Alex Jones’ theatrical nuisance of a trial performance is not ending well for him. And it ain’t over yet, but so far, the jury is not on his side. The first installment of a bifurcated case/verdict landed on Thursday afternoon, and let’s just say that all of Jones’ snake oil supplements — and he has been pushing those “Instahard” virility pills like crazy this week — are going to be sales that he needs to pay this initial verdict for his lies about the Sandy Hook families.
CNN reports that Jones has been ordered by a jury (with 10 out of 12 members in official accordance) to shell out $4 million and a little bit of change to the parents (Scarlett Lewis and Neil Heslim) of two victims of the Sandy Hook mass school shooting. It’s a heck of a semi-ending for a very public defamation case about the horrible harm that’s been done by Jones peddling conspiracy theories, all to make some money on his Infowars sites. Punitive damages are yet to come (the jury comes back on Friday for that consideration), but here’s how the default judgment happened so fast with the jury barely deliberating to come up with the compensatory damages:
Jones baselessly said in the aftermath of the Sandy Hook shooting, in which 26 people were killed, that the incident was staged. Facing multiple lawsuits, Jones later acknowledged the shooting occurred. He testified in court this week that he now believed it to be “100% real.”
But Jones failed to comply with court orders during the discovery process of the lawsuit. His failure to do so led to Heslin and Lewis winning default judgments judgements against Jones.
Get ready for a Jones blowout over this. He’s already been ranting about his lawyer screwing up because he handed over the contents of Jones’ phone to the other side. The lawyer moved for a mistrial, which clearly did not happen, and now, the Jan. 6 House committee has decided subpoena those texts. In other words, it doesn’t pay to be a conspiracy theorist in the long run, kids.
Well, okay then. An indie production has found its Fidel Castro in James Franco, who is set to play the divisive figure in the years before and after he became Prime Minister of Cuba. According to Deadline, Franco will star alongside Mía Maestro, who plays the Cuban socialite and Castro mistress Natalia Revuelta. Directed by Miguel Bardem, and written by Motorcycle Diaries scribe Jose Rivera and Pulitzer Prize winner Nilo Cruz, Alina of Cuba will tell the real-life story of dissident and Castro critic Alina Fernandez (Ana Villafañe), the living result of Castro and Revuelta’s affair.
Since it’s Fernandez’s story, it seems like Franco will have a secondary role in the film, and producer John Martinez O’Felan says they pursued him for the part because of how much he physically resembles the revolutionary leader. That resemblance is undeniable, although it’s unclear how good Franco’s Spanish is or whether he can pull off a Cuban dialect.
Despite the notability of the person he’s playing, this project does not mark a grand return from Hollywood ostracization following allegations of sexual misconduct in 2018. Franco has since settled with former students who claimed he exploited them sexually and spoken briefly in public about his sex addiction. He’s also continued to operate on low profile, low budget films, mostly ones that he’s directed. This continues that pattern.
Interestingly enough, O’Felan has also set up a documentary called Revolution’s Daughter to film alongside Alina of Cuba. Directed by Thaddeus D. Matula, it will blend behind-the-scenes looks at Alina‘s filming with historical and social commentary about the real-life Alina Fernandez’s impact on Cuba.
Chocolate is the quintessential milkshake flavor. Sure vanilla is the most luscious, but it functions best as the base of a milkshake, not the star of the show. Strawberry, while refreshing, is divisive for a reason. But chocolate, with its rich and decadent nature shining through every slurp of the straw? It just satisfies in a way that no other flavor can.
When the perfect chocolate milkshake hits, you don’t think about calories or sugar. You just think: That’s a pretty f*cking good milkshake.
In celebration of the greatest milkshake flavor of all time, we’re ranking all the best chocolate milkshakes in the fast food universe in search of the GOAT. Just like we did with our strawberry milkshake ranking, we’ll be paying special attention to each shake’s thickness, scoring each on a 1-5 scale. Let’s sip!
14. McDonald’s — McCafe Chocolate Shake
McDonald
Thickness: 2/5
Tasting Notes:
McDonald’s milkshakes just… aren’t good. The chain just hasn’t really figured out how to nail a quality milkshake, which is strange because their McFlurry’s, which are the middle ground between a sundae and a milkshake, are so damn delicious.
But their stock McCafe milkshakes? Awful.
It’s the syrup that’s to blame. McDonald’s makes their milkshakes by using their vanilla soft serve base and blending in flavored syrup, but the syrup tends to change the consistency of the milkshake, causing it to become watery and loose. The chocolate in particular just doesn’t taste all that much like chocolate. It’s so faint that it somehow comes across as distracting. You won’t be able to stop wondering “where is the chocolate?”
The Bottom Line:
This milkshake has nothing going for it. It’s not thick enough, and the flavors are bland and taste watered down.
13. Burger King — Chocolate Shake with Oreo Cookies
Burger King
Thickness: 3/5
Tasting Notes:
Maybe it’s cheating to include Burger King’s Chocolate Shake with Oreo Cookies over their plain Chocolate shake but I consistently give BK the bottom spot on nearly all of my fast food rankings and I desperately want the brand to win for some reason, so… welcome to 2nd last place, Burger King!
Burger King’s Chocolate Shake with Oreo Cookies takes a bad thing, BK’s chocolate shake, and makes it marginally better by adding Oreos in, giving it a bit more thickness and a whole lot of texture and flavor. The Oreos are crushed small enough to travel up your straw with ease and provide a great mouthfeel, but the milkshake tends to melt in your mouth before the cookie pieces can dissolve, leaving you with a layer of cookie gravel on your tongue after every sip.
The Bottom Line:
Burger King’s best milkshake! Having said that, maybe skip ordering a milkshake at BK. Or… anything at all.
I generally like Carl’s Jr.’s milkshakes but the chocolate flavor is easily the weakest of the three offered. Carl’s Jr. uses real scoops of ice cream instead of flavoring a soft serve vanilla base with powders or syrups (which a lot of milkshakes do) providing a nice depth of flavor in the vanilla and strawberry flavor,s but whatever chocolate ice cream Carl’s Jr. is using. is just not good.
The chocolate tastes chalky and bland, it lacks the richness you expect from the flavor. It tastes kind of like a Hershey bar, intensely sweet, but more like sugar and milk than chocolate.
The Bottom Line:
Carl’s Jr. makes good milkshakes, so long as your order any flavor other than chocolate
Frosty Heads are going to lose their shit over this [my boss is one, but YOLO!] but the Chocolate Frosty is mid-tier at best. I get it, the Frosty is thick, probably the thickest milkshake in the game, but the flavor is like someone mixed Nesquik into some blended ice and called it a day.
It’s bland, tasting more like sweet ice than chocolate. Its only real strength is that it makes for a delicious fry dip. With an infusion of hot, salty, and buttery potato, this shake tastes amazing. But this isn’t an article about the best milkshakes to dip french fries into — as a stand-alone shake this just doesn’t offer enough flavor to deserve a better spot than this.
The Bottom Line:
A delicious thick fry dip, but as a shake, it doesn’t offer enough flavor to really stand out.
I’ll swear by the Del Taco Strawberry Shake. You could put it up against the top five of this ranking and I think it would put up a good fight and we’re talking about strawberry vs chocolate here — that’s not an easy win for the fruit. But Del Taco’s take on chocolate? It misses the mark. Where the strawberry shake is refreshing and luxurious, this is, like a lot of the chocolate shakes in this section of the ranking, bland and flavorless.
The thickness is there, but the flavor isn’t — the chocolate presents itself as chalky and muddled, with the tiniest echoes of cocoa over its mostly milky flavor.
The Bottom Line:
Order the Strawberry, trust us, even if you don’t generally like strawberry shakes. It’s Del Taco’s best dessert. This isn’t.
You think that a place with the word ‘Shake’ in the name would make some great milkshakes, and maybe at one point Steak n’ Shake did. But have you been there lately?
The quality of the milkshakes has taken a serious dip. This shake lacks consistency, it’s watery, and too sweet, with a cheap chocolate flavor that comes across as almost sour. It’s so bad that when I had this shake recently, I had to take a second trip back to a different Steak n’ Shake the next day, assuming I got a bad shake.
I was wrong, Steak n’ Shake just sucks.
The Bottom Line:
Doesn’t rank high enough to deserve the word “shake” in the name of the chain.
Sonic’s milkshakes are thick as hell and offer more mix-ins than your average fast food chain, which begs the question: why would you ever order just chocolate? Seriously, you’re a banana, a strawberry, and some graham cracker dust away from making this simple shake into a gourmet experience.
We can let a single mix-in pass (see our BK entry) but once we start adding a bunch of ingredients into a milkshake, it’s not fair to call it “chocolate” anymore. As a stand-alone chocolate shake, this one is just fine — it’s thick, rich and intensely sweet but somehow comes across as boring given the amount of other options Sonic offers you and in comparison to what we’ve ranked higher.
The Bottom Line:
You’re at Sonic, you should go nuts with the mix-ins. Use this as a base, not a standalone flavor.
Put some respect on Arby’s name! I know that Arby’s brings a lot of the hate on itself (their whole “we’ve got the meats” marketing comes across as obnoxious and a bit tone-deaf in our rapidly warming world) but the brand is pretty good at everything it does. The roast beef sandwiches are on point, their seasonal offerings are always strong, and they even made a Wagyu burger that was pretty damn tasty.
Glad to say that consistency translates over to their dessert offerings.
This shake is gloriously chocolate forward, it’s creamy, with a caramelized sugar and cocoa flavor, and a velvety smooth finish. We have the famed Ghirardelli to thank for that, as Arby’s blends Ghirardelli chocolate right into the shake before drizzling more Ghirardelli chocolate syrup on top. The only weak point is the consistency — it’s not nearly thick enough to deserve a higher spot on this ranking.
The Bottom Line:
Arby’s has nailed the flavor of a great chocolate shake, but they have a lot of work to do on the consistency. This is the only shake on this ranking where the lack of thickness holds it back.
Jack in the Box is, to misquote the late ’90s early ’00s band Disturbed, “Down with the thickness.” They make some of the thickest milkshakes in the game, so thick that it’s highly likely your straw will start to bend and contort from the force of your sucking as you try drinking it. But if you’re at Jack in the Box, we have to ask, why are you ordering anything other than an Oreo milkshake?
This is another milkshake that will probably continue to get overlooked by a vastly superior menu option, but if curiosity causes you to actually go for chocolate over Oreo, here is what you’re getting: a toasted semi-sweet chocolate flavor over a thick vanilla base. It has a nice balance between its sweetness and more bitter and complex cocoa notes.
It’s a bit too powdery to deserve a spot in the top five, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a good milkshake.
The Bottom Line:
It’s not going to blow you away, but it’s a very good chocolate shake.
Dairy Queen’s chocolate shake’s can get confusing, you’ve got the OG Chocolate, and the Hot Fudge, and I’m pretty sure at one point there was a cold fudge, and just fudge, which I guess…. fudge at room temperature? It seems DQ has wisely scaled back, during my most recent visit there was just Chocolate and Hot Fudge.
It’s hard to describe why I like the Hot Fudge over the Chocolate flavor but it just tastes more chocolate-y to me. The chocolate flavor is richer and more prominent in the hot fudge, and it comes across as more decadent and satisfying to me.
If you like a bit more balance in your milkshake, I’d suggest the OG Chocolate, but if you’re a hardcore chocolate lover, the Hot Fudge is the move. The weak point of this shake? It’s not very thick. If the thickness is what you’re after, order a Blizzard instead. We suggest the Oreo Dirt Pie.
The Bottom Line:
Intensely chocolate forward, if you’re wondering if there is a difference between the “Chocolate” and “Hot Fudge,” there is — the Hot Fudge is better.
All of Chick-fil-A’s milkshakes are delicious. Each one is thick and flavorful, but Chocolate is the weakest flavor on the menu. Chick-fil-A’s milkshakes are made using the chain’s Ice Dream soft serve, which is incredibly dense and wonderfully sweet and creamy. The flavor here is well balanced between sweet and bitter notes, with a toasted cocoa flavor, hints of coffee bean, and a sweet vanilla finish.
The flavor is great, but it’s a bit too faint. A Chick-fil-A chocolate shake only disappoints when you’ve had the other flavors, which I have! I suggest you start with the Oreo.
The Bottom Line
An amazing chocolate shake but Chick-fil-A has an Oreo that is twice as good and summer is peach milkshake season, so you’ve got a lot of options that aren’t chocolate and offer a way better experience. Order one of those instead.
I have all sorts of nostalgic love for In-N-Out’s milkshakes but if I’m being real I have to admit that the chocolate shake doesn’t really taste all that much like chocolate. That isn’t to say it isn’t good though. It’s great, the cocoa flavor is so faint that it barely registers as chocolate on the taste buds, but the consistency of the milkshake is luxuriously thick and it has this unique and distinctly In-N-Out flavor that makes it delicious in its own right.
Word to the wise, if you’re ordering this milkshake in California, grab a spoon. This shake is way too thick for a paper straw.
The Bottom Line:
A great milkshake. It doesn’t taste all that much like chocolate but the delicious sweet flavor and thickness is enough to earn it a spot in the top five.
Shake Shack is the only fast food brand on this ranking that uses custard instead of soft serve ice cream as a base for their milkshakes. What’s the difference between custard and soft serve? Not a whole lot, but custard tends to be smoother, denser, and more luxurious than airy and sweet soft serve, which absolutely matters when we’re talking about milkshakes. That denseness doesn’t necessarily result in a thicker shake than the competition, it’s still very easy to drink, but there is a richer mouthfeel here — the flavors are more intense and seem to soak into the tongue in this really satisfying way.
The chocolate flavor provides a rich and earthy cocoa flavor with a smooth caramelized sugar finish. Shockingly, despite my praise, this isn’t Shake Shack’s best milkshake, the chain almost always has a seasonal flavor that trumps this very delicious flavor. Right now you can get an Oreo Cookie Funnel Cake and a Chocolate Churro Shake, which makes plain chocolate a little hard to recommend.
The Bottom Line:
If one of Shake Shack’s always rotating seasonal flavors doesn’t catch your eye, order this — it’s one of the best tasting, richest, and smoothest chocolate shakes in the fast food universe.
Is Five Guys my favorite fast food joint? I’m genuinely asking because if you asked me for a short list of my five favorite fast food restaurants, I don’t think Five Guys would even come to mind, and yet I consistently give them the top spot in our food rankings. I think they have the best fries, and one of the best burger menus thanks to a limitless combination of options, and here we are with our second milkshake ranking of the year, and once again Five Guys has come out on top.
Never has a fast food chain been so consistently great across the board!
This milkshake is so damn good that a single sip will actually cause you to exclaim “wow!” no matter how jaded and joyless your existence is. This is one of the few milkshakes that actually start to taste better the longer you drink it, the chocolate flavor stays consistently strong throughout the whole experience. Five Guys blends Ghirardelli chocolate in a thick creamy vanilla base and doubles down with some fudge mixed in, which occasionally comes bursting through the straw with a rich and heavy flavor. Imagine the best milk chocolate you’ve ever had, but drinkable.
At Five Guys you can add all sorts of things into your milkshake, you can put everything from bananas and strawberries to bacon in this thing to elevate the experience, but some days, nothing is going to hit like the plain chocolate and that’s a testament to just how good this milkshake is. It doesn’t even need the extra ingredients to be good.
The Bottom Line:
Heaven for chocolate lovers. This is the thickest, richest, and most chocolate-y milkshake in the fast food universe.
I am aware that in the age of Peak TV, there is absolutely no time to watch anything. But if you haven’t seen FX’s The Americans, which aired on from 2013 to 2018, you have a significant television drama blindspot that is as embarrassing as having never seen Casablanca but declaring yourself a cinephile. The series follows two KGB agents who are living a normal suburban American life. By day, they work at a travel agency and by night (and honestly most days) they go on assignments for the KGB.
The show is a mixture of Mad Men and The Sopranos. Like Mad Men, it’s a slow burn, a deep character study that examines the complexities of human relationships and identity. It wrestles with the dangers of a country poisoned by capitalism. Like The Sopranos, it unpacks the American Dream by exploring the dynamics of a quaint American family (husband, wife, daughter, son) and it manages to pack in thrilling action between all the familial drama.
The chemistry between the now-married-in-real-life leads Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys is intoxicating and makes it one of the best, sexiest, shows of the Golden Age and, honestly, my favorite television show of all time, with one of the best series finales of all time. The Americans is now streaming on Hulu, and is, therefore, easier to watch than ever. Here are five reasons why you should watch The Americans (which is a perfect fall watch considering its surplus of knitwear and coats.)
1. Keri Russell
FX
On The Americans,Felicity star Keri Russell played Elizabeth Jennings, an undercover KGB agent living an All-American life in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. Elizabeth Jennings is not only one of the best female characters ever written, she’s one of the best characters ever written. Elizabeth (who does not chop her hair off for any season) is fiercely loyal to her homeland to a fault. She will do anything for the Soviet Union, even killing innocents. Throughout the series, Elizabeth struggles with her American life and her twisted loyalty to Russia as it begins to conflict with her genuine feelings for her husband, Philip, and her love for their two children, who believe they are a normal American family. Russell’s subtlety is essential to the role, which requires a quiet but poignant cruelty and buried emotions. If you watch The Americans, you will find yourself getting very, very upset that she never won an Emmy for the role. So if you need something new to be mad about, let it be this.
2. The Original Sad Boy
FX
Kendall Roy is television’s favorite sad boy of the moment, but Philip Jennings did it first. Matthew Rhys who, unlike co-star Russell, won an Emmy for his performance in the sixth and final season, plays Philip, who is the polar opposite of Elizabeth. Philip is the conflicted KGB agent, who, over time, actually falls in love with his partner/wife and simultaneously, with American life. He’ll do his job, but unlike Elizabeth, Philip gets emotionally attached and is enticed by the ease of American life as opposed to life in his home country. In a particularly chilling season three episode, Elizabeth and Philip stuff a dead woman’s body into a suitcase by breaking her bones. Philip shows his pain throughout the scene, while Elizabeth is simply doing her job. Philip is Kendall Roy level weepy but sexy and has a piping hot temper that Rhys builds up to seamlessly.
3. The Wigs
FX
As spies, Elizabeth and Philip Jennings are sexy. But more importantly, they are masters of disguise. Throughout the series, Elizabeth and Philip take on multiple alternate identities. Some of those identities have such a distinct persona and look that they become essential characters on their own. But these identities wouldn’t work without the wigs, which can transform the very hot Elizabeth and Philip into frumpy cat lady or mulleted ’80s punk. Wig queen Nicole Kidman wishes she had the Jennings’ collection.
4. The Soundtrack
FX
The Americans begins in 1981, and unfolds throughout the entire decade. Instead of opting for the standard, expected 80s soundtrack, The Americans weaves deep cuts of early punk (like early The Cure) with classics like Fleetwood Mac and Elton John. The music is vital to the series, and is used cleverly to capture a mood, propel the action, and establish where the characters are at mentally. The music is not used simply to establish the 80s time period. The pilot episode features one of its best needle drops ever, with Fleetwood Mac’s riveting “Tusk” during a thrilling action scene.
5. The Stacked Supporting Cast
FX
While it’s Russell and Rhys who elevated the The Americans into one of the best shows of the Golden Age, they’re also joined by an overwhelming, fabulous supporting cast. Noah Emmerich plays the show’s equivalent to Breaking Bad’s Hank Schraeder, FBI agent Stan Beaman, who happens to be the Jennings’ new neighbor and who strikes up a friendship with Philip. Margo Martindale and Frank Langella play KGB handlers for Elizabeth and Philip, and later in the series, a pre-Ozark Emmys Julia Garner joins, all but confirming that she would soon become an award-winning star.
BONUS: The 69ing Scene
FX
WhileGame of Thrones was more concerned with sexual violence and the male gaze than anything else, The Americans was concerned with actually sexy sex scenes. In the season two premiere, lovebirds Elizabeth and Philip Jennings engage in mutual, simultaneous oral sex, which is more popularly known as 69. Nice! The scene is brief, but it’s hot and we are eternally grateful that FX managed to get this on air. In hindsight, it was probably a good thing that so few people watched The Americans as it aired so they could get away with it.
A group of self-described “non-Americans” shared the quintessential American things they wish they could do and it’s a great reminder of some of the endearing aspects of American culture that far too many of us take for granted.
At a time when America is plagued by political divisions, it’s refreshing to remember that we all share a unique culture that others appreciate.
The responses were prompted by Reddit user gaping__hole, who asked the online forum, “Non-Americans of Reddit: what is an American thing you have always wanted to try?” The most compelling thing about the responses is they didn’t center around the advantages afforded by the country’s commitment to freedom and individuality. Instead, they focused on the day-to-day experiences that the average American enjoys.
The “non-Americans of Reddit” seemed to be really interested in sampling America’s unique culinary contributions such as fair food or things that are deep-fried. They appreciated the lifestyle that Americans in small towns and middle-class neighborhoods enjoy.
They also wanted to take advantage of America’s size, whether that’s the diverse topography or the idea that one can change their life by moving a few hundred miles away.
Personally, the responses gave me a renewed appreciation for the small comforts that we enjoy as Americans whether that’s chowing down on a corn dog or watching a yellow school bus roll down the street full of happy kids.
Here are 19 of the “American things” that non-Americans have always “wanted to try.”
1.
“To visit a diner like in the movies. In the middle of the night, it’s raining and just a few people there with great music from a jukebox.” — TotalAd6225
2.
“Can I interest you in our lord and savior Waffle House?” — ShadowDV
3.
“Ride a yellow school bus even if I’m too old. Growing up I always loved seeing them on TV.” — infiresemo
4.
“A friend of mine from Indonesia said, ‘the food chewer in the sink.’ Garbage disposal.” — Mnemonic22
5.
“Being able to start a whole new life ‘elsewhere’ without having to leave my country and going through an arduous immigration process.” — Gmtfoegy
Gatvolkak added:
“It really is a country where you can get up, move 3 hours away and completely reinvent yourself. The only thing that follows you is your credit score.”
6.
“Deep fried foods at a state fair. I’m from Scotland and we love to deep fry everything and I wanna know if it’s just as good or better.” — fenrislfr
7.
“Trick or treating at Halloween.” — IvanaHug
8.
“Proper tailgating before a ball game, the kind where there’s ribs and stuff.” — SpiraltoNowehere
9.
“7/11 slurpees.” — Elford12
10.
“Corndogs, I don’t understand what it is but I want to try it.” — AFowlWaterfowl
11.
“A friend of mine from China took a vacation to the US. He landed in Chicago, rented a car and drove down Route 66 until he could peer over the edge of the Grand Canyon, then drove back. Where he’s from, a road trip isn’t even a thing.” — Henri_Dupont
12.
“Chicken and waffles.” — Wide-Flower3494
13.
“It’s impossible, but the small town/suburban middle-class American childhood experience from the ’80s (think ‘ET’ or ‘Stranger Things’ or ‘Goonies,’ minus the spooky fantasy stuff). What you guy’s say about Blockbuster nights nostalgia, the shopping malls. Growing up in Latin America at that time, we had a few glimpses of that lifestyle in some movies and it was fascinating, dreamlike.” — steak_tartare
14.
“I want to understand baseball. Man that sport looks boring, but a lot of movies are made about it I just wanna figure out how the game is played.” — shweyzy02
15.
“Using the word ‘ya’ll’ in general conversation.” — Devlin_McGregor
16.
“French woman I used to hang out with needed instructions on how to eat a chili dog. Blew her mind. Steamed and toasted bun, all-beef natural casing hot dog from a local farm, homemade chili, raw and finely chopped onions, and a bunch of Colby-jack cheese. She had seen pictures and wanted to try it, so I took her to this place run by a Vietnam vet who had wanted to own a chili dog stand since he was in the war. That was his life goal. Not get married, raise a family. But survive the war and open a chili dog stand. He finally made it after decades of biding his time, and all that passion went into the perfectly executed chili dog.” — DeepStateofAffairs
17.
“White Castle. Specifically that big box of white castle sliders. (I want to try it because of Harold and Kumar).” — Camus-Albert
18.
“I’ve always wanted to go to a ‘real’ haunted house with actors during the Halloween season. Or those scary corn mazes with actors, etc.” — tadpolecrusader
Earlier this month, Nicki teased the single on Instagram, playing a snippet as she mugged the camera for a racy video announcing the new song. Since then, she’s devoted her energy to stirring up more fan involvement from her loyal Barbz, even hosting a poll to rename the song after running into some copyright issues with its original title, “Freaky Girl.”
When some fans complained about the new title, Nicki pointed out on Twitter that she “did a whole poll that 100K ppl took so sit down & SHUT IT! legally we can’t use freaky girl. Don’t you think I would if I could? Use your noggin.” The song snippet is also apparently doing well on TikTok, something Nicki has been quick to tout on Twitter.
I did a whole poll that 100K ppl took so sit down & SHUT IT! legally we can’t use freaky girl. Don’t you think I would if I could? Use your noggin https://t.co/giXFEUoOW2
In other Nicki Minaj news, the rapper recently released the trailer for a six-part docuseries, Nicki, which she says is coming out this year. “We have the month that the documentary is coming,” she announced during a recent episode of Queen Radio. “We do not have the date, but we have the month. It’s going to be a very exciting month for the Barbz. It’s obviously coming out in 2022.”
In the meantime, prepare for the release of “Super Freaky Girl” by pre-saving it here.
It’s the final month of summer, so if you haven’t gotten your summer festival experience in yet, beware — you’re running out of time. Trust us, you’re not going to want to wait because while we’re always flooded with an abundance of events to attend, you don’t want to be the person who ends up at something that you’re not vibing with as a compromise. Not every festival appeals to everyone, so choose wisely while you still can before you end up at your last choice.
But with so many festivals, which is the most worthy of your time? If your vibe is experiential festivals that combine psychedelic fashion with large-scale interactive art installations, chest-rattling electronic music, and the sort of outdoor activities that make you feel like you’re at a magical summer camp instead of a dusty post-apocalyptic hellscape (*cough* Coachella), then you can’t go wrong with the Elements Music and Arts Festival.
Elements
This epic three-day festival has come a long way from its humble beginnings at the Brooklyn waterfront, and for its fifth anniversary, it’s going bigger and better than ever by decamping to a new venue at Long Pond Pennsylvania, where it promises to offer 72 hours of music, immersive car camping, dancing, multidisciplinary workshops and more.
Whether you want to chill out with some yoga, aromatherapy, and sound baths or go nuts by repelling from 100-foot grain silos, Elements has you covered. Not only that but your “choose your own adventure” will be soundtracked by the festival’s best lineup ever. The music will be spread across four stages this go around, with performances from artists like Kaskade (redux), Rezz, Fisher, Sofi Tukker, Zeds Dead, Claude Vonstroke, and more.
To help get you ready for what to expect, we gathered up some photos from previous Elements festivals and we’ve got to say, this festival already looks more unhinged than any festival we’ve been to all year — so we can only imagine how crazy this year is going to look. The Elements Music & Arts Festival is coming to Long Pond, Pennsylvania from August 19-22. Get your passes here, check out the photos below and prepare yourself for the visual insanity.
Photo Courtesy Of ElementsPhoto Courtesy Of ElementsPhoto Courtesy Of ElementsPhoto Courtesy Of ElementsPhoto Courtesy Of ElementsPhoto Courtesy Of ElementsPhoto Courtesy Of ElementsPhoto Courtesy Of ElementsPhoto Courtesy Of ElementsPhoto Courtesy Of ElementsPhoto Courtesy Of ElementsPhoto Courtesy Of ElementsPhoto Courtesy Of ElementsPhoto Courtesy Of ElementsPhoto Courtesy Of ElementsPhoto Courtesy Of ElementsPhoto Courtesy Of ElementsPhoto Courtesy Of ElementsPhoto Courtesy Of ElementsPhoto Courtesy Of ElementsPhoto Courtesy Of ElementsPhoto Courtesy Of ElementsPhoto Courtesy Of ElementsPhoto Courtesy Of ElementsPhoto Courtesy Of ElementsPhoto Courtesy Of ElementsPhoto Courtesy Of ElementsPhoto Courtesy Of ElementsPhoto Courtesy Of ElementsPhoto Courtesy Of ElementsPhoto Courtesy Of ElementsPhoto Courtesy Of ElementsPhoto Courtesy Of ElementsPhoto Courtesy Of ElementsPhoto Courtesy Of Elements
Over the past few years, Ezra Miller has been making their way around the world picking fights and allegedly grooming minors, though much of their actions haven’t come to light until now.
Earlier this year, Miller was arrested twice, criticized for allegedly grooming teenagers, and holding a family at a remote Vermont cabin with a variety of weapons and drugs. Now, more victims of Miller have been speaking out and recalling a two-month stint in which Miller was living out of an Airbnb in Iceland with various companions in a “cult-like” situation, according to Insider.
Miller traveled to Reykjavik in early 2020 after the production of Fantastic Beasts was shut down due to COVID. There, they lived in an Airbnb, walked around barefoot, and frightened the locals. One woman, who spoke to Insider, referred to the house as a “commune,” with mattresses spread out on the floor and guests being enamored with the movie star. “It felt like everyone was hypnotized.”
Various friends, artists, and ex-pats lived with Miller, some of whom were teenagers who had sexual relationships with them. “Nobody ever was kind of allowed to disagree with them,” recalled a young woman who had a brief relationship with Miller in Iceland while she was 18 and Miler was 27. “Their reality painted everybody else’s reality. There was no room for anybody else’s opinion or feelings.” Miller was also filmed choking a woman while in Iceland.
Miller stayed at the Airbnb for several months before returning to the states and now seems to be residing in a remote Vermont cabin with several others, though it seems like nobody can get a hold of them.
Despite the pleas from friends, it seems like Miller is still MIA and failed to report to a July court appearance. Miller is still slated to appear in the upcoming Flash movie which is set for a June 2023 release, though that depends on just exactly how much trouble they get in before then.
Have you ever watched Breaking Bad or Better Call Sauland wondered, “where do I get these fabulous wide ties in horrific colors and suits that wear the person, not the other way around?” Look no further! At long last, you can finally own items from style icon, BlueTooth influencer and corrupt lawyer Saul Goodman’s wardrobe that were actually worn by Bob Odenkirk on Better Call Saul. Saul’s extravagant and colorful style is not for everyone, but it will certainly get people’s attention.
Propstore announced on Thursday that it will hold an exclusive online auction of over 250 original props, costumes, and more from the production of seasons one through six of Better Call Saul. Props for sale include Chuck McGill’s journal and space blanket, Gus Fring’s Los Pollos Hermanos uniform and flip phone, Hector Salamanca’s bell, and Jimmy McGill’s University of American Somoa sweatshirt. Unfortunately, it does not look like Kim Wexler’s iconic curled ponytail will be up for auction.
The Better Call Saul auction begins on August 18, just three days after the August 15 series finale. So start saving now. Or, if you’re a true Slippin’ Jimmy fan, start scheming. The auction ends on September 1. In the meantime, let’s continue to pretend that Better Call Saul will end with Jimmy and Kim running off into the sunset holding hands.
Eminem is gearing up for the release of his second greatest hits compilation, Curtain Call 2, which will feature 34 tracks from the past 13 years of his career. It’s a follow-up to the original Curtain Call, released in 2005, which covered the first 13 years of his career (not including his pre-Aftermath/Interscope work, which included underground collaborations with Rawkus Records and his independently-released album Infinite). Does anyone sense a pattern developing here?
But as with any project touting all of an artist’s greatest hits, Curtain Call 2‘s impending release begs the question: What exactly constitutes their “greatest” hits, anyway? In this case, we see entries such as “Berzerk,” “Godzilla,” “Lucky You,” “The Monster,” “Venom,” — and even “Walk On Water,” which is a pretty iffy selection considering its initial reception on release. Since we already know which songs Eminem considers to be his “greatest” hits — at least according to the album’s tracklist — let’s break them down by album and see which ones actually deserve that title.
2009 — Relapse
Hits: “3 a.m.,” “Beautiful,” and “Crack A Bottle” featuring 50 Cent and Dr. Dre. According to Billboard, “Crack A Bottle” is the real winner here. As the lead single from Eminem’s first “comeback” album, it broke the first-week digital sales record with 418,000 downloads, topping the Hot 100 chart. It was only his second single to do so after “Lose Yourself.”
2010 — Recovery
Hits: “Cinderella Man,” “Love The Way You Lie” featuring Rihanna, “No Love” featuring Lil Wayne. “Not Afraid,” “Space Bound,” “Won’t Back Down” feat. Pink, and “You’re Never Over.” This one’s obvious. While Recovery produced the most hits in Em’s recent catalog, “Love The Way You Lie” is objectively one of Eminem’s most popular songs ever thanks to the emotive chorus penned by Skylar Grey and sung by Rihanna. It’s Em’s best-selling single, moving over 12 million copies in the US alone. It was a massive smash and led to Eminem attempting to recapture the magic with “Won’t Back Down” from this album (nah) and “The Monster” from his next album, The Marshall Mathers LP 2.
2013 — The Marshall Mathers LP 2
Hits: “Berzerk,” “Headlights” featuring Nate Reuss, “The Monster” featuring Rihanna, “Rap God,” and “Survival.” Speaking of, The Marshall Mathers LP 2 was Eminem’s attempt to go back to basics after the critically well-received Recovery alienated some fans of his earlier work (leading to his current string of reactive records that tries to course-correct on the critical reception of its predecessors). Nevertheless, despite “Rap God” meeting those fans’ expectations, the best-received song from the album was still the Rihanna redux “The Monster,” which again peaked at No. 1 on the Hot 100.
2017 — Revival
Hits: “Nowhere Fast,” featuring Kehlani, “River” featuring Ed Sheeran, and “Walk On Water” featuring Beyonce. As one of Eminem’s worst-received albums, it’s no surprise that this one only owns three of the records that appear on Curtain Call 2. They’re also Em’s weakest singles, dipping into the pop-ballad well that worked so well with Rihanna one too many times, with too many artists who were just bad fits in retrospect. “River” was technically the most fruitful of them, rising to No. 11 on the Hot 100 and sparking a creative partnership between the two artists that continues to produce to this day.
2018 — Kamikaze
Hits: “Fall,” “Lucky You” featuring Joyner Lucas, and “Venom.” Em’s rampaging follow-up to Revival was better received — at least by his fans — but still only produced three singles. While they were all technically “hits” on the strength of their streaming, “Lucky You” turned out to be most popular, climbing to No. 6 on the Hot 100 and launching Massachusetts rapper Joyner Lucas to a new plateau of stardom. Still, the meme-ready “Venom” is probably the single with the most lasting impact, appearing in the Sony film of the same name and becoming a go-to sound on TikTok four years later.
2020 — Music To Be Murdered By
Hits: “Darkness,” “Farewell,” “Gnat,” “Godzilla” featuring Juice WRLD, and “Higher.” As Em’s latest album, this one probably benefits from recency bias. It’s got five entries on Curtain Call 2 but in its defense, they were some of Em’s better recent singles. “Godzilla”‘s the clear standout; aside from charting the highest at No. 6 on the Hot 100, it has the benefit of a viral challenge without the drawback of a distasteful reenactment of a national tragedy. It also boosted the visibility of the late Juice WRLD, making it a bit more likable.
Curtain Call 2 is due 8/5 on Aftermath/Interscope/Shady Records.
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legally we can’t use freaky girl. Don’t you think I would if I could? Use your noggin.” The song snippet is also apparently doing well on TikTok, something Nicki has been quick to tout on Twitter.
