Prime Day signals that we’ve officially entered the holiday shopping season. It’s a day reserved for ultra-efficient shoppers who are trying to put their holiday gift lists to bed early by picking up big-ticket items for a low price before anything is at risk of running out. Or, you know, people who just want to score an Air Fryer or a pair of AirPods at a cool discount. So we dove into the depths of Amazon sales to find all the best deals on the products so that you don’t have to.
We promise that this list will consist of stuff that you actually want, rather than yet another list telling you you can get an Amazon Echo Dot for a discount. Guess what — you can ALWAYS get an Amazon Echo Dot for a discount. So let’s dive into the best Amazon Prime Day deals still available to scoop up.
Apple AirPods, $114.99 (28% off)
Amazon
Amazon is selling the latest generation of AirPods for nearly $50 off the retail price. Now you can finally go on a run and not feel the pain of yanking your headphones out when your arms inevitably get tangled up in the wire.
If you’re looking for added bass presence look no further than Beats by Dre. Whether you’re going with the over-ear Solo3s or reaching for the AirPod-like Powerbeats, these headphones will supply you with a sleek and stylish design that goes heavy on the bass.
Bose QuietComfort 35 Series Wireless Headphones, $199 (43% off)
Amazon
AirPods and Beats are not essential, but wireless headphones are and if you want the best listening experience you should spring for something like the Bose QuietComfort 35 Series Wireless headphones, which feature Alexa voice control, Noise cancellation, and a noise-rejecting dual-microphone system for voice-pickup in your choice of rose gold, black, or silver.
That’s high-quality sound and noise cancellation for almost half-off!
DJI Mavic Mini Combo — Done FlyCam, $399.00 (20% off)
Amazon
In the market for a fairly lightweight camera-equipped drone? The DJI Mavic has got it all. Featuring a 3-axis onboard Gimbal, Quadcopter technology, and HD video capability, the DJI Mavic will give you 30 minutes of flight time enabling you to capture some truly stunning footage.
Save a cool $350 on a brand new Android-powered Google Pixel 4 phone. But act fast, Amazon Prime Day phone deals are a dime a dozen and the best ones are sure to sell out quickly.
If only there was a way to enjoy all the wonders of fried food without all the grease. Oh wait, there is, it’s called an AirFryer baby and it’s our opinion that everyone should have one. This is very much the toaster of the 2020 era, not that it makes toast, just that everyone needs to have one in their kitchen. Fry up some chicken, steak, tempura, fish, cake, fries, or even use it to make pizza!
It’s not a great deal, but current-generation Apple iPad’s are currently on sale in the 32GB capacity range. For whatever reason, only the Space Gray color is discounted, but it’s not every day that you can pick up an iPad for less than retail, so we’ll take it!
Who knows when we’ll ever get to go to the movie theater again so you might as well buy a big a** TV for your home. This 2020 model by Insignia features Alexa-powered voice-remote technology, Fire TV access, and access to the latest and best streaming apps and services, like Netflix, Hulu, Prime Video, YouTube, Disney+, and more in true to life 4K HD. Now it’s like Vin Diesel is hanging out in your living room.
Admit it, you don’t really want to be one of those people who blast music from your phone speaker any time you’re in a small gathering of friends — or in these pandemic times, with your housemates — so instead grab this waterproof Bluetooth-enabled portable speaker by JBL and play all your tunes in top quality audio. The JBL Boombox sports a high-capacity battery that will give you 24 hours of playtime on a full charge, so it’s perfect for camping trips or day-long chill sessions at the beach.
Apple’s latest-generation MacBook Airs are currently on sale in both the 256GB and 512GB iterations. The new MacBook Airs sport a 13.3-inch Retina display with a Backlit keyboard, 8GB of RAM and a fast writing SSD drive.
Nintendo Switch: Animal Crossing New Horizons Edition, $300
Amazon
Okay, this isn’t a deal in any way — a Nintendo Switch retails for $300. But this special Animal Crossing-themed iteration of the console was garnering insane aftermarket prices on sights like eBay so we thought we’d let you know that it’s back in stock for its proper price!
Thanks to the release of the new Series 6 Apple Watch, the Series 3 is cheaper than ever. Apple is still supporting the Series 3 model, so now is a great time to adopt what is quickly becoming a unique health and wellness accessory and more than just a convenient way to check the time and your messages without having to reach for your phone.
Equipped with a matching S Pen, the Samsung Galaxy Note will provide you with a top of the line 5G powered phone with a HyperFast processor allowing you seamless transitioning between watching movies, listening to music, gaming, and whatever the hell else you do these days on a smartphone.
This is a nerdy one but days like Prime Day are the perfect time to stock up on your digital storage. Whether you’re grabbing a 256GB SD card to store your digital folders or you need a 2TB external solid-state hard drive to store your creative projects, you can expect to pay 20% less than you would any other day.
Okay, so you want a big TV in your house but that Insignia was a little much, we get it, not everyone has 55-inches of diagonal space on their wall, so allow us to turn your attention to Toshiba, who are selling a 43-incher — Fire TV compatible — for a cool 36% off list price.
This smart TV sports Alexa-powered technology, Dolby Vision DTS Studio Sound, and an easy interface that gets you to your favorite streaming apps quickly.
If you love cooking and making your own sauces, you need a Molcajete. Nothing will bring the flavors in your kitchen alive quite like a mortar and pestle, and with this markdown of nearly 50% off, there isn’t a better time to scoop one out.
The New Orleans Pelicans search for a new head coach has gone pretty slowly, as the team parted ways with Alvin Gentry at the end of the Pels’ stay in the NBA’s Orlando Bubble nearly two months ago. Not much has been reported about where they’re looking to go in their search, but according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, a rising star in the broadcasting game is looking to return to the bench.
Wojnarowski reports that New Orleans has four finalists listed for the position, one of whom is current Turner broadcaster and former Miami Heat, Orlando Magic, and Detroit Pistons coach Stan Van Gundy.
Stan Van Gundy is meeting with New Orleans Pelicans officials today, emerging as one of four expected finalists for the franchise’s coaching job, sources tell ESPN.
Van Gundy isn’t the only name on the list of finalists that has been reported — Woj also brings word that Tyronn Lue, the former Cavaliers coach and current Clippers assistant who has seemingly been linked with every open job this offseason, is also in contention.
Another New Orleans finalist — Clippers assistant Ty Lue — has a meeting set for this week too, sources tell ESPN. https://t.co/kVZdG9rKek
While it’s hardly a surprise that Van Gundy, who spoke candidly about his struggles being out of a job following his ouster in Detroit, would want a new gig, it is slightly surprising in a few ways. One is the suddenness of this, as his name hadn’t really been circulating prior to this report. The other is that he’s not the Van Gundy whose name has been bandied about as a potential head coaching candidate, as his brother, Jeff, has had that distinction for much of the offseason.
Still, Van Gundy impressed with his ability to break down Xs and Os as an in-game analyst for Turner, and while his tenure in Detroit didn’t end particularly well, his main issue appeared to be his struggles as one of the team’s decision-makers in the front office oftentimes getting in the way of what he was able to accomplish as a head coach.
Pete Buttigieg is having a moment. The former mayor of South Bend, Indiana keeps trending on social media for his incredibly eloquent explanations of issues—so much so that L.A. Times columnist Mary McNamara has dubbed him “Slayer Pete,” who excels in “the five-minute, remote-feed evisceration.” From his old-but-newly-viral explanation of late-term abortion to his calm calling out of Mike Pence’s hypocrisy, Buttigieg is making a name for himself as Biden’s “secret weapon” and “rhetorical assassin.”
And now he’s done it again, this time taking on the ‘originalist’ view of the Constitution.
Constitutional originalists contend that the original meaning of the words the drafters of the Constitution used and their intention at the time they wrote it are what should guide interpretation of the law. On the flip side are people who see the Constitution as a living document, meant to adapt to the times. These are certainly not the only two interpretive options and there is much debate to be had as to the merits of various approaches, but since SCOTUS nominee Amy Coney Barrett is an originalist, that view is currently part of the public discourse.
Buttigieg explained the problem with originalism in a segment on MSNBC, speaking from what McNamara jokingly called his “irritatingly immaculate kitchen.” And in his usual fashion, he totally nails it. After explaining that he sees “a pathway to judicial activism cloaked in judicial humility” in Coney Barrett’s descriptions of herself, he followed up with:
“At the end of the day, rights in this country have been expanded because courts have understood what the true meaning of the letter of the law and the spirit of the Constitution is. And that is not about time traveling yourself back to the 18th century and subjecting yourself to the same prejudices and limitations as the people who write these words.
The Constitution is a living document because the English language is a living language, and you need to have some readiness to understand that in order to serve on the court in a way that’s going to make life better. It was actually Thomas Jefferson himself who said ‘we might as well ask a man to wear the coat that fitted him when he was a boy’ as expect future generations to live under what he called ‘the regime of their barbarous ancestors.’
So even the founders that these kind of dead-hand originalists claim fidelity to understood better than their ideological descendants—today’s judicial so-called conservatives—the importance of keeping with the times. And we deserve judges and justices who understand that.”
Not even the founding fathers would recognize the lengths that today’s dead-hand “originalism” would go to in order… https://t.co/NqhZG8ktkt
It’s not just what Mayor Pete says, but the way he says it. While we have plenty of politicians who rant and rave, sometimes totally incoherently, Buttigieg calmly and coherently destroys arguments with intelligence, eloquence, and compassion. He almost sounds as if he’s telling a bedtime story while he blowtorches political talking points into oblivion. It’s really something to witness.
It’s also apparently something many people totally missed during the primaries. Multiple social media posts asking, “Where was this Mayor Pete on the campaign trail?” have been met with Buttiegieg fans saying, “Umm, this is who he always was. You just missed it.” In our ugly political landscape, the guy who doesn’t yell or say outrageous things, who methodically lays out arguments, and who forces people to think critically doesn’t stand out in a crowded field as much as he probably should.
But the 39-year-old veteran still has many years ahead of him in politics, and there is little doubt that Buttigieg will find a place in a Biden administration. Please just keep on talking, Pete. After nearly four years of word salad coming from the White House, intelligent thoughts expressed in full sentences is a welcome change.
This week All Elite Wrestling is celebrating their first year on television with an anniversary edition of AEW Dynamite, one where every title will be defended, in their usual time slot of 8 p.m. ET, Wednesday on TNT. In the past year, one of the stars who’s become a big name in pro wrestling thanks to AEW is Doctor Britt Baker DMD. At first, AEW seemed determined to make the wrestling dentist their top female babyface. Pretty soon, however, she turned to the dark side and became the biggest heel in the women’s division (which is no small feat with competition like Nyla Rose, Penelope Ford, and the Dark Order’s Anna Jay). We sat down with the good doctor to talk about this first year of AEW Dynamite, what fans can do to help out the women’s division, and who inspires her as a wrestler.
Uproxx Sports: What did you want to be first, a dentist or a pro wrestler?
Dr. Britt Baker DMD: I get asked that all the time, and they very much came at the same time. I guess the wheels were moving to be a dentist first, but when I moved to Pittsburgh for dental school is the exact same time I started training to be a professional wrestler. So I started wrestling school and dental school at the exact same time.
So back when you were in wrestling school and dental school, did you ever imagine you’d be on a nationally televised wresting show as a wrestler whose gimmick is being a dentist?
So, this is a hard question to answer. Because in my mind, that was the hardest time in my life, when I was in dental school, which is a 24/7, you have to be grinding constantly or you’re not going to make the cut. It’s very grueling coursework. You’re studying, you’re in the clinic, and if you’re not, you should be. And then for wrestling, you need to be watching wrestling all the time, you need to be in the gym to look the part. It was such a hard time to balance the two of them that I think, deep down, in my gut, if I didn’t think that I had what it takes to be successful with both of them, I wouldn’t have pursued them both. So in a way I think I knew I could do it the whole time. But of course you doubt yourself, of course you hope and pray that you’re going to get to wrestle on TV, or get to the end of dental school and get the DMD after your name. So there are kind of multi-answers to that question.
I’ve always wanted to ask a dentist this next question? How do you really feel about the Dentist song that Steve Martin sings in Little Shop of Horrors?
I get asked about Little Shop of Horrors all the time! All the villains or psycho dentists are only half true—only half of dentists are dangerous psychos. The other half are good—no, I’m totally kidding.
But it is interesting that you say that, because any type of horror film with dentistry or whatever—when I first became a wrestler and I was a babyface, a good guy, everybody was like “But nobody likes going to the dentist!” and I would try to put a spin on it like, “No, I pursued my dreams! I’m a dentist and a wrestler, and a good guy! I’m going to inspire everybody!” But that’s totally not how anyone sees it. The dentist is evil! They don’t like going to the dentist, so you’re the bad guy!
Obviously he most famous wrestling dentist was Isaac Yankem, who was a fake dentist and then became Kane, who was a fake demon. So I guess the next obvious step in your evolution is to become a real demon.
Yes! I’ve written it on my goal list for 2021.
AEW
You’re one of AEW’s biggest female stars, but you haven’t held the women’s championship yet. Do you feel impatient about that?
No! Well… yes and no. Everybody wants to be a champion! Everybody wants to be the best, and that belt is a physical display that you are the best of the best. I feel that I was very fortunate, especially through my injury in the last four or five months, that I’ve still been featured in a way that highlights my character and makes me somebody that the audience can learn to know, or even to hate, maybe? I think this has been a good period of growth for me as a wrestler, especially as a character and learning who I am. And I think you have to be patient and all good things come in time.
Yeah, your storyline with Big Swole over the summer was my favorite things happening on AEW Dynamite at the time. How enthusiastic were you about climbing into that dumpster?
That trash bin was horrible! It was an actual, disgusting dumpster filled with trash. It smelled so bad I had to burn my sneakers from that night because they smelled terrible and were covered in trash. And getting trash dumped on me a week or two afterward was equally horrible! I was trapped in my Rolls Royce, encased in bulletproof glass, trying to be totally safe, and just swimming in trash! One of the worst things that’s ever happened to me.
We could tell that you’re really dedicated to that classic Looney Tunes aesthetic of being covered in trash, because you literally had a banana peel on your head.
Well, you know, it just happened to fall exactly on top of my head facing the camera.
I don’t want to put you on the spot, but I’m sure you know that there’s been some controversy about the AEW women’s division. Just that you don’t get as much time as some fans would like, or you don’t get as many storylines. Is that something you feel like the company could work on, or is working on?
Yeah, I definitely think it’s something the company is working on. You know, and we got hit hard—our women’s division, because of the COVID outbreak. Half our roster is international talent, so we immediately didn’t have access to any of those women. Then Kris Statlander got hurt, and I got hurt. And there’s only so much time on AEW Dynamite to start with.
And I know there are plans to grow the women’s division, but at the same time we need help from the fans at home too! We can’t have the women’s segments being the lowest rated or the lowest views each week. Because at the end of the day it’s a business, and AEW needs ratings.
It’s no secret we’re in a war every Wednesday night with NXT, so we need the ratings up. So for the fans that are so encouraging and saying “We want more women, we want more women!” that’s great, but please don’t turn the channel when the women are on TV then! We want everybody to be watching the segments and cheering us on from home.
Of all the people you’ve met at AEW, including all the veterans of the business they’ve brought in, who do you feel like you’ve learned the most from?
Someone who’s extremely involved in the women’s division and training the women in the ring, is Dustin Rhodes. And you have to pinch yourself, to be like “I’m literally in the ring training, practicing moves and spots, with Dustin Rhodes,” it’s extremely surreal. And it’s awesome because he watches all of our matches and gives us feedback, and he has his own stuff to do! He’s on TV every week doing his own thing, which is kind of the pattern with everybody on Dynamite. Everybody has their own thing that they’re working on, but so many of these veterans and legends are still giving their time to help us younger, newer talent. That’s why we have such a great future with things moving forward.
Chris Jericho is extremely influential with me specifically, because since my heel turn my character is a direct replica of Chris Jericho in WCW. And what better way to develop your character than with the person you got the idea from originally. Cut a promo on him, tell him your ideas, and he’s so amazing at making you see, in between the cracks, how to make something better.
Kenny Omega is in charge of the women’s division. He’s booking everything behind the scenes, he’s writing the stories, so we all—every female is going to cite Kenny Omega as helping them. Texting us when we’re not at work, helping us when we are at work. He’s extremely dedicated, and so passionate about women’s wrestling.
And the last one I would say is Cody Rhodes. He’s extremely dedicated and really passionate about helping the younger talent rise, and I think he understands that his face and his name are on AEW, and he wants it to succeed more than anyone. Even when his time has come and gone, it will still be his legacy, and he’s really just so awesome about helping younger talent find who they are. Who’s your character, who are you, and how can we make you a star? There’s a lot that goes into that behind the scenes. And Cody just pours hours and hours of his time and dedication into helping us.
WWE
Is there anybody who’s not in AEW that you’d like to see join the company, even if it’s just a fantasy?
Oh, I have a great one! Are you ready? Adam Cole.
I never saw that one coming! I’ve been curious actually, if it ever feels awkward to be in such a public relationship with another wrestler, especially one who’s on a show that you just said your show is at war with?
No, not at all, because it’s our jobs. It’s our careers, and we’re each other’s biggest supporters and biggest cheerleaders, and he has been wrestling a lot longer than I have, and he has so much to offer me as far helping me, and going over matches helping me grow. Especially now since I’ve been a heel. There’s nothing more I can ask for than sharing this dream of being a professional wrestler with a person that I call my best friend and the love of my life. So it doesn’t matter what night we’re wrestling or what channel we’re on, we’re still there for each other.
What’s your feeling about intergender wrestling? I know you fought men sometimes on the indies, is that something you’d like to see become a part of AEW?
I know Tony isn’t a huge fan of intergender wrestling, so I think the question kind of stops there. Because it’s his company and it’s his brand, and if it’s something that he’s not super-passionate about, or something that he doesn’t see going forward, than it’s just not going to be. And that’s fine, because we’re extremely thankful for everything we do have!
As far as intergender as an art itself? When it’s done correctly, it’s great! One of my favorite wrestlers right now, one of my favorite people period, Kylie Rae, she’s one of the best at intergender wrestling. She’s so awesome at telling a story, at really painting the picture that this is a man and a woman fighting. It’s not 50/50, it’s not an even playing field, and when that story is told, it’s as great a story as any other in wrestling.
When you were training as a wrestler or even before that, what women wrestlers were you inspired by?
Definitely Candice LeRae. Candice LeRae actually helped train me, and even to this day she’ll watch my shows, watch the matches, she’s always checking in on me, like when I was injured, she was always making sure I was okay. She really helped me in all aspects of wrestling, kind of teaching me the ropes behind the scenes —what to do, what not to do. And obviously in the ring, she helped me learn the art of professional wrestling. She’s somebody I will always be thankful for, that I have her in my life, and get to sit under her learning tree. Because she’s really done it all, when she was on the independent scene. Now that she’s on a platform where she gets to show the world what she’s capable of? I wish her the best and then some. And she still, even to this day, has so much more that she’s capable of that the world has not seen. And they just need to sit back and wait, because Candice LeRae is literally one of the best wrestlers in the world.
I completely agree, she is. Also the heel work she’s been doing lately with Johnny is fantastic. The matching track suits? Amazing.
Yeah, I’m here for it.
So who are your dream matches? Whether it’s feasible for the near future, or somebody way out there, who have you not been in the ring with that you’d like to be?
We’ll go way out there. Sasha Banks is one of my favorite wrestlers. When I started training I’d practice her moveset. Literally I was like a little Sasha Banks in the ring. That Sasha and Bayley TakeOver match? I memorized the entire match because it was the coolest thing I’d ever seen at that point—two females outshining the guys on the show and just tearing the house down. Bayley and Sasha are two of my absolute favorites, and it’s hilarious that we’re on opposite channels calling ourselves the same title, “the Role Model,” but I would love to wrestle either of them. Sasha and Bayley. The Battle of the Role Models.
AEW
So it’s been a year since AEW Dynamite launched on TNT. How do you feel about where things are a year out, compared to where you thought they’d be? I mean, obviously this is weird year for everybody.
Yeah, and it really was kind of depressing timing for us, when COVID hit. We had such huge momentum going, we had three of our biggest sell-outs coming up. We had the Rochester show, the Newark show… we had 14,000 and 10,000 person arenas sold out coming up, and just to be told right before, “It’s done, we’re not doing it, we have to shut down because of a pandemic,” I don’t think anybody in the world saw that coming.
But you can’t think “What if…” even though of course we all do, like “What if Matt Hardy and Brodie Lee debuted in front of 14,000 people?” That would have been an epic moment for all of wrestling for the rest of time. But we can’t think like that, we have to move forward.
We’re at a point right now where I think we’ve had more COVID shows than non-COVID shows. It’s just become a norm where we’ve learned to adapt and work around it, and all we can do is keeping giving this content to the fans at home so they do have have something to look forward to—some sense of normalcy in this crazy time, that every Wednesday night we’re still going to be there: AEW Dynamite on TNT.
And when there is a time when we have live fans, I hope it’s like the ‘80s again and everybody’s losing their minds in the stands and we can’t even hear ourselves think over the roar of the audience!
I’m looking forward to that day too.
Doctor Britt Baker DMD doesn’t have a match scheduled for this week’s AEW Dynamite First Anniversary show, but her rival Big Swole is challenging Hikaru Shida for the AEW Women’s Championship, so don’t be surprised if the good doctor puts in an appearance.
Welcome To The Blumhouse (Amazon Prime films) — Blumhouse rarely swings and misses, so this is promising news when big Halloween gatherings won’t be such a good idea in 2020. Stay safe everyone, and pop some popcorn for a quadruple feature (the first two films are brand new, and the second two are a week old):
– Evil Eye — What looks like a perfect romance transforms into a nightmare when a mom believes that a dark connection is influencing her daughter’s boyfriend.
– Nocturne — An elite arts academy becomes ground central for a disturbing sibling rivalry, in which one sister becomes unnaturally inspired by a dead classmate’s notebook.
– The Lie — Joey King stars as a teenage daughter who confesses to killing her best friend. This, naturally, results in even more lies and deception.
– Black Box — Phylicia Rashad and Mamoudou Athie star in this story about a single father involved in a tragic car accident agrees to an experimental treatment that results in a terrifying identity crisis.
The Cabin with Bert Kreischer (Netflix comedy special) — The fast-living comic heads to the wilderness with friends in search of self-care and the reinvigoration of mind, body, and soul.
Swamp Thing (CW, 8:00pm EST) — Susie’s terrifying dream doesn’t deter her from heading to the swamp with Matthew, and the police dig into Alec’s death while bypassing Abby’s evidence.
Tell Me a Story (CW, 9:00pm EST) — A brand new country star’s big plans to celebrate her debut album go down the tubes while his mom keeps tabs in the background.
Kal Penn Approves This Message (Freeform, 10:30pm EST) — Actor turned Obama administration member turned actor Kal Penn (House, the Harold and Kumar trilogy) is here to celebrate the changes that young voters can make. This promises to be a non-partisan approach with comedic sketches and in-depth interviews that will help Gen Z be even more impactful than they already are. This week, Kal discusses the current U.S. healthcare system, including how it came to exist and what can be done to make it better.
Late Show With Stephen Colbert — CBS Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Jon LaPook, John Dickerson
Jimmy Kimmel Live — Patrick Dempsey, Clare Crawley, One Republic
Late Night With Jimmy Fallon — Joel McHale and Big Sean
Party games have exploded in popularity this year as people find ways to connect despite social distancing, with social games like Among Us taking over Twitch. Jackbox has also seen a huge rise in popularity, with gamers digging into the company’s catalog of Party Packs to play games like Quiplash and Trivia Murder Party with friends they my not be able to party with in person.
Jackbox has a long history of making party games, but in recent years it’s found that bundling them together is the key to their success. The company makes games people play through their mobile phones and tablets, often sitting on couches and coming up with funny answers and drawings to make their friends laugh. They can be competitive, sure, but it’s more like a Whose Line Is It Anyway? gaming experience — the points don’t really matter, the laughs do.
Party Packs, the seventh of which will hit consoles and PCs on Thursday, seem to follow a similar pattern when Jackbox Games designs a release. There’s usually a fill-in-the-blank game, a drawing game and a kind of Werewolf-style social deduction game. There are a lot of them, but that’s the point. And according to Jackbox CEO Mike Bilder, the formula for a perfect Party Pack is much less concrete than checking boxes on a game type.
“There’s a bit of a formula but it’s not maybe as explicit as you might think,” said Jackbox CEO Mike Bilder. “It’s never for example ‘Well we don’t have a drawing game yet so we need to put a drawing game in the pack.’ It’s not something like that, we don’t have any hard and fast criteria like that.”
Bilder described the “bell curve” Jackbox has in mind for its party packs. Most of the games should be quick, easy to learn and get easy laughs. Newcomers to Jackbox games are sometimes hesitant to get started, so the company makes its pregame tutorials as simple and quick as possible. It’s also why you might start with a game like Quiplash for new players first: don’t panic, just write something funny based on the prompt then pick your favorites others wrote. But the outer areas of their “bell curve” are where the company lets its game designers get a bit more creative and.
“It makes for us an opportunity to explore some great games that we might not otherwise do if we were to sell them on their own,” Bilder said. “Under the guise of the Party Pack of games you have a different value proposition, you have a different price expectancy for a consumer.”
And as Bilder pointed out, Jackbox hopes gamers love every title they make, but selling them in groups of five helps keep most gamers happy even if they don’t love every game.
“If you pay $25-$30 for a Party Pack, and you like two or maybe three of the games in the pack, you’re going to feel very validated with that purchase,” Bilder said. “You’re going to be happy with it, you’re going to enjoy it. If you enjoy all five, amazing. We’ve knocked it out of the park and they all resonate with you.”
Party Packs also give some tougher-to-sell games a chance at a wider market and more opportunity to catch on with people hesitant to give them a try. If you market a Party Pack as a chance to play a new Quiplash, as some Jackbox fans might view Party Pack 7, you also get four games they don’t know in their hands, each of which has the potential to be the highlight of the night with the right crowd.
That’s what I call “I’ve got your back” support! #Quiplash3
“If we were to take those games and sell them individually, there might be a couple that would work really well. There might be a couple that might just really have a hard time just being sold on their own. The games might be polarizing,” Bilder said. “But under the umbrella of the Party Pack they’re both a fun experiment that we can do and also, to some people, they may become their favorite games in the pack.”
Bilder pointed to hidden identity games like Push The Button, which was in Jackbox Party Pack 6. It’s a lot like Mafia or Werewolf or, fittingly, Among Us, an indie title that took two years to catch on in a big way on Twitch. It might take a few plays to understand what’s going on in Push The Button, but the payoff can be huge for players who love those kind of parlor games. Bilder said it took years to develop to the point where it made sense, and without the Party Pack formula to bundle it with other titles it may never have found its way to release.
“Its one of those games where it takes a few more people to play, it’s very strategic, it takes a bit to understand it. You have to play it once or twice,” he said. “But for the people that put the effort into it, they absolutely love that game. Absolutely love it. And that’s an example where we may not been able to sell it as a standalone game, but under the umbrella of a Party Pack it allows us to do some fun and creative stuff.”
Like many party games, the titles are often only as fun and funny as the people you’re playing with. But Jackbox has certainly found the formula to get the right tools in the hands of gamers over the years.
“We’re on twelve different platforms and we’ve been doing this for a while so we have the nice back catalog of games. We have 30 games that we’ve made over the last five years,” Bilder said, with five more on the way later this week. “It’s nice because it adds variety as well. If people like a certain type of game or they have a good time playing one of the Party Packs but they feel like they’ve worn it out playing it a few days or weekends, there’s always more they can go out and find.”
Stevie Wonder has been an iconic Motown artist for about six decades, but now he’s trying something different. Today, the icon has announced the creation of his own Republic Records imprint, So What The Fuss Music. That news came with a pair of new songs, for which he partnered with an album’s worth of guests: “Can’t Put It In The Hands Of Fate” features Rapsody, Cordae, Chika, and Busta Rhymes, while “Where Is Our Love Song” is a collaboration with Gary Clark Jr.
During a virtual press conference today, Wonder spoke about both songs, saying of “Can’t Put It In The Hands Of Fate”:
“When I first wrote it a few years ago, the melody and music and idea, it was about a relationship… a guy saying, ‘I really love you,’ and the girl saying, ‘Okay, we’ll see… we’ll just put it in the hands of fate.’ And then most recently I was listening to the old things I had done and never finished the words to, and I was thinking about where we are in the world. And I was thinking about how this is most crucial time. […] Not just Black people or people of color, but young people everywhere are going, ‘This is not acceptable.’ […] Change is right now. We can’t put it in the hands of fate. Ain’t nobody got time to wait.”
He also said of “Where Is Our Love Song”:
“‘Where Is Our Love Song’ is a song that really I started working on when I was 18, not even knowing what the song was going to be about, but I had the melody. [Then this year] came all the confusion and all the hate and all the east versus west, left versus right. It’s just a heartbreak. And those who say, ‘This is what God has said… this is my religion,’ (it’s just a lot of confusion)… I’m watching all this and say, ‘Hold up, how can you be talking about God and there be hate in your spirit?’”
Wonder was candid about his plans for the two new songs, saying, “I’m going to possibly do an EP with some various artists. I’ll put those two songs along with the other artists that are participating. If the EP doesn’t come out, I’ll definitely put [the new songs] on my next project, which is called Through The Eyes Of Wonder.”
He also spoke about leaving Motown, expressing a desire to still work with the label somehow: “Even though I have left Motown, I never leave Motown. That’s Detroit. So I’m sure that we can figure out how we can do some things at Motown. Maybe I’ll do my Gospel Inspired By Lula with Motown. We’ll work it out,” he said, referring to a gospel record named after his late mother he previously announced plans for in 2013.
Listen to “Can’t Put It In The Hands Of Fate” and “Where Is Our Love Song” above.
After gaining a niche following with through her EPs Patched Up and Loveworm, Beabadoobee is getting ready to lean more into her alt-rock sound with her upcoming debut album Fake It Flowers. The LP arrives on Friday, so to give fans one last taste of the release, Beabadoobee shared the noisy track “Together” alongside a ’90s-inspired video.
Directed by Bedroom, the visual is meant to emulate MTV-era videos. Beabadoobee appears on the fuzzy screen in a grudge-inspired get-up. The singer and her band keep things energetic with aptly-timed head bangs and thrashing dance moves.
Speaking about the single in a statement alongside the video’s release, Beabadoobee said, “This song is about the dependency you have with someone and missing that when you’re away and learning to be by yourself. It’s written from that point when you’re feeling alone and thinking everything is better when you’re with that other person.”
“Together” marks the eighth track the singer has released this year alone, and the fifth official single off of Fake It Flowers. The single follows Beabadoobee’s recent tracks “Care,” “Worth It,” “Sorry,” and “How Was Your Day,” all of which arrived alongside cinematic visuals.
Watch Beabadoobee’s “Together” video above.
Fake It Flowers is out 10/16 via Dirty Hit. Pre-order it here.
To celebrate the 25th anniversary of Mallrats, Kevin Smith sat down with Entertainment Weekly to break down the making of his sophomore film, and how it went from a critical, box-office dud in 1995 to a beloved cult classic. While discussing the casting of the film, which included a revolving door of the hottest young actors in Hollywood at the time (“Reese Witherspoon came in on f—ing Mallrats, go figure.”), Smith revealed that one very specific actor was on Universal’s radar, and not in a good way. Perhaps you’ve heard of him? Guy by the name of Ben Affleck?
I remember Jim Jacks, the producer, said, “There’s a guy coming in today and I don’t want him in the movie.” I said, “Who is it?” And he goes, “Ben Affleck. He was in Dazed and Confused and he’s got a real potty mouth.” He goes, “There were a lot of ‘f—s’ and curses in that script already and then Ben threw in like hundreds more.” So, I said, “Well, there’s a lot of cursing in our script.” He goes, “Yeah, and if you bring this guy in, he’ll keep adding more curses, so I don’t want him in the movie, he’s got a potty mouth.” I said, “Okay.”
As Mallrats fans know, Affleck ended up in the movie and was a staple in Smith’s films until Jersey Girl became a box office and tabloid disaster in 2004. (Affleck had convinced Smith to cast his then-girlfriend Jennifer Lopez. It was a whole thing.) However, at the time of the Mallrats casting, Affleck had just sold Good Will Hunting to Castle Rock, which presumably greased the wheels on getting him in the film. Except, at that point, Smith couldn’t help but wonder why Affleck even wanted the part.
“Why are you auditioning for this movie, man?” And he’s like, “I still want to act!” I was like “Alright, man, let’s see what you got.”
Despite Mallrats being an unfortunate dud for Smith following the indy success of Clerks, Affleck’s career continued to rise as he went on to become a blockbuster action star thanks to… Michael Bay’s Armageddon. Things worked out okay for everyone. That’s the point.
Kicking off the Honor Her Wish concert, Miley Cyrus offered a heartfelt tribute to Ginsburg, detailing just a few of her major achievements:
“A few weeks ago, we lost an America hero, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. She was a trailblazer teaching us that we cannot stop fighting for justice and equality. Justice Ginsburg grew up during a time when women couldn’t sign her own mortgage and could be fired for being pregnant, yet the courts did not see or acknowledge gender discrimination. But Ruth saw it. And with time, as a young lawyer arguing before the Supreme Court, who went on to help start the Women’s Rights Project at the ACLU, she made others see it too. She was appointed to the federal bench and ultimately, to the Supreme court. With her brilliant dissents, which earned her the name The Great Dissenter, she helped us all understand how the law could better protect us and expand opportunities for everyone. From voting rights to LGBTQ rights, to fair pay for women, Justice Ginsburg fought hard to make our country a fairer and more equal place.”
Miley Cyrus just kicked off the #HonorHerWish tribute to RBG.
For the performances, Williams tapped a handful of contributors to share a rendition of her Petals For Armor track “Roses/Lotus/Violet/Iris.” Bridgers also appeared on the livestream, opting to share a serene performance of her Punisher track “Graceland Too.”
Watch Williams and Bridgers perform for the Honor Her Wish concert above.
Some of the artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
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