Month: February 2021

Ahead of a vote by the House of Representatives to strip Marjorie Taylor Greene of her committee assignments, the freshman congresswoman seemingly denounced her prior belief in completely nutso QAnon conspiracy theories, which have plagued her short time in office. The move to strip her assignments came after Greene met with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, who decided to take no action against Greene for recently unearthed disturbing things she previously did and said like harassing Parkland school shooting survivor David Hogg, supporting calls for the execution of Nancy Pelosi, writing that the California wildfires are caused by Jewish-owned space lasers, and accusing Hillary Clinton (and other Democrats) of being part of a satanic cabal that mutilates and eats babies.

McCarthy said Greene’s conspiracy theories have no place in the Republican Party, but they were made before she was a member of Congress, and she promises not to do it again. Greene leaned into the argument that those beliefs were in the past while speaking on the House floor on Thursday. She said she “stumbled across” QAnon back in 2017, and she now realizes she was wrong to engage with its conspiracy theories on social media. Via CNN:

“The problem with that is though is I was allowed to believe things that weren’t true, and I would ask questions about them and talk about them, and that is absolutely what I regret,” she said.

Greene also said that she believes “9/11 absolutely happened” and “school shootings are absolutely real and every child that is lost, those families mourn it.”

While Greene attempted to paint her beliefs as “words of the past,” her arguments didn’t hold up to scrutiny as the journalists who first reported on her concerning social media activity noted significant holes in Greene’s mea culpa. Greene attempted to blame the media frenzy on her simply Liking or commenting on Facebook posts, which is not the case. Greene posted videos of herself calling for Pelosi to be executed.

Greene also said that she never mentioned QAnon while running for Congress, which was also not true. She praised the conspiratorial cult as “patriotic” during a local TV interview in July.

(Via CNN)

The Cleveland Browns snapped an 18-year playoff drought this season, advancing to the Divisional Round with a win over the rival Pittsburgh Steelers before losing to the eventual AFC champion Kansas City Chiefs. It was the most successful Browns season since they returned to Cleveland in 1999, thanks in large part to the young core of talent they’ve built on both sides of the ball.

Their two former top-overall picks, Myles Garrett and Baker Mayfield, led the way, helped by other high draft picks like Denzel Ward and Nick Chubb, the latter of whom came in with Mayfield in the 2018 Draft and has been a beacon of hope from the beginning for the Browns, rushing for 3,557 yards in his three seasons in Cleveland and emerging as one of the league’s best backs. This year, he topped 1,000 yards for the second straight season and had 12 touchdowns despite missing six games with a knee injury.

On Thursday, Uproxx Sports got the chance to talk with Chubb on behalf of Sleep Number about this Browns season, what he saw as the biggest change in Cleveland in 2020, the development of Mayfield, his own growth as a player on and off the field, the Chiefs defense, and more.

I just want to start by saying I’m a Browns fan so thank you for the most enjoyable season of watching Browns football of my lifetime.

[laughs] Yeah, man.

What has been the difference this year and what did you feel about how things went and what seemed to be a bit of a change in how this team approached games and was able to finish games?

It was overall a big difference from my previous years here. It was a culture change, a mindset change, an attitude change. All those things play a role into us coming out and winning 11 games in a regular season. And I think the biggest thing was just the team all buying in, listening to coach Stefanski. He preached about working, working every day, working hard every day to get to where we want to be, and all the guys bought in. All the veterans, rookies, we’re all on the same page. We want to win. Tired of losing and those days are over with. And I think that’s the biggest thing that kind of shifted us into where we are now.

You came in with Baker and you’ve seen his progression as as a pro. What did you see as the biggest thing this year for him in terms of both him being a leader and what he’s doing on the field?

I came in with him, so I saw him grow in every way, and the biggest thing that he’s doing now that is decision making and maybe confidence. I mean, he can make any throw on the field, just a matter of should he or should he not, you know, and I think he finally, coach Stefanski stayed on him about just making the right decision, making the right choice, and he’s doing that. He’s got his confidence back, which I don’t think really ever left because confidence … I mean, Baker, that’s this guy he is. He’s very confident himself and that’s how he plays, that’s how he brings intensity for us and for everyone around a team. I think the biggest thing was him making the right decisions as a quarterback.

Yeah. And then for you, what have you felt has been your biggest point of growth in your professional career from being a rookie to now as one of the best backs in the league?

I mean, for me personally, I don’t know it’s just, it’s just maturing some. Seeing things fully, understanding football. You know, you’re not really asked to do that much stuff in high school and college, but I feel I really understand football now. I understand what my linemen are trying to do, how they’re trying to block, different blocks. What my fullback is trying to do, what what the run is designed to look like. I think a full understanding about that has really helped me see the field, and seeing what hole I’m supposed to hit and try to get into.

This will be this will be your first season with the Browns where you’re not going to have a coaching change this offseason. What are you looking forward to about that since you know the system, you know what coach Stefanski and this staff wants you to do, and what do you think that’s going to allow you guys to do in terms of taking another step next year?

Yeah, this is the first year going into a season with the same head coach since I’ve been here. It’s something that I think for us, I mean, we can just really dive into the playbook. Really learn everything there is to know. Learn the playbook inside and out. Build the chemistry, throwing the ball, you know, Baker to all of us skill guys, and just really you know use that to our advantage. Really take another step forward and, you know, kind of distance ourselves from everyone around us.

What was the learning experience of this playoff run? You beat a Steelers team that’s kind of been a roadblock forever for this franchise, and then you go face this Chiefs team who is that at the top of the game right now. What are the things that you learn personally and you think the team can learn from that experience going forward?

Yeah, I mean, they always say every game is important no matter who you’re playing but playoffs is 10 times more important than a regular game. I mean, it’s win or go home and you only have one shot. It’s not like basketball, baseball, where you have a series. You have one game go out there and play and you got to make it happen. You got to make the play. That’s the biggest thing. You got that one shot, you got to take full advantage of it. And there’s no re-dos.

One thing when I talk to young guys is they say when you come into the pros you really learn the importance of taking care of your body with the things off the field, whether that’s rest and recovery or nutrition. What are the things you’ve learned about that in your pro career and how do you try to make sure that your body is always taken care of for when you get to gameday?

Yeah, that’s one of the biggest differences too, I’m not a little kid anymore. I can’t run off, eat McDonald’s and candy and things like that. And so for me, I really had to get my diet right, take care of my body, but I mean, everybody has their own thing. You know people like cold tubs. People like Normatechs, like massages, but I mean, for the most part, I like to sleep a lot. I mean, I get great night’s sleep, great eight hours of sleep in my Sleep Number bed. It tells me exactly how I slept that night what I should probably do better and things like that. So I think sleep has optimized my recovery. I deal with injuries as we all do in the NFL, so a great night’s sleep in my bed gets me up feeling great the next day. It gives me a boost of energy for the next day, boost my performance overall. So I think a great night’s sleep, you can’t beat that. It’s better than anything they tell you. So yeah, that’s pretty much what I’m doing throughout the whole season, get a great night’s sleep.

If somebody like Leonard Fournette were to call you this week and ask, since you’ve played this Chief defense recently, what would be your advice you’d give him about going up against this team and the scouting report you would give him about what he’s going to see from the Chiefs defense?

Yeah, I would tell him the Chiefs defense are a bunch of fast guys. They play hard and fast, but I mean, you get that ball you got it run it. You gotta, whatever hole you see just hit it full speed. You’ll be able to break a couple arm tackles, and, yeah, just hit it full speed. Don’t hesitate, don’t look around and just get the ball, get downhill and break tackles.

Finally, what what are you looking for next season to see in your personal growth and then also the the growth of the Browns as a team?

For me, honestly, I’m just trying to learn the game even more, to be able to be on the field more and do everything they asked me to do — running, catching, all those things. Work on my game overall. And as a team, just keep getting better. Last year wasn’t enough. Let’s go. Let’s go even further. So that all starts in practice to go out every day compete hard in practice, practice hard, work hard, and let’s get this thing rolling again.

One of the greatest parenting milestones is the day you get to explain to your children the basics of sex. Sometimes that day arrives because a kid bluntly asks how babies are made, sometimes parents bring it up so their kids to hear it from them before they hear it from other people, and sometimes it’s a result of an unexpected encounter (like a kid walking in on their parents doing the deed).

However you arrive at it, that initial conversation is always interesting. No matter how prepared you think you are, some awkward hilarity is inevitable as you navigate those new waters. Sex is pretty simple on the one hand, but quite complicated on the other, and figuring what details to share at what stage is a tricky balancing act.

Some kids are open and curious and ask a million questions. Some kids are quiet and reserved and process it all in their own sweet time. But the first reaction of most pre-pubescent kids when they first hear about the mechanics of sex, even if you introduce it in a sex-positive way, is something along the lines of “What?? Are you serious? EW.” And when they connect the dots that their parents had sex in order for them to be alive, the reaction gets even funnier.

A thread on Twitter illustrates how true this is as parents share their children’s reactions to hearing about the birds and the bees.

Clearly, Megan has three kids. Logic.

Some kids let questions slip out before thinking about whether they really want to know the answer. Once you know it, you can’t unknow it. Sorry, kiddo.

Parents have to be prepared for awkward questions, but sometimes you really can’t predict what a kid might want to know. Kids aren’t exactly known for having boundaries, and that’s doubly true for a topic that’s totally new for them.

Most of us don’t like to imagine our parents having sex, so this is one area where kids who are adopted have somewhat of an advantage (until they learn that procreation isn’t the only reason people have sex).

It’s not just the questions, but the declarations that come along with kids learning about sex that can take parents by surprise.

It’s always entertaining to see a kid’s understanding move from innocence to reality.

And even more entertaining when you realize that you were the one who inadvertently introduced your kid to a sexual concept you may not have been prepared to discuss.

And then there are the unintentional misunderstandings that occur when kids don’t get quite enough information.

Perhaps the funniest part about talking about sex with kids is how actually kind of weird the physical act really is when you think about it. Of course it seems absurd to children who haven’t sexually developed yet.

In fact, some kids find it so weird, they literally don’t believe it.

Like, what the heck with this design? And they don’t even know at this point about the nitty-gritty details that you only really know once you’ve done it.

As funny as these stories are, the fact that parents are having open and honest conversations with their kids about sex is seriously awesome. Some people do their kids a disservice by being too creeped out to talk about it, or maybe worrying they’ll give too much info, so they don’t talk about it.

Whatever your moral perspectives on the topic, sex is part of life. It’s basic health and biology. It’s a human reality that everyone learns about one way or another, and it’s generally better for kids to learn about sex from their parents than from their peers, who might give wrong information. Starting early by answering kids’ questions matter-of-factly, giving age-appropriate details (which admittedly can be hard to discern), and bringing up the topic occasionally if your kids don’t can help kids ease into a healthy understanding of sex.

While the basic mechanics conversation is indeed a parenting milestone, the best parent-child conversations about sex are ongoing and ever-expanding. Making consent and boundaries part of the conversation is vital as well. Some uncomfortable moments may be inevitable, but keep the line of communication wide open will go a long way toward helping kids prepare for what’s to come.

Watch the faces Drakeo The Ruler makes as he rips through a spirited performance of his November single “Fights Don’t Matter” for UPROXX Sessions. That’s where all the action is. While his physical performance is played-down and relaxed, his face does all the work, with his elastic expressions bringing the clever, off-kilter lyrics to life.

“Fights Don’t Matter” was, of course, the first single Drakeo dropped upon being released from Men’s Central Jail in Los Angeles after two long years on a trumped-up murder charge. Despite being acquitted in 2019, then-Los Angeles District Attorney Jackie Lacey baffingly resubmitted charges of criminal conspiracy.

However, once George Gascón was voted into office on Election Day 2020, the DA extended a deal to Drakeo and his lawyers to give him time served and an early release. Since then, Drakeo has been on a tear, releasing his first post-prison project We Know The Truth and following up with a string of propulsive, charismatic singles — including “Too Icey,” which he released earlier this week.

Watch Drakeo The Ruler’s UPROXX Sessions performance of “Fights Don’t Matter” above.

UPROXX Sessions is Uproxx’s performance show featuring the hottest up-and-coming acts you should keep an eye on. Featuring creative direction from LA promotion collective, Ham On Everything, and taking place on our “bathroom” set designed and painted by Julian Gross, UPROXX Sessions is a showcase of some of our favorite performers, who just might soon be yours, too.

Back in October, Ice Cube caught a lot of heat for working with the Trump administration. The rapper was hoping to discuss his initiative, Contract For Black America, which aims to foster equity for Black Americans through spending, social programs, prison reform, and more. Though his work with the Trump didn’t pan out, Cube plans on continuing to talk with the Biden administration to bring his vision to reality.

The rapper recently sat down with MAJIC 107.9’s Ryan Cameron Uncensored show, where he revealed his plans. Apparently, Biden’s team has already reached out to Cube and he hopes to schedule a meeting with them some time this month.

During his conversation with Ryan Cameron Uncensored, Cube addressed his stance on the state of the country and the importance for the Biden administration to take measurable actions towards a better future for Black Americans:

“I know this new administration is really into helping all minorities, but I believe Black people in this country are in a unique position. There needs to be things as far as specialty programs. You know me, I’m all about reparations. It seems like a bad word to this administration but we gotta change that. We gotta have them speaking about reparations and add some fairness to this system. […] At the end of the day, whether a Democrat or a Republican is in the White House, they’re still not looking at our agenda in the right way. It really don’t matter. We still gotta get them to acknowledge and remedy the situation. Right now, everybody likes to acknowledge but they don’t do what it takes to remedy the situation.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Cube clarified what he means by “reparations.” To him, giving Black people money directly would be the best solution, but there are also other options. Reparations can come in the form of tax breaks, governmental programs, and grants. “I feel like there’s a lot of symbolism going around, but there’s not a log of tangibles going around,” he said. “It’s up to us to say, that’s a nice gesture, but in America you need cash. That’s just it. I don’t care what you doing, I don’t care how you cut it. You could be the nicest person in the world, most civil person in the world, if you ain’t got no cash in America, you’re not going to get too far. That’s just how the system is built. That’s what we need to progress.”

Listen to Cube’s full interview here.

It is very funny watching Nikola Jokic play basketball. Right now, in an era in which sports science is coveted and players are expected to be in near-pristine physical condition, NBA players routinely are helpless when the Denver Nuggets take the floor because their 6’11 center who looks like he could polish off a 30 rack of Miller Lite on his own is able to process the sport to an extent that few have ever been able to do.

Part of what makes Jokic such a joy is that it is damn near impossible to not be glued to him while you’re watching Denver play. This is by design — the Nuggets have figured our their best chance of winning as many basketball games as possible comes by putting the ball in Jokic’s hands and letting him cook. It’s been a smart bet over the last few years — Mike Malone’s bunch have made the conference semis and conference finals the last two years, although they haven’t been able to get over that last hump — and in 2020-21, Jokic has taken his game from All-Star level to MVP level, much to the benefit of the rest of his team.

Among players who have played in at least 10 games, Jokic is 16th in usage percent. The only centers on the list who are ahead of him are Joel Embiid, an MVP candidate in his own right, and Andre Drummond. The thing that makes Jokic different from both of them is how Jokic is essentially asked to be an initiator to an extent that neither are — Embiid and Drummond can both set up their teammates a little, but in the immortal words of John Cena, comparing their distribution to Jokic’s is like comparing apples to frying pans.

According to Cleaning the Glass, Jokic has an assist percentage of 37.8 percent. It’s impressive insofar as that’s slightly higher than LeBron James’ assist percentage, but when filtering by position, Jokic laps the field among big men. The player at that position with the second-best number in that metric is Draymond Green, who at 30.4 percent is not in the same galaxy as Jokic. For context: The gap in percentage points between Jokic and Green is about the same as the gap between Green and Thaddeus Young.

The best passers in the sport have a handful of traits about them. There are the obvious ones — the vision, the court IQ, the general passing acumen, the trust and connection that they have with their teammates. But the one that will oftentimes separate the guys who do all of that and the guys who are on another level is fearlessness. And part of the beauty of Nikola Jokic is that he has never seen a pass that he’s not afraid to try, which is good, because his brain has the unique ability to process every single possible thing that could happen on a basketball court at a genius level.

The fun thing about writing this is that I needed to watch lots of Jokic passing highlights. The not fun thing was picking which ones would get in here. Regardless, here’s an example of his genius on display against the Minnesota Timberwolves. Jokic reeled in a miss, and before he secured the ball off the rim, everyone else began running in the other direction. The level of trust that the Nuggets have in Jokic to get the ball and do something with it is admirable, and he reciprocated that trust by threading the needle with one hand to give JaMychal Green an easy dunk.

Here’s another from Jokic, this time against the Heat. Watch him just before he’s handed the ball, Jokic looks up the court and takes stock of what’s going on. He notices that Gary Harris got in behind the entirety of the Heat defense and decided to go Mahomes, getting the ball handed to him and going deep. The pass was perfect. Harris scored.

Because I find this fun, how about another? Against the Rockets, Denver gets Jokic the ball at the elbow (hold this thought!) and Will Barton is able to shake Danuel House Jr. He cuts into the paint, but with two players in it, Jokic has to put this in a pretty small window for Barton to reel it in and have a lane to score. You’ll Never Believe What Happens Next.

Unsurprisingly, no one in the NBA touches the ball more than Jokic. NBA.com’s stats page indicates that the big man touches the ball 102.4 times a game, three more than the guy in second place (Domantas Sabonis). He’s comfortably in the lead for the most elbow touches per game (9.4) in the league, and second only to Embiid in post-ups (11). Only Sabonis makes more passes per game than him (marginally so, at that), and while he’s 16th in passes received per game, he’s tops among players who are nominally centers.

All of this is to say that it’s an understatement to call Jokic the sun around which Denver’s offense revolves. The creative load alone that he shoulders is remarkable. That’s also not considering the fact that he is the team’s top scorer, too — Jokic is averaging a career-best 26.8 points a night with the top effective field goal percentage (61.3 percent) and true shooting percentage (65.6 percent) of his career. He’s shooting more than ever, both from the field (17.9 attempts per game) and the free throw line (5.8 per game) and he’s making the orange ball go through the different shade of orange cylinder a whole lot.

And then there are all the other ways he is leading Denver, which, it must be said, is 12-8 and sits in fourth place in the Western Conference. A list: Minutes per game, points per game, assists per game, rebounds per game, steals per game, field goal percentage, free throw percentage, defensive rebounding percentage, assist percentage, usage percentage, offensive win shares, defensive win shares, win shares per 48 minutes, offensive box plus/minus, defensive box plus/minus, box plus/minus, value over replacement player, player efficiency rating. A whole bunch of those are career-highs. In short, he’s very good.

There is no player in the NBA like Jokic, and what’s most remarkable is that he continues to get better at the things that have been his weakness. He’s improved significantly as a defender, and on offense, he’s become far more aggressive and assertive, allowing his full gifts as a passer and scorer to be on display. With respect to greats from the past like Arvydas Sabonis, you can make a case that there has never been a guy like him who has been given the freedom to explore that skill in the manner he has. In an era when the word “unicorn” gets thrown out a ton, Jokic is legitimately a marvel on part with a mythical horse that has a horn coming out of the top of its forehead. Watching him play basketball is one of the simplest joys on earth, and as the 2020-21 MVP race begins to take shape, Denver’s big man has to be mentioned among the frontrunners.

“I went into this industry to become a chef because I figured people will always need to eat, I will always have a job. Well, this is the first time that restaurants have closed, we’ve never seen anything like this where people just weren’t eating at restaurants anymore and were instead eating at home.”

Chef Darrell Smith (also known as Chef DAS) has cooked for the Obamas and Oprah, served as the personal chef to Diddy, founded his own culinary seasoning company, Spice Sack, appeared numerous times on the Food Network, and has even published his own cookbook. But nothing could prepare him for the devastating impact that COVID-19 has had on our restaurant industry. According to data collected by the National Restaurant Association, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the U.S. Census Bureau and compiled by Statista, the foodservice industry lost an astronomical 130 billion in sales between March and October of last year, which has resulted in an industry-wide loss of 2.1 million jobs, with an estimated 110,000 restaurants shuttering forever as a result of the mandated closures and capacity limits brought on by the pandemic.

Meaning that when we’re finally able to make a regular habit of going out and grabbing a bite to eat with our friends and families again, we’re going to be stepping out to a very different culinary landscape than the one we enjoyed pre-pandemic. The number of restaurants, the prices, the layouts — everything is likely to change.

The only sign of hope in this bleak landscape? Chefs, on the whole, are quick to adapt and inventive in their problem-solving. Just look at the creativity shown in keeping independent restaurants afloat thus far. So we had at least a sliver of optimism when we reached out to Chef DAS this week to get his take on the future of food. The conversation ranged from how chefs can diversify their income streams to how restaurants can step up their game in precarious times to what those of us not in the industry can do to help as we reacquaint ourselves with dining out.

The pandemic has rocked the restaurant business, and a lot of restaurants probably won’t be able to survive. What are some ways that chefs can find new ways to stay afloat and diversify their incomes?

This is a great time to be innovative. Going into this pandemic and coming out, it’s time for restaurants and chefs to be creative and solution-based. One way to do that is via delivery services — a lot of people are staying at home, a lot of restaurants can’t open but are able to still use their kitchens. Setting up a delivery service where you can take the food straight from the restaurant directly to your home is a must.

Products are still moving too, a lot of people are at home so if you create some kind of cool product and share your cooking skills and what people love about you. if you can share that through some product, that’s a big deal.

Food trucks are coming back up too, it’s a mobile way to eat and it feels safer. I love the mobile dining experience these days.

Do you see the pandemic changing the food space forever? How has it affected you personally in terms of cost structure and being able to keep a kitchen open while meeting a demand that has been significantly impacted?

It’s affected me majorly. Another company I’m a CEO of is the Caring Culinary Group, and what we do is specialize in food service management for big corporations, schools, colleges, and businesses. We had an account here in Atlanta and we were rolling at the end of 2019 and the beginning of 2020, serving food to the campus. We opened up a big cafe on campus, the college was one of the main things that closed down and still hasn’t opened back up.

It affected us a lot, obviously, because we weren’t able to operate out of a closed school.

Out of this chaos comes the opportunity for creation, how do you see the pandemic continuing to shape the restaurant world going forward aside from the prevalence of mobile kitchens?

When we are allowed to open back up, we just really need to understand the social distancing of dining inside and outside. I think you’ll see more restaurants that have a lot more outdoor space than indoor space, it gives it a free air environment and allows people to spread out. I think a lot more people will feel more comfortable dining outside than inside.

Restaurants need to develop more mobile technology, where people can order and have it ready to go when you get there. I think a lot of people might be ordering food to go and take it home. You really need to think outside of the box when trying to serve customers, it’s forever changing. It’ll never go back to the way it used to be.

It’s a beautiful time to be really solution-based. Although the pandemic is troublesome and really bad for this industry, the problem-solving aspect is something I find inspiring.

How can diners help restaurants once things open up again? Do chefs want us showing up to dine outdoors or do you prefer we do take out? What’s your thinking behind it?

I prefer people coming to the restaurants for sure, I think that’s part of the ambiance, part of the experience is getting dressed up to have a fantastic meal at a venue. I definitely welcome diners, but moving forward I think there are some aspects that can help customers feel more comfortable dining out.

The social distancing of the tables, partitions, hand sanitizer, waiters and waitresses wearing masks, dining in and outside I think are major components, and I’m sure everyone else in the industry is welcoming customers back in with open arms.

In what ways do you hope to see in the restaurant industry change as a result of this?

I would like to have some kind of insurance for restaurants, for owners, and workers — some sort of fallback plan. I went into this industry to become a chef because I figured people will always need to eat, I will always have a job. Well, this is the first time that restaurants have closed, we’ve never seen anything like this where people just weren’t eating at restaurants anymore and were instead eating at home. Some kind of fall back plan, or an insurance policy or support for the restaurant industry should be major moving forward.

For a lot of people, this is their lifeline, bartenders, servers, that’s how they make a living. If restaurants are closed there is no way to survive. Moving forward we have to understand the importance of the community around the whole restaurant industry.

How can the food world come out of this pandemic more diverse and equitable, what can we implement to make sure people don’t fall between the cracks here?

I think you have to support small businesses. You have to seek them out and really support them. As a small business, there aren’t a lot of margins when it comes to bank accounts, they can’t save for three or four years in the future. Big restaurant chains can survive, but small businesses need your support. Your small restaurants, your cafes you one-offs, some of those restaurants make up the landscape of our cities. New Orleans, Atlanta Los Angeles — there are a lot of really small family-owned restaurants that make up the landscape of how cool those cities are.

So it’s very important to support those businesses.

Let’s turn to home cooking, I know you’re a fan of simple recipes, is it the simplicity of flavor that attracts you or is it about the ease of prepping dishes?

I think a little bit of both. Ultimately it just gives us the true sense of honing in on the essence of the natural ingredient and making those ingredients shine. That’s the most important step for me, understanding the ingredient that we’re using and bringing the best out of that ingredient.

Cooking doesn’t have to be hard, it can be fun and it can be easy.

What is one piece of advice you have for the newbie who still feels daunted by the idea of cooking?

Well, that’s actually the exact reason we started Spice Sack. Spice Sack was designed and meant to take the intimidation out of cooking. When following recipes a lot of people don’t really understand how much of a spice to use, one of the biggest things I always say is “you can always add but you can’t take away”

With Spice Sack, we try to make life a little bit easier by providing that flavor profile that’s all in one bundle which helps to eliminate a step and lessen the number of ingredients you need when you are trying to cook something.

What’s your go-to quick and easy meal to prepare that we should all give a shot?

Pan-seared salmon is an easy one. It’s a quick and healthy meal and it’s very simple. Take a piece of salmon, season it flesh side up, put a little bit of oil on top of it to get the pan really really hot and you sear it. The sear gives it some nice color. After you sear it what I do is I actually flip it back in the pan and I finish it in the oven, so I cook it from the inside out, providing it with that sear on top to give some nice color.

Steam up some broccoli or green beans with that, add a few mashed potatoes or little bit of rice and you’ve got an amazing meal.

Because you’re the founder of Spice Sack, I can’t leave without asking you a little bit about spice. What five seasonings do we need to have in our kitchen pantry outside of salt and pepper?

Definitely some garlic — garlic always gives that flavorful profile that makes any dish taste more savory. Some dried parsley, which gives it that spark of fresh herbs. Big fan of cinnamon, it makes everyone feel warm and fuzzy and gives a great aroma. Some oregano is always good to add to your meats, gives them an earthy flavor, and finally just some paprika to give your dish some color.

Serena Williams is the greatest women’s tennis player of all-time and has an extremely strong case for being the flat out tennis GOAT, men’s or women’s. She has won 23 Grand Slam tournament singles titles — 7 Australian Opens, 7 Wimbledons, 6 U.S. opens, and 3 French Opens — and is a perfect 14-0 in Grand Slam doubles finals with her sister Venus (she also has a pair of mixed doubles Grand Slam wins as well).

There is, quite simply, no one who has done what she has and her longevity in a sport that isn’t often kind to the aging process is remarkable. On Thursday, Williams, who is in the midst of the Australian Open, was featured in an Architectural Digest tour of her home, which you can watch in the video above. If you got to the 3:20 mark, you will reach the trophy room tour portion, in which she genuinely forgets what trophies she has on display because she has too many and spots a second place trophy that she threatens to throw in the trash because “we don’t keep second place.”

Let’s go over the best quotes from what is, quite simply, one of the finest flexes by an athlete in recent memory.

Very casually playing Where’s Waldo with Grand Slam trophies: “I don’t keep many of my Grand Slam trophies here, I do see an Australian Open trophy…Oh wait! There’s a U.S. Open trophy, OK!”

Only someone with a million trophies can say this: “This looks like one, I am so bad with trophies.”

Yes, only three French Opens. You’re slacking, Serena: “This is Roland Garros, the French Open. Clearly I don’t have a lot of those so I can’t tell you that one. I only have two or three, I can’t remember. Three.”

Very relatable problems: “This is like early 2000s, this is like, I don’t know, 2010? 12? I don’t know when I won.” [Spoiler Alert: She won in both 2010 and 2012 lol]

Put these bum second place trophies where they belong: “Yeah I see a second place trophy but I’m gonna put that one in the trash, it shouldn’t be in there. We don’t keep second place [shrugs].”

Just an absolute legend and a hero to all. Thank you for this, Serena.

The 2021 version of the Sundance Film Festival felt like a triumph. I watched more movies than I ever have before in my 10 years covering this festival, even though the festival was three days shorter than usual. (Yes, without travel times, lines, and altitude sickness, it’s kind of amazing how many more movies can be fit into the schedule.) Look, I am looking forward to returning to Park City in the future. But there was something pretty neat about how the festival was et up this year. I had friends who don’t do this for a living watching Sundance movies because, through the Sundance website and app, they were available to anyone in the United States. Which made the whole endeavor feel like a national event instead of just for people who can get to Utah for a few days.

Speaking of the app, the Apple TV version was pretty amazing. It was basically like having a Netflix app, only it’s just all these brand new Sundance movies. Having the interface of an app made a huge difference (as opposed to only having these movies on a desktop and having to run the HDMI cable of shame to a television) and just gave the whole operation a sense of, “we know what we are doing.” To be fair to earlier festivals, Sundance did have the luxury of seeing what worked and what didn’t, but that didn’t ensure things would still run smoothly. But they pulled it off. It’s the first pandemic-era festival to actually capture some of that festival feeling. To the point that I hope they keep at least some aspects of this. I have no idea how that would work, but the app and the online system they created is too good to just discard completely and return to the way it was done before. People will still go to Park City regardless! I will still go! It’s an event! People like events. The Super Bowl is on television every year, yet people still flock to the city it’s held in. But it would also be nice to be able to tell friends at home, “Hey, fire up the Sundance app and buy this movie because I think you’ll like it.”

Anyway, on to the movies. Here are the thirteen films that fellow Uproxx film writer Vince Mancini and I enjoyed the most from Sundance 2021.

13. Jockey

This was the one that caught me by surprise. One of those last-minute watches before the festival ends. Clifton Collins Jr. plays Jackson, an over-the-hill jockey who is about to competitively ride the horse of his dreams, but only if his body can hold up. Molly Parker plays the horse’s owner, and wants this for Jackson, but also realizes this horse is a once in a lifetime opportunity and needs the best jockey possible. Then a young jockey shows up who may or may not be Jackson’s son. The world of jockeys seems ripe with drama and heartbreak with the mental and physical anguish they put their bodies through to ride these incredible beasts at the lowest weight possible. This is a movie that just kind of takes its time, never gets too overly dramatic, and immerses us in that world.

— Mike Ryan

12. Misha and the Wolves

There are few genres of story I enjoy as much as the fake memoir. Sam Hopkinson’s documentary tells the story of Misha and the Wolves, an outlandish memoir of a Belgian woman who fled the Nazis and lived in a forest, which became a brief sensation in the U.S. and a runaway hit in France. It’s amazing to look back at how credulous everyone was, and how Oprah was narrowly saved from recommending yet another fake memoir. The film leaves some open questions and it’s a little utilitarian in some ways, but Misha as a character keeps revealing new dimensions. I’d even buy a ticket for part two.

— Vince Mancini

11. Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided To Go For It

What’s remarkable about Rita Moreno is everyone has their Rita Moreno era. For me, it was The Electric Company and I was pretty tickled that this documentary gives that era its due. While watching, it kind of hit me that I think we take Rita Moreno for granted because she’s always been there. If she had won her Oscar, then eventually walked away from it all, she’d be talked about today with this air of mystery. We are all so very lucky this wasn’t her decision. So, yes, the title of this film is apt.

— Mike Ryan

10. Eight For Silver

2020’s crop of “prestigious awards movies” (don’t even get me started) featured a lot of drab cinematography in drab settings, and in that context Sean Ellis’s Eight For Silver immediately stood out, my fave or second fave fiction feature. Narratively it’s relatively simple, sort of a Sleepy Hollow with werewolves, but Ellis’s flair for detail and deftness in maintaining tonal balance is more reminiscent of Robert Eggers (The Witch) or Ari Aster (Midsommar), with a love of well-timed (and mucusy!) gore to rival Jeremy Saulnier (Green Room). At a time of so many “important films,” timely narratives, and glorified stage plays masquerading as cinema, it was nice to see an unabashed movie-movie. Give me all of the hot people, schlock, and special effects.

— Vince Mancini

9. Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street

Here’s one of the most difficult things I find about the job I have: rewriting a review I already wrote, only to fit into a “Best of” list, without just copying what I said before. So, having said that, here’s a link to my full review of this wonderful film.

— Mike Ryan

8. On the Count of Three

I had high expectations for Jerrod Carmichael’s directorial debut and wasn’t disappointed. This suicidal buddy road movie was shot during quarantine, but unlike a lot of other movies I saw its limitations weren’t immediately apparent. It’s a sub-90-minute movie that doesn’t feel slight and has the best comedic use of Papa Roach since Silicon Valley. And that’s not even the funniest needle drop in it.

— Vince Mancini

7. Judas and the Black Messiah

It’s been billed as “the film about Fred Hampton,” and that’s true to an extent, but it’s more about how the FBI infiltrated the Black Panthers (Lakeith Stanfield’s William O’Neal is the main character), which led to the murder of Fred Hampton. There’s something that’s very The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford about this movie. In that Hampton is larger than life, who was betrayed by O’Neal, then O’Neal has to live with that fact, until he doesn’t anymore.

— Mike Ryan

6. Flee

Jonas Poher Rasmussen’s film is mesmerizing. It takes a couple of seconds to get used to the animation, especially used as it is here in what amounts to a documentary (as a way to protect the identity of its subject). Flee is the story of Amin, a gay man living in Copenhagen who has a harrowing tale of the year and years it took for him to get from Denmark from Afghanistan. The official records of Denmark say he arrived, by himself, as a minor. The film shows us that’s what he was told to say by the human traffickers his family paid to get him there. (If he had told the truth he’d have been sent back.) And his successful attempt wasn’t his first attempt. It’s a harrowing tale of perseverance, coupled with a portrait of what leaving your entire history behind does to the human psyche.

— Mike Ryan

5. In the Same Breath

I’m honestly shocked to be recommending a COVID documentary, considering the pandemic is probably the last thing I want to think about right now. But Nanfu Wang deserves a ton of credit for putting together a documentary that feels like both something that she was uniquely qualified to make and feels like it actually adds insight to the biggest story of 2020. China and the US love to demonize each other to show how we’re better, but as Wang tells it, their similarities in the way they handled this virus are more instructive than their differences. Likewise, Anthony Fauci always seems to be depicted either as an infallible saint in the mainstream media or a horned beast in the CHUD-osphere (he steals your freedom and gives it to the Jews!), so it was refreshing to see someone offer some balance and treat him like a human.

– Vince Mancini

4. Pleasure

Swedish writer/director Ninja Thyberg’s chronicle of one Swedish girl’s sojourn through the porn industry in LA starring Sofia Kappel was just one of the many Sundance movies to feature erect penises this year (boners are back, baby!). But this one was worth more than simple shock value. Probably my favorite fiction feature of the fest, not only did it look great with perfect casting and great performances, it’s exceedingly rare to see a story about the porn industry that’s both unsparing yet un-sensational. It fell into neither the corny “porn is exploitative and will ruin your life” narrative nor “porn is feminist empowerment.” Mostly it was a story about power, with great cameos from real porn people including a delightful comedic turn from “best actor in porn” Tommy Pistol.

– Vince Mancini

3. CODA

The hit of Sundance! And the new record holder for a sale price. The story of a young woman who is the only hearing person in her family, living with her deaf parents and deaf brother, became the it movie of this year’s Sundance. I always wonder if this actually does hurt a film, expectations wise. But it didn’t hurt last year’s then-record holder Palm Springs. And I’m sure the producers of CODA don’t really care right now as they count their money. What’s surprising about all of this is CODA isn’t what I’d call profound in any way. It’s just a really funny, feel-good movie about nice people doing nice things. And maybe that’s kind of rare these days. But it put me in a good mood, which isn’t easy to do anymore.

– Mike Ryan

2. Summer of Soul (…Or, When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised)

Questlove has given us a true gift, presenting never before seen footage that has been locked away for over 50 years of the series of concerts that were performed over the summer in Harlem in 1969. It was known as Black Woodstock, but the actual Woodstock would wind up with a large cultural footprint, overtaking this concert series in the zeitgeist. But Questlove is here to correct that. It’s a glorious thing to behold, with some context added in from a lot of the people who were there, but never too much, never taking away from the music itself. Questlove is deft enough as a director to let the music breathe. And they are sights and sounds to behold and cherish and, frankly, be a little pissed off these have just been sitting there for over 50 years unseen.

— Mike Ryan

1. The Sparks Brothers

One of the best music documentaries I’ve seen done on a band in a long time. (And here’s Vince’s rave review.) Instead of trying to explain what makes this film so interesting, I will, instead, direct you to the this interview with Edgar Wright and Sparks, who do a much better job of explaining Sparks legacy than I could even begin to attempt.

— Mike Ryan

Dua Lipa has promoted the heck out of Future Nostalgia over the past year-plus. “Don’t Start Now” was released as the lead single in October 2019, and between then and now, she has released other singles, dropped a full remix album, and done so much more. Now, she is continuing the Future Nostalgia era in 2021 by dropping some sort of new version of the album: She announced today that Future Nostalgia — The Moonlight Edition is coming on Friday, February 12.

She shared the cover art, but beyond that, we don’t know much about what’s going on with The Moonlight Edition. It’s possible that it’s related to the B-sides collection Lipa has promised in recent months, so perhaps it’s a deluxe edition of the album with added B-sides, or maybe it’s just the B-sides. Whatever the case, “We’re Good,” the single that Lipa recently announced will be released on February 11, will presumably be included as part of the release.

Even before this announcement, it’s already been a good past couple months for Lipa. She wrapped up 2020 by collaborating with Kylie Minogue and started 2021 by accidentally sparking pregnancy rumors.

Dua Lipa is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.