Category: News

It’s Sunday, which means there’s a brand new episode of Euphoria. Earlier this month, the show returned for its second season, bringing back characters played by Zendaya, Hunter Schafer, Alexa Demie, Sydney Sweeney, Dominic Fike, and more. As expected, episode four of the new season brought plenty of big moments. One was the opening scene with Rue and Jules, in which, in a moment of intimacy that ends awkwardly, Rue explains just how much she loves Jules, all while the two recreate famous paintings, photos, and movie scenes.

What Were The References In The Opening Scene Of The New Euphoria (S2E4)?

These were the references that appeared in the opening scene: Sandro Botticelli’s 1480s painting The Birth of Venus, John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s 1981 Rolling Stone cover, Frida Kahlo’s 1943 painting Self Portrait As A Tehuana, the 1990 film Ghost, the 1997 film Titanic film, the 1937 film Snow White, and the 2005 film Brokeback Mountain film. Each scene saw Rue and Jules appear as a character or figure from the respective movie, painting, or photo.

This opening scene came to an awkward end with Rue faking an orgasm. Rue explains that she had to do this because she “took so many narcos that I literally can’t feel a f*cking thing.”

Midway through the second quarter it looked like the Kansas City Chiefs were going to roll to their third straight Super Bowl appearance, as they jumped on the Bengals to the tune of a 21-3 lead, as Cincinnati’s offense couldn’t find any rhythm and the defense was unable to stop Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs offense.

However, a screen pass to Samaje Perine went for a 41-yard touchdown to get the Bengals on the board late in the first half, and for the first time all game they had some life. The Chiefs marched down to inside the five yard line, but failed to get any points after Mahomes threw behind the line of scrimmage to Tyreek Hill with no timeouts and five seconds left, and Hill was tackled short of the goal line.

That sequence marked the beginning of a major turning of the tide in Kansas City, as the Bengals defense locked down on the Chiefs, who had fewer than 40 yards in the third quarter (and most importantly, 0 points), forcing a crucial turnover down eight to give the offense the ball in the red zone.

On the other side, Joe Burrow started to get loose both throwing the ball and running it, as the Bengals clawed their way back to tie the game on a back shoulder fade to Ja’Marr Chase.

From there, the two teams traded punts (and a Burrow interception), and after a field goal put Cincinnati up three, Mahomes had that look in his eye like he was going to rip the Bengals hearts out late. He drove the Chiefs down inside the 10 with 90 seconds to play and the Bengals burning timeouts to desperately try to salvage something, when suddenly Mahomes became the quarterback to start playing like the one without big game experience.

After taking a sack on second down, Mahomes spun round and round on third down, fumbling the ball and nearly costing the Chiefs a chance at overtime.

Harrison Butker picked him up by drilling the 44-yard kick to force OT, and once again Kansas City won the coin toss, sparking another round of overtime discourse online. However, Mahomes’ poor decision making that had been present all second half continued in overtime, this time to disastrous results. After throwing a near pick-six on second down on a slant that Eli Apple dropped, Mahomes threw a jump ball to Tyreek Hill on third down that got tipped into the hands of Vonn Bell to set Cincinnati up near midfield, needing just a field goal to win.

Burrow and the Bengals marched into the red zone, setting up Evan McPherson for his 11th field goal of these playoffs, as he remained perfect to send Cincinnati to the Super Bowl.

It was an incredibly gutsy performance by the Bengals, who looked out-matched early on but made some great adjustments on both sides of the ball to start getting things going on offense and take away the Chiefs big play threats on defense. They also managed to seemingly rattle Mahomes, who looked dreadful in some key moments, and for as great as he was in the first half, owns a significant portion of blame for the way things ended on Sunday evening.

Last week Iann Dior released a new album, On To Better Things, which follows up his massive 2020. Dior and 24kGoldn broke out in a huge way during the first year of the pandemic when their bratty hit “Mood” went all the way to No. 1 and stayed there for weeks, spawning a remix with Justin Bieber and J Balvin, and even landing Dior a guest spot on a remixed version of UK indie rockers Glass Animals own sleeper hit, “Heat Waves.”

But before all the buzz around “Mood,” Dior released his debut Industry Plant, back in 2019, and a couple EPs before sharing On To Better Things, a full-length album that officially follows up his debut. But over the course of his last few releases, Dior has been leaning way more into the pop-punk side of things (and recent trend) with several collaborations with Travis Barker, Machine Gun Kelly, or both. Dior even appeared on a song off MGK’s pivotal jump to pop-punk, Tickets To My Downfall.

So it’s not that surprising that there’s a song on Ian’s latest album that features both Barker and Machine Gun Kelly, but what is surprising is another credited artist on the track: Dan Wilson of the band Semisonic. You see this track, “Thought It Was,” which is the third single from the album, released just a few days before the full-length dropped, interpolates Semisonic’s cult-y 1998 hit “Closing Time” in the melody, an easter egg within the song that plenty of fans will notice upon close listen.

A couple listeners did notice and comment last week when the song first dropped:

And one of the song’s other co-writers, Kyle Reynolds, also weighed in to let listeners know they were hearing it right!

Given how many people love the original, could this be Ian’s next shot at a No. 1 single? Well, it’s only been a week, but who knows, ’90s nostalgia has been at an all time high lately, so there’s always a chance this one will take off like “Mood” did. Hopefully, TikTok will do its thing and give us a mashup of Dior’s new song and the ’90s classic. Check the new song out above, and for good measure, check out the original below.

On Sunday, during the AFC Championship Game, the first trailer for the upcoming Halo TV series was finally unveiled to the world. This is a moment that honestly feels like a decade in the making. Ever since the rumored Halo movie, people have been waiting to see John-117, better known as Master Chief, in a live action performance. It’s finally happening and it will release to the world on Paramount+ in March.

Once the initial shock of finally seeing a live action Master Chief wears off, we can see some of the themes that the TV series is going to explore through the trailer. Obviously, the invasion of the Covenant and Master Chief standing against them is going to play a big part, but the trailer shows us that it’s going to explore some of the themes that the Halo games touched on, but never got an opportunity to go too deep into.

Some of the teases that look more interesting include how the spartans feel about being turned into weapons, the lack of trust some of their superiors have for these spartans, and what personality they’re going to give Master Chief. In the games, he was always best known as the guy who stays silent and mainly delivers one liners. We never got the opportunity to see how Master Chief felt about most situations until 343 Industries got ahold of the series and tried to explore him more. Even then, Master Chief’s feelings on being a spartan and the war against the Covenant have never been fully explored. This TV series is a great opportunity to do that.

We have no idea how the show is going to pan out, but as a long time fan of Halo, it’s just exciting to finally see this happening.

The AFC Championship is always one of CBS’ biggest events of the year (arguably the biggest in non-Super Bowl years for the network, like this one), and with just one game on the network, they pull out all the stops for it.

That means a big-time promo (this year featuring Tom Cruise) and sending the studio show crew to the stadium for pre-game and halftime shows on the field. One of the reasons NFL broadcasts don’t do remote shows often is they are big business and operating away from the studio brings a lot of variables into play that can wreck things, which CBS learned the hard way at Arrowhead when their halftime show got steamrolled by a Walker Hayes concert happening at midfield. The Chiefs wheeled a bunch of speakers out on the field so the crowd could hear it, rather than just blasting it over the PA system, and one of those sets of speakers was directly behind the CBS set.

The result was an abject disaster as the crew tried to break down the game while music blared behind them.

Being that it was a halftime concert, it was not simply something the CBS crew could wait out, and it was hilarious to watch as they tried to press on as the Applebee’s song blared through speakers behind them and wrecked the sound.

NFL fans had a field day with CBS’ misfortune, and honestly it might’ve been the most talked about halftime show of the season for any network, so in the long run this may have paid off, even if it was incredibly frustrating for Boomer Esiason and the fellas.

Over the last week, Spotify has gone from a streamer that pays artists a pittance to pariahs. For months, Joe Rogan, host of the most popular podcast in existence, has been spreading COVID misinformation, even bragging about taking medication also used to de-worm horses. Scientists have been calling Spotify out for platforming dangerous nonsense. But things went next level thanks to Neil Young, who became the first major musician to demand his work be removed from their coffers over Rogan’s reckless comments. Joni Mitchell followed suit. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, who have a Spotify contract, released a stern statement “expressing concerns.”

Now Spotify is doing…well, something. As caught by The Daily Beast, Daniel Ek, the service’s CEO and co-founder, released a lengthy statement swearing they were taking some steps to combat the misinformation from which they profit. While admitting that “there are plenty of individuals and views on Spotify that I disagree with strongly,” Ek said they don’t want to “take on the position of being content censor.”

But they are doing three things. One is making their “Platform Rules,” which they’ve long given to those they work with, public. Another is reminding “creators” about said rules. And then there’s this: Any podcast episode that discusses COVID — including ones where proudly unvaccinated Joe Rogan is just asking questions about subjects he probably doesn’t understand — will be given a “content advisory,” as well as “easy access to data-driven facts, up-to-date information as shared by scientists, physicians, academics and public health authorities around the world, as well as links to trusted sources.”

Rogan’s name was not mentioned once.

So that should stop the spread of misinformation that’s ensuring a two-year-old public health crisis finally comes to an end. You can read Ek’s entire statement here.

(Via The Daily Beast)

Spotify, the world’s biggest music streaming service, hasn’t had a great week. They’re finally starting to get their comeuppance for having exclusive rights to the biggest podcast in the world: The Joe Rogan Experience, where the former host of a show where people ate bugs can’t stop spreading dangerous misinformation about the public health crisis we’ve been living with for two years and counting. Artists like Neil Young and Joni Mitchell have demanded their music be removed, potentially opening the flood gates for a mass exodus.

Now another pair who also have ties with Spotify are…well, not severing ties with them but at least issuing a stern statement. As per CNN, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle — who announced an exclusive partnership with the streamer, for whom they will produce podcasts, back in 2020 — released a statement not only advising them to shape up but revealing that they’ve been doing that for nearly a year.

“Last April, our co-founders began expressing concerns to our partners at Spotify about the all too real consequences of COVID-19 misinformation on its platform,” a spokesperson with Archewell, the pair’s foundation, said. “We have continued to express our concerns to Spotify to ensure changes to its platform are made to help address this public health crisis.”

They added, “We look to Spotify to meet this moment and are committed to continuing our work together as it does.”

The statement did not name names, but it’s clear they were referencing Rogan, who has already been condemned by scientists for spreading nonsense to his fanbase. But given how they reacted to Neil Young pulling some of the greatest music ever recorded from their coffers, it’s clear where Spotify brass’ priorities lie. Meanwhile, perhaps Prince Harry and Meghan should do something more than simply express concern.

(Via CNN)

Earlier this month, the suspects in Young Dolph’s murder — 32-year-old Cornelius Smith and 23-year-old Justin Johnson -— were arrested and charged with first-degree murder two months after the rapper’s death. According to FOX13 Memphis, during their first appearance in court, the two were asked by Judge Lee Coffee if they would need an attorney to be provided for them. They both declined. In a second court appearance, the suspects returned again without lawyers, leaving Judge Coffee to set a deadline for them to find representation.

“If you have a lawyer hired, that’s fine, but as I told you 10 days ago, I cannot allow you to sit in jail week after week, month after month, without a lawyer,” Judge Coffee told Smith and Johnson during the hearing. “If you don’t have a lawyer hired on Feb. 4, I’m going to hire a private attorney to represent both of you all.” In response to Judge Coffee’s request, Smith and Johnson both assured the court that they would have lawyers by the deadlines, adding that their families were working on finding attorneys for them.

This comes after the slain rapper’s label Paper Route Empire released the tribute Long Live Young Dolph. It arrived complete with features from Key Glock, Big Moochie Grape, and more. Key Glock also delivered a video for “Proud,” which appears on the album.

Championship Sunday has finally arrived in the NFL, with the Bengals headed to Kansas City to face the Chiefs in the AFC Championship game at 3:00 p.m. ET on CBS, and the 49ers in L.A. to face the Rams in the NFC Championship game at 6:40 p.m. ET on Fox.

With the Super Bowl on NBC this year, these are the two biggest games of the season for Fox and CBS, and they treated them as such, with big-time promos and wall-to-wall coverage like a mini-Super Bowl. CBS tapped into their broader Paramount family for a Bengals-Chiefs hype video starring Tom Cruise delivering a Top Gun themed promo that is about as good as it gets, with the Top Gun: Maverick star waxing poetic about football, America, and chasing greatness.

Sometimes the cross-promotions in these pieces can feel forced, but a game featuring Patrick Mahomes and Joe Burrow getting the Top Gun treatment feels about as natural as it can get. I would love to know how much football Tom Cruise actually watches because I feel like it is either absolutely none or he is a maniacal fan and there is no chance of anything in between. Whatever the case, the man is a pro’s pro and after watching this hype video we are very ready for kickoff (and the new Top Gun movie which is sadly still a few months away).

One of the most iconic political protest songs in history, U2’s 1983 classic “Sunday Bloody Sunday” helped cement the Irish band as a titanic rock and roll act who transcended music to become a global force. Bono sings the song from the perspective of an observer of the 1972 Bloody Sunday massacre during the Troubles in Northern Ireland, where British troops shot unarmed civil rights protesters and killed 14 people. The song’s opening lyrics became a rallying cry for war torn populations:

“I can’t believe the news today, I can’t close my eyes and make it go away. How long, how long myst we sing this song? Til it’s too late, too late. Cause tonight, we can be as one, Tonight!”

Today, on the 50th anniversary of the Bloody Sunday massacre, U2 released an acoustic version of the song. Posted to the band’s social media accounts, it features only Bono and The Edge in a modest studio performing the song in black and white. The Edge is on an acoustic guitar and he joins Bono on backing vocals to punctuate the song’s high points. Midway through the clip, footage of the 1972 event are spliced in. The video’s caption reads simply “30 January 2022 – With love, Bono & Edge”

It’s a timely reminder that “Sunday Bloody Sunday” isn’t just famous as the opening track to War, the band’s first platinum album, but also a reminder of how many nations could feel the pain and emotions that Bono and the band laid out many years ago.