Category: Viral

In the before-time, blockbusters didn’t just make a lot of money. They made an unimaginable amount of money. It wasn’t un-heard-of for a number of movies each year to cross the billion dollar line worldwide. Some even made quite a lot more than $1 billion. (And just a reminder: Adjusted for inflation, nothing comes even close to the haul raked in by Gone with the Wind.) Then, almost two years ago, movie theaters shuttered, many blockbusters were delayed, and the cha-ching of the box office cash register was all but silenced. Until now.

Despite the far more transmissible Omicron variant, audiences have flocked to Spider-Man: No Way Home, the threequel in the Tom Holland iteration of the series. It’s a star-studded affair, bringing back tons of franchise favorites, and audiences seem to be lapping it up. Indeed, in a time when just about every movie underperforms in relation to the pre-pandemic era, it’s the one movie to gross pretty much what it would have grossed in the halcyon days. That’s to say it’s already crossed the billion dollar line after a mere two weekends.

As per CNN, on Sunday No Way Home achieved said milestone after a mere 12 days. It’s not the fastest movie to do so. Avengers: Endgame did it in just five days, while its predecessor, Avengers: Infinity War, crossed in 11. (Clearly all you need to do to make a ton of money is the movie industry is cast Tom Holland.) But it is the first movie to achieve that feat since 2019.

What was the last movie to gross over $1 billion? Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, which amassed $1.074 billion during its holiday run two years ago. Mind you, No Way Home has, in 12 days, already grossed $1.05 billion.

So congrats to all the Spideys for doing what recent MCU films, some of which introduced new characters, could not. It’s like it’s the before-time again, minus that whole pesky and highly transmissible virus running still roughshod over the world.

(Via CNN)

Doja Cat released her long-awaited third album Planet Her a few months ago. It featured 14 songs and help from names like Young Thug, SZA, JID, The Weeknd, and more. It also earned nominations for Album of The Year and Best Pop Vocal Album at the 2022 Grammy Awards. While there isn’t any pressure for her to put out her next album, Doja already has ideas for what she wants it to be.

During an Instagram Live session she held on Christmas Eve, Doja said she wants to create a double album. She said the first side would contain seven songs that would feature her typical pop-rap sound, while the second side would contain 12 songs in the traditional rap lane. She also revealed who she would like to supply production for the second side. “New project. 12 songs,” Doja said. “All of them, every f*ckin’ one, Jay Versace and 9th Wonder.”

Jay Versace and 9th Wonder each shared their reactions to Doja’s comments, the former simply tweeting “brah” while 9th Wonder wrote, “Say what now?”

You can hear Doja speak about the double album in the video above.

Young Thug is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

For months, conservatives have in love with the words “Let’s go Brandon.” Why? Because it’s code for a far more profane statement, namely “F*ck Joe Biden.” It originated at a NASCAR race (of course), and officials are none-too-happy with it. It’s not just everyday folk who drop the coded epithet. Lauren Boebert has used it. So has Ted Cruz. And on Christmas Eve, one regular Joe dropped those words while speaking to the president himself, as well as the First Lady.

It began innocently enough. Jared Schmeck, a father of four from Oregon who works for an electric company and retired from the police force in 2018, called into an annual Santa tracker, as he does every year. This time was a bit different: Taking calls were Joe and Jill Biden, hoping to do better than his predecessor, who once told a little girl that Santa wasn’t real. Schmeck later said he was surprised by their presence, but he rolled with it, even wished them a Merry Christmas.

Then he suddenly added, “Let’s go Brandon.”

The Bidens either played nice or simply had no idea what he was talking about. “Let’s go Brandon, I agree,” Biden replied as his wife laughed. The president even tried to ask him where he’s from, but Schmeck had already hung up, having effective told the most powerful person in the world to get f*cked.

When reached by Oregon Live, Schmeck claimed he didn’t mean to pelt the president with a sanitized insult, claiming it was just a “joke.” “I mean no disrespect to him,” Schmeck said, adding, “At the end of the day, I have nothing against Mr. Biden, but I am frustrated because I think he can be doing a better job.”

Schmeck also claimed he was not a “Trumper,” describing himself as a “free-thinking American and follower of Jesus Christ.”

Before Schmeck wrung in Christmas by insulting the president, the call seemed to be going really well. Biden asked him what his kids wanted, and Schmeck said his son, whose name is Hunter, wanted a Switch. Biden mentioned that he too has a son named Hunter. He then advised that Schmeck’s kids should be in bed before 9pm, otherwise they’d miss Santa. Schmeck laughed along with them, as though he was a nice person seeking some calm during deeply troubled times.

(Via Oregon Live)

It’s been over five years since Frank Ocean‘s last album, Blonde. Since then, he’s sporadically released singles, like 2017’s “Biking” and “Provider,” but no full-length work. His fans freak out any time the musician releases anything, and on Christmas Day, they got a nice present: an untitled track, which premiered during an episode of Frank’s Blonded radio show on Apple Music, that runs a full nine minutes.

In a post to his Instagram Story, Frank explained how the song came together, revealing that it was recorded in a single take during the summer of 2020. He also spoke about speaking with Dutch extreme athlete and motivational speaker Wim “The Iceman” Hof after the death of Frank’s younger brother Ryan Breaux in August 2020.

“Me and @iceman_hof had a conversation some time ago when I was in the earlier stages of grief and I remember marbling afterwards at how his energy blasted through the phone,” Frank said. “So much vim in this Wim. We spoke for a while about his work, the purpose of grief and how going into the cold water changed his life.” He added, “It reminded me of conversations in the studio with players I know. Freewheeling, psychedelic, emotionally charged, intelligent and generous. I enjoyed listening to him, so in this edit I just let him speak interrupted.”

The nine-minute track is Frank’s first release since he shared “Dear April” and “Cayendo” in April 2020.

You can hear the new song in the video above.

Hugh Jackman may be known for playing an aggro superhero with rage issues and, of course, for his fake beef with Ryan Reynolds. But in real life he’s a sweetheart. Evidence of that came Thursday, when the star — currently starring in the revival of The Music Man — made sure to pay tribute to Broadway’s understudies and “swings,” especially after his co-star had to step down after testing positive for COVID.

Sutton Foster, Tony-winner and Younger star, was unable to portray librarian Marian Paroo in the classic musical, about a conman, played by Jackman, who tries to hoodwink a small town. (Simpsons heads may know it as the inspiration for the top shelf episode “Marge vs. the Monorail.”) That meant her understudy, Kathy Voytko, had to suddenly step in. Jackman made sure to praise Voytko and those like her who are always there to make sure the show, no matter what, goes on.

“Kathy, when she turned up for work at 12 o’clock, could have played any of eight roles,” Jackman told the audience. “And at 1 o’clock, she had her very first rehearsal as Marian Paroo.”

Jackman made sure to heap praise on all the understudies and swings, who are there to replace any performer who can’t make a performance. “They’ve watched from the corner of a room while we rehearse, while we get to practice over and over again,” Jackman said. “They just get to watch and write notes and then five hours before a performance, they’re told, ‘You’re on. By the way you’ve got a wig fitting. Go!’

“The courage, the brilliance, the dedication, the talent,” he added. “The swings, the understudies, they are the bedrock of Broadway.”

It’s not the first time Jackman has paid it forward. His kind words came during a rough time for Broadway, when numerous shows have had to cancel performances due to a massive uptick in cases, almost surely tied to the Omicron variant. The show doesn’t always go on, but when it does, it’s thanks to people like Kathy Voytko.

(Via NBC News)

Christmas 2021 wasn’t exactly a return to semi-normalcy after last year. The Omicron variant started running roughshod just in time for the holidays, and though it seems to be less deadly than previous strains (at least if you’re vaxxed and/or boostered), it was powerful enough to result in hundreds of cancelled flights and stranded travelers. But there’s someone may have had a more chaotic Christmas than most: Alex Jones.

It began on Christmas Eve, when, as per The Associated Press, Erika Wulff Jones, wife of the controversial (and perhaps legally screwed) conspiracy theorist, was taken into custody by Austin police over a domestic violence charge. It’s not yet clear what happened or who was hurt, but AP says she was arrested for “assault causing bodily injury to a family member and resisting arrest, search or transport.”

Jones did not say whether or not he was injured. “It’s a private family matter that happened on Christmas Eve,” Jones told AP. “I love my wife and care about her and it appears to be some kind of medication imbalance.”

By the next day, Jones returned to normal — which is to say he was going on his show InfoWars to rail against Donald Trump for suddenly voicing his support for medication that could save his unvaccinated base’s lives.

“This is an emergency Christmas Day warning to President Trump,” Jones said. “You are either completely ignorant about the so-called vaccine gene therapy that you helped ram through with Operation Warp Speed or you are one of the most evil men who ever lived, to push this toxic poison on the public and to attack your constituents when they simply try to save their lives and the lives of others.”

Jones, who’s come after Trump before, then threatened to lay out the “basic, incontrovertible facts” that when he challenged Candace Owens about the efficacy of the vaccines, he’d simply fed her a “raft of dirty lies.”

Discouraging your base from taking life-saving medication is an odd strategy, and yet that’s just what Jones and Owens and failed vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin are doing.

When news of Jones’ odd Christmas were made public, people had some thoughts.

Some wondered if Trump enraging his unvaxxed base was all part of Joe Biden’s master plan.

In the meantime, you can watch repeatedly slap himself after Trump first tried to stop the wave of hospitalizations and deaths that are overwhelmingly happening to his unvaxxed fans.

(Via AP)

For a minute, it looked like the Brooklyn Nets were going to have a pretty terrible Christmas. The team — shorthanded due to injuries and a number of players being in the NBA’s health and safety protocols — officially blew a 23-point lead when Malik Monk made a layup with 45 seconds left in the fourth quarter of their road tilt against the Los Angeles Lakers. Thanks to Monk and a masterpiece of a fourth by LeBron James, things were tied up at 115, and all the momentum in Staples Center Crypto.com Arena was in the home team’s corner.

And then, out of a timeout, the Nets decided to put the ball in James Harden‘s hands and tell him to do something. Harden made his way into the lane, which led to Carmelo Anthony having to make a choice between sticking with Nic Claxton or throwing a body in front of Harden. He chose the latter, which freed up some space for Claxton to go up and catch a lob. He was met at the rim by James, but it did not matter, because Claxton put the future Hall of Fame inductee on a poster.

After a free throw by Claxton, L.A. dang near had a response out of Russell Westbrook on the other end of the floor, but his dunk attempt clanked off the rim.

The Nets would close out the game on a 7-0 run and win, 122-115.

The Los Angeles Lakers played host to the Brooklyn Nets on Christmas Day in a game that drew a whole lot of attention even though both teams had a number of players out due to injuries and COVID protocols. Unfortunately for Talen Horton-Tucker, that means a ton of people watched as he got hit right in the nuts while James Harden was attempting to create space for a step-back jumper.

Harden had Horton-Tucker isolated at the top of the key and tried one of his signature tricks to get a dude moving backwards as a way to free up some space for a jumper. Harden lowered his shoulder and looked like he planned on driving his arm into Horton-Tucker’s stomach, but the Lakers’ youngster made himself big, which was a smart move to avoid eating a forearm to the abdomen but had some absolutely horrific consequences.

After a pretty short review — let’s be honest, don’t really need to see a lot here — Harden got hit with a flagrant one and Horton-Tucker got to shoot some free throws. Fortunately Horton-Tucker ended up being ok, because in the least controversial thing ever written by any person on the internet, this seems like it was not fun.

Drake’s relationship with his son, Adonis, has been well-documented at this point. As a single father, Drake shares custody of the toddler with Sophie Brussaux, although the couple aren’t together. Still, it isn’t every day we get to see Drizzy in full-on father mode, so a clip he shared of himself and Adonis horsing around on the floor on Christmas Eve is a sweet look into their dynamic. “I’m going to get up, I gotta get out of this,” Drake laughs, as Adonis and another child pin him to the floor, then climb up on his back as he tries to stand up.

“Merry Christmas From The Gang,” Drake captioned the post. Whatever else might be going on in Drake’s life, it seems like his 4-year-old son is having the time of his life giggling and playing with his dad during the holidays. Like plenty of other musicians, Drake has mostly been lying low during Covid-19 since touring is such a risky thing at the moment. He did emerge briefly to release his sixth full-length album, Certified Lover Boy this summer, and then again for a massive face off concert with Kanye earlier this month, but perhaps he’s been enjoying the chance to spend more time with his child like plenty of other parents are during the pandemic.

It’s a Christmas miracle — there’s a new Nardwuar interview! This time, the stalwart of Canadian music journalism is speaking with none other than platinum with — and with no — features, J. Cole. Cole has had a pretty incredible year with the release of The Off-Season earlier this year. Now that his latest project has gone platinum, it’s time for Cole to do some reflecting alongside the ever inquisitive Nardwuar.

This time, Nardwuar wants to know about the Dreamville label-head’s taste in other rappers — he shocks J. Cole by bringing up the fact that it was Cole who told Dr. Dre about Kendrick Lamar back in the day. Sitting silent for almost a full ten seconds after Nardwuar asks him about it, Cole finally tells the story. You can see the excerpt in the tweet above, or the whole interview up top. But a transcript of the gist of what he says is below.

“I’m not going to say I was the first to tell him… when I brought him up to Dre I was like ‘You know what you gotta do is’ — I went in there to work on Detox, you know like how Dre do, if you’re a young rapper and he rock with you, he want to bring you through and have you test the waters — so yeah I was like ‘yo you got to sign this kid from Compton, boom boom, Kendrick boom boom.’ And then [another guy] was like ‘oh yeah that’s the kid I was telling you about! boom boom boom’ So, I have no clue, you know what I mean? I’ve never heard anybody say that type of sh*t, but shout out to Dr. Dre, he made the right decision.”

Well, thanks for helping the entire world get the gift of Kendrick Lamar, Cole! And thanks to Nardwuar for always knowing the best and deepest secrets of every single artist.