Category: Worldwide

Aaron Sorkin’s new Netflix movie, The Trial of the Chicago 7, doesn’t hit the streaming service until next month, but the reviews are in and there’s plenty of hype around the film. The director and playwright certainly keeps an eye on politics, which is why he’s already scripting out the real-life election night that may unfold in November.

Sorkin, who is certainly used to writing what fictional presidents do on The West Wing, revealed he has an ideal script in mind for what happens on election night in November. Though there’s plenty of uncertainty about what will happen with the election result itself, with vote by mail campaigns happening in many states and various issues with the USPS. There’s also Donald Trump’s recent comments about whether he will accept an election result and cede power if he loses to Joe Biden. But Sorkin has an idea, even if it may be as unrealistic as some thing that happened on his TV show about America’s political system.

As Variety shared in an interview with Sorkin, from the Conversations section of the Basque festival’s industry program, Sorkin talked about Chicago 7 and his take on the current political landscape, Sorkin already knows how he’d deal with Trump losing the election if he were writing it.

Sorkin, whose films often deal with the ethics of power, ended the conversation by revealing how he would write election night, 2020. “Trump does what we all assume he will do, which is not concede defeat, claiming the election’s rigged and the Democrats cheated. For the first time, his Republican enablers march up to the White House and say Donald it’s time to go. I would write the ending where everyone does the right thing. I don’t think Trump will do the right thing, except by accident.”

In a year like this, it’s tough to assume that anyone will do the right thing. But Sorkin’s political writings have not always been about what politics are actually like as much as they are an idealistic look at what they should be. If Trump truly isn’t willing to accept an election result that doesn’t go in his favor, things could get a lot more complicated than the script Sorkin has in mind. But sometimes it’s nice to just play pretend for a bit.

[via Variety]

Demi Lovato and Max Ehrich first began their relationship back in March, as Lovato revealed in a six-month anniversary post earlier this month. While things were looking good for the Hollywood couple, People has reported that Lovato and Ehrich have called off their engagement after two months.

“It was a tough decision, but Demi and Max have decided to go their separate ways to focus on their respective careers,” a source told the magazine. “They have respect and love for one another and will always cherish the time they spent together.”

Lovato and Ehrich got engaged back on July 22 in Malibu. The two had both been quite public with their relationship, as they made their first public appearance together with their cameos in Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande’s “Stuck With U” video. Less than two months after their engagement, Lovato previously explained how quarantine made her relationship with Ehrich strong while accelerating its progress on The Morning Mash Up on SiriusXM Hits 1.

“We were able to share this time together that we wouldn’t have normally gotten to spend,” she said. “And that accelerated our relationship on a level that you can’t really explain to people, but quarantine either makes or breaks the deal. And it really made that. So I’m really blessed, really fortunate and continuing to count my blessings every day.”

The announcement comes after Lovato and Marshmello dropped their “OK To Not Be OK” collaboration on World Suicide Prevention Day.

After a sluggish start to Game 3 allowed the Nuggets to take command early and hold on for a win to make it a 2-1 series, it was the Lakers turn to come out on fire in Game 4. However, despite taking an early double-digit lead, Denver, as they’ve shown all postseason just kept pushing forward and made it just a 60-55 Laker lead at halftime.

Leading the way for the Nuggets was Jamal Murray, who had 16 points in the first half and was the catalyst for a run that pulled Denver within range in the second quarter. While his shooting has been the story for much of the playoffs, his finishing at the rim can get a bit lost in how diverse his scoring ability is. Late in the second quarter, he made sure everyone knew exactly how good he is at the basket when he hit a hand-changing, swooping layup around LeBron James that left the TNT announce booth speechless.

It’s a sensational move, to steal Marv Albert’s line from Michael Jordan’s infamous layup against the Lakers in the 1991 Finals, and Murray’s is honestly a more difficult layup given the contest from James and the help side defender coming in Dwight Howard. His move got rave reviews from his fellow players, with plenty offering the MJ comparison.

Some pointed out it was closer to a different Jordan layup.

It won’t be as iconic, certainly, although it will run on highlight reels forever if Murray and the Nuggets somehow come back to beat the Lakers and make the Finals, but it was yet another star-making moment for a young guard who’s had a number of those this postseason.

Bestselling novelist Gillian Flynn takes her readers to the darkest, yet most (guiltily) invigorating places with tales of female antiheroes, and her work’s appeal couldn’t be more evident than Hollywood’s eagerness to adapt her novels thus far. From the David Fincher-directed Gone Girl to HBO’s Emmy-nominated Sharp Edges and the Charlize Theron-starring Dark Places, all three projects proved that Flynn’s got an enduring place in pop culture. She comes by it honestly, given her decade-long run as an Entertainment Weekly writer and her film-professor father, so the transition from novelist to scribe for Steve McQueen’s female heist movie, Widows, felt organic. Now, she’s showrunning (and writing) a U.S. remake of the U.K.-born Utopia series for Amazon.

Utopia is a strange beast. On its face, the story follows a conspiracy about two graphic novels that supposedly predict outbreaks of deadly diseases, including a pandemic that may or may not have something to do with John Cusack’s scientist character. Below the surface, a gaggle of comic-book junkies attempt to unravel the conspiracy and save the world while homicidal parties will do anything to nab the graphic novels. And in the middle of it all is a young woman who calls herself “Jessica Hyde” (Sasha Lane), which happens to be the name of a character inside the graphic novels.

Yes, it’s confusing, but the set up is meant to draw readers into what’s essentially a conspiracy thriller that just happens to include details of a pandemic. Flynn didn’t plan for the show to arrive in the middle of an actual pandemic, but here we are, and she was gracious enough to dig into the depths of her own fandom while discussing Utopia.

You used to be a TV critic for Entertainment Weekly, and now you’re writing and showrunning TV. Does your previous experience inform your screenwriting process?

It definitely does. I think it makes me very disciplined as a writer because, being on the other side, it doesn’t let me say, “Oh, this is good enough.” I tend to rewrite and rewrite, and I know that the ultimate result may not please everyone, but at least if I, as the writer, can get to a point where I’m satisfied with it, then I feel like I can make peace with it. It also helped me to spend all those years looking at TV and having it become organic, in a way, in my system, and spending time figuring it out.

Distilling a season of The Wire into the EW-length reviews ain’t easy, I imagine.

Yeah, not easy! And t’s easy to figure out why a show is really great, and it’s easy to figure out why a show is really bad, but for me, the most useful thing was figuring out if a show doesn’t quite click. When it’s so close, but it doesn’t quite work, and trying to figure out that puzzle. So, it helped me to look at whether each [Utopia] episode worked and then, as a whole, to really be able to view it that way.

With Utopia, you obviously gestated and filmed the whole season before our current situation. It wasn’t intended to be timely, but how do you think that will affect how people watch it?

That’s a great question as far as how it affects people on how they will watch it. I think it’s a show that was never intended to be a pandemic show in that it’s not a medical procedural or trying to be Outbreak. To me, at its core, it’s a conspiracy thriller and a paranoia thriller, and this is one of the plotlines, so it’s certainly intended to be viewed in that way.

John Cusack’s character, Dr. Christie, does not appear in the U.K. version of the show. You added him, and well, he feels very Elon Musk-y…

Yeah. [Laughs]

What kind of vibe did you want him to carry?

Kind-of exactly that. He was a character that I created, and I thought if we’re talking about pandemics and vaccines, I wanted this biotech/pharmaceutical giant as one element of it. John and I had a lot of conversations about that idea of the scientist or tech genius as rock stars. We know what Bill Gates looks like, or Elon Musk, and that idea of genius combined with media savvy, which definitely to me is his character at its core.

Christie has that wild line, too: “What have you done today to earn your place in this crowded world?”

That was something that, yeah, I wrote that line, and that was when I figured I had Christie. If everything kind-of emanates from that, and it can go from, depending on who’s saying it and from what circumstances, it can go from very heartwarming, this kind-of litany at the dinner table when we first see him. Everything from when his kids are like, “I shared my lunch! I biked to school!” to much darker implications, depending on who’s hearing it and who’s saying it.

You are known for your antiheroines, and you’ve described how you wrote the infamous Cool Girl passage of Gone Girl in a “fugue state.” You climb inside your creations’ heads. When a character like Jessica Hyde already exists, like in the U.K. Utopia, how do you go about making her your own?

You know, Dennis Kelly had created this great character, and I liked the idea that she was this sort-of wild warrior child, in a way. And to me, having been steeped in all sorts of hero stories growing up and loving those, that type of quest, I was playing with that idea but using an antihero to carry it forward. To me, she’s the person who asks those existential questions that we all ask, like, “Why am I here? What am I supposed to do? What is my purpose?” You hear characters say that a lot in the show. But being led by an antihero and someone that you can’t necessarily trust and wouldn’t trust with your safety.

And she’s out there, just claiming to be Jessica Hyde. I’d be skeptical, too!

Certainly, our core group of nerdlings need her but also know that she could, on a bad day, sharpen a toothbrush and stab them through the heart. I liked being able to play that, and I love antiheroines because I just don’t think that there enough of them. I’ve always loved books and movies when you have those divided loyalties, like at the end of Silence of the Lambs when you see Hannibal Lecter escaping and moving off into the crowds. You’re sort-of delighted about it and thinking, “Wait, I’m rooting for Hannibal, who I’ve seen do horrible things.” As an audience member, I’ve always loved that feeling of being unsettled in where your loyalties are.

You mentioned the term “nerdlings,” so what does Utopia say about that kind of pop-culture fandom?

I’m the ultimate fan. Obviously, I spent ten years at EW, and what I loved most about it is that most of my friends are still fellow writers that I came up with. I’ve always had a great love for people who just love their shit. Whatever it is, whether it’s someone who loves the same thing I love, or someone who is really into putting together model train sets. I appreciate people who get glee from things and get really into things. My dad was a film professor who also made his living as a comic book collector, so that’s what we did on the weekends. We’d go hustle the flea markets for certain issues, and it was a treasure hunt, and also going to conventions. I’m one of those people that loves to dress up and to really get into that. I go to Comic-Con and am a huge renaissance festival person with my full outfit. It’s that playing-make-believe element that I really enjoy. I like people who want to talk about what they love.

I am always curious about people who collect comics, and whether they prefer the single issues or graphic novels. If you went and hunted single issues, then there’s a chance you may have even been bagging them up all nicely in plastic?

Oddly enough, having spent my childhood watching comics being bagged up and not being able to touch them, I’m actually kind-of a dash of the opposite. Part of me knows now to open the package of the toy and to preserve everything, but the other part of me? I really like to play with the thing and have it. So I’m the opposite. I will admit to buying one version of a thing to keep it nice and another version because I want to use it.

It’s about time to say goodbye, and we haven’t even talked about conspiracies. Are there any that you secretly, or even jokingly, embrace?

Things that I want to believe in, certainly. My daughter and I have a very elaborate mythology about fairies that we spend hours creating, and my son’s into D&D, and we role play that around the house. That fantasy element is something that I always really want to believe in. But as far as the conspiracies go, to me, it was just a really good time to do a conspiracy thriller. I took my cues from all those amazing, post-Watergate conspiracy thrillers. Like Parallax View, and when I was pitching this, I called it a cross between Marathon Man meets Goonies, which I felt was pretty correct. And I think now we’re in a time period when conspiracies are so rife, and you can stay — through social media and your news feeds — you can go in and stay in a rabbit hole. I thought it was an important time and a resonant time to look at what that does to us as a society.

Amazon Prime’s ‘Utopia’ streams on September 25.

Aaron Sorkin has a certain flair for writing so over-the-top obvious, garish lines of dialogue that hint at current events, yet delivered with such conviction and spite that it feels stupid to even point it out. And, of course, there are a lot of those moments in Sorkin’s new film The Trial of the Chicago 7 (which will be on Netflix in October). There’s a moment in the film when the former Attorney General Ramsey Clark (Michael Keaton) is testifying that the whole trial is a sham and a political witch-hunt. The judge (Frank Langella) doesn’t want the jury to hear the testimony based on attorney-client privileges between the former attorney general and former President Lyndon Johnson. Michael Keaton mumbles a response. The judge asks him to repeat himself. Keaton dramatically turns to the camera and says that the president is not a client of the attorney general. A-ha! (Also of note, Ramsey Clark is still alive today.)

But, again, it’s delivered with such zing that instead of feeling pandering, it instead gave me a chill down my back. There were a few moments like that during The Trial of the Chicago 7. So, yes, 28 years after Sorkin wrote A Few Good Men, he returns with yet another blistering courtroom drama and, this time, he directed it himself.

The Trial of the Chicago 7 is, obviously, based on the real story of seven counterculture protesters who are charged with inciting a riot around the time of the 1968 Democratic Convention. It features an all-star cast that I hesitate even trying to list because then it would start to look like a who’s who of the IMDB star meter. The film starts right before the trial and uses the proceedings of the trial to tell the story in a series of flashbacks. Taking center stage at the trial is a combination of Sacha Baron Cohen as Abbie Hoffman (Cohen is much older than Hoffman was at this time, but he’s so good that it’s hard to care. Then after the movie I watched some Hoffman interviews on YouTube and let’s just say he looks a bit older for his age anyway, his buddy Jerry Rubin (Jeremy Strong, doing his best Cheech and Chong impression; to the point I didn’t even recognize him), Bobby Seale (played by Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as the co-founder of the Black Panthers who was railroaded into this trial even worse than the others), and Tom Hayden (Eddie Redmayne, in maybe his most un-peculiar role ever).

(It’s also worth noting how many times we hear Sacha Baron Cohen’s name associated with these amazing roles, only a few months later to hear he’s dropped out for some reason or another. His last movie before this was back in 2016 with, for no real reason, Alice Through the Looking Glass. Before that is was a cameo in Anchorman 2 and before that Les Misérables. But here, he finally went through with one of these amazing sounding roles and, yes, it turns out, he’s incredible. Also, I’d watch a documentary of Cohen and Strong on set together, never breaking character, most likely annoying anyone who crosses their paths.)

I mentioned Michael Keaton earlier, but his role in this film is basically as the ace reliever. The story is just cruising along and then, almost as if not wanting to make sure that lead is secure, here comes fireballing ace Michael Keaton to close the whole thing out. He’s not in the movie all that much, but he kind of plays the Bizzaro Colonel Jessup from A Few Good Men. Basically the star witness, only he really wants to testify and lay it all out there for everyone. It’s just remarkable to see a movie firing on all cylinders like this, then Michael Keaton strolls on in and just blows the whole thing up to another level.

A Few Good Men is on television a lot. It’s actually difficult to flip through cable (yes, I still have cable television) and not see A Few Good Men playing. And I get sucked in every time. Sorkin’s dialogue just works so well in the courtroom setting. And with a fixed set like this, it all comes down to deliver and blocking as opposed to some of the tricks Sorkin leans too heavily on like the walking and talking thing. So imagine now, Sorkin has basically made a spiritual sequel to A Few Good Men with maybe just as many “I just got chills” moments. Honestly, since theaters basically ceased to exist, there’s been a few movies I’ve watched screeners at home and have really, really enjoyed. But this is the first that made me feel like I was back in a theater. This it felt like a real event. That I got those chills down the back as I watched something I’m just loving for the first time of what will be many times. (Though, being a Netflix movie, it won’t have a chance to be on cable nonstop. Alas.) Like I said, Sorkin’s dialogue can be pointed, almost to a fault, and he doesn’t shy away from that here – and it just works so well that I couldn’t help but give a little applause when it all wrapped up.

Also, this movie has a roll call during the credits. If I ever run for public office, I will campaign on the promise that, by law, every movie has to have a roll call at the end.

‘The Trial of the Chicago Seven’ will stream via Netflix on October 16. You can contact Mike Ryan directly on Twitter.

The NFL season is now officially in full swing, with two full weeks of results in the bag. As usual, there is some weirdness to sift through but, in terms of the success or failure in this space, things have been pretty good. Week 2 was highly profitable, even with the ineptitude of the Philadelphia Eagles, and Week 3 provides another opportunity to let it fly.

Before we dive into this week’s slate with five selections, here is a look at where we’ve been to this point.

• Week 2: 4-1
• 2020 Season: 7-3

Come get these winners.

Minnesota Vikings (+2.5) over Tennessee Titans

The Vikings look horrific. There is no arguing that. Minnesota is arguably the most disappointing team in the NFL through two weeks so, naturally, here we are on their side. I’m betting that the Vikings didn’t fall off entirely overnight and, truthfully, I’m probably a little lower on the Titans than the consensus. Give me the home underdog, especially with the entire universe on the other side.

New York Jets (+11.5) over Indianapolis Colts

I can hear you laughing. I get it. The Jets might be the worst team in the NFL and they are already a punchline this season. I won’t argue with any of that but, as a result of the pointing and laughing, New York is now undervalued. Should they be a substantial underdog against the Colts? Absolutely. Should it be 11.5? Absolutely not. Give me the candy.

Carolina Panthers (+6.5) over Los Angeles Chargers

Christian McCaffrey is an enormous loss for the Panthers and that probably plays into this line being where it is. I’m definitely skeptical of the Chargers as this big of a favorite with their quarterback situation, though, and the market might be overreacting to Carolina losing its best player. McCaffrey is great, but he’s still a running back and this line should be closer to four in my view. That’s enough to give me the value with the public on the other side.

Detroit Lions (+5.5) over Arizona Cardinals

Oh look, another underdog that absolutely no one wants! The Lions were getting some buzz before the season but, with haste, the bandwagon emptied and it was probably justified. Detroit utterly imploded in back-to-back games and, at the same time, the Cardinals opened with two wins and a lot of excitement. This line should probably be closer to a field goal at the moment, but these are the situations we are made for. Fade the public.

New Orleans Saints (-3) over Green Bay Packers

Our pals at Action Network tell me that more than 70 percent of the tickets are on the Packers. Green Bay looks great right now, so that isn’t too shocking, but the Saints are laying only a field goal at home? That seems odd. Candidly, I’m a bit of a Drew Brees skeptic at this point in his career, but New Orleans is loaded on defense and they can lean on Alvin Kamara to make some things happen. This is just me playing against a number and the public, though, with a little bit too much love for the Packers in the market right now.

Disney’s latest tribute to the late Chadwick Boseman is an artist’s interpretation of the very real impact the Black Panther star had on his millions of fans. Artist Nikkolas Smith created a mural of Boseman at the Downtown Disney District in Anaheim, which was officially revealed on Thursday.

Though Disneyland remains closed amid the coronavirus pandemic, the nearby shopping center is still operating. And now it will house a tribute to Boseman, who died of cancer in late August at the age of 43.

“This one is special,” Smith said in an Instagram post about the mural. “My King Chad tribute is now on a wall on display at Downtown Disney.”

The artist, a former Disney Imagineer, shared more details about the mural, which features Boseman crouching down to give the Wakanda Forever salute to a Black child wearing a Black Panther mask. He explained that the commission was a “full circle moment” for him and touched on the impact Boseman’s work as T’Challa had on the community as well as the mural’s goal.

“To millions of kids, T’Challa was a legend larger than life, and there was no one more worthy to fill those shoes than Chadwick Boseman,” Smith wrote. “I’m so thankful to be able to honor Chadwick’s life and purpose in this way.”

The post includes the official unveiling of the mural, which was hidden behind a sheet until Thursday. Smith later signed it and posted in front of it several times, including with a child of his own.

“I am grateful to the Disney family for being so supportive of my journey as an artist,” Smith wrote.

Chef’s Table has become the touchstone of beautifully shot food television. David Gelb’s show married the worlds of high-end photography, personal storytelling, and food porn into a single package that entrances, engages, and entices viewers in equal measure. Since launching in 2015, the show has grown from highlighting the uber-elite of the restaurant world to seeking out unique voices who tell millennia-old stories through the food they cook, sometimes in faraway jungles or inaccessible ancient monasteries.

In short, the show is no longer is a paean to the 1%-pleasing celebrity chef. It’s now a well-rounded exploration of everything that food is and can be for humankind.

To celebrate the beauty of Chef’s Table, we thought we’d call out the ten episodes across the entire franchise that speak to us most deeply. We’ve updated the list to include the latest season of the show, which was centered on four BBQ chefs from different corners of the world. Overall, these ten episodes offer a gateway to the show’s larger ecosystem. Hopefully, they’ll help you get into the docuseries and that, in turn, will help you expand your food knowledge, dining palate, and overall appreciation.

10. Massimo Bottura (Volume 1)

This is where it all started. So where better to start your journey with Chef’s Table?

Chef Massimo Bottura’s legendary Osteria Francescana had already been around for 20 years by the time this episode dropped. The episode caught Chef Bottura in the moment just before his lauded osteria was crowned number one by The World’s 50 Best Restaurants (he had come in second the previous year). The episode has distinct echoes from creator David Gelb’s Jiro Dreams of Sushi. Bottura’s artistry, charisma, and, of course, dishes are all on full display and it hooks you right in.

9. Sean Brock (Volume 6)

Volume six of Chef’s Table upped the ante when it comes to what great food TV can be. A shining example of that was chef Sean Brock’s episode, which found the chef transitioning from his life at Husk to the next chapter both physically and mentally.

Chef Brock is a celebrity chef who has made the rounds of food TV for years now. He’s been a proponent of local Carolina foods and helped herald a resurgence in a wider appreciation for Southern cuisine. He’s also battled many demons stemming from alcohol and loss. Brock’s episode will move you while showing you how deep some chefs have to go to reach the highest levels of culinary achievement.

8. Tootsie Tomanetz (Volume 7/BBQ)

Snow’s BBQ in Texas’ Hill Country is iconic. That’s in no small part thanks to the tireless work of Tootsie Tomanetz.

The octogenarian wakes up in the middle of the night to make beans, stoke fire pits, and ready herself for the weekend onslaught of BBQ fanatics who flock to Snow’s. Oh, and all of that is done after a full work week as a custodian at the local high school. But this episode is more than just a look at Tomanetz’s amazing work ethic. The show tells the story of one of the most important people in Hill Country BBQ in the modern age, along with the highs and lows that life brings. All of that makes this one of the best “non-chef” episodes of the series.

7. Alex Atala (Volume 2)

Chef Alex Atala is helping redefine what we think of Brazilian cuisine. The genius of chef Atala — the son of Irish and Lebanese settlers — lies in his ability to parse the various influences on Brazilian food from colonialism to slavery to the depths of the embattled Indigenous Amazon.

This episode feels important. You’re lured into Atala’s life in his busy kitchen and then transported into Amazonia. The show balances the colonial world with the Indigenous world in a fascinating and respectful way, without playing into any white savior tropes. It’s enlightening food TV.

6. Jeong Kwan (Volume 3)

Volume three was a big shift for Chef’s Table. It was a glimpse at what the show would become. Big-name chefs were still at play in five of the six episodes. And then there was an episode about a nun who cooks for her monastery in the mountains of Korea.

This episode was a game-changer for the show. The story of Jeong Kwan, her garden, and her kitchen was revelatory. Suddenly, we were out of the hustle and bustle of professional kitchens and thrown into the calm of mountain streams, prayer sessions, and the breeze rolling through trees. A new chapter for the show had been found in the most unlikely of places, a Korean monastery. The show would never really be the same after this episode.

5. Rodney Scott (Volume 7/BBQ)

The top five of this ranking are pretty much all just splitting hairs. Each of the next five episodes could stand alone at number one for how engaging and well-rounded they are as short documentaries.

Rodney Scott’s Carolina whole hog BBQ pit mastery is the stuff of legend. Scott’s so good at whole hog, he’s able to travel the country bringing his expertise to the masses.

Scott’s episode feels like a blend of what the show was and what it’s become. There’s a sense of the real-life, accessible food at play here. Anyone can rock up to Rodney Scott’s BBQ joint in Charleston and eat there. There’s no elitist reservation system or elitist pricing-out of average consumers. But this episode is also about a true master of the culinary world. There’s a bit of inaccessibility to this in a good way. That is, as you watch, you realize that you can’t cook a whole hog anywhere near as good as Scott and you probably never will.

4. Mashama Bailey (Volume 6)

Chef Mashama Bailey found her voice while turning a formerly segregated Greyhound bus station in Savannah, Georgia into one of the nation’s best restaurants.

Chef Bailey’s story starts when she returns home to Georgia after years spent in New York’s kitchens. Bailey pulls no punches in searching for her roots and meaning through food. The episode shines a light on what America was and offers a ray of sunshine what it can be when chefs like chef Bailey take a stand, look inward, and find their own truth.

3. Asma Kahn (Volume 6)

It’s hard not to fall in love with Asma Khan in this episode of Chef’s Table. There’s a directness to her. You do not bullshit this woman. Then a welcoming smile inches across her face as fragrant and gorgeous food is set on the table and you know you’re home (I speak from experience. I’ve been lucky enough to attend chef Khan’s Briyani Supper Club).

Everything about chef Khan’s story and restaurant, Darjeeling Express, is engaging. Khan’s story from lonely housewife to the supper club toast of London to running one of London’s best restaurants draws you in and doesn’t let go. You feel Khan’s pains, triumphs, and power. Her all-female/all-migrant kitchen is a testament to Khan’s mettle and unwillingness to compromise her family, her friends, or her food.

2. Cristina Martinez (Volume 5)

The risk taken by Indigenous Mexican chef Cristina Martinez in this episode is massive. We don’t mean risks in the kitchen or with some esoteric artistic ideas. We’re talking about real-life consequences where losing one’s home and freedom are painfully real. Martinez is an illegal immigrant from central Mexico. She put her livelihood and home on the line to make this episode of television.

What’s more, Martinez is making some of the most American food there is in Philadelphia — a city that’s virtually forgotten Indigenous food. Martinez is also bringing corn back to a place where it was expunged through genocide and reigniting a way of cooking meat that has been gone for far too long.

In the end, this episode should leave you questioning how we can call Indigenous Americans from south of a border made up by colonists “illegal.” It’s patently absurd. But after your outrage will come a sense of admiration through some of the most beautiful food ever seen on the show.

1. Rosalia Chay Chuc (Volume 7/BBQ)

There are two reasons why this is at number one. The first is the uniqueness of this episode. Rosalia is a home cook who feeds her community but has recently turned to feeding foodies from all over the world who make it to the Yucatan. This episode also touches on issues even deeper than the millennia-old Mayan foodways Rosalia is preserving. Issues of culture, tradition, and the decimating power of colonialism.

There’s a real sense of place, time, and trauma at play here. Rosalia talks about having to learn Spanish to survive in modern Mexico and the challenges of fighting to preserve her ancestral agriculture and traditions. The conversations and point-of-view offered throughout the episode are a rare and engrossing look at the foods of Mexico — which are most-typically filtered through a colonial-settler lens.

Machine Gun Kelly was set to release his fifth album, Tickets To My Downfall, but prior to its arrival, the rapper-turned-rockstar sat down with Howard Stern to discuss one of the biggest moments of his career: his beef with Eminem. The beef between the two artists goes back to 2013 when Kelly spoke about Eminem’s daughter in a tweet. Eminem would later respond to Kelly in a string of songs including “Not Alike” from his 2018 album, Kamikaze. The two would go all out in their beef, one that produced Eminem’s “Killshot” and MGK’s “Rap Devil,” but if you ask the Cleveland artist, he’ll tell you he has no regrets.

When asked about his beef with Eminem and where he was when he heard the Kamikaze diss tracks, MGK’s said, “I’m like asleep on my tour bus and this f*cking guy drops an album with like three songs consecutively talking about me.” He added, “What the f*ck you think I’m going to do, just f*cking roll over and go back to sleep? I said what I said, and respect the fight—that’s it.”

Despite this, Kelly explained that he’s more concerned with making friends than enemies. “I’m just a different type though, man,” he said, “I’m all about putting my arm around people, I’m not with [shunning] people, so I can’t relate. The last thing I ever want to be is an angry legend.”

Since the “Killshot” and “Rap Devil” diss tracks, Eminem and MGK have kept their beef to a simmering minimum, with Eminem throwing a few shots on his Music To Be Murdered By album while MGK took aim once again the Detroit legend on his single, “Bullets With Names.”

Fewer than ten days after the Big Ten announced the decision to reverse course and pursue a 2020 college football season, the Pac-12 will reportedly be joining them. Jon Wilner of the Pac-12 Hotline newsletter first reported the news on Thursday evening that the conference voted to play this season.

Later, word came to light that the season will begin on the weekend of Nov. 6, with each of the 12 schools set to play seven games.

It does not appear, however, as if fans will be allowed to consume the games in person.

If the seven-game conference season comes to fruition, the Pac-12 championship game will reportedly take place on Dec. 18. In mid-August, the Pac-12 announced the decision to postpone all sports until Jan. 1 at the earliest, focusing on the health-related fallout from COVID-19. In the days since, however, momentum has apparently been building for a return and the end result was reportedly a unanimous vote to play.

In perhaps related news, Brett McMurphy reports that, with many conferences returning in abbreviated form, bowl season could be quite weird and the NCAA may waive any win requirement for inclusion.

The logistics will be incredibly interesting to monitor, as the Pac-12’s campaign is the shortest season announced by any major college football conference. Still, it appears as if the Pac-12 will be throwing its hat into the ring and, for its programs, this is an opportunity to take the field in relatively short order in comparison to the original timeline.

Like the Big Ten, the Pac-12 schedule does not include any bye weeks which, given there have already been 21 games canceled or postponed in college football this season, doesn’t offer the opportunity for rescheduling games should teams have internal outbreaks or be unable to field teams due to contact tracing.

UPDATE: The league confirmed the news shortly after, noting that fall and winter sports can begin practicing when they get clearance from their respective universities, including football, and basketball will be able to begin its season along with the rest of the NCAA on November 25.