Category: News

The Rundown is a weekly column that highlights some of the biggest, weirdest, and most notable events of the week in entertainment. The number of items could vary, as could the subject matter. It will not always make a ton of sense. Some items might not even be about entertainment, to be honest, or from this week. The important thing is that it’s Friday, and we are here to have some fun.

ITEM NUMBER ONE — Uhhhhh… Happy New Year?

It feels weird to sit here and discuss fun and hopeful plans for this new year when there’s still a global pandemic raging and the nation’s Capitol is in disarray. I know that. It’s not an ideal way to kick things off. But the point of a resolution is to focus on improvement, on making things better somehow, even in some small way. That’s what this is about, mostly. I’m going to run through some of my pop culture resolutions for 2021, a few of them serious and real, a few of them very stupid and silly, because, I’m sorry, I can’t help myself. My actual resolution is the same this year as every year (“try not to let the stupid stuff get in the way of the cool stuff whenever possible”), but these are important, too.

Kind of.

Step outside my comfort zone

There are so many shows and outlets available right now that it can be easy to silo yourself off inside your own favorites and never leave. This is comforting sometimes because there’s always something made just for you available in under five clicks. It’s also a bummer because the thing that is supposed to broaden your options can end up limiting them. I made this same resolution last year. I wasn’t as successful as I wanted to be, in part because 2020 was stressful in a number of unprecedented ways and some nights it helped to just watch Knives Out for the 16th time. But it’s also how I watched shows like Betty and The Flight Attendant that I enjoyed as much as, if not more, than a lot of shows that were made specifically for me and my wheelhouse. It’s good to branch out a bit. There’s a whole world out there filled with lots of people with lots of different experiences and you can sample a surprising amount of it from your couch. You can still rewatch Justified if you want. Just maybe take a few minutes to peek at your other options, too.

Find out how and/or why Han is still alive in F9

This is maybe the 30th time I’ve mentioned this since the trailer for the ninth Fast & Furious movie dropped almost a year ago. I do not apologize for that. Han died in the third movie and then came back for the fourth through sixth thanks to the series becoming a chronological pretzel, then they revealed that he was actually killed by Jason Statham’s character, then Statham’s character became a good guy and valued team member in the eighth movie. Now Han is sauntering back into the equation and it has been killing me to know how any of it happened. Fake death? Cyborg? Secret twin brother? I must know, either by finally seeing the movie this year or by kidnapping Vin Diesel and forcing him to tell me. I’m just kidding. I won’t do that. Probably. Let’s see how things play out.

Get “Misbehavin’” out of my head

Okay, I just set myself back a few weeks by posting it again, so there’s that. And I do enjoy the song, so it’s not all bad. But I honestly don’t think I’ve gone more than two weeks without this song zipping into my head and it’s going to be a problem if I’m still humming it in public when we’re allowed to, like, be in public again. It’s fine now that I’m in the house all day. You can be as weird as you want in your house. But we’re all eventually going to have to remember how to behave in public and I don’t want to end up going viral for shouting about having a pickle in my mouth while I’m in Wegmans. Good to start the process now. Or at least after I watch it again real quick. So… soon.

Convince people that there is a real television show called Sunbathers

This has been a goal of mine for a while and it’s one I keep ruining by talking about it online, but still. I want to do it. I want the world to think there is a show called Sunbathers on some streaming service somewhere, and that it stars David Schwimmer as a man named Dale Sunbather, and maybe that there’s a spin-off called Sunbathers: Helsinki. You know how people are convinced that there was once a genie movie starring Sinbad even though there never was, not even once, not even a little? Kind of like that. But with Schwimmer as a beachfront crime boss. Named Dale Sunbather. Your help with this is appreciated.

Let the chaos of 911 and 911 Lonestar wash over me every Monday night

It is hilarious to me that Fox just said eff it and decided to start airing these two nutso programs back-to-back every Monday starting later this month. I hope the shows view it as a challenge, like to see who can get the weirdest. These are shows that have killed people on escalators mid-proposal and lopped off someone’s nose with a mistletoe-carrying drone and dealt with an explosion at a bull semen warehouse. The sky’s the limit here. I’m legitimately excited.

Finish writing the world’s first and only hip-hop musical about Alexander Hamilton

I know I can do it.

ITEM NUMBER TWO — Let’s check in with Denmark

Well guess what: There’s a Danish children’s cartoon about a man who has a giant mischievous penis with a mind of its own. I’m sorry for just blurting it out like that. I am. In a perfect world, I would have eased into it. But this isn’t a perfect world. It’s definitely a little better now that I know there’s a Danish children’s cartoon about a man who has a giant mischievous penis with a mind of its own, but it’s not perfect. This is where we are. We have to address this head-on.

The show — per The Guardian, which broke this tremendous story — is about a man named John Dillermand who has “the world’s longest penis” and who “overcomes hardships and challenges with his record-breaking genitals.” Other important facts: Dillermand basically translates to penis; the show is aimed at children aged four to eight; and I love this all very much. The video at the top of this section has English subtitles. I insist you watch it at once. It is a short episode about John Dillermand’s mischievous penis stealing ice cream and almost causing a bloodbath at a zoo by releasing a lion and then getting more ice cream for solving the problem he and his penis caused.

Look at these screencaps. I promise all of them are real.

And look at these quotes from the article in The Guardian. They talked to a clinical psychologist about the mischievous wiener cartoon. Look at what the clinical psychologist said.

Erla Heinesen Højsted, a clinical psychologist who works with families and children, said she believed the show’s opponents may be overthinking things. “John Dillermand talks to children and shares their way of thinking – and kids do find genitals funny,” she said.

“The show depicts a man who is impulsive and not always in control, who makes mistakes – like kids do, but crucially, Dillermand always makes it right. He takes responsibility for his actions. When a woman in the show tells him that he should keep his penis in his pants, for instance, he listens. Which is nice. He is accountable.”

Incredible. All of it. How low is the bar here that “he listens when someone tells him to keep his huge rascal pecker in his pants” is a lesson we’re applauding? I’m so proud of Denmark. This is my favorite show now. I might start recapping it. People in America lost about 80 percent of their minds because one of the Teletubbies might have been gay and meanwhile the Danes have a show about a monster dinger that steals ice cream. And if you’re wondering if the publicity has made the network behind the show, DR (kind of like the Danish BBC), rethink any of this, I am pleased to share this quote with you, too.

DR responded to the latest criticism by saying it could just as easily have made a programme “about a woman with no control over her vagina” and that the most important thing was that children enjoyed John Dillermand.

Denmark is a strong and powerful nation. I have always said this.

ITEM NUMBER THREE — Finally, a movie for me

This is the trailer for Locked Down, an upcoming HBO Max movie that stars Anne Hathaway and Chiwetel Ojiofor. It was written by Stephen Knight, the brain behind my beloved Peaky Blinders, and it was directed by Doug Liman, and it has a fabulous summary: “A quarreling couple makes peace in order to take advantage of the COVID-19 pandemic and pull off a jewelry heist at the department store Harrods.”

This is all I ask for. More movie descriptions should do this kind of hard pivot halfway through their only sentence, especially if they use the phrase “and pull off a jewelry heist at the department store Harrods.” All movies, if possible. It would have made, say, The Help much more interesting. I hope the Danish cartoon about the giant mischievous penis does an episode that has that line in its description. I am not joking.

The best part is that making a heist movie during a pandemic isn’t even Liman’s most ambitious current project. From a Variety story about the film:

His next gig won’t be any less complicated. Liman is headed on a historic mission with Cruise to film the first-ever movie in outer space, hitching a ride on Elon Musk’s SpaceX Dragon. The director and star are scheduled to dock at the International Space Station this October, with a third unidentified guest in their party. Universal Pictures will distribute the film, which looks to captivate a global audience with its production spectacle.

Okay.

Just hear me out.

What if the space movie…

… also features…

… Tom Cruise…

… pulling off a jewelry heist at the department store Harrods?

Something to consider.

ITEM NUMBER FOUR — In case any of you were wondering if Tara Reid saw the news about the chaos at the Capitol this week

The best is that this was sandwiched between two retweets from fans pushing for her to have a part in Wonder Woman 3. Social media is not always great, and can be extremely bad, but sometimes it does something as redeeming as this. Remember that.

ITEM NUMBER FIVE — Good for Ben Affleck

If you were online at all over the holidays, chances are pretty good that you saw the Ben Affleck Dunkin photos. If not, first of all, congratulations on living a lifestyle conducive to your mental health, but also please click this link at once. The pictures are magnificent. They are borderline art if we’re being honest about it all. The man is decked out in all-Boston clothing and balancing something like 100 ounces of iced coffee and looks — I must stress that you need to gaze into his eyes here — like a man who is wearing and doing exactly those things. Every time I look at the pictures I notice something new. It’s like a magic eye poster but in reverse, where everything is startlingly visible right away and becomes more confusing the longer you look at it. Stare at it for a good 90 seconds right now. It’s wondrous.

Also wondrous: This ode to the pictures by comedian and Desus & Mero producer Josh Gondelman. There’s a lot to love in the piece, but this is the paragraph I keep coming back to.

In this triptych of candid images, Affleck, standing in front of his home, attempts to corral a sizable Dunkin’ order—three or four large iced coffees and a box of munchkins. In one photo, he clutches his breakfast to his chest, his face a familiar tableau of oh no what have I done. His T-shirt reads BELIEVE IN BOSTON (emphasis, the shirt’s own) and his sneakers bear the insignia of Massachusetts-based New Balance. His arms appear strong and vascular, like Bruce Wayne’s are for some reason despite having an office job. The images are so thoroughly Affleckian that for a moment I doubted they were real and believed them to be the work of a body-swapping extraterrestrial who had assumed the actor’s corporeal form and was laying it on a litttttttle thick in an effort to prove he is not an impostor.

Two notes in closing:

• The day before these pictures appeared online, I had a hoagie from Wawa delivered and answered my door in a Sixers hoodie, so I’m very aware that any jokes I make about this are at least as hypocritical as they are funny
• The pictures also give me a great excuse to post the SNL sketch about Dunkin starring Ben’s brother, Casey, which somehow makes me laugh every time I watch it

The pictures also give me a great excuse to post the SNL sketch about Dunkin starring Ben’s brother, Casey, which somehow makes me laugh every time I watch it

So let’s do that.

Good for Ben. Good for Dunkin. Good for me. Now someone please get cracking on a sequel to The Accountant.

READER MAIL

If you have questions about television, movies, food, local news, weather, or whatever you want, shoot them to me on Twitter or at [email protected] (put “RUNDOWN” in the subject line). I am the first writer to ever answer reader mail in a column. Do not look up this last part.

From Mark:

I recently read this logline for an actual movie called “Archenemy:”

Max Fist (Joe Manganiello) is a local drunk who claims to be a superhero from the planet Chromium. He tells anyone who will listen that he was pulled into a wormhole, falling through time and space, and dropped to earth without any of his powers. No one pays any attention to Max except a teenager named Hamster (Skylan Brooks) who can’t get enough of Max’s stories. When Hamster and his sister (Zolee Griggs) get in trouble with a vicious drug syndicate led by The Manager (Glenn Howerton), Max takes to the streets as a brutal vigilante hellbent on proving himself as the hero no one believes him to be.

To me, this is the Platonic ideal of a movie synopsis. (An alien assuming the alias of a Regular Human Drunk named Max Fist is every bit as good of a name as Jackie Daytona. Plus a teen named Hamster). I thought, “Where could we ever find a way to top this?” And then I realized the answer: the brain of Brian Grubb.

So I am asking (nay, begging) you to write loglines (including character names and casting) for the following movies:

· A Hallmark Christmas movie

· A heist movie

· Fast and Furious XX

I know you really want to take on this challenge, after all, you and I—we’re not that different.

I accept this challenge. I want to see that movie, too. That’s an issue for another day, though. Possibly as soon as this weekend, when I watch it. But for now, again, challenge accepted. In order of Mark’s requests:

— Big city defense attorney Teddy Pronto (Ludacris) has too much champagne after getting a mob boss acquitted and crashes his firm’s private airplane in a field near a small community in Iowa called Mistletown. A local mechanic, Becky Pistons (Lacey Chabert), finds him and uses her knowledge of car engines to get to work on his plane. He stops by the shop every day to see if she’s done yet and starts falling for her. He learns that maybe money and the thirst for victory at all costs isn’t what life is about, and has that put to the test when the mob boss, Tony “Big Tony” Italy (any actor who was in The Sopranos for any amount of time), calls on Christmas Eve to say his son has been arrested. What does Teddy do, fly home in the just-repaired plane or stay with Becky for the holidays?

— International jewel thief and playboy Mitch Casino (Ludacris) has been doublecrossed by his former mentor Polly Montreal (Dame Judi Dench). Now, to protect his reputation and keep Interpol off his tail, he must break into her heavily guarded chateau in the French Riviera to steal back the thing she framed him for taking: the Queen of England’s favorite corgi. To pull it off, he enlists the help of his most-hated rival, Natasha Montecarlo (Lacey Chabert), and hopes that he can trust her.

— Something something Tej (Ludacris) something something time machine something something Dominic Toretto’s great-great-great-great-great grandmother Dolores Toretto (Lacey Chabert) something something Statham in a red coat with a musket something something use the electricity from Benjamin Franklin’s kite to supercharge a carriage and send it rocketing over the Delaware River during the American Revolution something something independence.

That last one is somehow both the laziest and best paragraph I’ve ever typed.

AND NOW, THE NEWS

To Manhattan!

Tiffany & Co.’s latest work is enough to make everyone’s inner Holly Golightly swoon.

The heritage American jeweler needs something truly spectacular to mark the reopening of its Fifth Avenue flagship in 2022, which is currently undergoing extensive renovation. The solution? Mining the archives to find a design worthy of the occasion. The new creation will be based on a necklace the firm created for the 1939 World’s Fair, but, to take things up a notch, the original model’s aquamarine stone is being replaced with an 80-carat diamond.

“The new necklace perfectly reflects our brand heritage as a New York luxury jeweler, whose founder was known as the ‘King of Diamonds,” Victoria Reynolds, the company’s chief gemologist, said in a statement.

Berkeley rapper Rexx Life Raj has already copped a “Tesla In A Pandemic,” but when it comes to other outdoor activities, the need for creative solutions to COVID safety spawned a forward-thinking video for the latest single from his California Poppy 2 EP, “Bad Bad Bad.” Remember that weird spacesuit-looking protective shell that was proposed as a possible way to save festivals back in May 2020? Well, it looks like Raj got his hands on one like it, and uses his “Bad Bad Bad” video as something of an infomercial for the possibilities it opens up.

Among them: An outdoor three-on-three basketball game in which Raj proves his athletic prowess extends beyond the football field, a picnic at the park, and a walking tour of his Bay Area hometown. Aside from making him look like a character from Among Us, the suit also provides a perhaps unintended use as a personal hotbox during a smoke session with his crew. All in all, Raj uses the innovative suit to participate in a wide range of daily activities that would normally require a mask while acknowledging that yes, the thing looks very silly.

Watch Rexx Life Raj’s cheeky “Bad Bad Bad” video above.

California Poppy 2 is out now via Empire. Get it here.

Blame has been passed around to a number of individuals in the aftermath of the attempted coup at the United States Capitol earlier this week. Donald Trump, who has done everything in his power to cast doubt on the democratic process to justify his loss in the 2020 presidential election, has obviously been atop the list, but he is hardly the only person to draw scorn in Washington, D.C.

A pair of United States Senators — Ted Cruz of Texas and Josh Hawley of Missouri — stood alongside Trump in trying to derail the formality that is certifying the election results in the halls of Congress. The pair of Republicans, in a hyper-cynical move assuredly designed to position themselves as favorites of Trump’s base ahead of the 2024 election, objected to the counting of electors in states other than their own, despite the fact that these states had certified the results of their elections as fair and legal.

Plenty of folks in the NBA’s orbit called them out, and on Thursday evening, San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich took the pair to task. While he did not go quite as far as ESPN reporter Adrian Wojnarowski in excoriating Hawley — Woj famously sent Hawley an email saying “f*ck you” — he called out the “lust for power” of both men, who he referred to as “a joke” and “entitled.”

Popovich has, of course, been a frequent critic of Trump and the Republican Party in recent years, oftentimes using his platform as the longest-tenured coach in the NBA to rebuke those in power who use their perch to attack and suppress the marginalized. In recent months, Popovich referred to Trump as a “deranged idiot” for his response to the Black Lives Matter protests that occurred nationwide over the summer and spoke at length about voter suppression in the United States in the lead-up to the 2020 election. While Hawley is new with regards to drawing his ire, Popovich has spoken out against Cruz in the past, and in 2018, openly supported Democrat Beto O’Rourke’s unsuccessful attempt to defeat him for his Senate seat.

Happy new year! So, uhh… Yeah. It’s been a rough week, right?

And unfortunately, it’s not a week that offered up much relief in the form of a whole bunch of great new music. Sorry. In the space of a week (yes, just one) we found out about the loss of a rap hero in MF DOOM and had to watch jerks on the internet pretend not to know the difference between an armed insurrection and protests for Black lives. But, hey, here’s some good news: The Best New Hip-Hop This Week column has been on hold for a couple of weeks to observe the holidays, which means we’ve got some catching up to do.

So, this week, as the music industry spins back up and all of us try to figure out exactly what the hell happened on Wednesday — where’s Boots Riley when you need him, amirite? — we’ll take a look back at the last couple of weeks of releases to highlight the joints our favorite rappers delivered for us on Christmas and those few late gifts that arrived on New Year’s Day. Blame the USPS, I guess.

Here is the best of hip-hop this week, last week, and the week before.

Albums/EPs/Mixtapes

24Heavy — Now Or Never

Quality Control rapper 24Heavy started off 2020 with his pandemic mixtape and ended it with this collection of 12 tracks featuring appearances from labelmates Marlo and Quavo, and fellow Atlanta rising star Lil Keed.

Lil Durk — The Voice

Capping off his incredible 2020, Durk followed through on his longstanding promise to share The Voice, his sixth studio album which was pushed back in the late summer. Album standouts include “Stay Down” with 6lack and Young Thug, and “Still Trappin” with the late King Von.

Popp Hunna — Mud Baby

Philadelphian TikTok favorite Popp Hunna struck while the iron was hot, capitalizing on the runaway success of his October single “Adderall” to drop a body of work that sees him collaborating with his hometown’s hottest star Lil Uzi Vert and fellow TikTok veteran Toosii.

Rubi Rose — For The Streets

After driving up her stock price with standout singles like “Big Mouth,” “He In His Feelings,” and her appearance on Rico Nasty’s “Smack A Bitch” remix, Rubi made a triumphant debut with this eight-song EP featuring a cosign from Cardi B and features from Future and PartyNextDoor.

TheHxliday — Batbxy

Hailing from Perry Hall, Maryland, TheHxliday kicked off the new year with six tracks of singsong heartbreak.

Tink — A Gift And A Curse

Tink’s Christmas present for her fans was yet another polished EP of soulful trap&B sounds, as she once again poured out her heart with some loose nods to the holiday like album opener “Silent Nite.”

Singles/Videos

Key Glock — “Off The Porch”

After delivering a pair of fan-favorite full-lengths in 2020, the Memphis kid maintains his momentum with a spare instrumental and machine-gun flow promising another prodigious year to come.

Open Mike Eagle — “For DOOM”

While tributes to MF DOOM poured in from all corners of hip-hop, Open Mike Eagle’s was perhaps the best, encapsulating what made the villain so fascinating and paying homage to his one-of-a-kind flow.

PAP Chanel — “Nobody”

After making a splash on Future’s “Gucci Bucket Hat” last year, the rap newcomer delivers a nostalgic video to accompany a heartfelt hip-hop love-letter and stake her claim as an artist that deserves some attention.

Pooh Shiesty — “Back In Blood” Feat. Lil Durk

Despite being a relative newcomer to the rap game, it looks like just about anything with Memphis rapper Pooh Shiesty’s name on it is practically guaranteed to go gangbusters. With a laconic delivery and chilly street narratives, he justifies the attention, especially alongside one of the originators of the drill sound that permeates his latest.

Pop Smoke — “What You Know Bout Love”

The late Brooklyn drill breakout’s lovey-dovey single is one of the home runs from his posthumous album and gets a touching video featuring archival footage showing just how much fun he was having being his burgeoning beacon.

Saweetie Feat. Doja Cat — “Best Friend”

Saweetie may have ripped her label for dropping the ball on her anticipated single’s release, but it doesn’t look like the faux pas put much of a damper on this duo’s energetic collab — nor the exuberant fan response, which accumulated over a million plays in about six hours.

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

Who among us isn’t looking for earth-rattling, shiver-inducing, sensory-overloading, “write a text to all your friends about it”-level orgasms? We want that for ourselves and we want it for you, too. Which is why we’re big advocates for cannabis as a sex enhancer. After all, weed makes music sound better, food tastes out of this world, and turns bad movies into classics — why wouldn’t it enhance life’s greatest pleasure?

If you’re a logical type and more interested in the science of sex-plus-cannabis than poetic hyperbole, there are studies out there that suggest that weed can both enhance your libido and greatly increase the quality of your pleasure. Related studies have also found that stoners have more sex than their non-cannabis smoking counterparts. For more hard (sorry!) data, check our original post on the subject.

For those who are well-versed in the wonders of cannabis and sex, welcome to the remix. This time around, we’re going to offer a targeted approach — focusing on weed strains that will excite the mind and put you into an imaginative, relaxed, and improvisational headspace. The goal is the most creative sex of your life, which is a pretty fun pursuit no matter how you spin it.

Jack Herer

Strain: Sativa
THC: 17%

Jack Herer is one of the weakest weed strains on this list, but when using cannabis in the bedroom it’s best not to overdo it and set yourself up for couch lock. Producing a pleasing spiced herbal flavor, Jack Herer has lovely dark-green leaves, heavily coated with shimmering trichomes, and produces an energetic high that will have you in fits of giggling and feeling heightened senses, making you especially susceptible to touch.

The Bottom Line

It might make you slightly goofy, so share this bud with someone you’re comfortable with. Great for stoner couples and focusing on foreplay, inspiring a creative spark after a single short smoke session.

Check Weedmaps to find Jack Herer at a dispensary near you.

Green Crack

Strain: Sativa
THC: 13%-25%

We get it, nobody wants to smoke, let alone buy a weed called Green Crack, but this strain was around back when weed was still fully illegal in the United States and it’s stood strong for a reason. Named by Snoop Dogg (seriously), Green Crack is fairly tame on the THC potency spectrum, which will keep you level headed enough to make use of the energetic and uplifting properties of this weed in the bedroom.

With palate-pleasing citrus and mango flavor notes, Green Crack won’t kill the mood despite the slightly skunky smell the unsmoked bud produces, which dissipates once lit up. No need to opt for concentrates here, go with the flowers and smoke it up in a bong.

The Bottom Line

Reserve this strain for your wake and bake morning sex in the shower sessions.

Check Weedmaps to find Green Crack at a dispensary near you.

Sour Diesel

Strain: Sativa
THC: 17%-26%
CBD: 2%

Normally, we’d tell you to avoid this one. Sour Diesel, like the name implies, has a sort of sour, chemical flavor to it with citrusy undertones that actually make the whole thing taste even more horrid.

We know, that sounds bad, but stick with us for a second.

Aside from the dank smell and horrible taste, Sour Diesel is actually packed with limonene, a terpene responsible for killing stress, battling depression, and keeping anxiety at bay. Coupled with a dash of CBD, Sour Diesel provides a powerful entourage effect that will help produce intense feelings of euphoria and shiver-inducing orgasms

The Bottom Line

Skip the flowers and go with concentrates for this one. Once you get past the taste, Sour Diesel will have you ready to experience some of the most uplifting pleasure ever. Just use mouthwash after smoking.

Check Weedmaps to find Sour Diesel at a dispensary near you.

Harlequin

Strain: Hybrid
THC: 4%-10%
CBD: 6%-15%

Harlequin is a very interesting strain — do not be dissuaded by its extremely weak THC content either, as this strain packs a whole lot of anxiety-killing, mind-relaxing CBD, which will put you in a hyper-focused headspace. This is the type of CBD you can actually feel, and is a great option for partners looking to engage in the bedroom with a singular focus that won’t get muddied by you know, being super high.

It’ll also relax your body, offer pain relief, and get you ready for anything. If you don’t know what we’re implying well then… you’re probably not looking for a strain like Harlequin.

The Bottom Line

Not really geared to those looking for super stoned sex, Harlequin will put you in a focused, level-headed and creative headspace that you’ll actually remember.

Check Weedmaps to find Harlequin at a dispensary near you.

Do Si Dos

Strain: Hybrid
THC: 14%-30%

Be careful with this one. Do Si Dos is almost always sold in high THC varieties, as its delicious earthy berry flavor and unique hybrid genetics is favored amongst cannabis snobs. Aside from its addictive flavor profile, Do Si Dos produces a rushing euphoric high that will slap a smile across your face and a giddy perspective that’s chilled out by this strain’s relaxing Indica properties, bumping up the sensory experience and producing a long-lasting effect that’s perfect for longer sessions with your partner(s???).

The Bottom Line

For the experimentally minded. Pull out the blindfolds and get ready for a rush of closed high visuals and heightened sensations.

Check Weedmaps to find Do Si Dos at a dispensary near you.

Girl Scout Cookies

Strain: Hybrid
THC: 19%

If you read the entry for Do Si Dos and thought “that sounds awesome, but way too intense,” then Girl Scout Cookies (sometimes known as GSC) will probably be right up your alley. GSC has some of those body relaxing, senses-heightening properties you’d expect from an indica, but is considerably more sativa-leaning than Do Si Dos — with a bigger focus on producing euphoric feelings of well being.

GSC’s beautiful orange flecked rich green buds also make for beautiful looking flowers, so definitely skip the concentrates on this one.

The Bottom Line

Anxiety killing and sense heightening, Girl Scout Cookies will put you in the state of mind to take a chance and try new things. A great starter strain for experimenting with weed in the bedroom.

Check Weedmaps to find Girl Scout Cookies at a dispensary near you.

Strawberry cough

Strain: Sativa
THC: 17%

Strawberry Cough is the perfect strain to reach for if you want the foreplay and action to begin while you’re smoking rather than after. With an intoxicating smell and a berry-focused taste that coats the mouth with sweetness, Strawberry Cough won’t kill the mood with its smell or taste and will produce full-body relaxation almost immediately.

Packed with the terpene linalool, Strawberry Cough is the type of strain that brings out your appreciation for the beautiful things around, that could be a shimmering sunny morning or the way the light reflects off your lover.

The Bottom Line

One of the sweetest smelling and best-tasting sativas you’ll ever smoke, perfect for shotgunning with your partner.

Check Weedmaps to find Strawberry Cough at a dispensary near you.

Sour Tangie

Strain: Sativa
THC: 18%

Sour Tangie gets its “sour” moniker from its cross genetics with Sour Diesel, giving you that same feel-good euphoria heavy high infused with Tangie’s creativity boosting and energetic properties, resulting in a well-rounded strain that feels particularly geared toward getting active. This makes it a great daytime strain, as its sativa genetics will keep you far away from couch lock territory.

The Bottom Line

The same euphoria producing properties of Sour Diesel with an extra infusion of creative energy, great for daytime sex and afternoon quickies.

Check Weedmaps to find Sour Tangie at a dispensary near you.

Flo

Strain: Hybrid
THC: 17%

Flo, sometimes known as DJ Short Flo, is a strain all about vibing to the mood. A cross between Purple Thai and Afghani Indica, Flo has heavy indica properties, which makes the high a lot heavier than any of the other strains on this list. Luckily, the strain also has some pretty noticeable sativa properties that take hold once your high stars leveling out, giving you a clear-headed and euphoric high that is highly responsive to touch, both receiving and giving.

The Bottom Line

Flo is all about setting the mood and vibing, so use this strain for more romantic sensory situations. We’re talking good music, great setting, and a fit designed for getting down.

Check Weedmaps to find Flo at a dispensary near you.

Jillybean

Strain: Hybrid
THC: 16%

Does Jillybean have maybe the worst name for a strain next to Chemical Cat Piss? Probably, but Chemical Cat Piss sounds dangerous, and Jillybean literally sounds like a sex toy, so it’s kind of perfect. But a name is just that, a name, so how does Jillybean work as a sex enhancer?

Fantastically it turns out.

A cross between Orange Velvet and Space Queen, Jillybean has a great citrus-forward flavor with hints of tropical mango and does a great job at killing anxiety, making it the perfect strain for those who suffer from slight performance anxiety.

The Bottom Line

If you’re sometimes too in your head for your own good, Jillybean is a great strain to melt away your anxiety and inhibitions and put you in an uplifted mood.

Check Weedmaps to find Jillybean at a dispensary near you.

Zack Snyder has been racking up headlines thanks to his long-awaited director’s cut of Justice League, but the director has another film universe coming down the pipe thanks to a very enthusiastic amount of support from Netflix. Later this year, Army of the Dead will hit the streaming service, and it’s a project that Snyder has been trying to get off the ground for years. Despite having a relationship with Warner Bros., the zombie heist movie stayed trapped in development hell where it eventually fizzled out.

“They didn’t want to spend that kind of money on a zombie movie, or just didn’t take it that seriously,” Snyder recently told Entertainment Weekly. But he surprisingly found a willing partner in Netflix, which was so hyped about Army of the Dead that it greenlit both the film and an animated prequel series that will do a “very deep dive” into how the zombie plague started:

“We were in a meeting at Netflix and I was talking about some of these scripts I was working on,” Snyder recalls. “And I mentioned the idea to [Netflix head of original films Scott Stuber] and he was like, ‘That is the movie! Go write that movie and let’s make it.’ I was like, ‘What, do you mean now?’ And he’s like, ‘Go write it tomorrow and we’ll shoot it in a week.’”

Netflix also released a series of new photos from Army of the Dead, which is scheduled to premiere in 2021 but does not have an official release date yet. You can see the stills and behind-the-scene shots below.

(Via Entertainment Weekly)

Five years ago today, David Bowie released his final album, Blackstar, on his birthday. Two days later, he died. A common belief about the record around its release was that Bowie, knowing he didn’t have much time left, intended it to be a farewell album. However, one of his collaborators doesn’t think that’s the case.

Donny McCaslin, who was part of the jazz ensemble with whom Bowie worked on the album, spoke about Blackstar as part of a new oral history from NME. He explained why he didn’t think Bowie saw Blackstar as a farewell, saying:

“There is the narrative of Blackstar being this farewell, which I totally get. But that coexists with the fact that he was just so creative. He was planning on doing more. When I went to listen to the album at his apartment in November 2015, the idea came up of doing some small gigs. The Village Vanguard is like Mecca for jazz folks and I had my first run there happening in January. We talked about how to do a little rehearsal and soundcheck and, of course, it was going to depend on how he felt. We talked again in December around the time of the musical and he said he didn’t want to — he was working on new music and he wanted to record in January.”

Elsewhere in the piece, McCaslin spoke about the overwhelmingly positive experience he had working on the album with Bowie:

“The first day in the studio was a mixture of excitement, anticipation and hoping that it was all going to go smoothly. I was loving the music he had sent and I had done some work on it on my end with woodwinds and with voicing things that I hadn’t told anybody about, so I was excited to unveil that. When we got going, it just felt seamless and organic — the analogy I would use is that the group was like a basketball team where we were constantly sharing the ball and throwing it back and forth.

That first day, the spirit of what David told us was, ‘Let’s not worry about what this will be called, let’s just go have fun and anything you’re hearing, I want you to go for it.’ He didn’t say ‘no inhibitions,’ but that was the spirit of what he said. It was great to have that affirmation before we even started and to sense that he trusted us with this music. You couldn’t have asked for it to be a better environment creatively.”

Check out the full Blackstar oral history here.

In one of the more uncomfortable morning talk show interviews you will ever see, CBS This Morning host Gayle King spoke to Miya Ponsetto, the so-called “SoHo Karen” who was arrested on Thursday after falsely accusing a Black teenager of stealing her phone.

The incident took place last December at the Arlo Hotel in Manhattan’s SoHo district, where Ponsetto confronted Keyon Harrold, a prominent jazz musician, and his 14-year-old son, Keyon Harrold, Jr., about her missing phone. “In the video, Ms. Ponsetto can be seen confronting Mr. Harrold and his son after they walk into the hotel lobby, insisting without evidence that Keyon Jr. has her cellphone,” the New York Times reported. “Ms. Ponsetto can be seen asking a hotel manager to help her, after which the manager identifies himself and asks Keyon Jr. to produce a cellphone, in an apparent attempt to verify Ms. Ponsetto’s claim.” Ponsetto then tackled the teenager and tried to “rummage” through his pockets. The phone was discovered by an Uber driver later that day.

In the hours before she was arrested (she “nearly slammed her car door on a deputy and needed to be yanked from her ride during her arrest,” according to authorities), Ponsetto sat down with King for a “disastrous interview” that, I mean… just watch.

The “Daddy” hat, the defensiveness, the “I am a 22-year-old girl” excuse (I’m still trying to make sense of, “I don’t… racism is… how is one girl accusing a guy about a phone a crime?”). But it’s Ponsetto snapping at King and telling her “enough” that really set people off. As pointed out by activist and writer Charlotte Clymer, “I don’t know why Miya Ponsetto’s lawyer didn’t step in and end this disaster.” Through it all, King does an incredible (and incredibly patient) job of letting Ponsetto, who claims that she’s “super sweet” and “never, never meant” to hurt Harrold Jr., dig her own grave, essentially.

I can’t get over the hat.

Ponsetto is being held without bail at a pre-trial detention facility in Ventura, California.

Bad news, Verzuz fans. After previously postponing the upcoming Ashanti Vs. Keyshia Cole battle, the show announced it again pushed back their upcoming appearance out of COVID-19 safety concerns. In a statement posted to the Verzuz social channels, the organizers also revealed the show would be returning to its original format, with each artist calling into the live stream from a separate location after the most recent handful of shows saw the battles being staged at places like Atlanta’s Magic City and various studios.

For some fans in the comments, that’s good news. After all, Verzuz was initially sparked by the search for communal entertainment during the socially isolated shutdowns, with the artists taking turns playing their favorite hits for an appreciative digital audience. However, corporate sponsorships eventually led to more elaborate presentations beginning with the May Bounty Killer Vs. Beenie Man show. Since then, DMX and Snoop Dogg, 2 Chainz and Rick Ross, Gladys Knight and Patti LaBelle, Brandy and Monica, and E-40 and Too Short have all appeared in the same room. The crowning achievement of the new format was the battle between Gucci Mane and Jeezy, which saw the two rivals come together for the first time in a decade to perform their hit song “So Icy.”

However, such events drew criticism from longtime fans who pointed out the increased risk of infection of stars. That point was hammered home in December when Ashanti’s COVID diagnosis caused her showdown with Keyshia Cole to be postponed the first time. It appears that after COVID cases rose precipitously, shutting down new hospital admissions in cities like Los Angeles, the Verzuz organizers aren’t taking any more chances with the lives of our musical legends.

We have known for over two months now that Hilarie Burton — the real-life wife of Jeffrey Dean Morgan — would be playing the fictional wife, Lucille, of Morgan’s fictional character, Negan, on The Walking Dead. Burton, who met Morgan through his Supernatural co-star Jensen Ackles, will be featured in an episode adapted from “Here’s Negan,” based on a stand-alone issue of Robert Kirkman’s comic tracking the character’s origin story.

Before the apocalypse, Negan was a middle-school gym teacher who cheated on his wife. However, after his wife, Lucille, was diagnosed with cancer, Negan redoubled his efforts to be the best husband he could. Unfortunately, Lucille’s death from cancer coincided with the rise of the zombies in a particularly tragic way, which may partially explain Negan’s behavior on The Walking Dead. He did, after all, name his deadly baseball bat after his late wife.

In the video above, we see Burton and Jeffrey Dean Morgan (among other cast members) conducting a virtual table read for the episode, “Here’s Negan.” In that episode, a newly reformed Negan reflects on his past. The episode will take us back 12 years to Negan’s basement, where he and his dying wife try to decide on a James Bond DVD and figure out whether to kill a walker drawn to their generator.

“It’s not like killing a person, babe,” Lucille tells him. “It’s not even like killing an animal. You have to stop letting it bother you.”

“It doesn’t bother me,” Negan says. “It doesn’t bother me, but I’m worried that I’ll get used to it.”

As we know, of course, Negan gets more than used to killing not only walkers, but humans, too.

The episode will air as part of the 6-episode extension of the series’ 10th season, which will kick off on AMC on February 28th.