Category: Worldwide

Around this time last month, indie favorites Grandaddy announced they would be re-releasing their defining 2000 album The Sophtware Slump as an expansive 4-LP box set. Part of that box set is The Sophtware Slump ….. On A Wooden Piano, a new version of the album recorded by the group’s Jason Lytle on, yes, a wooden piano.

Today, the reissue officially available… for pre-order. To mark the occasion, the band has shared the new piano version of “The Crystal Lake,” which calms the guitar-driven original down into a more tender ballad.

Lyttle previously said of the song back in 2001, “[It’s about] that age-old story, repeated many times in country music, of the wayward soul who leaves a small town with hopes and dreams of the unknown and winds up full of regret in some horrible little apartment in an unfriendly city.”

When announcing the new version of the album, the band explained its origins, beginning by telling a story about the time Lyttle, before recording sessions began, (attempted to) play the album from front to back on piano. The statement continues, “Early last year, as we discussed if we should commemorate the 20th anniversary, I recalled the memory and wondered what the album would have sounded like before all that wonderful production, before one note had been committed to tape.”

Listen to “The Crystal Lake (Piano Version)” above and compare it to the original version below.

The Sophtware Slump 20th Anniversary Collection is out 11/20 via Dangerbird Records. Pre-order it here.

The Iron Bowl is one of college football’s most beloved and highly-anticipated events each year. It’s also responsible for one of the wildest endings in the history of the sport. This is why a lot of sports fans were shocked when a question about the annual contest blanked Jeopardy! contestants on Thursday night.

The beloved game show is back for a new season amid the COVID-19 pandemic, with a socially distanced set and some new qualifying methods for contestants. But apparently the three on stage on Thursday weren’t very big college football fans, as a fairly simple question about the Iron Bowl completely blanked them. The question came in a category called ”A’ Is For Autumn,’ which means it’s both a question about fall and will start with the letter ‘a’.”

“Each fall Alabama and this SEC Football arch-rival meet in ‘The Iron Bowl,’” the question read.

And though it was filmed in a world where it seemed unlikely college sports would be able to take place, there’s really no excuse for football fans not to come up with “Auburn.” But as the question timer starts, it’s clear no one is frantically pressing their signaling device to answer it. Sameer guessed a team that starts with an A — Arkansas, which honestly isn’t a bad try. But the obvious answer never came. And even Alex Trebek seemed disappointed.

It did not get a great reaction online.

At least this time it was the contestants, not the show’s judges, making fans angry.

About a quarter of people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are nonverbal, and while that number seems high, there’s been sharp decline from a generation ago when the number was closer to half.

This positive shift is due to an increase in studies on ASD which have resulted in more effective therapeutic strategies.

Children with ASD are often nonverbal, but many go onto acquire language skills. Up to 70% of nonverbal children become fluent speakers or can use simple phrases.

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Having a child that is nonverbal or speech-delayed is terribly frustrating because you want them to be able to clearly communicate how they’re feeling emotionally and physically.

It’s also very hard to see them interact with other children without being able to express their full selves like everyone else.

So when a child with autism spectrum disorder makes their first language breakthrough it’s a monumental moment for themselves and those close to them.

Photographer Haley McGuire shared her son Micah’s wonderful achievement on TikTok and the inspiring video has been favorited over 730,000 times.

The first video she shared was of Micah repeating the names of his family members as they cheer in the background. Every time Micah gets a name right, he leaps in excitement and beams with pure pride.

Since the video was first recorded, Micah has shown no signs of slowing his progress.

“It’s been a day and a half now, and everything we ask him to say, he’s copying,” McGuire told Newsweek.

“He’s not going out of his way to say anything on his own, but he’s literally copying everything we say, which is crazy because he wasn’t talking at all,” McGuire continued. “Every now and then, he’d blurt out a word. But when I say ‘wasn’t talking,’ he would go weeks without saying anything. This is crazy. He’s been doing great.”

The video of Micah repeating the names of his family members was followed up by a new recording where he says his name for the first time that’s received over 2 million favorites.

McGuire says Micah is a very loving child and it’s easy to see ion the videos.

“Micah has always been a really sweet, tender-hearted, quiet kid,” she said. “Obviously, he doesn’t talk, but he kind of keeps to himself. He’s always been extremely loving. I know that that’s not necessarily normal for kids with autism. They like to not be touched and they like to be alone. But he’s very affectionate and loving. It’s been easy for us to be so happy and encouraging with him.”

The videos have warmed a lot of people’s hearts online and have been source of inspiration for the McGuire family. But, maybe the best part about the videos is they also give hope to families of children with an autism spectrum disorder, especially those who long for the day they can hear their child first speak.

Following the announcement that John Cena’s The Suicide Squad character, Peacemaker, is getting his own HBO Max series, writer/director James Gunn has been fielding fan questions on social media and setting the record straight, as he so often does. During a recent Twitter Q&A, Gunn made it a point to note that the timeline for Peacemaker has not been confirmed to avoid spoiling The Suicide Squad. While it’s expected that the film will kill off part of its cast, naturally, Gunn wants to keep fans guessing as to which characters will bite the big one in the upcoming action comedy.

When fans highlighted that the press release referred to Peacemaker as an origin story, Gunn directed their attention to the specific wording of the announcement, which actually said that the series will be “exploring the origins” of the douchebag character. As Gunn notes, that doesn’t exactly mean the show is a prequel.

While Gunn played things close to the chest about Peacemaker‘s timeline, he apparently had no qualms with confirming that members of The Suicide Squad will have cameos, which may or may not include Pete Davidson’s Blackguard:

Earlier in the week, Gunn also used Twitter to calm down Marvel fans who were understandably concerned that Peacemaker could delay the filming of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. Gunn put those concerns to rest by revealing that he already wrote all eight episodes of Peacemaker while being bored out of his mind during the quarantine. “I’m stuck at home, so I wrote a TV series,” Gunn tweeted.

On top of that, Peacemaker will film during the scheduled break that always existed between The Suicide Squad and the third Guardians movie, which hasn’t been delayed once since Gunn was rehired:

(Via James Gunn on Twitter)

Where some people have ASMR, I have Jacques Pepin. Something about watching a French grandfather with a lisp casually performing incredibly deft knife work with arthritic hands plays directly into my brain’s pleasure centers. I don’t know how long I’ve been watching Jacques, who’s had various shows on PBS’s Bay Area affiliate, KQED, since the late nineties, partly because I go into a blissful trance state and lose track of time whenever I watch him. I can never tell whether I’m watching a new episode or a rerun from 10 years ago. In some ways, Jacques feels timeless — like he’s always been and always will be.

I got to attend a live demonstration with Pepin and his daughter Claudine a few years ago, at the Aspen Food and Wine Festival. I waited in line to take a picture with the chef, and when I finally got to the front, I sputtered, “You’re my favorite!” Because what do you say to your culinary hero and the grandfather who never had you?

“Okay,” Jacques replied, amiably.

As far as I can tell, Pepin hasn’t made any new television episodes in a while, but this month PBS started dropping little videos of his recipes on the American Masters YouTube account. There’s one for fried eggs, various types of omelets, etc. The beauty of a Jacques Pepin recipe is that it’s almost always simple and classic, a nice foundation of basic cooking technique that you can build on.

One new recipe that jumped out at me was his video for Rice Cake With Eggs.

There’s no flash here, which is why I love Pepin, in general. Jaques never has to yell to get your attention and his recipes are the same way, unadorned almost to the point of banality. This is just a three-minute video for a 10-minute recipe, which answers the very mundane question: what should I do with my leftover rice?

This week, I set out to see if it was as easy and delicious as Jacques made it look.

PART I — The Ingredients

I cooked one cup of dry rice the night before — Basmati, cooked in some chicken broth I had with a little butter. Then two eggs, a little olive, a little water, and chives to garnish.

PART II — The Process

Heat Some Oil In A Pan

I think I nailed this one.

Next, put a few cups of rice in the hot pan

• Make rice into a patty.
• Add a little (about 1/4th cup) water.
• Cover and cook for seven minutes to form crust.

I only used about a third of the cooked rice I had for this. The way Jacques did it, he put the cold rice into the pan, pressed it gently with the palm of his hand, added a little water, and then covered it to cook. As Claudine described it during their Aspen demonstration, Jacques is like the food whisperer, so things he makes look incredibly easy often aren’t for other people. For instance, when I mash hot rice into a pan with my bare hand, there’s definitely a bit more trying not to burn the hand and getting rice kernels stuck to it. But I think I still managed okay.

Jacques said about seven minutes for this part, on relatively high heat. Mine took a smidge longer at a 6.5 on the burner, I probably could’ve gone a little hotter. I usually judge done-ness for things like this by smell. Same with hash browns, there’s usually a distinct odor change that indicates when they’re done.

Step Three, Flip Rice Patty

Jacques said you could slide the patty out onto a plate and then turn it over back into the pan, but he accomplished it all at once, with just a little flick of the wrist. Naturally, I wanted to do it his way, so I tried to be a hero.

Result? …Not great.

The patty definitely didn’t flip over in one smooth go like when Jacques did it. I think this probably has to do with the fact that he said he was using the kind of steamed rice you get leftover from Chinese take out, while I was using soaked and washed, middle eastern-style basmati, which has thinner grains and less starch and doesn’t stick together quite as well. I was so flustered I didn’t get a picture of this part. In any case, even if it didn’t turn out in one nice piece it was still mostly evenly cooked and circle-shaped.

Step Four, Add Eggs And Steam

Make little seats in the rice with the back of spoon
Crack eggs into their seats
Cover and cook until eggs are done

I was slightly skeptical that this part would work as well as it did for Jacques, but it did. Aren’t they pretty?

Step Five, Garnish And Serve

Like virtually all Jacques recipes, this one ends with salt, pepper, and chives. Jacques Pepin f*cking loves chives. Chives are to Jacques Pepin what “BAM!” is to Emeril Lagasse. Only instead of shouting at you, he just sprinkles them on gently, leaving you to wonder where he got such big, beautiful chives.

Mine never look as good because I suck at gardening, but it’s still shocking how well they go with almost everything.

Is it as pretty as Jacques’ version?

Definitely not, you can tell that my rice didn’t quite make a “cake.” It’s more like a deconstructed fried rice. But even in flawed form, it was still a classic Jacques recipe: light, comforting, and incredibly simple. It’s certainly not a replacement for your usual Asian fried rice recipes — which are nearly as simple, just as comforting, and come in a hundred variations (I’m sure Zach could teach us 50) — but it’s a nice departure. I love the way the runny yolk coats the crispy rice. It feels light and slightly decadent at the same time.

Lesson learned: next time use stickier rice.

Zayn likes to keep to himself, so he doesn’t necessarily put himself out there all that much when he doesn’t have new music to promote. So, it’s been pretty quiet on the Zayn front since his 2018 album Icarus. Now, though, he’s back.

He dropped a video for a new song, “Better,” today, and indicated that it is the first track from his upcoming album (his third), which does not yet have an announced title. As for the song, it’s an R&B tune on which he sings about love and second chances. Press materials indicate the upcoming album is “set to be his most personal project to date” and also note, “With total creative reign on his third album, Zayn is making the music he has always wanted to.”

Meanwhile, the former One Direction member recently celebrated the birth of his first child, with girlfriend Gigi Hadid. Sharing a photo of his newborn daughter’s tiny hand gripping his finger, Zayn wrote in a Wednesday post on Instagram, “Our baby girl is here, healthy and beautiful. to try put into words how i am feeling right now would be an impossible task. The love I feel for this tiny human is beyond my understanding. Grateful to know her, proud to call her mine, and thankful for the life we will have together x.”

Watch the “Better” video above.

It’s had competition over the years from the likes of Chernobyl, Breaking Bad, and Game of Thrones, but Planet Earth II remains atop the IMDb Top 250. The Planet Earth sequel is the top-rated show on IMDB with a 9.5 rating, followed by the original’s 9.4 (which is tied with Band of Brothers, among others). The popularity of the nature documentary series can be attributed to the cute animals and the planet’s stunning landscapes, but really, it’s because narrator Sir David Attenborough has a soothing voice. Attenborough has a new series coming out next month, Netflix’s A Life on Our Planet, and to celebrate its release, the 94-year-old joined Instagram — and broke a world record:

Sir David Attenborough (UK) has debuted on Instagram and claimed the record for the fastest time to reach one million followers on Instagram. Sir David’s first post, an IGTV video about global warming concerns, was posted at 2 a.m. PDT and his account reached one million followers over four hours later at 6:44 a.m. PDT – with the video gaining more than two million views.

That’s according to the Guinness World Records, which notes that the previous record-holder was Jennifer Aniston; Attenborough beat her to a million by over 30 minutes. Also, Friends only has a 8.8 rating on IMDb (#45 overall), so he’s double-dunking on Rachel.

Here’s more on Attenborough’s new project:

In this unique feature documentary, titled David Attenborough: A Life On Our Planet, the celebrated naturalist reflects upon both the defining moments of his lifetime and the devastating changes he has seen… The film addresses some of the biggest challenges facing life on our planet, providing a snapshot of global nature loss in a single lifetime. With it comes a powerful message of hope for future generations as Attenborough reveals the solutions to help save our planet from disaster.

A Life on Our Planet premieres on Netflix on October 4.

(Via Guinness World Records)

Although Cardi B says she isn’t accepting applications for Offset’s replacement at this time, that apparently hasn’t stopped a plethora of would-be suitors from shooting their shots. During a recent fans-only Livestream on her OnlyFans account, Cardi noted that her DMs have been “flooded” despite her focus on music and business moves, according to Us Weekly.

The “WAP” rapper is noted as again reiterating her reasons for filing for divorce from Offset after three years of marriage and told fans that critics’ jabs couldn’t have much effect on her, since it was her own choice. “You cannot hurt my feelings trying to throw the divorce in my face because at the end of the day, I decided I wanted to leave,” she said. “I didn’t wait until he cheated on me again. I didn’t wait [for] another controversy with him being involved. I decided to leave. If I wanted to stay, I could have stayed. I decided to leave.”

However, it seems she hasn’t gotten much space from men who want to see if she lives up to her raunchy rap persona in real life. “My DMs are flooded,” she admitted. “I don’t actually want to date nobody [right now]. I’m so focused on my business, that it’s crazy.”

Cardi B is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Ever since Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury first appeared in the end credits scene for Iron Man, kicking off the start of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, there has been talk of a solo Nick Fury movie for the better part of a decade. But, now, the eye-patched king of espionage is getting the next best thing: His own Disney+ series. Via Variety:

The exact plot details of the show are being kept under wraps, but multiple sources say Jackson is attached to star with Kyle Bradstreet attached to write and executive produce. Like all the other Marvel shows at Disney Plus, Marvel Studios will produce.

The announcement of a Nick Fury series arrives on the heels of an aggressive push to populate Disney+ with MCU characters. Due to the pandemic, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier missed its August release date and will arrive sometime in 2021. However, WandaVision is still on track for a 2020 release, and its latest trailer did Avengers-level numbers when it debuted during the Emmys, which proves fan interest is strong for new MCU series.

In addition to the growing hype for WandaVision, Marvel made waves in mid-September when it announced that Orphan Black star Tatiana Maslany has officially signed on to play She-Hulk in the upcoming Disney+ series. Meanwhile, Ms. Marvel is moving full steam ahead with Bad Boys for Life directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, and the Loki series is reportedly on track for a 2021 release despite having to pause production. As for Hawkeye and Moon Knight, both series are still in the works, and there are unconfirmed reports that Moon Knight will be announcing a casting decision soon.

(Via Variety)

The Los Angeles Lakers somehow eked out a 114-108 win in Game 4 on Thursday night against the Nuggets to take a 3-1 series lead and put them just one game away from the NBA Finals. Despite their series lead, nothing has come easy for the Lakers, as they’ve had to withstand huge performances from the Nuggets’ star duo of Jamal Murray and Nikola Jokic.

But the Lakers have a pair of formidable stars of their own in LeBron James and Anthony Davis, the combination of which has proved too much to overcome for even this feisty Denver squad that has continued to shock in the Bubble by overcoming two straight 3-1 series deficits.

The likelihood of them accomplishing that feat again is slim, especially given the way Davis has played, with his most recent dominant performance coming in Game 4 with a 34-point outing on 10-for-15 shooting. James told reporters on Friday that he knew Davis was in for another big night, now that he’s learned to read the non-verbal cues from Davis that let him know he’s in the zone.

We know NBA players can be a superstitious lot, but this is a whole other level. Davis has been a nightmare matchup for the Nuggets this series, the highlight of which came at the end of Game 2 when Denver had a chance to even the series before Davis knocked down a devastating game-winner.

We’ll be keeping an eye on both The Brow and his brow for the remainder of the series as the Nuggets try to stay alive when Game 5 tips off on Saturday at 9 p.m. ET on TNT.