Monday, December 22, 2025
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Tyler the Creator Wakes Up Slumbering Record Biz with 300K Sales for “Chromakopia” Album

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What is Chromokopia? I have no idea.

Who is Tyler the Creator? A huge rap star who is highly regarded by his fans.

The result? First week sales of 300,000 for “Chromokopia” this week. It’s on Sony Columbia Records.

His real name is Tyler Gregory Okonma. He’s 33. This week he woke up the slumbering record biz with this release. No artists have been selling at all recently. Halsey, also popular, didn’t crack 100,000 with her new release. She finished at number 2. (She’s also on Sony. Good week for them.)

Tyler not only writes the music, he also directs the videos. One of them is below and is quite cool.

Does he have cred? Yes. He’s had some minor brushes with the law, but nothing very extreme. According to Wikipedia he may also be bisexual. He’s also had feuds with Eminem and with DJ Khaled.

“Chromakopia” is Tyler’s 8th album. Noted: album sales were evenly divided between physical product and streaming. That makes him unusual right there. Fans want to own his music.

Tyler’s last album, in 2022, won the Grammy for Best Rap Album. “Chromakopia” will have to wait until January 2026 for that honor. But there’s a good chance we’ll see him on the show this winter.

Box Office Crash & Burn: Tom Hanks’s “Here” Makes Just $198 Per Theater in Previews

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Tom Hanks has two Oscars and lots of big hits on his resume.

He also has some clunkers. Robert Zemeckis’s “Here” is one of them, maybe the biggest.

Last night, “Here” — which reunites Hanks with his “Forrest Gump” director Zemeckis and star Robin Wright — made just $198 per theater in previews. The total was just $475,000.

Total for the weekend will be around $3 million or less.

The movie cost $50 million officially, but probably more. It’s a total write off for the producers and Miramax Films.

“Here” is so hard to describe that Robin Wright couldn’t do it on Stephen Colbert’s show the other night.

It’s apparently about time passing for one couple, in the same room. There’s just one point of view. Or something. There’s a lot of technology involved, but no story.

What a shame.

Trump Stock Plummeting Over Death Threat Against Liz Cheney, Puerto Rico “Garbage Island”: Investors Fleeing

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Donald Trump’s stock is plummeting.

Trump Media is down to $30.30 after he suggested killing former congresswoman Liz Cheney.

The stock has dropped 15% just today by 1:20pm. On Tuesday, it was at 53.88.

Trump has suffered a personal loss of at least $2 billion as the stock for his social media site Truth Social is collapsing.

Are people finally understanding who he is? In just 5 days, the stock has fallen 28%.

This comes after a big run up as investors were sure Trump would win the election. But a sell off is taking place now starting since Sunday’s rally when Puerto Rico was described on stage as a “floating island of garbage.”

Trump could have apologized for the statement by a comedian, but didn’t, and he himself kept describing the US as a “garbage can.”

Trump LIES on Social Media About Melania Book Being Number 1 on NY Times Bestseller List

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Melania Trump’s memoir, called Melania, is number 6 on the new New York Times bestseller list of hardcover non fiction.

It should be fiction, but that’s another story.

Anyway, Donald Trump posted to Truth Social that the book is number 1 on the Times list.

It’s not.

Last week, it was number 5. It was number 1 for 1 week when it was first published.

If he can lie about something so easily checked, what about everything else?

Right now the Trump Media stock is struggling to stay above $32 a share. It’s been dropping since yesterday and is way off its high of $54 from six weeks ago.

Saoirse Ronan Gives Oscar Buzzed Performance in Bleak, Beautiful “The Outrun,” Streaming Starting November 5th

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Election day is coming, but a few other things are happening on November 5th.

“The Outrun,” a movie whose title I can never remember — The Outset, The Upshot? — is coming to streaming after a four week run in theaters.

“The Outrun” made no money in its US theater release and didn’t get much attention, but it’s marvelous. Saoirse Ronan — Oscar nominated for four films including “Ladybird” and “Brooklyn” — gives the performance of her life as Rona, a 29 year old London girl with Scottish roots who is utterly lost. It’s up to Academy voters now to rescue it from oblivion.

The movie, directed by Nora Fingsheidt, takes place in the Orkney Islands on the northern most outstretch of Scotland. It’s winter, and dismal, but also gorgeous, and this is the place Rona (Ronan) lands to get sober after a wild time partying and drinking. Cinematographer Yunus Roy Imer captures of all it brilliantly, exposing the raw nature of Rona’s recovery in muted, washed out colors.

“I’m only happy when I drink,” she says at one point. She’s not kidding. She is dead serious. Her drinking lands in her some pretty tough spots, which we see in flashbacks in the non linear screenplay. Fingscheidt, an award winning German director, cuts back and forth as Rona comes to terms with her parents (the father is severely bipolar), her traumatized childhood, and her sometimes violent present in colorful London.

Saskia Reeves and Stephen Dillane are excellent as the parents. But the movie is all about Rona. You can’t take your eyes off of Ronan. She’s a beacon of light in a dark passage. Even though “The Outrun” didn’t score an audience in theaters, I hope it’s embraced on streaming platforms like Apple etc. “The Outrun” is one of the best films of 2024.

Cher Will Start Book Tour for Memoir at Famed NY Synagogue Because Why Not?

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Cher’s memoir, called Cher, will be published on November 19th. She promises to tell the “Real” story of her life, although by now we know it by heart thanks to endless interviews, a Broadway musical, and so on.

The Oscar winning actress and famed singer is also going on a book tour to meet fans and sign volumes. The tour has an unusual starting point: Temple Emanuel in New York, a famed synagogue. Cher is not Jewish, she’s Armenian — unless of course the book reveals otherwise. It’s a unique choice of venue for a unique celebrity!

Other locales on the tour menu include Englewood, New Jersey, Beverly Hills, London, and San Francisco. There is nothing booked for the rest of the country. In the old days, book tours went to Boston, Cleveland, Dallas, St. Louis, etc. They never went to Englewood, New Jersey!

Cher marches to the beat of her own drum, that’s for sure. “Cher” the book is coming in two volumes. No word on Part 2, the Rob Camillietti years. Cher said on Jimmy Fallon’s show a year ago that she “chickened out” on adding all the juicy stuff, so she had to go back and put it in.

I do hope there’s even a passing mention of my late friend, Michael Klenfner, who put “Believe” on the radio and on the map!

In new Instagram post, Cher dropped a tiny taste of the book today.

Taylor Swift, Beyonce, Billie Eilish, Mostly Females On the List for Grammy Nominations Coming in One Week

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The Grammy Awards will announce their nominees next Friday, November 8th at 11am. The delivering of this info will come on Grammy.com. The show will on CBS Sunday February 2nd.

Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason jr. will be joined by Grammy winners Brandy Clark, Kirk Franklin, David Frost, Robert Gordon, Kylie Minogue, Victoria Monét, Gaby Moreno, Deanie Parker, Ben Platt, Mark Ronson, and Hayley Williams, along with Grammy-nominated comedian Jim Gaffigan and “CBS Mornings” host Gayle King.

Is Gaffigan this year’s host?

This upcoming Grammys will be a battle among female performers. Albums of the year will come from Taylor Swift, Beyonce, Lady Gaga, Billie Eilish, Chappell Roan, Gracie Abrams, Sabrina Carpenter, Charli XCX, and more. They’ll be joined by Eminem, Shaboozey, Teddy Swims, and Benson Boone. But remember a few years ago when the “women” were told to “step up.” They did!

In the rock category, I hope we’ll see the Rolling Stones and Green Day. The Stones “Hackney Diamonds” should be an Album of the Year but will probably be relegated to the rock category. Inevitably there will be snubs and complaints, but that’s the way it always is!

Will Beyonce get a lot of nods? Will she win? These will be big questions.

This is the 2nd to last Grammys on CBS. As they announced earlier this week, the show and all its specials moves to ABC in 2027.

Omen? Trump Media Stock Price Suddenly Nosedives 12% After Two Week Run Up

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On Tuesday, two days ago, the price of Trump Media rose to $53.88.

Today, it closed at $35.34. It’s down 12% for the day.

Trump Media’s stock price fell suddenly at 10am, maybe when his investors realized that the Puerto Rico scandal — a comedian calling the US territory a “floating island of garbage” at his hate filled rally on Sunday — did him in.

Trump’s recent comments last night about women’s rights also contributed to the fall. Plus, today he lied about his wanting to shut down Obamacare.

The lies and hate are catching up, Fast.

The Weeknd, Fresh off “Idol” TV Disaster, Releases Nightmare Video for Non Song “Sao Paolo”

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The Weeknd doesn’t appear in his new video called “Sao Paolo.” Singer Anitta does, however, with a grotesque pregnant belly that has moving lips in place of a belly button.

“Sao Paolo” isn’t much of a song. I don’t know what it is. But after the “The Idol” HBO debacle, I thought Abel Tesfaye would get back to real business. This is the Idol’s new clothes. Maybe it’s good for dance clubs. But not for enjoyment of any other kind!

“Squid Game” Fans: Here’s the Teaser Trailer for Season 2, Which Raises the Stakes in Competition

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“Squid Games” is back on Netflix soon. It’s a Boxing Day present — coming December 26th.

The teaser trailer was just unveiled in Europe at Lucca, Italy Comic Con. (Lucca is one of the most beautiful places in world. I can’t imagine a bunch of fanboys and girls roaming around it in cosplay. It breaks my heart.)

The press release says:

“Season 2 raises the stakes, with Lee Jung-jae reprising his role as Seong Gi-hun, also known as Player 456. With a hardened demeanor and the scars of past games, Gi-hun is on a desperate mission to expose the deadly truth of the competition. Yet, his warnings go unheeded, and tensions rise as fellow players question his intentions. The teaser also shows the return of Lee Byung-hun as the mysterious Front Man, whose true motivations remain cloaked in secrecy, while Wi Ha-jun’s Hwang Jun-ho is back, driving the narrative forward as the relentless detective on a mission of his own.”