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The Olympics are many things to many people, but at the heart of the games is a horniness that’s rekindled every two years as the world comes together to play. Which is why this summer’s Tokyo Games, played amid a still-raging pandemic that’s made close contact not nearly as encouraged as at other events, will certainly have some changes in store for the thousands of athletes descending on Japan.

Health and safety concerns about the Games have been a major story since they were postponed last year. As the games gear up later this week after a year pause, for example, stories have circulated about the condoms famously distributed for athletes at the Games. While some reports say no condoms have been distributed, the less-horny fact is that the 160,000 prophylactics were described as “souvenirs” by Olympic officials according to The Guardian. In other words, use them at home, not in Tokyo.

The beds athletes sleep on have also been a major news item, as they are made of cardboard. That oddity had sparked its own news cycle. In recent days a number of tweets and social media reports indicated that the beds were made to only hold 400 pounds, which was an attempt to limit sexual intercourse between athletes because they would simply break if they exceeded their, um, load capacity. Even some athletes relayed that news as fact.

Those tweets even sparked some notable publications to write about the “anti-sex” Olympic beds as fact. But that sourcing was murky at best, and the reason for the cardboard beds is apparently an environmental one. And as athletes arrive in the villages, they’re testing the beds out for themselves and finding that story to not hold up as well as the actual beds.

An Irish gymnast named Rhys McClenaghan tweeted out a video of him jumping on the beds, declaring the “anti-sex” narrative “fake news.” The official Olympics Twitter account retweeted that video as well, it’s worth noting.

As the New York Times notes, while a scaled-down number of condoms were distributed for the games, the beds were planned well before the pandemic started in earnest. And the company that makes them says they are extremely strong, relatively speaking.

“Cardboard beds are actually stronger than the one made of wood or steel,” Airweave said in a statement on Monday according to the New York Times. That report also cited an Associated Press story from 2019, before the pandemic, that cited the beds as an environmentally friendly initiative, not an anti-sex one.

The single bed frames will be recycled into paper products after the games. The mattress components — the mattresses are not made of cardboard — will be recycled into plastic products.

The mattress is broken up into three distinct sections, and the firmness of each can be adjusted.

The idea was to use materials that could be remade after the Olympics and Paralympics. But the cardboard frames and supports should give the rooms a spartan look.

There are still a number of things that have been a mess about the Games ahead of their start, including a number of COVID positive tests that have caused havoc on the schedule and athlete pool. But if athletes want to use those souvenir condoms, well, the beds will probably hold firm.

[via NY Times, AP]

Lil Nas X continues to be one of music’s most creatively hilarious trolls as he prepares to go to trial in Nike’s copyright infringement case against him. After tweeting a string of sarcastic jokes about going to jail, he shared a “livestream” of the proceedings to social media… which actually turned out to be a clever courtroom comedy sketch in which he plays a variety of characters, including a sugar daddy judge, a talkative juror, his own forgetful defense attorney, and a ruthless prosecutor.

As Lil Nas X takes the stand against himself, the prosecutor declares that “this is about much more than shoes” before asking, “Lil Nas X, are you gay?” “What does that have to do with the shoes?” Nas shoots back. “Let me rephrase the question,” he says as the prosecutor. “Do your mama know you’re gay?” Nas has no choice but to answer, “Yes.” For this “crime,” the “judge” sentences Nas to “five years in Montero Prison.” This by itself would be a hilarious lampoon of several of the debates surrounding Nas since his arrival with “Old Town Road,” but being Lil Nas X, he uses the opportunity to flip the script one last time.

The whole sketch turns out to be the trailer for his next single, “Industry Baby” featuring Jack Harlow and produced by Kanye West and Take A Daytrip. A snippet of the song plays over the credits, which wonders, “Damn, how many roles do this n**** got?” Considering his ability to transform from a cowboy to a demented Santa to the devil, I would say: “All of them.”

Watch Lil Nas X’s “Industry Baby” trailer above. Pre-save the song, dropping July 29, here.

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

Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett have announced plans to celebrate ten years of friendship with a pair of special shows at Radio City Music Hall in New York come August. Titled “One Last Time: An Evening With Tony Bennett And Lady Gaga,” the dates will take place on August 3 (Bennett’s 95th birthday) and August 5 and will be Gaga and Bennett’s only shared public concert appearances leading up to the release of their second collaborative album, coming later this year.

Earlier this year, it was revealed that the iconic big band singer had been diagnosed with age-related dementia in 2016. These Radio City shows are said to be the final New York City performances of Bennett’s career and will feature covers of tracks from the Great American Songbook accompanied by the Tony Bennett Quartet and the Brian Newman Quintet. To attend, guests must provide proof of COVID-19 vaccination, and all phones and recording devices will be collected and secured in Yondr pouches.

After performing at a Robin Hood Foundation fundraising event in 2011, Gaga and Bennett (both from New York) struck up a friendship, capped off with a series of collaborations. Shortly after meeting, they memorably teamed up to record “The Lady Is A Tramp” for Bennett’s 2011 Duets II album. Later, Gaga and Bennett released a collaborative album, 2014’s Cheek To Cheek, which won the Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album Grammy at 57th Annual Grammy Awards.

Tickets to “One Last Time: An Evening With Tony Bennett And Lady Gaga” go on sale on 7/22 at 10 a.m. local time. Get them here.

Baby Keem hasn’t put out a lot of music since rumbling the earth with his breakout single “Orange Soda” in 2019, but each of his subsequent single releases has increased the anticipation for more new music from the 20-year-old mystery man. With his latest appearance, that anticipation is reaching a fever pitch, and the song featuring that appearance isn’t even out yet.

Over the weekend, Kanye West supposedly played a bunch of new music at a listening event in Las Vegas (where Keem was raised), and when a clip of a song featuring Keem previewed hit Twitter, fans understandably went a little ballistic.

The co-sign from Kanye is unsurprising for those fans who’d been following Keem’s rise. He’s already got songwriting credits on the Black Panther soundtrack and Beyonce’s companion album for Disney’s The Lion King remake, with connections to Kendrick Lamar and Dave Free’s pgLang offering a possible explanation. In addition, he’s called Kid Cudi a major influence and featured Travis Scott on his most recent single “Durag Activity.” Both artists were mentored by West and signed to his label GOOD Music at points, and Kanye collaborated with Kid Cudi on 2019’s Kids See Ghosts. However, some fans still expressed confusion at the young rapper’s inclusion due to his apparently short time in the spotlight.

Meanwhile, Keem has slowly built up his repertoire since appearing on the 2020 XXL Freshman cover, releasing videos for “Hooligan” and “No Sense” in addition to “Durag Activity.”

I think we can all agree: Timothée Chalamet is Paul.

As if to apologize for releasing Space Jam: A New Legacy to an unprepared public, Warner Bros. has unveiled the character posters for Dune. All your favorites are here: Zendaya is Chani (extremely “Zendaya is Meechee” voice)! Oscar Isaac is Duke Leto! Rebecca Ferguson is Lady Jessica! Josh Brolin is Gurney! Jason Momoa is the hilariously named Duncan Idaho! And of course, once again, Timothée Chalamet is Paul.

Imagine walking into someone’s house and “Stellan Skarsgård is The Baron” was the only poster on the living room wall:

I want to be friends with this deeply weird person. Here’s more on Dune:

A mythic and emotionally charged hero’s journey, Dune tells the story of Paul Atreides, a brilliant and gifted young man born into a great destiny beyond his understanding, who must travel to the most dangerous planet in the universe to ensure the future of his family and his people. As malevolent forces explode into conflict over the planet’s exclusive supply of the most precious resource in existence — a commodity capable of unlocking humanity’s greatest potential — only those who conquer their fear will survive.

Denis Villeneuve’s Dune hits theaters and HBO Max on October 22, the busiest movie day of the year.

Gillian Anderson kicked off Monday with a fitting hashtag amid the release of the Sex Education Season 3 teaser. While sharing a photo of a provocative looking teapot and asking “Who needs a cuppa?!,” Anderson tagged the tweet with #penisoftheday, which is a helluva hashtag to start the week with.

You can see Anderson’s tweet below:

A little over an hour later, Netflix dropped the newest teaser for Sex Education Season 3, and while it didn’t involve penises of the day, it offer a glimpse at big changes to come. Namely the addition of Girls star Jemima Kirke to the cast. In the teaser, which is essentially a parody advertisement for the show’s Moordale Secondary School, Kirke is introduced as the new headmaster, Hope Haddon (OK, maybe there was a solid penis joke), and she seemingly already has the student body in line in an attempt to rehabilitate the school’s sterling image after the previous season’s scandals.

Among those scandals is the surprise revelation that Anderson’s character is pregnant, which may cause some complications as she attempts to rein in her son Otis (Asa Butterfield) for running a sex clinic at the secondary school, prompting the need for the Kirke’s new headmaster to step in and clean things up.

Sex Education Season 3 starts streaming September 17 on Netflix.

(Via Gillian Anderson on Twitter, Netflix)

Fox News might not be totally full of vaccine misinformation, but the cable news network is doing nothing to discourage Tucker Carlson’s near-nightly rants about the Covid jab while still refusing to reveal his own status and encouraging dangerous conspiracy theories. In contrast, the Fox and Friends gang — Steve Doocy, Ainsley Earhardt, and Brian Kilmeade — all returned to their group couch in early May while making it known that they rolled up their sleeves and did the thing.

Still, that hasn’t quelled Kilmeade’s own rants on the subject while he seemingly believes that people refusing to get the shot aren’t harming anyone but themselves. These people are, in fact, prolonging the pandemic while also acting as a pressure cooker for virus mutations, including the more transmissible Delta variant that’s causing stock mayhem on this Monday morning. Well, bright and early on Fox News, Doocy (via Mediaite) urged viewers to “get the shot,” and as he points out, 99% of Covid deaths are among the unvaccinated. However, Kilmeade insisted, “That’s their choice!” Watch below.

“You make your own decision,” Kilmeade insisted while standing firm in saying that it’s a personal choice for everyone. “It’s available to everyone. We’re not doctors. You can say, ‘We got it,’ but I’m not gonna go there and give you other medical advice.” And then there was Doocy speaking as the voice of reason: “They don’t want to die.”

On Fox News, that’s a surprise to hear, but people welcomed the bluntness.

Some video games live and die by their boss fights. A game can be really well made, fun to play, and have a great story but it needs to have boss fights that leave a lasting (positive) impression. A bad boss fight can be enough to ruin that entire experience and leave a bad taste in someone’s mouth, especially if that fight is their final memory of the game.

It’s a fine line developers must walk, because an overly challenging or unfair boss has ruined many a video game, while too easy a final battle leaves a player ultimately dissatisfied. But strike the right balance with a great fight and it will be so memorable that it leaves the player thinking even more fondly of the game they just played. Having a memorable boss fight can be incredibly important to developers because nobody wants to read reviews about their game and hear players say they can’t even recall a single boss fight from their game.

What is it that makes a boss fight memorable? Sometimes it’s the way it simply caps off a great story, or it could be one that we rammed our head against until we finally got through, or maybe it was a total twist we didn’t see coming. A memorable boss fight doesn’t necessarily have to fit into any particular category, but the common thread in the great ones is that there’s immediate recall for gamers. Here, we’ll look at the cream of the crop, the ones that will come up the most in any boss fight conversation with fellow gamers.

Bowser (Super Mario 64)

Bowser himself isn’t any more memorable than the average final boss. He’s the typical monster at the end of the game that Mario defeats to save the princess. He’s notoriously easy in some Mario games and no fight of his is particularly challenging. The reason he’s on this list though is because of his appearances in Super Mario 64. For years Bowser was just a small sprite that was only slightly larger than Mario. We knew he was big, but he didn’t feel insurmountable. Then in Super Mario 64, we witness just how much bigger this monster is and it hits us that, yes, this is a 3D game. Defeating him isn’t too challenging, but it’s the size and scope of what a 3D Bowser represented for video games that got him on to this list.

Sephiroth (Final Fantasy VII)

Feelings on Final Fantasy VII aren’t as overwhelmingly positive as they were when everyone wanted that first PlayStation, but the memories of overcoming Sephiroth at the end of the game still hold up to this day. FFVII is, like every Final Fantasy, a game about saving the world from an evil force. However, the way the game teases the player throughout the entire adventure of the eventual conflict between Cloud and Sephiroth, all coming together at the end for one final showdown, is an experience that many players hadn’t had until they played Final Fantasy VII. That might be a common occurrence in games today, but for many players, this was their first JRPG and that driving force of Sephiroth is what pushed them to the end. There’s a reason this game is considered by many as the perfect entry point into the JRPG genre.

Mike Tyson (Mike Tyson’s Punch Out!!)

There was nobody in the late ’80s more powerful than Mike Tyson and his arcade boxing game reflected that. Punch-Out!! is a simple enough game. Take the little boxer who could, Little Mac, and bring him to the title through a series of boxing matches. The trick is to figure out every fighter’s hint and counter it on the way to victory. Through a series of increasingly difficult matches and patterns, the player will eventually overcome all of them. Until they reach the end and find Mike Tyson waiting for them. The hint is well known now, look for when Tyson winks to dodge, but this was the era before internet guides. So you either had to go buy a game guide, find out the secret in Nintendo Power, or figure it out on your own. If you didn’t figure it out though you were probably going to lose because one punch from Tyson can be enough for an instant loss. This boss fight is obviously memorable because of the years of headaches he probably caused children as they tried to defeat what felt like an unstoppable force.

Dracula (Castlevania)

Do not let the video above fool you. Dracula was a brutal boss fight in the original Castlevania for the NES. Speedrunners have gotten Dracula down to a science now, but when this game first came out it was one of those titles that only the best of the best could beat. Castlevania is already a hard enough game, with plenty of tough bosses, but it made sure to tack on a super tough boss at the end to remind you that they aren’t messing around. The only saving grace is that continues are unlimited. However, the player has to start over from the beginning of the level upon the use of a continue, so if you can’t beat Dracula within your three lives then it’s back to the start!

Blue (Pokemon)

Every ’90s kid had this moment. They collected a team of six Pokémon, got all eight gym badges, and even reached the Elite Four. After powering our way through the Elite Four we finally did it. We defeated Lance and became the champion, or so we thought. Turns out we were right behind the true champion, our rival for the entire game, Blue. He was always one step ahead of us the entire way and now he’s standing in our way one final time. It’s time to shove it in his smug face and show him who the true Pokémon master is. This twist caught so many of us off guard as children, but that satisfaction of finally defeating Blue’s ultra powerful team at the end was truly special.

After the Loki season finale wrapped up, a second season was announced during the credits. Then, two days later, director Kate Herron said she wouldn’t be returning for the second season but would love to work with Marvel again. Which is all kind of unusual that it’s that definitive so quickly, especially since Loki was so well received. So, when we spoke to Herron shortly after her announcement, we had a lot of questions about why she wasn’t returning. And then after we ran out of those we had a lot of questions about Jonathan Majors’ character, who in the series is referred to as He Who Remains, who also seems to be Kang. But Herron says not so fast on those assumptions…

I just saw you’re not returning for the next season. I didn’t like reading that.

I’m sorry. I just, honestly … I’m so proud of the show and I loved working with Marvel and I’d love to work with them again. It’s a massive undertaking because we ran it like a six-hour film and I just gave it everything. And when I joined, we didn’t have a season two and I think it’s so incredible that we do. And it’s so exciting because there’s so much more road to travel, but I just felt like I was on for this bit and I wanted to just do this one and I gave it everything I had, basically, for the last two years, so … yeah.

So when you started you thought the show would only be one season?

Yeah. When I started it was just one season because that’s just what we had planned. And then obviously we were digging into the story more and everyone was getting more and more excited by it. It just felt like Marvel felt there’s more road to travel here. Which is amazing and credit to the whole team’s work, which I’m so happy with.

When did you find out there was going to be a season two?

I can’t remember now, to be honest. I think it was when we were in post. I think it was later in the process. I think so.

Okay.

I don’t want to give an exact date because I honestly can’t remember.

And it sounds like you were a little surprised there was a season two? But maybe I’m reading into that…

No, no. I knew about season two, but I came on for these six episodes and I just gave it my all. And I’m looking forward to season two as a fan but I just feel … Yeah, I’ve kind of done my bit now, I guess.

Was there any discussion with you about coming back for season two?

There was. We definitely spoke about it and like I said, I’d love to work with Marvel again but I just feel personally, for me, I just felt like this … I’ve done my part now.

Sure.

With the story and … yeah.

This is such a unique show, so I think people want the same uniqueness to come back so I think it’s a surprise to already learn that a big part of that is not coming back.

Yeah, I could see how people feel about that, but I would say we have an amazing team and so many of our team are returning. I do think that the next season will be amazing. The way I always think about it – and this is going to sound really arrogant, okay – but I love Alien. I love that movie. But I love Aliens as well and I think Aliens was amazing because the new person that came in completely re-defined and built upon what was already there.

“The new person,” James Cameron.

[Laughs] Exactly. I love James Cameron! Yeah, but I think that, for me, I don’t know, maybe that’s just where my head went with it. I feel like I’m so proud of the work that I and all the team have done but yeah, we need their James Cameron.

I’ve never heard him referred to as “the new person” before. That’s pretty great.

That’s pretty good. He’s one of my favorite directors. I’ll probably get an interesting email from his team.

Okay, let’s talk about Jonathan Majors’ character. On set, did you refer to him as Kang or was that verboten?

No, honestly, I think we always just thought of him as He Who Remains.

Okay.

I always just spoke about him in that way because obviously Kang is a variant of his character. So, I think for us, really, in terms of our story … well the thing I loved about our story was that it’s kind of like he’s almost like the purest and best version of his character.

Right.

Because when they talk about his variants, you really see the fear in his face. And I think, for me, as a fan, it made me very excited because I’m like, ohhh, what’s to come? But then I’m also like: for Loki and Sylvie, it’s that awful dilemma because you really believe him. And I think for us it was more about really crafting this version of that character, someone that was so isolated and weirdly, probably, quite a familiar thing for a lot of people, right?

We’ve all been in isolation so long now. And we even took it to his costume. Christine Wada, our costume designer, had that brilliant idea of playing on, obviously, some of the character’s looks from across the comics. But it was a variant, so we were pulling from a different time with some of the design of the clothes and also different places all over the world for the clothes. Beyond that, they had this pajama-like quality to them, because he’s home all the time and I think that was fun.

How I interpreted it, where he was basically saying if you kill me, then you’re going to have to deal with the version of me that is Kang? Is that a correct interpretation?

Yeah. Because he says, “There are other variants of me out there and if you kill me, that’s what’s going to happen, they’re going to wake up. The multiverse will wake up and with that you’re going to wake up all my variants.” I think that’s the thing that was so exciting about it to me. And I really enjoyed crafting this pure version of him because I don’t know where Jonathan will take the character, obviously, with all the different variants. But people can see in Loki: Look at Tom Hiddleston’s Loki compared to Sophia’s or to DeObia’s or the classic.

Or the alligator.

Or an alligator. Exactly. I think that’s the fun of it and the promise of, I hope, where the multiverse could go. But I can’t speak more to that. That’s really in the hands of Kevin Fiege and everyone else he’s working with.

If this had ended at season one, that’s kind of a great ending on its own. Like almost a Twilight Zone kind of ending…

I think that’s something that I and the writers were always thinking of because we only found out about it returning very late. And I think, for us, it was always important that, like you said, it stood on its own feet. I think it’s okay to leave questions. Like, where did Ravonna go? What was B-15’s past? What did she see? And also, where the hell is Loki? Yeah, I love Twilight Zone and I think that’s a really fun thing of it. I think we set out to dig into what makes the Loki a Loki and also take our Loki on a very different journey. And I think you can see that with him in the fight with Sylvie; that he’s someone who wanted the throne in episode one and now he absolutely does not want it. And I think for us it was always important to close that loop, I guess, on his story.

You can contact Mike Ryan directly on Twitter.

Yesterday, Philadelphia’s The War On Drugs teased a new single and they certainly didn’t waste any time following that up: Today, there’s news of a brand-new LP, I Don’t Live Here Anymore (arriving in October), which is the follow-up to 2017’s A Deeper Understanding. There’s also a lovely lead single, “Living Proof,” and video directed by filmmaker Emmett Malloy and shot in Stinson Beach, Florida.

Recorded in seven different studios, including New York’s Electric Lady and Los Angeles’ Sound City, I Don’t Live Here Anymore is, according to the band’s website, an “uncommon rock album about one of our most common but daunting processes — resilience in the face of despair.” Capping off the news is a huge run of 2022 tour dates across North America, the UK, and Europe.

Watch the “Living Proof” video above and check out the I Don’t Live Here Anymore art and tracklist below, as well as The War On Drugs’ tour dates (tickets go on sale on July 23).

1. “Living Proof”
2. “Harmonia’s Dream”
3. “Change”
4. “I Don’t Wanna Wait”
5. “Victim”
6. “I Don’t Live Here Anymore”
7. “Old Skin”
8. “Wasted”
9. “Rings Around My Father’s Eyes”
10. “Occasional Rain”

11/12/2021 — Lake Perris, CA @ Desert Daze
01/19/2022 — Austin, TX – ACL Live
01/20/2022 — Austin, TX @ ACL Live
01/21/2022 — Dallas, TX @ Toyota Music Factory
01/22/2022 — Houston, TX @ White Oak Music Hall
01/24/2022 — Nashville, TN @ Ryman Auditorium
01/25/2022 — Atlanta, GA @ Tabernacle
01/27/2022 — Philadelphia, PA @ The Met Philadelphia
01/28/2022 — Philadelphia, PA @ The Met Philadelphia
01/29/2022 — New York, NY @ Madison Square Garden
01/31/2022 — Boston, MA @ House of Blues
02/01/2022 — Boston, MA @ House of Blues
02/02/2022 — Washington, D.C. @ The Anthem
02/04/2022 — Columbus, OH @ Express Live!
02/05/2022 — Toronto, Ontario @ Queen Elizabeth Theatre
02/06/2022 — Toronto, Ontario @ Queen Elizabeth Theatre
02/08/2022 — Detroit, MI @ The Fillmore Detroit
02/10/2022 — Chicago, IL @ Chicago Theatre
02/11/2022 — Chicago, IL @ Chicago Theatre
02/12/2022 — Milwaukee, WI @ Riverside Theater
02/13/2022 — Milwaukee, WI @ Riverside Theater
02/15/2022 — Saint Paul, MN @ Palace Theatre
02/16/2022 — Saint Paul, MN @ Palace Theatre
02/18/2022 — Denver, CO @ Mission Ballroom
02/19/2022 — Salt Lake City, UT @ The Union
02/21/2022 — Seattle, WA @ Paramount Theatre
02/22/2022 — Seattle, WA @ Paramount Theatre
02/23/2022 — Portland, OR @ Theater of the Clouds
02/25/2022 — San Francisco, CA @ Bill Graham Civic Auditorium
02/26/2022 — Los Angeles, CA @ Shrine Auditorium
03/22/2022 — Helsinki, Finland @ Helsinki Ice Hall
03/24/2022 — Stockholm, Sweden @ Annexet
03/27/2022 — Oslo, Norway @ Sentrum Scene
03/28/2022 — Oslo, Norway @ Sentrum Scene
03/30/2022 — Copenhagen, Denmark @ KB Hallen
03/31/2022 — Copenhagen, Denmark @ KB Hallen
04/02/2022 — Berlin, Germany @ Verti Music Hall
04/04/2022 — Zurich, Switzerland @ Halle 622
04/05/2022 — Milano, Italy @ Alcatraz
04/07/2022 — München, Germany @ Zenith
04/09/2022 — Paris, France @ L’Olympia
04/11/2022 — Birmingham, England @ O2 Academy Birmingham
04/12/2022 — London, England @ The O2 Arena
04/14/2022 — Dublin, Ireland @ 3 Arena
04/16/2022 — Leeds, England @ First Direct Arena
04/18/2022 — Edinburgh, England @ Edinburgh Corn Exchange
04/20/2022 — Köln, Germany @ Palladium
04/21/2022 — Wiesbaden, Germany @ Schlachthof
04/22/2022 — Amsterdam, Netherlands @ Ziggo Dome
04/23/2022 — Antwerp, Belgium @ Sportpaleis

I Don’t Live Here Anymore is out 10/29 via Atlantic Records. Pre-order it here.

The War On Drugs is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.