Category: Trending

Mark Hoppus is in the midst of cancer treatment, and we know that because the Blink-182 member has been transparent with his fans about how things are going on that front. Now he has pulled back the curtain even more: In a pair of “how it started/how it’s going” posts shared on his Instagram Story, Hoppus showed the text message that served as his first contact with his doctor about what ended up being the cancer diagnosis.

The “how is started” post shows the texts, the first of which was sent at 7:34 a.m. on April 20. It reads, “Hi Jill. For the past couple days I’ve had this dull sore lump in my shoulder kind of right where it connects to my neck that could either be fatal lymphoma or a sore muscle. At what point should I be concerned and have it looked it?” With no subtlety, the doctor replied, “I need to see you!!!” The pair then set up an appointment for that afternoon.

As for the “how it’s going” post, Hoppus shared a photo of himself flashing a peace sign at the camera as he receives treatment.

Meanwhile, Hoppus got a message of support from Tom DeLonge yesterday, who shared a vintage photo of the two of them and wrote, “@markhoppus is almost done with his treatment… send him [love] to power him through this last stretch!”

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

We’re quickly approaching the September release date of NBA 2K22 and while we’ve gotten a lot of info about new features for the game and what they plan to do for the NBA, they haven’t given as much info about the WNBA yet. On Thursday, that changed as the team behind NBA 2K released some new information about how they plan on handling The W mode feature in their game.

The two biggest changes are going to be the addition of a new progression system and what they’re calling the “Off-Day experience.” These changes are meant to give players playing through a WNBA career more to do than just play regular-season games.

The changes will start with NBA 2K22 with a new badge progression feature. These badges will improve the player in skills such as finishing, shooting, playmaking and defense. This will give players the ability to customize how they want to play with their MyPlayer. Every skill set will have a meter that is filled as you play games. Playing games will also earn badge points that allow the player to equip more badges in the skills they want to improve. Managing and editing your badges will be easy with the ability to create custom loadouts specific to your MyPlayer.

When you’re not playing games, NBA 2K22 will have activities for you to continue to shape your player. These off-day activities can affect your progression stats, popularity, and in-game currency. The three off day activities available to players in The W will be:

• Scrimmages
• Team Practices
• Contact Workouts

While scrimmages build up team chemistry, team practices can help players fill up their skills and talk to their coaches. Contact workouts are interesting because it will give the player an opportunity to learn new skills while also interacting with other stars such as Candace Parker, A’ja Wilson, and Nneka Ogwumike. These workouts can build up the connections players have with these stars by playing games of 1-on-1, 2-on-2, or 3-on-3. Once these contacts are made the player will have a contact they can always go back to in future workouts. This means hanging out with the WNBA’s biggest stars in your free time and of course learning everything they have to show you.

We’ll need to see how these changes all work out in NBA 2K22, but they sound like promising new additions to a mode that needs more features. While we one day want to see just as much to do on the WNBA side of the game, as there is to do on the NBA side, it’s nice to see that more content is being added. Hopefully future iterations will continue building on this.

That Joe Rogan is one of the world’s most popular podcasters (though his influence may be waning) seems like a random joke perpetrated on all of us by the universe. But there’s no denying the fact that the comedian and his The Joe Rogan Podcast wield a baffling amount of power and influence over the 11 million-plus people who listen to his podcast. And while Rogan himself has admitted that he’s a “f*#king moron… who [is] drunk most of the time” and that he’s “not a respected source of information—even for me”—especially when it comes to scientific matters like COVID and vaccines—that hasn’t stopped him from railing against vaccine mandates and other public health issues. Now he’s pissed that people who actually paid real money to see him do comedy might have to show proof that they’ve been vaccinated that he’s offering to refund anyone who refuses to do so.

As Mediaite notes, Rogan was joined by Meghan Murphy—a Canadian journalist who is perhaps best known for being banned from Twitter in late 2018 for making what the social media site deemed transphobic comments—last week, where they somehow conflated a wide range of topics, from BLM to COVID lockdowns, and pointed fingers about the current mandates that they believe are violating our rights. When talk turned to New York City specifically, Rogan made it clear that he blames Mayor Bill de Blasio specifically for requiring that anyone who wants to dine or be otherwise entertained indoors be vaccinated and show proof of it. But mostly he just seemed annoyed about how it might affect the turnout for an upcoming show he has slated for October, noting:

“I have a problem because I have a show there in Madison Square Garden in October, and I’ve already sold 13,000 tickets. And now they say that everybody has to be vaccinated and I want everybody to know that you can get your money back… If someone has an ideological or physiological reason for not getting vaccinated, I don’t want to force them to get vaccinated to see a f***ing stupid comedy show.”

Finally, something Rogan and I can agree on: that his comedy is f***ing stupid.

(Via Mediaite)

It has been a few months since Saweetie announced her breakup with Quavo, but that hasn’t stopped some fans of the couple from hoping for a reconciliation between the two rappers. However, that outcome seemly less than likely after Saweetie herself snuffed out a recent tabloid report that the two had begun spending time together again. Jack Harlow/Saweetie shippers, rejoice!

Earlier this week, Hollywood Life, a gossip blog, published the report that Saweetie and Quavo had reunited, quoting a “music insider” saying that they were “both in New York and have quietly been spending time together on the DL.” Aside from the fact that “quietly” and “on the DL” mean the same thing, there’s little else to the story in terms of reliable sourcing, but when has that ever stopped the Twitter speculation machine from running at max capacity?

Today, though, the ultimate primary source weighed in: Saweetie herself. Quoting the tweet linking to the article, she definitively shut down the report while directing attention back to her actual business, “Pinocchio ass article,” she scoffed. “Anyways back to this #saweetiemeal.”

It isn’t the first time Saweetie dismissed public perceptions of her private business. In a May interview, she similarly redirected the conversation to her business plans. “I want 900 million dollars,” she said. “I look at Rihanna. I look at Kylie. I look at all the girls who are working in the worlds that I’m in. I kind of averaged out the money between all these women I admire, and 900 million is the number. So if I’m having a bad day, I’m just like, ‘900 million, girl! Go!’” Her recent collaboration with McDonald’s may well get her one step closer; earlier this week she launched her merchandise collection with the fast-food giant and recently told fans her album is finished.

Saweetie is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

For a very different Benedict Cumberbatch experience than Spider-Man: No Way Home, here’s the trailer for The Power of the Dog.

Director Jane Campion’s first film since 2009’s Bright Star stars Cumberbatch as Phil Burbank, a “charismatic rancher” who “inspires fear and awe in those around him,” according to the Netflix synopsis. But when his brother (Jesse Plemons) brings home a new wife (Kirsten Dunst) and son (Kodi Smit-McPhee), “Phil torments them until he finds himself exposed to the possibility of love.” Cumberbatch doesn’t say a word in the unsettling trailer above, but he’s terrifying. Never trust someone who whistles that much.

“This was certainly a different texture of character than I’ve played before,” the Sherlock actor told Vanity Fair about The Power of the Dog. “But Jane gave me a long runway to really get Phil, to let him in, to understand him, be with him, think like him, move like him, talk like him.” Campion added, “I loved how emotional he can be as an actor and what a lover he is. That’s something that a lot of men aren’t so good at

The Power of the Dog, which also stars Thomasin McKenzie, Frances Conroy, and Keith Carradine, hits Netflix and select theaters on December 1.

WARNING: Spoilers for both the Invincible series on Amazon and the comic book below.
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The pilot episode of the Amazon original, Invincible, wasted no time in getting to the shocking twist from the comics by having Omni-Man (J.K. Simmons) brutally murder the Guardians of the Globe and reveal to the audience that the kind, loving father of Invincible (Steven Yuen) is not the wholesome Superman-like character that he seems.

Fans of the comic were surprised to see the twist show up so quickly in the animated series, but in a new tweet from Invincible and The Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman, he explains why waiting too long to drop the Omni-Man bomb was a mistake he almost made it in the comics. According to Kirkman, then-Image Comics publisher Jim Valentino stepped in and told him not to make Invincible readers wait too long, or the comic won’t last long enough to even get to the Omni-Man reveal.

“Was originally slated to happen in issue 25,” Kirkman tweeted. “Jim Valentino said ‘There won’t BE an issue 25 if you wait that long!’ So I moved it up to issue 7 and the book became a hit.”

Kirkman is correct that Invincible became a hit. Not only did the series make it to issue 25, but it lasted for an impressive 144 issue run and is now a hit series on Amazon where it’s reached a new audience who are itching for more of this brutal family drama.

(Via Robert Kirkman on Twitter)

iCarly was a defining Nickelodeon show of the late 2000s/early 2010s, and there has been enough buzz about the series since it ended in 2012 that a revival debuted on Paramount+ this summer. The finale of the new season debuted today, and it featured a funny reference to Lil Nas X, who was pleased with the nod.

In the episode, the characters find themselves outdoors, seemingly in an unfortunate situation. One of them, Millicent Mitchell, asks desperately, “Is this hell?” Another, Harper Bettencourt, replies with a reference to the “Montero (Call Me By Your Name)” video, saying, “No! Hell at least has Lil Nas X!”

The rapper caught wind of the clip and seemed excited about the mention, tweeting, “oh my god let’s goooo icarly mention.”

Meanwhile, Lil Nas X just revealed that his album Montero is set for release on September 17, writing, “creating this album has been therapy for me. i’ve learned to let go of trying to control people’s perception of who i am, what i can do, and where i will be. i’ve realized the only opinion of me that really matters is my own.”

Meanwhile, iCarly star Miranda Cosgrove recently stopped by The Tonight Show and discussed the many memes that spawned from the original run of iCarly.

Check out the iCarly clip above.

Each week our staff of film and TV experts surveys the entertainment landscape to select the ten best new/newish shows available for you to stream at home. We put a lot of thought into our selections, and our debates on what to include and what not to include can sometimes get a little heated and feelings may get hurt, but so be it, this is an important service for you, our readers. With that said, here are our selections for this week.

Get more streaming recommendations with our weekly What To Watch newsletter.

1. Ted Lasso (Apple TV+)

There are moments in the early stages of season two that feel like they’re doubling down on the show’s signature positivity and niceness, but there’s no such thing as sweetness overload here as the show grows our affection for characters that are clearly taking a step forward in their arcs. Especially Ted, even though it seems like there may be some challenges ahead. Watch it on Apple TV+.

2. American Horror Story: Double Feature (FX/Hulu)

Ryan Murphy’s now-classic, still pulpy, always fun scare parade is back for a 10th season, with two separate stories told by a crew of familiar faces. Yes, Sarah Paulson is in there, as are Finn Wittrock and Lily Rabe, as per usual, but you knew that. The bigger story is that Macauley Culkin drops by this season as a character named Mickey. It was always coming to this, really, looping Culkin into the AHS universe. The biggest surprise is that it took this long. Watch it on Hulu.

3. The Other Two (HBO Max)

The Other Two returns after a long, long wait following a one-year shutdown on production for… you know why. The result of that time away? Brooke and Cary are still assholes (but assholes who are advancing in their lives and dealing with the chaos of that), Chase is giving the Stranger Things kids a run for their money in the “let’s pretend these growth spurts didn’t happen” department, Streeter has gone blonde, and Molly Shannon has been UNLEASHED as Pat Dubek becomes a star in her own right. The results are somehow equally scathing and heartfelt, allowing the show to climb another wrung in the “you really need to watch this” hierarchy. Watch it on HBO Max.

4. Pen15 (Hulu)

The first half of Pen15’s second season ended on a downer note: Maya (Maya Erskine) is dealing with a breakup and Anna (Anna Konkle) has to decide which of her parents she wants to live with. You know what will cheer them up? A road trip to Florida! The one-off special acts as a mid-season bridge, and although it’s animated, the painful reminders of adolescence are still very real. Watch it on Hulu.

5. See (Apple TV+)

his show was so wild and wooly that it worked last year with Jason Momoa back in fur coats and in warrior mode. He’s now antagonized by Dave Bautista, which should add enough drama to keep the (somewhat silly) story alive, in a world where no one can see, but everyone is beautiful to look at from an audience standpoint. One of those sighted miracle-twins needs rescuing, so that propels much of the action early this season, but mostly, it’s all about clashing egos and warring beards. A good time, in other words. Watch it on Apple TV+.

6. Reservation Dogs (Hulu)

Taika Waititi’s FX on Hulu follow-up to What We Do in the Shadows brings us a comedy series that’s co-written by Native American filmmaker Sterlin Harjo. Yes, the lead quartet in this show rocks suits that look strikingly similar to the characters of Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs, yet they’re four Indigenous teens who want to commit crime and simply can’t pull it off. The show was shot in and near Okmulgee, Oklahoma, and these teens hope to make it all the way to California. The cast and crew come from indigenous communities, from where Harjo and Waititi are aiming their storytelling styles as well. Watch it on Hulu.

7. Nine Perfect Strangers (Hulu)

The past year has been a good one for Nicole Kidman and her wigs. In Hulu’s Nine Perfect Strangers, she trades in the fiery boho chic armor of her New York socialite in The Undoing for the flowing, hauntingly ethereal robes of a wellness guru who’s constantly feasting on an accent goulash. In short, this series is a showcase for Kidman and the rest of the A-list cast that populates a retreat aptly named Tranquillum House – everyone from Melissa McCarthy to Bobby Cannavale, Michael Shannon, Regina Hall, and more are guests in search of enlightenment, or, at least, enlightening. Come for the mindless drama of “rich white people problems,” stay for Manny Jacinto’s luscious locks. Watch it on Hulu.

8. The Chair (Netflix)

Created by Amanda Peet and produced by Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, The Chair tells the story of a new professor dealing with a failing English department at a fancy private university. It’s always nice to see Sandra Oh get a meaty lead role like this, and if her work on shows like Killing Eve is any indication, she’ll carry it well. Watch it on Netflix.

9. What If…? (Disney+)

We’re in the multiverse after Loki‘s season finale. The MCU promises to show us a wealth of scenarios that stand separate from the existing movie lore. Agent Carter will take the serum and become Captain Carter. There’s a Zombie Captain America, and King T’Challa materializes elsewhere as Star Lord. Notably, Chadwick Boseman did voice work here, so you’ll be able to say a proper goodbye to his Black Panther. Let the good times and the tears roll. Watch it on Disney+.

10. (tie) Archer (FX/Hulu)

Archer is back and all we can think about is savoring every single broad sword powerful walk-off line from the great and powerful Jessica Walter’s Mallory, following the actresses’ death this spring. Sure, come for what looks like a continuing return to form for Archer and the rest of the crew, but rewind, rewatch, and meme the hell out of Mallory telling Cyril to kill butterflies in their caterpillar stage and every other honey-soaked razor blade she’s sure to serve up this season. Watch it on Hulu.

10. (tie) Clickbait (Netflix)

You Won’t Believe This New Whodunit Mystery on Netflix About Adrian Grenier From Entourage Getting Kidnapped. (What? It’s called Clickbait. You have to embrace the self-aware title. Now, here are 7 Reasons Why You Should Watch Netflix’s Clickbait…) Watch it on Netflix.

For Cavs forward Larry Nance Jr., the idea to raise money and awareness for local businesses last season came from a simple conversation in the team’s locker room.

“I started talking with one our trainers in the locker room about the NFL doing ‘My Cause, My Cleats’ and how it would be cool if the NBA did something like that and just going down that rabbit hole,” Nance told Dime. “Just brainstorming, really, to the point of where we realized it might really be possible.”

During the COVID-shortened 72-game season, Nance wore gear from various local businesses — ranging from restaurants to bike shops and everything in-between — and then auctioned off game worn jerseys, shoes, and other memorabilia after the game to raise money for said businesses. When Nance missed games due to injury and a non-COVID illness, teammates such as Darius Garland, Isaac Okoro, and Collin Sexton stepped up to auction off their gear.

“This is coming from someone that doesn’t just want to support you — I also know what’s going on,” Nance said about the project. “They can say ‘I’ve got a store in Broadview Heights’ or wherever, I actually go there and know where that’s at and I can help from a genuine perspective instead of just throwing some money around.”

“This is home for me,” Nance continued. “This community is somewhere that I grew up in. It’s somewhere that I want my daughter to grow up in and, if we have more children, I want them to grow up here. This community has been great to me. It’s all about supporting the people that have supported you, and that’s all of Cleveland, all of Northeast Ohio.”

Nance is also quick to thank his family and members of the Cavs organization credit for helping him manage the entire process. The project, he said, took “hours upon hours” of sorting shirts, unwrapping packages from possible businesses, coordinating calls, and more, to have it run for the entire season.

“I didn’t expect it to be this wildly popular, so when we got over 500 packages of businesses to support, going through those and deciding which ones to represent took a lot of time and effort,” Nance said. “Not just me, but people within the Cavs organization, my wife and my whole family sitting on the floor going through packages and looking up businesses.”

Specifically, Nance said Lauren Marvinney, the Cavs senior director of basketball administration, “saved us.”

“It got to be more than we bargained for, more than we knew is even possible,” Nance noted, mentioning that Marvinney arranged Zoom calls with businesses and organized the auction website. “Without [Lauren], this would not have happened — not even close.”

Beyond raising money for local businesses in need, the 28-year-old Nance also began speaking out more — primarily on Twitter — on issues ranging from gerrymandering in Ohio to LQBTQ rights and voting rights. Nance grew more comfortable engaging in these topics after seeing fellow players like LeBron James and Chris Paul speak up and use their platform.

“In my view, Ohio is behind on so many key issues,” Nance said. “Voting rights is just one. The Equality Act is a major one coming up here soon that I am actually planning on going to Columbus to speak in support of. The gerrymandering going on in Ohio with our voting is ludicrous.”

As he’s become more educated on those issues, Nance wants to use his platform as not just a prominent athlete, but as an Ohioan to advocate for those who don’t have that chance.

“People don’t know that someone could be fired just because they are gay or kicked out of a hotel room or refused housing or evicted or not given a job. At this point in our society, that seems so foreign and Ohio is still doing that,” Nance continued. “So I feel I have the platform to have a few people’s ears, maybe I can get some steam behind making Ohio a better place for everyone. I’m going to keep being vocal on it. It’s not definitely not going to stop.”

Nance isn’t done raising money either. He doesn’t know what the work will look like for 2021-22, but some kind of season-long project to help give back to the community will begin again in the fall.

“There’s so much work to be done,” Nance said. “Last year was just the start of me getting more comfortable in that arena.”

Each week our staff of film and TV experts surveys the entertainment landscape to select the ten best new/newish movies available for you to stream at home. We put a lot of thought into our selections, and our debates on what to include and what not to include can sometimes get a little heated and feelings may get hurt, but so be it, this is an important service for you, our readers. With that said, here are our selections for this week.

1. The Suicide Squad (HBO Max)

It is time, once again, for a take on the Suicide Squad, the crew of DC villains who band together to cause chaos and/or save the day. This one is directed by Guardians of the Galaxy mastermind James Gunn and features everyone from Margot Robbie (as Harley Quinn, of course) to Idris Elba and Joel Kinnaman to Sylvester Stallone (as a giant talking CGI shark). It all looks weird and fun and kind of exactly what you need in a summer weekend movie. And then when you’re done you can click over and binge the Harley Quinn animated series on the same streaming service. Big weekend for you. Watch it on HBO Max.

2. The Green Knight (VOD)

Some of us have been waiting an entire year to see a glowed-up Dev Patel play a troubled, handsomely rugged knight in this trippy take on an Arthurian legend, but now that The Green Knight is finally streaming everywhere … well, we all win. Patel plays Gawain, the film’s should-be hero who must fulfill an oath and face off against a myth-like creature who demands his head. Talking foxes, blood magic, and literal giants all pop up, inhabiting a mystical, terrifying, otherworldly landscape from the twisted, creative genius of director David Lowery. Find it on your VOD outlet of choice.

3. Vacation Friends (Hulu)

What we have here is a vacation romp featuring mismatched couples, one a party animal pair played by John Cena and Meredith Hagner, the other a more straightlaced duo played by Lil Rel Howery and Yvonne Orji. They’re all in Mexico. One assumes hijinks will ensue. Watch it on Hulu.

4. Annette (Amazon)

Stop us if you’ve heard this one before: A stand-up comedian (Adam Driver) and a world-famous opera singer (Marion Cotillard) have a child that turns out to be a wooden marionette doll, and the doll begins taunting them with its own singing voice after their marital problems lead to chaos. It sounds… weird. It sounds weird. There’s no way around that. But it does have an interesting cast and is getting solid reviews so maybe give it a run if you’re in the mood to have your mind bent a little. Watch it on Amazon.

5. Jungle Cruise (Disney+)

Though the plot gets a bit convoluted in the second half of the movie, the dazzling, movie star-esque performances here by The Rock, Emily Blunt, and Jesse Plemons make this an entertaining movie well worth watching. Set in 1916, this movie about a race to be the first to get to a tree with magical healing powers has a distinct Indiana Jones/Raiders of the Lost Ark vibe to it. In fact, a couple of the scenes play like homages to those earlier films. And Jesse Plemons appears to be having the time of his life portraying the villain in this film, and who on God’s green Earth doesn’t love Jesse Plemons?! Watch it on Disney+.

6 Beckett (Netflix)

In Beckett, John David Washington plays the title character, just a guy who is on vacation in Greece with his girlfriend (Alicia Vikander). After an automobile accident, during which Beckett sees someone he’s not supposed to see, he’s thrust into a game of espionage, intrigue, and geopolitical maneuvering that he never asked for. Director Ferdinando Cito Filomarino was heavily influenced by William Friedkin’s movies of the 1970s and he tries to recapture that here in a movie where, like the title character, we don’t really know what’s going on and there’s always a culpable sense of dread. Watch it on Netflix.

7. Bob Ross: Happy Accidents, Betrayal, and Greed (Netflix)

Bob Ross is beloved worldwide for his landscapes and peaceful vibes, but this new Netflix documentary reveals that things weren’t all sunsets and smiles when it came to his fortune and estate. Money will do that, even when the money comes from someone as sweet as Bob Freakin’ Ross, apparently. Watch it on Netflix.

8. Reminiscence (HBO Max)

The last time Hugh Jackman and Rebecca Ferguson starred in a movie together, it was The Greatest Showman and it made $435 million at the box office. Reminiscence is being released on HBO Max the same day it comes out in theaters, so it won’t equal The Greatest Showman’s total gross. But the twisty thriller about nostalgia and lost love from Westworld co-creator Lisa Joy might make you say this is… what I’m watching tonight. Watch it on HBO Max.

9. CODA (Apple TV+)

The story of a young woman who is the only hearing person in her family, living with her deaf parents and deaf brother, became the it movie of this year’s Sundance. It’s fair to wonder if this actually does hurt a film, expectations-wise. But it didn’t hurt last year’s then-record holder Palm Springs. And the producers of CODA surely didn’t care while they count their money. What’s surprising about all of this is CODA isn’t a deeply profound film. It’s just a really funny, feel-good movie about nice people doing nice things. And maybe that’s kind of rare these days. Give it a shot to put you in a good mood. Watch it on Apple TV+.

10. (tie) Black Widow (Disney+ Premium)

Scarlett Johansson’s Natasha Romanoff finally gets a proper send-off in this actioner that aims to go back-to-basics but succeeds more on a personal level. The film fills in plenty of blanks following the events of Captain America: Civil War, but more importantly, we receive butt-kicking ladies in well-choreographed fight scenes and an emotionally resonant story that introduces us to the inner Natasha, as witnessed by Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova. She’s perhaps the only person in the world who’s allowed to tease Natasha, and their dynamic (and the chemistry between Scarlett and Florence) rules. The film also allows David Harbour to perform grunt-filled face work with a wild accent while the ladies swirl around him in hand-to-hand combat. It’s a winner. Watch it on Disney+ Premium.

10. (tie) Pig (VOD)

It’s Nicolas Cage hunting down his enemies after the disappearance of his beloved truffle-sniffing pig. And it’s allegedly good. Like, really, honestly good, not Fun/Bad Good. You really can’t ask for much more out of a film. Or anything else, really. Track it down on your VOD service of choice.