Category: Worldwide

Spider-Man: No Way Home is expected to be the biggest movie of the year — and the COVID-era. The Marvel film grossed $50 million during Thursday previews (that’s the third-biggest preview of all-time behind only Avengers: Endgame and Star Wars: The Force Awakens), which puts it on pace for a $150 million opening weekend. No film has made that much during its first four days of release since Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker in December 2019, which feels like an eternity ago. The point is, there’s going to be a lot of packed movie theater this weekend, many of which will look like this.

The video, taken during an early screening of No Way Home, shows a crowd losing their dang minds over… I won’t spoil what they’re probably reacting to, but that level of standing ovation enthusiasm is reminiscence of the reactions to the “Avengers assemble” scene in Endgame. Or me when Bob Odenkirk showed up in Little Women.

A lot of people are dunking on the Spider-Man fans for cheering during the movie (“these are the same people who clap when the plane lands,” reads one), but I prefer the tweets like this one:

Or this one:

It works for plenty of other movies (and Nicole Kidman speeches):

The people were right to cheer for Stewie from Succession.

Last week, two New York fixtures came together at last on RZA and Flatbush Zombies’ “Plug Addicts.” The video took a page out of Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs, with RZA’s beat on the track hearkening back to an important project in his career. “I’ve had my eyes on the Flatbush Zombies for sometime now,” RZA said in a statement last week. “Their style of dark hip-hop lyricism is reminiscent of my days in the Gravediggaz. This type of collaboration was overdue.”

Today, they’ve doubled-down with the as-promised track entitled “Quentin Tarantino” and it’s an overt homage to the iconic director. The track is a vintage RZA production that sounds like it could’ve come out of the Jackie Brown soundtrack. Flatbush Zombies Meechy Darko, Zombie Juice, and Erick “Arc” The Architect carry the torch on the mic on this one, with Arc’s flow packing in a slew of Tarantino films:

“They killin’ us all, but we endure, Reservoir Dog
I’m Mr. Orange, so since we sparrin’, I put my all in
Your whip be stallin’, unchained, unhandled, Django is dormant
They pat me down, nigga you don’t know? You better ask around
It’s been half an hour, blast the sound, where’s Jackie Brown?”

The video has nods to Kill Bill and heavy Pulp Fiction vibes, with the Zombies driving around in the same style of Chevy Nova that Jules and Vincent Vega drove in the film. There’s even a briefcase motif and RZA punctuating the hook asking about the age-old Tarantino film geek mystery: “What the f*ck’s up in that briefcase?”

Watch the video for “Quentin Tarantino” above.

In a departure from many of his hip-hop peers and forebears, Kanye West has always been a controversial figure, but never really a criminal one. While other rappers often recounted their experiences in gang life, detailing shootouts and illicit pharmaceutical sales, Ye mostly stuck to reminisces about his days working at The Gap and obsessing over fashion.

However, according to a new report from The Daily Beast, Ye may be in violation of federal campaign finance laws after his ill-fated Presidential campaign last year. Although West supposedly ran as an independent, third-party candidate, recent disclosures revealed that his campaign may well have been secretly run by the Republican Party (or an offshoot thereof) in a bid to splinter support for the GOP’s opponent Joe Biden. Republican Party advisors apparently funneled money into Kanye’s campaign, receiving their own payments for services rendered, all while disguising or hiding the transactions in their reports to authorities to keep their associations secret.

Of course, it was already long postulated that Ye’s campaign was just a smokescreen for Trump’s own bid for reelection — which turned out to be unsuccessful anyway — but Ye always denied such speculation. Now, it seems, there’s proof with Common Cause vice president Paul S. Ryan telling The Beast, “The importance of disclosure in this matter can’t be overstated. It’s no secret that Kanye West’s candidacy would have a spoiler effect, siphoning votes from Democrat Joe Biden. Voters had a right to know that a high-powered Republican lawyer was providing legal services to Kanye—and federal law requires disclosure of such legal work.”

The full report goes into further detail, but in summary, it describes the Kanye campaign securing legal services from firms linked to Trump, the Republicans, and voter fraud conspiracy theorists. This lines up with a recent Reuters report that Kanye had previously employed a publicist who traveled to Georgia to harass and threaten a poll worker Trump accused of ballot stuffing. Those claims have long since been proven baseless and false, but that hasn’t stopped his fanatics from harping on a supposed fraud in the 2020 elections, which he lost by a significant margin.

What does that mean for Kanye in the future? That probably depends on how much Kanye himself knew about the firms he was hiring — but the entire situation looks suspicious, considering the campaign almost exclusively employed Republican firms which had ties to Trump himself. For what it’s worth, it seems that either way, he didn’t really seem to know what he was paying for, issuing six-figure payments to advisors way after he was effectively out of the race. His previous violations of fundraising standards were reported, so it seems that the campaign’s reputation for disorganization was well-founded.

You can check out the full story here.

“There are two powers in the world; one is the sword and the other is the pen. There is a third power stronger than both, that of women.” — Malala Yousafzai

When women are encouraged to nurture their gifts and empowered to embrace their ambitions, they can truly change the world for the better. Upworthy and Tory Burch partnered this year to help women do just that by honoring amazing women for their contributions and giving them $5,000 on behalf of the Tory Burch Foundation to donate to a non-profit of their choice.

Meet the 14 women who have been honored in 2021 for their diverse commitments to making the world a more hopeful, healthy, and just place.

Victoria Sanusi: Destigmatizing Mental Health

Victoria Sanusi started the Black Gals Livin’ podcast with her friend Jas in 2018. Victoria and Jas chat about various things, but listeners especially appreciate how the podcast destigmatizes mental health. “I think perhaps for our listeners, hearing someone who looks like them experiencing low moods, depression, and anxiety makes them feel less alone,” she says. Sanusi donated her $5,000 to the Black LGBTQIA+ Fund, which helps fund therapy sessions for people in the Black LGBTQIA+ community.

Caitlin Murphy: Supporting Healthcare Heroes

After founding her own technology-based freight forwarding firm, Caitlin Murphy used her talents in logistics to help get over 2 million masks to hospitals and senior care facilities across the country early in the COVID-19 pandemic. “To all the working mothers out there, you are doing amazing ladies,” she says. “Juggling all that is motherhood and all that is a working female is no easy feat. You are capable of more than you can imagine.”

Murphy donated her $5,000 to Camp Circle Star, a nonprofit that provides summer camp opportunities to children with disabilities.

Varsha Yajman: Fighting for Climate Justice

In high school, Varsha Yajman helped organize a school strike for climate action in Australia, which involved 80,000 people in Sydney. Today, at 18, she works at a legal firm that pushes for climate change equity. “Being a teenager, I believe it is my duty to fight for justice. Seeing people around me change their opinion on climate justice has been the most rewarding part of the fight,” she says.

Yajman donated her $5,000 to the Australian Youth Climate Commission, a youth-led organization building a movement of young people to lead solutions to the climate crisis.

Simone Gordon: Providing Direct Assistance to Families

After she was helped by a handful of women when she needed it most, Simone Gordon created The Black Fairy Godmother, a non-profit with 12 volunteers who connect people in need with givers who provide direct assistance. “I want people to understand how direct giving can make a major impact,” she says. “We can change lives and save lives by donating and providing resources.”

Gordon’s $5,000 donation will go to five single moms who are enrolling in college or trade school programs to better their future through the BFG Scholarship Program.

Shalini Samtani: Transforming Pediatric Hospital Experiences

Shalini Samtani founded The Spread the Joy Foundation and Open the Joy in 2019, after her baby daughter was diagnosed with a rare disorder that had her in and out of pediatric hospitals. Her organization delivers free activity kits — ”Joy Boxes” — to pediatric patients all around the country. “I knew at the time that there had to be a better solution, or even just a balm, to soothe the bleeding hearts of all mothers sitting in my seat,” she says, “and I was determined to find it for my own family, as well as for others.

Samtani will use her $5,000 to provide even more Joy Boxes to kids in hospitals around the country.

Judy Vaughan: Housing People Experiencing Homelessness

Vaughan helped found Alexandria House, a transitional housing space in Los Angeles for families that need a little help getting back on their feet, 25 years ago. Of the 200 families that have utilized the house, 92% have not gone back to homelessness. “It has been amazing to watch the children grow up and the moms recreate their lives for themselves and for their families,” Vaughan says. “I have witnessed resiliency, courage, and heroic acts of generosity.”

Vaughan will put her $5,000 into Alexandria House and the new Step Up Sisterhood LA program.

Alice Saisha: Revolutionizing Girls’ Education

Alice Saisha nearly dropped out of school and almost became a child bride in Zambia when CAMFED stepped in and helped support her education. Thanks to the pan-African organization’s support, she was able to complete her education and become an activist, philanthropist, advocate of women’s rights, and CAMFED ambassador. “We speak out for the voiceless, create leaders along the way, and amplify the importance of children’s welfare in school and at home,” she says.

Saisha donated her $5,000 to CAMFED to help revolutionize and support girls’ education.

Davina Agudelo: Supporting BIPOC and Latinx Writers

Davina Agudelo founded Alegría Magazine and refurbished a van into a mobile bookstore to celebrate Latin American and LatinX indie authors and poets. She also mentors indie writers and encourages children’s reading and writing in low-income communities across Southern California. “The amount of talent in our community pushes me to keep growing our company so the world can read their work and remember their names,” she says.

Agudelo donated her $5,000 to the Sims Library of Poetry, the first Black-owned poetry library in California.

Molly Reeser: Healing with Horses

In college, Molly Reeser worked mucking horses and was inspired by how much the horses helped a young girl named Casey with her cancer journey. Reeser founded Camp Casey, a day camp for kids with cancer, sickle cell disease, and other life-threatening illnesses, which now serves 1500 children each year in Michigan. “It brings me tremendous joy to see people, animals, or things coming together to create goodness in a world that can often be filled with hardships,” she says.

Reeser is using her $5,000 to bolster Camp Casey’s programs and help make them year-round.

Shanda Lynn Poitra: Empowering Women with Self-Defense

Shanda Lynn Poitra spent years in an abusive relationship, and it wasn’t until she took an IMPACT self-defense class that she gained the courage and self-confidence to leave her abuser. She wanted to share the wisdom and boundary-setting skills she’d gained with other Native women, so she started an IMPACT chapter in her community. “During the closing circles in our workshops, we all get to see the strength and transformation these women worked so hard for,” she says. “We get to see them take their power back from those who hurt them.”

Poitra is using her $5,000 to bring IMPACT to more indigenous survivors of domestic violence.

Sue Hoppin: Supporting Military Spouses

After realizing how moving around as a military spouse created a barrier to her own career, Sue Hoppin created the National Military Spouse Network (NMSN), the first organization dedicated to advocating for the professional military spouse community. “We lose out as a nation when service members leave the force because their spouse is unable to find employment,” she says. “We see it as a national security issue.”

Hoppin’s $5,000 is going to The Madeira School, which fosters empowerment and confidence in women.

Amita Swadhin: Combating Rape Culture through Storytelling

As a rape survivor, Amita Swadhin founded Mirror Memoirs, a storytelling and organizing project dedicated to people of color who are survivors of child sexual abuse as well as survivors who have been historically ignored. “Listening to stories is also a powerful way to build empathy, due to the mirror neurons in people’s brains. This is, in part, why the project is called Mirror Memoirs,” Amita says.

Swadhin is dedicating their $5,000 to Mirror Memoirs to help fund production costs for a new theater project.

Farwisa Farhan: Protecting Ecosystems

The Leuser Ecosystem in Sumatra, Indonesia is one of the last places on earth where endangered species such as tigers, orangutans, elephants and Sumatran rhinoceros still live in the wild. Farwisa Farhan created the HAkA Foundation to try to protect it after the government agency charged with that mission was dismantled. “We think gold and diamonds are rare and therefore valuable assets,” she says, “but wild places and forests, like the Leuser Ecosystems, are the kind of natural assets that essentially provide us with life-sustaining services.”

Farhan is donating her $5,000 to the Ecosystem Impact Foundation, to help keep a ranger who protects endangered leatherback turtles employed.

Deidra Mayberry: Empowering Others Through Literacy

When Deidra Mayberry was in school, she struggled with reading. As an adult, she learned about functional literacy, where a person may have some basic reading skills, but not enough to thrive. Having struggled herself, she wanted to help others, so she founded the Reading to New Heights literacy program for adults. “It’s kind of ironic, the very thing I was ashamed of and thought I had to hide for years was the one thing that, once I shared it, not only freed me but gave me hope and provided a way to help others,” she says.

Mayberry is putting her $5,000 into her new and growing non-profit organization.

Though 2021 has been a tough year for many, these impressive women and their organizations are giving back to their community in incredible ways. Empowered women inspire others, and if we want to see greater progress in our world, we need to empower more women.

Thankfully, that’s something we can all help with. Tory Burch and Upworthy are looking for more extraordinary women to honor, so if you know an empowered woman, nominate her here. Learn more about Tory Burch and Upworthy’s Empowered Women program here.

Let’s all celebrate the amazing women in our lives and give them the gift of recognition they deserve.

This article originally appeared on 06.08.17

Michelle Elman, a body positivity coach, helps people who are struggling to find confidence in their own skin.

After persevering through numerous medical conditions and surgeries in her own life, Elman realized a few years ago that body positivity wasn’t just about size or weight. Things like scars, birthmarks, and anything else that makes us feel different of self-conscious have to be a part of the conversation, and she tries to make the movement accessible to everyone.

Sharing her own journey has been one of her most effective teaching tools.

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In May, she shared a post on Instagram of herself trying on a dress she bought five years ago in order to prove a powerful point.

In the first photo, from 2012 — when she was a size 12, she says — she’s wearing a size 14 dress. In the new photo, she’s wearing the same dress, though she says she normally wears a size 20.

The dress still fit.

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“NUMBERS DON’T MEAN ANYTHING,” she wrote in the post. “So are you really going to let a change [in] dress size dictate your day? Are you really going to let an increase in a number affect your mood?”

“A higher dress size doesn’t mean: — you are less beautiful — you are less worthy — you are less lovable — you are a worse human — you are a bad person — you are a different person AND it doesn’t even mean you have a bigger body.”

The viral photo inspired thousands of people. While a huge majority of the comments were positive, there was still something bugging Elman about the response.

Not everyone was getting the right message.

“Since the creation of this account, I have always been told I’m beautiful ‘for my size’ and I never wanted to talk about it because I thought I was being pedantic but eventually decided to speak my mind about it,” she says in an email.

She decided to create a follow-up post to set a few things straight about what body positivity really means.

In the second post, she took a different approach to the “before and after” shots we see so often on Instagram. People loved it.

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In the caption, Elman addresses a couple of things well-meaning people got wrong about the message she was trying to spread. Some commenters said she looked “skinnier” in the 2017 photo which, though meant as a compliment, just reinforces that being skinny is somehow better.

Others said she wasn’t fat enough, to which Elman could only scoff.

“If people tell you they are a certain size, believe them,” she wrote.

“People think that body positivity is about trying to convince people that bigger bodies are attractive, either physically or sexually,” she says.

But that’s totally missing the point of what her work is all about.

“If you are still relating your love for your body to society’s perception of beauty,” she says, “then you are still reliant on someone else’s opinion. Body positivity is about saying that you are more than a body and your self-worth is not reliant on your beauty.”

Her second post is currently sitting at over 26,500 likes on Instagram — a clear sign that this is a message many of us desperately needed to hear.

Over the past couple years, BTS have appeared on The Late Late Show just about as often as James Corden has. The K-pop titans are on the program regularly, like a few weeks ago when they performed “Permission To Dance.” Sure enough, they were back on the program last night, this time taking to the streets to sing, dance, and otherwise do their thing.

In the show’s latest “Crosswalk Concert” segment, Corden got the crew ready by offering up some choreography suggestions, which the band quickly decided to eschew. Once it came time for the performances (aka a red light), the group took to the crosswalk, complete with minimal (but not really considering the circumstances) sets to perform “Butter,” “Permission To Dance,” and “Dynamite.”

As was noted in the video, this whole crosswalk thing came shortly after the group performed in front of 50,000 people at SoFi Stadium. Uproxx’s Caitlin White was there and she noted of the show, “Overall, the spectacle of the show was just as important as the music itself, and the show was a wonderful reminder that live music can mean so much more than just hearing the songs — it’s also about presentation and attention to detail. No detail was too small for BTS to take extra care about it at SoFi, so that even in a crowd of thousands, it felt like the boys’ pointed, encouraging remarks were specific enough to apply to individual fans as well as the stadium at large.”

Watch BTS’ “Crosswalk Concert” performance above.

As was the case for much of the last decade, the Golden State Warriors are perched atop the NBA this season in large part because of a stifling defense. Anchoring that unit is Draymond Green, arguably the frontrunner for Defensive Player of the Year through two months.

Recently, Green sat down with ESPN’s Doris Burke to analyze some defensive clips and provide insight into his thought process on each play. Here’s a snippet. It is brilliant:

The whole video spans five minutes and is absolutely worth your time.

So much of basketball analysis for writers and fans is a guessing game, trying to understand why and how a team or player makes a certain decision. Unless someone is entirely privy to every scheme and tendency, errors are baked into our perception of players and teams.

Green’s film room session with Burke eliminates some of that mystery, and produces masterful soundbites such as “at some point, like, you have to expect that your defense is going to break down.” It is not hard to see why Green has joined the TNT crew for broadcasts in the past.

He’s the best team defender in the NBA and hearing him explain why he executed a rotation and how he did so makes me a smarter basketball consumer. On the final play of the clip, he even holds himself accountable for not boxing out Kyle Anderson and notes the impact of that decision, as it prevents him from leading the fast break to set up Stephen Curry for an open shot.

Players and media earnestly breaking down film together enriches every fan’s basketball knowledge. Hopefully, we continue to see more of this.

Click to download here.

Kiss On Both Cheeks

Grab some ribs, hop in your car, and throw on the latest Pod Yourself A Gun. Matt and Vince are joined by comedian, writer, professor, and weiner dog enthusiast Amy Silverberg to discuss The Sopranos season 6a episode 6 “Live Free or Die.”

This is the episode where everyone finds out Vito’s secret. The boys at the Bada Bing are mortified to hear from Finn that Vito has been on the receiving end of at least one penile encounter. As you can imagine, there is not a lot of acceptance among the wiseguys, which has Amy wondering if the younger mafia guys in 2021 are more open. According to her students, if you’re not bi, you’re a loser. Maybe today’s gangsters have progressed, but as far as Tony’s concerned, absolutely no gay stuff, unless you’re in prison for a while. That’s different.

We also meet Johnny Cakes for the first time. Go ahead and let out a big sigh while you stare at his potent mustache and think about that life you could have lived in a little town in Vermont if you weren’t such a good earner.

Put your best Vito related double entendre in a five-star review on Apple Podcasts

See Pod Yourself A Gun Live! January 15th at the PianoFight Theater during San Francisco Sketchfest!

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Email us at [email protected]; leave us a voicemail at 415-275-0030

Support the Pod: become a patron at patreon.com/Frotcast and get more bonus content than you could ever want, AND if you sign up for the Pod Yourself a Shoutout tier, you can bask in the glory of hearing your name on the podcast like this week’s newest members: Matt Foley, The Fop, The Glove, Glen Coco, Daddy Bumpkins (RIP), & Lil Bumpkins.

-Description by Brent Flyberg.

Usually, there’s an, at least, attempt not to reveal my opinion of a movie, either way, when interviewing a film’s director. Some days I’m better at this than others. On this day I was bad at it. Perhaps because it seemed Matthew Vaughn was being a little down on himself about The King’s Man (a prequel to the previous two Kingsman films that have been ungodly successful), because he’s made a pretty weird action movie. And this is when I found myself saying, “I fucking love this movie.” Which, yes, is true. It’s just unlike anything I’ve seen recently and kind of taps into the sheer bravado and earnestness of action movies from the ’80s and ’90s.

The King’s Man stars Ralph Fiennes as Orlando Oxford during the lead-up and events of World War I. It features a plethora of historical characters from that era and involves a secret society that orchestrates events to defeat Britain. Let’s say this movie goes in a lot of directions you will not expect and gives us a full-fledged Ralph Fiennes action movie. (At one point he is riding on top of an airplane.) And, then there’s Rhys Ifans’s turn as Rasputin, which is one of the most bizarre performances I’ve seen in a long time and I loved every second of it. (As Vaughn ahead explains, that performance was the result of a perfect storm of “crazy button” between Vaughn and Ifans.)

I can’t tell what Vaughn thinks his public perception is right now. He keeps making remarks about people don’t like his movies, even though – like with X-Men: First Class, Kick-Ass, and these Kingman movies – they are wildly successful. (When mentioning the next Kingsman movie after this one he comes out and says, “A lot of people will hate it.”) He makes a point to say he will never be pigeonholed. And my best guess about his attitude is not many people are making these kinds of movies quite like he is these days. This is a good thing he’s doing this. But he admits, it’s leaving some audience members confused since he isn’t give them, as he says, a “generic action movie.”

When you were talking about your next movie, Argyle, you said you wanted it to be an ’80s and ’90s action movie. I think you hit some of that spirit here, too, with The King’s Man.

Listen, I think I’m an ’80s boy. God, it’s very different to this, I can tell you that now.

Well, when Orlando Oxford is balancing on top of an airplane I was in a screening room by myself, applauding. I was having so much fun.

Well, yeah, this is my earlier part of the ’80s influence, in the sense that when this all started… Have you seen the movie The Man Who Would be King?

I have.

So that was one of my favorite films as a kid. I watched it four years ago and I went, oh my God, I want to make The Man Who Would Be Kingsman. I want to bring back epic adventure, good story, great characters – some good humor, some good banter, but a lot of pathos and some very strong political messaging.

Ah, I see.

So that’s where it came from. But the ’80s? I still think the ’80s was that moment for me, it’s probably because that was when I was absorbing it, so that feeling of love and passion of cinema and music and art and fashion, all that stuff. I was absorbing it every day. So you can’t help but be inspired by it. Even now I watch these ’80s movies and yeah, CG can be terrible, or some of the editing, or the fights can be really bad, but they’re escapism. That’s all this is.

There’s something so earnest about those movies, where they totally believe in what they’re doing.

Yes. If I don’t believe in it, why should anybody else? You have to commit and be strong. This is hard, by the way. We cut a lot of stuff out. I had three Rasputin scenes I couldn’t release. Everyone who saw them, “Are you out of your fucking mind?”

So let’s talk about Rhys Ifans’s Rasputin for a second. Was that you telling him to do that? Was that him? I have not seen anything quite like that.

Let’s say Rhys and I both have a crazy button that melded together very quickly.

So that was the perfect storm.

It was the perfect storm. As I said, there are three scenes, which one day they may be released, and people will look at it and go, “Oh my god.”

Can you tell me one?

There was quite a fun way of… Well, actually, this is a silly one. It was how the Tsar was told Rasputin was dead, and he said, “Get me proof.” And the proof was a certain part of his famous body on a silver tray.

Oh no.

And that was one. Another one was him having a threesome with Tsar and the Tsarina. Things like that. We went more into the dark sexual side of things.

And you have to understand, from my perspective, the scene where Rasputin is licking Orlando’s wound on his way upper thigh is still in the movie. That is one of the craziest things I’ve seen in a movie in a very long time.

Yeah. Well, what’s wrong with a bit of wound licking? Ask Ralph about his wound licking, what he thought.

I’m not speaking to Ralph, but I would love to know the answer to that, actually.

I think he enjoyed it, I’ll say.

I want to see what you think about this. These Kingsman movies are some of the most successful movies that don’t quite get the credit they deserve for being as successful as they are? I don’t think people realize how popular these movies are.

To me? I don’t know.

These movies make a lot of money and I don’t think people realize it. For example, people think Kick-Ass was successful. And it was. These movies make four times what Kick-Ass made.

It’s a hard one for me to answer that. Because all my films, I think they’re sort of different? Again, dare I say, people are saying, “Is this is a drama, is it an action film, what is this?“ But I think you can say that about Stardust, Kick-Ass?, even X-Men: First Class. I do sort of tend to mash things up, so I think people don’t know. Is this an independent movie, is it a blockbuster? I just think I’m a bit of [pauses]…

An enigma?

Yeah, I think people don’t quite… I think we’re in a world where people like to pigeonhole people quickly. And I’m trying never to be pigeonholed.

Speaking of your ’80s, ’90s roots with those type of movies: There are usually one or two scenes in every single one where it’s like, what the fuck is going on here? And you capture that well in your movies.

I think that’s my job. And if people don’t like it then they can watch a generic action movie, they’re happy. But I’ve been getting bored recently in some of the blockbusters. They are feeling a little bit formulaic.

I am, too. Which is why I like this movie because it does not feel formulaic. And I don’t feel that a lot in current blockbusters, where I’m just having the best time.

Yeah, I agree. I think when you watch these films, the things that you’ll remember, or discover even, sometimes, on the second viewing, they’re pretty packed full of stuff. But it’s my job. I don’t know, isn’t it a job of the director to take people on a journey they weren’t expecting?

I was worried before this movie it would be like the first one where we don’t get Ralph Fiennes the whole movie. But, no, we finally get the all-in Ralph Fiennes action movie.

Yes. Can you imagine how good Ralph would have been as Bond 20 years ago?

Well, watching him in the new Bond, I wanted to see him do some action. And here it is.

Yeah. And he is a pleasure to work with. And deep down he’s a fanboy, he just didn’t know it.

Oh, is that true?

Yeah, yeah. You just have to drag it out at him and relight the fire, and it exploded.

When this was announced there were some reports you were doing this movie and the third movie of the original storyline at the same time. Is that third movie still on track?

Yeah, we’re going to conclude the Eggsy and Harry relationship, it’s all ready to go. COVID came and just derailed that, so we’re behind. So this comes out and we start filming. I think we’re aiming to film August, September next year, with Eggsy and Harry. It’s fun. It’s different, by the way. A lot of people will hate it, but I like it.

No, they won’t. You keep saying that. People love your movies.

Well, yeah, some. Not all of them.

‘The King’s Man’ opens in theaters on December 22nd. You can contact Mike Ryan directly on Twitter.

Tyler The Creator doesn’t call himself “Bellhop” for nothing. His fascination with bags and luggage has been at the forefront of his Call Me If You Get Lost rollout. However, while he loves to show off his designer trunks — just check out the video for “Lumberjack” to see an example — from this point forward it seems likely that those trunks will include some from his own brand, Golf Le Fleur.

After introducing a line of nail polish — also something he showcased during the rollout — and a fragrance — maybe someone who’s spent some time in his proximity can confirm if this one was part of the album promotion — Tyler has unveiled the latest Golf product and in all honesty, it really might be his best to date. The Golf bags come in three sizes: the 9″ London Square handbag ($1,395), the 14″ Mini Attache ($1,695), and the 20″ Trolley trunk ($2,095). All are made from Vulcanized Fibreboard with leather corners and handles featuring neutral colors with Golf’s signature pops of pastel. They are kind of gorgeous.

In typical Tyler fashion, he introduced the new products with yet another self-directed short film titled “Globetrotter.” It’s semi-inspired by French New Wave cinema and has a quirky, tongue-in-cheek plotline that gives his bag a goofy origin story that seems like a bit of a satirical, daydream-y nod to his own absentee pops.

In addition to the bags themselves, the latest drop also includes stickers, a luggage tag, and a leather passport case. All are also luxury prices but then again, they also come in luxury quality. You can check out the full drop here.