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About three fourths of the way through this interview, Alexander Payne stops and asks, “Are you sure you have everything you need? Because this is pretty wide ranging.” And he’s right, there are a lot of topics covered because interviewing Alexander Payne is like talking to a nonstop cinema reference machine. Not like a Tarantino where his references more play as, “How could anyone possibly know that?,” but more references that make a person feel guilty for not knowing. And the last time I spoke to Payne, way back in 2013 for Nebraska, I do remember feeling guilty quite a bit. In a “Why can’t I easily engage with his references and examples?,” kind of way. Since 2013, I, like I suppose almost literally everyone, have seen more movies since I had then. And I walked away from this only feeling guilty I haven’t seen Billy Wilder’s Ace in the Hole (which I will correct soon).

When I spoke to Payne (which took place at his hotel on Manhattan’s Upper East Side), he poo-poo’d the notion that The Holdovers is back-to-basics after his last film, the high concept Downsizing, didn’t really hit with critics or audiences. He calls Downsizing the anomaly in his filmography, as all his other films, like The Holdovers now, are character studies. Which, he’s not wrong about that.

In The Holdovers, Payne, finally, re-teams with Paul Giamatti, 19 years after Sideways. Actually, Payne reveals (first off the record, then changes his mind) that Giamatti was supposed to star in Downsizing but he couldn’t get funding until Matt Damon was attached. Regardless, things worked out the way they were supposed to because Giamatti is just terrific here as Paul Hunham, a, let’s say, not very popular teacher at a northeastern private school who is staying behind during the winter break to look after the handful of students who have nowhere to go for one reason or another. Paul eventually forms a bond with a freewheeling teen, Angus (Dominic Sessa) and the two, yes, begin to learn more about themselves along the way. It’s truly a hangout movie in the best possible way.

When the interview starts, it starts off the record. Payne loves Paul Giamatti, but this segued into the rare occasions he had an actor on set he didn’t love working with, which for obvious reasons he doesn’t want to share with the world who those people are. So when we pick up the conversation has steered to how he’s worked with some of the biggest names out there and has, mostly, gotten lucky in that regard. Also, as mentioned, this ahead is pretty wide-ranging, but Payne gets into why his next film will be a Western, set in the 19th century in his home state of Nebraska, and he hopes to feature Giamatti again. When I asked who his Western influences were, he mentioned Sam Peckinpah and I now really do want to see an Alexander Payne Western influenced by Sam Peckinpah.

To transition on the record, it seems like you cast well and you don’t run into that very often.

I have not. No, and never in a major part. Of the big guys I’ve had, Nicholson was tremendous, Clooney was tremendous, Giamatti, Laura Dern, Reese Witherspoon, Stacy Keach – have always been tremendous. I’ve had bad luck only with a couple. On time, know their dialogue, there to deliver, there to discern what the director needs and find out what the movie’s about and do that. I’ve had really good luck.

We were talking about Downsizing, does The Holdovers come as a reaction to Downsizing? Because they feel like exact opposite movies.

Is The Holdovers a reaction to Downsizing?

Because Downsizing is such a concept and this is more character-driven.

I’ve done eight feature films, Downsizing is the anomaly. The other seven, sort of, are what you saying…

Right. So does this feel like a back-to-basics almost?

I don’t know about basics, but back to the stories that are just nice little human comedies that I’ve been trying to make from the get-go. Nice little human comedies.

Speaking of, why did it take so long for you and Paul Giamatti to get back together? Because you obviously work very well together and make very good movies.

I’m slow with screenplays. Were I at bat more often, I would’ve been working with Mr. Giamatti sooner. But he wasn’t right for The Descendants, wasn’t right for Nebraska. Off the record, we wrote Downsizing for him and can’t get financing to the tune of $65 million with him in the lead. So I took another fine actor, Matt Damon, but I did have Paul Giamatti in mind for Downsizing originally. Back on the record… or you can say that if you want that, that I had had Paul in mind originally for Downsizing. In as much as you see the great director’s careers, and John Ford and John Wayne and Kurosawa with Toshiro Mifune, Fellini and Marcello, when a director gets to have an alter ego. Giamatti feels like he would function that way well for me. He’s the perfect vessel of tone. Because he can do dramatic things comically and comic things seriously, and he’s just so watchable and lovable. He’s just an excellent vessel of tone.

And you’ve only used him twice.

Oh, you’ve got to start somewhere.

I read you want to make a Western next. Can he be in your Western?

Yeah.

So he is going to be in your Western?

I’ve got to write the fucker first! We have to write it first. But yes.

You mentioned John Ford, is that the kind of Western you want to make? Like The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance or The Searchers? Or is this something else?

I prefer… well, The Searchers is a great film. I’m not as high on Liberty Valance as others are. Sorry, I don’t want to get too granular. If you’re sort of asking, am I speaking about a traditional Western or what they call contemporary Western or something like that? No, I don’t really recognize contemporary Westerns as Westerns. I think Westerns are Westerns.

Well, I guess I’m asking who your influence would be for a Western?

In classical Westerns? Anthony Mann and Peckinpah.

Oh, interesting.

And William Wellman.

Like Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia? I guess what would be more contemporary.

Right. More Ride the High Country, which I think is a true masterpiece.

I don’t think of you and Peckinpah in the same sentence very often. That’s very interesting.

I like good Westerns!

I can imagine you like his movies, but I don’t think of your movies alongside his very often. They do feel like they’re very different tones. So that’d be really interesting for you to make a movie like he makes them.

No, it wouldn’t be like he makes them. I would make a movie like I make them!

Well, it’s still fascinating. I am very curious about this.

But then also, you have to throw in the ’70s Westerns. I don’t really like the term revisionist Western but throw in Little Big Man, throw in McCabe & Mrs. Miller.

So Altman, too…

Movies that show that the Western can be an infinitely malleable form. It would be late 19th century in the American West. Probably specifically Nebraska.

We discussed last time but I grew up somewhat close to that area, Kansas City…

Oh, that’s right. You’re our neighbor. You’re where we go for weekends away. Speaking of Robert Altman. Robert Altman and Walt Disney.

During the worst of the pandemic, I did a deeper dive into Altman. To the point, I’ve seen movies like HealtH now.

What’d you think?

Of HealtH?

No, of his career arc.

Oh, I love him. But he’s fascinating, he makes some very weird movies sometimes.

Well, the cool thing about him is that, and the extremely admirable thing about him, is he just never stopped working. He didn’t care if each individual movie was going to be great or not, he just wanted to keep working. I mean, he often referred to himself or would compare himself more to a painter than a filmmaker.

Yeah, that early ’80s stretch is very strange.

He just wanted to keep making paintings.

Obviously, the first movie I ever saw of his was Popeye when I was a little kid.

Which is dreadful.

It’s tough…

I think it’s dreadful.

It was on cable when I was sick with COVID in early September. I tried watching it…

How did it hold up?

I find that movie interesting but I’m not sure his style of making movies was the best for Popeye.

I saw it when it came out. I saw the week it came out in 1980 or whatever that was. And I think my girlfriend and I at the time walked out of it, we just couldn’t take it. I saw it in Medellin, Colombia.

Wait, what?

Down in Colombia.

Wait, so you’re in the country of Colombia, and you’re like, “Let’s go see Popeye.”

Yeah, movie-crazy. So we went to go see Popeye at a mall down there in Medellin, and I think we walked out.

How did it go over with the rest of the crowd?

This is 40 years ago, man. I can’t remember.

When you write your autobiography, that’s where it starts, seeing Popeye in Colombia.

In Medellin, Columbia, yeah.

I think you were on stage at a film festival and you were talking about how there are certain movies that don’t get made anymore. And I think you mentioned Out of Africa and The English Patient…

Oh yeah. Oh, when I was at the Lumière Film Festival the other day. How’d you find that out?

It was on Variety.

All right, okay. And?

I just thought those were two interesting movies to bring up. I mean, Ridley Scott has Napoleon coming up. That’s kind of an epic on the Out of Africa scale?

Well, yeah. And so that’s groovy, yes. But I do miss, in general, things being made that are, let’s say, adult dramas with visual scope being made.

Out of Africa obviously won Best Picture, but it made a lot of money, too.

Right. But when you have beautiful stars and beautiful places doing cool things, just romantically…

Is The English Patient doing cool things? He didn’t turn out too well in the end.

Yeah, but still the milieu is so beautiful.

It’s a very beautiful movie. So is Out of Africa.

The studios will spend a little dough on something which doesn’t have a whole lot of contrivance.

Both movies have nice shots of old airplanes flying, and I assume that costs a lot of money to do.

And beautiful music, and there’s very good traditional scores. John Barry on Out of Africa, this phenomenal score. I forget who did The English Patient. [Note: It’s Gabriel Yared, who won an Oscar for his efforts.]

John Barry does one of my favorite scores, The Black Hole.

The Black Hole? Is that a Disney movie?

It is.

And that’s a John Berry score?

I believe so, yeah.

Oh, very good.

It is very ominous. And didn’t he do a lot of James Bond movies?

He did the James Bond movies, right. And a lot of ’60s British films.

I actually watched Out of Africa somewhat recently. I was going through every Best Picture winner.

You watched every Best Picture winner?

That I hadn’t seen, or at least hadn’t seen since I was a little kid.

Including Around the World in 80 Days?

Oh, man. Yes, I did not enjoy that movie.

The clunkers.

Oh gosh, there are some really bad Best Picture winners. And I know Spielberg loves it but The Greatest Show on Earth is not great…

Oh yeah, no.

Okay, but back to those kinds of movies, it does seem like streaming is making some movies like that.

Streaming will spend some dough on things. And in that same talk, I brought up how much I admired Pablo Larrain’s El Conde, which is kind of a critique of Latin American dictators, Pinoche in particular.

Right, he’s a vampire.

It’s so phenomenal that thing got made, and with the dough he had with which to make it. I mean, it’s really a phenomenal film. And I was just lamenting that, I mean, it’s a double-edged sword, because it’s so fantastic that Netflix paid for it … and then no one is seeing it theatrically. I’m not the first person to say that it’s a double-edged sword, because those films get made, but then they disappear quickly.

Well, that’s what I wanted to ask you. I mentioned when I was sick with COVID in the beginning of September and I just watched whatever was on cable. I saw Election three times that week. That movie still has a life because it’s on cable and we still get this shared experience. If Election was an Amazon movie only, I’m never going to just decide to watch it.

Allowing you to stumble across it.

Exactly.

I never thought that before, but I think that’s a really good point. [Starts writing a note] Yeah, I’m just making a note about how cable allows you to stumble upon things. And I wouldn’t call it a shared experience, because I think the only true shared experience is in an audience…

But it stays in the zeitgeist. I’m friends with someone who sold a movie to a streamer. And he’s told me he has second thoughts now because it never gets a run on, say TBS or whatever. Which it certainly would have. It’s just kind of gone.

Again, it’s a double-edged sword that these movies have a chance to get made, which they may not otherwise have had that chance, but then they’re quickly lost into the ethos.

And like a lot of your movies I think The Holdovers will stick around. If it’s on cable I’ll watch it every time.

You’d have to have Peacock though, at least in the near term. So it’s going to be theatrical only for a few weeks and it’s VOD. You pay 20 bucks to rent it, 25 bucks to own it. And then around January 1st it’ll be streaming on Peacock. Which I’ve never even seen.

Comcast owns both Focus Features and owns Peacock so that makes sense.

Correct. But I’m not going to pay extra for it, hopefully.

So that’s your pitch for people to get Peacock?

Yeah. But hopefully one day, I mean, we’re getting to the point they’re already talking about how can we bundle these different streamers together so that consumers like me don’t have to pay for this one and this one and this one and this one. Fucking bundle them for me.

So after the Dobbs Supreme Court decision, I went back and watched Citizen Ruth. Do you think about that movie?

Sadly. Look, I’m happy that it’s still relevant, sad for the reasons why. But when the Dobbs shenanigans came out in the middle of last year, Laura Dern and I fielded a bunch of calls from journalists. Most notably Washington Post did a piece on its sad relevance. Of course, I’m happy people are still watching the film.

That last scene where Laura Dern walks out and no one even notices her? I think about that a lot.

That movie was kind of inspired by Ace in the Hole. Billy Wilder’s Ace in the Hole.

Oh, you know what? I’ve never seen that…

Watch that today. I mean, that’s a really ferocious film. And I don’t know, we’re different filmmakers, if Citizen Ruth has the same ferocity that Wilder had in that film? He was able to leverage his success with Sunset Boulevard in doing anything he wanted to.

I have seen that obviously. So this is his direct follow-up to Sunset Boulevard?

Yeah. So Sunset Boulevard came out in ’50, and this one came out in ’51. So have a look and you’ll see the influence.

I think of the pool shot in Sunset Boulevard quite often…

Do you know how they got that shot? Mirror. They put a mirror on the bottom of the pool. So, next time we meet, try to angle for more time.

You can contact Mike Ryan directly on Twitter.

The RX is Uproxx Music’s stamp of approval for the best albums, songs, and music stories throughout the year. Inclusion in this category is the highest distinction we can bestow and signals the most important music being released throughout the year. The RX is the music you need, right now.

Time always progresses, whether it be one day closer to when our taxes are due or one day closer to when our existence on Earth is over. The sun rises, it sets, and the moon appears. It progresses whether we’re ready for it or not. Sampha seems to understand that on his second album Lahai, his first body of work in six years and first since 2017’s Process.

However, for the London singer, accepting it is a more difficult task. Amid heartbreak and grief, it almost feels like Sampha hoped time would be courteous enough to wait for him, allow him to sort and recover from his feelings, and not be so fast to move on. The opening record on Lahai, “Stereo Color Cloud (Shaman’s Dream),” begins with a female voice that chants choppily, “I wish you, could, time / Time, missile, back, forward / I miss you, time, misuse / Time flies, life issues.” Though broken up and missing words, the message is still clear.

In “Jonathan L. Seagull,” Sampha poses a question that seems to be directed at this progression of time, among other things. “We’ve both dealt with loss and grief in separate ways / On the same track running at a different pace / Will I catch up or will you just race away someday?” Watching the world continue to spin as you work through grief or heartbreak can make the task of catching up insurmountable. The balance between the days where we fall behind and the ones we feel faster than the world keeps us on pace.

For someone who questioned so much in the face of loss, Sampha sings with hard-won clarity throughout the 14 songs on Lahai. He stands optimistic under blue skies and the bright sun, opposing pessimism under rain clouds with records that aim to be the light at the end of the tunnel for listeners who might be struggling with the latter. “Only” encapsulates Sampha’s existential questions well while also coming clean about the emotional damage that was incurred over time.

Sampha’s lyrics capture the swarm of uncertainties that lie in his head. Fluttering and erratic instruments are juxtaposed with Sampha’s soothing vocals as a way to show that peace can exist amid the whirlpool of the unknown as Sampha acknowledges the freedom to be him with love and protection from others on “Spirit 2.0.” Likewise, he conquers regression on “Can’t Go Back” as rapid drums and high hats dance in the background. There’s a mental and emotional fight at hand and Sampha excels at both telling, showing, and making us feel its existence.

Much of Lahai is inspired by Richard Bach’s 1970 book Jonathan Livingston Seagull. As Jonathan, a literal seagull, aims to discover more about the capabilities of their own body through their growing passion for flight and travel, Sampha seeks to accomplish the same level of self-discovery, growth, and more. In the book’s namesake track, he sings “Even though we’ve been through the same / Doesn’t always mean we feel the same / Doesn’t always mean we heal the same / You are not me and that’s okay” — a reminder that comparison is the thief of joy.

Lahai contemplates life, death, love, and the time to experience it all. Although the questions are neverending and the answers often don’t arrive as quickly as we’d like them to, there’s no fear in Sampha’s eyes. Instead, he runs head-on into and through the uncertainty that lies ahead of him. He’s now on the other side and proud of the progress he made.

Furthermore, Lahai is an enchanting display of growth and acceptance as a result of unfortunate events. Sampha’s sophomore album was created with the intention of capturing both the swarming winds and settled dust that occurs on the journey. Six years gives you plenty of time to figure things out, and with that time available for him to use, Sampha made the absolute best of it.

Lahai is out now via Young Recordings. Find out more information here.

Apple is bumping up the cost to stream its library of original movies and TV shows on Apple TV+. The streaming platform is now demanding subscribers pay $9.99 per month, up from its current $6.99 per month price tag. That increase also applies to its annual subscription option which will go from $69 to $99.

When the streamer launched in 2019 it cost just $4.99 per month to subscribe, but the company has added dozens of shows and films since then, churning out Emmy-winning dramas like The Morning Show and sleeper sci-fi hits like Silo and For All Mankind that Apple execs believe justify this latest price hike.

“Since launching four years ago, Apple TV+ has made history for streaming services by crossing major milestones in a short span of time, thanks to its extensive selection of award-winning and broadly acclaimed series, feature films, documentaries, and kids and family entertainment,” a statement from the company read. “We are focused on delivering the best experiences possible for our customers by consistently adding high-quality entertainment, content, and innovative features to our services.”

Apple TV+ isn’t the only product hiking up its price tag. The company’s Apple One bundle — which covers Apple TV+, Apple Music, Apple Arcade, and cloud storage — is also getting more expensive for users to opt into, going from $9.99 per month to $12.99 per month. Apple TV+ is just the latest streaming service to raise its cost of entry this year — Netflix, Hulu, Max, and Amazon either already have or soon will charge more for their ad-free options — but the markup does come at a particularly tough time considering the Writers’ and SAG-AFTRA strikes have paused production on any new or returning shows and films that will likely bleed into the new year.

(Via The Wrap)

MF DOOM‘s widow, Jasmine Dumile Thompson, has now filed a lawsuit against the late rapper’s former label manager, Eothen “Egon” Alapatt, according to Billboard. Thompson claims that Alapatt stole 31 of MF DOOM’s notebooks that contained both lyrics from his albums, as well as ones for unreleased songs and “other creative ideations.”

Thompson filed the suit in a Los Angeles court yesterday (October 24). Before the lawsuit, she had already accused him of the theft, after posting emails on social media between MF DOOM and Alapatt. “Egon, Give the Notebooks Back,” she captioned.

According to the publication and the filing, Alapatt has admitted to having MF DOOM’s writings but is reportedly not giving them back to his estate. Instead, he allegedly wants them “donated to a university or government archive” or a “museum or other institution.”

However, the lawsuit comes because according to Thompson, this goes against MF DOOM’s wishes. “[The notebooks] were intended by DOOM to be secret and confidential,” it reads.

“Alapatt never consulted with DOOM about his acquisition of the notebooks and took advantage of DOOM’s being out the country to obtain them,” it adds, with the alleged theft taking place before the rapper’s death. He had been stuck in the UK over immigration issues, and Alapatt allegedly used this to take them sometime around 2016.

Along with seeking “significant compensation” in the lawsuit, she is also requesting a jury trial.

It looks like TikTok may have churned out the next Afrobeats superstar thanks to Tyla and her endlessly catchy single, “Water.” While the singer has been around for a few years, as so often happens, the single caught on shortly after its release via a dance challenge and quickly made the jump from the video-sharing app to the Billboard charts. In the process, “Water” made Tyla the youngest-ever South AfricanTyla the youngest-ever South African to chart in the US and the first to do so in 55 years.

So Is Tyla?

Born and raised in Johannesburg, South Africa as Tyla Laura Seethal, the 21-year-old singer’s debut single, “Getting Late” was released in 2019 and eventually became a local success, receiving a nomination for Music Video Of The Year at the South African Music Awards in 2022. Epic Records signed Tyla in 2021, and has been setting her up for success throughout 2023, releasing another viral hit, “Been Thinking,” and brokering performances on tour with Chris Brown and at Milan Fashion Week for Dolce & Gabbana.

“Water” came out in July, and since then, it has skyrocketed, peaking at No. 46 on the Hot 100 and topping the UK’s Afrobeats chart. This makes her the first South African to appear on the Hot 100 since Hugh Masekela did so with “Grazing In The Grass” in 1968. Tyla recently made her US television debut, performing the song on The Tonight Show earlier this week. You can check out the video below.

A thrilling Netflix telenovela about an orphan out for revenge against a group of teen girls who abandoned her as a baby has left fans frustrated as hell thanks to one simple-to-solve plot hole.

The streamer’s latest hit, Pact of Silence, tells the story of Brenda, a powerful social media influencer with millions of followers and too much time on her hands. So much in fact that, despite her success and wealth, she’s obsessed with finding her biological mom, and her mom’s school-aged best friends, after they left her to die as a newborn. Brenda hopes to track the now-grown women down, one by one, to discover who her real mother is and punish the lot of them for the trauma and suffering she endured while homeless and living alone as a young girl in Mexico.

Which, fine. That sounds like a pretty sh*tty thing for a parent to do, even if they were just a scared teen girl at a private boarding school terrified of what their parents would think. And, technically, Brenda wants to give each of the girls their comeuppance, so while she’s saved something particularly nasty for her bio mom, all of the women will eventually suffer her wrath. But the show drags viewers along for 18 (yes 18!) episodes, making them question who actually gave birth to the baby in a past timeline as Brenda pursues her form of f*cked-up justice. And that long, drawn-out reveal has really struck a nerve with fans on social media, especially since in 2023, the year of our lord Taylor Swift, DNA tests are, you know, a thing that exists.

(Via Tudum)

Swifties are reliving Taylor Swift‘s 1989 era ahead of the release of 1989 (Taylor’s Version) this week. The album was originally released in 2014, and while a lot has changed in her life over the past nine years, fans can’t help but pick apart the lyrics line-by-line. While much of the album is about love and the dissolution of a romantic relationship, one particular song is about a friendship turned sour.

Who was Taylor Swift’s “Bad Blood” about?

Many fans believe “Bad Blood” is about fellow pop star Katy Perry — and the clues seem to line up. In an interview with Rolling Stone, Swift didn’t call Perry out by name, but she alluded to one of her peers in the industry,

“For years, I was never sure if we were friends or not,” Swift said. “She would come up to me at awards shows and say something and walk away, and I would think, ‘Are we friends, or did she just give me the harshest insult of my life?’”

Swift added that the person “basically tried to sabotage an entire arena tour,” and fans noted that many of the dancers from Swift’s Red Tour went to perform with Perry on her Prism Tour.

In 2017, upon the release of her fourth album Witness, Perry spoke with James Corden during the Carpool Karaoke segment on The Late Late Show With James Corden about Swift. She shared her side of the story, about how she allegedly tried to sabotage Swift’s tour.

“Okay, so there was like three backing dancers that went on tour with her tour, right? And they asked me before they went on tour if they could go, and I was like, ‘Yeah, of course. I’m not on a record cycle and get the work, and she’s great and all that. But I will be on a record cycle probably in about a year. So, be sure to put a 30-day contingency in your contract, so you can get out if you want to join me when I say I’m going back on,’” Perry said. “So that year came up, right? And I texted all of them because I’m very close with them and I said, ‘Look, just FYI, I’m about to start. I want to put the word out there.’ They said, ‘Okay, well we’re gonna go and talk to management about it.’ And they did, and they got fired.”

Despite a highly-publicized feud, the two have since made up. Perry appeared in Swift’s video for “You Need To Calm Down” in 2019, in which, the two are seen embracing amid chaos.

It seems that Swift and Perry are at peace — and most importantly, so are the Swifties and the Katycats.

1989 (Taylor’s Version) is out 10/27 via Republic. Find more information here.

Not unlike his Terminator persona, Arnold Schwarzenegger has come bursting in the door with a presidential hot take. The former California governor shared his thoughts on the 2024 race that’s shaping up to be another rematch between Donald Trump and Joe Biden.

In Arnold’s opinion, they’re simply not young enough.

“I just hope that America finds some really young blood,” Schwarzenegger told the BBC via The Hollywood Reporter. “Because to me, it is a little bit odd that we are having a battle between people today in the late 70s and early 80s, rather than people in the 40s and 50s or maybe even younger, and have them have a chance at this great, great job.”

However, while Schwarzenegger is eager for an American president who just barely clears the 35-year-old threshold to be eligible for office, the Governator is willing to throw his age concern out the window if one particular candidate had a shot at the Oval Office: himself.

Despite being only a year younger than Trump, and four years behind Biden, Schwarzenegger thinks he’d do a great job running things.

“I feel like I would make a great president,” Schwarzenegger said. “But I feel that, at the same time, everything I’ve accomplished was because of America. America gave me so many opportunities and the American people were so embracive, and they just received me with open arms. There was no one there that stopped me from my success. So the only thing that I can’t do, which is run for president, I’m not going to complain about that.”

(Via The Hollywood Reporter)

When you think about dining out, you hope for flavor explosions, creative dishes, and solid service. You know what you likely don’t think about? Restaurant cleanliness. But it’s as essential, if not more, than any other piece of the dining experience.

A clean kitchen isn’t as exciting as a well-plated dish, but back-of-house standards define the food sent out to diners. Chefs and staff behind some of your favorite restaurants take that commitment to cleanliness very seriously. In speaking with some restaurant staff, we found a few commonalities. Read up on the work that goes into helping keep restaurants cleaner and safer below and be sure to look for the Ecolab Science CertifiedTM seal when dining out!

Keeping A Clean Station

Things can move a mile a minute in a busy restaurant, which is why everyone from the kitchen staff to the wait staff is always making sure that food waste never has a chance to build up. While you see people promptly clearing and wiping down tables and services, the behind-the-scenes process is also rigorous with team members wiping down surfaces and mopping high-traffic areas to avoid sticky floors.

Kitchens, in particular, are made of tiny stations where each meal prep station is separated to not only ensure the organization of tasks but to keep areas as clean and food-safe as possible.

That’s why something as simple as keeping a trash can at every station can be a powerful tool that’ll ensure waste is disposed of as quickly as possible and your food is prepared in a clean environment.

To dive deeper into keeping a clean, waste-free station, watch this episode of Uproxx’s CLEAN COOKIN’.

Towels & Sanitary Disinfectant

Simply throwing away food waste isn’t enough to keep an area clean. That’s why chefs and kitchen staff rely heavily on hand sanitizers, towels, and sanitary disinfectants for those deep cleaning needs.

Sanitary disinfectants kill impossible-to-see bacteria and viruses on kitchen surfaces, helping to ensure that your food is prepared in a cleaner and safer space. You can rest easy knowing that sanitary disinfectants are at just about every kitchen station, which helps keep areas clean and is on hand for accidental spills and messes.

At an Ecolab Science Certified location, you can have confidence knowing they are committed to advancing cleaner, safer, science-based practices so you can focus on enjoying that flavorful meal.

Organization And Stocking Is Everything

A well-organized kitchen is a must. It might not seem obvious, but ingredients and supplies being properly labeled, making sure storage space is maximized, and having an abundance of tools on hand are all vital ways to keep a restaurant clean and operating at its highest level.

Check this episode of Uproxx’s CLEAN COOKIN’ for more details on setting up a workstation.

The Nightly Deep Clean

The most important ingredient in the recipe for a cleaner, safer restaurant is the nightly deep clean, using quality products, backed by science. When the last customers have left, the stoves are off, and the tables are clear, restaurants take cleanliness to a whole other level with the nightly deep clean.

This is when the entire staff attacks the grit and grime that can build up in a kitchen and the wear and tear of a busy day in the front of the house. Once the deep clean is done, chefs can return to a pristine kitchen for a new day of service, and wait staff can rest easy knowing customers will be able to enjoy their next meal in a clean environment.

After years of discussion, the NBA is finally launching its In-Season Tournament this year, where teams will compete in groups with regular season games doubling as tournament games until they reach the semifinals and finals, which will be played in Las Vegas in December.

The league is excited about the concept, but the response from fans has been a bit tepid and it’s probably going to take a little bit of time to make it something fans really start to care about. For this year, the NBA is doing its best to get people excited for the inaugural tournament, and they’re leaning into the Vegas aspect to promote it. On Tuesday night, during TNT’s opening night games, the NBA debuted a delightful new “Heist” spot featuring Michael Imperioli and a number of NBA stars lurking around a Vegas casino trying to steal the In-Season trophy.

As someone whose favorite movies are the Ocean’s flicks, this hits the sweet spot for me. Seeing Kawhi Leonard slinking around a Vegas kitchen in a black beanie and some glasses, while Draymond Green goes full Malloy brothers pushing a cash cart with the trophy in it really hits all the finer points — really it’s a combination of the Malloy’s in 11 and Rusty Ryan in 13, but I digress.

I already was a fan of the In-Season tournament, as anything to add a little spice to the long NBA regular season is a good thing in my eyes and, despite being new, I think guys are going to care about it because it’s something to compete for. But with this commercial? I’m all in and will be contemplating the full NBA/Ocean’s crossover universe.