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After months of speculation, Marvel is reportedly close to locking down a lead actor for its upcoming Moon Knight series on Disney+. While casting rumors have been all over the map since the project was announced over a year ago — both Harry Potter‘s Daniel Ratcliffe and Keanu Reeves were believed to be contenders at one point — Star Wars actor Oscar Isaac is in talks for the role, according to Variety, which offers a brief description of the Marvel Comics character:

“Moon Knight” tells the story of Marc Spector, an elite soldier and mercenary who decides to fight crime after he becomes the human avatar of Khonshu, the Egyptian god of the moon.

Fans will realize that Moon Knight also suffers from multiple personalities, which he employs knowingly and unknowingly in his war on crime. It’s exactly the kind of role that an actor like Isaac can really sink his teeth into. (Think James McAvoy’s character work in Split.) Isaac’s involvement would also be a huge casting coup for Disney as it transitions into putting more of its weight behind its streaming service offerings, which are looking less sparse in 2021.

Of course, this information should be taken with a grain of salt until an official confirmation. Marvel fans recently watched news of Tatiana Maslany being cast as She-Hulk seemingly fall apart after the actress denied the casting reports in an interview. Granted, that could just be a simple matter of waiting until the ink is dry on a deal, but it also could be sources jumping the gun. Hopefully, that isn’t the case for Isaac who’d be an exciting fit for the unusual Marvel hero.

(Via Variety)

Rodney Scott is the pitmaster we all long to be in our wildest barbecue dreams. The widely-acclaimed chef has spent his entire life nailing down the art of whole hog BBQ in the small hamlet of Hemingway, South Carolina. Over the years, his ability to create a truly transcendent culinary experience with pork, a little spice, and a dialed-in list of sides has made him part of the food world elite — even without the trappings of fine dining.

But when Chef’s Table came knocking it brought the pitmaster a whole new level of renown. Watching Scott’s episode of the recently released Chef’s Table BBQ, it quickly becomes clear that this is a man expressing his life’s purpose through the food he cooks. He works by feel and yet… there’s an undeniable precision to every move he makes. It’s the fine balance between artist and artisan; freethinker and technician.

We caught up with Scott last week to talk about his abiding love for whole hog. The conversation touched on what it’s like getting featured on the acclaimed Netflix show, running a restaurant in the COVID age, and, of course, all things BBQ — sauces, rubs, sides, and best bites. In every answer, you can see the passion and joy of a man lucky enough to have found his true calling.

Let’s talk a little bit about the genesis of you becoming a pitmaster.

My pitmaster skills started way back, as early as a teenager. My very first hog was at eleven-years-old. When I got into my teens — 13, 14-years-old — it was more hands-on, more regular. It was a day-to-day routine, a day-to-day chore. We were a small family business that did whole hogs three days a week. We would cook anywhere from six to ten hogs a week on average.

It was mostly whole hog and chickens. This went on continuously. It was every week. At least three times a week, I was cooking whole hogs. I was learning and cooking the entire time in this tiny town, Hemingway, and that’s where I got recognized for barbecue. Our family business got recognized for barbecue, and I would always be the one person that they would hold conversations with about what we’re doing and how we’re doing it. Eventually, it led to some press and eventually led to doing different events, going mobile, and people liking our styles and the way that we did our barbecue. Here we are.

One of my favorite scenes in the new season of Chef’s Table is you out in the woods chainsawing wood and chopping wood. How important is the right wood?

Man, the wood that we use for barbecue is very important. For example, you can’t use certain woods, like pine. You don’t ever want to use that. Hardwoods are very important. You always want to get oak and hickory, pecan or pea-can, depending on wherever you’re from. You always want to use a hardwood to make sure you got a good flavor on it.

For me personally, I like the hickory and the oak. That’s important to me.

Your spot in Charleston — Rodney Scott BBQ — has a special smoker where the top comes up and down on a pulley. Did you design that yourself or was that something you found?

The pits that we have in Charleston currently, I did not develop alone. I had some input on it. Me, the architect, Rich Gibson, and the welders, we all got together and we had this question of, “where do you put the lids when it’s time to flip the hogs?”

The idea of the counterweights came in and they go up and the exhaust on the pits and telescope through the roof to let the smoke out of the room. That was just us brainstorming at a table with some architects and welders, and there came these pits.

What is the classic South Carolina spice mix to use on a whole hog?

Oh, man. Cayenne and black pepper are the main two things that I’m always tending to find in a lot of Carolina mixes. I do have a hog seasoning with the cayenne, the black pepper, some crushed peppers in there, and some salt. Pretty much your basic everyday seasoning for the hog.

Right — keeping it simple and letting the hog shine.

Yep, less is more.

How did your episode of Chef’s Table come about? Was it the sort of thing where you got a call one day and you’re like, “Nah, this can’t be real”…?

That’s exactly how it came to be. We were cooking out in San Francisco and we had a conversation with these guys — and I had no clue who they were — and I’d already been out there cooking all night and serving all day, and it escaped my memory and I didn’t really remember it. Before you knew it, I had a call saying, “Chef Table’s wanting to come over.” And I’m like, “Yeah, right.”

I thought to myself, “That’s huge. That’s Netflix. They don’t want to talk to me!” But apparently, word of mouth got out. The producers got in touch with us and we discussed the time and the date. Then we filmed.

Was there a bit of nostalgia talking through your life story out in Hemingway?

I’m used to it because I’m always out in Hemingway. But the nostalgic feel … You know, just the opportunity to be able to tell the story of barbecue — which is such a huge part of the South and very mainstream down here — to the world and to be recognized on the same level as white-tablecloth restaurants is amazing. It was amazing just to get that point across and tell our version of that story from this tiny town, Hemingway, through Charleston and to the entire world. It was super exciting.

This is a year that is obviously very different for everyone. It seems like you were already set up for carryout with a drive-through and so on. How have you had to adapt otherwise?

We adapted very carefully, very slowly. The first thing was safety. We wanted to make sure all of our staff was in the best shape that we can keep them in: Checking temperatures, washing hands, constantly on the phone with the family at PRG — our restaurant group — discussing safety measures, CDC rules, and regulations, and making sure that all of our staff was kept up and well-fed. This is a struggling time and a lot of them had kids at home. Having the drive-through was a big help that helped us to adapt to make sure that we’re just dealing with the drive-through and no hands-on in the beginning.

And as we move forward, we continue to follow CDC rules, constant cleaning, constant wiping down, temperature checks, checking on employees, and people see that. Our consumers see that we’re doing the best that we can, and that’s all we could do. And that’s for everybody. All we can do is the best that we can. So we adapted pretty well by staying on top of things and staying in communications and conversations every day with everybody to make sure that we can adjust through this pandemic safely.

That’s great to hear, man. Let’s talk about the food a little bit more. The pork is obviously the star of the show, but for you, what are the side dishes you can’t go without?

Side dishes? Man, mac, and cheese, can’t do without it. French fries always catch my eye. Baked beans. Wow. Every now and again, I grab a couple of hush puppies and the pork skins, man. Pork skins in the bag — that we have, yes.

Anything that doesn’t “catch your eye?”

I’m a little hesitant on the collard greens.

I also noticed you were making a banana pudding there at the end of the episode. What do you feel is the key to a good banana pudding?

Lots of cookies. As a kid, my mom made banana pudding on Sundays and I would get all the broken vanilla wafers at the end of the box. Now, when we make the banana pudding, I make sure we have lots of vanilla wafers in there because that’s my thing, man. I love me some vanilla wafers.

When you’re pulling apart a hog, what’s the one morsel that you want for yourself?

That one morsel I love to have for myself is right under the rib, just before the belly starts I like to go right in there, right in between. That’s my favorite little grab.

Are you ready for the “Chef’s Table Effect?” Are you bracing yourself for the onslaught that’s going to come after things open up and the episode gets seen more?

I’ve been trying to brace myself. We’re very excited, nervous. I’m getting a little bit more sleep on certain nights, but I’m super excited just to tell our story, to get it out there and let the world see what we do.

I think I’m ready.

I want to dive into your expertise a little bit more. You’ve been doing whole hogs pretty much your whole life and, now, all over the country. What do you think the one thing people misunderstand the most about what you do?

The physical timing. It’s very physical. You’re moving an entire animal around. That’s work that’s heavy.

And the timing, a lot of people lose patience with how long it takes. The one thing you do have to have is patience when you’re cooking a whole hog because you’re going to go a minimum of anywhere from eight to 12 hours depending on the size of the animal. Usually, folks tend to lose patience with the timing and the physical labor of it, getting the wood ready, burning it down, putting that entire animal on the pit. Then you got to just stay there for the rest of this cook time because it’s all manual.

When it comes to saucing your pork, whether it’s on a bun or on a plate, do you go sweet, spicy, tangy? All of the above?

If I’m in our restaurant, I will go definitely with a little bit of a tangy and spicy. If I’m somewhere else and I feel a little wild, like living on the edge, I’ll add a little sweet to it. I love them both.

You can check out Rodney Scott’s ‘Chef’s Table’ episode on Netflix right now.

A month ago, Daniel Lopatin announced his newest Oneohtrix Point Never project, Magic Oneohtrix Point Never. Instead of sharing singles to promote the record, Lopatin seems to be taking a different approach. The announcement arrived alongside the album’s three opening tracks (one of which featured Caroline Polachek), and today he has returned with another new batch of songs. He has five tracks in tow this time, and one of them, “No Nightmares,” features vocals from The Weeknd.

The song leans more in the direction of Lopatin’s experimental approach than it does the straightforward catchiness of The Weeknd’s chart-topping music. Lopatin and The Weeknd both contributed to the movie Uncut Gems, with Lopatin providing the score and The Weeknd portraying himself in the film. “No Nightmares” is part of the five-song Midday Suite, which Lopatin shared today as an EP.

This isn’t the first time The Weeknd and Lopatin have collaborated. The Weeknd released a deluxe edition of his After Hours, and the expanded record included new remixes from artists like Oneohtrix Point Never, Chromatics, and The Blaze.

Listen to “No Nightmares” above and stream the full Midday Suite below.

Magic Oneohtrix Point Never is out 10/30 via Warp. Pre-order it here.

One of the most-anticipated shows to premiere this winter is Selena: The Series. The nine-episode Netflix series stars The Walking Dead‘s Christian Serratos as Selena Quintanilla Perez, the Queen of Tejano Music who released increasingly popular albums (Dreaming of You sold over 175,000 copies on its first day of release, a then-record for a female vocalist) before she was murdered in March 1995, just shy of her 24th birthday.

“I can’t tell you exactly the time frame we will cover, but I can say we have a lot of special surprises coming up,” creator Moisés Zamora told Entertainment Weekly (the trailer above mostly focuses on Selena’s rise to fame, not her tragic ending). “Fans can expect to see us go into the depths of this family’s journey, including their early days going from gig-to-gig. Selena was on the road since she was like 11 or 12 and it was truly a family affair. You’ll see her coming of age as she transforms into the incredibly confident superstar everyone knows and loves.” Here’s the official plot synopsis:

Before she became the Queen of Tejano Music, Selena Quintanilla was a young girl from Texas with big dreams and an even bigger voice. Selena: The Series explores her journey from singing small gigs to becoming the most successful female Latin artist of all time — and the years of hard work and sacrifice the Quintanilla family navigated together.

Selena: The Series part one premieres on Netflix on December 4.

50 Cent is looking to set the record straight on his political alignments after his offhand joke was taken as a literal endorsement of Donald Trump. When 50 posted about Joe Biden’s proposed tax plan and said he would be voting for Trump on Instagram, not only were fans quick to criticize him but so was his ex Chelsea Handler, who offered to pay off his taxes if only he’d reverse course and endorse Biden instead. After Handler was invited onto The Tonight Show to talk about the incident, 50 clarified his feelings on Trump and made a cryptic accusation.

After a quick explainer for host Jimmy Fallon, the comedian explained that the 62% tax rate 50 posted to Instagram wasn’t actually a part of Biden’s tax plan — instead, it represented the maximum tax a New York resident could pay in total before deductions and so forth — and further extended her offer beyond just paying off 50’s tax bill to giving their relationship another shot. However, 50 posted a clip of her appearance on The Tonight Show and seemingly backtracked on his previous position.

“F*ck Donald Trump,” he wrote. “I never liked him. For all I know, he had me set up and had my friend Angel Fernandez killed but that’s history.” 50 also posted an updated screenshot of his first Instagram post, which was blurred and flagged by the service for sharing political content that was missing context. “If Trump lose this election he is going to jail,” 50 mused.

See 50 cent’s posts above.

The college basketball season is set to begin in just over a month, but a number of the opening tournaments that were expected to be played in Orlando — but had yet to be finalized — will not be taking place.

Seth Davis of The Athletic brought word on Monday that ESPN was no longer pursuing their planned bubble tipoff tournaments in Orlando as ESPN Events and the various schools were unable to agree on health and safety protocols for the tournaments. The 10 events, which featured more than two dozen programs, will no longer work towards being finalized to allow the teams to seek new scheduling options with a month to go before the season.

According to Clint Overby, the VP of ESPN Events, the issues arose from a few key sticking points in negotiations about testing protocols, namely ESPN’s insistence on following CDC guidelines while the schools wanted to go by their conference guidelines, which in some cases were more relaxed, as he told Davis.

“We’ve decided to redirect our efforts to be sure the teams have enough time to make other plans,” Clint Overby, vice president of ESPN Events, told The Athletic. “At the end of the day our bias was toward safety and making sure that what we pulled off was in the best interests of the sport. In the absence of those things, we decided we’re better off letting schools do their own thing.”

…

The plans broke down mainly because ESPN was trying to abide by guidelines handed down by the Centers for Disease Control and the NCAA, which are more restrictive than the protocols many conferences are planning to implement. The biggest point of contention was ESPN’s desire to stick by the guideline stating that anyone who has tested positive for coronavirus must be re-tested after that person has been clear for 90 days. Several schools balked at the idea of retesting players that soon. “The 90-day testing protocol became the key sticking point,” Overby said. “Once we laid that out there were individual schools who couldn’t agree because their conference rules are more open-ended with respect to when you test someone again who has contracted the virus.”

There were also issues of how they would proceed with contact tracing after a positive test, but what became clear was they would not be able to find common ground to play the tournaments with all of the teams and, as such, they felt it was best to leave the schools to their own devices to tipoff the season. The difference in the NCAA and CDC protocols and those of each conference also show how there are already cracks in the plan to begin the college hoops season, with each conference creating its own guidelines and trying to navigate playing an indoor sports season for the first time.

We have already seen numerous postponements and cancellations of games in college football due to internal outbreaks on teams, and college basketball will surely face similar hurdles. What remains to be seen is how they handle tracing and testing given the exposure risk for an indoor sport is even greater than an outdoor sport, especially given the consistent proximity and contact of players on the basketball court — even moreso than in football. That ESPN wasn’t comfortable running events in Orlando with the guidelines some conferences have in place isn’t a ringing endorsement, given ESPN has plenty of financial incentive to run these tipoff tournaments and pit the best teams against each other. But they also recognized the liability in running events without following CDC protocols, particularly with amateur athletes, and decided to pass, and now we’ll see what schools come up with for their own season-opening games and events.

Per Davis, ESPN does still hope to put on the Champions Classic and Jimmy V Classic at other locations, but those discussions are ongoing. Michigan State, Kansas, Gonzaga, Duke, Kentucky, Baylor, Rutgers, and Tennessee are the teams still potentially playing in those two events, but other major programs like Texas Tech and Virginia are now among those in need of a new plan to open their season.

Jon Rothstein has indicated Indianapolis may serve as the new host site for those two tournaments.

Sometimes the best new R&B can be hard to find, but there are plenty of great rhythm and blues tunes to get into if you have the time to sift through the hundreds of newly released songs every week. So that R&B heads can focus on listening to what they really love in its true form, we’ll be offering a digest of the best new R&B jams that fans of the genre should hear every Friday.

Ty Dolla Sign — Featuring Ty Dolla Sign

Ty Dolla Sign‘s Featuring Ty Dolla Sign is friendly reminder that the Grammy Award-winning musician is more than a featured accessory. As a talent who has given so many other artists hits and some of their best records, Featuring Ty Dolla Sign sees the industry returning the favor for even more potential hits. The 25-track project includes the previously released songs “Expensive” featuring Nicki Minaj and “By Yourself” with Jhene Aiko.

HER — “Damage”

HER took over the iconic Roxy Theater in Los Angeles for a performance of her vulnerable cut “Damage.” The song is expected to live on her yet-to-be-titled forthcoming album.

Luh Kel — L.O.V.E.

Luh Kel‘s debut L.O.V.E. (which stands for Loss Of Valuable Emotions) is here. The project features production from the legendary Scott Storch as well as guest appearances from Lil Tjay and Queen Naija. “This project is for all the teenagers and 20-somethings that are figuring out both love and loss,” Kel said in a statement. “I’m at a stage where relationships are highlighted on social media and everyday life, so this project touches on the best and worst moments that everyone can relate to.”

Ceraadi — #GRWM

Ceraadi has finally released their coming-of-age project #GRWM with the previously released bop “BFF” and new single “She Ain’t Me.” The sister duo, Siyar and Emaza, show tremendous growth on this project with the assistance of Grammy Award-winning producer Hit-Boy.

They. — The Amanda Tape

R&B duo They. unleashed their sophomore debut The Amanda Tape filled with 10 songs brimming with affectionate introspection. “Play Fight” with Tinashe and “Count Me In” are among the previously released tracks featured on the project.

Xavier Omär — If You Feel

Xavier Omär‘s If You Feel is truly an R&B delight. Sweetly packaged with 11 tracks that are purely addicting to the ear, Xavier taps in with Mareba on “Like I Feel” and Masego on “Surf” for added flavor with zero complaints.

Ne-Yo — “U 2 Love (Remix)” Feat. Queen Naija and Lil Durk

Ne-Yo is keeping things hot with the remix to his song with Jeremih, “U 2 Love” by adding rising R&B star Queen Naija and Chicago rapper Lil Durk.

Jawan x Tiffany — “Finally”

R&B upstart Jawan x Tiffany, also known individually as Jawan Harris and Tiffany Evans, newly released single “Finally” is a sultry vibe of the lovemaking variety. Produced by Crazy T, “Finally” is just the beginning for the fresh duo.

Love Mansuy — “Same Way”

Rising Toronto-based R&B singer Love Mansuy is gearing up for the release of his double-sided EP (món-swee) next month. Ahead of its release, he’s sharing with fans his new track “Same Way”

Check out this week’s R&B picks, plus more on Uproxx’s Spotify playlist below.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

In these COVID times, you never know what’s going to happen if you work in the TV and film industry, which saw release dates and production schedules scattered to the wind when the pandemic reared its head back in the spring. So you can certainly understand Tom Holland‘s excitement as the actor landed in Atlanta late Sunday night night to officially begin filming on Spider-Man 3.

In a video shared in an Instagram Story, Holland is seen responsibly wearing a face mask, which does absolutely nothing to contain his palpable thrill at finally getting to work on the next Spider-Man sequel.

You can watch the video below, via ComicBook.

Witness even more Holland excitement (without a mask) below.

With Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark out of the picture, Holland’s Peter Parker will be getting a new mentor in the form of Benedict Cumberbatch’s Doctor Strange. And it sure sounds like the good doctor’s skills will come in handy thanks to the surprise casting of Jamie Foxx, who will reprise his Electro role. Whether he’s playing the same Electro from The Amazing Spider-Man 2 or a brand new version remains to be seen, but Foxx and Cumberbatch’s casting have only furthered rumors that Spider-Man 3 will grapple with the Multiverse and possibly even introduce the Spider-Verse to the MCU.

Holland swinging into the production of Spider-Man 3 in Atlanta also signifies another big win for Sony. Before going back to being Spidey, the actor was committed to completing his work on the film adaptation of Uncharted, which has spent at least a decade in development hell. However, it looks this latest iteration of the film is actually happening as Holland not only finished his acting duties, but also posted a photo of himself as lead character Nathan Drake to Instagram.

Spider-Man 3 hits theaters on December 17, 2021.

(Via Tom Holland on Instagram)

Lil Pump is used to causing a stir. As part of the wave of SoundCloud rappers who broke out in 2017 with catchy hits and shiny new record deals as a result, Pump got flamed a bunch online by older rap fans offended by his unusual look, sudden success, and apparent disregard for the history and traditions of the genre. However, now he’s getting excoriated for a different reason: Sharing his political opinions. True to his well-established troll-ish form, the “Gucci Gang” rapper posted a video decrying Joe Biden’s tax policy and saying, “Trump 2020, bitch.”

He also posted a photoshopped picture of “himself” shaking Trump’s hand. In truth, it was a photo of one of Trump’s patented awkward handshakes with Japan’s former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe with Pump’s head dropped onto the PM’s body. Given Pump’s prior propensity for kicking hornet’s nests over the past three years, it probably shouldn’t surprise anyone that he’d say and do controversial things for attention, yet here we are. People on Twitter were predictably miffed, launching several barrelfuls of digital vitriol the 20-year-old Floridian’s way — along with the usual memes, jokes, and countertrolls.

Pump joins fellow rap trolls 50 Cent and Kanye West in fielding criticism for their seeming endorsements of Trump. Of course, Kanye has been accusing of launching his whole “campaign” in order to benefit Trump’s own by splitting potential Biden votes (although truth be told, it’s just as likely to have the opposite effect, considering their overlapping “platforms”), while 50’s own joke about Biden’s tax plan drew the ire of fans and an offer from his ex Chelsea Handler to pay his taxes.

Check out Pump’s video — and fans’ incensed responses — above.

Back when Netflix renewed Chilling Adventures Of Sabrina for Part 2 in late 2018, it tacked on Parts 3 and 4 for good measure. This move appeared to suggest that the show planned to reach its conclusion with Part 4, and Netflix recently confirmed that this was the case. To that effect, the final batch of episodes will land sooner than fans likely expected with Netflix closing out the year on December 31, at which point Sabrina Spellman will make a stand amid her colliding worlds.

The above teaser not only previews the upcoming climactic conflict but does a whiplash-fast recap of the series thus far. It’s also throwing out vibes similar to Buffy the Vampire Slayer‘s final run with the gang coming together for a showdown. Viewers will recall that Father Blackwood was enormously pissed off about Sabrina and her coven (who have already dealt with a massive Pagan mess) walking away from the Church of Night. So, he threw a big, patriarchal tantrum to summon up monstrous beasts known as the Eldritch Terrors, which sure sound Lovecraftian in nature. From the synopsis:

Chilling Adventures of Sabrina re-imagines the origin and adventures of Sabrina the Teenage Witch as a dark coming-of-age story that traffics in horror, the occult and, of course, witchcraft. Over the course of Part 4’s eight episodes, The Eldritch Terrors will descend upon Greendale. The coven must fight each terrifying threat one-by-one (The Weird, The Returned, The Darkness to name a few), all leading up to… The Void, which is the End of All Things. As the witches wage war, with the help of The Fright Club, Nick begins to slowly earn his way back into Sabrina’s heart, but will it be too late?

Nick’s gonna be dramatic. And that’s his right, since he’s literally been through Hell and back for Sabrina. We’ll see exactly how dramatic he gets when Chilling Adventures Of Sabrina Part Four streams on New Year’s Eve.