Month: March 2021

Though she’s been working in music since her preteen days, it’s been almost ten years since Jhene Aiko released her official debut mixtape Sailing Soul(s). To celebrate its upcoming anniversary later this month, Aiko is rereleasing the project to streaming services for the first time ever — and it includes an exclusive track.

Sailing Soul(s) is the first project Aiko released after having adverse meetings with label heads. Instead of trying to put the mixtape out through a label, Aiko decided to debut the project through her own website. In a post about it, Aiko wrote she was sick of trying to “sell” herself to label executives at the time:

“this mixtape was a pivotal moment for me. when i was 12 i was signed to a label, singing songs i had no real connection to. besides that, i had no real stories of my own to tell at 12 lol. then i took a break to focus on school. in my teens i was singing demo records and taking meetings. i met with one record exec who told me i needed to do a better job as ‘selling’ myself when i came into meetings. dressing like myself, singing like myself, talking like myself… wasn’t enough. i thought, ‘why do i have to sell myself? why do i have to try to convince you of my worth? of who i am??? from that point on i decided i would never try to ‘sell’ myself. i would simply BE myself and whoever felt a connection would SEE ME and my worth.”

Sailing Soul(s) is out on streaming services 3/12 via 2Fish/ArtClub/Def Jam Recordings. Pre-save it here.

If you have any interest in bourbon whiskey, you’ve probably heard the name Buffalo Trace. Even if you only know the brand from its $20 baseline bourbon expression — featuring a strutting, majestic bison on the label — you probably also know that the distillery is widely known for quality. What you may not know, is that besides its namesake brand it produces such award-winning standouts as Pappy Van Winkle, E.H. Taylor, Eagle Rare, and Weller.

As if this famed distillery needed any more accolades, it was recently honored again. This time by the 2021 World Whiskies Awards when its W.L. Weller C.Y.P.B. was not only named “Best Kentucky Bourbon” but also “Category Winner.” Meaning that in a field that’s flooded with iconic, high-quality, long-aged, hard-to-find, rare bottlings, W.L. Weller C.Y.P.B. beat the competition not once, but twice.

Here are our tasting notes on this World Whiskies Awards winner.

ABV: 47.5%

Price: MSRP $50 (Sells for upwards of $800)

The Story:

C.Y.P.B. stands for “Craft Your Perfect Bourbon” — as this bourbon was literally created by fans of Weller.

It all began back in 2015, when Buffalo Trace launched a website where bourbon fans could log on and design the flavors, characteristics, production methods, proof, and aging they’d like used to create their “perfect bourbon.” The distillery even let fans choose the warehouse that the juice would be matured in. More than 100,000 people chimed in with opinions.

What they voted for is what we now know as Weller C.Y.P.B., a limited-edition wheated bourbon that was aged in the highest floors of the Buffalo Trace rickhouse for eight years before being bottled at a potent 95 proof.

When it hit first hit shelves in 2018 (2020 is the third release), the suggested retail price for this expression was an easy-to-stomach $40. Not bad for a whiskey designed from start to finish to fit the tastes of a rabid bourbon fanbase. Sadly, since this is a limited-edition expression (and a Weller) that same fan base has driven the price to $500, $800, and even higher.

This is a theme in the bourbon world. If you want a limited edition bottling, you’d better be ready to pay the equivalent of a mortgage payment to get it.

Tasting Notes:

A whiskey like this deserves a proper nosing before taking a sip. Crack it open and take a few whiffs. If you do, you’ll be treated to aromas of zesty dried orange peels, rich charred oak, sweet cream, and subtle cinnamon sugar. The palate is filled with the flavors of sun-dried leather, pipe tobacco, buttery caramel, allspice, and creamy vanilla. The finish is long, filled with pleasing heat, and ends with a mix of cinnamon and almond cookies.

Bottom Line:

Sure, this bourbon is listed for $40, but unless you are friends with a liquor store owner, you’re going to pay a lot more to get your hands on this bottle. It’s a high-quality whiskey, but you have to decide if it’s worth spending an exorbitant fee to get it.

Speaking personally, $300 is often my max-out for bourbon whiskey. I’d gladly pay that for this bottle, but even at that rate, the chances of tracking one down are scarce.

Andrew Cuomo saw no issue with writing a book about how he handled the pandemic while the pandemic still raged. It’s called American Crisis: Leadership Lessons from the Covid-19 Pandemic, and it was published in October of last year, before the weather in New York, the state he governs, got cold, before cases went slightly back up, before the vaccines had a disastrous initial roll-out. And it was before he was the subject of two major scandals: One involving him and his aides manipulating data about the scale of nursing home deaths, and another involving allegations of sexual misconduct involving multiple younger women.

Amidst the scandals, Penguin Random House announced they were putting a hold on the book’s promotion. Moreover, the publishing giant told The New York Times there were “no plans” to reprint the book, nor to reissue it in paperback. They cited as a motivating factor not both cases but “the ongoing investigation into N.Y.S. reporting of Covid-related fatalities in nursing homes.”

American Crisis was rushed into print, arriving only seven months into a once-in-a-century pandemic that is, as of this writing, about to turn one year old. The book, as Penguin Random House statement put it, found him elaborating “in his own voice” about “the decision making that shaped his political policy.”

Cuomo, who has always been a controversial figure, especially amongst those who live in New York City, earned raves in the early months of the pandemic for his calm and reasoned daily press conferences. That reputation soured even before the twin scandals took root, which have led some to demand his retirement. Moreover, sales of the book plummeted even before allegations came forth. According to NPD BookScan, between January 23 and February 27, Cuomo’s tome sold a mere 400 copies.

(Via The New York Times)

Conservative media have spent the last couple weeks angry about cartoons and puppets and toys, but they took a break on Monday to dogpile on two people who alleged racism. On Sunday, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle gave their first major interview since stepping rom the royal duties last January. There were a lot of horrifying revelations that made people very mad. At one point Markle even talked about contemplating suicide. Even that didn’t stop rightwing pundits from attacking them, including Megyn Kelly, and including young Trumpist Charlie Kirk.

At under 30, Kirk is among the youngest of former president Donald Trump’s minions, and he spent so long passionately spreading lies about the 2020 election that even Geraldo Rivera called him out. He’s also been known to record videos while looking like crap. So when he attacked Prince Harry for being, in his words, a “metrosexual beta male” — after calling Markle a liar, with no proof — people weren’t having it.

Some people pointed out that Kirk is not exactly an Adonis.

More to the point, Prince Harry actually fought in a war. Charlie Kirk, well, did not.

Some pointed out it’s always dweebs like Kirk or Ben Shapiro who cry about the supposed decline of traditional masculinity.

Some questioned his questioning of the monarchy’s racism.

Others called out his obvious attempt to channel the late Rush Limbaugh.

And some made fun of his looks.

Eddie Murphy’s return to cinema has been a welcome one, with Dolomite Is My Name and Coming 2 America earning rave reviews from critics and movie fans alike. His stint on SNL last year was a return to form as well, and people mostly just seem thrilled that a stretch of some some less-than-stellar films seems to be behind him.

But Murphy’s legacy will always have a bit of Pluto Nash in it, and he recently admitted that the negative press and unflattering awards caused him to put his career on pause and make sure he started picking better roles. Most notably, there was a Golden Raspberry Awards honor for Worst Actor of the Decade in 2010, which made him decide to take a long break.

IndieWire recapped a Murphy appearance on Marc Maron’s podcast, which had some pretty insightful comments about what winning a Raspberry for worst actor of the decade did to him.

“I was making s*itty movies,” Murphy said. “I was like, ‘This s*it ain’t fun. They’re giving me Razzies…Motherf*ckers gave me the ‘worst actor ever’ Razzie. [So I thought], ‘Maybe it’s time to take a break.’”

That break came after an arguably impressive stretch of bad movies, which garnered him nine nominations and three wins for the likes of Norbit, The Adventures Of Pluto Nash, and Meet Dave. But that Worst Actor of the Decade Award apparently was the fruit that broke the actor’s will to appear in mediocre projects.

“I was only gonna take a break for a year, then all of a sudden six years go by, and I’m sitting on the couch, and I could sit on the couch and not get off it, but I don’t want to the last bunch of s*it they see me do [to be] bulls*it,” Murphy said. “The plan was to go do ‘Dolemite,’ ‘Saturday Night Live,’ ‘Coming 2 America,’ and then do stand-up and see how I felt afterwards. At least then they’ll know I’m [still] funny.”

Thankfully for Murphy, that time off seems to have been well-spent recharging for what’s been a good second act to his career. And a sign that, yes, he can still be funny, even after all that cringe.

[via IndieWire]

Over the past few months, NBA Top Shot has exploded in popularity, as hundreds of thousands of people flood the site every time there is a new pack drop. That growth is both exciting and a bit concerning for Top Shot, as they have struggled to keep up with their sudden growth as they are still a product in beta that is working out a lot of kinks and issues in real time. Doing that when hundreds of thousands of accounts are trying to get a pack means that the issues will be magnified and the frustrations will grow.

After the Rising Stars pack drop over the weekend, the Top Shot Marketplace has been down as they try to figure out how to handle the demands they’re suddenly faced with. The volume of items being bought and sold has stretched Top Shot’s infrastructure to the brink, and as they look to expand it to meet the demand, they announced a number of new limitations they’ll be placing on the Marketplace to ease the pressure on their system as they gradually reopen.

Collectors will be limited to buying one Moment every two hours under the new rules. They can attempt to buy as many as they’d like, but once they purchase one successfully, they will be locked out of buying any more for two more hours. Collectors will also only be allowed to create a new “for sale” listing for one Moment every two hours, which is meant to ease the burden on their servers. Finally, collectors will only be allowed to delist a Moment every 10 minutes once sales are open — for now the Marketplace has been opened to allow for unlimited delisting before sales go back live. They also won’t allow any new accounts to be opened and gifting will be turned off for an unspecified amount of time.

All of this is to say, the frantic pace of Top Shot buying and selling will slow significantly once they reopen the Marketplace. Dapper Labs said on Monday the limitations will eventually be loosened, but do not provide a timetable for that beyond saying they “expect to scale down these limits over time as we improve our infrastructure.” The stated reasons for the changes are to allow them to continue to combat bots, while also hopefully allowing them to stay open for longer. It also stands to reason that these limitations, while eventually loosened, might stay to some degree as they have been clear they do not want to be seen as an investment tool and are simply for collecting, and limiting the frenetic trading that can occur would certainly be one way to combat that.

Last Updated: March 8th

From the moment the bandit turned his gun toward the camera in 1903’s The Great Train Robbery, no genre of film has been more readily identified with quintessential American cinema than the Western. Though the popularity of classic Western movies waned in the late 1960s, today’s filmmakers still approach the genre with enthusiasm, breathing new life into these cinematic archetypes. Here’s a look at some of the best westerns on Netflix streaming right now.

Related: The Best War Movies On Netflix Right Now

The Hateful Eight (2015)

Run Time: 187 min | IMDb: 7.8/10

The Hateful Eight was originally conceived as a sequel to Quentin Tarantino’s 2012 film Django Unchained, but Tarantino almost gave up the idea of making the movie after the script leaked in early 2014. After he oversaw a live script reading in Los Angeles later that year, Tarantino changed his mind and decided to put his latest vision on the big screen. No longer a Django sequel, The Hateful Eight became a standalone story about eight strangers who take shelter at a stopover during a blizzard, all with very different reasons as to why they don’t trust one another. For the film’s score, Tarantino brought in legendary composer Ennio Morricone to do the film’s score, which won him an Academy Award.

Buffalo Boys (2018)

Run Time: 102 min | IMDb: 5.8/10

Mike Wiluan’s imaginative Western blends cultures and fighting styles to give fans a unique take on the genre. The film follows brothers Jamar (Ario Bayu) and Suwo (Yoshi Sudarso), as they leave America after helping complete the Transcontinental Railroad and return home to Indonesia. While riding a train home, they come against a group of white gangsters before arriving to their village and discovering Dutch administrator named Captain Van Trach has enslaved their people for profit. The duo takes on Trach’s outfit to help free their village and while the storytelling falls a bit flat, the action is worth watching.

Django Unchained (2012)

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018)

Run Time: 133 min | IMDb: 7/10

The Coen brothers are back with a slick new Western romp, one that serves as an ode to all of the tropes present in Hollywood’s best Wild West adaptations. Split into six parts, each story is loosely connected though thematically and tonally different. Tim Blake Nelson stars as the titular hero, a sharpshooting songster who takes part in the film’s opening musical portion. From there we get stories of outlaws getting their due, prospectors mining for gold, ghostly hauntings, and wagon trails. Forgetting trying to follow the thread and just enjoy the ride with this one.

Badland (2019)

Run Time: 117 min | IMDb: 5.7/10

Mira Sorvino stars in this violent Western from director Justin Lee. The action follows a stone-faced gunman named Matthias William Breecher, a Pinkerton detective hired by a former-slave-turned-Senator to track down war criminals who fought for the Confederacy. Sorvino plays Darah, daughter to one such criminal, an ailing general spending his final days on the family’s failing farm. The best stretch of the movie comes when Breecher holes up there, talking about past mistakes with the general and getting close to Sarah, but there’s plenty of wild shootouts and horse-chases sprinkled in between to keep things interesting

In a Valley of Violence (2016)

Run Time: 104 min | IMDb: 6/10

This violent Western didn’t get much fanfare when it first came out, which is strange because it has a pretty solid cast, led by the always-dependable Ethan Hawke. Hawke plays a drifter with a past named Paul who draws some unwanted attention from the sheriff (John Travolta) and his goons when he passes through a small town out West. Misunderstandings lead to dead dogs lead to bloody revenge quests but the predictability of it all is helped out with some strong performances, mainly by Hawke, Travolta, and Taissa Farmiga.

Dance With Wolves (1990)

Run Time: 181 min | IMDb: 8/10

Kevin Costner stars in and directs this ’90s Western adapted from a best-selling novel by Michael Blake. Costner plays Lieutenant John Dunbar, who gets orders to man a remote Civil War outpost out West and spends most of his service befriending wild animals and Native Americans living nearby. Of course, this doesn’t make his military bosses too happy, and he’s forced to choose between his duty or helping the people who have accepted him as one of their own.

The Ballad of Lefty Brown (2017)

Run Time: 111 min | IMDb: 6.3/10

Bill Pullman plays the titular lawman in this Western saga. Lefty Brown is a sheriff’s deputy with a visible limp and an inability to make good decisions. When his partner/boss is killed. Lefty vows to hunt the gang responsible and ends up on a quest with other “outsiders” that reveals some hard truths about who he can really trust.

If you’re a conservative commentator, you’re probably pretty tired these days. After all, you’ve spent the last two weeks being angry about important issues, such as the Muppets, about Mr. Potato Head, and about Dr. Seuss. Now here’s a new complaint: Warner Bros. announced that they’re effectively retiring one of their classic Looney Tunes characters, namely grabby skunk Pepé Le Pew. It’s not as though his existence will be scrubbed from history. It’s just that he won’t be in any Looney Tunes material going forward. Republicans were predictably incensed, and to add salt to the wound, some on social media decided to turn it into a hashtag.

On Monday, #CancelACartoonCharacter started trending, asking those amused by the furor over a very dated character being put to pasture to fake-cancel other animated figures. People didn’t just post pictures; they came up with elaborate and obvious lies about the reason they were “canceled.”

For instance, one person said Clifford, the giant dog, “used steroids to grow and profited off of his illegal drug use.”

Or that Jerry the mouse “is infested with fleas carrying bubonic plague.”

As for Winnie-the-Pooh, he should be canceled “for repeated offences of burglary.”

Snoopy is “obviously on some kind of hallucinogenic drugs and is therefore an inappropriate role model for children.”

Donald Duck is “87 years old and still refuses to wear pants.”

And then there are those (very real) ads Fred and Wilma Flintstone made about the glories of buying cigarettes.

Mario, of Nintendo fame, “hasn’t had a plumber’s license in 30 years.”

Mr. Burns “never pays taxes,” which is actually probably accurate.

As was this one about Dale Gribble of King of the Hill storming the Capitol.

And then there’s Pepé Le Pew’s colleague Bugs Bunny, and his famously prophetic bit about Florida.

There were a fair amount of SpongeBob characters who deserved to be canceled.

And other assorted cancelable characters.

And of course, there was Eric Cartman, perhaps the most cancelable of them all.

In the meantime, you know who’s not actually “canceled”? Pepé Le Pew! His many cartoons — including 1949’s Oscar-winning For Scent-imental Reasons — are still available to stream, on the cartoon streamer Boomerang and on HBO Max, the home of the company that forced him to retire. You can make up your own mind about whether or not he, as New York Times columnist Charles Blow put it, “added to rape culture.” And you can admire the beautiful direction of Chuck Jones, who helmed just about every Pepé short from the Golden Age of Hollywood Animation, showcasing a character who will simply have no more new adventures. Probably better that than getting steamed like a conservative.

For a long time, the United States Women’s National Team has sought equal pay to their male counterparts. That included the decision to bring a lawsuit against U.S. Soccer over gender-based discrimination back in 2019. However, a judge rejected the most prominent issues in the suit, even while leaving the door cracked open for future discussion.

To that end, Congresswoman Doris Matsui and Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro introduced a new bill in Congress, titled the “Give Our Athletes Level Salaries (GOALS) Act,” aiming to ensure that the USWNT earn “fair and equitable wages compared to the U.S. Men’s Team.”

“In times both good and bad, sports connect us to one another and to our nation through our common bond to our beloved teams. The collective spirit and support for the U.S. Women’s National Team lifts our entire nation up and inspires young women from coast-to-coast to pursue their passions and become the next generation of leaders,” Congresswoman Matsui said. “Stars such as Megan Rapinoe, Alex Morgan, and Carli Lloyd are household names, yet their hard work – which has brought our nation various World Cups including the most recent tournament – is grossly undervalued. From factory floors to the boardroom, to the soccer pitch of the world’s biggest stage, women everywhere perform the same job and do not get what they deserve – equal pay for equal work. The GOALS Act provides a clear message to the U.S. Soccer Federation – make real reforms to provide equal wages to their female athletes or sacrifice vital funds for the 2026 World Cup. I stand with our USWNT as we renew our commitment to end pay discrimination, close the wage gap and ensure women of all backgrounds have equity in the workplace.”

Within the announcement of the act, the Congresswomen state plainly that USWNT players “earn significantly less” compared to the Men’s National Team, even while “performing the same job” and “producing equal or more revenue.” On top of that, it is indisputable the USWNT is the more successful entity in terms of wins and championship-level performance.

“The concept is simple: women deserve equal pay for equal work,” said Congresswoman DeLauro. “The U.S. Women’s National Team, women who have captivated the global soccer community, deserve the same compensation as their male counterparts. The U.S. Soccer Federation must be held accountable and end its discriminatory practices. The GOALS Act will bring our nation a step closer to equal pay for all professional athletes.”

There is great synergy in the announcement of the bill being introduced coming on Mar. 8, International Women’ Day, and also on the two-year anniversary of the initial lawsuit. It remains to be seen as to how this bill will proceed, but it is hopefully a helpful step in this push for equal pay.

While the New York Knicks are certainly helping Desus and Mero enjoy the more recent months of the pandemic, not everyone is handling long stretches of isolation and worry as well as they are. That’s why the Showtime squad decided to check in with the people tasked with helping the rest of us when things get tough mentally.

The pair’s Showtime series aired a sketch recently in which they talked to frontline workers, but with a twist: They’re all therapists who have spent the last year remotely helping people with their mental health.

“The anxiety levels are through the roof,” one therapist told them. But the show also acknowledged that’s likely the case for the therapists themselves. That’s why they decided they needed a bit of therapy of their own. Mero donned a nice blazer for the occasion, then played therapist for some of the more certified therapists they invited on the show.

The banter was classic Desus and Mero, and it actually did provide some pretty good advice about how to relax during a pandemic: turn off the laptop, relax with something like dancing, consume a substance (within moderation, of course), and don’t be afraid to ask for help. There was also some yoga and a bit of shout therapy, though your neighbors may not like that last one as much as the others.