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Daniel Craig’s last day as Bond was almost two years ago, when No Time to Die, his long-delayed fifth and final outing as the dashing spy, wrapped principal photography. But Eon Productions, which has overseen the main branch of the 007 film franchise, has not been quick to find his replacement. They recently announced that they won’t even start looking for a new Bond in earnest until next year. But there’s one person who won’t be joining the series, at least according to a Craig joke: Hugh Jackman.

On Monday, Jackman shared a clip of an interview Craig did with Scottish TV presenter Lorraine Kelly. At one point Kelly brought up Jackman — not as a possible replacement, just in an anecdote about the two kidding around.

“He’s not going to be it,” Craig interjected, with a smirk. He then added, “Over my dead body.”

“Well … that kills that rumor!” Jackman joked back, adding, “Daniel, mate, you’ll always be @007 to me.”

Jackman has a long history of publicly joke-feuding with colleagues. He and Ryan Reynolds have a long-simmering fake beef. He is, however, currently without a major franchise, having retired Wolverine/Logan over four years ago. Meanwhile, the person a lot of people have long wanted to take over for Craig, Idris Elbra, is, as of a couple years ago, just not that into it.

(Via EW)

New York State offered health care workers a choice: Get vaccinated or lose their job. That day came on Monday, September 27, with tens of thousands of unvaxxed employees set to be fired, opening a potentially catastrophic hole in the state’s hospital system. But newish Governor Kathy Hochul had a plan that of course didn’t sit well with the right-wing: replace them with, among others, members of the National Guard.

As per The Daily Beast, Hochul’s plan will expand the qualifications for health care employees, including “workers from other countries, recent graduates, and retirees to practice in New York.” National Guard troops are also on there, long as they’re “medically trained.”

“We are still in a battle against COVID to protect our loved ones, and we need to fight with every tool at our disposal,” Hochul declared in a statement. “I commend all of the health care workers who have stepped up to get themselves vaccinated, and I urge all remaining health care workers who are unvaccinated to do so now so they can continue providing care.”

According to state data, a whopping 84% of New York State health care workers are vaccinated. But that still means as many as 94,000 are unvaccinated. Of those who have refused to get dosed, many have argued that it violates their personal freedoms.

The news was net well met with the GOP and some libertarians.

But it also received praise.

New York State’s health care employee mandate was going to coincide with one for educators, who were to have been vaccinated on the same date. However, federal judge temporarily blocked the move. It now goes to a three-judge Appeals Court.

(Via The Daily Beast)

Saturday Night Live finally revealed its Season 47 cast after months of uncertainty. Considering the show is quite literally together putting its first episode, scheduled for October 2, as you read this, the announcement of who’s in and who’s out was extremely last-minute. The departure of Beck Bennett is likely the biggest surprise, as he leaves, as does Lauren Holt. Meanwhile many of those widely expected to leave actually ended up staying. Aidy Bryant, Cecily Strong, Pete Davidson and Kate McKinnon are all back this fall, along with Bowen Yang and Chloe Fineman getting bumped up from featured players to full cast.

Replacing them as featured players are a trio of newcomers: Aristotle Athari, James Austin Johnson and Sarah Sherman. While news of their addition didn’t draw nearly as much controversy as some past additions on the show, there was considerable buzz about the newcomers, largely because of their past work. In fact, if you are even a little bit online you probably know at least one of those names thanks to living life in the Trump era. If you’re just catching up, though, here’s a quick rundown of what the sketch comedians are best known for.

James Austin Johnson

While Sarah Cooper may have gotten the biggest buzz for her impressions of Donald Trump, earning a Netflix and CBS deal in the process, it was Auston Johnson who was widely acclaimed for having the most accurate take. Videos of the comedian rambling in Trump’s raspy, unfocused voice about anything from Scooby Doo to Super Mario Bros have routinely gone viral, even in the months after Trump left office amid a coup attempt.

Austin Johnson’s best work is largely considered to be this one, which he published on Independence Day.

Johnson has also appeared in the Coen Brothers classic Hail, Caesar! and recently did voice acting for Tuca + Bertie. along with a variety of other stand up and podcast appearances over the years. It’s extremely likely that he will take over for Alec Baldwin, doing Trump impressions on the show, which is good news for everyone. Baldwin included.

Predictably, he made a joke about the big announcement on Monday as well.

Sarah Sherman

Described as a “weird comic from Chicago” by the Sun-Times, the boundary-pushing comedian is known as Sarah Squirm on Twitter for good reason. Her body humor shows have been described as a “circus of vulgarity” by critics because they usually involve, uh, fluids.

Sherman has worked as a writer on the Netflix series Magic For Humans. Her short Sarah Vaccine also made waves online recently. Lately, Sherman’s work has been featured on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim and has worked on The Eric Andre Show as well.

Amazingly, she publicly shared an “audition tape” for Saturday Night Live back in 2020, which appears to have somehow worked.

She joked that the show made a “big mistake” on Monday shortly after the announcement was made.

Aristotle Athari

Perhaps best known as Gabe in the later seasons of HBO’s Silicon Valley, the actor and director has a number of other shows and projects in the comedy scene. He also worked on The Coop. But the barefooted Gabe certainly stood out as a foil to Kumail Nanjiani.

Athari is actually a member of Nanjiani’s Goatface collective, which created a comedy special for the network in 2018. He also served as a writer and director for Comedy Central’s web series How To Be Broke.

In the Pacific Northwest, orca sightings are a fairly common occurrence. Still, tourists and locals alike marvel when a pod of “sea pandas” swim by, whipping out their phones to capture some of nature’s most beautiful and intelligent creatures in their natural habitat.

While orcas aren’t a threat to humans, there’s a reason they’re called “killer whales.” To their prey, which includes just about everything that swims except humans, they are terrifying apex predators who hunt in packs and will even coordinate to attack whales several times their own size.

So if you’re a human alone on a little platform boat, and a sea lion that a group of orcas was eyeing for lunch jumps onto your boat, you might feel a little wary. Especially when those orcas don’t just swim on by, but surround you head-on.

Watch exactly that scenario play out (language warning, if you’ve got wee ones you don’t want f-bombed):

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I would’ve shit my pants https://t.co/eJa6GDyNkk

— Eye- (@castrowas95)
1632579048.0

Ummm, yeah. An orca sighting is one thing, but this is a whole other story. Orcas have been known to knock large prey off of icebergs, so the whole “orcas don’t hurt humans” thing doesn’t feel super reassuring in this scenario.

The footage came from TikTok user @nutabull, whose now-deleted account stated she was from Vancouver Island.

The second video is even more intimidating.

The viral video sparked a debate about whether the sea lion should be kicked off the boat or not. The woman kept telling the sea lion it “had to go” with a frank “Sorry, buddy, that’s life,” message, though she never actively tried to push it off. Many commenters joked about yeeting the sea lion off the boat to avoid a potentially disastrous encounter with the orcas. Others were on #teamsealion, saying they wouldn’t have the heart to boot the poor thing.

This part of the video: The Sea Lion jumps back into the water, tries to jump back up when chased by the Orcas, and… https://t.co/V87R9E7HrI

— Jermaine (@JermaineWatkins)
1632651277.0

The reality is orcas eat sea lions—the circle of life and whatnot. Most of us just don’t find ourselves in the middle of that circle, having to figure out whether the apex predators surrounding our boat are going to patiently wait for their lunch to come back or take it upon themselves to bump it back into the water.

Thankfully for the woman, the sea lion seemed to decide on its own that its options were limited and dove back in to take its chances with the orcas. But phew, that encounter would be harrowing for just about anyone.

Best of luck, sea lion. Hope you’re an exceptional swimmer.

We have hit an awkward point in the pandemic where concert and sports stadiums are open across the country while the delta variant is raging in areas where vaccination numbers are low. To create a safer environment, some venues are requiring masks, vaccinations or a negative COVID-19 test to enter.

In the NFL, the Buffalo Bills and Las Vegas Raiders have put vaccination mandates in place. In the world of music, Jason Isbell, Maroon 5, Foo Fighters and Dead & Company have made similar requirements for their fans to attend gigs.

Unvaccinated people are three times more likely to spread COVID-19 than those who got the jab. People who are vaccinated have about a one in 5,000 chance of catching the virus and a one in 10,000 chance in places where risks are lower.

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One performer who took a huge hit in the wallet and disappointed a lot of fans by canceling his concerts due to COVID-19 concerns is Garth Brooks.

Brooks launched a stadium tour in 2019 and put it on hold when the pandemic hit in 2020. He started up again this July, but after four shows he shut it down due to the rise of the delta variant.

“The thing that scares me that you have to look it is: I never saw the second wave coming,” he said. “I didn’t know there was going to be such a thing. Well, is there a third wave? So you just watch this.”

“I’m vaccinated, 100% vaccinated. Everybody on the freakin’ tour, vaccinated. I cannot make you get vaccinated. Until it becomes a law, it is a choice. And people, when things are a choice, you have to understand and respect that we’re all going to make our own choices,” he said.

Brooks’ team refunded 350,000 tickets when he could have kept playing and putting lives at risk.

Brooks and his band want to keep playing so they’re doing a tour that will make a lot of people happy while keeping them safe. He’s announced a dive bar tour where attendees will have to show proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test. He believes that smaller venues have a better shot at enforcing mandates than large stadiums.

“The dive bars are vaccinated, that’s how you get to do it,” Brooks said in a recent Facebook Live. “So, the great thing about this is, [the fans are] vaccinated or they have to show a three-day negative in-advance test.”

For Brooks, it’s all about safety.

“The joy I have seen in everyone’s faces as live music returns has been more than worth our constant diligence to maintain safety protocols not only for the fans, but for our band, the crew and the hard-working staff in these stadiums,” Brooks said. “Their dedication to safety for the people who fill those seats has been a miracle to watch and a blessing to receive. I am truly grateful.”

One day, we’ll be able to put the COVID-19 pandemic behind us, and artists such as Brooks will be able to look back at how they handled the situation and take pride in the fact that they put the safety of people first.

R&B star Miguel and his longtime partner Nazanin Mandi have announced their separation today. In a statement to People the couple said “they wish each other well,” and a statement from a rep to the magazine also said that “after 17 years together, Miguel and Nazanin Mandi have decided to separate and have been for some time now.” Though they were together for over a decade, the pair decided got engaged back in 2016 and were married in 2018 at the the Hummingbird Nest Ranch in Simi Valley, California. Now, after three years of marriage, they’ve decided to call it quits.

Plenty of couples have experienced turmoil or dissolution during the pandemic, but it’s nice to see that these longterm partners are apparently able to make that call while staying on good terms. As for Miguel, he announced a return in the spring of this year, letting fans know that Art Dealer Chic Vol. 4 was coming in April. The Art Dealer Chic series was one that began early in his career, so along with the new installment he also made the earlier EPs from the series available on streaming for the first time. Other than that it’s been a quiet year for the R&B star, but a divorce is often the catalyst for a new creative era, so we’ll see what the future brings for him.

Venom: Let There Be Carnage was one of the many blockbusters that received a massive delay due to the pandemic. But it’s finally out on Friday, exactly one day shy of a full year after it was once supposed to drop. And to whet appetites for the big day, Sony dropped a brief clip showing a daring prison escape unlike anyone’s seen before.

The clip finds Woody Harrelson’s serial killer about to be executed in a gas chamber. But instead of wiping him out, it only awakens the Kraken — or Carnage, a rival symbiote to our hero’s still foul-tempered Venom. It lasts only 45 seconds, and the cutting is so fast that the version in the full movie is bound to be much longer and even nastier.

Sony also released another video, a short behind-the-scenes doc finds director Andy Serkis talking about how the sequel is more of an “odd couple” comedy. We’ll get to see even more of Tom Hardy’s Eddie Brock quarreling with his much tetchier alien symbiote, not only out and about but in the apartment they now unwittingly share. So they’re basically Felix Ungar and Oscar Madison, only with far more smackdowns.

You can watch the clip in the video above and the vignette below. Venom: Let There Be Carnage hits theaters on October 1.

Billie Eilish has quickly become one of the biggest pop stars on the planet, as her debut album, subsequent documentary, and this year’s second album have revealed. She might be young, but she’s got her career under control, and seems to be very involved with all the collaborations and partnerships that are coming her way after the industry success she’s experiencing.

Today’s new partnership, though, might be one of the most high-profile she’s done — a collaboration with Michael Jordan on not one but two Jordan silhouettes. While it might be par for the course for a rapper with the kind of reputation Billie has to be working on sneakers with MJ’s brand, it’s pretty rare for a pop star! She’s definitely showing her range with the partnership, and the two sneakers are very different, just like her two albums are. Take a sneak peek below:

One set is the lime green color that permeated her When We All Fall Asleep Where Do We Go debut album era, and the second is a deep, warm beige, the overarching palette of her Happier Than Ever record that dropped just a few months ago. Both shoes are available for purchase right now on her website. Check them out here.

The fight for Britney Spears’ autonomy from what seems to be an incredibly controlling, potentially illegal conservatorship continues on. Though it was fans who initially prompted the #FreeBritney movement to investigate her situation, a documentary from The New York Times called Framing Britney Spears catapulted the singer’s abusive situation out of conspiracy territory and into mainstream recognition. Legal shifts in the case over the last few months have led many to believe the conservatorships should be abolished, particularly when Britney publicly addressed the court herself asking for this, but so far the process has been moving slowly.

Last week, a follow-up documentary from The New York Times might’ve potentially helped speed up the process. One of the bombshells included in the second doc, Controlling Britney Spears is that Britney’s father and conservator Jamie Spears was secretly recording the singer in her home as part of his extensive surveillance and monitoring. California’s two party consent rule for recording makes this illegal, Since this news broke, Britney’s new lawyer Mathew Rosengart has filed a motion requesting Jamie be immediately suspended from the conservatorship as soon as the next hearing, September 29, and that the conservatorship itself be terminated promptly.

In a statement obtained by Variety Rosengart said that her private communciations are a “sacrosanct” part of the legal system and invading this is a “disgraceful violation. “Unauthorized recording or monitoring of Britney’s private communications — especially attorney-client communications, which are a sacrosanct part of the legal system — represent an unconscionable and disgraceful violation of her privacy rights and a striking example of the deprivation of her civil liberties,” he said. “Placing a listening device in Britney’s bedroom would be particularly horrifying, and corroborates so much of her compelling, poignant testimony. Mr. Spears has crossed unfathomable lines. Ms. Spears will no longer be bullied or extorted, nor will she further tolerate her father’s abuse, with its apparent misogynistic underpinnings.”

There will definitely be updates one way or another after her next hearing this Wednesday, September 29.

If you’re feeling down about not being able to get your hands on a PlayStation 5, just imagine how you’d feel if you were the star of one of the console’s biggest exclusive games and still couldn’t figure out a way to snag one. Unfortunately (but also, let’s be real, hilariously), this situation is exactly what unfolded for Deathloop voice actor Jason Kelley.

Just one day before Deathloop hit shelves, the game’s official twitter account shared a video of Kelley (the voice actor behind the game’s protagonist, Colt) in the recording studio hyping up the game and encouraging fans to pick up a copy. He then joked they should also send a copy of the game and a PlayStation 5 his way, implying that despite working on a title for PlayStation and the console being nearly a year old, the voice actor still hadn’t managed to get ahold of one, leaving him unable to play his own game.

The short video quickly caught the attention of fans who both praised Kelley’s Deathloop performance and were shocked the actor didn’t have a console or even a copy of the game, for that matter. Fortunately for Kelley however, his video also caught the eye of Pete Hines, the senior vice president of global marketing and communications at Bethesda — the parent company of Deathloop developer Arkane. Within ten minutes of the video being shared, Hines responded to it, stating he could “probably help [Kelley] find a PS5,” so he could enjoy his own “amazing performance.”

While Hines’ offer to send Kelley a PlayStation might have come as a shock to some considering Sony’s biggest competitor, Microsoft, purchased Bethesda earlier this year, it turns out Hines is just a really nice dude. And not only is Hines a really nice dude, but he’s also a really nice dude who comes through. Two weeks later, we now have confirmation Bethesda has in fact sent both a PlayStation 5 and a copy of Deathloop to Kelley. Kelley shared the big news during an interview with JumpCut PLAY, stating:

“I was just notified by Bethesda that a PS5 was made available and is going to be shipped to me, with the game as well. So, I’ll be playing the game… I’m super excited.”

While it seems like it will still be a while until everyone who wants a PlayStation 5 has one and perhaps even longer until Xbox fans finally can play Deathloop on the console of their choice, we’re just happy things ended working out for Kelley.