View Entire Post ›

Dennis Rodman was the star of this week’s The Last Dance episodes, and as such it’s brought him back into the spotlight as a new generation is exposed to his exploits on and off the court.

The documetary itself was actually pretty tame when it came to exploring Rodman’s history. I was glad to see it offer a glimpse into the basketball genius he was, as he discussed how he worked to become the best rebounder in NBA history. It also touched on his off court antics, most notably his Vegas vacation that culminated in him not coming back on time and Michael Jordan dragging him to practice while Carmen Electra hid behind a couch.

The Last Dance isn’t just giving us great stories in the two hours it airs each Sunday, but it’s also leading to great stories being told on podcasts, radio, TV, and in print as players and media members from that era discuss what that team was like. The Rodman episodes have now brought out some great Rodman stories, like Carmen Electra saying they once went to the Bulls facility on an off day and “had sex all over the damn place.” His legendary partying has also come up, as Kendall Gill recalled a night out at a gentlemen’s club with Rodman in New York the night before the Nets played the Bulls in an appearance on the Bulls Talk podcast on NBC Sports.

“So, I end up leaving at about 12:30, which was kinda late for me, but I knew one of the girls there — actually I knew several of them. But one in particular, I said, ‘Listen, I’m gonna call you in the morning, I want to know what time Dennis left.’ So, I call her after shootaround and she goes, ‘He was there til 4, 5 in the morning.’ I was like, ‘Oh, he won’t be able to run with us tonight. We got him.’ So I got the scouting report, and I go back and I tell all of the fellas, ‘You know Dennis was hanging out,’ this and that.

“Dennis comes in that game, and I believe he had like 20 rebounds, man. Runs like a racehorse.” 

It’s a tremendous story and is one that tracks with just about everything else that’s every been said about Dennis. He was an unbelievable athlete and an unbelievable partier, and somehow had the stamina to do both when most can’t. Rodman was, truly, one of a kind, and while the documentary touches on that, there are countless stories of Rodman that are both hard to believe and, when put all together, make total sense.

With movie theaters across America shuttered due to social distancing measures, the release slate for major studios is still in disarray. Most movies have moved to fall releases, and the hope is that theaters will be reopened even if some distancing measures are necessary. Other smaller films, however, have taken different routes to see the light of day.

Pete Davidson‘s King of Staten Island, for example, is an unreleased film that will take a different route to moviegoer eyeballs. The film’s star, Davidson, as well as director Judd Apatow, announced on Monday that the movie would see a June release to on demand platforms. The film is loosely based off Davidson’s own life in the borough, including his comedy career and the death of his father in the terror attacks of September 11, 2001. The film also stars Marisa Tomei, Bill Burr, Bel Powley, and Apatow’s daughter, Maude.

The film was scheduled for mid-June theatrical run, but with the uncertainty about when movie theaters can safely re-open, Universal decided to move its release up a week and make it on demand only. King Of Staten Island was originally slated to premiere at SXSW, which was also canceled due to the pandemic earlier in 2020.

The announcement came via a YouTube video of a chat between Apatow and Davidson, which started with the latter announcing that he “quit doing drugs” during his quarantine, presumably to focus on his SNL music career. Apatow quipped that Davidson looked like he was “born to be stuck in a basement.”

Their video is more of a skit than anything. There’s a bit of confusion about what’s actually happening to the movie, and Davidson briefly suggests selling DVDs of it in Times Square before suggesting an on demand release. Apatow calls the studio, and it’s a go: June 12. There’s a bit of extended riffing about quitting drugs, and also a fun fact about Apatow punching up a Look Who’s Talking movie. It all makes a bit more sense if you watch the video above.

The move follows something that many movies in theaters at the time of shutdowns did to make the most of its box office potential. Movies like Disney’s Onward, which likely still has advertisements plastered somewhere around your city, were moved to on demand and later given an early release on Disney+ because the box office was completely shuttered. Other films like The Lovebirds will see a Netflix release rather than one in traditional box offices as well.

Prodigal Son (Fox, 9:00 p.m.) — The show’s season finale sees Malcolm unraveling as the mystery of the girl in the box begins to unravel and the Whitlys banding together to take down Nicholas Endicott.

9-1-1 (Fox, 8:00 p.m.) — The team tries to rescue a blind woman trapped inside a burning building while Athena’s routine call turns into something more sinister and Hen performs a risky procedure on the set of a TV cooking competition.

The Bachelor: Listen to Your Heart (ABC, 8:00 p.m.) — The couples must decide whether they want to pursue a relationship before pairing up to perform for the judges.

The Voice (NBC, 8:00 p.m.) — The show takes a look back at the road to the finals with key performances from the best the competition has had to offer.

Roswell, New Mexico (CW, 9:00 p.m.) — Michael tries to convince Maria to seek help in understanding her vision while Liz is hit with a surprise visit from her mother.

Breeders (FX, 10:00 p.m.) — Stress takes its toll on the family as Paul and Ally wait for news about Luke’s worsening condition.

Dispatches From Elsewhere (AMC, 10:00 p.m.) — The group sets out to solve one final mystery.

Songland (NBC, 10:00 p.m.) — Two time Grammy Award-winning R&B singer/songwriter H.E.R. drops by to hear the contestants’ original pitches for her new album.

“Saturday Night Live” aired its second “At Home” episode over the weekend where cast members cleverly shot their own segments from the comfort and safety of their own homes. Pete Davidson’s offering was a rap song, “Stuck in the House,” but Adam Sandler stole the show bit with his hilarious verse.

Stuck in the House – SNL

www.youtube.com

“Never go outside coz I might see my neighbor / Using both sides of my toilet paper” Sandler raps in a segment that also has him wearing underwear on his head and refusing to let fellow SNL-alum Rob Schneider in his house.

Pete Davidson may be the SNL cast member getting all the headlines these days, but in the video it’s plain to see this old cast member from the ’90s still has’t lost a step.

People experiencing homelessness are among the most vulnerable during the COVID-19 pandemic. Surviving often depends on being in densely populated areas where they can panhandle or use public facilities such as restrooms. These days, people aren’t out in public and many businesses with restrooms are closed.

Shelters have become breeding grounds for the virus so many unhoused people have been avoiding them to prevent themselves from getting sick.

The unhoused population also disproportionately suffers from lung disease, heart disease, hypertension, and cancer. These are all risk factors for experiencing the deadly symptoms of COVID-19.

Matthew and Jeremy Jason of Houston, Texas found an ingenious way to help the unhoused stay safe during the crisis. They are collecting yarmulkes, or kippahs as they’re known in Hebrew, and turning them into face masks and giving them to people experiencing homelessness.

They call their campaign “Kippahs to the Rescue.”

The idea came to Matthew during a religious observance.

Kippahs to the Rescue – Jeremy

www.youtube.com

“We were sitting down for Shabbat, thinking about COVID-19, and thought this would be a great way to help out,” Matthew told the JHV. “We knew there was a mask shortage, so we started our own production, tried making a couple, and then really launched into it.”

The Jason family had a large collection of yarmulkes they had received over the years. They are commonly handed out at Jewish events such as weddings and Bar Mitzvahs. The family then asked members of their congregation, Congregation Brith Shalom, to chip in and donate theirs as well.

A drive-thru collection box was set up at the temple for congregants to drop off their extra yarmulkes.

“I guess you can say we’ve stockpiled kippahs over the years,” said Matthew, 15, said. “We thought it would be a great time to be really productive with all of these. It’s been a real family effort.”

To convert the yarmulkes into face masks, the family first started sewing elastic bands on the sides. But they switched to using clips because it’s faster and the masks are just as strong. It takes about five minutes to make each mask.

“In less than a week we were able to collect enough of them to make 160 face masks,” said Matthew. “My parents, brothers and I worked very hard to sew elastic bands on them, and they were ready to be delivered by Friday.”

via Kippahs to the Rescue

Matthew and Jeremy had already been part of an organization that helps the local homeless population, Food Not Bombs, so it was easy for them to get the face masks to the people who need them.

According to its website, “Food Not Bombs is an all-volunteer movement that recovers food that would otherwise be discarded, and shares free vegan and vegetarian meals with the hungry in over 1,000 cities in 65 countries in protest to war, poverty, and destruction of the environment.”

The Jason family has collected nearly 700 yarmulkes and turned over 300 into face masks.

Everyone has a special skill, talent, or, in the Jason family’s case, collection, they can use to help the most vulnerable during the pandemic. The Jason family is a great example of people using their creativity and connections to find a unique way to help.

View Entire Post ›

The word “sequel” has become synonymous with “blockbuster” (seven of the 10 highest-grossing movies ever are sequels), so it’s always surprising to see how few sequels that Steven Spielberg, the “blockbuster king,” has directed over his decades-long career. Yes, there’s the Indiana Jones franchise and The Lost World, but E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial? No sequels. Jaws? Yes sequels, but Spielberg had nothing to do with them. His early 2000s run of A.I. Artificial Intelligence, Minority Report, and Catch Me If You Can? No sequels. The Goonies? Spielberg didn’t direct the original, he only has a “story by” credit, but: no sequel.

That being said, there’s been a near-constant chatter for a follow-up to the kid-friendly film ever since it came out in 1985. And during the first episode of Josh Gad’s “Reunited Apart” series, the Frozen star (virtually) brought together Sean Astin, Josh Brolin, Martha Plimpton, Corey Feldman, Ke Huy Quan, writer Chris Columbus, director Richard Donner, and Spielberg to raise money for charity. And Gad asked for an update on The Goonies 2.

“Chris [Columbus] and [Richard Donner] and I — and Lauren [Shuler Donner] — have had a lot of conversations about it. Every couple of years we come up with an idea, but then it doesn’t hold water,” Spielberg said on the livestream, which you can watch below. “The problem is the bar that all of you raised on this genre… I don’t think we’ve really successfully been able to find an idea that is better than The Goonies we all made in the ’80s, so until we do, people are just gonna have look at this [reunion] a hundred times.”

Who needs The Goonies 2 (The 2oonies?) when the Bob’s Burgers episode “The Belchies” already exists? There’s even a Cyndi Lauper song.

(Via SYFY)

With movie lovers trapped at home and in constant need of new entertainment, dropping 99 cents to watch Green Lantern on iTunes can start to seem like an enticing offer. Why not find out if the Ryan Reynolds superhero film is as bad as people (including Ryan Reynolds) say it is? It’s not like you have anything else to to do.

Fortunately, one brave Twitter user decided to ask Reynolds for advice before pulling the trigger on the cheap rental, and the actor didn’t mince words on what folks should do if they’re even thinking of watching Green Lantern: “Walk away.”

Of course, this news shouldn’t exactly come as a surprise to Deadpool fans. Reynolds spent time in the franchise mercilessly mocking his DC Comics role. In Deadpool 2, there’s even an end credits scene where Deadpool travels back in time and shoots Reynolds in the back of the head while he’s reading the Green Lantern script.

However, even Warner Bros. has been a good sport about mocking its failed attempt to launch a DC Cinematic Universe with Reynolds. Here’s a tweet that Warner Bros. sent to Reynolds ahead of Deadpool 2:

And here’s the one WB sent after watching the film:

As for what went wrong with the emerald space cop film, Reynolds spoke candidly about the filmmaking process in an interview with Entertainment Weekly in 2016, when he explained why Deadpool succeeded where Green Lantern didn’t:

“Well it’s simple: Deadpool always knew what it was,” Reynolds tells EW. “With Green Lantern, I don’t think anyone ever figured out exactly what it was. That isn’t to say the hundreds of men and women didn’t work their fingers to the bone to make it as good as poosible. It also fell victim to the process in Hollywood which is like poster first, release date second, script last. At the time, it was a huge opportunity for me so I was excited to try and take part in it.”

On an interesting note, Reynolds also said that before agreeing to star in Green Lantern, he wrote Fox a letter giving them one last chance to snatch him up for a Deadpool movie, which the studio obviously passed on. It took Fox a few more years to finally give Reynolds a chance as the Merc with a Mouth, and the rest is history.

(Via Ryan Reynolds on Twitter)

A Durant-produced documentary about Maryland’s Prince George County, a basketball hotbed in the DMV that has produced many successful NBA and WNBA players will premiere on May 15 on Showtime. The trailer for “Basketball County: In The Water” dropped Monday, and featured interviews with Durant, the Los Angeles Lakers’ Quinn Cook and a number of other players.

Since 2000, 25 NBA players, more than a dozen WNBA players and countless other elite college basketball talents have come out of Prince George County, making it one of the most productive areas in the country for elite basketball talent.

“You mention Prince George County, people know what it’s about,” former New York Liberty player Marissa Coleman said in the trailer. “It’s the Mecca of basketball.”

Durant and his manager and Thirty Five Ventures partner, Rich Kleiman, are listed as executive producers of the film along with Cook and Victor Oladipo of the Indiana Pacers. Durant, Oladipo and Cook are all “PG County” natives, along with five-time WNBA champion Rebekkah Brunson, Markelle Fultz of the Orlando Magic, Jeff Green and more.

“We’re pushing the community and the culture forward,” Durant said.

The documentary will dive into what makes the hoops culture in Prince George County so strong and explore how those from the area have navigated the path to the pinnacle of the basketball world.