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If you’re familiar with Guardians of the Galaxy and The Suicide Squad director James Gunn‘s oeuvre, then you know that the man works with profanity like some artists work with watercolors. He’s also a prolific Twitter user, so recently, Gunn combined his two passions by crowdsourcing the correct spelling for, ahem, “asshat.”

According to Gunn’s tweet, the writer/director wanted to use the term in his latest script, but he ran into a good question. Is asshat hyphenated or unhyphenated? After turning to Google, Gunn learned that opinions are split, so he started a Twitter poll to settle the matter once for all.

As over 48,000 Twitter users shared their preferred spelling for “asshat,” Gunn fielded questions on the preferred spelling for some other profanities. While revealing what the term “scumbucket” really means, Gunn shared an anecdote about why he was forced to remove the word “dork” from a PG script. Turns out the childhood taunt isn’t just another name for a nerd.

Once the poll closed, the results were clear: “Asshat” is one word, no hyphen, and Gunn made sure to tag the Merriam-Webster Dictionary so they could properly note this very important distinction for future generations.

After his brief foray into exploring the proper grammar of everyday profanities, Gunn returned to discussing The Suicide Squad, which marks his first collaboration with DC Comics after delivering the smash hit Guardians of the Galaxy movies for Marvel. According to Gunn, he doesn’t make it a practice to write roles with a specific actor in mind, but he couldn’t resist when it came to Idris Elba who plays Bloodsport in the upcoming sequel slash quasi-reboot.

“You went beyond my expectations as an actor AND as a human being,” Gunn wrote in a tweet celebrating Elba’s birthday.

(Via James Gunn on Twitter)

After a leak on Monday, Xbox decided to go ahead and officially confirm plans for a small, digital-only version of their next generation console called the Xbox Series S, as well as the $299 price tag.

The Series S will have 512 GB of storage space with 120fps gaming on 1440p resolution, fitting in with the full Series X performance specs, just in a smaller package with less storage. PlayStation had already announced plans for a digital only version of the PS5, but Xbox finding a way to make a smaller, cheaper version of their next-gen console is a big step that could help them attract more casual gamers to upgrade their systems that wouldn’t want to pay a $499+ price tag — which is the rumored cost of the Series X. Here is the full specs video for the Series S.

The big question for the Series S is how big will next-gen games be to download, as 512 GB of storage is only really enough for 5-10 major current gen titles. Still, this is clearly targeted for casual gamers who might be hesitant to invest so heavily in a system who might only be interested in a select few games anyways. Hopefully this news will be followed soon by official pricing and release date details for the Series X and PS5, as we rapidly approach the holiday season.

Regina King already has an Oscar for her acting. She might win another for her directing.

On Monday, One Night in Miami, the directorial debut from the If Beale Street Could Talk actress premiered to unanimously positive reviews at the Venice Film Festival. The 1964-set film tells the “inspired by true events” story of boxer Cassius Clay, activist Malcolm X, football star Jim Brown, and singer Sam Cooke celebrating Clay winning the world heavyweight title over Sonny Liston in a Miami hotel room. The screenplay was written by Kemp Powers (it’s based upon his stage production of the same name).

One Night in Miami “hits so hard because it remains joyfully, often painfully grounded in what makes a person extraordinary, even when the world isn’t ready for them. Here’s hoping this world is ready for what King has to show it,” IndieWire‘s Kate Erbland wrote in her glowing review. The Hollywood Reporter‘s David Rooney added, “Here’s hoping that King, one of our most consistently excellent screen actors, continues to spread her wings in this direction.” Variety even went so far as to call the film the “first solid Oscar contender to drop” during the 2020 film festival season.

Beyond the accolades, however, Miami also made long-overdue history, as it’s the first film directed by an African-American woman to be selected for the Venice Film Festival:

At the event on Monday, King recognized that the success or failure of One Night in Miami could have ramifications for other black female directors. “It’s interesting because how this film performs will open doors or maybe close doors for more black female directors… That’s how things seem to work,” she said.

One Night in Miami, which stars Kingsley Ben-Adir as Malcolm X, Eli Goree as Cassius Clay, Aldis Hodge as Jim Brown, and Leslie Odom Jr. as Sam Cooke, does not currently have a release date, but it will be distributed by Amazon Studios.

(Via the Guardian)

With so much turmoil in 2020, it’d be easy to forget that there’s an election coming up this year — and that it could be one of the most important elections on record. It’ll also be one marred by widespread voter suppression, the kind which will be detailed in the new Amazon original documentary All In: The Fight For Democracy which premieres in a limited theatrical run tomorrow, September 9 and will begin streaming on September 18. It’s produced by former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams with a theme song performed by Janelle Monae. Monae’s song, “Turntables,” debuted today on Apple Music Radio.

Monae detailed the concept behind the song for host Zane Lowe, saying, “We are changing things. The tables are turning. The rooster has come home to roost. So this song is capturing direction. And when you think about a record, when you think about a record spinning, when you think about the revolutions per minute, it’s all connected. And that is what this song means. This song doesn’t mean that I’m the leader, that I’m here to tell you what to do, how to fix things. I’m simply watching, examining and wanting to highlight all of the people who are on the front lines, fighting for our democracy, fighting against racial inequalities, fighting against white supremacy, fighting against systemic racism and systemic oppression. So this song is to keep us motivated. This song is to lift up and keep us galvanized when we’re fatigued. And this song is really for the people.”

Listen to Janelle Monae’s new song, “Turntables,” above.

All In: The Fight For Democracy will begin streaming 9/18 on Amazon Prime.

The Clippers were able to beat the Nuggets on Sunday night to take a 2-1 lead in their series as Denver was unable to score enough down the stretch to hold their lead and keep the Clippers at arm’s length.

Game 3 saw a sensational performances from Nikola Jokic (32 points, 12 rebounds, eight assists) and Paul George (32 points, four rebounds, four assists), with George getting more support from his teammates to get the win. Jokic was a dominant force on Sunday, not only scoring and facilitating, but in putting the Clippers into foul trouble with his physicality. Ivica Zubac fouled out of the game and every single L.A. big picked up two quick fouls on Jokic as he took them into the post and baited them into trying to be overly physical with him.

Even with those fouls, it was the Clippers that were the beneficiaries of the free throw differential in Game 3, marching to the line late in the fourth quarter after getting into the bonus midway through. It was the chief way their offense scored down the stretch, as they hunted contact to take advantage of being in the bonus in a way Denver never did when they had the same opportunity in the second quarter.

After the game, Patrick Beverley of the Clippers still wanted to talk about Jokic’s “flailing,” noting L.A. had to approach him the same way as Doncic with his embellishment.

Jokic was asked about those comments and pointed out how many more free throws L.A. took compared to Denver, while also noting that he’s simply “showing the ref that it’s a foul.”

The line will get plenty of laughs, but for the most part, this is what every player does when they embellish contact. There are certainly times when players flop with no foul committed, but the majority of the time, flopping is simply making sure a foul gets called on illegal contact. There’s so much contact in basketball that something often has to look out of the ordinary for referees to call something, and when players play through those hits and don’t get calls it leads to flailing and embellishing to make sure, as Jokic says, the referees are aware they were fouled.

It’s why players fall to the ground when someone runs into their chest for a charge rather than staying standing up, because it’s the only way to get that call. It’s why they throw their arms out when someone slaps down on the arm on a layup to make sure it’s known that wasn’t a clean strip. The problem is, aesthetically, this is a nightmare to watch and as such flopping and flailing, even though often warranted, are viewed so negatively. Now, having Beverley of all people complain about this is certainly an added comedic element in all of this, but both players have points here. Jokic certainly does put pressure on refs to call fouls with his flailing, but that’s because he’s getting fouled and wants to be sure it’s called. Hopefully that doesn’t become the story of this series, which has otherwise been extremely fun to watch over the last two games.

Sarah Paulson and Ryan Murphy can’t quit each other, even after so much time together on American Horror Story, but their followup, Netflix’s Ratched, is arguably even more unsettling. Paulson’s picking up an origin-story turn as nurse Mildred Ratched, the iconic villain portrayed by Louise Fletcher in One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Next, and the show’s final trailer doubles down on the peach-related festering after the last one promised there would be hell to pay if you steal Ratched’s breakroom fruit. Also, dear god, those ice-pick visuals won’t help you sleep tonight.

Beyond that, the trailer glides through the many horrors that patients endure at Lucia State Hospital. That involves excruciating “steam baths” as well as experimental lobotomies, and the works… basically everything that will make you feel relieved for the relatively civilized state of modern medicine. All of it looks glossy as can be with a medicinal sheen and a fantastic cast that includes Cynthia Nixon in a meaty role and Judy Davis as a nurse who’s even more fearsome than Ratched, if you can believe it.

Paulson recently told Entertainment Tonight how she felt that “the stakes are exceedingly high” to step into a legendary character’s shoes, especially since this story might refashion the way you view Mildred Ratched. From the synopsis:

In 1947, Mildred arrives in Northern California to seek employment at a leading psychiatric hospital where new and unsettling experiments have begun on the human mind. On a clandestine mission, Mildred presents herself as the perfect image of what a dedicated nurse should be, but the wheels are always turning and as she begins to infiltrate the mental health care system and those within it, Mildred’s stylish exterior belies a growing darkness that has long been smoldering within, revealing that true monsters are made, not born.

Ratched (which also stars Finn Whittrock, Carlie Carver, Jon Jon Briones, Alice Englert, Corey Stoll, and Vincent D’Onofrio) streams on September 18.

Mixing a great cocktail takes a great base spirit. Look at it this way — the cheaper and thinner your base, the cheaper and thinner the cocktail is going to be. That’s not to say you can’t make a solid bourbon cocktail with an inexpensive bourbon. You certainly can. It’s more that if you want your cocktail to really wow people, you need a “wow” bourbon as the foundation.

So what makes a great bourbon for mixing? We’d say two things are crucial. One, the bourbon has to be interesting. We’re talking solid flavors that step outside the classic vanilla/oak/spice matrix and add a little something new. Two, it needs to be somewhat affordable. We don’t want to be making $40 Manhattans (okay, maybe we do… but can we afford it?). You need a bourbon that’s less than $100 but not from the bottom shelf. The $30 to $60 range feels right for making quality bourbon cocktails.

The eight bottles below hit both of our parameters. They’re unique, tasty, and won’t break the bank. Plus, you should be able to find these bottles at pretty much any spirits retailer and they’re all easy to find online for delivery.

Legent

ABV: 47%
Distillery: Jim Beam, Clermont, KY (Beam Suntory)
Average Price: $40

The Whiskey:

Legent marries Kentucky bourbon craft with California wine barrelling and Japanese blending. The whiskey is made and aged in Kentucky in California wine and sherry barrels before master blender Shinji Fukuyo steps into blend the barrels into the final, stellar (and affordable!) whiskey.

Tasting Notes:

Bourbon vanilla and caramel lead the way towards a plummy and vinous underbelly. The sip has a creaminess with the vanilla that counterpoints a grape essence and oaky spice. In the end, this complex sip lingers for just the right amount of time while wallowing in all that creaminess, spice, plummy jam notes, and vanilla.

The Cocktail: Manhattan

This is made to be mixed in a Manhattan. Get the recipe on UPROXX Life’s IG!

Four Roses Small Batch Select

ABV: 52%
Distillery: Four Roses Distillery, Lawrenceburg, KY (Kirin Brewery Company)
Average Price: $60

The Whiskey:

This is on the higher end of the price range for cocktails. But we’d argue that this is a killer base and worth the price. The juice is a blend of small-batched bourbons with spicy, fruity, and herbal yeasts in play. It’s also bottled at a higher proof, which is always a great starting place for mixing up cocktails.

Tasting Notes:

There’s a mix of dark and tart berries next to Christmas spice up top. The sip has a classic bourbon depth with vanilla, caramel, and oak at play against the fruit and spice. There’s a velvet texture to the sip that helps it slowly fade as it warms the senses.

The Cocktail: Old Fashioned

The herbal punch of some good bitters accentuates the berries, and the brightness of the orange zest matches the Christmas spices.

Belle Meade Reserve Bourbon

ABV: Varies
Distillery: Nelson’s Green Brier Distillery, Nashville, TN (Sourced)
Average Price: $60

The Whiskey:

This sourced juice is a testament to how good aging can make for a great bourbon. The juice is a blend of high-rye bourbons that rest in the barrel for seven to eleven years. The whiskey is then masterfully small-batched from only seven barrels per bottling.

Tasting Notes:

Spicy cinnamon mingles with bourbon vanilla and fresh tobacco. The sip marries cinnamon-laden apple pie with tart and sweet berries while the oak and spice ebb and flow. The sip ends on a lingering note of campfire roasted marshmallow next to the aforementioned fruit and spice.

The Cocktail: Boulevardier

This bourbon can truly stand up to the big herbal and bitter notes of Campari and the sweet, herbal nature of dark vermouth.

Wild Turkey Rare Breed Kentucky Straight Bourbon

ABV: 58.4%
Distillery: Wild Turkey Distillery, Lawrenceburg, KY (Campari Group)
Average Price: $50

The Whiskey:

This is a strong bourbon on its own. The juice is a small-batch blend of Wild Turkey’s famous high-rye bourbon that’s been aged for six, eight, and 12 years. The result is a bourbon that bourbon fans adore — definitely a stellar pick for your forays into bartending.

Tasting Notes:

Kettle corn and cinnamon-spiced candied apples mingle with tobacco, black pepper, vanilla, and milk chocolate. The creaminess of the sip leans that chocolate into milkshake territory as the spice peaks and the tobacco looms.

There’s a thin hint of tart fruit at the very end, especially when water is added.

The Cocktail: Whiskey Sour

The lusciousness of an egg white and the bite of citrus really helps this bourbon shine.

Henry McKenna Single Barrel Bottled-In-Bond

ABV: 50%
Distillery: Heaven Hill Bernheim Distillery, Louisville, KY
Average Price: $50

The Whiskey:

This is just a solid whiskey all around. The single barrels are hand-picked from the Heaven Hill’s rickhouses after spending ten long years resting in oak. The juice is then cut down to bottled-in-bond proof and bottled with no more fussing.

Tasting Notes:

Christmas cake cut with plenty of orange zest and vanilla dance on the nose. A clear dose of fresh mint sprigs meets vanilla, caramel, spice, and more orange on the palate. Finally, the sip slowly fades out as the oak and a wisp of bitter smoke appear at the last second.

The Cocktail: Whiskey Smash

Muddling some mint and lemon with sugar and topping it with bourbon is a great use for this minty bourbon. It also works wonders in a mint julep.

Knob Creek Kentucky Straight Bourbon

ABV: 50%
Distillery: Jim Beam, Clermont, KY (Beam Suntory)
Average Price: $35

The Whiskey:

This small-batch bourbon from Jim Beam is meant to highlight how simple good bourbon can be. The juice is small-batch bottles from bourbon barrels that are an average of nine-years-old. It’s higher proof is also an excellent reason to use it in cocktails.

Tasting Notes:

Notes of old saddle leather meet bourbon vanilla beans, plenty of oak, zesty orange, and a hint of popped corn with butter and salt. The sip edges into a mild and dark spice as the oak, vanilla, and honey base dominates. The dram lingers for just the right amount of time, giving you plenty of that citrus zest, spice, vanilla, and oak as it fades.

The Cocktail: Brown Derby

This classic cocktail leans into the honey and grapefruit and that’s the perfect accompaniment for this bourbon.

Heaven Hill Bottled-in-Bond Kentucky Straight Bourbon

ABV: 50%
Distillery: Heaven Hill Bernheim Distillery, Louisville, KY
Average Price: $60

The Whiskey:

We already have one Heaven Hill whiskey on the list. So why not two? This juice is aged for a minimum of seven years from the distillery’s signature mash. The juice is then small-batch bottled at the required 100-proof.

Tasting Notes:

Cinnamon meets toffee on the nose. The sip then leans into caramel, brown sugar, more spice, vanilla, and a touch of worn leather. Finally, the black pepper spiciness kicks in as a fruity finish draws the sip to a close.

The Cocktail: Highball

Let this one shine with some soft bubbly water and ice.

Buffalo Trace Kentucky Straight Bourbon

ABV: 45%
Distillery: Buffalo Trace Distillery, Frankfort, KY (Sazerac Company)
Average Price: $30

The Whiskey:

This is just a great bourbon to have around in general. The low-rye mash bill has a nice nuance to it at an attainable, everyday price tag. There’s a good reason we named it our favorite “everyday” bottle to have on hand.

Tasting Notes:

Classic notes of vanilla mix with hints of fresh mint and dark molasses. The sip has a nice balance of fresh berries, toffee richness, and an oaky bitterness. The finish is subtle and short with a sweet edge.

The Cocktail: Horse’s Neck

Ginger ale, bitters, and orange zest help this bourbon shine — lightening and loosening those rich flavors.

Last month, the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally took place in South Dakota and saw over 450,000 attendees. Smash Mouth infamously performed at the rally, even shouting “f*ck that COVID sh*t” on stage. But the event has since proved health officials’ worst fears — that it turned out to be a “super spreader” event. Last week, it was reported that the rally had led to its first confirmed COVID-related death and now, a new study has found the rally resulted in hundreds of thousands of new cases, which made up a significant portion of the US’ total cases in August.

According to Consequence Of Sound, a study published by health scientists Dhaval Dave, Andrew Friedson, Drew McNichols, and Joe Sabia found the Sturgis rally is responsible for a whopping 260,000 new cases of COVID-19. That number equates to 19 percent of the US’ total cases for the month of August, and $12 billion in medical care costs.

The study stated the rally was a “worst case scenario” for spreading the virus due to the behavior of its attendees: “The Sturgis Motorcycle Rally represents a situation where many of the ‘worst case scenarios’ for superspreading occurred simultaneously: the event was prolonged, included individuals packed closely together, involved a large out-of-town population (a population that was orders of magnitude larger than the local population), and had low compliance with recommended infection countermeasures such as the use of masks.”

Read the full study here.

Although Billie Eilish is young, she’s been a professional musician for a while now. In her early, early years, her instrument of choice was the ukulele, and now she has partnered with Fender for her own signature model, the appropriately named Billie Eilish Signature Ukulele, which is available now for $300.

Fender has shared a pair of promotional videos for the new mini-axe. In one, Eilish discusses her love for the instrument and performs the first song she ever wrote, which she penned when she was just six years old. The other video features singer Lucy LaForge showing off the Eilish-branded ukulele.

Eilish has a long history with the instrument. During her 2019 appearance on Carpool Karaoke, Eilish told James Corden about how she used to write songs on the ukulele as a six-year-old, saying, “I used to play ukulele all the time.” She then praised the accessibility of the instrument, telling Corden, “You can play… you could play anything on the ukulele. […] ‘You’ meaning anyone. ‘You’ meaning anyone in the world.” Eilish went on to play The Beatles’ “I Will,” the first song she learned on the instrument, before playing the song she plays in the video above.

Watch the Fender videos above.

For the past few weeks, Chicago rapper Lil Durk and the recently released Tekashi 69 have traded insults and threats online as 69 returned to his trolling ways in the wake of his stint in prison. While Tekashi visited various sites in Chicago including posting a video to his Instagram “paying respect” to Durk’s cousin who was killed, Durk claimed that Tekashi’s management offered him $3 million to keep the beef going.

Now, however, Durk has some advice for Tekashi on what to do with that $3 million after Hits Daily Double updated the first-week sales projections for Tekashi’s new album TattleTales. Upon the album’s release, Tekashi boasted that it was projected to land around 150,000, but once the streaming numbers were actually tallied, those numbers were adjutsted downward by about 100,000, giving Durk all the ammo he needed to score one last laugh at 69’s expense. Reposing DJ Akademiks’ tweet detailing the adjustment to his Instgram Story, Durk gloated, “Should of took that 3million and got some mfer album sales…”

Meanwhile, Durk, who released his single “The Voice” the same day as TattleTales, confirmed that the single would lead to an album with the same title dropping sometime in October. Fans had previously assumed the album would drop this past Friday as well and while 69 trolled him over only releasing the single, it looks like Durk isn’t above rubbing a little salt in the wound.

See Durk’s response to Tekashi’s album sales misfortune above.