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After a brief chat about House of the Dragon and The Crown on the Today Show couch, icon of icons Al Roker invited Matt Smith to come do the weather with him. What resulted is something both quaint, sweet, and deeply bizarre. The questions abound.

First, did Smith think Roker’s last name was Rocker? Because that’s actually pretty cool.

Second of all, why was Smith dressed like Matthew McConaughey’s younger cousin?

And why did Smith ask if the screen behind him, a thing he could see, was one of the types of screens that he could see? And why was Roker so hyped up about Smith reading the words off the screen? Why did he scream in Smith’s face that it was “the classiest weather forecast we have ever had!”? And why did Smith joke that people can’t drive in the rain in Los Angeles after pointing to a thunderstorm in Idaho?

The answer to the last one is obvious: it’s the same reason that we’d joke about people in Brighton & Hove struggling to drive in the sun after pointing to a giant cartoon sun hanging over Canterbury.

Roker’s excitement, on the other hand, has to be from a deeply genuine place. That kind of giddy energy can only come from a Matt Smith fanboy. Is Roker a Whovian, a Crownhead, or both? Tragically, this goofy Today Show gag offers more maddening questions than answers.

(via People)

Let’s be real. Everyone wants to get a taste of the “Pink Venom” that Blackpink has.

With their upcoming Born Pink album and “Shut Down” music video on the way, dropping on Friday, September 16, that only means we’re just a month away from seeing Jennie, Jisoo, Rosé and Lisa live on tour. Kicking off in Seoul, South Korea on October 15 and 16 at the KSPO Dome, the Born Pink tour makes its way stateside on October 25 at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, TX. The quartet will hold 10 shows in seven cities in North America that will be followed by the European leg of their tour on October 30.

But as pre-sales are already happening for Blink membership holders, here’s what you need to know to grab yourself tickets to see Blackpink in your area next month.

Tickets for the general public go on sale on Friday, September 16 at 10 a.m. local time via Ticketmaster.

If you are a die-hard Blink looking beyond the standard concert-going experience, there are three different VIP packages being offered: Ultimate Born Pink Experience ($1250), Blink Deluxe Experience ($500), and the Blink Plus Experience ($350). Depending on which package, fans will have access to early entry, watch soundcheck, get dibs on merch and receive some goods.

If you aren’t able to snag yourself a ticket or two, your next best bet may be going through Ticketmaster’s resell or other third-party ticketing sites like StubHub or SeatGeek. But be very wary as prices double, triple, or even quadruple the original price.

Papa John’s founder John Schnatter was excised from the very business that bears his name back in 2018 after he was caught casually dropping the N-word in a leaked internal company call. Now he’s got another N-word on the brain: Nazi. More specifically: Nazi Germany, which he says is an apt description of what the United States has become at the moment. While he’s hardly the first person to make that comparison, he might be the first and only person whose reason for saying so is while coming to the defense of crack addict-turned-pillow-maker Mike Lindell.

As Mediaite reports, Schnatter was a guest on The PBD Podcast with Patrick Bet-David on Thursday, where he spoke about both pizza and politics. He should’ve stuck with the former, because he picked a mighty bizarre hill to die on when it came to his political views. The pizza man’s take is that between the FBI’s raid on Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago and Mike Lindell’s phone being seized at a Hardee’s (which will never not be funny), “We now have Nazi Germany.”

Come again?!

The way Schnatter sees it, “If you’re a conservative and believe in conservative principles and you’re outspoken, you’ve got the KGB.” When Bet-David pressed him on whether he really believed that, Schnatter made it clear that he was dead serious. Citing the AG, the FBI, and the IRS specifically, he stated that “the government is now an enemy of the freedoms of the people… If they attack Lindell, Trump, [Michael] Flynn, Papa John — if they attack us, sooner or later they’re going to attack every American that doesn’t believe in their ideology.”

Or maybe just those people who have stolen classified documents from the White House and spent years making baseless claims about the 2020 presidential election being compromised.

(Via Mediaite)

This trailer for From Scratch is conflicting. On the one hand, it’s gorgeous, features Zoe Saldana and Eugenio Mastrandrea falling madly in love, and there’s a little food porn to boot. On the other, it shows a lot. Like, a lot. It seems fairly heavy on the spoilers and on the smooching.

Viewer beware. That said, it paints the portrait of a thoroughly classic romance — one with powerful emotions, passion, and life smacking people right in the face to put those bonds to the test. Based on the best-selling memoir by actress Tembi Locke, the show features Saldana as a struggling artist (whose dad (Keith David!) thinks she should go to law school). She bumps into Lino (Mastrandrea) in the streets of Sicily, sparks fly, and he says the 9 words everyone wants to hear: “Allow me to cook for you at my restaurant.”

Swoooooooon.

Since this isn’t a rom-com, they don’t chuckle their way into the sunset. Life gets real. Again, if you’re already sold, there’s no need to get spoiled by the trailer. And why wouldn’t you be sold? It’s Saldana in a dramatic romantic role, and Keith David is playing her dad. Repeat: Keith David alert. Grab the popcorn.

All 8 episodes of the Netflix series land on October 21st.

Week 1 of the 2022 NFL season is in the books with riveting action across the league. In this space, we enjoyed a productive week, even with ugly results in standalone prime time action. Simply put, a 3-2 mark each week would be deeply satisfying, so there is no room for complaint. With Week 2 on the horizon and a doubleheader on Monday evening to close the weekend, there is plenty to discuss, and as always, we’ll take a brief look back before we look forward to the slate.

• Week 1: 3-2
• 2022 Season: 3-2

Come get these winners.

Detroit Lions (-1) over Washington Commanders

This one is pretty simple out of the gate. I have the Lions and Commanders rated as essentially even, with a slight lean to Detroit. The Lions are at home and laying only one point after a Week 1 loss and a Washington win. Go Lions.

Baltimore Ravens and Miami Dolphins UNDER 22.5 points in the first half

I was perilously close to giving out the Ravens here, in part because I trust Baltimore’s defense in this spot. Instead, we pivot to an old favorite in the first half Under, and these two teams combined for nine points in the first three quarters of a 2021 matchup. We can’t expect that level of Under erotica this time around, but Baltimore likes to grind clock with the run game, and that should also help us to get home in this spot.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers (-2.5) over New Orleans Saints

It is completely against the grain for me to lay a road favorite like this. It’s not what I do, and I get that. I also think this line stinks to high heaven. The combination of Tampa Bay’s historical struggles against New Orleans and the Bucs uninspiring offensive effort in Week 1 is dragging this line down to a spot where it shouldn’t be. Lay the small number and remember that Sean Payton isn’t walking through that door.

New England Patriots and Pittsburgh Steelers UNDER 40.5 points

Yes, the Steelers won in Cincinnati last week, and we had them. Pittsburgh also needed a lot of help from its defense and an overtime period to get to 23 points. The Steelers generated 4.4 yards per play and 4.9 yards per pass against the Bengals, and Pittsburgh was at least frisky defensively. The absence of TJ Watt isn’t great for us here, but New England’s offense isn’t exactly inspiring. This is a grind-it-out, hideous game and we’ll root for field goals.

Arizona Cardinals (+5.5) over Las Vegas Raiders

This could be a “last stand” situation for the Cardinals, and Arizona had zero defensive resistance last week. Still, this feels like at least a mild overreaction in the number, and the backdoor should be open for Kyler Murray and company if we need it. Or, well, this week could signal that Arizona is totally cooked. We’ll see.

Top Dawg Entertainment marches to the beat of its own slow-paced drum pattern, and no member of the roster displays this fact more than the elusive Ab-Soul. Amidst several TDE releases over the years, the 35-year-old has been noticeably absent, much to the chagrin of fans who have been loud about their desire to hear from him. It appears that all may change soon, as the official Top Dawg Entertainment Instagram page shared a post on Thursday afternoon (September 15) with two pieces of information about the Los Angeles rapper’s imminent musical future, namely a single and an album.

In the post, there is a photo with what appears to be the silhouette of two children standing on top of a roof pointing at a shooting star with a full moon looming in the background. The caption reads “Album done. Warmup tonight. @souloho3” and closes with the phrase “Moonshooter.” Given the contents of the photo, it is safe to assume that Ab-Soul’s impending single will release at midnight on Friday (September 16) and go by that name.

This ought to be pleasing news for his fans, as the rapper has not released an album since 2016’s Do What Thou Wilt. The rapper shared “Hollandaise” in April of this year and appeared on sparse features over the years, but has otherwise been mostly incognito. It looks like Ab-Soul is ready to fully come out of hiding.

Check out TDE’s Instagram post teasing the album and single above.

When did the shooter genre get so stale? We get a Call of Duty every year, although that’s changing, Overwatch doesn’t even look like what it used to be and Battlefield 2042 is only now being patched into a full-fledged game. Then there’s Splatoon 3. A game that feels so much the opposite of everything else in the genre that it can’t help but feel like a breath of fresh air.

The concept of Splatoon alone is already a unique one. Kills? Not the objective. Capturing flags? That’s so 90s. Instead, the point of each match is to cover the walls, floor, and every square inch of a map with your color of ink. The team that covers the largest percentage of the map by the end of the time period, wins. That is the base from the original Splatoon and it’s a simple concept that works extremely well. Obviously there are intricacies to each match and you can’t just ignore kills entirely, because you’ll likely lose. Still, it’s great to have a multiplayer shooter out there that consistently says it doesn’t care about rewarding players with the fastest reaction times or best aim, but instead rewards you primarily for playing the objective of each map. Players of multiple skill levels can both play and be good at Splatoon together and it’s a wonderful thing.

The way Splatoon goes about reducing the skill gap between players is by having so many different weapons (54, to be exact) and power-ups that pretty much everyone can find a style of play that they’ll enjoy. If you are someone that finds yourself really enjoying the game and wanting to put your skills to the test, it does feature competitive gameplay with some unique modes to mix it up. This is where many longtime players rushed to the second they could, so maybe wait a bit before jumping in if you’re a newbie, but it’s a great opportunity to see how you match up against other competitive players.

If you’re not someone that cares about the competitive aspect then fear not, because there is still plenty in this game for you to do. All the Splatoon games before this had highly regarded campaign modes and this one is no different. You thankfully don’t need to play the previous games to understand the admittedly basic plot, and it’s a very fun puzzle/third-person shooter mode. If single player isn’t your speed then team up with a friend and go play the horde mode Salmon Run. It’s back from Splatoon 2 and just as fun as last time. Finally, if for some reason all of this isn’t appealing to you, then you can give the card game Tableturf Battle a try. It’s a 1v1 card game where you use cards to cover up as much space as possible. You can collect up to 150 cards, and while it’s not quite a deck builder we may see people try to turn it into one.

The best part about all of these modes is that they’re available for the game straight out of the box. Nothing has been held for a patch later down the line, none of these modes feel broken or unbalanced, and instead, it’s just all there available for us to play. It feels like such a rarity today to get a full game experience for only $60, but that’s what Splatoon 3 has given us. There just isn’t really anything else out there like it and it’s a must-have for every Nintendo Switch owner.

In Hollywood, everyone says yes to things they have intention of doing, and they rave about your show to your face even if they’ve never seen a second. So how do you know if someone who looovvvves your work has really seen it?

Fresh off her Emmy win and involuntary participation in a failed Jimmy Kimmel gag, Abbott Elementary star/creator Quinta Brunson shared a surefire way to know: check in with the family.

“Henry Winkler’s wife came up and told me how much she loved the show,” Brunson told Variety. “That meant a lot to me. I love when people’s mates or family members come up and tell me that they love the show because that’s how I know they really are watching as a family. And that makes me happy.”

Granted, it’s also possible that someone is genuinely watching your show alone in the darkness without their family, but Brunson’s method here feels like a safe bet.

In the expansive post-victory feature, Brunson also provided some details about the future of Abbott Elementary and its mockumentary goodness. The plan is to dig deeper into the characters without leaving the school too much, to lower the stakes from time to time, and to build on the goodwill of the fans.

“We’re not trying to reinvent the wheel; the wheel works,” she said. “I’d just like to give it some spinning rims.”

(via Variety)

In addition to politely disagreeing on the internet with Martin Scorsese and shepherding about a hundred projects in development, the Russo Brothers have set their sights on converting the Oscar-winning Western Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid into a series for Prime Video. According to The Hollywood Reporter, they’ve found their Butch in Regé-Jean Page and their Sundance Kid in Glen Powell. Right off the bat, it’s obvious that the show will have a different energy from the movie because both the Bridgerton and Top Gun: Maverick stars are about the same age. It’s a far cry from the outlaw mentorship program vibe between Paul Newman and Robert Redford.

The series is also meant to be the foundation for a larger universe (because, le sigh, of course it is), promising spin-offs and other series to follow. The cart is before the horse. Of course, it’s always possible that Amazon dumping cash into these spin-offs will vault them into popularity by sheer algorithmic determination.

Kaz and Ryan Firpo (who wrote Eternals) will write the scripts for every episode, but the production hasn’t secured directors yet.

The Russo Brothers are basically all over the field, making movies like The Gray Man for Netflix, this series and the worldbuilding exercise The Citadel for Amazon, Marvel movies on the side. You name it. Now to see if they can do the Hole-in-the-Wall Gang justice.

(via The Hollywood Reporter)

EST Gee is showing no signs of taking his foot off of the gas. After an active year of releases and features, the Louisville rapper is ready to share his next album with the world this coming Friday (September 16). I Never Felt Nun clocks in at 21 songs total and includes features from major artists such as Jack Harlow, Bryson Tiller, Future, Jeezy, and MGK.

It is worth noting that I Never Felt Nun continues a series of projects for the 28-year-old that began in March 2020 with Ion Feel Nun. Gee followed that up in December of that same year with I Still Dont Feel Nun before taking things in a different direction. In 2021, he shared Bigger Than Life Or Death, Bigger Than Life Or Death Part 2 , and then a deluxe version of its original iteration. This year, he partnered up with his labelmate 42 Dugg for Last Ones Left before the duo joined their label CMG for the compilation album Gangsta Art.

I Never Felt Nun is led by the singles “Blood,” “Love Is Blind,” “Hell,” and, most recently, “Shoot It Myself” featuring Future. With a strong backing and a lot of momentum, I Never Felt Nun could very well serve as the nitrous oxide to push his lyrical vehicle to even higher heights.

Below, find the I Never Felt Nun album art and tracklist.

1. “Have Mercy”
2. “Shoot It Myself ” Feat. Future
3. “Hell”
4. “Come Home”
5. “I Can’t Feel A Thing”
6. “Backstage Passes” Feat. Jack Harlow
7. “Both Arms”
8. “Bow And Say Grace”
9. “Blood”
10. “Is Heaven For A Gangsta”
11. “Love Is Blind”
12. “X”
13. “Get Em’ Geeski”
14. “Sabotage” Feat. Bryson Tiller
15. “Double Back”
16. “I Won’t Let Em’ Kill Me”
17. “Death Around The Corner” Feat. MGK
18. “Get It Going”
19. “Voice In My Head”
20. “Foreva”
21. “The Realest” Feat. Jeezy

I Never Felt Nun is out 9/16 via CMG and Interscope. Pre-order it here.

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