Category: Viral

Nobody got more attention in the WNBA last year than the Las Vegas Aces, who scored Liz Cambage late in the offseason to add to a brilliant young core that already included three No. 1 overall picks in Kelsey Plum, A’ja Wilson and Jackie Young, as well as sharpshooter Kayla McBride and do-it-all forward Dearica Hamby. The harsh and bizarre realities of the 2020 WNBA season are as present in the Aces as any other squad, as the version of the team that made it to the “Wubble” site at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla., is without both Cambage and Plum, likely stripping the Aces of their chances to avenge a semifinal loss.

Muggy Florida clearly isn’t the best place to serve up ice-cold revenge, but that won’t soothe the Aces, who lost a season of cost-control for Wilson and Plum. They will be well worth watching this season anyway, but simply won’t have the firepower without Cambage (COVID-related opt-out) and Plum (ruptured Achilles’ tendon) to reclaim a top spot in the standings.

WUBBLE ROSTER

Lindsay Allen
Alex Bentley
Dearica Hamby
Kayla McBride
Angel McCoughtry
Danielle Robinson
Sugar Rodgers
Carolyn Swords
Avery Warley-Talbert
A’ja Wilson
Jackie Young

KEY PLAYERS TO WATCH

A’ja Wilson: It’s no overstatement to say Wilson is an MVP candidate this year. Entering her third season and without Cambage to adjust to, Wilson could top the 29.2 percent usage rate she put up as a rookie in 2019, and Las Vegas will need her at her best to make a playoff run. In a league that is increasingly transitioning toward stretch bigs like Breanna Stewart and Elena Delle Donne, the 23-year-old Wilson does it her own way, still scoring efficiently from the post and creating her own shots with quickness and craft. Wilson will likely play center this year with Hamby at the 4, creating more space in the halfcourt while also demanding more out of Wilson as a scorer than last year. There might not be a single player in the WNBA this year who will dictate the outcome for her team more than Wilson.

Angel McCoughtry: The main change for the Aces this year is the presence of McCoughtry, whom the Aces swiped from Atlanta this offseason. This will be the first year away from the Dream for the 33-year-old McCoughtry, who missed 2019 with a torn ACL. The notoriously ball-dominant scoring forward may actually have a better pathway to success this season with Cambage and Plum gone, as the Aces can space the floor more and allow her to go to work with the ball in her hands. Last time we saw McCoughtry, in 2018, she shot just 42 percent from the field and 28 percent from deep, with a noticeable downtick in her free-throw rate. Yet the Dream still made a run to the WNBA semifinals, showing she can still succeed within a team concept built entirely around her. If the Aces can cede the offense to her a bit more than expected, and if she and Wilson can co-exist offensively, Las Vegas still boasts the talent for a playoff run, even if their ceiling is now more limited.

EXPECTATIONS

At 21-13, the Aces in 2019 announced their presence as a major force in the WNBA, and put Las Vegas on the map in the franchise’s second season in Sin City. Without Cambage and Plum, expectations are obviously muted, but for a team with a loaded roster full of overlapping young pieces, 2020 could be an opportunity for some to separate themselves. Plum’s contract expires after the season, while Cambage is on a one-year deal for 2020. Even if a championship run is unlikely, coming together to make the playoffs could teach the Aces a lot about themselves.

X-FACTOR

Jackie Young: After Oregon sensation Sabrina Ionescu opted to return to school for the 2019-20 season, the Aces pivoted to Young with the top overall pick in the 2019 WNBA Draft. That placed high expectations on Young, as did head coach Bill Laimbeer’s decision to start her over Plum all season. Young’s jump shot is a work in progress (.352 effective field goal percentage), but she is strong and mobile on defense and a steady play-maker. Expect Young to play point guard full-time this year without Plum around, and if she can become a more efficient shooter and orchestrate the offense more effectively in year two, maybe the Aces miss less of a beat without Plum than expected.

BIGGEST ON-COURT QUESTION

Can the Aces space the floor better in 2020? Las Vegas shot the fewest threes in the WNBA in 2019, a signal of the challenges of putting Young, Wilson and Cambage on the floor together. The fifth-ranked Las Vegas offense could potentially get a boost from running things entirely through Wilson, with great shooters in McBride and Hamby dotting the floor. Sinking lower than tops in the league on defense but improving the offense could mean the Aces look quite different on the floor but in effect are comparably competitive. All of it will be based on whether Las Vegas can modernize its offense and adjust to new personnel.

Philadelphia-based musician Shamir shared his most recent album Cataclysm back in March but he’s not done releasing new music. The singer followed-up the record’s release with the vibrant single “On My Own,” which he named an “accidental” quarantine anthem. Now, Shamir returns with “I Wonder” which announces yet another record he’s planning on debuting in 2020.

“I Wonder” flexes Shamir’s talent as a songwriter, combining striking instrumentals with his far-reaching vocals and intimate lyrics. “I’ll be the earth with the disease / And you the human inside of me,” he sings.

In a statement, Shamir said he penned the song as a reflection on where the themes of love and climate change intersect. “The song is about the feeling of love taking over your heart, even when you don’t want it to,” Shamir said. “It also alludes to climate change and how humans (‘love’) can be the most toxic thing to the planet (‘the heart’), but also the only thing that can fix it.” Speaking about the album as a whole, the singer explained why he chose the eponymous title: “I felt like it didn’t need a name, cuz it’s the record that’s most me.”

Listen to “I Wonder” above and find the Shamir cover art below.

Shamir is out 10/2 and independently-released without a label. Pre-order it here.

Just a few weeks into the quarantine, Troye Sivan informed fans he was going “berserk” in his newfound downtime. The singer thought the lockdown was the perfect time to begin releasing new music and just a week later, he shared the slow-burning number “Take Yourself Home.” At the time, Sivan promised more music but he didn’t follow through until Wednesday when he debuted the shimmering number “Easy.” Now, Sivan returns with a poignant video accompanying the heartsick track.

Directed by Troye Sivan himself, the visual features many close-up shots that allow the singer’s true, lovelorn emotions to shine through. “I’m still in love and I say that because / I know how it seems between you and me / It hasn’t been easy darling” he sings.

The track “Easy” also announced the singer’s upcoming six-track EP, In A Dream. Recorded just prior to the lockdown in between studios in Stockholm and LA, Sivan said In A Dream was penned during an emotionally turbulent time in his life: “A story that’s still unfolding, this small collection of songs explores an emotional rollercoaster period in my life when the feelings and thoughts were most shockingly fresh. Revisiting these songs and moments is tough, but I’m proud of this music and excited to have it out in the world.”

Watch Sivan’s “Easy” video above.

In A Dream is out 8/21 via Capitol. Pre-order it here.

If nothing below suits your sensibilities, check out our guide to What You Should Watch On Streaming Right Now.

Fatal Affair (Netflix movie, Thursday) — Get ready for heavy Fatal Attraction and Obsessed vibes with this cautionary tale full of melodrama. Nia Long stars as a wife (Ellie) with a “perfect marriage” to Stephen Bishop’s Marcus, but of course, temptation strikes because (I guess) she’s bored, and the passion has faded. Enter David (portrayed by Omar Epps), who lures Ellie into a passionate encounter, and although her conscience strikes at the last possible moment, it’s far too late to get rid of him.

Indian Matchmaking (Netflix series, Thursday) — From Houston to Chicago to Mumbai, a group of young singles are ready to get awkward off the dating apps with the help of an elite Indian matchmaker who digs into ambitions and astrological charts.

Killer Camp (CW, 8:00 p.m.) — This new reality-game show parks eleven strangers at Camp Pleasant, where they’re informed that they’re actually in attendance at Killer Camp. Not ideal!

Labor Of Love (CW, 9:00 p.m.) — Kristi’s down to the final selection and must introduce two men to her family and pick the one with whom she’ll become a parent.

Cake (FXX, 10:00 p.m.) — A showcase featuring both live-action and animated comedy programs of varied length that are equal parts thought-provoking, laugh-inducing, artistic, authentic and raw.

The Late Show With Stephen Colbert — Musical performance from The Chicks

The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon — Jim Carrey, Jenny Slate, Luke Combs

Jimmy Kimmel Live! — Alex Rodriguez

Late Night With Seth Meyers — Demi Moore, Paul Scheer, KALEO

When Patrick Stewart appeared as Professor Charles Xavier in the first X-Men film, it was a slam dunk piece of casting. The British actor completely looked the part of the classic comic book character and mentor to the team of extraordinary mutants. However and according to the filmmakers behind the 2000 blockbuster that birthed a superhero explosion that’s still going strong after two decades, Stewart didn’t even want the part, but there was someone else who did: Michael Jackson. (Yes, that Michael Jackson.)

In a wide-ranging retrospective on the making of X-Men for its 20th anniversary, the Observer reports that Jackson was one of many random stars who’d routinely show up to Fox studios eager to appear in the film. But while the King of Pop was petitioning to play Professor X, the studio knew Stewart was the perfect choice for the part. Unfortunately, the Shakespearean actor wasn’t exactly champing at the bit to spend the whole production in a wheelchair, which became a sticking point as the filmmakers tried to woo TV’s Captain Picard into playing the powerful psychic:

“Patrick Stewart didn’t want to [play Charles Xavier]. It took a long time to convince him,” [screenwriter David] Hayter said. “Terence Stamp told me, ‘You know why Patrick doesn’t want to do it? Because of the chair. He doesn’t want to be stuck in the chair. But I don’t mind. In fact, I also look excellent bald.’ Everyday I was surprised by the faces coming in. Like, I’d find Mariah Carey sitting in my office wanting to go talk to Bryan about being Storm or something. So that’s always shocking.”

Obviously, Jackson was never in serious contention to play Professor X even if Stewart had turned down the role. Then again, none of the filmmakers specifically say that, so try not to dwell on a Professor X that moonwalks into people’s minds and dance-fights Magneto. As awesome as that may be.

(Via Observer)

After dispatching Jorge Masvidal in a dominant performance at UFC 251, Kamaru Usman is turning his attention toward UFC legend Georges St-Pierre. Usman has battled through the best of the welterweight division in recent years, unbeaten in all 12 UFC fights while dominating the likes of Tyron Woodley and Colby Covington. Now, Usman says he’s ready to test himself.

“I would have to say Georges St-Pierre,” Usman said when asked what’s next by TMZ Sports. “Right now, we’re tied for the record for the most consecutive wins in the welterweight division. Georges is a tough guy, Georges is a legend, Georges is a guy that’s been around for a while, put his time in and is considered one of the best. That’s where I aim to be.

“Georges was one of the first hybrid of the sport — he can do everything well. I think I’m the newer and improved version. I’m a little bit stronger and a little bit better everywhere.”

St-Pierre returned to the UFC after a four-year layoff, when he choked out Michael Bisping in the main event of UFC 217 to claim the middleweight title. Since then, he’s retired from the sports and teased a return only to fight unbeaten star Khabib Nurmagomedov. Usman provides a similar challenge to the likes of Nurmagomedov as an accomplished wrestler who can stand and throw hands with the best of them (see his masterclass against Covington). At 39 years old, though, you’ve got to wonder how much, if any St-Pierre has left in the tank.

If St-Pierre isn’t keen for another long walk to the Octagon, Gilbert Burns is still waiting in the wings after his positive COVID-19 test pulled him from his championship bout with Usman.

The war of words continues between U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-GA) and WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert over the league’s support of the Black Lives Matter movement. While Engelbert and the WNBA have made clear Loeffler has not served as the managing partner of the Atlanta Dream since she was selected to replace Senator Johnny Isakson last fall and no longer runs the day-to-day operations of the franchise, many WNBA players have resoundingly denounced Loeffler’s involvement in the league. In an interview Thursday with CNN, Engelbert made it clear the league will not force Loeffler to divest from the Dream.

Asked by CNN anchor Poppy Harlow whether the WNBA might follow suit of Loeffler’s campaign contributors and disassociate with Loeffler following her public statements criticizing the league for supporting the movement, Engelbert said it would not.

“We are not going to force her to sell her ownership (stake),” Engelbert said. “She is not a current governor, she is not involved the day-to-day, and we are aware there are interested parties who want to purchase the team.”

Many had compared this situation to the NBA running Donald Sterling out of the Clippers governorship last decade, and called on to Engelbert to do as Adam Silver did and force Loeffler out of her stake. Engelbert is instead making clear that Loeffler is not much of a factor in terms of running the Dream at this point, highlighting how Loeffler is using her pulpit as a minor WNBA stakeholder in an attempt to boost her senatorial hopes.

The situation appears untenable. Players continue to call on the league to do more, while Engelbert is trying to put out the fire without sweeping action. Loeffler, meanwhile, has not backed down from her stance. The league is likely hoping Loeffler either goes quiet or moves on from her relationship with the Dream of her own choosing, which would make sense, considering Loeffler continues to actively bash a team she chose to invest in.

SUPERHOT has always been about repetition, and the word of the day with Mind Control Delete is ‘more.’

The latest version of the time-bending FPS, SUPERHOT: Mind Control Delete, certainly offers a lot more of the mechanics and style of the franchise that quite literally screams its name out while you play. And that will come as welcome news to anyone who has enjoyed the bullet time brilliance of the first. But all things must evolve, and the path Mind Control Delete takes you down not only improves on the original but in many ways makes it feel like an altogether more complete game.

The original SUPERHOT was a test of survival in short but frantic bursts. Its simulation concept had a larger story that was weird and unsettling, but the goal was mostly surviving a single level without getting hit by fists or bullets from anonymous red humanoids. The system worked — it was addicting and finally getting through enough enemies to hear SUPER! HOT! screamed out while your gameplay is repeated at full speed was legitimately thrilling. All of that returns with Mind Control Delete, but the new features make that a more sustainable and satisfying game.

Unlike the original’s one hit kills you gameplay mechanic, though, Mind Control Delete adds new mechanics that stretch that anxiety out considerably. The levels come at you in groups now, with a partially-decrypted computer screen warning you how many more levels you must endure to finish a block of code. You start each block with a ‘core” skill like the ability to charge enemies. It sets up a game structure more about surviving a gauntlet than a single level, adding a heart meter you need to preserve while also enabling “hacks” that create new abilities and gameplay options. One hack might make throwable objects explode like grenades, for example. Others let you start each level with a random gun or katana, or restores your health as you try to complete the onslaught of levels.

If there’s a complaint to be had, the levels get repeated a number of times throughout Mind Control Delete, though you often explore new parts of them by starting in new positions, facing newer, tougher enemies and using your learned hacks to stay alive. With that repetition, though, comes new opportunities to develop strategies for survival. SUPERHOT has always been a game with replay value, and Mind Control Delete’s new additions only add chances to explore. Even the fish are valuable weapons in this one.

That a game built on repetition and promising more can still surprise you is worth the playthrough alone, even if you’re not one of the millions that can get the game for free thanks to buying the first. The “core” mechanics and “hacks” not only open up the strategic element of the game, but their random implementation gently nudge you out of your comfort zone and into new ways to string abilities together. Halfway through the game, I found myself eschewing guns altogether and challenging myself to finish entire levels with a single katana.

Some hacks inevitably won’t jive with your particular play style, and the most challenging levels often involved quite literally overcoming your own aversion to utilizing these specific cores or hacks to survive. Not all of them can be winners, of course, but the sheer variety and open-ended play possibilities in a game with a very simple premise were refreshing.

I will say I did miss the experience on the Switch given the game’s effortless integration of motion controls, and the review version I played did have a few bugs and kinks still to work out. That those seemed to fit in with the glitchy graphics of the game’s style, though, eased the trouble it caused considerably. Years later, SUPERHOT remains a brilliant and innovative first person shooter, and if Mind Control Delete is the evolution of the simulated world the game exists in, we’re (very slowly and violently) headed to an increasingly entertaining place.

Sean Evans may have just landed his dream job. No, we’re not talking about the one where he eats hot wings during an in-depth one-on-one interview with some of the most famous people in the world. We’re talking about his new gig as the host of Hot Ones: The Game Show. “I’ve always thought that the game show host was the best job in the history of entertainment,” Evans tells me over the phone while filling me in on the unlikely TV star who he drew inspiration from.

Hot Ones: The Game Show is currently deep into its first season on truTV, and while it might not seem it at first, the show is the logical progression of Hot Ones — the hit online interview show made famous by Evans and Complex. In the game show version, Evans guides contestants through a competition that sees two teams battling it out in the “Pepperdome” through three rounds of trivia while tasting some of the world’s spiciest hot sauces. Though the host may not be chopping it up one-on-one with a celebrity here, his role is essentially the same. He’s on hand to take both the contestants and the audience on a journey that makes everyone feel like this is all some big wild, wooly hang session.

This week, we talked to Evans about the struggles of operating his shows in a pandemic world, his favorite parts of hosting a proper game show, and his current list of favorite hot sauces.

What made it feel like a game show was the logical progression of the Hot Ones brand? It feels like you’ve flipped the script, you humanized celebrities in Hot Ones, and now with the game show you’re glorifying everyday people.

Yeah, it’s exactly that. It just has an inverse relationship. What was an unintended consequence but kind of the magic of Hot Ones was that it’s this perfect “What’s it like to have a beer with this person?” celebrity interview show. That’s mostly because it takes a celebrity — which is, as a lifestyle, this unattainable and aspirational thing — and knocks them off of their pedestal to a level that we all understand, which is dying on hot sauce.

What we do with the game show is the complete inverse of that, which is exalting contestants with hot sauce, taking fans of the show and making them heroes in the Pepperdome, and hopefully winning them $25,000 and a milkshake.

Do you have any game show host idols that you took inspiration from?

I’ve always thought that the game show host was the best job in the history of entertainment because no one who has them ever leaves. Bob Barker was at The Price is Right forever, Drew Carey will be there forever, Alex Trebek at Jeopardy forever! But the guy that I think is the most underrated was Ben Bailey from Cash Cab. His style of taking the bootleg approach to doing game shows, and then being so funny, and then making a show that’s really smart, he did that perfectly. If Hot Ones the interview show started as a game show, it would be totally like Cash Cab.

Ben Bailey is someone who is special.

How are both shows adapting to COVID-19.? You’re working with something that causes people to cough and breath heavily on each other, how is that working as a remote operation?

Hot Ones as a studio show is not very social-distancing friendly because everyone is eating food and spitting at each other from across the table. The interview show has been affected heavily, we’ve started season 12 by shooting episodes remotely, and that’s offering a unique experience because we’re sending these sauces in the mail and celebrities are over saucing their wings. So it’s already a hot lineup but now it’s super hot in the at-home edition. All those little production things that I took for granted that are now on my plate, whether its sound or lighting or framing or taking this footage and uploading it to DropBox and Airdropping it. All the days that have been ruined trying to do that.

But for the game show, we were really lucky because we mass shot a ton of episodes in December. We did the whole year’s worth when we could still pack the Pepperdome, and that’s what’s happening with the episodes that are coming out now. We have a fully packed Pepperdome.

We were very lucky to have banked all of that before this whole thing went down, but it definitely affected the interview show quite a bit, it’s been a pain to try and do all of that stuff from my living room but for the game show, we lucked out on the timing and lucked out by shooting so many episodes.

Aside from the technical aspects of doing Hot Ones remote, how does it affect the dynamic of the interview?

Nothing will ever replace the face to face, at least for my style. Our show on paper is so stupid: “We’re going to interview you but you have to eat increasingly spicy chicken wings that turn into dorm room-like prank sauces.” On paper, it’s such a tough sell but we win people over in person a lot because everyone who works on the show is awesome, there are ways we win you over on sight.

Even during the course of the interview, if people thought on the surface level it was a goofy show, by the third or the fourth wing their shoulders are relaxed and they’re into it and there is this connection that is made and you can’t replace that over the internet, it’s impossible.

The thing that I’m missing the most in doing this is that face to face connection that really shines through on Hot Ones and makes those episodes so special. It can’t be replaced and no one wants to get back into the studio more than me for that exact reason.

But the flip side of that is that in these times you could shut down production and just not do anything and wait until things get back on track, but when you do that you alienate your audience. People need a sense of normalcy, even if they’re only escaping it in a YouTube video that comes out every Thursday. For us, it’s important to deliver that Thursday episode because, for the people who really want and need that right now, they want and need it more than they ever have. I think that right now it’s our duty to serve those people that need that Hot Ones fix and that escape because its such a bleak and depressing time. I think that we have an obligation and a duty to do our best and make the show and give people a sense of normalcy.

It goes both ways, I don’t love shooting stuff in the house, it loses something, but at the same time, you get to kind of get to go into people’s homes now, which is interesting. In the Eric Andre episode we just shot he’s walking around his house, he has a framed picture of a baby GG Allin hugging the Pope, all these little things you wouldn’t normally see you’re able to experience now that you’re in people’s homes. And again, they’re over saucing the wings, they’re dumping sauce on them on sight, so the whole thing has a gonzo quality to it and gives people a different perspective.

There are pluses and minuses but not being about to have that in-person connection is something I really miss.

You’ve seen wings as an equalizer — You’ve sat with huge celebrities eating them, and you’ve spent time with everyday people eating them, what makes chicken wings the right food to theme two shows around?

Hot wings are just such a universal thing. If we ever did the show with tacos or chips I don’t think it would work. Wings are just a thing everyone knows and understands. It’s also just a funny food, so that’s what really makes it work. My role doesn’t change from show to show. In the interview show it becomes a buddy cop movie by the end because we are both on this spicy chicken wing journey together, and then on the game show, it’s very different, but I’m still there for the team. I’m there in spirit, to help them through it. I talk to the teams before we get out there because it is an extreme show. On the interview show, we inch up the hotness wing after wing, turning that knob just a little bit more over this marathon career-spanning interview, but with the game show, it all comes so fast. The first wing is brutal and it only goes up from there. It’s ultimately a painful endeavor but I hope that anyone who goes through it, whether it’s a celebrity on the interview show or a fan on the game show, feels supported while they go through it. There is someone there for them, everyone in the Pepperdome and everyone on set is rooting for them.

The best moment in every Hot Ones episode happens near the end of the lineup when your guest is just completely out of themselves with their guard down. Which reaction has surprised you the most?

It all kind of blends into this spicy fever dream but what I’ve found is that everything is hard to predict. We would always bet beforehand about how someone will do, who we think will pass — they’ll do this, they’ll do that — but you cannot predict it. When Halle Berry came onto the show, she walked in and we didn’t know how she’d take to it. She said “I’m here for lunch, I’m cleaning it all, I don’t care. I’m not going to drink any water or milk.” Who would’ve thought Halle Berry would come in and say that?

Jim Gaffigan looked like a wing eating guy, he has all this material about food, but he tapped out and we thought that he’d for sure finish. You can’t ever predict it — so in a weird way, I’m surprised by everyone. If I try to predict beforehand, I’m wrong every single time.

What’s one of your favorite things about being a game show host over being and interviewer? It has to be not having to eat insanely hot wings, right?

Yeah, well, that’s one thing that’s great! But the thing that is the most rewarding about the game show is that when we do the interview show it’s very intimate, there aren’t many people in the room, it’s in this dark 80s cable access budget set. If its done right Stone Cold Steve Austin kind of forgets by the third wing that he’s even on a show, it’s just two people talking at a table. That’s awesome in a lot of ways and I think that’s how an interview should be, but the game show is so different because we pack the studio with 350 plus people who are all hot wings fans.

We shot in Atlanta, which I didn’t know was a hotbed for Hot Ones fans, so all of these people are cheering and dancing in the aisles, and throwing me hot sauce bottles to sign. When you do a show on the internet, I get that people watch it, I see the numbers, I read the comments, there are people who recognize me on the street, but you can’t physically touch your audience like you can on a game show and so that was the most rewarding thing about it for me.

Every shoot had so much energy, and it felt like a concert for the fans. Afterward, I’m signing hot sauce bottles, and taking pictures with people and high fiving people. The rush you get from walking off the set of a game show, you feel high. When you walk off the interview show you get a spicy high, but you don’t get that rush that you get from the game show.

If I could pick an analogy from music, the interview feels like the songwriting studio work, and the game show feels like the concert.

Is that much different than doing Hot Ones live, like at Complexcon or on a late-night show, or is it the game show setting that makes the rush so extreme?

Doing Fallon or Colbert or a live Complexcon episode, that has its own sort of nerves that you go through. I used to get them before high school football games — that feeling where you’re like “ugh I just want to get out there and do it because standing around is giving me crazy anxiety.” In the Pepperdome there are like a bajillion lights, there are pyrotechnics coming out from under the floor, you have a DJ who is blasting out music, and throwing contests in-between episodes and during commercial breaks, you have medics on hand, you have four people dying on spice running around the set, so it’s just like a much different environment in almost every way.

We’ve come to the point where I must ask you some hot sauce recommendations. Could you give us some of your favorite mild and ultra spicy sauces?

The best hot sauce, my favorite of all time, is the Queen Majesty Scotch Bonnet and Ginger Sauce, Yellowbird, they’re out of Austin Texas, they’ve never been on the show but they’re an amazing hot sauce maker, they have a habanero sauce that is awesome. I’m big on the Torchbearer guys, we’ve had a few of their sauces on the show but I like their horseradish — it’s my favorite that they do. Those are manageable sauces that are just awesome if you love hot sauce, I highly recommend picking up those three.

As far as a spicy sauce here is a call back — Zombie Apocalypse from Torchbearer, it was a great sauce that actually tasted good but is intense. Los Calientes Rojo which we have on the show now, that’s maybe the best sauce we’ve ever made. When you smell it you’re like “Oh my god it’s so good” but then it kicks harder than it smells, and you just keep eating because it tastes so good.

When you get that labor of love ceiling when you’re sweating through it and going through pain to enjoy the meal but you’ve found yourself finishing it, that’s how you know you’ve reached the edge of your place but you also have something that tastes excellent. That’s really a challenge from a culinary perspective to balance that, make something that’s not only hot but also adds flavor.

Do you have a favorite chili pepper?

I’m a jalapeño guy. I like habanero in sauces but not just eating one straight up. On not one but two occasions I’ve eaten a Carolina Reaper which I do not recommend anyone do but that’s an experience. That’s a trip, it’ll mess up your day but you’ll come out the other side a changed person.

Do you hate hot wings?

Hot Ones has totally killed wings for me. I don’t want to eat wings at a Super Bowl party, I don’t want to go out and get wings with anybody. People think I’m an encyclopedia of wing knowledge like “Hey dude I’m in Seattle, what’s the best wing spot?” Like I know every wing spot! I’m not a wing expert, I don’t love wings, if I even see them it’ll feel like work, so I have an almost Pavlovian response to them.

But the hot sauce, I truly love. Being exposed to all these different growers, all these different hot sauce makers, going to hot sauce expos, and meeting all these people at the Wing Out event in Chicago or whatever. The hot sauce subculture is so interesting and I’ve met all the people who make up the industry. I’ve sampled so many hot sauces over the years that I’ve actually become more into hot sauce. My fridge is packed full of hot sauce, I use hot sauce frequently, I’m probably more interested in hot sauce than I was when we started the show.

But off-camera, in this sort of quarantine atmosphere where I’m less mobile, I’m eating a lot of grain bowls and salads and healthy cereals and juices and stuff.

How have you been spending this time in quarantine?

What’s been nice is over the last couple of weeks is that we’ve gotten busy again, we are shooting episodes and putting them out, editing them over Zoom which takes more time than it used to take, everything is a little more complicated and more of a pain and more time consuming, but it feels good to be busy again and making episodes again.

Other than that, I’ve just been listening to true crime podcasts, and watching every episode of Better Call Saul and doing all the basic ride it out occupy your time habits, mass watching tv shows, listening to podcasts, calling my friends, having poker nights over Zoom. Talking to my dad a little bit more.

It’s a reset and it’s a universal experience we’re all going through that we cannot stand, but on the plus side of it, if you take the time to reconnect with people who through the ebbs and flows of the busyness of life you were unable to, maybe that’s a positive.

You can watch Hot Ones: The Game Show every Tuesday night on truTV.

Aminé’s upcoming album Limbo has already been revealed to contain at least one major guest star in Young Thug, but its tracklist — which the Portland rapper just shared on his Instagram page — contains even more surprises, from a reunion with Charlie Wilson to the bittersweet inclusion of Injury Reserve. While previously released singles “Shimmy,” “Riri,” and “Compensating” appear as expected, some features for fans to watch out for include the speedy JID, laconic Vince Staples, rebellious Slowthai, and smooth Summer Walker.

Limbo is being billed as Aminé’s second official album after his sparkling debut, Good For You, with the 2018 project OnePointFive receiving the fanciful classification of “EpLpMixtapeAlbum” — Aminé’s tongue-in-cheek way of poking fun at the nonlinear (and arbitrary) distinctions placed on music in the era of instant streaming and surprise releases. Aminé’s 2017 breakout with “Caroline” took advantage of the power of streaming to launch him to stardom, securing his spot on the 2017 XXL Freshman list and helping him leverage that attention into a flourishing career that included further hits “Spice Girl,” “Reel It In,” and “Blackjack.” He’s primed for superstardom and Limbo just might be the vehicle to take him the rest of the way there.

Limbo is due 8/7 via Republic Records. You can pre-order it here.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.