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Last month, I celebrated the 35th anniversary of the Super Nintendo Entertainment System by compiling over 200,000 user ratings from multiple gaming websites, crunching the numbers, and coming up with a data-driven list of the system’s most popular games among modern players. Now, this month brings another major video game anniversary: The Nintendo 64 was released in North America 25 years ago today, on Sept. 29, 1996.

The SNES and N64 enjoyed very different lives. While the SNES was the clear leader of its console generation, its follow-up was not: The N64 sold about 32 million units, which is less than the SNES’ lifetime sales (49 million). More importantly, it lived in the shadow of its main competitor, the PlayStation, which sold about three times as many consoles.

That said, there’s plenty to love about the N64, and critics agree: The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time is the highest-rated game of all time across all consoles on Metacritic. It’s also the only title on the review-aggregating site to achieve a 99 rating. A handful of other games are scattered throughout the site’s top-100 list as well, which is impressive considering not many games were released for the N64: just 296 in North America. For reference, that’s substantially less than half the size of the SNES’ North American library (720 games).

Speaking of ratings, the aforementioned SNES rankings feature was a fun project that taught me (and hopefully you) a lot about the defining console of my childhood. So, still in data-gathering mode, I decided to make a similar list for the N64, one that can help you plan which games to play first when N64 games are added to Nintendo Switch Online, as was recently announced.

The methodology used to compile these rankings was essentially the same as the SNES list, so revisit that for more details. To summarize, though, I collected user ratings — 250,849 of them this time — for North American N64 games from Emuparadise, Grouvee, IGDB, and HowLongToBeat. Then, I calculated a Final Score for each game, based on both their user ratings and how many ratings they received, in order to weigh both how beloved a game is and how many people are still playing it today.

(Before proceeding to the list, there’s a cape-wearing elephant in the room that I’ll address before we get to it: Superman — aka Superman 64 — is fairly high up on the list, despite that fact that it’s widely regarded as a historically awful game. I attribute that to users ironically giving the game many positive ratings over the years. Thankfully, though, those shenanigans don’t seem prevalent in the data and Superman is the only notable head-scratcher that I noticed. So, if it makes you feel better, ignore Superman and nudge everything below it up a spot in your head. I won’t get mad.)

As I stated in the SNES feature, this N64 list has nothing to do with my personal opinions, just what a quarter of a million user ratings indicate. So, let’s get into it, starting at 100 and sprinting towards the top of the ranks before slowing down and getting into more detail with the top 10 games.

• 100. Command & Conquer
• 99. San Francisco Rush 2049
• 98. Turok 3: Shadow Of Oblivion
• 97. Clay Fighter 63 1/3
• 96. Shadow Man
• 95. Rush 2: Extreme Racing USA
• 94. BattleTanx: Global Assault
• 93. Quest 64
• 92. Hybrid Heaven
• 91. FIFA 99
• 90. Toy Story 2: Buzz Lightyear To The Rescue
• 89. Quake 64
• 88. Snowboard Kids 2
• 87. Glover
• 86. Castlevania
• 85. Spider-Man
• 84. South Park
• 83. F-1 World Grand Prix
• 82. Goemon’s Great Adventure
• 81. Cruis’n World

• 80. Worms Armageddon
• 79. Vigilante 8
• 78. Beetle Adventure Racing!
• 77. Chameleon Twist
• 76. Rampage 2: Universal Tour
• 75. Excitebike 64
• 74. Ogre Battle 64: Person Of Lordly Caliber
• 73. Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six
• 72. Fighting Force 64
• 71. Killer Instinct Gold
• 70. WWF WrestleMania 2000
• 69. Mortal Kombat Trilogy
• 68. Donald Duck: Goin’ Quackers
• 67. Army Men: Sarge’s Heroes
• 66. Extreme-G
• 65. Mission: Impossible
• 64. Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3
• 63. Turok: Dinosaur Hunter
• 62. Cruis’n USA
• 61. Turok 2: Seeds Of Evil

• 60. WCW Vs. nWo: World Tour
• 59. Mischief Makers
• 58. 007: The World Is Not Enough
• 57. Space Station Silicon Valley
• 56. International Superstar Soccer 64
• 55. WCW/nWo Revenge
• 54. Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon
• 53. San Francisco Rush: Extreme Racing
• 52. Hydro Thunder
• 51. Snowboard Kids
• 50. Harvest Moon 64
• 49. Resident Evil 2
• 48. Mortal Kombat 4
• 47. Pilotwings 64
• 46. Bomberman Hero
• 45. World Cup 98
• 44. Rampage World Tour
• 43. Star Wars: Shadows Of The Empire
• 42. Jet Force Gemini
• 41. StarCraft

• 40. Rayman 2: The Great Escape
• 39. Bomberman 64
• 38. Gauntlet Legends
• 37. Doom 64
• 36. Mario Golf
• 35. Blast Corps
• 34. Star Wars Episode I: Racer
• 33. Pokémon Puzzle League
• 32. 1080° Snowboarding
• 31. Star Wars: Rogue Squadron
• 30. F-Zero X
• 29. Mario Party 3
• 28. WWF No Mercy
• 27. Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater
• 26. Yoshi’s Story
• 25. Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2
• 24. Wave Race 64
• 23. Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards
• 22. Mario Tennis
• 21. Mario Party 2

• 20. Perfect Dark
• 19. Mario Party
• 18. Duke Nukem 64
• 17. Diddy Kong Racing
• 16. Banjo-Tooie
• 15. Pokémon Stadium 2
• 14. Donkey Kong 64
• 13. Pokémon Stadium
• 12. Conker’s Bad Fur Day
• 11. Superman

10. Pokémon Snap

Release Date: June 30, 1999
Final Score: 68.64
Average Rating: 75.65/100 (82nd)
Total Ratings: 2,964 (16th)

Nintendo has historically been not as overtly violent as their peers in gaming, so when it came time to put out a first-person shooter, Pokémon Snap had the perfect kid-friendly concept: Instead of using guns to inflict harm, players can do another kind of shooting — with a camera — to capture the majesty of beloved characters through visual art.

At the time, it was also a rare example of a 3D Pokémon game, and while it followed Pokémon Stadium by a few months, Snap offered something that Stadium didn’t. While Stadium was more or less a distillation of the Game Boy RPGs’ battle system, Snap gave fans the opportunity to explore the world of Pokémon in a 3D environment, making Snap the best way for Pokémon enthusiasts to feel like they could go on their own monster-catching journey and be the very best like no one ever was.

9. Star Fox 64

Release Date: June 30, 1997
Final Score: 69.15
Average Rating: 84.75/100 (30th)
Total Ratings: 3,397 (14th)

The original Star Fox game for the Super Nintendo was an impressive technical marvel, as it brought 3D to a platform that wasn’t known for it. While that was a great start, the N64 sequel improved on a lot of what the SNES original did, making it one of the finest games in the N64 library.

Aside from the fun sky-bound shooting gameplay, the game also impressed with its level branching system, and its cutscenes make it perhaps the most cinematic game on the N64. On top of that, the game has multiple multiplayer modes that add a ton of replay value, especially if you have friends who can’t resist a good barrel roll.

8. Paper Mario

Release Date: Feb. 5, 2001
Final Score: 70.77
Average Rating: 88.51/100 (7th)
Total Ratings: 6,257 (8th)

RPGs were huge on the Super Nintendo and Nintendo themselves had multiple great ones for the system, including Super Mario RPG: Legend Of The Seven Stars. When it came time to continue the red-hatted RPG series on the N64, they did so with Paper Mario, which stood in firm defiance of the hot new 3D technology. Yes, the environments are made of polygons, but as for the characters and many other elements, they could pass as higher-res SNES graphics.

In some ways, functionally, Paper Mario was a 2D game in a 3D environment, making it a departure in a time when every game developer this side of the Mississippi felt the need to flock to 3D gaming, even if they were nailing it in the 2D space and ended up stumbling in the next console generation. In classic Nintendo fashion, Paper Mario is a tremendous balance of the old and new in gaming, all while feeling distinctly like the latter.

7. Banjo-Kazooie

Release Date: June 29, 1998
Final Score: 71.65
Average Rating: 87.9/100 (10th)
Total Ratings: 5,667 (10th)

Super Mario 64 is the clear leader in N64 3D platformers, but that doesn’t mean it was the only worthwhile one. Given the then-novelty of 3D console gaming, a lot of platformers popped up during the ’90s and ’00s, and in that crowded environment, Banjo-Kazooie did more than enough to stand out as a unique and worthwhile experience. Some, in fact, have argued that Banjo-Kazooie is actually superior to Super Mario 64; In a 1998 review, IGN’s Peer Schneider called it “the best 3D platformer I have ever played, and a more than worthy successor to Super Mario 64.”

The game has been praised for the depth of its gameplay mechanics, level design and aesthetics, and music, all of which help make Banjo-Kazooie a collectathon that makes players want to explore its delightfully rich world, a primary goal of the era’s 3D games. Whether or not it truly is superior to Mario 64, we can just be glad they both grace the N64 library.

6. GoldenEye 007

Release Date: Aug. 25, 1997
Final Score: 74.11
Average Rating: 85.88/100 (23th)
Total Ratings: 8,711 (5th)

When GoldenEye 007 was released, first-person shooters were thought as more of a PC gaming thing, but the James Bond title helped show console gamers that they too could have a gun-wielding hand on the bottom of their screens as they take out ne’er-do-wells. In so many ways, GoldenEye paved the way for first-person shooters, making it an origin of the species for today’s FPS-dominated gaming market.

There’s also the fact that GoldenEye is a game based on a movie, which more often than not are low-quality rush-jobs churned out to serve as little more than promotional material. GoldenEye, though, is just an all-time great game that happens to be based on a movie. Not to mention, the game’s multiplayer mode was essentially the first of its kind, and we all know how big a role multiplayer elements have in modern shooters.

5. The Legend Of Zelda: Majora’s Mask

Release Date: Oct. 26, 2000
Final Score: 76.91
Average Rating: 88.62/100 (6th)
Total Ratings: 7,935 (6th)

In many ways, Majora’s Mask isn’t all that different from Ocarina Of Time. Both games use the same engine and a lot of visual assets. That said, despite the similarities, the two games are far from the same.

Majora’s Mask is noted for its darker themes and its looping three-day cycle, the sort of thing that wasn’t really something you saw in games at the start of the millennium. Another novel concept was the use of masks: There are 24 of them in the game and each gives Link new abilities and change the game in other ways. All of Majora’s Mask‘s unique aspects compel you to think differently than you do when playing most other games, which isn’t something that many titles, for the N64 or otherwise, can claim.

4. Super Smash Bros.

Release Date: April 26, 1999
Final Score: 80.75
Average Rating: 85.24/100 (27th)
Total Ratings: 16,230 (4th)

A ton of key Nintendo franchises either reached an important peak or were established on the N64, and perhaps the most pivotal of the new ones is Super Smash Bros. While Melee may be the series’ defining title, the magic began with the original, which can still hold its own today.

Not only is Smash Bros. one of the N64’s premiere multiplayer experiences, but it’s also the platform’s best celebration of Nintendo. Smash Bros. took iconic characters like Link, Mario, and Pikachu out of their respective universes and brought them together under the same umbrella to show off their firepower, both in terms of their place as pop culture heroes and in terms of how much literal damage they can inflict on their Nintendo co-workers.

3. Mario Kart 64

Release Date: Feb. 10, 1997
Final Score: 82.14
Average Rating: 86.18/100 (21st)
Total Ratings: 16,573 (3rd)

While the PS1 beat the N64 to claim the throne for its console generation, it could be argued that the top games on the N64 were more influential than the premiere PS1 titles. (Which are still great, by the way. We’re not trying to disparage the PS1, an excellent console.) But, like the next two games on this list, Mario Kart 64 is essentially a prototype for its genre.

Super Mario Kart helped establish the wacky character-based racing game as delightful fun, but Mario Kart 64 helped the genre successfully transition into the 3D era. Aside from laying the foundation for the rest of the uber-successful post-2D Mario Kart games, Mario Kart 64 offers rock-solid gameplay that can be as basic or complex as you want to make it, as the competitive speedrunning scene has proven.

It’s also probably the best party game on the N64 (sorry, Mario Party, a game with “party” in its name): If you turn on the TV and hear the “welcome to Mario Kart!” title screen in a roomful of friends, excitement and fun will abound, whether or not they consider themselves “gamers.” This glee can last for either just a few minutes or however many courses you can get in before things get too competitive, tensions boil over, and somebody does something they regret after getting blue-shelled right before the finish line.

2. Super Mario 64

Release Date: Sept. 29, 1996
Final Score: 86.83
Average Rating: 87.45/100 (13th)
Total Ratings: 26,993 (2nd)

I posit that of all the games on this list, none of them have a stronger influence on modern games than Super Mario 64. It’s not the first 3D platforming game ever, but it’s the one that made the world realize how fun it is to move around in 3D environments (even if the embryonic camera system isn’t perfect) and established a lot of 3D gaming norms. It’s fair to say that in a way, Super Mario 64 paved the path for virtually every important game that followed it, everything from Minecraft to Fortnite to Grand Theft Auto.

When the game was released, critics and fans knew immediately that Super Mario 64 was a legendary title. A lot of 3D games of the era have not aged well, but Super Mario 64 is still tremendously fun to pick up and play today. Nostalgia factors aside, the game’s varying worlds remain fun to explore, especially if you didn’t get that far into the game as a kid and haven’t seen some of the later levels since the ’90s. While you can’t control Mario here as well as you can in Super Mario Odyssey, it still feels intuitive to make Mario go exactly where you want him to.

Super Mario 64 is the N64’s best-selling game, and fans are still eating it up. Aside from its high ranking on this list, it’s the defining game of the speedrunning community, as it has been run more times than any other game ever. On that note, the speedrunning leaderboards are a testament to the game’s depth: World records for the game have been set in the past few months, indicating that even 25 years later, there are still things to learn about Mario’s first 3D adventure.

1. The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time

Release Date: Nov. 23, 1998
Final Score: 94.89
Average Rating: 97.01/100 (1st)
Total Ratings: 59,812 (1st)

Ocarina Of Time isn’t one of those games that didn’t get its due back in its day and eventually became a cult classic: The Zelda series established its footing on the NES and SNES, so fans were pumped to see how the game would work in 3D. While 3D games in the 90s aren’t as polished as their modern successors, there isn’t much Ocarina Of Time did wrong.

It wasn’t just great for its time, as it continues to resonate years later: As mentioned in the intro, it’s the highest-rated N64 game on Metacritic, but it’s also the top 3DS game on the site thanks to its 2011 port. Unsurprisingly, many reputable publications have deemed Ocarina Of Time the best video game ever, N64 or not.

What does Ocarina Of Time do well? Basically everything. The world is detailed and vibrant, it introduced gameplay mechanics (like Z-targeting) that made the then-clumsy world of 3D gaming environments easier to negotiate, and all in all, its influence on future RPGs is hard to overstate. Link proved he was great on his NES and SNES adventures, but Ocarina Of Time made him a legend.

In 2000, David Bowie started re-recording some of his older, more obscure songs for an album called Toy. The project was set for release in 2001, but ultimately, due to issues with his label, the album was never released (save for an internet leak in 2011). Now, though, the album is finally getting an official release, both as a standalone release and as part of the box set David Bowie 5: Brilliant Adventure (1992 — 2001).

Mark Plati, who co-produced the album with Bowie, says:

“Toy is like a moment in time captured in an amber of joy, fire and energy. It’s the sound of people happy to be playing music. David revisited and re-examined his work from decades prior through prisms of experience and fresh perspective — a parallel not lost on me as I now revisit it twenty years later. From time to time, he used to say, ‘Mark, this is our album’ — I think because he knew I was so deeply in the trenches with him on that journey. I’m happy to finally be able to say it now belongs to all of us.”

In 2000, Bowie, following a Glastonbury performance, wrote of the album in a message to fans, “I hate to waste the energy of a show-honed band so I’ve asked one and all if they would like to make an album immediately when we get back to New York. All are in full agreement that they’d like that very much, so I’ve pulled together a selection of songs from a somewhat unusual reservoir and booked time in a studio. I still get really elated by the spontaneous event and cannot wait to sit in a claustrophobic space with seven other energetic people and sing till my tits drop off.”

A few weeks out from releasing their third album, Letter Blue, NYC electro-pop trio Wet are back today with an aching new song, “Far Cry,” which is co-produced by Toro y Moi’s Chaz Bear. Bolstered by Kelly Zutrau’s slick vocals, “Far Cry” is a grooving R&B-inspired song, with a mid-tempo beat, flowing guitar melody, and electronic accents.

Earlier this year, Wet teased a comeback with “On Your Side.” Another new single, “Larabar,” followed in August with the announcement of Letter Blue, which arrives in late October. “We were circling back to the beginning,” Zutrau said when Letter Blue was announced, adding, “when it was fun and intuitive and friends working on music, and how sweet that was.”

Zutrau continued, elaborating on what fans can expect from the trio’s latest: “I’m always interested in multiple feelings at once. Not just a happy song, but happy and sad and guilty — those can all be true. We see these messages in music and media that are very black and white, but our lives don’t really live up to those expectations. Instead, we’re somewhere in the middle of all these states that are much easier to explain.”

Listen to “Far Cry” above.

Letter Blue is out 10/22 via AWAL. Pre-order it here.

When The View returned on Monday morning, the first thing Joy Behar addressed was the calamitous situation on Friday where co-hosts Sunny Hostin and Ana Navarro received positive COVID tests results on the air and were whisked off the set just moments before Vice President Kamala Harris was about to make a live appearance, which was quickly pivoted to a remote interview. It was an all-around chaotic scene, but by Monday, it was being presented as an unfortunate mix-up as Hostin and Navarro tested negative several times over the weekend. Producer Brian Teta apologized, and Behar thanked Harris’ staff for being so gracious and helpful. The end, right? Not so much.

According to a new report, the Vice President’s office is “vexed” with what went wrong on The View, and there are concerns that the daytime talk show may not have been forthcoming about when the co-hosts were tested. In order for Harris to appear live on the show, the co-hosts were required to take PCR tests within 24 hours of the interview. Harris’ team was led to believe that requirement was fulfilled, until it wasn’t. Via CNN:

That night, a representative for “The View” gave the “all clear” to Harris’ office, suggesting that the show had satisfied the requirements to proceed with the taping, one of the people familiar with the matter said.

After it was suddenly revealed Friday morning that was not the case, Harris’ team was left puzzled and seeking answers about what happened. But, according to a person familiar with the matter, “The View” has not been forthcoming with the vice president’s office, leaving Harris’ staff “deeply concerned” about what happened.

According to CNN, ABC and The View have refused multiple requests for comment. However, a source said that ABC News president Kim Godwin was “irked and embarrassed by the whole fiasco.”

(Via CNN)

In a couple weeks, we’ll have a new Courtney Barnett album, Things Take Time, Take Time. That drops on October 12, but what was released today is the latest single from the album, “Write A List Of Things To Look Forward To.”

Barnett spoke about the song in a July interview with Rolling Stone, saying of its origins, “I was just really sad. I was in a really dark place, and a friend […] said, ‘Why don’t you try to write a list of positive things in your life that you’re looking forward to?’ At the time, I was like, ‘Nothing. There’s nothing I’m looking forward to.’”

However, Barnett eventually came up with “like 25 verses” worth of items. She also noted, “I love that the song feels so fun. It sounds like you’re driving across a highway and it’s sunny. I love the juxtaposition of those things.”

She also said of the album more broadly, “On the one hand, nothing was happening to me last year. But at the same time, so much was happening! There’s that lyric in ‘Turning Green’ about flowers in the weeds — as in, finding beauty in a place where you least expect it. That’s my ongoing lesson for myself.”

Watch the “Write A List Of Things To Look Forward To” video above.

Things Take Time, Take Time is out 10/12 via Mom + Pop Music/Marathon Artists. Pre-order it here.

The Oklahoma City Thunder started the 2020-21 season with a 10-12 record. Even with every caveat about outperforming their statistical baseline, it was an impressive start to the Mark Daigneault era, and the Thunder were pretty feisty. Over the next 50 games, though, the Thunder posted a 12-38 record that was more fitting when considering their roster makeup and obvious priorities.

Along the way, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander experienced a breakout and the Thunder won seven more games than their point differential (-10.6 points per 100 possessions) would project. As the 2021-22 campaign nears, things aren’t that much different in Oklahoma City, but they have a deep bench of intriguing youngsters and they should be, at the very least, an entertaining watch.

Roster:

Darius Bazley
Charlie Brown
Gabriel Deck
Luguentz Dort
Derrick Favors
Josh Giddey
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
Ty Jerome
Vit Krejci
Theo Maledon
Tre Mann
Mike Muscala
Aleksej Pokusevski
Jeremiah Robinson-Earl
Isaiah Roby
Paul Watson
Aaron Wiggins
Kenrich Williams

Projected Vegas Win Total: 23.5 wins

Biggest Addition: Josh Giddey

Derrick Favors is probably the best present-day player added by the Thunder in an offseason that saw considerable churn in Oklahoma City. However, Favors isn’t likely to be a part of the long-term future, and the Thunder invested a lottery pick in Giddey. It might not be great as a rookie for the teenager with shooting problems, but OKC’s claim to fame is its chest of draft picks and Giddey presumably slots behind only Shai Gilgeous-Alexander on the team’s asset rankings.

Biggest Loss: Al Horford/Kemba Walker

Horford was traded for Walker, who was then flipped to New York. Oklahoma City does have Favors to act as a veteran leader of sorts, but the Thunder aren’t exactly overflowing with established talent at the moment. That isn’t the biggest deal for their short-term goals, but they didn’t lose much else.

Biggest Question: What does OKC have to flank Shai Gilgeous-Alexander?

Even a pessimist would admit that Gilgeous-Alexander is a budding standout, and he was excellent last season at a young age. The questions begin after him, where the Thunder could really use a breakout from another youthful player or two. Perhaps it is Giddey. Perhaps it is Dort or Pokusevski. But they need something to go along with Gilgeous-Alexander and future picks.

What Makes This Season A Success

This is a two-pronged answer, much as it would be for many rebuilding teams. Oklahoma City should be looking for development of young pieces, particularly with Gilgeous-Alexander, Dort, Pokusevski, Giddey, Bazley, Maledon, Robinson-Earl, and Mann. That is certainly a priority, and real growth from those young pieces would move the needle. From there, the Thunder probably need another high-lottery pick. They got unlucky last year to land at No. 6 overall, and losing a bunch of games is likely the best outcome.

What Makes This Season A Failure

At present, Gilgeous-Alexander is the only young piece that is remotely proven. If it stays that way a year from now, that would be suboptimal for the Thunder in the simplest terms. On top of that focus, Oklahoma City likely needs to avoid winning too many games and outperforming their point differential in a way that would negatively influence their position at the top of the 2022 NBA Draft Lottery.

Rifle Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) loves Twitter, but Twitter does not love her. Her absurd “Tylenol” tweet continues to make waves, not long after her hysterical tweet about the U.S.-Mexico border situation. She’s full of backfired toilet jokes, too, and now, Boebert is back with more tweets on subjects that she doesn’t really understand. So, people are letting her have it after she came for top U.S. defense generals.

“Milley and Austin should be testifying in military court,” Boebert wrote on Twitter. “[N]ot at a Senate hearing.”

Sadly, Boebert has proven that she (as a non-high-school graduate who passed the passed the GED shortly before being elected to the House) doesn’t know much about U.S. government branches or how they work (checks and balances and so on). She made this declaration during the Senate Armed Services Committee’s hearing on the Afghanistan withdrawal. While assessing the situation (and as CBS reports), Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Mark Milley described the rushed withdrawal as “logistical success, but a strategic failure,” although he claimed that U.S. troops had evacuated over 124,000 out of Afghanistan within weeks. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin followed up by saying, “Was it perfect? Of course not.”

Milley added that he saw “no intel assessment that says the government’s going to collapse and the military is going to collapse in 11 days,” and he contradicted the Biden administration by saying that the military recommended that he leave a few thousand U.S. troops in the country. Well, Boebert isn’t listening to any nuance. She believes that Milley and Austin deserve a military trial, straight away, rather than the legislative branch doing its thing to evaluate what the executive branch is doing. And in the face of Boebert’s suggestion, people have some suggestions (including remarks about her actions surrounding the MAGA insurrection) for her, too.

She’ll be back for more, and people will be watching.

(Via CBS News)

The top spot on the Netflix top 10 has lately been dominated by Squid Game, a Korean series about cash-strapped contestants competing in a mysterious competition of children’s games to win the grand prize of 45.6 billion Korean won (or $38.5 million in U.S. dollars). The losers are killed. Think: Battle Royale or The Hunger Games, but with red light, green light. Squid Game has an intoxicating premise, but I don’t think anyone expected it to be the worldwide — and TikTok — sensation that it’s become.

It’s a hit all over the world:

The addictive, violent survival drama, which premiered September 17 on Netflix, has transcended cultures and language barriers to reach No. 1 in 90 countries in 10 days — from Qatar and Oman to Ecuador and Bolivia… Fueled by word of mouth, Squid Game entered the U.S. Top 10 list on September 19 at No. 8. It climbed to No. 2 the next day, and hit No. 1 on September 21 — the first Korean original series ever to do so — where it has stayed since, crossing the one-week mark [on Tuesday]. Its staying power in the top spot is comparable to such Netflix global hits as Bridgerton.

Speaking of Bridgerton, the Shonda Rhimes series is currently the most popular Netflix show of all-time (based on internal metrics), but Squid Game might soon overtake it. “Squid Game will definitely be our biggest non-English-language show in the world, for sure,” Netflix’s co-CEO Ted Sarandos said this week. “It’s only been out for nine days, and it’s a very good chance it’s going to be our biggest show ever.”

You can watch the trailer below:

(Via Deadline)

There are a lot of parallels between the careers of Bruce Springsteen and John Mellencamp, and now, the two legends have come together for their first-ever collaboration, a new song called “Wasted Days” that’s set to appear on an upcoming Mellencamp album.

On the track, Mellencamp and Springsteen contemplate mortality and the nature of life, with Mellencamp opening the song, “How many summers still remain / How many days are lost in vain / Who’s counting out these last dramatic years / How many minutes do we have here?”

In June, Springsteen said of working with Mellencamp, “I worked on three songs on John’s album and I spent some time in Indiana with him. I love John a lot. He’s a great songwriter and I have become very close [with him] and had a lot of fun with him. I sang a little bit on his record.” The previous month, Mellencamp confirmed the collaboration and revealed the song had just recently been completed: “Bruce is singing on the new record and is playing guitar. I finished the record a week ago today.” This all came after the pair was spotted together at a Bloomington, Indiana restaurant in April.

While this is the duo’s first time together on a studio recording, they previously performed together at the New York City’s Beacon Theater in 2019.

Listen to “Wasted Days” above.

The words “boogie nights” are never said in Boogie Nights. Same with “there will be blood” in There Will Be Blood and “phantom thread” in Phantom Thread. Paul Thomas Anderson is not one for titular lines, but I hope he makes an exception for Licorice Pizza. It’s the best way to ensure two standing ovations: one when the film is over (Adam Driver better be in the audience, and he better be smoking a cigarette), and another when halfway through the film, Bradley Cooper’s character looks down at his dinner and says, “This sure is a good slice of licorice pizza.” The theater crowd goes wild.

Or at least I would, because as a fan of the Favorite Movie Lines Twitter account, I turn into the Leo pointing meme every time someone says the title of the movie in the movie. “Looking back, that Addams family really did have values.”

The words “licorice pizza” will likely be said in Licorice Pizza, PTA’s nostalgic new movie starring Cooper, Alana Haim, Cooper Hoffman (Philip Seymour Hoffman’s son), Sean Penn, Tom Waits, Benny Safdie, and Maya Rudolph. It’s the name of a Southern California record store chain from the 1970s, when Anderson grew up and his film is set. “The store tried to lure local music fans with commercials aired during American Bandstand and Soul Train. They offered a money-back guarantee on records and heavily promoted local concerts, drawing fans in to buy the music before or after a big concert,” according to Los Angeles Magazine. Blondie’s Debbie Harry was a fan.

As for the origin of the name:

It comes from a throwaway joke on the album Bud & Travis… In Concert recorded live at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium in 1960. The comedy/folk duo are on a self-deprecating roll about how unsuccessful their record was, remarking that it had “sesame seeds on the other side” and could be played on a Waring blender. Just before going into their version of La Bamba, they mention that the platter was being sold at feed stores as a “licorice pizza.”

Here’s a taste of Bud and Travis:

Speaking of taste: following the release of the Licorice Pizza trailer, I wanted to know what licorice pizza tasted like and report my findings to the hungry boys out there. Because it sounds… I believe “terrible” is the word. I pride myself on being open-minded, but not when it comes to pizza. There’s a reason pepperoni is the non-cheese default option: it works. Chicken and meatballs are great, too. But pineapple? Anchovies? Mushrooms? Get out of here. Whoever put “Dill Pickle Hamburger Pizza” number one on this list of 25 Deliciously Weird Pizzas You Should Definitely Try doesn’t deserve pizza — or even worse, they can only order pizza from Papa John’s. But because PTA is one of my favorite directors, and pizza is one of my favorite foods, and Alana is one of my favorite Haim sisters, I gave pizza with licorice a shot. I learned two things:

1. Red-colored Twizzlers aren’t technically licorice. The candy is “usually fruit-flavored by artificial or natural means, and do not contain licorice flavoring,” Kelila Jaffe, Food Program Coordinator for the Department of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health at NYU, told the Huffington Post. The word “licorice” does not appear on the brand’s packaging, with the exception of black Twizzlers which do, in fact, count as licorice. I ate the black Twizzlers.

2. Licorice pizza is pretty good. OK, maybe that’s overstating it, but the licorice (which I’m generally not a fan of) doesn’t take too much away from the superior pizza. For this culinary experiment, I went to three locations where I live in Austin, Texas: Home Slice (cheese), Giovanni’s Pizza Stand (pepperoni and basil) and my favorite local pizza joint, Domino’s (cheese). I happily finished all three, and in the case of the pepperoni pizza, I found the sweetness to be a nice compliment to the greasy cups.

It may surprise you that Robert Elswit did not do the cinematography for these photos.

Anyway, the New York-style slices worked better than the Domino’s pie because they were easier to fold; it trapped the licorice like a pig in a blanket. Honestly, I couldn’t even taste the candy after the first bite. Chewing something rubber-y while eating pizza was slightly unpleasant, but Twizzlers are soft enough that it wasn’t a huge deal. Would I eat licorice pizza again, though? No, of course not. I respect pizza too much to do that.

But licorice pizza wasn’t the nightmare that I was expecting it to be. The real nightmare is having to wait until November 26 to see Licorice Pizza (the wide release isn’t until December 25). Also: candy corn pizza. Just because you can doesn’t mean you should.