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In terms of her musical output, Ariana Grande had an extremely productive period between 2018 and 2020, when she released three No. 1 albums: Sweetener; Thank U, Next; and Positions. Now, though, we’re coming up on two years without a new album from Grande, and it turns out she hasn’t been working on one, either. Furthermore, it doesn’t look like she plans to start making new music until she’s done with her two Wicked movies.

In a make-up tutorial and Q&A video shared by Grande’s REM Beauty yesterday, Grande explains of her next LP:

“This is a question I’m nervous to answer, but I feel like I want to have a little bit of transparency and honesty with my fans. Why not, you know? […] I… The truth is, I have not begun an album. I know, I hear through the grapevine that you have a lot of theories and expectations in that department. But after Positions, was not ready to start another album yet, so I have not begun another album.

That’s the main… I mean, that was really the only reason, but aside from that, that was kind of around that time that I started hearing murmurs about a Wicked audition coming soon, so I went into full preparation mode while I was also shooting The Voice. So I was shooting and then also doing lessons every day, ’cause I just wanted to be prepared for when the call came. I had no idea what it was coming, but I was just like, ‘I want to be ready to go in.’ I know that I know the material like the back of my hand, but I still have so much to learn and I want to be prime condition.

So I went pretty hard getting ready, and now, thank god, the most… thank goodness, literally, the most incredible gift of my entire life is, you know, this role that I’ve adored since I’m ten years old, and that is going to have every piece of me; every minute, every ounce of my heart, my time, my soul, my everything that I can give it.

So my hands are quite full with a lot of other thrillifying work at the moment, and this being a part of it. REM Beauty is really fun and we work really hard on that as well. But yeah, I am spending all of my time with Glinda. I just was not ready.”

Check out the video below.

The Tom Collins is one of the most classic cocktails there is. The drink goes back to at least 1876 and probably much further, as gin mixed with lemonade. And that description is true to this day. That said, bartenders tend to cut big corners with this drink which takes away from its depth and greatness, and makes it pretty bland. Let’s not do that.

The biggest corners cut are on the lemon and sugar component of this drink. Collins mix is a common sight in every liquor store. You really do not need to waste your time with that stuff. This drink is super easy to make without it. Secondly, a lot of bartenders will make this in the glass with simple bar syrup. And those are okay… at best. But by not a) using powdered sugar and b) shaking this cocktail, you’re missing out on something that makes a lot more sense as a “classic” that’s transcended entire centuries than a quick, sweet highball that’s likely pretty “meh.”

So, let’s take it back to the late 1800s and shake up a killer Tom Collins because this is one of the best spring-summer refreshers you can have. Seriously, this is mega-thirst-quenching in every sip. Let’s get shaking!

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Tom Collins

Ingredients:

• 1.5 oz. London dry gin
• 1 oz. fresh lemon juice
• 1 barspoon of powdered sugar
• Fizzy mineral water
• Ice
• Lemon wheels
• Luxardo cherry

As mentioned above, you need powdered sugar for this. Any standard stuff that you get in your store’s baking aisle will do. If you want to get super fancy, you can make your own with a pestle and mortar (have fun with that!). The rest is pretty straightforward. I like using Gordon’s London Dry Gin because it’s affordable and findable. Lastly, make sure to get good fizzy mineral water with a lot of fizziness. The more minerally bubbles, the better.

What You’ll Need:

• Collins glass (a tall and narrow eight-ounce glass)
• Cocktail shaker
• Cocktail strainer
• Barspoon
• Paring knife
• Hand juicer
• Jigger
• Cocktail spear

Method:

• Fill the Collins glass with fresh ice. Set aside.
• Add the gin, lemon juice, and powdered sugar to the shaker. Add a handful of ice cubes, affix the lid, and shake vigorously for about 20 to 30 seconds.
• Use the cocktail strainer to pour the base over the ice in the Collins glass, it should fill the glass about 2/3.
• Top the cocktail with a small, maybe two-ounce, pour of fizzy mineral water. Use the barspoon to gently stir the drink once or twice.
• Garnish with a fresh lemon wheel and speared cherry. Serve.

Bottom Line:

This is delightful! The powdered sugar and lemon acids bind in the shake and create a mouthfeel that’s halfway between a lemon angel food cake and a lemon meringue. There’s actual texture and depth here even though it’s topped with fizzy water. That depth is never going to be there if you’re making this in the glass with simple syrup, much less Collins mix.

Then there’s how refreshing this is. A drop or two of the cherry syrup spirals through the drink, adding a fruity, candy sweetness to the end. But the lightness and brightness before that are off the charts. This is like taking a sip of cool on a hot day from top to bottom. Five stars! I know I’ll be making more of these as the weather heats up — you should too!

Kyrie Irving could end up being a free agent in more ways than one at the conclusion of the 2022-23 NBA season. Should Irving opt into the final year of his current contract, the Brooklyn Nets guard would hit the open market and have the flexibility to choose where he’d want to play his basketball.

According to a new report by Ramona Shelburne and Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, Irving’s future in the sneaker game is equally unclear. Irving is a Nike athlete, and is among the NBA players who have their own line of signature sneakers. But after his latest sneaker drops later this year, Nike appears to be ready to move on.

Brooklyn Nets star Kyrie Irving has long had one of Nike’s most popular and profitable signature basketball shoes, but uncertainties surrounding his NBA future have left the company unlikely to extend him to a similar signature deal beyond the 2022-23 season, sources told ESPN.

The report did indicate that the popularity of Irving’s line means that “it is expected Nike will still offer some product associated with him in the future, like retro shoes from previous collections.” Irving’s most recent release from Nike, the Kyrie 8s, made headlines when their namesake hopped onto Instagram and called them “trash” before explaining that he just wanted “to make sure we get [the sneaker] right.”

If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. And if you still don’t succeed, file for bankruptcy a few times, run for president and win, run again and lose, spend years whining about how you didn’t really lose, then try your hand at becoming the next Netflix.

In October 2021, Donald Trump finally made good (sort of) on his long-threatened promise to launch his own social network when he announced the birth of the knee-slappingly named TRUTH Social. Within days, he had announced some seriously shady plans to take the network’s also newly-formed parent company, Trump Media & Technology Group, public. While there were rumblings at the time that streaming was part of the company’s plan, a new job listing posted on Linkedin, and spotted by Mediaite, has confirmed that video content is part of the former president’s future.

According to the job listing, “Trump Media & Technology Group’s Streaming Video On Demand service will be a ‘Big Tent’ platform offering broad-based entertainment rooted in free speech. In addition to the Social Media platform Truth Social, our SVOD platform TMTG+ will be the home for a wide variety of non-scripted, scripted, and original content.”

As for the role itself, which is listed as a Content Development Manager, Team Trump is looking for someone “with a passion for day-to-day development of the TMTG+ programming slate. The role will generate and develop internal concepts for original unscripted content, short form series episodes and specials. Our ideal candidate will be able to establish priorities and multi-task efficiently within a fast-paced environment while meeting strict deadlines.”

One can only hope that No, You Can’t Use This Bathroom! with Ivanka and Jared and How to Be Intensely Unappealing and Uninteresting, hosted by Don Jr., are at the top of the development slate.

(Via Mediaite)

There was a time, long ago, when talking about The Oscars meant talking about the movies and the snubs and what everyone was wearing. That timeline is over, though, because it is now impossible to utter the words “The Oscars” without mentioning “The Slap” and it will be that way forever, probably, as celebs continue to “process” the events of what happened.

The 2022 Oscars host Wanda Sykes is still reeling from the incident nearly 50 days later, saying “I’m still traumatized,” while on a tour stop in Florida. “I can’t talk about it. I get emotional.”

According to People, Sykes continued with some choice words for Will Smith, who still walked away with an Oscar after the slap. “I couldn’t believe he was still sitting there, like an assh*le. Shouldn’t you be sitting there with a lawyer or LAPD, motherf*cker?”

Smith has been famously silent since the incident that ultimately caused him to be banned from the Academy for the next decade. The actor is allegedly “finding himself” on a meditation retreat before he will inevitably have some sort of primetime TV special (probably).

“I hope he gets his sh*t together. Until then, f*ck him,” Sykes added. Hey, if anything, he just made Wanda Sykes even more relevant in the year 2022. Maybe she should be happy about that?

This weekend’s episode of Saturday Night Live is a music-packed affair: Post Malone is the musical guest while Selena Gomez is the host. Now, we know what next week’s episode, the show’s season finale, is going to look like musically: It was announced this afternoon that Japanese Breakfast will make her SNL musical guest debut on the May 21 episode.

Michelle Zauner excitedly shared the news by re-sharing SNL‘s corkboard note image and writing, “Help!!!!!!!!”

Zauner is a natural pick for the show considering she’s coming off a star-making year in 2021: Jubilee was her first album to appear on the Billboard 200 chart and it earned her a couple of 2022 Grammy nominations, for Best New Artist and Best Alternative Music Album. 2021 also saw the release of her memoir Crying In H Mart, one of the year’s most beloved and talked-about books that has now spent upwards of 30 weeks on the New York Times best-seller list. Not long after the book was published, it was picked up for a movie adaptation, for which Japanese Breakfast will compose new music.

On top of all that, Japanese Breakfast’s soundtrack for the video game Sable was released back in September. This year, she’s touring with The National, Florence And The Machine, and Courtney Barnett, so 2022 is looking pretty great for Zauner, too.

A Married… with Children revival is reportedly on the verge of becoming a reality starring the original cast. Well, technically, their voices. The Married… with Children revival is being pitched as an animated series, which made it easier for the cast to fit the project into their busy schedules. Ed O’Neill, Katey Segal, Christina Applegate, and David Faustino are locked into reprising their classic sitcom roles in the new series from Family Guy executive producer Alex Carter.

According to Deadline, the animated revival is getting “strong interest” from networks and streamers with Fox, Hulu and Peacock in the lead as potential homes for the series:

Considered one of the most influential TV shows in pop culture, it was one of the very first original scripted series on the then-fledgeling network which helped put it on the map and establish its edgy comedy brand. What’s more, adult animation is in Fox’s DNA, and. the network has several animated family comedies, most notably juggernauts The Simpsons and Family Guy. Meanwhile, Hulu and Peacock are streamers that carry the original series and adding the new installment would enhance their current collection and bring new viewers to the old episodes too.

As for the heavy interest in the project, Deadline reports that Married… with Children still puts up strong numbers in syndication, which could translate into a built-in audience for the revival.

Speaking of Fox, The Simpsons has already offered a glimpse at what an animated Married… with Children could look like:

As did Futurama because you gotta love that corporate synergy:

(Via Deadline)

Throughout the second-round series between the Phoenix Suns and Dallas Mavericks, competitive fire has reared its head in the form of trash talk. Both Luka Doncic and Devin Booker have been at the forefront across the first six games, engaging in some direct and indirect banter.

In Game 5, Booker took a hard foul from Dorian Finney-Smith that sent him to the floor. As he stood up, after perhaps embellishing some of the contact, he said he was doing “the Luka special.” After Game 6, Doncic was asked how the dynamic of trash talk affects his approach and mindset.

“I like when people trash talk to me. It gets me going. It’s fun. It’s basketball,” Doncic said. “There’s gonna be a lot of trash talking and I like it. It’s fun for me. It’s competitive basketball and I like it. It’s fun for me.”

Perhaps, Booker’s comments really did get Doncic going. He tallied 33 points, 11 rebounds, eight assists, and four steals in the Mavericks’ Game 6, 113-86 blowout victory on Thursday. Meanwhile, Booker, after lighting up Dallas for a combined 63 points on 42 shots in Games 4 and 5, struggled to the tune of 19 points on 6-for-17 shooting in Game 6.

Dallas and Phoenix will meet for Game 7 on Sunday in a matchup that will surely feature some trash talk among the game’s brightest stars. Who exactly it gets going is yet to be seen.

Both things can be true: there are better ways to spend your time than to keep up with the inner-workings of the Kardashian empire, and it’s extremely funny that Kendall Jenner does not know how to cut a cucumber. It’s a real “why not both” scenario. On this week’s episode of Keeping Up with the Kardashians, Kris Jenner asked her daughter Kendall if she wanted a chef to make her a snack. “I’m making it myself,” she responded. “I’m just gonna chop up some cucumber. It’s pretty easy.” It was not easy.

Kendall proceeded to cut the cucumber though did not seem particularly comfortable doing so. At one point she had her arms crossed over one another while she held the knife in one hand and the end of the cucumber with the other.

“Be careful, because I nicked myself the other day,” Kris warned as Kendall continued to struggle with the knife.

“I know, I’m kinda scared,” Kendall responded. She then looks up at the camera and admits her fault. “I’m definitely not a good cutter, so don’t zoom in on me. I’m not professional whatsoever.”

The cucumber, a famously cumbersome vegetable… or is it a fruit? Hm, I guess the joke’s on me for laughing at Kendall. Or maybe it’s laughing “with,” as the model knowingly replied to the online reaction to her lacking basic culinary skills with, “tragic!”

Also tragic: the horny replies to Jenner’s tweet. I would recommend not scrolling too far down (or clicking this link — oops). Instead, please enjoy the “Dance of the Cucumber” song from VeggieTales. Actually, that might be worse. Sorry.

(Via People)

Streatham, London rapper Dave has been rising in acclaim and esteem over the last few years. In addition to dropping the well-received albums Psychodrama and We’re All Alone In This Together — both of which topped the UK’s Albums Chart — he was a thrilling villain in the Drake-produced revival of the street crime drama Top Boy and recently became a BRIT Award-winner for We’re All Alone. It’s safe to say that he’s one of the UK’s most exciting acts today.

Leave it to Drake to make that coronation official during Dave’s North American tour stop in — where else? — Toronto, Drake’s hometown. Drake joined Dave onstage mid-show to perform their 2016 collaboration “Wanna Know,” as well as a rendition of Drake’s Certified Lover Boy track “Knife Talk.” Afterward, Drake addressed the audience, giving Dave his benediction.

“This guy right here is a once-in-a-generation talent,” he said. “Whether he’s rapping, pouring out his heart, whether he’s turning all the way up, whether he’s playing the piano, whether he’s acting in our show Top Boy, I promise you, this guy right here is a one of one.”

Drake’s blessing is no small one; his pop-outs for collaborators and friends have helped increase their popularity by several orders of magnitude. In recent years, he’s done so for artists like Giveon and Jack Harlow, and if past trends are anything to judge by, it probably won’t be long until Dave’s own profile similarly skyrockets. Check out video of Drake onstage with the breakthrough UK artist above.