The band The Flaming Lips is trying to reach out to fans during this time of quarantine, but in the safest way possible. Their answer? Live concerts with individual Space Bubbles. The idea is actually a recycled one. Lead singer Wayne Coyne began using these custom plastic bubbles to launch himself into the audience to crowd surf. After COVID hit, he started drawing concept art of the space bubbles protecting his band and fans in concert. So when the band was scheduled to appear on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, they gave the bubbles a test drive. Somehow measuring their appearance on Colbert a success, they went ahead and scheduled two whole concerts in Oklahoma where they’re from. The photos (below) look like something out of a Sci Fi movie.

In an age where it seems impossible to safely hold a crowded concert, the Flaming Lips found a way to do so in their home state of Oklahoma. The band put on two shows where attendees — and musicians — stood inside “space bubbles” to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

The band ordered space bubbles from China for an October show at the Criterion theater in Oklahoma City. The first floor of the venue was filled with around 300 fans in enclosed in plastic bubble barriers.

The plastic pods keep fans at a safe distance, and Coyne emphasized that each bubble is cleaned out with about 20 ounces of 70% isopropyl alcohol, hit with a leaf blower until the liquid is evaporated, and then scrubbed down by a person in a full painter’s suit and mask. The cleaning process is extensive after each show.

The bubbles hold enough oxygen for three people to breathe for “over an hour and 10 minutes” before they need to be refreshed with a leaf blower, Coyne said, according to BBC News. Each bubble has a speaker inside, so the band’s sound wasn’t muffled, as well as a fan, water and a towel to wipe down condensation. If fans needed to leave their bubble, they had an “I gotta go pee/hot in here” sign and a venue staff member would escort them to the bathroom while wearing masks.

Since clapping inside the bubbles sounded muted, people instead applauded by “punching the top of their bubble,” Poppe said.

The fans left the venue by rolling their bubbles to the exit, then putting on masks and unzipping their plastic globe to leave the venue.

[From CBS News]

I couldn’t do this due to my claustrophobia. I’m having a little trouble looking at those people in the bubbles. I know they’re clear and they have openings, but being in something that small would wreak havoc on my mind. But obviously, this wasn’t intended for someone like me who barely goes to concerts anyway (especially because my claustrophobia can also be triggered in crowds). I do want to give The Flaming Lips credit for their efforts because I think they had the best intentions. Their motivation is to provide live entertainment. It sounds like this was all considered and executed judiciously and seriously. That said, would this scratch your concert itch:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Wayne Coyne (@waynecoyne5)

I am not overly familiar with The Flaming Lips but if Coyne is stage diving on the reg, I would imagine this is a bit subdued. Plus that bubble almost demands you pull some serious Dad dance moves. But, maybe this is all the folks in attendance wanted, just the chance to stand among other people, listening to music played live. Adjustments have to be made, so if this works, then all power to the innovators.

However, the more important question is – was it safe enough? It certainly sounds thorough, with 70% isopropyl alcohol and full painter suit scrub downs. But the article also discussed a lot of fans and leaf blowers and COVID is a highly contagious airborne disease. In San Jose, CA, 44 emergency room staff tested positive for COVID after a Christmas party. They think it was due to an air powered costume, you know, like those T-Rex costumes that need to be inflated to wear. That may have blown COVID air droplets, infecting 44 people, one of whom died. Obviously, I hope everyone is safe from The Flaming Lips concert and I hope they had a great time. I also hope the band waits until the vaccine rollout before they try it again.

Here goes night two of shooting video with the #flaminglips at @CriterionOKC. This is the second space bubble concert to have ever happened. pic.twitter.com/D3CZ11EnZ5

— Nathan Poppe (@NathanPoppe) January 24, 2021

The overall mood is much more relaxed tonight. Inflation seems to flying by. Crews already filled the first 50 or so space bubbles. It only takes about 20-30 seconds to fill one of these with air. pic.twitter.com/hnbakmx9TJ

— Nathan Poppe (@NathanPoppe) January 24, 2021

Go time! pic.twitter.com/PgLU7gYDOd

— Nathan Poppe (@NathanPoppe) January 24, 2021

Photo credit: CBS/YouTube, Instagram and Twitter

The Fug Girls and I disagree on this outfit on Michelle Monaghan. And that’s what fashion is – not everything is for everyone. This look is 100% for me. Mostly I’m attracted to the pants and the boots. The pants are harem-lite and have the exact hang and drape that I like below the waist. And these …

The Witcher is one of the most popular original shows on Netflix (thanks to that audience metric that requires you only watch two minutes of a thing to count as a “view”), so it’s no surprise a prequel spin-off is coming. Described as a six-episode limited series, The Witcher: Blood Origin will tell…

Rosie Huntington-Whiteley and Jason Statham have been together a long time – has anything changed on that front? They keep things pretty quiet and the only reason I ask is because this is a pretty moody Instagram. Mind you, a lot of us are a bit moody right now. I’m probably reading too much into it…

Ben Affleck and Ana de Armas were our first couple of the pandemic. Towards the end of the summer of 2020, however, when Ana joined Ben in Ireland where he was shooting The Last Duel, and they kept a much lower profile, it was Katie Holmes and Emilio Vitolo Jr who entered the romantic spotlight with…

Ioan Gruffudd left his wife of 14 years, Alice Evans, and I think there could be some big drama with this one? Alice is already posting statements on social media. [JustJared]
Dominion Voting Systems is suing Rudy Giuliani for $1.3 billion!! [Jezebel]
Nikki Haley is such a disgusting, catastrophic person. [Towleroad]
Why would you get a bad tattoo on your face? [OMG Blog]
Speaking of, Brooklyn Beckham keeps getting tattoos. [Dlisted]
Young Maggie Smith was quite the dish. [GFY]
Tom Brady is not the greatest American athlete. MAGA hat aside, Serena Williams exists so any Tom Brady argument is moot. [Pajiba]
Beyonce’s new collection is called Icy Park. [LaineyGossip]
I’m obsessed with Lana Condor’s eyelashes. [Tom & Lorenzo]
Here are some positive money habits which we could all adopt. [Buzzfeed]

Amidst all the spring blockbusters moving back to the fall, we are guaranteed one big movie to watch (at home): Godzilla vs Kong, which will premiere in whatever theaters are open and on HBO Max on March 26. Sure, everyone hates Warner Brothers now, a bunch of their creative partners have lost faith…

Justin Timberlake is now the father of two – he and Jessica Biel are parents to son Silas, 5, and Phineas, who is still a baby. It’s also worth noting – because I think about it every time I’m covering them – that I totally believe Biel and Timberlake are anti-Vaxxers and that their children are unvaccinated. But according to Justin, the thing he and Jessica worry about the most is how their children will handle their parents’ enormous fame. Justin chatted with Dax Shepard on Dax’s Armchair Expert podcast. Some highlights:

Justin wants his sons to have a normal childhood: “I try to be conscious of making sure we can live a life where we’re not weirdly private but we’re conscious of making sure they can be kids for as long as possible. And not have the weight of somebody else treating them differently because of something that their parents do.” The 39-year-old Tennessee native adds that he worries his children will not be able to form true friendships because of his and Jessica’s line of work. As he puts it, “It’s a lot to unpack.”

He doesn’t want his kids’ peers to just be friends with his kids because of him: “Yeah, we have this same thing where like the kids at school with my five year old are like, ‘Your dad is Branch.” For guys like us, you know, the hope is that we just keep instilling in them that we got really fun jobs, but it’s not who we are. Hopefully down the road, then that has more weight to it I guess.”

Dax & Justin bonded over how privileged they are: Both Dax and Justin confessed that they’ve struggled with privilege too, with the singer sharing that he’s “become skilled in the art of self-deprecation.” Justin says that he often makes fun of himself because it makes others laugh, especially on shows like Saturday Night Live, but knows it can come off as “false humility.” Dax, who’s experienced this too, explained that at a certain point his self-deprecation “developed into this pattern as well where it’s like, I feel guilty that I have great s–t. And so everything I get that’s good, I add this layer of why it sucks to everyone.” But Justin’s trying avoid making jokes at his own expense because he’s just “shaming himself” over achievements that he’s actually proud of.

[From E! News]

I get that Impostor Syndrome is a real thing and it’s fine to talk about it, but this struck me as navel-gazing horses-t from both men. They’re both like “oh we’re so super-famous and our lives are so great, that’s why we struggle to act with humility, our privilege is a prison!” GMAFB. I laughed when Justin said “we’re not weirdly private” because it felt like a pointed comment towards Dax and what’s her guts, who are “weirdly private” about their kids and yet they constantly overshare everything about parenthood, potty-training and their private lives.

Anyway, Justin and Jessica seem like they’ve moved permanently to Montana to raise their sons there for a while, and I think that’s fine? Lots of celebrities get the hell out of LA once they become parents specifically because they don’t want their kids to have to deal with industry sh-t like “your mom’s movie was #1 at the box office” or “your dad screwed around with his costar on set!” But it’s also inevitable that kids will know who Silas’ parents are no matter where they live.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid.

A week ago today, Amanda Gorman was not a household name. A week ago she would have been putting the final touches on her inaugural poem, The Hill We Climb. She was perhaps practising the recitation, and then meditating, preparing to deliver her words at the Capitol to an audience of millions. Could…

It’s always been the case that Donald Trump only has the power we give to him. Once we all collectively stop paying attention to his threats, his tantrums, his derangement, you can see pretty easily that it’s all sound and fury, signifying nothing. Unfortunately, most of the Republican Party is still in the toxic cycle of giving Trump power of them. So they’re all still beholden to his scattered whims, terrified that he’ll do or say something against them, or he’ll set them up to be primaried, or he’ll form his own MAGA Party. Trump’s threats of setting up his own MAGA Party – or Patriot Party – reemerged again this weekend, with Trumpers allegedly threatening elected Republicans with primary challenges yet again. So what do we make of this?

A top political aide to former President Donald Trump spent the weekend quietly reassuring Republican senators that the former president has no plans to start a third party — and instead will keep his imprint on the GOP. The message from Brian Jack, Trump’s former political director at the White House, is the latest sign that Republicans considering an impeachment conviction will do so knowing that Trump may come after them in upcoming primaries if they vote to convict him for “incitement of insurrection.”

Jack did not mention impeachment in his calls. But he wanted the word to get around that Trump is still a Republican — and for many, still the leader of his party.

“The president wanted me to know, as well as a handful of others, that the president is a Republican, he is not starting a third party and that anything he would do politically in the future would be as a Republican,” recounted Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.). “The Republican Party is still overwhelmingly supportive of this president.”

On Monday evening, Trump’s second impeachment trial began unfolding — and Republicans started deliberating in earnest over how, or even whether, to defend the president. The trial will test how loyal Republican senators will remain to the former president following his departure from the White House and what kind of grip he still maintains on the GOP conference. While most Senate Republicans are not expected to vote to convict Trump, almost no one has defended his rhetoric after a riot that left five dead and the Capitol ransacked.

[From Politico]

Ah, yes, a loyalty test for Republicans and NOT a loyalty test for Americans. The Jan. 6th insurrection was the most un-American thing I’ve ever witnessed – a bunch of armed lunatics laying siege to the Capitol, smearing feces on the walls, murdering a police officer and trying to assassinate elected leaders. But now it’s all just a “loyalty test” for Republicans. These pencil d–k douchebags are still so terrified of Trump and his little treasonous baby fists. It’s pathetic.

Meanwhile, Trump has opened up “The Office of the Former President.” I wonder if this press release was his work-around for getting back on social media? Will Twitter allow him back on if it’s through a “office of the Former President” account?

Statement from the Office of the Former President Donald J. Trump pic.twitter.com/UQLu9kURIr

— Kyle Mazza (@KyleMazzaWUNF) January 26, 2021

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid.