Pizza is one of the most universally beloved foods. It’s a go-to for gatherings because, unlike other foods, it has been known for decades, centuries even, to be a people pleaser. “Who hates pizza?” is a question usually answered with a resounding “no one.” But now that question has a surprising new answer in Academy Award winner Daniel Kaluuya. Kaluuya did not necessarily say that he hates pizza, but one might assume that his reaction to being offered pizza would be a cruel but polite, “nope”.
The actor, who is the star of writer/director Jordan Peele’s highly anticipated horror-comedy hybrid Nope, appeared as a guest on Hot Ones and with lots of very hot spices in his mouth, revealed his spicy take on pizza. About 16 minutes into the episode and after taking a big drink of water, Hot Ones host Sean Evans asks a very vulnerable Kaluuya for his take on Chicago-style deep dish pizza.
“Pizza’s just like… pizza’s an open sandwich. If you really look at it, it’s like, cheese.” Kaluuya said. “My tongue is going nuts,” he says, still providing no specific answer to the question about deep dish style. “It’s like cheese. They just grill the cheese, put some bread on it, cook the bread,” he said. “It’s an open sandwich.”
Kaluuya says the reason he feels this way is because he had a friend who worked at Pizza Hut. His friend used to work Friday nights so Kaluuya would meet him at Pizza Hut at the end of his shift so they could go out together. In these moments, Kaluuya saw the inner workings of the Pizza Hut. “Then I was just like, I’m not convinced on pizzas,” he said. “It’s overrated.”
Daniel Kaluuya is not wrong. Pizza is, in the end, simply bread with cheese on it and, ultimately, an open sandwich. But it is still delicious, even if it is from Dominos or DiGiorno. Maybe Kaluuya has only had Pizza Hut?
Nope, whose plot has been kept under wraps, hits theaters on July 22.
In March, rumors circulated that Grimes, after breaking up with Elon Musk, was dating Chelsea Manning, the activist most known for her whistleblowing. This was after Manning was liking and replying to a series of tweets about Grimes. Plus, a source told Page Six that the two were getting serious and “U-Hauled it,” aka moved in together.
According to Daily Mail, the supposed couple has broken up. Sources told the publication that they had been “breaking up for a while,” after living together in Austin, Texas and raising the two children Grimes had with the billionaire.
A few months ago, the “Oblivion” singer opened up about her struggles with her pregnancy. “So I recently had a baby and it was incredibly traumatic for me,” she said. “And the whole time, I was like, ‘I f*cking hate this and this is so f*cked up and there’s not enough information.’ Having a child is one of the few things in the modern era that is just inherently a pretty savage experience. It’s hardcore, you cannot escape the nature of it. It’s just happening. And it actually really re-centered me in the end. I was like, ‘You know what? I’m really glad I did that. I feel really reconnected with nature in an interesting way.’”
Who could have predicted that when Eminem sang about his daughter Hailie on “’97 Bonnie & Clyde” on the Slim Shady LP, that one day, baby Hailie would grow up to become a social media influencer who is now hosting a podcast?! They grow up so fast. And now, Em’s daughter, Hailie Jade, has announced the Just A Little Shady Podcast.
“Just a little shady podcast is about to drop!” she posted on Instagram yesterday. “This project has been in the works for a while & i’m so excited for the first episode to be launching!!”
Hailie, 26, who lives in Detroit, filed for a trademark on the podcast according to The Sun. The company name is “Hailie Jade, LLC” and lists its purpose as “Entertainment services, namely, providing podcasts in the field of a celebrity influencer discussing autobiographical topics, influencer lifestyle, and personal growth.” If Hailie’s listening habits are any indication, it’s a good bet that the podcast will indeed talk about her rapper Dad. While that’s about as much info as is available on the content of the podcast, Hailie also prompted followers to subscribe to her YouTube channel, “…To see a sneak peak & hear what me & my cohost @britednie will be talking about.” As of press time, the YouTube channel had zero videos up.
Things got scary for Travis Barker a couple weeks ago, when the Blink-182 drummer was hospitalized with pancreatitis following a colonoscopy. The good news is it appears his recovery has been pretty swift: A few days after initial reports surfaced, he was doing “much better,” and then a few days after that, he was reportedly already back in the studio.
Now, he’s making his way back to the stage: Yesterday (July 13), Barker made a surprise appearance at Machine Gun Kelly’s concert at Los Angeles’ The Forum. According to ET, Kelly said during the show, “There’s a person I grew up idolizing that I became friends with and he believed in me, and never more have I wanted to jam to a song that he and I created. LA’s own, Travis Barker! Make some noise for him tonight.” He added, “You know, a fun fact is that Travis is not supposed to be playing drums right now, but guess what he’s doing? Playing drums right now.”
When it comes to The Art of the Deal, Donald Trump’s main rule seems to be: say yes to anyone who is willing to give you money. At the moment, as Mediaite reports, that means partnering with the Saudi-backed LIV Golf tournament series, which Bloomberg described as the golf world’s “biggest controversy since the Tiger Woods sex scandal.” So, of course, Trump wants in on it.
According to NBC’s Marc Caputo, Trump is set to reap some serious financial rewards by hosting LIV Golf tournaments at his eponymous golf clubs in Bedminster, New Jersey and Doral, Florida. While Trump’s golf empire in general is known to be a money loser, his Bedminster and Doral clubs in particular have taken an even harder hit in recent years. According to Caputo:
Trump’s decision to tee off with LIV highlights his close ties to Saudi Arabia; he made his first foreign visit there as president, and its wealth fund injected $2 billion into his son-in-law’s company last year. The Trump-LIV partnership also represents a measure of paybacks. The PGA Tour and PGA of America yanked tournaments from Doral and Bedminster, respectively, following bigoted remarks he made on the campaign trail in 2016 (the PGA Tour said the move was financially motivated after losing the sponsorship for the event), and then his role in inciting the mob that ransacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Trump sued PGA of America and the case was settled in December.
The main objection to LIV—which has managed to steal big-name players like Phil Mickelson away from the PGA Tour by throwing millions of dollars their way—is in doing business with Saudi Arabia, which has an abominable record of human rights violations, including the murder of Saudi reporter Jamal Khashoggi. But Trump has never let a little thing like morality figure into his business decisions (or, really, any kind of decisions).
The former president will host his first LIV event later this month at Trump National Golf Club Bedminster and the competition will close out in October with a $50 million purse at Trump National Doral Miami.
But Joe Dante, the director of Gremlins (a perfect movie) and Gremlins 2: The New Batch (an even more perfect movie — I didn’t realize it was possible to be more than perfect until I saw Gremlins 2: The New Batch), thinks Baby Yoda looks too much like his cute lil’ guy.
In an interview with San Francisco Chronicle‘s Datebook, Dante said, “I think the longevity of [the Gremlins movie] is really key to this one character [Gizmo], who is essentially like a baby. Which brings me, of course, to the subject of Baby Yoda, who is completely stolen and is just out-and-out copied. Shamelessly, I would think.”
Dante might have been joking around, but it’s more fun to imagine that he’s plotting his revenge. If Gremlins 3 ever gets made and Gizmo eats a green lizard wrapped in a robe, you’ll know why. Until then, HBO Max is making a Gremlins animated series, Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai, that “reveals the story of how 10-year-old Sam Wing (future shop owner Mr. Wing in the 1984 feature film) met the young Mogwai called Gizmo.” It hopefully premieres later this year, while The Mandalorian returns in 2023.
Pop wunderkind Maggie Rogers, after graduating from Harvard, is preparing for the release of her highly anticipated sophomore album Surrender to follow her breakthrough debut Heard It In A Past Life. After releasing the confident anthems “That’s Where I Am” and “Want Want,” she’s back today with “Horses.”
The twangy track has the texture of an old-timey folk ballad with detailed, moving lyrics off the bat: “Watch you go / Cross the street / Like a dream out my window / Sucking nicotine down my throat / Thinking of you giving head,” she intones. It also has the kind of wisdom you’d expect from those type of songs: “But the truth about drеams / Is they’re a feeling that meets you in between / What you want and what you really need.” Her vocals are stronger than ever.
About her recent single “Want Want,” the singer said, “‘Want Want’ started in Maine during the pandemic in a small studio assembled over my parents’ garage. I wrote and produced it with my old bandmate, Del Water Gap. It was really just about the fun of it all. Some bubblegum world to escape to in the middle of the isolation and darkness.”
Listen to “Horses” above.
Surrender is out 7/29 via Capitol. Pre-save it here.
When people talk about what makes Marvel’s Spider-Man and its follow-up about Miles Morales so great they usually talk about things like how it feels when you swing as Spider-Man, get into a fight, or look to grab all the collectibles scattered around the world. But without the depth supplied by truly amazing stories at the heart of both games, this would all feel like empty calorie experiences instead of the full meals that they are.
As you doubtlessly know, there’s a long history of Spidey in pop culture — in the comics, as Saturday Morning cartoons, earlier games, and across four distinct franchises — but these specific games rank right up there with some of the best in terms of story. Further, they distinguish themselves in such a way that they help to avoid some of the fatigue that can set in with superhero stories. Because these games lean into the charm of Spider-Man as a character and concept, offering stories that aren’t always larger than life or devoid of the kinds of entanglements and anxieties that we all feel. These are stories about people going through life, working through relationships, and coming to terms with who they are and what they can become.
So you’ve got your mechanics and your storytelling, but the key to these games and why they excel comes from the concerted effort to blend the two.
Let’s go back to those swing mechanics as an example since that’s part of these games. The cliche response is “You FEEL like Spider-Man,” but let’s go deeper: why do you feel like Spider-Man? It isn’t just because of the weight of each swing on the controller, but the different way that these characters move around. Peter Parker moves flings himself from building to building with the expertise of a longtime superhero that knows the city’s streets and alleys like the back of his hand. Every movement is determined and confident, born from years and years of experience.
Compare this to his eventual protege, Miles Morales. When players take a stroll in his shoes they’re now in the role of a teenage hero who doesn’t have quite the same level of mastery that a seasoned veteran like Peter Parker does. Not yet, at least. As a result, his swinging feels more awkward and he has moments where he looks like he doesn’t have full control over his movement, stumbling when he lands on ledges. But as time goes by, not only does the player become more skilled with his movement, but in turn so does Miles. An expert player utilizing Miles can transform his swinging action from awkward to stylish in a way that defines the experience of playing the game, aligning the player’s rising confidence levels with Miles’.
That’s not the only place where story and action meld masterfully. Where the game’s animation is at its best unsurprisingly comes from its cutscenes. Specifically, the emotional moments where you gain so much from being able to read — through body language and expressions — so much more than mere words can reveal. It’s these subtle moments that make these stories about Peter Parker and Miles Morales pop, leaving an impact that won’t soon fade from the player’s memory as they continue on.
There are a few specific examples that come to mind as the perfect example of this. One occurs when Peter Parker is texting his longtime lover, and current ex-girlfriend, Mary Jane Watson. They’ve been trying to potentially rekindle their relationship, but there are mixed feelings no doubt drawing on their long shared history that stand in the way. You can just feel the awkwardness in the scene as you watch Peter move around, weighed down by anxiety and other heady emotions.
This scene only works as well as it does because of the animations that play throughout it. The pacing, the way his eyes don’t stay static despite being in a suit. This is a minor moment in the overall story, but it’s so powerful for its vulnerability and relatability that you can’t deny its value to the game and your experience.
Another example of this is a huge spoiler, so turn back now if you haven’t already played these games, but when we see Peter’s face after defeating Doc Ock in the first game when he sees his mentor, the person he looked up to more than anyone else who has been trying to kill him throughout the game’s final act. This is the villain, and he’s heartbroken.
Peter’s face contorts and you can tell that he genuinely does not know what to do in this moment. Despite years of being Spider-Man, nothing has prepared him for this, and when he finally makes his choice you can feel the pain through the screen. It takes an already very emotional scene and connects you to this character in a powerful way. Once again, the game is blending story and action to pull the player in closer, aided by subtlety.
Fair warning, we have to spoil a key moment in Miles’ story as well. One that raises the bar on poignancy as we see the death of Miles’ friend, Phin.
Miles is doing his best to hold the energy he’s absorbed, but we can sense his anguish and the determination on Phin’s face when she decides what she needs to do. All before that final, heartwrenching sad smile.
Again, these games provide a total package that’s hard to pull off. It’s no wonder that a sequel starring both characters is on the way. Will that game be as successful as these two, both in terms of copies sold, craft, and complex storytelling? One only hopes because it’s a winning formula that elevates not just the material but blockbuster games on the whole.
Before the first trailer even hit, it was clear that Chris Hemsworth was getting jacked as hell for Thor: Love and Thunder. During the pandemic, the Marvel star frequently updated his Instagram account with photos and videos show his massive muscle gains, which audiences got a very good look at thanks to the God of Thunder having a nude scene in his latest film. However, there’s one person who was not a fan of Hemsworth getting more ripped than ever: His wife.
In a recent interview, Hemsworth reveals that his wife and fellow actress Elsa Pataky felt he went a tad overboard bulking up. “My wife was like, ‘Bleh, it’s too much,’” Hemsworth told USA Today. “There are a lot of my male friends who are like, ‘Yeah!’ but a lot of female friends and family are like, ‘Yuck.’”
In Pataky’s defense, Hemsworth admits he became obsessed with training during the pandemic:
“It came from boredom, sitting in COVID lockdown was like a prison,” says Hemsworth, whose routine included swimming, martial arts, weights and 6,000 calories a day to reach Asgardian awesomeness. “It was train, eat, train, eat. Nothing else to do. Then I turned up for the film bigger than I’ve ever been.”
Even Thor: Love and Thunder director Taika Waititi couldn’t believe how huge his star was when he arrived on set. “He’s huge already, but when I saw his arms, they were twice as big as normal, as wide as my head,” Waititi said. “Trainers and stuff are asking me how he does it? But it’s all natural.”
The podcast-to-streaming-docuseries pipeline has proven quite lucrative over the past several months/years, so with Spotify branching out, it only makes sense that the music streaming giant would partner with television streaming giant Hulu to produce a docuseries about one of its own most popular podcasts, RapCaviar, titled RapCaviar Presents. According to The Hollywood Reporter the show will “explore major cultural topics from the perspectives of some of today’s top hip-hop artists.”
Those top artists include familiar names like Doja Cat, Jack Harlow, Megan Thee Stallion, Roddy Ricch, Saweetie, and Tyler The Creator. The director behind the Tekashi 69 docuseries Supervillain: The Making of Tekashi 6ix9ine, Karam Gill, is billed as executive producer and creative director, along with Av Accius (Murder In The Thirst) and Marcus A. Clarke (Blood Brothers: Malcolm X & Muhammad Ali).
Spotify’s RapCaviar playlist is credited with boosting the careers of new artists whose names appear on it alongside more established stars, including many of the focus artists of the upcoming series. Meanwhile, select artists have also performed at live shows bearing the playlist’s title and the indie label LVRN even performed a group cypher for the RapCaviar vertical.
And while those artists’ stories may very well offer fertile ground for a documentary or two, let’s not get carried away. While the podcast-to-streaming-docuseries process almost inevitably turns out a scripted series, I’m not sure anybody needs to see their stories dramatized by Emmy-baiting, peak TV-style directors and directors. Except me. As soon as I wrote that, I wanted it. Give it to me. NOW.
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
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“West Coast” OUT!! (@tamitami89) 
