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The new trailer for Venom: Let There Be Carnage is here. Yummy.

Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) has one major rule for Venom: “No eating people.” Unless you’re Hannibal Lecter, that seems easy enough. But rules were meant to be broken. After establishing his “do not snack on humans” edict, Eddie lets Venom go to town during what looks like a climatic battle against “a red one,” fellow symbiote Carnage who is using the body of serial killer Cletus Kasady (Woody Harrelson) as its host. “You need to come out right now,” Eddie tells Venom. “I will let you eat everybody.” That’s all the convincing Venom needs — and after watching the trailer above, I’m convinced Venom: Let There Be Carnage will be one of the best comic book movies of the same year.

Here’s the official plot synopsis:

Tom Hardy returns to the big screen as the lethal protector Venom, one of Marvel’s greatest and most complex characters. Directed by Andy Serkis, the film also stars Michelle Williams, Naomie Harris and Woody Harrelson, in the role of the villain Cletus Kasady/Carnage. Directed by Andy Serkis, the film also stars Michelle Williams, Naomie Harris and Woody Harrelson, in the role of the villain Cletus Kasady/Carnage.

Venom: Let There Be Carnage opens on September 24.

“It’s been a busy week. A bunch of idiots got mad that a 24 year old wouldn’t do flips for their amusement. Bob Odenkirk scared the collective sh*t out of everyone, and the House began its investigation of the January 6 insurrection.”

Whew. That was John Oliver’s introductory statement during Sunday night’s Last Week Tonight episode. And of course, that wasn’t even half the number of topics that Oliver actually covered. We didn’t get more salacious details regarding Oliver’s feelings on shirtless Adam Driver, yet before all was said and done, we did hear the host (delightfully) pronounce “tomatoes” while speaking of the 1% Rotten Tomatoes rating of Nic Cage’s Left Behind. He also took a swing at Joe Biden’s hair (“which I describe as ‘business ghost,’ also known as the ‘sane Doc Brown’ or ‘flat Jamie Lee Curtis’”) and how the U.S. is leaving Afghan Translators in the crosshairs of the Taliban while withdrawing from the War in Afghanistan.

When Oliver segued into his deep dive of the night, however, the subject was a very serious one: the ambulance crisis. Of course, Oliver managed to make the ride informative but entertaining as always. Not only did he introduce the vehicles as “big ouchie trucks that go ‘woo woo,’” but he also took viewers to Brussels, where they sound like “Mickey Mouse getting f*cked on a washing machine… in a good way.” Yes, there’s an animated visual, and it happens in the first minute of the above video. Then Oliver sobered up (with a few breaks) on the ambulance crisis, which involves issues of access, not only due to shortages but prohibitively expensive costs.

“Wow, we are out of ambulances. That is just not something that you want to hear.” That’s how Oliver began the essence of the issue, for which he detailed surprise bills (thousands of dollars for less than a minute-ride) that lead people to hail Ubers. Then there are the staffing issues due to alarmingly low wages for EMT workers, who probably have enjoyed citizen-led celebrations of their efforts, but uh, then there’s this realization:

“People clapping and giving pizza in appreciation was very nice, but it wasn’t a substitute for the things that they actually needed, like a living wage and health benefits. EMS workers around the country are shockingly underpaid, which is kind of amazing, especially when you consider how prohibitively expensive taking an ambulance can be.”

As Oliver explained, EMS setups are locally run and not considered essential in 39 states. That means that there’s nearly zero government-funding access, which is not only “a huge deal,” but there are around “19,000 locally run EMS providers with wildly different structure.” If you expect consistent regulation or quality there, one might as well give up. That’s only the surface of the show’s full-on exploration of the issue, but along the way, we received another amusing interlude, when Oliver once again summoned George Clooney by snapping, and then, Clooney summoned Kermit. It was a nice reprieve during a necessary discussion.

At various points over the past few months, The Weeknd has taken to social media to hint at something new to come. Now, it appears his post-After Hours era is kicking off, as today, he shared a video that includes nearly two minutes of new music.

The 100-second digital clip, titled “The Dawn Is Coming,” is a single shot that zooms over a dark landscape towards an orange sky and giant sun-like celestial body. All the while, some thumping electronic music that features some vocals from The Weeknd plays. At this point, it’s unclear if “The Dawn Is Coming” is the title of a new song, project, or just the name of the teaser itself.

The Weeknd is also the subject of a new GQ profile that was published today, and the piece describes some of his upcoming music: “The music hit the studio like a Mack truck. The new project is packed with party records. Like real-deal, illuminated-white-tiles-on-the-floor party records. Quincy Jones meets Giorgio Moroder meets the best-night-of-your-fucking-life party records. Not anachronistic disco stuff. (Not ‘cosplay,’ as Abel put it.) That sort of retro thing is having a moment right now in pop music, but these records are new. Sweaty. Hard. Drenched-suit, grinding-on-the-girl/boy-of-your-dreams party records.”

Family Guy premiered on Fox last century, on January 31, 1999. It’s been a primetime fixture ever since (minus a brief cancelation following season two… and again after season three). But if creator Seth MacFarlane had his way, he would take the animated series to another network, just to get away from Fox News and Tucker Carlson.

“Tucker Carlson’s latest opinion piece once again makes me wish Family Guy was on any other network. Look, Fox, we both know this marriage isn’t working anymore. The sex is only once a year, I don’t get along with your mother, and well… I’ve been having an affair with NBC,” MacFarlane tweeted over the weekend. In 2020, MacFarlane signed a “mega TV overall deal” with NBCUniversal Content Studios, signaling the end of his long-time (and very profitable) relationship with 20th Century Fox Television.

Family Guy has made its opinion of Fox News very clear:

It’s unclear which “opinion piece” of Carlson’s he’s referring to — could it be the Fox News host claiming that Democrats and the CDC “have been lying about COVID and the vaccine,” or that Dr. Fauci “created COVID,” or maybe when he mocked the testimonies of police officers who defended the Capitol on January 6 — but I understand the sentiment. I would not want to run into “the worst human being known to mankind” in the Fox lunch room either (Tucker is at the same table as Tomi Lahren and Joe Millionaire).

For the third time in as many games at the Olympics, the USA women found themselves down early on Monday in Tokyo. After trailing by five late in the first quarter to Nigeria and two after one period to Japan, they were down 22-19 to France in their final group stage game.

It was an impressive performance early and throughout the game for the French squad, as they had six players reach double figures (led by 15 from Edene Miyam) in what was a balanced offensive effort that kept them in contact with Team USA throughout the game. In the second quarter, they had to withstand the expected American response, which was led by Breanna Stewart and A’ja Wilson, as the USA continues to dominate thanks to their exceptional frontcourt rotation that, to this point, no opponent has had an answer for.

Whereas Japan and Nigeria weren’t able to keep up with the American women into the second half, France managed to hang tight and even take a fourth quarter lead early, as Team USA found itself in its most precarious position of the tournament. However, after dominating in the paint early on, they started to heat up from three, led by a perfect 3-for-3 night from Tina Charles from deep, as well as a pair of timely Sue Bird threes as well.

As was the case against Japan, Wilson was the leading scorer for Team USA with 22 points to go along with seven rebounds, three assists, two steals, and one block in another dominant performance. She was joined in double figures by Stewart (17 points, 7 rebounds, 7 assists), Charles (15 points and 5 assists), and Britney Griner (11 points, 3 rebounds), while Jewell Loyd (8 assists) and Bird (4 assists) set the table for their frontcourt to eat.

France’s performance was impressive, but as a team they just couldn’t shoot well enough from deep (29 percent) to stay attached in the fourth quarter as legs seemed to get a bit tired. Gabby Williams (10 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, and 6 steals), Marine Johannes (11 points, 7 assists), and Sadrina Gruda (12 points, 6 rebounds) all joined Miyam with terrific games in a hard fought loss.

On the other side, it was likewise a strong performance from the Americans in the face of just really good play from France. Team USA shot it well (56 percent from the field, 45 percent from three) and had 30 assists on 35 made baskets, as the ball moved as well as it has all tournament with just 12 turnovers, an improvement over some sloppy play in the first two games. They had a response for each run by France and, in the end, just had too much firepower for the French women to overcome as they remain undefeated going into the quarterfinals.

The Olympics often produce some truly incredible individual feats of strength and athleticism, but they can also create heartbreaking moments of despair. We got both of those in one unbelievable lap in the first heats of the women’s 1500 meter run in Tokyo on Sunday evening (Monday morning in Tokyo) when Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands did something truly astonishing.

Hassan, who it should be noted is doing something truly insane in trying to run the 1500, 5000, and 10000 meter races at these Olympics, is among the favorites in the 1500 and, with a 5000 meter race later that night, her goal in the opening heat was, simply, to coast in the back before springing into action to get into the top 6 to automatically qualify for the semifinals. The first three laps went according to plan, but just as they crossed the finish line to begin the bell lap, a chain reaction of collisions in front of Hassan led to her getting tripped up and falling to the track.

For most, this would be a death knell with just 400 meters to go, but Hassan got up and started mowing down the field, one by one, like a dang Terminator, eventually catching the lead pack and winning the heat.

It is an incredible effort and one of the most amazing things we will see from a runner in these Games. Afterwards, Hassan understandably went right by all the media in order to get to rest and recovery as fast as possible because she has another 3-plus miles to run later on Monday night, but you could see the frustration in her face as she went to the track, knowing that she now had to expend a lot more energy than planned just to make the semis. Still, to be able to get up and make it happen is spectacular and hopefully that move didn’t sap too much of her stamina for her many other long races to come.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) should perhaps make more pointless videos about Dr. Seuss books instead of the shenanigans that he’s been up to lately. He recently got dragged by Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WI) for attempting to “prevent” people from understanding what went down on January 6. That felt like a very peaceful interaction, however, compared to the hot water that McCarthy found himself in on Sunday.

First, it’s worth reflecting upon the above Getty photo (from January 2019) that shows House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) receiving the gavel from McCarthy as Democrats regained control of the House of Representatives. Well, McCarthy wants that gavel back as House Speaker. As revealed in audio footage, which was posted to Twitter by Main Street Nashville reporter Vivian Jones, McCarthy declared (during a fundraising dinner in Tennessee, in which he was presented with a supersized gavel, according to the Washington Post‘s Michael Sherer) something not so great. “I want you to watch Nancy Pelosi hand me that gavel,” McCarthy said. “It will be hard not to hit her with it but I will bang it down.” The remarks drew an audible reaction from the crowd.

Nope, not good. This is only the latest display of animosity between the two lawmakers after they butted heads on who would sit on the House panel that’s in charge of investigating January 6. And recently, Pelosi referred to McCarthy as a “moron” over his anti-masking stance, but McCarthy’s remark goes, well, further. In response, Pelosi Chief of Staff Drew Hammill tweeted, “A threat of violence to someone who was a target of a #January6th assassination attempt from your fellow Trump supporters is irresponsible and disgusting.”

MSNBC’s Chris Jansing soon relayed that word from a McCarthy spokesperson, who said that the congressman “was obviously joking” when he made these remarks.

However, several Democratic lawmakers pushed back, including Rep. Hakeem Jefferies (D-NY), Rep. Eric Stalwell (D-CA), and Rep. Debbie Dingel (D-MI), and Ted Lieu (D-CA). They called for an apology and/or a resignation on McCarthy’s behalf, given that violence against women is no joke.

Those calls were echoed by much of social media, which wasn’t amused by the “joke.”

McCarthy, so far, hasn’t addressed the matter further after the “joke” claim, but you never know if he’ll try to dig that hole even deeper.

Less than a year ago, the Milwaukee Bucks were trying to acquire Bogdan Bogdanovic in a sign-and-trade with the Kings after trading for Jrue Holiday in a move that would’ve given them a formidable quartet of stars. Days before the free agency moratorium period opened, the deal was reported as done but would fall apart in the coming days as Bogdanovic insisted it was the first he had heard of it, signing with Atlanta instead, and the Bucks would end up getting fined a second round pick for tampering prior to the free agency window opened.

The issue wasn’t so much that Milwaukee had discussed this deal and had a framework established, but that it was reported as a done deal, which the league doesn’t like. The good news is Milwaukee shook off that failure and built a championship team, otherwise we would remember that situation very differently today. It appears teams and the league’s newsbreakers have learned the lesson from the Bogdanovic debacle as we get ready for the start of free agency on Monday and another sign-and-trade is taking shape.

The Miami Heat picked up Goran Dragic’s $19.4 million team option on Sunday, a somewhat curious move in that it eats into their open cap space considerably if they are to chase Kyle Lowry and his reported desire to get a three-year, $90 million contract. However, it makes for a great salary filler in a sign-and-trade deal with Toronto if Lowry gets that number, with Precious Achiuwa and KZ Okpala meeting the rest of the salary requirements to get a deal done. After Dragic’s option got picked up, newsbreakers tried their best to toe the line between reporting and not getting anyone in trouble on what appears to be a done deal.

The phrasing on these is pretty funny, as it’s clear the sign-and-trade is the reason Dragic got picked up but no one can report on actual talks, just on the general idea that it makes sense. Adrian Wojnarowski went a step further on Sunday night, offering a report that the Heat are “frontrunners” to land Lowry, offering the general framework of what that deal could look like while also making sure to couch it as “preparation” for when talks become legal on Monday afternoon.

Lowry has long been intrigued with joining Heat star Jimmy Butler and the Miami organization, and now Miami has maneuvered to have two key elements of a possible sign-and-trade package — guard Goran Dragic and forward Precious Achiuwa — to offer the Raptors once talks can ensue at 6 p.m. ET on Monday, sources said.

While negotiations on sign-and-trade agreements aren’t allowed to begin until free agency opens, teams are able to prepare for scenarios and those contingencies are beginning to take shape inside front offices ahead of Monday.

There’s certainly the possibility that Lowry ends up in Dallas or New Orleans, who each have cap space to sign him outright, but the way this is being reported makes it seem like the Heat are the heavy favorites to land Lowry and that this could get done very quickly on Monday evening once it becomes actually legal for conversations to happen, which of course, haven’t happened at all.

Make sure to put it in the papers that we have NOT discussed a trade yet, it could just come together in five minutes on Monday.

With the rise of the far more transmissible Delta variant, the push to get people vaccinated is more important than ever. Large gatherings, such as Rolling Loud and Lollapalooza, could turn into super-spreader events. As a result, Ariana Grande took to her Instagram to urge her followers to get vaccinated.

“Vaxxed n masked,” Grande wrote under an image of her wearing a black mask. “This is your gentle reminder to please get your vaccines if you are eligible. this thing is not yet over ! sharing some info because i care and if i can, i’d like to help anybody who is hesitant or curious with making their decision. this delta variant is very new and since data is changing all the time, i’ll source some links for you to stay up to speed yourself but so far… we do know that it spreads much more easily compared to previous variants.”

The singer then spoke to unvaccinated individuals directly. “Most of the spread is among unvaccinated people and in areas with low vaccination rates !” she wrote. “And yes although you can still get it while vaccinated, the vaccine helps to protect against severe illness, hospitalization, and death ! all great things to be protected against in my book.”

Her message comes after Grande became the latest musician to set up their own concert through Fortnite.

There aren’t many franchise-changing stars expected to be available when free agency opens on Monday, as Kyle Lowry is the top prize for most teams that feel they’re one major piece away from contending and will have first pick of most teams with cap space (or sign-and-trade) interest.

However, there are two players that could, if they wanted to, completely shake up the 2021 free agency landscape. Kawhi Leonard and Chris Paul each had player options facing them and the expectation has been that both would decline those options and re-sign with their current teams in L.A. and Phoenix respectively. That said, by declining the options and becoming unrestricted free agents, both would at least crack the door open for a departure, which would send ripple effects throughout the league.

On Sunday, word emerged that both players had declined their options and would look for new deals tomorrow when free agency opens at 6 p.m. ET. Chris Haynes broke the Kawhi news first, with Adrian Wojnarowski confirming and noting the expectation is a new deal gets done with the Clippers.

Shams Charania then brought word that Paul was declining his $44.2 million option, while Woj reported a decision wasn’t final but if he did, there was hope for the Suns that they would work out a deal in short order.

Of the two, Paul seems most likely to explore more avenues in free agency than Leonard, who many expect will sign a 1+1 max deal with L.A. that will allow him to rehab from his torn ACL, play in 2022-23, and then be able to sign a 5-year supermax deal from the Clippers (or look elsewhere in free agency). Paul’s future seems most likely to continue to be in Phoenix, but with the way Robert Sarver talked about Paul’s free agency, it certainly seems as though the Suns aren’t fully confident that they’ll run it back next season.

Paul will surely hear overtures from the likes of the Mavericks, Heat, and any other contender who has a point guard need and has been connected to Kyle Lowry, but it seems as though it would take a substantial surprise offer to come his way for him to bolt Phoenix. That doesn’t mean its impossible, but after reaching the Finals this year, there’s little reason for Paul to think this Suns team can’t get him over the hump, at least compared to the teams that can offer him real money.