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Now that Dune: Part Two has been officially greenlit, fans of director Denis Villeneuve‘s take on the classic sci-fi novel have already started to relax with the fear of Warner Bros. passing on a sequel no longer hanging in the air. In fact, Dune fans are downright jubilant as their excitement quickly morphed into making 800 jokes about the title.

Below you’ll find a wide assortment of potential Dune 2 titles that are almost as wild as the Duncan Idaho jokes that filled up social media following the first film’s release. People really couldn’t believe that was the name of Jason Momoa’s character.

Anyway, Dune 2: Secret of the Dune Ooze jokes ahoy!

Exquisite poop jokes aside, it appears the title of the sequel will be the considerably un-puntastic, Dune: Part Two. However, on the bright side, Villeneuve and the cast are officially confirmed to return, according to The Hollywood Reporter:

“I just received news from Legendary that we are officially moving forward with Dune: Part Two,” Villeneuve said in a statement. “It was a dream of mine to adapt Frank Herbert’s Dune and I have the fans, the cast, and crew, Legendary and Warner Bros. to thank for supporting this dream. This is only the beginning.”

Dune: Part Two is currently scheduled to hit theaters in October 2023.

In a truly stunning, very public display of self-incrimination, Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, who’s currently under suspicion for aiding the organizers of the Jan. 6th insurrection, gave an on-air interview defending the Captiol Hill attacks and invoking the Declaration of Independence as a possible defense.

Currently, two of the organizers of the MAGA mob that attacked the Congressional building, hoping to thwart the Democratic process of certifying Joe Biden as the next president, are cooperating with the investigation into the violent uprising. According to a Rolling Stone report, the planners of the insurrection recently revealed that multiple GOP members of Congress including Paul Gosar, Lauren Boebert, and yes, Marjorie Taylor Greene, had helped them orchestrate the attack by meeting with them before the rally and leaking sensitive information.

While the others deny any involvement, Greene is taking a different approach to defending herself in the court of public opinion. She gave an interview in which she described the insurrection as “just a riot” before referencing the Declaration of Independence, claiming the founding document justifies “overthrowing tyrants.”

Now, the backflips involved in equating a coordinated attack on a federal building aimed at disrupting a sacred democratic process with any other kind of riot while also describing Black Lives Matter protests as “the strongest terrorist threat” in our country would make even Simone Biles dizzy. But it’s the “overthrowing tyrants” bit that feels especially bizarre considering Donald Trump was technically still president at the time of the insurrection as Joe Biden had yet to be inaugurated.

Maybe she can work that bit of mental gymnastics out for us behind bars.

(Via Hill Reporter & GOP Accountability Project)

I’m starting to wonder, you know, if this whole Dave Chappelle/Netflix situation has gone off the rails. Yes, this was kind-of the case a few weeks ago, but the situation keeps magnifying itself with every statement that Chappelle makes about The Closer, which saw him tell a a string of homophobic “jokes.” Among other remarks, Dave declared that he is “Team TERF” and agrees with J.K. Rowling’s TERF-aligned remarks. He further proclaimed, “gender is a fact,” and all of this prompted a Netflix employee walkout, along with Emmy-winning Nanette comedian Hannah Gadsby expressing disappointment that Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos handed Chappelle “20 million dollars to process his emotionally stunted partial world view.”

In turn, Chappelle expressed frustration for the situation onstage where he listed a set of demands to sit down with Netflix’s trans employees. Among those conditions, he wanted them to “admit that Hannah Gadsby is not funny.” That led to a lot of eye rolls from Gadsby supporters. And Dave also complained about being cancelled by everyone but Ted Sarandos and Netflix.

Well, Chappelle received some support from an unlikely source on Tuesday morning. That would be the Fox and Friends gang and, more specifically, Christopher Columbus superfan Brian Kilmeade. Is this the support that Chappelle was looking for? That’s undetermined, but here is is anyway, via Mediaite:

“So, there’s a couple of things. Number one is, first they came for conservatives, now they’re getting comedians.. and when you come after Dave Chappelle, you have really gone too far, and you’ve bitten off more than you can chew.

Kilmeade did add the following as well: “I mean, he’s hardly a champion for Fox or anything else, but what he is is someone who speaks his mind and can’t exist without doing it.” That’s a lukewarm endorsement, sure, but this isn’t the first time that Kilmeade stepped up for Chappelle. In 2019, Brian defended Dave as the face of “free speech.”

Meanwhile, it’s worth remembering that, only a few short weeks ago, Chappelle proclaimed (of being “cancelled”) that “I love it.”

(Via Mediaite)

One of the greatest American footballers to ever live will call it a career on Tuesday night. Carli Lloyd will lead the United States women’s national team onto the pitch against South Korea in Saint Paul for the final time, marking the 316th time the New Jersey native will play a game in the red, white, and blue.

Lloyd’s national team career achievements are near-peerless: Two Olympic gold medals, two World Cups, 134 goals, and a collection of trophies in her trophy case that indicate she held the title of best player in the world at one time or another. Among her many career highlights is one of the greatest individual performances, man or woman, we have ever seen in a World Cup final, as Lloyd banged in three first half goals — including a chip from midfield that was a finalist for FIFA’s Puskás Award that year — en route to a 5-2 drubbing of Japan.

Ahead of Lloyd’s final match — which will feature an isolated camera on her that’s available on the Fox Sports app and social media accounts — Uproxx Sports caught up with former U.S. international and current Fox Sports broadcaster Aly Wagner, who will be in the booth on Tuesday night’s broadcast. Wagner’s been there since the beginning of Lloyd’s career — the pair were teammates on the youth national team, while Lloyd received her first appearance with the side as a substitute in place of Wagner. Now, before Lloyd’s last appearance, we asked Wagner about the various things that made her one of the biggest names in world football and much more.

How long have you known Carli, and how often did you play together during your career?

I don’t know how long I’ve known her. I know that we played on the U-20 national team together. She was in and out of that pool, wasn’t necessarily a regular. I don’t know if she came to the Nordic Cup, which was, at the time, the biggest tournament that we had for that age group. So, I’ve known her probably, I’m going to go with over 20 years, playing with her on the youth national level, and then obviously, the senior team when when she broke in. So, a long time.

And what is it about Carli — whether it’s her game, how she’s wired, whatever it might be — that has led to her being this institution, and not just American soccer, but really worldwide soccer for so long?

The reality is her mentality is massive. And her mentality is what set her apart. I mean, you often see in all sports — men, women — that the talent is there for many people, and it’s how you apply yourself, and your commitment to your craft, and the mentality that ultimately sets people apart. And that has been, I think, Carli Lloyd’s game changer, if you will, that has put her on, as you said, that global level, and she just came through in big moments. Not a lot of players can say that, some of the best in the world can’t say that, that they don’t show up in the big moments. And Carli was one that, again, I go back to the mentality piece, she didn’t shy away from those challenges, she looked at them and said, “This is mine, and bring it on.”

And that, ultimately, will be her legacy. Look at her hat trick in the World Cup. That doesn’t happen in the final, it just doesn’t happen. She had the big goals in the Olympics for us to win, and she did it at times when she wasn’t even having the best game, and to be able to come through in a big way, that’s what sets her apart.

I know that you have 131 national team caps in your career, this is going to be 316 for Carli. What goes through your mind, as someone who had such a long and successful national team career, when you see a person appear for the team just that sheer number of times?

Well, I think there’s definitely a hint of insanity [laughs]. All those brilliant players, they’ve got that longevity in their career and the desire to do it for that long, I really do believe it takes a different person to be able to play for the national team 300 times, I don’t know if it’ll ever happen again.

But the national team is a grind. The national team, as much as people look at it from the outside and think this is just the coolest place to play, it’s got to be the best experience, got to be loads of fun, you’re on a high all the time, you’re winning, you’re a celebrity, that is so far from the reality. It is an absolute grind. And so, those players like Carli that have been able to do it over 300 times, again, goes back to the special mentality and ability to put the work in, to do it over and over again, and to find some joy in that.

So, the longevity of her career, actually, is probably … I would just say Carli Lloyd’s career absolutely surprised me. It’s a testament to again, her mentality, but it’s a really good lesson for young players, because this is a player that was in and out of the national team at the youth stages. She was left off of major rosters, she’d come into camp and wouldn’t perform as a young player. And for her to go on and have the career that she did, and to become that player that I’m describing now, because I don’t think that was who she was early on. And I think that’s a really, really interesting fact that maybe doesn’t get talked about enough, just the evolution that she herself made. And I think she gives a lot of credit, actually, to Jerry Smith, our U-21 coach at the time, who’s now the Santa Clara coach, in helping her kind of shift her mentality, shift her focus more towards driving towards the goal.

We all get to be the beneficiaries of that switch of mentality. But, again, the longevity of her career has been something to see. She’s so close to me in age and there’s no way I still wanted, I mean, I didn’t want to keep playing. It wore me down, it did not wear her down.

Yeah, and you mentioned just like, the insanity of playing that sheer number of games. Like, it’s taken to another level, I imagine, when you consider the fact that the expectation with the USWNT is you’re winning and you were keeping that perch as the best team on earth for any time you step onto the pitch, which he’s been doing for 15, 16 years now.

The national team, again, the misperception maybe that exists with this team is, for a very long time, our training sessions were harder than our games. There were a handful of games that challenged us and those were world events against the top teams in the world. But those games were few and far between. It’s a grind in national team camps, in January camp, those elements were incredibly demanding and taxing. And then you add on that you have to be the best in the world. I don’t think the best in the world tagline for pressure really affected us at the earlier stages, in the earlier stages of her career. You’d have to talk to her, but early on, that pressure, expectation was easy, I think, to almost handle, because like I said, there’s only a handful of teams that could knock us off.

But now, it’s so different. Every game is is demanding in different ways, whether it’s tactically, physically, these other changes, so much better. So, for her to transition from what we had early on to now, the pressure and how much that has evolved, especially with social media and the scrutiny that is out there, the accessibility of these players, of their performances, the stats that are public knowledge to whether or not it will support whether someone played well, it’s pretty crazy. So, all of those elements with the demands of being the number one team in the world, again speak to her strength, internal confidence, but I think it’s also, that’s the joy of being on the national team, too, is you want to be the top dog, and you want to be the team that people are gunning for. And so, I think as much as we can talk about that wearing someone down, I think that also is the motivating factor to stay in that role and to be the the fulcrum that continues to push this team into that limelight.

What is it about what she can do on the pitch that has made, just from a sheer talent perspective, such a handful for whomever is lining up against her even to this point?

I think that’s evolved over over the course of her career. Where she was special was in her finishing ability, and she wasn’t always a very great two-way player. I think that, the shift in when she decided to be a good defender as a midfielder, that pushed her to another level. And then she moved up further in the field. She already had the intelligence and understanding of the game, the tactical know how existed when she was in to that nine position. But she was always a killer around the goal. You think about Carli Lloyd’s career and you’re thinking about goals, and the fact that she was a midfielder for most of her career, I think elucidates that, and it’s not like she was always playing a 10. She was sometimes playing in that eight position and having to do the defensive work. I think what set Carli Lloyd apart, honestly, is really her finishing ability as soon as you got in around that 18.

You were a national team player when some of the best to ever wear the red, white, and blue ended their careers like — Mia Hamm, Julie Foudy, etc. As someone who knows what it’s like to watch those sorts of icons from that the generation before you retire, what’s going to go through the minds of the other 10 players on the pitch as they know this is Carli’s last game?

It’s funny you asked that, because we were just having a prep call for our game on Tuesday. And I’ll tell you, it’s gonna be mixed emotions. The players that played with her that know they’re getting up there in age are going to feel like this is the beginning of the end of their era, even though they know what’s around the corner, they can sniff it. They’re absolutely going to feel a bit nostalgic and recognize that someone very close in their age, that has followed the trajectory of their career, is bowing out in a big way and being celebrated. And so, there’s going to be a bit of probably anticipation of what’s around the corner for them. So I think it’ll be a bit sad.

And, of course, it’s a celebration, but I think there’s gonna be personal emotions on that level. Some of the younger players, like you said, I’ve been there, some of the younger players are going to be sad to miss such a strong personality as a leader in her actions with this national team, because she is that last, I think, great tie to the older generations that came and played when no one was watching, when there wasn’t social media, when the games weren’t covered. And she was really one of the last ones who have experienced that, and to be able to impart what work had to happen behind the scenes and without without any expectation of glory on the flip side. I think there’s going to be an element for the younger players that are going to be a little bit nervous and hesitant to not have that pillar of foundation within the program anymore.

But I also think there’s going to be some excitement that the shadow, the legend of Carli Lloyd will no longer be looming, and they can maybe step into the light and become the next leader for this national team and become that next player where they’re no longer maybe having to vie for that position. Because as much as it’s a family, it’s also a competitive family. So, I think there’s going to be individually mixed emotions across the board given the differential in age that you have on the team.

The Olympics are now in the rear view, the big tournament Up next is the CONCACAF championship next year, World Cup in ’23. What are the biggest things you want to see the team focus on in the lead up to next summer?

What I just spoke to is selflessness and togetherness, that fight and the spirit to … almost against all odds, as much as that sounds absurd, because this team has a lot given to them. But that underdog mentality, that something to prove, that “we’re going to be special because we’re going to be unified, and we’re going to work together.” I think that emotional motivation absolutely needs to be there if they’re going to go win another world championship.

And then tactically, I think an element of bravery again, which is so crazy to say, but we looked a bit scared and the Olympics and players didn’t want to take responsibility. So, the ability to be fearless, to not feel that pressure, to take chances, take risks. And then, I think the team in the final third needs to evolve. The balance of not forcing it after they regain it in high positions, to be patient in those moments. And then also, the ability to break down teams that are going to sit low, I think this team has a lot of special talent in the center of the field, and to be able to access that resource and utilize those players more is going to be massive. The way we played in the Olympics was almost like, the left side played with the left side, the right side played with the right side, and the midfielders didn’t connect with each other essentially enough. And so, there wasn’t that utilization down at the heart of the team and the connection with that nine. So, those elements I would absolutely say have to evolve going forward.

And then my last question, how has it been over the last however many months getting back into the booth, watching a soccer game in front of you, interacting with fans in the stadium, all those sorts of things after not having the chance to do that for a year or so?

Amazing. You take for granted sometimes the little things, and just getting back in the stadium, seeing fans, actually talking to the players, and being able to see tactics, I mean, man, that’s the joy of what we do, is to celebrate these players, the beauty of their actions, and to be able to try to impart that onto the audience. When you’re in the stadium, there’s nothing like it. You get to see it, witness it, and feel it, most importantly. So, it’s been fantastic. I love it. Hopefully we stay the course and we don’t have to go back.

PinkPantheress has had a huge year thanks to her come-up on TikTok. Since then, she signed to Parlophone and dropped a handful of singles, and one of them, “Just For Me,” caught the attention of some pretty big-time players: Coldplay. Chris Martin is so into PinkPantheress, in fact, that he and the band decided to cover the song during their new BBC Radio 1 Live Lounge performance.

Introducing the slow piano-focused cover, Martin said, “I was thinking about this a while ago and I was learning about PinkPantheress, and she’s so great and talented and wonderful and from west country. Her song sounds a bit different, and I was just messing around with it on piano, and I thought it might be quite nice to make this slow and old Coldplay-ish, you know what I mean? So that’s what we’re going to try to do. But it’s a brilliant, brilliant song. Excited to watch what she does.”

PinkPantheress previously said of the track, “I made this song with Mura Masa. I was sat with him, just going through references, and he started making the loop. I’ve never said this before, but I remember being like, ‘I don’t know if I’m going to be able to write anything good to this,’ and then it just came, after 20 minutes of sitting there wondering what I could do. The line ‘When you wipe your tears, do you wipe them just for me?’ just slipped off the tongue.”

Watch a snippet of the “Just For Me” cover above and listen to Coldplay’s full Live Lounge set here.

Coldplay is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

The War On Drugs are one of the best pure rock and roll bands in the business, and their fifth album, I Don’t Live Here Anymore, is out this Friday. As the band’s Adam Granduciel has crossed into his 40s, he’s spent the past few years reflecting and reckoning on the wild times we’re living in, and what the next phase of life looks like for us as individuals.

The final single before the album’s release, “Change,” addresses exactly that. With a groove that’s more reminiscent of Petty than Springsteen, it’s another fine installment in the classic American rock and roll that the Philadelphia band have been perfecting since their 2008 debut Wagonwheel Blues and on albums like A Deeper Understanding, their 2017 Grammy-winner for Best Rock Album.

Speaking of the song with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe, Granduciel had this to say:

“I think this song in the record is kind of like about move into a new chapter gracefully, you know what I mean? And accept that everyone makes mistakes or has a difficult time with certain things or wish they could have done this or that. But when it’s time to commit and to just move forward to do so knowing that you live by a certain code or that you kind of have been through enough to where you want to understand what it is you’re looking for in your new chapter.”

Listen to “Change” above and check out the band’s extensive list of upcoming tour dates below.

11/12/2021 — Lake Perris, CA @ Desert Daze
01/19/2022 — Austin, TX – ACL Live
01/20/2022 — Austin, TX @ ACL Live
01/21/2022 — Dallas, TX @ Toyota Music Factory
01/22/2022 — Houston, TX @ White Oak Music Hall
01/24/2022 — Nashville, TN @ Ryman Auditorium
01/25/2022 — Atlanta, GA @ Tabernacle
01/27/2022 — Philadelphia, PA @ The Met Philadelphia
01/28/2022 — Philadelphia, PA @ The Met Philadelphia
01/29/2022 — New York, NY @ Madison Square Garden
01/31/2022 — Boston, MA @ House of Blues
02/01/2022 — Boston, MA @ House of Blues
02/02/2022 — Washington, DC @ The Anthem
02/04/2022 — Columbus, OH @ Express Live!
02/05/2022 — Toronto, Ontario @ Queen Elizabeth Theatre
02/06/2022 — Toronto, Ontario @ Queen Elizabeth Theatre
02/08/2022 — Detroit, MI @ The Fillmore Detroit
02/10/2022 — Chicago, IL @ Chicago Theatre
02/11/2022 — Chicago, IL @ Chicago Theatre
02/12/2022 — Milwaukee, WI @ Riverside Theater
02/13/2022 — Milwaukee, WI @ Riverside Theater
02/15/2022 — Saint Paul, MN @ Palace Theatre
02/16/2022 — Saint Paul, MN @ Palace Theatre
02/18/2022 — Denver, CO @ Mission Ballroom
02/19/2022 — Salt Lake City, UT @ The Union
02/21/2022 — Seattle, WA @ Paramount Theatre
02/22/2022 — Seattle, WA @ Paramount Theatre
02/23/2022 — Portland, OR @ Theater of the Clouds
02/25/2022 — San Francisco, CA @ Bill Graham Civic Auditorium
02/26/2022 — Los Angeles, CA @ Shrine Auditorium
03/22/2022 — Helsinki, Finland @ Helsinki Ice Hall
03/24/2022 — Stockholm, Sweden @ Annexet
03/27/2022 — Oslo, Norway @ Sentrum Scene
03/28/2022 — Oslo, Norway @ Sentrum Scene
03/30/2022 — Copenhagen, Denmark @ KB Hallen
03/31/2022 — Copenhagen, Denmark @ KB Hallen
04/02/2022 — Berlin, Germany @ Verti Music Hall
04/04/2022 — Zurich, Switzerland @ Halle 622
04/05/2022 — Milano, Italy @ Alcatraz
04/07/2022 — München, Germany @ Zenith
04/09/2022 — Paris, France @ L’Olympia
04/11/2022 — Birmingham, England @ O2 Academy Birmingham
04/12/2022 — London, England @ The O2 Arena
04/14/2022 — Dublin, Ireland @ 3 Arena
04/16/2022 — Leeds, England @ First Direct Arena
04/18/2022 — Edinburgh, England @ Edinburgh Corn Exchange
04/20/2022 — Köln, Germany @ Palladium
04/21/2022 — Wiesbaden, Germany @ Schlachthof
04/22/2022 — Amsterdam, Netherlands @ Ziggo Dome
04/23/2022 — Antwerp, Belgium @ Sportpaleis

I Don’t Live Here Anymore is out 10/29 via Atlantic Records. Pre-order it here.

The War On Drugs is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Facebook isn’t having an easy time of it lately. Just weeks after whistleblower Frances Haugen did an interview with 60 Minutes, then appeared before Congress to detail the lengths she alleges the company will go to in order to put profits before its people (employees and Facebook users alike), more than 10,000 pages of private company documents were leaked, exposing the company and its practices to even further scrutiny. And Jimmy Kimmel had some thoughts about that on Monday night’s show:

“The Facebook Papers, which is what they’re being called, provide an unprecedented view into how executives at the social media giant weigh tradeoffs between public safety and their own bottom line. Turns out they weigh them, umm, incorrectly.

Mark Zuckerberg told Congress last year [that] the company removes 94 percent of the hate speech it finds, but the researchers discovered Facebook was actually removing less than five percent of hate speech. And you know how they discovered this? They went on Facebook!”

Kimmel wasn’t surprised to learn any of this, and laid out what Facebook knows about all of its users: “Let me clear it up for you what Facebook knows: They know everything. They know your social security number, they know where you live, they know what you’re having for lunch, they know the winners of the next five Super Bowls. They’re basically SPECTRE, but we can’t stop because we have to monitor the weight of our former love interests.”

You can watch the full clip above, beginning around the 7:25 mark.

Picking just one of anything is a difficult task. That’s why picking a spouse is taken so seriously (and why so many folks mess it up!). It’s almost equally thorny when it comes to the world of alcohol. For aficionados, picking only one tequila, rum, rye, bourbon, or single malt Scotch to drink forever is extremely daunting.

Luckily, polyamory between booze brands is encouraged. And with endless options on the market, the whole conversation is purely hypothetical. Still, it’s a fun one to have, because your favorite whisky isn’t always your “desert island whisky” — you’ll want something with enough nuance to keep you coming back for more across decades.

With more than 100 distilleries dotted throughout Scotland, single malt Scotch makes an especially intriguing “one bottle for the rest of your life” topic. So we asked a handful of our favorite bartenders to pick theirs and let chaos ensue. Though many tried to sneak two bottles in, they eventually all landed on a single expression they could live (forever) with.

Keep scrolling to see what these drinks pros selected. Tell us your own picks in the comments!

GlenDronach 15 Revival

Brendan Pineda, manager and buyer at Plumpjack Wine & Spirits in San Francisco

ABV: 46%
Average Price: $99

Why This Bottle?

GlenDronach 15 Year Revival. This whisky is aged in sherry casks which provide flavors of maraschino cherries, dark chocolate, and figs. Followed by flavors of honey and apricot.

It’s a whisky you can have during summer and spring but it’s also perfect for the colder months.

Oban 14

Nicholas Karel, director of bars, lounges, and beverages at Windsor Court Hotel in New Orleans

ABV: 43%
Average Price: $95

Why This Bottle?

Oban 14 is my desert island single malt scotch whisky. Lightly peated, this Scotch is the perfect balance between sweetness and smoke with exceptional depth and richness.

The Macallan 18 Sherry Oak

Mohamed Khald, food and beverage manager at The Vinoy Renaissance in St. Petersburg, Florida

ABV: 43%
Average Price: $350

Why This Bottle?

The Macallan 18, known for its combination of dried fruits, spice, orange, wood smoke, and an exceptionally well-balanced, aromatic finish. A sip will reveal rich, warm flavors of toasted oak with a sweet finish.

Glenfiddich 25 Rare Oak

Lauren Parton, general manager of Devereaux in Chicago

ABV: 43%
Average Price: $599

Why This Bottle?

To quote Swingers, “Any Glen will do.” But for me, either Glenrothes or Glenfiddich, 25 and older. Extremely smooth, and with a depth of flavor it’s dessert in a glass. This is especially true for the Glenfiddich 25 Rare Oak.

Ardbeg 10

Elvyra Cucovic, beverage manager at Kimpton Surfcomber Hotel’s The Social Club in Miami

ABV: 46%
Average Price: $59.99

Why This Bottle?

If I were to pick one single malt Scotch to drink for the rest of my life, it would be Ardbeg 10. I love that it is super peaty and you get an intense smoke smell and flavor right off the bat. You also get a lot of sweetness and spice from this Scotch, which offsets the smoke flavor nicely. One great way to enjoy this Scotch is alongside a cup of Lapsang Souchong tea, a smoked black tea. Tasting it with another smoky beverage allows you to taste so much more in this scotch: vanilla, citrus, salt, flowers.

There’s so much going on in Ardbeg 10 without it being too much.

Laphroaig Triple Wood

Christian Taibi, head mixologist at The Surfjack Hotel & Swim Club in Honolulu, Hawaii

ABV: 48%
Average Price: $75

Why This Bottle?

Laphroaig Triple Wood has the aroma of a beautifully peated Scotch, the body of a delicate bourbon, and the sweet finish of Oloroso sherry. It’s in my opinion the breakfast, lunch, and dinner of single malts.

The Balvenie 14-Year-Old Caribbean Cask

Alex Barbatsis, head bartender at The Whistler in Chicago

ABV: 43%
Average Price: $99

Why This Bottle?

The Balvenie 14-Year-Old Caribbean Cask single malt Scotch whisky is one of my favorites. It’s finished in a Caribbean rum cask, so some fun banana, ester notes come through. It’s the perfect dram for a cold day when you actually wish you were on a tropical island.

Lagavulin 16

Jess Collins, beverage director at Toups Meatery in New Orleans

ABV: 43%
Average Price: $105

Why This Bottle?

Lagavulin 16 is my all-time favorite single malt Scotch. It has strong salt and pepper notes but is also slightly fruity which I think balances out the peat nicely. It’s great for fall and winter, maybe sitting by the fire wearing your most comfy sweater.

Laphroaig Lore

Christy Bradley, spirit guide at Virgin Hotels in New Orleans

ABV: 48%
Average Price: $150

Why This Bottle?

Laphroaig Lore. It is really complex. Crafted from all kinds of different barrel aging. You get a lot of that great smoke but also hints of ocean air and sea salt.

Talisker 25

Darron Foy, bar manager at The Flatiron Room in New York City

ABV: 45.8%
Average Price: $599

Why This Bottle?

Talisker 25-year single malt. I’ve always loved Talisker and had the good fortune to pick a bottle of this up on a trip to Skye. It delivers on so many levels! Showcasing the character of the island – sea-salted air and pepper hits with subtle peat and red berry notes, the finish is long and deep with licorice, aniseed, and more of that peppery goodness.

A fabulous dram from a fabulous distillery.

Ardbeg Supernova

Mallory O’Meara, bartender and author of GIRLY DRINKS: A World History of Women and Alcohol

ABV: 54.3%
Average Price: $199

Why This Bottle?

The Ardbeg Supernova, no question. It’s the best Scotch I’ve ever tasted. Anything that Dr. Rachel Barrie creates is superb, but the Supernova is, pun intended, out of this world. It’s a brilliantly balanced combination of spicy, smoky, and fruity, like warming yourself up next to a bonfire while mulling cider.

Absolutely stunning.

The Balvenie Doublewood 12

Nicholas Bennett, beverage director at Porchlight in New York City

ABV: 43%
Average Price: $70

Why This Bottle?

My desert island scotch is the Balvenie Doublewood 12. This is a wonderfully rich and complex whisky that really exemplifies the best of both worlds. It is first matured in refill American oak casks, so you get some bourbon characteristics like spice and a little vanilla followed by dried fruit and some nuttiness from the European oak Oloroso sherry butts they use to finish the aging.

Ardbeg Uigeadail

Emily Franchy, bartender at Uffda Hospitality in Louisville, Kentucky

ABV: 54.2%
Average Price: $85

Why This Bottle?

Ardbeg Uigeadail is my one and only single malt Scotch. The sherry cask finish makes it the most perfect blend of honey and smoke on the palate, enjoyable even to those wary of Scotch.

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The Pittsburgh Steelers have had three (3) head football coaches since 1969. The organization values stability more than maybe any other in not just football but professional sports, and currently holding down that job is Mike Tomlin, who has been there since 2007.

As such, when Carson Palmer went on the Dan Patrick Show this week and had Tomlin’s name attached to the candidate list for the USC coaching vacancy, it drew a lot of confusion and laughter. Why would Tomlin leave one of the best jobs in football, where the hot seat doesn’t really exist, for a college football program that has had six people hold the title of head coach since Tomlin took over in Pittsburgh? The answer is, he wouldn’t, and on Tuesday he was asked about his name coming up in the rumor mill and decided he had some time to shut it down now and in perpetuity.

That is a man who cannot believe he has to be asked about this, noting that other longtime coaches don’t field the same questions and highlighting what I noted above in how the Steelers are one of the best jobs in all of football. His line about there not being a booster with enough money and a blank check anywhere in the country is one of the best denials of all-time, as well.

Why his name came up in the first place is a much better question, as Palmer just kind of tossed his name out. Whether it was an old Bengal just messing with the Steelers or some booster thinking he had that kind of check to make Tomlin think about it, the answer is an emphatic no, and I would probably avoid asking Mike about other jobs in the future.

While all things considered Frank Herbert’s sci-fi masterpiece Dune hasn’t gotten too many big screen adaptations as of yet, the lengthy tale of spice, war, and worms has come pretty close. You see, back in the late 2000s, it was rumored action director Peter Berg (Lone Survivor, Patriot’s Day) was going to be taking a swing at the space saga in an effort to create something a little less, well… obtuse than the 1984 version created by David Lynch. However, not much was known about what the project would look like or who was slated to work alongside Berg — until now.

In a recent edition of Keith Phipps and Scott Tobias’ new Substack newsletter The Reveal, author, actor, and humorist John Hodgman shared a story about meeting Berg on a flight and subsequently being asked to work on Dune with him. The encounter began when Hodgman caught Berg reading Dune while sitting next to him on a plane, remarked he wished he had brought his own copy to read, and was then asked by the director if he’d like one as he was currently carrying two. Naturally, this response made Hodgman curious as to why anyone would have two copies of the same book on board a flight, and a pretty funny and enlightening conversation ensued:

“I’m like, “What are you talking about, Peter Berg? Why do you have two copies of Dune?” He said, “Well, because I’m thinking about making it into a movie.” I mean, he said it with such Peter Berg-y jock-y confidence that I actually had a moment where I was like, “Does he not know? Does he not know that there was a movie?” Because he was like, “I’m thinking about turning this book into, get this, a film. And not only was there a movie, but at that point, there had also been a mini-series on Sci-Fi channel in the year 2002, two of them. It had been adapted already. Am I going to be the guy who has to tell Peter Berg that David Lynch already made a movie of Dune?”

Luckily for Hodgman, Berg soon revealed he knew both a Dune movie and mini-series existed, but was quick to point out where the two faltered, in his opinion, and how his version would both adhere to Hollywood standard as well as offer a different take on the story.

“He was saying, “Look, this is a classic hero’s journey about a chosen child who must heed a call to adventure and all this Joseph Campbellian stuff.” And then Peter Berg, being the artist that he is, takes out a spreadsheet and points out the top-grossing movies of all time and he’s like, “Chosen one narrative, chosen one narrative, chosen one narrative, chosen one narrative.” I’m like, “Yeah, I get it Peter Berg. White guys love to see movies about white guys who are the chosen special ones. Basically, Peter Berg’s take on Dune was that he was going to focus on the adventure and the warfare and a little bit less of the psychosexual stuff .. He was like, “David Lynch made his version.” I don’t want to put words in Peter Berg’s mouth, but he was like, “I’m going to make this a guy’s movie, not a weird guy’s movie.” And so I was like, “Well, good luck to you.””

However, the story of Hodgman, Berg, and Dune didn’t end there. According to Hodgman, not long after his encounter with the director — and shortly after he submitted a screenplay that was ultimately passed over — his manager reached out to him to ask if he was interested in writing a film adaptation of Dune. Ultimately Hodgman turned the offer down, citing two major reasons as to why he thought it was a bad idea.

“One, I think the book is unfilmable, but who cares? Two, is Peter Berg directing it still?” And they’re like, “Yeah,” and I’m like, “I don’t think it’s going to work. I don’t think that jock is going to like this nerd, because the only thing I like about the previous movie is the heart plugs and the weird stuff.” That’s why I declined to work with Peter Berg and he later dropped out.”

As it stands now, Denis Villeneuve’s Dune is the third adaptation of the series and does a pretty good job of treading the line between the type of movie one might expect from Lynch vs. Berg, with all the niche, sci-fi goodness we geeks love made pretty easily accessible. At the very least, America already seems to love the fresh new take on the saga.