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Remember when SpongeBob SquarePants was all the rage? Obviously our favorite undersea sponge is still plenty popular, but when he was the peak of his popularity it was impossible to look anywhere without seeing merchandise, toys, or video games about him.

SpongeBob actually has one of the most robust gaming libraries out there with everything from 3D platformers to minigame collections under his belt. The amount of SpongeBob games have slowly decreased over the years, likely because making video games is expensive and the interest in them just wasn’t there anymore. Although we may be seeing a change in that in the near future. 2020 saw the remake of the much-beloved SpongeBob: Battle for Bikini Bottom released to success. Despite some saying it didn’t quite meet their expectations, it was a fun little game and apparently there’s more SpongeBob on the way.

During their 10th-anniversary stream on Friday, THQ Nordic said that a new SpongeBob game was on the way. The first new title in six years, SpongeBob SquarePants: The Cosmic Shake appears to be a collection of all of SpongeBob’s greatest moments, or maybe his previous games. The trailer features moments such as the famous band scene, SpongeBob as a snail, and Caveman SpongeBob all getting pulled into a vortex somewhere. The description for the game on Steam right now says:

Wish-granting Mermaid’s Tears in the hands of SpongeBob and Patrick… What could go wrong? Sure, the very fabric holding the universe together could come undone, opening portals into wild Wishworlds. But that’s nothing our favorite sponge can’t handle- with the right cosmic costume!

So we have multi-verses and wishes? It’s going to be a unique SpongeBob experience to say the least. While they did not give a release date they indicated that this will be coming out soon so we shouldn’t have to wait too long to figure out what exactly this game is going to be about.

Vaccines are without a doubt one of the most impactful scientific advancements in human history. Through vaccines, we eliminated smallpox, have nearly eliminated polio worldwide, and have saved countless lives through protection from a host of other infectious diseases. Yet even with that history, millions of Americans are refusing the coronavirus vaccines and decrying efforts to mandate proof of vaccination to partake in certain activities.

A Twitter post is serving as a timely reminder that vaccination isn’t new and neither are proof-of-immunization requirements. The post shows a polio record card from 1956 that the poster found at the thrift store where they work. And the real kicker here is that COVID is actually far deadlier than polio ever was.

I work at a thrift store and found this vaccine card from 1956. Felt weirdly timely https://t.co/pjo8nhwwUL

— Mildly Interesting (@interest_mild)
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COVID-19 has killed nearly 670,000 Americans in the past year and a half. We are just days away from surpassing the death toll from the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic. Those numbers are staggering in comparison with the polio epidemic, which at its peak in 1952, killed 3,000 Americans in one year. Thousands more were paralyzed, but nowhere near hundreds of thousands in the span of a year.

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I’m not trying to downplay polio—it’s a terrible disease. It was especially scary because primarily impacted children, but by every other measure, the COVID pandemic is far worse than the polio epidemic ever was. In deaths, there’s no comparison. In long-term effects, we simply don’t know yet. COVID isn’t leaving people paralyzed like polio did, but “long COVID” is a thing and organ damage caused by COVID can lead to a host of ongoing health problems.

People downplay COVID by saying most people who get the virus don’t get severely sick, but the same is true of polio. According to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, around 70% of polio cases are totally asymptomic, and another 25% have just mild symptoms. Less than 1% of cases result in paralysis, and far fewer result in death.

And yet, we never hear people say, “We should just take our chances with polio, since most people who get it are fine!” We still vaccinate for it, even though the chances of getting it in the U.S. is practically nil at this point because vaccination has eradicated it.

Some people don’t trust the coronavirus vaccines because they think they were approved for use too quickly. But do you know how long it was between the start of clinical trials for the polio vaccine to when it was approved? Less than a year. Clinical trials for the Salk polio vaccine began on 1.8 million children (650,000 of whom got the vaccine, with 1.2 million getting a placebo) on April 26, 1954 and the vaccine was approved April 12, 1955. It wasn’t without controversy, of course, but the success of the vaccine speaks for itself.

That was nearly seven decades ago. Think of how far medical research has come since then and how much greater our understanding of infectious disease and immunology is now. We already had enormous amounts of base knowledge about coronaviruses in general, decades of mRNA research under our belt, and more than a decade of mRNA vaccine development already underway, so the quickly developed and tested COVID vaccines are not terribly surprising.

As for proof of vaccination complaints, the polio card post also prompted a flood of other photos of immunization “passports,” from record books to reminders that people with smallpox inoculations had to literally show the scar on their arm to prove that they’d been vaccinated.

@0ilvla @interest_mild My parents’ cards. Missing one. https://t.co/SpNdrPimLw

— TTK 🌊Get Vaxxed You Selfish Children🎃 (@TTKimmell)
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The military has been required to get vaccines for pretty much ever.

@interest_mild @amajdandzic1 Major J A Cooper – stationed in Asia Pacific post war. Spent many years in Army in PNG… https://t.co/ARJR6Sn6jw

— Mick – AZ Covax2 – all done (@Mickholloways)
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And yes, people with smallpox vaccinations used to have to lift their shirt sleeves to show that they’d been immunized before being allowed to enter some public places.

@DavidLewis61 @interest_mild @GlennKesslerWP I have one of those scars on my left shoulder. It’s a very distinctive mark.

— 😷MamiSpeaks😷 (@mamispeaks)
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Sometimes a “vaccine passport” is literally called a vaccine passport. And many jobs have long required them.

@interest_mild My personal immunisation passport. It actually helped me to get employed in the UK as well; as many… https://t.co/5xNQPJ9g0P

— Faroula Kynes (@Norma_Cenva)
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One of the unfortunate side effects of living in the information age is that we spend so much time battling misinformation. I recall predictions from disease specialists in March 2020 that we may lose 100,000 to 200,000 Americans to COVID-19, and people scoffing about fearmongering. Here we are 18 months and 680,000 deaths later, still having to convince people that COVID is real, the pandemic is serious, vaccination is good, and requiring proof of immunization for life-threatening infectious disease is not an authoritarian power-grab.

If you’re immunized for polio, which you most probably are, being immunized for coronavirus should be a no brainer. The risk of the COVID is much higher, the vaccines have had ample time for testing in comparison to the early days of polio immunization, and the vaccines have been proven safe and effective according to the vast majority of people who are qualified to evaluate such things.

We’re all tired of this stupid pandemic. Please do your part and get vaccinated if you are able.

Ted Lasso: Season 2 (Apple TV+ series) — First thing’s first: Everyone who’s caught a glimpse of this Bill Lawrence co-created and developed series loves it. That’s a notable feat, considering that star Jason Sudeikis first portrayed the title character way back in 2013 for NBC Sports’ promos for Premier League coverage. Fast forward to the fresh hell that was 2020, and the show surfaced as one of the year’s lone bright spots. Ted Lasso is somehow both relentlessly and charmingly cheery, although there’s always the spectre of Led Tasso to consider. This week’s episode is called “Beard After Dark,” which involves Coach Beard on an all-night wandering session throughout London.

The Emmys (Sunday, CBS 8:00pm) — Cedric The Entertainer hosts the 73rd edition of TV’s favorite awards show. Hopefully, the ceremony will be suitably entertaining to honor this year’s stacked nominees roster. Join us for live coverage of the event.

Here’s some regularly scheduled programming:

Scenes From A Marriage (Sunday, HBO 9:00) — Here’s the project that Oscar Isaac and Jessica Chastain were firing up on the red carpet last weekend. This miniseries remakes Ingmar Bergman’s 1970s project original as directed by HBO regular Hagai Levi with a contemporary spin, including all of the love, hatred, desire, monogamy, marriage, and divorce that one would expect. Considering the Isaac-Chastain chemistry on hand, it’s a remake worth perusing.

The Walking Dead (Sunday, AMC 9:00pm) — This zombie-apocalypse universe’s flagship series returns for one final rodeo with two spinoffs (Fear The Walking Dead, The World Beyond) still in motion, so it’s time to wrap this puppy up before the various shows’ timelines begin to intersect. This week, it’s Commonwealth orientation time for Eugene and company.

Billions (Sunday, Showtime 9:00pm) — There ain’t no drama quite like hedge-fund-king drama, and it remains to be seen whether Bobby Axelrod and Chuck Rhoades will ever decide to stop wasting so much time hating the hell out of each other. Probably not? Yeah, that’d be no fun at all, and Season 5 resumes with everyone getting yanked into beefs that may very well destroy them all. This week, Axe’s unexpected announcement puts the team’s futures up for grabs, and Wendy’s divorce business isn’t going well.

Heels (Sunday, Starz 9:00pm) — Does the world need a series about a small-town wrestling circuit? Well, maybe not, but how about a show about a small-town wrestling circuit that’s written and created by Michael Waldron, creator of Loki and writer of Rick and Morty and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness? Now, you’ve got my attention, and there’s a baptism afoot that’s getting everyone worked up.

American Rust (Sunday, Showtime 10:00) — Jeff Daniels can swing between being comedic and dramatic, and in his new Showtime series, American Rust, he’s decidedly the latter and latest star to take on a complicated cop role after Kate Winslet’s turn in Mare of Easttown. And notably, Bridges’ new role is also set in Pennsylvania and unravels a murder, with a hasty marriage taking center stage as Harris’ inquiry heats up.

Last Week Tonight (Sunday, HBO 11:00) — John Oliver’s back, baby.

Here’s some more streaming goodness for the weekend.

The Morning Show: Season 2 (Apple TV+ series) — The gang (Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon, and Billy Crudup, at least) is back for a new round of attempting to evade the scandal-plagued nature of their business. This season, we’ll not only see more of Steve Carell but also Hasan Minhaj and Julianna Margulies as everyone’s positioning themselves, and they’re clawing at each other on their way to the top. Alex and Bradley still can’t stand each other, despite a certain level of begrudging respect. Things will get intense, as well, with the continued #MeToo theme and also some edging into the systemic racism issue while barbs are thrown, both on-and-off camera.

Sex Education: Season 3 (Netflix series) — This Gillian Anderson-starring series returns, so that the X-Files and The Crown actress can continue embarrassing the heck out of her TV son, Otis (Asa Butterfield), who is apparently now having casual sex. Jemima Kirke is officially onboard, too, as a headteacher named Hope, who desperately wants to restore Moordale Secondary School to its former sterling reputation. Uh, good luck with that? Also, Anderson’s character is pregnant. Oh, Mom.

The Premise (FX on Hulu series) — B.J. Novak (The Office, Inglourious Basterds) writes all of the episodes on this show, which aims to use dark comedy to tackle tough topics, including sex, social media, Black Lives Matter, police brutality, and immigration. Along the way, there’s apparently the “the worst sex tape ever,” and this show aims for satire (which is not easy to pull off, especially with such hot-button topics) with mixed results.

He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (Netflix series) — Kevin Smith’s recent Masters of the Universe: Revelation sequel series sparked some overwrought backlash after continuing He-Man and Skeletor’s story in a way that some nerds didn’t enjoy, given that there was plenty of focus (like the original series) on other characters. Well, here’s a kid-appealing update of the classic ’80s cartoon, and this one has a much different feel with a He-Man-focused story, so maybe that will make the angry people happy? It’s got a whole lot of dude-on-bony-dude battling, looks like, while they fight for the ultimate control of Eternia and Castle Grayskull.

Cry Macho (Warner Bros. movie on HBO Max) — Clint Eastwood directs and stars in this story about an ex-rodeo star and failed horse breeder who falls upon tough times in the late 1970s. He ends up on a challenging journey of redemption while fetching a young boy from Mexico back to his father in Texas. Along the way, the grizzled horseman ends up teaching the boy how to be a decent man, and apparently, that involves showing emotions at times. Who knew?

LuLaRich — (Amazon Prime docuseries) — This four-parter from the Fyre Fraud documentarians asks the question of what happens leggings become the subject of a pyramid scheme. Well, it ain’t good, and this project tells the cautionary tale of ruined lives and vast social-media circles that became embroiled in one tacky hot mess.

The Mad Women’s Ball (Amazon Prime film) — Inglourious Basterds star Melanie Laurent directs and stars in this terrifying French film about a woman whose family institutionalizes her in the late 1880s. Before long, the film exposes the harsh treatment of women during that period, as the battle between science and faith isn’t even close to be resolved at that time. Laurent stars as a not-so-friendly nurse to the the young woman, and there’s a supernatural twist that eventually brings women together.

Everybody’s Talking About Jamie (20th Century Studios film on Amazon Prime) — Here’s the movie adaptation of the hit stage musical about a teenager, Jamie, who doesn’t want a career and, instead, hopes to become a drag queen. He puts that plan into motion whole vanquishing prejudice and bullies with the help of his friends and mom, and before all is said and done, Jamie’s firmly in the spotlight.

Kin: (AMC+ series) — Charlie Cox stars in this new Irish series about a tight-knit crime family that’s drawn into wartime mode with a mighty drug kingpin. The family soon discovers that this is an unwinnable war, yet as the losses begin to mount, it becomes clear that the cartel is at one distinct disadvantage: they’re not bound by unbreakable blood bonds. The cartel does, however, have a host of exotic pets and some snazzy costumes and celebrity status, so this is a heck of a story.

Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol (Peacock series) — The international bestseller is here to translate those thrills to the small screen. Settle in for Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon’s earliest adventures, which include saving his kidnapped mentor while squashing a global conspiracy by defeating a ton of deadly puzzles.

In case you forgot how terrible of a boss former President Donald Trump was during his time in office, here’s an anecdote to remind you.

According to a new book (via Business Insider) from Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Robert Costa, Trump constantly unleashed on his top advisors but, one of the worst profanity-laced blow-ups was directed at former Defense Secretary Mark Esper, who told Trump he couldn’t use the military to quell protests over George Floyd’s death last summer. Trump reportedly wanted to invoke the Insurrection Act of 1807 to deploy troops to squash any Black Lives Matter protests happening during that time. In particular, he wanted to use the 82nd Airborne division — a special crisis response unit that often parachutes into hostile areas and does not normally engage with civil disturbances.

Obviously, letting loose some elite paramilitary guys on peaceful protesters would have been a terrible decision, so Esper shut it down before it could even become a consideration. During a press conference that took place just a day before this alleged blow-up, Esper told reporters he didn’t support the Insurrection Act saying that the military “should only be used as a matter of last resort, and in the most urgent and dire of situations.” He then reportedly got a call from White House chief of staff Mark Meadows warning him that Trump was “really pissed” and was “going to eat your face off.”

The next day, when Esper met with Trump in the Oval Office, the twice-impeached president lost it, screaming at Esper, “you took away my authority!” Esper then produced a transcript of his remarks to the press to prove he wasn’t trying to undermine the president which only served to enrage Trump more.

“I don’t give a f*ck about your fucking transcript!” Trump shouted, before addressing the rest of his team. “You’re all f*cked up! Everybody! You’re all f*cked. Every one of you is f*cked up!”

Apparently, Esper wasn’t the only official displeased with Trump’s response to the social unrest. Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was also angry over how Trump had used both men for a photo opp in front of St. John’s church in D.C. The former president was dragged through the press for using federal agents to clear the plaza of protesters with tear gas and violent force. According to the book, Milley called the whole thing “f*cked up,” and told his aides he was “done with this sh*t.”

Talk about a toxic work environment.

(Via Business Insider)

A little over a month after its release in theaters and on HBO Max, Warner Bros. has dropped a new gag reel for James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad, and it’s almost as funny as the movie itself. Peppered with actors struggling not to break character, the blooper reel includes an equal amount of hilarious candid moments for the film’s major stars Margot Robbie, Idris Elba, and John Cena, who was apparently willing to stick anything in his mouth during filming. (You’ll know the moment when you see it.)

Flula Borg, who played Javelin in the film, also gets a moment to shine thanks to his weapon refusing to cooperate, which leaves Robbie unable to keep a straight face. He also gets a solid bit in the end as the real “star” of the film.

For fans looking for more of Gunn’s take on the classic DC Comics villain squad, he recently wrapped production on Peacemaker, which will focus on Cena’s character during a time we won’t mention because it’s a spoiler. However, Gunn has teased that other members of The Suicide Squad could appear in the spinoff series including a character who the director revealed is not as dead as they looked in the film.

Peacemaker will start streaming in January on HBO Max, and if you missed The Suicide Squad the first time around, it will hit home video on October 26.

(Via Warner Bros. Entertainment)

Invasive species are, well, our fault. If you’re a human reading this, at some point your ancestors probably thought taking a tree or animal from one place and putting it somewhere else was a harmless idea. Someone planted bamboo on Cape Cod and thought nothing could go wrong. Zebra muscles make water cleaner, that’s good for the Great Lakes, right?

Wrong!

The rest of humankind’s time on this once-greener earth will be spent attempting to undo our worst mistakes, and according to scientists it is now your task to kill every last lanternfly you see. As a story in the New York Times detailed, the spotted lanternfly is an invasive species from Asia that’s currently causing trouble in the northest. And despite its oddly buggy beauty, it needs to f*cking die.

The story begins with a man in New York frantically squishing these creatures that he saw in the city, which sounds morbid but soon becomes clear is for good reason: it’s a threat to a bunch of plants and they seem to reproduce rapidly.

Mr. Biollo understood that the lanternfly is a problem for many reasons, but mostly because it zealously feeds on the sap of more than 70 plant species, leaving them susceptible to disease and destruction from other natural antagonists, threatening to set back the fight against climate change. In Pennsylvania, the issue is taken so seriously that the state issued a Spotted Lanternfly Order of Quarantine and Treatment, which imposes fines and even potential criminal penalties on anyone who intentionally moves the bug, at any stage of its life, from one sort of location to another via “recreational vehicles, tractors, mowers, grills” as well as “tarps, mobile homes, tile, stone, deck boards” or “fire pits.”

The insects hop and fly only short distances, but they move with ease and reproduce maniacally. “They can hitch a ride on a baseball cap in the back of your car,” Ronnit Bendavid-Val, the director of horticulture at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, told me. “I can’t think of something they don’t lay their eggs on — cloth, metal, furniture, sides of buildings and of course trees.” There are no natural predators that go after them, no organic pesticides to shut down their operation, so “if you see one, “squish it,” Ms. Bendavid-Val said, “that’s the message.”

The story is a bit more nuanced than pure bloodlust, but it’s a good starting point if you actually want to help keep the planet alive. Which is why social media had a lot of fun with the direct order to end life for the greater good.

Even the New York City Parks twitter account is cheering on murder.

Some actually did have helpful advice though.

In any event, good luck with all that murdering out there. Know you’re doing far more to stop climate change with every stomp than most major companies.

[via NY Times]

“Ball-gate” just stopped being funny. Nicki Minaj, who has been under fire for spreading anti-vaccine misinformation over the past week, is now doxxing and threatening a reporter who reached out to her relatives in Trinidad for comment on the story. Nicki posted photos and shared the WhatsApp phone number of the reporter on her Instagram Story, calling the reporter “a dirty hoe” and claiming that her family is hiding out from reporters.

Nicki shared WhatsApp screenshots of the conversation via her cousin in which the texter identifies themselves as a Guardian reporter named Sharlene Rampersad and asks whether he’s the cousin Nicki referred to in the original tweet. Although there’s no way to confirm that the text actually came from the named reporter, the texter asks to speak with Nicki’s cousin, and if possible the friend whose wedding was supposedly canceled due to adverse reactions to a COVID vaccine, as Nicki’s original tweet suggested.

However, this reporter crosses a line by intimating that a competing outlet, CNN, is also pursuing an interview. The texter suggests that CNN would reveal personal information about the cousin — something against the journalistic integrity policy of any legitimate news outlet — and assuring that the Guardian would not. Aside from being the dirtiest of dirty pool, this sort of thing isn’t common practice at most outlets and is actually against the law in many jurisdictions.

Nicki, interpreting this messaging as a threat, went off, posting the WhatsApp phone number that reached out to her cousin, as well as two photos of the reporter. Screenshots can be seen below.

While Nicki certainly has a right to be upset at the unsolicited contact, there’s 1. no proof that the texter actually is this person, and 2. absolutely no call to violate a person’s privacy to her 157 million Instagram followers, many of whom have previously shown a penchant for cyberbullying people just for sharing their unfavorable opinions of her latest singles. While Nicki insists that she’s being targeted for “asking questions,” the truth of the matter remains: The “questions” she’s asking have already been answered several times over, and her spreading misinformation is a dangerous tactic that could very well get more people hurt. The COVID-19 coronavirus has killed well over 650,000 people and conspiracy theories only harm the distribution of vaccines meant to save lives.

However, if the person who reached out to her relations really is the named reporter, then shame on her as well for violating so many tenets of journalistic integrity in the pursuit of a quote. She should, however, be reprimanded by her employer, not terrorized by online vigilantes at the behest of an angry musician — especially not one distracting from the serious work being done to combat the spread of a deadly pandemic.

Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson, a.k.a. The Mountain from Game of Thrones, always looked like he could cave your head in. But now he looks like he could cave your head in — and run a 5k afterwards.

The former-World’s Strangest Man has lost a ton of weight as part of his transition from strongman contests to boxing. “I’m extremely happy with my shape right now,” he said back in May. “When I started this journey, I weighed (451 pounds). And now I’m down to (341 pounds).” His journey involved eating lots of chicken, like his on-screen brother.

Bjornsson worked hard to rebuild his body, cutting his daily calorie intake from 10,000 calories to “just” 4,000 and ramping up his cardio with the goal of maintaining muscle while getting lean. It’s safe to say he succeeded: Recent photos of Bjornsson show him looking relatively shredded — especially for a guy who is still 6’9″ and 355 pounds — with a visible six-pack that stands in stark contrast to the bulkier physique of his strongman days.

Björnsson showed off his before-and-after photos on Instagram ahead of his “Heaviest Boxing Match in History” this weekend against fellow strongman Eddie Hall. “What one word describes these six pictures?” he captioned the post. Let’s have a look:

I can think of a few. “Shredded.” “Ripped.” “Jacked.” “Yoked.” Take your pick.

(Via Instagram)

A franchise we’ve seen make a somewhat surprising return recently is Destroy All Humans. The comedic third-person shooter/open-world game hadn’t had a new game since 2008 and there wasn’t too much of a push to bring it back. It always fell somewhere in the realm of enjoyable, but not really beloved. Even so, THQ Nordic decided to remake the first game and release it in 2020. Obviously, it was a success, because development has moved forward on a remake of the second game as well.

Destroy All Humans 2: Reprobed was announced during THQ Nordic’s 10th-anniversary stream. It featured a comedic trailer meant to highlight the lite tone the franchise likes to take in its game where you’re an alien invading during the 1960s. Since it’s the 60s’ that means we’re going to get plenty of stereotypes from the era including drug references, hippies, and the cold war.

These games have always been a fun time because of the fact that they don’t take themselves too seriously. They’re fun romps with weird weapons, quirky characters, and a setting that works surprisingly well. Feelings on the first remake were that they didn’t do too much to help it stand out from the original, but it was nice to be able to play it again. This second game will likely do the same. It may even do better than the first as it’s usually considered the superior game between the two.

In a new Instagram video shared with his fans on Friday, actor Demore Barnes reveals that he has no idea why his character is exiting Law & Order: SVU. Barnes played Christian Garland, the first Black Deputy Chief in SVU history, and was made a series regular in Season 21. However, earlier in the month, it was announced that Barnes’ character would not be back for the upcoming Season 23. According to his message on Instagram, the news was a complete surprise to him, too.

Via Deadline:

“While I know you were happy that I was here, and that I’m happy that I was here, I also know you’re sad and surprised and I am too,” Barnes admitted in an Instagram post addressed to his fans and the SVU audience. “I don’t totally know why this happened.”

Despite being caught off guard that he will not be returning to SVU, Barnes had nothing but positive things to say about his experience, which he hopes will benefit other actors of color. The actor also expressed his love for his character Chief Garland.

“I hope that Wolf Entertainment’s leadership, in giving me opportunity amplify vital voice and story, will result in many studios continuing to open doors of opportunities for others to do the same,” Barnes said in the video. “This must continue.”

(Via Demore Barnes on Instagram)