Category: Worldwide

When I saw that Vincent Price was trending, I assumed that it was for something Halloween oriented. After all, the man is pretty much the king of the holiday, is he not?

Much to my ignorant surprise, that was not the case. As it turns out, one Twitterer was giving the world a crash course on all things VP, and her informative thread received so much positive attention, #VincentPrice began breaking the internet. Many, like myself, were thrilled to learn a bit more about the Halloween King, who was actually a real-life hero.

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For those who would like a quick education on the man, or simply seek to fill themselves with renewed appreciation, keep reading! You just might find some fun icebreakers to test out at your next Halloween party.

He was the Robin Hood of the art world

OK, he didn’t steal anything, but Vincent Price would collect the original masterpieces of legends like Picasso, Rembrandt and Pollock and place them into a Sears department store for discounted purchase.

The exhibit, called The Vincent Price Collection, offered buyers a chance to purchase a work for as little as $5/month. Imagine putting an original Dali surrealist piece on layaway!

In his video promoting the collection for Sears, Price said, “Art belongs to everyone … [it] is the visual experience of man … done by extremely disciplined human beings who are trying to allow you … to see through their eyes the visual beauty of this world.”

He also advocated for Indigenous art

Price’s love of art transcended beyond Western cultures. He was also passionate about helping Indigenous artists prosper from their creativity. In addition to serving for 14 years on the Indian Arts and Crafts Board, he also developed a creative writing award for Native students and read their poems aloud during his interview with Johnny Carson. And to top it all off, Price integrated their work into that Sears fine art collection.

And was an activist before it was cool

We’re quite used to seeing celebrities use their platforms to speak out about social justice issues.Sometimes as a genuine effort to create change, and other times, sadly, as a performative strategy to appear “on brand.” There was a time, however, when this was not normalized, and even had a certain level of risk. That didn’t stop Price. While starring in a popular radio show “The Saint,” he delivered speeches about racism and religious intolerance. Though delivered more than half a century ago, what he had to say feels relevant even now.

Especially this part:

“Poison doesn’t always come in bottles … marked with the skull and crossbones of danger. … Poison can take the form of words and phrases and acts. The venom of racial and religious hatred.”

Special shoutout to Sarah McGonagall on Twitter, who is clearly a Vincent Price trivia connoisseur and wholehearted fan.

Schooling everyone, she even had super exclusive, lesser-known facts about the Hollywood icon. Like the one about Price’s grandfather inventing cream of tartar.

Or the one about Vincent Price originally being the voice of Santa in “The Nightmare Before Christmas,” before being overcome with sadness over the loss of his wife:

As to how she found all these interesting facts, her answer is good old-fashioned memoir reading. She wrote “For all those asking, I got most of this information from the beautiful memoir written by Vincent’s daughter, Victoria. I highly recommend it in both physical and audiobook form!”

That book can be found here.

McGonagall ends her Price thread by noting her “favorite Price moment,” where he presented the “most devastatingly savage explanation of why humans are the most terrifying monsters of all” in his movie “The Monster Club.”

It wasn’t long before others started contributing their own Vincent Price tidbits.

One person tweeted about Price’s legendary memorization prowess, saying “The Hilarious House of Frightenstein” hired Price for two days to record dozens of little poems to introduce the segments. But Price was so fast at learning his lines—and never messing up—that they were done in half a day.

Another shared how Price, according to his daughter, was openly bisexual (along with his 3rd wife).

One person even posted Price’s cookbook, “A Treasury of Great Recipes.” For those who didn’t know, myself included, Price’s two passions were art and cooking.

Who knew that so much could be learned from one Twitter trend? One thing is clear, Vincent Price most assuredly deserves every bit of internet love he’s receiving today. The man not only gives Halloween a distinctly fun and spooky voice, he also continues to be an inspiration by standing up for what he believed in and expressing himself fully.

As this Twitterer astutely stated, “Vincent Price is just the Goth Mr. Rogers.”

Marcella Lopez didn’t always want to be a teacher — but once she became one, she found her passion. That’s why she’s stayed in the profession for 23 years, spending the past 16 at her current school in Los Angeles, where she mostly teaches children of color.

“I wanted purpose, to give back, to live a life of public service, to light the spark in others to think critically and to be kind human beings,” she says. “More importantly, I wanted my students to see themselves when they saw me, to believe they could do it too.”

Ms. Lopez didn’t encounter a teacher of color until college. “That moment was life-changing for me,” she recalls. “It was the first time I felt comfortable in my own skin as a student. Always remembering how I felt in that college class many years ago has kept me grounded year after year.”

It’s also guided her teaching. Ms. Lopez says she always selects authors and characters that represent her students and celebrate other ethnicities so students can relate to what they read while also learning about other cultures.

“I want them to see themselves in the books they read, respect those that may not look like them and realize they may have lots in common with [other cultures] they read about,” she says.

She also wants her students to have a different experience in school than she did.

When Ms. Lopez was in first grade, she “was speaking in Spanish to a new student, showing her where the restroom was when a staff member overheard our conversation and directed me to not speak in Spanish,” she recalls. “In ‘this school,’ we only speak English,” she remembers them saying. “From that day forward, I was made to feel less-than and embarrassed to speak the language of my family, my ancestors; the language I learned to speak first.”

Part of her job, she says, is to find new ways to promote acceptance and inclusion in her classroom.

“The worldwide movement around social justice following the death of George Floyd amplified my duty as a teacher to learn how to discuss racial equity in a way that made sense to my little learners,” she says. “It ignited me to help them see themselves in a positive light, to make our classroom family feel more inclusive, and make our classroom a safe place to have authentic conversations.”

One way she did that was by raising money through DonorsChoose to purchase books and other materials for her classroom that feature diverse perspectives.

Courtesy of Ms. Lopez

The Allstate Foundation recently partnered with DonorsChoose to create a Racial Justice and Representation category to encourage teachers like Ms. Lopez to create projects that address racial equity in the classroom. To launch the category, The Allstate Foundation matched all donations to these projects for a total of $1.5 million. Together, they hope to drive awareness and funding to projects that bring diversity, inclusion, and identity-affirming learning materials into classrooms across the country. You can see current projects seeking funding here.

When Ms. Lopez wanted to incorporate inclusive coloring books into her lesson plans, The Allstate Foundation fully funded her project so she was able to purchase them.

“I’m a lifelong learner, striving to be my best version of myself and always working to inspire my little learners to do the same,” she says. Each week, Ms. Lopez and the students would focus on a page in the book and discuss its message. And she plans to do the same again this school year.

“DonorsChoose has been a gamechanger for my students. Without the support of all the donors that come together on this platform, we wouldn’t have a sliver of what I’ve been able to provide for my students, especially during the pandemic,” she says.

“My passion is to continue striving to be excellent, and to continue to find ways to use literature as an anchor, depicting images that reflect my students,” she says.

To help teachers like Ms. Lopez drive this important mission forward, donate on DonorsChoose.

Courtesy of Ms. Lopez

It’s almost time for everyone’s favorite spooky holiday, Halloween! For some, it’s all about costume parties, candy, and pumpkins, but it’s also the time of year when horror fans get treated to the best in scary movies, haunted houses, and games. While horror novels can feel too detached, and horror movies are more about witnessing the terror, a horror game puts everyone directly into the experience. Playing a horror game is an experience like no other because it forces us to directly deal with those fears. Dealing with ghosts? That’s your problem to solve. Running away from a demon? Well ya better get moving, because the only person that can escape that demon is you.

The great thing about horror games though is that they give us a very personal experience as well. By forcing us to go through the entirety of the horror on our own, we become far more attached to everything that is happening to the characters we’re playing as. Maybe that’s because the game is forcing us to become those characters through personal choice, or the tale is just so gripping that we can’t look away. Horror is able to enter territory that other genres can’t and it’s led to some of the most influential video games ever.

Silent Hill 2 – PlayStation 2

Silent Hill 2 is a contender for the best horror game ever made. When the original Silent Hill was released on PlayStation, it was in many ways an unexpected success. The series was supposed to be Konami’s answer to the Hollywood movie style of Capcom’s Resident Evil, but what it ended up becoming was a truly terrifying psychological horror series, with Silent Hill 2 standing above the rest as the pinnacle of the series.

Silent Hill 2 has all the benefits of a good sequel in terms of gameplay and design, but the story starring James Sunderland is where it really fills the player with terror. Called to the town of Silent Hill by a letter from his supposedly dead wife, James is forced to reconcile with past traumas he would rather forget. Along the way, he meets others dealing with their own demons as well as literal monsters of his worst psychological fears. The most terrifying of them being Pyramid Head, a monster he created to punish him for his previous sin. What makes Silent Hill 2 so important though is the impact it had on the survival horror genre. Horror games had rarely tackled such mature subjects before and the way Silent Hill 2 handles its characters, plot, and setting makes it a classic that should be played by any fan of the genre. It is the benchmark that so many games are still attempting to meet to this very day.

Resident Evil – PlayStation

The first Resident Evil game is really not that scary. With hokie (hilarious) voice acting, a B-movie plot, and often frustrating gameplay, someone playing it today might not understand how the series would go on to become such a worldwide phenomenon. For starters the game really was horrifying back on the PlayStation, but the gameplay was also very fresh and new for console horror games. The camera angles, tank controls, and limited inventory created an experience that immediately grabbed players.

By the end of the game, the player becomes so overpowered Resident Evil switches from horror to an action title, but that gave it a Hollywood thriller feel. Capcom’s goal with Resident Evil was to create a game that felt like a movie and it largely succeeded. The series would go on to make far scarier games in the future, and then ridiculously cheesy ones — only to re-correct back to horror — but none of those future games would exist without that first game. Age may have not treated the original Resident Evil the best, but its influences are all over the series and horror game market today.

Alone in the Dark – PC

Everything that Resident Evil made popular when it released in 1996? All of that was inspired by Alone in the Dark back in 1992. The pre-determined camera angles, mansion, and emphasis on not trying to fight through every scenario was done by Alone in the Dark first. It basically defined the entirety of the Survival Horror genre that Resident Evil would go on to perfect.

What made Alone in the Dark so influential at the time was how it approached gameplay. The main character, Edward Carnby or Emily Hartwood, is a private investigator that can handle themself in a fight. The problem is their enemies are typically supernatural and far more powerful than them. With limited supplies, it isn’t smart to tackle every combat scenario head-on. Most combat can be avoided altogether by using logic, solving puzzles, and thinking quickly. This can be frustrating sometimes with some scenarios being easier to solve in repeat playthroughs, but that’s to be expected of games from the early 90s. The important thing here is that Alone in the Dark became the inspiration for one of the most popular genres in games today and it should be praised for it.

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night – PlayStation

Is Castlevania scary? Absolutely not. Is it also one of the best examples of taking horror and gothic themes in a side-scrolling platformer and making a series that would go on to define an entire genre? Yes. Castlevania is a really simple game. You are Simon Belmont, you have a whip, and travel to the end of every level to defeat classic horror bosses like Frankenstein’s monster, Medusa, the Grim Reaper, and then, finally, Dracula. The series is more challenging than scary, but the themes around it all fit perfectly into the horror genre.

Where the series would go on to influence games as a whole was Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. Keeping with the themes of the original games, it was still a story about defeating Dracula at the end but what made this one special was the non-linear and explorative aspects of the game. The player would collect new powers throughout their playthrough that allowed previously unexplored areas to open up. This encouraged backtracking because the player could go back and find new secrets. This style of gameplay would go on to be so popular that a new genre was born out of anything that copied it. Metroidvanias. A combination of Metroid and Castlevania, the two series that popularized the concept, are one of the most popular game genres today.

Dead Space – PlayStation 3, Xbox 360

Want to feel fear? Dead Space will fill you with it. Starring silent protagonist, Isaac Clarke, the player is tasked with helping Clarke discover what happened to his girlfriend Nicole on the USG Ishimura when it suddenly went silent. Unfortunately for Clarke, a Necromorph (zombie) infestation has taken over the ship and he has to put a stop to it. All of this takes place in the silent confines of space and Dead Space makes use of that detail in really unique, interesting, and horrifying ways.

There might not be a more terrifying game on this entire list than Dead Space. The way it manages to hit every nerve of a player and put them into an uncomfortable state is very impressive. Yet, it’s also a really fun action game as well. The concept of cutting off the limbs of the Necromorphs to conserve ammo was unique at the time. Back in 2008, most enemies in games had just a handful of hitboxes. Having a game where each individual body part can be isolated and attacked was very cool for the time. Throw in some cool modules, like kinesis stasis, and you have a vulnerable but also powerful protagonist. The player will feel like they can hold their own in Dead Space, but they’re going to be terrified the entire way. Another must-play for any fan of horror.

Nic Cage seems to average four or five roles in offbeat indie films per year, most of which you probably haven’t heard of. It’s news when one actually manages to cut through the noise. In 2021, that indie was Pig, starring Cage as a famous chef-turned-hermit who lives in the wilds of the Pacific Northwest foraging for mushrooms with his pet pig. When his pig gets pignapped one day, you think you know the rest of the story.

The beauty of Pig is that it mostly eschews kitsch and that kind of easy predictability in favor of something far stranger. And in the end, much more satisfying, even if its logic doesn’t always track. Where most Nic Cage vehicles default to loud and broad, Pig is impressionistic. Some of the best parts of the film are watching him lovingly prepare a rustic mushroom tart or butter baste a pan-roasted squab.

Movies almost always need a professional to teach the actor (and often, the director) that kind of specialized knowledge. In the case of Nic Cage and that squab (which is a fancy word for domesticated pigeon), that professional was Gabriel Rucker. Rucker is the chef-proprietor of the aptly-named Le Pigeon in Portland, Oregon, working in the same genre as Cage’s character in Pig, and thus a logical choice as creative consultant. His path to becoming a Hollywood food consultant came via unsolicited email.

Did he want to teach Nic Cage to cook? Duh seemed like the operative word.

“No brainer, let’s have fun, right?” Rucker says of his reaction to the initial feeler. “I just said ‘yes’ because it seemed like a cool experience. I love Nicholas Cage. He’s his own cultural icon.”

While Rucker wasn’t the guy who taught Cage to make the mushroom tart (that was a different food consultant, Chris Czarnecki of the Joel Palmer House) Rucker took to his task with aplomb. Not only did he teach Cage all the movements, how to break down a pigeon, how to slice potatoes on a mandoline, etc, he also improvised like a showbiz veteran. He now takes credit for one of the more memorable moments of the film and the opening image of the trailer: Nic Cage smelling a mushroom.

“We talked about tearing a chanterelle and smelling it, even though it doesn’t really smell like all that much,” Rucker says of his discussion with Nic Cage. “Tearing it open and smelling it, and kind of having a pause where you have this moment of, ‘I pulled this off the forest floor,’ like a connective moment. I was completely bullshitting. I was trying to give him some stuff that he could do on camera, but he definitely did that in the movie.”

It’s most impressive to me that it didn’t take Rucker years of experience in the entertainment business to understand intuitively that bullshitting was a key part of his job. And if he did work full-time in showbiz, I doubt he would’ve admitted that to me (that, friends, is why I like interviewing chefs more than actors). Check out our full conversation below.

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So tell me how you got involved with being a food consultant?

I just got an email from, I think it was the production manager, he sent an email to the restaurant website, and the manager of Le Pigeon brought it to me, and she was like, “I think this might be a joke, but it doesn’t seem like a joke.” The email said something like, “We want you to be a consultant of this movie with Nicholas Cage where he plays an avant-garde French chef from Portland…” And I mean, the whole premise sounds like it could be a joke or not a joke.

Right. Yeah, I think that’s kind of like the whole movie’s appeal, right?

Yeah. I think so. It’s kind of a polarizing movie that people either love or hate. No one’s like, “Oh, it was fine.” People that aren’t in the restaurant business seem to like it. People that are seem to dislike it, but that’s typical of any sort of movie that handles something of a very specific interest of yours. It’s Hollywood, it’s movies. Anyway, I got the email and I was like, “Well, if it’s not a joke, of course, I’m going to be willing to teach Nicholas Cage how to cook for a movie.” And duh, no brainer, let’s have fun, right? I just kind of said yes because it seemed like a cool experience. I mean, I love Nicholas Cage. He’s his own cultural icon.

Can you tell me a little bit about your background in the food industry?

I started cooking when I was 18 and then moved up to Portland in two years, at the age of 21, and I’ve been the chef/owner of Le Pigeon for 15 years now. So I haven’t traveled around and done a lot, I’ve just been at my spot. I continue figuring out how to make the most out of it every day. But not that exciting of a journey. I guess it’s exciting in the sense that I found something that works and I’m making it work, and I don’t have a lot of extra chaos in my life which is really nice.

Running a restaurant is chaotic enough.

Do they tell you what your duties as that kind of consultant are going to be, or do you kind of show up and–

They said, “We want you to create a dish for him to cook. Here’s the screenplay, we want you to make a dish for him to cook for this scene.” It was very easy for me, because the dish they wanted me to cook was very similar to what we were doing at my restaurant, Le Pigeon, back in 2006, 2007. I just gave them some ideas. They said, “We love that idea.” And then, Nick landed in Portland and came right to the restaurant. Spent about half a day with me in the morning, just talking about being in the little old kitchen at Le Pigeon, talking about the restaurant and the movements of a chef, and what I would do physically, butter basting with food, and tearing mushrooms apart, and how to chop through and break down the pigeons and cut them up. All the stuff he did in the movie.

He was super — you know when you meet somebody that’s a famous person, like a singer or someone that you’re a fan of, it can go a couple ways. They can be super uncool or they can be very cool, very respectful. That’s the thing that I take away from it the most, that he really cared about what he does and he treated me with the utmost respect. It didn’t feel like he thought it was a waste of his time, he was there because he really wanted to learn how to do the stuff and do it right. He was polite, said, “Thank you,” and he was a professional.

What was that dish that you taught him? Like what is that called on the menu?

It was pan-roasted pigeon with chanterelle mushrooms, pommes Anna, and huckleberry sauce.

Did they say any qualities that they wanted it to have visually before you decided on that one?

I don’t remember, I just picked a dish that seemed very Northwest-inspired and something that would have some good visual appeal. And not be this crazy avant-garde… this guy, he cooks food with a soul and meaning, but not for show. And so, I think pigeon or squab is one of those dishes that chefs cook to have that feel. And then, pommes Anna is a traditional old-school way of making a crispy potato pancake in France. Chanterelle mushrooms, because he’s a forager. So, of course, there’s some foraging aspect to it. Same with the huckleberries, they are a foraged Pacific Northwest ingredient. I think they just wanted it to feel like the Pacific Northwest.

So when Nick Cage came, did he bring any food knowledge to the table with him, or was he–

No. He was blank slate. So what’s cool is we did that the day where I showed him the cooking, we talked about the dish, and the movements, and everything. And then about three weeks, maybe a month, I can’t remember the amount of time, went by, and then, I showed back up on set for one of the last days of filming for this quintessential scene where he cooks. And I got to kind of jump in there and almost give a lot of direction about, “Let’s put this here, this there. Let’s do this. No, don’t do that.” It was really fun. When I showed back up, he was, once again, very respectful. Made sure all of the cast members, “Hey, this guy knows what he’s talking about, listen to him.” Just thanked me very much for my work on the way out. It was great.

Do you remember anything specific that you corrected him on or showed him the more proper way of doing the thing?

Well, there was the butter basting the pigeons with the foaming hot butter. How to break through the bones on butchering the pigeon, and then using the mandoline for the potatoes. Those are the three things that I remember like really going in-depth with him on.

Right, so what’s the mandoline tip we need in order to look like a real chef and not cut our own fingers off?

Well, yeah. Hold the potato with the heel of your palm versus with your fingertips and just use smooth movements.

So you’ve talked about people in the food industry maybe not liking it because it was… do you think people were expecting a grounded, reality-based movie about the contemporary restaurant industry when they saw Pig?

I’m not sure. I don’t even know what I was expecting, but it’s hard for me to be a good judge because I went into it wanting to like it. I got to see how the sausage was made a little bit, and I enjoyed it because I got to be part of it. I thought it was a really well-shot, beautiful movie. But it was an art film, right? It didn’t have a super clear arc of good guy/bad guy, problem, action, and resolution. It left you thinking about things and it wasn’t… it was more about the humanity of people than just the Portland restaurant beat.

Right. I mean, I assume there’s not a real evil truffle magnate that you have to deal with in the Portland food scene.

No, and I think people look at that, and kind of think, “Well, that’s not how it is.” And it’s like, “Well yeah, because it’s a movie.” That’s such a bullshit thing to say, “Well, that’s not how it is.” Nobody wants to go see a movie of how it is. That’s called a documentary, okay? Ken Burns makes movies of things how they are. Like, I want there to be a little bit of a wild, “What the fuck?” element. In the movie theater, we were laughing. It was like, “What? This is ridiculous. No way. There’s a fight club with a little person?” It’s like, “What is this? This is ridiculous.” But also like, “All right, sure.”

Why not? It’s a movie.

Was there anything you saw Nick Cage do in the final cut of the film where you’re like, “Oh, yeah. I definitely showed him how to do that?”

Oh, we talked about tearing a chanterelle and smelling it, even though it doesn’t really smell like all that much. Tearing it open and smelling it, and kind of having a pause where you have this moment of, “I pulled this off the forest floor,” and like a connective moment. And, I mean, I was completely bullshitting. I was trying to give him some stuff that he could do on camera, but he definitely did that in the movie.

Did you have other favorite food movies?

Well, my daughter is named after the movie, Babette’s Feast, so I guess the answer is yes. Big Night‘s a great food movie. We haven’t really gotten a real good semi-realistic, believable restaurant movie. That movie, Burnt, was a fucking joke. It was just so bad.

What about Chef?

Yeah, that was a cute movie. That’s good.

I know what you mean though. It seems like they’re all either really bad or disappointingly close to great but not quite.

I feel like rather than a movie, like a really good HBO series about a restaurant and all of the function and dysfunction and everything could really work out well. I think people have tried and they have not succeeded, but there’s definitely something there.

Now you got connections, now you can reach out and find out if Nicholas Cage wants to bankroll that.

If he’s available, yeah. Something tells me he’s not rich enough to be bankrolling stuff these days.

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Pig is available for rent now on most platforms, and it hits DVD and Blu-Ray on November 2nd.

‘Pig’ Vince Mancini is on Twitter. You can access his archive of reviews here.

Adele’s return has been long awaited, and so far, it’s been a massive success. It’s too early to know how her comeback single “Easy On Me” will fare on the charts, there are other less quantitative measures we can look at to see how well Adele is doing, like the fact she’s getting her own two-hour primetime TV special. There were false reports that the song broke a major iTunes record, but now we have some confirmed data: “Easy On Me” officially had the biggest streaming day in Spotify history.

Spotify themselves reported that the song set the record on its release day, October 15. The Spotify Charts website shows that on the 15th, the song was streamed over 19.7 million times worldwide. For reference, the second-biggest song of the day, The Kid Laroi and Justin Bieber’s “Stay,” racked up 7.2 million plays. However, Rolling Stone reports that Spotify confirmed with them that the song had 24 million streams in its first 24 hours. That breaks the record that BTS set earlier this year on May 23, when “Butter” was streamed nearly 21 million times.

Meanwhile, Adele found herself involved in a spat with Peppa Pig recently, but thankfully, that situation has come to a positive resolution.

With the launch of FIFA 22 back in late September it would be a usually safe assumption that this was a time for celebration for EA Sports and FIFA. Another successful launch of one of the world’s biggest sports titles, so what’s there to not be excited about? Well, behind the scenes, the two sides have been in an intense debate over the future of the franchise. All of this came to a head when EA announced that it was considering a name change for the franchise. A later report stated that FIFA was asking for EA to double the amount it’s currently paying to use the FIFA name on the box.

With all of this taking place, another bombshell dropped over the weekend. FIFA is going to end its exclusivity rights with EA and look at providing its name to other developers. EA has long had an exclusivity deal with FIFA and has been using its name on the box of their soccer/football games since the 90s. With the name change rumors, and now this, it seems safe to say that will be ending after the licensing agreement expires in 2022.

Where FIFA and EA have reportedly had the biggest disagreements, besides money, has been in how the future of the franchise should look. While FIFA wants to keep the simulation franchise as exactly that, a simulation franchise, EA reportedly wants to expand the series further with the use of in-game highlights and possibly NFT’s. In FIFA’s statement about their lack of exclusivity for future publishers, one subject came up frequently: eSports.

FIFA will adopt a new commercial positioning in gaming and eSports to ensure that it is best placed to make decisions that benefit all football stakeholders.

FIFA is bullish and excited about the future in gaming and eSports for football, and it is clear that this needs to be a space that is occupied by more than one party controlling all rights.

Technology and mobile companies are now actively competing to be associated with FIFA, its platforms, and global tournaments.

Consequently, FIFA is engaging with various industry players, including developers, investors and analysts, to build out a long-term view of the gaming, eSports and interactive entertainment sector.

It sounds like both companies feel they can do better with a soccer/football simulation game if they are no longer partnered with each other on an exclusive basis. The word exclusive is very important here because it does not necessarily mean the end of the FIFA anything in EA Sports titles. Unless FIFA turns around and signs exclusivity with a different company like Konami or 2K Games, we could still see FIFA branding in some aspects of EA’s future games. It would just no longer be only their’s to use. We might now see FIFA in Pro Evolution Soccer for example, and it may also encourage other companies to develop soccer/football games. This may end up being the best outcome for fans that just want to play good games and don’t care about exclusivity rights.

Keanu Reeves has been called a “respectful king,” “too good for this world,” and “the greatest person ever.” He’s one of the few certified Good Guys in Hollywood — unlike Mel Gibson. So it’s raising some eyebrows that the Lethal Weapon‘s star “faltering comeback” includes a rare TV role in the John Wick prequel show, The Continental.

Deadline reports that Gibson will play a mysterious character named Cormac in the three-night series produced for Starz. The Continental explores the origin of the titular hotel, a safe place for assassins like Reeves’ John Wick and Common’s Cassian.

Here’s more:

This will be accomplished through the eyes and actions of a young Winston Scott, who is dragged into the Hell-scape of a 1975 New York City to face a past he thought he’d left behind. Winston charts a deadly course through the New York’s mysterious underworld in a harrowing attempt to seize the iconic hotel, which serves as the meeting point for the world’s most dangerous criminals. No word yet on who’ll play Winston Scott (the hotel owner is played in the films by Ian McShane).

The audition process to find a young Lance Reddick better consist of who can give Gibson the most withering stare.

The Continental does not currently have a premiere date.

(Via Deadline)

Currently on tour with Arlo Parks, the New York City breezy bedroom-pop collective MICHELLE are poised to keep surging. The six-piece’s tunes are filled with sweet vocal harmonies and analog synths that are easy to latch on to. They announced a new album last month, AFTER DINNER WE TALK DREAMS, due out in early 2022, and have now added new tour dates in March, supporting Mitski on her sold out US tour.

Last month, the band dropped their single “SYNCOPATE,” about which they said, “The song at its core is about desire. Communicating your desire can feel vulnerable, so we wanted to have some fun with that and show our funky and seductive side. It really feels like we’re hitting the street for the first time by putting this song out into the world.”

Check out MICHELLE’s full tour dates below.

10/18/2021 — Austin, TX @ The Parish*
10/19/2021 — Dallas, TX @ Club Dada*
10/20/2021 — Houston, TX @ White Oak Music Hall*
10/24/2021 — Nashville, TN @ Mercy Lounge*
10/26/2021 — Washington, DC @ Union Stage*
10/27/2021 — Philadelphia, PA @ The Foundry at The Fillmore Philadelphia*
11/08/2021 — Minneapolis, MN @ Fine Line+
11/09/2021 — Madison, WI @ Majestic Theater+
11/10/2021 — Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall+
11/12/2021 — Toronto, ON @ Opera House+
11/13/2021 — Montreal, QC @ L’Astral+
11/15/2021 — Boston, MA @ Paradise Rock Club+
11/18/2021 — Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Steel+
11/19/2021 — Philadelphia, PA @ Theatre of Living Arts+
11/20/2021 — Washington, DC @ 930 Club+
02/05/2022 — Dublin, Ireland @ Whelans
02/07/2022 — Glasgow, Scotland @ The Poetry Club
02/08/2022 — Manchester, England @ YES
02/09/2022 — London, England @ The Lexington
02/11/2022 — Paris, France @ Le Pop Up!
02/12/2022 — Brussels, Belgium @ Wilfoof Bar
02/14/2022 — Amsterdam, Netherlands @ Paradiso
03/12/2022 — Denver, CO @ Ogden Theatre^
03/14/2022 — St. Paul, MN @ Palace Theatre^
03/15/2022 — Milwaukee, WI @ Miller High Life Theatre^
03/17/2022 — Detroit, MI @ Masonic Temple^
03/18/2022 — Toronto, ON @ Massey Hall^
03/19/2022 — Montreal, QC @ St-Jean Baptiste church^
03/21/2022 — Boston, MA @ TBD^
03/24/2022 — New York, NY @ Radio City Music Hall^
03/25/2022 — Philadelphia, PA @ Franklin Music Hall^
03/26/2022 — Washington, DC @ Anthem^
03/27/2022 — Washington, DC @ Anthem^
03/29/2022 — Pittsburgh, PA @ Stage AE^
03/30/2022 — Louisville, KY @ Old Forester’s Paristown Hall^
03/31/2022 — Nashville, TN @ Ryman Auditorium^

* with Arlo Parks
+ with Gus Dapperton
^ with Mitski

AFTER DINNER WE TALK DREAMS is out 1/28/2022 via Canvasback Music/Transgressive.

Perhaps nobody better summarized the contrasting 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons for the Miami Heat than Tyler Herro. As a rookie, he shot 38.9 percent from deep and dazzled with various scoring flurries en route to an NBA Finals appearance. Last season, he shot 36 percent from deep, didn’t take the step forward so many expected after the Bubble, and the Heat were swept by the Milwaukee Bucks in the first round.

So, here stands the former Kentucky guard, ahead of his third year, on a Heat team trying to rekindle the magic of Orlando as he looks to regain the luster surrounding his rookie campaign. September and October spring eternal optimism across the NBA and Herro is a leading beneficiary within Miami’s circles. He’s reportedly “transformed” his body, “dedicated himself to the weight room” and added 10 pounds of strength (#MuscleWatch).

Helping fuel the Herro Hype Train have been his opening games of the preseason in which he’s averaged 25 points on 82.6 percent true shooting. He’s even notched a free-throw rate of .480, well above his career mark of .163, but this is preseason, so it could be irrelevant. Even with the arrival of Kyle Lowry, who figures to greatly bolster a sinking offense, Herro must actualize the talk surrounding him and emerge as an improved secondary handler for the Heat to have any crack at another Finals trip.

Despite the seemingly underwhelming year two, Herro grew as an interior scorer. He shot 49.8 percent on twos after shooting 46.2 percent as a rookie. According to Cleaning the Glass, his rim frequency jumped from 18 percent to 22 percent and his finishing spiked from 57 percent (42nd percentile) to 65 percent (75th percentile). He was worse beyond the arc, so the objective is to marry his first-year shooting with sustained blossoming inside the arc.

If Herro maintains that growth and is a more viable two-point scorer, it’ll really present problems for defenses who have to account for his jumper when the ball swings his way as a weak-side release valve. Lowry, Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo will control the offense, but Herro will have on-ball reps, whether it’s side ball-screens or handoffs with Adebayo. He’ll also have to be an efficient play finisher, drilling spot-up threes, relocating to openings and attacking off the catch when the opposition fixates on Miami’s Big 3.

A leap from Herro would lessen the degree to which P.J. Tucker is relied upon. While still a useful and versatile defender, he’s a very poor offensive player and any closing or starting lineup involving him will be precarious in a postseason setting. Herro’s defense is a justifiable concern, but if he’s an excellent complementary player offensively, the Heat have more options and pathways to augment their likely stingy defense with a palatable offense.

Progress is not always linear or obvious, and Herro exemplifies that. It was a tumultuous year for him and the Heat in 2020-21. Among injuries, COVID absences (a disheartening phrase), and a shortened offseason, it was not an environment conducive to a breakout. Now, with a better, retooled roster, and four and a half months away from NBA action (instead of two), the stage is set for Herro to deliver on the intrigue he earned as a rookie.

Does the phrase “craft bourbon” really mean anything? I don’t write that flippantly. But in a world where chefs and influencers are sourcing and creating their own brands (from small, medium, and huge distilleries) and even the tiniest distilleries and blenders might have international distribution, can there even be a single definition of “craft bourbon” in 2021? See, we’re already in the weeds and we’re only three sentences in.

For me, “craft” can mean anything that’s not (directly) associated with the huge brands — Beam Suntory, Pernod Ricard, Bacardi, Diageo, Brown-Forman, Luxco/MGP of Indiana, Sazerac, Heaven Hill. But… there’s already an argument to be made with Heaven Hill. They’re technically an independent operator. They’re huge but still doing their own thing. Is that craft? And then where do the tiny brands that are contract distilling at big distilleries fall? I’m giving myself a headache thinking about it all.

Let’s just say this. For this exercise, a craft bourbon whiskey is one made by a small producer (distiller or blender) that isn’t owned by one of the huge multinationals (listed above). Now, that doesn’t mean some of the whiskeys below aren’t associated with big distribution companies. It just means that they’re all small, bespoke, and making juice that no one else is making (sourced, contract distilled, blended, own-make, or all of the above). Cool?

Okay, our lineup for today is:

• Woodinville PX Sherry Cask Straight Bourbon Whiskey (WA)
• Barrell Armida (IN & TN)
• Widow Jane Aged 10 Years (KY, IN, & TN)
• Paul Sutton Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey (KY)
• FEW Straight Bourbon Whiskey (IL)
• Peerless Small Batch Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey (KY)
• Pursuit United. Blended Straight Bourbon Whiskies (KY, NY, & TN)
• Bib & Tucker Small Batch Bourbon Whiskey Aged 6 Years (TN)
• Hudson Whiskey NY Four Part Harmony 7 (NY)
• Garrison Brothers Small Batch Texas Straight Bourbon Whiskey (TX)

Let’s get into it. As always, click on those prices if you want to try these yourself!

Also Read: The Top 5 UPROXX Bourbon Posts Of 2021

• The Single Best Bottle Of Whiskey From Each Of The 50 States
• The Best Bottles Of Bourbon Whiskey For Under $20, Ranked
• Our Favorite Bourbon Whiskey From Every Price Point Between $10-$200
• All 19 Brands From The Buffalo Trace Distillery, Ranked
• Here’s Who Won Our Big Barrel Proof Bourbon Whiskey Blind Taste Test

Part 1: The Tasting

Taste 1

Tasting Notes:

There’s a clear sense of holiday cake spices tied to dark orange oils with a hint of damp dried roses on the nose. The palate carries along the same route with a deep sense of that holiday cake next to a dark chocolate orange with a cinnamon stick woodiness and a touch of toffee. The finish leans into an apple tobacco sweet/spicy vibe, which is pretty nice.

Taste 2

Tasting Notes:

This bursts with ripe and fresh pear from the get-go. Hints of orange zest, and spicy-but-wet cedar pop in on the nose too. The taste leans into brandy-soaked raisins and dates with hints of cedar boxes full of sweet tobacco next to a vanilla husk and sweet orange candy. The end circles back around to that pear with a candied feel next to a touch of vanilla-laced tobacco leaf.

Taste 3

Tasting Notes:

Wow! This has a matrix of rich vanilla pudding next to oranges infused with mulled wine spices and … Irish Spring soap. It definitely works and draws you in. The palate is all marzipan and dark chocolate-covered brandy cherries that lead towards a dry maply syrup mid-palate. The finish dries out a bit more while still holding onto the cherry, bitter dark chocolate, and what I called in my notes “almost woody maple syrup.”

(Not a bad line by me if I do say so myself.)

Taste 4

Tasting Notes:

Woah, again! The nose on this has a distinct barnyard funk tied to wet bales of straw that leads to a salted caramel sweetness with a twinge of a pine box full of cherry pits. The taste veers away from most of that towards sweet corn cakes with a touch of vanilla cream and eggnog spice. A Caro syrup-soaked pecan sweetness and nuttiness drive the mid-palate towards a cherry tobacco finish with a hint of dark cacao powder.

Taste 5

Tasting Notes:

The nose on this is wild. It starts with a pretty standard dark cherry with a hint of holiday spices and vanilla pudding that slowly morphs into an old plastic silver holiday garland that’s fresh out of the decorations box but still has a touch of last year’s evergreen on it. The spices take over on the palate with cinnamon and nutmeg leading towards buttery toffee and a dry note that’s kind of like almond shells. There’s a slight cornmeal graininess on the mid-palate that sweetens towards caramel and cherry candies on the backend.

Taste 6

Tasting Notes:

This is bold yet delicate with a nose full of berry brambles hanging heavy with dark fruits with a touch of tart next to old leather, a spicy plum pudding, and a touch of old cedar. The palate takes that cedar and leans into the wet bark as a moment of espresso bean bitterness leads into a mid-palate that’s the softest and moistest vanilla cake with poppy seeds. Those berries tumble onto the cake, now dusted with powdered sugar and ground cinnamon, as the finish slowly melts into pure silk.

Taste 7

Tasting Notes:

There’s a tannic woodiness with a nice dried red fruit vibe on the nose with a touch of eggnog spice and pine. The taste has a lovely salted caramel with extra butter covered in deep dark chocolate with a hint of orange oil. The finish sweetens with a hint of burnt sugars over vanillas the chocolate ties itself to spicy tobacco.

Taste 8

Tasting Notes:

The nose on this is all wet, almost earthy, cedar bark and crispy wafers filled with rich vanilla cream. The taste has a ginger snap quality in spiciness, graininess, and sweetness next to cinnamon-infused apple cider. The mid-palate to finish is very light and sort of just touches back on the spice but really leans into sweet apple tobacco.

Taste 9

Tasting Notes:

This has a funky nose that’s almost an old-world rye bread mixed into a sweet cornbread with buttery vanilla lurking in the background. The palate leans into the vanilla creaminess with dark, dried berries, a hint of fat nuts, and thinness that sort of dissipates towards spicy tobacco and burnt corn husks.

Taste 10

Tasting Notes:

There’s a dry straw funk on the nose that leads towards new leather, and cinnamon toast with plenty of butter and sugar. The butteriness turns into proper shortbread cut with vanilla and lemon. The mid-palate has an orange oil spiciness that leads towards a sweet yet spicy caramel apple and a final note of dry campfire smoke from far away.

Part 2: The Ranking

10. Hudson Whiskey NY Four Part Harmony 7 — Taste 9

ABV: 46%

Average Price: $85

The Whiskey:

This brand new release from Hudson is their first age-statement bourbon. The juice is made from locally sourced NY grains: 60 percent corn, 15 percent rye, 15 percent wheat, and ten percent malted barley. The whiskey then spends seven years resting before it’s batched, proofed, and bottled.

Bottom Line:

I think I need to try this again. It was… fine but definitely read a little thin for me today.

9. Bib & Tucker Small Batch Bourbon Whiskey Aged 6 Years — Taste 8

ABV: 46%

Average Price: $54

The Whiskey:

Bib & Tucker pulls barrels of Tennessee whiskey from an old and quiet valley in the state. They then blend those barrels to meet their brand’s flavor notes. While they are laying down their own whiskey now, this is still all about the blending of those barrels in small batches.

Bottom Line:

This was really good. The only reason it’s not higher is that there wasn’t an “x-factor” that really helped it stand out today.

8. Pursuit United. — Taste 7

ABV: 54%

Average Price: $65

The Whiskey:

This is a vatted from 40 total barrels from three different states, making it a “blended” straight bourbon whiskey. While the team at Pursuit United doesn’t release the Tennessee distillery name, we know the juices from Kentucky and New York are from Bardstown Bourbon Company and Finger Lakes Distilling, respectively.

Bottom Line:

It’s always baffling where a bourbon you really like ends up on a blind taste test list. This is really solid bourbon but just didn’t pop as brightly as the others on this particular list.

7. FEW Straight Bourbon Whiskey — Taste 5

ABV: 46.5%

Average Price: $51

The Whiskey:

This grain-to-glass craft whiskey from outside of Chicago is quickly becoming a craft classic. The grains in the high-rye mash bill are all sourced within 100 miles of the distillery. The juice is then aged for just under four years in small format Minnesota oak before it’s small-batched, proofed, and bottled.

Bottom Line:

It was hard to square the plastic silver holiday garland with this one. That being said, this was really goddamn tasty and will definitely be going into some holiday cocktails this year.

6. Garrison Brothers Small Batch Texas Straight Bourbon Whiskey — Taste 10

ABV: 47%

Average Price: $96

The Whiskey:

Garrison Brothers is a true grain-to-glass experience from Hye, Texas. The juice is a wheated bourbon made with local grains. That spirit is then aged under the beating heat of a hot Texas sun before the barrels are small-batched, proofed with local water, and bottled.

Bottom Line:

I was pretty surprised this ranked so low. It’s very distinct and tasty. It was more that nothing really reached out and grabbed my palate like some of the other drams. That’s really all. Otherwise, this is delicious bourbon.

5. Paul Sutton Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey — Taste 4

ABV: 50%

Average Price: $75

The Whiskey:

Paul Sutton is a new bourbon from an old family recipe. I know, we’ve all heard it before. The new whiskey is not a blend of sourced bourbons. The brand took the time to release its contract distilled own-make juice. The bourbon mash bill has a touch of rye in it and it aged for up to five years in medium char barrels.

Bottom Line:

That funk on the nose was really interesting. Beyond that, this is a classic bourbon through and through. I’m looking forward to getting to know it a little better on ice and in cocktails.

4. Barrell Armida — Taste 2

ABV: 56.23%

Average Price: $120

The Whiskey:

Barrell Bourbon is one of the best blenderies and finishing houses in bourbon today. Their Armida expression is all about experimentation in finishing casks. The juice is a marriage of bourbons finished in pear brandy, Jamaican rum, and Sicilian Amaro casks. Those three barrels are then batched and bottled with no cutting or filtration.

Bottom Line:

This is where blind tastings can get a little ridiculous. This is a great bourbon and it only ranked fourth today. Wild.

3. Woodinville PX Sherry Cask Straight Bourbon Whiskey — Taste 1

ABV: 47.5%

Average Price: $70

The Whiskey:

This whiskey takes Woodinville’s signature (and much-lauded) five-year-old straight bourbon and gives it a new finishing touch. The juice is finished in Pedro Ximenez sherry casks, making a sort of sibling to our favorite bourbon of 2020, the Port Cask Finish. But while there are similarities between the two, this feels like a step up in many small, tough to define ways.

Point being: It’s very special.

Bottom Line:

I would have bet $100 on me picking this as my number one. I love this micro-distillery and pretty much everything they do. But, hey! I was surprised a lot on this tasting and that’s the point, right?

2. Peerless Smal Batch Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey — Taste 6

ABV: 54.65%

Average Price: $86

The Whiskey:

Kentucky Peerless Distilling takes its time for a true grain-to-glass experience. Their Single Barrel Bourbon is crafted with a fairly low-rye mash bill and fermented with a sweet mash as opposed to a sour mash (that means they use 100 percent new grains, water, and yeast with each new batch instead of holding some of the mash over to start the next one like a sourdough starter, hence the name). The barrels are then hand-selected for their taste and bottled completely un-messed with.

Bottom Line:

This could easily have been number one. The element of surprise from the Widow Jane put it over the top today, but this is near perfection in every way.

1. Widow Jane Aged 10 Years — Taste 3

ABV: 45.5%

Average Price: $75

The Whiskey:

This is sourced from Kentucky, Indiana, and Tennessee bourbons. The hand-selected barrels are sent to New York where they’re blended in small batches (no more than five barrels), proofed with New York limestone mine water, and bottled. What you’re paying for here is the exactness of a whiskey blender finding great barrels and knowing how to marry them to make something bigger and better.

Bottom Line:

I’m not going to lie, I was shocked this was my number one pick. I think it was the boldness of that Irish Spring note actually working and leading to something that really blew me away today. In the end, this was so above average and unique that it was the clear standout in the best ways possible.

Part 3: Final Thoughts

This was so goddamn hard to rank. I must have changed the top five about five times. Then I shuffled the bottom five as many, if not more, times too. Finally, I just ranked them fast and hard and let it be.

Was I surprised Widow Jane 10 was number one? Absolutely. That’s a whiskey I drink very rarely but seem to be enjoying more deeply every time I drink it. For whatever reason, it’s just speaking to me right now. And that’s what’s so cool about blind taste tests, you’re almost always surprised.

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