Month: October 2021

Move over, Tom Wambsgans. As Siobhan “Shiv” Roy—the only daughter of Logan Roy (Brian Cox), a Rupert Murdoch-meets-Donald Trump-type media mogul—Sarah Snook’s character on Succession is smart, honest, and determined, albeit often unconventional and full of surprises. And it turns out that Snook herself possesses a lot of these same traits (minus, of course, the cutthroat Shakespearean dramatics that come along with being a Roy, in which Shiv plays the role of Lady Macbeth). Snook recently revealed that she’s had a bit of a whirlwind year—not just because of the growing fandom surrounding the hit HBO show, which just saw record ratings for its season 3 premiere—but because she unexpectedly fell in love with one of her best friends, Australian actor and comedian Dave Lawson, and the couple quietly tied the knot back in February.

The Hollywood Reporter shared the story, which Snook revealed in a cover story for Vogue Australia (yes, despite the pitch-perfect American accent on Succession, the 33-year-old is Australian). “At the beginning of the pandemic last year, I got locked down in Melbourne with one of my best mates and we fell in love,” Snook explained of how the unexpected romance began. “We’ve been friends since 2014, lived together, travelled together, always excited to see each other, but totally platonic. We’ve just never been single at the same time. I proposed and we got married in February in my backyard.”

Yes, you read that correctly: It was Snook who proposed. So Shiv.

The wedding, which took place in Brooklyn, was a small and intimate affair, though another Succession star played an important role: Ashley Zukerman, who plays Shiv’s ex/former co-worker/sometime f*ck buddy Nate Sofrelli, served as the witness for the couple.

“It’s been a ride,” Snook said about the bittersweetness of the past year. “There’s so much heartache and sadness in the world, but on a micro personal level, I’ve been very fortunate… There’s a really lovely grace in that without the pandemic, we might not have ended up together so quickly.”

(Via The Hollywood Reporter)

Meghan McCain said goodbye (and maybe a few NSFW words) to Joy Behar, Whoopi Goldberg, and the rest of her The View co-hosts in August after four years as the conservative voice on the talk show. “It’s been honestly the best of times and the worst of times in all ways, on and off this show,” she said in her final episode. “It’s been a really incredible, liberating experience and I will always cherish the time I spent with all of you.”

In her new memoir, Bad Republican, McCain finally explains why she decided to leave.

“For whatever reason, there’s a deep level of misogyny about the way The View is covered and written about in the media, where tabloids are always writing about the co-hosts hating each other backstage. It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy because the atmosphere of The View breeds drama: producers can’t control hosts, manage conflict or control leaking,” she wrote. McCain’s takeaway from her time on the show is that “working at The View brings out the worst in people. I believe that all the women and the staff are working under conditions where the culture is so f*cked up, it feels like quicksand.”

McCain also writes that after Donald Trump was elected president, “the treatment from Whoopi, Joy, and some of the staff grew meaner and less forgiving. It was as if I had become an avatar for everything they hated about the president. It felt like the co-hosts and staff only knew one Republican — me — and took out all their anger on me, even though I didn’t even vote for Trump.” Things took a turn for the worse after McCain returned from maternity leave. In a January 2021 episode, she joked, “You missed me so much, Joy. You missed me so much when I was on maternity leave. You missed fighting with me.” Behar’s harsh-but-fair response: “I did not. I did not miss you. Zero.”

Nothing anyone has ever said to me on camera since I have been giving interviews since I was 22 years old ever hit this hard. I felt like I’d been slapped. She yelled out at me sharp and intensely and I believed her. Now, I know I’m not always a perfect angel, but I would never speak to any woman that way who had just returned after giving birth. There are some things in life and some moments of time in life which are sacred. There are also times in life where you aren’t as strong as you usually are.

In discussing her decision to exit the “toxic work environment” during the pandemic, McCain wrote, “I felt like I was being disingenuous. I thought of the press I would have to do next season, the junkets. It’s all about women supporting women. I didn’t want to lie anymore. I couldn’t. I couldn’t put on the happy face after what I went through.”

You can read the rest of the Bad Republican excerpt on Variety.

(Via Variety)

If we learned anything from living through four years of Donald Trump in the White House, it’s that he views the world as a place where you’re either a winner or a loser—and that, despite his track record of being the latter, it’s still somehow an unfathomable concept to him. Which certainly explains why Trump has yet to concede the 2020 presidential election, nearly a year after it happened, and why the former president is all fired up over GOP senator Bill Cassidy basically calling him the L-word in a new interview with Axios.

As Rolling Stone notes, Cassidy didn’t hold back on his thoughts about Trump, including the unlikelihood that the former president could win the Republican nomination for president in 2024 if he chose to run again.

“President Trump is the first president, on the Republican side at least, to lose the House, the Senate and the presidency in four years,” Cassidy told Axios. “Elections are about winning.” In addition to expressing doubts that Trump would have the support of the Republican party if he chose to run for president again in 2024, Cassidy also made it clear that he, personally, would not be in Trump’s corner.

Hearing this, of course, sent Trump into a bit of a tailspin. On Monday, The Hill reported that the former POTUS issued an official statement in which he introduced a juvenile new nickname: “Wacky Bill Cassidy.” In part, it read:

“Wacky Senator Bill Cassidy from Louisiana is a RINO Republican who begged for my endorsement in 2020 and used it all over the place to win re-election… then voted to impeach your favorite President.

I have done so much for the State of Louisiana, including making it possible to build major energy facilities that would never have happened without me filling up the strategic petroleum reserve at record low prices, and making sure they received huge amounts of hospital supplies and ventilators to aid the people of Louisiana in fighting the China Virus. Even the Democrat governor thanked me for all I did. Now, Wacky Bill Cassidy can’t walk down the street in Louisiana, a State I won by almost 20 points. He could not even be elected dog catcher. Wacky Bill is a totally ineffective Senator, but Louisiana does have a great Senator in John Kennedy.”

It’s not the first time Cassidy has spoken out against Trump. Back in February, the senator—who won reelection in 2020—was censured by the Louisiana Republican party after he voted to impeach Trump during his second impeachment trial. Cassidy was one of just seven GOP senators to vote against the former president. When asked about his decision to vote for impeachment, and the subsequent censure, Cassidy told Axios: “I slept very well that night.”

Below, you can watch a clip from Axios’ interview with Cassidy, who we’ll venture is sleeping well tonight again.

(Via Rolling Stone)

Lil Nas X released his Jack Harlow-featuring single “Industry Baby” back in July 23, but it was held back from having a No. 1 debut on the Billboard Hot 100 chart: It made its first chart appearance at No. 2 on the August 7 tally, the same week that BTS’ “Butter” became the longest-running No. 1 song of the year. Now, well over a month after its chart debut, “Industry Baby” is finally on top, as it’s No. 1 on the new Hot 100 dated October 23.

The song is Nas’ third chart-topper, after “Old Town Road” and “Montero (Call Me By Your Name).” Meanwhile, it’s Harlow’s first No. 1, as his previous peak was at No. 2 with “Whats Poppin” and pre-No. 1 “Industry Baby.”

Both rappers were over the moon about the achievement. Nas wrote on Twitter, “IT TOOK A FEW MONTHS BUT WE HERE! THANK U EVERYBODY! INDUSTRY BABY IS THE NUMBER 1 SONG IN THE WORLD! LESSSSSGOOOOOO!” Harlow also wrote, “My first number one… I’d be lying if I said I didn’t see this coming while I was writing my verse. This song is something I’m gonna be proud to be a part of for the rest of my life. Thank you for having me @LilNasX.”

This song is also a big one for Ye (the artist known until recently as Kanye West), as it’s his fifth No. 1 song as a producer. It was a good week for Ed Sheeran, too, as “Bad Habits” (No. 4) and “Shivers” (No. 10) are both in the top 10. This is the second time he has had two tracks simultaneously in the top 10, the previous time coming in January 2017 when “Shape Of You” and “Castle On The Hill” charted at Nos. 1 and 6, respectively.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Netflix has unveiled their teaser trailer for the upcoming live-action adaptation of Cowboy Bebop, and my goodness, they aren’t messing around. The John Cho-starring take on the ridiculously beloved, cult-classic anime couldn’t be more visually striking. These few minutes absolutely nail the the spirit of the source material; and there’s such an action-focused, aesthetic punch that it’s actually difficult to behold during the traditional early-morning trailer-release hours. Sensory overload, man. In other words, they’ve nailed it. Bounty hunting never looked so stylish.

If you’re not even an anime fan but adore the ultra-stylized feel of, say, Scott Pilgrim or Sin City, you’ll like what you see here. And even the most casual Quentin Tarantino fan will also enjoy how this teaser — actually a standalone adventure-episode (which won’t appear in the series) called The Lost Session — looks and feels. The saturated colors and the shooting angles and the dialogue, it’s all a perfect manifestation and a means to take viewers on a ride. That ride will leave you feeling like you’re barely clinging to the back of this vehicle while it careens down the street, all while Spike Spiegel (Cho), Jet Black (Mustafa Shakir), and Faye Valentine (Daniella Pineda) solidly kick some ass while dodging death and chasing bounties.

Here’s the official series synopsis:

COWBOY BEBOP is an action-packed space Western about three bounty hunters, aka “cowboys,” all trying to outrun the past. As different as they are deadly, Spike Spiegel (John Cho), Jet Black (Mustafa Shakir), and Faye Valentine (Daniella Pineda) form a scrappy, snarky crew ready to hunt down the solar system’s most dangerous criminals — for the right price. But they can only kick and quip their way out of so many scuffles before their pasts finally catch up with them.

Cowboy Bebop streams on November 19.

Do you like bold bourbon? Look no further than Sazerac, which has put out one of the boldest bourbons of the year — A. Smith Bowman Cask Strength Batch 1 release. The whiskey from Virginia is all about that ABV and clocks in at an eye-popping 70.55 percent or 141.1 proof. That’s well above absinthe’s average ABV of 65 percent.

This is so high-proof that it’s in its own category. This is what people in the know call a “Hazmat bourbon.”

Even if you’re only tangentially into bourbon, it’s likely you know what “high-proof” means. Very quickly, high-proof expressions are those bourbons that reach above bottled-in-bond’s 100 proof (or 50 percent ABV) towards 101, 110, 120, and even up to 139 proof. Generally, these are whiskeys that are purposefully cut with less water to achieve a higher-proof final product.

It’s important not to confuse high proof with “cask strength,” which is on the label of this expression. Cask strength (or barrel proof) spirits go into the bottle at the cask strength of either the single barrel or the batch of barrels vatted for the release. That doesn’t always mean they’re high proof, though. We’ve reviewed cask strength bourbons on this site that rang in at only 44.9 percent (89.8 proof). That’s well below even bottled-in-bond when it comes to ABV.

Then there are Hazmat bourbons. “Hazmat” is the term for whiskeys that ring in at 140 or more proof (or above 70 percent ABVs). Never heard of this before? It’s okay. We’re in super niche territory here and there are very few whiskeys that are released at this ABV range. That’s largely due to the fact that it’s illegal to fly with these bourbons because they’re too volatile. No, that’s not a joke.

For folks who are down to expand their palates by trying super-hot expressions, there’s definitely some allure in testing the Hazmat waters. Here’s our review of this particular launch, one of the highest ABV expressions on the bourbon market.

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A. Smith Bowman Limited Edition Cask Strength Batch 1

ABV: 70.55%

Average Price: $100 (MSRP)

The Whiskey:

This release from Sazerac is all about the boldness of the Virginia spirit. The juice is from a few hand-selected ten-year-old barrels from Master Distiller Brian Prewitt from the lowest ricks in warehouses A and A1 at the A. Smith Bowman Distillery. The juice is vatted and then bottled as is, at what is clearly an extremely high cask strength.

Tasting Notes:

I’m not going to lie, the ethanol is absolutely there on the nose. But … it doesn’t overpower the deeply rooted flavors — starting with buttery pie crust that’s well toasted leading towards a few layers of toasted and honeyed pecans, dark Caro syrup-soaked brown sugar, and toasted off dark spice-filled streusel. The spice really leans into very woody cinnamon sticks, plenty of old leather pouches that held decades of tobacco, dry cedar bark ripped from the woodpile, and … the creamy vanilla base and toasted coconut from a coconut cream pie. That creamy mid-palate leads towards a very dry and charred finish that’s cut with bitter espresso oils and the darkest of chocolates that turns into a burnt caramel sweet/bitter heat that torches you down to your soul.

The Bottle:

These Bowman releases have a great, bespoke bottle. The stopper is a heavy-duty cork with a wooden top. The label is embossed, allowing the juice within to take center stage. This is one of those bottles that you can’t miss.

Bottom Line:

Look, this is hot. It’s a hazmat bourbon. So that’s the whole point. Does that heat overpower the tasting experience? Yes, it does. And for many inexperienced palates, it may completely derail it. But I still found a lot of nuance at play beyond the heat.

Ultimately, this is unique and full of flavor — all while being hot as hell. But don’t get it twisted, I did like it. Alas, I can’t see drinking this regularly outside of a very slow glass on a lot of slowly melting rocks, in a highball, or in a very big cocktail.

Ranking:

90/100 — For a bourbon with this much punch, it’s kind of amazing how nuanced it still is. I’m eager to mix up some Manhattans with the stuff!

In the hierarchy of seasons, fall just might be the best. The weather is cooler but not cold. There’s a nice crisp feel in the air and the smell of sodden leaves is everywhere. Foods feature sage and thyme, fall fruits, and hearty broths.

It’s also the season with the most diversity of beers — definitely a point in its favor.

From brown ales to barrel-aged stouts to Oktoberfest-style beers to pumpkin ales and even dark lagers, fruity IPAs, and funky farmhouse Saisons, fall is a beer drinker’s dream. But with so many choices, we could spend an afternoon staring slack-jawed at our local grocery store’s beer cooler without actually picking anything.

Luckily, we have the help of alcohol experts to steer us in the right direction. We asked a group of well-known bartenders to tell us the beers that they think taste like fall in a can (or bottle). Check out all of their answers below.

Rogue Hazelnut Brown

Joan Percival, bartender at Proof Whiskey Bar in Omaha, Nebraska

ABV: 6.2%

Average Price: $12 for a six-pack

Why This Beer?

Rogue Hazelnut Brown Nectar is a European-style brown ale that just screams fall. It’s all chocolate, hazelnut, and baking spice with a surprisingly clean quick finish that I could drink way too much of. Sweet, malty, and absolutely perfect for the season.

Bell’s Best Brown Ale

Eamon Ketchum, bartender at Barrel and Beam in Marquette, Michigan

ABV: 5.8%

Average Price: $12 for a six-pack

Why This Beer?

As a lifetime Michigander, the beer that says fall to me — I pick up a case every time it comes out — is Best Brown Ale from Bell’s Brewery. I just cannot stand to pass up the opportunity to drink a bottle in the woods while the leaves fall to the ground and the air gets cold. It has a nutty aroma and soft dark brown color. It has notes of dark caramel and a slightly bitter backbone.

It drinks extremely smooth for a brown. Plus, it’s got a Great Horned Owl on the label.

Goose Island Matilda

Christopher Rodriguez, lead bartender at Lucy Bar at the Bardessono Hotel in Yountville, California

ABV: 7%

Average Price: $13 for a four-pack

Why This Beer?

One beer that tastes like fall in a bottle is Matilda by Goose Island. It has a beautiful golden color with a dry finish. It also has small hints of fruit that remind me of fall weather. This seven percent Belgian-style ale is crisp, slightly funky, refreshing, and perfect for an early fall day.

Paulaner Salvator

Nicole Fas, beverage director and bar manager at La Pícara in Santurce, Puerto Rico

ABV: 7.9%

Average Price: $12 for a six-pack

Why This Beer?

Paulaner Salvator is my go-to. It’s my fall in a bottle. It has this little tingle of clove-spice. It’s strong, malty and its robust caramel maltiness gets me ready for the fall night outs. Its high ABV also packs enough punch to warm you up inside and out on a cooler fall evening.

Avery White Rascal

Hayden Miller, head bartender of Bodega Taqueria y Tequila in Miami

ABV: 5.6%

Average Price: $11 for a six-pack

Why This Beer?

Avery White Rascal tastes like fall in a can. It’s light and filled with flavors like wheat, banana, and citrus zest. Perfect fall flavors that work in unison to warm and refresh you. This type of nostalgia is best knocked back in a can.

High Water Campfire Stout

Sue Stia, bartender at TPC Jasna Polana in Princeton, New Jersey

ABV: 6.5%

Average Price: $15 for a four-pack

Why This Beer?

High Water Campfire Stout is my fall in a bottle or can. It’s brewed with coffee to give it an extra kick for those crisp fall nights. It also carries rich coffee, and caramel notes with a little sweetness to ease into fall.

New Holland Dragon’s Milk

Robbie Robinson, sommelier and mixologist at The Ballantyne in Charlotte, North Carolina

ABV: 11%

Average Price: $17 for a four-pack

Why This Beer?

New Holland Dragon’s Milk is a great fall beer in my opinion. It’s an 11% ABV stout that doesn’t skimp on flavor. It’s full of dark chocolate, canalized sugar, and coffee tones. It complements the season nicely. Barrel-aged to perfection to keep you warm any time of year, especially in the fall.

Mothers Brewing Winter Grind

Emily Lawson, bartender, and owner of Foxhole Public House in Bentonville, Arkansas

ABV: 6%

Average Price: $9 for a six-pack

Why This Beer?

I wait all year long until I can grab a six-pack of Winter Grind from Mother’s Brewing out of Springfield, Missouri. This beer is blended with cold brew coffee, making it rich and stout. Plus, a single beer gives you the perfect amount of pep and chill vibes. It’s rich, creamy, and perfect for rolling into cooler weather.

Karl Strauss Oktoberfest

Stephen George, director of outlets and bartender at 20 | Twenty Grill in Carlsbad, California

ABV: 5%

Average Price: $11 for a six-pack

Why This Beer?

Being that Oktoberfest was here (even if you can’t celebrate in Munich), I’m going to go with Karl Strauss’ Oktoberfest. A Marzen style, Bavarian lager that is light and packed with traditional toasted malt flavors that taste like Fall in a glass.

Able Baker Atomic Duck

Evan Hosaka, lead bartender of The Dorsey at The Venetian Resort in Las Vegas

ABV: 7%

Average Price: $13 for a six-pack

Why This Beer?

Able Baker’s Atomic Duck IPA is fall in a can. With its strong hops and light malt presence, this beer makes me want to sit and relax on a warm porch as fall eases in. You’ll notice notes of citrus, tropical fruits, and pine. All work well during the fall months.

Aecht Schlenkerla Uralt Rauchbier

Jeremy Williams, head mixologist at MDRD atop the Amway Grand Plaza in Grand Rapids, Michigan

ABV: 6.5%

Average Price: $5.49 for a 16-ounce bottle

Why This Beer?

For something a bit unusual, I love a good German Aecht Schlenkerla Uralt Rauchbier. Rich and robust savory flavors of beechwood smoked malt pair wonderfully this time of year. The intense aroma and flavors remind me of grilling in the afternoon or the way your clothes smell after a bonfire.

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As a Drizly affiliate, Uproxx may receive a commission pursuant to certain items on this list.

The last time Jordan Klepper went to a Trump shindig was on Jan. 6. It didn’t go so well. Since then, he’s gone to plenty of gatherings with Trumpists. But he’s skipped the handful of rallies the former president has held since being voted out of office. But over 10 months after the Capitol riot — “a day no one will ever forget, unless you’re a Republican member of Congress,” he jokes in his latest dispatch — he’s back, and doing what he does best: letting them hang themselves with their own incoherent ramblings.

Last week, the Daily Show contributor descended upon the rally Trump held in Iowa, which attracted the predictable crowds and their loony flags. Many of them said “Trump won.” What’s more, some of them think he’s actually still in office.

Klepper meets one older gentleman wearing a QAnon shirt who tells him Trump “never left.” When asked if he thinks Trump is still running the federal government, the man says yes. When Klepper asks him if he’s therefore to blame for the chaotic withdraw from Afghanistan, the man says no.

Sense was short on the ground at the Iowa Trump rally, and so was self-awareness. On two occasions, Klepper happens upon people wearing t-shirts featuring Trump giving Democrats the finger. In both cases, the people lament how divided the nation is, saddened that people with different worldviews — perhaps even wearing t-shirts with Trump giving Democrats the finger — can no longer have a polite conversation.

In another case, a woman in American flag overalls pushes back at the line that Trump supporters are in a cult. She then admitted that when it comes to Trump, “whatever he spews out of his mouth, I just love it.”

“It doesn’t matter what he says?” Klepper asked her. “But this isn’t a cult?”

“I don’t think so,” she replies.

In other words, this isn’t getting better any time soon. You can watch Klepper once again try to navigate the Trump world in the video above.

(Via The Daily Beast)

Donald Trump has always been very savvy about manipulating people for personal gain, but he’s also kind of a doofus. For every dastardly deed he does, there’s always some weird gaffe that no one else could come up with, from the “covfefe” tweet to informing a little girl that Santa Claus isn’t real to literally altering a weather map that contradicted him with a Sharpie. So this shouldn’t come as a surprise: Trump’s website was hacked and defaced.

As per CNN, a subdivision of the former president’s site was taken over by a Turkish hacktivist. It tacked on a spiritual message: “Do not be like those who forgot Allah, so Allah made them forget themselves.” Below it was a speech by Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in which he quoted the Quran.

The hack happened as early as October 8, but by Monday it had gone back to normal. It was the kind of hack known as defacement, in which a hacker hacks into a website and replaces it with their own content. It appears the same hacker was the one who did the same thing to Joe Biden’s website shortly after he was elected president, so perhaps they’re an equal opportunity offender.

(Via CNN)

Two weeks ago, Toronto-based electro R&B/synth wave duo Majid Jordan announced their third full length album and first in four years, Wildest Dreams, out later this month. Comprised of singer Majid Al Maskati and producer Jordan Ullman, the pair have already dropped a few stellar singles off of the album in the sleek 80’s dance floor floor inflected “Summer Rain,” the upbeat electro soul banger “Waves of Blue,” and one hell of a shoulder to cry in in “Been Through That.”

But now with the acoustic “Forget About The Party,” they’re really flashing a distinct versatility. Singing over a handsome guitar melody, Al Maskati paints the nightlife of The Six into the hook while he pleas with the object of his affection to drop what she’s doing and come be by his side: “The city’s got you blinded by the life, forget about the party, come to mine / I’ll give myself to you like its a habit, everything you wanted, you can have it.” He transitions from a gentle delivery into a high-pitch falsetto, showing palpable range that matches the diverse early offerings that Wildest Dreams has already yielded.

Listen to and watch the visualizer for “Forget About The Party” above and check out their upcoming tour stops below.

Wildest Dreams is due 10/22 via OVO Sound.

Majid Jordan is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.