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It has been nearly two months since the tragic death of Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins and friends and fans all over the world are still trying to understand what led to his sudden passing in a Colombian hotel.

Now, a very thoroughly reported story from Rolling Stone has emerged, which gathered stories from the last days of Hawkins life through interviews with 20 people who were close to the drummer. The most illuminating recount, comes early in the piece from Pearl Jam drummer and Hawkins collaborator Matt Cameron, who said that Hawkins, “…had a heart-to-heart with Dave [Grohl] and, yeah, he told me that he ‘couldn’t f*cking do it anymore’… I guess they did come to some understanding, but it just seems like the touring schedule got even crazier after that.”

The report ping pongs between accounts from friends and representatives from the band. The friends echo what Cameron alluded to, how Hawkins was feeling physically and mentally worn down from playing numerous three hour sets on busy tour schedules. But then a representative from Foo Fighters disputes that he voiced his concerns, saying, “No, there was never a ‘heart-to-heart’ — or any sort of meeting on this topic — with Dave and [Silva Artist Management].”
“The fact that he finally spoke to Dave and really told him that he couldn’t do this and that he wouldn’t do it anymore, that was freeing for him,” an anonymous colleague added, also saying, “That took f*cking balls. That did take a year of working up the guts to do.” In contrast, a representative for the band says that Hawkins “… never ‘informed Dave and [management]’ of anything at all like that.”

Among other memories, producer Andrew Watt recounted that Hawkins was texting him the night before his death. While he was at first peeved that Watt (who was in the studio) wasn’t picking up, the always inspired Hawkins’ final message included an audio file of drums that he suggested Watt should “make something out of this with one of your artists.” And adding that, “This would be awesome. It’s funky and groovy and, like, check this out.’”

Read the full Rolling Stone report here.

It’s not that Jeff Bridges has never done action before. He’s the surprise baddie in the first Iron Man (though he spent most of the time squirreled away inside a big robot), and he gets into shoot-‘em-up skirmishes in both the Coen brothers’ True Grit and Hell or High Water. But what the beloved (and hopefully cancer-free) actor hasn’t done is go full late period Liam Neeson and start playing an ass-kicking old-timer. And yet that’s exactly what he’s doing in the trailer for FX’s The Old Man.

In the preview, Bridges — whose output over the last two decades has erred towards laid-back, oft-grizzled, but usually chill — goes full AARP beserker as the aptly-named Dan Chase, a former CIA operative who rages back to life when an assassin tracks him down and tries, and fails, to take his life. Based on the 2017 novel by Thomas Perry, it’s not a movie but one of those limited series stretched out into a series, with, of course, the possibility of getting another season, just as what happened to The White Lotus.

Also along for the ride is John Lithgow, playing an old colleague involved in the attempt to nick Dan and expose his mysterious past. The last Neeson actioner, Memory, underperformed, but maybe the small screen is the place for aging Boomers to watch people their age or thereabouts act sprier than they are. Like maybe the forthcoming Hell or High Water TV show.

You can watch the trailer in the video above. The Old Man is set to premiere on FX on June 16.

As Spotify continues to add bells and whistles to the streaming service’s artist profiles like the ability to buy concert tickets and merch, they’re beginning to test out NFTs, too. As Music Ally and Billboard report, artists like Steve Aoki and The Wombats present two of the early test cases, where artists can promote their NFT’s on their profiles and people can click through to purchase them on NFT marketplaces. The test is currently available to select US users via Spotify’s the Android app.

At first glance, this does seem like a slippery slope of sorts, as artists have turned to NFTs as a way to control 100% of the net proceeds from the sale of their music and publishing rights. Considering Spotify pays artists a paltry sum that lies somewhere between $0.003 to $0.005 per stream, it’s understandable to think that there might be an ulterior motive at play from the Swedish streaming giant.

“Spotify is running a test in which it will help a small group of artists promote their existing third-party NFT offerings via their artist profiles,” a spokesperson from Spotify told Music Ally. “We routinely conduct a number of tests in an effort to improve artist and fan experiences. Some of those tests end up paving the way for a broader experience and others serve only as an important learning.”

Music Ally also reported that Spotify isn’t taking a cut of any NFT sales in this test. But one has to wonder if they’ll take a cut of whatever the NFT marketplace makes? Or if when the testing period is over and the feature is fully implemented, that they’ll indeed work their way into taking a cut of the direct sale of the NFT. Promoting an NFT on Spotify does not seem like a good proposition for smaller artists who count on the sale of their NFTs as a main source of income. But for artists like Aoki, or The Wombats, who have a comfortable pipeline of income sources and are looking to spread the word about their new blockchain ventures, then this might make sense.

The responses from people on social media have shown the inherent distrust that Spotify has built among users and non-users alike. “Just feels like they’ll find a way take the power from artist’s again,” one Twitter user said. “Work on your established problems first,” another user suggested, while another user issued the ultimatum that, “If Spotify goes in this direction im gonna cancel my subscription.”

As if the past handful of years weren’t challenging enough, the U.S. is currently dealing with a baby formula crisis.

Due to a perfect storm of supply chain issues, product recalls, labor shortages and inflation, manufacturers are struggling to keep up with formula demand and retailers are rationing supplies. As a result, families that rely on formula are scrambling to ensure that their babies get the food they need.

Naturally, people are weighing in on the crisis, with some throwing out simplistic advice like, “Why don’t you just do what people did before baby formula was invented and just breastfeed?”

That might seem logical, unless you understand how breastfeeding works and know a bit about infant mortality throughout human history.

Rutgers University historian Carla Cevasco, Ph.D. shared some of the history of infant feeding in a viral Twitter thread to set the record straight. (Note: Cevasco provided sources for her facts, which can be viewed at the end of her thread on Twitter.)

“You may be hearing the argument that before the rise of modern commercial infant formula, babies all ate breastmilk and everything was great,” she wrote. “As a historian of infant feeding, let me tell you why that’s not true.”

First of all, throughout history, people have at times needed to feed infants using foods other than breastmilk. For many reasons:

— Carla Cevasco, PhD (@Carla Cevasco, PhD)
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Cevasco explained that, throughout history, people have had to feed infants food other than breastmilk for a variety of reasons.

“Sometimes the birthing parent was unable to breastfeed,” she wrote, “Because: death in childbirth, or physical/mental health concerns, or need to return to work outside the home right after childbirth, OR their partner or enslaver forced them not to breastfeed so that they could return to fertility ASAP after giving birth.

“Sometimes baby was unable to breastfeed. Because: poor latch, prematurity, cleft palate, other health or disability reasons, etc.

“Sometimes baby was being cared for by carers other than birthing parent, including adoptive parents.”

So, feeding baby other peopleu2019s breastmilk wasnu2019t necessarily an ideal situation either, given the power dynamics of race, class, and gender in the past.

— Carla Cevasco, PhD (@Carla Cevasco, PhD)
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Cevasco went on to explain what babies ate instead of a parent’s breast milk in those situations.

“Sometimes someone else would breastfeed the child,” she wrote. “This might have been a relative or neighbor doing it for free. Or it might have been a paid or unpaid servant or enslaved person doing it at the expense of their own nursing infant, who might starve to death as a result.”

She also explained that some babies thrived on alternative diets, which are not recommended today due to concerns about safety and nutrition.

“Wabanaki women in the 18th century sometimes fed infants a mixture of boiled walnuts, cornmeal, and water; an English colonist, Elizabeth Hanson, reported that her baby thrived on this diet,” she wrote. “In early modern Europe, babies often ate pap or panada, mixtures of animal milk or water, bread crumbs or flour. Sometimes these were boiled, sometimes they weren’t.”

However, she explained, those milk substitutes weren’t always safe or nutritionally complete.

“So before the advent of modern commercial formula (in the 1950s), a lot of babies died of illness or starvation because they couldn’t breastfeed and the alternative foods were not safe or adequate,” she wrote. “Let me repeat that: in the absence of modern formula, A LOT OF BABIES DIED OF ILLNESS OR STARVATION DUE TO LACK OF SAFE OR ADEQUATE FOOD.”

As Cevasco illustrates, the idea that the pre-formula days were a bastion of infant health due to widespread breastfeeding is simply incorrect. Cevasco explained that better supports such as paid parental leave, free lactation consultation and education, better access to places to pump and so on, would go a long way toward increasing breastfeeding rates. She also pointed out that the greed of the corporate formula industry created the formula shortage crisis.

“But! Let’s not demonize formula because of an imagined past in which everyone breastfed,” she wrote. “In the ACTUAL past, babies fucking starved and died of disease. Babies who would have survived today, because they would have had access to safe, nutritionally complete formula. Access that is now, horrifyingly and unjustly, under threat for many babies and their caregivers.”

There will ALWAYS be people who need formula for a whole hosts of reasons.

— Carla Cevasco, PhD (@Carla Cevasco, PhD)
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Cevasco pointed out that there are multiple safe and nutritionally complete ways to feed a baby, and making sure babies don’t go hungry should be our main goal.

So many misinformed comments could be avoided with a basic understanding of what infant feeding looked like in the past, as well as a basic understanding of how breastfeeding works both physically and logistically. Let’s spend more time informing ourselves and sharing facts from experts rather than continuing to perpetuate unhelpful and harmful myths about both breastfeeding and formula feeding.

Johnny Depp’s defamation trial against his ex-wife Amber Heard returned after a week off, and there were still more wild revelations in a court case that’s already been full of them. Depp himself has already pointed out that he’s lost work over the allegations Heard made about him. But Heard said he’s not the only one.

As per Entertainment Weekly, Heard claimed she has to “fight really hard” to say in the entertainment industry after her split with Depp. After she obtained a domestic violence restraining order against him in 2016, she says he launched a “smear campaign” against her featuring a “sophisticated PR machine” deadest on making her persona non grata.

“I lost opportunities. I got dropped from jobs and campaigns,” she told the jury.”I fought to keep my job and the biggest movie opportunity I had to date [with] Justice League with the option to [star in] Aquaman. I had to fight really hard to stay in Justice League because that was the time of the divorce.”

Heard also discussed news that broke earlier this month: that even though she received double her $1 million Aquaman salary to do the sequel, her role wound up being gutted to a mere 10 minutes. She claimed Warner Bros. “didn’t want to include me” and that the final script featured a “very pared-down version” of her original character arc.

“I was given a script and then given new versions of the script that had taken away scenes that had action in it, that depicted my character and another character, without giving any spoiler aways, two characters fighting with one another, and they basically took a bunch out of my role,” testified Heard. “They just removed a bunch out.”

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is due in theaters in March 27 of 2023. The Depp-Heard trial, meanwhile, is still ongoing, which is good news for the newly relaunched Court TV.

(Via EW)

For the most part, ceremonial first pitches are wholly uninteresting in the world of Major League Baseball. Honorees run the gamut from celebrities to local heroes to relatively anonymous people but, every once in a while, true magic occurs. One of those instances happened on Monday in Boston when Steve Aoki strolled to the mound to deliver the opening offering before a matchup between the Red Sox and the Houston Astros.

The video is worth a thousand (or more) words.

This is an immediate hall of fame entry in the worst first pitches of all-time, simply because of where the ball landed. Aoki never seemed particularly comfortable with where his setup began, for some reason starting on the upslope on the back of the mound, but, as soon as he begin his move to the plate, there was an elaborate wind-up which probably was not the best idea.

From there, the angle set Aoki up for a disaster, and the ball’s trajectory got out of control with haste. In the videos above, you can get a glimpse of the horror and/or amazement from the patrons in attendance at Fenway Park, but onlookers probably just cannot get enough of this video. The debate will rage as to whether this was truly the worst of all-time since, well, Aoki at least made it to the plate, but it was a sight to behold.

Liz Cheney, a longtime staunch Republican whose father is no less than Dick Cheney, is up to here with the GOP. First she started standing up to the insurrectionist wing of her party. Then they stripped her of her GOP leadership. Now she’s ripping them for having “enabled” the white supremacist mentality that led to Saturday’s gun massacre in Buffalo, New York.

“The House GOP leadership has enabled white nationalism, white supremacy, and anti-semitism,” Cheney wrote in a scorched-earth tweet. “History has taught us that what begins with words ends in far worse. @GOP leaders must renounce and reject these views and those who hold them.”

On Saturday, an 18-year-old assailant killed 10 people and wounded three, the majority of them Black. He had posted an epic manifesto, in which he parroted a conspiracy theory known as the “Great Replacement,” which claims that immigrants are trying to replace white Americans. Tucker Carlson has been talking about for years on his top-rated Fox News show. Indeed, The New York Times recently noted, he’s mentioned it over 400 times since 2016.

Then again, GOP leaders either don’t exactly show spine when it counts or are active cheerleaders for this racially-tinged conspiracy theory themselves. Till they do something to address both far right extremism and out-of-control gun violence, guess we’ll all have to take Patton Oswalt’s gallows humor advice on how to stay safe.

Michelle Yeoh has been receiving some of the best reviews of her career with Everything Everywhere All at Once, which is saying something considering she was outstanding right from the start. But she wasn’t the filmmakers’ first pick. That would be her sometime co-star Jackie Chan. Yeoh was the one who convinced Chan, who used to have issues about women doing martial arts, that women could do martial arts. How did she do that? By taking after him and almost killing herself to entertain. And when he reached out to congratulate her on the film’s success, she couldn’t help but tease him.

In a new interview with The Guardian, the highly in-demand actress and martial arts god mentioned that Chan recently contacted her. “Jackie actually texted me,” Yeoh said. “And he says: ‘Wow, I hear amazing things about your movie. Did you know that the boys came to see me in China?’ And I said: ‘Yes, your loss, my bro!’”

Filmmakers Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert (billed simply as “The Daniels”) admitted that their original idea for the action-comedy-drama-fantasy — about a Chinese immigrant who discovers she can access a multitude of versions of herself and her family in different universes — focused on the husband, eventually played by Ke Huy Quan. Chan was their first pick, though, but he was “unavailable.” Then they wondered about making it about the wife instead, which is when “something clicked.” And, well, you know the rest.

(Via The Guardian)

Food alone is reason enough for many of us to travel. How cool is it that every destination has its own local delicacies you can’t quite find anywhere else? For Julie Nguyen, the CEO and co-founder of Methodology, food has not only brought her to many of the world’s lesser-known and remote locations but it’s also been the leading force in her career.

Nguyen founded Methodology, a whole foods-focused food delivery subscription, with the mission to heal bodies and minds using food as medicine. She spent years researching with nutritionists, working with personal trainers, and traveling the globe in search of the best-tasting, most nutritious cuisine. During her world tour, she dined at a plethora of popular restaurants in the most touristed cities, but it’s the under-the-radar gems that stood out most to her. So she’s giving us her guide to the most underrated, off-the-beaten-path restaurants around the world:

“I live out of two suitcases and circle the globe to find the most delicious, nourishing, undiscovered recipes from around the world,” she says. “I use these recipes as inspiration to create innovative new menu items not found anywhere else. To do this well, I have to venture off the beaten path. These are the meals I still dream about eating again and again.”

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Sans Souci — A Comforting Okinawan Cafe in Okinawa, Japan

Few tourists in Japan make it to Okinawa and even fewer venture away from the central area of Okinawa. I came to Okinawa because it’s a blue zone known for having a large population of centenarians. I wanted to learn what Okinawans eat to live so long. I was fortunate enough to spend several weeks in Okinawa, which allowed me to explore restaurants undiscovered by most American tourists, including this hidden gem cafe. Prepare for a truly authentic local experience. The staff does not speak English and the menu is entirely in Japanese, but fortunately, the menu does include photos of everything. You really can’t go wrong here. I’m a rice lover so I ordered a rice bowl with creamy raw egg yolk on top and had one of their foot-tall 10-layer parfaits for dessert. If these parfaits were located anywhere else in the world that’s more accessible, Sans Souci would become an Instagram sensation with two-hour wait times.

But, alas, this cafe is in the middle of nowhere on an island that rarely gets crowded with tourists. The parfaits aren’t just special because of how visually stunning they are; the multiple layers also provide a variety of flavors, temperatures, and textures making it one of the most satisfying desserts I’ve ever had. Plus, it’s sweetened with local Okinawa black sugar that has its own unique mineral flavor. Okinawa is one of the top three favorite eating cities I’ve ever visited. I hope you make it here someday, and if you do, a pit stop at San Souci can’t be missed.

Pho Bo 8 Hang Da — Beef Pho Street Food in Hanoi, Vietnam

What kind of Vietnamese food adventurer would I be if I didn’t share my favorite pho restaurant in the world? Pho Bo 8 Hang Da is frequented entirely by locals. The pho here is made properly in a way you won’t find outside of Vietnam, even in places like Little Saigon in Orange County, where I grew up. The broth is incredibly flavorful yet light, the springy noodles are made freshly by hand each morning, and the beef melts in your mouth like butter. You’ll also want to add extra bone marrow to give the pho even more flavor, similar to what you’d get in Japanese ramen.

I personally never add sriracha or hoisin to my pho because I want to fully appreciate the subtle flavors of the beef and pho spices. I do eat tons of herbs with my pho though. Bring on the cilantro and scallions! This is a must-have meal if you’re ever in Hanoi. They’re also only open until they sell out, so get there early for breakfast.

Frenchie Pigalle — Modern European Cuisine in Paris, France

In 2021 I spent two months eating my way through Paris, and this restaurant stands out as my absolute favorite. I love so many things about this restaurant. First, they don’t take reservations, so it’s perfect if you didn’t make plans because so many of the best spots in Paris are booked months out. Second, the menu is insanely creative with to-die-for flavors. I’m not a fan of stuffy, old-fashioned French food and this place is just the opposite. It’s casual, modern, and innovative. I brought local Parisians here, and they agreed it’s one of the best restaurants in Paris that they’ve tried and were shocked they hadn’t heard of it!

I think the reason why this place doesn’t get a ton of hype is because it opened during the pandemic. Frenchie Pigalle is from chef and restaurateur Gregory Marchand, who operates Frenchie and other fine dining restaurants, so it isn’t a gem created by a little-known chef out of nowhere, but rather a more free-spirited take on French dining. I went to Frenchie Pigalle twice in one week and tried the entire menu. Every dish was memorable and worth eating again. My favorite dish I still dream about is their veal sweetbread nuggets you dip into cream and caviar. It’s like eating the most decadent and adult version of fried chicken nuggets dipped in a creamy ranch dressing. Definitely try their veggie dishes as well. Few restaurants in the world have figured out how to make vegetables taste as comforting as this place has.

Pinku Fish & Wine — Modern European Seafood in Split, Croatia

Croatia has stunning beaches and nature treks, but when talking about traveling to the country most wouldn’t call it a top food destination. That being said, if you ever find yourself in Croatia, I discovered a seafood restaurant that I still dream about in Split called Pinku Fish & Wine. I am very picky about seafood. I can’t stand when seafood is overcooked, and I’m bored with rustic preparations of fish that just have salt, pepper, lemon, and maybe some herbs. Pinku is delivering the seafood I crave, where they pair their dishes with creative produce and sauces that bring out the flavor and textures in the fish with a perfect balance and contrast.

The menu changes regularly, but Pinku uses the freshest seafood caught just that morning. One of my favorite dishes there was cuttlefish “noodles” with pickled egg, onion, and fish consommé. The cuttlefish was sweet and full of umami with a soft yet firm texture. Not chewy at all. The pickled egg brought out the sweetness in the cuttlefish and the fish consommé created a juicy mouthfeel. I loved this restaurant so much that I ate here multiple times while in Croatia. Make sure you book in advance or queue outside right before they open because the restaurant is tiny and fills up.

O Magano — A Traditional Portuguese Restaurant in Lisbon, Portugal

Portugal is one of the best places to eat in the world in terms of value. You get elevated and skilled cookery on par with what you’ll find in Spain, Italy, and France but for half the price. I started this trip by trying all the restaurants recommended by Anthony Bourdain. He’s an idol of mine, and I’m sure at the time he visited his top picks really were the best places to eat in Portugal. However, when I spent time there in 2021, I’d say that my top picks would have zero overlap with those of Bourdain because things have changed a lot. O Magano is one of my top picks for underrated Lisbon restaurants.

Sure, there were a few other spots I loved, but those are packed spots that make it onto most online lists and guides. O Magano floats under the radar and I had to learn about it from local food snobs who laugh at the “tourist trap” places Americans typically go to in Lisbon. When you walk in here you’ll feel like you’ve traveled back in time; it is the kind of place that hasn’t changed in decades and that’s why the locals have been coming back for years. The menu caters to locals with traditional dishes you won’t easily find at places that cater to tourists. I came specifically for the arroz de cabidela, a unique hen and rice dish that also includes hen’s blood and vinegar. For those that might be unsure, the blood didn’t have a very strong flavor, it seemed to mostly make the dish darker and creamier. Chicken and rice is one of my favorite meals that I could eat almost every day, and this Portuguese variation was intensely comforting and hearty.

On Saturday, an 18-year-old gunman opened fire in a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, killing 10 people and wounding three, most of whom were Black. Authorities called it a “straight-up racially-motivated hate crime,” and no wonder: The assailant had posted an 180-page manifesto, in which he parroted what’s become known as “Great Replacement,” a conspiracy theory claiming immigrants are trying to “replace” white people in America — a belief spread by a number of prominent GOP members.

Among them is, of course, Tucker Carlson. But another is Elise Stefanik, the third-ranking member of the GOP, who has dropped ads leaning hard on the conspiracy theory on Facebook. The New York representative’s name came up a lot after the gun massacre, enough that someone noticed that she’d failed to nab a certain url for her 2022 campaign. So he took it himself.

When Canadian comic Toby Morton snatched up the unused url www.elisestefanik2022.com, he quickly filled it with the kind of satire that’s what she might say if she had no filters. On the parody site, the slogan for Stefanik’s campaign is “Let’s Keep It White.” It also features a damning bio:

“I, Elise Stefanik, am a monster. I am a vile and disgusting politician who is responsible for the Buffalo NY shooting spree. How? What is in his manifesto is what I placed into his head. Why? Because I want power. I want votes. I don’t want to lead. I want to rule. People will lose lives, but that’s not my concern. I’m here for the exposure, the power, the control. I will continue to do everything in my power to raise White Supremacy higher than it’s ever been.”

If you click on the “about section, you get this: “I come from Whites. White people, Mmk?” it reads. “Let’s be clear where I come from because sure, Stefanik doesn’t exactly sound white, but I’m totally white. White White White!”

The Buffalo massacre — which came a mere day before another, also seemingly racially-motivated shooting at a church populated largely by Taiwanese people in Laguna Woods, California — earned a lot of responses…from the left. Everyone from CNN’s Jim Acosta to The View’s Ana Navarro pointed fingers at rightwing figures peddling the controversial conspiracy theory. Meanwhile, Patton Oswalt offered some gallows humor by pointing out that all Americans have to do to stay safe is, well, never go places.

You can see the full parody website here.

(Via Raw Story)