Random Thoughts

WyldeMan wrote:So instead of Warner Bros moving forward with Man of Steel 2 with Henry Cavill they're opting for Black Superman exactly as predicted?

And let me guess, it'll be Michael B Jordan.

Cavill was just talking about how much he wanted to come back to the role and now a reboot?

Hasbro Drops the 'Mr.' in Potato Head After 70 Years In Favor of a More Gender Neutral Potato

Hasbro has decided to drop the "Mr." in Potato Head after 70 years of the classic toy. Moving forward, the spud will be known only as Potato Head. The gender-neutral change will go into effect this year, as Hasbro and other toy makers continue to update their classic toys for a new generation of children and collectors. Barbie has gone through several changes over the last handful of years, adding different skin tones and body shapes. Thomas the Tank Engine added more female characters, while the American Girl franchise has added a boy to the lineup.


According to Kimberly Boyd, Hasbro's senior vice president of global brands, it was time for a Mr. Potato Head change. "Culture has evolved," Boyd stated. "Kids want to be able to represent their own experiences. The way the brand currently exists - with the 'Mr.' and 'Mrs.' - is limiting when it comes to both gender identity and family structure." A new Potato Head set will be available later this year, which will allow kids to make whatever kind of Potato Head family they desire.

The gender-neutral Potato Head will allow kids to create the families they have at home, which could have two dads or two moms. While Hasbro is rebranding, they have promised that the Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head characters will still be around, though they did not go into details about how they will be utilized in the future. "It's a potato," says Ali Mierzejewski from toy review site The Toy Insider. "But kids like to see themselves in the toys they are playing with." Mierzejewski believes that other toy companies with follow in Hasbro's lead.

Hasbro is setting a new standard with its upcoming Potato Head line. Some have criticized the move by calling it "woke" and weird to label a vegetable as "non-binary." The criticism was unavoidable, but it seems that, for the most part, people are applauding Hasbro for leading a new charge for the future of toys and a generation that sees themselves differently from the ones that came before. Whatever the case may be, Mr. Potato Head has been around for quite a lot of changes since the toy originally debuted in 1952.

Mr. Potato Head is a plastic model of a potato which can be decorated with a variety of plastic parts that can attach to the main body, including eyes, lips, arms, a hat, nose, mustache, and more. George Lerner came up with the toy idea for the toy back in 1949, though his original idea was to create custom push pins that children could stick into a real potato. After being advised of potato rot and children possibly injuring themselves, the plastic spud was designed. The iconic toy had its own show for a little while, but gained a brand-new popularity boost when the Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head characters appeared in the Toy Story franchise with voices by Don Rickles and Estelle Harris. ABC News was one of the first outlets to report on the new Mr. Potato Head gender-neutral rebranding.

WyldeMan wrote:

This just looks wrong, especially Chucky's hair.

Rusty wrote:Vid no work

San Diego Comic-Con is officially taking another year off. The pop culture event has, once again, been postponed following last year’s cancellation as a result of the global coronavirus outbreak.

“While we are buoyed by the rollout of the vaccine and the growing number of individuals being inoculated, it appears that July will still be too early to safely hold an in-person event of the magnitude of Comic-Con,” the organization said in a statement. “For this reason, we have made the challenging decision to postpone Comic-Con 2021 as an in-person gathering until our 2022 dates, and once again hold this year’s celebration as the free online Comic-Con@Home.”

The virtual fest will be scaled down to a three-day event, taking place July 23-25, 2021, because the multiple postponements of Comic-Con and WonderCon have left the organization with “limited financial resources.”

Additionally, a smaller, in-person con is slated for this November in San Diego, with details to be announced at a later date. “As the timing and scope of our larger event factored greatly into our decision to postpone, we believe that launching a smaller in-person event at a later time may be a safe alternative,” the statement reads.

Last year’s cancellation of Comic-Con marked the first time in SDCC’s 50-year history that the event did not take place. Those who purchased badges that were rolled over to the 2021 show will have their badges automatically transferred to 2022, unless a refund is requested. For more information about badge rollover and refunds, visit https://comic-con.org/cci.

WyldeMan wrote:

Rusty wrote:Vid no work

I think it's just your prison colony's continued poor access to American content again cause it still works for me.

UltimateMarvel wrote:I think COVID permanently killed Cons for good. For us who watch from home, we get all the news and trailers virtually anyway. But I empathize for those that want to meet their favorite actors or those that show up to with their cosplay and their creativity, some go above and beyond the simple spandex and makeup.

Rusty wrote:

WyldeMan wrote:

Rusty wrote:Vid no work

I think it's just your prison colony's continued poor access to American content again cause it still works for me.

Likely.

You said "Chucky". Is that a Child's Play vid/trailer?

UltimateMarvel wrote:Tyger, how are you feeling? Are you back to 100%?

Tyger wrote:

UltimateMarvel wrote:Tyger, how are you feeling? Are you back to 100%?

Not 100, but much better, normal enough

Chris D’Elia Accused Of Soliciting Child Pornography From 17-Year-Old Girl In New Lawsuit

A civil suit filed in California federal court Tuesday accuses comedian Chris D’Elia of child sexual exploitation and violation of child pornography laws.

The plaintiff, who goes by the name of Jane Doe in the filing, says she was a 17-year-old high school student when she connected with D’Elia on social media in 2014. Her statement says the 34-year-old D’Elia knew the girl was underage, even commenting on a photo of her dressed for “spirit day” while at school.

The filing says the comedian invited her to one of his shows. She attended one in Connecticut where, the complaint says, he engaged in sexual activities with her before going onstage. During those interactions, the lawsuit claims D’Elia asked the plaintiff several times to tell him how old she was and she told him she was 17. (Connecticut law says the age of consent at 16.)

Thereafter, “he constructed a manipulative, controlling, and abusive dynamic,” the complaint states, in which he demanded she provide sexually explicit images of herself over the Internet. When she refused, reads the complaint, D’Elia “psychologically punished her.”

The filing says that D’Elia “solicited and received” over 100 sexually explicit photos and videos from the girl, “all in violation of federal child pornography and sexual exploitation laws.”

D’Elia was previously accused by two women of exposing himself in separate incidents, one in 2011 and one in 2018, with their stories detailed in a report on CNN.com. Earlier, D’Elia was accused of soliciting underage girls on social media.

After those accusations surfaced, CAA dropped the actor-comedian as a client. He also was let go by management company 3 Arts Entertainment. Netflix, meanwhile, scrapped an upcoming unscripted prank show in which D’Elia was featured.

In February after the original accusations surfaced, D’Elia released a long video statement confronting the deluge of sexual misconduct allegations against him saying in part, “I do know how it looks with all the stuff that’s been said…I know it looks bad, and it doesn’t show the full scope of what happened.” He claimed, “I stand by the fact that all my relationships have been consensual and legal. That’s the truth.”

However he continued, “sex controlled my life. And I have a problem…I need to do work on that.”

Later in the video, he apologized to all who had been impacted by his activities saying, “I’m sorry.”

The complaint says that while D’Elia “claims ‘this was always about sex’ to him, it was much more to Ms. Doe. It was about child pornography and child sexual exploitation.”

In a statement issued when the original accusations surfaced, D’Elia’s representatives sent the following to Deadline:

“I know I have said and done things that might have offended people during my career, but I have never knowingly pursued any underage women at any point,” he said. “All of my relationships have been both legal and consensual and I have never met or exchanged any inappropriate photos with the people who have tweeted about me. That being said, I really am truly sorry. I was a dumb guy who ABSOLUTELY let myself get caught up in my lifestyle. That’s MY fault. I own it. I’ve been reflecting on this for some time now and I promise I will continue to do better.”

D’Elia has made three comedy specials at Netlix. The comedian also had a three-episode arc on the Netflix series You in 2019, in which he played a man who menaces a 15-year-old girl. D’Elia’s character was killed off. The comedian also played Whitney Cummings’ boyfriend on NBC’s Whitney, a role that Cummings said she wrote for D’Elia.

Austin, Texas-based, dine-in movie theater chain Alamo Drafthouse Cinema has filed for voluntary Chapter 11 in Delaware Court and agreed to sell basically all its assets to an investor group including one of its founders Tim League.

The exhibitor, which buckled under the impact of Covid-19, has 37 theaters including locations in LA, Brooklyn and northern Virginia. It’s backed by Altamont Capital. The sale is to Altamont, funds managed by affiliates of Fortress Investment, League and other original investors. The transaction will provide much-needed financing to stabilize the business.

The first Alamo Drafthouse Cinema was founded in 1997 as a single-screen mom and pop repertory theater in Austin. In May, the Phoenix-based franchises of Alamo Drafthouse in Tempe, Gilbert and Chandler filed for bankruptcy.

The parent company bankruptcy makes it one of the highest-profile casualties of the pandemic that shuttered theaters a year ago. Cinemas has seen sporadic reopening often at limited capacity across the country and a meager offering of films as studios postponed releases. The move comes as a vaccine rollout holds out hope for a turnaround and key markets, like New York and San Francisco, are reopening.

The nation’s largest chain, AMC Entertainment, skirted close to bankruptcy several times but has managed to raise enough cash to see it through this year and a more robust return to moviegoing.

In connection with the Chapter 11 filing, the company is requesting the Bankruptcy Court approve a 75-day timeline for the transaction process and a $20 million debtor-in-possession credit facility with the senior lender group keep the business running.

It will close three theaters, Alamo Drafthouse Ritz in Austin, and locations in Kansas City, Missouri and New Braunfels, Texas, and stop development at a cinema in Orlando. Other theaters will continue operating but company said it will continue to evaluate the health of all leases during the Chapter 11 process.

“Alamo Drafthouse had one of its most successful years in the company’s history in 2019 with the launch of its first Los Angeles theater and box office revenue that outperformed the rest of the industry,” says CEO Shelli Taylor. “We’re excited to work with our partners at Altamont Capital Partners and Fortress Investment Group to continue on that path of growth on the other side of the pandemic, and we want to ensure the public that we expect no disruption to our business and no impact on franchise operations, employees and customers in our locations that are currently operating.”

Just last night, the company sent out a statement affirming that its Covid-19 protocols remain in place in Texas despite the state’s decision to end its mask mandate and open up businesses to 100% capacity.

“Alamo Drafthouse’s mandatory mask policy remains in place, as well as our 6′ social distancing protocols, and all of the other safety measures we’ve had in place across the country since last year. We are only following the guidance of the CDC and medical experts, not politicians. Right now, at what we hope is the beginning of the end of COVID, the health of our teams and our guests remains this company’s top priority.”

WyldeMan wrote:

Tyger wrote:

UltimateMarvel wrote:Tyger, how are you feeling? Are you back to 100%?

Not 100, but much better, normal enough

No lasting lung issues then? Did you lose your sense of taste? I keep hearing that is one of the most common symptoms and it takes months to come back.

My sister caught COVID about two weeks back at her bartending job after the other three bartenders caught it at a maskless party and brought it into work and spread it around. Their bosses asked them not to get tested and not to tell anyone because they hosted said party and the three bartenders kept it quiet and infected my sister and countless customers. The bosses closed the bar down for a weekend and reopened the place as "COVID FREE" while they all knew they were infected but then some unknown person notified the health department who promptly shut them down.

My niece has been going back and forth between my parents and my place but it looks like she'll finally be going home today.

Tyger wrote:I definitely feel like I have some lung and possibly heart issues, but not debilitating (currently). I still can’t smell much of anything and my sense of taste is ...medium? I can kinda taste, but not like normal.

¡Ay, caramba! The longest-running primetime scripted series in television history keeps carrying on. Fox has renewed Emmy-winning The Simpsons for its 33rd and 34th seasons, taking the series to 2023 and a total of 757 episodes, both new records.

WyldeMan wrote:

Ohhh dude! D'Elia got down with an underage girl that he had keep telling him her age of 17 during the get down.

And he also had her send him over 100 nude pics and videos? Oh no........... 

Well, career over.

WyldeMan wrote:

Alamo Drafthouse Movie Chain Files For Chapter 11, Selling Assets To Investor Group, Closing Three Theaters

Tyger wrote:I definitely feel like I have some lung and possibly heart issues, but not debilitating (currently). I still can’t smell much of anything and my sense of taste is ...medium? I can kinda taste, but not like normal.

WyldeMan wrote:God damn man but unfortunately all those terrible symptoms all seems to be quite common because I'm reading about them all the time.

Are you getting your heart checked? Have you noticed a a big difference in your everyday life without fully functioning taste and smell? 

I posted back around when Tyger was first diagnosed about the 18 year old girl I knew who got COVID, since then she's been in the ER six times and ICU twice because on top of COVID she has developed a major heart codnition and is possibly in need of a transplant. This poor girl has been in and out of the hospital for months now and might be in need of a transplant at 18 years old, all because she caught COVID.

UltimateMarvel wrote:I made pizza at home by myself yesterday with chicken, green peppers, onions, and tomatoes. So proud of myself.

WyldeMan wrote:When CBS All Access rebranded as Paramount+ this week they expanded their library by adding the ViacomCBS universe including CBS, MTV, BET, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central and a bunch more more.

But anyways, I just came across 246 episodes of the original Nickelodeon sensation, Double Dare. They also added Beavis and butthead, All That, Kenan and Kel, Ren and Stimpy, Rock's Modern Life, AAAHH!!! Real Monsters, Cat Dog, Daria and dozens of others I'm sure I missed. Point being, there is a shitload of 90's animated content and some game shows that just dropped on Paramount+ and for right now, you can sign up for $4.99 a month.

Rusty wrote:Did it taste good? Did you burn it? and more importantly, did you make the base yourself?

Also ... you forgot pepperoni.

UltimateMarvel wrote:

Didn't have pepperoni on hand. Yeah, I made the dough myself. Only thing I didn't make was the pizza sauce but it tasted great, didn't burn it. Next time though I will make the dough thinner, it came out thicker than I'd like it to be as if it was made in a pan. Not bad for first time though.

Rusty wrote:

UltimateMarvel wrote:

Didn't have pepperoni on hand. Yeah, I made the dough myself. Only thing I didn't make was the pizza sauce but it tasted great, didn't burn it. Next time though I will make the dough thinner, it came out thicker than I'd like it to be as if it was made in a pan. Not bad for first time though.

Nice. Homemade pizza is great. Never tried making my own sauce either. Might give it a shot.

joey con carne wrote:The best news I’ve heard in a long time:

HBO Max subscribers looking for some family fun were instead treated to an early look at Zack Snyder's "Justice League" ... with the streaming service leaking the film 10 days early.

Here's the deal ... folks who wanted to watch the PG-rated "Tom and Jerry" movie Monday on HBO Max were, instead, greeted with the R-rated "Justice League" thanks to a glitch on the streaming service.

HBO Max confirmed the accidental leak, saying the movie was "temporarily available" and "the error was addressed within minutes."

@hbomax someone’s getting fired…Tom and Jerry this is not…#SnyderCut pic.twitter.com/B0ReNp2JR2
— Doug (@ThenDougSaid) March 8, 2021 @ThenDougSaid

It appears a decent number of folks were able to catch a sneak peek of the highly-anticipated film ... including several Twitter users, who were quick to rub it in and crack jokes about staffers getting fired.

While HBO Max says the error was fixed "within minutes," some people say they were able to watch about an hour of the film before the feed was cut.

Snyder's version of the 2017 flick isn't set for an official release until March 18 ... so this is a pretty big oops.

But, this may end up driving more eyeballs to HBO Max, even if some got there way too early. As they say, all publicity is good publicity ... even the major oops kind.

WyldeMan wrote:

God damn, the Gay Fish has managed to make the ugliest pair of shoes I've ever seen. I know tacky ridiculous garbage is pretty much the top choice to those in the hip-hop community but my god are these fuckin things hideous. I've never hated shoes like this before but I just have an overwhelming urge to light these mother fuckers on fire like they were slip sleeves. Yet, they allegedly sold out in under a minute upon release. I hate these so so much....

WyldeMan wrote:

Zack Snyder's 'Justice League' Leaks Week Early on HBO Max ... Mixup With 'Tom and Jerry'

joey con carne wrote:The Snyder Cut is four hours or something, right? Did Snyder really film so much more content that was just cut from the final product?

joey con carne wrote:So Snyder actually did film all of that? How far was he into the project before he left? Was it all done filming and all he had to do was edit the film(s)?

HBO Max, the streaming service launched by WarnerMedia in May 2020, will reach 120 million to 150 million subscribers by 2025, AT&T said this morning.

The long-awaited, ad-supported tier of the service will launch in the U.S. in June, the company said.

The new subscriber target is a significant bump from the range of 75 million to 90 million initially put forward by the company in October 2019. As of the end of 2020, it was at 41.5 million when combined with traditional HBO. The number of subscribers to HBO who had activated their HBO Max subscriptions stood at 17.2 million.

Combined subscribers will reach 67 million to 70 million by the end of 2021, the company said. Over the next five years, revenue in the HBO division is expected to more than double to $15 billion from the $6.8 billion reported in 2020, AT&T added.

HBO Max launched in a crowded field, with Disney+, NBCUniversal’s Peacock and Apple TV+ already in the market and Paramount+ and Discovery+ also getting set to challenge Netflix. While the service struggled initially due to Covid-19 production issues and internal management upheaval, it has recently gained more traction. One source of its momentum has raised some hackles in Hollywood: the decision to put Warner Bros movies on the service at the same time they reach theaters.

AT&T released the new outlook along with some other numbers for its investor day later today. It said financial guidance for 2021 remains unchanged. WarnerMedia chief Jason Kilar, the founding Hulu CEO and Amazon executive who took the helm of the entertainment operation nearly a year ago, will be among several execs speaking during the investor day. Among other likely topics will be the company’s recent sale of 30% of DirecTV.

Pricing for the AVOD tier has not yet been disclosed. HBO Max costs $15 a month for those who don’t already pay for HBO and the company has long believed a lower-cost offering with advertising would appeal to customers. Along with the timeline for the AVOD rollout, AT&T also said HBO Max will get to 60 territories outside the U.S. in 2021. Of that total, it will reach 39 in Latin America and the Caribbean by late June and 21 in Europe in the second half of the year.

In other projections, AT&T said it will increase its fiber footprint by an additional 3 million customer locations across more than 90 metro areas in 2021. It will also begin deploying C-band spectrum, which it acquired in an FCC-run auction. Plans call for spending $6 billion to $8 billion on that rollout, mostly during 2022 to 2024.

The spectrum purchase will result in $6 billion in net debt. Acknowledging its struggles with debt, AT&T said it expects to use “all cash flows after total dividends to pay down debt and will continue to look for opportunities to monetize non-strategic assets.” The company entered 2021 with nearly $150 billion in debt, much of it the result of the $85 billion Time Warner acquisition.

“We’re being deliberate and strategic with how we allocate capital to invest in our market focus areas of 5G, fiber and HBO Max, while being committed to sustaining the dividend at current levels and utilizing cash after dividends to reduce debt,” CEO John Stankey said in a press release.

“Our number one priority in 2021 is growing our customer relationships. It’s about more than just adding to our customer base. It’s about expanding the growth opportunity in our three market focus areas and also increasing our share within each market,” Stankey said. “We’re focused on creating deeper relationships with our current customers to increase their daily engagement with our products and services, enabling us to gather more meaningful insights, drive loyalty, and stay ahead of their rapidly changing preferences. As demand for connectivity and content continues to grow, we are well positioned to deliver.”

In what would be something of a career twist, Matthew McConaughey says he is seriously considering a move into politics with a campaign to become the next governor of his home state of Texas.

The actor made the comments on the Crime Stoppers of Houston’s The Balanced Voice podcast, telling host Rania Mankarious that running against incumbent Governor Greg Abbott, who is up for re-election next year, was a “true consideration.”

“What is my leadership role? Because I do think I have some things to teach and share. What is my category in the next chapter of my life I am going into now?” McConaughey commented on the show.

The claim is a reversal of the stance he took when grilled by Stephen Colbert on the topic back in November, when the actor said he had “no plans to do that right now.” He also told another podcast last year that any election bid would be “up to the people.”

The True Detective and Dallas Buyers Club star has been branching out in recent years, including releasing a book, Greenlights, last year. The unconventional memoir explored McConaughey’s mantra for living and made several claims that rankled some political commenters. When promoting the book, he made headlines with his comments on the “illiberal left” and cancel culture.

joey con carne wrote:HBO Max is crazy. The amount of content they have is staggering. I know Roku got HBO Max last year so Wylde should be enjoying the hell out of it.

I thought I would have cancelled HBO Max in January when my credit card stopped paying for it but I kept it. I could survive on just HBO Max if I had to.

Matthew McConaughey thinking about being governor works. Arnold was governor of California for eight years so I don't think it's a stretch for MC. If he runs, I hope his campaign goes well.

The City of Minneapolis has reached a $27 million settlement with George Floyd's family after being sued for his death last year ... and it comes just weeks before Derek Chauvin's trial.

WyldeMan wrote:Rust, do you guys already get access to HBO content or could this be good for you?