Month: January 2021

This week will mark the official three-year anniversary of Justin Timberlake’s last album, Man Of The Woods. While three years might be a bit of a wait for fans to get a new album from their favorite artist, it’s nothing out of the ordinary for Timberlake. Only one time in his career has the singer taken less than four years to return with a new project. That could change this year if he decides to share a new full-length effort with his supporters, however, one he teased on a recent appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.

When asked if it was safe to say that there’s “going to be a new Justin Timberlake album in the works?” the singer confirmed the statement as true.

“Yeah, we can say that,” he replied. “There is a possibility. Let’s go with yes. I’ve been in and out of the studio working on stuff. I played you a few tunes.”

He also said that he hopes to work with Kendrick Lamar and Travis Scott in the near future. With the two rappers working on albums of their own, the potential collaboration has an ample amount of landing spots to arrive on.

Last month, JT teamed up with Grammy-nominated singer Ant Clemons for their “Better Days” and a month after its release, the duo performed the song as a part of Joe Biden’s inauguration ceremony.

You can watch Timberlake share the album news in the video above.

Donald Trump is no longer president, but he’s still got business in Washington in February. Namely, a trial in the Senate for his second impeachment. And according to reports, that trial may have gotten much more complicated just days before it’s set to begin.

According to ABC News, the top five lawyers that were set to represent Trump at the trial in early February have abruptly quit. The impeachment, which is over a single article where Trump was accused of “incitement of insurrection,” was mounting a defense of Trump despite

The team, led by South Carolina lawyer Butch Bowers, resigned in part because of disagreements over how to mount Trump’s defense, the sources said. The lawyers had planned to argue the constitutionality of holding a trial given Trump is now a former president.

The disagreements over strategy varied, sources told ABC News, but Trump wanted his team to argue there was election fraud, while the lawyers and some top advisers to the former president wanted the focus to remain on the constitutionality of a trial with the president no longer in office.

The trial was already delayed, in part due to Trump struggling to assemble a team to defend him. Rudy Giuliani, who once said he would head the legal team, later said he’d likely be a witness because he spoke at the same rally where Trump told his supporters to march to the US Capitol to fight for him, a fight that left five people dead. ABC also reported that more additions to the team are likely, and it is “nowhere near finalized” exactly who will defend Trump when the trial starts.

The Warriors and Pistons met on Saturday night in a wholly unremarkable NBA regular season contest that saw Detroit fall back to earth after their win over the Lakers, losing to Golden State in a 118-91 final score that was never particularly competitive. As such, few anticipated much in the way of postgame tempers running high, but Rodney McGruder, who played just six minutes on the evening, was heated afterwords and had some words for Juan Toscano about something said to Wayne Ellington earlier in the game.

Klay Thompson was serving as the Warriors’ NBC Sports sideline reporter for the game and he did not mince words about McGruder, saying he “might be out the league soon” as the Warriors announce crew cackled.

Thompson wasn’t the only one with some harsh words for McGruder, as Draymond Green was asked about it in his postgame interview and likewise torched the Pistons reserve guard, saying there’s “too many tough guys” in the league who won’t do anything.

As long as you aren’t Rodney McGruder, a member of his family, or one of his close friends or teammates, the fact that he tried to buck up at the Warriors after a 27 point loss and then proceeded to get lit up by two of the Warriors star players in postgame is objectively hilarious. I have no idea why Klay and Draymond have such strong takes on McGruder and felt the need to light that man up, but they did not miss the opportunity to torch that young man.

50 Cent spends much of his time nowadays in the producer chair as he helps to craft some of today’s most popular TV shows. One of them includes Power which recently concluded the inaugural season of its spin-off series, Power Book II: Ghost. With other shows in progress like Power Book III: Raising Kanan and For Life, 50 Cent is about to join forces with Kid Cudi for a new series.

Cudi shared the news with fans in a post on Twitter. “Had a call w 50 Cent last week about cookin up a show together,” he said. “Big things happening!! Ill keep u posted.” He added, “50 is one of my favorite emcees and hes also a really great guy w a good heart.”

The details on what 50 and Cudi are working on together have yet to be revealed, but it’s just the latest in a string of news that Mr. Rager has announced over the past month.

It all began at the end of December when Cudi announced fans would receive a Man On The Moon III deluxe album in 2021.

“Yeap, its called The Cudder Cut, and will feature a nice amount of new jams, some were cut for length, and a few surprises,” he said in response to a fan who inquired about the reissue. Elsewhere, the rapper also announced a collaboration with Bape for some limited edition t-shirts and his own clothing line that would launch by summer 2021.

For the uninitiated, it takes Edgar Wright, with his new film The Sparks Brothers, almost two and a half hours to explain Sparks. So the idea I can even attempt to do that here in a quick introductory paragraph is absurd. So this will be as short as possible: Sparks is Russell and Ron Mael, two brothers from California who have been playing together – with a whole host of different band members – since 1967. They became popular in England and have a very dedicated following (which includes Wright) and have influenced some of the most prominent bands that have ever existed. (To the point even Paul McCartney paid homage to Sparks in his video for “Coming Up.”)

So, from here, it’s best Wright himself (who is joined by Sparks themselves) kind of take over and explain Sparks and why he wanted to make a film about them, which gets its premiere at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival. All I’ll add is that my experience with Sparks wasn’t much more than seeing them on SNL when I was seven years old and being pretty riveted. (I ask both Russell and Ron about that experience, a night that involved both Andy Kaufman and Eddie Murphy.) And, here, Wright has made a wonderful film about Sparks and, even being pretty all-encompassing at almost two and a half hours, I found myself wanting more. Of course, Russell and Ron, who seem to kind of like the fact that their whole identity is mysterious, needed some convincing. (Also, at the end, we learn it’s quite possible they also want a Peloton.)

Edgar, did this take convincing to get them to do this?

Edgar Wright: I’ve known Sparks since I was five years old, after having seen them on Top of the Pops. And for a long time, they were a band that I was kind of intrigued by and sort of beguiled by, but sort of confused that they were still going. And every time they’ve come back into my life, they’re in a different genre and they would also seem to not get any older. So I would find myself kind of awed and sort of perplexed by this band. And this is growing up in a pre-internet age where you don’t necessarily have a lot of information about who these people are.

I remember that there were two things that happened that kind of started this off. When you’re a Sparks fan you sort of become an evangelist, where you’re like trying to turn everybody else on to Sparks. And part of the reason for making the documentary is I thought it would be easier to just show people this documentary than kind of pull people at dinner, “Oh my God, you will love Sparks.”

This will go further than a tweet.

Edgar Wright: Yes, exactly. And then I said, oh, I wonder if Sparks is on social media. So I looked at Sparks’s account and it said, “Sparks follows you.” And I was like, “Oh my God.” So I immediately followed them, and messaged, and got a response from Russell immediately. And I said, “Most bands don’t like manage their own accounts.” And he goes, “Oh, we do.” And within 24 hours, I was having breakfast with Ron and Russell at Russell’s house.

And then over the next couple of years I saw them twice live in Los Angeles. And both times I went with Phil Lord, who’s also a Sparks fan. And I said to Phil, you know, the only thing that’s stopping these guys from being as big as they should be is they need a documentary. I think it was also that thing of showing people YouTube clips of Spark. So I started saying how it would be great if all these clips are in one place. And Phil said, “You should make that movie.” And I was like, “I will.” I called them the next day and I asked if anybody ever approached them about doing a documentary. And they said they have, but have always been unsure about doing it. “But if you wanted to do it, that sounds amazing.” And as soon as I’d said it aloud that I wanted to do it, it was a vocal contract that I couldn’t go back on. So here we are, like three years later, with the finished thing.

Sparks were on SNL with Danny DeVito hosting. And Ron gave a soliloquy about Mickey Mouse. And I was seven years old and here’s a band talking about Mickey Mouse and then sang a song about Mickey Mouse, which was in my wheelhouse at seven. But as you said, without the internet that’s all I knew.

Ron Mael: [Laughs] Nice. We’re happy that Edgar was able to at least have that quick clip with Sparks with Danny DeVito in the documentary.

I went back and watched it. Danny DeVito was doing a face as Ron spoke. Then during the second song, “I predict,” Eddie Murphy goes under Ron’s keyboard with a camera and starts filming and we see Ron as “The Eddie Murphy Experience” flashes on the screen.

Ron Mael: Oh yeah, I remember it vividly. And the thing that really was surprising to me was I had done that kind of monologue, introducing to the song that we had called “Mickey Mouse.” I had done that on tour, you know, probably 30 times. But for Saturday Night Live, they had to write me out cue cards that really screwed me up. Because, you know, just not being able to just to do it off the top of my head. And Danny, you know, his reactions were priceless.

Andy Kaufman was there that night too. Actually, the whole cast of Taxi was there.

Ron Mael: It was because they had been dropped from, was it ABC?

ABC yes.

Ron Mael: And so they were all there. And you know, we were also incredibly huge fans of Andy Kaufman. And to actually meet him, it actually turned out that Andy Kaufman was Andy Kaufman. I mean, it was not in the slightest bit a let down or an opening into an enigma.

Please tell me what it was like when Sparks met Andy Kaufman. What did you guys discuss?

Russell Mael: He had to go back to his hotel didn’t he?

Ron Mael: Yeah, yeah.

Russell Mael: To meditate before the taping. So he was, all the time, completely serious. There’s never, just in our brief exchange, there was never any frivolity or anything. It was all very in character of Andy Kaufman. You know, and it was intimidating I think.

Was he familiar with Sparks? He seems like someone who would appreciate what you guys do.

Ron Mael: Well, he wasn’t the kind of guy that you would hang out and he would say, “Hey, I love you guys.” He was just Andy Kaufman.

Edgar Wright: It is interesting. To get back to your initial question, “Was there any convincing that needed to be done?” I think one of the things is that Sparks is such an enigma, how do you tell the story without running that enigma? The thing for me – and this kind of speaks maybe to Andy Kaufman a little bit – is that the joy of it, for me, was finding out that it isn’t really an act. And I think, in this age where sometimes you don’t want to meet your heroes, it was a profound joy to me to find out that Ron and Russell are exactly who they sort of purport to be. And it was fun to sort of pull back the curtain and still find them standing behind the curtain.

For Ron and Russell, when you watch this finished film, what surprised you? Were you familiar with all these stories people were telling about you? Had you heard them before?

Ron Mael: Well, the surprise kind of came from the breadth of the people that were talking about the music and their appreciation of the band. We had no knowledge of that and just, you know, Edgar knows more people than we do. So just to see the kind of, not just musicians, but writers and actors, and also speaking about their love of different periods of what we’ve done is amazing. And also the assembling of people that weren’t necessarily famous. Like having a girl from 1975 who stormed the stage during the show. You know, it was amazing that somehow, first being able to find her, but that concert was something that stuck with them for all those years. You know, it was kind of mind-boggling to us.

A holy cow moment was when Stephen Morris of New Order said they were listening to Sparks when he was with Joy Division and recorded “Love Will Tear Us Apart,” obviously one of the greatest songs ever recorded. Had you heard that before?

Ron Mael: Us and Frank Sinatra!

Edgar Wright: What’s amazing to me is, in doing an oral history about the band, what was great about it is I could talk to Ron and Russell, and talk to them about what culture they absorbed: music and film and TV, how then that became Sparks. And then the footprint that spreads out from that into other creative realms, it’s kind of extraordinary. And even if you think that one episode of Top of the Pops that we talk about – you think about the people who are at home watching that are all people in bands that go on to be enormously successful. So watching that show are members of Sex Pistols, Joy Division, Duran Duran, Siouxsie and the Banshees. Just like everybody is watching that show. I had heard that story about “Love Will Tear Us Apart” before and I just wanted to get him say it on record. It’s like things where you’ve heard things second hand. It’s like, yes, he said it! It’s like, I got him to say on camera!

Ah, so that was a big moment for you. Getting it on record?

Edgar Wright: Well, I think it’s like where you assume these things? And maybe you hear them sort of second hand? And then there are some bands, as we say, in the documentaries who won’t admit to it. Which I think is kind of pretty disingenuous. It’s like, at least say that you saw it. The stage invader we found, we went out on Twitter and said, “If you have any footage or photos or any stories we’d love to hear from you.” And that lady, Julia Marcus, who was the stage invader, got in touch. And she wrote this lovely email about her side of the story. I said, “Get her to say that on camera.”

I keep imagining the reaction to this movie and a concert if we were all at a normal Sundance. After the pandemic ends, is there going to be a big to-do with this movie? I hope there’s going to be a to-do.

Edgar Wright: I hope so. There’s no reason why not. Listen, obviously, we’d love to be doing Sundance in a normal way. But at the same time we’ve been kind of like making this film for two and a half years. And there’s a certain point where we just want the world to see it. And so, yes, having never had a film in Sundance before – I’ve only been once before, when I was on the jury, like in 2015 – but that said, yes it would be great to be there and play afterwards and have a party. But that’s not to say that, A, we can’t do that in the future and, B, we’re just excited for people to see it. It’s one of those things that, in a way, me being an evangelist for Sparks and wanting to tell people how great they are, now this is the movie that’s going to do it for me.

Speaking of that, I’m glad this movie is all-encompassing. At almost two and half hours, at least as viewer, I think this covers a lot.

Russell Mael: We are, too. We are really happy that Edgar treated each era, and each album even, with the same detail as any other period. Because that was really important to us. Because Sparks means something different to different people, in different parts of the world, in different time periods. And so we were really happy that, like you said, that it is 2 hours and 20 minutes and it’s hard to edit down the story in a meaningful way to make it, you know, less thorough. And so we were just really happy that Edgar treated every era and every album with the same sort of intensity and detail.

Edgar Wright: I did experiment with different lengths of the cut. And to be honest, whenever I saw a shorter one, it was, as you might imagine, it was just less detailed. Thinner, less comprehensive. And usually when you see other music documentaries, they kind of sometimes skip over the failures. And for me with Sparks, the downs are as interesting as the ups. Sometimes the downs are more heroic. I mean, one of my favorite stories in the documentary is when they’re asked to make some music that you can dance to, and they literally do as a kind of “Fuck you” to the label. That’s amazing to me. But I kind of thought, ultimately, I love music documentaries. It’s like 2 hours 20 minutes long, and listen, if kids can sit through five episodes of Tiger King in a row, they can easily enjoy this.

We all have plenty of time these days.

Edgar Wright: [Laughs] And now we’d all be curious as to what your bedroom looks like.

[When this interview started, I thought it was audio-only and wasn’t set up for video. Wright guessed, correctly, I was doing this interview from my bedroom, which led to Wright, and Ron and Russell, to become curious about my surroundings that I wasn’t showing, even though the answer was, “I hadn’t tidied up.”]

It’s just the average New York City apartment bedroom. Except there’s an exercise bike in here now that I had to get because there’s a pandemic.

Russell Mael: Did you go Peloton?

Pelotons are pretty expensive, I was really surprised. I got this thing off Amazon for like $135.

Russell Mael: Really? Wow, lucky you.

I’m guessing it works just as well as the Peloton.

Russell Mael: I’m sure it does. I’m sure it does.

Less bells and whistles.

Russell Mael: Well, does it matter?

Yeah, nothing against the Peloton company, I’m sure they do amazing work, but I went with this one instead.

Edgar Wright: If you guys keep mentioning it in this interview we’ll all get a free one.

Russell Mael: That’s right! “All three of them just love Peloton! There’s nothing they live for but Peloton!”

Right, “This interview was brought to you by the good folks at Peloton.” Let’s cross our fingers and see what happens now once this publishes, maybe we’ll all get a gift in the mail.

Russell Mael: Do your best!

‘The Sparks Brothers’ premiered via the Sundance Film Festival. You can contact Mike Ryan directly on Twitter.

John Krasinski hosted the first new SNL of 2021, and while there was a lot to catch up on for the sketch comedy show its host was still living in the past. Krasinski waxed nostalgic about hosting his favorite show, but the monologue was interrupted by questions about his most famous role: being Jim from The Office.

Krasinski tried to explain some advice his wife, Emily Blunt, gave about hosting but was interrupted again because he looks “different.” He tried to explain that he’s been working out to play Jack Ryan for his Amazon series, but was told that the look is all wrong.

“Jim is soft,” Ego Nwodim said, playing a member of the audience asking questions. “Jim sits all day. When you touch Jim your hand goes in like memory foam.”

He’s asked to “kiss Pam” a few times, and that’s when Pete Davidson comes out to help explain what’s going on.

“I think what’s happening is that everyone’s been stuck inside for a year watching The Office nonstop,” he said, noting that Krasinski wasn’t going to escape everyone thinking he’s Office Jim anytime soon. Still, that doesn’t mean they should not try smooching to see if it helps. So they do, but not before Krasinski brings back the fourth wall-breaking stare directly into the camera just like old times.

You can watch the video, and the big smooch, above.

Early on in its ten-season run, The Walking Dead came under fire not only for a lack of diversity but for disproportionately killing off people of color. However and in the intervening years, The Walking Dead learned from its mistakes, and it has become groundbreaking in its diversity, particularly for what has been the most popular cable series of the last decade. The series now has a strong record of diversity both in front of and behind the camera.

The same can also be said of its LGBTQ+ representation, and what has been doubly remarkable about The Walking Dead is how it has never made a big deal out of its LGBTQ+ characters, from Aaron to Tara to Denise to Jesus to Magna to Yumiko on The Walking Dead to, more recently, Will and Felix in The Walking Dead: The World Beyond. Their relationships have never been characterized as “gay” or “lesbian” relationships. They are just relationships.

Recently on The Talking Dead podcast, Jelani Alladin (who plays Will on The World Beyond) spoke to that very issue. Speaking about the relationship with Felix, Alladin said, “It’s two men that happen to be in love. Period. There was no kind of need to explain anything further. I love that The Walking Dead is putting that forward. That the LGBTQ relationships are nothing different than any other kind of relationship.”

“They have the same struggles, they have the same complexities, they get mad at each other, they love each other just as hard,” Alladin declared.

Despite its long history with LGBTQ+ characters in the universe, those comments nevertheless came under fire from a few on social media. A viewer, for instance, criticized the series for how it “introduced them in the series. It’s like you forcing them in your series just to bring lbgt supporters.”

That particular comment brought a response from the official The Walking Dead Twitter account, which rightfully took umbrage with the criticism.

Another fan, meanwhile, offered the perfect response, writing, “Straight characters don’t need any type of special introduction to be accepted. Why do queer characters need to be introduced so carefully to be realistic???”

Exactly.

The Walking Dead will return on February 28th. AMC also announced this week that Fear the Walking Dead would return with the back half of Season 6 on April 11th. The World Beyond will return later this year.

(Via Out & The Talking Dead podcast)

Fresh off a holiday break that, well, missed a whole lot of things, Saturday Night Live returned for the first time in 2021 to check on what still works in the United States of America.

Rather than set the stage for the show’s return by tackling a specific political moment, Kate McKinnon addressed a wide variety of topics by hosting a pretend talk show where she interviewed one guest at a time to help the show catch up on things. First up was Georgia representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, played by Cecily Strong, who essentially covered her very real conspiracy beliefs that the Parkland Shooting was a hoax, an anti-semitic belief that wildfires were caused by a Jewish space laser and that 9/11 didn’t happen.

“So government doesn’t work,” McKinnon said. “And honestly I regret not taking that gun.”

The segment also introduced “Derrick Boner” as the majority shareholder of GameStop, touching on the stock market for the first of many times in the episode. OJ Simpson made an appearance as well, as did John Krasinski as Tom Brady, who apparently still works. In fact, Brady was pitched as “the only goddamn thing this country can still rely on.” Except, of course, that he’s a Trump supporter.

You can watch the full video above to see what’s broken in America. There’s a long list of things they didn’t get to, somehow, but with four more new SNLs on the way they just might keep this segment running each week to fully catch up.

Since Twitter banned his account for spreading misinformation, Mike Lindell has been forced to spout his nonsense on Fox News and The Joe Piscopo Show, a radio program hosted by the former-SNL cast member. But where does Lindell gets his cuckoo theories? SNL (the actual show, not the Piscopo show) has a guess for the source.

The MyPillow guy, played with “hard-earned credibility” by Beck Bennett, appeared during the first Weekend Update of 2021 to push back on accusations that he had anything to do with the failed coup at the Capitol. “Well, hold on there, Buck-o, I didn’t inspire no insurrection, nobody,” he told Colin Jost. “I’m just a normal American ex-crack addict turned pillow CEO and adviser to a former president.” Lindell then raved about his pillow, not only because it’s more comfortable than sleeping on dirt or cement, it also has “fantastic political ideas.” He doesn’t talk to his pillow, though, he listens.

“What’s that, MyPillow? Uh huh. Really? Wow!” he said with the pillow by his ear. “MyPillow said Dominion overran the voting machine algorithms, so that China could swing it for Biden, with Hugo Chavez, Kim Jong Un, and Chrissy Teigen!” When Jost told Lindell he was all over the place, the pillow whisperer replied, “No, you’re on crack again!”

You can watch the clip above.

Before he went on Saturday Night Live to be the guest musical performer, Machine Gun Kelly, real name Colson Baker, shared on Twitter how much the experience mant to him. “I remember when I was a kid watching @nbcsnl every weekend with my aunt and my dad,” he wrote on Twitter. “Since they aren’t here to see this moment, I’m going to perform the song I wrote for them on the show. Hopefully I’ll feel them there.” As he kicked the night off with the song “My Ex’s Best Friend” off last year’s Tickets To My Downfall — a track that pretty clearly isn’t about them — fans were expecting him to perform “Lonely” as his second song.

“Lonely” is also off his latest record, which marked a pivot toward a pop-punk sound and away from his previous rap-inflected sound, and addresses Kelly’s feelings about losing his father too soon. It’s a fitting song to close out his time on SNL, not just because of what he shared about watching the show being a family affair, but because these emotions of loss, grief, and loneliness are pervasive right now during the coronavirus pandemic that has been plaguing the world since last year. Watch his performance above.