The past month has been busy for Cardi B. Towards the end of June, she popped up at the BET Awards and revealed that she is pregnant again. Then, a few days ago, she hopped on Normani’s new single, “Wild Side.” Now she has brought those two events together in a new Twitter video.
Cardi begins the clip lip-syncing Normani’s hook while wearing a green mesh outfit. When it comes time for Cardi’s verse, everything changes. The scene shifts to Cardi sitting on a black box and wearing a leather bikini, which offers a good look at her baby bump.
After the original “Wild Side” video dropped, Cardi declared that had she not been pregnant, the visual would have looked a lot different. She tweeted, “If I wasn’t pregnant I would of done a lit ass pole video to wildside ….but I am so imma just have to do a video rolling on the floor like peppa pig.”
Also recently, Cardi showed off how she was able to hide her baby bump for so long by demonstrating with a video that made clever use of angles.
Check out the “Wild Side” clip above.
Cardi B is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
When word first hit that the beds in Tokyo’s Olympic Village were made of cardboard, people came to one immediate — and fair — conclusion: That forcing the world’s most talented athletes to sleep atop what would undoubtedly be your cat’s new favorite plaything would be one surefire way to discourage this year’s Olympic athletes from increasing their potential COVID risk by getting up to any sexual shenanigans. (Has the IOC never heard of a floor?!) While, sadly, that these cardboard beds were meant to discourage athletes from banging their fellow Olympians turned out to be a rumor, that didn’t stop Jimmy Fallon and Stephen Colbert from making what was essentially the same joke about the pulpy sleeping pods on their Monday night shows after a video from Irish gymnast Rhys McClenaghan went viral.
“Well guys, the Olympics are almost here and the athletes in the Olympic Village are sleeping on beds made of cardboard, and some people think that they’re meant to discourage any intimacy,” Fallon explained. “That’s nice: You finally reach your Olympic dreams and have to sleep on an Amazon box… That’s right, ‘cause of COVID, organizers want to make sure every athlete is as celibate as a badminton player… Yet everyone’s been talking about these beds, so a gymnast from Ireland put them to a test in a viral video that he posted.”
Fallon was convinced that the beds worked just fine, “as long as you have the body of a 70-pound Irish gymnast.” His bigger issue was with the way that McClenaghan demonstrated the bed’s durability: by jumping up and down on it, as if to suggest that was the gymnast’s signature method for partaking in a bit of how’s your father.
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
Over on The Late Show, Stephen Colbert had the same idea. He warned viewers that it’s only a matter of time before “we could see a return to pandemic lockdowns” because COVID infections has risen almost 70 percent in the past week alone—and in all 50 states. Still, Colbert seems to feel confident that, based on McClenaghan’s professional testing of “the structural integrity of the bed,” no one that particular gymnast comes into contact with will contract coronavirus as the Irish lad clearly does not know how to bone.
McClenaghan deemed the anti-sex rhetoric “fake news,” while Colbert described it as “great news for randy Olympians and even better news for anyone who has sex with that guy.”
Two days after being punked by a prankster alongside fellow Republican representative Matt Gaetz, who’s being federally investigated for ties to a sex trafficking ring, Marjorie Taylor Greene was temporarily suspended from Twitter. Why? For posting misinformation about the pandemic, at a time when cases are surging in areas with low vaccination rates.
As per The New York Times, the controversy-loving lawmaker will only have to endure a mere 12 hour ban from the social media site, and much of it during the wee hours of the night, when most of the nation is asleep anyway. She made the offending tweets on Sunday and Monday. Among the claims she made were that the virus, which has evolved into the new and much more powerful Delta variant, is not that dangerous for those under 65. In another she argued that vaccines should not be considered mandatory.
The tweets have not been taken down. Instead they have warnings labeling them as “misleading.” She also has a recent post in which she dubs those who participated in the Jan. 6 insurrection as “J6 political prisoners.”
This isn’t the first time Greene has been suspended by Twitter. In April her account was briefly locked, but Twitter later called it a mistake, saying it was caused by one of its automated systems that detect spam and abuse.
In the meantime, COVID cases and deaths have spiked across parts of the nation where people have been reluctant to get vaccinated, leading even Steve Doocy and Geraldo Rivera to beg people to get dosed.
Despite everything that’s happened, the Republican party remains beholden to a septuagenarian who’s been kicked off most of social media and now lives in resorts with strangers. Trump has repeatedly strongly suggested he plans to run in 2024. But some have taken things…well, not one step further, exactly. More like one step back: Among the many wacko things Trump lackey Matt Gaetz has claimed is that his favorite former president could become Speaker of the House.
It seemed an odd thing to say — and it inspired the question: Is that, like, even possible? Can someone who’s not even an elected lawmaker rule over one of the biggest bodies of government? Well, some are taking whatever steps necessary to ensure that, even if it is, it doesn’t happen. As per Forbes, Pennsylvania Rep. Brandon Boyle introduced a bill called the MEMBERS Act. What it stands for also explains what it is: Mandating that being an Elected Member Be an Essential Requirement for Speakership.
Boyle called the act an “alarm bell,” saying signing it into law would be “in the name of protecting our nation and our democracy.”
Thing is, it’s not that far-fetched. As Forbes reports, Article I, Section 2 of the Constitution deems the House has the power to “choose their speaker and other officers.” Throughout history, every Speaker has been a member of the House. But it doesn’t offer any specific requirements, which suggests Gaetz did some snooping, hoping to find a loophole.
“This legislation would establish that mandate in very clear and direct language,” Boyle said, “and it would serve as a check against those who would seek to undermine and derogate the authority and responsibilities of the Speaker’s office.”
Fun fact: There have been cases when non-House members have received votes during speaker elections, the most recent case being now-President Joe Biden, who got a vote from Democratic representative Anthony Brindisi in 2019 based on his opposition to current Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
So here’s another Geraldo hot take (that’s actually just a basic, sensible take): People who say vaccinations are an infringement upon their human rights are also wrong. This one came the day Fox & Friends’ Brian Kilmeade went on a libertarian rant so unhinged that even Steve Doocy had to shut him down, pleading with his viewers to get the shot(s).
Hearing crazy talk on cable TV right now about folks having the constitutional right not to get vaccinated.
Yes (they may be dopey) but they do have that right.
We too have rights: to deny the unvaccinated access to our home, school or business.
“Hearing crazy talk on cable TV right now about folks having the constitutional right not to get vaccinated,” Rivera wrote on Twitter. “Yes (they may be dopey) but they do have that right. We too have rights: to deny the unvaccinated access to our home, school or business.”
Again, the longtime conservative has been making sense a lot these last couple handful of months. And yet people were still blown away by agreeing with Geraldo Rivera.
and lo, on this day in the year of our lord 2021, I agreed with Geraldo Rivera about something https://t.co/sEJlp5ELyg
I find myself in rare agreement with Geraldo here. People making the choice to not protect themselves or the general public from a deadly disease can’t force the rest of ourselves to expose ourselves to what they might be carrying, which could sicken or kill us and our families. https://t.co/QITy8Zcbwj
— Joy-Ann (Pro-Democracy) Reid (@JoyAnnReid) July 19, 2021
As much as I loathe agreeing with Geraldo, it looks like he finally took off the tinfoil hat. https://t.co/TYzYLO6IUf
— HereToSaveDemocracy (@Sha_nae_nae_13) July 19, 2021
Some, though, were a little hesitant to praise Rivera simply sounding rational.
Geraldo Rivera acting like he’s the voice of reason and never said any crazy shit is like Stephen Miller saying he’s going to start entertaining at children’s hospitals.
Steve Doocy & Geraldo telling the truth about vaccines and masks leads me to believe that they are afraid of lawsuits from families of the dead people they helped kill, because they definitely don’t give a shit about doing the right thing.
— Michelle GET VACCINATED! (@SoSofieFatale) July 19, 2021
In the meantime, the much more contagious Delta variant continues to rip through parts of the nation where vaccination rates are low.
The story Liz Cheney tells is that on the afternoon of Jan. 6, as armed Trump supporters were funneling through the Capitol, having violently broken through cordons of police officers, her Republican colleague Jim Jordan offered his hand to help her flee the premises. She swatted it away. “Get away from me,” she claimed she told him. “You f*cking did this.”
Jump some seven months later and Jordan may be on the committee examining what happened on that dark day.
According to Politico, Jordan — the Ohio representative, who gleefully disseminated misinformation about the 2020 election in the weeks leading up to the failed insurrection — is one of five likely Republicans allegedly being discussed by House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy to look into what caused the attack. The others are fellow representatives Jim Banks (of Indiana), Rodney Davis (Illinois), Kelly Armstrong (North Dakota), and Troy Nehls (Texas).
Three of these possible candidates voted against the 2020 election results in January, including Banks, Nehls, and, of course, Jordan.
These names are not official as yet, but if they do become a reality, they’ll be part of a Democrat-led committee that already includes Cheney, who was stripped of her power in the GOP after she dared speak out against Trump and the many in her party, McCarthy included, who have continued to enable him since he left office in January.
The select panel is due to its first hearings later in the week, which will include testimony from the Capitol Police, many of whom begged Republicans to help unearth the causes of the attack.
Upon hearing that Jordan, of all Republicans, would be sitting on a committee meant to probe into a tragedy that he has been accused of helping foment, people on social media were livid. But it was a joke that really seemed to put it all into perspective.
— Matt Negrin, HOST OF HARDBALL AT 7PM ON MSNBC (@MattNegrin) July 19, 2021
Is the “hot dog driver guy” bit from I Think You Should Leave — from the first season’s eighth finest sketch, per Uproxx — the definitive joke of our age? It seems to get a lot of mileage in an age when those causing the biggest problems in the world try to project blame upon others in the most shameless fashion.
Others were suitably horrified.
Jim Jordan shouldn’t be on the 1/6 commission for the same reason we didn’t let Al Qaeda on the 9/11 commission.
Jim Jordan is a possible witness who may have helped plan the January 6 rally. This is disqualifying for him to sit on the Select Committee to investigate the insurrection that followed.
Jim Jordan is a witness in the January 6 probe due to his presence at a planning meeting for January 6 on December 21 at the White House—and his possible presence in one of the Trump war rooms pre-January 6. He should be blocked from the Committee due to his conflict of interest. https://t.co/nY6zuWoPYI
Sounds about right. Kevin McCarthy would obviously include the complicit Chief Trumpist Jim Jordan as part of his picks for the Jan. 6 select committee. It will be one rant after another. Thank goodness Liz Cheney is well versed in smacking him down as needed.
But there’s a chance Jim Jordan could report to a select panel later this week, perhaps dressed in a brown suit with a loud yellow dress shirt and ketchup-colored tie.
Right now in the cannabis cooking scene, there isn’t a single person with the star power of Chef Nikki Steward. Her ability to infuse cannabis into healthy foods and command a room with stories that follow the throughlines of food history is why Chef Nikki is the go-to chef for legends like Dave Chapelle, Naomi Campbell, and Snoop Dogg, as well as a whole handful of corporate leaders, athletes, and social media influencers. Her High-End Affair brand — a touring cannabis culinary and entertainment experience — is booming and she’s absolutely in demand among the weed-imbibing elite.
Recently, Chef Nikki teamed up with cannabis vaporizer brand Pax Labs for a special collaboration that saw the chef pairing Pax’s new Era Life concentrate-based vaporizers with plant-based recipes that reflect the vivid colors of each Era Life design. To mark that launch, we linked up with Chef Nikki to talk briefly about the new recipes and got into a deeper conversation about cannabis in the culinary space, where to start if you want to begin cooking with cannabis, and the exciting frontier of psilocybin cooking.
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So… one of your Era Life recipes is themed around carrots and, more specifically, “carrot bacon.” How does one make carrots taste like bacon?
What I do is an old-school culinary hack, you gotta use liquid smoke, you mix it with tahini, you also add maple syrup and liquid aminos or coconut aminos. The longer you let it set, the more it absorbs the smokey ness of bacon, the sweetness and the saltiness of that flavor.
So get a nice big carrot, when you shave it you’ll see the little lines, almost like bacon, like when you’d fry it. Let it marinate in the mixture and it will pick up all those flavors. It’s a really quick recipe, it takes five minutes of prep, in and out of the oven within 10 and you’ve got crispy carrot bacon strips. It’s kind of mind-blowing to a lot of people.
It’s very different, bacon has been done a lot of times with a lot of different things, even if you’re talking about proteins, turkey, lamb, pork, beef, there are so many options for bacon. But on the vegan side it’s usually seitan, or maybe coconut, I’ve seen mushroom bacon. But the only thing that resembles the actual full length of a bacon strip is a carrot.
PAX
You approach your cooking from a whole and healthy foods perspective. How did you fall upon that particular aspect of the culinary world? I know you were studying pharmaceutical sciences at Ohio State, so I imagine what you were learning in that field played into what you wanted to do with food.
Those things represent the ethos of my brand — my last name is Steward and when I think about being a good steward, you’re being a good steward to your body, and a good steward to your community so I want to promote healthy things. When we’re normalizing cannabis we also have to normalize health and wellness and incorporating those two with food and cannabis. To me, they are in natural alignment. As we’re pushing cannabis to be normal in everyone’s life, now I feel like it’s a regular supplement, or an additive to your food. That’s how I settled on that.
You’ve cooked for all sorts of celebrities from athletes to influencers to Chappelle, of course. What is the menu curation process? Is this something you discuss with clients or are they coming for a specific menu by you?
I have this thing personally, I try not to do the same thing every time. Thankfully I do have creative liberties with most of my clients, they trust me in that way. I know the do’s and dont’s and the allergies and stuff, but usually, for instance, yesterday, I did my menu planning for the rest of the week with my team. My sous chefs and I sit down and discuss flavors we would like to see, and new recipes techniques we would like to try. We try to do new stuff all the time. Last week, I have a sponsor in hot sauce called Truff, and we made caviar beads out of the truffle hot sauce. We’re always trying to challenge ourselves and push ourselves to the next level using different types of molecular gastronomy. We’ll try to do something fun or a little bit more scientific to challenge ourselves and my team is always down.
We have really great brainstorming meetings, I usually write the menu and they go through it and add some additional flavor notes and break it down into the prep list and the recipes. My team consists of all women, we have a really good relationship, we all know each other and our ways as far as in the kitchen. We’re making duck bacon this week, and duck prosciutto. With these things, a lot of people think we can just do them the night before, but no, we have to let them cure for five to seven days, a lot of these things take time.
Why was it important for you to create this team of all women, is that making up for the way the food industry has failed women?
100%. 110%. Women in the kitchen are often very overlooked and underserved. In addition to adding the black and brown woman to the kitchen, my mission is to consistently hire and mentor black and brown women and also women in the LGTBQI spectrum because they’re also one of the most underappreciated people in the kitchen. I want to elevate them to a platform where they are seen and help them grow their own personal businesses outside of working with me.
What’s your personal relationship to cannabis? I imagine you approach this from a more holistic and healing perspective.
Yes, very much so, I feel like most people have a teen story but I was a teenager the first time I consumed cannabis. And I thought “This could be my vibe.” In high school people are like “yeah let’s drink our parent’s liquor” but I’m over here wondering if one of my parents had weed. Where is it?! I remember sitting with my friends at the park and that was one of my first experiences with cannabis. But as I studied and learned more about plant medicine, drugs, synthetic drugs, and things like that, understanding wellness and healing, I began to incorporate cannabis more or less as a practice of health and plant medicine.
I always teach people that cannabis is an entheogen and understanding the root word of entheogen of plant medicines, that root word means “of God” and if you think about when you smoke cannabis, you’re getting closer and closer to that level of highness right? I teach people the relationship of cannabis, ancestrally, and historically, and medically and how it was used and how it should never have been put in this position where we’re now trying to legalize it federally because it should never have even gone there, but I do have those conversations with a lot of people because that’s my relationship to cannabis, it’s very spiritual to me honestly.
When did you start experimenting with cannabis as a culinary ingredient?
My first time experimenting with cannabis as a culinary ingredient was in college. I was just trying new things, of course, I did the brownies and the cookies in the beginning. Making my own butter… I’ve probably fucked myself up way too many times. More than I can imagine. Terribly. But when I started to understand dosing and went through the process of learning when I was in school and then stopping in the pharmaceutical space and going into the culinary space I just figured, maybe I can just merge the two?
What’s wrong with really loving food and really loving cannabis and how can we bring them together in a way that isn’t just brownies and cookies? I got turned off by that, why does everything have to be sweet all the time, it’s okay to have savory things, it’s okay if you want just raw nuts, why can’t they be infused?
So I was constantly thinking about ways — this has probably been a 12-year journey for me at least. But my first start was definitely the college brownie experience.
Speaking on dosing, how do you handle something like that? It’s a very sensitive area especially for people who are interested in using cannabis as a culinary ingredient, but we’ve all had those situations where we’ve had an edible you can’t handle and you end up staying in bed shivering all day and it feels like the world’s ending.
Yeah! I started teaching myself breathing techniques to get through that. I really do, I also teach a lot of my diners who feel that they’re a little too elevated the wim hof breathing techniques, because its really mind over matter, because you’re not going to die. That’s the one thing we do know, it’s not going to kill you, but just getting through that headspace and that breath space because a lot of the time when you’re way too high from an edible it’s an immense amount of pressure.
“Can I breathe?” Absolutely you can breathe, you’re just overthinking it!
When you approach something like dosing do you have specific guidelines or is that just too deep of a science to get into?
It’s pretty deep of a science, as far as the mathematical breakdowns, but it is a process by which you have to really train yourself and really understand your actual product and the amount of THC. There are a lot of home devices that you can use to make oils and things like that, you put your ounce of cannabis in there, and your carrier oil and those products are great now because they really break all of those things down for the at-home consumer. But if you are a chef and you are doing these things, the majority of the time I’m doing infusions for 200 to 300 people at a time… I can use everything from distillate to water-soluble rosin, water-soluble isolate, there are just a lot of different types of concentrates I use that create different effects and different results — it gets really tricky!
For someone who is just starting out, and interested in cooking with cannabis, what’s a good place to start? Should people start simple, brownies, cookies, or is there another recipe that you think is even easier?
Well, I’ll tell you what, as a sidebar, the carrot bacon does require oil, so you really could replace that amount of oil with cannabis oil or half and half, there are so many things you can do that you don’t have to start with cookies and brownies. You can take the recipes I write, and add additional things to them and replace those measurements. I do encourage people to go outside the box. Make a vinaigrette, instead of taking that oil and putting it in brownies, or you know, marinate some fish! There are a lot of different options so I just always encourage people to always have their measuring spoons, know how much THC is in your product, as soon as you think you’ve put too much, you probably did.
I mean seriously, I’ve thought “is that too much? Yeah probably, but you’ll figure it out.” It’s part of research and development.
When cooking with cannabis, are you someone who is relying on its natural aromas and flavors or are you looking for something that’s as transparent as possible and it’s more about medication?
There are often times where I lean more towards the seamlessness of flavor when it comes to cannabis, but I also like to bring the terpenes forward on certain dishes so that they match. So maybe we’ll take an atomizer, and incorporate the terpenes in the atomizer, and spritz the dish or we’ll put smoke back into it with the terpenes. Have you ever seen those smoking cocktails at a bar? In that same technique, you can put terpenes into there and it can smoke in the cocktail at the top of the glass so you get the essence of the terpenes at the top.
When I’m doing a lot of citrus, anything with garlic, every now and then I like to leave a little bit of the terpenes at the beginning so you taste it like “hmm?” but then once you digest it you don’t have the after taste of the terpenes.
I’m guessing Dave Chappelle’s favorite cannabis-infused mac and cheese is the recipe you get asked most about, can you share it with us or is that a guarded secret?
Honestly, it’s not a guarded secret. I have a recipe out for a full mac and cheese recipe out on WeedMaps. But it is one of the most often asked things. My DMs are filled with “Can you ship it?” I’ve been asked to deliver mac and cheese everywhere in the world. It’s just one of those things, we like comfort when we’re high anyway, and who doesn’t like mac and cheese? And so boom! But you have to be honest with yourself, you can’t eat three or four bowls, you can’t do it. You’ll blow on your ass before the end of the night. I don’t mind giving out the recipe, for the very reason that I know you can’t make it the same as I do. But I’m going to let you try. But it’s just the way I do it, I think it’s more about the technique than the ingredients.
You’re also interested in psilocybin in cooking. Where do you think we are as a country when it comes to mushroom-infused food? Obviously, edibles are taking off, especially after the pandemic, they’ve really shot up in popularity. Now as more states are decriminalizing mushrooms, how far out — I know you do it for some people as a very personal experience — but how far out are we from that being offered on a wider scale?
I don’t think we’re very far at all. I think we’re within a couple of year window, maybe two to four years, especially federally, it’s moving way faster than cannabis ever moved. The California Senate just pushed it through. The thing is, it’s a very interesting walk with psychedelics in food, especially psilocybin. Mushrooms are a very interesting thing, you can’t cook them all the way through because you lose the properties, you can heat them to 120 degrees a 130 maybe. I’m in a group that talks about a lot of safety and consent with psychedelics and we talk about the new trends in the industry, we’re seeing it in a lot of different places. I’ve been gifted a lot of different things I didn’t even know people were making. Like syrups, gummies, and chocolates, of course, the candy is going to hit the market first, all the sweet things.
But what I’m trying to figure out is, are people going to want to see dispensaries have mushroom products that aren’t sweet? I think it’s coming for sure. You can dry out mushrooms and put them in a trail mix and that could be your little microdose. There are so many things, a lot of companies reach out to me and want to do R&D right now and most of them are cannabis brands. It’s coming, it’s sneaking up on me faster than I thought, it’s like “Oh psychedelics are in the news today? Let’s go!”
As someone who is into the healing aspects of both mushrooms and weed, is this growing popularity something that stresses you out or worries you? Mushrooms are a more intimate and personal experience, freaking out on edible marijuana is one thing, but the effects of mushrooms are so much more profound. Are we moving too fast or is it on people to know what they can handle?
Yeah, I do believe it’s on everyone to figure out where they will settle in that space. I do work with a lot of groups that talk about safety and messaging and we have our eye on different types of psychedelic propaganda, but we’re always trying to teach people to sit with mushrooms. I have no problem with people using mushrooms recreationally, but I’m a person who likes to use them to get into a space to connect with my higher self, we do talk people through journeys, safety, and knowing your numbers as far as your dosing. A lot of people can’t just go and be a macrodoser. You kind of have to start slow in the micro-levels and work your way up. The other thing is a lot of people aren’t considering that it’s important to think about the other medications you’re on.
Cannabis doesn’t typically interfere with a lot of other psychotropics in the way that psychedelics do. So if you have someone that says “yeah I want to take a lot of mushrooms” and they’re on SSRIs or some sort of psychotropics, they’re definitely going to experience some psychosis if they go into a large mushroom trip.
Mushrooms will probably have — and Canada already has mushrooms in dispensaries — but the labeling and the regulation are probably going to be very similar to when you get a prescription to something. Don’t take this with, eliminate this, that kind of thing.
And again even with mushrooms, you’re not going to die! Just let it pass through.
The last year of the pandemic really gave an opportunity for a lot of industries to reset and reflect on themselves, what would you like to see the food world do better?? I know the food industry has failed women of color — feel free to double down on that point if you like to — but what can the food world do better not just for people working in the field but from a consumer standpoint?
I’m gonna start from this angle. My daughter comes to me last week and says “there’s no Michellin award or James Beard category for what you do” and I said, “no there’s not!” And she said, “do you think there will ever be one?” I don’t know, I feel like there should be. I’ve heard rumors that James Beard was going to add a cannabis category because it is a niche thing but it’s a space that is growing and there are a lot of chefs that have converted into that space that are extremely talented. I think for me I focus on telling stories, I talk a lot about the American aesthetic of food as it relates to the African diaspora. I do a lot of food lessons and I encourage people to understand food history. I think for the food world we’re getting close to that and people are starting to understand certain foods that we eat now, fried chicken, potato chips, they’re tracing the source back how these things get into the American aesthetic of food and also giving credit to the African Americans who created those dishes and the reasons why.
I’m always pushing people to understand spices and rice, and where did that come from how did it get there, why do we use it? Don’t shade certain cultures for certain things, I’m constantly having these conversations with my Asian, Latino, Black, and Caribbean chef friends. American really is a melting pot of immigrant food which we call “American food.” So don’t be shady to these immigrants when you’re consuming their food.
As far as the agenda and representing and mentoring black and brown women in the culinary space, I turn down men often, almost daily. I had two requests today, but my heart is never going to change. The woman that work with me, they will never make it to executive chef in most situations, they’ll never own their own restaurant if they aren’t given the opportunity to shine. One of my chefs, she’s from Detroit, she’s 23, she works at a really great restaurant in downtown Detroit. Because she’s been working with me doing stuff with Chappelle, her boss, the executive chef, just offered her a raise and increased responsibility. But it’s because he’s like “oh, either I want to keep you or you’re a goner right now. People are asking about you when they’re coming into the restaurant, Is Noel here, or is she with chef Nikki?”
I think the food world has a lot to grow as far as sources and where things come from and respecting cultures that contributed to that.
The Boys is the superhero world’s most flagrantly adult entry — way more violent and generally R-rated than Deadpool, if nowhere as serious as Logan. But Season 3 sounds like it’s really pushing the envelope. Among the storylines the next batch of episodes will pursue includes Herogasm, a six-issue off-shoot of the comic in which some of our heroes, well, get lucky. And if everything they’ve shot so far makes it to the final cut, it would definitely be the bluest thing to ever grace superhero motion picture media.
In an interview with The Wrap, showrunner Eric Kripke discusses including the infamous limited series, which was published in 2009, set between issues #30 and #31. It finds Homelander (Anthony Starr) and team pretending to go off to fight an alien threat. Instead they go to an island resort for a weekend of super-sized sex and drugs. Kripke says when he first pitched adapting it to Amazon execs, he was met with a “sigh of resignation.”
It sounds like they didn’t disappoint:
“I mean, those dailies are insane … Like, if we showed everything we saw in the dailies, we for sure would be rated X. I can’t even get my head around what we’ve filmed. We’ll make sure that we’re walking the right line and that we’re outrageous, but not exploitive, of course. So there probably will be a lot of self-censorship. But anyone who is a fan of the books and that particular volume of ‘Herogasm,’ I can just tell you, you’re definitely going to get the full ‘Herogasm’ experience. There’s just no question.”
Of course, the X rating hasn’t been around since the late ’80s, and NC-17 never really took off like it should have. Streaming TV, moreover, doesn’t really have much of a ratings system in place. But maybe the Herogasm stretch of The Boys will fix that.
In any case, one of the main complaints about the Comic Book Industrial Complex we live in is that the shows and movie versions, at least, have pretty much no sex. No one’s horny, no one’s hot for each other, and no one ever, ever does the deed. (Well, Ryan Reynolds’ Deadpool did get lucky.) This sounds like a bit of over-correcting — but maybe over-correcting is exactly what comic book media needs.
Islay has peated Scotch whisky on lock. The malts are smoked with peat-fueled smoke in Port Ellen’s legendary malt house on the island’s southern coast. All of the island’s distilleries produce smoky whiskies, though the degree of the smokiness varies.
But there’s more to Scotland’s peated malts than just Islay. The Highlands and Islands also produce signature smoky whiskies that stand as tall as any peat monster from Islay.
Today, we’re going to dip our toes into the peated malts from the Highlands. We’ll hit up the Islands (Talisker, Highland Park, and others) next time around. Though both styles are smoky, Highland peated whisky is a different breed than the stuff from Islay, based on the peat. The peat from the Highlands is imbued with trees, grasses, and cold winters full of snow; the peat in Islay is all about that sea soaking into the soil and the grasses and botanicals that grow across the island.
Very broadly, the smoke that is produced by the peat in these places is just different. That creates a different smoke which results in different malts, mash, and, finally, whiskey.
The ten bottles below tour you through peated malts from the Highlands. Full disclosure, some of these are pretty deep cuts. Some of them aren’t readily available at your local liquor store. Don’t worry — others are. If you want to give one of these peaty Highland whiskies a shot, just click on the price links.
Hailing from the famed Knockdhu Distillery, this single malt is named after the rake-like tool that breaks up the sod so harvesters can dig out some peat. The whisky is made from malt that’s barely been kissed with the smoke from a peat fire, keeping the phenols very low. The juice is loaded into ex-bourbon barrels where it’s allowed to rest for “nearly” ten years before proofing and bottling.
Tasting Notes:
There’s a rush of fresh Granny Smith apples on the nose next to Honey Nut Cheerios made from fresh oats and dipped in real honey with the smallest spritz of orange oils. The fresh honey sweetness builds as a slight and almost woody bourbon vanilla sneaks onto the palate with a sharp edge of eggnog spice. The sip slowly fades towards smoked dried apple tobacco with a touch of old, soft leather and dried heather.
Bottom Line:
The smoke on this is so dialed back, that no one will blame you for missing it. It’s wholly tied to the sweet honey and apple, making this a great whisky for the smoke neophyte.
Up on the cold northern coast of Scotland, you’ll find a little town called Brora. There used to be a distillery there of the same name, which made peat monsters up unit the 1980s. Clynelish took over the location and started making their own peated malts, this time while leaning more into the sea than the peat. And in this case, they’ve created a very lightly peated single malt that spends a decade and a half resting near that sea until it’s just right.
Tasting Notes:
This has a nostalgic sense of a cold, rainy beach. You’re not necessarily on that beach but you can remember to sea spray, the salt on your lips, the smell of dried seaweed, and a touch of old smoke from a nearly dead fire. The taste dances between notes of burnt orange peels, old leather tobacco pouches, and this soft mineral water mouthfeel that carries with it a creamy vanilla just touched with sea salt. The end is medium-length, salty, and has this mildly bitter edge that’s akin to a cocoa bean pith.
Bottom Line:
This was a revelation when I tried it with Johnnie Walker’s Master Distiller Emma Walker this year. It’s unbelievably well balanced and so soft. It’s a true hidden gem.
This entry-point bottle to the wider world of Dalwhinnie is a hell of an easy drinker. The juice is aged in Scotland’s coldest distillery, making the maturation process a severe one. The juice spends 15 years hiding in those barrels as the temperatures dip well below freezing across all those winters.
Tasting Notes:
Imagine a bowl of pear and apple peels sitting next to an open jar of floral summer honey on the nose. Dots of citrus oils mingle with that honey as a smooth vanilla character arrives on the back of sweet brown bread bespeckled with smoked walnuts. The nuts, sweet bread, and floral honey all converge on the finish as it slowly fades towards a final billow of sweet smoke at the back of your mouth.
Bottom Line:
This is another whisky that’ll hook you in immediately. It’s so delicately balanced while still being assured in its flavor and texture profile. It’s an all-around classic.
This unique drop from late 2019 took The GlenDronach back to its 19th-century roots. Dr. Rachel Barrie devised a throwback peated single malt to celebrate the mash bills of the distillery’s founder that leaned into peated malts. The juice was then aged in ex-bourbon barrels before a finishing rest in both Oloroso and Pedro Ximénez sherry casks.
Tasting Notes:
The whisky draws you in with a sense of pineapple and peaches that have been grilled on a smoky grill and then drizzled with honey and served on a slice of vanilla white cake. The honey and smoky BBQ briquettes drive the taste towards hints of smoked plums and smoldering cinnamon sticks while that fruit starts to edge towards bittersweet. The end has this oatcake vibe with a touch of raisin and walnut while the honey takes you back towards that smoky grilled fruit.
Bottom Line:
This is a very well-round bottle — in that you kind of end up back where you started while still feeling the journey that got you there. The smokiness is amped up a little on this (compared to the other peated whiskies on the list). So, we’d recommend pouring this one over a single rock.
This is a great gateway to both Oban and scotch to have on hand. The juice is classically made and then matured in the Oban storehouses for 14 long years — all within a stone’s throw of the sea.
Tasting Notes:
Citrus, salt, and a billow of peat smoke open this one up in classic fashion. That citrus carries on as a foundation for mild spices, a note of honey, hints of pears, and plummy dried fruits mingle on the tongue. The oak spice and extremely mild peat smoke meet on the end with a slight malty sweetness as the sip fades.
Bottom Line:
Oban is the ultimate accessible peated malt. It’s so subtle, complex, and silky. It’s also the perfect whisky for pairing with a seafood feast.
This peated malt ups the ante on the peatiness. The limited-edition juice is first aged in ex-bourbon barrels. That whisky is then transferred to second-fill bourbon barrels that aged heavily peated whisky for a finishing maturation.
Tasting Notes:
The whisky’s nose sort of feels like someone dumped a handful of vanilla bean husks on a backyard campfire and then handed you an apple pie brimming with brown sugar, cinnamon, and drizzled with salted caramel. The taste keeps that pie filling vibe but the fruit mellows more towards a stonefruit as a hint of sea spray arrives on the back end of the smokiness. The finish really takes its time and leads you towards singed, dry moss and a final note of floral honey sweetness.
Bottom Line:
Peaty whisky finished in peaty ex-bourbon barrels could be construed as a hat on a hat. But this works. The smoke is bold but the fruits, spice, and sweetness all make sense while balancing the whisky out.
This is a classic Highland single malt. The peated juice started off as a one-off single-barrel pick that became a yearly release. The whisky aged in ex-bourbon for about eight years. It’s then refilled into ex-sherry casks for about four more years of maturation before it’s proofed and bottled.
Tasting Notes:
The nose on this is figgy pudding with stewed plums, Christmas spices, sultanas, and plenty of brown sugar syrup with a hint of sweet sherry-soaked oak lingering in the background. The palate settles into honey-roasted almonds next to a bowl of ripe red berries in cream with a drizzle of summer honey leading towards this hint of dried mushroom. That touch of umami leads towards a very distant whiff of campfire smoke on the far backend of this sip as it fades out.
Bottom Line:
This is really all about the red fruits, nutty figgy pudding, and sweet treats. The earthy smoke is very much an echo that feels more like you’re eating a dessert outside on a cold fall night.
This peated malt from Ardmore takes its aging process back in time to the 1800s. The juice is first aged in ex-bourbon casks. The whisky is then re-barreled into traditional “quarter casks” that were used for aging peated malt 200 years ago.
Tasting Notes:
This has a velvety nose full of vanilla pudding cut with eggnog spices that were cooked in an old, wood-fired oven, giving the nose a hint of soft, sweet smoke. The taste brings a peaty smoke through the vanilla creating a creamy texture while hints of tart apples and dried red fruits counterpoint that creamy, smoky vanilla. The peat really attaches to the creamier parts of the taste on the fade until you’re left with wet moss after a soft rain.
Bottom Line:
This is one of the more interesting deep cuts on this list. It’s fascinating in that it makes you think while you drink. You’ll want to go back in on the nose and taste to see what else you can find in there.
Glenmorangie is world-renowned for its sweet single malts. That wasn’t always the case and this is the proof. This juice is rendered from peated malts and a mash bill that dates back to a 1903 recipe from the distillery. The whisky is then aged in ex-bourbon and finished in ex-sherry casks.
Tasting Notes:
There’s this vibe of peaches grilled over soft wood with a touch of smoke latching to the sweet fruit as a touch of orange and marzipan peek in. The palate holds onto the orange and builds this mix of brandied cherries, eggnog spices, and buttery vanilla frosting with just a hint of dried lavender. The finish circles back around to the marzipan with another whiff of sweet smoke and a light touch of soft mineral water.
Bottom Line:
This is a very rare Glenmorangie that’s 100 percent worth tracking down. It’s so unique yet so familiar without sacrificing any deliciousness.
This version of Famous Grouse is built on a foundation of rare Highland whisky. Glenturret peated single malt is at the core of this blend. That’s special in that Glenturret doesn’t really make peated malts — save for the whiskey that’s in this blend.
Tasting Notes:
Like all Highland peaties, this whisky has a balance of smoke and sweet from the first nose. There’s a hint of cedar that feels like it was soaked in dark rum and then set on fire. As that fire dies down, you’re left with dried fruits, dates, and a spice cake that leans into cloves and licorice root. The end is fairly long and revels in the soot of that burnt cedar box as an old rum note sneaks back in with more raisins and spice.
Bottom Line:
This is a mixing whisky that has a bold, peaty feel. It’s complex enough to be a great cocktail base but don’t expect greatness from this if you pour it in a glass on the rocks.
As a Drizly affiliate, Uproxx may receive commission pursuant to some entries on this list.
Guilty Gear Strive came out back in June to positive reviews and is considered one of the better fighting games currently out there. Most people who manage to play it say it’s a really good game and one of the most accessible in the series. That’s great for anyone that’s looking to get into a fighting game for the first time. Unfortunately, actually getting into a game appears to be a bit of a challenge.
Many players are growing frustrated at how long it takes to get into the game itself. Launching the game can lead to a rather lengthy wait time while the game connects to servers and loads. Things haven’t gotten better in the weeks since its launch, and it’s turned into a bit of a community joke in the process. Such as trying to speedrun the main menu.
However, the most popular joke has easily been seeing what games can be quickly beaten, or benchmarks reached before the game has finished loading in. Have you ever wanted to see someone beat the entirety of Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance for GBA in under 30 seconds? Well, that can be done with time to watch the credits before the menu will finally connect for Guilty Gear Strive.
You can beat Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance AND watch the entire end credit sequence, before you can get into the main menu of Guilty Gear Strive pic.twitter.com/dxp3lokAfL
One person managed to defeat the first Bowser fight in Super Mario 64 in the time it took to access the main menu while another completed an entire level of Sonic Generations. At least Sonic is known for going fast, but letting portly old Mario beat you in a race has gotta be rough.
One of the most challenging moments of Dark Souls is when you have to take down two bosses at once. So why not defeat both of them before accessing the main menu?
You can beat Ornstein and Smough in Dark Souls before you can get into the main menu of Guilty Gear Strive pic.twitter.com/iTSagWtNa1
If you’re one of those people that likes to do something such as watching a basketball game while you play fighting games then try to line up starting the game with Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo taking free throws. He can get through a few of them before the game has finished loading in.
How many free throw attempts can Giannis Antetokounmpo make in the amount of time it takes for Guilty Gear Strive to load into its main menu? pic.twitter.com/3f8W79McdD
— Put Lio In Everything (@billynotreally_) July 17, 2021
I think it’s safe to say that it takes way too long to load into this video game and this is an issue that hopefully gets addressed in future updates. Nobody likes having to wait to play a game and menus taking forever are going to do nothing but frustrate players. Until that is fixed though we can at least enjoy watching people complete video games extremely fast while we wait.
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