Now we know where Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson’s talent and charisma come from!
On Wednesday night, he went on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon to promote his new comedy special “Young Rock,” which is loosely based on his life and his story as a struggling, competitive wrestler and actor.
They discussed the casting of the show and the importance of finding the right person to play his Samoan Mom, and then Jimmy casually mentioned that he had recently seen The Rock’s Mom playing ukulele and singing a song at his grandparent’s grave in Hawaii on Instagram. The Rock told Jimmy, “she’s right here,” and called his Mom over to say hello.
The wholesome content we needed today đ
@TheRock & his mom sing for Jimmy! #FallonTonight https://t.co/PH00M8BSZ1
â The Tonight Show (@The Tonight Show)1613019873.0
Ata Johnson, 72, jumped right into her son’s interview with a big smile, and together they burst into an unexpected rendition of “Savalivali Means Go For a Walk,” a Samoan song. Dwayne, 46, looked confused at first, and then he suddenly seemed like a little boy swept into the charms of his Mother, as he dropped his head in his hand and began to sing along.
Then Ata excitedly announced, “We have one more!” to which her son replied: “No we don’t have one more! What’s happening?” and burst into confused laughter.
The next song was just as charming, and Jimmy couldn’t stop blushing as they sang the words in perfect harmony together:
“We love you, Jimmy / Oh, yes, we do / We love you, Jimmy / and that is true. When we’re away from you/we’re blue. Oh Jimmy, we love you.”
Jimmy blew kisses back to her and said: “You just stole the interview. You’re unbelievable. You are a superstar!”
The new documentary Framing Britney Spears has become a hot topic of conversation in recent days, and thatâs also true as it relates to Justin Timberlake. Following backlash, he offered an apology to both Spears and Janet Jackson for âthe times in my life where my actions contributed to the problem.â After the apology, he received some feedback, including from his wife Jessica Biel.
Biel wrote in a comment on the post, âI love you,â followed by a heart emoji. Brandi Carlile also took a moment to share her thoughts in the comments, writing, âReally beautiful to read this. I think itâs going to speak to a lot of peopleâs pain. I canât wait to see how you get involved with elevating women and marginalized people. youâre an inspiring dude to me.â
Instagram
Timberlake wrote in his post:
âIâve seen the messages, tags, comments, and concerns and I want to respond. I am deeply sorry for the times in my life where my actions contributed to the problem, where I spoke out of turn, or did not speak up for what was right. I understand that I fell short in these moments and in many others and benefited from a system that condones misogyny and racism.
I specifically want to apologize to Britney Spears and Janet Jackson both individually, because I care for and respect these women and I know I failed.
I also feel compelled to respond, in part, because everyone involved deserves better and most importantly, because this is a larger conversation that I wholeheartedly want to be part of and grow fromâŚâ
Itâs a long and, hopefully, fun road to finding the best bourbon. There are just so many bottles of good whiskey out there. Add in that craft whiskey is creating new bottles of bourbon constantly and the iconic distilleries and blenders are putting out new releases monthly ⌠none of us will ever get to all.
So even the endeavor of finding the best bourbon is a bit of a non-starter. Thereâs just so dang much.
To help us in our longstanding lovefest with bourbon whiskey, weâre looking at the top 20 bourbon brands folks have actually been buying via online delivery service Drizly.com since the pandemic started. We asked the brand to give us their bourbon brand sales from the 13th of March 2020 to the present day â basically since the day the stay-at-home ordered went nationwide. To add a little nuance to this list (Drizly just named the brands, not the expressions), weâre calling out an entry point bottle for each distiller in the top 20 and offering our tasting notes.
Jeffersonâs makes some interesting whiskey â partially their own-make and some sourced from independent distilleries around Kentucky. Their Very Small Batch is a blend of four contract distilled whiskeys that are aged eight to 12 years and then blended by Jeffersonâs.
Tasting Notes:
Thereâs a lightness up top with lines of vanilla next to lemon oils plus a hint of wet brown sugar. The taste counterpoints that lemon with buttered popcorn and a note of spicy toffee. Thereâs a very mild wisp of ripe peaches-and-cream on the end as the spice and toffee fade away fairly quickly.
Bottom Line:
This is a good entry point into the wider and more interesting finishes Jeffersonâs makes (like their aged-at-sea bourbon). Still, this is a quality expression to mix up some cocktails or highballs.
19. High West
High West
Entry Bottle: High West American Prairie Bourbon Whiskey
Utahâs High West is a tiny mountain distillery that operates as a world-class blender of sourced juice mixed with some of their own-make. This expression is a marrying of at least three whiskeys from varying sources (like MGP of Indiana and Four Roses) of two to 13-year-old bourbons with both low and high rye mash bills.
Tasting Notes:
This is a very subtle starter, with mild hints of vanilla and caramel and a little bit of green apple skin soaked in cinnamon juice. Thereâs a sweet caramel kettle corn on the palate thatâs joined by honey smoothness and a touch of orange and chocolate (especially when water is introduced). The end is fruity, full of caramel, and hits back on that vanilla on a fairly quick fade.
Bottom Line:
Buying this bottle actually supports the wilds of Americaâs backcountry, with a cut of profits going to the American Prairie Reserve in Montana. The actual drink is a very solid cocktail base otherwise and, weâd argue, a suitable sipper over some rocks.
Michterâs is a revival brand that has relied on Willettâs Kentucky Bourbon Distillers but now is operating their own distillery and laying down their own barrels. Their entry-point bourbon is a sour mash, small-batched, award-winning master class in bourbon.
The juice is a blend of 24 or fewer barrels of up to eight-year-old bourbons.
Tasting Notes:
This smells, tastes, and feels classic â with an opening of rich bourbon vanilla beans next to almost creamy caramel with a nice dose of cellared oak. The taste veers into sweet stone fruits with a touch more creaminess leading into the vanilla as mild spice peaks in. The end is slow, oaky, creamy, fruity, and has a touch of smoked popcorn when you add a little water.
Bottom Line:
This is a good bourbon to use as a baseline when you start getting into the good stuff. Itâs approachable, sippable, and very mixable into your favorite whiskey cocktail.
Eagle Rare 10 is a marriage of at least ten-year-old Buffalo Trace whiskeys. Each barrel is hand-selected to bring in classic bourbon flavors that also feel deeply rooted and unique to the brand.
Tasting Notes:
This one opens boldly with orange rind and maple syrup next to touches of honey, worn leather, and toffee. The oak char and vanilla kick in, giving it a classic old-leather-chair-in-a-smoky-library vibe as hints of mint lead back towards the toffee. When you add a little water, thereâs a dark chocolate bar with almonds that arrives.
The finish is short but sweet in all the right ways.
Bottom Line:
This is a great sipper if you can find it and at this price. Make sure to get some water in the glass to really let it bloom and then take your time with it.
16. Old Forester
Brown-Forman
Entry Bottle: Old Forester 100 Proof Signature Bourbon
This line of bourbon from Brown-Forman is a stone-cold classic. Their 100-proof expression is a mid-to-high-rye mash bourbon whiskey thatâs made in the same way as their 86 proof. The key difference is after these barrels are blended, theyâre barely touched with water, keeping the proof very hearty.
Tasting Notes:
Oak and caramel draw you in on the nose with a nice dose of cherry candy and a hint of coffee bitterness. The palate wallows in a nice dose of vanilla as a spicy apple pie with a buttery crust drives the taste. The oak, apple, and spice really power the dram home with a medium-length fade and plenty of bourbon warmth.
Bottom Line:
This is built as a mixing bourbon. Use it in cocktails or sip it in a nice highball.
This expression from Buffalo Traceâs distillery is the âoriginalâ wheated bourbon. The wheat helps the bourbon soften a bit. But youâre really paying for all the knowledge and expertise from Buffalo Traceâs distillers, blenders, and nosers which all help make this a very approachable bottle of whiskey.
Tasting Notes:
Caramel creates a foundation on the nose with hints of honey and vanilla. Notes of butterscotch arrive alongside more honey, soft cedar, and a distant echo of florals. The wood and vanilla return and mingle with the honey as the long, warming finish (that classic âKentucky hugâ) takes its time coming and going.
Bottom Line:
The price of this bottle is going to vary pretty wildly. If you do get your hands on one, give it a shot first over ice and then fold it into your cocktail rotation.
Elijah Craig is one of Heaven Hillâs premier brands. The very low rye bourbon (ten percent) is a blend of eight to 12-year-old bourbons from Heaven Hillâs rickhouses, each hand-selected and masterfully blended.
Tasting Notes:
Thereâs a feel of cedar just after a rain shower alongside echoes of honey. The taste leads to honey-soaked baked apples with spicy cardamom and cinnamon. Finally, that charred oak kicks in, tying the whole drink together.
Bottom Line:
This is another workhorse whiskey. At around $30, youâre getting a quality bourbon thatâs pretty old, all things considered. Give it a shot with some water or a rock to get a sense of the juice and then try it in your favorite cocktail.
13. Angelâs Envy
Angels Envy
Entry Bottle: Angelâs Envy Straight Bourbon Finished in Port Wine Barrels
Angelâs Envy pulls their bourbon in from various Kentucky distillers. For this expression, they specifically blend six-year-old bourbons in small batches of eight to ten barrels. The juice then spends three to six months ruby port wine casks for a finishing touch.
Tasting Notes:
Thereâs a classic note of vanilla with maple syrup mingling next to hints of fat nuts and raisins that draws you in. The palate holds onto the vanilla and maple while adding in more of the nuts, dried fruits, and a touch of toasted oak. When you add a little water that oak gets cedary while a dose of dark chocolate arrives. The end lingers a fair amount of time as the nuts and fruit lead back to the maple sweetness.
Bottom Line:
This is a fine sipper with a little water or some ice. Really though, this is best as a killer cocktail base that can stand up to any concoction.
The father and son team of Jimmy and Eddie Russell have brought Wild Turkey to the forefront of quality whiskey and Wild Turkey 101 has become almost synonymous with the brand. The juice has a small dose of rye in the mash bill (13 percent) and spends around six years mellowing in a heavily charred oak barrel. The whiskey is then just touched with that soft Kentucky limestone water to bring it down to a robust 101 proof.
Tasting Notes:
Thereâs a clear vanilla edge that leads towards dark wood and a touch of toffee cut with spice. The body of the sip sweetens along with the wood while the vanilla stiffens like a pudding with a touch more of that spice sneaking it, bringing warmth along with it. The sip leans back into the sweeter notes of the wood as it warms you up on the medium-long fade.
Bottom Line:
This is really meant as a mixing whiskey. So, give it a shot in your next cocktail. You can also drink it on the rocks or in a highball if thatâs your jam.
Blantonâs bourbon is taken from the best cuts off the stills. The hot juice then goes into barrels and is stored in Buffalo Traceâs famed warehouse H. Single barrels are hand-selected to represent the deep flavors of bourbon according to Master Distiller Elmer T. Leeâs guidance in the last century. The results are just touched with water to bring them down to proof and then bottled as is.
Tasting Notes:
Thereâs a bold caramel depth that gives way to Christmas spices that lean towards nutmeg and clove. Hints of vanilla sneak in with a honeyed sweetness alongside wisps of oak, leather, and more of those spices. Thereâs a balance to the velvet texture that helps the slow fade warm you up with all those spices, vanilla, and a final note of dried corn.
Bottom Line:
This is built as a sipper. Add a little water or a rock, let it bloom, and then take your time enjoying this one.
10. Knob Creek
Beam Suntory
Entry Bottle: Knob Creek Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey
Jim Beamâs entry-level Knob Creek Bourbon blends bourbons from that have aged up to nine years in heavily charred barrels. The barrels are hand-selected for their flavor profile and married. Then theyâre slightly cut with limestone water to bring the proof down a bit to 50 percent.
Tasting Notes:
The dram starts with a sense of buttery toast and echoes of rye spice. That rye leads to charred oak and maple syrup essence that mellows into hints of apple orchards. The oak, spice, and fruit bring about a long finish with plenty of warmth.
Bottom Line:
This will be a little hot to sip neat. Add a little water or ice to really open it up. Alternatively, this works nicely as a highball or cocktail base.
Regardless of how you use it, paying under $50 for a nine-year-old bourbon whiskey is a steal.
This bottle was made to celebrate Buffalo Traceâs rebranding. The expression was devised by whiskey-making legend Elmer T. Lee as a sort of swan song. The juice is a straightforward bourbon thatâs crafted to be affordable and drinkable however you like to drink it.
Tasting Notes:
Thereâs a clear sense of bourbon vanilla with a molasses sweetness on the nose. The taste sometimes has a sour edge that leads towards butter toffee, cinnamon sticks, light oak, and red berries. The end is short and sweet and touches back on the oak, vanilla, and cinnamon sticks.
Bottom Line:
The price point makes this a very accessible bottle to have on hand for pretty much any application from a neat sip at the end of the day or a longer cocktail-making-session over the weekend.
Heaven Hillâs Evan Williams is a bar-back standard. Their most accessible expression, in our humble opinion, is their Bottled-in-Bond, or white label (they have a cheaper expression but we canât recommend it with quite as much enthusiasm). The juice is standard Evan Williams thatâs barreled in a federally overseen warehouse. Then after those barrels are blended, the juice is just brought down to 100 proof, allowing a bit more of that Heaven Hill craft to shine in the bottle.
Tasting Notes:
Thereâs a clear note of dry cornmeal supported by caramel, creamy vanilla, and oak. The body of the sip holds onto the corn as hints of black pepper counter dusty wood and a hint at spicy and chewy tobacco. The end is short, slightly spicy, and shows off that corn once again.
Bottom Line:
This is a true blue mixing bourbon that also works as a tasty shooter as a beer back.
Four Roses stand out by having ten different bourbons they make from two mash bills (one high rye, one low rye) and five unique yeast strains for fermentation. Their Small Batch expression combines four of these bourbons in the blend: A low rye with âslight spiceâ and ârich fruitâ yeasts and a high rye mash with the same yeasts.
Tasting Notes:
Thereâs a sweet woodiness that feels like cherry or apple next to a rush of dark yet sweet berries and a hint of cinnamon-forward spices. The taste holds onto the berries while the woodiness gets a little vine-y with a good dose of caramel underneath it all.
The end builds and silkens as the red berries become jammy as the spice and sweet wood fade out slowly.
Bottom Line:
This is a great bottle at a great price point. Itâs also applicable to however you want to drink it: On the rocks, neat with a little water, in a cocktail, or as a highball.
Jim Beamâs Basil Haydenâs is an outlier from the rest of the brandâs high-end labels. It uses a high rye bill that they also use from Old Grand-Dad (28 percent rye). This expression is also small-batched and proofed all the down to 40 percent across the board, making it an incredibly accessible sip of bourbon.
Tasting Notes:
Touches of oak mingle with subtle vanilla and caramel with very distant hints of bright dried fruits on the end. The taste holds onto those flavors while amping up the sweetness of the dried fruit and adding a touch of leather and oak with a hint of peppery spice. The end embraces the lightness of the dried fruit as it fades out at an even pace.
Bottom Line:
This is a great candidate for mixing up cocktails. Though, weâd argue that you can easily sip this one the rocks with zero complaints.
Jim Beam is the best selling bourbon in the world. A great entry point to the iconic brand is their Black Extra Aged expression. The juice used to be their eight-year-old bottle that they took the age statement off. The whiskey in the bottle is a blend of variously aged Jim Beam thatâs selected for its depth of flavor before itâs blended, proofed, and bottled.
Tasting Notes:
Classic bourbon notes of vanilla and caramel mingle classic Beam notes of cherry candy and corn husks. The palate leans into the cherry while also adding a mild spice with a touch more vanilla, apple, and sweet wood. The sip is very light overall and doesnât linger, making it very approachable.
Bottom Line:
This is built as a workhorse whiskey thatâs both affordable and findable anywhere. It works on the rocks, in a highball, or as a base for any cocktail.
Woodfordâs bourbon has a slightly high rye content (18 percent) which gives it a unique drinkability and a nice hit of spice. Itâs triple distilled in pot and column stills before being mellowed in oak for six to seven years, which is long for an entry-point bourbon.
Tasting Notes:
Youâre beckoned in with hints of dark chocolate next to spicy tobacco, dried fruits, bourbon vanilla, and a hint of fresh mint. The taste delivers while adding buttery toffee, more spicy tobacco chew, and marrying of the dark chocolate to orange oils. The end is silken and has a bit more spice as it lingers for just the right amount of time.
Bottom Line:
This tastes like it costs twice as much. Itâs a great sipper (with a little water or ice) or mixer.
3. Jack Danielâs
Brown-Forman
Entry Bottle: Jack Danielâs Old No. 7 Tennessee Whiskey
Jack Danielâs Old No. 7 is probably the most iconic and maybe beloved whiskey on this list â though itâs not technically a bourbon. The Tennesse whiskey comes from a very low-rye mash (only eight percent). The distillate then goes through a sugar maple charcoal filtration drop-by-drop through ten vertical feet of those coals. That juice then spends at least four years resting in Jack Danielâs warehouses before itâs blended, cut with soft Tennessee spring water, and bottled.
Tasting Notes:
Thereâs a sense of vanilla wafers next to hints of roasted sweet corn and a touch of fruit. That fruit edges from banana to cherry as the sip touches on young oak with light spicy tobacco. The end is short, creamy, and full of that fruit.
Bottom Line:
Okay, Drizly, weâre on the fence about you adding this to your metrics. Yes, all Tennessee whiskey starts out as bourbon. But once it goes through the Lincoln County Process (a sugar maple charcoal filtration step), itâs hard to still call this stuff just âbourbon.â
All of that aside, itâs also hard to deny the power of a sip of classic Jack Danielâs. Itâs a workhorse whiskey that still goes down almost too easily.
Beamâs Makerâs Mark cuts their mash with red winter wheat, giving it a subtlety that makes this wheated bourbon very drinkable and mixable. The juice is barreled and then rotated through the warehouses before those jostled barrels are married, proofed, and bottled.
Tasting Notes:
Thereâs a burst of spice, fruit, and caramel sweetness that lean towards vanilla. The palate has clear bourbon notes of oak char, vanilla, and a slight woody/cinnamon spice that all give way to rich toffee. The sip draws to a close rather quickly with a slight return of the vanilla, fruit, and oak.
Bottom Line:
This is a good bourbon to use as a base for any cocktail â from an old fashioned to a Manhattan to a mint julep. Itâs also a decent sipper on the rocks (in a pinch).
While most of Bulleit is still sourced, they are getting close to having their own-make in rotation thanks to Diageo converting the iconic Stitzel-Weller distillery into their own production center. This expression is a very high-rye (28 percent) bourbon that spends around six years maturing before itâs blended, proofed, and bottled.
Tasting Notes:
This is a classic bourbon with notes of rich vanilla next to caramel corn, mild spice, and oak on the nose. The vanilla gets creamy and the spice zeroes in on cinnamon as a slight tobacco chew arrives with notes of orchard fruits and brown sugar. The end is medium-length with a nice dose of wood, tobacco spice, and caramel corn with a hint more of vanilla.
Bottom Line:
This is built as a workhorse bourbon. You can sip it on the rocks or mix it up. Dealerâs choice.
The last time we checked in with Johanna Faries, the world was a little bit different. The Call of Duty League was on full display at opening weekend in Minneapolis, taking over the Armory in a blowout bash filled with celebrity guests like Vince Staples, live entertainment, and thousands of fans seemingly unaware of what the next 12 months would bring. For a league hoping to make a splash, live events were a big component of that, as was creating a sense of pride from city to city with the league attempting to organically grow fanbases in a way similar to how MLS built its way into 25-plus years of moving from survival to familiarity.
We all know what happened next, and rehashing it at this point feels a bit like shoveling snow in the Snow Belt during the winter. Sure, weâll do it because we have to, but we know full well weâre just going to get buried again. Instead of using the pandemic as an excuse, CDL treated it like a chance to test in real-time with an unimpeachable excuse. If something didnât work, well, it wasnât working for anyone because these are [extreme ad youâd see on Hulu from April to July voice] unprecedented times. Along the way, a game that was always virtual to begin with and built on the backs of online communities went back to its roots. The live event component was always going to be a focus, but if no one could do anything in person, it was a lot easier to follow a league that could still play without gimmicks; no need for athletes to turn to esports while quarantined, no need for a league-wide bubble, no need for HORSE over Zoom or a live Peloton ride or altered schedules or expanded rosters.
Call Of Duty League was able to gain an immense amount of data in a short period of time, based off the pure fact that beta testing was critical for advancement in the first place. And entering Season 2, a milestone that canât be discounted when looking at the bones of broken leagues that never got a second season (hereâs looking at you AAF, weâll always remember), Faries is more confident than ever. Sheâs also sporting a new title, as head of leagues for Call of Duty League and Overwatch League. Simply getting by has never been in her DNA; sheâll always challenge herself, her position, and the league she represents to be different, be better, and push harder.
In a time when fatigue is everywhere, those with the inertia to keep beating forward canât help but be inspirational. So when Faries talks, thereâs always the drive to listen a bit more closely, to make more eye contact, to sit up a bit straighter.
UPROXX Edge had the chance to explore a variety of topics with Faries in our in-depth interview, from the learnings of those early pandemic days to what to expect from CDL Season 2âs opening weekend from Feb. 12-14, and more.
Martin Rickman: Obviously in any 12 month period you have an opportunity to look back and reflect on things that grew, things that youâd change, things that worked and didnât work, or youâd like to improve on, but going into probably one of the most cataclysmically strange years in recent memory, what have you looked back on that has helped inform you for where CDL is headed, but also really the future of esports has been heading?
Johanna Faries: It has been wild and it has been challenging, no doubt. I do have to say though, I think we have come out so much more resilient and so much smarter. After the pandemic, there was really this ability for us to not only pivot in a matter of weeks, but to do so with intentionality. And what I mean by that is really learning how to strategically pivot not only how we operated our live competitions, but also to really convey to the industry that esports has the ability to develop and produce world-class events and continue to scale growth. We saw subscriber count really start to grow on our YouTube channel. Really in the back half of last year, we started to hit those high watermarks in terms of viewership, obviously with Champs being the major culmination point for the season and the most-watched Call of Duty esports event in history. All of that, to me, pointed to the resilience of the team here at Activision Blizzard, certainly every single one of our organizations, all of our players.
And it also, to me, signaled that we were able to take so much time here in the offseason, regroup learn from what worked, what went according to plan, what didnât go according to plan, and harness that into a very bold 2021. Thatâs why I think we feel a lot of momentum, a lot of positive energy, despite all of those challenges going into the next few weeks here, as we have all eyes on opening week.
You look back on those first few weeks of kind of real uncertainty and understanding of where world events were headed, but also the esports and Call of Dutyâs place in that world. I was at the L.A. event March 5th, I believe around there? That was the second to last public outing I had. And itâs now February of 2021. Even then I remember just there being this spooky feeling. It was overly calm and quiet and people were kind of on edge, but still were enjoying the matches and you could kind of just sense it wasnât going to be the same anymore.
Those first few weeks, what do you kind of remember most thatâs crystallized in your mind that allowed you to essentially say, âhereâs where we are, hereâs where weâre headed,â and then obviously learnings that developed out of that. Is there anything that sticks from that time?
It was interesting because itâs really it takes me back to how agile we were able to be, even as I think back to the L.A. home series. Everybody who touched this league, who had a role in this league never doubted for a second our ability to find a new way to orchestrate the rest of the season. Thatâs part and parcel of just the DNA in the people we have at CDL, kind of that grit and that focus on, look, we have the best and the brightest people, the best and the brightest minds in the business who can come up with creative solutions together to figure out new ways to create an event and new ways to drive success.
So there was definitely this sense of an impending challenge that was going to have to be faced head-on. At the same time, I felt like we were ready to face that challenge. When we were able to stand up our home series events and the remainder of the season in a more virtual-first, content-driven way, having moved out of the live event model so quickly, to me, itâs just one of the most inspiring memories that I have from last year, is that at no point were any of us in a position to think, âWeâre going to get shut downâ or âWe canât do this.â It was actually the opposite. It was, âHow are we going to do this, and how quickly can we do it and make sure that everybodyâs safe, make sure everybody can still deliver world-class experiences for our fans?â
The last point Iâd say on that is thatâs a little bit of a mark, a hallmark of esports in general. It was born in online spaces, as you know, and thereâs this scrappy heartbeat to the esports community in general to just find creative ways to come together. So to see our fans turn out, be able to gather virtually for Champs, for example, in such a highly engaged way was such a high point not just from a metric standpoint, not just from the viewership standpoint and breaking those records, but from a teamwork and collaboration and peopleâs standpoint. It just was a really important moment for us, I think, as we capstone the season last year.
This was a situation where I was never worried about the scalability to move to remote and virtual the way that I was about every other sport. You didnât have to put yourselves in a situation where you had to create a bubble at DisneyWorld. Thatâs not something that ever needed to happen. So you could come back to market with changes that were small enough, but also could have long-term, lasting effects on the future of the industry because of what you were able to beta test. I had wondered if you felt almost a sense of responsibility not just to the esports community, but to sports at large, as this outlet, as basically the folks that kind of came back first and gave everyone this thing to focus on that wasnât the virus, so to speak.
Absolutely, we did, and we often feel that way at CDL, generally speaking, that we want to be leaders in these major conversations about where sports is going, where entertainment is going, where competitive events are going. For us to be able to dig deep into the well with technology and innovation and creative solutions that we had at the ready and, again, just great people, from our players to our GMs and coaches to the league office to, obviously, our owners and brand partners, everybody rallied to say, âNot only do we want to get back to a baseline, we can actually innovate in this new way. We can actually continue to see more growth, more scale.â
You see that here as weâre on the precipice of launching Season 2. Again, thatâs why I often feel like through that challenge and being able to thrive through that challenge, it brought real attention not only to esports generally, but attention to the momentum that weâre feeling around CDL in particular, going into this year, where now weâre able to have real entrepreneurial conversations about, âWhat else do we want to do? What else can we explore?â versus feeling like the conversation is maybe akin to what traditional sports leagues have to focus on, which is, again, getting back to just baseline.
So itâs a real position of strength for us, and itâs been amazing to be a part of that.
Itâs something you had mentioned about whatâs in the DNA of gaming and of this industry. It hit everyone, even the people who werenât gaming, even the people who hadnât bought a console probably since an N64 or those who were just trying to understand or find something else. It really, truly was this moment where it was on full display, but it showcased the power of community. We talked even last year about combating that mindset and the potential stigma that has been surrounding these things for years and years. Well, if there was anything that could expedite that process, it was those few months. I was just curious if you kind of noticed just even a perception change overall or if thereâs conversations youâve been having that have really been enlightening or really exciting for you.
As you head into Season 2 that now weâve got this establishment, but we also have this inflection point where the future is really untapped, and gaming can be â and this is our tagline that we use at Edge â that gaming can really be for everyone.
Youâre 100 percent right in your analysis. I think whatâs happened over the last year is weâre seeing a tremendous amount of new fan interest, new potential partner and potential investor interest, because they did see the agility, the resiliency, the viability, frankly, of esports as a product, whether if they were a brand partner and now they understand that we can not only host events, we can drive real, meaningful, highly engaged events with key consumers and key demos. So itâs really been amazing to see how many people now sort of call and say, âHow do I get involved?â or âWhat you guys are doing is really amazing, and Iâm ready to tune in. I get it now,â right? Youâre right. There was this âahaâ moment that happened where e-sports started to stand for something much bigger, just given its roots, but also its ability to innovate so quickly.
I would say even in the offseason, we had huge headlines that really help us continue to galvanize momentum and gather new audiences. You had 100 Thieves, obviously one of the biggest brands in gaming and entertainment, find their way into the league with the LA Thieves, a whole new swath of fans, both from yesteryear as far as Call of Duty esports, because theyâre such a legacy brand in the space, but also the new demographics and fans that 100 Thieves reaches now are really leading into the LA Thieves and are really hyped for the start of the season. We had OpTic return to its founding father in Hector Rodriguez. Another huge beat here where fans of not just the franchise, but of what Call of Duty as esports has stood for, for so long coming back into the well, but seeing sort of all of this on display in a much more structured, much more bold form and fashion, given what weâve focused on here in the last year for CDL.
Weâve got all the team rivalries. We have so many players who were playing in a different uniform last year that are now suiting up on different teams. Youâve got the likes of our champion in Clayster, now a Subliner in New York. So thereâs all this tension there between Dallas and New York. Thereâs the battle of the North between Toronto and Minnesota. All of that didnât exist a year and a half ago, and now weâre starting to see industry-wide intrigue in what weâve built and this broader sense of fandom, given how rich and powerful these narrative arcs and these team and player base rivalries have already become so quickly.
The last part I would say is breaking through into the Call of Duty player base. A lot of what weâre announcing, even just in the last few days with our partner in YouTube, being able to offer account linking, being able to reward much more seamlessly for a Call of Duty player with incentives and meaningful in-game enhancements when they do tune in, all of that is part of the recipe for why I think we feel in the driverâs seat, going into 2021, and feel that weâre actually better for it, having taken the learnings from last year, but also seeing all that interest that you talk about thatâs really grown and manifested in all these different ways over the last couple of months.
Youâve taken on, obviously, a bigger role as well. I was curious. In the new position, what have you taken into CDL from observing? Obviously, you worked closely with that side to begin with, but in more day-to-day operations with Overwatch, do you think that there are learnings, shared learnings that naturally have come out of it even from October to now that can help strengthen both leagues?
There are. I mean, constantly. Weâre so efficient in that way in that weâre able to really think about âwhatâs working in Overwatch League? Whatâs working in Call of Duty League?â How do we think about how we cross-pollinate those strengths across both ecosystems and yet still make sure that weâre building unique, differentiated products? Because, obviously, these communities are different, and they expect different things from both of those leagues. So itâs really been awesome to have that type of purview, and I think you even see some of that come through in recent announcements that weâve made and when you think about even just the season structure for both leagues.
A lot of the focus for both CDL and Overwatch league in the 2021 season will be on tentpole tournaments. We see how much engagement and excitement gets amplified around these major rapid-style tournament beats that we started to really level up last year. Weâve made that really part and parcel of the recipe for both leagues, coming up here in 2021, where we have much more stage-based play and these climactic capstones to each of those stages where the higher the stakes, the higher the prize pool money. But keeping a cadence that fans can really follow and really tune in for creates this ability to think about where do we want to be similar and what have we learned that can be applied to both systems that we think is really the right position for both, even inasmuch as weâll see, again, unique aspects coming through for each week here in the coming year?
Where does Warzone factor into all this for you guys? I mean, obviously, there was an expectation that it would have success and would be a product that would be very viable for a lot of testing things out, trying out new items, anything that could help out from a map standpoint. But I have to imagine that you guys even were a little bit surprised at the phenomenon that it turned into, with celebrities, major musicians, sports players, people who were probably already gaming in the first place, but really never wore it on their sleeve as heavily as they did, because they simply just didnât have the ability to do anything else since they were being stuck at home.
Yeah. I mean, it was very interesting timing in that regard, which no one couldâve planned or foreseen. But youâre right. I think Warzone was something to us that said, âMan, thereâs still so much on the table,â as far as being able to take CDL and competitive Call of Duty to new audiences within the franchise. The same goes for COD Mobile, right? Weâre starting to see just the franchise have this renaissance all over again, breaking its own records, but also expanding into so much more of the globe, because weâre so cross-platform and so multi-platform at that now.
So itâs been amazing. I think whatâs been a part of the recipe, again, as we think about CDL Season 2 is how do we appeal to those audiences? The example of tuning in to earn rewards is a great one that can carry over whether youâre a [Battle Royale] fan of the franchise, whether you play campaign, whether you play all three modes of our sport and the multiplayer experience. How do we make that meaningful? How do we speak to our COD player base on their terms?
And youâre right. Weâve also enjoyed similarly what the franchise has seen for so long, being a mega-brand in entertainment, having these A-listers and the biggest household names in sports and music and movies, you name it. Theyâve had such passion for this brand. Now, even in the nascent stage of CDL, weâve seen so many of these household names being a part of CDL and asking us constantly, âHow can I be a part of it?â We saw a lot of major celebs coming through our live events, and when we had to move to virtual events, they found their way in with other ways. Many of them have also become part owners in our franchise. Itâs just been really amazing. It was awesome to see Post Malone telling everyone in social media last year to root for the Dallas Empire, heading into Championship Weekend, right? Thatâs something that only Call of Duty can really do as authentically as you see it being done, and itâs been awesome to see these types of big names and personalities coming into CDL.
You obviously mentioned some the storylines, which you donât want to force anything like that, especially early on. Thereâs some things you kind of maybe expect to happen naturally, that certain cities will fight other cities because they always do in sports, or when a player migrates to another team, thatâs going to create a natural rivalry. But part of what was exciting organically of being along for the ride is watching these things that you never even expected come about. But over the course of Season 2, are there other things that maybe you guys are pushing that still allow for that organic entertainment value?
Itâs a great question. I would have to be honest and say we are so focused on trying new and different things as often as we can, right, and forego the ones that maybe donât take, or they donât scale as quickly as weâd like. But we really believe in that recipe of we are in this nascent stage. We are in an entrepreneurial moment. We are only in our second swing of forever, one might argue. So we should continue to always explore pushing boundaries.
The biggest difference, to your point about organic engagement, is while we at Activision Blizzard and the league and our teams are always sort of thinking about what new ideas can we bring forward, and we will hear as we continue to unfold the 2021 season and even beyond that, there was just such an amazing energy, we even felt, this last weekend, with the Kickoff Classic, which was in many ways purely organic engagement, and yet was outpacing the viewership we were experiencing in our regular season last year. Part of why we wanted to do that was to really start to give a primer to the strength of these rivalries, really showcase these brands that showcase the game, and the game design looks and feels so good. I mean, you could hear that from the community.
You could see it in the gameplay. This is as good-looking a sport as weâve probably ever enjoyed, and thatâs thanks to the partnership that weâve had over the last several months with our studio partners, with our players, who inform how the competitive experience needs to be designed. Youâve got the shift to PC. Weâve opened up the ability for our pros to choose the controller of their choice, so it just brings in a little bit more of that engagement and that open funnel, the work weâve done from a viewership enhancement perspective in making these broadcasts visually resonant and beautiful.
Then, again, to see so much engagement from fans, so much smack talk around LA Thieves versus Chicago, or is it going to be Toronto or Minnesotaâs year, plus the stellar gameplay, those are the little things that really add up to that sense of boldness, better, that weâre constantly improving on the product, while also layering on these added new ideas that youâre talking about that weâve either recently announced or will continue to announce in the coming weeks. Thereâs so much more for the fans to see. Even in the next 14 days, Iâd argue, before we start things on February 11th, thereâs just so much more to come. That speaks to this spirit of constantly trying to find ways to be better and to deliver better for our fans. So I couldnât be more happy and I couldnât be more excited. I think I speak for all of us at the league that we feel really well-positioned to put on a great second season here.
Just to kind of piggyback off of that, how has the relationship with YouTube continued to evolve to where you guys have the product, but you also have this distribution from a partner whoâs really been so critical to bringing gaming into the overall societal consciousness and has been the steward for a long time now of basically doing exactly what Call of Duty was doing, anyway, which is making gaming accessible, making gaming relatable, but distributing it to the masses in a way that certain indie games canât? No matter how powerful, no matter how much heart they have, no matter how creative they are, theyâre just not capable of doing something like that with the reach that YouTube and what Call of Duty has.
YouTube has been an incredible partner. Again, weâre super psyched even this week, just seeing how much positive energy and pick-up thereâs been about the announcement for account linking to create more of that seamless way not only to watch, to your point, but also search for CDL content. If you want to see any of the matches you missed from the weekend, you can go do that in a matter of seconds on a platform like YouTube. If you want to tune in and set your accounts to be ready to earn rewards, you can do that in a matter of seconds now with a partner like YouTube. If you want to watch non-live, original scripted content or docu-series that weâve done about CDL, it allows for any part of the fan spectrum to dive in quickly and get the CDL content that theyâre looking for immediately.
You just canât imagine the power of that. To be able to be partners in that, I think we all feel weâre just scratching the surface of how weâre going to maximize that platform experience here, going forward. I even felt that last week. We were joking about the mainstream emergence of esports, to your point, when we were seeing CDL show up in the Presidential Inauguration show, of all things, through a major singer in Ozuna wearing one of our beanies. No one expected that, but, again, it stood for something much broader. Yet people who didnât know maybe what Call of Duty League was or has have not yet really made it a part of their everyday experience are now able to go to a platform like YouTube, search for that, and get served up our kickoff classic content or other reasons to watch content that weâre delivering each and every day on the platform. So it creates that 360 funnel for fan development as well as we begin to show up in these more mainstream cultural places.
Singer @ozuna was wearing a Call of Duty League beanie during his performance in the Biden-Harris inaugural celebration
What does success look like for you in season two? What are the benchmarks that youâre trying to reach, and kind of knowing that this is a handicapped situation even now with the year, so thereâs some house money you get to play with, but what are some of the things that you guys definitely are honing in on, moving forward here?
Weâre going to continue to look at viewership around our live major moments in time. When I say majors, I really mean those major tournaments in particular, right? With our five stages in the regular season and restructuring the format of the season to have these pinnacle moments, where these high stakes tournament beats happen five times throughout the regular season are really important moments for us and how we think about bringing as much value and content and reasons to watch to those moments, because theyâre so compelling. So really thrilled to think about viewership aggregation in that way, and then certainly just how do we continue to stretch into culture? How do we continue to think about fashion collaborations, partnerships and sponsorship collaborations driving not only the business goals that we all have here, not only at the league level, but also amongst our ownership group, but perhaps more importantly, just putting CDL in places where our Call of Duty player base can really have more of an attachment to what this league represents.
These are the best of the best players in the entire player base, and now we can really put them in a position to be more seen and to create more bridges back into our Warzone community, our MP community, our mobile community, and can really put this on display so that more of our player base really comes into the funnel. So Iâll be looking for those two things in particular, but I think weâre in for a fun ride. Weâre super excited about whatâs to come and canât wait to get started here on February 11th.
This interview has been edited and briefly condensed for clarity.
Despite the sameness and stagnation of winter in a pandemic new days keep happening, and Friday brought news of a new collection of words tossed together in a kaleidoscope of weirdness and cancel culture backlash. Thatâs right: fired The Mandalorian star Gina Carano is apparently making a movie with far-right gadfly Ben Shapiro in an effort to battle âcancel culture,â presumably because Caranoâs anti-Semitic, transphobic and coronavirus skepticism online wasnât a proper justification for Disney not wanting her around.
News of this new entertainment venture hit social media on Friday, and though some conservatives celebrated the news there was a lot of jokes to be made at Caranoâs expense. The fall from Disney mainstay to conservative martyr was abrupt, even for someone who had a long history of problematic posts on social media. But Friday was a swift change from topic of fan discussion to a full career pivot for Carano.
The idea that Shapiro could just start a movie company, and that be Caranoâs next best move after getting fired by Disney for one of its most popular shows, was depressing for a lot of people.
Ben Shapiro grew up in Hollywood as the child of a television exec and film/tv composer. He had every advantage to thrive in that industry and still flopped. Gina Carano pushing in her chips on his expertise here is just⌠really, really sad.
Welp, if making a movie with (stifling laughter) Ben Shapiro counts as NOT being canceled to you, then I guess together, we’ve created a system where no one will ever be canceled again. Issue resolved! https://t.co/yaU0yGEFOO
Just a reminder that before he was a conservative grifter, Ben Shapiro was a failed screenwriter despite having two parents who worked in the industry. Nepotism couldn’t even help this motherfucker. https://t.co/iDw5z0RBkS
A lot of people referenced the reported difficulties Carano had in making Haywire, in which she had her lines apparently dubbed in after the fact by another actress.
“I have only just begun using my voice which is now freer than ever before⌔
Ohhhhh, I guess they DID dub her entire performance in Haywire, then⌠https://t.co/GMC4qTIx7w
Some werenât so sure there were not other âcanceledâ moviemakers interested in teaming up, though.
six months from now Ben Shapiro’s gonna have sole publishing rights on JK Rowling’s “Alistair Twinklecrumbs and The Haunted Third Bathroom” and we’ll just see who’s laughing then
âIn a society constantly driven to distraction by our phones, email, Instagram, etcetera, thereâs something deeply, almost sub-consciously alluring about hot sauce and the pain it causes,â says Denver Nicks. âHot sauce â especially really spicy hot sauce â commands your full attention.â
Nicks sees all of this as a good thing, further evidence of Americaâs culinary melting pot.
âItâs not just the sheer number of immigrants we have in this country,â he says, âbut how they have transformed and enriched American culture, transformed all of us, and made hot sauce fiends out of many more of us than there were before.â
He makes a great point, but it does make picking the two (or five) hot sauces that you decide to spend your money on a little tougher. What elements deem one particular hot sauce better than another? Is it just about heat? Is it the chilies used? Vinegar ratio? Hype?
Also, when does a hot sauce get played out? Did the world turn on Sriracha just because it went super mainstream or did better options just naturally usurp it? These are questions that vex even Nicks.
âA good hot sauce is whatever you prefer at that moment,â he says. âI use different hot sauce on my gumbo â Crystal â than my tacos â Yucateco. My favorite hot sauces are Caribbean style, usually with lots of fruitiness, perhaps lemongrass, scotch bonnets or habaneros or other members of the Capsicum chinense chili species, and lots of heat. But Iâm also very partial to a traditional, vinegar-forward, simple Louisiana-style hot sauce.â
This yearâs hot sauce list â sourced from our writers and editors â leans heavy into the habenero. The whole world seems to have collectively agreed that its bright, fruity notes can be easily counterbalanced, opening the door to plenty of nuance without losing the fire. We also saw a fair number of classics getting love. Perhaps quarantine has made us all a little nostalgic for the hot sauces of our misspent youth? Or maybe the big brands continue to thrive because theyâre that freaking good.
Check our 2021 âbest hot sauceâ picks below and add your favorites in the comments.
â Steve Bramucci, Editor, Uproxx Life
Poirierâs Louisiana Style Hot Sauce
Poiriers
Followers of the UFC can tell you that interim champ Dustin Poirier, aka âThe Diamond,â knows two things well: how to punch people out and hot sauce. Hailing from Louisiana, Poirier grew up around cajun cooking and the southern sauces that come with it.
The profile harkens to those family dinners, with a winning mix of aged peppers, sea salts, celery, and garlic. Its heat is present, but dialed down on purpose, to allow for easy enjoyment.
âItâs got a kick for sure,â says Poirier. âBut the burn doesnât linger.â
The goal was to create a flavor that was so savory that it wasnât relegated to the condiment shelf, becoming a key ingredient during the cooking process as well. And much like Poirierâs most recent bout, this sauce is a win. Heads up: Since the fighter took down Conor McGregor this stuff has been flying off the shelves even faster than before â so you might struggle to find it if you wait too long.
On my first trip to Belize, I came home with a suitcase full of the hot sauce found in every Belizean restaurant. One taste and itâs clear why this carrot and habanero concoction is so ubiquitous: itâs freakinâ amazing. Even Hillary Clinton, famously a hot sauce aficionado, gave Marie Sharpâs a shoutout in her memoir, calling it her favorite.
She wasnât wrong. Fiery Hot packs heat, but the burn is tamped down by the potent blend of carrot and habanero mixed with the uniquely Central American-Caribbean tang of onions, garlic, and lime juice. The velvety texture makes it easy to limit how much hot sauce you pour out, but even with only a few drops are needed per dish I still go through so much of this stuff that Iâve genuinely considered ordering their gallon option (hey, it comes with a free pump!).
Queen Majesty was reccomended to us by Sean Evans, star of Hot Ones, and⌠what can I say? Dude knows his sauces.
This Scotch Bonnet & Ginger expression is more like a fruit puree than a thin, traditional âsauce.â The flavor captures the sweet notes of the peppers but balances them with the bright tang of ginger (rather than a lot of vinegar). What you end up with is a sauce that fits well with a variety of dishes.
As a longtime proponent of Jamaican beef patties, Iâll go out of my way to note that this is a great play for that dish. Also, it does great in a range of curries.
This is a new love of mine. Zatarainâs is a big Louisiana brand that makes everything from rice to gumbo mix. Recently, I was wandering around the grocery store (maks on, not actually wandering, etc.) looking for hot sauces and came across this one. The label promised aged chili and garlic in one bottle. I was intrigued. I brought it home and placed the sauce on my shelf next to my Valentinaâs Extra Hot and made some chicken breasts in the olâ sous vide.
I doused the sauce onto the chicken and it was a revelation. Zatarainâs Cajun isnât overly hot but packs a nice little punch. The garlic is 100 percent present. Thereâs a light vinegar tang going on thatâs sweeter than tart and way less egregious than standard Tabasco tang. Overall, this is a great sauce to have on hand when you want a subtle spicy bump with a garlic base.
Frankâs RedHot is simple â cayenne peppers, distilled vinegar, water, salt, garlic powder â cheap and readily available everywhere (your favorite fast food joint keeps it behind the counter, just ask) and yet when it comes to hot sauce itâs nearly unparalleled.
Rare and interesting peppers, a beautiful label, and a fancy bottle design?
Frankâs RedHot has none of them. But pass me a bottle and I hold in my hands the perfect accompaniment to wings, chicken sandwiches, French fries, eggs, stir-fries, and whatever the hell else you put hot sauce on.
Frankâs RedHot is made using aged cayenne peppers, giving it a nice spicy kick but unlike some of the other entries, you donât spend too much time thinking about what makes Frankâs RedHot good. Instead, itâs a hot sauce that forces you to shut up and focus on your meal. Thatâs why itâs the GOAT.
Six months go, amid a summer that was shorn from its most enjoyable aspects, Atlanta-born singer 6LACK announced he would return with a new project. The upcoming effort, which would eventually be his 6pc Hot EP, was his first release in almost two years. However, it wasnât just music the singer delivered to his fans. With the extended play came his new hot sauce brand, 600 Degrees.
As a big fan of 6LACK, I took interest in the hot sauce. His Atlanta roots drove even more curiosity, since that city is responsible for some of the best wings Iâve ever had. So I made the purchase, and I have to say â good call on my part.
For all of you veteran hot sauce lovers, you can take pleasure in 6LACKâs 600 Degrees without a glass of water beside you. The sauce is a melodic blend of age red peppers, distilled vinegar, and salt â pretty standard. The latter elements coat the tongue with a sour lime-like presence similar before the red peppers step in to provide the flavor and spice.
600 Degrees finds a happy medium between nonexistent spice and an intolerable heat, bringing just enough to wake the taste buds from their slumber. This hot sauce is defnitely worthy of a spot at a future cookout, but for now, keep it handy for your socially distanced dinners.
Heat Level: Very managable.
Sambal Olek
Sambal Olek
For me, thereâs hot one sauce that rises above them all â Sambal Olek.
What pushes this one to the top is its simplicity. Itâs a blend of spicy chilis, salt, and vinegar. Thatâs it. Itâs thick and often gooey. Thereâs always a jolt of joy when you sit down at a table and thereâs a tub of sambal on it with one of those tiny spoons for scooping all that hot peppery goodness onto any dish.
Seriously, you can scoop it on each bite of your burrito or throw a nice big dollop in a bowl of noodle soup or fry some up to spice up fried rice. Thatâs versatility.
I already like regular Tabasco. You really canât make an old-school Bloody Mary without one. But, I get thatâs it mild and very vinegar forward. This version, on the other hand, is not mild, still hits on those Tabasco notes, and packs some serious flavor.
The habanero really comes through with a clear earthiness and heat. That combines with the almost fruity vinegar for a really solid hot sauce worth using on multiple applications. I put this in my chicken soup, dose it on tacos, Iâve even put it on steak.
But, the best use remains a Bloody Mary. Nothing will both sober you up and prep you for another day of partying faster.
This is created by the team at Complexâs The Hot Ones and my god is it good. Itâs just the right amount of sweet on the front end and then⌠BLAM the heat comes.
And what heat. Two hybrid, lab-created peppers â Pepper X and Chocolate Pepper X â add so much fire to this that a few drops will endanger your whole meal. If you can handle it, this is a sauce that has all the fire without sacrificing taste. Plus youâll sympathize with the celebs who go on The Hot Ones in a whole new way.
Some items in the fridge or the cabinet just feel right. Whether theyâre from childhood or simply regional standards (shouts to White Lily Flower, Dukeâs Mayo, and Bertmanâs Ballpark Mustard), thereâs something to be said for sticking to the classics. For me, a hot sauce Iâll never do without is Texas Pete.
Sure, part of it is knowing its origins are every bit as intertwined with Winston-Salem as the college I went to, Wake Forest. But itâs also been on hand for some really important moments â from fish frys to backroads barbecue pilgrimages to dinners with friends â that helped crystalize my love for food and travel.
Peteâs is complex enough to stand on its own, beats the pants off most of the other major brands, and brings out the flavor of the food youâre eating rather than just masking or burying it. Itâs just as adaptable in fried foods (a must on hush puppies) as it is in chilis or soups, and is killer with a BLT or a pimento cheese sandwich.
When I found it at Smart & Final in Long Beach, I audibly gasped. You never know when or where home will find you.
Apparently, the secret to dragonâs blood is apples, because this stuff has apple cider syrup, apple cider vinegar, and apple puree. You donât necessarily taste the apples, but what you do get is a very fruit-forward flavor before the heat comes on. I love chilis for their taste, not just their spice, and Dragonâs Blood does an ace job highlighting the uniqueness of the habanero here.
Youâll want a solid few dollops to make it work, but there is heat there. It comes on late and doesnât linger long, allowing the other flavors to shine and not disrupting your meal.
When Sol Food hit the scene in Marin County, the Puerto Rican restaurant brought some much-needed flavor and color to the region. This was, in part, thanks to painting their building a vibrant lime green, sticking out in a sea of beige. But mostly it was the delicious flavors of Puerto Rico, exemplified by their in-house hot sauce, Pique.
My husband always orders their choripan sandwich â chorizo, ham, and Swiss cheese baked between French bread â and itâs incomplete without a side of the bright orange hot sauce to dunk the whole mean into. This medium-spicy, vinegar-based hot sauce was so beloved by diners that Sol Food had no choice but to sell it online. Itâs packed full of a variety of peppers â from spicy, fresh jalapeĂąos and serranos to nutty, dried chile de arbols. The branding makes no effort to elevate itself, but trust me, youâll want this on hand next time anything even remotely tropical lands on your plate.
Mago, made in Laguna Beach, has been on my radar for awhile now, but this isnât an expression Iâd tried until recently. I had a pretty horrible experience with ghost peppers a few years back and the name was scaring me off. Iâm glad I circled back for this one.
Donât get me wrong, Mago Ghost Pepper is spicy, but itâs also fragrant with carrots and bell peppers and features a nice note of smoke (not chipotle pepper intensity). The sweetness of the carrots has the same effect here that it has in some of the habanero-based sauces on this list: calming your mouth and activating a different part of your palate.
Since Mago isnât very vinegar forward, I use it in a wider variety of dishes â from fried rice to garlic shrimp to stewed mushrooms. Even with big-flavor foods like those, this isnât a sauce that lets you forget itâs there.
Put simply, Secret Aardvark is a spicy, liquid version of your taco seasoning packet. If you like that sort of thing, as I do, youâll love it. The peppers here are fire-roasted and you taste that smoke. Thereâs also a nice texture that comes from finely blended but not fully liquid tomatoes. Most of all, itâs the sweet/spicy balance and the nice fruitiness that makes this Portland-based sauce liven up dishes so well.
This one has been popular for a good long while, but it lives up to the enduring hype. Just as good (and similarly fruit-forward) is their drunken Jerk Sauce. It literally brings me back to Jamaica, and the jerk chicken shacks that line the road there, every time.
Iâve been stanning for ketchup around these parts for a long time. When someone talks smack about it, I fight back.
Why? Because flavor-profile-wise the tang of ketchup is a fantastic counterbalance to many an umami-rich, carb-heavy meal (eg burgers and fries). You know what could make ketchup even better though? The most unsung of the chilies â jalepeĂąo.
The flavor of a fresh jalepeĂąo is bright and fruity and the heat comes in late, like a slow-rolling wave. Itâs a joy and pairs really well with ketchup. Trust me, your hot dog will never be the same.
I love hot sauce. I put it on everything from mac and cheese to pizza to eggs. But I donât need it to be so hot that it drowns out what Iâm eating. Thatâs why I love El Yucateco Chipotle. In their line of sauces, itâs probably one of the mildest, but it has a smoky, sweet flavor with enough heat to make it worthwhile.
This sauce is made from chipotle peppers and clocks in at 3,400 Scoville units. Is that a lot? I actually have no idea. What I do know is that El Yucateco is fantastic.
Remember the band Offspring? This is part of the line of sauces created by the bandâs frontman, Dexter Holland. While that turn of events might sound strange, even stranger (and more interesting) is the fact that Holland, a Ph.D. in molecular biology, takes the sauce game very seriously and produces one hell of a product. (Iâm not in love with the label or name, though.)
The Spicy Yellow is the best of the Gringo Bandito line. It utilizes scotch bonnets and habaneros and carries the fruity flavors of those two chilies throughout. There are also some nice garlic, onion, and black pepper notes. Itâs an excellent pick for eggs and tacos and a step up from the brandâs own, more popular, traditional red sauce.
The first thing you should know about Salsa Valentina is that you can put both of your hands around the jar. This is no dainty, bottleneck hot sauce bottle. It doesnât have an artisanal wooden cap like Cholula. Hell no. Itâs a chubby, thick barrel-shaped glass container with a wide mouth plastic spout that lets you throw down thick streams of hot sauce all over your hash browns.
If I see it in someoneâs cupboard, my respect for them goes up tenfold. If I had a one night stand and was offered this with eggs the next morning, Iâd probably try to marry the guy. Valentinaâs two distribution companies are in California and Texas, so expect to see it primarily in the Southwest. In New York, I found it in the regional food aisles of grocery stores, and very good diners, but it was scarce elsewhere â a shame because this is a well balanced, flavor-forward sauce thatâs as cheap as they come.
Look, I donât know what to say. This stuff is hyped as hell (what hot sauce has 125K followers on Instagram?), Oprah chose it as one of her âfavorite thingsâ (twice!), and truffle oil is plaaaaayed out, but still⌠Itâs freaking good. Like really good.
The heat and umami richness of the truffles are, quite literally, the perfect match. You get a hot sauce that hits those high, bright chili pepper notes and manages to have an âof the earthâ mushroom quality. The fact that the sauce uses white truffle oil means itâs got a silkiness to it that most sauces lack and the heat, though it has a nice punch, doesnât linger too long. In fact, I could use it turned up a quarter-notch.
Be warned: This sauce is pricey ($35). But if youâre having a dinner party post-pandemic and want a special bottle on the table that will elevate food rather than just making it spicier, this is a winner. The flavors are potent and the bottle is elegant.
THE FINAL ENTRY â Two-Shack âComo El Otroâ Hot Sauce
This hot sauce was included in the book Cooking With Spices by Mark Stevens (who writes for Uproxx). In the ultimate small world moment, it comes courtesy of John âTwo-Shackâ Nicks, father of Denver Nicks, interviewed above. As Two-Shack notes, thereâs a lot going on. You can make it hot as you want by adding additional cayenne.
From the man himself:
âMany hot sauces are comprised of a mixture of vinegar, pepper of one or more varieties and salt. I like to make a more complex hot sauce. I liked the âTwo Dick Billy Goatâ sauce at the Thunderbird Restaurant in Marfa, Texas. I tried to duplicate it and came up with this. It will not be too hot for most people.â
Ingredients:
1 cups apple cider vinegar
½ small can tomato paste
1 small tomatillo or green tomato, chopped
4 dried cayenne peppers, chopped
3 Pasilla Bajio chilies, seeded (or keep seeds if you want more heat)
Since the death of Kurt Cobain, Nirvana has been pretty much a closed book. There havenât been any real efforts to continue the band without Cobain, but it turns out that Dave Grohl and his former Nirvana bandmates still jam together sometimes. Furthermore, they even recorded some music recently.
Foo Fighters chatted with Howard Stern recently, and Pat Smear, who was a touring member of Nirvana in 1993 and â94, said, âEvery once in a while, me and Krist [Novoselic] and Dave get together and we do play as if weâre Nirvana, so I donât have to miss it â we do it. Last time, we did it at the house where we recorded the [new Foo Fighters] album.â Grohl added, âWe actually recorded some stuff.â
Elsewhere during that chat, Grohl explained why he wants Stewart Copeland of The Police to induct Foo Fighters into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame if they get in, saying, âTo be honest, this band started with this demo tape I did. I called it Foo Fighters because I didnât want anyone to know it was me. [âŚ] Coming out of Nirvana, I didnât want to say I had a solo project. One of the reasons I did that was because when I was young, someone gave me a record from someone named Klark Kent. It sounded a lot like The Police, because it was actually Stewart Copeland, the drummer of The Police. He made this record under the name âKlark Kent.â Thatâs really the thing that inspired me to start the band and call it Foo Fighters. I think Stu would be a great guy to induct the band.â
Kyle Busch has done just about everything there is to do in NASCAR. Heâs won at every level, holding the most wins in history in both the Gander Truck Series and Xfinity Series. Heâs won two Cup Series Championships, the Brickyard 400, Southern 500, All-Star Race, and Coke 600. He was the first driver to win all three races â Truck, Xfinity, Cup â in the same weekend, and is the first Cup driver to win at every track on the schedule.
But there is one race that has eluded him: The crown jewel of the NASCAR season, the Daytona 500, which will take place this year on Sunday at 2:30 p.m. ET on Fox. Busch has been close before. A year ago he led late before his car blew up and heâs finished second, third, and fourth once each in his career. Heâs won at Daytona in the summer race (and even this yearâs Busch Clash on the road course), just not the 500. And so, he enters this weekend not only looking to bounce back from a rare down season with just one win in 2020, but to pick up the final big one that his trophy case at home is waiting for.
We got a chance to talk with Busch, who will start in 10th after his finish in Thursday nightâs Duels, about what makes the 500 so difficult, coming into the year with a new crew chief, how JGR will look to bounce back from a tough 2020, and what heâs learned as the owner of his own race team in the truck series.
How are you feeling coming into Daytona week and getting this season started?
Yeah, Iâm looking forward to it. Iâm ready to go. Weâve certainly had our fair share of downtime here, and itâs been quite hectic and busy, but at the same time, itâs nice to have the season back here again, for us to get going again, and get back out on the racetrack.
Last season obviously didnât go as you wanted to, but does that give you a little extra motivation to come out and try to say, like, âOkay, weâre back, weâre gonna be in that contender status again this year,â and get off to a strong start?
I mean, sure. Iâve had one win seasons before, and fortunately, Iâve been able to come back out and, and have four, five, seven, eight win seasons after those. So, you know, there is a way in being able to turn that around and get yourself to the next level or back into contention, I guess, if you will. So certainly, Iâd like to think that we can do that and weâre ready for that. Iâve got a whole new group of guys, though. So, you know, thatâs going to take a little bit of getting used to and building some chemistry and stuff like that for these first few weeks, and hopefully being able to go out there and have that success sooner rather than later.
Yeah, I was gonna ask, youâre working with a new crew chief in Ben Beshore. What are the conversations that yâall have had coming into the season to try and get on the same page and understand what both of yâall are gonna be trying to do, especially in these early weeks, as youâre still kind of learning each other as a crew chief and a driver?
I think the biggest thing was just kind of learning and talking and understanding, like, what wasnât successful last year, and what we need to turn around and remake successful this year. So there was some things that we did that were, mmm, call it not so great, and some other things that we did last year that were pretty good. So learning from all of those and continuing to evolve and make yourself better is what this sportâs all about. I feel like we kind of had a few ideas and concepts late last year that we kind of had to change around with our entire organization. And now weâve got to put that into this year and put it into good use in order to have that success come back. Cause we were â you know, they look at me as, âWell, you didnât win a lot. You only won once last year.â Well, Martin Truex Jr. only won once as well, too, right. And then, you know, Erik Jones didnât win at all. So Denny was kind of the one that was carrying the banner for JGR. And so weâve got to make sure that we can all do that this year, and get us back to a good winning season.
Is there anything specifically you can point to that you say like, okay, we really need to turn this around and say, this was kind of where we fell short. Like, is there anything specifically you can point to or is that stuff that you keep in the shop?
Yeah, no, itâs definitely stuff you keep in the shop. But in laymanâs terms, I guess you just say we need to be faster [laughs]. You know, there were times that we were at the racetrack, and the cars drove good, and we were just slow. So having faster cars that can go around the racetrack much faster than what we were doing is certainly going to be important.
That usually helps.
Yeah [laughs].
With regards to Daytona, the 500 is the one big one that you havenât havenât been able to reel in and what is your approach going into it and kind of what are the things that youâve learned over your years at this track â and I know some of thatâs just luck with avoiding the big one â but what have you learned about this track to help you try to be up there where you have a shot at the end?
Yeah, I mean, I donât â itâs just the the nature of the race, if you will. I donât necessarily think itâs the track or anything like that. Itâs the nature of the race. Restrictor plate racing is obviously a chess game throughout, and youâve got to have a fast car, but youâve also got to be smart and do a good job with it. I feel like Denny has been one of the best guys, heâs my teammate, obviously, that thatâs been able to do that more regularly. And heâs just really found knack of that with this current car and this current car, weâve been in since 2015 I think it was or something like that has, has really lended itself to his style and whatever for restrictor plate racing.
But this is the last year with this car, we move on in the next year with a new car, so itâd be nice to still be able to score victory no matter what car it is and get a win in that race. But when it comes down to the end, man, youâre never safe until the checkered flag flies. Cause Iâve seen guys on the last lap be leading the race and just get turned by the guy behind them and crashed out you know. So youâve always got to be on your toes.
Yeah, when you get all bunched up and you have that that bunch style and it, like you said with each car, itâs kind of changed. Sometimes you have the the the two car thing and then sometimes itâs just a lane and a lane. What are the things that you have to change about your mentality when you come to these restrictor plate tracks?
Um, I donât know. I mean, I think that youâve got to be aggressive, but youâve got to be smart in how aggressive you are and what time of the race that you are. So obviously, everybody wants to lead. If you get out front and you get the lead, you want to protect that lead. So thereâs just a lot of different variables that kind of come into play. And last year, we were in the catbird seat, you know, we were leading the thing coming down towards the end, I think it was 16 or 15 laps ago or something. And we ended up blowing up, you know. So I feel like we we did the right things. And we were in the right position. It just obviously wasnât meant to be.
You mentioned the the downtime youâve had. How have you been been spending this offseason and kind of kind of just resetting away from the track and kind of how has the offseason gone? Is there anything youâve been able to do just to unwind before you gear up for the season?
Uh, yeah, there hasnât been an unwind [laughs]. Itâs been hectic, itâs been crazy. Weâve gone through a whole bunch of stuff with Kyle Busch Motorsports, with a lot of people leavinâ and tryinâ to fill holes and find new people and get everything kind of back organized and straightened up over there. I feel like weâve weâve gotten somewhere in a better place, and hopefully weâre heading in the right direction to have success with our truck series teams. That was a big, big part of the offseason. Another part also was just trying to continue to build the brand Rowdy Energy and and get an energy drink to continue to have success and get out into some more stores and some more places for consumers to be able to buy and to be on more shelves. And so itâs been an ongoing process here for the last year with that, but itâs growing and weâre moving. Itâs, I donât know, itâs just thereâs a lot going on every single day. Itâs hard to say how easy or how difficult some days are. Itâs just whatever comes at you next you go with.
With Kyle Busch Motorsports, what have you learned over your time as an owner of a team that maybe has given you a different perspective as a driver on the track? Like, do you just have to have two different mindsets? Or are there things you found that overlap in learning different perspectives on the sport from that ownership box.
No, thereâs definitely a lot of different perspectives that you learn. You have to know and learn and understand the people and the personalities of people and putting people in the right places to succeed. And sometimes you donât always have the right people in the right places, but also youâve got to be able to balance payroll and stuff like that. Itâs like an NFL team, you know, you kind of have a salary cap because you know how much money youâre bringing in and how much money you have available to spend. So you canât just keep giving everybody raises all the time and max out or go overboard on your payroll and then have to cut out some of your other resources for building good trucks and having fast equipment and nice equipment, and stuff like that. So itâs always a balancing act, you know, youâre never out of the trenches.
This morning, Joe and Jill Biden went out for a walk with their dogs, Champ and Major, to check out the surprise the first lady had installed overnight for Valentine’s Day weekend. The White House lawn has been decorated with oversized hearts that have positive words like LOVE, GRATITUDE, COMPASSION, and FAMILY on them. The one that says HEALING is signed “Love, Jill.”
As they walked along with coffee cups in hand, the first couple was met by a few members of the press. The conversation that they had has gone viralânot so much because of how extraordinary it was, but rather the opposite. It was delightfully ordinary, filled with normalcy, decency, and even a random act of kindness for good measure. And the simple goodness of it all is moving people to tears.
President Biden: “#ValentinesDay is a big. Jill’s favorite day. For real.”
Q: “What inspired you to do this?”⌠https://t.co/UrmcEwWgzQ
First, a reporter asked Dr. Biden what inspired her to have the display made, and she said, “I just wanted some joy. With the pandemic, just, everybody’s feeling a little down. So it’s just a little joy. A little hope. That’s all.”
President Biden told reporters that Valentine’s Day is Jill’s favorite holiday and shared how she painted “Joe loves Jill” on his White House office windows when he was vice president. Then he talked about an interview he’d done with journalist Juju Chang in which she asked about Jill and Joe’s “great love affair,” and how he said that he loved Jill more than she loved him.
Asked how he would extend that love story to the American people who are feeling so down, Biden replied, “Tell them there is hope,” he said. “There’s hope. They just have to stay strong. A lot of people have gone through unbearable suffering. They’ve lost their familiesâlost their children, lost their husbands, wives, moms, dadsâand it’s almost unbearable. The one thing I can say to them is they’re still in your heart…they really are.”
The president speaks from personal experience, having lost his first wife and baby daughter in a car accident shortly after he was first elected to the Senate, and then losing his oldest son to brain cancer in 2015.
Following that serious moment, the first couple and the reporter chatted a bit more, with the reporter joking about bringing coffee for everyone. After talking about the couple’s German ShepherdsâChamp, who is 14 years old, and Major, who is a young rescue dogâPresident Biden walked over and handed his cup of coffee to the reporter, promising that he hadn’t drunk out of it yet.
Looking through comments on the video, that act of kindness moved many people to tears. In fact, the whole video had people way up in their feelings, with some people saying that the decency and normalcy were “overwhelming” after the past four years.
@NinaBina4Peace @cspan @FLOTUS Overwhelmed.. perfect word.
It shouldn’t be overwhelming to see a loving first couple out for a walk with their dogs, sharing coffee and chatting with people, but it is. Some people commented that they feel like they’ve just gotten out of an abusive relationship (and indeed, there are many analyses that point out the similarities between what America experienced the past four years with the dynamics of an abusive relationship), so this normalcy and decency is refreshing, if perhaps a bit jarring. It’s going to take time to adjust to not feeling traumatized every time the president talks to a reporter.
The word HEALING on the heart behind Biden as he chats with a reporter feels rather fitting, considering the reactions to this clip. Who knew how truly healing a pair of jeans, a pair of dogs, and a simple gift of a cup of coffee could feel?
Since the pandemic started, sure, yes, we all want things to go back to normal, which would include watching movies in theaters. But a few months ago there was a definitive push by some filmmakers to just put movies in theaters and see what happens. Theyâd talk about the sanctity of the movie theater experience, and thatâs all fine and good, but this goes against most logic right now. (There seems to be a trend that, whatever a person wants to do at any given moment, thatâs somehow the one safe thing that can still be done.) In an interview with The Atlantic, Shaka King â whose excellent Judas and the Black Messiah is on HBO MAX right now as you read this â was asked about this and, finally, a filmmaker gave the perfect answer:
âI think this is actually quite an easy change to embrace. I donât want anybody to go to the movie theater and die to watch my movie. I have no desire for that. And as a person whoâs been home: Last year was a tough, tough year. I needed shit to watch to distract me. I had TV, but there werenât a lot of movies. Everybody was holding all the good stuff until this shit went away. It was rough.â
This is a remarkable answer because itâs a filmmaker leaving his ego at the door. Look, if youâre a director, of course you want your movie in a theater. And especially someone in Kingâs position, who has made his breakthrough film and, as youâll read ahead, worked so hard to get this story about Fred Hampton made â with so many ups and downs along the way before Warner Bros. gave him the green light. King really should be commended.
Judas and the Black Messiah (again, you can watch it right now on HBO Max) is the story of Black Panther Chairman Fred Hampton (played by Daniel Kaluuya, who is gobbling up acting nominations every week), but itâs also the story of William OâNeal (who is played by the excellent LaKeith Stanfield who should be getting nominations), the man who infiltrated the Black Panthers on behalf of the FBI and betrayed Fred Hampton. Itâs a story that draws some comparisons to The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, which King sees, but, as he explains, itâs more influenced by The Talented Mr. Ripley.
Are you in New York?
I live in New York.
Okay, me too. I read the interview you did with David Sims at The Atlantic and I thought the answer you gave him about movie theaters was perfect and Iâve been waiting for a filmmaker to say that. And it read like someone who was in New York City last March and April.
Yes. I mean, thatâs exactly how I feel. You remember.
I do.
I need something every night. I need something. And weâre still there. I think itâs not just New York â we, fortunately, are in a far more stable place than a lot of other places. Granted, we have winter to contend with, so we canât really hang out outside. But I was doing this sort of like, hey, letâs have breakfast outside thing like a month ago. And it just got to a place, I was like, Iâm freezing. Iâd rather have been alone. So I think with it being cold, folks are staying inside more and just looking for something to take their mind away from everything else going on in the world. Thatâs what this movieâs going to do. Itâs going to make you not think about anything thatâs going on in the world.
There were certain directors who demanded their movies be seen in theaters only. Directors who are in positions where they have their own movie theaters. Anyway, Iâm just glad you said what you said because Iâve been waiting for that answer for a long time.
Iâm surprised. I assumed a lot more people felt that way.
Reading about how this movie got made, it sounds like you assumed it would go to a smaller outlet, which didnât materialize. Then all of a sudden itâs Warner Bros. Was that surprising?
I didnât anticipate that. To be honest, I had limited experience in terms of navigating studios. It wasnât so much that I thought one place would appreciate it more. I didnât know really the difference between the cultures of the studios until going through this process.
Ah, right.
But I expected, quite frankly, all of the studios to jump at the opportunity to make it just because of the stacked team we were bringing to them. With Ryan Coogler right on the heels of Black Panther. Charles King putting up half the budget. Daniel Kaluuya and LaKeith Stanfield attached in leading roles. And, not to mention, and this was the biggest one for me: understanding and knowing, I didnât know about individual studio cultures. But I was aware of how much they now rely on algorithms in terms of the movies that they green light. Especially coming off the heels of the success of Black Panther, which, I remember going to the theater and seeing people show up in berets and black leather jackets because itâs a Marvel movie, so the people were making that connection. And the fact that we have the director of that movie in the producer role on this film? I felt like that was going to begin the bidding war essentially.
Right, because that adds could be like what Spielberg always did when he produced, âFrom the mind that brought you E.T. presentsâŚâ
Exactly! I was literally thinking the same thing! âThat was the true story of the true Black Panther.â You can Moviefone the commercial!
Right. âYou saw the superhero version, now hear the real story from the mind who brought you the Marvel movie.â Yeah, it works. By the way, I have a terrible movie trailer voice. They would never hire me to do that.
I donât have the greatest. We have other talents.
Well, thatâs frustrating, it was set up on a tee.
Yeah. I mean, it surprised me somewhat, but only briefly, and then it was just like, okay! We got one! Yes! And not only did we get one, but we got it from Warner Bros.
Exactly.
You want to talk about name recognition, you want to talk about legacy, you want to talk about the right place to make a historical epic? This is where you want to do it. So I wasnât disappointed as much as I was surprised. I was over the moon because we were making this movie with Warner Bros.
Were you surprises there werenât a lot of other movies about Fred Hampton? Itâs like youâre making the movie of record.
Do you feel like you knew a lot of people who knew him or knew about him?
Do I?
Yeah, do you?
I think people know the name. But I donât think people knew a lot about him. I think they know generally what he did and they know how his life ended. But as far as everything else, I would probably say no.
I think youâd be surprised about how few people even know the name.
Ah, okay.
I think in the circles you move in, perhaps, and in the circles I move in, certainly, but I think when youâre talking about going out to LA and Hollywood specifically, the name recognition wouldnât be there. And it wonât be there until this movie comes out.
When I talked to LaKeith he said he had a tough time playing William OâNeal and often came to you for advice. That he felt what he did was âreprehensible,â but yet heâs giving this guy some humanity and he really struggled with that. What was that dynamic like between you and LaKeith? Because that seems like an extremely difficult character to portray.
I mean, it was really hard for him and it was very obviously hard for him in the moment. But it wasnât until after the fact that he and I had some conversations and some personal memories that he was unearthing and processing while tapping into some of the darker aspects of Williamâs personality, that I understood the depth to which he was sacrificing as much as he was. But even in the moment, I just used to come to him and just say, look, you have the hardest job out of all of us. Because Danielâs here, heâs playing an icon, thatâs a challenge. Dominiqueâs here, sheâs playing a living icon, arguably more difficult. But you have the thankless job of playing this person that everyone hates. And actually not portraying him sympathetically, but giving context to some of his decisions. And itâs a thankless job and youâre doing it because we want to get a movie about Fred Hampton out to the universe. And this is the way to do that. So, itâs a tremendous sacrifice that youâre making and I thank you for that. And in those dark moments, I would just remind him of the fact, even though youâre playing a coward, what youâre doing is actually quite heroic.
Something just popped into my head when you said âcoward.â I was trying to think who he kind of reminds me of, but he kind of reminded me of Casey Affleck in The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. This guy who starts looking up to Fred Hampton and then betrays him and has to live with that. Obviously, these are different movies, but just that characterâŚ
Itâs an analogy that a lot of people have made, and the thing thatâs funny is that I actually didnât see that movie until after I made this film. But when I watched the movie, I was like, oh yeah, I can totally see how people would make that connection. Thereâs definitely something happening there. Even though I also think there are many differences.
Oh, yes.
But I do think that movie, which is whatâs interesting, itâs about a guy who gets close to greatness and he loves this guy. He actually loves this guy. And to me, that movie is almost more like The Talented Mr. Ripley in terms of the characters.
Oh, thatâs interesting.
And whatâs funny is that that was a reference for this cast, was Ripley. Yeah, thereâs something there. Thereâs something there.
âJesus And The Black Messiahâ is currently streaming via HBO Max. You can contact Mike Ryan directly on Twitter.
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