Month: November 2020

It’s been a tense year for everyone, including at Fox News, where the morning show crowd at Fox & Friends is looking pretty frenemy-esque these days. The cracks started to show themselves a few months ago when Steve Doocy went rogue in response to Trump’s claim that he’d be calling into the show every week. The subsequent dejected look on Brian Kilmeade’s face was comically palpable, and more friction between the two co-hosts seems to be continuing. Monday morning turned into an all-out shoutfest from Kilmeade over COVID-19 guidelines and restrictions amid spiking U.S. cases.

Toward the end of the below video, Kilmeade summed up his anger in regard to states closing down in-person dining and limiting gatherings. “They don’t trust us!” he raged. “They’re making these restrictions and taking personal decisions away. That’s what they’re saying: they know more. Which I find unbelievably disrespectful.”

This outburst followed Doocy and Ainsley Earhardt’s attempt to explain to Kilmeade that the health care system soon won’t be able to accommodate the surge of patients, and restrictions are needed until the vaccines really get rolling, so it’s ultimately necessary to close bars down earlier in the evening in an attempt to curb at least some of the spread. Kilmeade shouted that restaurants are being clipped “off at their knees again,” and here’s how Doocy responded about his shared stance with Earhardt:

“The problem is, and this goes back to the very beginning, they don’t want to overwhelm the hospitals. The numbers are going through the roof and hospitalizations are going up as well. So, ultimately, what we’re saying is, you just have to be smart, understand the risk, and that’s why there are these restrictions.”

Kilmeade didn’t appear to understand why curbing the spread matters, as he puts it, “because the vaccine is no longer a hope, it’s a reality.” And he argued, “We are weeks away from three straight vaccines in a row,” and that’s good enough for him to let the reopening stand unabated. However, health experts have cautioned that it will likely take until May 2021 to get enough of the U.S. population vaccinated to where things can start feeling “normal” in the U.S. The hope is to start vaccinating health care workers in December and go from there, and as Doocy articulated, this situation is “a very super-challenging time” for all. This hasn’t led to any resolution with a fiery Kilmeade as of yet.

I learned what a cartographer was thanks to video games (thanks, Halo) so perhaps it’s fitting that I enjoyed Carto so much. The Humble Games title is a nice departure from the next-gen console blitz of AAA games all reaching toward our ray tracing future, sure, but it’s also just a really satisfying puzzle game with some familiar but unique mechanics.

If you’ve ever played the board game Carcassone, you mostly know how to play Carto. The adventure game has an explorable map you can wander aimlessly but is best parsed in square sections you can rearrange to discover new tiles and secrets. Each piece of the puzzle is different, and each side of these square is a type of land that matches up with and connects to others. Grass connects to grass, water connects to water and forest connects to forest. On and on. You can even move the tile Carto is standing on to shuffle yourself across lands easily, as long as everything lines up.

Some new pieces are stumbled upon as white wisps as you adventure, but more complex and essential pieces only emerge after solving puzzles. You’ll find sheep, discover a desert oasis and shuffle around room tiles to unlock new tools that help you move around each island faster. The building and tunnel puzzles are particularly interesting, as they take a bit more thinking to piece together.

Depending on how sharp you are, some puzzle solutions may be very obvious. But executing those solutions often takes some digging. There’s usually someone you can talk to on screen that will give slight hints, and nothing is so complex that it feels impossible. Finding the balance between obvious and challenging is the hardest part of making a puzzle game, but Carto hits the sweet spot. It’s a game that flows surprisingly well, and even if the mechanics are simple there’s some depth to the journey you take.

Carto is the exact opposite of the major AAA releases that get consoles sold and garner huge marketing budgets. The graphics are fairly simple and the animation is far from stunning. It’s an indie title through and through, but it’s well made and offers a nice, quick journey that’s equally clever and funny. It’s a calm, clever puzzle game that has a lot of heart.

I played my way through this on the Switch, and it’s the perfect platform for this kind of indie game. It’s portable, doesn’t need long sessions to make progress and also looks good on a bigger screen. And in a gaming marketplace where bigger and better is selling new consoles, Carto plays well on pretty much any device you like using for games.

It’s extremely chill, with relaxing tunes and challenging-yet-encouraging puzzles. As the landscapes change and Carto finds her way through islands and tunnels and mysterious forests, it’s easy to be reminded that sometimes the simplest mechanics are the ones that work best. And at $20, Carto offers a journey that’s well worth the shuffle.

Billie Eilish has yet another hit on her hands with “Therefore I Am,” although it’s taking an unconventional path to the top of the charts. The song was released on November 12, which was a Thursday. That means the song was released on the final day of a tracking week in terms of the Billboard charts, so its debut week only consisted of a day of listening activity. Naturally, then, the track didn’t do all that well on the Hot 100 chart during its first week, debuting at a modest No. 94.

Now the song has had a full tracking week under its belt, though, and its chart performance is more in line with the kind of numbers Eilish usually puts up. The song charted at No. 2 this week (behind 24kGoldn and Iann Dior’s “Mood,” which is No. 1 for a fifth week), which means it rose 92 spots between last week and this week. That’s historically impressive, as it’s the fourth-largest jump a song has ever made in a week on the Hot 100.

Another noteworthy tidbit is that with Eilish at No. 2 and 24kGoldn at No. 1, this is the first time the top two songs on the Hot 100 are by artists who were born after 1999; Eilish was born in 2001 and 24kGoldn was born in 2000.

Meanwhile, Eilish just performed “Therefore I Am” at the AMAs yesterday (the song’s live debut), so check that out here.

Within 40 seconds of Tickets To My Downfall, Machine Gun Kelly’s Travis Barker-backed No. 1 album, I could feel my carefully mismatched nail polish chipping itself in elation.

Any fellow hyper-studious Blink-182 historian has plenty to obsess over here with regards to the structural choices behind much of the album’s 15-track journey (21 if you count the deluxe edition), but unfairly labeling this new chapter of MGK’s catalog as an example of “throwback”-centered reinvention tactics does the songs — and the accompanying aesthetic — a disservice.

The reason the TTMD chapter feels so natural is due in large part to MGK, Barker, and everyone else involved having successfully tapped into the simple but effective power of taking elements from something familiar and repurposing them for a new era.

“Genres don’t matter no more,” MGK said back in August when accepting his very first MTV Video Music Award. “Don’t let them box you in.”

This mantra of sorts — built on a balance of old and new, familiar and modern — is also carried across the keen style choices of MGK and his inner circle.

But if you’re on a mid-lockdown journey to further develop or even entirely overhaul your own aesthetic, don’t assume that using MGK’s TTMD era as inspiration means you have to backflip into debt or move mountains of Blink-sized cash to reboot your wardrobe.

Below, we’ve broken down a selection of key components of this look, complete with insight from frequent MGK collaborators MOD SUN and Nathan James, as well as some sound advice from Toronto-based designer Lindsay MacDonald.

Black On Black

On the cover of TTMD, MGK is seen rocking a plain black t-shirt atop an unassuming long-sleeve. The pants, though skinny, are tastefully not of the skin-tight variety and mildly wad up perfectly over the tops of a longtime punk staple, a pair of what appears to be Converse Chuck Taylor All-Stars.

A pair of comparable Converse will run you $55 straight from the official brand site, while Converse-inspired canvas hi-tops can provide a strikingly similar look for roughly half the price.

As for the top, everyone from H&M to ASOS to (for an even more budget-friendly alternative) Walmart offers plain black t-shirts. To appropriately up the punx with 2020 in mind, consider sizing up (though not too much) and adding a few random holes and tears along the bottom seam line or even near the neck.

For the long-sleeve layer, an understated color choice like the one seen on the TTMD cover is a wise choice, but don’t be afraid to go bolder. Once again, finding a basic example of this isn’t difficult, though — for both the short and long-sleeve layers — a more conscious approach to acquiring this look can be achieved by hitting up your local thrift stores. Fast fashion, of course, is problematic. And even if a well-worn black t-shirt has a logo on the front, consider lopping off the tag and just rocking it inside out.

For the pants, consider sizing super-skinny options up a bit for extra room and a more 2020-minded silhouette. For this writer, a budget-friendly approach is to find a reasonably priced pair that you absolutely love and — though there might be naysayers for this advice — rock them damn near every single day. Skinny or generally closer-fitting bottoms are not hard to come by, with one of many wallet-friendly options including this pair of COLLUSION super-skinnies (knee rip included) for $24.

Asked for his take on how crucial it is to absolutely nail an album cover aesthetic, “Battle Ship” artist and TTMD photographer Nathan James shares some advice that also applies to absolutely nailing one’s personal style.

“Never take shortcuts, always go the extra mile,” James says, noting how integral it is for an aesthetic to send out the intended message.

“Any time you can kind of let the listener know what your album is about without actually saying it and just showing it in a picture, that’s always a win,” James adds.

And the same is true for the proverbial cover art of the self, your wardrobe.

Refrain From Shirts With Brand Names On Them

Sure, the Take Off Your Pants And Jacket years of the Blink legacy are particularly rife with photos of Tom DeLonge and Mark Hoppus rocking Atticus and Macbeth logos, while Travis Barker was keen on the still-very-active Famous Stars and Straps. But those were brands helmed by the members themselves, i.e. a commendable flex, not to mention the MGK approach is largely averse to in-your-face branding.

As touched on above, it’s arguably more creatively fulfilling to stick with pieces that can be easily adapted with homemade alterations. You can even dabble in fabric paint, which goes for as little as $22 on Amazon for a well-reviewed assortment. And “basics” shouldn’t be viewed as a dirty word, as “basic” doesn’t have to mean plain. Take it from MGK, who often works in some flair by way of the design or color of a visually brandless top.

If you’re comfortable showing a dash or three of chest, these two button-based pieces from H&M — both under $20 — are squarely within the MGKiverse. For something more cozy-minded, give this ASOS DESIGN textured knit a try, perhaps in a size up and with homemade rips. Though pricier at $48, this is the sort of piece that could be worn as many times a week as you like with minor aesthetic tweaks in the form of, say, nails (more on that later).

Or, for the decidedly tongue-in-cheek and most admirable approach, simply take a logoless t-shirt and write out the brand name of your choice, a la Stephan Jenkins:

Be Selective With Bagginess

“Fit is something that can quickly make clothing look extremely dated,” Lindsay MacDonald, owner and designer of @lindevilapparel, cautions. With “pop-punk fashion,” for example, MacDonald notes that bands like Blink and New Found Glory were famously fond in the ’00s of wearing “very baggy, oversized pants and shorts.” The MGK approach, however, ditches this for modernization.

“Instead, he generally continues to wear skinny jeans and other closer fitting bottoms,” MacDonald says. “He does, however, wear Converse shoes, layered tops, and brightly colored t-shirts. I believe he knows that adding the baggy pants would look a bit dated, and would probably make an entire outfit look costume-y instead of current. He cherry-picks what elements will still work for him today.”

Of course, MGK didn’t invent this. Influential examples of this silhouette have been a fixture, for example, in the fairly recent wardrobe choices of the Marilyn Manson-influenced Lil Uzi Vert, the versatility-championing Young Thug, and more.

In terms of how this balanced bagginess affects the proposal of rocking the same pair of pants on the daily, keeping your choice more rooted in a tailored or generally close-cutting form allows for one’s choice of footwear to properly shine without getting overly draped (or wholly covered) in excess fabric. While Converse is well-represented on the TTMD cover, tracking down an all-black pair of combat-esque boots — which, like the pants, can become a daily staple — is also a worthy excursion.

While a pair from the decades-strong Dr. Martens brand can land on the pricier side, your local department store (or again, your local thrift shop) could offer some comparable alternatives, including this pair of Bruno Marc combat oxfords starting at $35.99.

Embrace The Pink

To put it as mildly as possible, pink f*cking rules.

Like the pink Fender bass of Mark Hoppus’ Blink tour arsenal before it, MGK has made his album title-emblazoned pink guitar a prominent piece in the TTMD story. The color also makes frequent appearances across the album’s marketing, from livestream show flyers to his viral IG-shared mockery of anyone who possesses the unfortunate and wholly embarrassing opinion that the color itself is somehow tied to gender or any other arbitrary attempted classifier (it’s not).

As with the easily procured black t-shirts, you can choose to sprinkle in some pink by going the simple route of a pink t-shirt, either with or without some after-market tweaks of your own. Whether neon pink or a more subdued iteration of the color are your bag, most (if not all) shades are widely available. Here’s a pink Hanes t-shirt, size-up recommended, starting at $6.

Another way of praising the power of the pink is to put it even further front and center with a dangly-sleeved sweater, like this $29 oversized rollneck from ASOS, preferably with some of those self-administered tears. It’s also advised to ignore the brand-assigned “gender” of any piece of clothing or accessory, as none of that even remotely matters.

Of course, you can also choose to stick to a more strictly black-on-black wardrobe while letting your hair do the work. The Good Dye Young brand, co-founded by Hayley Williams, offers a cruelty-free approach to semi-permanent pink starting at $18.

And lest we forget, naked nails are a snore, so why not throw some pink on them. Better yet, go for a more abstract creation, which leads us to one of the most attainable ways of ensuring uniqueness on a planet of lemmings.

Use Your Nails As An Extended Canvas

Don’t let the mockery of a certain Wall Street Journal piece from back in October twist it up for you. Nail art, be it complicated mini-pieces on each nail or simply goth-ing out with matte black on each finger, is a longstanding fixture among artists looking for a quick and DIY-friendly way of keeping the potential monotony of the day-to-day at bay.

While longtime followers of Barker’s work with Blink who were around to see the band’s rise to prominence in real time will no doubt recall TRL era Carson Daly’s every-other-nail method, as well as DeLonge’s own temporary fondness for black polish, more recent punk-adjacent converts are more likely to have seen artful nails put to good use by everyone from Bad Bunny to ASAP Rocky to Harry Styles to the late Lil Peep.

The MGK method, meanwhile, can range from presumably-done-by-a-professional (i.e. somewhat pricey) examples of complicated tributes to Jack Skellington to more easily-done-at-home designs consisting of a variety of colors occasionally complemented by hand-drawn letters spelling out various messages.

The nails are key, in part, because it allows for anyone who may not be in a position to buy a new outfit an equally creative path to bring a fresh look together while spending much less money.

For me, Sinful Colors is an easy-to-find and reliable maker of a wide assortment of colors and designs that often go for under two dollars:

For quick nail jobs, you can always go the “instadry” route.

And Don’t Forget The Neck

It brings me great pleasure to inform you that Amazon does indeed offer an upside-down cross pendant and accompanying chain for just $9.

But if that sentiment of glorious godlessness isn’t your cup of existential tea, neck adornment options are plentiful.

Basic — again, not a dirty word — semi-chunky silver chains are something you can wear regardless of the color of your top. As for length, at least for this aesthetic, keep the chain a little closer to your neck than seen in more dangle-centered approaches where larger pieces are meant to be the focus. Over on Amazon, you can get a chain in your choice of length and chunkiness starting at $6.98. H&M also has a basic semi-chunky silver chain for $9.99.

If you’re up for it, you can even go the full-blown choker route with this under-10-bucks piece from ASOS.

You can also go with a look frequented by MGK in recent months: white pearl-esque neckwear of a tasteful size and fit that pops particularly well against black and pink. If you’re lucky, this is the sort of piece for which similar alternatives could be found at your local thrift store.

Most importantly, make your Self (capital S intended!) the attraction. And don’t get stuck in the practice of total emulation.

For MGK and many others from his generation, including this particular writer, punk—in the broadest possible definition of the term—provided a gateway at a young age to a place where we could experiment with our image and feel not just comfortable being ourselves, but celebrated. So it’s only fitting, and honestly kind of touching, for someone like MGK to come full circle with a project that both nods to those gateway years while reinventing them as a new gateway for another generation.

In that spirit, you could do a lot worse than using the MGKiverse as a jumping off point for your own journey toward expression—whatever that means for you. As MacDonald explains, looking up to someone like MGK for inspiration on that journey is “a great idea,” though the ultimate goal is to start defining which elements work for you while tossing out the ones that don’t.

“If you’re someone who is currently trying to figure out your personal style, try not to get frustrated with the process,” MacDonald says. “It doesn’t just happen, you have to consciously think about it and put effort in over time, slowly altering and collecting new pieces as you go. It’s not a destination but a journey. Your personal style will change and evolve as you grow. It is a reflection of who you are, what you do, and how you think at that period in time.”

For MOD SUN, who earlier this year directed MGK’s mini-movie for “Concert For Aliens” and just this month tapped MGK to direct his “Karma” video, the evolution of one’s personal style can often include changes that are measurable from one day to the next.

“My personal style changes every day,” the co-director of MGK’s upcoming musical, described as a “pop-punk Grease,” says. “I wake up and dress how I feel without sticking to any one specific style. My whole aesthetic is based on my respect for designers. I literally study them and I’ve collected a lot of really incredible pieces over the years. I like to mix those with stuff you can get at the corner store. Clothes are like paintings and the way they fit is like architecture.”

Growing up, MOD adds, he was inspired by the “f*ck the world” attitude of the iconic Vivienne Westwood.

In short, pulling together a working-class version of any look — whether personally inspired by MGK or not — is most assuredly punk as f*ck.

BONUS: The Story Behind The Cover Art For Tickets to My Downfall

Though assuming the brand-reinforcing cover shot was the result of careful planning and meticulous wardrobe curation is understandable, the actual story behind it reveals another facet that’s crucial to building one’s own unique take on a punk-inspired 2020 avatar: trusting the truth of the moment. As both creative director MOD SUN and photographer Nathan James explained in interviews with Uproxx, the cover went through multiple iterations before an act of fourth-quarter spontaneity birthed the now-ubiquitous TTMD calling card.

“I helped put it all together,” MOD SUN recalls. “I knew the photographer and that morning we shot it, there was special weather that day, so we woke up at noon and knew we had to shoot it again even though we had already shot three other covers [MGK] didn’t like.”

James had even more insight into the multiple sessions that ultimately resulted in the cover with which fans are now familiar. At first, James says, he was brought in at the last minute to reshoot the cover after it was discovered that the original idea — a drawing — had “some copyright issues” preventing the release from moving forward.

“It was already a drawing that was, like, used before and someone had copied it so it needed to be reshot,” James says. From there, he quickly made his way over to MGK’s house. After shooting, he and the team believed they had what they needed for both the front and back covers, though MGK would ultimately make a judgment call just one day later about giving it all another go.

“And so we don’t really know what we’re gonna shoot,” James says. “I drive to his house and I know we have one hour and we don’t really know what we’re gonna shoot and MOD SUN is just going around, I guess, just thinking of ideas and he’s so creative and he’s phenomenal with creative direction and everything. And he’s like ‘Yo bro, what if we just use the pool and shoot in the pool?’ And we’re like ‘Fuck yeah! That would be sick!’ So we go down there, we start to take a bunch of photos in the pool, and then — next thing you know — we kind of were reviewing some of the photos and he had a lighter colored shirt on at first and it just blended too much in with the pool background so he threw on that black shirt with the long sleeve underneath and then we started taking pics. We’re showing him some stuff and as I was showing him on the camera he, like, stops and is like ‘Boom, that one, that’s the one, we got it, we’re done!’”

Speaking on the importance of shooting an album cover as many times as it takes to capture the spirit of the songs, James continues:

“The first cover that we thought was the cover — which was [a] headshot — that did not express, like, this album as punk rock, you know? It was just too editorial and we needed something that really expressed, like, ‘Yo, you’re about to listen to something super punk,’” James, a photographer and artist whose own Rook-featuring new single is out this month, says. The final product, James adds, “nailed down” exactly what the listener could expect with the album.

“I’m a huge rock head myself so I was so happy that I could be a part of shooting the No. 1 album cover in the world,” James says. “When we shot this, obviously, we didn’t know that. But it just makes it that much more iconic knowing that, you know, rock is coming back and Machine Gun Kelly was a huge staple of the movement happening.”

Here we are again, looking for things to listen to and fill the time. With digital streaming platforms, we have all of the music in the world at our fingertips, but still can’t seem to figure out exactly what we want to hear. Lucky for all of us, Geoff Rickly is here to help with Making A Mixtape, the new video offering from Uproxx’s Indie Mixtape. As the singer for the post-hardcore band Thursday, Rickly has a unique and experienced perspective on what it takes to craft an impactful mixtape.

After crafting a “Cinematic” mixtape with Dogleg’s Alex Stoitsiadis, Rickly is joined by Bartees Strange to piece together a “Mindblowing” playlist. Earlier this year, Bartees released his debut album Live Forever, which has become one of the most talked-about new releases of the year. Throughout the record, the producer and multi-instrumentalist incorporates aspects of indie and alternative rock, as well as jazz, R&B, and hip-hop, making for an incredibly exciting listen.

Check out the fifth episode of Making A Mixtape above and the “Mindblowing” playlist below.

Yaeji — “Waking Up Down”
Blackstarkids — “Britney Bitch”
Petey — “Don’t Tell The Boys”
The Japanese House — “Dionne” (ft. Justin Vernon)
Jean Dawson — “Power Freaks”
Bartees Strange — “Boomer”
Junie Morrison/George Clinton — “Super Spirit”
Standing On The Corner — “G-E-T-O-U-T!! The Ghetto”

There’s a limit on crazy — even for a president whose hobbies include retweeting QAnon conspiracies and dismantling democracy — and it looks like Sidney Powell just reached it.

Powell, an attorney, and outspoken Trump supporter was named to the president’s legal team last week as he continued to cast doubt on the results of the 2020 presidential election. Trump’s effort to hold up the transition of power in court with lawsuits in multiple states alleging various forms of voter fraud has been going embarrassingly poorly as more and more judges throw out unsubstantiated cases and his top legal aide, Rudy Giuliani invites the press to his public meltdowns. Powell was part of that team, working for Giuliani and Trump, who seemed confident in her abilities just a few days prior.

But this tweet didn’t age well. That’s because Powell quickly started attacking members of the president’s own party in her attempt to prove voter fraud had taken place in Georgia — a state which turned blue for Biden and is currently in the midst of a run-off election that could turn the Senate majority for the Democrats. Powell has attacked Georgia’s Republican Governor, Brian Kemp, after he certified the state’s vote for Biden, but it’s her wild claims about organized voter fraud that probably proved to be the final nail in her political coffin.

On Thursday, Powell — who’s diatribe was overshadowed by Rudy Giuliani’s hair-dye incident — told the press she believed Dominion, Georgia’s voting software system, was created at the direction of the late Venezuelan dictator, Hugo Chavez:

“Georgia is probably going to be the first state I’m going to blow up … and Mr. Kemp and the Secretary of State need to go with it because they’re in on the Dominion scam. Another benefit Dominion was created to reward is what I would call election insurance, that’s why Hugo Chavez had it created in the first place. I also wonder where he got the technology, where it actually came from because I think it’s him or … the CIA.”

There’s a lot to unpack there, especially after Powell threatened Kemp with a “biblical lawsuit” and suggested the state had voting servers in Germany that might have also been compromised. None of these claims have been verified and Powell has shown no evidence when asked to produce back-up for these allegations. And look, we could continue to shame Trump, Powell and the rest of the GOP’s cronies by fact-checking their obvious lies to death, but then you wouldn’t get to bask in the joy of watching Twitter drag them within an inch of their lives.

Powell has said she’ll continue to pursue legal avenues to a Trump victory on her own like some kind of socialist-crusading maverick, but it looks like the moral of the story for future Trump clout-chasers is this: if your conspiracy theory involves dead Latin American Marxists rigging votes, you’ve gone too far.

Comedian Hasan Minhaj is Twitter’s latest hero after people are suddenly recalling a 2019 video that shows the former The Daily Show correspondent suggesting that Dax Shepard might be “schlubby.” The viral clip is from a feature for Vanity Fair where Minhaj agreed to be hooked up to a lie detector test while answering a series of brutally honest questions. Not long into the segment, Minhaj is told that Dax Shepard rated the comedian’s looks as a “9.” After being asked if he thought that number was low, Minhaj was then asked to rate Shepard’s looks, and that’s when things got real.

“I would give Dax a… 6.57.” Minhaj hesitantly revealed. However, when it came time to reveal his reasoning, the former Daily Show correspondent became considerably less reluctant and went all-in on not just on Shepard’s looks, but on the unfair standards for men of color who can’t just be another average white guy if they want to make it in Hollywood.

“OK, Dax is part of a thing where in show business there’s this whole movement of approachable white dudes. Whereas with men of color, it’s like Idris Elba, Henry Golding, Zayn Malik or you work in IT,” Minhaj said while pointing to himself. “There is no middle. You know how there’s a whole class of white dudes, like just schlubby white dudes who went to high school with me but now made it in showbiz? There’s no that.”

You can watch the clip below:

Minhaj’s refreshingly honest take on Shepard (and the very loose standards for attractiveness when it comes to white guys) caught fire on Twitter where Hasan is currently trending thanks to an avalanche users who can’t seem to find the lie in the comedian’s words.

You can watch the full Vanity Fair interview with Minhaj video below:

(Via Vanity Fair)

Johnny Rotten, of the bands Sex Pistols and Public Image Ltd, recently published a new book, I Could Be Wrong, I Could Be Right, which his website says “features random thoughts about the way John sees life, along with anecdotes from his unique and extraordinary career.” One of those anecdotes in particular has drawn some attention lately, as Rotten revealed he suffered some flea bites on his penis after letting squirrels into his house.

In the book, Rotten describes becoming friendly with some squirrels near his Venice Beach home and letting them into his house. It appears he also got friendly with some unwanted bugs that may have hitched a ride in on his furry friends, as he wrote, “I looked down there this morning at my willy and there’s a f*cking flea bite on it. And there’s another one on the inside of my leg.”

Rotten continued:

“The bites, wow, last night was murder because of it. The itching too. It’s such a poxy thing to get caught out on. The only way around it, because I’m not going to blame the poor little squirrels, is to Vaseline my legs. I just hope they don’t get the wrong idea. […] I’m determined to keep my squirrel friends independent, y’know. There’s no petting. If they want to nudge up that’s fine, but I know it’s for a peanut and not because I’m lovely. Wow, do they love me for [the food I buy for them]. I’m definitely spending a lot of money on these little f*ckers.”

Learn more about the book here.

When I walked in the front door of my apartment carrying a freshly delivered PS5, I jokingly said to my fiance that “my Bugsnax machine has finally arrived.” When I carefully opened the box, unsheathed it from the plastic, and stood it on my coffee table, I jokingly said to myself “I can’t believe they fit all those Bugsnax in such a little device.”

There are actually two jokes in there. But when I finally plugged it in, booted it up, and had to make the decision about which brand-new title was going to be the first to thrust me into the world of next-gen gaming…

I went with Bugsnax.

Bugsnax is, without a shred of humor, exactly what I needed to introduce myself to the Playstation 5. For the last few years, I’ve been a nearly exclusive PC Gamer: sitting in a chair, at my desk, keyboard, and mouse. I’ve been playing deep strategy games, long-winded RPG’s, competitive esports titles. I took a year off Rocket League because I had become so frustrated with high-ranking toxic players that I had turned into a high-ranking toxic player– video games had begun to lose their magical ability to relax, comfort, and refresh me. And even when I had attempted to get back in the swing of things with Animal Crossing on Switch much earlier in 2020, I found the act of sitting down to play intensely laborious, to the point of giving up on it after only a few weeks.

Enter, my Bugsnax machine: gateway to the most casual video game experience of the next generation.

What’s cool about Bugsnax is that it’s incredibly care-free, and I mean that in both the sense of whimsy and in the alternative interpretation of “without care” … in a good way. Let me explain. Bugsnax is advertised as a game about capturing semi-sentient hotdogs with legs, called “Bugsnax,” with characters who eat the semi-sentient hotdogs with legs, who then become part-hotdog and develop “weenie hands.” Then when you actually play the game, one of the first characters you meet is named “C. Clumby Clumbernut” and the game is exactly as advertised. That’s the experience!

The developers, Young Horses Games, don’t promise much beyond that, and it’s not expected either. They don’t care that all the names for the Bugsnax didn’t need a second draft. They don’t care that Bugsnax has PS3-era graphics. They don’t care that Cyberpunk 2077, a game promising to be incredibly deep and feature-rich, is the most talked-about game of the last few years and isn’t even out yet. They don’t care, because they know they don’t have to. The imaginative concept of the game is all they needed to get me to play it. And then when they clearly triple-commit on all fronts by including a ranch-dressing slingshot and missions that require giving someone “Bopsicle legs,” Bugsnax feels like a very on-purpose journey into what makes a video game more like a “video game” and less like a blockbuster experience.

Which is exactly why I beat it.

The whole thing is like six to 10 hours depending on how long it takes for you to figure out how to catch a Cinnasnail for the first time– I googled, sorry– but even at its most confusing/repetitive moments, it never became frustrating enough to sour my playthrough. I think this is because of two factors. The first and the easiest to understand: the game is free with PS Plus. It’s so low-risk that it can only be reward. The second factor: it’s not promising to be the most incredibly deep and feature-rich game of all time! I stopped playing Red Dead Redemption 2 the absolute millisecond it asked me, for the second time in one sitting, to brush my horse in order to avoid penalties to its health regeneration. That’s a true story and one that I’m not super embarrassed about. Some people are into that and want the most realistic gaming experience possible, some people’s attention span doesn’t go beyond holding down the X button.

And honestly, being able to forget about tracking stats or weapon durability for a little while is actually pretty fun. I played over half the game before I encountered a cliff I could fall off of. I realized I had yet to die and that’s when a cliff you could “fall off of” became a cliff you could “jump off of.” I didn’t care if I died because I had no health, no inventory, no set amount of lives. So I jumped and the screen faded to black for a second… and just spawned me right back where I lept. Fantastic.

Bugsnax isn’t a kid’s game. The amount of off-beat sexual innuendos, tumultuous marriages, and dark moments of humor in the game should let you know that pretty quickly. But it is remarkably easy, pretty silly, and enough fun for a couple of afternoons. It’s also my first and, as of this moment, only “must-play” recommendation for those of us lucky enough to have a PS5 right now.

Just promise me that if you do play it, you’ll play until the very end. Also, Kero Kero Bonito made the Bugsnax theme song and they also made this song which is a good song that I like a lot.

Kinda bug and kinda snack, try to catch ’em in your trap… Oh-oo-oh talkin’ ’bout Bugsnax…

After the success of its first artist partnership, fast-food giant McDonald’s went international with its next bid for pop culture dominance, tapping the Colombia-born Reggaeton star J Balvin for a new meal and merch deal. It’s a smart move on the part of the golden arches; while Travis Scott is one of the best-selling hip-hop stars of the moment, tapping into a youth movement that’s all about rage, J Balvin is the hero for Latin culture both in the US and worldwide, reaching an audience that any brand would love to be granted access to.

One of the best-selling Reggaeton stars ever, J Balvin boasts more than 35 million records sold worldwide, with a list of hits both solo (“Azul,” “Mi Gente,” “Morado“) and alongside other major stars (“I Like It” with Cardi B and Bad Bunny, “Con Altura” with Rosalía). Put quite simply, J Balvin is a superstar of the same wavelength as Michael Jackson or Queen. His partnership with McDonald’s officially launched on Friday, with a meal in McDonald’s locations (a Big Mac with no pickles, medium fries with ketchup, and an Oreo McFlurry), merchandise (now available at Balvin’s online merch store), and a musical ad titled “Dorado” featuring a fleet of J Balvins as customers and employees at a McDonald’s.

I got to interview J Balvin about the collaboration via Zoom, asking him about the zany wigs he wears in the commercial, what the partnership with a globally recognized brand like McDonald’s means to the growing global community of Latin music aficionados, and most importantly, whether or not the ice cream machines worked when he was behind the counter. Check it out below.

What was your reaction to hearing that McDonald’s wanted to give you your own meal?

Man, it was crazy because even though I was born in Colombia, I used to watch it in the movies and on the TV. When I had the chance to go to the States, that’s when I was like, “Wow, I love this.” And the meal is basically what I ordered every time I used to go to McDonald’s. I’m still going to McDonald’s, but I’m talking more about when I was a kid, so it really means a lot to me.
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What does it mean to you to be a part of this incredible resurgence of reggaeton in the American market, and what impact will this have on the perception of it here in America?

We’ll just keep reaching more globally than before, and we want to keep showing the planet that this movement is here to stay. And that’s what we’ve been doing. Keep working and keep elevating the culture and connecting with the world and definitely with the United States, too.

Now, I’m old, so I grew up on reggaeton, like Ivy Queen’s first few albums, Wisin y Yandel-

You’re not old. Come on.

I feel old sometimes. Who are your first reggaeton heroes?

Daddy Yankee definitely was my biggest inspiration when everything started, and of course, he still is. But of course, the OGs, Tego, Yandel, Wisin, Don Omar, all those guys really inspired me. Héctor & Tito. It’s a lot of people that inspired me.

What’s your favorite piece of merchandise from the collaboration collection?

Man, the hoodies are amazing.

Did you see the chicken nugget body pillow that they did with Travis Scott?

Yeah. Fire!

Would you get one?

Of course!

Have you tried Travis’s meal, and what did you think of it? Do you think he’s tried yours?

I was in Colombia when they dropped that one. I don’t know, man, but it’s dope to be a part of this campaign where an icon like Travis started it, so it’s really dope.

As far as the commercial, who came up with the concept of the commercial, and why did it appeal to you?

Colin Tilley. Basically, he brought the idea and we loved it 100%.

What was your favorite character to play?

Man, all of them. The old guy. The grandpa is fire. The emo dude. No, it’s a lot of different vibes. I enjoyed them all.

Did the ice cream machine work?

It did work.

So, all we need to get ice cream at McDonald’s is to have J Balvin come with us.

Be with me. [Laughs]

How many takes did you need to film the entire commercial?

It was a lot of takes because we have to change for every single character, do the right steps and the right moves, not to cross the cameras. It was, I guess, 10 hours nonstop.

You know what was really bizarre was seeing you with the wigs on. I’m so used to seeing you with your short hair. What’s the wildest thing you’ve ever done with your hair?

There’s a lot of looks that I’m like, “Why did I do that before?” I remember that I used to have, when we dropped “Mi Gente,” was kind of like a long hair, straightened.

I remember that.

We were so ahead, doing these crazy things. Now I see it like, “Wow, what happened to me?” But I like to be different. I mean, not being different, just being [myself].

When I was getting ready for the interview, I Googled “J Balvin,” and one of the first suggested questions was, “Is J Balvin a Bad Bunny?” And it cracked me up. Have you ever Googled yourself, and what was the funniest or weirdest result?

I haven’t Googled myself in the latest months, honestly, but that’s funny.

What’s a question no one ever asks you in interviews that you wish they’d asked?

Wow. If I know how to cook?

If you know how to cook, what do you know how to cook?

Nothing. That’s what we got McDonald’s for!

What’s your favorite non-McDonald’s meal to eat?

Pasta!

This has been an amazing year for you. What was your favorite accomplishment from this year, and what are some things you hope to accomplish in the next one?

The fact that we were at the Super Bowl this year was amazing. It was really a big dream accomplished. The McDonald’s collab was super dope. The fact that we still doing this and people connect with it. We dropped the album Colores. And definitely my new Jordans. They’re coming up on December 4th.