Category: News

Vacation Friends (Hulu film) — If you can’t get enough of John Cena’s entry into mainstream movies, then this will be a raw, raunchy treat for you. The WWE star portrays a party guy who shows up uninvited at a wedding of former “vacation friends,” who happen to be a mild-mannered couple portrayed by Lil Rel Howery and Yvonne Orji. Enjoy the chaos, and let’s all be thankful that romantic-esque, Frat Pack-esque comedies still exist for us to enjoy for a much needed break from reality. This film’s directed by Silicon Valley‘s Clay Tarver, who also co-writes here.

See: Season 2 (Apple TV+ series) — Apple TV+’s See helped launch the tech giant’s streaming service less than two years ago, and the show was so wild and wooly that it worked. Jason Momoa’s back in fur coats and in warrior mode as Baba Voss. This season, he’s antagonized by Dave Bautista, which should add enough drama to keep the (somewhat silly) story alive, in a world where no one can see, but everyone is beautiful to look at from an audience standpoint. One of those sighted miracle-twins needs rescuing, so that propels much of the action early this season, but mostly, it’s all about a brotherly beef, clashing egos, and warring beards.

Here’s some regularly scheduled programming.

DC’s Legends Of Tomorrow (Sunday, CW 8:00pm) — Constantine’s obsessed with the Fountain of Imperium, and Astra and Spooner end up in Texas.

UFO (Sunday, Showtime 9:00pm) — J.J. Abrams continues this four-part docuseries that examines the cultural touchpoints of alien sightings and promises to examine possible motives on those parties who might be “shielding the truth,” and yep, this is coming from Abrams of Cloverfield and Super 8, so enjoy, Fox Mulder.

NYC EPICENTERS 9/11➔2021½/ (Sunday, HBO 9:00pm) — Spike Lee’s four-part documentary brings things full circle for the 20th anniversary of the day that the Twin Towers fell at the hands of terrorists. Expect his quintessential New York voice to weave a vibrant tapestry from over 200 interviews from residents, first respondents, journalists, and politicians. The end result is a provocative series — now freshly edited to remove those conspiracy theories — that not only takes the ongoing pandemic into account but also the Black Lives Matter movement, all to chronicle loss, life, and resilience.

The Walking Dead (Sunday, AMC 9:00pm) — This zombie-apocalypse universe’s flagship series returns for one final rodeo with two spinoffs still in motion, so it’s time to wrap this puppy up before the various shows’ timelines begin to intersect. This week, Maggie finds herself challenged by both lurking walkers and Negan, while Yumiko is looking for some answers.

Heels (Sunday, Starz 9:00pm) — Ricky Rabies, a wrestling veteran, helps out Jack, which ends up resulting in a comeback match, which is great news (financially) for Ace.

Here’s some more streaming goodness for the weekend.

The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf (Netflix film) — To tide us over until The Witcher‘s second season arrives with more grumpy Geralt of Rivia, please set your calendars accordingly for this prequel anime film. The picture will go back in time to explore the early monster-hunting years of Geralt’s mentor, Vesemir, who appears to be enjoying himself a lot more than his successor. Theo James voices the character, who will be live-action portrayed by Kim Bodnia further down the line. And although the iconic Witcher baths only recently become canon, they’ve always been there, at least retroactively.

Reservation Dogs: (FX on Hulu series) — Taika Waititi’s FX on Hulu followup to What We Do in the Shadows brings us a comedy series that’s co-written by Native American filmmaker Sterlin Harjo. Yes, the lead quartet in this show rocks suits that look strikingly similar to the characters of Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs, yet they’re four Indigenous teens who want to commit crime and simply can’t pull it off. The show was shot in and near Okmulgee, Oklahoma, and these teens hope to make it all the way to California. The cast and crew come from indigenous communities, from where Harjo and Waititi are aiming their storytelling styles as well.

Nine Perfect Strangers: Nicole Kidman’s one of several A-listers who’ve made themselves at home on the so-called “small screen” in recent years, and after a few Emmys and a Golden Globe for Big Little Lies and a Globe nomination for The Undoing, she’s not done yet. She portrays a wellness guru that might remind you of certain celebrities who shill bizarre products and claim that they’ll change your life with a dash of snake oil. Yes, the Paddington villain is here to shake up your little world again.

Ted Lasso: Season 2 (Apple TV+ series) — First thing’s first: Everyone who’s caught a glimpse of this Bill Lawrence co-created and developed series loves it. That’s a notable feat, considering that star Jason Sudeikis first portrayed the title character way back in 2013 for NBC Sports’ promos for Premier League coverage. Fast forward to the fresh hell that was 2020, and the show surfaced as one of the year’s lone bright spots. Ted Lasso is somehow both relentlessly and charmingly cheery, although there’s always the spectre of Led Tasso to consider.

Clickbait (Netflix series) — Adrian Grenier plays a loving family man who mysteriously disappears, only to surface in a viral internet video that accuses him of being a domestic abuser who will be killed after a certain number of views. No one’s sure whether this is a confession or a threat, and yikes. This promises to be (according to the synopsis) a “high stakes thriller that explores the ways in which our most dangerous and uncontrolled impulses are fueled in the age of social media,” but it sounds awfully stressful.

The Other Two: Season 1 (HBO Max series) — Lorne Michaels of SNL fame executive produces this series that’s created, written, and also executive produced by Chris Kelly and Sarah Schneider (formerly co-head writers of SNL). The cast includes Drew Tarver, Heléne Yorke, Case Walker, Ken Marino, and Molly Shannon, and the plot follows a showbiz family, in which a 14-year-old pop star decides that it’s time to officially retire. Meanwhile, the family’s 53-year-old matriarch (Shannon) is enjoying ubiquity of her own, so “The Other Two” will do everything they can to shine as well.

After wrapping up the Star Wars sequel trilogy, it really seemed like Mark Hamill‘s time in the Star Wars universe would come to an end with 2019’s The Rise of Skywalker. Heck, he even said as much. But there’s probably no other Star Wars actor that’s more keyed into the fans than Hamill, which means he knows that secrecy is of the utmost importance. As fans slowly learned, Hamill did not walk away from the franchise after The Rise of Skywalker, but instead, he became a very willing participant in the filming of The Mandalorian where the actor quietly voiced small roles that weren’t revealed until after the fact.

However, all of that changed in the Season 2 finale when The Mandalorian pulled off the stunning feat of bringing Luke Skywalker into the story. But not just any Luke Skywalker: the show went to exceptional lengths to bring a Return of the Jedi-era Luke to life with Hamill’s help. The out-of-this-world technical process that went into making the cameo was recently showcased on the latest episode of Disney Gallery: The Mandalorian where Hamill revealed that the executive producer showed him reaction videos of fans watching Luke’s big return. It blew the actor away. Via The Hollywood Reporter:

“Jon [Favreau] sent me links to reaction videos, which were just — I don’t get to see these things in the audience,” Hamil said on the Disney Gallery episode. “To see grown men cry and people screaming their heads off. It was really, really thrilling for me to see them enjoying it so much.”

There you have it, folks. Your tears are Jedi Knight Mark Hamill’s food. It’s gotta be every Star Wars fans’ dream to know that their salty emotions power one of the galaxy’s most epic heroes. You can only hope that’s the case, but to hear it from Hamill himself? Perfection.

(Via The Hollywood Reporter)

Birdman reunites the Rich Gang with his “Blue Emerald” video, which features Young Thug. The video marks one of their first collaborations since their hit “Lifestyle,” which shot Young Thug to stardom. The video sees the two cruising in a Rolls-Royce while beautiful women fan themselves with cash in the backseat. Chris Brown, who collaborated with Young Thug in 2020 with the joint mixtape Slime & B, also makes a cameo appearance.

Aside from the fact that he might be colorblind (emeralds are green, dude), Birdman excited fans with the announcement that Rich Gang is returning, teasing the new project, Rich Gang 2, in 2019. This year, he recruited Lil Wayne and Roddy Ricch for the return single “Stunnaman,” marking the first time Birdman and Lil Wayne worked together since 2019’s “Ride Dat” featuring Juvenile.

Young Thug, meanwhile, is working on his next album, Punk, dropping the single “Tick Tock” last week after previewing several other tracks during his NPR Tiny Desk Concert at the end of July. He’s also planning his film debut and appeared on Belly’s “Better Believe.”

Watch Birdman’s “Blue Emerald” video featuring Young Thug above.

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

The daiquiri has a bit of an image problem. The name “daiquiri” conjures up neon-hued, frozen, teeth-achingly sweet party drinks. But the actual daiquiri isn’t frozen at all. It’s a simple, fresh, subtly sweet, and tart cocktail featuring the simple ingredients of white rum, lime juice, and sugar. That’s just about it. The ingredients all work together so harmoniously that you don’t need it to be frozen or filled with strawberries or other fruits to be enjoyable.

Since there are still a few weeks left in summer to enjoy a daiquiri, I figured the time was right to mix white rums into daiquiris and do another blind taste test. For this round, I used fellow Uproxx writer Zach Johnston’s simple, perfect daiquiri recipe.

Ingredients:

• 2-oz. white rum
• 1-oz. fresh lime juice
• 0.5-oz. sugar cane syrup
• Lime peel
• Ice

Part 1: The Taste

Sure, we could blindly taste white rums and it would be pretty exciting and interesting — all well and good if you’re planning to drink them neat. But if you want to mix them, you need to sample them mixed into a cocktail. That’s exactly what I did.

I picked eight reasonably-priced, well-known bottles for the base. Then I nosed and tasted each one mixed into its own daiquiri to determine which is actually the best for this classic mixed drink.

The lineup:

• Probitas Rum
• Bacardi Superior White Rum
• Don Q Cristal Rum
• Banks 5 Island Rum
• Captain Morgan White Rum
• Diplomatico Planas Rum
• Wray & Nephew White Overproof Rum
• Privateer Silver Rum

Here we go!

Taste 1:

Tasting Notes:

The nose has a slight alcohol kick that’s actually fairly pleasing and warming. This is followed by caramel, vanilla beans, sugarcane, and nice dried fruits. Taking a sip brought me more sugary sweetness, light tropical fruits, and vanilla. This is a simple, light rum that allows the flavors of the daiquiri to shine.

Taste 2:

Tasting Notes:

Complex aromas of caramelized sugar, toasted marshmallows, maple syrup, lime zest, and sweet, tropical fruits are prevalent on the nose. On the palate, I found notes of molasses as well as lime, lemon zest, and tangerine flavors that add an extra zing to the cocktail.

Taste 3:

Tasting Notes:

If you told me this daiquiri was made with vodka, I’d believe you. The aromas are sweet, but I couldn’t discern any particular flavors at all. Sipping the drink, on top of lime juice and sugary sweetness, revealed slight coconut, brown sugar, and maybe a little cinnamon.

It barely tasted like rum at all.

Taste 4:

Tasting Notes:

Like many of the expressions sampled today, the nose is fairly high in alcohol scents. But it quickly goes into notes of cinnamon, cloves, citrus zest, and butterscotch. The palate is highlighted by a slight, pleasing smoky flavor as well as vanilla, caramel, and a funky fruity flavor that pairs well with lime juice.

Taste 5:

Tasting Notes:

A lot was going on with this cocktail’s nose. But the biggest scent was of alcohol itself. You can tell from one sniff that this is a potent, high-proof rum. It was dominated by molasses, a nutty sweetness, and a light funk as well as the notable lime. Sipping this one proved me right — the citrus sweetness opened up to brown sugar, tree nuts, and a long, lingering warming sensation that was actually a little stronger than I enjoy.

Taste 6:

Tasting Notes:

The rum in this daiquiri has light aromas of ripe pineapple and sugarcane juice that melds well with the citrus element. Sadly, that was all I smelled. The palate is slightly funky with more sugary sweetness and caramel, but not much else.

Overall, this is a fairly bland base for a daiquiri.

Taste 7:

Tasting Notes:

Nosing this cocktail reveals earthy, slightly funky, fruity aromas that pair well with the other ingredients. Sipping it brought forth hints of vanilla beans, caramelized pineapple, and slight clove. All the flavors work in unison with the sugar and lime juice.

Taste 8:

Tasting Notes:

This rum gives the daiquiri a really funky, earthy smell with hints of brown sugar, molasses, and a slight fruitiness. The palate is more of the same with more fruitiness that pairs well with the sugar and citrus as well as a nice hint of vanilla and sugarcane juice.

Overall, a decent mixer with complementary flavors.

Part 2: The Ranking

I love a good blind taste test. Usually, I sample a whiskey, rum, vodka, or other spirits neat. But there’s something extra intriguing about a blind taste test with the spirit already mixed into a cocktail. There’s guaranteed to be surprises galore. Keep reading to see how they stacked up.

8) Wray & Nephew White Overproof Rum (Taste 5)

ABV: 63%
Average Price: $25

The Story:

I added this rum as kind of a wild card. It’s a completely ridiculous 126 proof. But it’s the best-selling high-proof white rum in the world for a reason. Even with its high ABV, it’s still flavorful and stands up as the base of a cocktail (especially a daiquiri) without getting lost in the shuffle.

Bottom Line:

This rum is potent, to say the least. I felt like, if I wanted to actually enjoy my drink, I should have added half as much rum. It was dominated by high alcohol heat.

7) Captain Morgan White Rum (Taste 3)

ABV: 40%
Average Price: $15

The Story:

There are few rums more well-known than Captain Morgan. Even if you’ve never tried it, you’ve seen commercials and advertisements featuring the iconic captain lifting his leg. The brand’s flagship white rum was distilled five times using molasses made from sugarcane. It’s known for its smooth, mixable flavor.

Bottom Line:

This is the lowest level of rum flavor while still being a rum. It’s clear this expression was created solely to be mixed with in order to hide the fact that there is little to no flavor whatsoever.

6) Probitas Rum (Taste 6)

ABV: 47%
Average Price: $29

The Story:

Probitas was created to be used as a base for cocktails. It’s a collaboration between two Caribbean distilleries (Foursquare Rum Distillery in Barbados and Hampden Estate in Jamaica) to produce a blended white rum. It’s distilled, aged, and bottled in the islands and is sweet, mixable, and well-suited as the base of a classic daiquiri.

Bottom Line:

While not a terrible rum by any means, there just wasn’t anything exciting and flavorful about this expression. It’s not something I plan to mix with in the future.

5) Banks 5 Island Rum (Taste 8)

ABV: 43%
Average Price: $32

The Story:

Banks 5 Island Rum is exactly what you expect it to be. It’s a blend of rums from five different distilleries located in Barbados, Jamaica, Trinidad, and Guyana. They are touted to be aged between three and twelves years before being filtered in order to remove color and make it a highly flavorful white rum.

Bottom Line:

While this is definitely a good daiquiri base with multiple flavors that compliment the other ingredients, it would rank higher if they were a little more pronounced.

4) Privateer New England White Rum (Taste 7)

ABV: 40%
Average Price: $28

The Story:

You might not think of New England when you think of rum, but after one sip of Privateer New England White Rum, maybe you will. Made with 100% single-origin molasses from Guatemala, it’s not only a highly flavorful rum but the distillery is committed to sustainability and environmental policies.

Bottom Line:

This is an exceptional mixing rum. It’s not complicated at all, but the flavors of vanilla and various fruits are great companions to the citrus tang of the daiquiri’s other ingredients.

3) Bacardi Superior White Rum (Taste 1)

ABV: 40%
Average Price: $15

The Story:

Bacardi means rum. And this expression has earned the title of “Superior” because it’s been in production since 1862. That’s an awfully long time to guarantee a well-made, white rum perfect for mixing into your favorite cocktails. It works well in mojitos but shines in daiquiris.

Bottom Line:

There’s a fine line between being light and bland. This rum straddles that line perfectly. It has enough flavor to work well in a cocktail, but not enough to take away from the drink.

2) Diplomatico Planas Rum (Taste 2)

ABV: 47%
Average Price: $29

The Story:

Diplomatico has made a name for itself in the rum world in the last decade. The Venezuela-based distillery’s Planas is a white rum that’s been aged up to six years. It’s known for its mellow, fruity, creamy flavor that works just as well as a sipper as a mixer.

Bottom Line:

Fans of the citrus element of the daiquiri will be delighted by the lemon rind and citrus zest flavors that this rum adds to the cocktail. It makes a total citrus bomb of a daiquiri.

1) Don Q Cristal Rum (Taste 4)

ABV: 40%
Average Price: $13.99

The Story:

If you don’t know a lot about white rums, you might assume they are added directly into the bottle without any aging. But Don Q Cristal was aged from 1.5 to 5 years in American oak barrels in an effort to mellow out the flavors and make it a great sipping or mixing rum.

Bottom Line:

Overall, this is a dry, flavorful, slightly funky, and fruity rum that ticks all the boxes of a great mixer. It’ll be hard to beat.

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As a Drizly affiliate, Uproxx may receive a commission pursuant to certain items on this list.

Las Vegas festival Life Is Beautiful was forced to cancel its 2020 edition (of course), but it’s coming back strong in 2021 with an impressive lineup. Even if you can’t make it to the actual festival (which takes place from September 17 to 19), though, some additional “Life Is Beautiful Presents” performances will still pack quite the punch.

The festival announced the series of shows, at Brooklyn Bowl in Las Vegas, today: Jacob Collier will perform on September 15, Brittany Howard (with Ant Clemons) on the 16th, San Holo on the 17th, and Ludacris (with Childish Major) on the 18th.

Those artists are also on the festival lineup, which is led by Billie Eilish, Tame Impala, ASAP Rocky, Green Day, Haim, Young Thug, St. Vincent, 6lack, Modest Mouse, Don Toliver, Lany, Earthgang, Purity Ring, Ashnikko, Shaed, Trevor Daniel, Still Woozy, Noah Cyrus, Yaeji, Remi Wolf, and Jamila Woods.

When announcing that lineup, organizers noted, “When curating the lineup for Life Is Beautiful this year, we challenged ourselves to stay grounded in the realities of the year that we just lived. The way we discover artists changed, the places we listened to music evolved, and the meaning of music deepened as we listened in new ways. This year’s lineup isn’t our 2019 lineup in 2021. It’s our 2021 lineup, and celebrates the artists, both established and emerging, who were the shining lights during our darkest days.”

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

What a week! Did I say that last week? Maybe! But it was. Every time you think, “Oh, summer must be winding down,” there it is to knock you over the head with a particularly bad bout of heatstroke, and it’s all your fault because you should know by now to wear a hat.

The summer vacations continued, are right now as I write this continuing, and they are quality vacays, people. More yachts, more guys jumping off them, more appearances of pro-wrestlers, more brushes with Old Beach (this can go), more sun, more fun.

Russell Westbrook

Russ played in the pool with his family on vacation (please scroll to slide 2, I beg of you) and also swam in the ocean.

Russ then did the Dodgers a solid by tossing out the first pitch and did the impossible by making baseball seem cool.

Rating: A solid week for the Brodie, all in all.

Jimmy Butler

I can admit I was starting to get a little nervous with the lack of Jimmy Butler summer updates but then I remembered the way Jimmy spends his summers, when not in Italy, Greece, or some other, beautiful far-flung locale, is by just playing dominoes either in his backyard or around Miami, in parks with old guys. It’s a nice reminder that if you do summer right, vacation is wherever you want it to be.

Rating: Couldn’t tell you whether this is a good batch of dominoes or what.

Luka Doncic

I’m very pleased to say this sighting came from a tip I received from a literal jetsetter, like someone flying at that very moment, so if you don’t think NBA SVW is as worldwide as the Illuminati, but less concerned with posturing than the proper body position to go down a waterslide with, what can I even tell you?

Anyway! According to the very prestigious Luka Updates Twitter account, Luka is in Greece huffing on a hookah, laughing, wearing a classic Ray-Ban aviator shade and a t-shirt with Michael Jordan dunking on it.

Rating: A lot of concerned reply guys furiously googling “hookah effect 3-pt percentage” right now.

Giannis Antetokounmpo

Giannis attended an AEW event where he loved the feeling of thinking himself as a little baby again, and enjoyed the company of Chris Jericho and Sting.

Rating: It’s good to have hobbies outside of work, especially in the summer. To me, while pretty clearly WORK, summer vacation is both a hobby and a lifestyle, so I have a good balance, in case you were worried.

Rudy Gobert

Rudy is still on vacation and still thinks he can elude me when it comes to pinning down exactly where. And you know what, he is! This is like when IG influencers go on vacation, or go anywhere, and post a series of pics designed to make it seem as if they are having a singular and completely unattainable experience. Also I’m sure we all have friends who do this. Someone comments, “Cool! Where are you?” And they never reply. Or worse, they toss a praying hands emoji. And you’re like, great, but I’d like to go swim here, too.

Rating: This isn’t getting to me at all.

Lou Williams

Lou is really having himself one! Actually several party platters worth of vacation, it seems. He spent a lot of time on and around this boat in the last week, as well as jumping off of it.

If I was more confident in Dime’s CMS I’d post a video of this entire thing, where Lou jumped off a boat to the perfect song, “Crazy” by Gnarls Barkley. Perfect because as we’ve been seeing for some weeks now, it’s not really the craziest thing to do. But you can recreate it here with these captured stills, like ancient man used to do with flickering firelight across cave drawings.

Rating: May you find the party platter of your dreams while summer’s still in sesh.

Serge Ibaka

Just when you think Serge is not on vacation anymore, he is! But Serge also lives a lifestyle where it’s very tough to tell sometimes what’s regular life and vacation, kind of like the thin veneer of waking life and sleeping for people who suffer from narcolepsy. While Serge has not said where he is, he is also not as mysterious as Rudy Gobert, and I’m going to say he’s in Mexico. Is that narrowing it down? It’s enough.

Rating: This guy remains absolutely fascinated by the sea, which scared him mere weeks ago. A draw we can all understand and a bravery we can only hope to achieve.

JaVale McGee

JaVale did a cool glitchy vacation vid featuring notorious summer vacation master Klay Thompson. They jump off a boat into the ocean, travel to and escape from Old Beach, and spend some time in… an engine room? The important thing is they both had fun.

If that wasn’t enough, JaVale also went golfing, which my knowledgeable colleague Robby Kalland broke down expertly here, but the only other thing to focus on is how mad Kyle Kuzma got in the comments over JaVale golfing barefoot.

Rating: I don’t like how many players are toying with the idea of finding Old Beach this summer because what if they actually do?

Buddy Hield

Remember what we talked about last week when we talked about deciding whether or not Buddy Hield being home counted as Buddy Hield on vacation? And what I said about the checklist? Here’s Buddy Hield standing patiently on a beach and waiting for you to get that it always counts as vacation when it comes to him.

Rating: Read the hat!

Josh Richardson

Josh has quickly become one of my standouts this summer, not just for the quality of vacations he’s been taking, but the joy he’s getting out of them, and the willingness he is to share and not be so clandestine about it.

He went to Disneyland, got stoked on being an Avenger, zoomed on some clowns, and asked the question we all would have been muttering in our minds about this weird bear thing.

Rating: It’s going to be time to start thinking about NBA SVW MVP, and I have a warning for everyone: Watch your backs because Josh Richardson is zoomin on u clowns.

D’Angelo Russell

This weird gathering consisted of A-Rod, Taurean Prince, D’Angelo Russell, and more smoking cigars in Miami. Since I first laid eyes on this unfortunate photo I’ve learned that’s not just a huge thing of glistening olives, but a huge thing of glistening Spanish limes, which are apparently good for the digestive tract, which we can all agree is too intimate a food to be serving like this and at such large quantities.

Rating: I’m rating this “Regular,” which is gross but what choice do I have?

Myles Turner

I also thought Myles was done with the mountains, like he’d come down from them, but it turns out he went back up just this week! Turner headed to Telluride, Colorado, to take in some more majestic vistas and icy cold creeks with friends.

Rating: The only thing colder than cold certified is Myles Turner’s mountain vacations. Don’t sue me Coors Light, it’s just the honest truth.

Boban Marjanović

Summer can be a nice time to experiment with looks, whether or not those looks stick around and make it into your regular life rotation is another story. Boban has grown what can only be described as an intriguing mustache and he would like you to know.

Rating: He doesn’t want to know what you think though, because he doesn’t care.

Isaiah Thomas

This is a pretty straightforward summer pic and one everyone can relate to. You ask your friend to take your picture because you are feeling good, but what they come back with is sort of whatever. Like, they didn’t get your full body. But still, the palms look great, the daybeds look relaxing, your new bucket hat is perched at an immaculate angle.

Rating: You let it go, knowing that there will be more, and better pictures of you, to come.

Evan Fournier

While technically this is Rudy Gobert’s begrudgingly pretty good troll, this is also Evan Fournier. Or, rather, the 2K approximation of him that was released this week and made Fournier pretty steamed, which is both understandable, because this doesn’t actually look like ANYBODY living on earth, but also funny, because it’s frightening as hell.

Rating: I’d like for the Knicks to put this on a shirt.

Terrence Ross

I waffled over whether this counts as a vacation, Terrence Ross being in NYC and all, but ultimately decided to pull the trigger because Ross being strangely beguiled (“Chills”) by driving by Epstein’s old apartment is, in itself, a weird but accurate depiction of something that happened in the offseason.

Rating: Look, they can’t all be winners. I’m an impartial journalist.

Justice Winslow

Justise wore a really rugged vest on a beach vacation and you have to commend him for committing to the look. He lighted it up with some neutral linens a little later, but more respect for anyone packing a vest.

Rating: Remember vests? Time to bring vests back.

Dwyane Wade

So, at least once every summer, Dwyane Wade takes a big friends trip with his and Gabrielle Union’s closest. Aside from how unattainable for the average person, they always look like a lot of fun. Sure, let’s rent a couple yachts for the crew, hit up the South of France before tootin’ along to Capri, Positano, Sardinia, and a few other stops, jump off the yachts, smoke cigars, unpack this gigantic inflatable slide for adults, dress strictly in silks, like who wouldn’t.

Rating: Probably not you or I, but you know what I mean.

Paul Pierce’s Place

I got some complaints and concerns at the lack of Paul Pierce appearances over the last couple weeks, so I’m happy to say that here comes our guy, rattling back into our hearts on this roller coaster for children, and looking completely thrilled about it.

Rating: No rating, just relief to have him back.

After collaborating together on Coming 2 America, which was a sizable hit for Amazon, Eddie Murphy and writer Kenya Barris are bringing a new comedy movie to Netflix, and Jonah Hill is coming along for the ride. Unlike Coming to America sequel, the untitled Netflix film will be directed by Barris from a script that he wrote with Hill. Via The Hollywood Reporter:

Plot details are being kept secret, but it is said to be an incisive examination of modern love and family dynamics and how clashing cultures, societal expectations and generational differences shape and affect relationships. Murphy and Hill will find themselves on opposite sides of some of those divides.

The announcement arrives just a few days after Hill was featured in a cover profile for GQ where he opened up about getting to meet Will Ferrell, a comedy great who came up through Saturday Night Live just like Murphy. According to Hill, his meeting with Ferrell and director Adam McKay was a chance encounter at a taco shop that blew the young actor’s mind while he was just coming to grips with the success of Superbad.

“There was a taco shop around the corner, and you and Will Ferrell were eating tacos,” Hill told McKay who was conducting the interview for GQ. “It must’ve been right before or after Superbad came out, but I remember that you guys wanted to talk to me. And I sat down and talked to you guys. And you guys were, like, talking to me. And I was like, This is the sickest! This is it! I get to talk to these people I’m obsessed with.”

(Via The Hollywood Reporter)

Josh Monroe has become one of the most popular educators on social media because of his unique TikTok videos that demonstrate how he supports his students’ emotional well-being. The fifth-grade teacher at Bryan Elementary School in Omaha, Nebraska first went mega-viral after posting a video demonstrating how he handles sleepy children in his classroom.

The video is unique because it’s shot from the student’s perspective. It was a response to another teacher who shared a video about how they rudely wake up tired students.

“I watched it and it just kind of rubbed me the wrong way,” Monroe told Omaha.com. “So I created the same video but [showed] the way that I would react.”

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Monroe’s videos show that being a teacher isn’t just about teaching the three Rs. It’s about supporting the student as a whole person.

“In a time when teachers are criticized for nearly everything that we do, I think it’s important we put out the awesome things we do and ways we help students as a whole,” he said. “Not in the academic sense and just focusing on test scores, but how we help students be ready to inherit society.”

However, Mr. Monroe doesn’t do it all by himself. He has help from his dog Nala who provides emotional support for his students as well. “She’s my dog, but she’s there for the kids. She’s there for emotional support for kids who are having a rough time or a rough day,” he said.

A lot of Monroe’s videos show how problems in the classroom are often symptoms of something happening in the child’s life at home. So he urges his students to express their emotions and to work with him to find ways to correct their behavior, instead of simply issuing punishments.

He credits his approach to teaching to his wife.

“She’s kind of the reason I changed a lot of the ways I’ve viewed things over the years by the way she approaches people,” he said. “The way she looks for the good in people and loves people — that’s what caused me and my life to change.”

Here are some of Mr. Monroe’s most popular videos. They’re a great resource for teachers and a reminder for all of us to put compassion first.

Here’s how to handle a child who’s experiencing anxiety.

Here are some strategies for helping kids with ADHD.

How do you deal with a hungry student? Feed them.

How do you deal with a disrespectful student?

What do you do when students are always late?

Even when he’s off work, he’s still thinking about his class.

The can opener story.

Nala enjoys her summer break.

If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power, Halsey’s new album made in collaboration with Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross of Nine Inch Nails, is out today. Ahead of that, though, Halsey spoke with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe about what it was like working with the pair, and the singer shared a story about Reznor trying to push her outside of her creative comfort zone.

Halsey explained:

“Trent said something to me that I’ll never forget for the rest of my life, where he was like, ‘Hey, the record is great how it is.’ He was like, ‘So you could not do this with us and put it out. Or, the way a lot of modern music is right now is it informs the listener not to pay attention. It says, ‘This song is safe.’ You can put it on a playlist. You can listen to it in a car. You can play it on a party, and it’s not going to f*ck up the vibe. It blends in with everything else. It’s a mood. It’s chill. But it informs you not to pay attention.’ He was like, ‘Your songs, I think, deserve better than that, and I think that they should make people pay attention to what you’re saying. So I’m going to make some really weird choices.’

I was like, ‘Please make weird choices. Make the weirdest choices.’ So he sent back two songs at first, him and Atticus, and they told me later on, they were like, ‘There’s no way she’s going…’ And Trent and Atticus told me later, they were like, ‘As soon as you were like, ‘These are amazing,” they were like, ‘All right, it’s go time. She wants to play.’ You know what I mean? Like, she wants to play. They wanted to know if I was willing to take the risk, and I was. I was willing to take the risk, and I also felt like I had earned it, at that point, to be able to, where it’s like, I feel like every artist on their fourth, fifth, whatever album, especially pop artists, are always like, ‘I really want to do something experimental.’”

She also noted that before working with Reznor, he already had an influence on her music, saying, “I’ve wanted to work with Trent for years. When I was making Badlands, that language and that thesis of song-making, that theology of song-making, was in every song on the record. It was like, you know, those industrial drums. You can hear it on ‘Castle,’ on the first track. It’s that kind of like stripped bare, minimalist, industrial sound, and I abandoned it afterwards.”

There’s always a big risk in two artists coming together for a collaborative album. Even if the respective acts have spent ample studio time with each other, testing the waters and seeing how their collaborations fair in the public eye is important. Some things are better together, others better separate. It’s why Drake and Future’s What A Time To Be Alive was a success and why Travis Scott and Quavo’s Huncho Jack was a huge disappointment. While a joint project between DVSN and Ty Dolla Sign wasn’t specifically requested by their fans, it seemed set to be a match made in heaven. Both are inspired by ‘90s R&B and thrived in the genre thanks to originality through said inspiration. With that being said, Cheers To The Best Memories should have been an R&B lover’s dream, right? Yes, but the two acts missed the mark for such a title.

In a recent sit-down with Interview Magazine, Ty Dolla Sign and DVSN’s Daniel Daley and Nineteen85 spoke about the ins and outs out of the album, and in this discussion, they revealed the bar they set for Cheers To The Best Memories. “We cooked up a bit then and then we looked up like, ‘Yo, we’re kinda sitting on a few joints. It would be funny if we did some R&B Watch The Throne-type sh*t,’” Daley said. Jay-Z and Kanye West’s prized 2011 album has been, and still is, the bar to reach for modern artists who decided to join forces and make the best of the chemistry they have together and while the quality of the project and how well it aged are up for debate, there’s no denying the hip-hop moment it created and left behind. However, that came with time. Years of solo work from the respective rappers and years of collaborations together, and the latter, which Ty and DVSN lack, hurt them the most with Cheers To The Best Memories.

The records on Cheers To The Best Memories aren’t bad at all, but that’s simultaneously the issue at hand. The catalogs of DVSN and Ty boast records that are far past the descriptor of “not bad at all,” especially in the realm of bedroom symphonies and sensual soliloquies. Brighter moments that are delivered through the album’s spirited opener, “Memories,” and its closing tracks “Wedding Cake” — which is cut from the cloth of Ty’s “R&B” — and “I Believed It” are undercut by YG’s odd placement on “Can’t Tell.” Furthermore, Ty’s “Rude” interlude contradicts the album’s seemingly cheerfully nostalgic theme, as it arrives as nothing short of spiteful and disgruntled. Its placement makes even less sense next to DVSN’s pleading call towards his skeptical partner on his interlude, “Better Yet.” Lastly, while this writer is a fan of the song, “Somebody That You Don’t Know” is sonically out of place on the album and probably would’ve fit better on DVSN’s A Muse In Her Feelings.

Realistically Cheers To The Best Memories is the artists’ own attempt at duplicating Drake and Future’s What A Time To Be Alive more so than Jay-Z and Kanye West’s Watch The Throne. For starters, their titles are similar in the sense that they both seek to relish and recall the atmosphere that surrounds them. Additionally, DVSN and Ty bring both of their styles to the table while either party leads the way as the other uses their talents to fill the missing piece in the puzzle. They even allow moments for each other to shine individually. The success Drake and Future achieved with What A Time To Be Alive can also be credited to time. Their first song together arrived four years before the project, and in between that came multiple collaborations. While, of course, there are exceptions to every rule, Watch The Throne and What A Time To Be Alive worked in large part because of the chemistry the pair of rappers spent years working on.

DVSN and Ty Dolla Sign’s joint project leaves listeners second-guessing the expectations they set for the project. Maybe the bar was set too high, and maybe we got carried away with the expectations for it, but that leaves far too little blame on the artists. DVSN’s A Muse In Her Feelings and Ty’s Featuring Ty Dolla Sign were both highlight R&B efforts in 2020, leaving it more than reasonable that a strong body of work was expected from the two. With Cheers To The Best Memories, the world deserved something along the lines of DVSN on Ty’s “Everywhere” or “Slow It Down.” It was also worthy of Ty on “Greedy” or “For Us.” It’s theoretical records like these that would’ve helped push Cheers To The Best Memories to the level of quality we hoped for it to be. Hopefully, if Ty and DVSN choose to create a project once again, they learn from this and give the world something more impactful.

Cheers To The Best Memories is out now via OVO Sound/Warner. Get it here.

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