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8 nights, approximately 1 Hallmark movie, and about 5% of the retail floor space compared to the abundance of Christmas decor at your local TJ Maxx. That’s what Jewish people get for the holidays. I’m not kvetching, I’m just saying, would it kill people to put out a little more Hanukkah product?

Thankfully, the fine folks at Saturday Night Live have always been good to my people, giving us a schtickle of the spotlight while playfully pushing back on the disparity between Christmas and Hanukkah with sketches that reveal our secret Christmastime traditions, our Santa Claus alternates, and our very own Holiday anthem. Additionally, there are a ton of other great SNL sketches that celebrate Jewish culture and/or lovingly lampoon our acknowledged quirkiness with some pretty hilarious self-owns. This is good because laughter is like Jewish penicillin for the soul. And in an era when our space laser has been outed and we’ve had to throw out our 808 & Heartbreak records (plus a bunch of heavier stuff that I’m purposely skipping over), we could use a laugh. So, here now is a humbly selected collection of the best Jewish SNL sketches of all time.

10. Jewess Jeans

This doesn’t exactly land as hard as it did more than 40 years ago when the Jordache jeans ad it’s parodying was in the zeitgeist, but it’s Gilda Radner disco dancing to a song with the line “she’s got designer nails and a designer nose” before crushing the catchphrase by letting us all know that while the jeans aren’t made exclusively for Jewish girls, “it wouldn’t hurt.” There’s also some historic significance to this, as attributed by this interesting article on Jewish cultural representation on SNL and elsewhere. Gilda twirled so Adam Sandler could strum.

9. Drake’s Bar Mitzvah

Take a trip back to Drake (or Drakob)’s Bar Mitzvah for this monologue sketch that quickly turns into a rap about growing up with a Jewish mom and a Black dad. From raising your hands in the air to raising a chair, balling like LeBron and knowing what a W-2 is, and eating knishes with… everyone, Drake manages to celebrate his heritage while getting more than a few laughs.

8. Jewish Elvis

“I mean, it’s a little bit of singing, but it’s mostly complaining.”

Austin Butler nearly steals this one, going full superfan and screaming “ruin me Jewish Elvis, ruin me!” while flipping the script after playing Elvis in the Baz Luhrman-directed biopic. But this is Sarah Sherman’s show, doing her “little move(s)” in a rhinestone and Star Of David adorned jumpsuit as Jewish Elvis while singing about the apex predator known as lactose intolerance and catching some mighty big panties in the process. A tremendous sketch, but “Fools Rosh Hashanah” as a “Fools Rush In” parody was right there!

Honorable mention for Chloe Fineman blowing out the menorah candles like a birthday cake while doing her amazing Jennifer Coolidge impression in the same episode.

7. Jacob The Bar Mitzvah Boy

This Vanessa Bayer desk character is a masterclass in awkwardness as Jacob refuses to be thrown from his well-studied text. Total immersion here by Bayer, who nails the painful attempts at humor and the wooden mannerisms of a bar mitzvah boy living through the sheer terror gauntlet of public speaking in a freshly learned language. Imagine trying to white knuckle through with only the promise of a savings bond and avoiding family shame to keep you on point while Seth Meyers buzzes around you asking about the Yankees. We can’t all be as fly as Drake at our Bar Mitzvah.

6. Adam Grossman: Dinner With Dad’s New Girlfriend

Precocious little pisher Adam Grossman has no filter and sounds like he’s auditioning for a role as a Catskills kid comic on The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. A recurring character for Jonah Hill that was born from a story told by Bill Hader, Adam is a 6-year-old who thinks he’s in his element beside adults while roasting his divorced dad (Hader) and intruding on the good times of his fellow diners at the local Benihana. In this second edition of the sketch, Adam is shouting about how being around so many knives reminds him of his bris and how taking a Viagra instead of a Flinstones chewable made for a weird day at Hebrew school.

Hill hasn’t played Adam since 2018, but here’s hoping we get to see him in the future.

5. Coffee Talk With Linda Richman

From a time when catchphrases were King in the early ’90s comes Coffee Talk from Mike Myers, who played his other iconic public-access talk show host character, Linda Richman, in 13 sketches opposite the likes of Madonna, Bill Murray, and John Travolta. A tribute to Myers’ mother-in-law, the big-haired, big personality having yenta character coined terms like “I’m a little verklempt,” “like buttah,” and “talk amongst yourselves” while talkin with celebrity guests and people calling from home. Coffee Talk is also responsible for one of the most memorable moments of that era of SNL when Barbara Streisand surprised Myers, Madonna, and Roseanne during a segment all about Babs’ Oscar snub for The Prince Of Tides.

4. Jewish Willy Wonka

Andy Samberg took the kernel of sing-song-silliness that Adam Sandler pioneered and made a vast field of comedy popcorn on SNL, so it’s only natural that he’d be on this list with his own ode to Jewish culture following in the Sandman’s footsteps. Here, the Lonely Island standout teams with host Ben Stiller to blend the world of Willy Wonka with fever dreams and fine Jewish cuisine. Both kinds of pickles!? Matzah ball soup fit to be complained about!? A sandwich that, like a miracle, lasts for days? It’s all there in this beautifully imagined delicatessen playground of Stiller’s dreams/hallucinations.

For some reason, it’s difficult to find an embed of this one, but you can check it out here.

3. Hanukkah Harry

Santa Claus is many things, chiefest among them is a brilliant symbol and marketing aid. Dude is everywhere, outside your local mall, on holiday cards and decor, being played by Buzz Lightyear and Snake Plissken. I can’t hate the hustle. But I can be very, very jealous, because Jewish people lack that kind of broadly beloved symbol. Unless you count Mel Brooks. And I do, but I also want people to know the legend of Hanukkah Harry. Played by Jon Lovitz, Hanukkah Harry is everything Santa Claus is while being steeped in Jewish traditions. He might also be a little bit nicer (Santa might put you on the naughty list for talking out of turn, but Harry will bring you a little something), even if the gifts he gives out are a little less spectacular. He even has a magic sleigh and a jaunty theme song about his donkeys Moishe, Herschel, and Schlomo.

It’s also proving impossible to find the classic Hanukkah Harry Saves Christmas, but we can all enjoy the similar vibes from the time he saved Easter.

2. Christmastime For The Jews

My affection for this TV Funhouse claymation creation from SNL, Late Night with Conan O’Brien, and Triumph genius Robert Smigel is abundant. Writing the oral history around its creation is a professional highlight, partly because of how many people have told me how much they love the sketch. To paraphrase a line from the aforementioned story, Christmastime For The Jews means something to people who share an annual laugh, let the song dance around in their head for a few days, and feel utterly seen by its timeless jokes about the Jewish experience.

I joked upfront about barely getting any Hanukkah movies or decor options compared to the cultural behemoth that is Christmas, but it’s kinda weird growing up in the shadow of all of that, and so you kinda feel like an outsider. And nothing tugs on the heartstrings of outsiders more than finding something that signals that we’re not alone. That’s a lot of weight to hang on something where a clay rabbi cuts a squirrel’s nuts off, but tis the season for attached meaning and heartful sentiments. I love Christmastime For The Jews and I hope you do too.

1. The Hanukah Song

This can’t be a surprise. For one, I’ve mentioned Sandler a couple of times along the way here. For another, this is among SNL‘s most famous moments. And yet despite that awesome legacy, it’s so simple in its construction. Sandler, a guitar, and a casual-seeming song that actually has a few layers.

Its very existence nods to the lack of celebrated Hanukkah songs and Jewish people’s fascination with Jewish celebrity and accomplishment. Seth Rogen hit on the same theme in American Pickle when his man-out-of-time character pumps his fist after finding out that a Jewish person cured polio. If one of us makes it, we feel a small sense of pride and accomplishment. That’s not an exclusively Jewish thing, but it’s definitely a Jewish thing, and so The Fonz being Jewish or Paul Newman being half-Jewish or Harrison Ford being a quarter-Jewish? Not too shabby, indeed.

No one could have or would have predicted that this song would spawn such deep seeded and long-lasting affection, to say nothing of the way it sort of turned Sandler into a Jewish icon and our version of Andy Williams, but that just adds to its charm. The Hannukah Song isn’t trying too hard, it’s just a dumb little song that’s trying to celebrate the holiday while making people feel a little pride and a sense of community. What could be better?

This article originally appeared on 06.01.18

Life can come at you really fast.

Sometimes you’re just moseying along, smelling the flowers (or getting your usual morning coffee; I don’t know your routine) — and then BAM! Your existence has entered a new and exciting stage you weren’t at all prepared for.

We’ve all been there. And that’s probably why so many on the internet are relating to a man named Paris Zarcilla, or as the internet has dubbed him, #CatDad.

All Zarcilla wanted was to grab a sweater. He found a litter of kittens under his bed instead.

On May 29, 2018, Zarcilla rolled up to his bedroom to get himself a change of clothes. Then, I assume, he heard some kind of strange noise. And because this isn’t that type of horror movie, he decided to check under his bed.

Where he found this:

u201cSo… I JUST FOUND A CAT THAT IS NOT MINE AND IT HAS HAD BABIES UNDER MY BED.u201d

— Paris Zarcilla (@Paris Zarcilla)
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That tweet went viral almost instantly, with the entire internet dissolving into what I imagine to be a puddle of mewling goo. At least, that’s where I was when I started favoriting these tweets.

But while the rest of us were enjoying the delight that a surprise pack of kittens and their mama can bring to an otherwise dull day, Zarcilla was struggling with an important question:

u201cSo… I JUST FOUND A CAT THAT IS NOT MINE AND IT HAS HAD BABIES UNDER MY BED.u201d

— Paris Zarcilla (@Paris Zarcilla)
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u201cTrying to adjust to the catshit crazy reality of going upstairs to grab a jumper but instead finding a cat and 4 kittens. Am I dad now?u201d

— Paris Zarcilla (@Paris Zarcilla)
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Hello and welcome to the world’s most adorable existential crisis.

u201cPaternal instincts kicking in. Overwhelmed with feels. Don’t know how to deal.u201d

— Paris Zarcilla (@Paris Zarcilla)
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u201cCancelling all my plans. Crawling under the bed to spend the rest of the day with my four new children. #newdadu201d

— Paris Zarcilla (@Paris Zarcilla)
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I mean, what else are you going to do, right? You find a couple of kittens just hanging out in your home, clear your schedule, and start partying with them. (Safely and from a few feet away, maybe, so as not to spook them.)

If there’s one thing that this story proves, it’s how important animals are in our lives.

I’ll spare you every one of the adorable cat pictures in the thread (and there are a lot), but many people have joined in on the love, and Zarcilla’s story has become even more epic as he continued live-tweeting his experience.

Sure, he’s doing a lot for the kittens — he can’t separate them from the mom for six weeks, so everyone’s staying under his bed indefinitely — but he’s also recognizing the power our furry friends (or, you know, furry strangers who quickly become friends) have to impact our mood and change our outlook on life.

Zarcilla even pointed out the fact that being with the cats and the responsibility of becoming #CatDad may really be helping his mental health.

u201cI feel like the veil of the universe is being lifted slightly. Like, I feel high. Is this what it feels like to have a child? I think I’m falling in love. Fuck.u201d

— Paris Zarcilla (@Paris Zarcilla)
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u201cThis is too much. I’m approaching nirvana. I legitimately suffer from anxiety attacks and depression and my capacity to deal with it recently has been waning. The Cat Gods have smiled upon me with benevolence and turned the monsters under my bed into kittens.u201d

— Paris Zarcilla (@Paris Zarcilla)
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u201cIs it unhealthy to get tears on kittens? Is it unhealthy to cry about kittens? Asking for me.u201d

— Paris Zarcilla (@Paris Zarcilla)
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According to research, being the dad (or mom or parent) to a cat — or dog, if you’re so inclined — is beneficial for us humans. Dog owners experience less stress, and those who own cats are less likely to have heart problems.

And it’s therapeutic to spend time with an animal, because, unlike other humans, they’re not going to expect anything from you except that you feed and love them. That’s why so many of us may feel more comfortable being ourselves around our pets.

Of course, not all of us will be blessed with the discovery of a whole group of cats in our own homes.

Although strange kitties wandering in and just doing their thing in someone’s dining room aren’t unheard of.

So if you’re considering a pet, don’t wait for a family of felines to take up in your room. Consider rescuing an animal (like Chris Evans did!) to become your companion.

As for #CatDad? He’s doing just fine.

u201cI think I’m living the best day of my life. Wait, no. Actually fuck it yes I am. This is the best :’)u201d

— Paris Zarcilla (@Paris Zarcilla)
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You’re doing amazing, dude.

And for a quick update… looks like the journey of his, “cat life” is evolving.

u201cThe human cat-tree adventures continue!nnKo-fi (regular cat posts)nhttps://t.co/vz4e078fhYnnIG (film+cats+art)nhttps://t.co/rz5RupAm6EnnCatdad YT (figuring it out) nhttps://t.co/jVyIiYgKXVnnTwitch (STREAM COMING SOON!)nhttps://t.co/Ikv3ClkhIvu201d

— Paris Zarcilla (@Paris Zarcilla)
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I and pretty much every Gen X teen I grew up with couldn’t wait to learn to drive. Getting a driver’s license was a huge milestone that meant freedom, independence, the ability to go to our friends’ houses whenever we wanted to (so long as we had access to a car) and more—and we were totally psyched about it.

Today’s teens are … different. While some are just as eager as we were to get behind the wheel, there’s a whole bunch of young folks who have little to no interest in driving. As USA Today reported last year, “Data collected from the Federal Highway Administration and analyzed by Green Car Congress showed that in 2018 approximately 61% of 18-year-olds in the U.S. had a driver’s license, down from 80% percent in 1983. The number of 16-year-olds with licenses decreased from 46% to 25% in the same period.”

My oldest kid was interested, but took her sweet time and didn’t get her license until she was 18. My current 18-year-old still doesn’t have her license and has zero desire to get it, despite having completed driver’s ed. She just takes the bus and walks everywhere. Other parents in my immediate social circle have similarly disinterested-in-driving young adults, and I keep seeing parents posting about it on social media with a sense of bewilderment.

What the heck is going on with Gen Z when it comes to driving?

One obvious difference between today’s young people and their parents’ generation is the way they communicate with their peers. If we wanted to talk to our friends, we had two choices—a phone call on a landline (which was sometimes occupied and that our parents didn’t want us to monopolize) or seeing our friends in person. Kids today? Countless options to talk to their friends in various ways without having to go anywhere. While my generation thought video calls on handheld devices were the stuff of Jetsons-like future eras, our kids have never known life without them.

The desire to go out and be social isn’t as urgent with kids today because it simply isn’t as necessary. Despite us all lamenting how much time kids spend on devices, in my experience, they’re often using them to socialize—sometimes a lot more than we were ever able to at the same age. Though nothing can replace face-to-face social time, there’s not as much of a need to drive if you can always “hang out” with your friends online.

u201cMore than 40 percent of 19-year-old Gen Z Americans (born after 2000) do not have a driveru2019s license. nn48% of 16- to 18-year-olds do not drive at all.u201d

— em herrera is in NY ud83cudf03 (@em herrera is in NY ud83cudf03)
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Another difference is the expansion of public transportation and improvements in attitudes toward using it. Unless you lived in New York City, using public transportation just wasn’t cool when we were kids. But Gen X has grown up being hammered with climate change awareness since birth, so riding the city bus is viewed as the preferred, environmentally friendly choice over driving a car. Throw in ride-sharing services like Uber and Lyft, and the need for driving yourself diminishes drastically.

There’s also some anxiety about cars in general that may be playing a role in the younger set due to, ironically, how much car safety has increased. My generation was the first to have seatbelts as a standard feature in all cars—and it wasn’t even mandatory for everyone to wear a seatbelt in my state until I was 11. Our kids, on the other hand, have had all manner of car seats and booster seats reinforcing the idea that cars are inherently unsafe from birth. (That’s not a bad thing, it’s just a thing.) Young people today are more aware of the dangers of driving, just as they’re more aware of everything thanks to the internet, and with the rise in anxiety in general, fear may be keeping a lot of teens away from the wheel. Again, there is some data to back this up. In a survey of nondriving teens by insurance comparison website The Zebra, nearly 25% responded that they don’t have a license because they are afraid to drive a car.

The reasons for Gen Z not wanting to drive may be varied, but not wanting to learn to drive doesn’t mean they shouldn’t. My stance as a parent is that driving is an important life skill, like swimming, so even if you have no intention of driving, it’s important to know how. If my adult kids ever get stuck someplace and need to be able to drive legally, I want them to be able to do that, so I want them to get a driver’s license as well.

We don’t seem to be heading toward a truly carless future anytime soon, so Gen Z may want to rethink their reticence and at least learn how to drive, even if they have no intention of driving.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has released its shortlists for a bunch of categories — an annual tradition — and the category for Best Original Song features some familiar names including Drake, Rihanna, Taylor Swift, and The Weeknd. Remember, these aren’t the official nominees, just the field that Academy voters will narrow down to make up the five-option field ahead of the actual awards voting.

Among the shortlisted songs are a number of the signature singles from some of the year’s biggest franchise sequels, including Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Avatar 2: The Way Of Water, and Top Gun: Maverick. According to Billboard, 81 songs were eligible in this category, with 15 making the shortlist. That number will be whittled own to five official nominees. The 15 shortlisted songs are:

“Time” — By Drake, Giveon Evans, Jahaan Akil Sweet, Daniel Pemberton

From Amsterdam, 20th Century Studios

“Nothing Is Lost (You Give Me Strength)” — By The Weeknd, Steve Angello Josefsson, Sebastian Ingrosso, Axel Hedfords, Simon Franglen

From Avatar: The Way of Water, 20th Century Studios

“Lift Me Up” — By Ryan Coogler, Ludwig Göransson, Rhianna, Tems

From Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Marvel Studios

“This Is a Life” — By David Byrne, Ryan Lott, Mitski

From Everything Everywhere All at Once, A24

“Ciao Papa” — By Alexandre Desplat, Roeban Katz, Guillermo del Toro

From Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio, Netflix

“Til You’re Home” — By Rita Wilson

From A Man Called Otto, Sony Pictures

“Naatu Naatu” — By Kala Bhairava, M. M. Keeravani, Rahul Sipligunj

From RRR, Variance Films

“My Mind & Me” — By Amy Allen, Jonathan Bellion, Selena Gomez, Jordan K Johnson, Stefan Johnson, Michael Pollack

From Selena Gomez: My Mind & Me, Apple Original Films

“Good Afternoon” — By Benj Pasek, Justin Paul

From Spirited, Apple Originals

“Applause” — By Diane Warren

From Tell It Like a Woman, Samuel Goldwyn Films

“Stand Up” — By Dernst “D’Mile” Emile II, Jazmine Sullivan

From Till, Orion/United Artists Releasing

“Hold My Hand” — By BloodPop (Michael Tucker), Lady Gaga

From Top Gun: Maverick, Paramount Pictures

“Dust & Ash” — By J. Ralph

From The Voice of Dust and Ash, Matilda Productions

“Carolina” — By Taylor Swift

From Where the Crawdads Sing, Sony Pictures

“New Body Rhumba” — By Pat Mahoney, James Murphy, Nancy Whang

From White Noise, Netflix

There seems to be a pretty solid formula when it comes to what makes a show a hit on Netflix. You take at least one but no more than eight teenagers/young adults and have them get involved in various supernatural weirdness and/or shenanigans with light to moderate violence and sarcasm. It’s not new, but it is something that Netflix has been leaning into lately: it’s worked with Stranger Things, Shadow and Bone, The Umbrella Academy, and it almost worked for Warrior Nun (RIP). But the latest one to really stick the landing is Wednesday, probably because it took the formula and added Tim Burton into the mix.

After debuting last month, Wednesday has already reached an impressive milestone by becoming the second-biggest week of streaming ever recorded by Nielsen. Can you guess which show is still the first? What’s even more impressive is that the series had only been out for five days of the viewing window, meaning that number can, and likely will, go up.

Netflix reported that the Jenna Ortega-led series jumped from 341.2 million hours watched in its first five days to 411.3 million the following week. Variety notes that there is a slight discrepancy with the data due to Netflix and Nielsen’s measurement system but the main takeaway here is that this show is getting a lot of traction and has no sign of slowing down.

Despite the major numbers, Netflix still hasn’t renewed the series for a second season, though it’s likely that there will be more of the Addams family coming to screens, and Ortega hopes it gets even “darker.” If they really want some more viewers, maybe they should add a ton of gore to appeal to the Squid Game fans. Wednesday does love her little dangerous pranks!

(Via Variety)

Five-piece shoegazers Smut are big on nostalgia. That becomes more than clear while spinning their latest album How The Light Felt, a smoldering project underscored throwback influences like Gorillaz, Oasis, and Massive Attack.

Diving deeper, it’s understandable why Smut leaned into the sentimentality on their sophomore album. The band, composed of vocalist Tay Roebuck, guitarist Andrew Min, bassist/synthist Bell Cenower, guitarist/synthist Sam Ruschman, and drummer Aidan O’Connor, have been through a lot. Roebuck immersed herself in music following the tragic passing of her sister in 2017, pouring a range of complicated emotions like grief and acceptance into music. Songs like “After Silver Leaves” and “Let Me Hate” combine the ethereal quality of a bands like Cocteau Twins with the upbeat wistfulness of Alvvays.

As a whole, How The Light Felt is ten yearning and dreamy tracks that evoke the comfort of seeing fog dissipate on an unseasonably warm autumn day. It’s intimate, heartfelt, and keeps looking forward to what the band has in store next. Celebrating the release of How The Light Felt, Smut sat down with Uproxx to talk The Killers, a Morrissey tattoo, and Death Cab For Cutie giving them depression in our latest Q&A.

What are four words you would use to describe your music?

Cenower: Hot people being sad

It’s 2050 and the world hasn’t ended and people are still listening to your music. How would you like it to be remembered?

Roebuck: I’d like them to think we were a historic band. Have we done anything to deserve that title? Not yet, but I do think we could get there. We just have to invent a new genre of music or make the next anthemic song for baseball games. Maybe an iconic Christmas song? Easy.

What’s your favorite city in the world to perform?

Roebuck: Right now it would have to be Chicago. We haven’t lived here very long and already feel so welcome. It’s a city full of talent and enthusiasm and we’ve discovered so many great local bands by playing shows here. I don’t think we’ve had a bad band on a Chicago bill yet!

Who’s the person who has most inspired your work, and why?

Roebuck: Personally, I’d say my family. They are not an influence on the sound but I grew up in an environment where my dad’s side of the family are all natural singers. And my parents both kind of figured me and my sisters could make it in anything we tried to do, I think even beyond the “you can do anything you set your mind to” speech. They truly know in their hearts that we can do big exciting things and growing up with that kind of… ego embedded in yourself is step one to making it. You have to have an unrealistic level of belief in yourself.

Where did you eat the best meal of your life?

Ruschman: Gotta give it up to that fresh piece of halibut I had in North Carolina one time.

What album do you know every word to?

Cenower: Honestly, probably quite a few. But my very first CD that I bought was Transatlanticism by Death Cab For Cutie and I will never ever lose those lyrics. I’ve been listening to that album since I was like, 9 years old. I think that album gave me depression. One of my favorite albums of all time.

What was the best concert you’ve ever attended?

Cenower: April 28, 2007. My first concert ever. The Killers at Madison Square Garden on their Sam’s Town tour. I was freshly 13 years old, a super fan, and in the fan club (The Killers Victims…yup), and somehow won a contest to see the band soundcheck. So my mom took off early from work to chaperone me, a completely starstruck tweenager, at a rock and roll soundcheck. I was so embarrassed because I thought Brandon Flowers would think I was a child for having my mom there and wouldn’t fall in love with me (I recognize now that he would have perceived that either way. I didn’t stand a chance). My mom did teach me what a vomitorium is which was cool, but I didn’t appreciate her expansive vocabulary at the time. Later that night I went to the concert with my family, seats so ridiculously far back in the nosebleeds, and I passionately screamed along to all the songs so hard that I completely lost my voice for like a week. The Killers were the first band that made me want to be a musician. I don’t know if I’ll ever get to experience that sort of pure joy again. It remains one of the best nights of my life, period.

What is the best outfit for performing and why?

Roebuck: Whatever is most comfortable. We’ve tried and dressed up on occasion but, personally, if I’m wearing something loose and (usually) black I can move around and perform better because that underlying layer of self-consciousness is gone. I’d like to look hot or cool but I’d rather sound great without overthinking how people perceive me. I’m too anxious to handle looking and sounding good.

Who’s your favorite person to follow on Twitter and/or Instagram?

Roebuck: Bell and Andrew both love @sana_ssnn who is an artist they’ve bought prints from. Also our friend @shelleyuckotter has amazing art, I think we all have her early doodles framed in our houses.

What’s your most frequently played song in the van on tour?

Roebuck: It changes every tour, except for maybe the stuff Bell puts on. She likes what she likes so with that in mind I think I’ve heard “Cool Water” by Marty Robbins more than any other song in my life. She plays a lot of honky tonk when we hit the desert. Or the plains. Or the south.

What’s the last thing you Googled?

Roebuck: “women’s steel armor chestplate” on the shopping tab. I couldn’t afford it.

What album makes for the perfect gift?

Roebuck: I want to say… How The Light Felt. We all have different tastes but we do all like the album we made, it’s fun for the whole family.

Where’s the weirdest place you’ve ever crashed while on tour?

Roebuck: There have been so many, I’m not sure what to pick. One place we haven’t talked about much was a favor of a friend, but when we got to the house it was almost completely empty and full of leaves? There was a mattress in one room (also covered in leaves) and we didn’t question it because we were tired and had a huge drive the next day. But I’m not fully sure if anyone actually lived there.

What’s the story behind your first or favorite tattoo?

Cenower: The story of my first tattoo is humiliating so I’ll talk about my two favorites. The first is my freaking sick Morrissey tattoo that pulls from the song “I Am Hated For Loving” — it literally just says “hated for loving” in an old London font armband. I do love the song but it’s also always resonated with me lyrically. It’s a song about accepting how you feel like you don’t belong anywhere, but it’s okay because you belong to yourself. A little corny but close to my sentimental bleeding heart. My other favorite tattoo, on the subject of bleeding hearts, is my Smut tattoo. It’s a take on the classic “Mom” heart tattoo, but the heart is barbed wire and instead of Mom it says Smut. I think it is sort of the mirror of my Mozzer tattoo — I got the Smut tattoo because I love being in this band and it’s one of the few times in my life I’ve really felt a strong sense of belonging.

What artists keep you from flipping the channel on the radio?

Roebuck: I do not have a car, Aidan and Sam do! They listen to NPR, I think? I like that new Momma record. When I hear it on Spotify at work, I’m happy.

What’s the nicest thing anyone has ever done for you?

Cenower: Like, 5 years ago my boyfriend threw me a surprise birthday party. And last year Tay threw me a semi-surprise birthday party. I’m a real simp for birthdays! Always makes a girl feel really special.

What’s one piece of advice you’d go back in time to give to your 18-year-old self?

Roebuck: Don’t date that guy, move straight to Cincinnati and seek out a man named Andrew Min. He will know what to do.

What’s the last show you went to?

Ruschman: Saw my friends in S.C.A.B. play in Chicago after joining them on their tour of the regional Chicago delights (deep dish). Great tunes and energy!

What movie can you not resist watching when it’s on TV?

Ruschman: Wayne’s World 1 or 2. If there happens to be a double feature I’m clearing my schedule for the rest of the day.

What’s one of your hidden talents?

Roebuck: I can put my feet behind my head, I used to be able to do that and walk around using my hands but I think I’d hurt myself if I tried it now. I’m also pretty good at remembering almost every jingle I’ve ever heard.

How The Light Felt is out now via Bayonet. Get it here.

At the 94th Annual Academy Awards ceremony this past March, composer Hans Zimmer received his second ever Oscar in the Best Original Score category for his work on Dune. The first time he won the award was back in 1994 for The Lion King, he’s received twelve Academy Award nominations overall, and Zimmer is generally considered to be among the greatest film score composers of all time. He’s composed iconic scores for films like Gladiator, The Dark Knight, The Last Samurai, The Da Vinci Code, Blade Runner 2049, Inception, and so many more.

Yet, Zimmer has always been coy when naming what he considers to be his masterwork. Now in a video posted to his TikTok account, he finally spilled the beans on his choice for the best film score of his career.

“People always ask me what’s my favorite score and I keep avoiding answering the question,” Zimmer began. “And how about I don’t avoid it this time? I’m going to tell you that the first, the favorite score that I’ve ever written, I think, is Interstellar.”

His work on Interstellar was indeed among his twelve Oscar nominations, but it definitely came as a surprise pick. It represents one of the many times that Zimmer has worked with director Christopher Nolan and it certainly won’t be the last. That raised an interesting point for Zimmer: After delivering his answer, in a moment of inspiration of sorts, the man behind well over a hundred film scores added a postscript to his response with a big smile: “Or, I haven’t written my favorite score yet. So, maybe that’s the better answer.”

Salads in fast food are a dying species. Ever since the pandemic forced most national fast food chains to simplify their menus, salads, along with a few interesting sides, got the axe. It’s a real shame for people who are still trying to eat relatively healthy or at the very least balanced while relying on the convenience that fast food provides. McDonald’s, Burger King, and Arby’s — three chains which, admittedly, are not known for their salads — don’t even offer a single side salad anymore. Zero!

Will they ever return? We honestly don’t know, it’s been nearly three years since the start of the pandemic and while we’re still very much living through it, it’s not like these big chains haven’t introduced new menu items since 2020, so we think the fast food salad as a concept just might be dying. Produce in a starring role demands a level of freshness that… gulp… fast food can’t always meet.

But the salad isn’t dead yet! So to help you out we’re shouting out the #1 best salad order at all the big fast food chains (that still have ’em). One note before we dive in though, for this roundup we aren’t necessarily singling out the healthiest salads on the market, just the best tasting — keep that in mind if you’re on a strict diet.

Boston Market — Caesar Salad

Tasting Notes:

Boston Market isn’t the first place that comes to mind when you think “I want a good salad,” and trust those instincts because this Caesar Salad isn’t so much good as it’s just Boston Market’s only salad option. But hey, at least they have one! Like Arby’s, this is an establishment you frequent when you want meat and heavy carbs. I mean, they have gravy on the menu for Christ’s sake!

This Caesar features a bed of romaine lettuce topped with garlicky croutons, caesar dressing, and some chops of rotisserie chicken. The chicken looks disturbingly naked but it’s actually very good, it’s tender, juicy, and packs that classic rotisserie flavor. The weak part of this salad is unsurprising — the lettuce. It’s all texture no flavor.

The Bottom Line:

We’re happy Boston Market has a salad and it might be a great thing to add as an addition to your meal if you need a nice palate cleanser, but as a standalone meal, this is going to leave you wanting.

Find your nearest Boston Market here.

Chick-fil-A — Spicy Southwest Salad

Tasting Notes:

Chick-fil-A has a lot of great salads on the menu including a killer Cob and a Market Fresh salad with fresh fruit, but my taste buds always lean towards spice, so we’re giving the spot to the Spicy Southwest Salad.

This salad features a base of mixed greens with grape tomatoes, Monterey Jack and cheddar cheese, roasted corn, black beans, sweet red bell peppers, chili lime pumpkin seeds, tortilla strips, and the star of the show, poblano chilies. It’s a medley of fresh sweet, peppery, and spicy flavors that never get boring and manage to come across as satisfying even before you get to the meat. And let’s talk about the meat!

You get a choice of a spicy or non-spicy grilled filet, spicy or regular chicken strips, a spicy, regular, or grilled breast filet, and fried or regular nuggets. We say go with the nuggets to get the most tender bites of chicken, and you can do so without sacrificing any of the spice thanks to the poblano chilis.

The Bottom Line:

Not only Chick-fil-A’s best salad but probably the greatest salad in all of fast food.

Find your nearest Chick-fil-A here.

Chipotle — Best Salad Bowl Build

Tasting Notes:

I’ve thought a lot about how to make the best Chipotle bowl because… well I did a whole investigation on the best build, coming up with three different variations so I’m pretty confident this is the best way to eat a salad at Chipotle. First things first, forget the salad, it sucks, instead start with a Burrito Bowl which is nearly identical to a salad anyway.

Here is how to make it:

Pinto beans, white rice, barbacoa, fajitas, tomatillo red salsa, cheese, lettuce (because it’s a salad remember?), guacamole, and a squirt of Tabasco Green Pepper Sauce (which is located near the straws and lids for some reason). Bam, that’s it, nothing more nothing less.

Each forkful is a bouquet of spicy, smokey, earthy, and sweet flavors with powerful aromatics that tickle the tongue as much as the tastebuds. The barbacoa is simply the juiciest and most tender meat you’re going to get on any salad and features notes of oregano and clove which pair nicely with the cumin-heavy pinto beans.

The Bottom Line:

Did I say Chick-fil-A has the best fast food salad? I take that back, nothing packs more flavor than this.

Find your nearest Chipotle here.

Dairy Queen — Crispy Chicken Strips Salad

Tasting Notes:

We just spent two entries talking about incredible fast food salads and now here we are at Dairy Queen. This is certainly a salad, whether or not it’s one you want to order depends on if you’re totally fine with mediocrity. Back when every fast food chain had numerous salad options something like the Crispy Chicken Strips Salad didn’t surprise us, but now that most fast food menus have been simplified we’re left wondering why this still exists.

It’s fine, not bad by any means but not worth ordering. Built on a bed of flavorless iceberg lettuce, this salad features bits of DQ’s fried chicken tenders, diced tomatoes, bacon, and a few shreds of cheddar cheese. Each individual ingredient, aside from the lettuce, is fine enough but the flavors never really come together in the right way.

The Bottom Line:

Eat it if they mess up and give you a salad for free for some reason. But certainly don’t order it — you might as well eat your money.

Find your nearest Dairy Queen here.

Del Taco — Taco Salad With Grilled Chicken

Tasting Notes:

Del Taco is putting a little too much effort into their salads. I say that because this Taco Salad with Grilled Chicken has all the makings of something delicious: fresh grated and nutty cheddar cheese, house-made pico de Gallo, fresh cilantro, sour cream, tortilla strips, and fresh guacamole. Only, it fails to deliver.

How did they manage to get all of these great ingredients together and fail to deliver? It makes no sense. The lettuce is bad, it has a dirt flavor to it, the guacamole has far too much onion, the sour cream doesn’t need to be there, the tortilla chips are stale, and the tomatoes are watery and unripened. The only thing going for this salad is the chicken and the cheese, which would probably taste way better between a tortilla. At least then you’d be saving some money.

The Bottom Line:

We know, it looks great but trust us — it’s not worth your time or money.

Find your nearest Del Taco here.

El Pollo Loco — Double Chicken Avocado Salad

Tasting Notes:

Now we’re talking! Take note Del Taco, this is how you make a salad. Built on a bed of spring mix, this salad sports a double serving of fire-grilled chicken, fresh slices of ripened avocado, corn, pico de Gallo, and crumbles of cotija cheese.

The chicken imparts a nice charred flavor to the whole thing making it taste satisfyingly savory with the Pico de Gallo adding a subtle hit of spice while the corn adds some texture. I wish there was more avocado here because it adds a nice buttery and savory quality to the chicken which makes this salad wonderfully satisfying.

The Bottom Line:

One of the best salads your money could buy and easily amongst El Pollo Loco’s best dishes, and that’s saying something! If you’re looking for a salad that is going to be filling and still deliver on flavor, you can’t go wrong with this one.

Find your nearest El Pollo Loco here.

Jack in the Box — Southwest Grilled Chicken Salad

Tasting Notes:

I don’t know what’s going on at Jack in the Box, but I don’t like it. Even before the pandemic, Jack in the Box has slowly been changing and dropping things from their menu and in the process, they’ve gone from a delicious fast food option to Burger King levels of bad.

This Southwest Chicken sandwich used to be amazing, and then JiB changed its chicken recipe and now the fried chicken, which used to top this salad, is inedible. This means now we have to settle for grilled chicken which is also terrible — it’s dry and flavorless. The lettuce is watery garbage, the grape tomatoes are also watery refuse, the cheddar cheese isn’t good, and the black beans are too dry and hard. The only thing going for it is the roasted corn and creamy southwest dressing.

The fact that this is the BEST salad at Jack in the Box shows you just how bad things have gotten.

The Bottom Line:

This used to be delicious but if you haven’t had it in five years, be warned — it’s changed and for the worse.

Find your nearest Jack in the Box here.

Panera — Citrus Asian Crunch Salad

Tasting Notes:

I’m always bouncing between what my favorite Panera salad is so forgive me if this isn’t yours, but my pick is the Citrus Asian Crunch Salad with Chicken, come see me in a month and see how I feel! This salad features a bed of romaine lettuce, which normally would garner an eye roll from me, but it’s super-changed with a mix of broccoli, green cabbage, carrots, and kale, which is way better than what you’ll usually find in a fast food salad.

Aside from the mix of veggies, the salad has a few springs of fresh cilantro, a handful of edamame, carrots, teriyaki drizzle, pickled red onions, and seared chicken thigh all tied together with a tangerine soy ginger dressing, is your mouth-watering yet?

There isn’t a single element of this salad that tastes boring, the use of chicken thigh is ingenious, giving this salad the juiciest chicken of any fast food salad, while pickled red onions infuse a lot of natural sweetness with a bit of tangy savory notes, while crispy fried carrots add a fantastic mouthfeel to the whole thing.

The Bottom Line:

A salad that never gets boring from the first forkful to the last.

Find your nearest Panera here.

Taco Bell — Veggie Power Menu Bowl

Tasting Notes:

This isn’t technically a salad but it’s as good as you’re going to get at Taco Bell, and you know what? It’s not bad. It’s obviously heavily influenced by Chipotle and features a mix of Spanish rice, black beans guacamole, lettuce with avocado ranch sauce, sour cream, tomatoes, and cheese. Despite being meatless, it’s very satisfying thanks to that combination of tomato-heavy rice and black beans and for an additional charge, you can easily add chicken or ground beef to the mix.

My major issue is the distribution, it feels all off, there is far too much rice here when there should be an equal distribution of rice and beans. In addition to that, the mouthfeel isn’t quite right either, it’s a bit too mushy, and it desperately needs some sort of crunch added to the mix. Luckily Taco Bell gives you all the tools you’ll need to get this power bowl in better shape.

Our suggestion is to add jalapeño peppers, chicken, and a three-cheese blend.

The Bottom Line:

It’s halfway decent and with a few tweaks, you’ll actually have a meal worth eating on your hands.

Find your nearest Taco Bell here.

Wendy’s — Apple Pecan Salad

Tasting Notes:

If you’re a Wendy’s fan already this shouldn’t come as a surprise to you — Wendy’s makes a damn good salad. Several of them in fact, our favorite is the Apple Pecan. Featuring a mix of sweet red and sour green apples, this salad also sports pecans, cranberries, blue cheese crumbles, and your choice of Wendy’s spicy, homestyle, or grilled chicken chopped on top using the same filet that makes the sandwiches so good.

Obviously, you’re going to want to go with the spicy style, which will infuse your meal with some cayenne-pepper-backed heat which serves as an interesting contrast to the sweet and tart qualities. To up the sweetness factor, Wendy’s pairs this salad with a pomegranate vinaigrette with adds more depth of flavor to the mix and complements the already sweet and tart flavor profile.

The Bottom Line:

Don’t sleep on Wendy’s salads, they’re as good as anything else on the menu. But definitely start with this one!

Find your nearest Wendy’s here.

If (when?) Donald Trump ever gets carted off to prison as a result of any one of the many investigations he’s currently under, Mike Lindell is going to have to go back to hawking his sh*tty pillows full-time. Because in his desperate desire to stay “in” with “the president,” he hasn’t stopped to take the temperature of the room. If he did, he might have noticed that Ron DeSantis, a.k.a. Ron DeSanctimonious, is the GOP’s current golden boy. And he probably wouldn’t suggest that there were “anomalies” in Florida’s recent gubernatorial election.

On Tuesday, Lindell — on his own Lindell TV, of course, because what network would want to risk a billion-dollar lawsuit by letting him on the air — the Pillow Man announced that “I am going after Dade County in the 2022 election.”

You’ll want to watch the video for yourself, because Mike and his sidekick Brandon have worked out a sort of “Who’s On First?” routine, but made it about “Florida” and “Hispanics.” But Lindell, who’s got all that cyber and stuff, ya know, thinks it’s kind of suspicious that DeSantis — who won a whopping 59.4 percent of the vote in the Sunshine State — won Miami-Dade County, too.

“For me, I look at deviations everybody,” Lindell said to the half-dozen or so people possibly watching. Or likely wondering why the guy who thought those slippers were a good idea is talking politics at all.

But Lindell explained, with a sly little knock at Democrats along the way:

That’s a deviation! I don’t believe it. So I just want to show everybody… just like how we always tell you about Democrats, where they stole their elections. Just like they did that nice lady in Georgia that got zero votes in her own precinct.

I want to find out, in Dade County, what happened there? Because it’s a deviation from norm, you know. So it’s very much a deviation.

Yes, a deviation. Or what some of us here on planet Earth call a “flip.” But that’s certainly one way to make Donald proud.

After posting last week about hoping to find her missing friends, Silvana Estrada mourned their tragic deaths in a heartfelt post today (December 21). Jorge and Andrés Tirado, who were close to the Mexican singer-songwriter, were found murdered at their home on Sunday in Mexico City.

Estrada had a breakthrough year with the release of her third album, Marchita. Back in October, she performed “Se Me Ocurre” as a guest on The Kelly Clarkson Show. Last month, Estrada won Best New Artist in a tie with Angela Alvarez at the Latin Grammy Awards. On Friday, she posted in her Instagram Stories about looking for her friends, the Tirado brothers, who were last seen that day. Jorge worked in music and he was the manager of singer Augusto Bracho. His younger brother, Andrés, was a budding actor and a graduate from the University Theater Center of the National Autonomous University Of Mexico (UNAM).

On Sunday, the Mexican authorities reported that the Tirado brothers were murdered along with their uncle, José Luis Gonzáles. Their bodies were found beaten, gagged, and strangled in a home that they shared with their uncle. José González’s wife Margarita Ochoa was also found beaten but she survived her injuries. Three people who the family lived with were arrested for their murders. El Pais is reporting that the family was murdered after refusing to hand over the deed to their home to the other tenants who are now in police custody.

Following the news of their murders, Estrada shared her memories with Jorge in a heartfelt post on Instagram. The post included her photos with Jorge and a video of him dancing happily.

“I love you, Jorge,” Estrada wrote. “You were my brother, my friend, and my family. I’m honored to know that we built a friendship so strong that even now I still embrace your love. I will honor the miracle of your life Jorge, the miracle of having been a part of it, the miracle that your brother also became my brother, and that this sick, miserable, and brutal world was bright and beautiful because of you. Nothing will ever be the same without you guys.”