Month: September 2023

I know what you’re thinking: there is a very large elephant in the room and we have to address this. Saw X takes place between Saw and Saw II, but over the last two decades, the saw traps have gotten so complex, how on earth will the latest film make an adequate saw trap without utilizing 2010s technology? This is really what keeps people up at night. Along with the idea that you might wake up in an underground subway system with your tongue stuck in a metal contraption. Luckily, the people behind the movie knew what to do.

For Saw X, the producers wanted to bring it back to the basics that helped Saw become the iconic gruesome series that spawned 10 sequels. “We knew we wanted to make the traps less complicated,” executive producer Mark Burg recently told IndieWire. Surely anything will be less complicated than the Saw timeline.

Burg added, “We wanted to make traps that you could basically put together from Home Depot. At some point our traps got bigger and more complex, and we wanted to bring it back down.” That means no more laser traps, even though those looked pretty cool. Does Home Depot even sell lasers? What aisle were these guys looking in?

Since Saw X takes place sometime in 2004, the original Jigsaw was making these traps, and he wasn’t totally a professional yet. “As far as the traps were concerned, our main objective was to make sure that everybody believes that John Kramer made these traps,” Production designer Anthony Stabley said. “We wanted to make sure that it reflects the early Saw films.” That means MORE creepy clown doll on a tricycle and LESS Chris Rock! It seems like they have delivered.

Saw X is now in theaters.

(Via IndieWire)

Beyoncé’s Renaissance Tour has been a spectacle from day one — from the over-the-top looks that have since become internet legend to Megan Thee Stallion practically bursting with excitement to perform their hit song “Savage” at their Houston hometown show. With just one dates remaining after Wednesday night’s concert in New Orleans (Sunday at Kansas City will be the final stop), it looks like the Renaissance World Tour is all wrapped up… or is it?

It wouldn’t be a WORLD tour if it just did Europe and North America, now would it? Eagle-eyed Beyhive fans spotted a social media post that suggests that the next region due for a Beyoncé takeover is South America.

Is Beyoncé’s ‘Renaissance Tour’ Going To South America Soon?

According to a screenshot from Beyoncé fan account Ticketmaster’s Chile Instagram profile posted a cryptic image of a MacOS document folder titled “Eventos Ticketmaster 2024_Final” with a very purposefully chosen music tag: Beyoncé’s “America Has A Problem” remix with Kendrick Lamar. The song has since been removed but the post remains. Its caption reads, “Let’s start planning for 2024 If you knew the names this folder has ! What would you give to open this file ?”

It’s hard to tell if the fan account’s screenshot is 100 percent legit, but let’s say that it is; it wouldn’t be surprising for Beyoncé to have a couple of stops planned in places like Brazil, where her fanbase is as fervent as anywhere else. Meanwhile, we’re sure the Beyhive would love to get a look inside that folder for confirmation their fave is headed to South America. For now, we’ll just have to speculate while waiting for an official announcement — but I’d be willing to bet one is coming sooner rather than later.

The Rundown is a weekly column that highlights some of the biggest, weirdest, and most notable events of the week in entertainment. The number of items could vary, as could the subject matter. It will not always make a ton of sense. Some items might not even be about entertainment, to be honest, or from this week. The important thing is that it’s Friday, and we are here to have some fun.

ITEM NUMBER ONE – GIMME

The new season of Fargo premieres on November 21, which is nice because it’s been a long time since the wonderfully weird show has been on our televisions and it’s nice to have a firm date for its return, but it’s also terrible because that is like two months away and I WANT IT NOW. It looks so good. That’s not really a big surprise because every season of Fargo has been good and just littered with perfect casting and hilarious character names, which is all I have ever asked for out of a television show, but still. This season looks extra good.

Check out the first teaser that dropped last week:

What we have here:

• Ted Lasso star Juno Temple doing an incredible Midwestern accent
• Brandishing a gun that was hidden in her kitchen
• Holding a baseball bat with nails pounded through and sticking out of the barrel

This is good stuff. As is this, from a conversation with the producer about how excited he is about working with her and the character she is playing.

Temple, known for her comedic turns in Ted Lasso as well as her grit in The Offer, quickly emerged as the obvious choice for Dot, a seemingly innocent woman whose past comes back to haunt her after she gets in trouble with local authorities.

Sounds great. And I was already excited about it even before, well, this…

What we have here:

• Jon Hamm as a sheriff
• Stealing bacon off of someone’s plate
• Wearing a belt buckle that says “A Hard Man For Hard Times”

I have talked about some of this before. A lot, actually. I get really excited about Jon Hamm. As I do when I see stuff like this from that same piece about the upcoming season.

“Jon Hamm is Jon Hamm. Every actor should have a resume like that. I mean, remarkable,” Littlefield says. “Dot needs a great adversary to tell this story and we felt that Jon could really sing from that hymnal, that he could be that North Dakota sheriff who really, really bought into an entire world philosophy, a rigidity, and he has an ax to grind and so he is such a critical pillar in Dot’s story, the reveal of who she is, what is her past.”

And it all has me just really, really pumped for all of it. More pumped than I am for the new season of True Detective, which also dropped a new trailer this week. Fargo has always been just so good and weird in ways that no other show has been. It’s unique in a time where that’s been harder to do, just given the massive amount of stuff out there. And it has Joe Keery from Stranger Things as a character named Gator Tillman. That counts for something, too.

Fargo is coming back. This is good news. Let’s get jacked up.

ITEM NUMBER TWO – Let’s throw a party at Shrek’s house

Okay, facts first, quickly, via bullet point, because I refuse to risk ruining our fun with too much actual information:

• Airbnb is currently offering a free three-night stay in Shrek’s Swamp from October 27 to 29
• All you would have to pay for is the transportation to and from
• This has nothing to do with the offer but it feels like a good time to remind you that someone stole a giant Shrek statue earlier this year
• Let’s all put our names in here and throw a huge party in Shrek’s swamp

Details via Airbnb:

Located in the hills of the Scottish Highlands, Shrek’s Swamp is a stumpy, secluded haven fit for a solitude-seeking ogre… and for the first time ever, a handful of his biggest fans, thanks to yours truly. I’m swamp-sitting while Shrek’s away this Halloween, and I’m absolutely delighted to invite you in for a fairytale stay. Oh, and never mind the “BEWARE” signs. They’re probably for decoration.

God yes.

Let’s throw an absolute rager in the swamp.

Think about how fun this would be to explain to people for the rest of your life.

And it gets better…

Once you arrive and check-in, our on-site concierge will ensure a comfortable stay for you and your pals – including showing you around and arranging meals. Please note that toilet, sink and shower facilities will be located off-site, approximately 20 meters away from Shrek’s Swamp.

Two things are true here:

NUMBER ONE: This kind of deal should be offered for all popular movie characters, where you can stay in their house for a weekend, and yes I am already planning a barbecue at Dominic Toretto’s house

NUMBER TWO: The bathroom being “20 meters from Shrek’s Swamp” is hilarious and pretty much guarantees that someone is peeing in a corner of the living room.

Just a lovely series of developments here.

ITEM NUMBER THREE – I need you to get a real good mental image of this

People Magazine has a little interview with Arnold Schwarzenegger to promote his new motivational self-help book, which is already a hilarious collection of words, and you are welcome to go read it all, but I need to direct your attention to this specific exception from the whole thing about the time he punished his son — Patrick, star of the new The Boys spinoff, Gen V — by heaving his entire mattress out the window.

“I opened up the door to the balcony, picked up the mattress and threw it down with the bedsheets, the pillows, everything. I said, don’t ever make someone come in and clean your room, clean your shower or make your bed,” he shares. “I said, ‘Because I taught you how to make the bed.’ “

I’ve been thinking about this a lot since I read it earlier in the week and I think this is my biggest takeaway…

Imagine being Arnold Schwarzenegger’s neighbor and you’re stumbling outside in your robe all groggy one morning to grab the newspaper from your driveway, and suddenly you hear loud yelling — in Arnold’s voice, with his accent — and you glance over toward his house and see him shoving an entire mattress out of a second-story window. Think about how you would begin to process that. Really crank away on it in your brain for a while.

And then, when you get a good mental image of all that, sprinkle this in, too…

He also recalls contention with Patrick over his long, hot showers, telling his son, “It’s over, no more showers. Five minutes, one shower, and then that’s it and we’re turning it off.”

I honestly do not know if I’ll ever stop hearing the phrase “It’s over, no more showers” in my head in Arnold Schwarzenegger’s voice. You’re probably hearing it right now, too. It’s really delightful. “IT’S OVUH. NUH MOAH SHOWUHS.” That should have been the title of his motivational book. Or a ringtone you can buy for like 99 cents. Or both. Just tossing out some options here.

ITEM NUMBER FOUR – Let’s check in with Yellowstone…

CBS starting airing reruns of Yellowstone this month, mostly because hopefully now over writers’ strike left them in a bit of a pickle when it came to new shows to plop into the fall schedule, and two important developments have popped up. Important to me, at least. Which is all we are really focused on in this column. So… let’s get to them.

Turns out the show might be headed toward some trouble with the FCC over how often Kelly Reilly’s character, Beth Dutton, lights up a cigarette, which is not a problem on a cable network like Paramount but could be one on network television. Via Decider:

According to the FCC’s website, “stations are prohibited from broadcasting material that promotes certain lotteries,” including advertising the use of cigarettes. This standard is aligned with the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) Federal Cigarette Labeling and Advertising Act, which “prohibits any advertising of cigarettes and little cigars on radio, television, or other media regulated by the [FCC].” This targets major networks, such as CBS.

Which is honestly a little hilarious. As is this, from a report in Variety about Peacock attempting to use the Yellowstone re-airings to siphon off some viewers for themselves.

CBS sold national ad time during the program to rival NBCUniversal, which ran a spot highlighting the availability of the Western-themed drama series on its Peacock streaming hub. “Peacock has all episodes of ‘Yellowstone,’” the commercial says via graphics that appear over scenes from the program. “Stream every season now.” Peacock has streaming rights to the program, even though it’s produced by CBS parent Paramount Global, which first airs the series on its TV networks. “This is a declaration of war,” says one “Yellowstone” character at the end of the spot.

As Variety went on to note, this isn’t so much a VIEWERSHIP HEIST as it is a calculated decision by both parties, but still.

Running Peacock’s “Yellowstone” spots might augment Paramount’s revenue. If more people watch the series on the NBC property, executives there might want to extend their rights to the program. And since the CBS episodes are repeats, Paramount executives may have bet the show’s core audience has already watched them — and may be out there streaming something else.

And it appears to be working, too, as a follow-up report revealed both the viewership numbers for CBS and Peacock are through the roof. So there’s really no bad news here. Unless Beth Dutton and her smoke breaks don’t also lead to a spike in tobacco sales. Although, I mean, there would be something funny about that, too.

Lots to consider here.

ITEM NUMBER FIVE – Okay, yes, I’m in

Some notes:

• This is the trailer for the upcoming film Argylle, from the director of the Kingsman movies, Matthew Vaughn
• It looks weird and fun as hell
• It features the song “Suspicious Minds” by Elvis Presley, which rules and should be in most, if not all, movie trailers

Look at this.

The trailer offers more clues as to the plot of Argylle. We learn that Argylle is a fictional super spy dreamed up by introverted writer Elly Conway, whose life is turned upside down when her new book is a little too close to the truth for some real-life spies who begin to hunt her down. Oh, and her cat is along for the ride.

And look at this cast.

Argylle‘s all-star cast includes Henry Cavill, Bryce Dallas Howard, Sam Rockwell, Bryan Cranston, Catherine O’Hara, John Cena, Dua Lipa, Ariana DeBose, Samuel L. Jackson and Dua Lipa. The film is Brit music superstar Lipa’s second feature, after she made her debut, alongside Cena, in Barbie.

And look at what Dua Lipa says in the trailer.

Yup, I’m in. I’m not a complicated person.

READER MAIL

If you have questions about television, movies, food, local news, weather, or whatever you want, shoot them to me on Twitter or at [email protected] (put “RUNDOWN” in the subject line). I am the first writer to ever answer reader mail in a column. Do not look up this last part.

From KW:

Out of all the crazy local news stories I’m sure you get sent every week, I mean I’ve sent you several over the years, what does it take to end up in THE RUNDOWN? Is there a criteria to be included? Thank you for your time I’ll hang up and listen.

I wish I could tell you there is a science to this. It’s more of a feel thing. You know I love a good heist story, so there’s always that. But, in the absence of theft or something silly or notable, good factors to consider are:

• Animals
• Something openly preposterous
• My beloved Philadelphia sports franchises

All of which, conveniently, brings us to…

AND NOW, THE NEWS

To Philadelphia!

A Philadelphia Phillies fan and his emotional support alligator, Wally, were denied entry into Wednesday’s game against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Hmm. Yes. This will do nicely. Especially considering we also have a picture of Wally wearing a harness and a leash.

There is more background here, as I discovered by googling all of this and finding a story about Wally and his owner from a few years ago.

A man who answered an e-mail from a reporter about Wally from the website Service Dog Registration of America said, “Our therapist would never approve a client to have an alligator as an emotional support animal. ”

Henney’s doctor did.

“My doctor wanted to put me on depression medicine, and I hate taking medicine. I had Wally, and when I came home and was around him, it was all OK,” he said. “My doctor knew about Wally and figured it works, so why not?”

I have two conflicting thoughts here:

THOUGHT ONE: As someone who also has a disability (spinal cord injury, power wheelchair, the whole deal), it bums me out a little to see the kind of stories where a real and useful thing like support animals can be seen as silly and frivolous

THOUGHT TWO: If this guy and his alligator are happy, good for them.

I dunno, man.

The stadium’s policy on support animals on the Phillies official website states: “Certified service dogs or service dogs in training for guests with special needs are welcome. All other animals are prohibited.”

This is what I mean. It is all very confusing. I would not like to pay for a ticket to a baseball game and be seated next to a man with an alligator. But I did like seeing that picture of an alligator on a leash, though. Lots of difficult issues to process in this story.

In conclusion, go Phillies.

Michael Oher just scored a significant victory in his legal battle with Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy. The Memphis couple’s adoption of the now-former NFL star was the subject of The Blind Side, a best-selling book by Michael Lewis that became a smash when it was adapted into a film starring Sandra Bullock.

However, Oher recently revealed that the he was never actually adopted by the Tuohys, but instead, entered into a questionable conservatorship that he claims allowed them to profit off his story and enrich themselves along with their biological children. Oher has since taken the Tuohys to court where Probate Court Judge Kathleen Gomes not only terminated the conservatorship, but openly questioned how it even existed in the first place.

Via Associated Press:

Gomes said she was disturbed that such an agreement was ever reached. She said she had never seen in her 43-year career a conservatorship agreement reached with someone who was not disabled.

“I cannot believe it got done,” she said.

Oher and Tuohys listened in by video conference call but did not speak. Lawyers for both parties had agreed that the agreement should end, but the case will continue to address Oher’s claims. Gomes said it should have ended long ago.

The Tuohys have denied Oher’s claims that they “enriched themselves at this expense” and have referred to his accusations as a “shakedown.” The couple also claims that Oher knew about the conservatorship, and that it was only used to get him into University of Mississippi by making him part of the Tuohy family “in some fashion.”

(Via Associated Press)

The red envelope is officially a collector’s item.

“In 1998, we delivered our first DVD. This morning, we shipped our last,” Netflix wrote in a post on its website. “For 25 years, we redefined how people watched films and series at home, and shared the excitement as they opened their mailboxes to our iconic red envelopes.”

Over five billion DVDs were shipped during that time, beginning with Beetlejuice and ending on the Coen Brothers’ 2010 remake of True Grit.

“It’s sad when you get to the end, because it’s been a big part of all of our lives for so long,” Hank Breeggemann, the general manager of Netflix’s DVD division, told the New York Times. “But everything runs its cycle. We had a great 25-year run and changed the entertainment industry, the way people viewed movies at home.”

The most-rented DVD during the red envelope era? The Blind Side (maybe not the best choice), followed by Crash, The Hurt Locker, The Departed, and The Bucket List. All five of those movies came out between 2005 and 2009, when Netflix was at its physical media peak. The streamer also shared that “over the last 25 years of red envelopes, Morgan Freeman and Cate Blanchett were the most rented actor and actress.” Their most popular DVDs were The Bucket List and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, respectively.

Lydia Tár ain’t streaming anything on Netflix. She’s ride or die for Criterion.

(Via Netflix and the New York Times)

The latest trend in horror is no longer slashers or poltergeists, but how capitalism is slowly trying to kill you. This isn’t new, of course, but now we just have fun new ways to spin it. This is evident with Hulu’s new sci-fi thriller The Mill, not to be confused with the 2013 Channel 4 miniseries of the same name (where a group of civilians work on a mill that was canceled before any sort of resolution!!!). But Hulu’s version looks nice too.

The Mill follows a businessman played by Lil Rey Howery (TSA officer Rod Williams from Get Out, so you know he has good comedic timing in horror movies) who wakes up not in a Saw trap, but instead in an old mill where he is instructed to keep working or else there will be potentially deadly consequences. Here is the official synopsis:

A successful businessman (Lil Rel Howery) wakes up beside an ancient grist mill situated in the center of an open-air prison cell with no idea how he got there. Forced to work as a beast of burden to stay alive, he must find a way to escape before the birth of his child.

The Mill also stars Pat Healy, Karen Obilom, and Patrick Fischler. The movie will premiere on Monday, October 9th as part of the most wonderful time of the year, Huluween. Check out the trailer above.

Crunchy tacos are one of fast food’s greatest snacks. They’re packed with flavor, small enough to add to any order, and cheap enough to stack if you want to make tacos your whole meal. Have you ever hit up a Jack in the Box or Taco Bell at the end of the night when you’ve got a few drinks under your belt or taken a few hits to the dome?

The experience is culinary perfection! But I’ve got a complaint: fast food crunchy tacos aren’t fun enough.

The typical build on these things is pretty standard: cheese, lettuce, meat, and sometimes a sauce. We have burgers with bacon and fried jalapeños, chicken sandwiches with honey and pimento, milkshakes with Oreos, and yet… the fast food taco is pretty standard stuff. Have some, fun fast food brands! Mix it up for the people! Luckily, fast food brands are starting to catch on, which is why we’ve been getting some weird alterations that move things in the right direction.

Right now, those tacos are Taco Bell’s Doritos Locos taco — which combines the mild spice and intense flavor of Doritos with the zesty flavors of a Taco Bell classic — and Jack in the Box’s new Angry Monster Taco — a spicy remix of its OG crispy taco. But which one deserves your time and money? We found out by putting both to the blind taste test to see which is better tasting. I would’ve loved to blind taste test Taco Bell’s Flamin’ Hot Doritos Locos taco to see which is the spiciest, but alas, like everything good on the Taco Bell menu, this was only available for a limited time.

Let’s hope the Doritos Locos has what it takes to compete with a spicy taco!

Methodology:

Given that this was a taste test that only involved two tacos, it was probably the simplest fast food blind taste test we’ve ever conducted. Jack in the Box and Taco Bell are both relatively close to one another in my neighborhood, so I was able to pick up both tacos and get back home in a matter of minutes. Next, I photographed each taco and had my girlfriend serve me one of each at random while I wore a blindfold.

Unlike most blind taste tests, where I only take a few bites, I decided to eat the entirety of both tacos — which really gave me an opportunity to sit with the flavors of each. Here are the results:

The Spicy Taco Taste Test:

Taste 1:

Zesty and beefy with nutty cheese notes that help elevate the flavor with an umami finish that makes this simple taco come across as incredibly savory. There is a satisfying combination of flavors here, every element seems to complement one another. I’m not getting a lot of heat though, which has me thinking this is the Doritos Locos. But after a few bites, I did start to experience a mild warming on the palate.

My hunch says Taco Bell but we’ll see.

Taste 2:

I’m not… getting a whole lot of flavor here. The meat is soft, almost more of a mush than something you can bite into, the lettuce provides some texture, the cheese tastes one dimensional (salty), and overall I’m getting more shell than anything else. At first bite, I was once again not getting any spice but a burn started to develop on the aftertaste and grew throughout the taco. My guess is that this is Jack in the Box because the spice is more at the forefront and from what I can tell that’s what’s “angry” about the Angry Monster Taco. Though, to be fair, someone also being angry about the fact that their meal isn’t very good is also conceivable.

The Spicy Taco Ranking

2. Jack in the Box — Angry Monster Taco (Taste 2)

Although I wasn’t 100% sure, I was right, Taste 2 is the Angry Monster Taco. The only thing this taco has going for it is the size (it’s incredibly long) and that spicy shell, everything else inside the taco is downright inedible. Again, these tacos are best enjoyed when you’re under the influence of something, so I wouldn’t write this taco off completely — there might be a situation where it hits the spot — but a sober mind and a palate will not be impressed.

I applaud Jack in the Box for mixing it up a bit, but until the ingredients of this taco are better, it’ll always be inessential.

The Bottom Line:

Get it if you’re drunk/high and curious, but there is absolutely no reason to get Jack in the Box’s Angry Monster Taco otherwise.

1. Taco Bell — Nacho Cheese Doritos Locos (Taste 1)

As far as I’m concerned, this taco has earned its permanent menu status. The Nacho Cheese Doritos Locos taco started as a gimmick and I’m totally convinced this taco was made by some stoner at the Taco Bell test kitchen who smoked a joint in the parking lot and thought “What if our taco was… a Dorito?” and then they made it happen. And unlike most gimmick foods, this totally f*cking works.

I don’t like it as much as the original Taco Bell taco, but I appreciate that Taco Bell is at least doing something out of the box. Now, please, Taco Bell, step it up and go really crazy — Why not a Dorito Locos taco fried in birria consommé, or bring back the Double Decker taco and smear some beans on the outside of the shell and wrap it inside a flour tortilla, or just, you know, bring back the Flamin’ Hot Doritos Locos taco.

Taco Bell is on the right path, they just need to get more experimental.

The Bottom Line:

Taco Bell wins this round no contest. Though it’s not exactly what we want it to be, at least the Doritos Locos taco is doing something to the average fast food crunchy taco build. We only hope they’ll do more.

Lil Uzi Vert’s The Pink Tape Tour isn’t set to kick off until next month. However, one of their pop-up performances revealed what the “Endless Fashion” rapper has in store for fans. During their set at Listen Out Melbourne 2023 on September 29, Lil Uzi Vert gave the crowd insight into their highly anticipated project, Luv Is Rage 3.

Days after rolling out their chart-topping album, The Pink Tape, Lil Uzi Vert shut down rumors that a deluxe album would be shared soon. Instead, Uzi confessed they would “drop a whole new album.” That album might be Luv Is Rage 3.

While onstage, a fan grabbed the musician’s attention, which prompted the confession. In the video clip captured by a concertgoer, Lil Uzi Vert can be heard saying, “Yeah! I’m about to drop ‘Luv Is Rage 3,’” in response to a fan in the crowd’s question.

Uzi added, “You know I only drop ‘Luv Is Rage’ when my heart is hurting. It’s about that time. But you know, right now, ”

The anticipation for the project was only intensified when the official X (formerly Twitter) page for Rolling Loud posed the question, “Luv Is Rage 3? ”

No further information is known about Luv Is Rage 3. But with a vault of over 1,500 songs, it should take Lil Uzi Vert long to assemble something when they are ready to.

Lil Uzi Vert is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Monaleo makes her UPROXX Sessions debut this week with her new single “Happy Birthday” (alternatively known as “Crying On Your Birthday”). We also see the return of props, as Monaleo brings a party horn and hat to her session to really complement the theme of her song.

Flipping the well-known tune of “Happy Birthday To You,” Monaleo delivers what she calls “an empowerment song I wrote to denounce the stigma against all girls crying on their birthdays. Whether it be because your man didn’t do what he was supposed to, the plans aren’t going right, your outfit didn’t come in. Whatever it is that’s causing you not to enjoy the only day that’s supposed to be about you, shake it off! ‘Crying On Your Birthday’ is a fun, hype song to play on your birthday or any day that you aren’t feeling like the amazing woman that you are.”

The Houston rapper had a big viral moment a couple of years ago with “Beating Down Yo Block,” her breakout single which racked up nearly 30 million views on YouTube and over 35 million streams on Spotify. She carried that momentum through to 2023 with the Flo Milli collab “We Not Humpin’ (Remix)” and a tour with the Alabama native. In May this year, she released her debut album, Where The Flowers Don’t Die, again collaborating with Flo Milli.

Watch Monaleo’s UPROXX Sessions performance of “Happy Birthday” above.

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

I grew up with a mom who is a storyteller. I come from that community, and people call it “folklore,” and I understand why that word exists. But those are all real stories and they are told in the way that they’re told so they can survive generations… That’s what I feel like is one of my biggest goals, how do we keep this going beyond this moment?

-Brenda Equihua

For Brenda Equihua — founder and main creative force behind the eponymous label, Equihua — fashion is about more than product. Sure, every brand would like to claim that same philosophy. But few truly embody it.

Brenda Equihua does. A graduate of NYC’s famed Parsons School of Design, the designer lives and breathes fashion, using it as a tool to express herself, convey a larger message, carry and reinterpret history, and, most importantly, to question both herself and the gatekeeping “powers that be.” Whereas most brands think about the now — what’s trending and how to capitalize on it — Equihua makes moves that have the past, present, and future in mind.

Her designs aren’t just an exploration of Latin culture, they’re a window into her soul. A close study of her work reveals a designer who is thinking deeply about how you can continue an ages-old story as told through design and to push that narrative somewhere new. In a world of fast fashion and disposable design, it’s a breath of fresh air.

This is why Equihua has quickly become one of our favorite fashion brands in existence. This is why we celebrate the brand. This is why we think the company’s namesake designer is one of the most vital voices in the landscape.

Equihua first gained prominence with outwear inspired by San Marcos’ style cobijas. Since the brand’s inception, it has continued to evolve offering luxury streetwear filtered through an unapologetically Latinx lens. The best Equihua pieces tell stories, conjure memories and transport you to another place and time.

We linked up with Brenda Equihua to talk about what the brand has been up to, how she uses fashion and design as a storytelling device, and the power of embracing your soft era.

***

The brand is famous for repurposing the Cobija from a comfort blanket to a luxury jacket. Why was it important for you to take this piece of heritage and turn it into something for a new generation?

I think at the time the idea came into my mind, I had really been thinking about what my purpose in this industry was. There are so many fashion designers, why me? What do I have to say and contribute to an industry that’s so overly saturated?

I think overall it was just me asking myself, what do I want to manifest into the future? What are the things that I don’t want to see lost? What are our collective memories that I want to preserve and how do I want us to remember them? And what angle can I add to this that’s going to further amplify what we already know and what we’re familiar with?

That’s the main thing I really wanted to do. The San Marcos Cobija was, to me, one of the most iconic things because it’s not only tied to our memories but it’s also visually striking and it has feelings associated with it. So to me, from a sensory part, it touched on all of our different senses. If you think about it, also, there’s scent involved right after the Cobija gets washed. That Cobija smell of it, it smells like softener. So there are so many different elements about those memories that I think on a collective level tap into our memories and all the different senses.

For me, that was just really important. It was perfect, and I couldn’t have asked for a better medium to work with and to have conversations with.

When I first found out about the brand one of the things that struck me about it was the maximalism of it, compared to what else was out there. Obviously, the main hook was this connection to my own childhood but the maximalism really stood out because minimalism was the prevailing trend at the time. Now that the fashion world seems to be embracing maximalism, do you feel like things are catching up to your vision?

Gosh, you can’t really talk about trends and aesthetics and things that fashion pushes forward without really talking about who the people that have been behind those conversations, and the gatekeeping behind it, are.

When I think about what we’re doing, I don’t even think about it as maximalism. I think of it as just how we live. We’re just now in a position where there’s no middle person to stop us from the things that we want. Stop us from seeing and wearing the things that we want.

I think that I came from a very traditional fashion background at Parsons, and when I was at school, it was all about minimalism. And Francisco Costa was out at Calvin Klein, it was Narciso Rodriguez, it was Raf Simmons at Jil Sander.

It was just extremely streamlined, and we were being trained to pretty much design like that. It made me very uncomfortable because I felt like the whole purpose of me doing what I was doing was to express who I am.

I think we’re very expressive as a community, not only in the things that we wear but in the ways that we speak. And for me, I guess the category of it being maximalist I feel like that’s an outsider’s perspective of what our experiences are. To us, this idea is normal.

In our world we have Cobija and colorful things, that’s just what we grew up seeing. That’s what our houses look like. That’s our life. Only when we’re drawing comparisons does it become maximalism.

So it didn’t feel so much subversive as true to your identity and where you come from?

To me, it felt normal. People talking to me about minimalism, that didn’t feel right. I shouldn’t say that because I do have the ability to express myself in that way, but to me, the idea that minimalism was the thing that we should be striving for, felt very foreign to me.

Even if you think about the way we acquire things. Coming from an immigrant community, people keep things. They treasure things. If someone gives you something, we have such a thing called recuerdos [Spanish for “memories” in this case, like an heirloom], we go to a party, somebody makes something and they give it to you for you to keep, and your mom keeps it forever.

That’s the culture that we grew up in, is just treasuring things and acquiring things. And sometimes it’s not related to aesthetics, it’s related to feeling.

I wanted to talk about some of the more recent Equihua pieces, specifically the inspiration behind the Terrestrial Activities camp shirt, and Mermaid Home Girls. I feel like it’s showing a more playful side of the brand.

I feel like I’ve really been tapping into my inner child and finding a lot of comfort and peace there. On a collective level, a lot of my friends and people that I know, we’ve all been in that frequency.

The stories are kind of personal even though they’re not being expressed that way. Over the last couple of months, we have been engaging in “terrestrial activities” collectively as friends. I’ve noticed that there’s a shift to that. There are more people having kickball meetups and people are playing pickleball, which is a more, I guess, playful, version of tennis. I don’t even know how to phrase it…

Right, it’s less competitive.

It’s chill tennis, and so people are in their soft era. And the softness to me is also tied to childhood, having that sense of freedom. For my birthday, we played a game of kickball and people had a really good time.

One day my friend was having a barbecue and we were all just playing catch, and it was just a bunch of 20 and 30-year-olds just throwing a ball around at Elysian Park.

A lot of these memories are things that I’m doing and things that I’m noticing on a collective level.

I feel like even though the story of the Marcianos… it’s aliens. I feel like it’s very relatable. You can anchor into that world. Even with Mermaid Homegirls, there’s so much more tied to it than the funniness.

I think it’s very Mexican to incorporate humor into serious topics, right? That’s the nature of the Ex-Votos too, which is what these are inspired by, very serious things that are illustrated in ways that are funny with funny stories, but behind all of this is real life.

On the other end of that is the Origins collection. Can you talk about Origins and the concept of what you call “portal wear?”

Origins is a project that I’ve been working on mentally since 2017 or earlier when I started to do the research of San Marco Cobijas.

My research showed me that the blankets were no longer produced in Mexico. And that was a very painful reality, I remember thinking, “Wow, I didn’t know this. And there are probably so many other people that don’t know this,” we all think we’re buying San Marcos blankets and it stopped being San Marcos a long time ago, and the blankets are being made somewhere else.

Ever since I’ve heard that I wanted to take the story back to Mexico, and I finally had the opportunity last July to go to Mexico and start the sourcing process and look for blankets that I felt would be able to bring that story back, but also into the future. My goal was to bring the story back to Mexico.

When I found the Aztec calendar, I was like, “Oh, shit. The story can go further than Mexico… before it was called ‘Mexico.’” So the blanket was pretty much telling me what it wanted to become. It was like, “Hey, let’s tell this story. Let’s really go back.”

The story evolved from there, I was thinking about how to make this image, which we’re all super familiar with, we’ve seen it done so many ways, the Aztec calendar, we’ve seen it on ponchos, we’ve seen it on art, we’ve seen it in homeware. We are very familiar with this calendar as a community.

So I’m always thinking how can we translate this in a way that is new, that is futuristic? And so usually for me, that means combining it with something sort of unconventional.

I think the more predictable thing would’ve been to cut it into a poncho or something. But I was like, what if we took this super regal imagery and put it into these silhouettes that are considered workwear? We need this workwear that’s so totally elevated that it’s almost unrecognizable. And that’s how the Levi’s silhouette jacket and the Levi’s inspired pants, those silhouettes, came into play.

And then the story just started to evolve from that. I was thinking a lot about the world where we are and what is the messaging. What if the lightworkers from the future came to visit us? What sort of things would they want to remind us of?

In my mind, I imagine they’d be like, “Hey, stop fucking shit up. Y’all have to do better as a society. We’ve lived through this and we’ve seen the world destroyed this many times. It’s in the calendar, we have sacred knowledge and we want to share that with you.”

And ultimately what that led me to was this idea of when are we our best selves historically? When we’re kids, we’re so innocent and we’re so precious and beautiful, and we are so curious about the world. If we’re lucky, because every child doesn’t grow up the same, and some children have to grow up to find that in their adulthood. But the story is also about that too.

It’s about taking that spirit of when we’re kids, we know what’s right. We know hurting someone is bad. We know love at its purest form. And I think that if we remember that more, we would just be better to each other and we would treat nature better. We would just be better humans. And if we believed in our superpowers the way that we did when we were kids… when you said you were the Blue Ranger, you thought that no one could tell you otherwise.

“No, I’m the Blue Ranger.” You would go to war over it. “I’m the Blue Ranger, and I have the power and the ability to be this giant force.”

And when we become adults, we lose that and just subscribe to these things that are detrimental to our society. If we remember to keep that part of ourselves to continue to connect to that, I think that we stand a chance. And that’s what Origins became.

When I went back to Mexico, there was a message there for me. I didn’t realize what I was going to find there. And it ended up being a treasure. It was a message. And so I feel very lucky to be getting these downloads. And the story of Origins for me is really about hope and about remembering.

I like the story of that and the juxtaposition between something spiritual and workwear, it feels like a cool evolution of the brand, especially because Equihua started with the hoodies, which were inspired by the Cobija blankets. Which I think both represent comfort. It deepens it and has a historical angle to it.

What other kinds of stories do you think you’ll tell in the future?

I think that all of these things are determined by observations.

I’m very lucky to be very, very closely connected to the community, and to the people that are directly supporting the vision. And I think a lot of the inspiration and the things that we decide to do and to touch on are also the conversations that we’re having with them. Sometimes I’ll just ask things on my Instagram Stories. I just want to know how people are doing, what’s happening in your world, and how are you feeling. It helps me to understand people better.

Conversations I’m having with friends. Questions I’m asking myself, things that I’m curious about. But in the future, it’s going to be driven by the same frequencies that led me to the San Marcos and the Origins, and the Ex-Votos.

It’s not easy for me to describe what I do, to be honest with you, but I think a lot of it is just me being curious about something and how I can share this story in a way that feels relevant to today and the future.

I grew up with a mom who is a storyteller. I come from that community, and people call it ‘folklore,’ and I understand why that word exists. But those are all real stories, and they are told in the way that they’re told so they can survive generations… That’s what I feel like is one of my biggest goals, how do we keep this going beyond this moment?

Beyond this being a shirt, what happens when we engage in this sort of format and what conversations does it mean people are having with each other?

Take the Ex-Votos alien story, someone could be wearing that shirt, and maybe someone looking at it and say “Oh, that’s a cool shirt.” “Oh, it’s actually an Ex-Votos-inspired shirt.” ‘Oh, What is that?’ That creates a dialogue and now the story’s made its way to someone else.

So for me, it’s really about preservation and creating heirlooms through memories. When we think about the things that we want to keep or the things that you have that don’t really have “value” to other people but have value to you it’s because there’s a story behind it or a memory.

I feel like I want to do more collaborations because I want to be able to tell these stories in formats that are bigger than what we currently have access to because we’re such a small brand that our stories can only be told right now with the resources that are in front of us. And I feel like if we partner with the right brands or if we just have the right partnerships, we’ll be able to really do more with it.

I’d love to do films and also a sneaker collab and tell a story with that. I feel like we can incorporate a lot of what we’re doing into so many mediums. I think what’s next for us is we have to be realistic about where we are and not be afraid to ask for opportunities and ask for help in amplifying what we’re trying to do. And that’s something that I’m trying to get better at.

Would you say that conversation starting aspect goes hand-in-hand with the high-end handmade quality of everything that you’re doing? Because these pieces are ultimately used as storytelling vessels, it feels like the fact that they’re handmade and quality helps add to that longevity because they’re not throw-away pieces. This is stuff to treasure and pass down.

Yeah. I think that for me, making good quality things is natural. I have a training in luxury. I’ve always loved beautiful things ever since I was a kid. And that came from my mom and her loving going to garage sales and finding luxury brand treasures. So for me, making beautiful things feels like something that I’m made to do and that I love doing. I love the outcome of a good well-made product.

And really, when I say I want people to keep these as heirlooms, for me, I take that very seriously. We need to make beautiful things that people want to keep and have the stories behind them that really cement the idea that this is something you want to have forever.

I know this is bananas, but making good clothes is also about respect for me. I don’t want to disrespect you, and I know better because I know how to make good shit. Why would I give you something that’s trash, that’s disrespectful to you as a person that’s supporting me.

I think that speaks on respect for the environment as well.

Totally. I don’t want to make clothes that end up in a landfill. Even if it’s on a resale level, it’s being sold for three times the cost, but then eventually it leads to a landfill, then what is the point? I just don’t want this to end up in the wrong place.

I want it to be treasured and I want it to be passed down. And I know that we are doing that kind of work because I get direct feedback from the people who support the brand. I know what we’re doing is very special, and I take that very seriously. I literally think about the people who are supporting me not as consumers. I think of them as people who are supporting the brand and are choosing to do that. We need to respect who those people are, and we need to do things with love and intention because they deserve that.

How big of a challenge is that when it seems like people are increasingly looking for cheaper and cheaper clothes? Do you feel like your audience just has a completely different mindset?

It is a challenge for sure. Our people are out there. I know, but we haven’t reached not even 1% of the people who are for us. But it is a challenge financially because I understand why people cut corners. Doing things the right way, a lot of our pieces are hand-cut one by one. 90% of everything we do is cut literally one by one, even our scrunchies and our hoops, and we’re producing, I’d say 95% of everything in LA. And we source most of what we create locally, even if it’s an overseas product.

It’s very hard. It’s very challenging because we’re not making large mass-market units.

I don’t even know if the consumer needs to know this, or maybe they do, but people just don’t understand fashion enough. In terms of the way that it works and why you’re able to get something for $15 cheap from H& M and Zara. They are cutting millions of that product, which is why they’re able to get it on the cheap. They are negotiating. It’s not even just labor they’re saving on, they’re saving on material, they’re saving on shipping, they’re getting all the deals, all the tax breaks.

And in a small business, if I’m doing stuff made to order, I don’t have good negotiating power with the people that are creating the pieces, but I also have a fucking conscience because I’m close to it too. I go and I see who’s sewing it, and I actually care. And caring means that caring and capitalism are not best friends.

Not compatible.

They’re not compatible. And so that makes it very, very challenging. And we don’t have an investor, so everything that we make from ourselves goes back into developing new products and covering our overhead. We’re still educating people on what it means to make a garment.

It’s extremely difficult. That is our biggest challenge. I have a lot of these conversations with other friends who are in the industry and they tell me, “Well, why don’t you just price it what it is?” Pricing it what it is would mean that the coats are over a thousand dollars. And I’m like, that’s a whole other type of person that I’m speaking with. I fucking love the people that support me. Those are my friends. Those are people that when we have popups and when we are at ComplexCon and when I actually get to meet those people and we have open studios, I love them. I’m like, “These are the best people on this fucking earth.”

And the thought of pricing them out, it’s very hard for me. I’m like, “They want nice things too.” And I don’t know what the end result will be of what we’re doing. I know that it’s very hard, especially now.

But I know that this is a community that I am very connected to and I want to make it work. I want to be able to have these pieces be what they are and be able to have these conversations with the people that matter the most.

To me, I do feel like the people who purchase our products are people who genuinely care. They care about the planet, they’re engaged in community. They are looking after their neighbor. They’re the kind of people that are going to be there for you when shit hits a fan. And maybe that’s super naive of me. I live in a fantasy land but that’s how I see people.