Category: Viral

After briefly flirting with reason by saying Donald Trump made a huge mistake in urging people to protest his arrest, should it ever happen, Alex Jones has reverted back to his old ways with a new conspiracy theory on what could happen to Trump in the days ahead. Granted, conspiracy theories are exactly what landed Jones in hot water with the Sandy Hook families, who successfully sued the InfoWars host over his repeated claims that the school were a false flag operation, but why let a billion dollars in damages give you pause? That’s the Alex Jones way.

During a recent episode of InfoWars, Jones began inching his way back to Trump after being “pissed” at the former president for a while. However, Jones can’t help but recognize that Trump does a lot of “good stuff” that angers the “Deep State.”

“Do we just sit here and let them install somebody else or falsely put Trump in prison?” Jones said. “He’s really fighting the deep state and they see him as a threat to their power. They see him as a rival.”

And cue the conspiracy mongering. Via Raw Story:

“If it looks like he’s about to win again, I think they’re gonna shoot him,” continued Jones. “I think they’re gonna blow his airplane up. And he even said that last week. He said, ‘well, I’m gonna go ahead and just walk right in front of everybody in Manhattan in handcuffs. If I get killed, so what? I’ll be a martyr.’ So, he is in that fully committed mode. I want the globalist off our backs, and if Trump’ll do it, great. But gut, gut level, I know that if he’s able to get in, which I think they’ll kill him, I actually think he won’t be able to get in. I’ll be honest with you right now.”

Jones’ sudden dive back into Trump worship is notable. For a while, he was backing Ron DeSantis, who has been a seen as a formidable challenger to Trump in the Republican primary. (Fellow conspiracy theorist Joe Rogan is also backing DeSantis.) As for what won Jones over? Trump’s latest rally in Waco. Seeing the former president denounce the Deep State where the FBI raided David Koresh’s cult reportedly gave Jones “chills.”

(Via Raw Story)

Has Tyler The Creator been hiding a child (© Pusha T)? Fans have good reason to wonder after the Hawthorne, California-raised rapper might have just coolly revealed that information in his new, previously unreleased song “Dogtooth.”

In the song’s chorus, he brags and warns listeners at the same time, “I’m tryna buy my neighbor house and turn it to a yard / If you don’t know my grandma name, then we ain’t really dogs.” However, on the final repetition of the chorus, he switches up that last line: “If you don’t know my daughter name, then we ain’t really dogs.”

However, it looks like that was just a bit of creative license on Tyler’s part. Shortly after the release of “Dogtooth,” the mischievous rabble-rouser denied having children on Twitter: “i dont have kids and dont plan on it hahaha,” he wrote. Of course… he could be trolling there, if he isn’t in the song. With Tyler The Creator, you never know.

All the same, it does look like Tyler’s expecting; “Dogtooth” is just the first song from the impending release of Call Me If You Get Lost: The Estate Sale. As T explained on Twitter, “CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST WAS THE FIRST ALBUM I MADE WITH ALOT OF SONGS THAT DIDNT MAKE THE FINAL CUT. SOME OF THOSE SONGS I REALLY LOVE, AND KNEW THEY WOULD NEVER SEE THE LIGHT OF DAY, SO IVE DECIDED TO PUT A FEW OF THEM OUT.”

Call Me If You Get Lost: The Estate Sale is due on 3/31 via Columbia. You can find more info here.

[This post contains spoilers for John Wick: Chapter 4]

Let’s get right to the question you had after watching John Wick: Chapter 4: how much money is this movie going to make? Wait, not that question (the answer: a lot). The other question. No, not the one about if Winston is John Wick’s father, either (the answer: I’m sure 99 percent he’s not). The question I’m referring to is: is John Wick dead? It sure seems like it, as he’s seen bleeding out on the steps of the Sacré-Cœur, and Winston and the Bowery King visit his tombstone back in New York. But…

“I don’t know, I guess I’m going to have to lean on never say never,” star Keanu Reeves told Entertainment Weekly when asked if John Wick is dead. “I mean, I wouldn’t do a John Wick film without [director] Chad Stahelski. We’d have to see what that looked like… It feels right that John Wick finds peace.”

Reeves also discussed why he wanted to make a fourth John Wick movie.

“We had the opportunity [to do another film] because the [response to] Chapter 3, and we were like, ‘What was the Why?’” he said following Chapter 4‘s South by Southwest premiere. “And when Chad and I were talking, the ‘Why?’ was death — and it was John Wick’s death. For him to get his peace, or freedom, in a way… That was the reason to make the movie. It can’t just be, ‘Let’s do another one.’ It was really about death, or a way of dying.”

Reeves did not answer the most important “why,” however: why wasn’t the Tick Tock Man in Chapter 4?

(Via Variety and Entertainment Weekly)

After a flurry of activity early, with some big trades and free agency signings, the NFL offseason has quieted down, in large part due to the holding pattern teams are in as the league waits to see what happens with a pair of former MVP quarterbacks.

Aaron Rodgers has made clear he wants to join the New York Jets, but the Packers haven’t exactly been moving quickly to accommodate that request. While the expectation is that Rodgers eventually finds his way to the Meadowlands, no one is quite sure when that happens and what all the Packers will be able to get back for him.

Then there is the Lamar Jackson saga in Baltimore, where the Ravens placed the non-exclusive franchise tag on the former MVP, meaning he could sign an offer sheet with another team. In the three weeks since, there has been little indication that any team is particularly interested in Jackson, with plenty of speculation of some collusion among owners to stay away and send a message, given Jackson’s hopes of landing a fully guaranteed contract like Deshaun Watson got.

Jackson has been left with little in the way of leverage, but on Monday he decided to apply pressure the one way he possibly could, by making a public announcement that prior to the franchise tag being placed on him, he requested a trade from the Ravens.

On the Ravens side, John Harbaugh’s not ready to give up on Lamar staying in Baltimore.

This seems to be Jackson trying to make clear that he’s not going to be coming back to Baltimore, at least longterm, by saying his goodbyes to Ravens fans publicly. That shifts the onus onto the Ravens to find a trade for him, but doesn’t clear up the biggest issue standing in Jackson’s way, which is that the league as a whole seems totally uninterested in giving him the guarantees in his contract he wants.

Now, there is probably a team out there willing to give him more than what the Ravens were offering, which was “guarantees” that had conditions attached, meaning they weren’t really guarantees. We still don’t know where the acceptable middle ground is between what Baltimore was offering and what Jackson wants, but he now at least makes clear that he has no plans on returning to Baltimore and puts out the public call for some team to come get him.

Baltimore may be willing to wait awhile and even hope Jackson chages his mind. The Draft isn’t for another month and at the least they’ll want to see what the Jets have to give up for Rodgers before setting their trade price on Jackson. Still, if it wasn’t clear before, Jackson is available to the rest of the league, it’s just a matter of if any team is willing to not only give him what he wants, but also what Baltimore will want in return for a star QB in his prime.

Succession is back for its fourth (and final) season. How do we know? Because fans on social media are losing it over the antics of aging Waystar-Royco patriarch, Logan Roy, once more.

Last night’s premiere gave us a glimpse at the birthday party from hell as Logan was surrounded by a bunch of executive-level vultures all circling his decaying carcass while his children, Roman, Shiv, and Kendall, plotted to steal the Pierce deal. There were plenty of cringe moments during the episode, but it was Logan’s late-in-the-day party shenanigans that really had fans cowering from second-hand embarrassment.

Forget Boar on the Floor. The newest nightmarish team-bonding exercise for Waystar-Royco employees is a little game we like to call, “Tell Logan Roy a Joke.”

First, two accurate reads of why we’re even enduring this comedy cringe-fest.

And the terrifying thought that this “game” might become a running gag of season four.

Of course, Gerri is the only one who wouldn’t even entertain the notion of an impromptu stand-up set for her boss. This is why she’ll outlive all the Roys.

If you have to laugh at your own joke Frank, it’s not funny.

Karl didn’t fare much better.

The whole thing hurt to watch.

Props to Greg for being the only slime puppy in the room to take up the gauntlet.

Wait, where is Greg’s old man?

Personally, we’d love to see Logan Roy and Tanya McQuiod at a White Lotus together.

Tyler The Creator gave fans a peek behind the creative curtain today, revealing a little bit of his process while promising some exciting news for the days ahead.

“CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST WAS THE FIRST ALBUM I MADE WITH ALOT OF SONGS THAT DIDNT MAKE THE FINAL CUT,” he revealed on Twitter. “SOME OF THOSE SONGS I REALLY LOVE, AND KNEW THEY WOULD NEVER SEE THE LIGHT OF DAY, SO IVE DECIDED TO PUT A FEW OF THEM OUT.” The first is “Dogtooth,” the video for which you can watch above.

In the video, Ty climbs into the cab of a crane, with which he lifts his Rolls Royce Phantom into the air… just a light flex, you know. There’s also a great top-down aerial shot through the sunroof of his classic BMW as the consummate performer does donuts and raps to the camera overhead. Lyrically, it’s all straight-up braggadocio, with lines like “my girl look like Zazie Beetz and Kelis” punctuating a relaxed flow over a glittery, Neptunes-ish beat.

The infobox on the YouTube for “Dogtooth” bears the more exciting notice: Call Me If You Get Lost: The Estate Sale — billed as “a collection of songs that didnt make the original album” — will be out on 3/31 via Columbia Records.

Yellowjackets fans likely suspected cannibalism was on the menu when the Showtime hit returned this weekend but no one could’ve predicted that WTF ending of the season two premiere.

The death of Jackie (Ella Purnell) hit everyone hard, but her best friend Shauna (Sophie Nelisse) had the most questionable method of processing her grief. While the rest of the team seemed to stay huddled inside the cabin for most of the episode, Shauna lounged in the meat shed where they’d been storing Jackie’s frozen corpse until the ground thaws, so they can give her a proper burial. A grieving, pregnant Shauna spent the season two premiere chatting and gossiping with a hallucination of her best friend as the rest of the girls worried over her deteriorating mental state.

By the end of the episode, Shauna had pocketed an errant ear that had broken off Jackie’s corpse after the two girls got into an “argument.” As the music played, Shauna hastily stuffed the appendage into her mouth. Naturally, witnessing the teen mom-to-be eat her best friend left Twitter in shambles.

Some found the whole idea that Shauna was carrying on conversations with an ice mummy unsettling (to say the least).

Others used humor to cope.

Some defended Shauna’s choice of a midnight snack. (Hey, pregnancy cravings are real!)

While others perceptively pointed out that the whole cannibalism thing was just Shauna’s guilt manifesting in the worst way possible.

But this comment brought up a point we were wondering about all episode. The pregnant girl on your high school soccer team barricaded herself in the meat shed in the dead of winter to have a kiki with her popsicle-ized best friend, and not one of these teens had the urge to eavesdrop on those conversations? This might be the most unbelievable plotline of Yellowjackets thus far.

The Kid Laroi has kept relatively quiet about his upcoming debut album, The First Time, but he has enough hits under his belt for a promising tour. Last week, the Australian rapper and singer kicked off his Bleed For You tour.

So far during the Bleed For You tour, The Kid Laroi has performed several songs from his F*ck Love mixtape series, as well as songs from the upcoming album. Among the songs performed are the viral TikTok hits “Without You” and “Stay,” as well as some of the newer songs, like “Kids Are Growing Up” and “I Can’t Go Back To The Way It Was (Intro).”

You can see the setlist (per Setlist.fm) below, as well as the remaining dates of the Bleed For You tour.

Setlist

1. “I Can’t Go Back To The Way It Was (Intro)”
2. “Let Her Go”
3. “Diva”
4. “Same Energy”
5. “Thousand Miles”
6. “Go”
7. “What Just Happened”
8. “Kids Are Growing Up”
9. “So Done”
10. “Tragic”
11. “Wrong”
12. “Tell Me Why”
13. “F*ck You, Goodbye”
14. “Always Do”
15. “Selfish”
16. “Stay”

Remaining tour dates

03/27 — State College, PA @ Bryce Jordan Center
03/28 — Columbus, OH @ Schottenstein Center
03/29 — Ypsilanti, MI @ EMU George Gervin GameAbove Center
03/31 — Lexington, KY @ Rupp Arena*
04/01 — Charlottesville, VA @ John Paul Jones Arena
04/02 — Columbia, SC @ Colonial Life Arena
04/04 — Tallahassee, FL @ Donald L Tucker Civic Center
04/05 — Knoxville, TN @ Thompson-Boling Arena
04/07 — Madison, WI @ Alliant Energy Center
04/08 — Coralville, IA @ Xtream Arena
04/15 — Indio, CA @ Coachella*
04/22 — Indio, CA @ Coachella*
04/26 — Boise, ID @ Extra Mile Arena
04/28 — Loveland, CO @ Budweiser Events Center
04/30 — Oklahoma City, OK @ Paycom Center
05/02 — Springfield, MO @ Great Southern Bank Arena
05/03 — Champaign, IL @ State Farm Center

After months of speculation, Fast X star Brie Larson has confirmed which Fast and Furious character she has a “very strong” connection to.

“Tess is Mr. Nobody’s daughter,” she told Total Film. “She is technically Agency, but she’s kind of a bridge, in a way. She doesn’t go along with the way that the Agency’s headed now that her father isn’t there. She believes in the legacy that her father set up, which is standing with Dom and standing with the Toretto family, and is fighting for that.”

Mr. Nobody is played by Kurt Russell, who may or may not be dead. Not Kurt Russell. I hope Kurt Russell never dies. Mr. Nobody might be dead, which would also be a shame because, as we learned in F9, he helped save Han.

The Oscar-winning actress continued, “Dom knows that she has a strong mind and definitely respects that she’s gone out of her way to talk to him and wants to build trust. What he asks of Tess is a test. Like, if it’s an impossible task, and she can get it done, then that’s family for life.” Not to be confused with Vin Diesel’s actual family, like his daughter who Larson based her character on.

Fast X opens on May 19

(Via Total Film)

Regardless of what spirits you enjoy drinking, there are big names that dominate advertising and the space at your local liquor store or wherever you buy booze. But for all the big names, there are myriad countless smaller, lesser-known brands flying under the radar. This is true for whiskey, rum, tequila, gin, and definitely vodka. Today, we’re going to take a closer look at the underappreciated and unknown world of that latter spirit.

Part of the appeal of vodka is the belief (inaccurately) that it has no taste. We say appeal because people enjoy using largely flavorless vodkas to use as a base for a cocktail in which other flavors and ingredients will shine. And while this is true that vodka (more than any other spirit) sits back and lets the other ingredients do the heavy lifting, to say that there are no nuanced, well-made, flavorful vodkas is just plain wrong.

To find these proverbial booze-soaked diamonds in the rough, we turned to the experts for help. We asked a handful of well-known bartenders to tell us the best under-the-radar vodkas you should be drinking right now.

Polugar Single Malt Rye Vodka

Daniel Beedle, assistant director of food and beverage at The Forum Hotel in Charlottesville, Virginia

ABV: 38.5%

Average Price: $150

The Vodka:

Polugar Single Malt Rye Vodka. A true historically tasting vodka. This would be way closer to what you would have had as a vodka before the large modern machinery and distillation techniques were created. This is alembic distillation – the same as you might find with cognac – which allows for the base material to be fully expressed. Very little rectification is needed and as a result, the vodka is very smooth and unctuous. There are no traces of fusel alcohols present as its produced for quality, not quantity – very little of the head and the tail of the distillation process is used.

Tasting Notes:

When you rub some on your hands the scent of fresh bread wafts upward. Rye naturally has a lot of volatile oils that carry over in the distillation process. Think Stoli (also Rye) it’s thick and textured. This goes many steps beyond and is more like a bread wine. It’s great for martinis and is also the perfect partner for oily olives.

Drumshanbo Sausage Tree Pure Irish Vodka

Cosimo Bruno, beverage curator at the Daxton Hotel in Birmingham, Michigan

ABV: 43%

Average Price: $30

The Vodka:

If you are looking for a vodka that is under the radar, you must try Drumshanbo Sausage Tree Pure Irish Vodka. This latest spirit from the Shed Distillery was born in search of creating ‘nature’s purest tasting vodka’ and delightfully combines the majestic Kigelia Africana plant (the ‘Sausage Tree’) with the wild Irish nettle. The result is unlike any other vodka I’ve tasted. The slow distillation process with the Sausage Tree fruit, Irish grain, and wild Irish nettle are unique and have created a smooth aroma with hints of fruit that you don’t often find.

Tasting Notes:

On the palate, this vodka is refined, and smooth, and leaves you savoring some soft fruity, and herbal notes. Sausage Tree Vodka with soda and an orange wedge is perfectly refreshing down to the last sip.

Amass Botanic Vodka

Jared Kelly, head bartender at Merchants Cigar Bar in New York City

ABV: 40%

Average Price: $35

The Vodka:

I enjoy all of the products by Amass spirits, which is far more under the radar than it should be. The team behind their spirits put a lot of care and effort into the process, and their Botanic Vodka might be one of the best I’ve tasted as someone who prefers other spirits. High-level distillers make it with input from high-level bartenders to ensure the product tastes good and can be mixed well.

Tasting Notes:

This wheat-based vodka has a big citrus nose and a grassy, herbal, lemon zest, and floral palate perfect for sipping neat or in a cocktail.

ALB Vodka

Terence Tubridy, managing partner at The Rockaway Hotel + Spa in New York City

ABV: 40%

Average Price: $26 for a liter

The Vodka:

An under-the-radar Vodka that I particularly enjoy is Albany Vodka or otherwise known as ALB vodka, due to its clean and smooth finish. Produced in NY State and owned locally in Rockaway, the product is priced accordingly and can be found in the bar wells of many NYC institutions such as Cipriani and Balthazar.

Tasting Notes:

It’s crisp, very clean, and sweet with cereal grains, corn, vanilla beans, and mint. It’s great on its own and shines in a cocktail.

Boyd & Blair Potato Vodka

Brandon Ristaino, co-founder and beverage director at Good Lion Hospitality in Santa Barbara, California

ABV: 40%

Average Price: $35

The Vodka:

An under-the-radar-vodka that we really enjoy is Boyd & Blair Potato Vodka, distilled in Glenshaw, Pennsylvania. It’s a unique vodka that can be consumed neat, chilled, or in a lightly modified cocktail a la a classic dry martini. We had a regular that would ask for it as a base to an old fashioned. It’s definitely not traditional, but super tasting at a great price.

Tasting Notes:

It’s definitely not a neutral vodka, this 100% potato vodka is soft, creamy, and has a bit of fruit and vanilla on the palate.

Monopolowa Vodka

Nicholas Perdue, beverage director at Art Ovation Hotel and Tzeva in Sarasota, Florida

ABV: 40%

Average Price: $15

The Vodka:

In my view, vodka should exhibit two things. One, it should have character. You don’t want to be tasting a dentist’s office when you’re knocking back copious amounts with a pile of sumptuous caviar or sausage dumplings at dinner with your Babu. Two, it should be adaptable. Can we mix a great ginger cosmo with it? Is it too strong for an Arnie Palmer? If you drink it in a martini or on ice, will you make ‘that face’ and scare everyone at the bar? Vodka has to be its own spirit but also has to play well with others. That’s something we don’t demand from every bottle on the shelf, but with Vodka it’s a must for me. That’s why I like the Polish brand, Monopolowa.

Tasting Notes:

It’s distilled from potatoes so it’s soft and rosy – and seriously I mean roses, take a whiff and enjoy that dainty, floral nose. It’s 40% ABV on average so you aren’t retching after a few, and its price point has been consistently spectacular for both cost sheets and retail purchasers. Now made in Austria, it’s still one of my favorites – it’s a sippable, delicate, completely underrated brand that is great for every occasion.

Haku Vodka

Alex Cuper, bartender at El Che Steakhouse & Bar in Chicago

ABV: 40%

Average Price: $30

The Vodka:

My favorite, under-the-radar vodka is Haku Vodka. It is a vodka made with white rice that comes out so clean and pure but has the most amazing texture to the vodka itself. Rice has been used in commercial beer production to help purify and ‘clean’ the beer to make it crushable (think Budweiser). The texture is the thing that sets this apart from most vodkas for me.

Tasting Notes:

While it is incredibly clean and vibrant it still maintains a plush texture that adds body and weight to cocktails without adding flavor or the gross alcohol quality that certain vodkas have. Admittedly, I am a sucker for a Moscow mule, a cocktail that is meant to be spicy and bright. I don’t want the flavor to influence this drink, but I do think they can be very lean sometimes, and having Haku Vodka in it just adds that little bit of something. Think salt on a plate of food that isn’t quite there, but you can’t put your finger on why you don’t like it. I also think this characteristic makes it a perfect vodka for a Vesper, arguably the best Martini, says James Bond.

Bolden Vodka

Nicholas Karel, director of bars, lounges, and beverage at The Windsor Court in New Orleans

ABV: 40%

Average Price: $25

The Vodka:

My favorite under-the-radar vodka is Bolden Vodka, named after one of the earliest figures in Jazz Music, Buddy Bolden, and is distilled by Porchjam Spirits in New Orleans. It is unique and notable in that it is column distilled from a mix of malted barley and a winter wheat blend. Whereas most vodkas these days are created with the intention of being essentially flavorless by distilling several times from neutral grains, Bolden bucks that trend by going through one distillation using robust grains, resulting in a vodka that is full of flavor and character.

Tasting Notes:

I get notes of chocolate, malt, and a finish of banana, with a light sweetness and a rich, creamy mouthfeel that continues to linger long after the sip. One cocktail I’ve used it in was a twist on a Parkside Fizz, mixing it with an Orgeat made with local honey, fresh lemon juice, and topped with soda. My favorite way to enjoy it however is neat, savoring each sip, which is something I am rarely able to say about a vodka.

Hanson of Sonoma Organic Original Vodka

Roderick Palamountain, bartender at Chart Room Bar in Key West, Florida

ABV: 40%

Average Price: $30

The Vodka:

Hanson of Sonoma Organic Original Vodka is the best under the radar vodka I’ve seen in a while. The grape fusion adds a unique note of flavor and the fact that it’s grape infused is different than all other vodkas. It’s made in small batches, using only organic ingredients. This is a special, must-try vodka.

Tasting Notes:

This sublimely mellow, easy-drinking vodka is surprisingly fruity with stone fruits, ripe berries, vanilla, and gentle spices on the palate.

Wódka Vodka

Jim Wrigley, beverage manager at Kimpton Seafire Resort + Spa in Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands

ABV: 40%

Average Price: $15 for a liter

The Vodka:

I’m going to throw it out there that Polish rye is the one everyone misses out on, with their Scandinavian, French, or Dutch wheat fascination. To define why this style is the ‘best’ I have one example that we work with – Wódka. It’s bang for your buck, the best all-around vodka on the market. Fact. Wodka is substantially cheaper than many premium vodkas (and the bottle is clear and normal-sized), but the flavorful liquid is also made traditionally with Dankowskie rye from one of the oldest rye growing regions in Poland.

Tasting Notes:

Wódka packs a flavorful punch, whilst remaining easy to drink with a great mouthfeel. The more traditional rye notes of white and black pepper with toasted rye bread pervade the nose through the palate to the finish and make it an excellent vodka for most cocktails.