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The world has changed a lot since 1987, when President Ronald Reagan famously told Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev to “tear down” the Berlin Wall and The Cosby Show ruled the airwaves (eek!). But Donald Trump was as much of a nincompoop then as he is now, as Ari Melber thoughtfully reminded us.

On Tuesday night, as Mediaite shared, the MSNBC host shared a clip of the future president appearing on an episode of Crossfire with Pat Buchanan and Tom Braden. Perhaps Trump should have consulted with “John Barron,” his imaginary publicist alter ego, before appearing on the show, because he was ill-prepared for even the simplest of questions: Who are your favorite authors?

While Trump was able to spout off Tom Wolfe’s name rather quickly, it soon became clear that he probably had no idea who Wolfe actually was. When Buchanan asked Trump whether he had read The Bonfire of the Vanities yet, which was then brand-new and every New Yorker’s favorite book, Trump lamented that he had not.

When Braden chimed in to ask “What book are you reading now?,” Trump seemed perplexed by the very idea of reading. But claimed that he was reading The Art of the Deal, his own (ghostwritten) book “again, because I think it’s so fantastic.”

Perhaps sensing there was a bullshitter in their midst, Buchanan decided to press the matter:

Buchanan: What’s the best book you’ve read besides Art of the Deal?

Trump: Ummm… I really liked Tom Wolfe’s last book.

Buchanan: Which book?

Trump: He’s, uh, his current book. His, his, just his current book; it’s just out.

Buchanan: Bonfire of the Vanities.

Trump: Yes.

“That was the book he just said he hadn’t read,” Melber summarized for those who got lost in the stupidity of the whole back and forth.

You can watch the full clip at Mediaite.

(Via Mediaite)

Bushmills is an icon of the whiskey world. The tipple from Northern Ireland has been around for hundreds of years and has a devoted fan base. But as with all whiskey brands, there’s more than just one bottle of Bushmills out there. The line has a pretty deep bench of core expressions, eight to be exact, that each offers a little something different.

When it comes to what Bushmills is, it’s Irish to its core. That means we’re looking at triple distilled whiskey. Generally, Bushmills (like most Irish whiskey) is a blend of malted barley and grain (a mix of corn, wheat, and barley) whiskeys. Those whiskeys are generally aged in both ex-bourbon and ex-sherry casks before blending or final maturation processes. Bushmills also has a core line of single malt whiskeys that go through the same process as the blends but with very different results, which I’ll get into.

Below, I’m going to break down each of the core Bushmills bottles by taste and then rank them. But a word of warning first: Ranking a whole line like this isn’t about saying “don’t buy this, buy that.” This is more about ranking these whiskeys by how to use them. The bottom rung bottles are simple whiskeys that are made to be mixed in highballs with fizzy mineral water, Coke, or ginger ale. That doesn’t mean they’re bad, it just means they’re not going to blow any minds. That said, the top three or so whiskeys on this list are pretty damn fine sippers. In between, you’ll find whiskeys that industry folks call “workhorse” whiskeys. Those are the ones that work in a highball, can stand out in a cocktail, and also manage as a sipper if need be.

Savvy? Cool. Let’s dive in!

8. Bushmills Red Bush

ABV: 40%

Average Price: $22

The Whiskey:

This whiskey is primarily made for the U.S. market. The juice is a classic triple-distilled malt and grain whiskey blend that’s aged in first-fill bourbon casks (that means this whiskey was the first thing to go in the barrel after bourbon).

Tasting Notes:

That bourbon vanilla really shines through on the nose with a touch of wood and a slight nuttiness. The taste holds onto the vanilla as it gets slightly creamy, with thin hints of honey, caramel, and a touch of dark spice mingling with warm malts. The end is short and sweet and leaves you with a twinge of malty alcohol burn.

Bottom Line:

Mix this with Coke and ginger ale. You can maybe take it as a shot with a beer back, but it’s a bit harsh for that.

7. Bushmills The Original

ABV: 40%

Average Price: $24

The Whiskey:

This is Bushmill’s classic and “original” recipe. The triple-distilled grain and malt juices are rested in ex-bourbon and ex-sherry casks before they’re married, proofed, and bottled.

Tasting Notes:

There’s a balance of honey and nuts on the nose with a hint of dark berries. The palate delivers on that — in true Irish whiskey fashion — and adds in a slight caramel and vanilla vibe in the background. The malts and grains carry the taste to a short end, with a slight oatiness next to the honey, fruit, and nuts.

Bottom Line:

Okay, this is the Bushmills I’d order if I was ordering a shot and a beer. It’s also pretty damn good with some ginger ale and a twist of lime.

6. Bushmills Single Malt Aged 10 Years

ABV: 40%

Average Price: $49

The Whiskey:

The first expression in Bushmill’s single malt range is a winner. The juice is made from Irish barley and matured in a combination of ex-bourbon and ex-sherry casks. The best barrels are married, proofed with soft Northern Irish spring water, and bottled.

Tasting Notes:

There’s a very clear sense of apples (a lot of them), vanilla, pie crust, and chocolate malts on the nose. The palate really delivers on those flavors with spicy stewed apple pie with a buttery yet almost savory crust, plenty of fresh honey, and an underbelly of those almost creamy choco-malts. The finish is medium length, full of apples, dry wicker, and plenty of spicy malts.

Bottom Line:

I’d like to say this is a sipper, but that’d be a tad too generous. This really shines best as a highball base with some nice fizzy water and a lime or lemon wedge or in a simple cocktail. Beyond that, it’s a bit of an apple bomb on the nose and palate and not a whole lot else to grab your attention.

5. Bushmills Black Bush

ABV: 40%

Average Price: $33

The Whiskey:

This whiskey is a more refined version of the white label. The juice is a blend of grain and malt whiskeys aged in ex-bourbon and ex-sherry casks. The final blend, however, leans more into the single malt juice than the grain whiskey with a balance set towards the sherry profile rather than the bourbon.

Tasting Notes:

A sherry jamminess and plumminess come through with a hint of vanilla, apricot, winter spices, and nuts on the nose. The palate carries on along that path and adds in a serious Christmas spice matrix with amped-up nuttiness, sultanas, and a touch more vanilla. The end is fairly quick and sherry-fueled with spice and dried fruits leading the way to a slightly malty finish.

Bottom Line:

This feels like it could either be a simple shooter or a decent on the rocks sipper depending on your mood. It’s not reinventing anything or life-changing whiskey but it isn’t meant to be either. This is just good, simple, and tasty whiskey.

4. Bushmills Single Malt Aged 12 Years

ABV: 40%

Average Price: $73

The Whiskey:

This whiskey is the first step up in the single malt line from the 10. The juice is triple-distilled malt whisky that spends nine years resting in ex-bourbon and ex-sherry casks before it’s transferred into Marsala wine casks for final maturation. That whiskey is then batched, proofed, and bottled as-is.

Tasting Notes:

There’s a sense of apple blossoms on the nose that’s supported by walnut and almond shells with a hint of spicy malts by way of an apple fritter. The palate leans dry as the apple turns into apple chips with a dry cider vibe next to dark chocolate malts, more of those nutshells, and a hint of leathery apple tobacco leaf. The finish is slightly muted by the proofing water but still shines with applewood, dark chocolate powder, and a mild nuttiness.

Bottom Line:

This is a good bridge between mixing and sipping Bushmills bottles. I tend to use this for mixing cocktails. It makes a hell of an old fashioned. That said, this works as an end-of-the-day on the rocks sipper too.

3. Bushmills Single Malt Aged 21 Years

ABV: 40%

Average Price: $230

The Whiskey:

The juice on this one is made with Irish malts and then aged for 19 long years in ex-bourbon and ex-sherry casks. Those barrels are batched and that whiskey then spends an additional two years maturing in a Portuguese Madeira cask.

Tasting Notes:

There’s a deep, dark chocolate malt vibe on the nose with flourishes of marzipan, prunes, mulled wine spices, old saddle leather, and a hint of shortbread. The taste kicks in with a rich and buttery dark toffee covered in roasted almonds with a hint of dried fruit and dried choco-malts with a light twinge of dried tobacco leaf. The end is fairly long and holds onto those dried fruits and bitter chocolate malts while leaving you with flavors of sweet and silky toffee and a very distant echo of applewood tobacco.

Bottom Line:

This is very clearly a stellar sipper. Still, it’s not quite the sweet spot of the single malt lineup. It’s nuanced but could use a little more oomph.

2. Bushmills Single Malt Aged 16 Years

ABV: 40%

Average Price: $125

The Whiskey:

This single malt whiskey starts off by getting triple distilled. It’s then aged for 15 years in ex-bourbon and ex-sherry casks. The batched juice is then transferred to port pipes for a final nine-month rest before proofing and bottling.

Tasting Notes:

This starts out with a spicy red berry jam next to a whiff of marzipan laced with bourbon vanilla, a hint of old leather, apple cores, and a light Christmas cake spice on the nose. That almond creates a smooth foundation with more of that spicy red jam alongside an apple/honeyed sweetness and velvet mouthfeel while those wintry spices meld with the malts to create a berry-cinnamon tobacco profile. The end of this one is long-ish as the spice, jammy fruit, and almond paste slowly fade out, leaving you warmed with a sense of malts and dark fruit.

Bottom Line:

This really is the sweet spot of the whole lineup. It’s accessible and deeply hewn. Add a single rock to this and you’ll be set. That said, we haven’t quite reached the mountaintop yet.

1. Bushmills Single Malt Aged 28 Years Cognac Cask

ABV: 46.7%

Average Price: $490

The Whiskey:

This whiskey — created by Master Blender Helen Mulholland — was the first release in Bushmills’ new “Rare Cask” limited edition line. The whiskey is classic Bushmills single malt, which is triple distilled, that’s aged for eleven years in ex-bourbon and ex-sherry. Then the whiskey is transferred into Cognac casks for a final maturation of 17 more years. That whiskey is lightly proofed down and bottled as-is.

Tasting Notes:

You’re greeted with a nose full of apple tobacco with plenty of woody cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, and allspice next to a hint of marzipan laced with orange oils and covered in dark chocolate next to a big minced meat pie. The sip takes you home for the holidays with a silky mouthfeel next to more marzipan, more spicy minced meat, a hint of sticky toffee pudding with black-tea-soaked dates, salted toffee syrup, and rich vanilla ice cream on top. The sweetness of that fruity mid-palate leads towards a woody end that mingles woody dark spices with old cedar cigar humidors and a porch full of damp wicker with a hint of black mold in between the reeds.

Bottom Line:

This is a “holy shit, that’s good” pour of whiskey. I’d recommend adding a single rock or a few drops of water to let it open up, but it’s very fine neat as well. Either way, this is a superior whiskey that’s worth the money and time to track down.

Playboy Carti revealed a lot during his interview in XXL. Ahead of his upcoming album Music, the “Magnolia” rapper touched on his friendships with other rappers like Lil Uzi Vert, his elusive nature, and being a father.

“I’m a father,” he said.”You know what I’m saying? You know how it is having kids. I just got responsibilities. I pay a lot of bills. I take care of a lot of people. I take care of my mom. I take care of my family. I take care of my baby mom [and] I take care of my son. There’s a lot of people I take care of. So, it’s like, I gotta keep doing it.”

Since the interview’s publication, the aforementioned baby mom, rapper Iggy Azalea has taken to Twitter, seemingly dismissing his claims that he takes care of her.

“Take care of me? Lmaooooo let’s not get carried away now,” said the “Fancy” rapper in a now-deleted tweet.

This isn’t the first time Azalea has called Carti’s presence as a father into question. In 2020, she took to social media to say Carti had missed the birth of their son, Onyx, to play video games.

“I had onyx alone completely cause he was my only visitor approved with Covid,” she said in a now-deleted tweet. “We lived together at that time.”

In case we haven’t mentioned this before, Abbott Elementary is a very good show, and it now has the numbers to prove it. The hit ABC sitcom from creator Quinta Brunson officially wrapped its first season this week, and in the process, landed itself on Rotten Tomatoes‘ list of The Best TV Series by pulling in an impressive 100 percent rating. That’s a full-on A+ thanks to the show bowling over critics who have fallen in love with the inner-city school sitcom.

“Certified Fresh at 100%, #AbbottElementary’s first season is among the best TV seasons of all time,” the review aggregating site tweeted the morning after the season finale.

Abbott Elementary‘s first season now joins an elite group of television seasons including the third and fourth seasons of Breaking Bad as well as strong showings from Mad Men, Sons of Anarchy, and other heavy-hitters. Via Rotten Tomatoes:

Some shows appear multiple times on the list: two Big Mouth and Counterpart seasons are on the list; Amazon Prime Video’s Catastrophe and FX’s Justified scored three spots each; and Broad City has the most with four of its five seasons on our shortlist. Other recent series with multiple seasons in the 100% club: The Good Place, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, One Day at a Time, Veep, Fleabag, Jane the Virgin, and Feel Good.

On top of earning rave reviews, Abbott Elementary has also been giving back to inner-city schools like the one Brunson attended in Philadelphia that inspired the show. The series teamed up with Scholastic to provide free books to students, and this week, it’s currently helping Feeding America raise awareness for food insecurity.

We keep saying it because it’s true. Abbott Elementary is just a darn good show that’s out here out doing darn good things.

(Via Rotten Tomatoes)

Many words, sensical or otherwise, have been spilled over the 2021-22 MVP race. Three candidates are under the spotlight: Nikola Jokic, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and Joel Embiid. Nobody else approximates their performances. They’ve all ridden delightful campaigns to further stamp themselves into the league’s superstar pantheon and embolden their legacies.

Whoever your preference is among the three is entirely valid. None of them is a runaway favorite. I am not here to convince you of one over the other. I find such an endeavor frivolous and unnecessary. What I am here to do is celebrate these dudes. Each of them has ascended to MVP status in distinct signatures, which should reorient the conception of winning formulas.

Whenever a certain approach shepherds a prosperous run, whether it be individually or collectively, talking points about a dominant play-style best conducive to winning emerge. But the best play-style is always the one that tailors to your personnel and optimizes them; aiming to copy the blueprint of a different team with different circumstances often ends in disappointment.

As it pertains to these superstars, they’re all stressing the notion that one style is not preferable to another for winning. Playing your game sits chiefly among the recipe of success. They’re stalwarts in the MVP conversation, both this season and in the past, for wide-ranging reasons. Above all, you just need great players. Putting all your eggs into the basket of a specific archetype is a dangerous and generally fruitless endeavor.

Although an MVP is not a championship, I feel quite confident Jokic, Antetokounmpo, and Embiid could all be the best players on a title team. Antetokounmpo, of course, has already accomplished that feat and owns a Finals MVP trophy to confirm it. In the event the other two joined him on that mantle, they’d achieve it by carving their own lane to the honor.

This season’s MVP crop illuminates the versatility of the league’s contemporary superstars and makes clear the multifaceted paths to greatness. Extend the parameters to other superstars like Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, and LeBron James, and the theme of uniqueness persists. Perhaps, there are similar plans to build around them, but the foundation of a championship begins with these dudes and that foundation is discernibly varied for each.

Consider Jokic, the reigning MVP and the betting favorite to repeat. He’s arguably the league’s foremost playmaker, a wizard of a passer who anticipates openings before they exist or whirls dimes without even checking to see if the angle is available. As easily as he breathes, he darts no-look skip passes from the high post, tosses over-the-head feeds to cutters, and sails sky-high outlets to streaking teammates. He’s conditioned us to shrug at some of his awe-inspiring passes because another is imminent anyway.

He also wields the most dexterous hands in the Association, stripping ball-handlers in pick-and-rolls, deflecting aimless passes, and pinballing rebounds into his orbit. His rim protection and mobility may be limited, but those paws of his render him quite the defender and he’d look even better defensively if Denver’s point-of-attack options weren’t so unreliable.

None of this even mentions his scoring. A season after the dude averaged 26.4 points on 64.7 percent true shooting, he topped that by virtue of 27.1 points on 66.1 percent true shooting. He finished sixth in scoring and fourth in true shooting. There are exceptions, but the players directly above and below him in the latter category are primarily lob threats. All of this happened while Jokic spent the majority of the year without his co-stars, Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr., available to lighten his workload and had to commandeer most of the Nuggets’ efforts.

Every night, his unorthodox shot-making resume mystified opponents. Whether it was one-legged faders at a mile-high release point, swirling finishes through a sea of limbs, or buckets through from wonky, bewildering angles, Jokic continually cemented himself as a premier scorer. His scoring season is truly magnificent and its brilliance cannot be understated.

The topic of magnificent scoring seasons brings us to Embiid, who became the first center since Shaquille O’Neal to earn the scoring title as he averaged 30.6 points on 61.6 percent true shooting. Much like Jokic, Embiid waded through compromised personnel for a sizable segment of the year to anchor his team to playoff relevancy.

In 2020-21, he diversified his scoring juices and dove into pull-up shooting en route to a runner-up MVP finish. This season, he expanded upon that and took 311 off-the-dribble jumpers, ranking in the 72nd percentile at 0.949 points per possession, according to Synergy. Only 31 players attempted more. None of them were the obvious backbone of a top-10 defense like him.

He’s a 7-footer who pilots fast breaks, splashes off the bounce like a star guard and can radicalize games defensively, both as a rim protector and malleable ball-screen disruptor. Embiid is no Jokic as a playmaker, but he absolutely grew in that department this year. From shoveling passes on the move in pick-and-rolls, pinging dishes to dudes in the dunker spot, or lasering skips to shooters, Embiid has become one of the NBA’s top facilitating bigs.

As the domain of his scoring gravity has broadened, his court vision has followed. He’s cognizant of the stress he inflicts on defenses and parlays that into comfortable looks for others. Sometimes, it’s a simple kickout sparking a swing-swing-swing sequence into an open triple. Maybe, he’ll load up into a jumper, see a defender shade help and fling a quick no-look read.

His development as a transition scorer typically manifests in breathtaking coast-to-coast buckets. Yet he’s also learned to generate cross-matches by pushing the pace, quickly gathering into his shot, only to audible and set up someone else for success.

Some of Embiid’s transition prowess is reminiscent of Antetokounmpo, albeit to lesser magnitudes. Antetokounmpo has seemingly reached a point where some of his regular-season greatness is now implied rather than audibly praised. That is not a criticism. It speaks to his caliber of superstardom that analysis drifts toward the playoffs with him now because the expectation is he’ll level up as the title hunt kicks off.

But to discount his incredible regular season would be to miss the previews of what may unfold in greater depth over the ensuing weeks and months. After a playoff run that bore witness to him extinguishing some half-court scoring foibles, Antetokounmpo looks even further removed from his early struggles against the Brooklyn Nets in last year’s second round. Although Jokic was the lone player to finish top 10 in scoring and true shooting percentage, Antetokounmpo was third and 12th, averaging a career-high 29.9 points on 63.3 percent true shooting.

Milwaukee deployed him in a number of facets, ranging from the mid-post to ball-screens to cutting and the traditional top-of-the-key face-ups. He’s prepared better than ever to flourish in half-court contexts. His footwork, craft, and patience as a driver are refined. If one angle is stonewalled, he’ll burrow his head, veer elsewhere, pivot into an opening and convert.

His intermediate game is notably more functional, thanks to a midrange pull-up and turnaround hook shot. By and large, he’s a much more diverse scorer. Plan A of a steamroll to the rim remains, but the backup options are much more trustworthy and tangible than prior years. He’s an exceptional scorer who sprays tantalizing passes to teammates and holds the title of league’s best weak-side rim protector.

In one form or another, these superstars sharpened components of their game from a season ago. Jokic better weaponized his hands defensively, both on the glass and in pick-and-rolls, and reached novel heights as a scorer. Embiid grew as a transition creator, pick-and-roll scorer and interior passer. Antetokounmpo evolved as a half-court hooper, torching opponents in newfound areas.

They’re all dominant in starkly multifaceted manners. For each, another step forward necessitated addressing different areas. Only one of them will win MVP, but their eclectic prestige should be applauded, not scrutinized in the hopes of uplifting someone else.

That eclectic prestige is a reminder of the versatility of superstardom and the importance of winning on your terms. A one-size-fits-all style for this league does not exist. The seasons of Nikola Jokic, Joel Embiid, and Giannis Antetokounmpo embody that.

Kendrick Lamar has long been in contention for the GOAT label. He’s the first rapper to win a Pulitzer Prize (for his 2017 album DAMN.) and his last three albums (Good Kid, MAAD City, To Pimp A Butterfly, and DAMN.) have all been critically praised. However, even after all those heaps of achievement have been lavished onto him, it turns out Kung-Fu Kenny is still capable of blowing fans’ minds — even with his older work.

A new video from Dissect podcast breaking down one of Kendrick’s old verses is making its way around Twitter, and fans are expressing their awe at the complexity in Kendrick’s writing that it reveals. The verse is from Pusha T’s 2013 single, “Nosestalgia,” which appeared on the Virginia rapper’s album My Name Is My Name. Released in the wake of Kendrick’s incendiary “Control” verse, which dropped just a few months before, it’s easy to see how some rap fans might have overlooked its quieter impact.

Rather than naming names, Kendrick employs a mind-bending numerological approach to the wordplay in the verse, which sees him comparing himself to a brick of cocaine and reminiscing on his loose connections to the drug game through his father. As Dissect points out, Kendrick cleverly uses the numbers nine and ten to accomplish this, with Dissect carefully explaining the underlying genius behind the technique.

The tweet, which reposts a video from TikTok, has accumulated thousands of interactions (over 16,000 retweets and 68,000 likes as of this writing), with fans gushing about the Compton rapper’s prowess. In addition, more accounts have reposted the original TikTok uncredited, meaning those numbers are just a fraction of the attention the video has received. Fans are calling Kendrick a national treasure, suggesting his lyrics should be studied in school, and generally expressing amazement over the nearly decade-old verse.

If nothing else, the video has certainly increased anticipation for his comeback album, which will be his last under Top Dawg Entertainment.

On paper, there’s nothing inherently strange about Robert Eggers making a Viking movie. He’s a popular filmmaker who has made two movies – The Witch and The Lighthouse – that critics absolutely adore. (Not to mention, The Witch, on a $4 million budget, made $40 million.) Eggers’s movies have a surreal tone, mixed in with some dread, and a healthy dose of the supernatural. And The Northman has all that – but it also has staggering choreographed (and very gory) battle scenes that is not at all a hallmark of prior Eggers films. It’s got a hefty budget around $70 million and it’s very much all on the screen. There’s no point while watching The Northman where you’re thinking, where did the money go? You know, it’s one of those kind of movies they don’t make anymore. Except they did. And for Eggers, it was a new experience. And, as he openly admits, not always a happy one. (At one point he refers to post-production on The Northman as, “the most painful experience of my life.”)

Alexander Skarsgård stars as Amleth, a Viking prince who vows to avenge the killing of his father, who was murdered by his uncle (played by Claes Bang), who then marries his mother, (Nicole Kidman). It’s not so much based on Hamlet as it is the story that Hamlet was based on. In other words, in Hamlet there isn’t a naked sword fight on top of a volcano.

Despite Eggers’s fraught experience, the end result is remarkable. It’s true he didn’t have as much control over the final product as he’s used to, but, for his part, he admits he thinks it made the movie more entertaining. But would he go through this process again? Eggers admits, as we get further and further away from the production, his hesitancy is waning. A feeling he compares to the birth of a child, how many parents swear they won’t go through that again, then decide later, yeah okay let’s do it again.

From some prior interviews you’ve done, I can’t figure out if you enjoyed making this movie.

I love what I do. I am so incredibly grateful and fortunate to be doing what I want to be doing, but it isn’t easy. But that doesn’t mean I don’t love it, but it is hard. I think coming from theater, production is probably my favorite part of the filming. I honestly love all aspects. Writing is great because you haven’t made it yet. So it’s always a masterpiece in that case. It’s always great. But I think because of theater, I really, really love production. But this was the hardest time I’ve ever had in post-production.

So, in production, there was a different kind of weight and pressure because of the scale and the budget. That was something that I almost had to just ignore, because it would’ve been so completely crushing if I ever had to really understand what all that pressure was about…

Well, that’s what I’m getting at. Knowing what you know now, would you do it again? Because, as you said, it doesn’t seem you enjoyed post-production very much.

But it doesn’t matter. Post was awful! But it made for a better film. But, like I said, I knew I wasn’t going to have final cut going into this thing. As Michael Schaffer, one of the studio executives said after a really tough meeting in post, “Welcome to making big movies.”

Wow.

I think I’ve said it was the most painful experience of my life and it totally was. But, also, I don’t think if I had had the studio pressure to make something the most entertaining version, I don’t think I could have done it. I don’t think I could have done it.

But I feel you won, even though you said you had a bad experience. I feel like you’ve made a great, very unique movie.

But like I said, it doesn’t matter. I still loved it. You can still enjoy something that’s painful. After I had a kid, I don’t have time to fucking grind my coffee beans by hand and do a pour-over. By the way, I enjoyed it. But, also, that was a pain in the ass. You know what I’m saying? Now I just put the espresso pod in the machine and it’s easy. But, in a weird way, I enjoyed the pain in the ass of making the coffee the stupid long-ass hipster way more. It’s more gratifying because it’s harder.

Well, what I’m getting at, do you want to do this type of movie again? I know you don’t like talking about what you’re upcoming projects, but a movie of this scale again, is that at all appealing?

When I did the New Yorker piece, I was very much like, I don’t think I’m going to do this again. I think that maybe it’s like childbirth?

Oh, I see.

You forget the labor pains. But I would say that it was so hard on me. I have a lot more gray hair, and I think it was from post-production. I’m looking forward to doing something a little smaller where I can have final cut again. The Witch, The Lighthouse, I had studio notes. I had people telling me, “No, you need that.” But not to this extent next time. I just would like a little bit more space next time.

I’m curious if next time you go into a movie of this size, will you want a little more say in final cut?

I would always want a final cut.

On the outside looking in, your movies are revered so much at this point, it surprises me you didn’t have more say at this point.

But dude, I made a three-and-a-half-million-dollar movie about fucking pilgrims that’s boring as hell.

It is not boring as hell. People love that movie and you know it.

Yeah. But it made $40 million. If this movie makes $40 million, we’re screwed. The Lighthouse doesn’t really have a plot. I’m proud of The Lighthouse. I love The Lighthouse. But doesn’t really have a plot. It barely made a profit, which was fine. Everyone knew that was going to be what that movie was about. So now people are giving me $70 million net, whatever that means, a lot of money to make this thing. These people’s jobs are on the line, brother. You know what I’m saying?

I know. That’s true.

Think about the marketplace with COVID and everything. So, obviously, they’re not going to give me final cut. It’s just not wise. It’s not a wise business decision, even if – I’m grateful to – people in the film, fan world who think that I deserve that.

Well, a lot of people do think that, yes.

But it doesn’t make financial sense.

You’ve talked about your experience with test audiences. I did a piece recently on how movies feel longer now because they keep going after the plot ends. Every filmmaker I talked to said it’s because of test audiences. Getting every little thing wrapped up, not being ambiguous, and setting up sequels. I think that’s bad.

Yeah, no, it’s annoying for sure. And certainly there were plenty of feedback forms that wanted more clarity on the maiden king or more clarity on what happens to certain characters.

See, I’ll figure it out on my own. I don’t want to be explained everything. I like trying to figure that out on my own.

Me, too.

See, I trust a movie more in your hands than I would just some random guy off the street going, “Here’s what I think.”

One hundred percent. I think you’re going into a movie and you’re being told, ”this isn’t done and your opinion matters.” So you’re going to have an opinion. Which is fine. Look, I learned something from the process and are definitely like, “Oh, a lot of people really aren’t getting X.” Or, “Wow. A whole lot of people really aren’t getting Y. I guess I do need to think about that.” So there are things to be gleaned from these test screenings.

By the way, on The Witch, I made my own test screenings with New York, Brooklyn, intelligence, filmmakers and psychologists and stuff. But I wanted feedback. But the real problem, the biggest problem with test screenings is that the studios act like there’s enough data that actually means something empirically. Any statistician will tell you there is not enough data to actually fucking mean anything. So they’re still a useful tool, but they can’t be held to such a high, importance level by the studio because it’s just not scientifically provable.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but usually these things require almost immediate reactions. People need a few days sometimes with movies and you’re not getting that with test audiences.

So I guess my thing is I would actually want to continue to do this…

Well, I hope you do, because I enjoyed this movie very much.

But you can’t have somebody saying, “Look at this. This is the reason why everything isn’t working.” Sometimes I would use it to my advantage and would say, “Well, actually, I tallied all this stuff up together and only 12 percent of people said they didn’t like that. But then of course I’m lying, because again, the stats don’t really matter.

The fight scene at the volcano to end the film is stunning.

Thank you. Thank you. It was really hard on Alex and Claes Bang.

You’ve kind of said you don’t really know how to shoot action. Well, I think you do, because that was a tremendous scene.

Well, thanks. CC Smiff, the stunt coordinator, is immensely talented and we got along really easily. Particularly with that fight, we were able to show off some hypothetical Viking fighting techniques, based on the way the weapons were designed, in what some historians think that Vikings may have fought. There was this quarry outside of Belfast with Mark Huffam, one of the producers, kept trying to get us to use for something. Craig Lathrop, the production designer, brought in all this black earth to make it more Hekla-like. Then the special effects department, Sam Conway and his team, brought in all these gigantic flames and cinders and smoke and all this. Then they dug out these big troughs and put LED lights in them that were moving. So all the lava streams were moving. And then Angela Barson, our VFX supervisor, went to the eruption that was going on in Iceland and took copious amounts of documentary footage of the lava and used that as reference to then put CG lava over the LEDs. But that’s why all the lighting is so well integrated, because of the LEDs.

See, I don’t want you to be miserable, but I also want you to keep making movies like this, just selfishly. I’m being selfish, but I enjoyed it so much.

I’m not saying this is this good, but did you want Werner Herzog having a good time making Fitzcarraldo? No.

Yeah … I bet they were having a laugh a minute. Anyway, you seem happy now, so that’s good.

Yeah.

‘The Northman’ will open in theaters on April 22nd. You can contact Mike Ryan directly on Twitter.

The RX is Uproxx Music’s stamp of approval for the best albums, songs, and music stories throughout the year. Inclusion in this category is the highest distinction we can bestow and signals the most important music being released throughout the year. The RX is the music you need, right now.

For the past year and a half, New Jersey rapper Coi Leray has faced scrutiny. After her 2020 song “No More Parties” became a staple of both playlists and radio, rap fans wondered where she came from. That scrutiny intensified when she was selected as one of XXL’s 11 Freshmen for 2021. Some of the skepticism was warranted; some wasn’t. While fans’ attention focused on Coi’s physique and colorful, unique bearing, her performances on both the moody, melodic “No More Parties” and her unusual XXL Freshman freestyle left many fans questioning what was once the only thing that mattered in hip-hop: “Can she really even rap?”

On her debut album, Trendsetter, she doesn’t exactly look to put that speculation to rest. Instead of proving that she can rap, she focuses on proving that she can do nearly everything else. Across the album’s 20 tracks, which include the “No More Parties” remix featuring Lil Durk as well as follow-up hits like “Twinnem” and “Blick Blick” with Nicki Minaj, she admirably accomplishes this mission. An expression of her exuberant personality and her eclecticism, Trendsetter should show that Coi Leray isn’t just a fly-by-night one-hit-wonder.

It’s hard to blame rap fans for their skepticism — and their ignorance. After all, Coi, who’d been releasing mixtapes since 2018, seemingly popped up out of nowhere with the success of “No More Parties.” Rap fans are often skeptical of overnight success stories, especially when they seem to be beneficiaries of industry nepotism. You see, Coi’s father is Boston impresario Benzino, former co-owner of The Source magazine, who used to rap in groups like the Almighty RSO and Made Men before joining the cast of Love & Hip-Hop: Atlanta. While Coi’s had viral hits like “Huddy” in 2018, the first time many folks ever heard of her was on “No More Parties.”

Coi already demonstrated a solid grasp of different deliveries on her mixtapes Everythingcoz and EC2. Still, Trendsetter in many ways represents her first opportunity to prove naysayers wrong. To that end, she shows her bite on tricks like “Thief In The Night” with G Herbo and “Box & Papers,” on which she directly addresses the attention she’s received lately. “They be like / How you do that there?’ / They ask me, ‘Baby, how you so viral? I see you everywhere,’” she snaps with the pointed delivery of someone fed up with the ongoing inquisition.

She also displays surprising vulnerability on songs like “Anxiety,” “Clingy,” and “Paranoid.” Diagnosed with ADHD, she’s open about her struggles with mental health. These more introspective songs are marked shifts in tone away from the seemingly upbeat singles she’s released so far, but scratch the surface, and it’s clear that she’s been speaking these truths all along. “Anxiety” is a microcosm; couching serious subject matter in bubbly production can sometimes obscure the content. But with Trendsetter‘s more therapeutic tracks, Coi makes the subjects plain — which, in turn, makes it harder to criticize her for being a surface-level mumble rapper, as she has been.

She even dabbles in Afrobeats on “Aye Yai Yai,” an endeavor that comes early enough on the project to throw listeners who only know her from her more effervescent songs. Whether this is a good thing or not depends on your point of view. However, I think I agree with Nicki Minaj, who both praised and critiqued her host’s album. The sequencing is the album’s weak point, as is its length and sometimes scattershot approach. But that’s a minor quibble and when Coi inevitably figures out how to present her ideas more cohesively, whether that means sharper edits or more focused storytelling, she’s shown she has the versatility to manage it.

Trendsetter is out now on Uptown Records. Get it here.

In a move to bolster its ad-supported streaming service (or AVOD, if you nasty), Amazon has announced that it’s rebranding its IMDb TV service as “Freevee.” The rebrand will officially go down on April 27, and with it, comes a commitment to expanding the original programming on the service by a whopping 70 percent, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

“Over the past two years, we have seen tremendous growth for our AVOD service and are committed to bringing our audiences premium, free-to-consumer content,” Jennifer Salke, head of Amazon Studios, said in a press release. “We’re looking forward to building on this momentum with an increasing slate of inventive and broadly appealing originals, and are excited to establish Freevee as the premier AVOD service with content audiences crave.”

Amazon tipped its hat last year towards a larger commitment to its ad-supported service by announcing a new Bosch spinoff for the platform that’s technically just more episodes of Bosch, which is a big deal. Bosch is a consistent performer for Prime Video, so it only makes sense that Amazon would use the series to lure viewers over to what is now Freevee. Parks and Rec creator Mike Schur is also teaming up with Shea Serrano to bring a new scripted comedy, Primo, to the service.

As for that name, well, the reactions are mixed. Some people are feeling it while others are having a field day with the name that’s rife for the dunking.

You can see reactions to IMDb TV rebranding itself as Freevee below:

(Via The Hollywood Reporter)

Wherever QAnon goes, Batsh*t is right there alongside him. But even by wacky conspiracy theory standards (Trump-JFK Jr. 2024, anyone?), a new documentary called Watch the Water is jaw-droppingly insane. Or, as NBC News senior reporter Ben Collins describes it: “It is even more insane than usual.”

Among the many claims made in the documentary, according to Raw Story, are that the COVID “vaccines contain a mixture of magnets and snake venom with the goal of transferring ‘Satan’s DNA’ into human bodies.”

Satan’s. DNA.

According to Collins, the movie and its inane theories are gaining quite a bit of traction in QAnon-following circles. In it, so-called “experts” claim that getting jabbed means injecting yourself with metal bits which will magnetize you. (What that has to do with Satan, we’re not sure.)

In the trailer, where the sound cuts out several times so as not to reveal the total bullsh*t being spewed, we hear some pretty dire warnings from Dr. Bryan Ardis—a very vocal critic of Remdesivir, the drug that has been used to shorten the lifespan of the COVID-19 virus in many hospitalized patients (including Donald Trump when he was hospitalized with COVID in 2020).

In the trailer for the film, Dr. Ardis claims that while he’s been terrified to speak up, he knows he must. Because when the National Institutes of Health issued a final report confirming the benefits of Remdesivir for COVID patients, Ardis knew it was a lie. More specifically, he knew that Dr. Anthony Fauci “was lying.” And that the drug “was going to be used to mass murder a whole bunch of innocent people in America that did not need to die. Then he was going to sell the world on the idea, in the media.”

Ultimately, Dr. Ardis decided to come forward with his story because God spoke to him through a fortune cookie.

You can watch the trailer—bleeps and all—above.

(Via Raw Story)