Category: News

America: The Motion Picture (Netflix film) — Channing Tatum voices a very profane (and buff) George Washington in this series that’s directed by Archer‘s Matt Thompson and produced by The Mitchells vs. the Machines‘ Phil Lord and Christopher Miller. Washington declares that he wants to “start a f*cking revolution,” and he’s accompanied by a beer-guzzling Sam Adams, an angry Geronimo, Paul Revere, and Thomas Edison as they decide to take on Benedict Arnold and King James. In the synopsis, Netflix promises, “[T]hese are not your father’s Founding… uh, Fathers.”

Martha Gets Down and Dirty: Season 1 (Discovery+ series) — The frequent onscreen and business partner of Snoop Dogg goes solo while traveling home to her 150-acre farm where, as the title suggests, she gets her hands seriously dirty. Martha Stewart might be 79 years young and a total perfectionist, but she’s entirely engaged in prepping her farm for summertime, and that means some serious digging in the dirt alongside her gardener, Ryan McCallister. Stewart has duly promised, “I’m going to take you behind-the-scenes as I get my hands dirty around my property, as well as help my celebrity friends and surprise some unsuspecting callers.” So… Snoop? A girl can dream.

The Tomorrow War (Amazon Prime film) — A summer blockbuster movie lands in your living room at no extra cost to Amazon Prime subscribers, so how lucky are you feeling right about now? The film stars Chris Pratt (alongside J.K. Simmons, Yvonne Strahovski, Betty Gilpin, Sam Richardson, and more) in a world where time travelers from 2051 arrive to warn mankind that a global war against an alien species is coming. The only way possible for this to turn out well for humans is if soldiers and civilians join the future fight, and this film comes from the mind of director Chris McKay (The Lego Batman Movie), so we’re in good hands all around. Get your microwave popcorn ready.

Roswell: The Final Verdict (Discovery+ limited series) — The recently declassified UFO reports from the Pentagon didn’t exactly satisfy curious minds, so there’s no time like the present for revisiting the 1937 Roswell, New Mexico incident, in which a rancher claims to have witnessed strange debris gathering, which led to decades of denials by the U.S. government and endless conspiracy theories. This series will revisit eyewitness accounts in an attempt to uncover the whole truth.

Back to scheduled programming, although it’s largely a streaming weekend:

Betty: (Friday, HBO 11:00pm) — The main players are all back: Rachelle Vinberg as Camille, Ajani Russell as Indigo, Dede Lovelace as Janay, Moonbear as Honeybear, and Nina Moran as Kirt. This week, Kirt’s on a mission and getting up into trouble while Honeybear and Camille waver, and Indigo’s new endeavor is a rough one.

Macy’s 4th of July Fireworks Spectacular (Sunday, NBC 8:00 p.m.) — Independence Day celebrations are coming back, and this year, there’s a lineup of all-star artists (including Black Pumas, Coldplay, OneRepublic, Reba McEntire) to welcome back gatherings and concerts as the world continues healing.

Kevin Can F**k Himself (Sunday, AMC 9:00 p.m.) — It’s road-trip time for Allison and Patty, who is also dealing with pharmacy-bust questions. And Allison lets Patty know about her plan, so oh boy, get ready, Kevin.

Rick and Morty (Sunday, Adult Swim, 11:00pm) — This week, the Dan Harmon and Justin Roiland-led show (newly back for Season 5) teases a title about recycling before it’s too late.

Here are more streaming picks for the weekend:

Fear Street Part 1: 1994 (Netflix film) — Author RL Stine’s works find new terrifying life in this first trilogy installment about a group of teenagers who inadvertently stumble upon a source of ancient evil. Before long, they’re wrapped up in a 300-year-old nightmare that’s messed with their Shadyside community, and expect more where this came from when Fear Street Part 2: 1978 and Fear Street Part 3: 1666 eventually arrive.

We The People (Netflix series) — This show aims to educate young Americans about basic U.S. civics lessons, but the method is anything but basic and involves combining groundbreaking animation and original music. Expect tunes from H.E.R., Janelle Monáe, Brandi Carlile, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Adam Lambert, Cordae, Bebe Rexha, KYLE, and Andra Day. Poet Amanda Gorman will also be on hand to inspire the masses like she did at the recent inauguration.

No Sudden Move (Warner Bros. film on HBO Max) — Right at home in the comfort of your own living room, you can enjoy the newest Steven Soderbergh-directed picture that’s set in 1954 Detroit. The cast includes half of Hollywood, it seems, including Don Cheadle, Benicio Del Toro, David Harbour, Jon Hamm, Amy Seimetz, Kieran Culkin, Ray Liotta, and Brendan Fraser. The name of the game is a botched plan by a gathering of small-potatoes criminals, who must hunt down who hired them and find out what’s actually going on in the rapidly morphing city.

Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) (Hulu film) — Questlove’s stepping into the director’s seat for the first time for this cinematic historical record that celebrates Black history over the course of six weeks. The culmination, of course, turns out to be the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival, and this film brings you never-before-seen footage of performances from Stevie Wonder, Nina Simone, B.B. King, Gladys Knight and the Pips, and many more.

The Boss Baby: Family Business (Peacock film) — Alec Baldwin’s back as the Boss Baby, who is now (apparently?) all grown up. He’s even a hedge fund CEO, but another boss baby, who’s even more of a whippersnapper, might bring the first boss baby back together with his older brother (James Marsden), and then they’ll all attempt a family business. The best news, perhaps, is that Amy Sedaris is voicing a new infant on the block, and there are dark secrets and mysterious ways afoot at BabyCorp. In the end, expect some lessons on the meaning of family because, yup, we’re in family territory.

Loki: Episode 4 (Disney+ series, leftover from Wednesday morning) — Tom Hiddleston has an absolute blast playing the mercurial trickster of the MCU, and we shall reap the benefits while he helps (or hinders) the Time Variance Authority during the process of cleaning up the timeline. This week, the show will follow up on Sophia Di Martino’s “Variant” character teaming up with Loki, after the series inserted a significant detail into canon while appearing to also confirm a theory about the TVA.

After delivering an engrossing fourth season that gave Chris Rock one of his meatiest acting roles yet, Fargo creator Noah Hawley has revealed that the anthology series will, as you probably guessed, have a fifth season. However, that season might be its last. In a new interview, Hawley expressed his intentions to end the show, but he also admitted that he hasn’t started writing what could ultimately be the last installment for Fargo. Via Vanity Fair:

I don’t have it yet. I have pieces that will have to survive. They’re not connected. I think it would be good to create an ending, and deliberately come to something, knowing it’s the last one and see how one might wrap up this anthology.

Premiering in 2014, the first season of Fargo won over fans of the Coen brothers movie with a crime caper starring Martin Freeman as an insurance salesman who murders his wife with the help of Billy Bob Thornton. Season Two brought together Kirsten Dunst and Jesse Plemons as a husband and wife who cover up a hit-and-run and deal with an actual alien invasion. (The two ended up getting married in real life after falling in love on set.) Season 3 featured Ewan McGregor and his now real-life love Mary Elizabeth Winstead (as a character named Nikki Swango) neck-deep in a felonious fiasco involving falling air conditioners and an antique lamp. And the recent Season 4 had Rock playing a mob boss in 1950s Kansas City, along with a murderous nurse played by Jessie Buckley and an incompetent mob boss played by Jason Schwartzman. So it’s anybody guess where Hawley will take the final season.

In the meantime, Hawley has written two episodes of his upcoming Alien TV series for FX. That show is currently scheduled to start filming next spring.

(Via Vanity Fair)

It’s summertime! That means pool parties, backyard BBQs, and sweating from doing absolutely nothing. Most importantly, it’s the season to indulge in all the ice cream you can stomach. We’ve already given you a rundown of the best vanilla ice creams currently on the market, this week — just in time for the 4th of July — we’re taking on ice cream’s other classic flavor.

That’s right, we’re blind-testing chocolate, baby! (Don’t panic, strawberry is coming next.)

For whatever reason, there aren’t quite as many chocolate ice creams on the market as there are vanilla. Chocolate fudge brownie, chocolate cherry chip, chocolate chocolate chip, sure — but plain ‘ol chocolate? Not the plethora of options that I expected.

For this blind taste test, I picked 10 different varieties of plain chocolate ice cream, blind tasted them, then ranked them based on flavor, texture, and consistency. Each of the brands selected should be easy enough to find at your local grocery store, but we also included links for online ordering.

Now let’s get to tasting!

Part 1: The Taste

Taste 1:

I’m getting rich notes of milk chocolate with an airy and soft texture. Once this ice cream hits your tongue it instantly starts to melt into milky goodness. On the backend, I’m getting the tiniest bit of bitter earthy cocoa flavor, but it doesn’t stay on the tongue in an obtrusive way.

Overall, a great start!

Taste 2:

Visually, this ice cream is a much lighter shade of brown. The consistency here is chalky and the overall flavor is much lighter on the cocoa, leaning heavily into milk chocolate territory. This sort of tastes like an ice cream form of a chocolate shake. It’s very smooth, but it has a lingering flavor that isn’t as pleasing as Taste 1.

Ultimately, that staining of the palate hurts it in comparison.

Taste 3:

Rich, incredibly dense, and wonderfully creamy. The chocolate here hits you right away, and while it doesn’t have that natural earthy quality that Taste 1 had, this is definitely a step up. It presents a nice balance of milk and chocolate with a confidently focused flavor and a texture that truly lives up to the name “ice cream.”

Taste 4:

Oh, Jesus, this has got to be the worst consistency of any ice cream ever! It’s slushy and gravely, like if you dropped a piece of chocolate on the freeway and it melted on the ground, and then someone scooped that up and then froze it.

It also doesn’t really taste like chocolate, there is a flat after taste that ruins the whole experience.

Taste 5:

Just when I thought the consistency of an ice cream couldn’t get any worse, Taste 4 was instantly followed up by another ice cream with consistency so bad it should be a crime. In the flavor department, this is leagues better though, with an earthy Mexican chocolate flavor that I find really appealing. The consistency is definitely going to hurt this one’s ranking — I can tell this must be one of the dairy-free varieties — but flavor-wise this is akin to an ice cream version of Abuelita. I dig it.

Taste 6:

This one has a great flavor, chocolatey and a bit nutty, with granules of chocolate in it that remind me a bit of the texture of vanilla bean ice cream. There is an almost brownie-like consistency to this one.

I don’t see it being the best, but its definitely interesting.

Taste 7:

This one is… weird. There is a cheese-y sourness to it that is akin to chocolate cheesecake ice cream. The consistency is soft and slightly icy with a flavor that lingers on the tongue in a really gross way. I think this one is the worst.

Taste 8:

After hitting a series of flavors that certainly weren’t the best, we’re finally in delicious territory again. This one is really nice, it has a sweet chocolate flavor with a creamy consistency. It’s just a little more icy and watery than I want it to be.

Had I not had this alongside 7 other flavors, I’d eat this without question.

Taste 9:

This one has a lot in common with the previous Taste. It’s focused and simple, offering a balanced milk chocolate flavor, but the consistency is even icier and the flavor disappears too quickly. This isn’t something you can savor, it tastes very standard.

Taste 10:

Very interesting way to end the taste test. This one has a gourmet-quality to it, it has a chocolate flavor that is distinctly different from the nine other tastings, like something you’d buy from a high-end bakery. It’s rich with a velvety consistency and a slight bitter coffee-like aftertaste that continues to dance on the palate, suggesting you dive in for another bite.

A really good one, but I don’t think I can say it’s my favorite.

Part 2: The Ranking

10. Kroger Deluxe Chocolate Paradise (Taste 7)

Average Price: $2.49

The Ice Cream:

I’m always dunking on Kroger anytime I shop for groceries, so I’m pleased to see that even with the blind taste test treatment, I continue to despise this brand of ice cream. Honestly, stay away from this stuff, it’s bad!

This ice cream probably has to have the most ironic name of any of the flavors. Chocolate Paradise? More like Chocolate ****. Milk, cream, sugar, and corn syrup, are the first four ingredients before we get to any cocoa.

The Bottom Line:

Not even fit for your enemy. Eating this stuff is cruel and unusual punishment.

9. Halo Top — Chocolate (Taste 4)

Average Price: $4.49

The Ice Cream:

Halo Top advertises itself as having 63% less sugar than regular ice cream and packs 19g of protein per pint. Who asked for that? This was my first experience with Halo Top, and I was shocked when it was revealed to me that this was Taste 4 as I’ve heard nothing but good things about this brand.

This… just isn’t good. But hey it’s packed with protein!

The Bottom Line:

If you’re watching your calories and really want a light ice cream, this isn’t the one. The consistency is awful and the flavor is bad.

8. Nubocha — Chocolate Arriba (Taste 5)

Average Price: $12

The Ice Cream:

Nubocha is a vegan plant-based gelato brand and is made using less sugar, and at only 250 calories per pint (!!!) it’s the lightest ice cream on this list. Despite its health-conscious recipe, it’s a significant step up from Halo Top in terms of flavor. The consistency is easily the worst though, which shouldn’t surprise anyone — dairy-free gonna dairy-free, as they say.

The Bottom Line:

Similar to Abuelita Mexican chocolate. Earthy and slightly bitter. Overall a good plant-based ice cream, but the consistency leaves a lot to be desired.

7. 365 Everyday Value (Taste 9)

Average Price: $3.77

The Ice Cream:

Whole Foods’ 365 Everday Value brand generally produces mediocre-to-solid products, so I’m not surprised to find that their ice cream is no different. While this one leans closer to good than mediocre, its flavor is ultimately forgettable. If you’re not afraid of high sugar content and you can stomach dairy, there are many better options than this one.

The Bottom Line:

Forgettable, if you buy a carton of this you’ll never buy another one. Unless you forgot that you’ve already tried it. Nothing but disappointment.

6. So Delicious — Dark Chocolate Truffle Cashewmilk (Taste 6)

Average Price: $7.99

The Ice Cream:

Made with cashew milk, So Delicious is another dairy-free brand but this one nails the consistency of ice cream so well that you wouldn’t even know it without looking at the pint. You can definitely taste the nuttiness of the cashew milk, but overall this is very creamy ice cream with great consistency and flavor.

It’s easy to roll your eyes at a brand called “So Delicious” but unlike Kroger’s Chocolate Paradise, this one isn’t lying to you.

The Bottom Line:

Probably the best dairy-free chocolate ice cream flavor on the market. The consistency is smooth, creamy, and convincing. So Delicious knocked it out of the park by using cashew milk instead of whatever the hell other non-dairy brands use (my hunch is that they use oil? Gross).

5. Dreyers/ Edy’s (Taste 8)

Average Price: $3.48

The Ice Cream:

Dreyers — known as Edy’s on the East Coast — has a recipe of skim milk, cream, sugar, and cocoa, which is a nice change over the brands that put corn syrup in the lineup as the main sweetener, as you can really taste strong cocoa flavors here.

Unfortunately, the slightly icy consistency really holds this one back. It’s not quite as creamy as you want it to be.

The Bottom Line:

A good chocolate ice cream flavor, but there are a few brands that deliver a better, creamier consistency.

4. Favorite Day Chocolate Ice Cream (Taste 2)

Average Price: $2.79

The Ice Cream:

Favorite Day is Target’s store brand and I was pleasantly surprised that this brand can compete with some of the bigger names in the ice cream world. The value brands tend to claim they’re just as good as the big-name brands at a more agreeable price, but I’ve never seen one actually deliver on that promise the way Favorite Day does.

For the price, I think this is an easy pick-up if you’re shopping on a budget but still want a sweet indulgence.

The Bottom Line:

A value brand that actually delivers.

3. Turkey Hill Belgian Style Chocolate

Average Price: $5.99

The Ice Cream:

I’ve gone back and forth on whether Turkey Hill deserved the number two or three spot but ultimately I’ve decided to award this one with the bronze medal. The flavor is refreshingly distinct, and the sourcing is solid, hailing from Turkey Hill’s Conestoga, PA facility where they use milk from local cows within a 75-mile distance from their dairy, but it doesn’t quite deliver what I think most people want from a chocolate ice cream. That’s not a bad thing, but you definitely won’t be able to serve this without someone saying, “Where is this chocolate ice cream from?”

That’ll sometimes be said in a positive tone, but not always! I can see people not liking this variety.

The Bottom Line:

Get this if you’re in a situation where you need chocolate ice cream, but want something a little different from the norm. Might serve you well as the base of a chocolate shake.

2. Breyers Chocolate Ice Cream

Average Price: $4.49

The Ice Cream:

For the money, Breyers — which won our vanilla test in a bit of a shocker — offers one of the best chocolate ice creams you can find. It’s affordable, readily available, and made using real cocoa. From the quality ingredients to the rich and focused flavor, to the creamy consistency, Breyers just delivers on all fronts. There is a reason this stuff is stocked in every market!

I’m not surprised to see this brand rank highly. In fact, I had guessed this would top the list before the blind tasting, so I was surprised this ended pretty much as a pick ’em with Turkey Hill.

The Bottom Line:

Breyers lives up to its reputation. Like all of its flavors, the Chocolate really delivers.

1. Häagen-Dazs — Chocolate

Average Price: $3.79

The Ice Cream:

I’ve never really bought the hype surrounding Häagen-Dazs so I’m glad I gave it the blind taste test treatment as separating the brand from the flavor really put into focus just how good this chocolate ice cream is. While a like the slightly bitter and earthy quality of Breyer’s, the sweeter Häagen-Dazs really nails the consistency. For that reason, it’s getting the number one spot.

The Bottom Line:

A great milk chocolate-flavor with a dense consistency that almost always scoops into a perfect ball. The top three on this list are all worth your time, but if you’re going to pick just one chocolate ice cream, this is the one!

Buying video games for many has become a game of copying a long code from one place to redeem it in another, and that very act was apparently part of an elaborate heist worth millions in Microsoft Xbox currency.

The story of Volodymyr Kvashuk’s scam quickly went viral this week thanks to a large Bloomberg piece about the scheme and its aftermath. The entire Bloomberg piece is fascinating, and details the sprawling tale of an immigrant who got a job at Microsoft as an engineer testing out flaws in the company’s online website. But he then stumbled into a loophole with digital gift cards that turned into one of the biggest online scams in recent memory.

Then Kvashuk found a bug that would change his life, a flaw so stupidly obvious that he couldn’t bring himself to report it to his managers. He noticed that whenever he tested purchases of gift cards, the Microsoft Store dispensed real 5×5 codes. It dawned on him: He could generate virtually unlimited codes, all for free. A former senior engineer on Kvashuk’s team—who, like other sources in this story, spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid being publicly associated with the wrongdoing that followed—says this was the Halo-age equivalent of a frontier bank leaving its vault unlocked. “Sooner or later, someone’s going to try to get away with taking $20,” the ex-Microsoft employee says. “When they don’t get caught, they figure, ‘All I need is six guys to empty out the safe one night when no other employees are around.’ ”

According to the story, they did, indeed, empty out that safe to the tune of more than 152,000 Xbox gift cards worth $10.1 million. In the end, the scam landed Kvashuk in jail. But before that, he quite literally controlled the market for online Xbox codes.

At one point, Kvashuk, who didn’t respond to repeated requests for comment, was flipping so many 5×5 codes that prosecutors said he was singularly responsible for global fluctuations in the price of Xbox gift cards on reseller markets. When prices dropped too low, he’d withhold his supply in the hope the drought would push the market upward. “This was an old-school crime with a high-tech MO,” says Michael Dion, the lead attorney in the government’s criminal case against Kvashuk.

The how and why, as well as his background and coming to America story, is certainly worth the read here. There are automated programs, secondary markets and very lucrative loopholes to exploit. Not to mention how Kvashuk was tracked down and found out. But the lesson here is that those codes you probably hate entering are extremely lucrative. And buying one from a shady source almost certainly has a very strange story attached to it.

[via Bloomberg]

Sometimes the best new R&B can be hard to find, but there are plenty of great rhythm and blues tunes to get into if you have the time to sift through the hundreds of newly released songs every week. So that R&B heads can focus on listening to what they really love in its true form, we’ll be offering a digest of the best new R&B songs that fans of the genre should hear every Friday.

While things were seemingly quiet around the music world ahead of the Fourth Of July weekend, we still received some great R&B records to enjoy. Brent Faiyaz and Drake impressed with their new collaboration, “Wasting Time,” an effort that begs for the presence of the special woman in their lives. Blxst and Bino Rideaux prepare their upcoming Sixtape 2 effort with a comical video for “Movie” while BJ The Chicago Kid put forth a soulful cover of The-Dream’s “Fancy.”

Brent Faiyaz — “Wasting Time” Feat. Drake

Brent Faiyaz quickly rose to be one of 2020’s favorite R&B acts and it came as a result of his beloved F*ck The World project, which arrived last year. Its 10 songs helped solidify a loyal cast of supporters for the Maryland singer, something that will only grow after he dropped “Wasting Time” with Drake. In the song, Faiyaz hopes the love of his life will come around to spend time with him while Drake delivers a verse that paints the struggles with a woman in his life.

Blxst & Bino Rideaux — “Movie”

Back in 2019, Blxst and Bino Rideaux joined forces for their Sixtape EP and nearly two years later, the duo is getting back together for Sixtape 2. With the effort confirmed for a July 16 release, Blxst and Bino drop off a video for the project’s lead single, “Movie.” It takes place at a dysfunctional car that features a cranky boss, even crankier employees, and customers trying to make sense of it all.

BJ The Chicago Kid — “Fancy”

Later this month will mark two years since BJ The Chicago Kid last graced the world with a project, that being his sophomore effort, 1123. Now, the singer is ready to flood the streets with new tunes as a part of his “BJ Wednesdays” series. In its second week, BJ delivers a soulful cover of The-Dream’s “Fancy.” When asked about his choice to cover The-Dream’s song, BJ said in a press release, “‘Fancy’ is one of my favorite songs from The-Dream and in my opinion, definitely one of the dopest, dare I say top 10 R&B songs to come out from our generation of music.”

Amorphous — “Finally (Cannot Hide It)” Feat. Kelly Rowland & CeCe Peniston

Next week, Amorphous will release his debut project, Things Take Shape. The EP is comprised of six songs and features the already-released “Back Together” with Kehlani. With less than seven days until the EP’s arrival, the viral producer returns with “Finally (Cannot Hide It)” featuring Kelly Rowland and Cece Peniston. Thanks to pumping production and Rowland’s undeniably strong vocals on the highly celebratory track, the new effort is a great display of house for Amorphous.

Mariah The Scientist — “Aura”

Mariah The Scientist caught the attention of many R&B lovers with her 2019 project, Master. Her unique sound made her stand out from the crowd and her songwriting skills made it easy to appreciate and love her. Next week, the Atlanta native will share her second effort, Ry Ry World, another ten-track effort that this time features Lil Baby and Young Thug. Ahead of its release, she shares “Aura,” a dreamy effort that reflects on an unfaithful lover.

Asiahn — “OMW”

Asiahn continues to impress with every release as her flawless vocals find new ways to construct ear-pleasing tracks for listeners. One example is her “OMW” single which she released at the end of May. Earlier this week, she shared a video for the track that captures her on an introspective journey towards success and she rides through Los Angeles in a 1966 Volvo with her niece in the backseat. We even get a look at a young Asiahn performing back in her hometown of Charlotte, North Carolina.

Thuy — “In My Bag”

Rising Bay Area singer Thuy shared a new video for her 2021 track, “In My Bag,” earlier this week. The track itself drips in confidence and its accompanying video paints a picture of her boastful spirit. The track is also the third single from her upcoming yet-to-be-titled EP. Speaking about the song in a press release, Thuy said, “I had to face a lot of rejection and instead of giving in to the no’s, criticism, and judgment from others, I saw it as motivation because I knew I had it in me to be great.”

Lolo Zouaï — “Galipette”

After sharing a deluxe reissue for her High Highs To Low Lows project back in 2019, Lolo Zouaï arrives with her first single of the year with “Galipette.” The high-octane effort arrives with a video that sees the singer boxing underwater, crashing a mattress store, and synchronized dancing with UCLA Women’s Gymnastics team.

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

JP Saxe is fresh off the momentum of a huge Grammy nomination, when his collaboration with Julia Michaels, “If The World Was Ending,” was nominated for Song Of The Year. Now, his debut album, Dangerous Levels Of Introspection came out last Friday, and he’s on the late night circuit to introduce some of the songs to a wider audience. Joining him for a late night performance on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert is none other than John Mayer (who is about to release a new record of his own), and given the context of his track, it seems like Saxe definitely came up admiring Mayer and his whole sound.

“Here’s Hopin” is one of those gut-wrenching breakup songs about that awful stretch of wanting and missing a former lover that comes after the end of the relationship and before the healing. Luckily, Saxe and his frequent collaborator and now girlfriend Julia Michaels have found each other, because nobody writes a breakup record like these two do! The other major feature on Saxe’s new record is country crossover star Maren Morris, so he’s definitely got great taste in collaborators. Check out the performance above to get a taste of what Saxe is like as a live performer, along with a hefty jam set from Mayer, and look out for a lot more from this young songwriter.

As Ed Sheeran recently noted in response to a particularly probing question from a child, when it comes to money, he has “more than [he] would ever need.” It would seem that this leads to situations where Sheeran almost throws his cash away, but thankfully, his manager, Stuart Camp, keeps him grounded. For example, Sheeran apparently had to be talked out of buying and moving to an island that he wouldn’t have even been able to build a house on.

Sheeran and Camp both guested on the Normal Not Normal podcast recently (as Metro notes), which is hosted by James and Oliver Phelps, best known for their roles in the Harry Potter movies as Fred and George Weasley. At one point, Sheeran asked Camp, “What’s the most ridiculous thing you’ve talked me down from recently?” Camp didn’t have an answer at first, saying, “There’s too many!” Sheeran jogged his memory, though, by noting, “Usually moving places.”

Camp then jumped in, “‘I’m gonna buy an island here,’ or, ‘I’ve had enough, me and Cherry [Seaborn, Sheeran’s wife] are emigrating to Ghana for three years.’ Stuff like that. You’ll get the odd thing like that and I go, ‘Yes, dear.’ You sort of let the idea percolate and it’ll kill itself eventually.”

Sheeran added with a laugh, “I sent Stuart this uninhabited island in Ireland that you’re not even allowed to build a house on and I was like, ‘I think this is a good idea! I think I’m going to buy this and move here!”

Meanwhile, Sheeran just finished a week of performances on The Late Late Show, so revisit those here.

Ed Sheeran is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

A little over two years ago, the Phoenix Suns, months removed from a 19-63 season, selected Cameron Johnson 11th overall in the 2019 NBA Draft, a decision that was met with waves of criticism. The naysayers (myself included, whoops!) said Johnson was likely to top out as a serviceable role player and high-level off-ball shooter. But the common refrain was the Suns needed more as they aimed to snap their lengthy playoff drought and advance their rebuild.

Many clamored for Gonzaga’s Brandon Clarke. Others suggested Kentucky’s PJ Washington or Tyler Herro. You’d be hard-pressed to find too many people advocating for the 23-year-old who had a potentially troubling history of injuries and, while an excellent collegiate player, wasn’t deemed the injection of youthful talent the team needed because of a supposedly limited skill-set.

Two seasons later, Johnson, despite a down 2020-21 campaign from deep (34.9 percent), certainly looks worthy of his Draft range and has provided value in an assortment of ways beyond outside shooting. Last year, he solidified himself as a rotational wing on a playoff contender. This year, even with the upgrades Phoenix ushered in to transform itself from a playoff hopeful to Western Conference champion, he remained a crucial part of the rotation.

Although he missed Game 6 of the Western Conference Finals due to a non-COVID illness, he was essential to the Suns during the initial five games, averaging 10.8 points, four rebounds, and 1.2 steals on a scorching 86.2 percent true shooting (.700/.529/1.000 split) in 23.8 minutes per night.

Throughout the series, he served as one of Phoenix’s best players, offering vital two-way impact and embodying the duties of a complementary player. Offensively, he connected on nine of 17 triples and 12 of 13 two-pointers, dicing up the Los Angeles Clippers with versatile off-ball movement. He scored off of screens, cuts and offensive rebounds, notching timely baskets for a sputtering offense (before its Game 6 explosion, at least).

Phoenix’s offense is predicated on screening, movement, and passing. Johnson’s off-ball savvy slots perfectly in that ethos. Chris Paul and Devin Booker are the foundation of success, but guys like Johnson, Mikal Bridges, Deandre Ayton, and Jae Crowder help amplify said success. It’s a testament to both the individual skills of each player, but also general manager James Jones, whose roster construction has aligned with his conception of the team, and head coach Monty Williams’ offensive scheme catering to the strengths of the personnel at his disposal. Johnson is an example of harmonic decision-making.

The offensive rebounding-into-a-score sequences are only a fraction of how Johnson stamped his signature on the series in outlets other than flashy scoring or playmaking. His off-ball feel pervaded through various facets, whether it be taking the optimal path to snag boards, darting in for an unscripted cut and screen, or snappily executing a heady pass amid a scramble situation.

The “little things” cliche for role players can be exhausting and a cover-up for specific skills, yet Johnson’s fingerprints were all over his five games against the Clippers. Even if he performed at his season-long shooting slash line (.420/.349/.847, 56.3 percent true shooting), it would’ve been a tremendous run for him. He crafted significant value unrelated to scoring production and efficiency.

Whereas shrewd off-ball movement and premier three-point shooting are entirely within his wheelhouse, Johnson excelled as a defender, too. He’s displayed serviceable defense, particularly off the ball, throughout his career, but really shined against a number of on-ball matchups in Phoenix’s switch-heavy scheme this past round.

The Clippers’ glut of shot creators/scorers, largely wing-sized, encountered trouble when trying to attack him. He displayed exquisite mobility and change of direction at 6’8, handled his business navigating ball-screens, and refused to concede the ounces of space his assignments sought to seamlessly elevate for comfortable looks, making him one of the Suns’ best on-ball defenders in the series. Plus, there were a couple of the “little plays” — a hallmark of his five-game showing — that resulted in steals. His positional versatility was front and center at various points.

When the final buzzer of Game 6 blared, marking the Suns’ first NBA Finals appearance since 1992-93, storylines justifiably gravitated toward four people: Paul, Booker, Ayton, and Williams. Paul, for a breakthrough 16 years in the making; Booker, for the fortitude of enduring years of dreadful losing to provide the bedrock of the franchise’s turnaround; Ayton, for his rapid maturation and effervescent personality; Williams, for his pivotal role in establishing a winning culture in an organization mired by dysfunctional losing for nearly a decade.

Yet analyzing these playoffs on a round-by-round basis allows one to hone in on smaller samples and intricacies. Every time Johnson took the floor against the Clippers, it felt as though his presence positively cast a wide net, only to be overshadowed by the Booker-Patrick Beverley duel, Paul’s reintegration following his absence due to asymptomatic COVID, and Ayton vs. the Clippers’ small-ball brigade and Ivica Zubac.

Those were understandably the domineering subplots. Johnson’s contributions, though, both in this series and during his two-year NBA tenure, seem like a theme of Phoenix’s rise: a smart, talented player whose optimal fit demanded patience and a bird’s eye view.

Johnson has been a good player since October 2019, but he’s never been worth more to the Suns than he was in the Western Conference Finals. All of the skills that define him as much more than a shooting specialist coalesced to help propel this team to the precipice of its first NBA championship in franchise history. It’s merely another reason all that draft day ridicule was both misguided and hasty. Jones had a vision when he assumed GM duties 27 months ago and the acquisition of few players, if any, reflect that vision better than Johnson.

To commemorate the 25th anniversary of Independence Day, the filmmakers and cast revisited the making of one of the most defining films of the 1990s in an oral history of the film for The Hollywood Reporter. Written by Dean Devlin and directed by Roland Emmerich, Independence Day was the team’s follow-up to Stargate, and the two had kicked off a bidding war after knocking out the script in just under a month. The film eventually landed at 20th Century Fox, but while the studio was in love with the script, things got touch-and-go when it came to casting.

According to Devlin, at one point, Kevin Spacey was eyed as the top contender for the role of President Thomas Whitmore, which ultimately went to Bill Pullman. Via THR:

DEVLIN I knew Kevin [Spacey] since high school. We had just seen The Usual Suspects, an early cut. The original idea was to portray the president as a villain, and it was going to be a twist that he’s heroic when he gets in the plane [at the end of the movie]. That’s why we were pushing for Kevin Spacey. At one point we said, “We can get Kevin for $200K right now. In a year from now he’s going to win an Oscar and he’s going to [cost] $2 million.” The studio executive said, “Kevin Spacey will never win an Oscar in my lifetime.”

Fortunately, for everyone involved and fans of the film, Spacey did not get the part, and Pullman ended up delivering the iconic “Today, we celebrate our Independence Day” speech. Although, that pivotal scene almost went down in flames when it came time to shoot it. According to Devlin, he had just fired off a quick draft of the speech when he initially wrote the script and never went back to rewrite it. As he raced to the set to rework the rousing rallying cry just as it was about to be filmed, he found Pullman already prepared and given it the flourishes we now recognize thanks to hours of devouring historical speeches in his trailer.

“I remember how good it felt to have a certain fatigue in it,” Pullman recalled. “The extras were tired. The ADs are tired. That fatigue can spread. And then I just thought, ‘This is good. It really feels like we need to get everybody roused up a little bit, and get ready for the fight.’”

(Via The Hollywood Reporter)

Well, we know The Weeknd is about to enter a new era artistically, but maybe that declaration extends to his personal life, too. After tabloid The Sun reported that Abel Tesfaye and Angelina Jolie went to dinner together at Giorgio Baldi in Los Angeles, fans are wondering what the two celebrities might have in common. Was it a date?

Jolie is still locked in a custody battle with her former husband, Brad Pitt. The pair filed for divorce back in 2016, but are still trying to sort out the legal situation concerning their six children together. For his part, The Weeknd has been romantically linked with Selena Gomez and Bella Hadid in the past. The Weeknd has referenced Jolie’s ex before, in one of his most ubiquitous hits “Starboy,” the lyrics go ” “Let a n—- Brad Pitt, legend of the fall took the year like a bandit,” but Angelina doesn’t seem to mind…. since he also referenced her in “Party Monster” with the line “Angelina, lips like Angelina.”

If these two are about to be an item, Twitter, as usual, has thoughts. They also have jokes about whether or not Angelina is look for another partner… or another child. Check out a selection of some of the best reactions and to their meet-up below. As usual, the internet remains undefeated. But, if we’re about to get an Angelina Jolie-inspired album from Mr. Tesfaye, then this new era is going to be a doozy for sure.