Month: November 2023

André 3000 announced that his new album New Blue Sun wouldn’t be a rap album, but it sounds like Lupe Fiasco might be planning on turning it into one. Shortly after André announced the album, Lupe hit Twitter to declare his intentions. “Gonna rap all over that 3stacks album and put it in the time capsule for future generations,” he wrote, leaving fans unsure if he was joking or deadly serious.

Here’s the thing: This is one of those things Lupe absolutely would do. The hyper-intellectual Chicago rapper has previously employed any number of unusual concepts for albums and mixtapes, from rapping over mainstream hits on Enemy of the State: A Love Story to rapping ABOUT dinosaurs on a track titled, fittingly, “Dinosaurs” from his 2020 House EP with producer Kaelin Ellis.

He’s been every bit as unpredictable and inscrutable as André has been over the past decade or so (albeit much more productive), and if anyone could pull off making a rap album over a bunch of flute instrumentals, it’s probably Lupe — if not André himself (they also share a proclivity for extravagant song titles). In his announcement, André said, “I don’t want to troll people. I don’t want people to think, ‘Oh, this André 3000 album is coming!’ And you play it and like, ‘Oh man, no verses.’ So even actually on the packaging, you’ll see it says, ‘Warning: no bars.’”

As far as why he didn’t rap on New Blue Sun, the elusive musician told Zane Lowe, “I try to write all the time… I ain’t got no raps like that… Sometimes it feels inauthentic for me to rap because I don’t have anything to talk about in that way.”

Well, that may not be the case once Lupe’s done. Let’s hope he’s being sincere, if only because we need to know what that’ll sound like.

Birria is starting to take over the fast food landscape and we’re 100% here for it! If you don’t know what birria is, you need to remedy that sh*t ASAP (if it’s your first time, don’t opt for the fast food version, ask your friends to point you to the nearest place that serves the real thing). For the uninitiated, we’re talking about a dish that is so visually appetizing you can taste it with your eyes. And it tastes even better than it looks.

El Pollo Loco was the first big chain to take on birria and while our expectations were perhaps too high the first time around, after making a few changes the chain redeemed itself this spring when the birria menu returned and leveled up. Then Taco Bell followed suit and while, again, it didn’t capture the magic of real authentic birra, it was still a pretty good fast food version of the dish.

Now Del Taco is joining the fold with a new birra menu that includes shredded beef tacos, a shredded beef birra quesadilla, and perhaps most interesting of all… birra ramen.

So did Del Taco nail birria? We found out by trying each dish. Here is how they rank from our least favorite to favorite.

3. Birria Ramen

Tasting Notes & Thoughts:

When I first saw this dish I was a bit horrified. “Why?” I asked myself, but it took just a few seconds of thinking about it to realize this was actually a great idea. Birria consomé is a great thing to steep noodles in and with some cilantro, onion, and shredded beef, you have an elevated version of classic Cup Noodles.

The consomé tastes great, it has a chili-forward flavor that is savory and luxurious with a hint of sweetness. The shredded beef is also a winner, it’s tender and beefy and melts in your mouth. Unfortunately, the weak aspect of this dish is the noodles.

I think the issue is that Del Taco’s birra consomé isn’t hot enough to properly cook noodles. The noodles weren’t as soft and luxurious as they needed to be to properly soak up the flavors. I think this is an easy fix though, all Del Taco needs to do is steep these noodles in boiling water, strain them, and then add the birria consomé.

The Bottom Line:

A great idea that isn’t executed as well as it needs to be, but still tasty regardless. Also, how could a Mexican fast food restaurant miss on adding cheese a la David Chang.

Birria Shredded Beef Tacos

Tasting Notes & Thoughts:

The way this dish works puts into perspective just how superior Del Taco is to Taco Bell. The double tortillas have a great corn flavor and texture, the fresh cheddar is nutty with a hint of salt — everything works together to highlight the flavor of the beef, which is generously portioned in these tacos.

Even without the birra consomé, this is a great taco — dipping it just elevates it that much more.

The Bottom Line:

Del Taco’s shredded beef dunks on every protein option at Taco Bell. This is a great taco and that’s before you dip it into the birria.

Shredded Beef Birria Quesadilla

Tasting Notes & Thoughts:

This was the winner for me. Considering the best part of the new birria menu is this shredded beef, this dish puts the focus on that savory meaty flavor. Inside the quesadilla is a thick portion of shredded beef with tangy and very mild green sauce, and a whole lot of cheddar cheese wrapped in a flour tortilla and flat top grilled (compare this to Taco Bell, which doesn’t have a grill at all).

The consomé shines here as well, absorbing perfectly into the flour tortilla and the crevices of the quesadilla, leading to an explosion of savory, beefy, chili-backed flavor with every bite. I can’t emphasize this enough, the fact that Del Taco shreds its cheese in-house makes a difference. It’s significantly better than every other Mexican-inspired fast food chain’s cheese, even Chipotle, whose cheese never gets hot enough to melt (except for in the quesadilla).

In a perfect world, Del Taco would dip the entire quesadilla in birria consomé before grilling it, but that would probably result in a mess that just doesn’t work in the drive-thru.

The Bottom Line:

You need to order Del Taco’s Shredded Beef Birria Quesadilla immediately! It’s one of the best dishes in fast food.

Find your nearest Del Taco here.

Thanksgiving is almost here. One more weekend and then — BAM! — Turkey Day. Since I’m the cook for my family that means about three solid days of prep and cooking. What can I say? I do it right! So if I want to make a cocktail to numb the pain of being on my feet for hours on end, I want a cocktail that’s easy to mix and delicious.

Speed is the name of the game as much as ease when you’re making cocktails around Thanksgiving. And while seasonal-this or spiced-that cocktails are fun, they’re not necessarily easy to make (or source ingredients for). So let’s make this super easy. Let’s make this a two-ingredient killer.

I’m making Rusty Nails this Thanksgiving. And I think you should too.

First and foremost, the Rusty Nail is a stone-cold classic dating back about 100 years. The cocktail gained traction in the late 1950s leading into the Rat Pack peak era of the early 1960s. It was huge in New Orleans and New York’s cocktail scene in that era. Then it almost disappeared entirely. Well, now it’s back and still freaking delicious thanks to a lush and texturally elevating addition of honey liqueur scotch (Drambuie).

The best part of this cocktail is that it is very easy to mix. You just need to stir two quality scotchy ingredients together and add a little lemon oil and you’re all set. Sound good? Let’s get stirring!

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Rusty Nail

Ingredients:

• 1.5 oz. unpeated single malt Scotch whisky
• 0.75 oz. Drambuie
• Ice
• Large ice cube
• Lemon peel

The one crucial ingredient you’ll need is Drambuie. Honey liqueur and Scotch whisky have been together for hundreds of years because, well, it tastes great. The modern version uses herbs, spices, and heather honey infused with Scotch whisky. On its own, it’s a nice sipper with a very creamy honey edge. In this cocktail, it’s essential.

When it comes to the Scotch whisky to use, I like to lean toward unpeated single malt. The Balvenie Double Wood 12-Year has this hint of heather honey and barrel spice that just works with this cocktail. If you want a hint of peated smoke, I’d stick with the Isle of Skye (where Drambuie is made) and mix this with a Talisker 10.

What You’ll Need:

• Rocks glass (prechilled)
• Cocktail mixing glass
• Cocktail strainer
• Jigger
• Barspoon
• Paring knife

Method:

• Prechill the rocks glass in the freezer.
• Add the scotch and Drambuie to the cocktail mixing glass. Add a handful of ice and then mix the cocktail until it’s very well-chilled (about 20-30 seconds of stirring).
• Add a large ice cube to the prechilled glass and then strain the cocktail into the glass.
• Express the oils from the lemon peel over the cocktail and drop it in the glass. Serve.

Bottom Line on the Rusty Nail:

This is one of those cocktails where you walk into a bar on a cold rainy day and say, “You know what? I’m in the mood for a Rusty Nail…” and then you drink too many of them. This is a really tasty cocktail, folks. The honey gives the single malt this creamy and ultra-silky mouthfeel that’s full and soft.

The spices of the Drambuie and the Double Wood The Balvenie marry wonderfully on the palate with a deep layer of winter spice barks and a hint of mint over vanilla with a malty winter spice cake vibe.

This is just really good. Better still, it takes all of 30 seconds to make. You cannot beat that on a busy and tiring Thanksgiving week. Sláinte!

C’mon, everyone knows that the most effective (and fun) way to watch horror movies (if at all humanly possible) is in theaters. As such, that’s where Eli Roth’s Thanksgiving, a movie that was over 15 years in the making after first reaching the public consciousness as a fake Grindhouse trailer, will be on November 17. The movie will be waiting when you finish your own holiday dinner and decide that cabin fever (pun intended) has set in all too quickly.

Yet in 2023 and beyond, there’s also that oft-asked-about-movies “when can I stream this joint?” question. So, if you must know, the clues lie with a recent deal made by Sony and Netflix for exclusive streaming rights on most of Sony’s theatrical releases, and there’s probably a 90-ish day marker on those dates. For example, No Hard Feelings released on June 23 and landed on Netflix on October 22. In other words, that means that we probably won’t see Thanksgiving on Netflix until after Valentine’s Day.

That’s a long time to wait. Several holidays away, in fact. You know what to do, but put the film (and PEOPLE‘s Sexiest Man Alive) in the Netflix queue, too.

Roth has been checking off all kinds of boxes in recent years while confronting his former biggest fear and finally seeing a reality when people won’t ask him when Thanksgiving will be an actual movie. Here’s the film’s synopsis:

After a Black Friday riot ends in tragedy, a mysterious Thanksgiving-inspired killer terrorizes Plymouth, Massachusetts — the birthplace of the holiday. Picking off residents one by one, what begins as random revenge killings are soon revealed to be part of a larger, sinister holiday plan. Will the town uncover the killer and survive the holidays… or become guests at his twisted holiday dinner table?

Thanksgiving has almost arrived in theaters.

With the SAG-AFTRA strike now over, Yellowstone can finally resume production on the back half of Season 5, which will bring the flagship series to a close. Taylor Sheridan probably didn’t plan to bring this Western series to a close this early, but a dispute with Kevin Costner led to the prolific TV creator to pull the plug early and move on to a new Yellowstone series starring Matthew McConaughey.

According to Variety, Yellowstone Season 5 will start filming the Part 2 episodes in late Spring 2024. That should give the show enough time to still hit its previously announced November 2024 release date. As for Kevin Costner’s involvement in the final episodes, as of this writing, the actor is reportedly not returning to the show.

Esquire reports that Puck writer Matthew Belloni recently said the following on his The Town podcast. “My understanding is that, as of now, he is not gonna be in those episodes.” Belloni also reported back in September that a phone call between Sheridan and Costner most likely doomed the actor’s return. Costner reportedly wanted “the right to review, approve, and potentially veto every Sheridan script,” which did not sit well with the Yellowstone creator who has refused to work with a writer’s room and scripts each episode himself.

As for how Sheridan will address Costner’s absence will be tricky. The actor reportedly has a clause in his contract that limits the way Sheridan can kill off his character John Dutton. The Yellowstone patriarch can’t die in a way that “would cause shame or embarrassment to John Dutton — and, implicitly, to Costner and his family.”

(Via Variety)

Casandra Ventura, best known as the singer Cassie, has sued her former longtime romantic partner, Sean “Diddy” Combs, accusing him of rape and a decade’s worth of physical abuse. According to the New York Times, Ventura filed sued today (November 16) in Manhattan Federal District Court, claiming that from shortly after they met in 2005 (she was 19 at the time), he exercised a pattern of abuse and manipulation that included beatings, drugs, coerced sex with male prostitutes, and at least one occasion, rape.

In a statement, Cassie wrote, “After years in silence and darkness, I am finally ready to tell my story, and to speak up on behalf of myself and for the benefit of other women who face violence and abuse in their relationships.”

Diddy’s lawyer, Ben Brafman, wrote in response, “Mr. Combs vehemently denies these offensive and outrageous allegations. For the past six months, Mr. Combs has been subjected to Ms. Ventura’s persistent demand of $30 million, under the threat of writing a damaging book about their relationship, which was unequivocally rejected as blatant blackmail. Despite withdrawing her initial threat, Ms. Ventura has now resorted to filing a lawsuit riddled with baseless and outrageous lies, aiming to tarnish Mr. Combs’s reputation and seeking a payday.”

However, Ventura’s attorney, Douglas Wigdor, characterized the proposal differently. “Mr. Combs offered Ms. Ventura eight figures to silence her and prevent the filing of this lawsuit,” he said. “She rejected his efforts.”

The lawsuit names a number of other defendants as people who helped Diddy maintain the secrecy of these incidents, as well as claiming that he used threats, such as withholding her music, to coerce her compliance. He allegedly exercised control over her housing, transportation, and even medical records, while pushing her to take ecstasy and ketamine. Ventura says that he would become violent when angered, which was multiple times a year.

There are more detailed accounts in the Times‘ report, which readers should be warned are graphic in nature. It should be noted that there is at least one report of police involvement in the couple’s relationship woes.

A new House Ethics Committee report has revealed that George Santos spent campaign funds on Botox, trips to Atlantic City, and most scandalously, a subscription to the porn site OnlyFans. It’s another embarrassing stain on the New York congressman’s record, which has been marred from the start after it became clear that Santos lied about numerous items including his professional career, college education, and his mother dying in the September 11 attacks.

According to Mediaite, the committee found “substantial evidence” that Santos misappropriated funds and “lived large” thanks to his campaign coffers, despite having an “abysmal” credit rating. However, despite his wild spending, a staffer claimed that Santos failed to pay him for eight months and was told the campaign “had no money.”

In the midst of the House Committee revealing Santos spent campaign funds on OnlyFans, a hilarious and now-telling March interview with Fox Business has resurfaced. In the clip, Kennedy asks Santos if he has an OnlyFans where he peels a banana with his feet. The embattled congressman just laughs and says he didn’t even know what OnlyFans was until recently.

That answer prompted Kennedy to laugh and say, “You just can’t tell the truth,” to Santos’ face.

The resurfaced clip has already gone viral on Twitter where people can’t believe what they’re watching, especially in light of the new allegations against Santos. You can see some of the reactions below:

(Via Mediaite)

For years, Stephen A. Smith has been going on television and begging people to STAY OFF THE WEED.

What started as one of his rants became a patented catchphrase for the ESPN personality every time an athlete found himself in trouble for using marijuana, which has happened less and less now that it’s legal in most states and most of the major sports leagues have removed it from their banned substance list. Even so, Smith still campaigns for folks to get off the weed and on Thursday, one of the most shocking news items of 2023 dropped when one of the most legendary weed smokers in history, Snoop Dogg, said he’s “giving up smoke” with a social media post reminiscent of a high school recruit making his college choice, asking for privacy at this time.

A few hours after the news of Snoop’s retirement from smoking hit, Stephen A. posted his response, photoshopping his face onto the Wario “I’ve won, but at what cost” meme.

It’s some top-tier posting from Smith and, I assume, whoever helps Smith run his social media — although, I do prefer pretending Stephen A. was opening up photoshop and making this all on his own. Stephen A. has been trying for years to get someone to listen and maybe, just maybe, Snoop watched one too many First Take episodes and was moved.

I recently spent some time with Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson. He’s known not only for breaking down stereotypes about what kinds of people go into science, but he has actively stood up and spoken against those who would close its doors, especially to young women.

So when Neil was asked this question by a little girl during a public speech, he gave one of the best answers I’ve ever heard. It may drive some parents crazy, but it also might just help change the world.

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This article originally appeared on 01.14.15

Every single day, babies across the world are born prematurely, which means that they’re born before 37 weeks of gestation.

In Canada, about 29,000 infants are born prematurely each year, roughly 1 in every 13. But in the United States, around 400,000 to 500,000 are born early. That’s about 1 in every 8 to 10 babies born in the U.S.!

Red Méthot, a Canadian photographer and student, decided to capture the resilience of many of these kids for a school photography project.

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He’s the father of two prematurely born kids himself, so the topic is important to him.

“My son was born at 29 weeks and my daughter at 33 weeks,” he told me in a phone interview. “These are the kind of pictures I would like to have seen when my first child was born — they’ve been through that, and they are great now.”

Méthot said he knows not all preemie stories have a happy ending — one of his photos features a child whose twin passed away after they were born prematurely — but for so many kids who come early, they go on to experience a great life.

Meet several of the beautiful kids he photographed!

Méthot’s school project originally consisted of 10 photos, but the reaction has been so positive and he’s enjoyed taking them so much, he continued adding to the collection.

Currently, he has captured 50 images. (You can view them all in the album on his Facebook page!). Méthot told me that his favorite part of the project has been meeting the subjects.

“Each time I meet a new person, I [learn] about a new story,” he said.

And I think we can all agree that Méthot is a wonderful storyteller through his photography. Between his photos showing the bright future so many premature babies have and his photo showing the loss, he captures reality beautifully.

This article originally appeared on November 6, 2015