Category: News

Space has long been a fascination for rapper Lil Uzi Vert, who has used the nickname Baby Pluto and alien motifs throughout his career, most recently in the artwork and promotional materials for his 2020 album Eternal Atake. He’s also fond of making outrageous purchases, such as the pink diamond he wore in the middle of his forehead for a time earlier this year. Finally, he’s seemingly quite friendly with experimental musician Grimes, who is herself quite cozy with Space X founder Elon Musk, with whom she shares a child, X Æ A-Xii.

So as apparently nonsensical as a statement like “Grimes says Lil Uzi Vert has purchased a planet larger than Jupiter” might read, there is a certain kind of logic behind it — and that’s exactly what happened on Twitter last night, as Grimes retweeted an artist’s depiction of WASP-127b, a gas giant exoplanet in a neighboring solar system, and told her followers, “Apparently Lil Uzi Vert owns this planet.”

Uzi shot down the claim, but not because it was so outlandish — it just wasn’t true… yet. “I tried 2 surprise everyone,” he admitted in a reply. “Still working on it.”

Meanwhile, Grimes made the amendment on her own timeline for her followers, telling them, “Documentation almost complete for Lil Uzi Vert to legally claim wasp-127b — This is huge! First human to legally own a planet.”

Listen, not to rain on anyone’s parade here, but it seems unlikely that such a thing could be true. I suppose it’s a little like NFTs, the other big “advancement” in tech that Uzi and Grimes both seem all-in on. You can buy a certificate that says you “own” a thing, but functionally, that’s pretty much meaningless other than as a flex, so you can say that you had the money to waste.

For one thing, the 1967 Outer Space Treaty states no individual or government can have sovereignty over any body in space. For instance, several private entities have claimed ownership over Earth’s moon over the years, but no one actually takes them seriously. Whoever Uzi is “buying” WASP-127b from, let’s hope they give him a receipt… and a long lead on the return policy.

Jack O’Connell gravitates towards “guerilla-style” filmmaking. It’s why most of his on-screen work comes courtesy of critically acclaimed indies and festival standouts. Even when he does option into a bigger budget blockbuster — like the sequel to Zack Snyder’s 300 and Angelina Jolie’s World War II epic, Unbroken — he channels the same grit and relentless worth ethic that he most likely was surrounded by as a lad from Derby, England. He likes to be put through his paces a bit, to test the limits of what his body can do, which might be why he signed up for AMC+’s sprawling period drama, The North Water.

Because, along with the chance to act opposite talent like Colin Farrell and Stephen Graham as a member of a doomed whaling crew, whose expedition is fraught with murder, deception, and betrayal, the show also asked O’Connell to travel to the frozen seas north of the Svalbard Archipelago. In layman’s terms: the Arctic.

The cast lived on a boat for over a month, far removed from civilization, filming the furthest north any series is believed to have been filmed. They navigated the same kind of dangers that the characters they play on-screen would’ve faced: unpredictable ice sheets, curious polar bears, subfreezing temps, and a rogue walrus or two. But it all adds an element of realism to the show that feels tangible on-screen.

We chatted with O’Connell about surviving the shoot, getting in touch with his darker nature, and his most terrifying day on set.

You’ve taken on some physically demanding roles in the past. How does this shoot compare?

It was quite a blissful experience. I mean, yeah, it got cold. But just to be out there, only you, and only focusing on the work with no distractions? Complete bliss.

Your director, Andrew Haigh, said a good historical drama reflects something about the present. Do you think that’s true for this show?

That would definitely be like a higher level of consciousness than the one that I perhaps watch things on but yeah, I think there is definitely something dark within my character, Sumner, and he wants to understand what that is and explore that. I think that’s why Sumner has this level of intrigue about Drax [Farrell]. You have this man who is all beast and doesn’t have the burden of being a man, having a conscience, guilt, and all these things that keep us human. Obviously, Sumner is an intellect. I think, onboard the ship, we see where that slows him down.

Did you ever have a moment during filming when you thought, “Man, I’ve made a terrible mistake taking this job.”?

F*cking every day. [Laughs] [You] just wake up in a pure state of terror. I mean, I don’t know if I’m going to do it again, to be honest.

Did you pick up any survival tricks out there?

Nah, I was totally exposed out there. We were there with polar expedition experts. They are tough, tough people. These are real adventurers. That’s what they do. They’re at their happiest being out there. So, that was infectious, their enthusiasm, and then we had the opportunity to work with members of the Inuit community and lads from Greenland who spend their time basically… I want to say “surviving,” but that’s the wrong word because they’re so good at it. The risk factor is nullified by how gifted they are at what’s required of them in hunting, wintering, navigation — just all these really impressive skills that if you grow up in a city like Derby, there’s no need to f*cking be good at any of that.

Obviously, every day filming in the Arctic is a little dangerous but did you have any close calls?

There was one day I really thought we were actually f*cked. It was when myself and Stephen weren’t needed for a shot. So we thought we’d take a stroll to the ship, be out of the way basically. It was a hundred yards away. We ended up far away from the crew and as we were walking, the piece of ice we were walking on, broke loose from the rest of the path to the ship. And then the gap started getting wider and wider, and we’re on just this humongous ice float. Just me and Stephen Graham. Neither of us had provisions or anything. So, it genuinely was a bit unnerving.

There’s a scene late in the series involving a polar bear. Was it as disgusting to film as it came across on screen?

[Laughs] No, no, no. It was all these f*cking bits of plastic and rubber and blood, which tastes nice because it’s, just mixed it with sugar.

I was half-expecting you to tell me it was real.

No, that would upset me. We’ve got no business f*cking up polar bears and all.

Colin [Farrell] turns in a really intense performance in this series, and a lot of that intensity on screen is focused on your character. What was it like working with him in this kind of environment?

He’s really, really attentive. It’s not just what he’s asked to do, it’s what you’re asked to do and how he can help that. Obviously, for me, looking at Colin as an actor that’s been around for a lot longer than myself, it’s educational. His portrayal of that character has sort of lived with me in a way that’s a bit haunting. It left a mark on me a little bit, in a really good, kind of intriguing way. I massively benefited from being on set with him, for sure.

What was more challenging: the cold, or the lack of internet access up there?

The internet access thing is actually quite nice, to be honest., I didn’t mind that at all. In hindsight, we were all completely looked after and in real safe hands, but you didn’t always know that. That was the toughest thing. In hindsight, we know that. At the time you’re like, ‘This is f*cking insane.’ Polar bears could just jump out of nowhere and start f*cking with everyone, ruining the whole thing. A walrus just popped out of the water one day, right where we were shooting, and they’re supposed to be deadly. But the most difficult thing is being so remote for quite a long length of time. You have to kind of dig a bit deeper. You don’t have the luxury of going home or checking in with your mom or these types of things.

Did you come away with anything profound after filming this thing?

Just the usual type of sh*t you come away from a job thinking. It was an experience. You come away from something with a bit more mutual respect for the people that you work with.

And you survived. That’s not nothing.

I’d say that is quite profound.

‘The North Water’ is currently streaming on AMC+

Political history is full of dynamic duos: Antony and Cleopatra, Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, just to name a few. Matt Gaetz and Marjorie Taylor Greene are not one of them.

In late April, at the height of the media surrounding the news that Gaetz was being investigated for sex trafficking, the two controversial Congress members announced that they were teaming up for a fundraising campaign dubbed “America First.” Fast forward to July and… it’s not going so well.

Just days after being hilariously pranked by a comedian and seeing many of their rallies canceled, the Daily Beast is reporting just how abysmal a financial failure the Gaetz (R-FL) and Greene (R-GA) team-up has been. In a nutshell? These two nutshells have reportedly spent four times what they’ve raised.

Since Gaetz and Greene kicked off their joint fundraising committee with a May 7 event at The Villages in central Florida, their campaigns and joint fundraising committee have posted a combined loss of $342,000. And according to recent filings with the Federal Election Commission, that joint fundraising effort, “Put America First,” reported only $59,345.54 in contributions.

That sort of meager haul would be fine for a dinner or one-time event, but Gaetz and Greene have repeatedly held high-profile events and spent a whopping $287,036.19 to hold them—meaning they’re in the hole by more than $225,000.

Even someone who’s bad at math should be able to figure out that the calculations on that equal “yikes.” The fundraising committee’s two biggest donors are Gaetz and Greene themselves, as each contributed $150,000 to the fund. Beyond that, the Daily Beast reports that only four (four!) people have made contributions of $500 or more. FOUR.

Individually and apart from the committee, Gaetz and Greene raised $1.34 million and $1.31 million, respectively, during this year’s second quarter. While those numbers are impressive (and sort of baffling considering who we’re talking about here), they actually represent a drop-off from earlier fundraising. Especially in Greene’s case, as she managed to get people to fork over $3.2 million of their hard-earned money to show their support for her in Q1. For Gaetz, the decrease was less dramatic: he raised $1.82 million in Q1. Still, $1.82 million could pay a lot of “tuition.”

(Via the Daily Beast)

The “Untitled Jordan Peele Horror Event” has found its title.

Last year, Universal Pictures set a release date (July 22, 2022) for Jordan Peele’s third movie, following Get Out (which was nominated for four Oscars, including a win for Best Original Screenplay) and Us. That was all we knew about the film at the time, but in the months since, more information has started to trickle out. It will star Daniel Kaluuya (who worked with Peele on Get Out), Keke Palmer, and Steven Yeun, and on Thursday, Peele revealed the title and a mysteriously ominous poster. Let the speculation begin.

Nope? More like “yup.”

After the success of Get Out, Peele said that he has “four other social thrillers that I want to unveil in the next decade… The best and scariest monsters in the world are human beings and what we are capable of especially when we get together. I’ve been working on these premises about these different social demons, these innately human monsters that are woven into the fabric of how we think and how we interact, and each one of my movies is going to be about a different one of these social demons.”

Billie Eilish’s recent “Prime Day Show” performance was focused on the magic of Paris, and for her next act, she’s highlighting a different globally esteemed city: Los Angeles. Happier Than Ever: A Love Letter To Los Angeles is an upcoming concert film (or “cinematic concert experience,” as it is billed) that was filmed at the Hollywood Bowl with Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic (and Finneas, of course).

The film will feature all sixteen songs from Happier Than Ever performed in the order they appear on the album. Press materials note the special “will also include animated elements, taking viewers on a dreamlike journey through Billie’s hometown of Los Angeles and its most iconic backdrops.”

Eilish says, “Disney is incredibly iconic, so to collaborate on something like this is a huge honor. To be able to present my album in this way and dedicate it to the city that I love and grew up in is so exciting to me. I hope you love it.”

Director Robert Rodriguez also notes, “We are all huge admirers of Billie and Finneas here in our household. They are such impressive, world class talents that it’s a real honor to work with them on this film. The way the narrative story and animated pieces weave through her incredible concert performance, makes this a spectacular event that is truly unique.”

Check out the Happier Than Ever: A Love Letter To Los Angeles trailer above.

Earlier in the year, Bruce Springsteen and former President Barack Obama teamed up to record a podcast called Renegades: Born In The USA. Now, the two men are publishing a book based on those conversations, arriving in October. Check out a teaser for the book below.

“Over the years, what we’ve found is that we’ve got a shared sensibility. About work, about family, and about America,” Obama writes in the book’s opening pages. “In our own ways, Bruce and I have been on parallel journeys trying to understand this country that’s given us both so much. Trying to chronicle the stories of its people. Looking for a way to connect our own individual searches for meaning and truth and community with the larger story of America.”

“There were serious conversations about the fate of the country, the fortune of its citizens, and the destructive, ugly, corrupt forces at play that would like to take it all down,” adds Springsteen. “This is a time of vigilance when who we are is being seriously tested. Hard conversations about who we are and who we want to become can perhaps serve as a small guiding map for some of our fellow citizens…. This is a time for serious consideration of who we want to be and what kind of country we will leave our children. Will we let slip through our hands the best of us or will we turn united to face the fire? Within this book you won’t find the answers to those questions, but you will find a couple of seekers doing their best to get us to ask better questions.”

Renegades: Born in the USA arrives 10/26 via Penguin Random House and Higher Ground. Pre-order it here.

Over the course of a long and impressive career, one of Jay-Z’s most impressive feats has been remaining aware of and relevant to hip-hop’s youth movements. While others who started around the same time have fallen out of favor over the years, today’s rising stars still look up to Jay, even now, nearly 30 years later. A Jay co-sign is often the first sign that it’s a new artist’s time to shine, and most recently he bestowed that blessing on Louisville rapper EST Gee, who he not only invited to the studio but also gave some blunt but useful advice.

Normally, being told to not bring a ghostwriter to the studio might be considered an insult, but EST Gee seemingly took it in stride, seeing it as a sign that Jay is cooler than the average old head. He told Complex about the phone call Jay made just before bringing EST Gee to the Super Bowl and to the studio.

“Jay-Z kinda old,” he recalled. “He been in rap for a long time and he ain’t weird. He’s a regular n****. He gon’ shoot a joke at you and everything. He told me, ‘Let me bring you down to the Super Bowl with me so we can kick it, man.’ He’s like, ‘We get in the studio, make sure you don’t bring your ghostwriter with you.’ I’m like, ‘Damn.’ He’s like, ‘Yeah man, they told me you have somebody write that shit for you.’ He was dead serious about it. That’s how I know he’s a street n**** who made it down to the big level.”

Jay is far from the only rap veteran to put his stamp of approval on the Kentuckian rapper. EST Gee is also signed to Yo Gotti’s label, CMG, along with Moneybagg Yo and 42 Dugg, where he just released his new mixtape, Bigger Than Life Or Death, this week.

Watch EST Gee recount his phone call with Jay-Z above.

When Donald Trump’s former fixer Michael Cohen went on The View in September 2020 to atone for his actions (and promote his new book), he encountered a less than sympathetic Meghan McCain. She repeatedly called him a liar and questioned why she should believe anything he has to say. It was a tense interview from start to finish, and Cohen didn’t help his case by attempting to flatter McCain while expressing his admiration for her late father, Senator John McCain.

However, while stopping by The New Abnormal podcast on Tuesday, Cohen claims that The View co-hosts apologized to him after the show for the way he was treated by McCain, particularly for how she opened the interview by telling him to apologize to Stormy Daniels, who Cohen famously paid off to hide an affair with Trump after his wife, Melania, had just given birth to their son, Barron. Via The Daily Beast:

“I wanted to just say, are you kidding me? Seriously? It’s a stupid question!” Cohen added. “And even all of the other folks that are on The View, like Joy Behar and others, they all turned around afterwards and said, ‘You know, we’re really kind of sorry about Meghan’s comments.’”

What makes this anecdote awkward is that the interview with Cohen is one of the times when McCain probably should have been combative instead of readily taking him at his word. As McCain noted at the time, Cohen has openly admitted to being a “a liar, a cheater, and a thug” for Trump, so it was a fair question for McCain to ask why she should believe him, especially when Cohen has a book to sell.

(Via The Daily Beast)

Ted Cruz can’t help himself. He’s enormously online and won’t stop tweeting, to the point where he’s been busted ignoring his colleagues while tweeting during committee meetings. He also (and this still in the “allegedly” camp) may have once spent late-night time on Twitter while “liking” adult content and then blaming it on a “staffing issue.” Yet Cruz appears to be mostly running his own tweets and often spends the day taking digs at those who don’t share his political views.

He did so on Wednesday while firing a shot at Biden in the realm of international relations. Specifically, Cruz side-eyed Biden’s diplomatic approach to Putin (and Putin being “satisfied”), which is strange, considering that Cruz still backs Trump, and the whole Putin-Trump thing has proven to be enormously sketchy. Cruz also has no room to claim being an effective diplomat either, because when most people think about Cruz and another country, it involves his Cancun debacle or his recent decision to stand in a crumbling home in Israel on Memorial Day. Still, Cruz went there while making a juvenile Twitter joke (with a made-up headline) about how “Biden satisfies Putin.” Naturally, he added an eggplant emoji and, uh, a clown face while adding, “Maybe not the headline they were looking for.”

Naturally, Ted’s use of the eggplant took people’s minds to a place that Ted probably wasn’t “looking for,” either: back to that tweet that he (or someone on his staff) “liked.”

People also wondered why some politicians (and Cruz, a sitting senator, frequently falls into this camp) decide to behave like stereotypical teenagers.

Maybe it’s time to step away from the Twitter, Ted?

Toronto rapper Belly is on the comeback trail, with a new album, See You Next Wednesday, he’s promoting with a string of strong singles and revitalized videos including “IYKYK,” “Money On The Table,” and “Zero Love” featuring Moneybagg Yo. Today, he keeps the rollout rolling with the explosive video for his latest single, “Better Believe,” which features his XO Records leader The Weeknd and Atlanta trap mad scientist Young Thug.

The video seems to take a lot of inspiration from The Terminator, with Belly rapping in an auto factory while The Weeknd blows up an oil refinery and Thugger takes a direct hit from an 18-wheeler and walks it off (all references to scenes from the 1984 sci-fi thriller).

And while Belly gears up to release See You Next Wednesday, his first new album since 2018’s Immigrant, his collaborators also have a few things in the works. The Weeknd has hinted that he has a full body of work on the way, while Thug is set to produce and star in a musical dance dramedy, Throw It Back, with Tiffany Haddish and Us star Shahadi Wright Joseph.

Watch Belly’s “Better Believe” video featuring The Weeknd and Young Thug above.

Young Thug is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.