Category: Worldwide

Shortly after the release of The Force Awakens, our own Mike Ryan theorized that the Star Wars prequels would someday be considered “cool.” That day is here. I don’t know when it happened, exactly, although it probably had to do with the polarizing reaction to The Last Jedi, which is either the best Star Wars movie since The Empire Strikes Back or the worst installment in the franchise (it’s the best). But admitting that you like The Phantom Menace is no longer met with this Han Solo face — it’s greeted with a “same.”

Ewan McGregor, who played Obi-Wan (“Kenobi?!?”) in The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, and Revenge of the Sith, spoke about this “Star Wars prequels are good, actually” phenomenon in an interview with Empire.

“Our films weren’t much liked when they came out by my generation who loved the first ones. I think people of our generation wanted to feel the way they’d felt when they saw those first three movies when they were kids, and George [Lucas] wanted to take our ones in a different direction, he had a different idea. It was tricky at the time, I remember,” he said. “But now, all these years later, I’m really aware of what our films meant to the generation they were made for, the children of that time. They really like them. I’ve met people who, they mean a lot to them, those films, more so than the original three, and I’m like, ‘Are you kidding?’” I would never kid about my love for Watto.

McGregor will reprise his role as Young Ben in an Obi-Wan series coming to Disney+, which he called “a long time coming.” It’s not expected to start shooting until 2021, giving producers plenty of time to track down greasy diner owner Dexter Jettster for a cameo. Dexter Jettster? Now that’s a name I haven’t heard in a long time. A long time.

(Via Empire)

Cheap bourbon isn’t always as bottom-shelf as it seems. We’ve highlighted that time and again. On the flip side, expensive bourbon isn’t always as refined as it seems. In fact, a lot of bourbons are cut from the exact same mash bills (grain recipes), barrels, and even proofs when they start aging.

Yes, aging and blending can have a big impact on taste. And the little factors between bottles do matter. But that doesn’t mean the core ingredients don’t start off the same. Sometimes even exactly the same.

For instance, Jim Beam, Baker’s, Knob Creek, Old Crow, and Old Taylor all have the exact same mash bill (75/13/12 corn/rye/barley), barrel char (level #4), and barreling proof (125 proof). They’re also all made in the same distillery (Jim Beam). But that’s not to say that all of those bourbons taste exactly the same. There are, after all, aging variables in play from the length in the barrel to where in the rickhouse the barrel rested to how the master blender married different barrels to create the final product. Still, they’re a lot closer to being the same thing than any amount of advertising would lead you to believe.

Wild Turkey also has the same mash bill as Jim Beam and the same barrel char. But it goes into the barrel a 114 proof instead of 125 proof. Makes it easy to see why some newbies often can’t tell the difference between some of these bourbons, right?

All of this isn’t to say that drinking a Wild Turkey 81 is the same as drinking a Russell’s Reserve Single Barrel. It’s not. But those whiskeys are cut from the exact same distillation. It’s just that one of them was in the right spot in the rickhouse and deemed tasty enough not to be blended with other barrels. Instead, it was allowed to rest until it hit a point the distillers wanted to hit and then bottled as is. That extra time is why the Single Barrel costs three times more than a regular old bottle of Wild Turkey. Whether that’s worth the money is up to you and your palate.

As Bourbon Heritage Month rolls on, we’re taking a look at some expensive bottles of bourbon to see if we can find some cheaper bourbon counterparts from the exact same mash bill, barrel char, and barrel proof. At the very least, this experiment is a good way to see how much luck and refinement go into making expensive bourbons worth the price when you can quite literally compare them to the cheaper expressions of the exact same juice.

BUFFALO TRACE MASH BILL #2

The exact mash bill is kept a secret but word on the street is that it’s a fairly low-rye mash bill with 12 to 15 percent rye. #4 barrel char. Entry proof is 125 proof/62.5 percent.

Expensive Bottle: Blanton’s The Original Single Barrel Bourbon

ABV: 46.5%
Distillery: Buffalo Trace Distillery, Frankfort, KY (Sazerac Company)
Average Price: $90

The Whiskey:

This is Buffalo Trace’s “higher-rye” bourbon mash bill even though it’s not that “high” comparatively. This bourbon was the first “Single Barrel” expression sold in the modern era. The juice is a throwback to Colonel Blanton who expanded the distillery in the 20th century and used to handpick barrels for his personal stash in warehouse H.

The bottle in-and-of-itself has become a collector’s item with the small horse on each cork varying slightly.

Tasting Notes:

Egg nog spices kick this sip off. There’s a clear sense of bourbon vanilla next to creamy corn and plenty of honey sweetness. The marrying of the corn with the Christmas-y spices helps usher in a long, warming, and satisfying end that embraces you in a classic “Kentucky hug.”

Bottom Line:

This is great stuff to sip on after a big holiday meal. It’s also killer if you want to make a $20 Manhattan.

Cheap Bottle: Ancient Age Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey

ABV: 40%
Distillery: Buffalo Trace Distillery, Frankfort, KY (Sazerac Company)
Average Price: $12

The Whiskey:

Yes, Ancient Age is the same mash bill, barrel, and barrel proof as Blanton’s. No, this isn’t a single barrel expression. Yet, it always sort of baffles me when people go on about Evan Williams (which is the same mash bill as Elijah Craig at Heaven Hill) but not this. This is a simple bourbon that’s cut from the same mash and pulled from the same rickhouses as everyone’s beloved Blanton’s — one of the more sought after and awarded bourbons in modern times.

Tasting Notes:

Corn on the nose and lots of classic notes of vanilla, toffee, and caramel up top. The sip leans into the toffee with a subtle dose of cinnamon spice lingering in the background with more of that honeyed corn. A slice of citrus arrives to lighten everything up on the short end.

Bottom Line:

You can often find this for $9.99 on sale. Buy a case. Drink it in a highball or mix up old fashioneds for a few months.

BROWN-FORMAN MEDIUM-RYE BOURBON MASH BILL

72 percent corn, 18 percent rye, ten percent malted barley. #4 barrel char. Entry proof is 125 proof/62.5 percent.

Expensive Bottle: Woodford Reserve Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey

ABV: 45.2%
Distillery: Woodford Reserve Distillery & Brown Forman Distillery in Shively, KY (Brown-Forman)
Average Price: $40

The Whiskey:

Okay, this isn’t exactly a huge price tag for a quality spirit. Still, it’s not the cheapest expression you can get from Brown-Forman. The juice is really crafted as an entry point to Woodford’s wider line that showcases their aging and blending prowess.

Tasting Notes:

There’s a light, floral fruitiness upfront with a wisp of tobacco, flourishes of mint, and plenty of vanilla. The sip edges into orange zest territory with dark spices accentuated by nice toffee sweetness and a dusting of dark cacao powder when water is added.

The finish has a velvet texture that helps it fade fairly slowly while staying warm.

Bottom Line:

This is an excellent mixing bourbon to have on hand.

Cheap Bottle: Old Forester Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey

ABV: 43%
Distillery: Brown Forman Distillery in Shively, KY (Brown-Forman)
Average Price: $20

The Whiskey:

This is a classic bourbon that’s been around for a long time. The juice is the same stuff that goes into Woodford, although this entry is blended with different barrels for an end product that’s a great, basic bourbon at a great price.

Tasting Notes:

This is strikingly similar to Woodford on the nose with the same vanilla, tobacco, mint, and floral fruit. There’s a bit more of a pine woodiness on the palate of this one next to the toffee, spice, orange, and vanilla that’s more pushed into the background. The toffee and oak mingle in the end as it slowly dissipates.

Bottom Line:

You can get two of these for the price of one Woodford. We’re just sayin’.

HEAVEN HILL WHEATED BOURBON MASH BILL

68 percent corn, 20 percent wheat, 12 percent malted barley. #3 barrel char. Entry proof is 125 proof/62.5 percent.

Expensive Bottle: Old Fitzgerald Bottled-in-Bond 9-Year-Old

ABV: 50%
Distillery: Heaven Hill Distillery, Louisville, KY
Average Price: $300

The Whiskey:

We’ve already talked about how Weller and Pappy are the same wheated bourbon, so let’s give Heaven Hill’s wheated bourbons some love. This bespoke (and admittedly cool-looking) bottle became extremely famous and then extremely expensive in retail. It’s also the recipe “Pappy” Van Winkle bought during prohibition.

Simply, this is Heaven Hill’s famous wheated bourbon that’s aged for nine years and bottled-in-bond.

Tasting Notes:

Slightly peppery wheat next to a light fruit, vanilla, and fresh maple syrup greet you. The oak peeks in with more vanilla, notes of toffee, and a bit of berry tartness. The dram leans into a honey-sweet edge with the oak, mild spice, and hint of dark chocolate popping at the end.

Bottom Line:

Look, this is a damn nice dram. The price stops most people from ever getting to drink it and that’s a shame.

Cheap Bottle: Larceny Small Batch Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey

ABV: 46%
Distillery: Heaven Hill Distillery, Louisville, KY
Average Price: $26

The Whiskey:

This is the exact same juice that’s just aged a little less. This juice is hand-selected to be small batched to match a six-year-old age profile. That’s only three fewer years than the Old Fitz above, and it’s a tenth the price.

Tasting Notes:

Vanilla and toffee are present with a sense of the wheat. There’s a clear taste of the honey, vanilla, and toffee carrying the sip towards a very subdued spice and oak. The end is rich with a note of toffee and a whisper of salted caramel.

Bottom Line:

No, this isn’t as complex as Old Fitzgerald. But it’s so much cheaper that … who cares?

JIM BEAM HIGH RYE MASH BILL

63 percent corn, 27 percent rye, ten percent malted barley. #4 barrel char. Entry proof unknown.

Basil Hayden’s Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey

ABV: 40%
Distillery: Jim Beam, Clermont, KY (Beam Suntory)
Average Price: $45

The Whiskey:

Let’s end this one with Jim’s “other” mash bill. This is a departure from the classic Jim Beam mash we mentioned in the lede. This mash bill leans more heavily into the rye, creating a solid base for two very closely related bourbons. In fact, one’s named after a bourbon legend while the other has that legend’s visage on its label. Basil Hayden’s is a well-crafted bourbon that’s pulled from specific barrels, blended, cut down to proof, and small-batch bottled under the watchful eyes of Jim Beam’s masters.

Tasting Notes:

There’s a sense of sweet yet slightly bitter tea next to rye spice and a flutter of fresh mint. The palate carries that spice into peppery territory with hints of oak, vanilla, tart apples, and honey. The spice gets a little peppery as a final cut if citrus arrives to help the end slowly fade out.

Bottom Line:

This is a nice mixing bourbon that works just as well on the rocks.

Old Grand-Dad Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey

ABV: 40%
Distillery: Jim Beam, Clermont, KY (Beam Suntory)
Average Price: $20

The Whiskey:

The titular old grand-dad here is the one and only Basil Hayden. It’s also the same juice that doesn’t spend quite as long in the rickhouse and gets blended with minorly different barrels for an end product that’s very similar to Basil Hayden’s.

Tasting Notes:

There’s more of sweetness at play with toffee and vanilla up top. Honey and fruit mix with a clear peppery rye note next to a slight hint of oak, apple, and more vanilla. The sip leans more into the caramel apples on the end and skips the citrus yet stays warm and mellow.

Bottom Line:

There’s certainly less refinement at play. But again, two for the price of one is a bargain.

For the past month, Doja Cat and Nas have been embroiled in a bit of drama. It appeared that Nas dissed the fellow rapper on “Ultra Black,” but the issue seemed to resolve itself quickly. Doja didn’t get too heated over the situation, and Nas later said he didn’t actually intend to say anything negative about Doja. If Nas had tried to escalate the situation, though, Doja says she would not have participated, because she loves Nas too much.

She spoke with Fat Joe in a recent interview, and he asked her how that situation arose. She responded with uncertainty before noting that she was just excited that one of her favorite rappers noticed him and declaring that she has no interested in feuding with him:

“I don’t know! I’m just glad he’s still putting out music, ’cause I love him. I grew up on Nas, so to hear that, I’m like, ‘Damn,’ but also, ‘Damn!’ I f*cking love Nas, thank f*cking God he noticed me. I love Nas. So, I don’t give a sh*t. He can say whatever he wants. I really don’t care. If I love you, I love you. I made jokes about it, but other than that, you will never see me beef with Nas. He might want to beef with me, but you’re not gonna see me beef with Nas. You won’t see me respond.”

Watch the interview clip below.

In a continued commitment to having a more diverse staff, the Memphis Grizzlies announced the hiring of former MIT women’s basketball coach Sonia Raman as an assistant coach on Friday. Raman replaces Niele Ivey, who left the Grizzlies during the NBA’s hiatus to become the women’s basketball coach at her alma mater, Notre Dame. Raman becomes the second woman assistant in Memphis franchise history and 14th overall in NBA history.

During her 12-year tenure as the head women’s basketball coach at MIT, she became the winningest coach in the program’s history with 152 wins. Under Raman’s leadership, the Engineers won the program’s first NEWMAC championships two consecutive years (2018, 2019) and reached the NCAA tournament twice.

Raman is a two-time NEWMAC coach of the year and was the first MIT women’s coach to lead her team to multiple 20-win seasons. In her final five seasons at MIT, the Engineers went 91–45. Away from the court, Raman was selected to serve a two-year term on the Coaches Council for the Alliance of Women Coaches in 2017.

“She has a high basketball IQ and a tremendous ability to teach the game as well as a strong passion for the game,” Grizzlies coach Taylor Jenkins said in a statement. “She is going to be a great addition to our current coaching staff.”

Raman began her coaching career with a two-year stint as an assistant at her alma mater, Tufts. She then went on to spend six years as an assistant at Wellesley. Raman received a Juris Doctor from Boston College in 2001.

“I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to be part of the Memphis Grizzlies coaching staff. I can’t wait to get to Memphis and get started with Taylor, his staff, and the team’s emerging young core,” Raman said in the press release.

The NBA playoffs have not disappointed, even after a long layoff, and league executives are taking note. There are many reasons why players might feel more comfortable in the Bubble than they are criss-crossing the country year-round, but one factor in particular is becoming popular in the league office and among team governors: Travel.

In a new story at ESPN, Baxter Holmes explains that the topic has come up not only among those in the Bubble, but is gaining steam among the most powerful people in the league, as well. Ideas on how to limit travel and get closer to the quality of Bubble basketball even came up on a recent Board of Governors call. It seems that longer homestands similar to how baseball plays its series are one way the governors could limit travel in the NBA going forward.

Via ESPN:

“… a GM said that it had been his observation — and that he was receiving feedback from management, staff and players — that additional rest and lack of travel were playing a role in the quality of the performances, sources said.
A second GM then chimed in on the same theme, sources said, echoing that the lack of travel and additional rest contributed to better play and helped even out the competition. Sources said a league official on the call then brought up the concept of teams heading into cities to play a potential series of games — fly into a city and play the host team in two games over a short time span. The idea, which several GMs considered akin to a baseball homestand, was discussed in an effort to reduce the mileage teams might have to fly during the regular season.

League officials, including Silver, are well aware that the bubble has offered thrilling individual performances and nail-biting finishes, including notable game-winning shots and overtime endings. It’s unclear what factors have played the biggest role in leading to such performances — there’s no true home-court advantage, for example — but these officials are aware that lack of travel and the additional rest and time for recovery have been key components.”

Occasionally, NBA teams will play a home-and-home with a nearby team in which teams will compete in one city then the other, but this would be even more convenient, with teams potentially clashing twice in the same locale back-to-back. But as the schedule currently stands, this would likely only be possible with in-division teams that play each other multiple times in each city. And divisional games are the least travel-intensive on the schedule.

One executive told Holmes that even cutting travel by 10-20 percent would be helpful, so expect the NBA to continue brainstorming different options to make that happen.

Lil Baby doesn’t want listeners to “Forget That” he’s one of the most successful artists of the year, so he reminds them with the video for that track featuring Rylo Rodriguez. Baby released the video to celebrate his album, My Turn, becoming the first to go double platinum in 2020. The video finds Lil Baby rapping in front of a backdrop while being attended to by a quartet of women and showing off of his jewelry and stacks of cash. Rylo Rodriguez, with whom Baby shares a fondness for goat imagery appears to rap on a street as well.

My Turn was Baby’s first album to reach No. 1, not just once but twice. All told, it spent five weeks on the top of the Billboard 200 chart. Meanwhile, Baby became a fixture of several other artists’ projects, despite claiming that he’d begun charging $100,000 a feature. He popped up on the remix of Future and Drake’s “Life Is Good” alongside DaBaby, with whom he also appeared on Stunna 4 Vegas on “Do Dat, and he contributed to RMR’s “Dealer” with Future.

His success also extends to an invitation to collaborate with Kanye West, despite an earlier misunderstanding. It’s Lil Baby’s year, and he’s getting everything he said he would when it started.

Watch Lil Baby’s Forget That video featuring Rylo Rodriguez above.

On next week’s episode of People’s Party with Talib Kweli, Jasmin Leigh and Kweli chop it up with Hannibal Buress where they got into some of the comedian’s early struggles to find a place for his unique brand of comedy and his stated desire to mostly riff on his own personality as an actor. The comic teased his acting range while discussing his scene-stealing role as Lincoln Rice in Broad City.

“That character, were you given free rein to develop that character?” Kweli asks. “Because it seems a lot like you.”

To which Buress replies, “Yeah, I don’t really stretch too much as an actor, you’re going to get me how I am that day.”

That confident nonchalance and a distinct, deadpan delivery have endeared Buress to audiences time and time again, whether he’s playing Lincoln in Broad City, a character named Hannibal in High Maintenance, a character named Hannibal in 30 Rock, himself in Crashing, or even burning it up on the stage doing stand-up. But before Hannibal carved a place for himself (playing himself) in the stand-up and in the comedy television world, he was struggling to find a home for his work as a short-lived writer on 30 Rock and SNL.

“I don’t think I was really suited for sketch writing at that time,” says Buress of his SNL stint. “I think I was better suited for something more on camera or working in tandem with somebody… And then 30 Rock, it was dope but it wasn’t for me to be in the writer’s room just for what my energy was and my level of focus. I have ADHD, and it was undiagnosed at the time but just being in those types of settings, I wasn’t functioning, I didn’t function at my peak at all.”

It’s hard to imagine that Hannibal Buress — a well-known workaholic in the comedy world who juggles multiple projects per year — was ever not functioning at his peak. To hear how Buress’ cabin fever working in writer’s rooms led to him redoubling his efforts on the standup scene and how his early career successes (and struggles with ADHD) led to where he is now, check out the People’s Party clip above.

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Earlier in the week, rumors that Wonder Woman 1984 would abandon its October intensified as the box office results for Tenet began rolling in. However, there was no official word from Warner Bros. until now.

In a statement to fans, director Patty Jenkins confirmed that Wonder Woman 1984 has bumped its release date and will hit theaters on December 25, 2020. Via Variety:

“First and foremost let me say how much Gal and I love all our devoted Wonder Woman fans around the world, and your excitement for ‘WW84’ couldn’t make us happier or more eager for you to see the movie. Because I know how important it is to bring this movie to you on a big screen when all of us can share the experience together, I’m hopeful you won’t mind waiting just a little bit longer. With the new date on Christmas Day, we can’t wait to spend the holidays with you!”

While industry watchers assumed delaying Wonder Woman 1984 was inevitable, Variety speculates that the move was for two reasons: First, to give Tenet more room to increase its box office haul with a significantly longer theatrical window. Second, the Christmas release date is practically wide open, giving Wonder Woman very little competition. While it’s not mentioned in the report, this move will undoubtedly affect Dune, which Warner Bros. plans to release in December. That film will most likely be pushed into 2021, but as of this writing, an official decision has yet to be made.

Starring Gal Gadot in the title role and Jenkins as director, Wonder Woman 1984 features the Amazon warrior battling the mysterious Max Lord (Pedro Pascal) and the deadly Cheetah (Kristen Wiig) while set in the neon, excess of the 1980s. Chris Pine also reprises his role as Steve Trevor, who has somehow returned from the dead.

(Via Variety)

Hannah Montana was hugely popular in its time, and like most things that were culturally iconic, nostalgia-driven fans want more years later. Some of these intellectual properties do get rebooted, and it turns out Miley Cyrus isn’t opposed to reviving her famous character.

During a recent radio interview, Cyrus was asked if she would like to bring back Hannah Montana, and she responded, “I would love to. Timing is everything. It’s like wine: After a certain amount of time, you pass a line where… or a good vintage T-shirt. You know how a T-shirt gets kinda old and crappy, but then the longer you have it, the more vintage and more value it has? It’s just gonna keep adding and gaining value.”

Cyrus also discussed the type of relationship being a public figure at a young age has given her and her fans, saying, “I have a really unique relationship with my fans. I think not many artists get to kinda say that they grew up, you know… my fans came to my sweet 16. I had a birthday party at Disneyland and invited all my fans, ’cause that was kinda like my friends and family growing up.”

It’s not clear if Cyrus meant she wants to bring back the Hannah Montana show or just the Hannah Montana character. It might be a challenge to bring the show back plot-wise. In its final season, Cyrus’ character, Miley Stewart, guests on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno (as Hannah Montana) and reveals that she is actually Miley Stewart and that Hannah is a made-up persona. So, a Hannah Montana revival would have to address that somehow or break continuity.

Dame D.O.L.L.A., who is known just as much for his clutch fourth quarter performances as he is for his lyricism, combines the two skills to pay tribute to his most immediate predecessor and parallel in both, Kobe Bryant. On “Kobe,” Dame is joined by his Front Page Music cohort Derrick Milano and rap legend Snoop Dogg, dedicating the track, which appears on the NBA 2K21 soundtrack, to the NBA icon who defined “clutch” for a generation and inspired millions.

Produced by Ayo & Keyz, the song originally appeared only on the game, but after a positive fan response, Dame decided to give it a separate release. The news that the track would get its own release hit the social media sphere on Thursday via Lillard’s Twitter account.

When the track dropped, Lillard included a picture of him posted up on the sideline before a Blazers-Laker game in which every seat at Staples Center included a Mamba shirt.

Dame has previously said that being on the cover of this year’s 2K game — which features a special Mamba Edition that pays tribute to Kobe — inspired him to “pay tribute to Kobe through music.” Whether you’ve picked up the game and have heard the track already, or if you’ve yet to hear it, you can listen to Dame D.O.L.L.A.’s “Kobe” with Snoop Dogg and Derrick Milano above.