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You might be sitting at home waiting for the premiere of the third season of Insecure this summer and wondering when you’re going to get your next taste of everyone’s favorite ex-boyfriend, Lawrence. But the man behind the role, Jay Ellis, is out here busy living his best life.

As a matter of fact, that’s what the actor (and this year’s American Black Film Festival ambassador) is all about for his latest gig with Mount Gay rum.

Earlier this year, Ellis helped Mount Gay, which is celebrating its 315th anniversary, bring its new campaign to life. He kicked off the first installation of Time Well Spent with an après-ski event in Telluride, Colorado.

Before you come check him out at ABFF in Miami, June 13–17, check out what he had to say about how he likes to drink, eat, travel, and unwind:

The importance of downtime

“Taking time to connect, download, and decompress is HUGE to mental health, productivity, creativity and it’s also a time to look back on the day a reflect on the great things going on in your life because sometimes they can be hard to see through all the craziness of a busy day,” Ellis told AOL.

“I do anything from reading a book or watching a movie to going to dinner or drinks with friends depending on the day. But I have to say there’s nothing like laughs and drinks with friends.”

Most surprising? He’s hands-on when it comes to relaxing. “I also love building things,” he told Forbes. “I’ve built closets, and installed sinks, toilets, and countertops for friends.”

Jay Ellis (Photo: Mount Gay)

Good friends, good food, good spirits

“I like celebrating—if you want to call it that—around a good meal at the end of a day. It allows my friends and I to talk about what we did during the day and reflect on it more,” Ellis shared with The Manual.

When it comes to his drinks, he continued: “I love something smooth, something with flavor, but I also love things that have a history to them as well. I love being able to learn how the spirit is made and where it comes from.”

Ellis admitted to Forbes that his favorite food is Italian, so it makes sense that his favorite destinations are South Italy and the Mediterranean. “There’s great weather and seafood,” he said. “It’s quiet, with insanely beautiful water, and locals will invite you into their homes.”

The post The Latest Gig for Jay Ellis? Kicking Back with Mount Gay Rum appeared first on Black Enterprise.

Some major tea was spilled on this week’s episode of Into the Badlands: Carry Tiger to Mountain. Written by LaToya Morgan and directed by James Marshall, we see some backstory on some of your favorite characters! Let’s get to it!

via GIPHY

Recap

We got History!

The Widow (Emily Beecham) and Lydia (Orla Brady) find Gaius Chau (Lewis Tan) in the back of her car when they arrive at the fort. At first the Widow did not recognize Gaius until he called her Minerva.  We flashback to when Minerva (Freya Allen) was a young cog serving at Gaius’s birthday party. She trips and drops drinks in front of everyone.  The Baron wants her punished and put in the pig pen.  He orders Gaius to give her 10 lashes but the boy refuses.  Juliet (Anika Nazareno), his sister eagerly takes the job and proceeds to commence the lashing.

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Back to the present The Widow decides to jail Gaius after hearing his proposal of helping her take down his sister. Debating on whether to take Lydia’s advice on using Gaius, Minerva visits him. The Widow definitely has some serious trust issues.  She remembers escaping the pig pen but didn’t realize Gaius helped by sneaking in the knife that jump started that escape. We see parts of that escape via another flashback.

Minerva later goes to her office and pulls out the knife that has “No Mercy” carved into it just as Gaius described.  The Widow decides to give him a shot when she hears the refugee camp will shortly be under attack.

Pilgrim Excavating

Baron Chau (Eleanor Matsurra) is confronted by Pilgrim (Babou Ceesay), Cressida (Lorraine Cressant), Nix (Ella-Rae Smith), and Castor (Dean Charles-Chapman) with the heads of Gaius’s men. She of course tries to blame her brother on the failed assassination but Pilgrim isn’t buying it.  To make it up to him, he demands 1000 workers for a “special project” he’s working on.  She has until the new moon. Chau notes her brother is not among the heads Pilgrim brought with him.

Since there is no way she is bringing her clippers back from the front lines, her regent Otto (Wayne Gordon) suggests the refugee camp in The Widow’s territory to recruit workers.  Good idea, Watson! The baron’s clippers are on their way when they run into Castor, who wants to lead them on the mission.

Trouble in Paradise?

M.K. (Aramis Knight) wakes up to Nix patting his head with a cloth. He tries to leave but Pilgrim convinces him to stay until he heals. Castor watches in anger.  Things don’t get better when he later sees Nix show M.K. the view finder with Azra.  Castor accuses Nix of moving on already, he isn’t stupid that Pilgrim wants him replaced.

Cressida wants Pilgrim to move forward with M.K. and Castor fade into the background.  Pilgrim wants to give Castor more time.  When the boy talks with Cressida, she sends him, alone, and without Pilgrim’s blessing, to help make sure baron Chau keeps her word.

The Raid

Tilda (Ally Ioaniddes) and Odessa (Maddison Jaizani) start making out when they are interrupted by Chau’s men kidnapping folk and killing those that resist.  Castor is in the fray cutting people up with daggers on his motorcycle.  Tilda lashes him around the neck like Mortal Kombat’s Scorpion in a “Get over here” move and they commence fighting.  The Widow then comes to the rescue.  Gaius fights Otto, while Odessa and Nathaniel Moon (Sherman Augustus) makes some kills.  They pose about to tag team against Otto when he dips.  The Widow defeats Castor and decides to take him prisoner.  He gloats that Pilgrim will come for him.

Sunny finds Ankara

The mad witch Ankara (Claire Higgins) lives in a crashed airplane on the mountain.  She immediately recognizes Bajie (Nick Frost), wondering if he has come to kill her.  Nope, not today lady.  Sunny (Daniel Wu) approaches her with Henry, who she immediately recognizes as a dark one.

The witch temporarily heals Henry by using Sunny to help draw out the excess dark powers from him.  She explains that someone suppressed Sunny’s dark powers when he was a kid.  That power is just itching to come out. When she proclaims that Sunny is a catalyst, Bajie calls BS.

Bajie complains he wanted the world to be rescued so sent a signal but got no response.  Ankara shows him a radio where Pilgrim’s morse code is broadcasting his signal to come join the cause.  The message also mentions cleansing the world for a new Azra.  Ankara interprets that as bringing blood and chaos.  Oh joy.

Sunny gets ready to leave when Ankara suggests Pilgrim can help him with Henry. She even gives him a picture of where Pilgrim is located.  Bajie goes with him because he set this whole thing in motion, so he wants to see an end to it.  All Sunny cares about his Henry, making sure his son is okay. If he has to go through Pilgrim, so be it.

Sunny is Coming

While Castor is off getting captured by the Widow, Pilgrim brings M.K. to the site where he has workers digging on a piece of land.  He believes that what they uncover what will help them build a new Azra.  Pilgrim hopes M.K. will stay with them, learning control of his dark gift.

Later on, dressed like Castor’s twin, M.K. finds Cressida drawing tattoo marks on a wall. Was that blood?  He confirms that what Cressida drew were the tattoos on the man that killed his mama.  He also explains what those tattoos represent: kills. She believes that Sunny is the catalyst to move their plans forward.  There’s that word again.  Pilgrim does not want Sunny harmed and that M.K. needs to back off.  Fat chance of that sir! Cressida predicts Sunny is on his way as all three of them stare at the tattoos. The end!

Review

I thought of this as Sunny and Bajie were leaving to go see Pilgrim:

We’re off to see the Pilgrim! The wonderful Pilgrim of Azra!

We hear he is a whiz of dark powers

If ever, a leader was

If ever, oh ever a whiz of dark powers

The Pilgrim of Azra is one because, because, because, because, because

Because of the wonderful things he does!

We’re off to see the Pilgrim! The wonderful Pilgrim of Azra!

Yep, I totally sang this like “We’re off to see the Wizard.” Ankara was like Glinda sending Dorothy to a guy that can help her get home.

If Ankara saw that brief memory of the person that turned off Sunny’s gift, wouldn’t she have known what to do to suppress Henry’s?  She deduced that Sunny was who Pilgrim needed so why not send him over there under the guise of “helping Henry?” I am with Bajie on Ankara being full of BS.  I loved the banter though between Bajie and the witch.  The two actors had great timing with the ribbing.

There was a weird kind of sense using water to cleanse Henry of the gift briefly. How long before Henry has another relapse? Would Bajie, seeing how Ankara did it, be able to perform the same procedure?  It also depends on what happens with Pilgrim obviously.

I also thought this was a clever way of Sunny and Bajie finding out about Pilgrim since up until this point, they have not been around people with news from the Badlands. Of course, this means that Pilgrim and Sunny will eventually throw down, just like Sunny will fight M.K. Heck maybe Bajie will fight Pilgrim since he wants to make up for signaling him in the first place.  I see that as growth on Bajie’s part as he usually runs away from trouble. We will see though.

Speaking of M.K. he is such a stubborn ass. Ugh! How did he think he was going to kill Sunny when he was injured like that?

via GIPHY

Castor was just as bad jumping on poor Nix just because Pilgrim was talking to M.K.  A part of me wanted M.K. to kick his butt for coming up to him.  I did catch that Castor mentioned sleeping with Nix when accusing her of wanting M.K.  Don’t you just love teenage drama? For right now Nix appears to just be friendly, whereas M.K. was trying to mac.

I noticed M.K. seems to bring chaos wherever he is.  The Widow’s eagerness to get him from Quinn jumped off chaotic events.  Then he got training with the Master (Chipo Chung) but escaped with one of her students.  He comes back with Bajie because they needed a cure for Sunny at the time, leaving the Master to fend for herself against all her other abbots that turned dark.  Then he got caught by the Widow, held prisoner, indirectly caused a rift between Tilda and Minerva.  Then he gets his powers back, finds himself with Pilgrim’s crew and is already causing Castor to lose it because he’s starting to feel useless.  I know that in most of those scenarios there were multiple factors going on, but M.K. is a pretty common thread.

Castor should have gotten reassurance from Pilgrim instead of Cressida.  It was obvious Cressida was trying to send him to his death. I am hoping Pilgrim gets upset with her once he finds out the Widow’s holding him prisoner.  It would not surprise me if Nix does a rescue mission on her own with M.K.

via GIPHY

 A Past – Moment of the Week

Gaius and Minerva got some history! My guess is they were sweet on each other but never got a chance to have a relationship.  Gaius is one of the few men that the Widow probably cared for and felt betrayed until he told her about that knife.  Now I need to come up with a ship name for Gaius and Minerva because the chemistry was on point! Whew!

I enjoyed the flashbacks as it gave us a glimpse into the Chaus.  I thought it was interesting how Juliet was her father’s daughter even when they were kids.  My guess is she got her cruelty from him while Gaius just wanted to be different.   Casting did a fantastic job again with getting kids that had mannerisms of their older selves.  I also thought the puppet show was a clever way detailing the history of the family, especially the fact that their great grandad was the first baron.

The alliance between Gaius and Minerva is tentative.  He proved himself during the raid by fighting his sister’s men. I noticed how Gaius calls the Widow by her name like they are still friends and she didn’t object to it.

via GIPHY

Fight of the Week

The raid was the only major fight this week and I enjoyed the bout between Castor vs the Widow and when Tilda first lashed at Castor.  Gaius fighting Otto was cool.  Castor using his bike to kill people was refreshingly different too.  I felt it was cheesy though when Moon and Odessa nodded at each other and then when Gaius plus Moon and Odessa were about to confront Otto.

I was surprised Castor did not try to access his dark gift again after the first time it went away.  The Widow may have lost that fight if that happened.  Also, the moment the Widow came to Tilda reminded me of season 1 when she was like, “mommy is here” when rescuing Tilda from prison. Patterns! Overall, it was just meh for me this week.  I would not mind seeing Moon fight Otto since they are both regents for their barons.  Side note: the Widow may need to follow through on her threat to kill Moon because Sunny will probably be in her orbit again if he aligns himself with Pilgrim.

Let’s Remake the World

What the hell is Pilgrim hoping to find? I hope it is not a nuclear weapon. Also, is this another case of someone with the dark powers starting the apocalypse?  There is always that group that wants to destroy the world to remake it again.  What does being the catalyst mean though? I really hope this isn’t Sunny’s destiny, because that would suck. I always had a feeling somehow Sunny had the gift, but it was either taken away or suppressed.  So glad it is being addressed this season.

Morgan definitely upped the ante with this episode with backstory and a clue as to what Pilgrim plans for the Badlands.  Also thank you for having Lewis Tan shirtless for the 2nd week in a row.  What do you think? Sound off below in the comments!

The post Into the Badlands Ep 305 Recap/Review: Carry Tiger to Mountain appeared first on The Nerd Element.

I guess she forgot the president of entertainment was a Black woman.

The Break with Michelle Wolf had its premier episode on Sunday and it’s a real treat. The comedian opened up with jokes about the NFL, Elon Musk, and Mario Batali and moved on to sketches and other hilarious segments. In her opening, Wolf says, “The show is called The Break with Michelle Wolf  cause it’s literally a break, also my name is Michelle Wolf. I’m not going to try to teach you anything or discuss political policy with you. I guess I’m sort of like a cable news show in that way. On The Break we will joke about whatever we want. Seriously, we’re on Netflix. We don’t have any sponsors.”

It’s more of a shot at cable news TV, though, because while The Break doesn’t treat itself too seriously in addressing current events, Wolf is anything but non-political. In one especially great moment, she takes shots at the idea that feminism means blindly supporting other women—it’s an especially popular talking point directed towards women who critique members of the Trump administration like Kellyanne Conway, Ivanka Trump, or Sarah Huckabee Sanders.

Of course, the joke comes not too long after the White House Correspondents’ dinner, where some viewers were especially upset about Wolf’s Sanders joke, “She burns facts, and then she uses that ash to create a perfect smoky eye.” It’s not a shot at Sanders’ appearance, but people took it as such. Wolf has stood behind her jokes and she takes it several steps further on The Break.

“Do women have to support other women?” asks Wolf. “No, of course not. If we did, Hilary would be President and I don’t think she is. But more and more women are achieving positions of power. Like this week Gina Haspel was sworn in as the first female director of the CIA. Now, I didn’t watch her swearing in, but I did hear it was torture…Who knew you could waterboard a glass ceiling until it broke!”

She continues, “After Gina was nominated, my best friend Sarah Huckabee Sanders tweeted, ‘Any Democrat who claims to support women’s empowerment and our national security but opposes her nomination is a total hypocrite’. Well if anyone’s an expert on hypocrites, it’s Sarah Huckabee Sanders.”

“And for the record, that was not a looks-based joke. That was about her ugly personality,” Wolf adds. “She has the Mario Batali of personalities. Look, there’s nothing anti-feminist about not supporting certain women.” It’s the perfect segue into another fantastic segment titled “Top 5 Women I’m Not Supporting Right Now.” (Some are clear choices and some less so. I’m not going to ruin it.)

Wolf is consistently funny and viciously cutting—giving her a show is an A+ move. The entire episode is fantastic, and Amber Ruffin whom we love from Late Night with Seth Meyers is the guest for a segment called “The Breakdown”!

(via Time, image: Netflix)

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