Month: July 2021

Right now, just about every establishment in the fast food space is rushing to produce a delicious and more sustainable alternative to animal-based proteins. Taco Bell is testing out some weirdness, KFC, a brand that has “chicken” right in its name, has attempted plant-based chicken, and a handful of burger chains have turned the plant-based burger into a menu staple. The average person is growing more and more aware of the damage we’re inflicting on our planet and many opt to lessen their meat consumption as a result. Fast food joints are responding in turn.

Unfortunately few of these plant-based options are actually any good. Luckily — for me and any orange chicken lovers out there — Panda Express is one of the success stories.

The annoyingly named “Beyond The Original Orange Chicken” is a new menu item that promises to have the “same texture and flavor as the original orange chicken, while being a good source of plant-based protein.” It’s currently set to be tested out at select locations in New York City and Southern California starting on July 26th. Ahead of the launch, Panda offered us an early taste-test of the *sigh* Beyond The Original Orange Chicken.

Do we have some thoughts? You’d better believe it. Let’s dive into them!

Beyond The Original Orange Chicken

Tasting Notes

Right off the bat, before I start talking about what I love about this plant-based chicken, we need to talk about this stupid f*cking name. I’m not an expert in marketing, I’m merely a fast food consumer, but I fear fast food brands are over-complicating naming this stuff. Taco Bell calls their new plant-based chicken chalupa a “Naked Chicken Chalupa with a Crispy Plant-Based Shell” which is just as bad if not worse than “Beyond The Original Orange Chicken.” I can’t believe I’m saying this, but fast food brands should look to Burger King for inspiration. What do they call their plant-based Whopper? The Impossible Whopper. Nice and simple. Why not call this, I don’t know, “Plant-based Orange Chicken,” or hell, I’d even take “Orange Chicken (Plant-based)” over “Beyond The Original Orange Chicken.”

Okay, rant finished. As I said earlier, Panda’s new plant-based orange chicken is pretty damn tasty. They’re able to achieve this the same way chain restaurants have turned “Cauliflower Wings” into an appetizer staple, by smothering the plant-based chicken in sauce. Aside from the protein, Panda’s plant-based chicken is identical in taste and texture to the OG Orange Chicken. The sauce has a highly sweet and tangy flavor, with hints of red pepper that supply a nice lingering heat on the palate. With the light and crispy corn-starch-like texture of the batter, Panda’s Orange Chicken as appetizing audibly as it is visually. This dish plays on all of your senses.

Does that mean the plant-based version is as good as the OG?

I’m sorry but no. While the flavor is almost identical, the mouthfeel is totally different. As you can see in the above photo, the texture of the plant-based version is weird and webby, and it pretty much feels in the mouth how it looks. The plant-based version is chewy in a way that the OG isn’t, and while the chicken in Panda’s regular Orange Chicken isn’t exactly of the highest quality, the flavor is a lot more neutral, and that serves the sauce better.

That sounds bad, but I think it’s kind of a minor gripe overall. I could eat this stuff and not miss the original. I was even able to fool a roommate by asking if they wanted to try Panda’s “new Orange Chicken sauce recipe?” They popped a whole one in their mouth and still don’t know what they ate wasn’t chicken.

That’s a good sign, if imitating meat is the goal.

The Bottom Line

If you can get past the texture of the plant-based protein, this is almost identical to the OG. The dominating flavor is identical to the real chicken version, with the biggest difference between the two being the mouthfeel. The plant-based chicken has a chewier texture, which takes a bit more work to get through.

On Wednesday, the talk of the NFL world was Travis Kelce. It wasn’t because the Chiefs’ star tight end did anything to impact the upcoming season on the field, good or bad, but instead because of a revelation that had everyone, including his Kansas City teammates, shocked.

Kelce proclaimed that, for years, people have been pronouncing his name wrong, and that it was “Kels” not “Kel-see,” which led to a bunch of funny responses and reactions from the likes of Patrick Mahomes and Tyreek Hill, who couldn’t believe they’d been saying their teammate’s name wrong for years and he had not once corrected them. There were some who thought Kelce was just trying to mess with everyone, as he does love a good joke, but the superstar tight end attempted to clear the air while at a charity event on Thursday. I say attempted because his clarification only brought more confusion to what the correct pronunciation is of his name.

So, basically, both are right, I guess? If his dad says “Kel-see” and everyone else says “Kels” on that side, then it’s not exactly a mispronunciation issue as much as it seems to be there is some internal debate among the Kelce’s about how to say their name. Travis’ brother, Jason, offered further explanation of what has happened with this when he called into the 94WIP Midday Show in Philadelphia.

“So I’ll give you the story behind why my brother said that,” Kelce explained. “My brother and I have gone by Kel-see our entire lives. I still remember my dad answering the phone as Ed Kel-see all growing up when he was on work calls and everything. But we have a really small family. We don’t have any first cousins. Somehow we got so disconnected with that side and my dad at some point, when he was working at the steel mills in Cleveland, Ohio, got tired of correcting everyone who was calling him Kel-see. Apparently the correct, the standard pronunciation is Kelse, which the rest of my family goes by. So my dad, out of pure laziness, completely changed his last name. For some reason he decided to change it and that’s what we’ve gone by our whole lives.”

It is a sensational story of a man so fed up with his name being mispronounced he just changed how he said it too rather than trying to correct everyone, which is incredibly midwest of him. In any case, it’s going to be funny to see which commentators, analysts, and announcers try to adjust how they say his name and which ones stick with the old tried and true version we’ve all been saying for years.

One of the best parts of the Xbox series of consoles is the backwards compatibility feature. If someone gets an Xbox they can play almost any game that has ever been released to the Xbox before going all the way back to when it first launched in 2001. Not only is this great for anyone that wants to scratch that nostalgia itch, but it sets a great precedent in gaming. These games are never going to go away and this is becoming incredibly important as video games continue to age.

Recently, companies like Sony have been in the news because some of the decisions they have made are in direct conflict with the vision of preserving video game history. They were initially planning on closing the digital stores for the PlayStation 3 and PS Vita, removing some of those games forever, until public backlash made them reconsider. However, while Sony eventually made the correct call in ensuring that some of those digital-only games don’t disappear forever, it doesn’t fix the major issue. Video games don’t have a very good preservation method.

Head of Xbox, Phil Spencer, recently appeared on the Kinda Funny Gamescast and he talked about some of the video game industries preservation efforts. He made it clear that while he tries to ensure that Xbox does its part in preserving video game history, he really wants to make sure that the industry itself prevents any games from being lost to time.

“I do worry a little bit about losing our art form and the history of it. When I think about old ROMs and MAME and these things of where these old games are going to go as the hardware that’s capable of running those games or kind of interpreters or emulation systems. I really wish as an industry we’d come together to help preserve the history of what gaming is about, so we don’t lose the ability to go back. I think about what The Paley Center did for TV. Paley early on saw that the television industry was getting ready to throw away literally the tapes that these old TV shows were on and he said, ‘hey, I want to archive those’. Because at some point, somebody will want to go back and watch The Ed Sullivan Show or something and those things shouldn’t be thrown away. As an industry, I would love it if we came together to help preserve the history of what our industry is about so we don’t lose access to some of the things that got us to where we are today and built this industry. That would be a cool thing.”

What Spencer is saying here is something that really everyone that enjoys video games a medium should be getting behind. The first home console, The Odyssey, came out in 1972. That is almost 50 years’ worth of video games and there is a serious possibility of losing that history to time as we move into a more digital age.

Now while it would be awesome to have the developers themselves make more efforts to preserve games, we do have industries that are focusing on making sure that games aren’t lost forever. Groups like the Video Game History Foundation, for example, spend an incredible amount of time trying to make sure that games are preserved. However, their jobs become way easier when developers help them out so let’s hope that Spencer’s feelings become shared across the industry and there becomes a stronger desire to make sure this history isn’t lost.

USA Basketball is set to play a doubleheader with Australia on Friday afternoon, with the women looking to bounceback from a loss to the WNBA All-Stars on Wednesday night followed by the men looking to avenge their loss to Australia last weekend. However, it’s possible the men’s game could be canceled, as Team USA deals with COVID issues within their already thin roster.

Bradley Beal is officially out of the Tokyo Olympics after entering health and safety protocols and Jerami Grant has entered protocols as well out of “an abundance of caution,” leaving his status in question as well. That leaves Team USA with 7 of their original 12 players from the roster, as Jrue Holiday, Khris Middleton, and Devin Booker are all still playing in the NBA Finals. They’ve already been using a number of players from the Select team during their exhibition games, but according to Brian Windhorst and Olgun Uluc of ESPN, with just seven main roster players available and continued questions about potential spread, canceling the game is a very real possibility.

While it would obviously be a disappointment for both sides, it seems that at this moment, the most prudent course of action is to take every possible precaution to ensure that there aren’t any further positive tests — and that Australia doesn’t suddenly find itself dealing with COVID issues. We’ll see what the two sides choose to do, but it’d be hard to fault either for not wanting to play the game tomorrow and err on the side of caution, particularly as a rise in positive tests continues in the U.S. and in Tokyo where the Games are set to begin in just over a week.

Announced directly on the heels of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s explosive interview with Oprah Winfrey where they exposed the racism of the Royal Family, Lifetime has dropped the official trailer for its upcoming TV movie, Harry & Meghan: Escaping the Palace. While the production looks exactly as cheeseball as you’d expect, the film is actually part of a trilogy, and was reportedly in the works for Lifetime a full year before Harry and Meghan’s sitdown with Oprah. So in that aspect, this third installment wasn’t rushed, but clearly, the Oprah interview and its alarming revelations worked its way into the final product.

Starring Jordan Dean as Prince Harry and Sydney Morton as Meghan Markle, Escaping the Palace will show the events leading up to the couple’s decision to leave behind the Royal Family, who had already left them to fend for themselves against the press, and in some cases, fed them to the wolves.

Here’s the official synopsis:

Harry & Meghan: Escaping the Palace explores what really happened inside the palace that drove Harry and Meghan to leave everything behind in order to make a future for themselves and their son Archie. The movie will detail Meghan’s growing isolation and sadness, their disappointment that “The Firm” was not defending them against the press’s attacks and Harry’s fear that history would repeat itself and he would not be able to protect his wife and son from the same forces that may have contributed to his mother’s untimely death.

Harry & Meghan: Escaping the Palace premieres September 6 on Lifetime.

Memphis rap don Yo Gotti’s Collective Music Group (CMG) is set for a rap takeover this year. Not only has the label’s other Memphis artist Moneybagg Yo dominated the Billboard albums chart (A Gangsta’s Pain went No. 1 for two weeks upon release and is currently outpacing both mainstays like J. Cole and upstart fan favorites like Rod Wave and Pooh Shiesty) but its rising stars 42 Dugg and EST Gee are receiving increased attention for their work with hitmakers like Roddy Ricch and Jack Harlow.

While Dugg’s Free Dem Boyz tape earned him a top 10 debut and presaged his appearance in the 2021 XXL Freshman class, EST Gee — who signed in January this year, just announced his own highly anticipated mixtape Bigger Than Life Or Death, sharing its tracklist and release date (July 20) on social media, a little over a month after releasing the title track.

The tape is a clear bid for greater mainstream recognition, boasting feature appearances from big-name artists like Future, Lil Baby (who helped spotlight both Dugg and Gee on his last album), Lil Durk, Pooh Shiesty, and Young Thug. Naturally, fellow CMG-ers Dugg and Gotti also appear on multiple tracks, as well. Provided the tape receives the level of response it’s primed to, EST Gee could very well be the next member of the fast-rising rap crew to see his name near the top of the charts and one step closer to claiming a Freshman spot of his own.

Bigger Than Life Or Death is due 7/20 via CMG and Interscope. Pre-save it here.

Black Widow looks to be on the road to financial success after endless pandemic-related delays. Although the film was Scarlett Johansson’s so-called “solo outing” in the MCU, Florence Pugh won over even more hearts than she’d already captured in various other projects. Yelena Belova should carry the torch well in future outings, perhaps starting with Disney+’s Hawkeye series. Sure, there were a few complaints about the movie here and there; one overriding remark concerns the reveal of the Taskmaster’s identity.

Part of the issue there is that the Taskmaster character felt heavily teased in early promotional materials, including the D23-revealed footage that previewed back in fall 2019. The mysterious, unidentified antagonist was able to mimic opponents’ fighting styles, and the fan theories ran amuck about this character’s Hawkeye moves and (in another trailer) apparent King T’Challa salute, which suggested that this person had fought other Avengers at some point (and yep, Masters did travel to Wakanda in the comics). Well, none of that really got discussed in the movie, and fan theories about the Taskmaster being Rachel Weisz’s character turned out to be wrong. Likewise, the comic version, Tony Masters, was not underneath that armor. Instead, Drekov had resurrected his daughter (who was killed by Natasha in Budapest) as Taskmaster, and the presentation felt a little bit jarring, which led to disappointed tweets like these.

Black Widow writer Tony Masters told ComicBook that some upset fans are sending him Twitter Direct Messages, and they’re unloading on him:

“I made the mistake of looking in direct message requests and someone said, ‘I don’t mean to be out of line, but Taskmaster was the biggest betrayal of my life.’ I got mad for a second and then I was like, ‘Well, you’ve had a pretty good life then.’ If that’s the worst thing that’s ever happened to you, then you should be psyched because someone in a movie wasn’t who you wanted them to be,” Pearson shared.

Well, the Taskmaster that did appear in Black Widow, contextually speaking, did make sense. It lent more of an emotional depth to Natasha’s journey and allowed her to scrub a lot of red from her ledger. Still, that depth came at the expense of disappointing some fans because, yeah, they wanted to see Tony Masters, and they got Dreykov’s daughter instead. And as Pearson explained to Comic Book, he couldn’t logistically draw a connection between trying to tie Taskmaster’s identity to what Natasha needed to do in order to finally put the Red Room to rest. Yep, what Pearson says does make sense. However, it’s also understandable that people wanted to see Tony Masters, and perhaps that there should have been more emphasis on explaining why Taskmaster had seen all those fight moves from the other Avengers… instead of watching the character watch a TV screen to learn them. That part felt like an afterthought in the film as a whole.

You can read more of Comic Book’s interview with Eric Pearson here.

(Via ComicBook)

The Walking Dead: Origins (AMC+ limited series) — This batch of episodes will bridge the gap between zombie-apocalypse-laden seasons with the origin stories of Daryl, Carol, Maggie, and Negan. Expect a lot of interwoven clips (along with cast interviews and narration) to remind everyone of these characters’ most pivotal moments as their stories head into the final season.

American Horror Stories: Season 1 (FX on Hulu series) — This spinoff series of Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk’s long-lived anthology-based franchise will present a new iteration of horror. Viewers will receive a fresh set of terrors within every episode, after the flagship series already dove through an unsettling asylum, a freak shows, a haunted hotels, a witch coven, and the apocalypse.

Never Have I Ever: Season 2 (Netflix series) — Mindy Kaling’s brainchild (one of them, at least… there are so many) returns with more coming-of-age comedy. Devi’s making more questionable decisions along the way (that’s obligatory) while fumbling around through the finer points within new relationships. She does, however, face an out-of-her-control dilemma at school when “another Indian girl who is prettier, cooler” arrives on the scene. Expect more drama at home, too, as this beloved series continues to celebrate the awkwardness of adolescence.

Dr. Death (Peacock limited series) — This true-crime series tells the story of Dr. Christopher Duntch, whose homicidal ways left dozens of victims in his career’s wake. Alec Baldwin and Christian Slater play the medical colleagues who attempt to stop the mayhem and help bring him to justice. The story’s based upon the Dr. Death podcast, and the prosecutor on the case (portrayed by AnnaSophia Robb) will stop at nothing to indict the healthcare system that helped Duntch bury his misdeeds for years. The doc is so chillingly portrayed by Joshua Jackson that this show might freak Dawson’s Creek fans the hell out.

The North Water (AMC+ limited series) — This adrenaline-filled series stars Jack O’Connell, Colin Farrell, and Stephen Graham with a story about a beleaguered and disgraced military surgeon who must contend with a terrifying Arctic mission. The elements are the worst enemy here, followed closely by the crew-mate violence at hand. Civilization is a long way away from this story.

Holey Moley 3D in 2D (ABC, 9:00pm) — This new episode of holes (yes, that’s right) includes a Putt-A-Saurus and a joust on an obstacle that references King, uh, Parthur. These puns never get old for the contestants or the audience.

The Late Show With Stephen Colbert — Hugh Jackman, Lorde

In case you missed this streaming pick from last Thursday:

Gossip Girl: Season 1 Premiere (HBO Max series) — The original CW series helped to launch the careers of Blake Lively, Leighton Meester, Sebastian Stan, and Penn Badgley (and the latter is now portraying an amped-up version of the same character on Netflix’s You). HBO Max is now ready to welcome another crop of mostly unknown faces playing wealthy, privileged teens who find themselves socially surveilled and at the mercy of the “Gossip Girl” narrator, who’s still voiced by Kristen Bell. Showrunner Josh Safran has promised that this reboot series will be much more socially conscious than the original, and that the teens will “take Ubers, not limos.” If you’re wondering how well this premise will update for 2021, that’s one of the reasons why this show’s worth a whirl. XOXO?

Following the release of excerpts from the upcoming book, I Alone Can Fix It, that report General Mark Milley’s concerns that Donald Trump was preparing to attempt a coup after losing the 2020 election, the former president released a bizarre statement in response to Milley, and well, it was pure Trump.

Here’s the opening paragraph from the statement where Trump literally writes that if he did a coup, Milley wouldn’t be invited, which is an interesting choice of words:

Despite massive Voter Fraud and Irregularities during the 2020 Presidential Election Scam, that we are now seeing play out in very big and important States, I never threatened, or spoke about, to anyone, a coup of our Government. So ridiculous! Sorry to inform you, but an Election is my form of “coup,” and if I was going to do a coup, one of the last people I would want to do it with is General Mark Milley. He got his job only because the world’s most overrated general, James Mattis, could not stand him, had no respect for him, and would not recommend him. To me the fact that Mattis didn’t like him, just like Obama didn’t like him and actually fired Milley, was a good thing, not a bad thing. I often act counter to people’s advice who I don’t respect.

As Trump’s statement bounced around social media, people couldn’t help but notice that the part about “if I was going to do a coup” bore a striking similarity to the infamous and ill-conceived O.J. Simpson book If I Did It, where he provided a “fictional” account of how he would’ve murdered Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman if he were the actual killer.

By Thursday afternoon, “If I Did It” was trending on Twitter because, hey, nothing says skilled communicator like having your latest statement compared to one of the most poorly received books in modern history.

Upworthy is proud to have Fresh Cravings as a partner in its goal to share the best of humanity.

Tim Rose lost his son Korey to bone cancer at the age of 18. “He was one of those kids that you look at and just go ‘that kid really doesn’t have a care at all,'” Tim says. “He was never moody. He was always there to make a joke.”

To continue spreading his son’s joy, Tom created Camp Korey. It’s a camp for children and families living with serious medical conditions that aims to inspire joy, adventure, and resilience.

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Salsabrate The Good: Episode 14, Camp Korey

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Emma Benoit attempted suicide at the age of 16 and although she survived, was left paralyzed. “I had no self-esteem, no identity,” she says. “I didn’t know who I was. I didn’t know who I wanted to be. I see that with a lot of youth and I know that they’re lost right now.”

Today, she is courageously helping others struggling with similar emotional challenges by sharing her story in a documentary called “My Ascension.”

Salsabrate The Good: Episode 7, My Ascension

www.youtube.com

Stephani Germanotta endured tremendous trauma as a teenager and had to go through the experience completely alone. “I was raped repeatedly when I was 19 years old, and I also developed PTSD as a result of being raped and also not processing that trauma. I did not have anyone help me, I did not have a therapist, I did not have a psychiatrist, I did not have a doctor help me through it,” she said according to Teen Vogue.

After becoming an international superstar as Lady Gaga, Germanotta has used her fame to promote youth mental health by creating the Born This Way Foundation.

Salsabrate The Good: Episode 12, Born This Way Foundation

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These three people who’ve endured hardships and used them to empower others also have another thing in common. They’re recipients of a $5,000 donation through Fresh Cravings’ Salsabrate The Good giveback campaign.

Fresh Cravings, a family-owned brand known for produce-aisle chilled salsas and dips, has committed to donating a total of $250,000 among 50 nonprofit organizations, supporting an array of causes. Every week, Fresh Cravings is donating to a new nonprofit and sharing its story.

So far, the brand has highlighted 10 nonprofits nationwide, spanning from California to New York with wide-ranging philanthropic missions, from food insecurity to literacy, suicide prevention to environmentalism, and more. The company places a special priority on youth social entrepreneurs.

“As a small family-owned business, kindness, and community are at our core. This is why we reallocated a large portion of our marketing budget, $250,000, and put it toward a more meaningful platform. Ultimately, we want to celebrate the best of who we are as humans,” Jay Whitney, FoodStory Brands chief marketing officer, said in a press release.

Fresh Cravings is looking to Salsabrate 40 more nonprofits and if you know one that deserves consideration, nominate them at the campaign’s website.

Being a conscious consumer means not only supporting companies whose products you enjoy but those who give back to the communities that have made them successful. Purchasing Fresh Cravings salsa means you’re giving your family a healthy way to snack while also supporting those who help make our communities great.

Learn more about how Fresh Cravings supports heroes in communities across the country on its website.