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Never underestimate the power of canned tuna fish.

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Did she see her though???

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After making their triumphant return as a group with last week’s “Taco Tuesday” (which released on Cinco De Mayo, no less), Migos double down on their momentum with the hyperactive video for “Racks 2 Skinny,” the latest entry in their “Migos Monday” campaign. The trio utilizes a flute-driven DJ Durel beat to once again flex on their haters in the creatively-edited video, which makes subtle reference to the need for social distancing by filming each of their verses in a separate location before bringing them all together again.

Back in April, Quavo teased that the Atlanta group would release their long-awaited album, Culture III, at the end of the coronavirus quarantine but to hold fans over, said that they might release a quarantine mixtape. The “Migos Monday” release rollout could very well be the prelude to the mixtape, as it’s a strategy that has worked well for other rappers like Guapdad 4000, whose “Falcon Fridays” singles were combined into a mixtape at the end of their run as well.

The mixtape would be the first group release since Culture II, which they followed with solo albums from all three members. First Quavo, then Takeoff, then Offset all dropped off their respective solo debuts, then began promising the follow-up to Culture II would drop sometime this year. Hopefully, current events won’t get in the way too much, but at least fans have a reason to look forward to Mondays for a while.

Watch the “Racks 2 Skinny” video above.

Ministry of Broadcast is a game of its time, which might be why it’s so difficult to enjoy the platformer for what it is. Created by four Czech game designers, it won a slew of awards back in 2018 while in development, and for good reason. Its unique Czech and Russian avant-garde style packs a lot of design in some small sprites, and the dour setting of an industrial encampment has an impressive amount of screenshot-worthy moments thanks to its vibrant and distinct color palate.

The style is intentional, right down to the pixelated blood and graphic animations when your character meets its sudden end thanks to a misstep or leap. And the deaths are aplenty in Ministry of Broadcast, which comes with a rewind feature that falls well within the theme of the game. As the protagonist of the story, you play a distinctively red-haired, barefoot man trying to get back to his family by participating in what amounts to the logical extreme of a reality show taking place in a dictatorship. Something is a bit off about it the entire time, though, and as you make your way through the various levels you slowly start to figure things out.

The game works well as a platformer, and the design is sound and fairly intuitive. Jump down a bit too far and the vibrations warn you it was a close call along with a quick pause from your character and an on-screen message about it hurting. Jump from too high and you break your legs and have to start over. The puzzles and traversing tasks that follow are creative and take some time to work out. But the context they’re presented in are hard to shake.

It’s the same thing that makes Papers, Please — though brilliant and with plenty of replay value — difficult to stomach in recent months as well. Centering a game around the consequences of border crossing decisions is difficult to disassociate from the real world, where the nation’s borders are essentially shut down for only essential crossing due to COVID-19. Distractions in this world are important, if not essential, in a time where what’s actually happening feels so overwhelming. And much like how every piece of written doesn’t need to mention coronavirus and a global pandemic (sorry!), Ministry of Broadcast makes it tough to forget things are bleak in the real world right now, too.

The game has direct homages to 1984 and monolithic signs of authority. It also has public protest and police brutality against it. The humor with which it addresses it — the protesters and cops are “roles” people are cast to play for a TV broadcast — only mutes the graphic impact of “police” beating “protesters” so much. At times you actually inflict that harm on protesters to advance through the levels. It’s all a running gag — only you seem to take any lasting damage, and even then you can just hit the minus on your Switch and start back over again — but their continued abuse is still an unsettling inclusion.

That isn’t to say it’s not fun. The puzzles are interesting and some of the humor does land. And there is room for parody and brutality in gaming. The problem mostly lays with the world in which it was finally finished to be released in. Maybe soon all the omnipresent reminders of the world’s horrors will lessen and life will look more like it did when the game was being developed. But for those looking for a distraction right now it wouldn’t hurt to give Ministry of Broadcast a chance in a world that somehow feels less bleak than the game itself.

Some band names are just hard to pronounce, like Bon Iver or Khruangbin. But others have a more surprising confusion. Two years ago, James Corden and his writers sparked a discourse over Blink-182’s pronunciation on Twitter. Apparently, Americans say Blink “one eighty-two,” while fans in the UK refer to them as Blink “one eight two.” Vocalist Tom DeLonge weighed in on the debate at the time. Now, Travis Barker has voiced his opinion on the matter.

In a recent quarantine episode of The Late Late Show, Corden reignited the discussion and asked Barker to give his preference. “I think when we’re over there [in the UK], we’re okay with people saying Blink ‘one eight two,’” Barker said. “And in the states, it’s always been Blink ‘one eighty-two.’ So, I guess it’s just where we’re at. Like, when we’re in Europe or the UK, they’re always saying Blink ‘one eight two.’”

But Corden wasn’t satisfied with his explanation. “But it is Blink ‘one eight two.’ It’s not ‘one eighty-two’ because otherwise, you’d say Blink ‘one hundred and eighty-two.’” Barker eventually conceded: “Yeah, and that would sound really weird,” he said. “I guess, because the way you just explained it to me, it could be Blink ‘one eight two.’ But ‘one hundred and eighty-two’ is really odd.”

Machine Gun Kelly, who was also guest-starring on the show, was blown away by Barker’s compromise and offered his own take: “Baby Yoda would probably call it ‘one eighty-two’ Blink, so there are so many different ways to approach the name.”

Ahead of debating the band’s pronunciation, both Kelly and Barker discussed enjoying their time spent in quarantine. “I really love quarantine, minus the coronavirus. I’m all about it,” Barker said. Kelly echoed his sentiment: “I’m the best version of myself I’ve ever been to be honest. In an ironic way, its kind of like rehab. I can’t do anything, I can’t go anywhere. I just have to sit in my own head and see if I like myself or not. And the work I’ve been putting out amongst this quarantine has been my most well-received work yet.”

Watch Travis Barker and Machine Gun Kelly on The Late Late Show above.

With Westworld‘s third season out of the way and Black Mirror not coming back anytime soon, what better time for The Twilight Zone to return with an all-new season of reality-bending tales?

With an emphasis on Billy Porter’s strange new character (asking “Do you know who you are?”), the season two trailer is absolutely loaded with promises of that quintessential Twilight Zone weirdness hosted by Jordan Peele and featuring an impressive cast. Just check out some of these names: Morena Baccarin, Jenna Elfman, Ethan Embry, Sky Ferreira, Tavi Gevinson, Topher Grace, Tony Hale, Gillian Jacobs, David Krumholtz, Joel McHale, Chris Meloni, Gretchen Mol, Paula Newsome, Jimmi Simpson, Jurnee Smollett, Daniel Sunjata, and Damon Wayans Jr.

Of course, that lineup should come as no to surprise to anyone who caught the first season of the sci-fi revival. Those episodes include a devilish trip with Kumail Nanjiani and Adam Scott putting a new twist on a classic episode while executive producer Peele stepped into Rod Serling’s role as the cryptic narrator. In a 2009 interview with Entertainment Weekly, Peele lauded the original as the “greatest show of all time” and expressed his tentativeness in attempting to honor Serling’s legacy:

“He would tell stories that explored character and a character’s tragic flaws. And he would craft a custom-made nightmare for those people. He would place reveals strategically throughout an episode. And he would use the show to Trojan-horse commentary and social messaging through entertainment.”

CBS All Access’ The Twilight Zone Season 2 premieres on June 25.

(Via CBS All Access)

On this week’s episode of People’s Party With Talib Kweli, the guest is longtime Kweli collaborator and veteran producer 88 Keys, who breaks down working with some of hip-hop’s most talented and celebrated luminaries, including Kanye West, Mac Miller, and Mos Def.

Around the midpoint of the interview, Keys reveals a detail about why the lead single for Mos Def’s breakout debut album Black On Both Sides was changed from “Speed Law” to “Ms. Fat Booty,” crediting a bad review from Jermaine Dupri as the reason for the switch and joking, “He killed my career!”

Later in the interview, 88 details linking up with Kanye through Just Blaze and his work at New York’s Baseline Studios, where many Roc-A-Fella artists recorded at the time. When Kweli asks about 88 remaining close with Kanye through all the controversy, the producer explains, “I feel it’s because people really don’t know him and they don’t know where his heart is… As much as people say he’s changed he’s actually been the same dude since day one.”

Finally, the interview closes with 88 reflecting on Mac Miller and their friendship, which surprised 88 because of Mac Miller’s youth.

Watch the full interview above.

People’s Party is a weekly interview show hosted by Talib Kweli with big-name guests exploring hip-hop, culture, and politics. Subscribe via Apple, Spotify, or YouTube.

Fans of James Cameron’s movies are used to waiting. Since 1990, he’s only directed four (non-documentary) films: Terminator 2: Judgment Day, True Lies, Titanic, and a little movie called Avatar. But the wait between the second highest-grossing movie ever (until the re-release) and the sequel, let alone sequels, is extra patience-testing.

Cameron originally aimed for Avatar 2 to come out in 2014 — six years later, we’re still waiting, although it has an official release date of December 17, 2021. Official for now, at least, considering the entertainment industry is shut down due to the ongoing pandemic. But in an interview with Empire, Cameron said his blue dudes and gals are still on target to hit movie theaters (remember movie theaters) next year.

“I want to get back to work on Avatar, which right now we’re not allowed to do under state emergency laws or rules. So it’s all on hold right now. We were about to shoot down in New Zealand, so that got pushed. We’re trying to get back to it as quick as we can,” Cameron said, adding, “On the bright side, New Zealand seems to have been very effective in controlling the virus and their goal is not mitigation, but eradication, which they believe that they can do with aggressive contact tracing and testing.” Must be nice.

Cameron believes there’s a “very good chance” that shooting will be delayed by months, but “we can still do it. So that’s good news. We’ve got everybody – everybody at Weta Digital and Lightstorm – working from home to the extent that that is possible.” For a famed control freak, Cameron sounds surprisingly optimistic that Avatar 2 won’t be delayed, like every movie that was supposed to come out this spring and summer. Is it misguided optimism? Maybe, but pity the fool who tells James Cameron that. Cameron watches Michael Jordan in The Last Dance, and laughs at #23’s lazy work ethic.

(Via Empire)

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