Will Smith had some exciting news for the creator of the gritty reboot of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air that caused a bidding war when Smith began shopping the series in early August.
After playing a few clips from the fan trailer that got the ball rolling on the hour-long project, Smith fired up a video chat with Bel-Air creator Morgan Cooper and let him in on a huge development: Peacock has picked up the show with a two-season order. The NBC-loaded streaming service beat out some heavy competition to land it, too, as both HBO Max and Netflix were reportedly looking to add the show to their streaming slate.
While the idea of a gritty and serious take on the classic sitcom might sound unusual, the concept energized Smith, who had resisted a Fresh Prince reboot for years and repeatedly told reporters it would happen “when hell freezes over.” But after seeing Cooper’s Bel-Air trailer on YouTube, Smith was on board and began championing the project, which will see Cooper in the role of showrunner with an assist from executive producer Chris Cooper (The Wire, The Man in the High Castle).
Here’s the official synopsis:
Set in modern-day America, BEL-AIR is a serialized one-hour dramatic analogue of the 90’s sitcom “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” that leans into the original premise: Will’s complicated journey from the streets of West Philadelphia to the gated mansions of Bel-Air. With a reimagined vision, BEL-AIR will dive deeper into the inherent conflicts, emotions and biases that were impossible to fully explore in a 30-minute sitcom format, while still delivering swagger and nods to the original show.
No pressure, but someone better be working on a haunting cover of the original theme song.
Two weeks ago, the NBA made an unprecedented move to stage a walkout right in the the middle of the postseason. After months of protests against racial injustice, yet another unarmed Black man, Jacob Blake, was shot by police in Kenosha, Wisconsin, leading players around the league to reprioritize their efforts toward social change.
After two days of meetings between the players’ association and the board of governors, the league came up with a multifaceted plan to use its platform, its influence, and wealth to launch several initiatives, including a media campaign designed to educate the public on social cause and a plan to retrofit team-owned arenas as voting locations for the coming elections.
Beyond that, teams and individual players have led efforts of their own, and the Boston Celtics announced on Tuesday the creation of a major, decade-long commitment to fight inequality in America. The Celtics Shamrock Foundation, along with the team’s investor group, are launching a massive, 10-year, $25 million program that will combat systemic inequality. Jaylen Brown, who has been among the NBA’s leading voices on the issue of social justice since entering the league, was among those that issued a statement with the announcement.
“Our goal is to have a direct impact now,” said Celtics forward Jaylen Brown. “We don’t need to pacify the situation with empty gestures. We need to hold ourselves, the Celtics organization, and the city of Boston accountable. Monetary commitment is a great first step, but we need to commit to this process by creating a balance of short and long-term change. The time is now.”
The six pillars of the program will focus on equality in education, economic opportunity and empowerment, equality in healthcare, criminal justice and law enforcement, breaking down barriers and building bridges between communities, and voting an civic engagement.
We can expect to see more programs like this in the near future as the league and its players are leveraging their stardom and their wealth in a way we haven’t seen before.
Paula Walker, 56, and her husband, Joe, 73, are commemorating their 40th wedding anniversary with an unexpected gift from their past — Paula’s long-lost wedding ring.
The couple who lives in Plymouth, England, were married on August 28th, 1980. Three years into their marriage, Paula was playing catch with their son in the yard when her cherished 18-karat wedding ring flew off her finger and vanished into the shrubbery.
“My house backs onto woodland and I thought possibly that the ring flew in there. I thought it was gone forever,” Paul said according to Good News Network.
The couple paid a metal detector to try to retrieve the ring. But they searched for two days and nothing came up. Paula had to settle and buy a new ring, but she never forgot about the old one.
The missing ring became a running joke in the family. Whenever someone went outside to mow the lawn or do a bit of gardening, a family member would always say to look out for the ring.
“Over the years—whenever we’ve been in the garden or out there—I’ve always said ‘have a look for the ring,’ but we never found it,” Paula said.
But things changed when the couple hired a landscaping crew to tidy up the garden for their 40th wedding anniversary. Paula told the Man of All Seasons landscaping crew that the ring was lost somewhere in the garden, but didn’t have much hope that it’d be found because it had been so long.
“We had a gardening company come in and landscape our garden and I told them about the ring and the whole story,” said Paula.
While digging up the garden, the landscapers struck gold.
“They called me out into the garden a while later saying they had a surprise for me and then handed me my wedding ring,” she exclaimed. “It was in the garden where I was standing and where I had been playing ball with my son all those years ago.”
It’s amazing that she could have looked in the same place probably dozens of times over the years and never found the ring.
“I was so shocked but incredibly grateful,” Paula said. It’s wonderful to have it back.”
The couple has lived in the house since 1977, if they would have moved, they probably never would have found the missing ring.
Paula said that having her original wedding ring back was the best anniversary gift she could have ever received.
“Not only did they do an amazing job on the garden, they’re also treasure hunters,” Paula said of the landscapers. “It really made my day, my 40 years really.”
The Walkers amazing story is another great reminder that no matter how hopeless a situation can be, to never give up hope. They never forgot about their lost ring and it was a big reason why they finally got it back.
I wrote an article a few weeks ago about the tragic murder of a 5-year-old boy, Cannon Hinnant, and how it was being politicized to attack the Black Lives Matter movement. In one of many angry messages I received, a reader wrote “When is the last time you saw a BLM protest that wasn’t violent?”
I was stunned. Was this person serious?
From what I had seen, the vast majority of BLM protests were peaceful. But of course I had no actual data to back that up—until now.
The Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED) is a non-governmental non-profit organization that has been tracking incidents of conflict around the world since at least 2014. Since May, they have tracked the more than 10,000 protests that have taken place in the U.S., 73% of which specifically cite Black Lives Matter as part of the basis for the protest.
In the more than 7,750 BLM protests that have taken place from May through the end of August, 93% included no acts of violence. More than 9 out of 10 protests, totally peaceful.
But that doesn’t even tell the whole story, because not all of the violence that has broken out at protests has even come from BLM protestors. Naturally, some rioting we’ve seen is a result of anger over injustice being channeled into destruction of property or lashing out violently. But some violence at BLM protests has come from outside the BLM movement entirely.
For example, one of the instigators of riots during the George Floyd protests in Minneapolis following his killing was found to be a white supremacist. Law enforcement also determined that white supremacists were also responsible for the violence at BLM protests in Richmond, Virginia in June.
In fact there are a handful of extremist groups from both the far-right and far-left who have taken advantage of the protests to either frame the BLM movement as violent or to stoke their own fantasies of violent unrest. I’d never heard of the Boogaloo movement until the BLM protests began and some Boogaloo Bois saw it as a great opportunity to get the civil war they’ve been itching for to begin.
And then there’s the violence coming from law enforcement. According to the ACLED, BLM demonstrations have been more likely to be met with force than other types of demonstrations, despite being largely peaceful:
“Overall, ACLED data indicate that government forces soon took a heavy-handed approach to the growing protest movement. In demonstrations where authorities are present, they use force more often than not. Data show that they have disproportionately used force while intervening in demonstrations associated with the BLM movement, relative to other types of demonstrations.
Despite the fact that demonstrations associated with the BLM movement have been overwhelmingly peaceful, more than 9% — or nearly one in 10 — have been met with government intervention, compared to 3% of all other demonstrations. This also marks a general increase in intervention rates relative to this time last year. In July 2019, authorities intervened in under 2% of all demonstrations — fewer than 30 events — relative to July 2020, when they intervened in 9% of all demonstrations — or over 170 events.”
It’s also important to note that the 7% of protests that have involved violence haven’t all involved burning down buildings or killing people. There are varying manifestations of violence, and while we would all hope that protests would remain peaceful, it’s unsurprising that a small percentage will end up with some conflict. We are talking about human beings, after all. As a species, we have a long and bloody history of violence that we haven’t exactly evolved out of yet.
Regardless, the notion that the Black Lives Matter movement is inherently violent is false. The notion that BLM protests have been largely violent is false. That doesn’t mean we should just ignore violence altogether, but there are people who benefit greatly from pushing the idea that BLM is violent, and we have to challenge that. Don’t let some media outlets’ hyperfocus on headline-grabbing riots—or the sensationalist human tendency to share and talk about those stories—push you away from the movement for racial justice. Peaceful, powerful protests abound—that’s where we should place our focus.
In the time between getting nominated for Best Film and Best Director at the Independent Spirit Awards and shooting a freaking Marvel movie, Chloé Zhao hit the road with Frances McDormand and made a possible Oscar contender. No biggie.
Nomadland is the latest feature from Zhao, who was tapped to direct Eternals, the 25th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, following the breakthrough success of The Rider, a story of masculinity in crisis. She cast two-time Oscar winner McDormand as Fern, a 60-something factory worker who travels through the American West in a van to find a job. Searchlight Pictures submitted Nomadland to all the major film festivals this fall — Venice, Telluride, Toronto, and New York — which means distributor Searchlight Pictures expects big things next February on Oscar night. And if Zhao and/or McDormand do win, I hope they share this delightful story from the Hollywood Reporter.
Three months after she accepted the Oscar for best actress in a gold-hued gown, Frances McDormand was spending the night in an Econoline van in Chloé Zhao’s driveway in Ojai, regretting her decision to eat barbecue for dinner… That night in Zhao’s driveway, they had met up to figure out some practicalities of shooting in the confined space, where McDormand was going to sleep for character research. As her stomach rumbled, Zhao gently reminded the actor, “You wanted spicy chicken wings…”
McDormand continues. “And so, I literally experienced the worst, not maybe the worst thing, but a not-very-pleasant thing that could happen,” McDormand says. “I took a dump in the 5-gallon bucket. But it also was really great because we filmed some stuff.”
Now that’s method acting. Nomadland (watch the teaser trailer above) is scheduled to come out on December 4, followed by Eternals on February 12, 2021.
Chloe and Halle Bailey of the R&B duo Chloe x Halle have had an immensely busy year thus far. Just a few months ago, the sister pair released their sizzling sophomore album, Ungodly Hour, and have since found clever ways to stage at-home performances on Jimmy Kimmel Live! and the 2020 MTV VMAs pre-show. The two even tapped Doja Cat and Mulatto to lend verses on a revved-up remix of their hit “Do It.” But that’s not all they have in store for this year. Halle recently revealed she has begun recording the soundtrack to Disney’s upcoming live-action reboot of The Little Mermaid after she landed the lead role as Ariel.
While the pandemic has surely halted some production, that hasn’t stopped Halle from working on the upcoming film’s soundtrack. A recent interview with Cosmopolitan confirmed Halle is already in the soundtrack’s recording process. “Whenever individual opportunities come, it’s exciting because when one of us wins, the other one does too,” Halle said about the upcoming project.
Last year, The Little Mermaid‘s director Rob Marshall confirmed Halle’s casting and said, “After an extensive search, it was abundantly clear that Halle possesses that rare combination of spirit, heart, youth, innocence, and substance — plus a glorious singing voice — all intrinsic qualities necessary to play this iconic role.”
After days of rumors, McDonalds and Travis Scott recently confirmed that they are in fact collaborating. The two announced the Travis Scott Meal would be available at the restaurant soon, and McDonald’s promised that news would be “the first of many surprises and new releases planned with Travis in the coming weeks.” The meal is available starting today (September 8), and Scott appears in a new commercial for it, bringing back the action figure version of himself from his Rodeo album art.
The ad begins with a shot of a McDonald’s meal on a tray before the plastic Scott lands in frame, saying, “What’s up, world? Yeah, you! I’m Travis Scott, and this is my McDonald’s order.” He then walks through the meal, which features a Quarter Pounder sandwich with cheese, bacon, and lettuce, as well as fries with barbecue dipping sauce, and a Sprite. He continues, “Same order since back in Houston, and you can try it, too.” Scott ends the spot by saying the campaign’s slogan, which McDonald’s also tweeted today: “Say Cactus Jack sent you.”
What else is set to emerge from this campaign is yet to be seen. While rumors suggested there would be exclusive merch, McDonald’s confirmed that Scott designed custom clothes for McDonald’s restaurant employees to wear during the promotion. So, it is unconfirmed whether or not some sort of Scott/McDonald’s merch will be available for consumer purchase, or what else might be on the way.
Although Burning Man went fully digital this year, some Burners still spent their labor day weekends in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert, opting for an unconventional, socially distanced, unofficial burn. Though, let’s be real — once that combination of psychedelics and desert delirium takes hold, the Burners brave enough to make it out to BRC in the middle of a record-breaking heatwave and global pandemic don’t seem particularly likely to be worrying about COVID-19.
While this Burning Man wasn’t affiliated in any way with the festival’s usual organization, that didn’t stop Burners from dressing up like post-apocalyptic warriors, driving mutant freak vehicles, and lighting stuff on fire.
According to the Reno Gazette Journal, the weekend’s event — officially dubbed “Not Burning Man 2020” — drew a crowd of about 1,000 to 2,000 campers who gathered on the playa and burned smaller wooden effigies in place of one large Burning Man sculpture. The event’s main figurehead — a nearly 30-foot tall structure that Burners spent the weekend decorating — was toppled at the weekend’s close so that Burners could take debris and burn it at home (though some Burners waited until the authorities left for a final blaze on the playa floor).
We gathered some photos from the weekend’s festivities, which — to their credit — show a mostly solitary, socially distanced Burn. And while gathering large groups of people in a small space is absolutely ill-advised, this looks very little like the Smashmouth-starring Sturgis rally. Was there still at least one culturally appropriated headdress wearer in attendance? You’d better believe it.
Indie music has grown to include so much. It’s not just music that is released on independent labels, but speaks to an aesthetic that deviates from the norm and follows its own weirdo heart. It can come in the form of rock music, pop, or folk. In a sense, it says as much about the people that are drawn to it as it does about the people that make it.
Over the last 30 years, we have been luck enough to witness Bill Callahan’s personal and artistic evolution, from the indirect lo-fi songwriting of his Smog project, to the lush and thoughtful recent solo output. On Gold Record, his latest release after the 2019 double album Shepherd In A Sheepskin Vest, Callahan is focused on topics that “invite a kind of earnestness and even sentimentality that would have been inconceivable when he first started making albums in his 20s,” writes Steven Hyden for Uproxx.
Lomelda – Hannah
For her fifth LP under the name Lomelda, Hannah Read wouldn’t settle for anything less than perfection. The album was recorded and re-recorded in its entirety upwards of three times before Read and her brother/producer Tommy Read got everything just right. The resulting Hannah is a more expansive effort than we’ve heard from Lomelda in the past, with polished production and poignant songwriting that moves seamlessly between insular moments and full-band explosions.
Mike Huguenor – X’ed
You might recognize Mike Huguenor from his work in Jeff Rosenstock’s band, Shinobu, Hard Girls, and more. X’ed is his first proper solo album, and was composed using nothing but guitars. All of the instrumentals on the album were created by two acoustic guitars and one electric guitar, making X’ed one of the most exciting and unconventional albums of the year.
Royal Green – Royal Green
Although The National are not slated to be releasing music in 2020, the members have been keeping more than busy. Aaron Dessner worked with Taylor Swift on Folklore, Matt Berninger has a new solo album out in October, and now the band’s drummer Bryan Devendorf has released his debut solo album under the name Royal Green. The album takes on a more electronic, experimental approach, and features contributions from Aaron Dessner and Muzz’s Josh Kaufman. The eight-song effort showcases Devendorf’s individual strength as a songwriter, with each track containing multitudes of instrumental and lyrical depth.
Hannah Georgas – All That Emotion
Speaking of Aaron Dessner, he is also a collaborator on Hannah Georgas‘ gorgeous new album All That Emotion. It’s a poignant record that is rooted in a “grass is always greener” mentality with lyrics that pack a punch, delivered through dreamy, ethereal vocals that float atop pulsing indie-pop instrumentation.
Total Revenge – Total Revenge
The ever-prolific Ryan Pollie is back with another album, this time under the name Total Revenge. The lo-fi punk project’s debut self-titled album packs a lot of melodic punch into the crunchy instrumentals, with crashing percussion that proves high-end recording equipment is less imperative than a simple knack for strong songwriting.
Adrianne Lenker – “Anything”
While Big Thief has been more or less quiet during 2020, Adrianne Lenker isn’t showing any sign of slowing down. “Anything” is the first single from her new album Songs, which will be released in conjunction with another album called Instrumentals. Like most tracks Lenker puts out, “Anything” is what Derrick Rossignol calls for Uproxx “a lovely and delicate folk tune.”
Anohni – “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue” (Bob Dylan cover)
It’s been nearly four years since last got a full-length project from Anohni, but now she is back with a pair of covers. Most notably is her lo-fi take on Bob Dylan’s cryptic track “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue,” which was originally released on Dylan’s 1965 album Bringing It All Back Home, and may or may not be about his breakup with Joni Mitchell. Regardless of the song’s original intentions, Anohni said in a press release that it reminded her of the current moment and felt more relevant than ever.
Kevin Morby – “Campfire”
Not even a year since releasing Oh My God, Kevin Morby is back with another new album. “Campfire” prefaces Sundowner, the songwriter’s sixth album, and epitomizes the record’s recurring themes as “a depiction of isolation. Of the past. Of an uncertain future,” according to a statement. Sonically, Morby’s vocals take on a Dylan-esque drawl, all the while boasting a strong, resonant chorus.
Gus Dapperton – “Medicine”
After capturing people’s attention with a bedroom pop EP in 2017, Gus Dapperton is taking a slightly different approach to Orca, his sophomore LP. “Medicine” is emblematic of Dapperton’s focus on “honing his sound and shifting to more introspective, moody pop ballads” for the new album, writes Carolyn Droke for Uproxx.
Hundredth – “Bottle It Up”
After making the shift from hardcore punk to shoegaze on their 2017 album Rare, Hundredth are back with another attempt at a sonic shift. “Bottle It Up” takes on a more indie-pop approach that sounds more like Tame Impala than Converge, once again putting the South Carolina-based band’s impressive versatility on full display.
Eastwood – “I (Don’t) Need You”
Eastwood is the indie side project of Cole Crutchfield, best known as the guitarist of hardcore heavyweights Knocked Loose. Crutchfield takes a much more mellow and calculated approach to Eastwood, taking nearly four years to put all the pieces together for the band’s proper debut release, It Never Gets Easy. If “I (Don’t) Need You” is any indication, all of the hard work paid off.
Anjimile – “In Your Eyes”
With his debut full-length project Giver/Taker slated for release in just a few short weeks, Anjimile has shared another preview. “In Your Eyes” takes on a more laid-back approach than some of the other groove-driven tracks we’ve heard so far. “Over enveloping acoustic melodies, Anjimile delivers a soothing reflection on coming to terms with his identity,” writes Carolyn Droke for Uproxx.
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Back in October 2019, The Boys showrunner Eric Kripke teased fans on Twitter with the information that Patton Oswalt filmed a “secret role” for the hilariously violent Amazon series. A little under a year later, Oswalt’s role was revealed when the first batch of season two episodes debuted on the streaming platform, and well, it was a choice.
While tripping on hallucinogenic mushrooms in episode two, Chace Crawford’s The Deep was forced to confront his tormented feelings over his gills, which now had a voice. Specifically, Oswalt’s. While sitting down with Polygon, Kripke opened up about how he was faced with a series of decisions over how to best animate The Deep’s talking gills, which he had a more colorful name for, and how he originally wanted the CGI fish lungs to be voiced by Helen Mirren. When that didn’t work out, Kripke turned to Oswalt, who had professed his love of the show, and got the wheels spinning.
“I started thinking, ‘Wouldn’t it be great if, like, one of Pixar’s most beloved characters was also the voice of The Deep’s mangina?’” Kripke said. But once Oswalt was in the pocket, Kripke was faced with a host of creative decisions. Via Polygon:
“There were a lot of fascinating questions,” Kripke notes. “How much should it spit? Should the gills all be moving in unison, or should they be saying different things at different times? Talking about a talking mangina is all very complicated.”
So far, Oswalt’s talking gills have only appeared in the second episode of the newest season, but we wouldn’t be surprised if the comedian’s voice pops up again down the road. Especially with The Deep’s journey focusing heavily on accepting his chest… mangina? That still doesn’t sound right.
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