It’s hard to imagine anyone but Chris Hemsworth as God of Thunder, but the actor wasn’t even in the top five when Marvel Studios was looking to add Thor to its burgeoning Avengers team in the very early days of the MCU. In a new interview, the actor reveals that his brother, Liam Hemsworth, was extremely close to wielding the mythical Mjolnir hammer alongside Iron Man and Captain America. Because of that close call, the elder Hemsworth would love to square off against his younger sibling as a multiversal variant of his Marvel character.
“My little brother (Liam Hemsworth) almost got cast as Thor,” Hemsworth told MensXP. “He was one of the first people who got right down to the wire on getting the part so I don’t know I could cross paths with him. That will be fun.”
As for how Chris ended up getting the part, the actor told Wired‘s Autocomplete last month that his younger brother was a little too young, which opened the door for the older Hemsworth who had already read for the role. “I think my audition sucked,” Chris admitted, which is why he was surprised to get pulled back in after Liam just missed the cut. Via IndieWire:
“They were like, ‘Look, he’s great, but he’s a bit young.’ My manager then said, ‘Well, he does have an older brother,’ which was me. I came back in, re-auditioned a few times, and just had a different attitude. Maybe I had a little more sort of motivation that my little brother got a look in and I hadn’t. I also had done a couple of films in between those two auditions, so I had a bit more experience and confidence in what I was going to do.”
With that kind of backstory, obviously, these two brothers need to settle their sibling rivalry on the big screen. The universe practically demands it.
Thor: Love and Thunder is now playing in theaters.
TMZ reported that a representative for 37-year-old denied the allegations, specifically stating, “Earlier today, the attorney who drafted this suit was credibly accused of trying to pay a woman to falsely accuse Trey. Hours later, that same attorney has filed this suit on behalf of an anonymous client. It isn’t hard to see what’s happening here, and it is a shame for genuine victims of sexual assault.”
Back in April, Songz had a similar experience, evading sexual assault allegations filed back in November 2021.
“The LVMPD has concluded the investigation into the sexual assault allegations against Tremaine Neverson and determined that no criminal charges will be filed,” police shared with TMZ. “If any new evidence comes to light, the case will be reopened for further investigation.”
(Spoilers from Amazon’s The Boys will be found below.)
The Boys wrapped up its third season with a bang (on behalf of nuclear Soldier Boy), and the show left plenty of unfinished business to be cleaned up on The Boys’ end. Butcher had lost sight of the true goal, and Ryan’s now going to be a mini-Homelander, it seems, and although Maeve’s headed off toward private life (and good for her), the show has long since been renewed for a fourth season.
In other words, Homelander will be back and worse than ever, and it’s likely that this next season should arrive quicker than the last round, which was slowed down by Covid. When will we see this happen, though?
Karl Urban recently revealed to Collider that he’s gearing up for Season 4 filming (which means that the scripts should be close to set), which is set to begin on August 22. He kept things close to the sleeve on what will happen, only declaring, “I’m getting back, getting my Butcher back on, and I can’t wait…. I can’t wait to see where they take the characters from where we leave them at the end of this season.”
As for a formal Season 4 release date, there’s nothing official yet. However, it’s worth noting that showrunner Eric Kripke ran an efficient ship between Seasons 1 (July 2019) and 2 (September 2020), which arrived about a year apart from each other. Yes, Season 3 (June 2022) took longer, but Mother’s Milk actor Laz Alonso confirmed that this was due to the pandemic, so it doesn’t sound like we’ll be in for a two-year wait again.
So, hopefully this means that we’ll see the continuation of Annie January’s Supe-free lifestyle in 2023, probably fall-ish? Ideally, there will be some followup there on what Homelander did to Black Noir, but once again, expect that weekly rollout to continue because it’s really working for this show.
The Boys‘ first three seasons are currently streaming on Amazon Prime.
Young Thug has been in the news a lot lately, mostly for being scooped up in the wide-ranging RICO indictment alongside other members of the YSL label. Today, Variety broke the news that Alex Gibney’s Jigsaw Productions and Rolling Stone Films are working together on a documentary series and podcast about Young Thug.
The companies describe it as a tale set against “the larger Atlanta hip-hop boom, and the ongoing RICO case against YSL that accuses Young Thug and 27 other alleged collaborators of crimes ranging from racketeering to murder. The projects seek to separate the fact from the fiction of the criminal charges against YSL members, while also interrogating the controversial practice of prosecutors using rap lyrics as evidence of criminal activity. The result will be a wild, enthralling story of music, money, crime and hip-hop on trial.”
Executive producer Gus Wenner, the CEO of Rolling Stone, added, “We’re thrilled to partner with the talented team at Jigsaw to tell this ambitious and important story about one of the most compelling and controversial music scenes of the moment.”
This announcement has been met with mixed reactions on Twitter, with most fans wondering how these projects can begin when the legal issues remain very much unresolved.
— Matthew A. Cherry (@MatthewACherry) July 8, 2022
Y’all wasn’t there when they were in their communities providing jobs, opportunities, feeding families, doing food and toy drives, etc. I got all kinds of footage and put my documentary on hold because it’s a difficult time for the family. Crazy how people feed off of negativity https://t.co/IvlSK8y8GM
No one thinks highly of police officers when they’re sitting handcuffed in the back of a cruiser, but for the Miami officer who arrested Polo G for assault in 2021, his experience was a hardcore exercise in patience considering the eloquence involved when the detainee happens to be a world-class rapper. Recently, body cam footage from the aftermath of the arrest surfaced online, revealing that Polo gave the dressing down of a lifetime to the officer, questioning all the life choices that led him to pursue his present career path.
“I’m just sayin’, do you got $10,000 in your bank account right now?” Polo inquests. “‘Cause if you die right now, what could you give your kids? If you die right now, what could you give the lady that you in bed with? What could you give to your mama? Have you ever bought yo mama anything? Did you buy yo mama a car? Did you buy yo mama a house? I did that.” The officer humbly replies, “Good for you, bro. I’m glad you did that… I would love to do that one day.” In his own fiery response, Polo posits that it’s unlikely as a police officer — something Polo seems very disdainful about.
Fortunately for the Chicago rapper, a pair of felony charges were dropped shortly after the incident, and the remaining misdemeanors were dropped earlier this year after he completed an anger management course. Hopefully, he can avoid any future run-ins with the police, but woe be unto any officers thinking they can flex on this rapper — they might end up being on the receiving end of one anti-motivational speech.
Fire Of Love is an eye-popping documentary feature now playing select theaters, about a life-long romance between two volcanologists who spent their lives chasing lava flows and each other. The film, directed by Sara Dosa, is built mostly out of footage the two dowdy scientists shot themselves, and if you enjoy gratuitous lava footage and tales of lifelong love, it’s easily worth the watch
For me it was fascinating for those reasons, but also because it feels like an origin story for Wes Anderson’s entire aesthetic. It’s a bit cute to note the parallel, and I’m far from the first critic to point it out (I imagine Dosa played it up a bit herself) but the experience of watching it is downright uncanny.
The film is about Katia and Maurice Krafft, narrated huskily by beloved indie auteur Miranda July (who I frequently found myself wishing would have a glass of water or something), but mostly it had me wondering: Are the Kraffts Wes Anderson’s parents? Did he know them somehow? How do their lives feel so much like an unscripted Wes Anderson movie? With every scene, Fire Of Love seems to reveal new, more uncanny layers of Andersoniana.
First of all, the Kraffts are French, Wes Anderson’s favorite nationality. Wes Anderson (who it surprises some to learn is from Texas) is such a Francofile that when he finally set a movie there, in The French Dispatch, people were shocked that it was his first, like it was some kind of Mandela effect. Probably because he’s always had at least one character in a beret, usually with raccoonish eye makeup and sometimes dancing to French music on the beach. But I digress.
Secondly, the Kraffts are volcanologists. Which is to say, they study volcanos, and have dedicated their entire lives to the discipline, referring often to themselves as “volcanologists” and frequently postulating about what action would most benefit the field of “volcanology.” It’s precisely the kind of niche discipline-turned-entire-personal-identity Wes Anderson would and has put in a movie — a kind of showman’s academia where the characters project an air of being doggedly in pursuit of knowledge but are also secretly in it for the glamour and the fame.
national geographic
As noted above, Fire of Love is also a love story between dowdy academics, exactly the dynamic Wes Anderson has spent an entire career exploring, whether it’s Danny Glover and Etheline Tenenbaum, Steve and Eleanor Zissou, Bill Murray and Frances McDormand in Moonrise Kingdom, or half the characters in The French Dispatch. Naturally, the Kraffts are also usually depicted running around exotic landscapes wearing matching, goofy normcore costumes (and holy shit does Wes Anderson ever love him some costumes and uniforms). Even the Krafft’s outfits themselves look like they were lifted from The Life Aquatic, or vice versa:
Focus FeaturesNational Geographic
It’s even the same color scheme!
The Kraffts met in the late sixties and, disillusioned with the Vietnam War, spent most of their working volcanology life and relationship in the seventies, eighties, and just into the early nineties. It isn’t a spoiler to say that they died together at Mount Unzen in 1991, partly because it’s a real thing that happened, but also because the movie doesn’t withhold this information either. The rub is that their entire working life took place during the heyday of mid-century mod fashion and bulky, chunky analog tech — exactly the kind of shit Wes Anderson fucking loves, to an almost obnoxious degree.
Think: Margot Tenenbaum’s boxy record player. Suzy from Moonrise Kingdom‘s Polaroid camera. Basically every scientific doodad and doohicky from The Life Aquatic. It’s hard to find a scene in Fire Of Love where at least one of the Kraffts doesn’t have a giant SLR camera or binoculars around their neck, or isn’t fiddling with some instrument built out of wires and giant antennae.
The Kraffts spend the entire movie hopping around the globe, chasing volcanic eruptions while lugging around giant, clunky, presumably homemade protective gear — notably these giant silver, metal and asbestos full-body condoms:
National Geographic
Through it all, the Kraffts photograph and film everything they do. Even their shooting style feels Andersonian, center framed in perfect focus with the subjects frequently darting from behind a tripod into the frame to smile kitchily before doing something charmingly eccentric.
Meanwhile, the footage in Fire Of Love not shot by the Kraffts tends to come from obscure, probably publicly-funded news magazine shows, hosted by chuffed pipe smoking men whom the Kraffts regale with tales of their latest adventure.
Focus Featuresnational geographic
The Kraffts are sort of pseudo-famous in an eccentric, academia kind of way, like Eli Cash or Raleigh St. Clair or Steve Zissou. They have volcanology friends, volcanologist rivals, get drawn into volcanology drama.
The story they tell themselves and their pipe-smoking admirers is that they’re in it for the pursuit of human knowledge. Quickly though, it becomes clear that they’re thrill-seekers and performers as much as they are scientists, frequently taking risks that have more to do with the search for personal fulfillment and out of sheer horniness than with the quest for scientific knowledge. And those “flaws,” of course, only serve to make them seem more human.
If you always had a vague sense Wes Anderson’s real-life inspirations, watching Fire Of Love is like seeing them suddenly rack into focus. It’s like the Kraffts sprung directly from his psyche. And if Anderson’s twee bullshit never worked on you before, this time it just might, because this eccentric love story with the bittersweet ending is more than just a style choice.
‘Fire Of Love’ plays in select theaters starting July 6th.Vince Mancini is onTwitter. You can access his archive of reviewshere.
Despite the fact that Game Of Thrones ended with a not-so-great final season nearly three years ago, George R. R. Martin is still trekking away at his gigantic books that will hopefully be finished sometime in the next decade, but who really knows.
While the various Game Of Thrones spin-off shows have been taking center stage as of late, Martin took to his infamous blog to give fans an update on how he intends to continue the series. And, guys, he knows that it’s been a while. He is working on it!
Martin blogged, “Most of you know by now that I do not like to give detailed updates on WINDS. I am working on it, I have been working on it, I will continue to work on it. (Yes, I work on other things as well). I love nothing more than to surprise my readers with twists and turns they did not see coming, and I risk losing those moments if I go into too much detail.”
So, to make up for the long wait (the last novel came out over a decade ago in 2011), Martin is giving a lengthy update on where he’s at:
What I have noticed more and more of late, however, is my gardening is taking me further and further away from the television series. Yes, some of the things you saw on HBO in GAME OF THRONES you will also see in THE WINDS OF WINTER (though maybe not in quite the same ways)… but much of the rest will be quite different.
And really, when you think about it, this was inevitable. The novels are much bigger and much much more complex than the series. Certain things that happened on HBO will not happen in the books. And vice versa. I have viewpoint characters in the books never seen on the show: Victarion Greyjoy, Arianne Martell, Areo Hotah, Jon Connington, Aeron Damphair They will all have chapters, and the things they do and say will impact the story and the major characters who were on the show. I have legions of secondary characters, not POVs but nonetheless important to the plot, who also figure in the story: Lady Stoneheart, Young Griff, the Tattered Prince, Penny, Brown Ben Plumm, the Shavepate, Marwyn the Mage, Darkstar, Jeyne Westerling. Some characters you saw in the show are quite different than the versions in the novels. Yarra Greyjoy is not Asha Greyjoy, and HBO’s Euron Greyjoy is way, way, way, way different from mine. Quaithe still has a part to play. So does Rickon Stark. And poor Jeyne Poole. And… well, the list is long. (And all this is part of why WINDS is taking so long. This is hard, guys).
Oh, and there will be new characters as well. No new viewpoints, I promise you that, but with all these journeys and battles and scheming to come, inevitably our major players will be encountering new people in lands far and near.
One thing I can say, in general enough terms that I will not be spoiling anything: not all of the characters who survived until the end of GAME OF THRONES will survive until the end of A SONG OF ICE & FIRE, and not all of the characters who died on GAME OF THRONES will die in A SONG OF ICE & FIRE. (Some will, sure. Of course. Maybe most. But definitely not all) ((Of course, I could change my mind again next week, with the next chapter I write. That’s gardening)).
And the ending? You will need to wait until I get there. Some things will be the same. A lot will not.
Sure, he could have spent this time writing the actual book instead of writing about why the book is taking forever, but it’s really the thought that counts, right? Besides, here is a dragon app to tide you over. Everybody wins!
Young Thug is currently in a Georgia jail as part of an ongoing RICO indictment investigation against him and many of his YSL crew members. Early last month, he was denied bond when a judge felt he was a danger to his community. While this questionable racketeering investigation has come under fire as “racist” by some for citing Young Thug’s lyrics as evidence, a new case against Thugger’s cousin, Fardereen Deonta Grier, might be a little more straightforward.
Grier has been arrested for murdering his girlfriend by shooting her in the face, according to TMZ’s source at the East Point Police Department in Atlanta. The East Point PD spokesperson says that Grier identified himself as Young Thug’s cousin — the son of Thugger’s youngest sister — when he was getting arrested.
The East Point PD spokesperson also elaborated, saying that Grier’s girlfriend, Destiny Fitzpatrick, was “dead in a pool of blood by the front door,” at the scene and that Grier was in tears. He allegedly tried to tell the cops a story about fending off intruders, but soon admitted to shooting his girlfriend. He was booked and charged with murder.
Young Thug is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Neighbors of former acting assistant Attorney General Jeffrey Clark got quite an eyeful recently when the Department of Justice conducted an early-morning raid on the alleged Donald Trump loyalist’s Virginia home. As Raw Story reports, CNN’s Hannah Rabinowitz obtained bodycam footage of authorities arriving to execute a search warrant and catching Clark in nothing but a dress shirt and pair of boxers.
CNN’s Erin Burnett broadcast the footage on Thursday night, which shows an officer with the DOJ’s Office of Inspector General introducing herself and informing Clark that she and her team are there to execute a search warrant on his home, then asking him to immediately step outside. Though he’s pants-less, Clark’s first concern is whether he can call his lawyer. When he’s told that he can, but only once he steps outside, Clark—whose former colleagues recently testified that he was totally game to use the power of the DOJ to help Trump overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election if appointed Acting AG, and painted him as kind of an idiot—seems to realize that he’s in his undies and pathetically asks, “Can I put pants on first?”
The answer to that question was also a big N-O, but officers promised to place him behind his car so that no one would see him. Well, no one except for the bodycam that was pointed directly at his half-naked body and the millions of people who have since seen the footage. According to Burnett, “officials seized a number of electronic devices from Clark during that early-morning raid. Officers also dispatched an electronics-sniffing dog to search Clark’s house.”
Given Clark’s alleged eagerness to help Trump dismantle democracy as we know it in exchange for a tiny taste of power, getting caught with your pants down—and in the other room—for all the world to see seems like a fair tradeoff.
Is it ever really worth buying super expensive whiskey? That’s a tough question. I’d say if you’re just going to drink it, probably no. There’s so much great whiskey out there for great prices that spending a ton on one just seems unnecessary. If you’re building an investment portfolio, however, well, then probably yes.
That conundrum arose when I was tasting a brand new, super expensive, very rare bourbon whiskey the other day. Specifically, a Rare Hare 1953 Straight Bourbon Whiskey Finished in XXO Cognac Casks.
Rare Hare 1953 is the lux brand from Playboy’s spirits line. Playboy got into the spirits game last year with a special Extra Añejo release from Codigo. This year, they’re dipping their toes into the ever-expanding bourbon market with a very rare release of 17-year-old bourbon at a hefty price tag. The thing is, that high price tag is the bottle’s MSRP (suggested retail price). This whiskey is supposed to cost $589, so you’re truly paying for a rarity. For comparison’s sake, that $1,000 bottle of WL Weller you see on some shelves should really cost $99 (its MSRP). That’s a massive difference between the true cost and the inflated cost of a whiskey.
So, is Rare Hare 1953 Straight Bourbon actually worth the nearly $600 price tag? Let’s dive into the juice and find out.
Also Read: The Top 5 UPROXX Bourbon Posts Of The Last Six Months
The juice in the bottle is a blend of 17-year-old bourbons from undisclosed sources. Those 17-year-old barrels were blended and then re-barreled into XXO Cognac casks (barrels that held brandy for at least 14 years in Cognac, France) for an additional 12 months of mellowing. Finally, that juice is vatted and bottled as-is into 1,953 bottles.
Tasting Notes:
The nose is shockingly subtle for its age with mild lines of dark fruit leather next to brandy-soaked raisins with a twinge of tart cherry and a clear yet soft graininess that’s very Tennessee hollow on a cold fall day, with amber and golden leaves falling on a forest floor. There’s a hint of clove and toffee on the nose that leads into the palate with a sense of sharp cinnamon spice next to a touch of black licorice that’s kind of like a black Necco Wafer. The mid-palate eases off the sharp spices towards a gentle espresso ice cream with a hit of nutmeg and plenty of vanilla oils and a whisper of old peach buried deep in there. The end leans back into that autumnal forest with a barky chewiness that’s slightly sweet and fruity next to a final note of salted toffee drizzle over a thin line of sour cherry tobacco leaf.
The Bottle/Presentation:
The bottle is a beauty on its own with a curvy edge and heavy bottom. The label is embossed and the neck label is understated and slightly art deco. The box has a swanky presentation with a leather exterior and wooden interior with an NFT that’ll lead you to a luxury lifestyle travel registration. Overall, this is a great-looking gift bottle.
Bottom Line:
This is very Tennessee whiskey, so that’s going to be a deal-breaker for a lot of folks. I love Tennesse whiskey, so I’m into it. That all said, this felt like a bit of a show-off pour more than one I’d actually want to return to day in and day out.
Ranking:
89.9/100 — This is the most solid of solid B-pluses. It’s really nice but nothing we haven’t seen before.
Value?
I can see reaching for this if someone asks for a pour, but I’m not going to stand in line to snag a bottle. I’d say save it for your vault. It is a rare whiskey that we are not going to see again. There are only 1,953 bottles, period. That number is constantly dwindling — mine’s open! So there will be value in that rarity down the road.
And if not, you have a really solid 17-year-old whiskey to sip on throughout the year. That’s a win either way.
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