Alt-J has released a new song called “Get Better,” a track off the band’s upcoming album The Dream.
Frontman Joe Newmandescribes “Get Better” as a “union of two songs.”
“The first an improvised song from 2018 I sang to my partner who was suffering from period pain,” Newman shares. “The second was a chord structure I worked on in lockdown that focused on someone living through a bereavement.”
“The context of the pandemic lent my words a chilling weight and gave me a new sense of responsibility as a lyricist,” he says. “Whilst the direct events described are fictional, I believe — or I hope — that it’s emotionally the most honest song I’ve written.”
You can download “Get Better” now via digital outlets. The Dream, which also features the previously released single “U&ME,” will be released February 11, 2022.
Alt-J will hit the road in support of The Dream on a tour with Portugal. the Man starting February 25 in Pittsburgh.
Fans will be able to go behind the scenes with the likes of Keith Urban, Luke Bryan and Lady A ahead of the 2021 CMA Awards. ABC just announced a special lineup of pre-awards show programming, including “Backstage Pass: Countdown to the CMA Awards.”
Airing Monday, November 8 from 10:00PM-11:00PM EST, the special will follow Keith, Luke, Lady A, Jimmie Allen, Lauren Alaina and Carly Pearce for one week of life on the road. Over the course of the show, fans will get a first-hand glimpse into the artists’ lives as they navigate their returns to tour life.
Filmed across 24 cities and 168 hours, the special will share behind-the-scenes moments as the artists themselves prepare to converge in Nashville, getting ready for the CMA Awards ceremony. All the featured acts have exciting plans for the CMAs, including performances and nominations. Luke is set to host this year’s show.
The CMAs are set for November 10; they’ll air from Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena beginning at 8:00PM EST on ABC.
Amazon has released the first trailer for Tracy Oliver‘s upcoming series, Harlem.
Set in Harlem, New York, the comedy follows a group of “stylish and ambitious best girlfriends,” who are navigating the “next phase of their careers, relationships, and big city dreams.” The star-studded cast includes Meagan Good, Grace Byers, Shoniqua Shandai, Jerrie Johnson and Tyler Lepley. Whoopi Goldberg, Jasmine Guy and Andrea Martin, among others, are scheduled to make guest appearances throughout the season. Harlem premieres Friday, December 3, on Prime Video.
In other news, the final trailer for Denzel Washington‘s upcoming romantic drama A Journal for Jordan has been released.
Directed by Washington and starring Michael B. Jordan, the film is based on Dana Canedy‘s New York Times best-selling memoir of the same name. It’s inspired by Canedy’s love affair with First Sergeant Charles Monroe King, who was killed in Iraq in 2006, when his son, Jordan, was just seven months old. The story centers on the journal King left behind for his son, filled with important life lessons. As previously reported, A Journal for Jordan will play in limited release on December 10 in New York and Los Angeles and then go to wide theatrical release on December 22.
Finally, ICYMI, HBO has renewed Issa Rae‘s Sweet Life: Los Angeles for a second season. As previously reported, the unscripted series follows a group of young adults who navigate their careers, love lives, and more in L.A. as they try to make their dreams come true. Season one, which debuted in August, is currently available to stream on HBO Max.
Ridloff as Makkari and Barry Keoghan as Druig/Marvel Studios
Lauren Ridloff may play a super-speedy, Deviant-fighting immortal named Makkari in Marvel’s Eternals, but her storyline is more human than alien.
The Tony-nominated actress, who is making history as the first deaf superhero in the MCU and is deaf herself, opened up to Good Morning America about what this role means to her — especially after she saw an ad for the movie in New York City’s Times Square.
Ridloff, who signed during the interview, as her character does in the movie, said seeing the trailer on a platform that big was “really overwhelming,” and she “started to realize the impact that this film is going to have.” She wanted to tell her own story in the role and hopes people connected to it — “whether they’re deaf, hard of hearing, Black, Mexican [or] women,” she said.
“It’s such an honor to be a part of a film like this where there’s a ton of us,” she added. “We’re so diverse and I think that a lot of people will feel seen.”
Eternals, directed by Oscar-winner Chloé Zhao, features a large ensemble cast including Angelina Jolie, Salma Hayek, Gemma Chan, Richard Madden, Kumail Nanjiani, Lia McHugh, Brian Tyree Henry, Barry Keoghan, Don Lee, Harish Patel and Kit Harington, along with Ridloff.
Ridloff recounted a scene in which Zhao wanted to make a sonic boom sound on the set to depict how fast her character was moving and, when the assistant director offered her a pair of earplugs, she said she didn’t need them.
“It’s not always a challenge [being deaf] and sometimes it can be helpful,” she explained. “That’s a perfect moment of deaf gain.”
(WASHINGTON) — As House Democrats on Wednesday surprisingly moved to add paid family leave back into the $1.75 trillion social spending and climate policy bill — word came that none other than Meghan Markle was lobbying senators on the issue — personally.
In what might show that she’s clued into congressional politics, she didn’t go after West Virginia Democrat Joe Manchin — who doesn’t support including family leave in the spending bill — but made calls to Republicans, trying to get their votes instead.
Markle, the mother of two young children, including a daughter born in June, phoned Manchin’s West Virginia colleague, Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, who said she first thought it was Manchin, because the caller ID was blocked, in a story first reported by Politico.
“I’m in my car. I’m driving. It says ‘caller ID blocked’,” the senator recounted, details confirmed by her spokesman. “I thought it was Senator Manchin. His calls come in blocked. And she goes, ‘Senator Capito?’ I said, ‘Yes?’ She said, ‘This is Meghan, the duchess of Sussex.'”
Markle then called another, more moderate, Republican — Susan Collins of Maine — who was in the gym at the time and also thought it was Manchin on the phone, according to a source familiar with the matter.
The duchess once again pitched paid family leave, Collins said.
“Much to my surprise, she called me on my private line and she introduced herself as the duchess of Sussex, which is kind of ironic,” Collins added.
“I was happy to talk with her, but I’m more interested in what the people of Maine are telling me about it,” she said.
Last month, Markle, who now lives in the California with Prince Harry and their two children — Lilibet Mountbatten-Windsor and Archie Mountbatten-Windsor — posted a letter to Congress on the website PaidLeaveforAll.org advocating for paid family leave in the U.S.
“I’m not an elected official, and I’m not a politician. I am, like many, an engaged citizen and a parent. And because you and your congressional colleagues have a role in shaping family outcomes for generations to come, that’s why I’m writing to you at this deeply important time—as a mom—to advocate for paid leave,” Markle wrote.
In the letter, she describes how hard her family worked to provide for her growing up and how the pandemic has pushed millions of women out of the workforce.
“Over the past 20 months, the pandemic has exposed long-existing fault lines in our communities. At an alarming rate, millions of women dropped out of the workforce, staying home with their kids as schools and daycares were closed, and looking after loved ones full-time,” she wrote. “The working mom or parent is facing the conflict of being present or being paid. The sacrifice of either comes at a great cost.”
Markle acknowledged that she and her family in no way face the same challenges other families do when it comes to raising a family.
“Like any parents, we were overjoyed. Like many parents, we were overwhelmed,” Markle wrote, recalling the moment she brought home her newborn daughter. “Like fewer parents, we weren’t confronted with the harsh reality of either spending those first few critical months with our baby or going back to work. We knew we could take her home, and in that vital (and sacred) stage, devote any and everything to our kids and to our family. We knew that by doing so we wouldn’t have to make impossible choices about childcare, work, and medical care that so many have to make every single day.”
Markle noted that, unlike the U.S., most other nations already have paid leave policies for all workers.
“Many other countries have robust programs that give months of time for both parents (birth or adoptive) to be home with their child. The United States, in stark contrast, does not federally guarantee any person a single day of paid leave. And fewer than one in four workers has dedicated paid family leave through their employer. I’m sure you agree that if we are to continue to be exceptional, then we can’t be the exception.”
ABC News’ Hannah Demissie contributed to this report.
As fans eagerly wait the December release of HBO Max’s Sex and the City follow-up series And Just Like That…, Airbnb is giving them a chance to get their Carrie on.
That is to say, Sarah Jessica Parker herself has teamed up with the lodge-sharing company to let two people — along with a “plus-one” each — stay for a night in a recreation of Carrie Bradshaw’s famous SATC apartment.
The two, single-night stays will be available on Nov. 12 and 13 for only $23; details and photos can be found on the website.
The lucky guests get to raid Carrie’s closet, including her beloved shoe collection and that Patricia Field tutu SJP wore in the show’s opening credits. Just watch out for bus puddles.
Those lucky enough to snag the limited stays will also receive a styling session and a photo shoot, plus cosmos (naturally) and a video greeting from Parker herself.
“The Carrie Bradshaw character is near and dear to my heart, and revisiting her world for the continuation of the Sex and the City story has been such a joy,” said Parker in a statement. “I’m excited for our audience to experience Carrie’s New York like never before and walk in her shoes, quite literally, for the first time.”
A new mini-documentary about the creation of the limited “333 Edition” vinyl version of Paul McCartney‘s latest solo album, 2020’s McCartney III, has premiered at the Third Man Records label’s official YouTube channel.
To created the limited-edition LP, Third Man Records — the label co-founded by White Stripes frontman Jack White — melted down crushed-up copies of the former Beatles legend’s 1970 debut album, McCartney, and his 1980 studio effort, McCartney II. As its name suggests, only 333 copies of the McCartney III “333 Edition” LP were produced.
The five-minute video features black-and-white clips of Sir Paul working on McCartney III combined with footage of the vinyl LPs being created, as well as interviews with Third Man co-founder Ben Swank and respected Rolling Stone journalist Rob Sheffield.
Sheffield discusses how McCartney recorded the new album during the COVID-19 lockdown and envisioned it as the third installment of a trilogy, along with McCartney and McCartney II. As previously reported, Paul wrote, recorded and produced all three albums almost entirely by himself.
Explaining the idea behind the creation of the limited McCartney III LP, Swank notes, “When I started discussing this with Paul’s manager, he said, ‘Let’s destroy the old to make the new.'”
Near the end of the video, Swank says, “I hope that the philosophical idea of something new growing out of something old, a metaphorical rebirth, as well as a physical rebirth for this vinyl, I hope that comes through to people. Maybe you can’t hear it, but it’s there.”
In addition to the “333 Edition” of McCartney III, Third Man created a “3333 Edition” pressed on yellow-and-black splatter vinyl that was released released exclusively to independent record stores, limited to 3,333 copies worldwide.
Two-time Oscar winner Tom Hanks appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Wednesday night, and was asked if it were true that he was offered William Shatner‘s seat to space first before the Star Trek legend signed on for the voyage.
“Well yeah, provided I paid,” Hanks said sarcastically.
Shatner’s pricey seat aboard Jeff Bezos‘ New Shepard spacecraft last month was evidently donated. That was not the case for Hanks, Tom revealed.
“It costs like 28 million bucks or something like that,” the actor said. “I’m doing good, Jimmy…But, I ain’t paying 28 [million] bucks!”
The Apollo 13 star has pretended to go to space before, so he demonstrated a much more economical way to experience the New Shepard flight.
“You know what, we could simulate the experience of going to space right now. It’s about a 12-minute flight? Is that about it?,” Hanks asked, before miming the vibrations of the launch and then weightlessness from his chair on Kimmel’s set.
“Whoa! This is fabulous!” he exclaimed, then added, “What? Get back in [my seat]? OK.”
Hanks admitted that he’d go through the flight for free, if it were possible just to see “what it was like to be a billionaire.”
The actor did get serious, however, when asked about the death of his longtime friend and former Bosom Buddies co-star Peter Scolari, who died from cancer on October 22.
“I’ll miss him every day,” Hanks said, adding, “I don’t know how many people truly do change your lives when you crossed paths with them,” expressing that Scolari was one of those people.
Their chemistry was undeniable, Hanks said, noting, “We were molecularly connected.”
After Kimmel screened a scene from a 1981 Bosom Buddies episode, Hanks got choked up thanking the host for playing it.
(NEW YORK) — As the COVID-19 pandemic has swept the globe, more than 5 million people have died from the disease worldwide, including over 748,000 Americans, according to real-time data compiled by Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering.
Just 67.9% of Americans ages 12 and up are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Nov 03, 2:46 pm
Colorado now has its highest hospitalization rate since December
Health officials in Colorado are growing increasingly concerned as the state’s daily case rate has more than doubled in the last month.
Nearly 200 COVID-19 patients are being admitted to hospitals each day — the highest number of people seeking care since December 2020, according to federal data.
There are currently more than 1,300 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 across Colorado, the majority of whom — 80% — are unvaccinated, according to state data.
With the statewide hospital capacity falling under 10%, Gov. Jared Polis has signed a “particularly urgent” executive order that would permit the state’s health department to order hospitals to transfer or stop admitting patients after reaching or nearing capacity.
Federal data show just 61.7% of the state’s total population is fully vaccinated.
-ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos
Nov 03, 1:31 pm
Aaron Rodgers tests positive
Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers has tested positive for COVID-19 and will miss this Sunday’s game against the Kansas City Chiefs, ESPN reported, citing a source.
The NFL considers Rodgers unvaccinated, ESPN reported. Coach Matt LeFleur did not confirm Rodgers’ vaccination status when he addressed reporters Wednesday.
LeFleur said he’s not sure if Rodgers has symptoms.
-ABC News’ Will Gretsky
Disney is the parent company of ABC News and ESPN.
Nov 03, 1:05 pm
LA mayor tests positive
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti has tested positive for COVID-19, his office said.
Garcetti, who is in Glasgow, Scotland, for COP26, “is feeling good and isolating in his hotel room,” his office said.
The mayor is fully vaccinated, his office added.
Mayor Garcetti tested positive for COVID-19 earlier today.
He is feeling good and isolating in his hotel room. He is fully vaccinated.
Nov 03, 12:26 pm
US death toll forecast to approach 775,000 by Thanksgiving weekend
The COVID-19 Forecast Hub at UMass Amherst, which is used by the CDC, predicts about 15,000 more Americans will die from COVID-19 over the next two weeks. This would bring the nation’s death toll to about 774,100 by Nov. 27, which is the Saturday after Thanksgiving.
A person reaches out to touch a panel of the COVID Memorial Quilt, part of a project by…Read More
The ensemble model estimates that 13 states and territories have a greater than 50% chance of seeing more deaths over the next two weeks compared to the previous two weeks.
-ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos
Nov 03, 11:37 am
Biden to label COVID an occupational hazard for workers
The Biden administration is finalizing details on an emergency rule compelling companies to mandate employee vaccinations or regular tests.
This would be the first time Washington has set a federal safety standard for the workplace that regards a respiratory virus as an occupational hazard outside the health care sector.
Industry groups have pushed for a 60-day waiting period so enforcement of the rule doesn’t take effect until after the holidays.
-ABC News’ Anne Flaherty
Nov 03, 10:04 am
Case rates falling in the South
Case rates are falling in the South, according to federal data.
In Florida, which was reporting high transmission in every county during the summer, is now only reporting high transmission in two of its 67 counties. Cases in Louisiana, Georgia, Texas and Mississippi are also improving.
Although new fatalities are down by approximately 36.4% since mid-September, when about 1,800 deaths were reported daily, the death toll still remains high, with nearly 1,200 deaths reported each day.
Nov 03, 9:04 am
Don’t give kids pain reliever before vaccine, CDC says
The CDC has updated its website urging parents of children ages 5 and older to get the vaccine “as soon as you can.”
The CDC is also reminding parents not to give kids a pain reliever before the vaccination to try to mitigate side effects. The CDC says pain relievers prior to a shot are not recommended because it’s not known how it might affect the vaccine.
Instead, the agency urges parents to talk to their doctor about a non-aspirin pain reliever after the shot if needed.
In general, the CDC also recommends that people who have recovered from COVID-19 still get the shot. (Waiting 90 days is only necessary if the person received monoclonal antibodies.)
Nov 03, 8:24 am
CDC director: ‘We’ve taken the time to get this right’
“We’ve taken the time to get this right,” CDC director Rochelle Walensky told “Good Morning America” Wednesday, the day after she signed off on the Pfizer vaccine for young kids. “It’s taken us almost a year compared to where we had a vaccine for adults.”
Parents should have peace of mind with the vaccine’s safety, she argued. “We reviewed the evidence, we reviewed the safety profile,” she said.
“You may have questions, and we are here to answer your questions,” she said. “Go talk to your pediatrician, your trusted health care provider, your pharmacist, and get the information that you need.”
Nov 02, 8:46 pm
Biden calls CDC greenlight for child vaccinations ‘a major step forward’
President Joe Biden called Tuesday’s move by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to allow Pfizer COVID-19 vaccinations for children 5 to 11 years old “a turning point.”
“It will allow parents to end months of anxious worrying about their kids, and reduce the extent to which children spread the virus to others,” he said in a statement. “It is a major step forward for our nation in our fight to defeat the virus.”
The president said his administration has secured enough pediatric vaccines for every child in America and has begun shipping out doses.
“The program will ramp up over the coming days, and fully up and running during the week of November 8,” he said.
Nov 02, 8:21 pm
CDC director signs off on child vaccinations
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky approved the agency’s recommendations for administering the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine to children between 5 and 11 years old.
MORE: In promising milestone, Pfizer vaccine soon available for kids 5 and up
Vaccinations for this age group, which includes over 28 million children, can begin as early as Wednesday morning.
The two-dose vaccine has been approved for an emergency use for children 12 to 15 years old and for full authorized use for patients above 16 years old.
Hartford HealthCare was one of the first locations in the country to administer the vaccine to kids Tuesday evening. The young patients cheered and gave doctors high fives after they received their shots.
Nov 02, 7:14 pm
Pharmacies readying COVID shots for young children
Two major pharmacy chains announced Tuesday evening they are getting ready to offer Pfizer COVID-19 shots to children 5 to 11 years-old.
Pending signoff from U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky, which could happen as early as Tuesday night, Walgreens told ABC News it expects to begin administering shots to that age group starting Saturday.
Walgreens said its online scheduler for children’s appointments will be available starting Wednesday.
The Pfizer pediatric vaccine will arrive “later this week in select locations throughout the country,” CVS said in a statement. Appointments will be available at individual stores after each receives vaccines.
Courtney Love is applauding the way the Nirvana song “Rape Me” was used in last weekend’s episode of the HBO drama series Succession.
In a message posted in her Instagram Story and on her Twitter feed, Love writes that she’s “never been so proud of approving” the licensing of one of her late husband Kurt Cobain‘s songs, and includes a clip from the episode that features a snippet of the song.
“This cue in [Succession] is as if they truly understood KC, what he was screaming his heart out…without specifics…about,” Love says. “I’m sure wherever he is he’s proud of this.”
Other recent Nirvana syncs include “Something in the Way” for The Batman trailer, and “Come as You Are” in Captain Marvel. Additionally, an orchestral version of “Heart-Shaped Box” was featured in an episode of Westworld.
