On Wednesday, Walt Disney World unveiled its plans for a phased reopening of the Orlando Disney parks over the summer, along with SeaWorld who has plans to open their three Orlando parks on June 11th. Both theme parks follow Universal Studios Orlando’s lead, who announced a short-phased reopening that would begin on June 1st and open to the general public by June 5th.
This follows Disney reopening Shanghai Disneyland earlier this week with strict social distancing and hygiene rules in place. And if news reports of the park are any indication, people look ready to ride the teacups again in China.
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Back in Florida, the Orlando Sentinelreports that Walt Disney World will reopen its Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom parks on July 11th, followed by Hollywood Studios and Epcot by July 15th.
All three theme park franchises will reopen with increased safety measures echoing those in Shanghai that include temperature checks, limited capacity, cashless payment options, and staggered parking, according to Deadline. Universal plans on closing all interactive play areas throughout their theme parks as well as remove water and mist elements from attractions, which might remind you that Universal Studios is always trying to throw mist your way any chance they get. What’s up with that?
According to the Orlando Sentinel, both SeaWorld and Disney World will require guests and employees to wear masks and include changes to the attraction line layouts in order to promote social distancing. Disney is also apparently developing a social-distancing squad, whose sole task will be reminding guests to keep a safe distancing between one another.
In a time when we’ve watched people fight over toilet paper, argue over mask-wearing and storm government buildings with firearms, a nice random act of kindness story is always appreciated. And when that random act of kindness happens to someone who is famous-adjacent, the impact somehow seems all the more pure.
Actor Nathan Fillion, best known for his starring roles in the TV series Firefly (and subsequent movie, Serenity) and Castle, shared one such story on Facebook this week—and people are loving it.
He wrote:
“The other day in Canada, a woman buying gas at a Costco had trouble with her credit card. The attendant bought her gas out of his own pocket and asked only that she pay it forward. That Costco was in Edmonton, that attendant was Les Thompson, and Les? That woman was my mother. You restore my faith in humanity, sir. My dad and I are sending three iPads and headphones to a nearby senior care facility so that folks there can visit with their families. Right now, we could all stand to be less afraid, and a little more Les. (Canada, Costco, Les, iPads, and my mom not pictured.)”
Fillion’s post has been shared nearly 30,000 times, and commenters have expressed their gratitude for highlighting the fact that there are lots of good people out there. Some said they were proud to be Canadian. (Canada is well known for the general kindness of its people.) Others said the story reminded them that hope is not lost, even in the face of fairly constant bad news. Some inquired as to whether or not Fillion was married. (He’s not.) But most simply thanked him for sharing a seemingly small, but oh-so-meaningful story about the power of a simple, selfless act of generosity.
Well done, Les from Costco. Well done, Fillion family. Thanks for giving us the boost of faith in humanity we need right now.
Somebody needs to get this kid his own show, immediately.
A video shared by Khary Kimani Turner on Facebook shows a kid at a computer desk with a microphone, narrating his online schooling in the style of a charismatic preacher—and holy goodness, it’s hilarious. It’s not made clear in the video, but the scene appears to be a mom filming her son, Ramone (spelling unknown), over her shoulder while he starts a school video.
He has the impassioned reverend bit down, from the vocal inflections to the banging the mic on the table to the singing and feet-shuffling when he really gets going. Even the content of his narration is entertainingly on point. When the school video is unable to connect, he sees it as a sign from the Lord telling him “Ramone, take a rest.”
And somehow, his mom stays miraculously straight-faced and calm as her kid performs one of the best impromptu comedy routines ever. When he paused the school video and sang about how God paused it, she said matter-of-factly, “I need you to stop putting stuff on God. God didn’t pause it.” But the best part is when Ramone really got going:
“You know I don’t wanna do the work. You know I don’t wanna do the work. Cuz God is doin’ the work in me. How am I supposed to be doin’ the work when he’s workin’ in me? I need to rest so he has a stable foundation to upgrade on. When I’m movin’ how am I going to get upgrades? When a car is getting upgraded it’s in a garage and it’s standing still. When a superhero is being upgraded, it’s in a garage and it’s standing still. IIIIIIIIII need to be still…”
Then a male voice from off screen gets in on the action, egging on Ramone with, “Tell ’em about the oil!”
And what ensues is even more hilarity, as the spirit overtakes Ramone and his mom finally breaks into giggles at his antics. Everything about this video and the family in it is just too good. Watch on repeat. You won’t be sorry.
Seriously, those are some skills. Somebody give this kid a church and a TV show and a break from his schoolwork ASAP. Amen and hallelujah.
The filmmaker is known for whipping fans into a frenzy on social media, and he certainly leaned into his strong suit by dropping a first look at the epic DC Comics villain Darkseid, who will reportedly play a huge role in the upcoming Snyder Cut. Despite the blurry photo — it’s not your screen — the tweet has already racked up more than 60,000 likes after only being up for a few hours.
While the theatrical version of Justice League featured the villain Steppenwolf, who was not well-received by fans and general audiences, it’s unknown how large of a role Darkseid will play in the new Snyder Cut version of the film or whether he’ll replace Steppenwolf altogether. What is known is that actor Ray Porter was secretly cast in the part, which he officially confirmed on Twitter for the first time after the Snyder Cut announcement was made.
That said, and because I’ve been given permission… Hi, I’m Ray. I played Darkseid in Zack Snyder’s “Justice League”. There. It’s out now.
While hardcore Snyder fans were aware of rumors that Porter was cast as Darkseid, the assumption was that he only did a small amount of voiceover work. But in a recent interview with the Lightcast podcast, Porter revealed that he actually filmed a significant amount of motion capture footage for Snyder before the tragic circumstances that led the director to exit the Justice League film. Via Heroic Hollywood:
“Obviously you never know how much… I know what I did, and you never know how much is going to be in the film, because editing occurs. If it all comes out in the wash in 2021 and I’m not in as much as I thought I would be, or there was stuff that’s cut, that’s just part of the deal, that’s part of the process. But there was a lot of work. There was a lot of work. Obviously not as much as some other cast members, but there was a lot going on.”
Judging by Snyder openly teasing DC Comics’ biggest villain to promote the HBO Max launch, we’re guessing Porter’s Darkseid will be seeing a lot less of the cutting room floor this time around.
The RX is Uproxx Music’s stamp of approval for the best albums, songs, and music stories throughout the year. Inclusion in this category is the highest distinction we can bestow and signals the most important music being released throughout the year. The RX is the music you need, right now.
If you’re only able to give your time to one trap album from the first half of 2020, it’d be supremely difficult to go wrong with Gunna’s lean, pristine Wunna. In the modern era of supersize projects tapping the same producers and addressing the same handful of topics, Gunna does enough things right on his latest album to overcome the drawbacks of the genre and of his prior effort, raising his game and delivering a project that not only stands up to multiple listens, but also encourages them as well.
Ever since Gunna’s first appearance alongside Young Thug on “Floyd Mayweather” in 2016, the Atlantan neophyte has been deemed Thugger’s heir apparent of the slippery, melodically-driven flows he helped pioneer into the prevailing style of trap rap. That status seemed solidified in 2018 when Gunna followed up his breakthrough mixtape Drip Season 3 with a collaborative tape alongside his own mentee Lil Baby, Drip Harder. However, far from cementing him as the next big thing out of Atlanta, the tape and its followup instead served as a coronation for Lil Baby, who seemed to surpass Gunna, despite both rappers admitting that it was Gunna who both inspired and instructed Baby early in his career.
Gunna’s debut studio album Drip Or Drown 2 sparked the debate among fans: Which of the two Atlanta trap prodigies most deserved to take over the top spot? However, that argument assumes that there’s only room for one at the top, when in reality, they are as linked as their immediate predecessors, Future and Young Thug — with whom they are ironically also working on a joint title, the sequel to Future and Thug’s own joint mixtape, Super Slimey. Instead, I like to think of the dynamic as similar to A Tribe Called Quest — you can’t have one without the other and each fills a specific role. While Lil Baby’s visceral narratives may resonate most strongly with the streets, Gunna’s heady ghetto philosophy gives him a different edge.
There’s no clearer demonstration of this effect than Gunna’s sophomore effort Wunna following the release of Lil Baby’s parallel project, My Turn. Where Baby’s approach is sprawling, clocking in at over an hour with 20 tracks and a ton of features, Wunna instead zips along at just under 50 minutes, with two fewer tracks and only six guest verses — one from Lil Baby, on “Blindfold.” The production is tight, utilizing mainly YSL in-house beat maker Wheezy, with a few beats from Mike Will Made It and Tay Keith sprinkled in for variety. “Blindfold” displays the smooth chemistry between the two rappers, highlighting Gunna’s focus on rap skills over storytelling: “Gunna spit venom, you can hear it in his voice,” he snaps, “Tried me and I killed him, I didn’t really have no choice.”
For the most part, as Gunna goes it alone, he demonstrates his slick ability to slip from one topic to another, elegantly flexing and snidely threatening at the same time on “Met Gala,” then comparing his lifestyle to classic rock icons on “Rockstar Bikers & Chains.” Gunna continually shows off a gift for sing-song choruses designed to stick in the crevices of listeners’ brains, as on the Roddy Ricch-featuring “Cooler Than A B*tch” and album intro “Argentina,” but he rarely overstays his welcome. The album’s brevity is its greatest strength, as Gunna displays his gift for efficiently delivering memorable verses and getting out before the flexes wear out. Wunna may not resolve the debate between fans of which of the Drip Harder collaborators consistently delivers the strongest product, but it does strengthen their connection while proving that Gunna deserves his spot in the conversation.
Wunna is out now on Young Stoner Life Records / 300 Entertainment. Get it here.
Gunna is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Christian Cooper, the black birdwatcher who had the police called on him by a white woman after asking her to put her dog on a leash, has spoken out about the incident.
On Tuesday night he gave a thoughtful interview to CNN‘s Don Lemon where he responded to white woman Amy Cooper’s (no relation) apology.
“I think her apology is sincere,” Cooper told Lemon. “I’m not sure that in that apology she recognizes that while she may not be or consider herself a racist, that particular act was definitely racist.”
Christian Cooper is a Harvard University grad, former Marvel Comics editor and a current member of the board of directors for the New York City chapter of the Audubon Society.
In the video taken by Christian, Amy frantically tells the police “I’m taking a picture and calling the cops,” she says. “I’m going to tell them there’s an African American man threatening my life.”
The video is disturbing because Amy pretends as though her life is in danger, putting Christian in a dangerous situation. Who knows how the police will react to a black man they believe is threatening the life of a white woman.
Christian was completely aware that she was putting his life in danger during the incident.
“You know, the simple fact of my skin color means that I run the risk of being perceived as a menace or a threat despite the fact that I’m doing the exact same thing as anybody else in that park,” he told NPR.
Amy issued a statement to CNN apologizing her behavior saying “I’m not a racist. I did not mean to harm that man in any way,” she said, adding that she also didn’t mean any harm to the African American community.
She called police on him in Central Park. Hear his response
Even though Amy threatened his life, Christian is still willing to give her the benefit of the doubt.
“Is she a racist? I can’t answer that,” he told Lemon. “Only she can answer that. And I would submit probably the only way she’s going to answer that is going forward. How she conducts herself and, you know, how she chooses to reflect on this situation and examine it.”
Amy was fired from her job at Franklin Templeton after a video of the incident went viral.
“Following our internal review of the incident in Central Park yesterday, we have made the decision to terminate the employee involved, effective immediately. We do not tolerate racism of any kind at Franklin Templeton,” the company said on Twitter Tuesday.
Amy Cooper’s actions were clearly racially motivated and she intentionally put Christian’s life in danger. But he still hesitates to say her life should be forever ruined by the incident.
“Now, should she be defined by that, you know, couple-of-seconds moment? I can’t answer that,” he told NPR.
The video has prompted people to make death threats against Amy which Christian has condemned.
“I am told there has been death threats and that is wholly inappropriate and abhorrent and should stop immediately,” Christian said.
“I find it strange that people who were upset that … that she tried to bring death by cop down on my head, would then turn around and try to put death threats on her head. Where is the logic in that?” he said. “Where does that make any kind of sense?”
After having his life threatened by Amy, Christian has all right to demonize her in public. But, instead, he has chosen to provide a thoughtful response to her racist act, put it in context and condemned those who wish violence upon her. His calm reaction to her racist tirade should be praised as loudly as her actions should be criticized.
Last year, Weyes Blood, the moniker of Natalie Mering, debuted her stunning record Titanic Rising. Since its release, Mering has toured, performed on late-night talk shows, and even lent a hand on Drugdealer’s latest album. Now, the singer returns to share a self-directed video accompanying her Titanic Rising track “Wild Time.”
In the grainy video, Mering rediscovers the therapeutic soothing of emerging yourself in nature and eventually gets caught up in cult-like rituals. Shot amid a backdrop of golden rolling hills and quaint streams, the visual echos her albums’ themes of nature and nostalgia.
In a verbose message to fans alongside the video, Weyes Blood described the sentiment behind the video and announced she is canceling all of her 2020 shows and focusing on her next album:
“Here is a video for my song ‘Wild Time’ that was shot on 16mm pre-Pandemic, then edited together during isolation. Felt like the right time to let this video out into the world, seeing as we’re all getting saddled down by some pretty grim realities. This song is about yearning for wildness and Mother Nature in a time of chaos. It’s for sensitive people who worry about the fate of humanity and feel powerless to do anything about it.
I’ve spent a lot of time thinking apocalyptic thoughts and realizing that won’t get you anywhere. What if the world has always been ending? What if the sprawl of our cities are just as wild as the forests? What if climate change and the destruction of our natural habitat is a reflection of the nature within us, however sublimely horrifying and hard to understand? We’re animals, we play out a very precarious drama of life, and we grasp for what’s left of the protective womb — but maybe the notion that we’re somehow separated from her is an illusion. Maybe it is, truly, a wild time to be alive. Maybe getting in touch with that as a culture and society would avert the worst case scenarios of ecological crisis and existential dread.
If you’ve gotten this far, wow, thank you for actually taking the time to read this. In other news, as you may have assumed, I am canceling all of my headline shows for 2020, but I’m beginning to work on my next album that will come out in 2021- a different time, when hopefully we can see each other face to face once again.”
Watch Weyes Blood’s “Wild Time” video above.
Titanic Rising is out now via Sub Pop. Get it here.
One thing each of the four albums from The 1975 have in common is that they all begin with a track titled “The 1975.” The self-titled track from their latest album, Notes On A Conditional Form, features Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg speaking about the ecological state of the planet. Today, they have decided to share a visual for the track. The clip plays out like a lyric video, with Thunberg’s words laid atop visuals of our planet, mounds of garbage, and other stylized clips.
Matty Healy previously told Apple Music of the song, “We were talking about how we were going to do that statement — the same statement that we always make musically — and we wanted it to be us at our most modern. That first track always has to be us checking in. That got us into the conversation of what is the most modern statement, or who has the most modern statement, and Greta was the decision. I think it sounds like how a lot of us feel. There’s a lot of hope in it, but it’s quite a sombre piece of music. It’s very 1975 in the way that it’s quite beautiful superficially but also quite sad, quite pretty, but also quite ominous. Greta has a lot of reach, but I really wanted to see her exist formally in pop culture, not just as an anecdote of somebody.”
Watch the “The 1975” video above, and read our review of Notes On A Conditional Formhere.
Notes On A Conditional Form is out now via Dirty Hit. Get it here.
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