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The Better Call Saul team did not know that AMC was going to split the sixth and final season in two parts when they writing it. So, tonight’s midseason finale, “Plan and Execution,” will be “painful,” but as writer and director Thomas Schnauz explained on Twitter, it won’t have a “traditional” midseason finale cliffhanger.

“Just to warn everyone: we wrote S6 of #BetterCallSaul to be aired as 13 continuous episodes, but various delays split the season in half. So 607 was not written or filmed as a traditional “cliffhanger,’” he tweeted. Schnauz is a Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul all-star, having written some of the best episodes of both shows, including “End Times” and “Say Name” for the former and “Winner” and “Bad Choice Road” for the latter.

Saul co-creator Peter Gould previously commented on tonight’s episode, calling it “a big one. I think this is going to be a painful few weeks for a few people to find out what happens. Hopefully, people will enjoy the pain and not come after us with torches.” Maybe this is a canny bit of misdirection from Schnauz and Gould, and the episode won’t end with a “traditional” cliffhanger, but a “literal” cliffhanger. Saul already basically recreated one Sylvester Stallone movie this season — why not two?

For a reminder on Jimmy and Kim’s plan ahead of the midseason finale, here you go.

(Via Twitter)

Donald Trump‘s ever-expanding menagerie of random phobias has plagued him for years. Stairs, germs, fruit, steaks without ketchup on them, you know the drill. Well, now there’s a new item to add to the list: Pies.

According to a new deposition from Trump’s former fixer, Michael Cohen, the 45th president allegedly lived in fear of getting hit in the face with a cream pie like he’s in The Three Stooges or a Bugs Bunny cartoon. The guy who positioned himself as America’s toughest, strongest president will apparently crumble at the thought of baked goods coming at him. Via The Daily Beast:

“We were all instructed that if somebody was to ever throw anything at him, that if that person didn’t end up in the hospital, we’d all be fired,” he said, noting that the instruction came from the head honcho himself.

When contacted by The Daily Beast on Friday, Cohen clarified that Trump at times seemed obsessed with pies.

“It wasn’t just one time. It was an ongoing and regular thing. As he would go out to various different open venues, he would always remind Keith [Schiller] to keep his eyes open,” Cohen told The Daily Beast. “He never would turn around and say, ‘If anyone throws a rock or a bottle…’ It’s always a pie. He always brought up that pie thing.”

As the President of the United States, obviously, Trump’s life is in constant danger whenever he goes out in public. So it’d be completely understandable if he was worried about being shot, stabbed, or exploded in terrifying fashion. But, nope, his number one fear is pies because, and this is directly from Cohen’s testimony, Bill Gates got hit in the face with one in 1998. That’s what keeps Trump awake at night.

Holey Moley must be horrifying for him.

(Via The Daily Beast)

Halsey is frustrated with their record label at the moment and they’re letting their fans, and therefore the label, know about it. Yesterday, Halsey proclaimed their label is preventing them from releasing a new single until they “can fake a viral moment on TikTok.” The funny thing is that Halsey’s TikTok video about that actually went fairly viral: it has racked up about 8 million views since it was posted. That wasn’t enough, though, as Halsey still hasn’t gotten a firm answer about when the song can drop.

Now, Halsey is getting some support from the folks at Astralwerks, the label that originally signed Halsey: A representative from Astralwerks-Capitol shared a statement with Variety, saying, “Our belief in Halsey as a singular and important artist is total and unwavering. We can’t wait for the world to hear their brilliant new music.”

After that statement, Halsey made sure it was clear that Astralwerks is her former label and therefore not the one she’s headbutting with now, writing on Twitter, “I’m not signed to astralwerks anymore! Astralwerks is the label that signed me, and then they upstreamed me to Capitol. This quote came from the company who believed in me from the jump. Not the company I’m wrestling with right now [heart emoji].”

Meanwhile, a fan wondered if Halsey would be able to perform the song live before its release and Halsey not only didn’t rule out the possibility, but it appears they’re really considering it: “im thinking about it tbh,” they responded. Halsey also noted of the single, “it’s about [partner Alev Aydin] [smiling-crying emoji] part of the story of how we went from meeting and keeping touch randomly for years to realizing we were each others person all along. Right person wrong time type of song.”

Jack Harlow calls himself a “G” in the hook to “First Class,” and though that may be debatable to some, one thing that cannot be refuted is he is now a multi-week chart-topper. The record, interpolating Fergie’s 2000s bop “Glamorous,” is No. 1 once again on the new Billboard Hot 100 chart dated May 28. “First Class” is the rapper’s first solo No. 1, debuting atop the chart upon its April release and boasted the biggest streaming week of 2022.

The track arrived as the second single from the Louisville rapper’s sophomore album Come Home The Kids Miss You, following the 2020 debut That’s What They All Say anchored by the Grammy-nominated “Whats Poppin.” Come Home includes lead single “Nail Tech” and features from Justin Timberlake, Pharrell, Lil Wayne, and Drake, the last of which leaked a few weeks early under the title “Have A Turn” before the official version was released as “Churchill Downs.” The “First Class” video also came out on the album’s release day.

Elsewhere on this week’s chart, Kendrick Lamar debuted four songs from his new album Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers (which debuted on top of the Billboard 200 this week) in the top 10: “N95” at No. 4, “Die Hard” featuring Blxst and Amanda Reifer at No. 5, “Silent Hill” Feat. Kodak Black at No. 7, and “United In Grief” at No. 8.

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

For the 150th episode of People’s Party with Talib Kweli, Kweli found himself in the guest chair for a special episode hosted by poet and friend Jessica Care Moore and co-hosted by Jasmin Leigh. The trio discussed everything from Kweli’s formative early Brooklyn years to his decades-spanning discography to the journey of making the new Black Star album No Fear of Time.

The album, which was released exclusively on Luminary earlier this month, has a fascinating origin story.

“It was Yasiin’s idea that we do a whole album with Madlib,” Kweli explained. “He’s actually been saying this for years.”

But Kweli went on to note that after visiting Yasiin Bey in South Africa, his perspective on his identity as a human being and an artist shifted — allowing the highly anticipated album to be born organically.

“I changed my intentions behind my relationship with Yasiin,” he says. “Our relationship is not about music. Our relationship is about our brotherhood…When I did that, it began organically.”

From there impromptu recording sessions and touring with Dave Chappelle added to the cosmic energy around the art they created. “I’d be like ‘Yo, you wanna set up the mic? A couple of those songs [from the album] were recorded at Dave Chappelle shows, in garages, and on tours around Europe.”

Talib also explained the creative and financial strategy behind dropping the album on Luminary.

“The Black Star album Mos Def & Talib Kweli are Black Star was a contract between me and Rawkus,” Kweli notes. “We never signed a Black Star contract.” Kweli then called out Universal Music Group as “colonizers” for making money off the group but not compensating them for the record.

“They don’t actually own that album. Y’all are put on notice as of this moment. We are coming for our shit!”

Talib Kweli explains that this racist history of financial theft and abuse of Black artists is why the deal with Luminary felt so necessary. For Black Star the need for creative control and proper compensation was crucial, especially given the reality that artists are not properly compensated for their work.

Yasiin Bey spoke on the matter before the Luminary deal when he was on People’s Party with Talib Kweli in 2021.

“We as a collective society do not value art,” Kweli adds. “We value iPhones, and sneakers and marijuana…People spend all this money on stuff but don’t want to give an artist ten dollars for an album?”

To get more of these insights from Talib on the journey of one of hip-hop’s coolest rap duos ever check out this week’s episode of People’s Party with Talib Kweli.

You may remember the name Christian Cooper, but if you don’t, this will jog your memory. In summer 2020, Cooper made the national news when a white woman, Amy Cooper (no relation), called the police, falsely accusing him of threatening her. Christian Cooper was out in the early morning at Central Park doing what he does often: bird-watching. It’s a longtime hobby that, thanks to that unfortunate exposure, he’s now taking to the next level and sharing with the world. Cooper recently finished filming six episodes of “Extraordinary Birder” for National Geographic.

“Whether braving stormy seas in Alaska for puffins, trekking into rainforests in Puerto Rico for parrots, or scaling a bridge in Manhattan for a peregrine falcon, he does whatever it takes to learn about these extraordinary feathered creatures and show us the remarkable world in the sky above,” National Geographic wrote in a press release announcing its new slate of personality-driven exploration and adventure themed storytelling.

Lifelong birder Christian Cooper (@blackburniannyc) will take us into the wild, wonderful and unpredictable world of birds in his new show, The Extraordinary Birder.pic.twitter.com/2ZwTlZ3JmN

— National Geographic TV (@National Geographic TV)
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Cooper is an avid bird watcher and has observed birds all over the world, but he’s most at home watching the more than 200 species of birds in New York City’s Central Park. Thankfully he hasn’t let his encounter with Amy Cooper and her dog taint his feelings about his favorite spot. The show will allow him to create a new association with his name and bird watching, and presumably he’ll be spending some time in the park, showing viewers just how magical the wildlife there is.

He explained to the New York Times that he first heard from National Geographic about collaborating on the show about a year and a half ago. “I was all in,” he said. “I love spreading the gospel of birding.”

Additionally, he shared excitement about getting more people “to stop and watch and listen and really start appreciating the absolutely spectacular creatures that we have among us.”

Cooper’s reverence for birds was formed in childhood. He explained to the Times that he has been in love with birds since the age of 10. Growing up on Long Island, he was fascinated with red-winged blackbirds. No matter where in the world he is, he’ll take the time to listen for birdsong.

“It adds another dimension to just being on the street,” he explained. “It adds another dimension to how you exist in the world.”

Filming the show allowed Cooper to expand his birding experiences, following his passion to see new (to him) species. He got to see some burrowing owls, which he found “actually quite adorable.”

Look out for a further announcement on the release date of the series. “Extraordinary Birder” will run on National Geographic channels and Disney+. It’s heartening to see that something wonderful came out of such a traumatic experience.

The Pisco Sour is a unique cocktail. In short, you’re making a clear grape brandy sour. Which… maybe doesn’t sound that appetizing on the surface. But if you have a good Pisco and a little elbow grease for shaking a nice and frothy sour, I promise — you’re in for a delicious and massively refreshing treat.

Before we dive in, let’s look at this drink a little bit. Pisco dates back to the 1500s when the Spanish were colonizing what’s now Peru. They brought grapes for wine and brandy and, naturally, these grapes took on a life of their own in a new environment. Fast-forward 500 years and Pisco is a cornerstone of the brandy world in South America. This cocktail’s roots aren’t quite as old, dating back to Lima’s bar scene just after World War I. Victor V. Morris, an American bartender working in Peru, is credited with “inventing” the drink at this time. Since the idea of a “sour” goes back into the early 1800s (and beyond), Morris’ concoction was more about using local ingredients than making something new.

Still, he hit gold. The drink became an instant classic.

For the recipe below, I’m sticking to Morris’ Pisco Sour. There are versions from Chile that eschew the egg white, but those don’t quite hit as well as the Peruvian version. Anyway, let’s get shaking!

Also Read: The Top Five Cocktail Recipes of the Last Six Months

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• The Vieux Carre Is The Perfect Whiskey Cocktail For The Holidays
• The Americano Is An Excellent Low-Alcohol Cocktail For January, Here’s Our Recipe
• Our French 75 Cocktail Recipe Will Make You A New Year’s Eve Pre-Party Star

Pisco Sour

Ingredients:

• 2 oz. Pisco
• 1 oz. fresh lime juice
• 0.5 oz. simple syrup
• 1 small egg white
• 3 dashes of Angostura Bitters
• Ice

I’m using a Puro Pisco made with 100 percent Quebranta grapes. You want to stick with higher-quality Pisco that’s crystal clear and made with a single grape variety. It’ll pass on an earthy, grassy, and fruity/sweet vibe to the cocktail.

The rest is all easily available at any liquor store or grocery store.

What You’ll Need:

• Small coupe (pre-chilled)
• Cocktail shaker
• Cocktail strainer
• Hand juicer
• Paring knife
• Jigger

Method:

• Pre-chill the glass in the freezer.
• Add the Pisco, egg white, simple, and fresh lime to the cocktail shaker. Fill about halfway with ice. Affix the lid and shake vigorously for 30 seconds.
• Grab the glass from the freezer and strain the cocktail into the glass making sure to shake out all the foam.
• Dash three drops of Angostura Bitters onto the foam. Serve.

Bottom Line:

This is really refreshing. It’s very bright thanks to that lime juice. The Pisco layers in a sense of earthy sweetgrass with a soft and fruity edge. The egg white emulsifies with acids and sugars to create a lovely, velvet texture. Every sip is silky smooth.

Overall, this is a pretty easy sour to shake up and a nice change from the heavier whiskey sour. The Pisco is much lighter and far more fruit-forward than whiskey, helping this stay very thirst-quenching.

In short, this is a great hot-weather refresher. If you’re in a part of the country where things are starting to warm up in a hurry, it’s a surefire winner.

Almost two years ago, writer Maria Sherman published her book Larger Than Life: A History of Boy Bands from NKOTB to BTS, which told the chaotic, riveting tale of fangirls. It discussed boy bands such as New Edition, New Kids on the Block, Backstreet Boys, *NSYNC, One Direction, and BTS, and explored the meaning and power of their predominantly female and queer fan bases which are so often dismissed and underestimated. It has been announced today that the book will be adapted into a movie, fittingly titled Superfans: Screaming. Crying. Throwing Up. It will be directed by Gia Coppola, who worked on Palo Alto, for the studio XTR as well as Aggregate Films.

“When I started Larger Than Life half a decade ago, my ambition was to write something that did justice to boy band fans, to celebrate their enthusiasm, undeniable influence, and life-affirming joy,” Sherman told Deadline. “Telling that story on screen seemed like a total fantasy. Superfans: Screaming. Crying. Throwing Up. could not be more appropriately titled; working with XTR, Aggregate, and the brilliant Gia Coppola is a dopamine hit that rivals shouting along to a pop song’s bridge. I mean, in the immortal words of One Direction, what a feeling!”

With only a few days to go until Stranger Things 4 Volume 1 hits Netflix, the streamer has dropped a final trailer for the highly anticipated season to get fans pumped for another trip to the Upside Down. While Stranger Things 4 episodes will skew towards the longer side, this latest trailer is surprisingly tight, yet still jam-packed with action. Despite the Hawkins crew being split between two states after Joyce (Winona Ryder) packed up the Byers clan plus Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) and moved to California at the end of Season 3, the gang will still find themselves battling the forces of the Upside Down, only this time on various fronts.

In addition to the Hawkins and California crews dealing with Vecna, this season and possibly the entire series Big Bad, Hopper (David Harbour) is still alive and locked in a fight to the death with a Demogorgon in Russia. Meanwhile, the kids see their core group expand as they deal with forces like nothing they’ve ever seen before. It all looks pretty badass.

While Stranger Things 4 is the penultimate season of Netflix’s powerhouse franchise, The Duffer Brothers have teased that a spinoff series is in the works. The premise is being kept tightly under wraps, but they recently revealed that Stranger Things star Finn Wolfhard does know what it’s about thanks to a wildly lucky guess. Via Variety:

“We think everyone — including Netflix — will be surprised when they hear the concept, because it’s very, very different. But somehow Finn Wolfhard — who is one crazy smart kid — correctly guessed what it was going to be about. But aside from Finn, no one else knows!”

If it’s about a Demogorgon beat cop working the streets of the Upside Down in the 1970s with a crime-fighting Demodog, count us in. (Are we close? Just drop us a hint if we’re close.)

Stranger Things 4 Volume 1 starts streaming May 27 on Netflix.

(Via Variety)

I’m not much of a baker, but I do love a good cookie. And — as good as storebought cookies can be — there’s nothing quite like making cookies at home. The baking smells alone make it worth the effort.

This is especially true of hamantaschen. The Jewish cookie is massively important during Purim, which was held in March. But there’s really nothing stopping you from baking a batch anytime. While the cookie is more like a tart, or tartelette if you will, in modern terms it feels like a bridge between fancy Fig Newtons and a really good Pop-Tart (with, you know, real ingredients). The crust/cookie bit is soft yet crumbly with a nice dose of vanilla and citrus zest. Then the filling is the clincher, especially with a nice, dark jam. I like slightly spiced plum or fig personally, but more on that below.

For this recipe, I’m sticky fairly close to the recipe given by King Arthur Baking since, again, I’m no baker. I’m also not following any pareve laws as I’m not Jewish nor did I grow up in that culture. I’m just making tasty cookies that I like to eat, at home.

Hamantaschen

Ingredients:

• 420g AP flour (plus extra for rolling)
• 170g unsalted butter, room temp.
• 150g white sugar
• 20g corn starch
• 8g baking powder
• 3g salt
• 10g orange zest
• 4g vanilla extract (or one vanilla bean, scraped)
• 2 large egg
• Jam of your choice

Since these are all very common ingredients that you can get at any grocery store, let’s talk filling. The most traditional/common is poppy seed and plum/prune jam with a hint of spice. I’m going for the latter, as that’s what I associate most with these. Also, I have pretty good plum jam on hand. I’m also doing a few with a smooth strawberry jam and an Italian fig compote to mix it up a bit (plus, that’s what’s open in my fridge at the moment).

If you want, you can go savory with chunky nut paste, pesto, tomato-onion jam, any chutney, mint jelly, and so forth. It’s really only limited by your own creativity.

What You’ll Need:

• Stand mixer with cake paddle (or bowl and wooden spoon)
• Fine mesh sieve
• Plastic wrap
• Rolling pin
• Cookie sheet
• Baking paper
• 3-inch round cookie cutter
• Food brush
• Spoon, fork, knife
• Bowls
• Spatula
• Cooling rack

Method:

• Combine flour, corn starch, baking powder, and salt in a bowl and mix with a fork to combine.
• In the mixing bowl, combine the butter and sugar and mix until fully combined — creamed — and light in color. Add the vanilla, orange zest, one egg, and one egg white (save the yolk for later) and continue to mix everything until fully combined and smooth.
• Sieve the flour mix into the mixing bowl and continue to mix until a dough just forms. The dough should be light, smooth, pliable, and not sticky at all.
• Remove the dough from the bowl and separate it into two dough balls and then cover with plastic wrap. Place the dough balls into the fridge to rest for one hour.
• Preheat your oven to 375F with a rack right in the middle of the oven.
• After an hour, roll out one dough ball at a time on a heavily floured surface to about 1/4-inch thickness.
• Use a cookie cutter to cut 3-inch rounds. You should easily get 12 rounds per dough ball.
• Place the flat cookies on a paper-lined cookie sheet. Spoon about one tablespoon of the jam of your choice into the center of each round. (Too much jam and the edges will pop when it expands in the oven)
• Fold over the round edges to create a triangle shape while pinching the three points to seal the cookie.
• Lightly scramble the extra egg yolk with a tablespoon of water and brush the yolk around the edges of the cookie.
• Bake for ten to 12 minutes or until they start to just brown.
• Remove the cookies from the oven and place them on a cooling rack. Let cool for at least ten minutes to allow the jam to turn from molten lava to set and cool.

Bottom Line:

The first thing I thought when I bit into the fig hamantaschen was “this is the best Fig Newton I’ve ever had!” These were very solid. The strawberry was a little sweet for me — I don’t eat many sweets. But the smooth and lightly spiced plum jam was great.

It had a great contrast in color from the dark jam to the lightly browned cookie triangle. The mild winter spice and almost meaty plum were a good counterpoint to the vanilla and orange in the cookie. It was just really damn good. Plus, it held its shape when you bit into it. I’ve had these in the past and they crumble when you picked them up. No one wants that.

Lastly, this wasn’t nearly as labor-intensive as one might imagine. If you have a stand mixer, this doesn’t take more than an hour with all the dough-making, cutting, baking, and batches. Plus, you’ll have an hour of downtime in the middle to do something else. Just make sure you let these cool properly. That jam in the middle will burn your mouth if you get too excited and pop one of these in there right out of the oven.