Category: Worldwide

The Los Angeles Rams and Minnesota Vikings met on Monday night in the final game of Wild Card Weekend in Arizona, where the NFL moved the game due to the ongoing fires that have devastated Los Angeles county over the past week.

Despite the change to being a neutral site game, the Rams got off to a hot start taking a 10-0 lead on the Vikings in the first quarter. Minnesota would settle down a bit and got their first points on the board early in the second quarter to cut it to a touchdown deficit. On the ensuing Rams drive, the first controversial play of the game took place when Matthew Stafford got swarmed by Vikings defenders and the ball popped out and was returned for a touchdown.

Stafford was insistent he was throwing the ball, and the review showed him fully bent over and kind of option-pitching the ball straight into the ground in front of him.

While the officials ruled it an incompletion upon review, not everyone was convinced that should’ve been given as a pass, with even Peyton and Eli Manning, who are always pro-quarterback, not buying that it should’ve counted as a pass over on the Manningcast (video here).

Eli: I think Stafford’s saying he threw it. I don’t know, that’s not a throw right? I don’t think you can say…

Peyton: He didn’t…Uh-uh. Uh-uh. Uh-uh.

Eli: I don’t think you can say that’s a throw when you’re head’s down and that.

Bill Belichick knew right away that it’d get overturned, later explaining to the Manning brothers that there isn’t a single rule in the NFL that benefits the defense. The Mannings had some fun pointing out how it wasn’t even good form for an option pitch, as Stafford didn’t even get the thumb extended, and learned that the definition of an attempted pass was even more gratuitous than they imagined. That took a potential Vikings game-tying touchdown off the board, and while it was definitely an attempt at getting rid of the football by Stafford, calling it a “pass attempt” seems extremely generous.

In 2020, Rilo Kiley reissued their self-titled 1999 debut album. Since then fans of the “Paint’s Peeling” musicians have been begging for the band to reconnect. Well, this spring their wish will be granted.

Today (January 13), the lineup for Just Like Heaven 2025 was revealed by a Reddit user, and it features an onstage reunion of Rilo Kiley. On Saturday, May 10, Rilo Kiley will join fellow headliners Vampire Weekend, Empire Of The Sun, Bloc Party, and TV On The Radio for this year’s installment of the music festival set to be held at Pasadena’s Rose Bowl.

Although organizers of Just Like Heaven 2025 haven’t confirmed the now-viral billboard, fans online are ready to grab tickets once they do. “OH F*CK OH F*CK OH F*CK RILO KILEY IS BACK OH F*CK,” wrote one user.

“Spending every red cent to get out to a Rilo Kiley reunion show. Oh my god I’ve been waiting for this for so many years,” added another.

“Blake [Sennett] and Jenny [Lewis] in the same room in 2025 is kinda crazy but like cannot complain,” chimed one user.

“Rilo Kiley reunion? that paycheck must have been huge,” joked another.

Back in 2023, Jenny Lewis made it clear that she would be open to reconnecting with her bandmates. “I’m open to it, for sure,” she responded. “It just has to be the right alchemy and the right timing. I think we owe it to each other to play those songs again, because that’s the magic of being in a band. It’s just the four people in a room and the energy that creates.”

Now, according to the billboard spotted in California, the time has come.

Marvel Studios has been though some stuff, and long story short, they have been regrouping in an effort to regain that MCU mojo without depending on the power of Deadpool. Part of that effort will unfold on Disney+ with Daredevil: Born Again, featuring The Punisher, and at the movies with Captain America: Brave New World. Those projects will reintroduce Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox), Frank Castle (Jon Bernthal), and Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) to audiences after some time away, and Marvel is also hoping to recapture the ensemble magic that arguably concluded with 2019’s Avengers: Endgame.

That effort will take place in Thunderbolts*, which looks like it could harness the MCU’s best reluctant buddy comedy vibe since both Deadpool & Wolverine and Captain America: Civil War‘s backseat scene. Let’s comb through the clues on what to expect from the meeting of former supervillains.

Cast

Leading the cast (and hailing from an assortment of other Marvel movies/TV shows) are Florence Pugh as Yelena Belova/the new Black Widow, Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier, David Harbour as Alexei Shostakov/Red Guardian, Wyatt Russell as John Walker/U.S. Agent, Hannah John-Kamen as Ava Starr/Ghost, Olga Kurylenko as Antonia Dreykov/Taskmaster, and Julia Louis Dreyfus as Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (you can “call her ‘Val’”).

New to this live-action game: Lewis Pullman as Robert “Bob” Reynolds/The Sentry.

Plot

An initially threadbare description promised only that “Marvel Studios and a crew of indie veterans who sold out present ‘Thunderbolts*,’ an irreverent team-up featuring depressed assassin Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) alongside the MCU’s least anticipated band of misfits.” On its face, this sounds like the MCU’s version of The Suicide Squad with Valentina in the Amanda Waller-type role, but surely, Marvel Studios wouldn’t pull a DCEU rehash in their comeback phase (the jury remains out until the movie is also out).

An ultra-long trailer (really a 3+ minute D23 Brazil special video) answered plenty of questions, including why the asterisk appears in the film’s title. “We are the THUNDERBOLTS*!” was the cry from Red Guardian, and naturally, neither Bucky nor Yelena nor anybody else in the group was jazzed, so, their real group name is still up for debate. The trailer also (vitally) revealed that Bucky keeps his famous arm clean by running it through dishwasher, and he raced through the desert to both help the ex-villain group escape from their pursuers, but he also sent their vehicle sailing, too.

Since Sebastian Stan has been doing plenty of Globes-related interviews lately (after winning for A Different Man), he has naturally been fielding Thunderbolts* questions. While he is largely sworn to MCU secrecy, Stan did reveal to Deadline that this movie is “it’s own thing” (but “like The Breakfast Club“) and that this film will have very little CGI, especially in the stunt realm:

“I don’t feel you can compare it to any previous Marvel movie, and that’s because of the group of characters in this film and these actors. I couldn’t have had a better time than I did with David Harbour, Florence Pugh, Wyatt Russell, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus. I mean, every single one of these people are funny, they’re generous, and so I think a lot of that chemistry did make it into the movie… It’s a little bit like The Breakfast Club. It has its own vibe, and it’s funny, and it’s real, and we did actual real stunts, like when you’re watching a truck blow up, it’s a truck blown up. It’s not CGI.”

The humor does shine through in the trailer, in which Yelena gives John Walker hell for being Captain America “for like two seconds.” Then there’s “Bob,” which is short for Robert Reynolds/The Sentry, a role first occupied by Steven Yeun but picked up by Lewis Pullman. This dangerous dude can wield nearly unlimited power of “a million exploding suns,” and his dark side (the Void) has led Bob down the path of murder, even as the Sentry fights for good. Whether or not Thunderbolts* dives into that character’s Marvel legacy remains a mystery for now because this will already be a jam-packed movie.

Thunderbolts* also unveiled a Sons Of Anarchy-evoking poster:

Release Date

Thunderbolts* will surface in theaters on May 2, 2024.

Trailer

At 3:40, this is more than a mere trailer with sweeping desert vistas and a return to Avengers Tower, courtesy of Valentina’s wallet.

The Weeknd could soon retire his stage moniker. But before he does, the “Open Hearts” singer will treat fans to seemingly one last album (Hurry Up Tomorrow) along with a with a supporting tour.

Last month, The Weeknd treated Los Angeles fans to his upcoming era during Spotify’s Billions Club Live. Sadly, his onstage follow-up has been scrapped. Today (January 13), on Instagram, The Weeknd announced his decision to cancel his Rose Bowl concert in the wake of the LA Fires. In addition, Hurry Up Tomorrow has been postponed.

“Out of respect and concern for the people of Los Angeles County, I am canceling the Rose Bowl concert originally scheduled for January 25th,” he wrote. “This city has always been a profound source of inspiration for me, and my thoughts are with everyone impact during this difficult time. In light of this, I have also decided to push the release of my album to January 31st.”

He closed: “My focus remains on supporting the recovery of these communities and aiding its incredible people as they rebuild.”

In the refunded details, patrons are told anyone who secured their tickets by way of Ticketmaster, monies will be “issued automatically.” On the other hand, if tickets were purchased through a third-party reseller, such as StubHub, SeatGeek, Vivid Seats, etc., you are encouraged to contact the platform’s customer service department.

After wildfires ravaged much of north Los Angeles County over the past week, one of the area’s most prominent artists is giving back. Doja Cat, who hails from the Tarzana neighborhood of the San Fernando Valley, teamed up with the American Red Cross to design a limited-edition merch collection benefitting the organization’s wildfire relief efforts.

In an Instagram post announcing the collection, Doja wrote, “Please help me and @americanredcross support my beautiful state of California. 100% of proceeds go to American Red Cross to support the people of California affected by the wildfires.” Fashion designer Pini worked with Doja on the collection, which features sketches of Doja riding the outline of California like a surfboard and embracing it. The collection consists of T-shirts featuring both designs in both white and black, as well as hoodies. The surfboard print adorns the back of a light blue hoodie, while a black hoodie sports the embrace design. A poster of the embrace design is available, as well.

Doja Cat was one of the artists affected by the fires, as well — a number that includes both Jhené Aiko and Madlib. While she hasn’t yet revealed whether her own home was affected, Malibu’s Harbor Studios, where she recorded her critically acclaimed 2023 album Scarlet, was burned down. “Harbor was taken from so many artists who cared so deeply about Harbor,” she wrote in a post. “It was a place of musical freedom… a sanctuary in the most literal sense of the word.”

You can find out more about Doja Cat’s Red Cross collaboration here.

Another Monday, another Crumbl Cookie Report, in which we gather all the limited-time-only sweet treats from Crumbl, taste ‘em, and rank them from least to most essential.

Last week was kind of a bust. What was on offer was a shuffling of recent flavors from the past months, so we were happy to see much more variety this time around. For those that love the tried and true classics, you’ve got that in the Milk Chocolate Chip and Original Sugar Cookie, and for the adventurous folks, Crumbl is really delivering on combination flavors, mixing vanilla and chocolate, or chocolate and peanut butter.

For those into more focused flavors, Crumbl has that too, with a triple vanilla cookie, and another cookie that brings to mind some of the best flavors and smells of breakfast classics. It truly feels like a week for every type of dessert-fiend, so this time around we’re going to suggest hitting that six-pack box.

If there was ever a week to do that so far this year, this is the week! Let’s dive in.

8. Spiced Apple White Chip

Thoughts & Tasting Notes:

This would’ve been a great cookie for fall, but here in the doldrums of winter, it’s just not hitting the same. The Spiced Apple White Chip features a cinnamon cookie base with hints of warm apple tone, it has a sort of apple pie-like flavor. It’s a good base to build upon, but Crumbl doesn’t do anything interesting here, instead all they add is the occasional chunk of white chocolate.

This cookie had so much potential, just imagine for a second an apple pie base topped with a layer of caramel and a slice of crispy and juicy green apple. That would’ve made for a worthwhile cookie, but spending nearly $5 on this? It feels like a waste.

The Bottom Line:

It comes across as incomplete. These flavors are great, but Crumbl doesn’t do anything interesting with them.

7. Strawberry Cheesecake

Thoughts & Tasting Notes:

The thing that makes Crumbl cheesecakes worthwhile is that you often get rarer flavor combinations that you don’t normally see at the market like the white chocolate raspberry cheesecake or the salted caramel. But Strawberry Cheesecake? They’re everywhere, and Crumbl’s version offers nothing new or groundbreaking.

Admittedly, this cheesecake tastes great. It has a wonderful combination of tangy flavors and intense sweetness, and the strawberry jam is bright, flavorful, and refreshing. But it doesn’t come across as special enough to rank any higher, and it’s certainly not Crumbl’s best cheesecake.

The Bottom Line:

If you absolutely love cheesecake, sure, go for it, but for this same price you could probably buy an entire cheesecake from your local market and it would taste just as good.

6. Milk Chocolate Chip

Thoughts & Tasting Notes:

A near-perfect chocolate chip cookie. Sure you could argue that like the Strawberry Cheesecake, this doesn’t bring anything new to the concept of a chocolate chip cookie, but unlike the cheesecake, this cookie is so damn good that it makes up for it. This just may be the best chocolate chip cookie you ever eat.

It has a classic brown sugar, butter, and milk chocolate blend of flavors. It’s sweet, indulgent, and best enjoyed warm.

The Bottom Line:

A tasty, chocolate-filled sweet, and chewy chocolate chip cookie. A must-try if this is your first time at Crumbl.

5. The Original Pink Sugar

Thoughts & Tasting Notes:

Don’t write off this cookie as a simple sugar cookie. It’s not. It’s the best sugar cookie I’ve ever had. Instead of a bland, white sugar base, this cookie features an almond cookie foundation with a thick smear of pink almond frosting. That double almond flavor is hard to resist once you’ve experienced it.

That’s why so many people buy a box of these and freeze them. They are seriously addicting, so beware.

The Bottom Line:

Not your average sugar cookie! This almond-flavored cookie could quite possibly be one of Crumbl’s greatest cookies. It’s just not our favorite.

4. Waffle

Thoughts & Tasting Notes:

When I first saw — and smelled — this one I wrote it off as a novelty. That was a mistake. This cookie is pretty damn good. The base is soft and chewy with a strong maple flavor and waffle-grid cuts (which make it easy to break apart and share), topped with a scoop of sweet and tangy buttercream and a heavy drizzle of maple syrup.

It lacks the toasty quality of a real waffle, but what you get in its place is more gooey chew. So if your favorite part of a waffle is the inside, this cookie delivers a whole lot of that.

The Bottom Line:

Gimmicky, sure, but this is a gooey, delicious, maple-flavored cookie that tastes perfect alongside this cold winter weather.

3. Nilla Bean Cupcake

Thoughts & Tasting Notes:

I feel incredibly basic for ranking a simple vanilla cookie this high, but what can I say? I love vanilla. This cookie features a soft and cake vanilla base topped with a thick layer of ultra-sweet vanilla cream cheese frosting and finished with vanilla sprinkles.

All of the vanilla-tasting notes are here, it’s incredibly sweet, wonderfully creamy and decadent, and highly floral, offering a mix of natural and artificial vanilla flavors. It may just be my favorite vanilla cookie of all time.

The Bottom Line:

It’s a vanilla cookie. If you love vanilla, you’ll love this. If you don’t, this isn’t going to change your mind. It may just be my favorite vanilla cookie of all time.

2. S’mores Cake

Thoughts & Tasting Notes:

It’s been a minute since I’ve awarded any of Crumbl’s cakes the top spot, and the S’mores Cake came so, so close. This cake features two tiers, one of rich devil’s food cake, and another of sweet yellow cake sandwiched together by a thick layer of airy, sweet, marshmallow buttercream and topped with another layer of marshmallow butter cream with a drizzle of milk chocolate and some sweet and earthy graham cracker streusel.

The cake is a real treat for the senses, it’s sweet and moist, but highly textural.

If our number one pick wasn’t so damn good, this one would’ve taken the — pardon the pun — cake.

The Bottom Line:

A fantastic, moist and textural cake with shifting flavors. If you’re the type who can’t decide between vanilla and chocolate, this one gives you the best of both worlds.

1. Peanut Butter Brownie

Thoughts & Tasting Notes:

If you follow our Crumbl Cookie report, you’ve no doubt caught on that I think most of Crumbl’s peanut butter cookies are weak. Generally, I don’t find the peanut butter cookies made by the brand to be noteworthy in any way and as a result, they usually rank somewhere near the back end of the list.

What makes this particular peanut butter cookie different is that it strikes that perfect balance between peanut butter and chocolate flavors, offering something that is complex and nuanced, as well as rich, decadent and indulgent.

A toasty peanut butter cookie base is encased in a dark chocolate cookie, giving two flavors in one, echoed with a mix of milk chocolate and peanut butter for the topping.

Folks, what we’ve got here is Crumbl’s all-time greatest peanut butter cookie, hands down.

The Bottom Line:

It’s a double dose of both peanut butter and chocolate that is impossible to deny.

Find your nearest Crumbl here.

It’s been two years since Mick Jenkins last released a new album, 2023’s The Patience. Given he’s released albums at a clip of just about every two years, that means he more than likely plans to release a new one this year — and to supporting that assumption, he’s returned with a new video for his track, “Wars & Rumors Of Wars (Freestyle).” The track is simple and straightforward, just wordplay-laden bars delivered over a thundering beat.

The Chicago star takes no prisoners with the tongue-twisting verse. “Secondhand n****s can’t clock me,” he boasts, “The sh*t that I’m talking, it’s hours — no 15 minutes could ever just stop me.”

Jenkins is one of a slew of Midwestern rappers looking to make a comeback this year, along with fellow YCA alums Chance The Rapper, whose album Star Line has been slow cooking over the past year or so, Saba, who has teamed up with producer No I.D. for From the Private Collection, another long-gestating project, and Smino, who returned late last year with Maybe In Nirvana, the album he recorded during the pandemic and said he had to release to free himself up for future new music.

Watch Mick Jenkins’ “Wars & Rumors Of Wars (Freestyle)” video above.

Netflix’s most bingeable spy (which is saying a lot, especially after Black Doves remains a streaming hit) will soon return and have to answer (and make) more crucial phone calls. This time, Peter Sutherland is a full-fledged Night Action operative, and a trailer revealed that his mysterious Thailand mission does not go as planned. The word “AWOL” materializes, and somehow, Rose resurfaces, which means that the series spends time stateside, too.

The Night Agent is also sticking with ten-episode seasons, and there shall be a third edition too, but that doesn’t answer the most relevant question right now.

When Does The Night Agent Season 2 Return?

The Night Agent will stream on January 23, 2025. In doing so, the series will go off-book after a first season based upon Matthew Quirk’s same-named thriller novel. Although the aforementioned trailer teases plenty about the upcoming episodes, Netflix’s description only reveals, “The Night Agent is a sophisticated, character-based, action-thriller centering on a low level FBI Agent, Peter Sutherland, whose efforts to save The President in Season 1 earn him an opportunity to become a Night Agent in Season 2. But working in the secretive organization of Night Action will propel Peter into a world where danger is everywhere and trust is in short supply.”

In addition to returning Gabriel Basso and Luciane Buchanan, this season co-stars Brittany Snow, Amanda Warren, Teddy Sears, and Arienne Mandi. Oh, and don’t forget Bangkok, which is a character in its own right.

Mac Miller’s estate is taking the late rapper’s upcoming posthumous album, Balloonerism, to the next level: They just announced a movie inspired by the project.

Currently, the film’s website lists tickets for one-night-only, advance screenings in Auckland, New Zealand; Berlin, Germany; Dublin, Ireland; London, UK; Melbourne, Australia; New York City; Paris, France; Pittsburgh; Sydney, Australia; and Toronto. Tickets are $5 (or an approximate equivalent in non-US markets), and the screenings are set for January 15 in the US and the 16th internationally. All proceeds are set to benefit the Mac Miller Fund.

Currently, no information about a potential release for the film beyond these advance screenings has been made available.

A statement previously shared by Miller’s family says of the album:

“Many of Malcolm’s fans are aware of Balloonerism, a full-length album that Malcolm created around the time of the release of Faces in 2014. It is a project that was of great importance to Malcolm — to the extent that he commissioned artwork for it and discussions concerning when it should be released were had regularly, though ultimately GO:OD AM and subsequent albums ended up taking precedence.

We believe the project showcases both the breadth of his musical talents and fearlessness as an artist. Given that unofficial versions of the album have circulated online for years and that releasing Balloonerism was something that Malcolm frequently expressed being important to him, we felt it most appropriate to present an official version of the project to the world. With that in mind, we’re happy to announce that Balloonerism will be released on January 17th, 2025.”

Sebastian Stan was once [cough] forced to discuss an eventual end for Bucky Barnes (and he previously discussed the subject on a more humorous basis), but the Winter Solder’s MCU run isn’t over yet. Bucky is, as revealed by a D23 Brazil trailer, a substantial part of the Thunderbolts* movie (due out in May 2025), and he also might appear in Avengers: Doomsday (which has been ambitiously scheduled for May 2026) from the Russo Bros.

Does that leave room for Bucky to visit his frenemy-turned-BFF in Captain America: Brave New World? The two grew awfully close by the end of Disney+’s The Falcon and the Winter Soldier series, and it was strongly suggested that Bucky and Sam Wilson’s sister, Sarah, were turning into an item. So, it would make narrative sense on a few levels to see a Bucky cameo in this next MCU movie, but Sebastian Stan isn’t about spill the goods before Cap’s shield (wielded by Anthony Mackie) returns to theaters.

The A Different Man star, while riding high on his recent win, understandably steered the conversation to an unclear place when Variety recently broached the subject. It doesn’t sound, however, like we shall see Bucky and Sam reunited in Brave New World:

Regarding if he’ll appear in the upcoming “Captain America” sequel: “[Filming] ‘Thunderbolts*’, let me tell you, it was a much quieter year for me because I didn’t see Anthony Mackie. So, I’ll say that. Although I miss Anthony Mackie like daily, and it’s something I don’t like to admit.”

The begrudging respect is mutual, and at least we’ll always have this Entertainment Tonight video (from the Golden Globes) of Mackie crashing Stan’s backstage glow while shouting, “We won!” And Stan’s “That’s right. Captain America and the Winter Soldier, we’re coming back!” proves the sheer love between these guys.

Captain America: Brave New World arrives in theaters on Feb. 14, probably without the bromance factor.