Category: News

Borat Subsequent Moviefilm (Amazon Prime film) – Sacha Baron’s most beloved character is back and still funny, even if racism in America isn’t nearly as shocking in 2020. With this followup, formally titled Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, the “victims” become the performers, and Borat’s “daughter” is along for the ride. You’ve heard about the Rudy Giuliani scene, so watch it now, and then check out Borat’s response to Rudy’s explanation, as well as Cohen’s out-of-character remarks.

The Queen’s Gambit (Netflix series) – This chess-centered drama is a surprisingly interesting and tightly paced show. It’s also a meditation upon addiction and danger and what it means to be a champion, all wrapped up in a coming-of-age tale about a boozy grandmaster in the making. As fictional prodigy Beth Harmon, Anya Taylor-Joy’s piercing gaze is here to demonstrate how a board game can look like a battlefield in Scott Frank’s adaptation of the Walter Tevis novel. The supporting cast (including Marielle Heller as a tragic 1950s housewife, Moses Ingram as a kickass childhood friend, and Harry Melling and Thomas Brodie-Sangster as gameplay rivals) also crushes the game

How To With John Wilson (Friday, HBO 11:00 p.m.) — This comedy docuseries launches with John Wilson dissecting the careful balancing act of making small talk, with all its ups and downs. Wilson also spoke with us about capturing the intimacy and absurdity of life in New York with a “psychotic amount” of footage.

The Right Stuff: Episode 4 (NatGeo series on Disney+) – In the aftermath of a test malfunction, the holiday season becomes a home affair for the Mercury 7. Naturally, the change of plans leads to all kinds of family and romantic drama.

Barbarians (Netflix series) – Vikings and Last Kingdom fans can find a new fix with this series that revolves around the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest, as Germanic tribes attempt to maneuver past the the Roman Empire’s evolution.

Unsolved Mysteries: Vol. 2 (Netflix series) – The next batch of cold-case deep dives is here to spook the hell out of you. We ranked the six episodes — which include a mysterious death in a luxury hotel, the disappearance and murder of a Washington insider, and a mass haunting following a tsunami — that invite citizen detectives to do their thing. This reinvigorated take on the classic series comes from the original creators, who teamed up with the Stranger Things production company, and hopefully, some justice and closure can be found for victims’ families.

Here’s the rest of this weekend’s notable programming:

Eli Roth’s History of Horror (Saturday, AMC 10:00 p.m.) — This show keeps the spooky season’s spirit intact with the Cabin Fever and Hostel director exploring a common theme from those movies: body horror. It’s a lot deeper than it looks at first bloody glance.

Saturday Night Live (Saturday, NBC 11:29 p.m.) — Host Adele and musical guest and H.E.R. will continue to push through our current times with humor.

Supermarket Sweep (Sunday, ABC 8:00 p.m.) — Leslie Jones and every bit of her enthusiasm will host contestants in this revival of the grocery-shopping game show.

Pandora (Sunday, CW 8:00 p.m.) — A lost alien race might hold the key to salvaging the Universe, but nightmares are rattling the group and keying into their most personal traumas and fears.

Good Lord Bird (Sunday, Showtime 9:00 p.m.) — Ethan Hawke stars as violent abolitionist John Brown in this series that takes place in the Kansas territory in 1856. This week, John Brown’s increasingly irrational strategies lead Onion to look for renewed freedom until a legendary presence arrives.

The Undoing (Sunday, HBO 9:00 p.m.) — Nicole Kidman and Hugh Grant star in the debut episode of this suspense series about a murder where Hugh Grant’s character looks an awful lot like a suspect. Yeah, expect some twists!

Fear The Walking Dead (Sunday, AMC 9:00 p.m.) — A pair goes rogue on a recon mission while following yet another lead.

Fargo (Sunday, FX 10:00 p.m.) — Loy is on the offense, Gaetano’s on the defense, and Oraetta’s off her rocker. What of Deafy? You gotta tune in to find out.

The Walking Dead: World Beyond (Sunday, AMC 10:00 p.m.) — The next spinoff in this universe continues to feel itself out with the group bonding and confronting threats inside of an obviously vacant high school.

To the lucky few who have seen Minari, I am jealous of (and hate) you.

Director Lee Isaac Chung’s A24 drama, about a Korean-American family that moves to an Arkansas farm to live the American Dream, is one of the most acclaimed movies of the year. IndieWire‘s David Ehrlich called it a “beautiful film [that] posits family as the ultimate journey, only to explore how difficult it can be to agree on a destination,” while Entertainment Weekly‘s David Canfield raved that “every second rings so true.” Overall, Minari has a 100 percent “Fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with nearly review praising Steven Yeun’s performance as the family’s tenacious patriarch.

The actor with the best post-Walking Dead career could even make some history.

Variety reports that A24 is submitting Yeun for Best Actor at the 93rd Academy Awards. If he’s nominated, “Yeun would be the first Asian-American to ever be recognized in the category,” as “Yul Brynner, of Mongol descent, won Best Actor for 1956’s The King and I, while Ben Kingsley, who is half Indian, won Best Actor for 1982’s Gandhi, which took home Best Picture.” Yeun’s co-stars Alan S. Kim, Will Patton, and Yuh-Jung Youn will be submitted for the supporting categories.

Yeun faces tough competition from expected-nominees like Delroy Lindo (Da 5 Bloods), Gary Oldman (Mank), Anthony Hopkins (The Father), and Tom Hanks (News of the World, because it’s Tom Hanks), among others. But getting nominated for an Oscar is no sweat compared to surviving a zombie horde under a dumpster. I have always said this.

Minari opens later this year.

(Via Variety)

The best thing about interviewing voice actors is that they inevitably start doing the voices for which they’re famous. And sometimes, they’ll impersonate other voice actors if you ask the right questions. Which is probably why it was so enjoyable to listen to Nolan North jump between his version of The Penguin and get into a Patrick Warburton impression in a matter of minutes.

For North, the list of characters he’s portrayed is too long to check off in a single interview. Gamers may know him best as the voice of Nathan Drake from the Uncharted series, but his list of credits includes the Star Wars, Star Trek, Marvel, DC and Rick and Morty universes. His turn as Tony Stark in Marvel’s Avengers is perhaps his biggest role in the Marvel Universe, and despite the bevy of credits the actor will simply say he’s been fortunate to play so many roles in his career. Just don’t ask him to play Iron Man as well with a controller in his hand as he did in the motion capture suit.

“I found Iron Man the hardest to play,” North said in an interview with Uproxx. “It was easier to play Tony Stark than it was to ‘play’ Iron Man.”

North’s workload as Iron Man in Marvel’s Avengers isn’t nearly as large a role as he’s had in other games. But that’s because the game is a team effort, and he praised the other voice actors he’s paired with, including the character you first view the game through, Ms. Marvel.

“I’m really looking forward to this game. I like the universe,” North said. “And I gotta tell you, big, big props to Sandra Saad, who is Ms. Marvel. Who is new to this, jumped in with both hands and was enthusiastic, excited. And it came across in her performance. I think people are going to love her in this role.”

North spoke to Uproxx about his work in Marvel’s Avengers, his career as a voice actor and how he approaches roles, and what’s changed in the gaming industry since he started giving it a voice a few console generations ago. And yes, he did some very good impressions throughout the interview that you’ll have to take my word on, I suppose.

Uproxx: You’re no stranger to the process of making games and watching them hit the market. But how much more rewarding is to finally see a game get to players and they get to experience your work? I know it can be quite a long wait from recording to the day it ships.

Nolan North: Yeah, there is. There is a long wait and I think the best part of it is once it does drop and, of course, it’s successful. I’ve been really fortunate that I haven’t dropped a lot of bombs [laughs], game-wise. but thats not about me as much as it’s a testament to the developers and all the stuff that they do. The actors get interviewed, but it’s the people that put it together and put our performances in and turn me into Tony Stark, visually, that deserve a big amount of credit.

This game, in particular, is one of the most visually stunning ones I’ve seen. The gameplay is ridiculous. I’m not even a very good gamer but I played some of the beta and got into it and thought ‘wow, this is just cool. It’s fun.’ And I think you can play as so many different characters, so there’s something for everyone. And it’s got the right amount of emotion and humor and action. I’m excited to see how this one more than many in my past, how it’s received.

From an acting perspective you’re taking on a role that’s been done by another actor in a very notable way. For a lot of gamers, that’s the person they’ll think of while they’re playing as Iron Man. Did that change how you approached the role and voicing Tony Stark in any way?

I’m a huge fan of Robert Downey Jr. and everything that the MCU has done for Iron Man and the Avengers as a whole. But if I tried to do an impression here it would just be a huge mistake. You don’t want to do that and the only way I could actually approach this was just to make it as much like me as I could. Because nobody else can do an impression of me better than me.

First of all, there was less pressure because it was an ensemble. It wasn’t like we were doing the Iron Man game right off the bat. It was an ensemble, so I just had to do my part to support. Like they say, the play’s the thing, so I had to do my part. There are some things where I do a little bit of an homage on a phrase here and there, to Robert Downey Jr., and that’s done on purpose. Just to give people a little taste of that. Not an impression, but he phrased things a certain way. And I think I’d be remiss if I didn’t honor that a little bit in some kind of way.

But other than that, it’s just me doing my spin on Iron Man. And Robert Downey Jr. did his spin on Sherlock Holmes, which is a character that’s been played many, many times. He made it his own. So that’s all I could do, that’s all I could be responsible for. And I certainly don’t want to draw comparisons. I want to to be, ‘Oh, it’s completely different.’ So still honoring the character but doing my own thing. And as long as you have the confidence to do that, and everybody on the dev team is on board. That’s the first thing Sean Sky, our director told me: “Make it your own.” So, that’s what I did. And I hope people don’t riot in the streets over me.

I’m sure you’re going to be OK. You have a long list of credits to your name, people trust you at this point.

I’m sure we’re going to hear, somebody’s going to say “This is Nathan Drake in the Iron Man suit.” You’re going to hear stuff like that. It is and it isn’t.

Yeah, I wanted to ask about that. You have a very distinct voice and I can think of a few other voice actors that have very distinct voices doing different roles. I can think of H. Jon Benjamin being Coach McGuirk in Home Movies and also playing Bob in Bob’s Burgers and also a spy in Archer. Patrick Warburton has a very distinct voice, too. Is that something you just embrace because that’s who you are and where the voice comes from, or is there an effort made to distinctly change things with roles. And how hard does that get when you have so many characters to your name?

Well, I think a lot of my characters do something different. Like, the Penguin (Batman: Arkham). Or Dr. Richtophen (Call of Duty), or some cartoon voice acting I do, they’re very different. I know Patrick Warburton pretty well, and he and I were joking one time and he said “I don’t know how you do all these voices, you just did three characters in that.” And I said ‘You just do that one?’ And he said [doing an impression of Warburton] ‘Yeah, I just do this one.’ And I said ‘It’s working out for you pretty well.’ And he says, [does impression again] ‘Yeah, yeah it is. It’s working out pretty good.’

But he has that very distinct thing that became popular first on Seinfeld when he played (David) Puddy. For me, when I first started doing animation and games the best performance is the one where you didn’t recognize the guy. Then you start doing more and more and it’s just, there are people who say ‘No, we want that voice.’

I’ve joked about it in interviews before, I think my voice kind of fits a lot of characters because it was somewhat unremarkable. It’s not something that is very very distinct. And just my body of work now makes it more distinct. But, especially in characters where I’m doing performance capture, it’s different. Tony had to be my voice and the dialogue is going to take care of things. Tony Stark is going to say things very different than Nathan Drake is going to say. So while the voices are the same in certain parts, the words basically, are going to be very different. He’s going to be talking about different things. Tony speaks a little faster. So while it’s the same tone and sound, it’s a different cadence, it’s a different sentence structure he uses.

I think you can watch an on-camera performance by Brad Pitt, let’s say. In Oceans 11 he has a certain way of talking that he has in something different like Fight Club or something like that. So there’s just different ways to do it. People ask me ‘Do you like doing those more?’ Or [in character] ‘doing the Penguin and talking like that?’ Well, it doesn’t matter they’re all different. That’s the thing I like about voiceover more than on-camera things: I’m able to play more character-y parts. I’m not limited by my physical appearance. So it’s just fun, it’s a bigger sandbox and there are more toys in it.

I was curious if you ever go back and check your work, so to speak, with a game once your acting is in the finished product? Do you have to play through the games you’re in or is there just too much now to play through?

No, no I don’t go back and check. It’s too late, I can’t fix it. I can’t change it. I’m not a very good gamer. I’ve played a few things I was in. On my retro replay YouTube channel I played through Uncharted 1, 2 and 3. Because I had never played that game, those games. I found out I was not good.

My kids play, my boys play and I’ll watch things there. It’s interesting because I don’t like to watch myself when I do on camera stuff. But in animation and in gaming I like to see how they took that performance from months earlier and turn that into something. So I’ll watch a lot of the games my boys will play or I’ll see people online, but this work is for the fans. It’s for the players out there and as long as they enjoy it there’s nothing for me to check. That’s the bottom line: I just want to give a good enough performance so that the dev team takes it back, visually makes it stunning, the designers make the gameplay fun and being part of that collaboration is what’s very, very important to me. Because it’s an experience.

It’s not something you just watch, you are in it. You’re Iron Man, I’m not. I voiced him and did his movement but you shoot, you run, you jump. You do all those things. And that’s what is so important.

Making a video game is such a fascinating process, and maybe a lot of people don’t know how complex it is and how much harder it’s gotten since you’ve gotten involved. What’s one thing that maybe has changed the most since you got into voice acting in games?

It’s the technology that keeps evolving to make it a more realistic and expansive experience. I think my side of it doesn’t change much. My side, my job is I’m an actor. I’m not a voice actor, I’m not solely on camera. I’m an actor. Give me a mic, give me a camera, give me a live audience. My job is to deliver a good performance no matter what it is. And that doesn’t change.

Yeah, there’s different techniques and stuff but mostly it’s ‘How do I find the most truthful performance in any given medium I’m in. What’s amazing is watching what they do with these performances. Starting out doing motion capture early, we had cue cards. And I’d say ‘hey, I’m from on camera. I can memorize these.’ They go ‘oh we may change them from here to there,’ and I’d say that’s cool. But the other actors, we’d walk around and have cue cards on poles in the middle that we had to walk around. So you’d be talking to somebody and your eyes would be looking to the right because they didn’t know how to capture facial animation at the time.

Then we went to facial capture and helmets, and the helmets were like diving bells at first and heavy and awkward and they made them lighter. This different company comes in with a different rig and now it’s a camera on it. This has a light, this has a D light that you don’t see. And it’s amazing, and it’s all way above my pay grade. I’m just not smart enough to understand how the works.

But then you see the final product and what they do with it. In this job in particular, I know we’re doing promotion for this but I say this completely genuinely: it’s some of the most amazing gameplay I’ve ever been involved in. The blend from the cinematic to gameplay and in-game cinematic, the movement, the visuals, the detail is astounding.

I think it’s like everything changes but it stays the same. It’s such an oxymoron, but it’s true. And I’ve got the luckiest part of this: I just have to keep doing the best performance I can and they just keep making it better and better. So the industry is probably making me better than I could have been on my own. So I’m very, very fortunate and I have no intention of slowing down.

A lot of game designers say the last 10 percent of making a game is the hardest part and it’s also where most of the game comes together. For a long time you just don’t know if it’s going to be good or work or even get done. Most of the time you’re not involved in that last 10 percent, but can you tell when you’re doing lines and working with a script that the project will be good or does it not become clear until much later?

From my perspective, I always go back to the writing because any story you tell, it’s the writing that it really comes down to. What is the story? What are the characters? What are there intentions what is their interaction like?

And then you blend it with gameplay, and you have some of these really, really successful games. For me, I may not be involved in that last 10 percent unless we’re getting pickups, last-minute line changes. But I always joke that these dev teams work at the Willy Wonka chocolate factory. Nobody knows how these teams work or how they make it, but boy you can’t wait to eat it. For me, they take our performances, bring it into that factory and make it what you get to play and what it’s all about.

It hasn’t really changed anything I do, I don’t know exactly how to put my finger on it to be honest with you. Does that answer my question?

Yeah, I think so. For fans I think a lot of the time it’s a black box. You see a game is delayed and say ‘That’s unfortunate’ but don’t really understand why or how that happens. But Crunch in gaming hasn’t gone away and, even in games you’ve worked on, there’s no set schedule or period for when a game gets done or streamlined process for completion games all follow.

Well, from my experience one thing, I remember (Uncharted publisher) Naughty Dog talking about this, I think every dev team goes through it. You set a deadline, you gotta get things done. So you’re getting things done, you set a time, and then somebody says ‘hey you know what would be cool?’ And everybody goes ‘Yeah, we’ve got time for that.’ And something in that makes someone else go ‘You know what else could be cool, though? Oh, wait.’

You’re dealing with people who are incredibly intelligent and incredibly creative, and they’re always going ‘Do we have time to do this?’ No, we really don’t, but oh wow, that would be amazing. It’s like you have a set list of things you need to do, 10 things. And by the time you get down to nine and 10 you’re adding 11, 12, 13, 14 on to that list. Because they so desperately want to make the best product they can for people. They want to do that.

And I think, personally, it’s why a lot of these companies are going to these DLCs. Because rather than waiting for two years and we’ll put it in a second game, or the next sequel. I think, creatively, they come up with new ideas or ways to enhance things or an offshoot storyline. And now that’s maybe why we’re seeing games get DLC a few months later. We’re going to get our game out, we’re going to make our deadline and give people the game and now we’re going to give people more content that we wanted to do if we had time, but here’s an idea: let’s give them an additional add-on.

I think that helps them deal with the crunch to get the last bit done to satisfy deadlines and all that. It’s an incredibly complex and strenuous business, but it’s super rewarding. It’s really people working at what they love to do, and that’s what I love about it. People are very dedicated to what they do and it’s important to them.

I remember talking with guys at Naughty Dog during the Uncharted years. They’d spend hours trying to get these gunshots, these squib hits, to look just right. Well, the squib hit has to look different from the different caliber shot and it also has to look different how it hits the rock as it hits steel or or hits glass. That all has to be hand done.

I remember thinking ‘Are you kidding me?’ And for, like, two years, particle artist are making these small things look so perfect. And they’re so good at it. It’s, most people just get the final product. But when they learn about what goes into it, they’d be amazed.

You’ve been in a lot of different universes in your career. Star Wars, DC, Marvel, it’s really impressive honestly. Is there one in particular that you had always wanted to work in when you were growing up? Any roles that mean more to you personally?

Star Wars, I was a Star Wars guy. We were actually doing a cool thing with Star Wars property with EA and Amy Hennig a while back that I was involved in that got shut down, which was super disappointing, just because that was different. But I’ve gotten to be part of that universe as well.

The funny thing is, yeah, I’ve gotten to be involved in a lot of different things that I never thought I’d get to be a part of. I never really thought I’d be an actor, tat wasn’t really a thing I thought about. I will say something interesting about Iron Man: because of the movies and Robert Downey Jr. it became one of my favorite superheroes.

So when this came along, it didn’t fulfill any childhood dreams, it fulfilled an adult bucket list item. And I think it kind of felt like the right fit. I have a bit of a sarcastic sense of humor and that kind of, he made it so relatable and if I could take anything that he did with the movies, I hope that people get the wit and relate-ability.

Even though Tony is a billionaire, he was still relatable to people. He had this vulnerability that all great characters have. And to be able to be vulnerable and still be a superhero is an incredibly interesting thing to portray. So I would say this game and this character is something I’m going to be thankful and grateful for this for many years to come.

When you think of the greatest duos in NBA history, several names come to mind: Kobe and Shaq, Jordan and Pippen, Stockton and Malone, Payton and Kemp, and so on. But one pairing that probably doesn’t get enough praise is the Steve Nash and Amar’e Stoudemire combo in Phoenix that wreaked havoc on opponents all throughout the early 2000s.

Nash’s credentials are well known. He’s one of the best point guards ever. But for a significant stretch, Stoudemire was also dominant big man in his era. Injuries ultimately derailed his career and prevented the Suns from ever reaching a championship, but the highlights they gave us won’t soon be forgotten.

Now, the two are teaming back up, but this time on the sidelines as Stoudemire is reportedly set to join Nash’s coaching staff as an assistant with the Nets.

Nash’s hiring was initially the subject of some controversy when it was announced last month, with some critics pointing to the dearth of Black coaches in the NBA and the fact that Nash made the transition to the bench without first working his way up the ranks. Nash, however, is certainly not the first player to follow that tract.

The Nets should be one of the more intriguing teams going into next season, as they ostensibly have both Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant back from injury, along with a thrilling young roster that turned heads during their run in the bubble games in Orlando. The pressure is on for Nash and his staff, but having former superstars who know how to manage egos should be a big boon for the Nets as they look ahead to next season and beyond.

A week or so ago, Ariana Grande took to Twitter to declare that she would have a new album out before the end of October, tweeting, “i can’t wait to give u my album this month.” She sent that tweet on October 14, so that gave her about two weeks to make an official announcement or release the album without any notice. Grande opted for the former route: Today, she confirmed that her sixth album will be titled Positions (making her new single the title track) and that it will be released on October 30. She also shared the cover art, which features a close-up portrait of Grande.

Since Grande didn’t release the album today (the last Friday of October), fans who were holding her to the promise of having an album out this month were excited when it was all but confirmed the record would be out next Friday. A fan tweeted at Grande, “and now we only have to wait one week til the album? spoiled brats.” Grande all but confirmed the news in her reply, writing, “i’m so excited. love u.”

There is no released tracklist for the album yet, so right now, all that’s confirmed (pretty much, anyway) is that “Positions” will be on the album.

Positions is out 10/30 via Republic Records. Pre-order it here.

The Stretch And Bobbito Show was a seismic force in ’90s hip-hop that played host to a broad swath of rappers who would go on to be all-time greats. Now the titular hosts, Stretch Armstrong and Bobbito Garcia, are remixing and remastering some of the freestyles performed on the show for a series of new EPs. The first of those, Freestyle EP 1, is out today. The debut release features verses from Jay-Z, Big L, Notorious B.I.G., Method Man, and Ghostface Killah.

Bobbito says of the series:

“I hope that listeners feel the era. The excitement. The focus. The craftmanship at hand by the MCs. I also hope that for our diehard followers who have heard these a million times since the Nineties, that our remixes bring new life to them. No one in their right mind could have imagined that a cappella versions of archival live moments in hip hop could be created, but we did it. And then flipped it. So enjoy to the fullest.”

He also noted, “We’re still driven by sharing music that matters to us, that has substance, and that screams to be heard. And not just hip-hop, either. We’re both into a multitude of genres, and just how people who fell in love with our debut LP, No Requests, with our band the M19s (released in January), we expect our audience, new and old, to have an open mind and trust what we’re offering.”

Stream the EP below.

Dan Harmon has spent quarantine watching the internet recirculate old controversies and, somehow, keeping Rick and Morty‘s latest season on schedule during a world-altering pandemic that’s interrupted basically every industry out there.

There’s a lot more Rick and Morty on the way, but the wait time between seasons has become something of a running joke among the show’s rabid fans. Good storytelling, and the animation that brings it to life, takes time, and it all tends to pile up for Harmon and Co. But according to an interview at PaleyFest, Harmon says things are moving along well for the show’s fifth season.

As SyFy pointed out, Harmon said the coronavirus pandemic managed to keep the show “more on schedule” than ever before, mostly because there’s not much else to do these days.

“We’re more on schedule than we’ve ever been,” he said, admitting that the unprecedented digital workflow caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has actually been extremely beneficial to the show’s creation, while live-action projects have stopped and started. “It kind of makes you have to focus on the whole process when you don’t have this office environment anymore. Everyone has to run this bee colony remotely, so the honey just gets made more consistently. It’s working for us.”

Not having the ability to go to an office could spark chaos for other shows, but apparently, it’s the perfect way to remove distractions for the Rick and Morty crew. Another positive of all that waiting, it seems, is that the show’s writers have things generally fleshed out for all the seasons they haven’t gotten to, either. Though Harmon admitted that there isn’t a solid plan they necessarily have to stick to.

“We don’t map it out,” Harmon said. “If we simply just keep writing in real time as fast as we can write…by now, that puts us years ahead of the air date of the most recent episode. The last thing we’d want to do in an environment like that is have a plan. We are the plan because we are the future. We’re the guys who wrote the stuff that they’re now drawing, so we make a tremendous effort to stay in the moment and never box ourselves in.”

That’s certainly good news for fans who loved hearing 70 or so episodes were on the way when Adult Swim signed on before Season 4 was released. Though as we’ve learned from television and the world at large this year, everything can change and nothing is as certain as we’d like to believe.

[via SyFy]

The NBA’s Board of Governors reportedly had plans to meet on Friday to discuss a potential start date for the 2020-21 season. According to a new report by Shams Charania of The Athletic, the league has an idea for when it wants to start the campaign, and it is slightly earlier than previous reporting suggested.

While the plan was to keep a Christmas Day start date on the table, Charania brings word that the NBA wants to start on Dec. 22. This, in addition to a 72-game schedule, would give the league the opportunity to play a season but avoid running into any issues with the Olympics, which are slated to happen next Summer in Tokyo.

This would have some pretty obvious logistical challenges. The season just ended on Oct. 11, they wouldn’t have the normal run in to the regular season, and there are some things that need to be sorted out about the league’s Collective Bargaining Agreement. Of course, lest we forget, there’s also a global pandemic happening, and there’s no word on how things like a vaccine or any potential therapeutics would become available so that players, coaches, staffers, and once they are allowed to enter games, fans are able to play safely. The question of fans is especially interesting, because a goal of the upcoming season has reportedly been to play in home markets with fans in attendance, and it is difficult to see a path for that to happen in the next two months.

There is no word on whether or not this report by Charania comes on the heels of the Board of Governors meeting or if this is something that it plans to propose.

With Borat Subsequent Moviefilm now streaming on Amazon, the official Borat Twitter account is already sharing a deleted scene from the film that, once again, raises some serious question about how hilariously easy it is to get near Donald Trump’s inner circle, and in this case, directly into the White House.

In the short clip, Borat’s daughter (Maria Bakalova) is shadowing OAN reporter Chanel Rion who escorts the Bulgarian actress posing as a 15-year-old journalist into a White House press event with the greatest of ease. (Keep in mind both women are maskless, and the film was shot during the pandemic.) Later, Bakalova is able to talk to Donald Trump, Jr. at an indoor campaign event where, again, the young “reporter” isn’t wearing a mask and neither is the president’s son. Bakalova also scores a very telling response from Rion while asking about fake journalists.

You can see the deleted scene below:

The scene arrives just a few days after the Borat sequel made headlines for catching Rudy Giuliani in a compromising situation with Bakalova. That scandal has been a disaster for Giuliani, who has gone on to claim that the scene was a “hit job” in retaliation for his leaking of alleged Hunter Biden emails, and at one point, America’s Mayor seemed to be under the impression that Borat is a real person. The whole situation continues to be extremely bad for Rudy, and coupled with this latest deleted scene, it shows how easily the Trump administration can be duped by a comedian. If Sacha Baron Cohen can infiltrate the White House and trick the president’s closest advisor into a hotel room with a teenage girl, how difficult would be it for foreign actors with much less comedic plans?

(Via Borat on Twitter)

Historically, one of the hallmarks of NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert series has been visual consistency. While they’ve had a broad array of artists participate, they’ve all been backed by the same area of the NPR offices, so at a glance, any performance looks pretty much like any other one. That has changed this year, though, as the pandemic has altered the foundation of the series. In recent months, artists have been doing Tiny Desk performances from other locations. Some just stayed home, while BTS when to a record shop and King Princess holed up in a “quarantine shed.”

Now Spillage Village have gotten their own Tiny Desk concert, and they decided to take to a church. While they were all arranged around the altar, they got by on a technicality by putting a small desk in front of them, which is more thematic effort than other at-home performers put in. The group (minus 6lack, who was unable to be there for the performance due to travel restrictions) played a four-song set, kicking off with “End Of Daze” before moving on to “Baptize,” “Hapi,” and “Jupiter.”

Meanwhile, Spillage Village members Earthgang had another new endeavor released today: They feature on “Opium” from the new Gorillaz collection, Song Machine, Season One.

Watch Spillage Village’s Tiny Desk performance above.