Month: November 2020

Photos of the 65-foot Norway spruce set up in Cincinnati’s Fountain Square on Saturday morning are going viral because it perfectly represents how 2020 is going for a lot of Americans.

The misshapen tree’s large patches and missing limbs made it look like a gigantic version of the pathetic tree from “A Charlie Brown Christmas.”

The tree was seen by many as a metaphor for a long year that’s left us all frazzled, frayed, and more than a little off-balance.

The tree inspired a T-shirt that’s sure to be a collector’s item one day.

Looks like it’s been a hard week for the city.

All the attention inspired the tree to speak up for itself.

However, after news of the tree spread ’round the globe, Fountain Square officials stepped in to share some much-needed good news.

“2020 has been a rough year for all of us, including our tree. Our team is hard at work making this 65′ Norway Spruce beautiful for the holiday season,” they wrote on Facebook. “Stay tuned for transformation photos as we get her fluffed up and beautified after her long drive into town.”

Evidently, the tree’s decrepit appearance was due to the fact the team that usually puts it into shape was smaller than usual due to the pandemic. The team of eight to ten people has been reduced to two this year.

“Basically, at some point in the process every year, the tree looks a lot like this,” said Emily Stowe, 3CDC senior event marketing manager.

“The tree makes an overnight trip from northern Ohio down to the Square. The tree is tied up from top to bottom for transport, with each branch wrapped up for safety as well as to keep the tree from being damaged. After the tree arrives it’s lifted with a crane and put in place,” she said, according to FOX19.

“The branches will be shifted and moved into place to give us the end look everyone is used to,” Stowe said.

After a few days, the team slowly untied all of the branches and it blossomed into a beautiful, full, and very green Christmas tree.

If the tree was a metaphor for how 2020 was going for most people, its glorious transformation gives us all a glimmer of hope for 2021. After all, there’s a COVID-19 vaccine on the way and the country’s new leadership looks determined to help put America back on the right track.

Christmas is going to be a little different for everyone this year. But none of that matters as long as we remember the true meaning of the holiday.

Linus … The True Meaning of Christmas

www.youtube.com

While commemorating the 30th anniversary of Home Alone (feel old yet?), director Chris Columbus shared some behind-the-scenes secrets from the film, including how now-President Donald Trump basically forced his way into the sequel. With Home Alone 2: Lost in New York taking place in the Big Apple, the director really wanted to shoot inside The Plaza, but that required dealing with its current owner at the time.

While the studio and Columbus assumed this would simply involve paying a “fee” to Trump, he took the money and then demanded to be in the film, or the deal was off. “So we agreed to put him in the movie,” Columbus said. However, the director still had the option to edit out Trump’s cameo, but he decided against it after a surprising test audience reaction. Via Insider:

“People cheered when Trump showed up on-screen,” Columbus said. “So I said to my editor, ‘Leave him in the movie. It’s a moment for the audience.’ But he did bully his way into the movie.”

We know Trump still thinks very highly of his cameo, thanks to one of his classic tantrums during Christmas 2019. Apparently, the president caught wind that his part was cut from a Canadian TV broadcast of Home Alone 2, and instead of realizing that scenes are routinely edited out for broadcast, Trump blamed Prime Minister Justin Trudeau — for editing him out of Home Alone 2. You’re reading all of this correctly.

As it turns out, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation cut Trump’s cameo all the way back in 2014, and for the completely mundane reason of making room for commercials. As of this writing, Trudeau has not been named as a suspect.

(Via Insider)

I love single malt scotch. Three years ago, I leaned toward Ireland with my whiskey preferences, but I’ve been drinking more Scottish whisky during COVID, and I have to say: the stuff is growing on me. So much so, that I decided to do a blind tasting of some of the best scotch whiskies you can buy this year — Diageo’s Rare by Nature 2020 special collection release.

What’s the Rare by Nature collection? Eight iconic single malts from some of the most famous distilleries on earth. Aged from eight to 30 years. With clever barrelling techniques and a whole lot of history. Also, a few hefty price tags.

A little background here: I’ve been professionally tasting whiskey (beer, wine, gin, and every-f*cking-thing else) for nearly a decade now. I say that not to brag, but to emphatically note that I still don’t know most of what’s out there. There’s just so much booze to try. That being said, I do know what I know. And I can call out drams, even in a blind tasting.

This was made abundantly clear on this project. There were three Scottish single malts I know well — one of which I ride or die for — featured in this lineup. On the flip side, I wasn’t overly familiar with the other five whiskies in play. And tasting them blind really opened my mind to diving deeper into each label. In the end, I discovered eight whisky expressions that are all extremely good in very different ways, priced from “maybe I’ll get a bottle for someone I love for Christmas” to “maybe I’ll buy that if I win the lottery one day.”

Check the results and my tasting notes below!

Part I — The Blind Taste

Number One

The Taste:

There was a nice pear nose on this one that’s sweet and welcoming. The taste really amped that up with an apple candy sweetness that almost reminded me of a Jolly Rancher. There was a nice counterpoint of worn leather and a note of savoriness as the finish lingered and warmed.

The Bottom Line:

This was really nice, but a little sweet for me. I have no clue what it is but I could see cutting it into a highball to calm down the apple candy sweetness.

Number Two

The Taste:

There’s a clear ashy peatiness on the nose and it’s already evident that this is a Lagavulin. There’s a nice body of orange zest, spice, and buttery vanilla that leads back to the smoke and peat on the long and winding end.

The Bottom Line:

This is one of the best peaty whiskies out there, in that it doesn’t overdo it on the smoke while also keeping it front-and-center. I’d kill highballs made with this stuff all night long.

Number Three

The Taste:

There’s a really buttery cream soda aspect to this that delivers on the palate. The fruit peeks in but it’s really the vanilla-forward cream soda that dominates. The end takes a bit of a turn towards a mossy and wet forest as it slowly fades away.

The Bottom Line:

This is really easy to drink. A little water really amped up the earthy nature of the dram, while holding onto the lighter edge of the cream soda notes.

Number Four

The Taste:

There’s a rush of tropical fruits that lean towards banana, but not just banana sweetness. There’s a banana leaf grassiness to the sip, too — which mingles with Christmas spices and plenty of oak.

The Bottom Line:

I’ve never quite had anything like this and it literally made me say, “Woah.” in a good way. The fruit, spice, and oak are so delicate and light that you really don’t need anything with this dram.

Number Five

The Taste:

The sweetness in play is butterscotch, which leads towards a baked, spiced apple. The spice leans more towards a rich tobacco smoke for me with a long, spicy, fruity, and buttery finish.

The Bottom Line:

I wrote down that this is “really f*cking good.” And, wow, it is. I’m still thinking about it.

Number Six

The Taste:

This one delivers fresh florals next to bright, sweet fruit with a nice dose of oakiness. The sip edges into a black pepper spiciness that’s balanced with an overall creamy texture. The end is subtle and doesn’t overstay its welcome.

The Bottom Line:

I have no clue what this is, but I like it. That being said, it’s the dram I have the hardest time remembering after the fact.

Number Seven

The Taste:

Brine, mild smoke, and sweet pears mingle up top and this is 100 percent a Talisker. There’s a salty/sweet/smoky/fattiness to this dram that is exactly like a still-warm brisket smoker that’s smoked thousands of briskets.

Amazingly, the actual body of the whisky is light, approachable, and doesn’t overdo any of those notes.

The Bottom Line:

This doesn’t need anything besides a glass and your lips. For me, this is a spectacular dram.

Number Eight

The Taste:

There’s a nice fruit cake note up top with plenty of spice and dark candied fruits in play. The sip has this interplay with dark chocolate and chili spice that helps amp up the Christmas cake fruitiness and sweetness.

The Bottom Line:

This is super easy to drink … or maybe I’m just getting tipsy?

Part II: The Answers

Number One: Cragganmore Aged 20 Years

ABV: 55.8%
Average Price: $175

The Whisky:

This Speyside whisky was distilled in 1999. That means it spent 20 long years maturing in refill and freshly charred new casks before going in the bottle at cask strength.

This particular age of Cragganmore has never been released before.

Number Two: Lagavulin Aged 12 Years

ABV: 56.4%
Average Price: $165 (available soon)

The Whisky:

Lagavulin is one of the most iconic single malts from Islay. This expression was solely matured in refill American oak barrels. The final product is meant to imbue the beauty of Islay in each sip.

Number Three: The Singleton Aged 17 Years

ABV: 55.1%
Average Price: $120 (available soon)

The Whisky:

This whisky from one Dufftown was distilled back in 2002. The juice spent 17 years aging in refill American oak hogsheads, which is about a quarter the size of a full barrel. The results were bottled at cask strength.

Number Four: Pittyvaich Aged 30 Years

ABV: 50.8%
Average Price: $500 (very limited and available later this year)

The Whisky:

Pittyvaich is a Speyside “ghost distillery.” It’s been closed for 18 years. That means this is a very limited release, with only 7,000 bottles and that’s it … forever.

The juice is the very last of the stock from 1989, finished in first-fill ex-bourbon before bottling.

Number Five: Cardhu Aged 11 Years

ABV: 56%
Average Price: $110

The Whisky:

This Speyside whiskey is all about embracing the flower-covered hills around the distillery. The juice is aged in refill, new, and ex-bourbon American oak for eleven years before going into the bottle at cask strength.

Number Six: Dalwhinnie Aged 30 Years

ABV: 51.9%
Average Price: $800

The Whisky:

Dalwhinnie has the honor of being the highest altitude distillery in Scotland. This expression is an ultra-rare one-off whisky that was put to rest in 1989 in ex-bourbon hogsheads and left alone for all those decades. 30 years later, there was only enough whisky for 6,978 bottles.

Once they’re gone, that’s it.

Number Seven: Talisker Aged 8 Years

ABV: 57.9%
Average Price: $120

The Whisky:

This was the first-ever Talisker to be finished in pot-still Caribbean rum casks. The idea was to enliven the briny seaside aspects of the young juice while adding a deeper sweetness. This whisky really brings something new to the table amongst the salty-smoky whiskies that Talisker is known for.

Number Eight: Mortlach Aged 21 Years

ABV: 56.9%
Average Price: $750 (available soon)

The Whisky:

Mortlach was the first “legal” distillery in Dufftown, giving this a classic heritage. But the shingle is also largely unknown, or at least unheralded outside of hardcore scotch aficionados. The whisky is small-batch aged and then finished in Pedro Ximenez and Oloroso sherry seasoned casks, adding some serious depth to the sip.

Part III: Final Thoughts

If I had to rank these from most preferred to least, It’d be something like this…

1. Talisker 8 (hands down — what can I say, I’m a sucker for smoky Texas brisket in a glass)
2. Cardhu 11
3. Pittyvaich 30 (biggest surprise)
4. Mortlach 21
5. Lagavulin 12
6.The Singleton 17
7. Dalwhinnie 30
8. Cragganmore 20 (too much apple candy for me)

All of that being said, I also ranked Talisker higher because it sneaks into the affordable range for a special occasion. Some of the others I really dug — Pittyvaich and Mortlach — are squarely outside of that range.

You’d think after so many rappers have put their feet in their mouths on Instagram, they’d learn to self-edit, if not hire social media managers to handle their fan interactions. Doing so would certainly have helped Memphis rapper BlocBoy JB, who incurred a backlash from fans over his opinion on the upcoming next-generation video game consoles during a recent live stream on Instagram. When he was apparently asked about which console he preferred, he offered some controversial — and let’s face it, offensive — reasoning for choosing the new Xbox over the PlayStation 5.

“If you really look into it, PlayStation, they got pride colors so PlayStation supposed to be for the gays and Xbox supposed to be for the street n****s,” he rationalized. “Not saying that the gays can’t play the Xbox but I’m just saying, Xbox for the gangster n****s. That’s my calculations.”

While it’s likely he was trying to make a joke, fans quickly reversed his “calculations” on him, turning him into the butt of the joke — which we’re sure he enjoyed. They pointed out how illogical his conclusion was by noting that many of the games on both systems fall under stereotypically masculine pursuits like combat, sports, and various combinations of the two. As one fan put it, “@BlocBoy_JB thinks I’m gay because I play violent manly video games on my manly Playstation when I’m gay for many other reasons outside of that.” Check out some of the responses below.

We see music almost as much as we hear it. While there have always been purist scolds who insist that it should only be about the music (man!), pop has been a visual medium as much as an auditory one since well before the advent of music videos. From the “zoot suits” favored by jazz legends such as Cab Calloway and Louis Armstrong to Billie Holiday’s white flower crown to the Fab Four’s bowl haircuts, artists have long paid attention to their visual presentation.

The factors that differentiate the truly iconic artists from the rest of the pack are innumerable, and talent, drive, and luck are certainly the highest. But the artists that linger in our collective cultural memory are the ones that tell a story about themselves that we all wrap around us like a world-sized blanket until it becomes part of our story as well. And clothing is often a big part of how they tell that story. (I said “often,” as I understand that no one has ever looked to Radiohead for style inspiration. Look for our list of “The Least Influential Style Icons In Music History” sometime never.)

Ranking the artists that had the most impact on individual style is no easy task, but there were a few ground rules. Primarily, we were looking for the artists who made the most impact on how people actually dressed day-to-day. So while artists such as David Bowie, Lady Gaga, and Björk specialized in eye-popping, mind-blowing visuals for their stage shows and music videoes, only their superfans actually tried to wear swan dresses or pull off the Bloody Mary before going to a party, whereas you can find plenty of people who still dress like Kurt Cobain today. As Tan France of Queer Eye has explained, the difference between fashion and style is that fashion is a huge, global business influenced by designers and labels, while “personal style is something that belongs to an individual — a means of self-expression.” Fashion reporting is for Vogue and all that, so we decided to focus on the artist whose personal style became our personal style.

We also wanted to place an added emphasis on the artists whose looks and ideas endure even today, which meant making tough but necessary cuts such as excluding Mod Gods The Jam, glam icons T. Rex. or swoop bang pioneers My Chemical Romance, all of whom defined an era or a genre, but also, at least style-wise, feel confined to a time and place. (Look, I only had ten spots, okay?) So whether you’re looking for style inspiration or you just want to get mad that we snubbed your fav (I assure you, they were No. 11), read on for our lists of the artists that most exemplify the meeting of sound and vision.

The Beatles

If you’re making a list of the Most Influential Whatever In Music History, there’s a very strong chance that The Beatles will end up somewhere in your list. The Beatles didn’t always do it first, and the matching suits they wore when introducing themselves to America on The Ed Sullivan Show were influenced by the band uniform approach of early rock ‘n’ roll pioneers such as Buddy Bolly & The Crickets. But The Beatles usually did it the best, and as their look evolved from their teen idols days to the conceptual St. Pepper look to their shaggy final days, they inadvertently created the template for artists to change up their look for every album cycle. Along the way, they inspired young men to get creative with their grooming habits and had an incalculable impact on the look of ’60s and ’70s American counter-culture.

“It’s so funny to look at it now and think that their hair was considered so long at the time! But they really did help to shift that style norm and usher in the shaggy look that became mainstream,” says Abbey Bender, an archivist and a writer on fashion and culture whose work has appeared in Buzzfeed and The Washington Post. “I think the fact that ‘Beatle boots’ became a popular trend during their reign is also a form of “street style” before that was officially a thing.”

The Ramones + Blondie

The genius of The Ramones is that they were smart enough to not overthink it. In their minds, rock didn’t need more than four chords, a fast beat, and plenty of heying and hooing to make an impact, and they didn’t need anything besides t-shirts, cheap jeans, leather jackets, and the all-important Chuck Taylor sneaker to become style icons.

After punk came post-punk, as artists who were inspired by the freedom of punk but weren’t necessarily ideologically opposed to a few more chords began rewriting the rule book of rock. Blondie came up playing at New York punk institutions CBGBs and Max’s Kansas City right alongside their friends in The Ramones, and just as they moved beyond stripped-down rock to incorporate disco, dub reggae, and New Wave influences, Debbie Harry and company proved there was plenty of room in downtown counter-culture for some glamour.

“While her style was not flashy, her looks from the mid-’70s and late ‘80s have remained iconic not only with teenagers/the young set but on runways worldwide,” says Alyson Campbell, a style expert and the CEO & Founder of Heart & Soul PR, which services a range of brands in fashion and lifestyle. “One-shoulder tops are back, berets have come back into style, and colored tights are definitely not going anywhere.”

Run-DMC + LL Cool J

When it comes to style, it’s less about who wore it first than it is Who Wore It Best? Early hip-hop’s look of tracksuits, Kangol bucket hats, and gold “dookie” chains was established pretty much as soon as DJ Kool Herc began spinning at Bronx block parties. But hip-hop pioneers Run-DMC wore the look with brash confidence, and with the right songs and the right videos on the then-new MTV, the Hollis, Queens trio brought the sound and visual iconography of rap to the mainstream. They would later mix up their aesthetic with matching leather jackets, just to remind you what they were indeed tougher than.

For most of the ’80s, Run-DMC was how rap music looked to the suburbs, “and they’re still making history,” says Campbell. “Kangol hats are back on the fashion-clad influencers along with loud sweatsuits again because, well, most everyone is now working from home! They were the early starters of streetwear that’s become fashion.”

Run-DMC and the Beastie Boys took hip-hop across America on the 1986 Raising Hell tour, which featured opener LL Cool J. Run-DMC, with input from Def Jam founders Russell Simmons and Rick Rubin, had consciously set out to look tougher than any rock band out there. LL Cool J was quick to remind you that he could knock you whenever he felt like it, but Ladies Love Cool James was a lover man at heart, and he brought a playfulness (and TV star charisma) to the hip-hop look that helped bring it further into the mainstream in ways that are still being felt today.

“LL took streetwear mainstream when he wore a FUBU hat in a GAP commercial,” says Gurps Rai, CEO & founder of droppTV, the ‘shoppable Netflix’ for hip hop-loving hypebeasts. “That moment cemented FUBU as a household name but also took streetwear to a new commercial height.”

Madonna

Madonna is the most stylish musician in history. If you dare disagree, she’ll jab you in the eye with a cone bra. Sure, she’s sported a lot of looks (many of which, it should be noted, she lifted from gay and Black club scenes that she took to the MTV mainstream) that are… a bit inaccessible to most people, unless you tend to go to a certain type of party. But she’s also sported stylish but more grounded looks that inspired young women and drag queens everywhere, from the New Age yoga mom look of her Ray of Light era to, especially, her early club-kid days.

“So much has been made of how she’s evolved and had so many different looks over the years, and if you go back to her early fame in the ’80s, you can really see how she took elements of what was going on in the NYC underground at the time (specifically punk, hip-hop, and the club scene) and brought it to the mainstream,” says Bender. “Her teen girl fans at the time wore the brightly colored tights, lace gloves, layered jewelry, etc. that she popularized, and that stuff all had roots in the underground. And I think her influence can still be felt in street style with the continuing popularity of crop tops and lingerie as outerwear.”

Judas Priest + Metallica

Style is a helpful way to find members of your tribe. Before the internet made it easier to find like-minded fans of whatever genre or artist you rock with, sometimes you just had to guess what someone might be into based on their dress. And if you were into heavy metal, an appreciation for denim and black clothing was usually a solid indication you were amongst your people, and headbanging could soon commence.

“Judas Priest codified metal’s denim and leather look in the late ’70s,” says Rolling Stone Senior Editor Kory Grow. “They’re most responsible for black becoming the color of metal (black T-shirts and whatnot). Also, don’t discount Metallica’s impact on fashion. In the early ’80s, bands like Mötley Crüe and Ratt were the biggest bands in L.A. metal. But instead of teased hair and outrageous stage clothes, Metallica wore jeans and T-shirts. Cliff Burton even wore bellbottoms. After they moved to San Francisco and got settled there, the ‘look’ of thrash metal — jeans and band shirts — became something of a uniform. I think this was just natural — Metallica dressed like the fans because they were fans. But when Slayer showed up in SF from LA, all bedecked in makeup, teased hair, and leather, the SF crowds just made fun of them. That was the last time Slayer wore makeup.”

N.W.A + Snoop Dogg

Run-DMC helped introduce the American suburbs to the sound and look of hip-hop. The explosive popularity, and controversy, of N.W.A.’s classic debut Straight Outta Compton made it clear rap wasn’t just a New York thing, and also introduced Los Angeles street style to the masses. The N.W.A. look was starkly monochromatic: black Dickies pants, large white shirts, either Raiders or Carhart black jackets, and snapback caps. Such was the importance of the look that the biopic Straight Outta Compton even included a scene where DJ Yella gets yelled at for not sticking with the color scheme.

The underground popularity of N.W.A. helped enamor a certain kind of teenager with the look of Calfornia street gangs, but it was Dr. Dre’s protege Snoop Dogg who made long plaid shirts, oversized jerseys, baggy jeans, and Cross Colours jackets a gangsta rap uniform, and inspired a generation of parents to tell their kids to pull up their pants. But as popular as the “Gin & Juice” video was, Snoop The Stylish was only getting started, as he would go onto make oversized Tommy Hilfiger shirts a must-have for hip-hop fans (cleverly flipping a sign of WASP Americana into an aspirational item for Black youth), brought back the pimp look, and even beat Kid Cudi to the trend of rappers wearing rock band t-shirts.

Nirvana

Deliberately choosing not to have an image is still an image, and Nirvana was so anti-fashion that they are now regarded as one of the coolest looking rock bands to ever roam the earth. The oversized sweaters were born of Kurt Cobain’s deep body insecurity, the flannel was just what everyone wore in the often frigid Pacific Northwest (and they were always several cheap pairs at nearby thrift stores), and the disheveled appearance was part of Cobain’s distrust of the mainstream. You can’t always plan on these things.

“Obviously Kurt Cobain wouldn’t want to be called a fashion icon, but the oversized cardigans, flannels, ripped jeans, boots, etc. that he wore had an indelible impact on how teens dressed at the time and as is so often the case the look became commercialized, going from angsty teens to Vogue photoshoots and mass-market fashions. I know grunge is kind of an overly simplified term for that fashion, but its impact can still be felt in Gen Z teens on Instagram and TikTok who channel that baggy ’90s style,” says Bender. “Certainly seems like a big influence on someone like Billie Eilish, for instance. I also think Cobain’s playing with gender norms (doing photoshoots in dresses, etc.) still feels really fresh and influential on the younger generation, even if they don’t realize he did that way back before they were born!”

Aaliyah

Tragically, Aaliyah Dana Haughton wasn’t with us for very long. But she never wasted a moment. “One In A Million” is putting it lightly, as artists still draw influence from her genre-agnostic approach to R&B. She also had a knack for continually minting new style trends, and was just as indifferent to established labels, from the baggy clothes and sunglasses look she introduced herself with to her later sleek-noir look, which Jezebel critic Julianne Escobedo Shepherd described as an early “union of goth styles with athletic wear,” which would later prove influential on the health goth trend, as well as on everyone else.

Her former stylist Derek Lee worked Aaliyah on her various looks. He remembers that “the point of her style was to be relatable & doable by the average girl. It was more so about the swag. Even when she wore designer clothes, we always had to bring in something relatable to the average sistah.” Lee points to the “Dolce & Gabbana ” look from her from “Try Again” video as ‘definitely’ her most iconic look.

Lee says that he knew Aaliyah had made a real impact “when I saw certain artists emulate her style after she passed away. It was so easy to spot,” pointing to the “midriff with baggy bottoms, bikini tops with strings that lace down the body, and certain leather pants are directly from ‘More Than a Woman.’” But beyond her influence on artists, Aaliyah’s style continues to resonate with everyone looking for a bold look “without a doubt,” Lee says. “Being able to be sexy wearing menswear was (one of) her thing(s). The showpiece of every look was confidence.”

Lauryn Hill

The Fugees’ second album The Score quickly established Lauryn Hill as one of the best singers of her generation, as well as a deft MC. Her masterpiece The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill revealed the full-range of vision and songwriting mastery. Along the way, especially in the clips for “Killing Me Softly,” and “Doo Wop (That Thing),” Ms. Hill also made it clear that her style acumen nearly matches her genius.

Nikolina Jeric, co-founder of 2Date4Love and a lifestyle expert in urban culture, calls Hill “hands-down one of the most influential Black women when it comes to street style. In contrast to other celebrity women of color in the ’90s that were central to hip-hop culture — which would define street-style for decades to come — Lauryn Hill dressed with style,” she says, calling Hill “a true icon of urban culture that would lead to many Black women dressing and looking up to her.”

Jeric points to Hill’s “combination of urban attire, such as baggy pants and baseball caps, with a flair of luxury with big earrings, bracelets, and medallions,” as being an influential look, adding that she “was also a huge supporter of African culture and heritage, which was also ever-present in her wardrobe, everything from long flowy dresses and traditional shoes to the wooden jewelry that accompanied it. Together with her pro-Black and feminist views reflected in her later musical work after leaving the Fugees, Lauryn Hill is without question one of the most influential Black females that was way ahead of her time.”

Kanye West

If we didn’t put Kanye West on this list, he’d absolutely come to the Uproxx offices and lecture us for two hours straight. Maybe three, if he went into a digression about Nikola Tesla.

But whatever you might think about his recent Presidential run or general Kanyeness these days, there’s no denying that he’s been nearly as influential in the world of both street style and high fashion as he has been in the music game. Honestly, he’d be a pioneer simply for getting rap fans really into pastels.

But from mixing elite college preppy signifiers (bright Polo shirts, Louis Vuitton backpacks) with hip-hop flair during his College Dropout days to the Blade Runner-inspired slatted glasses he sported on the Glow In The Dark tour, the later professional look he rocked during the 808s & Heartbreak era to the washed-out, gray saturated baggy clothes he’s been sporting lately, he continues to mint new trends every time he steps outside. And hey, people really love the Air Yeezy.

“Yeezy has become a model for the kind of power and influence rappers can have over fashion and, more importantly, business. Kanye has made the monolithic design and plain look a fashion staple,” says Rai. “In 2019, the Yeezy line sold more than $1.3 billion worth of shoes, up more than 50% from the previous year.”

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Not everyone is a fan of George Lucas. Some feel he destroyed the original Star Wars trilogy with the Special Editions and don’t like that he wrote and directed those critically panned prequels. Some also take issue that he executive produced a bad film version of an excellent comic (Howard the Duck). Some have issues with his embrace of digital cameras, which helped to lead Hollywood to mostly abandon celluloid film, and that he also helped turn mainstream cinema into largely blockbuster-only terrain. Some also take issue with him having sold his company, Lucasfilm, and its Star Wars content to Disney.

That all said, here are some other things George Lucas has done. He’s donated untold millions to charity, including, reportedly, a good chunk of the $4.05 billion he made in that Disney sale. He’s given a ton to Barack Obama’s campaigns and foundations. He’s sent hundreds of millions to his alma mater, the University of Southern California, and established an educational foundation that tries to make teaching more delectable to students. His last Hollywood venture, before his soft retirement in 2012, was the Tuskegee Airmen movie Red Tails — a blockbuster about African-American soldiers, targeted at African-American teenagers, at a time when the industry ignored that demo (and, for the most part, still do).

And let’s not forget, Lucas created the original Star Wars trilogy and co-created Indiana Jones. That’s why he has all this money to throw around. And throw it around he has, often quietly, without making a big show. It’s true that Lucas has done some wrong by his original Star Wars trifecta, truculently waging war with those who’d like to see movies from the late ‘70s and early ‘80s without instantly dated late ‘90s digital graffiti. And yet he’s still one of film preservation’s mightiest heroes, regularly using his clout and his cash to ensure that we all have access to some of cinema’s greatest accomplishments.

This piece is about the George Lucas that not everyone knows — not the questionable guy who had Han Solo shoot first, but the champion who helped save Citizen Kane from colorization. This is about the George Lucas who ensured that everything from Night of the Living Dead to the Björk-starring drama The Juniper Tree to experimental shorts by the great Shirley Clarke are easy to find and look beautiful. It’s about the guy who took his Star Wars riches and helped save film history.

In fact, one of the architects of our modern blockbuster industrial complex first got really into movies with a type of cinema almost always ignored by mainstream audiences: the avant-garde. Lucas grew up in Modesto, California, hardly a cultural utopia. Luckily it was a hop, skip, and a jump from San Francisco. The young George Lucas would trek there to check out its bohemian art scene. But his favorite stop was Canyon Cinema, a “traveling cinematheque” launched by Bay Area experimental filmmakers to show off (and later distribute) experimental films.

It was at these screenings — so DIY that they sometimes took place in co-founder Bruce Baillie’s backyard, cinema screened on a strung-up bedsheet — that the future creator of Ewoks and Jar Jar Binks had his mind blown by the films of Stan Brakhage, Bruce Conner, Jordan Belson, and Arthur Lipsett. (The latter’s mordant 21-87 was his favorite, and he would later pay homage to it with numerous Easter Eggs.) Experimental films helped Lucas think about movies not in terms of story but in terms of sound and image. His student films were heavily indebted to the avant-garde, as was his feature Hollywood debut, 1971’s THX 1138.

Lucas soon went mainstream, and how. But even as he made the most money-gobbling movies, he never forgot his past. At heart, Lucas is an outsider who’s gotten lucky, more than once. In fact, for nearly a decade he’s threatened to return to avant-garde filmmaking. Those arty Lucas films have yet to materialize — and it’s worth noting he’s 76 — but he’s made sure to keep paying it forward. Lucas has made generous donations to his first love, Canyon Cinema. And he’s been a major force in film preservation. In 1990, he joined The Film Foundation, a non-profit founded by Martin Scorsese that has overseen the restoration of hundreds of movies, from Hollywood classics to international greats to experimental shorts to diamonds in the rough that would have been lost to history without them.

Lucas has also used his name to help other filmmakers. He and Francis Ford Coppola were appalled when Akira Kurosawa — whose samurai epic The Hidden Fortress was a major inspiration on the first Star Wars — was having trouble getting money for his 1980 film Kagemusha. So they put up the needed cash and helped get it released in America. When Lawrence Kasdan, who’d co-written The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, and Raiders of the Lost Ark, needed help making his directorial debut, the steamy neo-noir Body Heat, Lucas was there. And Lucas was there for Paul Schrader when he wanted to make the most non-commercial movie possible: Mishima, a fragmented look at the Japanese novelist Yukio Mishima, who, after a failed military coup, took his life via seppuku.

Lucas’ name helped attract attention to these films, but some of his other gregarious efforts have been quiet, under the radar. Since selling Lucasfilm to Disney in 2012, he’s shifted his focus to the George Lucas Family Foundation, which has supplied money to a treasure trove of restorations. You can see his name among the benefactors for such scrubbed-up titans as Charles Chaplin’s 1916 short The Count, the early color horror film Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933), the 1945 noir Detour, the post-Cuban Revolution portrait Memories of Underdevelopment, the 1968 documentary Salesman, Robert Downey Sr.’s savage 1970 satire Putney Swope, and many more.

Lucas was also one of a number of filmmakers and classic movie stars who testified to the Senate in 1988 against the thankfully short-lived trend, most notoriously wielded by Ted Turner, of colorizing black-and-white films.

“The destruction of our film heritage, which is the focus of concern today, is only the tip of the iceberg. American law does not protect our painters, sculptors, recording artists, authors, or filmmakers from having their lifework distorted, and their reputation ruined,” Lucas argued. “Our cultural history must not be allowed to be rewritten.”

Lucas’ fiery words helped sway legislators to his side. And it led to the formation of the National Film Registry, which for over three decades has adopted 25 new films per year for preservation. (Star Wars was inducted in 1989 and Empire in 1995. Jedi, alas, has yet to make the cut.)

Does all this preservationist do-goodery clash with Lucas’ refusal to make the original versions of the first Star Wars trilogy more widely available? Yes and no. Lucas was advocating for the rights of artists over the works they’ve created, and Lucas created Star Wars, so technically he can do with them what he wishes. Still, maybe one day its current owners will be the ones to drop the original 1977 version, with its Carter-era effects and lack of Jabba or “McClunkey,” onto Disney+.

Until then, there’s plenty of other movies to watch. And a number of them you can watch in part thanks to George Lucas.

The Unicorn (CBS, 9:30pm EST) — Walton Goggins returns to our TV screens tonight, where he’s still widower Wade, and he’s enamored with a woman who happens to be played by Justified co-star Natalie Zea. Her character, Shannon, has some unusual living arrangements, though, and Wade must decide if he’s able to cope with them. (Please let Timothy Olyphant swagger through the background while wearing a hat.)

Supernatural (CW, 8:00pm EST) — It’s all on the line now! (Of course.) The battle against God continues with a familiar face on the roster.

Station 19 (ABC, 8:00pm EST) — The firefighter drama returns in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic in Seattle. This could be a decent idea, or it could backfire, right? At least we’ll see the crew leaning on each other while chaos swirls around them.

The Outpost (CW, 9:00pm EST) — Garret digs into a cult that’s making human sacrifices while Janzo and Wren look into a cure for this show’s infection. Talon is working on a sanctuary, as well.

Grey’s Anatomy (ABC, 9:00pm EST) — Yep, this medical drama is also back to confront COVID-19 (one month into the onset) at Grey Sloan Memorial, so expect things to get perhaps too real.

Star Trek: Discovery (CBS, 10:00pm EST) — Lt. Ash Tayler intrigues the U.S.S. Discovery crew with his arrival, and Admiral Cornwell’s wondering what the hell Lorna’s doing and whether it’s no good.

Jimmy Kimmel Live — Ellen Pompeo, Chris Stapleton

The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon — James Spader, Chris Paul, Josh Johnson

Late Night With Seth Meyers — Dan Aykroyd, Anya Taylor-Joy

The Late Late Show With James Corden — Jack Harlow

In case you missed this last Thursday:

Save Me Too (Peacock Original series) — Lennie James (Morgan from Fear The Walking Dead) returns to his other show (the first season was called Save Me) to continue as Nelly, whose life changed forever when he was accused of kidnapping his daughter. She’s still nowhere to be found, but new suspects and secrets surface, and this is bit of a redemption story inside of a London-set thriller story.

Megan Thee Stallion began the year with her EP Suga and went through a variety of both ups and downs in 2020, but she’s ending the year with a little Good News. That’s the title of her debut album, which she announced on Instagram would be dropping on November 20. She’s making the album available for pre-order tonight after spending the last 24 hours teasing her fans with Instagram hints, writing in the announcement, “Through this rough ass year we’ve all been having I felt like we could all use a lil bit of good news.”

Megan certainly saw her fair share of both kinds of news and is no stranger to making headlines after breaking out last year with the song “Big Ole Freak” from her 2018 Tina Snow EP. She started 2020 riding high off the success of her “Hot Girl Summer” with Nicki Minaj and Ty Dolla Sign, but was nearly derailed by a label dispute with 1501 Certified Entertainment. After she was cleared to release Suga, it seemed things were looking up until a global pandemic put a stop to all touring.

She recovered thanks to TikTok and the dance challenge revolving around “Savage,” which led to the single receiving a remix featuring Megan’s fellow Houstonian Beyonce and Meg’s first No. 1 on the Hot 100. While she should have been able to enjoy that peak for a while, her next set of headlines revolved instead around the September incident that started with Tory Lanez allegedly shooting her. She bounced back again with her appearance on Cardi B’s “WAP” but spent much of the last two months fending off a smear campaign from Tory that tried to paint her as a clout-seeking liar.

However, it looks like she’ll be ending the year on a high note and giving her Hotties something to ride out the end of an atrocious 2020. That is some good news, indeed.

Good News is out 11/20 via 300 Entertainment.

With in-person performances still being restricted, artists have been getting creative about their appearances on late-night television. Recently, Christine And The Queens appeared on The Late Show With James Corden from inside a lavish Paris art museum and now, Niall Horan and UK singer Ashe are taking a page from Christine’s book. The duo got together to deliver their touching duet “Moral Of The Story” from London’s Royal Albert Hall.

Taking the grand center stage, Ashe and Horan serenaded each other face-to-face. Joined by a full band to expand their sound, the two singers showcased their soaring melodies amid the empty theater. “Some mistakes get made / That’s alright, that’s okay / You can think that you’re in love / When you’re really just engaged,” the sing.

The original version of the track was produced Finneas and saw an uncredited vocal feature by Billie Eilish, but Ashe said in a statement upon the remix’s release that Horan was the perfect artist to hop on her breakout track: There’s only a few humans I trust with my music and I feel lucky Niall’s become one of those people. We have more to learn about each other but what I’ve learned so far is he’s not in it for fame or praise – he’s in it bc he’s in love with music and ur either born that or ur not.”

Watch Ashe and Horan sing “Moral Of The Story” on The Late Late Show With James Corden above.

To quote the Sunset Boulevard musical, “Girl meets boy/That’s a safe beginning.”

It’s the basis of thousands of romantic-comedies, a genre that can be thrillingly passionate at its best and The Ugly Truth at its worst. Hulu’s Happiest Season doesn’t follow the safe girl-meets-boy beginning, because there is no boy; the Christmas-season rom-com is about a queer couple, Abby (played by Kristen Stewart) and Harper (MacKenzie Davis), who are on the verge of getting engaged until Harper informs Abby that she hasn’t come out to her buttoned-up family. It’s the rare studio comedy about a same-sex couple.

“You enter the movie immediately comforted by [knowing it’s a rom-com]. For me, especially, as somebody who would completely identify with a story of this kind, [the audience] is just put at ease in a way that’s immediate,” Stewart told the Advocate about Happiest Season. “It’s like, in this beautiful way, indulgent. And it just feels f*cking good.” Davis — who deserved an Emmy for Halt and Catch Fire, and I’m still mad about it — echoed Stewart’s comments.

“It also doesn’t make it an event, which is so nice. It’s two people in love and there is this obstacle that they have to get over. Obviously, that is contingent on their sexuality, but everything else feels ancillary to the fact that they’re lesbians. There are stories about gay and lesbian couples or a person of some marginalized identity that are tragedies or, at the very least, high dramas. It’s so nice to be like, ‘There will be problems, but they will end up fine.’”

Directed and co-written by Clea DuVall with Mary Holland, Happiest Season, which also stars Alison Brie, Aubrey Plaza, Dan Levy, Victor Garber, and Mary Steenburgen, premieres on Hulu on November 25.

(Via Advocate)