For months, Tenet was being held up as the movie that will welcome America back to movie theaters. It even held firm to its July 17 release only up until recently, as almost the entirety of what was once the 2020 summer movie season relocated to later in the year. But now its been rescheduled once more: As per The Hollywood Reporter, has been bumped to mid-August.
The announcement was made Thursday evening, with Warner Bros. giving the movie its second bump. Previously the latest from Christopher Nolan — starring John David Washington, Robert Pattinson, and Elizabeth Dembicki, plus what looks like some backwards time madness — was rescheduled two weeks, landing on the July 31 spot. Now, right after one of the largest days of reported new cases since the virus hit the U.S., it’s been moved two more weeks, to August 12.
And what of Mulan? Disney’s live-action remake of their 1998 animated favorite is still technically scheduled for July 24. However, according to THR, the company is expected to make a similar announcement, especially as they recently revealed Disneyland would be delaying its reopening, with no new date announced.
Meanwhile the nation’s movie theaters are, as of this writing, still scheduled to mostly reopen mid-July. Stress “as of this writing.”
I first watched Will Ferrell’s latest, Eurovision Song Contest: The Story Of Fire Saga, while having drinks and cooking dinner for friends, which is probably the best way to experience it. Comedy, at least in movie form, so often feels hard these days, like an extended breathless attempt to squeeze the most jokes possible into the twistiest plot. Eurovision, from Wedding Crashers director David Dobkin (whose post-Wedding Crashers output has included a lot of god-awful trash) feels more like a lark, a series of riffs on a theme. It breathes, and thank God. Comedy was never supposed to feel like work. Eurovision feels like a vacation.
It’s an achievement to make a movie about the Eurovision Song Contest funny, because the Eurovision Song Contest is already funny — hilarious and absurd and extremely European. Many have failed at making comedy from already-funny things, the same way everyone trying to make a fictionalized Tiger King surely will. Eurovision Song Contest gives us all the bad pop songs and wild outfits and wigs we expect, but executes with the perfect mix of critique and reverence, all without neglecting the subtler jokes. With so much footage shot in Iceland and Scotland, it also works surprisingly well as eye candy.
Will Ferrell plays Lars Erickssong, a fluffy-haired Icelandic boy whose origin story begins with seeing Abba perform “Waterloo” on television as a child (even his name, “Erickssong,” is a subtle-ish pun on Icelandic patronymics, with “song” instead of “son” at the end). He dedicates his life to winning the contest, “so that no one can ever laugh at me again,” essentially missing the entire point of the contest. He’s quickly joined in this quest by childhood friend Sigrit Ericksdottir (the ever adorable Rachel McAdams). People keep confusing the two for siblings, to which they have to constantly reassure people that they’re “probably not.” Which is a joke on both Iceland’s relatively small population living on an island for generations, and another joke on patronymics (based on their names, both their fathers are named Erick).
None of these jokes are especially revolutionary, but they’re funny enough, and more importantly, Eurovision doesn’t subscribe to the recent school of thought where the height of comedy is constant bickering. It feels like Will Ferrell and his co-writer Andrew Steele watched a few Eurovisions and went to Iceland and simply allowed themselves to be inspired by the people and setting. Oh, and funny accents. Funny accents still play.
The strength of Eurovision is that it’s well-written enough that it might work even if it was neither a Will Ferrell vehicle nor a comedy, which isn’t normally true of Ferrell vehicles. He’s such a skilled improviser that the temptation has always been to just sort of give him a situation and stand around while he acts it out. Eurovision is Zoolander-esque in the way that it’s more about the subject than the individual actors, bouncing Ferrell off a series of memorable oddballs (including a few extremely Icelandic ones) to great effect.
When the other Icelandic aspirants to the big Eurovision contest are eliminated in an accident, Lars and Sigrit are the only ones left standing. Meanwhile, the head of Iceland’s central bank is worried that an Iceland victory could bankrupt the country (which is only just coming out of a decade-old recession). All the while, there’s a romantic subplot in which Sigrit has fallen in love with Lars but Lars is too dumb to notice. Which is complicated further when Lars encounters a love rival, in Alexander Lemtov, an absurdly baritoned Russian (presumably based on the Trolololo guy) played by Dan Stevens, who is so deliciously over the top that he practically steals the entire movie. Seriously, hire this guy for more comedies.
As opposed to, say, Judd Apatow, who seems to cast funny folks and then give them leeway to do their funniest line reads and ad-libs on a basic premise, Dobkin cast skilled dramatic actors, like Stevens (Downton Abbey, The Guest) and Pierce Brosnan (who plays Lars’ father), and has them fully commit to a silly script. Both methods can and have worked, but here Dobkins’ method feels refreshing, freeing the actors from the air of desperation that comes with improv (is this funny??) and giving it succinctness.
And then, of course, there are the songs. From Lemtov’s “Lion Of Love” (with extremely homoerotic back-up dancing) to Sigrit’s climactic power ballad, pretty much every song is at least a toe-tapper, and usually an earworm. The way Eurovision combines broken English parodies with earnest ballads and a gloriously silly pop hit medley in the middle, it’s sort of like Popstar, a jukebox musical, and a Pixar movie all rolled into one. With a handful of legitimate hit songwriters writing goofy Euro-pop parodies and on-location shooting in Iceland, it’s a movie that goes to great lengths and great expense to create a movie experience that feels easy.
‘Eurovision Song Contest: The Story Of Fire Saga’ is available June 26th on Netflix. Vince Mancini is onTwitter. You can access his archive of reviewshere.
Last month marked two years since Kyle shared his debut album Light Of Mine. The release arrived after years of mixtapes, released under an array of monickers, the first one dating back to 2009. Fast-forward well over a decade and the California-bred artist is putting the finishing touches on his sophomore album, See You When I’m Famous. And after a few singles and a few delays, Kyle has revealed its release date.
The musician took to Instagram, posting a picture of the album’s artwork, which boasts a yearbook picture from his high school days edited to include a pair of iced-out Gamecube chains, as well as a pair from his high school graduation. Alongside it he revealed that See You When I’m Famous would arrive July 17, leaving about three weeks until the fans will be able to listen to his latest opus.
It was just last month that Kyle revealed that he originally planned to delay the album until the coronavirus pandemic ended, as he intended for it to be “enjoyed outside in the sun in the company of friends.” However, after rethinking his decision, he realized his goal for fans should have been to “make you happy when times are tough.” Soon after, he released his “What It Is” single, which was followed by the Hit-Boy-produced “Bouncin.”
Check out the cover for See You When I’m Famous above.
See You When I’m Famous is out 07/17 via Atlantic.
Kyle is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Several NBA players, ranging from Davis Bertans to Avery Bradley and Willie Cauley-Stein, will not be heading to the Orlando bubble, even as key members of teams vying for postseason glory. While some player absences were expected, the discussion continues on whether the league should press on in its plans and, with that in mind, a (very) prominent member of the NBA community voiced his skeptical opinion this week.
“I feel, me right now, I probably wouldn’t have played because the unknown going into that situation looks crazy right now, seeing so many new cases,” Durant said. “It’s just so unpredictable. It’s easy for me to say right now because I’m injured, but I probably wouldn’t have went down there.”
Durant tested positive for COVID-19 in mid-March, giving him firsthand experience that many players do not have at this juncture. From there, Durant did support players if they choose to play in Orlando.
“If the guys feel safe enough to go play, that’s cool, I’m with them,” said Durant. “If they don’t feel like they should go down there and play or don’t feel safe, I’m with them too. I’m all about what the group wants. If it’s good for the betterment of the whole group, then I’m cool with it.”
Later, Durant said he “probably would have chilled,” also citing the three-month layoff in between the last NBA games and the projected arrival in Orlando. In an overall sense, it is far from surprising that any player would say they did not want to make the trip. Still, Durant is one of the more high-profile players in the league and, while the Nets probably wouldn’t make a run to the title even if he was playing, it is more than noteworthy that a player of Durant’s caliber would express this sentiment on the record.
While his 2018 hit “Ye” propelled him into the mainstream, Burna Boy’s 2019 album African Giant proved that his time in the spotlight would not be temporary. The album was received positively by both fans and critics and it also awarded him his first Grammy nomination for Best World Music Album. But after two legs of the African Giant Tour, Burna made it clear that he was trying to double his efforts by calling his next album Twice As Tall. With the release set to arrive this summer, Burna returns with his latest single, “Wonderful.”
Soaked in joy and pure happiness, “Wonderful” is preceded by a powerful a capella that sets the tone for the rest of the song. As the production builds up, Burna enters to shout praises to the sky, singing that he’s thankful for the blessings he’s received in life. The single also details his personal journey and growth, all while he commends himself for the amount of pride, perseverance, and hustle he exhibited on his way to success.
“It’s important for me to show that music is a uniting force that transcends state lines, barriers, and borders. This song is about the ‘wonders’ of seeing the impact of my music on people’s lives as they shared their joy, pain, and pleasure with me while I toured the world,” Burna Boy said in a press release for the song. “It serves as a note that no matter how far you go, or how hard you work; you must be ready to come home, the pandemic forced us all to take refuge in our homes. Above all, Africa is home, it is the motherland to all people. For us to truly matter, Africa has to matter.”
You can listen to “Wonderful” in the video above.
Burna Boy is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Technically, summer is rolling, with weather from coast to coast feeling like it’s mid-July. We’ve already announced our cocktail of the season — the beer spritz — and you won’t be shocked to learn that light, easy, and refreshing won the day. That’s the warm weather drink trifecta, right there.
Truth be told, quarantine has us leaning way into the “easy” part of that equation. That’s why we’re nominating 2020 as the “Summer of Two-Ingredient Cocktails.” To call out a few favorites under that banner, we enlisted the help of some of our favorite bartenders. Check out their favorite thirst-quenching two-ingredient drinks using gin, whiskey, rum, and tequila.
My favorite 2-ingredient cocktail is “The Ranch Water”. It’s is just El Tesoro Blanco and Topo Chico Soda Water and has been my go to lately. I’m an agave girl and adding some bubbles is the perfect way to have something tasty that lasts awhile.
I have a handful of two-ingredient cocktails that are my go-tos. It depends on my mood and the environment I’m in. If I had to choose just one, it would have to be a 7 & 7. Simple, refreshing, and easy.
Scotch (I suggest Monkey Shoulder) and coconut water. Tropical flavors and scotch play really well together. I fell in love with this simple cocktail in Puerto Rico, it’s a staple there. It’s perfectly light, refreshing, and dangerously delicious.
Lemon and sugar! They are the two ingredients necessary to make a refreshing sour, you are then free to select your favorite spirit and alternate as you wish. Just add whiskey and you have yourself a simple whiskey sour (even though that technically make it ingredients).
I have many two-ingredient favorites, but my hat currently rests next to a take on the gin & tonic called the “Whimsical Tonic” which uses 1 ½ parts Hendrick’s Midsummer Solstice and three parts elderflower tonic. Add in a cucumber slice and some petite edible flowers and we’re set for sipping time.
Martini
iStockphoto
Jessie Smyth, bar director at Genever in Los Angeles
It would have to be some kind of martini using Gray Whale gin. Depending on the time of day, I’ll go from a reverse martini (two parts vermouth : one part gin) to a 50/50 (equal parts gin and vermouth) to a more classic ratio of 2 gin : 1 vermouth. I love the different flavors that get highlighted in both the gin and the vermouth as you tweak something so simple as the proportion of each. It’s really a fun experiment. Swapping out the dry vermouth for a blanc vermouth, or Lillet, or Salers, or maybe even sherry changes things too. There are endless flavor combinations that can amplify the nutty almond notes, the salty komb, or the fresh mint in a gin like Gray Whale.
I love a highball (whiskey and soda) and a Bourbon Lemonade. It’s so easy and simply refreshing with a lot of ice. There are few things more refreshing than the combination of bourbon and lemonade on a hot, summer day.
A Simple Paloma. You can leave out the Lime Juice and Simple Syrup and just do equal parts of tequila and grapefruit flavored soda like Jarritos or a Fresca and served on the rocks.
Whiskey Highball
iStockphoto
Lenny Eckstein, co-founder and head distiller of Deerhammer Distillery in Buena Vista, Colorado
The highball is where it’s at for me. Soda water and whiskey (I’ll typically use my own Deerhammer American Single Malt) and a garnish of expressed Lemon peel and mixed into a tall ice-filled glass. This is my steady sub out for a beer in every situation, and I’ve actually become quite fond of garnishing or steeping with some fresh-picked whole leaf hops when they are in season.
Tequila & soda. Agave spirits are already great but, drawing out the flavor in a tall drink can really help certain components stand out. A squeeze of lime or grapefruit can pull everything together into a subtly acidic trifecta.
Dark ‘N’ Stormy
iStockphoto
Gravy Thomas, global advocacy and ambassador community manager at William Grant & Sons
Even with just two ingredients, the “Dark ‘N’ Stormy” has always been a favorite of mine. It’s so simple but it does the trick. There’s something that the ginger beer does to rum that makes your taste buds go wild.
A common criticism and talking point of those who favor our current American healthcare system over the type of single-payer system that countries like Canada have, is that while Canadians may spend less on healthcare out of pocket when compared to Americans, they’re often subjected to wait times so long that it leads them to seek care in the United States. This has always been a misleading argument. According to the AARP, while Canadians do experience longer wait times, that doesn’t mean they aren’t getting the care that they need. One of the ways Canada has managed to keep healthcare costs at bay is by limiting supply for elective surgeries, a system that could be overhauled if Canadian citizens wanted to pay. They don’t, and those who do get their elective surgeries done in America.
Beyond that, the differences between the current American healthcare system and single-payer are, generally speaking, nuanced and complex. And it turns out that the health insurance companies are well aware of that fact, even if they act like it’s all totally simple and straightforward. At least according to Wendell Potter, former Vice President of corporate communications for the health insurance company Cigna, who came clean in a Twitter thread about the type of health insurance propaganda he used to push at Cigna, and how it was designed to mislead the American public, and how that deception has come to affect the country’s failed response to the coronavirus.
Amid America’s #COVID19 disaster, I must come clean about a lie I spread as a health insurance exec: We spent big $$ to push the idea that Canada’s single-payer system was awful & the U.S. system much better. It was a lie & the nations’ COVID responses prove it. The truth: (1/6)
“Amid America’s #COVID19 disaster, I must come clean about a lie I spread as a health insurance exec,” begins Potter, “Here’s the truth: Our industry PR & lobbying group, AHIP, supplied my colleagues & me with cherry-picked data and anecdotes to make people think Canadians wait endlessly for their care. It’s a lie & I”ll always regret the disservice I did to folks on both sides of the border. In Canada, no one gets turned away from doctors due to lack of funds, In America, exorbitant bills are a defining feature of the system.”
Potter also takes some time in his thread to dispel the popular talking point that the American health care system has better quality of care, writing:
“When it comes to #COVID19, there’s been ~ 21 deaths per 100,000 in Canada, versus 34 per 100,000 in the U.S. Remember, In Canada there are no co-pays, deductibles or co-insurance ever. Care is free at the point of service… you learn a lot about a healthcare system when a global crisis hits & different nations have different results. Canada’s single-payer system is saving lives. The U.S. profit-driven corporate model is failing.”
According to data collected by Johns Hopkins, while the U.S. has almost 2.5 million cases of COVID-19 across the country, Canada has just 104,087 cases. Visual representations of Canada’s efforts to flatten their COVID-19 curve show us that by all accounts, the American response to the coronavirus has been a significant failure. It should also be noted that Canada’s total population 37.59 is only a fraction of that of the U.S. which has a total population of 328.2 million (California alone has a population of 39.51 million), so even in a best-case COVID-19 scenario, the U.S. would still likely have a higher case count than Canada.
Obviously, a Twitter thread about how big medicine acts in the interests of profits isn’t going to dissect the issue in every which way, but Potter’s overarching point stands: COVID-19 has shown that our health care system — like much of America — is due for a massive refresh.
The NBA 2K League is rolling along with its season with players playing remote, which brings some unique challenges. While gaming offers a rather easy transition to remote play, there’s a big difference playing online from separate locations rather than being in the same room with your team.
Communication can be tricky, but there’s also the risk of connection issues. Last Tuesday, a game between Nets GC and Pistons GT was interrupted with 4:13 seconds to play in what was heading for a blowout win for the Pistons. An investigation by the 2K League determined that Nets small forward Marquis “Randomz” Gill was the reason for the interruption as he quit the game purposefully while it was still going on. Gill has been suspended for next Monday for the Nets’ series with Cavs Legion GC as a result.
Rage-quitting happens all the time in online gaming, and trailing 71-39 late in a game certainly is the kind of situation you might expect to see someone quit. However, that’s when playing 2K online with some random person, not playing in the official NBA 2K League, and as such it’s unsurprising the league wouldn’t take kindly to that happening.
It’s the kind of thing that can only happen in this remote setting and the league suspending Gill for a night of games is clearly ensuring the rest of the league is aware of the punishment that can come their way if they did the same thing.
Keanu Reeves’ 50s have been some of his most accomplished and prolific, from finding yet another beloved franchise to star in to returning to multiple olderones to becoming a prolific inspirer of memes — all while still looking like he’s in his 30s. He’s even expanded his repertoire into the realm of video games. Last year it was revealed he’d have a starring role in Cyberpunk 2077, which would require not only voice work but also a motion-capture performance. And though the latter can only be seen but briefly in the new trailer, at least the cameo is amusingly profane.
As per IndieWire, the first extended look at Cyberpunk 2077 was unveiled during a 25-minute video on Thursday, which included a three-minute trailer as well as the announcement that the game will also receive an anime show due next year on Netflix. The game, from the developers of the popular Witcher series, is an RPG from the longtime Cyberpunk franchise, which began as a tabletop game in 1988. Players get to embody V, a mercenary whose look you can customize, and who prowls a futuristic dystopia, hunting for an implant that could grant him immortality.
The trailer shows off the expected first-person, Grand Theft Auto-style mayhem, albeit with a, well, cyberpunk sheen. Reeves himself is mostly heard, not seen, until the 11th hour, when he is very much both, delivering a decent red-band gag before the cut to black, all while looking not unlike Sylvester Stallone in Cobra.
This isn’t the first time Reeves has done cyberpunk, or even the first time he’s been involved in a game. Oddly, those were for the same title: the 1995 thriller Johnny Mnemonic, based on the novel by William Gibson, the father of cyberpunk. The movie didn’t do well initially, but it paved the way for The Matrix, and it was turned into a CD-ROM game, featuring 90 minutes of full-motion video. Second time’s the charm, it seems.
One of the hallmarks of progress, both societally and individually, is when we realize that something we thought was benign is actually not. When it comes to progress on racism, the cultural norms of language are frequently where those realizations occur.
For example, there are many common phrases we use that are racist, which many of us having no idea. And now The Conscious Kid on Instagram has shared how a collection of standard nursery rhymes most of us recited or sang as children that also come from racist origins. Some of them come from the blackface minstrelsy era, when white people dressed in blackface and sang songs portraying black people as uneducated caricatures. Others started as blatantly racist rhymes, then changed over time to be palatable to a more enlightened audience.
As we take these in, it’s good to be aware that nostalgia and familiarity will naturally create resistance to the notion that these rhymes are problematic, especially if we aren’t part of the racial group on the receiving end of the racism these rhymes stem from. Our minds will defend, justify, and qualify in order to keep fond memories from our childhood in tact.
Many of us learned Eeenie, Meenie, Miney, Moe with the phrase “catch a tiger by his toe” or maybe “catch a tigger,” but the original rhyme used the n-word. Gross.
“Chinese, Japanese” was a common playground recitation when I was little, and though I recall learning that it was wrong, it didn’t seem nearly as horrifying as it does now. Who the hell originally came up with this, and how did it travel so far?
And then there’s the ice cream truck song. The familiar tune that’s synonymous with summer—also sung by kids as “Do Your Ears Hang Low”—was originally a song called “N****r Love a Watermelon Ha! Ha! Ha!” Yeah.
Many of us sang at least part of “Oh! Susanna” in school music classes, and it’s often considered a classic. But look at what the song was actually about and how horrible some of the lyrics were.
“Jimmy Crack Corn” is another familiar tune from childhood. I remember singing it in some capacity, and now I’m appalled that the term “Massa” ever came out of my mouth as form of entertainment.
Now’s a good time to ask ourselves what we should do with these rhymes now that we know their origins. Of course, there are bigger issues than nursery rhymes, but all of the seemingly low-significance incidences of racism add up to a crapton.
When we know better, we do better—at least in theory. Now that we know, let’s do something with this knowledge. Would it really be that hard to place these rhymes in the archives of history and not continue to actively use them? Are there really no alternatives that children can become familiar with instead?
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