There are a ton of Spider-Mans (Spider-Men?) out there. There were three in the last live-action film alone. There were twice as many (albeit some with different names) in the animated Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. There was once, notoriously, a Broadway Spider-Man, with songs by Bono and The Edge. And there’s one at Disneyland — an animatronic iteration that every day performs incredible stunts. Except when he malfunction and eats s*it.
As per The A.V. Club, a Disneyland patron attended the California park’s Avengers Campus section, which since last year has featured a robotic replica of Peter Parker in web-slinging costume, performing an awe-inspiring soar across the sky.
But that day, something went wrong. After Parker could be heard “Here goes something!”, the robotic Spider-Man flung through the air. But halfway through, as the video shows, its limbs locked up, rendering him a mere projectile heading for an unplanned destination. He then crashes right into the wall and out of sight.
The crowd gasps while a robotic voice continues as normal, announcing that the facility Spider-Man just destroyed “is not equipped with airbags.” You can then hear Parker let out a defeated “Okay,” suggesting the landing wasn’t supposed to be perfect, but it wasn’t supposed to be…that.
The video was made public by an Instagrammer listed as Darrenl L., who revealed “the show briefly stopped for a couple of hours but was back up and running later!”, proving you can’t keep Queen’s favorite son down long.
You can watch Spider-Man wipe out in the video above.
This past March marked three years since Nipsey Hussle was tragically killed outside of his Marathon store on Crenshaw and Slauson. Eric Holder, the man accused of killing Nipsey, was arrested two days after the shooting and charged with one count of murder, two counts of attempted murder, two counts of assault with a deadly weapon, and one count of felony possession of a firearm. Holder pled not guilty to all of the aforementioned charges as he continued to await trial, but that wait proved to be longer than expected as the trial’s start date was repeatedly delayed.
Finally, things got underway today and during the opening statements, the prosecution, led by Deputy District Attorney John McKinney, alleged that Holder’s shooting of Nipsey was “premeditated and deliberate.” “You’re going to hear and see evidence that he had plenty of opportunity to think about what he was going to do before he did it,” McKinney said according to Rolling Stone. “From the time he got out of the car and all the way back to that strip mall and walked up to those gentlemen and started shooting and shooting and shooting.”
Holder’s lawyer Aaron Jansen denies the claim that the shooting was premeditated and deliberate. However, McKinney looked to prove that this was false as he played a black-and-white video of the shooting in court on Wednesday. It showed Nipsey and Holder’s initial interactions, Holder leaving and then returning to fire gunshots at Nipsey and two others.
“You’ll see him retreat back after a few shots, and then he goes back and he shoots some more, and he retreats back, and then he goes back, and he shoots even more,” McKinney told the jury.
Ah, summer. The glorious season of barbecue parties, beach picnics and perpetual body image issues.
If you’re a human living in our society, you’ve likely been impacted by messages about what your body should look like in a swimsuit. And if you’re a female, those messages have been compounded by a multibillion dollar beauty industry designed to make you feel insecure so you’ll spend more money on “fixing” your “flaws.” Add in a culture of competition and mean-girl immaturity that weaponizes size and shape, and we have a perfect recipe for all kinds of body image-oriented disorders.
There’s nothing wrong with our bodies, but there is something very wrong with the messages we get about our bodies. Thankfully, we’ve come a long way in recognizing the need for body positivity to counter those messages. However, according to Harvard researchers, it takes five positive comments to counteract the effects of one negative one. That means we have to meet the ads, billboards and magazine covers that constantly tell us we’re not good enough with a tsunami of body-positive content.
And that’s where a viral “Victoria’s Secret” song from TikTok songwriter Jax comes in.
Jax has created a devoted following by sharing snippets of silly songs she makes up on TikTok. But her latest ditty isn’t just a silly song—it’s the summer anthem we didn’t know we needed.
Jax introduces Chelsea, the kid she babysits, and they share a story about how a girl had told Chelsea that the swimsuit she tried on at Victoria’s Secret made her look “too fat and too flat.”
First of all, seething rage at that comment. Second of all, the mom in me is blinking twice at the idea of a preteen shopping for a bikini at Victoria’s Secret, but let’s just move on past that part. Third, it was meant as an insult of course, but even if it were a totally neutral descriptor, no one in their right mind would ever describe that child as fat. Why do girls do this?
So many WTHs going through my head before Jax even gets to her point, but when she gets there, it’s awesome.
“I wrote a song for you,” she tells Chelsea, “because when I was your age I had a lot of eating problems and I wish somebody would’ve said this to me.”
(Jax also shared in the comments, “🚨Triggerr Warning🚨 for girls, guys, and whomever going through ED, this song is meant to make you smile but I know it’s much deeper than this.”)
I wrote a song for The Kid I Babysit. It’s called Victoria’s Secret 🤫 ❤️ 👙 @TheLascherFamily #victoriassecret #fyp #bodypositivity #originalmusic
The “old man who lives in Ohio” is Les Wexner, the billionaire founder of Victoria’s Secret’s former parent company, L Brands. He stepped down from his role in the company in 2020 after buying the then little-known lingerie brand in 1982 and spending more than five decades at the helm.
So when Jax says she knows Victoria’s “secret” is that she was made up by a dude, it’s true. In fact, even the original Victoria’s Secret was founded by a man. Businessman Roy Raymond wanted to buy his wife some lingerie, but was embarrassed when he went to the department store to look for some. He decided to create a store for women’s underwear where men would feel comfortable shopping.
As Naomi Barr wrote in Slate in 2013, “Raymond imagined a Victorian boudoir, replete with dark wood, oriental rugs, and silk drapery. He chose the name ‘Victoria’ to evoke the propriety and respectability associated with the Victorian era; outwardly refined, Victoria’s ‘secrets’ were hidden beneath.”
After Raymond sold the brand, with its catalog and six stores, to Les Wexner, the focus shifted. Wexner recognized a huge opportunity to market his brand directly to women, and thus the Victoria’s Secret juggernaut was created. For decades, Victoria’s Secret has been synonymous with men ogling models in sexy underwear and women hopelessly trying to fit themselves into those unattainable model bodies.
Jax’s video has gotten more than 13 million views in less than a week and the comments are raving.
“Thank you! I have 2 teenage daughters who are struggling with eating disorders all bc of social media and mainstream media,” wrote one parent.
“This is perfection. This song should be a commercial or PSA or something,” wrote another commenter. Couldn’t agree more.
“The inner 13 year old me needed this. This was the best,” wrote another.
People keep asking when she’s going to release the song, and she’s said she hadn’t thought that far ahead. You just never know when a hit is going to hit.
I know Victoria’s Secret, and girl you wouldn’t believe … she’s an old man who lives in Ohio, making money off of girls like me.
It’s the message we all need to hear, wrapped up in a boppin’ summer anthem. Please, Jax, finish writing and recording this song and get it released ASAP. (You can follow Jax at @jaxwritessongs.)
Most of us are at least somewhat aware of the vast benefits of meditation. It’s now fairly common knowledge that meditation can reduce stress and anxiety, improve focus and sleep quality, and even increase imagination. And with dozens of guided meditations accessible online, it’s easier than ever to incorporate the practice into our daily routine.
With such potential for creating positive transformation in our lives, we might find ourselves placing lofty goals on what exactly our meditation should provide: whether that’s some sort of enlightenment or to simply come out of it feeling better. This belief that meditation should give us something profound could even feel intimidating, keeping someone from trying at all.
Take it from a Buddhist monk himself—perhaps the very best thing that meditation is good for is … nothing.
In a video provided by Intellectual Wave, Zen master Shōhaku Okumura discusses the concept of Zazen, which refers to a sitting meditation in Buddhist tradition. To practice Zazen is to sit without paying any attention or expectation to gain anything. That’s it. No more, no less. No visualizing, no listening to the wind, nada.
Okumura’s teachers called this type of meditation “good for nothing.”
Zazen is often easier said than done. Okumura concedes that when everybody practices meditation, including himself, there is at least some expectation, whether that’s to solve a problem or answer a question. Even something as pure as seeking enlightenment still contains “desire,” Okumura explains.
Buddhists even have a word for this sort of philosophical paradox called koan, which Okumura describes in the video as “conflict.” But he argues that once a person can sit without seeking, they can experience “total function,” where they can experience themselves as an integrated part of the universe, rather than a separate observer of it.
In our modern-day, results-oriented world, the concept of simply doing nothing might seem unproductive. Unattainable, even. But as counterintuitive as it sounds, making things meaningless might make our lives more meaningful. Okumura shared his own experience, saying, “One day I found myself sitting alone…not as a priest…in a kind of social occupation. I sat by myself and I found deep peace…I became free of my desire to be a good Buddhist. For the first time I found the real meaning of Zazen.”
I think it’s safe to say that humans will never evolve past the need for serenity. The world could definitely use a little more peace these days. Good ol’ good for nothing Zazen sounds like a lovely way to get there.
Since purchasing Star Wars from George Lucas for billions — which he’s since spent in part on saving film history — Disney has, you could argue, played it safe. They made a new trilogy, the first of which was kind of a remake of the original Star Wars. They’ve done spin-offs and prequels and movies and shows filling in gaps in the main established “Skywalker Saga.” But that might change with that mysterious film in the works from Taika Waititi.
The very busy Oscar-winning filmmaker (and delightful actor) has been tasked with making what will be the first Star Wars film since 2019’s The Rise of Skywalker, and though it’s allegedly arriving sooner than you might think, there’s one hitch: The general public still doesn’t know much about it. Waititi recently talked to Total Film, and while he’s still very, very vague, he’s specific about one thing: It will venture to as-yet-discovered country in that vast galaxy from a long time ago.
“Look, I think for the Star Wars universe to expand, it has to expand,” he said. “I don’t think that I’m any use in the Star Wars universe making a film where everyone’s like, ‘Oh great, well that’s the blueprints to the Millennium Falcon, ah that’s Chewbacca’s grandmother.’ That all stands alone.”
And so the director of the forthcoming Thor: Love and Thunder plans to go far afield. “I would like to take something new and create some new characters and just expand the world,” he said, “otherwise it feels like it’s a very small story.”
Star Wars has been back in the news, with one more episode left of Obi-Wan Kenobi, which catches up with Ewan McGregor’s iteration of the Jedi master, well after the events of Revenge of the Sith. Meanwhile, the hot debate over The Last Jedi, the second in the third trilogy, recently started anew, all thanks to the film’s own director, Rian Johnson.
A lot of movies have been made from dubious sources — perhaps you remember there was a Monster Trucks movie — but the big screen Barbie motion picture appears to be legit. It’s directed by Greta Gerwig. She wrote it with her partner, Noah Baumbach. It’s got an all-star cast, and Margot Robbie, as the 63-year-old doll, looks perfect. Speaking of, on Wednesday Warner Bros. dropped the first look at her paramour, Ryan Gosling’s Ken, and not only does he look perfect, too, but it all but broke the internet.
Only a smattering of details have been made public about the movie, but it sounds wild. For one thing, there’s reportedly multiple Barbies and Kens, played by a diverse cast including Issa Rae, Simu Liu, future Doctor Who star Ncuti Gatwa, and fashion’s first trans model Rae Hari Nef. That’s on top of it featuring Kate McKinnon, Michael Cera, and America Ferrara, all suggesting this is far from a mere cash-in.
But when Warner’s dropped that photo of Gosling — bleach blonde, bronze abs under an open denim sleeveless, his character name written on his visible underwear — people pretty much lost it.
Some welcomed the Nice Guys co-star’s return to comedy, at which he excels.
Incredible boyband aesthetic but I’m also excited for anything that pushes Gosling into comedy and out of his De Niro voice comfort zone https://t.co/tq32xT3R5B
On one of those brutally hot, humid, days — the types of days you talk about years later, where your shirt seems to stick to your body all day long and you prefer the humming, manufactured cool of central air to the blistering heat of the midday sun — what kind of beer do you imagine drinking to quench your monumental thirst?
Certainly not a stout, porter, or some other dark beer. No, for this challenge, you need the coldest, crispiest, most thirst-quenching, easy-drinking beers. Pilsners and lagers usually fit that bill.
There are plenty to choose from, but this time around we did the work for you. We found eight of the crispiest summer beers widely available at stores and tasted them blindly. Then we rated and ranked the best of the bunch. Here’s the lineup:
Sixpoint The Crisp
Schilling Alexandr
Upland Champagne Velvet
Pilsner Urquell
Bitburger Premium Pilsner
Founders Solid Gold
Brooklyn Pilsner
Jack’s Abby Post Shift Pilsner
Part 1: The Tasting
Taste 1
Christopher Osburn
Tasting Notes:
Subtle caramel malts, floral hops, grains, and slight citrus are prevalent on the nose. The taste follows suit with earthy, grassy flavors that pair well with floral, slightly spicy hops, sweet malts, and a crisp, dry finish that leaves you craving more.
From my tasting notes: A very crushable, crisp beer.
Taste 2
Christopher Osburn
Tasting Notes:
On the nose, I found aromas of wet grass, floral hops, Meyer lemons, and bready malts. The palate is as crisp as I’d hope with flavors like caramel malts, lemon zest, more earthy grass, floral hops, and slight pine at the finish that brings everything together nicely. All in all, a very complex, memorable, summery beer.
Taste 3
Christopher Osburn
Tasting Notes:
Corn, honey, citrus zest, and not much else. But what else would you want in an easy-drinking beer, right? The palate is slightly more complex with lemon peel, bread-like malt, and grains taking center stage with a slightly bitter finish. All in all, fairly bland in overall flavor. But not a terrible beer.
Taste 4
Christopher Osburn
Tasting Notes:
On the nose, I found some caramel malts, wet grass, lemon zest, and freshly-baked bread. With all of that, the palate was slightly underwhelming with more earthy grass, some grains, and a slight lemon. Otherwise, muted.
From my tasting notes: The finish was dry and pleasing, but I wish there was a little more complexity in the overall flavor.
Taste 5
Christopher Osburn
Tasting Notes:
Complex aromas of yeasty bread, slight skunk, floral hops, grains, and sweet corn were notable on the nose. Drinking it only added to the experience with flavors like wet grass, wheat, bready malt, floral hops, sweet corn, and slight citrus. The finish is dry, clean, and refreshing.
Taste 6
Christopher Osburn
Tasting Notes:
Aromas of floral hops, slight fruity flavors, sweet corn, lemon curd, and grains are found on this beer’s nose. On the palate, I found more sweet corn, bready malts, lemon zest, floral hops, and a nice, dry, crisp, dry finish.
From my tasting notes: I was left craving another one immediately.
Taste 7
Christopher Osburn
Tasting Notes:
Not much going on with this beer’s nose. There are hints of grains, some bread, and floral hops. But really nothing else of note. The flavor is surprisingly light with some caramel malts, slight citrus, and some spicy hops. The finish is dry and pleasing, but this beer was as close to yellow, fizzy water as I’ve had in a long time.
Taste 8
Christopher Osburn
Tasting Notes:
Sweet corn, floral hops, citrus, and gentle spices on the nose were simple and clean and immediately drew me in. The palate continued this trend with notes of caramel malts, more sugary corn, slightly bitter hops, a light fruity flavor, and a clean, dry finish.
From my tasting notes: This beer is simple, flavorful, and highly refreshing.
Brewed since 1909, Bitburger Premium Pilsner is one of the most popular beers in Germany for a reason. Brewed based on Germany’s Beer Purity Laws, this beer is known for its light, crisp, slightly hoppy, malty flavor profile.
Bottom Line:
Clearly, Bitburger drinkers don’t enjoy it for its complex flavor profile, as it’s non-existent. It tastes like someone tried to make a beer-flavored hard seltzer.
With a name like Solid Gold, you better believe this is a throwback to crispy days gone by. This 4.4% ABV, year-round lager was created to be an easy-drinking, classic beer and was brewed with lager yeast, corn, and Lemondrop hops. It’s hard to argue with that.
Bottom Line:
If you’re looking for a crushable, easy-to-drink beer without much substance, Solid Gold is your jam. If you want a little more flavor, look elsewhere.
With a name like Post Shift Pilsner, you know exactly what you’re getting when you crack open this beer — a sessionable, easy-drinking, crisp lager designed to be imbibed after a long work day.
Bottom Line:
Jack’s Abby Post Shift Pilsner serves its purpose. It’s a crushable, refreshing, no-frills beer. It’s not supposed to be overly complex and it isn’t.
We’ve all heard about “The Champagne of Beers” also known as Miller High Life, but what about Champagne Velvet? That sounds pretty luxurious to me. Brewed since 1902, this European-style pilsner is made with Bohemian lager yeast, Pilsner and Carapils malts, corn, and Cluster and Tettnang hops.
Bottom Line:
This was my first experience with Upland’s Champagne Velvet and I was pleasantly surprised. It doesn’t have a ton of different flavors. But what it does have totally works.
Pilsner Urquell is the brand that started it all. This OG pilsner created the style of beer when Josef Groll introduced it back in 1842. Drinkers all over the world still gravitate towards this beer on hot summer days. It’s known for its low-ABV, and crisp, refreshing flavor.
Bottom Line:
Pilsner Urquell is a classic beer. I’m not surprised that this complex, well-balanced, crispy pilsner landed so highly on this list.
Schilling is one of those breweries that produces nothing but delicious, noteworthy beers. Alexandr is no different. This sessionable pale lager is made to pay tribute to the floral, crisp, refreshing beers that came before it in the Czech Republic.
Bottom Line:
I’ve never had a beer from Schilling that I didn’t enjoy. The key to why this beer is so great is simplicity and balance. Slight malts, floral hops, and citrus. This beer has everything crisp beer drinkers could want.
Brooklyn Pilsner is here to add some much-needed refreshment to your summer. This 5% ABV “Crisp Pilsner” was created to be an easy-drinking, crisp, refreshing, thirst-quencher for you to enjoy from now until forever. Or at least until the end of summer.
Bottom Line:
Brooklyn Pilsner is touted as a “Crisp Pilsner” and that’s exactly what it is. I’m not surprised to see that took the top spot. It’s a simple, balanced, easy-drinking beer. The kind of beer you want to drink all day long.
Part 3: Final Thoughts
After finishing this blind taste test and ranking I learned one very important thing: when it comes to crisp beers, there needs to be a healthy balance between muted, boring aromas and flavors and having too much going on. Simplicity and balance are key when making a crisp, easy-drinking beer. The beers that fit that bill landed higher on the rankings.
Pop star Normani has been slowly rolling out the release of her debut solo album over the past few months, sharing the single “Fair” and teasing a new one, ostensibly titled “Candy Paint.” And while fans have been patient in holding out for confirmation of a release date so far, they now have an entirely different kind of “date” to distract them from the wait. The “Wild Side” singer was recently seen leaving a trendy Los Angeles restaurant with a new potential boo, and fans are having a field speculating about the possibility of romance.
Normani arrived at the restaurant, Giorgio Baldi in Santa Monica, solo, but left with Seattle Seahawks wide receiver DK Metcalf in the same car, according to sources including Hollywood Life and Billboard. Once fans got their first glimpse of the photos they couldn’t help but gush over the possible couple. And while there are certainly some who disapprove, there are others who were quick to defend her.
Normani was spotted leaving a restaurant with Seattle Seahawks wide receiver DK Metcalf and now the internet is buzzing with dating rumors. #BillboardNewspic.twitter.com/R1Utm7nOSb
“Normani can do better than DK Metcalf” like he’s not young, black, successful, and arguably the most fit mf in the entire NFL right now. A high profile athlete is actually courting one of our black queens and look at how yall talk about it. Fuckin wow.
— nah, too playa for that. truthfully. (@Tip_MojoSoDope) June 14, 2022
Look, we’re not here to question who’s out of whose league. But both seem to be doing just fine in their respective fields. Metcalf is apparently so fast on the field, in fact, that he’s reportedly looking forward to try to qualify for the Olympics despite a diet consisting of what sounds like mainly sugary sweets. Meanwhile, both clearly have the downtime to enjoy together — while DK is rehabbing from an injury, Normani is just waiting for a release date for her album. If they’re enjoying killing time together, good for them.
(Spoilers for Season 3 of The Boys will be found below.)
In Season 3 of The Boys, the baddest Supe of all, Homelander, is badder (and more sadistic) than ever before. The first half of the season sees him force a girl to commit suicide on his birthday, and then he makes The Deep eat his friend, Timothy the Octopus (while he’s still alive, no less). And before all oft his happened, we saw him send an entire plane full of people to their deaths and also pleasure himself all over a city full of unsuspecting civilians.
Well, showrunner Eric Kripke wants everyone to know that Homelander will get worse, much worse, if you can imagine that. While speaking to the WGA (via Comic Book) one should expect Antony Starr’s character to slide even deeper away from sanity’s edge. Yep, it sure sounds like loss after loss (with Stormfront being the latest to “abandon” him) will take its toll, and he might even spark an apocalypse:
“You could track the meta-mythology of the series essentially as the slow unraveling of Homelander. So the writers know–and Antony [Starrr] is a big part of this as well–that, eventually, whenever the series reaches its climax, this guy is going to go full sociopath, and he has to be stopped before some kind of apocalyptic event. That’s what we’re building towards.”
The really good news out of all of this is that Kripke suggests that this will be a multi-season process from here on out, so we’re gonna get much more of The Boys. This is in addition to the animated spinoff, Diabolical, which contains a really relevant Homelander backstory toward the end of its first season. And there will be spinoffs, including a college-themed Supe show, and one never knows if a little Homelander flavor could be found there, too. All we really know is that he’s got almost no one on his side now, especially with Madelyn and Stormfront out of the picture, although it remains to be seen whether his son, Ryan, will stick with Dad. (Poor Ryan never stood a chance, did he?)
The Boys is currently releasing weekly Season 3 episodes on Amazon.
Chris Evans isn’t pulling his punches when it comes to critics of his new movie, Lightyear, prominently featuring a same-sex couple. The Captain America star and new voice of Buzz Lightyear had words for conservatives who have been attacking the film after feeling emboldened by the recent passing of the “Don’t Say Gay” law in Florida, which Disney has publicly opposed.
“The real truth is those people are idiots,” Evans bluntly told Reuters about anti-gay critics. “Every time there’s been social advancement as we wake up, the American story, the human story is one of constant social awakening and growth and that’s what makes us good.”
Evans’ comments arrive on the heels of his enthusiastic support of Lightyear‘s same-sex kiss, which was reportedly in danger of being cut from the film to appease overseas audiences. “It’s great that it’s back in the film,” the actor recently told Vanity Fair. “I think it’s a shame that it’s such a story. It should be more normalized, but I’m glad we are making those steps.”
Of course, Evans’ has long been a vocal support of the LGBTQ community. The Marvel star’s brother is gay, and Evans hasn’t been afraid to champion gay rights since he came out. That’s just one of the reasons why legions of fans came to his defense after Everybody Loves Raymond star Patricia Heaton slammed Disney for replacing Tim Allen and “castrating” Buzz Lightyear.
As numerous fans pointed out to Heaton, Evans’ voices the “movie version” of Buzz Lightyear who the toy, voiced by Allen, is based on. In other words, they both still exist in the Toy Story universe. (As for Disney supposedly replacing Allen because of his politics, nope. He’s currently reviving The Santa Clause series for Disney+, so that relationship is still very much intact.)
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