Category: News

Last month, storied New York City indie rock band The Walkmen announced that they were reuniting after a ten-year “extreme hiatus.” The band’s long break began shortly after the release and tour for their spectacular final album, Heaven. The reunion came as a welcome surprise for fans, and the band had announced a mere two concerts in New York City set to take place on April 26 and 27, 2023. Now they’ve added to those dates considerably and are taking The Walkmen reunion tour across multiple U.S. cities.

Along with the two New York City concerts, The Walkmen have added two-night stops at Philadelphia’s Union Transfer, Chicago’s The Metro, and Washington D.C.’s 9:30 Club. They’ve also expanded their two nights at New York City’s Webster Hall into a full five-night residency at the venue. They are appearing at the Shaky Knees Festival in Atlanta, GA too. And while all of the dates are currently at East Coast venues, the hope is that the band eventually take the reunion tour on the road to the West Coast, Canada, and the rest of the U.S.

Check out the full list of The Walkmen Reunion tour dates below. Sign up for pre-sale tickets here.

04/24/2022 — New York, NY @ Webster Hall
04/25/2022 — New York, NY @ Webster Hall
04/26/2022 — New York, NY @ Webster Hall
04/27/2022 — New York, NY @ Webster Hall
04/28/2022 — New York, NY @ Webster Hall
05/02/2022 — Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer
05/03/2022 — Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer
05/07/2022 — Atlanta, GA @ Shaky Knees Festival
05/19/2022 — Chicago, IL @ The Metro
05/20/2022 — Chicago, IL @ The Metro
05/25/2022 — Washington, D.C. @ 9:30 Club
05/26/2022 — Washington, D.C. @ 9:30 Club

Season two of The White Lotus is undoubtedly horny, which makes sense for a television series set in Italy, of all places. The decadence is sexy, and creator/writer/director Mike White leaned in on the innate sexiness of the surroundings for the season’s themes. Almost every storyline revolves around sex, desire, or attraction in some way, from the anxiety-ridden tension between Harper (Aubrey Plaza) and Cameron (Theo James) to a father, son, and grandson’s trip to the motherland.

Here, because what else was I supposed to do (don’t actually answer that), I ranked every The White Lotus season two character, from Rocco to Lucia by horniness, to distract myself from thinking about how several of these people are probably going to die next week. Here is every character from The White Lotus, ranked from least horny to most horny.

Ethan (Will Sharpe)

This poor (but very rich) man would rather run, watch porn, or take a shower than have sex with Aubrey Plaza. To each their own. Now that things are starting to take an even hornier but incredibly dark turn, Ethan has officially spiraled: he is somehow even less horny and his anger over a perceived affair between Harper and Cameron is giving major looming death/murder vibes. What does Ethan think this is, House of the Dragon? To be fair, at least he’s on the right cable network.

Rocco and Isabella (Federico Ferrante and Eleonora Romandini)

The only thing Rocco and Isabella love more than flirting at the front desk is working at the front desk. Together and as individuals they are sweet and hard-working but completely absent of sexual energy. In episode six, we find out that they are engaged. Good for them! I imagine they will spend the rest of their lives holding hands and smiling at The White Lotus – Sicily reception desk.

Daphne Sullivan (Meghann Fahy)

Daphne is all about balance and control: she is hot for her husband Cameron, but she knows he cheats on her so she takes her desires elsewhere, too, and does whatever she wants, in her own words. Whatever she wants ranges from renting out a palazzo at the last minute to having a ”trainer.” As toxic as it all sounds, Daphne is onto something because somehow, she is the most level-headed, normal person at the resort (that we know of). She’s horny, yes, but unlike the people she’s vacationing with, she has her impulses, desires, and petty little ways of getting revenge on Cam under control.

Tanya McQuoid-Hunt (Jennifer Coolidge)

Tanya might be horny once in a while but above all, she longs for love, admiration, and belonging. More than anything, Tanya is horny for not being alone.

Greg (Jon Gries)

For Tanya’s suspicious husband Greg, it is not a question of if he is horny but rather, who is he horny for? It’s certainly not his wife and is most likely his wife’s new, secretly sinister gay bestie Quentin, who he is likely in cahoots with due to a possible shared past.

Mia (Beatrice Granno)

Mia has taken quite the journey since the first episodes when she was longing for a guy named Massimo. Lucia inadvertently created a monster who is on the prowl every night at The White Lotus – Sicily bar, where she’s earned herself a position as an entertainer, and, somehow, ended up in bed with Valentina, who has spent most of the week trying to kick her off the premises. While Mia might not be the horniest person at the resort, it turns out, being adjacent to extremely horny people is a major motivator for her.

Dominic Di Grasso (Michael Imperioli)

Dominic arrived at his Sicily getaway with his father and son an extremely sad, horny man ready to unleash his sad, horny energy every night with a woman he’d never have to see or worry about again. Dominic is trying to save his family by resisting this sad horniness, but unfortunately, Lucia, the woman he planned to spend the week with and never see again, is becoming a more permanent part of his vacation (and possibly his life) thanks to his also very sad, horny son. Like father, like son, like grandfather, I guess?

Valentina

The White Lotus – Sicily manager Valentina is horny but doesn’t even know it, really. She also doesn’t know what to do about it. But following her little tryst with Mia in episode six, that might change.

Giueseppe (Federico Scribani)

Piano player Giuseppe is so horny that he almost died for it, considering he took a pill from Mia without knowing where it came from.

Portia (Haley Lu Richardson)

Portia was horny until she spent an entire day and night with a boy from Essex. My hope for Portia is that she finds herself, gets a healthy job, gets a more cohesive wardrobe that does not look exactly like my closest in the fifth grade, and never talks to a British man again (no offense to British men, she just needs to stay very far away from the possibility of this ever happening again).

Lucia (Simona Tobasco)

Horny for money as is her right, but also kind of genuinely horny, too.

Albie Di Grasso (Adam DiMarco)

Albie tries so hard to be a nice, respectful guy that he doesn’t even realize how horny he is, and just how much he actually has in common with his father and grandfather.

Quentin (Tom Hollander)

Quentin is horny for some cash, and will do whatever he can to get it (and, along the way, it doesn’t hurt to have a young man from Essex who may or may not be his nephew there to fulfill any sexual needs? Mike White is a mad genius.

Bert Di Grasso (F. Murray Abraham)

Old Bert is very horny and he is not afraid to let everyone know it, including his grandson and every woman he interacts with or sees. He’s so horny that he did not mind finding two young women he did not know in his hotel room.

Cameron (Theo James)

Cameron is one of those wealthy people – even worse, one of those wealthy men – who think they can have whatever they want. Cameron’s horniness and addiction to money and power have made him a little unhinged and not as subtle as he thinks. Since he grazed Harper’s leg at dinner, he is progressively getting more and more flirtatious with her, to the point where Ethan is suspicious of him, with good reason. Cameron is a classic horn dog, with all the fixings (sorry).

Harper (Aubrey Plaza)

Harper is as horny as a hot woman in a sexless marriage should be, and is so horny that she is successfully seduced by Cameron, who represents everything she hates. Harper is so thirsty that she is compelled by a man who disgusts her. That’s part of why it’s hot, but still.

Jack aka Essex Boy

Jack the fake (hopefully?) nephew from Essex is hornier than a Love Island contestant from Essex, and he will probably be a horny Love Island contestant from Essex if he gets out of this trip to Italy alive.

Fat Joe knows a thing or two about letting beef get in the way of making money. The “Lean Back” rapper, who has been making the interview rounds to promote the release of his new memoir, The Book Of Jose, explained last week to GQ how a beef with 50 Cent cost him “about $20 million” from a deal with Jordan brand and other appearance fees. In that same GQ interview, he spoke about having an unreleased guest verse that Hay-Z recorded for one of his tracks in 2019, and how it’ll likely never see the light of day because it could have compromised a deal Jay-Z made with the NFL.

You see, around the same time in 2019, Jay-Z inked a deal with the NFL which gave him a heavy hand in booking the Super Bowl Halftime Show and in the league’s social justice initiatives. Fat Joe seemed to indicate that Hov was rapping about the lead-up to the deal, or the deal itself and that once the deal was signed, the verse became a no-go.

“He was talking about the NFL stuff,” Fat Joe told GQ. “He had just signed that big deal with that NFL, so he wanted to let it go. He gave it to me… But I guess his people were like, ‘Yo bro, you just did a deal with them. How are you going to go in like that?’”

He then heaped praise on Jay-Z’shalftime show efforts. “They’ve been doing the biggest Super Bowl. That was legendary with Dre last year. And I know Rihanna’s going to be legendary this year. So, we don’t like to stop no money or burn no bridges.”

As to the whereabouts of the tape of Jay-Z’s verse where he apparently goes in on the NFL, Joe said he had it, but then walked that back. “I got a copy here. I don’t listen to it but I got it — Dre got it. Let me put it clear. Dre of Cool & Dre got it. I don’t have it.”

ANGEL22 is ringing in the holidays with a Justin Bieber classic. On Friday (December 2), the Latin girl group released a cover of the Canadian pop star’s Christmas hit “Mistletoe.”

In 2019, the band was first assembled as V5 in the UK’s X-Factor: Celebrity contest. Recently, the quartet adopted the name ANGEL22. The group is comprised of Brazil’s Sofia Oliveira, Colombia’s Laura Buitrago, Cuba’s Wendii Sarmiento, and Alondra Martinez, who has roots in the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. Becky G has taken them under her wing. Earlier this year, ANGEL22 released the soulful breakup track “Para Ti No.”

With Christmas approaching, the women of ANGEL22 decided to cover Bieber’s song “Mistletoe.” He originally released it on his 2011 holiday album Under The Mistletoe. Reflecting their diverse Latina heritages, they sing the love song in English, Spanish, and Portuguese. ANGEL22 beautifully translates Bieber’s message with heartfelt harmonies.

“‘Mistletoe’ is a little gift that we want to share with you all with love, to remind you of the joyful spirit during the holidays,” ANGEL22 shared in a statement. “We wanted to do an interpretation of the song with our three languages, Portuguese, Spanish and English so that each and every one of our fans feels more at home during this beautiful time.”

Last Christmas, ANGEL22 covered Ariana Grande‘s holiday hit “Santa Tell Me.” The group is currently working with the lifestyle brand Cantu Beauty in the For All The Styles You Rock campaign.

Donald Trump is attempting to walk back, if not lightly massage, controversial remarks he made about about the “termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution” following Elon Musk’s anticlimactic Hunter Biden info dump. Despite being the ringleader for the Friday night event, even Musk was taken aback by Trump’s remarks. In reply to a Fox news tweet, the Twitter CEO wrote, “The Constitution is greater than any President. End of story.”

After facing significant backlash, Trump is now blaming the brouhaha on, you guessed it, “fake news.” In a new Truth Social post on Monday, the former president came out swinging at the media for having the audacity to accurately quote him:

The Fake News is actually trying to convince the American People that I said I wanted to “terminate” the Constitution. This is simply more DISINFORMATION & LIES, just like RUSSIA, RUSSIA, RUSSIA, and all of their other HOAXES & SCAMS. What I said was that when there is “MASSIVE & WIDESPREAD FRAUD & DECEPTION,” as has been irrefutably proven in the 2020 Presidential Election, steps must be immediately taken to RIGHT THE WRONG. Only FOOLS would disagree with that and accept STOLEN ELECTIONS. MAGA!

Of course, all it takes is one look at Trump’s original Truth Social post to see that, yes, he literally called for the termination of the Constitution so he could be handed the presidency. Here are Trump’s words verbatim:

So, with the revelation of MASSIVE & WIDESPREAD FRAUD & DECEPTION in working closely with Big Tech Companies, the DNC, & the Democrat Party, do you throw the Presidential Election Results of 2020 OUT and declare the RIGHTFUL WINNER, or do you have a NEW ELECTION? A Massive Fraud of this type and magnitude allows for the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution. Our great “Founders” did not want, and would not condone, False & Fraudulent Elections!

Trump’s claim that he’s not trying to terminate the Constitution was also undone by his later ALL-CAPS remarks where he entirely made up his own rules about how elections should work. Or in other words, completely ignored the Constitution.

“SIMPLY PUT, IF AN ELECTION IS IRREFUTABLY FRAUDULENT, IT SHOULD GO TO THE RIGHTFUL WINNER OR, AT A MINIMUM, BE REDONE,” Trump scream-wrote. “WHERE OPEN AND BLATANT FRAUD IS INVOLVED, THERE SHOULD BE NO TIME LIMIT FOR CHANGE!”

(Via Donald Trump on Truth Social)

It’s no secret that everyone could use a little kindness in their lives and it can come in many forms. Sometimes it’s the neighbor cutting your grass when your husband’s away and you’re too busy to get to it yourself. Other times it’s sending a card to the elderly widow down the street.

One woman in Arkansas has taken to spreading kindness through writing letters to strangers. Allison Bond, 25, started writing letters over a year ago during COVID-19 when she couldn’t attend school due to her medical condition. Bond has cerebral palsy and is at greater risk for serious illness should she contract the virus. Writing letters was an act of kindness that didn’t require a trip out of the house.

Bond began by writing to soldiers and inmates. In fact, the first letter she received back was from a soldier. Bond told 5News, “I have one framed from a soldier. He had all his battle buddies sign it. So I framed it so I could put it up.” She’s kept every letter she’s received.

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People continue to write Bond back, and she’s turned her hobby of writing letters of kindness into a mission called Kindness Through Letters Mission. She has a post on her Facebook page asking people who would like to help to donate supplies to help her continue writing these letters. The list is fairly short and straightforward: She needs paper, cards, envelopes, pens and stamps—all the staples of a letter-writing venture.

Bond says she writes the letters in hopes that she makes someone’s day a little bit brighter. But her mission to spread kindness honors what her grandmother told her before she passed away, “Keep doing something good.” Bond has developed several pen pals through her letter-writing ventures and would eventually like to turn her mission into an official nonprofit.

The 25-year-old has even developed pen pals in other countries. According to Washington County Enterprise Ledger, Bond has writing buddies in Russia and Japan as well as several states in America.

If you’d like to help Bond with her Kindness Through Letters Mission, you can send supplies to her PO Box:

Allison Bond

P.O. Box 1205

Lincoln, AR 72744

It’s hard to believe that there was once a time when Bond didn’t enjoy writing, but her mom, Kathy told 5News, growing up Bond hated writing but it has now become a passion. What an amazing passion it is.

Watch the video below:

Rudy Giuliani is finding himself in court so often these days that he’s having problems remembering how to dress for trial, apparently

The former attorney for Donald Trump has been dragged through legal proceedings all year thanks to his efforts to overturn the 2020 Presidential Election. He’s currently facing billion-dollar defamation suits from voting tech companies, a Department of Justice investigation, and a grand jury case in Georgia. He’s also had his license to practice suspended in New York. On the heels of all that, he’s currently in the hot seat thanks to a lawsuit he filed in Pennsylvania, shortly after the election results were certified, that requested hundreds of thousands of ballots be discarded despite zero evidence of voter fraud. And the near constant reminder that there are, in fact, consequences for his actions has got rowdy Rudy a bit rattled.

On Monday morning, Giuliani sat for the first day in what may be a week-long disciplinary hearing to determine his ability to practice law in the D.C. area. The trial is specifically referencing Giuliani’s unethical behavior in filing the Pennsylvania lawsuit. And, while the former New York City mayor made a fool of himself on the stand by spouting ridiculous claims that he was being persecuted by the federal government, his biggest gaffe happened when his mic was turned off. Or, so he thought.

Before both sides took a midday recess, Giuliani, believing his mic was muted, turned to his defense council to laugh at himself for wearing accidentally putting on two watches when he was getting ready for the trial that morning. He even flashed a glimpse of his watched-up wrist before realizing his mic was still on and looking visibly embarrassed.

Now, we’ve all had a wardrobe mishap before, but that normally comes in the form of mismatching socks, not stacking our arms to high-heaven with fake Rolexes. Did he not notice the extra weight, or is he so deep down his own conspiracy theory rabbit hole that he thinks the first watch might be telling time based on a “deep state” Democratic agenda so he has to check against a different one?

(Via Law and Crime)

As our collective human journey progressed towards The Witcher: Blood Origin‘s release on Netflix, I keep joking that it would be nice to see Joey Batey’s Jaskier make an appearance. This didn’t seem likely at all to happen, given that the limited series is a prequel that occurs around 1,200 years before Geralt Rivia swashbuckled across the Continent while wearing leather pants. The time is always right for a banger, after all, but is time travel possible in this universe?

Not exactly, but as it turns out, the new Blood Origin trailer delivers The Bard (alongside Minnie Driver’s shapeshifting, apparently time-transcending Seanchaí character) in the closing moments:

No time travel appears to be happening for Jaskier, although Batey told EW that his character is “connective tissue” within the franchise. Further, it actually makes a ton of sense for Jaskier to surface in this trailer. That’s not only the case because, by nature, he’s a storyteller and can help shape the public perception, and Elves have long since gotten a bad rap since the rise of humans and monsters. Rather, Jaskier is actually part of the arguable problem that could use some correcting. The prequel’s story follows the Elven golden age, long before Elves were the subject of Jaskier’s tallest tale of all, about elves being evil and aggressive and beaten down by Geralt.

The tall-tale nature of Jaskier’s claims should been evident by his claim that “[a]nd they kicked in my teeth,” given that he was standing there singing with all of his teeth intact. Now, perhaps The Bard can now help set that record straight.

From the limited series’ synopsis:

Set in an elven world 1200 years before the time of Geralt, Yennefer, and Ciri, The Witcher: Blood Origin will tell a tale lost to history: the creation of the first prototype Witcher, and the events that led to the pivotal Conjunction of the Spheres, when the worlds of monsters, men, and elves merged to become one.

Once that task is complete, I wouldn’t mind seeing and hearing another rendition of “Burn Butcher Burn.” Batey’s voice can still bring the chills.

The Witcher: Blood Origin premieres on December 25.

The White Lotus star Sabrina Impacciatore, who plays the eponymous hotel’s uptight and closeted manager Valentina, finally got what she needed in Sunday night’s episode: the chance to be vulnerable with someone. (Woah, what did you think we were going to say!?)

After weeks of awkwardly pining after perky concierge Isabella (Eleonora Romandini), Valentina shared that it was her birthday and finally worked up the nerve to ask her out for a post-work drink. Isabella agrees, then later shares the heartbreaking news that she is engaged to fellow staffer Rocco (Federico Ferrante), who Valentina had previously banished to the beach club portion of the hotel — after noticing how friendly the two seemed to be with each other.

But the birthday gods were with Valentina, as she instead decided to have a solo drink in the hotel bar, where she was joined by Mia (Beatrice Grannò), the newbie escort who really just wants to sing for a living. When a tipsy Valentina tells Mia that she is gay, but has never been with a woman, Mia suggests they move their conversation to one of the hotel’s empty rooms.

Though plot twists are a common occurrence on The White Lotus, moments of tenderness are few and far between — but that’s exactly what we get when Valentina and Mia adjourn to an empty suite and engage in what might be the most authentic moments of intimacy we’ve yet to see this season (or last).

For Impacciatore, much of the feeling you’re seeing on-screen is authentic, as it marked the first sex scene in the actress’ 25-year career. Though she admitted to being nervous about it, the actor says having an intimacy coordinator was “really helpful and effective and safe.” The more challenging moment was the scene in which she admits she has never been with a woman.

“I remember what I felt,” Impacciatore told Variety. “I was not acting, I was living the conflict of this character in a very deep way. It made me understand, how do people that don’t accept themselves live their lives?”

While, up until this point, Mia and her BFF Lucia (Simona Tabasco) have been nothing but annoyances to Valentina, her feelings were much more complicated than that. “The attitude she has regarding Mia and Lucia is connected to her job, but it’s also connected to something inside her,” Impacciatore told Variety. “These two girls represent freedom. Valentina is repressed and compressed, and she isn’t connected with her feelings.”

In fact, it isn’t until Valentina spends the night with Mia that she finally feels free — and it was by working with White that they finally reached this point, which meant that some scenes were shot but never made it into the series:

Mike White and I didn’t talk much about this character — maybe for 10 minutes before shooting started… It was a real exploration. In the first days, I was just following Mike’s indications without really understanding where he wanted to bring me. But he wanted to explore with me, and some scenes we shot ended up being cut, including one about Valentina’s past where she says she was married once, to a man, but she wasn’t happy. So I invented a backstory about a husband who was abusive to her. I created everything I could to get close to her process. That day, when I shot the scene where I say, “I’ve never been with a woman before,” I remember what I felt. I was not acting, I was living the conflict of this character in a very deep way. It made me understand, “How do people that don’t accept themselves live their lives?” After that scene, I cried for half an hour. I jumped into Mike’s arms and told him, “I love you! Thank you!” And he said, “Sabrina? Why do you say that? It’s you who is doing these things.” And I told him, “I’m doing these things because of you. And I’m understanding more about life because of you.”

In Italy, to be gay is still a big issue. They don’t have rights in Italy. They cannot get married, they cannot have kids. And sometimes they get attacked in the streets just because they love someone of their own sex. So I started to understand the responsibility as an actress. We should accept and respect every different nature. So this scene was a deep experience for me.

(Via Variety)

Now that we’re officially in December, holiday music is coming full force. It so far hasn’t been enough to stop Taylor Swift, though: On the new Billboard Hot 100 chart dated December 10, “Anti-Hero” is No. 1 for the sixth week.

“Anti-Hero” is now just the tenth song to spend its first six weeks on the Hot 100 at No. 1. It’s also just a week away from becoming Swift’s co-longest-running No. 1 single, as “Blank Space” was previously on top for seven weeks.

The Christmas tunes sure are coming, though. Six of the top-10 songs are holiday-themed, including three in the top five: Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas,” Brenda Lee’s “Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree,” and Bobby Helms’ “Jingle Bell Rock.” Furthermore, in the entire Hot 100 this week, there are 25 holiday songs. That includes Lizzo’s cover of Stevie Wonder’s “Someday At Christmas,” which debuts at No. 96 this week.

Meanwhile, Billboard‘s Global 200 chart may offer a preview of what’s to come on the Hot 100 in the not-so-distant future: “All I Want For Christmas Is You” is No. 1, while “Anti-Hero” finds itself at No. 3 on that chart.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.