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Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson is continuing to exert his dominance as one of the biggest powerhouses in television. The rapper has just added a new unscripted reality series to his rapidly growing list of TV shows. However, this time around, 50 Cent is going outside of Starz where he operates his wildly popular Power franchise. The new series titled, Redemption Ink, will stream on Hulu and will reportedly focus on tattoo artist Luis Gutierrez’s shop where the show gets its name.

Via Deadline:

Redemption Ink follows ex-gang and hate group members at a crossroads in their lives. As a first step toward redemption, these troubled individuals are covering up their gangland tattoos, which stand as constant reminders of their dark and complex histories. While sitting in the chair, they will share their emotional stories with the talented tattoo artists devoted to giving them hope.

According to Deadline, 50 Cent will serve as an executive producer under his G-Unit Film & Television production banner, which has been building up quite the cinematic universe for the rapper. Going back over a decade now, 50 Cent has been consistently producing reality and scripted series with the most successful being Power, which has already sparked several spinoffs and even more in the pipeline.

(Via Deadline)

Even though Barry is about to take his final bow, Bill Hader is still continuing his reign as a goofy comic who manages to date way out of his league with female models and comedians. Much like his protege Pete Davidson. This week, Hader stepped out with rumored girlfriend Ali Wong, seemingly confirming their on-again status after a brief (alleged) breakup.

Hader is notoriously a private person, even though people love to talk about his genitals, but he recently mentioned an unnamed girlfriend who encouraged him to go on vacation. Then, like a beacon of hope, Wong and Hader were seen out and about on a hike that likely mimicked the same first date you had with your high school boyfriend. Page Six has the photos, and look at those smiles! The hand-holding! The Jersey City Recreation tee! You could tell they really like each other by the way Wong is looking at him, even though grey sweatpant season is over. That’s how you know it’s real.

The two comedians were linked together back in 2022 after Wong had split from her husband of eight years. The two drifted apart, only to return back and better than ever on their nature hike, which was on Wong’s birthday.

Wong’s latest series, Beef, recently hit Netflix to rave reviews, while the final season of Barry premiered last week. The timing just seemed to work out for the two. Hey, at least he’s not dating his “crush”/cousin Carol Burnett. That would be a whole different ordeal.

(Via Page Six)

As the weather grows warmer and the days get longer, we find ourselves looking out the window of our cubicles or home offices or workspace whatevers and staring at the open road off in the distance. If we could just take all of our vacation days, fill up our gas tanks, and head out into the wild world without much of a plan of where we’re headed or for how long… we would. We’d take a National Lampoon’s Vacation-like trip to whatever our version of Wally World is.

Except our version wouldn’t have a moose out front. Our version is a beer-filled paradise. A trip to one of the best beer cities in the US perhaps? Also, hopefully with better results than the ill-fated journey the Griswold family took.

Sadly, work and general life responsibilities mean any road trip longer than a day needs to be planned out far in advance. That’s why the time is right to lock in on your summer road trip now. That way you can figure out exactly where you want to go and for how long. Then you can request the right amount of vacation days and off you go on your epic travels (capitalism kills spontaneity).

Now for the most important part of this soon-to-be iconic road trip: In order for you to have a great vacation and return home to regale your friends with tales of IPAs, lagers, and sour ales like some kind of medieval beer-fueled minstrel, you have to settle on the city (or cities) you want to explore. To help aid your hop-fueled dreams, we did that work for you — highlighting eight cities so drenched in beer you might never want to go home.

These American cities are loaded with epic breweries, brewpubs, and amazing beer culture. Some are more well-known for brewing and others… not so much. But trust us, all are summer road trip worthy.

Asheville, North Carolina

The Beer City:

If you’re planning a road trip to a beer-centric destination, but you’re also hoping for some non-beer-related fun, look no further than Asheville. Located in the Blue Ridge Mountains, this beer-soaked North Carolina city is only an hour and a half from the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. After a day spent hiking in the woods at the most visited National Park in the country, you can venture into Asheville and sample some brews.

It might not be the biggest city on this list (the population is under 100,000), but the area is home to more than forty breweries (yes, you read that right).

What To Drink:

Asheville has been a beer center for several years now. It first gained notoriety when it was named “Beer City USA” back in 2009. Currently, it’s home to more than forty breweries, brewpubs, and beer bars. Some of the can’t-miss breweries include Hi-Wire Brewing, Bhramari Brewing Company, Highland Brewing Company, Burial Beer Co., Zillicoah Beer Co., and of course Archetype Brewing.

Asheville is a great place to branch out and try different styles as there’s something for everyone and the brewers have the spirit of experimentation in their DNA.

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

The Beer City:

Philadelphia might be known as the “City of Brotherly Love,” but since we know how their sports fans treat Santa Claus and opposing teams and the beer scene is thriving, maybe it should should ditch the misnomer about friendliness and get some sort of beer name instead? After you’ve eaten your weight in cheesesteaks, visited the Liberty Bell, and jokingly attempted (and likely failed) to run up the “Rocky steps,” you’ll be delighted to know the city is loaded with breweries, brew pubs, and great beer bars waiting to be discovered.

At the very least, you can check out a Phillies game and enjoy a local beer while you watch Kyle Schwarber rake home runs.

What To Drink:

Philadelphia might play second fiddle to New York City at times, but it stands up fairly well to NYC in terms of brewing culture. The metro area is home to more than 100 breweries and includes classic breweries like Yards Brewing, Victory Brewing, and Iron Hill Brewery. But it’s also home to innovative, exciting breweries like Brewery ARS, Doc Street Brewing, Second District Brewing, and even a branch of Other Half Brewing. Don’t forget to grab a swoon-worthy IPA at Crime & Punishment Brewing.

San Diego, California

The Beer City:

At this point, even adding San Diego to a list like this seems almost silly. Everyone already knows that San Diego is arguably the center of the IPA universe (if not the American beer universe as a whole). But if you’re going to visit San Diego for the beer, stay for the ridiculous weather, the beaches, sprawling parks, artist community, the iconic San Diego Zoo, and the USS Midway, an aircraft carrier that was turned into a museum.

A day at the beach, the zoo, or an afternoon learning about water-based military operations is sure to give you quite a thirst. A thirst that only a great IPA, pilsner, wheat beer, or sour ale can quench.

What To Drink:

The city is home to more than 150 breweries. That’s an absolutely ridiculous number. Even attempting to skim the surface of the great beer available is a tough task. Can’t miss breweries including Eppig Brewing (for artisanal ales and lagers), Burgeon Beer, Resident Brewing, Pure Brewing Project, Modern Times Beer, Societe Brewing, and Coronado Brewing. Don’t forget the big brands like Stone, Ballast Point, and Alesmith. Close your eyes and throw a dart at a map of Ron Burgundy’s home town and you’ll likely find that it landed on a brewery.

Boston, Massachusetts

The Beer City:

If you’ve never been to Boston, you might spend at least one day walking Paul Revere’s “Freedom Trail”, visiting the Old North Church, and Faneuil Hall, and maybe taking in a Red Sox game at the hollowed grounds of Fenway Park. After all of the walking, you’ll likely be ready for a beer or two. You’re in luck. Boston has as many breweries and brewpubs as it does citizens adorned in “Yankees Suck” tees.

What To Do:

This city has as much beer as it has history. There are countless bars and brewpubs, but some of the best breweries in the country call the Boston area home. This includes Aeronaut Brewing, Trillium Brewing (with its sprawling Three-floor brewpub), Harpoon Brewery, Night Shift Brewing, Cambridge Brewing, and Lamplighter Brewing for a Cloud City IPA or Margot (a blended sour ale aged on blueberries). Remember, the city is also home to Samuel Adams if a classic Boston Lager is your jam.

Grand Rapids, Michigan

The Beer City:

If you’re not up to date on Grand Rapids’ beer scene, you haven’t been paying attention. This city of just under 200,000 residents, situated on the Grand River, just east of Lake Michigan, is home to live music, a thriving food scene, and tons of outdoor recreational activities. It’s also home to a surprising number of breweries for its size. After you spend the day at one of its many museums or outside mountain biking, you’ll want to check out the myriad breweries.

What To Drink:

Sometimes referred to as “Beer City, USA”, Grand Rapids is home to more than fifty breweries in the metro area. That’s fairly crazy for a city this size. There are even beer tours and a “Beer City Ale Trail” where you can map out a day or week spent visiting them all. Can’t-miss breweries include the European-inspired, massive Brewery Vivant, City Built Brewing, The Mitten Brewing, Greyline Brewing, Arvon Brewing, and Jolly Pumpkin Brewery with its long list of beers including Saisons, farmhouse ales, and funky, tart sours.

Founders is also there if you have a craving for Kentucky Breakfast Stout or another barrel-aged triumph.

St. Louis, Missouri

The Beer City:

Yes, we’re well aware that Budweiser called St. Louis home. Its existence and the iconic Gateway Arch are probably the two things the city is most famous for. Well, that and the “greatest show on turf”, the nickname for the offensive behemoth that was the 1999-2001 St. Louis Rams. If you find yourself there this summer, visit a museum, enjoy a meal at one of its award-winning restaurants, grab a beer as big as your head at a Cardinals game at Busch Stadium, or visit one of the many breweries the city has to offer that aren’t named Budweiser.

What To Drink:

Including massive brewing operations, brew pubs, craft breweries, and micro-breweries, the metro area of St. Louis is home to more than sixty breweries. Yes, there’s a lot more than what the Busch family is selling. 2nd Shift with its hoppy IPAs and crisp lagers isn’t to be missed. You can hold onto hope that you’ll get to try the barrel-aged banger known as Abraxas when you visit Perennial Artisanal Ales or you can just be happy to try literally anything else they brew.

Other notable breweries include Urban Chestnut Brewing, Rockwell Beer Co, and 4 Hands Brewing. Visit the Schlafly Taproom and enjoy some mouth-watering food and a flight of beers.

Portland, Maine

The Beer City:

This was a real toss-up between the two Portlands. Portland, Maine makes the list because the home state of Stephen King has been referred to as “Vacationland” because of its stone beaches, quaint seaside towns, and delicious seafood (also, Portland Oregon gets PLENTY of Uproxx love). Drive up to Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park while you’re there, but don’t forget to visit one of the many breweries and brewpubs in the area in and around Portland.

What To Drink:

Portland might not be a giant city like San Diego or Philly, but even with a population of under 70,000 people is still home to more than 25 breweries. Opened in 1995, Allagash Brewing is the big name in Portland. Stop by for an Allagash White or any of its limited-release offerings. You’ll be happy you did. Other outstanding outfits include Bissell Brothers Brewing, Foundation Brewing, Rising Tide Brewing, Lone Pine Brewing, and if you want to get out of the city: Maine Beer Company for one of its award-winning IPAs like Lunch and Dinner.

Fort Collins, Colorado

The Beer City:

Colorado is a beer and outdoor lover’s dream. Everywhere you look, there are backpacking, hiking, and mountain biking trails in the spring and summer. And while we could have added the beer-filled city of Denver to this list, we picked the smaller, more outdoorsy city of Fort Collins instead. This northern Colorado city is known for its Old Town historic district, its many parks, trails, and a ton of noteworthy breweries.

What To Drink:

Including New Belgium Brewing (one of the largest breweries in the country), the Fort Collins area is home to more than twenty breweries. Odell Brewing, Prost Brewing, Guilded Goat Brewing, Black Bottle Brewery, Maxline Brewing, and Zwei Brewing, a German-style brewery where you’ll find Bavarian-style pilsners, Munich-style golden lagers, Weissbiers, Dunkels, and a rotating list of crave-able food trucks.

Brooklyn rapper Desiigner said he plans to check himself into a mental health facility to seek help after reportedly exposing himself on a flight returning from Rolling Loud Thailand, according to TMZ. The “Panda” rapper was met by law enforcement upon landing in Minneapolis, detained, and questioned before being released.

On Instagram, Desiigner apologized for his behavior, explaining that he was given medication while in Thailand after being admitted to a hospital. He also said he’d be canceling his forthcoming shows for the immediate future.

For the past few months I have not been ok. And I have been struggling to come to terms with what is going on. While overseas for a concert I performed at, I had to be admitted in to a hospital, I was not thinking clearly. They gave me meds, and I had to hop on a plane home. I am ashamed of my actions that happened on that plane. I landed back to the states, and am admitting my self in a facility to help me. I will be cancelling all of my shows and my obligations until further notice. Mental health is real guys, please pray for me. If [you’re] not feeling like yourself, please get help.

Last year, Desiigner had another run-in with law enforcement; getting into a verbal altercation with the LAPD. This isn’t the first time he’s flashed himself in public either; in 2018 he was accused of showing his crotch to a couple during a confrontation.

There was a reshuffling of the Coachella 2023 lineup between Weekend 1 and Weekend 2 because Frank Ocean suffered an ankle injury that hampered his headlining set last Sunday, April 16, and will prevent him from performing at all this Sunday, April 23. Blink-182 will replace him.

Coachella released all set times for Weekend 2 yesterday, April 20. Despite no palpable sign of One Direction, fans are still holding out hope that the disbanded boy band will reunite for some sort of performance. As documented by HITC, the rumor mill was set ablaze by this TikTok and stoked by people on Twitter running with it.

“Someone said One Direction is a surprise guest at Coachella and I’m gonna throw a fit if I’m not there,” one person tweeted, per HITC.

The speculation seemed to be at its height before Blink-182 was confirmed as the replacement headliner for Ocean, and now that the Sunday night headlining slot has been settled, it’s clear that any linking between One Direction and Coachella was just wishful thinking.

It’s been a rough couple of weeks for the One Direction stan community, as it was previously rumored that the iconic group once consisting of Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Liam Payne, Louis Tomlinson, and Zayn Malik was going to reunite for the final episode of The Late Late Show With James Corden. The show publicly shot down the rumor on April 13.

However, it’s not a total loss. Styles will be one of Corden’s final guests for the last Late Late Show episode on Thursday, April 27.

The interior of the offensive line isn’t talked about with the same reverence as the tackle positions, but as defenses recognize the importance of getting a pass rush up the middle and disrupting the center of the pocket as much as the edges, solidifying the inside of the line is becoming as important to the passing game as having a tackle that can protect on the outside.

Still, it’s fairly rare to see interior O-linemen at the top of draft boards, and this year’s Draft likely won’t see one off the board until the late first round — unless you count Northwestern’s Peter Skoronski, who could move from tackle to guard, but is listed at tackle. Still, there’s talent to be had out there and with increasingly freakish interior defenders entering the league, teams have to be cognizant of walling up the inside of their line.

The Top Dog: O’Cyrus Torrence (Florida)

Can I interest you in an insanely strong 6’5, 330 pound guard? If so, then please enjoy the stylings of O’Cyrus Torrence. The prospect out of Florida is an absolute road-grader inside, who can hold up against the biggest and strongest tackles. The reason he’s a late-first guy is he’s not a crazy athlete who’s going to be doing a lot of pulling or advancing a ton to the second level, but he’s just rock solid inside at right guard who any running back will happily look to run behind and any QB will be happy to have keeping the inside of the pocket clean. Please enjoy him picking up a blitzer with one arm while blocking a DT with the other.

There are questions about his fluidity and fit is going to be important to his success in the run game, but for a team that wants some beef inside and will play to his strengths, Torrence is the man in this class.

The Next Best: Steve Avila (TCU) and John Michael Schmitz (Minnesota)

The clear tier below Torrence belongs to a pair of big fellas from TCU and Minnesota, respectively. Avila spent the season at left guard for a TCU offensive front that was among the best in the country, paving the way forward for Max Duggan and company, and also has experience at center to provide some positional versatility. He is just a massive presence in the middle at 6’3.5, 332 pounds and his biggest strength is, well, his strength. He is an absolute wall inside and his sturdiness in pass pro is a separator for him as a guy who will come in and likely immediately start wherever he’s drafted.

Schmitz, meanwhile, is a road-grader in the run game. He’s not the biggest center, but he’s plenty strong and has the quickness to reach and pull in the run game. Fit is going to be important (as his six years of experience in Minnesota are in a zone scheme) but in the right system he, like Avila, can be an immediate starter, even with a few questions about his pass protection given his size and general lack of length (just over 32.5 inch arms at the combine). Having so much experience at the center position, making calls and snaps under center, is a big plus for Schmitz as he moves to the next level.

Boom Or Bust: Andrew Vorhees (USC)

Vorhees tore his ACL at the Combine in Indy, which means he’s going to likely miss his rookie year. Still, the USC guard managed to wow scouts by slamming 38 reps on the bench with his leg straight out, knee in a brace, showing off the freakish strength he possesses.

He’s got room to fill out (6’6, 310 pounds) but he’s got great strength and loves to use it in the run game. His pass protection is also good, but shorter arms (just over 32 inches) and not the best quickness mean he can get beat by quicker defenders when they move inside. Still, he’s great against power rushers and, when he gets the mitts on someone, they rarely work off of him to get by him. The injury will drop him down the board a bit, but a team willing to be patient for a year could get a starter for a bit of a steal.

Day 3 Swing: Olusegun Oluwatimi (Michigan)

Oluwatimi is the exact kind of player that slips into the third day because of measureables and athleticism questions and then goes on to have a very good career when he’s drafted into a team that sees a scheme fit and values his productivity and leadership inside. He won the Rimington and Outland Trophies in his lone year at Michigan after transferring in from Virginia, helming one of the best offensive lines in the country in 2022. He is not a tremendous athlete, nor the biggest, strongest center, but he’s just rock solid inside and has ample experience making calls and getting a line set before play. Going somewhere that will play to his strengths (particularly as a double-team operator inside, sealing and popping second level) rather than asking him to play one-on-one with tackles that can overpower him, will be important, but part of what helps a guy like Oluwatimi is the teams that’ll be really looking at him are ones that will see that scheme fit.

Chlöe is officially over internet trolls ruining her fun. As Charlamagne Tha God put it when she visited Power 105.1’s The Breakfast Club show this morning, “digital dickheads” have been getting her down — but lately, she’s been fighting back. “Come at me bro,” she said.

Toward the end of the interview, though, after DJ Envy tried to shade Charlamagne for not downloading Chlöe’s debut album In Pieces, she had to drag him, too. “Did you download the album?” she questioned him. “I streamed it,” he said.

The interrogation didn’t stop there, though. “Okay, so what was your favorite song?” Chlöe wondered. This stopped Envy in his tracks. And while he tried to plead out by saying that he’s played “Have Mercy” in the club, she pointed out that “Have Mercy” wasn’t included on the album proper, and again questioned what song from the album he played. “Caught!” she snarked.

Obviously, this was more of a comedic moment between the host and guest, but Chlöe has been making it a point lately to call out the trolls who have so much to say about her, but aren’t real fans. Her In Pieces tour backdrop puts some of the more common criticisms on display, allowing her the platform to strike back, and her interviews have found her confronting those people head on.

Watch The Breakfast Club‘s full interview with Chlöe above.

Questlove released The Rhythm Of Time on Tuesday, April 18, shortly after he launched Auwa Books, his imprint with MCD Books. The book is aimed toward preteen readers, but Questlove wrote it with one very specific kid in mind. He dedicated the book to his nine-year-old self, as he explained on The View this week.

“When I would travel with my parents, my father and mother, we were like basically the Black Partridge Family,” he said on the talk show. “My father was an oldies doo-wop legend back in the ’50s. I’d often read to them. Well, they would trick me into reading to them, and oftentimes, I’d pick books in which I didn’t see myself.”

He continued, “There’s a term, ‘alt-Black kids,’ where you might not talk the right language or you just look weird. I had weird hair, and I dressed weird. I wanted Black nerds to see themselves as well, so that’s kind of why I wrote the book.”

The Rhythm Of Time‘s official listing on Penguin Random House lays out the intricate plot:

“Seventh grader Rahim Reynolds loves testing out the gadgets invented by his brilliant friend Kasia Collins. First there were the X-ray glasses and all the trouble they caused. Now there’s the new cell phone she built for his birthday, even though his parents won’t let him have one. But Rahim is excited to use the phone to search for videos of his favorite old-school rap group. What he doesn’t know is the phone has a special battery that interfaces with a secret government satellite, which spells trouble when the phone transports him back to 1997. Almost immediately, he learns what every time traveler before him has: Actions in the past jeopardize the future. With Kasia as his only lifeline to the present, Rahim works with her to get home unscathed, all the while dodging bullies (on his end) and suspicious government agents (on hers).

Philadelphia in the late nineties is a new world for Rahim and Kasia, but it is a familiar place for Questlove, who, alongside S. A. Cosby, delivers a high-velocity tale where two best friends discover that sometimes the best beat is the one that brings you back home.”

Questlove further explained why The Rhythm Of Time is “the book I been dying to make for a decade” in an Instagram post:

Watch Questlove’s appearance on The View above.

The Rhythm Of Time is out now via Penguin Random House. Find more information here.

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

ITEM NUMBER ONE – I missed my sweet Chechen prince so much

It got a little lost in the Succession-related hoopla this week, but Barry is back for its final season, too. Two episodes premiered on Sunday night, right after Succession, which helps to explain how it got a little lost. There’s really just a lot happening on Sunday nights on HBO right now. It’s a good problem to have. But it’s still a problem. I wanted to talk about Barry a lot this week but the discussion was dominated by the Roy family and their various issues. Luckily, I have this column and place to talk about NoHo Hank, who remains one of the best characters on television. So here we go.

Quick backstory, for those unaware: NoHo Hank is a Chechen mobster in California who is buddies with Bill Hader’s character, Barry, who is a hitman that tried to go clean by becoming an actor but is now in prison for one of the many murders he committed. Hank also just recently started living as a proud and out gay man and began dating a high-ranking member of the Bolivian mob named Cristobal. It’s really a delight on a number of levels. He’s a wonderful man who sometimes shows up on screen looking like this.

I do not have a single note to add to anything here, other than to thank Bill Hader and Anthony Carrigan (the actor who plays Hank) for making it all possible.

The best part is that Carrigan is starting to really get recognized for it all. He did a big fancy sit-down interview with the New York Times before the season started where he compared the character to a friendly scorpion, which I have not been able to unsee since I read it. You probably won’t be able to unsee it either. Because I’m going to paste that section riiiiiight now.

NoHo Hank, intended as a minor antagonist, is a member of a Chechen mob. Carrigan had little interest in playing another villain. But the script’s violent comedy delighted him. He went back to the formal exercises of his college days. How should Hank move? What animal would he be? A scorpion, he decided, which explains the puffed-out chest, the hands on hips, the scuttling walk.

“He’s a lovable scorpion,” Carrigan explained at the oyster counter. “He doesn’t want to sting anyone, he doesn’t want to hurt anyone. But that’s just his nature.”

Two things are worth noting here:

• Hank was supposed to be killed off at the beginning of the series but Carrigan made such an impression that they decided to keep him around and make him a main player
• I want to see a scorpion wearing a sombrero and sunglasses now

Carrigan did another big profile over at Inverse, too, which was also a hoot to read in many ways — I interviewed him a few years ago and it always makes me happy when people I identified as being cool and fun blow up a little like that — but also very troubling. I am on the record as saying that I will hunt down Bill Hader and yell at him if anything happens to Hank this season. I know he’s a mobster and a killer and bad things usually happen to those kinds of people at some point. But… I adore him. I am not conflicted about this at all. I feel fine about it, actually.

Which is why this part is… yeah, troubling.

Organized crime aside (and with the finale in sight), does NoHo Hank deserve a happy ending? Carrigan seems unsure.

“I love Hank so much and I want everything for him. I have such a soft spot for this character,” he says. “But there’s something interesting about the progression over the seasons. Hank has slowly started to realize that his naivete and his foolishness have gotten him into major trouble. You can’t go into a life of crime lightly, and some of the consequences do show up for him.”

No.

NO.

LEAVE HIM ALONE.

I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have gone all-caps on you there. I just get a little excited. It’s hard not to, especially given the stuff that happened in the second episode of the season. I’ll dance around spoilers but the short version goes like this: Hank and Cristobal are making a big presentation to other mobsters in a private room in a Dave & Buster’s. (Already perfect.) And they’re doing this thing in a long single shot where they circle the table in opposite directions and pick up each other’s part of the speech as they cross paths. But Hank gets out of place as Cristobal is talking and needs to rush to be ready and then, well, this happens.

A perfect bit. A legitimate out-loud laugh in an episode that was otherwise pretty dark. NoHo Hank is a damn oasis. I am going to miss him — the show, too, but definitely him — when this all ends for good in a few months. But I am going to appreciate the hell out of it all while it’s happening.

Welcome to NoHo Hank season.

ITEM NUMBER TWO – Halle Berry gets it

I love you all very much but you are out of your mind if you think I am going to discuss Twitter on this or any other website, including Twitter. I use the stupid site every day, too much, but even I have enough shame to not go running around tweeting about Twitter whenever something silly happens. I do not have time for that. That’s a lie. I have plenty of time for that. I am barely doing anything most of the time. The other day I realized that I had just been, like, staring at one of my houseplants for a solid 90 seconds. If that does not sound like a long time to you, set a 90-second timer and go stare at one of your houseplants until the timer dings. You’ll see my point around the 44-second mark.

Anyway, ugggggghhhh, I do have to talk about it briefly to set up something cool. So… here we go: Twitter CEO Elon Musk has been claiming he was going to take away the little blue check marks from verified users unless they signed up for the paid service. You probably heard about this. He finally did it — or figured out how to do it — this Thursday, on 4/20 (weed day, epic, etc.). It’s all very stupid. But something fun did come out of it. On Wednesday, the day before it happened, Halle Berry tweeted this.

That’s… cool. It’s just cool. Halle Berry rules. And she was in the third John Wick movie, which has very little to do with anything I’ve discussed to this point but is always fun to remember. She and Keanu Reeves were just running around the desert with some dogs and shooting at crooked dopes on rooftops. That was great. Good for Halle Berry, man. Still out here doing it like 30 years after she was in the Flintstones movie. I’m happy for her.

ITEM NUMBER THREE – God, I am so excited for this dumb movie

This is the second trailer for Fast X. It’s not, like, wildly different from the first one, which I wrote over 1000 words about a few months back. We will not need 1000 words here. I bet I can get us out of this section in about 300-350. Mostly I just want to talk about Jason Momoa. Again. It feels right that he’s in this franchise now. The fit is so perfect. Jason Momoa was born to be a Fast & Furious villain. I can’t wait for the next movie — just announced, same director — where he gets folded into the team and takes a bullet for Dominic Toretto. Probably. We can’t rule it out. Take a few minutes this weekend and think about the arc of Jason Statham’s character in the movies. This is cinema to me.

This trailer did give us at least one little update/clarification, though. Remember in the first trailer when Jason Momoa — I’m sure his character has a name, let’s just agree to call him “Jason Momoa” for now — raised his arms like Jesus on the cross and blew up half of an Italian city that sure looked a lot like the Vatican? Here, a refresher…

Well, now we have confirmation. It’s the Vatican.

Jason Momoa plays a villain who blows up the Vatican because Vin Diesel and his buddies ripped a safe out of a crooked businessman’s wall in Brazil over a decade ago. This is… perfect. It’s perfect. Also, Jason Momoa called his henchmen “dorks.” That seems important, too. I can’t wait to see this movie in a theater next month with a thousand gummi worms in my lap and a soda as big as my thigh in the cup holder next to me.

ITEM NUMBER FOUR – Is Matthew McConaughey… starting.. a cult?

Okay, let’s take this slow. On Monday, Matthew McConaughey is hosting a free event — streamed online — titled “The Art of Livin’.” It has guest speakers like Tony Robbins and a whole website full of words with dropped Gs at the end and it really all… look. I am sure Matthew McConaughey means well. I’m sure he’s just trying to help. I bet a few people have come up to him over the years and been like “Matthew McConaughey, you seem so chill and relaxed all the time. Please teach us how to be like that, too.” Which is fine. But… like…

This all sounds a little cult-y on paper, right? Here, look at the section of the website titled “WHAT IS MCCONAUGHEY DOIN’?”

It’s simple – a live one day virtual event like nothin’ you’ve ever experienced…

To show you the roadmap to livin’ again.

This is a coming together… a movement you and the world need right now…

A chance for you to draw a line in the sand, put the last three years behind you and shape your life with trust, joy and a little more outlaw logic.

It’s McConaughey. It’s guests like Tony Robbins and Dean Graziosi. It’s one day, live, virtual and free.

And it’s only happenin’ once. So be cool to your future self and show up.

See you there.

I like to imagine the person who forgot to drop the G in “coming” in the third sentence was fired and dragged outside by a team of shirtless glistening security guards.

There’s more. But please look at the section titled “WHY IS MCCONAUGHEY DOIN’ THIS?”

After three years of uncertainty and losin’ the opportunity to live life on your terms, McConaughey – the “Minister of Culture” – knew it was time for a revival.

That’s why he’s doin’ something he’s never done before and inviting you to lock arms with him to create a more compelling future for yourself.

This one-day event is about YOU.

About learnin’ to navigate the red and yellow lights in your life and findin’ more Greenlights.

About wakin’ up your soul, your passion, your hunger.

About defining your “MORE”.

And it’s all happenin’ LIVE, one time only for about 3 hours with McConaughey and his powerhouse guests.

Don’t miss it. IT’S TIME TO START LIVIN’ AGAIN.

I mean… come on.

It does have some cult vibes.

Thousands of people logging in for three hours on a Monday afternoon desperately trying to learn how to chill out a little. Just chanting “alright alright alright” in dead-eyed unison. Wearing cargo shorts and suntan lotion and nothing else. I kind of want to tune in, purely for investigative reasons. Potential Zoolander situation here.

I really think Matthew McConaughey might be starting a cult.

I’m sorry. That’s not what I meant to say. That’s not fair.

Matthew McConaughey might be startin’ a cult.

There. Much better.

ITEM NUMBER FIVE – Mrs. Davis is wild as hell and I kind of love it

There’s a new show dropping on Peacock this weekend called Mrs. Davis. It stars Betty Gilpin as a warrior nun who sets out to do battle against an all-knowing AI thingy that plugs into the ears of every human on the planet and tells them what to do. If that sounds weird to you, there’s a good reason for that: it is so, so weird. But, like, good weird. It’s a blast, kind of the way The Leftovers and Watchmen were a weirdo blast in parts, which also makes sense because this series was created by Damon Lindelof, too. I’ve seen a few of the screeners and I found it all delightful. My colleague Kimberly Ricci summed it up well in her review earlier this week.

You’ll be impressed by the sword-fighting nuns in the action-packed opener of the series, but man, as trippy as that scene is, Mrs. Davis is only warming up. The show consistently one-ups itself while bouncing back and forth in time almost effortlessly, bringing us tales of magic and mysticism, and the battle between faith and technology, which somehow coalesce into a coherent story that will keep people coming back each week. Is there a Lube Man crossover? No, but he’s there in spirit.

Two things worth noting here:

• I am so happy she mentioned Lube Man from Watchmen because it gave me an excuse to watch that video a dozen times this week
• Yes, that did say “sword-fighting nuns”

This is where I get to share something incredible with you. This is a GIF from the show. From the first episode. From the first 10 minutes of the first episode. There is very little dilly-dallying here. Look at this.

Please give Mrs. Davis a try at some point. I fully concede that you might hate it. The show is strange to the degree of nonsense in some places and I’m not entirely sure any of it comes together in anything resembling a whole singular piece, but it is wild and ambitious and silly and I think we should always support the people who at least try to do that. Big swings can mean big misses, sure. But they can also mean you smash a dinger into the upper deck.

I’m not sure exactly which of these Mrs. Davis is. We can find out together.

READER MAIL

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

From Derek:

A few days ago I was talking to a friend of mine about a girl he started dating and he said he really “dug her vibes.” That’s nice and all but all I could think about for the rest of our conversation was “Doug Vibrations would be a great fake name.” He was talking to me about this lovely new woman in his life and I was looking him in the eye and nodding but there was nothing going on between my ears but creating a whole backstory for a dude named Doug Vibrations. What I’ve got so far is that he’s a private investigator who does undercover work as a DJ to track down people who move illegal party drugs through the country at raves and techno clubs. This is your fault. But thank you.

DOUG VIBRATIONS

I would absolutely watch this show. It stars Jake Johnson as Doug, and the illegal party drug smuggler is Ike Barinholz doing a ridiculous and unplaceable European accent, and maybe… let’s say Patti Harrison is in there as a person who goes to a lot of the clubs and kind of accidentally helps Doug uncover a bunch of clues.

This is good stuff. I’m ready to watch it as soon as someone makes it. Let’s get the team from The Afterparty on it ASAP.

AND NOW, THE NEWS

To Canada!

A total of $20 million worth of gold and other high-value goods have been stolen after being offloaded from an aircraft at Toronto Pearson International Airport, police say.

You cannot imagine how excited I am to type the words that are about to appear after this colon: WE HAVE A MULTIMILLION-DOLLAR CANADIAN GOLD HEIST.

And “other high value goods,” too. Which I am not very curious about. I must know what these other goods were. Priceless works of art? Diamonds? Green Philadelphia Eagles t-shirts that say “GO BIRDS” on the front in big white letters?

What? It would be high-value to me.

“An aircraft arrived here at the airport in the early evening. As per normal procedure, the aircraft was unloaded and cargo was transported from the aircraft to a holding cargo facility,” Inspector Stephen Duivesteyn said while announcing the theft.

Duivesteyn said after the cargo was secured in the holding facility, it was removed by “illegal means.” The container was holding gold and other “high-value goods” worth $20 million.

I kind of love that he said it was removed by “illegal means” instead of saying “they went and stole the damn gold.” It sounds so professional. I should also point out that the first reports about this that dripped out yesterday put the totals at $100 million, which now makes the $20 million figure look less impressive, even though $20 million worth of gold and other high-value goods is still, like, a lot of gold and high-value goods.

You can’t tease me like that. I got all excited. Please try to be more accurate going forward.

“This is very rare,” Duivesteyn said, adding that it’s too early to know if the theft was carried out professionally.

Police also said they don’t know where the gold is or if it’s still in the country. Police said they believe this is an isolated incident.

What I like about this blockquote is that it does not rule out the possibility that the eight-figure gold heist was carried out by some dude named Randy who works at the airport and saw a crate of gold sitting there and was like, “Screw it. Today is the day,” before plopping it into the back of his truck and driving off into the night with his backend dragging on the ground behind him from the weight of the precious metals.

I’m just going to believe this is what happened. Please do not take it away from me.

No arrests have been made and police did not release any information on suspects.

“We are three days in, so our investigators have their eyes open to all avenues,” Duivesteyn said.

RUN, RANDY

RUN AS FAST AS YOU CAN

LIVE OUT ALL YOUR WILDEST GOLDEN DREAMS

Olivia Rudensky watched The Menu on a recent flight. She was struck by an exchange between foodie Tyler (Nicholas Hoult) and his girlfriend, Margot (Anya Taylor-Joy) about his hero, Chef Slowik (Ralph Fiennes).

“What’s with this food obsession?” Margot asked toward the beginning of the film.

“You know how people idolize athletes and musicians and, like, painters and stuff?” Tyler responded, later explaining, “I’ve watched every f*cking episode of Chef’s Table two or three times. I’ve watched Slowik’s probably twenty times. I’ve watched him explain the exact moment at which a green strawberry is perfectly unripe.”

“It reiterated that it’s not just musicians; there is fandom in everything,” Rudensky, the co-founder and CEO of FANMADE, tells Uproxx over Zoom during a conversation about technology’s ever-growing role in fan engagement (the irony is not lost).

But it was musicians for Rudensky and Claudia Villarreal.

And because of the internet, they didn’t need to board a boat to a mysterious island, like Tyler in The Menu, to feed their fandom.

Rudensky launched a Twitter account and website dedicated to all things Miley Cyrus at 12 years old. Villarreal did the same for One Direction at 16. Each account attracted hundreds of thousands of followers, and by the time Rudensky turned 16 in 2013, Cyrus was impressed enough to offer Rudensky a position on her management team. While Villarreal never physically crossed paths with One Direction — “They disbanded before I could get to them” — she landed her first job in live music after attempting to sneak into a One Direction concert at 17 years old.

Rudensky and Villarreal met through Twitter in 2015. They bonded over successfully converting their formative fandoms into budding careers. Rudensky interned for Power 105.1 and Z100 and studied in Syracuse’s Bandier Program, while Villarreal’s resume includes studying music business at UCLA Extension, assisting at WME, and working under Sonny Takhar at KYN Entertainment to build a fan base for the girl group Boys World.

They co-founded FANMADE in late 2021. Rudensky and Villarreal, the Chief Creative Officer, are channeling their first-person understanding of fan engagement into FANMADE’s unique strategy for clients, which have so far included Cyrus, Hailey Bieber, NBC, and Zach Sang.

“We work as translators for those who didn’t grow up in the fandom space. If you weren’t online, you just don’t understand,” Villarreal explains.

Below, Rudensky and Villarreal further unpacked how the internet has changed how fans are viewed and their ultimate mission to empower fans everywhere.

How does constant connectivity, or even the illusion of constant connectivity fan accounts, social media, and the internet provide, directly correlate with real-life fan engagement?

Claudia Villarreal: There is a lot of expectation from fans to receive so much from their favorite artists. Having constant communication with your audience is one thing, but being constantly in the public eye is another. Those things can be spread out differently depending on how often an artist actually wants to be online. During the pandemic, everything went online and everybody became readily available, and now everything is going back to being more in the live space.

Olivia Rudensky: We worked with NBC on Miley’s New Year’s Eve Party and the People’s Choice Awards. With them, [we were] trying to communicate and support how to make fan experiences a little better, whether that’s in-person activations or online activations — really working with fans to hear what they want to see, helping them build street teams, getting super fans in the room. We actually provided a bunch of super fans to the pit at the People’s Choice Awards and Miley’s New Year’s Eve Party. Seeing that companies like NBC are also trying to explore how to make the experience better for super fans, whether it’s at home or in person, has been really rewarding for us.

Claudia Villarreal: We really dove in for [NBC] and helped reward the super fans that we were working with with access, which, at the end of the day, is all a fan wants: Access to anything that they can get about their favorites.

It’s so tempting to have every different kind of social media account and flood the system because you’re scared of losing relevance, especially when starting something as exciting as FANMADE. How do you strike the balance between widespread exposure and lasting resonance?

Claudia Villarreal: We’ve been having these one-on-one sessions with artists, brands, and all of our clients, and they’re wondering why their messaging isn’t coming across as genuine or the way they want it to be. Sometimes, they don’t even know how to post what they want to say. We’ve been sitting with them and helping change that mindset of not doing it for numbers. With how easy it is to blow up online nowadays, people want to see instant results. But instant results don’t equal a long-lasting relationship, especially when it comes to building a community.

There’s a strong argument to be made that a stan account or a fan community is almost more of a vehicle for fans to develop relationships with other fans than to connect with or meet the person you’re all a fan of.

Olivia Rudensky: I agree. What’s been really cool for Claudia and I to see is so many super fans that I knew from Twitter back in the day are now at really awesome jobs. I’ve seen fans starting to write at newspapers or get jobs at Instagram and TikTok. It’s just so cool to see how the passion they’ve shared with other fans also empowered them to go out there and work in the industry they love. That’s been the most exciting part for me, and that’s a conversation I’ve had with Miley in the past. To show her, like, that one time we had a fan do all the graphic design and visuals for her Instagram Live show during the pandemic? That girl now has a job at a real company. [With online fan communities], you’re getting internship-like experience without realizing it, and it helps them get jobs down the line.

What do you say to fans who don’t believe they can replicate your success and turn their fandom into a full-blown career?

Olivia Rudensky: I am so lucky to be in this position, but there’s so much opportunity across entertainment to be about to work on your favorite artist from a distance, whether it’s at a label, an agency, or with a brand that ends up doing a deal with that artist. You can really touch music fandom wherever you go. Don’t be afraid. I was running a website at 14 years old. The more you look at fan accounts or the communities you’ve been building online as real-life skills and experience, your mindset starts to change.

Claudia Villarreal: A lot of fans don’t understand that they have a little bit of power, especially if they build their own audience within a fandom. My mom used to tell me, “You need to get off Twitter. This isn’t going anywhere.” And my Twitter page was actually the only thing that got me somewhere in the industry. I had something to show for all my hard work. Maybe 10 years ago, fans would’ve struggled a lot more the way Olivia and I did to be taken seriously. Now, the industry has finally started to recognize that fans can be valuable outside of how much money they spend on a brand or an artist.

It’s like the quote from the writer Jessica Hopper: “Replace the word ‘fangirl’ with ‘expert’ and see what happens.”

Claudia Villarreal: When Sonny Takhar hired me, I had to basically convince him that he needed the fan perspective. He didn’t know where to put me. I had to tell him, “If you want to build another girl group or boy group, you’re going to need somebody who understands what it’s like to be on the other side.” I was there for two years, growing and building audiences. It’s crazy that, now, it is a serious job.

Olivia Rudensky: I remember moving to LA to join [Miley Cyrus’] massive management team. I would have conversations with people and say something very casually, like, “Well, there’s obviously going to have to be an album signing.” And people would say, “Wait, that’s a great idea!” I feel like within fan culture and with my Twitter account, I expected these things already as the norm. When I’d throw out ideas, it was like I was some expert in this space. It was so confusing for me. It’s actually been really hard for me to paint the picture of what I do because I felt like, Isn’t this all obvious?

Do you think that the negative, or almost shameful, connotation with the word “fan” has changed post-social media boom?

Claudia Villarreal: I think it’s changing. Fan is always going to be a pretty loose term. The internet has just made it more of a public thing. Before the internet, you had to seek out these communities of people. I have friends who are a little bit older and during their Backstreet Boys and NSYNC eras, they used to write letters to each other. Now, it’s more readily available. It’s really easy to find like-minded people that you want to share your excitement with. On the outside looking in, [fans] might look a little crazy. They’re empowered, smart people, and they want to share their ideas. They’re willing to do whatever they can for their favorite thing in the world, and I don’t think we give them enough credit. Now that fans have a platform to showcase their skills, these fans aren’t just crazy girls or boys. They just want to be part of something bigger than they are.

What did you initially set out to do when FANMADE launched toward the end of 2021 versus your purpose for the company now?

Olivia Rudensky: We were really excited to work with so many different clients. Throughout this year and a half of working on FANMADE, we’ve gotten into a really good groove of taking the philosophy of quality over quantity with the way that we look at super fans and how to engage a fan base. We tell people: If you have 200 engaged super fans, even though that might seem like a low number, that’s actually really great. With the Instagram age, it used to be followers over everything. If you looked like you had a ton of followers, you were important. Now, it’s more about engagement. When I started to see that shift, I was looking at our company and was like, I’d rather work really passionately on a few different clients and use that same philosophy that we have with super fans.

It’s funny. When you mention having 200 fully engaged fans as a really good thing, it reminds me of a pity party I threw for myself a while ago with one of my friends. I was like, “I’m so lame. I only have 800 Instagram followers.” And he said, “Imagine if you were sitting in a room in front of 800 people; that’s a lot of people.”

Claudia Villarreal: And that’s the thing. Too many people have been fazed by these astronomical numbers that are so easy to achieve now, especially on TikTok. People look to it and think, Oh, anybody can do that. But if there’s no care, if there’s no purpose, your follower account isn’t your fan count. Followers don’t equal fans. Again, people who didn’t grow up as a fan see these numbers and they’re like, Wow, with all these followers, look at how many people love them. But how many of those people genuinely go out of their way to support this artist? A lot of clients ask us that. They ask us, “Who are my real fans?” That takes a second for us to figure out, but we’ll figure it out for you. It’s not as black-and-white as most people want it to be.

The distortion of how we perceive ourselves and what we’re comparing to has changed so much.

Claudia Villarreal: And it changes all the time. We’re still in the very, very early stages of social media. I can’t wait for 40 years down the line to really see how communication has changed because it’s just getting started.

Olivia Rudensky: Some artists or talent might be really social media savvy but can’t sell tickets to a tour, right? People might just want to see them on the internet. So being able to see behavior switch — like, I look at Billie Eilish’s fan base. There’s definitely a certain demographic. The way that they engage with her content might make her the most engaged, whereas an artist that has been around pre-internet, it might look like they don’t have any followers, which is why I don’t think there’s one bit of technology or data that can determine anything. I think there really has to be that personalized touch that Claudia and I use to gauge an audience.

How is technology most valuable as a tool at FANMADE?

Claudia Villarreal: The access to information is unreal. The answers are always online. Everything is happening in front of us. As long as you care enough to look, you can find whatever you’re looking for. I don’t know where I’d be without the internet.

Olivia Rudensky: Thirty years ago, there was still fandom, but you’d have to go to a concert to engage with people. Now, I could snoop on Twitter or Instagram or TikTok accounts and get insight into a fan’s thoughts and daily lives. Everyone’s an influencer on the internet right now. Whether it’s 800 followers or two million, I can go into anybody’s world and see what they’re fans of.

Forty years down the line, what do you hope FANMADE symbolizes for people?

Olivia Rudensky: The message of FANMADE is universal. The message that everyone is a fan of something is really cool because it started with not being afraid to be vocal about what you’re a fan of. Being able to spread that message and hopefully have our stories inspire people to get out there and chase things they’re passionate about, that’s why we set out for this.

Claudia Villarreal: We think we’re at the forefront of technology now; I truly think there is going to be so much coming in the future. It’s going to be a more engagement-driven world. Ice Spice, for instance, is somebody that has blown up massively recently from TikTok, but she has grown into a cultural figure because people love her. It’s going to come down to whatever the people like. As much as we want to control whatever that is, it’s really anybody’s game.

This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.