Category: Worldwide

On top of giving one of the greatest performances in television history, Bryan Cranston is also a skilled director. He’s been behind the camera for episodes of Malcolm in the Middle, Breaking Bad, and The Office, including season nine’s “Work Bus.”

In the episode, Jim tricks Dwight into believing that working in the Dunder Mifflin office is unsafe; but instead of getting the day off, Dwight makes everyone work in a cramped bus. “In order to do that,” Cranston explained on Monday’s episode of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, “they pulled on a trailer refrigeration system, an AC system, but what they didn’t plan on, they didn’t think that where the intake for the refrigeration system was, was exactly lined up to where the tailpipe of the bus was. So the exhaust of the bus was going right to the intake.” Another classic Halpert prank!

Cranston doesn’t think it’s fair that the carbon monoxide-poisoned episode is referred to as “Death Bus” in Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey’s book, The Office BFFs: Tales of The Office from Two Best Friends Who Were There, “because no one died,” he joked. Cranston does, however, credit Fischer for saving everyone’s lives.

The actress alerted the cast and crew, “I smell exhaust.” Cranston didn’t believe her at first, until he “got a chair and I stood up on the thing and I stuck my nose up in there, and sure enough, it was billowing down. It was carbon monoxide. I wasn’t quite sure so I got a second wind, I got some more, I got nice and dizzy, and then realized, ‘Oh my God, we could have all been dead.’ It would have been one hell of an episode. It would have been the finale before they would have planned that though.”

“A toxic bus nearly killing the cast” is yet another reason why The Office maybe should have ended when Steve Carell left. You can watch Cranston’s interview above.

After the success of Julia Jacklin’s 2019 breakthrough album Crushing, the stakes are high for the release of her follow-up Pre Pleasure. The Aussie has become an in-demand touring act and fans are just generally looking forward to what comes after the honest and unfettered expressions of femininity, sensitivity, love, and confidence in one’s own skin that Crushing was.

Pre Pleasure is due out on August 26th, and just like on lead single “Lydia Wears A Cross,” the newly released “I Was Neon” sees Jacklin veering further away from folk and delving deeper into pop rock sonics. Her gorgeous voice, however, remains pristine, with invigorating guitar riffs at every turn on the upbeat groove. She explained that this song in particular informed the visual aspect of the new album’s presentation.

“I first wrote ‘I Was Neon’ for a band called Rattlesnack, a short-lived much loved 2019 side project that I played drums in,” Jacklin said in a statement. “I rewrote it for my album in Montreal, during a time when I was desperately longing for a version of myself that I feared was gone forever. I was thinking of this song when I made the album cover, this song is the album cover, really.”

With the new single, also comes a thorough slate of worldwide tour dates. Jacklin will be in North America beginning in late August and then heads off to Europe.

Watch the video for “I Was Neon” — directed by Jacklin herself — above, and check out her full list of tour dates below.

08/26 — Stanford, CA @ Frost Amphitheater (Here and There Festival)
08/27 — Pasadena, CA @ This Ain’t No Picnic Festival
09/09 — Austin, TX @ Mohawk #
09/10 — Dallas, TX @ The Studio at The Factory #
09/12 — Nashville, TN @ The Basement East #
09/13 — Atlanta, GA @ Terminal West #
09/15 — Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club #
09/16 — Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Steel #
09/17 — Philadelphia, PA @ Underground Arts #
09/18 — Boston, MA @ Paradise Rock Club #
09/20 — Montreal, QC @ Corona Theatre $
09/21 — Toronto, ON @ Phoenix Concert Theatre $
09/22 — Grand Rapids, MI @ Calvin University $
09/23 — Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall $
09/24 — Minneapolis, MN @ Fine Line $
09/26 — Denver, CO @ Bluebird Theater $
09/27 — Salt Lake City, UT @ Urban Lounge $
09/29 — Vancouver, BC @ Commodore Ballroom $
09/30 — Seattle, WA @ The Crocodile $
10/02 — Portland, OR @ Revolution Hall $
10/04 — San Francisco, CA @ The Fillmore $
10/05 — Solana Beach, CA @ Belly Up Tavern $
10/07 — Los Angeles, CA @ The Fonda Theatre $
10/08 — Phoenix, AZ @ Crescent Ballroom $
11/03 — Dublin, Ireland @ Vicar Street &
11/05 — Glasgow, Scotland @ SWG3 TV Studio &
11/06 — Manchester, UK @ The Ritz &
11/07 — Birmingham, UK @ The Mill &
11/09 — Bristol, UK @ SWX &
11/10 — Brighton, UK @ Chalk &
11/11 — London, UK @ Roundhouse &
11/13 — Paris, France @ La Maroquinerie &
11/14 — Antwerp, Belgium @ Trix Club &
11/15 — Cologne, Germany @ Club Bahnhof Ehrenfeld &
11/17 — Amsterdam, Netherlands @ Paradiso &
11/18 — Hamburg, Germany @ Knust &
11/20 — Oslo, Norway @ Parkteatret &
11/21 — Stockholm, Sweden @ Slaktkyrkan &
11/22 — Copenhagen, Denmark @ Dr Koncerthuset &
11/24 — Berlin, Germany @ Columbia Theatre &
11/25 — Munich, Germany @ Strom &
11/26 — Zurich, Switzerland @ Plaza &
11/27 — Milan, Italy @ Magnolia &
11/29 — Barcelona, Spain @ Apolo &
11/30 — Madrid, Spain @ SalaMon &
12/01 — Lisbon, Portugal @ Lav &

# with Kara Jackson
$ with Katy Kirby
& with Erin Rae

Pre Pleasure is out 8/26 via Polyvinyl Record Co. Pre-order it here.

The Golden State Warriors have a 3-2 lead over the Boston Celtics in the NBA Finals thanks to a tremendous Game 5 performance from Andrew Wiggins, who picked up the slack on an off night from Stephen Curry.

Wiggins had 26 points and 13 rebounds, coming off of a 17-points, 16-rebound night in Game 4, to lead the Warriors to the win with another terrific two-way effort. It’s the latest strong night from a player that has become one of Golden State’s most reliable performers all postseason, a fairly incredible turnaround from his tenure in Minnesota, where he showed flashes of brilliance but a frustrating lack of consistency.

After Game 5, Draymond Green made sure to note that Wiggins is proving that the way we talk about players struggling to live up to expectations often leaves out a key element: organizational support. As Green told Scott Van Pelt, Wiggins is showing that while players get most of the blame, in this case the fault lies in Minnesota, not with Wiggins, for how things panned out.

Wiggins had four coaches in six years in Minnesota, and there’s very good reason to believe that the Wolves hold at least considerable fault for him not finding this level of success — although, it must be said, his effort level in non-scoring areas has been tremendously improved in Golden State, which certainly is helped by the Warriors culture but is also partly on Wiggins. In his postgame presser, Green elaborated further on how he and the team have viewed Wiggins since he arrived, noting that Wiggins got a strong vote of support from his former coach Tom Thibodeau.

It’s an interesting anecdote, and Green’s absolutely correct that Jimmy Butler liking a player is usually an endorsement of their work ethic and toughness, if nothing else. He’s also right that we should (and I’d counter that some do) put the onus on franchises to provide the support to players that’s needed for them to develop into the best versions of themselves, but there’s also probably something to the trade to Golden State being something of a wake-up call that Wiggins needed in order to find this level of interest in all the little things that it takes to win.

Phoebe Bridgers is having a lot of fun on the 2022 edition of her Reunion Tour. A couple of days ago, the Punisher star briefly covered The Wiggles’ “Fruit Salad” in Portland, Maine, a moment so viral that The Wiggles themselves reacted, telling her she nailed it.

On Monday night, she brought a more serious cover to the stage in Asbury Park, New Jersey, where she played Bruce Springsteen’s “Stolen Car.” Her rendition is so soft and disarming that she makes it sound like it’s her own. This is not her first time sharing her own rendition of a song by Springsteen; last year, she covered “I’m On Fire” from his 1984 classic Born In The USA.

Meanwhile Bridgers, recently engaged to Paul Mescal from Normal People, has been taking on the challenge of writing happier songs, according to a recent interview. “I’m striving to do more stuff like that,” she said about her song “Sidelines.” “I think it’s more challenging to sound smart and write well about happiness than it is about sadness. In the interest of not seeming trite, I lean toward darker subject matter, just out of comfort. And I think a challenge to myself, now, is being articulate about things that are good [laughs].”

After Stephen Curry utterly erupted in Game 4, the Golden State Warriors were in a favorable position as Game 5 of the 2022 NBA Finals arrived on Monday evening in San Francisco. Though the Warriors and Boston Celtics were knotted at 2-2, Golden State entered with the benefit of home-court advantage and with the experience advantage against the Eastern Conference champion Celtics. Game 5 was not a hiccup-less performance from the Warriors, but Golden State built an early lead, withstood a notable challenge, and used an impressive fourth quarter to secure a 104-94 victory and a 3-2 series edge.

The evening began in friendly fashion for the Warriors, with Golden State making seven of its first ten shots. That barrage staked the Warriors to an immediate 14-4 lead, and Draymond Green made a notable impact on both ends of the floor at the outset.

Golden State led by as many as 16 points in the opening period, with Boston failing to reach double figures in scoring for almost ten full minutes. The Celtics opened 4-of-17 from the field, including 4-of-14 inside the arc after 45.7 percent two-point shooting in the first four games of the NBA Finals. In timely fashion, however, Jayson Tatum came alive with a trio of buckets to bring the Celtics back in touch.

The Warriors held a double-digit lead at the end of the first quarter, even with Curry scoring only four points. Golden State held a massive edge in the possession battle, committing six fewer turnovers than Boston. Early in the second quarter, the Warriors pushed their lead back to 14 points, but that set up the best stretch of the first half from the Celtics.

Boston scored eight straight points, climbing within a six-point margin, and the Celtics made it a point to attack defensive pressure points in Jordan Poole and Nemanja Bjelica.

For much of the first half, poor three-point shooting was the overarching story. The two teams combined to miss 24 of the first 27 three-pointers, and Boston missed its first 12 long-range attempts. Golden State ended the first half strong, though, and held a 12-point lead at the halftime break behind a substantial first half from Andrew Wiggins.

Coming out of the break, the Warriors likely had tremendous confidence in their third-quarter baseline. Golden State entered the evening with a +49 point differential in the third quarter over the first four games of the series, including a +35 mark in the first two games in San Francisco. This time, however, the Celtics zoomed at the start of the second half.

Boston scored the first ten points of the third quarter, chipping away in a hurry.

After missing the first 12 three-point attempts of the evening, the Celtics converted eight three-pointers in a row. That onslaught sent the visitors from a double-digit deficit to a third quarter lead at 58-55.

Boston led by as many as five points and, at that point in the third, Golden State was just 3-of-25 from three-point range with 14 straight misses. The Warriors finally settled in from there, setting up a very fun flurry of basketball to end the third quarter. Both sides displayed impressive shotmaking, and Jordan Poole connected on a 35-foot heave at the buzzer to give Golden State a one-point lead with 12 minutes remaining.

Riding the wave, the Warriors threw a haymaker to begin the fourth quarter. Golden State scored the first ten points of the closing period, attempting to reclaim the lost momentum from the opening half.

The Warriors were effective on offense, but Boston’s offense also faltered at the top of the fourth quarter. The Celtics scored only five points in more than eight and a half minutes, allowing Golden State to slowly build the margin back to double figures. While the result was not yet academic, a sequence involving a Jayson Tatum airball and an exclamation point dunk from Wiggins sealed the victory for the Warriors.

From a team standpoint, defense carried the day for the Warriors in Game 5. Boston’s mid-game three-point flurry threatened to flip the outcome, but the Celtics scored less than a point per possession for the majority of the evening, with the Warriors continuing to provide high-end resistance at the rim. Boston committed 18 turnovers with only 18 assists in the game, and Golden State’s cohesion was impressive for most of the night.

Offensively, the Warriors were far from perfect, especially when taking into account a poor shooting night (0-of-9 from three) from Curry, his first ever playoff game without a made three-pointer. However, Wiggins was brilliant with 26 points and 13 rebounds, and Golden State took care of the ball. The Warriors committed only seven turnovers and generated 25 assists, overcoming a 9-of-40 mark from three-point range to grab a double-digit win.

Golden State will now have a chance to close out the series on Thursday at TD Garden, though Boston clearly possesses the upside to secure a Game 6 home win and send the series back to San Francisco. However, the Warriors are now in more control than they have been at any point in the series, and the Celtics must now scale a steep mountain to keep Golden State from another championship.

The Golden State Warriors came into Monday night having absolutely dominated the third quarter in these NBA Finals, winning all four en route to a 2-2 series tie.

That history did not bode well for the Boston Celtics in Game 5, as they trailed by 12 going into the halftime break, but this time they shook free of their third quarter woes and became the aggressor out of halftime, lighting it up from three to turn a 12-point deficit into at one point a three-point advantage. It was a remarkable quarter, highlighted by their three-point shooting as Jayson Tatum led the way for a massive offensive turnaround that saw them make eight straight threes (dating back to the second quarter) after starting the game 0-for-12.

On the other side, the Warriors went ice cold from deep, struggling to score for a stretch of the third while Boston made its run early. Eventually they were able to find some buckets, but still saw themselves trailing by two in the final seconds. After a miss from Jaylen Brown, Andrew Wiggins pulled down the rebound and pushed it up the floor with the seconds counting down and found Jordan Poole, who for the second time this series hit a wild buzzer-beater to send Golden State into the fourth quarter with a lead.

A review showed Poole got the shot off just before the buzzer, with the ball leaving his fingertips with 0.1 on the clock.

The Warriors will hope this game will also end the way Game 2 did, although in that game Poole’s shot put them up 20 rather than just one, but they rode that momentum to an early run to start the fourth that put them up by eight quickly.

Justin Vernon is the frontman of Bon Iver, a folk band known for gentle yet massively emotive songs, like their timeless hit “Skinny Love” or their collaborations with Taylor Swift on her more twang-leaning albums Evermore and Folklore, both from 2020. So it’s no surprise that Vernon has some great musical idols who are widely influential and limitlessly talented.

In response to a prompt tweet by American Songwriter that asks: “Who is your all time favorite songwriter?” Vernon replied: “Prine. Indigo Girls. Dylan.”

In 2020, Vernon paid homage to Bob Dylan by covering “With God On Our Side” on a livestream supporting Bernie Sanders. They also played “Towers” and “Blood Bank,” and “Things Behind Things Behind Things.” In addition to that, Bon Iver released a cover of John Prine’s “Bruised Orange (Chain of Sorrow)” in 2012 as a B-side to “Towers.”

Vernon was one of many musicians to take to Twitter to express grief and sorrow when Prine died in 2020; he linked to Prine’s song “When I Get To Heaven” and wrote: “He accepted death as a way of knowing and loving life.” Other artists who made heartfelt statements included Bruce Springsteen, Jack Antanoff, Hiss Golden Messenger, Mandy Moore, Bette Midler, and more.

Atlanta-native rapper JID has had his hands full this year with constant collaborations. He hopped on “Dope” with John Legend, a remix of “Home” with Mike Dimes, “Surround Sound” with 21 Savage and Baby Tate, and even “Enemy” with Imagine Dragons.

Now, he’s finally back with a song of his own. During his Gov Ball set yesterday, he debuted “29 Freestyle,” and today the song’s Waboosh-directed music video is out. The rapper’s flow is seamless and clever: “I’m qualified, I’ve never made a dollar off of Spotify / Sh*t, nah, I’m lyin’, probably five / She say my willy really shine, Jiddie Cauley-Stein / Kamikaze cool, killin’ mood / You will not survive, who will I include?” The video adds to the slickness of the track, showing him on a fishing trip in Denver, Colorado.

Last year, JID proved to be not only a great rapper but a great person by participating in a campaign devoted to acts of kindness. He kicked it off by selecting a second-grade teacher to receive school supplies and library books for her students. He explained, “It’s been a tough year and we know folks are struggling. So, I’m excited to partner with MOD to spread some love in our local communities.”

Watch his video for “29 Freestyle” above.

Game contestants have made waves of late for screwing up in truly creative ways, but they’ve been usually consigned to Wheel of Fortune. Jeopardy!, meanwhile, is the show for brainiacs, only marred by the producers’ truly chaotic attempts to replace the dearly departed Alex Trebek. That changed on Monday night’s show, which featured a doozy for the ages.

The clue was almost insultingly basic, despite being in the $400 slot. The category was about knights. It was a picture clue about a “star who was knighted in his birthname” to honor his father, who had the same name, meaning he’s actually Sir Maurice Micklewhite. The image [spoiler] clearly showed Michael Caine, one of the most beloved screen actors in history.

Alas, the first contestant to ding in, named Mazin, did not know that. Instead, he replied, “Who is Mick Jagger?” He was wrong. It was not the co-writer of the absurdly problematic “Brown Sugar.” It was the Jaws: The Revenge alum who once spent eight years trying not to blink.

As one can imagine, poor Mazin — who came in second, losing to six-time champ Ryan Long, came in for a fair amount of online dragging, which we don’t need to share here. In general, Jeopardy! contestants aren’t so hot with pop culture references, possibly because they know actual smart stuff few others do. For instance, in May, during Mattea Roach’s reign, no one, not even she, could identify a picture of Miami Vice stars Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas.

As it happens, Monday’s episode of Jeopardy! aired on the same day it was announced Jagger himself had to postpone Rolling Stones shows because he’d tested positive for COVID-19. Here’s hoping for the best for the third greatest lead singer in music.

In 2019, Compton, California-native rapper Westside Boogie put out Everythings For Sale, and fans have been anxious for new music since. After a name change, some freestyles, and a bunch of guest verses, there was some hope for an album last month when he released the song “Stuck,” as well as a music video, both of which appeared to suggest something was coming.

Today, Boogie is officially back with the announcement of his new album More Black Superheroes, as well as the release of the single “Killa Mode.” The LP will be out this Friday and span 12 tracks, while including features from Soulja Boy, Snoop Dogg, Mamii, Smino, Teezo Touchdown, Kalan.FrFr., and more.

“This album is about embracing our powers,” he wrote, “This album is for you because you survived all your trials, for the black fathers that go out in the world and feel like they have to hide all our true feelings because it seems weak to express how you’re hurt but no that’s one of your biggest strengths, For the people that feel boxed by the world and have to hide there many sides ..I love you let’s heal together .MORE BLACK SUPERHEROES out on Friday now go pre save my sh*tt”

Check out the album art and tracklist below.

1. “Killa Mode” Feat. Storm Ford
2. “Stuck”
3. “Nonchalant” Feat. Mamii
4. “Lol Smh II”
5. “Can’t Even Lie” Feat. Soulja Boy
6. “Prideful II”
7. “Aight” Feat. Shelley FKA DRAM
8. “Can’t Get Over You” Feat. Smino and Teezo Touchdown
9. “Ratchet Boog (INTERLUDE)”
10. “Somethin Strange” Feat. Kalan.FrFr. feat. Mamii
11. “Windows Down” Feat. Snoop Dogg
12. “Anthony (War)”

More Black Superheroes arrives 6/17.