Over the past decade, activists have been fighting for the U.S. to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour. The $15 threshold, which is more than double the federal minimum wage of $7.25, is seen by many as a “living wage.”
Some states have higher minimum wages than the $7.25 standard, with California being the top at $14. However, 21 still linger in the $7.25 zone.
Given such paltry wages, it’s no wonder why the U.S. is currently having a “labor shortage.” Maybe it’d be more appropriately labeled a wage shortage?
A dramatic new report from Dean Baker, the founder of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, shows that if the federal minimum wage had kept up with U.S. productivity, it’d be at a staggering $26 an hour.
Baker is an economist who received his B.A. from Swarthmore College and his Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Michigan. His work has appeared in the Atlantic Monthly, the Washington Post, London Financial Times.
The federal minimum wage was first established in 1938 and Congress repeatedly raised the amount to correspond with U.S. productivity. In 1968 it was the equivalent of $12 in today’s dollars. However, since 1968, U.S. productivity has dramatically increased, but the minimum wage has remained relatively stagnant.
“Furthermore, a minimum wage that grew in step with the rapid rises in productivity in these decades did not lead to mass unemployment,” Baker wrote. “The year-round average for the unemployment rate in 1968 was 3.6 percent, a lower average than for any year in the last half-century.”
If Congress had kept the minimum wage to match productivity we’d live in a much different world.
“Think of what the country would look like if the lowest paying jobs, think of dishwashers or custodians, paid $26 an hour,” Baker speculates. “That would mean someone who worked a 2000 hour year would have an annual income of $52,000. This income would put a single mother with two kids at well over twice the poverty level.”
However, Baker argues that such a dramatic, overnight shift would result in an economic disaster because we’ve “restructured the economy in ways that ensure a disproportionate share of income goes to those at the top.”
Baker cites several examples of how the economy has been restructured, including “government-granted patent and copyright monopolies” that have inflated the cost of drugs, medical equipment, and software which would “all be relatively cheap in a free market.”
Baker says that CEOs are vastly overpaid because “the corporate boards that most immediately determine CEO pay are largely selected by the CEO and other top management.” So a lot of the company’s money is wasted in CEO compensation when it could be spread amongst the rest of the employees.
He also believes that the financial sector benefits people who make “little or no contribution to the productive economy.” Specifically, he says that the banking industry charges people tens of billions in fees when we could just as easily have digital bank accounts with the Fed.
Baker thinks that we can get back to a country where wages match productivity and the changes we’d need to make to get there are worthwhile.
“It would be a great story if we could reestablish the link between the minimum wage and productivity and make up the ground lost over the last half-century,” Baker concludes. “But we have to make many other changes in the economy to make this possible. These changes are well worth making.”
Yesterday, Nick Jr. did the best (or maybe the meanest) thing ever. They brought Steve from Blue’s Clues out for a personal video chat, and in a mere two minutes, got millions of millennials chest deep in their feelings.
It’s been 25 years since Blue’s Clues came onto the kids’ educational programming scene, and those who enjoyed the original show are fully in the “adulting” stage of life now. Those who grew up with Steve remember when he left the show to go to college, and he just popped into everyone’s timeline to let them know that he remembers them, too.
But the simple message from Steve goes deeper than that. It touches on the challenges of adulthood, especially for millennials who are in the thick of the career/family stage and navigating that stage through severe economic, environmental, and social upheaval. And it does so with the unique and cozy comfort only our childhood icons can provide.
Even as a Gen Xer who didn’t grow up with Steve as part of my own childhood, when he said, “I know you know,” I felt that in my bones. Yes, Steve, I do know. This adult life stuff is hard.
But ultimately, it’s the wrap-up that got everyone. The uplift. The encouragement. Phew.
So about that time Steve went off to college… #BluesClues25 https://t.co/O8NOM2eRjy
The reaction to the video was swift and overwhelming. In less than 24 hours, it racked up nearly 1.5 million likes and 23,000 comments—most of which are eye-welling, lip-quivering acknowledgments of how much grown-ups need this kind of comfort right now.
Blues Clues Steve is proud of me and says i still look good so you can’t tell me SHIT for the rest of the week
Even when we know that it’s a one-sided relationship, it certainly doesn’t feel like it. (No one can tell me Mr. Rogers didn’t truly like me just the way I am, so I totally get it.)
Me: Parasocial relationships can be extremely problematic.
Steve from Blues Clues tells me he’s proud of me: https://t.co/fiCy5GNuGN
Whether Nick Jr. knew what they were doing or not, they hit a collective nerve with this one.
Everyone 25+ out here crying at work over Steve from Blues Clues collectively right now.. damn Nick Jr. ya’ll got us 😭
— Breana Williams @ tired (@breanimator) 1631048299.0
Seriously, Steve. I’m not sure whether to thank you or curse you for the cathartic cryfest you just unleashed on an entire generation already clinging desperately to the end of their rope. Clearly, it was needed, though. Well done.
There’s a new kind of star on the rise and they come straight from the land of smooth camera panning and 30-second song samples that linger around your head for weeks. With more and more frequency, TikTok creators are making the move from the app on to music labels and television streaming services, bringing with them a whole lot of creativity and massive fanbases. Among these stars is Addison Rae, the third most popular user on the platform with a whopping 83.3 million followers and a whole lot of talent.
Just in the last year, the 20-year-old Louisiana native has released her first single, “Obsessed,” was nominated for an award at 2021 MTV Movie and TV Awards, and starred in her first Netflix original film: He’s All That, a gender-swapped remake of the 1999 high school romantic-comedy She’s All That. Now, less than a month after Rae’s acting debut, the actress has announced she has entered a multi-picture partnership with the streaming service. While both Rae and Netflix have yet to reveal the names of any films this partnership entails — or even the number of films they landed on — both parties have stated they are “thrilled” to work together once more.
“Getting the opportunity to work with Netflix was such a pinch me moment and now to be able to continue the relationship is beyond my wildest dreams,” Rae said. “I’m thrilled to be able to collaborate with this incredible team and am excited to develop projects while continuing to strengthen my skills as an actress.”
Netlifx’s director of family film, Naketha Mattocks, also released a statement on the union, remarking “Addison’s Rae’s charm and promise is undeniable as evidenced by He’s All That and her already passionate fan base.” Mattocks then added that the streaming service is “thrilled to be part of this next phase of her burgeoning career as an actress.”
According to Variety’s exclusive report on the deal, Netflix estimates more than 55 million households will watch He’s All That within its first month of release, making it a pretty sizable success for the service. Already the film has reached #1 on the Netflix in 78 countries, including Brazil, France and Saudi Arabia. Here’s hoping Rae and Netflix’s collaboration leads to even more success for the pair and maybe even a few good TikToks.
Like the recent Candyman, 2018’s Halloween didn’t just revive an old IP. It was a direct follow-up to the first, cancelling the many, many rote sequels that came after. It tried to summon the bold craft of the John Carpenter original. Could its own sequel (the first of two) keep that going? The first reviews say: maybe, possibly not.
Halloween Kills bowed at the Venice Film Festival, but the reviews, even the good ones, did not treat it as some cinematic work of art. Returning director David Gordon Green, writes The Hollywood Reporter, has made exactly the kind of witless, worthless sequel that bled the franchise dry in the 1980s and ’90s”:
“Evil dies tonight,” shout the inflamed townsfolk of Haddonfield, Illinois, more times than you can count in Halloween Kills. Or maybe it’s “A franchise dies tonight?” I might have misheard. Either way, this latest installment is like a latex ghoul mask so stretched and shapeless it no longer fits.
The sequel picks up where its predecessor — like the original, also called simply Halloween — left off, with Michael Myers (of course) not quite dead in that climactic house fire, and quick to take out the arriving first responders. Jamie Lee Curtis’ Laurie Strode, a bundle of PTSD in the last one, is “basically sidelined in post-surgery recovery,” THR says.
The attention instead shifts to the populace of Haddonsfield, including the now-grown kids being babysat in the 1978 original, including Anthony Michael Hall and Robert Longstreet. Learning that Myers is back in action, they take to the streets, turning into vigilantes demanding his hide. But, Deadline argues, that doesn’t make for a thoughtful horror pic:
Never was there a film truer to its name. They’re sliced up with kitchen knives, hollowed out with a fluorescent strip light, bisected with a chain saw and impaled on banisters. The body count is phenomenal. We love this stuff. You know we do.
And if this bloody entr’acte, whose title addition works as both noun and verb, has little to offer but a jacked up body count on a bed of fan service, it serves both with panache, charging forward as an almost elemental slasher outing unclouded by conscience, remorse, or delusions of morality. To paraphrase Ian Holm in that other late ’70s touchstone that spawned an unkillable franchise, you do have to admire its purity.
Halloween night may be Michael Myers’ masterpiece, but “Halloween Kills” is no masterpiece. It’s a mess — a slasher movie that‘s almost never scary, slathered with “topical” pablum and with too many parallel plot strands that don’t go anywhere. Green, as clever a job as he did on the first film, wastes no time cutting back to where the “Halloween” series ultimately landed: in a swamp of luridly repetitive and empty sequels, with Michael turned into such an omnipresent icon that his image gets drained of any nightmare quality. He’s more like someone who belongs on a lunchbox. Curtis, so good in the last one, is mostly wasted this time (you can feel the film trying to think up things for her to do), as Laurie’s daughter (Judy Greer) and granddaughter (Andi Matichak) do most of the heavy lifting.
What tension can there be when there’s a killer who is virtually unkillable and absolutely ubiquitous? It’s genuinely striking how few fake-outs or red herrings or surprises there are. Whenever someone hears a floorboard creak, Michael’s in the house. No matter which car they get into, Michael’s in the back seat. The shadow at the window? That’ll be Michael. Every back door that’s mysteriously ajar? Why, hey there, Michael. Green’s tactic in 2018 was to make a sequel to the 1978 film that simply ignored the fact that nine other “Halloween” films happened in the meantime. This was the best choice he, along with co-writers Jeff Fradley and Danny McBride, could have made because all of those films are, to use the correct critical term, shite. But out with the bathwater, this time has gone the baby; in an effort to remake and refresh the mythology of the franchise, the writers (this time minus Fradley and plus Scott Teems) have strayed dangerously close to getting rid of it altogether, virtually destroying the one relationship of any substance at all, and the only one we really give a damn about: that semi-mystical, weirdly symbiotic link between Laurie Strode and her eternal faceless nemesis. Of all the things “Halloween Kills” had to kill, why that?
But as far as franchise installments go, Green and co-writers Danny McBride & Scott Teems show far less interest in checking off familiar signifiers for fan service. After proving they could relaunch “Halloween,” they depart a bit from the formula to exciting and energizing effect. It’s a worthy series entry that manages that tricky balance of providing enough of what long-time fans expect while also bringing a unique reflection and perspective to the well-known property.
But “Halloween Kills” is no mere gore-fest — it’s about the generational trauma bestowed upon Haddonfield. The action sequences are more than just action sequences; in Green’s social allegory, they are a way for citizens to confront their trauma, their rage, their oppression, and to reclaim their power and agency through revenge. We see Haddonfield not just as a victim of a masked assailant, but also a victim of larger forces who will stop at nothing to dehumanize their community.
The Guardian‘s Jonathan Romney, however, seems to think it’s just fine, writing “ in contrast with George Romero’s zombie films, where political allegory is the whole point – we’re really here for the slaughter, and the reliable repetition.” He even sees fatigue taking over its longtime baddie, whose “featureless mask has now taken on a slightly rueful expression, as if he knows he’s likely to be on carving duty for a very long haul yet.”
With its release less than a month of way, Warner Bros. has dropped a new trailer for The Many Saints of Newark, its upcoming prequel movie to the hit HBO series The Sopranos. While the last trailer was bit more whimsical and focused on a young, innocent Tony Soprano (played by James Gandolfini’s son, Michael, for a picture-perfect resemblance), this new trailer lets the action rip as Richard “Dickie” Moltisanti starts to make a name for himself in the crime world of New Jersey.
The new trailer also highlights the star-studded cast as well as nods to the original series. More specifically, the trailer ends with an eerie stinger where young Tony Soprano first meets his nephew, Christopher Moltisanti, as an infant. The little guy doesn’t take kindly to Tony, which prompts an elderly family member to note that babies arrive fresh with knowledge from “the other side.” We won’t spoil what that means, but fans of The Sopranos will instantly recognize the foreshadowing.
Here’s the official synopsis:
Young Anthony Soprano is growing up in one of the most tumultuous eras in Newark’s history, becoming a man just as rival gangsters begin to rise up and challenge the all-powerful DiMeo crime family’s hold over the increasingly race-torn city. Caught up in the changing times is the uncle he idolizes, Dickie Moltisanti, who struggles to manage both his professional and personal responsibilities—and whose influence over his nephew will help make the impressionable teenager into the all-powerful mob boss we’ll later come to know: Tony Soprano.
The Many Saints of Newark: A Sopranos Story arrives in theaters and HBO Max on October 1.
Fall is a great season for beer. While nature is seemingly crumbling (and falling to earth) around you, the beer world is thriving with new styles that are a great respite from the crisp pilsners, hoppy pale ales, and bitter IPAs of the summer months. It’s the season of the brown ale, Saison, and pumpkin beer. And also the season of the much-beloved märzen.
For the uninitiated, märzen is a copper-hued beer that’s known for its robust, rich, malt-driven, bready flavors. The style for Oktoberfest, the style (unsurprisingly) has its origins in Bavaria sometime in the 1500s. Traditionally, it’s brewed in the spring — literally March (March/märzen, you get it) — with a slightly higher alcohol content than most beers. The beer then spends about five months in the cellars (or lagers) mellowing before it’s tapped right about now, making it the ultimate harvest festival beer.
Since we already know the Bavarians have perfected the style, picking up a brew from Spaten, Augustiner, or Hofbrau is surely a good call. But the American craft brewers are no slouches either. That’s why we decided to highlight eight crafty American Märzen-Style beers that are well-suited for late summer and early fall drinking. Check them all out below and click on the prices to give them a try yourself.
If you’re looking for a great mixture of American craft ingenuity and old country style, this is your märzen. Brewed with Mt. Hood hops, 2-Row base malt, Munich, and Caramel 45 malts, it’s mellow, sweet, easy to drink, and perfectly malty.
Tasting Notes:
If you take time to nose this beer before your first sip, you’ll find aromas of bready malts, caramel, toasted wood, dried fruits, and gentle spices. Drinking it reveals more caramel malts, oak, wet hay, freshly baked bread, and a sweet, slightly spicy, subtly bitter finish that will warm you on a cold fall night.
Bottom Line:
This beer has a great combination of sweet malts and floral, slightly bitter hops that should please the palates of myriad different types of fall beer drinkers.
This 6% märzen-style fall seasonal beer from Maryland’s DuClaw is definitely the Oktoberfest brew for hop fans. This is because it’s brewed with a whole slew of hops including Chinook, Tettnanger, and Hallertauer Mittelfruh. It’s also brewed with Pilsner, Munich, CaraMunich, & Melanoidin malts to give it a multi-dimensional flavor profile.
Tasting Notes:
Before sipping, breathe in a nose of sweet, caramel malts, biscuit-like malts, clover honey, and wintry spices. The flavor profile is slightly nutty and loaded with sticky toffee, oak, and sweet caramel malts. It all ends with a nice hit of floral Noble hops at the finish.
Bottom Line:
This is a complex beer. It’s malty, hoppy, and a great way to bridge to gap between summer and fall. The kind of beer you’ll look forward to every year.
When it comes to fall beers, Firestone Walker fans eagerly await its Oaktoberfest. But this year, the California brewery is changing things up a bit. For 2021, they’ve lagered the brew in French oak barrels from Napa Valley. The result is a seasonal beer with caramel and bready malt flavors with a slight fruitiness and a bite from Noble hops.
Tasting Notes:
On the nose, you’ll find biscuit-like malts, sweet caramel, dried fruits, and a nice, gentle fruity background. The palate is loaded with more caramel malts, freshly baked bread, slight spice, and a nice crisp bite of bitterness due to the addition of German hops.
Bottom Line:
This is a very complex fall beer. It has everything beer drinkers could want in an autumnal seasonal beer. Bold, rich, fruity — everything you’d want.
This 5.6 percent ABV märzen is brewed with whole flower German Noble hops, 2-Row, Vienna, and Munich malts. The result is a fall beer that bridges the gap between America and Germany perfectly. It’s known for its malty, sweet, and slightly hoppy flavor.
Tasting Notes:
The nose is loaded with hints of caramel candy, bread-like malts, and a nice, slightly spicy hoppy backbone. Sipping this beer reveals notes of biscuit malts, caramel, subtle vanilla, slight herbal flavors, and a sweet, dry finish that leaves you wanting more.
Bottom Line:
Sure, you’re going to drink some authentic German beers this fall. But this fall seasonal is pretty much as close to the old country as you can get from a beer brewed in Pennsylvania.
This 5.6 percent märzen is as authentically German as an American craft beer can be. It’s brewed with Perle, and Hallertau hops, and Vienna and Munich malts all sourced from Germany. This results in a malty, crisp, refreshing beer well-suited for early fall drinking.
Tasting Notes:
A complex nose of spicy, floral Noble hops, sweet caramel, and rich, biscuity malts draws you in. Sipping this beer reveals freshly baked bread, wet grass, caramel malts, toasted oak, and floral, slightly bitter hops. This all leads to a dry, sweet finish.
Bottom Line:
Another beer that tastes like it was brewed in Germany. Maryland’s Flying Dog really nailed the fall style with this one.
Schilling is one of the most respected breweries in New Hampshire. If you haven’t had a chance to try any of its beers, fall is the best time to try its beloved Konstantin. This Austrian-style märzen is copper-colored and filled with sweet, bready malts, and a complex, dry flavor.
Tasting Notes:
Take a moment to breathe in the aromas of toasted wood, biscuity malts, sweet caramel, and a nice hint of floral hops. Take a sip and you’ll find more caramel malts, sweet vanilla, freshly baked bread, dry hay, and herbal, slightly bitter hops at the finish.
Bottom Line:
While many märzens are made in the German style, this fall seasonal is special because it’s Austrian-centric. It’s slightly different and more herbal and floral than some of the other märzens on the market.
Avery The Kaiser is one of the most well-known märzen-style beers in the US. Only available August through October, this bold, eight percent ABV Imperial Oktoberfest beer is brewed with Vienna and Munich malts as well as Bravo and Hallertau Hops. It’s malty, dry, and very memorable.
Tasting Notes:
On the nose, you’ll find scents of dried fruits, slight fruitiness, caramel candy, and sweet, bready malts. Right away, you can tell that this is a high-octane beer, the warming alcohol flavor is prevalent right off the bat. There’s also more caramel, vanilla, toffee, and a nice hint of floral, earthy hops.
Bottom Line:
While the alcohol flavor is pronounced, it doesn’t take away from the malty, sweet flavors. In fact, it makes it an even better fall sipper.
SingleCut doesn’t mess around with this fall seasonal beer. In the classic German-style, Inexplicably Used gets cold conditioned for three months in horizontal lagering tanks. The result is a terrifically malty, creamy, caramel-filled, slightly hoppy seasonal offering.
Tasting Notes:
This is a complex beer. You’re first greeted with aromas of spicy, floral hops, a nutty sweetness, and caramel malts. The flavor is all sticky toffee, vanilla, candied pecans, bready malts, wet grass, and a slightly spicy, sweet finish.
Bottom Line:
This might be the perfect fall beer. It’s not too heavy and not too light. It’s filled with the caramel malt flavors, fall beer fans crave, and it’s high enough in ABV to warm you up on a cool fall day.
With a name like Copper Legend, you know this is a highly sought-after, eagerly awaited fall beer. Only available from August through October, it’s known for its copper color and malty, mellow flavor that makes it extremely drinkable and pleasing on a chilly fall day.
Tasting Notes:
This beer smells like fall with notes of toffee, caramelized sugar, crusty bread, and light, herbal hops. The palate swirls with more bready malts, sweet caramel, dried fruits, honey, and more herbal, slightly bitter hops at the very end.
Bottom Line:
If you only drink one beer on this list, make it Jack’s Abby Copper Legend. There aren’t many other beers on the market as perfect for fall.
This 5.7 percent märzen-style is Half Acre’s foray into the world of Oktoberfest-style beers. The Illinois-based brewery channeled its inner Munich with this perfectly malty, sweet, caramel, and cereal-centric beer that deserves to be paired with heavy fall foods and an equally heavy sweater.
Tasting Notes:
This fall-flavored beer is highlighted with aromas of sweet cereal grains, biscuit-like, caramel malts, and slightly spicy, floral hops. The palate is loaded with slightly bitter, resinous hops, mellow caramel, fall spices, and slight vanilla. The finish is complex, slightly dry, and effortlessly sweet.
Bottom Line:
If this city actually existed, we’d definitely visit Lager Town in the fall. Since it doesn’t, we’ll settle for this sweet, malty, slightly hoppy beer instead. It’s my favorite brew in an increasingly packed field of American Märzen-Style brews.
As a Drizly affiliate, Uproxx may receive a commission pursuant to certain items on this list.
There is a lot of excitement around the release of Far Cry 6 in October. After a recent media event, in which outlets were able to play and break down the game for themselves, a picture is starting to form about what exactly Far Cry 6 is going to be. Right now, early projections of the game are that while nobody is clear on the direction of the story, the gameplay still feels very much in the Far Cry formula.
On Wednesday, Ubisoft released a game overview trailer which featured the motivations of main characters — including that of playable protagonist Dani Rojas — and introduced some of the personalities that the player is going to run into. Everything is mainly played straight to emphasize the fact that is going to be a very serious game about a revolution.
It may be the plot of the game that makes or breaks opinions on Far Cry 6 among fans. The general sentiment about Far Cry is that the formula has grown tiresome and they need to try something new. However, a strong story may be enough of a driving force to push everyone through if they feel the gameplay itself is too similar to previous iterations. With how much they’re emphasizing it this go around, they seem to really believe they have something with their plot about revolution.
With a strong cast of characters, including Giancarlo Esposito as the main villain, they might be right. The few scenes we’ve seen highlighted so far have been performed well. However, Far Cry has a history of attempting to tackle tough subjects and coming up well short of actually saying anything, so we’re going to need to take what we see with a few grains of salt. That’s especially the case ever since they originally couldn’t decide if their game was actually going to be “political” or not.
While the plot is definitely the driving force in all the marketing material so far, we did get to see a little bit of gameplay in the overview trailer. The guns look fun to use, and the explosions are pretty, so it checked off those expected boxes. The game is going to have a serious tone, although they did manage to include an over-the-top Gatling gun and an exhaust pipe shooting flames in the trailer, so we know that not everything is going to be quite so serious, which is expected of this series. As for whether that actually works or not, we’re just going to have to see for ourselves once it releases.
Wu-Tang: An American Saga: Season 2 (Hulu series) — The Clan is back, although they’re feeling disillusioned by their current lives in the projects, all while Bobby dreams of musical-industry success that will change everything. However, infighting within the group threatens success, even in the face of their undeniable talent. Real life always gets in the way, right? Fortunately, Bobby’s fight for authenticity can prevail and help overcome music-business challenges, if only the Clan can choose to prevail.
Doogie Kamealoha, M.D.: Season 1 (Disney+ series) — This reboot (of the original ABC Doogie Howser show that launched Neil Patrick Harris’ career) series stars Peyton Elizabeth Lee as Lahela “Doogie” Kameāloha, a high-school medical prodigy. Notably, this series isn’t a direct continuation but, instead, a tribute of sorts from the show’s characters, who actually nickname the new protagonist as “Doogie.” It’s highly referential, and that’s part of the fun.
The Circle: Season 3 (Netflix series) — It’s another round of eight contestants who wield social media platforms in order to beat each other out while also flirting and befriending and hating and conquering each other while possibly catfishing each other. $100,000 is on the line, as well as the title of top influencer. Let the most fake among them win!
JJ+E (Netflix film) — This Stockholm-centered film is a love story and a coming-of-age tale between two high schoolers in the same class but in vastly different social, cultural, and economic circles.
What If…? (Disney+ series) — We’re in the multiverse, baby. The MCU’s officially launching headfirst into that realm after Loki‘s season finale, and this show’s Twitter account clarified official participation as well. Enjoy this show full of alternate realities that stand separate from the existing canon (thus far), including Agent Carter taking the super-soldier serum, T’Challa materializing as Star Lord, Doctor Strange feeling some real pain, and Black Widow and Nick Fury taking on a murder mystery while Tony Stark eats a donut.
Archer (FXX, 10:00pm) — Season 12 continues with snakes, crocodiles, and mercenaries who face off with Archie and Lana as a family reuinites.
Riverdale (CW, 8:00pm) — Following a bizarre time jump and, uh, literal war, Season 5 sees superstar Josie McCoy make her Riverdale return after disappearing from her wold tour. Her former bandmates are also here for a reality check.
American Horror Story: Double Feature (FX, 10:00pm) — Provincetown’s dark history sparks this episode, and the town’s residents are under sharp scrutiny, so get ready.
Awkwafina Is Nora From Queens (Comedy Central, 10:00pm) — Awkwafina’s semi-autobiographical series returns for a second season, in which she gazes into the future with starry eyes. In the present, however, Nora’s not too sure about her former fling, Margaret, who might be doing the con-artist thing again while her Grandman hopes to expose a scam artist.
The Late Show With Stephen Colbert — Chris Wallace, Holland Taylor
Late Night With Seth Meyers — Selena Gomez, Glenn Howerton, Walker Hayes
In case you missed these streaming picks from last Wednesday:
Dug Days (Pixar series on Disney+) — Remember the tearjerking Up? Well, lovable dog Dug is back with a series of short features that take place in his very own backyard, and expect your heart-strings to be pulled, along with your funny bone. Your soul just might take off like a house attached to every balloon in the universe, too. Embrace it.
Turning Point: 9/11 and the War on Terror (Netflix docuseries) — This five-part docuseries marks the 20th anniversary of 9/11 with a timely examination of the War in Afghanistan and what, exactly, really led the war on terror to our current moment in history. Expect interviews from U.S. military veterans and Afghanistan National Army soldiers, along with Taliban commanders, and government officials from both the U.S. and the Afghan government. As well, 9/11 survivor voices will reverberate as the world continues to reflect upon how that day altered the globe forever.
Hamish Linklater can do skeevy well, as recently demonstrated by his duplicitous performance in Amazon Prime’s Tell Me All Your Secrets. In Netflix’s trailer for Midnight Mass, Linklater’s a mysterious priest that’s seemingly making a lot go wrong when he arrives at an isolated island community, and although he’s pulling off miraculous feats, there’s something that’s just not right. And with the show apparently titled after traditional Catholic gathering of Christmas Eve services, one can expect a whole of ritualistic shenanigans from someone (or someones).
The limited series arrives courtesy of The Haunting of Hill House creator Mike Flanagan, so you know that you’re in for some sinister dealings. The question, of course, is who’s truly doing those dealings, and the cast includes Kate Siegel, Rahul Abburi, Crystal Balint, Matt Biedel, Alex Essoe, and Annabeth Gish. From the synopsis:
MIDNIGHT MASS tells the tale of a small, isolated island community whose existing divisions are amplified by the return of a disgraced young man (Zach Gilford) and the arrival of a charismatic priest (Hamish Linklater). When Father Paul’s appearance on Crockett Island coincides with unexplained and seemingly miraculous events, a renewed religious fervor takes hold of the community – but do these miracles come at a price?
Gorillaz help introduce British rapper AJ Tracey in one of the most fitting song choices for a US debut as they drop by The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon to perform the song “Jimmy Jimmy” from their new EP, Meanwhile.
“Jimmy Jimmy” is built around a sample of the 1979 punk hit by Northern Ireland band The Undertones, with Gorillaz’s low-fi interpolation making the song song eerie and ominous. The pre-recorded performance reproduces the post-apocalyptic aesthetic of the EP’s visual components, taking place at an apartment building in front of a brooding sky. Tracey appears throughout, delivering his raps directly to the camera as the saturation levels wobble in and out of control.
Gorillaz, meanwhile, are set to appear on an upcoming collaborative album from Elton John titled The Lockdown Sessions, while Damon Albarn has said that he’s working on a scripted film featuring his cartoon band. “We signed contracts, we’ve begun scripts and stuff,” he explained. ” I see a lot of people doing animated videos these days but I don’t think they really touch the quality of ours. We’re more in the world of Studio Ghibli.”
Watch the Gorillaz perform “Jimmy Jimmy” with AJ Tracey on The Tonight Show above.
Gorillaz are a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
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This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
