When Mia Goth was asked for three words to describe her new film Infinity Pool, she replied “disturbing,” “wild,” and “provocative.” That last word — “provocative” — comes up a lot when describing Goth’s filmography, whether it’s Pearl or X (and probably MaXXXine), or Nymphomaniac, or High Life, or Suspiria.
In an interview with the Playlist, the Oscar-snubbed actress was asked why she’s drawn to challenging, non-mainstream films. “I’m aware that the material is challenging, and might be regarded as provocative, but those are the kinds of movies I enjoy watching!” Goth said. “And they’re also the kind, ultimately, that I want to make. I want to be involved with projects and filmmakers that push me. I like pushing myself. Generally, life is quite complicated, and I seek out movies reflecting that.”
It also helps when the marketing for the movie has Alexander Skarsgård with a leash.
Here’s more on Infinity Pool: “While staying at an isolated island resort, James and Em are enjoying a perfect vacation of pristine beaches, exceptional staff, and soaking up the sun. But guided by the seductive and mysterious Gabi, they venture outside the resort grounds and find themselves in a culture filled with violence, hedonism, and untold horror. A tragic accident leaves them facing a zero tolerance policy for crime: either you’ll be executed, or, if you’re rich enough to afford it, you can watch yourself die instead.”
Each week our staff of film and TV experts surveys the entertainment landscape to select the ten best new/newish shows available for you to stream at home. We put a lot of thought into our selections, and our debates on what to include and what not to include can sometimes get a little heated and feelings may get hurt, but so be it, this is an important service for you, our readers. With that said, here are our selections for this week.
Brendan Fraser’s back as the eternally frustrated disembodied brain inside of a robotic body. It is his finest performance (yes yes, we know there’s Oscar chatter elsewhere), and he’s backed up by Diane Guerrero as many iterations of Crazy Jane, along with Matt Bomer as Negative Man, April Bowlby as Elasi-Girl, and Jovian Wade as Cyborg. DC’s misfit superheroes are facing what might be certain doom, but at least some of them other than Fraser’s Cliff got to have a collective orgasm already.
The animated series that focuses on a crew of mutated clone troopers doing missions after the events of the Clone Wars returns for a second season. If you need your Star Wars fix before The Mandolorian returns or just want to see a cartoon about mercenaries, this might be just the thing for you.
Nicolas Winding Refn, the director who brought Drive and Too Old to Die Young to audiences around the world, is back once again, this time on Netflix, with a Danish-language series about a renegade seeking vengeance against her nemesis in a semi-fictional and partially supernatural version of Copenhagen. That… might sound like a lot. But the John Wick franchise started with a dude’s dog dying and that dude is still on a worldwide revenge tour three movies later. Dip your toe in and see how it feels. Vengeance is a universal language.
The first season of Abbott Elementary was a feel-good network sitcom that caught a massive wave of popularity and won a bunch of Emmys in a time when feel-good network sitcoms are kind of not supposed to do that. Credit for this goes to creator and star Quinta Brunson, who realized that an underfunded inner-city public school was exactly the right place to show us people with good hearts working inside a system that can be cold. Kind of like Parks and Recreation but in Philadelphia. The second season is underway and does not appear to be missing a beat. This is basically a miracle, all around.
Jeremy Renner’s had a tough time of things in real life, but he’s still part of the Taylor Sheridan universe. The Yellowstone king co-created this show with Hugh Dillon, and the story follows Dillon’s observations from his formative years near Ontario’s Kingston Penitentiary. Renner is the figurative “mayor” of the title, meaning that he’s the sales dude who negotiates deals between inmates and law enforcement. Renner truly hits a higher gear crime drama mode.
Red and Kitty are back, along with some of the other regulars from That ’70s Show, in a new series that zips 20 years into the future and over to Netflix. There’s a grandkid involved now. Everything is very… what’s a good ’90s word to describe it all… tubular? Rad? It’s strange. But it could be a lot of fun. If nothing else it’s a double dose of nostalgia — a show from the ’90s that now takes place in the ’90s — for people on the hunt for that. Worth a shot.
This series, hosted by Nikole Hannah-Jones, takes the ball the New York Times starting rolling with its groundbreaking series on slavery in America and picks it up and keeps going. Each episode of the limited series is adapted from one of the essays, and attempts to present a view of America filtered through the lenses of race and contributions made by Black American. It’s not a light watch, but it is riveting and important. You need those too, sometimes.
The mental health and comedy crossover of Ted Lasso was apparent in the show’s second season as Ted’s coping mechanisms started to falter, pushing him to get some help. Shrinking, which comes from the minds of Lasso producer Bill Lawrence and Lasso writer/co-star Brett Goldstein (as well as series star Jason Segel) begins in a similar place with its main character, played by Segel, realizing that his strategies aren’t working when it comes to managing grief, having a relationship with his daughter, and helping the patients who come to him for help as their therapist. What follows is an odyssey of personal rediscovery with plenty of awkward moments, incremental improvements, and a whole lot of charming grouchiness from Harrison Ford as a begrudging mentor type.
One of the most popular video games of all-time comes to HBO as a television series, with Bella Ramsey and Pedro Pascal leading the cast on a post-apocalyptic trek through a harsh landscape filled with horrors. The reviews are really good. HBO gave it the primo Sunday night slot it reserved for shows like Game of Thrones and Succession. It’s led by Craig Mazin, who also produced Chernobyl, another gripping watch about the potential end of the world. There is a lot to be excited about here. Dive in so you know what your cool friends are talking about.
Rian Johnson and Natasha Lyonne have combined their powers to give us a gift that keeps on giving with a case-of-the-week style detective show featuring a hyper-observant and very idiosyncratic lead. Played by Lyonne, Charlie Cale just happens to be on the lam and on a roll when it comes to stumbling into other people’s very bad days. Part Columbo with dashes of Highway To Heaven and Psych, Poker Face is a true slice of comfort food, smart, funny, and distinctive.
Each week our staff of film and TV experts surveys the entertainment landscape to select the ten best new/newish movies available for you to stream at home. We put a lot of thought into our selections, and our debates on what to include and what not to include can sometimes get a little heated and feelings may get hurt, but so be it, this is an important service for you, our readers. With that said, here are our selections for this week.
A group of friends decides to hunker down during the COVID-19 lockdown together at nice little lake house and… wait a second. This sounds like the plot of a horror movie. Which makes sense because… it is the plot of a horror movie. This horror movie. The Blumhouse team is at it again, with a slasher on the loose and a deadly virus in the air and about four other things to be terrified of. Maybe there’s a monster in the lake, too. Who knows? Only one way to find out…
Bullet Train is chaos. Bloody, funny, frivolous, superficial chaos. Nothing and everything happens in this film about a group of assassins all vying for a briefcase that may just offer the biggest payload of their respective careers thus far. It’s jam-packed with action — the fast-paced, tightly-choreographed kind that gives you whiplash if you stare too long – and with a cast of A-listers, the best of which being Aaron-Taylor Johnson and Brian Tyree Henry, who play a pair of Brit brothers constantly bickering on the job. It’s got enough twists and surprises to keep you entertained plus Brad Pitt unironically sporting a bucket hat for its two-hour runtime. It’s just plain fun. We wish there were more movies like it out there.
You know, the Michael J. Fox and Jason Bateman movies weren’t the worst 1980s creations out there. Still, Paramount+ saw fit to conjure up a dramatic, very supernatural reboot, and Scott Howard is now Scott McCall. He can tame dogs with a simple glance, and he’s got a pack and a scary nemesis and yes, don’t expect this project to take the comedic route.
Noah Baumbach’s latest movie has a loaded cast (Adam Driver! Greta Gerwig! Don Cheadle! Andre 3000!) and a wild premise (a toxic cloud forcing a college professor and his family to flee their home town) and all the kind of things you would expect from a phrase like “Noah Baumbach movie” (Comedy! Drama! Comedy and drama!). It’s all based on a Don DeLillo novel from 1985 and it’s right there on a streaming service you probably have. If this all sounds like your deal… well, get in there.
Well, what do we have here? Let’s start at the top. Josh Duhamel and Jennifer Lopez are having a, you guessed, destination wedding and, you guessed it again, things do not go exactly as planned. Armed bad guys show up. People are taken hostage. At one point, if the trailer is to be believed, Jennifer Coolidge picks up an automatic weapon and leads a resistance. That’s… it’s certainly something! More movies should let Jennifer Coolidge play an armed wedding attendee. We have always said this.
This documentary uses archival footage shot by the United States government that shows military training to combat rioters in fictional towns that were constructed after the upheaval of the 1960s. It’s a heavy watch, and probably a little unsettling, but sometimes that’s how history works.
In Bruges hive assemble for this reteaming of writer/director Martin McDonagh and stars Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson. More sparse, but no less brilliant in its well-chosen dialogue than the 2008 crime comedy classic, Banshees Of Inisherin is a beautifully told tale of loneliness, the hazards of both bluntness and naivete, and what happens when a friendship crashes into the rocky shores. Set on an island near Ireland 100 years ago, the film is a slow burn in every sense of the term with tough love, hard feelings, and severed digits scattered all over the place. Things never do stay the same for as long as you need them to, do they? What a gutting treasure of a movie.
That loud whooshing sound you heard this summer could have been one of two things: the sound of jet engines blasting out of movie theaters around the country or the sound of massive crowds rushing into and out of those same theaters to hear those jet engines inTop Gun: Maverick. The sequel to the original movie — released over 35 years later, which is kind of wild — picks up right where the first left off, in spirit if not chronology, with Tom Cruise and a bunch of new hotshot pilots (Miles Teller and Glen Powell leading the way) taking back to the skies and talking trash and sometimes riding motorcycles. It is a lot of fun and better than it has any right to be and one of the first real-deal, must-see movie theater movies we’ve had in a while. It was nice to get one of those again. Let’s do it again in another 35 years when Tom Cruise is… uh, 95 years old. He’ll probably still be up for it. You will, too. Don’t lie. Watch it on Paramount Plus.
Daniel Craig returns as Benoit Blanc with a whole new cast of potential murdermakers to relish. Dave Bautista as a scantily clad social media sensation is only one of the ensemble highlights, and the endless buffet of cameos can not be stopped, nor do the story’s twists feel gratuitous or implausible. Instead, the film dances through mischief and swings bigger and better with a series of bewitching wrinkles and knots that will make you forgive the runtime. In fact, you’ll barely notice the passage of time because this film is fun and cerebral and makes perfect sense when all is revealed. Also, one of the greatest TV murder detectives in history makes a (bittersweet) cameo, for crying out loud. Netflix really should have run with a longer theatrical window, but at least it’s streaming for you now.
Black-ish creator Kenya Barris makes his directorial debut in this movie that appears to star too many funny people. We’ve got Eddie Murphy and Jonah Hill (who plays one half of a couple completed by Lauren London) and Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Sam Jay to bring laughs. Also look for a hefty dose of Nia Long and David Duchovny, who plays a dad (bye bye, Fox Mulder and Hank Moody, who was a different kind of dad). The subject matter happens to be romance and cultural clashes, but fortunately, yes, there are many funny people here.
A horror-comedy set on an island where a fancy young couple has traveled to dine at a world-class restaurant led by a world-class chef who may have other things in store for them beyond your standard filets and Caesar salads. It’s… weird. But also surprisingly fun. Ralph Fiennes and Anya Taylor-Joy and Nicholas Hoult are out there — apologies for this awful pun but it had to be done — making a meal of it all. In a good way. Definitely in a better way than their characters do. It’s a good time. Just maybe don’t start it before dinner.
Coldplay added US dates to their expansive Music Of The Spheres Tour earlier this month, but they apparently have time to visit old stomping grounds in early February. Today, January 26, Saturday Night Live announced Coldplay will serve as the musical guest for the February 4 episode, which will simultaneously serve as Pedro Pascal’s SNL hosting debut.
Coldplay is so prolific that instead of promoting yet another return to Saturday Night Live, they’re busy opening up the presale for their September show at Rose Bowl Stadium in Pasadena, California:
The general sales for LA (Sept 30), Seattle (Sept 20), Vancouver (Sept 22) and San Diego (Sept 27) begin tomorrow, Friday 27th, at 10am local time. pic.twitter.com/q91PX9zfzM
Coldplay’s first appearance on SNL came on April 7, 2001 with Alec Baldwin as the host. The seven-time Grammy winners returned for Lindsay Lohan’s episode in May 2005, Jon Hamm’s episode in October 2008, Emma Stone’s episode in November 2011, Andrew Garfield’s episode in May 2014, and Kristen Stewart’s episode in November 2019 (as logged by Fandom). Their upcoming appearance will be their seventh, and per data collected by The Things in 2022, only a few musical guests have done the show more times than that.
Pascal won’t be overshadowed, though. The actor is currently the lead in HBO’s The Last Of Usand also stars in The Mandalorian on Disney+. Previously, he earned acclaim in Narcos.
Coldplay’s Music Of The Spheres Tour is scheduled to hit Sao Paulo, Brazil from March 10 to 18 and will snake through the UK and Europe before hitting North America in September.
Back in 2014, cello-playing brothers Emil and Dariel wowed “America’s Got Talent” audiences with their cello rendition of Jimi Hendrix’s “Purple Haze,” even becoming finalists for the season.
After getting invited back to participate in “America’s Got Talent: All Stars,” the duo once again rocked the house with an epic cover of “Take On Me.” This classic A-ha tune has been covered a lot, so the fact that these two gave it fresh new life is no easy feat.
However, judge Simon Cowell remained unimpressed.
While he admitted that “the track is great,” he ultimately dubbed the performers as “boring.” And when the two cellists shared that they were actually pursuing a career in dentistry, not stardom, Cowell became visibly flustered, even going so far as to mime stabbing himself in the chest with a pen.
“This is not enough. There must be a dream. Something that’s inspired you. You can’t just say, ‘I want to be a dentist,'” the judge lamented.
“Wow… We are so humbled by the heartfelt outpouring of support you have shown us since the airing of our performance on AGT All Stars,” the duo wrote. “[It] warms our hearts and reminds us why we set out to perform in the first place.”
While they explained how their story was “sadly cut in the edit”—leaving out an anecdote about learning to play cello and pursue the American Dream from their immigrant grandfather, as well as their intention to “light a spark of inspiration in the hearts of the kids that are labeled as ‘outcasts’ or ‘uncool'” through their music—the main purpose of their statement was to address Cowell’s “derogatory comments towards our lifelong dream of becoming dentists.”
It’s lengthy, but worth a read. They held nothing back.
“Dear Simon,
Hopefully, this message finds you well. The purpose of this letter is not to direct any negativity towards you, rather we hope this will serve as an eye-opener to the impact of your words. On Monday, January 23rd, the episode in which you called us out and went out of your way to belittle us for pursuing a career in dentistry debuted. On behalf of the outpouring of current and aspiring health care professionals from around the world who have reached out in response to your comments making a mockery of our choice to pursue a career in dentistry, we demand you take responsibility for your actions and issue a formal apology to the more than 700,000 dentists around the world who are committed to serving their communities.
Since we were little kids, aside from being classically trained cellists, we had the dream of following in our dad’s footsteps to become dentists. Coming from a family of three generations of dental professionals beginning in Kiev, Ukraine, this profession runs in our blood. This profession means more to us than a line of work; it’s our family lineage and calling. We are proud of our decision to pursue a craft that will allow us to positively impact people’s lives. The dental profession is hard at work every day with the mission of helping people attain the health and confidence they desire.
In response to why we decided to be a part of your show, we are well-attuned to the fact that you’re not searching for America’s Next Top Dentist. But you/your producers invited us, as finalists from Season 9, to perform among the ‘best of the best’ to share what we have been up to since the last time the world saw us. What an honor to be considered ‘All Stars,’ we thought. We presupposed this is far different from a typical AGT audition. After much deliberation, we ultimately decided to carve time out of our busy school schedules and perform due to the show’s wide reach with the hopes that someone watching us will think they too could feel cool playing an instrument that was never traditionally considered as such.
We love playing music together, especially rock n’ roll. Always have and always will. But we have no intention of making a career out of music. This may be atypical for someone in your line of work, but there are those individuals in the world who find a noble purpose outside of pursuing ‘stardom,’ not that there is anything wrong with that.
Please know this: Your words do not offend us, as they have no bearing on our life’s trajectory. They do, however, have weight and consequences on the decisions of young, aspiring health care professionals listening to you that may think twice about pursuing a noble career in caring for others. We are proud to be dental professionals and will not pretend otherwise, no matter how many times your producers attempt to rewrite our story. Above all, we are proud to dedicate our lives to building people up instead of putting them down. We were expecting that your disparaging remarks would make air, after experiencing the beatdown in person. But we did not expect the footage to be so heavily manipulated from what actually happened. Thankfully, most viewers saw right through that, but there are still those that place value behind what a man of your privileged stature says, which is why you, Simon, should consider thinking twice before you speak. Thank you for your valuable time.
Best wishes,
Emil & Dariel”
Perhaps they have a point. While it might not make for good television (which is entirely debatable), there is nothing wrong with having an artistic passion and focusing on what could be labeled as a more “humble” profession. Not everyone wants to make their art into a career. That doesn’t make the art any less important. And, as the statement pointed out, there is nothing undignified about wanting to help people. What’s really inspiring here isn’t Emil and Dariel’s musical talents, or even seeing them stand up for their beliefs. It’s that they have decided, no matter what they do in life, to be a force for good in the world. That’s an act that never gets boring.
At a time when Americans are struggling with historic inflation, rising housing costs and elevated gas prices, Walmart, the country’s largest private employer, has announced it’s raising its minimum wage to $14 an hour. The raise is roughly a 17% percentage jump for people who work on the floor of the retail giant.
Walmart has 1.7 million employees in the United States, 94% of which are hourly workers.
The decision doesn’t just benefit Walmart employees. In a country where the federal minimum wage is a paltry $7.25 an hour—and has been for 14 years—Walmart acts as a de facto minimum wage in some parts of the country, especially the South. The highest minimum wage in the U.S. is in Washington State where it’s $15.74.
Twenty states in the U.S. currently have the state minimum wage set at $7.25 an hour or less or have no minimum wage set at all.
In addition to the pay raise, Walmart is expanding its Live Better U program, which covers tuition fees for part- and full-time workers. It will also recruit employees to become truck drivers, who can make up to $110,000 in their first year.
The raise will also put pressure on other employers to raise their pay in areas where Walmart has a strong foothold in the labor market.
The raise will bring Walmart closer to other big-box retailers such as Best Buy, Target and Amazon, which all have a $15 minimum wage.
It’s interesting to note that, for the past decade, there has been a Fight for 15 movement in the U.S. to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour across the country. Although that movement has stalled in many parts of the U.S., the labor market has forced countless retailers to raise their minimum wages to near the magical number.
Walmart is giving raises even though the economy seems to be headed for a recession. But the tight labor market has pushed wages upwards.
Currently, there are 10.5 million job openings in the U.S. and 6 million unemployed people. The labor shortage of 4 million people has meant that employers need to keep their employees happy before they jump ship and look for greener pastures.
The move is also a positive development for Walmart, which has historically paid very low wages to workers, driving down pay across the country because it was such a massive employer. Ten years ago, the average hourly worker at Walmart made $8.81 an hour.
Now, things seem to be going the other way with Walmart being forced to raise its wages to keep up with its competitors.
“We’re proud to continue investing in Walmart’s legacy by introducing new job opportunities and raising pay,” Walmart’s president and CEO John Furne, told employees in a memo announcing the raise. “No matter where you are in your journey, getting your start here can open doors—the first step into jobs that become careers and build better lives. Thank you for all you do to serve our customers and communities every day.”
The beauty of single malt whiskey is that it can be from anywhere. While there are location-specific rules for some whiskeys — scotch needs to be made in Scotland, for instance — single malt only requires one common denominator. It has to be made with 100% malted barley. That means that when you take a global look at single malt whisky, you’ll find so many varieties that…well, it’s kind of baffling.
But we’re here to help. That’s right, folks, it’s time for another blind taste test.
Today, I’m lining up 8 killer bottles of single malt whisk(e)y from all over the world. I’m not looking for what’s cheaper but still good, just what tastes the best. Also, I’m not doubling up on any countries. I’m tasting whiskeys from Scotland, the U.S.A., Australia, Ireland, India, New Zealand, Japan, and Israel.
That makes our lineup today the following bottles:
The Dalmore Cigar Malt Reserve Highland Single Malt Scotch Whisky
St. George Spirits 40th Anniversary Edition Single Malt Whiskey
Starward Vitalis 15th Anniversary Limited Release Single Malt Australian Whisky
Waterford Irish Single Malt Whisky Heritage Hunter
Indri Single Malt Indian Whisky Trini — The Three Wood
Pōkeno New Zealand Single Malt Whisky Single Cask Double Bourbon Cask
The Yamazaki Single Malt Whisky Spanish Oak 2022 Edition “Tsukuriwake” Selection
M&H Apex Single Malt Whisky Small Batch Dead Sea
When it comes to ranking these fine whiskeys, it’s straightforward. “Does it taste good?” is important, sure, but how much depth does it really have? Does it take me on a journey? Is there a surprise that helps it stand out? I’m looking for both quality and complexity.
Sound good? Let’s dive in!
Also Read: The Top 5 UPROXX Scotch Whisky Posts of The Last Six Months
Nose: The nose is complex with a matrix of sticky toffee pudding spices — cinnamon, allspice, and nutmeg — next to dried red berries with a slight earthiness, a touch of salted toffee candies, and a whisper of vanilla wafers.
Palate: The palate opens with a chocolate maltiness next to a bowl of fresh and tropical fruits — pineapple, tart apples, sweet pears, plums, bruised bananas — with a mild nuttiness, sharp orange zest, and subtle winter spices.
Finish: There’s a light mustiness on the back end that leads to soft and moist pipe tobacco with a thin layer of orchard fruits and stewed figs.
Initial Thoughts:
Damn, this is delicious, and clearly The Dalmore. In a Scotch single malt tasting, this would be hard to beat. But there are some killers in this lineup so let’s see…
Taste 2
Zach Johnston
Tasting Notes:
Nose: The nose pops with a dark orange soda vibe next to a dark chocolate mocha latte, brown butter, salted caramel, and a hint of dry incense cut with red berries and more dark orange citrus.
Palate: Fancy Almond Joy mingles with walnut cake drizzled with dark chocolate sauce and spiced caramel next to a hint of pecan waffle, cinnamon-spiked apple cider, and a whisper of grilled pineapple.
Finish: The end is dry — think figs and prunes — with a blood orange citrus vibe next to dried woody spice and leathery old Fruit Roll-Ups and a twinge of toasted marshmallow.
Initial Thoughts:
This was nice and very different thanks to all that citrus. All that citrus kind of leads me to believe that this is an American single malt. It’s good… but a little on the thinner side.
Taste 3
Zach Johnston
Tasting Notes:
Nose: The nose opens with rich, buttery toffee candy next to rum raisins, salted dark chocolate bars, grilled pineapple, bruised apricots, and tangerine skins.
Palate: The palate leans into the raisin vibe with black-tea-soaked dates, stewed prunes, and mashed dried apricot next to tart red currants with a hint of mango skin and savory papaya.
Finish: That’s all countered by a mid-palate full of toasted coffee beans and creamy mocha latte notes next to a hint of dark and warm spiciness on the back of the finish with a dash of tart berry tobacco.
Initial Thoughts:
This is really good, classic, and bold malt. It takes you places and has serious depth. I like it a lot.
Taste 4
Zach Johnston
Tasting Notes:
Nose: There’s a sense of old black potting soil on the nose with a rush of freshly bailed hay, bushels of red apples, orange marmalade, and a whisper of fresh rain on slate roofs.
Palate: That orange turns into an orange upside-down cake with a cinnamon/clove caramel drizzle next to old prunes, oatmeal cut with raisins and brown sugar, salted butter, and a twinge of old cedar planks with singed edges and a faint echo of sage.
Finish: That sage leads to a green pepperiness and a hint more of savory green herbs with plenty of honey and dried fruits next to a final note of soft spice.
Initial Thoughts:
This felt a little all over the place. It’s very good but lacked focus for me. It’s also very Irish with those orchard fruits, oats, and honey.
Taste 5
Zach Johnston
Tasting Notes:
Nose: The nose greets you with a hint of Earl Grey next to rich toffee with a nice sense of apricot jam with a line of cinnamon and clove next to creamed honey and a touch of tangerine rinds and passion fruit-infused malts.
Palate: The palate opens with a sweet oakiness next to vanilla pods before a hint of bruised peach arrives and slowly boils down to fresh mango, seared pineapple, and a hint of pomelo pith.
Finish: The end dries out toward rummy macerated peaches and mango with a hint of dried banana leaves and warm brown spices.
Initial Thoughts:
This was very solid and felt damn near classic while still taking my palate on a journey with all that tropical fruit. I liked this a lot too.
Taste 6
Zach Johnston
Tasting Notes:
Nose: Old vanilla pods and dark cacao nibs mingle with honeysuckle, nasturtium, and old sweet oak staves with a hint of nutmeg, espresso, and creamed salted caramel filling out the deep nose.
Palate: That honeysuckle and dark cacao drive the malty palate toward a rich sense of malted cookies dipped in toffee candy and rolled in spice barks and dried red berries with a whisper of coconut tobacco lurking in the far background.
Finish: The finish leans into the spice barks and old sweet oak staves with a fluttering of seaside rocky brininess that somehow just works with the sweet and spicy malts, providing a lovely balance on the finish.
Initial Thoughts:
This is really freaking good. That brine on the finish comes out of nowhere and takes this to the next level.
Taste 7
Zach Johnston
Tasting Notes:
Nose: The nose opens with a medley of sultanas, dates, prunes, dried cranberries, and maybe some candied grape before veering toward a big umami note that’s halfway between a sun-dried tomato and a dash of powdered mushroom.
Palate: The palate opens with a rich sticky toffee pudding with plenty of winter spices, black tea-soaked dates, and almost creamy toffee next to orange oils and a hint of dark roasted espresso beans.
Finish: The end takes on a buttery vibe as creamy dark chocolate attaches to those espresso beans and a final hint of orange sneaks in late.
Initial Thoughts:
Shit, this is delicious too. This is a pure classic with a sense of perfectly balanced single malt whisky from the top to bottom. It never overplays its hand while offering serious depth the whole way through.
Taste 8
Zach Johnston
Tasting Notes:
Nose: There’s a sense of mocha lattes and spiced biscuits next to spearmint tobacco, cedar boxes, and a touch of orange dark chocolate balls all dancing on the nose.
Palate: The taste is subtle and builds layers of woody winter spices over coriander seeds, white pepper, and spearmint next to wet Earl Grey tea leaves, cinnamon-apple tobacco, and a sense of sweet and old oak staves.
Finish: There’s a light gingerbread sharpness to the finish with a hint of honey, cinnamon bark, and a flake of saltiness.
Initial Thoughts:
This is also very good. It’s unique for sure and has a wonderful balance thanks to the whisper of salt at the end.
This new release from whiskey-nerd-beloved Waterford out in Ireland is named after pioneering plant breeder Dr. Herbert Hunter. The initial grow for the barley for this whiskey was started with a 50-gram bag of Hunter barley. Over several seasons, they produced enough barley to fill 50 barrels of whiskey with the help of two other almost extinct heritage barley varieties, Goldthorpe and Old Irish. Finally, the whiskey in the bottles ended up being a blend of 45% first-fill ex-bourbon, 19% new American oak, 21% French oak, and 15% Vin Doux Naturel barrels (a Southern French sweet wine).
Bottom Line:
This was a solid whisky all around. On this panel, it just didn’t quite land and ended up being the thinnest pour.
7. St. George Spirits 40th Anniversary Edition Single Malt Whiskey — Taste 2
This very rare release from California’s St. George Spirits celebrated 40 years of distilling. The mash is made from St. George’s now-iconic recipe of 100% Two-Row barley that’s roasted to four different levels, creating pale malt, crystal malt, chocolate malt, and black patent malt that’s mixed with alder and beechwood-smoked malt from Bamberg, Germany. That juice is aged in ex-bourbon and French oak barrels before finishing in a combination of Cognac, apple brandy, house-made tawny port, sherry casks, California Sauternes-style, and umeshu barrels/casks. The latter was a barrel that held Japanese plum wine.
Very long story short (too late), those barrels are expertly blended to create this once-in-a-lifetime release.
Bottom Line:
This was a lot. It was very good whiskey though, so I’m not mad at it. I want to go back to this one and find more as it felt like a bottomless pour of flavors to find.
6. Indri Single Malt Indian Whisky Trini — The Three Wood — Taste 5
This whisky starts off with Six-Row malted barley grown in Rajasthan. The whisky is then filled into three types of casks — ex-bourbon, ex-wine, and ex-sherry casks — and left to rest through extreme temperature shifts from season to season, ranging from 120+F in the summer to freezing in the winter. That, in turn, allows for a lot of expansion and contraction of the wood, which lets the spirit have more direct contact and rest with/from the wood.
Bottom Line:
This was classic malt with a tropical fruit (almost hazy IPA) vibe. It didn’t go far beyond that so it’s ranked a little lower. That said, you won’t be disappointed if you reach for this pour. It’ll make a nice highball or cocktail while also shining over some ice.
5. Starward Vitalis 15th Anniversary Limited Release Single Malt Australian Whisky — Taste 3
This limited edition whisky from Australia’s biggest brand celebrates the 15th anniversary of the distillery. The whisky in this bottle commemorates the brand’s finishing program that made it famous. The whisky was blended from six different barrel types, focusing on tawny port, rum, bourbon, and Apera barrels between four and 11 years old.
Bottom Line:
Again, this felt like a stone-cold classic. It was really tasty, had serious depth, and took me somewhere. I can see sipping this neat or on the rocks and being pretty happy about it. The only reason it’s fifth instead of first is that it didn’t go beyond “classic.”
4. M&H Apex Single Malt Whisky Small Batch Dead Sea — Taste 8
Milk & Honey Whisky Distillery is putting Israel on the single malt map. This expression is their standard malt that’s wholly aged at the Dead Sea, the lowest place on earth. Besides the pressure and salt in the air, the temperature also takes huge swings from near freezing to above 120F, which helps accelerate and deepened the aging process.
Bottom Line:
This was just damn good whisky. Again, the malt was classic but didn’t wow. Drink it over some rocks, in a cocktail, neat — whatever floats your boat — and you’ll be in good hands.
3. The Dalmore Cigar Malt Reserve Highland Single Malt Scotch Whisky — Taste 1
This Highland whisky is a no-age-statement version of The Dalmore. The juice is made from Golden barley that grows on the island in the rich and very coastal soils. The ground malted barley is mixed with pure water from the Cromarty Firth nearby during the mashing process. After a couple of times through pot stills, the hot whisky is loaded into ex-bourbon casks, 30-year-old Matusalem Oloroso Sherry butts, and former Cabernet Sauvignon from the Saint-Estèphe appellation of Bordeaux. After 10 to 15 years, those barrels are vatted, the whiskey is proofed, and it’s bottled.
Bottom Line:
This is great whisky. It’s a damn near-perfect single malt. It’s pretty much the gold standard of unpeated Highland malt. The only reason it’s not number one today is that it’s only that and doesn’t really surprise or take you beyond being a classic whisky. So pour some in a Glencairn or over a rock or two and enjoy.
2. Pōkeno New Zealand Single Malt Whisky Single Cask Double Bourbon Cask — Taste 6
The New Zealand malt is made with local barley. That hot juice is then aged in first-fill bourbon barrels for just under 3 years before it’s re-barreled in fresh first-fill bourbon barrels for an additional six months of mellowing. One barrel was then bottled completely as-is for this special U.S.-only release.
Bottom Line:
This was the biggest surprise on the list. It had those classic malt whisky notes but went beyond that with the brine on the finish. It was fun and fresh while still delivering a really good whisky-tasting experience. I want to go back for more and find the other surprises lurking in that whisky’s deep palate and nose.
1. The Yamazaki Single Malt Whisky Spanish Oak 2022 Edition “Tsukuriwake” Selection — Taste 7
This Japanese single malt is all about marrying fine Japanese whisky with Spanish oak. The whiskies are aged exclusively in oak from Northern Spain. After the flavor profile hits the exact right depth, the barrels are vatted and proofed with a dash of water for bottling.
Bottom Line:
This is almost too good. It’s a perfectly balanced whisky that is just plain f*cking delicious. I want to drink this stuff every day and never have to think about which whisky to drink ever again.
Part 3: Final Thoughts
Zach Johnston
The top six whiskeys on this list are all killers. You’ll be in a good place if you grab any of those six bottles. Seriously. They’re all that good.
The bottom two entries aren’t bad by any stretch. They’re both complex and tasty. They just couldn’t quite stand up to the heights of the rest of the bottles on this panel today.
All of that said, I’d really try and add that Pōkeno New Zealand Single Malt Whisky Single Cask Double Bourbon Cask to your bar cart. It’s unique and delicious with a truly fun and fresh profile that’s surprisingly deep. And if you have the means, get some Yamazaki Spanish Oak. It’s really that good.
If there’s one thing Donald Trump never wants to be, it’s a loser. Ironically, however, losing seems to be the one thing he’s actually good at. That and possibly golf — though it’s hard to know for sure. For as many hours as the former president has spent on the links (and for all the tax dollars Americans have shelled out to Trump-owned golf clubs to pay for the Secret Service to follow him around in golf carts), the person who most often talks up Trump’s skills with a golf club is Trump himself. (Remember the hole in one?) But Trump’s latest golf accolade might be his most pathetic yet, as Jimmy Kimmel explained.
On Wednesday night, Kimmel poked some fun at Trump, a.k.a. “Bragger Vance,” who shared a major announcement on TRUTH Social that isn’t another NFT project. Nope, this time it was to boast about how he won the golf tournament at his own golf club… despite not even being there for an entire day. As Trump told his followers:
A great honor to have won the Senior Club Championship at Trump International Golf Club, one of the best courses in the Country, in Palm Beach County, Florida. Competed against many fine golfers, and was hitting the ball long and straight. The reason that I announce this on fabulous TRUTH is that, in a very real way, it serves as a physical exam, only MUCH tougher. You need strength and stamina to WIN, & I have strength & stamina – most others don’t. You also need strength & stamina to GOVERN!
“The only problem with this win,” Kimmel countered, “is that Fattyshack didn’t exactly play fair. He missed the whole first day of the tournament because he was in North Carolina paying tribute to himself at a memorial for his super-fan Diamond of Diamond and Silk. But he told the organizers of the tournament… ‘I played a strong round two days before the tournament,’ and he decided that would count as his Saturday score. So he started the tournament with a five-stroke lead. Which is like showing up at Mile 6 and claiming he won the marathon.”
You can watch the full clip above, beginning around the 2:15 mark.
Sometimes the best new R&B can be hard to find, but there are plenty of great rhythm-and-blues tunes to get into if you have the time to sift through the hundreds of newly released songs every week. So that R&B heads can focus on listening to what they really love in its true form, we’ll be offering a digest of the best new R&B songs that fans of the genre should hear every Friday.
Since the last update of this weekly R&B and Afrobeats column, we’ve received plenty of music and news from the genre’s artists. Beyoncé brought out Blue Ivy to perform “Brown Skin Girl” at a private gig in Dubai, which reportedly paid her $24 million and Kehlani brought her talents to Chicken Shop Date. Drake’s OVO Sound label signed its first alternative R&B singer in Naomi Sharon and Sudan Archives brought “Homesick” to The Tonight Show in an orchestral performance. Elsewhere, Frank Ocean signaled an album is in the works and SZA’s SOS continues to lead the album charts.
Here are some more releases on the new music front that you should check out:
Coco Jones — What I Didn’t Tell You (Deluxe)
Following her strong performance as Hilary in Bel-Air, Coco Jones released her What I Didn’t Tell You (Deluxe) EP to end 2022. A couple of months after its release, Jones extends the project with a new deluxe project. Four new songs, with one featuring Babyface, join the project which includes highlights like “ICU” and “Caliber.”
August Alsina — “Myself”
August Alsina released just three songs in 2022, those being “Shake The World,” Beautiful Way,” and “Lied To You.” Hopefully, he has more for us in 2023 and begins his run for the year with “Myself.” It’s an honest record that finds the singer staying true to himself and detailing the good and bad in his life.
Popcaan — “Great Is He”
At some point in the near future, Popcaan will release his fifth album Great Is He. He began the rollout for the project with last year’s “Next To Me” featuring his girlfriend Toni-Ann Singh. It continued with “We Caa Done” alongside Drake this year, and final single before the album’s release on January 27 is its title track which arrives as a euphoric and elevating outro for the album.
Nonso Amadi — “Ease Up”
Last week, Nonso Amadi teamed up with Savannah Ré for a remix of her song, “Closure.” This week, Amadi is back with an offering of his own in the form of his “Ease Up” single. He says the record is “a reflective song speaking about some of my experiences back home and the struggles of the average Nigerian youth based on issues with police harassment, day-to-day traffic in the cities, and the disproportional wealth gap between the average Nigerian and politicians.” He adds, “among all this, we just want to chill, relax, and have a good time – ease up.”
Mack Keane & ESTA. — “Super”
Singer Mack Keane and producer ESTA. are back it again. After releasing their sweet EP, Intersections, last spring. It seems like the duo could have more on the way. It starts with “Super” which details an ideal love that’s far from ordinary, which makes calling it “super” perfect.
Nil Bambu — “Incomplete”
It’s been a little while since Miami singer Nil Bambu released music to the world, with her last pair of records coming in 2017. However, with a new year ahead of her, she’s back to treat her fans and it kicks off with “Incomplete.” Bambu says of the song, “I wanted to sonically create a moment that people could feel when you’re so in love with someone, but you know it’s not working out. You know this is a bad idea, like it’s over, but that doesn’t deter or take away from the fact that you love this person.”
Joeboy — “Body & Soul”
Joeboy’s 2022 year was sprinkled with a few singles and features, but it wasn’t nearly as bustling as his 2021 year which was carried by the success of his Somewhere Between Beauty & Magic album. Hopefully, there is more in store for the afrobeats singer this year as he returns with “Body & Soul.” The passionate love song is the first offering from his upcoming sophomore album.
Minz is destined to have a breakout year in 2022, and based on the rising success of his “Wo Wo” single, he could fulfill that destiny. The Nigerian singer looked to give the song a boost with a new remix featuring BNXN fka Buju and Blaqbonez. The new guests slide with ease over the graceful production while adding a new flavor to the record.
Casper Sage — “Spinnin’”
On his latest offering, Casper Sage speaks from the heart and lets his feelings bleed on wax. “Spinnin” accounts for the cycle of life, love, and the journey of understanding your emotions. The singer is both somber and hopeful on the song, a feeling many might be able to understand. It follows last month’s “Is This Real Life?”
Aáyanna — “Can You Take It”
Avant Garden signee Aáyanna ended 2022 with her “Risky” and she’s beginning her new year with latest offering “Can You Take It.” The lustful single questions a new partner about their ability to handle her, both in the short-term for intimacy and the long-term for a possible relationship.
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
The seemingly endless web of lies spun by George Santos hasn’t affected his fledgling political career so far, but the newly elected congressman might not be able to get away with alleged fraud when it comes to his increasingly shady campaign finances. According to a new report, there was “blitz of amended Federal Election Commission filings on Tuesday” by Santos’ campaign after he admitted that the source of a highly dubious $700,000 loan was not personal. (Only candidates can loan money to their campaigns.)
However, Santos grew testy after being questioned by CNN about the nature of the loan and his campaign suddenly amending FEC filings. He denied that he had anything to do with the revised filings because it was handled by his “fiduciaries.” There’s just one small problem. Nobody knows who is in charge of handling Santos’ finances right now, and the new treasurer named in the revised filings denies accepting the job offer.
That kerfuffle took place after the FEC posted new statements of organization filed by Santos’ five federal political committees, including his campaign, claiming their treasurer, Nancy Marks, had handed the books over to another accountant popular among Republican officials, Thomas Datwyler.
But Datwyler’s attorney, Derek Ross, told The Daily Beast those filings were inaccurate, saying Datwyler had rejected the Santos campaign’s offer earlier this week.
“On Monday we informed the Santos campaign that Mr. Datwyler would not be serving as treasurer. It appears there’s a disconnect between that conversation and the filings today, which we did not authorize,” Ross said.
As for why Santos is having trouble finding a new treasurer to “clean up some of this mess,” unlike a candidate, a treasurer is in a world of trouble if they get caught filing shady paperwork.
“The treasurer is personally responsible for ensuring that paperwork filed with the government is accurate,” the deputy executive director for the Funders’ Committee for Civic Participation told The Daily Beast. “We know team Santos is in the crosshairs of the DOJ. While we don’t know the full range of the investigation, one of the most commonly charged statutes in campaign finance is a provision of the criminal code which prohibits anyone from knowingly falsifying, concealing, or omitting a known fact from the federal government.”
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