When it bowed in 2020, HBO Max got off to a rocky start. Hell, it had a rocky first several months: Warner Bros.’ big streamer wasn’t even available to stream on Roku until late December of that year. But once it worked out the kinks, it distinguished itself as arguably the finest mainstream streaming service. The glory days didn’t last, though, and not only is it now missing some of what were its best treasures, but it’s also now got a new, confusion-brewing name. That what’s got it trolled by some of the competition.
I know you’re all very disappointed, but I will *not* be dropping the first half of my name any time soon
On Tuesday, HBO Max was officially rechristened as simply Max. Suddenly subscribers had to update their app or, if they’re streaming on their computer, start going to a new url. There were some outage problems. And there was Peacock, NBC Universal’s own chaotic streamer, using the occasion to make a dirty joke: “I know you’re all very disappointed, but I will *not* be dropping the first half of my name any time soon.”
It’s a good joke, racy in a way that won’t get the Twitter team in trouble, and just punchy enough against Warner Bros. Discovery that it draws some blood.
It’s not the only time in the last couple of days that the company has drawn ridicule: Current honcho David Zaslav got loudly and repeatedly booed while giving a college commencement speech amidst the WGA strike. Or maybe they were mad that he effectively deleted the almost completed Batgirl.
It looks like things are still not settled. According to TMZ, Gap has a $2 million lawsuit against West. Gap is being sued by Art City Center, who claim to own a building in Los Angeles that Gap leased as a storefront for Yeezy Gap products. Art City Center allege that unapproved alterations transpired at the property in 2021 and 2022 and are suing to restore the premises. As a result, Gap is apparently suing West.
Upon terminating their partnership with West, Gap representatives wrote in an official statement, “Our former partner’s recent remarks and behavior further underscore why we are taking immediate steps to remove Yeezy Gap product from our stores and we have shut down [the Yeezy Gap site]. Antisemitism, racism, and hate in any form are inexcusable and not tolerated in accordance with our values. On behalf of our customers, employees, and shareholders, we are partnering with organizations that combat hate and discrimination.”
Arlo Parks is one of the most important indie acts right now. She received two Grammy nominations at age 21 in 2021. That same year, she won the 2021 Mercury Prize for her debut album Collapsed In Sunbeams. It’s safe to say her sophomore album is highly anticipated. My Soft Machine was announced in January and there’ve been many previews of it since then. Check out key details about the record below to prepare.
Release Date
My Soft Machine is out 5/26 via Transgressive. Find more information here.
Tracklist
Along with the announcement of the LP, Parks unveiled the 12-song tracklist. See it below.
The only feature on this album is quite a memorable one: Phoebe Bridgers on the track “Pegasus,” which is out now as a single.
Singles
There are four singles out now: “Weightless,” “Impurities,” “Blades,” and “Pegasus” with Phoebe Bridgers. About the latter, Parks explained on Instagram, “This song is about the purity and rarity of true love, that feeling of solidity, of finding a real home in another human being, of wanting to be better with/for someone but being held as you are.” She added, “The video captures that frenetic joy and energy – the barren backdrop of the desert, finding relief and color after a long time of being alone.”
More Details
Parks shared a lengthy statement about what went into the making of My Soft Machine:
“The world/our view of it is peppered by the biggest things we experience — our traumas, upbringing, vulnerabilities almost like visual snow. This record is life through my lens, through my body — the mid-20s anxiety, the substance abuse of friends around me, the viscera of being in love for the first time, navigating PTSD and grief and self-sabotage and joy, moving through worlds with wonder and sensitivity — what it’s like to be trapped in this particular body. There is a quote from a Joanna Hogg film called The Souvenir, it’s an A24 semi-autobiographical film with Tilda Swinton — it recounts a young film student falling in love with an older, charismatic man then being drawn into his addiction — in an early scene he’s explaining why people watch films — ‘we don’t want to see life as it is played out we want to see life as it is experienced in this soft machine.’ So there we have it… My Soft Machine.”
For weeks, the Senate has been gripped with the sad, strange story of Dianne Feinstein. The chamber’s oldest member, who turns 90 next month, was absent from her duties for two-and-a-half months due to an illness. When she returned, her colleagues expressed concern for her, questioning her physical and mental abilities. Feinstein has remained adamant that she stay on the job, despite alarming memory lapses (that aren’t new). But if she winds up being replaced, it may be by one of the most famous people on earth.
TheAssociated Press has a new piece about how California governor Gavin Newsom may have to find someone to replace Feinstein should she resign. Amongst powerful circles, names have already been floated. Some are obscure. Some are decidedly not. One of them (in a bit teased out by The Daily Beast) is no less than Oprah Winfrey, who has long been a powerful cultural and even political force but has never held elected office.
In the past Newsom — who ignored calls to replace Kamala Harris, as she headed for the White House, with another Black woman, instead choosing the state’s first Latino senator, Alex Padilla — has vowed that he would select a Black woman to sub in for Feinstein. So perhaps the daytime talk show legend may wind up heading for Congress.
Feinstein returned Congress on May 10 and her frail appearance and concerning interviews with reporters — including claiming that she’d been working on Capitol Hill during her absence — amplified calls for her to resign. But Feinstein, who describes herself as stubborn, has shown no signs that she will.
Dua Lipa revealed last September that she had a lot on the way. “As I’m writing my new album, I feel even more liberated in a completely different way,” she said, adding she was “even more in control than I thought.” Last month, it was announced that she would be appearing in the new Barbie movie as a mermaid. It was also rumored she would be doing the theme song.
On Monday, May 22, she teased a new song for the Barbie movie called “Dance The Night.” In a clip, she wears glamorous pink high heels and blows a kiss at the camera as the catchy track twinkles in the background. The caption reads, “This Barbie has a song coming this week… FRIDAY MIDNIGHT BST,” meaning it’ll arrive on May 26.
In December of last year, she shared updates on her new album. “Well, when I was speaking to Elton [John], I really felt like I was halfway done,” she said. “But it’s taken a complete turn as I’ve carried on working, and I really feel now that it’s starting to sound cohesive. So I’m going to keep writing in the early months of the new year and see where that takes me.”
Barbie opens on July 21, 2023.
Dua Lipa is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
The NBA on TNT guys got to use Tuesday evening as an opportunity to celebrate Stephen Curry. Prior to Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals between the Miami Heat and the Boston Celtics which serves as an opportunity for the Heat to punch their ticket to the NBA Finals, Curry appeared on TNT in recognition of his being named the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Social Justice Champion by the league earlier in the day.
It was the kind of interview you expect — some talk of Curry’s efforts in the community, a little ball talk, all that. But slid into all of this was a moment between Curry and Shaquille O’Neal, who has said for years that Curry is his favorite player. Shaq dropped a line in here that got Curry to start busting out laughing, but unlike a lot of the funny lines we get out of the Inside the NBA crew, only Curry and Shaq laughed.
Our hunch on what happened here: Curry and Shaq had a sponsorship deal where they did a commercial together with the now-bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX, and in the aftermath of things going haywire, a number of celebrities who were linked to FTX were hit with a high-profile lawsuit that, per the New York Post, accused them of “engaging in deceptive practices to sell FTX yield-bearing digital currency accounts.” Curry and Shaq are among the celebrities involved, but Shaq has allegedly been evading efforts to serve him. Perhaps we are wrong on this one and this is not an FTX-related laugh, but regardless, Curry found the whole thing extremely funny.
It’s a Wednesday night. You’re finally home from work or class and really feeling the stress of mid-week burnout. The last thing you want to do is cook an elaborate meal. So what do you do? If you’re anything like me, you dig in your freezer for old faithful: a frozen dinner from Trader Joe’s.
Although I’ve become quite the home cook over the past few years, sometimes I’m just not in the mood to stand in front of the stove for more than 10 minutes. Fortunately, there are plenty of satisfying options in the TJ’s freezer section that help get dinner done in a pinch — not to mention that they taste good (er…some of them). Bonus: the grocery chain has a plethora of vegetarian and vegan options now, so even the folks who aren’t interested in Mandarin orange chicken can still find a quick, healthy, and delicious fix.
The options for frozen dinners at Trader Joe’s are as lengthy as the checkout line — they’re also wildly irregular, with certain options proving incredibly region specific. So I decided to whittle down the best ten, all pretty ubiquitous nation-wide, and rank them. Bon appetit!
10. Asian Style Vegetables with Stir Fry Sauce
Trader Joe
Price: $3.69
If your vegetable situation needs an upgrade, TJ’s has a solution that hits every time: stir-fry veggies in a kinda-sorta sweet and tangy, delectable soy sauce.
This is a no-fuss dinner that cooks up in about 11 minutes. It leans on the healthier side, packed with vegetables like sugar snap peas, broccoli, baby corn, green beans, water chestnuts, red bell peppers, carrots, and mushrooms. However, the best feature of the dish lies in the thick and syrupy sauce comprised of a blend of soy and hoisin sauce.
I like to sauté this dish in a skillet on medium-high heat as instructed on the package, but even if you throw it in the microwave, the veggies retain a snappy crunch while the sauce acts like a flavorful coating.
BOTTOM LINE:
It’s a simple dish but a great option when you’re looking to veg out. If you want to make it a bit more of a complete meal, throw the veggie stir-fry atop a bowl of rice or noodles.
9. Cuban Style Citrus Garlic Bowl
Uproxx/Janice Williams
Price: $3.99
Soft fluffy rice. Pearly black beans. Mashed plantains. Dark, juicy chicken thigh chunks. Sound good? Great! Now combine all that in a bowl with crushed garlic and minced ginger, then give the whole thing a good squeeze of zesty, fresh lime. That’s exactly what this bowl is.
The citrus flavor is the star here. It’s intense, and it’s present in every single bite of this bowl. But it acts more like the great harmonizer, helping all the individual flavors of the dish meld together so that you taste a little bit of everything, all at once, with every forkful.
It doesn’t necessarily taste like anything you may eat in Cuba. I can’t recall ever seeing anything similar on menus when I visited the country in 2017. But it’s good nonetheless and evokes a zesty, tropical, hearty profile that kind of matches the overall vibe of a night in Havana.
BOTTOM LINE:
Save yourself the time and throw this thing in the microwave. It’s ready for eating in about eight minutes.
8. Riced Cauliflower Stir Fry
My Everyday Table
Price: $3.79
What’s not to love about cauliflower rice? It’s like eating little toothsome beads of carbs that are actually good for you. A food source that manages to remain both tasty and high in nutritional value — Trader Joe’s Riced Cauliflower Stir Fry is both of those things and more. It’s the perfect answer for those nights when you want something healthy but don’t have the time or energy to chop up vegetables.
Speaking of veggies, this dish is loaded with them. Green peas, red bell peppers, and spring onion are mixed in with little pearls of riced cauliflower, and it all gets a heaping of flavor provided by a savoy Tamara sauce and sesame oil that gives it a nutty complexity.
This dish is also gorgeous on the plate. The vibrant color of the added vegetables stands out like a whimsical painting against the soft, chewy nibbles of white cauliflower. And it all comes together in a matter of minutes.
BOTTOM LINE:
Pour the bag into a skillet along with two tablespoons of olive oil, and after a few stirs, it all comes together in about seven minutes. Probably the easiest and fastest dish in the game.
7. Garlicky Pasta
Uproxx/Janice Williams
Price: $3.99
Sometimes the mood calls for simplicity. That’s when Trader Joe’s Garlicky Pasta comes in handy.
The dish is as simple as it sounds. It’s basically a pile of pasta noodles cooked in a light, creamy garlic sauce. I was expecting the garlic flavor of this dish to be overpowering, considering that it’s essentially the stand-out ingredient here. However, that’s not the case. It’s just enough zingy garlic to give the silky noodles a rich feel on the palate. But overall, the dish is pretty light and easygoing.
This is filling as a standalone dish, but it’s also fun to jazz up when you want pasta with a little more pizazz. Throw in some chicken breast meat or shrimp for added protein, or merely a few snips of basil and Parmesan flakes, and you’ve got a fancy weeknight meal that comes together in about eight minutes.
6. Cacio E Pepe Gnocchi
Uproxx/Janice Williams
Price: $3.39
The frozen gnocchi dishes at Trader Joe’s have a cult following. Seriously, people love all versions of this dish, whether it be the traditional doughy balls of gnocchi, kale-flavored gnocchi, or the gnocchi made with sweet potatoes. So naturally, when fans found out about Trader Joe’s newest addition to the gnocchi roster — the Cacio E Peppe Gnocchi, released in July 2022 — they freaked out.
And who could blame them? This gnocchi dish may be the best one yet.
The gnocchi cooks in a rich, creamy sauce made of Provolone and Romano cheeses. I won’t front, the texture of the gnocchi is a bit mushier than I was expecting, but in this instance, it’s O.K. The decadent globs of dough hold up to a ton of flavor. The piquant, velvety cheese sauce intertwines with gnocchi perfectly — it’s like the two become one and integrate even further with every chew. And while that all sounds luxurious and lovely, whole peppercorns come in to amplify the flavor.
BOTTOM LINE:
It’s tangy. It’s spicy. It’s intense. And it’s very filling.
5. Mandarin Orange Chicken
Uproxx/Janice Williams
Price: 4:99
Now here’s a Trader Joe’s fan favorite that has stood the test of time. It’s been available at the grocer for years now, and it’s still one of the best meat-centric dishes in the freezer aisle.
Chunks of lightly breaded chicken thighs are caramelized in what’s supposed to be a sweet and spicy orange sauce, but the sauce here is zestier with citrusy, orange marmalade and orange peel nuances than it is pungent in the sense of heat. The chicken cooks separately, allowing it to reach a crispy texture, which remains after adding the sauce. This gives the meat a nice sticky crunch on the outside while the inside stays juicy and tender.
It’s sweet and savory all at the same time and serves as the perfect main dish for a quick dinner.
BOTTOM LINE:
Serve it with a side of rice, veggies, or both for a complete, simple, yet entirely delicious meal.
For a fast and solid pizza night, look no further. Trader Joe’s Wood Fired pizza hits the spot when all you need in your life is good dough, tomato sauce, cheese, and a few pepperonis.
The crust is crispy and slightly charred on the outside edges, but the bottom of the one I made was still a tad bit chewy. This may be because I didn’t put the pizza directly on my oven rack as the cooking directions instructed, but if you saw the inside of my oven, you probably wouldn’t have done it either (don’t worry, I’m gathering the strength to clean it out soon).
Crust aside, this is a good pizza, and you can tell that it’s made with quality ingredients. The tomato sauce is tangy with condensed tomato flavor and bright acidity that rounds out by the real mozzarella cheese covering the top of the pie.
BOTTOM LINE:
The pepperoni is more on the mild side, but the edges crisp up perfectly in the oven, giving the pizza an enjoyable chewy, meaty character.
3. Mildly Sweet & Spicy Beef & Broccoli
Uproxx/Janice Williams
Price: $7.99
Keeping Trader Joe’s Beef & Broccoli on hand is a good idea for when those Chinese takeout cravings kick in. This frozen dish is just as good as the real thing, and it’s a much healthier option, too — there are only about 230 calories per serving in a six-serving bag.
So what does it taste like? For starters, the broccoli is fresh and crunchy, even after being in the freezer and reheated. And it compliments the texture of the chewy beef, while both ingredients soak up the intensely flavorful sweet and spicy sauce. However, it’s worth noting that the heat level on the sauce feels a bit higher than mild. It’s not tongue-searing hot by any means, but it definitely has a kick that comes in after the light, soy-based sweetness.
What makes this dish even better is the large portion of meat. Unlike some meat-and-vegetable items at Trader Joe’s — like the shrimp stir fry with four measly translucent and tiny shrimp inside — this frozen dinner has a ratio of beef to broccoli that is significantly higher with meat. I almost found myself wishing there was more broccoli available.
BOTTOM LINE:
This is another frozen dinner that would serve as a great main dish option alongside a simple bowl of rice. And it’s straightforward to make. All you have to do is dump the beef and broccoli in a skillet or wok and cook for about 10 to 12 minutes, and it’s good to go.
2. Beef Birria
Uproxx/Janice Williams
Price: $7.99
I knew that I was going to really enjoy Trader Joe’s Beef Birria before I took my first bite. First of all, the aroma was incredible. Reheating this frozen dish had my whole kitchen smelling like chilies, spices, and slow-cooked beef. But man, oh man, I was not prepared for the flavor bomb that awaited my tastebuds when I finally did get around to eating the thing.
The beef is tender and moist — it easily pulls apart with a fork. The meat is infused with a sauce made of tomatoes, chilies, a blend of Mexican spices, and onions. The end result is a highly flavorful beef dish that feels more like a stew. The consistency is thicker than the traditional brothy Birria, but it’s delicious.
BOTTOM LINE:
Chop up an onion and cilantro and put it all together in a corn tortilla for a taco, or pour the stew over a bed of rice. This dish is so good that you really can’t go wrong.
1. Thai Shrimp Gyoza
Uproxx/Janice Williams
Price: $5.49
If there’s one thing we love about Trader Joe’s, it’s the consistency of its products. One dish that truly showcases that is the Thai Shrimp Gyoza, which has been a staple at the grocery store since… forever. Aside from the fact that these little gyozas are absolutely slamming, they haven’t changed over the years. The way they taste today is exactly how they tasted five years ago, and there aren’t many grocery store foods we can say the same about.
A light dough casing is stuffed with shrimp, white cabbage, chives, scallions, and garlic. The ingredients work together like a beautiful symphony, providing every bite with ample flavor and a sweet essence of ginger.
Another great feature of Trader Joe’s Gyoza is that there are various ways to cook them. Steam them, pan fry them, cook them in your air-fryer. Hell, you can throw them in the microwave for a few minutes, and they’d still taste good.
BOTTOM LINE:
No matter the method, these tasty treats are ready to eat in about 10 minutes. They’re iconic and they’ve endured for a reason.
Back in 2020, amidst [deep sight] all that, the world was hit with yet more bad news: Jeff Bridges had cancer. At the time he made the news public, he was cautiously optimistic. By the following year, after chemotherapy, the disease had gone into remission…only for him to catch COVID. But he soldiered on and in a new interview, he says the tumor he contracted is all but gone.
Bridges spoke about his health — and many other things, as he’s described as a “talker” — with AARP. He recalled the early days of 2020, before his show The Old Man went on pandemic break, and how he was “doing those fight scenes for the first episode” unaware that he “had a 9-by-12-inch tumor in my body.”
That sizeable tumor? Now it’s not so big. He says it’s shrunk “to the size of a marble.”
COVID recovery, as he’s discussed before, was very difficult, due to his cancer treatment. “I had no immune system to fight it. Chemo had wiped that out, which made it really, really tough,” he recalled. “For me, cancer was nothing compared to the Covid.”
Bridges wound up spending five months in the hospital recovering from his COVID bout.
“I couldn’t understand how you’d fight it. So I fought by surrendering, which is not the same as giving up,” Bridges said. “What I really felt at the time was love. Love was certainly magnified for me during this time. Not only from the people around me, but also the love in my own heart for them. So what I did was more like giving in to love, you know?”
Luckily he had a cheerleader. “My wife Sue was my absolute champion,” he declared. Sue, too, caught COVID at the same time, but she was only in the hospital for a week. She returned to monitor his recovery. “She really fought to keep me off a ventilator,” he says. “I didn’t want to be on it, and the doctors didn’t necessarily want that. But Sue was adamant.”
And now he’s feeling well again, and is off shooting Season 2 of The Old Man. Like the Dude, Jeff Bridges abides.
On Monday, May 22’s episode of Dax Shepard’s podcast Armchair Expert, another ex, Joe Jonas, made a brief statement about their relationship, which happened in 2008. “I’m cool with Taylor,” the Jonas brother said. “We’re cool.” He then mentioned her fan. “I hope to think they like me … No one f*cks with the Swifties, you know?”
Swift and Jonas have appeared to be on good terms. In June of 2021, he was asked in an interview, “If you could re-record any song from the Jonas Brothers catalogue, which one would you choose and why?” He responded with praise of Swift, saying, “ I think I would probably re-record our entire first album. Just do something like what Taylor did recently, which I thought was really clever.”
Earlier this month, the “Anti-Hero” singer announced that Speak Now is the next LP to be released as a re-recording. It arrives on July 7.
Donald Trump has gone through a lot of lawyers over the decades, some of whom have turned on him but good. His latest team must be ready to throttle him. On Monday, E. Jean Carroll’s legal team filed another defamation lawsuit against Donald Trump after he defamed the day after a jury found him guilty of…defamation and sexual misconduct. How did Trump react? Well, by defaming her again, of course.
As per Raw Story, Trump once again grabbed his phone — which his lawyers no doubt wish they could confiscate — to repeat the same lines that have already gotten him sued twice.
“I don’t know E. Jean Carroll, I never met her or touched her (except on a celebrity line with her African American husband who she disgustingly called the ‘Ape,),” Trump wrote. “I wouldn’t want to know or touch her, I never abused her or raped her or took her to a dressing room 25 years ago in a crowded department store where the doors are LOCKED, she has no idea when, or did anything else to her, except deny her Fake, Made Up Story, that she wrote in a book. IT NEVER HAPPENED, IS A TOTAL SCAM, UNFAIR TRIAL!”
He wasn’t done:
“The Carroll case is part of the Democrats playbook to tarnish my name and person, much like the now fully debunked Russia, Russia, Russia Hoax, the 51 Intelligence Agents, FBI/Twitter Files, and so much more. It is being funded and tried by Democrat operatives, although this was denied by them, and when they got caught in the lie, the Clinton appointed judge would not let us use it in trial. Time will prove him to be highly partisan & very unfair. Where’s the dress she said she had?”
This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. Cookie settingsACCEPT
Privacy & Cookies Policy
Privacy Overview
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
