Fortunately, our Queen is a benevolent one, seeing the demand and rising to meet it with a slew of added dates in locations including Toronto, Chicago, New Jersey, Washington, DC, Atlanta, Los Angeles, and of course, in her hometown Houston. You can see those added dates below.
Meanwhile, it’s rumored that VIP packages for the tour will include such perks as stage access with a cash bar. The ticketing process has become more complex as a result of Ticketmaster’s botched rollout for Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour, which could make things easier — or turn buying coveted tickets into a process every bit as frustrating as buying Nikes on the SNKRS app.
7/8 – Toronto, ON @ Rogers Centre
7/9– Toronto, ON @ Rogers Centre – ADDED SHOW
7/2 – Chicago, IL @ Soldier Field Stadium
7/23 – Chicago, IL @ Soldier Field Stadium – ADDED SHOW
7/29 – East Rutherford, NJ @ MetLife Stadium
7/30 – East Rutherford, NJ @ MetLife Stadium – ADDED SHOW
8/5 – Washington, DC @ FedEx Field
8/6 – Washington, DC @ FedEx Field – ADDED SHOW
8/11 – Atlanta, GA @ Mercedes-Benz Stadium
8/12 – Atlanta, GA @ Mercedes-Benz Stadium – ADDED SHOW
8/26 – Las Vegas, NV @ Allegiant Stadium
9/2 – Inglewood, CA @ SoFi Stadium
9/3 – Inglewood, CA @ SoFi Stadium – ADDED SHOW
9/11 – Vancouver, BC @ BC Place
9/23 – Houston, TX @ NRG Stadium
9/24 – Houston, TX @ NRG Stadium – ADDED SHOW
With a Trump 2024 presidential run seeming more and more likely, plenty of Republicans are scrambling for a plan to get rid of the party’s very large, very loud, very orange albatross. Sadly, the best they’ve come up with so far is this: keep hoping he dies before the next election cycle begins.
According to an Atlantic story featuring multiple conversations with GOP insiders, Republicans know another Trump campaign would be a death knell for the party but no one is willing to risk their own political futures to stand up to him.
“You have a lot of folks who are just wishing for [Trump’s] mortal demise,” former Michigan Rep. Peter Mejier tells the outlet. “I want to be clear: I’m not in that camp. But I’ve heard from a lot of people who will go onstage and put on the red hat, and then give me a call the next day and say, ‘I can’t wait until this guy dies.’”
Trump left political devastation in his wake after his 2020 election loss with Republicans blaming his obsession with baseless voter fraud conspiracy theories for their lackluster performance in the recent Midterms. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis initially emerged as a contender to face off against the twice-impeached president but he might be too busy tracking the menstrual cycles of teenage girls in his state to focus on running against his former ally. That means it’s up to some other yellow-bellied GOP member to pick up the gauntlet and with most of the party fielding their own scandals, chances are slim some right-wing hero will rise through the ranks before 2024.
Fortunately, Trump dines solely on Diet Coke and fish filets, has the body of an unnaturally lazy orangutang, detests exercise, and stays up late to watch conservative TV hosts kiss his ass on air, so we doubt he’ll be setting any Guinness World Records for longevity. Maybe it’s not a bad plan after all.
Seth Rogen recently shot down the idea of a potential revival for Judd Apatow’s cult classic high school sitcom Freaks and Geeks because, more or less, nobody can do it better so it might as well just stay the same. And he’s right! This should be the case for most things! If it’s good, why remake it with worse characters, or reboot it only for it to be canceled after one lackluster season? It’s bad for everyone involved.
Another popular Rogen-related project is Superbad, the infamous 2007 high school comedy that coined the popular Myspace-era phrase “McLovin,” in addition to launching the careers of Jonah Hill and Emma Stone. Even though it’s 15 years old, the movie still finds fans in modern audiences who enjoy the absurd comedy and its Hot Topic merch tie-ins.
Rogen recently revealed that one of his younger co-stars from The Fabelmans, Gabe LaBelle, still enjoys the movie, which was made when he was a toddler. “What’s crazy is that Gabe is like, 19 years old and his and his friends’ favorite movie is Superbad,” Rogen said, before joking, “So it never changed for some reason. No one’s made a good high school movie since then.”
Now, Seth Rogen is a good person who makes pottery and minds his business, and he was kidding around, so I won’t be mean, but there have been plenty of good high school movies since then, and a lot of them have centered on non-male characters. But he is right to imply that there shouldn’t be a Superbad reboot or revival because it wouldn’t be quite as good when it’s not the good old days of 2007, when iPhones didn’t exist and the economy was totally fine and normal. That’s why Ladybird takes place in 2002, anyway.
If it were to take place now, any Superbad remake would inevitably feature someone accidentally going live on TikTok, which would turn into a horror movie. It’s probably for the best that the original just stays on its own. Pineapple Express on the other hand could use an update.
In Groundhog Day, Bill Murray’s Phil Connors wakes up every morning to “I Got You Babe.” If he made it through the whole day without dropping a toaster into the bathtub (and, uh, the movie was set in the 2010s), he could have fallen asleep to former-The Daily Show host Trevor Noah telling the same joke, word for word, every Groundhog Day.
“Today is Groundhog Day. And also, what the hell is Groundhog Day?” the joke begins, as seen in the compilation above. “People pull a rodent out of the ground and then ask the animal to predict the weather? Really? This is so unfair, because if Africans were doing sh*t like this and you heard that we pulled animals out of the ground, like, there are villages in Africa where people wear animal skin, and if I tried to explain that Americans use groundhogs to predict the weather, they’d be like, ‘But why not use the satellite data?’”
New bourbons are hitting shelves pretty much constantly these days. That makes picking a good one an unnecessarily hard task — just take a stroll down the bourbon aisle at your local liquor store and you’ll see what I mean. There are just so manyto pick from and, no, they’re not all good. Most are fine. Some break through the static and are great. Some stink.
That all means it’s time to blind taste test some new bourbon whiskies. For this blind taste test, I’ve grabbed bourbons that have dropped in the last month or two. I’m either talking about completely new expressions, the latest editions of limited releases, or the latest versions of standard releases.
That makes our lineup today the following bottles:
When it comes to ranking these bourbons, I’m going on taste alone. That’s not a monolith though. I’m looking at the depth of the palate and what sort of journey the flavor profile takes me on. In the end, we all just want a whiskey that actually tastes good and makes you feel something. Let’s dive in!
Also Read: The Top 5 UPROXX Bourbon Posts Of The Last Six Months
Nose: There’s a sense of old oak and almost smoldering cinnamon bark on the nose with a hint of apple/pear cider cut with orange oils and a whisper of vanilla-nougat wafers.
Palate: That apple/pear cider vibe dominated the start of the palate with a Martinelli’s cider sweetness next to clove buds and more cinnamon bark, a light sense of vanilla cake, and burnt orange.
Finish: The cinnamon really attaches to the apple/pear cider on the finish with a fleeting sense of sweet oak and old evergreen pitch and an echo of orange tobacco.
Initial Thoughts:
This has a really nice nose and feels like a very bourbon-y bourbon. It’s a classic from top to bottom.
Taste 2
Zach Johnston
Tasting Notes:
Nose: There’s a rich sense of butterscotch candy on the nose with freshly fried sourdough doughnuts dusted in brown sugar, cinnamon, and maybe some spearmint next dusting of white pepper.
Palate: The taste starts off creamy and full of toffee as apple pie filling with plenty of cloves and cinnamon leads to peppery mint chocolate and salted caramel drizzle with a twinge of pine resin.
Finish: The end is lush and spicy with a hint of caraway-encrusted rye next to cinnamon bark and clove buds next to warm menthol tobacco dipped in dark chocolate and wrapped with cedar bark and wild sage.
Initial Thoughts:
This is leathery and deep with a spicy sense of sweet bourbon. It’s a damn nice sip.
Taste 3
Zach Johnston
Tasting Notes:
Nose: This has a classic nose that leans towards toasted chocolate beans, dried chili pepper flakes (and maybe even some fresh green chili), burnt vanilla pods, singed cherry bark, and old leather dipped in caramel.
Palate: Bold! The palate opens with a sense of sweet stick toffee pudding (dates, cinnamon, nutmeg, salted caramel sauce) before hitting a high note on the ABVs with a spicy heat that’s immediately countered by a rich cherry syrup and caramel sauce.
Finish: Another wave of heat arrives late and ushers in a light sense of old oak staves and cinnamon bark with a mild sense of apple tobacco and maybe some cedar kindling with a fleeting sense of leather and cherry stems.
Initial Thoughts:
This is a little hot but still a classic bourbon with a nice depth. Still, I could have used an ice cube to calm it down.
Taste 4
Zach Johnston
Tasting Notes:
Nose: The nose is full of dried fruit — dried apricot, prunes, and raisins — with a sense of mulled wine and leathery dark Fruit Roll-ups next to a mild note of cinnamon toast.
Palate: There’s a sense of apricot jam that leads to a soft and sweet porridge (very crafty) with a plummy dark vibe leading to cinnamon bark, brioche, and some vanilla pods.
Finish: The end leans into the dried fruit a bit more with a sense of salted mango spears, orange marmalade, and some more of that porridge.
Initial Thoughts:
This was fine. It had a crafty edge (that sweet graininess) that was countered by a lot of fruit.
Taste 5
Zach Johnston
Tasting Notes:
Nose: The nose has a classic sense of old oak, dark vanilla, black cherry, and woody spices with a hint of spearmint-spiked molasses.
Palate: The palate has a mild hogo funk with bananas foster cut with brandy, old raisin boxes, winter spices, and a soft vanilla cake frosted with rum-raisin and dark cacao.
Finish: Soft brown sugar gives way to a warming mulled wine vibe with plenty of anise, clove, and cinnamon next to plummy rum sweetness and Cherry Coke spiced tobacco.
Initial Thoughts:
This is a wild and fun journey. It’s clearly a rum finish on a sweet and old bourbon (all that woodiness). I dig it. It’s deep and interesting.
Taste 6
Zach Johnston
Tasting Notes:
Nose: This leans into classic bourbon notes of black cherry, sticky toffee pudding, pecan pie, and marmalade before veering toward dried ancho chili powder and a touch of pistachio and honey.
Palate: That dark cherry turns syrupy before maple sap kicks in with a sense of toasted marshmallow, creamed honey, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, and blueberry pie with a big dollop of bourbon vanilla ice cream.
Finish: The end has a sense of sweet potato pie covered in candied pecans next to toasted oak that’s been dipped in cherry tobacco.
Initial Thoughts:
This is a pretty good but sweet bourbon. It feels like a dessert course on the senses. That’s not a bad thing.
Taste 7
Zach Johnston
Tasting Notes:
Nose: Chili pepper spice and almost damp masa come through on the nose with a hint of mustiness next to nut loaf cut with a twinge of apple cider juice and some orchard tree branches with a hint of apple caramel candy lurking underneath.
Palate: Sweet vanilla cake leads to a hint of cinnamon bark and creamy eggnog with plenty of nutmeg before a light ABV heat rises and leads to apple cores and soft leather.
Finish: A sharp winter spice dominates the end with a sense of old apple bushels, broken-down used bourbon barrels, and a hint of caramel vanilla creaminess.
Initial Thoughts:
This is another big and bold bourbon with a lot of heat. I like this one but it also needed an ice cube to calm it down a tad.
Taste 8
Zach Johnston
Tasting Notes:
Nose: This is a lot thinner on the nose with hints of toffee, almond, orange zest, and maybe some clove that leads back to an overall citrus tone.
Palate: That citrus drives the palate toward marmalade and maybe some ripe yet tart red berries with a sense of vanilla and chocolate backing things up.
Finish: A hint of spiciness arrives late with more orange oil and a touch of chocolate and builds towards deep vanilla, marmalade, and some roasted pecans cut with maple syrup.
Initial Thoughts:
This was pretty thin and monotone but built towards a pretty solid end.
This whiskey from Portland, Oregon is a stepping stone toward bigger ideas. The whiskey in the bottles is an MGP of Indiana bourbon made with 70% corn, 20% rye, and 10% malted barley. That whiskey is sent to Oregon where it’s re-barreled in local Elk Cove Pinot Noir barrels for a final rest to add some of that misty Pacific Northwest terroir.
Bottom Line:
This had a great mid-palate to finish but a really rocky nose and front palate. I’m looking forward to their next bourbon build but this isn’t quite there yet.
This five-year-old whiskey is made with 51/34/15 (corn/barley/rye) high-malt bourbon. That whiskey is filled into cognac casks for a final 10-month rest before batching and bottling as-is
Bottom Line:
That malt really comes through with a crafty (sweet grain porridge) vibe. It’s not out of place but doesn’t quite sync with the cohesiveness of the dried fruit and spice vibes of the rest of the pour. That said, if you like oatmeal raisin cookies, then this is your pour.
This year’s first Larceny Barrel Proof is made with Heaven Hill’s standard wheated bourbon mash bill of 68% corn, 20% wheat, and 12% malted barley. The batch is made from a combination of six to eight-year-old barrels from Heaven Hill’s rickhouses. The final blend is bottled as-is.
Bottom Line:
This was tasty but hot. Really hot. Still, there’s enough going on on the flavor profile to enjoy, you’ll just need some ice or water to get there.
This year’s first Elijah Craig Barrel Proof is hewn from Heaven Hill’s classic bourbon mash bill of 78% corn, 12% malted barley, and 10% rye. That hot juice is loaded into charred American oak barrels and left to rest for 12 long years before batching and bottling as-is.
Bottom Line:
This was pretty classic bourbon but, again, a little hot. Add a big rock or some water to access the deeper flavors of this one.
4. Wyoming Whiskey The Ten Anniversary Edition — Taste 6
This is a low-corn bourbon made with a mash of 68% corn, 20% rye, and 12% malted barley that’s left to rest for 10 long years. The barrels were hand-selected by Master Distiller and legend Steve Nally and Master Blender and Master Distiller Nancy Fraley, giving the final product some serious pedigree for the whiskey nerds.
Bottom Line:
This was a good classic bourbon. That’s all.
3. Frank August Case Study: 01 Mizunara Small Batch Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey — Taste 2
For this first “case study,” the team at Frank August picked five bourbon barrels to finish in Japanese Mizunara casks. While those barrels were finishing the elixir within, the team checked the whiskey every 30 days to assure they batched and bottled the whiskey at just the right moment.
Bottom Line:
This had a nice depth that felt both fresh and classic. It’s a nice balance with a good journey for the palate.
2. The Left Cross Puncher’s Chance Straight Bourbon Whiskey Finished in Jamaican Dark Rum Casks Aged 14 Years — Taste 5
This sourced bourbon from Bruce Buffer (of UFC fame) is an old whiskey. The bourbon in the bottle is a 14-year-old whiskey made with 84% corn, 8% rye, and 8% malted barley. After around 14 years, that whiskey is re-filled into freshly dumped Jamaican rum casks that held rum for 12 years. Those barrels are then batched after two to six months of additional maturation before proofing and bottling.
Bottom Line:
This was funky, fresh, and fun. It was different in all the right ways and had a clear sense of the finishing barrel in balance with the aged bourbon underneath. It’s nice stuff.
This whiskey is from Brown-Forman (which also makes Jack Daniels, Old Forester, King of Kentucky, and Woodford Reserve in the U.S.). The Kentucky-distilled juice is aged in special oak barrels that are chiseled before charring to create more surface space for carbon filtering and aging in the barrel. The best barrels and then batched, slightly proofed with that Kentucky limestone water, and bottled.
Bottom Line:
This hit those classic bourbon notes so well that it jolted it to the top of the tasting. This is just good goddamn bourbon from top to bottom.
Part 3: Final Thoughts
Zach Johnston
How about that? The cheapest bourbon on this panel won — and clearly so. It kind of wasn’t even close. That Cooper’s Craft 100 Proof just hit every note right and deeply with a clear sense of good bourbon. It’s tasty, clear, and good. Sometimes not f*cking around and just making good juice is all you need to do. The best part is that you can also probably find that bottle pretty easily. You really can’t ask for more.
That said, I’d say the top six are all good bourbons that are worth tracking down, depending on which flavor profile speaks to you. When pressed on something unique to try, I’d say try the Left Cross and Frank August first and then go from there.
If you were hoping for a sign that winter is coming to an end, maybe ignore how things are going up in Canada because it’s pretty bleak. During their annual Groundhog Day celebration, the city of Quebec went to pull out their celebrity rodent, Fred la Marmotte, only to discover that he had gone on to see the great shadow in the sky, if you know what we mean.
“This year, things will be done differently,” said La Jour de Fred committee organizer Roberto Blondin on the event’s livestream. “I’m announcing the death of Fred. It’s sadly true.”
Children and adults attending the early-morning ceremony gasped when they heard the news.
“Everyone was very sad. You could see it on their faces,” said Renée Laurendeau, a spokesperson for the event, which is held every Feb. 2 in the Gaspé town of Val-d’Espoir.
In a quick effort to recover from finding their town’s groundhog dead on Groundhog Day, the organizers pulled a small child on stage, slapped a stuffed toy groundhog in her hand, and had her tell people that it’s… going to be a late spring. (Damn, Canada.)
As for the cause of Fred’s death, he was getting up there in years and the on-site veterinarian believes he died during hibernation. A new groundhog will take Fred’s place next year. In the meantime, Twitter had a freaking field day dunking on Canada for what’s surely a devastating winter to come. For real, no good can come of this.
“Surprise, the magical rodent you came here to see is dead” is not a subtle metaphor for 2023. https://t.co/f1WS88x50t
If a groundhog sees its shadow that means six more weeks of winter. If not, it means an early spring. If your groundhog is unexpectedly dead on #GroundhogDay, that means you send your army north to the wall and hope like hell you get there in time. https://t.co/d3YRKZd5Wx
The 2009 MTV Video Music Awards are remembered for exactly one thing: Kanye West interrupting Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech to shout out Beyoncé. A less-remembered detail about that VMAs moment is that Taylor Lautner was on that stage, too, as he presented the award to Swift. Now, he has looked back on that day and revealed what was going through his head at the time.
In a recent episode of The Squeeze podcast, the host (Lautner’s wife, who is also named Taylor Lautner) asked if there was a moment Lautner would like to go back and change and he responded, “Probably the 2009 VMAs when I presented the award to Taylor and was unaware that the Kanye thing was not a skit.”
The host noted Lautner and Swift were publicly in a relationship at the time. Lautner continued, “I presented the award to her. I took five steps back and was standing five feet behind her. Kanye jumps up on to the stage. I could barely hear it, I can’t see them. I’m just assuming this whole thing was a practiced and rehearsed skit, because why else would Kanye West be jumping up on the stage interrupting Taylor Swift? It just didn’t make sense. If you look back at it, I’m actually caught laughing and giggling at them. […] He jumped off, she finished. The second she turned back around and I saw her face for the first time, I was like, ‘Oh. This… that wasn’t good.’”
Watch the Taylor Lautners recount the incident below.
Lizzo’s DNA test came back “100% that bitch” on her 2016 single “Good As Hell” but now, she can claim as much lyrically and legally, thanks to a federal tribunal that ruled she can register the catchphrase with a federal trademark.
Billboard reports that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office reviewed Lizzo’s trademark application after it was rejected last year. The USPTO initially decided that it was a “motivational phrase” for “female empowerment,” not a unique brand name.
Today, though, the USPTO’s Trademark Trial and Appeal Board overturned that decision on the basis that it wasn’t in common use before “Good As Hell” took over the airwaves in 2019, when it was re-released as a single ahead of the release of Lizzo’s major-label debut, Cuz I Love You. That Lizzo is truly a trendsetter.
Now, the TTAPB says, anyone hearing the phrase would immediately think of the singer, even if the phrase were printed on a third-party or unaffiliated product. Therefore, to keep bootleggers from profiting from Lizzo’s creativity, the board granted Lizzo the right to trademark it — and protect it and her own image.
“Lizzo did not originate the expression she encountered as a Twitter meme,” the board wrote. “Nonetheless, lyrics from songs are more likely to be attributed to the artists who sing, rap or otherwise utter them, rather than the songwriters.”
In Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, Paul Rudd’s Scott Lang will be forced to tangle with the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s newest big bad, Kang the Conqueror (Jonathan Majors). However, in the real world, Scott will take on another seemingly insurmountable foe: The cutthroat world of publishing. While Scott is a best-selling author in the film, Marvel will test out whether that skill translates to our universe where MCU fans will get a chance to own a real-life copy of Ant-Man’s memoir, Look Out for the Little Guy.
With an assist from Rudd, Marvel announced the totally real book will arrive in September, and just to prove its existence, you can actually pre-order a copy on Amazon starting today. It’s seriously legit. Paul Rudd wouldn’t lie to you.
In Look Out for the Little Guy, Scott Lang shares with the world a bracingly honest account of his struggles and triumphs, from serving time to being a divorced dad to becoming Ant-Man and joining The Avengers. These are stories of epic battles won and lost, as this everyman turned Super Hero finally tells all—from the official account of what really happened between The Avengers and Thanos to how shrinking down to ant-size really feels to the challenges of balancing the roles of hero and dad.
Across his many adventures big and small, Scott has gathered the wisdom of countless amazing experiences into this, the first memoir from a real-life Avenger. Once you learn the unforgettable details of his epic journey, you won’t need to be reminded … to look out for the little guy.
Look Out For The Little Guy hits bookshelves on September 5, 2023.
For the second time in two days, one of the biggest names in the WNBA’s free agent pool has decided to make their way to the New York Liberty. Breanna Stewart announced on her social media channels on Wednesday that she’ll join forces with Sabrina Ionescu and Jonquel Jones in the Big Apple, and on Thursday, Courtney Vandersloot tweeted that she will likewise head to the Liberty after spending the first 12 years of her WNBA career with the Chicago Sky.
#BREAKING Courtney Vandersloot is signing with the New York Liberty
Vandersloot, who plays alongside Stewart during the WNBA’s offseason as a member of the Turkish side Fenerbahçe, was a 4-time All-Star as a member of the Sky, but announced earlier this week that she would not return to the team after hitting free agency.
“Although I never planned for this day to come, I have decided it is time for me to pursue a new beginning,” she wrote in a post on her Instagram account. “I will forever be grateful for the memories I have made during my time here. As I look ahead to a new chapter, with a new team, in a new city, know that Chicago, its fans, and the Sky organization will always hold a special place in my heart. It’s goodbye for now, but thank you forever.”
Vandersloot, a critical member of the Sky team that won the first WNBA championship in franchise history in 2021, appeared in 32 games last season for Chicago, averaging 11.8 points and 6.5 assists in 26.5 minutes a night.
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