The Utah Jazz — who traded away both of their All-Star pillars, as well two more starters from multiple 50-win teams this summer — are 6-3. They’ve played the league’s 12th-hardest schedule. They have wins over the Memphis Grizzlies (twice), Denver Nuggets, Minnesota Timberwolves, and New Orleans Pelicans, all clubs various folks expected to contend for homecourt advantage in a packed Western Conference this season. They’re ninth in net rating (plus-2.5, according to Cleaning The Glass). They’re the West’s No. 3 seed through two weeks. And I think they’re for real.
I don’t necessarily mean that in the sense of maintaining 55-win pace en route to a top-three seed. But if the Jazz so choose, the playoffs and/or play-in tournament are a legitimate outcome. Maybe injuries hit or the allure of a lofty draft pick begins to dominate their visions. Perhaps teams with higher immediate aspirations present a considerable trade package to acquire Utah’s integral players. The depth beyond their top-8 is pretty limited, too. Yet that top-8 of Mike Conley Jr., Jordan Clarkson, Lauri Markkanen, Jarred Vanderbilt, Kelly Olynyk, Collin Sexton, Malik Beasley, and Rudy Gay is quite serviceable.
Cohesion and a slew of good NBA players can be a recipe for regular season prosperity. The Grizzlies rode those factors to 56 victories last season. Utah doesn’t have the high-end talent like Ja Morant and Jaren Jackson Jr., so that level of success is likely irreplicable at the moment.
The general framework remains the same, though, and the Jazz’s synergy, despite the majority of the rotation being (relative) strangers a few months ago, is already there. A ton of teams, even ones who played together last season, are struggling to achieve that. Utah has fast-tracked chemistry thus far and is parlaying it into wins.
I guess dealing a pair of stars on long-term contracts returns quite the cast of solid NBA contributors. Pairing them with a Gregg Popovich acolyte at head coach in Will Hardy, who is well regarded around the Association, only heightens the choices of this ensemble. Hardy, by the way, has impressed to open his tenure as a lead man.
Utah’s foremost asset is the number of dudes on the roster who are dribbling and shooting threats. All of Conley, Clarkson, Markkanen, Olynyk, and Sexton meet this criteria. Beasley is more off-ball shooting dynamo than all-around weapon, but he is not inept putting the ball on the deck occasionally. Conley remains a witty ball-screen playmaker, netting pull-ups or floaters and spraying passes out to the Jazz’s bevvy of shooters. He just consistently makes beneficial decisions.
Last season, Vanderbilt experienced his best NBA campaign in Minnesota, which stationed four proficient floor-spacers around him. Utah’s maintained that dynamic, anchoring Conley, Clarkson, Markkanen, and Olynyk alongside him in the starting unit. That four-out approach stretches defenses thin, enables Vanderbilt’s cutting and offensive rebounding, and invites Hardy to craft some creative offensive sets.
The possibilities are vast when four players can shoot and attack closeouts. Hardy is taking advantage. Everyone involved in most of the actions he diagrams can facilitate the possession, and it’s flustering defenses. Confusion fuels this bucket, but the theme of release valves at either juncture is prevalent.
Or, something like this, where Utah flows from option to option, comfortable knowing that anyone can catalyze the offense. Points are not produced on the play, though the process is highly encouraging and Vanderbilt does draw a foul at the tail end.
Utah’s offense has so many moving parts. The benefits of their overflow of shooting and ball-handling, which produces some really cool actions pic.twitter.com/cLLrL863Yr
Whew, there’s a lot going on. It’s a rare luxury to have so many legitimate shooters who double as capable of burning closeouts off the bounce. The Jazz may not have a bona fide All-Star to pilot a postseason run, yet an ingenuitive offense that spotlights everything their personnel offers helps mitigate that absence.
They’re third in three-point rate (.413), fourth in offensive rebounding (31.5 percent, shout out, Jarred Vanderbilt), and sixth in assist rate (66.8). Beyond Clarkson and Sexton, dribble penetration is a weakness, so the solution is to center a scheme that prioritizes long balls and movement. Although they’re only 14th in offensive rating, the foundation is commendable. That placement speaks more to Utah missing a top-tier initiator and serves as a testament to the collective talent of its rotation and Hardy.
Their 27th-ranked turnover rate is another wart. This team gives the ball away frequently and costs itself opportunities; the unfamiliarity playing together rears its head here. Defensively, they switch regularly to prevent triples, which has led to the sixth-lowest opposing three-point rate. But the insufficient wing depth and size on the interior present looming problems.
They’re 29th in defensive rebounding (67.2 percent) and 27th in opposing rim frequency (38.3 percent). The lack of size inside is apparent on film and these data points are easy to recognize as a result. How they fare Friday night against the Los Angeles Lakers, who lead the NBA in rim frequency (43 percent) and are headlined by the paint connoisseurs LeBron James and Anthony Davis, will be worth following.
Utah’s offense might fizzle out and the defensive sore spots could be increasingly exploited. Conley being the best all-around handler in the half-court, given his age (35) and injury history as a 6’1 guard over the past few seasons, is slightly worrying. Again, the unproven young talent behind its top provides moments for pause, as there isn’t much flexibility if someone suffers a notable injury. Come trade deadline, the long view could override the short-term prospects within the front office.
Regardless, the Jazz, as currently constructed, are playing a style that’s not only fun to watch, but a style conducive to wins. That’s not changing any time soon either. The Jazz have staying power in the playoff race … as long as they wish to keep it that way.
The U.S. Air Force would like to make it clear that it totally did not mean to draw what definitely looks like a penis with the flight path of an aerial tanker near a Russian base in Syria. These things pop up from time to time, and the Air Force is really sorry about this one. It was not intentionally done by the pilot or (heh heh) the unit, according to USAFE Capt. Ryan Goss.
“The KC-135 Stratotanker (RAKE71) operating in the Eastern Mediterranean adjusted between multiple different flight tracks during the course of the mission,” Goss said in a recent statement. “While these adjustments and movements appear to create a vulgar outline, there was no intent by the pilots or the unit to do so. As we continue to look into this, USAFE-AFAFRICA, AMC [Air Mobility Command] and the USAF will continue to maintain the highest standards of professionalism and airmanship.”
As for how anyone even knew about the penile flight path, it turns out Elon Musk hasn’t completely destroyed Twitter yet. An Italian newspaper was the first to make the phallic connection, and from there it was only a matter of time until everyone on Twitter was looking at digital dong near Cyprus. What a time to be alive.
A US military plane “painted a penis” in the sky near a Russian airbase, La Repubblica.
A KC-135 Stratotanker refueling plane remained for almost two hours east of Cyprus on Tuesday, in front of the Syrian base of Tartus, a stronghold of Moscow.
The commotion caused the Air Force to issue another statement just to, again, make it clear that nobody purposefully got inside a government vehicle and decided to put a dick in the sky. Planes are weird, okay?
“We are aware of the incident and are talking with the KC-135 crew to determine the details,” Air Force Col. Damien Pickart, the top spokesman for Air Mobility Command, told Task & Purpose on Friday. “At this time, we do not believe the crew acted inappropriately, flying a refueling orbit consistent with requirements that met the needs of receiver aircraft.”
Blessd goes back to the his Medellín hometown roots in his new music video for “Que Duro.” Today (November 4), the Colombian singer also released his album Siempre Blessd with features from Ñengo Flow, Rvssian, and Myke Towers.
Blessd is leading a new wave of reggaeton artists from Medellín who are following in the footsteps of J Balvin, Maluma, and Karol G. Last year, he dropped his debut album, Hecho En Medellín, which spawn multiple global hits. His ode to his hometown, “Medallo,” has amassed over 328 million streams on Spotify.
For his second album Siempre Blessd, which translates in English to “Always Blessd,” he cut down on the featured acts. In the video for his alluring love song, “Que Duro,” the stars are the blue-haired singer with the beauty of Medellín as his backdrop.
“‘Que Duro’ is a single that I did and produced, and that’s what I’m looking for with this whole album,” Blessd said in a statement. “I don’t have as many collaborations because I want to achieve that one connection.”
Blessd makes the few features count on his LP. In the haunting “Solitario,” he teamed up with Puerto Rican rapper Ñengo Flow, who is a very beloved artist in Medellín. In the tropical banger “Botega,” Blessd blends his sentimental sound with dancehall courtesy of Jamaican producer Rvssian. The sexy reggaeton romp “Tendencia Global” features Puerto Rican star Towers and Colombian hit-maker Ovy on the Drums.
“This second album is going to be the second step in my career as an artist,” Blessd said. “With this album I want to connect with all my fans and take my career to another level.”
Siempre Blessd is out now via Warner Music Latina. Listen to it here.
Some artists mentioned here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
With the midterm elections only a few days away, Ron DeSantis dropped a brand new campaign ad that claims God sent him to be the governor of Florida. Not only that, but the ad appears to tack on an eighth day to the Biblical creation story where apparently the Lord did look down upon the state of Florida and say, “Golly gee, I hope no one wears masks down there.”
“So God made him a fighter,” the narrator reads. “God said, I need somebody willing to get up before dawn and kiss his family goodbye, travel thousands of miles for no other reason than to serve the people, to save their jobs, their livelihoods, their liberty, their happiness.”
Naturally, the Biblical overtones don’t stop there as the ad continues to tout DeSantis’ divine mission to make sure schools and Applebee’s are never closed even when there’s a deadly pandemic. God hates that. Via Mediaite:
God said, I need somebody who will take the arrows, stand firm in the wake of unrelenting attacks. Look a mother in the eyes and tell her that her child will be in school. She can keep her job. Go to church. Eat dinner with friends.
The holy ad ends by touting DeSantis’ stature as a family man who will (no joke) hold old people’s hands while they’re dying, which probably happens a lot thanks to God’s chosen fighter pushing back on the wicked evils of COVID mitigation.
There’s nothing better than a classic bourbon old fashioned this time of year. There’s something about the simplicity of the mix of sugar, bourbon, and bitters than just works with its subtle spiciness, soft sweetness, and rich whiskey vibes. That’s why it’s time to make one at home.
For this recipe, I’m keeping things very simple. This is a straightfoward stirrer that you can make in about a minute if you’re in a rush. And that’s the point. This is a uncomplicated cocktail that lives or dies by the quality of the whiskey you use as the base spirit. Don’t skimp.
Okay, we’re talking about an old fashioned here. We don’t need more preamble. Let’s just dive and get stirring up a great cocktail for weekend imbibing!
Also Read: The Top Five Cocktail Recipes of the Last Six Months
Again, don’t skimp on the bourbon here. The better tasting the whiskey in your cocktail, the better your cocktail is going to taste. I’m using a single barrel Buffalo Trace Bourbon. I like to lean toward single barrel bourbons that tend to have a classic cherry/vanilla/spice/leather matrix with a bit of apple orchard and caramel thrown in. Whatever bourbon whiskey that you use, make sure that you actually like drinking it.
Zach Johnston
What You’ll Need:
Lowball glass
Mixing glass
Cocktail strainer
Barspoon
Fruit peeler
Zach Johnston
Method:
Prechill your glass in the freezer.
Add the sugar, water, and bitters to the mixing jug and give it a pre-mix with the spoon until the sugar starts to dissolve.
Add the bourbon and give it a stir for ten or so seconds to dissolve the sugar.
Add in a big handful of ice to the mixing glass and stir for about 20-ish seconds or until the mixing glass is ice-cold to touch.
Fetch the glass from the freezer, add the large cube to the glass, and strain the cocktail into the glass.
Express the oils from the orange peel over the cocktail and run the peel around the rim of the glass. Twist the peel and drop it into the ice cube.
Drop in a cherry and serve.
Bottom Line:
Zach Johnston
Yup, delicious! There’s a lovely softness to the texture of this drink (thanks to the quality of the bourbon) that feels like silk on your palate. The bitters and orange add a nice level of botanical spice and sharp citrus counterpoint to the lush vanilla and apple orchard sensations in the flavor profile.
Overall, we’re talking about a true classic with clear and concise flavor notes. It’s bourbon-heavy but has a delicacy to it that’s lush. It’s lightly spicy, softly fruity, and and full of whiskey depth. You really can’t beat this cocktail for it’s ease to make and great level of satisfaction.
There’s noise and then there’s substance. Chris Redd is in front of me on a Zoom call, stitched up after getting attacked last week outside n NYC comedy club, and ready to talk about what he calls his baby, his freshly released HBO Max hour-long comedy special, Why Am I Like This?
Redd knows questions are coming in all these interviews about SNL, playing Kanye on the show, and TMZ’s sudden interest in his love life (with reports that he’s dating SNL co-star Keenan Thompson’s ex). But while Redd offers thoughtful, no-bullshit takes on his seemingly abrupt SNL exit, the line when it comes to playing Kanye and mental illness, and keeping his private life private, he positively lights up when we talk about a comedy special more than three years in the making and the considerable care he put into it.
Born from a lot of consideration, road work, on-stage improv, and life experience, Why Am I Like This? is the rare thing that lives up to the idea of a “personal” special, but it’s also quite funny, deftly mixing stories about Redd’s mental health journey with hilarious personal anecdotes and relatable takes on flying, posing, and trying to impress family. To paraphrase Redd, it’s not a TEDTalk, bug it is a statement. One that should and, I’d bet, will outlast the noise. How are you doing?
I’m good. I’m chilling.
How are you feeling?
I’m feeling good. I’m excited about the special coming out. The headaches are gone. (Laughs) I’m just feeling good. Stitches by Louis Vuitton.
(Laughs) Excellent work, excellent work. So, this was announced in 2019 before shit went sideways. How does the material change from what this was going to be to what this wound up being now?
It’s so much better than what it was going to be. I would say that. Now, I was confident in my shit then, but I hadn’t done all the work on myself yet and I wouldn’t have known that unless I had started doing therapy to figure it out. It took the pandemic for me to sit my ass down and realize I needed therapy, for me to start therapy and then writing the jokes that would eventually complete my hour and also give me a throughline and a reason to why I’m doing this. You know what I mean?
I think in the journey of trying to be funny, you just want to be as funny as possible, and then there’s this transition of, okay, now you know how to be funny. What are you trying to say with it? Or what are you trying to do with it? I think that while I had an hour of jokes that worked, I think it took really that journey within myself to just mature those jokes and take them a step further. In that way, I’m grateful for the pandemic. In that way only! (Laughs)
In that way only. We’ll make sure we underline that in the article. So, you go on a journey where you go from just being funny is the focus to wanting to say something when you’re on stage. How do you arrive at that moment? I’m guessing that’s something that’s gradual and not just one aha moment.
Yeah, I think it’s a part of the process of growing as a creative artist? In the beginning, I’m telling jokes and writing jokes like my favorites, you know what I mean? Because I think it’s the closest to what I know works and what comedy is. And then as you understand joke structure and you understand how to tell jokes, you find your own voice in that. And when I say knowing yourself, knowing what you want to say, it doesn’t ever have to be deep, you know what I mean? You have to know how you want to approach your hour. I think just knowing yourself is the biggest part of it and I think that’s what we all work to get. We’re all getting on stage, getting these reps to be as comfortable as we can so that we can be as us as possible in those moments.
I think that’s when the authenticity and the jokes come from that, just knowing yourself and constantly trying to grow. I think I was in a place where I thought I was covering things, but I really wasn’t diving as deep as I needed to. After you do a lot of shows, you just get to a point where you’re like, all right, how do I want to evolve? What do I want to do differently? What do I want to do with this? I think you should always have goals in this no matter how long you’ve been doing it or how good you are, because it just helps keep you sharp and it helps to find a new place to elevate to. I hope that made sense. I feel like I just rambled like a motherfucker. (Laughs) I can’t really tell! I have a concussion
No, that was really good. As you’re getting to this place where you’re getting more comfortable, you’re revealing more of yourself. How much of this process is coming to accept the idea of “I’m willing to look vulnerable, I’m willing to not be the star, or look cool for a second. I’m willing to be human and be fragile at times on stage?”
It was tough. The level of vulnerability was tough. It’s what I chose. It’s the style of comedy that works for me that I like. I’ve always been this way with comedy. It’s helped me through pain, so I wanted to get to a place. I knew that to be the best version of myself in this art, I would have to push my boundaries of vulnerability. And doing it in front of people really sucks at first. Being on stage I can do any day of the week, but to find the level of vulnerability, the line… finding the line is always an emotional rollercoaster, I feel like, when it comes to something super hyper-personal to yourself. But I found a way to talk about some of these seedier things in my life and not get myself in trouble or get somebody else in trouble and just find a way to do it that satisfies me and shows vulnerability and keeps the more embarrassing things and the things I can’t like let people know at bay. (Laughs)
I think I walked the line really well in this special. And in doing this special, I think I learned a couple more ways to continue to do that. But it was really cathartic to put my mental health journey in the special where I’m at now or where I was at for this hour. I hope people just continue to ride and are able to find comfort in themselves with it, too, so we can all just make it more of an easy thing to be vulnerable about some of this stuff.
It’s a very revealing special. But I don’t want this to seem like it’s a very serious one-man show. It’s not.
I’ve always said the explanation of this special is so much more unfunny than the special is. Anytime I talk about the special, all the topics and shit, people are like, is this a TEDTalk? But I’m like, I promise you it is so funny. I haven’t found a funny way to explain it. (Laughs)
The thing I like is it feels like a conversation. It goes around the world a little bit, from the personal stuff to topical stuff to stuff that people can relate to, just stuff that happens in life that isn’t with a serious packaging to it. The laughs per minute of this one I would say is probably top five for me this year. But it’s really a great mix. Not to kiss your ass here.
No man, listen, I’m in pain. I need all the ass-kissing! (Laughs) But that just means the world, bro. This is my baby, bro. This first hour is everything, you know what I mean? This is everything I wanted to say for now. The special is ADHD in itself. That’s what I wanted for people to take away from it: not only am I revealing it, but I’m also doing all these things because that’s how my head works, you know what I mean? I was hoping that the ride wouldn’t feel too wild or crazy.
You talk about it a little in the special with SNL and how people say your dream came true. That made me wonder, in terms of what your expectations were when you started it versus where you are now when it’s concluded, how did those expectations live up to what the reality of it was and how did the experience change you?
Oh, man. I entered that place a funny comedian who understood sketch and improv and TV a little bit, and I left that place a machine, a full producer. I know how to put videos together. I know how to take an idea and write for TV with limitations. I know how to be in an editing room and find the funny and cut the fat out of jokes. There are so many things about this business that that place teaches you. It’s Little Hollywood. Everything in that job, you can have as much control over it, as little as you want, and I utilized all of it. From writing all night, writing under pressure. It just made me a better writer, made me a better teammate. It made me just better at the job and better at approaching how to do this.
I made a few friends, a few connections and was able to show people what I can do. You’ll never reach all the goals that you have for that show. It’s not your show. You know what I mean? There were a few more songs I wanted to do. But I think all my personal goals that I wanted to achieve there I had achieved. I think if I had stayed just one extra season, it would’ve been my victory lap season, and I would have had one last run with my friends and everything. But I was been missing standup too much and I was just missing everything else and opportunities just to create in another platform. There’s a lot of us there, bro. I can’t fight for two minutes a week forever. You know what I mean? (Laughs) That’s a joke. No shade. But, you know, if the shoe fits. (Laughs)
Not trying to make light of anything, but when you see the stuff go down with Kanye, is there a part of you that’s like, maybe I’m okay not being on SNL, not being asked to play Kanye at this moment? Or was there a line established with the mental health side of things where they weren’t really trying to touch that?
Yeah, I mean, listen, I do have mental health things myself and that was always a rule for me. I’m not going to hit him too crazy if he is off his meds and clearly spiraling, bro. I just don’t feel like that’s the time to make fun of anybody. But everybody is open to jokes and he’s making a lot of bad choices out here. That’s what’s good about that show is if you want to get some jokes off about a certain person or a certain topic in front of a large stage, there’s no better stage than SNL. So when I have those jokes, or lack thereof, I do miss having that place where I can go and tackle that in however way I want to. This particular situation, I’m just waiting to see how all this shit is going to play out, because it’s a little tough right now. It’s a little bit tough right now, but that wouldn’t be the first character I’d jump to play. But if I was there, there’d be a couple of things. I probably would’ve come out and did something. I just don’t know what that is, because I hadn’t thought in this way. Once I left that show, I don’t think in a way of, “hm, how can I make this a sketch?”
I imagine it is really weird, you’re on SNL, like you said, you see these things that break in the headlines. You’re making jokes about them. Recently or semi-recently, your name has popped up on TMZ a couple times. People see those things and create all these bonkers narratives on social. What’s it like to all of a sudden see yourself in the teeth of the big gossip celebrity social machine?
Man, it is awful! Ha ha! I don’t like my private life known by anybody unless I’m ready to tell it, because that is literally what I do.
That’s also the most human thing to feel. Who the fuck wants their shit to be spilled out?
Yeah, bro. With this shit, like anything else, no one has the full truth and everybody is just already making comments about who you are and what you are without even asking you. No one asked me anything. I didn’t say anything to anybody, but there was just judgements and all that shit. It comes with the territory. SNL really teaches you how to have a thick skin, because while it’s one of the best jobs you can get, it’s also the hardest and it’s the easiest for people to hate, and they all have hate for it for different reasons. It’s the only thing people hate and love to watch to hate it actively. It’s like you have to just learn how to take your licks. I will say that building made me tough in that way, bro. It’s just awkward. But it also shows how quick people move on, because it was only offered for a day or two and then it was gone.
You just remind yourself that you know what your life is and what you’re doing and how you’re operating. As long as the parties involved know exactly what’s going on and we’re on the same page, whatever people make up and all the narrative shit, I can’t help that, and so I don’t spend too much time thinking about that in general. It is what it is. When I’m ready to talk about whatever I’m ready to talk about, I’ll put that information out there. But until then, I just let people talk, bro. Let them talk about it. You can’t stop them. Shit, you can’t stop the,
What’s next? What’s the focus?
I have plans all the time. When you go to SNL, you have your goals, but as a comedian, you have your goals way before you get that job. Now, it’s just about completing the rest of my goal list. I went off, did SNL, accomplished some things, came back, now it’s time to continue doing what I was doing. Make movies. I really want to jump into the single-camera narrative space. I’m working on a couple of ideas for a show, for some movies. I’m shooting a movie, Cyber Monday, this fall or this winter and there’s another. I did this movie Scare Me, so we might be doing a sequel to that based on my character. I’m looking forward to that, too.
I’ll get back on the road, do another special, and I’m probably going to do some musical comedy sketch thing. I don’t want to give away too much yet, but it’s in the works. I’m going to continue to do everything I was doing, but on my terms, in my way. And then I got a couple little touring announcements and a couple collaborations that are really, really, really, really exciting, but I don’t think I can say just yet. But yeah, man, the second I knew wasn’t coming back, I got right to work on the next phase, phase five, if you will. Time to just expand and grow a little bit.
‘Why Am I Like This?’ is available to stream now on HBO Max
When you think of the curly-haired accordion professional Weird Al Yankovic, you probably don’t automatically think of that scrawny little glasses-wearing wizard that the world has come to know and love, or the actor who played him. Yes, Daniel Radcliffe is very famous and a very good actor (just watch the underrated magician classic How You See Me 2) but he also has what Weird Al was looking for when casting his biopic: the nerd factor.
In a new interview with the AV Club, Yankovic explained why he absolutely needed Radcliffe on board for Weird: The Al Yankovic Story, and it was all because of a performance he did on The Graham Norton Show over a decade ago. Radcliffe was a guest star alongside Rihanna, and Yankovic knew he had “it” (whatever “it” is).
I did see Daniel on TV in 2010 on The Graham Norton Show, where he performed “The Elements” by Tom Lehrer, which is an extremely nerdy thing to do. The fact that he memorized that and then performed it on national TV in front of Rihanna? That’s alpha-nerd stuff. I thought at that moment, “Oh, we’re kindred spirits. This guy … we’ll be friends.” I had that in the back of my mind for years. When we started casting the movie, and Daniel’s name appeared on the shortlist of actors we were considering, I thought, ‘Daniel’s got to be the guy.’ He’s got the right spirit. He got the right energy. He definitely has the acting chops. I can’t imagine anybody that would be more suited to this role than him.
Radcliffe has since said that the ordeal was “mortifying” but he ended up catching the eye of Yankovic, so it all worked out in the end! Being a nerdy guy helped Radcliffe get the role, but Yankovic said it was his delicate balance between comedic timing and dramatic monologues that made him a perfect fit. “He pulls off the comedic and dramatic moments amazingly well, which is not an easy thing. We’re going for a very specific tone. It’s obviously a comedy, but we’re not playing it like a comedy,” Yankovic explained.
Even though they know it’s not going to win any Academy Awards (even though it should!), the movie has some moments that tug at your heartstrings, sandwiched in between fun moments like when Al discovered “My Sharona” would rhyme perfectly with “bologna.” Yankovic added, “We’re playing it like an extremely serious Oscar-baiting Hollywood biopic, so the comedic and dramatic moments had to land. There are some moments where some people weep, in the screenings. It hits both ends of the spectrum. We needed somebody like Daniel, who’d be able to play both sides.”
Not only can Radcliffe play both sides, but he can also play a dead guy. What can’t this man do?
Weird: The Al Yankovic Story is now streaming on Roku.
It’s hot chocolate season! Temperatures are dropping nationwide so it’s time to ditch that iced coffee for some warm, rich, and delicious hot chocolate. Or you know, regular coffee, but for the purposes of this article, let’s just say hot chocolate! With all the stress that comes along with the holidays, hot chocolate may be the only good thing about the slow crawl until the end of the year, it’s delicious, comforting, indulgent, and unlike coffee, delicious to drink at any time of the day.
Woke up feeling cold? Sip a cup of hot chocolate and feel that chill melt away. Looking for a late night snack? Drink some hot chocolate, it’ll taste objectively better than coffee and won’t keep you up late. Sure, you could make your own hot chocolate but who wants to do that when you can have someone make it for you?
That’s why we ordered all the fast food/drive-thru hot chocolate we could find in search of the very best. Shockingly, there aren’t nearly as many places offering hot chocolate as we had hoped, but what is out there is… mostly pretty damn good.
Here is where to find the best hot chocolate, from worst to most delicious.
7. McDonald’s — McCafe Hot Chocolate
Dane Rivera
Tasting Notes:
This is without a doubt the worst hot chocolate I’ve ever had. It tastes more like boiled water than anything else, which is really strange considering McDonald’s hot chocolate recipe doesn’t contain water. Just whole milk, chocolate syrup, whipped cream, and a chocolate drizzle. Those are all the makings of a good hot chocolate, and yet it’s incredibly hard to taste any chocolate whatsoever in this.
That boiled water taste is followed by a milky aftertaste and if you really strain I suppose you can taste some chocolate but not nearly enough to actually call this “hot chocolate.” The flavorless quality of this hot chocolate is especially bizarre considering all of the other McCafe drinks are dangerously sweet. This is a major swing and a miss.
The Bottom Line:
It’s hard to imagine someone messing up hot chocolate but McDonald’s managed to do it! We’re not sure this is legally allowed to be called hot chocolate.
It tastes just like homemade hot chocolate! Which is to say it tastes just like Swiss Miss. Topped with a small dollop of whipped cream, Dunkin is doing the bare minimum to make a palatable hot chocolate and while that sounds like a bad thing, it works. While this isn’t mind-blowingly good or anything you can’t top at home with some marshmallows and thick whipped cream, it still gets the job done.
We expect more out of a hot chocolate above $2, but it’s hard to complain about the way this tastes. It’s good, not great.
The Bottom Line:
It’s a satisfying cup but not one worthy of a trip to Dunkin’.
Even with three pumps of Starbucks’ mocha sauce, this hot chocolate still fails to deliver on the chocolate. The flavors just aren’t well mixed, I’m not sure if it’s because they use sauce instead of a powder, but the chocolate never felt fully incorporated into the drink.
I chalked that up to the possibility of a bad barista but even after a few self-stirs, it kept tasting this one in waves: hot milk, a tinge of chocolate, a creamy finish.
Once again, it’s not bad by any means, but it definitely leaves something to be desired.
The Bottom Line:
A slight step up from Dunkin’, but this is Starbucks we’re talking about, it should be a giant leap.
In-N-Out has a long tradition of giving away free hot chocolate to children but a few years back they actually went ahead and officially added Hot Cocoa to the menu. This is a little frustrating considering In-N-Out hardly ever adds anything new to the menu (we’re still waiting for bacon, c’mon In-N-Out, it would be a game changer) but hey, it’s a little hard to get mad at hot chocolate.
In-N-Out’s hot chocolate is poured from a Hot Cocoa machine which is a bit disappointing considering made-to-order hot chocolate is always better. The mix includes Ghirardelli chocolate and hot water with a layer of freeze-dried marshmallows that melt into a nice top layer of cream.
Flavorwise it’s just a slight step up from your usual Swiss Miss-style hot chocolate. The Ghiradelli is a bit richer than what you’ll find at Dunkin’ but the use of hot water instead of milk takes away the creamy and luxurious mouthfeel we’re looking for. It’s not nearly as good as In-N-Out’s chocolate milkshake and that’s a real shame because… we sorta expect it to be.
The Bottom Line:
It’s a fine hot chocolate, but from In-N-Out, we expect a little more.
The name ‘Truffle Hot Chocolate,’ conjures up images of luscious, decadent, and complex coffee flavors and this isn’t quite that, but it is damn delicious.
The chocolate is noticeably richer here than all the cups proceeding it in this ranking, you can hardly taste any milk as a rush of decadent chocolate bathes your tastebuds, introducing subtle earthy notes like coffee bean, almond, and oak. The milk serves as a strong creamy and sweet base for the cocoa notes to play off of.
The Bottom Line:
Not as savory and complex as its name would suggest, but clearly in another league than everything ranked before it. This hot chocolate does not disappoint.
This is so close to being perfect. The chocolate flavor is very well distributed here, each sip starts with a rush of earthy, almost woodsy, cocoa notes with a very mellow and smooth aftertaste. It doesn’t have any bitterness or spice to it, which lends itself well to a hot chocolate, but for some reason, Coffee Bean tops this hot chocolate with non-fat milk.
Why non-fat milk? It totally ruins the finish, giving it this weird sort of thin quality when it should be luxurious. Yes, you can sub the non-fat for whole milk and have a way better experience, but Coffee Bean doesn’t do that without being asked, and ultimately that’s why it’s getting the number two spot. That non-fat is really killing a beautiful thing.
The Bottom Line:
So close to perfect. Pro tip: ask for whole milk instead of non-fat and you’ll get an experience that matches the quality of their delicious chocolate powder.
Panera makes its hot chocolate with chocolate syrup yet somehow this cup tastes wonderfully chalky. The chocolate flavor here is really well balanced, I’m getting a lot of natural earthy notes with cinnamon, clove, and coffee bean lingering in there with this slightest hint of vanilla at the finish. It tastes almost exactly like melted-down semi-sweet chocolate chips. It’s sweet but with the best balance of natural cocoa flavors.
I’m not sure what sort of milk Panera uses but it didn’t result in that same thin unsatisfying finish that Coffee Bean gave me. On top of the whipped cream Panera adds a swirl of caramel which introduces some nutty buttery qualities to the final product once it melts into your drink.
Maybe the inclusion of caramel is disqualifying but who cares, ultimately it makes for a better cup of hot chocolate whether you like caramel or not. It adds that extra layer of complexity that truly feels worth the money and the trip out of your own kitchen.
The Bottom Line:
The best tasting, most complex hot chocolate you’re going to find from a drive-thru establishment.
Paulo Londra teamed up with Colombian singer Feid in his new music video for “A Veces.” In the video that was released today (November 4), the rising Argentine star hits it off with Feid in the recording studio.
Londra has spent the past year re-establishing himself as one of Argentina’s top artists. After a few years being caught up in a contractual dispute, he signed a new partnership with Warner Music Latina in March. Since then, Londra has been off to the races with his single releases. His comeback hit “Plan A” amassed over 193 million streams on Spotify. He later enlisted Ed Sheeran to feature on his song “Noche De Novela” and released a collaboration with Bizarrap.
For his new single “A Veces,” Londra joins forces with Feid. Backed by reggaeton beats with an electronic touch, Londra and Feid trade verses about having no time for part-time lovers. It’s all or nothing for them in their kiss-off anthem. In the video, Londra and Feid are having a fun time playing around in a Miami studio. There’s a candid moment where Londra dons Feid’s signature Oakley sunglasses with his nickname “Ferxxo” written across the lenses.
Feid is performing in venues across the US on his US Trip Tour. Last week, he featured on Colombian folk band Morat’s latest song “Salir Con Vida.”
Some artists mentioned here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
With tour life officially behind them until 2023, alternative royalty Gorillaz is back with a new track. Their latest single, “Baby Queen,” is a deep cut callback for die-hard fans. Flooded with trippy instrumentation and placid storytelling, the collective’s co-creator, Damon Albarn revisits his 1997 encounter with a real life princess.
The princess in question, Sirivannavari of Thailand, has been a muse for the musician for well over a decade now. Albarn explained his fascination (via the LA Times) with the princess, stating, “The reason I’ve written a song about it is because I had a dream about this princess very recently; she’d grown up and we spent time in my dream together, her as a woman.”
With lyrics like, “under Garuda’s mirror lights / she takes flight / yeah, the kid’s alright,” and, “she fell into the generals (oh, baby queen) / on the watch all around her / I fell into the vanity / the mirrored lights of our dreams,” the song taps into the mystical allure surrounding royal figures.
Although, Gorillaz’s forthcoming album, Cracker Island, isn’t set to be released until February 24, fans have already been treated to two singles. The project’s title track featuring Thundercat, as well as “New Gold” featuring Tame Impala and Bootie Brown, does a stellar job laying the groundwork for what’s to come from the full project.
Listen to the full track above.
Gorillaz is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
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