A teen fish whisperer made the catch of a lifetime this week when he reeled in a legendary 650-pound sturgeon named Pig Nose that has haunted the waters of British Columbia for decades.
Nick McCabe, a 19-year-old guide with River Monster Adventures, caught the fish Tuesday night in the Fraser River. He released it after taking several photos to document the historic catch.
According to McCabe’s coworker Jeff Grimolfson, Pig Nose earned his distinctive nickname 40 years ago, when he damaged his nose in an accident.
“This fish has been the talk of fishing and sporting goods shops for years,” he told Global News. “As the legend lives on, you’d be in a sporting goods shop and you’d hear, ‘My buddy was sure he had Pig Nose on the line.’”
Pig Nose measured 10 feet and two inches long and five-and-a-half feet around. He’s believed to be around 80 years-old.
The largest sturgeon on record was a beluga female captured in the Volga Delta in 1827, measuring 7.2 m (23 ft 7 in) long and weighing 1,571 kg (3,463 lb). Most sturgeons are anadromous bottom-feeders, migrating upstream to spawn but spending most of their lives feeding in river deltas and estuaries.
So how did McCabe manage to catch such a big-ass fish? “He is the sturgeon whisperer,” Grimolfson said.
This week in “I Can’t Believe We Still Deal With This Sh*t,” Leslie Jones’ fellow actors are tweeting their #StandWithLeslie support following outrageous acts of hateful misogynoir.
Someone hacked her iCloud Tuesday night and released purported nude photos of the actress, which follows a year marked by an onslaught of hate toward her role in Ghostbusters and bullying on Twitter.
Jones tearfully left Twitter last month, but returned with a vengeance. As the Olympics in Rio began, she posted videos while losing her damn mind during the coverage from home. Eventually, NBC took notice, and invited her to the games as a corespondent:
Jones turned a bleak situation into explosive, contagious joy and a dream-come-true opportunity.
Now that she’s facing a new level of horrible with the hack, her celebrity peers are showing public support and encouraging her to stay strong. Ghostbusters director Paul Feig, Katy Perry, Questlove and many more joined the cry to #StandWithLeslie. Politicians pitched in for the flood of support, too: The First Lady of NYC Chirlane McCray denounced the bullying, as did her sorta-famous husband Bill, and the Lieutenant Governor of California Gavin Newsom.
Here are a handful of the best celebrity tweets standing with her and denouncing hate:
What's happening to @Lesdoggg is an absolute outrage. Alt right, haters, trolls, "comedians," whoever the fuck you all are, you're just sad.
If you’re in the mood for a marijuana road trip, Colorado and Washington are the two top destinations. I know. Shocker.
But California, the first state to allow for legal medical marijuana in 1996, is only No. 8, according to Estately, a Seattle-based real estate website. Of course, full legalization is on the November ballot in the Golden State so expect a bump in the ratings next year.
Estately gave each state a score from 1 to 100 for the following criteria:
The percentage of residents who reported smoking at least once in the last month. (Source: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration)
The average cost of high- and low-quality marijuana. (Source: PriceofWeed.com)
The Google searches related to marijuana. (Source: Google Trends)
The legality of recreational or medicinal marijuana. (Source: Drug Policy Alliance)
The publicly expressed interested in marijuana-themed publications, (Source: Facebook user data)
Based on these data points, here are the five top states:
Colorado The Rocky Mountain high is an actual thing. The state was the first to sell recreational marijuana and is No. 1 in terms of percentage of residents who have used marijuana in the past month (11.5 percent) and in weed-related Google searches. The state ranks third in marijuana affordability. Aspen, Denver and Boulder are wonderful year-round destinations for weed lovers.
Washington Along with Colorado, Washington was the first state to vote for full legalization. Marijuana prices are the second cheapest in the country and it has the fifth highest percentage of pot smokers (10 percent). Seattle, of course, is marijuana mecca. But Bellingham, about a two-hour drive north, has a lively cannabis scene.
Oregon Marijuana is ubiquitous in Oregon. It’s also home of the most affordable bud in the nation. Cannabis enthusiasts smokers make up 9.8 percent of the population.
New Mexico Medical marijuana is legal in the state and the price of cannabis is fifth lowest in the nation. About 7 percent of state residents are cannabis enthusiasts. New Mexico citizens are No. 1 when it comes to reading marijuana-related publications, which helped boost the state’s ranking.
Maine This one is a bit of a surprise. Medical marijuana is available to residents here, although it’s a bit pricey (17th). More than 10 percent of Maine residents admit to using cannabis in the past moth, which ranks third nationally.
By now it’s all but written in stone: 2016 has been Chance the Rapper’s year. It might even be written in stone, too. No other rapper, no other artist, has ascended from beloved talent to bona fide star as quickly or as assuredly as Chance has this year.
His national rise began last year, though, when Chance and friends performed on Saturday Night Live last December. He looked, well, calm rapping, crooning, and dancing, like he wasn’t the first independent artist to ever play SNL (which he was). Instead it was more akin to a show you’d see popping in to a random hole in the wall on a Tuesday night, where the act has been playing for years. So relaxed, he was.
Then the stupefying, spoken-gospel “This is my part, nobody else speak” moment from Kanye West’s Life of Pablo opening track “Ultralight Beams.” He stole the show on a Kanye record, of all places. But really it was a preview for Chance’s Coloring Book, a kaleidoscopic hymn and one of the best albums of the year. Party jams, late-night introspective joints, trap records. The best rap in 2016 has to offer siphoned and tinged with Chance’s hard-earned hope and belief.
Add in his Muhammad Ali tribute at the ESPYs and the original track dedicated to Team USA basketball, a.k.a. our new national anthem, and it’s obvious this is Chance’s moment. Nobody else speak. (Note: Butterflies roller coaster my soul every time Chance belts “Oh say!” then drops an octave to rap “Can you see America face?”)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DFLoN3JosA
Most artists would just perform an old song, and ESPN apparently asked him to do just that as revealed in GQ’s excellent profile of Chance. They approached him to do “Blessings,” that effervescent, spiritual track that anchors Coloring Book, but Chance instead proposed writing an original tune.
But as Chance tells it, all his blessings stem from his grandmother, who “cursed” him. Either before or during recording his breakthrough mixtape Acid Rap, Chance “was just doing a lot of drugs, just hanging out. I was gone all the time,” he says.
So he visited his grandmother’s one day, and she decided to pray for him.
As he told GQ:
“And she looked me in the eyes and she said, ‘I don’t like what’s going on.’ She said, ‘I can see it in your eyes. I don’t like this.’ And she says, ‘We’re gonna pray.’ And she prayed for me all the time. Like, very positive things. But this time, she said, ‘Lord, I pray that all things that are not like You, You take away from Chance. Make sure that he fails at everything that is not like You. Take it away. Turn it into dust.’ ”
The GQ piece is full of excellent gems like that, explaining how Chance become the star he is now. There’s also a delightful anecdote about the time Frank Ocean, genius extraordinaire, played wingman on a date for Chance.
When the BBC polled 62 international film critics last year to rank the 100 greatest American movies of all-time, an interesting omission mostly went unmentioned: There weren’t many films from the 2000s. And by not many, I mean there were six. The Dark Knight, 12 Years A Slave, 25th Hour, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Tree of Life, and Mullohand Drive. Today, I am debating the 100 greatest movies of the 2000s list.
Two modes of thinking kind of conspired to produce this result: a) film critics tend to hold a slavish, reverential eye to cinema past and b) the film community constantly bemoans that the movies are dying. Or, as a 12 year-old might put it, “movies are trash now.”
Is this true? Not really. Masterpieces are still being made. Auteurs and their big budget visions still receive proper support. Goodness: Quentin Tarantino hosted a 70mm roadshow for Hateful Eight last year that brought back the feeling of cinema past with film programs and projectors, plus plenty of backstabbing and bloody bloody violence. (Okay, that last part’s more of a Tarantino thing.)
Anyways, it might be more difficult and (*shakes fist*) streaming’s ruining “the culture,” sure. But are there only six movies made since 2000 worthy of joining the annals of film history? No. Of course not. That’s why the BBC commissioned a new poll of 100 greatest movies made since 2000, asking 177 critics from around the world—“every continent except Antarctica.” Only the BBC would include that important tidbit the-more-you-know style.
Here’s a quick peak at the top 10:
10. No Country for Old Men (Joel and Ethan Coen, 2007)
9. A Separation (Asghar Farhadi, 2011)
8. Yi Yi: A One and a Two (Edward Yang, 2000)
7. The Tree of Life (Terrence Malick, 2011)
6. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Michel Gondry, 2004)
5. Boyhood (Richard Linklater, 2014)
4. Spirited Away (Hayao Miyazaki, 2001)
3. There Will Be Blood (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2007)
2. In the Mood for Love (Wong Kar-wai, 2000)
1. Mulholland Drive (David Lynch, 2001)
A pretty solid bunch, to be sure. But rankings have only ever served one real purpose—to be debated. So let’s analyze the list with some quick, stream-of-consciousness thoughts.
Is Mulholland Drive the best movie of our modern century? Possibly. It’s about movies and storytelling which always elevates art in the critics’ eyes because it’s commenting about itself. The final 10 minutes (no spoilers) blows your fucking brains out. It’s like acid in movie form. But how often is anyone “in the mood” for Mulholland Drive? Debatable. It’s an argument is all I’m trying to say.
Speaking of Tarantino, he appears a sum total of one (1) times on this list. That movie: Inglourious Basterds at No. 62. A tragedy? Well, tragedies should probably be reserved for real, impacts the well-being-of-others tragedies but…this is a tragedy. Kill Bill Vol. 1 and 2 should appear separately and at the very least together within the top 66. What about Django Unchained, Tarantino’s biggest box-office hit ever? I prefer it over Basterds. Maybe international critics don’t like the color of red?
Recency bias alert: Brooklyn somehow ranks at No. 48 on this list. Good movie, but not top 50 of all 2000s movies good. Also, get Spotlight out of here. No. 88, really? I can name 88 better YouTube clips. However: Inside Out is properly ranked at No. 41. It could even be higher.
I like the recognition of Hiyao Miyazaki’s genius, ranking Spirited Away at No. 4. This would not happen if only American critics voted.
Do me a favor and peruse the 100 movies. If you can, pinpoint a comedy for me. Not a comedic movie, but a full-blown Comedy. Wes Anderson and Pixar movies don’t count. I’ll do you a favor: there isn’t one. No Judd Apatow, no Bridesmaids, no Borat, no pre-trash Sandler, no Rogen-Goldberg joints, nothing. Not even love for Britain’s own Edgar Wright. Seriously pick any one of the Three Flavours Cornetto trilogy (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, At World’s End), slap it anywhere on the list, and it’ll (probably) be correct. Comedians get no love.
Wolf of Wall Street, Scorsese’s late-career masterpiece, continues to be underrated. Ranked No. 88 here, it should be much higher. On a separate note: Kudos to Charlie Kaufman, whose Synechdoche, New York finally receives its credit as classic at No. 20.
The following directors have two movies each in top third of the list: Christopher Nolan (Dark Knight, Memento), Paul Thomas Anderson (There Will Be Blood, The Master), David Fincher (Zodiac, The Social Network), and Joel and Ethan Coen (Inside Llewyn Davis, No Country for Old Men). Other than Tarantino’s absence, that feels correct.
Though more thoughts and opinions pour through my head (How is Inherent Vice on this list but not Punch-Drunk Love!?), those are the main ones. So, um, the point here is simple: Movies aren’t trash now. Don’t let a 12-year-old tell you otherwise.
Three years ago, a small Minnesota town discovered the secret to political harmony and prosperity: They elected a damn dog mayor. Now the dog, Duke, has been elected to a record third term in office.
Duke, a nine-year-old Great Pyrenees, was initially voted in as a joke, but no one is laughing now that he’s established a Huey Long-like chokehold on local politics. It all started in 2013, when 12 people paid $1 each (the election doubles as a fundraiser for a festival) to elect Duke as mayor of Cormorant.
“Three years ago it happened by accident. It was a write-in vote. You pay a dollar and you can vote,”David Rick, Duke’s owner, told ABC News. Now, it appears as though the combination of Duke’s political talents—being a good dog—and the big money supporting him has made him an unstoppable candidate.
“I don’t know who would run against him,” Karen Nelson, Duke’s “adoptive mother,” told WDAY.
In fact, only one town resident failed to vote for him. “Everybody voted for Duke, except for one vote for his girlfriend, Lassie,” Rick said. When he’s not busy running Cormorant, Duke somehow finds time to help out on his owners’ farm.
In this politically divided and terrible time, electing more dogs to public office seems like the only rational thing to do.
Cities love claiming their hometown heroes. It gives people a sense of pride in where they’re from, lets celebrities return home heroes, and provides the mayor with an easy photo op. Everyone wins.
For example, the city of Los Angeles recently announced that August 24 will now be known as “Kobe Bryant Day.” The date, 8/24, plays on Bryant’s two jersey numbers he wore for the Lakers, and will help promote Bryant’s philanthropic and venture capitalist second life following his fruitful basketball career.
We love this idea: More holidays, more civic pride, more fun!
In fact, we love this idea so much we’re proposing a list of new holidays tailor-made for cities and their stars. Following the L.A.-Kobe blueprint, we’ll focus on raising awareness for important causes, fun celebrations, and arbitrary numbers.
Check out our full list below.
Photo by Flickr user Jeffrey Beall
December 5—Tom Brady Day, Boston
December 5th will be Tom Brady Day in Boston, commemorating the exact pressure Brady likes his balls (12.5 PSI). Fans who show up to sports bars dressed as ball boys (or ball girls) will receive four free Sam Adams (for each of Brady’s four Super Bowls) in exchange for a deflated ball that will be donated to a charity. That charity: Youth Boys & Girls Clubs in Indianapolis. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell will try to suspend the holiday numerous times, utilizing his corporate and Capitol Hill leverage, but will fail. Boston fans will use this anecdote in numerous sports bars across America as reason why their celebrity holiday is better than everyone else’s.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BJb3b8LgeIv/
October 2—DJ Khaled night, Miami
As DJ Khaled fame rises to meteoric heights, so too will the success of Snapchat. Realizing his influence on the brand, Snapchat will name him the official mascot of the app. To commemorate the day Khaled joined Snapchat—October 2, 2015—Miami will also attempt to capitalize on his growing success and announce DJ Khaled night in Miami. The party will be held in the port with attendees riding We The Best-branded jet skis. Khaled will DJ on a floating barge designed as a giant lion. Waiters in kayaks will float between partiers passing out Ciroc Apple shots and chicken sausage bites made by Chef Dee. Snapchat will be the only social app allowed and Khaled will say “Another One” approximately 4,000 times.
May 28—Linklater-McConaughey Day, Austin
On May 28th, the city of Austin will celebrate the lives of two hometown stars: Matthew McConaughey and Richard Linklater. The date aligns with Dazed and Confused, Linklater’s and McConaughey’s classic, which follows several jocks and outcasts on their last day of high school, May 28th 1976. Austinites will drive around aimlessly in Lincoln cars, listen to Led Zeppelin and Aerosmith, and smoke weed amidst conversation about the frivolous and temporal nature of life. Though this already (kind of) happens, this will be the day everyone does it together, and therefore elevate the activity in everyone’s minds.
December 4th—Jay Z Day, Brooklyn
As Jay Z drifts further and further into the corporate world, eventually being recognized by his formal name “Shawn Carter,” he will amass enough capital and influence to institute his own holiday. It will be December 4th, his birthday, and every year, Mr. Carter will make the same dad joke at the event: “I got the perfect song for today.” Then “December 4th” will play as Jay bursts into that giggling laugh of his. The event will be a giant block party in Marcy, Brooklyn, akin to those had in the early DJ-centric days of hip hop (as seen in The Get Down), though everyone will be drinking D’usse and Ace of Spades and it’ll be livestreamed on Tidal. Nas will announce a similar block party in Queens that will be more critically lauded, but never reach the popular mass of Mr. Carter’s.
“4”—Beyoncé holiday, Houston
Four is a number synonymous with Beyoncé: She was born September 4th, there were four original members in Destiny’s Child, one of her albums is titled 4, and she married Jay Z April 4. As a response to the new tradition of celebrities commemorating their own days, Beyoncé will convince Houston to bequeath the entire month of April to her. One year, without any warning, that month will just be called “4” within city limits. No one will know why until Beyoncé announces a surprise residency during “4” in Houston, where she will perform a live-only album in Third Ward concert venues that will change performance to performance. All proceeds will go to BeyGood, and will provide vegan-friendly meals to those in need. Oh, and the bee emoji will become the official seal of the city.
June 7—Michael Jordan day, Chicago
When Chicago sends out a press release revealing June 7th as Michael Jordan Day, no one will be surprised. It will seem pre-ordained and basketball Twitter will wonder aloud, full of snark, why this wasn’t already a thing. The only speculation will revolve around the date. Is it a commentary on the evolution of his jersey numbers: No. 23, No. 45, now 6/7? Or: If the month stands for championship victories (6), is the 7 symbolic of his Olympic Gold Medal? Only years later will MJ’s true intentions be known: As an instigation to all current NBA players that he’s still better than them and will steal the spotlight during the sport’s most captivating month. He will host a city-wide basketball tournament by day with a Cuban cigar party at night. No rap music will play at either event. A new retro Jordan will be tied to the event each year and will sell for thousands on eBay. Bulls chairman Jerry Reisndorf will not be invited.
January 8, March 7—Peyton Manning day, Indianapolis and Denver
With it becoming obvious the celebrity holiday is indeed a national trend, Indianapolis will try to quickly snatch up the rights to Peyton Manning day to an exclusive deal. Not wanting anything special, the date will be simple: 1/8. But organizers will bicker over liability insurance rates over possible neck injuries at the Kick, Pass, and Punt challenge and scrimmage to be held at the event, and the city of Denver will offer more money if Manning will hold the event on March 7. Manning will choke back tears and reluctantly agree while sportswriters will call it a poetic date: the day he was fired from the Colts and retired from the NFL. Budweiser and Papa John’s will sponsor the event. Manning will attempt to donate all proceeds to the United Way, but the organization will refuse, stating the gesture is too little, too late, considering Manning’s past.
October 24—Taylor Swift week, Nashville
Late in her career, when it’s clear Kim Kardashian has won the media war against her, a leak will reach the internet that Taylor Swift is about to announce a week-long holiday in Nashville to “return to her roots.” The move will seem opportunistic and shameless to most critics, who will label her a “culture vulture.” Swift will respond with an iPhone note screenshot posted on Instagram lashing out against capitalism and celebrity voyeurism, all while making a half-hearted appeal to her “real fans” who staunchly come to her defense. Swift will also try to romance Leonardo DiCaprio to drum up gossip mag interest, but he will refuse. She also will try to get back together with Jake Gyllenhaal, and will send him an email explaining that she needs the popularity boost and that he can dump her after the festival. When that email leaks as well, and Gyllenhaal avoids commenting, Swift becomes a trending topic day after day, as her paranoia leads her into more and more controversy. Amidst the negative publicity, Nashville cancels the event, casting a dark cloud over celebrity-city holidays, and the trend slowly fades away from view.
For all of its downsides, aging has some perks. People treat you with respect, you get offered seats on the subway, movie tickets are cheaper and, if you’re Ivena Smailes, five hunky firefighters will help you celebrate your 105th birthday.
Smailes, who goes by Ivy, requested the firefighters’ presence for her big day, which she celebrated at the Addison Court Care Home in Crawcrook, England.
“[Ivy] sends us little challenges for her birthday every year and this year she asked for firemen,” Debra Carter, a worker at the facility in Addison, told ABC News. “We had the local fire brigade come…through the third floor balcony window. They were more than happy to help!”
The party also featured singers — who performed songs by some of Ivy’s favorite artists, including Elvis, Al Johnson, and Frank Sinatra — and dancing.
“It was great!” Smailes said. “Out of this world.”
The centenarian has big plans for next year’s bash. “She’s already said that next year she wants to meet Prince Harry,” Carter said.
For 25 years, the annual Seattle Hempfest has attracted massive crowds (this year’s three-day attendance was nearly 200,00) to listen to non-top music and speeches on six stages spread throughout the 1 1/2-mile Myrtle Edwards Park on the city’s famed waterfront.
No other cannabis event can compare when it comes to the sheer number of attendees and speakers. And no cannabis event can claim the financial windfall for the host city. According to an economic impact study, Hempfest patrons (about 20 percent of whom are from out of state) spend roughly $7 million dollars during the weekend.
Protestival on a Shoestring But if you think it’s all about the green (in both bucks and bud), you are mistaken. Yes, the city’s coffers get filled, but the Hempfest organization operates on a shoestring budget and relies on an army of more than 1,000 volunteers.
The free event, described aptly as a “Protestival” by Hempfest founder and director Vivian McPeak, depends on the generosity of its patrons to stay afloat.
Photo courtesy of Seattle Hempfest
Since it is considered a “free speech event” and not a commercial event, the organizers do not charge admission but accept donations. During most years, the average donation is less than 50 cents per attendee – a pittance for a three-day festival. This year, the organizers actively pushed for a larger contribution.
Official crowd totals and contributions were not available at press time, but organizers were upbeat about this year’s crowd.
“We’ll have a better accounting by the end of the week,” McPeak said on Sunday. “But we are happy with the early estimates.”
Did Legalization Hurt? Ironically, one of Hempfest’s largest financial challenges is legalization of recreational marijuana – or, more accurately, how the law’s implementation damaged the state’s medical program.
Photo courtesy of Seattle Hempfest
“Our primary source of sponsorship and advertising—which were medical marijuana dispensaries—were closed this year, and the money dried up because they stopped advertising,” McPeak told High Times. “That was a real body blow to us, and so we thought, ‘Well that’s okay, we got the recreational stores coming and they can advertise.’ Well, the state legislature made it against the law for a I-502 licensee (which includes rec stores or cultivators, or packagers and processors) to advertise within a thousand feet of public property or within a state park. We’re on city park public property, so they can have a booth, they can give out information, but they can’t talk about their products or their business or the fact that they sell anything. Combine those two things, and that’s really a challenge for us.”
At a quarter-of-a-century old, there are some who believe Hempfest is no longer needed as a vehicle to spread the word. After all, marijuana is medically legal in 25 states and recreationally in four states – with more states voting for initiatives this November.
McPeak says the work must go on and the event would continue as an advocate for complete national legality and equality.
“We have a 25-point platform detailing all the things that we believe are important: home growth, medical-marijuana rights and getting marijuana off federal schedules for the Controlled Substances Act. We don’t in any way think that we’re finished.”
When we speak of great modern-day American poets, the list probably starts with — yeah, nevermind. Kanye wrote a poem about McDonalds. And it’s absolutely incredible.
By now you’ve likely heard of *the poem*, but to recap: Frank Ocean’s recent data dump of refracted beauty included his magazine Boys Don’t Cry. Contained within that magazine is “The McDonald’s Man,” written by Mr. West himself. Below is the poem in its entirety.
The McDonald’s Man Calabassas, California
McDonalds man
McDonalds man
The French fries had a plan
The French fries had a plan
The salad bad and the ketchup made a band
Cus the French fries had a plan
The French fries had a plan
McDonalds man
McDonalds man
I know them French fries had a plan
I know them French fries had a plan
The cheeseburger and the shakes formed a band
To overthrow the French fries plan
I always knew them French fries was evil man
Smelling all good and shit
I don’t trust no food that smells that good man
I don’t trust it
I just can’t
McDonalds man
McDonalds man
McDonalds, damn
Them French fries look good tho
I knew the diet Coke was jealous of the fries
I knew the McNuggets was jealous of the fries
I could see it through his artificial meat eyes
And he only be there some of the time
Everyone was jealous of them French fries
Expect for that one special guy
That smooth apple pie
In print, the poem remains a production of majesty, but the plight of the fries becomes even more palpable delivered by spoken word. Thank goodness, then, for New York rapper Joey Bada$$, who was recently on HOT 97 and recited the “Shakesperean” quality poem.
Contained within the pages of Boys Don’t Cry also includes Mr. West pulling through a McDonald’s drive-thru in a car that has no earthly business in such an establishment. Photographed by NABIL, who also directed Ocean’s mosaic “Pryramids” music video, the pictures speak as something like a performance art piece. Or Kanye just really wanted some McDonald’s. Both are feasible.
Of course, McDonald’s had added its “social” response as well with a tweet including the red 100 emoji, which has long been out of style thanks to stunts like this.
