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A new trailer for The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom was shown off during the Nintendo Direct on Wednesday. Like the last few, it gave us slight glimpses into gameplay with some cool features shown off like grinding on rails, the use of the guardian technology to float into the sky, and maybe even some new sheikah slate powers. We were also given some more insights into the story, with an ominous voice speaking of revenge and other devious goals as they look to destroy the current Kingdom.

It’s going to be a fun time, and it looks like it is primarily going to be the same kind of game as Breath of the Wild but with more stuff to do, which is never a bad idea in a sequel. The real surprise came in what wasn’t announced in the Direct itself. If fans went to the eShop to quickly go buy the game they were greeted with a surprise price increase as far as Switch games are concerned. Right now, the standard pre-order price on the US eShop is $70. Usually, Switch games are only $60.

This is now going to ask an interesting question of fans. Can a game on current Switch hardware be worth $10 above the normal price? Right now, PlayStation 5 games are all $70 but that’s a next-generation console. The Switch, for as beloved as it is, has only received one upgrade and that was only to the portable screen. It is just as powerful as it was when it first launched and is still considered by most to be a previous generation console. Not a next gen.

However, this is Zelda we’re talking about, and not just any Zelda. This is the sequel to what many consider one of the greatest games ever made. Fans are going to pay any amount of money to play it. Does that justify the price increase? Possibly, but there are going to be some out there who feel they are being nickel and dimed for a game on older hardware, and Tears of the Kingdom is going to need to run close to perfect to justify that price increase. We’ll find out if it can do that in May.

Last year, Fly Anakin unveiled his highly anticipated debut album Frank, which featured guests like Henny L.O., Pink Siifu, Billz Egypt, Nickelus F, and more. The Richmond, Virginia-based performer recently announced Skinemaxxx, a pair of EPs produced by Foisey, with Side A arriving soon.

The rapper is back today with the new single “Outsidigan’s Anthem.” The track is what Anakin describes as “a theme song for outsidigans. The ones that are outside even when they wanna go home. The streets need us. Free Max B.”

In our 2017 interview with Anakin, whose real name is Frank, he talked about his role in the rap collective Mutant Academy.

“In my mind, every member got superpowers, but we’re human and we ain’t sh*t, so we stuck on Earth entertaining ya’ll,” he explained. “Mutant Academy started out as a duo between Henny L.O. and myself in 2011. He came to me with the name, I designed the logo. 2015, we decided to expand and brought along some talented people we met along the journey. The current roster is Fly Anakin, Henny L.O., Koncept Jack$on, and Big Kahuna OG in the rap department. Producers- Foisey, Unlucky Bastards, Sycho Sid, Ewonee, Graymatter, BSTFRND and new member we haven’t announced yet.”

Listen to “Outsidigan’s Anthem” above.

Skinemaxxx (Side A) arrives 4/5 via Lex Records.

When Chiiild dropped “Bon Voyage” last November, he hinted that Better Luck In The Next Life was coming in 2023. December brought “You Get Me (A Final Word),” and then March 3 was identified as the album’s official release date around the arrival of “Good For Now” featuring Lucky Daye last month.

Today, February 8, “Antidote” joined the list of Better Luck In The Next Life singles.

“‘Antidote’ is about being enamored by a person,” Chiiild said in a statement. “It describes the infatuation of watching someone live life optimistically and simply wanting a piece of that because they symbolize the light for you. It is a representation of the idea that this person could save me from any emotional or physical struggle.”

The lyrics viscerally bear that out.

The ethereal track takes listeners into Chiiild’s vulnerable inner monologue. He’s in awe of someone as “the light, you are my only source” and wonders “where you are when your eyes close” because “I know you’re hurtin’, but it barely shows.” He opens himself up to a scary possibility: “Are you the one?Are you the antidote?”

Chiiild is set to begin his Better Luck In The Next Life Tour on March 2 in Santa Ana, California. All dates and ticket information can be found here.

Listen to “Antidote” above, and watch the Better Luck In The Next Life trailer below.

Is Ron DeSantis tough enough to take on the guy who once bullied his way to the presidency? Seth Meyers doesn’t think so. And judging from DeSantis’ mature, reasonable response to Trump’s recent childish attacks on him, he probably isn’t.

Earlier this week, Trump went low even for him, which is to say incredibly low: He reposted a potentially damning photo that may or may not show him drinking with underage women. The photo, which has been circulating for a couple years, shows DeSantis when he was in his early 20s, when he taught high school in Georgia. With him are three young women, who are allegedly students. Of course, there’s no way to tell that. For one thing, their faces are blurred out. But Trump, the chaos agent, shared it anyway, claiming its authenticity.

As per Bloomberg, DeSantis responded — which may have been the worst thing he could do. “I spend my time delivering results for the people Florida and fighting against Joe Biden,” the Florida governor said during a press conference. “I don’t spend my time trying to smear other Republicans.”

Fair enough! But anyone with even a passing knowledge of Trump knows shaming him doesn’t work. (Nor does it work on his supporters.) One thing you don’t do with bullies is honor them with a response. They’re bullies. Trump is a bully — a bully so low he’d baselessly claim one of his likely rivals for the 2024 Republican presidential ticket once boozed with underage women. Now he’s almost certainly going to aim even lower still.

Of course, Trump might have thinner skin. After all, DeSantis isn’t the one who tried to get Twitter to censor a celebrity who called him a “p*ssy a** b*tch.”

(Via Bloomberg)

Paul Giamatti (pictured above with his natural skin color) is ready to conspire with you. According to Deadline Hollywood, the guy who keeps trying to bring down the billionaires of Billions will co-host the hoaxy podcast Chinwag with philosopher Stephen Asma.

“I like nothing more than hanging out with my pal Steve and getting into a good chat about highly weird stuff,” said Giamatti. “I’m ridiculously excited for listeners to join us as we off-road into some wild, whacky territory and, like any great chinwag, have some laughs along the way.”

Chinwag will feature special guests gabbing about said weird stuff and answering questions like “Are we living in a simulation?,” “What’s the most perfect sentence in literature?,” “Is Bigfoot interdimensional?,” and, presumably, “What’s in that dumpster???” If you know, you know.

Asma is a Professor of Philosophy at Columbia College Chicago and Senior Fellow of the Research Group in Mind, Science and Culture. Giamatti is a legend. With their powers combined, it sounds like a seriously funny time digging into thorny questions orbiting the world of science, superstition, and the occult. If they have Jonathan Frakes on, the universe will fold in on itself.

If you’re worried that we are living in a simulation, don’t sweat it too much. Even if none of this is real, it feels real to you, so you really shouldn’t change anything you’re doing. Plus, Chinwag is part of the simulation, and it sounds pretty cool. It’ll hit podcast libraries all over starting April 5th.

(via Deadline)

Russell Westbrook’s time with the Lakers has come to an end, but he may not be done playing basketball in Los Angeles just yet.

After a year and a half of a disastrous marriage, the Lakers finally found a trade to end the Westbrook experiment, sending him to Utah along with their 2027 first round pick in a three-team deal that will net them D’Angelo Russell from Minnesota. It is a blockbuster trade in that it sends eight players to new teams, including some very big names like Westbrook, Russell, and Mike Conley, but it would still take quite the turnaround from either the Lakers or Wolves for this trade to play a significant role in who wins the Western Conference.

Still, it’s a solid roster upgrade for L.A., who get two good shooters in Russell and Malik Beasley, as well as a strong rebounder and defender in Jarred Vanderbilt, while not giving up much in the way of current production. Westbrook played a big role as the Lakers’ Sixth Man, but after a solid start in that role, he simply has not been able to consistently produce offensively at anything approaching decent efficiency.

That said, he still will apparently be in demand at a minimum price should the Jazz buy out his contract as expected, with Chris Haynes reporting immediately after the trade was completed that the Clippers were interested in keeping Westbrook in L.A.

That interest is apparently mutual, per Law Murray of The Athletic.

The Clippers’ desire to upgrade their point guard rotation is well known, as Reggie Jackson and John Wall just haven’t been the answer, but it’s hard to imagine Westbrook providing what they’re in need of. Westbrook would provide a defensive upgrade, as he is still a solid defender (with the all-important caveat of that only being when he’s locked in), but offensively it’s hard to see this being a particularly good idea. He collapses spacing and is simply not an off-ball threat, which is a problem when so much offense runs through Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, and his finishing this season has been pretty dreadful even at and around the rim.

Westbrook does have an excellent relationship with George, which helps, and he did accept the Sixth Man role, albeit a bit begrudgingly, with the Lakers. Kawhi sits enough that having Westbrook as another ball-handler makes some sense, but it’s hard to see this being an addition that’s a huge postseason boost, which should be the Clippers focus, particularly given their strong bounceback of late. It would make for some excellent drama, if nothing else, and it would make their final crosstown showdown on April 5 even spicier than usual.

UPDATE: The Clippers won’t be alone in the pursuit of Russ on the buyout market, as the Bulls are likewise expected to make a push.

Beyoncé is at the tip of everyone’s tongue for various reasons. To be fair, she always is the topic of conversation somewhere, but she’s everywhere right now. Beyoncé became the most Grammy-awarded artist of all time despite controversially losing out on Album Of The Year. That’s before mentioning the metaphorical carnage surrounding ticketing to her forthcoming Renaissance World Tour.

In other words, the Beyhive is busy. But how do you pronounce the name of Beyoncé’s zealous fan base?

The overwhelming response across Reddit is that “Beyhive” is pronounced like “Bee Hive” with Beyoncé as the Queen Bey (pronounced Queen Bee). Google also has you covered, and if you still aren’t totally convinced, Bomani Jones used it in a sentence on his HBO series Game Theory earlier this week.

Jones addressed people — namely, Stephen A. Smith — comparing Rihanna to Beyoncé ahead of Rihanna’s Super Bowl LVII halftime performance on Sunday, February 12. Jones was asked if Rihanna “can outdo Beyoncé” and cited the Beyhive as a driving force behind his answer.

“I got on one side the Beyhive, the other side — what, they call themselves The Navy, and you want me to pick one?” Jones said. “And the answer is Rihanna cannot outdo Beyoncé for one reason. Stop the clapping! You’re going to get me in trouble. Beyoncé’s from Houston.”

Benee celebrated her birthday in late January with an effusive Instagram post. “I love everyone in my life so much thank you for being here,” she wrote. “LETS ALL GROW CUTE AND OLD TOGETHER X.” That sentiment does not extend to whoever inspired her new single, “Green Honda.”

The punchy, unflinching track arrived today, February 8, alongside a freewheeling video directed by Eliot Charof and AA. It finds the “I’m So Happy” singer literally cruising down memory lane. The opening line immediately sets the tone: “That was a waste of f*cking time.”

Benee takes her dogs out on the town and reflects on how “great” she’s been since ditching her ex (otherwise referred to as “my biggest mistake”). She stares through broken glass and declares, “Save your last breath, hold it in / I’d rather not have to listen.”

And then, Benee collects her friends and speeds off in her green Honda with plans to “pull up” and “tell you that I don’t want ya.” Most people struggle to let the past be the past, but Benee is more than ready to move on. Nobody is safe from her truth bombs left in her wake: “All your friends are f*cking fake / They’re all too boring and too straight / I cringe at everything they say / And you’re just like them, boy, don’t play.”

As relayed by Stereogum, Benee said, “There is a personal history to the ‘Green Honda’ story. … My green Honda was my first car, passed on to me by my grandmother when she gave up driving. I call him ‘Steve,’ and he’s on the cover of my Stella & Steve EP. We’ve had lots of adventures together.”

Watch Benee’s latest adventure with Steve above.

The Russell Westbrook era with the Los Angeles Lakers is on the verge of coming to an end, and it will lead to them being reunited with a former top draft pick. Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN reported on Wednesday that the Lakers were in talks with the Minnesota Timberwolves on a trade that would land them D’Angelo Russell, who the team selected second overall in the 2015 NBA Draft.

Shortly after, Shams Charania and Tony Jones of The Athletic dropped a bombshell: Talks are ongoing on a deal that will send Russell back to Los Angeles, but Westbrook will not be sent to Minnesota in a straight swap. Instead, Charania reports that Westbrook and draft compensation will head to the Utah Jazz, which will get in on the deal by sending Mike Conley to the Timberwolves. This reporting was confirmed by Wojnarowski.

Both Charnia and Jake Fischer of Yahoo reported that both Jarred Vanderbilt and Malik Beasley – two Jazz players in high demand on the trade market — would also be in the deal, with Charania mentioning that they would end up going to the Lakers.

The Lakers had Russell on the roster for the first two years of his career before they sent him to the Brooklyn Nets in a trade in 2017. Russell is averaging 17.9 points and 6.2 assists per game this season on 46.5/39.1/85.6 shooting splits. Conley will go to Minnesota where they swap out a scorer for a steadying veteran hand at point guard with experience playing with Rudy Gobert, as he’s averaging 10.7 points and 7.7 assists per game. Westbrook, meanwhile is expected to be bought out by Utah, per Chris Haynes.

It’s quite the shakeup for the Lakers, whose high profile loss on Tuesday night in LeBron’s coronation as the league’s all-time leading scorer (days after seeing Kyrie Irving get traded to Dallas) seems to have provided the impetus to finally make a big move. Russell will bring them more scoring pop in the backcourt, while Vanderbilt is a quality rebounder and defender and Beasley gives them a spot-up shooter off the bench. The Jazz continue to stack first round picks, while the Timberwolves get something in return for Russell, who could’ve walked as a free agent, and will hope a steadying, veteran presence will help them in the stretch run.

The final, official details — after the Wolves tried shopping D’Angelo Russell to other teams — sees the Wolves get some second round picks along with Conley and Nickeil Alexander-Walker, with Russell, Vanderbilt, and Beasley going to L.A., and Westbrook, Damian Jones, Juan Toscano-Anderson, and the Lakers’ 2027 first round pick (protected 1-4) going to Utah.

On Wednesday, Disney top brass made public their last quarterly earnings as well as what they were doing as a result of it. The good news: The final three months of 2022 were actually up 8% from the previous stretch. Hoorah! The bad news: That was mostly thanks to their amusement parks and “experiences,” which shot up after a low stretch probably due to…well, you know. In fact, they lost millions of Disney+ subscribers, albeit all of them overseas. Still, that was enough to drag down what could have been even larger revenue. Perhaps that’s why the company announced more good news: sequels to three of their biggest behemoths.

As per Deadline, Toy Story, Frozen, and Zootopia are all suddenly getting new sequels. For the former, it will be the fifth, which means they’ll probably have to find a way for Woody, who effectively went freelance at the end of number four, to regroup with the old gang (who almost all died in outing three). For Frozen it will be a threequel, while Zootopia had so far only netted a Disney+ series involving spin-offs.

When Disney finally gets these three sequels off the ground, they’ll have to do it with less staff at the overall company: In order to save some $5.5 billion, they’re cutting 7,000 jobs.

This may be why Disney seems to be adding new installments in three of their biggest cash cow franchises — or as newly returned CEO Bob Iger has talked about “leaning into our unrivaled brands and franchises.” The four Toy Story films have amassed over $3 billion. Frozen has made nearly that in only two films. Zootopia was the fourth highest-grossing film of 2016. Seems like a safe bet — a way for one of the biggest mega-corporations in the world to see more than just a pretty good uptick in quarterly revenue.

(Via Deadline)