Category: News

Abigail Mack, an 18-year-old high school senior from Massachusetts, is over the moon after being admitted to Harvard during the most competitive admission season of all time.

Applications to the university skyrocketed during the pandemic and it was only able to accept 1,968 out of 57,435 first-year applicants, less than 4%.

However, Abigail didn’t just overcome long odds during the application process, she was accepted because she was able to thrive as a high school student after losing her mother to cancer. Her experience losing a parent was the topic of her inspiring admissions essay which has touched countless lives.

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A TikTok post of her reading a portion of the letter went viral with millions of views.

Her essay begins with a meditation on the letter “S” and how it has affected her life.

“I hate the letter ‘S,'” Abigail’s essay begins. “Of the 164,777 words with ‘S,’ I only grapple with one. To condemn an entire letter because of its use .0006 percent of the time sounds statistically absurd, but that one case changed 100 percent of my life. I used to have two parents, but now I have one, and the ‘S’ in ‘parents’ isn’t going anywhere.”

“‘S’ follows me,” she continued. “I can’t get through a day without being reminded that while my friends went out to dinner with their parents, I ate with my parent. As I write this essay, there is a blue line under the word ‘parent’ telling me to check my grammar; even Grammarly assumes that I should have parents, but cancer doesn’t listen to edit suggestions.”

“I won’t claim that my situation is as unique as one in 164,777, but it is still an exception to the rule — an outlier,” she continued. “The world isn’t meant for this special case.”

Abigail then shares that after losing a parent she got involved with as many extracurricular activities as possible to get her mind off of the gut-wrenching loss.

“You can’t have dinner with your parent…if you’re too busy to have family dinner,” she said. “I couldn’t fill the loss that ‘S’ left in my life, but I could at least make sure I didn’t have to think about it. There were so many things in my life I couldn’t control, so I controlled what I could — my schedule.”

But eventually, she decided to go from mourning the loss of one “S” to embracing two by whittling down her activities to three “paSSions”: Theater, academics, and politics.

“‘S’ got me moving, but it hasn’t kept me going,” Abigail concluded in her essay. “I don’t seek out sadness, so ‘S’ must stay on the sidelines, and until I am completely ready, motivation is more than enough for me.”

Abigail’s mother opened up a dance studio which is still run by her father, a musician, so theater is a natural extension of her upbringing. She excelled at academics, becoming the valedictorian of her school. Politics is a passion she developed over the summer of 2020.

“When the Black Lives Matter demonstrations were occurring this past summer, I realized how passionately I felt about politics,” she told Buzzfeed. “I knew that I could no longer stand idly by and watch as the world made leaps forward without me. I became a fellow on Senator Ed Markey’s re-election campaign and also taught volunteers how to phone bank for Joe Biden’s campaign. It was extremely gratifying to feel like my voice was being heard.”

Abigail is unsure what her major will be at Harvard but she plans to pursue social sciences, the humanities, and possibly French.

She has some great advice for high schoolers coming up behind her to get into their dream schools.

“Your college application is a culmination of everything you’ve done in high school,” she said. “You’ve already put in the work, so the hardest part is done. Now, you just have to put pen to paper, share what you’ve accomplished, and, most importantly, illustrate how you plan to make a difference going forward in your own, unique way.”

Seth Rogen and James Franco have made some of the funniest and most popular films over the past two decades. The two have starred alongside each other in comedies such as “The Interview,” “Sausage Party,” “Pineapple Express,” and “This is the End.”

However, the two haven’t worked together since 2017’s “The Disaster Artist” and, according to Rogen, a lot of it has to do with the sexual misconduct allegations made against Franco.

In 2014, Franco was accused of soliciting a 17-year-old girl on Instagram. After the teenager revealed her age, Franco still pursued her asking, “You’re single? What’s the hotel? Should I rent a room?”

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via Instagram

Since the first allegation, five more women came forward in 2018. They were inspired to share their stories after he wore a “Time’s Up” pin at the Academy Awards. The five of the women accused Franco of inappropriate or sexually exploitative behavior. Four of them were students at his now-defunct acting studio and another claimed Franco was her mentor.

“James [Franco] is absolutely not a Harvey Weinstein.” Two of Franco’s accusers have spoken out about their experie… https://t.co/DX8r9pTZJ5

— New York Magazine (@NYMag)
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At the time, Franco denied the accusations but applauded the women for speaking up which many called out as a hypocritical attempt to have things both ways.

“The things that I heard that were on Twitter are not accurate, but I completely support people coming out and being able to have a voice because they didn’t have a voice for so long. So, I don’t want to shut them down in any way. It’s a good thing and I support it,” Franco said.

Earlier this year, Franco reached a settlement with two former students at his acting school.

In a recent interview with Britain’s Sunday Times, Rogen spoke out about his professional relationship with Franco.

“What I can say is that I despise abuse and harassment, and I would never cover or conceal the actions of someone doing it, or knowingly put someone in a situation where they were around someone like that,” Rogen said when asked about actress Charlyne Yi’s claim that he enabled Franco.

Rogen also apologized about a joke he made on “Saturday Night Live” in 2014 where he pretended that he pranked Franco by posing as a 17-year-old on Instagram.

Rogen Journal Monologue – Saturday Night Live

www.youtube.com

“I do look back at a joke I made on ‘Saturday Night Live’ in 2014 and I very much regret making that joke,” adding: “It was a terrible joke, honestly. And I also look back to that interview in 2018 where I comment that I would keep working with James, and the truth is that I have not and I do not plan to right now.”

Rogen told the newspaper that the allegations have created a rift in his relationship with Franco, but sympathies should lie with the accusers.

“I can say it, um, you know, it has changed many things in our relationship and our dynamic.” However, he believes his own situation is “not as painful and difficult as it is for a lot of other people involved. I have no pity for myself in this situation.”

Although Rogen once joked about his former co-star’s behavior it’s good to see him coming around to understanding that Franco’s alleged behavior should be condemned. It took a while for Rogen to publicly discuss his true feelings about Franco, but his ability to put the health and safety of women before his professional and personal relationship with the actor is commendable.

Florida rapper Lil Pump was understandably upset when he discovered that someone busted the windows of his luxury car over the weekend, posting a video in which he threatens the as-yet-unknown culprits with violent repercussions. Panning his phone’s camera over the damage, Pump promised, “Whoever did this, I’ma catch you and I’ma blow your brains out… Step foot in my yard again. I want you to step foot in my yard. I’ma be up for three days straight… That’s a free body for me.”

Pump seems to have gotten himself into a number of disagreements over the past year, including with JetBlue Airlines after refusing to wear a mask during a December flight and with Eminem fans after lashing out at the elder rapper over Eminem’s derogatingly name-checking him in songs.

Of course, Pump also seemingly invited the disapproval of a great many outspoken hip-hop fans when he decided to endorse Donald Trump’s re-election run — despite not being registered to vote himself — even going so far as releasing the baffling single, “Lil Pimp Big MAGA Steppin.”

After doing so much to alienate so many people, it’s not hard to believe that the destruction was meant to antagonize Pump, but it’s equally likely he’s merely seeing the rift between rabblerousing youth and adults from the other side.,

Strap in everyone, it looks like the console wars are being taken to the streets — literally. A few days ago, Complex got their hands on an Adidas document detailing an upcoming collaboration between the sportswear manufacturer and Xbox. The document breaks down the company’s plans for four new sneaker styles throughout 2021, with even more planned for the following. This news comes not long after Nike revealed their exclusive PlayStation 5 sneakers inspired by the Sony console’s “sleek design,” which are scheduled to release on May 27.

According to the original report, the Adidas x Xbox collaboration will stay true to the console’s signature colors, with both the shoes and their boxes coming primarily in that iconic green and black. The first shoe will be a promo version of the Forum Tech Boost (style number GZ3733) and is set to release in June. It will then be followed by two pairs of Adidas’ retro Forum Mid basketball sneakers (style numbers GW7794 and GW7795) in October, and the Forum Tech (style number GW2646) in November. The document also mentions Adidas x Xbox sneakers are planned for 2022, though the details and designs are still uncertain. As of right now, there are no exact prices listed.

Also in the original report is the photo shown above, which is a work-in-progress of the upcoming Xbox x Adidas Forum Tech Boost. However, Complex stated the mock-up is “a first-round sample of the Forum Tech Boost,” and “the final sneaker that will release later this year could look significantly different.”

One of the network’s longest-tenured figures is out at the Worldwide Leader. In a post on his Twitter account, Kenny Mayne announced that he’s a “salary cap casualty” at ESPN, and as a result, his nearly three decades as a SportsCenter host and personality across a number of platforms has come to an end.

Mayne thanked a number of individuals who played a role in getting him to ESPN back in 1994 and listed a handful of things he’d miss, including “the vending machine set up over by the old Van Pelt joint.”

Andrew Marchand of the New York Post reported that Mayne was offered a chance to stay with the network, albeit after a pay cut.

Mayne began his tenure at ESPN back in 1994, and in the years since has endeared himself to viewers with his dry sense of humor and lighthearted approach to sports. This was evident whenever he’d man the SportsCenter desk over the years, or whenever he’d take on another project at the network to show off his personality — he was the host of the web series Kenny Mayne’s Wider World of Sports and was star of the scripted online series Mayne Street, which featured Mayne playing an exaggerated version of himself.

Beyond his television work, Mayne authored the book An Incomplete And Inaccurate History Of Sports in 2008. A popular personality during his time at Bristol, there is no word on what the future holds for Mayne.

If you’re not from the East Coast, hearing the phrase “New York” might conjure visions of crowded streets, the glittering lights of Broadway, neighborhoods that you’ve seen a thousand times in movies from every era of American film, and big slices of greasy-cheesy pizza. But that’s actually just New York City, ya know? Merely 302.6 square miles in a state of 54,556 square miles.

Meaning that limiting your ideas of New York to the five boroughs leaves you with a woefully inadequate picture of the state. And ignores a whole lot of natural beauty.

Evan Dorfman and Ben Cronin of indie electronic duo Gilligan Moss don’t buy into any narrow view of what defines New York. They’ve spent the last three years exploring everything upstate has to offer while crafting their self-titled debut album, letting the serene environment inform the soundscape.

“We spent a lot of our time in a house with open windows,” Dorfman says. “We began our mornings by writing material in two separate stations and in the evenings we could come together to play the ideas loudly into the garden. By the end of the trip, the outside and inside spaces felt continuous and our sense of location began informing a lot of the sounds and feeling the music. Lots of flowers, tall grass, and birds abound.”

That might lead you to believe Gilligan Moss is full of chirping birds and the hippie, back-to-basics vibes of ’70s upstate New York, but that couldn’t be further from the actual sound of the record. Instead, the album is full of driving rhythms, funky bass lines, and sparkling synths that build off of the group’s two previous eps, as well as the visually-inspiring qualities of their 13 track mix for Adventure Time: Distant Lands.

On the heels of last Friday’s release of Gilligan Moss, the indie duo set us up with a guide to the New York countryside sights that helped to inspire their debut album. Their tips make for one hell of an adventure, and it all ends as it should — back in the outer reaches of NYC, crushing a slice of pizza.

Baxter Preserve, North Salem NY

Baxter Preserve holds a special place in our hearts; we’ve done a lot of writing retreats nearby, and it’s a staple for us as far as pastoral NY goes. It’s a giant loop with tall grasses and a nice sized pond, for pondering. It’s bordered by some beautiful farms and feels historic in a way. Old stone walls line many of the walking paths, and there’s even a neat little creek. Great for working out a creative idea.

Biggest recommendation: go in the early morning.

Ward Pound Ridge, Pound Ridge NY

A Westchester park, and the biggest one at that. We’ve done some camping here — get in line for a permit early! — and a fair amount of hiking. The trails are gorgeous, and the reservation feels ecologically emblematic of a pre-human New York. 10/10 would recommend checking out the Bear Rock Petroglyphs.

Also, it’s the only place on our list that is home to Jeopardy champion Austin Rogers.

Mashomack Preserve, Shelter Island NY

Shelter Island is probably most well-known for Sunset Beach, and the summery party-forward vibe that comes with it. But there are some “hidden gem” walking trails on the island, too. It’s a coastal marsh, and the wildlife is really vibrant. If you like walking around and watching birds do their thing, it’s a place to go. Take the Jitney out, or drive and take a ferry.

Equal parts party and nature — our album is the same vibe.

Appalachian Trail at Wingdale NY

We did a writing camp near here, too. We’re trying to hone our mushroom hunting skills, and so far the only success we’ve ever had has been on the Appalachian Trail. Up near Wingdale — two-ish hours from the city — there are a lot of access points to the trail. The trails feel connected to an older time.

Bring some turkey sandwiches a la Evan — mayo and cucumber — and enjoy some walking in the outdoors.

Wave Hill Public Garden + Cultural Center, The Bronx NY

Gilly Day Trip: Get 15% stoned, grab a bike, and charge your way up to Wave Hill. It’s really strange and beautiful, and if you are a fan of flowers then this place has some delights in store for you. There are tables and benches to eat if you pack a lunch, and the grounds will put NY in a different perspective. It’s kind of the opposite of wilderness though — very well manicured and prim.

Be aware — there is an entry fee. If you’re tired after a long bike ride, you can take the train back to Grand Central very easily.

Peekskill Landing Park, NY

A tiny little park with an even tinier little beach looking out over the Hudson. We love this one for a number of reasons:

1. It’s about an hour from Brooklyn.
2. It’s not super crowded.
3. It’s great if you have a dog with crippling anxiety — she doesn’t have to be around a lot of people and can go swimming at the little mini beach.
4. It’s right across the street from Peekskill Brewery — the move is to grab some food and beer, walk across to the park, let the dogs go swimming while you swig back a cool IPA, and take in the beauty of the Hudson River.

New Suffolk Beach

This is another little gem of a beach that never has a ton of people at it — our dogs run our lives here at Gilmo HQ, and when you have an anxious dog, you have to bookmark all the quiet beaches around New York.

This is a nice little day trip if you want to explore the north fork. You can hang at the beach, check out some of the surrounding towns, and make your way out to Greenport at the end of the island.

The Rockaways

The Japanese have the term Shinrin-yoku — taking in the forest or “forest bathing” — and at Gilmo HQ we need a similar term for Rockaways Bathing. It may not be a day in nature, but it definitely cleanses the soul. We’ve done it all down in the Rockaways — weddings, album photo shoots, birthdays, we’ve even played a show sponsored by the Parks Department on the beach.

We could go on, but we must give a special shoutout to Howard Beach’s New Park Pizza — the best slice in the city, hands down. You have to order it well done.

For the past decade, Marvel has continuously pushed the limit on just how many A-list caped crusaders a studio can fit on a movie screen. In Endgame‘s final battle alone, over 30 of Earth’s mightiest heroes stood ready to lay down their lives in order to stop Thanos and restore order to the world. However, this raises the question of when will we see Marvel properties round-up a bunch of folks who don’t play nice together. While DC has their Suicide Squad and Sony’s X-Men tackled The Brotherhood of Mutants, outside of Hydra (which while an evil organization feels unfair to call a “supergroup”), Marvel movies haven’t created a formidable organization of villains — at least not yet.

On Sept. 24, Sony’s Venom: Let There Be Carnage hits theaters, and based on the new trailer, what we know about the next Spider-Man film, and even the short Morbius trailer that dropped last year, it could mark the start of a multi-dimensional Spider-Man show-off against the most iconic super-villain group in comics: the Sinister Six.

Created in 1964, The Sinister Six are an organization of six supervillains that really don’t care for Spider-Man and all his do-goodery. In the first incarnation of the group (as well as in many of the versions that follow), Doctor Octopus, Electro, Kraven the Hunter, Mysterio, Sandman, and Vulture are the ones to band together and take on Spidey. However, several other of Peter Parker’s foes have played a part in Sinister Six, including Rhino, Green Goblin, Lizard, Morbius, and even Eddie Brock’s Venom.

So, what makes this all seem so likely? In the upcoming Spider-Man movie, Spider-Man: No Way Home, Alfred Molina is reprising his role as Doctor Octopus, and Jamie Foxx is returning as Electro, two major players in the Sinister Six. What makes this so unusual — and exciting — is that both of these actors worked in Sony movies by different directors, featuring different Peter Parkers, leading to speculation that a multiverse event is incoming. While this might seem farfetched, Marvel Studios already has an established multiverse (Earth-616 being the most commonly used and “normal” dimension) and is seemingly leaning harder into it with WandaVision and Doctor Strange 2: In the Multiverse of Madness, the latter of which is directed by first Spider-Man director Sam Rami.

Pretty interesting, right? It gets better!

Now, unlike Spider-Man, both Let There Be Carnage and Morbius (coming early 2022) have not been invited to the MCU Phase Four parties — but both trailers prove that might not matter. In the Morbius trailer, there are two huge indicators the movie takes place in the primary MCU: graffiti on a wall calling Spider-Man a murderer (which checks out with how Spider-Man: Far From Home ends), and an appearance by an incarcerated Vulture, reprised by Spider-Man: Homecoming’s Michael Keaton.

In the trailer for Let There Be Carnage, a parallel comes in the shape of The Daily Bugle — the in-comic newspaper Spider-Man is persecuted by and works for. You see, the version of the Daily Bugle we see looks identical to the one in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man series. In addition, the story shown in the newspaper in the trailer has the headline “Avengers Lose to Nightmare.” This could mean two interesting things: there is a universe where the Avengers lost, and we might see that universe in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, in which Nightmare is rumored to be a villain. Oh, and did we mention Sam Raimi is directing that? This man just keeps popping up.

While director Andy Serkis said, Venom is “unaware at this point of other characters like Spider-Man,” and the studio is treating his story very separately from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, he also remarked there are “little things you can pick out of it.” This leads us to believe the connections exist and will be abundant in Let There Be Carnage, and man, we can’t wait to see them.

The Crime of the Century (HBO, 9:00pm) — Alex Gibney’s recent successes include skewering the botched pandemic response (which continues to disastrously reverberate) as well as Elizabeth Holmes and the Church of Scientology. He’s now taking aim at Big Pharma for a two-part HBO documentary called Crime of the Century. Tonight, Part 1 dives into how Purdue Pharma aggressively marketed OxyContin to get the highly profitable pill pushed through the FDA approvals for wide use without sufficient studies and evidence. The project also argues that this OxyContin-paved crisis made it much easier for even more dangerous prescription drugs to achieve the same results.

Running Wild With Bear Grylls (Nat Geo, 9:00pm) — Model and actress Cara Delevingne joins Bear to do the daredevil-in-nature thing.

9-1-1 (Fox, 8:00pm) — The gang just respond to sheer chaos after a mystery writer dies, and the entire city goes on the hunt for the author’s buried treasure.

9-1-1: Lone Star (Fox, 9:00pm) — Owen’s suddenly the prime suspect in the serial arsonist case while a fiery situation also plagues T.K. and Carlos.

Debris (NBC, 10:00pm) — Bryan’s past comes to light due to knowledge held by a woman affected by the Debris, which leads to Bryan working to confront his trauma.

Breeders (FX, 10:00pm) — Martin Freeman’s starring turn in this comedy enters the sophomore season with new parenting challenges. This week, a power outage strikes at As Jim and Jackie’s golden wedding anniversary party.

The Late Show With Stephen Colbert — Jake Tapper, Billie Eilish

Jimmy Kimmel Live — Ewan McGregor, George Wallace, LuckyDaye Ft. Yebba

The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon — Leslie Jones, X González, Weezer

Late Night With Seth Meyers — Tracee Ellis Ross, Paula Pell

The Late Late Show With James Corden — David Oyelowo, Maisie Peters

In case you missed these streaming picks:

Mythic Quest: Season 2 (Apple TV+ series) — Two pandemic specials sustained viewers between seasons of Rob McElhenney’s workplace comedy, which shall see plenty of awkward maneuvering while the crew comes back to the office after you-know-what happened. In short, sometimes the bigger battle than the work itself is learning (and in this case, relearning) how to achieve harmony with one’s coworkers, but here’s great news: Snoop Dogg stops by this season to spread his feel-good… vibes.

Jupiter’s Legacy (Netflix series) — Kick-Ass and Kingsman creator Mark Millar is to thank for this epic superhero series, starring a heavily bearded Josh Duhamel as The Utopian. He’s the head of a superhero family that’s hoping to pass the torch to a new generation, but (no real surprise) things aren’t going well. Yes, this description does evoke shades of Robert Kirkman’s Invincible (on Amazon), but the vibe is less R-rated and also entertaining on its own merits. No spoilers here, but there are twists involved with this family’s ethics as heroes, and the show answers a lot of questions left open by Marvel Studios’ The Avengers with all of its collateral damage.

As Rudy Giuliani continues to face mounting legal problems including the recent raid on his apartment by federal investigators, two competing documentaries have been announced that will explore the downfall of the man who was once referred to as “America’s Mayor.” The first documentary is from Campfire Studios, the team behind the critically-acclaimed WeWork: Or the Making and Breaking of a $47 Billion Unicorn for Hulu. That project will take a longer look at Giuliani’s career including his time in the 1980s as one of New York City’s top federal prosecutors. While we mostly know him as the shout-y guy leaking hair dye from his skull while pushing Donald Trump’s “Big Lie” about the 2020 election, the Campfire doc will explore the almost forgotten time when Giuliani was legendary for his skills at bringing down mafia bosses.

The other doc will be a collaboration between MRC Non Fiction and Rolling Stone that takes a more recent look at Giuliani’s fall from grace. While lauded for his leadership in the aftermath of 9/11, Giuliani’s star began to fade as the terrorist attack became too large of a focus during his attempted runs at the Republican presidential nomination, and things didn’t improve as he continued to get sucked into the GOP’s orbit before becoming latched to Trump. Via Deadline:

“Rarely has a public figure in America fallen so far so fast in the public eye,” says Jason Fine, Rolling Stone’s Director Content Development. “As we’ve reported on Rudy’s downfall — his bizarre political maneuvering, shady business dealings, and now, being under criminal investigation by the same U.S. Attorney’s Office in Manhattan that he once ran — we see his story as a parable for the dark forces that have shaped American politics.”

Of course, the most important part of any Rudy documentary is making sure to include his wild wine lady witness Mellissa Carrone. We’re guessing both docs will have a lengthy segment on the former dancer turned political “whistleblower.” You honestly can’t tell Giuliani’s story without her.

(Via Deadline)

Tucker Carlson has spent the last few weeks pushing some fear-mongering nonsense related to the Covid vaccine, but do the rest of his Fox News cohorts share that same irrational aversion to protecting themselves from the deadliest pandemic in our lifetime? Apparently not.

On Monday morning, just a day after the hashtag #TuckerVaxxed was shared around social media, the gang on Fox & Friends — Steve Doocy, Ainsley Earhardt, and Brian Kilmeade — used their airtime to reveal that all three of them have been vaccinated, and they’re pretty damn relieved about it. Carlson, who’s shared plenty of disinformation with his viewers (citing unconfirmed death tolls and encouraging his viewers to harass mask wearers), faced criticism from CNN medical advisor and analyst Jonathan Reiner for failing to be transparent about his own vaccination status. Reiner demanded to know if Carlson had actually been vaccinated, which would make his conspiracy-laden, anti-vax campaign on the network not only dangerous but hypocritical as well.

Carlson has yet to fess up about whether he got stabbed or not, but his colleagues at Fox News did this morning as Earhardt admitted all three Fox & Friends hosts had gotten the shot and were happier for it.

“I understand there are people that have vaccine hesitancy but we all three are vaccinated and I tell you when I got it it was like, ‘okay…relief,” Earhardt said on-air. Doocy agreed with her, adding that those who haven’t gotten the shot yet are the ones “in peril.” The trio was discussing recent CDC mitigation efforts focused on masking indoors and social distancing measures that may stay in place longer than we’d hoped, but the timing of this vaccination confession feels a little suspect considering all the heat Carlson got over the weekend. Does this signal a rift at Fox? Are the ultra-conservative, right-wing pundits at the news network actually advocating for wildly liberal concepts like “science” and “facts”?

Probably not. After all, Kilmeade was quick to point out that it was the individual’s choice of whether to receive the vaccine or not though all three seemed to suggest that if their viewers chose not to get the shot, they should expect to have to continue following mask mandates and social distancing policies. Still, even hinting at the possibility that their freedom to choose might come with consequences — and that it is probably safer and easier to just go ahead and get vaccinated already — is in stark contrast to the panic-peddling that Carlson seems to be doing on his own show.