Michael Schneider, writing at Variety:
“Bronze Blue” would have starred Hoppus, Wentz, Ashlee Simpson, and others (potentially including Williams, who had been approached) as various characters in an underwater punk/pop band singing catchy, eco-friendly tunes. The band toured the beaches of the world to share their message; however, they would have to stay one step ahead of their ultimate villain: The Sushi Chef.
Graham Isador, writing at CBC:
“I’m very conscious about speaking in universal terms because I don’t know anything. I only know about what this stuff means to me. One of the things that has definitely exasperated that battle with depression is this idea, both internally and externally from other people, saying, ‘What are you so bummed about? Look around you. Things are good for you. Your band’s having success. You have a really incredible partner.’ All of these external factors point to something that should make a happy individual. That’s not really how mental health — for me — works. Having success with the band doesn’t mean I’m happy.”
I highly recommend this interview if you’re a fan of the band. It really does add a lot of context to the lyrics on the upcoming album.
Jon Simmons of Balance and Composure sat down with Ian Cohen at Stereogum:
“I saw it coming to an end the last tour, but we didn’t make a statement because we truly didn’t know until we met up a couple months ago,” says Simmons. “I didn’t want to break up. I like performing, I like writing, but you can’t be touring for three months straight when you have a family at home. That’s how it always goes, it seems.”
Y: The Last Man will be coming to FX in 2020:
FX’s version, however, will simply be called Y. Michael Green, who recently cut ties with Starz’s American Gods, will serve as showrunner with Aïda Mashaka, a veteran writer of Netflix’s Marvel offerings. Vaughan, meanwhile, will serve as an executive producer. And, as we previously reported, Melina Matsoukas will flex the skills she honed helming Beyoncé videos and episodes of Insecure as the pilot’s director.
It’s one of my favorite graphic novels of all time. Please don’t suck.
Backstreet Boys have the number one album in the country:
After a nearly 20-year wait, Backstreet Boys are back on top of the Billboard 200 chart. The group debuts at No. 1 on the list with its new studio album DNA, marking the vocal quintet’s third No. 1, and first leader since Black & Blue spent two weeks at No. 1 in December of 2000.
I guess, [puts on sunglasses], Backstreet’s back.
Peter Kafka, writing at Recode:
Spotify, which has been trying to branch out of the streaming music business, is getting ready to make its first big move into podcasting: It plans to pay more than $200 million to buy Gimlet Media, the startup behind popular shows like Reply All.
Mia Galuppo, writing at The Hollywood Reporter:
Musician and actor Johnny Flynn will play David Bowie in the upcoming feature Stardust.
Jena Malone and Marc Maron will also star in the movie that tracks the rise of the superstar, starting with his first visit to America in 1971 — a trip that inspired the invention of his iconic alter ego, Ziggy Stardust.
The network has handed out a pilot order for Heart of Life, a project inspired by Mayer’s song of the same name.
Heart of Life follows two sets of adult siblings from wildly different worlds who discover they are related and must reassess everything they thought they knew about their shared father. As they explore the mystery of their separate childhoods, they’ll experience the difficulty in overcoming the sins of the past, and learn the joys of reuniting with long-lost family.
AirBuddy brings the same AirPods experience you have on iOS to the Mac. With AirBuddy, you can open up your AirPods case next to your Mac and see the status right away, just like it is on your iPhone or iPad. A simple click and you’re connected and playing your Mac’s audio to AirPods.
Google+ will officially be shut down on April 2nd, 2019:
On April 2nd, your Google+ account and any Google+ pages you created will be shut down and we will begin deleting content from consumer Google+ accounts. Photos and videos from Google+ in your Album Archive and your Google+ pages will also be deleted. You can download and save your content, just make sure to do so before April. Note that photos and videos backed up in Google Photos will not be deleted.
Robinson Meyer, writing at The Atlantic:
Meteorologists have never gotten a shiny magazine cover or a brooding Aaron Sorkin film, and the weather-research hub of Norman, Oklahoma, is rarely mentioned in the same breath as Palo Alto. But over the past few decades, scientists have gotten significantly—even staggeringly—better at predicting the weather.
How much better? “A modern five-day forecast is as accurate as a one-day forecast was in 1980,” says a new paper, published last week in the journal Science. “Useful forecasts now reach nine to 10 days into the future.”
The Batman is scheduled for 2021:
Warner Bros. is dating their next rendition of Batman for June 25, 2021. This is the one that Matt Reeves has been attached to as writer and director. Ben Affleck, we hear, will not be donning the Dark Knight’s tights after playing the Caped Crusader in Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, Suicide Squad and Justice League and that’s because this movie will focus on a younger Bruce Wayne.
Joshua Bote, writing at NPR:
As was the case with They Shall Not Grow Old, which found Jackson reviving a trove of archival World War I footage, the Lord of the Rings filmmaker is mining 55 hours of unreleased footage of the band, using restoration techniques to render it in modern quality. The footage was originally intended for Michael Lindsay-Hogg’s 1970 documentary Let it Be.
This thread on Twitter of pop-punk bands described with John Mulaney quotes is pretty great.
Mark Hoppus talked with Kerrang about the upcoming Blink-182 album:
“After playing in this band for 27 years, I want to push it and do different things and take blink to places where we haven’t been before,” he tells Kerrang!. “We’re really trying to do that on the new record. We want to do with our band what we did in 2003 with Untitled, where we take our foundations and go off in completely weird directions.”