Category: Worldwide

A couple weeks ago, Tyler The Creator took the stage at the BET Awards to perform “Lumberjack,” a standout from his new album Call Me If You Get Lost. There’s one song from the album, though, that we may never see Tyler perform on TV, and that’s “Juggernaut,” as Tyler thinks the Lil Uzi Vert- and Pharrell-featuring song “does not hit live at all.”

This morning, Tyler patted himself on the back on Twitter, writing of a highlight from his new album, “massa is really good.” He then continued, though, by noting that while he believes that song works well in a live setting, “Juggernaut” does not. Tyler tweeted, “massa live is great too. intense, intimate. audience can just absorb. no jumping or yelling. im able to vent. its nice. juggernaut on the other hand does not hit live at all. was shocking as hell but the more i thought about it the more it made sense.”

Meanwhile, in response to the first tweet, a fan bought up the “Massa” lyric in which Tyler notes Pharrell’s (aka Skateboard P) impact on him: “My boy Skateboard P gave me that speech in Italy session / Thankfully, by hour three that detour perspective / Thoughts change so rapid, turn into a butterfly, Flower Boy happened.” Tyler responded by elaborating, “thats when the switch happened. that talk he had with me man. sheeesh.”

Read our review of Call Me If You Get Lost here.

In the wake of 9/11, Rudy Giuliani was nicknamed “America’s Mayor” and honored as Time Magazine’s Person of the Year for the strength he showed in the face of a global tragedy. The 20 years since have not been kind to the former mayor of New York City. Most recently, his close friendship and business and political association with Donald Trump have cost Giuliani any political clout he may have ever had, not to mention his right to practice law in the state of New York—and it’s about to start costing him money right out of his very own sloppily tailored pockets. Good thing his pal Bernard Kerik stepped in… or is it?

In late June, Kerik—who served as New York City’s police commissioner while Rudy was still mayor, but was later sentenced to four years in prison due to a number of felony charges, including failure to pay taxes (fortunately, Trump pardoned him)—set up The Rudy Giuliani Defense Fund (though the website is called The Rudy Giuliani Freedom Fund—yes it’s real, now stop laughing) to help his fellow reprobate pay his quickly mounting legal fees.

The goal, according to the website? To raise $5 million to help the man whose “fate will determine if America still is a Republic governed by We The People, or if the swamp has finally amassed total control of our great country.” Yet as of Tuesday, as noted by Vanity Fair, the crowdfunding campaign had so far earned a total of just $9,590—which is less than .2 percent of its goal. And almost $46,000 less than some random dude once raised just to make some potato salad (seriously, stop laughing).

While Giuliani showed some pretty dogged dedication in doing anything and everything he could to make Trump look good, the former president reportedly couldn’t give two sh*ts about his former BFF. According to Michael Wolff’s new book Landslide: The Final Days of the Trump Presidency, Trump began to sour on Rudy toward the end of his presidency, when Giuliani had the audacity to ask Trump to finally be paid for all the work he has done for him. Paid?! For work?!? How dare he!!

“Trump is annoyed that [Rudy] tried to get paid for his election challenge work,” writes Wolff—never mind the fact that Rudy was just about the only person who stuck by Trump throughout the 2020 presidential election and the pathetic battle to contest its results. Of course, there were some shady shenanigans around that whole thing, too, with a Giuliani associate admitting that he attempted to bill Trump $20,000 per day for Rudy’s help.

“To be fair,” writes VF’s Bess Levin, “Giuliani probably should have seen this coming, given that Trump is famously known for stiffing his contractors, from dishwashers to painters to architects, and when confronted about it saying things like, ‘Maybe he didn’t do a good job and I was unsatisfied with his work.’”

(Via Vanity Fair)

As we get further away from Donald Trump’s four years as president (at least until August 13, as the wise one Mike Lindell prophesied), more and more administration insiders are willing to talk. You know what that means? It’s tell-all book season, baby!

According to Michael Wolff’s Landslide: The Final Days of the Trump Presidency, Trump would rarely go to the second floor of the White House because he hated climbing the stairs, while Yasmeen Abutaleb and Damian Paletta write in Nightmare Scenario: Inside the Trump Administration’s Response to the Pandemic That Changed History that the former-president wished for COVID to “[take] out” John Bolton.

Frankly, We Did Win This Election: The Inside Story of How Trump Lost, from author Michael Bender, might have the most shocking claim yet, though. While visiting France in 2018 for the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I, Trump reportedly told then-chief of staff John Kelly that Adolf Hitler “did a lot of good things.”

Bender reports that Trump made the remark during an impromptu history lesson in which Kelly “reminded the president which countries were on which side during the conflict” and “connected the dots from the first world war to the second world war and all of Hitler’s atrocities.” Bender says unnamed sources reported that Kelly “told the president that he was wrong, but Trump was undeterred”, emphasizing German economic recovery under Hitler during the 1930s… Trump denied making the remark about Hitler.

Bender adds that Kelly told Trump that even if his claim about the German economy under the Nazis after 1933 were true, “you cannot ever say anything supportive of Adolf Hitler. You just can’t.”

Good advice. This was the same trip where Trump made disparaging remarks about U.S. soldiers, calling those who’ve died in combat “losers” and “suckers.” No wonder he was voted the worst living president (and fourth-worst overall).

(Via the Guardian)

This is an attempted ranking of the sketches in the second season of I Think You Should Leave. It will be helpful to go over a few things first, which I will address via bullet point:

• This ranking, like all rankings, is subjective, and yours might look substantially different than mine
• I’m doing the best I can
• Please do not yell at me

Okay. Here we go. I’ve separated everything into four tiers, if only because this is all quite silly and adding tiers to it made it feel even sillier. That’s all we’re doing here. That and being thankful that the good show is back. So, those two things. But that’s it.

TIER IV — THESE ARE STILL GOOD SKETCHES

24. Credit Card Roulette (Episode 5)

The thing I like about this one is that Hal seems like a legitimately nice and fun guy who likes to party. Credit Card Roulette is a terrible idea with a table that big unless everyone is flush with cash, but still. Hal seems cool. He didn’t deserve this.

23. The Little Buff Boys (Episodes 1 and 5)

There’s nothing wrong with this sketch. It’s got so much going for it: Sam Richardson, Sam Richardson in a wig, little buff dudes in goose suits, a follow-up bit multiple episodes later from a franchise owner who eats at all the best restaurants in town. I think I just bumped it down because it made me miss the “Baby of the Year” sketch from season one. I don’t know. I’m sorry!

22. Stable Of Stars (Episode 5)

This is why you need a nice coffee shop or restaurant in your area. In case your bargain-basement celebrity impersonators are hitting your guests. Remember this when house hunting.

21. Tim Can’t Drive (Episode 5)

“You don’t want to help, you just want to yell” killed me because, like, yeah, sometimes we all do just want to yell a bit.

20. Huge Dumps (Episode 6)

I need you to really think about the concept of this sketch, about a person hiring a lookalike of his coworker to wreck the company bathroom over 150 times. I need you to think about it for two reasons: One, it is maybe the purest window into Tim Robinson’s mind that we’ve seen yet; two, if you think about that, you won’t think about Jerry from Tom & Jerry sneaking around and smelling people’s underwear.

Profoundly disturbing. in a number of ways. Good show.

19. Corncob TV (Episode 1)

My favorite thing here, coming in a close second to the general idea of a show called “Coffin Flops,” is that Tim Robinson has the full-on “stubble plus razor burn” situation going on here, which somehow sells the performance in a way no expensive makeup or prosthetics ever could.

18. Space Restaurant (Episode 5)

I wasn’t in on this sketch until Gary revealed that his dad shouted “Never let the party die!” right before his execution. That could have been a whole standalone sketch, and they’re just out here tossing it off as a nonsense punchline. I have no choice but to respect it.

TIER III — THESE SKETCHES ARE ALSO GOOD

17. The Bob Odenkirk One (Episode 2)

I like that Bob Odenkirk is in this one. I don’t know if I would like it less if another actor said all those things about owning doubles and triples of classic cars. I bet I would still like it if they had cast, say, Delroy Lindo. That might have been fun, too. But I definitely liked it with Odenkirk. Yes, I did.

16. Sloppy Steaks (Episode 2)

Almost all of the sketches on this show have a twist. Not even a twist, really. More of a “someone grabs the wheel and yoinks the whole car off the highway” thing. It’s one of the things I like so much about the show, how it keeps finding new and fun ways to do that one thing over and over without it getting tiresome. A lesser show would whiff way more often. It’s almost a magic trick, really.

The point I am getting at here is, of course, slop up those steaks, boys. You’ve earned it.

15. Claire’s (Episode 6)

Look, if you don’t see the humor in a mall-based chain of children’s jewelry stores showing people an ear-piercing testimonial from a ponytailed 58-year-old man named Ron who gets diarrhea when he gets nervous, maybe this isn’t the show for you. That’s fine. You’re missing out, on both this and presumably many other simple pleasures in life, but it’s fine.

14. Insider Trading (Episode 3)

I love how far this one went. From the hat with safari flaps to the dice in the pocket to the full-on boardroom meltdown. I wonder if the hat was a Stanzo. I hear they’re nice.

13. The Dan Flashes Saga (Episode 2)

Three things:

• “Dan Flashes” is an incredible name for a store that sells shirts with complicated patterns, and it would be my favorite fake name on the show if we weren’t on our way to discussing Jamie Taco
• I hope this brings back calling people skunks as an insult
• Just a marvelous piece of business to follow this up later with a hotel television commercial

Dan Flashes.

12. Tammy Craps (Episode 6)

The layers here are what I enjoy. The weight requirement is a result of a poisonous spray to cover up the fart smell; the little girl stuffing rocks in her pockets as a ruse to acquire a doll that poops; the whole thing kind of revealing itself to be a cigar commercial. But maybe my favorite thing: the fact that the main girl in this sketch is Julia Butters, who played the child star opposite Leonardo DiCaprio in Once Upon A Time… In Hollywood. What a powerful career she is building. I am serious about this.

TIER II — I ALSO HATE BALD BOYS

11. Chode Jeans (Episode 6)

I laughed out loud, hard, when the “big wave” came and Tim flung the surfer off the table. And that was before it all got to the discussion about chode jeans. What a blessing this television program is.

10. The Hot Dog Saga (Episodes 1 and 3)

See, you think the highlight here is going to be some poor dope choking on a hot dog he hid inside his sleeve during a work meeting over lunch, and then, two episodes later, everything goes 8-10 steps further with a commercial for a hot dog vacuum that features the same poor dope shouting, “You sure about that? You sure about that’s not why?” straight into the camera in what is either the smartest take on cancel culture you’ll ever see or the dumbest thing you’ll ever see regardless of category. Could be both.

9. Ghost Tour (Episode 1)

It’s the real, genuine anguish on his face that sells this. The confusion and hurt, that he thinks he’s doing it right while failing miserably, almost crying as he asks about obscene things the ghosts may or may not be doing in the haunted house. That and his mom asking if he made any friends. It’s right on that line between hilarious and heartbreaking. Tricky line to dance on. Leave it to the experts.

8. Calico Cut Pants (Episode 4)

I could not believe how long and twisted this one was. It just kept going and going, past the point of being funny and circling back around to being funny again. I think, at the end, Tim Robinson’s character revealed himself to be the devil? All for a sketch that started with drips of pee on some slacks. Part of me wants to know if Tim Robinson is, like, okay, but a bigger part of me is already waiting for season three.

7. Capital Room (Episode 2)

Patti Harrison is the greatest. She is so funny in every sketch she’s in. Just the delivery on these lines. The wine ones. All of it. And it’s not even her highest-ranked sketch on this list. I feel bad for all my bald friends but this screencap is getting texted A LOT this week.

TIER I — I WILL BE QUOTING THESE FOR A WHILE, I AM SORRY

6. Jamie Taco (Episode 4)

The wild thing about this one is that it’s actually a sweet story about a man with a supportive wife who loves him as much as he loves her, which is so much that he becomes filled with regret immediately upon making a joke at her expense with the guys.

And that’s great. But I will never get over a guy named “Jamie Taco” stealing lines in a community theater production by shouting them out before anyone else. Jamie Taco. Come on. Incredible.

5. Whole Different Guy (Episode 4)

I don’t really have any great analysis here. It’s just a good sketch. I kept waiting for a second or third twist that made it darker but the twist was that the twist never came. And it wasn’t needed, it turns out. All it needed was dancing and barking dogs and Connor O’Malley shouting a lot. Please write that down if you are making a sketch show.

4. Professor Yurabay (Episode 3)

Three notes:

• The way he says “Give me that” is maybe the funniest single line-reading of the entire season
• All of this building to that horrible joke at the end was delightful
• This one is getting quoted in restaurants for many years to come

I’m just joking.

3. The Crashmore Saga (Episode 3)

I’ve watched these two sketches — the trailer and the press tour interview — a few times already. The first time through, it was the twist that it starred Santa that got me. Then it was the lines of dialogue Santa had, like “You’re so dumb” and “You suck,” as he filled goons with bullets like a festive John Wick. By the end, it was the thing where Santa explained the concept of his quote and getting “two mill” next time even if he does a bad job. Who knows what it will be next? A real treasure.

2. Driver’s Ed (Episode 6)

TABLES

TABLES

TABLES

1. Karl Havoc (Episode 1)

There’s a chance I’m overrating this one because it was early in the first episode and I was so amped up to be watching this show again after a long break, but there’s a much better chance that the idea of a guy in a ridiculous suit having a meltdown and asking “What’s that do for the greater good?” in the middle of filming a prank show is so strange and funny in a way no other show can wrap its arms around that it filled me to the brim with joy.

One or the other. Maybe both.

Season two of ‘I Think You Should Leave’ is now streaming on Netflix.

Lil Nas X had one of the most memorable music moments of Saturday Night Live‘s most recent season when he accidentally tore his pants during his “Montero (Call Me By Your Name)” performance. While having that sort of gaffe on live national television might be embarrassing, as is noted in a new New York Times profile on Nas, his torn trousers “weren’t even the worst thing to happen to him that night.”

After the performance, Nas was feeling good, so while at the show’s after-party, he shot his shot with somebody he had been chatting with online. The rapper’s advances were shot down, though, as the person said they were flattered but had a boyfriend.

“I was like, ‘Damn, you’re that loyal,’” Nas said. “I love it. You forget sometimes that people are, like, really loyal, and it’s like, I want to do that.” The rejection was still hard to stomach though, but Nas reminded himself that “no matter what I do or accomplish in this life or whatever, I’m never going to get everything I want.”

Nas left the party to return to his hotel room and get a hold of himself. Once he got there, he gave himself a pep talk in the mirror and then fell asleep on the toilet.

Read the full feature here.

This November will mark the 58th anniversary of the assassination of John F. Kennedy—a game-changing moment in the history of United States politics, and an incident that every American student learns about when discussing the history of our country. Yet Oliver Stone, who seems to only get more obsessed with age, is convinced that no one remembers a thing about that day… despite the fact that anyone who was alive at that time could tell you exactly where they were the moment the news reached them. And millions more have made some sort of “back and to the left” joke as a punchline, in reference to the so-called “magic bullet” theory.

Now, a full 30 years after he released JFK, the nearly three-and-a-half-hour epic about that terrible day in American history and the tumult surrounding it (and jam-packed with plenty of Stone conspiracy theories), Stone’s back at it again—this time in the form of a documentary, JFK Revisited: Through the Looking Glass, which is slated to premiere at Cannes later this week. When asked by The Hollywood Reporter about his ongoing obsession with the murder of the 35th president, and why he has continued his crusade for learning the truth about what happened that day, Stone had this to say:

“There’s a memory hole about Kennedy. And I think, before I quit the scene, I would like to reveal what I know about the case. I can’t put everything I know into this documentary. But I can assemble a lot of the facts that came out after the movie [1991’s JFK] as well as reaffirm some of the facts in that movie because it was attacked on a broad scale. It’s very important for my conscience for the people who care to have this exist. That’s what motivated the documentary. We got the documents out. Not all. Trump was about to release them in 2017. And 12 hours before, he backed off. There’s a lot of documentation that hasn’t been released, and that’s in addition to the Secret Service, which f***ed up unusually on that day and [later] destroyed everything.”

One of JFK (the movie’s) lasting legacies was that it renewed interest in the case, which prompted Congress to pass the President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992, which declared that all documents related to the former president’s assassination be made available to the public no later than October 26, 2017. While many once-private documents were released, there were still some that scholars—and one keenly interested Oscar-winning writer-director who just cannot let it go—who were excited to have former president Trump announce his plan to release the remaining documents while in office… but that never happened. When asked why he thought Trump reneged on his promise, Stone had this to say:

“Who knows what Trump ever thinks. He’s a mystery man. I’m sure he got pressure of some kind. And then they told him, ‘We can’t do this for security reasons.’ He did back off other things, too, when it came to us challenging the intelligence agencies. Remember that quote from [Sen. Chuck] Schumer? Trump, don’t f*** with the CIA or they will destroy you.”

Will JFK Revisited answer any remaining questions, or just trigger a slew of new ones. Looking at the director’s past work, the latter seems more likely.

(Via The Hollywood Reporter)

Jimmy Kimmel may be on vacation at the moment, but the job of dragging the rich dorks of the world for being rich dorks doesn’t take a break for anyone. So on Tuesday night, the formidable Wanda Sykes—who is filling in for Kimmel all this week—made sure to spend a few moments discussing the viral video of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg looking as out of touch with the real world as Gwyneth Paltrow while he paid tribute to the United States in what Skyes called “the dorkiest way possible.” Here’s a sneak peek:

It’s a short clip, but Sykes had plenty to say about it, which was presumably Zuckerberg’s way of thanking your parents and that one kid you went to kindergarten with then never saw again for sticking with his social media platform, which you can watch above starting around the 1:55 mark above: “For some reason, that offends me more than the people who stormed the Capitol,” Sykes said. “It wasn’t exactly Washington crossing the Delaware, was it?”

Sykes went on to describe “riding an electric surfboard by yourself while holding the flag” as “the saddest thing you’ve ever seen.” Though in many ways, she was also happy to see that American patriotism as we know it, along with stupidity in the name of celebrating the grand ol’ US of A, was back in full force this year, noting: “I will say, after dealing with nothing but COVID, it was nice for a change to have our emergency rooms crowded with people who blew their fingers off with fireworks. That’s progress… right?”

Sadly, yes.

Every actor (and actress) knows that playing a superhero (or supervillain, or antihero) means that posting proof of one’s “jacked” physicality is part of the game. Chris Hemsworth’s ripped arms know that there’s no pain and no gain, yet no one is better at these jacked photos than The Rock. Lately, he’s been even more jacked than usual, given that his jacked legs are looking more ripped than on a normal day (or month), due to the camera finally rolling on the long-gestating Shazam! spinoff, Black Adam.

Yet creativity is a must. Recently, Yayha Abdul-Mateen II, who is revisiting his Black Manta role in Aquaman 2, posted a chill photo instead to go against the grain, but The Rock’s shaking things up in a different way: with a rear view while signaling the final week of Black Adam production.

“Almost two years of hard core, intense training, diet, character prep and execution,” The Rock wrote in part. “You’ve been right there rockin’ with me all this time … And now it’s my turn and I hope to deliver the definitive antihero you deserve.”

Well, that’s one way to grab some attention. People haven’t seen The Rock in this way since his frequent WWE days, right? You gotta respect him posting a tush photo while promising, “The hierarchy of power in the DC UNIVERSE is about to change.” Well played, The Rock. Well played.

My husband and I own a short-term rental, and last year a woman rented it for a couple of months straight. She was friendly, personable, and overall a lovely guest. But she asked for things, a lot. Like, all the time. Big things, little things—it seemed like pretty much anything she thought she could possibly ask for, she asked for.

My husband, who manages the property and requests from guests, found himself getting irritated that she was asking for so many things.

“I don’t think she expects you to actually say yes to all of these things,” I finally told him. “I think she’s just an extreme asker.”

He looked puzzled. That’s when I pulled up this Atlantic article I’d read years ago about how some people are “Askers” and some people are “Guessers” and read it to him.

“Wow,” he said after I finished. “That is seriously life-changing.”

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“Life-changing” is how practically I share this concept with describes it once they understand it. When you hear it explained, it seems so obvious, but it’s not something people articulate often.

It’s also not particularly scientific. The original Askers vs. Guessers explanation appears to have come from someone’s AskMetafilter answer in 2007, but it’s since been expanded and expounded upon by various people throughout the years.

Here’s the gist of it:

Some people are Askers, and in “ask culture,” it’s normal and expected to ask directly for the things you want. It’s also normal to say no to such requests. Asking culture is upfront, direct, and generally okay with saying no and being told no. If you want something, you simply ask for it without an expectation of any particular answer.

Other people are Guessers, and in “guess culture,” you don’t ask for things unless you’re quite sure the answer will be yes. You might drop hints or make vague allusions to what you want as you try to gauge whether the person would say yes, or even to get an offer without having to ask. If you think the answer might be no, you simply don’t ask.

Where Askers and Guessers clash the most is in the saying no part. Askers know sometimes the answer will be no, but they ask anyway. Because Guessers won’t ask if the answer might be no, they might assume Askers expect all of their asks to be answered with yes. Saying no is uncomfortable to a Guesser, so being put into the position of having to say no to someone’s ask feels rude.

I’ve had coworkers, family members, and friends say this concept totally changed the way they see and interact with people. Guessers tend to struggle with the bluntness of Askers and feel put off by their directness until they understand that Askers always just ask—the answer doesn’t always have to be yes. Askers tend to struggle with the seeming passive aggressiveness of Guessers and get frustrated by their pussyfooting until they understand that asking directly feels rude to them—Guessers just hate putting people in a position of saying “no.”

Much has been made about whether Asking vs. Guessing is a family upbringing thing, a cultural thing, or a personality thing, and also about whether one is better than the other. Certainly, some cultures around the world tend to be more direct, while others tend to be less so. The same goes for families, and even certain regions of the country. In my experience as an American, I’d say the U.S. is fairly evenly split between the two tendencies.

Of course, people don’t always fit neatly into two distinct categories, and th e relationship we have with people can impact all of this greatly. With people we are close to, we might be more of an Asker than with people we don’t know all that well. But overall, understanding the difference between Askers and Guessers can make social situations so much easier to navigate.

For example, let’ss ay you have a coworker who constantly seems to be asking for things or throws ideas your way all the time. They’re probably an Asker. They don’t necessarily expect you to act on all of their ideas or say yes to what they’re asking for. Or let’s say you have a neighbor who starts talking about their vacation plans and mentions they’re worried about their plants not getting enough water while they’re gone. They might be a Guesser who wants to ask you to water for them. They just don’t want to ask you directly.

The woman who rented our place was an extreme example of an Asker, and after my husband (who is a Guesser) got that, he found it so much easier to interact with her. He understood she wasn’t expecting a yes with every ask, so her questions didn’t feel so rude. And sure enough, when he was clear about what we could and couldn’t accommodate, she was totally unfazed by the things he said no to.

Life-changing, seriously.

While the Milwaukee Bucks fell in Game 1 of the 2021 NBA Finals, there was one silver lining: Giannis Antetokounmpo was able to play. After suffering a knee injury during Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals against the Atlanta Hawks, Antetokounmpo proceeded to watch on the sideline as Milwaukee wrapped up the series and earned a spot in the Finals.

Originally listed as doubtful, Antetokounmpo was upgraded to questionable earlier in the day on Tuesday and, after going through his pregame warmup, got the green light. He was one of the team’s bright spots on the evening, going for 20 points, 17 rebounds, four assists, two steals, and a block in the 118-105 loss to the Phoenix Suns.

Antetokounmpo gave a glimpse into the last week or so of his life after the game, saying that when he originally got hurt, his fear was that he’d be on the bench for the remainder of the postseason.

“I haven’t watched the clip, but when the play happened I thought, ‘I’m going to be out for a year,’” Antetokounmpo said. “So, I’m just happy that, two games later, I’m back.”

As for how he felt after 35 minutes against a pesky Suns side, Antetokounmpo gave as positive of an update as he could, saying, “I felt good, I don’t feel pain. I can run, I can jump, I can set screens, I can rebound the ball, I can do stuff. So, I’m good, I’m happy, I’m happy that I’m out there.”

Still, Antetokounmpo is in a race against time. Time will tell how he feels when he wakes up in the morning after playing an entire basketball game, while Game 2 of the Finals is on Thursday evening. Milwaukee was outclassed in Game 1, and any path back into the series will almost certainly require Antetokounmpo being the former league MVP that he is. The question now is whether or not his knee will let him get to that point.