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Let’s be honest, it’s basically your throne.

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Will swallowing Mentos and Diet Coke at the same time kill you? Let’s find out.

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“A lot of people think that OCD is just about cleanliness — that’s actually so far from the truth.”

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The world is facing unprecedented tragedy thanks to the coronavirus pandemic, with over 60,000 Americans dead and millions suddenly out of work, unsure about their futures. Meanwhile, Elon Musk is apparently still planning on going to space. But that’s not all: According to Deadline, Tesla’s CEO and chairman, who Forbes calculates is currently worth $38.7 billion, is teaming up with Tom Cruise to make a cinema first: a narrative movie filmed in outer space.

There are no details about the movie, beyond it being an action adventure and that it won’t be connected to any Cruise franchise. That means you won’t see Mission: Impossible daredevil Ethan Hunt in space, unless this changes. Nor is any studio currently involved. Deadline claims it’s all in the early stages, so it may not happen until life has been restored to something resembling order — perhaps after the eternally youthful Cruise has crossed the 60-year-old mark, when he may still be willing to put his life at risk to entertain us.

Musk has been working on revolutionizing space transportation with his company SpaceX, which alone is worth $20 billion, and it’s likely that only the rich and powerful will be able to afford cruising between the stars like some jet around the nation or planet. Cruise is definitely someone who could afford a SpaceX flight, but this, of course, would be one better. If so, it would — and this is true — be the first movie Cruise has made not only filmed but also set in outer space.

(Via Deadline)

States across the country are reopening and implementing sweeping changes to their stay-at-home orders this week, despite the fact that the coronavirus hasn’t, you know, gone anywhere. This fact isn’t lost on the states, who are essentially operating in the dark and responding to a problem that no one can really offer definitive answers or guidance on. Governors are balancing communications with hospitals and doctors against the president’s aggressive position and armed protests. It’s no small puzzle.

Clearly, we don’t know for certain what post-lockdown life will look like yet, but our most populous state has given some early indications. California — the first state in the country to implement a statewide lockdown — currently has the lowest number cases and deaths per 100 thousand people when compared to the top eight states by total confirmed COVID-19 cases. That success, in a state with a population of nearly 40 million, is due to a wide number of factors, with the state’s leadership and rapid response being central elements.

On May 4th, California Governor Gavin Newsom unveiled phase two of California’s plan to reopen in a press conference and indicated that by as soon as Friday, people could expect certain businesses to open for the first time since early March. This plan will allow clothing stores, florists, bookstores, and sporting good stores to open their doors this Friday. Offices will remain closed and teleworking will continue, restaurants will still be barred from in-person dining, and shopping malls will remain closed.

Governor Newsom has long said that California’s reopening plan would be determined by science and data and not public pressure, but it appears that he has caved slightly to a certain subset of Southern Californians who were growing increasingly frustrated with the governor after he ordered all Orange County beaches to close after large crowds flocked to the beaches during a particularly hot weekend in SoCal.

Beginning on May 5th, beaches in the Orange County cities of Laguna Beach and San Clemente have been granted permission to reopen on a very limited basis. According to CNN, beaches in the two cities will be open between the hours of 6 am to 10 am (on weekdays only for Laguna). People who want to visit the beach must participate in what is being called “active recreation” — meaning they’ll be able to visit the beach so long as they’re running, swimming, or surfing. Picnicking and beach lounging will remain prohibited, so if you want to work on your tan you’re going to have to do that at home or on the move.

“In the spirit of collaboration and the spirit of modifications I want to really thank the leadership down in Orange County,” said Newsom in a press conference announcing the changes. “They put together an outstanding plan to begin to reopen those beaches and we not only applauded that, we enthusiastically embraced it, and as a consequence, with those modifications… those beaches will be reopened.”

The changes come just three short days after the county attempted — unsuccessfully — to block the Governor’s order to close these same beaches. Governor Newsom also indicated that similar announcements would be made in the coming days regarding other public gathering spaces, while stressing that individual communities will need to remain proactive in what they feel is too much too soon, given the massive size of the state. If things go as smoothly as the state is hoping, we could be looking at a useful model for other states to adopt.

“We are not telling locals that feel it’s too soon, too fast to modify,” Newsom said. “We believe those local communities that have separate timelines should be afforded the capacity to advance those timelines.”

Given that the temperature across Southern California for the next seven days looks likely to hover around 90-degrees, we imagine people aren’t going to be waiting too long to hit those freshly opened beaches. If that means you, just remember to put your pent up quarantine energy to good use and keep moving.

Tonight, in the With Spandex WWE Raw open discussion thread:

The Viking Raiders said they want the smoke. They’ll get it this Monday on Raw when they face Raw Tag Team Champions The Street Profits.

Erik & Ivar have been quick to point out that Montez Ford & Angelo Dawkins have yet to defeat them, which set off the champions, leading them to accept The Viking Raiders’ challenge.

Who will emerge victorious in this battle between two of the red brand’s hottest teams? Find out this Monday on Raw at 8/7 C on USA Network! (via WWE.com)

Also on this week’s show there’s a “Last Chance Gauntlet Match” to name Apollo Crews’ replacement for the men’s Money in the Bank match at … I can’t remember the name of the pay-per-view, as well as Drew McIntyre squashing Buddy Murphy to send a message to Seth Rollins. And hopefully the Viking Raiders drive home after the show chanting in their car.

As always, +1 your favorite comments from tonight’s open thread and give them a thumbs up and we’ll include 10 of the best in tomorrow’s Best and Worst of Raw column. Make sure to flip your comments to “newest” in the drop down menu under “discussion,” and enjoy the show!

Star Wars Day, aka May 4th, is a day to remember and honor its namesake franchise, even if, on this SWD, in 2020, it also serves as a stark reminder that the franchise isn’t in the best shape, with the slightly underperforming — and quite controversial — Rise of Skywalker only a few months in the past. Still, the day did bring some good news. And we learned something about one piece of Star Wars content that’s done very well: Remember Baby Yoda, the breat-out puppet star of The Mandalorian? The one whose toy supply was threatened by this rampaging pandemic? Well, he was almost, if anything, even cuter.

This comes from Vanity Fair, who dug up some new dirt on the genesis of the one known as The Child, though which has become colloquially known (and loved) as “Baby Yoda.” The idea for a Yoda-like character came from show creator Jon Favreau, who thought all he needed for a popular program was “a guy in a mask” and “a puppet.” But he told VF he didn’t want it to be too cute.

“I was worried about what we called ‘Bleep Syndrome,’” Favreau said — a term he coined that was inspired by cute animated sidekicks, as seen on shows like Josie and the Pussycats in Outer Space, and which he repeatedly used during the design phase. He didn’t want it to be a mere “comic relief,” instead being more in the spirit of Star Wars creator George Lucas, who, Favreau said, had a knack for making creatures “just cute enough.”

But nailing that balance wasn’t easy. “All the drawings originally were very cute,” Favreau said. “Even with the merchandising, they were always trying to soften the rough edges on him. We really tried to look at how much we could ugly up all the different individual features.” Favreau and co-writer Dave Filoni insisted it have “weird little hairs growing out of him,” and they rejected designs that made him look remotely human baby-like. His teeth, for instance, were sharp and jagged, while the sound design was to make him animal-like, using creature noises rather than human toddler coos.

As per VF:

The frog-swallowing in season one may only be the beginning of the “gross things” the show will let the Child do in order to underline the idea that in the end, he’s still an animal. “It’s like a stray dog or having a little baby alligator or something,” Favreau said. Then again, a baby alligator probably never sold this many toys.

The piece also details how they were reluctant to bring anything Yoda-like to the project, with those working on the franchise nowadays hoping to honor Lucas, who is no longer in control of his pet series but who they still tend to seek out for advice:

They were hardly likely to embark on something that Lucas might disapprove of: “[We’re] always keeping an open door to George because this is a character that’s very beloved to him,” Filoni said. “He comes by the set whenever he wants to know what’s going on. We fill him in and we want to hear his perspective.” Years of collaboration allow him to anticipate how Lucas will react to any twists in the Mandalorian’s journey: “We understand how to collaborate with him in a way where it never gets too far afield from something he would be comfortable with.”

So there you have it. Not only might you have almost never have gotten a Baby Yoda, but the one you did get could have been insufferably adorable. Instead, you may agree, they got it just right.

(Via Vanity Fair)

After flashing star potential on debut album True 2 Myself last year and building on his buzz with a steady stream of solid singles including Pop Smoke homage “Forever Pop,” the melodic love letter “Sex Sounds,” and the harder-hitting “Ice Cold,” Tjay has shared the release date of his new full-length effort: A mixtape titled State Of Emergency. Playing off current events, the title was revealed in teaser trailer on Instagram featuring Tjay wearing a mask intercut with file footage taken from news broadcasts.

Tjay previously teased the mixtape in another video captioning the post with a declaration that he is the new “King Of New York.” The caption also seemingly popped off at fellow New York standard bearers A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie and Tekashi 69, both of whom had been tabbed as the successors to the city’s weighty hip-hop legacy, but ran into some speed bumps on the road to greatness that either slowed them up (A Boogie) or took them out of the picture (Tekashi).

Tjay apologized for taking the shots and “losing compsore” on his Instagram Stories, but not before he’d made himself a trending topic by posing several videos with fellow rapper Rubi Rose claiming that had flown her to New York for a romantic encounter and then refused to pay her way back.

State Of Emergency is due May 8 on Columbia Records.