The interior of the offensive line isn’t talked about with the same reverence as the tackle positions, but as defenses recognize the importance of getting a pass rush up the middle and disrupting the center of the pocket as much as the edges, solidifying the inside of the line is becoming as important to the passing game as having a tackle that can protect on the outside.
Still, it’s fairly rare to see interior O-linemen at the top of draft boards, and this year’s Draft likely won’t see one off the board until the late first round — unless you count Northwestern’s Peter Skoronski, who could move from tackle to guard, but is listed at tackle. Still, there’s talent to be had out there and with increasingly freakish interior defenders entering the league, teams have to be cognizant of walling up the inside of their line.
The Top Dog: O’Cyrus Torrence (Florida)
Can I interest you in an insanely strong 6’5, 330 pound guard? If so, then please enjoy the stylings of O’Cyrus Torrence. The prospect out of Florida is an absolute road-grader inside, who can hold up against the biggest and strongest tackles. The reason he’s a late-first guy is he’s not a crazy athlete who’s going to be doing a lot of pulling or advancing a ton to the second level, but he’s just rock solid inside at right guard who any running back will happily look to run behind and any QB will be happy to have keeping the inside of the pocket clean. Please enjoy him picking up a blitzer with one arm while blocking a DT with the other.
Other guards: *I gotta focus on the three-tech and pick up the blitzing linebacker*
There are questions about his fluidity and fit is going to be important to his success in the run game, but for a team that wants some beef inside and will play to his strengths, Torrence is the man in this class.
The Next Best: Steve Avila (TCU) and John Michael Schmitz (Minnesota)
The clear tier below Torrence belongs to a pair of big fellas from TCU and Minnesota, respectively. Avila spent the season at left guard for a TCU offensive front that was among the best in the country, paving the way forward for Max Duggan and company, and also has experience at center to provide some positional versatility. He is just a massive presence in the middle at 6’3.5, 332 pounds and his biggest strength is, well, his strength. He is an absolute wall inside and his sturdiness in pass pro is a separator for him as a guy who will come in and likely immediately start wherever he’s drafted.
Schmitz, meanwhile, is a road-grader in the run game. He’s not the biggest center, but he’s plenty strong and has the quickness to reach and pull in the run game. Fit is going to be important (as his six years of experience in Minnesota are in a zone scheme) but in the right system he, like Avila, can be an immediate starter, even with a few questions about his pass protection given his size and general lack of length (just over 32.5 inch arms at the combine). Having so much experience at the center position, making calls and snaps under center, is a big plus for Schmitz as he moves to the next level.
Boom Or Bust: Andrew Vorhees (USC)
Vorhees tore his ACL at the Combine in Indy, which means he’s going to likely miss his rookie year. Still, the USC guard managed to wow scouts by slamming 38 reps on the bench with his leg straight out, knee in a brace, showing off the freakish strength he possesses.
He’s got room to fill out (6’6, 310 pounds) but he’s got great strength and loves to use it in the run game. His pass protection is also good, but shorter arms (just over 32 inches) and not the best quickness mean he can get beat by quicker defenders when they move inside. Still, he’s great against power rushers and, when he gets the mitts on someone, they rarely work off of him to get by him. The injury will drop him down the board a bit, but a team willing to be patient for a year could get a starter for a bit of a steal.
Day 3 Swing: Olusegun Oluwatimi (Michigan)
Oluwatimi is the exact kind of player that slips into the third day because of measureables and athleticism questions and then goes on to have a very good career when he’s drafted into a team that sees a scheme fit and values his productivity and leadership inside. He won the Rimington and Outland Trophies in his lone year at Michigan after transferring in from Virginia, helming one of the best offensive lines in the country in 2022. He is not a tremendous athlete, nor the biggest, strongest center, but he’s just rock solid inside and has ample experience making calls and getting a line set before play. Going somewhere that will play to his strengths (particularly as a double-team operator inside, sealing and popping second level) rather than asking him to play one-on-one with tackles that can overpower him, will be important, but part of what helps a guy like Oluwatimi is the teams that’ll be really looking at him are ones that will see that scheme fit.
Chlöe is officially over internet trolls ruining her fun. As Charlamagne Tha God put it when she visited Power 105.1’s The Breakfast Club show this morning, “digital dickheads” have been getting her down — but lately, she’s been fighting back. “Come at me bro,” she said.
Toward the end of the interview, though, after DJ Envy tried to shade Charlamagne for not downloading Chlöe’s debut album In Pieces, she had to drag him, too. “Did you download the album?” she questioned him. “I streamed it,” he said.
The interrogation didn’t stop there, though. “Okay, so what was your favorite song?” Chlöe wondered. This stopped Envy in his tracks. And while he tried to plead out by saying that he’s played “Have Mercy” in the club, she pointed out that “Have Mercy” wasn’t included on the album proper, and again questioned what song from the album he played. “Caught!” she snarked.
Obviously, this was more of a comedic moment between the host and guest, but Chlöe has been making it a point lately to call out the trolls who have so much to say about her, but aren’t real fans. Her In Pieces tour backdrop puts some of the more common criticisms on display, allowing her the platform to strike back, and her interviews have found her confronting those people head on.
Watch The Breakfast Club‘s full interview with Chlöe above.
Questlove released The Rhythm Of Time on Tuesday, April 18, shortly after he launched Auwa Books, his imprint with MCD Books. The book is aimed toward preteen readers, but Questlove wrote it with one very specific kid in mind. He dedicated the book to his nine-year-old self, as he explained on The View this week.
“When I would travel with my parents, my father and mother, we were like basically the Black Partridge Family,” he said on the talk show. “My father was an oldies doo-wop legend back in the ’50s. I’d often read to them. Well, they would trick me into reading to them, and oftentimes, I’d pick books in which I didn’t see myself.”
He continued, “There’s a term, ‘alt-Black kids,’ where you might not talk the right language or you just look weird. I had weird hair, and I dressed weird. I wanted Black nerds to see themselves as well, so that’s kind of why I wrote the book.”
The Rhythm Of Time‘s official listing on Penguin Random House lays out the intricate plot:
“Seventh grader Rahim Reynolds loves testing out the gadgets invented by his brilliant friend Kasia Collins. First there were the X-ray glasses and all the trouble they caused. Now there’s the new cell phone she built for his birthday, even though his parents won’t let him have one. But Rahim is excited to use the phone to search for videos of his favorite old-school rap group. What he doesn’t know is the phone has a special battery that interfaces with a secret government satellite, which spells trouble when the phone transports him back to 1997. Almost immediately, he learns what every time traveler before him has: Actions in the past jeopardize the future. With Kasia as his only lifeline to the present, Rahim works with her to get home unscathed, all the while dodging bullies (on his end) and suspicious government agents (on hers).
Philadelphia in the late nineties is a new world for Rahim and Kasia, but it is a familiar place for Questlove, who, alongside S. A. Cosby, delivers a high-velocity tale where two best friends discover that sometimes the best beat is the one that brings you back home.”
Questlove further explained why The Rhythm Of Time is “the book I been dying to make for a decade” in an Instagram post:
Watch Questlove’s appearance on The View above.
The Rhythm Of Time is out now via Penguin Random House. Find more information here.
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 – I missed my sweet Chechen prince so much
It got a little lost in the Succession-related hoopla this week, but Barry is back for its final season, too. Two episodes premiered on Sunday night, right after Succession, which helps to explain how it got a little lost. There’s really just a lot happening on Sunday nights on HBO right now. It’s a good problem to have. But it’s still a problem. I wanted to talk about Barry a lot this week but the discussion was dominated by the Roy family and their various issues. Luckily, I have this column and place to talk about NoHo Hank, who remains one of the best characters on television. So here we go.
Quick backstory, for those unaware: NoHo Hank is a Chechen mobster in California who is buddies with Bill Hader’s character, Barry, who is a hitman that tried to go clean by becoming an actor but is now in prison for one of the many murders he committed. Hank also just recently started living as a proud and out gay man and began dating a high-ranking member of the Bolivian mob named Cristobal. It’s really a delight on a number of levels. He’s a wonderful man who sometimes shows up on screen looking like this.
HBO
I do not have a single note to add to anything here, other than to thank Bill Hader and Anthony Carrigan (the actor who plays Hank) for making it all possible.
The best part is that Carrigan is starting to really get recognized for it all. He did a big fancy sit-down interview with the New York Times before the season started where he compared the character to a friendly scorpion, which I have not been able to unsee since I read it. You probably won’t be able to unsee it either. Because I’m going to paste that section riiiiiight now.
NoHo Hank, intended as a minor antagonist, is a member of a Chechen mob. Carrigan had little interest in playing another villain. But the script’s violent comedy delighted him. He went back to the formal exercises of his college days. How should Hank move? What animal would he be? A scorpion, he decided, which explains the puffed-out chest, the hands on hips, the scuttling walk.
“He’s a lovable scorpion,” Carrigan explained at the oyster counter. “He doesn’t want to sting anyone, he doesn’t want to hurt anyone. But that’s just his nature.”
Two things are worth noting here:
Hank was supposed to be killed off at the beginning of the series but Carrigan made such an impression that they decided to keep him around and make him a main player
I want to see a scorpion wearing a sombrero and sunglasses now
Carrigan did another big profile over at Inverse, too, which was also a hoot to read in many ways — I interviewed him a few years ago and it always makes me happy when people I identified as being cool and fun blow up a little like that — but also very troubling. I am on the record as saying that I will hunt down Bill Hader and yell at him if anything happens to Hank this season. I know he’s a mobster and a killer and bad things usually happen to those kinds of people at some point. But… I adore him. I am not conflicted about this at all. I feel fine about it, actually.
Which is why this part is… yeah, troubling.
Organized crime aside (and with the finale in sight), does NoHo Hank deserve a happy ending? Carrigan seems unsure.
“I love Hank so much and I want everything for him. I have such a soft spot for this character,” he says. “But there’s something interesting about the progression over the seasons. Hank has slowly started to realize that his naivete and his foolishness have gotten him into major trouble. You can’t go into a life of crime lightly, and some of the consequences do show up for him.”
No.
NO.
LEAVE HIM ALONE.
I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have gone all-caps on you there. I just get a little excited. It’s hard not to, especially given the stuff that happened in the second episode of the season. I’ll dance around spoilers but the short version goes like this: Hank and Cristobal are making a big presentation to other mobsters in a private room in a Dave & Buster’s. (Already perfect.) And they’re doing this thing in a long single shot where they circle the table in opposite directions and pick up each other’s part of the speech as they cross paths. But Hank gets out of place as Cristobal is talking and needs to rush to be ready and then, well, this happens.
HBO
A perfect bit. A legitimate out-loud laugh in an episode that was otherwise pretty dark. NoHo Hank is a damn oasis. I am going to miss him — the show, too, but definitely him — when this all ends for good in a few months. But I am going to appreciate the hell out of it all while it’s happening.
Welcome to NoHo Hank season.
ITEM NUMBER TWO – Halle Berry gets it
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I love you all very much but you are out of your mind if you think I am going to discuss Twitter on this or any other website, including Twitter. I use the stupid site every day, too much, but even I have enough shame to not go running around tweeting about Twitter whenever something silly happens. I do not have time for that. That’s a lie. I have plenty of time for that. I am barely doing anything most of the time. The other day I realized that I had just been, like, staring at one of my houseplants for a solid 90 seconds. If that does not sound like a long time to you, set a 90-second timer and go stare at one of your houseplants until the timer dings. You’ll see my point around the 44-second mark.
Anyway, ugggggghhhh, I do have to talk about it briefly to set up something cool. So… here we go: Twitter CEO Elon Musk has been claiming he was going to take away the little blue check marks from verified users unless they signed up for the paid service. You probably heard about this. He finally did it — or figured out how to do it — this Thursday, on 4/20 (weed day, epic, etc.). It’s all very stupid. But something fun did come out of it. On Wednesday, the day before it happened, Halle Berry tweeted this.
That’s… cool. It’s just cool. Halle Berry rules. And she was in the third John Wick movie, which has very little to do with anything I’ve discussed to this point but is always fun to remember. She and Keanu Reeves were just running around the desert with some dogs and shooting at crooked dopes on rooftops. That was great. Good for Halle Berry, man. Still out here doing it like 30 years after she was in the Flintstones movie. I’m happy for her.
ITEM NUMBER THREE – God, I am so excited for this dumb movie
This is the second trailer for Fast X. It’s not, like, wildly different from the first one, which I wrote over 1000 words about a few months back. We will not need 1000 words here. I bet I can get us out of this section in about 300-350. Mostly I just want to talk about Jason Momoa. Again. It feels right that he’s in this franchise now. The fit is so perfect. Jason Momoa was born to be a Fast & Furious villain. I can’t wait for the next movie — just announced, same director — where he gets folded into the team and takes a bullet for Dominic Toretto. Probably. We can’t rule it out. Take a few minutes this weekend and think about the arc of Jason Statham’s character in the movies. This is cinema to me.
This trailer did give us at least one little update/clarification, though. Remember in the first trailer when Jason Momoa — I’m sure his character has a name, let’s just agree to call him “Jason Momoa” for now — raised his arms like Jesus on the cross and blew up half of an Italian city that sure looked a lot like the Vatican? Here, a refresher…
UNIVERSAL
Well, now we have confirmation. It’s the Vatican.
UNIVERSAL
Jason Momoa plays a villain who blows up the Vatican because Vin Diesel and his buddies ripped a safe out of a crooked businessman’s wall in Brazil over a decade ago. This is… perfect. It’s perfect. Also, Jason Momoa called his henchmen “dorks.” That seems important, too. I can’t wait to see this movie in a theater next month with a thousand gummi worms in my lap and a soda as big as my thigh in the cup holder next to me.
ITEM NUMBER FOUR – Is Matthew McConaughey… starting.. a cult?
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Okay, let’s take this slow. On Monday, Matthew McConaughey is hosting a free event — streamed online — titled “The Art of Livin’.” It has guest speakers like Tony Robbins and a whole website full of words with dropped Gs at the end and it really all… look. I am sure Matthew McConaughey means well. I’m sure he’s just trying to help. I bet a few people have come up to him over the years and been like “Matthew McConaughey, you seem so chill and relaxed all the time. Please teach us how to be like that, too.” Which is fine. But… like…
This all sounds a little cult-y on paper, right? Here, look at the section of the website titled “WHAT IS MCCONAUGHEY DOIN’?”
It’s simple – a live one day virtual event like nothin’ you’ve ever experienced…
To show you the roadmap to livin’ again.
This is a coming together… a movement you and the world need right now…
A chance for you to draw a line in the sand, put the last three years behind you and shape your life with trust, joy and a little more outlaw logic.
It’s McConaughey. It’s guests like Tony Robbins and Dean Graziosi. It’s one day, live, virtual and free.
And it’s only happenin’ once. So be cool to your future self and show up.
See you there.
I like to imagine the person who forgot to drop the G in “coming” in the third sentence was fired and dragged outside by a team of shirtless glistening security guards.
There’s more. But please look at the section titled “WHY IS MCCONAUGHEY DOIN’ THIS?”
After three years of uncertainty and losin’ the opportunity to live life on your terms, McConaughey – the “Minister of Culture” – knew it was time for a revival.
That’s why he’s doin’ something he’s never done before and inviting you to lock arms with him to create a more compelling future for yourself.
This one-day event is about YOU.
About learnin’ to navigate the red and yellow lights in your life and findin’ more Greenlights.
About wakin’ up your soul, your passion, your hunger.
About defining your “MORE”.
And it’s all happenin’ LIVE, one time only for about 3 hours with McConaughey and his powerhouse guests.
Don’t miss it. IT’S TIME TO START LIVIN’ AGAIN.
I mean… come on.
It does have some cult vibes.
Thousands of people logging in for three hours on a Monday afternoon desperately trying to learn how to chill out a little. Just chanting “alright alright alright” in dead-eyed unison. Wearing cargo shorts and suntan lotion and nothing else. I kind of want to tune in, purely for investigative reasons. Potential Zoolander situation here.
I really think Matthew McConaughey might be starting a cult.
I’m sorry. That’s not what I meant to say. That’s not fair.
Matthew McConaughey might be startin’ a cult.
There. Much better.
ITEM NUMBER FIVE – Mrs. Davis is wild as hell and I kind of love it
PEACOCK
There’s a new show dropping on Peacock this weekend called Mrs. Davis. It stars Betty Gilpin as a warrior nun who sets out to do battle against an all-knowing AI thingy that plugs into the ears of every human on the planet and tells them what to do. If that sounds weird to you, there’s a good reason for that: it is so, so weird. But, like, good weird. It’s a blast, kind of the way The Leftovers and Watchmen were a weirdo blast in parts, which also makes sense because this series was created by Damon Lindelof, too. I’ve seen a few of the screeners and I found it all delightful. My colleague Kimberly Ricci summed it up well in her review earlier this week.
You’ll be impressed by the sword-fighting nuns in the action-packed opener of the series, but man, as trippy as that scene is, Mrs. Davis is only warming up. The show consistently one-ups itself while bouncing back and forth in time almost effortlessly, bringing us tales of magic and mysticism, and the battle between faith and technology, which somehow coalesce into a coherent story that will keep people coming back each week. Is there a Lube Man crossover? No, but he’s there in spirit.
Two things worth noting here:
I am so happy she mentioned Lube Man from Watchmen because it gave me an excuse to watch that video a dozen times this week
Yes, that did say “sword-fighting nuns”
This is where I get to share something incredible with you. This is a GIF from the show. From the first episode. From the first 10 minutes of the first episode. There is very little dilly-dallying here. Look at this.
PEACOCK
Please give Mrs. Davis a try at some point. I fully concede that you might hate it. The show is strange to the degree of nonsense in some places and I’m not entirely sure any of it comes together in anything resembling a whole singular piece, but it is wild and ambitious and silly and I think we should always support the people who at least try to do that. Big swings can mean big misses, sure. But they can also mean you smash a dinger into the upper deck.
I’m not sure exactly which of these Mrs. Davis is. We can find out together.
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 Derek:
A few days ago I was talking to a friend of mine about a girl he started dating and he said he really “dug her vibes.” That’s nice and all but all I could think about for the rest of our conversation was “Doug Vibrations would be a great fake name.” He was talking to me about this lovely new woman in his life and I was looking him in the eye and nodding but there was nothing going on between my ears but creating a whole backstory for a dude named Doug Vibrations. What I’ve got so far is that he’s a private investigator who does undercover work as a DJ to track down people who move illegal party drugs through the country at raves and techno clubs. This is your fault. But thank you.
DOUG VIBRATIONS
I would absolutely watch this show. It stars Jake Johnson as Doug, and the illegal party drug smuggler is Ike Barinholz doing a ridiculous and unplaceable European accent, and maybe… let’s say Patti Harrison is in there as a person who goes to a lot of the clubs and kind of accidentally helps Doug uncover a bunch of clues.
This is good stuff. I’m ready to watch it as soon as someone makes it. Let’s get the team from The Afterparty on it ASAP.
A total of $20 million worth of gold and other high-value goods have been stolen after being offloaded from an aircraft at Toronto Pearson International Airport, police say.
You cannot imagine how excited I am to type the words that are about to appear after this colon: WE HAVE A MULTIMILLION-DOLLAR CANADIAN GOLD HEIST.
And “other high value goods,” too. Which I am not very curious about. I must know what these other goods were. Priceless works of art? Diamonds? Green Philadelphia Eagles t-shirts that say “GO BIRDS” on the front in big white letters?
What? It would be high-value to me.
“An aircraft arrived here at the airport in the early evening. As per normal procedure, the aircraft was unloaded and cargo was transported from the aircraft to a holding cargo facility,” Inspector Stephen Duivesteyn said while announcing the theft.
Duivesteyn said after the cargo was secured in the holding facility, it was removed by “illegal means.” The container was holding gold and other “high-value goods” worth $20 million.
I kind of love that he said it was removed by “illegal means” instead of saying “they went and stole the damn gold.” It sounds so professional. I should also point out that the first reports about this that dripped out yesterday put the totals at $100 million, which now makes the $20 million figure look less impressive, even though $20 million worth of gold and other high-value goods is still, like, a lot of gold and high-value goods.
You can’t tease me like that. I got all excited. Please try to be more accurate going forward.
“This is very rare,” Duivesteyn said, adding that it’s too early to know if the theft was carried out professionally.
Police also said they don’t know where the gold is or if it’s still in the country. Police said they believe this is an isolated incident.
What I like about this blockquote is that it does not rule out the possibility that the eight-figure gold heist was carried out by some dude named Randy who works at the airport and saw a crate of gold sitting there and was like, “Screw it. Today is the day,” before plopping it into the back of his truck and driving off into the night with his backend dragging on the ground behind him from the weight of the precious metals.
I’m just going to believe this is what happened. Please do not take it away from me.
No arrests have been made and police did not release any information on suspects.
“We are three days in, so our investigators have their eyes open to all avenues,” Duivesteyn said.
Olivia Rudensky watchedThe Menuon a recent flight. She was struck by an exchange between foodie Tyler (Nicholas Hoult) and his girlfriend, Margot (Anya Taylor-Joy) about his hero, Chef Slowik (Ralph Fiennes).
“What’s with this food obsession?” Margot asked toward the beginning of the film.
“You know how people idolize athletes and musicians and, like, painters and stuff?” Tyler responded, later explaining, “I’ve watched every f*cking episode of Chef’s Table two or three times. I’ve watched Slowik’s probably twenty times. I’ve watched him explain the exact moment at which a green strawberry is perfectly unripe.”
“It reiterated that it’s not just musicians; there is fandom in everything,” Rudensky, the co-founder and CEO of FANMADE, tells Uproxx over Zoom during a conversation about technology’s ever-growing role in fan engagement (the irony is not lost).
But it was musicians for Rudensky and Claudia Villarreal.
And because of the internet, they didn’t need to board a boat to a mysterious island, like Tyler in The Menu, to feed their fandom.
Rudensky launched a Twitter account and website dedicated to all things Miley Cyrus at 12 years old. Villarreal did the same for One Direction at 16. Each account attracted hundreds of thousands of followers, and by the time Rudensky turned 16 in 2013, Cyrus was impressed enough to offer Rudensky a position on her management team. While Villarreal never physically crossed paths with One Direction — “They disbanded before I could get to them” — she landed her first job in live music after attempting to sneak into a One Direction concert at 17 years old.
Rudensky and Villarreal met through Twitter in 2015. They bonded over successfully converting their formative fandoms into budding careers. Rudensky interned for Power 105.1 and Z100 and studied in Syracuse’s Bandier Program, while Villarreal’s resume includes studying music business at UCLA Extension, assisting at WME, and working under Sonny Takhar at KYN Entertainment to build a fan base for the girl group Boys World.
They co-founded FANMADE in late 2021. Rudensky and Villarreal, the Chief Creative Officer, are channeling their first-person understanding of fan engagement into FANMADE’s unique strategy for clients, which have so far included Cyrus, Hailey Bieber, NBC, and Zach Sang.
“We work as translators for those who didn’t grow up in the fandom space. If you weren’t online, you just don’t understand,” Villarreal explains.
Below, Rudensky and Villarreal further unpacked how the internet has changed how fans are viewed and their ultimate mission to empower fans everywhere.
How does constant connectivity, or even the illusion of constant connectivity fan accounts, social media, and the internet provide, directly correlate with real-life fan engagement?
Claudia Villarreal: There is a lot of expectation from fans to receive so much from their favorite artists. Having constant communication with your audience is one thing, but being constantly in the public eye is another. Those things can be spread out differently depending on how often an artist actually wants to be online. During the pandemic, everything went online and everybody became readily available, and now everything is going back to being more in the live space.
Olivia Rudensky: We worked with NBC on Miley’s New Year’s Eve Partyand the People’s Choice Awards. With them, [we were] trying to communicate and support how to make fan experiences a little better, whether that’s in-person activations or online activations — really working with fans to hear what they want to see, helping them build street teams, getting super fans in the room. We actually provided a bunch of super fans to the pit at the People’s Choice Awards and Miley’s New Year’s Eve Party. Seeing that companies like NBC are also trying to explore how to make the experience better for super fans, whether it’s at home or in person, has been really rewarding for us.
Claudia Villarreal: We really dove in for [NBC] and helped reward the super fans that we were working with with access, which, at the end of the day, is all a fan wants: Access to anything that they can get about their favorites.
It’s so tempting to have every different kind of social media account and flood the system because you’re scared of losing relevance, especially when starting something as exciting as FANMADE. How do you strike the balance between widespread exposure and lasting resonance?
Claudia Villarreal: We’ve been having these one-on-one sessions with artists, brands, and all of our clients, and they’re wondering why their messaging isn’t coming across as genuine or the way they want it to be. Sometimes, they don’t even know how to post what they want to say. We’ve been sitting with them and helping change that mindset of not doing it for numbers. With how easy it is to blow up online nowadays, people want to see instant results. But instant results don’t equal a long-lasting relationship, especially when it comes to building a community.
There’s a strong argument to be made that a stan account or a fan community is almost more of a vehicle for fans to develop relationships with other fans than to connect with or meet the person you’re all a fan of.
Olivia Rudensky: I agree. What’s been really cool for Claudia and I to see is so many super fans that I knew from Twitter back in the day are now at really awesome jobs. I’ve seen fans starting to write at newspapers or get jobs at Instagram and TikTok. It’s just so cool to see how the passion they’ve shared with other fans also empowered them to go out there and work in the industry they love. That’s been the most exciting part for me, and that’s a conversation I’ve had with Miley in the past. To show her, like, that one time we had a fan do all the graphic design and visuals for her Instagram Live show during the pandemic? That girl now has a job at a real company. [With online fan communities], you’re getting internship-like experience without realizing it, and it helps them get jobs down the line.
What do you say to fans who don’t believe they can replicate your success and turn their fandom into a full-blown career?
Olivia Rudensky: I am so lucky to be in this position, but there’s so much opportunity across entertainment to be about to work on your favorite artist from a distance, whether it’s at a label, an agency, or with a brand that ends up doing a deal with that artist. You can really touch music fandom wherever you go. Don’t be afraid. I was running a website at 14 years old. The more you look at fan accounts or the communities you’ve been building online as real-life skills and experience, your mindset starts to change.
Claudia Villarreal: A lot of fans don’t understand that they have a little bit of power, especially if they build their own audience within a fandom. My mom used to tell me, “You need to get off Twitter. This isn’t going anywhere.” And my Twitter page was actually the only thing that got me somewhere in the industry. I had something to show for all my hard work. Maybe 10 years ago, fans would’ve struggled a lot more the way Olivia and I did to be taken seriously. Now, the industry has finally started to recognize that fans can be valuable outside of how much money they spend on a brand or an artist.
It’s like the quote from the writer Jessica Hopper: “Replace the word ‘fangirl’ with ‘expert’ and see what happens.”
Claudia Villarreal: When Sonny Takhar hired me, I had to basically convince him that he needed the fan perspective. He didn’t know where to put me. I had to tell him, “If you want to build another girl group or boy group, you’re going to need somebody who understands what it’s like to be on the other side.” I was there for two years, growing and building audiences. It’s crazy that, now, it is a serious job.
Olivia Rudensky: I remember moving to LA to join [Miley Cyrus’] massive management team. I would have conversations with people and say something very casually, like, “Well, there’s obviously going to have to be an album signing.” And people would say, “Wait, that’s a great idea!” I feel like within fan culture and with my Twitter account, I expected these things already as the norm. When I’d throw out ideas, it was like I was some expert in this space. It was so confusing for me. It’s actually been really hard for me to paint the picture of what I do because I felt like, Isn’t this all obvious?
Do you think that the negative, or almost shameful, connotation with the word “fan” has changed post-social media boom?
Claudia Villarreal: I think it’s changing. Fan is always going to be a pretty loose term. The internet has just made it more of a public thing. Before the internet, you had to seek out these communities of people. I have friends who are a little bit older and during their Backstreet Boys and NSYNC eras, they used to write letters to each other. Now, it’s more readily available. It’s really easy to find like-minded people that you want to share your excitement with. On the outside looking in, [fans] might look a little crazy. They’re empowered, smart people, and they want to share their ideas. They’re willing to do whatever they can for their favorite thing in the world, and I don’t think we give them enough credit. Now that fans have a platform to showcase their skills, these fans aren’t just crazy girls or boys. They just want to be part of something bigger than they are.
What did you initially set out to do when FANMADE launched toward the end of 2021 versus your purpose for the company now?
Olivia Rudensky: We were really excited to work with so many different clients. Throughout this year and a half of working on FANMADE, we’ve gotten into a really good groove of taking the philosophy of quality over quantity with the way that we look at super fans and how to engage a fan base. We tell people: If you have 200 engaged super fans, even though that might seem like a low number, that’s actually really great. With the Instagram age, it used to be followers over everything. If you looked like you had a ton of followers, you were important. Now, it’s more about engagement. When I started to see that shift, I was looking at our company and was like, I’d rather work really passionately on a few different clients and use that same philosophy that we have with super fans.
It’s funny. When you mention having 200 fully engaged fans as a really good thing, it reminds me of a pity party I threw for myself a while ago with one of my friends. I was like, “I’m so lame. I only have 800 Instagram followers.” And he said, “Imagine if you were sitting in a room in front of 800 people; that’s a lot of people.”
Claudia Villarreal: And that’s the thing. Too many people have been fazed by these astronomical numbers that are so easy to achieve now, especially on TikTok. People look to it and think, Oh, anybody can do that. But if there’s no care, if there’s no purpose, your follower account isn’t your fan count. Followers don’t equal fans. Again, people who didn’t grow up as a fan see these numbers and they’re like, Wow, with all these followers, look at how many people love them. But how many of those people genuinely go out of their way to support this artist? A lot of clients ask us that. They ask us, “Who are my real fans?” That takes a second for us to figure out, but we’ll figure it out for you. It’s not as black-and-white as most people want it to be.
The distortion of how we perceive ourselves and what we’re comparing to has changed so much.
Claudia Villarreal: And it changes all the time. We’re still in the very, very early stages of social media. I can’t wait for 40 years down the line to really see how communication has changed because it’s just getting started.
Olivia Rudensky: Some artists or talent might be really social media savvy but can’t sell tickets to a tour, right? People might just want to see them on the internet. So being able to see behavior switch — like, I look at Billie Eilish’s fan base. There’s definitely a certain demographic. The way that they engage with her content might make her the most engaged, whereas an artist that has been around pre-internet, it might look like they don’t have any followers, which is why I don’t think there’s one bit of technology or data that can determine anything. I think there really has to be that personalized touch that Claudia and I use to gauge an audience.
How is technology most valuable as a tool at FANMADE?
Claudia Villarreal: The access to information is unreal. The answers are always online. Everything is happening in front of us. As long as you care enough to look, you can find whatever you’re looking for. I don’t know where I’d be without the internet.
Olivia Rudensky: Thirty years ago, there was still fandom, but you’d have to go to a concert to engage with people. Now, I could snoop on Twitter or Instagram or TikTok accounts and get insight into a fan’s thoughts and daily lives. Everyone’s an influencer on the internet right now. Whether it’s 800 followers or two million, I can go into anybody’s world and see what they’re fans of.
Forty years down the line, what do you hope FANMADE symbolizes for people?
Olivia Rudensky: The message of FANMADE is universal. The message that everyone is a fan of something is really cool because it started with not being afraid to be vocal about what you’re a fan of. Being able to spread that message and hopefully have our stories inspire people to get out there and chase things they’re passionate about, that’s why we set out for this.
Claudia Villarreal: We think we’re at the forefront of technology now; I truly think there is going to be so much coming in the future. It’s going to be a more engagement-driven world. Ice Spice, for instance, is somebody that has blown up massively recently from TikTok, but she has grown into a cultural figure because people love her. It’s going to come down to whatever the people like. As much as we want to control whatever that is, it’s really anybody’s game.
This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.
With his new album Hard To Love coming soon, Moneybagg Yo rolls out his latest single, the Cash Money-inspired “Motion God.” The song, produced by T-Head and Skywalker OG, employs a throwback bounce-inflected beat, while Bagg boasts, “Plenty fancy cars / It’s a whole lot of motion involved / Diamonds and tattoos cover my scars / New Cadillac bulletproof, cost three-hundred large.”
The video sees Bagg celebrating his Bread Gang compatriots, setting up a “Last Supper”-esque spread outside of a Miami mansion, where the crew flashes stacks of cash and big chains while low-key cosplaying as Cash Money Records rappers circa “the ’99 and the 2000.” In separate scenes, Bagg shows off his cars and a motorcycle (adorned by two bikini-clad beauties, naturally), and even raps in front of a helicopter while repping his hometown Grizzlies with a throwback jersey from their Vancouver days. The Grizz are currently tied 1-1 with the Lakers in the first round of the playoffs, so maybe this will give them the extra boost they need to overcome.
Although Hard To Love doesn’t have a release date yet, Moneybagg has already released the singles “Quickie” and “On Wat U On.” In his Uproxx cover story, Bagg said the album “is really personal, but I know the world is going to relate to it because of the stuff I’m saying, the subject matter, I know people going through what I went through across the globe.”
The NFL has announced that five players have received suspensions for violating the league’s gambling policy. Three of them, Washington Commanders defensive end Shaka Toney and now-former Detroit Lions players CJ Moore and Quintez Cephus, will miss the entire year, while two more members of the Lions, Jameson Williams and Stanley Berryhill, are going to miss six games.
According to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network, the players with indefinite suspensions put money on NFL games, which led to their longer suspensions. As for Williams and Berryhill, they allegedly put money on college games from somewhere “associated with their NFL team.”
From @NFLNetwork: On the major gambling suspensions this morning — those suspended at least a year were found to have gambling on NFL games. Those suspended six games placed bets on college games but from their facility. pic.twitter.com/dzHWZst5Yz
In the aftermath of the news, Detroit announced that both Moore and Cephus were released. The reps for Williams put out a statement in an effort to clarify his suspension, saying that while he is apologetic for violating the league’s rules, his suspension is “due to a technical rule regarding the actual location in which the online bet was placed – and which would otherwise be allowed by the NFL outside of the club’s facility.”
“Alliance Sports confirms that its client, Jameson Williams, has been suspended by the NFL for six games for violating the NFL’s gambling policy. Jameson takes full responsibility for his actions and is very apologetic to the…
Every once in a while, the perfect story comes along. One that involves a little mystery, a little intrigue, a little surprise and a whole lot of wholesome joy.
Cue Murphy, the rescued elderly bald eagle who adopted a rock and unexpectedly showed the world what a great father he would be. The fact that he built a nest for a rock (subsequently dubbed “RockBaby”) and protected it like a real egg would be enough for us to say, “Awww.” But when a storm blew down a nearby eagle nest and a surviving chick needed a foster dad, Murphy got to prove that his rock-focused paternal instincts could, indeed, translate into genuine fatherhood.
Of course, Murphy getting a real baby isn’t the only story that delighted us recently. This is Upworthy, after all. From furry friends that made our hearts melt to humans who restored our faith in humanity, here are 10 things that made us smile this week. We hope they make you smile, too.
1. Murphy, the bald eagle who adopted a rock as an egg, gets a real foster baby
When 31-year-old Murphy built a nest for a rock and began fiercely protecting his “RockBaby,” the staff at World Bird Sanctuary began sharing his story. Now he’s a real foster dad with an eaglet of his own, and people are totally invested in their relationship. Read the full story of how Murphy got a real baby here.
2. Not only does she hit a line drive, but watch how she runs to first in style
It’s the grown-up’s “Again…” that really puts the cherry on top. This is apparently not her first cartwheel on the way to first base, and we are here for it.
3. Sandy Hook survivor was given a surprise law school scholarship by his favorite New York Ranger
u201cIsaiah: Youu2019re our inspiration. nnWe canu2019t wait to see you right back here after Troubs watches you graduate law school.u201d
When a sports hero turns out to be a real hero. Isaiah Márquez-Greene was 8 when the Sandy Hook School shooting happened, and his 6-year-old sister was one of the 20 children killed. He thought he was just getting a jersey from Rangers team captain Jacob Trouba, but he got so much more. Read the full story here.
4. Snoopy is a real dog, her name is Bayley and people can’t get enough of her.
Magic. Perfect name for a perfectly delightful doggo.
6. Young uncle finds out his nephew is named after him and his reaction is so pure
You just know Baby Brooks is going to have the best uncle adventures. Read the full story here.
7. Kelly Clarkson had a touching exchange with Henry Winkler, who offered encouragement to her daughter with dyslexia
Start at minute 2:30 to see their conversation about dyslexia. Winkler has long been an advocate for people with dyslexia and has even written an entire children’s book series featuring a dyslexic character. “How you learn has nothing to do with how brilliant you are,” is such a simple but encouraging bit of wisdom from someone who knows. Read the full story here.
8. Here’s to the wonderfulness of random, anonymous strangers
Imagine running 11 miles and still having the energy to dance. Three cheers for endorphins. That’s how it’s done.
Hope these little gems brought you some joy! Come back next week for another smile-worthy roundup, and if you’d like to get posts like this delivered right to your inbox, subscribe to our free email newsletter, The Upworthiest, here.
Netflix’s biggest surprise hit The Night Agentkeeps outdoing itself. While the series has been gaining traction on the streamer for the last month, Nielsen finally released its first-week numbers, and they are equally as impressive. Almost as impressive as a lonely night agent taking down the government. Almost!
Nielsen reported that the Netflix series was watched for 2.6 billion minutes (!!!) in its first four days of availability (March 20-26th). This makes the show the 38th most-watched streaming title in a weekly measurement since 2020, according to Nielsen. By Netflix’s own measurement, the series is already the streamer’s sixth most popular English languest series of all time, and there is no sign of stopping. Look out, Bridgerton.
Shadow and Bone clocked in at No. 2 with 1 billion minutes watched in its first full week, followed by the little engine that could South Park, which just wrapped up its 26th season, seemingly on the road to outdo The Simpsons by simply never ending.
The Night Agent stars Gabriel Basso as Peter Sutherland, a young FBI agent who is thrown into the world of wide-scale political conspiracies while working in the White House. The series, based on the novel of the same name, has already secured a second season, which is currently being written, according to creator Shawn Ryan.
What’s different with The Night Agent and, say, Stranger Things is the obvious difference in target demographic. The series drew in an older crowd, with 60% of viewers over age 50. This must be where all of the Yellowstone fans are hiding out until Kevin Costner chooses to return to set, if at all.
Netflix’s biggest surprise hit The Night Agentkeeps outdoing itself. While the series has been gaining traction on the streamer for the last month, Nielsen finally released its first-week numbers, and they are equally as impressive. Almost as impressive as a lonely night agent taking down the government. Almost!
Nielsen reported that the Netflix series was watched for 2.6 billion minutes (!!!) in its first four days of availability (March 20-26th). This makes the show the 38th most-watched streaming title in a weekly measurement since 2020, according to Nielsen. By Netflix’s own measurement, the series is already the streamer’s sixth most popular English languest series of all time, and there is no sign of stopping. Look out, Bridgerton.
Shadow and Bone clocked in at No. 2 with 1 billion minutes watched in its first full week, followed by the little engine that could South Park, which just wrapped up its 26th season, seemingly on the road to outdo The Simpsons by simply never ending.
The Night Agent stars Gabriel Basso as Peter Sutherland, a young FBI agent who is thrown into the world of wide-scale political conspiracies while working in the White House. The series, based on the novel of the same name, has already secured a second season, which is currently being written, according to creator Shawn Ryan.
What’s different with The Night Agent and, say, Stranger Things is the obvious difference in target demographic. The series drew in an older crowd, with 60% of viewers over age 50. This must be where all of the Yellowstone fans are hiding out until Kevin Costner chooses to return to set, if at all.
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(@NFL_DougFarrar) April 14, 2023
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