David Fisher/Shutterstock

Ah, Timmy. How we’ve missed you and your glorious red carpet outfits… may the world know peace.

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Trueself

What is Yassification? How to Yassify Yourself

Yassification is the latest meme to emerge from the pop culture hellscape . But does it signify something larger?

via @yassifybot on Twitter

Try explaining “Yassification” to anyone who hasn’t noticed the ridiculous illustrations whirling about social media and you’ll be hard pressed to make your translation understood.

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Culture News

Multiple Teachers Are Currently Trapped in Quarantine with Matt Damon

The Good Will Hunting star has been locked down in Ireland with his family and multiple teachers since early March

Jason Bourne, Universal Studios

In a recent interview with Irish radio show Fully Charged, Matt Damon revealed the charming circumstances of his family's lockdown in Dalkey, Ireland.

Dalkey is an upscale suburb of Dublin where the Contagion star had arranged to stay with wife, Luciana Barroso, and their three daughters while he was filming The Last Duel with director Ridley Scott and co-star Adam Driver. The couple brought teachers along for the trip to make sure their children stayed on top of their education, but ever since the project was put on hiatus in early March, Damon, his family, and those teachers have all been locked down together.


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Film Lists

How to Stream All the 2020 Oscar Winning Movies

Its not too late to find out what all the hype is about.

Hair Love | Oscar®-Winning Short Film (Full) | Sony Pictures Animation

The Academy Awards have the power to cement certain films into our collective cultural consciousness.

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MUSIC

Was Janelle Monáe Attacked with "Too Much Tuna?"

John Mulaney and Nick Kroll think that giving people giant mounds of tuna fish is a fun prank, but mercury poisoning is no joke

Kroll Show - Oh, Hello - A Medically Inadvisable Amount of Tuna (ft. John Mulaney)

It was announced yesterday that Janelle Monáe will be joining the impressive lineup of musical acts performing at the Oscars this weekend.

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CULTURE

Deepfake George Lucas Is More Convincing Than Actual George Lucas

Baudrillard was right, and I have lost all sense of what's real.

George LucasLACMA: Art and Film Gala, Los Angeles, USA - 03 Nov 2018

Photo by Matt Baron/Shutterstock

A video purporting to show George Lucas camping out for the premiere of Rise of Skywalker was unleashed upon the world yesterday, and has thrown reality into turmoil.

We have been warned that Deepfakes have the potential to undermine democracy by casting doubt on the veracity of video evidence. If the alleged "pee tape" came out tomorrow, is there any doubt that Donald Trump and his defenders would shout fake? Even if the footage was clear and unmistakable, the existence of technology that can seamlessly meld a famous face onto a stranger's speech and mannerisms can throw any video into contention. But this new George Lucas video has done something much deeper, and much more troubling.

George Lucas Camps Out & Reacts to Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker - Deepfake Sagawww.youtube.com

Having watched George Lucas being sarcastic and self-aggrandizing in a bad George Lucas wig and a cheap fat suit, I don't know if I believe in the real George Lucas anymore. You can tell me that it's actually an actor and impersonator named Josh Robert Thompson, but when he rolls his eyes at Baby Yoda with perfect contempt, I know that he's the real deal. The essence of George Lucas lives in this video more purely than any footage of the man himself, and I am no longer convinced that George "it's like poetry" Lucas was ever anything other than a character embodied by Josh Robert Thompson.

He seems certain that American culture leaving him behind can only be a damning sign for society. Couple that with the sigh of a disaffected boomer billionaire—pining for Woodstock while he contemplates buying a movie theater to simplify his schedule—and you have enacted George Lucas' entire being since 2005. Skywalker Ranch has been officially relocated to the Uncanny Valley, and I'm now convinced that the original George Lucas, in all his pompous glory, was the first CGI creation of Industrial Light & Magic.

If you haven't watched the video yet, save yourself from the existential dread. It's too late for me. The map has subsumed the territory. All that remains is the simulacrum, and I am left to wonder, if George Lucas is nothing more than this basic character study in a beard and glasses, who actually created Star Wars? I do not have the answer, but If I had to guess, I'd say it's probably Hatsune Miku.