Month: April 2023

A new trailer for The Flash debuted at CinemaCon this week, and if audiences didn’t know that Michael Keaton’s Batman plays a huge role in the new superhero film, they do now. Keaton’s presence is all over the latest trailer as his Batman seeks to mentor Ezra Miller‘s Barry Allen after the young speedster seemingly broke the universe by going back in time to save his parents.

While Ben Affleck‘s version of the Dark Knight also makes a brief appearance, it’s clear that Keaton’s elder statesman Batman will be the major draw of the film. Not only are new versions of his iconic Batman suit shown in the trailer, but Keaton’s Caped Crusader definitely has some new moves thanks to visual effects making significant improvements since the late ’80s/early ’90s. This Batman can do more than just throw punches.

Here’s the official synopsis:

Worlds collide in “The Flash” when Barry uses his superpowers to travel back in time in order to change the events of the past. But when his attempt to save his family inadvertently alters the future, Barry becomes trapped in a reality in which General Zod has returned, threatening annihilation, and there are no Super Heroes to turn to. That is, unless Barry can coax a very different Batman out of retirement and rescue an imprisoned Kryptonian… albeit not the one he’s looking for. Ultimately, to save the world that he is in and return to the future that he knows, Barry’s only hope is to race for his life. But will making the ultimate sacrifice be enough to reset the universe?

The Flash runs into theaters on June 16.

Is Taco Bell’s Crunchwrap a sandwich? If a sandwich is just food between bread, and a flour tortilla is a sort of bread, couldn’t you make the case that a Crunchwap — which is part burrito part… something else — is some sort of sandwich? While, according to NPR, the USDA considers a sandwich “meat or poultry filling between two slices of bread, a bun or a biscuit,” and excludes “burritos, wraps, and hot dogs” from that definition, which is frankly ridiculous, the state of New York considers a burrito (and a hot dog and a gyro) a sandwich for tax purposes, so in some jurisdictions, a burrito is in fact a sandwich.

Or maybe it’s, like a Pop-Tart — actually ravioli?

Still with us? Look, we get that this is a hard debate to have and the more you think about it, the more confusing it gets, but we’re not the only ones having it — a Massachusetts court had to actually rule that a burrito was not a sandwich when Panera tried to sue Qdoba from opening up a restaurant in a shopping center, so as far as we’re concerned it’s an open debate.

This got us wondering — is Taco Bell’s new Breakfast California Crunchwrap actually the ultimate fast food breakfast sandwich? There was only one way to find out, we had to eat the thing.

Breakfast Crunchwrap

Tasting Notes:

Taco Bell’s new Breakfast California Crunchwrap is, like many things on Taco Bell’s menu, actually a returning classic and not really a new menu item. Once known simply as the “AM California Crunchwrap,” the Breakfast California Crunchwrap consists of bacon, egg, cheese, guacamole, and tomatoes over a giant hashbrown wrapped in a big flour tortilla. It joins the roster of Crunchwraps that include a sausage and bacon variation, but in this case the jalapeño sauce has been swapped out for guacamole, and Taco Bell added diced tomatoes.

In theory, you can order this year-round since Taco Bell’s menu is entirely customizable, so for Taco Bell to pretend this is a new menu item is kind of shady. But we won’t hold that against them because this isn’t a review of marketing, it’s a review of the flavors — so let’s get into that.

True to its name, biting into the Breakfast Crunchwrap supplies you with a satisfying crunch as your tastebuds are treated to waves of salty, peppery, and smokey flavors. Bacon and guacamole dominate, with the guacamole adding a nice creamy buttery note to the smokey quality of the bacon. The finish is dominated by crispy fried potato flavors, equal parts greasy and buttery. The egg is practically non-existent, it’s mostly texture, but the tomatoes add a nice bright and sweet juiciness to the otherwise dry sandwich.

That’s right, we said sandwich — this thing is more sandwich than it is burrito!

The combination of crunch you get from the hash browns and bacon is unbeatable, and while I miss the spice of the jalapeño sauce in the OG Breakfast Crunchwrap, you could always just add that in free of charge. How does this stack up to our current breakfast sandwich champ the Sausage McMuffin with Egg? We think it beats it, and that’s saying a lot.

The Bottom Line:

The best breakfast sandwich in the fast food universe is arguably not a sandwich at all. The California Crunchwrap might not technically be new (or a sandwich), but it’s proof that Taco Bell has as strong a breakfast game as any of the competition.

If you’ve had a baby or babysat someone else’s, then you know sometimes they cry, and there doesn’t seem to be much you can do to soothe them. You try all of the things—change their diaper, give them a bottle, do the bounce and sway that just about every parent has perfected. Yet, the wailing continues and you begin to question your life choices.

But thankfully, babies are pretty easily amused…most of the time. Ripping up paper or accidentally stubbing your toe can throw a baby into a fit of laughter. Other times, you have to call in the reserves—Lil Jon and the East Side Boyz featuring the Ying Yang Twins. Nope, I didn’t bump my head. Melissa Buckley discovered her 2-month-old son’s magic remedy to inconsolable tears is Lil Jon, specifically, “Get Low.”

You may be wondering how her infant son has such impeccable taste in 2000s dance music, and the answer is surprisingly simple.

“I listened to it a lot in the latter half of my pregnancy because I was trying to get him low, and then I listened to it on repeat a good few times a day for probably three, four weeks on end,” Buckley told Today.com.

Dancing is one way to help move babies down into position in preparation for birth. In fact, there have been several viral videos of expectant mothers dancing to club music in their kitchens and even in the hospital hoping to speed along the labor process. Buckley was in good company with her idea.

Recently, Buckley and her husband Zack let the world in on their secret to getting baby Jackson to stop crying when the mom uploaded a video to social media. In the video, Buckley is holding a crying Jackson when she says, “Alexa, play ‘Get Low.'” Alexa obliges like a good little eavesdropping robot, and as soon as the music starts to play, the crying stops.

Jackson looks around while his mom bounces and dances. Suddenly the infant is perfectly content in his mother’s arms, but it turns out that this is part of their routine. The new parents told Today.com that they play Lil Jon at least once or twice a day to help calm the baby down when he’s fussy.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Melissa 💫 (@melissak1996)

This revelation came about through a moment of desperation according to Buckley, who told Today.com that she was having difficulty getting her son to stop crying one day, so she put on “Get Low.” While listening to the familiar song, Jackson stopped crying and fell asleep.

Babies are certainly interesting. They remember much more than we parents give them credit for, and baby Jackson is here to remind everyone that even newborns can be nostalgic about songs. Granted, when he starts being able to understand the words to the iconic club song, heading to preschool may be interesting.

But the Buckleys will cross that bridge when they get to it. For now, they’ll keep using the song to put their baby to sleep and one day he’ll learn all about how Lil Jon was impressed by his required napping music.

With Henry Cavill moving on from Netflix’s The Witcher after Season 3, it’s fair to say that the series’ future fandom could hinge upon whether Joey Batey’s Jaskier continues to deliver the bangers. The Bard didn’t suffer from a sophomore slump in Season 2 because “Burn Butcher Burn” truly shredded, and the song also revealed his saltiness and emotional anguish over no longer riding with Geralt. The first Season 3 trailer does show Jaskier, thankfully, and only for a few seconds, but that still satisfied the show’s audience.

Team Jaskier is already here for the character’s newfound eyeliner, and they hope that this is a signal that maybe, just maybe, the show will tweak the existing lore from Andrzej Sapkowski books and the video games by making Jaskier canonically bisexual. This wouldn’t be the first time that the franchise tweaked the canon, and the show does deliver fan service like few others. Let’s just say that fans are here for the look and are hoping for the best possible outcome. And it’s a good thing that there are no noises being made about Joey Batey exiting the series. Let’s not give anyone any ideas there.

If nothing else, there’s always the music.

Netflix’s The Witcher will return on June 29.

A viral TikTok video highlights an extreme version of inequality that many wives and mothers in heterosexual relationships face. However, the mom in this story hit her limit and won’t deal with it anymore.

Lynalice Bandy, who goes by @5kids5catssomedogstoo on TikTok, posted a video that showed her home looking like a disaster after she worked six 10-hour days straight while her husband did nothing to help.

Her time-lapse video shows every room in the house completely trashed, with toys, food and laundry scattered everywhere. “Shampoo on the carpets in the girls’ room, nail polish all over Nugget covers, hair, and carpet. Scissors were used to cut hair, the down comforter, the mattress cover, and two Nugget covers,” wrote the mom.

“I’ve worked six, ten-hour days in a row with only one day off being a sick day,” she captioned the video. “I’d like to pretend I’m not the only person who cleans here, but as you can see…These rooms don’t get much attention when I’m not here.”

@5kids5catssomedogstoo

#divorce #parentingfail #messyhouse #whenwomen #depressionanxiety #clean #satifying

She says her husband’s excuse was that he was focused on doing his schoolwork and couldn’t pay attention to the kids. “Now, that school is out for a break, he doesn’t have that excuse anymore,” Bandy says, noting that all of his attention has been focused on “the four vehicles in our driveway that he wants to work on continuously.”

In a follow-up video, Bandy announced that she left her husband after the debacle. The original video received over 17,000 comments, many of which were from supportive women.

“You deserve much better, and he deserves to be alone. Much love to you from someone that left that life behind almost 20 yrs ago. You’ll get here, too,” Angela LaRoche wrote.

“Ma’am, you are nothing short of amazing! Hang in there!” Japanese with Jenny wrote.

“That home is beautiful because of YOU,” Hillary added. “You put in so much work, and it is not unseen by me and so many others. But, you DO deserve better. Proud of you.”

@5kids5catssomedogstoo

Sounds about right…

Even though Bandy’s experience with her husband is an extreme case of a couple whose domestic duties are way out of balance, it points to a problem that plagues many households. Even though it’s 2023 and families are becoming more equal, women still do significantly more housework than men.

A study utilizing data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ American Time Use Survey found that women 15 years and older spend 5.7 hours daily doing housework and looking after kids and elders. Men in the same age group do an average of 3.6 hours of daily domestic work.

That’s a 37% difference in time spent on household responsibilities.

Further, women who work an average of 35 hours a week spend 4.9 hours a day on household chores and child care, while men who work the same amount spend an average of 3.8 hours.

The comments show that there are a lot of women out there who are frustrated with their husbands for not doing their fair share. Hopefully, this video will encourage more people to speak out about domestic inequality and for more men to step up and do their part.

If you’ve had a baby or babysat someone else’s, then you know sometimes they cry, and there doesn’t seem to be much you can do to soothe them. You try all of the things—change their diaper, give them a bottle, do the bounce and sway that just about every parent has perfected. Yet, the wailing continues and you begin to question your life choices.

But thankfully, babies are pretty easily amused…most of the time. Ripping up paper or accidentally stubbing your toe can throw a baby into a fit of laughter. Other times, you have to call in the reserves—Lil Jon and the East Side Boyz featuring the Ying Yang Twins. Nope, I didn’t bump my head. Melissa Buckley discovered her 2-month-old son’s magic remedy to inconsolable tears is Lil Jon, specifically, “Get Low.”

You may be wondering how her infant son has such impeccable taste in 2000s dance music, and the answer is surprisingly simple.

“I listened to it a lot in the latter half of my pregnancy because I was trying to get him low, and then I listened to it on repeat a good few times a day for probably three, four weeks on end,” Buckley told Today.com.

Dancing is one way to help move babies down into position in preparation for birth. In fact, there have been several viral videos of expectant mothers dancing to club music in their kitchens and even in the hospital hoping to speed along the labor process. Buckley was in good company with her idea.

Recently, Buckley and her husband Zack let the world in on their secret to getting baby Jackson to stop crying when the mom uploaded a video to social media. In the video, Buckley is holding a crying Jackson when she says, “Alexa, play ‘Get Low.'” Alexa obliges like a good little eavesdropping robot, and as soon as the music starts to play, the crying stops.

Jackson looks around while his mom bounces and dances. Suddenly the infant is perfectly content in his mother’s arms, but it turns out that this is part of their routine. The new parents told Today.com that they play Lil Jon at least once or twice a day to help calm the baby down when he’s fussy.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Melissa 💫 (@melissak1996)

This revelation came about through a moment of desperation according to Buckley, who told Today.com that she was having difficulty getting her son to stop crying one day, so she put on “Get Low.” While listening to the familiar song, Jackson stopped crying and fell asleep.

Babies are certainly interesting. They remember much more than we parents give them credit for, and baby Jackson is here to remind everyone that even newborns can be nostalgic about songs. Granted, when he starts being able to understand the words to the iconic club song, heading to preschool may be interesting.

But the Buckleys will cross that bridge when they get to it. For now, they’ll keep using the song to put their baby to sleep and one day he’ll learn all about how Lil Jon was impressed by his required napping music.

A viral TikTok video highlights an extreme version of inequality that many wives and mothers in heterosexual relationships face. However, the mom in this story hit her limit and won’t deal with it anymore.

Lynalice Bandy, who goes by @5kids5catssomedogstoo on TikTok, posted a video that showed her home looking like a disaster after she worked six 10-hour days straight while her husband did nothing to help.

Her time-lapse video shows every room in the house completely trashed, with toys, food and laundry scattered everywhere. “Shampoo on the carpets in the girls’ room, nail polish all over Nugget covers, hair, and carpet. Scissors were used to cut hair, the down comforter, the mattress cover, and two Nugget covers,” wrote the mom.

“I’ve worked six, ten-hour days in a row with only one day off being a sick day,” she captioned the video. “I’d like to pretend I’m not the only person who cleans here, but as you can see…These rooms don’t get much attention when I’m not here.”

@5kids5catssomedogstoo

#divorce #parentingfail #messyhouse #whenwomen #depressionanxiety #clean #satifying

She says her husband’s excuse was that he was focused on doing his schoolwork and couldn’t pay attention to the kids. “Now, that school is out for a break, he doesn’t have that excuse anymore,” Bandy says, noting that all of his attention has been focused on “the four vehicles in our driveway that he wants to work on continuously.”

In a follow-up video, Bandy announced that she left her husband after the debacle. The original video received over 17,000 comments, many of which were from supportive women.

“You deserve much better, and he deserves to be alone. Much love to you from someone that left that life behind almost 20 yrs ago. You’ll get here, too,” Angela LaRoche wrote.

“Ma’am, you are nothing short of amazing! Hang in there!” Japanese with Jenny wrote.

“That home is beautiful because of YOU,” Hillary added. “You put in so much work, and it is not unseen by me and so many others. But, you DO deserve better. Proud of you.”

@5kids5catssomedogstoo

Sounds about right…

Even though Bandy’s experience with her husband is an extreme case of a couple whose domestic duties are way out of balance, it points to a problem that plagues many households. Even though it’s 2023 and families are becoming more equal, women still do significantly more housework than men.

A study utilizing data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ American Time Use Survey found that women 15 years and older spend 5.7 hours daily doing housework and looking after kids and elders. Men in the same age group do an average of 3.6 hours of daily domestic work.

That’s a 37% difference in time spent on household responsibilities.

Further, women who work an average of 35 hours a week spend 4.9 hours a day on household chores and child care, while men who work the same amount spend an average of 3.8 hours.

The comments show that there are a lot of women out there who are frustrated with their husbands for not doing their fair share. Hopefully, this video will encourage more people to speak out about domestic inequality and for more men to step up and do their part.

Being in a relationship can be difficult at times. Learning someone else’s quirks, boundaries, and deep views on the world can be eye-opening and hard. But usually, the happy chemicals released in our brain when we love someone can cause us to overlook things in order to keep the peace.

Jayson Gaddis, a relationship expert, took to Twitter to rip off people’s rose-colored glasses and tell them to forego marriage. Honestly, with the divorce rate in this country being as high as it is, he probably could’ve stopped his tweet right there. Don’t get married, the end. Many people would’ve probably related and not questioned the bold statement, but thankfully he followed up with three things you must be willing to do before going to the chapel.

Before going into his reasons for why he tells people not to get married, Gaddis explained that he is a person that “LOVEs being married.” I mean, it would probably make him a pretty weird relationship expert if he hated relationships, so it’s probably a good thing he enjoys being married. Surely his spouse appreciates his stance as well.

So why does he tell unsuspecting people not to get married? “Because a long-term partnership might be one of the hardest paths out there. It will confront everything about you and your partner. Your relationship skills will be tested. And all your unresolved childhood trauma will come to the surface,” Gaddis wrote.

Unresolved childhood trauma can become a major problem in relationships because oftentimes our trauma is present in how we react to conflict or relationship strain. According to Kaytee Gillis, LCSW-BACS, childhood trauma manifests in relationships in multiple ways including fear of abandonment, being easily irritated, constantly arguing or avoiding conflict at all costs.

u201cNever, ever get married. Unless you are willing to do these 3 things.u201d

— Jayson Gaddis (@Jayson Gaddis)
1675182104

It’s not unwise to tuck that bit of information in your pocket if you’re thinking about a long-term relationship, and Gaddis bringing this to the forefront will certainly benefit someone. That’s not to say you can’t be in a relationship if you have trauma; Gaddis is simply suggesting that you be aware of your traumas and how they may show up in the course of a relationship.

He then went on to get into his actual list of things couples should be willing to do before they get married in order to have a successful marriage.

“Learn. Learn about you, learn about them. Never stop learning about yourself and each other in the context of your relationship,” he wrote, which falls right in line with his pre-numbered suggestions.

Now, the second suggestion may have people quickly raising an eyebrow, especially if they don’t like conflict. Gaddis suggested embracing “conflict, adversity and challenges” and getting “very very good at repairing it and working it through 100% of the time.”

u201cSomething about long-term partnership invites us to face everything unloved and unprocessed in our psychology, neurobiology, and mammalian wiring. It is, at its core, a spiritual path.u201d

— Jayson Gaddis (@Jayson Gaddis)
1675182104

That’s a good one. Conflict resolution is a skill and committing to sharpening it and using it every single time could save some relationships. The third may help preemptively alleviate some unforeseen power struggles and I’m here for it.

“Share leadership and collaborate. Being teammates about everything and sharing the load together is crucial. Be honest about how hard it is to share leadership and get better at it,” Gaddis tweeted before elaborating further in the thread.

The author and relationship expert bluntly stated that if both people can’t agree to do those three suggestions, then the couple would not survive. Gaddis rounded out the Twitter thread by explaining that unless you’re ready to work on yourself and commit to the three things listed, you should stay single.

Ouch. Harsh words, but it’s better to come from a behavior and relationship expert than anyone else.

This article originally appeared on 2.3.23

The enjoyment you got while watching the Barbie trailer? That’s how Ryan Gosling felt once he tapped into his “Ken-ergy.”

While appearing at CinemaCon 2023 on Tuesday, the actor, who plays Ken to Margot Robbie’s Barbie in director Greta Gerwig’s colorful comedy, discussed his, uh, process for the role. “Up until this point, I only knew Ken from afar. I didn’t know Ken from within. I doubted my Ken-ergy. I didn’t see it. But Margot and Greta conjured this out of me,” he said. It’s a different kind of “Ken-ergy” than what Jeremy Strong brings to playing Ken(dall) on Succession.

Gosling showed his appreciation for Gerwig through his shirt.

Gosling compared stepping onto the Barbie set for the first time to The Wizard of Oz. “I think I finally know what Dorothy felt like,” he said. It’s a fitting comparison, as Gerwig was inspired by Technicolor musicals while making the film. Also, disco. “We had a bunch of references. Disco was a big part of this. This assumption is when people get together they want to dance,” she said.

Gerwig talked about writing the screenplay with her long-time partner Noah Baumbach. “We were making each other laugh and then we got to the end and we started to make each other cry. He thought it was very good and was maybe wanting to direct it,” she told the crowd. “And I said, ‘Step aside.’ There was a point I was so in love with it that I couldn’t imagine anyone else doing it.”

Barbie opens on July 21st.

(Via Variety)

A dedicated Ice Spice fan, aptly already named Lil Munchy Baby, rose the stakes by taking out a whole billboard to invite the “Princess Diana” rapper to his graduation party.

“Dear Ice Spice, I’m feelin’ u, love Munchy,” the sign reads. “You’re invited to my graduation on May 5th. Please DM.” After already providing his Instagram handle on the billboard, he also posted a picture of the open invite.

Oh, and it also includes a photo of Munchy posing in his graduation cap, holding a ton of cash, and sitting on a throne. This photoshoot further proves just how extravagant he’s willing to get and go for Ice’s grad party acceptance.

“Court ordered to go to school is crazy but I did it and kept my head up high I graduated and actually got a degree finna walk the stage and I need bae there tag @icespice for me,” he captioned. “just embracing my inner munch.”

In another Instagram post, it seems Munchy graduated within the past year from Atlanta Metropolitan State College with a Mass Communications degree.

Fans in the replies are already trying to get Ice Spice to take notice by tagging her in the comments. “@icespice come watch my little bro walk the stage !” one added. Others are simply offering kind words to the grad.

Check out the billboard for Ice Spice above.