Month: February 2021

Fans were overjoyed when Taylor Swift released Evermore, her second surprise album of 2020. But the same cannot be said about Evermore Park, an amusement park in Utah who filed a trademark lawsuit against the singer following the album’s release. After dismissing the initial lawsuit as “baseless,” Swift’s team is now responding with a lawsuit of their own.

According to a report from Rolling Stone, TAS Rights Management, the company that manages the rights to Swift’s music and other trademarks, filed an opposing lawsuit against Evermore Park. Swift’s team is basing their lawsuit on the claim that Evermore Park has used three of the pop singer’s songs without authorization. Legal documents from Swift’s team allege that the theme park “blatantly ignored the numerous notices from BMI and opted instead to continue to benefit from the free and unauthorized public performance of [the songs], despite actual knowledge of the liability and substantial penalties imposed by the Copyright Act to protect artists.” The lawsuit goes on to claim that Evermore’s CEO Ken Bretschneider reached out to BMI “seeking a retroactive license that would cover all performances” from 2018-2021 only after he learned that Swift’s countersuit was in the works.

The TAS Rights Management lawsuit arrives less than a month after Evermore’s original copyright infringement lawsuit, which claimed that some of their guests have asked if “the Evermore album was the result of a collaboration between Evermore and Taylor Swift or some other type of relationship.” Evemore is seeking millions in damages, as well as money to cover all legal fees.

After Texas’ recent catastrophic storm that left millions of people literally freezing without power, it’s not clear that Texan politicians, you know, get it. Senator Ted Cruz — he of the ridiculously out-of-touch, unwise Cancun vacation — is busy fuming over leaked texts that got he and his wife, Heidi, busted on a more telling level. And Lt. Governor Dan Patrick, who is already not terribly popular for his most notorious COVID-19-based declaration last year (that elderly people are willing to sacrifice their lives to save the U.S. economy) is stepping in it, too.

Patrick appeared on Fox News to discuss Texas’ deregulated power grid on a general note, and the conversation inevitably turned toward reports of astronomical power bills received by Texas residents. In some cases, these have been savings-draining bills (and worse) that have been up to $17,000, according to the Washington Post. Patrick wanted everyone to know that he’s seen these reports, and this happens because, in Texas, “you can choose your energy plan and most people have a fixed rate. If they had a fixed rate per kilowatt hour, their rates aren’t going up.” Patrick stresses that he’s going to try (in the case of people receiving ridiculously large bills) to “figure that out,” but in the meantime, people need to “read the fine print.” Via Raw Story:

“But the people who are getting those big bills are people who gambled on a very, very low rate. But I’ve told those folks, do not panic. We are going to figure that out.”

“But going forward, people need to read the fine print in those kinds of bills and we may even end that type of variable plan because people were surprised.”

“Read the fine print” probably isn’t helping anyone who had their utility bills set on auto-draft, and it’s not reasonable to expect people to understand the “gamble” made when utility bills have never been, you know, $17,000 for a single-family home before last week. There’s gonna be some backlash to Patrick’s comments, but hopefully, he’ll actually made good on being able to “figure that out” for residents.

(Via Raw Story)

Bay Area rapper Caleborate is gearing up for the release of his new album Light Hit My Skin next month, and shares the first single, “Contact,” featuring Brooklyn rapper Kota The Friend. The cross-coastal collaboration shows the two indie rappers are on the same wavelength despite their distance, as they address their grind from the basement to their current success. While Kota rhymes about the way his girl and his son lifted his spirits through the rough years, Caleb praises his aunt for having his back and sharing her weed with him as he worked his way through his early career.

Although he’s not a household name yet, Berkeley native Caleborate made some noise in 2016 with the release of his album 1993, which led to increased attention on its follow-ups. In 2017, he dropped Real Person, while in 2019, his Hear Me Out EP reassured fans that he was still cooking up. Meanwhile, Kota broke out in 2018 with Anything., received major acclaim in 2019 with Foto, and kept up the momentum in 2020 with Lyrics To Go, Vol. 1 and Everything. He opened this year with Lyrics To Go, Vol. 2, setting himself up for a big 2021.

“Contact” marks the two MCs’ first collaboration, despite their parallel tracks, but it shows they already have remarkable chemistry thanks to their complementary mindsets and independent hustle. Caleborate’s album Light Hit My Skin is due March 26 and also features Duckwrth, Deante’ Hitchcock, Cantrell, Tone Sinatra, and more.

Listen to “Contact” above.

(Spoilers from Marvel Studios and Disney+’s WandaVision will be found below.)

On the latest episode of WandaVision, “Breaking the Fourth Wall,” Kathryn Hahn’s Agnes finally revealed herself as the classic Marvel Comics character Agatha Harkness, a centuries old witch who’s been around since the Salem days. While fans had already guessed Agnes’ true identity before WandaVision even aired — it was right there in her name — even the most knowledgeable viewers were in the dark on how that reveal would play out. As we learned in the catchy theme song, “Agatha All Along,” Hahn’s witchy character dropped into Westview after Wanda (or someone else) had already transformed the New Jersey town into a sitcom world. Once inside, Agatha seemed intent on stirring up mischief and causing strife between Wanda and Vision.

The big reveal also included a trip down into Agatha’s basement where Wanda discovered a dungeon-like room full of mystical artifacts. Not only that, the show went through a noticeable aspect ratio change, which director Mat Shakman recently revealed was very intentional and that Marvel studio head Kevin Feige showed a personal interest in making sure this scene hit just the right tone. Via Cinema Blend:

You go down into a basement, you’re headed for darkness. So I just really was playing with that very simple iconography. And finally, I could kind of get into my full MCU dramatic-film-lighting, which I’ve been looking forward to for a while. So just embracing all the kind of LED technology that we have our disposal now, and a great set design by Mark Worthington, and embracing the darkness. You know, that was Kevin Feige’s note was, ‘This needs to be dark and scary.’

As for why Feige would want the tone of this scene to be exactly right, WandaVision is now in its home stretch, and in the process, it will start setting up the events of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, which will reportedly feature Elizabeth Olsen’s Wanda working with Benedict Cumberatch’s Doctor Strange. Or maybe against him…

(Via CinemaBlend)

Wednesday brought some significant marvel news, starting with a roadmap for the Disney+ rollouts of several shows later in the year. But the biggest news of the day was an official title and a first look at the next Spider-Man. On Wednesday afternoon, Marvel dropped a video for the latest Tom Holland-led Spider-Man film, and it’s sticking with the home-based naming convention we’re familiar with.

This one, No Way Home, seems significantly darker than the previous Homecoming and Far From Home, though.

The video features Zendaya, Holland and Jacob Batalon meeting outside of director Jon Watts’ office, lamenting the fake names for the movie he keeps giving out. Holland laments the fact that Watts keeps doing this while wondering why he won’t just tell him the name of the movie he’s filming in Atlanta.

The joke here, of course, is that Holland is notoriously bad at keeping Marvel secrets, and the video spells out that Holland gave away the title of Far From Home, the last installment in the series. But as the camera pans away from the three actors walking down the hall, it focuses on the board that actually does have the movie’s title on it.

As an orchestral version of the Spider-Man theme plays, that whiteboard version turns into the actual movie logo. But the board is arguably more interesting, with a lot of home-based names that didn’t make the cut. And a few joke titles like Home Alone, which has already been taken.

Considering that we already have a release date: December 17, 2021 it seems there isn’t much left for Holland to spoil unless he wants to get into finer plot points. I’m sure no one would mind if he wanted to give us a head’s up here and save a year’s worth of speculation.

After the groundbreaking ’80s UK group Spacemen 3 disbanded with their final album, founding member Jason Pierce (known under his moniker J Spaceman), went on to gain critical success with his group Spiritualized. Spacemen 3 laid the groundwork for Pierce’s vision with Spiritualized, and the band’s nearly four-decade run ended in 2018 with their last album And Nothing Hurt. Now, Pierce is looking to breath new life into Spiritualized’s early releases with a remastering project.

The first stage of The Spaceman Reissue Program kicks off in April with a newly remastered edition of Spiritualized’s debut album, the 1991 effort Lazer Guided Melodies. Reflecting on the project and his swift transition to Spiritualized from Spacemen 3, Pierce said:

“The last Spacemen 3 record was under-realized to me. When I listen back to that stuff it sounds like somebody finding their way. There was a lot of ideas but no way to put them into a space that would make them all work. So, there was a huge freedom forging over the last Spacemen 3 record and when Spiritualized started it was like, ‘OK it’s all yours. Go’ […] We recorded the tracks in the studio near my flat which was a place where they predominantly recorded advertising jingles and it’s where we made all the Spacemen 3 records, but then the recordings were taken to Battery Studios in London, to explore a more professional way of making music… Once I approached that way of doing things I opened up a whole world and I was astounded that somebody could take those tracks and turn it into the record it became…”

Lazer Guided Melodies‘s reissue will be the first of four releases. Spiritualized’s 1995 LP Pure Phase, 1997 album Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space, and the 2001 effort Let It Come Down will also be reworked onto vinyl in coming months.

Check out the Lazer Guided Melodies reissued vinyl above.

Lazer Guided Melodies is out 4/23 via Fat Possum. Pre-order it here.

Nigerian Afropop star Davido is the latest artist to grace the Tiny Desk “stage,” delivering a soulful at-home concert from his living room. Splitting the difference between comfy and fashionable styles, he posts up on a stool with his various awards statues prominently displayed and his band occupying whatever free space they can find. He breezes through a set that includes his 2013 hit single “Gobe,” 2014 Nigeria Entertainment Awards-winning Hottest Single of the Year “Aye,” “Risky,” his Popcaan-featuring 2019 single from A Good Time, and “Jowo,” from his 2020 album A Better Time, giving a crisp chronological run-through of his career and accomplishments.

In recent months, Davido has been bridging the gap between his Afrobeats roots and US hip-hop, collaborating with Lil Baby on “So Crazy” in November last year, adding a Nicki Minaj collaboration to his collection with “Holy Ground,” and working with Megan Thee Stallion on an upcoming collaboration with British star Idris Elba (yes, that Idris Elba, who moonlights as a DJ and producer between movies and shows). And though Davido has put those famous American stars’ names on his resume, he still made sure to highlight his fellow up-and-coming African stars on the album as well; in January, he released the video for “The Best” featuring Mayorkun.

Watch Davido’s Tiny Desk Concert above.

Rye whiskey means a lot of things. Sadly for most folks, it only means one thing: peppery spice. That is, in part, due to MGP’s 95 percent rye mash bill dominating the modern rye scene with everyone from WhistlePig to Bulleit to Redemption to Templeton (and many more) all pulling their juice from the same source.

In reality, rye whiskey is so much more than white pepper driven spice. Savory herbs, orchard fruits, dry woods, anise, and licorice are all relatively common flavor notes, depending on the aging and exact mash bill. Today, we’re aiming to illuminate that fact with this blind tasting of 12 (!) rye whisk(e)ys from the U.S. and Canada.

This blind tasting and ranking is pretty straightforward. I’m tasting 12 ryes and ranking them by which ones taste the best and (crucially) which I want to drink again. Price is not a factor and neither is availability. A couple of these will be out of reach, but I really tried to make the list a group of ryes you can find and, most likely, afford.

We have a lot to cover, so let’s dive in.

Part 1: The Taste

Taste 1:

Tasting Notes:

There’s a sweet but spicy apple up top with hints of vanilla and honey. The taste is slightly oaky, a little peppery, and has a note of dried fruit. It’s very mellow and … just fine. It’s easy for sure.

Taste 2:

Tasting Notes:

This is completely different from Taste 1, with notes of licorice next to apple with a bit of spice at the end of the nose. The taste has a dose of vanilla next to apricot that builds towards raisins. Going back to the nose, there’s a hint of dill popping in with a little bit of a savory fig.

Interesting. I don’t know what this is but I kind of dig it.

Taste 3:

Tasting Notes:

There’s a dry straw note next to mild toffee with a hint of sweet but old oak on the nose. The taste leans into bitter dark chocolate with a touch of spiced apple and caramel while still holding onto that old-yet-sweet oak. It’s goddamn delicious on each of those notes and so clear.

There’s an interesting build on the end — this gets really hot as it (very slowly) fades out.

Taste 4:

Tasting Notes:

This is nice. There’s a savory note that’s maybe dill or pumpkin next to toffee and dried fruit. On the taste, there’s a real sense of cinnamon-infused dark chocolate with notes of Christmas spice, creamy vanilla, and a mild tobacco chew.

Taste 5:

Tasting Notes:

Okay… This is kind of wild.

There’s a nose of vanilla next to licorice that leads to … Lysol. Not in a bad way, per se. But, it’s 100 percent on the nose. The taste has none of that and is light, velvety, full of spiced chocolate, and caramel. The end has a light tobacco chew with a mild spicy edge.

Sadly, I just can’t get past that aerosol note on the nose.

Taste 6:

Tasting Notes:

Orange soda leads towards a clear note of dill and… it works. This is really unique. The taste is this mix of rich toffee, creamy vanilla, and soft cedar. It’s ultra-velvet and has this light touch of powdery spice on the very end.

Intermission

Please drink water, folks.

Taste 7:

Tasting Notes:

A nose of oak, cherry, vanilla pudding, and mild spice … this has to be from Beam. The taste has this beautiful balance of peppery spice with vanilla cream that it almost feels like a high-rye bourbon — kind of like a sibling to Old Grand-Dad. There’s a musty chocolate edge near the end and the finish leaves you with a fine tobacco spicy buzz.

Taste 8:

Tasting Notes:

There’s this opening of cedar that leads to, I swear, firecracker black powder. This is f*cking wild and I love it. There’s also a sense of savory fruit (think pumpkin) on the end of the nose that just works with that black gunpowder and cedar. The taste is a cream vanilla — nearly a mint ice-cream — with hints of Christmas spices next to sweet yet spicy caramel apples on the very end.

I wrote, “WOW” in my tasting notes.

Taste 9:

Tasting Notes:

This is wild and unique again! There’s this grassy note that leads to dry reeds that then leads to dry pine boards with dill and toffee all popping off on the nose. That woodiness mellows to a cedar on the palate with a honeyed pear body and a mildly cinnamon spicy twinge next to … chocolate mints.

What’s amazing is as this fades away very slowly. You’re left with this extremely clear sense of freshly cracked black peppercorns. It’s great.

Taste 10:

Tasting Notes:

There’s a dill note next to wet cedar, a hint of vanilla, and, I think, cherry candy. The taste is full of cream soda with tart red berries and a savory fruit vibe. The end gets peppery, leading towards dark chocolate infused with chili pepper. It really works and feels like absolute silk.

Taste 11:

Tasting Notes:

There’s a clear sense of toffee right away next to a rummy edge with a hint of spicy oak. The taste is so goddamn mild while still popping off with notes of sharp Red Hots, orange oils, and vanilla creaminess. The end amps up the spice with a rich tobacco chewiness while ending on the slightest note of sweet red berry.

Taste 12:

Tasting Notes:

This opens with caramel, cherry, vanilla, oak, and maybe a touch of pear. This smells like bourbon. That cherry becomes a cherry candy while the vanilla holds onto the middle of the taste … Okay, this is Jim Beam. But it really feels like I’m being tricked becasue this tastes like their higher-end bourbon.

The taste has a mild heat but it’s really the cherry and vanilla that shine the brightest.

Part 2: The Ranking

12) Jim Beam Prohibition Rye (Taste 12)

ABV: 40%

Average Price: $22

The Whiskey:

This rye was designed by the master himself — Master Distiller and whiskey legend Fred Noe — as a return to the bigger and bolder days of rye before Prohibition defanged a lot of the industry and its recipes. The juice is a throwback recipe to the 1920s version of Beam’s rye, giving the whiskey a fruitier and spicer edge in the process.

Bottom Line:

I honestly didn’t think this was rye, hence its ranking as last. I did really like it though, because it was so easy to drink, light, and flavorful. Still, if you’re looking for big, bold rye, this is the furthest you can get from that on this particular list.

11) Basil Hayden’s 10-Year-Old Rye (Taste 5)

ABV: 40%

Average Price: $78

The Whiskey:

This is Beam’s high-end brand and their high-end rye within that brand. The barrels are the ones that made it to ten years and hit just the right marks of flavor and texture to be batched, proofed down to a very accessible 80 proof, and bottled.

Bottom Line:

This was nice, though light. That Lysol note was wild and only grew as I nosed more after sipping. I don’t know where it came from but it was there. I really like this rye, in general, but I almost always drink it on the rocks.

10) Rittenhouse Bottled-in-Bond Rye (Taste 4)

ABV: 50%

Average Price: $28

The Whiskey:

Haling from Heaven Hill’s stills and warehouses, this rye is very much a bourbon drinker’s rye. The mash bill is only 51 percent rye with 37 percent corn, and 12 percent malted barley. The juice then matures under the federal regulations allowing it to be “bottled-in-bond” and is barely proofed down to 100 proof with that soft Kentucky limestone water before bottling.

Bottom Line:

This was good. But there was nothing that popped. I can see using this bottle as a great rye cocktail mixer for Sazeracs.

9) Bulleit Rye (Taste 1)

ABV: 45%

Average Price: $32

The Whiskey:

Indiana’s MGP rye is one of the most popular ryes on earth. Their rye is has a mash bill of 95 percent rye and five percent malted barley. The juice is aged for four to seven years at MGP before blending, proofing, and bottling by Bulleit at their warehouse.

Bottom Line:

This was a nice, easy opening. Though it rang kind of sweet and thin but in a good way. This feels like a great mixer and an occasional on the rocks dram.

8) Pinhook Rye’d On (Taste 2)

ABV: 48.5%

Average Price: $40

The Whiskey:

Pinhook is a blendery that’s creating some high-quality whiskeys. They source their rye from MGP’s iconic 95 percent rye mash bill juice. In this case, they’re taking hand-selected barrels and blending and proofing them according to their desire, creating a wholly unique expression with an all-too-well-known base product.

Bottom Line:

This was such a departure from the first taste that I didn’t really know where to put it. And that’s wild since both juices are from MGP! Still, this felt a little more advanced and hit a little nicer today than the first taste (Bulleit).

7) Sazerac 18 Antique Collection 2020 (Taste 3)

ABV: 45%

Average Price: $1,100

The Whiskey:

This iconic rye from Buffalo Trace pulls the focus from the Kentucky corn and places it on that Minnesota rye. The juice then spends 18 long years mellowing in heavily charred oak on one floor of one warehouse at Buffalo Trace. 76.9 percent of the whiskey is lost to evaporation over that time, leaving a concentrate that’s then filtered down to 90 proof.

Bottom Line:

This was tasty but, f*ck, it was hot. All those notes that made it so beautiful were burned out of my senses as it faded, leaving me just with heat. I know this works amazingly with water or a rock but as a taster, it was just too hot.

Still… the build of this dram is so, so good that I can forgive that final note of heat. Hence the solid B+.

6) Alberta Premium Cask Strength (Taste 10)

ABV: 65.1%

Average Price: $80

The Whiskey:

The rye comes from the Alberta prairies for the 100 percent rye mash bill. The grist (milled rye grains) is then married with Rocky Mountain glacial water for fermentation. The spirit is then barrelled and left to mature for an undisclosed amount of time. The results are blended and bottled with zero fussing at cask strength, giving this whisky a real depth and sense of those chilly plains, mountains, and barrels from Alberta.

Bottom Line:

This beloved award winner was … nice. It was complex rye but nothing jumped out and grabbed me. Still, amazingly drinkable.

5) Knob Creek Rye (Taste 7)

ABV: 50%

Average Price: $35

The Whiskey:

This is another bourbon drinker’s rye with a mash bill that’s believed to be only 51 percent rye (which is likely the same for the Basil Hayden’s above). This rye, however, is batched and proofed at a higher ABV, 50 proof, allowing more of the barrel to shine through.

Bottom Line:

This had a huge heavy-rye bourbon vibe, but in a really accessible way. It was super easy drinking but still lets you know that you’re drinking rye — with the comfort of a “bourbon home” to fall back on.

4) Michter’s Single Barrel Rye 10 (Taste 11)

ABV: 46.4%

Average Price: $200

The Whiskey:

Michter’s 10-year rye is contract distilled by Willett (that is, Willett uses Michter’s mash bills and aging instructions) though they’re making their own juice now in Louisville too. The juice in this bottle is hand-selected from single barrels to represent the essence of a subtle yet delicious rye whiskey. It’s then just proofed with soft water and bottled.

Bottom Line:

We’re already starting to split hairs with the next two entries. This is great, really. It’s so goddamn easy to drink while still imparting a sense of “rye whiskey” that it’s hard not to love.

3) Woodford Reserve Rye (Taste 9)

ABV: 45.2%

Average Price: $40

The Whiskey:

This whiskey was a long time coming. Master Distiller Chris Morris tinkered with this recipe for nine years before it was just right. The juice has a fairly low-rye mash bill — for a rye, that is. The bill only calls for 53 percent of the spicy grain. The rest is made up of local corn and malted barley. The whiskey then spends up to seven years maturing at their Versailles, Kentucky facility before its blended, proofed with soft limestone water, and bottled.

Bottom Line:

This started off very rye-forward and then kept growing and deepening on every subsequent nose and sip. It really is just great and feels like it denotes everything rye can be. That pop of black pepper, like, a minute after the end of the sip was wild and applause-worthy (I was also nine drams deep and really, ahem, feeling it too).

2) Lot 40 (Taste 6)

ABV: 43%

Average Price: $45

The Whiskey:

Lot 40 is Canada’s Hiram Walker Distillery’s signature rye. The mash bill is 100 percent rye with 90 percent comprising of standard Canadian rye and the remaining ten percent malted Canadian rye. The recipe goes back to the 1700s and keeps things simple in aging, proofing, and bottling, allowing the rye grains to take center stage.

Bottom Line:

This kind of came out of nowhere and really shined brightly. It’s so smooth and easy to drink while still clearly hitting notes that make it stand out as a unique whiskey. I tried it on the rocks after and it got even better with notes of cedar, chili-chocolate, and savory fruit.

1) Wild Turkey Rye 101 (Taste 8)

ABV: 50.5%

Average Price: $40

The Whiskey:

Wild Turkey’s signature rye benefits from the brand’s signature moves in making all their whiskey. The juice is matured for around six years in heavily charred “alligator” barrels. That heavy char and longer aging imbues a lot into the whiskey before it’s batched, lightly proofed down to 101 proof, and bottled.

Bottom Line:

This is the only dram that I wrote, “Wow” next to. It stood out so clearly from the rest of the pack while also being a really f*cking delicious whiskey in general. But it also felt like it was “rye.” It was more than bourbon, had unique and engaging flavors, and was really, really crushable.

Part 3: Final Thoughts

There were a lot of great whiskeys on the dock today. But in the end, nothing even came close to Wild Turkey in sip-ability, uniqueness, and depth. It was a surprise (especially for a dram I know pretty well) and stood out the most. I’ll be drinking more of that this weekend, for sure.

That being said, the Lot 40 (which I haven’t tasted in easily a year or two) really popped in a way that was extremely accessible while also packing some seriously beautiful flavor notes.

Overall, this exercise was illuminating. I think we all get a little bogged down in rye=spice. And that’s just … wrong. Rye is a wide-ranging style that can hit so many great and unique notes that we need to stop pigeonholing into a “spicy” corner. If you take anything from this massive blind test, let it be that.

Ted Cruz is still getting heat from his escape to Cancun while his home state suffers through a climate disaster, and now a party store is giving some of his constitutes a way to take out some of their frustrations in a safe, healthy manner. Now that Cruz has returned stateside and been parodied on SNL, the hubbub about him escaping freezing cold and power outages by flying to Mexico has subsided a bit. But a party store in Dallas has started selling a piñata that looks remarkably like Cruz as he returned from Cancun wearing a grey polo and a Texan flag mask.

The mockup is pretty faithful, including a piñata 5 o’clock shadow, a passport and a depressing black carryon suitcase. As one Twitter user described it, this is a “therapy piñata.”

As NBC News detailed, the party store has made a habit of making meme-inspired ps, with a Bernie Sanders at Joe Biden’s inauguration piñata and others in the past. And since the story in Texas required them to close for six days, it seemed more than fitting that Cruz in his Texas-themed mask would get the piñata treatment:

“That’s the reason that I’ve gotten creative and made some piñatas, so that people can come and support,” De La Fuente told NBC News. “I’m always looking for something positive out of negative things so that we can all get a laugh out of it.”

Cruz’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The 3 1/2 foot piñata sells for $100 and though they are only sold at the store, it has already led to around $2,000 in sales as of Tuesday.

That’s a bit pricy, though custom work doesn’t come cheap. And despite it not being really a great idea to throw parties during a pandemic, it certainly got a lot of people talking online.

This kind of piñata therapy is much safer than, say, inciting a MAGA coup at the US Capitol just because something didn’t quite go your way. We’ll have to see if Cruz can troll has way out of this one on Twitter, but it’s safe to say plenty of Texans are looking forward to buying — and destroying — a likeness of him as long as they’ll get some candy out of it.

(Via NBC News)

Chris Paul is headed to the All-Star Game next month. For the 11th time in his prestigious career, Paul was given this honor, but there is a catch: Point God views this particular selection as “the most bittersweet of them all.”

Paul caught up with the NBA on TNT crew on Wednesday night after the 14 players who will start the game in Atlanta on the bench were announced. After being asked by Adam Lefkoe about his teammate, Devin Booker, not joining him, Paul expressed that he was upset about the perceived snub.

“First and foremost, it’s an honor and a privilege to be an All-Star,” Paul said. “That’s something [I] never take for granted, lot of hard work, my teammates, my coaching staff. But probably the most bittersweet of them all because Book is an All-Star. You know, it’s not taking away from any of the guys that was named All-Stars, but our team, the Phoenix Suns, we go as Book goes, and he knows that, and we know that.”

As Lefkoe pointed out, Booker seemed primed to make it should Anthony Davis of the Los Angeles Lakers be ruled out due to an achilles injury, but in Paul’s eyes, that does not make it any less than a snub. Booker is putting up big numbers for the Suns, which sit in fourth place in the Western Conference with a 20-10 record, and Paul isn’t the only player to express some dismay over Booker’s snub — following the roster announcement, LeBron James tweeted out his belief that Booker is the NBA’s “most disrespected player.”