The family drama Promised Land on ABC is very near and dear to creator Matt Lopez’s heart. It’s a story of first and second generation Latino immigrants fighting for their piece of the American dream, with many parallels to Lopez’s family. And he tells ABC Audio that’s why he’s surprised that in the few weeks it’s been on the air, people from all walks of life have told them how much they like it.
“Obviously it’s a show with a predominantly Latino cast. The characters come from that background…So you would sort of expect or at least not be surprised if it resonated with that audience,” he explains. “But the extent to which it’s resonated with a broader audience is really kind of cool and gratifying.”
An example of others who have resonated with the show is the stunt coordinator, who is Vietnamese-American, “walked up to [Lopez] and said, I just want to say thank you because this is my parent’s story. And I haven’t seen it like on a network drama before.”
Even though the show resonates with many, Lopez admits that there’s pressure to doing a show like this, because there aren’t a lot of them.
Remembering what one of his directors, Felix Alcala, told him he says, “Each one of these scripts has to be a gem…because if you fall on your face, it’s going to make it that much harder for the next one.”
Promised Land draws “huge inspiration” from East of Eden and themes of the American dream.
“The beauty of the American dream. The cost of the American dream. And what it costs you sometimes to chase it and get it. That’s that kind of universal thing I think all audiences respond to,” Lopez shares.
Ryan Reynolds is promoting his new Netflix movie The Adam Project, but he took some time to address a Marvel-related rumor: He insists his alter ego Deadpool won’t appear in Doctor Strange: In The Multiverse of Madness.
“Tell me everything about your appearance in the Doctor Strange movie,” Variety‘s Marc Malkin nonchalantly asked the star, cracking him up. “That’s the least covert trap I’ve ever seen in my life,” Ryan laughed. He then insisted with a smirk, “I guess I’m really not supposed to say anything about that, but I’m really not in the movie.”
When Malkin countered that it wasn’t exactly the most convincing denial ever, Ryan replied, “I may be an ‘unreliable narrator,’ but I promise you I’m not in the movie.”
Marvel fans are right to be skeptical, considering how many times Andrew Garfield, and Charlie Cox continuously denied their roles as “Peter Parker 3” and Matt Murdock/Daredevil in Spider-Man: No Way Home.
But even without Deadpool, there are plenty of Doctor Strange rumors to go around ever since some reportedly cameo-heavy reshoots were announced.
(NEW YORK) — Boosters helped reduce the risk of contracting the omicron variant after it spread at a convention in New York City, according to a new study published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Thursday.
In the report, the authors describe “a large indoor convention in New York … with approximately 53,000 attendees from 52 U.S. jurisdictions and 30 foreign countries during Nov. 19 – 21, 2021.”
Although the convention is never named, the description matches the Anime NYC convention that was held at the Javits Center in Manhattan over those dates.
Overall, the report found that convention attendees who were boosted were less likely to contract COVID-19 and that a small percentage of household contacts later tested positive.
According to convention rules, attendees were required to have received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose and wear masks indoors.
The first case was reported to the CDC by the Minnesota Department of Health on Dec. 2 in a man — called Patient A — who had flown to New York City for the convention, the report said.
For the report, the CDC teamed up with the MDH and state and local departments across the country interviewing Patient A, and 23 of his 29 close contacts from 13 states who also attended the convention.
Patient A had traveled to New York City on November 18. He was fully vaccinated and received a booster shot earlier in November, according to the authors.
However, he developed symptoms on Nov. 22 and subsequently tested positive for COVID-19, after which he notified all his close contacts, the report said.
Of the 23 attendees contacted, 16 tested positive for the virus, equating to an attack rate of 70%.
All the contacts were fully vaccinated, but only 11 had received a booster dose before going to the convention, according to the report. The authors indicate that having a booster dose lowered the odds of testing positive for COVID-19.
Ten of the 12 people, or 83%, who didn’t receive a booster tested positive for the virus while six of the 11 people, 55%, who tested positive were boosted, meaning there were 1.5 times fewer infections in boosted individuals.
“Data from this investigation reinforce the importance of COVID-19 booster doses and early notification in combination with other multicomponent prevention measures to limit transmission and prevent severe illness from omicron and other SARS-CoV-2 variants,” the authors wrote.
Additionally, 15 of the 20 contacts who said they always wore a mask during the convention tested positive anyway, according to the report.
Recently, the CDC has stated that N95 masks are more effective at preventing infection with the omicron variant than surgical masks and cloth masks.
All of attendees who reported COVID-19 infections said they experienced at least one symptom, with median duration lasting 11 days. The most commonly reported symptoms included nasal congestion, fatigue, cough and sore throat, the report said.
After returning home from the convention, 16 of the attendees exposed 20 household contacts who did not attend the convention, the report said.
In total, 99% of the household contacts were fully vaccinated and 50% had received a booster dose, the authors noted.
Of the 18 household contacts who were subsequently tested, six, or 33%, received positive results, including four who had received boosters.
The authors noted that people testing positive for COVID despite being fully vaccinated demonstrates omicron’s ability to — at least partially — evade the protection offered by vaccines.
“However, illness was relatively mild among this cohort, consistent with evidence that vaccinated persons with infections are less likely to experience serious illness,” they wrote.
Two of the positive household contacts were parents of the convention attendees, two were grandparents and two were siblings, according to the report.
Four of the six household contacts said they had fewer than five symptoms with the most common being nasal congestion, fatigue, cough, runny nose and change in taste.
No hospitalizations or deaths were reported among anyone who received a positive test either in the attendee group in the household contact group, the report said.
Overall, five of the attendees’ samples and three from the household contacts underwent genomic sequencing and were confirmed to be linked to the omicron variant, according to the authors.
The authors said there are limitations to the report including that some people who attended the convention used at-home antigen tests rather than laboratory PCR tests to confirm a negative result.
Because rapid tests are more likely to report false negatives than lab tests, some COVID cases may have been missed.
Additionally, because seven of Patient A’s close contacts could not be reached for interviews, results may be skewed.
However, the researchers say the report shows the importance of getting fully vaccinated and boosted, as well as masking indoors, to prevent infection from the omicron variant as well as severe disease and death.
Dave Grohl may need to clear his schedule for a collaboration with yet another rock legend.
KISS‘ PaulStanley tells Consequence.net that he’d be interested in working with the Foo Fighters frontman.
“At some point, I’m sure we’ll do something,” Stanley says. “We’ll make some noise together. That’s what makes music so fun.”
The two did previously jam together at Grohl’s birthday party concert in 2015. Grohl, meanwhile, just released a cover of KISS’ “Rock and Roll All Nite” last year alongside producer Greg Kurstin for their Hanukkah Sessions series.
Previous Grohl collaborators include Mick Jagger, Paul McCartney, Motörhead‘s Lemmy and Led Zeppelin‘s John Paul Jones.
Currently, Grohl is preparing for the premiere of the new Foo Fighters movie Studio 666, which hits theaters February 25. He’s also been working on recording a metal album under the moniker Dream Widow, a fictional band from the film.
A front-and-center fiddle line and a swagger-heavy danceable beat dominates Jon Pardi’s new single, “Last Night Lonely,” but there’s more romance in the honky tonk tune than first meets the eye.
In the chorus, Jon sings, “It’s gonna be the last night coming in here, drinkin’ all by yourself/The last time givin’ your heart away to someone else/Yeah, we could be some history in the making, girl/tonight might be your last night lonely.”
Jon’s new single arrives ahead of his as-yet-unannounced next album, which will be the follow-up to 2019’s Heartache Medication.
In an interview with Apple Music, the singer — who married his longtime love Summer in late 2020 — says he’s aiming to include more love songs on the project, but he tends to gravitate to party tunes or hard-drinking, tear-in-your-beer ballads.
“I’m trying to knock out a love song,” Jon says. “We got a great one, but it’s funny — me and [my wife] Summer, we’ll be like, ‘Yeah, let’s get some ‘drinking’ and ‘she’s leaving’ and we’re moving on’ songs.”
“I try to get a love song, but we love all the themes and emotions of songs,” he adds. “So we definitely got a lot of drinking songs.”
Jon’s most recent solo single “Tequila Little Time” was a top-five hit.
Men at Work frontman Colin Hay, who’s also a member of Ringo Starr’s All Starr Band, has released a new track from his upcoming solo album Now and the Evermore.
The song “Love Is Everywhere,” and it comes with a trippy, partially animated video. Even if you don’t like the song, you’ll want to watch the video for the adorable footage of different animal species expressing love for one another. C’mon, who doesn’t want to see a puppy snuggle with a rooster, or a dog frolicking with a baby deer?
Speaking about the song, Hay says, “I think what this song is attempting to counter, by at least some measure, is the end result of the continued tragic global catastrophe of separation. The colossal calamity of believing yourself to be separate from everything and everybody else. Refusing to consider the possibility that we all are part of this planet’s structural fabric. Every day I feel love, and I’m happy that I do.”
Now and the Evermore, the title track of which features Ringo on drums, will be out March 18. Hay will launch a solo tour that same day that will keep him on the road through May 12. Starting June 2 in Boston, he’ll join Ringo for the All Starr Band’s summer tour.
Bring Me the Horizon and Ed Sheeran have premiered an official studio version of their joint rendition of “Bad Habits.”
The unlikely pairing first came together at the U.K.’s Brit Awards earlier this month, with BMTH putting a heavy spin on Sheeran’s single “Bad Habits.” The response was so strong that Sheeran and Horizon frontman Oli Sykesannounced earlier this week that they’d be releasing a studio recording of the collaboration.
“From receiving the email asking whether we’d like to open the BRITS with Ed Sheeran to us chatting and bouncing ideas to rehearsing and then performing and now releasing, this has needless to say been pretty mental,” syskes says in a statement. “But we are all about pushing the boundaries of our own and other genres, so this felt like the perfect challenge.”
You can download the studio version of Bring Me the Sheerizon’s “Bad Habits” now via digital outlets.
Good news and bad news for Stranger Things fans today. On the positive, the show has been renewed for a fifth season. However, that will be the Emmy-nominated show’s last.
That’s the word from the show’s creators, Matt and Ross Duffer, who addressed fans in a press release Thursday, noting the penultimate season will be split into two parts: The first launching on May 27, and the second on July 1.
Netflix teased the announcement on Twitter, which comes nearly three years after Season 3 ended, with the streaming giant’s Los Angeles movie marquee noting, in upside-down letters, “Every end has a beginning.”
The Duffer Brothers noted, “Seven years ago, we planned out the complete story arc for Stranger Things. At the time, we predicted the story would last four to five seasons. It proved too large to tell in four, but — as you’ll soon see for yourselves — we are now hurtling toward our finale.”
They continued, “There are still many more exciting stories to tell within the world of Stranger Things; new mysteries, new adventures, new unexpected heroes. But first we hope that you stay with us as we finish this tale of a powerful girl named Eleven and her brave friends, of a broken police chief and a ferocious mom, of a small town called Hawkins and an alternate dimension known only as the Upside Down. As always, we are grateful for your patience and support.”
The breakup of Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham fueled many of Fleetwood Mac‘s most famous songs. But Stevie now says that if they’d split when they really wanted to, Fleetwood Mac wouldn’t have been around for them to record those songs.
In a new interview in The New Yorker, Stevie explains, “I broke up with Lindsey in 1976. We’d only been in Fleetwood Mac for a year and a half, and we were breaking up when we joined Fleetwood Mac. So we just put our relationship kind of back together, because I was smart enough to know that, if we had broken up the second month of being in Fleetwood Mac, it would have blown the whole thing.”
“I just bided my time, and tried to make everything as easy as possible, tried to be as sweet and as nice to Lindsey as I could be,” Stevie continues. “He wasn’t happy, either. Then something happened that was, y’know, ‘We’re done’…it was time.”
“The band was solid, by that time, so I could walk away knowing that he was safe. And that the band was safe. And that we could work it out,” she concludes.
Speaking about two classic songs inspired by the breakup, Stevie says, “I always laugh because Lindsey’s ‘Go Your Own Way’ and my [song] ‘Dreams’ are, like, counter songs to each other. I’m, like, ‘When the rain washes you clean, you’ll know,’ and he’s, like, ‘Packing up, shacking up’s all you want to do.’”
She notes, “He’s looking at it from a very unpleasant, angry way, and I’m saying, in my more airy-fairy way, we’re gonna be all right. We’ll get through this.”
Stevie has several festival performances booked for this year, while Buckingham has a slew of tour dates lined up for the month of April.
(BRUNSWICK, Ga.) — In his state trial for the murder of Ahmaud Arbery, Travis McMichael testified he is not a racist. But prosecutors in his federal hate crimes case have presented the jury with numerous statements, text messages and social media posts to allege racism was the underlying motive for why he, his father and their neighbor chased down and killed the 25-year-old Black man.
FBI analyst Amy Vaughn testified on Wednesday that she found a digital onslaught of messages, mostly from Travis McMichael, in which he allegedly routinely used racial slurs to describe Black people and advocated violence against them.
In one instance, Vaughn testified that the 36-year-old McMichael posted on social media his reaction to a news report on a confrontation between two white people and two Black people, allegedly saying Black people needed to be made examples of.
“‘They’d be scraping up brain matter if this happened to my wife or daughter,'” Vaughn read out loud from McMichael’s alleged message in U.S. District Court in Brunswick, Georgia.
McMichael, his 64-year-old father, Gregory McMichael, a former Georgia police officer; and their neighbor William “Roddie” Bryan, 52, have each been charged with one count of interference of Arbery’s civil rights and attempted kidnapping. The McMichaels are also charged with using, carrying and brandishing a firearm in relation to a crime of violence and Travis McMichael faces an additional count of using a firearm in relation to a violent crime.
If convicted, the men could be sentenced to life in prison. All three are already serving life sentences, the McMichaels without the possibility of parole, after a state jury convicted them last year of murdering Arbery.
Derek Thomas, Travis McMichael’s childhood friend, testified on Wednesday that he was shocked by a violent, racist response Travis McMichael allegedly gave to what he said was supposed to be a funny video of a Black man playing a prank on his white friend.
Thomas said he was so disturbed by Travis McMichael’s texted response that he called him to confront him about it. When asked to read Travis McMichael’s text in court, Thomas declined and instead spelled out the racial slur he used to describe Black people.
Vaughn said her investigation led to the discovery of racist online posts by Bryan and bigoted comments Gregory McMichael used to describe Black people.
While the FBI was unable to get access to Gregory McMichael’s phone because of its encryption, Vaughn testified that investigators did find posts he made on Facebook that she read in court, including one in which he allegedly wrote, “The gun in the hand is worth more than the entire police force on the phone.”
Vaughn said the FBI also uncovered numerous online posts from Bryan in which he allegedly express his resentment over a relationship his daughter developed with a Black man. In one post Vaughn read in court, Bryan allegedly wrote, “This is the only thing I said I would never accept” and added, “If she doesn’t give a f— about herself, why should we?”
Arbery was out for a Sunday afternoon jog on Feb. 23, 2020, in the Satilla shores neighborhood near Brunswick, when the McMichaels assumed he was a burglarizing a home under construction in their neighborhood, armed themselves and chased him in their pickup truck. Bryan joined the five-minute pursuit, blocking Arbery’s path with his truck. He recorded cellphone video of Travis McMichael fatally shooting Arbery with a shotgun during a struggle.
While the McMichaels claimed they chased Arbery not because he was Black, but because he was trespassing at their neighbor’s house, prosecutors on Wednesday showed the jury videos of Travis McMichael trespassing while on a hunting trip. In one of the videos, Travis McMichael is seen smiling while standing next to “No Trespassing” signs.
Prosecutors also showed the jury an online post in which Gregory McMichael allegedly wrote, “There’s private property and then there’s private property, you know?”
In her opening statement in the high-profile trial, Assistant U.S. Attorney Bobbi Bernstein told the jury she will also present evidence that Bryan told investigators that after Travis McMichael shot Arbery he allegedly heard him yell a racist epithet at the victim as he lay dying on the pavement.
Bernstein told the panel that while it is not illegal to use racial slurs, “these slurs can provide you with evidence as to why a defendant did what he did.”
