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[Spoilers for Better Call Saul, obviously]

If anyone thinks Monday’s episode of Better Call Saul is the “worst episode ever,” they deserve to be locked in the same room as Huell. Speaking of! One of the things that we learned in “Breaking Bad” is that Huell eventually left the DEA Safe House and now lives in Louisiana; the episode also filled in blanks about Walt and Jesse kidnapping Saul, as seen in the “Better Call Saul” episode of Breaking Bad (we’ll have more on their return in the Better Call Saul Lie Detector Test recap), and oh yeah, Kim is alive! (Probably?)

Early in the episode, Saul uses a pay phone to contact Kim, who’s now living in Florida. They appear to get into a heated argument, but we don’t hear the context of the conversation, because we only see it from Saul’s side and the audio is muffled by passing trucks. But according to writer Thomas Schnauz, we’ll learn more about the call.

“We will learn the details of the phone call; we will know what was said in a future episode. It’s just right now we wanted to keep the mystery going of: What is going on in the world of Kim Wexler?” he told Entertainment Weekly. “You said she’s alive, but I don’t know. Is she alive? Can you tell from that phone call? He asked for Kim Wexler on the end of that line and then heard something that made him slam the phone down and break the glass. So we’ll find out in a future episode exactly what words were spoken.”

I still believe that in the final two episodes, we’ll learn that Kim is alive — but not alive and well. After all, living in Florida is a fate worse than death.

(Via EW)

Slowthai found himself in a bit of a controversy over the weekend: While performing at Montreal’s Osheaga Festival, he wore a shirt with a giant swastika logo the front. While it had the word “destroy” on top, indicating his disdain for the Nazism and neo-Nazism the symbol has come to represent, seeing the symbol that prominently still rubbed some the wrong way.

So now, apologies have been made. The first came from Osheaga organizers, who tweeted yesterday, “A performer appeared on stage Saturday wearing a controversial t-shirt displaying a swastika that caused confusion. The t-shirt denounces the regime. We sincerely apologize to anyone who may have misinterpreted this message and felt hurt.”

Slowthai then followed that up with his own apology, writing, “I’m sorry to anyone who is offended by me wearing an anti-fascist/anti-regime t-shirt and the use of the symbol it represents. I want you to know I stand firmly against antisemitism and fascism of any kind, something the t-shirt was meant to illustrate with the word ‘destroy’ above the symbol.”

Slowthai has maintained a relatively low profile this year in terms of new music, as he’s been busy performing, like on the North American tour he had in April. He did pop up on Denzel Curry’s new album, though.

On August 19th, Hot Chip will be out with their eight studio album, Freakout/Release. As their prolific career has gone on, the UK electro-pop quintet have delved deeper into an exploration of disco and dance music forms from decades past. The album’s lead single, “Down,” saw them digging into ’60s soul grooves, while “Eleanor” felt like a reflection of the electro sounded that is uniquely theirs. Now on the album’s title track, the band have crafted an electro-disco jam with an industrial groove.

“I need an escape and some primitive healing,” Alex Taylor sings. The robotic effects feel forged in ’80s nostalgia, but there is something decidedly dark and bottled in within “Freakout/Release,” that gets, well… released.

In a statement, Taylor says producer Joe Goddard was inspired by a certain song from The White Stripes: “‘Freakout/Release’ is about pent-up energy and the need for release, and escape. It’s also about making sense of music, and at times being plagued by the thing you focus on — music never leaves my head for a second, which is usually a good feeling, but it can feel claustrophobic at times too. It’s also about finding your place in relation to music and to performing. The riff should feel brutal and dumb and elemental and Joe was thinking about ‘Seven Nation Army’ and the simplicity of that swinging from quiet to loud and back and forth.”

Watch the lyrics video for “Freakout/Release” above.

Freakout/Release is out 8/19 via Domino Records. Pre-order it here.

For years now, fans have wondered when/if Tom DeLonge would rejoin Blink-182 after leaving the band in 2015. Things on that front got pretty intense recently, when DeLonge may have hinted that a reunion was imminent or even had already started. Now, Mark Hoppus, somebody who’s actually officially in the band at the moment, has addressed the rumors.

As NME notes, Hoppus took to his Discord server yesterday to celebrate 30 years of Blink-182, as the group formed on August 1, 1992. Naturally, fans asked about the DeLonge rumors and Hoppus responded, “There is no news to share. There is no announcement. Today is thirty years of blink-182!” He added in another message, “If and when blink has any announcement about anything, you will hear it from the official blink-182 outlets. Not teased on a radio station like ‘tune in for a major announcement…Tom tagged Mark in a photo from two decades ago.’”

This all comes after Matt Skiba, who replaced DeLonge in the band upon his departure, declared he’s not sure about his status in the group, responding to a fan asking him about it, ““your guess is as good as mine. Regardless, I am very proud of and thankful for my time w @blink182. We shall see… [heart emoji].”

Blink-182 is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

There is always that one person in the friend group who silently suffers when everyone decides to order a pizza for dinner. Maybe you’re this person. We get it, pizza is delicious, it’s a near-perfect food, but sometimes — particularly if you eat pizza a lot — it just doesn’t hit the spot. To make things worse, the big national chain pizza joints don’t give you a lot of choice on their menus outside of pizza. All you’ve got are sides (which are often bread-driven and pizza-adjacent), and sometimes wings.

Well, suffer no more because Pizza Hut is rolling out an entire baked pasta menu — offering hungry foodies an option substantial enough to be a full meal in and of itself, perfect for those rare nights when the idea of pizza seems boring. For a limited time (but who knows how limited), Pizza Huts nationwide will be offering Chicken Alfredo, Veggie, Cheesy Alfredo, and Italian Meats.

Each order comes with your choice of an entire order of breadsticks or garlic bread, so in the event that you can’t decide whether you want pizza or pasta, ordering pasta kind of allows you to have your cake and eat it too. We ate all four pasta varieties and ranked them from least essential to most. Here’s the verdict, starting with the weakest of the four.

Oven Baked Pasta — Veggie

Tasting Notes:

I love veggie pizza. It’s fresh, fragrant, pleasingly vegetal, and provides a great mouthfeel. This dish attempts to capture that magic in baked pasta form and it misses the mark. This baked pasta features green peppers, onions, diced tomatoes, black olives, and tomato sauce over penne pasta smothered in a crispy layer of oven-baked cheese.

All of that sounds great, but unlike Pizza Hut’s veggie pizza (which is essentially the same makeup) the veggies get lost in all of the cheese and sauce. You can’t really taste it, it’s a mess of flavors that collide and clash rather than come together. A lot of that has to do with the sauce which Pizza Hut calls “sweet tomato” but doesn’t really taste like either word in that phrase.

There is a blandness to the sauce and it obscures the flavor of the veggies. The only flavor that really comes through is that layer of melted parmesan and lots of dried oregano.

The Bottom Line:

It’s a veggie pizza in baked pasta form, but it doesn’t really work. The flavors here never congeal in a satisfying way.

Oven Baked Pasta — Cheesy Alfredo

Tasting Notes:

Pizza Hut’s Oven Baked Cheesy Alfredo features two layers of baked parmesan and oregano over a bed of penne pasta smothered in alfredo sauce. There isn’t a lot to this pasta, but the sauce actually has some flavor so I like it better than the Veggie, even though it comes across as generally bland.

To put a finer point on it — the alfredo sauce is nothing special. But it’s not overly chunky or too garlicky like typical jarred alfredo, so it kind of exceeded my expectations. It’s cheesy and creamy if a tad too scarce considering how many noodles there are. While alfredo should indeed be simple, this isn’t so simple as to be truly ingredient driven (as in, you’re not tasting some marvelous 24-month parmesan or hand extruded noodles), leaving it in desperate need of something, anything, else to make it more interesting.

Throw some spinach and mushrooms in this thing, and you’ve got a decent little order of pasta.

The Bottom Line:

Add a few ingredients and you’ve got a solid pasta dish. As it comes, it’s a little bland, but still better than the Veggie.

Oven Baked Pasta — Italian Meats

Tasting Notes:

The Italian Meats pasta remedies the issue I had with the Veggie. The flavors are much more complementary here, as herb-forward sausage and spicy pepperoni add a much-needed meaty savoriness to this dish that wakes up that tomato sauce. You can actually taste the sweetness here.

The pasta consists of pepperoni, Italian sausage, and oven-baked cheese, with tomato sauce over penne pasta (the penne obsession is weird — this dish should feature rotini or maybe orecchiette). Like the Cheesy Alfredo, it’s a few ingredients shy of being a way better dish. Throw in some of those onions or bell peppers and you’ll add in a lot more flavor and freshness.

The Bottom Line:

Significantly better than the Veggie pasta, which uses the same sweet tomato sauce. A combination of those two dishes would make either better if ordering vegetarian isn’t a concern for you.

Oven Baked Pasta — Chicken Alfredo

Tasting Notes:

Chicken Alfredo is easily the most overrated dish in the pantheon of delicious Italian foods (we don’t even make it right) so it pains me to give this dish the top spot but… it’s the only one that tastes like it doesn’t need extra ingredients to make it good. Extra ingredients would still make it better though, so don’t shy away from adding more meat, spinach, or veggies to add more complexity.

The Hut keeps this one pretty simple, it’s just penne smothered in alfredo with chicken and a thick layer of toasty cheese. The best move is to work that cheese into the pasta itself, incorporating it into the sauce and giving a crispy and nutty infusion of parm to each bite.

The subtle hints of garlic in this creamy sauce compliment the oregano top layer perfectly, and the bites of white meat chicken are surprisingly tender and flavorful. My only big gripe is the ratio of cheese to the sauce, the Hut goes heavy on the former and it throws the balance off just a bit.

The Bottom Line:

The best of Pizza Hut’s baked pasta dishes, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t make it better by adding some extra ingredients in to make it more substantial. Even red pepper flakes would go a long way to transform this into something truly satisfying and worth ordering when you don’t have a hankering for the Hut’s deep dish.

Find your nearest Pizza Hut here.

Over the weekend, while he was already being protested by families of 9/11 victims, Donald Trump found another way to be weird. That golf course wasn’t only playing host to a controversial Saudi tournament. It was also, it was revealed, the burial site of his first ex-wife, Ivana. Many wondered why he would do that. Some came up with one good reason: It might have been his attempt to cheat on taxes.

It’s not been confirmed if that’s the case or not, but Trump was widely dragged for the potential move. One of them was Trevor Noah, who used part of Monday night’s The Daily Show to take him to task.

Calling it “one of the wildest things ever,” Noah said when it comes to burying his late former spouse, Trump “may have managed to turn even that into a scam.” Trump’s golf club is located in Bedminster, New Jersey, and the Garden State has a law that even one burial plot can constitute a cemetery. And if one’s plot of land is designated as a cemetery, that means the owner is subject to all manner of tax breaks.

“A lot of people say, ‘I’ll pay taxes over my dead body!’ Trump means it. Just someone else’s body,” Noah cracked.

But, Noah said, it was no laughing matter. He called it “step too far” even for Trump, and that he “wouldn’t even laugh at” the idea of burying one’s wife in a golf course so as to save a couple bucks.

“If somebody said to me, ‘Donald Trump’s ex-wife died, he’s probably going to bury her on his golf course to save on taxes,’ I’d be like, ‘That’s not cool, man,’” Noah said. “But it turns out, Trump was like, ‘Say more…I’m going to send this to my accountant.’”

A little later in the segment, correspondent Desi Lydic came up with her own joke about Ivana Trump’s golf course internment. “God, I feel for all of Trump’s wives,” Lydic said. “Even in the afterlife, they still have to deal with his balls coming at them.”

Meanwhile, Trump was still being creatively strange on Monday, revealing one of the strangest endorsements in history.

You can watch the segment in the video above. The Trump business begins around the 6:35 mark.

(Via The Daily Beast)

Brendan Fraser made headlines with his new starring role in “The Whale” and my teenage girl heart could not be happier. There’s just something about seeing Fraser back on the big screen and in the spotlight that is really bringing about warm fuzzy feelings. Maybe it’s the nostalgia from childhood or maybe its watching a well deserved comeback unfold. Either way, this is wonderful news.

In “The Whale,” directed by acclaimed auteur Darren Aronofsky and based on a play of the same name, Fraser will be playing a man that struggles with obesity and is having difficulty connecting with his teenage daughter.

Fraser is understandably getting a lot of attention for his transformation into a 600-pound man in the movie which is remarkable to see. But to get to where he is now is also nothing short of remarkable. Fraser has gone through so much over the years to include publicly naming the person he alleges sexually harassed him, which contributed to him stepping back from Hollywood for years. Since making his return to the spotlight, Fraser has had a few instances of getting choked up when hearing from fans. It’s probably the most pure moments people have seen in a while when it comes to Hollywood actors and fan interactions.

Fraser was once a household name, starting in 1992 with “Encino Man” and “School Ties.” In fact, I’d wager to guess that a good majority of millennials grew up watching him on their televisions as the blue eyed goofy heart throb. His wide eyes made for hilarious facial expressions when he played in movies like “George of the Jungle.” Over the past several years he’s slowly been reentering the spot light and is currently staring in the series “Doom Patrol” on HBO Max.

In 2004 Fraser abruptly and quietly left the world of acting for nearly two decades only appearing in a small selection of films and series where it was speculated that something was going on with the actor. Eventually, his fans found out what caused him to walk away and appear so disconnected from the person we had all grown to love. He experienced a messy divorce, the death of his mother, physical ailments resulting from years of abusing his body to achieve a chiseled physique, and a sexual assault that left him distraught.

u201cBrendan Fraser gets emotional after hearing that the Internet is rooting for his comeback ud83dude2du201d

— Culture Crave ud83cudf7f (@Culture Crave ud83cudf7f)
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But it was his reaction in an interview from 2021 when he heard that the collective internet was rooting for him that made people gush over him even more. In the interview he was talking about working with the likes of Scorsese and the nerves of being back on set with such big names before the interviewer dropped the news about his cheering squad. It didn’t take long to find that fans of Fraser will get their wish soon.

In addition to staring in “The Whale,” Fraser is in another upcoming film. This one directed by Martin Scorsese, which is the film he expresses nerves about in the interview, “Killers of the Flower Moon.” Recently Fraser attended a meet and greet where he was signing what appears to be a figurine box when the fan hit him with an emotion inducing comment, “thank you for making my childhood awesome.” Again you see Fraser try hold his emotions together as he fist bumps the fan.

Fans are thrilled to see Fraser back on the big screen. One commenter on Twitter, Andrew, simply wrote, “OSCAR OSCAR OSCAR OSCAR OSCAR” under Variety’s announcement of the film. Tiktok user Foxybecky444 wrote, “
I truly, to my core, I HOPE he KNOWS how loved and adored he is. This man is a PURE TREASURE.” Fraser is a true feel good comeback story and I hope he has continued success on his upward rise.

As if Disneyland wasn’t magical enough, the parks have been working to be more inclusive of all of their guests and recently a girl named Zoe Tapley got to experience it herself. Zoe is deaf and when her family was visiting Disneyland recently she was doing her rounds meeting the characters, when the woman dressed as Ana from Frozen began using American Sign Language (ASL) to communicate. The special moment was caught on camera by Zoe’s mom Jeanette Tapley who shared it to her TikTok page where it has racked up over two million views and over 450,000 likes.

This trip was Zoe’s second trip to Disneyland but according to her mom, this was the first time she has had an interaction with a character that knew ASL. When asked what Zoe’s reaction was to the encounter, Tapley told Upworthy, “Zoe was in shock. She was so excited to be chatting with a Princess without my husband or I having to jump in and assist her. She just kept saying, “Wow!!!” We all just cried because it was so special and surprising!” But this isn’t Disney’s first rodeo with including ASL for their characters. In 2016 a video went viral of Captain America using ASL to communicate with a guest.

@jeanettetapley

When Princess Anna can sign and have a full conversation with my deaf child. 🥹 Zoe has never been able to chat with a princess without Jesse or myself interpreting. This was magical. Thank you Princess Anna for making our trip so special! #deafchildren #asl #americansignlanguage #BigInkEnergy #fyp #feelgood #inclusionmatters @Disney Parks @Disneyland California

Disneyland has been working on becoming more inclusive of their deaf and hard of hearing guests since 2010 and it’s pretty evident that they are starting to see the fruits of their labor. Tapley said, “Disneyland actually has some great services for hearing impaired and early in that trip we went and watched a show that had interpreters. It is based off a schedule that is found on Disney’s website,” She continued, “you don’t realize how un deaf friendly theme parks are until you are wandering around with your deaf child. With Zoe we just try to make her aware of her surrounding and have check in spots.”

Tapley explains that the more deaf friendly a place like Disney can be the better. When you aren’t hard of hearing or deaf and aren’t exposed to the population, you may not realize how difficult it can be to navigate places like an amusement park. It takes places listening to different communities and people of differing abilities to know what is helpful over harmful. Tapley told Upworthy, “When deaf friends can come in and feel safe and included wow! What a gift! I think it would make for a more popular travel destination and it would make Disney stand apart!”

The entire interaction left the family feeling pretty good, including the little notes Zoe has been getting from fans of the video. “We are just so thankful. Zoe has loved reading notes from people, she feels seen and loved and it’s been really fun to know that she is not alone. We are SO incredible thankful to Princess Ana for loving our family like this. We are forever bonded and I believe that she will be Zoe’s favorite princess for all of time,” Tapley said.

This sure is a moment to remember. Hopefully in the future more kids like Zoe get to meet their favorite character who can communicate with them as they do with other guests.

It’s been a few months since Young Thug, Gunna, and 26 other members of the Young Stoner Life (YSL) record label were hit with numerous charges as a part of a 56-count Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) case. Young Thug, in June, was denied bond. Judge Ural Glanville said there are claims about the rapper, real name Jeffery William, being “a danger to the community.”

This was sad news for the “Go Crazy” performer’s fans. However, his sister posted an optimistic Instagram story today: “Jus leftd from seeing my brother Jeff y’all he good & we have exciting news.”

It was announced last month that Alex Gibney’s Jigsaw Productions and Rolling Stone Films are working together on a documentary series and podcast about Young Thug, so it’s possible that the exciting news has to do with this. The companies described it as a tale set against “the larger Atlanta hip-hop boom, and the ongoing RICO case against YSL that accuses Young Thug and 27 other alleged collaborators of crimes ranging from racketeering to murder […] The result will be a wild, enthralling story of music, money, crime and hip-hop on trial.”

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

The biggest story in the golf world this year has been the emergence of the Saudi-backed, Greg Norman-helmed LIV Golf and its efforts to pry some of the biggest names in the sport away from the PGA Tour.

So far, the bottomless pockets of the Saudi government’s sovereign wealth fund have been able to lure some significant players, most notably Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka, and Bryson DeChambeau (among current stars) and Phil Mickelson (among names casual golf fans are aware of). However, they have also been rebuffed by a number of young stars, like Jordan Spieth, Jon Rahm, Justin Thomas, and others, who have stuck with the PGA Tour over the promise of guaranteed purses (but uncertainty about their ability to play in the biggest events in the world, the majors, in the future).

Those stars aren’t the only big names to turn down LIV Golf‘s big money, as Charles Barkley listened to overtures to pry him away from TNT to do broadcasts but ultimately said no. Tiger Woods, the biggest name in golf, has also spoken strongly against LIV Golf, ripping guys who left for the money during his pre-tournament presser at this year’s Open Championship. He put his money where his mouth is too, as Greg Norman confirmed in an interview with Fox News’ Tucker Carlson that LIV Golf offered Woods well over half a billion to join and he turned them down.

Woods, who recently became an “official” billionaire per Forbes, has plenty of money and, unlike Mickelson, doesn’t have a number of outstanding gambling debts he needs to pay off right now. As such, it’s an easy PR win for him (which he needs) to turn down the LIV money and stand up for the Tour, ensuring he continues to rake in money from sponsors, and speak out against LIV which has become quite the lightning rod in and beyond the golf world.

As for Norman, I’m not sure why you’d confirm these details, as it’s not exactly a great look for the tour to have offered that much to Tiger and still get turned down — and really only helps Tiger to confirm the figure. I guess it shows how much money they have to throw around, but that wasn’t really in doubt.