Category: News

This article originally appeared on 11.03.16

Stressed? Of course you are. Luckily for you, and the entire U.S. population, scientists believe they may have identified the most relaxing song in the world.

Music has forever been associated with bringing about relaxation, happiness, and serenity — whether it’s a Gregorian chant or some Enya accompanied by a glass of merlot.

Neuroscientists in the United Kingdom think they have found the one song that relieves stress and soothes our souls more than any other.

Mindlab International, a market research firm, conducted a study a few years ago in which participants completed difficult (and possibly stressful) puzzles while their brain activity was monitored. To study its effect, music was played while they completed the puzzles.

One song stood out above the rest. “Weightless” by Marconi Union (listen below), an English ambient music band, induced a 65% reduction in stress among participants, according to Inc. And DailyMail.com reported that the song was 11% more effective than most other songs — by such musicians as Adele and Coldplay — in reducing blood pressure, heart rate, and breathing speed.

The 2011 song was created by the band, along with the British Academy of Sound Therapy, to do just that — relax listeners.

If you prefer something with lyrics, try Enya’s “Watermark” or “Pure Shores” by All Saints, which were also proven to be relaxing,

Music therapy is considered to be a natural therapy important in alleviating stress. Because stress is an important cause of other deadly illness, fighting it is key to maintaining good health. Numerous studies have shown how damaging stress can be to our bodies and our brain. So don’t let it get out of control. Sit back, relax, and enjoy the music.

Marconi Union – Weightless (Official Video)

www.youtube.com

The first gummy bears were created in the 1920s by Hans Riegel, owner of the Haribo candy company in Bonn, Germany. Since, gummy candies have become popular worldwide and evolved to take the shapes of fish, sour patch kids, frogs, worms, and just about anything a clever candy maker can imagine.

But unlike the popular Disney ’80s “Gummi Bears” cartoon, these sweet little guys don’t come from a hollow tree in the forest. Sadly, their creation is a bit more terrifying.

In the video below, Belgian filmmaker Alina Kneepkens shows how the colorful snacks you bought at the movie theater actually began as pigskin. Yes, an NFL football and a gummy bear have the same humble beginnings. But if you’re a vegan or vegetarian, there’s no need to worry; there are candy manufacturers that make gummy bears out of agar and pectin so you can enjoy these fruity delights minus the swine skin.

Now, you know you want to sing along to this tune.

Disney’s Adventures Of The Gummi Bears Intro, Widescreen, Soundtrack Remastered DOWNLOAD LINK

www.youtube.com

The “butthole cut” of Cats might not exist, but footage of James Corden thrusting while dressed as a mouse for another movie-musical is all too real.

“Crosswalk the Musical,” in which Corden sings and dances with the cast of a musical (like Josh Gad, Dan Stevens, and Luke Evans for Beauty and the Beast) at a busy Los Angeles intersection between green lights, is one of the most popular segments on The Late Late Show. But it went viral for an unintended reason last month when Twitter account Film Updates posted a video of Cinderella stars Corden, Camila Cabello, Billy Porter, and Idina Menzel stopping traffic and, well, watch at your own discretion.

The Late Late Show has now posted the official “Crosswalk the Musical: Cinderella” video to the show’s YouTube account for those who will only watch the cast of Amazon’s Cinderella movie singing “Let’s Get Loud” in HD. There is no reference to the internet’s response to the viral clip, but the triple-thrust is left intact. To be fair, the people in the car who filmed Corden look like they’re having a blast. Unlike this guy:

“I’m sorry, honey. I’m trying to get home to you and the kids, but there’s this British guy dressed as a mouse singing an old Jennifer Lopez song in front of me. Yes, I know I used that excuse last week, but I mean it this time.”

You can watch The Late Late Show clip above.

Billions (Sunday, Showtime 9:00pm) — There ain’t no drama quite like hedge-fund-king drama, and it remains to be seen whether Bobby Axelrod and Chuck Rhoades will ever decide to stop wasting so much time hating the hell out of each other. Probably not? Yeah, that’d be no fun at all, and Season 5 resumes with everyone getting yanked into beefs that may very well destroy them all. Everyone’s got a reason to love this show, and mine just happens to be watching Maggie Siff and Asia Kate Dillon, rather than the warring dudes, and an extra special treat’s on tap: Janeane Garafalo will recur as the owner of a cannabis venture. I hope she gets everyone super high. This week, Axe is looking for dirt on the ambitious Prince, and Wendy is at odds with Tanner.

Heels (Sunday, Starz 9:00pm) — Does the world need a series about a small-town wrestling circuit? Well, maybe not, but how about a show about a small-town wrestling circuit that’s written and created by Michael Waldron, creator of Loki and writer of Rick and Morty and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness? Now, you’ve got my attention. Family legacy is front and center in this Georgia setting as brothers (Alexander Ludwig and Stephen Amell) who do the good-guy/bad guy thing, and “heel” refers to the latter role, which is harder to shake off outside the ring than it appears. This week, a house fire changes Jack’s living situation, and the warring brothers must decide to get along to generate a promo.

These streaming picks make excellent appetizers:

Happier than Ever: A Love Letter to Los Angeles (Disney+ film) — Billie Eilish headlines this concert film that follows her newest album, Happier Than Ever, with an intimate performance from the Hollywood Bowl stage. Robert Rodriguez and Patrick Osbourne co-direct, and expect some dreamlike and animated elements as Eilish celebrates her Los Angeles roots with help from singer-songwriter FINNEAS.

Only Murders In The Building: Season 1 (Hulu series) — Only a few short years ago, Selena Gomez stood awkwardly in a designer gown alongside t-shirt clad co-stars Adam Sandler and Kevin James at a photocall, and let’s just say that her current co-stars would never. Here, she stars alongside the legendary Steve Martin and Martin Short, and the three portray NYC neighbors who aim to unravel an apparent murder inside their apartment building. Yes, they’re all podcasting because everyone does it (duh), and before long, the killer might be after them, too. Martin hasn’t written a feature film since the Pink Panther movies and Shopgirl, and I don’t wanna come out and call this trio a “much cooler Three Amigos” update, but Martin wrote that, too, so why not?

Here’s some regularly scheduled programming:

DC’s Legends Of Tomorrow (Sunday, CW 8:00pm) — Behrad and Bishop both have plans that make an impression on Sara, who’s convinced by Ava that exceptions to rules aren’t so bad.

NYC EPICENTERS 9/11➔2021½/ (Sunday, HBO 9:00pm) — Spike Lee’s four-part documentary brings things full circle for the 20th anniversary of the day that the Twin Towers fell at the hands of terrorists. Expect his quintessential New York voice to weave a vibrant tapestry from over 200 interviews from residents, first respondents, journalists, and politicians. The end result is a provocative series — now freshly edited to remove those conspiracy theories — that not only takes the ongoing pandemic into account but also the Black Lives Matter movement, all to chronicle loss, life, and resilience.

The Walking Dead (Sunday, AMC 9:00pm) — This zombie-apocalypse universe’s flagship series returns for one final rodeo with two spinoffs (Fear The Walking Dead, The World Beyond) still in motion, so it’s time to wrap this puppy up before the various shows’ timelines begin to intersect. This week, Maggie’s team is on the run from Reapers, and Carol’s on the hunt for horses (in a good way).

Here’s some more streaming goodness for the weekend.

What We Do in the Shadows (FX series on Hulu) — Well, well, well. Guillermo turned out to be a vampire killer, which sure as heck came as a surprise to Nandor, Nadja, and Laszlo, and Colin. The four Staten Island roommates must figure out how to handle this conundrum, along with tackling the other challenges of this season. Those include dealing with wellness cults and gym culture, along with gargoyles, werewolves who play kickball, casinos, and more. In addition, the vamps also receive a higher level of powers while Nandor experiences an eternal-life crisis, which forces him to examine whether he should be a bachelor for eternity or embrace love.

Worth (Netflix film) — This based-on-true-events movie follows the inception of the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund, as led by a Congress-appointed attorney, Kenneth Feinberg, who’s portrayed by Michael Keaton. He’s up against an antagonistic Charles Wolf (Stanley Tucci), who’s in mourning of his own accord and must come to grips with the value of compassion. Amy Ryan plays Feinberg’s most powerful executive attorney, and overall, the film examines how humans must come together to recognize the power of empathy.

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.

Q-Force: Season 1 (Netflix series) — A misfit gathering of LGBTQ+ intelligence-agency geniuses come together at the behest of Steve Maryweather, AKA Agent Mary. He came out as gay within the American Intelligence Agency (AIA), only to be relegated to West Hollywood, where he showed everyone what happens when a fired-up agent goes rogue. Eventually, the whole Q-Force transforms into Active Secret Agents status, but first, they’re tasked with dealing with Agent Buck, a straight-dude within their ranks.

See: Season 2 (Apple TV+ series) — Apple TV+’s See helped launch the tech giant’s streaming service less than two years ago, and the show was so wild and wooly that it worked. Jason Momoa’s back in fur coats and in warrior mode as Baba Voss. This season, he’s antagonized by Dave Bautista, which should add enough drama to keep the (somewhat silly) story alive, in a world where no one can see, but everyone is beautiful to look at from an audience standpoint. One of those sighted miracle-twins needs rescuing, so that propels much of the action early this season, but mostly, it’s all about clashing egos and warring beards. A good time, in other words.

Cinderella (Amazon Prime film) — Pop star Camila Cabello stars in this slight reimagining of the classic fairytale. Expect all of the familiar beats, however, with the royal ball, attended ty the evil stepsisters, and a changed fortune for the orphaned main character. Co-stars include Idina Menzel, Billy Porter, Minnie Driver, James Corden (who can’t avoid a musical), and Pierce Freaking Brosnan. Don’t turn into a pumpkin; instead, put this into your queue.

After spending years being an absolute entertainment juggernaut, Game of Thrones occupies a weird space in our pop culture these days. Sure, people love to see Jason Momoa and Emilia Clarke adorably reunite, especially in these times of blech, but for the most part the disastrous final season has turned away even hardcore fans of the fantasy series. Back in April, HBO released a new “trailer” for the final season, and it did not go over well. On top of that, Game of Thrones author George R.R. Martin has not been shy about saying the ending to his books will not repeat whatever the heck the show did.

So with that in mind, it seems like an odd time to launch an official Game of Thrones convention, but that’s exactly what Warner Bros is doing in February 2022. The three-day event will go down in Vegas, and it promises “special guests, panel discussions, cosplay and trivia competitions, autograph signings, photo opportunities, and exclusive Game of Thrones merchandise.” Via Variety:

“‘Game of Thrones’ is a cultural phenomenon with an incredible fanbase, and we are thrilled to be celebrating both with the first official ‘Game of Thrones’ fan convention,” said Peter van Roden, senior vice president of Warner Bros. Themed Entertainment. “This is an exciting initiative, growing one of our beloved global franchises and allowing fans to become even more immersed in the world of Westeros and beyond. This will be a truly unforgettable experience that loyal and new fans alike will love and enjoy.”

In Warner Bros. defense, the HBO parent company is pouring a colossal amount of money into a seemingly never-ending list of Game of Thrones spinoffs, so it makes sense that it’s trying to rebuild hype for the series. That said, packing people into a convention center during an ongoing pandemic might not be the best approach. Sure, maybe, cases will die down by February, but Warner Bros. is playing with fire, and not the wicked cool dragon kind.

(Via Variety)

After months of rumors, Lady Gaga finally announced Dawn Of Chromatica earlier this week, and now the remix album is out. Among the highlights is Charli XCX and A.G. Cook’s remix of “911.”

Charli wrote on Instagram, “the love for good ones has been so overwhelming i decided to take a vacation to chromatica. the 911 remix is out now… angels and little monsters unite.” She also tweeted, “thank you to @ladygaga and @bloodpop for personally stamping mine and @agcook404’s passports upon our entry into chromatica. we had a blast.”

Back in March, Charli revealed that the idea of her doing a “911” remix didn’t initially work out, tweeting, “I LOVE chromatica. her best era imo. rain on me was the song of 2020 & I wish the clubs were open when it came out so we could have raaaaved to it. Blood Pop hit me up about doing a 911 remix but nothing came of it, obvz I would have died & done it in a heartbeat.” BloodPop then responded with a screenshot of his texts with Charli, revealing that there was a miscommunication between him and Charli.

Meanwhile, the project also features contributions from Arca, Dorian Electra, Mura Masa, Pabllo Vittar, and Ashnikko.

Listen to Charli and Cook’s “911” remix above.

Dawn Of Chromatica is out now via Interscope Records. Get it here.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Since the return of live music, Jason Isbell has been very vocal about the importance of COVID safety measures at his concerts. The musician has asked venue owners to get attendees to provide a proof of vaccination at all of his shows, and he event canceled a concert after a venue refused. Now, Isbell has gotten the chance to get some COVID safety advice from the president’s Chief Medical Advisor himself, Dr. Anthony Fauci.

Speaking to Fauci in a video call, Isbell first asked how to speak to his friends and family who are reluctant to receive the COVID vaccine. Along with debunking the myth that the vaccine was rushed through the trial period, Fauci said the main thing to keep in mind is to not make people feel guilty about their hesitations:

“One of the things you gotta be careful for what you don’t do, is to make them actually feel guilty and to point your finger at them and say, ‘You’re crazy, you’re stupid.’ That just doesn’t work. What you try and do is to just get into the conversation and have them articulate to you what are the reasons why they’re hesitant, because some of them are very valid questions. If you give them the answer to the valid question, you might turn them around.”

Isbell then asked Fauci’s advice on how to keep concertgoers, staff, and performers safe at live music events. Along with requiring masking, vaccines, and proof of negative tests, Fauci said a big safety measure is holding outdoor concerts. “What you can do as an entertainer: outdoor concerts as opposed indoor concerts,” Fauci said. “I think that’s the most important thing because it really is true that the risk of infection in an indoor, not optimally vented place is dramatically higher likelihood of getting infected to an outdoor one.”

Watch Isbell’s full conversation with Dr. Fauci above.

Madison Cawthorn already called for “bloodshed” about so-called election security this week, and the other half of his Big Lie balancing act has now arrived: Downplaying an actual deadly coup attempt that directly meddled with election security in America.

The January 6 insurrection attempt that tried to disrupt the certification of Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election was a shocking display of MAGA violence that left five dead and has seen several Capitol Police officers take their own lives in the aftermath of the chaos in Washington. The scenes of violence and threats against politicians like Nancy Pelosi, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and even vice president Mike Pence are well-documented, and if not for the quick thinking of several officers working in the U.S. Capitol it’s thought the incident could have been much worse.

But on Thursday, Cawthorn, a U.S. representative from North Carolina and a staunch Trump ally adored by the far-right, continued to argue that everyone who stormed and smashed barriers, windows, and doors to illegally enter the building was just joshing. As Business Insider detailed, Cawthorn told the Smoky Mountain News that rioters were “normal people” just “kind of wandering in” despite the hundreds of arrests stemming from that day.

“I believe a group of people within the January 6 protestors, a small minority who literally were the ones that endangered people’s lives, ones who got very aggressive, who were the ones busting down the doors, were going bare-knuckle fisticuffs with the Capitol Police. Those people, I believe are dangerous individuals,” Cawthorn said in the interview.

“But the overwhelming majority of the people of the January 6 thing were just normal people, there for a normal protest to redress their government. And then they saw an open door at the top of the Capitol, and they were just kind of wandering in,” Cawthorn said.

Giving this any sort of critical thought at all makes it pretty easy to dismiss the claims that mostly “normal” people were responsible for the MAGA riot. For every Qanon Shaman there were hundreds of far-right Trump supporters of a more anonymous variety, but dangerous and law-breaking nonetheless. Each arrested rioter has their own internet paper trail of crazy conspiracies and methods of radicalization, but none of them are exactly “normal.”

In the larger picture, though, this kind of revisionism about the deadly insurrection is entirely predictable. Trump did it after counter-protests against white supremacists in Charlottesville turned deadly, so it was really only a matter of time before a sitting politician tried to argue that a conspiracy-addled lunatic in Viking horns was a normal dude just milling about Washington DC like an ordinary tourist. Nothing to see here at all, I’m sure.

[via Business Insider]

What does a mid-life crisis look like when you’re an energy-draining, immortal vampire? If you’re Mark Proksch, it’s lots of scat jokes and some on-screen pyro-technics.

What We Do In The Shadows returns for its third season on Sept. 2nd, Proksch’s monotoned undead party-pooper is gearing up for a celebration of his own. Colin Robinson is turning 100 and he’s suddenly very curious about where he comes from. That curiosity coincides with his new appointment to the Vampiric Council and, as the season goes on, Colin Robinson forms a surprising bond with one of his fellow immortal roommates as he goes on a quest to find others of his kind.

Proksch has spent the last two seasons of Shadows delivering snooze-worthy tangents and playing them for the most laughs but this season, his character serves as more than just the not-so-human equivalent of a bottle of Quaaludes. Plot twists, trips to Atlantic City, a failed tenure as a DIY mechanic — Colin Robinson has a part in all of it this time around, much to Nadja (Natasia Demetriou) and Laszlo’s (Matt Berry) eternal frustration.

We chatted with Proksch over Zoom about season three’s major storylines, Colin Robinson’s birthday plans, and how the character really feels about conspiracy theorists.

Colin Robinson’s got a big birthday coming up. How does he feel about that? What’s on his mind this season?

I think he’s in a bit of an existential crisis. I think he is curious as to where he came from and where he’s going. He has the same big questions that we all have rattling around in our minds. He doesn’t know how he became an energy vampire. He doesn’t know if his parents were energy vampires. He doesn’t know if he’s immortal. I think he’s struggling with that and trying to find answers to that as his hundredth birthday is coming up.

So we’re going to learn more about his past and where his kind come from then?

You learn bits and pieces along the way. Really not enough to subside his crisis. I will say there’s a huge twist at the very end of the season, involving Colin. And I think that season four will definitely be dealing with that fallout.

One thing I was surprised to learn was that he has a weird obsession with Guillermo. Particularly, Guillermo’s bowel movements. There are lots of scat jokes at the beginning of this season. What’s up with that?

[Laughs] That was 100% in the script. That’s not an area of comedy that… I mean I found it very funny. It’s very peculiar to the character. I may have thrown in a couple of things, for sure. But that’s all the writers. I loved it because anytime you can inform the audience about the character in any way, it benefits the stories and it benefits the show. So having Colin have that sort of off-center fascination — I don’t want to say fetish — is great and it made me laugh a lot.

His poop obsession gave off some real conspiracy theorist vibes…

Oh, I think he delves into that world quite a bit. I think he was very happy to see the birth of some of these conspiracy cults. Who better than a conspiracy theorist for an energy vampire to hide as?

Now, be honest, was Colin Robinson behind QAnon?

I’m not going to say he is or isn’t, but we may learn about that.

There’s a really interesting friendship that develops this season between Laszlo and Colin. What makes that relationship so interesting to watch?

I think Matt would agree, we never thought our characters would cross paths in that way. Laszlo is a very no-nonsense, brusque horn hound and Colin is kind of the opposite. We had never been paired up really in season one or two the way we are in season three. That said, there is a reason for it that isn’t known to the audience. And again, it’ll reveal itself at the end of the season.

So it’s not just about fixing old cars and setting each other on fire?

[laughs] I think they’re genuinely enjoying their time together, but there is a reason they’re spending that much time together.

Showrunner Paul Simms said that out of everyone’s improv ability, yours is the most interesting. So those tangents that Colin Robinson goes on when he drains people, how much is the script and how much is you?

That’s me. They will usually give me a line if it’s something integral to the script or the story. Otherwise, they’ll say “Colin talks about boxing,” or “Colin talks about this.” If I don’t know that much about that subject, I will change it to a subject I do know about. It needs to feel natural. So it needs to be off the top of my head and be me talking about these subjects that I love or have just gone down a rabbit hole about in the past. So I would say as far as his tangents go, that’s 90% me just rambling. It’s a babbling brook of bullshit. But I have to be right, because if I say a wrong thing, then I’ll be shown as the fraud that I am.

Are there any topics you were surprised you snuck in?

I’m more surprised by what they don’t put in because I’m a big wine fan. I love wine. I talk about wine a lot on the show because it’s such a traditionally boring, pedantic, snooty, snobbish subject. I think that’s changing now amongst younger people, but in the past, it’s always been spoken of by snobs. I’m surprised they haven’t put it in more. I’ve gone on a couple of wine tangents and those haven’t gotten in. Now, I will say that, in the past, when I would go on a tangent, if Jemaine [Clement] didn’t know about what I was talking about, he would cut it with the right assumption that, well, the viewers aren’t going to know about this so it’s just going to be boring. And wine is the subject he doesn’t know anything about and doesn’t give a shit about. That may have been the reason why wine hasn’t made it into the show yet.

Since Colin Robinson is on this journey of self-discovery this season, is he going to discover other kinds of alternative vamps?

Yeah, I’ve wondered that too. We won’t this season, as far as the energy-type vampires. But I think that’s an area that the writers are aware of and if it makes sense, they’ll utilize it.

‘What We Do In The Shadows’ returns to FX on Sept. 2.

Like many others on the timeline, MSNBC host Rachel Maddow is stunned over how Republicans in Texas were able to pass the state’s recent abortion ban.

Maddow chatted with fellow MSNBC anchor Lawrence O’Donnell at the end of her show on Friday, and both hosts seemed shocked and outraged over new abortion restrictions and what they might mean for the country going forward. Earlier this week, Texas passed a bill banning abortions after six weeks when “cardiac activity” can be detected in a fetus. Of course, the law doesn’t seem to care that “cardiac activity” actually isn’t a heartbeat and doesn’t signal a viable pregnancy. The law also doesn’t seem to understand that many women don’t know they’re pregnant until a missed period signals that change. By the time they miss a menstruation cycle, they’re already four weeks pregnant, meaning this new bill allows just two weeks for a woman to seek abortion access.

And yes, this is one of the most restrictive abortion laws in the country, but what’s truly shocking is how the state has drafted the law to circumvent the possibility of legal arguments that it might be unconstitutional. Instead of naming the state as the defendant, this law deputized private citizens, allowing people to sue anyone seeking or providing abortion services and receive monetary damages in the process. It’s inhumane and sets a terrifying precedent, which is what Maddow is particularly troubled about.

The MSNBC host warned that what’s happening in Texas is just the beginning in terms of the GOP’s goal of stripping women of their rights.

“We’re going to see Red states all over the country ban abortion using this as the Xerox template,” Maddow predicted (via Raw Story). “It’s gonna go fast.”

While that statement is unnerving for any person who values the right to have the final say over their own healthcare decisions, Maddow also had a warning for Republicans who are, undoubtedly, celebrating this major milestone in their decades-long push to control women’s reproductive organs.

“The country doesn’t want abortion laws made more strict, let alone, banned,” Maddow said. “There’s a reason folks in the conservative media aren’t talking about this ruling right now. They’re the dog that caught the car. They like talking about trying to achieve this. Now that they have, they realize that actually, the country’s against this and the backlash is going to be considerable.”

(Via Raw Story)