It wasn’t the best-kept secret in Hollywood, but the makers of Spider-Man: No Way Home tried their best to keep shtum about two of the film’s biggest gets: They had convinced the two previous live-action big screen Peter Parkers, Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield, to join Tom Holland for some multiverse action. Garfield has already said that even he kept quiet about his role, not even telling his Amazing Spider-Man co-star and real-life former paramour Emma Stone. But it turns out he told almost no one.
On The Ellen DeGeneres Show, conversation segued from his award-winning turn in Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Tick, Tick… Boom! to what is already one of the highest grossing movies of all time. He went above and beyond to keep his involvement on the DL.
“I lied to people for a good two years and I lied to the internet for two years, and it felt great,” he told DeGeneres with a laugh. In fact, he said he only told three people. “My dad, my brother, and my mother… just kind of us. It was fun to keep it a secret,” he said. “It felt like I was organizing a surprise birthday party for a bunch of people who I knew would appreciate it.”
Previously the actor has talked about how fun it was to kept the role a secret, and about not telling Stone. “Emma kept on texting me,” Garfield said on an episode of Josh Horowitz’s podcast Happy, Sad, Confused. “She was like, ‘Are you in this new Spider-Man film?’ And I was like, ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’” When she saw it, he said she said, “You’re a jerk.”
You can watch the segment in the video above. Spider-Man: No Way Home is now in theaters.
The Chicago Bulls paid a visit to Oklahoma City on Monday night to face the Thunder as short favorites, opening at -2 and closing anywhere from -1 to a pick.
With 6:20 to go in the third quarter, Chicago had opened up an 84-56 lead that had many observers turning off the broadcast based on the very reasonable assumption that the outcome, both in terms of who would win and who would cover, was no longer in doubt. The Thunder began chipping away the rest of the way in the third, halving the deficit to 14, but with 5:50 to go in the fourth quarter, the Bulls had pushed their lead to 17 and, surely, they were headed for a win and taking their betting supporters to cover town.
From that point, though, Oklahoma City went on a 22-6 run in order to lose by just one, 111-110, which, in the words of Chris Fowler, was significant to some. The way they got to that final score was particularly hideous for anyone holding a Bulls ticket of -2 or -1.5 (or even -1 to end up pushing a surefire winner), as after a missed Shai Gilgeous-Alexander three to tie, Javonte Green split his free throws to make it a four point game with 1.0 seconds on the clock. A timeout advanced the ball and an uncovered Mike Muscala stepped out to drill a three at the buzzer.
It’s some truly hideous stuff for anyone with a Bulls ticket and worthy of a featured spot on Scott Van Pelt’s Bad Beats segment this week. It would be one thing for this to happen in a back-and-forth affair, but to lose that bet after the Bulls led by as many as 28 in the second half and 17 midway through the fourth is the type of thing that makes you go for a long walk.
Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin is an action souls-like game being developed by Team Ninja. The game is meant to be a retelling or homage to the original Final Fantasy that came out all the way back in 1987, but while that game was a traditional turn-based JRPG, this one is a cinematic action game. The inspirations from Dark Souls are very clear in both gameplay, style, and challenge, but all of it with a Final Fantasy spin to it.
On Monday, a release date trailer for Final Fantasy Origin was uploaded. Back during E3, the debut trailer for the game definitely caught everyone’s attention with some very cheesy dialogue and overuse of the word “chaos.” However, the demo that came out alongside it showed a lot of potential for a fun action romp, even if the dialogue alongside it was less than stellar.
The new trailer felt like more of the same with most of the dialogue choices feeling very soap opera-ish and it generally struggled to make the main character, Jack, seem particularly endearing. All of that said, most of the action sequences in the trailer were incredibly cool. The camera cuts were excellent, it showed some cool moves that we’re excited to try when the game comes out, and it struck as a trailer that is delivering on the promise of an action-packed adventure. Even if the plot was failing to draw that same level of interest.
Then Frank Sinatra’s “My Way ” starts playing in the latter half of the trailer leaving everyone who watches this in stunned amazement. That’s because, with the tone of everything that has played up to this point in the trailer, “My Way” is arguably one of the most out-of-place songs that could be used here. It likely also doesn’t help that the entire latter half of the trailer is building out the love story plotline for the game.
— STRANGER OF PARADISE FINAL FANTASY ORIGIN (@fforigin) January 24, 2022
While it may have not been the most logical song choice for this trailer, it certainly made an impact and we now know for certain that this game is coming out on March 18, 2022. In that way, the trailer did exactly what it wanted to accomplish. The record shows this trailer took its blows, but they did it their way.
Who would you prefer: the weakest link on the ‘90s sitcom NewsRadio or the legend who wrote “Cinnamon Girl”? That’s the choice Neil Young is giving Spotify. The music streamer is home to dozens and dozens of Neil Young releases, from his self-titled 1969 debut to last year’s excellent Crazy Horse reunion Barn. It’s also home to the podcast The Joe Rogan Experience, whose host regularly spouts misinformation about the two-years-old-and-counting pandemic.
Now Young is taking a stand. As per Rolling Stone, the rocker wrote a letter to his management and label, sking them to remove some of the greatest songs ever recorded from the streamer that also allows a guy who used to force people to eat bugs to help make a public health crisis even worse.
“I am doing this because Spotify is spreading fake information about vaccines — potentially causing death to those who believe the disinformation being spread by them,” Young wrote. “Please act on this immediately today and keep me informed of the time schedule.”
“I want you to let Spotify know immediately TODAY that I want all my music off their platform,” he charged. “They can have [Joe] Rogan or Young. Not both.”
Young is the latest figure to come out against Rogan, who has fed his 11 million subscribers nonsense that is sometimes debunked on his show by his guests. Earlier this month, 250 doctors signed an open letter, begging Spotify to “to take action against the mass-misinformation events which continue to occur on its platform” by implementing a policy against misinformation. Meanwhile, the day before Young came out against Rogan, the U.S. saw almost 700,000 new COVID cases, as well as over 2,000 COVID-related deaths.
In the meantime, you better take one last spin of Everybody Knows This is Nowhere, On the Beach, Tonight’s the Night, maybe even Everybody’s Rockin’ before it vamooses, all for a guy who’d rather take medication also used on horses than get a free and effective vaccine.
Sarah Palin was for vaccines before she was against them. Last March, after testing positive, the failed vice presidential candidate pleaded (rightly!) with her base to get vaccinated and even mask up, reminding them that “anyone can catch this.” By December of last year, she had flip-flopped, going so far as to says she’d get vaxxed “over her dead body.” Now, a month later, she’s caught COVID again. The twist this time is that she may have infected a lot of innocent people.
The New York Timesreports that Palin dined indoors on Saturday night at Elio’s, a celebrity-frequented Italian restaurant in the Upper East Side of Manhattan. Like all New York City restaurants, Elio’s checks proof of vaccination from diners. A manager there said they “made a mistake.” Though they check vaccination cards for all new customers, they don’t do so for regulars. And when Palin strolled into Elio’s on Saturday, she did so with a “longtime guest.”
“She probably just walked in and strolled over” to the table, said the manager. “We are trying to get to the bottom of this.”
So now, Elio staff and its diners that night are being notified of being exposed to someone with COVID, thanks to an unvaccinated former governor who days later took three tests, all of which came back positive.
Palin’s positive COVID test wound up delaying a defamation trial involving The New York Times over a 2017 column, which is seen as a major test of First Amendment/freedom-of-the-press protections. This is the third time the trial has been delayed.
The last few years have been great for break-out Jeopardy! stars. Three years ago, James Holzhauer plowed through a whopping 32 consecutive wins — nowhere close to Ken Jennings’ 74-show streak over five months in 2004, but still enough for what was then a silver. Earlier this year, there was Matt Amodio, who ruled the roost for 38 games, usurping Holzhauer’s place in history. And now Amy Schneider, the current champ, has just unseated Amodio.
That’s right: On the show airing Monday, Schneider — the first trans contestant to qualify for the show’s Tournament of Champions — extended her winning streak to 39 games, sailing past Amodio’s also unbelievably impressive run. On top of bringing her total winnings to a bewildering $1,319,800 (having crossed the million mark two weeks back), it also means she’s second only to Jennings in terms of consecutive Jeopardy! wins.
In a nice twist of fate, Schneider’s record-busting run happened under the watch of Jennings himself, who has served as host since she started winning back on November 17 of last year. Perhaps she’ll find herself on the other side of the game one day as well. As for Amodio, who she’ll face in the next edition of the Tournament of Champions, she had nothing but kind words: In a press statement, she told him, “It’s going to be an honor playing against you, and it’s going to be a tight competition.”
Since her run began, Schneider has captured the public’s imagination. When she was robber earlier this year, fans rallied to her defense.
As with all good high-budget superhero movies, there has to be a completely out-there, semi-chaotic brand tie in. Who would forget the Spider-Man Burger at Burger King? Or the highly sought-after Venom perfume? How about the Fantastic Four Icee? As we gear up for the latest Batman movie to hit theaters, food fans everywhere have been anxiously awaiting who will have the best superhero snack. Enter: Little Caesar’s.
Little Caesar’s, the preferred pizza place to go after both Pizza Hut and Dominos are closed, has introduced their greatest collab yet: The Batman Calzony.
There’s a lot to unpack here! Yes, it’s called a calzony because it’s a take on their Crazy Calzony, which is more or less just pizza with a crust. And yes! It will be in the shape of a bat (if you squint a little). But why Batman? Who knows! Who cares! This is the perfect snack to bring into the theaters on March 4th in order to watch The Batman,starring Robert Pattinson. Pattinson is known to make strange meals in his microwave, so perhaps he will enjoy it. After all, it is named after him.
The pizza-calzone hybrid hit stores today and will cost $7.99.
Here are several other ideas for snacks in case any executives are reading: Batman Bites, Pattinson Pepperoni Rolls, Gotham Garlic Knots…just to name a few.
Ever since she took over as White House press secretary just over a year ago, Jen Psaki has had a consistent frenemy: Peter Doocy, son of Fox & Friends’ Steve Doocy. Rarely a press conference goes by without Doocy getting on Psaki’snerves, forcing her to issue patient but stern and a little annoyed corrections to his rightwing talking points. But on Monday, it was Biden’s turn.
At the end of a Biden photo op, when reporters shouted Q’s hoping he’d respond, Fox’s Peter Doocy asked, “Do you think inflation is a political liability in the midterms?” Biden deadpanned: “It’s a great asset—more inflation. What a stupid son of a bitch.” pic.twitter.com/Tt4ZVz5Ynj
Biden had a meeting with the Cabinet Secretaries, which included a photo op to which the press were invited. Some of them tried to fire off some questions, including Doocy, who asked him about one of the major issues plaguing his administration: “Do you think inflation is a political liability in the midterms?”
Biden responded with dry sarcasm. “That’s a great asset. More inflation,” Biden replied. “What a stupid son of a b*tch.”
As per The New York Times, inflation — which involves the American dollar decreasing in value, resulting in higher prices — is currently at the highest it’s been since 1982. Officials don’t see the current inflation rise as becoming permanent, and it may simply be a result of the economy wildly fluctuating during a once-in-a-century public health crisis that is still not over. But Biden’s the one in charge when things are in flux, which surely doesn’t make him look good to some voters.
Look, it’s a sad situation for anyone to hear that Adele will not be gracing the stage any time soon. The beloved singer woefully announced on Instagram last Friday (Jan 21) that her planned residency in Las Vegas “wasn’t ready” due to coronavirus. Half of her crew had been infected, making it “impossible to finish the show.”
But for one fan in particular, who has tried—and failed miserably—to catch Adele live on three separate occasions, the news hit particularly hard. Luckily, her sense of humor proves that any tragedy can turn into comedy gold.
This story, with all its hilarious twists and turns, is quite the delightful saga. And though it doesn’t erase all the gutting disappointments left from pandemic cancellations, it does serve as wholesome entertainment.
Eleni Sabracos (@elenisabracos) shared her doomed journey on TikTok, which began in 2016.
Sabracos purchased tickets to see Adele at Madison Square Garden. Fake tickets, it turns out.
“Nobody felt bad for me because I bought them off Craigslist so that was my own doing,” Sabracos declared sarcastically.
Attempt #2: Sabracos bought tickets (legitimately this time) to see Adele in concert at Wembley Stadium in London the next summer. Got a confirmation number and everything.
Deciding to raise the stakes, she even upgraded to the very VIP “golden circle” seat, which would, theoretically, have Sabracos so up close and personal with Adele she’d probably know what perfume she was wearing.
The impassioned “I WAS IN THE GOLDEN CIRCLE!” gets me every time.
That should make up for the previous blunder, right? Wrong.
Just one day before the concert, Adele canceled the show “on medical advice” after damaging her vocal cords. To be fair, Adele did not take this lightly either, and was “devastated” to let her fans down.
Unfortunately, Sabracos had already crossed the pond to see her.
“Mind you I risked my life to be there,” Sabracos exclaimed, “on this cardboard airplane called WOW airlines.” She then pointed to a headline showing that the carrier company had since been discontinued. Yikes.
“The only thing wow about it was that it was surprising the airplane could fly!” This girl is a natural comedienne.
One last twist of the proverbial knife: Deciding to give herself a comfort meal, Sabracos requested an uber driver to take her to a nearby restaurant. That driver’s name, eerily enough, was Adeel. Will this pain never end?!
At this point, Sabracos had become a viral sensation, even making a guest appearance on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show.”
She had T-shirts printed, which read “I love Adele like Adele loves Beyonce,” and everything.
Cut to 2021, when Sabracos’ brother gave her tickets to Adele’s Vegas show. Third time was certainly not the charm in this case.
Already in her hotel room in Las Vegas, Sabracos yells at the top of her lungs “WHYYYYY?” like a thwarted cartoon villain on hearing the news. And then she whispers in a tiny voice, ”I still brought the shirts.”
“Adele is part of the most elaborate April Fools prank ever,” one person commented. And hey, he might be onto something.
In a follow-up video, Sabracos did in fact get to FaceTime with the British pop queen. And it sounds like there will be a meet-and-greet in the future, complete with wine and shirt giving.
Beware, well-deserved shrieks of excitement ensue.
Though Sabracos has yet to be successful in her original mission to see Adele live, this series of unfortunate events led to having one truly unique fan experience.
You know what they say, it’s about the journey, not the destination.
Similar to bourbon in the U.S., single malt Scotch whisky has a few rules and regulations. To be defined as “single malt” Scotch whisky, it must be distilled in Scotland (obviously), come from only one distillery, be made from 100 percent malted barley, have a minimum alcohol content of 40 percent, and must spend at least three years aging in oak barrels.
While many distilleries opt for American oak, Spanish oak, or ex-bourbon barrels, some distilleries add unique flavors by gaining or finishing in barrels the formerly held cognac, port, sherry, beer, various wines, and much more. The use of these other vessels imparts different flavors and aromas to the whiskies while also adding some serious depth.
To find the best single malts aged in these “special” barrels (the parameters are wide for this!) we reached out to a few of our favorite bartenders. Check their picks below.
The Balvenie 12 Double Wood is aged in two different casks (hence the name). This 12-year-old single malt whisky first ages in ex-bourbon barrels before spending nine months in Oloroso sherry casks. It’s an easy sell from the popular brand and the Sherry makes for an easy finish.
The Macallan Rare Cask is aged exclusively in first-fill Sherry casks. I feel that the chocolate, vanilla, and spices really stand out which makes this a fantastic sipper.
Many people will be familiar with The Dalmore, and for good reason. The 12-year Single Malt is split and finished in both ex-bourbon casks and sherry casks (including the Dalmore exclusive Matusalem Oloroso sherry casks which are aged thirty years and seasoned with both Pedro Ximenez and Oloroso sherry). Then, the whiskies are combined to bring us one of the most well-known sherry finished scotches on the market.
There’s a bountiful collage of citrus and chocolate (enhanced by the sherry cask finish) with the vanilla and caramel notes found from the bourbon casks. I definitely recommend giving this stag a try if you haven’t yet.
This year has seen the release of plenty of mouthwatering scotches from across the pond. But one stood out to me, Lagavulin 11-year-old Offerman Edition: Guinness Cask Finish. This release was brought to market at an unusual age (eleven years) and aged in Guinness stout barrels which rounds off the edges of its youth.
If you’re a fan of peat and barley, this dram is a must-try.
This single malt whisky finished in Sicilian Marsala barrels is a great one, taking the heart of Glenmorangie and layering in traces of the luscious, nutty, dried fruit notes from the wine.
The Dalmore Port Wood Reserve
The Dalmore
Subhash Sankar, head mixologist at Alaia Belize in San Pedro Town, Belize
The Dalmore’s already intensely fruity and complex single malt offers striking notes of ripe plum, cherry, and dried apricot in the Port Wood Reserve expression. This non-age statement whisky is initially aged in bourbon barrels before being finished in Tawny Port pipes from W & J Graham’s winery in Portugal.
Aberlour A’bunadh
Aberlour
Christopher Devern, lead bartender at Red Owl Tavern in Philadelphia
Aberlour A’bunadh is my pick. Cask strength and finished in Spanish Oloroso sherry butts, this is a special scotch to taste. This single malt Speyside whisky is pleasantly rich with an ample amount of fruit and dried fruit flavors. You’ll find flavors of cacao, spices, cherry, baked pie, sherry, and oak. This is a unique bottle that stands out from other Sherry finished scotches for its complexity and richness.
Longrow Red
Springbank
Mark Phelan, beverage director of 16″ On Center in Chicago
One of my favorites is Longrow Red from Springbank. The most recent release was finished for two years in Cabernet Franc barrels. The juicy notes and subtle tannins of the wine balance beautifully with the peated single malt. It’s a magical sip, especially in winter.
Arran Sauternes Cask Finish
Arran
Ally O’Keefe, bartender at The Bower in New Orleans
Arran Sauternes Cask Finish has beautiful notes of oak and peat intertwined with honeyed apricot, pecan, golden raisin, and caramel cookie. It’s an elegant expression with the boldness of scotch and the delicacy of dessert wine.
Easily, The Balvenie Caribbean Cask 14 Year. It’s exceptionally smooth and complex, slightly smoky with a hint of caramel and vanilla that comes through from being finished in Caribbean Rum barrels. There’s a reason this is one of the most popular single malt whiskies on the market.
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