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One of the best scenes in Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is the conversation between Leonardo DiCaprio’s Rick Dalton and Julia Butters’ Trudi Fraser about the books they’re reading. She’s absorbed in a biography of Walt Disney, while he’s halfway through the story of poor Easy Breezy and his spine problems. “Jeepers, this sounds like a good novel,” Trudi tells an emotional Rick. Soon, you’ll be able to say the same thing while reading the Once Upon a Time in Hollywood novel.

Tarantino has signed a two-book deal with HarperCollins imprint Harper, including the Oscar-winning writer’s “first work of fiction, Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, a novel to be published next summer that breathes new life into the characters and the premise of a film that got 10 Oscar nominations,” according to Deadline. “Tarantino has long been infatuated with the movie novelizations he read voraciously growing up, paperbacks that accompanied a film’s release. He has set in that tradition a book that teases out the characters played by Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt.” It’s like the A Million Ways to Die in the West novelization by Seth MacFarlane, except something you actually want to read!

The Once Upon a Time in Hollywood novel will chart the lives of Tarantino’s two protagonists – TV actor Rick Dalton and his stunt double Cliff Booth – both forward and backward in time… I’ve seen a sample of the book, an appreciation of Dalton’s post Bounty Law career from by Pulp Fiction filmmaker Tarantino, who recounts Rick Dalton’s attempts to extend his career in Italy.

Now we need a The 14 Fists of McCluskey spin-off movie. Then the train will have really left the station. Tarantino is also working on a non-fiction book, Cinema Speculation, that’s described as a “deep dive into the movies of the 1970’s, a rich mix of essays, reviews, personal writing, and tantalizing ‘what if’s,’ from one of cinema’s most celebrated filmmakers, and its most devoted fan.” A fitting topic for our finest film critic.

(Via Deadline)

Last month, Lana Del Rey caught some backlash after she was seen wearing what appeared to be a mesh mask at a book signing event. People of the internet tore into Del Rey for wearing what seemed to clearly be an ineffective mask, but now Del Rey has finally offered a response.

The Michigan Daily, the student newspaper of the University Of Michigan, wrote an article about the mask, and Del Rey replied, “Great article. The mask had plastic on the inside. They’re commonly sewn in by stylists these days. I don’t generally respond to articles because I don’t care. But there ya go. Same goes for everyone’s masks in my video. I’m lucky enough to have a team of people who can do that.”

Del Rey also responded to people who believe she supported Donald Trump in this year’s election and to those who accuse her of glamorizing abusive relationships, writing, “Again not that I believe it’s anyone’s business at all-but I made it clear who I voted for. And I don’t glamorize tough relationships. Relationships can just be tough. Period. Every other singer sings about the same damn thing. Always have, Probably always will. Thanks stay tuned.”

In response to a fan who wondered why it took Del Rey this long to respond to the mask controversy, she wrote, “Bro I’m working on 2 albums and excitedly and happily donating a million dollars throughout the nation. If I responded to everything I would be [shrugging emoji].”

Meanwhile, Del Rey recently announced that she’s working on a covers album.

In case you missed today’s bad news, Scooter Braun has sold Taylor Swift’s masters — once again, not to her. This is bad news because an artist should have the right to own their own music, especially when they have the necessary fortune to buy it back. Taylor alleges that before she even had a chance to bid on her work, Braun hit her with the kind of NDA that silences women forever, one that Taylor’s legal team described as reminiscent of sexual assault accusers hush money cases. Overreaction much?

Anyway, as we all know Taylor, she would clearly never sign something like that, and a company called Shamrock Holdings, which is affiliated with Disney, now owns Taylor’s work. It sucks for Taylor and her fans, but the situation also sucks for fans of Scooter’s other pop star clients, namely Ariana Grande and Demi Lovato. These fans have to figure out where they stand given Scooter’s behavior. Some are reacting by not wanting to listen to Demi or Ari’s music since they’re staying silent about the situation:

Others wonder if Scooter would abuse his power like this with Taylor, why not with those he has even more control over? Or if those artists have already signed an NDA that prevents them from speaking out:

There’s plenty of gray here, and everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but the most important thing to remember is there’s zero reason to pit Ariana and Taylor against each other for a man’s behavior. His connection to Ariana aside, she doesn’t have to be held accountable for his actions, and her and Taylor have never had bad blood, remember?

If fans are disappointed Ariana and Demi aren’t speaking out, that makes sense too, but boycotting their music is probably not the way to help Taylor here. Now, we wait and see what else happens in this saga.

Is there a modern rock hero more heavily associated with the guitar than Jack White? Wait, don’t answer that, no reason to start a turf war when the point is simply to discuss the one and only Jack White and his guitar obsession. Catapulted to mainstream fame during his work with The White Stripes, Jack has since become known for a plethora of other bands, like The Dead Weather, The Raconteurs, and his solo work, not to mention his record store and label Third Man Records — and for collaborating with plenty of other artists, notably Loretta Lynn and Bob Dylan.

But the thing that Jack might be best known for (at least after this video), is his obsession with guitars. In a new lighthearted clip posted to Youtube via The Raconteurs, Jack talks the audience through all the many tricks and “contraptions” that his Three Wheel Motion Low Rider Telecaster has been outfitted with. It’s pure guitar nerdery, but done with such earnest excitement, and with changes and updates offered over the course of a few months, that it’s hard not to get sucked in. The video has the slapdash feel of quarantine-driven fun, and hey, it’s nice to know famous musicians are getting a little silly while they’re cooped up, too.

Of course, listening to Jack’s music it’s clear that he’s doing things on a guitar most musicians can’t, but actually seeing him walk through some of the elements is pretty mind-blowing. And then of course, there’s the plug for a Raconteurs song at the end — this guitar can be heard on last year’s track “Somedays (I Don’t Feel Like Trying),” which you can also stream below.

The Milwaukee Bucks are going all in on this upcoming season after yet another disappointing playoff exit. With Giannis Antetokounmpo’s supermax deal looming as the biggest decision in the NBA this offseason, Milwaukee is doing everything it can to ensure he knows they’re committed to building a winner.

Late Monday night, word broke that Milwaukee was sending a haul of three first round picks, two pick swaps, Eric Bledsoe, and George Hill to New Orleans to land star combo guard Jrue Holiday. However, the Bucks weren’t done there, as they reportedly executed a sign-and-trade to bring Bogdan Bogdanovic from the Kings to Milwaukee. The rumblings of that interest was first reported by Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer, with Adrian Wojnarowski offering the first report that a deal was indeed done — with Justin James also going to Milwaukee to make the deal work.

The Bucks, who exhausted their draft capital in the Holiday trade, managed to get the Kings on board by sending Ersan Ilyasova’s expiring contract to Sacramento along with Donte DiVincenzo and D.J. Wilson. DiVincenzo is the centerpiece of the deal for Sacramento as he’s emerged as a reliable 3-and-D wing, with Wilson as a stretch big that some believe was underutilized in Milwaukee.

For the Bucks, they add more wing help that they seriously needed and suddenly have a robust starting five of Holiday, Khris Middleton, Bogdanovic, Giannis, and Brook Lopez that they hope can make them the top team in the East and compete with the Lakers and other top teams in the West for a title. Bogdanovic is a terrific shooter, hitting 37.4 percent of his threes on his career (on impressive volume) and is also a capable secondary ball-handler. He will add serious offensive punch as a tertiary option alongside Middleton and Giannis, further spacing the floor and giving them someone who can be a lead option in bench minutes when needed — which is especially important for Milwaukee given Mike Budenholzer’s propensity for keeping his stars’ minutes fairly low.

Dorian Electra thrives when it comes to satirical videos. In several visuals alongside their My Agenda album, the musician has parodied sword-slinging incels, the Joker, and toxic masculinity. But now, they’re taking on their most unsettling character yet: a Christian, autumn-loving, Pumpkin Spice latte-drinking cisgendered woman.

Electra takes on the role in their “F The World” video. With a Christmas-themed Starbucks cup in tow, Electra frolics in fallen leaves and coddles their precious pumpkins as the song’s disorienting synths simmer in the foreground.

Ahead of their “F The World” video’s release, Electra discussed the song and their My Agenda album in an interview with Uproxx. Describing how they come up with their distinctly unique sound, Electra said:

“I figure out what would be the most unexpected combo or the most dramatic, jarring combo. I’m very desensitized to a lot of that. So I have to figure out how to switch it up even more for my next step, but I always love something unexpected. I love things that reclaim sounds that have been considered uncool. Also, things that reclaim genres of music that have become super masculine, like dubstep becoming ‘brostep’ or being associated with frat bros and becoming uncool. But it’s actually a really cool sound of music. Then something like black metal, which is a really amazing and cool genre of music, that’s unfortunately been co-opted by a lot of people on the far right that are white nationalists and white supremacists.”

Watch Electra’s “F The World” video above.

My Agenda is out now via Dorian Electra. Get it here.

Since early November, rumblings have existed that the New Orleans Pelicans were examining the trade market for standout guard Jrue Holiday. Though the Atlanta Hawks were reported as a potential suitor, a lot of the attention for Holiday centered on ready-made title contenders and, on Monday evening, word broke from Shams Charania of The Athletic that the Milwaukee Bucks were able to land Holiday to bolster their already impressive roster.

Charania also notes that the Pelicans will acquire Eric Bledsoe, George Hill and draft compensation from Milwaukee to complete the deal. It will be interesting to note what the draft compensation looks like, with ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski later noting it will be three first-round draft picks of some kind and Charania indicating it will also include two pick swaps.

In addition, both Bledsoe and Hill are valuable players that the Pelicans can integrate, all while potentially adding future value through the draft.

Holiday’s contract situation was at least part of the impetus to move him on the side of New Orleans, as the 30-year-old guard is owed $26.2 million for 2020-21 before deciding on a player option for the 2021-22 season. With all signs pointing to Holiday opting out of that final year, the Pelicans would turn him into Bledsoe, who is a strong player that is also under team control for two additional seasons.

For Milwaukee, this is an “all-in” move and the connection to the state of Giannis Antetokounmpo’s contract status cannot be ignored. The two-time NBA MVP can decide on a super-max contract in the coming days, and the commitment by Milwaukee (in the form of this draft compensation) is significant, while upgrading with the addition of Holiday in the short term.

This kind of trade certainly could swing the balance of power in the Eastern Conference, as Holiday is a tremendous player to pair with Antetokounmpo, Khris Middleton and Brook Lopez. At the same time, the Pelicans extract significant value for Holiday on what was effectively an expiring contract, and New Orleans is now set up in a positive way for the future.

The Houston Rockets have been at the center of the basketball universe in recent days following reports that both James Harden and Russell Westbrook would like to get sent elsewhere. Time will tell what happens with those two, but on Monday night, word came down that the team is planning on moving one of their most important role players.

According to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, three-and-D ace Robert Covington is headed to the Portland Trail Blazers. In exchange, the Rockets will receive the No. 16 pick in this week’s NBA Draft, a future first, and a former Rocket, Trevor Ariza.

Bobby Marks of ESPN laid out the financials behind this move.

Ariza’s a solid role player who was an important piece of the Rockets’ puzzle during his tenure there — he averaged 12.2 points per game and connected on 35.7 percent of his threes from 2015-18 — and he helped the Blazers following his acquisition during the back half of last season. The move, at least from Houston’s perspective, seems to give them some much-needed Draft capital after much of it was burned in the deal that they made to acquire Westbrook last year.

As for Covington, he’ll serve as a stout perimeter defender and shooter for the Blazers team that desperately needed those last season. He spent time with the Timberwolves and Rockets last year, averaging 12.4 points and 6.6 rebounds per game.

Musicians’ name changes have been the source of some media attention lately after Lady Antebellum and The Dixie Chicks altered their monikers to distance themselves from racist connotations. But there are many other reasons why artists decide to change their titles. Shady Records signee Boogie is now in the latter camp after the rapper has reportedly slightly altered his name.

While Boogie recently released “Boxed In” as his first single of 2020, the song may have been his last under the name. According to a report from HotNewHipHop, the rapper is looking to be known as Westside Boogie in an official capacity. The news of the name change was made clear by his contribution to the LVRN Home For The Holidays compilation, which sees him credited under the new moniker.

The rapper’s decision to adopt the new name reflects his Compton roots, but also comes at an apt time. Not only will his new title save the rapper from an A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie mix up, but Westside Gunn recently announced his decision to leave the Shady Records family. That means Boogie now has the opportunity to be the sole Westside on his label.

Check out the Home For The Holidays tracklist above.

A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Ice Cube has seen an abundance of controversy in the past few months. The rapper recently had to clarify that he wasn’t a MAGA supporter after he was criticized by fans for working with the Trump administration. Cube was also flagged for sharing an antisemitic meme just a few weeks before that (which he later claimed was posted by a hacker). But it now looks like Cube is trying to smooth things over with a head-scratching gala appearance.

Cube has apparently been booked to headline the annual gala of the Zionist Organization Of America (ZOA) at the end of next month, according to NME. The virtual event will also see a speech from Jon Voight, who has similarly faced criticism for backing Trump.

The rapper’s appearance at the gala was secured after he formed a friendship with the ZOA’s president Morton Klein. Cube and Klein were in contact following the rapper’s controversial tweet and the two apparently had a two-hour-long eye-opening conversation about the NAACP and civil rights. Klein detailed his chat with Cube in a tweet posted back in July. Along with mentioning the that two condemned racism and antisemitism in their chat, Klein said: “Cube told me he thanked Jews for starting NAACP, many Black schools & fighting for Black civil rights.”