Netflix unfurled its “global fan event” TUDUM over the weekend, and as one would guess with a three-hour run-time, there was lots to talk about — including video peeks at new and returning series, and premiere date anouncements.
The event began with an action scene in which the streaming giant’s celebs like Lilly Singh, Army of the Dead‘s Matthias Schweighöfer, Stranger Things stars Galen Matarazzo and Millie Bobby Brown, William Zabka and Ralph Macchio from Cobra Kai, and more were frantically hunting for their missing TUDUM — that is, the introductory sound you hear when you click on Netflix.
After a global search and lots of cellphone calls, the sound was restored, thanks to Lupin star Omar Sy, this time with the show’s titular thief posing as an Internet repairman.
As noted, the special afforded fresh peeks at upcoming shows and movies on Netflix, starting with an exclusive action scene: a fight between Ryan Reynolds and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson vs. Gal Gadot in their forthcoming movie Red Notice.
The special also gave Stranger Things fans new content to pore over. It was the same for watchers of The Witcher, as well as other returning hits like Bridgerton, Emily in Paris, Ozark, Money Heist, Tiger King 2 and others, and also revealed a teaser for the sequel to Chris Hemsworth‘s action hit, Extraction. Spoiler alert: As the trailer reveals, his character, Tyler Rake, survived the original’s cliffhanger ending.
The TUDUM event also gave sneak peeks of anticipated new projects, including the live-action adaptations of Neil Gaiman‘s The Sandman and the anime classic Cowboy Bebop, the trailer to Schweighöfer’s Army of the DeadprequelArmy of Thieves, and others that will be rolling out this year and well into the next.
There are three mammoth bills, two enormous deadlines and one big collective legacy to be defined – by a pair of veteran Democrats who need each other to make it happen.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is framing the high-stakes action coming to the House floor as an opportunity to enact “the vision of Joe Biden,” as he told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos on “This Week” Sunday.
That and more is at stake this week, in what could be the biggest votes in the long careers of both the House speaker and the president. Pelosi and Biden need a nearly unanimous Democratic Party to cast risky votes that carry uncertain payoffs, with failure on all or part bringing potential calamity.
Already, the timeline and price tag of key components are slipping, as was inevitable, and the president said Sunday that action should “take the better part of the week.”
The long-promised Monday vote on the bipartisan infrastructure bill is most likely getting pushed back, and a Senate vote to keep government funding flowing will almost certainly fail on Monday given complete GOP opposition.
Biden’s sliding approval rating and spotty direct involvement continue to be a factor. So does the mistrust between the moderate and progressive wings that Pelosi is struggling to unite.
There’s a lot of truth here: “Overwhelmingly, the entirety of our caucus – except for a few whose judgment I respect – support the vision of Joe Biden,” Pelosi said on “This Week.”
Biden and Pelosi have both been in a position where they need to respect all Democrats’ judgment, because the obvious alternative if failure. Their most potent argument from here is that failure is possible – one of the few things all Democrats definitely agree on at the moment.
The RUNDOWN with Averi Harper
An investigation of border patrol agents on horses appearing to whip migrants is ongoing, but Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is making his support for those agents clear.
“If [Biden] takes any action against them whatsoever, I have worked side-by-side with those border patrol agents, I want them to know something. If they are at risk of losing their job at a president who is abandoning his duty to secure the border, you have a job in the state of Texas,” said Abbott on Fox News Sunday. “I will hire you to help Texas secure our border.”
Abbott’s declaration comes after Biden denounced the actions taken by those border patrol agents.
“It’s outrageous, I promise you, those people will pay,” Biden told ABC News’ congressional correspondent, Rachel Scott.
If an investigation determines that the law enforcement officers in those controversial images acted inappropriately, Abbott’s commitment to employ them despite potential misconduct would undermine Biden’s attempt at holding them accountable.
The idea also highlights an aspect of police reform that Democrats hoped to address in the now-dead George Floyd Justice in Policing Act: handling law enforcement officers who are reprimanded or terminated by one agency only to be employed by another. The legislation aimed to create a national police misconduct registry.
The issue, along with so many other aspects of police reform, remains unaddressed after the breakdown of Senate negotiations.
The TIP with Alisa Wiersema
After Arizona’s so-called “audit” results only added votes to Biden’s 2020 winning margin, former President Donald Trump rallied supporters on Saturday by continuing to cling false allegations that Georgia’s elections also suffered from mass voter fraud.
The validity of the 2020 presidential election in Georgia has been backed by several investigations, a statewide hand recount, a statewide voting machine recount and a voter signature review in one of the state’s most populous counties. Still, former Trump continues to deny the evidence to the extent of endorsing Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger’s Republican primary opponent, Rep. Jody Hice, who challenged November’s election results in Congress.
Trump’s adamance to oppose history also includes targeting Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, of Georgia, who refused to get involved in overturning the outcome of the election despite being pressured to do so by the former president last year. Trump’s apparent fixation on Kemp even caused him to go off-message at Saturday’s rally, which was meant to support pro-Trump Republican candidates in upcoming elections.
Instead, Trump said voting rights advocate and possible Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams would make a better executive than Kemp. “Having her, I think, might be better than having your existing governor. It might very well be better,” Trump said of his fellow Republican. Abrams is popularly credited with successfully mobilizing voters and turning Georgia blue.
THE PLAYLIST
ABC News’ “Start Here” Podcast. Monday morning’s episode features a breakdown of this week’s key reconciliation and infrastructure votes for Democrats with ABC News White House Correspondent MaryAlice Parks. Then, a Florida school board member talks about spending a weekend knocking on hundreds of doors to find students still missing from school. And, ABC’s Britt Clennett tells us why world leaders are paying close attention to who will replace German Chancellor Angela Merkel. http://apple.co/2HPocUL
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW THIS WEEKEND
President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris will receive the president’s daily brief in the Oval Office.
Former President Barack Obama hosts a discussion with campaign alums ahead of the Obama Presidential Library groundbreaking on Tuesday.
Virtual groundbreaking celebrations begin for the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago.
The House of Representatives, which convenes at noon for morning hour and at 2 p.m. for legislative business, will begin a floor debate on the bipartisan infrastructure framework.
The Senate convenes at 3 p.m. and resumes consideration of the Extending Government Funding and Delivering Emergency Assistance Act.
The Note is a daily ABC News feature that highlights the day’s top stories in politics. Please check back Monday for the latest.
Maynard James Keenan and company have announced a huge world tour for next year, marking their return to the stage since playing their pre-pandemic show in March 2020.
The U.S. leg is set to kick off January 10 in Eugene, Oregon, and will wrap up March 20 in Cleveland. A European leg will then launch in April.
“It is with great pleasure I get to announce our return to the road,” says drummer Danny Carey. “These past 18 months have been trying to say the least but from great trials come great lessons and great rewards. We are genuinely looking forward to sharing them with you.”
Keenan adds, “Let’s finish what we started. Shall we?”
Tickets for the U.S. shows go on sale this Friday, October 1, at 10 a.m. local time. Members of the Tool Army fan club will have access to a pre-sale.
For the full list of dates and ticket info, visit ToolBand.com.
Tool had been touring last year in support of their 2019 comeback album Fear Inoculum when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Keenan himself contracted the virus twice.
The Rolling Stones kicked off their first tour ever without longtime drummer Charlie Watts on Sunday at The Dome at America’s Center in St. Louis.
The show began with a tribute to Watts, who died August 24 at age 80, and marked the band’s first official concert with Charlie’s handpicked fill-in, acclaimed drummer Steve Jordan.
The Stones played a 19-song set made up mainly of classics from their back catalog, and also included a rendition of their 2020 single, “Living in a Ghost Town.”
A few days before the concert, fans were given the chance to vote on one song that would appear in the set, and the 1971 hit “Wild Horses” was chosen over “Angie,” “Fool to Cry” and “Ruby Tuesday.”
The Rolling Stones kicked off the show with “Street Fighting Man” and wrapped things up with their signature tune “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction.” As the band gathered at the front of the stage at the end of the gig, a photo of Watts appeared on the screen behind them.
Frontman Mick Jagger has posted a brief video clip from the show on his socialmediapages showing him singing a segment of “Midnight Rambler,” and accompanied by the message, “Thanks St. Louis for a great night!”
In addition, the band has posted an image of guitarist Ronnie Wood‘s illustrated set list for the St. Louis concert at the band’s own socialmediasites, and limited-edition prints of the hand-drawn list have been made available for purchase at Wood’s official online store.
The Stones’ 2021 No Filter Tour of the U.S. continues this Thursday, September 30, with a show in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Here’s the band full set list from the St. Louis concert:
“Street Fighting Man”
“It’s Only Rock ‘n’ Roll (But I Like It)”
“Tumbling Dice”
“Under My Thumb”
“19th Nervous Breakdown”
“Wild Horses”
“Can’t Always Get What You Want”
“Living in a Ghost Town”
“Start Me Up”
“Honky Tonk Women”
“Happy”
“Slipping Away”
“Miss You”
“Midnight Rambler”
“Paint It Black”
“Sympathy for the Devil”
“Jumpin’ Jack Flash”
“Gimme Shelter”
“(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction”
Last year, former Blue Öyster Cult drummer Albert Bouchard released a reimagined version of his old band’s 1988 concept album, Imaginos, aptly titled Re Imaginos. Now Bouchard has announced plans for a sequel record that will be the second installment of a planned Imaginos-themed trilogy.
Imaginos II — Bombs over Germany (minus zero and counting), which will be released on October 22, continues the story based on the writings and poems of late Blue Öyster Cult manager, producer and songwriter Sandy Pearlman about an alien conspiracy that comes to fruition during the late 1800s and early 1900s through the actions of an evil character named Imaginos.
The new album features guest contributions from longtime Blue Öyster Cult members Eric Bloom and Donald “Buck Dharma” Roeser and the group’s former bassist, Joe Bouchard, and current multi-instrumentalist Richie Castellano, as well as from Dictators guitarist Ross the Boss.
Imaginos II features new versions of a variety of early Blue Öyster Cult songs, including “Cities on Flame with Rock and Roll,” “The Red and the Black” and “Dominance and Submission.”
The album’s lead single, an updated rendition of the 1973 BÖC tune “OD’d on Life Itself,” has been released as an advance digital track, and a lyric video for the song has premiered on YouTube.
“This version of ‘OD’d on Life Itself’ is a very different take on the song that was recorded for BÖC’s second album, Tyranny and Mutation,” Albert explains. “The lyrics return to the original lyrics written by Sandy Pearlman, much less sarcastic and much more spooky.”
Imaginos II can be pre-ordered now on CD at MerchBucket.com, and limited-edition bundles also can be purchased that include an autographed CD and poster, plus a T-shirt and a guitar pick.
Here’s the album’s full track list:
“When War Comes”
“Independence Day”
“7 Screaming Dizbusters”
“OD’d on Life Itself”
“Il Duce”
“Bombs over Germany”
“Before the Kiss (A Redcap)”
“Three Sisters”
“Quicklime Girl (Mistress of the Salmon Salt)”
“The Red and the Black”
“Dominance and Submission”
“Shadow of California”
“Cities on Flame (with Rock and Roll)”
“Half Life Times”
Former Grey’s Anatomy star Katherine Heigl is speaking out again, in a social media post in which she revists past comments that branded her “difficult” to work with.
In a lengthy post emblazoned with the logo of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE), the strike-bound showbiz union representing tens of thousands of behind-the-scenes workers, Heigl threw her support behind the union’s push for fairer working conditions.
“They have been family…and I have always and will always continue to support and stand by them,” Heigl noted.
“…[O]ver ten years ago I was very vocal about the absurdity of the working hours crews and actors were being forced into by production. Even Diane Sawyer…not so kindly informed me ‘no one feels sorry for you.'”
“I very publicly and for many…years after got my a** kicked for speaking up,” the actress continues. “I let myself be convinced that I was wrong…That speaking out made me seem ungrateful or precious or as if I were ‘biting the hand that fed me’.”
Today, Heigl declares, “…that nasty insecure voice in me has started to go from a roar to a whisper….So I speak up today and say with zero hesitation or regret…14, 16, 17, 18-hour workdays are NOT safe….They can not and should NO longer be tolerated.”
“The number of people who have fallen asleep at the wheel is staggering,” Heigel asserts. “The number of accidents that happen on set due to exhaustion is shocking…There is nothing glamorous or sexy about working past the point of exhaustion. There is nothing, NOTHING that warrants pushing yourself into an early grave.”
Her post was liked nearly 200,000 times as of Monday morning, by fans, union members, and industry supporters.
If it’s the fall, there must be a new Pentatonix Christmas album around the corner.
The Grammy-winning a cappella group will release their sixth holiday project, Evergreen, on October 29. The first track, a version of the 1945 standard “It’s Been a Long, Long Time,” is out now, and you’ll get it free if you pre-order the album.
“It’s Been a Long, Long Time” isn’t actually a Christmas song, but its message of longing to be with loved ones after being apart for a while is apropos as the group returns to the road to see their fans, and people reunite with families they may not have been able to see for the holidays last year.
Pentatonix is also launching their Evergreen Christmas Tour 2021, which starts November 27 in Baltimore, MD before wrapping up in the group’s home state of Texas on December 22 and 23. Tickets go on sale October 1 at 10 a.m. local time. More details are available at PTXofficial.com.
“We can’t wait to perform songs off of our new record for you this holiday season!” the group writes on Instagram.
Last year, Pentatonix released the album We Need a Little Christmas, in addition to their non-Christmas EP, At Home. Earlier this year, the quintet released an album of original material, The Lucky Ones.
Spencer Elden, who was photographed as a baby for the cover of Nirvana‘s Nevermind album cover, is pleading with the band to censor his genitalia on all future reissues of the album.
The album artwork famously depicts the then-infant Elden swimming naked underwater while reaching for a dollar bill on a fishing hook. Last month, he sued Nirvana for child pornography.
According to Billboard, Elden has amplified his grievances by demanding the band censor the artwork, which includes the 30th anniversary reissues of Nevermind that arrive November 12.
In a statement obtained by Billboard, Elden’s attorneys declare, “Today, like each year on this date, our client Spencer Elden has had to brace himself for renewed unwanted attention from the media and fans alike throughout the world. This is a choice that he has never had. It has been thrust upon him, and for 30 years he has dealt with its devastating and painful consequences. Our message to Nirvana is clear — redact the image of Mr. Elden’s genitalia from all future album covers.”
Nirvana nor its label, Universal Music Group, have publicly commented on the matter.
The band, comprised of members Dave Grohl, Krist Novoselic and the late Kurt Cobain, released Nevermind on September 24, 1991. It’s since been certified Diamond by the RIAA for over 10 million sales.
(NEW YORK) — If you’re concerned about travel plans changing during the holidays, experts say it’s important to take stock of any vouchers you may be sitting on and utilize the lack of change fees.
1. Take Advantage of No Change Fees
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, major U.S. airlines have done away with change fees, allowing travelers to be more flexible with their plans and giving them the option to switch travel dates and flights.
Scott Keyes, founder of Scott’s Cheap Flights, said it’s crucial to take advantage of this policy when booking holiday trips.
“During the pandemic, the airlines got rid of those change fees for most flights, so now when you book a flight, as long as it’s not in Basic Economy, you automatically have flexibility so that you can change your flight later on without having to pay any penalty to do so,” Keyes said in an interview with ABC News. “If the new flights you switch to are more expensive, you do have to cover that fare difference, but if the new dates are cheaper, you’ll actually get the difference back in the form of a travel credit.”
While carriers are being more accommodating, Keyes said it’s important to not think of this policy as “free cash.”
“What folks have now when they travel is that they have the flexibility to be able to change their travel dates or get a voucher from the airline for future travel, but again not conflating that with getting a cash refund.”
However, if you want to be certain that you will get your money back, be sure to book a “refundable” fare.
“To be able to get your money back for a flight that you no longer want to take, you had to have booked a much more expensive refundable ticket,” Keyes said. “Those are the only ones that allow you to fully get your money back if you decide later to cancel.”
2. Check to see if you have any vouchers, and if they’re still valid
If you didn’t book that refundable fare, you’re next best bet is contacting your airline and obtaining a travel voucher — this will allow you to use that money with the airline and rebook at a later date.
However, those vouchers don’t last forever, Keyes said.
“Vouchers in general have a use it or lose it component,” Keyes said. “You want to find out what the expiration date is so it doesn’t accidentally expire without your even realizing it.”
At the beginning of the pandemic, airlines began offering customers travel vouchers for trips already booked. Policies vary from carrier to carrier, so it’s important to read the fine print.
“You want to find out what is the expiration date refer to — does this refer to the date I have to travel by or just the date I have to book my flight by,” Keyes said.
If your voucher has expired, Keyes said not to lose hope.
“Give the airline a call and see if they’re willing to extend the deadline,” Keyes said. “The number of people traveling is still down significantly from where it was pre-pandemic and airlines are trying to engender not only goodwill among travelers, but also trying to make sure that folks fill up those planes.”
“It never hurts to ask.”
3. Treat it like a game of chicken
If your trip is already booked but you think you might have to make changes, Keyes said it might be worth waiting until the last minute to cancel or tweak your trip.
“My best piece of advice in that scenario is to treat it like a game of chicken,” Keyes said. “It’s either you cancel the flight, and you’re going to get a travel voucher from the airline, or maybe they cancel the flight, in which case you would be entitled to a cash refund — so it’s whoever blinks first.”
Last year, the Department of Transportation (DOT) cracked down on airlines, pushing them to be more transparent with their refund policies if a flight is cancelled or significantly delayed by the carrier.
The move came amid thousands of complaints from customers, many of which concerned refunds. At the time, DOT asked airlines, “to revisit their customer service policies and ensure they are as flexible and considerate as possible to the needs of passengers who face financial hardship during this time.”
“The one loophole here, which I think is really important for folks to know, is if the airline cancels or significantly changes your flight, under federal law you are entitled to a full cash refund if you want one,” Keyes said.
Britney Spears‘ fiancé Sam Asghari isn’t pleased with the recent spate of documentaries detailing Britney’s ongoing conservatorship case.
Ahead of FX/Hulu’s Controlling Britney Spears, which premiered on Friday, Sam posted a statement to his Instagram Stories, captured by Just Jared.
“Apparently my opinion has increased in value over the past few days,” the 27-year-old model/actor joked, before adding, “Past docs left bad after taste. I’m hopeful this one will be respectful.”
Referring to other documentaries, which include CNN’s Toxic: Britney Spears’ Battle for Freedom, the BBC’s The Battle for Britney: Fans, Cash and a Conservatorship and Netflix’s upcoming Britney Vs. Spears, Sam wrote, “I don’t blame CNN, BBC, or NETFLIX (which got me thru lockdowns) for airing them because as an actor i tell other people’s stories too.”
“I question producers who made them ‘just to shed light’ without input or approval from [the] subject,” he explained. “Any credit for light being shed should go to #freebritney.”
Sam didn’t mention FX/Hulu, whose first Britney doc, Framing Britney Spears, has been credited with helped reignite the #FreeBritney movement.
Sam’s message included a “Free Britney” illustration, a cartoon judge, and an image of Jason Statham with the caption “no sweat.”
