Plenty of reasons exist (including projectile vomiting) for why And Just Like That… turned out to secretly be a horror show. The foremost reason on a lot of people’s minds, though, was an easy scapegoat: Che Diaz. The character, portrayed by Sara Ramirez, received a lot of backlash, and I actually (begrudgingly) enjoyed how the show decided to have fun with this non-binary character and make them interesting, rather than, you know, safe. Yes, Che was brash as hell and abrasive and I probably wouldn’t want to hang in the same room with them, but damn, Che made the first season worth it.
Well, Season 2 of the sequel show is on the way, although we didn’t receive any confirmation that Che Diaz (who decided to head outta New York to make a TV pilot) would return to further rock Miranda’s world. Now (and on this first day of Pride Month), Ramirez appears in a fantastic profile in Variety, and the piece is really worth a read. However, I want to point toward the confirmation from showrunner Michael Patrick King, who says that Che will definitely return, and get ready because added Che dimensions are on the way:
King himself is effusive when he speaks about Ramírez — and about Che. “One of my burning passions about Season 2 is Che,” he says. “I want to show the dimension of Che that people didn’t see, for whatever reason — because they were blinded, out of fear or terror. I want to show more of Che rather than less of Che. Like, really.”
I don’t know about you, but this is rather exciting news. More Che! Hey, if Che left the show, all we’d be left with is the shadow of a Peloton to make things feel layered. And we can’t have that. As for Ramirez, they told Variety that they didn’t take the pushback against Che personally. “I choose what I receive, right?” declared Ramirez. “I don’t have to receive everything! And this is Michael’s baby. He created this role. He wrote it. Those are his and his writing team’s jokes.” Hey, don’t call it a comeback for Che Diaz, but do read the full Variety piece here.
It’s not every day that an obscure relic from ’80s alt pop completely dominates the charts, takes over social media and becomes a Gen-Z approved cultural phenomenon more than three decades after its original release … all over the course of one weekend, no less. But Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill” has done it, thanks to “Stranger Things.”
The widely popular Netflix show has been bringing ’80s pop culture back into the mainstream since its premiere—particularly with things once considered very uncool, like Dungeons & Dragons. But “Running Up That Hill,” wasn’t just used to instill nostalgia or redeem something previously weird (although it does that too). The song plays a pivotal role throughout the season that audiences are responding to on an emotional level.
When a young girl named Max (played by Sadie Sink) becomes haunted by the death of her stepbrother Billy, she starts playing the song over and over again on her Walkman to process her grief.
The lyrics “If I only could, I’d make a deal with God, and I’d get him to swap our places” seem to perfectly encapsulate what she might be feeling under her generally tough exterior, and to some extent what anyone who has faced irrevocable loss might feel.
Bargaining, attempting to postpone pain by imagining these “what if” scenarios, is a stage of grief many of us find ourselves in. Though that isn’t necessarily the song’s original meaning, it just works in this context beautifully.
Later, that song is the very thing that saves Max from the evil alternate dimension known as the Upside Down. It pulls her mind away from the darkness and back to her friends, her world and herself. I think everyone has their own “Save Me From The Upside Down” song—a tune or even a whole album that connects them back to their humanity, which is why so many viewers were touched.
Funny enough, for me that lifesaving music is Kate Bush, so this whole moment is super vindicating. Is this what being a hipster feels like?
If you have somehow never witnessed the utterly dramatic, super eclectic, whimsical-yet-bonkers music of Kate Bush, you’re in for a treat. For some, her vibe was way too out there. In fact, according to Unilad, “Running Up That Hill” was even banned from MTV for being “too weird.”
For others, like me, Kate Bush was a spiritual experience.
Not only did it help me escape from otherwise dreary times to fantastical realms, nothing made me feel more encouraged to embrace my own nonconformity. During my teenage years, that was everything.
Below is the original music video for “Running Up That Hill”— complete with interpretive dance moves—just to give you a taste of Kate Bush’s genius.
Since it was released in 1985, the song has been covered numerous times by artists including Tori Amos, Tiffany and Placebo. But for the most part, it has been held in reverent obscurity by only diehard fans. The latest season of “Stranger Things” not only catapulted “Running Up That Hill” to No. 1 on iTunes, it has younger generations now obsessed with all things Kate Bush.
Even the bizarre way she pours tea has gone viral on Twitter.
Is it unsettling to see an artifact from your formative years suddenly be part of the public zeitgeist? Yes, it is. But mostly it’s delightful.
“Stranger Things” is at its heart a story that celebrates outcasts. From the beginning it’s made heroes of outsiders and helped younger audiences appreciate things older generations might have once held shame in loving.
Bush’s music is a flavor of uplifting weirdness the world could really use right now, and how thrilling it is to see its much-needed renaissance.
Sonic Frontiers is maybe the boldest direction SEGA has taken their mascot hedgehog yet. No stranger to trying something new, Sonic’s gameplay has changed many times since his jump to 3D, but never before has he been thrown into a fully open world. That is going to change with the expected release of Frontiers sometime in 2022.
With this change to open world, there have been plenty of questions about how SEGA planned to take a character who has always been in very linear games and put them into an expansive free to explore location. Also, how did they plan to keep Sonic’s iconic speed while also making this world feel large and fun to explore? On Wednesday, everyone got a chance to take a look for themselves at what was in store for Sonic in his next adventure.
Enjoy this small preview of Sonic Frontiers, and tune in all June long for the @IGN First cover story for more world-exclusive reveals! pic.twitter.com/iZhaFtSwio
— Sonic the Hedgehog (@sonic_hedgehog) May 31, 2022
There are two major details that stick out. The one that I personally noticed before anything else was that this looks like they just blew up a few Sonic levels, spread them out, and created a fun place to let Sonic traverse. Everything appears to be designed for constant momentum so the more skilled players will always find new rails to grind on, new speed ramps to run on, and towers to climb.
The other notable detail is that Sonic sticks out in a very odd way. The world has a hyper realism that Sonic’s cartoonish design doesn’t really fit into. Of course, anyone that’s been a fan of Sonic since the Sonic Adventure days probably doesn’t find this to be that odd. This artistic decision could be potentially off-putting, especially since the world itself doesn’t have the greatest graphics in the world. Fans that want their games to look as good as they play might not be happy with what we’ve seen so far.
Of course, this is only just a trailer and with no set release date yet there is still plenty of time for changes to be made to the game before its eventual release date.
The Boston Celtics are headed back to the NBA Finals for the first time since 2009, clearing a hurdle in the Eastern Conference Finals that caused them to stumble in three of the last four seasons. It will be the first Finals appearance for everyone on the roster, as the young, homegrown core of Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, and Marcus Smart finally shook off questions of whether there was a ceiling on how much they could accomplish together.
For these young Celtics, it’s a reminder of the importance of patience and timing, as the stars aligned for their run through the beasts of the East: an all-time 7-seed in Brooklyn, the reigning champs in Milwaukee, and the 1-seed in Miami. Their young core all took strides forward together, with Tatum leaping into an All-NBA slot, Smart becoming the Defensive Player of the Year, and Brown asserting himself as a secondary All-Star to fuel this run. Around them, other young players all coming into their own like Grant and Robert Williams, as well as new addition Derrick White.
Joining this group of all 20-somethings in their first Finals is Al Horford, who will turn 36 between Games 1 and 2. He is the oldest player of the team’s regular rotation by nearly eight years (Smart is 28) and as such brings a unique perspective and presence to the locker room. He was once like Tatum and Brown, a young player who had never seen a season end before the postseason, but where the young believe their time is inevitable, Horford is a reminder that Finals run is never a guarantee.
On Thursday night in San Francisco, Horford will see his name officially come off the top of the all-time list of NBA players with the most playoff games played without a Finals appearance. It will be the culmination of a journey in which Horford has always been a winning player — two championships in college, 14 out of 15 NBA seasons in the playoffs (his only blemish came last year on a Thunder team that actively did not want to make the postseason), and 12 out of 15 NBA seasons above .500 — but never got past the conference finals. Three times his season ended in the penultimate series, all three coming to an end at the hands of LeBron James’ Cavaliers, whose dominance over the East saw challengers rise and fall for a decade — his former Hawks teammates, Paul Millsap and Joe Johnson, will now assume the top two spots on that list.
The result of those exits is that Horford has found himself faced with the cruel truth of the modern NBA, where legacies are defined by championships, and being merely “very good” for a long time rarely garners the respect it should from the masses. This year’s Celtics run has been a reminder of everything Horford brings to a team, and also what most every squad he’s been on until now has been lacking.
Horford has improved his play from the regular season in every facet during these playoffs, stepping up in the absence of Robert Williams to become the switch-everything anchor of Boston’s hellacious defense that led them to the Finals. Against three unique challenges in the Nets, Bucks, and Heat, the Celtic defense has stood firm, in no small part due to the activity level of Horford, who has managed to maintain his frenetic energy level despite a gigantic minutes load of 36.8 per game (up from 29.1 during the regular season). Game 7 against Miami put his unique skillset on full display, as a pair of early defensive plays set the tone for Boston’s early run to a lead.
Horford blocks the 3-pointer Jaylen Brown finishes on the break
Since he came in the league, Horford has been an underrated shot blocker despite his size relative to other centers, because his timing and long arms for make him a tremendous rim protector. That coupled with his quickness allows him to contest shots all over the court, and Boston has unlocked another level of their defense by deploying him both as the center and at the four next to Robert Williams, taking advantage of his malleable skillset and switchability.
On offense, he has been a more efficient scorer at every level and a more aggressive shooter, shooting 50 percent from the field and 43.2 percent from three on 4.4 attempts per game in this postseason. His Game 4 performance in Milwaukee was the high water mark of this postseason, but throughout the playoffs, he has hit timely shots and provided some needed floor-spacing, particularly when Boston goes to its top defensive units.
None of this is particularly new for Horford — albeit his three-point percentage is his second-highest of his playoff career — but for one of the first times in his career, he finds himself only asked to do what he does best. Those early Hawks teams had an elite isolation scorer in Johnson but lacked the secondary creator or scorer these Celtics have in Brown, while the late-era teams had a great team concept but lacked the high-level isolation scorer like Tatum. The previous Celtics teams Horford was on didn’t have this version of either and faltered for it. The Sixers were the Sixers.
A perfect storm of internal development and timely additions has pushed Boston into championship contention, and it’s clear that Horford feels that difference. His energy level is not that of a 35-year-old and he looks like a different player than the one we saw the last two years Philly or OKC when he was appearing to slow down. As a result, he’s playing more minutes than he has since the 2011 postseason.
On a team full of younger players who surely feel these opportunities will be aplenty, Horford knows all too well how fleeting they can be and seems determined not to let this particular chance slip. While his young teammates glide across the court almost effortlessly, bursting with youthful exuberance and athleticism, you can see Horford gritting his teeth and pumping his arms, trying to get every ounce of energy out of his body, knowing there might never be a better opportunity to reel in that elusive ring.
His teammates can’t help but notice that and feel that sense of urgency themselves. As Brown noted after their Game 7 win in Miami, he was thrilled to see Horford get this moment, offering an appreciation for all the veteran big man has done for him and the team, on and off the floor.
“Nobody deserves it more than this guy on my right… I’m proud to be able to share this moment with a veteran, a mentor, a brother, a guy like Al Horford…”
Rising K-Pop group Aespa and SM Entertainment have announced a major global partnership with Warner Records, starting with their lead single “Life’s Too Short” set to release on June 24 ahead of their EP Girls – The 2nd Mini Album set to come out on July 8. By pre-saving Girls, listeners will also gain access to the sneak peek track “Illusion.”
“We are thrilled to be welcomed into the Warner Records’ family and so grateful to have them on board as we embark on our next chapter,” said Aespa. “We are excited for what’s in store, including the release of our new project, Girls – The 2nd Mini Album this summer and being named Apple Music’s Up Next artist!”
Aespa, comprised of Karina, Winter, Giselle and Ningning, made their debut live US performance back in April on the main stage of Coachella. In 2021 they reached a huge milestone upon the release of Savage – The 1st Mini Album, which reached the Top 20 of the Billboard 200 Albums chart, allowing them the claim of having the highest charting K-Pop girl group debut. Savage found its way onto ten other Billboard charts, so one can only imagine what is to come with Girls being powered by this new partnership.
Denzel Curry’s Melt My Eyez, See Your Future has been out for a little over two months now, and it’s considered in some circles to be among the best albums of the year. Now, after declaring himself the “best rapper alive,” he’s keeping the hype train rolling with a remix of his album’s lead single “Walkin” featuring one of Memphis’ hottest rising rappers, Key Glock. The new version of the song is said to appear on an upcoming deluxe version of Melt My Eyez which will also feature Denzel’s frequent collaborator, IDK.
Key Glock’s new verse finds the Memphis rapper ruminating on similar concepts to Denzel’s. He shares his philosophy of persistence in the face of adversity, which especially resonates in light of the recent murder of Young Dolph, one of Glock’s biggest supporters and best friends.
Denzel’s collection of collaborations has been growing lately, as in addition to teaming up with Slowthai and T-Pain on singles from his own album (“Zatoichi” and “Troubles,” respectively), Denzel also appeared on recent songs from Sampa The Great (“Lane“) and IDK (“Dog Food“). Denzel is also listed among the contributors to the upcoming soundtrack for Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis. Whether he’s the best rapper remains up for debate, but there’s no question that lately, he’s certainly been one of the busiest.
Over the past decade or so, a new Phoenix album has been hard to come by. The French group dropped Bankrupt! in 2013, which was followed a few years later by their latest release, 2017’s Ti Amo. The latter album’s fifth anniversary is actually coming up in a few days, on June 9.
It appears the gears are finally turning on something new, though, as today, the band shared “Alpha Zulu,” their first new song in two years, since 2020’s “Identical” (which itself was also at the time the band’s first new song in two years). The track has electronic influences and a pleasant groove that carries it along. A press release notes the song title and lyric come from “a phrase Phoenix front man Thomas Mars heard a pilot repeating over the radio during a turbulent flight in a storm. The urgency of the phrase stayed with him, and the band’s new song was born.”
It also says the band is “currently in the studio finishing up” their next album, which will be their first since 2017’s Ti Amo, and that “more information on this will be released soon.”
Fans will certainly welcome that news, as Phoenix is currently in the midst of their longest gap between albums, as they usually take four years or fewer to release a new project.
Tomi “Tammy” Lahren has said a lot of nonsense over the years, like when she compared flight attendants to Nazis for enforcing mask mandates or the time she called cancel culture the “most deadly and un-American threat” to the United States. (Guns are fine, though.) But if you were to do a Tomi Lahren Nonsense Power Rankings, her comments on Colin Kaepernick would have to rank near the top.
In 2016, Lahren criticized the then-San Francisco 49ers quarterback in videos for The Blaze (which she would later sue) and The Daily Show for kneeling during the National Anthem to protest racial injustice and police brutality. The far-right commenter would also later piss off the Beyhive by attacking “police-hating” Beyoncé for presenting an award to “America-hating” Kaepernick (never piss off the Beyhive), and post the Tom Brady of bad takes, tweeting, “Here’s a wild guess, if Tom Brady suddenly started sucking at football and was benched for a better starting QB, chances are he wouldn’t cry racism, wouldn’t kneel for the flag and anthem and pass it off as a social justice moment.”
But it’s her 2016 comments that got her a game card.
“I’m flattered,” Lahren tweeted, along with a photo of a Trivillennial (“The Trivia Game for Millennials”) card that reads, “In 2016, a video of conservative political commentator Tomi Lahren criticizing this person went viral.” The options: Kaepernick (who recently worked out for the Raiders), Donald Trump, Barack Obama, or LeBron James. As someone in her replies pointed out, “Well we know it wasn’t the white guy on the card.”
I wouldn’t be “flattered” if my “racist” rant made its way to a trivia game, but that’s just me.
Technically, Jada Pinkett Smith broke her silence on the Oscars slap heard ’round the world when, two days later, she cryptically posted to Instagram, “This is a season for healing and I’m here for it.” However, despite not leaning into the Oscars moment to promote the new season of Red Table Talk, Smith briefly dipped into the touchy subject during the latest episode of her talk show series.
While the episode was predominantly focused on raising awareness of alopecia (Smith suffers from the autoimmune disorder, which reportedly prompted Will to smack Chris Rock after he joked about her being bald), Jada made her lengthiest remarks about The Slap yet by revealing her hopes that her husband and Rock work things out. Via Variety:
“Now about Oscar night, my deepest hope is that these two intelligent, capable men have an opportunity to heal, talk this out and reconcile,” Pinkett Smith added. “The state of the world today, we need them both. And we all actually need one another more than ever. Until then, Will and I are continuing to do what we have done for the last 28 years, and that’s keep figuring out this thing called life together. Thank you for listening.”
As for the chances of Will and Rock reconciling, that’s probably a ways off. Not long after The Slap, Dave Chappelle was attacked on stage, and Rock later joined him for a surprise comedy show where they both joked about their similar experiences. After Chappelle joked that at least Rock got hit by someone famous, Rock went for a brutal burn on Smith. “I got smacked by the softest n—- that ever rapped.”
We’re thinking this situation probably some needs more time to cool off. Maybe check back after the summer.
Springbank is one of the most sought-after whiskeys in the world. Part of that is that Springbank is one of only three active distilleries in the tiny Campbeltown region of Scotland (a long protrusion off the Scottish mainland in the southwest of the country).
Another reason is that Springbank tends to be… well, really f*cking good, with a peated quality that’s very dialed back; neither a peat-free Highlander nor an Islay peat-bomb of the kind most Scotch drinkers would recognize. Naturally, there’s also the whisky hype machine that tends to puff up anything rare. But trust me when I say that this rare whisky lives up to the hype.
I was lucky enough to visit Campbeltown and Springbank earlier this year and taste through their line. I also saw the very long lines of whisky enthusiasts lining up outside the old brick walls of the distillery for hours, just for a chance to buy a bottle (they do a lot of special one-off releases). So full disclosure, these bottles are neither cheap nor easily findable. That said, I’d argue they’re worth the hunt — or at the very least, they’re worth a pour at your favorite whisky bar.
Below, I’ll be spelling out my tasting notes for each of the core line bottles. I’ll also be ranking each one on how excited they make me and how much I think you should actually track them down. That’s not to say that you should skip some of these, it’s more to say, spend your hard-earned dollars wisely on your Springbank journey. Let’s jump in!
Also Read: The Top 5 UPROXX Scotch Whisky Posts of The Last Six Months
This is as local as whisky gets. The locally grown Belgravia barley is malted in-house with a little bit of local peat from the Kintyre Peninsula. The whisky is then distilled two and a half times before barreling in used bourbon barrels. Those barrels then rest in the old, moldy warehouses for 10 years before this expression is built and bottled as-is at cask strength.
Tasting Notes:
Old oatmeal cookies with hints of nutmeg and cinnamon lead to a mix of a malting room floor with sweet barley warming up on your senses next to a hint of sultanas and dried cherry. The palate feels like a vanilla angel food cake drizzled with floral honey and served with a dusting of hot cinnamon and allspice as malty birch water rounds things out. The finish touches on sweet malts and heavily salted caramel.
Bottom Line:
I can’t believe I’m going to say this, but Springbank tends to be better cut down a little with local spring water. This is very good but a little warm on the mid-palate. It really benefits from the on-the-rocks pour or as a layer in a cocktail.
This is classic Springbank aged for 12 years in old bourbon barrels and then bottled as-is with no proofing, filtering, or coloring.
Tasting Notes:
This opens with old Band-Aids dipped into absinthe and then dipped in bourbon with plenty of vanilla, toffee, and oak present. The palate is very creamy with a lemon meringue pie vibe next to cream soda and a rush of Red Hot spice attached to the malts. The toffee sweetens the mid-palate as the lemon pie takes on a gingery spice before the Band-Aid malts return on the finish with a gentle whisper of fireplace smoke that’s just sputtered out on the very end.
Bottom Line:
This really benefits from a single rock in the whisky glass. The subtly of a few of the expressions below this is kind of blown out by the ABVs, which is me really nit-picking to find a way to rank these.
This is made with Springbank’s mildly peated malts and then aged for 15 years in ex-sherry barrels. The whisky is then blended and proofed down with local spring water before bottling.
Tasting Notes:
This is a funky and savory nose with hints of teriyaki beef jerky next to powdery stock cubes with a hint of smoked brisket fat next to hydrogen peroxide before turning sweet with stewed prunes with a hint of cinnamon and honey. The palate is like a marriage between a nutty and spicy Christmas cake and a low-and-slow brisket with tons of sea salt and fat and a whisper of smoke. The finish arrives with a walnut dark chocolate crumble with minor notes of old leather and fireplace ashes next to a thin line of rocky beach after the rain.
Bottom Line:
This is where the funky-yet-sweet edge of Springbank kicks in. It’s weird but kind of wonderful in how easy-drinking this whisky is. We’re also out of the “on the rocks” portion with this one as well.
This is the gateway to Springbank. The single malt is aged in both ex-bourbon and ex-sherry casks with a 60/40 split respectively in the final blend.
Tasting Notes:
This is smooth as can be with a nose full of bourbon vanilla, dark plums, soft toffee, and a hint of wet forest floor countering a spicy and honeyed maltiness with a hint of sagebrush. The taste feels like an orchard in the summer full of fruit — tart, ripe, sweet, overripe — next to big notes of ground black pepper, apple-cider-soaked cinnamon sticks, freshly ground nutmeg, and plenty of cloves. The finish is subtle and sweet with a good dose of salted caramel next to a whiff of dried peat with a hint of wet straw.
Bottom Line:
This is both great and findable, hence it ranks a little higher. This also makes for a great everyday sipper, or table whisky if you will. It’s both easy going and easy drinking.
Springbank 18 is a 50/50 single malt blend of bourbon and sherry casks. The 18-year-old barrels are masterfully blended, proofed, and bottled as-is.
Tasting Notes:
The nose feels like it’s viscous with hints of thick golden syrup next to a slight earthiness, floral honey, meaty dates, and ginger cake with a caramel icing. The palate meanders through salted black licorice and walnut shells as smoked maple syrup leads to a mid-palate full of ripe and sweet red berries with a hint of the bramble underneath. The finish becomes creamy like a malted chocolate milkshake with pencil shavings and wet BBQ charcoal on the back end.
Bottom Line:
This is funky perfection. It’s familiar yet new. It’s deep yet understandable. It’s really just that good, but also not quite the mountaintop of the brand.
This is a very rare whisky aged in 60% sherry casks and 40% bourbon casks for 25 long years. After that juice is touched with a little local water, it’s filled into only 1,300 bottles.
Tasting Notes:
The nose opens with a soft marriage between fresh raspberries and subtle rose petals with old cellar beams, cobwebs, and a dirt floor rounding things out, with a whisper of seaside air lurking in between. The palate veers from that nose pretty drastically with hints of rum-soaked overripe bananas next to wet brown sugar, rock candy, and a hint of large salt flakes. The end builds on that saltiness with a rush of malted barley and sweetgrass after the rain.
Bottom Line:
This is just great. It’s kind of a shame it’s so rare but that’s part of the allure.
This 21-year-old release is made with 35% sherry cask, 35% port cask, and 30% bourbon cask.
Tasting Notes:
Driftwood and orange cake dominated the nose with a hint of salted caramel covered in creamy dark chocolate with a hint of espresso oil. The palate has a rich creaminess with a mocha latte vibe next to wood varnish, rum-soaked apples stewed in cinnamon and clove (with a hint of anise), and a strong smoked maple bacon fat. The finish is all about that creamy dark chocolate with a hint more of that sweet and smoky bacon fat lingering the longest.
Bottom Line:
This is what Springbank is all about — funky, fun, fascinating. It makes sense, feels familiar, yet takes you on a new journey with every sip. That’s perfection in whisky!
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