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CRSSD Festival, which took a year off in light of… well… you know, is returning to San Diego’s Waterfront Park in spring 2022, announcing its lineup and event dates, March 5 and 6. While the festival was originally held semi-annually showcasing the latest and greatest in electronic and house music, the coming year’s lineup has expanded to include acts like Glass Animals, a rock band, and R&B singer Cautious Clay. However, it’ll also stick close to its roots with the addition of electronic duo Sofi Tukker, among others.

With three stages and dozens of artists, the festival will offer a wide selection of experiences, from London house stapes Four Tet and Ben UFO b2b Joy Orbison to global techno favorites. Pre-sale for past ticket buyers begins Tuesday, January 4 at 11 am PT, while general sale opens on January 5. You can find more information here. Check out the flyer and full lineup below.

CRSSD Spring 2022 Lineup (ABC):
070 Shake
Absolute.
Adam Beyer
Ben UFO b2b Joy Orbison
Blu DeTiger
Cautious Clay
Chet Faker
Dan Shake
Eli Brown
Felix Da Housecat
Four Tet
Franc Moody
Get Real
Glass Animals
Gorgon City
Ilario Alicante
Jeff Mills
Joris Voorn
Kyle Watson
Lastlings
Maxinne
Danilo Plessow (MCDE)
Miane
Nina Kraviz b2b Helena Hauff
Parcels
PAX
Sam Paganini
SG Lewis
SOFI TUKKER live
+ More To Be Announced

Crime Scene: The Times Square Killer (Netflix series) — The first installment (The Vanishing At The Cecil Hotel) in this series arrived through the game changing ways of director Joe Berlinger, who’s navigating from within the true crime genre. In this new installment, the Times Square Killer gets the spotlight, along with the the social and systemic forces that facilitated this serial murderer. In the process, all the danger and depravity of 1970s and early 1980s midtown Manhattan will make those few blocks a spectacle of their own. Here, the location is as much of a character as those who perpetrate the crimes, and the central focus is on an elusive killer who takes advantage of the virtually lawless nature of the venue’s perfect storm of a sexual playground. The first responders are shocked by what they find here, and you will feel that way, too.

Anxious People (Netflix limited series series) — This dramedy revolved around a failed bank robber who tries to heist a bank, except the catch here is that it’s a cashless institution. In the process, he takes a group of people hostage, and the whole joint ends up falling to pieces because a pair of dysfunctional cops can’t get it together. In the aftermath, the hostages tell the tale, and everyone’s got a different version. It’s a trippy puzzle, overall, especially when it comes to the hostages’ secret.

In case you missed these streaming picks from last Wednesday:

The Matrix Resurrections (HBO Max film) — Keanu Reeves can still do kung fu as Neo, and Carrie-Anne Moss can still kick ass, and much mystery still swirls about the actual plot of this franchise revival. Lana Wachowski wrote and directed, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II channels Morpheus, and Neo (for whatever reason) has a rubber duck in his head during a bath. Here’s who is joining these forces of cinematic nature: Jessica Henwick, Neil Patrick Harris, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Christina Ricci, and Jada Pinkett Smith. Oh, and Jonathan Groff portrays an apparent upgrade on Agent Smith, all while things stay as trippy and action packed as always. Whoa to the max.

During the holidays, some movie theaters don’t only show the latest blockbusters. Some will show older Christmas movies; this year, Regal charged $5 for Elf and National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. But a new viral TikTok video shows one audience receiving a cinematic lump of coal: Those who went to see the Benedict Cumberbatch version of The Grinch, from 2018, instead watched as the projectionist tried to stream it over Amazon Prime — and ran into a technical glitch.

The video shows an audience loudly groaning as the silver screen shows not the CGI animated take on the Dr. Seuss classic but someone navigating through Amazon’s streaming video service. When whoever’s in charge tries to play the movie, they’re greeted with a message saying the account had reached the maximum number of videos streaming at once, implying that other theaters at the location were also playing movies off Amazon.

It’s not clear where the theater is located, if it’s a massive chain or a locally-owned business, or what the audience was charged, if anything.

In the TikTok video, @rachel.m00re wrote “actual footage from our local movie theatre.” The crowd can be heard mocking the attempts to stream off a streamer, launching into derisive laughter when they’re blocked from showing the movie. The caption on the video reads, “Apparently our movie theatre runs off fire tv & renting Amazon prime movies.”

As of this writing, the video has been viewed over two million times. The comments were savage. “Movie theatres splitting one subscription like the rest of us,” one person wrote. “This is extremely illegal and against Amazon ToS and copyright in general,” another pointed out, adding, “This is hilarious.”

(Via Newsweek)

Not only has Lizzo mastered the art of creating the perfect pop banger, but she’s also mastered the art of creating the perfect TikTok. The singer has been on the social media app for a few years now and has already racked up 20 million followers. While she definitely posts raunchy content, like when she used her booty as a paintbrush, the singer also gets real about her mental health struggles. She also definitely has one thing down — the TikTok challenge.

Earlier this week, Lizzo hopped on the seemingly unappetizing yellow mustard and Oreo trend that’s been circulating the app. The trend is fairly simple for those who can stomach it. As the name of the challenge suggests, it’s just putting yellow mustard on an Oreo and eating it. Some people on the app say the taste isn’t too bad, so Lizzo tried it out herself.

“Tiktok made me try mustard & oreos,” she wrote in the TikTok’s caption. The video shows the singer opening up a brand new pack of Oreos and slathering the top of one with a healthy serving of yellow mustard. Once Lizzo eats the unsavory food combo, she looks a little confused. Lizzo never actually says whether or not it tastes good, but she does go in for a second Oreo.

Watch Lizzo attempt the mustard and Oreo TikTok challenge above.

Lizzo is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Vinyl is back in a big way after a decade of streaming’s dominance, with Billboard reporting that vinyl sales have actually hit a 30-year high this past week. Americans purchased 2.11 million vinyl records in the week ending on December 23rd (perhaps in the pursuit of a last-minute Christmas gift?), which is the biggest sales week since 1991 when SoundScan first began tracking such things — long after vinyl had begun to lose popularity compared to other physical media like cassette tapes and CDs.

As part of that dominance, one of hip-hop’s most popular artists saw his own resurgence. Last week, Kid Cudi’s Man On The Moon III: The Chosen broke the record for the biggest rap album in Nielsen history. He’s also the male artist with the biggest sales week, with 41,500 sales of the vinyl. “This is HUGE,” he wrote in celebration on Instagram. I wanna thank everyone who went out and copped the vinyl! This is all because of YOU! I LOVE YOU ALL.”

https://www.instagram.com

Man On The Moon III, which was initially released December 11, 2020, featured appearances from Pop Smoke, Skepta, and Trippie Redd. Cudi recently said he plans to follow that album with two more in 2022, meaning more opportunities for him to defend his new record. Meanwhile, the best-selling vinyl overall was Adele’s 30, which sold 59,000 copies and capped Billboard’s vinyl chart for the fifth week in a row along with the overall albums chart — a testament to her decision to turn it in several months early to allow time to prepare the vinyl.

The NBA has been desperately trying to avoid postponing games this season, instituting new hardship rules that require teams to fill roster spots with unlimited 10-days for COVID absences that keep teams at the eight-player minimum needed to play games even as some teams have seen more than 10 regular players enter protocols. Most recently, the protocols for players returning was brought down from 10 days to five for asymptomatic players in accordance with new CDC guidelines, allowing players to return faster and avoid there being entire weeks where players who entered protocol on different days were all out.

However, for teams on road trips, sometimes if cases pile up there isn’t a way to fill those spots and get players into town in time for games, which is what happened on Wednesday with the Miami Heat. When PJ Tucker, Gabe Vincent, and Max Strus all entered protocols in the afternoon mere hours before a game with the Spurs in San Antonio, the Heat dipped below that eight active player limit and the NBA was left with no choice other than to postpone the game.

Overall, it’s the 10th game postponed this season by the NBA. The Spurs are dealing with their own key COVID absence in Dejounte Murray, as there have hardly been any teams in the league that have dodged significant COVID absences to this point. Miami’s next game will be in Houston on Friday, and one would expect some hardship signings to come in the next day or so to get them into Texas. The Spurs are likewise in action on Friday as they head to Memphis to face the Grizzlies.

While the Brooklyn Nets have struggled to stay healthy this season, the team still sits atop the Eastern Conference at 23-9. It’s a solid start, all things considered, for a squad with title-or-bust aspirations, and while they’re still waiting to have the services of Kyrie Irving, the 1-2 punch of Kevin Durant and James Harden have served as the Nets’ top scorers.

Brooklyn, of course, is not the first time the pair have been teammates, as Durant and Harden were running mates in Oklahoma City prior to the team’s decision to trade Harden to Houston. A little less than a decade later and both players have changed their games considerably, with Harden speaking to Malika Andrews of ESPN about how he’s seen his friend’s game evolve over the years.

“He’s overly polished,” Harden said. “Natural talent, he knows the spots he wants to get to and he’s gonna get there. And it’s not on the defender, it’s on him whether he makes the shot or misses the shot.”

When asked if Durant is the frontrunner for the league’s MVP award, Harden said that he “for sure” deserves the honor. On the year, Durant, who previously won an MVP award in 2014, is averaging 29.7 points, 7.9 rebounds, and 5.9 assists in 37 minutes per game.

Another day, another humiliating setback for Mike Lindell in his never-ending, and ultimately futile, quest to “prove” the 2020 presidential election was stolen from Donald Trump. In a new broadcast on his FrankSpeech.com website, Lindell revealed to his dozens of fans that he can no longer send them text messages filled with whacko conspiracy theories about the election thanks to Verizon. Via Raw Story:

“If you haven’t been getting text marketing or any texts from FrankSpeech and you’re wondering why that you’ve been taken off a list,” Lindell said, “No, it’s just because Verizon has stopped us from doing our text marketing. Just another big platform that went — I don’t know — that went south on us, that went left on us. They left us.”

Like all things Lindell, his story is short on details and evidence, but we’re guessing if Verizon really did put a stop to his website spamming people with Trump’s “Big Lie” — and that’s a big if — it was probably for a good reason. The MyPillow CEO has been on a non-stop crusade, which has yet to produce any sort of credible evidence of election fraud. In fact, over the summer, Lindell hosted a “Cyber Symposium,” which famously blew up in his face when his own cyber-security expert revealed that Lindell’s supposed cache of data contained no proof of election tampering.

Nevertheless, the MyPillow Guy persisted, and his crusade has put him at odds with natural allies like Fox News and right-wing Christian networks, who want nothing to do with his conspiratorial circus.

(Via Raw Story)

As first reported by The Athletic’s Shams Charania, the Dallas Mavericks are signing free agent guard Isaiah Thomas to a contract.

The news was confirmed by Marc Stein, who said Thomas was en route to Sacramento to join the Mavs on the bench for their game against the Kings on Wednesday night.

Thomas, 32, recently saw out a 10-day contract with the Los Angeles Lakers, filling in while the team dealt with several players in the league’s COVID-19 protocols. He appeared in four games for the Lakers, averaging 9.3 points and 1.5 assists a night. Before signing with Los Angeles, he played one game with the Grand Rapids Drive in the G League.

Currently, the Mavericks have several players — including Luka Doncic, Reggie Bullock, Tim Hardaway Jr., and Maxi Kleber — in the league’s health and safety protocols and could use another ball handler on the team to help them get through this spell. If Thomas sticks around, he also might be an interesting bet for a team that needs someone else who can provide an element of self-creation alongside Doncic. Thomas isn’t what he was back when he was with the Boston Celtics, but he’s looked healthier in recent stints than he has since being injured near the end of his Celtics tenure.

A recent thread on Ask Reddit posed the question: Which fictional character would make a great U.S.A. president?

Some answers were simple and lighthearted. Others were drawn out and thoughtful. Some characters are well-known. Others are a bit more obscure. Regardless, it’s a fun read and offers an insightful way to look at what it really means to be a leader.

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Optimus Prime—Transformers

This comment was so passionate I had to keep the entire thing:

“He’s the perfect balance of introspection, deliberation, decisive action, compassion, toughness, fighting spirit, humility, and inspires others to greatness not because of his ego, but because he sincerely wants the best for everyone. He’s eloquent enough to work with intellectuals, strong enough to keep corruption out, hard working and honest enough to connect with and inspire the working classes, and an absolute paragon of ethics. When it comes down to it, he puts his own ass on the line without hesitation. I’d vote for Optimus Prime. I’d work on his campaign staff. I’d canvas for Optimus. I’d fight his fights. He’s the heroic leader we need. I wish he were here.” – Cephelopodia

Jean-Luc Picard—Star Trek: The Next Generation

“Make it so” is an awfully good campaign slogan.

“This character has informed so much of what I think of as the political ideal that’s it’s almost absurd.” – Tactius_AMP

Aragorn—The Lord of the Rings

The King of Gondor rallied some intense loyalty and humorous political banter.

“He would have my allegiance until my sons, sons die.” – Radda210

“Well, he’s got eight years.” – AutismFractal

Captain Raymond Holt—Brooklyn 99

The stoic, pragmatic and serious-to-the-point-of-absurd police captain would bring a level of sophistication to the role. Plus he stands up for what he thinks is right.

The only drawback is we might have the more frivolous holidays cancelled. Like Christmas.

President Josiah Bartlet—The West Wing

“During 2020 with all the presidential speeches that sounded non presidential, I kept thinking that we needed a couple of Josiah Barlet speeches during that time.” – southdakotagirl

Uncle Iroh—Avatar: The Last Airbender

For those not familiar with “Avatar: The Last Airbender,” Uncle Iroh was a fan favorite, arguably for being the show’s moral compass and source of wisdom. Which was pretty remarkable, considering he was technically on the “bad side.”

“Calm, wise, friendly and best of all he already got all that war crime stuff out of his system years ago. He’d be the best us President in history.” – Lord Noodles

“…Iroh is the benevolent father we need, with quiet dignity and terrifying power.” – spaceman_spyff

Kermit the Frog—The Muppets

“The lovers, the dreamers, and me would vote for him” – DrOddcat

Steve Rogers—Captain America

I mean, he does stand for America’s ideals like no other. He has integrity, courage, honesty and let’s not forget stamina. He can do this all day, after all.

Leslie Knope—Parks and Recreation

“Leslie wouldn’t get sucked in to corruption. She would negotiate and compromise, as one should, but she wouldn’t “make deals” like most politicians. Above all else, she would always be honest!” – Happy_Camper45

“And she has binders of plans for everything” – Big_Economy_1729

(Sadly, there were very few female characters I saw on the thread. I’m hoping I just didn’t scroll far down enough.)

Last but not least … Captain Planet

Maybe then we’d take climate change seriously.

Okay, look, maybe it’s impossible for a real-life person to 100% embody these heroic traits. But that’s the beauty of fiction: It reveals our ultimate potential (for both good and bad). It can’t always take into account all the complexities and inevitable drawbacks of the human condition. It can, however, inspire us to be better.

Maybe there is no President Picard or President Rogers out there, but seeing them portrayed in our stories is still important. Observing the virtues they represent (and let’s not forget that they are representations and symbols, rather than multidimensional human beings, after all) might help inspire the next generation of heroes, leaders and politicians. That’s what well-written characters do.

In the meantime, I’ll start working on my campaign for “Ted Lasso”’s Keeley Jones for President.