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The thing about House of the Dragon is that pretty much every character on the show is awful in their own little way. Or big way, sometimes. There are devious blond uncles and snotty blond children and schemers in green dresses. This was true before the recent decade-zapping chronological leap forward that took place in the middle of the season, but it is especially true now, today, after all of that happened. It’s just a collection of the worst and most petty people you could ever have the misfortune of meeting all trying to ruin each other through subterfuge or bodily harm, kind of like if Succession had more violence. And dragons. Which would make for a pretty fun next season, actually. Take a few minutes today and picture Roman Roy atop a fire-breathing winged beast. A little treat for you.

The end result in all of this, in addition to making it a surprisingly fun and nasty little show, is a lack of characters to actually root for. Yes, sure, it is just a blast to watch Matt Smith smirk his way through various funerals and tension-soaked formal dinners, but it would also be a blast to see his character get walloped with a mallet once or twice. I thought I kind of liked one of many knights with shoulder-length brown hair but then they cooked him in a house fire. The dragons seem cool, I guess, but they have yet to utter a line of dialogue to confirm this, which is both probably an unreasonable ask on my part and something I really hope happens out of nowhere in the season finale.

Which brings me to King Viserys, my sweet miserable sack of loose bones, who is somehow still alive after the time-jump despite most of his skin falling off of his body and most of his family trying to kill him through a combination of stress and scheming. Here’s how he looked before the time jump, at his daughter’s wedding, just before his daughter and brother started making sex eyes at each other on the dance floor and also before his daughter’s secret boyfriend beat her husband’s secret boyfriend to death in front of everyone.

Cool. Great. Fine.

But we’ve been over that much before, a few weeks ago, in another article I wrote about this miserable lump of stringy hair and regrets, one in which I said “I hope he frowns so hard his whole face slides off his skull.” Let’s check in on him now, 10 years later, with his children and child bride grown up and everyth-

God yes. It’s beautiful. And made better by the fact that some actors — the children, mostly — have been replaced by older ones for the grown versions of their characters, and other ones look like they’ve aged six months at most, and then the show just went ahead and made the king look like he’s seen 1000 years of pain. He’s basically an unshaven skeleton now, just clinking and clanking his bones from chair to chair as everyone around him tries to ruin each other.

Here’s another screencap of him.

Here’s a third one, which might be my favorite if only because he looks kind of like if the Ghost of Christmas Past made Ebenezer Scrooge watch his entire family get murdered.

All in all, it is one of the greatest displays of face-acting I have ever seen. We should be talking about it more. It should be one of the only things we talk about. People should be knocking on Paddy Considine’s door every day to see if he is doing okay. Some of these dudes are serious Method actors who get too deep into their roles. I worry he has forgotten how to smile. Or, if he still remembers, if he can even make the muscles in his face do that anymore after a full season of filming. I picture him trying to grin a little and then wincing in pain as the poor atrophied muscles in his cheeks attempt to inch up his face.

And that’s before we even get to the things his character says, out loud, to other people. That makes it even better. All this dope wants is for his miserable family to get along for one stupid day, just once, even if they are just pretending and don’t actually mean it. And yet!

It’s the best. The man rules a kingdom and has dragons at his disposal and just wants to enjoy any of that for 90 uninterrupted seconds but every time two or more members of his family get within earshot of each other he turns into a grandfather at a Thanksgiving table filled with bickering siblings and cousins. To be fair, he did have a right to be a little upset here, seeing as his wife stabbed his daughter after threatening to cut out his grandson’s eye as punishment for his own son getting his eye sliced out after stealing a dragon, which is… kind of a lot, as far as family dynamics go. Also, his daughter and smirking brother got married after conspiring to fake her first husband’s death and ship him off to live in gay paradise with his lover. That’s another thing that happened on this show. The man has not had a quiet day in his entire adult life.

When you start adding it all up, two things become clear really quick:

• Despite, again, the thing where he is a wealthy monarch who controls a fleet of mythical winged beasts, Viserys is somehow the most relatable character on the show if only for his general vibe of “please leave me alone and let me watch my reruns of Frasier in peace”
• It creates a difficult situation for viewers because he is the only character worth rooting for at all but his continued misery is essential to the show’s entire dynamic

Which explains why he says something like this about once every two or three episodes.

It is my suspicion that he will not survive the first season. I’m surprised he has survived this long, given all the rotting flesh and duplicity and fire-related murder and/or suicide we’ve seen so far. He looks like he’s been dead for about six months anyway. Death might be the first time he finds peace in his entire pathetic life, provided his daughter and wife do not attempt to disembowel each other with his sharpened femur bones during his funeral service. (Too soon to rule this out.) But, until that happens, until he exits the world of the living via dragon or poison or his own body essentially rejecting itself on principle, I will continue to delight in all of it. I love him. I don’t think I want him to be happy, ever, at least not longer than 10 or 15 minutes of real-time edited down to about 45 seconds of screen time, but sure do love watching him mope around his castles.

Long live Viserys, if only for the misery. My relatable and perpetually frowny-faced king.

Last month, Ezra Miller was hit with yet another damaging expose detailing their alleged behavior since the start of the pandemic. For much of the year, the actor has been the center of trouble headlines that include alleged assaults in Hawaii, charges for burglary, and investigations into the welfare of children staying at their Vermont farm. The aforementioned expose from Vanity Fair did a deep dive into those allegations and found even more concerning details along with questions from Miller’s former friends and associates about whether their recent rehabilitation is legit.

However, Warner Bros. Discovery is apparently still buying Miller’s mea culpa, and the actor was recently at the studio to film additional scenes for The Flash. Despite Miller’s constant scandals, Warners has remained dedicated to getting the movie into theaters next summer. Via The Wrap:

Ezra Miller shot a day of pickups last week on the Warner Bros. lot for the standalone “The Flash” movie, TheWrap has exclusively learned.

“The Flash” is expected to reset Warner Bros.’ DC movie timeline and set a new stage for DC films going forward. According to an insider with knowledge of the project, the film has been testing positively.

After laying low as the troubling headlines continued to stack up, Miller released a statement in August where they apologized for their actions and revealed they are in “ongoing treatment.” The actor also reportedly made a personal visit to the offices of Warner Bros. Discovery where they had a meeting with top-level execs and urged them not to cancel The Flash after seeing reports that the option was being considered.

Since the meeting, Miller has seemingly remained out of trouble, but they are still open to new details about their past behavior coming to light. The actor reportedly went on several drug and alcohol binges while armed with loaded weapons, and they’ve also been accused of running a cult in Iceland. In short, anything can happen between now and The Flash‘s release.

(Via The Wrap)

Did I hear someone someone say they weren’t excited for Sam Richardson as the voice of Shaggy? Because it wasn’t me.

Velma hails from executive producer Mindy Kaling, who will voice the lead character in the adult animated series. It was also announced today that Richardson (Detroiters), Glenn Howerton (It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia), and Constance Wu (Fresh Off the Boat) will voice Shaggy, Fred, and Daphne, respectively.

Glenn Howerton, Sam Richardson, and Constance Wu will star with Kaling in the adult animated series, which traces the origin story of Velma Dinkley (voiced by Kaling), the underappreciated brains of Mystery Inc. The four appeared onstage together Thursday at New York Comic Con.

But that’s not at all. The cast of Velma (which should not be confused with the other Scooby-Doo-related project on HBO Max that is making the worst people in the world all riled up for making “LESBIAN VELMA FINALLY CANON,” something that everyone has known for, oh, 40 years) also includes Jane Lynch, Wanda Sykes, Russell Peters, Melissa Fumero, Stephen Root, Gary Cole, Ken Leung, Cherry Jones, “Weird Al” Yankovic, Fortune Feimster, Yvonne Orji, Sarayu Blue, Nicole Byer, Ming-Na Wen, Shay Mitchell, Debby Ryan, Kulap Vilaysak, and living legend Frank Welker, the original voice of Fred. Hopefully he approves of Howerton as the new Fred, because otherwise…

(Via the Hollywood Reporter)

Podcaster, filmmaker, and cinephile Quentin Tarantino just announced his book tour. Tarantino is taking himself on a little U.S. tour in honor of the release of his first non-fiction book, Cinema Speculation.

Here’s a description of the book, from its publisher, Harper Collins:

In addition to being among the most celebrated of contemporary filmmakers, Quentin Tarantino is possibly the most joyously infectious movie lover alive. For years he has touted in interviews his eventual turn to writing books about films. Now, with Cinema Speculation, the time has come, and the results are everything his passionate fans—and all movie lovers—could have hoped for. Organized around key American films from the 1970s, all of which he first saw as a young moviegoer at the time this book is as intellectually rigorous and insightful as it is rollicking and entertaining. At once film criticism, film theory, a feat of reporting, and wonderful personal history, it is all written in the singular voice recognizable immediately as QT’s and with the rare perspective about cinema possible only from one of the greatest practitioners of the artform ever.

The book comes out on November 1, and Tarantino’s tour begins on November 3 in Los Angeles. It ends on November 16 in New York City.

Here are the tour dates and locations below:

• November 3: Los Angeles, CA at The Theatre at Ace Hotel
• November 7: San Francisco, CA at Castro Theatre
• November 9 & 10: Portland, OR at Hollywood Theatre
• November 12: Austin, TX at Paramount Theatre
• November 16: New York, NY at The Town Hall

Tickets for Tarantino’s Cinema Speculation tour will go on sale Friday, October 7 at 10am ET.

This week on People’s Party with Talib Kweli, we have the first return solo guest ever on the show — the one and only Yasin Bey. The friendship between Kweli and Yasiin Bey is so crucial to their journey as artists and Black Star is truly a household name with hip-hop purists who can appreciate boom-bap beats and lyrics of authentic MCs. Nevertheless, there will always be a few nay sayers who attempt to undermine the legacy of Black Star.

Rap critic Anthony Fantano appears to have gone out of his way to critique the music and methods of Black Star’s release of No Fear of Time, availible on Luminary. Yasiin Bey let the world know how he feels about these kinds of critics. “Everybody is in love with their opinion these days. They have made a cottage industry out of having an opinion. Sometimes, I don’t even want to respond…I’ve had harsher things said about me by more qualified parties. We are a unique group; hip-hop is very unique. Nothing sounds like this sonically. It is a very unique arts movement. People who critique it from pop entertainment standards are missing some important nuances about what this is, and what it really means.”

For more real wisdom from one of the best hip-hop heads of his generation, peep Yasiin Bey on People’s Party with Talib Kweli below.

For decades now, having your song or album certified Gold, Platinum, or even Diamond by the RIAA (Recording Industry Association Of America) has been one of music’s biggest honors. To be certified Gold, a release must rack up 500,000 units (a value combining sales and streaming figures). The threshold for Platinum certification is a million units, while it takes 10 million to reach Diamond status.

The organization has been around for 70 years now, and in all that time, not a ton of songs have reached Diamond certification. Even fewer artists have multiple Diamond songs to their name. That exclusive club has only 14 members as of October 6, 2022, but who is the biggest artist of all time when it comes to Diamond songs? Let’s work our way from the bottom of the list to the top.

The artists with “only” two Diamond songs to their name are:

• Cardi B — “I Like It” Feat. J Balvin and Bad Bunny (10-times Platinum) and “Bodak Yellow” (10-times Platinum)
• Justin Bieber — “Baby” Feat. Ludacris (12-times Platinum) and “Sorry” (10-times Platinum)
• Lady Gaga — “Bad Romance” (11-times Platinum) and “Poker Face” (10-times Platinum)
• Michael Jackson — “Billie Jean” (10-times Platinum) and “Thrilled” (10-times Platinum)
• Post Malone — “Congratulations” Feat. Quavo (11-times Platinum) and “Rockstar” Feat. 21 Savage (10-times Platinum)
• The Chainsmokers — “Closer” Feat. Halsey (14-times Platinum) and “Don’t Let Me Down” Feat. Daya (10-times Platinum)
• Twenty One Pilots — “Stressed Out” (10-times Platinum) and “Heathens” (10-times Platinum)

Even fewer artists have three Diamond songs:

• Ed Sheeran — “Thinking Out Loud” (12-times Platinum), “Shape Of You” (10-times Platinum), and “Perfect” (10-times Platinum)
• Eminem — “Love The Way You Lie” Feat. Rihanna (13-times Platinum), “Lose Yourself” (13-times Platinum), and “Not Afraid” (11-times Platinum)
• Katy Perry — “Firework” (12-times Platinum), “Dark Horse” (11-times Platinum), and “Roar” (10-times Platinum)
• Maroon 5 — “Sugar” (11-times Platinum), “Moves Like Jagger” (10-times Platinum), and “Girls Like You” Feat. Cardi B (10-times Platinum)
• The Weeknd — “The Hills” (11-times Platinum), “Starboy” (11-times Platinum), and “Blinding Lights” (10-times Platinum)

Above all of those big names, though, are the top two artists. Second on the all-time list with four Diamond singles is Imagine Dragons: “Radioactive” (14-times Platinum), “Demons” (10-times Platinum), “Thunder” (10-times Platinum), and “Believer” (10-times Platinum).

The top artist of all time is… Bruno Mars, who has five Diamond songs. His latest Diamond certification came just a few days ago, when “Locked Out Of Heaven” reached the milestone on October 1. His other Diamond hits are “Just The Way You Are” (13-times Platinum), “When I Was Your Man” (11-times Platinum), “That’s What I Like” (10-times Platinum), and “Grenade” (10-times Platinum). Mark Ronson’s “Uptown Funk,” which features Mars, is 11-times Platinum, so if you want to count that towards Mars’ total, he has six Diamond songs.

These ranks aren’t set in stone, though: Justin Bieber and Lady Gaga both have songs currently sitting on the edge of Diamond status at 9-times Platinum, for example. So, who knows how this list will change in the coming years.

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

The Weeknd started off this year as strong as humanly possible with the massive release of Dawn FM, which he explained was only the beginning of his world domination because it’s part of a trilogy. But before that LP even arrived, the singer announced his appearance in the upcoming HBO series The Idol.

The show is about a female pop singer who falls in love with an LA club owner who also leads a secret cult. A trailer was shared in July of this year and another in August, and now another trailer has been unveiled. Along with Abel Tesfaye, it also stars Lily-Rose Depp, Troye Sivan, Rachel Sennott, and more notable names. Somehow, this new trailer is even steamier than the previous ones, featuring lots of near-nudity as well as snippets of bondage.

Back in April, HBO announced that the series would undergo an overhaul due to the decision to head in a “new creative direction.” In a statement, HBO wrote, “The production will be adjusting its cast and crew accordingly to best serve this new approach to the series.” The cast also includes Jennie Kim, Debby Ryan, Steve Zissis, Hari Nef, Juliebeth Gonzalez, Melanie Liburd, Tunde Adebimpe, Elizabeth Berkley, Nico Hiraga, and more.

Watch the new trailer for The Idol above.

If you’ve logged onto TikTok — or heck, even Instagram at this point — in the past couple of months, you have probably encountered a song called “Billie Eilish” by now. If not, you definitely will now.

If you’re of a certain age, this song probably infuriates you, because, for the most part, its beat is almost a direct lift of NORE‘s 2002 God’s Favorite single “Nothin’,” which is still the Queens native’s biggest solo hit. It starts with the Neptunes-produced instrumental, but very quickly, a completely different voice replaces NORE’s: that of emerging Philadelphia star Armani White, who comes in with his now-inescapable hook.

“Bitch, I’m stylish
Glock tucked, big t-shirt — Billie Eilish”

It’s sort of a clever pull, drawing from the cultural ubiquity of the “Happier Than Ever” singer and combining it with the blog-era penchant for naming hip-hop songs after white pop stars (see: Lil B’s “I’m Miley Cyrus” and Migos’ “Hannah Montana”), along with a dose of millennial nostalgia. The punchline injects street-bred menace into Billie’s understandable preference for baggy clothes, while the beat invokes the tall tee era when such a uniform would have been less of a fashion statement and more of a necessity (it was a strange time).

But what, exactly, does Billie Eilish herself make of all this? Well, while she hasn’t exactly vocally co-signed the song, she has been known to share some of the clips using it from TikTok on her own social media.

Also, as Armani revealed in a recent interview with HipHopNMore, Billie sharing the song might well have been the catalyst that helped get the song cleared so he could start generating some revenue with the track. While trying to clear the sample and the usage of Billie’s name as the title, he says, once she shared it, “They released the claim right after that.”

Since then, Armani signed with Def Jam, got NORE’s co-sign in a performance of the song for the BET Hip-Hop Awards, and has begun planning the follow-up to his single’s success.

Oh, you thought festival season was over? Think again. LA3C Festival is coming to Los Angeles on December 10th and 11th, with a lineup of previously announced headliners in Megan Thee Stallion and Snoop Dogg, which now also features Colombian singer Maluma, K-pop group Seventeen, Free Nationals, Mustard, and more. The music festival is going down at LA’s State Historic Park, the same venue that hosted Primavera Sound LA last month.

LA3C represents the first ever “culture & creativity” festival put on by Penske Media, which owns publications like Rolling Stone and Variety. Now with their fully-announced slate of headliners, the festival is touting its diverse lineup as a reflection of Los Angeles being the, “Capital of creativity and culture.”

“Our goals were to create a lineup that celebrates the range of musical genres Los Angeles offers including pop, hip-hop, R&B, K-pop, Regional Mexican Music, EDM and more, and for attendees to discover new artists while enjoying names they know and love,” LA3c CEO Juan Mora said in a statement.

Other acts on the main stage lineup include Gerardo Ortiz, Fonseca, Marc Seguí, Shawn Wasabi, Monogem, Shea Diamond, and Chicocurlyhead.

The festival is promising an all-encompassing cultural event with a core focus on food and art, as well as music. LA3C will be announcing more of its lineup later this month, including celebrity chefs, restaurants, and “surprises.”

Tickets for LA3C Festival are on sale now at LA3C.com.

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

Anna Kendrick recently got real about her film that recently premiered at TIFF. That would be Alice, Darling, which is a darker project than we’re used to seeing from the Oscar nominee. The film revolves around emotional abuse, and while we usually see Anna in lighter (or at least punchier) fare, don’t expect her to brighten up right away. Instead, she’s about to make her directorial debut in the true crime genre. Kendrick is also set to star in The Dating Game, which is based upon a real-life horror story.

The film is so-named for the infamous 1970s show that preceded the likes of FBoy Island and Dated and Related. And certainly, no reality-based story like The Bachelorette wants anything truly unsavory to happen, so vetting processes attempt to leave no stone unturned. However, something particularly awful slipped through the cracks on The Dating Show, and serial killer Rodney Alcaca ended up landing in the dating pool. He was a dubious charmer, and here’s a CBS News clip that noted his death (from natural causes while on death row) in 2021.

The story’s a fascinating one, and The Hollywood Reporter revealed that the Anna-attached project launched a bidding frenzy at TIFF. International sales poured in as well, and fortunately, the female bachelorette (Cheryl Bradshaw) who chose Alcaca did get out alive. The fact that she lived could partially be down to luck, given that Alcaca was a prolific murderer who reportedly took 130+ lives. He frequently posed as a photographer in order to charm women into dating him. A chilling portfolio of the 200+ women that he photographed could lend further clues to other (still undiscovered) crimes, although the public jury’s still out on that note.

Don’t expect a rom com out of this project, for sure. The Dating Game will use a blacklisted script from Ian McDonald and will no doubt target the same audience who’s been rabidly devouring projects like Netflix’s Dahmer, which has already reached the all-time top list for the streamer. No set release date for The Dating Game exists as of yet, but those who find serial-killer content to be irresistible will be waiting.