Nicki Minaj answered some fan questions on Twitter, particularly if she would ever jump into the studio to collaborate with Taylor Swift. The answer was, obviously, yes, as Minaj didn’t hesitate to shower Swift with praise.
She responded that she would love to work with her “in a heartbeat.”
“The QUEEN TAYLOR DESERVES!!!! PERIOD!!!!!” Minaj wrote in a separate tweet. “She takes months & years off then comes back with great music & fans who’ll never leave her!!!!”
The SAG QUEEN TAYLOR DESERVES!!!! PERIOD!!!!!
She takes months & years off then comes back with great music & fans who’ll never leave her!!!!
The END!!!!!!!
I was simply discussing vinyls w/the barbz due to questions they had for me…
“The point is that we have something to aspire to as we watch the SAG QUEEN Taylor & the swifties & Republic Records,” she added, as she also discussed her own vinyl sales.
This is a CELEBRATION!!!!!
I’m about to thank each & every artist on this album.
But!!!!
The point is that we have something to aspire to as we watch the SAG QUEEN Taylor & the swifties & Republic Records.
Except for a brief 2015 feud, Swift and Minaj have been longtime friends. When the rapper dropped her song “Super Bass” years ago, as she was just getting started, Swift gave it a boost in listeners by promoting it.
A few months ago, fans had speculated if the two were actually working on music together for Swift’s 1989 (Taylor’s Version). The theories started after Swift included the word “Sagittarius” in her puzzle on Google, which was tied to the album. Considering the two both share the same star sign, it seemed like a possibility.
“That’s my favorite Sagittarius over there,” Swift also described about Minaj at this year’s Video Music Awards.
Check out Minaj’s recent tweets about her love for Swift above.
YouTube released its list of the most-viewed artists for 2023, and Peso Pluma took this year’s top spot. The musician gained over 8.5 billion views on his music videos across the globe.
“I feel humble and grateful that my music has made it to the top spot on YouTube,” Peso Pluma told The Hollywood Reporter. “A huge thank you to my musicians and team, my fans, everyone at YouTube and all the people who have made this project possible.”
Two of his songs, “Ella Baila Sola” (feat. Eslabón Armado) and “La Bebe (Remix)” (feat. Yng Lvcas), placed in third and fourth on YouTube’s Top 10 Songs in the US for 2023 as well.
According to the publication, “Ella Baila Sola” got a significant boost through TikTok. It broke a ton of records, too. Peso Pluma’s hit became the first regional Mexican song to make it in the Top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at No. 4 on the chart. It also spent 19 weeks on the Hot Latin Songs Chart and is certified 21x Platinum — amounting to 1.26 million in units.
As for the other artists rounding out YouTube’s most-viewed list this year, YoungBoy Never Broke Again, Drake, Bad Bunny, and Taylor Swift were the rest of the Top 5.
Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce have each been showered with cheers (and boos) at countless stadiums in their respective careers, but Kelce was still giddy as a schoolboy when discussing how New England Patriots fans erupted for Swift on Sunday, December 17. The galactic pop star was at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts to support Kelce as his Kansas City Chiefs beat the Pats, 27-17. As is the case everywhere she goes, Swift became the main attraction.
“They showed Taylor at the game,” the All-Pro Chiefs tight end said on this week’s episode of his New Heights podcast with his brother, Philadelphia Eagles All-Pro center Jason Kelce. “You don’t see an entire home team’s fan base go insane for somebody wearing the opposite team’s colors — just shows you how amazing that girl is.”
The two-time Super Bowl champion continued, “They went absolutely insane when they showed Taylor on the screen, yes. There might have been a few Brads and Chads that were booing, but for the most part, everybody was f*cking screaming their tail off for her. And yeah, I was trying to keep it cool. I was like, ‘Don’t show your cards. Don’t show your cards.’ It was fun, man.”
“I don’t know how they know what suite I’m in,” Swift said. “There’s a camera, like, a half-mile away, and you don’t know where it is, and you have no idea when the camera is putting you in the broadcast, so I don’t know if I’m being shown 17 times or once.” She added, “I’m just there to support Travis. I have no awareness of if I’m being shown too much and pissing off a few dads, Brads, and Chads.”
Watch the New Heights episode above. (The Taylor talk begins around the 38-minute mark.)
During the Second Golden Age Of Drew Barrymore Romcoms (2004-2009), there was one Adam Sandler classic (before he tapped into his dramatic side) called 50 First Dates which features Barrymore playing a woman whose memory resets every morning. Through a series of manipulative tactics, slapstick jokes, and a Sean Astin cameo, Sandler gets her to fall in love with him every day. It’s what you would expect. But one of the main plot points of the movie revolves around it taking place in Hawaii, which is why Jason Momoa is getting involved.
Momoa stopped by Drew Barrymore’s talk show/therapy session to regretfully promote his new film Aquaman: The Lost Kingdom when he mentioned that he would love to star in a remake of the movie, which would probably not hold up very well today.
When Barrymore asked which of her movies he would want to star in if he had a choice. “If you were to do a romantic comedy, is there a film — let’s just play a game — is there a rom-com you would ever remake?” Barrymore asked. Momoa replied, “Yeah, maybe 50 More Dates.”
Momoa elaborated, “You need to come back to the islands and meet a Hawaiian man,” he said, to which Barrymore enthusiastically agreed. She asked who he would cast alongside him, and he mysteriously and annoyingly diverted the question. “Well, there’s someone out there, I don’t know if I want to say it but there’s someone out there,” he said. He’s gotta keep the people guessing somehow.
What’s the best bourbon for an old fashioned cocktail? It’s a question as old as time — well… at least it feels like one. And important, too. The quality of bourbon swings drastically — the taste even more so. There are a ton of variables that can make or break a simple and classic old fashioned cocktail. So let’s take a look at which bourbon you should be using to make the best old fashioned possible.
For this exercise, I had to dial in the parameters pretty severely. First and foremost, I couldn’t stack the deck. I know I can make an amazing old fashioned with, say, a Michter’s 10-Year Single Barrel Bourbon or E.H. Taylor Single Barrel Bourbon or Knob Creek 18-Year-Old Bourbon. But those bottles are highly allocated and very price-inflated. So I’ve specifically chosen great bourbons that are ~generally available~ at good liquor stores, in the same price range ($30-$45), very close in ABV (45%-50%), and all classic corn/rye/malted barley Kentucky straight bourbons. There are no special finishing barrels, high or low ABVs, crafty grain bombs, sneaky sourced barrels, wheated bourbons, or random single barrels.
I picked bourbons that I 100% know make a great cocktail and will not overpower with something different in the base.
Four Roses Small Batch Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey — 45% ABV, $30
Heaven Hill Bottled-In-Bond Aged 7 Years Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey — 50% ABV, $47
Next, I kept the recipe identical for each old fashioned I made. The same sugar base, the same number of dashes of bitters, the same orange oils expressed over the top, the same cherry on top, and the same ice for each one. That way there’s no variation besides the bourbon base. It’s the only way to know which bourbon shines the brightest in this cocktail application.
Lastly, all four bourbon old fashioneds were mixed individually but tasted at the same time. As I made the drinks, I kept them in the freezer to preserve them until the tasting. All things being equal, I was truly able to taste and judge these old fashioneds against each other in the best environment. So let’s dive in!
Also Read: The Top Five Cocktail Recipes of the Last Six Months
Part 1 — The Bourbon Old Fashioned Cocktail Recipe
Zach Johnston
Ingredients:
2 oz. bourbon whiskey (plus a splash)
3 dashes of Angostura Bitters
1 barspoon raw sugar
1 barspoon mineral water
1 orange peel
1 cherry
Ice + Large cube for service
Zach Johnston
What You’ll Need:
Lowball glass
Mixing glass
Cocktail strainer
Barspoon
Fruit peeler
Zach Johnston
Method:
Prechill your glass in the freezer.
Add the sugar, water, and bitters to the mixing jug and give it a pre-mix with the spoon until the sugar dissolves.
Add the bourbon and stir it for ten or so seconds to dissolve the sugar.
Add a big handful of ice to the mixing glass and stir for about 20-ish seconds or until the mixing glass is ice-cold to touch.
Fetch the glass from the freezer, add the large cube, and strain the cocktail into the glass.
Express the oils from the orange peel over the cocktail and run the peel around the rim of the glass. Twist the peel and drop it into the ice cube.
Drop in a cherry and serve.
Part 2 — The Bourbon Old Fashioned Tasting
Zach Johnston
4. Four Roses Small Batch Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey (Taste 3)
Zach Johnston
Tasting Notes:
The old fashioned had a nice and fruity nose with a lot of orange with a botanical spice bark vibe. The taste was very easy-going. The bourbon was there but the sweetness seemed to be more present. The spice of the bitters was also dialed back with a fruitier vibe (thanks to the bourbon). The end was very short and the drink sort of disappeared.
Bottom Line:
This was the lightest old fashioned on the tasting panel. It just didn’t have the same bite as the other four. Saying that now, that might actually be what some people are looking for, but I wanted more. This also just didn’t really have a finish.
There was a nice mix of classic old fashioned notes on the nose — bitters, orange, cherry, whiskey. The palate had a nice sense of woody whiskey with a hint of sweet oak and soft sweet winter spice barks. The end was shorter. It just sort of faded away and left you with a woody/sweet vibe.
Bottom Line:
This was a perfectly fine old fashioned. It was short and sweet, which is kind of what most people want from a cocktail like this. The bourbon came through with a nice woody spice that was mellowed by the sugars. I would drink this again if it was handed to me.
2. Heaven Hill Bottled-In-Bond Aged 7 Years Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey (Taste 4)
Zach Johnston
Tasting Notes:
This had a nice boldness to the nose with stewed cherry, a hint of dark chocolate, and dark winter spices with a touch of nuttiness. The taste was bold as well with clear notes of brandied cherries, bright orange oils, botanical spice barks, and deep creamy bourbon. The end lasted a bit and had a nice woody tobacco spice to it with a cherry edge.
Bottom Line:
This a very good old fashioned (the finish isn’t quite as good as the next entry). The overall vibe here was deeply classic and bold old fashioned with a great profile that’s fun and vibrant.
The nose on this one is big with notes of dark cherry pie, orange zest, and dark chocolate all rolled into a winter spice cake with nuts, butter, and a dark earthiness. The palate is a quintessential old fashioned vibe with a deep cherry and dark orange supported by a creamy nuttiness, soft pipe tobacco, and fall leaves next to an old rickhouse on a cold winter’s day. The finish lingered on the senses with a spiced tobacco bite, soft vanilla buttercream, and deep orange cake with plenty of cherry, walnut, and raisin.
Bottom Line:
This is a great old fashioned. It had the clearest flavor profile by far. And then the finish blew the rest of the bourbons out of the water. This old fashioned stuck with you for a minute and juked and jolted around the senses in all the right ways. A delicious cocktail.
Part 3 — Final Thoughts on the Best Bourbon for an Old Fashioned
Zach Johnston
Eagle Rare 10-Year Bourbon is the clear winner for a deeply tasty old fashioned. It just wasn’t close when it came to nuance and depth of flavor with a clear sense of all the elements working in unison.
That all said, if you’re looking for an easy and classic old fashioned, the Heaven Hill BiB version is very good too. If you looking for a woodier version, then try the Michter’s, and if you want super easy, sweet, and fruity, go with the Four Roses.
All that said, if you want the best… it’s Eagle Rare all day.
Wait, drop that Chewy Bar! Spit out that Quaker cereal!
The Quaker Oats Company has just recalled a bunch of products. Okay, sorry, we may have oversold the danger you’re in, but we’re approaching the holiday weekend and we don’t want you to spend it sick to your stomach. You’re welcome.
Quaker Oats has just announced a voluntary recall of its granola bars and granola-based cereals due to a potential Salmonella contamination. The products in question include a variety of different granola bar products under the “Chewy” name, including those found in variety packs, and certain Quaker Oats cereals that have been sold at big box stores throughout all 50 states across the country, including Puerto Rico, Guam, and Spain.
All of the products have “Best By” dates in 2024, so if you’ve picked up any of these Quaker products in your most recent market run, you should dispose of them ASAP.
Luckily, Quaker has not received any confirmed reports of illness related to the products in the recall yet, so don’t make yourself the first.
The full list of products is below, if you’d like to see more specifics regarding the dates or need a visual of the products in question, be sure to hit up Quaker’s press release here.
Quaker Big Chewy Bars Chocolate Chip
Quaker Big Chewy Bars Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip
Quaker Big Chewy Bars Variety Pack
Quaker Chewy Bars and Dipps Variety Pack
Quaker Chewy Bars Chocolate Chip,
Quaker Chewy Bars Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
Quaker Chewy Bars Chocolate Chip Holiday Minis
Quaker Chewy Bars Chocolate Chip Spring Minis
Quaker Chewy Bars Chocolate Chip Valentine Minis
Quaker Chewy Bars Dark Chocolate Chunk
Quaker Chewy Bars Chocolate Chunk
Quaker Chewy Bars Less Sugar Chocolate Chip
Quaker Chewy Bars Less Sugar Cookies& Cream
Quaker Chewy Bars Less Sugar Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip
After years of delay, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is finally arriving in theaters to deliver a sequel to the surprisingly well-received Aquaman. Buoyed by Jason Momoa‘s charisma and bright visuals that leaned into pure comic book fun, the film went on to gross a billion dollars and give the DC Extended Universe a much-needed jolt of energy.
The Lost Kingdom apparently does none of that.
The film’s box office tracking is below sea level, and Momoa isn’t even pretending that his time as the character will continue once The Lost Kingdom finally puts the DCEU out of its misery. Judging by the reviews, the film lacks the fun of its predecessor, and like too much superhero content these days, does nothing to justify its existence.
This run of DC movies had to end eventually, one way or another. And, frankly, it was probably always going to be like this: an overwhelming spectacle of a thing, with a plot that doesn’t really approach coherent, that I’m pretty sure isn’t even finished, in a movie Aquaman gets peed into his mouth three times.
“Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom” is less lyrical and wonderstruck, more battle-ready than “Aquaman” was. To defeat his nemesis, David Kane, a.k.a. Black Manta (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II), the glowering pirate whose face was scarred at the climax of “Aquaman” (he wears a red-eyed helmet that makes him resemble a digital-age version of The Fly), Arthur and his comrades must journey to corrupt kingdoms and dingy mines that look like discarded James Bond sets from the ’70s. They spend most of their time fighting: face to face, spear to spindly CGI monster, trident to trident. Does the 3D heighten the action? Not especially, but the real answer is: Nothing could heighten it.
There was once a time when a film as nakedly terrible as Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom would become its own spectacle. It’d be celebrated, ironically, as another Highlander II: The Quickening or Battlefield Earth – a banquet of nonsense for future inebriated university students to feast on. But the superhero market has thoroughly annihilated that joy. Now, it’s somehow possible to watch Oscar-winner Nicole Kidman straddle a CGI robot-shark and feel… nothing at all.
I can recall a handful of impressively trippy shots, scenes filmed from angles that remind you that these heroes and villains are duking it out underwater. But for the most part Wan sticks to the video-game aesthetic of his first film. Rupert Gregson-Williams returns as composer and his score encourages audiences to feel emotions the story doesn’t actually inspire. Even the actors seem worn out by the ridiculousness of this sequel.
The only actor who seems to be enjoying himself is Momoa (who also receives a “story by” credit), and that’s because he sticks to the hearty, beer-guzzling, motorbike-riding surf-dude persona that is familiar from his interviews and social-media posts. He has plenty of cocky charm, and plenty of mountainous muscle, so if the film had been about him brawling with bikers in a bar, it might have been a hoot. But a film about him throwing a magical trident at computer-generated demons at the bottom of a computer-generated ocean? That just seems like a waste. He’s too earthy to be the king of the sea.
Gone is the Saturday morning cartoon sensibility of the first Aquaman, a fun (if half-baked) undersea romp that went on to gross a billion dollars. Ticket sales are by no means the arbiter of quality, but the tides are clearly turning. When it comes to big IP, mainstream audiences are no longer willing to settle for mediocre output, which would be a kind way to describe The Lost Kingdom.
Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom struggles with inconsistent character portrayal, subpar CGI, and a lack of narrative direction. A crucial aspect of any franchise is its ability to make the audience invested in what’s next. There is none of the care put forth here. This universe is over, why should anyone care? Ultimately, it’s a film that has its moments but ultimately struggles to find its footing in the expansive ocean that is the superhero genre.
“The Lost Kingdom” becomes more and more formulaic as it digs into its mythos, as if the movie were caught between being its own thing and being nothing at all. If only Wan and co. had seen the writing on the wall a little earlier, perhaps they could have found a way to ensure that the DCEU went down in a blaze of glory. Instead, it just sinks to the bottom of the sea, with Aquaman pushing to bring his world to the surface at the same time as Warner Bros. Discovery consigns his entire universe to the ocean floor.
Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom swims into theaters on December 22.
Amazon Prime Video shared the first footage from the film as part of a “What’s Coming To Prime Video In 2024” sizzle reel. In one shot, Gyllenhaal has his shirt off in what appears to be an underground fighting ring. Later, he slaps some fools and sarcastically asks, “I just slapped you, are you alright?” He then proceeds to beat them up. Gyllenhaal’s ex-UFC fighter doesn’t appear to have the same every-man charm as Patrick Swayze’s rules-abiding Dalton, but we’ll find out for sure when Road House comes out on March 21, 2024.
“They’re big shoes to fill, but Patrick was a friend when he was here,” Gyllenhaal told Good Morning America last year about Swayze, who passed away in 2009. “He was always so loving and lovely to me. I take that all to heart in playing the role and there are some things I take from him, but generally we made a whole new movie and I’m really excited about it.”
You can watch the video above, which also includes clips from The Boys, Fallout, and Mr. and Mrs. Smith.
Madonna tried to get into the holiday spirit at her recent show in DC earlier this week, but things did not go so well.
What happened was, the pop star brought out a man dressed as Santa Claus, with the intent of giving him a lap dance. After he sat down in his big red suit, one of Madonna’s dancers tried to climb onto his lap, and both went falling off.
In the video, Santa Claus fell forward on top of Madonna’s backup dancer, before getting up and stepping away to take a breather.
The dancer still kept the show going, showcasing moves from the floor. As for Santa, he was understandably embarrassed, and the moment for any sort of flirty gifts from the dancer passed.
Madonna also kept performing throughout the whole incident, putting her decades of stage training to good use, as she didn’t seem affected at all by what had happened — and kept the concert going for those in attendance.
Thankfully, nobody was hurt by the spicy attempt.
As for Madonna, hopefully she is able to treat the crowd to this choreography (and Santa to his rightfully-earned presents) without any trouble at a future show.
Check out the video of Santa Claus failing to get a lap dance below.
It’s not a good look to brag about your own work. Unfortunately, I am about to have a bad look. I can’t help myself. I wrote the hell out of the following columns and I would like to re-share them for your holiday season reading enjoyment.
1. I really like writing about great albums. But I love writing about bad albums. And one of the most enjoyable reviews I wrote in 2023 was about Måneskin’s ultra-skanky sleaze-rock opus Rush.
2. My favorite concert of 2023 was Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band in March. I wrote about the show and the various emotions and controversies associated with it.
3. I have found that people enjoy my paragraphs more if I put numbers next to them. So, I write a lot of columns in the form of lists. The most popular column of this sort in 2023 was the one I wrote about the best debut albums.
5. A truly bonkers and wonderful movie starring Bob Dylan and called Masked & Anonymous turned 20 this year. I was thrilled to track down the film’s director and co-writer (with Bob), the legendary Larry Charles, and he told me lots of wonderful stories about making it.
6. The National put out two albums this year that were just okay. Then I put together a compilation of the best tracks from those albums and it was awesome. I wrote about it here.
7. The second best concert I saw this year was U2 at the Sphere. (Sorry, I mean just Sphere.) It was quite an experience and I had a blast writing about it.
8. Garth Brooks put out a new album this year that was available only at Bass Pro Shops. My editor asked me to be the first music critic in the world to buy the Garth Brooks album from the Bass Pro Shops. I followed his orders and then wrote about it.
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