in a text message at the beginning of the video. So, yeah, that’s the direction Puth has gone in for this one! It will definitely be interesting to see how this fits in with “Light Switch” and whatever else he’s got up his sleeve for LP3. Check out the new single up top.

BIA’s new song, “London,” is already a hit on social media, with fans praising the rapper’s tongue-in-cheek British-isms and guest rapper J. Cole’s jaw-dropping featured verse. As the song dropped, however, Cole revealed that despite being the veteran artist in this situation, he was actually nervous about trying to improve a track he already saw as perfect. In a lengthy Instagram post, Cole wrote about how he came to be on the song and why he was so apprehensive.

“I Asked BIA to come through the studio for some whole other sh*t,” he recalled. “First time meeting her. We chop it up. She plays me this new song she had just did. Mannnnnnn in that moment I was blown away. I thought about this song for a month straight, it was my favorite song and I only heard it one time. She hit me recently and sent me the song (she musta knew I wanted to hear it again!!!) and I was just grateful to have it in my possession. When the thought and conversation came up about me adding a verse, I was excited but genuinely nervous cuz I didn’t even see how the song could be better after what she did to it. I didn’t want to f*ck nothing up! I’m grateful I Ended up catching the right wave.” He closed the statement by thanking his host and praising her “energy and spirit.”

Maybe it’s that nervousness we have to thank for Cole putting his whole foot in that verse — let alone his other recent appearances on YG’s “Scared Money” and Benny The Butcher’s “Johnny P’s Caddy,” as well as his verses on Dreamville’s Gangsta Grillz mixtape with DJ Drama. If this is how he snaps when he’s nervous, I can’t wait to see what he does when he feels confident

You can watch the “London” video above.

25 years ago today, Sleater-Kinney released their highest selling album to date, Dig Me Out. The Washington trio of Corin Tucker, Carrie Brownstein, and Janet Weiss (who left the group in 2019) came to define the post-grunge indie punk era of the late ’90s and well into the 2000s. How could three people make this much perfect noise? They were a dream.

Today, the group is still nothing short of iconic and to celebrate the 25th birthday of the classic Dig Me Out, the band announced on their Instagram feed that Dig Me Out – A Covers Album will be released soon to mark the occasion.

“To commemorate 25 years of Dig Me Out, we’re releasing a covers album featuring some of our closest friends and admired artists!” the post begins. “We can’t wait to share these unique renditions with you. Coming this summer! A portion of the proceeds from this record will be donated to @smyrcpdx, our local LGBTQIA+ Youth Center.”

The list of close friends and “admired artists” is pretty rad. Starting with Wilco, St. Vincent, Courtney Barnett, and Jason Isbell & Amanda Shires. Also featured on the album are The Linda Lindas, Low, Margo Price, Black Belt Eagle Scout, Self Esteem, Tyler Cole, Tunde Adebimpe of TV On The Radio, and more. Our money is on The Linda Lindas covering “Words & Guitar,” because it just makes too much good sense!

Check out the album art below.

Ambulance director Michael Bay is spilling the secret to delivering kick-ass chase scenes in his films: Schmoozing with the cops. While promoting his latest adrenaline shot, starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Bay couldn’t help but brag about how cops love his productions and are always game to help the director out when he’s on location.

“Listen, one great skill I have is talking to cops,” Bay told Polygon. “Cops love my movies around the world. I mean from Italy to Paris, whatever. They would give me a lot.”

Apparently, the trick is to make himself available to charm the pants off the local police, which Bay absolutely does. He’s not even shy about it.

“I’m like, ‘Hey, I would love to put you in the movie. When you guys do a chase, what do you do? What if you’re chasing an ambulance?’” Bay said. “And then they — well, first they wanted pictures. Second, they said they’d love to be in the movie. They literally would block the freeway for me and do a rolling block. We hauled ass at 90 miles an hour down an open freeway. That would have cost a normal movie 350,000 bucks and take two months of planning. It looks real because it is on a real freeway, and we are going that fast. So that’s, like, free stuff.”

Bay also recently revealed that he would have a lot of “fun” directing an episode of his favorite show Yellowstone should the opportunity arise. Couple that information with Bay’s skills as a cop-whisperer, and there’s only one way this can be heading: Michael Bay must let a horse drive a car. It’s happening, people.

(Via Polygon)

Will Smith got more than a slap on the wrist for… you know. The Board of Governors for the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences ruled today that the Best Actor-winning King Richard star has been banned from all Academy events, including the Oscars, for 10 years after he slapped Chris Rock during the 2022 Oscars.

“The 94th Oscars were meant to be a celebration of the many individuals in our community who did incredible work this past year; however, those moments were overshadowed by the unacceptable and harmful behavior we saw Mr. Smith exhibit on stage,” the Academy’s statement reads (via Variety). It continues:

“Today, the Board of Governors convened a meeting to discuss how best to respond to Will Smith’s actions at the Oscars, in addition to accepting his resignation. The Board has decided, for a period of 10 years from April 8, 2022, Mr. Smith shall not be permitted to attend any Academy events or programs, in person or virtually, including but not limited to the Academy Awards.”

The Academy thanked Rock “for maintaining his composure under extraordinary circumstances,” and the ruling was made as a step towards “a larger goal of protecting the safety of our performers and guests, and restoring trust in the Academy. We also hope this can begin a time of healing and restoration for all involved and impacted.”

Outside of a brief quip, Rock has yet to comment on the slap. Will Smith released the following statement after the Academy announced its ruling: “I accept and respect the Academy’s decision.”

(Via Variety)

As if getting tapped to go on tour with Olivia Rodrigo for her acclaimed Sour tour isn’t enough, Gracie Abrams came storming back today with a new single, “Block Me Out.” In a very relatable, guitar-driven track, Abrams laments her own intrusive thoughts and anxiety. Gracie and peers like Conan Gray have been getting attention this year, not just from Olivia, but from Taylor Swift herself, and they cutely remembered the day Taylor posted about Conan in a sweet twitter exchange. But Gracie has also been on our radar as a rising pop star since late last year, her 2020 EP minor featured collaborations with the likes of Benny Blanco and her 2021 EP, This Is What It Feels Like, was a 12-track manifesto for the emo pop star.

With a sweet, textured voice that channels indie icons like Ingrid Michaelson, Vanessa Carlton, and A Fine Frenzy, Gracie brings it all into focus today with “Block Me Out,” a collaboration between her and Aaron Dessner that was written and recorded at the Long Pond Studio in New York. Check out the song up top, and expect a lot more from Gracie coming soon, as she’s currently at work on her debut album.

Everything about Empress Of’s new single, “Save Me,” oozes sensuality. In fact, Empress Of’s Lorely Rodriguez even worked with a sexual wellness company to enact the visual component.

Empress Of dropped one of the best pop albums of 2020 in I’m Your Empress Of, and now “Save Me” looks to be hinting at new frontiers for the indie-pop singer and producer. The drums are especially vibrant and there’s even live strings on the tune as Rodriguez suggestively sings, “If you need me baby, take me in the back of the room tonight… I want you to save me.”

She worked with Charli XCX producer BJ Burton on this one and Rodriguez spoke about the inherent sexuality of the track, saying in a statement, “This is probably one of my favorite songs I have ever made. I’ve never put live strings on a recording before, it was very emotional. There’s a sexual urgency. There’s a power play. I think it’s one of the sexiest songs I’ve made.”

Directed by Alexis Gómez, the video was shot in Mexico City. It’s a stunning and sexy series of vignettes that reflect both the grit and beauty of the city. The spiritual sensuality of the track is seen with every breath that Rodriguez sings and the strings heighten the passionate affair that unfolds.

Watch the video for “Save Me” above and check out Empress Of’s upcoming live appearances below.

05/06 — Los Angeles, CA @ Natural History Museum for KCRW First Fridays
05/27 — Buena Vista Lake, CA @ Lightning in a Bottle Festival

Elden Ring is one of the hardest games out there right now. It’s not impossible, but unless you’re willing to dive into the mechanics and world of Elden Ring, you might find yourself having a hard time with it. Unless, of course, you’re one of the game’s many speedrunners and have the skill to make Elden Ring look easy.

What used to take an hour for speedrunners eventually took 30 minutes. Now, they’re able to get below 15, and after mastering the exploits even further, speedrunners have taken a game that is taking most people around 80 hours to beat and reaching credits in less than 13 minutes. The current world record for the game was just set at 12:32.

It’s kind of incredible to watch a game that was crafted with the kind of care that Elden Ring was and see it get torn to shreds by just a handful of exploits that will zip the player across the world in mere seconds. That said, while most of the game is skipped through these exploits, there is one major fight that the runner needs to overcome against the Beast Clergyman. Defeat that and it’s smooth sailing the rest of the way.

What’s really fun about these speedruns is that FromSoftware has historically not patched out speedrunning exploits from their games. This means that most of this run will remain viable until new faster exploits are discovered later on. Who knows, maybe one day someone will beat this game in under five minutes.

After dozens of seasons of actors and controversial figures appearing on ABC’s hit reality series Dancing With The Stars, the series will now move to Disney+ for its upcoming season, Variety reports.

“Dancing with the Stars has entertained fans for 16 years on ABC, and we are excited to bring this beloved show exclusively to Disney+ as the platform’s first-ever live series,” said Kareem Daniel, the chairman of Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution. “The show’s broad appeal, as well as the overwhelming popularity of its Disney-themed competition nights, make Disney+ the perfect home for Dancing with the Stars while continuing to expand our demographic reach.”

The series will be the first live-streamed show on Disney+. Deadline reports that the move was likely to open up the network for Monday night football. There will be at least two more seasons on the streaming service, with season 31 starting this fall. It’s unclear if host Tyra Banks will also be following the move to Disney+.

The show had changed a lot over the years, with behind-the-scenes drama coming out over the past few months after the exit of beloved host Tom Bergeron. The show is known for adding controversial stars to its roster, including Sean Spicer and Tiger King‘s Carole Baskin.