Month: August 2023

The double IPA, referred to seemingly interchangeably as the imperial IPA, is a reasonably new style (only existing since the early 1990s) and its true definition is still a bit murky. In the most basic terms, a double IPA is an IPA with more alcohol and hop and malt aromas and flavors than your average IPA. So… an IPA with more IPA-ness. Obviously, that leaves a lot up to the brewer — as a result, if you were to pick two random double IPAs, crack them open, and pour them into pint glasses, you might end up with two totally different beers.

Generally speaking, “double IPA” and “imperial IPA” are used for almost any IPA landing between 8 and 10% ABV. Many are dry-hopped (but some aren’t). The label encompasses West Coast IPAs, New England-style IPAs, and pretty much every other IPA style, as long as they are higher in alcohol and have a ton of malt and lupulin-fueled hop flavor and bitterness. A tad confusing, right? Well, that’s what happens when you slap a term on a beer without many clear rules.

Not surprisingly, there are countless IPAs that carry the “double” moniker on the market. Some are great and others…not so much. To help you, we picked eight of our favorite double IPAs and decided to rank them on balance and overall flavor. Keep scrolling to see where your favorite beer landed on our list.

8) Stone Ruination

ABV: 8.2%

Average Price: $17 for a six-pack

The Beer:

This highly-rated double IPA is brewed with a combination of Chinook, Centennial, and Magnum hops. It’s known for its subtle malt backbone and dank, resinous piney, bitter flavor profile. It’s an intense IPA for the biggest West Coast IPA fans.

Tasting Notes:

The nose begins with sweet malts and moves into citrus peels and dank pine. It’s definitely a welcoming start. The palate is filled with light caramel malts, but dominated by citrus zest and resinous, chewy, dank pine. The finish is bitter in the best way possible.

Bottom Line:

If you enjoy West Coast IPAs because of their flavor profile, the aptly named Ruination ramps up each and every flavor.

7) Cigar City Florida Man

ABV: 8.5%

Average Price: $13 for a six-pack

The Beer:

Florida Man is a true legend. He’s the main character in countless headlines from Miami to Jacksonville and Cigar City decided to pay tribute to him with this double IPA brewed with Azacca, Citra, El Dorado, and Mandarinia Bavarian hops. It gets added flavor from the use of its Double IPA yeast and Canadian honey malt.

Tasting Notes:

For a double IPA, the nose is surprisingly fruity. There’s pineapple, grapefruit, orange peel, and a ton of dank, floral pine. Sipping it reveals lightly sweet malts, candied orange peel, grapefruit, and more pine. The finish is bitter and hoppy and leaves you wanting more.

Bottom Line:

This is a great example of a Double IPA done right. It’s bitter and piney and filled with citrus but has just enough sweet malt backbone to temper it.

6) Odell Myrcenary

ABV: 9.3%

Average Price: $13 for a six-pack

The Beer:

This double IPA gets its unique name because the hops included contain a large amount of myrcene, one of the essential oils found in the hop flower that is known for its sweet, spicy aroma and flavor. The beer itself is known for its mix of tropical fruit flavor, light spicy, and piney hops.

Tasting Notes:

A lot is going on with this beer’s nose. There are aromas of grapefruit, caramelized pineapple, tangerine, and a ton of herbal, floral, pine. Drinking it brings forth notes of passionfruit, pineapple, tangerine, sweet malts, grapefruit, and bitter, piney hops. The finish is dry, resinous, and memorable.

Bottom Line:

This is a double IPA for fans of slightly spicy, fruity hops. It’s a complex, dry, bitter IPA you won’t soon forget.

5) Victory DirtWolf

ABV: 8.7%

Average Price: $12 for a six-pack

The Beer:

With a name like DirtWolf, you better believe you’re in for a ferocious, hoppy IPA. Brewed with Pilsner and Pale Crystal malts as well as Citra, Simcoe, Mosaic, and Chinook hops, it’s a dry-hopped citrus, and malt-filled favorite.

Tasting Notes:

The aromas are classic IPA. There’s a nice mix of caramel malts, citrus, grass, and floral, piney hops. The palate is centered on tangerine, lemon, grapefruit, sweet malts, light spices, and pine. The finish is a mix of malt sweetness and bitter pine.

Bottom Line:

This is a big, bold double IPA bursting with hop aroma and flavor. But it still manages to have a nice malt backbone to add a decent amount of sweetness to the lingering hop bitterness.

4) Firestone Walker Double Hopnosis

ABV: 8.3%

Average Price: Limited Availability

The Beer:

To say that Firestone Walker Double Hopnosis is a complicated beer is an understatement. It’s brewed with 2-row malt, white wheat, and Munich malt, but that’s just the start of it. It’s kettle hopped with Callista, Simcoe, and Mosaic Cryo hops. It’s then dry-hopped with Mosaic Cryo, Chinook, Citra, Vic Secret, and Columbus/CTZ hops.

Tasting Notes:

A nose of honey malts, grapefruit, tangerine, lemongrass, and floral, piney hops greet you before your first sip. The palate is surprisingly balanced with a nice kick of caramel malts and honey as well as grapefruit, orange peel, grass, and dank pine. The finish is pleasantly bitter and filled with pine needles.

Bottom Line:

Caramel malt, floral, citrus, and dank pine, this beer has everything West Coast IPA fans crave. If you spot this brew in the wild, don’t hesitate to buy it.

3) Fiddlehead Second Fiddle

ABV: 8.2%

Average Price: $16 for a four-pack of 16-ounce cans

The Beer:

If you’re a fan of New England-style IPAs, there’s a decent chance you’ve tried Fiddlehead IPA. If you haven’t tried the double IPA version, you’re really missing out. This citrus, pine, and tropical fruit-filled beer is “massively” dry-hopped with Simcoe hops.

Tasting Notes:

On the nose, you’ll find orange peels, pineapple, mangos, and resinous, herbal, floral hops. The palate is very tropical with pineapple, mango, tangerine, peach, caramel malt, and bright pine. The finish is a nice mix of tropical fruit sweetness and bitter, dank pine.

Bottom Line:

This is an IPA for New England-style IPA fans who want their beer to have a little extra. It’s bigger in every way. Alcohol, flavor, and aroma.

2) Columbus Bodhi

ABV: 8.3%

Average Price: $13 for a six-pack

The Beer:

This award-winning, year-round favorite from Ohio’s Columbus Brewing is known for its mix of tropical fruits, citrus, and piney hops. It’s brewed with Citra, Azacca, and Idaho 7 hops.

Tasting Notes:

The nose is a symphony of passionfruit, mango, guava, caramelized pineapple, citrus peels, and floral pine. The palate continues this trend with more mango, passionfruit, and pineapple, as well as grapefruit, bready malts, tangerine, and dank pine. The finish is dry with a lingering bitter bite.

Bottom Line:

This double IPA is difficult to beat. It ticks all the IPA boxes, and everything is in such unison that you don’t even realize it’s over 8% ABV.

1) New England G-Bot

ABV: 8.5%

Average Price: $16 for a four-pack of 16-ounce cans

The Beer:

This year-round, hazy, double IPA is brewed with Citra, Simcoe, Mosaic, and Columbus hops. The result is a banger loaded with citrus, pine, and lupulin-laden aromas and flavors. It’s definitely a can’t-miss double IPA.

Tasting Notes:

There are a ton of fresh-squeezed aromas on this beer’s nose. Tangerine, grapefruit, and lemon are big. There are also scents of caramel malts and herbal, floral pine. One sip and you’ll be immersed in a world of grapefruit, tangerine, lemongrass, sweet, caramel malts, and a ton of resinous, dank, herbal pine. The finish is crisp, dry, and pleasantly bitter.

Bottom Line:

Another well-balanced IPA, this is one for citrus fans as it’s bursting with fresh-squeezed grapefruit, tangerine, and other breakfast juices. A true gem in a sea of double IPAs.

Last month, Illuminati Hotties returned with the dreamy song “Truck.” “If mortality is a jolting, jagged highway exit, then heaven is a truck as it rumbles through the unknown,” Sarah Tudzin, who also co-produced the forthcoming Speedy Ortiz album Rabbit Rabbit, said. “‘Truck’ is a gentle affirmation that the dream can change at no deficit of dignity. For Tim.”

The beloved indie rock act is back, this time with “Igyah Kah” for the pilot of Ahsoka, the new Star Wars series on Disney+. Tudzin told Pitchfork how it came about: “Star Wars composer Deana Kiner has been a friend and collaborator for years, and when she reached out about grabbing some vocals for a TOP SECRET Star Wars project she composed the score for, I was game! I was of course excited to help, but when I knew the cue was all about going full-gremlin mode, I knew I could crush it for her! Honored to be a part of such a special universe.”

“Igyah Kah” is reminiscent of 2020’s unhinged Free I.H: This Is Not the One You’ve Been Waiting For, emanating the anthemic punk atmosphere that energized that album. Hear it in a clip of the scene below, beginning around 1:20.

Each week our staff of film and TV experts surveys the entertainment landscape to select the ten best new/newish shows available for you to stream at home. We put a lot of thought into our selections, and our debates on what to include and what not to include can sometimes get a little heated and feelings may get hurt, but so be it, this is an important service for you, our readers. With that said, here are our selections for this week.

20. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (Paramount Plus)

What we have here is a spinoff of one show (Star Trek: Discovery) that was itself a prequel to another show (the original Star Trek), now in its second season. We are deep into the lore here. But that’s okay. It’s a fun little ride, good for both diehard fans of the franchise and newbies trying to dip their toes in a little. You could use a little galactic escape sometimes. We all can.

Watch it on Paramount Plus

19. Full Circle (Max)

We are gloriously awash in Timothy Olyphant. Not only is Justified: City Primeval here, but he also plays an apparently hatless role in this crime drama series from Steven Soderbergh. Olyphant and Clare Danes portray the parents of a kidnapped child, so yes, this might not be the kind of “tense drama” that you’re craving, but the talent is stacked into the stratosphere. Zazie Beetz plays the lead investigator on the case, and naturally, do not expect a cut-and-dried story from Mr. Soderbergh. Yes, there are secrets afoot here.

Watch it on Max

18. They Cloned Tyrone (Netflix)

They don’t make movies like They Cloned Tyrone anymore. Pulled from a Black List script from first-time director Juel Taylor, this slick, riotous crime caper is an amalgam of genres – one part mind-bending sci-fi, one part Blaxploitation homage, mixed with 70s era funk, infused with Nancy Drew references, and propped up by stellar comedic performances from Jamie Foxx and Teyonah Parris. John Boyega’s in here too, playing a reluctant hero tasked with saving his block from a secret government conspiracy that’s somehow twisted up in fried chicken recipes and grape drink offerings and hair relaxer. If we could have more of this, that’d be great.

Watch it on Netflix

17. The Afterparty (Apple TV Plus)

The Afterparty was a ton of fun in its first season. It was a little whodunnit mystery with a cast full of your comedy favorites — Sam Richardson! Tiffany Haddish! Ben Schwartz! And so on! — and a fun hook where each episode focused on a different character and was presented using a different style of storytelling. Well, it’s back for a second season now, with a new murder and some new genres and a similar crew of characters. There is very little to complain about here.

Watch it on Apple TV Plus

16. Heart of Stone (Netflix)

Gal Gadot is following up Red Notice (which was the only movie that mattered at one moment) with a new yarn, in which she stars as Rachel Stone (yes, that’s right), who is an MI6 elite agent who happens to also be a secret member of a secret organization that none of her colleagues know about. Jamie Dornan plays the boss agent of Rachel, whose lives begin to collide, of course. This sounds like an action-filled-yet-glossy watch for when the movie schedule gets derailed by the ongoing strikes.

Watch it on Netflix

15. Painkiller (Netflix)

The story of Painkiller may seem familiar. It is, after all, a different way into the story told in the acclaimed Michael Keaton-starring Dopesick about the greed and devastation at the core of the opioid epidemic, but while the volume of the performances and tone may differ, this is, by the weight of its subject matter alone, a story worth re-experiencing. From the writers behind the Mister Rogers film A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, Painkiller stars Matthew Broderick as pharma CEO Richard Sackler, Uzo Aduba as a dogged government investigator, Taylor Kitsch as an oxy addict in spiral, and West Duchovny as a pharma salesperson/so-called “oxycontin kitten” and “drug dealer with a ponytail.”

Watch it on Netflix

14. Vacation Friends 2 (Hulu)

The only thing that could make Vacation Friends – the wild, raunchy comedy about a pair of mismatched couples whose good times while on holiday follow them back home – better the second time around is Steve Buscemi and a baby. Somehow, Hulu got both. John Cena, Lil Rel Howery, Yvonne Orji, and Meredith Hagner return for another tropical trip filled with job-threatening hijinks, silly disasters, and yes, more cocaine. But with Buscemi entering the mix as Kyla’s (Hagner) estranged dad fresh from prison and ready to ruin their fun and relaxation with guns, gangsters, and a bag of blow that ends up being Kyla’s mom’s ashes, the comedy gets dialed up a notch. If that’s even possible.

Watch it on Hulu

13. Harley Quinn (Max)

Even though there’s been a lot of upheaval at HBO Max/Max and even more so for films and TV shows starring DC characters, at least one supervillainess is safe. Miss Harley (who does not need the Joker for success) was almost pointedly renewed as a clattering of show cancellations and removals swirled. Heck, Kaley Cuoco’s voice even gave us the only Valentine’s Day special worth watching this year. Soon, we might find out whether Bane is still making love to a skyscraper as Harley attempts to get in good with the Bat Family. Quite a contrast there.

Watch it on Max

12. Winning Time (Max)

The continuing saga of the Showtime-era of the NBA and the LA Lakers, well, continues, injecting a lot more Larry Bird into the mix while also seeing the impact of fame and failure on the principal characters of the era, inspiring strong performances from Jason Segel, Adrien Brody, Solomon Hughes, and Quincy Isaiah. Off-the-court and out of the trainer’s room, the complex family dynamic between the members of Buss family proves volatile, giving us Succession vibes. Damn, Succession in the mid-80s, what a dream. For now, though, Winning Time is a worthy substitute and more than worth your time.

Watch it on Max

11. You Are So Not Invited To My Bat Mitzvah (Netflix)

A coming-of-age comedy from the Sandman (Adam Sandler) and company, You Are So Not Invited To My Bat Mitzvah glimpses that time in life when everything is the most important thing that could ever happen with dire social consequences for every micro-embarrassment and misstep. A bat mitzvah (the religious right of passage for Jewish girls) absent Dua Lipa and a mojito bar? World ending. Your best friend moving in on your crush? Even worse. Sandler is in a clear supporting dad role (with Idina Menzel co-starring as his wife) while the kids take center stage, but this one feels like it can go on the shelf next to some of the more heartful films he’s produced.

Watch it on Netflix

10. Star Wars: Ahsoka (Disney Plus)

Rosario Dawson is back as Ahsoka in this spinoff of The Mandalorian, with all the face paint and prosthetics to go along with it. The biggest question here, though, is whether everyone’s favorite little green guy will show up at some point to steal a few scenes and hearts. Fingers crossed.

Watch it on Disney Plus

9. What We Do in the Shadows (FXX/Hulu)

Body-swaps. Pride parades. Mall outings. The best comedy on TV is officially back, baby. WWDITS’ latest season introduces our favorite group of undead idiots to even more 21st century hijinks proving that this show – unlike its immortal characters – only gets better with age. Guillermo’s struggling with an identity crisis of supernatural proportions, Nadja’s been hexed, Colin Robinson is thriving in the service industry, and Nandor and Laszlo are knee-deep in a centuries-old feud. The house is in chaos, which is just how we like it.

Watch it on Hulu

8. Invasion (Apple TV Plus)

This intense story, set over several continents, brings us crop circles galore and civilization’s collapse while humanity struggles to pull it together during (as the title suggests) an alien invasion. Naturally, there is a sheriff who gets pulled back from the verge of retirement as soldiers, mission controllers, and civilians everywhere lend their perspectives in this series from Simon Kinberg (several X-Men movies) and David Weil (Citadel, Hunters). The show is back for a second season while the world still struggles to figure what, exactly, is happening in real-time.

Watch it on Apple TV Plus

7. Billions (Paramount Plus)

Whaddya know, Damian Lewis’ Bobby Axelrod is somehow back for one last *cough* job. Whether that job involves leaning deep into betrayal remains unknown for the moment, but expect alliances to fall and old wounds to fester. Enemies and friends find their lines blurred, and man, do enough people give Maggie Siff credit for being one of the most magnetic presences within any ensemble cast? I think not, but sure, Corey Still and Paul Giamatti are cool, too. Once this show takes the final lap, Showtime will somehow launch four spinoffs, and Maggie should appear in all of them.

Watch it on Paramount Plus

6. Justified: City Primeval (Hulu)

Everyone’s favorite extralegal lawman is swaggering back into our hearts, long after he made it out of Harlan alive. Can he make it out of Detroit alive, too? We’ll see, and Raylan Givens’ daughter, Willa, is also onboard to give the hat a hard time because someone needs to do it. We’ve already pinpointed the one Justified episode, “Long In The Tooth,” that makes an ideal essential rewatch before this spinoff, and Raylan should have a swell time hunting bad guys in Motor City. At the top of his list: The so-called “Oklahoma Wildman,” portrayed by Boyd Holbrook and his tighty-whiteys.

Watch it on Hulu

5. The Beanie Bubble (Apple TV Plus)

Hey, remember Beanie Babies, those adorable and colorful collectible plush toys that looked so cute on a shelf while also sparking a fervor among collectors and investors? Of course, you do! You or someone you love probably had at least one. Remember the in-fighting and largesse behind the scenes? Eh, probably not, but luckily directors Kristin Gore and Damian Kulash Jr. are here to flip the nostalgia switch and illuminate the chaos in the process with this film starring Zach Galifianakis, Elizabeth Banks, and Sarah Snook as Beanie Baby insiders.

Watch it on Apple TV Plus

4. Twisted Metal (Peacock)

Twisted Metal is one of the more unlikely video game-to-TV show adaptations, but the Peacock series has put together quite the crew for this post-apocalyptic joyride. The action-comedy stars Anthony Mackie, Stephanie Beatriz, Thomas Haden Church, Mike Mitchell (of Doughboys fame), and wrestler Samoa Joe as Sweet Tooth (Will Arnett provides the voice of the evil clown). The Last of Us was great, but did it have a clown driving an ice cream truck? Exactly.

Watch it on Peacock

3. Heartstopper (Netflix)

Heartstopper is really just a lovely little show. The first season introduced us all to Charlie and Nick, two teenage boys who became friends and then discovered that friendship might actually be… something… more than friendship. Season two takes things even further. It’s funny and sweet and charming and gay as all hell, which is… yeah, really just lovely.

Watch it on Netflix

2. Solar Opposites (Hulu)

Solar Opposites is, in a sense, two shows for the price of one. What a deal! One show is the alien adventures of Korvo (now voiced by Dan Stevens), Terry, Jesse, Yumyulack, and the Pupa, the cutest lil’ guy on television. The other show takes place in The Wall, where humans have been shrunk down and held hostage inside a terrarium. Both are very funny, very weird, and very good. Solar Opposites doesn’t get as much attention as Rick and Morty, but it should.

Watch it on Hulu

1. Reservation Dogs (Hulu)

The thing about Reservation Dogs is that it is a good show. It has been for a few seasons now. And it still is in its third and final season, which is airing right now. Funny and heartfelt and everything you could possibly want out of a television show about some teens figuring stuff out. There’s a lot of weird stuff going on out there in the world. Some of it is kind of scary. Maybe you should chill out and watch Reservation Dogs. You could absolutely do much, much worse.

Watch it on Hulu

Friends was still one of the biggest shows on TV in season seven, but behind the scenes, the cast was over it.

Patty Lin wrote for one season of the NBC sitcom. In her memoir End Credits: How I Broke Up with Hollywood, she shared that the stars, including Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry, and David Schwimmer, “seemed unhappy to be chained to a tired old show when they could be branching out.” (Schwimmer couldn’t even blame the monkey.)

Lin accused the cast of “deliberately” sabotaging jokes. “They all knew how to get a laugh, but if they didn’t like a joke, they seemed to deliberately tank it, knowing we’d rewrite it. Dozens of good jokes would get thrown out just because one of them had mumbled the line through a mouthful of bacon,” she wrote. “Seeing themselves as guardians of their characters, they often argued that they would never do or say such-and-such. That was occasionally helpful, but overall, these sessions had a dire, aggressive quality that lacked all the levity you’d expect from the making of a sitcom.”

Lin also wrote about being the only person of color on the writing staff for Friends, a famously white show. “In all of my fears about the new job, I never predicted one of the challenges I would face was that the Friends writing staff was cliquey, more so than at any other show I would work on,” she said. “They reminded me of the preppy rich kids in my high school who shopped at Abercrombie & Fitch and drove brand-new convertibles.”

End Credits: How I Broke Up with Hollywood comes out on August 29th.

(Via Time)

The Justified: City Primeval Roundup is a weekly recap feature where we take the various people, places, and things from the new limited series and score them on a scale from one to five cowboy hats. We play fast and loose with the rules here, similar to the way Raylan Givens handles an investigation. A real loose cannon situation over here.

EPISODE SEVEN — “THE SMOKING GUN”

Getting double-crossed

Tough week for Raylan and murder weapons. He got his hands on the gun that killed Judge Guy and had a slew of great plans to either use it to get Mansell through legit means or trick him into putting his prints on it through various threats of gunplay at various airport bars, and everything went sideways on him thanks to various women in his life playing fast and loose on him. First, it was the redhead lady cop who went and tried to pin the whole thing on some poor PCP aficionado, either because she wanted an easy win or because she was in Judge Guy’s crime book or both. Then, it was Carolyn setting the Albanian mob on him during his big standoff with Mansell, all of which resulted in the gun getting dumped in a Detroit river, which, I mean, it’s rarely a good thing when you have to use the phrase “getting dumped in a Detroit river” to describe any part of your day.

The end result here is probably the one we were always headed toward anyway, the one where Raylan and Mansell end up staring each other down with pistols in hand and menace in their eyes, but I do have to give Raylan some credit for at least trying to do things the right way. Kind of. There is growth here, is my point, even if he is getting thwarted by all the women in his life.

Getting murdered by a man who is wearing your kimono

Tough week for Del the High Roller, too, who walked into his apartment to the following things:

• The boyfriend of the woman who had been playing him for a chump lounging around his home
• Said boyfriend wearing his kimono over a pair of tighty-whities
• Said boyfriend murdering him in said apartment while wearing said kimono

Really just bad times for Del.

Carolyn

We learned a lot about Carolyn this week, mostly tied to her relationship with Sweety, the closest thing to a father she ever knew, all of which we learned with flashbacks involving cussing children and boxing lessons and all kinds of neat little foundational information. It was fun. I think we like Carolyn. The problem is that she makes a lot of dicey decisions, between her associations with the underworld — Mansell, the Albanian mob, etc. — and little things like “sleeping with lawmen who are investigating and/or trying to frame one of her clients for some murders he very much did.” Lot going on with Carolyn.

Bad guys who eat milk and cookies

There’s something so ominous about bad guys doing wholesome things like this. I’m still not entirely sold on Clement Mansell as a fitting Big Bad for this show — not entirely his fault, as every Raylan standoff gets shoved through a “Wouldn’t it be cooler if he were talking to Boyd Crowder?” filter, which is just a ridiculously unfair scale to judge any character on television — but I will say that if I come home later today and see someone helping themselves to milk and cookies at my dinner table, I will be very upset. Partially because of the creepiness of it all and partially because, like… those are my cookies. Please do not steal my cookies. Thank you.

Raylan

ON ONE HAND:

Not his most triumphant week for reasons laid out above involving disappearing murder weapons and every woman in Detroit playing him for a chump.

ON THE OTHER HAND:

There are not a lot of people capable of looking this cool in a denim jacket.

It’s nice to have him on my television. We should just start dropping him into other shows, too. Get him in an episode of … And Just Like That next.

Crooked Radisson waitresses

I didn’t catch it right away but I did enjoy the Albanian mob dudes slipping her some cash on their way out. I’m just going to go ahead and pretend that all waitresses at all airport-adjacent bars are a little mobbed-up from now on. A fun little treat for me.

Stanley Garlick

Two notes here:

• It’s kind of funny how like 90 percent of the action this season is tied to crooked judges with criminal ledgers that implicate most of Detroit but then also there’s this running subplot about a painting people just like a lot
• I think I’m going to start dropping “it’s a Stanley Garlick” into conversations sometimes just to see if people catch on

Moving on.

The Albanian mob

Kind of love these guys?

I don’t know.

It’s weird.

Sandy

ON ONE HAND:

Everyone she gets involved with ends up dead or mangled in a hospital room

ON THE OTHER HAND:

All she wants to do is get some money together and flee to the Caribbean, which is actually pretty relatable

I don’t know. I shouldn’t like her this much. I feel like even just typing this out is going to result in me getting heaved off of a balcony. But here we are.

Norbert the cop

I already liked this guy on account of him sneaking the gun back to Raylan out of a weird sense of justice and honor, but then I did some googling and discovered the character is named Norbert Bryl and the actor who plays him is named Norbert Leo Butz. Now he is my favorite character on all of television. There are not enough Norberts these days. I have always said this.

The morning after Donald Trump refused to attend the first GOP debate which devolved into a clown show between the other remaining candidates, Kayleigh McEnany launched into a tirade against Joe Biden for going to a spin class while the world learned that Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin was reportedly killed in a mysterious plane crash yesterday.

Prigozhin unsuccessfully launched a coup against Russian dictator Vladimir Putin earlier in the summer, so his death isn’t entirely surprising, but you wouldn’t know it by listening to McEnany. During Thursday’s episode of Outnumbered, she freaked out over Biden completing his daily workout while cable news aggressively milked the story.

Via Acyn on Twitter:

You saw the former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley last night talk about the evils and the atrocities of Russia in a very powerful, smart way. And then you flip over to our Commander-in-chief, leaving spin class and Pilates with a drink in his hand, asked about the Wagner Group and potentially their leader going down in this plane crash. And he says, “I don’t know?” He says, to quote him, “I don’t know for a fact what happened. I’ve been working out for the last hour and a half.”

We didn’t elect a Pilates instructor. We elected a guy to go toe-to-toe with Russia. And not only that, the New York Post said the White House said, as cable news outlets focused entirely on this latest development in Russia, “The President, First Lady, and members of their families are taking a Pilates class followed by a spin class.” Think about this as you go to the polls next November.

However, folks on Twitter weren’t buying McEnany’s concern. The replies to the clip were loaded with reminders that she worked for Trump, who spent the vast majority of his presidency on the golf course.

You can see some of the reactions below:

(Via Acyn on Twitter)

Soooo, there’s this dog and I’m pretty sure it’s the actual Snoopy come to life. Seriously all the dog needs is a red dog house out back and a little yellow bird that follows it around. If you think it can’t be true, then you’re going to have to fight the entire internet about it because nobody can get enough of how much this sweet dog looks like the iconic cartoon character.

Snoopy is Charlie Brown’s pet from the comic strip “Peanuts” that eventually spawned several movies and cartoon series, and Bayley is a dead ringer for the black and white animated pup. Since we live in a digital age, people across the country have been falling all over themselves to get to the pooch’s Instagram account and admire her cartoonish mug.

Bayley is a 1-year-old mini sheepadoodle, which is a cross between a miniature poodle and an Old English Sheepdog. Her sweet face is something you have to see to believe and even then you may question if she’s real.

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The dog’s perfectly groomed curly fur makes her face look fluffy and cartoon-like. Once you add in her black ears and black button nose, that honestly looks more like a smooth lump of coal than a dog nose, then you have the perfect Snoopy doppelgänger. Bayley came into her viral fame after Doodle Dogs Club shared her photo on their Instagram account that has over 230,000 followers, and just like that, she was “famous.”

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Doodle Dogs Club 🧸 (@doodledogsclub)

The introductory post of the live version of Charlie Brown’s best friend racked up over 1.4 million likes and 10.3K comments. The comments ranged from people reminding others that the fictional dog was a Beagle to people demanding Bayley star in the live action version of Charlie Brown.

Whether Snoopy was a Beagle or not, there’s no arguing that Bayley looks more like the cartoon canine than real life Beagles. This probably has a lot to do with cartoons being…cartoons. Everything tends to be a bit bubbly and over exaggerated with cartoons.

Charlie Brown was supposed to be between the ages of 4 and 8 years old according to PeanutsWiki, who busted out the comic strip receipts. If cartoons looked exactly like real life, poor Charlie Brown would have a hard time walking with his oversized noggin.

Bayley’s curly fluffy fur gives her an advantage over actual Beagle’s when it comes to the ability to look like the famous cartoon character. It’s something she probably couldn’t care less about, unless every time she got compared to Snoopy equaled a dog treat. Otherwise, I’m sure the black and white sheepadoodle is perfectly happy just being a dog wondering why suddenly her mom keeps taking pictures of her.

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Since Bayley’s debut on Doodle Dogs Club, the animated dog come to life has climbed up to over 240k followers and her fanbase just can’t get enough of her. To make people love her even more, the dog’s mom uploads videos of Bayley using audio that makes it sound like the pup is a toddler trying to tell a story.

Check out some of the love Bayley gets on her Instagram account.

This article originally appeared on 4.17.23

On March 8, 2023, a keeper at World Bird Sanctuary in St. Louis County, Missouri, noticed something odd. A male bald eagle named Murphy was guarding what appeared to be a large depression in the ground.

“The spot was sparsely but carefully decorated with leaves and branches, and featured a simple rock right in the center,” the nature preserve shared on its Facebook page.

Murphy began sitting on the rock, nudging it and becoming fiercely protective of it, as it if were an egg. People visiting the sanctuary would inquire about the bald eagle just sitting there, wondering if he was okay. The keepers finally put up a sign that read:

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“If you see an eagle lying down in the back left corner under a perch, that’s Murphy! Murphy is not hurt, sick, or otherwise in distress. He has built a nest on the ground, and is very carefully incubating a rock! We wish him the best of luck!”

In case you’re wondering if this is unusual behavior for a 31-year-old male bald eagle, the answer is “not really, but….” Male bald eagles do share equally in nesting and baby-raising, so the paternal instinct part is normal. Murphy’s channeling of that instinct onto a rock…maybe not so much. And at 31, he’s more like a great-granddad than dad, as bald eagles usually live 20 to 30 years in the wild (though they do live longer in captivity).

Murphy takes fatherhood seriously, though. Soon he began screaming and charging at the four other eagles in the aviary if they came anywhere near RockBaby. (That’s the official name the keepers gave Murphy’s…well, rock baby.) Naturally, the screaming and charging caused a fair amount of stress for all involved, so Murphy and RockBaby were moved to their own enclosure for everyone’s protection.

People who saw this unfold started suggesting sanctuary staff replace Murphy’s rock with a real egg or get him a mate, but 1) Eagle eggs aren’t just lying around waiting to be given to wanna-be dads, 2) hatching a different kind of bird’s egg would be potentially dangerous for it, and 3) Murphy had two females right there in the aviary, and none of them were interested in each other. Alas, the heart cannot be forced.

However, a different opportunity presented itself in late March when an aerie with two chicks in it was blown down by high winds. One chick didn’t survive the fall, but the other was brought to World Bird Sanctuary’s Wildlife Hospital.

A bit bruised, but otherwise healthy, the chick was given a good prognosis. Staff began feeding it while wearing a camouflage suit and holding an eagle stuffy to prevent the eaglet from imprinting on humans. What the baby really needed was a foster parent—an adult eagle who would feed and care for it.

“Murphy’s dad instincts were already in high gear,” the sanctuary wrote on April 11, “but at 31 years old, he had never raised a chick before. It’s definitely a gamble, but also the chick’s best chance.”

Introducing an eaglet to an adult eagle isn’t as simple as dropping it in the enclosure. First, the eaglet is put into what the sanctuary refers to as a “baby jail,” which is a heated, comfy cage made of wood and wire that protects the eaglet but still allows some interaction between the birds so they can get used to one another. Once the desired bonding behavior is observed, then they try out some direct one-on-one interaction without the cage.

On April 12, World Bird Sanctuary announced, “IT’S HAPPENING!!!!”

The eaglet (referred to as Bald Eaglet 23-126—they don’t name foster babies at the sanctuary for superstitious reasons) was released from baby jail, and after an hour or so Murphy approached it with curiosity. Was he wondering if his RockBaby had hatched? Maybe. Would he be the nurturing dad everyone hoped he would be? It appears so.

As the sanctuary shared:

“This morning, Murphy got his chance to be a full parent as 23-126 left the nest to go be closer to Murphy. The food is being dropped through a blind drop tube into the nest and baby appears unable to be able to get over the lip to get back into the nest to get the chopped food. When we checked back, we found that baby was still out of the nest and all the chopped food was still in the nest. However, Murphy’s whole fish had been removed from the nest and baby had a full crop. 23-126 is not yet old enough to tear food which means MURPHY FED THE BABY!!!!”

The comments on the update, of course, are pure gold as people have become fully invested in this story:

“I can’t believe I’m crying over eagles!”

“Murphy’s going to be giving a TedTalk: Manifest The Eaglet You Need In Your Life.”

“So happy for Murphy & eaglet Dwayne (the rock Johnson).”

“‘Rock, I am your Father.'”

“Omg I’m crying! Murphy never gave up on his rock and now has a baby of his very own The wonders of nature never cease. Ty, WBS, for making this possible. These two are saving each other .”

Many people have lamented that there is not a live cam so we can all watch this pair as their relationship develops, but staff reminded everyone that the sanctuary is out in the middle of the woods and they don’t have a strong enough signal for a live stream.

But WBS staff has been posting updates on social media and will share the story as it continues to unfold. Follow World Bird Sanctuary on Facebook here. And if you feel compelled to donate to help feed little Dwayne or 23-126 or whatever you’d like to call Murphy’s new baby—who apparently eats a ridiculous amount—you can donate here or check out their Amazon baby registry (yes, seriously!) here.

Congratulations, Papa Murphy!

This article originally appeared on 4.14.23

Rodney Smith Jr., of Huntsville, Alabama, was recently profiled by KMBC for his generous donation to two 11-year-olds who fulfilled his 50 Yard Challenge in Gadsden, Alabama. Ja’Torrian Taylor and Tevin Rice, founders of TJ & JT Mowing Service, completed Smith’s challenge to mow 50 yards for the elderly, veterans, and people unable to care for their lawns for free.

“I’m heading down to Gadsden right now. These are good, hard-working kids that deserve some gratitude,” Smith, known as “The Lawnmower Man,” told KMBC. Smith had been told that Taylor and Rice were sharing an old lawnmower that a neighbor had donated to them.

When he arrived, he gave both teens a mower, a blower and a trimmer for their hard work, hoping they’ll use their new equipment to expand their business. “Giving these boys lawn equipment is teaching them discipline,” Smith said. “If they tell someone they are going to mow a lawn, they need to mow the lawn.”

“Remember, this is not the end; it’s just the beginning,” Smith added. “This could be the beginning of a successful lawn service.”

Smith’s commitment to taking care of people’s lawns started in 2015, and the following year he went viral for helping a 93-year-old woman who could no longer mow hers. The photo of Smith and the woman received over 1 million likes.

Five years ago, Upworthy profiled Smith for setting a bold goal of mowing lawns for free in all 50 states. His goal was to promote his initiative that “provides free lawn care to our elders, those who are disabled, single mothers, and our veterans, who do not have the time, resources, and/or money to manicure their yards.”

As part of this goal, he created the 50 Yard Challenge, which has been a smashing success.

As of May 2023, 4,588 pre-teens and teens are participating in this challenge across the United States. If everyone completes the challenge, that will bring the total number of lawns mowed for free by Smith’s Raising Men & Women Lawn Care Service to 229,400.

Kids and teens can take part in the challenge by sending them a photo holding up a sign that says, “I accept the 50 Yard Challenge,” and in return, they’ll receive a white Raising Men/Women shirt along with shades and ear protection to get started. For every 10 lawns cut, they will get a new color shirt.

• 10 lawns earn an orange shirt

• 20 lawns earn a green shirt

• 30 lawns earn a blue shirt

• 40 lawns earn a red shirt

• 50 lawns earn a black shirt

After completing the challenge, the child or teen will receive a mower, a blower, and a trimmer, just like Ja’Torrian Taylor and Tevin Rice from Alabama.

Smith’s story is an incredible example of how one good deed from a kind-hearted person can lead to an outpouring of kindness across the country. It also teaches young people the values of giving back and self-discipline as well as the entrepreneurial spirit.

Learn more about Smith’s nonprofit and donate at Weareraisingmen.com.

This article originally appeared on 6.23.23

Emmy-winning actor Jharrel Jerome isn’t satisfied being acclaimed for his roles in Moonlight, When They See Us, Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse, and I’m A Virgo. And if you were as talented as he is, you wouldn’t be, either.

Why not make waves in music?

On Wednesday, August 23, Jerome posted an Instagram Reel teasing his Rap Pack project, due out August 30. The Bronx, New York native is casually strolling on the street, sporting a backpack and spitting bars over a smooth beat.

“There’s more to life than just money and women / Well, huh, that’s funny, I’m kiddin’ / What a lovely tradition / But I’m 24 / I make dummy decisions,” Jerome raps. “I got a lot to learn, but honey, I’m stuck in detention / I’m with my homies, and my homies been Bloodin’ and Crippin’ / Down in the city, back when 50 was thuggin’ and pimpin’.”

In April, it was announced that Jerome would gradually wade into the musical waters. His debut project, Someone I’m Not, is being released as a four-part pack series, including Rap Pack. Simultaneously, he dropped his “Chinatown” single.

Jerome’s debut single release was “For Real” featuring Kemba in 2020, followed by “Someone I’m Not” in August 2022.

Rap Pack is out 8/30 via Sony Music Entertainment. Find more information here.