Category: Worldwide

Back in May, during slightly more optimistic times, ABC gave the renewal order to Stumptown, a novel spin on the crime drama, in which Cobie Smulders played a down-on-her-luck veteran with PTSD and gambling debts who reinvents herself as a private investigator. Alas, it was too good for this world: As per Variety, the show has become the latest to be unexpectedly cancelled, despite the previous promise of more to come.

Among the main reasons? According to one source, the fault partly lies with the pandemic. COVID-19, still raging with no end in sight, has done a ton of damage to television scheduling needs, and some four months after giving the order for more, ABC wound up changing its mind, nixing the second season.

For fans of the show, don’t give up hope. The makers will reportedly be shopping the series around to other networks, hoping one can fit it into their schedule. Other shows that have been axed due to coronavirus complications include I Am Not Okay with This and The Society, both on Netflix.

Along with the always welcome Smudlers, Stumptown — based on the graphic novel series by Greg Rucka — also featured Jake Johnson, Camryn Manheim, and Michael Ealy. May they return for more, ensuring that it won’t end up belonging to the storied “one season and done” gang, populated by the likes of My So-Called Life, Freaks and Geeks, Firefly, and Terriers.

(Via Variety)

Following the release of Nicki Minaj’s 2018 album, Queen, a leftover song from the album suddenly landed on the internet. The track, which is titled “Sorry” and features a verse from Nas, was intended to appear on Queen, but due to a failed sample clearance of Tracy Chapman’s 1988 song “Baby Can I Hold You,” it was left off the album. But the song ended up in the hands of Funkmaster Flex as he premiered it on his HOT 97 radio show. Soon after, the song leaked to the internet. As a result, Chapman sued Nicki for unpaid royalties from the unauthorized sample and sought to prohibit her from officially releasing the song and performing it. Almost two years, a judge made a decision on the case, clearing Nicki.

According to Variety, U.S. District Judge Virginia A. Phillips found that Nicki did not commit copyright infringement and that the song falls in line with the “fair use” principle. In her ruling, Phillips wrote, “Artists usually experiment with works before seeking licenses from rights holders and rights holders typically ask to see a proposed work before approving a license. A ruling uprooting these common practices would limit creativity and stifle innovation within the music industry.”

Prior to the ruling, Nicki claimed that the lawsuit was not justifiable as she did not release “Sorry” for profit and had no control in the song being leaked online. According to court documents, she also claimed that Chapman “is not the owner of the copyright in issue and therefore lacks standing to bring the claims alleged in the Complaint.”

(via Variety)

Finally, after months of rumors, potential leaks, promises, and a giant stare down between two console giants. We have a price for the PlayStation 5. While Microsft has been giving a slow drip feed of news about its new Xbox console since December, Sony has been oddly quiet for most of 2020. They’ve given small insights into the power of the console, and even showed off some games with the design back in June.

But with Holiday 2020 quickly approaching and an Xbox price plus release date revealed on Twitter, everyone was waiting for Sony to do the same. Well they finally have and alongside that price reveal we, of course, got some video games. A few new titles, and some more insight into a few we already knew about, here is what we learned about the PlayStation 5 during the price reveal event.

A Price And Release Date

Let’s start off with the obvious one. We finally have a price for the PS5. Fans have been anticipating this for months now with many on the fence about which console they want likely letting the price be the deciding factor for them. There was even more pressure to release a price point when the Xbox Series S was announced to only be $300.

This created an interesting predicament for Sony. Go too high and they risk alienating fans and pushing them straight to their biggest competitor. Go too low to match the Xbox and they risk taking a loss on the consoles themselves just to beat the Xbox in sales. As a result of that, we get a $400 digital only console and a $500 disc console. This feels about as low as they could possibly go while not losing too much, if any money, on sales for the PS5.

So we now have two consoles, each with $500 versions, and a cheaper but still powerful digital only version. The next generation console race is officially on, with the PS5 dropping on November 12 (with preorders already underway).

Final Fantasy 16

Likely the biggest video game related announcement was that Final Fantasy 16 is coming to the PlayStation 5. The latest in the extremely popular JRPG franchise appears to be in a fantasy type setting, but as any Final Fantasy fan knows there will surely be some sci-fi like elements alongside it. The bits of gameplay we did get to see showed a return of the fast paced action style combat that was in Final Fantasy 15 along with some beautiful cutscenes.

Final Fantasy always comes with plenty of hype attached to it, which is to be expected of such a giant title, but it traditionally also comes with delays. Final Fantasy 15 had a development time of 10 years and went through numerous changes. While the game that was shown during the PS5 event had an extensive trailer with voice acting and story set pieces you can never count out a delay when it comes to Final Fantasy. Still, it’s extremely exciting!

Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales

Fans of the first Spider-Man game on PS4 and Into The Spider-Verse were already plenty excited when Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales was unveiled during the first PS5 event, but the second one swung in even harder. This came with gameplay, set pieces, a tiny bit of story, and a release date. Spider-Man: Miles Morales is going to be a PS5 launch title that looks strong enough to convince many people that it’s worth getting the console on launch day.

This game has just the right amount of flair to be a Miles Morales title. Anyone that saw Into The Spider-Verse knows that there is a certain style, substance and coolness to him. This game captures that, as it looks cool, sounds cool, and I’m already extremely excited to play it when the console releases in November.

Let’s Live Our Harry Potter Dreams

The Harry Potter RPG “Hogwarts Legacy” was created to appeal to one specific audience. Every single millennial who grew up a fan of Harry Potter always wanted one thing. They wanted to one day play a game that let them be a Wizard or Witch in the Harry Pottery universe. That dream has never been fully realized until potentially this game.

This trailer hit on all the right notes and everything about it gave off the same charm and wonder that Harry Potter gives off for fans. It is exactly what a Harry Potter game should be. It isn’t a PS5 exclusive, but Sony getting this game to be shown off during their event is likely going to get at least a handful of buyers looking at the PS5 just for the Harry Potter game. That’s a huge win for them.

New God of War

The end card for the PS5 price reveal event was simple. It was the reveal teaser for God of War: Ragnarok and that is all we know. Fans of the 2018 God of War will surely be excited with that game being a serious Game of The Year contender. If Ragnarok is anything like its 2018 counterpart, there is plenty to be excited about.

Alicia Keys was slated to drop her seventh album, ALICIA, earlier this year but the coronavirus pandemic forced her to delay its release. Prior to the delay, she shared a trio of singles, including “Show Me Love” with Miguel. Despite the delay, Alicia didn’t struggle to stay in the limelight, as fans were able to watch her on Verzuz, the NFL’s kickoff event, and more. Earlier this week, nearly six months after the album’s original release March 20th date, Alicia Keys announced that the album will arrive this Friday, September 18. On Wednesday, the singer returned to deliver its tracklist.

Over 15 tracks, Alicia Keys calls on Tierra Whack, Khalid, Snoh Aalegra, Jill Scott, and more to file guest spots. The announcement comes days after she delivered her latest single, “Love Looks Better,” which premiered at the NFL’s kickoff event last Thursday. Eight songs total off the album are currently available. Among those, “So Done” and “Perfect Way To Die” appear as singles, while “Gramercy Park” can only be heard through her NPR Tiny Desk set from back in June.

01. “Truth Without Love”
02. “Time Machine”
03. “Authors of Forever” ⁣
04. “Wasted Energy” Feat. Diamond Platnumz
05. “Underdog”
06. “3 Hour Drive” Feat. Sampha
07. “Me x 7” Feat. Tierra Whack
08. “Show Me Love” Feat. Miguel
09. “So Done” Feat. Khalid⁣
10. “Gramercy Park”
11. “Love Looks Better”
12. “You Save Me” Feat. Snoh Aalegra
13. “Jill Scott” Feat. Jill Scott
14. “Perfect Way To Die”
15. “Good Job”

ALICIA is out 09/18 via RCA. Pre-order it here.

The Sacramento Kings cleaned house in their front office after the team fell short of the postseason once again, as Vlade Divac stepped down as general manager. For a team that seems on the cusp of being a playoff contender, their next hire is an important one.

As is the case with so many smaller market teams, the biggest job of the basketball operations department is nailing the draft, and the final nail in the coffin of Divac’s tenure was selecting Marvin Bagley III over Luka Doncic, the latter of whom earned a first team All-NBA spot in his sophomore season. The next Kings GM or head of basketball operations or whatever they choose for the title will have to bring in talent to elevate this team to the next level, and given Sacramento isn’t a major free agent destination, that means nailing the draft and making savvy trades and signings.

It appears the Kings have decided on who that will be, as Rockets assistant GM Monte McNair will reportedly take over as the head of basketball operations, per The Athletic’s Sam Amick and Shams Charania — although, somewhat confusingly, one said head of basketball ops while the other said GM and, honestly, I don’t know if that’s a meaningful difference or not.

Whatever the case, McNair is now tasked with the monumental challenge of building a perennial playoff contender in Sacramento, something they haven’t been able to do there in nearly two decades. There have been shimmers of hope, but organizational dysfunction and missteps have always derailed positive steps forward. This year offered further inclination that this is a team on the precipice of being good, but needs something more. McNair’s job will be finding and bringing that something to Sacramento, a job much easier said than done.

Maybe before the events of 2020, you were taking your toilet paper for granted. But chances are, you aren’t anymore. But aside from the shortages earlier in the year, there are larger problems with traditional TP. Specifically, it’s pretty bad for the environment. That said, thanks to a company called Reel, it doesn’t have to be. That’s because their toilet paper is made from bamboo stalks and designed with environmental sustainability in mind.

If you’ve had any experience with environmentally friendly toilet paper in the past, you might be tempted to stop reading. But contrary to the prevailing stereotypes about eco-conscious TP, Reel is renowned for its quality and comfort — so much so that the brand has sold more than a million rolls of the stuff and counting. And it’s done so without contributing to the monstrous devastation of forests that’s associated with the traditional toilet paper industry.

Every roll of Reel toilet paper is made from 100-percent bamboo, and 0 trees. But that’s not where the brand’s environmental consciousness ends. It even extends to the packaging, which is plastic-free, right down to the tape. No dead trees, no environment-choking plastic, no inks, no dyes, and none of the infamous synthetic compound bisphenol A. Best of all, if you use it, there’s no TP-related guilt about the damage your daily bathroom habits might bring to the planet.

Why is using bamboo to make toilet paper better than using trees? For starters, it’s the fastest-growing plant in existence, and can grow as much as three feet in just 24 hours. It’s harvested once a year and never needs replanting, making it an essentially infinite resource compared to trees, while also using up 30-percent less water. And as you’ll feel for yourself once you give Reel a try, bamboo paper is much softer than other papers made from recycled paper or wood fiber, while also retaining bamboo’s natural tensile strength, which is said to be even stronger than some types of steel.

Reel Premium Bamboo Toilet Paper

Reel

Reel even has ply-counters covered, too. If you were worried that bamboo toilet paper doesn’t give you the thickness and quality you’re accustomed to in TP, think again, because each role is generally proportioned with three ply for extra softness. In other words: you’re not having to sacrifice comfort for the good of the planet, at least not as far as your toilet paper is concerned.

And Reel’s environmental friendliness isn’t the only good reason to make the switch. The brand also cuts off a slice of their profits for the funding of sanitation projects in developing nations, so you’re helping that important cause with each roll you buy (in addition to helping reduce deforestation and pollution).

Each 24-roll box of Reel premium bamboo toilet paper costs $29.99, but if you’re paranoid about running out, they also offer a subscription service that sends a new box to your door automatically every four weeks, eight weeks, or 12 weeks, depending on how often you usually buy. Customers have also reported that each roll of Reel lasts longer than regular toilet paper since it gets the job done with fewer sheets — another point in favor of bamboo paper..

Your toilet paper doesn’t have to kill trees or choke the environment with bulky plastic packaging. There is a better way. To find out more, check out Reel at its official site, and say hello to a new era of environmentally friendly toilet paper that’s also comfortable, durable, and a pleasure to have around.

*Upworthy may earn a portion of sales revenue from purchases made through affiliate links on our site.

Growing your own organic herbs, vegetables, and fruits is a great way to eat healthier and, at the same time, do something good for the environment. Unfortunately, a lot of people assume they can’t grow a garden because they don’t have enough space, time, or know-how. But that’s not actually the case. Or at least, it’s not any more. Thanks to an amazing high tech gadget called the Click & Grow Smart Gardens, these days anyone can grow their own organic produce with the touch of a button, no matter where they live.

Fully Automated Gardening? Yes Please

What exactly is the Smart Garden? Click & Grow calls it the Keurig of plants. And that’s actually a pretty great description.

The Click & Grow Smart Garden is a fully automated gardening system that lets anybody grow herbs, fruits, vegetables, and flowers year round, in any environment, with absolutely no effort or horticultural knowledge. Like a Keurig coffee maker, all you have to do is insert a pod, fill the tank with water, and press the button. Technology takes care of the rest.

Click & Grow has over 50 different pre-seeded 100-percent biodegradable plant pods to choose from, including tomatoes, peppers, arugula, green leaf lettuce, basil, chives, cilantro, petunias, pansies, lavender, and so much more. You can also buy “blank” smart soil pods and use your own seeds to create your own custom plant pods. The possibilities are almost endless.

You don’t have to know anything about gardening to use the Click & Grow Smart Garden. However, if you’d like to learn, the Click & Grow companion app can make you a plant expert. Simply check in with the app daily and it will explain exactly what’s happening during each stage of the growing cycle.

How Does It Work?

The Click & Grow Smart Garden uses advanced horticultural technology specifically designed to speed up growth and maximize yields. This technology includes:

• Biodome Sprouting: lids cover the seed pods during the initial growing phase, creating a greenhouse effect that induces faster sprouting.

• Grow Lights: professional grade LED grow lights with enhanced light spectra bring about faster germination. These lights turn on and off automatically to mimic the natural light cycle, making sure plants get the exact amount and type of light they need to thrive.

• Automatic watering: sensors detect moisture levels and automatically water your plants when needed, with each reservoir tank refill lasting about one month.

• Smart Soil: instead of regular soil, Smart Garden seed pods use a proprietary nano material created by Click & Grow. This material keeps soil pH balanced, automatically releases nutrients in sync with the plant life cycle, and contains micro oxygen pockets to give plants ample breathing room and nutrients when the smart soil is wet.

All this tech wouldn’t be very appealing if it cost an arm and a leg to run. Luckily, the Click & Grow Smart Garden is incredibly efficient. It uses 95-percent less water than traditional agriculture, while producing faster growing cycles without toxic pesticides or fertilizers. Meanwhile, the Smart Garden’s efficient LED grow lights cost roughly $5 to $15 per year to operate. That’s probably less than you’d spend on gas going back and forth to the nursery to get supplies for a traditional backyard garden.

Of course, not every prospective indoor gardener has the same needs. Some people just want a minimalist countertop unit to grow their favorite herbs. Others want a full-blown indoor farm. That’s why Click & Grow created several different Smart Garden models with variable grow capacities.

Click & Grow Smart Garden 3

As the name suggests, the Smart Garden 3 is capable of growing three plants at a time. Measuring just 12 inches wide and 5 inches deep, with a max height of 19 inches, this model fits almost anywhere. That makes it perfect for anyone with extremely limited space, or who isn’t quite ready for a bigger indoor garden.

At just $99.95, the Smart Garden 3 is the most affordable of Click & Grow’s automated gardening systems. It’s available in four different colors and comes with the companion app as well as a complementary set of three basil plant pods.

Click & Grow Smart Garden 27

For those who live by the motto “go big or go home” there’s the Smart Garden 27. Though, in this case, “big” is a relative term. Consisting of three Smart Garden 9 units plus a stylish pine plant stand, the Smart Garden 27 is capable of growing a whopping 27 plants at a time. However, it barely takes up any room. The entire system has a footprint of 26 inches by 10 inches, and it stands just 47 inches tall. So it’s roughly the size of a small bookcase.

The Smart Garden 27 is certainly a more significant investment than the Smart Garden 3. However, if your household consumes a lot of fresh organic product, it won’t take long for the Smart Garden 27 to start paying for itself. It’s available in three different colors and comes with the companion app as well as a complementary set of nine basil plant pods, nine lettuce plant pods, and nine tomato plant pods.

Good For You AND The Planet

Eating local and organic helps you reduce your carbon footprint and cut back on the amount of harmful chemicals that wind up in our watershed. And that used to be pretty expensive. But thanks to the Click & Grow Smart Garden, we can all grow affordable organic produce right in our own homes with just the touch of a button.

If that sounds good to you, click here to learn more about Click & Grow Smart Gardens, today.

*Upworthy may earn a portion of sales revenue from purchases made through affiliate links on our site.

Disney+ isn’t even a year old yet and it already has an Emmy. Though the big show isn’t till Sunday, the awards body has been handing out tons of smaller trophies in the week before, mostly for technical awards and ones, semi-ironically, not deemed worthy of prime time television, as part of their “Creative Arts Emmys.” One of those awards is Outstanding Special Visual Effects, which wound up going to the streamer’s biggest break-out thus far: The Mandalorian.

It wasn’t the last: The Star Wars program, about a Boba Fett-like bounty hunter played by Pedro Pascal, is up for 11 other Creative Arts Emmys, on top of its Primetime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Drama Series. Among the awards it’s already won are Outstanding Cinematography For A Single-Camera Series (Half-Hour), Outstanding Sound Mixing For a Comedy or Drama Series (Half-Hour) and Animation, Outstanding Sound Editing for a Comedy or Drama Series (Half-Hour) and Animation and Outstanding Production Design for a Narrative Program (Half-Hour).

Mind you, the show’s own breakout star, Baby Yoda, is only partially a visual effect. Instead he’s part CGI and part puppet. It was originally planned to be 100% the former until supporting player Werner Herzog, who plays the sinister one known as “The Client,” literally called them “cowards” for not going with an old-fashioned puppet. Luckily there were still plenty of other excuses for F/X that wouldn’t incur the wrath of the director of Fitzcarraldo.

(Via Deadline)

It’s been almost three weeks since we lost Chadwick Boseman, who had kept his battles with colon cancer a secret from all but family and friends. His passing prompted untold tributes, from colleagues and fans alike, and it’s a sign of the impact he made that we’re still getting stories about his life and career. The latest comes from one of his many MCU coworkers: Samuel L. Jackson, who revealed the two had long talked about collaborating on a non-Marvel project.

Jackson was on The Tamron Hall Show when talk inevitably wound its way to the Black Panther star, who only ever got to appear in the last two Avengers outings together. “I was trying to remember the last time I’d actually seen Chadwick,” Jackson said. “And I was talking to Zoe, our daughter about it and it was at the Captain Marvel premiere. We walked and we started talking about another project that I had hoped that we were gonna work on.”

He continued:

“He was like, ‘I’m sorry, y’all, I’m not going to be there, but I wish we were gonna work together.’ We were talking about it, we had planned it for a while and it was, you know, it’s gut-wrenching, you know, to lose someone that’s such an important part of the culture.”

Jackson also talked about Boseman’s legacy. “We all hope when we work that people will remember things that we will do. But he imprinted society in such a way, impacted especially the Black culture and giving kids a hero that they could aspire to,” Jackson said. “To lose him, I don’t even know if I could tell my kid that. It’s devastating.”

(Via ComicBook.com)

Amid the nationwide protests that followed the death of George Floyd earlier this summer, players around the league started ramping up their involvement in social causes, a trend that carried all the way to recent boycott in Orlando, during which teams put pressure on the league and its owners to use their money and leverage to enact change.

LeBron James has been one of the most active and outspoken supporters of the Black Lives Matter movement, most notably spearheading a voting rights initiative called More Than A Vote that is designed to educate people in poor and minority communities about voter suppression tactics and provide more opportunities to have their voice heard and their vote counted.

The league itself joined that cause as part of their new social justice campaign, pledging to transform team-owned arenas into voting sites for the upcoming presidential election in November. Now, Ticketmaster parent company Live Nation has joined forces with More Than A Vote to do the same with concert venues around the country.

Via Brian McCollum of The Detroit Free Press:

The company will announce Wednesday that Live Nation venues in Los Angeles (the Wiltern and Hollywood Palladium), Philadelphia (the Fillmore), Atlanta (Buckhead Theatre) and Austin (Emo’s) are confirmed to serve as voting sites. Venues continue to be vetted in other markets.

“One of the things we kept hearing, because the pandemic is going on, was that a lot of smaller (polling places) would not be made available for voting,” said Tom See, chief operating officer of Live Nation’s U.S. venue division. “We said: ‘Wait a second, we’ve got 100-plus large locations across the country sitting empty right now. Why not offer them up as places for people to vote?’ That was the impetus — to solve a need.”

Live Nation has said it hopes this signals to other venue owners around the country that they can re-purpose their sites for the election as well. In addition, the company is offering employees paid time off to work at these voting stations on election day.

Because of the pandemic, and because of nationwide voter suppression tactics, safe and easy access to voting sites is restricted in many poor communities. Live Nation and More Than A Vote have launched a tremendous campaign that will help bring some fairness and validity back to the democratic process.

(The Detroit Free Press🙂