Last week, HBO revealed the first look at The Last of Us television show; later this week, Naughty Dog is releasing a remake of The Last of Us video game. This is not a coincidence, but it is a shrewd maneuver, because if you’ve been curious to check out the masterpiece of a video game ahead of the show, now’s a great time to do so.
The reviews of the newly-christened The Last of Us Part I have dropped and they’re near-universally positive. Maybe this isn’t a huge shock, considering the 2013 release is widely considered to be one of the greatest video games of all-time (it’s in my top-5 all time, at least), but it is surprising how essential the remake sounds.
“If you love The Last of Us and believe it’s an indisputable PlayStation classic, the PS5 remake may likely be worth the full price. The visual upgrade: Faces look less plastic and stiff. It’s like Toy Story 1 to 3, except it’s the same story,” the Washington Post games reporter Gene Park tweeted, along with a link to his glowing review. First-time player (and Polygon writer) Nicole Carpenter added, “i somehow went nearly a decade without getting spoiled on the last of us and wow yeah it’s a fuckin good game.”
Meanwhile, The Verge‘s Andrew Webster acknowledged the TV show and polarizing sequel in his review, writing, “What this remake does, though, is smooth the transition between the two games in the franchise. Think of it like sanding away (most of) the game’s rough edges. That will likely be important to those who played Part II before the original or the hypothetical brand-new audience that will be introduced to The Last of Us through HBO’s live-action adaptation next year… The Last of Us is now a franchise — and within that framework, a remake so soon actually makes a lot of sense.”
The Last of Us show will “stay pretty close” to the game, so if you’re not interested in playing The Last of Us Part I because it will spoil the plot, that makes sense. For everyone else, though, it sounds like it’s worth the 70 bucks.
The Last of Us premieres on HBO in 2023.
Get ready to endure and survive — we’re two weeks away from the release The Last of Us Part I!
After some time away, 2022 has been big for Phoenix so far. The group is currently finishing a new album and they shared the single “Alpha Zulu” this summer. They’ll also be wrapping up the year with some tour dates. Furthermore, singer Thomas Mars just made a fun cameo on one of TV’s best comedies: What We Do In The Shadows.
(The rest of this post contains spoilers about the new episode and current season of What We Do In The Shadows.)
Throughout the show’s ongoing fourth season, Nadja has been running a vampire nightclub, which has been a major success thanks to nightly song-and-dance performances by Baby Colin. At the start of last night’s (August 30) new episode (titled “Freddie”), it’s revealed that word about Colin’s shows has spread outside of the vampire community. This has lured human celebrities to the club, specifically director Jim Jarmusch, director Sofia Coppola, and Mars (Coppola’s real-life husband), all portraying themselves.
@schwartzfan The show What We do in the Shadows season 4 ep 9 had Sofia Coppola and her husband Thomas Mars from band Phoenix. When I watched it I did not expected them in the show pic.twitter.com/CUBkUd0qmk
Mars tells Nadja of Colin, “That kid is incredible. More than a star, he’s a phenomenon.” Nadja responds with an apparent reference to Mars’ French nationality by saying Colin has a “certain je ne sais quoi.” That prompts Colin to reply in French, which Nadja does not understand.
Coppola then asks what the “celebrity special” menu item is and both she and Mars express interest in it. Nadja then chooses a couple of eager vampire clubgoers to enjoy the celebrity special, which turns out to be killing and sucking the blood out of Coppola and Mars. Jarmusch, not realizing the two are actually dead, is blown away by what he thinks are special effects. Later in the episode, Jarmusch leaves Coppola a frustrated voicemail about her falling out of contact with him after the perceived gag.
So, canonically in the What We Do In The Shadows universe, Mars is dead, meaning Nandor, Guillermo, and the rest of the squad may never get to hear Phoenix’s upcoming album.
Elsewhere in the episode, Laszlo rattles off a terrific list of vampire musicians/bands and it includes Gloria Estafang, Bloody Holly, Bat Stevens, Batboy Slim, Hall & Throats, Tame Impaler, and The Undead Kennedys. He goes through some more in a post-credits scene: Impaler Swift, Bruno Scars, and Lindsey Suckingham. Laszlo also runs down a list of wraith (another type of mystical creature in the show) performers: Bonnie Wraith, Wraith Hill, Wraith Evans, Billy Wraith Cyrus, Wraith No More, and Wraith Charles.
Hometowns can be weird. On one hand, they can serve as hurdles; obstacles to overcome that separate your childhood from your adulthood. But they’re also, well, home, and for better or worse, always will be. For Blackbear, who grew up in the northeastern city of Palm Coast Florida, it’s complicated.
“It just reminds me of kind of the place that was holding me back from my dreams… There were a lot of people that didn’t believe that I was actually going to do something with my life. But Florida in general is a great place for community and great people come from there. Some of my best friends have come from there and I still have friends that live there and my mom still lives there. So it’s cool to go back and visit for the holidays,” Blackbear tells me over Zoom.
Daniel Rojas
Blackbear’s feelings about Palm Coast might be conflicted, but the more I talked with him about his hometown, I picked up on a lot of nostalgic affection for the city that helped shape him. The music scene in particular had been an important stepping stone that lead Blackbear to where he is today,
“There was a really sweet music scene. My babysitter, he was actually my guitar teacher, and I was probably in the second or third grade when he was babysitting me. He taught me riffs from New Found Glory and Blink-182. There was a good music scene and it kind of shaped me to be an artist for sure. I saw him in a band and I used to go to the garage shows or the teen center shows or the ones at Thrills Arcade. Then I found myself starting a band.”
For Blackbear’s latest (and greatest) album, In Loving Memory, the artist put together a deeply personal piece of work that examines the complicated feelings he has about the death of his absent father, but together with producer Travis Barker, the pair have put something together that sounds warm, inviting, and pulls inspiration from the sort of pop-punk and emo music Blackbear was listening to while growing up in Palm Coast as a teen, and the results are comfortingly nostalgic while still sounding fresh.
“When I was in the fourth grade, I was wearing MxPx t-shirts with Good Charlotte patches on my plaid pants and NOFX patches. So I was a full punk rock girl for sure.”
Be sure to catch Blackbear this fall on his headlining Nothing Matters Tour. But first, let’s learn a little bit more about him by checking in on his favorite local Palm Coast hangouts.
What Is Palm Coast Best Known For? What Is One Thing People Visiting Have To Experience?
Palm Coast is best known for some of the music people who have come out of there. We’re known for our beach too. Flagler Beach is a great beach and the sand is like ground-up shells, so it’s really tough not like California. It’s very rough so I spent a lot of nights smoking DMT and hanging out.
We would drive, all pile like 10 of us into one Honda Accord, and go to the beach. The beach is really all there is to do besides going to the Walmart parking lot and hanging out… At night it’s a vibe and it was just cool to go there and kind of make up ideas for songs with people and just hang out and get high really.
What’s The Best Palm Coast Breakfast Spot And What’s The Go-To Order?
I was a broke angry teenager, so I would just steal CDs from Walmart. I got caught one time and I never did it again. Still to this day, I’m not allowed back in Walmart. I don’t know if they would recognize me today.
What’s The Best Local Venue For Discovering Music In Palm Coast?
The closest place you could go was the Coffee Connection in Daytona Beach, Florida. That was this little coffee shop that would hold like 40 people tops. There were shows there and that was about 30 minutes away. You would drive to Daytona… other than that we had an arcade called Thrills Arcade, and that was where I got my first shine for sure…
It’s really hard to say because everything that I grew up doing is torn down now. Thrills Arcade, that’s what we did. We went to the Thrills Arcade and there were awesome shows there. And it was so much fun, but everything’s torn down now and new things are there. I think a Chick-fil-A’s there now.
If You’re Looking For Something Adventurous To Do In Palm Coast, What’s The Play?
You can go kayaking. Me and my brother usually kayak on the intercoastal. So it’s like the beach before the beach, usually, people live on the intercoastal and you can just go for hours, it’s really nice.
Orlando’s fun. That’s where we used to go clubbing and we would have so much fun in Orlando. Miami’s super fun, but Miami… we never considered it Florida because it’s like its own country.
What’s The Best Fancy Dinner Spot… Does Palm Coast Have One?
Dude, Steak and Shake, hands down, is the best place to go late at night when you’re too drunk and whatever. You get a DD and you all go to Steak and Shake. The food just tastes 10 times better than it normally would when it’s 2 in the morning. I think Underoath stopped in there one time, we were all starstruck.
What’s The Best Time Of The Year To Visit Palm Coast?
I like to go during Christmas because the weather is great. It’s not going to snow, it’s a great Christmas vacation. If you’re there in weather it’s really fun and the weather is perfect.
Brendan Fraser was a highly-sought after actor in the late ’90s, when he graced the screen in various box office hits like The Mummy and George of the Jungle. After the height of his fame, he famously retreated from the spotlight, taking smaller roles in TV shows and making various cameos.
Recently, director Darren Aronofsky approached Fraser to be a key role in The Whale, the story of an obese English teacher who attempts to mend his tumultuous relationship with his teenage daughter, played by Stranger Things’ Sadie Sink. “[Darren] said he wanted an actor to reintroduce,” Fraser told Vanity Fair. “And I wanted to be reintroduced.” Thus, Fraser’s return to the big screen began, though it wasn’t without hesitation.
“If there’s no risk, then why bother?” Fraser added. The actor wanted to take a second shot at his film career as a leading man, which began over 30 years prior. “I want to learn from the people I’m working with at this point in my career. I’ve had such variety, a lot of high highs and low lows, so what I’m keen for, in the second half of my time doing this, is to feel like I’m contributing to the craft and I’m learning from it. This is a prime opportunity.”
First looks of Fraser in The Whale went viral, with many praising his return to more serious work. Fraser himself said that he really wanted to transform into his character in order to return to the screen. “I wanted to disappear into it. My hope was that I would become unrecognizable. I wanted to know what I was capable of.”
His fans already know what he’s capable of: after his role in the now-extinct Batgirl movie was revealed, fans came flooding with praise and came to his defense when the movie was shelved. Many on Twitter were calling this year the Brenaissance as a sign that this would be Brendan Fraser’s renaissance. Despite his absence from the screen, it seems like the Fraser fandom isn’t going anywhere.
The Whale will be released in theaters on December 9th.
MSNBC correspondent Ari Melber is a huge fan of hip-hop who loves quoting rappers like Nicki Minaj and using hip-hop songs to make poignant political commentary. In his latest segment, though, he takes it a step farther, pulling quotes from Jay-Z’s triumphant “God Did” verse to break down the US government’s ongoing — and some would say failed — War On Drugs, which has mostly just led to increased incarceration rates for Black Americans, billions of tax dollars dumped into increasingly militarized police forces, and little measurable reduction in drug use in the US.
Jay-Z breaks down the drug war and his life in an epic poem/verse — and here’s our breakdown of that from tonight’s show:https://t.co/v5vjai2yWG
Melber references numerous lines from the verse, including one in which Jay calls US laws “draconian,” and another that mentions a 1996 60 Minutes interview between Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan and Mike Wallace. Melber breaks down these lines and others as he draws parallels to the drug war and points out how the prohibition of alcohol was reversed, allowing numerous former criminals to become legitimate businessmen with huge returns on their investments.
This leads to a note that while so-called “street drugs” continue to be criminalized and associated with minorities, the biggest drug dealers are, in fact, the pharmaceutical companies that legally manufacture ultra-addictive drugs like Oxycontin and Fentanyl despite being caught unethically using their power and reach to pressure doctors to overprescribe them.
One of the four billionaires that Jay claims responsibility for mentoring in the song, LeBron James, agreed that more people should check it out, sharing the report on Twitter. “Listen!” he implored his followers. “Then listen again to make sure you got the point. HOV DID!!!! And so did the reporter! TALK.” His post prompted two replies, one from Melber, who quoted Jay’s line from “God Did” mentioning LeBron, and Jay-Z himself, who made a rare Twitter appearance to cosign James’ tweet with another quote from the verse.
Listen! Then listen again to make sure you got the point. HOV DID!!!! And so did the reporter! TALK https://t.co/ni8vSyjOAY
Rejoice, NBA fans: League Pass is slated to be much cheaper this upcoming season. In a recent renewal email, League Pass announced its premium service, which enables users to view games on multiple devices free of commercials, will cost $129.99. Last season, it ran folks $280. Meanwhile, a standard subscription cost $230 in 2021-22 and has been slashed to $99.99 for the 2022-23 season, according to Sportico. A monthly subscription for the standard service will cost $15.
The speculation here is League Pass aiming to compete with fellow sports streaming services, which tend to come in at drastically lower or more frugal price points than League Pass. For instance, ESPN+ is $9.99 per month or $99.99 for an entire year. ESPN+ offers NHL and MLB games, and recently became the host of PGA Tour Live.
League Pass has long been a staple for fans to access out-of-market NBA games throughout the season. But the hefty price point has certainly barred many from purchasing it. While this pay cut won’t fix everything, decreasing various subscription tiers by over 50 percent should help provide greater access for a notable sect of people who couldn’t previously afford it or justifying buying it.
Now, all that’s left is to address the constant freezing, lagging and buffering that seemingly interferes on a nightly basis with the League Pass Experience. At the very least, watching the game’s brightest stars is going to be easier for a chunk of people and that’s good for everyone involved.
St. Petersburg hip-hop group Nu Age Syndicate is combining fresh style with hazy sounds. Formed when its two founding members Chester Watson and Kent Loon were in high school, Nu Age Syndicate (including collaborators Nikola and Kanisona) is on a mission to help each other grow as artists, and help their St. Petersburg scene grow as a hub for hip-hop.
As you can see in the above season premiere episode of Scenes, members of Nu Age Syndicate place an emphasis on individuality and personal aesthetic, encouraging each member of the four-piece to tap into what makes them unique. As they shop for clothes, however, Watson and Loon notice how different their tastes are and encourage each other to wear what feels right for them. “Style is extremely important,” Watson says. “You don’t have to be the same to respect something. And I think [Loon and I] both have that. Our energies, they mesh extremely well.”
Elsewhere in the video, the group hits the studio, where their musical chemistry comes into play. With Watson at the helm of much of the production for Nu Age Syndicate, Loon and the others are able to create the evergreen sound that will still sound fresh for years to come. “Coming from the bottom, St. Petersburg is really lowkey,” Loon says. “When it comes to my music, I want to stamp my music so everything’s timeless. They’re able to listen to a Kent Loon track 20 years from now.”
Kendrick Lamar says that he’s not anyone’s savior on his new album Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers, but for one writer, he was apparently a lifesaver when a potentially dangerous situation took place during an interview. When a Twitter user posted a prompt to “tell us a true story from your life that sounds made up,” rock critic and author Jessica Hopper shared her own experience about how Kendrick was a real-life superhero.
“I was doing a phone interview with Kendrick Lamar,” her one-tweet story began. “When my then-toddler son appeared holding a very sharp kitchen knife he did not want to let go of.” Anyone with kids can probably relate to how scary it is when their unknowing little ones get to playing around with dangerous objects. Toddlers can be especially stubborn since they are in a time of their lives when they are learning and testing their own sense of agency but still don’t have any idea that certain things can hurt them.
I was doing a phone interview with Kendrick Lamar when my then-toddler son appeared holding a very sharp kitchen knife he did not want to let go of and Kendrick talked me through safely disarming him. https://t.co/CiD6vT96Dd
Fortunately for Hopper, it seems Kendrick knew what to do. “Kendrick talked me through safely disarming him,” she wrote, although the story itself was light on details. Presumably, it involved distracting the wee one long enough to get the sharp and pointy bits of the kitchen tool pointing away from the fleshy bits of both mom and son and depositing said implement in the drawer where it belongs.
The story blew up on Twitter, as the kids say, and the responses range from sharing in Cooper’s relief to sardonic jabs at Stan Twitter. Unfortunately, Kendrick himself isn’t on social media to give more answers, but you can check out some of the best responses below.
if I were you I would simply never stop telling this story. I would tell it at every birthday party for the formerly-armed toddler, at every big job milestone, would absolutely tell it at their wedding
btw this one is also not a terrible one for weighing how you feel about having children. Man i bet there are heaps more, feel free to reply-quote with yours https://t.co/poq2nZNasU
HBO Max just made it clear that Harley Quinn is safe despite the upheaval at the streamer and its parent company Warner Bros. Discovery. The hit animated series starring Kaley Cuoco has been renewed for Season 4, but it will arrive with a new showrunner. Harley Quinn writer Sarah Peters will be stepping in for Justin Halpern and Patrick Schumaker who assured fans that the show will continue to be its wild self.
“We are ecstatic that HBO Max wants the story of Harley and Ivy to continue,” Halpern and Schumacker said in a statement. “And we are equally thrilled that this next season will be in great hands with Sarah Peters as our showrunner and Ceci Aranovich overseeing animation production, as they have both greatly influenced the show with their brilliance since the beginning.”
HBO Max also released a statement cementing its commitment to Harley Quinn during a time when DC Comics projects are not exactly in the safest of positions following the shelving of Batgirl.
“Patrick Schumacker, Justin Halpern and their incredible team of artists and writers have created something so explosively funny and original, and we are thrilled to continue this journey with them and the show’s legion of fans,” Senior VP of Comedy and Animation Billy Wee said in a statement. “It has been amazing to watch the show grow and evolve this season and we could not ask for a more talented and dedicated team of collaborators.”
If anything, the renewal should put Harley Quinn fans’ nerves at rest. At least for another season.
Millennials and Gen-Xers have been reeling over the title of Ari Lennox‘s upcoming album, Age/Sex/Location. Named for an introductory question often used in the chatrooms of the ’90s and early aughts, Age/Sex/Location represents a time in Lennox’s life where she feels she wasn’t being her authentic self.
Ahead of the album’s release next Friday, Lennox’s Dreamville label founder J. Cole shared a message from Lennox explaining the experiences from which she drew for the songs on the album.
“I asked Ari what this new album means to her,” said Cole in the caption of the post. “I needed to know cuz I f*ck with it so heavy. What I hear is the highs, lows, joys and pains of dating life in 2022. But her answer made it even deeper for me. Appreciate you @arilennox Looking forward to the rest of the world hearing it.”
In her message, Lennox said the album represents “Transitional space. Very vulnerable codependent and validation seeking part of my life,” she wrote. “I remember the countless times I was kicked out of dating apps because they didn’t think I was really myself, it reminded me of those age/sex/location days where I actually wasn’t being myself in those chat rooms.”
Elsewhere in her message, Lennox explained that she is at a point in her life, in which she is “Allowing accountability and maturing. Allowing growth to happen. Allowing self worth and self love and inner work to happen. Allowing therapy. Allowing dating me to happen. Doing things I like to do whenever I want.”
Age/Sex/Location is out 9/9 via Dreamville/Interscope. Pre-save it here.
This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. Cookie settingsACCEPT
Privacy & Cookies Policy
Privacy Overview
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
(@Grabeelfan) 
Dallas Anime Nightlife (@kaijucoreent)
TALK.” His post prompted two replies, one from Melber, who quoted Jay’s line from “God Did” mentioning LeBron, and Jay-Z himself, who made a rare Twitter appearance to cosign James’ tweet with another quote from the verse.
(@askvirginia) 
