Month: July 2021

This article originally appeared on 08.31.18

“Try not to become a man of success but rather try to become a man of value.”

In October 2016, that was a quote from Albert Einstein that sat atop the Facebook page of Tim McMillan, a police officer in Georgia.

McMillan become a sensation after a post he wrote on his Facebook wall went viral in 2016. In his post, he explains how he pulled over a black teen for texting while driving:

---

“I pulled a car over last night for texting and driving. When I went to talk to the driver, I found a young black male, who was looking at me like he was absolutely terrified with his hands up. He said, ‘What do you want me to do officer?’ His voice was quivering. He was genuinely scared,” McMillan wrote.

But McMillan said he wasn’t interested in harassing or arresting the young man, let alone inflicting violence upon him. Nonetheless, the teen’s emotional response hit McMillan like a punch to the gut.

“I just looked at him for a moment, because what I was seeing made me sad. I said, ‘I just don’t want you to get hurt.’ In which he replied, with his voice still shaking, ‘Do you want me to get out of the car.’ I said, ‘No, I don’t want you to text and drive. I don’t want you to get in a wreck. I want your mom to always have her baby boy. I want you to grow up and be somebody. I don’t even want to write you a ticket. Just please pay attention, and put the phone down. I just don’t want you to get hurt,'” he wrote.

McMillan said the interaction made him reflect on a deeply personal level about the national attention being paid to acts of police violence against black Americans, particularly young black men.

“I truly don’t even care who’s fault it is that young man was so scared to have a police officer at his window. Blame the media, blame bad cops, blame protestors, or Colin Kaepernick if you want. It doesn’t matter to me who’s to blame. I just wish somebody would fix it.”

This story originally appeared on GOOD.

Trippie Redd is getting back in album gear, and today he’s dropped a video for “Holy Smokes,” the second new song off his forthcoming record, Trip At Knight (get it?). On the track, he’s teaming up with Lil Uzi Vert, who has been in hot water lately due to a violent altercation with his ex-girlfriend, who later accused him of abuse and stalking. The rappers are focused on other issues during this clip, though, namely getting their racks up, though the lyrics admit stacking cash isn’t everything — “but I still can’t buy love,” they croon.

“Holy Smokes” follows up the first Trip At Knight single, “Miss The Rage,” which featured Playboi Carti. With two massive features on his first two singles, looks like Redd will be hitting up plenty of guests to appear on this new project. Redd also recentl guested on Uproxx’s own sessions showcase, performing “V12” off his 2020 Pegasus album. Considering Trippie just released that project a few months ago, it’s impressive and ambitious that he’s already readying another new project. But that’s the cadence that has become the norm for this new generation of hip-hop stars. Check out the “Holy Smokes” video above and look for more info on Trip At Knight coming soon.

Marc Maron doesn’t shy away from kicking the hornet’s nest a little bit. He famously did so while referring to MCU fans as “grown male nerdchilds” before he (briefly) appeared in Warner Bros.’ Joker. The stand-up comic and GLOW star geared up to ruffle some more feathers, this time in a different universe, while firing a shot at fellow podcaster Joe Rogan. In the process, Maron owned up to being a little “bitter” about the reported $100 million deal that Rogan scored to move over to Spotify (and he also moved to Austin, Texas), yet one cannot help but giggle at the language used in the below exchange.

This all went down when Maron appeared as a guest on the 2 Bears, 1 Cave podcast with host Tom Segura, to whom Maron remarked, “You’re not one of those guys that rented space in Joe’s ass.” Oh boy, that theme continued: “There’s like a human centipede in Austin. It’s Elon Musk, Joe Rogan and three middle acts.”

That led to Maron realizing that the masses would come for him. “See, people are going to see that and say, ‘Look at Maron, he’s bitter.’… Why wouldn’t I be?” Maron wondered aloud. “One hundred million dollars for going ‘I don’t know.’ Really?… Rogan’s pushing back: ‘I don’t know, man.’”

And then Maron shifted slightly to a whaddya-gonna-do approach. “Look, god bless,” he declared. “I’m going to sit here and accept Austin as the next Shangri-La… it’s like the Hipster Alamo.” Maron clarified that he’s spent time in Austin and enjoys it quite a bit, but as Segura noted, it’s “not like any other Texas experience.” Yep, Maron’s point was that people mention that they’re moving to “Austin” without saying “Texas,” and it’s a very trendy thing to do these days. No wonder the price of Austin real-estate is rising more rapidly than in the rest of the country.

Watch Maron’s comments on Rogan starting at the 58:00 minute mark below.

Jon Stewart‘s new Apple TV show isn’t even out, but that didn’t stop it from absolutely wrecking Jeff Bezos‘ space flight with a hilarious parody trailer. Released just hours after Bezos’ took off in a, let’s say, remarkably phallic rocket and landed back on earth while wearing a cowboy hat, the faux trailer for “Cum Dog Billionaires,” was tweeted by Stewart’s burgeoning Twitter account.

Starring Jason Alexander as Bezos, Tracy Morgan as Bezos’ “diverse friend,” Adam Pally as Elon Musk, and an actual mop as Richard Branson (it surprisingly plays), the three-minute video completely roasts the billionaire space race and has probably the most concentrated amount of dick jokes ever compiled by a late-night talk show. It really went for it, so just a heads up in case you’re at work.

Notably, in one scene in the “trailer,” Alexander’s Bezos is seen trying on cowboy hats, which apparently was an incredible guess by the production team who filmed the parody weeks ago. You think to yourself, there’s no way Jeff Bezos is egomaniacal enough to get into and/or out of a spaceship wearing a cowboy hat, and welp, he delivered.

On top of being a hilarious dunk on Bezos, Branson, and Musk, the “Cum Dog Billionaire” trailer also revealed that The Problem with Jon Stewart will debut in September. It was previously reported that the Apple TV show would arrive in the fall, so it’s definitely a nice surprise to learn that it’ll be arriving on the very early end of that timeframe.

(Via Jon Stewart on Twitter)

Marvel Studios: Assembled:: Season 1 The Making of Loki (Disney+ series, releasing in the wee hours of Wednesday morning) — This immersive documentary-type series brings us a fresh installment to help us feel a little bit better about having to wait for Season 2 of all of the Lokis and their mercurial pursuit of the glorious purpose. Tom Hiddleston has an absolute blast playing the MCU’s trickster god, and hopefully, we’ll hear more about that crushing moment and the new big bad cruising into Phase 4. This is the best Disney+ show so far, and Loki’s so beloved that you might binge the whole season all over again.

Miracle Workers: Oregon Trail: TBS, 10:30 pm) — Season 3 of this anthology series continues in 1844, when an idealistic preacher (Daniel Radcliffe) must join forces with a wanted outlaw (Steve Buscemi) as they set off on the eponymous trail by wagon. TBS suggests that the promise and peril that they encounter might remind us of our own times. This week, there are somehow hipster pioneers, along with a moral struggle for the group’s very soul.

Motherland: Fort Salem: Season 2 (Freeform, 10:00pm) — In this world, witches not only enlist in the U.S. Army, but they also use their spells to rule the world and take down terrorists, who are (in turn) hell-bent upon getting witches out of the military. This week, the Unit might commune with the dead if all goes well, and there’s a Halloween gala going down, too.

The Flash (CW, 8:00pm) — The Flash enlists present and future allies (including his kids?) in a bid to end the speedster war and his latest deadly adversary.

Superman & Lois (CW, 9:00pm) — Lois and Chrissy team up on a story while Jonathan is distracted, and Superman’s heading to Morgan Edge.

The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon — Jonas Brothers, Zoe Lister-Jones

Late Night With Seth Meyers — Kristin Chenoweth, Tim Robinson, Simon Rich, Taku Hirano

If you’ve been busy making your way through the rapidly expanding breakfast menu at your favorite fast food restaurant, you might’ve missed the fact that plant-based meats are also slowly taking over the fast food universe. From plant-based burgers to fake chicken chalupas, most fast food joints out there are racing to give classic menu items a plant-based spin. Some of these new innovations are delicious, like Panda Express’ new Plant-based Orange Chicken.

Others, like Little Caesars plant-based pepperoni pizza, need some work.

You may be thinking, “Pizza doesn’t need plant-based meat!” and I’m right there with you. There are plenty of toppings that can make for a great pie, from bell peppers and onions to pineapple, jalapeños, and even just plain cheese. The classic Italian Pizza Margherita is vegetarian, after all.

The problem is, none of those toppings supply very much protein and many pizza eaters are conditioned to favor meat-based umami flavor notes — which is why Little Caesars teamed up with Field Roast to give us the Planteroni Pizza. Available now in stores across Los Angeles, New York City, Miami, San Francisco, Portland, and Detroit, the Planteroni promises the taste of “zesty pepperoni” but is made with pea protein. To see how the new fake meat stacks up, we tested this new product.

Planteroni Pizza

Price: $8.49 (regular sized pizza)

Tasting Notes

Earlier I alluded to the Planteroni having some work to do. But it’s not that I think this pea protein-based pepperoni tastes bad — it doesn’t. But Little Caesar’s Planteroni fails to deliver what makes pepperoni such an addicting topping on pizza: the grease. As you can tell from the photo above, there is something dry and incredibly anemic about this pizza topping, it looks more like a drawing of a pizza than an actual thing you’re supposed to eat.

Pepperoni works as a topping for three reasons:

1. It’s got an almost spicy peppery bite to it.
2. It features a crispy crunchy edge that toasts up in an oven perfectly.
3. It leaks just the right amount of grease onto your pizza to add an extra bit of salty goodness.

The Planteroni has none of these qualities. Does it taste like pepperoni? Sort of. It definitely has a “zesty grab-bag of spices” flavor to it. I can taste some black pepper, paprika, and fennel seed… but the texture is so wrong it’s distracting.

This plant-based pepperoni is also too thick, it doesn’t flip up on the edges in the way that oven-baked pepperoni should. Instead, it just lies there flat like someone scattered some wood chips on a perfectly good cheese pizza. Where regular pepperoni tears so easily in your mouth that you don’t even think about it, you’re going to find yourself chewing this topping so long it’s all you can think about. I’m not sure if that’s because of the pea protein it’s made of, or because it’s just cut way too thick.

My guess is that it’s a little of both and Little Caesar’s probably can’t cut it any thinner, as the pea protein structure will probably just crumble. (Vegan cured meats are tough to create — as we found out earlier this month.) Luckily, if you’re sold on adding plant-based protein to your pizza, I think there is a logical fix for the problems I’ve had with this pizza.

The Bottom Line:

If you’re a pepperoni lover and you’re looking for a plant-based alternative that will keep you away from animal-based products, this just isn’t it. It looks like pepperoni, and kind of tastes like it, but it doesn’t do for a pizza what the mighty pepperoni does.

Pro Tip:

My advice is to order this not as a single topping on your pizza, but alongside some of your other favorites. Grabbing a pizza with Planteroni, bell peppers, and jalapeños will make for a good and flavorful pie and in that sort of situation, you likely won’t miss the pepperoni. But if you’re grabbing a one-topping Planteroni and hoping to land in the ballpark of a regular pepperoni pizza, you won’t be satisfied.

Find your nearest Little Caesars here.

Nneka Ogwumike and Elizabeth Williams won’t play for Team Nigeria in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics after their appeal was denied by the Court of Arbitration for Sport on Monday, according to ESPN. Last week, the WNBA stars were notified by FIBA that their petition to play for Nigeria was denied because they’d played for USA Basketball for too long. Typically, FIBA does not allow players who’ve competed for USA in major events past the age of 17 to compete for another country. The ruling came despite USA Basketball releasing both Ogwumike and Williams upon request.

Williams played for the Americans in 2018 FIBA AmeriCup, and Ogwumike won MVP in the 2020 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament. Ogwumike’s sister, Chiney, has been granted permission to play for Nigeria as a naturalized player, though her appeal to be recognized as a Nigerian, like their sister Erica, was denied. Each country is only allowed one naturalized player.

Ogwumike and Williams’ omission from Team Nigeria’s roster is heartbreaking for both athletes, but Nneka Ogwumike has had an especially tough summer. After suffering a knee sprain in June, she was cut from the American Olympic roster despite assurance she’d heal in time. She’d competed for Team USA in numerous FIBA World Cups dating back to the U18 2008 team, and was one of eight WNBA players selected to compete against top-10 college programs in 2019. Ogwumike is the only WNBA MVP to not play in the Olympics, and with her effort to play for Nigeria in Tokyo denied, the 31-year-old have to wait another three years.

Williams played in Team Nigeria’s exhibition game against Team USA on Sunday as she awaited the result of her appeal, scoring four points with four rebounds, one assist, two steals, and one block in 29 minutes. Nneka and Chiney Ogwumike did not play in the 93-62 defeat.

After the game, Team Nigeria head coach Otis Hughley made a statement for why the duo should be allowed to play. “Allow them the opportunity to help grow the game,” Hughley said, according to ESPN. “That continent would just be turned on its head for basketball, in a good way. You have no idea how many lives would be impacted and changed for the ages.”

Unfortunately, FIBA and the Court of Arbitration for Sport wouldn’t let it happen.

For over a hundred years, the Hollywood Bowl has been a mecca of arts and entertainment in Los Angeles. Proudly evolving through years of renovations and technological developments, the Bowl has been at the heart of live gatherings in this city for several lifetimes, which is what made its unexpected dormancy in 2020 hit particularly hard for music lovers. Particularly for the season ticket holders, who faithfully attend the LA Philharmonic performances, the chance to get out and about for an evening is also about being part of a community who equally value local artists of all levels. Which is why heading to the Bowl was a return to form for plenty of attendees this past weekend, and not just to see the orchestra, or a fledgling artist on the rise, but to watch a full-on pop star, Christina Aguilera, grace the stage in all her glory.

But this was not a seductive pop show by any means. Backup dancers did flank Aguilera from time to time throughout the fifteen song set, and she brought a level of pomp to the stage that only a global icon can, but the emphasis on her connection with conductor Gustavo Dudamel and his orchestra was the continual focus. Well, that, and her flawless, unshakeable voice, as she is easily one of the best vocalists of our era, no matter what style of production she’s singing over. Catering to a crowd of loyal LA arts supporters, and a cadre of fans who grew up on her music, but aren’t necessarily young themselves (anymore), Christina was a poised veteran claiming the spotlight that’s rightfully hers.

Clad in a black pantsuit with full-length sleeves and shoulder pads, Xtina – as fans have lovingly dubbed her, to the point that it’s her username on social media — dressed the modest outfit up and down with diamond collars, feather boas, and at one point, a black tulle skirt so enormous it took four or five helpers to lift and carry it when she needed to move. Her versatile yet subdued aesthetic was something of a foil for the song selection, which spanned plenty of her hits, reimagined as many were for the orchestral accompaniment, but dipped into deeper cuts, too.

At 40, plenty of pop stars from her generation have burned out and faded away, unable or unwilling to draw arena-sized crowds for not one but two nights in a row. Her answer, at least this weekend, is to pivot to a more refined take on her early hits and massive singles, shaping and slowing them into sweeping tunes that better suited an orchestra. Though, it didn’t take a lot of tinkering, since Aguilera has always favored emotional balladry throughout her discography. Kicking off the night with the timeless jazz standard “At Last,” leading into her own “Ain’t No Other Man,” she headed directly into one of her best-known hits “Genie In A Bottle,” where the orchestra’s presence was particularly felt.

Changing up the tempo for “Can’t Hold Us Down,” perhaps to inject a bit of speed into a slower night, and joined by the single guest of the night, Ian Axel of A Great Big World for their 2013 collaboration “Say Something,” the show was mostly pure Xtina. She alluded to the impact musicals and composers have always had on her style, citing her mother’s love for playing the violin, alongside The Sound Of Music, Danny Elfman, and Tim Burton as early influences. Throwing in another classic cover that she’s more than made her own, “It’s A Man’s World,” (complete with feather boa), other obvious standouts were her massive, defining hits like “Dirrty” and “Fighter,” which both benefited from the orchestra instead of being bogged down by it.

On five songs the orchestra stayed silent, letting Aguilera and her dancers dominate the vibe on an excellent mashup of “Xpress” and “Lady Marmalade” – which might’ve been the most boisterous moment of the night — as well as the late set crowd-pleaser, “What A Girl Wants,” which was also reimagined, with a reggaeton beat instead, something that probably wouldn’t have worked for mainstream pop back in 2002, but feels seamless now. She had to close out the set with “Beautiful,” as we all knew, which was perhaps the best fusion of the two musical worlds throughout the whole set, summing up exactly why she was a good choice for the challenge of marrying pop appeal and orchestral gravitas.

And, instead of leaving early as the older crowds are sometimes apt to do, nearly all the box-holders and LA Phil loyalists stayed in their seats until the very last note. Now that we’ve experienced the world without the Bowl, an extra half hour is worth its weight in gold — and the wait in the parking lot.

Setlist
“Opening Score”
“At Last/JB Intro/Ain’t No Other Man”
“Genie In A Bottle”
“The Voice Within”
“Peaches/Can’t Hold Us Down” (orchestra tacet)
“Maria”
“Twice” (orchestra tacet)
“Say Something” (Feat. A Great Big World’s Ian Axel)
“Dirrty”
“Xpress/Lady Marmalade” (orchestra tacet)
“Contigo” (orchestra tacet)
“What A Girl Wants” (orchestra tacet)
“It’s A Man’s World”
“Fighter”

Encore:
“Beautiful”

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers were honored by President Joe Biden in a ceremony on the White House lawn Tuesday. The event celebrated their Super Bowl win over the Kansas City Chiefs in February.

In his short speech, quarterback Tom Brady found common ground with president Biden. Brady, 43, was the oldest quarterback to win the Super Bowl, and Biden, 78, is the oldest to ever win the presidency.

---

“Personally, it’s nice for me to be back here,” Brady said. “We had a game in Chicago where I forgot what down it was. I lost track of one down in 21 years of playing, and they started calling me ‘Sleepy Tom.’ Why would they do that to me?”

Biden, who was often referred to as “Sleepy Joe” by Donald Trump during the 2020 election, responded with a smile, saying, “I don’t know!”

Brady also noted that the Bucs were such underdogs midway through the season that few people thought they could or did win the title. He jokingly compared that to a large number of Republicans who can’t bring themselves to accept Biden’s victory.

“It didn’t look great there at one point. We were 7-5, struggling a little bit, as the President alluded to. But we found a rhythm, we got on a roll,” Brady said. “Not a lot of people think that we could have won. In fact, I think, about 40 percent of the people still don’t think we won.”

“I understand that,” Biden responded.

“Do you understand that, Mr. President?” Brady replied.

“I understand that,” Biden jokingly confirmed.

NEW: Tom Brady at the White House on the Bucs’ Super Bowl run:

“Not a lot of people think that we could have won.… https://t.co/nViv2SAKfU

— Yahoo News (@YahooNews)
1626796765.0

Brady and coach Bruce Arians’, 68, victory made them the oldest coach-quarterback combo to ever win the Super Bowl.

“Well I’ll tell you right now, you won’t hear any jokes about that from me,” Biden said. “As far as I’m concerned, there’s nothing wrong with being the oldest guy to make it to the mountaintop. That’s how I look at it.”

Brady is a seven-time Super Bowl champion but this is the first visit he’s made the trip to the White House to celebrate since 2005 when George W. Bush was president. He turned down Barack Obama’s invitation in 2015 and Trump’s in 2017.

The Patriots chose as a team not to attend the White House event after winning in 2019.

Why I think this is quite seriously the worst day of Donald Trump’s life https://t.co/kTlj0gVUDx

— Jonathan Chait (@jonathanchait)
1626801731.0

Brady’s relationship with former president Trump has been the source of controversy for years. He’s been friends with Trump since 2001 but distanced himself after he became a polarizing political figure.

“He had a way of connecting with people, and still does. But the whole political aspect came, and I got brought into a lot of those things because it was so polarizing around the election time,” he told Howard Stern last year. “It was uncomfortable to me. You can’t undo things — not that I would undo a friendship — but the political support is totally different than the support of a friend.”

The Buccaneers’ ceremony and the Los Angeles Dodgers’ recent visit to the White House mark a return to normalcy when it comes to athletes visiting the president. The events were contentious in the Trump era and many athletes and teams refused to attend.

Super Bowl LV Champions at the @WhiteHouse 😎 https://t.co/1SRGRcx8yH

— Tampa Bay Buccaneers (@Buccaneers)
1626800501.0

Idles shared their latest LP Ultra Mono back in September, which included the track “Model Village.” They’ve now linked up with their friend and fellow UK musician Slowthai to feature on a new version of the song, which they debuted on a special episode of vocalist Joe Talbot’s Balley TV series.

Talbot’s Balley TV first began as a quarantine entertainment show. The latest episode aired a month before Ultra Mono‘s release but this week, Talbot and his band took over House Of Vans in London to record an hour-long episode with musicians Katy J Pearson, Deep Tan, and Nuha Ruby Ra. They were also joined by Slowthai for a raucous performance of their new “Model Village” track, which injects even more energy into the already lively tune.

Sitting down for an interview with Talbot after their “Model Village” rendition, Slowthai talked about his overarching goals with his music. The rapper said he just hopes to inspire others to be themselves and share their own viewpoints with the world:

“I think the aim of life is that you’re born, you learn, you pass on your knowledge. It’s about sharing, discovering, communicating, and coming together. So my thing is being able to take what I learned and give my opinions and people can either steer me in the right direction or I can change their viewpoint. I think with music, it’s always to spark a discussion. People are people at the end of the day so they’re influenced how they’re influenced. But I think it’s a responsibility to just share my viewpoint and mainly bring some kind of joy, even though a lot of my music is miserable, and help people who are from a less fortunate place or haven’t had the opportunity to see that they can do what they want and be who they want to be. They haven’t got to follow no rules or guidelines on the way the world expects them to be. Be yourself, don’t give a f*ck, and do it with a smile on your face.”

Listen to Idles and Slowthai’s “Model Village” single and watch their performance on Balley TV above. Pre-order a 7-inch vinyl copy of the song here.