Bartees Strange is having a good year. His new album Farm To Table took the indie world by storm, serving as the perfect follow-up to 2020’s critically-acclaimed Live Forever. Now, he’s back with a stunning reimagining of “Gang Signs” by Freddie Gibbs for Amazon Music.
“I covered ‘Gang Signs’ because Freddie Gibbs is one of my favorite artists and I thought this would be a cool format for the song,” Bartees said about the cover. “This song is so gorgeous in a way that only Freddie could do. He always walks this line of being pretty hardcore lyrically, really pulls no punches. I love that about him — something I really admire. We could all use a little dose of Freddie from time to time.”
In our 2021 interview with Bartees, he spoke about the importance of live performances in his career and the way the pandemic affected that aspect of his music making. “I love the record, but I think that we’re just heavier in person,” he said. “I like to play with the arrangements and make things special. So whenever we play live, the set becomes more expansive than I can do on an album.”
Listen to the cover below.
Freddie Gibbs is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Despite sitting on $2 billion courtesy of Saudi Arabia, Jared Kushner has been aggressively making the media rounds to promote his new book, Breaking History: A White House Memoir. Donald Trump’s son-in-law has made stops on Fox News, Megyn Kelly’s SiriusXM show, and other right-wing media outlets to push a book that The New York Times equated with “watching a cat lick a dog’s eye goo.”
While most of Kushner’s interviews have centered around white-washing the Trump administration and/or distancing himself from the numerous scandals contained therein, things took a turn when the former White House advisor did a livestream with Richard Grenell. Apparently, Kushner believes that a combination of exercise and science could make him, and this is not a joke, live forever. Yeah…
Jared Kusher did a live stream for his book, that has an amazing 535 views, where he said he thinks he is going to live forever pic.twitter.com/lM4E8K2R5D
In Kushner’s quasi-defense, his belief isn’t entirely narcissistic. He genuinely thinks his entire generation also has the chance be immortal, so that’s neat. Via Mediaite:
From the last year, the one thing I’ve tried to put a priority on since I left the White House was, you know, getting some exercise in. I think that there is a good probability that my generation is, hopefully with the advances in science, either the first generation to live forever, or the last generation that’s going to die. So, we need to keep ourselves in pretty good shape.
Of course, if no one dies, the planet is going to fill up very quickly, but Grenell chose not to ask a single follow-up after hearing the former President of the United States’ son-in-law basically say he’s immortal. It’d be nice to know if Kushner envisions some sort of Highlander situation or how he thinks this whole thing will work if a bunch of us are about to be doomed to this existence forever.
Then again, it’s not like we won’t have time to figure it out. So, so much time.
A lot of movies are funny, but very few are funny on a cellular level. Few announce themselves as something different from the very first frames. Even most good comedies are mostly built from familiar situations and people, but Funny Pages is that rare breed; bewildering and strange before its characters even begin speaking and projecting its inherent twistedness with every aspect of its construction. Owen Kline’s directorial debut, produced by the Safdie Brothers (Uncut Gems, Good Times), is an esoteric masterpiece, a woolly comedy of the bizarre oozing with rewatch potential.
Daniel Zolghadri plays our main character, Robert, a sort of Holden Caulfield by way of R. Crumb, determined to live out his dream of being a romantic, reclusive, dangerous cult cartoonist, in spite, or to spite his banal, upper-middle-class parents. In the first scene, he’s being showered with praise by his eccentric art teacher, who urges Robert to go further, to get weirder, to subvert more expectations with his vulgar, perverse little drawings.
Ah, those drawings, depicted lovingly in the otherwise grimy, grainy, fluorescent-lit scene. They nearly steal the show, managing to be cute despite depicting full penetration and squinting little buttholes, and laugh out loud hilarious to a frame (the twisted brilliance of Johnny Ryan, who drew them). Mr. Katano, a large lumpy slob who demands Robert caricature him in all his misshapen glory, is played by an actor named “Stephen Adly Guirgis,” a name that, like most aspects of Funny Pages, is self-evidently and almost inexplicably hilarious.
Every actor in Funny Pages is basically the visual equivalent of the sonic qualities of “Stephen Adly Guirgis,” human sight gags, dadaist celebrations of mother nature and all the ways she can be magical and capricious and inspired. Funny Pages’ achievement in unconventional casting choices may never be equaled. My friend Matt, who I brought to the screening with me, said every person in Funny Pages sort of looks like a grown-up Garbage Pail kid. There’s some truth to that, though I suspect Kline partly achieves this effect by opening with a montage of hilarious and semi-cruel caricatures. Such that, from that point on, you begin to envision every character you encounter in Funny Pages as their own inevitable visual parody, your brain filling the gaps on its own like an acid trip. It’s a brilliant and twisted trick that makes the audience complicit in Robert’s cruelty.
Yet also, maybe this cast of characters just looks more like a collection of R. Crumb drawings come to life than any cast ever has before. But it’s also more than that; they’re not just kooky for kooky’s sake, or deliberately gross, which has been done (see: The Greasy Strangler). These characters are both odd and odd looking in a way that seems to define a place.
The same way Napoleon Dynamite could only have been made with and by Mormons from Idaho, Funny Pages is a collection of types only found in the arcades and comic book shops of the suburbs of the tri-state area. And only filmmakers as authentically from that milieu as Owen Kline and the Safdies could depict these characters in this much detail and palpable veracity. I imagine this world it will be intimate for those who know it and impossibly exotic for those who don’t. I grew up in California, whose residents mostly seem milk-fed and focus-grouped by comparison, and the first time I encountered the particular types produced in Northern New Jersey and Long Island when I was in my twenties I thought I was in a Dali painting.
Robert, who seems determined to upset his conventional parents (who are well-meaning but intense in a way that you get at least an inkling why Robert finds them intolerable — played brilliantly by veterans Maria Dizzia and Ron Rifkin) chooses to seek his imagined life of grit and artistic danger in the exotic, far off land of Trenton, New Jersey. Which is always intoned with a mixture of awe and fear by Robert’s comic book store cohorts. “Trenton?? Trenton.”
Robert rents a cheap room in a sweaty basement next to a clanking water heater, populated by a handful of other oddballs, with shades of the six-and-a-half-floor from Being John Malkovich. Funny Pages is constantly riding the line between the banal and the absurd, always with a seasoned eye for the grotesque.
He soon meets Wallace, played by Michael Maher, one of Hollywood’s great weird guys who deserves legitimate Oscar consideration here. Robert is fascinated by Wallace, because Wallace used to work for Image Comics. He’s also a tortured personality, broken by the industry and mostly prickly towards everyone. Eventually, Robert comes to be torn between Wallace, a cruel, broken genius he partly idolizes but who treats Robert like dirt, and his high school best friend Miles, a pimply outcast with a Prince Valiant haircut (played by Miles Emanuel, who Owen Kline met when Emanuel showed up to a video store where Kline worked, to rent Ingmar Bergman’s Hour Of The Wolf with his babysitter when Emanuel was 11). Robert mostly treats Miles with the same dismissive contempt with which Wallace treats Robert.
It all comes to a head eventually, if not to a conclusion. And that’s okay, because Funny Pages is less an epic story than a lovingly crafted, exquisitely detailed portrait of a particular place and people, full of scenes that are largely ludicrous and impossible to forget. It’s an 87-minute lark, the kind of movie you want to frame and hang on the wall, the ultimate conversation piece.
‘Funny Pages’ is available in select theaters and on VOD August 26th.Vince Mancini is onTwitter. You can access his archive of reviewshere.
It’s interesting how “good news” can be relative, isn’t it?
This week, President Biden announced a student loan relief program that has millions of Americans jumping for joy and millions of other Americans irked. What’s considered good news to some is considered bad news to others, and that’s often the way it goes with anything remotely political.
That’s OK. We all have different opinions based on our different understandings and experiences. Unfortunately, social media can often be a place for people to bicker over such things, which is why these weekly roundups of joy are such a refreshing respite.
Here we come together to take a break from the political fray and celebrate things that are universally smile-worthy. So let’s drop the debates for just a few minutes and relish in a little collective serotonin boost.
Here are 10 things that made us smile this week:
1. This smooth 86-year-old roller skater is #aginggoals for us all.
tennessee but with Italy Vibes✨ #engagementphotos #engagementphotoshoot #engagementpictures #bride #weddingtiktok
After this video of a couple posing in front of Olive Garden to get “Italy vibes” in their engagement photos went viral, people said the restaurant should cater their wedding. Instead, the couple was invited to Good Morning America where they were gifted an actual Italian honeymoon, courtesy of Olive Garden. Check out the full story here.
3. This doggo is desperate for some pets from its sleeping hooman.
u201cWhen your person is sleep but you want attention ud83eudd23ud83dude02ud83eudd23u201d
Replying to @Raahi @Naomi Namboodiripad here is an extended version! #dance #avatar #atla #elements #air #water #earth #fire #bharatanatyam #mohiniyattam #kuchipudi #trending #indian #southasian #desi #acting #culture #performance #costume #makeup #jewelry
If you’re a fan of the original “Avatar: The Last Airbender” series, these dances will send you right back to your childhood. So beautiful, from the outfits to the dances themselves. Read the full story here.
5. It took 343 embroiderers from 46 countries 13 years to make this absolutely stunning dress.
Speaking of beautiful outfits, this incredible red dress was embroidered by women all over the world who incorporated pieces of their cultures and personal stories into their stitching. The story of how it came about and how it has traveled the world being worn by women from all walks of life is so heartwarming. Read the full story here.
6. A kid dropped their shoe into an elephant enclosure and the elephant politely handed it back.
u201cThis elephant was up to the… tusk ud83dudc18 The animal returned a childu2019s shoe after it fell into its zoo enclosure in eastern Chinau201d
Saints Row, when it first came out in 2006, was in many ways the anti-Grand Theft Auto despite being a clone of that franchise. As GTA tried to be a satire and make the player laugh through subtlety, Saints Row responded by driving a motorcycle through a glass window and punching you in the face. It was loud, bombastic, and that dumb, stupid kind of fun that fit so perfectly in an open-world sandbox like Stillwater or Steelport.
Fast forward 16 years and the franchise has been rebooted. The new Saints Row takes place in the new location of Santo Ileso. It has the potential for that level of dumb fun but, unfortunately, it’s completely dragged down by a game that can’t decide what it wants to be. Does it want to be a heartfelt crime drama, a satire, or walk in the footsteps of the original franchise?
The moment that it was clear that the new Saints Row wasn’t going to be anything like the games that many fell in love with is relatively early on in its plot. You and your group of friends have recently gotten your new criminal empire business venture off the ground when a rival gang retaliates against one of your friends. In a moment of despair, your friend falls to their knees and begins telling a tragic backstory of why this moment is so painful for them, and in a more well-written story, it would have possibly left an emotional impact.
Instead, it comes across as a forced and unearned way of making you care for this character. It also makes it very clear that this is no longer the franchise that gained popularity because of assassination missions involving dudes in hot dog suits.
Saints Row
Saints Row desperately wants you to like its characters and it also really wants younger people to relate to them. They enjoy LARPing, cooking, and trying to hunt down nostalgic fast food toys. Write down a list of things that younger millennials and older Gen-Zers enjoy and that’s probably a personality trait they’ve attached to these characters. Unfortunately, none of it is handled in a way that is particularly interesting and is usually delivered in ways similar to the shallow “tragic backstory ” moments from before.
So, the story and characters are a miss, but for many people, that was never the point of Saints Row to begin with, and as long as exploring the sandbox is fun then that’s all that should matter. This one is going to be hard to explain, but the sandbox accomplishes what someone would have wanted from a game in 2014. In 2022, however, it feels outdated compared to other games in the genre. The side missions aren’t the best, largely because many of them are built on a basic combat system, but none of them are particularly offensive. Some are good, such as the welcome return of insurance fraud, but others, like the wingsuit missions, feel like they had the potential to be so much more. They will scratch that itch of completing a checklist item that most of us like sandbox games for, but it never felt like the side missions were worth sinking too much time into.
Unfortunately, it’s just really hard to recommend playing Saints Row right now at its full price. Not only does the base game not feel like it’s worth the price of admission, but there are many reports of some really awful bugs on the Xbox/PC version, in particular. I played through the PS5 version without too many issues, but it definitely feels like this is a game that you’ll want to wait on a price drop, or Game Pass, before playing.
Saints Row
If there is anything to build on for this game, it’s that the original Saints Row was considered mediocre at the time. This doesn’t have to be the end of attempts to reboot the series, and if this ends up being the groundwork for a better franchise down the road, then awesome. But right now what we have is a game that’s better experienced on Game Pass than at full price. Play this one after it’s been patched, but not right now.
(For You)r Consideration is a weekly column breaking down the rappers and singers doing it RIGHT on TikTok and the viral TikTok music trends and top songs taking over your FYP.
Any Big 4L members out there?
Lyrics from 21 Savage and Metro Boomin’s 2020 “Glock in My Lap” have resurfaced on TikTok to support the app’s latest low-effort trend. If there’s a question you’re constantly asked that baffles you, or if your stream of consciousness takes your brain from point a to z in the most chaotic way, this trend is for you. Creators are using the adlibs from the bar “Big 4L, I’m a member (Yeah) / Leave an opp cold, like December (What?)” to confirm and inquiry like a question about their favorite color or place of birth and then deny whatever wild assumption or thought comes next. Our favorite? A creator who loves ketchup but hates tomatoes. See below.
If there’s one person who’s got the independent game on lock, it’s Russ, who made over $10 million from his independent catalog. Now he’s using his following on TikTok to give out free game to unsigned artists. In a video posted on the app earlier this week, the “Best On Earth” rapper advises independent artists to ride the success of their viral songs before giving their IP to a major label. He elaborates on the financial opportunity for artists and the independence established by autonomously reaching a broad audience on social media. In May, Halsey mimicked Russ’s sentiment in a TikTok where she spoke on difficulties she’s having releasing new music to the public due to her label’s focus on creating viral moments on the app. Check out Russ’ TikTok below.
Throwback celebrity interview clips are consistently the heartbeat of the app, and this week an old Nicki Minaj video is front and center. We see a young Onika telling the camera that she’s not too cool, so say wassup, if you see her out and about. The illest creators on TikTok are using the sound to confirm that despite a chill demeanor or even what some may call “resting b*tch face,” they aren’t above a little small talk and kee. Watch the original video below!
Typically Rihanna’s 2016 “Work” is thought of as a summer anthem, club banger, and one of the last singles we were gifted from the pop icon before she made a hard pivot into becoming a beauty entrepreneur. The first 5 seconds of the track have taken over the app for creators to express what would go down in some otherwordly scenarios. Ever wondered what would happen if Kanye West met Kannah East? Get it? Watch rappers like Lil Dicky and Lil Uzi Vert meet their match below.
Unfortunately, Ginuwine is the butt of many jokes on the app this week. The R&B singer known for singles “In Those Jeans” and “Same Ol’ G” is also famous for sexy live performances during the ’90s and 2000s. Take a minute to revisit his grand entrance to perform “Pony” on 106 & Park here. And about 20 years later, Ginuwine’s lasting charisma and sex appeal are taking over your For You Page as creators mock and recreate a recent clip gif where the R&B legend dances like any 51-year-old would. Want to see Ginuwine bust a move while grocery shopping? Here’s your chance.
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 – This is important
Background first, because facts are important. Bluey is a sweet little Australian children’s cartoon about a sweet little blue puppy named Bluey who lives with her family. Bluey has a dad named Bandit and a mom named Chilli and a younger sister named Bingo who goes on little adventures with her. It’s an adorable piece of business and the show has made its way to America via Disney Plus and has become a mini-phenomenon among children and parents who flip it on and escape to a happier place for a few minutes here and there. It’s nice.
But.
There is now controversy.
Fart controversy.
The short version goes something like this: When the most recent season made its way across the Pacific to America, it was missing an episode titled “Family Meeting.” Which is strange. Why would an episode of a show for children be nixed like this? What kind of troubling message did it send to young and impressionable minds? Is this another case of overzealous parents banging pots and pans together over some hot-button cultural issue?
The Family Meeting episode from series three of the hit children’s show features a faux trial with mum Chilli as the judge to determine whether Bandit did “fluffy” or “make a brownie” on Bluey’s face.
The episode opens with the six-year-old blue heeler pup saying “Dad blew off right in my face” and Bandit denying it. Later he admits: “Her face is at bum level – it’s hard not to.”
First of all… hilarious. Good. I love it. I am a fully-grown adult man and now I want to watch the fart trial. Make a whole spinoff about fart lawyers. Make two. See what I care.
Anyway, this gets even better. A Disney fansite called Pirates and Princesses realized that the episode was missing and reached out to Disney about it and got an actual comment on the whole thing. I encourage you to read the whole post to grasp the history at play here, but this is the comment an official Disney person passed along.
“Family Meeting” will roll out on U.S. platforms soon. Some of the “Bluey” content did not meet Disney Junior broadcast S&P in place at the time the series was acquired. Now that it is rolling out on other platforms, it is a great opportunity to reevaluate which is what we plan to do.
I do not think I can explain to you — with words only, at least — how delightful I find all of this. You should see my face as I’m typing this. I am beaming. Every moving part of it is a little better than the last. An Australian show for toddlers made an episode about a fart trial and it set in motion a series of events that included:
Someone in a suit at Disney deciding that a fart trial did not meet the high standards of their streaming platform
A fansite going Woodward and Bernstein on it to get answers about the fart trial
What I have to assume was an entire series of meetings at Disney involving more people in suits about how to handle the public outcry over the episode about one dog farting on another and going to trial for it
A team of publicists sat down to craft a statement to give to the fansite about the fart episode, which will now be released online after all
I got to see all of this happen and write about it
Just a perfect little news story from beginning to end, complete with a happy resolution. If Bluey was smart and/or devious about all of this, they’d make a second episode about the fart fiasco. Get meta as hell about it. Give me a full-length documentary about it all. Interview everyone involved. I would pay good money for a two-hour movie where a series of embarrassed executives attempt to use a slew of fancy business language to dance around the thing where they censored and then uncensored an episode of television about a flatulent cartoon canine.
This is the good stuff, people. Savor this one.
ITEM NUMBER TWO – Meanwhile, on the set of Fast X…
UNIVERSAL
The good news here is that Fast X is now filming. Jason Momoa is there in full peacock mode, which is something that should not have taken this long to unlock. He should have been in these movies years ago. I’m glad we are rectifying it now, I guess, in a Better Late Than Never situation, but someone should be fired or at least be put on unpaid leave for making us wait this long. Everyone was too focused on giving Charlize Theron braids and bowl cuts. I get it. But still.
There’s a big article over at the Los Angeles Times about the filming, and about some collateral damage for the real people who live near Dominic Toretto’s fictional house. I must insist that you read it. It’s a fascinating sociological document. Here, look.
Ever since it premiered in 2001, “Fast and the Furious” fans have made a beeline to Angelino Heights to gawk at Bob’s Market, the store owned by the family of the film’s Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) and the character’s quaint Victorian house.
But unlike the nearby house where The WB series “Charmed” was shot, Bob’s Market and Dominic’s house have become a destination for more than just snapping selfies. Nearly every night, car enthusiasts spin out doing donuts at high speeds in front of the store in addition to racing and doing street takeovers throughout the area just west of Downtown.
Two conflicting thoughts here: One, it sounds like hell for the people who live in this neighborhood and I really do feel bad for them; two, it is incredibly funny to me that street racers are making pilgrimages to the Toretto house to race their cars in tribute to Vin Diesel the way Catholics travel to the Vatican.
I will be thinking about this a lot.
Hellen Kim and Robert Howard, a married couple that live close by Bob’s Market, say that the open area in front of the store draws street racers who practice donuts and ramp up their engines, creating noise and smoke. Although the city erected some bollards in the area, many of the drivers simply moved to a nearby street or continue to drive around the barriers. And when they do so, because some of the cars don’t have mufflers, the noise tends to be extremely disruptive, with screeching tires throughout the night.
If I understand the world of the Fast & Furious movies correctly, and I think I do at this point, then there is only one way to put an end to this street-racing nonsense: They must identify the leader and challenge him to a quarter-mile race right in front of the house and whoever loses can’t show their face in California ever again.
Rules are rules.
ITEM NUMBER THREE – There should be more shows about pizza
This is the trailer for the next season of Chef’s Table on Netflix, which is about pizza. You probably guessed that from the big picture of a pizza that’s right up there in that YouTube link. Maybe not. Either way, it’s true. There are so many more shots of pizza once you hit play. And, one presumes, even more shots of pizza in the series itself. This is good. Pizza is good. The trailer made me very hungry when I first saw it earlier this week and it’s making me hungry again now. If I don’t get pizza in the next 48 hours I might end up on the news. Not in a good way. In the Pizza-Crazed Local Man Arrested After Blocking Traffic On The Highway For Six Hours way. You know what I mean.
Entertainment Weekly has a bunch of details on the whole thing, from the pizza chefs that will be featured to, well, this quote, which is from an executive producer who seems like he enjoys his job a lot. Good for him.
“The idea of being able to go deep into pizza and to explore all these amazing people that have made pizza their lives, it’s almost like exploring how our lives could have turned out in a dream scenario where we were making pizza every day,” exec producer Brian McGinn says. “That’s no. 1. No. 2 is: pizza is sort of the ultimate canvas. You roll out some dough and then whatever you put on top and how you make it, that can be a perfect way of expressing who you are. And in a lot of ways, that’s what Chef’s Table is about — people finding their voices, finding a way to express themselves, to express their cultures. It was exciting for us to take this seemingly simple food item that we eat all the time that everyone loves and to really go deeper into it and to get into the emotion of it and what it means to amazing artisans all over the world.”
A few things jump out at me here. The first is that I am suddenly furious at all of my high school and college advisors who did not inform me that “famous pizza artisan” would be a viable career option in the future. The second is that there should be a whole cable channel dedicated to pizza.
Think about this. We have so many channels, some of them almost comically specific. There are channels dedicated to tennis and golf. There can be a pizza channel. People cooking pizza, people going to famous pizza restaurants to watch other people make pizza, documentaries about the history of pizza, pizza cookoff reality shows, all of it. Hell, make sitcoms and crappy movies about pizza, too. Think like a Syfy or Lifetime original but it’s about a pizza chef who falls in love and/or has to go on a rampage to protect his family’s secret pizza recipe. John Wick but with pizza instead of dogs and the budget is like $600,000 total. I would watch it tonight.
I lied early. About the 48 hours thing. It’s 24, tops. More shows about pizza, please, at the very least. Writing these last few paragraphs did not help.
ITEM NUMBER FOUR – Let’s check in with 9-1-1, one of our finest television programs
9-1-1 returns this fall, once again, somehow still doing everything all at once in the biggest and most preposterous way possible in defiance of physics and logic and good
I’ve let the past couple of seasons get away from me but I respect everyone involved so much for continuing to do this at a high level
What we have here appears to be a flaming blimp crash-landing into a packed soccer stadium
They are using this as the main image to promote an entire season of television
I hope this show runs for 1000 years and they keep coming up with fully deranged ways to put people in peril
I am so proud of everyone here
ITEM NUMBER FIVE – Someone please send Cher some confetti
I did this thing maybe a year ago where I started reading the books in the Fletch series by Gregory McDonald and I kind of have not stopped since. I’ve read almost all of them, I think. I’ve doubled back and re-read a few already. They’re great, sarcastic and fun and fast and twisty and pretty much exactly what I’m looking for in a book, especially over the summer. All of which is to say that I am kind of excited about this movie, Confess, Fletch, which is based on probably my favorite of the Fletch books.
It doesn’t hurt that Jon Hamm is playing Fletch and John Slattery is in the trailer talking to him and I kind of shouted “MAD MEN REUNION” at no one even though I already knew both of them were going to be in this. I get excited. Here’s the official description.
In this delightful comedy romp, Jon Hamm stars as the roguishly charming and endlessly troublesome Fletch, who becomes the prime suspect in a murder case while searching for a stolen art collection. The only way to prove his innocence? Find out which of the long list of suspects is the culprit – from the eccentric art dealer and a missing playboy to a crazy neighbor and Fletch’s Italian girlfriend. Crime, in fact, has never been this disorganized.
Jon Hamm is a teeny bit on the older side to play Fletch and some of the jokes in this trailer don’t land squarely on two feet and I do not care at all. I’m going to see this movie. You can come if you want. Be ready for me to talk your ear off about other actors I think could play Fletch and how much respect I have for Jon Hamm for cashing his Mad Men checks and proceeding to do just the silliest stuff he can think of with his new financial security. And for me to reach over and grab your popcorn during the movie. Yes, I know I said I didn’t want any before the movie started. And that I said I don’t really like popcorn at all. I wasn’t lying either time. But now I want some. You’re not going to eat all of it anyway.
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 Ryan:
I speed-scrolled through your Better Call Saul Universe article looking for your take on the most obvious spin-off of all, only to find it sorely lacking and somehow not mentioned in the comments.
After giving you the chance to correct your oversight in the Rundown and taking the weekend to calm down, I am compelled to write.
Condor: The Rise of Gustavo Fring, filling in his mysterious Chilean years as an operative for Pinochet’s secret police, done in the style of a straight action thriller – basically The Terminal List, only with a young Gus played like he was Affleck in The Accountant. There’s no shortage of options to play up the palace intrigue and CIA conspiracies, just imagine:
– A botched assassination shoot-out at a spice market that inspires his signature blend
– A cat and mouse game with a shady operative from a corrupt German conglomerate looking to exploit Chile’s natural resources
– An assignment to take out a vocal dissident and talented chemist named Max, leading him to question loyalties
Will he cross paths with a young Don Eladio and the Salamanca crew? Who’s to say? (You are, and the answer is yes.)
I feel like between you and your readers, we could churn out enough material for an eight episode treatment on spec in about the time it takes to spit-roast a chicken
.
This email, in response to this thing I wrote last week about potential additional spinoffs we could do now that Better Call Saul and Breaking Bad are both over, is tremendous. I have nothing to add beyond pointing out that it is correct on most fronts — including the thing where I whiffed on this one — and that I am glad Ryan sent it in. Good. Great. Everyone be more like Ryan going forward. Except for Ryan. Ryan can stay the same. For now. We will continue to assess this situation as the year goes on. Thank you.
It is among the most famous photographic images of a statesman. Winston Churchill, the British prime minister, glowers, hand on hip. For decades, an original signed print of the image has hung on a wall in a landmark hotel in Ottawa.
Oh boy. Oh boy. It feels like we are setting up something here. A heist? Is it a heist?! Did someone heist the picture of Winston Churchill? Is that what’s going on here? FREAKIN SPILL IT.
But on Friday, an employee noticed that something was off with the photograph, shot by the renowned portraitist Yousuf Karsh.
The frame was askew. It did not match the others on the wall.
Hmm.
Hmmmmm.
Feeling kinda heisty here. Like something is up. Like maybe “Sinnerman” is starting to play in the background a little bit. Quietly. Building.
Building.
BUILDING.
When the hotel, the Fairmont Château Laurier, called Jerry Fielder, the director of Mr. Karsh’s estate, he thought there was “no chance” that the picture could have been replaced by a copy.
Wait.
Hold on.
So… no heist?
Oh man, this is such a letdown. I thought we had something going here. Oh well, I guess th-
Then they sent him a close-up picture of what was supposed to be Mr. Karsh’s signature. “I was stunned,” Mr. Fielder said, noting that it had been forged. “This was a heist.”
Quick recap here:
Someone swapped out the real photo with a forgery and made off with the original
This is kind of like a reverse Thomas Crown Affair situation
The man straight-up said “this was a heist”
It is all very thrilling to me.
In a news release on Tuesday, the Fairmont hotel said that it had informed the local authorities of the picture’s disappearance, and, as a precautionary measure, had removed other photographs that were hanging in the reading lounge of the building.
Is it weird that my first thought when I read the end of that sentence was “THAT’S PROBABLY WHAT THEY WANTED YOU TO DO, YOU FOOLS”?
Maybe.
Maybe it’s weird.
Or maybe it’s all part of their master plan.
I will continue to monitor this situation going forward.
Drake’s at it again. The Canadian artist has always been a renegade, swerving left when convention says he should be staying right — and vice versa. Everything from his music to his clothes to his hairstyle is open to a sudden tweak that leaves rap fans reeling. He also leans into being the butt of the joke, ensuring that he’s always grabbing attention for moves that might seem corny at first, but either quickly set trends or blend seamlessly into his next rollout. Fascinatingly, a lot of these moments revolve around his hair.
For instance, a couple of years ago, as he promoted his sixth studio album Certified Lover Boy, Drake sported a heart-shaped part in his hair, but gave it up after COVID made it grow in weird. Earlier this year, he got his hair braided, prompting confusion among fans who didn’t realize he’d grown it out since the last time they saw him. This week, he’s getting a lot of attention for another new ‘do, which he appears to have borrowed from the cool cats of his dad’s era. Now, it’s slicked back, turning into something of a shag (if you don’t know what that is, think “mullet for Black people”), evoking comparisons to Barry White and other disco-era soul singers. Check out some of the hilarious responses below.
I don’t see how Drake be getting y’all so upset. That nigga clearly doesn’t take himself serious and does shit on the internet for laughs. Every time y’all have full on discourse about him lol.
You know how schlock purveyor The Asylum makes legally-distinct knockoffs of popular movies in the hopes that grandma accidentally buys her granddaughter Ape vs. Monster instead of Godzilla vs. Kong or Top Gunner: Danger Zone instead of Top Gun: Maverick?
365 Days is like that for Fifty Shades of Grey, except it’s on Netflix and it’s wildly popular.
The horny trilogy — 365 Days, 365 Days: This Day, and The Next 365 Days, which came out last Friday and is hanging out in the top-10 — is not wildly popular among critics, however. As noted by Comic Book, all three films have a zero percent Tomatometer rating on Rotten Tomatoes, a possible first for a trilogy. 365 Days is zero for 16 among reviews; 365 Days: This Day is zero for 17; and The Next 365 Days is zero for two, which technically isn’t enough reviews to qualify for a score. But come on, it’s unlikely that any critic will go to bat for the Polish Fifty Shades Freed.
Then again…
I thought you should know that in The Next 365 Days, our heroine has a sex dream where the two men she’s caught between end up making out pic.twitter.com/q1qs0k9ILT
There are plenty of movies with a zero percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes, including some franchises like 365 Days. But they’re usually the third or fourth sequel to a classic, like Jaws: The Revenge (Jaws: 97 percent) or, uh, Police Academy 4: Citizens on Patrol (Police Academy: 57 percent). The 365 Days trilogy is a collective zero for 35.
Early on Friday morning, it seemed like the video game world was once again going to have a huge shakeup. A report from GLHF through USA Today stated that Amazon was in the process of putting in an offer to buy Apex Legends, The Sims, and Madden publisher Electronic Arts. With so many major video game companies consolidating lately, it felt like a move that was going to have an impact similar to when Microsoft purchased Activision Blizzard.
As the rumor circulated online, stock for EA shot up while everyone waited for an announcement about the purchase taking place. Then, CNBC’s David Faber he went on TV and emphatically stated that Amazon would not be purchasing the video game giant. Afterward, the original report from USA Today was updated with that information, while Amazon and EA both gave a no comment to Kotaku about a potential purchase.
Amazon is not going to make a bid for Electronic Arts, sources tell CNBC’s @DavidFaber. Shares of $EA surged earlier on a report citing a “rumor.” pic.twitter.com/k7wk0Fy7xv
Later, USA Today put a statement in the original report stating that their content partner who ran the story, GLHF, had violated their editorial standards for “unnamed and unvetted sources.”
Obviously, a sale like this would have changed the industry forever, with EA being one of the biggest publishers in all of gaming while giving Amazon a major foothold in an industry it has so far struggled to break into. It is worth wondering if EA ever will sell, though, after rumors last May popped up that it was shopping itself to major companies like Apple and Disney. But for now, it looks like Amazon is off the board as a buyer.
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