For the last year-plus, there’s been this crazy rumor going around that Rob Zombie, metal god-turned-filmmaker of hard-R nightmares like The Devil’s Rejects, was making a movie of The Munsters, the beloved ‘60s sitcom about lovable, benign monsters. What’s more, it would be a family-friendly affair, nothing like his unspeakably intense contributions to the Halloween franchise. Last fall, Zombie shared a behind-the-scenes photo, proving that this incredible thing was real. And now there’s a teaser to show, no, really, Rob Zombie made a nice-looking Munsters movie.
Indeed, Zombie is so serious about recreating the good vibes of the original show, which ran for a mere two seasons in the mid-‘60s, that the majority of the teaser simply recreates the show’s opening credits. It’s even in black-and-white! The big difference is the new cast: Jeff Daniel Philips as Frankenstein’s creature lookalike Herman Munster, Sheri Moon Zombie as vampiric Lily Munster, and Daniel Roebuck as her dad, the one known as Grandpa. The footage shifts to color for its final moments, in case you thought Zombie would be fully faithful to the original.
Of course, it’s still a typical Rob Zombie in some ways. He didn’t cast big stars. Instead, he stuck with regulars, including his wife, who’s appeared in all of his films. Will they be a bickering family, shouting and yelling as they so frequently do in Zombie’s films? Or will it really be one of those improbably nice films from an extreme artist, like that time David Lynch made an incredibly nice and lovely G-rated movie about Richard Farnsworth riding a lawnmower cross country? We’ll found out later this year when the movie is released.
You can watch the teaser for Rob Zombie’s The Munsters above.
What on earth would it look like for Donald Trump to actually been grilled by investigators? The former president has spent his entire life avoiding any kind of punishment for his actions. What’s more, he has, shall we say, issues with telling the truth, unless he accidentally blurts it out. Perhaps the general public may find out what a testifying Trump looks like: As per Mediaite, he and his children Don Jr. and Ivanka have all agreed to sit down for video depositions for New York State Attorney Letitia James’ office.
Since 2019, James and her team have been involved in a civil investigation into the Trump organization’s business practices. Trump hasn’t liked that one bit, and he’s sued to make it stop, without any luck. The investigation has already cost him money: After failing to produce requested materials, including cellphones he claimed he lost, he had to fork over $10,000 a day for weeks until the self-professed rich guy successfully begged them to stop.
For both Don Jr. and Ivanka, testifying is no big deal; they’ve even squealed to the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot. But Donald Trump is a whole other kettle of fish. CNN’s Gloria Borger talked to his former attorneys, and she says they “never wanted him to testify because they’re afraid. They’re afraid that he would not be completely truthful by testifying.” As such, she believes his current lawyers should be “a little nervous” about getting their client in any position in which he could perjure himself.
Not everyone who drinks beer has a life-changing epiphany. Some of us just drink a delicious, crisp, well-made beer and think about ordering another. But there are those select few who decide — after a truly special brew — to learn not only how to make said beer but to perfect it and even (dare to dream!) improve it. Or at least brew their own version of it.
Dan Lipke, head brewer at Clown Shoes Brewing in Boston had his big moment when he realized that beer could have complex, nuanced aromas and flavors and didn’t have to just be cheap, flavorless, fizzy water.
“We had been drinking beer without thinking much about the flavor, more for the price point, when we decided to make our own in part, I admit, to cut costs,” he says. “But when we tried the IPA that we made from a kit with toasted oak chips and all, we were amazed that a beer could actually taste so complex and delicious. The idea that we could create our own beer recipes was mind-blowing and what hooked me into wanting to brew as a career. I can still taste that IPA out of a frosted mug on a summer day.”
Other brewers tasted specific well-known beers that made them want to get into brewing. Since we find this concept of a single sip completely changing the course of someone’s life fascinating, we decided to ask some well-known craft beer experts, brewers, and beer professionals to tell us the one beer that did it for them. Keep scrolling to see them all.
Maybe you’ll try one or more and decide to quit your job and open a microbrewery in your garage, too!
Port City Porter – This was one of the first craft porters I ever had and was blown away by the caramel and toffee malt sweetness with a huge chocolate nose and a hint of roasted coffee. This is one of the first beers that really sparked my imagination about how these beers are made, and if I could ever replicate it.
Bell’s Two Hearted Ale from Bell’s Brewery in Michigan. What flavors made it so great and memorable? I loved this beer so much that I decided to brew a clone of it at home. I was obsessed with the grapefruit and pine flavor of the beer. I brewed countless batches as a homebrewer trying to replicate the flavor and balance of Two Hearted. Although IPA flavor trends have changed over the years this is still one of my favorites.
Unertl Original Weissbier is a 4th generation family-owned wheat beer brewery, located just east of Munich that has a cult-like following and was an instant ‘Wow!’ experience in my youth. This is the beer that inspired me to brew professionally. It has the classic cove and banana flavors weissbier fans crave.
The beer that most impacted my brewing style and made me want to get into beer is Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA. The thing I like about it so much is its balance. The balance between malt and hop flavor, a balance between sweet and bitter, a balance between that alcoholic ‘burn’ and malt sweetness. In a world of IPAs that can be perceived as too bitter (often West Coast IPAs) or too sweet/filling (often hazy/milkshake/etc. IPAs), this one just hits the nail on the head for me in many ways.
3 Floyds Gumballhead
3 Floyds
Kevin Smolar, production and quality lab manager at Sun King Brewery in Indianapolis
3 Floyds Gumballhead. I grew up near the 3 Floyds brewery when it was in Hammond, Indiana, and their beer was some of the first craft beer I was exposed to. Gumballhead is a hoppy American wheat beer that appeals to new and seasoned beer drinkers alike. There’s a beautiful balance between the sweet wheat and citrusy hops that made me question everything I knew about beer the first time I tried it. I was curious how something like that was created and it led me down the rabbit hole of brewing.
To this day, it is still one of my favorite beers.
Sublimely Self Righteous from Stone Brewing made a big impact on me back in my homebrewing days. I loved how the roasted malt character and grapefruit hop character worked together in what was then a strange concept: Black IPA. I spent a lot of time trying to clone this beer at home and still pick up a bottle or six-pack if I see this in the local liquor stores.
It’s a fairly common answer around here, but Victory Hop Devil seems to have jump-started an entire generation of craft beer folks. The bitterness was really what made it stand out from the rest of the swill I was drinking in college and made me curious about what actually went into the beer and what other styles were out there.
Luckily, we were spoiled in the Philadelphia area even back then, so I had plenty of options to dive into.
Samuel Smith’s Winter Welcome
Samuel Smith
Chris Elliott, chief brewing officer at Wild Leap Brew Co. in LaGrange, Georgia
The beer that started it all for me was Samuel Smith’s Winter Welcome. I would wait for it to come out every year and buy cases of it, and I would slowly ration it because it was pretty expensive (for a college kid). When I received a homebrew kit as a gift, I walked into my local homebrew shop and asked if I could make a “clone” of the beer. The owner told me I can make any beer I could think of, and I was instantly a brewer. I think my first 5-10 homebrews were all variations of Winter Welcome until I perfected my recipe, and I became obsessed with cloning all of my favorite beers. In no time I was making more beer than I could ever drink alone, and I became the homebrewing weirdo that showed up at parties with cases of beer that I brewed.
Märzen, Gordon Biersch Brewing Company. This copper-colored German-style Lager was the first choice for many beer lovers in the early ’90s. It is considered an original Oktoberfest bier with noble hops and five different specialty malts which are made for a rich, and slightly caramel-tasting lager. It is a smooth and very drinkable beer today, though since then, I’ve graduated to the lighter style lagers as I get older.
Anchor Steam Ale
Anchor
Marshall Hendrickson co-founder and head of operations at Veza Sur Brewing Co. in Miami
Anchor Brewing Co. Anchor Steam. Growing up in San Francisco, my parents always had the fridge stocked with Anchor Steam. It was one of the first beers I ever tried, and to this day tastes like home! I’ll always have a place in my heart for Anchor Steam. It, with its mix of toasty, caramel malts, and floral hops, was the reason I got into brewing in the first place.
Sprecher Abbey Triple
Sprecher
Chris Wittemann, area sales at Sprecher Brewing in Glendale, Wisconsin
Sprecher Abbey Triple. I started in the beer industry when I was seventeen working at the Miller Distributor in Milwaukee. The very first craft beer I ever tried was Sprecher Abbey Triple when I was in college and never looked back. It was so complex compared to anything I had ever tried before. The aroma, the barley, and the notes of banana/clove were all things I was unfamiliar with at the time. I became an instant Belgian fan. Fast forward to where I am at today, I love and appreciate all styles of beer. I tend to drink more on the hoppy/bitter side but have a special place in my heart for German-style Lagers which is what makes working at Sprecher so much more rewarding.
Billy Eichner’s upcoming rom-com Brosis expected to be unlike anything you’ve ever seen, not because it stars Eichner as a podcaster (which is a little strange for him, to be fair) but because it features LGBTQ actors in every major role.
“Honestly, I think it makes the movie better because we all bring our lived experiences as LGBTQ people who had to navigate the world,” Eichner told Variety while on the MTV Movie & TV Awards red carpet. Eichner believes that this is just the beginning of queer representation in media.
“So often in Hollywood, a lot of the great LGBTQ roles historically have gone to straight actors, and they win awards for it. And they get a lot of acclaim and they use it to show people their range,” Eichner added. “And the casting of Bros is not to say that straight should only play straight and gay should only play gay. We’re not making strict rules like that. But what we’re trying to do is, we’re trying to correct an imbalance.”
Eichner is right, many acclaimed actors won their Academy Awards portraying LGBTQ roles (Sean Penn, Tom Hanks, Hilary Swank…the list goes on). “It’s about equity,” Eichner, who co-wrote and stars in Bros added. “It’s about showing people, it’s great that a straight actor can win an Oscar for playing gay, but look how funny and hilarious and warm and delightful LGBTQ actors can be in a wide variety of roles that we don’t normally get to play.”
Bros is directed by Nicholas Stoller from his screenplay that was co-written with Eichner, starring Luke Macfarlane, Ts Madison, Monica Raymund, Guillermo Díaz, Guy Branum, Bowen Yang, and Amanda Bearse. The film is produced by Judd Apatow, Stoller, and Joshua Church and is executive produced by Eichner. Bros will hit theaters on September 30th.
Hulu’s boxing biopic Mike doesn’t have a scene where the titular character talks to his penis voiced by Jason Mantzoukas (probably?), but it’s going for the same character study tone as Pam and Tammy. The limited series hails from I, Tonya writer Steven Rogers and stars Trevante Rhodes (who gave an Oscar-worthy performance in Moonlight) as Mike Tyson, arguably the most famous living boxer. He’s inarguably the most controversial for incidents both in and out of the ring; Mike will explore his “dynamic and controversial story” over the course of eight episodes.
You can watch the teaser trailer above. Here’s more:
Mike explores the dynamic and controversial story of Mike Tyson. The eight-episode limited series explores the tumultuous ups and downs of Tyson’s boxing career and personal life — from being a beloved global athlete to a pariah and back again. Focusing the lens on Mike Tyson, the series examines class in America, race in America, fame and the power of media, misogyny, the wealth divide, the promise of the American Dream and ultimately our own role in shaping Mike’s story.
Mike, which also stars Russell Hornsby, Harvey Keitel, Laura Harrier, and Li Eubanks, premieres on August 25. Here’s the pigeon-themed key art.
Just last month, Nick Cannon said he was ready to have a vasectomy because he didn’t want to “populate the Earth.” Well, apparently that was BS because he is about to be a Dad again, for the ninth time overall and the fifth time since 2021. And it might be another set of twins.
Cannon, who apparently has never met a sex and relationships podcast that he didn’t want to appear on, went on the Lip Service Podcast where he was asked about a claim that he may have as many as three babies on the way. With an ear-to-ear grin, the Wild N’ Out star said that, “The stork is on the way… If you thought the numbers that I put up in 2021 were something, wait ’til we get to 2022.”
When pressed about what had happened with the sex therapy and celibacy that he was trying out, he said that he, “Was probably celibate for a month and a half.” And that, just before Christmas, I started f*cking like crazy.”
His girlfriend, Abby De La Rosa, with whom he had twins in June of 2021, posted on Instagram that she was pregnant. And even insinuated that it could be another set of twins, commenting, “IM PREGNANT Another set of twins?! Follow me on ONLY FANS to find out more.”
Her baby (babies?) is due this October, so the math adds up for Cannon’s sexual reawakening. One thing’s for sure though: The man is nothing short of a legendary baby factory and is in fact, doing his part to populate the Earth.
For years, Hope Hicks has been Donald Trump’s trusted confidante and the source of numerous rumors about their particularly close working relationship. Her presence in Trump world predated his time in the White House where she would eventually serve as communications director. However, despite her loyalty to Trump, Hicks reportedly angered the former president during his final days in the Oval Office.
According to The Divider, a new book from journalists Peter Baker and Susan Glasser, Hicks did not believe Trump’s “Big Lie” that the 2020 election was stolen from him. In fact, Hicks told him to his face that she hasn’t seen any evidence to the contrary, and then proceeded to bounce. Via The New York Times:
One of the most striking realizations that emerged from the book research was how many people around Mr. Trump did not believe the election had been stolen but kept quiet or checked out, including White House officials and campaign aides. Hope Hicks, long one of his closest advisers, told him it was time to move on. “Well, Hope doesn’t believe in me,” Mr. Trump responded bitterly. “No, I don’t,” she replied. “Nobody’s convinced me otherwise.” She disappeared in the final weeks of the administration.
Hicks not falling for the “Big Lie” now makes two women in Trump’s inner circle who failed to stroke his ego. While promoting her own book, former White House advisor Kellyanne Conway revealed she also told Trump that he lost the election, which caused the former president to lash out on Truth Social. He disputed Conway’s claims by saying if she had told him that he lost, he would’ve sent her “back to her crazy husband.”
As for whether Trump will harshly react to Hick’s betrayal being revealed is, of course, a coin toss. You never know what’s going to set that guy off.
Succession certainly isn’t Brian Cox’s first Hollywood rodeo, but the show made him a household name. His turn as Logan Roy is so sublime that people (despite him marvelously pulling off the recreation of a Euphoria scene) associate him with the role to a fault. That’s why no one seems to be able to resist asking him to tell them to f*ck off.
Yeah, I feel that. Heck, I did the same thing to him as a side note when we were meant to be talking about Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman. And Cox puts up with this routine with (seemingly detached, in my observation) humor, but he let it be known during a Hollywood Reporter roundtable that the request is maybe getting a bit old. That’s the same roundtable where Sam Jackson revealed that his credit card ads are now more quotable than his MF-bombs, but at least Cox gets some love for the F-word.
Still, Cox would like everyone to at least consider the context or at least read the room before making the request:
“[I]t’s not the easiest thing to say to people. I mean, it started when I was playing L.B.J. in one of those theaters in New York. I came out one night and there was this young couple, very sweet, about 17, and they had a video and they said, ‘Could you tell us to f*ck off, please?’ I mean, it’s unbelievable. But the worst was here in L.A. when I went to a meeting for Ronan Farrow, a #MeToo thing. He was launching the book and all these Hollywood women were there and it was very intense. And I was standing at the back and then [the women] all turned around and saw me and they [pointed a] camera and said, ‘Can you tell us to f*ck off?’ I was like, ‘This is a #MeToo meeting, is this really proper to be asking me to tell you to f”ck off? And does that mean that I get canceled?”
A fair point! We can all take a step back and ask Brian Cox tell people to f*ck off at his own leisure. It’s time.
Nominated for Best Contemporary R&B Song at the 62nd Grammy Awards, HER’s “Could’ve Been” featuring Bryson Tiller has been a considerable hit for the singer. But a lawsuit filed Tuesday by acapella gospel group Take 6, alleges that HER’s song uses an “obvious” sample of the sextet’s song, “Come Unto Me.”
HER (neé Gabriella Sarmiento Wilson), producer Dernest “D’Mile” Emile II, and Sony Music Entertainment are among the defendants named in a document obtained by Billboard. The lawsuit claims that, “‘Could’ve Been’ is a song comprised of substantially similar compositional, rhythmic and lyrical elements to ‘Come Unto Me,’” adding that, “Defendants have profited greatly from the commercial success of the infringing composition and infringing sound recording.”
Listening to “Could’ve Been” (above) there is what sounds like a gospel sample auto-tuned into the production backbone. But it’s not immediately discernible as Take 6’s “Come Unto Me” (below).
Take 6’s attorney, James Walker, disagrees, telling Billboard that it is in fact “obvious.” Walker also stated that he consulted with a musicologist to confirm his and the group’s suspicion. “Come Unto Me” netted Take 6 a Best Contemporary Soul Gospel award at the 33rd Grammys, so it’s fairly notable. Still, before the case can advance to court, a judge will have to determine if the sample sounds close enough to the Grammy-winning single to warrant it. You can listen to both above.
That’s not just some trite, farmhouse home decor saying, but an actual, studied phenomenon. We’ve likely experienced it ourselves—surrounding ourselves with happy people generally makes us happier—but even science says it’s true.
So perhaps it’s not surprising to see babies and children naturally respond to someone letting a smile slowly spread across their face—but it sure is cute.
TikTok user Borzah Yankey has made a name for himself with his irresistible smile and his “try not to smile” challenges that have millions of views. As it turns out, the wee ones are particularly susceptible to Borzah’s bright smile, as evidenced by a viral compilation of babies and little kids’ reactions to one of his smile challenges.
To me as an adult, the slowly building smile seems a little creepy, but for the kiddos who haven’t been subjected to too many horror movies yet, it’s just an infectious grin.
(Parental side note: Not all of Borzah’s videos are kid-friendly, so don’t take this as a recommendation to send your children off to peruse his channel.)
From babies to toddlers to preschoolers, it’s amazing to see that the reaction to Borzah’s big grin is nearly identical. There’s even one kid who is crying when the video starts and smiling and giggling 10 seconds later. (New parenting hack? Whatever works, I say.)
Watch:
Borzah’s smile is pretty epic, but for me, it’s the little one’s smiles that make it impossible not to smile at this video. Why does a child smiling hit us like that? Perhaps it’s their innocence and purity. When a small child smiles, it’s real.
That “real” smile has a name, by the way—a Duchenne smile. Named after 19th-century scientist Guillaume Duchenne, who was instrumental in mapping out the muscles of the human body, a Duchenne smile is one that reaches the eyes. To get technical, it’s when the zygomaticus major muscle (cheek muscle) lifts up the corners of your mouth while the orbicularis oculi (eye muscle) raises your cheeks, creating the crinkley-eyed smile we generally recognize as a smile of genuine joy.
Humans smile for all kinds of reasons besides joy—embarrassment, amusement, politeness, social conditioning, manipulation and even fear. But we know a genuine, joyful smile when we see one, and in my experience those are the ones that are hard to resist responding to in kind.
That’s why those baby smiles get us. They’re just so real.
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