Month: August 2020

In the words of the folks over at The Cut, “there’s no real reason to get a husband if he isn’t Jason Momoa.” The Game of Thrones and Aquaman star already has quite a reputation for being a big, sweet Teddy bear of a human, and a pretty solid husband as well. He helps Girl Scouts sell cookies. He goes to Iowa to visit diners that name dishes after him. He champions his female co-stars. He rips world leaders for “half-assing” it on climate change. We could go on and on. And now he’s raised the bar even higher by surprising his wife (Lisa Bonet) with a complete restoration of her first car — a blue 1965 Ford Mustang convertible she bought when she was 16 — a incredibly good husband-y move that is documented fully in the video above that Momoa posted to his YouTube page.

The restoration was overseen by Divine1Customs, a Las Vegas based operation that claims they can restore pretty much anything that has wheels.

Reports the Drive:

After everything was taken apart, the parts were all restored or replaced, including the engine. It appears to have been replaced with a brand new crate motor from Ford itself, however, it’s possible the original engine was sent out for a thorough rebuild and then sent back. The car is seen to be running with this engine at the start of the video, so that could be possible. We reached out to Divine1Customs to try and get more details, and we will update this story when we hear back.

Besides the mysterious drivetrain, the rest of the car’s fixed-up parts can be seen in plain sight, and thankfully everything was done tastefully. The car was repainted black, factory-looking wheels were added, and the interior was of course totally redone, albeit in conservative black leather upholstery. The four-speed stick was also maintained, as it seems like both Momoa and his wife Bonet are fans of three pedals.

Additionally, if all of this weren’t enough, Momoa wore a Slayer t-shirt when he presented the car to Bonet.

“That first love, cruise by a lonely beach with the top down and salt water air. Feels like dancing over the ocean… it’s that first car” — Jason Momoa. When it comes to choosing husbands, Lisa Bonet has done pretty well.

The Oklahoma City Thunder moved to 2-1 in the NBA bubble on Wednesday, as they gave the Lakers fits in a 105-86 win that ensured that anyone that hadn’t taken them seriously opened their eyes.

This is a team that few, if any, expected to be here. After trading Paul George and Russell Westbrook in the offseason with a clear eye on the future with all of the draft picks they acquired, the expectation was that the Thunder would likely look to move off of veterans Chris Paul, Steven Adams, and/or Danilo Gallinari if able to fully shift towards a youth movement. However, the Thunder got off to a strong start and never slowed down, leading Sam Presti to happily keep their veterans at the deadline and press forward with a playoff squad.

While Oklahoma City exists in the realm just below expected contender status in the bubble, they are a team that no Western Conference contender will want to face in a playoff series. The Thunder have taken on the identity of their leader in Chris Paul, which is to say playing them is a grating, miserable experience. They are almost nauseatingly active on both ends of the floor, harassing opponents on the defensive end into turnovers and awkward, contested looks, while on offense able to attack you with waves of ball-handlers.

Oklahoma City doesn’t boast a ton in the way of star power on a national scale beyond Paul, but what they’ve managed to do is put together a roster that has incredible balance in spite of the apparent haste with which Presti and company had to change their vision this summer when George requested out. Their backcourt trio of Paul, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and Dennis Schröder (currently on an excused absence from the bubble after the birth of his child) seemed like an odd mix of three ball dominant players, but to their credit and Billy Donovan’s, they’ve made necessary adjustments to each of their games and all appear to be maximizing their talents.

Schröder has managed to become a terrific spot-up shooter after years of woeful efficiency in Atlanta and early in his OKC tenure, embracing his increasingly off-ball status and the looks SGA and CP3 can create for him, while being better at picking his spots to attack off the dribble. Gilgeous-Alexander has only built on a terrific rookie season in L.A., likewise taking to an off-ball role when needed, as it’s hard to argue with putting the basketball in the hands of one of the best to ever do it. Still, he’s afforded plenty of opportunity, leading the team in scoring at 19.4 points per game, and with a wing rotation that was thin on established players this season, the two long-limbed guards can take on difficult wing defensive assignments.

Paul is, well, Chris Paul, which is to say he look an awful lot like the Point God of old, controlling the tempo and toying with defenses to get the looks he wants for both him and his teammates. The 34-year-old is still a dominant presence on the floor, and while his counting stats have taken a dip in the egalitarian flow of OKC’s backcourt, make no mistake who has the basketball in important moments. Paul has become a master of managing his energy, recognizing the exact moment in a game in which to unleash the Thunder’s athletes at a frenetic pace and also when to regain control of the reins and assert himself in isolation play as only he can.

Gallinari has likewise embraced his new surroundings, often the forgotten man when discussing what makes the Thunder tick given the somewhat surprising success of their young-and-old duo in the backcourt. The ever steady power forward, while capable of creating his own shot, thrives off the ball, hitting 40.9 percent of his threes with 85 percent of those being assisted, as he’s more than happy to take every look created by the gravitational pull of a driving Paul or SGA.

The rest of the team, offensively, thrives in the roles they’re asked to play around that nucleus. The wing rotation isn’t filled with household names, but does boast incredibly long, bouncy athletes, happy to cut to the rim and take spot ups in the corners when asked. Darius Bazley, Terrance Ferguson, Lugentz Dort, Hamidou Diallo, and the recently returning Andre Roberson all profile fairly similarly on offense. None are great shooters, but take the open looks when needed to keep the floor spaced and are excellent cutters. Most importantly, they are all long, active, athletic defenders who Donovan can throw at opposing wings in waves to wear them down. Combined with Gilgeous-Alexander and Schröder, they have switchability and play with an energy that few teams can match on a nightly basis.

On the inside, a significant burden falls on the broad shoulders of Steven Adams, happy to clean up on the boards and body up opposing big men. Adams may not be as dynamic a defender as he once was, losing a touch of foot speed and quickness, but he’s still a monstrous presence in the paint and his defensive IQ almost always sees him in the right position and rotation. Offensively, he screens and dives to the rim, using his excellent hands and touch to finish around the basket in pick-and-rolls and deep post ups. Behind him, Nerlens Noel, while not the star some hoped he could become as a prospect, profiles an awful lot like what the Sixers hoped he would be in terms of a rim-runner and versatile defender.

The Thunder are currently tied with Houston for the 5-seed in the West, just a half game back of Utah for fourth, and it would be of little surprise to see them come out of a first round series with a win. If they do, you can rest assured that neither L.A. team wants to deal with a series against OKC because of their style of play.

Most every team that plays the Thunder looks like they’re having a terrible time, win or lose. Their activity level is off the charts on defense, with players with the skills and defensive IQ to make that activity level actionable, and on offense have full faith in what they do and understanding of their roles. That’s a dangerous combination, and while the Lakers clearly looked flat in their first game after clinching the 1-seed in the West, Wednesday’s game was yet another example of the Thunder’s ability to compete with the best.

Whether they have the gear to make a deep run in the playoffs is something we’ll have to wait and see — teams that play with this much energy and effort on a regular basis can be overwhelmed when top teams flip the proverbial switch come playoff time. But no matter what, they’re going be a tough out once the postseason arrives, wearing someone down and making basketball miserable for 4-7 games.

By the time I saw Caddyshack, I probably already knew dozens of Caddyshack quotes by heart. It’s just that kind of movie, one that lends itself easily to endless repetition. Bill Murray’s mushy, crooked-mouthed rendering of “It’s in the hole!” is to the 80s what “oh behave” or “my wife!” were to later generations.

As with any comedy deemed sacrosanct by earlier generations, it’s tempting to try to rewatch Caddyshack today and categorize everything as either “still holds up” or “I guess you had to be there.” It’s always silly to try to separate any work from its initial context, but especially so with comedy, relying as heavily as it does on timing, where simply being the first to do a certain joke makes all the difference.

Caddyshack is very much the product of Boomers, directed by Harold Ramis (born 1944), written by Douglas Kenney (born 1946) and Brian Doyle-Murray (1945), with unforgettable contributions from Bill Murray (1950) and Chevy Chase (1943). From the perspective of someone who wasn’t around when it originally happened, it’s hard to tell whether a lot of this generation’s comedy classics were considered classic because they were actually funny, or if they were memorable and well-loved simply for representing the first time Boomers were allowed to joke about having sex and doing drugs.

Certainly, drugs and sex are inseparable from Caddyshack. The film was shot in Florida in 1979 and virtually everyone involved agrees that it was the product of tremendous amounts of cocaine and pot. According to Chris Nashawaty’s seminal making-of book, the original rough cut of Caddyshack ran four and a half hours, with an extended version of the Bill-Murray-masturbating-the-ball-plunger gag running more than 30 minutes alone.

Harold Ramis (then a first-time director) had thrown out the script and let the actors do basically whatever they thought was funny at the time. The warty, unreleasably long initial cut was the result. As many have noted, Ted Knight, a well-known actor from the Mary Tyler Moore show who played Judge Elihu Smails, Chevy Chase (still the biggest star from Saturday Night Live), Michael O’Keefe (the young actor who played Danny Noonan, who was nominated for an Oscar in his previous performance), and Rodney Dangerfield’s acting styles are all so different as to feel like they were making different movies. In essence, they were. Usually, when I write these movie retrospectives, I include a few contemporary reviews to show how wrong those critics were. With Caddyshack, most of the specific criticisms leveled at the time are fairly accurate.

Producer Jon Peters came up with the idea of the gopher (originally Carl Spackler’s unseen adversary) as a Hail Mary attempt to tie the movie together, and reportedly spent a quarter to half a million dollars on the animatronic puppet, built by an Oscar-winning puppet designer for Star Wars. Peters, incidentally, got his start in show business by being Barbra Streisand’s hairdresser (turned boyfriend). He’d later go on to try to convince Kevin Smith to have Superman fight a giant spider. Doug Kenney (and to a lesser extent Harold Ramis) apparently hated the gopher. Kenney was reportedly still depressed about how the film turned out when he died in a hiking accident (or possibly suicide) in Kauai just three months later. As Michael O’Keefe put it, paraphrasing David Crosby, “If you can remember the filming of Caddyshack you weren’t really there.”

Of course, we can celebrate the sexual and chemical liberation of the time without necessarily wanting to relive the products of it. Animal House (the 1978 smash hit precursor to Caddyshack, also co-written by Harold Ramis and Doug Kenney), to my Gen Y eyes, is only kind of so-so. And both of Bill Murray’s pre-Caddyshack starring efforts, Meatballs and Where The Buffalo Roam, are basically unwatchable. Blues Brothers, shot in parallel to Caddyshack with more or less the other halves of the Saturday Night Live and National Lampoon crews, has great music but is largely indecipherable to me as humor. I literally don’t understand what the joke is supposed to be.

It doesn’t help that my generation essentially had our own Caddyshack (Happy Gilmore), and even our own John Belushi (Chris Farley). Every time an older person told us that what we liked was a sad echo of what they liked we doubled down out of spite. Watch Caddyshack, you say? How about f*ck off?

It’s also weird to talk about Caddyshack being cool, because, to state the obvious, it’s about golf, the least cool, least iconoclastic sport ever devised, outside of maybe polo or lacrosse. As Chevy Chase himself told Nashawaty, “I’d never gone for golf: I was more of a tennis player. My father told me to stay away from Republicans on golf courses, because they just wasted the day so they could stay away from their families.”

When people talk this way, or suggest seizing golf course land to house the homeless or reclaiming it for public green space, I can’t entirely disagree. Yet my own experience was different, more like the Murrays’. Despite being solidly middle class, I grew up golfing. Mine was the rare father who took up golf in middle age, more as a way for the family to do something together rather than escape them. We played the crappy muni courses exclusively, unless I had a school match or a tournament at a country club (none of which I ever won).

I don’t think I saw golf specifically as a strategy for us non-Anglo whites to ingratiate ourselves to WASP society at the time (not much “old money” where I grew up, for one thing), though that theme was present if I’d been attuned enough to look for it. I do remember a country club that brought out rubber mats for my school team to hit off when we arrived to play a match (to keep from damaging the nice grass on the range that the members used), where the club pro had a heated argument with a 15-year-old about whether the kid’s twill pants counted as denim or not. I still wish those people nothing but the worst.

All of which is to say: golf, then and now, is fertile ground for a class struggle story, even beyond the autobiographical elements for the ex-caddy Murray boys, and Douglas Kenney, whose father was a tennis pro. Maybe that’s why, despite all the things working against it, generationally and technically, Caddyshack stands above its peers (excluding Airplane!, which Doug Kenney realized even then was funnier than Caddyshack, and probably still is).

As Nashawaty writes in his book, Caddyshack represented the coming together of the three dominant comedic forces of the era: Saturday Night Live (with the Murray brothers and Chevy Chase), the National Lampoon (Doug Kenney and Harold Ramis), and SCTV (Ramis and Doyle-Murray). The first time I saw it when I was younger, much of it surely didn’t translate, outside of the boobs and the catchphrases. Understanding the history of the National Lampoon does help you appreciate it on a different level — the goofy character names, like Lacey Underalls and Maggie O’Hooligan (or the more embarrassing “Smoke Porterhouse,” for the black shoe shiner), and the odd vignettes, like the synchronized swimming bit in the pool scene, especially feel like Lampoon cartoons.

It’s also refreshing for the way it preceded certain conventions. Modern comedies tend to stick star performers into stock situations; Caddyshack seems more willing to let a situation itself be funny. The whole candybar-in-the-pool scene doesn’t have any of the major players in it, but still stands out as one of the better scenes and clearly took a lot of work to shoot (the Busby Berkeley synchronized swimming parody in the middle). 70s comedies also had a great appreciation for the sight gag, like when Mrs. Smails attempts to christen the dinghy.

Mostly though, I appreciate some of the more subtly clever bits of Caddyshack that tend to get drowned out by the gopher, the boobs, Rodney’s one-liners, Bill Murray’s catchphrases, and the general loudness of it. Like Chevy Chase asking, “Do you do drugs, Danny?” “Every day, sir.”

It’s worth noting that the two worst parts of the movie (at least for me) — the gopher and the nonsensical, much-too-long scene between Bill Murray and Chevy Chase (where Chevy Chase has to play through Bill Murray’s greenskeeper hovel with his smokable grass) — were both Jon Peters’ ideas. Meanwhile, the entire drunk bishop exchange, ending with him slurring “there is no God,” is sublime in a way I never fully appreciated the first time around.

In jokes like that, and in Judge Smails casually telling Danny “I’ve sentenced boys younger than you to the gas chamber. I didn’t want to do it. I felt I owed it to them,” you get a sense of Doug Kenney’s rebellious streak, so much discussed in all the later histories and biographies of him. Assuming, of course, that those jokes were even Kenney’s (at the very least, we know that “every day, sir” wasn’t the line in the script).

I think part of the reason Caddyshack persists as a cultural phenomenon is that it’s fundamentally unexplainable. There’s a disjointedness and mystery to the movie — even amidst a mostly broad, stupid comedy — that allows for multiple interpretations. Even Douglas Kenney’s death was up for interpretation (Drugs? Accident? Suicide?).

At least as it relates to Caddyshack, “I guess you had to be there” isn’t entirely a criticism. It’s also a decent summation of its appeal. The film represented both the culmination and the end of an entire artistic era. The Boomers had rebelled against the old rules long enough to discover their own. Never again could they be so confident that doing tons of cocaine was just harmless fun, or that throwing out the script would make for a better movie. Yet you can sense all the fun they were having even when you know it won’t all turn out great for them, and the freedom is contagious. It carries with it the nostalgic glow of a time before consequences. Who wouldn’t want to relive that?

Vince Mancini is on Twitter. You can read his interviews with ‘Caddyshack’ author Chris Nashawaty here and his interview with Danny Noonan actor Michael O’Keefe here.

While fans await his now-delayed Donda album, Kanye West’s main focus has been on his aspirations to become president of the United States. After officially launching his campaign with a rally in South Carolina, which received mixed reactions from both attendees and people on social media, West briefly considered postponing his presidential run to 2024 before back-pedaling. Despite declaring his run much later than most candidates, West is getting quite the help in landing on this fall’s ballots.

A new report from CNN says that Republicans, some of which have ties to President Donald Trump, are working hard to get West on presidential general election ballots in a number of states, including Wisconsin, Vermont, and Arkansas. Another report from VICE confirmed, thanks to an email they obtained, that Rachel George, a top Colorado GOP strategist and longtime Republican operative, is do the same thing in Colorado.

Earlier this week, a report surfaced that West was receiving help from the GOP despite previously saying he distanced himself from the Republican Party to run as an Independent, thanks to The Intelligencer. The report claimed that one of West’s electors in Vermont, Chuck Wilton, and his campaign’s Arkansas point of contact, Gregg Keller are well-known members of the Republican party.

Picking a psychiatrist is a precarious situation, one I know all too well. I have bipolar disorder, depressive disorder and anxiety disorder. I have been in and out of therapy for nearly 20 years. And while I have left doctors for a wide variety of reasons—I’ve moved, I felt better and “been better,” I’ve given up on pharmacology and stopped taking meds—I’ve only had to fire one.

The reason? She was judgemental and disrespectful. In her office, I wasn’t seen, heard or understood.

To help you understand the gravity of the situation, I should give you some context. In the spring of 2017, I was doing well and feeling good, at least for the most part. My family was healthy. I was happy, and life was more or less normal, so I stopped seeing my psychiatrist. I decided I didn’t need my meds.

But by the summer, my mood was shifting. I was cycling (which occurs when bipolar patients vacillate between periods of mania and depression) and when I suffered a miscarriage that fall, I plunged into a deep depressive episode—one I knew I couldn’t pull myself out of.

I called my psychiatrist to make an appointment. She put me in the books for later that week. But then I got a call back.

“I’m having an issue processing your payment. Has your insurance changed?”

It had. My carrier had changed over the summer, but I didn’t think much of it. Insurance providers change all the time. But this change, I learned, was problematic.

“I’m sorry, Kim, but we don’t take United Healthcare.”

I was gutted. I had worked with the same psychiatrist for years. She knew my family, my story and my backstory. With her, I could be honest. She put me at ease. But now, I needed to find a new doctor—in the midst of depression, while moving through life in a fog, a haze.

I called more than two dozen numbers. Some doctors were not accepting new patients. Others had exorbitant wait times. I was given an appointment four months in the future. But most never called me back. I pled and left messages but my phone never rang—at least not until she called. Not her receptionist or her office manager, but the doctor herself.

To say I was excited would be an understatement. I assumed Dr. W’s responsiveness was a sign of her devotion and dedication. She must be very committed to her patients. Plus, she was close by. I had an appointment less than two miles from my home the following week.

But my enthusiasm ended then and there.

During our first session, Dr. W suggested that when my meds were balanced out I would have a more “normal” appearance—and normal hair. My bright pink locks offended her. She said I should consider a more natural color. I should consider going back to my roots.

During our second session, she asked what my husband thought about my piercings and tattoos. Yes, I have a lot, but she asked this in 2017, not 1967. My husband’s opinion shouldn’t matter. It doesn’t matter. Plus, these were my appointments. These sessions were supposed to be about my mental health. And each appointment thereafter was riddled with put downs. She constantly criticized me, my relationship and my appearance.

But that wasn’t my breaking point. I decided to fire my psychiatrist when I told her I was having suicidal thoughts and she dismissed them. When she called in (yet another) prescription—one with a higher dose.

Of course, psychiatrists prescribe medication. That’s their job. That is what they do. But the problem wasn’t medication per say, it was the fact that I thought my antidepressants were causing said thoughts and she wrote me off. She said such side effects were very rare. She also told me it was all in my head. I just needed to breathe. To relax. To “take my meds.”

I walked out the door that day feeling helpless and hopeless.

I walked out the door that day and never went—or looked—back.

That said, there are several reasons why you should fire your psychologist, psychiatrist, and/or therapist. Some medical professionals are dismissive, while others are overly supportive. Some seem distant and distracted. They rush you and lack interest in—and concern for—your life. And some relationships are just not meant to be. Comfort and rapport is key.

You also may need to find a new doc if and when you stop progressing because growth is everything. Good therapists challenge you. According to Katie Lear, a licensed clinical mental health counselor in private practice in North Carolina, good doctors support you.

“A good mental health practitioner always makes sure that their client feels safe,” Lear says. “You may feel challenged, vulnerable, or even a little defensive, but never unsafe or uncertain about your trust in your provider.”

That said, there is also no one-size-fits-all answer for what makes someone a good therapist.

“Studies show time and time again that more than any particular skill set, the relationship and trust between therapist and patient is the most healing part of therapy treatment,” Lear explains.

Christene Lozano, a certified sex addiction therapist, licensed marriage & family therapist and the founder of Meraki Counseling providing online sex therapy in California and Oregon, agrees.

“While there are many factors that go into making a good therapist, such as the therapist’s training and expertise, one of the most important components is the relationship between the client and their therapist,” says Lozano. “While there can be many excellent therapists out there, they all won’t be a good fit for the client. It is somewhat similar to dating: There are some awesome people in the world, and all those people may not be the best romantic partner for you.”

So how do you find your best match? Through research, trial and error. Getting recommendations can also help.

As for me, I have an excellent psychiatrist today—one whom I trust wholly and completely. One I trust with my life. And the reason is two-fold: He is educated, qualified, empathetic and sympathetic. He also listens. So please know you are worth it. Your life is worth it. Your health and happiness matters, and it’s okay to set boundaries, even with psychiatrists and other mental health professionals.

If you were to build a word cloud out of the ways people describe Seth Rogen, the largest-font words would be “stoner,” “schlubby,” and “man child.” None of those portrayals are wrong, exactly, but they don’t give Rogen enough credit as a writer, as an actor, as a producer, as an activist, and as the voice of Pumbaa. If he’s good enough for Beyoncé, he’s good enough for you. In honor of his new comedy An American Pickle (out today on HBO Max), the Uproxx staff has ranked Seth Rogen’s best movies.

We’re disappointed that we left out the Kung Fu Panda series, too.

10. Observe and Report

Alright, so it’s fair to say that this movie elicited strong, mixed reactions and, even among its supporters, uncomfortable laughter. Still, one had to admire how the movie ended up functioning as a blistering critique of toxic masculinity and everything that’s anti-woman in our society. And while there are plenty of disgusting happenings on display, there’s a slight satisfaction in seeing more of a Travis Bickle edge than Paul Blart vibe going on in this mall-cop movie. At least no one can accuse both Rogen and Anna Faris of not putting in a huge “A” for effort. Politically correct, it ain’t, but there’s a surprising amount of commentary to be had here, if one can stomach the content. – Kimberly Ricci

9. The 40-Year-Old Virgin

Seth Rogen did not have a huge part in The 40-Year-Old Virgin. He played a supporting character, Cal, who worked in the warehouse at the fake Best Buy where Steve Carell’s Andy was also employed. The character is also very much unlike ones Rogen would make famous later in his career. Cal is tatted-up and tough and confident around women, whereas his characters in Knocked Up and other movies are… not. It’s kind of weird, in hindsight. Not necessarily bad, just weird. I didn’t even recognize him at first.

None of this is a complaint. He stole scenes left and right from a cast that wasn’t exactly giving them away. I remember watching the movie in the theater and coming away with two thoughts: One, Paul Rudd is a likable guy; two, whoever played Cal should be in more movies. Very pleased to report I was correct on both fronts. They might have been the only things I was right about in 2005, but you can’t take them away from me now. — Brian Grubb

8. The Night Before

In a recent interview, Seth Rogen called An American Pickle “the most Jewish movie I’ve ever made, probably the most Jewish movie that almost anyone’s ever made.” What about The Night Before? Speaking as a Jew, that’s a very Jewish movie. A damn fine one, too. You have Rogen looking for the fabled Nutcracker Ball with his friends, played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Anthony Mackie (the always-welcome Lizzy Caplan and Jillian Bell have supporting roles), while wearing a Hanukkah-colored Star of David sweater nearly the entire time. It’s the kind of Festival of Lights representation you don’t see in most holiday movies not called Eight Crazy Nights. Also, and I cannot stress this enough, Michael Shannon plays a bearded weed dealer named Mr. Green who looks like every dirtbag you went to high school with. Seth Rogen getting high in a car with dirtbag Michael Shannon? The Night Before really is a holiday miracle. — Josh Kurp

7. Funny People

In my recent ranking of Happy Madison movies, I put Funny People number two (behind You Don’t Mess with the Zohan, a very good film) largely due to Adam Sandler’s arguably career-defining performance as standup comedian-turned-movie star George Simmons. I regrettably did not spend enough time praising Seth Rogen, who’s also fantastic as an up-and-coming comedian who befriends industry titan George and writes jokes for him. He channels his genuine feelings for Sandler (“It’s crazy. He’s right over there. Adam knows our names. That’s awesome,” he once said to Jonah Hill) into his performance, while also making Ira a distinct character from his real-world personality. Although they both share a love of masturbation jokes and, presumably, candid photos of Eminem (which he’ll email to Ray Romano, of course). — Josh Kurp

6. Knocked Up

Judd Apatow hit a home run here with jokes so realistic and funny (and realistically funny) that one can appreciate how well he mines the humor in unintended pregnancy. Seth Rogen and Katherine Heigl play off each other almost too well from polar-opposite-land, but somehow, they end up building an onscreen dynamic that’s warm-hearted, if not actually romantic. Not everything is roses for them, which is an entirely conceivable scenario that this movie managed to turn into entertainment. Yes, Heigl circled back later to call the movie sexist, while Rogen and Apatow stood their ground, and maybe her character was written to be a little too difficult. Still, this is actually a sweet movie full of humanity and flawed characters all around, both female and male. Rogen convincingly plays the inept boyfriend, but this film’s secret weapon happens to be Paul Rudd, all aghast and frustrated in life. Apatow + Rogen is always a winning combination, and the addition of Rudd makes this a devastatingly hilarious offering. – Kimberly Ricci

5. 50/50

There are a few films on this list that prove Rogen has dramatic range but it’s this buddy comedy which leans a bit dark in places — blame the cancer diagnosis — that perfectly melds his comedic timing with a genuine sensitivity we rarely see from him on screen. Seth Rogen plays Kyle, the best friend of Adam (an also terrific Joseph Gordon-Levitt), a guy who’s just been dealt a sh*tty hand. He’s got cancer, he needs to undergo chemo, and his weed-smoking, pick-up artist friend is the only one he can count on to get him through it. Though Rogen lends the movie its lighter moments, he’s also, somewhat surprisingly, the heart of this thing too, playing a dude woefully out of his element, just trying to hold onto a semblance of normalcy for the friend he loves. — Jessica Toomer

4. Superbad

Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg started writing Superbad when they were 13 years old — Rogen was originally going to play Seth, the part that eventually went to Jonah Hill, until he aged out of the role. Instead, he portrayed Officer Michaels, the woefully inept cop who shares most of his scenes with Bill Hader’s Officer Slater. Leaving aside the real-world implications of playing goofy cops who allow a white teen to break the law multiple times over, Rogen and Hader are very funny individually, and extra funny as scene partners in Superbad, one of Rogen’s most personal and deeply felt comedies.

It’s a shame they haven’t worked together more. I’m not saying there should be a Superbad 2, but if there was a Superbad 2, hypothetically of course, I’d love to see what Seth and Evan (Michael Cera) are up to as adults, and check in with former-Officers Michaels and Slater after they quit the force to make fake IDs for the next generation of McLovins. Anything to get Rogen and Hader to work together again. — Josh Kurp

3. Neighbors

I’m inconsolable over the injustice that kept Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising from making this ranking but I recognize that maybe the world isn’t ready for a feminist commentary on Greek life packaged in a Seth Rogen bro-comedy casing. That said, the original entry in this potential franchise is still the best. Not only is Rogen at the top of comedic game playing a husband and father who wages war on the fraternity next door, but the film also proves that he might be the best scene partner in the business right now. Seriously, this dude has chemistry with everyone from Zac Efron to Rose Byrne to Dave Franco to… you get it. Rogen makes everyone funnier which is the highest compliment I assume a comedic actor can be paid. But he’s also great at sacrificing his body for an airbag gag that always lands. — Jessica Toomer

2. Pineapple Express

As the first weed-focused film to exceed $100 million globally, this project might be the ultimate aspirational film for stoner-moviemakers to mimic for decades to come. Seth Rogen’s process server is perfectly matched with James Franco’s drug dealer, which is truly nuts when one considers that they actually swapped their planned roles just prior to filming. The real appeal of this film, however, can be found in all of its glorious excess. The conspiracy angle, the nasty slushy mishap and high-octane car chase, the high-drama relationship with Amber Heard’s character, and my god, Danny McBride’s weirdo refusing to die. It’s simulaneously balls-to-the-wall chaos and impeccably crafted, and guess what? Pineapple Express represents a brand of stoner comedy that not even Matthew McConaughey could achieve. Yep, I went there. – Kimberly Ricci

1. This Is the End

This Is the End is somehow about four movies at once. It’s a stoner hangout comedy about dudes bonding through adversity. It’s an apocalyptic nightmare that features a well-hung demon. It’s a heavily meta commentary on celebrity and celebrity culture in which all the actors play semi-fictionalized version of themselves, some more fictionalization than other, and yes, this is where we mention Michael Cera as Michael Cera as a coke-tooting maniac. It’s a movie where — spoilers, I guess — Channing Tatum ends up as Danny McBride’s leashed slave. There is a lot going on in This Is the End. It probably shouldn’t work. That’s why it’s so amazing that it does.

It’s not a perfect movie. It feels a little slapped together in places, like they were hitting bits and lining them up in a plot-related order, but who cares? They are very good bits. The fake homemade Pineapple Express 2 is probably the funniest movie trailer you’ll ever see. Danny McBride is completely unhinged. It’s fun. It’s a fun movie. And it resonates extra hard right now because we’re all stuck in our houses right now, too. There’s not much of difference between a pandemic and a well-endowed murderous flaming demon, if you really get down to it. Something to consider. — Brian Grubb

The much-hyped Candyman reboot is still on the schedule for October. But who knows how long that will last. Halloween Kills made a big splash by relocating an entire year, ensuring that fans will be safe when they see it. But Candyman must be good: Its director, Nia DaCosta, just scored the very plum gig of helming the sequel to Captain Marvel.

This comes from The Hollywood Reporter, who confirmed that DaCosta — who broke through with the 2018 drama Little Woods, starring Tessa Thompson and Lily James as sisters — would be the one replacing directors Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, the indie stalwarts (of Half Nelson, Sugar, and more) who helmed last year’s mega-hit. That film was the first in the MCU to give a female superhero her own solo outing, though the still in limbo Black Widow is the one that lets a female director (namely Cate Shortland) do it all by herself. Still, DaCosta will be the first African-American woman to direct an MCU title.

Much like the 2018 Halloween, DaCosta’s Candyman is a direct sequel to its franchise’s original movie, ignoring all other films in the series. The 1992 original co-starred Tony Todd as the vengeful ghost of a son of a slave who was murdered over an interracial affair. DaCosta’s reboot/sequel stars Watchman’s Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Teyonah Parris as professionals who move into a gentrified neighborhood, only to run afoul of Todd’s spirit. It was originally scheduled for an early June release before all this happened.

(Via THR)

The 2020 Ultimate Spirits Challenge (USC) saw a record-setting number of entries from over 45 spirit-producing nations. The result was a genuinely diverse list of winners across categories, rather than the same old lobby-controlling stalwarts we often see taking home trophies. That’s good news — a shot in the arm for an industry where upstarts often don’t get the love they deserve.

The USC rolls-out their awards under the Ultimate Beverage Challenge banner — wherein experts in various drinks categories take their time to blindly taste a hell of a lot of liquids (in this case, booze). Unlike other spirits competitions, the USC judges don’t experience all the alcohol over a single wild festival weekend. The tastings are spaced out and hosted in a tasting center in Hawthrone, New York. Each dram is mulled over, savored, and awarded points; again blindly, to remove all bias.

This detailed judging generates a list of the very best bottles and expressions you can buy right now. And not only is flavor rated, but whiskeys are also credited as “Great Value” buys when deserved. Meaning the judges are not only telling you what tastes they favor but which prices, too. You can’t ask for more than that from a spirits contest.

The ten bottles below were rated the top ten bourbons available right now. We decided to use the Ultimate Spirits Challenge judge’s tasting notes where available to add their POV to the sipping experience. (When these weren’t available, we used our own notes.) We’ve also added delivery options if you want to try any of the bottles yourself — though be warned, a few of them get pretty pricey.

Stagg, JR. (98 points)

ABV: 64.2%
Distillery: Buffalo Trace Distillery, Frankfort, KY (Sazerac)
Average Price: $60

The Whiskey:

This was the top of the pile when it came to bourbon this year. Stagg, Jr. was also our choice for one of the best whiskey alternatives to ultra-expensive bottles. This bottle won the most awards, from being the top pick to also being a “Great Value” whiskey — a title which will not last long if the expression keeps taking home hardware.

Tasting Notes:

“Poundcake, grapefruit zest, chopped walnuts, red apple skin, and maple cream make for an alluring bouquet. The palate carries weight in terms of body and powerful spice, as well as ample fruit to add balance. Deep woodsy smoke and dark chocolate mark the finish.”

George T. Stagg (97 points)

ABV: 58.45%
Distillery: Buffalo Trace Distillery, Frankfort, KY (Sazerac)
Average Price: $499 ($99 MSRP)

The Whiskey:

Every year, Buffalo Trace releases their Antique Collection which includes five highly sought-after bottles of the good stuff. George T. Stagg leads the way with whiskey that’s been aged at least 15 years and carries with it the mastery of distilling and aging that makes this bottle a collector’s dream.

Tasting Notes:

“Seductive aromas of thick spice, maple, cherries, and roasted tobacco leaf are a pleasure to smell. Robust in the mouth with more cigar box flavors that develop into concentrated dried fruit and vanilla toasted nuts. The velvet texture adds to the overall irresistible charm.”

Hillrock Estate Exceptional Cask Solera Aged Bourbon Whiskey (97 points)

ABV: 58.4%
Distillery: Hillrock Estate, Ancram, NY
Average Price: $140

The Whiskey:

This tiny, grain-to-glass distillery up in New York creates some great drams. This expression is aged slowly using the “Solera” method. They use 20-year-old Olorosso sherry casks to age their bourbon with the classic “pyramid” Solera stacking of barrels in the rickhouse.

The result is an awarding-winning whiskey you’ll likely be hearing more and more about.

Tasting Notes:

“Deep spice, dried fruit, and nut aromas are enticing. Flavors kick off in the mouth with tart dried orchard fruits before turning to intense baking spice, and finally, brown sugar baked nuts. Hints of vanilla and creamy coffee linger on the fruity and endless finish.”

Bib & Tucker Small Batch 6 Year Old Bourbon Whiskey (96 points)

ABV: 46%
Distillery: Deutsch Family Wine and Spirits (Sourced in Tennessee)
Average Price: $50

The Whiskey:

This bourbon continues to wow professionals and consumers alike. The juice utilizes a high-corn mash bill alongside plenty of rye, giving it a classic feel. The nuance and well-rounded feel to this dram come from the six years of aging in low-char barrels.

All of that makes for a unique and very tasty Tennessee bourbon.

Tasting Notes:

“Lifted aromas of peach and vanilla mingle with deeper notes of leather, buttered brioche, and egg nog. The palate offers more fruit and cream alongside earthy rolled oats and banana bread. The finish is punctuated by tinges of maple syrup and cashew, which linger on the tongue.”

Barrell Bourbon Batch 022 5 Years Old (96 points)

ABV: 58.3%
Distillery: Barrell Craft Spirits, Louisville, KY (Sourced)
Average Price: $120

The Whiskey:

Barrell Bourbon’s blending has become the gold standard of the process. This expression is a blend of Kentucky and Indiana bourbon that’s been aged for at least five years. The blending and bottling all happen in Kentucky under the watchful eyes of Barrell’s masters and the result is a cask strength beauty.

Tasting Notes:

“Creamy maple oatmeal and brown sugar roasted corn are sweet and heady aromas with an earthy backbone. Spice-laden in the mouth, baked stone fruits, and vanilla custard are pungent and luscious flavors. A gently leathery finish adds textural contrast to the otherwise smooth body.”

Horse Soldier Reserve Barrel Strength (96 points)

ABV: 58.45%
Distillery: American Freedom Distillery, St. Petersburg, FL (Middlewest Spirits)
Average Price: $80

The Whiskey:

This whiskey was created by war veterans to honor war veterans. The juice is distilled and aged in Ohio at Middlewest Spirits before bottling in Florida. This expression is a wheated bourbon that’s bottled with no fuss, giving you the pure experience of bourbon in every sip.

Tasting Notes:

“Bold and spicy on the nose, with soft notes of toasted hay, salted caramel, espresso, and cream. The palate is explosive and rife with spicy oak, roasted corn, and malted chocolate flavors that coalesce on a warm, peppery finish.”

William Larue Weller Kentucky Straight Bourbon (96 points)

ABV: 64%
Distillery: Buffalo Trace Distillery, Frankfort, KY (Sazerac)
Average Price: $699 ($99 MSRP)

The Whiskey:

Here we have another bourbon from Buffalo Trace’s Antique Collection. This wheated bourbon was distilled back in 2007 and spent its life aging in the main rickhouse of the Buffalo Trace facility. This one is pricey, but it’s also a master-class in what great bourbon distillation and barrelling looks like.

Tasting Notes:

“This whiskey offers a soft yet profound nose that rings true to its wheat-heavy mash bill: think vanilla, pipe tobacco, coffee liqueur, golden raisin, and orange marmalade. The palate is bold and structured with stone fruit and baking spice giving way to touches of cherry and green herbs.”

Buffalo Trace Kentucky Straight Bourbon (96 points)

ABV: 45%
Distillery: Buffalo Trace Distillery, Frankfort, KY (Sazerac)
Average Price: $25

The Whiskey:

When Sazerac took over the George T. Stagg Distillery and renamed it Buffalo Trace, they also brought legendary distiller Elmer T. Lee out of retirement to make their signature bottle, Buffalo Trace. This whiskey was also rated “Great Value.” The low-rye/high-corn mashed bourbon is rendered as an entry point the vastness of the lines available via the distillery while also being one damn fine sip of bourbon.

Tasting Notes (Ours):

A combination of bourbon vanilla meets flourishes of fresh mint next to a deep molasses sweetness. That molasses softens, landing on a brown sugar sweetness as hints of toffee mingle with dark berries, anise, and oak. The spice peaks as the fruit, oak, and vanilla slowly fade away.

Four Roses Small Batch Select (96 points)

ABV: 52%
Distillery: Four Roses Distillery, Lawrenceburg, KY (Kirin Brewing)
Average Price: $80

The Whiskey:

Part of the beauty of Four Roses is their program that utilizes ten individual bourbon recipes, using two mash bills and five different yeast strains. This expression combines six of those bourbons under the masterful eye of master distiller Brent Elliott. The expression is mostly comprised of six to seven-year-old barrels with this bottling adding up to 12-year-old bourbons to the mix.

Tasting Notes:

“Very pretty aromas combine flowers, fruit, and sweet pastry shop treats to create an overall enticing profile. Buttery soft in the mouth, the flavors are deeply spice laden with peach skin, dried apricots, and a subtle maple aroma that runs throughout each sip.”

1792 Aged 12 Years Kentucky Straight Bourbon (96 points)

ABV: 48.3%
Distillery: Barton 1792 Distillery, Bardstown, KY (Sazerac)
Average Price: $60

The Whiskey:

1792 has been tearing up the awards scene in the last couple of years. The accolades come with good reason — their bourbons are well-crafted and hit on classic notes. In this case, this expression is a high-rye mashed bourbon that spends 12 long years aging before bottling. This bourbon was also rated as a “Great Value.”

Tasting Notes (Ours):

Oily vanilla pods marry light spice and a note of raw chocolate upfront. Maple syrup, sharp spice, and dried fruits mingle on the palate. The sip fades slowly away, as a distant billow of smoke adds a final flourish to the end of the dram.

Facebook recently began really cracking down on the amount of misinformation being spread on their service, at least when it came to posts about the coronavirus pandemic. They’ve even punished the most powerful person in the world. On Wednesday, the social media site completely removed a post made by noted non-MLB guest pitcher Donald J. Trump which claimed that children are “almost immune” from the virus — a claim that has been debunked as untrue.

The post actually contained a video of him, in an interview with Fox News, in which he made the claim in response to pushback against his repeated pleas to reopen schools in the fall, despite the fact that the pandemic is still at peak powers in the U.S. On top of spreading the false claim that children are “almost immune,” the president added that they ” have much stronger immunes system than [adults].” (He posted this on Twitter as well, though that appears to have been taken down as well.)

Despite Trump’s claims, a growing body of research seems to suggest that children can transmit COVID-19 just like everyone else, but are by and large (though not entirely) asymptomatic.

According to Business Insider, this is the first time a Trump post has been entirely taken down. In late July, Facebook and Twitter merely censored a post he made that included a video of doctors claiming that hydroxychloroquine could be used by everyone to combat COVID-19. But they merely deleted the video, not the entire post.

In the past Facebook has applied fact-checking labels to some of Trump’s other misleading posts, including one about mail-in voting, and took down a campaign ad that contained Nazi symbols. Still, CEO Mark Zuckerberg refused to take down some of his other controversial posts, including one that suggested violence should be used against Black Lives Matter demonstrators.

(Via Business Insider)

Therapy animals have become a controversial issue of recent, even though they’ve helped over 500,000 people overcome psychological and physical issues that have made it difficult to perform everyday tasks.

It’s because countless people have tried to pass off their pets as service animals, making it hard for legitimate, trained animals to gain acceptance in public.

So when people hear about emotional support llamas, they’re met with understandable cynicism. However, studies show they are great at helping children with autism spectrum disorder, and they are routinely used to cheer up people residents in retirement homes.

Llamas are calm, have plush fur perfect for petting, and large, empathetic eyes. Llama owners will tell you their pets have a sixth sense about people who are needy, ill or frail.

One emotional support llama has been helping cool down some of the most heated streets in America.

Caesar the “No Drama Llama” and his caretaker, Larry McCool, have been marching in Portland Black Lives Matter protests and he’s been a calming influence on both demonstrators and the police.

Who in the world wouldn’t be comforted by 350 pounds of pure fluffy bliss?

“Everyone seemed really happy to have him there, even those who were confused by his presence,” Caitlin Reasor, who spotted Caesar at the peaceful protest, told The Sun, “he was definitely a good morale booster.”

Demonstrator Nakaycha Dent added: “Everyone was immediately all smiles as soon as they saw him galloping past. Everyone was shocked there was a llama, but you could definitely feel the positive vibe he brought to the crowd.

McCool agrees that Caesar can be an oasis of chill in situations that can easily become heated.

“They’ll be clapping, chanting, stomping, and all of a sudden I’ll get up with Caesar and the next thing I know, everyone will just band around Caesar,” McCool told The Washington Post.

The 6-year-old Argentine grand champion show llama has been a comforting presence to police as well.

“I don’t care how big, how staunch, how intense that somebody is — it could be a big marcher in total riot gear, and he will come up and give Caesar a big hug,” said McCool. “It’s all I can do to just keep him from snuggling.”

Caesar and McCool have attended 10 Black Lives Matter protests in Portland this year and, over the years, have been to over 50 protests in support of a variety of civil and environmental causes.

They also regularly visit retirement homes to cheer up elderly residents.

McCool has owned the Mystic Llama Farm for over 20 years and cared for dozens of Llamas. But when he met Caesar in 2015, he knew there was something different about him.

“He’s a magical creature,” McCool said. “I wish I could take some credit for him, but he’s developed all on his own. I’ve been his tutor and his guide, but sometimes I’m the one following him.”