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The Rundown is a weekly column that highlights some of the biggest, weirdest, and most notable events of the week in entertainment. The number of items could vary, as could the subject matter. It will not always make a ton of sense. Some items might not even be about entertainment, to be honest, or from this week. The important thing is that it’s Friday, and we are here to have some fun.

ITEM NUMBER ONE — Meet me in the cosmos

Well guess what: Everyone is going to space. Not everyone everyone. I am not going to space, for example. And I suspect you are not going to space, either. But a lot of people are going to space. A lot of people involved in the movie business. Real and fictional. It’s a Hollywood Space Race and it’s getting completely out of control.

Let’s step back a bit first, because history is important. It has long been my position that the Fast & Furious movies will end up going to outer space. It has been my position for a number of reasons I’ve articulated many times, most of which boil down to “I mean, of course they’ll go to space eventually, be serious here.” And it appeared my suspicions were proven correct earlier this year, after the ninth movie had already been delayed for a year, when Ludacris popped up on a YouTube talk show and sort of winkingly confirmed it happens in the currently-shelved blockbuster.

“I will say that you are very intuitive, because you said something right, but I’m not going to give it away,” the rapper and franchise actor said.

Cunningham tried to pry the answer out of him, saying she bet it was space, which is when the actor covered his mouth as though he let a secret slip. Ludacris then tried to play coy. “I don’t know. I don’t know what you said,” the actor teased.

Yes, fine, great. The assumption here is that they are definitely going to space in some way because otherwise it would make Ludacris a huge jerk and troll, and I refuse to accept that as a possibility. And anyway, Michelle Rodriguez also went on a YouTube talk show and kind of confirmed it.

“Oh, no way. How did you guys find that out? See what happens? People start talking behind the scenes, man. When a movie doesn’t come out and forget about it, things get out. Nobody was supposed to know that…Oh, well, no, I’m not, I’m not, I’m not lucky enough to hit space, but we did get a female writer and showed a lot of love, I think, on this one. Thanks to…Justin Lin. We were able to, to find a little bit more attention and love for the girls in the movie. And so I’m really hopeful that that, that shows through in the final product.

So, for the purposes of our discussion here, let’s just assume that it’s true. The Fast & Furious movies are going to space. The prophecy has been fulfilled. It’s a big deal.

But if history has taught us anything over the last 30 or 40 years, it’s that Tom Cruise refuses to do one tiny droplet less than the absolute most every single second of every single day, and so he is also going to space for a movie. Notice what I did not say here. I did not say “in a movie.” I said “for a movie.” Tom Cruise — the human, not in character — is going to space to film a movie. And, if an unverified Twitter account that tracks upcoming space launches is to be believed, it’s happening next year.

Under the October 2021 part of the chart reads “SpaceX Crew Dragon,” with an image of a small space vehicle beside it. Next to the illustration are a list of three names: SpaceX Pilot Lopez Alegria, Tourist 1 Tom Cruise and Tourist 2 Doug Liman. The tourist flight also shows a vacant spot for a third visitor.

Who do you think the as-yet-unidentified third visitor will be? I hope it’s, like, Steve Harvey, and the movie turns out to just be a documentary about Tom Cruise and Steve Harvey going to space. I would see that in IMAX.

All of this space stuff does bring up an interesting question: Where do either of the extremely successful monuments to insane action — the Fast & Furious movies as a franchise; Tom Cruise as a human — go from here? Where can they go? It’s hard to top outer space. It’s quite literally been referred to as “the last frontier.” It makes me both very excited and very worried.

Think about it this way: The ninth Fast & Furious movie goes to space, let’s say briefly, not as a whole astronaut situation but maybe more like a “Vin Diesel must fly an airplane up through the atmosphere to thwart whatever evil Charlize Theron and her new bowl cut have planned” thing. This is a franchise that has raised the stakes with every movie, from high-speed train robberies to skydiving muscle cars to nuclear submarine heists on a glacier. How can they top space? Can they top space? If feels almost like there’s nowhere else to go from there, right? This could just be my own failure of imagination — I did not foresee “bringing Han back to life, again, why not?” to be fair — but it does make me worry the next movie will be a letdown.

Same with Cruise. The man is a maniac. You’ve read the stories about him doing his own stunts. You know he taught himself how to fly a helicopter to do the sky chase in Mission: Impossible — Fallout himself. The surprise here isn’t that Tom Cruise is going to film a movie in outer space, it’s that he has not filmed a movie in outer space already. It is the most Tom Cruise thing I can think of. But… what happens when he’s done? What can he do next to get that lunatic adrenaline jolt? What happens when he wakes up the next morning and realizes there are no dragons left to slay? I’d say I’m worried he might fall into a pit of metaphorical despair, but I’m pretty sure Scientologists don’t believe in that. Which would make it even more shattering for him, on a deeply personal level, to pair this with the possibility that his entire belief system is a lie. Picture a depressed Tom Cruise. Really, picture it. It’s a little unsettling, right? Say what you will about the man and his eccentricities (no, really, say it all, loudly), but I don’t think my brain can comprehend him being sad. I don’t think his can, either.

What I’m saying here is that, with their respective space-based plans, both Tom Cruise and the Fast & Furious movies might be flying a little too close to the sun. Figuratively, yes, but also quite literally.

ITEM NUMBER TWO — I am so excited to tell you about the Sopranos fart machine

The first thing you need to know is that there are currently at least two different Sopranos-related podcasts hosted by former members of the cast. One of them, Talking Sopranos, is hosted by Michael Imperioli and was in the news recently because it is where we first learned that James Gandolfini, Tony Soprano himself, loved Green Day, specifically the album Dookie, and used to listen to it in his trailer, which is fascinating. The other podcast is titled Gangster Goddess Broad-cast and is hosted by Drea De Matteo and we’ll come back to it in a minute.

The second thing you need to know is that it is infuriating to me that there is not a Sopranos-related podcast hosted by Tony Sirico, preferably in character as Pauly Walnuts, where he has on celebrity guests and discusses the issues of the day.

The third thing you need to know, circling back to Drea de Matteo’s podcast as promised, is that Lorraine Bracco once masterminded a prank on James Gandolfini that involved misdirection, minor carpentry, and a fart machine.

When we pick up the story, Bracco has just explained that their set designer had helped her install a fart machine into the chair she sat in during the therapy sessions with Gandolfini. Take it away, Lorraine.

“I said to Jimmy, ‘Listen, I don’t feel good, I don’t know what I ate, I’m sweating,’” she said. “So I set it up — my stomach is killing me, the whole thing. Then with Marchetti, I would [clench up], and he would press the button.”

This is diabolical. I love it so much. Imagine James Gandolfini’s face as this is going on. Imagine him trying in vain to stay in character. The amount of thought that went into all of it. It’s devious and lively and I adore it.

We continue.

“So Jimmy finally said, ‘You’re f—ing around with me,’ and he grabs me and he takes my chair and he lifts up the cushion — but there’s nothing there!”

The ruse was eventually uncovered, of course, although it is really, really funny to picture a scenario where it wasn’t and James Gandolfini was riddled with guilt for the rest of his life about the time he accused a sick woman of lying about her embarrassing digestive issues and proceeded to lift her in the air. Almost as funny as it is to picture him having a hearty laugh about it later in his trailer, with his feet up on the table and a cigar clenched between his teeth as he sings along to “Longview” in that voice of his.

ITEM NUMBER THREE — Vin Diesel has a new song

There is a long and storied history of celebrities dipping their toes into music after they become rich and/or famous enough that it becomes impossible to stop them, and yes, this sentence is mostly an excuse to link back to the thing I wrote about the Jeremy Renner Jeep commercials where he drove around the desert listening to his own album. But now that we’re in a new sentence, we have to move forward, quickly, in a manner one could describe as fast and/or furiously, because Vin Diesel — today, like, moments after I woke up — released a new song. He’s debuting it on The Kelly Clarkson Show, which is incredible from a historical perspective in ways you should stop to think about this weekend at some point. It’s called “Feel Like I Do” and it is kind of a beachy dance track, like something you’d hear playing at a cabana bar in a party town, or in an Old Navy the weekend they roll out their flip-flops and summer graphic tees that say like “WAIKIKI LIFEGUARD” on them for no immediately decipherable reason.

Let’s see what the audience thinks.

You know, there’s a lot to be upset about right now, from politics to viruses to not being able to see your family and friends or go get a haircut, but I won’t lie: Vin Diesel debuting a new single on Kelly Clarkson’s talk show as her audience dances along awkwardly via webcam… it’s really taking the sharp edges off this morning. I do feel like you do, Vin. I do.

ITEM NUMBER FOUR — Amber Ruffin rules

Amber Ruffin has a new late-night show premiering on Peacock this week. This is good news because Amber Ruffin is awesome. You might have seen her on Late Night with Seth Meyers, where she is a writer and performer. You should have seen her on Detroiters, where she was a writer and guest star. I’m still mad that show was canceled. What a perfect television program.

Anyway. Ruffin has this infectiously fun personality, even when addressing heavy topics. It’s refreshing and a blast even in reasonably good times, but it’s just about the only way I can handle discussions of current events right now. She’s the best. Go bounce around YouTube and watch a bunch of her appearances with Seth Meyers. Then go read a bunch of the interviews she’s been doing to promote the show. Like this one, from the New York Times.

How did you finally get your own show?

A couple years ago, we put together a show idea, and it didn’t go. But then NBC came to us and were like, hey, there’s this thing called Peacock. Can we do that show you pitched a while ago?

Were you disappointed when they previously passed on the show?

It was their fourth pass on me, sir, so I’m good. I’ve sold them three pilots, one of which we shot. At least with this, it was just a pitch document. Unlike a sitcom, you don’t have to spend a year writing it and rewriting. You just pitch it, like: It’s a late-night show. Do you want it? No? Cool.

I would pay a reasonable monthly fee for a podcast featuring her and John Mulaney. In lieu of that, I will happily watch her show on Peacock, for free, with commercials. I am willing to make sacrifices like this to support artists I enjoy. I am a great person.

ITEM NUMBER FIVE — Cousin Greg, whomp me over the head with a Yield sign and shove my limp body into a ravine

Nicholas Braun plays Cousin Greg on Succession, which would be enough to earn my admiration by itself. I love Cousin Greg, my sweet lanky boy, the non-blood Roy who shuffles through his privileged life with more awkwardness than you could stuff into an airplane hangar. What a treasure. Cousin Greg and NoHo Hank from Barry are probably two of my five favorite characters on television right now. I want a show about the two of them opening a diner together. I’m barely joking.

Braun isn’t just Cousin Greg, though. He’s also a funny guy who recently released a parody punk rock music video titled “Antibodies,” about the pandemic, which is beautiful. And more recently (like, Tuesday recently), he recorded this video where he thanked the internet for their somewhat concerning expressions of admiration.

This is one of those things that is borderline impossible to explain to anyone who is not very online all the time. Try doing it today. “See, Aunt Paula, sometimes, when people like another person, they’ll go on their public social media account and post something like ‘cousin greg knead me into a tight ball with your strong hands and then roll me out paper-thin and cut me into beautiful strips of fettuccine that you throw into a pot of boiling water and eat half of tonight at dinner and the other half of two days later out of a microwave-safe plastic container’ with no capitalization or punctuation. It is the highest form of admiration they know how to show.”

I’m serious. Do it. Tell me how it goes. I honestly want to know. Because I sure as heck do not plan on doing it.

ITEM NUMBER SIX — Merry, uh… Christmas?

This week marked the beginning of fall, which means it is time… for… Christmas? It is time for Christmas. Apparently. According to the Hallmark Channel, at least, because they just went ahead and released the titles and descriptions of their annual barrage of holiday-themed movies, which start airing before Halloween and most of which star actors and actresses who you kind of remember from shows you kind of watched a few years ago. Or, to put it another way, it is officially Lacey Chabert season.

You know a Hallmark Christmas movie even if you’ve never seen one. The SNL sketch up there does a nice job of parodying them and their “a high-powered executive gets stranded in a small town on the eve of a big meeting and falls for like the local mechanic who fixes both her car and her heart and teaches her the true meaning of Christmas” plots. That really is the plot of most of them, or at least something not entirely unlike that. Read through the whole list for yourself if you want. Or just look at the description for A Glenbrooke Christmas, which is maybe the single most Hallmark Christmas movie thing I’ve ever seen.

As Christmas nears, heiress Jessica Morgan (Autumn Reeser) seizes what seems like her last chance to experience a relaxed Christmas and heads off to the small town of Glenbrooke, where she meets a handsome fireman (Antonio Cupo).

Taylor Townshend from The O.C. is an heiress who is in search of a peaceful Christmas and falls for the local hot fireman. It’s perfect. I love it. I hope Hallmark makes these movies until the end of time. I hope one of them is about a person who is hooked on Hallmark movies and but the cable goes out because the cable company has been cutting costs to maximize profits and then the cable company executive crashes his or her helicopter in that person’s backyard on Christmas Eve and gets stranded and sees the harm in those harsh profit-extracting actions and also they fall in love. Starring Lacey Chabert and, oh, let’s say Adam Brody. Air it next year on October 3rd. The machine stops for no one.

READER MAIL

If you have questions about television, movies, food, local news, weather, or whatever you want, shoot them to me on Twitter or at [email protected] (put “RUNDOWN” in the subject line). I am the first writer to ever answer reader mail in a column. Do not look up this last part.

From Jason:

Please tell me you’ve seen the commercials for Kim Cattrall’s new Fox series where she plays a very wealthy Southern televangelist whose husband dies and leaves her with a bunch of secret love children. It looks so ridiculous. I’ve seen these ads about a hundred times during the first two weeks of football this season (really nailing that target audience) and every time I see them I think “I hope Brian knows about this show.” I’m sure you do. But I had to be sure.

Two notes here:

• This email came in on Sunday, before the show in question, Filthy Rich, debuted on Monday night
• Yes, Jason, I was and am very aware of it, in large part because of the strong “Judith Light doing cocaine at the rodeo on the modern-day TNT continuation of Dallas that aired a few years ago” vibes it has been launching into the universe

I watched the premiere on Monday night. The important thing to know is that the whole thing opens with Kim Cattrall torching a beautiful New Orleans mansion while wearing a white fur wrap as a cover of Steve Winwood’s “Higher Love” plays.

Lots of other things happen, too. There’s a farm-based camgirl virtual sex operation, and a plane crash that kills a millionaire and what appears to be three or four prostitutes, and all of that also happens before the opening credits of the first episode. But I feel like you probably knew all of that from seeing the screencaps of the fancy arson. Yes, I will be monitoring this program.

Judith, your thoughts?

Well said.

AND NOW, THE NEWS

To Egypt!

A total of 27 sarcophagi buried more than 2,500 years ago have been unearthed by archaeologists in an ancient Egyptian necropolis.

They were found inside a newly-discovered well at a sacred site in Saqqara, south of the capital, Cairo.

I’m so torn. On one hand, we should definitely not open these sarcophagi. Definitely not. There’s the first thing, which is that it’s probably disrespectful to the dead. On a cultural level, sure, but also, I mean, I don’t think I’d want a bunch of creepers digging me up in 2500 years and looking at my bones and stuff. Leave me alone. Come on. And then there’s the second thing, which is that they could be full of demons and spirits who will curse us and our descendants for 10,000 years, and, to be honest, I really don’t need all of that right now. There’s enough going on.

But on the other hand… I really want to know what’s in there. What if it’s treasure? Or a friendly demon or spirit who can solve all of our problems and turn Earth into a glorious utopia? Or a friendly spirit who has treasure? We won’t know until we know, you know?

Might be worth a roll of the dice.

“Initial studies indicate that these coffins are completely closed and haven’t been opened since they were buried,” Egypt’s antiquities ministry said in a statement on Saturday.

See? See?! They’re toying around with us. Now I really want to know. What if the friendly demon is named Daryl and we teach him about our world and he becomes a huge fan of NBA basketball and just like an all-around chill dude. You and Daryl sitting there watching hoops, eating chips and guacamole that he conjured up out of thin air. A win for everyone. We almost have to do it now.

The ministry said it hoped to reveal “more secrets” at a press conference in the coming days.

Say it with me…

OPEN

THOSE

SARCOPHAGI

Or don’t. Probably don’t. But think about it.

Despite reports to the contrary, Henry Cavill has set the record straight on his involvement with Zack Snyder’s director cut of Justice League, better known as “The Snyder Cut.”

In a recent interview to promote the Netflix release of Enola Holmes, Cavill was adamant that he will not be shooting any additional scenes for the new cut of the film. The actor is also tied up in Europe where he’s resumed filming for the second season of The Witcher, which saw it’s production delayed like so many others because of the pandemic. Via Collider:

“Not shooting anything additional. No. It’s all stuff that has been already done. Obviously I don’t know how things are going to evolve and change and adapt depending on now a different length of movie and whatever may happen in post-production. Whatever lessons may be learned from what is it four years since Justice League came out? Four years’ worth of fan reaction. For me… I’m now just watching the party.”

Get ready for a Superman pun. Cavill’s response flies in the face of a recent report from The Hollywood Reporter that claimed Cavill, Ben Affleck, Gal Gadot, and Ray Fisher will return to their Justice League roles for reshoots in October. While Zack Snyder had originally said that there would not be reshoots when he first announced that HBO Max is releasing the Snyder Cut in 2021, THR says the scope of the project has now changed. During DC Fandome, Snyder confirmed that his director’s cut would now be four hour-long episodes, which has reportedly necessitated the need for reshoots.

However, with Cavill already denying his reshoot-involvement, it will be interesting to see if the reshoots are actually happening with the other actors, particularly Ben Affleck, who seems to be rekindling his relationship with Batman after not having the best experience filming Batman V Superman and Justice League back-to-back.

(Via Collider)

When Billie Eilish gives you a co-sign, it’s only a matter of time until you go from “underground favorite” to “household name.” That’s the position Florida rapper Snot finds himself in as he releases his latest single, “Revenge,” with some help from alt-rap impresario Cole Bennett. Snot’s on the verge of superstardom and with the co-signs of two of Gen-Z’s favorite tastemakers, it appears his breakthrough is coming sooner rather than later.

As usual, Bennett’s Lyrical Lemonade adds an eye-grabbing touch to the clip for “Revenge,” combining Snot’s usual aesthetic — a black hoodie drawn tightly around his face — with the visual flair to make him stand out from the crowd (literally, in this case). The video also does a great job of explaining Snot’s appeal to his fans for outsiders and grown-ups, framing him as a misfit loner amid a sea of samey — and hostile — classmates in bright yellow hoodies.

It’s the classic teenage conundrum and at just 22 years old himself, one he’s not that far removed from. It’s why he’s become a favorite of the demographic that champions the outcasts and the malcontents. He speaks to that feeling of anxiety and angst that, let’s face it, pretty much every teenager feels (although it might just be amplified in Zoomers, considering *gestures at everything*). However, if he follows in the footsteps of other Cole Bennett co-signs like Lil Tecca, Cordae, Polo G, and Juice WRLD, he won’t be an outsider for much longer.

Watch Snot’s “Revenge” video above.

Strangers helping out strangers is always a heartwarming thing. But when lots and lots of strangers come together to help one individual who needs and deserves a little hand up, we get a much-needed flood of warm, gushy best-of-humanity feelings.

Such is the case of an 89-year-old pizza delivery man, Derlin Newey, who happened to win the hearts of the Valdez family after he delivered them a pizza and struck up a conversation. Newey had no idea his friendly demeanor and obviously stellar work ethic would soon make him a TikTok star, nor did he expect an outpouring of donations from perfect strangers that relieve some of his burden.

Carlos Valdez shared the initial pizza delivery video, taken through the family’s Nest doorbell, on TikTok about a week ago. “Hello, are you looking for some pizza?” Newey says when they answer the door, then chats with them for a while.

“What is this guy doing delivering pizzas? True hustler,” Valdez wrote when he shared the video. He decided to find out.

When Valdez discovered that the elderly man worked five or six shifts a week for Papa John’s, he and his family decided to do something kind for him. They set up a Venmo account for their TikTok followers to donate to—Valdez specified small donations of $.25, $.50, or $1.00—and they would just see what kind of a “tip” they could collect for Newey.

In a week, they raised an impressive $12,069 for Newey—and he had no idea. After a couple more deliveries (set up by the Valdezes on purpose so they could get more info), Newey invited the Valdezes to come share a meal at his house—because that’s just the kind of guy he is. And when they showed up they brought a big fake check.

Newey’s reaction is priceless:

They also gave him the cash in an envelope right then and there.

“How do I ever say thank you,” said Newey, clearly moved. “I don’t know what to say.”

Newey lives alone and says he works about 30 hours a week delivering pizzas because his social security check isn’t enough to support him.

“This couldn’t have gone any better,” Valdez told KSL. “He needed this. I’m just glad we could help him. We just need to treat people with kindness and respect the way he does. He stole our hearts.”

Valdez posted a follow-up thank-you video to his 60,000 followers on TikTok today.

“We did it. We all came together as a community to help a complete stranger that we didn’t know. With everything that’s going on in the world, I’m just glad that we pulled together, came together, to show some kindness during this time.” After thanking everyone, he said he’s received a lot of message from people who want to give something to help, so Valdez said he’s going to keep the Venmo account open for people to donate, with all of the donations going directly to Newey.

Well done, Valdez family. Thank you for introducing us to the delightful Derlin Newey, and thank you for reminding us that people can be such forces for good.

As it has every summer for the past few years, Celebrity Family Feud has returned for 2020, and the new season has yielded some memorable moments so far. Weezer and Fall Out Boy recently speculated what strippers in Hell might look like, and the latest episode saw 2 Chainz and Big Boi compete against each other.

The two rappers offered some insight into their lives with their answers to the question, “Name the last place you were when you got in trouble.” Big Boi’s response was “the club,” while 2 Chainz answered, “I was in traffic.”

Elsewhere on the show, Big Boi and his family (consisting of actual family members) were tasked with answering the question, “A cannibal not only likes to nibble on his date’s ear, he also likes to nibble on her what?” That was a classic Family Feud question designed to prompt a salacious answer for Steve Harvey to drop his jaw at, and Big Boi delivered, responding, “I’m gonna say ‘nips.’” He then clarified to a blank-faced Harvey, “Chest.” Yes, the answer was on the board (as “milk wagons”).

2 Chainz and his associates from his The Real University label went on to win the whole show, including an extra $25,000 for the Tru Foundation in the Fast Money round.

Watch clips from the episode above and below.

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

The next time you want to skip a workout, think of Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

The Supreme Court Justice and women’s rights activist, who died last week at 87 years old, was a “fitness icon” who worked out twice a week with her personal trainer Bryant Johnson — she was still lifting weights during the pandemic. “Justice Ginsburg does 10 pushups and she does not do the so-called ‘girl pushups.’ She does not use her knees. And then she stretches back for a very brief pause and she does 10 more,” Georgetown Law Professor Mary Hartnett told Politico in 2017. To honor Ginsburg, the first woman to lie in state at the U.S. Capitol, Johnson performed push-ups next to her casket on Friday:

As lawmakers and other mourners took turns bowing their heads or making signs of the cross to honor Justice Ginsburg, Bryant Johnson, an Army veteran who served as her longtime trainer, honored her with a different kind of gesture: He dropped to the floor before her coffin and did three full push-ups.

Ginsburg once jokingly (?) called Johnson the “most important person” in her life.

“I looked and said, ‘Justice, you left the president to come do the workout?’ And [she] said, ‘Yes, gotta do my pushups, gotta do my planks and my workout.’ I was like, ‘Yes, nice!’” Johnson told ABC earlier this year. “She’s never, ever told me can’t.” If you want to work out like RBG, as Stephen Colbert once did, the regimen is available here.

(Via New York Times)

Bryson Tiller released the deluxe edition of his fan-favorite debut album Trapsoul today/last night and to celebrate, he’s also debuted the video for one of the album’s standout songs, “Right My Wrongs.” As is only appropriate for a song from an album released in 2015, Tiller turns back the clock, dusting off his dad hat to recreate the experience of leaving for his first tour — and leaving his girl behind.

The narrative is interspersed with photos from that tour that make it look like he had a blast, so maybe he wasn’t too broken up about it, even if he does end the video in tears, crafting this very song after boarding the plane without his lady love. But the best part of the video may be the subtext subtitles — I have a theory that every movie, TV show, music video, and commercial needs them — showing the disconnect between the couple even as Bryson prepares to shoot to stardom.

The deluxe version of Trapsoul arrives on streaming services just as Bryson is in the middle of the rollout for his third album. So far, he’s released videos for “Inhale” and “Always Forever,” but hasn’t shared a release date just yet.

Watch Bryson Tiller’s “Right My Wrongs” video above.

Trapsoul (Deluxe) is out now via RCA Records. Stream it here.

In April of 2016, Sufjan Stevens made his Coachella debut. It came more than a decade after he recorded his lone inescapable hit song, “Chicago,” and two decades into a music career. The performance, which was set to kick off a massive festival run that would last that entire year, was ostensibly in support of his most recent album at that point, the delicate, pristine, and devastating Carrie & Lowell, an intimate reflection on his own childhood and complicated relationship with his family. Spare and solemn, its aesthetic couldn’t be more removed from Coachella’s maximalism, but Sufjan would hardly be the first musician to bring soft, nuanced sad-jams to the polo fields, following in a tradition that’s included everyone from Leonard Cohen to Fleet Foxes.

But then, on the Outdoor Theatre stage after dark, Stevens did something few expected. Sporting the elaborate angel wings and banjo that typifies much of his folkier work, he opened with the title track from his Christian-leaning 2004 album Seven Swans, concluding the dramatic tune by smashing said banjo into smithereens. From there, Stevens incorporated costume changes, neon lights, glow-in-the-dark aesthetics, and his glitchiest, most exuberant compositions into an unforgettable set. Only one song from Carrie & Lowell featured, but you know damn well his 25-minute Age Of Adz showstopper “Impossible Soul” occupied a solid third of the overall performance time. It wasn’t the evening that Stevens’ fans might have expected, but knowing the environment, the stakes, and his own varied history, he opted to deliver what was right for this particular moment, offering up a career-spanning set that showed he’s as comfortable performing with choreographed dancers as he is with orchestral arrangements.

This was not the first time Stevens has made it a point to underscore the breadth of his creative interests. The festival set wasn’t too far off from his colorful 2010 tour supporting Adz, and he’s long shown an aptitude for subverting expectations of his gentle, whispery work in collaborative projects like Planetarium with Bryce Dessner, Nico Muhly, and James McAlister and The BQE. On his latest proper LP and the direct follow-up to Carrie & Lowell, The Ascension, he’s once again taking a creative left turn, one that’s not unprecedented to him (Adz is an obvious point of comparison) and one that is distinctly appropriate for the hellfire of times it is being released into. The Ascension is not Sufjan Stevens playing to his strengths necessarily, but showing once again that he is a definitively playful artist that is never satisfied evolving incrementally and takes the greater moment into account

Of course, The Ascension is by no means light thematically. Stevens introduced the album in promotional materials by saying, “My objective for this album was simple: Interrogate the world around you. Question anything that doesn’t hold water. Exterminate all bullshit. Be part of the solution or get out of the way.” And it’s in this “editorial pop album” — his words — that some of the grace of Sufjan is lost. After the year that many of us have had, a rallying of the troops feels particularly exhausting, much like the endless calls to vote feel to those taking action directly to the streets. That’s not to say The Ascension will always sound as heavy-handed as it does roughly a month before the election and half-a-year into a pandemic — look no further than it’s sonic sister The Age Of Adz as a record from Stevens that resonates more than it did at the time — but at this precise stop on the calendar, the value of Stevens is less tied to his philosophy and more to the communal emotional outpouring of which he’s capable.

So while The Ascension might be a disappointment on that emotional level, Stevens delivers in many other departments. Created mostly by himself with drum machines and synthesizers and recorded on a computer, the album sounds more solitary than he ever has before — and that’s saying a lot for someone with an extensive solo acoustic discography. But where Sufjan has always felt like he is in direct conversation to the individual listener, The Ascension is a much grander statement, set to a canvas of Radiohead-esque heady experiments and Depeche Mode pop-industrial soundscapes. Even at its most fully-realized — the slow-building mantra-fied “Die Happy,” the massively unhinged opener “Make Me An Offer I Cannot Refuse” — Stevens always sounds like he’s speaking to the masses, creating something utilitarian at the risk of alienating those that flock to him for personal, calming communion. And this means when he offers up the one-note “Run Away With Me” or the radio-ready “Video Game,” Stevens has never felt so surface-level.

But while The Ascension certainly has its flaws, coming from one of the premier musical geniuses of our time, the album also has moments of inspiration seemingly touched by the hand of god himself. The record’s back half picks up dramatically, with the sprawling stretch of “Ativan” (complete with Silence Of The Lambs references), “Ursa Major,” “Landslide,” and “Gilgamesh” finally transport the listener fully into Sufjan’s world. “Ativan” in particular showcases Stevens’ vocal vulnerability, with his voice bending and reaching its upper limits until the tune devolves fully into noisy rubble. This returns when he belts out “landslide” on the song of the same name, with the artist seeming to realize that a house-of-cards composition is far more interesting and inviting than an impenetrable fortress.

And the album’s greatest highlights arrive near the end. The gothy lurch of “Death Star” is a less convincing version of St. Vincent’s Masseduction, but it’s all misdirection once the warmth of “Goodbye To All That” explores the reciprocal of the same territory. It’s in this moment that Stevens is most sure of himself, able to cast his familiar melodic structure in gold. Singles “Sugar” and “America” also arrive at the end, universes unto themselves that are so all-encompassing, they risk eclipsing the journey that brought the listener to them. And then there’s my personal favorite, the glorious title track, which is sole song on the album that would be most comfortable on any of his previous releases. That’s not to say it doesn’t fit into the adventurous soundscape of this album, but much of Stevens’ best career work feels unstuck in time and unobligated to its current musical climate. It’s a slow-burn and a gut-punch at once, familiar and unique, and possibly the most in tune with the world that the album descends on: “I thought I could change the world around me / I thought I could change the world for best,” he sings, before gaining strength in the realization things are far more complicated than the best of intentions can solve.

The Ascension grapples with the world in the same way that most of us are: in our room, alone, detached from our usual outlets but looking to strengthen bonds through this shared experience. But ultimately its usefulness is distinct from the intentions that it was created. Like that Coachella performance, Stevens typically balances what interests him and what makes sense for the moment, and The Ascension follows this roadmap to varying success. The album won’t likely empower you to surviving some of the darkest moments in recent history, but gives a snapshot of how one of our most beloved figures is processing. And like his last adventurous solo album, The Age Of Adz, this album leaves the impression that its majesty might grow in time, once freed from the turbulence of 2020. Personally, I can’t wait.

The Ascension is out now via Asthmatic Kitty. Get it here.

Hulu’s giving us plenty of nightmare fuel this month, so even if Halloween doesn’t happen this year, at least you’ll have plenty of terrifying shows to bingewatch. The most anticipated of these might be Monsterland, an anthology series with an impressive cast, but Britt Robertson’s horror movie, Books of Blood, also looks appropriately chilling. Here’s everything coming to (and leaving) Hulu this October.

Monsterland (Hulu series streaming 10/2)

This terrifying anthology series based on the stories from Nathan Ballingrud’s North American Lake Monsters feels like the perfect way to kick off the month, and it’s got an all-star cast ready to give us all the nightmares — think Kelly Marie Tran, Kaitlyn Dever, and Mike Colter.

Books of Blood (Hulu film streaming 10/7)

Another chilling take on a set of short stories, this time from writer Clive Barker, drops this month in film form. Britt Robertson stars as a young woman drawn to a creepy bed and breakfast, but there are also mediums and hauntings peppered throughout this thing.

Helstrom (Hulu series streaming 10/15)

Tom Austen and Sydney Lemmon play a brother-sister duo hunting bad guys in this new crime thriller. Daimon and Ana Helstrom’s job is to find the worst of humanity, and they’re pretty good at it — probably because their dad was a prolific serial killer.

Here’s the full list of titles coming to Hulu in October:

Avail. 10/1
90 Day Fiancé: Before the 90 Days: Complete Season 4
90 Day Fiancé: Complete Season 7
All-Star Halloween Spectacular: Special
Bizarre Foods With Andrew Zimmern: Complete Seasons 9 & 10
Bride Killa: Complete Season 1
Cutthroat Kitchen: Complete Season 13
Dr. Pimple Popper: Complete Season 4
Going for Sold: Complete Season 1
Guy’s Grocery Games: Complete Seasons 18 – 20
Halloween Baking Championship: Complete Seasons 1 – 4
Halloween Wars: Complete Seasons 3 – 8
Hell’s Kitchen: Complete Season 18
Homicide City: Charlotte: Complete Season 1
Homicide Hunter: Lt. Joe Kenda: Complete Season 9
Man with a Van: Complete Season 1
Moonshiners: Master Distiller: Complete Season 1
Murder Comes Home: Complete Season 1
My 600-lb Life: Complete Season 8
My Feet Are Killing Me: Complete Season 1
Property Virgins: Complete Season 18
Supermarket Stakeout: Complete Season 1
Sweet 15: Quinceañera: Complete Season 1
The Flay List: Complete Season 1
Twisted Love: Complete Season 1
31 (2016)
A Beautiful Mind (2001)
Across The Line (2015)
After Life (2010)
Anti-Trust (2001)
Blade (1998)
Blade 2 (2002)
Blade: Trinity (2004)
Blood Ties (2014)
Blue City (1986)
The Curse Of Downers Grove (2015)
Deep Blue Sea (1999)
The Do-Deca-Pentathlon (2011)
Double, Double, Toil and Trouble (1993)
Drugstore Cowboy (1989)
The Executioners (2018)
The Express (2008)
The Eye (2008)
Fallen (1998)
Girls Against Boys (2013)
Good Hair (2009)
Guess Who (2005)
Hostel (2006)
Hostel: Part II (2007)
House Of 1000 Corpses (2003)
The Hurt Locker (2009)
Ice Age: The Meltdown (2006)
Interview With the Vampire (1994)
Joe (2014)
Judy & Punch (2019)
Kicking & Screaming (2005)
Killers (2010)
Lady in a Cage (1964)
Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985)
Martyrs (2016)
Mud (2013)
Nurse 3D (2014)
The Pirates! Band Of Misfits (2012)
The Portrait of a Lady (1996)
The Quiet Ones (2014)
Raging Bull (1980)
The Sandman (2018)
Senorita Justice (2004)
Sk8 Dawg (2018)
The Skull (1965)
Snakes On A Plane (2006)
Spaceballs (1987)
Species (1995)
Superbad (2007)
Thanks for Sharing (2013)
Tooth Fairy (2008)
Triumph of the Spirit (1989)
Vampire (2011)
Wayne’s World 2 (1993)
When A Stranger Calls (2006)
William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet (1996)
Zombie Killers: Elephant’s Graveyard (2015)

Avail. 10/2
Monsterland: Complete Season 1
Connecting: Series Premiere

Avail. 10/3
Ma Ma (2015)

Avail. 10/4
Saturday Night Live: Season 46 Premiere

Avail. 10/5
Dragon Ball Super: New Episodes 1 – 131 (DUBBED)

Avail. 10/7
Books of Blood: Film Premiere
Ellen’s Game of Games: Season 4 Premiere
Next: Series Premiere

Avail. 10/8
Scream 4 (2011)

Avail. 10/9
Terminator: Dark Fate (2020)

Avail. 10/11
Infamous (2020)
Savage Youth (2018)
Scotch: A Golden Dream (2018)

Avail. 10/12
The Swing Of Things (2020)

Avail. 10/14
The Bachelorette: Season 16 Premiere

Avail. 10/15
The Purge: Complete Season
Treadstone: Complete Season 1
Bad Roomies (2015)
High Strung (2016)
It Came from the Desert (2017)
Playing with Fire (2019)
The Escort (2016)
Helstrom: Complete Season 1

Avail. 10/16
The Painted Bird (2019)

Avail. 10/17
Shark Tank: Season 12 Premiere
Momma Named Me Sheriff: Complete Season 1
Mr. Pickles: Finale Episode

Avail. 10/18
Friend Request (2016)

Avail. 10/19
America’s Funniest Home Videos: Season 31 Premiere
Card Sharks: Series Premiere
Supermarket Sweep: Series Premiere
Who Wants To Be A Millionaire: Season 2 Premiere

Avail. 10/20
The Voice: Season 19 Premiere
F*ck That’s Delicious: Complete Season 4

Avail. 10/21
Cyrano, My Love (2019)

Avail. 10/22
Black-ish: Season 7 Premiere
The Conners: Season 3 Premiere
The Goldbergs: Season 8 Premiere
Bad Hair: Film Premiere

Avail. 10/23
Superstore: Season 6 Premiere

Avail. 10/26
Homeland: Complete Season 8

Avail. 10/27
What to Expect When You’re Expecting (2012)

Avail. 10/29
American Housewife: Season 5 Premiere
Bad Therapy (2020)

Here’s what’s leaving Hulu in October:

Leaving 10/31
31 (2016)
52 Pick-Up (1986)
A Good Woman (2006)
After Life (2010)
An American Haunting (2006)
An Eye for a Eye (1966)
Any Given Sunday (1999)
Australia (2008)
The Bellboy (1960)
Blade: Trinity (2004)
The Bounty (1984)
The Brothers McMullen (1995)
Bug (1975)
Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter (1974)
Cheech & Chong’s Still Smokin’ (1983)
Cinderfella (1960)
The Curse Of Downers Grove (2015)
Downhill Racer (1969)
The Executioners (2018)
Footloose (1984)
Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008)
Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell (1974)
Girls Against Boys (2013)
Girls! Girls! Girls! (1962)
Gloria (2014)
Hellraiser (1987)
Hostel (2006)
Hostel: Part II (2007)
Hot Rod (2007)
The Impossible (2012)
Legend Of The Guardians: The Owls Of Ga’Hoole (2010)
Life of Pi (2012)
The Man Who Could Cheat Death (1959)
Margin Call (2011)
Martyrs (2016)
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003)
The Patsy (1964)
The Pawnbroker (1964)
Phase IV (1974)
Psycho Granny (2019)
The Quiet Ones (2014)
Red (2010)
The Sandman (2018)
Sleeping with the Enemy (1991)
Sliver (1993)
Spaceballs (1987)
Stuck On You (2003)
The Tenant (1976)
The Terminator (1984)
Trapped Model (2019)
Trapped: The Alex Cooper Story (2019)
Twilight (2008)
The Twilight Saga: New Moon (2009)
The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (2010)
Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1 (2011)
Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2 (2012)
Ultraviolet (2006)
Vampire (2011)
Victoria Gotti: My Father’s Daughter (2019)
Walking Tall (1973)
When A Stranger Calls (2006)
Zombie Killers: Elephant’s Graveyard (2015)

On the new episode of Indiecast, Steven Hyden and Ian Cohen dissect the new albums by two very successful indie acts who originated in the aughts: Sufjan Stevens’ The Ascension and Fleet Foxes’ Shore. While the rollout of The Ascension took on a more traditional approach, the arrival of Shore came as a surprise, with the release timed perfectly to coincide with the autumnal equinox on September 22nd at 9:31am EST.

While Hyden was initially resistant to Sufjan Stevens’ early work and Cohen felt similarly about Fleet Foxes’ early work, both have come around to the recent releases from each respective artist. The Ascension is some of Stevens’ darkest and angriest music to date, and Shore represents Fleet Foxes at their most attainable and melodic.

In this week’s recommendation corner, we have the new self-titled album from Teenage Halloween and the long-awaited new Deftones album Ohms. Ahead of the new Deftones album, Hyden sat down with the band’s frontman Chino Moreno to go through their entire discography and find out how their latest compares to what came before.

New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 9 below and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts here. Stay up to date and follow us on Instagram and Twitter.