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If there was a single villain of the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, it had to be David Zaslav. Before they began in the spring, the Warner Bros. Discovery honcho had already become infamous for creatively bad and/or Bond villain-y decisions. (He even made another right after the last one ended.) Once the industry shut down, it was Zaslav who became even more hissable than Bob Iger and Ted Sarandos. Now the Wile E. Coyote of media oligarchs has found another inventive way to step in it.

As caught by The Hollywood Reporter, The New York Times has a new profile of Zaslav, which is far more diplomatic than the blistering GQ op-ed that was infamously taken down. That doesn’t mean Zaslav doesn’t hang himself with his own rope. Indeed, at one point he discusses the WGA strike, which began in May and became the second-longest labor stoppage by the guild in history. But judging from Zaslav’s comments, it probably didn’t need to last that long…or happen at all.

“They are right about almost everything,” Zaslav brazenly admitted. “So what if we overpay? I’ve never regretted overpaying for great talent or a great asset.”

Did Zaslav always feel that way? Was he the outlier among the AMPTP gang? Is he simply saying that now, in an attempt at revisionist history? Perhaps he was that shaken by getting booed during a commencement speech shortly after the WGA went on strike.

Whatever the case, the comments were galling. Although some found themselves agreeing with Zaslav on one thing.

Some argued that Zaslav’s comments don’t make him look smart.

Others couldn’t believe he appeared to say the quiet part loud.

Others, though, took him to task for all the lives he and others in the AMTPT screwed up by playing hardball.

And, of course, there were jokes.

Maybe Zaslav simply needed to distract people after he took heat for trying to bury an already completed movie everyone wants to see and which would have made his company tons of money. Hopefully none of the shareholders are reading the news.

(Via NYT and THR)

If you know anything about tequila, you know there are plenty of inexpensive bottles around. They’re usually in the blanco (or silver or plata) designation but there are some reposado cheap buys to be found, too. The key is finding inexpensive bottles worth buying.

To find the budget bottles you should pick up, we turned to the professionals for help. We asked a handful of well-known bartenders to tell us the best bargain tequilas under $30 that belong on your home bar cart. Keep scrolling to see all of the fresh, flavorful, agave-centric choices.

Arette Blanco

Federico Doldi, food and beverage director at Gansevoort Meatpacking in New York City

ABV: 40%

Average Price: $27

The Tequila:

There is just one winner in this competition for well-made, bargain tequilas and that is Arette Blanco. It’s great to mix but also extremely balanced and tasty, with a price of around $25. What could be better than that?

Tasting Notes:

The aroma and flavors of the agave are present, along with hints of pepper, ripe fruit, and orange. For a blanco, it’s surprisingly flavorful and balanced.

Cimarron Blanco

Dave Tyda, USBG bartender at BARCOA Agaveria in Phoenix

ABV: 40%

Average Price: $28

The Tequila:

Cimarron Blanco. It’s about $29 for a liter. It’s made at the same distillery as high-end tequilas like Don Fulano and Tears of Llorona. It’s our well at BARCOA because for one, the peppery notes make a great margarita, and for two, it’s sippable on its own. Most well tequilas aren’t drinkable, but we found one and we love it.

Tasting Notes:

It starts with a nose of roasted agave, vanilla, and gentle spices and moves into a palate of vegetal agave sweetness, cracked black pepper, vanilla, and woody, earthy flavors.

Mi Campo Blanco

Tsuru Goto, food and beverage manager at Society Cafe in New York City

ABV: 40%

Average Price: $27

The Tequila:

We appreciate Mi Campo as a well-crafted well-priced tequila. Both the Blanco and the Reposado are easy on the budget. Mi Campo Blanco makes a nice mixing tequila as it has a great cleanness and a Chardonnay finish that adds some crisp orange and apple notes for the mid palate and a hint of vanilla at the end.

Tasting Notes:

A nose of cooked agave, vanilla, citrus oil, and spices makes way for honey flavors, candied orange peels, roasted agave, and pepper on the palate.

Astral Blanco

Matthew Frischmann, director of food and beverage at The Emily Hotel in Chicago

ABV: 40%

Average Price: $25

The Tequila:

We are currently using Astral Blanco Tequila in our mixed drinks. Astral is a well-rounded tequila that works great in cocktails, as it does not overwhelm or take over the drink.

Tasting Notes:

Mineral water, agave, cinnamon, citrus, and grass are prevalent on the nose. Sipping it brings you flavors of vegetal sweetness, agave, cinnamon, orange peel, and vanilla with a spicy, peppery finish.

Teremana Blanco

Loni Lewis, USBG bartender at Okan Restaurant in Charleston, South Carolina

ABV: 40%

Average Price: $29

The Tequila:

Teremana Blanco, they do a lot for the bartending community, so I love to support them. It’s easy to mix and is an easily recognizable replacement for Casamigos if you don’t carry that brand.

Tasting Notes:

Flavors of earthy, roasted agave intermingle with vanilla, cinnamon, and cracked black pepper. For a blanco, it’s a great mixer and a decent sipping tequila as well.

Espolòn Blanco

Michael Challenger, head bartender at Nautilus Sonesta in Miami

ABV: 40%

Average Price: $28

The Tequila:

The bargain tequila that is actually worth sipping or mixing with is Espolòn Blanco. It is a fantastic value tequila that belongs in any tequila fan’s home bar. There’s a reason it’s one of the most popular tequila brands on the market.

Tasting Notes:

It offers a vibrant agave flavor with hints of tropical fruit and a peppery finish. It’s well-balanced and versatile, making it an excellent choice for both sipping and mixing in cocktails.

Centenario Plata

Jazz Craft, beverage director at Proxi in Chicago

ABV: 40%

Average Price: $29

The Tequila:

One of my favorite bargain tequilas is Centenario Plata. It has been a standard on both sides of the border for a long time. It uses high-altitude agave, which is full and robust but reflects some of that minerality of the soil as well.

Tasting Notes:

Better as a mixer than a sipping tequila, there are a ton of vegetal, agave, vanilla, earthy, spicy flavors intermingling.

Lunazul Blanco

Corey Hayes, general manager and beverage director for Gala & Muse Bar in Miami

ABV: 40%

Average Price: $25

The Tequila:

Lunazul Blanco. It’s a great bang for your buck tequila. It’s a legit tequila with earthy tones and a true vegetal note. I often go to this tequila as it is in the well and I do not believe in let alone trust some of the top brands. This brand has also made it on every single one of my cocktail lists.

Tasting Notes:

This tequila has a nice mix of pepper, vanilla, agave, and fruity flavors. The finish is long, warming, and pleasantly spicy.

El Tequileño Blanco

David Ortiz, corporate beverage manager at Rocco’s Tacos & Tequila Bar in Miami

ABV: 40%

Average Price: $23

The Tequila:

The best bargain tequila is El Tequileño Blanco. It’s one of my all-time favorites for blanco under $30 retail. El Tequileño Blanco is made traditionally by extracting the juice from the pina with a roller wheel and fermenting in the old method with mixto, copper pot distilled, and with no additional additives.

Tasting Notes:

Its flavor and profile blend cooked agave, vanilla, vegetal notes, cinnamon, black pepper, slight anise, and a medium ethanol finish. It’s very easy to mix and drink.

Camarena Silver

Jennifer Yim, USBG bartender at The Chandelier Bar at The Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas

ABV: 40%

Average Price: $25

The Tequila:

Camarena Silver Tequila. Its clean and versatile flavor profile, along with its affordability, makes it a popular choice for cocktails, allowing the agave notes to shine in various mixed drinks like Margaritas and palomas.

Tasting Notes:

The bargain-priced tequila is filled with complementary flavors like roasted agave, citrus peels, vanilla beans, wintry spices, and just a hint of cracked black pepper at the finish.

The streaming era may be a mixed bag, but there’s one aspect that’s an unambiguous win: the creation of Pluto, everyone’s favorite source of free movies and TV. It’s great. It’s got random films you forgot existed. It’s got Julia Child, Johnny Carson, and old Doctor Who 24/7. You can put it on in the background while you work from home and it makes life all the better. There’s so much to choose from, all of it free and endless, that it might seem like it can’t get any better. And yet.

Per Cord Cutter News, the free streamer recently added a new channel. It’s called Car Chase. No, it’s not a channel devoted entirely to car chase movies, like Smokey and the Bandit and Dirty Mary Crazy Larry and Death Proof and the Mad Maxes, though that would be fantastic, too. Rather it has real car chases: live feeds or previously recorded footage showing actual people giving actual chase to actual law enforcement.

What to expect from the Car Chase Pluto channel? As this article is being typed up, the Car Chase channel is showing someone on a motorcycle trying to flee the fuzz along a darkened highway in southern California. It might never end, unless one of them finally runs out of gas. It’s murky and the images can be impossible to parse, but that just means it’s more real.

People have always loved sharing wild ass car chases, which show that truth can be stranger than even video games like Grand Theft Auto. Those tend to be shared on social media, meaning they can be tough to find when you’re hankering for some real-life automotive mayhem. But now you can simply hit a few buttons and voila. The future isn’t always awesome, but in this case, at least, it’s everything it should have been.

(Via Cord Cutter News)

Rolling Loud California unveiled their 2024 lineup on Tuesday, November 14, but the highers-up may have been so eager to drop some names that they added some names that hadn’t yet been confirmed, or perhaps even courted. One was Lil Uzi Vert. The rapper took to their Instagram Story to say, “I never said I was doing Rolling Loud,” adding, “Don’t understand why my name is on here.”

As of Wednesday afternoon, November 15, Uzi’s name is no longer on the list. The festival posted an updated lineup poster, with Future and Metro Boomin replacing Uzi as Sunday headliners.

The festival is scheduled to take place at Hollywood Park in Inglewood, California (surrounding SoFi Stadium) from Friday, March 15 to Sunday, March 17, 2024. Nicki Minaj will handle headlining duties on Friday, followed by Post Malone on Saturday. The full lineup can be found here.

Rolling Loud California’s presale is scheduled for Thursday, November 16, beginning at 10 a.m. PST. An general public sale will follow on Friday, November 17, at 10 a.m. PST. The festival’s official website lists ticket options as follows: 3-Day GA, 3-Day GA+, 3-Day VIP, 3-Day VIP + Munchie Pack. There is also an option to book a hotel here.

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

Last year, Philadelphia Eagles offensive lineman Jason Kelce was part of a project to raise money for charity during the holidays alongside a pair of his teammates. Kelce, Lane Johnson, and Jordan Mailata teamed up to record the album A Philly Special Christmas, which was both an incredibly fun album and also a really good way to remind everyone that Mailata has a legitimately incredible singing voice.

Well, the big fellas are back this year, with their next album coming out at the beginning of December. We’ve already got some sneak peeks at what they have coming — here is Mailata knocking “All I Want For Christmas Is You” out of the park — and on Wednesday, we learned that Jason isn’t the only Kelce brother showing off their pipes this holiday season, as Kansas City Chiefs tight end and noted guy who attends concerts Travis Kelce teamed up with his brother to sing “Fairytale of Philadelphia,” a Philly-inspired version of “Fairytale of New York” by The Pogues.

As part of the rollout of the track, we got a behind the scenes glimpse of how this was all coming together — basically, someone floated the idea to Jason and he called up Travis, who was into the idea.

If the whole “being extremely good podcasters” thing doesn’t work out for the Kelce brothers, they might have a future in music. But before then, they have some business to take care of on the gridiron, as Jason and the Eagles are traveling to Kansas City to take on Travis and the Chiefs on Monday Night Football this week.

The list of A-list actors who haven’t appeared in a Marvel movie just got shorter. Deadline is now reporting that Pedro Pascal is in talks to play Reed Richards in a future Fantastic Four movie. That is, if scheduling considerations allow it; Pascal needs to somehow finds the time while shooting season two of The Last of Us, which earned him an Emmy nomination. His upcoming filmography also includes the next season of The Mandalorian, Ridley Scott’s Gladiator sequel, and Freaky Tales, the first film from directors Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck since Captain Marvel.

From Deadline:

While a deal is far from done sources tell Deadline three time Emmy nominee Pedro Pascal is in talks to play the leader of the iconic superhero team. Insiders add scheduling is still being worked out but multiple sources close to the negotiations are saying its headed in the right direction for Pascal to do this and his other future projects.

Reed Richards, or Mister Fantastic, is the “leader” of the Fantastic Four. He, along with Sue Storm (Invisible Woman), Johnny Storm (Human Torch), and Ben Grimm (The Thing), gained their superpowers after they were exposed to cosmic rays. Hate it when that happens. The Fantastic Four, who were created by Jack Kirby and Stan Lee, have existed as comic characters since the early 1960s. There has been four less-than-fantastic movies — 1994’s unreleased The Fantastic Four, 2005’s Fantastic Four, 2007’s Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, and 2015’s Fantastic Four. Maybe fifth time is the charm.

(Via Deadline)

Chris Starkey posted a video to Facebook on Monday of himself and his daughter Brooklyn doing a dance-off to Flo Rida’s “Low”—and it’s unexpectedly awesome. Starkey wrote, “My daughter challenged me to a dance off and said I don’t have it anymore. See that closet in the back she is still crying in it!!!” So much silly shade thrown around in this family, it’s delightful.

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When you see their fun banter and Starkey’s middle-aged-man moves, you’ll see why the video has been shared more than 280,000 times in two days. Starkey wrote in a comment that the reaction has brought tears to his eyes and encourages everyone to “Give back to your community” right now. He also says another video will be coming on Monday.

Excellent. We need this kind of levity right now more than ever.

Chris Starkey

This article originally appeared on 03.25.20

In the Game of Thrones era of George R.R. Martin’s empire, the Targaryens are nearly extinct. During House of the Dragons, however, there were plenty of them. Most of them with white-blonde hair, too, except for Rhaenyra’s first three children. [Cough] That is to say, the Velaryons generally had white-blonde hair, too, and between these two houses, the Hightowers, and loads of supporting and minor characters, the HotD cast is flush with humans.

Granted, we will meet some more dragons as well this season, too, but let’s focus on the two-legged actors. Who will appear in Season 2?

Well, we’ve officially got three queens on the scene. That would be Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D’Arcy), Queen Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke), and Queen Helaena (Phia Saban). The latter is the sister-wife of King Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney), who I still cannot believe is a thing.

Other returning characters (and cast members) will include Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans), Prince Aemond (Ewan Mitchell), Eve Best (Rhaenys Targaryen), Corlys “Sea Snake” Valaryon (Steve Toussaint), Ser Criston Cole the incel (Feabien Frankel), Lord Larys Strong (Matthew Needham), and self-dubbed King of the Stepstones and the Narrow Sea Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith).

Expect new characters to surface as well. More word should follow, but at the moment, we shall meet Ser Simon Strong, the Castellan of Harrenhal (Simon Russell Beale), Ser Gwayne Hightower (Freddie Fox), Alyn of the Velaryon fleet (Abubakar Salim), and Alyn Hull the healer (Gayle Rankin).

And so, the Dance of the Dragons shall begin.

HBO’s House of the Dragon will return in Summer 2024.

Wheel of Fortune tends to be the chaotic cousin of the more erudite and together Jeopardy! But just as Jeopardy! sometimes loses its marbles, so do nice things occasionally happen on Wheel of Fortune. Case in point: On Tuesday’s show, an old lady and longtime fan of the show got her chance to go on the program and win a lot of money.

Per Decider, 92-year-old Liz Wright and her son KC participated in the game show’s “Home for the Holidays” week, in which pairs duke it out for the big prizes. KC kicked off the show by heaping praise upon his mother.

“She spent the first 88 years of her life in Oklahoma with my dad. They, for 62 years, traveled the world, a hundred countries and seven continents. He passed, she moved down five years ago to be with me,” KC said. “And I say, you know, the first 18 years of my life you taught me how to use a spoon, do all the things, watch Wheel of Fortune. And then the last five years I’ve been able to try to give something back to her.”

The pair then proceeded to kick butt, so much so that soon-to-depart host Pat Sajak joined them at the podium to tell them they were having a “terrific night.”

The Wrights even excelled during the Bonus Round, when Liz pocketed an extra $40,000 after nailing a somewhat tricky puzzle whose solution was “Drizzled Honey.” On top of their cash earnings, they all scored a trip to Antigua.

At episode’s end, Liz said she’s such a Wheel of Fortune fanatic that she’d been watching since “day one.” That presumably means she’s been a viewer since the show began in January of 1975, although the current version didn’t start until September of 1983, when Sajak and co-host Vanna White took the reins.

You can watch Liz and KC crush it in the video below. Nice work, you two.

youtube.com/watch?v=JQ-KD_9a0_g

(Via Decider)

There was an emotional exchange on TikTok between two people who lost their fathers to cancer. One was actor Mandy Patinkin, the other was TikTok user Amanda Webb.

Patinkin currently stars on “The Good Fight” but one of his most famous roles is Inigo Montoya in the 1987 classic “The Princess Bride.” In the film, Montoya is a swordsman who is obsessed with confronting a six-fingered man who killed his father.

Webb recently lost her father Dan to mantle cell lymphoma. She had heard a rumor that Patinkin used his father’s death from cancer as motivation in a pivotal scene where he confronts the six-fingered Count Rugen (Christopher Guest) in a duel.

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Rugen tells Montoya he will give him anything he wants after being bested by Montoya who passionately replies, “I want my father back, you son of a bitch.”

@mandypatinktok @alaska_webb thank you for finding us and sharing this! ✨ Sending big love and light to you and yours. More in comments. #grieving #cancer #dads ♬ original sound – Mandy Patinkin and Kathryn G

Webb’s father was a big fan of Montoya’s performance in the film so she reached out to TikTok to learn if the rumor was true.

“I saw on the internet the rumor that when Mandy Patinkin said that line, he was thinking of his own father who had passed away from cancer,” Webb said while crying. “And it was a very raw emotion. Ever since then, it’s kind of really stuck with me.”

Patinkin, who is a TikTok user, heard that the woman had reached out to him and he gave a heartfelt response.

“First of all, your dad is taking care of you,” he said. “Secondly, it is true, 100% true. I went outside in this castle and walked around and I kept talking to my dad.”

“The minute I read the script, I knew, I said to [his wife], I said, ‘I’m going to do this part because in my mind, if I get the six-fingered guy, that means I killed the cancer that killed my dad and I’ll get to visit my dad,” he said.

“That moment was coming, and I went and I played that scene with Chris [Guest], and then I went back out there and talked to my dad,” Patinkin said.

He then told Webb that she has the power to talk to her father, too.

“And so, you can talk to your dad anytime you want, anywhere you want,” he said. “If you could somehow let me know your dad’s name because I say prayers for anyone I’ve ever known. Now I feel like I know you, and therefore I know your dad, and I will list his name in my prayers every day, and they make me feel like they’re with me, wherever I go, and I’d like your dad to hang out with me.”

Webb responded with a video where she’s so emotional she can hardly speak.

This story originally appeared on 08.25.21