Month: August 2020

Two years ago, well-known coffee and donut chain Dunkin’ Donuts (now just Dunkin’) collaborated with Boston’s renowned Harpoon Brewery to release a beer made with chain’s Espresso Blend Coffee. It was called Harpoon Dunkin’ Coffee Porter and it tasted exactly like it sounds — sweet, rich, and full of roasted coffee flavor. This year, the brands decided to up the ante a bit. While the aforementioned porter is being re-released, Harpoon Dunkin’ Pumpkin Spiced Latte, Boston Kreme Stout, and the highly suspect-sounding Jelly Donut IPA are being added into the seasonal mix.

If you didn’t gather it based on the beer names, the collab sees two donut-infused beers included in this year’s offerings. The Boston Kreme Stout and Jelly Donut IPA were brewed with actual donuts. All four beers will be available on draft, in six-packs, and in the new Harpoon Dunkin’ Dozen mix pack (which gets you three cans of each flavor) starting in September.

Since it’s natural to be wary about what these borderline stunt beers taste like, we decided to sample all four. Check our tasting notes below and decide which (if any) of these brews you’re going to sip on come fall.

Harpoon Dunkin’ Pumpkin Spiced Latte

ABV: 5.2%

The Story:

It’s not fall without pumpkin beers. Harpoon turned the trope on its head by making a spiced latte ale using real pumpkin, pumpkin pie spices, and coffee.

Tasting Notes:

The nose is all pumpkin. The palate is pretty much the equivalent of taking a big gulp of autumn. There’s a lot of pumpkin flavor, is what we’re saying — sure to appeal to pumpkin spice fans.

Basically, it’s like a hybrid of a pumpkin pie and a beer. But there’s also an underlying smoky, spicy cup of coffee lingering on the finish that adds enjoyable nuance.

Bottom Line:

It’s a little stunty and in danger of getting muddled, but overall this works.

Harpoon Dunkin’ Boston Kreme Stout

ABV: 4.3%

The Story:

The Boston Kreme (or Boston Cream) is a classic donut flavor. It’s pretty much a Boston Cream Pie in donut form with chocolate frosting and a creamy center. The beer made in its honor was brewed with cacao nibs and actual Dunkin’ Boston Kreme donuts.

Tasting Notes:

The Boston Kreme donut is full of cream (obviously) and is covered in chocolate. It should come as no surprise that these flavors work well in a stout. The taste is of a classic Irish stout with the pleasing addition of rich, sweet chocolate.

A very indulgent beer — you don’t want to drink too many in a row.

Bottom Line:

Fans of classic dry Irish beers like Guinness will definitely appreciate this chocolate-centric stout.

Harpoon Dunkin’ Jelly Donut IPA

ABV: 5.7%

The Story:

While the other three make sense, this one is a real head-scratcher. This IPA was brewed with raspberry puree and actual Dunkin’ jelly donuts. There’s really not much more to say about it. If you only try one from the series, make it this one if not for the strange flavor experience alone.

Tasting Notes:

Sure, on paper this seems strange. But somehow it… kinda works?

The addition of Hüll Melon and Citra hops give this IPA the citrus boost it requires. The subtle berry jam flavors from the donut actually work well with the resinous hops to create a fresh, crisp beer.

Bottom Line:

This beer is very well rounded with the expert use of hops to temper the sweet jammy donut.

Harpoon Dunkin’ Coffee Porter

ABV: 6%

The Story:

This is the beer that was released for the last two years. It’s actually pretty decent with its combination of porter and actual espresso. It’s rich, robust, and full of coffee flavor. If it was socially acceptable, we’d start our day with a cup of this brew instead of our usual coffee.

Tasting Notes:

Comparing this beer to the other three isn’t really fair. It’s the only one that doesn’t rely on a strange flavor combination. Pairing a classic porter with espresso brings out flavors of rich coffee, sweet chocolate, English toffee, and vanilla.

Bottom Line:

This is the beer equivalent of a hot cup of coffee. The best of the bunch.

Jamal Murray has scored 142 points in his last three games to help drag the Nuggets to a Game 7 against the Utah Jazz after falling behind in the series, 3-1. On Sunday, Murray produced his second 50-point game of the series in a 119-107 win to force that decisive Game 7 and keep Denver’s season alive, managing to stay in rhythm even coming after an extra three day layoff after players refused to play in protest of police shooting Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

After the game, Murray was emotional, not just about the win, but about what he and the NBA were fighting for. Pointing to his sneakers, adorned with pictures of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, Murray said they give him life and give him something worth fighting for, and the rising Canadian star spoke on how this isn’t just an American problem but a problem everywhere.

“I just wanna win. And in life you find things that hold value to you, things to fight for, and we found something worth fighting for as the NBA, as a collective unit,” Murray said. “And I use these shoes as a symbol to me to keep fighting, all around the world. All I can say is keep fighting. We want to win. I show my emotion and it comes out, so. … Cause it’s not just in America, it happens everywhere. For us to come together in the NBA, and it doesn’t take one meeting, it takes a couple meetings, few meetings, it takes phone calls, it takes resistance. It’s not going to take one night, and we’ve been trying to fight for 400 years but these shoes give me life. Even though these people are gone, they give me life. They give me — they help me find strength to keep fighting in this world. That’s what I’m going to keep doing.”

When the players decided to continue playing this was the reason why, and what makes what Murray and others are doing all the more impressive. The emotional toll of this week and this year and every previous example of police violence against Black people wears heavy on all of them, but they’re not only coming out to play incredible basketball through all of that, they’re ensuring that afterwards, while the world is watching, they continue to speak on these issues and how they permeate life in America and beyond.

The Jazz and Nuggets have put on an absolute show in the first round of the playoffs, led by superstar performances from Jamal Murray and Donovan Mitchell, who have dueled for six games and, after another unreal battle in Game 6, will have to meet one more time in Game 7.

Denver was able to pull away to a 119-107 win in Game 6 thanks to Jamal Murray’s second 50-point game of this series, as he hit 17-of-24 shots from the field including an incredible 9-of-12 from three-point range. He added six assists and five rebounds, as well, as he did a little bit of everything for the Nuggets in a must-win situation. Mitchell was no slouch with 44 points on 14-of-25 shooting, also hitting nine three-pointers on 13 attempts, with six rebounds and five assists. Murray got a bit more support from Nikola Jokic and Jerami Grant, who combined for 40 points alongside their star guard’s effort, and similarly to Game 5, the Nuggets played much improved defense to help them gut out a victory.

Now, we will head to Game 7 between two rivals who seemingly always play hotly contested games no matter who wins, and the star guards will be center stage for a seventh and deciding showdown. Here are our takeaways from Game 6 heading into this year’s first Game 7 in the NBA.

Murray vs. Mitchell in Game 7 will be must-see TV

The duel between Jamal Murray and Donovan Mitchell has been the best battle of this postseason, as the two guards are putting on a shot-making clinic. They had already produced a dueling 50-point game night once in this series and threatened to do it again on Sunday, with 50 and 44 respectively. For a pair of guards who have long shown ample scoring potential with the caveat of wanting to see them be more consistent, they’ve sustained a ridiculous level of play through six games of this series.

Down the stretch the two traded shot after shot, but it was Murray who got the best of Mitchell in Game 6 and there’s no reason to believe Game 7 won’t be yet another duel between the two. The difference will likely be which of the star guards gets the most help from their supporting cast, but it’s been a genuine treat watching them go head-to-head in this series and getting them both on the stage of a Game 7 is going to be spectacular.

Gary Harris: Good at defense

Mitchell was once again sensational for the Jazz, but the Utah offense didn’t do nearly as much damage in the paint as they have throughout this series. One of the reasons for that was the play of Gary Harris off of the bench in his first action of the series after dealing with a hip injury. Harris provided Denver with some much needed point-of-attack pressure, and his ability to navigate screens and mirror guards on drives kept the Jazz guards out of the paint and, as such, off of the free throw line.

Denver has also made some other adjustments to the Utah offense, as they’ve varied their looks and in Game 6 found success doing more switching on pick-and-rolls, especially when Mason Plumlee was on the court for Jokic. No matter what they do, no one has an answer for Mitchell, but they did a better job in Game 6 of closing off the lane to Mitchell and make him do his damage from the perimeter and not get freebies at the foul line, as he had just seven attempts from the charity stripe.

Can this level of offense be sustained?

This is the question for both teams going into Game 7, as both defenses have certainly had their struggles, but a lot of what we’re seeing is just unreal shot-making. Both teams shot 18-for-36 from three-point range in Game 6 and that’s obviously led by Murray and Mitchell’s insane efficiency, but Grant and Jokic were 7-for-12 from deep for Denver and Mike Conley and Georges Niang were 6-for-10 for Utah. Everyone on both teams is just in an insane rhythm offensively, feeding off what their stars doing, and the question is whether one team will be able to make the other uncomfortable at all in Game 7.

Right now these are offenses clicking at a ridiculous level and even good defense isn’t enough to jostle them off the tracks. If either of these squads can find a way to apply pressure and make life uncomfortable for the other — and, namely, Mitchell or Murray — that very well may be the deciding factor in Game 7.

When planning something like an awards show, a common philosophy behind setting the pacing of it is to make it so viewers are compelled to stick around for as much of the show as possible. One way this is achieved is by putting something the fans really, really want to see towards the end of the program. Hopefully, viewers will refuse to change the channel because they’re looking forward to seeing that thing.

On that note: The Black Eyed Peas closed out the 2003 2020 VMAs, and admittedly, they did have one of the highlights of the evening.

As the group began their performance, it appeared that their crotches were being illuminated from within their pants. Something like that happening could be attributed to a stage lighting oddity. Perhaps somebody happened to be standing in the right place at the right time and that effect was inadvertently achieved. As the performance went on, though, it became clear that this was a willful and conscious aesthetic decision that was meant to be a key part of the performance.

This isn’t the sort of thing that happens on stage often, especially not during a nationally televised awards show, so it definitely drew some reactions from viewers on Twitter. A common feeling was confusion, as plenty of attractions were announced for the evening, but “glowing crotches,” “light-up crotches,” or any variation thereof was not among them.

There’s not much more to say about any of this, so check out some of the reactions below.

Adele’s name is buzzing online, but it isn’t for news about her long-awaited new album. Although she did share some information about the anticipated follow-up to 2015’s monster hit 25 recently, this time she’s trending for an entirely different reason. The singer posted a photo of her costume for Notting Hill Carnival in London and some fans are calling her out for some questionable styling choices.

The photo sees Adele sporting a Jamaican flag bikini with her hair in bantu knots. Bantu knots are, of course, identified as a traditionally African hairstyle, which she likely embraced as a show of appreciation. However, with the internet, acts of appreciation can quickly turn to accusations of appropriation, which is exactly what happened here.

There were, of course, the usual jokes at her expense. One user joked, “Adele went from Hello to Wagwan,” while others had some fun remixing some of her fan-favorite singles into reggae versions that transplanted her iconic vocals onto instrumentals more closely associated with The Wailers or The Maytals. Popular remixer Blac Mass even mashed up Adele’s “Hello” with Wayne Wonder’s “No Letting Go.”

However, there were some who appreciated her show of affection for Caribbean culture. Carnival is a longstanding tradition in regions with large Caribbean populations and there were naturally some tweets defending her for giving the “big up” to the annual celebration.

Check out the hilarious responses to Adele’s Carnival costume above.

As you may have noticed, we’re in the middle of our own once-in-a-century pandemic. Who knows where we’ll be in December, which is also when CBS All Access will release its new adaptation of The Stand, Stephen King’s classic doorstop about, well, humanity largely wiped out by some out-of-control super-virus. Will that be too soon? Or will we be ready to watch a miniseries in which what remains of humans are divided into competing forces of good vs. evil?

It’s a concern the team who spent two years making the adaptation — the first such feat since the early-to-mid-’90s miniseries — has made public. And yet they decided to solider on regardless of how overly timely it may be, even dropping a teaser into the middle of the MTV VMA Awards.

So what are we in for? For one thing, there’s kindly, reassuring Whoopi Goldberg as Mother Abagail, a symbol for good, plus smirking, tall Alexander Skarsgard as her counterpart, Lucifer-like Randall Flagg. You also get glimpses of some of the mortal cast, among them James Marsden, Greg Kinnear, Odessa Young, Heather Graham, and more.

When it lands, it will be the latest King adaptation to emerge during one of his many screen renaissances, following the likes of the two-part It, Pet Sematary, and his Shining sequel Doctor Sleep. Of course, none of those were about a bizarre cataclysm currently rampaging the world. Then again, at least you don’t have to leave you home to watch a TV miniseries.

You can watch the Stand teaser in the video above. The miniseries will begin its run on CBS All Access starting December 17.

(Via Deadline)

Doja Cat gave an intergalactic performance of her hits “Say So” and “Like That” at the 2020 MTV VMAs, donning a constume that evoked a scaly space alien and surrounding herself with masked dancers. As her stage transformed from an alien landscape to a spacebound dance platform, she and her dancers performed exuberant choreography, taking advantage of an offscreen live band’s breakdowns to maximize the scintillating dance floor’s effect.

Doja Cat’s experienced a rollercoaster of a 2020, with some wild highs and lows. She racked up her first Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 after adding Nicki Minaj to the remix of her TikTok hit “Say So,” but was criticized by fans online just weeks later after she was accused of participating in racist chat rooms when some fans were angered by her confession that she had no intention of “showing her boobs” for hitting No. 1 as she previously promised.

Although she apologized repeatedly for the misunderstanding — and for the controversial song that also surfaced in the wake of the chat room scandal — she quickly got back on track with the videos for her Hot Pink single “Like That,” her feature on The Weeknd’s After Hours deluxe edition remix of “In Your Eyes,” and City Girls’ City On Lock single “P*ssy Talk.”

Unfortunately, she also tested positive for coronavirus after making light of the pandemic earlier in the year and became the center of a debate about Blackness when Nas mentioned her in his King’s Disease lead single “Ultra Black.” However, in typical Doja Cat fashion, she laughed off these setbacks and got right back to work with a new single (again going viral on TikTok) and her VMA performance.

Watch Doja Cat’s VMAs performance of “Say So” and “Like That” above.

Even as the 2020 MTV VMAs aired with a social distance-friendly program, thousands across the nation continued to protest injustice — particularly in the form of police shootings of Black Americans, including George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and more recently, Jacob Black. While the focus of the show was placed firmly on the music, the stars in attendance wouldn’t let the protests stray far from viewers’ minds.

Accepting the Best R&B VMA for his After Hours single “Blinding Lights,” The Weeknd lamented being unable to enjoy the moment with the recent killings weighing on him. “It’s really hard for me to celebrate right now and enjoy this moment,” he admitted. “So, I’m just gonna say: Justice for Jacob Blake and justice for Breonna Taylor. Thank you.”

Breonna Taylor was a 26-year-old emergency medical technician who was fatally shot by Louisville Metro Police Department officers executing a no-knock warrant at her apartment in Louisville, Kentucky. Upon hearing the break-in, her boyfriend fired at the unidentified intruders and their return fire struck Taylor, who was in bed. Several people, including rapper Cordae, were arrested at a sit-in at Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron’s home to demand the arrest of the three officers responsible for the shooting.

Meanwhile, Blake was a 29-year-old man who was shot in the back by officer Rusten Sheskey of the Kenosha Police Department while trying to break up a fight between two women, according to witnesses. A bystander’s video showed officer Sheskey firing seven shots as Blake was turned away from him. Blake was hit with four bullets, and is reportedly paralyzed from the waist down. Since then, the protests have included a players strike in the NBA.

Watch The Weeknd’s acceptance speech above.

The 2020 VMAs were full of stars, and perhaps the one with the biggest presence was Lady Gaga. She took the stage multiple times, whether it was for awards or for her epic multi-song performance. Each time she got in front of the camera, she donned a unique and memorable mask, which were perhaps the biggest highlight of a packed evening.

She accepted a pair of awards during the first half of the show, and between those times on stage, she found time for an outfit change, which is more of a feat than it would be for most considering the extravagance of her looks. During one appearance, she opted for a multicolored dress that was covered in what looks like fake eyelashes people put over car headlights. The mask for this outfit was a leathery pink one with tubes surrounding the mouth. For another, she was decked out in green, but her mask was a deep red and had two horns protruding from the cheeks, like something a GWAR or Slipknot superfan might wear to a show.

She also had a lengthy performance during the show, and she got technological with her mask for that one: It looked pretty standard aside from the mouth, which was covered by a live digital waveform of her vocals. After the performance, she accepted another award and put on another mask, a relatively pedestrian sparkly silver number. She donned that same mask again later in the program while accepting the Tricon Award.

Throughout the show, fans took to Twitter to share their reactions to Gaga’s masks, which were overwhelmingly positive. Gaga was praised for adapting her eccentric sense of style in a relevant way, and others saw her as an example for non-mask-wearers: If she can put on a phenomenal performance in a mask, everyday people should be able to put them on at the grocery store.

Check out some more reactions to Gaga’s fleet of masks below, and check out the full list of 2020 VMA winners here.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

When two of today’s biggest pop stars join forces for a dancefloor-ready single, it’s sure to be a hit. That’s exactly what happened when Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande teamed up for their collaboartive track “Rain On Me,” which arrived ahead of Gaga’s sixth studio record Chromatica. The song debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts and the duo won VMAs for Best Collaboration and Song Of The Year. Now, the two singers have once again come together to share a lively rendition of the track for the 2020 VMAs.

For Gaga’s first VMAs performance since 2013, the singer opened with a snippet of another revved-up track. After an expedient outfit change, Gaga and Grande’s thunderous performance lived up to the single’s energetic nature. The two singers show-stopped, sporting futuristic outfits as they harmonized their feel-good lyrics under the shimmering beat.

But their collective performance wasn’t the end of the show. After yet another outfit change, Gaga also danced along to a snippet of her hit track “Stupid Love.”

Ahead of their VMAs performance, Gaga revealed she was undergoing a turbulent time when she recorded Chromatica and although they weren’t close friends, Grande offered the singer emotional support while they were in the studio. Gaga was so vulnerable that she was even “too ashamed” to hang out with Grande afterwards: “She was like, ‘You’re going to be OK. Call me, here’s my number.’ And she was so persistent. She would try over and over again to be friends with me. And I was too ashamed to hang out with her, because I didn’t want to project all of this negativity onto something that was healing and so beautiful. And eventually she called me on my sh*t. She was, ‘You’re hiding.’ And I was like, ‘I am hiding. I’m totally hiding.’ And then this friendship blossomed.”

Watch Ariana Grande and Lady Gaga perform “Rain On Me” at the 2020 VMAs above.

Chromatica is out now via Interscope. Get it here.