Category: News

The Boys are, indeed, coming back, and now we know a bit more about what one boy will be doing in Season 2. Or, perhaps, we know that we won’t see some important doings of Billy Butcher unless we watch a companion short film to get the whole story.

Buzz for the Amazon Prime show’s second season has begun in earnest with the first minutes of the new season and a premiere date going public late last month. We’ve also seen a social media-like introduction of a new member of The Seven, much to the chagrin of the non-exploded or exiled current members that we know of. But the whereabouts of the titular Boys has been a mystery, and thanks to some editing decisions a significant part of that story will be in a companion short film that will coincide with the season’s release.

In an interview with Collider, The Boys showrunner Erik Kripkie revealed a significant detail about what we’ll see in Season 2 (mild spoilers incoming), starting with the fact that Karl Urban’s character does, indeed, meet up with the gang after a bit of a delay. But what he does while he’s gone will be part of a different feature.

In season two episode two, Karl Urban’s Billy Butcher rejoins the group after going MIA since the season one finale. Episode two originally showed what Butcher (Urban) had been up to but they cut it due to pacing. However, the footage isn’t gone, as Kripke tells us they used the footage to create a short film called “Butcher” which reveals what happened during his missing couple of weeks.

Kripkie said the show will reference what happened but not explicitly explain it, meaning if you want the whole story you’ll have to dedicate yourself to watching the short film as well. Though no details about when that will officially drop were released, it’s expected to come out sometime after Season 2 starts streaming on Amazon Prime.

There are lots of other small details in the interview, including what an expanded budget from Amazon allowed the show to put together and some interesting casting news about Season 3. But it seems we won’t really know what’s going on in the universe until the show starts streaming later this fall.

Even as someone who thinks Popstar is one of the best comedies of the decade, even I wasn’t prepared for Palm Springs, the latest Lonely Island production starring Andy Samberg (it was actually written and directed by two classmates at AFI, respectively, Andy Siara and Max Barbakow, who eventually got it in front of the Lonely Island boys). It would be great if you could experience it the way I did: knowing nothing of the plot and thinking I was in for a light comedy about yuppie weddings — of which Palm Springs initially does a pretty good imitation. (If you trust me enough, just stop here and see it, read nothing else, and come back to compare notes.)

Then Andy Samberg gets shot with an arrow and everything goes sideways. There’s a twist, of Sixth Sense-ian hallucinogenic potency, and that’s just the first 10 minutes. But here we are again, talking about the twists.

Palm Springs‘ twists will inevitably become over-emphasized, because talking about Palm Springs’ twists is a way of talking about the film without revealing too much, and Palm Springs truly is best experienced cold. Yet presenting Palm Springs as a movie about twists does it a disservice. It’s a film full of surprises whose appeal doesn’t rest on surprise. They’re mostly a means to bigger ideas. I go back and forth about even calling it a comedy. It’s certainly funny, but seems to have more in common with Charlie Kaufman or Michel Gondry or the Coen Brothers — as stylish as those in its construction, but with a more internet-age sense of comedy and timing. There’s a clear sense that the construction of Palm Springs has been influenced by the way jokes snowball and mutate on message boards, which you could never say for the Coen Brothers.

Anyway, if you’ve read this far it’s probably okay to start referencing the plot. How much can you expect not to know about a plot these days and still want to see the movie? It’s like Eternal Sunshine meets Groundhog Day. I hope that’s enough to whet your appetite without spoiling too much surprise.

It all takes place at a destination wedding, where Andy Samberg’s Nyles has accompanied his vacuous girlfriend, Misty, played by Meredith Hagner (in an absolute tour de force of micro-role supporting comedy) to give a speech honoring the union of Tala and Abe, two obnoxiously cherubic, well-to-do Instagram-ready dickheads (more or less). Meanwhile, Misty and Nyles’ relationship is clearly disintegrating, turning Nyles into a hedo-nihilistic agent of pure chaos. He seems to be a hit with everyone at the reception even though he’s dangerously drunk and flouting all convention (“Why is he dressed like he’s going to a luau?” asks a background character as Samberg drunkenly grabs the mic).

Nyles eventually ends up alone with Sarah (Cristin Milioti), sister of the bride and Nyles’ comrade in cynicism, a meet-cute that seems somehow engineered, in an ineffable way. That’s when the “big event” happens. To call it “derivative” of Groundhog Day isn’t really fair or accurate, it’s more like a joke that builds on a shared, acknowledged premise — which is what good jokes do, especially in the internet age, where memes mutate and swallow new memes until they become something new and absurd.

But as much as Palm Springs mines its own premise for comedy whenever possible, it’s not really about the jokes. It’s bigger than that. The looping premise (TMI?) is both a metaphor for existence and a riff on the nature of relationships. It’s zany and silly and sometimes cute, all while being sneakily profound.

“We’re gonna be so sick of each other.”

“Yeah, it’s gonna be great.”

Without Andy Samberg’s puppy dog charm, JK Simmons’ steely intensity, and Cristin Milioti’s sardonic vulnerability (it’s a delicate dance, and she performs it deftly) the whole thing might not work so well. Or, to put it another way, these are characters you could enjoy in a much stupider premise. But Palm Springs is the perfect kind of art-comedy. It comes on like a brilliantly silly little lark and eventually lands on you like a ton of bricks.

It’s a movie about… being able to find happiness in what can feel like meaningless, repetitive drudgery; about the abiding loneliness of existence, and about ultimately being stuck with yourself. With not just your own tendencies but with the ever-present weight of your history. How much of what you do is because it makes you happy and how much is you building towards some future goal? How much do those future goals really matter, aren’t they ultimately meaningless? What if you stripped away all possibility of any future goal or the normal external benchmarks of personal growth? Would that make your life more meaningful, or less?

True, some of these themes do show up in Groundhog Day (close to a perfect movie in its own right) but whereas in Groundhog Day they were high concept, Palm Springs gives them honest introspection. Palm Springs is a movie that stares into the abyss and finds… well, love and humor, mostly. It makes sense to me.

‘Palm Springs’ premieres July 10th on Hulu. Vince Mancini is on Twitter. You can access his archive of reviews here.

Despite the UFC coming to an agreement on a new Jorge Masvidal deal for at least this weekend’s title fight, Jon Jones and the status of the light heavyweight division is still very much in flux. That hasn’t stopped UFC president Dana White from working to put together a bout with gigantic title implications this September.

According to ESPN’s Brett Okamoto, the UFC is working on booking No. 5-ranked Glover Teixeira against No. 2-ranked Thiago Santos.

The 40-year-old Teixeira has rattled off four consecutive wins, with the latest being a one-sided beatdown of former No. 1 contender Anthony Smith. He’ll face stiff competition in Santos, who is expected to return from injury after a controversial loss to Jones in 2019, when he tore literally everything in his knee — his ACL, MCL, PCL, and meniscus. Despite appearing to suffer the knee injury early in the second round, Santos went the distance and dropped a split decision to the champ.

With a full bill of health, Santos has eyes on returning to the title picture. But after his 18-year professional career and just one opportunity at the division crown — a 2014 loss to Jon Jones — there’s no doubt Teixeira is ready to leave it all out on the mat for one last shot at UFC gold.

With teams beginning to arrive in Orlando, the NBA’s bubble is coming together and a few reporters are already embedded at Disney World for the proceedings. Though full-fledged basketball action won’t arrive until later in July, news is beginning to emerge and, on Tuesday evening, Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports provided details on the social justice messages that a few players will be donning when play begins.

Earlier in July, the NBA’s approved list of messages came to light and Haynes, citing sources, indicates that Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert will have “equality” on his uniform, with Portland Trail Blazers guard CJ McCollum choosing “education reform.”

As Haynes notes, Blazers center Jusuf Nurkic will showcase “equality” in his native tongue and details will undoubtedly emerge across the league in the coming days. The NBA is pledging to “drive action and create meaningful and generational change” as a “central goal” of the restart in Orlando, and the display of these messages, along with painting Black Lives Matter on the court, is in line with that mission.

Haynes does indicate that some players are “disgruntled with the lack of options” provided by the NBA but, at the same time, he does remind observers that this was bargained between the league and the NBPA. On the WNBA side, players will wear the names of women who were victims of police brutality but, for the NBA, players have the option of one of 28 phrases.

The nation’s collective attention may be moving back toward an alarming rise in COVID-19 cases across the south, but cities and towns across the country continue to see massive Black Lives Matter protests and people across the political spectrum calling for police reform. In an ongoing conversation about race and our nation’s perception of race relations and law enforcement, a number of shows in the entertainment industry have seen cancelation or changes made.

LivePD and the long-running Cops, for example, were cancelled. And according to Terry Crews the writers of Brooklyn 99 scrapped its new season entirely to start over with the sea change in progress in mind. Andy Samberg, who stars in the show, has also admitted that it will be a “challenge” to make new episodes of the comedy that focuses on a police precinct in Brooklyn.

In an interview with People, Samberg said the show’s writers and actors are doing their best to handle things sensitively, but he wasn’t entirely sure the show would be able to thread the needle.

“We’re taking a step back, and the writers are all rethinking how we’re going to move forward, as well as the cast,” Samberg, 41, tells PEOPLE. “We’re all in touch and kind of discussing how you make a comedy show about police right now, and if we can find a way of doing that that we all feel morally okay about.”

“I know that we’ll figure it out, but it’s definitely a challenge, so we’ll see how it goes,” adds the actor, who plays Det. Jake Peralta.

It’s not an easy thing to do, for sure, and some have even suggested changing the location of the show entirely and make it something other than a police drama. But given the troubles Crews has gotten himself into with critical comments about the Black Lives Matter movement in recent weeks, it makes sense that Samberg and the rest of the cast is trying to be careful in how they move forward. Right now, it doesn’t seem like they have any definitive solutions just yet.

[via People]

‘Misbehavin’ is a song that sounds like a show was built around it, but as Danny McBride revealed it was far more an afterthought than it seems. The Righteous Gemstones star and creator recently revealed that the song was far from central to the show, even though it’s become an instant classic in its own right.

The Hollywood Reporter interviewed Danny McBride and series composer Joseph Stevens about the music of the show. Of course, the interview largely focused on the earworm of a song that has become a cult favorite of sorts. McBride said the song wasn’t a necessity for the show, but something that evolved as part of a process that came with fleshing out the family history.

He described an album cover with a song called ‘Misbehavin” in the background as a stage direction that he took, then shaped into an entire flashback episode that involved actually creating the song that went with the title.

“We were never originally planning on doing that flashback episode [episode five, “Interlude”]. And about halfway through the season, I got to the point where I wanted to see what this [family] used to be when Aimee-Leigh was [alive],” McBride said. “So almost as an exercise, I wrote that [episode] just to know what the beef was with everyone so we can see it for ourselves. And in the script it seemed to make sense, like, “That song that we tipped in that third episode, we should just deal with that.””

The result was calling Stephens, who listened to Edi Patterson, who plays Judy Gemstone, singing some lines of what became the central theme of ‘Misbehavin” And as with many things in the “misunderstood angry man” trilogy McBride has assembled on HBO, the best line of the song came from a moment where the writing went just a bit outside of what’s comfortable.

MCBRIDE You added the best lyric: “Runnin’ through the house with a pickle in my mouth.” I knew we had hit something when you came back with that.

STEPHENS I was super pleased that you were down with that. Because when I sent it, I was like, “I don’t know what this means. It’s cute and innocent, but it’s pretty weird. Fuck it, I’m going to put it in there.”

MCBRIDE It sounds like something you could get in trouble for in a very religious household.

The line was instantly memorable and made the flashback episode a success, as well as set up the later parts of the season where the Gemstones try to reinvent the wheel with the in-universe classic. Stephens said he studied the Carter Family when trying to recreate the period-specific sound of the song, and the rest of the interview has a lot of fun tidbits about the writing process and how the song made an episode that was a departure for the already short series — a flashback episode missing a number of other characters central to the show — into an essential part of the Gemstones experience.

The Brooklyn Nets are currently the seventh seed in the Eastern Conference, but when the NBA restarts, they will be without a number of key players. Wilson Chandler was the first member of the team to opt out, citing family health concerns, and shortly after Spencer Dinwiddie announced he had tested positive for COVID-19 and was experiencing symptoms.

Dinwiddie had hoped to recover and play, but after another positive test on Tuesday announced he would be sitting out. DeAndre Jordan likewise tested positive and announced he would not be going to Orlando with the team, and on Tuesday evening, we learned a third Nets player, Taurean Prince, has also tested positive and will not join the team for the restart, per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

The Nets, already without Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant for the season, are now down four other key contributors as they look to finish out the season. Given that when Dinwiddie announced his positive test he noted it came after he’d participated in activities with the team, one can’t help but wonder if the sudden spike in positive tests on the team are part of an internal outbreak — that, to be very clear, could have been caused by anyone that has since tested positive.

Prince averaged 12.1 points and 6.0 rebounds per game this season for the Nets, and with Chandler already opting out their options on the wing are growing slim. Should more tests come back positive from the team, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that the Nets may have to withdraw from the restart in whole, as FC Dallas did from the MLS Is Back Tournament in Orlando this week after 10 players and one coach tested positive or the virus.

Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver DeSean Jackson issued an apology on Tuesday afternoon following a controversy that stemmed from anti-Semitic Instagram posts he made over the weekend. At the heart of the controversy was Jackson’s decision to post a quote that is purportedly falsely attributed to Adolf Hitler, which you can read here.

Beyond that post, ESPN wrote that Jackson shared a pair of since-delete posts that expressed admiration for Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, who is classified as an anti-Semite by both the Anti-Defamation League and Southern Poverty Law Center. The Eagles’ owner, Jeffrey Lurie, and general manager, Howie Roseman, are both Jewish, and in a statement released on Tuesday, the franchise expressed that it finds Jackson’s posts unacceptable.

“We have spoken with DeSean Jackson about his social media posts,” the Eagles said in a statement. “Regardless of his intentions, the messages he shared were offensive, harmful, and absolutely appalling. They have no place in our society, and are not condoned or supported in any way by the organization.

“We are disappointed and we reiterated to DeSean the importance of not only apologizing, but also using his platform to take action to promote unity, equality, and respect. We are continuing to evaluate the circumstances and will take appropriate action. We take these matters very seriously and are committed to continuing to have productive and meaningful conversations with DeSean, as well as all of our players and staff, in order to educate, learn, and grow.”

Jackson, in response to all of this, posted a video to his Instagram account in which he said, “My post was definitely not intended for anybody of any race to feel any type of way, especially the Jewish community. What I posted, I definitely didn’t mean it to the extent that you guys took it, and I just wanted to let you guys know that I’m, you know, very apologetic, and I just want you guys to understand that it never was intended … to put any race down or any religion down.”

Of course, there is a major difference between apologizing and apologizing for how something was taken. There is no word on whether Jackson will receive any sort of disciplinary action from the Eagles.

If you love peaty whisky, this post is for you. Ardbeg has been producing the smoky stuff since 1798 on the island of Islay in western Scotland. The small distillery has only two stills and sits right on the sea. It’s literally everything you think of when you think of a sea-washed Scottish distillery.

Last week, we went on Instagram to taste through Ardbeg’s main expressions with podcast host and travel writer Mike Schibel. Our tasting started with Ardbeg’s new expression, Wee Beastie, and ended with this year’s special release of Blaaack. It was an hour-or-so long whirlwind of some of the tastiest, smokiest, and award-winning peaty scotches on the market today.

There are no musician tie-ins here. No gimmicks. This is just damn-fine whisky that’ll help you fall in love with the peatier side of the whisky world.

Ardbeg Wee Beastie

ABV: 47.4%
Average Price: $50

The Whisky:

This is a very new expression from Ardbeg (it was released in April of 2020). The juice is aged for only five years in both ex-bourbon and ex-oloroso sherry casks before marrying for the final product. The idea is to give a sense of the quality of the peaty juice from Port Ellen’s malting house.

Tasting Notes:

There’s a sharp sense of alcohol and peat up top with a hint of fruitiness. The fruit leans more pear, with a flourish of vanilla behind a real brininess and mild(ish) notes of peat. The rawness of the peaty tar sticks to your senses as a hint of smoked bacon fades alongside the fruit, brine, and peat.

Ardbeg Ten

ABV: 46%
Average Price: $60

The Whisky:

This is Ardbeg’s signature bottle and a true gateway to the peaty style of single malt scotches. The real highlight with this expression is the peat via sherry casking. It’s truly a classic.

Tasting Notes:

Smoke, fruit, and a hint of lemon zest lead the way. There’s a sense of black pepper spice, smoked meat, plenty of brine, a dose of vanilla, and a whisper of nuttiness. A sense of bitterness and a touch of licorice come into play as the sip very, very slowly fades through the smoke, nuttiness, and fruit.

Ardbeg Uigedail

ABV: 54.2%
Average Price: $90

The Whisky:

Pronounced “Oog-A-Dal,” this expression is all about being “dark and mysterious” — much like the lake the distillery pulls its water and the name of this expression from. The juice is a mix of single malts from both ex-sherry and ex-bourbon casks and is bottled at cask strength.

Tasting Notes:

Smoked fruit and Christmas spices greet you with a hint of florals and… maybe even bananas. The dram has a fruity sweetness that counterpoints the heavier smoky nature of the sip. The sip opens up wonderfully with a drop of water as the spices, smoke, and fruit all balance each other out deftly. The sip ends quickly but with a nice dose of warmth.

Ardbeg Corryvrecken

ABV: 46%
Average Price: $100

The Whisky:

This whisky is named after the world’s second-largest ocean whirlpool, called Corryvrecken. The juice in the bottle is Ardbeg Ten blended with single malt that’s been aged exclusively in new French Limousin casks.

Tasting Notes:

Moments of spice, vanilla, brown sugar, and dark, tart fruit open this sip. Sea salt, black pepper, dark spices, and more tart berries mingle on the palate. The subtly of the sip hints at florals as and almost dark chocolate feeling arrives late on the lingering, peppery finish.

Ardbeg Blaaack

ABV: 46%
Average Price: $130

The Whisky:

Ardbeg’s Blaaack is celebrating it’s 20th anniversary this year. This specialty and very-limited release was aged in Pinto Noir casks from New Zealand this time around, adding a very plummy depth to the dram.

Tasting Notes:

Cedar, mushroom umami, mild smoke, cherry, vinous red wine, and a hint of citrus zest greet your nose. The sip is texturally reminiscent of velvet with plenty of peaty smoke, brine, ripe and sweet fruits, a vinous note, and powdery dark chocolate. The velvet texture of the sip really grabs your senses as the bitter chocolate, fruit, and spice fade out over time and another rush of peat and cedar flood the senses.

Check out the full tasting below!

Joel Embiid and the Philadelphia 76ers will head to Orlando with championship aspirations, as they get a healthy Ben Simmons back on the floor for the eight-game push to the postseason. If at full strength, Philly figures to be a force to be reckoned with, but that of course comes with the giant caveat hanging over the NBA that is: Will this restart go off without a hitch?

We’ve already seen a number of players, most of whom are not on championship contenders, withdraw due to injury concerns, family concerns, or testing positive for COVID-19 prior to going to Orlando. As the MLS battles outbreaks within their bubble at Disney, with one team withdrawing and another having to have a game postponed, there has to be at least some concern something similar could happen to the NBA if they don’t take extreme precaution.

The league has done what it believes to be what is necessary with the guidelines in place for testing, isolation, and distancing — particularly important early on as players arrive from all around the country. Embiid himself isn’t a fan of the NBA’s restart plan and has plenty of concerns, one of which being that he doesn’t trust all of his fellow players to do their part in following those protocols and rules that are in place to try and mitigate any spread of the virus in the bubble, as he told reporters on Tuesday via Noah Levick of NBC Sports Philadelphia.

“I look at myself and I’ve been doing this for quite a bit now — six, seven years,” he said. “Like I said, all I do is play video games and stay in my room on the road, or even when I’m home. Just stay home, play video games, do what I’ve got to do. Just being with my family.

“And obviously we’re all different. Some guys like to go out and some guys like to do stuff, (there are) some guys that like adventure. So that’s the way I’m thinking. I know myself. I know I’m not going to put everybody else at risk, but the question is, is everybody else going to do the same? And just being around this business, I surely don’t think so.”

Embiid has concerns about the motivation for the league pushing so hard for the restart (money) and whether it will be truly safe, but also said he doesn’t want to let down his teammates and the city so he’ll be going and trying to play for a championship. His point on players potentially not following protocols is valid, and it remains to be seen if the league will be able to effectively enforce the rules to keep players from breaking the bubble or doing things inside of it that could put the restart in jeopardy.