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As Nicki Minaj slowly gets back into the groove of releasing new music, her decade-plus of classic, game-changing hits will be honored at the 2022 MTV VMAs. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the upcoming show will honor Nicki with the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award, and she will perform at the show for the first time since 2018. Nicki’s also nominated for a Best Hip-Hop Award thanks to her 2022 singles “Do We Have A Problem?” “Bussin,” and “We Go Up,” as well as her song-stealing feature from Coi Leray’s “Blick Blick.”

Bruce Gillmer, president of music, music talent, programming, and events at Paramount (MTV’s parent company) said in a statement, “Nicki has broken barriers for women in hip-hop with her versatility and creative artistry. She has shifted the music industry and cemented her status as a global superstar with her crossover appeal, genre-defying style, and continuing to be unapologetically ‘Nicki.’” Mrs. Minaj herself told fans, “You don’t want to miss my performance,” on Twitter, sharing a promo clip containing snippets of a bunch of her previous videos. She also asked her Barbz to suggest songs for her to perform, with one caveat — they couldn’t mention her upcoming single “Super Freaky Girl,” which drops on August 12.

The 2022 MTV VMAs will air on 8/28 live from Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey at 8 pm ET. Performers include Anitta, J Balvin, and more, while nominees include Jack Harlow, Kendrick Lamar, and Lil Nas X.

The Sandman arrived on the small screen three decades after its inception within Neil Gaiman’s mind. Let’s get real here: a lot could have gone wrong. The dark-fantasy vibe, for one thing, must have been incredibly difficult to adapt (and this series embraces that trickiness with wildly, effectively exaggerated visuals), and on a story level, The Sandman means so very much to so many people. Everyone who’s read The Sandman remembers how they learned of the series, who recommended it, and whether they dove into the beginning or in the middle (I happened to first pick up the “Calliope” story, and had the distinct pleasure of talking to Neil about how the story began as a take on writer’s block and “the need for ideas” yet transformed into something largely different). Yet the bottom line is this: The Sandman hits everyone hard, and it gifts people with what they’re looking for at the precise moment that they discovered the saga.

One need only listen to Marc Maron’s relevant edition of the WTF podcast, in which he met up with Neil after explaining that he’d spent his own “time with The Sandman,” and that discovery coincided with his own drug use. Maron admitted that he was so amped up that he interpreted both Alan Moore’s Hellblazer and The Sandman as “journalism,” which… it happens. This is a terribly funny admission, and Gaiman responded, “I love that it gave you what you needed at the time that you needed it.” Maron’s take might be out there, but he’s not off base with his devotion and enthusiasm.

Fortunately, there’s also plenty to love about Netflix’s The Sandman, which is at once lugubrious and striking and delicious. Tom Sturridge gives a perfect representation of all of Dream’s angular aspects (both physically and internally). Gwendoline Christie portrays the most regal version of Gaiman’s Lucifer Morningstar on record, and Patton Oswalt (who a devoted Gaiman nerd to the core) swoops into souls as voice of Matthew the Raven. And then there’s Death, who is (as one devotee described to me before I surrendered to the comic book) “a total sweetheart.” Gaiman originally wrote her as an adorable, ankh-sporting goth girl, full of boundless energy and positivity, despite her incomprehensible, difficult job of escorting human souls to the Sunless Lands.

In the ongoing Audible The Sandman series, Death is portrayed by Kat Dennings, who told us that she asked Neil how to play Death, and he honest-to-God told her to “be yourself.” She totally did that, meaning that she maintained Death’s bubbly and “bright side at the forefront” aura with a bit of a darker vibe simmering underneath, and since Death’s duties are very grim, Kat was “playing a little bit against what is happening in these scenes.” And I absolutely dig the way that Kat portrayed Death, who turned out spot-on for the audio-only version of her story.

Fast forward to The Sandman‘s recent arrival on Netflix, and I fired up the 10-episode season and mostly enjoyed the first five episodes, but I shall not lie: Death’s impending arrival was what I really wanted. She would make or break this adaptation for me, and my god, I was not disappointed. The Netflix version strikes a different tone for the character with the same ultimate effect, which is suitable for the onscreen Death, who arrives in Episode 6, “The Sound Of Her Wings.” It’s an episode that’s not as gorgeously rendered in an aesthetic sense as the rest, but emotionally speaking, it’s a masterpiece.

Death was always going to be the hardest character for anyone to pull off, and die-hard fans of The Sandman (damn well) spotted Dream sitting on this park bench and waited for Death to appear alongside him. In hindsight, I’m realizing that the most effective approach to Death (in live-action form) was for her unyielding positivity to be understated, and Kirby Howell-Baptiste (who is obviously not a pale goth girl) nailed this role. Here’s where I must mention how (last year) Neil saw the (ridiculous) backlash following Kirby’s casting and promptly declared, “I give zero f*cks about people who don’t understand/haven’t read Sandman whining… that Death isn’t white enough.” He further urged, “Watch the show, make up your minds.” Enough said, and it’s also worth noting that Death, Dream, and the rest of the Endless do not have a specific race.

Death, as Kirby portrays her, takes on a wisdom-filled, warmer glow, rather than an overwhelmingly perky one. One particularly well-known line — “You are utterly the stupidest, most self-centered, appallingest excuse for an anthropomorphic personification in this or any other plane!” — rolls right out of her British accent like it’s the most natural thing in the world. She’s a cocksure version of Death, tossing out the “fat pigeons” joke with droll humor. She’s also got the right amount of swagger to pull off those moments when the bros fawn all over her, including one dude who’s so excited at her promise to meet again (“soon”) that the interactions come off as tragicomic.

Oh, I did grow teary-eyed when Death comforted a baby immediately before the child died from SIDS. As well, Dream seamlessly bounces right off Death, with Tom Sturridge somehow doing nothing and everything all at once while he observed his sister going about her unfathomable duties. These humans desperately needed to feel her presence as they faded away from the realm of the living.

The team of Death and Dream delivered pure magic in the season’s best episode, one that serves to remind everyone about how much The Sandman helped people get through life’s tough episodes. Gaiman has spoken about how people frequently speak to him with gratitude for helping them “get through dark times.” And I’d be willing to bet that Death’s introduction (and Dream’s reaction) is what comes to mind for a majority of these people when they thank Neil Gaiman for the entire saga.

One more thing that this episode pulls off: translating Gaiman’s infusions of history and mythology in perfect lockstep with the saga’s spirit. To that end, this episode heads back in time to witness Death and Dream back in 1389, when they first met up with Hob Gadling, the rambunctious bar brat who became immortal. His adventures began thanks to the gifted siblings, including Dream looking like the third Oasis brother. These period costumes are more enjoyable than they have any right to be.

All of this arrives with lessons for every character, other than Death, who’s already the wisest sibling of the Endless. And I’m pleasantly surprised at how the season as a whole turned out because I admit to feeling apprehensive as heck on whether Netflix could rise to the occasion. Because we all know that Netflix is having difficulties lately, and I really couldn’t bear the idea of The Sandman becoming The Pentaverate: Part II. Yet Neil Gaiman’s genre-stretching, sprawling comic gook series has finally come to deserving life. Mind you, Gaiman once stated that “I’d rather see no Sandman movie made than a bad Sandman movie.” It’s safe to assume that he felt the same way about a TV series, and although this show’s about much more than Death, Kirby Howell-Baptiste’s spin on an iconic Neil Gaiman character makes The Sandman a real stunner.

The Sandman is currently streaming on Netflix.

Even if you aren’t into K-pop, there’s simply no denying that Blackpink is one of the biggest pop acts in the world. So naturally, with their new album Born Pink on the way, there had to be a world tour to promote it. Today, the band announced the upcoming 27-city schedule, which kicks off in Seoul this October and wraps up in Auckland, New Zealand next June. The flyer also promises some “…and more” dates which will presumably be added or announced after the tour is underway.

Major American cities that’ll see Blackpink during the North American leg of the tour include Dallas, Houston, Atlanta, two dates in Chicago, two dates in New York (by way of Newark, New Jersey), and Los Angeles. The European swing will take the girls through two dates in London, Barcelona, Cologne, two Paris shows, Berlin, and Amsterdam. The Asian leg will include Bangkok, Hong Kong, Abu Dhabi, Jakarta, Singapore, and Manila.

Earlier this month, Blackpink announced the release date for the first single from Born Pink, “Pink Venom.” It’ll drop on 8/19 via YG Entertainment and Interscope. You can pre-save it here. As far as the album goes, all we know is it drops in September and Ryan Tedder’s on it. You can grab tickets at blackpinkofficial.com, but only if you’re incredibly fast — you know they’re selling out in 0.7 seconds.

After news broke last week that HBO Max had shelved the upcoming Batgirl movie, many writers and directors have been coming to the defense of directing duo Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah. Marvel president Kevin Feige reached out to the directors, praising their work on both Batgirl and Ms. Marvel, while Edgar Wright and Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn also sent their love. Meanwhile, Kevin Smith is taking a different approach.

The director, who is well underway promoting the upcoming Clerks III, took to his series Hollywood Babble-On with Ralph Garman to discuss the controversial move of HBO Max canceling the movie’s release while it was nearly completed and had several high-profile cameos.

“It’s an incredibly bad look to cancel the Latina Batgirl movie,” Smith said to a sea of applause (via New York Post). “I don’t give a sh*t if the movie was absolutely f*cking dogsh*t, and I guarantee you it wasn’t.”

He added, “The two directors who directed that movie did a couple of episodes of Ms. Marvel and it was a wonderful f*cking show. And they had more money to do Batgirl than Ms. Marvel.” It was previously reported that Batgirl cost upwards of $90 million, a steep increase from their original budget of $70 million (reports claimed that the budget increased due to COVID production delays).

Smith is historically a huge DC fan, and the director also confirmed that HBO Max has canceled his highly-anticipated adaptation of Strange Adventures. Though maybe with some more DVD sales, he will eventually get the show back on track.

(Via The New York Post)

This article originally appeared on 06.30.16

When San Francisco photographer Lisa Robinson was about to have her second child, she was both excited and nervous.

Sure, those are the feelings most moms-to-be experience before giving birth, but Lisa’s nerves were tied to something different.

Photo by Ian Waldie/Getty Images.

She and her husband already had a 9-year-old son but desperately wanted another baby. They spent years trying to get pregnant again, but after countless failed attempts and two miscarriages, they decided to stop trying.

Of course, that’s when Lisa ended up becoming pregnant with her daughter, Anora. Since it was such a miraculous pregnancy, Lisa wanted to do something special to commemorate her daughter’s birth.

So she turned to her craft — photography — as a way to both commemorate the special day, and keep herself calm and focused throughout the birthing process.

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Normally, Lisa takes portraits and does wedding photography, so she knew the logistics of being her own birth photographer would be a somewhat precarious new adventure — to say the least.

She initially suggested the idea to her husband Alec as a joke.

“After some thought,” she says, “I figured I would try it out and that it could capture some amazing memories for us and our daughter.”

In the end, she says, Alec was supportive and thought it would be great if she could pull it off. Her doctors and nurses were all for Lisa taking pictures, too, especially because it really seemed to help her manage the pain and stress.

In the hospital, she realized it was a lot harder to hold her camera steady than she initially thought it would be.

She had labor shakes but would periodically take pictures between contractions.

“Eventually when it was time to push and I was able to take the photos as I was pushing, I focused on my daughter and my husband and not so much the camera,” she says.

“I didn’t know if I was in focus or capturing everything but it was amazing to do.”

The shots she ended up getting speak for themselves:

Lisa’s husband Alec.

Hello, baby Anora!

An overcome father.

Newborn Anora’s first experience with breastfeeding.

“Everybody was supportive and kind of surprised that I was able to capture things throughout. I even remember laughing along with them at one point as I was pushing,” Lisa recalled.

In the end, Lisa was so glad she went through with her experiment. She got incredible pictures — and it actually did make her labor easier.

Would she recommend every mom-to-be document their birth in this way? Absolutely not. What works for one person may not work at all for another.

However, if you do have a hobby that relaxes you, figuring out how to incorporate it into one of the most stressful moments in your life is a pretty good way to keep yourself calm and focused.

Expecting and love the idea of documenting your own birthing process?

Take some advice from Lisa: “Don’t put pressure on yourself to get ‘the shot'” she says, “and enjoy the moment as much as you can.”

Lisa’s mom took this last one.

The last time we saw Kim Wexler on Better Call Saul, she was breaking up with Jimmy. “We are bad for each other,” she said, which is the kind of thing you say after (literally) ruining someone’s life. “I have had the time of my life with you. But we are bad for everyone around us. Other people suffer because of us. Apart, we’re OK, but together, we’re poison.” She walks out of the door of their condo — and drives to… Florida?

Poor Kim.

Little is known about tonight’s episode of, the penultimate of the series, other than it’s written and directed by co-creator Vince Gilligan. And the title: “Waterworks.” We — and by proxy, Cinnabon’s employee of the year — were informed in “Breaking Bad” (the episode, not the show) that Kim is employed at Palm Coast Sprinklers in Titusville, Florida, which the Breaking Bad wiki helpfully notes is “located west of the Kennedy Space Center.” Cool. The company’s slogan is “Watering Your World Since 1978.”

You know what else happened in 1978? The Ramones released their fourth studio album, Road to Ruin, featuring the hit single “I Wanna Be Sedated.” Drugs, like the kind that Saul’s client Walter “Heisenberg” White cooked, make you sedated, and Gene / Jimmy / whatever on the road to reconnecting with Kim (including a heated phone booth call) with ruin their lives. IT’S ALL CONNECTED. Vince Gilligan, you’ve done it again!

Anyway, the waterworks will be flowing tonight.

After two consecutive shortened offseasons due to the NBA shuffling its schedule after shutting down at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the league finally got back on a regular schedule this summer, allowing for players and team personnel to take real vacations again (which is why trade rumors have come to a complete halt the last couple weeks) as well as the return of star-studded pickup runs and pro-am appearances.

The Drew League, Seattle Pro-Am, and more have seen the likes of LeBron James, DeMar DeRozan, Trae Young, Dejounte Murray, Paolo Banchero, and more step onto the court in front of fans, but even more big names have gotten together in pickup runs to stay sharp in the dog days of the offseason. The biggest pickup run in the NBA these days is Rico Hines’ L.A. game, where the now-Raptors assistant hosts many of the world’s best players to get work in and earn some game-speed reps in the offseason.

Over the weekend, a clip of Scottie Barnes and James Harden went viral on social media, as the reigning Rookie of the Year put the clamps on the Sixers All-Star full-court, showing off his incredible defensive abilities against one of the best 1-on-1 players in the league.

That sequence earned Barnes plenty of buzz on social media, but it also got him some praise from Harden himself, who made sure to bring everyone together at the end of the run and talk glowingly about the competitive spirit of the run (which he missed after two summers off) and highlighting Barnes’ defense in particular, saying the young star is “a dog.”

“I like the competitive spirit that’s going on in here,” Harden said. “Like, Scottie picked me up full court. It’s pickup. First week of August. He don’t give a f*ck. He got that mindset. He a dog. Everybody should have that mindset, especially if you want to get paid, take care of your family. I love the work, man. We ain’t had a pickup in a couple of years, so this sh*t feel good to get back in the gym and competing for real.”

It’s a fairly stark difference from the beef brewing between Dejounte Murray and Paolo Banchero up in Seattle, where the two young stars went at it in Isaiah Thomas’ tournament and continued that on social media. Harden appreciates the young fella taking it to him because that’s what he needs to try and get in game shape and find that level he needs to get back to an All-Star level next season in Philly. For Barnes, he continues to earn his reputation of being one of the league’s best wing defenders already, with the most important recognition of those abilities coming from his peers.

Keeping up with new music can be exhausting, even impossible. From the weekly album releases to standalone singles dropping on a daily basis, the amount of music is so vast it’s easy for something to slip through the cracks. Even following along with the Uproxx recommendations on a daily basis can be a lot to ask, so every Monday we’re offering up this rundown of the best new music this week.

This week saw Calvin Harris dropping a new collaborative banger and DJ Khaled and Benny Blanco also doing that. Yeah, it was a great week for new music. Check out the highlights below.

For more music recommendations, check out our Listen To This section, as well as our Indie Mixtape and Pop Life newsletters. Also find our Uproxx HQ Spotify playlist, which is updated weekly with the best new music, at the end of this post.

Calvin Harris with Stefflon Don, Chloe, and Coi Leray — “Woman Of The Year”

Harris recruited just about everybody in the music industry to join him on Funk Wav Bounces Vol. 2, his new album that dropped last week. Among the highlights is the particularly female-forward “Woman Of The Year,” on which Stefflon Don, Chloe, and Coi Leray share the spotlight for the smooth and funky track.

DJ Khaled — “Staying Alive” Feat. Drake and Lil Baby

Speaking of people known for working with other people, DJ Khaled launched a new era last week with “Staying Alive,” the lead single from his God Did album set for release at the end of the month. Doing the heavy lifting here are Drake and Lil Baby, who go full MD in the song’s fun video.

Benny Blanco, BTS, and Snoop Dogg — “Bad Decisions”

Rounding out this week’s mega-collab trio is Blanco, BTS, and Snoop Dogg coming together on “Bad Decisions,” a misleading title in the sense that only good decisions could have led to this meet-up. The three parties came together to deliver a fun summer-ready tune, with Snoop’s signature personality adding a touch that sets it apart from the rest of the warm-weather pop dominating the season.

Carly Rae Jepsen — “Beach House”

Dating apps make meeting somebody easier in some ways, but harder in others. Jepsen chronicles that journey on “Beach House,” on which she goes through some disastrous dates on the fun summertime bop with an unsurprisingly catchy hook.

The Killers — “Boy”

The Killers can’t stop. Imploding The Mirage came out in 2020, Pressure Machine followed in 2021, and they returned today with “Boy,” an uplifting rocker in the vein of the group’s recent soaring material, albeit with a smidge more electronic influence this time around.

The 1975 — “Happiness”

Funky, disco-inspired music has made a significant comeback in recent years and now The 1975 are getting in on it, too. Their contribution is “Happiness,” a relatively subtle but groove-forward tune that adds a new wrinkle to the jaunty indie pop sound The 1975 have done such a nice job at cultivating.

Willow — “Hover Like A Goddess”

Willow has become a torchbearer of rock in the 2020s and she delivered another exciting hit of it last week with “Hover Like A Goddess,” the first taste of her newly announced album, Copingmechanism. It’s an infectious and in-your-face tune that bops along with a ska-influenced rhythm and a big chorus.

John Legend — “All She Wanna Do” Feat. Saweetie

When it comes to the biggest Legend news of last week, it’s got to be that he and Chrissy Teigen are expecting another baby. The runner-up news is pretty great, too, though: a new Saweetie collaboration called “All She Wanna Do.” The song is pure summertime pop, aided by a pace-changing verse from Saweetie.

Doechii with Rico Nasty — “Swamp B*tches”

This week, Doechii decided to get in and get going with her latest project: She announced She/Her/Black B*tch on Monday and dropped the five-track effort by Friday. It kicks off with “Swamp B*tches,” which has a menacing, early-Tyler-The-Creator-like beat and packs a lot into three minutes, including a Rico Nasty appearance.

Omar Apollo — “Highlight”

Apollo revealed last week that he’s going on a big tour at the end of the year. When he does, he’ll have a new song to perform, as that news was accompanied by “Highlight,” a patient, tropical-inspired head-bobber that’s a nice breather from this week’s mostly upbeat songs.

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

If anyone thought that Kanye’s relative silence on social media signaled that the 45-year-old music producer and fashion mogul had finally done some growing up since throwing a tantrum over his ex-wife dating again earlier this year, it is my sad duty to inform you that he, in fact, has not.

After news broke of Kim Kardashian breaking up with Pete Davidson, Kanye was quick to return to Instagram, posting kind of a dark parting shot at Davidson with a spoof New York Times headline claiming that the comedian (who he’s still calling “Skete,” because Kanye is 13 years old at heart) was dead. However, he also couldn’t resist getting in a jab at his former protege Kid Cudi, adding a subheadline reading “Kid Cudi meant to play funeral but fearful of bottle throwers.” That’s, of course, a reference to Cudi’s recent performance at Rolling Loud Miami, which Cudi cut short after fans in the crowd threw bottles at him. Kanye made a surprise appearance during Lil Durk’s set, even though he’d dropped out as headliner just weeks before.

Kanye has made it a habit to alienate a lot of his former friends this year. During an appearance on the Drink Champs podcast, he threw Big Sean and John Legend, who were both signed to his previous label, GOOD Music, under the bus, prompting both to react in very different ways. Earlier this month, Chance The Rapper also addressed their friendship cooling off after a video surfaced of Kanye dressing down the younger Chicago rapper during the recording of his 2018 album Ye.

Panels are all about creating excitement for TV shows and movies, and Rosario Dawson certainly made that happen for The Punisher in Chicago over the weekend. Dawson appeared at the Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo (C2E2) and during a Q&A session may have let slip that a new show she hopes to work on, a potential Punisher reboot on Disney+, may also bring back a beloved actor from the Netflix version of the property.

Dawson, who played Claire Temple on the Netflix version of Punisher (among the streamer’s related shows), let slip that “Punisher is coming back” and that may mean Jon Bernthal may also be coming to the Marvel Cinematic Universe as a result. The move would be big — Charlie Cox’s Daredevil and Bernthal’s Punisher thrived on Netflix. A revival of Daredevil has many fans hoping the same will happen to Punisher, and Dawson’s slip indicates that those fans will get what they want. But not everyone was sold that Dawson spilled the beans on much of anything just yet.

You can see video of the moment from the panel below, which is far less of a triumphant announcement than an offhanded comment for sure.

You can hear some in the crowd audibly react to her mention of Bernthal, but none of this is officially official at all. Which is probably why, later on Twitter, Dawson walked back the comments and made it clear that she’s not to be “trusted” when it comes to MCU news.

“I can’t be trusted,” Dawson said. “Getting intel from fans during signings is iffy apparently. My bad. I get excited.”

From the tweet it sounds like Dawson is blaming bad information from a fan, not anyone actually involved with the show. Which would make Dawson a pretty lousy reporter, unless she’s just trying to cover her tracks a bit after accidentally spilling the beans.

“Confirmation is key when you’re told what you want to hear,” Dawson said, which sounds like it’s more a personal hope than anything at this point. But given the buzz her surprise “announcement” made, it’s clear she’s not alone in hoping Bernthal returns to the fold.