Like many a state fair across the country this year, The Minnesota State Fair — one of the country’s biggest, best, and most deep-fried — is canceled due to health concerns over the coronavirus pandemic. We’re not mad at that, the last thing any of us need to do is congregate in a large crowd for the sole purpose of eating something that would otherwise not be deep-fried. But considering that the act of eating is one of the few joys left in this coronavirus ridden country, the idea of a summer without fair food curiosities is probably leaving a corndog-shaped hole in your heart. Luckily, if you’re living in Minnesota or neighboring Wisconsin, you won’t have to miss out on the food completely as many fair food vendors are setting up stands in parking lots for fair food on the go.

According to Food & Wine, there are enough fair food vendors setting up shop around the Minneapolis area that there is now an interactive Google Map that shows each vendor’s current location and a community-run Minnesota State Fair Food Finder page on Facebook. Some popular vendors include The Donut Family, Lou Lou Sweet and Savory, Cheese Curd Tacos (because it’s a state fair, after all), Sara’s Tipsy Pies, Ninja Sushi, Fried Ice Cream!, and Cheese on a Stick & Fresh Lemonade, just to name a very very small few.

Now all you have to do is hope that the vendors at your local fair set up something similar, or else you’ll just have to start deep frying stuff yourself. Take a look at some of the food you’re missing out on below.

One of the better 30 Rock sight gags is Alec Baldwin’s Jack Donaghy holding a pie chart with NBC’s “programming priorities breakdown,” about 70 percent of which is The Biggest Loser. The much smaller slices: “Everything Else” and “Make It 1997 Again Through Science or Magic.” Would you settle for 2009?

The casts of NBC standouts Community and Parks and Recreation virtually reunited to benefit COVID-19 relief efforts, while you can’t go with two days without someone from The Office doing something with someone else from The Office. Now it’s 30 Rock‘s turn.

On Tuesday, NBC announced that the 30 Rock cast, including Tina Fey, Alec Baldwin, Tracy Morgan, Jane Krakowski, and Jack McBrayer, among others, will reprise their characters from the Emmy-winning comedy for an upfront special. “The hourlong special will air at 8 p.m. July 16 and be ad-free and focus on stories and talent featured in NBCUniversal’s 2020-21 season,” according to the Hollywood Reporter. “The pre-recorded scripted special will be rebroadcast across USA, Bravo, E!, Oxygen, Syfy, and CNBC, as well as available to stream on Peacock on July 17 at 9 p.m.” If “Tracy Morgan on Peacock” sounds like a 30 Rock joke come to life, that’s because it kinda is.

Looking at NBC’s 2020-2021 schedule, you could replace “The Biggest Loser” with “shows beginning with Chicago,” and otherwise keep the pie chart as is. It’ll be nice to see my friend Liz Lemon again, but I’m mostly looking forward the oral history of the special, where Tina Fey reveals all the Law & Order jokes she wasn’t able to tell.

(Via the Hollywood Reporter)

Tekashi 69 was pretty upset when his comeback single, “Gooba,” didn’t manage to debut at the top of the charts. He even went as far as to accuse Billboard of manipulating their charts to prevent him from reaching No. 1, claims the publication denied. That’s all in the past now, so Tekashi is looking towards the future. He’s currently promoting his new Nicki Minaj collaboration “Trollz,” and he has done so today by dropping a new alternate version of the song.

Minaj shared the track and wrote, “The official #Trollz verse was version 11. This was version 1. Verse changes and beat changes… but now u guys get a glimpse of where my verse begins vs. how it ends up once my creative process is complete.”

The most obvious alterations to the song come in the second verse, which now starts with a couple lines from Tekashi before transitioning to Minaj. In the new (or rather, old) lyrics, Minaj addresses the coronavirus pandemic, saying, “Still the baddest b*tch, quarantine en mi casa / Talking all that sh*t, but you bitches ain’t saying caca.” This version of the song also features a lot of sexual lyrics not included in the originally released edition.

Listen to the alternate version of “Trollz” above.

As businesses and destinations try to reopen amidst a continuing pandemic (don’t forget that!), flight schedules for airlines both big and small are being heavily reduced, resulting in a number of canceled flights and putting your future travel plans in jeopardy. Did you optimistically book a non-refundable flight to Hawaii for late summer, only to find out that the state’s 14-day mandatory quarantine policy is still in place? Don’t worry, you can probably get some sort of refund for that.

Whether you’re booking a new flight or getting nervous about a ticket you already have, now is a good time to familiarize yourself with the current state of each major airline’s change and cancellation policies. Keep in mind that if you booked your travel through a third party and not directly from the airline, you’ll most likely have to check with the third party regarding any refunds, but for flights booked directly, this guide will have all the information you need.

Here are all the current major airline flight change and cancellation policies.

Alaska Airlines

Currently, if you’ve booked anytime between February 27th, 2020, and June 30th, 2020 with plans to travel by May 31st, 2021, you may cancel or change your flight with absolutely no fee, so long as you plan on traveling within a year of the original ticket date. Any flights canceled by Alaska — and there are bound to be many with various airlines cutting down their schedules — will entitle you to a full refund.

If you booked your flight as a “Saver” fare between February 27th and June 30th of this year, you, unfortunately, don’t qualify for any itinerary changes, but you may cancel your flight and receive equal credit in return. In the event your trip was booked prior to February 26th of this year, you may change or cancel your trip without a fee for any ticket for travel through December 31st, 2020. Saver fares purchased in that range are eligible for a refund via credit into your Alaska account.

Find the full policy here.

American Airlines

American Airlines will continue to waive change fees on tickets purchased before June 30th, 2020 for travel through September 30th, 2020. The airline will allow you to rebook travel for any destination and from any origin, so long as the travel will occur by December 31st, 2021, which is a pretty sweet deal. Unfortunately, they won’t cover the difference in the ticket price of your rebooking.

This offer also applies to new travel booked by June 30th, 2020. Keep in mind, you’re only allowed to change your trip once, so choose wisely.

Read the full policy here.

British Airways

Passengers flying on British Airways may change or cancel their flights without a fee if they have travel booked anytime before August 31st, 2020. Refunded flights will be reimbursed through travel vouchers that are valid until April 30th, 2022.

For new bookings, passengers may change or cancel their flights fee-free for all travel taking place before April 30, 2021.

To view British Airways’ full policy, click here.

Delta Airlines

People who booked trips on or before April 17th for travel through September 30th will be able to cancel or rebook their flights with no additional fees. Fare differences for changes will be waived if your changed itinerary matches the same destination and takes place before September 30th, 2020. If you’re unsure of where and when to rebook, you may opt to receive a travel voucher for the value of your ticket that will remain valid until September 30th, 2022.

If your flight was canceled, you’re entitled to a full cash refund. Any ticket for travel purchased anytime before June 30th, 2020 can be canceled or changed without fees for up to a year from its original purchase date, though fare differences do apply.

Check out the full policy here.

Frontier Airlines

At Frontier, passengers who booked a flight between March 10th and April 15th are permitted to a one-time change to their itineraries without a fee, though travel will have to be completed by September 12, 2021, and any fare differences will apply. If you’d like to cancel a flight, the value of your ticket will apply to the purchase of a future ticket but it must be booked within 90 days of the cancellation.

For future travel through Frontier, change and cancellations may be made 60 days or more prior to the departure date at no additional price, though changes are subject to the difference in fare and options prices. A $79 change fee will be applied to changes made 59-14 days prior to departure, shooting up to $119 for any changes 13 days before departure. Canceled flights will result in a travel credit that must be used within 90 days.

Read Frontier’s policy here.

Hawaiian Airlines

Flights canceled or suspended by Hawaiian airlines will entitle customers to a full refund. If you purchased a ticket before March 1st, 2020 for travel between then and September 30th, 2020, you may rebook your flight anytime before May 31st, 2022 without change fees. Customers who purchased tickets between March 1st and June 30th, 2020 may rebook their flights with no change fees within two years of their original ticket purchase date. In both cases, fare differences will apply.

Read Hawaiian’s full policy here.

JetBlue

In the event your flight through JetBlue is canceled, you will be eligible to receive a full refund (if canceled by JetBlue), or receive credit for your flight valid for 24 months after its date of issuance (if it’s canceled by you).

Bookings made anytime before June 30th will be able to be changed or canceled without any additional fees.

Read JetBlue’s full policy here.

Southwest

Southwest customers may cancel or change their itinerary for no fee, as per their general change/cancellation policy. As an added protection, customers that booked non-refundable tickets for travel between March 1st and September 7th of this year may receive a credit of equal ticket value valid for travel anytime before September 7th, 2022.

Read Southwest’s full policy here.

Spirit

Flights canceled by Spirit are eligible for a full refund. If you wish to change or cancel your flight, Spirit will waive your fees, though canceled flights will be reimbursed via a flight credit that must be used within six months. Changes to itineraries must be made within 12 months of the original travel date.

Read Spirit’s full policy here.

Qantas

Tickets for travel before October 31, 2020, can be canceled without fees and will be refunded through a travel voucher of equal value that must be spent by December 31, 2021. Passengers who wish to change their flights will be able to do so but must pay change fees and fare differences.

The same rules apply for new bookings made before October 31, 2020, though rebooking must be made within 12 months of the date of issuance of the travel voucher.

Check Qantas’ full policy here.

United

United will continue to waive all change and cancellation fees for trips booked between March 2nd, 2020, and June 30th, 2020 for travel before December 31st, 2020. If your flight was canceled by United and cannot be rebooked with a new itinerary that will get you to your destination within six hours of your original arrival time, you’ll be entitled to a full refund. In the event you cancel your flight, you will receive a travel credit valid for 24 months with no additional cancellation fees.

All flights booked prior to June 30th, 2020 may be changed without any additional fees for a full 12 months from the date of original issuance.

Read United’s full policy here.

Virgin Atlantic

All canceled Virgin Atlantic flights are eligible for a full refund. If you wish to rebook your travel, you won’t be charged any additional change fees so long as you rebook travel before September 30th, 2022. Fare differences will apply.

Read Virgin Atlantic’s full policy here.

WWE is dealing with the fallout from a positive COVID-19 test within its ranks, shutting down TV tapings for the day in order to test all their staff for the coronavirus, something the company wasn’t doing before. WWE has also responded to a report that came from the Wrestling Observer shortly after the news of the test result broke, that non-staff spectators on last night’s episode of Raw were told not to wear masks.

WWE sent a statement denying the report to Jon Alba of Orlando’s Spectrum News 13. It reads:

Fans have not been in attendance at WWE events since March 13. Yesterday, a select number of friends and family were permitted to attend WWE’s TV production. The individuals were required to participate in medical screenings prior to entering the closed set at our training facilities, and were kept apart from the in-ring performers and production personnel. Attendance was below 20% capacity and social distancing guidelines were adhered to with at least six feet between parties, thus face masks were not required.

That last sentence isn’t entirely true; the Street Profits entered the “audience” on last night’s Raw, temporarily removing the social distancing element of how the spectators were organized. WWE’s statement also implies that if people are six feet apart, there’s no need for them to wear masks in order to prevent the spread of COVID-19. This doesn’t line up with recommendations from medical experts, who generally advise a combination of social distancing and mask-wearing rather than choosing one or the other.

In their statement, WWE doesn’t mention the reports that spectators had to sign waivers saying they wouldn’t hold the company liable if they contracted the coronavirus, but Alba reports that audience members he spoke to confirmed that they signed these waivers, and that they had their temperatures checked before the show. Alba also says the spectators “didn’t find out about the positive COVID-19 test by a WWE developmental talent until after the tapings.” They were invited to attend more tapings this week, but were not asked to get tested for the coronavirus beforehand.

These friends and family of WWE staff spoken to by Alba also said that “there were sanitizing stations on-site,” they felt safe at the tapings, and that they “would attend again, even after the news of the positive COVID-19 test.”

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The annual tradition of people eating a grotesque number of hot dogs on July 4 will continue this year despite the global COVID-19 pandemic.

Nathan’s Famous Hot Dogs announced on Tuesday that the hot dog eating competition will take place on July 4, still televised on ESPN, but that it will not happen in front of a packed crowd in Coney Island. Rather, it will occur in a private, closed location with just five participants in the men’s and women’s competitions instead of 15. The 12-time reigning, defending champion Joey Chestnut will once again put his mustard belt on the line for the men, while six-time women’s champ Miki Sudo puts the women’s belt up for grabs in the 10-minute competition.

“We’re ecstatic to make the announcement that the Hot Dog-Eating Contest will take place this year,” said James Walker, Nathan’s Famous Senior Vice President, Restaurants, via ABC7 in New York. “2020 has been a year for the history books, and the realization that this storied July 4 tradition would be able to occur, is a great feeling. With that being said, our country and our world has endured so much in the last couple of months, that we’d be remiss if we didn’t use this moment to honor those that have done so much for each of us during this time.”

Typically, the contest takes place in front of a large crowd cheering and offering some much needed background noise, while the emcee of the proceedings shouts out people’s progress and if anyone is on the trail of the legendary Chestnut. This year, however, the broadcast on ESPN has to figure out how to make a fan-less event not sound completely disgusting, as it could be a true ASMR disaster to just have the “sounds of the game,” if you will, of folks housing hot dogs and chugging water/lemonade/etc. to help down the dogs. It’ll be interesting to watch how they work around that or if they just steer into the skid and mic up Chestnut as he chases his record of 74 dogs in silence.

The good news is that the contest will be benefiting some very good and fitting causes, as Nathan’s will provide their customary 100,000 hot dog donation to the Food Bank for New York City, but also using the broadcast to raise funds and awareness for food banks around the country as food insecurity is a massive problem during the pandemic.

Considering most of Hollywood is shut down to the point where even late-night talk shows are still being shot from the hosts’ houses, nobody would be blown away if awards season took a breather for 2020. But as far as the Emmys are concerned, apparently the show must go on.

ABC revealed today that Jimmy Kimmel will host the 72nd Emmy Awards, which is currently set to air on September 20. Considering California is experiencing an uptick in COVID-19 cases, holding the ceremony in anything resembling its standard fashion seems unlikely, and even Kimmel himself has no idea how any of this is going to work.

“I don’t know where we will do this or how we will do this or even why we are doing this, but we are doing it and I am hosting it,” he said in a statement to CNN.

You can read ABC’s full statement below:

“We know Jimmy Kimmel will deliver a uniquely entertaining, funny and moving Primetime Emmys show,” said Karey Burke, president of ABC Entertainment. “He’s a true master of ceremonies who reveres this industry and its people; and just as Jimmy has done with his own show over the past few months, he will tackle this momentous event with heart and humor, and bring some much-needed joy and optimism to our television colleagues and viewers at home.”

The Emmy announcement arrives just one day after the Oscars were delayed three months and its eligibility window was extended into 2021. To be fair, the Oscars have a much larger issue with movie theaters being shut down for an extensive length of time and release dates continuing to be scuttled as a cloud of uncertainty hangs over reopening cinemas. On the opposite end of that spectrum, audiences have been watching more TV than ever thanks to nationwide lockdowns, but that still doesn’t alleviate the logistical concerns of putting together an Emmys award show for September. Let’s see how this works out!

(Via CNN)

Following 2018’s Joy As An Act Of Resistance, Idles are ready for a quick return: The group has announced that their next album is called Ultra Mono, and it’s coming out on September 25. Along with the announcement, they’ve also shared a video for “Grounds,” a confident and swaggering punk single. Frontperson Joe Talbot says of the song:

“We wanted to write a song that embodied self-belief, and gave us self-belief — a counter-punch to all the doubt we build up from all the noise we so easily let in. We wanted to make the sound of our own hearts’ marching band, armed with a jack hammer and a smile. We wanted to make the sound of our engine starting. So we did. Thank you.”

The band has also laid out a roadmap of their planned activities for the next few months. They’ll be releasing videos for new songs “A Hymn,” “Model Village,” “Reigns,” and “War” on July 14, August 11, September 8, and September 25, respectively. They will also be hosting livestream performances on August 29 and 30.

Watch the “Grounds” video above, and find the Ultra Mono art (which is positively superlative) and tracklist below.

1. “War”
2. “Grounds”
3. “Mr. Motivator”
4. “Anxiety”
5. “Kill Them With Kindness”
6. “Model Village”
7. “Ne Touche Pas Moi” Feat. Jehnny Beth
8. “Carcinogenic”
9. “Reigns”
10. “The Lover”
11. “A Hymn”
12. “Danke”

Ultra Mono is out 9/25 via Partisan Records. Pre-order it here.

Phil Elverum, the musician behind the acclaimed early ’00s project The Microphones, has announced he is revamping the project. It’s been seventeen years since The Microphones’ last release, the 2003 record Mount Eerie. Following the record’s release, Elverum assumed the moniker Mount Eerie and began releasing music under that name. But now, Elverum plans to bring The Microphones out of hibernation with an unconventional album.

Titled Microphones In 2020, the upcoming album will consist entirely of one 44-minute song. Alongside the effort, Elverum will share an album-length short film that will be released a day prior to the album’s debut.

In a statement parallel with his album’s announcement, Elverum said he was inspired to reignite his old project after seeing a positive response from fans:

“In the summer of 2019 I played a little local concert under the old name for no big reason. The little flurry of weird attention around this announcement got me thinking about what it even means to step back into an old mode. Self commemoration would be embarrassing. I don’t want to go backwards ever. There is nothing to reunite. So I nudged into the future with these ideas and came up with this large song. It took almost a year to write and record, working constantly at home, digging through the archives, playing the same two chords forever on the same $5 first guitar. In it I have tried to get at the heart of what defined that time in my life, my late teens and early twenties, but even more importantly, I tried to break the spell of nostalgia and make something perennial and enduring. All past selves existing at once in this inferno present moment. The song doesn’t seem to end. That’s the point.

We all crash through life prodded and diverted by our memories. There is a way through to disentanglement. Burn your old notebooks and jump through the smoke. Use the ashes to make a new thing.”

Watch The Microphones’ album teaser above.

Microphones In 2020 is out 8/7 via P. W. Elverum & Sun. Pre-order it here.