Category: Worldwide

Earlier this year, videos surfaced of Adam Sandler putting on a pickup basketball show in Long Island. This wasn’t the first time that Sandler was captured playing basketball in an interesting setting and, by all accounts, the actor seems enjoys the game quite a bit. In fact, the plot of “Uncut Gems” centers heavily on the NBA, with Kevin Garnett making an extended appearance alongside Sandler and putting in tremendous work.

With all of that said, legendary actor James Caan shared a tweet on Wednesday that created quite a stir, and it focused on a shirt that his assistant owns.

As you can see, the shirt has Sandler in three different outfits playing basketball, all under the banner of his name as if he was an NBA superstar. Caan, who is 81 years old and known for an extensive catalog of work, seems genuinely confused by the shirt’s existence, as many would. His only explanation being that his assistant is “from Cleveland and he’s Polish,” though that doesn’t necessarily paint the clearest picture.

If nothing else, we need answers for this. How was the shirt procured? Who made it? What was the idea behind it? Does the assistant have a particular fascination for Sandler? At any rate, this shirt is also fantastic, and we will keep you updated as this situation develops. This is mostly because we really want it to continue developing.

With Halo Infinite approaching, there’s a lot of excitement over the new features that have been teased for the game. One of those features will be the inclusion of bots, which will be a helpful way for new players to learn the Halo multiplayer experience. They’re designed to mimic how actual players would play Halo, but a lot of the players who got to experience the recent tech demo for Infinite said the bots could be pretty brutal at times.

These same players also saw the bots doing something else that caught everyone a little off guard. Anyone that’s played Halo knows that when someone defeats you in combat, they have two choices: run past you and move on with their day, or proceed to walk on top of your body and crouch constantly. Since this is Halo, the majority of players choose the latter. Well, because the bots are supposed to mimic humans, there were apparently reports from players of the bots doing exactly this, with a few videos confirming it.

However, the developers at 343 Industries have already confirmed this is a bug and not a feature. The bots are meant to teach players how to play the game, not humiliate them for the times they aren’t good enough, and these clips are actually from a bug where the A.I. gets confused after a jump. A dev explained more about this bug to EuroGamer:

“We never want to punish learning, especially not by having bots engage in behaviours that a player could feel is exclusionary. For that reason, we don’t have explicit programming that tells the bots to teabag or taunt you in any way.”
…
“[The bug] caused bots to fail to successfully jump and clamber on the edge of stairs or ramps. A bot’s feet would leave the ground very briefly, then play a landing animation when they failed the jump, and they’d get stuck in an animation loop that could look like crouching rapidly. If that happened to be observed shortly after a kill, or near a player’s body, it can definitely feel like an intentional behaviour. In reality, the bot was just struggling to go up the stairs.

Video games should be enjoyable to everyone and bots are a learning tool. For someone who has never played Halo before, the idea of getting taunted the entire time isn’t very fun, and the only thing it would do is make them want to turn the game off and never jump into actual multiplayer.

J.R. Smith was last in the NBA during the Bubble, where he was on the bench for the Los Angeles Lakers as they won a title. Now, he’s going to college and may play a different sport.

In an interview he gave to the PGA Tour’s official website, the 35-year-old Smith revealed that he is enrolling to take classes at North Carolina AT&T University and pursue a degree in liberal studies. Smith also said that he may play golf for the school’s men’s team once the NCAA sorts out his eligibility. He is supposed to begin classes in a week.

North Carolina AT&T is an HBCU located in Greensboro, North Carolina. Per the article, he says he decided on going back to school after talking to Ray Allen while both were in the Dominican Republic on vacation and Chris Paul, who is currently working on his college degree at another HBCU, Winston-Salem State. Smith went straight to the NBA out of high school, so he never played in college or took any classes. He’s also a 5 handicap golfer, has been golfing for over a decade, and co-hosts his own golf podcast that has featured guests like Allen.

“Golf is one of those games that has you feeling really high and or can bring you down to your knees and humble you,” Smith said in the interview. “And to have that feeling and knowing that all of the game’s pretty much on my own hands and I don’t have to worry about teammates to pass the ball and receiving passes and playing defense so, I can play my game and just have fun.”

While it might seem a stretch to compare an imminent super hero blockbuster to a 90s cult-classic comedy, it’s exactly what Michael Keaton is doing. In an interview for the YouTube channel Jake’s Takes, Keaton revealed that working on the upcoming DC movie The Flash strangely reminded him of working on one of his former movies: Duplicity.

According to Keaton, Duplicity’s story — which follows a father who creates clones of himself in order to keep up with his hectic life — shares a lot of similarities with 2022’s The Flash. The actor then went on to say he feels a lot of the challenges he faced while filming Duplicity, such as having to play different versions of himself, are seemingly the same ones Barry Allen star Ezra Miller has incurred while on set:

I mean just did The Flash and there’s a similarity in how – I don’t want to give too much away – but how he has to play against himself and with himself. And we were talking about the difficulty of making multiplicity and the challenge.

While it might seem a strange pull, what Keaton’s saying actually makes perfect sense considering everything we know about the upcoming DC film. It’s been confirmed for some time that The Flash will be the DCCU’s take on the iconic comic book series Flashpoint, a story in which Barry Allen must merge three separate timelines into one in order to save the universe… s.

Honestly, and Flashpoint plot aside, just Keaton’s involvement in the film alongside Ben Affleck’s Batman makes it seem as if there are going to be alternate realities and versions of other superheroes — heroes such as Miller’s Flash — aplenty. While the abundance of Batman movies makes for quite a few Batman variants to pepper in the film, it wouldn’t be shocking at all to hear that Miller will be playing his own counterparts in a very Duplicity-esque fashion seeing as The Flash has had much less prominence in the film. Only time will tell if our speculations are correct, but we’re pretty certain at least in some reality they are.

Jeopardy!, America’s brainiest game show, is currently experiencing a bona fide champion run, with grad student Matt Amodio killing it for over two weeks straight, with no end in sight. He could be one of the all-time greats! Sadly he’s not been the top news out of the long-running program. That would be the total fiasco that has been the showrunners’ attempts to finally find a replacement for longtime host Alex Trebek, who passed away in November. And after the latest development, one of its biggest champs had the perfect, most devastating take.

To recap: Since Trebek’s passing, the show has seen a revolving door of guest hosts. Many assumed this was their chance to test out a permanent replacement. A lot of people loved LeVar Burton. Even Aaron Rodgers got great notices. But after all that they wound up going with Mike Richards, one of the show’s executive producers. A huge pushback ensued, and not only because he was hardly anyone’s top pick; there’s also his involvement in some lawsuits with previous shows to which he’s been attached.

But on Wednesday, Richards was officially named permanent host. There was more, though: There would be a Jeopardy! off-shoot, which would be lorded over by actually popular guest host Mayim Bialik. This is the news that seems to have irked show legend James Holzhauer.

“Also new for next season: contestants can submit two Final Jeopardy responses in case the first one causes public backlash,” tweeted the show’s second-highest-ever earner, and the third-highest in game show history.

Two years back, Holzhauer spent 33 games on the show. That’s incredibly impressive, though it’s still less than half of the run owned by Ken Jennings, who reigned over a whopping 75 episodes back in 2004. Speaking of which, Jennings also weighed in the Jeopardy! host fracas, albeit a bit more lightly.

After all that, Jeopardy! addicts will be gifted with not one but two shows. Still, as Holzhauer implied, it’s better to simply get it right the first time.

While Bubbles might be “the joy and the laughter” and Buttercup is certainly toughest fighter,” the brainy Blossom is first-and-foremost the leader of the crime-fighting trio known as The Powerpuff Girls, and it seems like it’d be pretty damn hard to make a show about them without her. Unfortunately for the CW, this is currently the position they are in. According to a Variety report, Agents of SHIELD star Chloe Bennet has reportedly left the upcoming live-action series. Bennet’s departure comes as a result of the CW efforts to completely rework the show, which ultimately led to delays and scheduling conflicts for the actress.

However, Bennet leaving is merely the latest in a series of production nightmares for the show. The Powerpuff Girl live-action series — reportedly titled Powerpuff– faced major issues earlier this year when the pilot script seemingly leaked on Twitter and was met with heavy criticism and mockery, which is pretty understandable based on this rumored exert that’s still making the rounds:

The script leaks for this Powerpuff Girls reboot are the worst thing I’ve read this month pic.twitter.com/I7CrPewGc4

— Xavier’s Online (@xaviersonline) May 25, 2021

While the CW never confirmed or denied the leak, studio chairman and CEO Mark Pedowitz ultimately came forward and stated the current trajectory and tone of the series was “a miss” and confirmed the network was currently rewriting it. Prior to the rewrites, the show was intended to premiere this fall. Instead, however, the CW has confirmed they will spend the time looking for a new star to replace Bennet.

As of right now, Bubbles star Dove Cameron and Buttercup actress Yana Perrault are still attached to Powerpuff. However, Variety claims that Cameron, Perrault, and several of the show’s other cast members are all still in “talks” with the network and could possibly leave as well, seeing as how delayed this whole process has been. Despite all this uncertainty, we do know that Heather Regnier and Diablo Cody are still aboard the project as its writers and Regnier, Cody, Kiley, Greg Berlanti, Sarah Schechter and David Madden will all be executive producing. Here’s hoping things start coming together quickly for Powerpuff and a new Blossom steps up ready to add some “sugar, spice, and everything nice” to the series. It truly needs it at this point.

DeMar DeRozan’s trade to the Chicago Bulls became official on Wednesday. While the move was reported a little more than a week ago while DeRozan was still technically an unrestricted free agent, but now, all the various hurdles have been cleared and the sign-and-trade that will net him $85 million over three years is all done.

It’s a fascinating move, as DeRozan is the cherry on top of what has been an extremely active Bulls offseason — in addition to the former San Antonio Spurs standout, Chicago has worked hard to bolster its frontcourt by bringing in Lonzo Ball and Alex Caruso. And to his credit, DeRozan seems pretty happy about his new digs, as he responded to the move becoming official by posting the iconic intro video that played before the starters were announced for the Michael Jordan-era Bulls.

The video still is, and always will be, the coolest thing that has ever existed. Anyway, thanks to Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports, we also learned DeRozan’s jersey number in Chicago — with the No. 10 that he’s worn throughout his career retired by the franchise, DeRozan will pull a Spinal Tap and turn things up to 11.

There is legitimate buzz around the Bulls doing something this year following an offseason that featured a number of win-now moves, with DeRozan right at the center of everything.

Over the last week FX has been slowly doling out teases for Impeachment, the third season of Ryan Murphy’s American Crime Story. But so far, in its debut poster and teaser, we’ve only seen its main character — Beanie Feldstein’s Monica Lewinsky, whose affair with Bill Clinton comprises this next stretch of the series — from the back. That changes with its second teaser, which finally gives us a look, albeit a darkened one, at the actress’ face, complete with that iconic ‘do.

The ad shows two figures walking down a White House hallway, which is soon taken over with psychedelic imagery. (It was the ‘90s, man.) We don’t see their faces till the end, but on the soundtrack we hear Feldstein’s Lewinsky confiding in Sarah Paulson’s Linda Tripp — the woman who would take her affair with the then-president public, inciting a firestorm and making Clinton the first impeached president since Andrew Johnson, 130 years prior.

“Tell me everything,” Paulson’s Tripp tells Lewinsky after she begins confessing that she’s been canoodling with someone in power. The infamous blue dress soon comes up, leading Tripp to tell her co-worker, “It would be smart to keep that uncleaned in your possession.”

By the end, Feldstein’s Lewinsky, her face finally revealed, says something eerily prescient: “My life is over.”

For those keeping track, we’ve now seen the show’s version of Lewinsky and Tripp. We still haven’t seen Billy Eichner’s Matt Drudge, Edie Falco’s Hillary Clinton, nor Clive Owen’s Bill. (We also haven’t seen Cobie Smulder’s Ann Coulter, but probably because she only recently replaced Betty Gilpin, who had to vamoose over a scheduling conflict.)

Impeachment begins its 10-episode run on November 2, on FX. You can watch the teaser in the video above.

(Via Deadline)

With Sony Pictures Television officially confirming that Mike Richards will be the new host of Jeopardy! (with Mayim Bialik handling primetime specials and spinoffs), LeVar Burton supporters are absolutely livid that he was passed over to replace Alex Trebek. While the chances of Burton landing the permanent gig took a hit last week as reports began circulating that Richards was the frontrunner to become the next host of Jeopardy!, there was a (slight) glimmer of hope that maybe things would turn around.

But, now, Burton’s shot at the top gig is officially gone, and his legion of supporters are voicing their displeasure after launching a successful fan campaign to get him on the show as a guest host.

Despite being schooled on “cancel culture” by Burton during his April appearance on The View, even Meghan McCain took Jeopardy! producers to task for passing over the Reading Rainbow host.

For his part, Burton has gracefully responded to missing out on the Jeopardy! job with humility and gratefulness for the outpouring of love from fans. Last week, he tweeted out a message thanking everyone for the incredible experience even though it didn’t end as planned.

“I have said many times over these past weeks that no matter the outcome, I’ve won,” Burton tweeted. “The outpouring of love and support from family, friends, and fans alike has been incredible! If love is the ultimate blessing and I believe that it is, I am truly blessed beyond measure.”

For the better part of 10 years, comedian and TV personality Steelo Brim has been sharing the world’s most viral internet moments with us as the host of MTV’s Ridiculousness. At this point, he’s like a modern-day Bob Saget, an entire generation has grown up laughing with him and getting to know him, and it looks like there is no end in sight. Now 22 seasons deep, Ridiculousness isn’t going anywhere anytime soon, and now Brim has landed a deal with MTV and Paramount + that should bring us even more content, something that the comedian couldn’t be more hyped about.

“We’re focusing on quality. I’ve been doing Ridiculousness with MTV and the Viacom family for ten years plus now, but I haven’t really had the chance to get my feet wet creatively,” Brim tells us. “Going forward, I’m super excited to show what’s in this brain of mine and what I create on a day-to-day basis.” The details on what’s to come are still tightly under wraps. But if it’s anything like his past projects, we’re sure it’s going to be approached with the natural charisma that makes Brim such an engaging watch.

We linked up with the comedian to talk sneakers, his upcoming projects, as well as his podcast, Wine & Weed, where he champions the idea of the “casual connoisseur,” as well as got some wine and weed recommendations. Let’s dive in!

Fill us in on this MTV/Paramount + linkup and what can we expect going forward with this partnership?

Quality. Me and Chris McCarthy sat down recently and just dove into who I am, the things that we really expect from us as a family, what we’ve been about to create with Ridiculousness, and creating going forward. We’re just all super excited to show what’s in this brain of mine and what I create on a day-to-day basis.

Ridiculousness is now ten years old, which is hard to believe! What’s next for the series? Do you feel pressure to innovate or does the nature of online content keep things fresh?

I think as far as Ridiculousness goes if it ain’t broke don’t fix it. We’re not looking to change things up as much as we’re just looking to stay topical. We have thematic episodes we’ll throw in here and there to give the show a breath of fresh air, but it’s Ridiculousness. It’s the modernized America’s Funniest Home Videos. People will never get tired of watching funny videos and we make them easier to find by creating montages for them.

I wanted to ask a little bit about your podcast Wine and Weed. Through that podcast, you’re pioneering the idea of a casual connoisseur. Why was that something important for you to highlight? As someone who writes about weed and alcohol, I’ve seen how getting too deep into those worlds kills some of the fun.

I feel that way about a lot of different things, not just weed and wine. I’m an art collector and I look at myself as a casual art collector because I’m constantly educating myself. I think as you said, going too deep takes the fun out of it. But if you’re able to approach something and be a student of it and truly come in with your hands up in the most non-confrontational way, there is more to enjoy. It should remain a safe space for you to be able to continue to educate yourself on different things.

So with the podcast, we’re saying, “Hey, we don’t know everything about wine and weed,” and I don’t necessarily ever want to get to the point where I do. But I am somebody who likes to indulge in those two things.

What’s your preferred consumption method when it comes to cannabis? Are you an edible guy?

I guess I’d label myself a joint smoker if I had to label myself. I’m not really a bong smoker, a bong rip is too aggressive, it makes me feel like I’m a freshman in college again. Edibles, for me, a lot of the time are too intense and I’m trying to really consume a healthy amount where I can still live my life and function in the world. I’m not trying to beat you in a competition. Sometimes fans will say to me “I’ll smoke you under the bus!” And I say, “Yeah, probably!”

What gave you the idea to start a podcast? I like that it’s not so much about wine and weed as it is about those two substances being able to elicit interesting conversations.

My producing partner and cohost Chris Reinacher had been trying to get me to do a podcast for a while and I had just been putting it off. He and I would often have these healthy conversations, it was the basis of our friendship. Being able to be real and have these conversations amongst each other given the fact that we don’t look alike was really the key. A lot of the conversations that need to be had within this country aren’t happening because people are afraid. Maybe because they’re dealing with unfamiliar territory or simply because they don’t look like each other so they say “I don’t want to offend anybody.” But we can’t discover any solutions if we don’t have an open conversation and create a safe space to have a healthy dialogue. That’s something we always wanted to do with the show, to tackle things head-on.

It feels real. It’s in my living room so it’s like you’re a fly on the wall. We wanted to give that feeling like, ‘hey, even though we may live within a Hollywood world and people think it’s this big facade on the outside, we want to be able to give you a real perspective if we’re able to.’

Can you run off a list of your favorite wine or weed brands you’ve been introduced to recently. I want that casual connoisseur perspective.

Up north they have some good weed. I’m not really a strain-specific person. I like to try new stuff all the time. Alien Labs is cool. Area 41 is something we smoke on the show all the time. With wine I keep it simple, I’m a Cab drinker so I’ll take a nice Cab from Justin, or if I’m trying to impress somebody I guess a bottle of Opus One, but only if I’m going all out to impress. I’m not trying to just buy bottles of Opus One and live broke.

I know you’re a sneakerhead, do you have a fav silhouette and if so why?

Ahh! I don’t want to answer like a stereotypical sneakerhead, but it’s probably true! I’m going to go with the Jordan 1. I wear it quite often because you can wear it with anything. If you’re ballsy enough I guess you can throw it on with a tuxedo, if that’s your perorate. But that’s probably the best silhouette ever.

What are the craziest lengths you’ve gone to cop a pair of sneakers?

We didn’t have money growing up so I didn’t get a lot of sneakers when I was younger, but I do have a story. I was just starting to get a couple of pairs gifted here and there from Nike and Jordan. I was loving it! I was newly on television just thinking, “this is amazing!” I just so happened to get the Jordan XI Concords and I was saying “Oh my god, I got them a whole two weeks before they come out, this is insane!” And my ex-girlfriend, who I guess was a bad girlfriend for telling me to do this, wanted a pair for herself, so we went camping out and slept overnight outside of the store. I’m happy I didn’t do this, but she really tried to convince me to wear the Concords to the camp out as the biggest stunt ever.

I was like “Why do you want me dead again? Why do you want people to kill me?! This is weird…” I’m so glad I didn’t do it.

What can people expect from you for the rest of the year?

I’m working on a show I’ve been writing for a while. We actually enter production next month. I’m also working on a musical project randomly. I use to A&R back in the day so it’s interesting to be on the artist side of it. I’m closing that out right now, it’s got a lot of big features and different things to be excited about. So I guess those two things will keep me busy, and then aside from that I’ll just be producing television and I’m constantly looking for new ideas!