A little over two years before his death, Alex Trebek weighed in on who should replace him on Jeopardy! when he eventually left the show. Despite former Jeopardy! champ Ken Jennings waiting in the wings, Trebek named two candidates that personally caught his eye: LA Kings hockey announcer Alex Faust and CNN legal analyst Laura Coates.
As we now know, neither Faust nor Coates ended up being involved in the running to replace Trebek as the permanent host following his death. In fact, executive producer Mike Richards essentially gave himself the top gig, only to lose it in a matter of days following numerous sandals. To add to that drama, Coates revealed to Tamron Hall on Monday that Jeopardy! producers never even gave her the time of day when she reached out about making good on Trebek’s personal request. Via Mediaite:
“I asked for the opportunity when it came time, when they were looking for people to possibly fill in,” she told Hall. “I certainly raised my hand and knocked on doors and found them closed. I asked for the opportunity. I was told, ‘No.’”
The rejection obviously stung for Coates, who was honored that Trebek even named her in the first place, and yet his personal wishes were rejected by Jeopardy! producers.
“I was thrilled when he said my name,” Coates told Hall. “I thought, ‘My God. This person that I have watched my whole life really, even knows my name let alone thinks that I would be worthy enough to fill his shoes which frankly can’t be filled?”
We’ve all seen it by now. The little green and yellow blocks filling up our Twitter timelines, group chats, and message boards. It’s not some weird morse code, it’s just everyone showing off their scores on Wordle. This free-to-play word game has over social media and everyone’s daily discussions as they all compare how quickly they solved the most recent puzzle. There is a serious conversation surrounding this game that we don’t often see. Entire communities gleefully share their scores with one another while not spoiling the word for anyone who hasn’t played yet. It’s fun, unique, and an example of how when something really wholesome comes together the internet can make it a truly great thing.
It also growing so incredibly fast that there are still people that don’t know what it is yet. The game first started to gain traction before the new year, but early into 2022 it exploded into the game that everyone was talking about on social media. Growth that quick can make anyone that’s in on it feel special and those of us who missed it feel left out. Well, don’t worry, because you’re not the only one. A lot of us are still just learning what Wordle is, why exactly it’s so popular, and the best way to play it. For anyone that is still trying to figure out what this whole thing is, we’ll do our best to answer any questions you may have.
What Is Wordle?
Wordle is a very simple word association game where the player is given five blank squares and the entire alphabet. The player must guess what the word is with no hints as to what it may be. However, correctly guessed letters will be highlighted in yellow. If that letter is in the right spot it will be highlighted in green. The player is given six chances to guess the word. If they get it then their reward is self-satisfaction and the opportunity to share how quickly they guessed the word with friends. Simple enough right?
Part of what makes a game like Wordle so addicting to talk about is that it only features a single word every day. So part of the conversation around the game has to do with the word itself. We want to know when someone has completed the daily puzzle so we can talk about the word, what strategies we used to get to it, and if it stumped us or not. Some people have said they want the ability to access previous puzzles they missed, but the limited aspect of Wordle may be its best feature. The game is intentionally limited and that’s what makes the conversation around it so exciting. When a puzzle is finished you can’t wait to play the next one. This also helps extend the game’s life and avoid something like burnout.
So as we said earlier, playing Wordle is very simple. Once a day a new puzzle drops and the player will be given six chances to guess the five letter word. However, if all you do is guess blindly then you’re going to find yourself having a hard time making any progress. While the true fun of Wordle is getting through the puzzle using your own wits, we do know of a few strategies to make the experience a little smoother. The key is in how you start the game and there are few ways to go about it.
Go For The Vowels
The most popular strategy on Wordle right now is by trying to figure out how many vowels are in the word. As such, a lot of people choose to start off with a vowel-heavy word such as ADIEU. This gives the player every single vowel plus Y to work with. From that point on it’s just figuring out how to frame a word around those vowels. This may seem a little formulaic, but the truth about puzzles is that most of them are formulaic in some capacity.
The reason this strategy works is that vowels are the building blocks of most words in the English language. The majority of words are going to feature one if not multiple vowels and it’s why knowing which ones are in a word can make finding the consonants around those vowels far easier. Vowels are so powerful when it comes to forming words that in Wheel of Fortune they make players buy them.
The Wheel Of Fortune Strategy
Anyone that’s watched Wheel of Fortune knows about the bonus round where a contestant is given a blank board and one hint. However, starting in 1988 the gameshow started automatically giving contestants the series of letters RSTLNE, plus their guesses of three consonants and one vowel. Why start players off with that series of letters in particular? Because those letters happen to make up 45 percent of words in the English language.
Many players of Wordle have taken to using this strategy in their own guesses. Since Wordle requires the player to guess actual words instead of a series of letters players will typically go with something like RENTS or they’ll mix in a few more vowels to get ROAST or LINED. The goal of using this strategy is to try and find as many letters as possible early on so filling in the blanks later isn’t as much of a challenge.
However, the player chooses to go about this, as long as you’re solving the puzzle and having fun then it doesn’t really matter what you do. We’ve just found that these methods have worked best for us.
Jamie recently sat down for an interview on the popular podcast Call Her Daddy to talk about her upcoming book and discuss what it was like for her to deal with family issues in the public eye. Jamie admitted a lot of her sister’s life was kept private from her, and she only found out about Britney shaving her head from reading a blog post. Jamie said she was “never allowed” to publicly speak about her sister before because Britney’s team was so concerned with optics:
“It wasn’t even really my brand. I was a prop to a lot of things but at the same time, I was never allowed to control my own narrative or have my own voice unless it was in line with everything. I was never allowed to do or say anything that would possibly put my sister in a bad light. Honestly, I love my sister, I’m her biggest fan. But guess what? Sisters are sisters. That’s okay, and I think the biggest thing is why wasn’t that just made normal from the beginning? I was born into this family, I didn’t choose. […] Why can’t two sisters just exist in their own right? We never compared each other, the world did. We never had that dynamic or that issue. My sister, to this day, is still going to be the most badass performer that ever walked this earth.”
Jamie said staying silent about her personal life was deeply “ingrained” in her from a young age, but she’s now finally telling her side of the story:
“I couldn’t be responsible for everything that happened around her and also be authentic to myself. And I wasn’t allowed to be. I guess I didn’t have the courage to do it, I guess I was too scared, but when it’s ingrained in you so perpetually to be that way. I’m trying hard, I’m breaking a true pattern that has been ingrained in me. It is hard and I’m scared. But I have to do this. It doesn’t matter who your sister is, or who your family member is, or who your relationship is with. If something has caused you pain or this is your experience, nothing should diminish your experience. My whole life, I kind of felt like I didn’t matter.”
If 2021 Grammy Award-winning Producer Of The Year Andrew Watt has learned one thing from his years of making music with today’s top artists, it’s that a hit song doesn’t happen by accident. And seeing as his career achievements include several chart-topping singles, Watt should know better than anyone.
In his time as a producer, Watt has worked with an eclectic array of artists. His genre-spanning portfolio has had him laying down hard beats for Cardi B’s Invasion Of Privacy and Post Malone’s Hollywood’s Bleeding. On the other hand, he’s learned how to prioritize improvisation when making rock music — something he kept in mind while producing Eddie Vedder’s first solo project in over a decade, Earthling, which is out next month. But no matter the project, Watt always has one simple goal in mind: “I’m just trying to make the best songs I can possibly make.”
Today’s music fans are more connected to their favorite artists than ever before. And with millions of songs readily available at their fingertips, simply uploading a track onto a streaming platform isn’t enough to capture someone’s attention. “You can’t spoon feed people sh*t,” Watt says over the phone. “It’s not just as simple as song’s out and that’s it.” Rather, it takes a label, a producer team, a management team, an artist’s connection to their fan base, impeccable timing, and most importantly, genuine belief in an artist for a song to truly become a hit. “How many times have you heard a song you think, ‘Wow, that song is amazing.’ And then it just never becomes a hit?” he asks. “That’s because someone didn’t do their job.”
Now sitting down with Uproxx, Watt describes the process of making five of his hit songs with artists Justin Bieber, Young Thug, Ed Sheeran, Dua Lipa, Camila Cabello, and Shawn Mendes.
Justin Bieber – “Peaches”
Let’s start with Justin Bieber’s song “Peaches.” I understand that you have a really close working relationship with Justin. You’ve toured with him and you’ve been making music with him for a few years. Can you walk me through how “Peaches” was made? Was it a fairly breezy recording session?
Justin lives very close to me and I’m very good friends with him and his wife. He FaceTimed me one day, he’s like, “What are you doing today?” He rode his scooter over and we were just sitting around and he started playing these chords on the piano. I was like, “Alright, let’s record that.” I caught him on the drums, and he laid down this amazing beat.
Then I picked up a guitar and he was telling me, “Play it like this.” He got on the mic and that “Peaches” hook flew out of him. It was so amazing just to give him the space to create it and be comfortable and have the mics on for him, I didn’t need to do much. The ideas didn’t come from me. They were all coming from him, but I made him feel good enough and comfortable enough to get it out. That first initial day was just me and him and two friends jamming, no thought involved.
Young Thug – “Hate The Game”
I want to ask you about Young Thug’s song “Hate The Game.” You once said Young Thug is so prolific that he can write the most amazing song ever in just 15 minutes. What was collaborating with him on that song like? Was it that quick of a process?
I had a whole bunch of beats that I had made for him that I thought would be so interesting to hear his voice on. [“Hate The Game”] was one of the first ones I played him and he was like, “All right, send it to my engineer. Let’s go.” Without thought, the beat is on his headphones and he just starts spitting lyrics out. There’s no conversation before, there’s no nothing. The concept comes to him as he’s saying words as he’s singing melodies.
His cutting process is so interesting. He can engineer, so he’s got his engineer and he’s right next them cutting vocals. He’s moving his vocals around himself, nudging sh*t to the left, to the right, using a different take, using a different word. He’ll sing a line 12 times in a row and pick the ninth take and just knows which one’s right.
Ed Sheeran – “2Step”
You produced Ed Sheeran’s = (Equals) song “2Step.” Ed Sheeran is one of today’s top songwriters, and he not only writes music for himself, but he also writes music for other artists like BTS. What was it like producing “2Step” with Ed Sheeran since he’s used to making music for other artists as well?
I don’t think that changes his work, but what is true is that he’s a very self-contained songwriter. He can do it all on his own. We wrote three songs in one day. It was this amazing spitfire thing. We both had guitars in our hands. We were making riffs, laying down the guitar, and then he started singing melodies to himself and started writing stuff. He just starts firing off, it’s almost like a mental workout. It’s like a form of exercise, he’s got his routine and he’s so good at it. It’s high-performance songwriting.
Dua Lipa – “Break My Heart”
Let’s talk Dua Lipa’s track “Break My Heart.” And I loved how her album, Future Nostalgia, was very ’80s disco-inspired. Can you talk about producing the song?
It was the first time we ever worked together. Whenever I’m working with an artist for the first time, I always try and make a simple recording on my phone of a guitar riff, just a place to start. I showed them to her and she was really cool, sweet, and respectful and listened. She then said, “That doesn’t really feel like me. Let me show you some of my stuff that I’m making.” That album, that perfect album, she played us half of it, so I started to hear what vibe she was on.
I just picked up the bass and I started playing this lick. It came from what I equate funky music to be, and she said, “That, I love. Record that.” Melodies just started flying out from all of us, and we came up with the idea to synchronize the hook with the bass line. It doesn’t happen often, but that song was written, tracked, and produced all in the same night. We were just on fire and we nailed it. She was in such a confident place and she brought it on another level. When an artist knows what they want and can give you vision, the sky’s the limit.
Camila Cabello and Shawn Mendes – “Señorita”
You produced “Señorita” by Camila Cabello and Shawn Mendes. This song is different than other typical collaborations because it’s a song that puts an equal amount of importance on both the singers’ lines and also has a lot of interplaying vocal harmonies.
That song took a long time — opposite of the Dua Lipa song. Shawn and Camila’s relationship speaks for itself. Those two are clearly bonded and will be very close friends for life. They kind of fell in love over the song or admitted that they were in love in this process of the song. I don’t pretend to understand anyone’s relationship, but I was seeing what I was seeing from it during the process. And those vocals are reflective of that, the desire and the passion comes through in the song.
Both of them were very militant in how they produced their vocals and how many times they wanted to sing it until it was great. They’re songwriters that take their craft very, very seriously. We pushed it until it was the best it could ever be, and when one of them would call and want to sing it again, the answer would be, “Okay, let’s do it and see if it’s better.” And it was always better, every time. As effortless as the song sounds, a lot of time and effort went into that song to make sure it was the best it could be.
Eddie Vedder’s Earthling is out 2/11 via Seattle Surf Co/Republic. Pre-order it here.
Some of the artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Ecdysis is a word that refers to when reptiles and insects shed their old layers of skin or outer cuticles. Conceptually, the word speaks to rebirth, or better yet, a renewal, which sums up the long-awaited return of Darkside that happened last year. Following an eight-year hiatus, the duo of Chilean electronic producer/vocalist Nicolás Jaar and American guitarist/multi-instrumentalist Dave Harrington came back to release the standout album Spiral, proving that the pair have a lot left in the tank. The nine tracks on their latest album, stacked up handsomely to their 2013 breakthrough Psychic, and today we’ve learned that there was more music from the Spiral sessions that needed to be put out into the world.
Enter, “Ecdysis!,” the track, a glitchy and cacophonous number at first that unfolds into Jaar’s reverb-soaked vocals and a propulsive beat. Digital meets organic, in what feels like a synthesis of Amazonian noise before Harrington’s glorious guitar builds and jams the tune upwards into canopies of sound. It slots effortlessly alongside similarly constructed tracks like “The Limit” and “Liberty Bell,” showing that the pair’s symbiotic penchant for experimentation sees no bounds. “From the beginning, Darkside has been our jam band. Something we did on days off. When we reconvened, it was because we really couldn’t wait to jam together again,” Jaar said in a statement. “It felt like it was time again,” Harrington added.
When Microsoft announced that it was purchasing Activision, the video game world shook. This was two of the largest companies in the industry joining together to give Microsoft the ownership of major IPs like Call of Duty, Warcraft, and Candy Crush. How would that not feel impactful? What was really shocking though was the sheer amount of money involved in the deal.
A $56.1 billion difference isn’t just a gap. It’s such a laughably large difference that it’s hard to believe. It even eclipses the biggest gaming industry merger that took place in 2007, also involving Activision, when Activision and Vivendi Games merged for a deal valued at $18.7 billion. All of these deals eclipse Microsoft’s previous massive developer acquisition when it acquired Bethesda for $7.5 billion — or when Activision Blizzard purchased King for $6.5 billion.
We have no idea what this means for the industry as a whole or what all of the short and long-term impacts will be, but the sheer scale of this acquisition is simply unheard of in the gaming world. We don’t think we’re going to see another one like this for a long time, but who knows, maybe Sony will feel pushed to seek out its own massive purchase.
Maggie Rogers released her career-launching debut album Heard It In A Past Life on January 18, 2019, and since then, fans have been eager to hear more from the Harvard grad school student. Well, the album celebrates its three-year anniversary today and Rogers has marked the occasion by suggesting that new music is on the way.
On Twitter today, Rogers wrote, “happy birthday HIIAPL [lightning bolt emoji] the covid era has taught me that time is elastic and my sanity is kept by keeping friends + community close. feeling so much of that today. thank u for your endless support and care. it’s nearly time to begin again…” This comes a few days after Rogers shared a new photo of herself (which is now her social media profile picture) and wrote, “okay 2022, let’s have some fun [lightning bolt emoji].”
happy birthday HIIAPL the covid era has taught me that time is elastic and my sanity is kept by keeping friends + community close. feeling so much of that today
In recent weeks, Rogers has also shared photos of herself in New York’s Electric Lady Studios and England’s Real World Studios, taken between October 2020 and June 2021. Back in March 2021, she wrote on Instagram, “this record is my favorite work i’ve ever made. feels like being 17 again. everything so fresh and free.” Then, this past October, she tweeted, “making the record ill tour for a lifetime.”
Wild Turkey is putting out some serious whiskeys right now. Their Russell’s Reserve 13 was one of the most lauded and sought-after bottles of 2021 (it made our top 20 bourbons of the year). But Jimmy and Eddie Russell (the father and son team behind Wild Turkey) released another 13-year-old expression last year that didn’t quite get the same coverage — though it is burning up the secondary market.
We’re talking about Wild Turkey Father And Son Aged 13 Years.
Haven’t heard about this one? You could be forgiven. Wild Turkey Father And Son was released on the traveler’s exclusive market in 2021. But due to covid pummeling the travel industry, pallets of the bourbon were later released on the European market. Those bottles eventually made their way to the secondary market in the U.S., and now the whiskey is making the rounds in the U.S. (for a very marked up price).
We’re going to look at what’s in the bottle in this review. This is about taste, not accessibility. Whether you want to pay a huge markup for this one is up to you.
This whiskey is hewn from barrels that meet a specific flavor profile selected by father and son team Jimmy and Eddie Russell. The juice is classic Turkey with a mash bill of 75 percent corn, 13 percent rye, and 12 percent barley. Beyond that, the whiskey rests for 13 years before it’s vatted and then proofed way down (for a Turkey release anyway) with that famously soft Kentucky limestone water.
Tasting Notes:
The nose opens with lush notes of cherry tobacco, dried summer flowers, eggnog spice, rich vanilla oils, freshly fried apple fritters, and a touch of orange oils lurking in the background. The palate is … interesting. There’s a mix of light cedar next to a Hostess Cherry Pie vibe, a touch of fancy root beer with plenty of sassafras, dry vanilla husks, and a hint more orange. Brittle toffee covered in chalky dark chocolate arrives on the mid-palate and leads towards a finish that has a leathery tobacco spice next to a dried-out black tea feel that ultimately ends a little soft and watery on the short finish.
The Bottle:
This comes in the same one-liter bottle that Kentuck Spirit (Wild Turkey’s single barrel release) comes in. It’s heavy and feels like a bigger bottle in your hand when you pour it. The label is to the point but completely different than any other Turkey release, helping it stand out on your bar cart.
Bottom Line:
This is super easy to drink neat or on the rocks but might disappear a little in a cocktail thanks to that low ABV.
Ranking:
85/100 — This peters out a little on the finish, which is slightly disappointing for 13-year-old whiskey. There’s still enough going on through the opening half of the sip that helps it shine, but that’s just not enough to wow. It really feels like it should have a slightly higher ABV.
That’s all to say, I wouldn’t pay the steep markup for this one unless you’re putting it in a vault.
Pacers big man Myles Turner is expected to be one of the most sought after players at this year’s trade deadline, as Turner, who has often found his name in trade rumors, is firmly on the trade block again as the Pacers look to make some significant roster changes amid a disappointing season.
Unfortunately, Turner missed Monday night’s loss to the Clippers with soreness in his left foot, which led to further testing that revealed a stress reaction that the Pacers announced Tuesday will keep Turner out for at least the next two weeks.
Pacers forward/center Myles Turner – who missed yesterday’s game against the Clippers due to a sore left ankle/foot – has been examined by multiple specialists, who have determined the injury to be a stress reaction in his left foot.
Turner will continue to receive treatment and will be re-examined in two weeks, at which time the Pacers’ medical team will re-assess his status.
Turner’s two-week timeframe would mean he will be getting re-examined a week before the deadline, and those tests could very well determine if Turner gets moved at the deadline, as teams surely will put a pause on talks given the uncertainty around his foot injury. Hopefully he will be able to make a full and swift recovery and, just maybe, get a fresh start outside of Indianapolis as he has made clear that he wants more opportunity after feeling like a “glorified role player” for the Pacers.
When it comes to media coverage of new rap releases, one voice fans seek out — if only for entertainment value rather than insight — is Joe Budden. The ex-rapper has been ruthless about demeaning contemporary artists’ albums on his podcast in the past, calling Logic one of the worst rappers ever, trolling Jay Electronica on the release of his long-awaited debut, and goading Eminem into a war of words, amidst dealing with his own personal drama after being accused of sexual harassment and shady business practices by his former employees.
He continued that trend on the latest episode of his podcast as he addressed Earl Sweatshirt’s newly released album, Sick!, which contains the tracks “Tabula Rasa” and “Titanic.” While the project was received well by fans on social media, Budden expressed an opposite view, staunchly declaring that he refused to even give it a cursory listen. Despite this, he still had plenty to say on the subject as he raked Earl over the coals, although Earl’s name is mysteriously censored — even though Joe’s comments make it fairly obvious who he’s referring to.
“I’m just being honest this year,” he said. “Hell no, I ain’t hear that bullsh*t! And I’ll tell you what, I’m never gonna hear ’em! I am never gonna hear that. I don’t care. That sh*t could be [Michael Jackson’s] Thriller. When would I put that on?” He expounded on his reasoning by pointing out he’s never heard a request to play Earl from a specific demographic. “Let me tell you how shallow I am,” he explained. “If a baddie comes in and throws on [Earl] and there’s some slaps on there, and then maybe another baddie comes… but I’ll be honest, that ain’t happened.”
He also blamed his reticence to play Earl’s new music on the LA rapper’s deteriorated relationship with Tyler The Creator. “Is [Earl] on Tyler’s last album?” he asked. “Is [Earl] on Tyler’s album before that album? How about the one before that one? All right, yo. Forget it. But you expect me to listen to it. [His] man won’t call him to come to the f*cking studio. Yo, when your man stop inviting you to the studio, you’re not getting me to listen to what you’re doing. Sorry, that’s like a rule of thumb for me.”
Unfortunately for Joe, fans don’t agree with his insistence that he’s just being honest, attributing his attitude to leftover resentment after Earl roasted him with an unflattering impression during an episode of Loiter Squad in 2014.
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