Category: Worldwide

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Legent

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

The Whiskey:

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

Tasting Notes:

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

The Cocktail: Manhattan

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

Four Roses Small Batch Select

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

The Whiskey:

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

Tasting Notes:

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

The Cocktail: Old Fashioned

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

Belle Meade Reserve Bourbon

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

The Whiskey:

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

Tasting Notes:

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

The Cocktail: Boulevardier

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

Wild Turkey Rare Breed Kentucky Straight Bourbon

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

The Whiskey:

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

Tasting Notes:

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

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

The Cocktail: Whiskey Sour

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

Henry McKenna Single Barrel Bottled-In-Bond

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

The Whiskey:

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

Tasting Notes:

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

The Cocktail: Whiskey Smash

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

Knob Creek Kentucky Straight Bourbon

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

The Whiskey:

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

Tasting Notes:

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

The Cocktail: Brown Derby

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

Heaven Hill Bottled-in-Bond Kentucky Straight Bourbon

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

The Whiskey:

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

Tasting Notes:

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

The Cocktail: Highball

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

Buffalo Trace Kentucky Straight Bourbon

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

The Whiskey:

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

Tasting Notes:

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

The Cocktail: Horse’s Neck

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

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

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

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

Read the full study here.

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

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

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

Watch the Fender videos above.

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

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

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

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

Stella Rose Bennett couldn’t have predicted her global breakout at a time when people couldn’t see her perform live, much less leave their houses. Even still, the 20-year old artist known as Benee is taking on her new notoriety with optimism, a mentality Benee chalks up to her New Zealand roots. “It’s kind of like island time,” she told me over Zoom while the country was days away from lifting their second mandatory lockdown.

Benee infuses the same breeziness into her music, and this laidback attitude drew her fans to her viral hit “Supalonely.” Its buoyant, elastic keyboards combined with Benee’s animated lyrical delivery won over the most popular TikTok stars — catapulting the singer into viral fame — and captivated audiences across the world. It was elating for Benee to see her favorite YouTubers busting out intricate choreographies to her song and racking up hundreds of thousands of views, and even more surreal when “Supalonely” caught Elton John’s attention, who called it the “next global smash.”

Though the single boasts an upbeat tempo, Benee wrote “Supalonely” after a particularly painful breakup. Clashing cheerful beats with forlorn themes is Benee’s forte. “I really love the contrast between having happy, kind of playful, upbeat production and having really sad lyrics,” she said. “That’s what I’m drawn to when I’m listening to music.”

The same moody juxtaposition appears on her Kennybeats collaboration, “Night Garden.” Revealing the song was originally modeled after a Wu-Tang Clan track, Benee said: “I played him Wu-Tang at the start of the session and I was like, ‘I want to be like this. Let’s make something like this. And then I fully committed to making it spooky.” Underscored by a rhythmic beat, the song is equally playful and haunting as Benee details a story of a man watching her from outside her window. Benee remarked while the song’s storyline isn’t inspired by entirely true events, “It is this complete fear that I have.”

The fear of being watched is something she’s struggled with in the past, similarly using it as inspiration for her Stella & Steve EP’s “Monsta.” “I would stay up until like 3:00 a.m. until I literally had to knock myself out. I just had this really gross feeling there was someone watching me every night.”

Coming into fame has only heightened the fear as Benee suddenly finds herself being noticed in public. Benee even had to ward off a stalker who followed her in their car while recording her on their phone. “I’m sure [with] some people, that wouldn’t phase them. But someone like me, who overthinks everything and is anxious, it does not help,” she said.

Benee’s fame has caused her some anxiety but it has conversely led to newfound confidence in her songwriting, especially on her upcoming debut album. Benee has yet to announce her full-length release but much if it is already complete, and she’s hoping to ride the momentum of her “Supalonely” success. “I think with this album, I haven’t really held back on experimenting with genres and even lyrics,” Benee said. “Maybe I would have been more hesitant to do some of the things that I’ve done on this album in my previous bodies of work.”

For the first time, Benee is able to candidly write about her struggles with anxiety and depression, translating those experiences into music. While fans can expect to hear some of the same lush chords and exuberent beats heard on her latest releases, Benee notes her new work further blurs genre lines, infusing elements of “hardcore” electronic with trap-style beats. “I feel like some people who like my other stuff are going to hate this because it’s pretty different,” she said. “But I had a lot of fun making it.”

Pushing boundaries is important to Benee. It’s also something she’s used to, having dropped out of university two weeks after arriving to pursue music full-time. “I wanted to give this music thing more time and more effort,” she said. “And I felt like going to university was holding me back from that.”

Her aversion to convention materializes in her reluctance to conform to one genre. “I like the idea of blending genres and I don’t like the idea of kind of pinpointing,” she said. Instead, whether she’s modeling her sound after Wu-Tang Clan or experimenting with beats on her upcoming full-length, Benee leans on a metaphor to describe her innovative sound more aptly. “I would call [my music] a crispy apple because I try to make a fresh sound. So it’s a fresh, crispy, apple.”

There’s not much Star Wars fans agree on in the Disney era. The Force Awakens is an exciting, necessary reset from the prequels… unless it’s a blatant rip-off of A New Hope. The Last Jedi is the best Star Wars movie since The Empire Strikes Back (because it is)… unless it’s the worst Star Wars movie ever. The Rise of Skywalker is a terrific trilogy-capper… unless it’s a crummy slog. Even the theme park land, Galaxy’s Edge, has led to heated debates over whether Disney went “too far.” Just about the only things Star Wars fans can agree on is: Babu Frik is a sweetie and The Mandalorian rules.

The Disney+ series was a hit among critics and viewers from episode one when the Child, a.k.a. Baby Yoda, made his adorable debut. And, y’know, all the stuff with Mando was good, too, but all discussions about The Mandalorian must return to Baby Yoda. The show’s little green breakout character is the reason showrunner Jon Favreau knew he was working on something special, as he explained to Entertainment Weekly:

It was December 2019. The Mandalorian had been airing for only about a month on the nascent streaming service Disney+ when showrunner Jon Favreau saw an online photo of a large mural halfway across the world. The street art depicted his show’s cherubic, wide-eyed, Force-sensitive character peering solemnly from under a bridge. That was the moment, Favreau says, when he realized his series was becoming a phenomenon: The Mandalorian hadn’t yet aired in France — or anywhere in Europe, for that matter.

“The show wasn’t there!” Favreau said. “Something was going on where people were connecting with the characters, with social media allowing them to see aspects of the show before they even knew what it was.” How could you not connect to this cutie?

Good thing they didn’t go with the alternate design. The Mandalorian returns next month.

(Via Entertainment Weekly)

Last week, BTS did something that hadn’t been done in music before: They became the first all-South Korean artist to have a song (“Dynamite”) top the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The group is in uncharted territory, and now they’ve taken things even further, as “Dynamite” has stayed at No. 1 for a second week, on the chart dated September 12.

This week’s chart success establishes some new firsts. “Dynamite” is their first song to spend multiple weeks at No. 1, and it’s the first song by an all-South Korean artist to spend more than one week on top (it’s also the only song to do both those things). “Dynamite” was the 43rd song to debut at No. 1, but is now only the 20th of those to stay at No. 1 during its second week. It’s also the first song in nearly four years to have sold over 180,000 downloads in consecutive weeks (265,000 its first week, 182,000 this week), following The Chainsmokers and Halsey’s “Closer” in September 2016.

All news on the BTS front has been good in recent days. They won all four of the VMAs for which they were nominated this year: Best Pop, Best K-Pop, Best Choreography (all for their “On” video), and Best Group. Additionally, Forbes named them the fourth highest-earning musical group of 2020.