Hasta La Gadget!

Bill Paxton, who died Saturday at age 61, is best known to most film fans for his work in hit movies like “Titanic,” “Twister” and “Aliens.” But he holds a special place in the hearts of people who love weird music.

Back in 1980, when Paxton was still a struggling actor, he directed a music video for “Fish Heads,” a novelty song recorded in 1978 by L.A.-based music duo Barnes & Barnes.

The song, which you can hear above, has this unforgettably bizarre chorus: “Fish heads, fish heads/ Roly poly fish heads/ Fish heads, fish heads/ Eat them up, Yum!”

The song was a big hit on “Dr. Demento,” a syndicated radio show dedicated to novelty hits, when Paxton first met the song’s composers, Bill Mumy and Robert Haimer.

The composers talked about making a video for their song and Paxton volunteered, he told the online magazine Bullz-Eye.com in 2010.

“I said, ‘God, would you give me a chance to make it?’ Because I had been making short films,” Paxton said. “And that summer, I kind of put that whole thing together.”

The video cost around $2,000 and featured the budding actor holding a party attended only by fish heads, watering a garden blooming with fish heads and taking a fish head out to see a movie (the lyrics note that he “didn’t have to pay to get it in”).

Besides making the film and dealing with real fish heads under hot lights, Paxton also went out of his way to get the video on air by traveling to New York to pitch it to “Saturday Night Live” producers.

As Paxton told Bullz-Eye.com:

“I literally had to wait in the waiting room at Rockefeller Center for two days before anybody would even see me. And then finally they came out to take the ¾-inch tape, one of those big honking fucking things, and I started to get up with them to walk in the back, and they said, ‘Uh, no, you stay here.’ (Laughs) I was like Rupert Pupkin! And then, God, they must have put it in the machine right away, and obviously they played it, because they came out five minutes later and said, ‘Come on back, we want to put it on next week’s show.’”

Paxton’s video for “Fish Heads” ran two weeks in a row. In 1993, Rolling Stone magazine ranked it No. 57 on its list of the top 100 music videos of all time.

Musician Bill Mumy, best known for his work as Will Robinson on the 1960s sci-fi series “Lost In Space,” remembered Paxton on Sunday with a touching Facebook post:

Paxton remained proud of his work on the video, but admitted to Bullz-Eye.com: “It’s funny how you build your career.”

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We did it y’all.

The best film of the year, which happened to be directed by a black man, written by two black men (one of them queer!), and starring several great black actors, actually won the Academy Award for Best Picture.

This win is representative of so much. “Moonlight” winning the Best Picture Oscar is, quite simply, a glorious, cosmic win for every black person who has had to work twice as hard to get half as much as their white counterparts. 

What happened to the cast and crew of “La La Land” on Sunday night sucked. It really did. 

But, we humans, filled with infinite complexities, have the ability to do two things as once. We can feel bad for the team of “La La Land” while also feeling absolutely giddy about the moment producer Jordan Horowitz held up the envelope that read “Moonlight” on it with emphatic finality.

“This is not a joke,” he said.

This is not a joke. 

The Best Picture category at the Academy Awards this year was especially competitive. “Arrival,” “Hell or High Water,” “Hacksaw Ridge,” “Fences,” “Lion,” “Manchester by the Sea,” and “Hidden Figures” made up a strong pool of nominees. And yet, early in awards season, a certain inevitability seemed to emerge: “La La Land,” the dreamy musical about white people saving jazz, was the projected winner. 

Unless you’ve seen both “La La Land” and “Moonlight,” it’s hard to explain just how little this made sense. “La La Land” is a really good movie. It’s cute, fun and creative with two very charming leads. But “Moonlight” was perhaps not only the best, but the most important film of the year. 

There is an indescribable energy, a new energy, that pulses through every frame of the film. We’ve never seen a meditation on manhood and masculinity quite like this before, nor a portrait that so deftly melds three performances into one. There’s space for subjectivity when we talk about cinema, of course. But in 20 years, “Moonlight” will most definitely be remembered as a masterpiece. It’s hard to know what “La La Land” (outside of the context of the Oscar night debacle) will be remembered for, other than a pretty confection of nostalgia. 

We know that the mediocrity of our white peers is rewarded far differently than our own.

Barry Jenkins made the best film of the year. But it was “La La Land,” with its record 14 nominations, that was the overwhelming favorite to win the biggest award of the night. Though infuriating, that outcome wouldn’t have been surprising for many black folk. 

Why? Perhaps an image from earlier in the night can answer this question. Think about the glossy look in Denzel Washington’s eyes as Casey Affleck gave him a feeble shout out during his acceptance speech for Best Actor.

It was the same look that was on Beyoncé’s face when Adele said “you are the artist of my life,” as she accepted the award for a good album that was not nearly as great as “Lemonade.” Affleck acknowledged Washington with far less grace, but the fact that he even mentioned him emphasized a simple reality: Washington deserved that award. No, not because he is black. Not because he needs white validation. Not because Affleck didn’t give in a good performance in “Manchester.” But Affleck’s win still felt like an inevitability.  

This is a reality that many black people know all too well. We know that mediocrity is not an option. We know that we have to “fall down seven times, get up eight” in order to grab whatever scraps of success and opportunity that are offered to us. We know that the mediocrity of our white peers is rewarded far differently than our own. We know that when we call this out, we have to tread carefully ― we can’t “play the victim,” or ask for too much. We always preface our complaints with things like, “But of course, ‘La La Land’ is a great movie, too. Adele is a wonderful singer, too.” If we don’t, we’re just being bitter, delusional, and bias. 

The smile on Barry Jenkins’s face as he took the Best Picture award was the smile of a man who knew he deserved this honor.

We live in a world of absurdities that we need to accept as truth in order to survive. Denzel Washington’s loss made no sense, and yet made complete sense.  “La La Land” beating “Moonlight” would have made no sense, and yet, in a world where an Oscar has never been handed to a film centered on black folks that’s not about racism or slavery, the absurdity of a “La La Land” win would have been in keeping with the absurdity of the Hollywood machine as a whole. 

There was a kind of poetic justice in watching Horowitz, the man who had just thanked his “beautiful blue-eyed wife” during his acceptance speech, graciously and emphatically concede defeat to the producers of “Moonlight.” There was an exhilarating beauty in the sight of the “Moonlight” cast and crew climb up on the stage, dazed, giddy. It made no sense, but it made sense. 

The smile on Barry Jenkins’s face as he took the Best Picture award was the smile of a man who knew he deserved this honor. It was a moment for every black person who has ever had to take a step back and accept that their excellence was not excellent enough. It was everything.  

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Jewish facilities around the nation were rocked by yet another wave of bomb threats Monday, forcing evacuations in at least 12 states.

At least a dozen Jewish community centers and day schools in Alabama, North Carolina, New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Florida, Maryland, Michigan, Virginia and Delaware received threatening phone calls, The Huffington Post has confirmed. 

This the fifth wave of threats JCCs have received since the start of the new year.

Law enforcement officials were investigating Monday’s threats and as of that morning, all centers were cleared and being reopened after authorities did not find explosive devices. 

There have now been more than 160 bomb threats made to over 60 Jewish community centers since January. The Huffington Post is tracking the threats here. 

It remains unclear who is making the threats and if it’s one person or a group, but they have rattled communities around the U.S.

The FBI and the Department of Justice told HuffPost previously that they are investigating possible civil rights violations in connection with the threats.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

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Charles Barkley is famously outspoken, so when we got the chance to hear his thoughts on the current state of basketball, we had to take it. One of the hosts of the Emmy Award-winning “NBA on TNT,” Barkley ― who captured league MVP honors in 1993 and earned 11 All-Star appearances ― spoke with The Huffington Post recently to discuss Cleveland’s struggles, why the race for the championship is only between three teams and what is wrong with today’s NBA.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

You teamed up with Autotrader and Second Harvest Food Bank of Greater New Orleans. Why have you made it a priority to help those in need? 

It’s interesting ― the greatest country in the world, we shouldn’t have people starving. We shouldn’t have young people not getting something to eat. 

You seem to have very much targeted kids in dire need. 

Kids are born into the situation they’re born into, and obviously they have no control over that. And we, as adults, it’s up to us to take care of kids ― that’s part of your moral responsibility. I always tell people, “There’s two groups we should take care of ― old people and young people.” And this is just my small little way of helping.

You recently attended All-Star Weekend in New Orleans. You’re 54 now. Does it maintain the same appeal, the same mystique for you it once did? 

It’s not the same for me now, because, I mean, we work so much. We’re on every day for hours and hours. The All-Star Game was fun when I played in it because it was an amazing weekend, but it’s a little bit different now that I’m doing television, because man, it’s hectic.  

What is the bigger first-half NBA surprise to you: the Spurs’ success or the Cavs’ struggles?

What [the Spurs have] done the last 20 years has just been amazing. Obviously they’ve won five championships, but to be competitive every year, it says a lot. Listen, I don’t think the Cavaliers have struggled as much as people think ― I think the Cavaliers have been bored, because they realized they’re going to win the Eastern Conference unless somebody [made] a trade. So I think they’ve just been bored more than anything.

Are we merely staring down at a three-horse race for the title, between Golden State, San Antonio and Cleveland? 

Yeah, I think that’s very safe to say, and that’s one thing that bothers me about the NBA today. We shouldn’t have just three good teams ― that drives me nuts. And then people tell me [that when I played], “the same team always won the championship.” Well I say, first of all, that’s not true. The Bulls won, the Spurs won, the Pistons won, the Lakers won. But they were all pushed.

Like, we know the Cavaliers are going to be in the finals ― I mean, they don’t even get pushed. Even Michael [Jordan’s] Bulls, remember ― people forget they had some great seven-game series with the Knicks, they had some great seven-game series with the Pacers. They were always pushed. It wasn’t like, “Well, they’re gonna get to the finals.” There were a couple times even when the Bulls won the championship, they had some knock-down, drag-out games with the Knicks and the Pacers. It wasn’t just like a cakewalk like it is now. 

Just how impressive is Houston with James Harden and Mike D’Antoni?

Yes, I think everybody is [surprised], but it goes to the genius of Mike D’Antoni and the great work that James Harden has done. I don’t think anybody thought that the Rockets would be playing this well, but Mike D’Antoni is doing the same thing he did in Phoenix ― he’s just an offensive genius, plain and simple.

Should D’Antoni then be Coach of the Year and Harden the league MVP? 

Well, I think simply Harden and [Russell] Westbrook are the two front-runners for MVP. I think you have to pick your poison on that one. They both look great. And D’Antoni is clearly the front-runner, and now who’s probably gaining on Mike D’Antoni is Scott Brooks ― he’s doing a fantastic job in Washington.

Speaking of the Wizards, what changed for that team? They were a lifeless 2-8 ― dead in the water ― at the beginning of the season.

Well, [John] Wall said he got in shape. People forget he had knee surgery on both knees and it took him a while to get into shape. But if you actually looked at it on paper, I think the Wizards probably have the most talent that can compete with the Cavaliers. They played probably the best NBA game I’ve seen in years. But if you look at it, they’re probably the second best guard combination in the NBA.

Listen, Otto Porter is playing out of his mind, [Markieff] Morris is playing out of his mind. I worry about their depth, but if you look at it from just a talent standpoint, the Wizards probably have the second best team in the Eastern Conference.

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Email me at jordan.schultz@huffingtonpost.com, ask me questions about anything sports-related on Twitter at @Schultz_Report, and follow me on Instagram at @Schultz_Report. 

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Mobile World Congress is currently happening in Barcelona, and everyone over there is very busy shotgunning sangria and talking about all the announced new phones. Like the LG G6 with its wacky aspect ratio and the Nokia 3310 with its nostalgic design. No one is talking about Samsung phones…pointedly because Samsung…

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