EA has made it clear that it is against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Not only has it said so through public statements, but the company has also chosen to remove itself from Russia in multiple ways. One of the ways it did so previously was by removing Russian and Belarus teams from its FIFA and NHL series of games.
On Wednesday, EA took another step in distancing itself from Russia by stating that Russia and Belarus would no longer be considered eligible countries for its esports programs. This means that any team, or player, that participates in their esports leagues such as the Apex Legends Global Series or the EA Sports FIFA 22 Global Series is now unable to compete.
“We have made the decision to remove Russia and Belarus as eligible countries in our esports programs. Effective immediately, players and teams in Russia and Belarus are ineligible to participate in the Apex Legends Global Series and the EA Sports FIFA 22 Global Series.”
The statement continued to echo the same feelings as EA’s previous statement, that it is shocked and saddened by Russia’s continued invasion of Ukraine and calls for peace. EA’s choice to mark players from Russia and Belarus ineligible also echos the response of other organizations involved in gaming, such as the streaming site Twitch.
At the time of XXXTentacion’s death at 20 years old in 2018, the controversial rapper had yet to resolve or apologize for the domestic abuse he allegedly admitted to committing against his ex-girlfriend Geneva Ayala. He was still awaiting trial when he was shot to death in June of that year for both aggravated battery of Ayala and witness tampering, with which he was charged after Ayala wrote a note to the court asking to have the charges dropped.
These events and others are the subjects of the upcoming documentary, Look at Me: XXXTENTACION, which will stream on Hulu later this year after premiering today at SXSW. According to The Daily Beast’s Cheyenne Roundtree, who reported from the premiere, the documentary does delve into X’s alleged abuse of Ayala, while including footage of the rapper’s mother, Cleo Bernard, who believes that her son would have eventually apologized for his actions.
“I would have liked to think he would have gotten there,” she says during her interview for the film. “He just never had a chance.” In lieu of that chance, the film reportedly features a meeting between Bernard and Ayala, during which the rapper’s mother says she feels “like it’s up to me now to make amends and try to right his wrongs as much as I can.” She admits that although X attempted to hid his actions from her, she acknowledges, “Jahseh was wrong for what he did. There’s no excuse for that, period. But I just want the world to know that he wasn’t that same person anymore, but the past is still part of his story.”
Look at Me: XXXTENTACION will stream on Hulu beginning June 10.
The previously announced six-episode series “will see the two characters traveling into a post-apocalyptic Manhattan long ago cut off from the mainland. The crumbling city is filled with the dead and denizens who have made New York City their own world full of anarchy, danger, beauty, and terror,” according to Variety. The part that’s left unspoken in the description is that Negan and Maggie, as played by Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Lauren Cohan, apparently make it through The Walking Dead unscathed.
Based on comments made on a recent episode of The Rich Eisen Show, Dean Morgan would have preferred for that to not be spoiled. “I guess we don’t need to die. Spoiler alert, folks. Sorry!” the Supernatural star and weed gummy enthusiast said. “I’m still not sure why we announced that already. It was sort of a shocker to me.”
It only counts as a spoiler if you pretend every character who has ever appeared on The Walking Dead won’t get a spinoff at some point. And that includes the dead characters who we haven’t seen since the early seasons of the show. I, for one, think it’s time to learn what T-Dog was up to before the outbreak.
If you’ve been sentient for the last year or two, there’s a pretty good chance you’ve heard the term “NFT.” Non-fungible tokens have upended the digital art world, for better or worse, and have begun seeping into almost every aspect of our culture. It turns out, whiskey is no different.
In fact, you can bid on an ultra-rare, first-of-its-kind, six-liter bottle of bourbon whiskey from Buffalo Trace right now. The only catch? It’s also an NFT, with a digital representation of the bottle (and a VIP tour thrown in too). Yes, bourbon has gone NFT.
But there’s more to this digital and physical NFT than just a jpeg and bottle of booze. Buffalo Trace is attempting to leverage the hype around NFTs and their very rare bourbons to raise money for charities. Instead of simply releasing a rare one-off whiskey, creating an insane buzz, and adding the profit to the pile at the bank, Buffalo Trace is funneling all the money to various non-profit charitable groups.
To that end, we caught up with Buffalo Trace’s VP of Bourbon, Sara Saunders, to talk about their foray into the world of NFTs and how charity is reshaping the industry. Saunders was kind enough to jump on a call and walk us through Buffalo Trace’s current plan to release 2022 rare bottles to charity this year, and why they decided to release their rarest release as an NFT. It’s an illuminating conversation, about a bourbon company trying to push the culture in new directions.
Also Read: The Top 5 UPROXX Bourbon Posts Of The Last Six Months
Why is it important for a whiskey company to donate to charity?
In the past couple of years, we have been doing things that have raised multiple millions of dollars and we wanted to up our game even further this year. In terms of why, I mean, we’ve seen more and more needs, more and more causes pop up, which has made us basically hungry for more people, more agencies, and more causes. We want to see what else we can do as a company. But we’ve also seen more consumers seeking to understand what a company is and what they stand for. We believe that it’s important for a company like ours to take a stance and show up when consumers need us. That’s one of the key reasons why we quickly acted after the tornadoes and will continue to do things like that locally. And now that we’ve started doing more of that outreach with this program, hopefully, that help can spread globally.
Your company’s in a very lucky position in that you have very good name recognition with your brands — Pappy and Weller alone are pretty renowned brands even outside of whiskey circles. Obviously, there’s always a diminishing stock while at the same time those bottles are catnip for raising money. What’s the process when it comes to deciding where those bottles go and who you support?
Obviously, every situation is different, but I’ll just talk about last year’s tornado, specifically. We immediately saw it and knew we needed to do something. We went through our inventory and asked, “what do we have?” and “what can we contribute that we believe is going to auction for the most dollar value to give back to the cause?” Then we work with that partner to make sure that we drive awareness to that auction so that we’re able to elevate the amounts that charity receives.
Sazerac Company
So Buffalo Trace has set aside 2022 bottles that any non-profit charity group can sign up for. Is there going to be any selection process? Is it first come first serve? How does that work?
It’s really going to be a case-by-case basis. So there’s really no catch. We’re asking that all of the charities and non-profits enter by March 31st. And at that point, we’re going to take a look at our inventory and really try to match it with things that are happening with those charities.
As an example, around Earth Day, we’re probably going to want to do something with our Single Oak expression — which we’re releasing 300 bottles of — to really harken back to the spirit of that day. And we’re probably going to want to do it with a partner that has a good footing in that space. We try to ask ourselves, “How do we match the non-profits with the supply that we have and the offerings that we have to really make the most impact,” and that’ll vary.
So let’s talk a little bit about the NFT, I believe this is going to be the first official NFT in whiskey. But it’s more than just the token. There’s a physical aspect to it in this six-liter bottle of very rare whiskey, a 1982 O.F.C. Of course, NFTs are on the tip of everyone’s tongue right now. What was the thought behind adding that layer to this large-format bottle release?
We’ve been watching the NFT scene and I think one of the things that was really important to us is that it results in a physical bottle and a physical experience. So you’ll see that as part of our launch, we wanted to do something that was unique for us and that we had a limited quantity of. That’s really why we connected it with a six-liter bottle. Six liters will be able to hopefully generate more dollars for the non-profits that we’re going to select for this and create a lot of talk value as really one of the firsts of its kind.
The other piece of the NFT is we’re really hoping to reach a new audience. If you look at who, right now, is participating in NFTs, there’s a different audience, a more global audience, and a little bit more diverse than we usually see. So we’re hoping to drive both awareness of our brand and our product, but also of the non-profits that we’ll be serving.
So there’s the physical aspect to this NFT, the six-liter bottle, but what will the person receive as the actual NFT or the digital aspect?
So there’s going to be a digital, unique rendering of the actual pack. Then, we are planning on having an exclusive experience connected as well. So, whoever ends up winning the auction, they’ll get the digital rendering, the physical bottle, and they will get an experience that is extremely VIP and rare here at Buffalo Trace.
So it’s sort of like you’re winning three times…
That’s right. Exactly. So you get the NFT, and you can destroy the NFT if you want. But then you still get the bottle and then you also get this really rare experience.
Sazerac Company
Yeah, that’s something I think a lot of people are going to be chasing. Let’s talk a little bit wider about charity in general. Because I feel with the alcohol industry, charity is probably not the first thing that comes to mind when you pull a bottle of Buffalo Trace Bourbon off the shelf. How important is charity to the whiskey community, but also to a company like Buffalo Trace?
I think from a consumer standpoint or an employee standpoint that when we take action for good, I think it says a lot about the company and gives people that are working for us, with us, around us, or consuming our product an additional belief in us and reason to buy. It helps folks understand who we are at the company and what we stand for based on who we are supporting. And I think that’s really important nowadays, for companies to put their money where their mouth is and really back these critical needs that we see both domestically and abroad.
With the NFT auction dropping and this March 31st deadline coming up, it feels like you’re front-loading for the charitable year. What’s your plan for year-round charitable situations that might pop?
When things pop up, we are going to be reactive. And luckily for us, we do have enough inventory when needed and we will not be allocating all of the bottles as of March 31st. So we’ll kind of spread this out, get the first batch going, and then move from there. We encourage non-profits to enter throughout the year when new non-profits pop up or when different causes pop up. Certainly, we’re encouraging them to come into our database and we will be communicating regularly when there are opportunities.
We want to make sure that we’re fostering that environment. So this is a long game for us. It isn’t just a six-month kind of thing. We do want to encourage it now so that we can get more proactive. But over time, we’re just going to keep building up our reach and hopefully see more and more non-profits enter our database so that we can proactively give away some amazing products and raise some incredible dollars behind them.
Florence And The Machine recently announced their new album, Dance Fever, is coming out on May 13. In the days leading up to that, part of Florence Welch’s promotional efforts will involve a handful of newly announced concerts in the US and UK, with money from them going to help good causes.
The mini-trek starts with three UK shows: Newcastle on April 15, Blackburn on the 16th, and London on the 19th. £1 from every ticket sold will go to Choose Love. According to its website, “Choose Love does whatever it takes to provide refugees and displaced people with everything from lifesaving search and rescue boats to food and legal advice. We elevate the voices and visibility of refugees and galvanise public support for agile community organisations providing vital support to refugees along migration routes globally.”
After that is a pair of US concerts: One in Los Angeles on April 29 and the other in New York on May 6. A dollar from every ticket sold for the New York show will go to Women In Need, which bills itself as “the largest provider of shelter and services for homeless families in NYC.” A dollar from LA show tickets will go to The Los Angeles Community Action Network, which fights “for Human Rights from the epicenter of Human Rights violations, Skid Row USA Human Rights Defenders and truth tellers.”
Check out the full list of shows below.
04/15 — Newcastle, UK @ O2 City Hall
04/16 — Blackburn, UK King George’s Hall
04/19 — London, UK @ Theatre Royal Drury Lane
04/29 — Los Angeles, CA @ Los Angeles Theatre
05/06 — New York, NY @ Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center
Florence + The Machine will play 3 intimate shows this April in Newcastle, Blackburn and London. Pre-order Dance Fever from https://t.co/FH3jVLfXQn before 8pm GMT today for the chance to access the pre-sale tomorrow from 9am £1 for every ticket sold will be donated to @chooselovepic.twitter.com/FNK0uBbQXE
Florence + The Machine will play 2 intimate shows in the US at Los Angeles Theatre on 29 April and Alice Tully Hall NYC on 6 May. Tickets on sale March 18 at 10am local. $1 for every ticket sold will be donated to @winnyc_org for the NY show, and @lacanetwork for the LA show pic.twitter.com/CWuEiTd2pS
With Morbius set to hit theaters next month after a record-breaking number of delays, Jared Leto is the focus of a new cover profile where he pontificates on the current state of the film industry. While the notoriously Method actor fancies himself “a bit of a snob when it comes to film,” he has no problem crediting Marvel with keeping theaters alive during the brunt of the pandemic. Although, he does have concerns about how that situation has pushed out smaller films.
“If it wasn’t for Marvel films, I don’t even know if theaters would exist,” Leto told Variety. “It doesn’t seem like there’s room for everyone, and that starts to become a little heartbreaking.” However, despite the prevalence of superhero films, Leto once again repeated his point that they’re buoying the industry. “I also have gratitude for these movies because they’re keeping cinema alive.”
Interestingly, Morbius — which, technically, is part of Sony’s Spider-Man Universe and not the Marvel Cinematic Universe (subject to change without notice) — will be Leto’s third theatrical release in these uncertain pandemic times. In early 2021, he starred in The Little Things with Denzel Washington followed by Ridley Scott’s House of Gucci in the fall.
“It’s a privilege to be part of a couple of movies in a row that are supporting cinema,” Leto told Variety while reminiscing about his childhood love for theaters that culminated in him working at the local multiplex. However, like a scene from a Jared Leto movie, he was ultimately fired for “selling dope out the back door.” Yup, that’ll happen.
One of the many things former President Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin have in common is their love of TV. Both men pay close attention to what the media is saying about them on a daily basis, which is why this latest protest against Putin’s invasion of Ukraine must really sting.
While the early days of the war saw Kremlin-sanctioned on-air reporters literally calling for champagne to celebrate the killing of Ukrainian citizens, now journalists are speaking out against Putin’s regime. After a producer at Russia’s state-run Channel One crashed a live news report to condemn the war, holding up a sign that read “Don’t believe the propaganda. They’re lying to you here,” another on-air personality has quit because of the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.
Lilia Gildeyeva, a 15-year on-air veteran at the once-independent news channel known as NTV, announced her resignation after fleeing the country. Gildeyeva told an independent journalist of her decision to leave the network, explaining she wanted to get out of Russia before telling her bosses that she intended to quit out of fear that she might be detained or worse.
“I left [Russia] first because I was afraid they would not let me go just like that, then I submitted my resignation,” she said, according to The Wrap.
Russia has given news anchors strict instructions about how they report on the situation in Ukraine, forbidding them to use words like “war” and “invasion” when referring to the conflict and passing new laws that crackdown on those spreading “fake news” about Putin’s campaign. The producer who held up the sign condemning the Kremlin could face prison time, so Gildeyeva’s fears probably weren’t misplaced.
Still, the news will likely come as a blow to Putin who’s built his career off of controlling the media, using news organizations as his personal propaganda machines. Apparently, Gildeyeva was one of the president’s favorite TV personalities. She was included in a list of journalists he thanked for their achievements in mass media in 2021 and Putin personally thanked her in 2008 for the reporting she did, crediting her with furthering the goal of a united Russia.
So, basically, this is as bad as the break-up between Trump and Fox News. On the bright side, Tucker Carlson might be getting a new job offer soon.
The cost of streaming services (along with countless other things) continues to incrementally rise, and Netflix once again hiked prices earlier this year. As well, it’s been a little over a year since the streaming service reportedly began putting out feelers for cracking down on password sharing. In other words, using your parents’ account probably wasn’t a practice that could last forever, and Netflix began to send out warnings (and requiring codes) to that effect. That crackdown is growing more serious now, it seems, with additional costs in certain countries.
Variety now reports that Netflix is planning to test the waters with primary account holders starting to pay fees if additional, outside-the-residence users access the primary account. This doesn’t address how mobile viewing will still happen (since the IP-address tracking will obviously grow muddled there), but Netflix’s terms of use certainly state that an account “may not be shared with individuals beyond your household.” Doing so appears to add around $2.99 per month, and the test will begin in Chile, Costa Rica, and Peru as formally recognized by the “add an extra member” feature title. That’s still less expensive than purchasing separate plans outside the primary IP address (and Hulu does successfully restrict Live viewing altogether outside the primary residence), but some fuss is bound to happen.
“We’ve always made it easy for people who live together to share their Netflix account, with features like separate profiles and multiple streams in our Standard and Premium plans,” wrote Chengyi Long, director of product innovation at Netflix, on the streaming service’s website. “While these have been hugely popular, they have also created some confusion about when and how Netflix can be shared. As a result, accounts are being shared between households — impacting our ability to invest in great new TV and films for our members.”
Kentucky Owl remains a collector’s darling and a high-end whiskey drinker’s choice pull. The rare sourced juice has the patina of something special in the bourbon universe, thanks to being hand picked from some of the best barrels in the world by an industry legend: former Four Roses master John Rhea. Rhea brings 40 years of experience to Kentucky Owl, which shines through in each release.
Now, he’s teamed up with J.J. Cory Irish Whiskey’s Master Bonder Louise McGuane to create a new whiskey that marries Kentucky bourbon and Irish whiskey.
While “bond” in bourbon means a certain proof under the fed’s watchful eye, in Ireland it has a different meaning. McGuane is what we’d call a Master Blender. “Bonding” in Irish whiskey terms simply means “blending.” McGuane has been pivotal in reinvigorating the role in Irish whiskey in recent years, while helping drive the current Irish whiskey boom. McGuane and Rhea came together for this special release of Kentucky bourbon, blending McGuane’s talent and palate with Rhea’s decades of experience to create a unique whiskey for St. Patrick’s Day.
Now then, let’s get tasting.
Also Read: The Top 5 UPROXX Bourbon Posts Of The Last Six Months
The juice ended up being a blend of four to 11-year-old bourbons, with barrels sourced from an undisclosed distillery in Kentucky. Those barrels were blended by Rhea and McGuane to create a flavor profile that represented both Kentucky and Ireland.
The Bottle:
The bottle is a classic long-neck bourbon bottle. The label is bright green with a real “St. Paddy’s Day” vibe. Overall, this can’t help but stand out on any bar cart, thanks to that bright green label.
Tasting Notes:
The nose opens with a clear sense of fresh honey next to cinnamon toast, apple fritters, toffee sauce, crunchy peanut butter cookies, a smidge of new leather, and pine kindling. The palate bursts forth with butterscotch that leads to sticky and warm cinnamon rolls drizzled with caramel sauce and stuffed with raisins and walnuts while dark chocolate oranges and lightly singed marshmallows create a sweet mid-palate. The finish veers away from all of that toward huckleberry bushes and tart, almost woody berries while a vanilla tobacco leaf and more of that pine linger on the end of the taste.
Bottom Line:
I have to say, I liked this. It’s a great on-the-rocks pour that works really well neat if you add a little water. That being said, you can probably find a whiskey this nuanced and fruity from Four Roses for half the price. But this is a special holiday release, so there’s a collectability factor at play, if you want to lay a bottle down in your vault.
Ranking:
90/100 — This was super solid with a great fruity throughline. That said, I can’t see buying this for this price unless you’re a collector.
Even when the competition is fierce, winning at friendship is more important than winning a game.
A viral video is making people feel alllll the good feelings, which we could frankly use more of these days.
Baseball pitcher Ty Koehn of Mounds View High School in Minnesota wound up his pitch. He hurled it to the batter, Jack Kocon of Totino-Grace High School, and it was a doozy. Kocon struck out, which meant Mounds View would advance to the state championship and Totino-Grace would go home.
Koehn’s teammates started running out to the pitcher’s mound to surround the hero who clinched the win. But Koehn chose to do something else first.
He put his celebration on hold, ran up to home plate, and wrapped his arms around Kocon. He gave the batter a long hug before walking him toward the edge of the field. Only then did he join his cheering teammates.
Koehn and Kocon have been friends and played baseball together since childhood, and that life-long friendship shines through in this touching moment.
No amount of excitement and pride trumps comforting a disappointed friend.
The video, shared by hitting coach Coach Lisle on Facebook, has gone viral because no matter who we are or where we come from, we all love seeing beautiful moments of pure humanity. As one commenter pointed out, we are all bigger than the moment, and this video exemplifies that fact.
For a high schooler who just won a big game to immediately go to his friend instead of his teammates shows that he understands what’s truly most important. And for two young men to feel comfortable and secure enough to hug like that in front of a crowd speaks to how far we’ve come in embracing male sensitivity. Talk about a wonderful display of love, understanding, compassion, sportsmanship, and friendship all rolled into one.
Definitely one to show to the kids. Watch the heartwarming video here:
This HS pitcher struck out his childhood friend to advance to the …
This HS pitcher struck out his childhood friend to advance to the state championship.
Instead of celebrating with his teammates, he did something else:
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