Month: January 2021

The word “influencer” has changed its very definition in recent years, and these days it’s an actual job title. But a new HBO documentary aims to see if being famous online is a replicable phenomena. On Thursday, HBO dropped the trailer for Fake Famous, a documentary premiering in February that will see recruited “celebrities” massaged into viral online fame.

“Is that number of followers you have actual fame,” the voiceover asks. “We wanted to do an experiment to see if we could take some random people and make them fake famous.”

The appears to introduce three main characters in the experiment, and showcases a bit of what each will do along the way to obtain a lot of followers, whether real, fake or somewhere in between. The trailer tries to set up both the good and bad that can come from online notoriety: one woman gets a bunch of free stuff from companies just because she has a lot of followers. But another doesn’t seem so thrilled to pretend he’s something he’s not.

“You want to be famous for being you?” a man asks the fake influencer, incredulously.

With all the product placement and highly-manufactured beauty and perfection found among influencers online, peeling back the surface a bit to see the mess behind it all is likely an important lesson for many. And it could prove that internet celebrity is possible to replicate, or perhaps that it takes a certain kind of person to thrive as an influencer.

We’ll see what HBO has uncovered when the documentary premieres on February 2 and 9 p.m.

After a smorgasbord of NFL action the last two weeks, die-hard football observers must savor the rest of the season. In fact, only three NFL games remain, with the AFC and NFC Championship games arriving this Sunday and the Super Bowl looming just two weeks from now. As such, the vast majority of the damage is done when it comes to season-long NFL handicapping. Still, there is still opportunity out there and, in this space, the close to the season has been quite positive, including a 4-1 performance in the Divisional Round.

Before we get into this week’s abbreviated card for a two-game slate, let’s check in on the full-year progress.

• Divisional Round: 4-1
• 2020 Season: 50-43-2

Come get these winners.

Green Bay Packers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers UNDER 24.5 points in the first half

You’ll need to shop this number around, but there are some 24.5’s left in the market and that is a crucial half-point. At any rate, you will see that this is a (very) light card because, well, these lines are pretty much in the right place. That isn’t too much of a shock for championship weekend, but I do like the first half under in this spot. I’d lean there for the full game as well, but there is the prospect of a passing explosion after halftime. Tampa Bay runs the ball more often than they should, and the Bucs may have a few wrinkles to mess with Aaron Rodgers. Maybe it’ll last until the break.

Kansas City Chiefs (-3) over Buffalo Bills

If you moved quickly on Sunday and snagged the Chiefs at pick’em (or even plus money), congratulations to you. On the flip side, one absence from Patrick Mahomes pretty much renders this -3 meaningless. That is the trade-off here and, in truth, there is some risk. All signs point to Mahomes as a likely participant and, by grabbing this number mid-week, there is the benefit to potentially beating a closing number that could grow to 3.5 or 4. Kansas City’s home-field advantage isn’t the same that it would be under normal circumstances, but it’s something, and the Chiefs being only a field goal favorite in their own building is an auto-fire in a lot of ways. It is oddly comforting that a lot of the public seems to be jumping on the Bills. Lay it.

Marjorie Taylor Greene hasn’t had the best week, as Joe Biden’s inauguration was a major blow to the QAnon conspiracy that were sure Donald Trump would never allow the Democratic nominee to become president despite winning the 2020 election. Many believers of the wacky conspiracy that began as LARPing on an image board have had to reexamine their worldview in the wake of a very normal swearing in, one that didn’t include a “storm” that saw cannibalistic satanists rounded up by Trump. But Greene apparently has been unmoved by the failures of QAnon and, instead, made good on another pie in the sky promise on Thursday.

Greene announced on Twitter that she had moved to impeach Joe Biden in his first full day in office. The video that announced it was brief and, oddly enough, came with the same cadence Johnny Knoxville and others would give their introductions on Jackass.

The “we’ll see how this goes” is likely a reference to the absolute certainty that Biden will not be impeached, but the statement Greene put out explaining why Biden should be is perhaps worth understanding.

None of the things mentioned in the letter have anything to do with the executive actions he’s taken to battle coronavirus or undo Trump’s immigration or climate change measures while in office. Rather, it’s all related to various conspiracies about Hunter Biden, Russia and other events during the Obama presidency that have become Republican fodder during primary season and during the general election. Perhaps ironically, it was the incessant chatter about Biden’s son and the Ukraine that instead got Trump impeached, for the first time at least.

The video and her statement certainly generated a lot of talk on social media. But much of it focused on a report from Media Matters about Greene’s past comments about the Sandy Hook school shooting, which some have spiraled into a conspiracy theory of its own. According to the report, you can count Greene among those who think that it was a hoax, a line of reasoning that got Alex Jones sued by the parents of the shooting’s victims.

In a newly uncovered exchange, Marjorie Taylor Greene in 2018 agreed with a Facebook commenter who claimed that 9/11 “was done by our own gov[ernment]” and that “none of the school shootings were real or done by the ones who were supposedly arrested for them,” including the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, and the 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

That news caused Sandy Hook to trend on Twitter once again, and many people critical of Greene online reminded people the conspiracy-filled congresswoman may not be the most reliable source when it comes to reality.

This doesn’t seem like something that fact-checking can fix, either.

Some even called for her to resign from office.

That seems unlikely, but just like her temporary ban from Twitter it seems Greene is almost intentionally trying to say inflammatory things in order to get attention. A doomed measure to impeach Joe Biden certainly qualifies for theater over substance, but when you look at what Greene actually believes in it’s easy to be alarmed.

Of the millions of Americans breathing a sigh of relief with the ushering in of a new president, one man has a particularly personal and professional reason to exhale.

Dr. Anthony Fauci has spent a good portion of his long, respected career preparing for a pandemic, and unfortunately, the worst one in 100 years hit under the worst possible administration. As part of Trump’s Coronavirus Task Force, Dr. Fauci did what he could to advise the president and share information with the public, but it’s been clear for months that the job was made infinitely more difficult than it should have been by anti-science forces within the administration.

To his credit, Dr. Fauci remained politically neutral through it all this past year, totally in keeping with his consistently non-partisan, apolitical approach to his job. Even when the president badmouthed him, blocked him from testifying before the House, and kept him away from press briefings, Fauci took the high road, always keeping his commentary focused on the virus and refusing to step into the political fray.

But that doesn’t mean working under those conditions wasn’t occasionally insulting, frequently embarrassing, and endlessly frustrating.

Now, with the Biden administration taking over, scientific expertise is being placed at the forefront of all parts of the coronavirus response. (As opposed to, say, putting the vice president who has no medical training in charge or adding a radiologist with no infectious disease expertise to the team halfway through the pandemic.) Dr. Fauci will remain as director of the National Institutes of Health and serve as the president’s Chief Medical Adviser, in addition to serving as the representative of the U.S. at the World Health Organization, which we have now officially rejoined.

Biden has pulled together a COVID-19 response team made up of experts in the fields of infectious disease, medicine, and healthcare systems, and the new focus on putting science first appears to have liberated Dr. Fauci. He appeared at a White House press briefing today looking more jovial than we’ve ever seen him.

Watch:

That’s not to say that Dr. Fauci didn’t speak his mind under the Trump administration. He just got in trouble for it when he did.

One of the changes in this administration, said Fauci, is “if you don’t know the answer, don’t guess. Just say you don’t know the answer.” Yes, we saw what happened when the president tried to guess what a remedy for COVID-19 might be. People poisoned themselves with disinfectant.

He also mentioned that he had just had a conversation with President Biden 15 minutes before, in which the President made it clear that the priority was “to be completely transparent, open and honest” and to “make everything we do based on science and evidence.”

In contrast to previous press briefings, Fauci was practically giddy as he smiled and laughed answering some of the reporters’ questions. We may be at the worst stage of the pandemic, but knowing we have competent grown-ups in charge to bring us out of it is cause for celebration.

Dr. Fauci is far too classy of a guy to ever directly criticize the former president or complain about what it was like to work under him, and this may be the closest we get to seeing him unload. But even just his relaxed demeanor and the clear joy and relief on his face as he speaks freely is great to see. Poor guy has been through enough. He deserves this moment in the sun.

The COVID-19 pandemic wreaked havoc on every facet of life in 2020, and somewhere down the list of important things that were put aside due to the public health crisis was the 2020 Tokyo Olympics being postponed a calendar year to 2021, in the hopes that the virus would be under control and the global sporting event could take place in its normal form.

However, as the first month of 2021 nears its close, it is clear that the hopes of the pandemic being fully behind us by this coming July is not going to happen, as vaccine rollout continues to be a somewhat slow practice and new mutations of the virus are capable of being spread at a vastly greater rate than the already highly contagious virus. As such, with just six months until the planned opening ceremonies, there is discussion being had regarding whether the 2020 (now 2021) Tokyo Games will be able to take place.

According to The Times, the Japanese government has reached a consensus that there is no way for them to put on the Games as planned and they will need to cancel. The main holdup on an announcement, per the report, is that Japan is hoping to keep a future Olympics in Tokyo, aiming for 2032, and is working on the right way to cancel the Games to keep in the IOC’s good graces enough to land the future event.

According to a senior member of the ruling coalition, there is agreement that the Games, already postponed a year, are doomed. The aim now is to find a face-saving way of announcing the cancellation that leaves open the possibility of Tokyo playing host at a later date. “No one wants to be the first to say so but the consensus is that it’s too difficult,” the source said. “Personally, I don’t think it’s going to happen.”

It isn’t a major surprise, as IOC member Dick Pound referenced this possibility of a cancellation a couple weeks back, and more recently said fans are not a “must-have” for the Games to go on. That the Olympics would consider taking place in fan-less venues indicated a scramble and it seems Japan would simply rather not host if there isn’t going to be any tourism money — the only justification for a country hosting the Olympics — coming in on top of the issue of public health and safety.

It’s possible that they salvage this year’s Olympics in a fan-less environment with some sort of bubble setup for the thousands of athletes, but it seems as of now that is unlikely to happen. From an American sports perspective, beyond the loss of watching the Olympics, that is of particular interest to the NBA, as they set up their schedule for this season with a major focus on being done before the Olympics began, and as postponements pile up, should the Olympics indeed be cancelled, one has to wonder if they shift their planned dates back to accommodate schedule changes to the second half of the season to allow it to stretch a bit later.

If you follow the beer world, you’re likely aware that IPAs get the lion’s share of the hype (regardless of the time of year). In second place come stouts, especially barrel-aged stouts in recent years. Of course, there are a ton of other beer styles in the mix, too. And way down the “mainstream American popularity” list is the always-warming-but-often-overlooked brown ale.

Around these parts, we believe that brown ale might be the most underrated winter beer of all time. And it’s time to change that.

This style, well-known for its dark brown color, has been brewed continuously since the 1600s (so somebody is obviously drinking it). Originally, it was much lighter in color (as were many beers). It wasn’t until the 1800s that brown ales became the dark amber, sweet, malt-bombs we know today.

To celebrate these lesser-known winter warmers, we asked a handful of bartenders to tell us their favorite brown ales to drink from now until spring. Check their answers below.

Alesmith Nut Brown

Jerry Skakun, bartender at Cucina Enoteca in Newport Beach, California

I would say Alesmith Nut Brown.

For one, I am a hobby home brewer and very passionate about this sort of thing. For two, it is derived and crafted in San Diego which speaks volumes on its producers — being as SD is such beer capitol. I personally feel it is easy drinking, covers some nice baking spice notes, features a nutty aroma, and boasts a slight flavor profile — probably around 18-25 SRM [beer color index] or maybe a bit higher.

One might also find, toffee and caramel notes with a hint of vanilla, creamy lingering mouthfeel, and smooth head.

Average Price: $9.99 for a six-pack

Pfriem Scotch Barrel Aged Imperial Brown

Joan Percival, bartender at Proof Whiskey and Craft Cocktails in Omaha, Nebraska

If you’re lucky enough to find a PFriem imperial barrel-aged, don’t pass it up. It’s well rounded, smoky, and fruity at the same time. It’s a great wintery brown ale.

Average Price: $8.99 for a 375ml bottle

Newcastle Brown Ale

Hayden Miller, head bartender at Bodega Taqueria y Tequila in Miami

Newcastle Brown is a solid slammer. It’s always hard to only put back a couple. It’s rich, malty, and sweet. A perfect after work sipper, especially during the winter months.

Average Price: $13.99 for a 12-pack

Avery Ellie’s Brown

Brandon “Habi” Habenstein from The Kitchen & Bar at Bardstown Bourbon Co. in Bardstown, Kentucky

Avery Ellie’s Brown is the best. Some browns go a little too far down caramel lane but this one keeps it malty and toasty, pairing with pretty much any food you can find.

Average Price: $10.99 for a six-pack

Civil Life American Brown

Andy Printy, beverage director at Chao Baan in St. Louis

My favorite has to be the American Brown Ale from Civil Life brewery in St. Louis. It’s rich, roasty, malty, and dark. It finishes light and balanced; so easy to enjoy more than one… maybe too easy.

Average Price: $10.99 for a six-pack

Tank Freedom Tower

Cristina Suarez, beverage manager at KUSH Hospitality Group in Miami

There is no question about it. Freedom Tower by Tank Brewing is the best brown ale for every winter. I enjoy the crispy caramel and toffee flavors, which are perfect for a cold night by the fire.

Average Price: $11.49 for a six-pack

Florida Avenue Brown Ale

Kirstin Sabik, mixologist at Sneaky Tiki in Pensacola, Florida

Florida Avenue Brown Ale has been winning awards since its launch in 2012. It’s a class English- Style brown ale with notes of caramel, toffee, and chocolate which finishes with dry earthy characteristics.

Cheerio!

Average Price: $9.99 for a six-pack

Blackstone Nut Brown

Kimberly Basnight, lead Bartender at Fins Bar in Nashville

My favorite brown ale this winter season is a local from Blackstone Brewing Co in Nashville, Tennessee. It has hints of toasted malts and chocolate and is perfect for sitting by the fire or cozied up with loved ones.

Average Price: $9.99 for a six-pack

Cigar City Maduro

Sire Negri, lead mixologist at Havana Beach Bar & Grill in Rosemary Beach, Florida

One of our favorite brown ales is from Cigar City in Tampa Fla., Cigar City Maduro. This year-round release from Cigar City embodies the quintessential qualities of an English-style brown ale. Its light brown color and tastes of toasty malts, cocoa, and nuttiness continue to make this one of the best Brown Ales.

Average Price: $8.99 for a six-pack

Brooklyn Brown Ale

Stephen Lasaten, food and beverage manager at The Ritz-Carlton, St. Thomas in the US Virgin Islands

Brooklyn Brown Ale is my go-to. It’s not too heavy with the caramel and chocolate, and the coffee in the background gives it the depth of warmness that’s often lacking on a cold night.

Average Price: $10.49 for a six-pack

Funky Buddha French Toast

Andres Rairan, lead bartender at High Tide Beach Bar & Grill in Miami

French Toast Double Brown Ale from Funky Buddha is a must this winter. This beer can be enjoyed any time of the year but makes it special during the winter because of its sweet and cinnamon notes. It goes down way too smooth and feels like you’re having breakfast during the winter with every sip.

Average Price: $11.99 for a 4-pack of 16-ounce cans

Rogue Hazelnut Nectar

Jane Danger, national mixologist for Pernod-Ricard USA

Rogue Hazelnut Nectar is a great twist on the classic brown ale without straying too far from the original. Nutty, toffee, bitter, roasty, and malt all play their parts in perfect balance. Full-flavored in the middle with a clean finish means you can have more than one and even pair with a spirit, like Martell Cognac, for a great match.

Average Price: $11.99 for a six-pack

Freehouse Battery Brown

Allen Lancaster, master cocktail craftsman at The Bar at The Spectator Hotel in Charleston, South Carolina

Freehouse Battery Brown here in Charleston has been my favorite brown ale since I moved here. Solid nutty flavors, like walnut and hazelnut, with a medium body, make this enjoyable any time of year.

Average Price: $11.99 for a six-pack

Writer’s Picks:

Bell’s Best Brown

This 5.8% is a winter go-to for a variety of reasons. It’s bold, robust, sweet, and filled with notes of sweet caramel, milk chocolate, and toasted malts.

Average Price: $11.99 for a six-pack

Surly Bender

This oatmeal brown ale is surprisingly complex and well-balanced. It has a great combination of crisp hops that pair well with hints of vanilla, caramel, and rich coffee.

Average Price: $11.99 for a 4-pack of 16-ounce cans

Genesee Brewing Honey Brown

Genesee might be known for its iconic Cream Ale, but you definitely shouldn’t sleep on Honey Brown. It’s rich, malty, and filled with honey and caramel sweetness that will make you come back again and again.

Average Price: $5.99 for a six-pack

Is your basketball heart breaking? Are you fixated on the existential dilemmas of your franchise’s superstar? Well, just like sands through the hourglass, it’s another edition of N(ot) B(ad) A(dvice), where you lay your most pressing NBA-related problems at my feet and I take them, dust them off, give them a good talking to, and send them on their way, hopefully alleviated.

This week we have questions about the strange and sometimes gross valuation of pro athletes when it comes to their abilities and their paycheck, a front office gone AWOL, and what does it mean when a budding NBA star gets called out for being a little bit one-dimensional on the court. Settle in.

If you have NBA questions you want answered in the future, email them to [email protected].

The team I root for recently traded for Kelly Oubre, the most handsome man in the NBA, and a man who also immediately had to unfairly answer questions from reporters about if he was worth the $80m luxury tax bill acquiring him is costing the billionaire owners before he’d even played a game. He started the season by having the worst shooting slump in NBA history. Are these two things related?

Sincerely,

Emotionally (and Luxury) Taxed Out In the San Francisco Bay Area

Certainly. You can’t believe in the absolute, scientifically proven phenomena of the revenge game and not accept its shittier other end of the spectrum.

All NBA players have to get very good really fast at creating a kind of personal filtration device for criticism. Some use it to improve, so they have to let a little in, but as we know there is a specifically insane subset of criticism that equates monetary value with athletic performance and it serves no competitive purpose to a player, it only continues to, like, regurgitatingly feed that aforementioned, twisted subset. Pro sports do a weird, evacuating thing to some people’s brains. The more a player gets paid, the more expectation there is on their physical capabilities. Can you imagine if someone promised you $500 more dollars an hour but only if you increased the vertical height that you could jump by five feet, and then you had to do it regularly? Or that you had to run faster than the speed you know yourself to be able to run, because that’s just how your body works. It’s always felt so strange to me to think it possible that money, no matter how much, was proof enough to hijack one’s body. And NBA players already do that! Their fitness regimens are precise, unyielding, and often do result in adjusting their bodies to better suit whatever it is they are trying to improve upon in any given season, often at the whims of league trends.

But back to Kelly Oubre.

Oubre is like, well just extremely pure and porous. He’s the volcanic rock in the aquifer as much as he is the crystalline water that results, simultaneously. He has an intensely dedicated fan base of anime freaks, misfits, basketball people, goths, and probably cowboys now based on that Valley Boys photoshoot the Suns did that he starred in just before they traded him. It’s a huge swath of people because I really think his appeal is in his openness — handsomeness factors in there somewhere too. All to say that kind of gross money talk is not exactly the first conversation he imagined having with a franchise he was very excited to join, and whatever is directed at him he has no choice but to absorb.

But in this way I’m sure, Oubre the aquifer will prevail. Looking at his season to season stats, his 3-point attempts per game currently sit at 5.6, a slight uptick from the last two seasons at 5.5 and 5.2. The percentage has dropped, sure, but I’m convinced it’s going to climb and I think it’s a buoying thing that his slum hasn’t deterred him from trying. Yes, the Warriors are gonna feel it when Oubre’s only scoring 12 points per game compared to his 18 last season, but the Warriors organization would also do well to keep its luxury tax talk out of Oubre’s forever open and inquisitive face.

Be the aquifer, Taxed Out, take it all in for what it’s worth — the experience, Oubre’s shooting slump, those piercing eyes! — and only spit the good stuff out.

I’ve had a lot of questions lately about the different levels of existential angst affecting the Raptors this season, both individually and as a team. The remaining one I have is where have Masai and Bobby been during all this? It’s not like them to be so silent. They were vocal and insistent about their decision to be with the team in the Bubble, right down to Bobby running the 416 Café, which I thought was really cool. Is he running one at the Marriott in Tampa? And why haven’t we heard from them, either in support of the team, or with their reactions and ideas about what needs to be done or to happen? And what’s happening with their own positions with the club? It’s a strange void that needs to be filled.

Tormented in T.O.

It’s a little weird, eh? Masai Ujiri and Bobby Webster made a brief appearance at the Raptors first game against the Warriors a couple weeks back and that was kind of it. Like you’ve said, Tormented, the two were ever-present in the bubble, and I don’t think it was all to create more content for Toronto’s in-house online show, Open Gym, they were making a point. Now, was that point to signal to Raptors primo target, Giannis Antetokounmpo that the organization was a tight-knit one, worth making the move for? Maybe. It’s worth thinking that way to stay competitive in a league that loves its optics, still, I don’t believe it was all for show.

With the NBA’s new health and safety restrictions I wouldn’t be surprised if the league was trying to deter loitering of persons in and around the court pre or during games, but Ujiri has always found perches to lurk from when the team was going through past troubles. My best guess is that there is some real internal reworking going on, from the top-down to the current construction of the team. Things aren’t really working well, and from free agency to now the way crucial marks were missed might mean that Webster, and perhaps Ujiri, are also looking ahead beyond the team itself. Anyway, it isn’t time for full-on alarm bells yet because the two of them have always shown that the team comes first, whatever the tumult, so they could just be doing the heavy lifting behind the scenes for a change. But it is a weird season — with the assault allegations against Terence Davis, Serge Ibaka and Marc Gasol simultaneously walking, the unideal size and defensive deficit — to decide to go covert on a fanbase that is accustomed to more than the occasional public showing.

My question is pretty straightforward: what’s the best way to deal with the mental fallout of a situation like the one Trae is experiencing right now?

I’ve gone through periods where people who I thought had my back threw me under the bus and in the aftermath it lead to a lot of soul searching. I can’t help but see the same thing going on in Atlanta: Trae was criticized by his idol Steve Nash and also, allegedly, called out by his own teammates. Corellatedly, Trae’s on-court play and body language now seems… adrift.

So to boil it down: when life comes at you fast and you are left facing those existential questions how do you get your groove back?

Be well,

Mark

You make a good point about soul searching, Mark, so I’m going to lead with that. Mostly that it’s not a bad thing to do, but I think it can get a bad rap because the times we often do it, we’re pressed into it by emotional, stressful, and occasionally upsetting occasions. And anything we interpret as being forced into, we resent.

But turning the mirror your own way is important. When you get into the habit of checking in and checking yourself a little more regularly, you can take stock of what’s going on around you. Are the people you rely on the right people, are they there when things aren’t the best? Would you want them to vouch for you as much as you’d trust them in calling you out? And with career concerns, are you taking the right steps, for you right now, and be honest, don’t coast where you could be adjusting and improving, harder now but better in the long run.

This is a little of what Trae Young is dealing with.

The guy is adept at getting to the line. At 9.7 free throw attempts per game he’s one of the best in the league at getting there. But players like Young, billed and earnestly self-identifying as stars, can’t rest on their laurels. Young’s frustration at Steve Nash criticizing him for doing that little bunny hop backward when he’s pulling up for a shot and drawing the foul by landing on the defender he knows is behind him strikes me at the kind of ire that comes when rightfully calling someone out. It’s visceral, personal, emotional for that person because they know, on some level, it’s warranted. It is also a little like, pot-kettle-black, Nash, because as an all-time point guard he had his own little roster of sneaks to deploy, but whatever.

Young is now on his third year in the league, but he hasn’t yet landed on what the next iteration is for him and his game. He’s been in one system, knows pretty well the expectations and routines of it, but there’s a chance they’ve also catered pretty well to him, their number one guy. So, he’s going to have to push himself to figure out what comes next in his development. Does he want to become a better defender? Sure, but he’s not the biggest guy, but he is quick, so can he work on steals and positioning? His finishing at the basket can be finicky, but he’s a great passer for the most part so why not give a last second dish to psyche out defenders who consistently look to crowd him? Versatility, in whatever small ways he can find it, is going to be key for his next three to five years and is the kind of thing that helps at any slump in life.

There is a moment when Young gets called out, where he looks over to where Nash is shouting, “That’s not basketball,” at the ref that is pretty wrenching.

It comes around the :22 second mark, when Young keeps glancing over to where Nash is, and his face visibly falters at being found out. It’s partially the look of “oh shit” and just “oh,” the former at being caught and the latter for the recognition that you don’t exist in the vacuum of your own life. Both offer lessons as much as lifelines to dragging yourself back from the whirlpool of existential dread, it’s kind of Young’s choice at this point in how long he stays adrift.

“Exercises In Empathy” is a popular program among the inmates at Soledad State Prison in California. It’s a book club where inmates get together to discuss literature with students from Palma School, a boys prep school located in nearby Salinas.

“[The students] go in thinking monster … and they come out thinking a man. A human being,” Jim Micheletti, co-founder of the book club, told CBS News. “They’ve done bad things, but there are no throwaway people here.”

A few years ago, members of the club read 1962’s “Miracle On The River Kwai.” The book tells an extraordinary story of survival in prisoner of war camps. In the book, the prisoners created a culture of sacrifice and called it “mucking” for each other.

So one of the inmates in the book club, Jason Bryant, decided that the inmates should “muck’ for one of the students at Palma.

“I think that inherently most people, even those of us who have made the worst decision in our lives, want to be a part of something good,” Bryant said according to Yahoo. “This idea when we started was just so good: We can help some young man get a head start that a lot of us didn’t have.”

Unlikely allies: Inmates at Soledad State Prison raise $32,000 to help California student in need

www.youtube.com

So they decided to create a scholarship program. Over 800 inmates contributed to the fund pitching in anywhere from $1 to $100. The donations are even more incredible given the fact that the starting wage for an inmate is just 8 cents an hour in California.

Over the course of three years, the inmates raised an incredible $32,000.

“Incarcerated people were so drawn to the idea of going a mile deep in a young man’s life that they were giving up their month’s pay to contribute,” Bryant said.

“I didn’t believe it at first,” Michelleti said according to CNN. “They said, ‘We value you guys coming in. We’d like to do something for your school … can you find us a student on campus who needs some money to attend Palma?'”

The inmates chose to give the scholarship to Sy Green, a sophomore and member of the book club whose father recently had a heart transplant, and mother was blinded after being hit by a softball. After both lost their jobs, it was impossible for the family to come up with Palma’s $12,900 annual tuition.

“I broke down and started crying because I knew where it was coming from,” Sy’s father, Frank Green, said according to Yahoo.

Sy is now a high school graduate and used some of the money to help him attend college at The Academy of Art University in San Francisco.

The student hopes to visit the inmates whenever he’s home on break.

“That’s only the right thing to do. Beyond the scholarship, the knowledge that they pour into you, that’s, that’s the best thing,” Sy said. “They definitely take my future serious and they genuinely do care about me as a person.”

After serving 20 years for an armed robbery in which one victim was fatally shot, Bryant had his sentence commuted by California Governor Gavin Newsom due to his contributions in restorative work while he was in prison.

He now works as the Director for Restorative Work at an organization called Creating Restorative Opportunities and Programs (CROP) which helps formerly incarcerated people succeed in their communities.

Have you ever enjoyed a meme so much that you said, “Man, I really wish I could spend money to own a physical copy of that?” Well you are in luck, because the folks at Topps announced on Thursday that Bernie Sanders’ mittensed-up, legs-crossed self that became the internet’s favorite meme is now available for purchase on an official baseball card for the low, low price of $9.99.

The card, along with the rest from the Biden Inauguration which I cannot imagine will be nearly as popular, will be for sale for the next week in a limited edition release. I’m sure the senior socialist senator from Vermont is thrilled that his visage will be captured in perpetuity on a card that is being sold for just under $10 a pop. Sanders sitting like a disgruntled fan in the upper deck became immediate fodder for photoshops into every possible situation — including Andre Drummond dropping Sanders into the Cavs huddle after their win over the Nets.

As for Sanders’ reaction to that photo becoming the most talked about part of the inauguration ceremony, he kept it incredibly on brand, saying he was glad to raise awareness for the fine craftsmanship of mittens from the great state of Vermont (and coats too).

WARNING: Spoilers from the newest Cobra Kai season will be found below.

Cobra Kai‘s infuriatingly good third season filled itself with very obvious callbacks and faces from the past. The franchise not only brought back Chozen (Yuji Okumoto) and Kumiko (Tamlyn Tomita) but also contained a very special visit (and owning of both Daniel-san and Johnny) from Ali Mills (Elisabeth Shue). Beyond those personified references to yesteryear, there were also a ton of Easter eggs, too. Netflix rounded up over 20 examples from the season, so you can watch them all and realize how well (or poorly) you would score if quizzed.

One thing is for certain: creators and showrunners Jon Hurwitz, Josh Heald, and Hayden Schlossberg dove deep into canon. They emerged with wonderful nuggets that will key younger viewers into the tiniest special moments from the movies and also refresh those who lived through the releases and need some refreshers. There are throwbacks to Mr. Miyagi’s classic cars, and then there’s the “warm beer” rejected by Hawk that referenced how Johnny Lawrence did the same back in the day; and a near run-in between Johnny’s white suit and spaghetti sauce, which goes back to Daniel-san’s previous collision with a waiter. Oh, and the one that weirds me out most: Johnny and Ali going on a date at the same amusement-type park where she once canoodled with Daniel.

It’s all good stuff, and there will be more of it because Netflix already renewed Cobra Kai for a fourth season. Hopefully, they’ll bring back Aisha and maybe reserve even less time for the worst character on the show and his popsicle-wielding judginess.