Category: News

Paramount premiered Damien Chazelle‘s massive new 188 minute film, Babylon, on Monday night, and so far the reactions have been mostly positive. The heady period project stars Margot Robbie and Brad Pitt as it explores the wild excess of 1920s Hollywood, which is apparently a lot like modern day Hollywood depictions because everyone’s doing tons of coke.

If there’s one word that comes up in almost every reaction, it’s cocaine. We’re not even joking. Just take a look at what the critics are saying below:

“Babylon is an ambitious mess of a film,” Scott Menzel wrote. “I don’t even know where to begin with this one but the tone is all over the place. Margot Robbie tries but the script fails her. A love letter to cinema that made me hate cinema.”

“#Babylon feels like if someone read Damien Chazelle the story of Sodom and Gomorrah and then he said, ‘hold my beer!’” Clayton Davis tweeted. “High octane, cocaine-inducing trip. First half is great. Likely the internet’s new favorite movie of all-time. Margot Robbie and Justin Hurwitz are your stars.”

“BABYLON: Truly monstrous in its thudding insistence on shoving the viewer’s face in the muck and claiming it’s something novel or moving,” Ryan Swen wrote. “Chazelle might be the most confident director in Hollywood today, of course he’s also got some of the worst instincts out there.”

“A coked-up Margot Robbie projectile vomiting all over the face of a stuffy old man in a tux pretty much sums up the chaotic energy and glorious messiness of BABYLON,” Kevin Polowy tweeted. “Truly the strangest, most debaucherous love letter to Hollywood ever.”

You can see more Babylon reactions below:

Here’s the official synopsis:

From Damien Chazelle, Babylon is an original epic set in 1920s Los Angeles led by Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie and Diego Calva, with an ensemble cast including Jovan Adepo, Li Jun Li and Jean Smart. A tale of outsized ambition and outrageous excess, it traces the rise and fall of multiple characters during an era of unbridled decadence and depravity in early Hollywood.

Babylon opens in theaters on December 23.

As an actor, Eminem has a relatively limited filmography, but he made his time on screen count with a classic starring role in 2002’s 8 Mile. Around that time, though, he apparently came close to starring in a film adaptation of one of the biggest video game franchises ever: Grand Theft Auto.

In a new episode of BBC’s Bugzy Malone’s Grandest Game podcast (as NME reports), Kirk Ewing, a game industry veteran and friend of GTA creators Sam and Dan Houser, told the story. Around the time of Grand Theft Auto 3‘s release in 2001, a Hollywood agent approached Ewing with an offer of $5 million for the rights to a GTA movie starring Eminem and directed by Tony Scott (who directed Top Gun). However, the Housers were not interested.

Ewing said, “I think at that point it was still in Sam’s mind that it might be something that he wanted to do. “He said ‘Kirk, we’ve got Eminem to star, and it’s a Tony Scott film. $5 million on the nose. Are you interested?’ And I phoned up Sam and I said, ‘Listen to this: They want Eminem in the Grand Theft Auto movie and Tony Scott to direct.’ And he said, ‘Not interested.’”

Ewing also noted that at the time, the brothers felt “the media franchise that they had was bigger than any movie that was going on at the time.”

Indeed, it was: 2013’s Grand Theft Auto V is the second best-selling video game ever, behind only Minecraft.

Drake recently celebrated having his collaborative album with 21 Savage, Her Loss, hit No. 1 on the Billboard charts, as did a select handful of songs from the record. Yet, after “Rich Flex” came in only second place — with Taylor Swift’s “Anti-Hero” spending a third week at the top — the Canadian rapper decided to throw what many suspect is some serious shade.

Although Drake and Swift have appeared to have a longtime friendship, from posing for photos together since 2013 to hanging outside of award shows, his new Instagram Story covered her chart placement completely with emojis. It sparked the question: why? And if it wasn’t shade, why didn’t he cover up the other placement in the top 10 from Sam Smith and Kim Petras?

To make matters worse, Drake’s album producer Vinylz had some even more shady words on his social media. “The world knows what the real #1 song is… #RichFlex,” he wrote.”No tricks on this side.”

Just last month, The Sun claimed that the duo had recorded a diss track together for her 2017 album, Reputation, but it didn’t make the cut. As she is in the process of re-recording her albums, she might’ve wanted to revisit their song for the eventual Reputation (Taylor’s Version) release. However, Drake has also since deleted the photo he had with Swift from his Instagram.

Continue scrolling for some additional fan reactions.

Rootin’ tootin’ Lauren Boebert is still waiting to find out whether she lost or won her reelection bid in Colorado’s third congressional district. It’s a red-leaning district by nature, but here we are. Boebert will probably squeak out a win against the relatively unknown Adam Frisch, but is it really good news for her? She believes so, as evidenced by an early “Winning!” declaration.

Currently, the AP has Boebert sitting with a razor-thin lead at 50.2% (162,040 votes) against Frisch’s 49.8% (160,918 votes) with 99% of votes counted, and no matter how slight her win will be, she’ll likely start tweeting again about “losers.” There’s a likely recount in her future as well, but Boebert is here with a silver lining that she believes will make the wait worthwhile.

“Waiting this long for election results is going to make firing Nancy Pelosi as Speaker of the House that much sweeter,” she tweeted.

To that, people were ready and waiting to point out how, even if Boebert wins, she’s still not doing so great, given that she somehow transformed a majority red district into “a toss up.” This much of a close race for a freshman’s reelection bid doesn’t bode well for a long political career, and people wonder why she’s not acting “humbled” by this experience. Instead, she’s claiming that she’ll fire Nancy Pelosi after already declaring that she dreams of being House Speaker one day. This doesn’t seem likely to happen, and people are talking back.

A decent point here: Boebert has never truly accounted for her Pelosi tweets on Jan. 6.

And the wait continues!

Pete Davidson is talented, handsome, funny, and has a famously big… bank account. But some people can’t seem to understand how he dates many beautiful famous women, including Kim Kardashian, Ariana Grande, and reportedly, Emily Ratajkowski.

The pair “have been talking for a couple months now,” an insider told US Weekly, adding, “Pete makes Emily laugh and he loves how intelligent she is.” We should have seen it coming: Ratajkowski explained why women find the former SNL cast member so attractive last year on Late Night with Seth Meyers. “Guys are like, ‘Wow. What’s that guy got?’ And I’m like, I mean, he seems super charming,” she said. “He’s vulnerable. He’s lovely. His fingernail polish is awesome. He looks good!” Also, he made Ted Cruz confused and angry, which is a major plus in his favor. More than the “best sex” ever.

Still not convinced? Let a body language expert explain it.

Pete Davidson’s “powerful Alpha vibe” and reputation as a rebound date who happily “measures his relationships in months instead of years” makes him “like catnip” to Hollywood A-listers, a body language expert said today. Judi James said the comedian’s luck with the ladies also stems from his therapeutic ability to laugh at himself – rare in an industry brimming with egos and “toxic ex’s.”

James continued, “Pete is the guy with the goofy grin and the body language and fashion finesse of a party-loving teenager. Not only does Pete look like a man who is continually punching above his weight, he acts like it too with his body language. He tends to look star-struck in a very flattering way. The more beautiful a woman is the more she tends to attract the arrogant Narcissist. Pete looks like the opposite.”

It also helps that, as a comedian, Davidson’s “ability to crack great one-liners might be super-attractive, especially if he’s bringing a toxic ex down to size,” James explained.

Sure. Or maybe, deep down, we all want to date someone who co-owns a ferry.

(Via the Daily Mail)

Jimmy Fallon’s day job (or perhaps more accurately, night job) is hosting The Tonight Show, but he forays into music sometimes, too. He and Dolly Parton recently shared the single “Almost Too Early For Christmas,” for example. So, once upon a time, when he was moving into a new home, he wanted to get a piano for it. However, he struck out while asking to borrow one from Elton John, then again with Billy Joel.

He told the tale on The Tonight Show: During his interview with Bruce Springsteen yesterday (November 14), Fallon asked The Boss if people ever ask him for guitars and if he obliges. The answers were yes and no, respectively. This led to Fallon’s story, which went:

“I had just moved into a new house with my wife and kids, and we don’t have a piano. So I go, ‘You know, I bet you Elton John has got a bunch of pianos sitting around storage, right?’ So I go, ‘Elton, I’m moving to this house. If you want, I can borrow it. I will always give it back, it will be your piano. But at least I’ll give it some love and get it out of the storage.’ He said no. But he goes, ‘But, you know, thanks. I don’t give out pianos.’ But then I asked Billy Joel as well… and he said no.”

Check out the interview clip above.

It’s a great time to find a new bourbon whiskey. With the gifting and partying seasons nearly here, new releases are hitting shelves almost daily. That keeps me pretty busy, as I taste new whiskey after new whiskey these days. To that end, I’m grabbing eight new bottles of bourbon that dropped very recently and putting them to a blind taste test. Some of them have been on shelves since, gasp, September — which feels like years ago in whiskey years — while others are hitting shelves in the next days/weeks.

For the list below, I’m keeping the parameters pretty wide. There are crazy-priced new releases we’ve never seen before next to affordable and acquirable new batches of classics. Overall, I’m looking at tasty bourbons that offer something new-yet-familiar. As for the ranking, I’m going on taste alone. There are some great bourbons on this list, so the ranking was very tight, especially in the top five bottles. Still, this isn’t about whether you can find these bottles in whatever part of the country you live in or how much they cost according to individual state laws.

This is all about what tastes best in a blind taste test. Our lineup today is:

• Remus Gatsby Reserve
• William Larue Weller (BTAC 2022)
• Widow Jane The Vaults Aged 14 Years 2022 Release
• Maker’s Mark Cask Strength Batch no. 21-08
• Booker’s 2022-03 “Kentucky Tea Batch”
• Nashville Barrel Company Hand Selected Straight Bourbon Whiskey Batch One Cask Strength
• Savage & Cooke The Burning Chair Bourbon Whiskey
• Breckenridge PX Cask Finish High-Rye Bourbon Batch no. 7

Let’s dive in!

Also Read: The Top 5 UPROXX Bourbon Posts Of The Last Six Months

• We Put A Whole Bunch Of Bourbons To A Giant Blind Test And Discovered Some Absolute Gems
• The Affordable Vs Expensive Blind Bourbon Bottle Battle
• We Blind Tasted Classic Bourbons And Were Shocked By The Winner
• The Best-Known Basic Bottles Of Bourbon, Blind Tasted And Ranked
• The Single Best Bottle Of Whiskey From Each Of The 50 States

Part 1: The Tasting

Taste 1

Tasting Notes:

The nose on this is classic old-school bourbon with dark dried cherry and cranberry next to caramelized pecans inside a waffle, soft leatheriness, and rich maple syrup cut with lush vanilla and subtle woody tobacco spiciness. The palate leans into brandied cherries with a hint of blueberry syrup next to leathery notes of tobacco and dark berries with a hint of woodiness that leads to huckleberries and mulled wine spices. The end has a lovely softness that leans into apple-cider-soaked cinnamon sticks, singed cherry bark, and pipe tobacco loaded into an old oak barrel.

This is great whiskey.

Taste 2

Tasting Notes:

Coconut cream pie and sour cherries tossed in sea salt mingle with butterscotch candies, old leather boots, menthol tobacco, and brandied cherries dipped in dark chocolate. The palate has a creamy and luxe eggnog creaminess with plenty of nutmeg, clove, and allspice next to a white vanilla cake cut with poppy seeds and cinnamon dust. Theres’ a cedary woodiness on the end that leads to Mounds bars and old lawn furniture.

Another classic and delicious whiskey right here.

Taste 3

Tasting Notes:

There’s a mild sense of graininess on the nose with a hint of vanilla wafer honey sandwiches with mild winter spices — woody cinnamon, allspice, star anise — next to a hint of sweet tobacco layers of cherry and apple pie filling. The palate has a very Tennessee vibe with soft bran muffins next to vanilla wafers layered with nougat and cinnamon with a hint of root beer cut with cherry syrup. The end has a mild chocolate milk powder feel next to old oak, worn leather, and root beer-laced tobacco leaves.

This is another excellent pour.

Taste 4

Tasting Notes:

Burnt caramel candies and lush vanilla lead the way on the nose with hints of dry straw, sour cherry pie, and spiced apple cider with a touch of eggnog lushness. The palate has a sense of spicy caramel with a vanilla base that leads to apricot jam, southern biscuits, and a flake of salt with a soft mocha creaminess. The end is all about the buzzy tobacco spiciness with a soft vanilla underbelly and a hint of cherry syrup.

This felt classic but not quite as deep as the last three.

Taste 5

Tasting Notes:

There’s a clear sense of sour cherry and vanilla cookies on the nose with a supporting cast of dark tobacco packed into old cedar boxes with a rough and worn leatheriness tying everything together. The palate opens with a vanilla white cake frosted with cherry and chocolate — a bit like a Black Forest cake — that leads to orange oils, clove, and old pine boards with a touch of sap. The end has a fruitiness that leans towards a spicy star fruit with a fresh vibe next to light pear tobacco with a pine humidor edge.

This is another killer pour.

Taste 6

Tasting Notes:

There’s a soft fruitiness to the nose with a sense of blackberry jam next to marmalade with a hint of nutmeg next to Cherry coke and fresh orange zest nearby. The palate leans into the sweeter side of the orange — almost tangerine — before a hint of rye bread sneaks in with salted butter and some cinnamon sugar. The end has a warm spiciness that leans into winter cake spices and candied fruit before a sense of candied citrus peels leads to a finish of spiced tobacco and old oak staves.

This was fruitier for sure, but that balance of citrus really made it work.

Taste 7

Tasting Notes:

There’s a nice layer of wet brown sugar on the nose next to toffee candies, toasted wood, and a hint of dark spice. The palate is lighter but hits notes of that dark spice next to pancake syrup, apple pie, and caramel drizzle with a hint of vanilla cookies. The end has an orchard fruit vibe with a touch more of that wood and vanilla before the fruitiness kicks back in.

This was perfectly fine but just didn’t jump out at me.

Taste 8

Tasting Notes:

There’s a distinct chocolate malt vibe on the nose (think milkshakes not malted grains in whiskey) that leads to dark prunes and figs with a hint of nuttiness. The palate has a note of orange zest next to black licorice with vanilla cookies and almonds making appearances. The end is short and sweet with a hint of vanilla lushness, meaty raisins, and Almond Joy vibes with a heavy dark chocolate coating.

This was pretty fine too. The chocolate note was a nice change of pace.

Part 2: The Ranking

7. Savage & Cooke The Burning Chair Bourbon Whiskey — Taste 7

ABV: 44%

Average Price: $68

The Whiskey:

This whiskey is made from sourced barrels that are at least four years old. The whiskey — made from a combine mash bill of 75% corn, 21% rye, and 4% malted barley — comes from Tennesee, Kentucky, and Indiana before being sent out to Napa Valley to be finished in Cabernet barrels. Those barrels are vatted and proofed down with local springwater from the Alexander Valley in Northern California.

Bottom Line:

As I mentioned above, this is fine whiskey. There’s just nothing to draw your attention to it in a lineup like this though. That all said, this would make a perfectly suitable cocktail whiskey.

6. Breckenridge PX Cask Finish High-Rye Bourbon Batch no. 7 — Taste 8

ABV: 45%

Average Price: $62

The Whiskey:

This Colorado whiskey is made at high altitudes. The bourbon is then re-barreled into PX sherry casks that held sherry in Spain for decades. Once the flavor profile is just right, the barrels are batched and the whiskey is proofed with that Rocky Mountain water for bottling.

Bottom Line:

Again, fine. The PX sherry cask comes through nicely albeit in a very straightforward or average way. Once again, this feels like a fine choice for mixing cocktails.

5. Nashville Barrel Company Hand Selected Straight Bourbon Whiskey Batch One Cask Strength — Taste 6

ABV: 57.25%

Average Price: $89

The Whiskey:

This brand-new release from the much-loved Nashville Barrel Company is Indiana whiskey that’s at least six years old. The small batches are made from a handful of barrels and bottled as-is without filtering or proofing.

Bottom Line:

This is where things get good. Each whiskey from here on down is a winner. This one had a little warmer mid-palate, which could have used a rock if sipping. Sipping whiskey aside, I really want to try this in an old fashioned next. It’s complex, fun, and full of good dark citrus notes that’ll suit that cocktail.

4. Maker’s Mark Cask Strength Batch no. 21-08 — Taste 4

ABV: 56.25%

Average Price: $45

The Whisky:

This special release from Maker’s Mark is their classic wheated bourbon turned up a few notches. The batch is made from no more than 19 barrels of whiskey. Once batched, that whiskey goes into the barrel at cask strength with no filtering, just pure whiskey-from-the-barrel vibes.

Bottom Line:

I really like classic Maker’s Mark already, especially for easy Manhattans. This amps that up. It’s a really solid sipper either neat or on a rock that makes a hell of a Manhattan.

3. Widow Jane The Vaults Aged 14 Years 2022 Release — Taste 3

ABV: 49.5%

Average Price: $250

The Whiskey:

This sourced New York whiskey is made from 14 to 19-year-old barrels of whiskey from Tennessee and Indiana. Those barrels were sent out to Brooklyn and blended and then re-barreled into Missouri Ozark casks that were air-seasoned for three years before they were coopered and charred. Finally, the whiskey was blended in a small batch and bottled as-is without filtering but was cut with limestone mineral water from the Rosendale Mines in New York.

Bottom Line:

This is really good whiskey. It does have a distinct Tennessee grain/vanilla/wafer vibe but it’s part of a bigger whole and layered so nicely with classic bourbon flavors. Overall, I can see this being a super easy and rewarding sipper neat or with a single rock.

2. William Larue Weller (BTAC 2022) — Taste 2

ABV: 62.35%

MSRP: $99

The Whiskey:

Distilled back in the spring of 2010, this whiskey was made with a mix of Kentucky corn and wheat and barley from North Dakota with that Kentucky limestone water. The distillate was filled into new white oak from Independent Stave from Missouri with a #4 char level (55 seconds) and stored in warehouses C, K, and N on floors 2, 3, and 4 for 12 long years. During that time, 64% of the whiskey was lost to hungry angels. Those barrels were then batched and this whiskey was bottled as-is.

Bottom Line:

Yup, delicious, perfectly balanced, deep, fun, and rewarding. This whiskey is pretty much perfect. I almost made a three-way tie for first place with this. But there’s just a little bit more accessibility to the next two that eeked out a win for them.

1. (tie) Booker’s 2022-03 “Kentucky Tea Batch” — Taste 5

ABV: 63.25%

MSRP: $89

The Whiskey:

The latest Booker’s is a nod to “Kentucky Tea” which isn’t tea at all. It’s when you add a little whiskey to a glass of water and then that looks like tea. The juice in this case is a blend of bourbon barrels from seven locations across six different warehouses. The final product was bottled without any fussing at cask strength.

Bottom Line:

This is delicious. It might be my favorite Booker’s of the last two years. It’s purely classic Kentucky bourbon vibes next to a real depth and soft beauty. This is a great sipper.

1. (tie) Remus Gatsby Reserve — Taste 1

ABV: 48.9%

Average Price: $229

The Whiskey:

From the newly minted Ross & Squibb Distillery (formerly just MGP of Indiana), this whiskey combines barrels that were filled in 2005 and 2006. Those carefully selected barrels were small batched into this fine whiskey. The final blend was bottled as-is at cask strength.

Bottom Line:

This was everything you want from a bourbon. It’s delicate yet bold. It’s classic but feels kind of fresh too. It’s an amazingly easy sipper that just works. You feel like you’re drinking a great and classic bourbon from the first nose to the last sip.

Part 3: Final Thoughts

I try not to do ties on these rankings. But those top three pours were just too good. I stand by all of the top six ranked above. Each one offers something a little different and each one is a great pour.

The Booker’s is probably going to be the easiest to find amongst the top three. It’s 100% worth the price of entry. The Great Gatsby is also worth that price tag if you’re looking for a one-off special bottle to gift or show off to whiskey lovers. It’s really delicious.

If you are looking for something a lot more affordable, then the Maker’s Mark Cask Strength is the way to go. You’ll be able to find it and it’ll be a crowd-pleaser.

Madonna is one of the most beloved pop stars of her generation and of all time, but she seems to be facing a bullying problem right now, so much so that she’s taken to social media to share a message about it.

In an Instagram Story she posted on Sunday (November 13) night (as Express notes), Madonna shared a photo of her self with a text overlay that read, “Stop bullying Madonna for enjoying her life.”

While the post doesn’t address anybody specifically, it does come shortly after 50 Cent shared a screenshot of an article about Madonna titled, “Madonna Using Rap Music For Clout On TikTok Is Pathetic And Truly Disturbs My Spirit” on Instagram. 50 wrote, “I told y’all grand ma was on bullsh*t! like a virgin at 64. LOL.” In another post from this summer, 50 likened Madonna to an alien.

Madonna responded to the latter post at the time, writing, “I guess your new career Is getting attention by trying to humiliate others on social media. […] You’r just jealous you won’t look as good as me or have as much fun when you are my age!”

Madonna is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Along with The Simpsons, meat, and the media (sorry?), you can add cold weather to the list of things that Morrissey has an extreme distaste for. Nearly five years to the day after the former Smiths singer last cancelled a concert in California because it was too cold out, Morrissey cancelled his Sunday night show at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles roughly 30 minutes in because it was apparently too cold out.

“As I think you know, it’s extremely cold,” Morrissey told the crowd before playing “Billy Budd.” “Can you tell? I can. However, we will steam on. Where to? God knows.” A few songs after that, the former singer of The Smiths left abruptly left the stage.

The befuddled crowd was then addressed shortly thereafter by two of Morrissey’s band members. “Sorry, but due to unforeseen circumstances, the show is not going to continue,” the man who looked to be Moz’s guitarist told the jeering crowd. “Very sorry. We’ll see you next time. Apologies.”

The set ended after Morrissey’s ninth song, The Smiths’ 1987 “Girlfriend In A Coma.” Weather reports indicate that it was around 57 degrees in Los Angeles on Saturday, so it’s a bit perplexing why the Manchester singer would succumb to a fairly mild California evening chill. Perhaps there’s more to this than meets the eye, but his history and words on stage on Saturday night before leaving all point to Moz feeling a bit too chilly to carry on.

This article originally appeared on 02.07.19

Anyone who owns a dog can attest to the amazing comfort they provide during times of stress or discomfort. Research shows that dogs have a biological effect on us that elevates our levels of oxytocin, which is known as the “love hormone.”

Unfortunately, most of the time, dogs aren’t allowed in the place where people need comfort the most: hospitals. Even though evidence suggests that that visiting with a pet while hospitalized improves a patient’s mood while reducing their anxiety.

A story shared by Reddit user Mellifluous_Username on the online forum is going viral because of the lengths he and his dog went to to visit his sick wife.

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For brevity’s sake, we’ll refer to Mellifluous_Username as “Mel.”

“My wife was in the hospital after a very invasive surgery, which after a few days, looked like it did not produce ideal results,” Mel wrote. “The prognosis was not good. She was able to speak, but was not eating or drinking, and relied completely on her IV and hard pain pills. In one rare instance of cogent speech, she convinced me to sneak our dog into her private room, so she could see her ‘one more time.'”

Mel decided he could sneak their 50-pound Austrian Shepherd into her hospital room by hiding it in a suitcase.

“I packed her in, with the lid unzipped, and placed her in the car until we arrived at the hospital,” Mel wrote. “When we arrived, I ‘explained’ to her that I would open the zipper in a few minutes and that she could see her Mommy.”

As they slipped their way through the s hospital wings, the dog was quiet as a cat burglar. When asked about the suitcase, Mel told the nurses that he was bringing “items to make my wife more comfortable.”

“When we entered the room, my wife was asleep,” Mel wrote. “I unzipped the suitcase, and the dog immediately jumped on the bed, and gingerly laid across her chest, somehow avoiding the wires and IV. She positioned herself to where she could look directly into my wife’s eyes, and laid completely still, until about twenty minutes later, when my wife woke up, and started moaning in pain.”

“The dog immediately started licking her, and quietly moaned, as if knowing that barking would definitely blow our cover,” Mel wrote.

“My wife hugged her for almost an hour, smiling the whole time,” he continued. “We were busted by one nurse who was so touched that she promised not to tell. When my wife finally went back to sleep, I loaded the dog back in the suitcase, and she somewhat sheepishly obliged.”

Mel’s wife passed away a few days later, but his dog has yet to learn the sad truth. “Now, whenever I grab the suitcase, the dog thinks we are doing to see her again,” he wrote.