GoneTrending

Entourage creator Doug Ellin is rolling with the punches after he mistakenly lashed out at a satirical article that proposed several “sensitivity” changes to the bro-heavy HBO series.

The piece was written by Max Davison for McSweeney’s, which should have immediately tipped off Ellin, who is apparently not familiar with the comedy site. The satirical column acts as a missive from HBO on how to update Entourage to reflect more current sensibilities:

Entourage was very much a product of its time, and 2011 was an entirely different chapter in this nation’s history. We have since undergone vast shifts in our views on women, race, and Ed Hardy. We don’t want modern audiences to have to confront this potentially offensive content or wonder how this show, an unironic love letter to douchebags, was ever considered worthy of being broadcast on HBO.

After perusing the piece, Ellin flipped out on either Davison and/or the Twitter account for “Timothy McSweeney,” who is not a real person by the way.

“You are very much a product of your time, you revisionist hack,” Ellin tweeted. “Talentless nobodies like you speak on twitter and then your zombie friends at shitty newspapers, that nobody reads anymore reprint your trash. Tell president Obama and the nytimes how offensive we were. Those who try to rewrite history are offensive. And dangerous. And Spielberg already regrets touching ET. Anyway, f*ck you. Oh we got a Peabody and a bafta too, ya loser.”

Like we said, Ellin went off. His rant quickly caught the attention of Davison, who let the Entourage creator know that the whole piece is satire.

“Doug, I wrote this piece. It’s satire,” Davison responded. “It’s taking sensitivity readings to the extreme of editing shows from 15 years ago. The ET joke was quite intentional. I’ve always wondered what it would be like to have Ari Gold scream obscenities at me. Now I know.”

To Ellin’s credit, he retweeted Davison’s response and even seemed to appreciate the Ari Gold joke.

The Entourage creator then proceeded to own his mistake. “I’m not a very strong reader,” he replied to a different user who pointed out that the McSweeney’s piece is satire.

After Ellin’s blowup made it into The Hollywood Reporter, he ended the debacle with some sage advice to others: “Don’t tweet on edibles.”

(Via Doug Ellin on Twitter)

Ask again in about 10 days what Barry was all about, but the idea of love keeps coming up, and not in a chocolates and sonnets kind of way. Does Sally love Barry, or is it about the feeling of security that he provides in the absence of literally any other person in her life that’s supportive or sane? Did Barry love Gene and the idea of being an actor or is he just an empty, rudderless killing machine in search of programming?

The show kinda hates real love. Janice and Gene’s relationship had to end in tragedy, ditto Hank and Cristobal’s. I don’t think we’re heading for a Mary Tyler Moore Show group hug before the end credits with this one, fam.

The toxicity of one relationship is particularly fascinating for the damage inflicted as both characters — Barry and his former handler turned rival turned ally turned rival Fuches — refuse to let go of the electrified chain that connects them. “Cycles of revenge” is a phrase Stephen Root used when we spoke a few weeks ago about the messed-up love of Barry and Fuches. As has been proven time and time again, it doesn’t seem like these two are ever going to be able to let this thing go, though a series finale might bring some clarity.

Below, Root and I talk about this union of pain, Fuches’ killer tattoos, envying the character’s clarity, what makes him such a magnetic force, and his favorite moment from the show that he absolutely views as meme-worthy.
I don’t know of another TV show that I’ve seen in recent memory that has been so clearly driven by, “What’s the right choice for the show,” and so this endpoint (after four seasons) makes sense.

Yeah, it does. It does to me, and the fact that he (Bill Hader) directed all the episodes this year, he’s got a clear and precise vision of exactly how it should end, and I completely agree with where he went with it.

Part of the bonus this season, getting to finally show the world all of your tattoos that are naturally on your body. Those are real, right?

(Laughs) Oh, absolutely. I have them in real life, of course. Of course, I do. Yeah, that was an ordeal. Our makeup person actually created all those himself. They’re appliques that actually don’t take that long; probably about an hour, hour-ten at the most. Like everything else, it’s almost harder to take things off than to put them on.

Spiritually for you, because of how closely you felt in line with the character, right? Like, it was hard for you to remove them, is what you’re saying, right?

That’s right because then I didn’t feel like I was me anymore.

It’s like you’re naked.

I’m naked! I’m naked! Oh my god! (Laughs)

It’s always been so fascinating to me, the sort of tractor beam hold that your character has on Barry, and that Barry’s character has on your character.

Well, what interested me that he revealed in this season, at least to the audience, is that we’ve known each other a lot longer than you thought. I didn’t just pick him out of the army and make him a hitman, I’ve known him since he was seven years old, playing army in the dirt. And his love, of course, comes from that longevity of knowing each other.

Barry’s love, or Fuches’s love?

Fuches’s love for Barry, which is why I think, no matter what happens, and no matter how much Fuches wants to kill Barry at any particular time, the overwhelming love that he has for him will always win in the end. I think Fuches is damaged in the revenge part of his psyche. He can’t get out of that. It’s a cycle, it’s a cycle, it’s a cycle. Even if, like in season three, he’s in an idyllic situation with a girlfriend, and living in a beautiful place, and he sees the newspaper talking about what Barry did and it’s like, “Got to go!” So, no matter what, he’s going to keep going in and out of that revenge cycle. But, does it affect his love for Barry from the bottom of his soul? No.

I was going to say, is the love a driving part of the revenge, the hurt of it?

Yeah, you’ve hurt me. You’re not doing what I want. I’m what’s best for you, and you’ve hurt me by not doing it. And that’s how we start the first season, and that’s how we’re ending in the last season. You’re not doing what I want you to do, and you’re hurting me. So, Fuches is hurt.

Is it a proximity thing also? He just has to be near Barry. I don’t even know if it’s a subconscious thing of trying to fix him even when he’s trying to kill him. It’s such an interesting dynamic.

Yeah. That’s true, too. I hadn’t thought about that, but yeah, I think there is a need to be near him so that he can impose his will upon him, and it has to be in his presence. I think that’s a good observation.

Do you judge Fuches and his actions, and do you root for him to win out or to face consequences?

To be reformed? (Laughs)

Yeah.

I see him as non-reformable. I think he’s just as damaged as Barry is through different circumstances, and I think he will continue to repeat his actions throughout eternity until he is taken out. So, I don’t think he’s redeemable. I don’t think he thinks he’s a bad person. He thinks he’s a good person that can help you, but again, that’s his world to live in; round and round revenge.

Is it refreshing to have the clarity to play a character that you know isn’t redeemable?

There is, because he believes in himself totally, and you see in this season him actually saying to himself, “I’ve found myself. I know what I am. I’m a killer. I’m okay with it. I’m fine with it now.” And he hadn’t been. I think he had felt guilty about it. By the end of the season, he does not feel guilty about it. He is relaxed and ready to get on with his life.

I find myself envying that kind of clarity; not to reach that end, as a killer. I’m not going to acknowledge that part on a taped call…

(Laughs) Yeah, yeah, no.

Do you envy that clarity?

Sure. I think anybody would. To actually know what you wanted to do in life finally, and he finally was like, “I know what I want to do. I don’t care how I get there doing it, and it’s fine with me.” But it’s, I think, applicable to if you find something that you love to do, i.e. acting for me, or taking pictures for a photographer, then it’s not work anymore, you know? Just the love of doing what you do. So, if you find that early, that’s the best.

Is that confidence that comes from that clarity part of the appeal of what makes him such an effective Svengali kind of character, where he can just get people to latch onto him and kind of fall in line and be soldiers for him?

Yeah, confidence is part of it, but the majority of it is being able to take a beating and still not rat out anybody, and that’s what you see in the prison scene, is this engenders respect, and respect engenders power for him. Because once he feels the respect and he feels like the man, then he is the man.

I thought, at the banquet table, with everyone gathered around (in episode 6), you’re almost verklempt over the family, and having a family. That’s such a powerful moment. And yet, the Barry thing still looms. Even then Fuches can’t be happy.

No. Can’t do it.

He has the family dynamic, but still can’t let it go.

I think there’s no possible way he can get out of that cycle. But, yes, he is (verklempt). I think that’s a thing for him. He’s never had one. He has had other people have it, and he’s gotten to be close to it, but he’s never had it, and this is just extremely fantastic for him. Plus the fact that it was so easy to do. “Let’s see, I’ll stop by the baristas, get a girlfriend, and then the girlfriend will have a daughter, and I have a family.” Very easy for him.

But it’s still not as good as Barry.

No. Still not as good as Barry, and still jealous of Barry, and will still love Barry until the end of time.

What is your favorite scene that you’ve played with this show?

It probably has to be the Ronny/Lily episode.

“What are you?!” That’s my favorite.

What are you?! Yeah, that little girl (Jessie Giacomazzi) was just fantastic. I mean, she is the daughter of a stunt performer, and she can do amazing things, but she was a tremendous actor as well as a stunt person. I mean, you believed every word and every piece of furniture that she threw at anybody, and her leaping. She was just amazing! And shooting that episode was so hard because it’s a lot of intricate stunts, car work, even the biting of the cheek.

We went through an enormous amount of ways to do that until finally Bill said, “Just do it!” Boom. And there we were, and then that was the take. Yeah, that was probably the most fun to do, because it was a day of driving and stuff that I didn’t know I was doing, and I did it, and we had a great, great time.

That’s funny. I watch so much television that some of it just seeps into my brain and sometimes I’m reading the news or watching something, and I come back to the, “What are you?!” moment. Not when I’m reading the best stories. I’m not going to get political. You understand what I’m saying.

(Laughs) I understand what you’re saying.

It comes to mind a lot.

I don’t understand why it’s not a meme! (Laughs)

It should be! We’re going to make it a meme. We’re going to put it in the article. I promise.

There you go. Let’s put it out there. If we put it out there, it’ll happen.

The final season of ‘Barry’ continues Sundays at 10PM ET on HBO

Hopscotch Music Festival has unveiled their new lineup ahead of their annual September 7 to 9 run in Raleigh, North Carolina. And fans have a lot to look forward to!

Pavement, Japanese Breakfast, Denzel Curry, King Krule, Margo Price, and Dinosaur Jr. are among the top-billed acts that are set to perform this year.

Other acts on the lineup include Soccer Mommy, Sunny Day Real Estate, Alvvays, Digable Planets, Sarah Sherman of SNL, American Football, Mild High Club, and many more. Throughout the festival’s run for over a decade, they have truly delivered in terms of getting a wide-range of acts and some fun higher-profile additions.

The fest is currently offering two passed options for all three days: GA and VIP. General admission starts at $129 and includes access to any late-night sets held around Raleigh. Meanwhile, VIP costs $375 and includes late-night priority access, pre-show parties, a VIP lounge access, and a special “swag bag,” according to their official website.

Additionally, as the stages are all-ages, kids that are 12 and under can attend for free. Age restrictions of 18 and 21+ will be in place for the night shows around the city, though.

Tickets for Hopscotch are on sale now. More information can be found here.

Netflix launched their Unsolved Mysteries revival back in 2020, and although the episodes aren’t in as plentiful supply as the Robert Stack-hosted original series, the hope was that the Internet age’s penchant for sleuthing could still help this show do a lot of good. Episodes currently sign off with an invitation for tips at Unsolved.com, and for sure, the tips soon flowed into view. Co-creator and executive producer Terry Dunn Meurer quickly disclosed that thousands of tips soon materialized for various cases, and the show also dumped a trove of additional evidence onto Reddit to help the cause.

Granted, a lot of these tips are guaranteed to not be credible, but for the case of a missing young girl from Illinois, a cold case has been cracked. On Twitter, Netflix announced that Kayla Unbehaun was spotted in North Carolina several years after her non-custodial mother abducted her, and she will soon be on the way home to her father.

The Unsolved Mysteries account further revealed that Kayla’s mother, Heather, has been arrested. PEOPLE now reports that Kayla’s thrilled father will soon reunite with his 15-year-old daughter, who he hasn’t seen since age 9. The outlet also passes on his statement as made to the The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children:

“I’m overjoyed that Kayla is home safe,” Unbehaun’s father Ryan Iserka said in a statement, shared via the NCMEC organization. “I want to thank [the Elgin, Ill., police and fire departments], the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children and all of the law enforcement agencies who assisted with her case. We ask for privacy as we get to know each other again and navigate this new beginning.”

Netflix is currently streaming three seasons of Unsolved Mysteries revival, with some spooky options and hopefully with more to come.

(Via Netflix on Twitter & PEOPLE)

One of my favorite tropes in hip-hop is when an artist gets another artist to do the intro on their project. For example: Missy Elliott’s 1997 debut Supa Dupa Fly, which opens with “Busta’s Intro” featuring Busta Rhymes. It’s a bold move; the first voice fans hear is someone other than the principal artist. But it also gives fans a chance to get to know that artist through another artist’s eyes.

Summer Walker’s new EP, Clear 2: Soft Life, does this, opening with “To Summer, From Cole (Audio Hug)” featuring J. Cole. Over a mellow, piano-driven soul beat, Cole ruminates on the duo’s burgeoning friendship, congratulating Walker on her newborns and commiserating with her about the travails of the music industry. “I find it amazing the way that you juggle your kids, the biz, the fame, the bitches that’s hatin’,” he rhymes. “They sit around waiting for you to fall off like the album I’m making.”

Fans have been delighted by the new track since it dropped, calling it sweet, and remarked on the uplifting, supportive messaging from Cole toward Summer and fellow R&B stars SZA and Ari Lennox.

Other fans have praised the Neo-Soul-influenced direction of the album, likening Summer’s performance to that of Erykah Badu.

Meanwhile, other fans are excited by the reference to J. Cole’s upcoming album The Fall Off, which he’s been teasing for some time. They’re sure its release is imminent after he cleared his Instagram earlier this year, but for now, at least they have his warm, comforting bars from Clear 2 to hold them over until he’s ready to announce a date.

There have been a lot of great recent vinyl releases, especially since Record Store Day just passed. Now, Rhino is launching their new High Fidelity vinyl series today. The iconic label is starting off strong with the seminal 1978 self-titled album by The Cars as well as John Coltrane’s 1964 LP Coltrane’s Sound.

The records are exclusively on Rhino’s website, limited to only 5,000 individually numbered copies. About the process, mastering engineer Kevin Gray said, “It will be an honor to master this series! There is so much variety to explore in the Rhino catalog — everything from Jazz to Rock to R&B. Rhino has a very deep catalog spanning across 5 decades. The possibilities are incredible! I look forward to all of it.”

“It’s like being in your studios,” said The Cars guitarist Elliot Easton about the pressing. “It’s like listening to a studio playback… It just blew my mind. We felt like we were doing something that hadn’t been done before, like we were breaking some ground and making some sounds that hadn’t been recorded before. That was very exciting. It was just completely the chemistry of the five of us. It’s nothing you can calculate or plan. It just either happens or doesn’t. It’s magic.”

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

The Rundown is a weekly column that highlights some of the biggest, weirdest, and most notable events of the week in entertainment. The number of items could vary, as could the subject matter. It will not always make a ton of sense. Some items might not even be about entertainment, to be honest, or from this week. The important thing is that it’s Friday, and we are here to have some fun.

ITEM NUMBER ONE – Hello, Raylan

Justified was a good show. There are, I suspect, a number of more eloquent ways than this to open up a weekly column about the goings-on in the world of entertainment, but that doesn’t make the sentence any less true. It had just about everything you could ask for: Timothy Olyphant in a cowboy hat, a story from Elmore Leonard, Walton Goggins as an explosives-loving criminal with wild hair, Patton Oswalt sometimes, a one-off female hustler character named Jackie Nevada, all of it. I am not exaggerating at all when I tell you it was one of my favorite shows ever. I still dive into a rewatch every now and then, if not in full then at least to hit the highlights. Chadwick Boseman was in an episode. So was Alan Ruck. The show had range.

This is one of the many reasons I’m excited about City Primeval, the Justified continuation series that’s coming to FX this summer. The first little teaser for it dropped this week. Very little happens. I still made the kind of sound you make in a restaurant when a waiter walks past you with a sizzling plate of fajitas destined for another table. Look at this.

And look at the official description, too. Find me one single thing about this that does not sound appealing.

Having left the hollers of Kentucky 15 years ago, Raylan Givens now lives in Miami, a walking anachronism balancing his life as a U.S. marshal and part-time father of a 15-year-old girl. His hair is grayer, his hat is dirtier, and the road in front of him is suddenly a lot shorter than the road behind. A chance encounter on a desolate Florida highway sends him to Detroit. There he crosses paths with Clement Mansell, aka The Oklahoma Wildman, a violent, sociopathic desperado who’s already slipped through the fingers of Detroit’s finest once and aims to do so again. Mansell’s lawyer, formidable Motor City native Carolyn Wilder, has every intention of representing her client, even as she finds herself caught in between cop and criminal, with her own game afoot as well. These three characters set out on a collision course in classic Elmore Leonard fashion, to see who makes it out of the City Primeval alive.

I’m ready. I’m ready right now. Give it to me. Let me see Raylan get all tangled up with Detroit maniacs. Put it on my television before I finish typing this paragraph. Do it. Do it now. Do it… now. Now!

Hmm. Dammit. That did not work. I guess we only have one option then: Let’s all kick off a Justified rewatch this weekend. We have about two months until this new series hits the screen. There are 78 episodes of the show. That’s a little over one each day if you want to do it from beginning to end, which is doable, but I won’t be mad if you bounce around a little bit. Hit the highlights. Watch Dickie Bennett’s hair get progressively more mangled. Watch Dewey Crowe do… whatever exactly it is Dewey Crowe does. I’m a little sad that we won’t get to see any of these Kentucky rascals in the new show but I’m thrilled about all the new Michigan criminals we are going to meet. It’s exciting.

Let’s just keep doing this. Let’s check in with Raylan and this world every 5-10 years, just as a one-season limited series. Send him to a new city each time. Have him track down a crook in New Orleans. Get him tangled up with a gang that rides dirt bikes through the streets of Philadelphia. Break Boyd Crowder out of prison and send Raylan on a globe-circling manhunt that culminates with a showdown in Paris. It would be great. I would love it. That’s the important thing here.

Hey, speaking of Justified and things that are thrilling to me, personally, look at this picture Walton Goggins posted on Instagram of his dad.

Going caps-mode for this next part because it is very important to me…

CAST THIS MAN IN THE NEXT JUSTIFIED SERIES

I DO NOT CARE WHO HE PLAYS

MAYBE HE IS THE LEADER OF A BIKER GANG

OR MAYBE HE IS A RETIRED LAWMAN WHO IS BACK FOR ONE LAST JOB

MAYBE HE IS THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES

I DO NOT CARE

MAKE IT HAPPEN

THANK YOU

ITEM NUMBER TWO – Slipper heist

Well, this seems like a nice time to check in on the Midwest. Let’s see what’s going on in America’s heartla-…

A 76-year-old man has been charged with stealing a pair of ruby red slippers from the Judy Garland Museum in Grand Rapids — the ones that the actress wore in “The Wizard of Oz” and that remained missing until they were recovered 13 years later.

A few things:

• I had no idea that the iconic ruby red slippers had been stolen in the first place
• I have been thinking about this pretty much non-stop since I saw it a few days ago
• I am so mad none of you told me that there was apparently a decade-spanning nationwide hunt for them
• I would absolutely watch an action-comedy television series — like a Justified, to choose an example that’s on the top of my head — titled Slipper Hunters about a team of investigators who spend 13 years on the trail of a genius criminal who stole probably the most famous footwear in the history of cinema
• I like to picture the thief selling them to a reclusive billionaire collector who keeps them in his office behind a remote-controlled trick wall that he slides open so he can marvel at them every now and then, alone, just for the thrill of it

I told you I’ve been thinking about it a lot.

Terry J. Martin, who lives about 12 miles south of the museum named for the hometown girl, was indicted by a federal grand jury in Minnesota on a charge of theft of major artwork in connection with breaking in overnight in 2005, smashing a plexiglas case and taking the size 5 ½ slippers that were then on loan to the museum from a Hollywood memorabilia collector.

Reached by phone Wednesday at his home, Martin told the Star Tribune, “I gotta go on trial. I don’t want to talk to you.”

I mean… yeah. This is fair. Tough to argue with the logic here.

As for where the slippers are now, the museum’s Heitz said federal officials still have them. “We’ve been waiting to get them back,” she said, revealing that there is a replica pair on display in the meantime.

Look. I’m not saying anyone should set up an elaborate roadblock — loose farm animals in the street, fake cop uniforms, radio-related trickery — to steal these again while they are in transit back to the museum. I would never say that. I don’t want you to think I am condoning any sort of illegal activity, even if it’s nonviolent and/or hilarious. I am not telling any of you to steal these slippers.

What I am saying, however, is that if it did happen, through any sequence of events, possibly involving loose livestock and fake cops using official-looking walkie-talkies…

I mean, it would make a really great little scene for the season one finale of that Slipper Hunters show I just joked about and now want desperately. Get Jere Burns from Justified. Let him straight-up play Wynn Duffy again. These are good ideas. Someone please listen to me.

ITEM NUMBER THREE – Mission: Impossible is going partial John Wick, apparently

This is the full-length trailer for the next Mission: Impossible movie, which has a very long title that I do not feel like typing out right now, but which I will very much see in the theater the first weekend it is out. These movies have been a blast for like 20 years now. Tom Cruise is out of his mind. Dude is like 60 years old and driving motorcycles off of cliffs just to try to convince you to go see a movie on the big screen. Imagine being that committed to… anything. I can’t think of any reason good enough for me to drive a motorcycle off a cliff on purpose. Maybe if you promised me the Philadelphia 76ers would win a championship. And that I would not die. And that I could sit in the front row with Allen Iverson and the Phillie Phanatic and a cool dog whose name is, like, Detective Rex Raygun. Maybe then. Maybe.

That’s not what this is about, though. This is about the part of the trailer when Tom Cruise — the character is named Ethan Hunt, but come on — goes to some sort of glowing neon Euro discocastle. This one.

And the thing where a lady inside the glowing neon Euro discocastle pulls out a sword.

This is… this is some extremely John Wick stuff, right? The use of the bright colors and the thumping party and the swords and all of it? It feels like some extremely John Wick stuff. And it brings up an interesting question: Do you think Ethan Hunt, with all of his resources and gizmos, could have stopped or captured a mid-rampage John Wick?

I don’t have an answer to this one. Mostly, I just typed it to ruin your weekend a little bit. Like, you’ll be sitting around Sunday morning and the thought will shoot into your brain and you’ll spend the next 30 minutes thinking about it and then you’ll be all “Jesus Christ, Brian.” That’s all I’m looking for here. You are welcome and I am sorry.

ITEM NUMBER FOUR – This is the most adorable damn thing I have ever heard

Henry Winkler is a sweet man who loves to act and fish. I know this because I got to interview him a few years ago and we talked about all of that. And because the man posts big smiley pictures of himself with fish every summer on Twitter, which never fails to crack me up, because Twitter is a cobra pit filled with anger and sarcasm and then blammo, Henry Winkler has a fish. Truly one of my favorite things on the internet. I’m not a complicated person.

Anyway, I bring up the Winkler thing for two equally important reasons: One, I really like bringing it up; and two, look at this freaking adorable answer he gave to a question from Jess Cagle about the final days on the set of Barry.

So I felt, now of course, you know, in my imagination, this is what happened. It could very well not be the truth. But truly, I was the last shot of the last scene of “Barry.” So I’m in my cabin by myself. I come out, the crew is there, and I make a little speech, say, “Thank you for taking such good care of me.” And Bill hugs me and whispers in my ear, “I love you. Thank you for being such a great collaborator.” Now, he could have said that to everybody. I don’t know, but I flew out of my body. I flew out of my body because Alec Berg and Bill Hader are two, they’re indescribably talented men. And I got to work with them, say their words, and be directed by them, go on this journey with them. Oh my God.

Absolutely the sweetest man alive. Everyone try to be more like Henry Winkler. Schedule a fishing trip and invite me. I don’t actually fish. I don’t really do boats or water or the woods. But I’ll hang out in the cabin. As long as it has a television and a refrigerator. And wireless internet. Maybe don’t invite me, after all. But you should go!

ITEM NUMBER FIVE – Good for Selena Gomez, man

I’ll tell you who seems to be doing great right now: Selena Gomez. She seems to be doing really great. She’s got a new season of Only Murders in the Building dropping soon where she’s on-screen with everyone from her regular co-stars Steve Martin and Martin Short to guest stars like Paul Rudd and Meryl Streep. That would be enough for most of us. But she also has two cooking shows coming to the Food Network, too. They look pretty fun.

The multi-hyphenate star is working on two projects for the cooking channel, it was announced Wednesday. The first will be a “celebration-focused series just in time for the holidays,” which will launch later in 2023.

The second will debut in 2024 and will have her meeting up with some of the best chefs in the country in a quest to cook their most popular dishes when she visits their kitchens.

I don’t know, man. I just think this seems cool. Get more celebrities on the Food Network. Show me Tom Cruise and Guy Fieri skydiving into the parking lot of a little greasy spoon. Give me Miley Cyrus and Giada De Laurentis whipping up a nice Italian lunch for a party. Give Martha Stewart and Snoop Dogg a cooking show and let them… wait. No. That already was a show. I wrote about it and everything. I still kind of can’t believe it was real.

Anyway, I’m happy for Selena Gomez. This seems like an excellent use of fame after a career filled with child-acting on various Disney-Nickelodeon-type shows.

READER MAIL

If you have questions about television, movies, food, local news, weather, or whatever you want, shoot them to me on Twitter or at [email protected] (put “RUNDOWN” in the subject line). I am the first writer to ever answer reader mail in a column. Do not look up this last part.

From Rachel:

New list of names dropped!

Tag yourself. I’m Patience Rawbone.

To be clear, Rachel is referring to this tweet, which about a half-dozen people sent me this week, which I really, really enjoyed and made me feel like I’m doing something right out here.

I’ve been looking at this list for days now and my favorite name keeps changing, but the one I always come back to is Israel Jelly. Something about that one just flows right off the tongue. It sounds like the name of a hitman in a Danny McBride show.

AND NOW, THE NEWS

To Australia!

James Balcombe’s desire to be number one in Melbourne’s jumping castle game has seen him jailed for up to 11 years over a series of arson attacks on rivals.

Two things:

• “Jumping castles” are what they call bounce houses in Australia, which is a really funny cultural difference I had not been aware of until this week
• Please make this the plot of the next season of Fargo

Moving on.

The county court of Victoria heard that Balcombe, whose company Awesome Party Hire was ranked number one on Google after he commissioned the attacks on rival businesses, was arrested after he ordered that his own shed be torched.

Just a perfect sentence. I have read it maybe 60 times and I have yet to find a flaw. The owner of a bounce house business called “Awesome Party Hire” was arrested after going on a firebombing spree that ended with his own facility. I almost don’t want to know why.

Almost.

But I do.

A lot, actually.

The court heard that Balcombe had commissioned another man, Craig Anderson, to burn down his own Kangaroo Flat factory as he was concerned police would be suspicious that his business had not been targeted by arsonists.

Perfect.

All of it.

Right up to the thing where the firebomb-loving owner of a bounce house operation in Australia called Awesome Party Hire had his headquarters in “Kangaroo Flat.”

You could not make up anything better if you tried. I know because I have. Pretty much every day of my life in my daydreams.

Many of the fires were unsuccessful, but A&A Jumping Castles was totally destroyed. The court heard that Anderson threw a molotov cocktail through a smashed window at that business, causing a huge blaze that engulfed the factory and destroyed 110 jumping castles.

I’m sorry. I know this is an actual crime and livelihoods might have been ruined. I hope everyone is okay and has insurance and can be made whole in all of this as soon as possible.

But.

I cannot stop thinking about a man firebombing a storefront to destroy over 100 bounce houses. I cannot think of a funnier business to be involved in fire-related sabotage. I keep picturing him pouring gasoline all over the warehouse and then flicking a lit cigarette toward it and walking away in slow motion as 100 plastic inflatable bounce houses go up in flames and the opening notes of “Gimme Shelter” by The Rolling Stones slowly build in the background. We call this “the full Scorsese.”

A warrant was issued for his arrest and he was found living in Perth, running a fraudulent stamp operation under the name Paul Johnson, before pleading guilty once extradited back to Victoria.

Perfect.

No notes.

One note, actually. I’m a little disappointed in his choice of fake name. He could have done so much better than Paul Johnson. He could have used Israel Jelly if someone had sent him that tweet we just had fun with a minute ago. It actually makes me a little sad.

But just a little.

Because the rest of it is… flawless.

(WARNING: Spoilers (or maybe not?) for this week’s Power Book II: Ghost episode will be found below.)

Power Book II: Ghost just aired the most explosive episode of its third season with episode nine, “A Last Gift.” And that’s saying a lot considering that last week’s episode ended with the death of Cooper Saxe, a role that was played by Shane Johnson over the last decade. This week, however, the drama is at a season-high. Effie was just arrested for the attempted murder of Lauren, and that means everyone knows Lauren is alive now. Brayden and his family are in legal trouble after a Ponzi scheme was uncovered at Weston Holdings, and Tariq learns that his mother is in danger despite her being in witness protection.

Another big moment in the episode came when the Tejada children – Dru, Cane, and Diana – learned that their mother Monet was responsible for their father Lorenzo’s death. It leads to an explosive verbal attack from the kids as they lash out at Monet for her actions. This was especially true for Diana who had plenty to say to her mother, someone she’s had a very up-and-down relationship with over the course of Power Book II: Ghost.

Fresh off the release of “A Last Gift,” UPROXX caught up with LaToya Tonodeo, who plays the role of Diana Tejada, to speak about Diana’s relationship with Monet as well as others like Salim and Tariq. She also spoke about the Tejada family’s dynamic and her favorite moments of season three.

What does Diana want the most from her relationships in ‘Power Book II: Ghost?’ That being those with her mom, family, Tariq, and others?

When it comes to Monet, I feel like she wants to be seen for who she really is and valued. When it comes to Tariq, I feel like it’s a little bit of appreciation and also wanting to be seen. When it comes to her brothers this season, she genuinely feels that she fits in with them. All three of them are very different, but I don’t really feel that there’s this high-intensity relationship between those three, but definitely with her mother and Tariq, it’s very hot and cold. With Monet for sure, she wants to be seen and I feel like that’s been the running theme since we first met those two in season one.

One relationship that caught viewers by surprise was yours with Salim. What about Salim attracted Diana to him?

He was different than anyone — at least she thought — that she is normally around. She grew up in this drug life and this drug family, and she never really had the opportunity to be around outside people. When Tariq came around, it’s like, oh whoa, this guy’s interesting. We understand each other, we both want a higher education and we both understand the drug game, this is nice. But Tariq says one thing like, “No, I would but you know, I can’t be with you. Your mom, your family, we can’t do that?” So it’s like okay?… So when she finally goes to school, and she’s finding her independence there, she comes across Salim who, to her knowledge, is completely different. He’s not in the life, he’s a smart, educated teacher’s assistant. This is different for her. I feel like that’s what attracted her initially to Salim because he’s totally different from the Tejadas, he’s different from Tariq. That was appealing to her.

We see their relationship rise and fall pretty quickly, what does Diana learn about herself through their time together?

I would say loosely, maybe to not trust, but at the same time, you could tell that Diana’s wheels have been turning with Salim because she didn’t really trust him fully. He was always asking questions and she was over that. So I feel like if anything it’s not to be so ready to put the guards down so fast. Even though her guards weren’t all the way down, she did let them down a little bit to let him in. And I mean, clearly, they had sex so like she let her guard down, but like just to be more cautious if anything.

Season three really dives into the cracks of a family, how they happen, how they widen, and how (if it all) they get repaired. With everything that’s happened, Lorenzo and Zeke’s death, finding out Monet’s responsibility for it, and your arrest, how do you think things will be for the Tejadas going forward?

Definitely messy, chaotic, confusing, emotionally draining, and feeling betrayed. This whole time they were under the impression that our father, Papi, was murdered, but definitely not at the hands of Monet’s hit. So for Diana, it’s very much a roller coaster of emotions and confusion. What do I do now? How do I look at my mother? She took away my father, how can I even move forward with that? So to watch her journey from that point, to see where how she’s going to navigate that, that’s going to be a beautiful thing to see. I can’t really say yet, but it will be nice to see her navigate that. With Dru, he killed Gordo thinking — it was just a whole mess load of just chaos. So (sigh) emotionally confusing and draining for sure.

Earlier this season, Monet stops by Diana’s dorm to ask her for help with taking down Detective Whitman. It’s there that she “apologizes” but not in the most sincere way, do you think that Monet was genuinely apologetic in that moment? What makes her worthy of forgiveness at that moment?

I don’t believe Diana thought that was a genuine apology at all. But like I’ve been saying recently, after going over all the episodes again and just taking in everything, I feel like with Diana, her weakness is matters of the heart. It’s always family over everything, family first. So even though Diana didn’t believe that Monet’s apology was genuine, it’s not the most pressing matter because my family is in trouble. So fine, whatever, I’ll take this apology, but at the end of the day, I know that there’s something bigger there and it’s my family. I have to protect my family and she does what she needs to do regardless of if Monet was genuine or not. She can’t watch her family fall, not on her watch. Not if there’s something that she could do about it.

Where does the love exist between Diana and Monet?

Oh wow, good question. Well definitely, from Diana to Monet. I feel like there’s a heap load of admiration there. I mean, that is her mother. As for Monet to Diana, I believe Monet loves her daughter for sure. At the same time, it’s that tough love and maybe Monet was brought up that way, so she feels that she needs to try to instill those types of qualities into Diana, but Diana is a different type of person. She’s not as hard and cold as Monet, so Diana takes it like she’s not feeling seen by Monet, but there’s definitely love there. It’s just… I don’t know, damn that’s a good question. Definitely admiration, wanting to impress, and wanting to show her mother that she can be like her. She can be powerful and that she has strength, but at the same time, it’s like I’m not you and I’m going about it a different way. She just hopes she could that Monet can realize that.

How likely do you think it is that things get better, if not more normal, between Diana and Monet?

I don’t believe that’s likely at all. Diana is Lorenzo’s baby girl, she’s a daddy’s girl. So to find out that her mother was behind that? When she truly believed it was an accident? Diana does not believe that Lorenzo would have killed Zeke, not at all. So for her to be so callous and cold, that’s going to change the way Diana sees Monet. I think it will only lead to a mess.

If you, LaToya, were a friend of Diana’s at Stansfield, what is some advice you would give her with everything that’s happened?

I would definitely tell Diana to put herself first. At this point, she has to come to a place where she needs to only worry about herself. Forget everything else because it’s pulling her down in a way.

What were your favorite scenes of season 3?

Oh, my gosh. There are a few, I’m just gonna say two that I can think of — everything’s going so fast. One would be the time when I got to go off on Salim, that was fun. We had a lot of fun with those pictures and ad-libbing and stuff. Then also, episode nine where we finally confront Monet. To see everyone just pour out their emotions and how they’re feeling about finding out that information, everyone took it differently. Cane was very much hurt, but resolved. Dru was lashing out, and lashing out yes about Papi, but also what Monet made him do in regards to Gordo. Then with Diana, it’s strictly parental. Monet, my mother, killed my father. I’m done with you at this point and she lets it out. I believe this is the first time, besides the dinner table scene, that she really just had enough and she was fed up and she just let it rip. That felt so good and so rewarding. So that was definitely one of my favorites or my highlights for me of season three.

New episodes of ‘Power Book II: Ghost’ are available on the STARZ app on Fridays at 12:00 am EST and on the STARZ TV channel at 8:00 pm EST.

The Philadelphia 76ers are in the midst of a gigantic summer. The team has already entered the NBA’s coaching carousel following the decision to part ways with Doc Rivers, while a report on Friday morning indicated that the Houston Rockets feel very good about their chances of landing James Harden in free agency.

As for Joel Embiid, there is no word on what his future holds, as he is about to enter the first year of a 4-year supermax extension that runs through 2027 and features a player option on the final year. Like any major star on a team that has struggled to get over the hump — he’s still never played in the conference finals — reports are beginning to pop up about other teams being interested in acquiring his services, with Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News reporting that the Knicks are keeping a close eye on the league MVP.

It’s important to mention that there’s no indication that Embiid wants out or that the Sixers would trade him, particularly to a team within their own division. Regardless, as the Knicks showed during their ultimately failed pursuit of Donovan Mitchell last summer, the team has plenty of young players and draft capital to try and acquire a gigantic name on the trade market.

It was only two months ago that Love Island UK series nine came to a conclusion with Kai and Sanam being crowned as the winners. The couple, who only began their relationship after Casa Amor, beat out Ron & Lana, Shaq & Tanya, and Tom & Samie to collect the series 9 win. In the months that followed, Love Island UK fans have kept an eye on the couples from series 9 to see who is still together (spoiler: Tom & Samie reportedly called it quits) while others have their eyes set on what’s to come in series 10. The summer season for series 10 is set to kick off in the coming weeks, but is there an official premiere date for it?

Is There A ‘Love Island UK’ Series 10 Release Date?

At the moment, Love Island UK has yet to reveal an official premiere date for series 10. However, a source spoke to The Sun and revealed that the Love Island UK summer season for 2023 is expected to launch on June 5, 2023. The source said, “It is hugely exciting and those working on the show cannot wait to get started,” adding, “This series will be eight weeks long, meaning the couple who win the show will be in the villa for two months.”

It is also being reported that ITV, the company that airs Love Island UK seasons, has already selected a final cast and will fly them out to the villa in the coming days to begin series 10. Whether all of this is true or not remains to be seen, but stay tuned for more updates on series 10.