Category: News

Bob Odenkirk describes himself as a 58-year-old dad who worked as a comedy writer for 25 years and didn’t work out at all. But in his next movie, that body is going to do some ass-kicking. And so now we have a workout video that attempts to explain how that happened.

In a video Odenkirk did with Men’s Health, he details the workout plan that allowed him to star in Nobody, a John Wick-style action flick where the dude from Tom Goes To The Mayor kills a bunch of people with his hands and feet.

“It’s very different than everything I’ve done my whole life,” Odenkirk says, as clips from his turn as Saul Goodman in Breaking Bad play. “So I had to do a lot of training and I got into good shape.”

Odenkirk credited Daniel Bernhart for his workout, and the stunt actor and trainer went through some important cardio and training steps. There’s a lot of blasting going on here, both of his core and quads. And uphill biking in a mask, because safety first.

Odenkirk also showed off the basics of “screen fighting” and did plenty of different bodyweight workouts, as well as some boxing. It’s actually a really good routine, and the video has some extra tips about improvising workouts. Considering many of us are stuck at home and may not want to go to a gym, you can actually learn a few things from the video. But it’s also a nice warmup to seeing Odenkirk in action, which may blunt the jarring effect of him suddenly morphing into John Wick when Nobody hits theaters later this year.

Tuesday marks exactly ten years since Tyler The Creator and Hodgy Beats brought their off-kilter group Odd Future to the then-titled TV series Late Night With Jimmy Fallon. At the time, the show had only been on air for two years. So when Questlove, whose group The Roots is the show’s house band, got news that Odd Future was coming to their stage, he was apprehensive. Questlove had heard rumors of Odd Future’s rebellious energy, so he was worried that their performance would lead to the network canceling Fallon’s show.

Reminiscing on the performance in an interview with Complex, Questlove recalled his anxieties ahead of the scheduled set. “My first thought was, ‘Yo, what if they try to pull off some rogue sh*t that’ll make them internet famous?’” he said. “So I thought, like, ‘This is either going to come off nicely or this could be the end. Like, we could get canceled after only being on the air for two years.” The musician also remembers thinking at the time, “This is some real sh*t that’s about to happen, and I don’t know if they know what they’re about to get into.”

But when Questlove actually encountered Tyler on set, the rapper only had one thing on his mind: Justin Bieber. “The weirdest thing was, Tyler instantly disarmed me with—of all things in the world—a conversation about Justin Bieber,” he said. “The Biebs had been on the show recently, so Tyler kept asking me, ‘What’s he like, man? You’ve got to tell me about Biebs, man. What was that motherf*cker like?’ And I thought he was trying to troll me. But 10 minutes into the conversation, I was like, ‘Wait a minute. You really do like Justin Bieber!’”

Fallon wasn’t worried, however. Instead, the host was along for the ride. “I think they were so nervous, because it was their first time, that they left,” Fallon recalled. “Some bands do that. They perform, and then they think they’re kind of in trouble or something. They finish their song, and then they go, ‘All right, let’s get out of here.’ I remember even Kanye was nervous when he performed. He was like, ‘Can I do that one more time?’ I thought there were going to be people right in front of me. I didn’t know it was just going to be cameras.’”

Watch a clip of their raucous performance above.

Most of us set out on our parenting journey with the best of intentions to keep our kids off of screens, and some of us may even succeed at it to some degree. But we live in the digital age, and especially in a year like the one we’ve just had, parents also need to utilize the tools we have to stay sane.

Since smartphones make it so most of us carry a screen around with us at all times, it’s easy for parents to pull up a child’s favorite show or movie to put on when the going gets tough. What’s not so easy is keeping a kid from touching the screen or pushing buttons that take them out of the video (best case scenario) or mess up your apps or settings on your phone (I once had a kid accidentally do a hard reset on my iPhone by accident—oof).

Apparently, folks with Android phones have something called “Kid Mode” that takes care of that issue with one step. For parents with iPhones, it’s not nearly so simple.

However, a dad on TikTok has shared how to do it in a video that’s been viewed more than 25 million times. The steps aren’t super intuitive, but once you get it down it only takes a few seconds to play a video on the phone while disabling the screen and buttons so a kid can’t muck anything up.

Here’s the video with step-by-step instructions below:

(The instructions below work on an iPhone 11. Other versions may work slightly differently.)

1) Search for Guided Access in Settings.

2) Turn on “Guided Access” and “Accessibility Shortcut”

3) Start playing a video in an app (YouTube, Netflix, whatever)

4) Triple-click the power button. This will turn on Guided Access.

5) Click “Options,” then disable all of the options.

6) Click “Done” and then “Start” or “Resume.” The video should play and you should be able to touch anywhere on the screen and push any button and nothing should happen.

7) To end Guided Access and stop the video, triple-click the power button, then click “End.” (You may have to enter your phone’s passcode before clicking “End,” depending on your security settings.)

Though that all may sound overly complicated, once you have the initial set-up done, it’s just a matter of triple-clicking the power button and disabling the options any time you want to put on a video for your kiddo. (Or setting specific options—you can actually set a time limit during that step, which parents may find useful. Or you can make it so that the volume buttons work but nothing else does.)

Guided Access can also be used to keep kids just in one app, so if they want to play a game but you don’t want them to be able to do anything else, you can enable Guided Access and just keep the Options turned on. The hack above just makes it so you can keep one specific video playing (which is helpful in an app like YouTube Kids, where it’s so easy for kids to click into other videos).

Undoubtedly, some people will chastise parents for handing their kids a video to watch instead of interacting with them, but sometimes a parent’s gotta do what a parent’s gotta do. Pandemic parenting has added an extra layer of difficulty to child-rearing, so everyone needs to give one another an extra measure of grace and understanding. So many of us are working from home now with kids out of daycare or school, and even full-time stay-at-home parents need a break from the relentlessness.

While too much screen time is certainly a valid concern, watching a quality kids’ show on a phone here and there isn’t going to ruin a child. However, it might just save a parent’s sanity, and any tool that makes parenting a bit easier right now is a welcome gift.

Since releasing her debut single “Drivers License,” singer and actor Olivia Rodrigo has been busy. Along with being put in the middle of a teen pop love triangle, she’s earned co-signs by celebrities like Taylor Swift and Halsey and completely dominated the charts. Now, her prosperity continues: On the Billboard Hot 100 chart dated February 20, “Drivers License” is once again at No. 1.

Rodrigo holding down the No. 1 spot impressively marks the fifth consecutive week the song has topped the charts. The song remaining in the top spot is a big achievement, seeing as not many songs that debut at No. 1 stay there. In fact, “Drivers License” is only one of ten songs to ever spend its first five weeks at No. 1.

According to Billboard, “Drivers License” actually saw an increase in both streams and downloads this week compared to last. The song racked up 27.6 million US streams and 16,000 downloads, which is an increase of 26 percent since the last reported charts.

Rodrigo wasn’t the only musician who scored big on the Hot 100 chart this week. The Weeknd, who is on the heels of his grandiose Super Bowl halftime show performance, holds two songs in the top four spots. His After Hours track “Blinding Lights” is seated at No. 3 while his song “Save Your Tears” hovers closely behind at No. 4. This means that this week marks the tenth time The Weeknd has simultaneously held two top-five positions on the Hot 100.

Check out this week’s top ten singles above.

Kehlani has the honor of gracing Playboy‘s second-ever digital cover, which also comes with a Kehlani Q&A. In the feature, she reveals that now that she is a mother, she feels sexier than she ever has.

Kehlani was asked how it feels to be a sex symbol and she responded:

“I hope people know being a mom doesn’t make you less sexy. Being a mom is the sexiest thing ever. I think something happened to me when I became a mom; I just became sexier. I was this quirky little person before — not super in touch with myself, a super tomboy. Then I became a mom, and all of a sudden I got these mom hips. I got this mom sensuality and grown-woman attitude and in-touch-ness with my body that I never had before. You really f*cking get to know your body when you birth. When you get pregnant, you become a f*cking universe and a portal. So I think motherhood has made me this insane sex symbol even to myself.”

She also described the times when she feels like she’s at her sexiest, saying, “I feel the sexiest when I’m really bare — when I’m taking extra time to oil up after my bath and put essential oils into my shea butter. For me, sexy is very internal. It’s in the comfort and the feeling — not when do I look most sexy, but when do I feel scrumptious? When do I feel like, ‘Oh, somebody could just come lick me from my head to my toe right now. That’s how f*cking good I smell and that’s how moisturized I am.’ That’s when I feel sexy.”

Check out the full interview here and check out some photos and behind-the-scenes footage from the feature below.

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

A winter storm hammered numerous corners of the United States over the last few days, with Texas getting hit particularly hard. Power outages across the state have been reported, as a state not used to this sort of inclement weather is now reckoning with the fact that more than 4.4 million citizens were unable to get electricity as of Tuesday morning, according to CNN.

In response to all of this, the Dallas Mavericks announced that they would not be able to play their previously-scheduled home tilt against the Detroit Pistons, which was slated to take place on Wednesday evening. The team made clear that the Texas state government’s response to the crisis made playing the game untenable, and while there is no word on when they will able to take the floor against one another, the plan is to reschedule the game at a later date.

Dallas is currently scheduled to play its next three games — a road tilt against Houston on Friday and home games against Memphis and Boston next Monday and Tuesday, respectively — in Texas before embarking on a three-game road trip. As for the other Texas teams, the Rockets are in Philadelphia on Wednesday before returning home, while San Antonio’s next four games are postponed due to COVID-19.

Throughout hip-hop’s long and well-documented history, MCs have been boasting about their sexual prowess. While this pendulum swings both ways, for much of that history, way too much focus was put on men’s points of view on the subject, leading to a genre that is still steeped in toxic masculinity and over-the-top declarations of sexual conquest. Not only does UPROXX Sessions’ latest guest BigKlit seem like a counterpoint to that perspective, but her performance song “Liar” truly takes that version of the narrative to task.

For one thing, BigKlit doesn’t bother rapping smoothly, she shout-raps as aggressively as possible, straight up accusing men — rappers, f*ckboys, and dudes, in general — of “lyin’ on your dick,” i.e., inflating their abilities and accomplishments when bragging to make themselves seem more important. Whether that’s generous accounting of the number of partners a guy has had or “adding inches” when describing their physical attributes, BigKlit is having none of it, challenging those assertations and assuring the titular “Liar” that he’s “a slave for this pussy” who’s just “insecure inside.” Remember guys, hit dogs holler — if you feel a way about it, she might be talking to you.

Watch BigKlit’s UPROXX Sessions performance of “Liar” above.

UPROXX Sessions is Uproxx’s performance show featuring the hottest up-and-coming acts you should keep an eye on. Featuring creative direction from LA promotion collective, Ham On Everything, and taking place on our “bathroom” set designed and painted by Julian Gross, UPROXX Sessions is a showcase of some of our favorite performers, who just might soon be yours, too.

America’s original idol, Kelly Clarkson, put a powerful spin on No Doubt’s breakthrough hit, 1995’s “Just a Girl,” on her talk show Monday. She slowed down the tempo, added some strings and a menacing keyboard, to give the song a haunting sound.

The original version was peppy and sarcastic with Gwen Stefani singing in a faux pouty voice until the chorus in which she goes full ’90s girl power.

Clarkson sang the new version during the “Kellyoke” segment of her talk show where she covers some of her favorite songs. Check out the moment 58 seconds in where she holds the final note on the line, “That’s all that you’ll let me be.”

‘Just A Girl’ (No Doubt) Cover By Kelly Clarkson | Kellyoke

www.youtube.com

“Just a Girl” was the first single released from No Doubt’s breakthrough “Tragic Kingdom.” It was written by Stefani and guitarist Tom Dumont and was the first song she ever wrote without the help of her brother, and former No Doubt bandmate, Eric Stefani.

Eric would go on to a successful career as an animator working on shows such as “The Simpsons” and “The Ren & Stimpy Show.”

Stefani wrote “Just a Girl” after her parents reprimanded her for coming home too late from her bandmate Tony Kanal’s house. She then talked to her sister and female friends to gather examples of how the world patronizes women.

“I just wanted to write a song to express how I was feeling in that moment and I never in my wildest dreams thought that anyone would hear it,” she said, according to People.

“I remember coming up with every single line [and] I have a really bad memory but I really, really remember that moment and feeling I could really relate to myself and this song … I felt like it really echoed exactly how I felt,” she said.

“I was so naïve when I wrote ‘Just A Girl,'” Stefani told Vogue. “But it was about that moment when you realize the power in being a female and also the vulnerability in being a female and the things you can’t do because it might not be safe or people might not take you seriously.”

The song was also notable for its video featuring Stefani dressed as a glammed-up tomboy in Southern California skater garb.

While Stefani’s version has a playful air about it, Clarkson has a completely different approach. She sings it as a sincere expression of how women are oppressed. Her dramatic take on the line, “Oh, I’m just a girl, all pretty and petite / So don’t let me have any rights” makes it feel like even more of a feminist anthem.

Clarkson’s version clocks in at under two minutes and has left a lot of people wanting more. At the time this article is published the video is closing in on 500,000 views, so let’s hope this inspires her to do a full version. It would also be fun to hear Gwen Stefani tackle the Clarkson arrangement.

The experience of being a successful musician is multi-faceted, so there are bound to be parts that artists like more than others. For Slowthai, one of the least favorite parts of his job is actually one of the most important: Getting in the studio and recording his vocals.

He made this admission chatting with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe. Slowthai explained that he doesn’t like recording because there’s often a disconnect between how he sounds in his head and how the recording comes out, which leads to him being self-critical:

“Music is my thing. Yeah, that’s everything. I could say weed, but that is just something that for that minute you’re numbing it for a second, and you’re numbing out and not thinking. But then sometimes my mind is overactive, and I’m just going crazy. So music is the one time I can really focus, and I know, yo, this is what I’m doing. It doesn’t matter if there’s 20 people in the room, 10, it’s me and the beat, and that’s what I need. I don’t lie. I’m one of them people as well. I hate getting in the booth. I love writing, and I love doing it over and over again. But then when it comes to the time to laying it down, I’m like, ‘Laugh.’ Yeah, I don’t know. I’m not hitting it the way… Because in my head, we all have that thing where we see it and hear it one way, and then you’re not delivering it, but then you’re self-critical, so you’re being extra critical. And then everyone would be like, ‘That’s the hardest thing ever!’ And you’re like, ‘I can do it better.’ So it will be like every song is a thousand takes.”

He also praised James Blake’s abilities as a producer, saying, “hH’s just hard as a producer. That’s what people forget, that he comes from a electronic background. As much as he can play and sing, and he’s got the voice of an angel, and he can play with your soul. His heart’s in it. But his beats, I think that everyone underestimates him as a producer. But when you see even his credits, man, the people he’s working with and who he’s worked with, I was speaking to him the other day and he was in studio with this person and that person. I’m like, ‘Bloody hell.’ He’s like, ‘Yeah this tune is hard.’ And he’s just showing me stuff, and saying this, and I’m like, ‘What the…’”

Check out Slowthai’s interview here.

Donald Trump has been banned from Twitter since January 8 due to his role in inciting the attack at the U.S. Capitol building that left five people dead. The former-president is also not welcome on Facebook (although that may change soon), Instagram, YouTube, Twitch, and Snapchat, among other platforms. Trump’s chaotic tweets (“Sad!”) are not missed, but don’t worry, there’s many other Bad Terminator Tweets to go around.

On Tuesday, author J.D. Vance, whose best-selling memoir Hillbilly Elegy was turned into one of the worst movies of 2020, tweeted, “I still can’t believe the 45th president of the United States has no access to social media, and the left — alleged opponents of corporate power — is just totally fine with it. He added, “Seems important to not let a few corporations dictate who’s allowed to speak and what they’re allowed to say.” OK, fair, except for the part where Trump’s social media helped incite a violent attempt at a coup. Also, as many on Twitter are pointing out, Trump isn’t being CENSORED from releasing statements, or appearing on Newsmax or Fox News, or going on Joe Rogan’s podcast; he’s willingly choosing to remain silent, give or take a petty resignation letter.

It’s exactly like that. Oh, and in case you’re wondering about Parler:

Parler reportedly offered the Trump Organization a 40 percent ownership stake in the company if the president did whatever the Parler version of a tweet is. No deal was reached. If only there was someone who could write an elegy about it.