Month: January 2021

As the Robinhood investment trading app became a hot topic on Thursday morning after it made a controversial decision to bar users from buying GameStop stocks due to “volatility,” Twitter users have apparently been landing on the account for the World Wide Robin Hood Society, which has been using the @robinhood handle since 2016. It’s an honest mixup, and whoever runs the social media account decided to give the throng of new followers a heads up in a tweet that’s already racked up over 56,000 Likes.

“Lovely to have all these new followers,” the account wrote. “Can we just check that you know that you’re following The World Wide Robin Hood Society in Nottingham and not the Robin Hood App .. if so .. a big welcome from Sherwood.”

Naturally, it didn’t take long before someone jokingly asked for stock tips, and the account was quick to shut the topic down with a cheeky reply:

While the Robin Hood Society’s tweet went viral only started going viral on Thursday, it appears that the society has been dealing with people confusing it for the investment app since the beginning of the year. The account posted a friendly notice on January 7 that it is not the trading app,and left the correct Twitter handles for users to contact.

As for what exactly The Robin Hood Society does, it appears to promote tourism to the English town of Nottingham. The account is populated with scenic destinations and the occasional photo of Robin Hood statues. True to its word, the society is not engaged in a massive stock scheme, nor does it have any connection to Wall Street.

(Via Robin Hood on Twitter)

Over the course of his 30-year career, the late MF DOOM had numerous collaborators, many of whom remain just as mysterious as the masked man himself. One, however, was likely the most prominent — and a big part of the reason DOOM was so beloved fans outside of the New York underground hip-hop scene he inhabited.

When DOOM and LA producer Madlib teamed up for the 2004 collaborative album Madvillainy, they had no idea the impact it would ultimately have on the pop culture landscape. But as Adult Swim-viewing cartoon fans discovered the producer and the rapper from the programming block’s commercial break bumps and the internet made sharing music as easy as downloading the latest single from Limewire, Madlib and MF DOOM became close to being household names — at least among households that really loved obscure hip-hop and stoner-centric animation.

Unfortunately, they were only able to release the one project collectively, although they had plans to release a sequel. The situation was complicated by DOOM’s immigration status, which caused him to be barred from re-entering the US after an international tour in 2010 because he was never naturalized as a citizen, despite moving to New York from London with his parents as a young child, similarly to what happened with 21 Savage.

Madlib recently spoke about his collaborator’s death with NPR, saying he found out about DOOM’s passing “when everybody else did, on social media.” DOOM passed on Halloween last year, but his wife/manager Jasmine didn’t reveal that he’d died until New Year’s Eve. Madlib, who said that the two checked in on each other from time-to-time, doesn’t have any hard feelings, though. “His family’s very private, so they probably didn’t know how to approach that one,” he said.

“I still can’t believe that he died. That’s weird.”

If you’ve ever eaten a Subway tuna sub and thought to yourself “something about this tastes fishy — and not in a way that resembles an actual fish sandwich” well, you might be on to something! According to the Washington Post, a new lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California alleges that Subway’s tuna doesn’t actually contain tuna at all, but rather “a mixture of various concoctions that do not constitute tuna” and are merely “blended together… to imitate the appearance of tuna.”

That already sounds disgusting enough, but prepare yourself. It gets worse.

Shalini Dogra, an attorney for one of the two plaintiffs named in the suit, told the Washington Post that independent lab tests taken of multiple samples from California Subway locations found that “the ingredients were not tuna and not fish,” though declined to reveal the exact results of the lab tests.

So if it’s not tuna and it’s not fish… what the hell is it? Soy? Kelp?

Karen Dhanowa and Nilima Amin, two residents of Alameda County in Northern California’s Bay Area are the two plaintiffs currently identified in the complaint and are suing Subway for a number of claims under federal and state laws including fraud, intentional misrepresentation, and unjust enrichment. Their attorneys hope to widen the scope of the claim to a class action suit, which means if you’ve purchased a tuna sandwich from Subway anytime after January 21st, 2017, you might actually see a few bucks out of this.

This isn’t the first time Subway has been sued for making false claims — they’ve gotten heat in the past for lying about the size of their footlongs (how embarrassing). And in recent years people have really been sweating their ingredients; you may recall that the chain’s bread isn’t legally considered bread in Ireland. Something fishy indeed.

As the GameStop stock surge continues to wreak havoc on Wall Street, Lee Cooperman, the billionaire CEO of hedge fund investment firm Omega Advisors went on CNBC on Thursday to complain about the Reddit day traders behind this week’s stock market shenanigans. While the narrative that the GameStop situation is a battle between tiny David retail investors and hedge fund Goliaths isn’t entirely accurate, Cooperman certainly didn’t hurt that facade by going on live TV and cursing up a storm about his belief that the rich are being unfairly targeted because of the pandemic. He was all wound up. Via CNBC:

“The reason the market is doing what it’s doing is, people are sitting at home, getting their checks from the government, basically trading for no commissions and no interest rates. I’m not saying they’re stupid. Show me a guy with a good record consistently, and I’ll show you a smart guy.”

You’ll probably (not) be surprised to know that Cooperman hates that people are collecting stimulus checks, and he fired off a profanity when talking about how he’s required to pay his “fair share” of taxes now that Joe Biden is in office. “I hate that expression with a passion!” Cooperman yelled. “This fair share is a bullsh*t concept! It’s just a way of attacking wealthy people.”

While Cooperman is confident that the GameStop situation “will end in tears,” the hedge fund veteran does know a thing or two about questionable deals. In 2016, he paid a $4.9 million fine after settling with the SEC over allegations of insider trading. The SEC wanted to ban Cooperman from trading stocks for five years, but his lawyers fought the case down. Because it’s so hard out there for billionaires.

(Via CNBC)

Deante’ Hitchcock may well be kicking off the next wave of pandemic-busting strategies for hip-hop artists, releasing a live version of his debut album, Better, along with a batch of performance videos shot during his quarantine. Since he can’t go on tour to promote the album and he’s already put out a trendy deluxe edition, producing a live version of the project actually seems like the logical next step, combining the usual tactic of touring to promote it with the stream-boosting re-release.

A lot of production value went into the shoot, as well, with Deante’ employing a four-piece band and a full set complete with a stage, light bars, and a disco ball. His performance is showcased through individual videos, allowing fans to watch them in any order or straight through as a playlist. It’s polished and professional and despite the lack of an in-person audience, he really gives his all, contradicting the commonly-held belief that livestreamed concerts are a little boring.

Hitchcock has quickly proven himself to be one of the more engaging up-and-coming rappers from his hometown of Atlanta, distinguishing himself with his appearance on Dreamville’s Revenge Of The Dreamers III compilation and his own quirky, charismatic, and visually arresting videos, such as “Attitude,” “I Got Money Now,” and “Plug Me In.” Now might be the perfect to buy your stock in Deante’ because his innovative approach and genuinely good music is going to ensure that it has nowhere to go but up.

Watch the live performance of “How TF” above and get the full live version of Better here.

I’m not proud to admit this, but I know virtually nothing about the stock market. I mean, I know what it is and on a very, very basic level know how it works. Kinda. Maybe. I don’t even know.

That’s a problem when some huge news about the stock market comes along. While clearly a big deal, this news about GameStop stock skyrocketing because a bunch of Reddit users did something and a bunch of billionaire hedge funders got screwed over by it has been a little lost of me.

I’m sure I’m not alone in this. In fact, I know I’m not, based on the virality of this “normal person” explainer video shared on Twitter. Prior to two days ago, this is pretty much exactly how I would have explained what’s going on:

There are a whole lot of us who don’t understand the stock market and usually don’t care that we don’t understand it. Then a big, important David and Goliath story like this comes along, making it clear we should know more than we do.

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Part of the problem is that there’s so much “inside baseball” terminology to wade through when you dive in. I graduated from college with honors, for the love, but every time I try to read a news story about this GameStop thing, I have to stop every other sentence to look up words that financial writers assume we all know and understand. (I still don’t even get what a hedge fund is, much less how short selling would affect one. And WTF is a “position” in a stock market context? Zero idea.)

What I need is someone to translate all that finance-speak into layman’s terms, super simply, like I’m in kindergarten. I don’t need all the nitty-gritty details of exactly how it all works, I just need enough so that I “get it.” I read a bunch of posts and explainer articles, some more helpful than others, but nothing has synopsized it all quite as concisely and clearly as this 3-minute video shared by Now This. Enjoy:

Okay, so I still don’t know exactly what a position is, but I get the gist.

Not only does this story explain a bit about how the game of Wall Street is played, but it also helps explain how the filthy rich have managed to get filthy richer during a pandemic when millions are struggling. On one level, businesses struggling is actually good for investors as they can take advantage of the falling prices.

Pretty gross to purposefully profit off of pandemic fallout, if you ask me. But what I know? Like I said, not much. I will say, this whole thing is a good incentive to learn more about how that part of the U.S. economic system works. Knowing that it’s actually not untouchable, that it’s not just elite economic geniuses who know what they’re doing, that there are ways for the average person to influence wealth distribution is intriguing to say the least. And anything that makes predatory billionaires shake in their boots is good fun.

We could all benefit from greater financial literacy, especially when it’s clear that the rules of the game are in flux. We’ll see how it all shakes out in the end, but it seems that these Redditors may prove that David has a chance against Goliath after all.

So Much Stand-Up Comedy (Peacock) — NBCU’s streaming service is coming in hot with bold moves in their library (The Office, Modern Family) and becoming the exclusive streaming home of WWE, but they’re also claiming territory in the comedy arena while keeping The Amber Ruffin Show going strong in the late-night circuit. Here’s a list of all the classic and newer stand-up specials that Peacock is streaming as of today.

Bob Saget: Zero to Sixty (2017)
Brody Stevens: Live From the Main Room (2018)
Brother Sam: A Tribute to Sam Kinison (2005)
Cameron Esposito: Marriage Material (2016)
Colin Quinn: Unconstitutional (2015)
D.L. Hughley: Clear (2014)
D.L. Hughley: Reset (2012)
Darrell Hammond: Mayhem Explained (2018)
David Cross: Oh, Come On (2019)
Eddie Griffin: You Can Tell ‘Em I Said It (2011)
Finesse Mitchell: The Spirit Told Me to Tell You (2018)
Harland Williams: A Force of Nature (2011)
Henry Rollins: Keep Talking, Pal (2018)
Iliza Shlesinger: Over & Over (2019)
Iliza Shlesinger: War Paint (2013)
Janeane Garofalo: If I May (2016)
Jasper Redd: Jazz Talk (2014)
Jay Pharoah: Can I Be Me? (2015)
Jermaine Fowler: Give ‘Em Hell, Kid (2015)
Jimmie JJ Walker & Mike Winslow: We are Still Here (2018)
Joel McHale: Live From Pyongyang (2019)
Joe Coco Diaz: Sociably Unacceptable (2016)
Kathleen Madigan: Madigan Again (2015)
Kevin Hart Presents – Keith Robinson: Back of the Bus Funny (2014)
Kevin Hart Presents – Lil Rel Howery: Relevant (2015)
Kevin Hart Presents – Plastic Cup Boyz (2014)
Kevin Nealon: Whelmed…But Not Overly (2012)
Kevin Smith: Silent, But Deadly (Extended Edition) (2018)
Larry the Cable Guy: Remain Seated (2020)
Lavell Crawford: Home for the Holidays (2017)
Louie Anderson: Big Baby Boomer (2012)
Marc Maron: Thinky Pain (2013)
Margaret Cho: Psycho (2015)
Maria Bamford: Weakness Is the Brand (2020)
Michael Ian Black: Very Famous (2011)
Mike Birbiglia: My Girlfriend’s Boyfriend (2013)
Sam Kinison: Family Entertainment Hour (1991)
Sasheer Zamata: Pizza Mind (2017)
Sinbad: Make Me Wanna Holla (2014)
Sinbad: Where U Been? (2010)
Tim Allen: Men Are Pigs (1990)
Tom Arnold: Past & Present Imperfectly (2018)
Tom Segura: Completely Normal (2014)
Whitney Cummings: Money Shot (2010)
It’s Showtime at the Apollo

Here are the rest of tonight’s programming highlights:

The Unicorn (CBS, 9:30pm EST) — Wade and Shannon are still bringing Walton Goggins and Natalie Zea into Justified reunion mode, but things get tough when Wade wants Shannon to stay over while navigating how he’ll tell his daughters.

Star Trek: Discovery (CBS, 10:00pm EST) — Burnham’s dealing with war’s harsh reality in her mind as she and the crew remain far away on the U.S.S. Discovery. Meanwhile, Starfleet plots their next move by getting unconventional.

The Hustler (ABC, 10:00pm EST) — Host Craig Ferguson stands by while contestants compete for money, and “The Hustler” among them keeps doing his or her secretive and enigmatic thing.

The Late Show With Stephen Colbert — Viggo Mortensen, Charles Blow

Jimmy Kimmel LIve — Michelle Pfeiffer, George Lopez, Arlo Parks

The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon — Keegan- Michael Key, Terry Gross, Fontaines D.C.

Late Night With Seth Meyers — Desus & Mero, Ryan Shazier

In case you missed these recent picks:

Selena + Chef: Season 2 Premiere (HBO Max series) — This must be one of the most ideally produced quarantine series in existence. The “Love You To Love Me” multi-platinum selling recording artist returns with her unscripted series to navigate unfamiliar (and possibly disastrous) territory. Maybe we can all be inspired by how she brushes up on her skills with the assistance of master chefs.

Looney Tunes Cartoons: Season 1C (HBO Max series) — This batch of episodes includes Taz in his first full-length Looney Tunes Cartoons short. He’ll battle Bugs Bunny in a full-on arena, and Bugs has other foes in-waiting, including Elmer Fudd, a leprechaunm and Cecil Turtle. Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner will also join in for one of ten all-new episodes. Thank goodness.

Gomorrah: Season 3 (HBO Max series) — With the first two seasons available for HBO Max streaming, this third installment will launch in its entirety tonight to U.S. audiences. The show’s based upon Robert Saviano’s bestseller and follows ex-street-level drug dealers who ascend to the very top of their trade while partnerships and alliances (and sacrifices) go down in Italy and beyond.

Afrobeats star Davido is a Nigerian samurai in the video for his new single “The Best,” from the 2020 album A Better Time. Shot in Lagos, the video channels the vibe of classic samurai and martial arts films as Davido trains his real-life protege Mayorkun to fight using time-honored techniques from movies like The Karate Kid. The concept also gives them both the opportunity to dress in ceremonial garb and display the similarities between Asian and African cultures while paying homage to the former.

Davido, who’s made inroads to the US in recent years thanks to collaborations with Disclosure and Khalid, Lil Baby, and Nicki Minaj, released his third studio album A Better Time in November, playing on the title of his second album, A Good Time, and employing an international cadre of collaborators ranging from New York’s Nas to South Africa’s Sho Madjozi. Hit-Boy, Tiwa Savage, and Young Thug also appear, among others, as Davido brought fans “a reason to smile and just be happy” during the current unrest affecting not only his native Nigeria but also the whole world. Despite his aim of making escapist party music, his song “Fem” become an unofficial protest anthem after being adopted by the #ENDSARS movement against police brutality.

Watch Davido’s “The Best” video above.

We’re going to be honest, February is a pretty slow month for beer releases. Winter is in full effect and spring is waiting around the corner. Most everyone in the beer world spends the month gearing up for March — when releases start hitting fast and heavy.

Still, there are a handful of quality craft beers dropping and some holdovers from the last month that are definitely worth tracking down. This month’s list of eight craft beers touches on some winter warmers, some one-off special releases, and a few beers that are looking ahead to next season.

Hopefully, the eight beers we’re giving love to this month will pique your interest and inspire you to explore exciting brews made near you or sold at your closest bottle shops. These picks represent regional craft beer releases from breweries that we vouch for (with tasting notes from the brewers themselves if we didn’t get to taste the beer yet because of the pandemic), along with some seasonally released bottles that we’ve been looking forward to trying again.

PACIFIC NORTHWEST DROP: pFriem Citrus Zest IPA

Style: American IPA

ABV: 6.3%

The Beer:

This late winter seasonal from Oregon’s pFriem Family can brighten up the darkest winter day. The beer is made with fruit and citrus-forward hops. Then the beer gets a dose of grapefruit and tangelo zest, adding to the brightness of this beloved IPA.

Tasting Notes:

Yes, you get a great sense of orange and grapefruit zest. But there’s also a mild tropical fruit underbelly with an almost savory papaya edge. The sip ends fairly dry and almost grassy but still holds onto all that bright citrus and tropical fruit at its core.

Bottom Line:

This is a real eye-opener — in the sense that it’ll wake you up from your winter hibernation.

SOUTHWEST DROP: Stone Features & Benefits IPA

Style: American IPA

ABV: 4%

The Beer:

This low-ABV and low-calorie IPA from Stone was released late last year. The brew goes through a special fermentation process that helps break down the gluten in the grains further, classifying this one as a “gluten reduced” beer as well. All of that aside, the beer is crafted with plenty of Cashmere, Vic Secret, Azacca, and Mosaic hops to keep that classic IPA vibe alive in every sip.

Tasting Notes (from the brewer):

“Orange peel, lemon, spice, and light grain character. Light-bodied, crisp, and refreshing with a pleasant short finish.”

Bottom Line:

This clocks in at 100 calories and is in a sessionable range of ABVs. With a couple of heavy winter months of drinking behind us, something so light sounds pretty good right about now.

ROCKY MOUNTAIN DROP: New Belgium Mountain Time Premium Lager

Style: American Lager

ABV: 4.4%

The Beer:

Sticking with the low-cal and sessionable craft, New Belgium’s Mountain Time is also a great option to counterpoint those hefty winter stouts dominating everything right now. The beer has a Pilsner malt base and is amped up by Nugget, Willamette, and Cascade hops, giving it a nice bite.

Tasting Notes:

A mix of straw and honey greet you with a slight sense of pear. The body of the beer is medium-light (this isn’t Coors Light) while still holding onto slight notes of sweet malts and mildly bitter hops in the background.

Bottom Line:

This is a very easy-drinking beer with enough depth to pique your interest — even if you’re just sitting at home over the next month binging old TV shows.

SOUTHERN DROP: Jester King Munich-Style Helles Lagerbier

Style: German Lager

ABV: 4.8%

The Beer:

This beer from Jester King is offering you a chance to drink Munich beer hall beer without traveling to Munich, which we can’t do for the foreseeable future. The suds are crafted with Texas Pilsner malts and then spiked with Hallertauer Magnum, Hallertauer Mittelfrueh, and Czech Saaz hops to give it that authentic Euro feel.

The beer is then lagered for five long weeks before being bottled and sold.

Tasting Notes:

None provided.

Bottom Line:

This just dropped (on January 25th). All we know is that if Jester King is making a real-deal Munich beer hall helles, it’s probably going to be the closest thing to going to Munich you’ll get in the U.S. until beyond summer. If you’re in Austin, get your ass over to Jester King and pick up one of 200 cases available.

MIDWEST DROP: Great Lakes Conway’s Irish Ale

Style: Irish Red Ale

ABV: 6.3%

The Beer:

Conway’s Irish Ale is dropped in late January in anticipation of March and St. Patrick’s Day. The beer is a solid Irish ale with well-roasted malts at the base, providing an inviting sweetness and texture that makes this beer very quaffable.

Tasting Notes:

The malts really are the star of the show. There’s an almost buttery toffee sweetness and mouthfeel that leads towards a hint of yeasty dinner rolls that are nicely toasted. The sip leans more towards the sweet roasted malts as the hint of bitter hops lurks far in the background.

Bottom Line:

You can kill a six-pack of this beer pretty damn easily.

NORTHEAST DROP: Allagash Kurkuma

Style: Saison/Farmhouse Ale

ABV: 5.3%

The Beer:

This brand new drop from Allagash (coming out later this month) is adding a little spice to the usual line up. The beer aims to really hit when spring does with big notes of turmeric spice built into the subtler features of the saison grassiness and slight tartness.

Tasting Notes (from the brewer):

“Turmeric, or ‘kurkuma,’ adds a hint of spice to this tropically crisp, saison-style ale. Brewing with the whole root lends all of the subtle aspects of fresh turmeric—its earthy notes and color—to Kurkuma’s dry and refreshing profile.”

Bottom Line:

With the added spice, we’re intrigued. As in, we’re intrigued is to actually drink this one, but we also want to cook with it since the turmeric is already layered into the beer.

WILD CARD DROP: Fremont/New Belgium Collab Action-Reaction

Style: Sour Stout (Strong Ale/Flanders Red Ale)

ABV: 10%

The Beer:

This is the meeting of two really fine bottles of beer that are then taken up a notch. The beers involved are Fremont’s much-loved Seattle mainstay Barrel-Aged B-Bomb (a strong ale) and New Belgium’s equally adored La Folie (a Flanders red ale). The blended brews are then barrel-aged, creating a sour and nitro’d stout.

Tasting Notes (from the brewers):

“The aromas completely engulf you in toffee, chocolate, vanilla, bourbon, and barrel char. Add to that our Oscar dark sour lager, and boom: A beer that starts intensely sweet and thick, warm and boozy with a perfect balance of sourness and does not let up.”

Bottom Line:

Sure, this sounds like a hyper-craft brew that some will roll their eyes at. But, come on! These are two really great beers in one bottle — this has got to be the most exciting drop the whole month.

INTERNATIONAL PICK OF THE MONTH: Cantillon Lambic d’Aunis 2020/2021

Style: Fruited Lambic

ABV: 6%

The Beer:

This Belgian lambic is fruited with Pineau d’Aunis grapes from the Loire region of France. The grapes are added to the beer to create a bridge between the funky world of Belgian lambic and the rose Pinot Noir-like juice used for sparkling wines in France.

Tasting Notes:

There’s a real marriage of the barnyard/wet hay funk up top that mingles with the subtler spiciness of the wine with light citrus and plum edge. The palate veers from all of that towards an almost blackberry-next-to-peach fruitiness, with hints of pepper, tart cream, and one more touch of earthy funk.

The end is somewhat dry but very rosy, fruity, spicy, and, again, interestingly funky.

Bottom Line:

This definitely isn’t a beginner’s beer. Still, the new season just dropped. And every year over the last ten years, this beer has hit high marks of greatness. It’s 100% worth checking out if you can find it.

Back in July, Kid Cudi teased a collaboration with A Bathing Ape (aka Bape), and now, he and the company are ready to deliver: They have a new t-shirt together, which will be available in two colors, both exclusively at the Bape Store New York Madison Avenue. They will be available on January 30 for the princely sum of $115.

Bape describes the shirts, “A BATHING APE® is excited to announce its latest collaboration with Grammy Award winning artist and previous BAPE® collaborator, Kid Cudi. BAPE® and Kid Cudi have come together once again for a limited edition Tee, featuring a graphic of Kid Cudi illustrated in MILO-style on the front, and New York City skyline on the back.

It looks like this is just a preview of Cudi’s future fashion endeavors. Just yesterday, he revealed that he plans on starting his own clothing, tweeting, “Finally startin my own clothing line. Been a long time comin and another dream of mine. More madness, true vision, freshness comin soon!!!” He went on to note that the first items from it will drop this summer and reflected on how far he’s come over the past few years, writing, “Man so much to do and see. Since 2016 Ive been climbin upward. Comin from rehab, suicidal thoughts, not loving myself, hating my life…to being beyond happy, loving myself more than ever, doin everything I always dreamed of. My angels been watchin over me. I am truly blessed.”