Like many of us, Rihanna rang in 2025 by counting down the final seconds of 2024.
Rihanna’s video of her New Year’s Eve celebration shows her and a group of friends eagerly waiting for 2025 to arrive. After the clock strikes midnight, Rihanna exclaims, “Y’all, I didn’t drink all year! I didn’t drink all year!” The post is also captioned, “New Year, New Me.”
While Rihanna may have been celebrating an alcohol-free 2024, some have interpreted what Rihanna said as a joke: When she spoke, it had been 2025 for just a matter of seconds, so perhaps she was playing off the fact she hadn’t yet had any alcohol in 2025.
Either way, Rihanna has seemingly not been drinking much over the past couple years. She presumably abstained while pregnant with her and ASAP Rocky’s son Riot, who was born in August 2023. Then, in April 2024, Rihanna sparked pregnancy rumors when she was spotted pretending to sip champagne.
Famously, though, Rihanna did go day drinking with Seth Meyers in 2019, and Meyers later said, “We drank the same amount and then she definitely went out. Like, she was fine. She walked out, she looked as good as she did when we started. I went home, immediately fell asleep in the hallway of my apartment. Got in the door, fell asleep.”
Meanwhile, in the comments of the New Year’s post, a user named Lorenzo wrote, “We want an album forehead.” Rihanna fired back, “listen Lorenzo! You ain’t cute enough to be calling me by my black name you dizzy f*ck!”
Something strange is happening at Taco Bell. For whatever reason, the fast food brand keeps dropping fried food outside its usual M.O. and each time, they’ve knocked it out of the park. The brand’s super-limited chicken wings are some of the best in fast food, their fries are way better than they should be, and they’ve even made a valiant attempt at doing a chicken sandwich — which again, tasted way better than anyone could’ve imagined.
And now, they’ve done it again with the new Crispy Chicken Nuggets.
Not only are these nuggets good, but they may also be the absolute best fried food dish at Taco Bell, which is really saying something considering the fries are easily top ten material. And we’d know, because we ranked 36 different fast food french fries and Taco Bell’s Nacho Fries came in 7th overall. Now imagine pairing those fries with some delicious white meat chicken nuggets? It’s weird to say but, if you want one of the best chicken and fries orders in fast food in 2025, there is an argument to be made that you might find it at Taco Bell.
Here is our full review of the surprisingly delicious Crispy Chicken Nuggets. Let’s eat!
Taco Bell’s Crispy Chicken Nuggets
Dane Rivera
Thoughts & Tasting Notes:
I ordered these nuggets with the highest amount of skepticism a person could have. I fully expected them to be downright awful. So if you’re going into this thinking, “How could these possibly be any good?” I’ve been there. Even visually, these nuggets leave a lot to be desired. When I opened my box and saw these nuggets, they struck me immediately as low quality. I imagined them to be dry, over-salted, and processed to the point that the meat would no longer resemble chicken.
I was completely wrong. Biting into this nugget, I was struck by how tender and flavorful this white meat chicken tender is. There is a well-seasoned blend of salty, garlic, onion, and black pepper flavors, with the meat giving off a juicy and tender texture. After the initial surprise of how good this dish is, I wondered if maybe I was just taken by surprise.
“Maybe this nugget isn’t good,” I thought. “Just way better than I expected.”
But nope, a few bites later, and still delicious!
Dane Rivera
When we taste test new dishes, we don’t go in hungry, as that might influence our feelings about a dish. So I had already had lunch by the time I tried the nuggets, and I ended up liking the dish so much I finished every nugget — all without every dipping one in sauce. When a chicken dish doesn’t need sauce, that’s the sign of greatness.
What blows my mind though is not that Taco Bell’s chicken nuggets are good, but that they’re so much better than a lot of the brands in competition. McDonald’s, Burger King, Del Taco, Jack in the Box, and Wendy’s have nuggets that take a backseat to these. Hopefully, this inspires the other brands to step up their game.
The Bottom Line:
Taco Bell’s chicken nuggets are so damn good that you need to try them ASAP. Taco Bell is carving up new lanes for itself and consistently proving that it’s one of the best fast food brands in operation right now.
During a meet and greet for his money-making Las Vegas residency, the “In Da Club” rapper posed for a photo with actress Danielle Fishel, who played quintessential ’90s crush Topanga Lawrence on the ABC sitcom that aired for seven seasons.
“@daniellefishel just said fvck it, shes gonna be fine forever. Happy New Year’s Eve. Vegas vibes!” he wrote on Instagram. In the replies, Fishel commented, “AHHHH! I had the BEST time – thanks for putting on such an amazing show. You were the perfect way to end 2024. G-Unit forever!”
50 Cent has never shared his favorite TV show of all-time (maybe he prefers Girl Meets World to Boy Meets World!), but we do know his No. 1 movie.
“Oh baby, I got so many movies I enjoy. I’m a man on the road. Just gimme a DVD player and a great movie and I’m happy. But if I had to pick my favorite one, I love Friday,” he told author Cindy Pearlman in the 2007 book You Gotta See This, according to Far Out. “I could sit down and watch it right now. I could watch it anytime. That movie makes me laugh.”
Netflix’s biggest non-English language show (the first season still retains the top spot on that list) has a good start at snagging another all-timer spot with “265.2 million views,” at least according to Netflix’s publicly released data, since the second season’s Dec. 26 release.
Those numbers are particularly impressive given the wait time between seasons with Squid Game first debuting in September 2021 and the second season arriving in December 2024. That’s a three-year gap, albeit broken up by the franchise’s reality-show stint, Squid Game: The Challenge, which streamed in 2023. Also, Netflix revealed that a third (and final) season was in the works from creator/director Hwang Dong-hyuk and star Lee Jung-jae.
When? Netflix has only specified that the third installment is “due out in 2025,” and it reinforced that news with a New Year’s Day teaser “introducing” a new animatronic doll, Chul-su (or Cheol-Su), that appeared in the second season credits. Is there a precise release date, though?
Not officially. Yet there is speculation surrounding word from a Forbes report, which claimed that Netflix Korea’s social media accidentally revealed a June 2025 release date in a briefly surfaced video reel. That seems awfully (and too) fast, even though the second and third seasons were simultaneously filmed last year. As of now, however, Netflix Korea is running with a reel that only promises a 2025 return. In other words, the wait for a release date is on, although we might not have to wait long to find out.
In a late December interview with Variety, creator Hwang Dong-hyuk hinted at a date coming soon. He also offered a few third season story points:
“I believe we will be announcing the launch date for Season 3 soon. I probably expect that to launch around summer or fall next year. But as for the storyline of the third season, Gi-hun having lost everything, including his best friend, and all of his attempts going to failure, it’s now, what is he going to be like? What state is Gi-hun going to be in? And what will he choose to do? Will he continue on with the mission? Is he going to give up or persist? And so you’re going to meet our character Gi-hun at a very critical crossroads as we begin the third season. Gi-hun will not be the man he was in Season 2.”
The first two Squid Game seasons and Squid Game: The Challenge are currently streaming on Netflix.
Aside from Rod Stewart playing the Legends slot, Glastonbury hasn’t yet announced its 2025 lineup. That didn’t stop Neil Young from declaring that he (and his band, the Chrome Hearts) has decided to remove himself from the iconic UK festival’s lineup.
“The Chrome Hearts and I were looking forward to playing Glastonbury, one of my all time favorite outdoor gigs. We were told that BBC was now a partner in Glastonbury and wanted us to do a lot of things in a way we were not interested in. It seems Glastonbury is now under corporate control and is not the way I remember it being. Thanks for coming to see us last time!
We will not be playing Glastonbury on this tour because it is a corporate turn-off, and not for me like it used to be. Hope to see you at one of the other venues on the tour.”
Rolling Stone notes that BBC and Glastonbury have actually had a long-standing relationship, as BBC broadcasts and streams some of the event, including globally for the first time in 2024. Based on Young’s post, it’s not clear what specific issue has with Glastonbury and BBC.
The NBA’s ratings have been a constant topic of conversation for the better part of five years, even though they should only matter to a handful of people in the league office and various network partners. There have been countless arguments about the state of the game and why it seems fans aren’t watching as often as they used to — many of which, it should be said, have been steered by bad-faith arguments about the league’s politics.
The reality is that television ratings are down for most everything that’s not football (particularly the NFL), and the NBA cannot replicate the NFL’s success for a variety of reasons — chief among them being that they do not play football. Still, that hasn’t stopped the arguments and attempts to “fix” the NBA, with this season’s focus being whether teams are taking too many three-pointers and driving away fans because the game has changed so much.
The topic of NBA ratings breached the mainstream sports conversation once again on Thursday, when Caitlin Clark was asked about it during an appearance on the New Heights Podcast with Jason and Travis Kelce. Clark used the question to go to bat for the NBA, as she lauded the incredible skill of NBA players and said she felt part of the problem is that fans think players are so good that they make it seem like they’re not trying. She also, unsurprisingly, does not think three-pointers are an issue, saying watching guys launch threes is one of her favorite things in the sport.
“Honestly, I feel like the average basketball fan doesn’t understand how good NBA players are, and they think it looks like they’re not trying,” Clark said. “I promise you they’re trying, they’re just like, so good. That’s why it looks like they’re not trying. And obviously the physicality of the league has changed a lot, and I wasn’t around when it was much more physical and maybe people want more beef and physicality and people think it’s gone soft. But, I think it’s also because the skill has changed. That’s what’s great about basketball, it’s always evolving. It’s gonna be different than when MJ played. It’s gonna be different in 10 years than it is now. So it’s hard for me to put my finger on why it’s gone down — and also it’s competing against a lot of football right now, you have to take that into consideration. Football is just, that’s America’s favorite thing. I mean, I love three-point shooting. I love seeing guys launch threes, but not everybody loves that, so, I don’t know.”
Clark is, of course, naturally inclined to enjoy the three-point shooting boom we are currently in, as she’s part of that on the women’s side, but I do think she makes some very good points overall. Her point about the game constantly evolving is a particularly important one because most of the conversations are being driven by people who are nostalgic for a past era that just doesn’t exist anymore. Nostalgia drives a lot of things (there’s a reason we are getting so many remakes and reboots in film and TV) but sports are the rare form of entertainment that will always press forward (albeit with splashes of nostalgia in the form of throwback uniforms). People always think things were at their best when they were growing up, and that is definitely the case with sports fans. Clark reminds everyone that the game is constantly evolving and always has, which she notes is a feature, not a bug.
Anybody who thought the vinyl resurgence was just a fad was mistaken: The industry has experienced a legitimate revival. As a result, music fans are interested in physical media in ways they may not have if the decades-old medium hasn’t made a comeback. That doesn’t mean everybody is listening to just their parents’ old music, though. That’s part of it, sure, thanks to rereleases that present classic albums in new ways. A vital part of the renewed vinyl wave, though, is new projects being released as records, of which there are plenty.
Whatever you might be into, each month brings a new slew of vinyl releases that has something for everybody. Some stand out above the rest, naturally, so check out some of our favorite vinyl releases of December below.
Paul Grimstad — “Evening Mirror” Feat. Talia Ryder 7-inch
In celebration of the one-year anniversary of the film The Sweet East, there’s a special 7-inch single of one of the movie’s soundtrack highlight, “Evening Mirror.” The release was available exclusively at a record release party on December 22, but is expected to be made available via other venues in the future.
For David Byrne and company, it all started with Talking Heads: 77, which has been given an amazing new reissue. The “Super Deluxe Edition” features, among other goodies, rarities, unreleased outtakes, and the previously unreleased Live At CBGB’s, Oct. 10, 1977.
Fang Island — Doesn’t Exist II: The Complete Recordings
Joyful Noise
This Providence, Rhode Island band burned fast and bright, leaving behind a couple of beloved albums and a spattering of EPs and lesser-heard gems. Now, you can have it all with this complete box set, capturing the legacy of the band in a hand-crafted, laser-etched wooden box. With it, you get everything the band released, an exclusive 7-inch record featuring “Starquake” b/w “Patterns On The Wall” feat. Andrew WK, and a poster. They aren’t producing many of these boxes (300) and they’re sold out online, so follow the link below to see where they may have some in stores. Both albums, Fang Island and Major, are also available individually here.
Daft Punk and Leiji Matsumoto’s iconic film Interstella 5555: The 5Tory Of The 5Ecret 5Tar had a one-night-only screening earlier this month. If you missed that, there’s still Discovery: Interstella 5555 Edition, which includes the original Japanese edition artwork, stickers, and Daft Club card.
The soundtrack to end all soundtracks. Okay, maybe that’s a little dramatic, but the influence of Pulp Fiction, both as a film and an album, can’t be overstated. I watched the film recently in a crowded theater and was struck by just how “music video” it all still plays, with big musical numbers tying the scenes together. This new pressing for the film’s 30th anniversary comes on glow-in-the-dark vinyl, and will please any vinyl lover in your life.
Motown has spent much of 2024 pushing a fantastic series of reissued from its storied catalog, and now, we’ve reached the end of the road. Among the December drops is a reissue of Solid Rock, The Temptations’ pivotal 1972 album.
J. Cole — 2014 Forest Hills Drive Vinyl (10 Year Anniversary Edition)
It doesn’t get much more iconic than 2014 Forest Hills Drive when it comes to rap albums, and now J. Cole is celebrating ten years of the landmark project with a new anniversary reissue. Aside from new cover art, there are also four new bonus tracks.
The Cure — Songs Of A Lost World (Blood Red Moon Edition)
Fiction/Capitol Records
In 2024, Robert Smith and company managed to come through with Songs Of A Lost World, one of the best-received albums of The Cure’s storied career. Uproxx’s Steven Hyden said of it, “As much as The Cure have recaptured the sound of their 1980s work, they’ve reanimated the spirit, a desire to give each album a distinct mood that blots out all others in the world.”
This is from Rhino’s high fidelity series and is limited to only 3,000 copies — and appears to be out of stock online. The collections features all of the albums released during Jim Morrison’s life, from the self-titled debut to L.A. Woman. The set is held in a pretty awesome faux lizard skin hardshell slipcase and features rare photos and new liner notes from Doors archivist David Dutkowski. It essentially would knock out all of your Doors needs in a single set.
Tender Buttons was a critically beloved dream pop album from the mid-2000s, and this year, it turns 20 years old. Vinyl Me, Please is marking the occasion with a reissue pressed on magenta and cyan vinyl, which provides a vibrant contrast to the black-and-white cover art.
As the calendar turns to 2025, the NBA All-Star Game is just around the corner. While the game itself has become a point of frustration for seemingly everyone (players, fans, media, and the league itself), the honor of being named an All-Star still matters a lot to all those parties as well.
With a 6 weeks until the 2025 All-Star Game in San Francisco, the NBA released the first round of fan voting results on Thursday. For the first time in a long time, LeBron James is not a lock for a starting spot and does not lead his conference in fan voting, as Nikola Jokic is first in the West ahead of Kevin Durant and then LeBron. Not far behind James in fan voting for the final West frontcourt spot are his teammate, Anthony Davis, and the NBA’s next young superstar, Victor Wembanyama.
In the East, Giannis Antetokounmpo once again is the leading vote-getter at the first checkpoint and has the most votes of any player in the league, with Jayson Tatum and Karl-Anthony Towns rounding out the top 3. They have a massive lead on the rest of the East frontcourt vote-getters, with Paolo Banchero (who has barely played this season) fourth.
NBA
As is often the case, the guard voting is much more scattered, with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Luka Doncic leading in the West, with Stephen Curry not far behind in third. In the East, it’s LaMelo Ball in first followed by Donovan Mitchell and then Damian Lillard. Ball is probably the biggest surprise in voting right now, but he’s also averaging 30.1 points and 7.4 assists per game this season and is an incredibly fun player to watch (and has a lot of support among the younger generation of fans). As always, it’s important to remember that fan voting now counts for just 50 percent of the calculations for the All-Star starters, with the players and media each getting 25 percent of the vote.
Also, while starters will be locked in to spots before the coaches vote on reserves, this year’s format will see three teams of 8 players drafted by the Inside the NBA crew for the new mini-tournament. That means we won’t actually see these starting fives on the floor all together, but as of this moment this is who would have an All-Star spot if the fans have their way.
EAST: LaMelo Ball, Donovan Mitchell, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Jayson Tatum, Karl-Anthony Towns
WEST: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Luka Doncic, Nikola Jokic, Kevin Durant, LeBron James
Netflix is doing just fine these days in the original TV realm. Spy thrillers are obviously working damn well for them as are horror and fantasy series, but undoubtedly, Taylor Sheridan’s Paramount+ success is motivating other services (including Netflix) to get into the Neo-Western game.
That drive has already yielded the Australian Outback-set Territory series (which will likely receive a second season), and The Abandons (set in 1850s Oregon) should arrive this year (albeit without Kurt Sutter). That same time-period focus applies to Netflix’s American Primeval, which combines the powers of Friday Night Lights creator Peter Berg, Narcos executive producer Eric Newman, and The Revenant screenwriter Mark L. Smith to deliver a limited series set in 1857s America. “Brutal” doesn’t even begin to describe what viewers shall watch when the very TV-MA show arrives.
When Does American Primeval Come Out On Netflix?
The six-episode series, which stars Taylor Kitsch and Betty Gilpin among an ensemble cast, will stream on Thursday, January 9, 2024. From the synopsis:
“This is America… 1857. Up is down, pain is everywhere, innocence and tranquility are losing the battle to hatred and fear. Peace is the shrinking minority, and very few possess grace — even fewer know compassion. There is no safe haven in these brutal lands, and only one goal matters: survival. AMERICAN PRIMEVAL is a fictionalized dramatization and examination of the violent collision of culture, religion, and community as men and women fight and die to keep or control this land.”
Netflix released a Mature-Rated trailer to start the year off:
The American Primeval cast further includes Saura Lightfoot-Leon, Dane DeHaan, Derek Hinkey, Joe Tippett, Preston Mota, Shawnee Pourier, Jai Courtney, and Shea Whigham. Guest stars include Kim Coates (as Brigham Young), Lucas Neff, Tokala Black Elk, Nick Hargrove, Irene Bedard, Kyle Davis, Alex Breaux, Kip Weeks, Jeremiah Bitsui, Dominic Bogart, and Alex Fine. And if you would like to see a slightly less TV-MA trailer, Netflix has that, too:
We have finally arrived at the last week of the NFL’s regular season, and despite the expansion of the playoffs to 14 teams, only two playoff spots are still up for grabs going into the last week of the season. This season has seen a pretty massive separation between the good teams and bad teams in the NFL, with very little in the way of a middle class scrapping for Wild Card spots.
Even with just two spots up for grabs — and only five teams in the mix for those spots — there is some seeding drama still to play out in the NFL’s regular season finale. Here, we’ll go through everything that is still not set in stone and look at the games that will determine who ends up where for Wild Card Weekend.
NFC South Champion
We’ll start with one of three divisions still waiting to be sorted out, and the only one that features two teams that will either win the division or miss the playoffs entirely. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers (9-7) come in with a 1-game lead on the Atlanta Falcons (8-8), meaning they just need to beat the New Orleans Saints (or tie them) to punch their ticket to the playoffs as the NFC’s 4-seed. The Falcons, meanwhile, need to beat the Carolina Panthers and have the Bucs lose to get into the postseason. Both of those games will be in the 1:00 p.m. ET window.
NFC North Champion and NFC 1-seed
The best game of Sunday will feature the Detroit Lions (14-2) hosting the Minnesota Vikings (14-2) on NBC’s Sunday Night Football, where the winner will get the NFC’s top seed and a bye, while the loser will fall to the 5-seed and face the NFC South champ next week. What makes it even more intriguing is that the loser of this game will be a heavy favorite over either the Bucs or Falcons, and if they take care of business on the road there, we will get a rematch of this game in the Divisional Round. Both teams will want that bye and home field advantage, but it feels particularly important for a banged-up Lions team to get an week of rest.
AFC North Champion
The Baltimore Ravens (11-5) hold a one-game lead on the Pittsburgh Steelers (10-6) in the AFC North, meaning if they can beat the Cleveland Browns (or tie them) on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. ET, they will lock up the 3-seed in the AFC. If they were to lose, then the Steelers would be able to win the division if they can beat the Bengals on Saturday night at 8:00 p.m. ET. The 3-seed will play host to the Chargers on Wild Card Weekend, while the 5-seed will go on the road to Houston.
AFC 7-seed
There are still three teams alive for the final playoff spot in the AFC, as the Denver Broncos (9-7), Miami Dolphins (8-8), and Cincinnati Bengals (8-8) are all hoping to nab the 7-seed and a trip to Buffalo for the Wild Card. For Denver, the formula is simple, beat the Chiefs (playing mostly their backups) and they are in. If the Broncos lose, however, it opens the door for Miami and Cincinnati. If the Dolphins can beat the Jets and get a Denver loss, they would be in, while the Bengals need to beat the Steelers and get a Broncos loss and a Dolphins loss or tie. We will know by late Saturday night if the Bengals are still alive, while the Dolphins and Broncos will be playing at 4:25 p.m. ET on Sunday.
NFC 6-seed
The Washington Commanders (11-5) and the Green Bay Packers (11-5) are currently tied in the standings, with Washington owning the tiebreaker. If the Commanders can beat the Cowboys, they’ll be the 6-seed, but if Dallas wins, Green Bay can jump into the 6-seed with a win over the Bears. The difference will be a visit to L.A. to face the Rams as the 6-seed or a trip to Philadelphia as the 7-seed. Both of those games will be played in the 1:00 p.m. ET window on Sunday.
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