It’s safe to say that any pushback that HBO received during the last Game of Thrones season has been overcome with their post-Thrones lineup. Not only did the premium cable channel keep favorites like Succession and Barry going strong over the past year, but they also deftly handled the Watchmen reinvention along with adapting Stephen King’s The Outsider in a more than respectable manner. Now, horror is on the menu again, and the project’s landed a director who’s successfully reinvigorated another horror franchise and has plenty of HBO time on his side as well.

David Gordon Green, who helmed 2018’s Halloween (and has two followups, Halloween Kills and Halloween Ends in the cards) and also executive produced Vice Principals and The Righteous Gemstones, will put a new-ish face on pain to resurrect the iconic Pinhead in a Hellraiser TV series. Interestingly enough, this isn’t the only Hellraiser project in the works, given that there’s an entirely separate film coming from Spyglass Media Group (and Sundance-acclaimed director David Bruckner of The Night House) in what’s being characterized (via EW) as “a loyal, yet evolved reimagining.”

Meanwhile, Hollywood Reporter characterizes the HBO project as “a continuation and expansion — not a reboot” of the film franchise’s already established mythology (which spawned nine official films, not counting the upcoming Spyglass project) that revolves around Pinhead, who heads up the Cenobite creatures from Hell. As such, Gordon and writers Mark Verheiden (Daredevil, Heroes) and Michael Dougherty (X-Men United, Godzilla: King of the Monsters) will likely adhere to the spirit of Clive Barker’s inception of the film franchise with his novella, The Hellbound Heart. Barker also penned a book series with five full-on novels, although he’s not currently involved with the HBO series.

It feels somewhat important to note that Barker’s not vocally opposed to the project either, unlike how Alan Moore (and his alleged “magical curse”) has historically been with any efforts to adapt Watchmen. Of course, Barker’s already well accustomed to having other writers and directors handle the various Pinhead-centered movies, and they’re an entirely different beast than Moore’s work. That is to say, the grotesesque, often campy stories about the leader of ritualistic, torture-happy extra-dimensional creatures — who are pretty straight-up in their motivations — from the bowels of Hell begs for a different handling than the expansive, layered story of Watchmen. But you never know! Maybe David Gordon Green will toss in a few extra few dimensions for Pinhead, rather than a simple continuation of the bloodthirsty character. Since it’s coming from HBO, the odds are that it will be handled in a faithful but still inventive way.

(Via Hollywood Reporter & EW)

To cap off last week, Post Malone linked up with Travis Barker and performed a livestream concert that doubled as a Nirvana tribute, as his set consisted solely of songs by the legendary grunge group. Like many livestream concerts these days, the covers-only performance was a fundraising effort, and it turns out the livestream did extremely well on that front.

As of this post, the total money contributed sits at over $4.3 million, and TMZ notes that the $1-million mark was crossed within the show’s first hour. Donations are still being accepted now through the livestream’s YouTube page. Additionally, Google.org has pledge to double the first $2.5 million in contributions, so they will be giving $5 million as well. The money will go to The United Nations Foundation’s COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund for The World Health Organization (WHO).

Nirvana’s Krist Novoselic was a big fan of the show, as he conveyed in multiple tweets. “So proud of @PostMalone and crew,” he wrote in one tweet. He later added, “I don’t think these fellows can play any better. They are on fire!!!!,” and, “I am holding emotions back the whole show.” Courtney Love, who gave the show her stamp of approval before it started, was also excited about the performance, writing on Instagram, “GOOSEBUMPS! F*CK YES. Go have a margarita @postmalone . nothing but love from here .”

Watch Malone’s full performance above.

Over the weekend, Dr. Anthony Fauci’s wish came true. Well, one of his wishes. If this were a Genie situation, it wouldn’t make the top three; he’s got other, more important things on his mind than Brad Pitt playing him on SNL. But still, it was a cool moment for the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases — we should all be so lucky as to have Brad Pitt pretend to be us, even from the comfort of his home.

The Oscar winner put on a wig and glasses during this past weekend’s SNL, where he spent much of the cold open responding to President Donald Trump’s “disinformation” about the coronavirus pandemic. “I don’t know if I would describe the test as ‘beautiful,’ unless your idea of beauty is having a cotton swab tickle your brain,” Pitt as Fauci said. “Also, when he said everyone can get a test what he meant was almost no one.”

Fauci was a fan of the impression, telling Telemundo’s Un Nuevo Dia, “I’m a great fan of Brad Pitt, and that’s the reason why when people ask me who I would like to play me, I mention Brad Pitt. He’s one of my favorite actors. I think he did a great job.” He added, “Everything he said on SNL is what’s going on. He did a pretty good job of putting everything together.” Fauci also called the Oscar winner a “classy guy” for his message at the end of the cold open, when he “thanked me and all of the health care workers.”

Fauci called his shot, and now I will, too: if they make a movie about my life, I want to be played by Chris Pine. He’s a perfect fit for the lead role in The Cheeto-Stained Blogger.

(Via Entertainment Weekly)

The long-running feud between Taylor Swift and Kanye West gained some newfound steam last month after the full “Famous” phone call between Kanye and Swift leaked. In the days that followed, multiple parties involved shared their thoughts, and now a producer who worked on “Famous” decided to chime in.

A number of producers contributed to the song, and one of them was Mobb Deep’s Havoc. In a recent interview with Daily Beast, he downplayed the situation and insisted that Swift should probably “chill out”:

“I think artists are artists, and she should really chill out. It’s not that serious. She has an awesome career, and she don’t need to be fighting with another awesome artist. Freedom of speech is alive and well — or should be — and she shouldn’t be going out there complaining about not clearing this He was giving props — it wasn’t like he was trying to diss you. Some people are a little too sensitive for the game, but this is the game that we’re in. There’s no time for soft skin — and I’m not just saying that because she’s a female. Everyone has to display tough skin for this industry since everyone is gonna come at you, and you might like it or you might not.”

Read more from the interview here.

This time last year, Marvel’s Avengers: Endgame had just hit theaters and was already breaking box office records (it would eventually become the highest-grossing movie of all-time, not adjusted for inflation). To celebrate the one-year anniversary of “I love you 3,000,” directors Anthony and Joe Russo took to social media on Monday night for a tweet-along, where they shared behind-the-scenes videos and fun facts about the film. For instance, here’s Brie Larson meeting the cast for the first time (Captain Marvel came out first, but she shot Endgame before making her MCU debut).

The Russos, using their joint Twitter account (Comic Book was hosting the event), also uploaded footage from Robert Downey, Jr.’s last day on set (“The very definition of a legend”) and the final time Chris Evans suited up as Captain America, “ever.”

Later, they shared their “favorite shot” in the movie.

“That long crane shot to find Cap and Peggy in the window… our favorite shot in the movie,” the Russos tweeted, referring to the lovely scene where we see a reunited Steve Rogers and Peggy Carter dancing to “It’s Been a Long, Long Time.” That’s their favorite shot, and this is my new favorite Endgame story, one shared by RDJ on Instagram.

Downey shared an anecdote in which he talked to director Paul Thomas Anderson, who revealed that when he saw Avengers: Endgame he recorded fan reactions in the theater to remind him of “the power of cinema” and the unifying power it has.

It’s fun to imagine the director of There Will Be Blood and The Master losing his shit when Captain America holds Thor’s hammer, and then showing the footage to his wife, Maya Rudolph. The power of the cinema!

(Via the Hollywood Reporter)

Like his TV peers, Jimmy Kimmel has been hosting at-home editions of his show since the coronavirus pandemic forced late-night programs out of their usual studios. This had led to changes in formats for these shows, and while in quarantine, Jimmy Kimmel Live! has introduced a new segment where they name a “healthcare hero” of the week.

On yesterday’s episode, Kimmel spoke with emergency and trauma nurse TJ Riley, from Jacobi Medical Center in The Bronx, New York. It turns out Riley is a big Foo Fighters fan, so Kimmel got Dave Grohl to join his video chat with Riley, which absolutely made the nurse’s day.

Grohl dedicated an acoustic performance of “Everlong” to Riley, and said after the performance, “TJ, thank you so much for everything that you’d done for so many people. It’s much appreciated. And Jimmy, thanks so much for honoring such brilliant people for doing the right thing.”

Before Grohl joined the call, Riley spoke about the situation at his hospital, saying most of the staff is now focused on coronavirus-related medical care. Riley himself contracted the virus, but fortunately came out the other side of it alright after dealing with symptoms for 12 days. He estimated that about 60 percent of his co-workers also contracted the virus. Oh, and Kimmel also teamed up with Life Is Good to give Riley $10,000 and to give gift packages to the other nurses in his department.

Watch Grohl perform “Everlong” above.

Dating is definitely not cancelled. But how does it even work now? Buzzfeed and Bumble are here to show us, and it turns out it’s changed less than you might think.

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Here are your quick and dirty, editorial-free WWE Raw results for April 27, 2020. This week’s episode featured a contract signing between Drew McIntyre and Seth Rollins, a United States Championship match , and more. Make sure you’re here tomorrow for the complete Best and Worst of Raw column.

WWE Raw Results:

1. Apollo Crews, Aleister Black, and Rey Mysterio defeated Andrade, Angel Garza, and Austin Theory. This was set up via a show-opening MVP interview segment. Crews pinned Andrade with a powerbomb. Backstage, Crews slapped Andrade in the face and challenged him to a United States Championship match for later in the show.

– The advertised Nia Jax vs. Shayna Baszler vs. Asuka match ended before it began when Jax hit both women with ladders. When asked about this backstage, Jax said she does whatever she wants and screamed at Charly Caruso.

2. Bobby Lashley defeated Denzel DeJournette with a spear.

3. Liv Morgan defeated Ruby Riott with her finisher, now called “Oblivion.” After the match, Morgan was interviewed and said she has many chapters in her career left, and will figure it out (?).

4. Jinder Mahal defeated Akira Tozawa. Jinder’s won his return to Raw by pinfall with the Khallas.

5. United States Championship Match: Andrade (c) defeated Apollo Crews by ref stoppage when Crews appeared to blow out his knee on a frog splash. Later in the show, Crews left on crutches, crying.

– The Viking Raiders and Street Profits exchanged words in a pair of promos. That match happens next week.

6. Ricochet and Cedric Alexander defeated Ever-Rise with a top rope double-stomp and Flatliner combination.

– MVP is backing Shane Thorne and Brendan Vink, and has set up a rematch between his team and Ricochet and Alexander for next week.

– Seth Rollins and Drew McIntyre signed their contract for Money in the Bank. McIntyre attacked Rollins, and was then attacked by “The Disciple” Murphy. McIntyre laid out Murphy with a Claymore Kick.

With four episodes released and six more to come, ESPN’s The Last Dance documentary is just getting started. With that said, the look behind the scenes at the 1997-98 Chicago Bulls is garnering a massive following and, in addition to simply enjoying the viewing experience every Sunday evening, fans are looking to dive deeper into the content. To that end, individuals can now listen to the soundtrack for the documentary on Spotify and Michael Jordan’s manager and spokesman Estee Portnoy shared the news.

The musical backdrop to the documentary is already drawing rave reviews, from the nostalgia brought upon by the Bulls’ intro music (“Sirius”) from the Alan Parsons Project to all kinds of hits from the 1990s. Still, it is another thing entirely to be able to consume the entire catalog in one place and, in between episodes, this is perhaps the best way to keep people engaged with the product, even while they yearn for the two-hour blocks on Sunday.

Ultimately, it could be argued that the combination of throwback highlights of one of the greatest teams in sports history and top-shelf music is what generates the kind of reactions The Last Dance has been seeing to this point. Still, these are fantastic songs and they can transport people back to the era, even without seeing the images on screen … at least until the fifth and six episodes drop on May 3.

One of the most striking images from World War II is a massive swastika being detonated in Nuremberg, Germany, symbolizing the end of the bloody European conflict. The explosion happened on April 22, 1945, a few weeks before the Nazis surrendered to Ally Forces on May 7, 1945.

The massive marble swastika had huge significance for the Nazis as it overlooked Zeppelintribüne, Adolf Hitler’s most powerful pulpit at the Nazi party rally grounds. The pulpit was located within Zeppelinfeld stadium, which was built in 1934 by Nazi architect Albert Speer.

It was from that pulpit that Hitler delivered venomous anti-Semitic screeds to 200,000 of his Nazi faithful.

Three days before the detonation, the Army’s Third Division invaded the stadium and held an award ceremony honoring five men for their actions of valor by giving them the Medal of Honor. The troops also covered the swastika with a large American flag.

On April 22, American engineers placed demolition charges around the Nazi emblem and blew it to pieces in one of history’s most satisfying moments.

Swastika Blow up, Hakenkreuzsprengung

www.youtube.com

Although the swastika was destroyed, Zeppelinfeld stadium still stands to this day, but it is in an advanced state of decay. From 1947 to 1995, the Nurnberg American High School used the field for soccer and football practice. It has also hosted motor sports events and played host to heavy metal festivals in the ’80s.

via Wikimedia Commons

The stadium is home to a sinister past, but over 250,000 tourists visit the structure every year. Its existence has been the cause of controversy in Germany for decades. Some want it to be preserved for its historical significance while others would like it to return to nature.

Recently, lawmakers came to an agreement to preserve the site at a cost of €85 million ( $95 million). The decision was made to preserve the building because of its historical significance. The building serves as an important reminder of the city’s difficult history.

via Wikimedia Commons

“We won’t rebuild, we won’t restore, but we will conserve,” Julia Lehner, Nuremberg’s chief culture official, told Smithsonian.

“We want people to be able to move around freely on the site. It is an important witness to an era—it allows us to see how dictatorial regimes stage-manage themselves. That has educational value today,” she continued.

Those who forget the past are condemned to repeat it. In a world where conspiracies and Holocaust denial are prevalent, the stadium is undeniable evidence of Nazi atrocities and a reminder to stay forever vigilant against racism.