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The publicist for the color Pink is surely having a whirlwind year. After the success of Barbie, the imagery from Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour movie, and winning Pantone Color Of the Year, there is no stopping the shade. Sorry to the color Blue, who tried really hard last year.

The next way Pink will be infiltrating the world is through the upcoming adaptation of Mean Girls, the movie that is based on the musical (that is based on the movie that is based on the book). The trailer is slated to show ahead of the Eras Tour movie (as reported by Vulture) because why shouldn’t Pink begin its campaign to be the official Webster word of the year? It’s like the rules of feminism.

Mean Girls: The Musical will star Renee Rapp (a fellow Swiftie who also starred in the Broadway rendition) as Queen Bee Regina George who wears pink every Wednesday while destroying the confidence of her high school peers. The movie also stars Angourie Rice, Jaquel Spivey, Auli’i Cravalho, Christopher Briney, Jenna Fischer, Avantika Vandanapu, Bebe Wood, Busy Philipps, Tim Meadows, Tina Fey, and Jon Hamm.

While we don’t have a trailer online yet, Swifties are really good at taking one thing and plastering it all over the internet, so we might see some snippets before it’s officially released, which should be soon. Until then, you might just have to shell out $19.89 to watch the trailer alongside your local gaggle of Swifties. Maybe you’ll get a friendship bracelet out of it!

Mean Girls: The Movie is set to hit theaters in January.

(Via Vulture)

Although Team USA did not medal in the FIBA World Cup this summer, it was an opportunity for several young American players to showcase their game in a different environment. A skillset in the NBA doesn’t always transfer cleanly to FIBA basketball, but Austin Reaves proved his game is just as valuable abroad as it is in the NBA.

Reaves was not considered to be a major rotation player entering the World Cup, but his size and playmaking were a perfect fit next to Anthony Edwards. Those traits also made Reaves a fit for Steve Kerr’s motion based offense. Reaves had the opportunity to play for Kerr in the World Cup just a few months after the Lakers eliminated the Warriors from the playoffs. After a recent Lakers practice, Reeves told reporters that the Lakers “freeze” celebration was still a sore spot for Kerr.

Reeves isn’t the only player Kerr has coached who does the freeze celebration. Kerr previously coached D’Angelo Russell, who originated the celebration on the Lakers 2015 summer league team. Maybe Kerr saw that celebration too many times in the playoffs or maybe he saw Russell do it too often for a disappointing Warriors team.

Either way, he won’t be able to ban the Freeze when the Warriors play the Lakers this season, so hopefully he enjoyed his reprieve,

Although Team USA did not medal in the FIBA World Cup this summer, it was an opportunity for several young American players to showcase their game in a different environment. A skillset in the NBA doesn’t always transfer cleanly to FIBA basketball, but Austin Reaves proved his game is just as valuable abroad as it is in the NBA.

Reaves was not considered to be a major rotation player entering the World Cup, but his size and playmaking were a perfect fit next to Anthony Edwards. Those traits also made Reaves a fit for Steve Kerr’s motion based offense. Reaves had the opportunity to play for Kerr in the World Cup just a few months after the Lakers eliminated the Warriors from the playoffs. After a recent Lakers practice, Reeves told reporters that the Lakers “freeze” celebration was still a sore spot for Kerr.

Reeves isn’t the only player Kerr has coached who does the freeze celebration. Kerr previously coached D’Angelo Russell, who originated the celebration on the Lakers 2015 summer league team. Maybe Kerr saw that celebration too many times in the playoffs or maybe he saw Russell do it too often for a disappointing Warriors team.

Either way, he won’t be able to ban the Freeze when the Warriors play the Lakers this season, so hopefully he enjoyed his reprieve,

Ken Jennings couldn’t resist an easy joke. During Thursday night’s episode of Jeopardy!, returning champion Steve Clarke botched his Final Jeopardy! answer, which cost him the victory after arriving in the final round in the lead.

Clarke, who was brought back for the controversial Tournament of Champions (a workaround so episodes could be produced during writers strike), dropped the ball big time when it came time to answer the final clue: “Though it meant ‘seasickness’ in Latin, this 6-letter word now refers to a more general feeling of sickness.” However, the blunder left an opening for Jennings, and he went right for the groan-worthy dad joke.

Via Decider:

Once the three contestants were prompted to give their answers, both Saak (who had $16,400) and Costelo (who had $5,200) had guessed the correct response of “nausea,” which brought them to $19,105 and $5,200 respectively. However, it would be Clarke who left feeling queasy, as he guessed “malaise,” a seven-letter word, no less.

“Oh no, what is malaise,” Jennings reiterated before delivering a prime play on words: “He might be coming up with nausea right now.”

Clarke entered the final round with $19,100, however he clearly over-estimated his own skills and wagered a hefty $13,701. The loss dropped him down to second place, and he probably felt a little green around the gills when reality sunk in.

(Via Decider)

Ken Jennings couldn’t resist an easy joke. During Thursday night’s episode of Jeopardy!, returning champion Steve Clarke botched his Final Jeopardy! answer, which cost him the victory after arriving in the final round in the lead.

Clarke, who was brought back for the controversial Tournament of Champions (a workaround so episodes could be produced during writers strike), dropped the ball big time when it came time to answer the final clue: “Though it meant ‘seasickness’ in Latin, this 6-letter word now refers to a more general feeling of sickness.” However, the blunder left an opening for Jennings, and he went right for the groan-worthy dad joke.

Via Decider:

Once the three contestants were prompted to give their answers, both Saak (who had $16,400) and Costelo (who had $5,200) had guessed the correct response of “nausea,” which brought them to $19,105 and $5,200 respectively. However, it would be Clarke who left feeling queasy, as he guessed “malaise,” a seven-letter word, no less.

“Oh no, what is malaise,” Jennings reiterated before delivering a prime play on words: “He might be coming up with nausea right now.”

Clarke entered the final round with $19,100, however he clearly over-estimated his own skills and wagered a hefty $13,701. The loss dropped him down to second place, and he probably felt a little green around the gills when reality sunk in.

(Via Decider)

Let’s go back to a simpler time. It’s 2014, Pharrell’s “Happy” is playing on every radio station, Brad and Angelina officially got married, and everyone in your life is ready to see the latest chapter in The Hunger Games saga. That is until you realize the story was chopped in half, creating a Part 1 and Part 2, following the likes of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and Twilight: Breaking Dawn. The question was posed: why are we massacring these films?! The answer was to do more massacring, for some reason.

Mockingjay Part 1 and Part 2 were released in November 2014 and 2015, respectively, and director Francis Lawrence understands now why the move was controversial. “I totally regret it,” Lawrence said in a new PEOPLE interview. “I totally do. I’m not sure everybody does, but I definitely do.” He’s right, not everyone gets it.

When the two movies were announced in 2012, it was a popular blockbuster tactic to split the finale of a series into two parts. While it worked for some, it was off-putting to fans, who didn’t want to wait to see Jennifer Lawrence shoot arrows through stuff. “What I realized in retrospect — and after hearing all the reactions and feeling the kind of wrath of fans, critics, and people at the split — is that I realized it was frustrating,” the director told PEOPLE. “And I can understand that.”

The Chris Pratt jokes can be retired.

Nintendo has found the new video game voice of Mario in Kevin Afghani, who will take over for Charles Martinet beginning with Super Mario Bros. Wonder . “Incredibly proud to have voiced Mario and Luigi in Super Mario Bros. Wonder. Thanks to Nintendo for inviting me into the Flower Kingdom!” Afghani wrote on X. The news was confirmed by Nintendo in an email which simply said, “The voice actor’s name is Kevin Afghani.”

Afghani has a short IMDb history with only six credits, including Genshin Impact, Dragon Ball R&R, and Anime Penguin: Red Snow, which I want to watch right now.

Martinet, who has been voicing Mario (and Luigi, Wario, and Waluigi) since the Super Mario 64 days, is still in the Nintendo family, but not as a “Mario Ambassador.” Nintendo explained, “With this transition, he will be stepping back from recording character voices for our games, but he’ll continue to travel the world sharing the joy of Mario and interacting with you all! It has been an honor working with Charles to help bring Mario to life for so many years and we want to thank and celebrate him.”

Super Mario Bros. Wonder will be available on the Nintendo Switch on October 20th.

When ōkta opened in McMinnville, Oregon in the summer of 2022, it instantly thrilled lovers of fine dining. Michelin-starred chef Matthew Lightner’s commitment to farming, foraging, and elevated culinary techniques have earned him widespread acclaim and his new restaurant was to be a love letter to his home state. So it’s no surprise that ōkta, based inside the Tributary Hotel, was a success out of the gate.

And yet… there were some critiques. Most notably by Karen Brooks of Portland Monthly who (with expertise and nuance) noted a lack of context and storytelling in Lightner’s early tasting menus. But unlike the era of chefs who never gave an inch (Marco Pierre White, Gordon Ramsay, etc.), by the time Uproxx visited, it seemed like the chef had absorbed the most resonant notes from the restaurant’s early days. In July of 2023, ōkta was firing at a level that demanded national attention. Not surprisingly, it commanded a whole lot of it in short order — hitting the 2023 Uproxx Fall Travel Hot List and the New York Times list of the nation’s 50 best restaurants.

For the Summer ’23 Menu, Lightner (an excellent writer himself) offered an ode to the season’s ingredients and, tougher to pin down, the ineffable feelings it creates.

Brooks’ original reviews of ōkta noted that the service was a tad wobbly. That’s very common at new fine dining restaurants, where the dishes are often delicate and there are a lot of them. Still, it was another knock. But by the time I sat down to eat there, service was undoubtedly one of ōkta’s strong suits. Not only did the team offer valuable context about each dish (concise context, thankfully) but they also followed the rules of white tablecloth British-style service with military precision. I don’t necessarily need that level of formality but I have to admit, it certainly added a nice element to the whole experience. (Also, the GM had the guts to ask a woman who was Facetiming her mom from her table to… stop. doing. that — which was much needed and appreciated.)

When it comes to the dishes themselves, the 15-course tasting menu I tried was lively and full of two to three-bite entries that tasted exactly how a good novel is supposed to end: “surprising-yet-inevitable.” The meal opened with a tomato granita-gazpacho that managed to be both bright and a potent reminder of just how much umami tomatoes can deliver. “Pollinator” starred nasturtium petals cupping honeyed buckwheat puffs and hiding foie gras over an almond cracker. Discovering those elements was not just delicious, it was fun.

Other dishes showed a similar level of playfulness. But the whimsy was paired with deep thought, technical expertise, and clear, direct flavor profiles. In short: This wasn’t a cool chef having big ideas in service of style, it was a smart chef having big ideas in service of tasting good — that small tweak can make a big difference.

Though other dishes were perhaps more inventive or technical, my palate is quick to recall “soil” — which tasted “of the earth” in the very best ways. It was a little flavor bomb of a tartlet starring black truffles, currant tomatoes, and cheese from nearby Briar Rose Creamery. Never have I eaten something that risked being too lush, too unctuous so brazenly without ever veering into “so heavy it’s dull” territory.

If my job was to explain to visiting aliens what umami was, this is the dish I would give them. If my local bakery sold these for $30 a pop, I would probably cut a lot of expenses to be able to treat myself to one each Friday.

I won’t lay out the entire menu dish-by-dish (I did over on Instagram), but I will tell you that it was as perfectly composed and balanced as I’ve ever tasted. To put an even finer point on it, what I mean is that this was the best top-to-bottom restaurant meal I’ve ever had. Every time things threatened to veer too conceptual, Lightner seemed to offer up a dish that was direct and unbeguiling. Halfway through, he dropped a stellar bread interstitial. Dessert took the berries, ice cream, and chocolate concept and separated it into three courses — cherries three ways, a sort of sweet cream cloud, and chocolate cake with chicories. All were spectacular and not too high-minded to fail as confections.

Across the meal, Lightner nailed the piece of fine dining that so much of the discourse around the movie The Menu missed – how participatory it is. And, more importantly, how fun. The conceit of The Menu was that the sort of people fine dining attracts are ~generally speaking~ miserable dorks. As someone who loves fine dining, that’s not my experience. People who consistently spend their money in this way genuinely enjoy it as a recreation. It’s not like we’re sitting down to 20-course tasting meals with the same motivations we have when ordering a burger. We know it’s a game of sorts , just like someone wanting to cheer on a bunch of dudes they don’t know throwing a ball around.

At least during my preferred way to blow $600 the star (the chef) wants me there and appreciates me. And I get to leave full without having to consume a chili dog.

Lightner got the “fine dining is fun” concept perfectly. He enthralled me via the food, which was created for the enjoyment of diners not for the sake of his ego (as film and TV featuring fine dining would have you believe). It was spectacular to witness. Plus it all tasted amazing.

WHY NOW:

Two days after Uproxx’s July visit, Portland Monthy updated their review with a bombastic (but bang-on) headline – “ōkta Is Now Oregon Wine Country’s Greatest Restaurant, Ever.” They’re not wrong. To truly absorb and sit with ōkta’s concepts, I recommend an overnight at the adjoining Tributary Hotel – where the bathtubs are deep and the breakfast is more inventive (and sprawling) than anything you’ll find in the rest of the state.

“Say My Grace” rapper Offset’s year has been filled with heartbreaking lows, unnecessary conflicts, and short-lived marital tension. However, thanks to his sheer tenacity, he has managed to take back control of his life to steer it in a most positive direction. The result of tunnel vision is his highly-anticipated sophomore album, Set It Off.

The 21-track project features guest appearances from, of course, his wife, Cardi B, as well as Travis Scott, Future, Don Toliver, Yung Nudy, Mango Foo, and Uproxx cover stars Latto & Chlöe. But fans wondered what happened to his previously teased collaboration with Playboi Carti.

Why isn’t Playboi Carti on Offset’s new album, Set It Off?

Simply put, it isn’t because the track wasn’t ready to go. On September 28, during his private album listening party in London, the recording artist treated attendees to a snippet from the record. But, still, the song didn’t make the final tracklist.

Thanks to an interaction with a fan’s post online, Offset seemingly confirmed it was due to clearance issues. “What Carti at n****,” asked one of the rapper’s online followers. Another jokingly chimed in and wrote, “He definitely ain’t clear it [crying laughing emoji],” and Offset gave a like to that response.

With the rise of deluxe projects, fans might not want to give up just yet as the unreleased track could appear then.

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

With the writers strike officially over, Quinta Brunson is finally free to discuss Abbott Elementary Season 3 and when fans can expect to return to class with the award-winning sitcom.

Obviously, this season will arrive later than usual and not sync up with the real-life school year. According to Brunson, the Abbott Elementary‘s writers room was set to start on May 1, which is the exact date the WGA strike started. However, Brunson is embracing the “little bit of creativity” in finding a way to ease viewers back into the show.

“It’s not like coming back to a family show where you can pop in on that family on any sitcom-y thing,” Brunson told Deadline. “It’s really like, what’s going on in the school?”

Part of those changes will involve a shorter season “because of the strike, and because of the airing schedule, because of what ABC has room for on their schedule.” But, again, Brunson isn’t complaining and welcomes the change of pace.

“We did 22 last season, and that’s a lot of TV, in particular for me because I’m writing and producing and starring in it,” she said. “So for me, I welcomed a shorter season because it was tiring, exhausting work. Love it, but exhausting for me.”

That said, Brunson was “ready to go back” and found it “inspiring” to “build something that was both grounded, and for this premiere, splashy enough to bring people back at the same time.”

(Via Deadline)