Category: News

There’s a joke on Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt about Titus auditioning for a role in the Broadway musical, Spiderman Too: 2 Many Spidermen. The lyrics go, “Spider-Man, we’re at it again / This time with 50 percent more Spider-Men.” That’s basically the plot of Spider-Man: No Way Home except instead of Spider-Men, it’s Spider-Man villains.

The 27th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe has Peter Parker (Tom Holland) asking for Doctor Strange’s (Benedict Cumberbatch) help in making the world forget that he’s Spider-Man after his identity was revealed in Spider-Man: Far From Home. But following a timey-wimey, Jeremy Bearimy mishap, we’re officially in the multiverse, which allows former-Spider-Man movie villains to return in No Way Home.

There’s Alfred Molina as Doctor Octopus from Spider-Man 2, Jamie Foxx as Electro from The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Willem Dafoe as Green Goblin from Spider-Man, and Thomas Haden Church as Sandman from Spider-Man 3. I think I see Lizard, played by Rhys Ifans in The Amazing Spider-Man, in there, too. You know who the real bad guy is, though? Marvel, if there’s no Dashboard Confessional on the soundtrack.

You can watch the final trailer above. Here’s the official “not fun” plot summary:

For the first time in the cinematic history of Spider-Man, our friendly neighborhood hero is unmasked and no longer able to separate his normal life from the high-stakes of being a Super Hero. When he asks for help from Doctor Strange the stakes become even more dangerous, forcing him to discover what it truly means to be Spider-Man.

Spider-Man: No Way Home, which also stars Zendaya, Jacob Batalon, Jon Favreau, Marisa Tomei, J.B. Smoove, and Benedict Wong, opens on December 17.

In 2016, Wanda Dench texted her 24-year-old grandson to tell him that Thanksgiving dinner would be at her house at 3:00 p.m. She received a text back that said, “Who is this?”

Dench responded, “Your grandma,” but the recipient of the text was not, in fact, Dench’s grandson. It was a 17-year-old high schooler named Jamal Hinton. After the two exchanged selfies and established that Dench had the wrong number, Hinton joked, “Can I still get a plate tho?”

“Of course you can,” Dench wrote back. “That’s what grandmas do…feed everyone.”

Amazingly, Hinton took her up on the offer, and so began the wholesome Thanksgiving story the internet can’t get enough of.

See on Instagram

Every year since, Dench and Hinton have gathered to enjoy Thanksgiving together. Hinton has documented their holiday gatherings on social media, and this year’s Twitter announcement that the tradition is continuing for a sixth year garnered a million likes in one day. The post includes a screenshot of Dench’s text to Hinton—from “Grandma Wanda”—that reads: “It would bring me great joy if you, Mikaela and your family would come to my house on Thanksgiving day to share good food and great conversation. Your friend always, Wanda.” It also included a photo of Wanda and her husband Lonnie with Jamal and his girlfriend Mikaela from two Thanksgivings ago.

We are all set for year 6! pic.twitter.com/wEQioizWGd

— Jamal Hinton (@Jamalhinton12)
1636921901

Sadly, this year’s dinner, like last year’s, will be missing one. Lonnie passed away from COVID-19 in April 2020, so last year’s Thanksgiving photo included his picture in a frame.

There’s something so simple and pure about the way these strangers met by accident and created a lovely tradition out of it.

Dench shared with ABC News that she grew up in a military family. “We moved around a lot so I was always going to new places. And so strangers were not strangers to me,” she said. “Family is more than blood. It’s the people you want to be with.”

See on Instagram

Hinton told the New York Post in 2019 that the two text one another regularly and get together every couple of months, and they both love seeing people’s joy when they hear about their unexpected friendship.

“We are both really passionate and love talking about our story and how many people have reached out to us and told us how it affects them,” he said. “We are both very happy and grateful that we could be the centerpiece to such an amazing story and bring joy and faith in so many different people.”

Hinton said people frequently tell him that the story restores their faith in humanity.

“It makes me feel good knowing something I was a part of affected so many people in a good way,” he said.

With so much grief and division and general ickiness in the world, it’s refreshing to see two human beings connect like this. And it’s even more heartening to see that they’ve nurtured their friendship over the years, through life changes and loss. This is what life should be like—thank you, Wanda and Jamal, for the beautiful annual reminder of what we can be.

Most Americans have heard the term “Eskimo kiss” and probably have a mental picture of what one is. What many of us may not know is that 1) Eskimo is an outdated term that is generally rejected by the indigenous people of the north to whom it refers, and 2) what we imagine about that “kiss” is not actually accurate.

An Inuit daughter and mother duo shared what a kunik—the correct term for it—really looks like in a video on TikTok. Shina Novalinga shares a lot about Inuit culture on her TikTok channel, and her mother Kayuula Novalinga often joins her to demonstrate this expression of affection.

First, they showed what people usually think of when they think of an “Eskimo kiss”—two people rubbing their noses together. Then they shared what they actually do, which is press their nose against someone’s cheek.

Watch:

“Usually it’s done with a lot of emotion,” Shina says. “The more love you have for a person, the stronger you do it.”

The demonstration is adorable, with their giggles and obvious affection for one another. And people in the comments greatly appreciated the cultural lesson. How many of us ever even questioned what we’d been taught or even wondered where our impressions came from?

Many commenters from Southeast Asia—Vietnam, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and more—shared that their family members also express close affection in this way.

Shina and Kayuula are Inuit throat singers as well, which is a unique and fascinating art form. Take a listen:

Traditional Inuit throat singing involves two people, usually women, standing face to face. Each makes sounds using their throat, belly and diaphragm, matching each other’s rhythm until one of them stops or giggles. Evie Mark, a throat singer and professor at Nunavik Sivunitsavut, told the BBC, “It’s a very intimate thing so for sure you’re going to be triggered to smile or laugh, especially when you start seeing the person’s eyes when you’re singing together.”

Shina’s mother has her own TikTok channel as well, where she shares more about being an Inuit woman. (Sometimes you’ll see the word Inuk instead of Inuit—Inuk is singular, Inuit is plural and also used as an adjective.)

We can all benefit from learning about cultures outside of our own, and social media makes it easier than ever to expose ourselves to people from all different backgrounds. Thankfully, some people use their channels for the specific purpose of sharing—free education everyone can benefit from.

Thank you, Novalingas, for sharing your gifts and culture with us all.

Quentin Tarantino has a long history of promising projects that have yet to see the light of day; no one is much surprised that he’s probably never making his R-rated Star Trek movie. But if he never gets around to doing those NFTs for Pulp Fiction that he recently announced, it won’t exactly be his fault.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the film company that was his home for quite a long time is suing him over his plan to release seven non-fungible tokens related to his big breakthrough, which they distributed in 1994. The plan was to release digital versions featuring scenes that were cut from an early version of the script, as well as artwork and commentary from the big guy himself. As with all NFTs, these will only be available to the lucky ones who manage to finagle a single copy.

Alas, less than two weeks after the NFTs were announced, Miramax has sent a cease-and-desist letter, claiming that they’re working on their own Pulp Fiction NFTs and that Tarantino’s versions devalue those efforts.

In their letter, Miramax also claims that, should Tarantino get his way, all hell will break loose. “Left unchecked, Tarantino’s conduct could mislead others into believing Miramax is involved in his venture,” the letter read. “And it could also mislead others into believing they have the rights to pursue similar deals or offerings, when in fact Miramax holds the rights needed to develop, market, and sell NFTs relating to its deep film library.”

However, Tarantino’s attorney argues that he’s not broken any laws, pointing out that his contract stipulates that among the elements to which he retains rights are “screenplay publication.” But this may still lead to a contract dispute that may shape how other filmmakers are able to step into the still brand-new world of digital tokens.

(Via THR)

In addition to the school theme, each of Ye’s first three albums had another thing in common: Each one had a bear mascot somewhere on its cover. There was even a plan to create a line of the bear costumes for people, but that never came to fruition. After 2007’s Graduation, Ye would let go of the bear theme for future projects that include Yeezus, and his most recent album Donda. During a recent interview with Fake Shore Drive‘s Andrew Barber, Eric Arginsky, who worked with Ye’s team on the failed bear line, revealed he still owns a version of the costume that he’ll consider selling.

Arginsky, who shared images of the costume with Barber, revealed that the costume has spent the better part of 20 years sitting in a closet. “My mom wants it out of her house soon,” he said. Barber then asked if he’d consider selling it, and Arginsky said he would. “I love business and opportunity so the best thing that could ever happen is someone from Ye’s camp sees this video and reaches out to you to bring this opportunity back and then you and I are producing bears tomorrow,” Arginsky noted. “That’s what I’m really hoping for. I know that the percentages are very slim on that one. But yeah, I would say at this point I’m really open to anything.” Barber then asked if $1 million would be a fair buying price and Arginsky replied, “Personally, I would say yes.”

You can watch the full interview between Barber and Arginsky in the video above.

Like Freaks and Geeks and My So-Called Life, Party Down is one of those shows too few people watched to keep it on the air, but which has blossomed into an unstoppable cult hit. The Starz comedy, about disgruntled staffers at a Los Angeles catering company, made it two seasons but only netted 20 episodes total. Ever since its cancellation in 2010, there’s been talk of a revival — a movie, another season, something to keep the party going. And now, nearly a dozen years later and half a year after it was officially put in motion, it’s finally getting one — with one major caveat.

As per Deadline, the Party Down revival is a go on its original channel, with six of its original cat members returning: Adam Scott, Ken Marino, Martin Starr, Ryan Hansen, Jane Lynch, and Megan Mullally. But there’s one big omission: Lizzy Caplan, who played struggling comedian/actress Casey Klein. The reason? Unlike her Party Down character, she has a pretty booked schedule. On top of nabbing the Glen Close role in Paramount+’s Fatal Attraction TV reboot, she just nabbed the lead in Fleishman Is in Trouble, Hulu’s take on Taffy Brodesser-Akner’s New York Times bestseller.

Good for Lizzy Caplan! But not so good for the Party Down revival. Though it was an ensemble show, without a single weak link (and scores of scene-stealing guests), the heart of the show was the on-again-off-again relationship between Kaplan’s Casey and Scott’s Henry Pollard, the sadsack semi-retired actor with whom she clicked.

There’s another major cast member who’s also AWOL: Jennifer Coolidge, who appeared in two episodes at the back-end of Season 1, after Lynch departed. (Mullally wound up taking up that space full-time in Season 2, ensuring that there were always six Party Downers, including Marino’s bumbling team leader Ron Donald.)

The Starz revival will only feature six episodes, and presumably it will retain the original structure: Each episode is set at a different function, for which the Party Down team has been hired. Previous outings included a shady investors dinner, a porn awards after-party, a funeral, an orgy, and Steve Guttenberg’s birthday party.

Even with the Caplan (and Coolidge) news, an almost-complete Party Down reunion is still quite the feat. The actors have gone onto fruitful careers, and getting even most of them back for a short period of time was so tricky it took over a decade. And what’s a reunion if it isn’t bittersweet?

(Via Deadline)

Deron Williams is on the verge of becoming the latest NBA player to appear in a boxing ring. Williams will go toe-to-toe with another athlete, longtime NFL running back Frank Gore, on the undercard on the upcoming pay-per-view headlined by a bout between Jake Paul and Tommy Fury on Dec. 18.

One of the recent events pitting Paul against someone included a matchup with Nate Robinson last year, which ended with a Paul victory by knockout in the second round thanks to a right that caught Robinson cleanly and sent him to the mat. Plenty of folks in the basketball world got jokes off at his expense, while Robinson said a number reached out in the aftermath.

During his press conference on Tuesday afternoon, Williams alluded to that fight and made clear that his history with combat sports is a bit different than Robinson’s, and as a result, he’s optimistic he will not suffer a similar fate.

“I watched it. I’m not Nate Robinson. I think I have a little more experience than Nate,” Williams said, per Eric Woodyard of ESPN. “I’ve been training stand-up and boxing for 8-10 years. I’ve sparred against high-level UFC guys that are bigger than me, that are my size and that are smaller than me, so, I think I’m a little more prepared than Nate was for that fight. And I don’t think anybody really respected Jake Paul at the time as a fighter, but obviously things are changing.”

The four-round fight features Williams, who has a six-inch height advantage, as a -225 favorite. However, Gore had 742 yards from scrimmage for the New York Jets last year, while Williams last appeared in the NBA in 2017.

Released late last month, Red (Taylor’s Version) is already charting heavily on country radio and breaking Spotify streaming records. There are numerous versions of the vinyl edition, but none are more coveted than the limited edition red-colored four disc vinyl set from Target. Trouble is, some fans have been none-too-pleased with the recording quality and it’s not for the reasons you might expect.

“Vinyl looks ok and the color, is beautiful, but the sound is really scary, it’s like a Taylor’s voice from beyond the grave… is this a disgusting joke about halloween? Not sure,” wrote one reviewer. Another shared a similar sentiment, saying that, “As a few other reviews mention, it sounds like a man is singing the album. I thought it was a problem with my record player but I tried playing it on another and it was the same.”

Trouble is, it seems as though these folks are listening to the record on the 33rpm setting of their record player instead of this pressing’s set 45rpm. They could fix this “voice from beyond the grave” effect with a simple flick of the switch on their player, but then we wouldn’t have hilarious reviews from vinyl noobs like this:

Or this simply-stated review that nevertheless “would recommend” the vinyl edition despite it being sung by a man (and not Taylor Swift):

Bless these people’s hearts, for vinyl is clearly a new foray for many of them. But at least there’s “Gabe” popping into the 1-star reviews section to hopefully save the day for the Swifties:

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.