Category: Worldwide

The Chainsmokers performed a benefit drive-in concert in the Hamptons this weekend, and it turned out the festivities spawned more than the humorous headline of Goldman Sachs’ CEO doing a DJ set. Video from the performance show that social distancing did not appear to be enforced, and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is upset. In fact, he promised the Department Of Health will investigate the event.

Sharing a video that shows attendees packed together in front of the stage, Cuomo tweeted, “Videos from a concert held in Southampton on Saturday show egregious social distancing violations. I am appalled. The Department of Health will conduct an investigation. We have no tolerance for the illegal & reckless endangerment of public health.”

New York health commissioner Dr. Howard Zucker sent a letter to Southampton Town Supervisor Jay Schneiderman yesterday, in which he expressed great dissatisfaction with the situation: “I am greatly disturbed by reports concerning the ‘drive-in’ concert held in your town this past weekend, which apparently involved thousands of people in close proximity, out of their vehicles, a VIP area where there was no pretense of a vehicle, and generally not adhering to social distancing guidance. I am at a loss as to how the Town of Southampton could have issued a permit for such an event, how they believed it was legal and not an obvious public health threat.”

Meanwhile, Schneiderman blamed the event’s organizers for what happened, telling the New York Post, “The cars weren’t going to be right next to each other. It was going to be like a checkerboard. The design met the guidance — it was a drive-in event. The organizer was supposed to make sure that people stayed in their square — they didn’t have enough security. […] I had conversations with the organizers making sure they were going to enforce the rules. It’s unfortunate that they allowed that to happen. […] I want to know why the town’s police did not break up the VIP area. I never would have permitted the event. The organizers will be cited for that.”

On Monday, Senate Republicans unveiled a fifth round of relief aid to help Americans combat the losses incurred by the COVID-19 pandemic. Dubbed the HEALS Act, the proposed spending package is a follow up to March’s CARES Act — which brought an expansion to Federal Unemployment benefits, a $1,200 stimulus check for qualifying Americans, and programs and loans to aide small and struggling businesses.

According to CNET, the Senate Republicans’ $1 trillion HEALS Act package is set to include a continuation of the enhanced federal unemployment benefits (albeit at an undisclosed but reduced rate from CARES’ $600), an additional stimulus check of $1,200, increased Paycheck Protection Program loans to help small businesses keep employees on the payroll, and additional money and incentives for reopening schools. But according to the Independent Restaurant Coalition, the HEALS act does not offer sufficient aid to the 500,000 independent restaurants and bars that are struggling to get by as a result of the pandemic, which equates to around 11,000,000 jobs nationwide.

“Look around your neighborhood: there’s a good chance one of your favorite restaurants or bars has closed forever. The longer Congress waits to deliver relief to independent restaurants, the more businesses risk permanently shuttering and wiping out at least 16 million jobs across the country,” begins a statement released by the IRC after Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell officially announced the stimulus plan on Monday, July 27th, noting that restaurants need direct relief rather than additional loans.

“The changes to the Paycheck Protection Program… are a good start, but independent restaurants don’t need another loan when we are accumulating more debt and taking more losses due to circumstances out of our control… we need immediate relief now.”

The statement — drafted and signed by José Andrés, Sean Brock, Tom Colicchio, Nina Compton, Gregory Gourdet, Will Guidara, Ivy Mix, Kwame Onwuachi, Nancy Silverton, Andrew Zimmern and scores of other premier chefs — points out that the restaurant industry has been the hardest hit as a result of countrywide closures, as lockdown orders make it hard for independent eateries to remain open and continue to pay their full staff of employees. As it stands, the HEALS Act is unlikely to pass. It’s already being met with pushback from Senate Democrats, but the clock is ticking. The CARES Act is set to expire on July 31st and the Senate is quickly approaching a recess scheduled for August 7th.

The annual San Diego Comic Con did the right thing this year and went 100% virtual, to comply with safety recommendations during our fun out-of-control pandemic. But was doing everything, from panels to trailer and news drops, entirely over Zoom as well-regarded by fans as doing it in person? Judging by some numbers dug up by Variety, absolutely not, not even with help from Keanu.

According to data supplied by social media analytics firm ListenFirst, everything was way, way, way down, despite the presence of numerous A-list talent talking about big movies and shows. ListenFirst claimed tweets that mentioned ComicCon@Home were down 95% from last year’s live brouhaha, with just 93,681 tweets vs. last year’s 1,719,000. Among those, tweets about the top 10 TV events were down 93%, while ones about the Top 5 movies were a staggering 99%.

YouTube views were even less promising. The panels all wound up online, but the average view count per panel was a paltry 15,000. As Variety pointed out, that’s twice as many who fit in the storied Hall H. On the other hand, even with the whole world granted access to big talks with big people, that’s…well, not terribly encouraging for future virtual Cons.

The best performing panel was, perhaps surprisingly, the one for The New Mutants, the cursed X-Men spin-off still scheduled for theatrical release next month, raking in 208,000 views since last week. That’s even far more than the TV champion, the panel for The Walking Dead, which nabbed 84,000 views.

One possible reason for such a law view count? No interaction. The panels may have occurred over Zoom, but they were dropped on YouTube, where fans couldn’t interact with creators and talent. There was also a dearth of panels from Lucasfilm and DC Films, and, for the most part, Marvel, aside from The New Mutants, from the Fox wing of the Marvel-verse, aside, as well as the documentary series Marvel 616. Indeed, the weekend’s biggest virtual fan event wasn’t at Comic Con but Zack Snyder debuting a short clip from the “Snyder Cut” of Justice League at an unrelated online event, which he did live, with plenty of fan interaction.

Granted, the reworked virtual version of SDCC had to be done with almost no time, and with interactive on-line technology still not close to the standards of in-person Cons. Considering America isn’t even close to the end of the first phase of Covid — to say nothing of any future phases — maybe everyone involved will have plenty of time to get it right next year, should large clumps of humanity still be unable to hang together indoors.

(Via Variety)

“Think about the honor of the opportunity,” B.A. Sheppard says in his viral video, which is the perfect way to think about things during this pandemic. His son is mowing the lawn and he seized the moment to remind us all of the importance of individuality and doing things not necessarily the “right way,” but the way that feels right for you.

“This young man coming toward me in this lawn mower, thats my son,” Sheppard says, smiling into the camera. “He’s cutting the grass and zig zagging all over the place. And you know what? Its perfectly fine. While I might have cut in a certain pattern, he’s doing his thing in the way that he wants to do it. And it’s totally okay. He is getting the grass cut. It may not be dad’s way, but he’s getting it done. And therein is the honor of the opportunity.”

Sheppard continues by saying that being able to give his son space where he can figure out how he wants to get things done is a great privilege. “As a young man, I don’t need him doing things exactly the way I did it,” he says. “Right now, it seems like he’s just cutting grass. But in my mind, because I know my son wants to be an engineer, I see his mind at work and I know that what he is producing now… it’s going to help him in the future.”

I walk to the beat of a different drummer, so Sheppard’s words are very personal to me. When I was fifteen, I started playing guitar and writing music. I knew I wanted to be a musician and there was no way anyone was going to talk me out of it. Learning that your son wants to make music for a living isn’t exactly what every parent wants to hear. But my parents always supported me. Always. The path I chose was not an easy one, but I knew it. I cannot imagine what it would have been like if my parents shamed me into working in an office or becoming a lawyer or doctor because that is what they wanted for me. I would have constantly been looking out the metaphorical window wondering what could have been. That is no way to live life.

My mother Ellie, 79, and my father Peter, who will be turning 81 years old this month, had the wisdom, patience and the compassion to stand behind me every step of the way. It’s the same way that this father sees his son. Sheppard concludes by giving us all a beautiful task. He challenges us to look for the honor in the opportunity of relationships that you have. I’m grateful to my parents for always supporting me and allowing me to march to that beat the way I wanted to. It allowed me to be the man I am today. For all the children out there, this video is an inspiration and reminder to find your path and not to live in the shadows of what others think you should do or be. Always, be yourself.

Major League Baseball’s opening night saw the Washington Nationals host the New York Yankees last Thursday, in what turned out to be a rain-shortened beginning to a pandemic-shortened season. To open the festivities in the otherwise empty Nationals Park, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the head of the National Institutes of Health, threw out the first pitch to a rather disastrous result, as the pitch scuttled well short and wide of the plate.

Ahead of that game, the president spoke on ESPN and claimed he would be throwing out the first pitch at a Yankees home game on August 15. However, according to the New York Times, neither the Yankees nor the White House had planned on him throwing out the first pitch on that date, as he was apparently incensed over Fauci getting the nod in Washington and decided to make that proclamation on his own.

There was one problem: Mr. Trump had not actually been invited on that day by the Yankees, according to one person with knowledge of Mr. Trump’s schedule. His announcement surprised both Yankees officials and the White House staff.

But Mr. Trump had been so annoyed by Dr. Fauci’s turn in the limelight, an official familiar with his reaction said, that he had directed his aides to call Yankees officials and make good on a longtime standing offer from Mr. Levine to throw out an opening pitch. But no date was ever finalized.

What resulted was a scramble drill from Yankees PR as well as the White House, with the result ultimately being Trump saying he had to cancel his appearance to throw out the first pitch due to needing to continue spending time on the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic that has killed over 140,000 Americans. In the end, Giancarlo Stanton’s response when asked about it of “That’s in August. We don’t need to worry about that right now,” turned out to be prescient — both in the swift cancellation by Trump and also the fact that baseball’s season lasting that long now seems in serious jeopardy amid an outbreak on the Miami Marlins.

The Times piece outlines the contentious relationship between Trump’s administration and Fauci, which has led to the nation’s top expert on epidemiology being marginalized at a time when the country has failed to mitigate the virus’ spread in the way nearly every other country has through sweeping national protocols and lockdowns.

Is Harrison, Arkansas truly America’s most racist town? It’s not like there are official statistics kept on such things, but the town of 13,000 in the Ozark Mountain region does have a reputation. According to the Arkansas Democrat Gazette, Harrison was the site of riots in the early 1900s that drove most of the Black population out. (Current demographics put the town at over 95% white, with less than 1% of the population being Black.) The Knights of the Ku Klux Klan and the white supremacist group Kingdom Identity Ministries are based in the area. The KKK uses a Harrison post office box for its mailing address, and its national director lives outside of town.

Though city leaders insist that the town’s reputation has been tarnished by a small group of people, there have been signs—literal signs—that white supremacist views aren’t that uncommon. One billboard in town in 2013 read “Anti-racist is a Code Word for Anti-White,” and another advertises “WhitePrideRadio.Com” and “AltRightTV.Com” with an image of a white family holding an American flag next to a cross and a message that says “For the Family.”

Yeesh.

Rob Bliss recently tested the waters in Harrison by holding up a Black Lives Matter sign where townsfolk drove by. The responses were…not surprising, unfortunately. But a note from one young person helped dilute the ugliness that simply standing and holding Black Lives Matter sign revealed.

Please be aware that the video contains racist slurs and profanity. Watch with discretion.

Holding a Black Lives Matter Sign in America’s Most Racist Town

www.youtube.com

Unless you were living under the illusion that racism no longer exists, or still think that “All Lives Matter” is an okay response to Black Lives Matter, or somehow missed the memo that Black Lives Matter does not now and has not ever meant that Black Lives Matter more than others, the responses are appalling. As one commenter pointed out, it almost comes across like a South Park episode with exaggerated caricatures of real people. Only these are real people.

Thank goodness for that young person at the end—wearing a mask, no less—offering encouragement and praise for his statement. All it take sometimes is one person to offer a ray of hope to help keep a movement moving forward in the face of resistance.

Just think, if this is the kind of racist abuse a white man takes just for making the simple statement that Black Lives Matter, imagine what Black people have to deal with. This racist garbage is why BLM exists in the first place. Be like Rob and stand strong in the face of hate, America.

Ryan Reynolds may get into fake fights with the likes of Hugh Jackman, but only nice people get into imaginary beefs. For proof that our current Deadpool is an upstanding human being, witness this: He took to Twitter to not only help a total stranger out, but also to personally offer a cash reward.

That person is one Mara Soriano, whose backpack, according to CBC, was stolen in Vancouver’s West End, when she was busy moving. The bag contained her iPad and Nintendo Switch, but much, much more importantly it held an item that’s irreplaceable: a custom-made Build-a-Bear teddy which contained an audio recording of her mother’s final message before she died of cancer.

“It just makes me feel devastated,” Soriano told CBC. “I’m absolutely crushed.”

Soriano’s mother, Marilyn, had recorded the message for her before going into hospice

Soriano said her mother recorded a message for her and had the audio put it in the bear shortly before going into hospice. “At hospice her voice was different. Much softer. Not the mom I grew up with,” Soriano said. “That bear is the last memory I have of her speaking in her normal voice.”

The message, as per Soriano: “She said that she loved me and she was proud of me and that she’ll always be with me.”

Soriano’s message was picked up by, among others, CBC journalist Deborah Goble, whose tweet was re-tweeted by one of movies’ biggest actors. “Vancouver: $5,000 to anyone who returns this bear to Mara. Zero questions asked,” Reynolds wrote. “I think we all need this bear to come home.”

If you have any leads, please help out.

(Via CBC)

These days, Dwayne Johnson basically has his pick of movie roles, from the charismatic action hero successfully making the transition to mute wrestling superstar in The Scorpion King to the star of anything he’s in these days. But in another timeline, one of Johnson’s breakout roles would have been an unexpected one. With an Instagram video posted over the weekend, Johnson reflected upon how he was considered by director Tim Burton for the role of Willy Wonka in the film that went on to star Johnny Depp as the candy factory owner from Roald Dahl’s children’s book.

The video that Johnson posted on Instagram was not from the 2005 film he was in the running for but the original 1971 theatrical release where Gene Wilder stars in the Willy Wonka role. That movie was called Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory, but despite focusing on slightly different aspects of the Dahl classic the plots are very similar. Depp’s Wonka, though, is significantly different from Wilder’s in a variety of ways, which is why it’s fascinating to consider that Johnson could have been Wonka if things had worked out differently.

“Some cool history – back in the early 2000’s, iconic director, Tim Burton had considered me to play Willy Wonka is his remake, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” Johnson wrote in the Instagram caption. “I remember thinking “HOLY SH*T, IM IN.”

The movie star noted that he had “no foundation of global box office strength or any real acting experience to even pull it off” at the time, and Depp was “the biggest star in the world at the time.” So it clearly wasn’t meant to be. It’s a reflection on the past more than a longing for Johnson, who noted that sharing the original with his children made him think back on what could have been but not as a way to regret the missed opportunity.

“The fact that Tim even considered me (albeit I’m sure he considered for all of 7 seconds:) sure meant a helluva lot to me as I was just breaking in to the business with no idea what the future had in store,” Johnson said. “I’ll always raise a glass to the dreams that don’t come true, because sometimes they’re the best thing that never happened.”

Johnson shared the posting using the #BigBrownBaldTattooedWonka, which is definitely also something that Depp could not have pulled off as Wonka. We’ll never know what a Tim Burton Wonka movie with Johnson in the main role would have looked like, but if they ever try to remake it again, we know at least one movie star who would love to take another crack at it with a bit more experience this time.

Sometimes the best new R&B can be hard to find, but there are plenty of great rhythm and blues tunes to get into if you have the time to sift through the hundreds of newly released songs every week. So that R&B heads can focus on listening to what they really love in its true form, we’ll be offering a digest of the best new R&B jams that fans of the genre should hear every Friday.

This week, Trey Songz is kicking things off with the music video for his prolific track “2020 Riots: How Many Times,” Queen Naija arrived with the visual for “Pack Lite” and lastly, Jacquees tapped in with Chris Brown for the BPace-directed video “Put In Work.” Check out the rest of the best new R&B music below.

Trey Songz — “2020 Riots: How Many Times”

Trey Songz has been one of greatest social justice voices since protests sparked across America over the police killing of George Floyd. The Grammy Award-nominated R&B singer translated what’s going on using his powerful vocals and putting it into song with his latest release “2020 Riots: How Many Times.” The music video is a depiction of what Black Americans are currently facing in 2020.

Queen Naija — “Pack Lite”

As Queen Naija is gearing up to release her debut album, she shared her latest single “Pack Lite” this week. The Oak-produced song takes direction from Erykah Badu’s “Bag Lady.” On the track, Queen Naija uses her dynamic voice to sing out a stern warning directed at her lover who may be giving off bad vibes. It’s the follow-up to her Wale-assisted single “Butterflies Pt. 2.”

Jacquees — “Put In Work” Feat. Chris Brown

When Jacquees and Chris Brown get together it’s always magic. The pair synced up again for Jac’s thunderous R&B track “Put In Work” that is strip club-ready. The music video was directed by BPace and features the self-proclaimed King of R&B singing to the object of his affection. Expect “Put In Work” to live on his upcoming album P.T.O.F: Vol. 1.

Ambré — “Slip” Feat. Beam

Off Ambré’s upcoming project Pulp (Director’s Cut), the talented singer-songwriter offers the introspective “Slip” featuring Beam. Her soothing voice makes this track everything it is and her words add into its relatability when it comes to dating. Though Ambré has become known for her work on Chloe x Halle’s Ungodly Hour track “Forgive Me” and Kehlani’s “Water” off It Was Good Until It Wasn’t, fans can expect more solo work from the singer herself.

Maad — Eventually Pt. 1 EP

Bubbling singer and DJ Maad delivered her sweetly packed 6-song EP Eventually Pt. 1 this week as the follow-up to 2017’s Technicolor project. Maad’s lively voice paints all the emotions one may go through at various stages of a romantic relationships. From the EP’s sparkling self-titled opener to the soulfully energetic vibe “Get By” as the closer, Eventually is a danceable R&B dream.

Davy Boi — “Do Myself Better”

It’s been over a year since Davy Boi released some music and this week he’s coming through 2020 with a new vibe titled “Do Myself Better.” It’s a self-love anthem to a happy beat that perhaps everyone could use right now. “Tryna, tryna keep my sh*t together / Gotta, gotta do myself better,” he warmly croons on the healing track. “I know other people are experiencing feelings of not being the best versions of themselves, so I wanted to give a voice to that and say, ‘Hey, you’re not alone,” Davy Boi said of the song via email. “Same here.”

Joel — “Well Done”

Toronto’s own Joel added his latest track “Well Done” as a bonus song to his previously released project Grunge Gospel. He wrote the track in remembrance of his grandmother Loretta who passed away because of COVID-19 earlier this year. The song lives as a tribute to her legacy.

Check out this week’s R&B picks, plus more on Uproxx’s Spotify playlist below.

The COVID-19 pandemic has taken hundreds of thousands of lives and devastated the global economically. However, there have been a few positive unintended environmental consequences created by the virus.

Reports show there has been a significant reduction in climate-change creating greenhouse gasses in the first half of 2020. A newly-released report has found that human-generated noise pollution is down by up to 50% as well.

The research published in the journal Science was led by Dr. Thomas Lecocq and Dr Koen Van Noten of the Royal Observatory of Belgium in Brussels and involved 76 authors from 66 institutions in 27 countries.

Seismologists believe this period may be the quietest since humans have been able to measure noise pollution and have dubbed it the “anthropause.”

These scientists measure seismic waves to detect earthquakes and volcanic activity, but have to consider in the rumble of human activity caused by traffic, construction, and even sporting events, to get accurate information.

via Science

To assess the reduction in human-generated noise pollution, the researchers looked at 268 seismic stations around the world and found that 69% of them showed “showed significant reductions in human-caused noise.”

The researchers also noticed a wave of sound reduction that began in China, then moved towards Western Europe, mirroring the progress of COVID-19 earlier this year.

“We were able to clearly link reductions in activity with lower seismic noise readings,” Professor Martha Savage, a geology academic from New Zealand’s Victoria University of Wellington who was involved in the study, said according to Vice.

The change in the global audio-environment revealed that human-generated noise pollution travels much further into the Earth than previously thought. A a seismometer placed 380 meters underground near Auckland, New Zealand showed that activity had been reduced by 50% during lock down.

via Science

The changes in global noise pollution due to COVID-19 highlight a growing global problem. Studies show that humans who live or work in loud environments are more susceptible to high blood pressure, heart disease and low birth weight.

“What we’re doing to our soundscape is littering it. It’s aural litter—acoustical litter—and, if you could see what you hear, it would look like piles and piles of McDonald’s wrappers, just thrown out the window as we go driving down the road,” Les Blomberg, the founder and executive director of the Noise Pollution Clearinghouse, told the New Yorker.

A study by the WHO found that noise pollution in western Europe leads to the annual loss of “at least one million healthy years of life.”

Research on the effect of noise pollution on the animal kingdom is in its infancy stages but preliminary work shows it to be a threat to the survival of countless species. For example, fish larvae are able to find their homes through the sounds of coral reefs, this can be disrupted by noise pollution.

Owls and bats use acoustic signals to locate prey which can be disrupted by noise generated by human activity. The ubiquity of noise pollution has caused some species to relocate to live in quieter environments, effecting the biological richness that is vital to the ecological health of the planet.

The COVID-19 pandemic has been unquestionably devastating for humanity. But if there is a silver lining to be found in the crisis, it’s that it’s given us a vision of the world that is healthier for the entire animal kingdom.

Hopefully, this vision can will be taken into consideration by those in power as we rebuild the world when the virus subsides.