Month: February 2021

Though Post Malone already shared his contribution to the celebration of Pokémon’s 25th anniversary, a cover of Hootie And The Blowfish’s “Only Wanna Be With You,” it turns out that several other major artists are contributing new music to an album that will mark the occasion. According to reporting by Rolling Stone, the project will have fourteen tracks in total and is called Pokémon 25: The Album. Along with Posty, other confirmed contributors are Katy Perry and J. Balvin, who are both creating original songs for the album.

Toward the end of today’s virtual Pokémon Day concert, Perry and Balvin’s name flashed on screen, a nod to their inclusion in the celebration and the musical tribute to the influential video game. Balvin told Rolling Stone that his contribution will appeal both to Pokémon fans and the general public. “We’re gonna come up with a crazy song. It’s going to catch everybody’s ear,” he said. “It’s easy to make a Pokémon song if you just want that fan base, but we’re not close-minded. We want everybody to vibe with Pokémon.”

The album will be released by Capitol Records sometime this year, and includes additional contributions from eleven other artists. Keep an eye out for more info and details on the album coming soon.

Weight loss and body image are huge topics in celebrity culture, often for very troubling reasons like body shaming. But Jonah Hill was celebrated on social media for a response he had to an online story about photos of him shirtless. Hill was recently featured in a Daily Mail story this week that included photos of him shirtless after a surfing session.

Hill has had a number of stories circulate about his weight loss and gain over the years, whether for specific acting roles or otherwise. And though this particular story may not specifically shame him, the fact that it’s even a story at all seemed to bother Hill. Which is why he addressed it on Instagram on Friday, sharing the headline and an image from the story along with a lengthy caption about the “public mockery” he’s gotten about his body over the years and to celebrate how it “can’t phase me anymore.”

“I don’t think I ever took my shirt off in a pool until I was in my mid 30s even in front of family and friends. Probably would have happened sooner if my childhood insecurities weren’t exacerbated by years of public mockery about my body by press and interviewers,” Hill wrote. “So the idea that the media tries to play me by stalking me while surfing and printing photos like this and it can’t phase me anymore is dope. I’m 37 and finally love and accept myself.”

Hill noted that he didn’t want supportive of sympathetic comments, he just wants to send a message to kids like him who may not “take their shirt off at the pool.”

“Have fun,” he wrote. “You’re wonderful and awesome and perfect. All my love.”

Despite that sentiment, he did get plenty of celebratory comments on Instagram. And the message also was shared on Twitter and went viral on that social media platform as well.

Jeopardy! has made a number of appearances on Saturday Night Live over the years, and apparently Alex Trebek really loved Kenan Thompson’s turn as host of the legendary game show.

Thompson appeared on Hot Ones this week and told a story about meeting Trebek backstage at the NHL Awards in Las Vegas in 2019. The story comes at the 9:45 mark of the Hot Ones video. Host Sean Evans asked Thompson if Trebek was “aware of Black Jeopardy!” But apparently one of the first things he said to Thompson when they met was how much he appreciated the sketch, which aired in 2016. In it, Tom Hanks played a MAGA hat-clad white man who did his best to compete on the show.

“That was the first thing he mentioned,” Thompson said. “He actually said ‘God bless you for figuring out how to do a Jeopardy! behind the legendary Will Ferrell Jeopardy!”

You can watch the SNL sketch below.

Thompson credited his writing partners, including Michael Che, for coming up with a concept that was “just chock full of too many jokes to ignore,” which helped get the sketch on the air in the first place. And while Trebek was certainly complimentary of both Ferrell and Thompson, the latter made sure Trebek knew he was appreciated as well.

“He was patting me on the back about that, but I was patting him on the back for probably being one of the smartest people in the world,” Thompson said. “Because it seems like he knows the answer to all of those Jeopardy! questions. He has a way of responding to each question like, ‘No, of course, it’s this, and that, and the other, because I read this book or I’ve known about this historic town in Rome.’ You know what I’m saying? He was incredible.”

While a more sympathetic look at a Trump supporter perhaps didn’t hold up very well over the last four years, Trebek certainly felt that Thompson did a great job with the sketch. And he’s right: putting something together that rivals the infamous Ferrell-led sketches about Jeopardy! certainly is an admirable feat.

Cade Cunningham, he true freshman phenom for the Oklahoma State Cowboys, is almost universally viewed as the inevitable No. 1 pick in the 2021 NBA Draft, should he opt to declare. Cunningham is the type of player who turns Oklahoma State games into must-watch affairs, and on Saturday afternoon against his school’s biggest rival, Cunningham put forth a masterful performance in an overtime win.

The unranked Pokes traveled to Norman to take on the seventh-ranked Oklahoma Sooners in a Bedlam game that no one in Stillwater will forget any time soon. Cunningham had the best outing of his collegiate career, doing whatever it took for the Cowboys to knock off their rivals, 94-90.

Cunningham was easily the best player on the floor, scoring 40 points on 12-for-21 shooting with a 3-for-8 clip from behind the arc. He lived at the free throw line, connecting on 13 of his 14 attempts from the charity stripe, and could not be stopped from inhaling rebounds whenever there was a miss, pulling in a game-high 11. Both the scoring and rebounding outputs were the best marks of his collegiate careers. His court vision and ability to set up his teammates, two of the most impressive skills in his bag, were not as necessary — he had one assist, tied for the fewest he’s had in a game for Oklahoma State — due to the fact that he took over as a scorer.

Perhaps the most impressive thing about this performance was how reliable Cunningham was. Whenever the Pokes needed anything — a big basket, a defensive stop, a hustle play, anything — the Texas native responded, doing the sorts of things that are necessary to get a team over the finish line. The composure and ability to rise to the moment he put on display was more reminiscent of an NBA veteran, not a 19-year-old college freshman.

These sorts of performances oftentimes get framed in the context of what it means for a player’s NBA Draft prospects. The thing with Cunningham, though, is that his status atop the 2021 Draft (which, again, is dependent on his declaring at the end of this season) is essentially unquestioned barring a serious injury, so there’s really no need to do anything other than appreciate how good he is at basketball. And the best news of all? If you missed out on the chance to take in the Cade Cunningham experience against Oklahoma on Saturday, have no fear, because the next Bedlam game is on Monday, March 1 in Stillwater.

There is no true anniversary for coronavirus in the United States, as the virus’s spread and impact on people occurred far earlier than the lockdowns and introduction of restrictions hoping to stop its spread that occurred in March of 2020. But as the lockdownaversary grows closer, many people are sharing skepticism from Donald Trump and other conservatives that look very bad a year into what’s been an incredibly deadly pandemic.

Perhaps the biggest tweet that showed off a bad prediction was from Trump, who a year ago on Saturday said coronavirus would “disappear one day” like a “miracle.”

It’s a claim Trump made several times in the months to come, and his skepticism and refusal to admit the severity of the pandemic contributed to the politicizing of mask mandates and safety procedures that only made the situation worse.

One graphic from Sean Hannity’s program a year ago on Saturday showed off that no one had died from COVID-19 in the United States. We now know, sadly, that that kind of skepticism and refusal to take proper safety precautions helped fuel the uncontrolled spread of coronavirus and played a role in the deaths of more than 500,000 people in America alone in the year since.

Another tweet that went viral on Friday was about North Carolina representative Madison Cawthorne, who was the subject of a lengthy news investigation into several sexual assault allegations against him this week as well. The tweet in question, however, criticized him for voting against COVID-19 relief by proxy after calling Democrats who wanted to work remotely “cowards” in July. The reason he didn’t vote in person? He was speaking at CPAC.

Dunking on these moments will do nothing to bring back the lives of those lost, or change the trajectory of the virus in the US and elsewhere. But it’s a good reminder of the kind of intentional skepticism that got us into this mess, and the people who intentionally downplayed the significance of what’s been a deadly and difficult year for so many.

Soccer players can be pretty good at finding ways to not put the ball in the back of the net. Whether it’s inexplicably hitting the post or mishitting a ball that gets sent into another galaxy, the world of footy is marred with highlight (lowlight?) videos of people performing on the highest stage and doing something that makes them look like me out there.

This, however, is a new one. During a game in Algeria on Saturday between the reserves for HB Chelghoum Laid and MSP Batna, a player for the latter got in on goal, carrying the ball from his half of the pitch into the attacking third and getting a one-on-one with the keeper. In an attempt to try and pressure the attacking player into a mistake, the goalkeeper came running out, but he was easily beaten.

The ball should have slid into the goal without all that much drama, but there was one problem: The ball boy, in an attempt to play the hero, ran in from out of nowhere and cleared the chance off the line.

There is something very funny about the fact that this happened in a game between the two reserve sides, but regardless, this is an impressive clearance off the line by the ball boy. In the event that this sort of thing leads to him never getting to be a ball boy again, he can at least take some solace in knowing that he has a future as a central defender who is capable of making last-ditch efforts to stop attempts on goal look routine.

Beyonce has always been the kind of pop star who is interested in giving back to the communities she’s been a part of or benefits from. So when jewelry designer Lorraine Schwartz, who has been responsible for plenty of Bey’s red carpet gem-laden looks, decided to began advocating for diversity and inclusion in the precious gems world, it’s no surprise that Beyonce would be a part of it.

As announced via Beyonce.com, the singer and designer are teaming to launch the Beyonce Knowles-Carter x Lorraine Schwartz scholarship at GIA, the Gemological Institute of America. Schwartz has designed jewelry for everyone from Oprah to Lady Gaga to Jennifer Lopez, but Beyonce fans will probably know her work best for the diamond earrings the singer wore on the cover of Dangerously In Love.

“This scholarship is an homage to Beyonce for the inspiration she’s given me through my career,” Schwartz said of the new initiative. “It’s about the love formed from relationships and knowing at the end of the day, we are all the same. Now I have the opportunity to bring that inspiration full circle and show the community the endless possibilities that are in this industry, especially for Black professionals.”

The scholarship will be give “two members of the Black community” the chance to earn credentials at GIA, for the GIA Graduate Gemologist Diploma, with full tuition and paid expenses for the program. The program is primarily online through distance education, and applications for the scholarship are open from March 1 of this year until March 16.

Check out more information on here.

Black Thought is widely respected within the world of hip-hop thanks to his lengthy resume of impressive contributions to the genre. He’s often regarded as one of the best lyricists to grace the game. Much of his work came alongside The Roots, a group that is more than worthy of respect as a collective as much as they are for its members’ individual work. While the greatness of Black Thought may be an undeniable fact to most, one Twitter user seemed to be a bit uninformed about him. As a result, a tweet they shared delivered a controversial take about The Roots rapper and one that saw hip-hop Twitter rush to his defense.

Responding to a tweet that said Drake could not be grouped with names like “Kendrick, Lupe, Eminem, Black Thought and J. Cole,” a fan of the Toronto rapper looked to share their opinion on the matter. “Drake is more relevant, raps better, has more success, sings better than all these people,” they declared. “Plus who tf is a ‘black thought’ or any of these irrelevant rappers. Another example of HHT searching up rappers who no one listens to [and] comparing them to legends like drake.”

As one might have expected, the tweet brought a flurry of reactions that condemn the individual for their thoughts. One person said, “Saying ‘who tf is a black thought’ should disqualify you from listening to hip hop let alone speaking on it.” Another added, “If you don’t know who Black Thought is keep that to yourself it’s embarrassing.” Even Questlove, a fellow member of The Roots, saw the tweet and decided to share some thoughts of his own.

“Lol at this Black Thought trend. Y’all gone learn one day——I don’t care if he is 83 years old,” he said. “Psssssh even then he will out rhyme anyone….lol——for all of y’all frustrated about Riq’s standing in the world…y’all gotta preach the gospel too. THAT’S how people learn.”

You can find some more reactions to the Black Thought tweet below.

After nearly seven years, Bobby Shmurda was finally freed from prison on Tuesday. The rapper was welcomed with open arms by the entire music world including Meek Mill and Quavo. In just his first few days out, the rapper has spent much of his time in the spotlight. He even took some time to make a club appearance on Friday, and thanks to a video that was taken during the event, the rapper went viral after he turned down a drink he was offered.

After watching the video, fans shared their theories for why Bobby might not have wanted a drink at that moment, but only a few were right as the rapper gave an explanation on his Instagram story.

“Hell nah a n**** on parole,” he wrote in the post. Given that Bobby was freed from prison on a conditional release, it could be that one requirement of his parole is to refrain from consuming alcohol. The rapper also has no interest in risking a parole violation and possibly returning to jail as he expressed his wishes to stay free during a FaceTime call with Meek that was detailed in his profile with GQ.

“I’m done with that [jail] sh*t,” he said during the call. “I’ll be light-skinned in Jamaica before I go back.”

Another aspect of the video that caught fans’ attention was the fact that Bobby was wearing a mask in the club, something that we haven’t see too many celebrities do during their own events. As a result, they took to Twitter to share their reactions.

You can read them below and watch the video that caused it all above.

Meek Mill is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Breweries are going to some extreme lengths to make interesting beers these days, and now it seems thieves are going to equally great lengths to steal the brews for themselves in Argentina. According to a report, a wild beer heist went down sometime in the last month that involved beer aging inside a sunken ship, and so far no one knows who’s responsible.

According to the New York Times, the heist happened in Argentina, where 185 gallons of beer were stolen as it was aging 66 feet underwater inside a sunken ship.

The owners of the three breweries in Mar del Plata, which had teamed up with a diving school for what they described as a first-of-its-kind monthslong experiment in deep-water beermaking, were left mystified, and heartbroken, upon discovering on Tuesday that the barrels were gone.

“I started crying,” said Carlos Brelles, who runs the Thalassa Diving School in Mar del Plata, a coastal city five miles from the sunken ship. “Three or four people without morals destroyed the work of so many people who put in so much effort.”

Mr. Brelles and the brewery owners said they have no clues that could shed light on the disappearance of the barrels, but they haven’t ruled out an act of sabotage. They asked prosecutors to open a criminal investigation.

The concept for the beer is just as fascinating as the crime: the breweries decided to make a dark ale between 11-12 percent alcohol by volume, barrel it and then put it underwater tied to a ship called the Kronomether, a Soviet-era ship that sank in 2014 and became a popular recreational diving spot. In speaking with divers, and reading about other beers that were aged underwater, Brelles and other brewers worked for more than a year to get permits amid a pandemic to put seven barrels of beer underwater on November 22.

The thing is, sadly, that the beer is likely useless now: the plan was to combine the aged liquid with another beer to make about 2,000 bottles of beer named after the ship it was aged in. Unless the people who stole the beer know what they’re doing, it’s undrinkable as it. And those who went to retrieve the beer fear it was destroyed just for the sake of ruining a fun experiment.

“If they stole it for their own consumption, they’re going to have to throw it away,” said Mr. Vincent. “It was a lukewarm, gasless liquor that would be very difficult to drink.”

Mr. Vincent said he suspects vandals broke the barrels loose.

“I think they broke everything so the barrels would drift away,” said Mr. Brelles. “It was malice for malice’s sake.”

The good news? The three breweries plan to try it again. Hopefully in a location where whoever decided they wanted to ruin a good time can’t find it this time around.

[via The New York Times]