GoneTrending

It wouldn’t be a Marvel movie if you didn’t leave the theater wondering what’s next and the studio’s newest film, Black Widow, is no exception. While the bulk of Black Widow takes place prior to Avengers: Endgame — and subsequently leading lady Natasha Romanoff’s heartbreaking exit from Marvel — its final scene sends us to modern-day Marvel and sets some major conflicts in motion.

Following the film’s credits, we see Yelena (now a proud pup parent) drive to Natasha’s grave and mourn her big sister’s death. While the scene is pretty expected, after months of fan outrage following Endgame and its lack of a proper send-off for Black Widow it’s one that is both cathartic and necessary and allows audiences to finally grieve their loss alongside Yelena. However, the emotional moment is soon ruined by none other than Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, who you better not call ‘Val’ for short.

For those who watched The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, you might already be familiar with the conniving contessa. If you’re not, first of all, you should give it a watch and secondly, please give this next paragraph a skip until then.

In the Disney+ series, Valentina recruits ex-Captain America John Walker after he’s stripped of the title following his murder of the Flag Smasher Nico. When she approaches him and his wife, she reveals she is a member of an agency interested in working with those possessing superior skills and a lack of enthusiasm for bureaucracy. By the series end, Walker has made the call to join her and is given a new suit and name: U.S. Agent. While this is quite the introduction to someone who is surely going to become a major player during phase four, interestingly enough Black Widow was supposed to be her big reveal before COVID caused a scheduling shuffle — so let’s jump back to it.

In Black Widow, we find out the Contessa is not at Natasha’s grave to mourn the fallen Avenger, but rather to give Yelena her next assignment: eliminating her sister’s “murderer,” Hawkeye. Despite the audience knowing just how things played out on Vormir, Yelena believes Valentina and takes the bait, thus beginning her new quest for revenge. This mission will ultimately take her to the upcoming Disney+ series Hawkeye, where we’ll get to see Yelena back in action — and there’s no telling where her story will go from there.

Beyond that, there are larger implications for this ending. In the comics, Valentina — after working for SHIELD, Hydra, and spending some time as Nick Fury’s lover — helps form JANUS, a secret organization that helped Norman Osborn (Spider-Man villain Green Goblin) rise to power and eventually took control of the Ravencroft Institute. The Ravencroft Institute is similar to DC’s Arkham Asylum and is a facility used to house super-villains undergoing rehabilitation. This could potentially lead to a Sinister Six in the films, which seems likely based on the roster in the upcoming Spider-Man: No Way Home.

Whether or not we’ll see any other Black Widow characters appear in the MCU is still up in the air, though if David Harbour has his way we might. Either way, we’re very thankful we’ll get even more of Yelena’s sassy quips and appreciation of pockets in Hawkeye this fall.

Stephen A. Smith was the talk of the sports world for all the wrong reasons on Monday, and hours after he sparked outrage on First Take over thoughts about Los Angeles Angles of Anaheim superstar Shohei Ohtani the ESPN personality issued a formal apology on social media.

Smith appeared on camera Monday and bemoaned that Ohtani — who leads the majors in home runs while also being a superstar pitcher for the Angels — is becoming the face of Major League Baseball in spite of the fact that he communicates to English-speaking press using a translator. It was a shockingly xenophobic take to hear in a sports conversation, especially about a clear superstar who is quite literally making baseball a more popular and exciting sport with each swing and pitch.

In the initial outrage, Smith tried to clarify his words and defend his statements as not insensitive and xenophobic. Later Monday night, however, Smith posted a message to Twitter saying “I’m sincerely sorry” and detailing how he needed to apologize before

“As an African-American, keenly aware of the damage stereotyping has done to many in this community, it should’ve elevated my sensitivities even more,” Smith wrote in part. “Based on my words, I failed in that regard and it’s on me, and me alone.”

Smith noted the uptick in violence against Asian-Americans in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic and dangerous rhetoric from political figures in recent months. He also apologized to Ohtani specifically, making it clear to say “I screwed up” and apologizing several times. Smith also said he plans to readdress his comments on Tuesday’s edition of First Take.

Hopefully when that’s done, he can help the show address Ohtani’s Home Run Derby performance and the excitement behind the All-Star starting on the mound and leading off in the showcase in Denver. One of Smith’s big points in his misguided rant on Monday is that his own show doesn’t talk about Ohtani too often. But after an apology, that would certainly be a good place to start.

Vanessa Bayer has long been a scene-stealer. For much of the teens, she was one of the strongest members of SNL, and a pro at Weekend Update stints. She stood out in everything from Trainwreck to I Think You Should Leave to Barb and Star Go to Vista del Mar. And now she’s about to go next level: As per Variety, Showtime just doled out a series order to I Love This for You, a show she co-created that’s inspired by her own life.

The series is inspired by Bayer’s childhood battle with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, with which she was diagnosed at age 15. She has long spoken about how using comic relief helped get her through her ordeals. According to Variety, Bayer will play “a woman looking to shed her past cancer identity and dreaming of becoming a host at a home-shopping channel.” After moving out from her parents’ home, she winds up befriending the star of a home shopping channel, played by Molly Shannon.

The half-hour comedy was picked up to pilot back in 2019, but it hasn’t received a full run till now. At one point it was to feature Cybill Shepherd as the eccentric billionaire who runs the channel, but after scheduling conflicts, she’s out and the role will be replaced. But the promise of much more Bayer can only be a good thing.

(Via Variety)

There’s no question that the COVID-19 pandemic has been devastating on multiple levels, and the upheaval in all of our lives has had an impact. But a new poll from Gallup shows that the U.S. in general is well into recovering from the worst of it, with more Americans reporting that they are “thriving” than at any point during the 13 years since Gallup started measuring.

Gallup’s Live Evaluation Index measures how well Americans feel about their lives, asking people to rank their current and future life on a ladder scale of 0 to 10, with 0 being the worst possible life you could imagine for yourself and 10 being the best possible life you could imagine. Those who rank their current life at 7 or above and their future life at 8 or above are considered “thriving.”

The percentage of Americans who are “thriving” reached 59.2% in June, eclipsing the previous high of 57.3% set in September 2017, and far exceeding the pandemic low of 46.4 in April 2020, which was tied for the lowest measurement during the financial crisis in November 2008.

Interestingly, the percentage of Americans who are estimated to be “suffering” according to the scale hasn’t changed much during the pandemic. In June, 3.4% of respondents fell into the “suffering” category, which is in line with pre-COVID levels.

In addition to a spike in life satisfaction, levels of daily stress and worry have recovered to pre-COVID levels as well. According to Gallup:

“The percentage of people who reported experiencing significant stress and worry “a lot of the day yesterday” showed unprecedented increases in the first half of March 2020, with stress rising 14 percentage points to 60% and worry rising 20 points to 58%. These spikes were about four times greater than what was measured over the course of 2008 as a result of the Great Recession. Reports of experiencing these emotions have subsequently fallen to pre-pandemic levels in both cases. Daily stress eased to 45% in January and has remained in the mid-40s since, while daily worry has declined further since the start of the year, to just 38% in April through June, down from 43% in January.”

Gallup also reports that “daily enjoyment” is up, though it hasn’t yet recovered to pre-pandemic levels.

What does all of this mean? The most obvious and logical explanation is that the vaccine rollouts and economic numbers since the beginning of the year have given people a dose of hope and optimism. It may also have to do with the fact that most—not all, defintiely, but a majority of—Americans actually got richer during the pandemic.

Gallup also credits the fact that more of us are able to gather with friends and family again:

“Beyond the vaccination rollout and improving economic conditions, though, is the critical psychological benefit of renewed social interaction. Reuniting in person with family and friends and joining in large gatherings of people such as at sporting events is a crucial part of social wellbeing. Past research has shown that those who spend six to seven hours a day in social time experience about one-fifth the stress and worry on any given day as those with no social time at all. These effects are likely on display as the levels of these negative emotions have improved to pre-pandemic levels in recent months.”

Of course, these rosy numbers don’t mean all is well for everyone. Some people are still struggling with the economic and emotional impact of the pandemic, and some groups of people have been hit disproportionately hard by COVID-19. With 600,000+ Americans lost to the virus, millions of us are mourning loved ones, and despite jobs coming back, our unemployment numbers are still higher than we’d like them to be.

But the fact that more Americans say they’re “thriving” than at any time over the past 13 years is a positive sign that the country is headed in the right direction.

There was a brief period, some five years back, when the world gave Mel Gibson yet another chance. He was even Oscar-nominated for directing a hit film. But people soon remembered what got the former A-list actor “canceled” in the first place: He has some, shall we say, controversial opinions. And so, few were surprised on Monday when video surfaced of him not only warmly greeting the even more divisive Donald J. Trump, but actually saluting him.

The former Mad Max was one of a number of celebrities who attended the UFC fight between Conor McGregor and Dustin Poirer on Saturday night. Justin Bieber was there. So was Jared Leto. The Paul brothers. So was the 45th president, who the following evening would brag to a crowd of hooting Republicans that he was impeached twice.

Gibson wisely steered clear of politics during the Trump administration, perhaps sensing that he didn’t need to give people another reason to hate his guts. But on Saturday, as the fuzzy video shows, he apparently couldn’t contain himself, flamboyantly honoring a man accused of encouraging his supporters to violently storm the Capitol and attempt to overturn an election he lost.

But given his many other beliefs, people weren’t surprised that Gibson may be a Trump stan.

Others found the salute weird. (Neither man, incidentally, ever served in the U.S. military, and the latter was quoted calling soldiers who died for their country “losers” and “suckers.”)

Even seeing his name trending, people assumed things weren’t great.

Thus concludes yet another in a long series of disappointing discoveries for people who thought his take on Hamlet wasn’t that bad.

Mother Jones recently detailed how healthcare workers are not immune to falling prey to online misinformation, and now a young nurse who openly declared her skepticism to getting vaccinated has reportedly died after contracting Covid-19.

Olivia Guidry was a registered nurse at Ochsner Lafayette General. She worked in the hospital’s emergency department and was diagnosed with COVID in early July. Despite her medical background, Guidry had expressed skepticism concerning the Covid-19 vaccine on social media. In posts she made on Twitter, the young nurse questioned whether the government was using the vaccine as some sort of “social experiment” and made claims that mRNA technology — the kind employed in both the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines — “manipulates your DNA” at the “molecular level.”

Neither claim is true, but Guidry’s posts represent a wide-held belief by anti-vaxxers who have been spreading this type of misinformation leading to lower vaccination rates and rising cases of virus variants.

It’s not clear which variant Guidry contracted in early July, but according to social media posts from her sister, Guidry spiked a fever and suffered seizures before being placed in a medically-induced coma on Thursday. By Saturday, she had died. Guidry’s friends, family, and co-workers took to social media to express their shock and sadness at the news with many praising her abilities as a nurse and describing her as a “sweet soul.”

Guidry leaves behind her sister and her two parents, both of whom may have also contracted COVID. The family is asking for donations to help with the unexpected funeral costs while a vigil is being planned for her friends and coworkers.

(Via The Advocate)

Tate McRae is having one of those golden moments. Following up new singles like “Slower” off her Too Young To Be Sad EP and a bouncy new collaboration with Khalid on “Working,” the young dancer-turned-pop-star has also shared an upcoming headlining tour next year. Kicking off with a number of festival dates this year, she starts things in earnest next March in Vancouver. Check out the full dates below and get your tickets ahead of time — odds are she’s just going to get more popular in the meantime.

Tate McRae On The Road
07/24 — Cleveland, OH @ Wonderstruck Music Festival
07/31 — Chicago, IL @ Lollapolooza
08/27 — Leeds, UK @ Leeds Festival 2021
08/29 — Readding, UK @ Reading Music Festival
09/04 — Manchester, TN @ Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival
09/19 — Atlanta, GA @ Music Midtown
09/23 — Dover, DE @ Firefly Music Festival 2021
09/24 — New York City, NY @ The Governor’s Ball
10/01 — Austin, TX @ Austin City Limits
10/08 — Austin, TX @ Austin City Limits

Tate McRae North American Tour 2022

03/08 — Vancouver, CA @ Vogue Theater
03/10 — Seattle, WA @ Showbox Market
03/11 — Portland, OR @ Wonder Ballroom
03/12 — San Francisco, CA @ The Fillmore
03/15 — Los Angeles, CA @ The Fonda Theater
03/17 — Santa Ana, CA @ The Conservatory OC
03/18 — Phoenix, AZ @ Crescent Ballroom
03/21 — Austin, TX @ Scoot Inn
03/22 — Houston, TX @ House Of Blues
03/23 — Dallas, TX @ The HiFi Dallas
03/25 — Atlanta, GA @ Terminal West
03/27 — Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club
03/28 — Philadelphia, PA @ Theatre Of The Living Arts
03/31 — New York, NY @ Irving Plaza
04/01 — Boston, MA @ Royale
04/03 — Montreal, QC @ Virgin Mobile Corona Theatre
04/04 — Toronto, CA @ Danforth Music Hall
04/05 — Detroit, MI @ Saint Andrew’s Hall
04/08 — Nashville, TN @ The Basement East
04/09 — Chicago, IL @ House Of Blues
04/11 — Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue
04/14 — Englewood, CO @ Gothic Theater
04/16 — Salt Lake City, UT @ The Complex – Grand Room

Wes Anderson’s The French Dispatch made its long-anticipated premiere at the Cannes Film Festival on Monday. Critics are calling it “the film equivalent of a short story collection” with “hand-crafted visual delights and eccentric performances from a stacked ensemble,” raves the Hollywood Reporter, and Anderson’s “most visually remarkable [feature], each frame filled with meticulously crafted small details that add up to a dense, inviting cinematic jewel box,” according to Screen Daily. It received a nine-minute standing ovation, or enough time for Adam Driver to finish two cigarettes. But more importantly, Tilda Swinton pranked Timothée Chalamet real good at the premiere.

“Look at what Tilda Swinton did to Timothee Chalamet during The French Dispatch standing ovation,” tweeted Variety executive editor Ramin Setoodeh, who caught the moment the Memoria star hugged Chalamet — and unknowingly stuck a “Tilda Swinton” back on his back. It’s a real “kick me” move from the Oscar winner / prank-loving rascal.

Winston better watch himself. There’s a new Prank Sinatra in town (in, uh, France).

Here’s more on The French Dispatch:

The French Dispatch brings to life a collection of stories from the final issue of an American magazine published in a fictional 20th-century French city. It stars Benicio del Toro, Adrien Brody, Tilda Swinton, Léa Seydoux, Frances McDormand, Timothée Chalamet, Lyna Khoudri, Jeffrey Wright, Mathieu Amalric, Stephen Park, Bill Murray, and Owen Wilson.

Wes Anderson’s 10th feature film opens on October 22.

Catch and Kill: The Podcast Tapes (HBO, 9:00pm) — Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Ronan Farrow’s podcast undergoes this miniseries treatment here while expanding upon existing interviews with whistleblowers, private investigators, and more. Of course, the podcast itself was inspired by Farrow’s book about the systemic protection of predators, both in Hollywood and beyond. Since Ronan’s the son of Mia Farrow, who was married to Woody Allen (with the whole paternity issue looking awfully odd), the subject of alleged predatory behavior hits particularly hard. The minseries will dig into the powers that be, beginning with the Harvey Weinstein case, for which Ronan’s groundbreaking New Yorker investigative report really got the #MeToo ball rolling. It’s heavy subject matter, of course, but the series promises some new and surprising revelations.

Shark Week 2021 (Discovery+, Discovery, Nat Geo) — The annual shark-involved festivities continue with several new entries, including Stranger Sharks on Discovery+ as well as three entries on Discovery: Air Jaws: Going for Gold (8:00pm) Jaws Awakens: Phred vs. Slash (9:00pm), and Expedition Unknown: Shark Trek (10:00pm). In addition, National Geographic has a pair of offerings: Shark Attack Files (9:00pm) and Shark Attack Investigation: The Paige Winter Story (10:00pm).

The Beast Must Die: (AMC, 9:00pm) — Jared Harris and Cush Jumbo star in this revenge-thriller series (which originally aired on BritBox UK and achieved a viewing record) that has already been renewed for a second season. The story’s based on Nicholas Blake’s 1938 novel and revolves around a mother who’s hell-bent upon avenging her son’s death, all while a detective’s working the case and hoping hoping to solve matters before mom takes justice into her own hands. Meanwhile, the detective’s suffering from PTSD, and yes, this sounds like an enormously chaotic show, but it’s so crushingly executed that you’d be gripping your seat arms if you watched it in a theater.

All American (CW, 8:00pm) — Jordan and Simone are staring down their all-important day while considering how the future will go, and they’re getting input from Billy and Laura.

The Republic Of Sarah (CW, 9:00pm) — This show follows the ending of tranquility of Greylock, N.H., after a stash of valuable coltan leads to new overlords, and a rebellious teacher (Sarah Cooper) steps in to halt the madness. Soon enough, there’s the prospect of Greylock becoming a sovereign nation. This week, Sarah’s moving into executive-order territory, which presents problems of its own.

The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon — Dwayne Johnson, Tom Hiddleston, Tig Notaro, GoldLink Ft. Flo Milli

The Late Show With Stephen Colbert — Keegan Michael-Key, Tones And I

Late Night With Seth Meyers — Scarlett Johansson, Noah Syndergaard, Charlie Benante

After almost a year of building up hype for his TV return, Jon Stewart’s new series for Apple will start filming this week in New York front of a live audience. However, the show isn’t taking any chances when it comes to COVID safety. The audiences for the July 14 and 16 tapings of The Problem with John Stewart will not only have to provide proof of vaccination, but everyone must wear a mask. Via Deadline:

The Apple TV+ series will require attendees to be fully vaccinated, provide an official vaccination card and complete a wellness screening prior to entering. Audiences and crew members will be required to wear masks at all times.

Obviously, fans of Stewart’s time on The Daily Show are looking forward to his return. There was a massive social media freakout when Stewart reluctantly joined Twitter for the first time and seemingly sent out a request for writers’ packets. However, that enthusiasm has been tempered recently after Stewart made an odd appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert where he pushed the controversial “lab leak” theory. That caused a bit of stir, but we’d still expect a sizable audience at the tapings for Stewart’s new show, if only because it’s his first regular television gig since leaving The Daily Show back in 2015. It’ll be interesting to see what he has up his sleeve after a six-year break.

According to Deadline, The Problem with Jon Stewart will start streaming this fall and will include hour-long episodes focusing on a single “current affairs” topic.

(Via Deadline)