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(Spoilers for The White Lotus will be found below.)

Last week, a The White Lotus fan theory suggested that Tanya could be the subject of a devious plot by Quentin’s fabulously gay gang. It followed that they could be zeroing in on her money, and that Greg might somehow be involved, which sure made Tanya’s during-sex vision — of him having “dead/shark” eyes and being surrounded by dudes with “effeminate hairstyles” — seem dead-on. Could her life be in danger in addition to being ripped off? Perhaps. In this week’s episode, a mysterious and telling photo surely confirmed that Greg was the cowboy that had once captured Quentin’s heart.

This led to a mountain of coke consumed by Tanya in Palermo, where she was Quentin’s (dubious) guest of honor, and he set her up with the sexy Italian “party-favor”/drug dealer guy, who whisked her into a bedroom and distracted the audience with his full-frontal display. If one was too distracted, it was possible to miss this detail in the background: the bright-red glow of a camera recording the ongoing seduction.

(I don’t know how easy it is to miss, though: this is a seriously bright camera.)

This could present both bad news and good news for Tanya. Yes, she’s in danger, but how much danger, exactly? It looks like Quentin aims to capture footage to invalidate Greg and Tanya’s prenup, and that would help Quentin’s cash-poor situation. However, Tanya isn’t exactly unaware of something being afoot. Granted, she is all coked up, and she’s still, you know, Tanya. Yet she stumbled in on Quentin and his “nephew” getting it on, so she already knew that something wasn’t as it seems. And that cowboy photo, coupled with her earlier sex-vision, could certainly gel in her mind before things go too far with Mr. Full Frontal.

One would hope that Tanya makes the connection at the final moment and whips out a dagger from underneath that flouncy dress that Quentin praised. Alright, so that last hope surely isn’t possible, but a girl can dream because Portia and her newfound knowledge (due to Jack’s pre-blackout ramblings) won’t be able to ride in and save the day.

The White Lotus airs on Sunday nights on HBO.

At Ed Sheeran’s recommendation, Lewis Capaldi bought a house recently. Capaldi is pretty upset about this.

In a recent interview with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe, Capaldi said:

“I bought a house. It was sent to me by Ed Sheeran. He sent me… he didn’t send me as a house, but he… he’s got a lot of f*cking money, that guy. No, he sent me the link to it. We became quite close over lockdown, I was asking a lot of questions about second records and blah blah blah, picking his brain a lot. And then I was talking about buying a house and I was like, ‘Oh, I’m going to move into this place. I’m looking for places around Glasgow.’ And then he sent me a link, and I was, ‘Oh, this place looks amazing.’ I went and looked at it and I’m quite like a… I looked at it and I was like, ‘This is great.’ I didn’t maybe look around enough, I didn’t smell it. Yeah, I got very excited. And I’m here to tell you, the house is a f*cking sh*thole. Yeah, it’s a money pit, and it has been the bane of my existence for the last couple of months.”

Capaldi previously told this story on The Jonathan Ross Show in October, and after that, Sheeran responded, saying, “I just want to say that I didn’t just send him one house, I sent him a bunch and he went to view them. He didn’t just ring them up and say, ‘I’ll take it.’ He went to view it. I said to him, ‘You need to start thinking of what your forever home is going to be, find something you can do up and make into your forever home.’ I imagine it’s not great. He said he found a shopping bag of live frogs in it.”

Sheeran added in a different interview, “Honestly, if it does make him feel better, then I will buy the house off him. If he wants me to buy it, then why not?”

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

Call it a curveball! When Harvey Weinstein’s rape trial kicked off in Los Angeles in October, it was clear that we’d hear some pretty disturbing details from the five women who were accusing him of rape, forcible oral copulation, sexual penetration by use of force, sexual battery, and sexual battery by restraint — in various incidents that occurred over a nine-year period. What we weren’t necessarily expecting was how much we’d learn about the disgraced movie mogul’s genitals, including his how testicles were surgically placed into his thighs and that his penis apparently bears a striking resemblance to a fish. And as Variety reports, these bizarre details have become a key focus of the case, which went to the jury for deliberations on Friday.

As Elizabeth Wagmeister wrote for Variety, Weinstein’s attorneys seized upon the testimony of one of the former Miramax head’s alleged victims, a European actress and model simply identified as Jane Doe #1, who says she was raped and sexually assaulted by Weinstein in 2013, when she was staying at Mr. C Beverly Hills Hotel as a guest of the L.A. Italia Film Festival:

During her testimony, Jane Doe #1 spoke at length about Weinstein’s testicles. On the stand, she tearfully told the jury that Weinstein demanded she “suck his balls,” or forced her to perform oral sex on him. Rehashing the graphic details, she said, “He forced me to do what he asked… I was crying, choking.” But during cross-examination, one of Weinstein’s attorneys, Alan Jackson, asked Jane Doe #1 how Weinstein’s “balls were in your mouth,” if he does not have testicles. “The reason that you changed your story is because you realized at some point that Mr. Weinstein does not have testicles in his scrotum,” Jackson said to Jane Doe #1 during her three-day testimony. She disagreed and said she never changed her story, and always told detectives that Weinstein had abnormal testicles. “I recall that he didn’t have one,” she said. “It was like empty skin.”

During final arguments, Deputy District Attorney Paul Thompson, the lead prosecutor, allowed that even if Jane Doe #1’s description of Weinstein’s ballsack wasn’t perfect, the fact that she knew there was something off about his genitals at all only strengthened their claims against him. “Jane Doe #1 is able to describe Mr. Weinstein’s anatomy,” Thompson said. “She can do that because he assaulted her. There’s no other explanation for that.”

Early on in the trial, the jury was given the unenviable task of examining photos of Weinstein’s mangled junk in order to better understand the testimony of the women who were accusing him of rape and assault.

But it’s not only Weinstein’s scrotum that is strange; Jane Doe #2 described his penis as looking like it had “been chopped off and sewn back on,” while Jane Doe #4 — who we know is Jennifer Siebel Newsom, wife of California governor Gavin Newsom — recalled “being shocked by everything” she saw of Weinstein’s nude body. She said he had “Lots of bruises, markings, yellow and green, lots of stretch marks on his belly, very not physically fit at all,” described his penis as being “kind of fish-like,” and said that “something was distorted in the testicles … Lots of skin, lots of skin down there.”

The jury is scheduled to enter their second day of deliberations today.

(Via Variety)

By now, Pete Davidson‘s appeal to Emily Ratajkowski, Kim Kardashian, Ariana Grande, etc. should be apparent. He’s “adorable.” He’s “star-struck in a very flattering way” and “his fingernail polish is awesome.” And he has something “big” in common with Bill Hader. Speaking of SNL cast members, Chloe Fineman, the gifted impressionist who memorably played Megan Fox to Davidson’s Machine Gun Kelly in a 2021 episode hosted by Kardashian, discussed her “charming” former co-star in a recent interview.

“I’ve worked and chatted with him,” she told Page Six. “I find him deeply charming. And I remember my first year [on SNL], going to all my girlfriends and being like, ‘I get it’ [after I met him].” Fineman has “friends who have dated” the Bodies Bodies Bodies star, and they all “report back nice things.” You might even call Davidson a… fine man (sorry.)

Fineman was less revealing than the last someone who worked with Davidson on SNL gave an interview. “There’s something in the sauce. He got something, OK. He got something inside,” comedian Jay Pharoah said on The Jess Cagle Show when asked about the rumored BDE. “It’s his endowment. That’s what he told me it is. He was like, ‘Yeah, bro, it’s like nine inches.’” No wonder Manscaped wanted him for their ads.

(Via Page Six)

Ever since Elon Musk took over Twitter in October, he’s been implementing and promising a plethora of changes to the platform. Now, Grimes, with whom Musk has two children, has come through with a Twitter suggestion of her own.

Late last night/early this morning, Musk shared an illustration depicting a version of Noah’s Ark but with a spaceship instead of a boat, writing, “Starship takes beings of Earth to Mars.” Somebody else responded with a similar-looking image, an AI-generated piece depicting animals leaving the ship after it has landed on the red planet.

Grimes replied to that with a tweet tagging Musk (as well as the creator of the AI piece and another artist), writing, “@elonmusk would love to see some sick art on twitter like @destinykrainbow or @ClaireSilver12 — any time yall use these kinds images (see purple hand) u could replace with theirs (+ builds human ai relations lol).” She also tagged other artists in a follow-up tweet and added in another tweet, “or simply randomly showcase tweets of art from new (and ye olden creators) that cycle (but new is cooler for creators mayhaps).”

The “purple hand” Grimes referenced is an image that shows up on the “Message requests” page of Twitter when a user has no requests, along with the message, “Your message requests are empty.” Grimes shared the image and wrote, “Something deranged going on with this twitter art.”

Meanwhile, Grimes recently floated a theory about how social media has made it harder to read fiction.

Welcome to the jungle, we got fun and legal representation: Guns N’ Roses is suing a Texas gun store.

As NME reports, the new lawsuit accuses online store Texas Guns And Roses, operated by Jersey Village Florist, of having “selected and adopted defendant’s marks for the purpose of confusing consumers into believing that it was connected or associated with, or licensed by, GNR.” The store also sells roses, which the band alleges is a move attempting to justify the “wholesale appropriation” of the Guns N’ Roses trademark. The suit is seeking damages and for the store to change its name.

Furthermore, court documents allege a cease and desist letter was sent to the store in 2019, but it continued to “intentionally trade on GNR’s goodwill, prestige, and fame without GNR’s approval, license or consent.”

“This is particularly damaging to GNR given the nature of defendant’s business,” the suit says. “GNR, quite reasonably, does not want to be associated with defendant, a firearms and weapons retailer. Furthermore, defendant espouses political views related to the regulation and control of firearms and weapons on the website that may be polarizing to many US consumers.”

Jersey Village Florist’s lawyer, David L. Clark, says, “There’s never been any confusion and they have no evidence of confusion. This is an attempt to run up costs and burn us out. Our client sells metal safes for guns and flowers, and have a one-stop website and absolutely no one is confused. Nobody thinks we’re the band or there is some affiliation. We will be fighting back.”

When fall turns to winter and the holidays begin, it’s natural to have the urge to drink mostly barrel-aged stouts and other higher-ABV beers. Either you’ve been saving some in your cellar or you splurged and bought the latest Bourbon County Stout. We get it. Wintry, bold, boozy, spicy, and dessert-forward flavors really hit nicely right now. But 18% ABV indulgent stouts, ales, and the like take their toll.

That’s where session beers come in.

The phrase “session” means that these beers are meant to be enjoyed during a “session” of beer drinking, often with your crew. They are lower in alcohol than most beers — always at or well below 5% ABV — so that you can feel better about drinking more than one during the aforementioned “session.” They’re much lighter — both in body and alcohol content — than the heavy winter brews and barrel-aged decadence you see a ton of right now.

The best part?

There are myriad session beers readily available at most beer stores, grocery stores, and anywhere that sells beer where you live. And while there are many, there are a few popular choices that seem to be more prominent than others. We picked eight of these classic beers and ranked them based on flavor and overall quality. Keep scrolling to see how everything turned out.

8) Shiner Bock

ABV: 4.4%

Average Price: $9.99 for a six-pack

The Beer:

First brewed in 1913, this 4.4% ABV sessionable bock is surprisingly flavorful for having such a low alcohol content. Brewed with roasted barley and German hops, this year-round lager is perfect any time of the year.

Tasting Notes:

The nose is fairly light with roasted malts, toffee, floral and piney hops but there’s not too much else here. The palate is very sweet and malty with more caramel, brown bread, toasted malts, and light hops. The finish is very sweet.

Bottom Line:

Shiner Bock is exactly as it seems. Overall, it’s a decent sipper, but nothing too exciting. It’s low in alcohol and equally low in flavor. Don’t get it twisted — it’s a decent beer if you don’t need over-the-top aromas and flavors.

7) Founders All Day IPA

ABV: 4.7%

Average Price: $9.99 for a six-pack

The Beer:

One of the most well-known session beers on the market, Founders All Day IPA is also the most aptly named beers ever made. At 4.7%, this piney, citrusy IPA is definitely the type of beer you could feel comfortable drinking all day.

Tasting Notes:

Citrus is the name of the game with this beer’s nose. There are notes of ripe tangerine, grapefruit, lemon zest, and more. There’s also a nice floral, herbal pine element. The palate continues this trend with more grapefruit, orange peel, tropical fruits, and lightly bitter, piney hopes making an appearance. The only downfall is that everything is a little light and watery.

Bottom Line:

It should come as no surprise that a beer with such a low alcohol content would suffer from feeling a little watery. Unfortunately, none of the flavors fully hit their stride because of this.

6) Full Sail Session

ABV: 5%

Average Price: $9.50 for a six-pack

The Beer:

This 5% year-round beer is known for its mix of American and European hops, 2-Row barley, Pilsner malt, and house yeast strain. The result is a crisp, easy-drinking, highly memorable session lager that has gained countless fans over the years.

Tasting Notes:

Caramel malts, freshly baked bread, wet grass, cereal grains, light citrus, and floral hops are found on the nose. The palate is all cereal grains, toffee, bready malts, and floral, herbal hops. It’s all fairly light. But this is a crisp, totally crushable beer if you’re into that sort of thing.

Bottom Line:

There’s a nice mix of sweet malts and bright hops, but overall this is simply a crushable, refreshing beer and that’s about it.

5) 21st Amendment Down to Earth

ABV: 4.4%

Average Price: $9.99 for a six-pack

The Beer:

This popular session IPA gets its flavor from Golden Promise, Munich, Cara-Malt, and Crystal malts. It’s hopped with Cascade and Mosaic hops for flavoring. Dry hopped with Centennial and Mosiac and even has Warrior hops added for bitterness folded into a surprisingly sessionable 4.4% ABV.

Tasting Notes:

The nose starts with brown bread and toffee and moves on to tangerine, caramelized pineapple, and floral hops. Tasting it reveals more orange zest, grapefruit, and tropical fruits as well as bready malts and light caramel. The finish is semisweet, dry, and memorable.

Bottom Line:

When it comes to sessionable IPAs, 21st Amendment Down to Earth managed to add such a massive amount of hops that this beer’s low alcohol content doesn’t make it taste even the least bit watered down.

4) Odell Good Behavior

ABV: 4%

Average Price: $10.99 for a six-pack

The Beer:

You might assume that a 4% ABV IPA is bland and flavorless. But that isn’t the case with Odell Good Behavior. That’s because this highly crushable, slightly hazy IPA is loaded with tropical fruit and citrus peels. On top of that, it’s not too bad for you as it’s only 110 calories and seven carbohydrates per can.

Tasting Notes:

A nose of grapefruit, lemon peel, freshly baked bread, and herbal, earthy, piney hops greet you before your first sip. The palate is a nice mix of bready malts, pineapple, grapefruit, orange peel, lemon zest, and herbal, piney hops. It’s not the most complex IPA ever made, but everything works well together.

Bottom Line:

Odell Good Behavior is an interesting session IPA. Since it’s a lower-calorie session IPA, it’s not going to knock your socks off in the flavor department but everything works together in unison.

3) Bell’s Light Hearted Ale Lo-Cal IPA

ABV: 3.7%

Average Price: $10.99 for a six-pack

The Beer:

If you’re a fan of the iconic Bell’s Two Hearted Ale, but you’re looking for something remarkably sessionable, grab a Light Hearted Ale. This 3.7% ABV beer is the epitome of sessionable and refreshing with Centennial and Galaxy hops helping it pop on the palate.

Tasting Notes:

The nose is surprisingly aromatic with cereal grains, bready malts, wet grass, grapefruit, orange peels, and pine needles. Drinking brings forth notes of bready malts, lemon peels, tangerine, grapefruit, and spicy, herbal, slightly resinous hops. The finish is a nice mix of sweetness and bitterness.

Bottom Line:

Crack open a Light Hearted Ale and you won’t believe it’s under 4% ABV. This is a truly surprisingly flavorful session IPA.

2) Anchor Steam

ABV: 4.9%

Average Price: $10.99 for a six-pack

The Beer:

This iconic session beer was first brewed in 1896 with its first modern brewing in 1971, so it’s been around for quite a while. Anchor’s flagship beer is brewed with a blend of 2-Row, Pale, and Caramel malts as well as Northern Brewer hops.

Tasting Notes:

Surprisingly complex nose with notes of toffee, brown bread, dried fruits, and spicy, herbal, resinous hops that tie everything together well. The palate is biscuit and caramel malt forward with a nice combination of tropical fruit and floral, herbal hops at the finish. This is a very well-balanced, drinkable session beer.

Bottom Line:

There’s a reason Anchor Steam is the iconic brewery’s flagship beer. It’s refreshing and light, but well-balanced and surprisingly complex for a sessionable beer.

1) Pilsner Urquell

ABV: 4.4%

Average Price: $9.50 for a six-pack

The Beer:

You can likely thank Pilsner Urquell for your favorite beer. That’s because Pilsner Urquell was the first ever commercially brewed pilsner, a pale lager variation. Brewed since 1842, this popular beer is known for its sweet, slightly hoppy, totally refreshing flavor profile.

Tasting Notes:

Bready malts, biscuit malts, and cereal grains are the first aromas on this beer’s nose. This is followed closely by citrus peels, sweet corn, and floral, herbal hops. The palate follows suit with cracker-like malts, cereal grains, caramel, and crisp, floral, earthy, slightly piney hops. The finish is a nice mixture of bitter hops and sweet malts.

Bottom Line:

When it comes to session beers, it’s really difficult to beat Pilsner Urquell. It’s flavorful, crushable, and always there.

It’s remarkable that Rian Johnson is still, somehow, one of the most polarizing directors working today, at least online. What makes it remarkable is everyone really seems to love Knives Out, to the point even his (very loud) detractors begrudgingly admit this. By now, here at the release of his second Benoit Blanc movie, Glass Onion (which ended its theatrical run and will be on Netflix at the end of the month), I would have assumed the ire of having the audacity to make an introspective Star Wars movie that dared people to look inward about what they liked about Star Wars in the first place might have subsided. It has been five years, after all. But, no, to paraphrase Han Solo, “He must have hit pretty close to the mark to get then all riled up like that, huh, kid?”

Here’s a funny trick about Glass Onion: I first saw this movie in September, then saw it again in November, and it was somehow more timely in November. The story is about a tech billionaire Miles Bron (Edward Norton, who is in full-on sarcastic splendor) who hosts a murder mystery party on his private island with a rogues gallery of “disrupters” – played by Janelle Monáe, Dave Bautista, Kate Hudson, Leslie Odom Jr., Kathryn Hahn – but there’s someone there who might actually want to kill Miles and Daniel Craig’s Benoit Blanc is there to investigate. (To be honest, that’s not really the plot, but it’s the easiest way to explain this movie without giving anything away.) Also, it should be noted, Benoit Blanc is none too impressed with any of these people and is shocked to realize they are all idiots.

What’s interesting about Knives Out and now Glass Onion, based on Johnson’s love of whodunnit films, he just may have created one of the best on-screen detectives. Like Johnson, I also love Peter Ustinov’s Hercule Poirot, but I’m giving the edge to Craig’s Benoit Blanc at this point. To the point I’ve become fascinated with this character, much to Johnson’s chagrin … after I asked an umpteenth question about Benoit Blanc’s backstory that Johnson does not think it important at all. (The whole situation was so funny, the more comically annoyed Johnson got, the more I kind of wanted to keep going. Also, keep in mind, I’ve known Johnson professionally for over 10 years, so no matter how it reads, nothing was actually that fraught.)

When I logged onto Zoom, I knew Johnson, a diehard Dodgers fan, would appreciate that I wore a St. Louis Cardinals jersey for our time together. (This is a lie, he hurled an expletive and put his hand over the camera. We occasionally insult each other’s favorite baseball team on social media.) So this is why the interview starts with both of us lamenting about this year’s playoffs.

I’m not super happy with how the playoffs went either.

Yikes. Man. What a brutal… That’s just baseball. It’s like getting a dog. It’s just a one-way ticket to heartbreak.

We had this great Pujols season, and then disaster…

Well, you know what, none of us are happy and that’s just the way we like it in baseball.

That’s true.

Where everyone’s miserable. We’re fine.

I’ve seen Glass Onion twice now…

No shit. Oh, nice.

The first time, back at the Toronto premiere, I have to say you do the best festival introductions to your movies. No 20-minute thing, just, “Who is ready to watch a movie? Let’s do it.” That’s how it should be done.

I’ve been in that audience too many times and felt the audience… I felt it. It’s always nice whenever you screen at festivals, but when you’re the opening night film and there’s like 45 minutes of sponsor thank yous, you can feel the audience kind of fade. Now, get them riled up, get them going, be a showman. I’m glad. I’m glad that works.

So how do you explain to the cast and crew that half the budget went to two Beatles songs?

[Laughs] It wasn’t half the budget.

Well, that’s just my guess.

It was maybe four times the budget of Brick went to them.

Now that I believe.

Now how I explained it to Joseph Gordon-Levitt? Yeah, if the next movie is named after a Stephen Foster song, you’ll know why. Something in the public domain would be nice.

Before I forget, speaking of Brick. When I spoke to Richard Roundtree, he had a lot of nice things to say about that movie.

That was phenomenal, man. I shared that with Joe and it was really exciting.

He was so nice. I had completed my interview and he wanted to keep going. I was basically like, well, what else. Oh, you were in Brick. I was kind of expecting just a, “Yes, I was.”

I would’ve expected a blank stare. Honestly, he was so kind to come in and do that one day. It was so long ago. I would have bet eating my shoe that he would not even remember doing that movie. So that was really exciting for me and Joe to see that he is happy that he did that.

And I guess people remind him of it quite often if he’s reading more letters about that than even Shaft.

Yeah, that makes me really, really happy. That’s really cool. He was really kind to come in and do that. I can only imagine what the fuck he thought we were making, coming in for one day on that movie. Great scene. Okay, you saw Glass Onion twice, how did it play a second time?

Bad.

[Laughing] That’s typical.

I was so excited a second time and then it’s just like, what happened here?

[Laughs] Typical.

No, actually, considering the way you format this movie, it plays maybe even better the second time. You really do pick up all these other things.

That is fair. In a way, when I was making it, it was almost more engineered to be watched the second time than the first time. I’m glad it held up.

By the way, why is Edward Norton strumming “Blackbird” so funny?

I don’t know! He gets a laugh every time it cuts to him. I just did a Q&A with Ethan Hawke and he’s like, “There’s always that one douchebag at the party who knows how to play ‘Blackbird.’ He’s always the worst guy, but all the girls kind of gather around him.” And so he said when he saw him playing ‘Blackbird,’ he is like, “Oh that asshole.”

Did you see McCartney on his recent tour?

I’ve never seen him live. I would love to.

Apparently, he has a joke about how he’s not impressed by how many people know how to play it.

“Big fucking deal.”

So, Knives Out is funny. Glass Onion is full-on comedy. Why?

Well, I was a little nervous about that, actually, going into it, because I think there’s a lot more humor in it. But more than that, the tone of this is just up a couple of notches above really. I mean, that’s a function, really, of just who and what it’s about. The instant I put a tech billionaire at the center of it….

Timely.

I guess. I suppose, unfortunately.

Yeah, that worked out.

I remember when we were making the movie, talking to Edward, “God is this whole tech billionaire thing going to play itself out by the time this comes out?”

It did not.

Definitely not, yeah.

You could not have picked a better time to come out than right now.

It’s crazy. I had a friend of mine who was like, “Yeah man, the movie seems like it was written this afternoon.”

When you asked me how it played the second time… That’s what it is, it’s actually more timely now than when I saw it the first time in September.

It’s very, very strange. So then you got tech billionaire, and you got who would be his friends and they’re all going to be kind of inflated characters. And I guess it also, I don’t know, my voice naturally ended up raising a couple of decibels just talking about these people and this stuff. It kind of had to. I mean, the first one was about a New England family, so it had humor, it had inflated stuff, but by its necessity was tamped down. With this, anytime I would try and ground it, or tamp down, or think this is “too much,” another news story would break about something one of these people had done. I would be like, I’ve got a lot of room to go up actually, if I want this to actually reflect our experience of this kind of nightmare carnival we’ve all been in for the past six years, of a race to the bottom of these public figures. If I want to actually connect with people and tap into that shared experience, this has to be huge and kind of clownishly funny. It’s got to be Fellini-esque.

Adding to the humor is how unimpressed Benoit Blanc is with all of them and making that pretty clear.

Exactly. Yeah. He is not very taken in. But yeah, man, I think when I pitched the movie to Edward before I sent up the script, I said, “Just so you’re prepared, we go a little more Strangelove with this one, than the first one.” It all just kind of comes up a few notches. And also though, I mean, tonally, it’s fun to me the notion that as we keep making these movies because I’m already thinking about the third one, that this is not a trajectory. This is kind of an illustration of each one of these can be vastly different based on the needs of what it’s about. You know what I mean? And that to me felt right once I was like, okay, it feels right for this one to be a little more vague and boisterous than giving myself permission to do that.

Oh, you’re going to make a third one?

Well, yeah…

No, that’s a joke. I have never seen you happier than talking about these movies. I think last time we spoke professionally was in Toronto before Knives Out. We were talking about Star Wars and finally I said something like, “I bet you just want to make Knives Out movies the rest of your career,” and your face lit up.

I mean look, it’s a genre I love. It’s a comforting thing. I don’t know, and this takes me back to the original inspiration of Agatha Christie, the fact that she wrote books for her entire life and never repeated herself. It’s a very malleable genre. It’s genre you can fit a lot of different things inside of. And so the notion that I can use this thing that I love, that people have a desire to see and you take wild swings in different directions with every new one of these, and take real risks, I mean within kind of a comfort zone. I don’t know, right now it’s just the most exciting thing to me.

You love the Peter Ustinov Hercule Poirot, right?

He’s my favorite. I get in arguments with Patton Oswalt, who’s a huge whodunit nut.

Well, Ustinov is really funny. Benoit Blanc and he have similar swimming trousers.

Well, that’s very much the Evil Under the Sun scene, that was taken directly from it. I mean, the hourly dong is a straight lift of the noonday gun from Evil Under the Sun. The movie was a big, big influence. But yeah, Ustinov got the essential clownishness of the character. And I think Death on the Nile is where he hit the sweet spot. He maybe went a little goofy in Evil Under the Sun, but I still love it. But Death on the Nile, he gets what’s essentially buffoonish about Poirot. And I think that’s really important. David Suchet is a fantastic actor and a great Poirot. I know he is probably most people’s favorite Poirot. I really like the kind of clownish humor that Ustinov brought to it.

That’s why, no offense to anyone who’s in your cast, but that’s why Roger Moore is my favorite Bond, which is not most people’s favorite. And I grew up with him as Bond.

I mean that’s probably the other essential thing. I love Ustinov, my favorite because those were the movies I was watching when I was 10 years old. Ultimately, that’s what it boils down to.

Where’s Benoit Blanc from?

Well, we never say. We haven’t said.

Do you know?

Yeah, I mean his accent is Mississippi. His accent is based mostly on Shelby Foote. I believe is a Mississippi accent. If I’m wrong, I’m sure somebody will let me know.

Wait, people criticize you on the internet? I don’t think anyone would be that rude to do that.

It’s a phenomenon that’s specific to me, Mike. You don’t have to ever worry about this. So the accent is from Shelby Foote. I can assume he’s from Mississippi. We never specify though.

Do you know where he went to school? Do you have all this in your head?

I don’t.

Because I find him fascinating now, and now I want to know his history.

See, so that’s interesting. And this is something that I was very relieved that Daniel and I are on the same page with. I think little tiny glimpses into that is fun for me. And it’s a trap that I find myself as a writer having to really push back against, just for myself. Having Daniel Craig in that part, the temptation is to think that Blanc as a character is what’s interesting about these movies.

I think it’s getting there, though. I feel that way more now than I did with Knives Out, that he’s what interesting. I mean the movies are great, but also you created an extremely interesting character.

Well, let me clarify that.

Okay.

He’s interesting in his function within the mystery, you know what I mean?

I guess, but him sitting in a bathtub because he is scared of the pandemic is also really funny and interesting. I mean, you say glimpses, but we learn a lot about him in this one.

I guess, I still count that as a glimpse. But yeah, I don’t know the notion of building out a backstory, learning where he came from, all of that stuff, to me, I don’t know, I have a natural inclination to kind of push that stuff back and to say a little goes a long way in terms of that. And ultimately this has to be the story of the mystery. The mystery’s the thing. And the detective is interesting is the way he solves his function within solving the mystery. And if we get glimpses beyond that, that’s great. But I feel like a little of that goes a very long way for me.

So we’re not getting The Young Benoit Chronicles?

Sorry. Maybe, someday after I’m dead and gone, it’ll be streaming on a mind chip.

Speaking of little glimpses, we meet Hugh Grant who is in a relationship with Benoit Blanc’s. Has he agreed to do more? Will he come back? Will we see more of that?

We haven’t agreed to anything with it. I don’t know, if it made sense, we would definitely bring it back.

I want to know where these two meet. But see, I’m getting into the stuff you don’t want to do.

Yeah. That’s the thing, it’s boring. I don’t know. It’s not boring…

That’s not boring. I’m fascinated by Benoit, he’s the most interesting man on screen right now.

The thing is, the most interesting man in the world, like from those beer commercials, is that way because you only see him in a 30-second beer commercial. If you actually suddenly spent the weekend at his house, he would become a lot less interesting.

So he’s hanging out in his bathtub?

Exactly.

Playing online games with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

I mean, the thing is, if it makes sense at some point to show more of Blanc’s life, that’s great to me. Also, to me, you know what it is? To me, I feel like I have to, with each one of these movies, just really focus my attention on the suspects, and the mystery, and the murder. And making sure that’s what drives the audience’s interest and not taking my eye off the ball. And that honestly takes all my energy and all my attention making that work. And so the notion of getting distracted from that and thinking, for a second, because I can lean back from that and get away with just telling everybody stories about how Blanc went to school here or there…

I’m in, though. Do that.

[Laughs] Oh for God’s sake, Mike. What are you doing?

Alright, I have to go.

I love it. I love it.

Well, anyway, make more Benoit Blanc movies. I love these.

I’ll attempt to. And I’ll send you a whole backstory. I’ll write out some bullshit and send it to you if that will make you happy.

Oh kind of like the “You’re So Vain” secret? Where only I can know this, and I have to take it to my death?

[Laughs] All right.

You can contact Mike Ryan directly on Twitter.

The Stars and Stripes, Old Glory, the Star-Spangled Banner — whatever you call it, the United States flag is one of the most recognizable symbols on Earth.

As famous as it is, there’s still a lot you might not know about our shining symbol of freedom. For instance, did you know that on some flags, the stars used to point in different directions? Or that there used to be more than 13 stripes? How about a gut-check on all those star-spangled swimsuits you see popping up in stores around the Fourth of July?

We’ll explore these topics and more in this fun list of 12 facts about the U.S. flag that you might not know about.

1. Betsy Ross, the woman often credited with sewing the first American flag, probably didn’t — or at the very least, there’s no proof that she did.

Legend has it that in 1776, a seamstress named Betsy Ross was approached in her shop by George Washington himself and was asked to help develop a flag for this soon-to-be-nation. Supposedly, she rejected the designs Washington presented to her and made a number of suggestions that would end up in the final version of the first American flag.

It’s a great story that humanizes Washington as a man humble enough to take feedback and gives Ross a boost as being uncharacteristically assertive for a woman in 18th-century America.

But the bad news is that this probably never happened. It was nearly 100 years before anybody spoke of Betsy Ross or her role in designing the flag. Most of what we know of this story came from her grandson, William Canby.

Unfortunately, though historians have long tried to verify any of the facts involved in Canby’s story, there’s nothing to suggest that Washington set out to commission a flag in 1776. In fact, it wasn’t until 1777 that Congress even passed a resolution ordering a flag to be made. Sure, it’s possible that Camby’s account of his grandmother’s story happened, but it’s more likely that this is simply an unverifiable piece of American lore.

2. It wasn’t until 1912 that the government standardized the proportions of the flag and the arrangement of its stars.

While most countries’s flags are rectangular, there are a few exceptions. In 1912, President Taft issued an executive order creating a uniform look for the flag — as prior to that, there were some interesting designs, with multiple flags sometimes in use simultaneously.

The executive order mandated that stars on the flag point upward, all in the same direction, and be placed in six horizontal rows of eight.

3. We all know the flag has 13 stripes, but for 23 years, it had 15.

Up until 1795, the flag had one stripe and one star for each of the 13 states. After Vermont and Kentucky were added to the union in 1791 and 1792, respectively, the flag was due for its first major redesign in the country’s history. Not only were two stars added to the blue field to represent the new states (a tradition that continues to this day), but designers also added two stripes.

The 15-star, 15-stripe flag existed from 1795 until 1818, when five more states were added. Designers realized that adding more stripes would quickly become unwieldy, so they dropped the stripe count back to 13.

4. We still honor the 15-star, 15-stripe flag today, as it’s the specific flag that inspired Francis Scott Key to write “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

The outcast of all American flags lives on through the power of song. Key wrote “Defence of Fort M’Henry,” a poem about his experience watching from the Baltimore harbor as an American fort took fire from British troops during the War of 1812. In 1916, more than 100 years after its first publication, Key’s poem became our national anthem.

5. Yes, the Flag Code is the law. No, there’s no penalty for breaking it.

The U.S. Flag Code was signed into law by President Roosevelt on June 22, 1942. While it’s filed under Title 18 of the U.S. Code (“Crimes and Criminal Procedure”), the Flag Code exists as more of an etiquette guide than anything else.

So if you leave your flag up past sundown, that’s technically illegal — but no one’s going to arrest you for it.

6. When it comes to showing respect for the flag, there are 11 specific instructions to follow.

There’s a whole section of the U.S. Flag Code on how to show respect for the flag. Since this is a topic that gets discussed quite a bit lately, it’s worth a quick review of some of the highlights:

• Unless you’re trying to signal distress “in instances of extreme danger to life or property,” you shouldn’t display it with the union (the field of blue with white stars) facing downward.
• The flag should never touch the floor and should never be carried horizontally or flat, but “always aloft and free.”
• You’re not supposed to wear the flag nor print its image on “anything that is designed for temporary use” (napkins, for example). Don’t use it in advertisements, either.
• “No part of the flag should ever be used as a costume or athletic uniform.”

7. You’re supposed to fly the flag on Christmas.

The Code says that “the flag should be displayed on all days,” but puts special emphasis on the following holidays: New Year’s Day, Inauguration Day, Lincoln’s Birthday, Washington’s Birthday, Easter, Mother’s Day, Armed Forces Day, Memorial Day (the flag should be displayed at half-staff until noon), Flag Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Constitution Day, Columbus Day, Navy Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.

The Code adds that states should display the U.S. flag on the anniversary of their admission to the union, on state holidays, and on any day observed by presidential proclamation.

8. If the U.S. ever adds a 51st state, the flag won’t be updated until the following Independence Day.

The flag won’t be getting any major redesigns in the near future, save for the addition of a star here and there. The Code reads:

“On the admission of a new State into the Union one star shall be added to the union of the flag; and such addition shall take effect on the fourth day of July then next succeeding such admission.”

9. Flag Day dates back to the 1880s but wasn’t made an official U.S. holiday until 1949.

It’s thought that schoolteacher Bernard J. Cigrand was the first person to celebrate Flag Day, commemorating the 108th anniversary of the 1777 Flag Resolution (which outlined the flag’s basic design) on June 14, 1885. The tradition caught on among schools and, eventually, states.

In 1916, President Wilson established Flag Day through proclamation. In 1949, Congress passed and President Truman signed a bill making the holiday official.

10. The design for the current 50-star flag came from a high school student’s U.S. history project — which initially got a B-.

In 1958, Bob Heft was a junior in high school. In a 2009 interview with StoryCorps, Heft recounted what happened when he turned in a history project featuring a 50-star flag. Heft’s teacher gave him a B-, noting that he had the wrong number of stars on the flag (at the time, there were only 48 states).

When Heft expressed disappointment, his teacher said, “If you don’t like the grade, get it accepted in Washington, then come back and see me.”

After Alaska and Hawaii became states, the U.S. adopted Heft’s flag. He got a call from President Eisenhower and, more importantly, an updated grade on his project.

11. The Pledge of Allegiance was, in part, created as a gimmick to sell U.S. flags to schools.

The pledge’s history is fascinating and filled with controversy. Many know that it wasn’t until 1954 that the words “under God” were added to the pledge in response to the Red Scare, but what’s less discussed is the origin and purpose of the pledge itself.

Socialist minister Francis Bellamy penned the original pledge for an 1892 issue of The Youth’s Companion as a way to mark the 400th anniversary of Columbus’ journey. The magazine offered U.S. flags to subscribers, and Bellamy and the magazine lobbied public schools to adopt his pledge as a show of patriotism. It was successful, too, selling tens of thousands of new subscriptions and flags. In hindsight, it’s a bit ironic that this lasting ode to America began as a socialist’s capitalist experiment.

12. No one is sure why we chose red, white, and blue as the color of our flag, but an explanation was made retroactively.

In 1782, Secretary of Congress Charles Thomson explained the significance of the colors red, white, and blue during the design of the official seal of the U.S.:

“The colours of the pales are those used in the flag of the United States of America; White signifies purity and innocence, Red, hardiness and valour, and Blue, the colour of the Chief signifies vigilance, perseverance, and justice.”

Ever since, we’ve just gone with that.

Pediatrician Alastair McAlpine gave some of his terminal patients an assignment. What they told him can inspire us all.

“Kids can be so wise, y’know,” the Cape Town doctor and ultra-marathon enthusiast posted to his Twitter account. He asked the young patients, short on time, about the things that really mattered to them.

What followed was a string of life advice that’ll make you want to be a better person, no matter how old you are.

u201cFor an assignment, I asked some of my terminal paediatric palliative care patients what they had enjoyed in life, and what gave it meaning. Kids can be so wise, y’know. Here are some of the responses (Thread).u201d

— Alastair McAlpine, MD (@Alastair McAlpine, MD)
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First, it’s worth looking at what wasn’t important to these kids.

“NONE said they wished they’d watched more TV. NONE said they should’ve spent more time on Facebook. NONE said they enjoyed fighting with others. NONE enjoyed [the] hospital,” tweeted McAlpine.

u201cFirst: nNONE said they wished they’d watched more TV nNONE said they should’ve spent more time on Face BooknNONE said they enjoyed fighting with othersnNONE enjoyed hospital n/1u201d

— Alastair McAlpine, MD (@Alastair McAlpine, MD)
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Many talked about the people and animals who would miss them when they were gone.

“I love Rufus,” one child told McAlpine about their dog. “His funny bark makes me laugh.” Others worried about whether their parents would be OK.

u201cMANY mentioned their parents, often expressing worry or concern:n’Hope mum will be ok. She seems sad.’n’Dad mustn’t worry. He’ll see me again soon.’n’God will take care of my mum and dad when I’m gone’n/3u201d

— Alastair McAlpine, MD (@Alastair McAlpine, MD)
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u201cALL of them loved ice-cream.n/4u201d

— Alastair McAlpine, MD (@Alastair McAlpine, MD)
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They all loved stories, and many wish they’d spent less time and energy worrying about what others thought about them.

“ALL of them loved books or being told stories, especially by their parents,” wrote McAlpine, who then shared a couple short anecdotes about Harry Potter, Sherlock Holmes, and literary adventures in space.

They also understood that people who treat you differently for superficial reasons, like your hair or a surgery scar, aren’t worth worrying about.

u201cMANY wished they had spent less time worrying about what others thought of them, and valued people who just treated them ‘normally’.n’My real friends didn’t care when my hair fell out.’n’Jane came to visit after the surgery and didn’t even notice the scar!’ /6u201d

— Alastair McAlpine, MD (@Alastair McAlpine, MD)
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What was important was having fun, being kind, and holding on to their sense of humor.

These kids loved swimming and playing on the beach, and they valued others who extended kindness to them along the way. “I like it when that kind nurse is here,” one patient told McAlpine. “She’s gentle. And it hurts less.”

u201cAlmost ALL of them valued kindness above most other virtues:n’My granny is so kind to me. She always makes me smile.’n’Jonny gave me half his sandwich when I didn’t eat mine. That was nice.’n’I like it when that kind nurse is here. She’s gentle. And it hurts less’ /8u201d

— Alastair McAlpine, MD (@Alastair McAlpine, MD)
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u201cAlmost ALL of them loved people who made them laugh:n’That magician is so silly! His pants fell down and I couldn’t stop laughing!’n’My daddy pulls funny faces which I just love!’n’The boy in the next bed farted! Hahaha!’nnLaughter relieves pain. /9u201d

— Alastair McAlpine, MD (@Alastair McAlpine, MD)
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Above all, they cherished their families (and favorite toys).

“They ALL valued time with their family,” said McAlpine. “Nothing was more important.”

u201cFinally, they ALL valued time with their family. Nothing was more important. n’Mum and dad are the best!’n’My sister always hugs me tight’n’No one loves me like mummy loves me!’ /11u201d

— Alastair McAlpine, MD (@Alastair McAlpine, MD)
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There’s a lot we can learn from these kids — and it’s incredibly easy to incorporate their lessons into our lives.

There are seven simple takeaways (well, eight if you count “eat ice cream”):

“Be kind. Read more books. Spend time with your family. Crack jokes. Go to the beach. Hug your dog. Tell that special person you love them.”

Easy enough, right?

u201cTake home message:nBe kind. Read more books. Spend time with your family. Crack jokes. Go to the beach. Hug your dog. Tell that special person you love them.nnThese are the things these kids wished they could’ve done more. The rest is details.nnOh… and eat ice-cream. /Endu201d

— Alastair McAlpine, MD (@Alastair McAlpine, MD)
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Take home message:
Be kind. Read more books. Spend time with your family. Crack jokes. Go to the beach. Hug your do… https://t.co/w5Xs5jQODc

— Alastair McAlpine, MD (@Alastair McAlpine, MD)
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