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‘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.”

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.

Taco Bell Announces Nacho Fries

Mark Hoppus
Jason Tate

Taco Bell is officially adding nacho fries to their menu for a “limited time.” Delish reports:

Nacho Fries start at $1 and come with a side of the brand’s bright orange cheese sauce. They can be upgraded to a supreme or Bell Grande status (for $2.49 and $3.49, respectively), and topped with beef, sour cream, and pico de gallo. And, of course, more cheese.

Thanks Mark.

Spotify Hit With $1.6 Billion Copyright Lawsuit

Jason Tate

Eriq Gardner, writing for The Hollywood Reporter:

As the new year begins, the music industry could be set for an epochal moment. Hopes are running high for the first significant reform of music licensing rules in decades. The coming year may also see Spotify go public. But before any of this happens, the Stockholm, Sweden-based streaming giant must now contend with a massive new copyright lawsuit from Wixen Music Publishing, which administers the song compositions by Tom Petty, Zach De La Rocha and Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine, The Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach, Steely Dan’s Donald Fagen, Weezer’s Rivers Cuomo, David Cassidy, Neil Young, Sonic Youth’s Kim Gordon, Stevie Nicks, and many others.

Taylor Swift Tops the Charts (Again)

Taylor Swift
Jason Tate

Taylor Swift once again has the number one album in the country:

Taylor Swift’s Reputation returns to No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart for a fourth nonconsecutive week, as the set steps 2-1 in its seventh week on the list. Reputation earned 107,000 equivalent album units in the week ending Dec. 28, according to Nielsen Music (down 19 percent). Of that sum, 79,000 were in traditional album sales (down 24 percent).

Advertise With Us

Chorus.fm Logo (For Open Graph)
Jason Tate

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Become a Supporting Member

Jason Tate

Once a week I make a simple pitch to everyone that reads this website: if you like it, could you help support us? Running this website is my full-time job and it’s because of readers like you that we can remain independent and keep publishing. There’s a few different tiers of support that work out to basically pennies a day. And being a supporter comes with cool perks (like Dark Mode, special forum enhancements, and much more), but beyond that your support means this website and forum can continue to exist. You can learn more here.

Thank you to all of our current supporters and all the readers that make this website possible. I love running it, and it’s because of all of you that I truly feel like I have the greatest job in the world. Thank you.

Words We’re Watching: “Padawan”

Jason Tate

Merriam-Webster:

Padawan is a word that is being used more and more in a generic way to refer to learners, followers, or anyone just starting out. It was used in Star Wars: Episode I, the first of the prequels made by George Lucas and released in 1999, and refers to aspiring Jedi knights whose education is overseen by a Jedi master. […]

At any rate, what’s notable is that they are creating a new category of skilled pre-professional positions, and have found a word that corresponds to it. Whether or not the name sticks is a good question: it will take several years of gathering evidence to see whether or not this is the word we’re looking for.

‘Call of Duty’ Gaming Community Points to ‘Swatting’ in Deadly Wichita Police Shooting

Videogames
Jason Tate

Nichole Manna, writing for the Wichita Eagle:

Online gamers have said in multiple Twitter posts that the shooting of a man Thursday night by Wichita police was the result of a “swatting” hoax involving two gamers.

Swatting happened when someone makes a call to a police department with a false story of an ongoing crime – often with killing or hostages involved – in an attempt to draw a large number of police officers to a particular address. […]

Officers went to the 1000 block of McCormick, preparing for a hostage situation and they “got into position,” he said.

“A male came to the front door,” Livingston said. “As he came to the front door, one of our officers discharged his weapon.”

Bandcamp Release 2017 Stats

Bandcamp
Jason Tate

Bandcamp have released some of their 2017 stats, there’s some fun gems in here:

17,872 tapes were released on Bandcamp this year. That’s an average of almost 50 tapes per day, or one every 29 minutes. If you’re anything like me, you will now be feeling an uncomfortable combination of shock, confusion, and heart-warming joy. Don’t panic—it’s normal. That’s your brain carving out new neural pathways to accommodate the realization that you’re more mainstream than you thought you were.

And:

Ever since I found out that “Atlas” is the most popular band name on Bandcamp (still – 77 and counting!) I’ve been intrigued by common band names. They’re always words that are short and generic enough to be statistically probable names, but still somehow meaningful to the bands using them.