Month: January 2018

‘Rick and Morty’ May Not Return Until 2019

Jason Tate

On a recent podcast, voice actor Ryan Ridley announced that Rick and Morty may not come back until 2019. Polygon summarizes:

Ridley pointed out that the script for Rick and Morty’s third season was finished in November 2016, about eight months before the show returned to Adult Swim. Since then, however, he hasn’t worked on it and is adamant that other writers haven’t either.

Creator of the show, Dan Harmon, was also recently called out by former Community writer Megan Ganz for workplace misconduct:

In turn, Ganz implied some form of workplace harassment, writing that it took her “years to believe in my talents again, to trust a boss when he complimented me and not cringe when he asked for my number.”

Niall in the Time of Styles

Niall Horan
Anna Acosta

When “Sign of the Times” dropped last spring, the internet seemed to lose its collective mind. Was it because the highly anticipated previous solo offering from former One Directioner Zayn met with such a lukewarm critical reception last year? Was it because we were, in fact, living in the first days of our descent into an outdated political hellscape, not unlike the dystopian fiction that’s dominated the pop culture cycles for the past several years? Was it simply because Harry Styles is an undeniable force? Was it because it was just a great song? That answer to the “why” depends on whom one asks, but one thing is undeniable: the album that followed has peppered EOTY lists in a way other former Directioner offerings have not. Despite this, fellow former-Directioner Niall Horan quietly released an album in 2017, a largely acoustic, unexpected effort titled Flicker. And so followed the inevitable question – which was the better album?

It would be very easy to say the Styles record was superior and call it a day – after all, it’s flashy. It’s interesting. It was well written, well performed, and well produced – and it is inescapable. That makes it the easy answer. But as with so many things in life, I’m not convinced that the easy answer is necessarily the right one.

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Coachella Owner Still Donates to Deplorable People

Money
Jason Tate

The Fader:

Although 2017 was an off-cycle election year, Anschutz opened up his checkbook again and gave close to $200,000 to Republican politicians and Super PACs. […] He gave Senator Tipton $2,700 in August. Tipton opposes same sex marriage and abortion. Mike Coffman, a member of the House who opposes abortion, received $5,400 from Anschutz in August.

Spotify Preparing for IPO

Jason Tate

Reports are that Spotify has confidentially filed for an IPO:

Both Silicon Valley and Wall Street are paying close attention to this one, given that Spotify is pursuing a direct listing instead of a traditional float. That means no road show or other typical IPO accoutrements (including some of the Wall Street fees, although several investments banks are involved). The quiet period does seem intact, however, as a Spotify spox declined comment.

Where The Fuck Are All The Bands?

Stereogum
Jason Tate

Tom Breihan, writing for Stereogum:

The answer, of course, is that nobody at Coachella wants to see any fucking bands. (One exception might be Tomlinson’s old band, which only fits the loosest possible definition of the term “band.”) If you’ve been to the festival in recent years, you already know that rock bands basically don’t move the needle at all when it comes to that festival.