Category: Trending

Ted Cruz generally doesn’t let the world know whether he’s upset about being dragged, but the Internet might have struck a nerve this week. He’s endured (well deserved) Cancun jokes and a merciless dragging by the star of one of his favorite movies, The Princess Bride. Ted even left his much maligned Fight Club take remain intact, so it’s quite something when he actually deletes a tweet.

That appears to be exactly what happened. A tiny bit of backstory: Ted and many of his GOP colleagues love to criticize President Biden over the longstanding chaos at the U.S.-Mexico border. Heck, Marjorie Taylor Greene recently made what could be more than a typo by claiming that Biden had let a majority of the global population surge over the border. Ted has spent some time at the border while lurking in the bushes like a “Brooks Brothers Bear Grylls,” so he might think that Biden should do the same. And now there’s what appears to be a now-deleted tweet about how “Biden has never been to the border. He went to El Paso, which is 800 miles from the Rio Grande Valley.”

As screencaps indicate, Ted would have been promoting his recent Fox News appearance, in which he accused Biden of aiding the journey of cartel heads from “vicious murderers” into billionaires. Well, we now know that Ted Cruz has not been watching Narcos or Narcos: Mexico on Netflix. Also, here’s what Cruz said on Fox News (around the 4:00 mark in the below clip):

“You have Joe Biden, who’s been to the southern border once. He went to El Paso, 800 miles from the Rio Grande Valley. And amazingly enough, he says that he went to our southern border and didn’t see a single illegal alien, which is extraordinary political theater because they cleaned everyone off the streets and said, look. Nobody’s here.”

How could Ted not consider El Paso to be a border city? Social media seems puzzled by this as well.

Perhaps Ted was trying to make his own type of point, but whatever the case, it appears that he actually rethought his words and deleted a tweet. So this remains a mystery, but it doesn’t seem like this type of Twitter mess can be blamed on an intern.

Festival season is upon us. Just last weekend, Rolling Loud California shut down the greater Los Angeles area for several days. Next month, Coachella will storm the grounds of the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California. However, as music fans across the world look for festivals near them, scammers are looking to take advantage of this growing demand.

According to Complex, a Canadian festival by the name of Festival Aurora is the latest example of this ploy. Allegedly led by Harry Styles, Doja Cat, Tyler The Creator, SZA, Khalid, and Charli XCX, fans of the musicians are calling out the festival on its Instagram page (@festivalaurora). Specifically, fans of Styles noticed that the date listed for the singer to appear, June 3, seems nearly impossible given that his Love On Tour will be in France the day before and the Netherlands on June 4th.

The lineup got people excited, though, as the festival reportedly made $7,000 in ticket sales in five days.

After receiving several inquiries about the legitimacy of the festival, The Vieux-Port de Montreal (overseers of Montreal’s Old Port district), released a statement denying that the event has been approved for use of the space, writing, “We learned about this festival like the general public, through social media and their online platform. A festival with such popular names would have to be planned months in advance, and neither the SVPM nor the other partners on our territory (Port-de-Montréal / Grand Quai) were approached.”

The supposed festival has not responded to the statement released by Vieux-Port de Montreal. As of today (March 10), the festival’s Instagram page is still active.

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

The Oscars are back, baby! After last year’s Slap Heard ‘Round The World, most commentators agree that this year’s telecast couldn’t possibly live up to the excitement of the last year’s. In fact, there are apparently “crisis response teams” standing by in case things get too interesting. (Would “crisis teams” require “crisis actors?” No one tell Alex Jones about this). The rub is that there’s a decent chance I’m going to have to go back to getting drunk during this thing to make it interesting.

Jimmy Kimmel is set to host the telecast, meaning probably fewer musical numbers and more pranks (I’m not mad about it). Word around the campfire is that he was chosen basically because he’s an emcee who wouldn’t get too rattled if any big brouhahas or kerfuffles happen again. “We felt like we needed someone who could definitely handle the show,” Janet Yang told the Hollywood Reporter back in November.

It will be Kimmel’s third time hosting, having previously hosted in 2017 and 2018. (I also ranked this year’s best picture nominees here).

How To Watch:

The basics: The 95th Academy Awards ceremony will air live this Sunday, March 12, 2023, at 5 pm Pacific/8 pm ET on ABC. You can also stream it on Hulu Live TV, YouTube TV, FuboTV, and AT&T.

The Presenters

This year’s presenters will include (deep breath):

Pedro Pascal, Kate Hudson, Harrison Ford, Halle Berry, Paul Dano, Cara Delevingne, Mindy Kaling, Eva Longoria, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Andie MacDowell, Elizabeth Olsen, John Travolta, Dwayne Johnson, Ariana DeBose and Jonathan Majors, as well as Andrew Garfield, Florence Pugh, Antonio Banderas, Elizabeth Banks, Jessica Chastain, John Cho, Hugh Grant, Danai Gurira, Salma Hayek Pinault, Nicole Kidman, Sigourney Weaver, Riz Ahmed, Emily Blunt, Glenn Close, Jennifer Connelly, Samuel L. Jackson, Michael B. Jordan, Troy Kotsur, Melissa McCarthy, Janelle Monáe, Deepika Padukone, Questlove, Zoe Saldaña, Donnie Yen.

Good for you, Questlove. Okay, I think we’re all sufficiently backgrounded, let’s get to it.

The Drinking Game

The Basics

Probably you should play with beer, though I would also accept hard seltzer, wine coolers, or wine. Don’t hurt yourself. “A drink,” for our purposes, is a sip, a gulp, a finger’s worth — just be consistent.

Evergreen Rules:

The “Marty” Rule:

One thing entertainment industry folks love is referring to famous people familiarly, to show what good friends they all are. Whenever you hear someone reference a celebrity by their shortened name, a lá “Marty” Scorsese or “Steve” Spielberg during their acceptance speech. Everyone yells “Marty!” like when Norm walks into Cheers and takes one drink.

Band Plays Them Off

This one is pretty self-explanatory, but any time the band starts playing before the acceptance speech is over and the music tries to cut someone off, drink until the recipient starts to leave the stage or until your drink is finished.

(Pro tip: don’t choose a giant-ass stein or other large-sized glass as your vessel for the evening).

Tears In Heaven

Any time an Oscar winner cries during an acceptance speech, waterfall.

The person with the alphabetically-last name in the room starts drinking (it’s your time to shine, Zacks and Zeldas). Everyone else, don’t stop until the person to your left has finished.

So, So Brave

Any time an awards recipient praises the “brave people of” wherever (let the record show Jared Leto was dedicating awards to Ukraine before it was cool), or a performance as being brave, ONE DRINK.

Borat Rule

Any time an acceptance speech-giver mentions or thanks “my wife,” everyone has to yell “MAH WAHFE” like Borat. Last person to say “mah wahfe” has to drink.

New Rules For 2023

The Slap

Obviously, people are going to talk about The Slap. One drink for the first Slap reference (and that includes sly jokes about Chris Rock, Jada, and/or Will Smith), two drinks for the second Slap reference, and so on.

Tom Cruise Saved Movie Theaters

It has become essentially gospel that Tom Cruise saved movie theaters, thanks to Top Gun: Maverick. Everyone in Hollywood loves Tom Cruise while also sort of acknowledging that he’s completely insane. So:

–One drink for “Tom Cruise does his own stunts” joke.
–Two drinks for “Tom Cruise is short” joke.
–Finish your drink for Scientology joke. (If someone brings up Shelly Miscavige again, get out a fresh one and shotgun it).

Weez The Juice

Brendan Fraser is nominated for Best Actor this year, and I get the feeling B-Fraiszh is gonna be the hot reaction shot. The camera loves him. Hell, I had this gif from the Golden Globes saved on my computer for at least 10 years, and that was well before the Brendannaissance.

So, one drink for every shot of Brendan Fraser in the crowd.

Nicole Kidman’s Weird AMC Ad

Will they parody Nicole Kidman’s weird AMC ad? One drink for a reference, finish your drink for an actual parody.

The Brad Pitt Lighting Round

According to Little Gold Men (via Gawker, RIP), “the mayor of Hollywood” is an official role whereby the mayor sits center stage at all the awards shows, as has been true of Jack Nicholson, Tom Hanks, and Meryl Streep. Gawker pointed out that Brad Pitt seemed to be auditioning for the role at the Golden Globes.

So, every crowd shot of Brad Pitt initiates The Brad Pitt Lightning Round, after which all the other rules count double (two drinks instead of one, and so on) until the next crowd shot of Brad Pitt ends the round.

Phew, that’s probably enough rules for this year.

Vince Mancini is on Twitter. You can read more of his reviews here.

It looks like Bad Bunny is finally blessing us with a “Carpool Karaoke” segment. Today (March 10), The Late Late Show With James Corden shared a preview of an upcoming segment featuring the Puerto Rican superstar.

In the clip, Bad Bunny is introduced as “The biggest streaming artist in the world.” Corden and Bad Bunny are then seen singing along to the latter’s hit single, “Tití Me Preguntó.”

Bad Bunny’s “Carpool Karaoke” segment will air on this Tuesday’s (March 14) episode of The Late Late Show, at 12:37 a.m. ET. It’s coming just in time, too, as Corden’s last episode of The Late Late Show is set for April 28, so who knows how many “Carpool Karaoke” segments Corden has left before the show wraps up.

Last year proved to be eventful for Bad Bunny. His fourth studio album, Un Verano Sin Ti, reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and boasted several hits, like “Tití Me Preguntó,” “Moscow Mule,” “Me Porto Bonito,” and “Despues De La Playa.” The album was nominated for two Grammy awards, including the coveted Album Of The Year award, as well as the Best Música Urbana Album. He won the latter of those, and in his acceptance speech, Bad Bunny said that the album was a result of pure passion.

“I just made it, this album, with love and passion,” he said, “and when you do things with love and passion, everything is easier, and life is easier.”

Check out a preview above.

Marjorie Taylor Greene wasted no time capitalizing on a bad joke on The View. During Friday morning’s episode, guest Jane Fonda made a less than ideal joke about how to deal with the loss of abortion rights after Roe v. Wade was overturned. While it’s clear the legendary screen actress was trying to work in a comedic connection to her new movie, co-host Joy Behar immediately tried to get ahead of the lead ballon of a joke because she knew exactly what kind of trouble it was going to cause.

Via Raw Story:

“Well, I’ve thought of murder,” Fonda said, pausing for effect as actress Lily Tomlin also started to answer before interrupting herself.

“What did you say?” said Tomlin, who co-stars with Fonda in the dark comedy “Moving On.”

“Murder,” Fonda repeated, drawing on the theme of the movie she was promoting.

“She’s kidding, she’s just kidding,” Behar said. “They’ll pick up on that and just run with it.”

Like clockwork, Greene immediately latched onto the Fonda clip and accused The View of trying to get the Georgia congresswoman assassinated.

“I routinely get death threats because of the nasty women on The View and the things they say about me,” Greene tweeted. “But calling for us to be assassinated makes The View, the hosts, the producers, the network, the advertisers, and everyone involved responsible for death threats, attacks, and potential murders of Pro-Life politicians and activists. I am reporting this.”

While Greene very slightly had the upper hand thanks to Fonda’s ill-advised remark, the congresswoman quickly squandered it by taking a nasty shot at Fonda’s age and trotting out the disingenuous conservative framing for abortion.

“By the way @Janefonda your eggs are dried up so you don’t have to worry about getting pregnant anytime soon,” Greene wrote. “So you can retire from demanding baby murder now.”

(Via Raw Story)

Tragedy struck at GloRilla’s March 5 performance at Rochester, New York’s Main Street Armory: People were injured during a crowd surge, with one person later dying at the hospital. It was later reported that a second person died from their injuries, and now, so too has a third.

The Associated Press reports that according to police, 35-year-old Syracuse resident Aisha Stephens died in the hospital on Wednesday (March 8) night. That follows the deaths of 33-year-old Buffalo resident Rhondesia Belton and 35-year-old Rochester resident Brandy Miller. Stephens was the only remaining person in the hospital who was there as a result of injuries sustained at the concert. Police note the stampede, which took place as the show was ending, was possibly triggered by “unfounded fears of gunfire.”

GloRilla previously addressed the situation on social media, writing in a tweet, “I’m just now hearing about what happened wtf [single tear emojis] praying everybody is ok.” She later added, “I am devastated & heartbroken over the tragic deaths that happened after Sunday’s show. My fans mean the world to me [single tear emoji] praying for their families & for a speedy recovery of everyone affected.”

Meanwhile, it appears there won’t be any more concerts at the Main Street Armory for at least the foreseeable future, as the venue just had its entertainment license revoked.

Between June and August, the heart of blockbuster season, only a precious few comedies will be released into the movie theaters. There’s the swearing dog movie; The Blackening, a Scary Movie for the Get Out-era; and the untitled Please Don’t Destroy project from the SNL trio. But most intriguing is No Hard Feelings, a raunchy throwback starring Jennifer Lawrence as an Uber driver who gets hired by two parents to “date” their unf*ckable teenage son. It’s a high-concept premise, a rarity for a studio comedy in 2023, let alone a studio comedy being released a week before Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.

Will No Hard Feelings be any good? Maybe! Hopefully! The trailer is pretty funny, the world needs more R-rated sex comedies, and director Gene Stupnitsky also made Good Boys, which was way better than anyone expected. It also sees Jennifer Lawrence in her first straight-up comedy in… ever?

The Causeway star’s films tend to not be overtly comedic (Silver Lining Playbook is a drama with comedic elements, for instance), but Lawrence herself is very funny. And it will be refreshing to see her on a press tour again where she doesn’t have to talk about trauma. Although being hired to have sex with a teenager by his parents is pretty traumatic. For her, not the teen.

There have been lots of excited reactions for Lawrence in a comedy.

Here’s more:

On the brink of losing her childhood home, Maddie (Jennifer Lawrence) discovers an intriguing job listing: wealthy helicopter parents looking for someone to “date” their introverted 19-year-old son, Percy, before he leaves for college. To her surprise, Maddie soon discovers the awkward Percy is no sure thing.

No Hard Feelings comes out on June 23rd.

Every once in a long while, a whiskey comes around that feels essential. A dram you have to be able to discuss with expertise if you want to call yourself “in the know.” But also something that is so deeply enjoyable and full of classic notes that it draws you in. Approachable. Michter’s has a knack for nailing that feeling with many of its releases. Their Michter’s 10-year Bourbon and Michter’s 10-year Rye drops are much-beloved and sought after because they’re prime examples of how good those styles of whiskey can be. Michter’s 20-year Bourbon was our favorite bourbon of 2022 and we were not alone in that take.

This year, the team at Michter’s did it again with the release of their much-anticipated Celebration Sour Mash, which I can assure you will be on nearly every “best of” whiskey lists come November and December of this year.

Not long ago, I was lucky enough to get an invitation to Michter’s Kentucky distillery in Shivley to taste the latest edition of Michter’s Celebration Sour Mash with Michter’s Master Distiller Dan McKee. It was a quiet and enlightening experience. Dan and I sat and chatted about whiskey while he presented the bottle and I sipped the whiskey. We talked through nose notes, palate notes, and the feeling you get from the whiskey. Spoiler Alert — it’s freaking delicious.

Then we spoke about something deeper. After all these years of tasting thousands of whiskeys, I’ve noticed one throughline that arises in all great whiskeys. Passion. The truly great whiskeys have truly passionate people making them. There’s a sense of depth and care that comes through in the profile — nose, taste, finish, and feeling — that speaks to something more than just an average pour. And that’s created by the people who make the whiskey caring so deeply about the product — in every step of its lifecycle — that it just… as if through alchemy or osmosis… makes the whiskey fundamentally better.

Look, the first half of whiskey making — the grain malting, the fermentation, the distilling — is heavy science. It’s following recipes that the whiskey makers (hopefully) know work for that they want to make. There is nuance in this step, of course. But then that whiskey goes into a barrel and is stacked in a warehouse somewhere. And that’s where something more mystical happens. Microorganisms, local ecosystems, atmosphere, weather, evaporation, and a million other factors take over and can create two completely different whiskeys inside two barrels that sat right next to each other and were filled moments apart with the exact same base spirit coming off the stills.

This stage is where passionate people come in. People like Dan McKee and Andrea Wilson — Dan’s partner at Michter’s and their Whiskey Hall of Fame Master of Maturation. Dan and Andrea have decades of experience between them and they care deeply about what they put their names on. That level of knowledge and care manifests in the bottle and every drop that hits your senses when poured. It is in that level of care and craft that people like Dan McKee and Andrea Wilson are able to create a whiskey that truly transcends the ordinary and becomes something more.

There’s a point to my sermonizing…

Often with whiskey at this level, people ask “how could it possibly be worth that price?” That’s fair. We are talking about a grain spirit that’s left in a barrel and then mixed into a bottle. That sounds basic because… it is. But the quality of the juice in that bottle is where things go beyond what’s basic into something less tangible, at least at first. But one sip in and you feel the quality that comes from the people behind the scenes who are constantly testing, pushing boundaries, experimenting, and questioning everything that is in a single barrel of whiskey and then doing that again and again and again until they create something bigger and better than any of its individual parts.

That’s what goes into a whiskey like Michter’s Celebration Sour Mash. Days turn into weeks that turn into months and years of fretting and perfecting a whiskey like this from a scant few barrels that actually meet the sky-high demands of people like Dan McKee and Andrea Wilson. And all of that — a true sense of care and love by a few stone-cold experts — is what presents on the nose, palate, and finish of a whiskey like this. Truly. I absolutely believe there should be a flavor note called “love.”

When love is there, a question like “how could it possibly be worth that price?” feels almost … meaningless. How could it not — after all that pain and effort of creating this expression — be worth it? After all, once the bottles of this one are gone, we’ll never see something exactly like this ever again. It’s a moment of whiskey captured in a few bottles that we get to experience.

That’s damn near priceless. Now, let me get off my soapbox and read my review…

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Michter’s Celebration Sour Mash Whiskey 2022

ABV: 56.4%

MSRP: $7,000

Real World Prices: $24,999–$70,000

The Whiskey:

The fourth ever Michter’s Celebration release — and the first one since 2019 — was released in February 2023 after a slight delay. This American whiskey is a collaboration between Michter’s Master Distiller Dan McKee and Master of Maturation Andrea Wilson. The duo chose seven whiskey barrels for this special blend that ranged from 12 to 30+ years old. Those barrels were batched and bottled without any cutting with water, creating only 328 bottles for the whole world.

Tasting Notes:

Nose: The nose subtly opens with a sense of dark chocolate cut with brown butter, Saigon cinnamon bark, and a light note of crème brûlée made with just a drop of cognac and a hint of old champagne cellars.

Palate: That boozy vanilla opens the luxurious palate toward a dusting of winter spices — clove, anise, nutmeg — next to stewed peached and burnt orange over singed marshmallows, old smoldering hickory, and orchards full of falling leaves next to whisper of creamy black cherry and candied pecans.

Finish: Those pecans meld with woody maple syrup, more cinnamon bark, orange-studded cloves, and a sense of bushels of orchard fruits mixed with nuts and dried fruits in an old wooden basket and wrapped with thick old twine and leather next to a spiced chocolate-cherry tobacco leaf dropped in the middle of it all.

The Presentation:

The latest Celebration Sour Mash comes in a tailor-made box that reveals a beautiful bottle of whiskey inside. There’s a small drawer with a personalized note at the bottom. The whole thing is luxe to the max and very plush.

How To Buy Michter’s Celebration Sour Mash 2022?

This is an extremely heavily allocated bottle of whiskey. That means only the biggest and best clients of Michter’s have received bottles. That includes bars, restaurants, some very high-end liquor stores, and a few state-run liquor stores.

Your best bet to actually try this is to buy a pour at the Fort Nelson Michter’s Distillery on Whiskey Row in Lousiville, Kentucky. State-run liquor stores will sell these via a lottery only. Otherwise, you’re just going to have to know someone (or pay dearly for it on the secondary market).

Bottom Line:

This is an excellent American whiskey. It’s the sort of whiskey that you enjoy slowly over a good conversation. It slowly blooms in the glass as it rests in the open air and with the steady addition of drops of water. The nose, palate, and finish just keeps going deeper and deeper.

All of that said, this is a bottle you get for the vault as an investment or for showing off during the biggest occasion(s) of your life.

Ranking:

99/100 — This is as close to perfection as any American whiskey can get both in flavor/profile and in presentation.

After a promising 2022 with her hit single “Mamiii” and acclaimed album, Esquemas, Becky G is keeping fans fed with new music. Today (March 10), she has shared a new single called “Arranca,” which features Dominican singer Omega.

On her new song, Becky has had it with an inconsistent man who keeps trying to work his way back into her life.

“¿A ti qué te pasa? ¿Pare qué estás llamando? / Sin mí la estás pasando bien, pero no tanto / Ya tu falso amor no va a joderme otro verano
Ponte las llantas y arranca para el carajo, ja, arranca,” sings Becky on the song’s chorus, which translates to, “What’s wrong with you? / Why are you calling me / Without me you’re having fun, but not so much / Your false love is not going to f*ck me over for another summer /
Put on the tires and go to hell.”

On Omega’s verse, he insists he is contrite with what he’s done, singing, “Que aunque yo soy un infiel / El que se va para el carajo es él
Yo sé que te quillas y que te llenas de odio / Por eso es que tú te vas con otro,” which in English means, “Although I’ve cheated /
The cheater goes to hell / and I know that it kills you and that it fills you with hate / That’s why you leave with another man.”

In the accompanying visual, she is seen singing and dancing in the ocean, as two young ladies pay homage to Dominican culture by dancing the heartache away in Boca Chica.

Find the video for “Arranca” above.

Rae Sremmurd, the brotherly rap duo from Tupelo, Mississippi, is back with another new single from their newly announced album, Sremm 4 Life. It’s called “Tanisha (Pump That),” and it’s an upbeat, pulsating club song — think the Miami bass-style R&B of Ghost Town DJs’ “My Boo” — and finds the Brown boys admiring a special young lady at the function and encouraging her to “poke it out” before offering to “take you on a private vacation.”

The song is produced by the Ear Drummers’ longtime collaborator Mike Will Made-It, who co-produced alongside veteran hitmaker Pharrell Williams. On Twitter, Mike Will promised that “Ear Drummer Summer is loading,” which is a welcome relief for those fans who’ve had to wait almost five years for a follow-up to Swae Lee and Slim Jxmmi’s last album, 2018’s SR3MM.

Ahead of announcing the release date for Sremm 4 Life, the sibling act shared a string of singles that included “Denial,” “Torpedo,” and “Sucka Or Sum,” displaying their usual well-worn chemistry. Earlier this week, they also showed off the album’s cover artwork, which continues their tradition of minimalist covers while updating it to show off their style.

Listen to “Tanisha (Pump That)” above.

Sremm 4 Life is due April 7 on Ear Drummers / Interscope. Get more info here.