Conservative media has other things to worry about right now, such as an outgoing president who refuses to concede. But a couple of them decided to take a break from touting flimsy voter fraud evidence to engage in some very old school culture warmongering. It started with noted far right commentator and former Kanye pal Candace Owens, who took umbrage with a new Vogue spread depicting Harry Styles in a dress. While that led to widespread mockery, in came Ben Shapiro to tell her, in essence, “hold my beer.”
The former Breitbart writer started by getting Owen’s back, writing, “Anyone who pretends that it is not a referendum on masculinity for men to don floofy dresses is treating you as a full-on idiot.” He then went on, for a good long while, accusing Styles and Vogue of attempting to “feminize masculinity” and destroying gender and what have you, over a series of tweets you can read here (if you’d like).
But the response to Shapiro’s latest tirade, as usual, was a lot more direct. That is to say, the right-wing commentator — who, even at 36, still looks like the hissable trust fund baddie in an ‘80s prep school comedy — found himself once again having the internet version of his head getting dunked in a toilet bowl.
Some reminded us of one of Shapiro’s greatest achievements: angrily and cluelessly reading the lyrics to “WAP” while cameras rolled.
Ben Shapiro, who thought a woman with a WAP had a medical issue and who cried over a razor commercial being mean, is lecturing Harry Styles, the source of WAPs all over the world, on masculinity.
I don’t care if you wear a dress, just wear a matching mask to be truly in vogue.
246,000 Americans have died and Candace Owens and Ben Shapiro are furious over Harry Styles wearing a dress on a magazine cover. These people are trolls who don’t care if you die.
Following the success of last year’s Hot Pink, Doja Cat has appeared on songs from artists like Ariana Grande, Bebe Rexha, and Ozuna. But those aren’t her only collaborators. On Monday, the singer announced she teamed up with UK retailer PrettyLittleThing for a curated line of clothing.
Per the retailer’s website, the new line is designed for “the bad girls who know they look good” and boasts of form-fitting leather, clashing prints, and cropped staples. Doja Cat also acted as a model, showing off various ways to style the 26-piece line.
Speaking about the new line in a statement, Doja Cat said she was able to unleash her creativity: “This was my first time curating for a fashion brand, period! I love PrettyLittleThing and can’t wait for all my fans to see it and wear it. […] They really let me channel the essence of who I am into this collection. Wait until you see what’s next!”
Echoing Doja Cat’s sentiment, PrettyLittleThing CEO Umar Kamani said: “I’m so excited to be working with such a credible artist on this new collection. I’ve admired Doja Cat and her career for a very long time and we’ve been working closely with her to bring her unique style to the PrettyLittleThing customer. This is just the first collaboration and we have lots more to come throughout the partnership.”
Check out some of Doja Cat’s PrettyLittleThing looks above and shop them here.
Doja Cat is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
The actor Martin Scorsese is most closely identified with may be Robert De Niro — although before they reunited for The Irishman, the two hadn’t worked together in 24 years — but these days it’s Leonardo DiCaprio. Since 2002’s The Gangs of New York, the director and actor have collaborated a total of five times, including on 2006’s The Departed, the picture that finally nabbed Scorsese his Oscar. But their sixth team-up, Killers of the Flower Moon, ran into some trouble last year, in part because DiCaprio fought for script changes that may have gotten it booted from one company to another.
This comes from IndieWire, who caught the project’s screenwriter, Forrest Gump scribe Eric Roth, on an episode of the podcast Script Notes. Among other things, Roth confirmed rumors that began circulating back in March, namely that the screenplay changed dramatically at the behest of DiCaprio.
Roth said he spent “four or five years” adapting the source, a non-fiction book that recounts the tale of the Osage tribe of Native American people, who discovered oil on their land — thus inspiring every killer in the country to wipe them out. DiCaprio was supposed to play their hero but, as The Hollywood Reporterreported over the summer, he allegedly insisted that he play a more brooding character — the nephew of one of the killers, played by Robert De Niro.
While Roth didn’t confirm all the details — among them that Paramount, who originally was to backed the extremely expensive production, thought DiCaprio’s alleged changes made it less commercial, or “smaller scale; same price” — he did make it clear that the two fought.
“Leonardo wanted some things changed that we argued about,” Roth said. “He won half of [the arguments]. I won half of them.”
Roth also said that rewrites will continue to happen until it finally starts filming in March, a full year after its original production date. Since then the production migrated from Paramount, who produced the Scorsese-DiCaprio hit The Wolf of Wall Street, to Apple. It’s still unconfirmed just how much DiCaprio’s fighting did to cause pre-production headaches — or if those changes will result in a better final picture.
Calling out the best box of mac and cheese on grocery store shelves is no easy task. So many of us grew up with one brand or another, greatly informing our taste buds in the present day. This is a dish that’s highly dependent on sense memory. Perhaps the most dependent.
Because of that, under normal circumstances, we might just leave you to stick to your tried and true brands. But since the pandemic has created an unprecedented boom time for mac and cheese, we figured you might be experimenting a little further afield. So we decided to rank the boxes that are most commonly found on grocery store shelves.
So what makes a “good” cheesy mac? If we remove nostalgia, we’d have to say a solid noodle, a lack of a cardboard taste, and a creamy cheesy sauce that’s suitably sharp. The good news is this: that combo is relatively easy to find. We’re talking about pasta and cheese — a deeply satisfying experience, even straight out of the box with no frills. Just ask Cliff Booth…
The weird thing with macaroni and cheese these days is that there’s just so much of the stuff. It’s become a bit like food mad-libs — with a mix of words like “organic,” gluten-free,” “vegan,” “white cheddar,” “sharp cheddar,” “low sodium,” and “shells” getting mixed and remixed endlessly. Annie’s alone has seven Deluxe Rich and Creamy boxes, 29 standard powdered cheese sauce boxes, and an additional ten microwaveable versions.
They sell 46 different varieties of macaroni and cheese right now. Seriously.
Don’t worry, we’re not ranking 46 boxes of Annie’s mac and cheese today. Instead, we’re ranking 12 boxes from brands you can generally find coast-to-coast. As for parameters, we’re going on flavor alone. Because of that, the deluxe versions tend to dominate our list (though my editor has made it very clear that the powdered cheese fans out there roll deep). And while you’ll see a lot of standards near the top, a fairly new entry almost stole the #1 slot.
Banza famously makes gluten-free boxed pasta, largely from chickpea flour. It’s a no-brainer that they’d enter the mac and cheese game with their pasta.
Bottom Line:
The powdered sauce isn’t the problem with this box. The chickpea pasta has a very narrow toothsome-ness. If this stuff is overcooked, even slightly, it’ll crumble. No one wants crumbly pasta in cheese sauce. That being said, you are getting more protein and fiber with this version.
This is Whole Foods proprietary brand. There’s no reinventing the wheel with this box. It’s standard stuff and actually a good price for a Whole Foods product.
Bottom Line:
“Standard” is the keyword. There’s literally nothing to write home about this box of mac and cheese. The pasta keeps that cardboard taste. The powdered cheese sauce needs salt, which is never a good sign when there’s already 550mg of sodium in each box.
This is the box of mac and cheese that changed the way generations of Americans ate. It was affordable, delivered nutrients on the cheap, and generally put smiles on hungry faces.
Bottom Line:
History aside, this box now feels like it’s from another era and just so mass-produced. It’s really hard to get past the cardboard essence that lives in the noodles, even when cooked (it’s better with the organic version!). The powdered cheese sauce is fine but, again, you’ll often find yourself shaking a little more salt and pepper over your bowl.
Trader Joe’s signature brand is “okay” mac and cheese. It’s your standard elbow macaroni with a neon orange cheese powder. That’s it.
Bottom Line:
We dare you to tell the difference between this and Kraft in a blind taste test. The noodles have the exact same cardboard nature and the cheese sauce is middling at best.
Whole Foods Deluxe mac and cheese does amp up the flavors and value. There’s a decent velvet texture to the cheese sauce and you feel like you’re getting a better product for your dollar with this version.
Bottom Line:
We’re still dealing with mac and cheese that needs a lot of work. A little salt goes a long way. Overall, this feels like mac and cheese you’re supposed to bake with by adding in… we don’t know… broccoli or ham or even hot dogs … something.
Kraft Deluxe is a big step up from a standard box of Kraft Mac and Cheese. The noodles are hefty and able to carry a heftier sauce with them. This is also splittable (technically, one 14-oz. box is meant to serve four people). However you split it, this feels like a full meal in a bowl.
Bottom Line:
This only really ranks this low because the noodles can’t seem to escape the cardboard taste. The cheese sauce is a step up though — with a much deeper sense of smoothness and savoriness.
Cracker Barrel has a wide selection of mac and cheese dinners. They’re generally big enough to serve as a side during dinner and they’re designed to be baked. You need to fire up the oven to finish this one off and it really makes a difference.
Bottom Line:
This is better than it has any business being. It’s savory, cheesy, and doesn’t need a shake of salt to round out the seasoning of the sauce.
Annie’s has corned the market on bespoke, seemingly high-end mac and cheese. While this isn’t intrinsically any different than Kraft or Trader Joe’s above, it does have an edge thanks to the taste.
Bottom Line:
Annie’s edges out based on the pasta alone. There’s still a cardboard essence but it’s almost gone and gets covered up nicely by a cheesy sauce that doesn’t need another hit of salt to be well-rounded.
Getting back to the cheese sauce packets, Velveeta Shells and Cheese hits a very specific mark in both texture and flavor with an intense Velveeta cheese sauce and hefty pasta shells that help deliver all that gooey cheese.
Bottom Line:
This is a solid pasta and cheese experience that needs no fussing. You can boil up the pasta, toss it in the sauce, and serve. It’s just fine the way it is, on its own or on the side. It also works wonders with a nice hot sauce drizzled over the top.
This new-ish line from Cheetos asked, “what if we dusted your mac and cheese with Flamin’ Hot Cheetos dust?” The mac ‘n cheese are spirals, cheesy, and truly reminiscent of Cheetos in every bite.
Bottom Line:
I was super dismissive of this bowl of mac and cheese. The color is an unholy bright red and it sort of smelled like wet Cheetos at first whiff. Then I tasted it. It really delivers with a creamy, cheesy sauce that has a legitimate heat and didn’t overpower.
I thought I was going to eat a few bites as a tester but ended up eating the whole bowl.
Amy’s might be the easiest to make on the list. Crank up an oven, drop in the tray, bake, enjoy. Of course, you can also cook these off in the microwave, but then you’ll lose out on crisping up the edges, giving this mac and cheese a textural edge.
Bottom Line:
You don’t have to make a sauce and you get baked mac and cheese. That’s a big plus for this box. Plus, the seasoning is dialed. Look, you’re not going to trick anyone into thinking you made mac and cheese from scratch with this, but it’s perfectly good for what it is. It’s also a good single serving size.
This mac and cheese utilizes cheesy sauce packets and shells for delivery. The cheese packets mean you don’t have to fuss with milk and butter to find that perfect creamy spot. It’s well-seasoned, while still being very cheesy — both of which are wins.
Bottom Line:
While this is a winner on its own and easy to jazz up. Straight out of the box, it won’t have you reaching for the salt and pepper.
Over the weekend, The Crown returned for its fourth season, which was much-awaited for two reasons. One, it’s The Crown. Two, this season of Netflix’s much-loved show about the Royal Family is all about the Margaret Thatcher/Princess Diana years, which represents some of their juiciest — and most tragic — history. (Although the season ends in 1990, seven years before Di’s death.) One figure who doesn’t come off greatly is Charles, Prince of Wales, played by Josh O’Connor. And while the real-life person has yet to comment on the show, his friends sure did, and then some.
According to The Daily Mail, a number of “Palace insiders” have come forth — anonymously, as it were — to slam the show for purported inaccuracies and fictions.
“This is drama and entertainment for commercial ends being made with no regard to the actual people involved who are having their lives hijacked and exploited,” one insider told the Mail. “In this case, it’s dragging up things that happened during very difficult times 25 or 30 years ago without a thought for anyone’s feelings. That isn’t right or fair, particularly when so many of the things being depicted don’t represent the truth.”
Another insider was steamed about the way they portrayed Charles and Diana, the latter played by Emma Corrin. “The new series paints the Prince and Duchess in a very unflattering light but at least at the start of reality shows like The Only Way Is Essex they admit that some scenes have been invented for entertainment,” the person said. “There is no sense of telling carefully nuanced stories – it’s all very two-dimensional. This is trolling with a Hollywood budget. The public shouldn’t be fooled into thinking this is an accurate portrayal of what really happened.”
Yet another roped in Charles and Diana’s son, Prince Harry, as well as Duchess Meghan Markle, who famously semi-cut ties with the family, moved to Los Angeles, and cut a huge deal with Netflix, who owns The Crown. “There are raised eyebrows about Harry taking millions from the company that’s behind all this,” they said. “After all where do much of Netflix’s profits come from? The Crown.”
Other Season 4 critics weren’t shy about putting their name on their disses. Royal biographer Sally Beddell Smith trashed the show as “a work of fiction and the level of invention has been growing. While the earlier seasons were period pieces, series four is recent history, so it seems more cruel in its false depictions.”
She added:
‘Because The Crown is such a lavish and expensive production, and so much attention has been paid to visual details about historical events, viewers are tricked into believing that what they are seeing actually happened. There should be a disclaimer at the start of each programme saying, ‘This is a work of fiction and any resemblance to those living or dead is purely coincidental.’ ‘
Smith went so far as to accuse the show’s writer Peter Morgan as being “almost Trumpian with his alternative facts.” Then she really twisted the knife: “This is a Downton Abbey version of the Royal Family.”
Others worried how surviving members of the family would take it. Former Welsh Secretary and Vale of Glamorgan and Conservative MP Alun Cairns said, “There is no doubt that whilst millions will enjoy watching The Crown, we need to be mindful that the programmes raise painful events that will have an impact on members of the Royal Family and others who were children or innocent bystanders.”
The Mail even highlights some of the inaccuracies. For one thing, the show suggests — erroneously, as it happens — that Charles continued his tabloid-fixture affair with now-wife Camilla Parker Bowles throughout his marriage to Diana. But there’s more:
In what is felt to be a particularly wounding fabrication, Charles’s beloved great-uncle, Earl Mountbatten is shown, shortly before his death at the hands of the IRA, telling the Prince that the family are disappointed at his relationship with Camilla and to find a wife. In the drama, Charles calls him a traitor. There is no evidence the exchange happened.
In another insidious fictional scene, Prince Philip issues a threat to Diana in 1990 after she suggests leaving Charles. Sources said this appeared to be a clumsy reference to baseless conspiracy theories that he was somehow involved in the car crash in Paris that killed the Princess in August 1997.
Mind you, the piece finds no one standing up for its portrayal of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, played by Gillian Anderson.
The fourth season of The Crown can now be streamed on Netflix.
On Monday, a new development emerged in Taylor Swift’s ongoing battle to get the rights to her first six albums’ back. A report surfaced that Scooter Braun had sold her masters to a company for $300 million, the same price for which he bought Big Machine Records last year. But now Swift is saying that Braun asked her to sign a strict NDA to “silence” her, hoping that that would dissuade her from retrieving her past work.
In a lengthy message posted to social media, Swift claims that didn’t sign the NDA, saying her team was never even able to get a price quote for the masters:
“Scooter’s team wanted me to sign an ironclad NDA stating I would never say another word about Scooter Braun unless it was positive, before we could even look at the financial records of BMLG (which is always the first step in a purchase of this nature). So, I would have to sign a document that would silence me forever before I could even have a chance to bid on my own work. My legal team said this is absolutely NOT normal, and they’ve never seen an NDA like this presented unless it was to silence an assault accuser by paying them off. He would never even quote my team a price. These master recordings were not for sale to me.
A few weeks ago my team received a letter from a private equity company called Shamrock Holdings, letting us know that they had bought 100% of my music, videos, and album art from Scooter Braun. This was the second time my music had been sold without my knowledge. The letter told me that they wanted to reach out before the sale to let me know, but that Scooter Braun had required that they make no contact with me or my team, or the deal would be off.”
Along with the statement, Swift also included her response to Shamrock Holdings’ letter. The singer said she plans to move forward with re-recording her first six albums because she doesn’t want Braun to continue to profit off her work.
Been getting a lot of questions about the recent sale of my old masters. I hope this clears things up. pic.twitter.com/sscKXp2ibD
Not only was Barack Obama the leader of the free world for eight years, but he’s also a talented playlist curator. Every so often, the country’s 44th commander-in-chief flexes his musical knowledge by dropping a playlist of his current favorite songs. Back in August, he shared his 2020 Summer Playlist which boasted tracks by Billie Eilish, Megan Thee Stallion, Mac Miller, and J. Cole. But now, hes taking a trip down memory lane by sharing a list of his favorite songs from his presidency.
Obama shared the list in anticipation of his upcoming presidential memoir A Promised Land. “Music has always played an important role in my life — and that was especially true during my presidency,” he wrote alongside the playlist. “In honor of my book hitting shelves tomorrow, I put together this playlist featuring some memorable songs from my administration.”
The list bears some recognizable names. Beyonce has two thrown in the mix — her cover of Etta James’ “At Last,” from the soundtrack to the 2008 film Cadillac Records, as well “Halo.” Other artists that were in Obama’s rotation include Eminem, Jay-Z, Fleetwood Mac, Stevie Wonder, and more.
You can listen to Obama’s full playlist above.
Some of the artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Once upon a time streamers like Netflix and Hulu touted themselves as a cheaper and more viewer-friendly alternative to cable television. You didn’t pay an arm and a leg, and you could the benefit of watching what you wanted. How things have changed. Though Hulu, like Netflix, has successfully blossomed into a destination place for original movies, the Streaming Wars — which finds the online battlefield clogged with services, each vying for your dollar — are in full swing, and old war horses like Netflix and Hulu are no longer the only games in town. And now they’re not even cheap.
As per Deadline, Hulu announced that, starting December 18 of this year, their popular live subscription package — which is basically like having cable, but cheaper — is going to become slightly more expensive. Their monthly subscription will be going up 18%, which may not sound lot like a lot but is an extra 10 bucks a month, from $54.99 to $64.99. That’s not quite like having some lavish and pricey cable package, but it’s not far. And it brings Hulu in line with YouTubeTV, which runs the same amount per month.
Mind you, this only affects the 4.1 million subscribed to Hulu’s Live TV package and not the 32.5 million paying customers of their on-demand service, who will continue paying a relative pittance. Still, people online were pissed, with a number of people saying that Hulu had, at long last, just become cable.
Hulu and Netflix raising prices is almost defeating the purpose of having them.
“Cut the cord” was supposed to be about saving money. Now you are crossing into the realm of costing the same as cable, if not more per month with the streaming services.
Trebek’s final episodes will air as scheduled through December, with Jeopardy!‘s executive producer offering a heartfelt message on the first show that aired following his death. There’s plenty of speculation regarding who may step into the host role on Jeopardy! in Trebek’s place, with Ken Jennings as the presumptive choice while others have expressed hope for someone like Levar Burton, but whoever it is will have massive shoes to fill — and will need to try and carve out their own tone for the show because no one can do it exactly as Trebek did.
On Monday night, prior to the Vikings game against the Bears, Adam Thielen decided to wear some custom cleats made by Mache to offer his own tribute to Trebek, with the host’s visage on one cleat and a Jeopardy board saying “We Miss You Alex” on the other.
For #MNF pregame tonight my guy @athielen19 will be honoring the legend Alex Trebek who passed last week. I feel like no matter where you were from I feel like Jeopardy was a part of all of our lives in some way. #skolpic.twitter.com/1itrgOM4M8
— Mache- that guy who does the artwork on the shoes. (@MACHE275) November 16, 2020
It shows how impactful Trebek was on so many for all different walks of life that Thielen would want to pay his respects in this way. From the sports world to academia to everyday folks at home on their couch, he managed to make everyone feel at home watching the show.
Eight months into the coronavirus pandemic and it feels like disinformation and denial have spread as quickly as the virus itself. Unfortunately, disinformation and denial during a pandemic is deadly. Literally. People who refuse to accept the reality we’re living in, who go about daily life as if nothing unusual were happening, who won’t wear a mask or keep their distance from people, are preventing communities from being able to keep the pandemic under control—with very real consequences.
An ER nurse in South Dakota shared her experience treating COVID patients—some of whom refuse to believe they have COVID—and it’s really shocking. One might think that the virus would become real to people if they were directly affected by it, but apparently that’s just not true for some. As Jodi Doering wrote on Twitter:
“I have a night off from the hospital. As I’m on my couch with my dog I can’t help but think of the Covid patients the last few days. The ones that stick out are those who still don’t believe the virus is real. The ones who scream at you for a magic medicine and that Joe Biden is going to ruin the USA. All while gasping for breath on 100% Vapotherm. They tell you there must be another reason they are sick. They call you names and ask why you have to wear all that ‘stuff’ because they don’t have COViD because it’s not real. Yes. This really happens. And I can’t stop thinking about it. These people really think this isn’t going to happen to them. And then they stop yelling at you when they get intubated. It’s like a fucking horror movie that never ends. There’s no credits that roll. You just go back and do it all over again.”
I have a night off from the hospital. As I’m on my couch with my dog I can’t help but think of the Covid patients t… https://t.co/63YpJaqymw
Doering’s Twitter post went viral, and CNN’s New Day invited her to come on the show. Her interview is stunning and sad, as she explains how patients who should be spending their final hours talking with their loved ones spend them ranting about how the virus is all a hoax.
“I think the hardest thing to watch,” she said, “is that people are still looking for something else and they want a magic answer and they don’t want to believe COVID is real. And the reason I tweeted what I did was it wasn’t one particular patient, it’s just a culmination of so many people. And their last dying words are ‘This can’t be happening. It’s not real.” And when they should be spending time Facetiming their families, they’re filled with anger and hatred, and it just made me really sad the other night. I just can’t believe that those are going to be their last thoughts and words.”
A South Dakota ER nurse @JodiDoering says her Covid-19 patients often “don’t want to believe that Covid is real.”… https://t.co/jzv52DFKZt
Doering explained that nurses can handle people lashing out at them in anger (bless you, nurses) but when they ask patients if they want to Facetime their families when they are clearly not likely to recover and they refuse, it’s just sad.
“I think people look for anything,” she said, when asked what people think is wrong with them if they don’t believe it’s COVID. “People want it to be influenza, they want it to be pneumonia…we’ve even had people say ‘Well I think it might be lung cancer.’ I mean, something so far fetched, and the reality is, since day one when COVID started in this area in March, you’ve kind of been able to say if it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, it’s a duck…even after positive results come back, some people don’t believe it.”
Doering made it clear that not all patients are living—and dying—in such denial. But the deniers are memorable. “It’s just a movie where the credits never roll,” she said. “You just do it all over again. And it’s hard and sad because every hospital, every nurse, every doctor in this state is seeing the same things. These people get sick in the same way, you treat them the same way, they die in the same way, and then you do it over again.”
The medical community has learned a lot about how to treat the virus, and Doering says they are managing their patient load fairly well. But the numbers keep climbing. South Dakota has a 50% positivity rate, which is astronomical. (The CDC guidance on school reopenings recommended that schools should only consider opening when positivity rates are below 3%, for a frame of reference.)
The virus is real, the pandemic is real, the illnesses and hospitalizations are real, and the deaths are real. We’ve got to figure out a way to pull deniers back to reality for everyone’s sake, including their own.
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Erica, the white trash socialist
(@herosnvrdie69) November 16, 2020
seph Pa
