Category: News

The Joe Biden presidency isn’t the complete disaster his critics claim it is. Unemployment is dropping. And, well, he continues to not be Donald Trump. But he’s still presiding over a period of inflation, over a pandemic that’s spiked anew, and over a largely non-functioning Congress made worse by two quisling Democrats. His approval ratings are in the toilet. And on the first Real Time of the new year, Bill Maher had a jokey (or not?) plan for how to save Biden’s presidency.

It, of course, involves getting Barack Obama, the most popular Democratic president in decades, back in the White House. How would one do that, given that he’s already served two terms? Maher had a scheme, and it didn’t even involve amendments.

He pointed out the lack of enthusiasm in the party for its leaders, that it lacked “big d*ck energy.” He then surveyed the field of possible Democratic leaders and found it lacking. Bernie Sanders is now “too old,” Pete Buttigieg is “too young,” and former New York governor Andrew Cuomo “didn’t work out.” Meanwhile, Vice President Kamala Harris has even lower approval ratings than the top dog.

“But there is one guy all Democrats could rally behind and would love to see back in the White House,” Maher said. “Of course, you’re saying Obama can’t be president again — he’s had two terms, and that’s the rule. You know, politics, often called the art of the possible, really is now the art of whatever you can get away with, something only Republicans seem to realize, like when they just made up that presidents can’t appoint a Supreme Court justice in an election year, or when they changed their mind and said, ‘Oh wait, they can when our side is in power.’”

He then drew inspiration from, of all things, one of those terrible live-action Disney comedies from the ‘70s: Gus, in which Don Knotts enlists a field goal-killing goat to his football team because there’s no rule that prohibits it. (There are a ton of great movies missing from streaming services, but anyone with Disney+ can watch Gus, perhaps as a double feature with the Dean Jones movie about a duck that lays golden eggs.)

“What the Democrats have to do now is their version of a Gus,” Maher said. “And it goes like this: Biden and Obama must divorce their wives — not leave them, just officially legally divorce them. Then, Biden will gay-marry Obama, thereby putting him back in the White House. The law says Obama can’t be president again, but there’s nothing that says he can’t be first lady.”

You can watch Maher lay out his hair-brained scheme in the video above.

(Via Raw Story)

Making movies can be a chaotic process. They can be dramatically reworked in post-production, losing subplots, even whole characters. That’s what happened to Ana de Armas in Yesterday, the 2019 musical-comedy-romance in which an aspiring musician (Himesh Patel) awakens one day to find himself in a hellscape where The Beatles never existed. The increasingly popular actress wound up having all her scenes removed in the edit. But she still made a brief appearance in the trailer, causing some to rightly assume that she was in the finished film. She was not.

Now that’s getting Universal, who released it, sued. As per The Hollywood Reporter, two people — one from California, the other from Maryland — are suing the studio in a class action suit that alleges that they misled fans of the Cuban actress into watching a movie in which she does not appear.

“Although Defendant included the scenes with Ms. De Armas in the movie trailer advertisements, for the purposes of promoting Yesterday and enticing film sales and rentals, Ms. De Armas is not and was never in the publicly released version of the movie,” reads the complaint, which was filed in California federal court on Friday.

“Unable to rely on fame of the actors playing Jack Malik or Ellie to maximize ticket and movie sales and rentals,” the complaint states, alluding to Patel and actress Lily James (soon to be seen as Pamela Anderson), “Defendant consequently used Ms. De Armas’s fame, radiance and brilliance to promote the film by including her scenes in the movie trailers advertising Yesterday.”

De Armas was originally cast as a love interest for Patel’s character, who achieves fame passing off beloved Beatles songs as his own. But when test audiences found that the hero less sympathetic, they removed her entire subplot. The actress can still be seen in a scene from the trailer, in which Patel’s Jack appears on The Late Late Show with James Corden.

The complaint also points out the trailer used the song “Yesterday,” by George Harrison, which also doesn’t appear in the finished film.

Despite the lack of Ana de Armas, Yesterday went on to make a pretty penny, amassing $73.3 million in America and $80.4 million elsewhere for a combined total of $153.7 million. Meanwhile, in the real world, not only do we still have The Beatles, we even got an epic documentary where you get to watch them hang out and bang out some of their greatest songs before doing a killer roof show.

(Via THR)

Earlier this week, Adele shared disappointing news: The singer had to postpone her upcoming Las Vegas residency due to plans “destroyed by delivery delays and COVID.” She fought back tears while sharing the news, but there’s one fan who was especially frustrated. Eleni Sabracos took to TikTok to reveal that she missed out on Adele in concert on not one, not two, but three separate occasions.

“I bought tickets to see Adele at Madison Square Garden, but they were fake tickets,” Sabracos said, showing a picture of herself outside Madison Square Garden with a custom-made T-shirt. “But nobody felt bad for me because I bought them off Craigslist so that was my own doing.” Sabracos then jumped to 2017, when Adele was set to host a show in London. Sabracos said she bought tickets that placed her in the “Golden Circle,” which directly surrounded the stage. Unfortunately, that attempt to see Adele was also unsuccessful.

“She canceled her show,” Sabracos said. “Mind you, I risked my life flying to London on this cardboard airplane called WOW Airlines that is now discontinued. The only thing ‘wow’ about it was it was surprising that the airplane could fly.”

Sabracos’ third and most recent attempt to see Adele came after her brother surprised her this past Christmas with tickets to Adele’s Las Vegas residency, which was set to begin on January 21. “I am in Vegas right now, and Adele canceled her show again,” she concluded before letting off a scream from the balcony of her Las Vegas hotel.

In an update Sabracos later shared on her TikTok, she can be seen facetiming Adele, sharing a heartfelt moment that included the singer repeatedly apologizing for the postponed residency. She also promised to bring Adele one of her custom-made t-shirts. Sabracos concluded the video by yelling “I just facetimed Adele!” as she walked through the Las Vegas city streets.

Sabracos’ original video made its rounds on social media, and eventually Finneas caught wind of it and gave her a sweet deal. “I’m in Vegas right now’ had me DYING,” he commented on the video before adding, “If you ever want tickets to a show, lemme know! Hopefully we won’t cancel [laughing face emoji].” In response, Sabracos wrote, “I WILL BE THERE WITH FUNNY SHIRTS FOR YOU, CLAUDIA, BILLIE, AND PEACHES. LET ME KNOW WHERE, WHEN, AND HOW.”

You can view Sabracos’ TikTok videos above.

When M&M’s unveiled new and more “inclusive” images last week for their chocolate candy characters, there was a fair amount of online dragging. But few got mad the way Tucker Carlson did. On Friday night, the Fox News host took a break from singing the glories of Viagra and yelling at the homeless to tell his many viewers that he’s mad that he no longer finds M&M characters sexually attractive.

Carlson took particular umbrage with what the candy company did to their brown M&M. Once Mrs. Brown, she has been transitioned into a more gender neutral version named simply “Brown.” What’s more, their stilettos have been swapped out for sport kitten heels. (Carlson also didn’t like that Green has exchanged go-go boots for sneakers.)

Perhaps it seems weird that fictional characters representing chocolate candy that people eat should have any sexualized characteristics. Not to Carlson, who fumed that Brown’s new look was “less sexy.” He continued: “M&M’s will not be satisfied until every cartoon character is deeply unappealing and totally androgynous, until the moment you wouldn’t want to have a drink with any one of them. That’s the goal. When you’re totally turned off, we’ve achieved equity.”

So there you have it: A grown man who is paid to talk on TV — and to endanger his own viewers’ lives — is mad that he no longer wants to get a drink with a fictional cartoon mascot for foodstuffs. No wonder he’s the most popular host on Fox News.

(Via The Daily Beast)

Who is “West Elm Caleb” and what does his playlist have to do with anything? Trust me, when you find out, you’ll suddenly wish you’d never asked. Though while we’re here, let’s just say that LCD Soundsystem, Angel Olsen, and Big Thief have been implicated in a narrative that they never asked to be a part of…

This man “Caleb” is the latest “main character” in the world of TikTok, where offenses like ghosting women after giving them a sweet, seemingly individualized playlist will suddenly be ramped up into national affairs. As the women of TikTok tell it, Caleb, who presented himself as a furniture designer for the brand West Elm, would go out with women on dating apps and immediately begin “love bombing” them. That means he was showering them with attention and presenting himself as very interested in dating them — even going so far as to send them a special playlist — only to ghost a few days or weeks later. Giving no reason for his behavior, and simply leaving these women with zero explanation for his action.

Is that criminal? No, certainly not. It definitely hurts to be ghosted, but anyone is well within their rights, in the dating world, to begin or end those connections as they see fit. However, once it becomes a serialized behavior that multiple women have recognized as a pattern, well, all bets are off if they’re going to discuss it with one another. Anyway, as discussion of this Caleb hit a fever pitch on other social media platforms like Twitter and Instagram this week, internet sleuths scrambled to assemble the playlist that Caleb used to woo these women. Frankly? His taste in music, at least, is pretty good. Check out his picks below.

Despite scoring 22 points, Steph Curry did not have his best shooting night for the Golden State Warriors on Friday. But when he was asked to make the biggest shot of the evening, Curry did what he does best: knock down a jumper and lead the Dubs to a win.

The Warriors found themselves in a close one with the upstart Houston Rockets, and with Draymond Green sidelined due to an injury, Houston looked primed for an upset. With just over four and a half minutes remaining, the Rockets found themselves up by seven, and thanks to Curry struggling from the floor, they had real reason to think they could get the job done.

But Golden State made their way back, and after a pair of free throws by Otto Porter, the two teams entered the final 80 seconds of regulation all tied up. Both sides went back-and-forth, but no one could score the basketball. Then, with about five seconds left, the Dubs rebounded a miss by Garrison Mathews, called a timeout, and made sure to get the ball in Curry’s hands. He created a little bit of separation between himself and Kevin Porter Jr. and launched a long two that went through the cylinder as time expired.

Curry has done dang near everything a person can do in his NBA career, but this was a new one. Never before had Curry had a walk-off like this as a professional, with this marking the first time he’s hit a buzzer-beater to win a game in a Warriors uniform.

Curry ended the night with 22 points on 6-for-21 shooting from the field and 4-for-13 shooting from three with 12 assists.

The shorthanded Chicago Bulls suffered a 94-90 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks on Friday night. After the game, Bulls guard Alex Caruso was a bit upset, and it had nothing to do with the final score.

During the third quarter, Caruso went up for a layup in transition. Bucks guard Grayson Allen was there to contest, but instead of making an effort to play the ball, Allen used two hands to commit a foul that led to Caruso landing hard on the ground. He was visibly shaken up, but was able to continue playing.

The play was reviewed and Allen was tossed from the game after being assessed a flagrant 2. After the game, Caruso did not mince his words when asked about the incident.

https://twitter.com/NBCSBulls/status/1484750853705719812

“Didn’t really know, really, what happened during the play,” Caruso said. “But afterwards, just looking at it, dude just grabbed me out of the air. Kind of bullsh*t, I don’t know what else you can do about it. Just glad that I didn’t have any major, major, scary injuries right away.”

Bulls coach Billy Donovan was likewise asked about the incident, and after conceding that there will be times when fouls are flagrant but not malicious, proceeded to excoriate Allen.

“For Alex to be in the air like that, for you to take him down like that, you could have ended his career,” Donovan said. “And he has a history of this. And that, to me, it was really dangerous. I really hope the league takes a hard look at something like that, because he could have really, really, seriously hurt him. He’s dealing with his wrist right now, I don’t know what extent his wrist is. Just being there, it’s really, really dangerous to go after somebody like that.”

During Allen’s collegiate career at Duke, he became infamous for a number of incidents in which he would make some sort of unnecessary contact with opposing players. His NBA career has not had these kinds of moments, but it’s evident in Donovan’s comments that he’s never quite shook that reputation.

Music might be the closest thing the world has to real magic. Music has the ability to transform any atmosphere in seconds, simply with the sounds of a few notes. It can be simple—one instrument playing single notes like raindrops—or a complex symphony of melodies and harmonies, swirling and crashing like waves from dozens of instruments. Certain rhythms can make us spontaneously dance and certain chord progressions can make us cry.

Music is an art, a science, a language and a decidedly human endeavor. People have made music throughout history, in every culture on every continent. Over time, people have perfected the crafting of instruments and passed along the knowledge of how to play them, so every time we see someone playing music, we’re seeing the history of humanity culminated in their craft. It’s truly an amazing thing.

The pandemic threw a wrench into seeing live musicians for a good chunk of time, and even now, live performances are limited. Thankfully, we have technology that makes it easier for musicians to collaborate and perform with one another virtually—and also makes it easier for people to create “group” performances all by themselves.

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Cellist Cremaine Booker, who is also known as That Cello Guy, recently shared such a performance and it’s absolutely stunning.

“Finally got around to doing this piece,” he wrote in the video caption. “Faure’s Pavane is soooo gorgeous. This version for 12 Cellos (yes, TWELVE) was such a huge undertaking, but I made it happen (whew!). Doing tempo changes with 12 parts Is NOT easy, but I’m proud of how it turned out. I hope you enjoy.”

Getting the timing just right for 12 parts truly is a huge undertaking, but Booker nailed it. So powerful.

Fauré’s “Pavane” was originally a piano piece and was based on a traditional Spanish court dance. Fauré composed the orchestral version of the song in 1887.

Booker serves as principal cello for the Nashville Philharmonic Orchestra and the Jackson Symphony Orchestra and has traveled to play with different groups around the country. He has also played with well-known artists such as Hans Zimmer, Michael McDonald, Sheryl Crow, Nelly, Carrie Underwood, Martina McBride, Chris Stapleton, Kelly Clarkson, Jewel, Lindsey Stirling, Michael W. Smith and LeAnn Rimes.

Thank you, Mr. Booker, for sharing your wonderful performance and magical gift with the world.

Okay, we’ve come a long way in terms of rethinking gender norms.

See on Instagram

Fashion is less rigidly conforming (you’ve seen the man who rocks pencil skirts and stilettos, right?). More men are flourishing in jobs traditionally performed by women. And perhaps most importantly, there is a growing number of male support groups that encourage heartfelt communication and emotional well-being.

But suffice it to say, there still remain quite a few incredibly outdated belief systems when it comes to how we define masculinity.

Case in point, a recent Reddit thread sparked by the question:

“Men of Reddit, what was the most ridiculous reason why someone questioned your masculinity?”

Some of these answers are indeed head scratchers. Others are flat-out offensive.

Here are 10 of the most egregious accounts:

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1. Reading

“I was reading a book on my lunch break while I was working construction, and got a bunch of sh*t about reading being for women.” – Middle-Eye2129

“Went from women not being allowed to read to reading being only for women… what a world.” – Comprehensive-Ad4566

2. Practicing the most basic of safety measures

One person wrote that their masculinity was questioned for “wearing gloves while welding.”

Because having all fingers intact makes you less of a man? Um … what?

Wear your gloves and fasten your safety belts, gentlemen. It’s okay. I’m pretty sure The Rock does.

3. Not eating the right foods

“Had a friend give another friend shit because he wanted to eat a corn dog. He said grown ass men don’t eat corn dogs. Any man should understand.” – mondayortampa

It’s not just because of the distinct shape of certain foods garnering the “unmanly” label, either. See below:

“My dad got sh*t from a guy he was working with because he was eating a plain bagel with butter on it and drinking chocolate milk because the guy said it’s childish. Dad never cared and just laughed at the guy for being an idiot. Who wouldn’t like that combo? It’s a great thing to eat!” – WhatsUpFishes

“My husband bought some of our homegrown raspberries into work to share and a guy he works with said they were ‘girl food.’ It must be so exhausting to have to gender your food.” – Pepperfig_clover

4. Or drinking the right drinks

“Went to a Mexican restaurant and we waited at the bar before we could get a table. This place has awesome strawberry blended margaritas so I got one. Apparently lime = straight, strawberry = gay.” – Thirty_Helens_Agree

5. Appreciating cleanliness

“I’ve had both women I just started dating, and male acquaintances who have thought my clean apartment was an indication I was gay.” – NorCalDustin

6. Using pink … anything

“At work I gave a guy a report and it had a pink paperclip on it.

He asked me why I gave him a pink paperclip. I told him I just grabbed one. He then asked why I had a pink paperclip – I told him I had a rainbow pack.

Then he wanted to know why, when I saw it was pink, I didn’t throw it away. He told me I shouldn’t use pink paperclips [because] ‘people might have questions.’” – Everyday_Im_Stedelen

“About 30 years ago, they came out with neon string lines. As I work construction, I am constantly using string to ensure things are straight. By far, the brightest of the strings was a pink one.

So, I was constantly chided by the crew for having a pink string. This only happened until it started getting closer to dusk, at which point they all wanted to borrow my string.” – Dioscouri

7. Not applying deodorant in a ‘manly way’

“Somebody once told me I wasn’t applying deodorant manly enough.” – PearSB

“How do you apply deodorant in a manly manner?” – The_One_True_Disease

“You set fire to the can and let it explode behind you as you look epically to the camera.” – Astrophobia42

8. Being kind

“Got accused of being gay for being nice to people in the dive bar I go to… I guess it’s not masculine to be nice to people.” – pgh613

9. Having daughters

“When I was pregnant, with a girl, someone said to me, in front of my husband, ‘a real man would’ve given you a boy.’” – badmamathree

“Someone should have said that to Henry VIII.” – BaldingMonk

“Why do you think there was a protestant movement?” – ArthurBonesly

10. Allowing a woman to do manly things

“I was taking a break from driving a forklift and a woman asked if she could drive it (she was qualified to drive it so this wasn’t just a random question from a random person.) I agreed and this one guy got so offended that I let a woman take over driving the forklift from me. This was back when ‘mancard’ was a thing so he of course said I needed to turn in my mancard for that.

Unsurprisingly, it turns out this guy got offended at all kinds of things all the time though. If he thought someone wasn’t doing something the “right” way, he would rant and whine about it.” – BrickFlock

Clearly, we still have some ways to go on this subject.

Ever wonder what an ideal date for a lemur would be? Or a lizard’s favorite Disney princess?

Thanks to one YouTube poster with a passion for animals and an endearing sense of humor, all questions shall be answered. Well, maybe not all questions. But at the very least, you’ll have eight minutes of insanely cute footage.

In a series titled “Tiny Mic Interviews,” Maya Higa approaches little beasties with a microphone so small she has to hold it with just her thumb and forefinger. And yes, 99% of the animals try to eat it.

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There’s Ginger, the pig with a lot of stored up resentment toward the big bad wolf. She ain’t afraid to talk about it, either. Or so her passionate snorts would indicate.

Then there’s Brazilian porcupine Boris (at least, I think that’s what Boris is after Googling, I’m no zoologist), who is asked to name his favorite food. For the record, it’s corn. And no, you may not touch his snoot.

Godzilla, the itsy bitsy turtle that fits into one hand, gets asked, ironically, “what’s it like being land’s fastest animal?” Though Godzilla remains stoically silent, an image of super cool speedster sunglasses gets superimposed onto his face, along with the words “I am speed.”

The best part to me is a bird, aptly named Giggles, gloriously laughing at a cheesy joke. In fact, here’s a nod to all the birds with impeccable names in this video.

Mordecai, Costello, Bartholomew (these include stars from Higa’s first interview) … I’m looking at you.

Though these critters provide some top notch entertainment, there’s plenty of valuable information being thrown into the mix as well.

All the exotic “interviewees” are part of Zoo To You Conservation Ambassadors, a permitted facility in California, Higa informs her viewers. Rescued or surrendered from the illegal pet trade, or permanently injured, these animals receive permanent care and become a part of Zoo To You’s education program. Pretty sweet gig, right?

Higa herself is a wildlife rehabilitator, falconer and streamer who focuses a lot of her content on conservation. Though her online persona veers toward the upbeat and positive, she isn’t afraid to shed light on some darker facts around certain threats many species face.

“The natural world that these animals come from is being absolutely decimated,” Higa states in another video. “The UN estimates that over one million plant and animal species face extinction today. Pollution, habitat loss, climate change, the wildlife trade, exploitation, general human intervention…is causing us to lose species at rates unprecedented in human history. We’re experiencing a mass extinction.”

Wanting to be part of the solution, Higa has founded her own nonprofit organization called Alveus, which, like Zoo To You, acts as an exotic animal sanctuary and virtual education center.

If you’d like to support Higa’s sanctuary, you can do so by donating to [email protected] via PayPal.

And if you’re already jonesing for more adorable “Tiny Mic Interviews,” you’re in luck! You can find even more on Maya’s YouTube channel here.