Category: News

Eric Trump has always been the lesser of the older Trump sons, lacking his older brother’s flamboyance (or at least willingness to tweet out videos he recorded at 3am while his eyes were crimson red). But every now and then he surprises. He can’t even spread voter fraud misinformation without being owned online. So when Eric tried to blame the selling on another of his failing businesses on Democrats, it seemed like he wasn’t even trying.

As per The New York Post, the former president’s organization has been forced to sell the Trump International Hotel in Washington D.C., located in the 122-year-old former Old Post Office building. The Trump Organization bought it for $500 million in 2012 and spent an extra $250 million to turn it into a luxury hotel. Since its opening, around the same time Trump won his one-term presidency in 2016, it’s lost more than $70 million.

The lucky new owners, CGI Merchant Group, paid a mere $375 million for the hotel. They will strip the building of its debatably iconic Trump logo and turn it into a Waldorf Astoria.

The D.C. hotel sure has fallen on hard times. When Trump was president, it was one of three of his properties that he strongarmed the Secret Service to use, on the taxpayers’ dime.

Some mourned the D.C. hotel’s changing-of-the-guard, as well as its history of political corruption and, in the style of many Trump properties, multiple bankruptcies.

Another mourner was Eric Trump. “Heavy hearts all around,” he told The Miami Herald. “I think it’s safe to say no public figure in the history of the United States has been persecuted the way President Trump has.”

What does the Trump business having to sell one of their failing properties have to do with the Democrats? Best guess: CGI is led by Raoul Thomas, who, as per the Herald, has a focus on “socially conscious investing,” with plans to donate 1% of room revenue to nonprofits. And while he donates to both Democrats and Republicans, last year he gave almost three times as much to Joe Biden as he did to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. Or maybe the guy who didn’t seem to be joking when he slammed Biden for not spending enough time at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. has simply given up.

(Via NY Post and Miami Herald)

Earlier this year, Wu-Tang’s Once Upon A Time In Shaolin album was sold by the government to pay off part of ultra-weasel Martin Shkreli’s $7.4 million forfeiture judgment. But members of The Wu-Tang Clan have stayed plenty busy with other endeavors. For starters, the second season of the Hulu show Wu-Tang: An American Saga came out, and one of its members, RZA, re-launched his series Saturday Afternoon Kung Fu Theater on his platform 36 Cinema, which hosts screenings of old school kung-fu and blaxploitation films, complete with guests and live commentary.

In a recent interview with Mic, where RZA spoke about An American Saga, the 2019 Sacha Jenkins-directed documentary Wu-Tang Clan: Of Mics and Men, and the need for Black voices to tell Black stories. He also revealed that he is working on a biopic about Ol’ Dirty Bastard. If you’ve heard about this before, it’s because in 2018, The Hollywood Reporter ran a story revealing the project was green-lit by Columbia Pictures, that it would be produced by RZA, and that a search for a director and screenwriter were underway. Not only that, but he shared that it’s part of a bigger vision:

“The documentary was to capture the story as best we can in the reality of it, and then the TV series was to dramatize it. The third tier of the plan, which I’m in progress of, is an ODB movie biopic. Like the five-year Wu-Tang plan, this was a five-year media plan that I concocted, I meditated on, and I’m striving to live out. So far, it’s working well.”

ODB was a polarizing figure, to say the least, and his life was shrouded in equal parts flamboyance and mystique. A RZA-produced biopic is sure to shed light on his fantastic and mad existence.

After years of keeping their metrics under wraps, only divulging their most-watched shows when true pop culture phenomena (such as Squid Game) occur, Netflix is finally coming clean with their analytics. Earlier today, the streaming service took to Twitter to announce they are creating a website entirely dedicated to listing their weekly top ten films and television shows. The website, topten.netflix.com, will allow visitors access to the service’s global top ten lists, as well as various filtered lists based on language and country.

This site comes as quite the surprising following reports earlier this year that Netflix was shifting away from its longtime two-minute viewing time metric in favor of ranking shows by total number of hours viewed. Considering the streamer has always been a bit secretive with their numbers and was undergoing that aforementioned shift, folks weren’t necessarily anticipating this new feature. However, it comes as a welcome change for both curious subscribers and most assuredly advertisers.

Netflix’s Weekly Top Ten is scheduled to refresh every Tuesday, but will keep a record of previous weeks as well. As of right now, users can track metrics as far back as the week of June 28, 2021, though Netflix has not revealed if earlier data will be lost as new weeks are created.

In addition to merely listing the top ten, the site will also keep track of how many weeks a title has been on the top ten as well as the total number of hours the title has been viewed. Right now, Netflix’s original film Red Notice holds the global, English movie record with nearly 149 million hours viewed. Narcos: Mexico: Season 3 holds the title for most-watched English series this week, with just over 50 million hours watched. According to Netflix (via The Wrap), the company will also give proper credit to hours rewatched, meaning more shaming Netflix users for watching far too many hours of The Christmas Prince is surely coming soon.

After LeVar Burton went on a roller-coaster experience as a potential contender to become Alex Trebek’s successor as the permanent host of Jeopardy!, the gig ultimately went to executive producer Mike Richards. He lasted less than a week at the podium, and LeVar Burton has landed on his feet with a new game show hosting gig. The beloved Reading Rainbow host has teamed up with eOne to develop a new show based on the classic board game Trivial Pursuit, which falls directly into Burton’s wheelhouse as a purveyor of knowledge.

“Trivial Pursuit is one of the best-known brands in the gaming universe. I am thrilled to have partnered with Hasbro and eOne to bring this beloved game to market as a premium show for television,” Burton said in a statement to Deadline:

“LeVar Burton has been an iconic member of American pop culture for decades from Roots to Reading Rainbow to Star Trek and beyond. His love for intellectual curiosity paired with his ability to connect with audiences worldwide make him the perfect partner to bring Hasbro’s beloved trivia game to households in a new and exciting way,” added Tara Long, President, Global Unscripted Television, eOne.

Clearly, Burton’s time on Jeopardy! hasn’t soured him to the world of TV game shows, but don’t expect him to be calling out Daily Doubles again. When asked back in October if he’d take the now-vacant Jeopardy! hosting gig if it was offered to him, Burton told an interviewer exactly what he’d say to Sony Pictures Television, “‘No. You’ve got to be kidding me! You’re out of your mind. Goodbye!”

(Via Deadline)

Kate Bush once famously took a 35 year hiatus from performing on stage. The iconic British singer and producer is among music’s most notorious recluses. And despite the 2016 Before The Dawn live album, has not released any music since and any news of future releases has remained consistently absent. Until now…

Appearing on The Fader Uncovered Podcast with Mark Ronson this week, Big Boi dropped a bombshell so to speak, that he had not only recorded a song with Bush (whom he idolizes), but that it’s “…a monster hit with Kate Bush — that I’m just holding.” He explained on the show that in 2014, around the time of the Outkast 20th anniversary tour and when Bush came out of that 35 year performance retirement for a 22-date run of shows at the Hammersmith Apollo in London, he and his wife went to see her live. He met Bush backstage after the show, exchanged numbers and stayed in touch. “She’s a very, very, very classy lady,” he said.

Big Boi then details a dinner he went to with Bush at a pub where they sipped “almond cognac,” before eventually working on this mysterious song. “It’s a dream come true and the people are gonna f***ing love it. It’s f***ing incredible,” he says. But he stayed coy on the song’s release, stating that “Whenever I think they deserve it, I’m gonna give it to ’em.” He also intimated that the song could be “that perfect art piece” to go with a visual component necessary for a release as an NFT.

The news of this collaboration really came out of left field, but not so much considering Big Boi looked up to Bush growing up. He revealed that Bush was one of the reasons he got into making music and that he would ride his bike to school as a kid listening to “Running Up That Hill.”

“The world gotta hear it cause it’s uplifting,” he said reflectively of the song. “It’s the last piece of the puzzle as far as my legacy goes.”

Riverdale (CW, 9:00pm) — Sabrina Spellman’s due on the scene soon, all while Veronica and Reggie have become a power couple, and Jughead moves in with Tabatha. The Archiverse is about to grow even stranger than it’s been already, and thank goodness the “war” is over.

The Flash (CW, 8:00pm) — Team Flash must push hard to save the world after a brand new alien threat arrives on Earth. No rest for anyone, ever.

La Brea (NBC, 9:00pm) — Natalie Zea is still stuck in a primeval hellhole, and it looks like that astral window might be closed for good. Last week’s storm left two survivors trapped, and now, it’s time for the rescue mission.

Simple As Water (HBO, 9:00pm) — This documentary examines parent-and-child bonds, along with a look at the effects of war and displacement upon Syrian families who only want normalcy.

The Last O.G. (TBS, 10:00 & 10:30pm) — Tray begins to help out after the Tompkins-Marcy Center reopens, all while Javi’s mom and an old friend complicate matters.

Queens (ABC, 10:00pm) — The fractured girl group that was once part of a hip-hop dynasty continues to enjoy their second wind. However, they’re all gotta conquer their personal lives, too, and Brianna’s dealing with Jeff’s infidelity while the group faces a performance that could mean a real comeback.

Chucky (SYFY and USA, 10:00pm) — The O.G. homicidal doll is still at it, this time with original voice actor Brad Dourif taking over for recent movie-version Mark Hamill. This week, Jake’s recruiting his friends to set a trap for Chucky, but things might get even worse if the trap backfires.

Jimmy Kimmel Live — Kirsten Dunst, Wilmer Valderrama, Kevin Garnett, Gracie Abrams

The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon — Jared Leto, Vanessa Hudgens, Tom Morella Ft. Grandson

The Late Show With Stephen Colbert — Eric Adams, Dwyane Wade

Late Night With Seth Meyers — Aubrey Plaza, Peter Sarsgaard, Amor Towles, Nate Smith

The Late Late Show With James Corden — Mindy Kaling, Yvonne Orji, Majid Jordan

In case you missed these recent streaming picks:

The Freak Brothers: Season 1 (Tubi series) — Woody Harrelson, Pete Davidson, and John Goodman play the title-character freaks in this animated series that updates The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers comic (created by Gilbert Shelton) that first surfaced in 1968. They’re all stoners, and Tiffany Haddish voices their ornery cat as they barrel through San Francisco, looking for their next high.

Kamikaze: Season 1 (HBO Max series) — This Polish show might not be on your radar yet, but it arrives with a riveting premise: what happens to one’s identity when everything that matters in your life disappears in one panicked heartbeat? Marie Reuther portrays a young woman who gets a terrible text message — her entire family is about to go down in a plane crash — that changes everything.

Christine Miserandino gave the world a new way to understand chronic illness in 2003 when she wrote a post on her blog, “But You Don’t Look Sick,” titled “The Spoon Theory.” Miserandino was looking for a way to explain to a friend what it’s like to live with lupus, so she used a set of spoons in a cafe to illustrate the finite amount of energy she has for each day.

The friend walked Miserandino through a typical day and each time she did an activity that used a significant amount of energy, the blogger removed a spoon from her hand.

Before she was able to get through her day, the friend ran out of spoons and couldn’t accomplish everything she set out to do. Miserandino explained that chronically ill people have fewer spoons and need to be judicious about how they use their energy.

Timber Talbot and a group of their friends took Spoon Theory to heart and organized a community on Facebook where people could share extra spoons with one another to help them get through the day.

“I had noticed that several close friends of mine were struggling with social anxiety and executive dysfunction and wanted to create a place where they could seek the help they needed when it came to difficulty completing tasks,” Talbot told Upworthy.

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Talbot has executive dysfunction which makes it difficult for them to accomplish tasks.

Individuals with executive dysfunction struggle with planning, problem-solving, organization, and time management. It often occurs due to autism, ADHD, another disorder, or a traumatic brain injury.

“We are conditioned to believe that our worth is based on productivity and executive dysfunction limits productivity greatly. The feeling of hitting an emotional and mental wall is discouraging, frustrating and sometimes infuriating,” they said.

In 2019, Talbot created the Extra Spoons Facebook Group with about 70 others figuring out how to get through simple, everyday tasks due to feelings of fatigue, depression, or ADHD. This group is 100% volunteer-based, 100% free, and available to anyone who has executive dysfunction or is neurodivergent.

The Facebook Group gives members the ability to get help with simple administrative tasks such as scheduling doctors’ appointments or drafting short emails. The group is efficient. After a task is posted, a volunteer will usually show up to help in just a few minutes.

“Many common requests are asking for help finding doctors that take the requester’s insurance,” Talbot says. “There are often requests for body doubles to help people stay focused while completing tasks.”

A body double will quietly work alongside someone to help them focus on the task at hand by keeping their mind occupied so they don’t lose focus. Extra Spoons members will often body double for someone who needs assistance through Zoom or video chat.

Over the past two years, Extra Spoons has expanded to over 6,800 people.

“Extra Spoons gained traction during the upswing of the COVID-19 pandemic and has shown the pure kindness and resilience of the human spirit in a time of crisis,” Talbot said.

The group isn’t neatly divided between those who request help and those who volunteer.

“The thing about Extra Spoons is even when people join to ask for help, oftentimes they find themselves able to contribute to help people in other ways,” they said. “I do find that there are often times there turns out to be an equal number of volunteers to requests daily.”

The Extra Spoons Group is a fantastic example of how people can use Facebook Groups to help one another in real-time. Here’s an example of a group member helping Talbot write an email.

Photo courtesy of Timber Talbot

Miserandino’s theory and Talbot and friends’ ability to put it into action shows how by listening to people with chronic illness, we can find new ways to meet their needs. Now, with resources like Facebook Groups, those of us who have an extra spoon can find a place to lend it.

When she released her 2020 sophomore album Color Theory, Soccer Mommy was only to celebrate for about a month before the global lockdown took place. She made do by sharing specialized videos to appease fans who had their city’s tour date canceled and was since able to return to playing live shows earlier this fall. But now planning to make up for lost time, Soccer Mommy reveals she’ll once again hit the road with a 2022 North American tour.

Soccer Mommy’s jam-packed 2022 tour kicks off in March in Athens, Georgia and comes to a close a month later in Lawrence, Kansas. There’s also a few tour dates in Canada along the way, which she missed with her 2021 tour in September.

Check out Soccer Mommy’s 2022 tour dates below.

03/10/2022 — Athens, GA @ 40 Watt Club * 
03/11/2022 — Tallahassee, FL @ The Moon *
03/12/2022 — Savannah, GA @ Savannah Stopover Music Festival
03/13/2022 — Gainesville, FL @ High Dive *
03/15/2022 — Tampa, FL @ Crowbar *
03/16/2022 — Miami, FL @ Gramps *
03/17/2022 — Orlando, FL @ The Abbey *
03/18/2022 — Jacksonville, FL @ Intuition Ale Works *
03/19/2022 — Asheville, NC @ The Orange Peel *
03/21/2022 — Charlottesville, VA @ Jefferson Theater *
03/20/2022 — Richmond, VA @ The National *
03/23/2022 — Baltimore, MD @ Rams Head Live *
03/25/2022 — Asbury Park, NJ @ The Stone Pony *
03/26/2022 — New Haven, CT @ College Street Music Hall *
03/27/2022 — Providence, RI @ Fete Music Hall *
03/28/2022 — Woodstock, NY @ Colony Woodstock *
03/30/2022 — Montreal, Quebec @ L’Astral *
03/31/2022 — Toronto, Ontario @ Phoenix Concert Theatre *
04/01/2022 — Detroit, MI @ The Eastern *
04/02/2022 — Pittsburgh, PA @ Mr. Smalls Theatre *
04/04/2022 — Columbus, OH @ The Athenaeum Theatre *
04/05/2022 — Louisville, KY @ Headliners Music Hall *
04/07/2022 — Bloomington, IN @ The Bluebird *
04/08/2022 — Milwaukee, WI @ Turner Hall Ballroom *
04/10/2022 — Lawrence, KS @ Granada Theater *

* with Peel Dream Magazine

Color Theory is out now via Loma Vista. Get it here.

Wyclef Jean is good at many things. Through his solo music and work with the Fugees, he’s become one of hip-hop’s most respected figures. Also, he got pretty famously choked by Dylan (aka Dave Chappelle) that one time, so that’s another resume bullet point. If there’s one thing he’s not awesome at, though, it’s supporting CEOs while they sit on his shoulders.

That’s not just an odd and random thing to say, as TMZ has the story: The rapper was hired to perform at the the Range Rover Leadership Summit, which was attended by Jaguar Land Rover higher-ups, yesterday. After the event, there was an after party at the Edition Hotel in West Hollywood, where Jean was seen carrying Joe Eberhardt, President and CEO of Jaguar Land Rover North America, on his shoulders. In the video obtained by TMZ, Wyclef kind of just sways for a while as Eberhardt sits on him and supports himself by holding onto Jean’s hands. Then, there comes the point where Jean seemingly either attempts to let Eberhardt off his shoulders or just stumbles forward, which sent both Jean and Eberhardt hurtling to the ground.

TMZ notes that Eberhardt left the party early and was “slightly hurt” as Jean “looked embarrassed by the whole thing.”

Land Rover’s slogan is “above and beyond,” but it seems Eberhardt might be best served if he stayed below and close: below shoulder level and close to the ground.

In the latest bonkers excerpt from Jonathan Karl’s new book, Betrayal: The Final Act of the Trump Show, attorney Sidney Powell reportedly fell so hard for a QAnon conspiracy theory that she actually contacted the Pentagon and attempted to launch a special operations mission to extract CIA Director Gina Haspel from Germany.

For the record, Haspel was not in any danger whatsoever, but thanks to a steady diet of wild QAnon theories, Powell was fully convinced that the CIA director had been injured and arrested while on a covert mission to destroy proof that the 2020 presidential election was stolen. According to Karl’s book, Powell contacted Ezra Cohen-Watkins, a Trump appointee at the Pentagon, and demanded immediate action. Via Mediaite:

“The server, Powell claimed, contained evidence that hundreds of thousands, maybe millions, of votes had been switched using rigged voting machines. Powell believed Haspel had embarked on this secret mission to get the server and destroy the evidence – in other words, the CIA director was part of the conspiracy.”

“They needed to get the server and force Haspel to confess,” Karl adds, explaining Powell’s motives. According to the reporting in the book, Cohen-Watkins was so taken aback by the call he reported the call to the acting defense secretary.

According to the book, the situation got so out of hand, that a CIA spokesperson had to issue a statement saying that Haspel is “alive and well,” and more importantly, in her office. Powell would later be removed from Trump’s legal team for somehow being too crazy for Rudy Giuliani, which is pretty impressive. That takes skill.

(Via Mediaite)