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‘The Sandlot’ Getting a TV Series Revival

Jason Tate

The Sandlot will be getting a TV series revival with much of the original cast returning. The news came from the director of the original on The Rain Delay podcast. Slashfilm summarizes the conversation:

As for what the series is about, all Evans would say was that it takes place in 1984, and it will bring back the original kids from The Sandlot. They’re all now around 33 years old, and each of them has kids of their own. But that’s it. Maybe their kids pick up the mantle and start a game of their own on the dusty old diamond? If that’s the case, what kind of pickle will they get themselves into? We don’t know!

This sounds very much in my wheelhouse.

Adam Siska of The Academy Is… Reflects on the Band’s Career

The Academy Is
Jason Tate

Adam Siska of The Academy Is… is on the latest episode of the Emo Social Podcast. He talks about the break-up of the band and a “lost” album of unreleased songs. Rachel Campbell summarized the discussion for Alt Press:

“To be honest with you, there is a record that never came out,” Siska says. “I don’t know if I would call it a whole record, but there’s songs there. In a weird way, I think when we were doing that record in 2010, it was ahead of its time. I remember management being like, ‘There’s not really a lot of guitar here. You guys are a guitar band.’”

“It was a big sports moment,” he says. “Our manager called us, and he’s like, ‘That’s what you guys need. You need an unexpected onside kick. You gotta do something really different this time,’ so we did. We added a keyboard player and went for this different sound, and the label didn’t like it. The management didn’t like it, and then we broke up.”

Soor: A Third-Party Apple Music Client for iPhone

Jason Tate

Federico Viticci, writing at MacStories:

With the exception of For You (more on this below), all these sections can be turned off in the app’s settings and rearranged so that, for instance, your playlists and recently played albums are at the top of the screen, with Apple Music sections following down in the middle. Soor’s key proposition is this drastic departure from the organization of the Music app: rather than splitting the Library and For You into two separate tabs, Soor lets you mix and match both types of content in the same screen, enabling you to choose the order they’re displayed for faster access.

This looks like something I’ll need to check out this weekend.

Tiffany Haddish and Pete Wentz Heading to ‘Double Dare’

Jason Tate

Jaclyn Hendricks, writing at Page Six:

Tiffany Haddish will soon be gaming up for a physical challenge.

The “Night School” actress, in addition to Shaun White and Fall Out Boy’s Pete Wentz, will be featured in upcoming episodes of Nickelodeon’s “Double Dare,” Page Six can exclusively reveal.

Tied to the 2019 Kids’ Choice Awards, “Double Dare” will have themed episodes airing from March 11 through the March 14, which will include Wentz, whose band is nominated for Favorite Music Group, and actor Joel Courtney, star of Favorite Movie nominee “The Kissing Booth.”

Ryan Adams Fans Demand Money Back Ahead of UK Tour

Ryan Adams
Jason Tate

Jay Unger and Lydia Thomas, writing at the BBC:

The BBC has approached three of the biggest ticketing websites in the UK to respond to whether or not fans will be given a refund. At the time of writing, none of them have replied.

Marshall said it was “surprising” that the companies involved in the tour have been silent since the allegations were published.

“I’ve tried to speak to the ticketing companies,” he said. “I’ve tried to speak to the venues and the promoter and I’ve had very little response back.

Refund the tickets and cancel the tour. This should not be hard.

Facebook Wants Up to 30% of Fan Subscriptions

Facebook
Jason Tate

Josh Constine, writing at TechCrunch:

Facebook will drive a hard bargain with influencers and artists judging by the terms of service for the social network’s Patreon-like Fan Subscriptions feature that lets people pay a monthly fee for access to a creator’s exclusive content. The policy document attained by TechCrunch shows Facebook plans to take up to a 30 percent cut of subscription revenue minus fees, compared to 5 percent by Patreon, 30 percent by YouTube, which covers fees and 50 percent by Twitch.

It took me a weekend to build my own using Stripe. I firmly believe you should own the most important parts of your business and the membership system is how we can continue to exist as a publication. The idea of giving 30% to Facebook? Fuck all the way off.

The Secret Lives of Facebook Moderators in America

Facebook
Jason Tate

Casey Newton, writing at The Verge:

Over the past three months, I interviewed a dozen current and former employees of Cognizant in Phoenix. All had signed non-disclosure agreements with Cognizant in which they pledged not to discuss their work for Facebook — or even acknowledge that Facebook is Cognizant’s client. The shroud of secrecy is meant to protect employees from users who may be angry about a content moderation decision and seek to resolve it with a known Facebook contractor. The NDAs are also meant to prevent contractors from sharing Facebook users’ personal information with the outside world, at a time of intense scrutiny over data privacy issues

But the secrecy also insulates Cognizant and Facebook from criticism about their working conditions, moderators told me. They are pressured not to discuss the emotional toll that their job takes on them, even with loved ones, leading to increased feelings of isolation and anxiety.

This story is terrifying.

Classical Music on Apple Music: What’s Wrong and How Apple Can Fix It

Jason Tate

MacStories:

“…We’re treating around 300 years of music from various countries, forms, philosophies, and so on as one genre. As far as modern commercial music, we don’t group the past 50 years together: can you imagine how strange it would be to group LL Cool J, Metallica, and The Spice Girls together? These are all artists that were popular in the 90s; beyond that, they have virtually nothing in common. Grouping together Mozart, Ravel, and Cage makes even less sense.”

A lot of really great points here.

Saves the Day Tease Tour and New Music

Saves the Day
Jason Tate

Chelsey Norris noted in their Saves the Day live review that the band mentioned they’d be touring with Joyce Manor this summer:

One positive bit of news that came out of this experience – Conley says that fans will not have to wait as long to hear new music from the band this time around. “We’ll keep writing,” he told me. “I think we’ll probably have a new album out next year.”

He also let it slip that they’ll be going on tour with Joyce Manor this summer, so look for that announcement soon.

The Story Behind ‘Spider-Verse’ Using “Sunflower”

Jason Tate

The writers of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse share with Vulture the steps that went into using “Sunflower” in the movie:

It was critical that the song gag landed. We had a feeling it was because people knew the song, and they knew how he was messing it up. We were in big trouble when we couldn’t use it anymore — we needed to replace one of the greatest songs of the year, and we had to do it in time to spend the three months we would need to animate that shot. It turns out “Sunflower” is a massive hit song. We heard it as part of a batch of songs that Republic Records presented to us.

We also liked the metaphor this presents: Miles is singing a song that theoretically he’s a little too young for and he doesn’t know the words yet. That’s the metaphor we’re going to be working with for most of the rest of the movie. He’s going to be asked to step into shoes that he feels he’s not ready for, he’s not going to know the words, and he’s going to feel very self-conscious and nervous about that.

I love reading about the process behind decisions like this.