Perhaps more than any musician (at least relative to his age), Jack White is famously old-fashioned. A few years ago, he was getting into Polaroid photography. The Nashville location of his Third Man Records label is famous for its vinyl record booth, a refurbished 1947 machine that allows people to record a song or any audio directly onto a phonographic disc. It’s probably not surprising to learn that White doesn’t have a cell phone, as he revealed in 2019.
Basically, he’s the last person music fans would expect to get into NFTs, which Uproxx’s Dane Rivera describes as “virtual collectibles that are one-of-a-kind and easily verifiable as such, due to a unique string of characters in the image’s metadata stored on the Blockchain, which if you’re unfamiliar, is the digital database that makes cryptocurrencies like Ethereum and Bitcoin safe and secure.” And yet, White has indeed gotten into NFTs with a new White Stripes release.
An unofficial remix of “Seven Nation Army” by The Glitch Mob has received acclaim from White Stripes fans since its release in 2011, and now The White Stripes are officially releasing the track. On top of that, The White Stripes, Glitch Mob, and artist Strangeloop have collaborated on an NFT collection that features “6 unique pieces of art, including a one-of-one full song visualizer that comes with a 7-inch vinyl test pressing of the remix.”
“Thank you for joining us on what was, I have to admit, one of the least productive days that we’ve had here at our office in quite some time,” Kimmel said to kick off the episode. “A lot of people said the CEO of a pillow company couldn’t successfully launch a major social media site — and those people were 100 percent correct.” Kimmel compared the “yell-a-thon” to Jerry Lewis’ annual telethons, “if Jerry was on a public access channel and crack.” Lindell actually mentioned Kimmel multiple times during the livestream, discussing all the times the host has “bashed” him. But Kimmel insists he’s an admirer.
“What Mike Lindell doesn’t seem to understand is, I’m his biggest fan,” he said. “I have no idea what he’s doing, but I love it.” Kimmel would even have him on the show, but with two conditions: “Number one, he has to actually come into our studio. I need to see him in person. I want to smell the Knackwurst in his mustache. And number two, I would like to conduct our interview in a bed, surrounded by pillows, just me and Mike, snuggled up side by side in a California king, surrounded by sacks of goose feathers.”
On Monday, the U.S. State Department had issued “Level 4: Do Not Travel” warnings for 16 percent of countries around the world. Today, that number is jumping up to 80 percent of all countries around the world in accordance with CDC guidance. And while just over 75 million Americans have been vaccinated, the CDC and State Department are still warning against travel, especially internationally.
So, what’s going on? According to an email sent to The Washington Post, “This alignment better reflects the current, unpredictable, and ever-evolving threat posed by COVID-19.” The missive goes on to say that American citizens — vaccinated or not — should “strongly reconsider” all trips abroad or cancel them outright.
Issuing travel warnings is nothing new for the State Department. They have four levels. Level One says simply “Exercise Normal Precautions.” Level two warns you to “Exercise Increased Caution.” Level three asks you to “Reconsider Travel.” And Level Four straight out says “Do Not Travel.” With 80 percent of the world’s countries now falling under the Level Four warning, it’s pretty clear that any travel Americans take this summer is going to be tied to the U.S.
The change in tactics, according to The Washington Post, is due to the State Department starting to “rely more heavily” on recommendations from the CDC again. The State Department is even adding stricter wording to some travel locations. The warning for travel to India came with an additional caveat that “even if you’re fully vaccinated” that you should still cancel your trip.
These warnings track with current CDC information on vaccines and travel in which they stated: “Fully vaccinated travelers are less likely to get and spread COVID-19. However, international travel poses additional risks and even fully vaccinated travelers are at increased risk for getting and possibly spreading new COVID-19 variants.”
Of course, that doesn’t mean that some countries aren’t trying to woo travelers to their shores. Iceland has opened up to American travelers as long as they can provide a vaccination certificate and negative test before entry (and also adhere to hygiene and social distancing rules). Still, it’s probably a much safer bet to look towards your own backyard, even if you’re vaccinated.
Today is April 20, which of course marks one of the most widely observed unofficial holidays: 4/20. Naturally, Snoop Dogg will be celebrating the occasion and he got things started early with a new album, From Tha Streets 2 Tha Suites. The project features some songs about smoking, most notably wrapping up with “Left My Weed,” a collaboration with J Black and Devin The Dude.
On the narrative tune, Snoop begins by describing an unfortunate situation at a party:
“Yeah, pull up to front, party going live / Everybody happy when the Dogg arrive / […] Reaching in my Louie bag / Tryna find that King Louie stash / Yeah I’m ’bout to do em bad / Baby wanna take a flick / I’m like, ‘Cool, make it quick ’cause I still can’t find my sh*t’ / Reach a little deeper, now I’m mad / No weed in the party, all bad / I’m in the parking lot, heading to the whip / Cuz now this party ain’t sh*t.”
J Black also comes through on the hook, “I can’t believe it, believe it / I do this sh*t every time, damn / Get so very high and forget / What I needed, I needed / Did one of y’all see if I, damn / Searching like CSI, yeah / ’cause I f*cked around and left my weed.”
Listen to “Left My Weed” above, stream From Tha Streets 2 Tha Suites below, and check out our 420-song 4/20 playlist here.
From Tha Streets 2 Tha Suites is out now via Doggystyle Records/Create Music Group. Get it here.
The Lakers lost to the Jazz on Monday night, but it was a game that fell to the backburner on Twitter, as Lakers fans had a much different focus. The story that follows is a wild ride that probably is not even at its conclusion, but we are going to try our best to explain what took place on Lakers Twitter on April 19.
Many of you may have very well seen tweets in the morning about a missing Lakers fan named Vivian, who’s @butterfly_424 handle had 15,000-plus followers, as many prominent Lakers fans on Twitter like O’Shea Jackson Jr. and even Markieff Morris retweeted to try and amplify the situation. The tweet about her being missing has since been deleted by Josh Toussaint, who plays a potentially much bigger role in this story.
No way are you serious!?! Everyone please retweet this. Anyone in the area. Super dope soul please help. https://t.co/kpKlQ7B5W0
— O’Shea Jack(Nichol)son (@OsheaJacksonJr) April 19, 2021
However, things took a very strange turn from there. After people started looking into the account more, they started to notice some things weren’t quite right about photos she had posted and one person said he had been texting with “Vivian” for some time. Then, when he tried to FaceTime with her, she refused and he started to think something was fishy.
Things moved quickly from there, and at one point Kevin Durant hopped on Twitter Spaces with The ETCs co-host Eddie Gonzalez, who had the aforementioned text relationship with Vivian, and others to discuss the entire thing as word of a long-time catfish having infiltrated Lakers Twitter started trending.
The thing that tipped many folks off was when they started looking more closely at the very clearly photoshopped images of “Vivian” and recognized shenanigans were afoot.
The focus turned back to Toussaint, who had claimed to have been in touch with Vivian’s family and also claimed to have DM’d with the Lakers about the situation in since-deleted tweets, which were of course screenshotted and brought back at him.
Still haven’t gotten a goddamn explanation. Thought I trusted someone and learned my lesson. Tried to help a friend I thought was in peril. I was duped like yall and feel bad I was a pawn. Such garbage. Logging off for awhile. Stay safe out there. You never know
Adding to the weirdness, Toussaint had a podcast where Vivian was a guest multiple times that quickly came under scrutiny for what seemed like some odd editing.
Audio forensics not my strong suit but I well sometimes 1.5 hour 2 person pods with only one person can get jumbled.
However, people on podcasts talk over each other all the time, so it might be as Toussaint says and is an actual catfish situation — someone modulated the Vivian voice down to what it would sound like on a lower frequency if someone was using a voice modulator and came up with this.
Out of curiosity, I pitched down “Vivian’s” voice from the Lakers podcast to see what it sounded like without any potential effects that could be used to make it sound higher pitch. pic.twitter.com/sHeCidWF7K
There are still more questions than answers about this whole thing, but it’s pretty clear that “Vivian” isn’t a real person. Who has been running the account, why they’ve been doing that, and a lot more remain unanswered, but if nothing else, it made for a wild night on Twitter and led to some very funny reactions from some very famous people that you don’t normally see involved in Twitter nonsense. For example, O’Shea Jackson Jr.’s journey into learning about all of this was, basically, the process everyone else went through.
I see a lot of people acting like this is the first time an LA Vivian was just suddenly a completely different person with zero explanation. pic.twitter.com/jNwfbvaKfh
It was all of two weeks ago that “Wang Dang Sweet Poontang” singer Ted Nugent was mocking the coronavirus. “I guess I would ask you, because I’m addicted to truth, logic, and common sense, and my common-sense meter would demand the answer to why weren’t we shut down for COVID one through 18?” he said in a Facebook Live video. “COVID-1 — and there was a COVID 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 and 18 — COVID one through 18 didn’t shut anything down but woah, COVID-19!”
“I’ve got an announcement to make,” Nugent began in a new video on Facebook. “Everybody told me that I should not announce this. I have had flu symptoms for the last ten days. I thought I was dying. Just a clusterf*ck.” He continued, “I was tested positive today… I’ve got a stuffed up head, body aches. My God, what a pain in the ass. I literally could hardly crawl out of bed the last few day… So I was officially tested positive for COVID-19 today.” He also used a racist term for the virus, but no one needs to see that:
Even after his own infection, the rocker continued criticizing the vaccines.
“Nobody knows what’s in it,” Nugent declared, proclaiming that he won’t take a vaccine “if you can’t even honestly answer our questions of exactly what’s in it and why are you testing it on human beings and forcing it on people in such a short period of time.”
This is not the first time Nugent has spoken out against the “scamming pandemic,” as he called it. “It’s not a real pandemic, and that’s not a real vaccine… I ain’t taking no vaccine. You come at me with a needle, and I will be in fear of my life, and you know what I’ll do if you come at me with a needle. ‘Hi, I’m from the government. This needle is good for you.’ F*ck you!” I wouldn’t expect anything less from the guy who wrote “Yank Me, Crank Me.”
A few weeks ago, The Weeknd indicated that there is still more to come from the After Hours era, tweeting, “p.s. this chapter isn’t quite done yet … still tying some loose ends.” At the time, he didn’t make clear what exactly that meant. Now, though, it looks like we know one thing that may be coming soon: a new remix of “Save Your Tears” featuring Ariana Grande, which both artists teased on social media yesterday.
Both Grande and The Weeknd shared the same audio clip on social media and tagged each other in their posts, all but confirming the collaboration. The video runs for eight seconds, and during that time, isolated, reverb-heavy vocals from the pair, singing what seems to be a melody from “Save Your Tears,” can be heard.
The pair have of course collaborated multiple times, once on Grande’s “Love Me Harder” from her 2014 album My Everything and again on “Off The Table,” from Grande’s 2020 album Positions. Of course, it’s also widely believed that the two were once linked romantically.
Meanwhile, Grande has also recently spent some time revisiting one of her recent albums, as she shared a behind-the-scenes clip of herself recording some vocals on “Positions.”
That MVP race is one led, for most, by Nikola Jokic in large part due to his consistent effort throughout the regular season, as he has dominated from start to finish for a Denver team that is looking to hold on to a top-6 seed in the West without Jamal Murray in the stretch run. With Curry buzz circulating the NBA space when Jokic and the Nuggets took the floor against Memphis, the frontrunner did as well as one could hope by responding with a sensational performance of his own. After a slow start, Jokic took control of the game and never let go, scoring 47 points, pulling down 15 rebounds, and dishing out eight assists in a wild, 139-137 Denver win in double overtime against Ja Morant and the Grizzlies.
He was tremendous down the stretch, particularly in closing things out in double overtime when he put in nine of his 47, including…whatever this shot was that is emblematic of the shot-making he’s displayed all season no matter the defensive effort of the opposition.
Ja Morant was phenomenal for Memphis, as he has been all season, with 36 points, 12 assists, and eight rebounds, but the Grizzlies simply couldn’t find answers for Jokic — which to be fair, no one has really had this season. When doubled, he always makes the right pass to an open shooter, and when left in 1-on-1, there’s simply nothing most defenders can do with him. His quickness has improved to beat bigger centers off the bounce and his craftiness and size allows him to simply get to a spot and put up a shot, always on his time and in his own, weird rhythm that no one can disrupt. The MVP conversation will surely continue, and what Curry and Joel Embiid and others are doing this season are worthy of heaps of praise and celebration. But provided he continues on as he has been, it is still Jokic’s award, and if anything, the amount he’s going to be asked to do for Denver with Jamal Murray out is likely going to continue forcing him to put up ridiculous numbers for Denver to win games, which would seal the deal in the season’s final month.
4/20 is upon us. And few things hit the spot on the great stoner holiday like a quality pre-roll — one so good that it will get you blasted until (or into!) tomorrow. Taking a smooth drag from a joint or blunt, coaxing out that intoxicating smoke, and enjoying a euphoria-inducing head change on the morning of 4/20 feels… almost ceremonial in nature.
So don’t waste your time smoking mid-tier weed to kick off herb’s big day. Get things rolling by reaching for quality.
With weed now legal in 16 states (big shout out to New York, fashionably late to the party as always) and Washington D.C., there’s a lot of product out there. But let’s face it, it’s not all good; some of it is downright unsmokeable. That’s why we put together this list of the best pre-roll joints and blunts currently on the market.
Let’s dive in without any more delay — so that you can make the most of your holiday!
True to its name, these Girl Scout Cookies half-gram pre-rolls have an almost sweet floral smell and taste. These are half-gram joints, which are easy to finish in one setting whether the smoker is one person or puff-puff-passing.
The Bottom Line
22 percent is something of a Goldilocks THC percentage — not too high, not too low, but just right. The perfect high. This is a cerebral, upper of a high that’s perfect for daytime toking.
A cross between Lemontree and Gelato 41, this Sativa dominant strain out of California company Connected took first place for Sativa flower at the Cannabis Cup. As soon as you light up the one-gram pre-roll, you’ll understand why. Featuring a citrus-forward flavor with hints of mango and a strong diesel aroma, Gelonade packs a creativity-focused high energy high.
The Bottom Line
A great uplifting daytime strain for those looking for a good high that won’t drag you down into couch-lock territory.
Caviar Gold’s claim to fame is that the brand produces the highest potency pre-rolls on the market, and in 2021 that’s still true. With a THC level that hovers around a jaw-dropping 50 percent — thanks to each pre-roll being dipped in 92 percent true liquid THC and then dusted in kief — the Cavi Cone is so strong it’ll get you blasted to the moon … the moon of a far off parallel universe.
Each Cavi Cone is available in a number of strains and flavors, but they’re essentially interchangeable as they’re all pretty strong. So unless you’re an experienced smoker, look elsewhere. But if you’re into a mind-expanding, body-tingling experience, it rarely gets better than this.
Unfortunately Caviar Gold doesn’t make a habit of listing the terpene profile for each flavor of Cavi Cone. So you’ll have to shop along the archaic lines of indica, sativa, or hybrid.
The Bottom Line
A powerful pre-roll not for the faint of heart. Unless you’re an experienced heavy smoker, the Cavi Cone probably isn’t for you. If you’re in Snoop-Rogen range, be sure to grab a Cavi Cone to turn your 4/20 into a near psychedelic adventure.
St. Ides x Mission Green 2g Diamond-Infused Blunt (Dane Rivera)
St. Ides
Strain: Hybrid Dominant Terpenes: Not Available. THC: 30%+
Wonderfully fragrant, this two-gram diamond-infused blunt from St. Ides and Weldon Angelos’ Project Mission Green features whole nuggets of St. IDES potent indoor flower blended with THCa crystals and hand-rolled into a thick slow-burning blunt. The smoke is remarkably milky and smooth (perfect for blowing smoke rings, a 4/20 pastime) with a high that hits you almost instantly. It goes straight to your head for a cerebral experience that’ll turn anything you’re doing into the funniest thing to happen all day (no matter how mundane).
A portion of sales from each Mission Green blunt will go directly to Mission Green to help secure the release of people serving time for cannabis offenses.
The Bottom Line
Powerful and flavorful, the Mission Green blunt is a giggle-inducing slow-burning option for those looking to stretch out their 4/20 experience with a single blunt. Once you’re high enough, put it out and place it back in the glass tube it comes packaged in.
Although not the strongest pre-roll on this list, few things have gotten me higher in my life than this .7 gram pre-roll from Cannabiotix. Featuring a cross between Strawberry Lemonade and Thick Mint Cookies, Cannabiotix Cereal Milk features light green crystal-filled bud with notes of bright citrus and herbal pine that results in a joyful and slightly euphoric experience, despite this being an indica dominant strain.
Don’t expect couch-lock or a strain that will knock you out quickly. Instead, Cereal Milk will provide you with a relaxing but non-lazy high, great for lighting up before a beachside stroll.
The Bottom Line
Strikes a nice balance between indica and sativa, this hybrid strain will have you relaxed one minute, and breaking out into a giggling fit the next.
It’s hard not to love everything about Lowell Farms 6-packs. They’re packed with high-quality herb grown in California, available in hybrid, sativa, and indica blends, and come packaged in a beautiful magnetic flip-top box complete with wooden matchsticks and a strip to light them on, giving you absolutely everything you’ll need to enjoy one of these mid-sized pre-rolls as soon as you open the pack.
The Bottom Line
The best pre-roll packaging on the market, Lowell Farms provides everything you need to need to get a strong but manageable high. Best of all, they’re just the right size and potency to get a good high without getting you so high that you’ll forget where you live.
Closing out our list of the finest pre-rolls is Jay-Z’s Monogram OG Handroll. Okay yes, a $50 joint is downright ridiculous, we don’t care if Jay-Z rolled it himself. But the OG Handroll really is quite a luxurious experience. Similar to a cigar, this heavy Indica strain burns remarkably slowly and evenly, enabling you to experience multiple sessions from a single joint.
But we’re going to go ahead and recommend against that. In order to enjoy the strain’s mix of sweet and skunky flavors and aromas, it’s best to just knock this baby out in one sitting. You’ll be left with a cerebral high that’ll stretch for hours and have you lost in thought.
The Bottom Line
Strong, luxurious, and pricey. Monogram’s OG handroll is best enjoyed as a nightcap, as it’s strong high will send you crashing.
On Sunday, 12 of the richest clubs in European soccer announced the formation of a new Super League that will feature 15 permanent “founding” clubs and a rotation of five clubs each year that can qualify. It is a brazen cash grab from owners looking to ensure they get the massive payouts the Champions League provides each year, without the risk of not making it into the Champions League off merit — as some of the clubs in the Super League didn’t this year.
The announcement was immediately decried by, well, just about everyone in the sport, from fans, media, leagues, UEFA, coaches, and other teams. The idea of creating a closed league goes against the tradition of European soccer, which already favors the richest teams who can pay the best players but this takes away even the slightest hopes from smaller teams of getting that seat at the table. The coming fight from leagues, UEFA, FIFA, and fans is going to be fascinating to watch, and it’s rare to see such universal disdain for something from fans all over, including of the teams involved.
Among the most prominent die-hard here stateside is James Corden, who used his platform on The Late Late Show to explain to the American audience what makes this Super League so “disgusting” as he put it, and why he believes it will ruin the sport as we know it.
— The Late Late Show with James Corden (@latelateshow) April 20, 2021
The comparison to if famous actors started their own Oscars to guarantee nominations is a funny one, but also pretty accurate and a helpful tool for a non-sports audience to understand what happens. Overall, though, it is a passionate plea from Corden, who seems resigned to the fact that this is happening, for fans to, if nothing else, never forget what they’ve done to smaller clubs and how they’ve tried to hide behind the pandemic as justification for this move. He points out the history of the sport and how so many of these clubs were started by workers and have long, rich histories in these communities, and how this threatens to take money away from all of them and funnel it further to the top teams. Financial inequities have always existed but this will make it even moreso and the future of all these teams and leagues are now in flux.
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…. all these supposed to be the same person. 
(@kfitz134) 
47 points
