Category: Worldwide

The Jurassic World movies (and the Jurassic Park installments that came before them) can’t go wrong by continually returning to one core certainty. That is to say, much like Jeff Goldblum finding a way to unbutton his shirt and life finding a way, people will find a way to keep f*cking with nature. And nature will f*ck with them right back, which is why Netflix’s animated Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous series put its collection of Isla Nublar campgoers in peril with a cliffhanger. As I wrote of the show’s first season, it’s a visual feast and thrill-ride for (almost) all ages, and Netflix has rallied with a second season that will arrive mere months later (in January).

Surprise, surprise. The trailer picks up with the kids awaiting rescue after the camp’s destruction when the dinos all escaped from their cages. The kids are dodging dinosaurs who are alternately doing their best Zoolander faces and trying to gobble up humans in their path, and it’s a disaster. Somehow, the kids realize that they’re not all by their lonesome, too. Has help arrived, or does the logline’s description of something that “not only threatens their rescue but may uncover something more sinister” give us a better clue? This series takes place at the same time as the first Jurassic World flick, so let’s hope that the “sinister” thing isn’t a pair of Bryce Dallas Howard’s old high heels.

Once again, the show’s arriving on Netflix with visuals that are courtesy of DreamWorks Animation (at the behest of Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment). It’s a gorgeously rendered series, and Steven Spielberg, Colin Trevorrow, and Frank Marshall are all on board as executive producers. One certainly can’t complain about the swift TV pace here, given that franchise fans won’t see Jurassic World: Dominion in theaters until June 10, 2022.

Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous Season 2 arrives on January 22, 2021

It’s been just about ten months since Kevin Parker released Tame Impala’s fourth studio album, The Slow Rush. The album took five years to complete and debuted alongside extensive touring plans, which were completely scrapped just a month after its release. To suffice, Parker has offered videos alongside several of his The Slow Rush tracks and brought the songs to a handful of late-night talk show performances. Now, seemingly out of nowhere, Parker has shared an animated video for his album’s fan-favorite “Breathe Deeper.”

The visual, directed by Butt Studio, reflects the song’s washed-out, disorienting sound with equally convoluted animation. It follows the perspective of a dragonfly escaping the jaws of a predator and embarking on a psychedelic journey across a swampy landscape.

Ahead of the video’s release, Parker opened up about his songwriting process on The Slow Rush, saying “Breathe Deeper” was actually inspired by walking around stoned in public. “I’ll do anything that gets me inspired, causes those lightning bolts,” he said. “And, with this album, I was doing things that made me uncomfortable just for the purpose of being creative. Because I’m the most creative when I’m uncomfortable. Like I hate being stoned in public. So I’ll get stoned and go to the shops.”

Watch the “Breathe Deeper” video above.

The Slow Rush is out now via Modular. Get it here.

In her first briefing with the media in 13 days, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany declined to acknowledge Joe Biden as the President-elect, despite even Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulating Biden. She instead ranted about the “continuation of power,” and when asked for Trump’s thoughts on the Electoral College making the election result official on Monday, McEnany replied, “The president is still involved in ongoing litigation related to the election. Yesterday’s vote was one step in the constitutional process, so I will leave that to him and refer you to the campaign for more on that litigation.” As press secretary, she is part of the campaign, but alas.

The contentious briefing ended with McEnany calling out the mainstream media for not covering the Hunter Biden “scandal” more, if at all (probably because it’s a non-story). “Really interesting turn of events, and good for those who covered what was a story all along and not Russian disinformation,” she said, walking off the podium without fielding any more questions. But that didn’t stop CNN’s Jim Acosta from asking one more: “Isn’t it hypocritical of you to accuse others of disinformation when you spread it every day?”

A good question; an even better comeback. McEnany did not respond.

Acosta later offered a factcheck…

… and his tenacity was appreciated on social media.

(Via Mediaite)

It wouldn’t seem that Billie Eilish and Michael Bublé have a ton in common musically, aside from the fact that they’re both categorized under the broad umbrella term that is “pop.” However, Eilish has revealed that one of Bublé’s biggest hits was actually a driving force behind one of her recent singles.

In an interview with BBC Radio 1’s Annie Mac, Eilish told the story of how Bublé’s 2009 song “Haven’t Met You Yet” was a primary inspiration behind “My Future,” saying:

“The idea came subconsciously from a video that I found of myself from when I was, I think, 13 or 14. My Snapchat was like, ‘Four years ago today…,’ and it was this video of me, I think at 14, and I was listening to ‘Just Haven’t Met You Yet’ by Michael Bublé. And that song, when I was that age, I used to listen to it night and day just because it made me hopeful. I was also really depressed at the time and sad all the time, and that song made me excited for the future. […] I sent [the video] to my friend and she was like, ‘True, that is sad, but at the same time, I love this video of you because it almost looks like you’re talking about your future self, like, ‘I just haven’t met you yet, and I’m excited to meet you.” And I was like, ‘That’s so cuuute.’ I didn’t even think about that until after I had written the chorus, but I knew that it was subconscious. I was totally thinking about that. It was so exactly what I was feeling and thinking and wanted to convey and wanted to say and wanted to be heard.”

Check out the interview clip below.

Michael Bublé is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

In a similar move to Netflix, HBO Max has announced that it will stop streaming episodes of Chappelle’s Show following a personal request from Dave Chappelle. According to Chief Content Officer Casey Bloys, the show will be pulled from the service at the end of the year despite HBO Max having no legal obligation to remove the show or a current working relationship with the comedian. Via Variety:

“We had a conversation with Dave. I won’t get into it, but it’s very clear that it’s a very unique and specific and emotional issue he’s got,” Bloys told Variety‘s executive editor of TV, Daniel Holloway. “So at the end of the year, at the end of this year, December 31st, we’re going to honor his request and take the show down.”

Considering HBO Max has been making aggressive moves to boost its content offering, the decision to pull the iconic sketch comedy series is surprising, but it also speaks to Chappelle’s power in the entertainment industry. The comedian is a huge draw for Netflix, which agreed to stop streaming Chappelle’s Show after the comedian approached them with his opinion that airing the show is like “fencing stolen goods.” Chappelle revealed the exchange with Netflix in a surprise stand-up clip posted to Instagram where he detailed his feelings on his old show being sold without his involvement.

“I found out that these people were streaming my work and they never had to ask me or they never have to tell me. Perfectly legal ‘cause I signed the contract. But is that right? I didn’t think so either.” Chappelle said in the video. He went on to explain how Netflix did right by him when they simply could’ve kept streaming the show. “That’s why I f*ck with Netflix. Because they paid me my money, they do what they say they’re going to do, and they went above and beyond what you could expect from a businessman.”

(Via Variety)

Twitch streamer, TikTok star, and UPROXX Recon host SushiBAE’s mind is always thinking about new content. Whether he’s offering his own spin on the latest trends, stream sniping his favorite gamers, or digging through his closet for clothes to show off, he remains hyper-aware of how something is going to present on camera and translate to his growing audience.

“I tend to wear brighter stuff,” SushiBAE tells me over the phone. “It fits my personality. It’s like the sun, always bright and shiny.”

He also shares a preference for casual and comfortable clothing that looks good on camera but doesn’t get in the way of his restless drive to produce more meme-able content and build his audience. Though to call SushiBAE’s 4.5 million followers an “audience” is a disservice to how he views his fans. What SushiBAE is seeking to build is a community where he can express himself unabashedly.

“When I was having my tough times in school and people weren’t treating me the best,” SushiBAE says, “gaming was an escape. It helped me forget all the things that were happening in school, it put a smile on my face because I was doing things I love to do. But as I progressed and I was watching my gaming heroes I thought, ‘wow I really want to do this one day and I want to be a part of that scene.’”

Piece by piece, SushiBAE started working towards being a fixture in the very gaming scene he was escaping into.

“I slowly moved into it by buying one thing at a time,” he says. “The newest console, recording systems, figuring out how to do online gaming… It was a really slow but fun grind.”

SushiBAE worked tirelessly at making his dreams a reality until he was at a place where the stress and hard work were the last things on his mind and the thrill to create took over.

“I went through a lot of stress,” he says. “You’ll always have ups and downs where people love you and then hate you… If you really love something you put every ounce of sweat into it to make the dream come true. Now I’m at the point where it’s purely creative. I’m thinking about what can be funny, what can be awesome, what can be epic. That’s what’s on my mind before I make a video.”

While SushiBAE continues to grow his fanbase, he hasn’t lost sight of what brought him into the world of gaming in the first place, and he’s still pushing to create a community that is welcoming to everyone and above all else, fun. No matter how hard the grind to get there is.

“I love being part of the community, the trends are what get me excited to create. Whether I do the same trend or a spin on the trend… I love to see everyone’s reactions and what they think. What really gets me excited to create is making a positive impact, making people smile and laugh with me and at my content.”

At just 18 years old, Billie Eilish boasts a number of awards and several top-charting songs. But at the same time, she’s still a normal teen. Her upcoming Apple TV documentary Billie Eilish: The World’s A Little Blurry will offer an inside look at her personal life and her rise to stardom.

Directed by award-winning filmmaker R.J. Cutler, the documentary premieres globally February 26, but the first trailer was released Tuesday. As seen in the preview, the documentary will give an intimate look Eilish’s extraordinary life as she tours the world and records her acclaimed debut album When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?. Along with following her career, The World’s A Little Blurry will share some of the singer’s personal milestones, like getting her driver’s license and being gifted her dream car.

In other Eilish news, the singer recently revealed what her favorite song of the year was — and her choice was a bit unexpected. The singer named The Strokes’ song “At The Door” as her top pick and praised their The New Abnormal album as a whole. “I wish I could put this whole album [The New Abnormal] as my first choice,” she said. “It’s been my favorite album in many years. There is something about The Strokes, I don’t know what it is, man. I love ‘At The Door,’ I love the melodies, I love the lyrics, I love everything about it. The Strokes hit a nerve.”

Watch the Billie Eilish: The World’s A Little Blurry trailer above.

Brooklyn rapper Rowdy Rebel rose to fame alongside Bobby Shmurda in 2014 but a gang conviction cut their careers short. When their group, GS9, was accused of murder, attempted murder, assault, and drug dealing, both rappers and a number of their associates were convicted and sentenced to long stints in prison. However, while Bobby had his parole denied due to brawling and holding contraband while inside, Rowdy Rebel apparently kept his nose clean, as he has been released today after making parole according to Complex.

Rowdy, now 29 years old, was recently featured on Pop Smoke’s song “Make It Rain” from the late Brooklyn drill rapper’s posthumous album Shoot for the Stars, Aim for the Moon, introducing him to a younger generation of fans who missed out on GS9’s summer of dominance. That means he might just have a chance at a career reboot if he can capitalize on the momentum from that guest appearance with an impressive follow-up. His last big singles before that were “Computers,” from GS9’s Shmoney Shmurda (Shmixtape) and the remix of Bobby’s breakout single “Hot N****” alongside New York veterans Busta Rhymes, Fabolous, and Jadakiss, although he made sporadic appearances on tracks from Lil Durk and Don Q via prison phone.

It’s no secret that Chance The Rapper’s debut album The Big Day landed with more of a thud than a bang, despite actually being pretty good (I will die on this hill). Fans expecting the looser, more straightforward feel of projects like 10 Day, Acid Rap, and Coloring Book were disappointed by the seemingly jumbled collection of music on the album, with their glossy production and lofty ambitions (I will allow that it was too long and could have been sequenced better). It’s led to more overt criticism of his recent output, prompting him to complain that it felt like fans wanted him to be miserable due to their jokes about him getting back on drugs.

However, he also has a truly compelling argument to those fans, which he shared during an interview with Ebro In The Morning to talk about his recently reissued Christmas album. When the host asked him about all the hate — “throwing rocks at the throne,” as he put it — Chance explained that he has a different metric for success. “I’m just really, really good at rapping,” he declared. “So, regardless of what happens, I’ma always have that to fall back on — and if that doesn’t work, I can perform my old raps. If that don’t work, I can direct someone else’s raps. There’s nobody that can rap like me. That’s a cool thing to have.”

That’s actually a pretty smart way to look at things — at the very least, it keeps him from overly focusing on fans’ jokes about his content. Even if he raps about being a family man, which is probably something many of his young fans can’t relate to, he does so really well, so as long as he is meeting his own standards, he technically can’t fail in the opinion of the only person whose opinion matters — his own.

However, the fallout from The Big Day has affected him in other ways. His former manager Pat Corcoran recently filed a lawsuit for $3 million in back pay, citing breach of contract and claiming that Chance let his family talk him into making bad business moves that exacerbated the negative feedback from the album. Chance’s lawyers shot down the accusation, but without Pat The Manager’s help, he may find it’s harder to repeat his prior successes. Maybe collaborating with Dionne Warwick will give him some insight to extending his longevity.

Watch Chance’s full interview with Ebro above.

The Milwaukee Bucks offseason has been a wild ride, trading Eric Bledsoe, George Hill, and three future first-round picks to the Pelicans for Jrue Holiday and then thinking for two days they had completed a sign-and-trade for Bogdan Bogdanovic, only to see him sign an offer sheet with the Hawks instead after some miscommunication. In the wake of that miss, they’ve brought back Pat Connaughton and signed D.J. Augustin, Bryn Forbes, Bobby Portis, and Torrey Craig to fill out their rotation.

It’s a solid rebound from the Bogdanovic embarrassment, but as long as their rollercoaster ride ends with Giannis Antetokounmpo signing on the dotted line for his supermax extension this offseason, it was all worth it. On Tuesday, word broke that he had indeed done just that, staying with the organization that drafted him 15th overall in the 2013 NBA Draft and has seen him emerge as the reigning DPOY and two-time MVP.

Antetokounmpo confirmed the news on his Twitter account.

The deal included an opt-out after the fourth year, which was always going to be the case to provide him with maximum flexibility to maximize his earning potential.

Antetokounmpo joins a fairly short list of players to qualify for and sign a supermax extension, with Stephen Curry, James Harden, Damian Lillard, Russell Westbrook, and John Wall being the other five who have done so. It’s a huge win for a Bucks organization that has tried to build a contender around Giannis and showed their willingness to spend now at the risk of future assets with the Holiday trade. Now, the question facing Milwaukee is if the roster they’ve assembled can get out of the East, where they’ll once again be the favorites ahead of the likes of Miami, Philadelphia, and Boston.

A lot of that responsibility to taking the Bucks to a Finals rests on the shoulders of Antetokounmpo, who isn’t without fault for Milwaukee’s shortcomings the past two seasons in the playoffs, but it’s admirable that he wants to take that on and be the one to get the Bucks organization to that level.