Month: October 2020

It’s not every day that you see an NFL player sporting a jersey of a professional female athlete. In fact, if most of us wrack our brains, we probably can’t think of any day that we’ve seen that.

So when Russell Wilson, quarterback for the Seattle Seahawks, walked out of the locker room after last night’s last-minute win against the Minnesota Vikings, people took notice of his shirt—a yellow and green jersey with the name and number of Sue Bird, the Seattle Storm WNBA superstar player. The Storm just took home their fourth WNBA National Championship title.

But that wasn’t all he did.

In the post-game press conference, a reporter asked him how he felt on the last drive in which he led the team on a 94-yard drive in the final two minutes of the game, ultimately completing a pass to the end zone on 4th and 10 to win the game. “What’s going through your head?” the reporter asked.

Wilson smiled, chuckled, and said, “I feel like Sue Bird in the clutch, you know?”

It was a simple sentence, but a meaningful one.

Paola Boivin, who was a sports writer for the Arizona Republic for 20 years and the first female journalist ever inducted into the Arizona Sports Hall of Fame, shared what the moment meant to her on Twitter.

“Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson just said, ‘I feel like Sue Bird in the clutch.’ In my era following sports growing up, I never remember a male athlete saying something like this. It seems simplistic, but this is powerful.”

In many fields, including professional sports, girls and women had to have male role models prior to doors being opened for women to excel on the public stage. Then, once women went through those doors and made a name for themselves, women had female role models to look up to. But it’s been rare to see it go the other way—to see boys or men express personal admiration for a female excelling in her field. And especially in a professional sport like football, which is pretty much entirely male, to have a star like Russell Wilson point to a female athlete as an example of the excellence he aspired to is, indeed, noteworthy at this stage of the game.

Someday, it won’t be. Excellence knows no gender, and it’s only outdated thinking and outdated ideas of manhood and masculinity that keep people locked in boxes of who our role models can be and how our fandom can be expressed. Russell Wilson is clearly a fan of Sue Bird, as is any Seattle resident who pays any attention to sports whatsoever. But he also clearly sees her as an athletic role model, and it’s just awesome to see him express that so openly.

Wilson’s sister plays basketball at Stanford, and he has been an outspoken supporter of women’s sports in general. Here’s a video of him from February sharing his and his wife Ciara’s support on National Girls and Women in Sports Day.

Love to see it. The more we all support one another, the better the chances that all of us will excel. Thanks for setting the example, Russell Wilson.

Food scenes in movies are kind of like sports documentaries. Sure, there are other types of media that focus more on the “event,” but for whatever reason food always tastes better when there’s a story behind it. Drinks are the same way. The best are conversation pieces as much as they are feasts for the senses. They say we “eat with our eyes” first, but do we not also eat with our desire for an ordered universe? Discuss.

I think I’ve cooked almost as many meals based on movie scenes as I have recipes from actual food shows. Here, I’ve ranked some of our favorite cinematic food porn scenes, both in terms of the effectiveness of the food porn itself — which is to say, how turned on about the food the scene gets you — and in terms of instructional value. Or, how much one could actually put the food depicted into practice. Trust me, it’s all very scientific.

13. Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey (Formerly, Birds of Prey: And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) – The Bod-egg-a Sandwich

The Scene: Birds of Prey was an odd movie that I suspect not that many people saw (it actually came out during that tiny sliver of 2020 when movie theaters were still open), but it’s relevant here because basically the entire inciting event of the plot was built around Harley Quinn’s love affair with an egg sandwich.

Food Porn Rating: B

This feels like a gimme, because who doesn’t love an egg sandwich? That being said, those eggs look slightly undercooked and I feel like the yolks are going to run down my arm. Points for buttering the bread, but I have to dock this one slightly, both because it feels like a direct appeal to New Yorkers and their weird bodega fetish, and because it seems like it’s trying a little too hard.

Instructional Value: D

No disrespect, but you probably didn’t need a movie to tell you how to make an egg sandwich. Plus, I don’t have a plancha at home (yet…).

12. Spanglish: The Egg Panino

The Scene: As long as we’re talking cinematic egg sandwich-interrupted scenes, we couldn’t leave out Spanglish. I have to give this one the edge over Birds of Prey on account of plating, the eggs look better cooked, and the fact that he whipped it up in his home kitchen.

Food Porn: B+

I still worry about the drippy yolk but this one looks tasty enough that I probably wouldn’t mind. Also, points for no “American cheese.” American cheese’s melting ability is never worth the lack of flavor, in my opinion. Cheddar melts just fine.

Instructional Value: C+

This one is more inspirational than instructional, I would say. Hopefully, you have a toaster oven.

11. In The Realm Of The Senses

The Scene: Uh, basically like half the movie? The controversial French-Japanese film by Nagisa Oshim from 1976 is about a prostitute-turned-maid who has an affair with her new boss. In the end, she cuts off his dong and walks around with it inside her. This was based on a real thing that happened in Japan and there are multiple films about it. The seventies were lit, man! Anyway, at one point, Abe puts an egg in Ishida’s hoo-ha and then eats it. She also voraciously eats an apple after strangling him. Lots of food scenes to choose from! It’s about “the senses” after all.

Food Porn: B

The film, which famously featured unsimulated sex scenes (complete with a money shot at one point) is probably more porn-porn than food-porn, but hey, those other ones got me thinking about eggs.

Instructional Value: Pass

I know I’m the one who brought it up but I’m deflecting this question.

10. First Cow: Oilycakes

The Scene: Platonic pioneer dude-bros Cookie and King-Lu becoming entrepreneurs selling “oilycakes” to their fellow trappers in the Oregon territory. Their secret? They’ve been surreptitiously weezing the juice from a rich guy’s cow. The “first cow” in the territory, hence their success at cornering the market. Nice work if you can avoid getting shot for it.

Food Porn Rating: A+

Those oily cakes looked so damn good. Anything frying in oil tends to look really good on film. And in life, frankly.

Instructional Value: B-

Admittedly I haven’t attempted to recreate this one just yet, but I doubt milk is going to be the magic bullet in my home donuts/funnel cakes. Hard to beat a doughnut though. Fried dough doesn’t get enough credit, if you ask me. In fact, anyone who likes cupcakes more than doughnuts is a simp.

9. Pulp Fiction: Big Kahuna Burger

The Scene: It’s the ultimate power move to extort half of some guys’ fast food before you kill them.

Food Porn Rating: B+

The amazing thing about this scene is that it makes me hungry as hell even while barely showing the food. Samuel L. Jackson’s reactions are all we need. “Mmm-MMM, that IS a tasty BURGER!” (this is in the top five of scenes I can recite by heart). “That’s that Hah-waiian burger joint, right?

It’s essentially the Spielberg Face of food porn. It’s also the only event in human history that has ever made me crave a Sprite.

Instructional Value: D

With all due respect to Babish, I’ve never felt the compulsion to make my own Big Kahuna Burger. To go buy one, absolutely, but not to whip one up at home. My most controversial food opinion is that almost all burgers are good. As long as it’s fully constructed — if you bring me an open-faced unbuilt burger with no sauce on it I’m never ordering that again. The best thing about a great burger is that it be a fully-constructed one hander with all the flavors.

8. Ratatouille: The ratatouille

The Scene: Remy serves the snooty film critic some ratatouille that reminds him of being a petit French boy.

Food Porn: C+

I love Ratatouille as a movie, but even though the entire thing is about food, it’s never really had that mouth-watering effect for me. Great film, I think it’s just a little hard to get excited about CGI squash. I actually slightly prefer the food porn in Bao, but that was just a short, so I can’t include it. Also, the character design of the people in it gives me nightmares.

Instructional Value: A-

I’ve never attempted it, mostly on account of my mixed feelings about squash, but it certainly seems like something worth attempting at some point. Maybe one day when I have too much squash.

7. Phantom Thread: The Mushroom Omelette

The Scene: In retaliation against her belittling, capricious, persnickety lover, the exacting dressmaker Reynolds Woodcock, his lover Alma poisons him with a mushroom omelette.

Food Porn: A

The look of those mushrooms sizzling in pan with lots of butter (Reynolds Woodcock famously only likes a little butter) sticks in my head better than anything else in the whole movie. The great thing about this scene is that it actually makes me jealous of the man being poisoned. Incidentally, Woodcock had it coming. He spent the movie’s first scene throwing a fit over “snodgy” pastries. I still have no idea what a snodgy pastry is.

Instructional Value: B+

While it doesn’t exactly teach me any new tricks, it does make me want to sautee some chanterelles. Don’t skimp on the butter. Also, a handful of chives always elevates an egg dish.

6. Like Water For Chocolate: Quail with Rose Sauce

The Scene: Tita’s sensual food makes everyone want to f*ck

Food Porn: A-

I mean I just said it made everyone want to f*ck.

Instructional Value: B

Quail sounds kind of good but I think I’ll pass on the rose sauce. I need more movies about Mexican stews.

5. Parasite: Ram-don

The Scene: The high-strung Mrs. Park tells her new housekeeper, the striving, grifting Mrs. Kim to prepare her special boy some ram-don. Mrs. Kim doesn’t know what the hell “ram-don” is and has to improvise. She ends up cooking some nice steak with instant noodles. A little more on ram-don:

The term “ram-don” was invented for the film by subtitle translator Darcy Paquet, as the actual Korean name for the dish, jjapaguri—a combination of two types of instant noodles—was too difficult to translate for an English-speaking audience. Paquet figured audience members would, however, likely be familiar with “ramen” and “udon,” and so he mashed up the two.

Food Porn: A-

Steaming noodles with seared steak? Yes.

Instructional Value: A-

Pimping out your instant noodles with fancy ingredients is a time-honored and useful trick. Top Ramen even announced that they’d be sponsoring a contest to do just that for their 50th anniversary this past week. You don’t have to have grown up poor or been to prison to appreciate the smell of instant noodles cooking. It has universal appeal.

4. The Godfather: The Sauce

The Scene: Clemenza tries to distract Michael Corleone from being a shitty boyfriend by teaching him how to make some tomato sauce. “You see, you start out with a little bit of oil. Then you fry some garlic. Then you throw in some tomatoes, tomato paste, you fry it. Make sure it doesn’t stick. You get it to a boil. You shove in all your sausage and your meatballs. And a little bit of wine. And a little bit of sugar, and that’s my trick.”

Food Porn: B

It would’ve been nice to see him actually fry the garlic. The sound of sausages and meatballs plopping into the sauce is pretty nice.

Instructional Value: A-

Clemenza basically gives the entire recipe, you have to give him that. And he describes basically the way every Italian-American child learned to make the meat-forward tomato sauce, aka “Sunday Gravy,” we all grew up on. I still enjoy a nice Sunday gravy from time to time, but I do quibble somewhat with his technique. First off, how long are we frying that garlic? Hopefully not more than a minute. You don’t want that garlic to get brown. Second, no onions? Maddon’. Why no onions? We use two or three onions per 28 ounce can of tomatoes in the Mancini family. You use more onions, you won’t need that sugar to sweeten it (admittedly the Clemenza version makes nice quick pizza sauce). Granted it takes a little more work, but you’re simmering the damn sauce all day anyway so what’s 10 more minutes?

3. Goodfellas: Prison Steaks And Red Sauce

The Scene: Henry Hill narrates what a big event dinner was for the wise guys in the joint. To me, “Medium Rare, an aristocrat,” shares top-billing with “That IS a tasty BURGER” or “That’s that Hah-waiian burger joint right?” as cinema’s most memorable food line.

“Dinner was always a big thing in the joint. We had a pasta course and then meat or fish. Paulie did the prep work. He was doing a year for contempt and he had a system for doing garlic. He used a razor and he sliced it so thin it used to liquify in the pan with a little oil. Vinnie was in charge of the tomato sauce. I felt he put in too many onions, but it was a good sauce anyway. Johnny Dio did the meat. He didn’t have a broiler, so Johnny did everything in pans. He smelled up the joint something awful and the hacks used to die.”

Food Porn: A

In my mind, Scorsese is the king of food porn in movies that aren’t strictly about food. This is just one of many scenes we could’ve included here (The Irishman has a few low-key great ones). Scorsese shot this so well that Henry Hill came out of witness protection to sell his own pasta sauce.

Instructional Value: B+

It’s basically the same Sunday gravy as The Godfather, and I’m with Vinnie — onions are your friend. Just make sure to cook them all the way. I’ve never had a Sunday gravy and thought “too many onions.” As for the garlic, it’s brilliant as food porn but probably less so as an instructional tool. It sounds like a lot of work for a sauce that would probably taste the same as if you just smashed the garlic. The razor blade method would probably give you something to do if you were doing a year for contempt though.

2. Chef: Pasta Aglio e Olio

The Scene: Though he would spend the rest of the movie making Cuban sandwiches, the most food porny scene in Chef is, to me, one of the openers, in which Jon Favreau woos Scarlett Johansson (lol) by cooking her some pasta with olive oil and TONS of garlic.

Food Porn: A+

For my money, it’s hard to beat the sight of garlic cooking in olive oil. And extra points for the sheer volume of garlic. Dats a lotta garlic!

Instructional Value: A+

Monkey see, monkey do — I’ve definitely made this exact pasta solely because of this movie. As a kid who grew up on Sunday Gravy, the idea that you could basically do a tomato sauce without the tomatoes was kind of a head-slapping revelation for me.

My suggestion: cook tons of garlic in some olive oil (don’t burn the damn garlic!) add a pinch of black pepper and crushed red pepper (don’t go crazy, a little goes a long way) to the pan (you always want that crushed red pepper to bloom in the pan a little), then toss in your par-cooked pasta to finish in the pan. Then add as much parmigiano as you want (like onions in a gravy, I’ve never had pasta and thought “this has too much parmesan”), and finish it off with some fresh parsley (my other controversial food opinion is that I like curly better than flat for superior mouthfeel). It feels a lot lighter than a Sunday gravy. Perfect if you’re a big fat guy trying to woo someone far too attractive for you.

1. Big Night: The Timpano

The Scene: Some chefs spend an entire movie making a timpano, and then in the climactic scene, serve a timpano. I imagine that the first question a reader would ask when presented with a list of movie foods is, “Is Big Night number one?” That’s why Big Night is number one.

Food Porn: A+

Again, basically the entire movie is about making a timpano, a giant layer cake of eggs, salami, meatballs, cheese, ziti, and ragu sauce baked inside a giant pizza dough.

Instructional Value: A-

Once again I’d say this one is more inspirational than it is strictly instructional. Have I tried this recipe? No. Have I always wanted to? Absolutely. Looking at it now, none of the ingredients looks especially complicated on its own, but the construction seems a little daunting. It’s possible the movie may have oversold the difficulty of the timpano. On account of it being an entire movie about a timpano and all.

All that Genoa salami in the New York Times version sounds aggressively salty to me, but that’s a personal preference. I’d probably use Italian sausages or a little Mortadella instead if I was doing it myself. I mix a little sweet Italian sausage into my meatballs when I make them. It’s good!

Vince Mancini is on Twitter. You can access his archive of reviews here.

It was recently revealed that Normani‘s mom has been once again diagnosed with cancer. On Sunday, the singer — who in 2018 told Paper Magazine that her mom’s previous cancer diagnosis, from two decades ago, was the “scariest point in all of our lives” — shared a message in support of her mom.

The news was shared by Normani’s mom herself, who posted about her relapse on her Instagram page. “I did it once and I’ll do it again!” her mom wrote, referring to when she was first diagnosed with cancer nearly 20 years ago.” Not long after, Normani showed her support on Twitter, posting a simple message: “F*ck cancer.”

Back in 2018, Normani teamed up with the American Cancer Society to raise awareness about breast cancer, which affects one in eight American women, and the importance of testing. “That’s important for any woman that’s going through the same experience, to have a support system of people around you who are reminding you that you’re still beautiful,” she said at the time.

On the music front, Normani has remained relatively quiet since releasing her hit track “Motivation,” which was co-written by Ariana Grande. In late February, Normani sat down with Rolling Stone for their cover story, in which the singer gave updates on the status of her new music. While she said her record was “about halfway” to completion, she said she hoped to have a single out by this summer. The summer came and went with no new Normani music, but it’s possible that she had to postpone her releases due to the pandemic.

During the interview, Normani added that she’s attempting to offer a more honest view of herself on her debut solo album. “I want to be able to feel like I was represented in the most authentic way possible because I know what it feels like coming from a girl group and being told who to be,” she said.

The Los Angeles Lakers toppled the Miami Heat to win the 2020 NBA championship and, given the lopsided nature of Game 6, there was plenty of time for both celebration and debate surrounding LeBron James. James, who was named NBA Finals MVP by a unanimous margin, was dominant during the team’s run to glory, setting up heightened discourse with already established comparisons to Michael Jordan.

Once the initial wave of celebration died down a bit, James and Anthony Davis sat down with ESPN’s Rachel Nichols and, still in the glow of it all, the conversation went in a few interesting directions.

First, both James and Davis weighed in on the difficulty of the bubble setting, with James calling it “survival of the fittest.” Both also spoke about the challenge of being away from family, with Davis saying it was tough “every night” and James admitting that he asked himself whether the journey was worth it at times.

Later, James was prompted on where we sees himself when compared to Michael Jordan and the greatest of all time debate that has been raging for years.

“That’s not for me to question, or wonder, or debate. I think that’s what you guys will do,” James said. “For me personally, I just have a way that I play the game. I have a way that I lead. I have a way that I challenge my guys and challenge myself. But more importantly, at the end of my career, I just hope I made a lot of people proud, for the way I approach the game. That’s all that matters to me. There’s going to be debates. That’s what it’s all about. We call it barbershop talk. People are going to do it.”

Seconds later, Nichols followed up by asking James about his “I want my damn respect” comment delivered after winning the title.

“At the end of the day, there’s always going to be disrespect,” said James. “There are people that still doubt me, even at this point in my career, and they’re going to continue to do that as long as I put on a uniform, which I’ve realized. But being with (Davis), and being with those other 13 guys on the floor, it doesn’t matter. It drives me, so I appreciate it. But at the end of the day, if I’m making Anthony and my other 13 teammates proud, nothing else matters.”

“You guys know how much I love Michael Jordan,” he continued. “I wear No. 23 because of Michael Jordan. When I first got my first pair of Jordans, you couldn’t tell me nothing. So, y’all can do the debates. Y’all can figure that out.”

Much ink has already been spilled in the hours after the final buzzer, with personalities retreating to their corners in an instant. James is still playing, though, and he has the benefit of additional extra time in adding to a career that is already legendary, from the standpoint of both his peak and the longevity he has enjoyed.

“I don’t know what my future holds,” said James. “The only thing I can do is control the present. I can control what’s going on right now, and I’m happy to be a Laker. I’m happy to be a champion, and that’s all I can say.”

Sometimes a politician says or does something so brazenly gross that you have to do a double take to make sure it really happened. Take, for instance, this tweet from Lauren Witzke, a GOP candidate for the U.S. Senate from Delaware. Witzke defeated the party’s endorsed candidate to win the primary, has been photographed in a QAnon t-shirt, supports the conspiracy theory that 9/11 was a U.S. government inside operation, and has called herself a flat earther.

So that’s neat.

Witzke has also proposed a 10-year total halt on immigration to the U.S., which is absurd on its face, but makes sense when you see what she believes about immigrants. In a tweet this week, Witzke wrote, “Most third-world migrants can not assimilate into civil societies. Prove me wrong.”

First, let’s talk about how “civil societies” and developing nations are not different things, and to imply that they are is racist, xenophobic, and wrong. Not to mention, it has never been a thing to refer people using terms like “third-world.” That’s a somewhat outdated term for developing nations, and it was never an adjective to describe people from those nations even when it was in use.

Next, let’s see how Twitter thwapped Lauren Witzke straight into the 21st century by proving her wrong in the most delicious way. Not only did people share how they or their relatives and friends have successfully “assimilated,” but many showed that they went way, way beyond that.

Some shared their academic credentials, which is not the only sign of assimilating well, but is certainly a well-respected one. Here’s a sampling:

One of people’s favorite responses came from Viet Thanh Nguyen, who arrived in the U.S. as a baby with his refugee parents. He won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction for his novel “The Sympathizer” in 2016.

One person pointed out that the iPhone Witzke used to send her tweet was created by the son of a Syrian immigrant. (The father of Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple, was a political refugee from Syria.)

Another shared a report that immigrants outperform American-born citizens in key measures of financial success.

Others flipped the assertion around on Witzke, pointing out that her tweet proves she herself isn’t functioning well in civil society. And she’s not alone.

Others flipped the idea of a “third world” country altogether, pointing out that the U.S. is not exactly a bastion of civil society these days. (Fact check: Gun violence here is not worse than *any* developing nation, but it is worse than many of them.

But perhaps the most comprehensive response, which also happens to be one of the shortest, is this one:

This country does prove her wrong. The U.S. has long been a nation that welcomes immigrants from all over the world, and many of us see that fact as one of our greatest strengths. Immigrants have started some of our most successful businesses, enriched our communities with restaurants and shops that give us a taste of another part of the world, and helped fuel some of our most innovative ideas and products. The primary thing that makes “assimilation” difficult for immigrants, no matter where they come from, is hostile attitudes toward them. All Ms. Witzke’s tweet does is make it harder for migrants to do what she’s saying they can’t do. You can’t make it make sense.

The bottom line is there’s no place for this kind of racist, classist, xenophobic rhetoric in civil society. Bigotry needs to be rejected at every turn, including—perhaps especially—at the ballot box.

Last Updated: October 12th

There are horror movies, and then there are campy horror movies. Both bring the frights, and both leave you with nightmares, but these B-list horror flicks on this list have a little something extra: they’re just fun as hell to watch. Hauntings, slashers, and evil babysitters — these movies have unlimited imaginations and zero regard for the rules of reality. They’re quirky, funny, and plain ridiculous, which is how they lure you in before scaring the ever-loving sh*t out of you.

Here are the best Halloween movies on Netflix right now, filled with campy fun, B-list horror, and slashers galore.

Related: The Scariest Shows On Netflix Right Now

The Addams Family (1991)

Run Time: 99 min | IMDb: 6.9/10

More spooky than downright terrifying, this Halloween favorite has a theme-song that always slaps and a cast of colorful characters that people almost always borrow costume ideas from come October. The first installment in the franchise introduces us to Morticia (Anjelica Huston) and Gomez (Raul Julia) Adams, a feverishly-in-love couple who live in a gothic mansion with their two children, Wednesday (Christina Ricci) and Pugsley (Jimmy Workman), and a handful of other bizarre family members. When Gomez’s long-lost brother shows up, it’s up to Morticia and the children to uncover whether he’s really blood, or just a con-artist hoping to swindle them out of their fortune.

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House of 1000 Corpses (2003)

Run Time: 89 min | IMDb: 6.1/10

Rob Zombie’s cult classic still manages to scare the ever-living sh*t out of us, even if its main villains are a group of backwater clowns. The film follows two young couples with a murder kink who go on a trip to try to uncover some true crime legends. That whole “be careful what you wish for” saying comes into play when they’re taken hostage and terrorized by a family of inbred circus people who find increasingly inventive, gruesome ways to hurt them. You know, because it’s fun.

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Little Evil (2017)

Run Time: 94 min | IMDb: 5.7/10

Evangeline Lilly and Adam Scott star in this ridiculous horror-comedy flick that satirizes some old genre tropes. Scott plays Gary, a guy who falls in love with a woman with a young son who might just be the Antichrist. He goes to a stepdad support group, tries to take the kid to waterparks, and even visits the lone surviving ex of his new girlfriend in hopes of bonding with the evil gremlin, but it’s a no go. Not until the boy’s in danger and Gary has an epiphany, does he truly understand just what this child is — and why everyone around him keeps dying.

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Creep (2014)

Run Time: 82 min | IMDb: 6.3/10

One of the better found-footage movies to come down the pike in Paranormal Activity‘s wake is this creepy gem about a videographer (director Patrick Brice) who answers a strange Craigslist ad from a man (Mark Duplass) that requests to be followed around with a camera for 24 hours. There are a few points late in the narrative where suspension of disbelief becomes an issue (a not-atypical problem for the genre), but if you can look past that, you’ll be treated to a very scary turn by Duplass and a supremely-unnerving epilogue.

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Shutter (2004)

Run Time: 97 min | IMDb: 7.1/10

This Thai horror film follows a young man named Tun and his girlfriend, Jane, who accidentally run over a young woman after a party and are haunted by her spirit. Hauntings and horror go hand-in-hand, but this film digs deeper into the supernatural trope by revealing a surprising, gruesome connection between the woman’s ghost and the film’s protagonist. We won’t spoil anything here, but let’s just say there’s a reason this death follows this guy wherever he goes.

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The Bar (2017)

Run Time: 102 min | IMDb: 6.4/10

A varied group of people is stuck in a bar after a man is gunned down outside. As the paranoia spreads and they turn on one another, they discover a mysterious sickness could be the culprit. It’s a bottle-type plot that has been done before — locking a bunch of frenzied folks in a cage and let instincts take their course — but this Spanish horror comedy injects its own dark humor and keeps the answers to a minimum, making an entertaining story that unfortunately favors the “dark” over the “comedy” in its final act.

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The Evil Dead (1981)

Run Time: 85 min | IMDb: 7.5/10

This ’80s Sam Raimi creation launched the director’s career and has since become a cult classic. The story follows a group of college students vacationing in an isolated cabin in a remote wooded area when they find an audio tape that somehow releases a legion of demons and spirits. Most of the group suffer varying degrees of possession which leads to gory mayhem (hence the film’s NC-17 rating).

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The Babysitter (2017)

Run Time: 85 min | IMDb: 6.3/10

Samara Weaving (who has another fantastic horror film out called Ready Or Not) stars in this comedy scare about a serial-killer babysitter and the young boy she looks after. Weaving plays Bee, a babysitter who befriends a boy named Cole. While she’s watching him one night, Cole witnesses Bee and a group of her friends kill a man and perform a demonic ritual, which sets off a string of events that end in blood, death, and talk of cults.

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Secrets in The Hot Springs (2018)

Run Time: 120 min | IMDb: 6.1/10

This Taiwanese horror flick follows three youngsters, who meet by accident at a mysterious hot springs hotel. When strange occurrences begin to take place, the group must band together to save each other and the family that lives there. This thing starts off scary, but it won’t give you the kind of nightmares that the rest of the films on this list might.

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Sleepy Hollow (1999)

Run Time: 105 min | IMDb: 7.3/10

Strange, spooky sh*t happens when Tim Burton and Johnny Depp team up and that fact remains true for this re-telling of a particularly haunting legend. Depp plays Ichabod Crane, a detective of sorts who’s sent to Sleepy Hollow to investigate three deaths by decapitation. What he ends up encountering instead is a malevolent specter known as The Headless Horseman, who’s been terrorizing the town and now has his sights set on him.

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Hubie Halloween (2020)

Run Time: 102 min | IMDb: 5.3/10

Adam Sandler is back with that signature lisp for this more family-friendly-esque Halloween treat. Sandler plays Hubie Dubois, a small-town screw-up who’s constantly bullied by the locals. Despite this, he loves Salem and its annual Halloween bash, so when a malevolent force tries to crash the party and, ya know, kill everyone, it’s up to him to save the holiday. We doubt this will give you nightmares, but sometimes a good scary movie isn’t just about being scared — you know what we mean?

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Last week, Griselda’s Benny The Butcher officially announced his upcoming Hit Boy-produced record Burden Of Proof, which will feature the highly anticipated track “Timeless,” featuring Lil Wayne and Big Sean. Benny previously shared the album’s tracklist, revealing appearances from the likes of Rick Ross, Freddie Gibbs, Queen Najia, Dom Kennedy, Conway The Machine, and Westside Gunn. The record is just a few days from its official release and Benny has now revealed the album’s cover art.

In a statement announcing the album Benny wrote that it’s his form of “celebration” for the ones who have been with him from the beginning: “I made my presence felt in this rap sh*t to do tht I had to make the moves they didn’t want me to make and learn the sh*t they didn’t want me to know. This one feel like a celebration for street n****s… Buffalo I got us we goin up a level.”

Benny The Butcher isn’t the only Griselda member to have an album drop lately. Recently Conway The Machine shared his From King To A God project, Armani Caesar released her record The Liz, and Westside Gunn set the tempo with his anticipated album Who Made The Sunshine.

Check out Benny The Butcher’s Burden Of Proof cover art above.

Burden Of Proof is out 10/16 via Empire. Pre-order it here.

Just because something is popular, doesn’t necessarily mean it’s good. But it also doesn’t necessarily mean it’s bad. In their rush to celebrate the new and the underrated, people sometimes forget the latter aspect. That’s why today we’re taking a look at some of the best-selling American whiskeys. These are the brands that even non-whiskey fans know. The barroom mainstays and liquor cabinet staples.

The expressions we’ll be drinking today include one well-known Tennessee whiskey and five Kentucky bourbons. And though I’ve had all of these drams more than enough times to last me, I sipped them all again for this occasion. While drinking, I detailed took notes — ranking the whiskeys based on flavor, mixability, and overall value.

You won’t be shocked to know that Jack Daniel’s, Wild Turkey, Jim Beam, Bulleit, Maker’s Mark, and Evan Williams are the brands we’re tasting. But you might be shocked to see how I ranked them.

(I’ve put them from worst to best to add to the suspense!)

6.) Wild Turkey 81 Bourbon

ABV: 40.5%

Price: $23.99

Distillery: Wild Turkey

The Story:

You might know this bourbon by its former name “Wild Turkey 81.” It’s a classic turkey-adorned bottle that has a permanent spot on many bars and inside many liquor cabinets across America. Aged in charred American white oak casks using the company’s proprietary No.4 “alligator” char, this rich, easy sipping whiskey is one of the best-selling brands for a reason.

Like Jim Beam and Jack Daniel’s, this brand has its rapid fanbase devoted to its whiskeys. Plenty of young people grow up knowing that grandpa or grandma insists on Wild Turkey at all gatherings.

Tasting Notes:

The first aromas you’ll be met with are those of Christmas spices, charred oak, and creamy vanilla. The first sip yields spiced apples, brown sugar, caramel, and vanilla beans. The finish is long, warm, and ends with hints of leather and cinnamon spice.

Bottom Line:

Sometimes Wild Turkey doesn’t get the respect it deserves. While it’s not on the level of Elijah Craig or Four Roses, this is a highly sippable bottle. It also shines in a hot toddy or whiskey sour.

5.) Jim Beam White Label Bourbon

ABV: 40%

Price: $18.99

Distillery: Jim Beam

The Story:

Like Jack Daniel’s, Jim Beam White Label is an iconic bottle. This high corn bourbon just celebrated its 225th birthday. It’s Jim Beam’s flagship bottle — aged for four years in charred American oak barrels.

It’s cheap, highly mixable, and always there — available at every liquor store from Tacoma to Tampa. Seriously… it’s the top-selling bourbon in the world.

Tasting Notes:

Begin your tasting experience by giving this whiskey a good nosing. You’ll be met with hints of sweet corn, dried orange peel, and subtle vanilla. The first sip is filled with charred oak, sweet honey, toasted caramel, and brown sugar. The finish is long, warming, sweet, and ends with a final kick of cinnamon spice.

Bottom Line:

You can sip any whiskey, but you’ll be happier using this one as a mixer. You don’t have to mask all the flavors with myriad ingredients, though. It works well in a simple old fashioned or mixed with ginger ale.

4.) Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whiskey

ABV: 40%

Price: $37.99

Distillery: Jack Daniel’s

The Story:

Even if you know nothing about whiskey, you’ve heard of Jack Daniel’s. The sour mash Tennessee whiskey is the best-selling American made whiskey in the world. Referred to as “Old No. 7”, this whiskey is well known for being filtered through sugar maple charcoal before being matured in charred American oak barrels.

Tasting Notes:

If you’re the type of person who usually uses Jack Daniel’s as a mixer, you might not take the time to nose it first. If you do, you’ll get acquainted with subtle smoke, cinnamon, and rich vanilla. The first sip brings hints of almonds, toasted oak, and sweet caramel. The finish is long, warming, and filled with more charred oak and cinnamon.

Bottom Line:

Sure, you can sip Jack Daniel’s. If you’re on a budget, you might be more than happy with a glass of Jack on the rocks. But truth be told, this whiskey is best suited for mixing into your favorite drinks.

(Also, Jack and Coke is a top 10 underrated cocktail.)

3.) Bulleit Bourbon

ABV: 45%

Price: $15.99

Distillery: Four Roses

The Story:

This award-winning bourbon was made to pay homage to a whiskey originally produced by Augustus Bulleit more than 150 years ago. This high rye (28%) bourbon is known for its mix of spicy and sweet — appealing to both bourbon and rye whiskey fans. It also makes it a great whiskey for cocktail fans.

Tasting Notes:

From the first nose, you’re met with the subtle peppery spice of the rye. This is followed by hints of toasted oak and sweet vanilla. The first sip brings up flavors of Christmas spices, maple syrup, rich caramel, and cinnamon. The finish is long, creamy, warming, and filled with more spicy white pepper.

Bottom Line:

There’s a reason this whiskey is such a big seller. It’s bold, smooth, and easily drinkable. It deserves to be enjoyed over a few ice cubes in a rocks glass on a cool evening.

2.) Maker’s Mark Bourbon

ABV: 45%

Price: $27

Distillery: Maker’s Mark

The Story:

If Jack Daniel’s is the most well-known American whiskey, Maker’s Mark is the most well-known bourbon. The bottle itself, with its red wax-covered top, is iconic all on its own. The bourbon inside is made with corn, red winter wheat, and barley. The mash bill doesn’t contain any rye, making it extra mellow and drinkable.

Little known fact: To pay homage to its Scottish heritage, the brand omits the ‘e’ in whiskey, calling theirs “Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whisky”.

Tasting Notes:

Before taking your first sip, you should always give this bourbon a proper nosing. The first scent you’re met with his of the charred barrel itself. This is followed by sweet cream and rich, toasted vanilla. The first is very light with hints of wood, subtle cinnamon spice, and caramelized sugar. The finish is short, very warming, and ends with a nice kick of spicy heat.

Bottom Line:

This whisky is lighter than you’d expect from such a well-known brand and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. It’s smooth, very mellow, and perfect for sipping in a rocks glass over a few ice cubes or mixed into a mint julep or old fashioned.

1.) Evan Williams Black Label Bourbon

ABV: 43%

Price: $16.99

Distillery: Heaven Hill

The Story:

Whiskey drinkers know all about the value of a bottle of Evan Williams. It doesn’t have the name recognition of a Jack Daniel’s or Jim Beam, but you’d be hard-pressed to find a better bargain than the classic Evan Williams bourbon. Distilled by Heaven Hill, this bourbon is aged for a minimum of four years in charred American oak barrels. It’s the kind of bottle everyone should have on their liquor cabinet shelves for sipping and mixing.

Tasting Notes:

From the first nose, you’ll be met with a subtle herbal aroma mixed with sweet cream, cinnamon, and butterscotch. The first sip brings up charred oak, salted caramel, and cooking spices. The finish is long, very warming, and ends with a great deal of vanilla and subtle spice.

Bottom Line:

While you can enjoy Evan Williams Black on the rocks quite easily, this whiskey really shines best when used as the base for a Manhattan, old fashioned, or literally any whiskey-based cocktail you enjoy.

Election day is mere weeks away, and right now incumbent Donald Trump is trailing in the polls. Granted, he was trailing this time four years back, and we all know how that turned out. But the numbers appear to be getting to him, as he’s become more erratic and desperate than ever before. A new pro-Trump ad tries to argue that the president’s administration has done a stellar job at fighting the novel coronavirus. It even featured what seemed like a rave from Dr. Anthony Fauci, the most popular and most trusted member of his task force. But on Sunday, Dr. Fauci himself said those words were taken out of context.

On Monday, Trump’s opponent pounced. The Joe Biden team released a clever campaign video, which not only pelted the president for this action, but did so by responding in kind. The ad splices together a couple dozen public Trump appearances, making him look like he’s doing something he’d never do: admitting fault.

And so, through the magic of obviously misleading editing, Trump is made to say the following words: “I am failing at managing the coronavirus outbreak, so I used Dr. Fauci in an ad to say I’m doing a good job. But it’s fake. He never said that.” The Trump of Biden’s ad then goes one further, making him do another thing he’s never done: apologize. “Sorry to Dr. Fauci, and sorry to everyone else.”

The Trump ad tries to paint a heroic portrait of the last nine months, glossing over things like the alarming body count, the supplies that were shorted to certain (usually blue) states, and the misleading messaging from Trump highers-up about masks and other safety precautions. It also includes an undated video clip of Dr. Fauci saying, “I can’t imagine that anybody could be doing more.”

Dr. Fauci, who has kept any critiques of his famously tetchy boss to a minimum, pushed back on this one, telling CNN, that the words were “taken out of context from a broad statement I made months ago about the efforts of federal public health officials,” and that they were “attributed to me without my permission.” He added, “In my nearly five decades of public service, I have never publicly endorsed any political candidate.”

The Biden team has mostly took the high road during its campaign, leaving the more cutting and sardonic commentary to the likes of the Never Trump Republican-led folks at the Lincoln Project. But this one — forceful and funny in equal measure — is a step in a new direction.

LeBron James has surely fielded a number of calls and texts of congratulations over the past 18 or so hours as he picked up his fourth NBA title and fourth Finals MVP award of his career on Sunday night.

Unlike most years, where James could have all of his family and friends nearby during the Finals, he just had his teammates and wife, Savannah, with him in Orlando to celebrate. As such he had an emotional video call with his mother, Gloria, from the floor of the Lakers locker room and L.A.’s team celebration was joyous, even if a bit muted and much smaller than it typically would be.

Among those to reach out offering praise for his play in the Finals, in which he was once again an utterly dominant force and averaged nearly a triple-double over the six-game series, was former president Barack Obama. James made three trips to the Obama White House for NBA title celebrations and the two became fairly close, with Obama even offering James and other players some counsel during their brief work stoppage earlier in the Bubble amid continued calls for social and racial justice. Obama sent out a tweet on Monday afternoon congratulating his friend on another title, but also wanted to highlight how he’s become an “extraordinary leader” on and off the court for the Lakers, the entire NBA, and all those that look up to him.

LeBron exists in a stratosphere of fame that few have ever been in or understood, but it still has to be fairly cool to be able to call the former president a friend and have him send out messages such as this after you win a title.