From late January through almost the entire month of February, Joe Rogan dominated the headlines thanks to musicians taking a stand and pulling their music from Spotify in protest of Rogan’s podcast spreading misinformation about COVID treatments and the vaccine. That scandal was then followed by the unearthing of several episodes of Rogan’s podcast where he used the N-word. Yet despite promises to do better, Rogan still continued to share debunked articles on COVID, and recently, one about Steven Seagal.
With all of that in mind, it’s always interesting to see what kind of behavior Rogan personally feels is “sketchy.” TikTok, on the other hand, now that’s something to be wary of. “[Software engineers] said it is the single most disturbing piece of software they’ve ever had to back engineer because the amount of cross-platform spying it does,” Rogan said on Monday’s episode of his show.
According to Rogan, TikTok is always watching, and he knows because his friend heard it from some lady. Via Mediaite:
“My friend told me that she was talking to this lady and they were just having a conversation,” Rogan relayed. “And then she looked at her TikTok and TikTok suggested her — so TikTok knew that her and this lady were next to each other physically because their phones were next to each other. So Tik Tok suggested she follow that lady.”
While privacy concerns are definitely a real issue with any social media platform, and Rogan is not necessarily wrong here, keep in mind, we’re dealing with a guy who actually thought Steven Seagal was fighting alongside Russian troops in Ukraine. Actor Steven Seagal. So, as always, grain of salt.
We’re drawing very close to the best bourbons under $100. Nearing that price point in bourbon means that we’re pretty much into the special releases, one-off bottlings, and allocated offerings that excite whiskey drinkers from coast to coast.
For this list, I went deep into my tasting notes to find bottles that I think are actually worth dropping $80-90 on. It’s a tough prospect for many drinkers, especially when you can buy two or three bottles of perfectly good bourbon for the same price as some of these picks. Still, I winnowed the list down to all bangers all the time. These are bottles I absolutely vouch for, ranked according to my taste.
Hopefully, you’ll be able to find that special bottle in your region at or near the prices listed below (some of these bottles might be priced wildly different on the secondary market, depending on where you live).
Also Read: The Top 5 UPROXX Bourbon Posts Of The Last Six Months
This limited release from 2020 rounded out the Buffalo Trace Old Charter Oak Series. The whiskey was aged in Chinkapin oak barrels which, in some cases, are made from trees up to 200 years old. The staves are air-dried for 24 months before the barrels are built. Those barrels were then filled with standard Buffalo Trace distillate and left to do their thing for nine long years before mingling, proofing with limestone water, and bottling.
Tasting Notes:
The nose reveals a hint of Double Mint gum that leads towards cherry blossoms with a hint of the tree bark in the mix, a touch of raw leather, and a thin layer of vanilla wafers. The palate kicks off with a spicy grain vibe that builds towards dark chocolate spiked with orange zest, a flourish of those cherry blossoms, and a honey candy mid-palate. That sweetness leads back to the dark chocolate with a slight wintry spice leaving you warmed with a mild cherry tobacco chew.
Bottom Line:
That raw leather note from Buffalo Trace’s mash always puts me off slightly. It’s not overpowering here, thankfully, and this really does have a serious depth that, ultimately, feels classic. Pour this over a rock or two and you’ll be set.
This new bourbon brand is killing it at the moment. The bourbon in this case was contract distilled in Ohio (but is now being made in Kentucky). The juice is a wheated bourbon that spent eight years mellowing before bottling. Each barrel was hand-picked before being married into a single barrel strength expression that’s bottled as-is.
Tasting Notes:
A firewood pile opens the nose with apple crumble, lemon zest, plenty of creamy vanilla, and wintry spices rounding out the nose next to a hint of old saddle leather. The taste has a butterscotch vibe next to hints of Vanilla Coke, more of that apple crumble with the spice and brown sugar set to eleven, and a touch of apple blossoms next to a hint of fresh ginger. The finish takes its time and leans into the sharpness of the spice, leaving you warmed to your soul next to a final note of that dry firewood stacked in dark soil.
Bottom Line:
This is a pretty damn fine, yet bold whiskey. I’d recommend pouring it over a rock or two to calm it down and let it bloom a little in the glass. Or you can mix this into a killer old fashioned.
Bib & Tucker is a classic example of what great blending can do with sourced juice. The Tennessee whiskey is a marriage of ten-year-old whiskeys aged in the lowest char barrels available, allowing more direct contact with dried wood rather than black char. Those barrels are blended and then proofed down with soft Tennessee water.
Tasting Notes:
There’s a sense of vanilla bean (pod, seeds, essence) up top with hints of spicy chewy tobacco, dry oak (almost pine), and a distant note of fresh corn husks. The palate really holds onto that velvety vanilla as the corn husks dry out and notes of orange-infused dark chocolate mingle with that spicy tobacco, which starts buzzing on your tongue. The end is longish, has touches of that dry pine, and holds onto both the vanilla and dried corn husks.
Bottom Line:
This is the sweet spot for Bib & Tucker. This whiskey is super easy to sip neat but really benefits from some water or rock to help it open up. It’s also a really solid cocktail base, especially for a Manhattan.
This masterful blend of sourced whiskeys is a highwater mark for Nelson’s Green Brier out in Nashville. The nine-year-old barrels are hand-selected from a reserve sourcing program. Those high-rye bourbons (the 36 percent rye MGP mash bill) are married and then transferred to Oloroso sherry casks for a final maturation before the whiskey is slightly proofed and bottled.
Tasting Notes:
There’s a clear sense of a Christmas cake full of dark spice next to fatty nuts, vanilla, dried fruits, and candied orange peels with hints of plummy wood popping up in the background. The taste follows that path and adds in more dried fruits with a toffee sweetness and buttery edge next to a touch of dried florals. The end builds as the vanilla and spice meld into a bread pudding body with a lingering sense of spice on the slow fade.
Bottom Line:
I’m not the biggest fan of sherry-finished bourbons but this one stands above them all. There’s a subtlety at play that works in making this an easy sipper (on a rock) or a really good cocktail base (for a simple one).
The juice in the barrel is made from a mash bill of 68 percent corn, 20 percent wheat, and 12 percent malted barley. The whiskey in the bottle is a blend of six to eight-year-old barrels that are vatted and bottled at cask strength as-is. It’s as easy as that, folks.
Tasting Notes:
Based on the latest 2022 release, expect the nose to open with full-tree cedar beams. That woody note is supported by touches of warm brown butter and maple syrup waiting for a stack of pancakes that haven’t been cooked yet with a hint of sticky buns and orange pith lurking in the background. The palate starts off sweet and nutty, kind of like almonds dipped in that maple syrup and then rolled in holiday spices with an echo of warmth. The mid-palate leans into ripe figs and spiced prunes before a vanilla husk woodiness arrives with whispers of hazelnuts, dry sweetgrass, and woody spice with a hint of cedar-infused tobacco leaves.
Bottom Line:
This is pretty much a perfect whiskey. In fact, I’d argue that for each entry from here on out. So, consider this where I start splitting hairs to “rank” these brands. Not for nothing but this makes a mean cocktail thanks to those high ABVs.
This whiskey heralds back to Michter’s historical roots in the 19th century before the brand was even called “Michter’s.” The juice on the bottle is rendered from a very small batch of bourbons that were aged in Chinquapin oak which was air-dried for three years before charring and filling.
Tasting Notes:
The nose opens with this rich and meaty plum presence next to a hint of buttery toffee and creamy vanilla with a touch of wood lurking in the background. The palate goes full crème brûlée with sticky burnt sugar over the top and a slight touch of allspice and nutmeg next to a dark cacao powder dryness with a touch of smoke salt and light, dry cedar. The mid-palate leans back into the dark stone fruit and sweetness as it only slightly dries out.
Bottom Line:
This is subtle and nuanced in a way that kind of makes you go “Woah” just like Keanu. While this is pretty hard to find, it’s worth seeking out to see what Michter’s is up to these days. If you do find a bottle, pour it neat and slowly add water as you taste and dig into the deep end of this whiskey.
This high-end brand from the legendary Buffalo Trace campus is crafted as a sipper at a (fairly) accessible price point. The juice is aged specifically in Warehouse C, which was built by E.H. Taylor, Jr. back in the 1880s. The barrels live under federal regulations for bottled-in-bond rules. Once they’re ready, they’re small batched, and proofed down to 100 proof.
Tasting Notes:
This opens with a nice rush of freshly popped corn that’s been hit with some salt and butter before a touch of caramel arrives with a slight black licorice bent and a hint of cherry leather. The taste delivers on those promises with a butter toffee with a slight almond and dark cocoa note next to spicy tobacco leaves and hints of leather and cedar. The end doesn’t overstay its welcome and fades away, leaving you with an almost peppery spice and cherry chewing tobacco buzz cut with salted caramel.
Bottom Line:
This is a beautiful whiskey that really does deserve the hype it gets. That “raw leather” note that so many Buffalo Trace offerings carry is not here, which helps for my palate. Overall, this is a classic for a reason.
This is technically a “flavored” bourbon but it’s nothing like any other flavored bourbon you’ve ever had. This is Garrison’s Small Batch Bourbon that’s then infused with Burleson’s Texas Wildflower Honey. That means that the bourbon was transferred to a steel tank for storage. In the meantime, those empty barrels were rebuilt into smaller wooden cubes and dipped into the honey until they were completely honey-laden. Those cubes were then put into the steel vats of bourbon to infuse the juice over seven long months.
Tasting Notes:
The nose opens with clear bourbon notes that worn leather, dry straw, and apple next to elderflower, ripe peaches and apricots, and a touch of raw honey. That honey note creates a bridge to the palate which is full of wildflowers, orange oils, cinnamon buns with a little pecan, and a final honey drizzle that’s almost creamy. The finish is a balance between the rich honey vibes and the clear sense of bourbon with cinnamon spice, dry pecans, and orange oils all slowly soaking into a pot full of honey.
Bottom Line:
This is a flavored bourbon and it f*cking rules. You don’t lose a moment of the bourbon’s depth since the honey adds layers that work in the overall build of the whiskey. This is so easy to drink neat or on the rocks that you’ll be hard-pressed not to fall in love at first sip.
This whiskey from Jack Daniel’s is a pretty special offering. First, the barrels were heated/charred using a special method of very slow heating to achieve a richer toast before going off to be charred with fire. Those barrels were then filled with 100 proof distillate and placed in the highest rungs of warehouses on Coy Hill on the JD campus. 100 barrels hit the mark and each was released as a single barrel, 100 proof offering.
Tasting Notes:
A hint of dry cedar and pine kindling comes through on the nose with the support of cherry pie with a lard crust, vanilla tobacco chew, and a hint of zucchini bread with walnuts, clove, cinnamon, and powdered ginger. The palate leans into those spices and adds a hint of dried red peppercorns that’s countered by a rich vanilla ice cream speckled with dry cherries and dark chocolate. The mid-palate sweetness fades back towards that kindling pile as a cinnamon/cherry tobacco chewiness leaves you warmed and wanting more.
Bottom Line:
This is a rare find, sure. But, goddamn, they’re good. The nuance of this will dispel any preconceived notions you might have about Jack Daniel’s. This is killer whiskey that deserves a prime spot on any bar cart. It also makes a phenomenal Manhattan.
2022’s first Barrel Proof drop is a 12-year-old whiskey made from Heaven Hill’s classic bourbon mash of 78 percent corn, 12 percent malted barley, and a mere ten percent rye. Those barrels are masterfully blended into this Barrel Proof expression with no cutting or fussing. This is as-is bourbon from the barrel.
Tasting Notes:
Caramel draws you in on the nose with a slight sourdough cinnamon roll with pecans, a touch of floral honey, and a soft and woody drug store aftershave with an echo of vanilla candle wax and singed marshmallow. The palate rolls through a soft leather and vanilla pie note as cinnamon ice cream leads to spicy oak. The mid-palate leans into a sweeter, almost creamy spice (think nutmeg-heavy eggnog) which, in turn, leads to a dry cedar bark next to a dry stewed-apple tobacco leaf folded into an old leather pouch for safekeeping.
Bottom Line:
This bottle sort of represents every great about bourbon. It’s nostalgic while still feeling fresh. It’s a classic that feels like it takes you somewhere new. It’s… just really, really good.
Try it neat, on the rocks, or in a simple cocktail. You will not be disappointed.
A few weeks ago, Lil Durk announced the delay of his upcoming album 7220, softening the blow with the menacing new single “Ah Haa.” Rumor has it, the threats and jibes in the song were directed at YoungBoy Never Broke Again, with whom Durk has had a longstanding feud (apparently due to a disagreement over a woman, as these things so often are). However, that didn’t stop Brooklyn rapper Rowdy Rebel, who isn’t associated with either and apparently has no dog in the fight from co-opting the “Ah Haa” beat for his first new music release of 2022, a chest-beating freestyle that asserts his own street credentials.
Part of the reason he probably wanted to make his comeback with the “Ah Haa” freestyle is its bruising, old-school drill beat, which features a driving, percussive motif backing a hypnotic piano loop. While Rowdy’s era of dominance preceded the modern wave of New York drill by some years, it very much coincided with Durk’s own rise to prominence. Rowdy has also shown the willingness to tread the waters of the new wave of music from his city since his release from prison, so getting started with “Ah Haa” makes a lot of sense. The freestyle is his first release since dropping “9 Bridge” with A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie last year, and hopefully presages much more new music as he continues his long-awaited comeback alongside fellow GS9 member Bobby Shmurda.
Canadian singer and rapper Tory Lanez is being sued for foreclosure on his Miami condo. According to legal documents obtained by Radar Online, Lanez is being accused of defaulting on payments of a loan provided by BH 4908 LLC for $1.26 million.
Lanez first purchased the condo through a mortgage loan in 2018. According to the terms of the loan, Lanez was to pay $11,057.40 on a monthly basis, followed by one large balloon payment in December 2021. Lanez allegedly failed to make the balloon payment and now reportedly owes $1,237,456.06 that is due on the loan, plus interest.
According to BH 4908, Lanez still lives in the condo. BH 4908 is demanding the court allow them to foreclose on the home and sell it to the highest bidder. They also demand Lanez pay any difference between the amount the home is sold for and the amount owed.
Additionally, Lanez is set to appear in court in Los Angeles on April 5 for his alleged role in the Megan The Stallion shooting.
He also faces two separate suits in Florida for allegedly assaulting Love And Hip-Hop: Miami star Prince Michael Harty outside of a South Beach club, as well as one by a man who claimed to be disfigured as part of a car crash by a vehicle owned by Lanez. Lanez was not driving the vehicle at the time.
Megan Thee Stallion is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
For all the hand-wringing and hype it’s generated over the past month, Kanye West’s stem player is a relatively unassuming-looking device. Smooth, round, and weighing only a couple of ounces, it reminds me of countless other fidget toys that sparked monoculture crazes in my lifetime. It’s been compared a bunch to HitClips, those weird little memory card things Tiger Electronics put out in the early 2000s that played a minute-long clip of top 40 hits, but that’d be like comparing Zack Morris’ Motorola DynaTAC 8000x to an iPhone 13. The stem player does so much more than that — although, in the grand scheme of things, for what it does do at its price, you’d be better off with the phone and a mobile digital audio workstation.
Developed by Kano, a tech company specializing in gadgets like headphones and computer mice, the stem player is a palm-sized puck with only a handful of buttons ringing its exterior and four crisscrossed grooves atop its gently curved surface. These grooves are touch-sensitive controls allowing the user to adjust the volume of four audio tracks — or stems — parsing out roughly to bass, drums, synth, and vocals. The appeal of the device is in its simplicity; one need not have studied Cubase in college or tooled around with Pro Tools for 10,000 hours to feel relatively comfortable “remixing” music loaded into the device, with playback provided by a small speaker on the side or headphones that can be plugged in next to it.
When it’s activated, each of the four touch grooves lights up with an appealing array of colors, and when users slide their fingers or thumbs across them, the response is instantaneous. It allows users to drop the vocal track to highlight the instrumental, turn tracks drumless, and even play parts of songs in reverse using the track skip buttons on the side. This gives a lot of options for the novice producer to experiment with the tunes they upload to the device, which automatically culls and separates the stems to the appropriate control via artificial intelligence. It’s an amusing toy that could conceivably offer hours of distraction and potentially even some truly creative remixes of existing songs or the creation of entirely new ones.
Unfortunately, at $200, that toy is egregiously overpriced for what it does offer. In the hours spent tooling around with it, I found myself both impressed by the innovation, and unimpressed by the execution. While it’s easy to learn to use — unlike Cubase or other full DAWs, which, yes, I did study in college — and even a pleasure to do so once you get used to its weird, sex toy skin (why does the thing need to feel like it belongs in the naughty drawer?), its limits are readily apparent after the novelty wears off. I was sent the device by Kano for review; I’d never pay full price for it, knowing that I could easily just download BandLab or FL Studio for a fraction of the price for a device I already spend most of my day staring at — which, ironically, also fits in the palm of my hand.
And while pulling the stems from existing songs is likely the primary draw for most folks, the biggest problem I saw with that was that the album that comes preloaded on it only too perfectly highlights the drawbacks of that technology. Donda 2 is seemingly designed to work with the stem player, yet there were multiple times during playback when I noticed the imprecise parsing of the tracks. Truth be told, very little music is so easily broken down into just four audio stems — something I learned tooling around on a four-track cassette recorder I won in a rap contest in high school. While the production on Donda 2 is nearly as stripped-down as it gets, there were multiple times I noticed that certain songs wound up with only three tracks or that upon isolating each track, certain sounds got grouped together — i.e. the drum track would have a subliminal buzz of bass, or that synths would vanish along with drums as I lowered the drum track. (Incidentally, this also highlighted how sparse, dry, and uninspired the production on Donda 2 actually is.)
The biggest drawback to the stem player is its price point. At $200, it’s hard to recommend a purchase when I know that devices like the Artiphon Orba do more for less, with nearly the same hook (a handheld audio controller), no less. Even if the stem player were a completely original product, it’s a little like HitClips in that it’ll likely end up back in the drawer after a couple of months when users go back to streaming music from their mobile devices, which have the added benefit of keeping them connected to the world. I’m not the only one put off by the price tag, either; within hours of Donda 2‘s exclusive release via the stem player, fans had bootlegged both the album and the tech that makes the device work. As a legitimately fun fidget toy, though, I like the stem player, but by pricing out its target demographic and linking itself to a controversial figure like Kanye, it may well have missed even the chance for the sort of fad that makes other gizmos like it such fond memories for so many.
In our final conversation with King Von, the late Chicago rapper who was killed mere days after, we asked who he makes music for. “Everybody who f*ck with the music, man,” he concluded. His music has reached many people, probably for this reason. It’s for anybody and it’s easy to enjoy. His posthumous album What It Means To Be King exemplifies this, and it was released last week after the rollout of singles like “Don’t Play That” with 21 Savage and “War.” It featured plenty of collaborations with other rappers, including Lil Durk, G Herbo, and A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie.
Today, the video for the quick, scorching track “Too Real” was unleashed. It’s speculated to be a response to NBA YoungBoy who he had been feuding with: “Rap beef turn to homicide / You diss then we gon’ slide,” he spits. Of course, it helps that in the video he’s swinging around a massive flamethrower. That is one way to settle rap beef.
Though King Von had a knack for diss tracks and rap beef songs, he also wrestled with more serious topics like the shortcomings of the justice system on the 2020 single “How It Go.”
Deion Sanders’ Jackson State football team went 11-2 this past season, winning the SWAC title in the process, and the trajectory of the Tigers football program only seems to be going up after they signed the nation’s No. 1 recruit this offseason.
However, while all of that was going on, Sanders was dealing with a health situation that was far more severe than was initially reported. Sanders had foot surgery that kept him off the sidelines for weeks before ultimately returning with a knee scooter to get around, but he apparently dealt with a far greater scare than surgery that ultimately required the amputation of two toes. In the latest episode of “Coach Prime”, Sanders detailed the femoral arterial blood clots that were running from his calf to his feet that doctors called life threatening and amputation of his leg from the knee down was on the table.
“The hardest thing of it all was to look down there and see that and understand, once upon a time you was this type of athlete and you don’t even know if you gonna walk, because all you feel is pain and you just want to get out of this hospital,” Sanders said.
Sanders is on the road to recovery now and hopefully he’ll be able to be back on the sidelines again at full strength next fall.
A banshee cry … a siren song … When a woman uses her voice, it carries enough power to change the world.
America witnessed an extraordinary potency in the 19th century with the speeches of women’s rights activist Sojourner Truth. And we experience it today in the poetry of Amanda Gorman. Both these women’s words teach, inspire, challenge and move us toward better days. Perhaps most important of all, they help encourage a future generation of women to speak freely, know their value and go after their dreams.
Amanda Gorman teaches everyone the power of poetry
International Women’s Day, celebrated annually on March 8, was created to commemorate the cultural, political and socioeconomic achievements of women. So it seems fitting that CARE, a global organization dedicated to empowering women and girls, just released a powerful video that echoes and magnifies the strength of the female voice.
In the video, young girls recite the iconic words of feminist trailblazers both new and old, including Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Vice President Kamala Harris, Gloria Steinem and Venus Williams, to name a few. Seeing these young girls channel those who paved the way before them is a heartwarming reminder of how far we’ve come, and how the compassionate, courageous acts of a single person can affect the lives of many. Among them are a few familiar voices; Sophia Bush, Laura Dern and Saniyya Sidney—all powerhouse actresses and feminism advocates in their own right—lend their vocal talents.
The video is so much more than a touching tribute to the past. It kicks off CARE’s #HerVoice Campaign, developed to explore new solutions to address equality in modern times. The campaign features virtual conversations led by today’s history makers, including activist Vanessa Nakate and filmmaker Zuriel Oduwole. CARE is also partnering with the Obama Foundation to provide school access and opportunities to more than 500,000 girls around the world.
“CARE believes in the power of women, today and every day. This International Women’s Day, we are especially proud to feature legacy voices and rising leaders across industries uniting for change. The past few years have been extremely challenging, highlighting the need for not only more women leaders but women led solutions. The #HerVoice campaign honors the extraordinary acts of women that enable us to continue to advocate for our communities, and push for real change worldwide.”
This campaign strikes at the heart of what’s important: that while giant strides have been made for equality, there is still a long way to go. In recent times, the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have made that even more evident. In a report titled “She Told Us So,” CARE provided some illuminating and heartbreaking statistics that show how the pandemic has affected and exacerbated gender inequality.
Since 2020, negative impacts have increased in almost every area of life for women. Their needs in the following areas were found to be high:
1. Mental health (63%)
2. Food security (59%)
3. Livelihood (55%)
4. Cash (54%)
5. Health services (47%)
As these numbers show, mental health and food security (both core needs) are the biggest concerns. And the two are deeply correlated.
In terms of food scarcity, the report finds that women are opting to skip meals to provide more nourishment to their families. One woman in Umbeda, Sudan shared her own experience as the sole head of her household during the pandemic. “It affected my body [but] I prefer to feed my children instead of myself … I have no money to support my family” she told CARE.
Daily struggles like this lead to a decline in mental health. The report showed how many of the underlying reasons for mental stress revolve around childcare—making sure little mouths are fed (again, when food is scarce) and taking on all household chores without payment.
As one women’s group representative noted: “If any opportunity appeared, the man would be the favorite, and for this reason, the man’s role was the strongest. This psychologically affected many women, as they turned to household work which included preparing food and cleaning only.” As the data shows, this idea that caretaking is a woman’s job is still pervasive, with potentially toxic effects.
We hear the phrase “the future is female,” but without actively empowering mothers and daughters in real-world situations, those words carry no meaning. During this time of unprecedented change, we have an opportunity to include everyone in the desire for a better tomorrow and strive to make equality the “new normal.”
Some holidays are meant for remembrance. Others, like International Women’s Day, can also be a call to action. This is why CARE is encouraging everyone to not only repost this video, but share what #HerVoice means to them. Visit care.org/hervoice to learn more, donate and support women’s voices by signing your name to a pledge.
After finishing her short film Bao, for which she’d eventually win an Oscar, Domee Shi started pitching a feature-length film to Pixar and, she says, it was her weirdest pitch that caught their attention, which she was pitching as, “It’s a girl going through magical puberty and turns into a giant red panda.” And, honestly, that’s a pretty great pitch for what would eventually become Turning Red. And she’s right, it’s a pretty weird movie.
Mei has her friends in school, but is mostly treated as a dork by her “cool” classmates, and having a very overprotective mother isn’t helping her social life much. Set in 2003, Mei’s dream is to see the hot new boy band, but her mother won’t let her go. Then, yes, one day she turns into a giant red panda. Which, yes, is a metaphor, but the movie does something pretty interesting by also directly addressing menstruation, which stands out because movies aimed at younger people frankly don’t really do that and it’s a great thing this movie does discuss this – which as Shi confirms ahead, was by design because we don’t really see this discussed much in movies aimed at younger people.
Two of my questions were going to be why this is set in the early 2000s and why it’s set in Toronto. And then I read your Wikipedia page and I figured it out.
[Laughs] Yeah.
I’m guessing some Mei’s friends in this movie are based on real people?
Oh, definitely. The spark or the inspiration behind the movie, it definitely came from a personal place and then kind of grew into its own thing. But yeah, I was very much Meilin in the early 2000s, in Toronto. My mom is in Ming, but also a lot of the strong women who raised me – like my grandmas, my aunties. Then, also, in Mei’s friends too, each of them I think, represents a specific friend that I’ve had that I think a lot of girls and kids have growing up. Like Miriam being the rebellious friend, you’ve got the gothy deadpan friend, the cute and angry friend in Abby. I mean, all of this is trying to ground this movie in a way that audiences could relate to while we were showing crazy, red panda magic.
Are you still in touch with these people? Are you expecting some phone calls after this comes out?
Well, my mom hasn’t seen it yet.
There’s one call.
I know. I’m inviting her to the Toronto premiere. And my dad. And I think I’m going to be watching her more than the movie itself. Just to be like, “Oh, you see? This is how I felt back then.” And she’ll be like, “Oh, you’re exaggerating!” No, I’m excited for her to see it.
This sounds like this is going to be like therapy. Is that what’s going to happen?
Oh, I mean, making the movie was kind of like therapy. I did it instead of going to therapy. And I think, in making it, I think my perspective changed a lot. Like when I first started the movie, I think I was more on Mei’s side. I was on the side of the kid.
Right…
Who felt like their parent was a prison warden. I think I grew to understand my mom and what she was going through and why she was being so kooky and overprotective and obsessive.
So, how does this work? You directed the short film, Bao. When you made that did you know it would play before Incredibles 2? Which basically everyone saw.
No, no. I thought it was going to be in front of Coco. which I thought would have been really cool. But, yeah, I had no idea that it was going to be attached to Incredibles 2. And it was going to be seen by so many more people than I thought.
So then it becomes, “Hey, I want to make a full movie now.” Is that how the conversation goes?
I mean, it was back in 2017. I just finished Bao. I don’t think Incredibles 2 came out yet, but I think the studio was excited about my voice and the stories I wanted to tell. So, they offered me the chance to pitch three ideas for a feature film. And I’ve always loved coming of age stories and I’ve always wanted to make a coming of age story. So all three of my ideas were that, but Turning Red was the most personal. And the weirdest, probably. I was pitching like, “It’s a girl going through magical puberty and turns into a giant red panda.” And they identified with that, somehow.
That is a fantastic pitch. How could anyone ignore that?
But they haven’t seen that before. Magical puberty brought to life in a Pixar film.
Speaking of the puberty part, at first I see the red panda and I’m thinking, “Well, that’s a metaphor.” But then the mom starts asking Mei directly about having her period. I’d never really seen that before in a movie aimed at kids and I thought that was great.
I mean, it’s true. You don’t see that very often in movies and TV shows. And I think that’s precisely why we wanted to put it in the movie. I mean, this movie is actually is for 13-year-old Domee that was in a bathroom, horrified, thinking that she had crapped her pants. And too afraid to tell her mom or ask anybody about what was going on. It’s so weird because it happens to every woman, every girl, but you just don’t hear about it or talk about it and it’s awkward and crazy, but we all go through it. But in that moment you feel so alone. So, it’s just my attempt to just help these girls and women feel seen in that way. And guys go through like even bigger changes during puberty. I feel like boys just shoot up and then deal with other liquids as well.
So bringing that up directly in the film, is that to ensure that people know the movie is a metaphor? As opposed to having people just wondering the whole time is this what it’s about?
It’s funny. I think it just came from wanting to tell an authentic story of a girl going through puberty and that being the type of story that came up over and over again. When we were talking to a lot of women on the crew, a lot of the female leadership, we were all sharing battle stories from the grounds of puberty. And there was always this kind of story where it happened and there was confusion and embarrassment. And it just felt like if we wanted to talk about, or if we wanted to tell a story about a girl going through puberty, we had to talk about her getting her period. We had to talk about her having weird fantasies about mermen. Like all of that, it’s just so essential in telling this story about a tween girl.
And you mentioned Toronto, which I love. Did you have to fight to set it there?
I feel like it’s always in movies but disguised as New York.
That’s true.
And I think it added to the specificity and the charm of the original pitch, that it was about a Chinese-Canadian girl. It just added a uniqueness to it. And I think Americans are very delighted by and amused by Canadians and things. And I think it was very exciting for Pixar to be like, Oh, we can put more Canadian Easter eggs and explore Canadian culture on the big screen. Yeah, and I just love how diverse Toronto is. And that was really an exciting thing to kind of tackle and explore in this movie. Just seeing how much diversity we can put in the movie. Just to make it feel like the neighborhoods and the school that I grew up in and the friends that I had growing up. So, it was just a really cool opportunity.
Obviously, a boy band plays a big part in this story. Were you NSYNC or Backstreet Boys? Or someone else?
I was NSYNC, but that’s where the story stops being autobiographical because I wasn’t super, super into boy bands.
Ah, okay.
I never got to go to the concerts. So, I’d always have this image in my head of what concerts could be. And I had classmates coming back from concerts with their Backstreet Boys or their NSYNC swag that they bought at the merch store. And I was like, wow, last time I saw them, they were just girls, but now they’re like women. And something must have happened at the concert.
That’s great.
Like they have this glow about them. This movie is kind of just me fulfilling that tween fantasy.
‘Turning Red’ will premiere via Disney+ on March 11th. You can contact Mike Ryan directly on Twitter.
When the late, iconic director John Singleton created his FX series, Snowfall, he proudly proclaimed that he wanted it to be the “ghetto version” of Game of Thrones. Well, he’s on his way. As the series rides high on its fifth season, star Damson Idris has revealed that Snowfall is officially the “most watched show” across all FX networks. According to Idris, even “bootlegging” can’t stop the series (set against the real-life ’80s crack epidemic) from reeling in millions of viewers week after week.
Along with the news that Snowfall has become a powerhouse for FX, Idris made it a point to credit Singleton for bringing the show to life.
“Snowfall is officially FX networks most watched show and that is thanks to you guys, the fans,” Idris tweeted. “Nearly 5 million viewers a week. Not to mention yall that be bootlegging. I see you . Nonetheless, thank you to everyone for riding with us. It’s all for John Singleton. ”
Snowfall is officially FX networks most watched show and that is thanks to you guys, the fans. Nearly 5 million viewers a week. Not to mention yall that be bootlegging. I see you . Nonetheless, thank you to everyone for riding with us. It’s all for John Singleton. pic.twitter.com/R0FRtqu5mn
Los Angeles. 1983. A storm is coming and its name is cocaine. Snowfall is a one-hour drama set against the infancy of the crack cocaine epidemic and its ultimate radical impact on the culture as we know it. The story follows numerous characters on a violent collision course, including: Franklin Saint (Damson Idris), young street entrepreneur on a quest for power; Gustavo Zapata (Sergio Peris-Mencheta), a Mexican wrestler caught up in a power struggle within a crime family; Teddy McDonald (Carter Hudson), a CIA operative running from a dark past who begins an off-book operation to fund the Nicaraguan Contras; and Lucia Villanueva (Emily Rios), the self-possessed daughter of a Mexican crime lord.
Snowfall Season 5 is currently airing Tuesdays on FX.
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. Nonetheless, thank you to everyone for riding with us. It’s all for John Singleton. 
”