Tag: Pop Culture

Season 3 of Outer Banks is now on Netflix, and here’s a reminder that you should be watching this ridiculous show

The new season of Outer Banks dropped today on Netflix, and it’s somehow infuriatingly absurd and also a must-watch.

It’s time to head back to the OBX, folks. The third season of Netflix’s drama Outer Banks drops on the streaming platform Thursday and anticipation is high. If you somehow missed the Outer Banks obsession during April of 2020, when everyone binged the Dawson’s-Creek-meets-Uncharted series, it’s time to get on it.

Outer Banks is an absolutely ridiculous, absurd show that will drive you nuts and probably make you angry more than a few times an episode. This is the show that purported you can take a ferry from the Outer Banks to the college town of Chapel Hill, after all.

And I cannot recommend it enough.

As we look forward to whatever glorious nonsense happens this season, let’s take a quick look at the endeavors of the first two seasons to make sure everyone is all caught up with where we left off with John B, JJ, Pope, Kiara and Sarah.

In season one, John B (Chase Stokes), Kiara (Madison Bailey), Pope (J.D.) and JJ (Rudy Pankow) — who go by Pogues, the nickname for locals — are on the hunt for a long lost treasure. The fancy and rich Sarah (Madelyn Cline) joins the crew on this journey as the group uses various maps and knicknacks (mostly left by John B’s missing and mysterious father) to attempt to track down the gobs of gold somewhere out there in the OBX. There’s a lot of drama and intrigue (and a few murders), and we learn Sarah’s dad, Ward (Charles Esten), is bad news in the worst way.

The season ends with a cliffhanger as John B and Sarah head into a storm.

BUT IT’S OK! THEY SURVIVE.

John B and Sarah make their way to the Bahamas to try and steal back the gold bars from Ward, but things go awry. While everyone thinks John B and Sarah are dead, life continues in North Carolina. Pope gets involved in a journey searching for a giant gold cross that has ties to his family lineage in the Outer Banks (and rumored magical healing powers — not joking), and things end up with more murders and Ward faking his own death with a yacht explosion.

After all that, no one got any treasure, and John B’s dad is alive!

If you’re thinking, “Wow this sounds like an absolute mess,” well, you’d be 100 percent correct. You should also stop what you’re doing and immediately watch it. Let IMDb user symmetrymis sell you on it with this flawless review:

IMDb review that reads "My goodness this show is garbage. Beautiful unreal garbage. Everything that happens is unintentionally hilarious. I can't wait for season 3." and gives 5 of 10 stars.

M.O.D.O.K. looked so ugly in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, and that’s entirely the point

The look of this silly character is creating unnecessary controversy.

WARNING: DO NOT READ FURTHER IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN ANT-MAN AND THE WASP: QUANTUMANIA.

(If you haven’t seen it yet, check out our everything you need to know before seeing the movie.)

Ready?

OK.

We already knew that the intimidating Kang the Conqueror would make the villain’s first feature-length appearance in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) during Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. What’s caught some people off guard is the appearance of another famous Marvel villain, M.O.D.O.K.

There were initial reactions to M.O.D.O.K. (short for Mental/Mobile/Mechanized Organism Designed Only for Killing) in a recent trailer for the film, but it was only a short glance. With the latest Ant-Man movie now officially out in the United States, we have a full look at the character, played by Corey Stoll’s Darren Cross — the villain from Ant-Man.

The internet has had some interesting reactions thus far:

Let me chime in on this debate over one of Marvel’s more classic villains.

According to Marvel Database, the M.O.D.O.K. of the comics was originally George Tarleton, a technician who worked for the fictional company A.I.M. (Advanced Idea Mechanics). When Tarleton would join the effort to help create the Cosmic Cube (the Tesseract in the MCU), his boss, Lyle Getz (a.k.a. the Scientist Supreme of A.I.M.) gave him superhuman intellect. As a result, Tarleton’s head grew too big, and he had to be placed in a life support machine entitled the “Doomsday Chair” — which is likely the same gold apparatus Stoll’s interpretation sits in during Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.

The origin story of the M.O.D.O.K from the MCU is a bit more unclear.

After Scott Lang shrinks Darren Cross down to subatomic size during the first Ant-Man movie, he was presumed dead. That couldn’t be further from the case. The reveal that Cross has been turned into M.O.D.O.K. doesn’t provide much backstory other than that his face has been crudely superimposed onto his new body. Oh, and he’s here to help Kang as a weapon of destruction.

And you know what? That’s OK! I don’t know about you, but as someone who watched Marvel cartoons when I was a kid, M.O.D.O.K. was never aesthetically pleasing.

Just look at this monstrosity:

M.O.D.O.K. is a being expressly created for terrorizing and killing (mainly) superheroes. Nothing more. Ever since his origin was concocted by the late Jack Kirby in 1967, he has looked absurd and over-the-top in most interpretations. He’s essentially a giant head with a permanent frown stuffed into a chair. I mean, come on. It’s great!

Could the MCU have potentially put more detail into its interpretation of the villain? Sure! Do I still appreciate that they simply smushed Stoll’s face into the “Doomsday Chair” instead?

Yes, because it’s still in the spirit of M.O.D.O.K. in all his incredibly ugly glory.

Bachelor Ep. 5 recap: Contenders, pretenders and power rankings

Corgis, COVID and UB40.

The Bachelor‘s drama roadshow crossed the pond this week as Zach and the contestants took London by storm. If you were hoping for a lot of Americans saying “cheerio” and using bad British accents, well, you’re in luck.

Despite Greer having a tattoo of a tea cup, Zach chooses Gabi to accompany him on the first one-on-one date in England. Greer took that about as well as you would expect. Zach and Gabi created a fragrance, tried on designer gowns (well, Gabi did) and she got to waltz back into the hotel with arms full of bags on bags of fancy shoes and clothes.

The other women were just thrilled for her. Thrilled. Oh, wait, no, they were fake happy.

The rest of the date was blah blah whatever UB40 SHOWED UP, DEAR READERS! Usually the solo concerts are awkward, and we get a forced, “Oh, I love [insert singer or band literally no one has heard of]” from the contestants. This time, it was the iconic UB40 singing (I Can’t Help) Falling In Love With You. Whatever you do, if you know who UB40 is, don’t Twitter search the band because you’ll feel very, very old.

Things took a turn on the group date as Zach no-showed, saying he was too under the weather to go. The contestants still went on a double-decker bus, where they complained, got rained on and all around had a terrible time.

Turns out, Zach had COVID, although host Jesse Palmer’s delivery was exceedingly dramatic. The cocktail party and rose ceremony were done virtually — the first time in Bachelor history — and Kylee and Mercedes were sent back stateside without a rose.

Let’s get into the contenders, pretenders, those that have work to do and our Top Five.

A ‘Wheel of Fortune’ contestant’s ‘fresh tropical fruit’ blunder cost her a trip to Antigua

This was a devastating mistake to make.

It’s always rough to see Wheel of Fortune mistakes go viral, but this one was especially devastating.

On Monday, during Wheel of Fortune’s Teen Week, one contestant made an unfortunate mistake that cost her a trip to Antigua. The puzzle in question was in the “Food & Drink” category, with the answer ending up to be “fresh tropical fruit”.

After successfully guessing “H” at the end of the first word to bring the puzzle down to just one letter, the contestant then guessed “G” instead of “S” to make the answer “fregh tropical fruit”. Given that it’s Teen Week, it’s hard to be angry at the incorrect guess since getting up on stage and going on national television is quite the ask for any teenager.

Just a real unfortunate mistake all around.

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17 words to mute to avoid spoilers for Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania

Don’t want Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania spoiled? We’re here to help!

The new Marvel Cinematic Universe entry has arrived as Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania has hit theaters nationwide. The first in Phase Five and the third Paul Rudd-led Ant-Man movie sets the tone for the next Thanos-level threat by introducing Jonathan Majors as Kang the Conquerer.

As is always the case with popular releases — particularly MCU content — the spoiler risk is real, especially on Twitter. Because we love you and are here to help, we’ve compiled a list of potential things that could be spoilers for Quantumania.

Please note the inclusion of any topics does not mean that they’re in the movie, we’re just trying to help you go in with a blank slate.

  • Paul Rudd
  • Jonathan Majors
  • Ant-Man
  • Kang
  • Kang the Conquerer
  • Ant-Man and the Wasp
  • Quantumania
  • Michelle Pfeiffer
  • MODOK
  • Loki
  • Bill Murray
  • Fantastic Four
  • Fantastic 4
  • Darren Cross
  • Hank Pym
  • Council of Kangs
  • Multiverse

Steven Spielberg gives Tom Cruise and ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ the highest compliment ahead of the Oscars

A reminder that we need to see Steven Spielberg and Tom Cruise work together again.

You can count one of the greatest directors of all time as a fan of Top Gun: Maverick, the high-flying action drama starring Tom Cruise that dominated theaters last summer.

Steven Spielberg caught up with Cruise at this year’s Oscar nominees luncheon earlier this week. In an exchange between the former collaborators caught on camera — see below — Spielberg tells Cruise that he “saved Hollywood’s [butt]” with Maverick.

“And you might have saved theatrical distribution,” Spielberg tells Cruise. “Seriously, ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ might have saved the entire theatrical industry.”

Maverick was just the second film released amid the pandemic to gross more than $1 billion at the worldwide box office, joining the exclusive company of Spider-Man: No Way Home. And in the domestic box office, Maverick is the fifth-highest grossing film of all-time, topping $718 million. It’s the only non-Marvel and non-Avatar film in the top five.

Unlike the third installment of the third Spider-Man series, Maverick has been nominated for multiple Academy Awards, hence Cruise’s presence at the awards luncheon. In addition to starring in the film, Cruise is also credited as a producer.

Cruise and Spielberg’s films are both competing at this year’s Oscars. Both Maverick and Spielberg’s semi-autobiographical film The Fabelmans are nominated for Best Picture. The Fabelmans is up for six other awards – including Judd Hirsch for Best Supporting Actor – while Maverick is nominated for five others, including sound, editing, original song, visual effects, and adapted screenplay.

Despite great performances by Cruise, and co-stars Glen Powell and Miles Teller, Maverick didn’t land any nominations for acting. Cruise has never won an acting Oscar, but would be credited with a win as a producer should Maverick win Best Picture. Cruise was last nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in 2000’s Magnolia. Though, we all think he should’ve at least been nominated for pulling off this insane stunt in Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation.

Spielberg and Cruise haven’t worked together on a film since 2005’s War of the Worlds. Before that, they also teamed up for 2002’s Minority Report. Perhaps we’ll see them work on another film together if Cruise can take a break from death-defying stunts in Mission Impossible sequels.

The Bachelor 2023 recap: Contenders, pretenders and power rankings after ep. 4

The crew went to the Bahamas and the drama followed.

Week four of Zach Shallcross’s journey to find Forever Love hit the road, taking the ladies to the Bahamas for some fun in the sun. By fun, we of course mean ridiculous drama and a lot of pastel-toned clothes.

Cat got the one-on-one, and Zach took her on a pretty sweet boat date. There was swimming, kissing and SO MUCH sunscreen application.

The group date saw Zach and the ladies go to a beach-side party with conch fritters, lobsters, limbo and — you guessed it — drama. Kylee and Anastasia had some disagreements bubble over into the evening portion of the date, leading to

Brooklyn, our voice of reason from last week’s drama with Christina Mandrell, was rewarded with the second one-on-one date of the episode. After some ATV riding, Brooklyn shared her devastating history of escaping a domestic violence situation.

The cocktail party hadn’t even begun before Zach decided it was time to send Anastasia packing, and two more women — Genevie and Davia — went home.

Let’s get into the contenders, pretenders, those that have work to do and our Top Five.

Justina Miles’ ASL performance of Rihanna’s Super Bowl halftime show will have you hyped all over again

Find someone who had more fun during halftime than Miles. You can’t.

Chances are you’re still replaying Rihanna’s incredible Super Bowl 57 halftime show in your head even after getting a full night of rest.

This is completely understandable. RiRi’s first performance since 2018 absolutely lived up to the hype and then some — not the least of all because she took the stage while pregnant.

But arguably no one had more fun during the show than Justina Miles, a 20-year-old deaf American Sign Language performer from Philadelphia who got to sign Rihanna’s performance as well as the Black national anthem “Lift Every Voice and Sing” alongside Sheryl Lee Ralph.

That right there is pure and infectious joy.

Speaking to the media before her Super Bowl debut, Miles said she was thrilled not only to perform alongside Rihanna, but also Abbott Elementary star Ralph during the pregame show while providing a moment of visibility for the Black deaf community.

“To really bring that empowerment to millions and millions of Black deaf people all over the country who’ve never really seen that before. I feel that is truly lifting every voice, even my voice.” Miles said via an interpreter.

As for the halftime show, Miles just wanted to make sure those following along in ASL had as much fun as she did.

“I value the opportunity to make it possible for all deaf people to enjoy these songs, and not have them miss out on the full Super Bowl experience,” Miles said.

As clips of Miles from Sunday continue to go viral, it’s obvious she did just that.

Is Rihanna pregnant? Her rep has an answer after Super Bowl halftime show speculation

Rihanna stunned during the Super Bowl halftime show but left fans wondering if she’s expecting.

Rihanna absolutely stunned with her gravity-defying Super Bowl 57 halftime performance Sunday at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.

The halftime show was highly anticipated not only because she’s obviously exceptional — or because it almost always is regardless — but also because this was her first performance since the Grammy Awards in 2018. And she delivered quite a show with a medley of some of her greatest hits, including “Rude Boy,” “Work,” “Run This Town” and “Umbrella.”

But her halftime performance also led to some intense internet speculation about whether or not the superstar is pregnant.

Rihanna is dating rapper A$AP Rocky, and she gave birth to their son last May. And following her Super Bowl performance, The Hollywood Reporter said a representative confirmed that she is, in fact, pregnant.

So if you had a feeling Rihanna is expecting again, you were right!

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Rihanna rocked the Super Bowl halftime show with no guests, and fans loved it

No Jay-Z? No Drake? No problem. We got Rhianna.

Rihanna’s Super Bowl 57 halftime show was ridiculously awesome.

She started on platform high above the field — in a scene that sort of resembled a Super Smash Bros. map — rapping and singing along to “[Expletive] Better Have My Money” as she descended down into the stadium. For our money, the show was pretty great.

And when you have a performer like Rihanna — who took the stage live for the first time in seven years — who needs guest features?

Usually — like Dr. Dre last year — the Super Bowl halftime show performer comes along with a few guests.

But this year? Rihanna did it all on her own, save for a backup band and what seemed like a few hundred dancers.

There was no Drake, no Jay-Z, no Young Jeezy and no Kanye West on stage in Arizona, despite Rihanna performing songs that had those rappers featured in them on the original tracks.

And fans were just fine with that. Rihanna owned the stage and delivered.