Meanwhile, Lil Durk has been on a roll of his own; not only was he one of the performers at Dreamville Fest this year, but he’s also teamed up with Don Toliver and GloRilla musically while establishing a scholarship for HBCU students.
The two teaming up makes perfect sense, and they teased their collaboration in a new video on social media with which Durk promised to give more information if it generated enough engagement. “100k replies I’m dropping album cover and date call my bluff,” he wrote alongside a Cole-shot selfie video of the two hanging out in a crowd of exuberant teens who sang along to their new song.
Unfortunately, that means we don’t quite know when exactly the collaboration is coming out. The conditions Durk set for sharing the album release date might seem out of reach — the reply count stands at just over 4,000 as of this writing, with another 1,500+ quote tweets — but it’s likely he’s already got an announcement ready to go on schedule, just in case.
Yellowstone has been on hiatus since January when the show paused for a Season 5 mid-season break, and that’s the last concrete detail she wrote, darlin.’ Since then, there’s been plenty of gossip with the show not returning yet to shoot the back end of the season, and rumors of Kevin Costner’s possible exit have been swirling. Granted, one particularly unbelievable part of one report indicated that Costner had only wanted to spend one week shooting an entire half season, and his team shot down that tidbit.
Still, it didn’t help the situation that, out of the Yellowstone actors who did appear at the April 1 Paleyfest, no one seemed to know when filming would resume. Costner has been busy planning his next directorial effort, Horizon, so yep, the immediate future seems a little busy for him. Added to the mix would be reports of a dramatic rift between Costner and Yellowstone creator Taylor Sheridan, and that’s where things still stand today, a month after neither surfaced (as advertised) at Paleyfest.
Entertainment Tonight now reports — and this is not concrete yet, since no reps have confirmed on behalf of the actor or the show — that Costner will be heading into the Yellowstone sunset after Season 5 concludes:
Kevin Costner is not returning to Yellowstone after season 5, sources close to the production tell ET. The news comes after reports of alleged drama between the star of the Paramount Network series and co-creator Taylor Sheridan over the actor’s filming commitments to the remaining episodes of the current season.
Additional sources also tell ET that there is still no update on when the cast and crew are going to return to Montana, where the series is filmed on location, to finish shooting season 5’s remaining episodes. As a result, there’s been a lot of confusion and frustration.
This report follows up on multiple actresses, including Kelly Reilly and Lainey Wilson, fielding questions related to what the heck might be going on. Meanwhile, Sheridan is prepping his 515th Paramount+ TV series, Lawmen: Bass Reeves, and the world will await definitive confirmation on this unending drama.
While Jack Harlow is garnering plenty of attention for his new album Jackman and his upcoming film debut in White Men Can’t Jump, the Louisville native has become almost as well-known for his philanthropic works over the past few years, nearly all of them focused within his hometown.
In a statement, Harlow said, “The launch of my foundation is represented by gifts to 4 organizations that I believe are doing the work of making Louisville a better place; helping under-resourced families remove obstacles to higher education, supporting a new start in a neighborhood that has been lacking investment, giving hands-on assistance to the poorest of the poor, and making safe housing affordable for families.”
“With all I have done and will do in my career, my home is where my heart is, my refuge, and the place that shaped me,” he added. “Giving back to Louisville represents the dream I have of making a difference. My vision is to make Louisville a better place. Know that this is just the start of my philanthropic legacy and I look forward to transforming our community and, as a result, the success and happiness of its citizens.”
Jack Harlow is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Disclaimer: While all of the products recommended here were chosen independently by our editorial staff, Uproxx may receive payment to direct readers to certain retail vendors who are offering these products for purchase.
Welcome to SNX DLX, your weekly roundup of the best sneakers to hit the internet. We’re just under two full months away from the official start of summer but things are already heating up in the sneaker world, as this week brings us a full list of 10 dope drops. It’s been a minute since we’ve had a SNX this jam-packed and you shouldn’t expect any more light weeks until we approach the end of year. Prepare yourself, because the sneaker year is about to seriously pop off over the next couple of months.
Highlights from this week include two pairs of Jordan 2s in different shades of grey, Aimé Leon Dore’s latest New Balance collaboration, a luxurious take on the LeBron XX, and the biggest highlight of the week — an elephant print Jordan 1. Did your heart rate just increase? Ours too.
But that’s just scratching the surface of what we’ve got this week, to close everything out Pharrell’s Humanrace label is reimagining the Adidas Samba in a full leather build in five different colorways. Let’s dive into the week’s 10 best sneaker drops.
With Nike’s best silhouettes, the simplest design is always the best one. Case in point, this week’s Wolf Grey SB Dunk. This design has no bells or whistles, it’s just a simple wolf grey upper with contrasting orange details, a white swoosh, and a bright gum outsole. Seems a little like the Fresh Pair episode with El-P from Run the Jewels, right?
Nike nerds will recognize this color combination from the brand’s early ‘70s era shoe box, but you don’t have to be a hardcore Nike-head to appreciate this dope callback colorway.
The Nike SB Dunk Low Pro Wolf Grey is out now. Pick up a pair via the Nike SNKRS app.
Nike is slowly rolling out Cortez colorways this spring and this one is a classic. Featuring a white leather upper, this sneaker is accented by two different shades of green at the Swoosh, heel piece, and midsole, with vintage Nike tongue logos, exuding the retro vibe that makes the Cortez so beloved.
The Nike Women’s Cortez Gorge Green and Malachite is out now for a retail price of $85. Pick up a pair via the Nike SNKRS app.
We’ve been chronicling the Jordan 2 Renaissance since before it was officially a thing last year. The pairs that helped put the design back on the map were notable for just how far out of left field they were, combining radical colors and fabrics to totally reimagine the shoe. This week’s Cool Grey takes a page from that playbook but with a subtler approach.
The Cool Grey takes classic Jordan color tones and lays them across an elevated nubuck and suede upper with an Ice Blue heel piece, piping, and laces. It’s beautiful, functional, and exudes that air of luxury the design was always going for. We think Peter Moore would be proud.
The Nike Women’s Air Jordan 2 Cool Grey is set to drop on May 4th at 7:00 AM PST. Pick up a pair via the Nike SNKRS app.
The Nike LeBron is in its lifestyle era. We’re of course referring to Jordan Brand’s lifestyle line which takes Jordan designs and adds a luxury lounge aesthetic to the sneakers that make them less fit for the court and more fit for… brunch. That’s what I think of when I see the LeBron XX Sesame.
While Jordan Brand’s lifestyle line is kind of weak, I have to say, the look works with the LeBron XX. The sneaker has a clean pebbled leather design with contrasting cross stitching, a textured double swoosh, an icy outsole, and gold accents. Its luxury footwear at its finest.
The LeBron XX Sesame is set to drop on May 4th at 7:00 AM PST. Pick up a pair via the Nike SNKRS app.
This week New Balance is teaming up with the brand that helped put them back on the map, Aimé Leon Dore, with this take on the 1906R. The design combines New Balances ACTEVA LITE cushioning with N-ergy, and ABZROB sole units for a shock-absorbing flexible feel that brings together all of New Balances innovations in one single shoe.
To keep things lightweight, the upper is a mix of mesh and synthetic overlays with a TPU heel cage, and a green-on-white design that recalls some of ALD’s past New Balance collaborations.
The ALD New Balance 1906R is set to drop on May 4th at 7:00 AM PST. Pick up a pair via the New Balance webstore.
Aimé Leon Dore isn’t the only dope boutique brand New Balance is teaming up with this week, we’ve also got Bodega taking a stab at the 9060. Featuring cool blue tones, grey, and tan colors, this 9060 sports suede overlays over a mesh upper with a welded lateral N logo and an embroidered medial logo over an ABZROB midsole.
The co-branding lives on the insert, putting the design at the forefront rather than relying on flashy branding to draw eyes. We always appreciate that move and shows confidence on Bodega’s part.
The Bodega x New Balance 9060 is set to drop on May 5th at 7:00 AM PST. Pick up a pair via the New Balance webstore.
Adidas is at its best when it’s mining its vintage silhouettes and breathing new life into them. That’s what the Treziod 2 does, it celebrates the shape and aesthetics of ’80s-era silhouettes from Adidas’ archive and adds modern touches for a more contemporary fit.
Those modernizations include a mixed textile and leather upper with EVA tooling and is rounded out by a classic woven tongue label. The colorway combines aluminum, collegiate burgundy, and court green.
The Adidas Treziod 2 is set to drop on May 5th at 7:00 AM PST. Pick up a pair via the Adidas CONFIRMED app.
Sometimes Nike gets lazy, I imagine the pitch meeting for this design went something like this: “we need a hit, how about we combine our most popular sneaker, the Jordan 1, with one of the most iconic colorways, the elephant print?” Done. It took no effort to dream this one up and while it is clearly lazy, it’s kind of hard to hate it because it’s a f*cking Jordan 1 with elephant print!
Who doesn’t want that? Look at it! The sneaker features a white leather upper with elephant print paneling and a contrasting black swoosh. It’s a perfect sneaker.
The Nike Air Jordan 1 High Elephant Print is set to drop on May 6th at 7:00 AM PST for a retail price of $180. Pick up a pair via the Nike SNKRS app or aftermarket sites like GOAT and Flight Club.
If you felt burned about the Jordan 2 Cool Grey being a women’s size exclusive, chill out, because a White and Cement Grey version is also dropping this week. No, it’s not as dope as the Cool Grey, but it features the same build in brighter and lighter tones. It still looks dope, and once you own a pair you’ll forget all about the Cool Grey. Maybe.
The Nike Air Jordan 2 White and Cement Grey is set to drop on May 6th at 7:00 AM PST. Pick up a pair via the Nike SNKRS app or aftermarket sites like Flight Club.
I’m generally 50-50 on Pharrell’s Humanrace line, but it’s impossible not to love his take on the classic Samba silhouette. The Humanrace version of the sneaker gets a premium leather upgrade with an all-leather build on the upper, tongue, longing, and laces, in five different vibrant triple-dipped colorways including red, yellow, orange, pink, and lavender.
Adidas calls it “classic Samba shoes for a new generation,” a perfectly apt description.
The Adidas Humanrace Samba is set to drop on May 6th at 7:00 AM PST. Pick up a pair via the Adidas CONFIRMED app.
Today, Kate Bush was among the inductees for the class of the 2023 Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame announcement, alongside Missy Elliott, Rage Against The Machine, and many more.
Bush reacted to the news with Rolling Stone, expressing her excitement at making it in. It has been her fourth nomination since she’s been eligible but proved to be the lucky attempt among voters.
“I have to admit I’m completely shocked at the news of being inducted into the Hall of Fame! It’s something I just never thought would happen,” she said. “Thank you so much to everyone who voted for me. It means a great deal that you would think of me. It’s such a huge honor.”
“Now, as part of the initiation ceremony, I get to find out about the secret handshake… there is one, right?” Bush added.
She has also had a resurgence of popularity among new, returning, and younger listeners after her classic song, “Running Up That Hill,” appeared in a significant Stranger Things episode. That, coupled with TikTok, turned the 1985 track into Bush’s first time in the Top 5, as the song made it to No. 3 on Billboard‘s Hot 100 chart.
All of the 2023 inductees will receive their official dues at the Brooklyn ceremony on November 3 at Barclays Center.
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Five Metropolitan Transportation Authority employees are hailed as heroes for their quick thinking and diligence in the April 6 rescue of a young boy. Locomotive Engineer William Kennedy was operating a southbound Hudson Line train near Tarrytown, a few miles north of New York City, when he noticed an unusual object on the northbound track.
That “object” was a 3-year-old boy.
Kennedy sent an emergency call out to all trains in the area, catching the attention of a northbound conductor, Shawn Loughran, and a trainee. Loughran slowed down his train as he approached the child, who was straddling the electrified third rail.
When the train screeched to a halt, Assistant Conductor Marcus Higgins didn’t waste a second. Leaping down the tracks, he sprinted 40 yards ahead of the train, scooping up the young child like a guardian angel.
“The timing couldn’t have been more perfect, you know. If it was a minute later [or] a minute sooner I wouldn’t have seen him,” Kennedy told Fox 5 New York, adding that if the child would have touched the third rail, he “would have been hurt really bad.”
“Physically, he seemed ok, we didn’t know at the time that he was autistic, non-verbal,” Higgins told Fox 5. When they got him off the tracks, Higgins says he “had a smile on his face.”
Safely cradling the little one, Higgins whisked him on board the train, and the crew set off towards Tarrytown Station. When they arrived, they were greeted by MTAPD officers and Tarrytown EMS, ready to ensure the child’s safety.
During the daring rescue, the boy’s mother and sister frantically looked for the child. They were spotted by police sobbing on a street corner. The police put two and two together and reunited the boy with his family at the station. The mother told the MTA employees that the boy was autistic and nonverbal.
Five MTA employees were awarded commendations for their daring rescue of the boy.
“These fine team members embodied the qualities we want our employees to exhibit while on duty, alert, responsive, knowledgeable and helpful,” Metro-North Railroad President and Interim LIRR President Catherine Rinaldi said. “With the bravery and calm comportment of superheroes, they averted a horrific outcome and saw to it that this little boy was not going to become a statistic. We salute their efforts and compassion and heartily thank them for their dedication to the people we serve.”
“Everybody’s quick thinking and the perfect timing allowed us to get this child off the tracks and back to his family,” Kennedy said in a statement. “In the heat of the moment, when you see a child in this situation, your first instinct is to make sure they’re safe,” Assistant Conductor Marcus Higgins said in a statement. “I’m glad our crew was there and able to help.”
“I’m just so happy it all worked out, and everything fell into place,” Locomotive Engineer Shawn Loughran said.
“It’s a great feeling knowing that we were able to help reunite this family,” Signal Maintainer Christopher Fraina said. “In those minutes that must have felt like hours to them, I’m so glad we were in the right place at the right time.”
Where would we be without the fast food snack menu? Whether you’re looking for a quick bite or an indulgent add-on to elevate your combo, the snack menu is where all the most exciting fast food lives. Burgers and chicken sandwiches are great, but the snack menu is where you can get weird and wild. Do you want french fries smothered in sauce, cheese, spices and onions? Snack menu. Do you want mozzarella cheese sticks? Snack menu. Mac and cheese in the drive-thru? Snack menu. A soft-serve ice cream cone? Mother f*cking snack menu, fam!
Fast food might not be as easy on the wallet as it was five years ago (the dollar menu is all but dead) but every fast food menu out there has a few snacks and side orders that can elevate your meal into a next-level experience with just a few dollars. So let us help you beef up your next meal with our all-time favorite foods from the snack menu for under five dollars. We’ve made a similar list highlighting the best side orders at all the big chains in the past but a lot has changed since then, and while we have some returning items here, most of the stuff you’ll find on this list are new picks.
Whether you’re looking to elevate your meal or just looking for a quick and easy snack that’ll fill you up on the cheap, these foods will help ensure that your next drive-thru experience is worth the money. Let’s dive in!
Arby’s — Jalapeño Bites
Arby
Price: $3.99 (Five piece order)
Why We Love It:
Every meal would be elevated with just a little heat, and Arby’s Jalapeño Bites strike that perfect balance between being hot enough for spice lovers, and mild enough for first-timers who are looking to dip a toe in the hot waters of spice land.
Tasting Notes:
Crunchy, with a light and crispy batter. The cream cheese filling is sweet and tangy which works as a counterbalance to the mild heat of the slightly sweet jalapeño pepper. The more of ‘em you eat, the more the heat builds.
The Bottom Line:
A perfect add-on to any of Arby’s delicious sandwiches, and great as a standalone snack, no sandwich required.
I dunk on Burger King a lot, and if you’ve ever eaten there you’ll know it’s for good reason, but BK legitimately has the best onion rings in all of fast food.
They’re so good they’re worth a trip to Burger King. Too bad nothing else is.
Tasting Notes:
Most fast food onion rings have too much breading, but the breading here is light and crispy (is it panko? We think it’s panko) which puts emphasis on the sweet onion flavor.
The Bottom Line:
The best onion rings in all of fast food. Not greasy spoon burger spot good, but close.
Okay, technically this isn’t a snack menu item so much as it’s a concept, but it’s too good a deal to ignore! Right now Carl’s Jr. is offering a two for $5 match value bundle during breakfast, lunch, and dinner hours that allow you to pick any combination of foods from this list: Spicy Chicken Sandwich, Spicy Lil Cheeseburger, Cheeseburger, Fries, Hash Rounds, or French Toast Dips.
Any combination of these foods will give you more than a snack, that’s a full-on meal, so here is our suggestion: The Spicy Lil Cheeseburger and an order of Chicken Stars.
Tasting Notes:
The Spicy Lil Cheeseburger is a new menu item that combines Carl’s Jr’s charbroiled beef with pepper jack cheese, jalapeños, and the brand’s sweet and spicy Santa Fe Sauce.
The spicy flavors pair excellently with Carl’s Jr’s charred beef with a significant kick of heat that makes the mouth water. Seriously, biting into this burger is addicting. We hope Carl’s Jr launches a full-size version of this burger on the menu soon.
A perfect match for this heat bomb of a burger is the Chicken Stars. Yes, we know the star shape is off-putting but have you had these recently? They’re buttery, crunchy, and delicious. A seriously underrated nugget in the fast food landscape, and we should know, we just blind taste-tested them all.
The Bottom Line:
Carl’s Jr on the cheap — this is the best way to explore the menu right now.
Like everything else on the menu, Chick-fil-A tackles mac and cheese with an attention to detail that elevates its past your typical from-the-box grocery store mac.
The mac and cheese is baked in-store using a blend of Parmesan, cheddar, and Romano cheeses, with a layer of crispy baked cheese on top of the noodles, providing a fantastic mouthfeel that tastes homemade.
Tasting Notes:
The blend of cheeses is sharp and salty with some complex nutty notes and a tinge of sweetness on the backend.
The Bottom Line:
Better than your favorite boxed Mac & Cheese you make at home and a great pairing partner for an order of nuggets or strips.
Chipotle’s menu is expensive, so our options here weren’t that robust. If you’re looking for the best way to stretch your dollar at Chipotle we suggest you order a single taco and get your rice and beans on the side.
That’ll give you a soft or crunchy taco with the meat of your choice (we suggest barbacoa) and a side of rice and beans. That’s a meal! But assuming you’re already ordering a full meal at Chipotle, there is only one way to truly elevate your burrito, bowl, or order of tacos: add chips and guac.
Admittedly, $4.50 is incredibly steep for chips and guacamole, but on the bright side, you’re getting a pretty solid house-made guacamole recipe, as well as house-made chips. It’s fresh and flavorful and would actually cost you more if you attempted to make it at home.
Tasting Notes:
Sometimes those chips have far too much lime on them, but they are well-salted and crispy. The guacamole mixes buttery and vegetal avocado with sweet red onions, and bits of jalapeño peppers, and has a bright citrus finish.
The Bottom Line:
Fresh guacamole, fresh tortilla chips, what’s not to like? Chipotle puts more effort into its guacamole and chips than any other fast food brand that has it on the menu.
Right now Del Taco has all sorts of menu snack combinations that’ll get you a full meal for just $5. Our pick is the Snack Taco Del’s Deal, which gets you three crunchy or soft beef tacos, a side of French fries, and a drink of your choice.
Best of all you can mix and match those tacos!
Tasting Notes:
Don’t let the cheap price fool you, Del Taco’s crunchy tacos are better in every way than Taco Bell’s similarly priced tacos. The ground beef is well seasoned, with a mix of garlic powder, black pepper, and a hint of cumin. The cheddar is fresh and hand-grated in-restaurant, and the lettuce is… well it’s just fine.
We suggest the crunchy taco over the soft but here is a pro tip for you if you do go for the soft shell: throw in a couple of fries into each taco. That’ll add a salty and buttery component to each bite. You’ll have fewer fries to dip in ketchup or hot sauce, but it’ll make for a better taco.
The Bottom Line:
A collection of delicious snack items that form a full meal for those looking to get fed on the cheap.
Okay, it’s not the sort of birria taco you’re thinking, but hear us out here, this still has the potential to be a delicious add-on to your meal.
Instead of the taco being fried in the birria consomé, you’ll have to dip this yourself, and while it doesn’t quite capture the magic of a true birria de res taco, it gets close enough in the ballpark that it’ll scratch any craving you have for birria while giving you more consomé than a single authentic birria taco will provide.
Meaning you can dip the rest of your meal in it too!
Tasting Notes:
This shredded beef taco is encased in a lightly fried crispy taco shell that soaks up the birria consomé nicely. Monterey Jack cheese, onion, and cilantro provide a nice bed of creamy, spicy, and fresh flavors that compliment the tender and lean beef.
The consomé is very savory and enhances the savory notes of the shredded beef.
The Bottom Line:
The taco is a fine addition to your meal, but the real draw is all that leftover consomé you can dip the rest of your meal in.
Fries with extra food on top — what I simply call “nacho fries” — are so damn good you’d think they were at every food establishment that carries fries. We’re getting there, there are certainly more fry-based dishes at the big chains (see Arby’s, Rally’s, and Wendy’s, who have just added new French fry dishes) than there have been in the past, and yet nobody is doing it as good as In-N-Out.
Part of the secret menu, Animal Style Fries feature a bed of fries smothered in grilled onions, In-N-Out’s special sauce, and layers of melted American cheese. But don’t just settle for the stock Animal Style fries, kick things up a notch by adding chilis to the mix.
Tasting Notes:
Salty, tangy, and incredibly savory thanks to the fragrant and flavorful grilled onions, with a hint of very mild sweet spice courtesy of the peppers. The people who talk trash about In-N-Out’s fries have never had them Animal Style.
Seriously? Why do we love fried cheese? I don’t think we really need a reason here. Jack in the Box has pulled mozzarella sticks from the menu at least three times in a decade, this latest iteration is hands down the brand’s best recipe. Here is to hoping they stick around on the menu for a long time.
Tasting Notes:
The breading is chick and crunchy, with a mix of Italian herbs. The cheese is salty, creamy, and stringy, providing the perfect cheese trail with every bite.
The Bottom Line:
Every meal is better with a side of mozzarella sticks.
The fast food landscape is full of chicken nuggets but most of them out there are that highly processed meat slurry type that you’l find in the frozen aisle at your local grocery store. Chick-fil-A used to be one of the only brands on the scene making an actual effort with real breast meat nuggets, but now KFC has thrown its hat into the ring, and you know what? They’ve knocked it out of the park.
Tasting Notes:
Moist, tender, and crispy, with a medley of flavors that pull together onion, garlic, pepper, paprika, thyme, oregano, and basil. That’s right, these are original recipe nuggets, baby!
If you ride for Extra Crispy style KFC chicken I’m sorry but you’re wrong, OG recipe is where it’s at.
Assuming the soft serve ice cream machine works (they break down so often I’m starting to think we’re being lied to), there is no finer way to enhance your McDonald’s meal than to add a McFlurry. And there is no finer McFlurry than the Oreo.
Tasting Notes:
Creamy, rich, and chocolatey with an unbeatable mouthfeel. Imagine an airier cookies and cream ice cream and you’re in the ballpark of a McFlurry.
The Bottom Line:
Name a better way to elevate your meal than a decadent sweet dessert.
Love is a strong word. Here is the thing, I wanted to include Popeyes chocolate beignets on this list but they’ve been discontinued. That leaves us with biscuits as the only cheap snack.
Tasting Notes:
It’s more butter than it is bread. Popeyes biscuit tastes like pure butter — so expect a savory slightly salty treat. If you like your add-ons on the sweeter side, order the biscuit with a side of honey.
Raising Cane’s menu is bare bones, you’ve got chicken tenders, fries, coleslaw, and Texas toast, that’s it! So the best thing to add to your meal is obviously Texas toast. To make it better order it BOB style, which stands for buttered on both sides.
Tasting Notes:
Heaven. It’s garlicky and perfectly toasted on both sides offering a sweet buttery crunch and a soft inner.
The Bottom Line:
Until Raising Cane’s adds something else to the menu, this will be the all-time best snack and side order you can get at Cane’s.
There are going to be a lot of Starbucks fans who might be upset with this one, and I get it, you ride hard for the bake case, but a bake case can be hit or miss depending on what time you hit your nearest Starbucks. These chocolate-dipped Madeleines, on the other hand, never miss!
Tasting Notes:
Super soft, vanilla dominated with rich sweet chocolate.
The Bottom Line:
What’s better than madeleines? Madeleines dipped in chocolate.
Listen, Taco Bell’s Yellowbird Nacho Fries are only available for a limited time, I cannot stress this enough: you need to try these ASAP.
The dish is a collaboration between Taco Bell and Yellowbird hot sauce (of Hot One’s fame) and finally combines Taco Bell flavors with a delicious hot sauce. I’m sorry Taco Bell fans but those sauce packets you love with the funny slogans? They’re garbage.
Tasting Notes:
The fries are crispy and seasoned with the same flavors that make Taco Bell’s ground beef so addicting: paprika, chili powder, black pepper, and a whole lot of salt. The fries are crispy on the inside (they seem slightly breaded) and served with salty nacho cheese sauce, cheddar cheese, steak (the worst part of the dish), and tomatoes that provide some juicy brightness to the dish.
The Yellowbird sauce is citrusy and spicy, adding fruity habanero notes and some serious spice to this perfect dish.
The Bottom Line:
Taco Bell flavors with some delicious hot sauce added on top, which is (sadly) rarer than it should be.
For a menu as great as Wendy’s, the fries are a weak point. But a quick way to make an order of fries better is to smother them in cheese, and throw bits of bacon on top. Wendy’s has the best fast food bacon in the game, so this dish truly elevates these fries, taking them from something basic to something delicious.
Tasting Notes:
Very salty, with two types of cheese (shredded cheddar and cheddar cheese sauce) and crunchy bits of sweet and smokey bacon.
We’ve heard about the tight-knit core Guardians of the Galaxy cast, wrapping up their three-movie arc as a team, but what’s it like coming in at the tail end of that? As it was for both Will Poulter, as Adam Warlock, and Chukwudi Iwuji playing the sinister High Evolutionary? Paul Rudd once told a story on Conan O’Brien’s podcast about his time as a recurring character during the last two seasons of Friends. After filming the final episode, the core cast and producers were all huddled together in an emotional embrace. And Rudd, as a joke, joins the group hug and says something to the effect of, “What a ride.” According to Rudd, this didn’t go over very well. In Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, there’s a similar scene involving Poulter’s Adam Warlock deciding if he should join a group hug that looks like there’s at least a hint of truth to it.
Both Poulter and Iwuji have tough tasks. In a movie with, already. a lot of characters, Poulter has to define Adam Warlock to audiences. Here’s a character who was incubated in a metal cocoon (teased back at the end of Guardians 2), and in the comics can come across as a very serious blowhard. Poulter’s version does retain some of that self-seriousness, but because he came out of his cocoon too early, he retains some childlike qualities that makes him an interesting nincompoop.
Iwuji has quite the challenge. His High Evolutionary is, well, a pretty sinister dude. A villain who snaps the universe’s population in half? That’s so big and ludicrous that it’s just a fun thing for a superhero movie. A guy who performs experimental surgeries on animals? And kills animals? Well, that’s a thing that can get the blood boiling in audiences. His High Evolutionary wants Rocket (voiced by Bradly Cooper, and Sean Gunn in flashbacks) back, considering Rocket his property. He sends Warlock to retrieve Rocket, setting off the events of the film that find the rest of the Guardians in a fight for their friend Rocket’s life. With all this, Iwuji, who has a long background in theater, decided to take his performance big. And, ahead, he explains why this was critical.
(Also, it’s nice that Puolter and Iwuji both genuinely seem to like each other. This isn’t always the case during paired interviews.)
This movie messed me up. There are laughs, but the underlying theme of this movie is sinister.
Chukwudi Iwuji: It is. Honestly, I mean, you can’t really have one without the other. I think from the moment that James started working on this, he knew he wanted to end with Rocket’s story. And we have been offered the luxury of not lingering too long with Rocket’s darkness because of his sharp wit and how we love him and his banter and stuff. But we’ve had all these clues from the first moment he takes off his shirt in the first one in prison and you see the marks of torture and stuff. So, if we were going to really go for his story, and that’s what we were just talking about with James is that he doesn’t sell himself or the audience short.
This could have been done where we do Rocket’s backstory, but we avoid pain and we avoid too many tears. We really go there so that when you do laugh, it’s earned. The relief of laughing. I was cleaning my eyes with tissues because Rocket reminds me of my dog and I’m doing these horrible things to the dog.
I think we’re all thinking about our pets during this movie.
Chukwudi Iwuji: Exactly. Something hilarious then happens and Drax says something funny that just makes you laugh so hard. So, it’s the wonderful embodiment of the tragic clown. You know what I mean?
I am curious when you first read the script, when you’re like, okay, what’s this guy’s diabolical plan? And you’re like, oh, I see, this is really intense. Look, destroying half the universe’s population is one thing. It’s so big it’s like, okay, whatever. That’s fun. But doing operations on animals, I think people can relate to that and it really affects people, if that makes sense.
Chukwudi Iwuji: It completely does. In fact, my agent saw the screening before I had seen it and she said she went back home and hugged her dog. She talked to me funny for two days after that. But no, honestly, you’re right. I think by bringing it into the microcosm of our lives, you know what I mean?
But, actually, to bring it back, which was sort of the Guardians in the first place – in the sense that we’re talking about misfits. It’s one thing to have misfits that are actually really competent and superpartners, and that have misfits that are really sad, broken people. James Gunn’s greatest strength is character. And the whole point is that we can have the Thanos of the world and stuff and we love that stuff. Or you can have someone that you recognize when you think of the stuff that goes on with animals all the time, the rescue centers.
When you bring it to that, the microcosm of our lives, it hits hard. And having a filmmaker that can give you that microcosm set in this galactic world and make you really think and cry for real and associate yourself with things you deal with every day is very rare. And if there’s a superpower, that’s James’s superpower in doing that.
Did both of you know these characters very well before doing this? Because I assume no. I’ve read comics my whole life. I had to buy a reissue of Strange Tales #178 to catch up. You’re both in it.
Chukwudi Iwuji: Oh really?
In the comic Adam Warlock can be a blowhard. And you play him so well as a kind of a nincompoop.
Will Poulter: Right, right. Yeah, that’s a great one, “nincompoop.” Makes me think of The Wind in the Willows. I was given a first edition by my agent and yeah, it was very, very cool to get that as part of research materials and read through that and see the crossover and the backstory between us – and understand that and the expectations on Adam’s shoulders and then how he falls short of that. He emerges from his cocoon early and comes out in this sort of underwhelming way. It doesn’t live up to what the Sovereign or the High Evolutionary hoped for him. And that was really kind of necessary to read that and kind of inform my prep and then how James and I crafted the character.
Watching a blowhard on the screen isn’t always that interesting. So, it’s funny to see a guy who is a blowhard, but also, like I said, is kind of a nincompoop, which is really funny. Did James come up with that? Do you come up with that?
Will Poulter: I mean, I think James has take the credit for that kind of idea, certainly. And I’m just lucky that my kind of interpretation of it aligned with what he was going for. And I think that we were looking at someone kind of in the infancy – someone at the early stages of their introduction to the world – trying to navigate lines of morality and establish who he wanted to identify with, what he wanted to represent, and literally working out the rules of life and making mistakes along the way. And that gave rise for, I think, some humor. But also the opportunity to play the drama of making those mistakes and dealing with themes of life and death and good and evil. So it was a really, really fun complex tapestry to unpick with him. And I was really grateful for a multi-dimensional character and not just… I hadn’t heard the term blowhard, but a “blowhard” character.
To get these roles did either of you think about, or at one point try to pretend that these were your favorite characters your whole life?
Chukwudi Iwuji: I mean, for me, I didn’t quite go as far as saying he’s my favorite, but he quickly became that because…
Oh, now I suspect he is. Yes.
Chukwudi Iwuji: If you said to me, like five years ago, okay, we need to plot a away for you to end up in five years time in a Marvel movie, let’s do it now. That would’ve been impossible. It was not in my history. It was not likely to happen. And suddenly, to be given this role, of course he’s going to become my favorite character because it was just not in my trajectory at all as far as I was concerned. So, he is just such a joy to play them. So, he is by far my favorite comic character because I’m having a chance to play him.
Will Poulter: Yeah, I would echo the same. I didn’t know Adam prior to getting the role, but now kind of has to be my favorite. And you know, you’ve got to make friends with that part of your psychology, certainly, when you’re playing the role.
With the High Evolutionary, you’re really going for it in this. I’m sure you’ve put a lot of thought into how do I play this sinister person who’s doing these terrible things? Were you like, look, this guy’s doing some fucked up stuff? I have to have some fun with this is going to be too grim?
Chukwudi Iwuji: Yeah, you have to find that balance, you know, you really do. I mean, playing a villain is deceptively tricky because you need to know your audience. How I would play a villain in a Michael Mann movie is very different from how I would play a villain in this. There are a dozen things you have to do. We wanted to be true to the villainy. We want it to be true of the grotesqueness of what this guy does. But at the same time, it’s a Marvel movie. People have to want to watch you, right? They have to want to enjoy you. They have to love to hate you. They have to for this to really work.
So yes, it was a balancing act, which was a combination of whatever I brought to James watching it, knowing the genre better than anyone out there. But also what the script was telling me. But I think there’s something innately fun and seductive about a villain. You have to find a way of having it grounded but really enjoy playing it so that people will enjoy to hate you. So those people will hiss at you, but at the same time can’t wait for you to come back – whether it’s so that you can get your comeuppance or whatever, they want to keep watching you. What a great lesson for me in my progress as an actor, as a performer, to learn how to try and put all those things together. Because I was thinking about the Bond villains. I’ve loved Bond villains.
Oh, yeah, I was thinking of Bond villains while watching you…
Chukwudi Iwuji: The mad scientist. The Dr. Frankenstein. I was thinking of Dr. Moreau, all these people I’ve watched. I’ve been thinking about everything Gary Oldman did for that period when he was Dracula to whatever, how he could bring the theatrical and tame the camera screen.
I kept thinking of him in The Fifth Element with you…
Chukwudi Iwuji: Yeah, The Fifth Element! When in The Fifth Element, that was the biggest… Basically, everything that guy has done from True Romance, Fifth Element, Dracula, all that was there. Alan Rickman was another inspiration.
Gary Oldman is off the charts in True Romance, by the way.
Chukwudi Iwuji: I know! You have to be able to go big, but go. And I always make this distinction that when you’re acting characters like this, it’s not about real life, it’s about whether we believe you and whether you believe yourself. It’s more about truth than real life. That’s the important thing.
Something you said, I have to follow up. Do audiences still hiss?
Will Poulter: [Laughing]
I haven’t seen an audience hiss in a while, but we should bring that back.
Chukwudi Iwuji: Well they did clap when the High Evolutionary does some stuff.
Will Poulter: [Laughing] Yeah, there’s definitely a very visceral vocal reaction.
Chukwudi Iwuji: But you’re right, I don’t think I’ve ever heard a hiss in my life, actually.
Will Poulter: If I may say, though, so much of what he does in this movie is so arresting and captivating that you know you are so scared and simultaneously so kind of magnetically drawn to him that sometimes all there is to do is just kind of watch and be completely silent. And he kind of commanded hundreds of people’s attention in the room at multiple moments throughout the film that it was unbelievable to watch, to be in a cinema experience and literally see a giant screen completely tamed by what he was doing. It was unlike anything I’ve experienced.
Chukwudi Iwuji: I just Zelle’d you. And coming from this guy who, I saw this guy in the Son of Rambow.
Chukwudi Iwuji: The versatility, it’s kind of slightly sickening because he’s also a very nice guy.
There’s a scene with Will where you do an awkward hug, basically a, “Should I join in or not?” situation. I feel that was real. Because you two are coming into this close-knit cast. It reminds me of this story Paul Rudd tells about when he was on Friends. He basically says after filming the final episode the core group is hugging and crying and as a joke he joins in and says, “What a ride, right?” And they did not find it funny at all.
Will Poulter: [Laughs] I hadn’t thought about it like that, but it was literally a physical metaphor … yeah, yeah, exactly. Although, the only difference being, without wading into spoiler territories, if I may say, coming into this as a newbie, I felt like we were both embraced massively by the core cast, by the legacy cast and the legacy Guardians. They couldn’t have been more welcoming and accepting and made us feel more at home. And that makes your job as an actor coming into these situations a lot easier and a real joy.
Chukwudi Iwuji: But there is a weird dichotomy of it being the end of the story for this group in many ways. But literally being our first introduction.
Will Poulter: Right!
Chukwudi Iwuji: Hopefully, very much a beginning for us. So you have to say, okay, how do I navigate this moment and stuff? Because it’s a very different end for them than it would ever be for Will and myself.
Cardi B slayed this year’s Met Gala. This Monday (May 1), several of the biggest names in art and culture gathered at New York City’s Metropolitan Museum Of Art for Anna Wintour‘s annual benefit dinner. During the duration of the ceremony, the “Up” hitmaker stunned with three iconic looks.
Like many of the attendees, Cardi broke Wintour’s no-selfie rule, but of course, she looked to bomb not to invite back. Following Monday’s events, she shared a festive carousel of photos on Instagram.
During the Met Gala, it appears Cardi took a break so her four-year-old daughter, Kulture, could FaceTime with singer Billie Eilish. A screenshot of the three on FaceTime can be seen in the carousel.
This is a 180 from last year’s Met Gala, where Billie was rumored to have said Cardi’s performance was “so weird.” Shortly after, Cardi shared a message between the two, which cleared up any sort of rumors of a beef between them. She wrote, “I hate the internet ’cause one, how do y’all turn one of the most lit parties into drama? Two, [Eilish’s ‘Ocean Eyes’] is the song I cater to my daughter. Three, Billie is my f*ckin baby. Yesterday, from the met to the party, everything was drama free. Why do y’all wanna turn everything into mess?”
I hate the internet cause one, how do y’all turn one of the most lit parties into drama? Two, Ocean eyes is the song I cater to my daughter. Three,Billie is my fuckin baby.Yesterday, from the met to the party, everything was drama free. Why do yallwanna turn everything into mess? pic.twitter.com/cyph1XbmE2
Back in March, Coca-Cola® and Warner Music Group’s WMX introduced the Coca-Cola® Transformation Team, a talent search inspired by Coca-Cola® Move, the brand’s latest innovation with a stated goal of celebrating “the transformational power of music.” Artists submitted video entries to be considered, and winners would be invited to participate in a one-day boot camp to learn more about songwriting, stage style, mixing, and other essential topics. Furthermore, they also get to take the stage on The Eye, a stripped-back performance series that puts raw musical ability at the forefront.
Well, the entry window has closed and three deserving up-and-comers have officially been chosen.
There’s San Cha, a Mexican singer who grew up a reserved kid singing in her church choir, an environment that made her realize singing was a way for her to break out of her shell. Also selected was Eduardo Marìa, who found the confidence to share songs online and let his talent shine during the pandemic. The third and final artist is Kallitechnis, who’s always been passionate about music and eventually put her collegiate psychology studies aside to give music a real shot.
The trio got together with Steve-O Carless, president of A&R for Warner Records, for a roundtable discussion, during which he shared some valuable wisdom. Check that out, and learn more about the three Transformation Team artists in the video above.
Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
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