A song John Mayer recorded back in 2012 is apparently being made into a movie … at least according to John.
As previously reported, Mayer did a livestream benefit concert from Livingtson, Montana, Sunday night to raise money for flood relief efforts in that area and played his 2012 album, Born and Raised, in its entirety. According to Moviemaker, after he played the song “Walt Grace’s Submarine Test, 1967,” he said, “I wanna say one thing that might get me in trouble, ’cause that’s what I do. That song is soon to be a major motion picture.”
He added, “It’s true. It’s gonna be a movie.” The song is about a man who builds a homemade submarine and travels across the ocean, eventually making it to Tokyo.
As Moviemaker notes, two years ago people on Reddit discovered there was an IMDB entry for a film of that name. Writer and director Justin Wheelon then hopped onto the Reddit thread and confirmed that the movie was in preproduction but had been put on hold because of COVID. He added that he hoped to cast actor Joel Murray as Walt.
The IMDB page doesn’t appear to have been updated since.
(PARKLAND, Fla.) — The attorney for Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz presented her opening statement to the jury on Monday, arguing for Cruz’s life to be spared during the penalty phase of his trial.
The jury will determine if Cruz will be sentenced to death for shooting and killing 14 students and three staff members at his former South Florida school, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, on Feb. 14, 2018. The jury’s decision must be unanimous for the death penalty. Cruz pleaded guilty last year to 17 counts of first-degree murder and 17 counts of attempted first-degree murder.
Defense attorney said in her opening statement that Cruz is responsible for the massacre, adding that “there is no defense to these crimes.”
However, she said, “We must understand the person behind the crime.”
“Some people say that the crime itself is enough to impose sentence. You are not those people. Those people that said the sentence can be imposed based solely on the crime were excused [during jury selection],” she told the jurors. “Each one of you said that life without the possibility of parole could be a severe enough punishment for those crimes.”
McNeill alleged that Cruz suffered lifelong developmental delays that traced back to fetal alcohol spectrum disorders.
Cruz’s birth mother was a drug and alcohol addict who drank and used drugs up until six weeks before Cruz was born, McNeill said. Cruz was “poisoned in the womb” and his “brain was irretrievably broken,” she said.
Cruz was adopted at birth by Linda Cruz, a 48-year-old Parkland woman. Cruz’s adoptive father was 62 years old, McNeill said.
Nikolas Cruz saw a psychiatrist for the first time at age 3 and the doctor called him a challenging child, McNeill said.
The Broward County School Board classified Nikolas Cruz as “developmentally delayed in all areas” and said he had “a language impairment,” McNeill noted. The district classified him as an “ESE” student, or a special needs child, she said.
“We don’t excuse the horrific acts of damaged and wounded people — we punish them,” McNeill said. “But we take into consideration their damage when we impose sentence.”
Victims’ parents, including Fred Guttenberg and Max Schachter, sat in court as McNeill spoke.
In prosecutor Mike Satz’s opening statement last month, he described the shooting as a “planned, systematic … mass murder.”
Satz said, “Three days before the massacre, Cruz made a video saying, ‘My name is Nik. I’m going to be the next school shooter of 2018. My goal is at least 20 people with an AR-15 and some tracer rounds. It’s gonna be a big event and when you see me on the news you’ll know who I am. You’re all gonna die. … I can’t wait.'”
The victims’ families took the stand earlier this month to provide victim impact statements.
Dr. Ilan Alhadeff, whose 14-year-old daughter Alyssa was among the 17 killed, said a piece of his heart was “ripped out of my damn chest.”
“I get to watch my friends, my neighbors, colleagues, spend time enjoying their daughters, all the normal milestones,” he said. “I can only watch videos or go to the cemetery to see my daughter.”
“To me, it was yesterday,” Ilan Alhadeff said of his daughter’s death. “Alyssa will always be 14.”
(NEW YORK) — Cervical cancer is usually caused by human papillomavirus, a sexually transmitted infection so common nearly all sexually active men and women will get the virus in their lifetime, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Despite a widely available vaccine that prevents most types of HPV and available screening that allows early detection and treatment, rates of advanced cervical cancer have increased over the last two decades, according to a new study from the University of California Los Angeles.
The CDC reports that 13,000 new cases of cervical cancer are diagnosed annually in the U.S., taking 4,000 lives a year. Though advanced cervical cancer is a rare form of this disease, it has a five-year survival rate of only 17%.
Researchers at UCLA analyzed data from 2001 to 2018 using the United States Cancer Statistics program and showed that late-stage cervical cancer is more prevalent in Black and Hispanic women, compared to their white peers. White women, however, have seen the steepest annual rise in rates of this advanced cancer and the lowest rates of HPV vaccinations were found among white teens.
Specifically, white women in the South ages 40-44 have the highest rise in advanced cervical cancer rates (4.5%) per year and were also found to be significantly less likely to have cervical cancer screening done on time.
Dr. Jessica Shepherd, board-certified OBGYN and chief medical officer of Verywell Health, told ABC News these findings are “a bit shocking.” She pointed to the need for more cervical cancer screening and HPV vaccinations, saying men and women have a shared responsibility to get vaccinated and stop the spread of HPV.
“I think for women, you know, we are all in this together. Our goal really should be to fortify the health of every woman,” said Shepherd.
Two doses of the HPV vaccine separated by six to 12 months can be given to kids starting at age 9, long before encountering the virus, according to the CDC. Both safe and effective, HPV vaccines were first used in the U.S. in 2006. Since then, the CDC says infections and HPV types that cause genital warts and cancer have dropped 88%.
“Men are actually going to be very, a very big part of how that virus is transmitted and sexually transmitted. So, I think that they are a very big part of the vaccination process in order to decrease it across the board,” said Shepherd.
Women should have cervical cancer screening using a PAP test that is done in a clinical setting in routine intervals starting at age 21 that may be coupled with HPV testing, according to the CDC.
Shepherd added, “I believe that this is a moment where there should be a call to action to really drive the importance of regular screening, testing.”
Jade A Cobern, MD, board-eligible in pediatrics and MPH candidate, is a part of the ABC News Medical Unit and general preventive medicine resident at Johns Hopkins.
(ATLANTA) — Three people have been shot in an “active situation” in Atlanta’s Midtown neighborhood, Atlanta police said.
Officers are searching for the shooter, police said.
Police advised residents to stay off the streets in Midtown, specifically near 12th Street and Peachtree Street NE and 15th Street and W. Peachtree Street NW.
Additional information was not immediately available.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(NOTE LANGUAGE) There has been speculation for a while that Brie Larson would be the next Marvel movie star to cross over into that galaxy far, far away, and a new social media post just reignited that rumor.
In a series of pictures, the Oscar winner and Captain Marvel star had her ‘do done up in a very particular way.
“Are space buns my new everyday look?” she asked her 7 million Instagram followers and 3 million Twitter friends, making reference to her hair tied up in small but still very Princess Leia-like buns.
Larson’s name has been swirling around the Star Wars orbit since 2019, when she took a picture wearing Jedi robes and with a lightsaber in hand next to a statue of C-3PO. “Did somebody say Star Wars?” she asked.
What’s more, she told Entertainment Weekly back in 2019 that her Captain Marvel and Kong: Skull Island co-star Samuel L. Jackson was more than eager to help her nerd out by letting her hold his Star Wars character Mace Windu’s unique purple saber.
“He brought it to me on set on May the 4th, and I cried,” she enthused. “It was so cool. I wanna be a Jedi.”
Incidentally, not is it the only lightsaber to have a purple blade in the movies, it’s also the only one to have “Bad Motherf**ker” inscribed on it, according to the Pulp Fiction star.
Larson was at one point rumored to play Mara Jade, Luke Skywalker’s Jedi wife, but more recently she was also linked to a different role in the upcoming Disney+ series The Acolyte.
So is her “space buns” post confirming anything, or just a bit of hirsute hijinks?
As Yoda says, “Always difficult to see, the future is.”
We’ll get the full song on Friday, but we now have our first taste of “Hold Me Closer,” the collaboration between Elton John and Britney Spears.
On TikTok, Elton posted a 14-second snippet of the song, which features Britney’s voice singing the chorus of Elton’s 1972 hit “Tiny Dancer” — “Hold me closer tiny dancer/count the headlines on the highway” — paired with Elton’s original vocal over a dance beat, with some “woo-hoos” in the middle.
The song has a vibe similar to Elton’s 2021 hit “Cold Heart,” which featured Elton’s original vocals from his 1989 song “Sacrifice,” paired with Dua Lipa singing the chorus of his 1972 hit “Rocket Man” and part of his 1983 single “Kiss the Bride.”
“Hold Me Closer” is Britney’s first new music since the end of her conservatorship and, indeed, since 2016.
Zac Brown Band has added a very special Music City show to its tour calendar. The group will play Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium on September 22 for an intimate, one-of-a-kind concert experience.
The show will be extra meaningful because a portion of the proceeds are set to benefit Hop on a Cure, a foundation to help fund research for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS. The effort was established by band member John Driskell “Hop” Hopkins, who opened up earlier this year about his ALS diagnosis.
“Playing in Nashville, my home away from home, is always something special,” frontman Zac Brown says of the upcoming show. “This particular one is meaningful because we’re raising awareness and funds for one of our very own through Hop on a Cure.”
He adds that the band has been feeling the support from fans ever since they announced John’s diagnosis. “We see all the love and support Hop has received thus far so we’re gonna bring the house down and show folks a good time in appreciation,” Zac adds.
Tickets go on sale Friday, but members of ZBB’s “Zamily” fan club will have access to a special presale beginning Tuesday.
Rapper Fetty Wappleaded guilty on Monday in a New York federal court to conspiracy to distribute and possess controlled substances.
The hip-hop star, born Willie Junior Maxwell II, was indicted in September 2021 for allegedly conspiring to distribute heroin and fentanyl in Long Island.
He now faces a five-year mandatory minimum sentence and remains in custody after his bond was revoked earlier this month.
Maxwell initially pleaded not guilty to the charges. He was released on a $500,000 bond on November 5, 2021, but was arrested in New Jersey on August 8 on charges he violated the conditions of his pretrial release.
The rapper displayed a gun and threatened to kill “John Doe” during a December 11, 2021, FaceTime call, according to federal prosecutors.
The FBI obtained a video recording of the call in which Fetty Wap “is shown holding a gun and pointing it towards John Doe,” according to the affidavit.
“The defendant then says to John Doe ‘Imma kill you and everybody you with,’ which he then repeats one more time. The defendant then continues to threaten John Doe, saying ‘I’m gonna kill you,’ a threat which he repeats several more times throughout the video call,” the affidavit said.
ABC News has reached out to the rapper’s representatives but a request for comment was not immediately returned.
A new album titled Let’s Live for Today featuring updated versions of well-known songs by the veteran pop-rock group The Grass Roots will be released on September 9.
The 15-track collection features vocals by longtime Grass Roots lead singer and bassist Rob Grill that were recorded in 1997, 14 years before his 2011 death from complications of a stroke at age 67.
The album boasts renditions of such late 1960s and early ’70s hits as “Let’s Live for Today,” “Midnight Confessions,” “Sooner or Later,” “I’d Wait a Million Years” and “Temptation Eyes.”
The record also features contributions from MC5 guitarist Wayne Kramer, as well as veteran garage rockers The Fuzztones, Texas psychedelic act Night Beats, Canadian alt-country group Dead Ghosts, Danish/Brazilian retro-rock duo The Courettes and British electronic duo The KVB.
Kramer play on one of three versions of “Midnight Confessions” that appear on the album. The Courettes lent their talents to the lead track, “Wait a Million Years,” which has been released as an advance digital single.
“Wait a Million Years” (The Courettes Mix)
“Midnight Confessions” — featuring Wayne Kramer
“Let’s Live for Today” (The Fuzztones Mix)
“Temptation Eyes” (Night Beats Mix)
“Sooner or Later” (Dead Ghosts Mix)
“Bella Linda”
“Heaven Knows”
“Midnight Confessions” (The KVB Mix)
“Things I Should Have Said”
“Sooner or Later”
“Wait a Million Years”
“Temptation Eyes”
“Let’s Live for Today”
“Midnight Confessions”
Fans apparently took the AMC show’s titular advice and called Saul.
Last week’s finale of Better Call Saul drew 2.7 million viewers for AMC, on both the cable network and its streaming service, AMC+. The final episode of the Bob Odenkirk-led, multiple Emmy-nominee show was the most-watched episode on AMC since the season 3 finale on June 19, 2017.
The 2.7 million number represented Nielsen Live+3 ratings, meaning people who watched the show live, and those who recorded it and watched within three days of its on-air premiere.
What’s more, AMC points out that Better Call Saul’s audience grew 70% with every successive episode this final season since its start on April 18, and the last show had some 24 million engagements on social media.
Better Call Saul ended its run as the third-most-watched cable drama for this season, behind only Yellowstone and The Walking Dead, the latter of which also airs on AMC.
The show heads into September’s Emmy Awards with seven nominations, including Outstanding Drama, and respective Outstanding Actor and Supporting Actress noms for Odenkirk and Rhea Seehorn, who plays Kim Wexler, the lawyer love interest to the actor’s attorney Saul Goodman.
In a celebratory statement, AMC Studios President Dan McDermott thanked the fans for watching and the creators of the show, saying in part, “We are so proud to have been the home of Better Call Saul for all these years and unforgettable seasons. Now we put this series up on the mantel as a reminder of the excellence we all aspire to every day.”
