Traveling in our luxe RV from state to state allows us to sample the best this great nation has to offer. This week, we sojourned to Walla Walla, famous for its world-class wine, sweet onions and a new crop: marijuana!
Walla Walla is a perfect destination for those who like the finer things in life without the hustle and bustle of a big city. It is equidistant from Portland, Oregon; Boise, Idaho and Seattle. And the scenery here is to die for.
At a wine-tasting event at one of Tiffany’s favorite wineries (the Pinot Noir in this region is highly recommended!), we bumped into Jenny, a budtender at the Walla Walla Cannabis Company.
Photo courtesy of Walla Walla Cannabis Company
She told us all about her store and its inviting atmosphere. The next day we visited the retail store and were happy to see Jenny behind the counter.
What impressed me most about Jenny was how knowledgeable she was about cannabis and how helpful she was. While we were perusing the store, we watched her help another shopper, a middle-aged man who said he hadn’t had marijuana since he was in his early 20s. Jenny took the time to explain the myriad of choices. The gentlemen left with a bagful of goodies … and knowledge about how safely consume the products.
This store truly focuses on educating its customers and guiding shoppers to find the right products. I was looking for some cannabis-infused chocolate and Tiffany was shopping for a vape pen.
Jenny was awesome. She asked about my experience with edibles and suggested a scrumptious chocolate bar. Tiffany brought home a sleek vape pen with a smooth, uplifting cartridge.
We returned to our RV, enjoyed our purchases and played cards for ours. And, of course, we slept like babies that night.
As Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump battle for the collective soul of our (kind of) great nation, innocent bystanders have suffered a great many of casualties: Skittles, bad hombres, “nasty women,”Ken Bone, Tic Tacs, and our sanity.
War is long and heartbreaking, but not all should suffer from the many sideswipes this election has seen. During Wednesday night’s third and (thank god) final debate, we witnessed yet another bright soul fall victim to the war. Both Clinton and Trump fired salvos aimed at this target. They did so in such a derogatory manner you wonder if these candidates ever considered this causality a soul so very much alive.
We are gathered here today to celebrate the life of “puppets,” once so vibrant and beautiful, but now discarded and cold. In case you forgot the cause of death, we remind you now.
“No, you’re the puppet,” Trump said, so casually, like “puppets” never lived at all. It breaks your heart, really. Please, scroll down and remember how great puppets have been, how they pulled strings for you that you never thought were possible. We miss you already, puppets.
Potter Puppet Pals
When J.K. Rowling wrote the generation-defining Harry Potter series, we thought she created a world bequeathed from her imagination. But then we learned the truth: She’d discovered these puppets. Though she fictionalized their lives—and continues to do so despite all of us wishing she’d just stop already—this was how their story began. As puppets.
Team America
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1mlCPMYtPk
Throughout the history of our country, many wars have been waged like the one we find ourselves in now. Typically, we imagined those wars having been fought with armies and navies and aircraft, but some time ago it was revealed what our secret weapon really was: puppets. Yes, puppets have saved this country’s freedoms more than we care to admit. To think we so carelessly cast off their lives now.
Sesame Street
Through major university studies, we have deduced a searing truth: Without puppets, our kids would be fucking dumb. Thank you, Elmo and the rest of the Sesame Street gang, about a great so many of things.
Fun fact: The Internet would be approximately 5,000 times less fun and more trash if it weren’t for Kermit. Would memes cease to exist? Would everything just be Crying Jordan Face and Shaking Arthur Fist? Perhaps. So thank god for Kermit, a puppet.
Jeff Dunham
Puppets made an average comedian funny!
Being John Malkovich
Puppets tied together a high-concept movie about the frailty and illusory control we maintain over our own lives and made simple the way other people “take over” our lives and pull our strings and provided laughter in an otherwise loopty-loo story.
Thank you, puppets, for shining so bright. We will not let this darkness overtake you.
The Stunt Queen of pizza delivery is at it again. But instead of pizza box turntables, Pizza Hut has come out with a temporary tattoo that’s preprogrammed with your location and favorite pizza. All you have to do is scan the tattoo and pick up your order at the nearest Pizza Hut or have it delivered to your home.
The catch? Pizza Hut will be giving away just 40 of these tattoos, by way of social media.
What a world when you can order grilled cheese stuffed crust directly from the fat on your arm where it will end up.
This is indeed a sticky time for fast-food giants, like Pizza Hut. In fact, while sales are dwindling for just about everyone, Domino’s is the only chain reporting “better than expected” earnings, which increased a whopping 13-percent last quarter from the year prior.
Domino’s CFO, Jeffrey Lawrence, says the company’s year-old loyalty program “significantly” increased orders.
Pizza Hut came up with this new promotion by combining two of the UK’s most popular past-times: eating pizza and getting tattoos. If you need a visual, here’s how it all works:
North Korea is a land of great mystery, extremely limited internet, and awful human rights abuses. It is also apparently a place where chimpanzees chainsmoke in zoos.
The Guardianreports that officials at the Central Zoo in Pynongyang say Azalea, a 19-year-old chimpanzee, smokes up to a pack of cigarettes every day. She can light them on her own with a lighter or matches, and can be seen in videos puffing away. But don’t worry too much: Officials also say she doesn’t inhale. In addition to smoking, the Associated Press reports that Azalea, or Dallae as she’s called in Korean, knows how to bow, touch her know, and do basic dances.
Azalea the smoking chimp is just one of the zoo’s popular attractions. Thousands of daily visitors also reportedly visit the dog pavilion, which is filled with various breeds of dogs. But most impressive—and perhaps cruel—is a monkey that can reportedly dunk a basketball and dogs smart enough to solve basic math equations on an abacus.
In mid-October New York City hosted one of the biggest food festivals in the country: The New York City Wine and Food Festival. This year’s NYCWFF presented over 100 events and drew more than 50,000 “foodies” (or simply people with the munchies), with ticket prices ranging from $10 to $400.
After viewing the festival calendar, there was only one event that called out: the decadent “Chicken Coupe:” a fried chicken and champagne tasting hosted by Whoopi Goldberg and Chef Andrew Carmellini.
I simply could not resist the idea of a rooftop “sesh” replete with chicken and celebrity, so I made a call, scored two comp tix (priced at $195.00 each), found a friend who imbibes and made my way into a savory wonderland of rotisserie, deep fry, BBQ and bubbly at the chic and brand new William Vale Hotel in Williamsburg Brooklyn.
We were high, and this is what we saw:
Whoopi Loves Chicken
Photo by Robert Galinsky
It was clear from the beginning that Whoopi was on a mission to taste each and every one of the two-dozen vendors. A camera crew followed her every move as she sampled and commented throughout, always taking the high road with her assessments, never dissing any of the chefs with her witty quips.
Knowing Whoopi is weed friendly (she is co-founder of Whoopi and Maya) I could only imagine that she must have enjoyed inhaling the vapors, er… aromas, of this classic cuisine, as well as tasting the savory and unique flavors, as much as I did. The cypher wasn’t complete until Whoopi doubled back for a second visit to the scrumptious (stoner heaven) Underwest Donuts. Underwest specializes in cake donuts, deep fried donuts, glazed donuts and donuts dunked in sugar. Yes please!
The Other Celebs Also Really Like Chicken
Photo by Robert Galinsky
As I expected, the Chicken Coupe brought together live entertainment, great chefs and culinary personalities all ready to educate, dazzle and feed a famished flock of fowl fanatics. Of course Hollywood legend Whoopi Goldberg was the queen hen in the hen house, but a legion of chicken loving celebs emerged as well.
“American Horror Story” voodoo queen and star Angela Bassett, who told those within earshot that she travels with a lunch of skinless chicken and steamed broccoli when on set, was a surprise guest, as was Tom Leandros, executive producer of the groundbreaking transgender-centric reality TV show “Strut.” Composer and tabla player Deep Singh was spotted taking hits of honey-infused Korean wings, and the perennial NYC band “The Sidewinders,” playing poolside, kept the crowd high on the blues and funk.
Colonel Sanders Is Still The Man
Photo by Robert Galinsky
Everyone gathered and paid homage to a porcelain figurine of the late Colonel, rubbing his head and tugging on his beard like it was the Rosetta Stone, while trying to absorb some of his aura and legend. Though he had a rocky life (at age five his father died, by age 17 he lost four jobs, at age 20 his wife left him and took their baby, he became a small time cook, and at age 65 decided to commit suicide, but while writing his will he had an epiphany, went door to door selling his fried chicken, and by age 88 he was a billionaire) he was still the Buddha of the event.
Chicken Tastes Better When It’s Smoked, Or You Are Smoking
Photo by Robert Galinsky
After devouring plate after plate of America’s favorite comfort food, I decided to shift my perspective and escaped with my vape to a chaise lounge in the shadows. A few pulls later, the view of the Manhattan skyline from the Vale rooftop glistened with a new vibrancy and it didn’t matter if it was mesquite, cherry, or the ever popular sativa that was used to smoke, my final take away come clearly into view….
The William Vale Hotel Is A Happy Place
Photo by Robert Galinsky
The rooftop at this hotel is an expansive and distinguished open air space tailor made for high times. Breathing deeply in and out under the night sky, I felt the enviable inspiration that New York often shows of itself. The staff from doorman, to bartenders, to cocktail waitresses all had sweet grins and congenial smiles, as though they were high on the good life as well.
Those are all potential ice cream flavors to honor Rory and Lorelai Gilmore — the Gilmore Girls — two junk food loving imaginary characters getting more press play these days than when the show originally aired nearly a decade ago. This latest stunt has nothing to do with Netflix, which is reviving the series November 25. Nope. Unlike those Luke’s Diner pop-up promos, an ice cream shop in Brooklyn is behind this latest ploy. Ample Hills has created a contest to name a Gilmore Girls flavor ice cream in exchange for a free pint, free coffee and a Friday night dinner invite at Emily’s house! How very Stars Hollow of you, Brooklyn.
The internet is hype on Logan this morning, as fans of Wolverine — and movies about Wolverine that don’t suck — get a first-look at the film’s trailer release.
If you haven’t been following the X-Men universe, it isn’t completely clear that you’re not just watching another dusty modern western following Hugh Jackman’s grouchy midlife crisis. It’s set to the gravely sounds of Johnny Cash’s cover of “Hurt,” a song that’s officially overused for feelsy effect.
It pulls elements from the 2008 “Old Man Logan” storyline written by Mark Millar, wherein Wolverine gets screwed over by a series of unfortunate run-ins with the Marvel baddies (and some of the goodies, too). The quick notes: He tries to kill himself; his whole family is murdered by the Hulk’s grandkids; he goes on a stab n’ slash rampage; he’s eaten by the Hulk (???) and then explodes out of the Hulk’s stomach. That’s about as straightforward as the rest of the X-Men storylines. Alright, you’re caught up!
Leading up to the trailer release, Marvel’s been teasing the film with images of some of the cast looking old and tired:
We also see a super-ancient Professor Xavier played by Patrick Stewart, who needs to buckle up in the back of that pickup. The crux of the film is a girl in peril, who fans speculate is a young Laura Kinney, or X-23. Xavier tells Logan she is “like you, very much like you,” and considering Kinney is the mutant female clone of Wolverine, that sounds like a pretty big gimme. If that IS Kinney, well…
This is Jackman’s ninth g0-around as the Mean Stabby X-Man, so some of the exhaustion we’re seeing on screen is probably authentic. Logan opens in theaters March 3, 2017.
Why talk about who won the latest presidential debate when you can talk about who won Alaska’s Katmai National Park & Preserve annual Fat Bear Tuesday contest. Otis, who Motherboard reports weighs “around 1000 pounds,” was crowned the park’s fattest bear earlier this week after a week-longcompetition.
“It was a close race, and many worthy opponents gave it their all, which we applaud them for,” the park wrote on Facebook. “Not all bears have what it takes to survive in the unforgiving land of Alaska, let alone make as prosperous a living as 480 Otis.”
So what’s Otis’s secret to becoming a champion fat bear? Basically: Don’t move very much and let the food come to you. “He’s a zen master, Otis, he sits there and waits for the fish to come to him and he doesn’t expend any energy unnecessarily,” park volunteer David Kopshever said in a Facebook video.
The park elaborated in another Facebook post: “It’s survival of the fattest in the bear world, and 480 Otis has found some seriously successful strategies for plumping up. Fishing primarily in the far pool (AKA Otis’s office,) 480 stays out of harm’s way, avoiding more dominant bears like 856 and 747, who prefer to fish in the productive ‘jacuzzi’ area. With patience and learned experience, Otis saves his energy by remaining in one place all day, converting salmon into the maximum amount of lard around his belly.”
Otis, who is believed to be 19 or 20 years old, has been seen eating as many as 40 fish per day, which—combined with his massive weight—means he’ll be well prepared for winter. This is also the second time he’s won the fattest bear award.
“Otis may not be the most dominant or lively bear around,” the park noted, “but he is the fattest.”
It’s tough to get the U.S. electorate to agree on much these days, but there is one hot-button topic that appears to bring together Americans across the political spectrum: Legalized Marijuana.
Gallup released on Wednesday its latest poll on cannabis legalization and found that 60 percent of Americans are in support.
According to Gallup,
When Gallup first asked this question in 1969, 12 percent of Americans supported the legalization of marijuana use. In the late 1970s, support rose to 28 percent but began to retreat in the 1980s during the era of the “Just Say No” to drugs campaign. Support stayed in the 25 percent range through 1995, but increased to 31 percent in 2000 and has continued climbing since then.
You read that correctly. Americans have shifted 48 percentage points on the issue since Richard Nixon’s first year in the White House.
Digging into the demographic details of the poll, Gallup found:
By age
In the past decade, support is up 33 percentage points to 77 percent among adults aged 18 to 34.
Support is up 26 points among those 35-54 to 61 percent.
Support is up 16 points among adults aged 55 and older to 45 percent.
By party affiliation
In the past decade, support among Democrats has increased 29 percentage points to 68 percent.
Support among independent voters has increased 24 percentage points to 70 percent.
Republicans, which according to Gallup skew older, still are not supportive of legalization. But the support among the GOP has increased 22 percentage points to 42 percent.
Last week, the Pew Research Center released a poll showing 57 percent support for legalization.
Marijuana is fully legal in Alaska, Colorado, Oregon, Washington state and the District of Columbia. This November, voters in Arizona, California, Maine, Massachusetts and Nevada will decide on the issue. Three other states — Florida, Arkansas and North Dakota — will vote on whether to allow medical marijuana in its state. Montana also has a ballot measure aimed at easing its restrictive laws.
Tom Angell, chairman of the pro-legalization group Marijuana Majority, said the Gallup poll and the Pew Research Center study may signal a shift in electoral politics.
“More politicians — presidential candidates included — would do themselves a big favor to take note of the clear trend,” he said.
Eminem is angry again. That might not come as a shocker when considering Marshall Mathers, but this time he’s aimed his vexing toward the political arena with a nearly eight-minute freestyle called “Campaign Speech.”
Though Em has been mum with regard to this election, this more than delivers all of his pent-up thoughts and frustrations about the current climate. The “Chuck Norris with a thesaurus,” as he dubs himself in the song, spits dives right into all the controversy. He disses Donald Trump and his supporters, throws shots at George Zimmerman and Dylan Roof, rides for Colin Kaepernick, and more.
The song includes Eminem’s patented penchant for intricate and multi-syllabic rhyming and his overall spazzing on the mic. For example, he aims at Trump supporters with these bars: “That’s what you wanted / A fuckin’ loose cannon / Whose blunt with his hand on the button / Who doesn’t have to answer to no one / Great idea.”
Some weren’t jazzed on the song—though at this point, if you don’t like Eminem, maybe just don’t listen?—but Eminem announced he’s working on a new album. Also, unsurprisingly, Twitter had some strong reactions on the track. Check the responses below.
Eminem is the greatest rapper of all time end of discussion !! I'd bet my last penny that man would eat anyone like a snack
