Category: News

The Eternals star Kumail Nanjani has “come to hate” sharing his shirtless photos with the world, but another member of the Marvel Cinematic Universe has no such regrets. Over the weekend, Tom Holland, best known for playing Peter Parker in Spider-Man: Homecoming and Spider-Man: Far From Home (and for not keeping his darn trap shut), revealed he’s been training for his new movie Uncharted with the thirstiest of thirst pics.

“When working with @markwahlberg you gotta get after it!” Holland wrote, referring to Wahlberg’s infamous 2:30 a.m. workouts. In case you need a reminder:

2:30 a.m.: Wake up
2:45 a.m.: Prayer time
3:15 a.m.: Breakfast
3:40 to 5:15 a.m.: Workout
5:30 a.m.: Post-workout meal
6:00 a.m.: Shower
7:30 a.m.: Golf
8:00 a.m.: Snack
9:30 a.m.: Cryo chamber recovery
10:30 a.m.: Snack
11:00 a.m.: Family time/meetings/work calls
1:00 p.m.: Lunch
2:00 p.m.: Meetings/work calls
3:00 p.m.: Pick up kids at school
3:30 p.m.: Snack
4:00 p.m.: Workout #2
5:00 p.m.: Shower
5:30 p.m.: Dinner/family time
7:30 p.m.: Bedtime

Tag yourself, I’m 7:30 p.m. bedtime.

Holland’s had a lot of time to prepare for Uncharted. The big-screen adaptation of the popular video game franchise has been in development since 2008, with the Spider-Man star joining in 2017. It’s gone through multiple (white male) directors, from David O. Russell to Neil Burger to Seth Gordon to Shawn Levy to Dan Trachtenberg to Travis Knight to Ruben Fleischer, and a delayed release date due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

But it looks like Tom Holland is ready!

Uncharted is scheduled to come out on October 8, 2021.

Russell Westbrook and James Harden were expected to be late arrivals to the Orlando bubble, with the Rockets hoping to have them at Disney later this week, as they’ve begun practicing without their top two stars.

On Monday, Westbrook’s timetable for arrival to the Disney bubble became more unclear when the All-Star guard announced he had tested positive for COVID-19 and was quarantining at home, while noting he’s “feeling well” and calling for folks to wear their masks.

It would seem that Westbrook is asymptomatic and hopefully can be cleared with two consecutive negative tests after a 10-day quarantine from date of the positive test — one would assume that stipulation from the bubble also applies to those looking to travel in. We do not know if Harden’s absence from the bubble is related to a positive test or for another reason, but the longer those two are not with the team in Disney, the less time they and the team will have to try and get back on the same page on the court.

Hopefully Westbrook remains asymptomatic and makes a full recovery in the near future and can join the Rockets as they look to make a deep playoff push in the West in Orlando.

When it comes to music and gaming, it seems the two can be interchangeable — at least according to legendary producer Zaytoven. Raised in the Bay Area — though many mistake his trap bona fides for an Atlanta upbringing — the musician has grown to be much more than just a production wizard, identifying as a DJ, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist in addition to his legendary beatmaking.

It’s in this experience playing piano, organ, drums, and keytar that Zay finds a similarity between the two worlds of creating music and playing video games. Both stem from the ability to manifest what’s in the mind to his own two hands, the same way he was able to craft OJ Da Juiceman’s 2008 smash “Make Tha Trap Say Aye” featuring Gucci Mane, and eventually catapult and influence the careers of artists like Migos, Usher, Future, and Chief Keef. While working with all the elites in the rap game comes with its accolades, Zaytoven remains humble as ever, creating music simply for the love and not for fame. The only place he’s not humble is in his ability to wreck shop in some classic fighting games.

Uproxx spoke with Zaytoven about this and more, including being unbeatable on Mortal Kombat and passing down the love of gaming to the next generation.

What was the first game you ever played?

A Nintendo. My uncle got me and my cousin a Nintendo for Christmas and Super Mario Bros. was my first game. That’s probably still my favorite game to this day.

What are your fondest memories from those days?

I remember being real competitive. When Super Nintendo came out, when I was heavy into Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat. Street Fighter was my game, you can’t beat me in that. I’d be ready to fight if I lose in Street Fighter.

For real?

What? I remember almost getting into fights over that game if you feel like they’re cheating. You’re not going to beat me in this game.

Is there nobody that’s beaten you to this day?

Well, I went to Gary Vee’s office back in November. They had a gaming setup, I was playing Mortal Kombat and nobody could beat me. I was beating all of them, I feel like I’m still the GOAT. [Laughs]

How do you feel music and gaming coincide?

To me, doing music is almost like learning how to play the game. Learning different moves, learning all the different tricks on the drum machine, mixing it in the studio, it’s almost the same thing. It’s a lot of colorful lights, a lot of learning how to do stuff. You’re going to keep doing it until you feel like you’re the best at it. I tell people the reason I don’t play videogames now is because playing with my drum machine is like playing a video game.

Do you feel the same joy from both?

Definitely, that’s why I continue to make beats so many times because it’s like playing a video game to me. I definitely still get joy.

How old is your son?

He’s 14 — Lil Zay. At that age, that’s all they do. Man, I’m not even close to being good. He doesn’t show any mercy, he beat up on me so I don’t play anymore.

What games is he playing?

They play all the games, I don’t know all the names. Madden, NBA2K. He plays Fortnite and GTA. Let me ask my daughter.

I hear kids are making bread off Fortnite.

Zaytoven’s daughter (Livvi): Yeah, there’s this little kid that made three million dollars off a competition.

I don’t know anything about all that. But that’s why I let him keep playing, just in case he does start.

Is there anything you’d like to see happen in the gaming world?

I’d like to see us as producers and artists battle each other. They’re doing it already online but I’d like to see when you set up something where I battle another producer, playing a certain video. Set that up!

Something like VERZUZ, but gaming?

Yeah exactly. For me, it has to be Nintendo. It could be an older game like Tecmo Bowl, Mortal Kombat, Double Dribble. See I might be too old, they don’t even know about that.

I love what you did with G Herbo’s PTSD Deluxe, how was going to Chicago three times in 30 days?

Man, I fell in love with Chicago. I’d never really been to Chicago. I was out there hanging out with G Herbo, my buddy JB, and Mikkey. We’re out playing basketball, we’re in the studio every night. I enjoyed the city. I had a good time, that’s my first time meeting them really. We bonded and had a good time together, then we started making dope music. G Herbo’s dope and such an old school … he’s super raw. That’s what made me keep coming back to work with him. The man rap, he can rap someone under the table. I was trying to give him a little Zaytoven soul.

What’s your favorite song you did with him?

It’s not even released yet, we have so many unreleased songs. “Friends & Foes” is definitely the one we knew “this is it right here.”

“Spam 2 Lamb,” that’s my favorite song. The first song we did, the song that made us lock-in.

What are you working on next?

I’m working on all different types of projects. Me and Young Scooter have a project dropping called Jugging On Zay Street, which is super hard. I’m working. I have my own rap artist I’m working with by the name of Coe Mook, he’s from Alabama. I also have an R&B artist named Tiffany Bleu, I’m working on putting their project out in the next month or so. I’ve got a lot of music on the way.

Since the release of Megan Thee Stallion’s Suga earlier this year, her track “Savage” has become a viral hit and the song’s remix with Beyonce earned Megan her first No. 1. The rapper has given a rendition of the number for a variety of performances but this week, Megan chose to breathe new life into the song.

Megan has been a judge on HBO Max’s new series Legendary. The show explores the world of ball culture and asks contestants to bust out their best voguing moves. For the series finale, it was Megan’s turn to take the stage. Dubbed the “avenging angel,” Megan took the stage with feathery wings and a bedazzled bodysuit. Joined by a group of backup dancers who were competitors in the series, Megan delivered a club-ready remix of “Savage” and even tried her hand at voguing.

In other Megan news, the singer recently headed to the desert to give a performance of “Savage” and “Girls In The Hood” for the BET Awards. Megan and her crew navigated ATVs to a remote stage to give a heated rendition of her popular tracks.

Watch Megan Thee Stallion perform “Savage” on Legendary above.

Suga is out now via 1501 Entertainment. Get it here.

Megan Thee Stallion is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

By now, you must’ve come across at least some of your friends on social media wondering if something is cake. And by “something,” we mean literally everything — is this article cake, what about the news that the Washington team is finally changing their name? Is that cake? Because coupled with last week’s Supreme Court ruling, it feels a little too good to be true. What’s the deal with cake and why are your housemates approaching you with two knives in each hand and treating you worse than when they suspect you have the coronavirus? From what we can tell from tracking activity online, it appears that sometime last week the “is it a cake?” meme really started to pick up steam on Twitter after BuzzFeed’s Tasty posted a compilation video of realistic items that were cut into and revealed to be cake.

A bright red Croc, a roll of toilet paper, a potted aloe plant, a sudsy bar of soap, a lotion bottle, all things that arguably shouldn’t be cakes were revealed to be, in fact, cakes! Which has led many across social media to question life itself. Yes, 2020 is so depressing that a simple video about silly cakes has sent people into a spiral of existential questioning that has taken over Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, and probably Facebook (we’ll check with our weird Uncle). The meme is a slight callback to an earlier 2000s Portal meme known as “The Cake Is A Lie” which dealt with false promises, so the internet has always had a troubled distrust of cake it seems.

The clip posted by Tasty originates from the Red Rose Cake & Tuba Geçkil Instagram account, which is run by Turkish National Culinary Team Captain Tuba Geçkil, a “cake and sugar” artist who specializes in realistic cakes. Geçkil has made a Sonic the Hedgehog cake, a cake shaped like Bob Marley’s face, a Koala bear cake, a cake of Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter, a cake version of Johannes Vermeer’s “Girl with a Pearl Earring,” a… packet of raw chicken? They’re truly mesmerizing! Check out the Red Rose Cake and Tuba Geçkil Instagram if you want your mind blown, but if you come away wondering if 2020 is cake, that’s on you!

Check out these tweets below to see just how weird this cake meme is becoming.

The first week of the NBA bubble has gone, at least so far as we know, fairly smoothly. Teams are practicing, players are fishing and golfing and gaming, and for the most part it appears that everyone is following the rules so far — admittedly, with a very long way to go.

However, on Monday, we got word that our first quarantine break had happened, albeit not purposefully, as a quartet of ESPN reporters broke the bad news that Rockets forward Bruno Caboclo had “inadvertently” broken quarantine and was now going to have to isolate in his hotel room for eight full days.

It’s not a great start for Caboclo, as the rules of the initial quarantine period have been pretty clear throughout this process. Hopefully this will remain just an honest mistake and not have any greater ramifications on Caboclo, the Rockets, or the NBA bubble as a whole. It also serves as a pretty solid deterrent for anyone that has been considering breaking contain, as they’ve all already spent two days quarantined in a room and knowing at least eight more days of that would be waiting for them (plus possible missed game checks) is a pretty strong reason to stay in line.

Netflix’s Bandersnatch made waves for multiple reasons, including how it overwhelmed viewers with an alleged trillion permutations in a choose-your-own-adventure format. The fallout from the movie’s popularity also led star Will Poulter to quit social media (“in the interest of my mental health”), and some speculated that he wished to shut down online abuse regarding his “ugly” costuming to play a 1980s computer programmer.

Months later, Poulter unexpectedly departed from Amazon’s Lord of the Rings TV show. Variety initially reported that “scheduling conflicts” were involved, which seems logical and straightforward enough, but of course, people speculated some more because the Internet’s gonna Internet. Well, Poulter spoke to NME after it was announced that he’s doing another interactive project (The Dark Pictures Anthology: Little Hope), and he clarified that, yes, he really did have scheduling issues:

“Unfortunately, there’s no particularly interesting story, other than the fact that there was a last-minute change to the schedule, which meant that there was a clash for me and I was unable to do it.”

There you have it. Poulter didn’t leave an epic saga because of Twitter or because Amazon allegedly locked writers in a room to prevent spoilers. Poulter further told NME that he maintains the “utmost respect for everyone involved in that project,” and he can’t wait to watch the final product. Still, the NME piece did begin this quote: “I’ll always pick the option to run away and hide, to avoid confrontation.” Those words hold a completely different context, but the speculators might continue to read into that one.

(Via NME & Variety)

With much of today’s entertainment focusing on digital platforms in light of the pandemic, comedian and rapper Zack Fox teamed up with iheartcomix for his new Twitch series Released!. For the series premiere, Fox tapped Phoebe Bridgers to join him on a journey through outer space.

The show is reminiscent of late-night Adult Swim episodes with crude animations and off-the-cuff dialog. But Bridgers felt right at home, joining Fox in her signature skeleton costume and preparing to play a show at a “goth prom.” On their journey there, Bridgers performed music, unpacked her latest album Punisher, and undertook a quest to make the perfect punch.

Along with performing a few tracks like “Kyoto,” taking a ride in a flying space car, and chatting with a brash, animated dog, Bridgers spoke to Fox about the meaning behind her albums’ title: “Say you’re hitting on someone at a bar, and then their friend comes up and starts talking to you about Jordan Peterson or some sh*t and you’re like, ‘Please get me out of here.’ But they don’t release that they’re punishing you. So, I guess I’m self-conscious that I do that.”

Watch Bridgers on Fox’s Released! above.

Punisher is out now via Dead Oceans. Get it here.

Released! premieres Sundays at 7 p.m. ET on Twitch. Watch it here.

A lot of things will look very different when the NBA restarts later this month in Orlando in the Disney bubble, as games will be played without fans — although other NBA players can attend — and all games will take place in the same arena throughout the postseason.

For a group of athletes that are so tied to routine, the bubble will be an exercise in patience and a test of how well they can adapt to a completely different routine that will emerge in Orlando. Players will all arrive to the game via bus from the hotel, and according to ESPN’s Nick DePaula, will have to dress for the game in full uniform and warmups at the hotel, rather than having the typical tunnel walk in their well crafted outfits.

For many, the tunnel walk has been a chance to show their personality through fashion, as players have started taking their pregame fits very seriously — and many teams have outfitted specific areas for photographers that offer the best lighting and backdrop for pregame pics. As P.J. Tucker told DePaula, getting dressed at the hotel is going to feel more like he’s gone back in time to his AAU days, not like he’s in the NBA.

“Getting dressed at the hotel now will feel like an AAU tournament,” Tucker said. “It’s AAU Nationals, it’s the Nike Super Showcase and one of those [tournaments] that we used to play in back in the day. I’m not feeling it. It just doesn’t feel NBA to me, but it is what it is.”

Tucker said dressing up for games was part of what made him feel like he was going to work, and this will certainly be an adjustment for him and others — although, have no fear, the NBA’s sneaker king is still going to be showing off his incredible collection even in warmups.

Before he joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe, James Gunn worked with Troma Entertainment, the schlock factory known for titles like Ferocious Female Freedom Fighters and Killer Condom. And Tromeo and Juliet (which Gunn co-wrote), and Dumpster Baby, and Chopper Chicks in Zombietown, and… I could do this for a while. Point is, anything goes in Troma movies, so it must have been a kick in the pants for Gunn to be told “no” for something as non-controversial as making Velma gay.

In response to one of his Twitter followers demanding a third live-action Scooby-Doo movie (Gunn wrote 2002’s Scooby Doo and 2004’s Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed, and directed the original), the Guardians of the Galaxy filmmaker responded, “With the original cast? That would be one incredibly long life-span for a Great Dane.” He was then asked to “please make our live-action lesbian Velma dreams come true.” He tried.

“In 2001 Velma was explicitly gay in my initial script. But the studio just kept watering it down & watering it down, becoming ambiguous (the version shot), then nothing (the released version) & finally having a boyfriend (the sequel),” Gunn tweeted, adding the neutral face emoji. A kissing scene was filmed between the always-great Linda Cardellini’s Velma and Sarah Michelle Gellar’s Daphne, but “it got cut,” the Buffy star said back in 2002. “Hopefully they’ll add it into the DVD.” Narrator voice: they didn’t.

If only Gunn had made a Scooby-Doo (or Bert and Ernie from Sesame Street) movie during his Troma days. It would be explicitly gay, and extremely explicit.