Category: News

First of all, in retrospect, it makes no sense whatsoever that Laura Dern, as she says here, wasn’t asked back for The Lost World, the second of the now six Jurassic movies. She makes a good point that, back then, she really didn’t think of the first Jurassic Park as a franchise. The press surrounding the movie was about the dinosaurs, and it was underestimated how much people liked the human characters — notably Dern, Sam Neill, and Jeff Goldblum, who now appear onscreen together in a Jurassic movie for the first time since 1993. Dern made a brief appearance in Jurassic Park III, but now 29 years later, her Ellie Sattler (finally) returns as a starring role. (But, seriously, it’s really remarkable it took this long to reunite the main three characters from one of the most successful movies of all time.)

In Jurassic World: Dominion, Dern’s Ellie Sattler is investigating swarms of large locusts that are destroying the world’s food chain. She suspects their DNA is being manipulated with dinosaur DNA, which leads her asking for help from her old friends Alan Grant (Neill) and Ian Malcolm (Goldblum).

Talking to Laura Dern is quite the experience. Not many actors today can casually mention how they met Alfred Hitchcock (on the set of Family Plot, which starred her father, Bruce) then, out of nowhere, ask if I want to hear a story about Clint Eastwood meeting a T-Rex that she’s never told. The answer, by the way, was, “Yes. Yes I would like to hear the story of Clint Eastwood meeting a T-Rex.” And then, for good measure, she tells us how much she loves Bill Hader.

By the way, I just have to say, since the pandemic started I have watched so many of your movies and your entire family’s movies. So, hours and hours of entertainment.

Aw, that’s so beautiful to hear. It’s my dad’s birthday today!

Oh, it is? I got to interview him once for Nebraska. He’s great.

Aw, well I will tell him you said that. Beautiful.

I just watched Family Plot this week. I had never seen that. It’s really funny.

Oh my gosh!

I didn’t know it was a funny movie.

I know! It’s really funny and odd and kind of amazing. I was on that set ….

What? Really?

Yes.

So you met Alfred Hitchcock?

Yes.

Okay wow.

Incredible. I know. So lucky. That was amazing.

So with Jurassic World: Dominion, Colin Trevorrow said one of the most important things about making this movie was getting you onboard. I don’t know if you’ve heard him say that…

No.

Because he felt some of the sequels had been driven too much by men as characters and I know you’re in Jurassic Park III, but not as a main character. Do you agree with that? Because I do.

Oh, that’s beautiful to hear. What I agree with is if Ellie was going to come back that she would have to come back very specifically, having evolved in her area of science, having evolved in her independence, in her activism, in her feminism – or she should just be who she was in the original movie. And that really mattered to Steven and to Frank Marshall and, obviously, to Colin in his vision. And so, when I spoke to all three, and then Colin and I had lunch and he laid out his plan of great mastery and consideration, he was very open to my collaboration with he and Emily Carmichael. And really, talking about what that would look like. And that’s when it really clicked for me and felt like … For all the fans, really, who’ve come up to me saying the influence that this female character had for them, both now in their work and their path in life, but also young men and boys saying to me, “This is the first female character I saw who was an equal to the boys in the movie.”

Right.

That was amazing thing to want to be protective of.

Back in the ’90s, I always just assumed that you were doing other things and that’s why you weren’t in The Lost World. Reading more about that productions, it sounds like they just didn’t write you into it.

To be direct, I was not asked. I was doing other things…

Oh, obviously. You made a lot of movies around then.

Yeah. No, I mean, I was so happy to be playing other characters, I guess I should say? I didn’t think of Jurassic Park as a franchise film when we made it. So, I just felt so blessed to work with Steven and tell that story and, yeah, was off discovering all kinds of different universes. But it was not a consideration. And in Jurassic Park III, it was, “Would you come and save the day in this little moment?” Which seemed fun to be with Sam and that was lovely. The director of that movie I’d just done a film with called October Sky and he was lovely.

Right, Joe Johnston.

Yeah. So all of that, it was somewhat organic. Alexander Payne, who was working on some scenes for it …

And you had just done Citizen Ruth with him…

Exactly. So it was just like confluence of friends. But there had never been a conversation of, “What if Ellie Sattler came back and really affected change in the stories?”

That’s really interesting what you said about not looking at it as a franchise. When Jurassic Park came out it was like, “You have to see these dinosaurs!” But I think people were into those characters: you, Sam and Jeff. And maybe that was overlooked for awhile.

It’s funny now in retrospect … I talked to Steven the other day and he said, “I may have done a disservice, in some ways, by talking so much about what we were able to do.” It’s about the dinosaurs coming to life. It’s about the first CGI film. And he was like, “But, Laura. Everything we’re experiencing, and people’s excitement about these characters, is a reminder. I knew the only way to make this work was I had to make a movie about the people.” Which is why we didn’t even see our first dinosaur for half an hour.

Oh yeah, that’s a great point.

And I was like, “Whoa.” And now that the franchise is embedded in knowing what’s coming, you need all these characters that we now have gotten to know. But again, I think in this culmination story, knowing who they are, knowing where their love stories and their friendships and their passion, knowing what happens with corporate greed when it’s not harnessed by activists around it using their voice. All of those things were an embedded part about what this franchise has become so we had to have this movie hold all of that.

I guess my point is it’s kind of nuts it took almost 30 years to get you three back together again doing these movies, especially because there’s been six of them.

We certainly feel it. And just hearing from people, as people are beginning to see the movie, people speak about that as part of the great excitement of the experience for them, which is amazing. And it’s interesting. It is interesting to think about this feeling of getting away with something in 1993 with an equal character who, when in jeopardy, wasn’t a damsel in distress, but took care of things by herself and didn’t need a man. And she was human. She wasn’t a superhero. And she wore no make up and had practical clothing. And all those decisions took so much effort from so many people to agree. But it is amazing that at that time when you think about, “Well, who would be the character that we might have lead the show?” It just inevitably was going to be a male character at the time.

Right.

And unless they were super heroines and had a big gun, they weren’t traditionally allowed to be in a position of power in the same way. And now, here we are these years later and we are all equals and there are other amazing badass women with me. And that feels incredible.

And anecdotally, a lot of people ask me, “Is Laura Dern actually really in it? Or is it just a cameo?” And people seem excited when I tell them you are legitimately a main character.

That’s so awesome. Yeah, I know. And that’s a tribute to Colin. He said, “When I’m asking you if you’re up for this, I mean the movie’s got to be about all of you, or we don’t do this.” That felt really good. And then really focusing on the environmental storyline that she would want and also the question of this love story and also this still kind of awkward dynamic between the three of us.

But that awkward dynamic works.

It so works. It so works.

You three just went back into the dynamic between each other like it was yesterday. Did it feel like that on set?

Instantly. The moment Ian Malcolm showed up, even though it was about needing to sell me secrets, our intimacy felt so inappropriate to Sam, and Alan Grant is miserable. And it just was so fun to be back in that play with those two amazing, gorgeous gentlemen who are dear friends of my heart, for sure.

The first scene with you three together, was there a buzz on set?

Sam and I had done another scene together but it’s the first time I saw him with Alan Grant’s hat on. And I turned to my right and Jeff walked up to me with a black leather jacket on and we got into a jeep for a scene we have in a jeep. And we sat down and camera was almost ready and we looked out thinking they were still buzzing around getting ready. And as we looked out, the whole crew had stopped and people were wiping tears.

Oh, wow.

And we got choked up, all three of us. And then Colin just came over and took pictures and he’s like, “Laura, text this to Steven.” And I texted Steven and Steven’s like, “Oh my God. I’m starting to cry right now.” Just that we all, together, all of us, shared something iconic seeing that first movie. And it wasn’t like three of us were just actors in a movie. We were just like you because we’d made a movie where we had this new technology that none of us knew what it was.

Oh right, I had never really thought of that.

So we sat in a movie theater with Steven for the first time watching this come to life.

Right, “How are they going to do this?”

“This will never work.” I have to tell you. I’ve never told this story but I’m just remembering it. I was so lucky. We were on the lot at Universal. We had been through a level five hurricane. They were juggling unbelievable crew coming together to rebuild sets now on the lot.

Okay…

And the dinosaur had a tough morning. The T-Rex had slowed down a bit and needed some massaging, if you will. And we were waiting and I was going to finish the movie and work with Clint Eastwood.

Right, A Perfect World.

Yes. And Clint came to the set.

Whoa.

We were going to have lunch at the commissary. First of all, I am such a movie lover so to be on the Universal lot, to go to the commissary to have lunch with Clint Eastwood is crazy. Pinch me! And then, because it broke, Steven came and joined us and Steven said to Clint, “Come back with us and see the T-Rex.”

Amazing…

Nobody had seen it. Nobody was allowed in. And this is one of my favorite moments remembering Clint. He is seeing this life-size beast. He was like, “That’ll scare the hell out of you!” I was just like, “Oh my God, my life is so amazing.”

Dirty Harry Callahan didn’t like what he saw with that T-Rex.

No. No! Probably why I still have PTSD about dinosaurs. People are like, “Was it so great going back?” I’m like, “No. I was with a raptor again and there’s nothing I hate more!”

In this interview you had a Hitchcock story and a Clint story. Those are pretty good pulls right there.

Can I just say, I say this as the highest compliment because I worship him as an artist, director, writer, actor and person… One of my dear friends is Bill Hader.

Oh, yeah. He’s great.

And you guys have a similar rhythm. Just the way you speak. There’s a similar rhythm in your cadence or something.

Oh, okay, I appreciate that. No one’s ever said that before.

It’s a compliment!

Oh I very much take that as a compliment.

Isn’t he great?

Oh, he’s the best.

Barry is so brilliant.

I’m a fan.

Me, too.

You can contact Mike Ryan directly on Twitter.

The Duffer’s choice to use Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)” as the song that was able to break the demonic Vecna’s hold on Max during season 4 of Stranger Things keeps yielding benefits. And not just for Bush, who saw the song chart for the first time since the mid-’80s. We’re also getting a bit of insight into what friends, interesting strangers, and show stars alike are using to cling to this realm thanks to social posts and interviews. And this is one such interview. Well, it’s a snippet from our upcoming conversation with Jim Hopper himself, David Harbour. Look for it at the end of the month as Stranger Things Season 4 Vol. 2 approaches. But, until then, here’s Harbour on what song would save him from the oily beast.

“I’m a weird creature of [habit]. I go through one month or two-month-long phases where I’ll just hit a song really hard. Part of it has to do with the fact that I may be acting in something. I like to center that thing,” said Harbour, adding that he’s been listening to “Dance Monkey” by Tones And I on repeat while walking down the street. “I guess, should Vecna capture me now, it would be that.”

While that answer certainly checks the box, it didn’t quench Harbour’s need to reveal his ’90s soul while pondering if he’d have to go way back to break Vecna’s hold. And so, with a brief bit of further ponderance, he went on to push through the smoke to take us way back to a time of pained howls by the likes of Scott Weiland and Pat Monahan.

“In general, it’s terrible ’90s rock ballads, the stuff that I listened to when I was smoking weed in college. Like ‘Drops of Jupiter’ [from Train] or Stone Temple Pilots or Counting Crows,” he admitted. “Revealing music, I feel like, just reveals how dorky I am but I might give it up for Adam Duritz and those Counting Crows. I want something raging like a Counting Crows song. I’m showing my ’90s, but yeah, that would be it for me, I think.”

So there you have it, never find yourself hanginaround David Harbour without a copy of This Desert Life and a Discman handy. We need him!

‘Stranger Things’ Season 4 Volume 1 is available to stream on Netflix right now and Volume 2 is set to stream July 1.

It’s been a little over a week since Stranger Things dropped and while the rest of the cast kept busy teasing season four for fans, Jamie Campbell Bower is just now getting to talk about his game-changing role.

That’s because Bower, who you’ll recognize from other fantasy franchises like The Mortal Instruments and Twilight, is this season’s big bad – a terrifying villain named Vecna (a.k.a. One, a.k.a. Henry Creel) who has some surprising ties to Eleven and the rest of The Party in Hawkins. The Duffer Brothers love a good monster story – Demogorgons, Demogogs, and Mindflayers have littered past seasons – but Vecna (a play on an infamous Dungeons & Dragons character) is a different breed. Calculating, vengeful, formidable, and on a mission to create his own twisted utopia that sadly doesn’t include the cheerleaders, jocks, and Max Mayfields in this cursed town.

We chatted with Bower about how he transformed himself (quite literally) for the role, Vecna’s endgame, and which bop would rescue him from the Upside Down.

Do you still have the mood board that you created when you got the role and what’s on that?

I still have all the work that I’ve done for the show, yeah. The original board was predominantly for Vecna, so it started with Will Byers in the middle. Then came more of the kids, the world, and particularly the world of the Upside Down and it started to spread. From there I started to use more culturally popular references in terms of characters that I love and that we’ve experienced before. Then I would put Post-It notes up of things that would just pop into the brain. I’ve got countless notes on my computer of all these little things that would pop up as I was reading, and I’d print those out and stick those on. It just developed more over time, but yes, I still have everything. The more work I do on film … I try to keep as much of that as possible because it’s great to look back at it in years to come and remember the process and go, “Man, that was mad.”

I’m guessing you had to hide it when friends would come over.

It’s funny, I was living in Atlanta while shooting this, in this guest house of these two lovely people called Bryce and Sue. Occasionally, they’d need to pop in to just check on a boiler or something, and I’d always have to say, “Oh, can you just let me know before you are going in just so I can put some things away.” They were really interested in what I was doing, but obviously, I couldn’t say anything because the character is such a big deal.

Were there any pop culture references you used when creating this character that the Duffer Brothers axed?

There was never anything that came up that they said, “Absolutely no, you’re way off the mark there.” One of the great things about Matt and Ross is their inspiration and their references, if you want to and you are interested in doing this, you can very, very quickly pick up on them. One of the jobs that I had was to make sure that I really dug into a lot of those references. I did go further than perhaps I needed to. There was one thing that we did on film that I … have you seen Hellraiser III?

I have seen the first film, but not the other two.

Oh, well there’s nine of them.

I have seen the first film but not the other eight, then.

There’s a scene where Doug Bradley, as Pinhead, walks into a church and he pulls out some pins from his head, puts them in his hands, and spreads his arms out and says, “I am the way,” and then the windows blow out. I was like, “Oh, I really want to reference that. I really want to put my arms out like this,” and I did it and it looked absolutely awful. So bad, and so we very quickly were like, “Yeah, no, let’s not do that.” But that was the only thing that we tried that didn’t work, and I think that’s me wearing the reference too much on the sleeve.

Are we going to learn more about where Henry Creel’s abilities came from?

The way I always saw it was that he was the first person to be born very special and very different. I never saw it in terms of what it would be like to be Spiderman. In Spiderman, he gets bit, and then from being bitten, he garners these powers. I always saw Henry as this person who was just born with this natural ability and it took him going to this deep depths of despair and isolation for those powers to come to fruition and to become real.

What’s his endgame? He’s choosing his victims for a specific reason? Is it because he wants to create a world where people don’t lie? That seems pretty impossible.

Well, let’s also remember that he’s existed in this facility with a sort of patriarchal figure who has used him to create others, who has suppressed his abilities and oppressed him as a person. Within that, I think for me, what happened was it just compounded this already preexisting idea of what the world is. He’s witnessing Brenner not only be quite brutal to some of the others, but he’s also witnessing Brenner lie to everyone around him, which is what he grew up with. I do believe that, ultimately, his goal is to live in this world where people don’t lie. Friends don’t lie.

That is a twisted callback to what Eleven would say in the first seasons of the show. I’m guessing there’s more between these two when the show comes back?

There’s a lot more to explore between the two of them. They now have history.

It’s you under those prosthetics as Vecna, and you’re also doing the voice of this monster. How did you nail down what he should sound like?

The voice took a minute. It’s like singing. If, when we are singing, we are tight and tense our muscles tend to close up. We don’t breathe from our diaphragm. I had to really relax. When I first started trying the voice out, it came from a really different place. It was quite throaty, and then as I understood that that wasn’t where I wanted to go, I had to look at it in a different way. I would do these diaphragm warmups where you are humming, you are gently tapping your diaphragm to loosen everything up, and then just lean into that low vocal range a lot more, and then the other interesting thing is that, as Vecna, I’m wearing these teeth molds so that my teeth are very nasty and just discolored and pretty grim.

I was worried about how I would be able to talk with those. But actually, they became a massive help because I was able to grind my teeth which sort of brought forwards this more tense jaw almost. I would listen to very dark music, music that’s got very low-frequency sounds, and talk over that. I’ve got videos of me trying it out and it working because the other thing, as well, is obviously I don’t want to be selling in the eyes that I’m thinking about doing the voice. So, the voice has to come, and then the focus has to be the thing that takes over so it has to become second nature. I would just walk around doing the voice as often as I could, basically.

Your poor barista.

[laughs] Actually, and this is not something I’ve spoken to anybody about, which is the emotion, the frequency of the vibration within the body, particularly when I was being Henry. I remember wearing Henry out and about when he’s being really nice, and the way people would interact with me differently to when I was going further and going dark.

I was still being kind and congenial to people, but just the way people would pick up on whatever was inside of me became very interesting. I remember walking back from the shops one day, after doing the first Henry – the nice one — and calling someone and going, “It works.”

Did you think people could sense something in you, as Henry?

It wasn’t that I was saying anything different when I was in a different state of being, but people could pick up on things. It was very interesting. People are a lot more intuitive than I think we give them credit for.

What song would rescue you from the Upside Down? And keep in mind, Noah Schnapp has already claimed “W.A.P.”

[laughs] My god. Okay, I’ll give you two answers to this. My sort of sensible response would be Placebo covering the song by Kate Bush, “Running Up That Hill.” I love Placebo, so my smart and connected response is “Running Up That Hill” with the Placebo cover. But, I’ll say this here, just in case it doesn’t translate: We stan Kate Bush.

Obviously.

But if I’m to be naughty and giggly about it, “Party in the USA” by Miley Cyrus.

Oceans are essential to life on our planet. They produce more than half of the world’s oxygen as well as ingredients used in cancer-fighting medicines. And they are also just plain beautiful! Summers wouldn’t be the same without a wade through waves and watching dolphins jump in the distance.

But our oceans are in trouble. Single-serve plastics and pollution threaten them and the estimated 1.6 million species that call them home. Fortunately, there are things you can do to help.

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By supporting brands with ocean-forward initiatives and cutting back on single-serve plastics, you can make a huge difference in preventing damage to our oceans and the species that live within them.

In honor of World Oceans Day, we’re showcasing five brands that not only make awesome products, but help create a more sustainable future by protecting our seas. Whether they’re removing ocean impact plastics or offering longer-lasting alternatives to single-serve necessities, each of these brands is making a major splash. Let’s dive in!

1. GOT BAG. The cat is out of the gotbag, or at least that’s part of this brand’s mission. By collecting plastic from our oceans, coastal waterways, mangrove forests and the delta areas of nearby rivers and using new, innovative recycling technologies, GOT BAG has developed a line of super stylish and sustainable backpacks made of ocean-impact plastic! The company works with a network of more than 2,500 Indonesian fishermen who catch plastic waste as bycatch. The plastics are then removed from the ocean and coastal areas, cleaned and recycled, then ground up and processed into high-quality yarn and polyester fabric. GOT BAG turns trash into treasure by creating lightweight, durable, fashion-forward backpacks, bags and accessories that are not only great for everyday use, but recycle roughly 9.9 pounds of ocean-impact plastic per product! To date, GOT BAG has recovered and recycled nearly 1 million pounds of plastic from oceans and other waterways. From June 8 to June 14, get a 20% discount on the entire GOT BAG assortment, while the brand plants five mangroves in Indonesia for every product sold.

2. G95. The G95 Oceanshield is a modern response to a modern problem. It’s no secret that single-use masks have become a big pollutant including winding up floating in our waterways or washed ashore on our beaches. With the G95 Oceanshield single-use mask, everything from the ear straps to the nose guard to the state-of-the-art filtration system is made from plant-based materials that and will completely biodegrade within 90 days! Or you can send your Oceanshield mask back to G95 free of charge and the company will recycle the masks for you, so they don’t end up where they shouldn’t and can be reprocessed and reused.

3. Package Free. A brand that truly lives up to the name, Package Free provides plastic-free versions of the products we all use daily, including laundry detergent, refillable body lotions, compostable cat litter bags and refillable cleaning supplies. It also offers recycling services for difficult-to-recycle produces such as certain packaging materials, electronics and plastics.

4. SeaVees. Sea the change with these super stylish and comfortable shoes! One dollar from every pair of shoes in the collection goes to SeaTrees, a nonprofit that works to restore blue carbon coastal ecosystems and ocean health globally. The company also works with Un Mar de Colores, an organization that helps bring future generations of historically marginalized youths to the sport of surfing. And while they can’t yet let you walk on water, they do just fine in the sand—we’ve checked!

5. Lollygag. Run, don’t walk but lollygag over to this site! Lollygag makes replacing single-serve plastics with unique and environmentally sound alternatives a walk in the park! Try the reusable travel flatware, chic cloth napkins, Swedish drying cloths and silicon straws with their own carrying cases.

The news out of Ukraine is bad, not only for Ukrainians who’ve been forced to defend their nation from invading Russians but also for the Russian troops themselves. Their army keeps crumbling, even losing a top commander called “The Executioner” to a sniper’s bullet. Other military officials have had it with president Vladimir Putin. As for the troops, some are so desperate to flee that they’ve tried — and in some cases failed — to set up sham marriages to get out of duty.

As per The Daily Beast, Ukraine’s Secret Service intercepted a phonecall between one troop and his friend back home. Recognizing that the only way out was to “either be wounded or killed,” he’d come up with a new solution.

“I already f*cking told one of my [female] friends, ‘F*ck, go submit an application to [the marriage registration office]. I’ll f*cking tell them about it here,’” he said. But it was not to be “S*it, they said, no f*cking way, that’s not an option.”

He lamented, “Everyone here is trying any possible way [to get out] … but there’s no way.”

Some Russian troops have been caught sabotaging their own equipment or wounding themselves to get out of fighting in an ever-losing war. To make matters worse, temperatures are rising in Ukraine, and soldiers only have clothes made for winter, and there’s a shortage of water.

Meanwhile, Putin, with nothing close to a victory to show, is reportedly losing support of the nation’s top officials. Things aren’t so hot for one of his buddies: Russian state TV, which has been unfailingly propagandistic, has even turned on Donald Trump.

(Via The Daily Beast)

Despite Lil Nas X literally taking over the world with his music, the “Industry Baby” rapper received no nominations for the BET Awards. He has been open about his frustration, dissing BET on social media and now sharing snippets of an unreleased song of his that repeats the refrain: “F*ck BET.”

BET have already issued a response; read it below.

“We love Lil Nas X. He was nominated for a Best New Artist BET Award in 2020, and we proudly showcased his extraordinary talent and creativity on the show twice: he performed ‘Old Town Road’ with Billy Ray Cyrus at ‘BET Awards’ 2019 and his ‘BET Awards’ 2021 performance was a highlight of our show. No one cheered louder that night than BET.

Unfortunately, this year, he was not nominated by BET’s Voting Academy, which is comprised of an esteemed group of nearly 500 entertainment professionals in the fields of music, television, film, digital marketing, sports journalism, public relations, influencers, and creative arts. No one from BET serves as a member of the Voting Academy.

At BET, we are passionate advocates for the wonderful diversity that exists within our community. We are committed to using all of our platforms to provide visibility and inclusion for all of the many intersections of the Black community.”

Justin Bieber’s 2021 year was highlighted by the release of Justice, his Grammy-nominated sixth album. Thankfully, this time around, unlike with his fifth album Changes, Bieber was given the chance to hold a world tour in support of his new body of work. That tour got underway in February as Bieber hit the road with Jaden, ¿Téo?, Eddie Benjamin, and Harry Hudson as supporting artists. Unfortunately, things got off to a bumpy start as the second date of the tour was postponed due to a COVID-19 outbreak within the team. Four months later, Bieber was hit with another obstacle.

In a post to his Instagram Story, Bieber revealed that the start of his North American tour would be postponed due to an illness he is dealing with. “Can’t believe I’m saying this,” he wrote. “I’ve done everything to get better, but my sickness is getting worse. My heart breaks that I will have to postpone these next few shoes (doctors orders). To all my people I love you so much and I’m gonna rest and get better!”

At press time, the tour dates that would be affected by Bieber’s illness had not been revealed yet. Additionally, the rescheduled dates had not been shared yet either. According to the Justice World Tour schedule, Bieber had shows scheduled in Toronto, Washington D.C., and New York City over the next week.

You can view a screenshot of Bieber’s announcement in the post above.

Since cannabis beverages burst on the scene a couple of summers ago, they’ve often been billed as the future of partying. But in the few years that weed drinks have been around, I’ve never seen anyone drinking them at a non-cannabis-related event besides myself. A second issue, which surely predicates the first, is that THC alone is not a social lubricant. In fact, the isolated THC distillate that is found in most cannabis beverages can often cause social anxiety, paranoia, and all-around neggy vibes — especially for the novice users that these drinks tend to be marketed to.

Alcohol makes you litty, carefree, and ready to experience large groups of people at once. Cannabis tends to do the opposite, leaving you introspective, thoughtful, and more inclined to spend time in nature or get some food than energetically elevate to the level of drunk people.

For a weed drink to get you lit, it needs to contain more than just an isolated THC distillate. You may have heard of the entourage effect, in which the rainbow of healing chemicals found in cannabis works with your body’s endocannabinoid system to make you feel fucking amazing. That’s what’s often missing with most of these drinks. THC needs to be balanced by other active chemicals in the plant, like CBD and terpenes.

When they’re created by people who care about weed and know how it works with our bodies, these drinks can be amazing. They can function as an alternative to alcohol, while still offering the “drinking in public” thing that makes up a lot of our cultural dependency on the sauce. We just want to drink stuff that makes us feel buzzy around people who are drinking stuff that makes them feel buzzy, too — which is kind of poetic, in a sad way.

Anyways, to get things straight on this misunderstood genre, we’ve rounded up the most social cannabis beverages and ranked them on a scale of party-readyness. As a drinker who’s always trying to drink less, I’ve personally tried all of these more than a few times and can vouch for their social swig-ability.

Cann Roadies

Cann is leading the pack in the wild world of weed drinks, with massive billboards up and down Sunset Blvd and a host of celebrity buzz from stars that orbit wellness like Gwyneth Paltrow and Kate Hudson.

A newish counterpart to their flagship canned drinks, Roadies are little sauce packets of the 2mg THC, 4mg CBD Cann mixture you can put into any beverage, anywhere. I call Cann my freak-out drink, as every time I’m having an anxiety or stress attack I crack one, and it melts away instantly. This attribute lends itself to the social experience, especially for those who experience crippling social anxiety and often rely on alcohol to get them out of that hole.

That being said, when it comes to turning up the party, I don’t think these drinks really do that. For me, who gets high often, the feeling is barely detectable, more like feeling less bad than getting super high.

Bottom Line:

Suited for the total weed noob who is curious about cannabis drinks, but scared to get too high.

Buy it here: $18 (Eight Pack)

LIFT Seltzer

LIFT Seltzers are similar to Cann, but they have more CBD (2mg THC and 6mg CBD) and less bougie flavor profiles. Also well suited for novice users or high-stress situations, these are great daytime companions as they enhance your experience without getting you too high to enjoy. They’re small enough to fit in any bag, and the feeling is bright, fun, and ready for anything.

Bottom Line:

Perfect for social events where you need to be mentally “on” — while still taking the edge off.

Buy it here: $18

Pamos

Pamos is a unique beverage that lends itself to the cocktail genre. It’s aromatic and a little bitter, with a blend of citrus and fruit. It almost tastes like a cocktail version of apple cider, but more complex and dark.

They have a microdose version (2mg of THC and 2mg of CBD per shot), and a low dose version, which I prefer, with a great ratio of 6mg THC and 2mg CBD. I drank it before an event, and immediately started feeling silly and upbeat, which shook me from my too-much-weed-in-the-morning malaise.

Bottom Line:

A really interesting base that also works on its own, this is a great option for cocktails and mixology.

Buy it here: $65

Wunder’s Blueberry Lemon Higher Vibes

Wunder’s new line of high dose drinks, called Higher Vibes, is a wavy line of beverages that makes you feel kind of drunk. The combination of 10mg THC and 10mg Delta-8 adds a carefree, potent element that isn’t usually found in weed drinks.

To be clear, most Delta-8 products are not worth checking out. D-8 is a synthetic cannabinoid derived from CBD that should usually be avoided due to the unregulated nature of the synthetic cannabinoid market, meaning many D-8 products are not lab tested and can be unsafe. However, Wunder is a reputable brand that shines some light on the synthesized cannabinoid — which can be fun and not sketchy if it’s done right.

The flavor is pure, pleasant, and fruity. The feeling is ready to party. I drank one before a party and felt laid back and saucy, like I had consumed two or more glasses of wine. Hence this dispatch in my iPhone notes: “The world drips like warm water. Sharp experiences like stress are replaced with a yacht-like buoyancy. I don’t feel weird at all.”

Bottom Line:

This is a great drink for social situations, and those who want to be social in situations but don’t want to drink alcohol to get there.

Buy it here: $23 (four pack)

Space Gems Blackberry Gem Juice

Space Gems Blackberry Gem Juice is more of a drink enhancer than a drink in and of itself, but it deserves a spot on our list because it has one of the most anxiety-relieving highs of anything I’ve ever tasted in my life, alcohol included.

Unlike the THC or CBD distillate that most weed drinks contain, Space Gems uses the same single source solventless ice water hash in Gem Juice as they do in their Space Gem gummies, which are — hands down — my favorite edibles on the market.

I mix a little bit of this extremely potent beverage (600mg THC per 4oz bottle) with a sparkling water or Spindrift, and enjoy. The feeling is like melting into a hot spring, lost in a fit of laughter with your best friends. The high is fun, euphoric, and calming, but still silly, giggly, and stoned. Gem Juice tested for more cannabinoids than any other drink on this list, including THC, CBD, THCV, CBN and CBC. When it comes to filling out the cannabinoid spectrum, the more there are, the better you’ll feel!

Bottom Line:

Gem Juice offers the same glittering high as smoking a joint of the best weed ever.

Buy it here: $20

Herbacée

I love Herbacée because it provides a similar experience to drinking wine spritzers. Key words are tart, quench, bubbles, relief, excitement, and smile.

This 5mg THC and 5mg CBD per can beverage features a blend of grapes from the Central Coast of California and has a flavor that is wine-ish without going too hard in that direction. It’s not sweet in the slightest, a blend of cherry and currant, with around the same density of bubbles as champagne.

It has the melty anxiety-relieving high that lowers inhibitions, without taking you to a place of being saucy and weird. This drink also has the giggle factor that wine has, which makes it fantastic for being at parties. Instead of getting wrapped up in your stoned ass thoughts, you just don’t give a fuck, which is the key to having a good time!

Bottom Line:

Perfect for the drinker who is trying to drink less.

Buy it here $28 (4 pack) $8 (Single Can)

Artet x Aster Farms Founder’s Blend No. 1 Live Resin Aperitif

Founder’s Blend Live Resin Aperitif is a collaboration between Artet (haute weed bev brand) and Aster Farms (sustainable, sun-grown farm), and is the most sophisticated weed drink, IMO.

The bottle is gorgeous and gift-worthy. The flavor is a complex ginger Campari-eque liqueur minus the bite. And the high, well, that’s the is the best part! Full-spectrum, nuanced, and super social! Instead of a THC or CBD distillate, this drink uses a live resin extract from Aster Farms sun-grown strain Honeydew Funk, meaning the full expression of this strain, which was selected for its uplifting and giddy effects, remains intact as you consume the beverage.

The high is social and jubilant, possessing alcohol-like energy, without all the pitfalls of being drunk.

Bottom Line:

Bringing this bottle to a dinner party is the best look ever.

Buy it here: $50

Pizza, it’s one of the easiest and tastiest dishes you can put together. And yet… it seems we’ll do almost anything to make sure we don’t have to make it ourselves. That includes everything from grabbing a slice from your favorite corner mom and pop pie shop to ordering delivery from the big chains to resorting to the frozen stuff. And you know what, the right frozen pizza gets the job done.

The quality of frozen pizza ranges from slices that taste like cardboard with cheese melted on top (if it melts at all — the really bad brands just burn) to slices so good they could fool you in a blind taste test. And Trader Joe’s has some of the best on the market.

Since you can’t buy all the TJ’s pies (you could, but think of the valuable freezer space that would eat up), let’s separate the truly great from the “just good.” That’s right, we’re ranking all nine frozen Trader Joe’s pizzas — paying special attention to the quality of crust, the presentation of the pie, and the execution of the flavors.

Let’s eat!

9. Vegan Meatless Meat Eaters Pizza

Presentation:

Depressing. I’ve never looked at a slice of pizza that made me sad until I laid eyes on this… thing. But I get it, it’s a vegan pizza — vegan cheese is never going to melt like the real thing.

All that matters are the flavors here.

Tasting Notes:

The flavors come on really strong. Everything feels over-seasoned, it’s very zesty and smokey. The “meat” is incredibly chewy — I’d suggest skipping it but it’s what packs all the flavor.

The sauce doesn’t have any flavor, it’s just wet, and the bread is too soft.

The Bottom Line:

It’s not great. If you’re not vegan there is absolutely no reason to buy this. If you are vegan… there is absolutely no reason to buy this.

8. Pizza Margherita

Appearance:

Terrible. What happened here, Joe? This pizza wins the award for looking least like the advertised picture on the box. This is practically a different pizza. I followed the directions closely, I placed this on a center rack and still needed to bake it three minutes longer to get the cheese to start melting. Expectations shouldn’t be high for a frozen margherita, but you never expect the results to be this bad.

The sauce has an off-putting chunky appearance to it, like some kind of strange tomato smoothie.

Tasting Notes:

Trader Joe’s Margherita Pizza markets itself as being handmade before being cooked in woodburning ovens in Italy. That’s great, but none of that effort translates in appearance or taste. Where Margherita Pizza is typically light and fresh this just comes across as sickeningly sweet.

The cheese is gummy and sticks to your teeth and the crust tastes flavored with artificial cheese powder, like a goldfish cracker.

The Bottom Line:

It’s like ordering a Margherita Pizza from Chuck E. Cheese. Skip it.

7. Wood Fired Naples Style Uncured Pepperoni Pizza

Presentation:

Fair. There isn’t nearly enough cheese here, you can see some of the sauce through it, which is a bad sign in my book. The cheese that is here is unevenly melted, or burnt and crispy. It looks pretty low quality, like you imagine a frozen pizza to look.

Tasting Notes:

Zesty bright tomato sauce-forward flavor on a flavorless dry crust with weirdly chemical-tasting pepperonis. The cheese provides only a mouthfeel, no flavor and the pepperonis are overly chewy. If you like pepperonis that crisp up on the edges, you’re going to be disappointed.

The Bottom Line:

The whole thing has a sharp artificial taste to it, nothing tastes very high quality or well-sourced. No single component of this pizza can be described as good. If you want a pepperoni pizza made easy, pick up TJ’s fresh dough, a jar of Rao’s pizza sauce, mozzarella, and some pepperonis and you’d have something eight thousand times better tasting.

It’ll take a bit more effort, but it’ll be worth it. This is a waste of money.

6. Brie Cheese And Tomato Flatbread

Presentation:

Trader Joe’s cook times on all of their pizzas are off. I cooked this for an additional two minutes and it still looked severely underdone. Appearance isn’t everything, but the lack of color definitely makes this come across as less appetizing.

The picture on the box shows a very appetizing and colorful pie, but this just looks flavorless and a bit soggy.

Tasting Notes:

Light and buttery with the occasional burst of bright flavor from the sweet cherry tomato and a bitter and herbaceous parsley-backed finish. The braided crust looks cool, and it’s crispy on the outside but once you chew through it gets really gummy and soft. If this retained its crispiness, we’d be willing to rank it higher.

The Bottom Line:

Light, refreshing, and crispy. This is something you should serve as an appetizer to a full meal. By itself, even a full pie would leave you wanting for something more.

5. Organic Roasted Vegetable

Presentation:

Beautiful, bright, and colorful veggies are haphazardly spread across a perfectly melted cheese base. The pizza even has a few air bubbles, which always make for an appetizing pie.

Tasting Notes:

Very delicious and fresh, the vegetables in attendance are sweet yellow bell peppers, spicy red onions, and salty eggplant, with chunks of tomato and zucchini providing juicy sweet, and vegetal bursts of flavor.

This is a very clean-tasting pie, what it lacks in savory notes it makes up for in its variety of vegetal flavors.

The Bottom Line:

A great all veggie pie. In a pinch, It’ll get the job done, but picking up fresh dough and a few veggies would result in a much superior result.

4. Mushroom & Cheese Flatbread

Presentation:

Another France imported pizza flatbread. But unlike the previous flatbread, the chunks of white and oyster mushrooms make this pizza a lot more appetizing to the eye. The cheese is also melty-er here, but the crust still looks a little too pale to be described as appetizing.

Work on that, TJ!

Tasting Notes:

Each bite is delicious, the cheese base is a sweet, salty, and nutty blend of Parmigiano Reggiano and Emmenthal cheese with small bite-sized chunks of umami-packed mushrooms. This is the savoriest meat-free pizza I’ve ever eaten.

The Bottom Line:

Light and crispy with rich savory flavors that keep this tiny thin-crust flatbread pie satisfying. There are a lot of great flavors to savor here, but a drizzle of pesto would take it up a notch. Add your own to transform the experience to something that surpasses your local delivery.

3. Pizza Parlanno

Presentation:

It’s beautiful. It’s pretty much the same as the Organic Roasted Vegetable Pizza but the ingredients are more evenly spread and abundant and there is some meat thrown across the top, making for a heartier slice.

There is also much more cheese here than on any of the pies, providing a great melt across and underneath the toppings.

Tasting Notes:

This pizza build features Italian sausage, pepperoni, two different types of roasted peppers, and roasted onions and each bite is a delicious bouquet of flavors of fresh flavors with a smokey and savory aftertaste that makes the overall experience much more satisfying than what the roasted veggie pie offers. The veggies are still roasted here, bringing a charred fire flavor that pairs well with the smokey and zesty pepperoni and sausage.

There is nothing to dislike here, this is one of Trader Joe’s finest pies, and the best tasting more traditional combination of flavors.

The Bottom Line:

It’s Trader Joe’s version of a Supreme pizza. All the best vegetables and meats on one very delicious pie.

2. BBQ Chicken Pizza

Presentation:

Easily the most appetizing-looking pizza sold at Trader Joe’s. Not only is this piled high with white meat chicken, and roasted onions but it’s also smothered in barbecue sauce with flecks of beautiful peppery cilantro throughout.

Tasting Notes:

It’s delicious before you even take your first bite. The flavors just leap off the pizza as it gives off this intoxicating aroma that makes the mouth water. The sauce is brown sugar sweet and smokey leading to sweet bites of chicken and a savory onion tinge on the aftertaste. Earthy cilantro adds a nice fresh peppery kick to the whole experience and keeps it from tasting too smokey.

Each bite is worth savoring — you’re not going to want this one to end.

The Bottom Line:

Sweet, smokey, savory, fresh-tasting, and incredibly filling. This rivals most of the big chain pies. Still, Trader Joe’s has one pie that’s even better.

1. Roasted Garlic & Pesto Pizza

Presentation:

It looks great! Flecks of roasted garlic peppered across a blend of melted cheese with dabs of pesto spread throughout. It’s not quite as much pesto as you want to see, but flavor-wise — it delivers.

When I took this out of the oven it had risen to a giant dough ball. I’m not entirely sure why that happened, but it deflated to a regular flat state once I took it out of the oven.

Tasting Notes:

A buttery roasted explosion of flavor in every bite, with nutty, grassy pesto notes on the backend. The sweet caramelized garlic is the perfect flavor to pair with this pizza’s four-cheese blend, which combines creamy mozzarella with provolone, nutty Parmigiano Reggiano, and rich and milky burrata. The pizza also features a deep-fried crust, which makes it a bit more oily than we want it to be but once you experience the crispy crunch it provides, it’s hard to hate on the decision.

Each bite starts off crunchy and crispy before settling into something more chewy and savory as you work through it.

The Bottom Line:

Trader Joe’s best pie — the cheese melts evenly across the pie, the crust is crispy, crunchy, and wonderfully chewy. The flavors are on point. This tastes so good you might find yourself opting for this over a fresh pie from the big chains. Often.

Post Malone just released his new album Twelve Carat Toothache, and that title in itself proves his charming wit that pulls people in. So naturally he happily joined Seth Meyers for a day drinking session to both promote that LP and have a great time.

The most memorable part of the video is Post’s infectious, wholesome laughter, but there are a lot of great moments with the pair: Post gives Meyers face tattoos with a Sharpie, Meyers makes Post drink a beverage full of hot sauce and vinegar, Post talks about his brand of rosé. The video brings out Post’s charismatic, down-to-earth energy that fans love.

A similar Post Malone moment was when he recently said he was excited to be a DILF when speaking with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe. The rapper was sharing stories of carrying a baby doll when he was a child and said, “I would take him around everywhere. And I don’t know how long that lasted. But my mom still has it. And I guess, Zane, I’m so pumped up. I’m going to be a hot dad.”

Watch Post Malone and Seth Meyers drink way too much and have lots of fun in the video above.