Category: News

The Boys triumphantly returned for Season 2 in September 2020 and headed into production surprisingly fast (considering what was happening last year) in Toronto. Don’t you dare ask on Twitter when Season 3 will arrive, however, because the show has faux-threatened to push things back simply to be a pain in the butt. The show’s social media account is also having a grand old time while fake-spoiling the next season finale, which will have to really up the ante after Homelander’s raunchy display that led us deep into his messed-up psyche.

So, what else besides a jacked Jensen Ackles and a “Herogasm” episode will the next season have to offer? Well, the show’s now pretending that the season will end just like Newhart did in 1990. Yes, they went there.

“Season 3 ends with Hughie waking up in bed with Susanne Pleshette,” The Boys tweeted. “[A]nd telling her about the weird dream he had where a guy with a beard kept swearing at him.”

The “guy with a beard who kept swearing” would, of course, be Karl Urban’s Billy Butcher character, and Jack Quaid’s Hughie is envisioned here while waking up and realizing that The Boys never actually happened. This is all, of course, a play on Newhart ending with Bob Newhart waking up next to his wife, played by Suzanne Pleshette, from his 1970s sitcom, The Bob Newhart Show. It’s a pretty smartass reference to make for superhero-satire show, but it’s right in line with the series’ usual social media approach.

As for Jack Quaid, he also offered this as a response: “There was SO much blood! Arguably too much!”

Yup, get ready for (apparently) even more blood than the whale scene, whenever Season 3 arrives (again, don’t ask).

Team USA’s women’s basketball roster for the Tokyo Olympics was announced on Monday with one glaring omission. In a shocking move, Nneka Ogwumike, the 30-year-old Los Angeles Sparks star who was the WNBA’s MVP in 2016, was left off the roster. The forward suffered a left knee injury on June 3, but in five games this season has averaged 16.4 points on 58.6 percent shooting with 7.0 rebounds. She’s the only MVP not to make an Olympic roster.

“It really breaks my heart that Nneka is not on this team,” head coach Dawn Staley said, according to ESPN’s Mechelle Voelpel. “I mean, if we had to make a decision a month from now … I’m sure she would be healthy. I know this is one of the things that she wanted to do. She came to every training camp, she’s been a great voice in our training camp and our practices. We’re definitely going to miss Nneka.

“I do feel for the players who were with us the last three or four years [as part of the senior national team pool] and didn’t make the roster. It’s not anything against who they are … it’s just hard to get down to 12. Every four years we do this, and it gets more difficult.”

Ogwumike’s sister, Erica, pushed back on the idea that Nneka’s injury played a role in the decision, and her sister and Sparks teammate, Chiney, stated that “her timeline worked PERFECTLY to return to play for the Olympics.” Nneka was expected to miss four-to-six weeks with the knee sprain, which even at its latest point would’ve had her cleared by July 15. She’s suffered no set-backs since. The games are slated to begin in Tokyo on July 26.

So what happened?

Ogwumike’s absence was especially surprising because she had the resume and the extracurriculars. She won MVP for Team USA in the FIBA Olympic qualifying tournament in 2020, and also won gold medals at the FIBA World Cup in 2014 and 2018. She was also the only player of the original eight invitees except Elena Delle Donne – who is sidelined long-term due to injury – to play in Team USA’s college tour against top-ranked schools in 2019 and not make the cut. The six other participants: Sue Bird, Diana Taurasi, Skylar Diggins-Smith, Chelsea Gray, A’ja Wilson and Sylvia Fowles, did.

Every Olympic cycle, someone is snubbed from the roster. That’s the nature of having just 12 spots on a team all of the best players in the world want to compete for. Candace Parker’s cut in 2016 was especially controversial, but Ogwumike’s absence from the team is leaving a particular bad feeling for women’s basketball fans.

Regardless of how Ogwumike finishes out her career, which is already loaded with every accolade in the book including a WNBA championship, she’ll be remembered as an elite competitor and one of the game’s most important leaders. As president of the Women’s National Basketball Players’ Association, she’s overseen negotiations for the most lucrative collective bargaining agreement the league has ever seen, stood for social justice causes, and led the league’s 144 players through a “bubble” season during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Ogwumike is one of the faces of women’s basketball for reasons on and off the court.

What is everyone around the league saying?

There are questions about why Ogwumike’s injury would’ve withheld her from the Olympic roster while Diana Taurasi, who has been sidelined since May 21 due to a fracture in her sternum, was still picked. It’s since been updated that Taurasi is expected to return to play on Sunday, but she’s been sidelined for a month. Could Team USA have given Ogwumike a roster spot and allowed her to bow out of the Olympics if she wasn’t ready in time?

Shortly after the announcement, Erica Ogwumike shared her thoughts on Twitter:

Chiney followed:

Then former WNBA player Devereaux Peters sounded off on the entire Team USA program:

Sparks coach Derek Fisher also expressed his frustrations, calling it “a freaking travesty.”

What happens now?

Team USA is likely to win its seventh consecutive Olympic gold. Even without Ogwumike, the team is stacked with A’ja Wilson, Breanna Stewart, Skylar Diggins-Smith, Sue Bird, Diana Taurasi, Jewell Loyd, Tina Charles, Brittney Griner, Sylvia Fowles, Napheesa Collier, and Ariel Atkins. Staley is an excellent coach and no team in the world should be able to compete USA’s talent.

But for the second consecutive Olympic cycle (the first of which was under head coach Geno Auriemma), the USA program is taking a ton of flak for a roster decision which — if Parker’s fallout was any indication — could end with Ogwumike’s unwillingness to play. And they may need her. This is likely Bird and Taurasi’s final Olympics, and in 2024, Fowles will be 38 years old.

“It’s trash, ” Peters said on Twitter, “they’re trash and honestly I wouldn’t be mad or surprised if players just start saying F it and passed on them all together. And quite frankly I hope they do cuz they dead ass wrong year in and year out.”

Oreo cookies have become a national pastime. The classic sandwich cookie with a creamy center between two buttery, chocolate cracker cookies is hard to beat in all of factory-made cookiedom. Dunk those in the milk of your choice and you have a hell of a combo. And since food ideas are like Hollywood ideas — favoring existing IP over everything — it’s no surprise to find that there are literally a bazillion flavors on the market at this point.

Which begs the question: What Oreo flavor is the best Oreo?

To find the answer, I decided to try 12 different Oreo varieties. Living in a city as international as Berlin, I have access to most of the American junk food, thanks to a pretty big American influence post-WWII. Nine of the 12 Oreos listed below are all available at your local grocery store if you live in the US. The other three are international flavors you can score on Amazon or grab at a specialty shop. No, I didn’t get the obnoxious Supreme Oreos, but I did get a whole lot of other gems.

Oreos Included:

• Double Stuf
• Strawberry Cheesecake
• Thins
• Golden Oreos
• Original
• Mint
• Peanut Butter and Chocolate Pie
• Birthday Cake
• Lady Gaga Edition
• Blueberry Ice Cream (SE Asia)
• Strawberry Creme (SE Asia)
• Choc’o Brownie (Euorpe)

I’m pretty sure I know which one will win. I’m very much a “classics” sort of candy eater. But let’s see how it all shakes out.

Part 1: The Taste

Taste 1:

Tasting Notes:

This tastes like a classic Oreo from my childhood from the first bite. It has a creamy, sweet, and soft filling. The cookie has a nice crumble to it with a real chocolate finish that lingers nicely. The ratio feels right as well.

This is going to be hard to beat.

Taste 2:

Tasting Notes:

This tastes nothing like cheesecake. It does taste exactly like strawberry bubblegum with that ultra fake strawberry gum flavoring that’s too powerful until you’re about 30 seconds into chewing the gum. There’s a buttery cracker counterpoint to all that overly saccharine strawberry but the chocolate seems to be completely lost.

Taste 3:

Tasting Notes:

This sucks. There’s no chocolate flavor. There’s no creamy flavor. It’s cardboard but not stale. It just feels pointless.

Taste 4:

Tasting Notes:

There’s a clear sense of butter, wheat grains, and light touches of vanilla extract. The graininess almost leans malty as the creamy vanilla leads to … I want to say banana. There’s a good crunch factor with a nice ratio of creamy center to cookie.

Taste 5:

Tasting Notes:

This has a browned butter feel that’s really nice with a thin yet creamy center that’s not overly sweetened. The chocolate of the cookie is very mild but present. There’s a slight grain factor but that might just be in my head from the last cookie.

Taste 6:

Tasting Notes:

This is very minty from the moment you open the package. The mintiness goes full menthol on the bite. That turns into a silky mint ice cream with crunchy bites of chocolate-y Oreo cookie in it.

Taste 7:

Tasting Notes:

This is straight-up a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup in Oreo form. The peanut butter has that exact fake peanut butter taste and texture. The chocolate is definitely there but also has a processed vibe. It’s also kind of light for a cookie with peanut butter and chocolate creme in it.

Taste 8:

Tasting Notes:

The creme filling has this distinct buttery vanilla frosting feel and taste with a light touch of sparkles in it. Shockingly, this isn’t overly sweet but instead lands more buttery and chocolatey, with a real feel for exactly what’s advertised.

Taste 9:

Tasting Notes:

This one’s very much on the lighter side. The taste is like a chalky vanilla Necco Wafer that’s slightly stale. The chocolate in the cookie is a little dry and feels more like hot chocolate powder than anything else.

Taste 10:

Tasting Notes:

This is pure grape soda or Blue Kool-Aid turned up to MAX. There’s a buttery cookie in there with a clear bitter chocolate that tastes a little like instant espresso powder. Then there’s this light buzzing at the end that’s either the intensity of the sugary “blueberry” or coffee vibes coming through on the chocolate.

Taste 11:

Tasting Notes:

This is much easier going than the Strawberry Cheesecake above. The strawberry in this creme is closer to a strawberry hard candy. That’s counterpointed by a fairly buttery cookie but the chocolate seems to have been lost in the mix somewhere.

Taste 12:

Tasting Notes:

Huh. This is a wet brownie batter with a soft yet crunchy chocolate cracker crunch. There’s that signature buttery cookie edge. The brownie batter feels thick and kind of gooey while imparting a darker chocolate vibe.

Part 2: The Ranking

12. OREO Thins — Taste 3

Average Price: $3.67

The Cookie:

These are billed as Oreos with “a crisp, delicate and delicious twist.” They’re thinner and therefore crispier. Oreo goes onto say that they made the cookies with “less crumb” to add more crunch.

Bottom Line:

F*ck these pointless cookies.

11. Oreo Strawberry Cheesecake Limited Edition — Taste 2

Average Price: $10.85

The Cookie:

This limited edition uses strawberry flavoring mixed with its creamy center to recreate a classic NY-style cheesecake.

Bottom Line:

Overly sweet “strawberry” bubble gum and chocolate crackers do not belong together.

10. Lady Gaga Oreo — Taste 9

Average Price: $3.79

The Cookie:

These boxes were released to celebrate Lady Gaga’s Chromatica with a “Little Monsters pink” box. In the U.S., these are Golden Oreos that are dyed pink and green. In the rest of the world, they’re labeled simply as “vanilla” flavored and standard white and black Oreo shades.

Bottom Line:

The vanilla flavor is sort of there. Overall, these felt more like rejects from the assembly line than anything else, much less anything rendered with a clear flavor profile.

9. Oreo Ice Cream Blueberry Flavor — Taste 10

Average Price: $17.82

The Cookie:

This cookie from the Southeast Asian market is all about recreating a sweet and berry-forward creme center to an Oreo. The berry flavoring is meant to offer a cooling feeling. Like you’re eating ice cream, supposedly.

Bottom Line:

This was a real “wow, that’s amazingly sweet in the fakest way possible” bite. I get the “blueberry” moniker becasue I grew up in the 80s drinking fake-ass sugary waters that were dyed blue or purple and called berry blast or whatever. But there was zero ice cream vibe in play. And that coffee buzz on the end was a trip.

8. Oreo Strawberry Creme — Taste 11

Average Price: $5.49

The Cookie:

This is another Southeast Asian Oreo treat. The strawberry flavor in the creme is meant to be sweet yet bright with an almost strawberry shortcake feel to it.

Bottom Line:

This was much more dialed in than the “Strawberry Cheesecake.” Sure, it was sweet but there was a tiny touch of nuance. Still, I’m not going to be reaching for these ever again.

7. Oreo Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie — Taste 7

Average Price: $3.67

The Cookie:

This cookie is devised with a half peanut butter and half chocolate creme filling that’s sandwiched by a Graham-infused cracker that leans away from the classic chocolate Oreo (though the version I got seemed to have regular Oreo chocolate wafers).

Bottom Line:

This was good but just reminded me to go to the store and buy some Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups.

6. Oreo Choc’o Brownie — Taste 12

Average Price: $8.99

The Cookie:

This Oreo amps up the creme filling with 29 percent cocoa sandwiched between two chocolate cookies with a dash more chocolate in them as well. The whole experience is to double up on the whole cocoa experience in every bite.

Bottom Line:

This was kind of like the Peanut Butter and Chocolate Oreo in that it just made me want brownies and not another one of these Oreos. I suppose if I didn’t have any brownies on hand, these would quell that craving for a minute or so.

5. Oreo — Taste 5

Average Price: $3.10

The Cookie:

This is the classic Oreo where two chocolate crackers (or wafers) sandwich a rich creme filling. It’s simple and you know exactly what you’re getting.

Bottom Line:

This was a pretty damn good cookie. It’s weirdly not nearly as sweet as some of these, which was a nice change. The composition seems well-balanced. Though, it still wasn’t anything mind-blowing or surprising. It was just an Oreo and that’s okay.

4. OREO Golden — Taste 4

Average Price: $3.67

The Cookie:

This is the classic Oreo creme filling that’s sandwiched between two vanilla wafers instead of chocolate ones. That vanilla brings out more grain and crumb to the cookie while bending a little closer to the flavor of the creme filling.

Bottom Line:

That slightly malty note with a touch of vanilla was a ray of sunshine amongst the fake fruit sweetness and rollercoaster of chocolate intensity of most of the other cookies. Did this rank higher becasue it was such a change of pace? Maybe.

It’s also just a solid entry in the Oreo lineup.

3. Oreo Mint Flavored Creme — Taste 6

Average Price: $3.67

The Cookie:

Bright, rich, and cooling mint is added to the Oreo creme filling to create this cookie. Otherwise, this is a classic Oreo.

Bottom Line:

I was prepared to dislike this after getting hit with menthol when opening the package. But … that mint ice cream vibe with Oreo chocolate cookies as a counterpoint is hard not to love. There’s a reason mint Oreo cookie ice cream is the freakin’ best.

2. Oreo Double Stuf — Taste 1

Average Price: $3.10

The Cookie:

These Oreos are “double stuf” in name only. They’re actually only 1.86 times more stuffed than a standard Oreo. Well, that 0.86 worth of “stuf” makes a hell of a difference in the quality of this cookie-eating experience.

Bottom Line:

This felt like the Oreos my grandmother kept in her cookie jar when I came over when I was five. Nostalgia is powerful stuff.

But this didn’t surprise me. I knew it and it was exactly what I wanted, sure. But that’s not everything.

1. Oreo Birthday Cake — Taste 8

Average Price: $3.67

The Cookie:

These are standard Oreos with a party-time twist. The creme filling is reworked to lean into birthday cake frosting with sparkles sandwiched between chocolate cookies.

Bottom Line:

This was a legitimate shock. If you asked me before I tasted these which one would be the dumbest and sweetest crap, I’d have said Birthcake without hesitation.

While this is sweetish, there’s a real sense of butter/vanilla frosting and white pound cake with a chocolate cookie crust that just sings. It delivers on exactly what it promises without going too fake, too sweet, or too far away from a classic Oreo flavor.

Part 3: Final Thoughts

Birthcake Oreos… Huh… Well, here we are. I liked the most gimmicky of the Oreos. Who doesn’t like buttery vanilla cake frosting though? Or maybe I’m just buzzing from a sugar high.

Sugar high or not, the top seven really all were perfectly fine Oreos with the top five all being solid. I’ll be reaching for those again if I ever have a hankering for an Oreo. The rest were … not trash… but pretty close. Especially the Thins. Those sucked in every way, to the point of being offensive to all cookies worldwide.

Lucy Dacus is just days away from the release of her anticipated third studio album Home Video. So far, Dacus has previewed the LP with vulnerable tracks like “VBS, “Hot & Heavy,” and “Thumbs.” Now offering another taste of her ballad-like songwriting, Dacus brings her recent single “Brando” to an Old Hollywood-inspired performance on Jimmy Kimmel Live!.

The black-and-white set was filmed at the Theatre Gym at the Virginia Repertory Theatre. It opens with the singer elegantly detailing a young friendship with someone whose entire personality consisted of their knowledge of classic cinema. Halfway through the song, two dancers/choreographers, named Egbert Vongmalaithong and Christina Leoni-Osion, waltz through a doorway as the performance suddenly becomes colorized. Dacus finishes off the set as the two dancers move to the music behind her.

While it seems as though her Home Video album’s singles explore the ups-and-downs of her early life growing up in Richmond, Virgina, Dacus previously said that she didn’t have a clear goal in mind while writing the LP. “I don’t necessarily think that I’m supposed to understand the songs just because I made them,” she noted. “I feel like there’s this person who has been in me my whole life and I’m doing my best to represent them.”

Watch Dacus perform “Brando” on Jimmy Kimmel Live! above.

Home Video is out 6/25 via Matador. Pre-order it here.

The New Orleans Pelicans are one of seven NBA teams with a head coaching vacancy, and have one of the most intriguing situations to offer thanks to the presence of a budding superstar in Zion Williamson.

The second-year star became an absolute force in his sophomore season, becoming the league’s most dominant and efficient inside scorer. The problem was that New Orleans struggled defensively (again) and also could not close out games for the life of them, failing to make the play-in and leading to Stan Van Gundy being fired after just one season. With Williamson and Brandon Ingram, there’s talent there, but also uncertainty with a number of players entering free agency this summer.

There are sure to be a number of interested candidates from around the league, as coaching a talent like Zion is hard to pass up, but if the Pelicans want to expand their search beyond the NBA, there is a New Orleans legend who wants a shot at running the team.

Yes, Master P has (once again) decided to just gently let the Pelicans know that he is available to be the NBA’s first “hip-hop coach,” and that he would ensure that Zion would be “happy” — a clear reference to reports that Williamson’s family wants him out of New Orleans. Master P does have NBA experience having been on the preseason rosters for the Hornets in 1998 and Raptors in 1999, although he didn’t make the full roster for either, and as he notes he has coaching experience at youth levels. I highly doubt the Pelicans would actually be interested in turning to Master P to be their coach given the stakes of the situation with Williamson already, but if Zion ever chooses to do a dunk contest he should absolutely dunk over a gold plated tank while catching a lob from Master P.

While Sarah Paulson and Matthew Perry shared plenty of on-screen kisses during their time on Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, the actress revealed that before working together, Perry once completely rejected her at a make-out party. If you’re wondering who the heck throws a make-out party filled with famous celebs, it was all Carrie Fisher‘s idea, and on top of that, she got author Gore Vidal to host it at his house.

During Monday’s night episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live, Paulson opened up about the awkward moment with Perry at the star-studded make-out bash, and it was pretty brutal. Via Entertainment Weekly:

“I didn’t see anyone make out, but there was a hat with names in it, and you were supposed to make out with whomever you pulled out of the hat,” Paulson explained, telling Kimmel that the Friends star pulled her name “and then promptly left the room.” When Kimmel asked how she knew he pulled her name, Paulson told him that she saw it happen and then described the awkward moment between them where Perry told her, “I got you.”

According to Paulson, she and Perry weren’t total strangers and “knew each other a little through one of my very best friends in the world,” but that didn’t make the situation any less awkward, especially after Paulson followed Perry out of the room and suggested they kiss, which he took a pass on. However, the two ended up becoming close friends while shooting Sunset 60.

“I got my kiss,” Paulson triumphantly told Kimmel.

(Via Jimmy Kimmel Live)

Summer is prime gin time. A sunny day calls for a citrusy, floral, refreshing gin-based drink. We know what we’d choose — line up the gin and tonics because we’re going to be drinking this thirst-quenching, subtly bitter, and citrus-filled mixed drink from now until late September. But there are other great options out there, too.

While gin’s heart is firmly located in England (and, more recently, Scotland), the US is no slouch in the juniper game. Distilleries all over the country are cranking out high-quality, award-winning, flavorful gins with a great mix of unique botanicals adding new dimensions. To find the best, we once again turned to the folks behind the bar. We asked a few well-known bartenders to tell us the best American-made gins to drink as summer begins in full.

Check out all of their picks below and click on the prices if you want to try one for yourself.

St. George Dry Rye

Chad Laforest, bartender at manager at Le Prive in New York City

ABV: 45%

Average Price: $35

Why This Gin?

I would go with the St. George Dry Rye gin. For me, it’s one of the best American Gins to drink during spring and summer. The botanical Dry Rey has an aroma of juniper and natural black pepper adding a warm and spicy touch to the palate.

Greenhook Ginsmiths

Marcio Ramos, partner and mixologist at The Honey Well in New York City

ABV: 40%

Average Price: $36

Why This Gin?

I’ve been a big fan of this 10 botanical gin since it came to the market, out of Brooklyn, New York. I mix Greenhook Gin with Aperol, St-Germain, and lemon juice for a refreshing summer cocktail.

Spring 44

Young Kim, director of spirits education and bar manager at Fine & Rare in New York City

ABV: 44%

Average Price: $25

Why This Gin?

My favorite expression is Spring 44 Old Tom Gin. It’s made using natural water from the Rocky Mountains. It’s aged in toasted chardonnay barrels which will add a gentle agave nectar flavor to a refreshing lemon, lime, and rosemary flavor notes.

St. George Terroir

Andy Shannon, bartender and co-founder of Candra in London

ABV: 45%

Average Price: $35

Why This Gin?

St. George Terroir is a little bit of a change of pace from my usual go-to. I love classic London dry gins with juniper being the dominant flavor. St George isn’t quite that, but in this case, I think it’s great. Representing the terroir of California with notes of Douglas fir and coastal sage, mixing this into a wet martini makes for a really great cocktail.

Far North Solveig

Jeff Rogers, bar director of Jester Concepts in Minneapolis

ABV: 43.5%

Average Price: $38

Why This Gin?

Far North Spirits has produced some amazing spirits. Their Solveig gin is a rye-based gin with a contemporary flavor. The juniper is still there, but the citrus and other botanicals shine for a bold-flavored gin — lavender and grapefruit shine in this beautiful bottle.

It mixes well with tonic or can be used for a gimlet.

Brooklyn

Mark Phelan, beverage director at 16” on Center in Chicago

ABV: 40%

Average Price: $42

Why This Gin?

Hand peeled fresh citrus is the secret weapon in Brooklyn Gin, giving this gin a floral brightness and oily body that shines in everything from a gin and tonic to a white Negroni. The bottle itself is gorgeous, making it all the more satisfying that the juice inside is beautiful as well.

Conniption Navy Strength

Aaron Lambert, bartender at Whisky Kitchen in Durham, North Carolina

ABV: 57%

Average Price: $42

Why This Gin?

Hands down, Durham Distillery Conniption Naval Strength Gin is my favorite gin. It’s a hometown favorite here in the Triangle with great local people making rad spirits.

Seersucker

David Wheelahan, bartender at Commander’s Palace in New Orleans

ABV: 42%

Average Price: $23

Why This Gin?

It’s a golden age of American gin and there are so many good brands out there. For me, Seersucker is a real standout though. Mint as a botanical makes so much sense as a complement to juniper, and it really lends itself to refreshing summer cocktails.

Letherbee

Brenna Gay, bartender at Bradford House in Oklahoma City

ABV: 48%

Average Price: $32

Why This Gin?

Letherbee Gin, from Chicago, is a great choice for summer sips. It’s not the most juniper-forward, but it has enough to remind you she’s still at the party, while cardamom, almond, and ginger hit the dance floor. I love this gin chilled and neat, but add a nice mixer, or swirl into a dry martini with a twist and you’ll be dancing along with it.

Bluecoat

Robert Kidd, head bartender at Le Cavalier in Wilmington, Delaware

ABV: 47%

Average Price: $40

Why This Gin?

I really like Bluecoat Gin from Philadelphia. This American gin stays true to having the nice herbal juniper notes with nice citrus aromas of its London dry counterpart. Some American gins tend to get too light for my taste — this is the one I reach for.

Copper & Kings American Gin

Craig Schoettler, executive director of beverage and corporate mixologist for MGM Resorts

ABV: 46%

Average Price: $41

Why This Gin?

Copper & Kings are known for the brandy and eau de vie distillations. Their American gin is distilled from apples which gives it an amazingly fruity flavor while still balancing the classic botanicals of juniper, coriander, angelica, and orris.

Don’t worry, this is not an apple-flavored gin. The apple wine that it’s distilled from gives it subtle complexity that opens up beautifully with the addition of tonic.

St. George Botanivore

Slava Borisov, mixologist at Travelle at The Langham in Chicago

ABV: 45%

Average Price: $35

Why This Gin?

St. George Botanivore is not a traditional “ginny” gin. I would compare this gin with a flavor bomb stuffed with plenty of different botanicals including citruses, barks, seeds, and plant roots (nineteen of them in total). If you are planning to mix this gin in a cocktail, I would recommend trying a French 75, Southside, or classic gin and tonic.

But before beginning to mix your cocktail, pour this gin neat (or over ice) and try it without any other ingredients first. You may be surprised at just how refreshing and crisp this gin is.

Aviation

Hadi Ktiri, beverage manager at Four Seasons Hotel and Private Residences in New Orleans

ABV: 42%

Average Price: $25

Why This Gin?

I love the well-rounded Aviation Gin repped by infamous brand ambassador Travis Tober and the endlessly hilarious Ryan Reynolds. It’s balanced, good quality, and mixes well with just about anything. For a great summer cocktail, mix up 1.5 ounces of Aviation Gin with fresh coconut water and cut it with plenty of fresh lime juice. It’s perfect for a hot day by the pool.

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

“What is pop?”

That’s a rather loaded question for even the most serious music fan, isn’t it? On the surface, one may state the obvious: pop is a genre or genres of music that most appeals to the masses. Yet, Netflix and Banger Films’ forthcoming docuseries attempts to unlock the underlying notions of what pop truly is: a microcosm of life and society through the guise of catchy lyrics and beats.

With an official release date of June 22, the eight-part docuseries This Is Pop offers “an inside look at pop music and some of the most significant moments of the genre” through in-depth examinations and insider interviews, ultimately providing viewers with a comprehensive, grab bag-style program. Through examination of those significant moments — which often touch upon some tough to swallow pills, from the racial politics of boy bands (“The Boyz II Men Effect”), to the complexities of Swedish-bred songwriting (“Stockholm Syndrome”) — viewers will leave feeling fulfilled and informed about the music realm’s biggest stories.

Throughout the series, artists like Brandi Carlisle, T-Pain, and Hozier, producers like Ludwig Göransson and Linda Perry, songwriters like Babyface, and more music experts provide context for the time periods and genres discussed, offering insight into what made these cultural moments larger than the sum of their parts. For those music fans who shudder at the thought of reading anything over five paragraphs long, This Is Pop serves as the equivalent of a thorough oral history.

Series Producer Amanda Burt of Banger Films explains to UPROXX that coming up with which stories to cover throughout the series was “wild.” (“Where do you start, looking at the entire history of popular music?”) However, narrowing down which topics to focus on was solidified after recognizing a common thread.

“As we talked through some of the big moments, and biggest stars, and their greatest hits, we realized that most people experienced pop music as the soundtrack to their lives,” she says. “That it was that song playing as the slow dance at your prom, or you were playing this song over and over during your first heartbreak. [We] all experience music as an emotional gateway to a feeling, or a time in our lives. That made it easy to realize different themes, rather than a behind-the-music approach.” This Is Pop presents episodes focused on country music’s crossover sensations (“When Country Goes Pop”), the spiritual freedom of music festivals (“Festival Rising”), and the importance of Midtown New York’s Brill Building to songwriting (“The Brill Building In 4 Songs”).

Like many of the most talented artists of all time, the series’ ability to traverse genre allows it to soar. Not only is straight-up pop music highlighted, but hip-hop, electronic, country, folk, and more, which allows fans of other genres to gain an appreciation for styles they may not listen to regularly. This Is Pop also ties in cultural and historical facts regarding some of our favorite sounds and styles. For instance, “Auto-Tune” explores the audio processors’ ties to electronic and hip-hop music, and dives into how melisma (the art of changing the pitch of one syllable) is an important aspect of Black and African-American culture and musical vocalization.

This Is Pop’s major strength is that it takes an idea about an aspect of the topic at hand, and pushes it a step further than anticipated. One of the series’ strongest episodes “What Can A Song Do?” aims to look closely at protest music, from message to songwriting approaches and performance. While tapping into the Riot Grrrl Movement to discuss music being born out of protest, This Is Pop discusses how the scene provides safe space for women during large gatherings. While the movement is no longer as central to the culture in present-day, the sense of community Riot Grrrl purveyed is still prevalent in other major societal events, such as the 2017 Women’s March. (“The gift of melody… helps people get transported to a place where they can access pain and trauma,” Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter MILCK says of the pairing of protest music and community during the episode.)

All in all, if you’re looking for a series to binge during those ridiculously hot summer days where it’s too miserable to go play outside, This Is Pop can provide you the cool, refreshing (and informative) sensation you crave. Burt notes that although critics and music lovers, at times, see mainstream music as unworthy of “serious consideration,” she believes that the stories within this space are still artistically challenging and intriguing.

“If you look at the type of entertainment journalism surrounding the biggest pop acts of the last few decades, we know more about their scandals, their outfits, and the gossip around them than we do about the music itself, what inspired it, and how it fits into the histories of art and noise-making,” Burt says. “We wanted to change that with this series – and I think we have.”

This Is Pop hits Netflix today.

It was announced a few days ago that Damon Albarn had signed a new record deal with Transgressive Records. At the time of the announcement, the label noted, “Damon has recently put the finishing touches to his much-anticipated, second solo album, full details for which will be released soon.” Now, said details have been released: The Gorillaz leader’s upcoming solo album is titled The Nearer The Fountain, More Pure The Stream Flows, and it’s set for release on November 12. Albarn also shared the album’s title track, a meditative and ambient-inspired (but not instrumental) number

Albarn told NME of the project:

“[Iceland] is a nice place to meditate on the elements and particles. I’d been dreaming on making music while looking out of that window, when my friend from the Lyon Festival offered me the very tempting proposition of ‘You can do whatever you want.’ I had immediately had something that I never thought would be feasible, so I organized musicians, string players, three bass trombones, some percussion, and keyboards into an interesting arrangement.

I took some of these real-time, extreme elemental experiences [of Iceland] and then tried to develop more formal pop songs with that as my source. I wanted to see where that would take me. Sometimes it took me down to Uruguay and Montevideo. Other times I went to Iran, Iceland, or Devon. With travel being curtailed, it was kind of nice to be able to make a record that put me strangely in those places for a moment or two.”

Listen to “The Nearer The Fountain, More Pure The Stream Flows” above, and find the The Nearer The Fountain, More Pure The Stream Flows art and tracklist below, as well as Albarn’s upcoming tour dates.

1. “The Nearer The Fountain, More Pure The Stream Flows”
2. “The Cormorant”
3. “Royal Morning Blue”
4. “Combustion”
5. “Daft Wader”
6. “Darkness To Light”
7. “Esja”
8. “The Tower Of Montevideo”
9. “Giraffe Trumpet Sea”
10. “Polaris”
11. “Particles”

02/21-22/2022 — London, UK @ Barbican
02/23-24/2022 — Dublin, IR @ National Concert Hall
02/26/2022 — Luxembourg, DE @ Philharmonie
02/28/2022 — Brussels, BL @ Bozar
03/01/2022 — Brussels, BL @ Bozar
03/02/2022 — Eindhoven, ND @ Muziekgebouw
03/04-05/2022 — Paris, FR @ Philharmonie
03/06/2022 — Lyon, FR @ Auditorium
03/07/2022 — Hamburg, DE @ ElbPhilharmonie
03/09/2022 — Copenhagen, DK @ KB Hallen
03/11/2022 — Reykjavik, IS @ Harpa

The Nearer The Fountain, More Pure The Stream Flows is out 11/12 via Transgressive Records. Pre-order it here.

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

The NBA has long skewed its rules to the benefit of offense, an understandable decision given that most people want to see points scored, but that enjoyment ends when it becomes a parade to the free throw line as offensive players have become more adept at drawing fouls by creating contact.

As such, the league has been looking into how to legislate that out of the game for next season, and according to Shams Charania of The Athletic, the Competition Committee has outlined three scenarios that will be changed for 2021-22. In an effort to discourage foul-hunting, the league will make offensive players seeking out contact in an unnatural manner an offensive foul or no-call, based on how dramatic the effort to draw contact is, in these three situations.

When a shooter launches or leans into a defender at an abnormal angle.
When a shooter kicks his leg (up or to the side) at an abnormal angle.
When an offensive player abruptly veers off his path (sideways or backward) into a defender.

In theory, this is a good idea, but as we have seen in the past, the best laid plans by the league for new points of emphasis don’t always have the intended consequences. Hopefully, the answer is to just go with more no-calls and teach players in that manner, because calling more fouls (just in the opposite direction) doesn’t make the game more enjoyable. If the referees just allow contact to happen in these instances where players are jumping into defenders and trying to sell it, it will work itself out — particularly because if players aren’t rewarded with free throws when they chuck a terrible shot at the rim just to draw a foul, they’ll soon have to recognize how much that’s hurting their team and their field goal percentage.

The fear for many is that this won’t change the frustration of watching a whistle-fest, and that it will only lead to just as many stoppages and more frustrations on all sides. That said, if they err on the side of just letting play go on when players make these unnatural moves, that could be for the benefit of everyone — well, except for those players who live at the free throw line because of them.