Category: Worldwide

Around the country, COVID-19 cases are spiking yet again as the United States deals with record numbers of positive cases as the pandemic continues on into its ninth month. The federal response to the pandemic has continued to be a general refusal to issue anything approaching nationwide mandates, leaving the decision to individual state governors and legislatures, who have by in large approached the public health crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic divided across partisan lines.

In Michigan, governor Gretchen Whitmer has introduced the return of various restrictions in the state to once again try to slow the spread of the virus, including closing high schools, movie theaters, and indoor dining as we continue the cycle of imposing, lifting, and imposing restrictions again.

As has been the case for the entirety of 2020, the response to those mandates has been split with plenty of people being very vocal against the restrictions on gatherings. Kelly Stafford, the wife of Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford, is apparently among those as she went on a Instagram Live tirade in which she likened living in Michigan to a “dictatorship” because of the restrictions.

Unsurprisingly, not long after, she issued an apology noting she was just heated in the moment and loves living in Michigan.

In Michigan, like most other states, they are currently dealing with a record number of cases each week, with Thursday bringing 7,592 more cases and 134 deaths, with last week setting a fifth straight weekly record at 44,019 cases, per the Detroit News. The frustrations with public health mandates and restrictions on gatherings and dining have been consistent throughout the pandemic, in part due to the fact that when those restrictions are successful, they appear to be overreactions because case counts stay low. There has been an undoubted financial toll on workers and business owners across most all businesses during this period, particularly in the service and food industries that have opened and closed numerous times. It has been a disaster for small businesses and the working class, and the anger is undeniably justified.

The righteous fury tends to be misguided against mandates rather than towards the lack of federal response, however, particularly in the form of financial compensation to help float businesses and workers so that there aren’t the massive losses of jobs and businesses that we’ve seen. From the beginning, the pandemic response has been inconsistent and mismanaged, failing to provide for those who need it and the result is a ninth month of the restriction rollercoaster, with no end in sight until a vaccine comes available, because that’s just about all state governments are capable of doing.

In two months, Donald Trump will be out of the White House but, at the last minute, it looks like we may have found the best, if not the most unusual, impression of him out there.

Stand-up comedian James Austin Johnson has been impersonating the president since he was elected, but it wasn’t until recently he figured out the right approach. Trump is such an over-the-top character in real life that he’s tough to spoof.

“When he first got elected and I was playing with the voice in 2016, 2017, it would show my sort of left-wing anger a lot. I would be like, ‘We’re going to kill everybody. We’re blowing up everybody’s houses I don’t like,'” Johnson told Vanity Fair. “I’d be more openly racist and homophobic as Trump.”

However, that didn’t seem to connect with audiences.

Johnson was raised as a conservative Christian in Tennessee, so he took his intimate knowledge of Trump supporters and used that to help shape his impersonation.

“Trump manages to uncomplicate the world for a lot of people. They don’t give a shit about, he fucks porn stars and he fucks around on his wife. They don’t care about any of his earthly sins,” he told Discourse Blog.

“He repeats their own values back to them. And all they want to see is their values reflected in the world,” Johnson continued. “The fact that we don’t all see Trump in the same light could be a reason for why a lot of the Trump comedy doesn’t hit.”

So instead, he focused on Trump the “bullshitter.”

“Whenever I ramble in that Trump voice, I’m hoping to just sort of subtly illustrate, like, this guy just has no idea what he’s talking about,” Johnson said. “He just talks out of his ass and he’s pure Americana. He is confidence without substance. He gives voice to that angry confidence and he doesn’t have to be right.”

Johnson went viral for a lo-fi video he did of Trump discussing the music and career of “Weird Al” Yankovic. The impression is great because he masterfully recreates Trump’s rambling style while speaking passionately about something pretty pointless.

Which is a lot of what Trump does at his rallies.

Another popular video is trump discussing Scooby-Doo.

“Scooby-Doo, they call him Scooby-Doo. They call the show Scooby-Doo. But Scooby doesn’t do anything. Scooby is not involved,” Johnson, as Trump, said in an August video. “Half the time Scooby is not involved. He’s just a bystander. It’s one of the worst deals we’ve ever had.

“Scooby, frankly, gets much too much attention, money,” Johnson said later in the video. “We’re giving way too much attention to Mr. Scooby.”

While a lot of comedians focus on the ’80s womanizing version of Trump, Johnson sees him as an old many with terrible sinuses.

“I tend to hover around Rally Trump, and there’s absolutely no rehearsal there. I pick a pop-culture topic, usually something that is an actual opinion I actually hold,” he said.

Johnson, an avid gamer, also did a hilarious video as Trump conflating his election day performance with Pokemon.

Johnson believes the key to doing Trump is to be as unrehearsed as the president. “I think I might have written out a couple of things a couple of times, and I just noticed that those wouldn’t take off online and it was missing some mojo of what makes Trump Trump,” he said.

“Trump is not written out, and he’s not rehearsed,” he said.

The Oklahoma City Thunder are continuing their incredibly busy offseason, with a new report indicating that the team is in conversations with the Golden State Warriors on a deal involving one of their recently-acquired players. According to Shams Charania of The Athletic, the Thunder are conversing about a deal that would send Kelly Oubre Jr. to the Bay Area.

The news of a deal was confirmed by Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.

The Thunder got Oubre in the deal that saw Chris Paul join the Phoenix Suns. While the soon-to-be 25-year-old wing does theoretically fit the Thunder’s timeline as a rebuilding team, he is coming off of a season in which he was incredibly productive, averaging a career-high 18.7 points and 6.4 rebounds in 34.5 minutes per game. He also connected on 35.2 percent of his attempts from three, which also served as a career-best mark.

It is unclear what the Warriors would send back in this sort of deal, but the last 24 hours have been rather hectic for the team. In more somber news, Klay Thompson suffered a torn achilles, which is slated to keep him out for the entirety of the 2020-21 season. Golden State did have a good night in the NBA Draft, though, acquiring Memphis center James Wiseman with the No. 2 overall pick and selecting former Arizona guard Nico Mannion in the second round.

Good news, Eminem fans: You can now live where the Detroit rap legend used to live for less than $4 million. According to WCRZ, the “Lose Yourself” rapper’s former Oakland County home went up for sale recently, and while there are undoubtedly Eminem stans who would pay way more for it — they get him tattooed on every square inch of their available epidermis, after all — the owners are letting it go for only $3.75 million.

Of course, Eminem hasn’t lived there for about three years after selling it to the current owners in 2017. He originally bought the place in 2003 and WCRZ’s photos of the property even include Em’s old cars. It’s got six bedrooms, 10 bathrooms (!), wood floors, a hot tub, and a three-car garage on 17,500 square feet. There’s even a tennis court, although Eminem freely admits boxing is more his sport — and he’s not even very great at that.

This isn’t the first time Eminem’s former property was in the news this year. In May, it was reported Matthew Hughes, a 26-year-old Eminem superfan, was arrested for trespassing at the mansion looking for his hero — after Hughes had been arrested for breaking into Em’s current residence and confronting him face-to-face. Fortunately, nothing bad happened; Em called the cops, who promptly arrived and took Hughes into custody, turning up his previous attempts to contact Em in the process.

However, maybe the pressure of having crazed Stans pop up at the property at all hours has convinced the current owners of the Oakland County home to move on. More details are available at XXL.

While promoting his turn in HBO’s The Undoing, father of the year Hugh Grant shared his secret to making sure his kids fully appreciate his Oscar-worthy performance in Paddington 2. In what is (maybe?) a fictitious anecdote, Grant explained to Seth Meyers how he forces his unruly urchins to respect his work in the sequel after they weren’t exactly thrilled with their first viewing, which came as a shock to Grant as he considers the film to be “kind of a masterpiece.”

“I set up a special screening for them. That takes a whole cinema, I have hundreds of children. I got them in there and they pretty much hated it,” Grant told Meyers. “They kept whispering to me, ‘Why are you in it so much?’ I make them like it now. They have to watch it every night and tell me how good I am, otherwise they don’t get fed.”

That’s one way to do it! You can watch Grant talk all things Paddington 2 with Meyers below:

Jokes aside, Grant genuinely appreciates starring in Paddington 2, and he doesn’t think that’s a low point in his career despite some of the jokes he saw in the media following its release. In fact, he thinks it’s the best film he’s ever made. Via Vanity Fair:

“I was presenting I think at the Golden Globes, and they do that thing when you walk out, and they say, ‘From the forthcoming Paddington 2, Hugh Grant.’ And someone showed me Twitter afterwards, and it was…people were full of derision. ‘Christ, has it come to that. Poor old Hugh. Paddington 2. Sequel to a kids film.’” Grant smiles a bit ruefully. “It’s particularly annoying in the case of Paddington 2, because I genuinely believe it may be the best film I’ve ever been in.”

We’d have to agree, and not because Hugh Grant threatened to starve us.

(Via Late Night with Seth Meyers)

The biggest player option decision this offseason was in the hands of Gordon Hayward, who had to decide between picking up his $34.1 million option with the Celtics or entering free agency as one of the best players on the market — but on a market that has very few teams with significant cap room.

The two teams with significant cap space this offseason are the Hawks and Knicks, who, unsurprisingly have now been tied having interest in Hayward. The latest report from Marc Stein of the New York Times indicates the Knicks have been “aggressive” in their pursuit of the wing and may be poised to lead the chase for him if he enters free agency.

It should be noted that Ian Begley offered some further reporting, indicating that the Knicks use of their draft picks on Wednesday may point to them having cooled some on Hayward, although they did clear massive amounts of room earlier on Thursday by declining team options and letting the likes of Taj Gibson and Bobby Portis walk.

Even with the Knicks drafting Obi Toppin and Immanuel Quickley, Hayward could still fill a significant need on the wing for a New York squad that could desperately use a solid defender in that spot as well as some on-ball creation. Just before the 5 p.m. ET deadline, word emerged that Hayward was indeed declining his option and would become a free agent.

That would put the Knicks and Hawks at the front of the line for Hayward, with New York apparently having significant interest in the wing.

Everyone loves My Cousin Vinny, the 1992 courtroom comedy that won Marisa Tomei her Oscar and unleashed Joe Pesci’s Brooklynese upon the deep South. But some enjoy it more than others. Take Rudy Giuliani, personal attorney to outgoing president Donald Trump and the chief figure in his still ongoing attempts to claim, without evidence, widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election. During his latest spluttering press conference on Thursday, the former mayor of New York City said a number of alarming and/or surreal things. Among those was a random and lengthy treatise on the greatness of My Cousin Vinny.

Mere hours after the incident, one of the chief architects of the film has responded. Reached by The Hollywood Reporter for comment, director Jonathan Lynn had a witty retort: “I regard Giuliani’s praise of My Cousin Vinny as generous from the man who is currently giving the Comedy Performance of the Year.” (On top of directing that film, as well as Clue, he was also the co-creator of the classic British comedies Yes, Minister and Yes, Prime Minister, so he’s no stranger to finding the ridiculousness in politics.)

Giuliani’s presser didn’t reach the cosmically weird levels of the instantly notorious Four Seasons Total Landscaping debacle, but not for lack of trying. On top of his George Costanza-esque fulminating on My Cousin Vinny, he also sweated so bad that black goo — his hair dye, one hopes — started running down the side of his face. All in all, a very Mad Libs-y time we’re living in. And, it seems, it’s still far from over.

(Via THR)

The Princess Switch: Switched Again (Netflix film) — Once again, Vanessa Hudgens is dealing with a switcheroo as Duchess Margaret. She’s unexpectedly inherited the Montenaro throne while having relationship troubles, so it’s time for the lookalike(s) to help sort things out. Clearly, people love these movies, so one might as well roll with it.

Supernatural (CW, 8:00pm EST) — Get ready for a two hour event, including cast interviews along with the final ride for the most enturing sci-fi series in the United States.

The Unicorn (CBS, 9:30pm EST) — Walton Goggins is still crushing his Widower Wade role while juggling his dating life (now with Shannon, played by Justified co-star Natalie Zea), along with helping with algebra and other daughter-related matters.

Station 19 (ABC, 8:00pm EST) — The firefighter drama’s dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic in Seattle, which is causing relationship strain for Maya and Carina and adds to sobriety struggles for Sullivan.

Grey’s Anatomy (ABC, 9:00pm EST) — The new COVID-19 reality continues for the Grey Sloan crew as a stubborn patient digs in his heels. Elsewhere, interns are running amuck, and Maggie is seeking comfort.

Star Trek: Discovery (CBS, 10:00pm EST) — An unwelcome visitor messes up an attempt for the U.S.S. Discovery crew to finally let their hair down and party.

The Late Show With Stephen Colbert — LL Cool J, Dave Grohl and Foo Fighters

Jimmy Kimmel Live — Kristen Stewart, Mike Tyson, Zac Brown Band.

The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon — Sarah Paulson, Henry Golding, Car Seat Headrest

The Late Late Show With James Corden –Marc Maron, Royal Blood

Next-gen console season is upon us, and the standard problems that come with new machines from Sony and Microsoft are also here. Namely, that too many people want new consoles for demand to meet, which makes for a lot of angry folks online each time consoles become available.

The latest instance of online outrage came on Thursday, as Walmart once again promised more consoles coming on the market. Unless you got a preorder (or a review copy) it may be a struggle to find a console in stores, which is why many have taken to online ordering to find a new Xbox or PlayStation 5. But unfortunately, the same problems emerged among frustrated gamers who got all the way to the “place order” part of buying a console before discovering thing Walmart was out of stock.

And much like when sneakerheads take Ls on the SNKRS app, gamers quickly turned the latest missed opportunity on a new console into a meme of its own.

Even the Iron Sheik is fed up.

It’s important to note that this scarcity is temporary, and there are exactly zero games currently on the market that cannot be played on the last-gen consoles. But newer is better, and there’s certainly a lot of interest among gamers in hunkering down this winter with the latest in tech. It’s just a lot harder to do it than they’d like.

The CDC is now recommending that all Americans avoid traveling for the holidays and advising that people not attempt to meet up with family members outside of their households this Thanksgiving, CNN reports. So if you were entertaining the idea of traveling this Thanksgiving, whether you were going to hop on a plane or pack up the car, the CDC’s message is simple: Please, don’t. In addition to the Thanksgiving travel advisory, the CDC has also updated its travel safety guidelines for the holiday season as a whole, including tips on how to safely use public transportation, visit public bathrooms, rest stops, get gas, visit hotels, and protocols to follow when stopping for food.

In a conference call with reporters, the CDC also warned families that returning college students and other loose household members pose a risk and should be treated with extra precautions.

“People who have not been living in your household for the 14 days before you are celebrating should not be considered members of your household and so you should take those extra precautions, even wearing marks within your own home,” says Dr. Erin Sauber-Schatz, the CDC’s lead for Community Intervention and Critical Population Task Force.

The CDC is also worried about multiple generations of family members mixing, as 40% of COVID-19 carriers are asymptomatic and suggests family members who do meet should continue to wear masks together and hold gatherings outside whenever possible. According to recent numbers from Johns Hopkins University, over 250,000 people in the United States have died from COVID-19 with over 11.5 million people diagnosed with the virus since the pandemic’s start.