Ken Block Talks New Amazon Show While Doing Tricks on the Slopes
Ken Block has made a name for himself as an action sports star, turning his love of sports into a career. Alyssa Julya Smith caught up with Block on the mountains of Park City, Utah during the Sundance Film Festival to talk about his latest Amazon Prime original series.
"The Gymkhana Files" is a Prime original series highlighting the making of Gymkhana 10, the recently announced 10th installment of his Gymkhana film series. Block says the unscripted series will be an exclusive look at what goes into the making of one of the biggest viral campaigns of all time. The series will have eight episodes of untold stories and never-before-seen footage from Block’s previous nine films.
Block also discusses the marketing that goes into the viral videos and what it takes to make a video with up to 100 million views. The prolific entrepreneur also talks about his other ventures including DC Shoes, which he eventually sold to Quiksilver.
Jill and Carlo cover the latest developments with the Omicron variant that are spooking markets once again. Twitter's @Jack is leaving, SCOTUS takes up abortion rights and the world has a brand new republic.
An episode of "The Simpsons" alluding to the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre was removed from Disney+ in Hong Kong. It is unclear whether Disney or Hong Kong initiated the removal, but the change comes amid mainland China's crackdown on tech companies and entertainment.
Jon Lowen, Co-Founder of Surfside, joined Wake Up With Cheddar's Baker Machado to discuss Uber's partnership with cannabis retailer Tokyo Smoke, as it's the first time a cannabis merchant has been listed on UberEats across all of its global markets.
According to the National Center for Transgender Equality, Hollywood has been falling short on financial support for transgender-specific organizations despite some improvements in on-screen representation. Actor and producer Scott Turner Schofield, the founder of the consultancy Speaking of Transgender, joined Cheddar to note that rather than focusing on the dearth of donor dollars itself, fixing media representation helps fund those service groups, even if the money isn't yet flowing. "If you ask people, 'are trans people more visible in media,' everybody is going to say yes because it's very clear, but are there commercials for those direct service organizations? No. That's something you'll get from social media — maybe — if you're following people," Schofield said.
Thanksgiving fueled a lucrative weekend at the box office, even during a pandemic. Over the five-day holiday weekend, moviegoers in the U.S. and Canada spent around $142 million on tickets. Sean O'Connell, Managing Director at CinemaBlend, joins Cheddar News to discuss what the numbers mean for the industry.
Guilty verdicts have been handed down to the three men charged with killing 25-year-old Ahmaud Arbery on multiple murder counts, as well as other charges. The verdict was delivered last Wednesday by a mostly white jury after more than 11 hours of deliberation spanning two days. It followed eight days of testimony. Jason Nichols, senior lecturer in the African American Studies Department at the University of Maryland, joins Cheddar News to discuss what's next.
The ocean is an important topic when it comes to the climate. It plays a vital role in shaping our environment, with rising sea levels causing a 35% increase in natural disasters around the world, affecting 1.7 billion people. Dr. Sylvia Earle has been called perhaps the greatest advocate our oceans have ever had, with Time magazine dubbing her its first 'hero of the planet' and the Library of Congress naming her a living legend. She is also the founder of Mission Blue, an organization that inspires action to explore and protect the ocean. Dr. Earle joined Cheddar Climate for more on the importance of caring for the ocean and its impact on climate change.
