Mobile gamers, assemble! The popular mobile game Marvel Future Fight is getting a big update based on the hit Disney+ show The Falcon and The Winter Solider and it’s bringing a whole lot of upgrades, uniforms, rewards, and fan favorite superheroes into the fray. Included in the update are Sam Wilson’s Captain America, and the television series style versions of both Winter Solider and Baron Zeemo.
On top of these additions, Falcon can now be upgraded to Tier-3 and will get new Ultimate Skills and the ‘Realize Potential’ function has been added to Sister Grimm, Ironheart, Kid Kaiju, Kate Bishop’s Hawkeye, and Nadia van Dyne’s Wasp.
Lastly, in preparation of the upcoming Marvel film Black Widow, Black Widow is also receiving gameplay updates and a movie-inspired bonus mission. Also getting the Black Widow treatment are Task Master, who now available for Tier-3 upgrade, and Yelena Belova, who has been updated with ‘Awaken Potential’ skills.
For those who have yet to jump into Netmarble’s Marvel Future Fight, the dungeon crawler-esque game is actually a pretty big deal. Despite being released on iOS and Android back in 2015, the game has a very active player base of 120 million players across the world. Since it’s start, it has amassed more than 200 playable characters, the whole time working with Marvel to ensure the character they introduce are accurate to the established backgrounds, appearances, and traits of universe’s various heroes and villains.
Typically when we write about Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, it has to do with one of the poor decisions he has made. Like calling for flags in the Sunshine State to be lowered following the death of bloviating monster Rush Limbaugh, declaring the WWE an “essential” business, or requiring cruise ships to allow unvaccinated passengers aboard. On Thursday, however, he did something wholly unexpected by praising President Joe Biden.
Biden spent the bulk of the day in Surfside, just above Miami Beach, where he met with first responders and families of the residents and victims of last week’s deadly condominium collapse. During a briefing later in the day, DeSantis publicly thanked the president for the support he has given the governor and Miami-Dade County in their search and rescue efforts and noted how Biden had “recognized the severity of this tragedy from day one.” He added that:
“This is the first response in Florida’s history outside of a hurricane where all of our urban search-and-rescue teams were mobilized. So, they’ve been going in and out of the rubble, searching, trying to find people, trying to rescue people, at a minimum trying to identify anyone who may be deceased to bring closure to the families, which is very important, but they’re tired. … This is grueling.”
While it seemed like a genuine show of appreciation—and very well could be—some people noted that DeSantis, who isn’t known for his frequent bouts of heaping praise on people, is also in the midst of a tiff with Donald Trump, of whom he’s been a vocal supporter. And one can’t help but wonder if his commendations of the Biden administration weren’t partly meant for Trump to hear. The issue at hand is the former president’s decision to go forward with a rally he has scheduled for this weekend in Sarasota, Florida. The Washington Examiner reports that DeSantis made “a direct plea” to Trump’s camp to reschedule their event, as the state mourns the tragedy.
An unnamed Florida Republican said that “the governor is getting tested here as to how far he’s going to be pushed before he breaks ranks with President Trump. And he has to be very careful because this is Trump country. The base loves the president. But they equally love Ron. It’s a showdown going on right now.”
As for where the anonymous source stood on the matter of Trump going ahead with his event as planned? They said he needs to “read the room.”
The first (non-pilot) scene filmed for Game of Thrones was a conversation between Ned Stark and Cersei Lannister. It’s an innocuous beginning for what would become one of the biggest shows of all-time. But HBO’s latest big-ticket adaptation kicked off production with a more essential moment than Cersei talking sh*t about her husband.
The Last of Us star Gabriel Luna has shared a behind-the-scenes image from the first day of filming in Calgary, Canada for the video game-turned-television show. “Already love these folks. #MillerTime #thelastofus,” the actor, who plays Tommy, wrote, referring to his on-screen family, Joel (played by Pedro Pascal) and Sarah (Nico Parker).
They’re smiling in the photo, but the scene they’re shooting is not a happy one. The Last of Us largely takes place 20 years after a fungus has turned the world into a post-apocalyptic nightmare full of clickers, cannibals, and rat kings. But the first game (a sequel was released in 2020) begins with a scene from the before times, where Joel is living in domestic bliss with his daughter, Sarah. One night, Sarah wakes up to a panicked phone call from her Uncle Tommy: the world has gone to hell. Before long, Joel, Tommy, and Sarah are in a car to flee whatever is happening. The escape attempt is interrupted after they get sideswiped, and while on foot, Joel and Sarah run into a solider who’s tasked with killing the infected. They’re fine, but the soldier still shoots Sarah, killing her and setting up Joel’s emotional arc in the game. And soon, show.
What a fun way to start a new job!
The Last of Us does not currently have a premiere date.
Life is good for Billie Eilish right now. The young pop star is riding the wave for her second album, Happier Than Ever with lots of support for her singles and even an Amazon Prime Show to introduce her new work in a dreamy visual setting. Though she’s already shared quite a few songs off the new record, due out at the end of this month on 7/30, she revealed on Instagram earlier today that yet another new single is coming next week.
The fifth single off Happier Than Ever is called “NDA,” and Billie will be releasing the song along with a video next week. “‘NDA’ SONG AND VIDEO OUT NEXT FRIDAY JULY 9TH JSHVKSJCIKSHCJSKCBUSKSK PRE-SAVE IN BIOOOOO,” she wrote, clearly excited about the news. “NDA” will follow up earlier singles like “Therefore I Am,” “Everything I Wanted,” “Your Power,” and “Lost Cause.” The music has been a bit of a shift from the sound on her debut album, and her new blonde hair has been a major aesthetic shift, but the real buzz around songs like “Your Power” has focused on Billie’s past relationships. With a title like “NDA,” it seems likely this new single will have some drama associate too, so stay tuned for the drop next Friday.
The COVID-19 pandemic had a massive effect on just about every aspect of life. We all felt the devastating effects that the nationwide shutdowns had on the economy. Those early days of lockdown really tested the resilience of small businesses. That struggle pushed some people to completely change the trajectory of their lives, awakening a kind of perseverance that helped them fight through.
“It was a really surreal time to be working in a restaurant; we both lost our jobs and at that point realized we wanted to make something happen on our own,” says Bonnie Hernandez and Shea Montanez, the owner and chef of Happy Mediums, a deli pop-up that operates out of their home. The foundation of the pop-up is bolstered by a sense of culinary creativity and the belief that “food is love.”
“Luckily, I think we both have a pretty good fighting spirit in us to shift this ‘oh god what are we going to do panic’ into ‘hey maybe this is an opportunity’ says Hernandez, “We wanted to, from the very beginning, make sure that we were building into that a model that supported our community. We’re part of a broader movement taking care of each other. You feel more proud because you made it happen all on your own.”
Watch the above video to learn more about Hernandez and Montanez’s triumphant against-the-odds story, their love of food and community, and how Happy Mediums is making a difference. And keep an eye out for additional episodes from our Salud To Summer series, created in partnership with Modelo.
Top Chef Portland had its finale last night, and I’m already distraught. All I can think about are the weeks and months of drudgery ahead, with no cooking competitions or Padma entendres or incredibly specific food criticisms from Tom Colicchio to leaven the load. I’ve just been sitting in the middle of my living room wearing my Ed Lee Replica Statement Hat rocking back and forth crying, muttering about gaper clams.
Bravo
I can’t believe they let him in wearing that thing. I would’ve been afraid that he’d flip a table over, claim the dinner for the country’s peasantry, and carve a Z on the wall with a saber. Even Gregory Gourdet looked glum.
NBC Universal
Poor guy, just sitting there thinking “I was led to believe that I would be the jauntiest one.”
Anyway, this was a three-way, four-course battle (that’s 12 course-ways!) between Shota Nakajima, Dawn Burrell, and Gabe Erales. It pitted Shota’s tasting menu experience against Dawn’s potential for transcendent greatness and Gabe’s steady consistency and elite sauce making. There’s a lot of room for error in four courses, so perhaps it was fitting that the win, in the end, went to the chef who throughout the competition just seemed to make the fewest errors — Gabe Erales, aka Big Fozzy, the Man of 1000 Moles.
Some of the readers gave me a hard time about not being moved by all the crying in episode 11. It all came back around this episode. I admit it, watching Maria shout “Que te dije, cabrón!” and hugging Gabe after the win had me legitimately moved. Maybe it’s being from the San Joaquin Valley, but I really relate to hearing “cabrón” used a term of endearment. “I love you, guey.” “I love you too, puto.”
The margin seemed razor thin. Dawn forgot a few components in dish one (shocker!) and had superfluous seafood in dish two. Shota had a slightly underwhelming vegetable dish and poorly plated (insufficiently cheffy!) dish three. In the end it was a pretty satisfying finale. It felt like the winner deserved it, even if either of the other chefs could’ve won on any given night. Next year we should make t-shirts of our favorite contestants. Sitting in my living with giant foam chicken legs and shit. Then Rob Lowe could show up in a hat that just says “FOOD.”
In lieu of a traditional ranking this week, I thought we could run through the contestants’ dinners dish by dish, reliving that magic.
1. Gabe Erales
NBC Universal
AKA: Good Gabe. Canelo. Fozzy. The Foz. The Masa Father. Jamón. Steady Eddie. Susan Lucci. The Winner.
Tough choice, but I have to go Dawn. If I saw gumbo, “jerk beef cheek,” and yam bread pudding on a menu, I’m ordering that one (even the tendon seems intriguing). Shota might be at a natural disadvantage here, since Japanese tends to sound much simpler than it tastes.
Dish 1
Shota: Sashimi 3-Ways
Bravo
Dawn: Lamb Tartare With Beef Tendon Puff
Bravo
Gabe: Fried Pibil Head Cheese
Bravo
Viewer’s Verdict, Dish 1:
Slight edge to Dawn. Again, everything looks amazing, and Shota might be at a slight disadvantage because it’s hard to judge something as simple as sashimi purely on looks. True, like the judges said, Dawn probably doesn’t need all that stuff on there — definitely could’ve gone honey bread OR tendon puff, not both. But it all sounds and looks so good… I guess it’s the maximalist in me, but I’m fine with “too much.”
In the end, she left her bread off two plates and a tendon off of one anyway, all but ensuring that she lost this round. Without that, I think she takes it.
Dish 2:
Gabe: Scallop Aguachile, etc.
Bravo
Shota: Octopus Karaage
Bravo
Dawn: Green Gumbo With Seafood and Rice Fritter
Bravo
Viewer’s Verdict:
Gabe in a walk. That looks amazing and I don’t even like scallops. Even based on looks alone, I have to agree with the judges that Dawn sabotaged a potential winning dish by adding too much stuff to it. With Shota’s, I have to plead ignorance on “water spinach.” That’s a real thing? Come on, you made that up. I kid, but it does look a little like a pile of garnishes.
Holy hell, this course was a murderer’s row. I didn’t think anyone could top Shota’s fried-then-braised beef tongue curry, and then Gabe comes in with short rib and black mole (the best mole, imo). And then Dawn flies off the top rope with jerk beef cheek and buttered turnips. This is the strongest dish for all three, but I give the razor-thin edge to Dawn. “Buttered turnips?” I’ve never even had that but it sounds amazing. Every single syllable sounds sexual. You wouldn’t be allowed to serve that at a convent.
The judges ragged on Shota for his overly rustic plating, and even worse, his “crunchy” rice. How many times have people screwed up rice on this show? I think the secret is to never, ever cook rice on Top Chef.
Course 4
Dawn: Yam Bread Pudding
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Gabe: Candied Squash With Cafe Mexicano Ice Cream
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Shota: Hoji Tea Cheesecake with Cedar Smoked Gelato
Bravo
Viewer’s Verdict:
Dawn in a walk. Yam bread pudding? Yeah, no one’s beating that. Gabe loses for putting flowers on the plate — FOH with that. I also don’t really understand squash. You cook it and the texture barely changes, and it’s all spongey… I just never know quite what to do with it. Shota’s looks amazing, but again: yam bread pudding. You’re not going to beat it.
—
All in all, I have Dawn winning three rounds. I have to assume forgetting a component in the first dish and then following that with her weakest dish was just too deep a hole to climb out of with two dishes to go, especially when Gabe was right there with a solid, composed dish in every round. Shota’s crunchy rice in the round when the other two had their showstoppers was the nail in his coffin. No quibbles with the decision at all.
Congratulations to Big Fozzy, the Man Of A Thousand Moles. You done good, cabrón. You’re so good at conceptualizing dishes — can you tell me what to do with my life now that this show is over?
Vince Mancini is on Twitter. You can access his archive of reviews here.
Never one to spare anyone’s feelings, this week 50 Cent decided to get a joke off at Lil Kim’s expense. The rapper shared a side-by-side comparison of Lil Kim’s look from the BET Awards and an owl to his Instagram, clowning on her in his caption, then using the virality of the meme to plug his own projects. A little corny, anyone would admit. “Who did this sh*t,” he wrote. “This ain’t right. LOL catch FOR LIFE on IMDb Tv now !”
Well, Kim’s husband, Jeremy Neil aka Mr. Papers didn’t take kindly to the rapper bullying his wife and went in on the comments: “Leave my wife out the jokes ya heard,” he wrote.
Instagram
But once Kim herself jumped in, the joke was definitely on 50. She brought up a date she curved him on and was able to laugh at herself at the same time. Oh and the date incident? It’s all laid out in her forthcoming book, in stores this November. Check out her response below.
The accuracy. Hilarious. I ain’t bothered not one bit. My family & friends more mad than me. Sh*t like this don’t move me one way or another cause I’m still a bad *itch that n—–, b*tches, mommies, daughters, and aunties still want to be till this day and I love it!! @50cent I see u still in ur feels about that dinner date u asked me on that I had to turn down. Let it go u have a beautiful girlfriend, I have a loving husband. Let it go. And for those of u coming at my husband, Mr. Papers, he did real n—- sh*t. What a husband is suppose to do. All y’all can go to hell. Not Respectfully. 50cent, I address that situation all in my book coming in November. Make sure you go get it. Pre-orders available now. Be Blessed every one, stay positive.
Cooking brisket in your home oven is very easy and extremely rewarding. While I like to braise brisket in sweet and sour liquids when I don’t have access to a smoker (or sous vide), I also often just do low-and-slow a salt-and-pepper brisket in my oven.
This method yields perfectly cooked, juicy, and delicious brisket in about four to five hours. You also get a cup or two of umami-bomb jus from the cook that you can use for gravy or French dips later.
This method is very low impact. And it’s a very easy way to get excellent brisket without spending all night shoveling coals. You don’t really need much equipment besides a high-walled roasting dish. I used a little handheld smoker, but you can skip that if you don’t have one. Overall, this oven-roasted low-and-slow brisket is a great centerpiece for any backyard BBQ, assuming you don’t have a smoker back there. Let’s dive in!
I got a brisket from the wholesale restaurant store I shop at. That meant I had to trim mine at home. If you go to a butcher, they’ll likely do this for you if you ask. I like trimming the hard fat cap at home because I save that fat for mixing into my own burger grinds down the road.
The rest is simple. Pink salt adds that little extra umami boost. But really, this is all about the salt and black pepper. A lot of black pepper.
Lastly, I’m using one of these handheld kitchen smokers to add a layer of smoke to the mix. It’s light but will be there on the final product. They’re about $25 and usually come with finely ground wood chips.
Zach Johnston
What You’ll Need:
Large high-walled roasting pan
Foil
Cutting Board
Large knife
Paper towels
Large Ziploc bag
Foil
Greaseproof paper
Handheld smoker
Zach Johnston
Method:
Trim the excess hard fat and silverskin from the fatty side of the brisket making sure to leave a little fat on there.
Mix the salts and pepper in a small bowl.
Pat the brisket as dry as possible with paper towels.
Generously spread the salt and pepper rub all over the brisket.
Place the brisket in the Ziploc bag and seal around the tube of the handheld smoker.
Pump in as much smoke as you can and seal the bag. Let sit at least an hour in the smoke or until it’s completely dissipated.
In the meantime, heat your oven on its lowest setting (or around 225-250F).
Place the brisket into a large roasting pan and cover with foil. The foil should not be touching the meat.
Place the brisket in the oven and leave it alone for four hours.
After four hours, the brisket should be getting giggly. Remove it from the pan, pour off the juices into a bowl (save for making gravy and French dips!), and wrap the brisket in the paper.
Put the brisket back into the roasting pan, cover it with the foil, and place it in the oven for about one hour to steam.
Remove from the oven and unwrap. Since you’ve basically rested the meat while steaming it, you can dig right in.
Use a large knife to cut against the grain.
Serve.
Zach Johnston
Bottom Line:
Zach Johnston
I mean, look how juicy that meat is! It’s also soft without falling apart. There’s a nice bite to the meat but it’s a very easy bite.
The pepper adds a nice spice while the saltiness isn’t overpowering but definitely there. I tried a few pieces off the fat end while I was cutting this and it was freakin’ great. Meaty, peppery, fatty… everything you want in a slice of brisket.
I piled mine onto a brioche bun (I was out of rye) and smothered some old-school grainy mustard on top. I then poured a little bowl of that jus and dipped my sandwich into it. It was … perfect. The meat never pulled out when you bit down. You could bite through each layer of brisket with ease. The tangy and grainy mustard, jus, buttery bun, and meat just sung together.
I’m looking forward to a whole weekend of this brisket. And it’s so easy that if I run out, I can just make it again!
The return of college football video games is upon us. Ever since EA Sports’ college football franchise went on a pause following NCAA Football 14, fans have been eagerly anticipating a new one. The problem has been the rules from the NCAA not allowing players to make money off their name, image, and likeness. Without a way to legally pay the players, EA was forced to pause the series until the day those rules changed, or until they found a way around the NCAA’s archaic rules.
Back in February, EA felt pretty confident they had found a way to bring the franchise back. They announced the game would return, with follow-up reports indicating it was likely going to be around 2023. A two-year development cycle is pretty standard for most games and would be enough time for them to start a new game from relative scratch. However, they still had one big problem: NIL laws. Obviously, they could make a game with a bunch of generic players that just feature our favorite schools, but that would be missing the details we all love from these games. We want to run the air raid at Texas Tech, the triple option at Army, and take the next Heisman contender QB to a national championship at Alabama or Clemson. It won’t feel the same without the actual players, even if they are just labeled by number and not name.
Lucky for EA Sports, NIL laws are no more. In a recent anti-trust suit, the Supreme Court stated that the NCAA wasn’t above the law and paved the way open for players to finally make money off their name, image, and likeness. If developers want to add real players to their game, this is the perfect opportunity to do so, and reports indicate that they’re already looking into how they can do that for their upcoming game.
Spurred by a major reversal by the NCAA, video game giant Electronic Arts says it is in the “early stages” of exploring the “possibility of including players in EA Sports College Football,” a company rep tells Axios.
Now, here’s where it gets interesting. A lot of fans are going to immediately assume that this is a done deal, but unfortunately, it isn’t quite that easy. EA Sports developers can only add the name, image, and likeness of players that choose to be in their game. For their pro sports games, EA will just strike a deal with the players union, and all of its members will be in the game. College athletes do not have a union that EA can go to. That means they’ll need to go speak to every single player that wants to be in their game so they can sign a document allowing EA to use their NIL, and that’s only one part of the process.
This leads to another problem: How do they capture all of these athletes? When rookies enter the NFL, EA can show up to the Combine, Draft, or other events and digitally capture them so they can put them in the game as accurately as possible. There aren’t many countrywide gatherings of college athletes that EA can go get the players in bulk. They can always go around to the different spring games or summer workouts, but this is a significant amount of traveling and effort, especially if all 130 FBS schools are represented.
There’s no question that EA Sports wants to put every single athlete on all 130 FBS rosters in their game. However, considering the amount of effort that is going to take, it isn’t going to be easy. It would be one thing if they were still making these games, but they’re essentially starting from the very beginning — the last college football game came out on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, we’re now at the Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 5.
This isn’t going to be as simple as plug-in some names on some rosters and call it a day. Don’t be surprised if the game comes out in 2023 and only half the rosters have real names, or if it’s only the mega stars whose NIL’s are involved. One day, one of these games will come out and it will have every single name on the roster, but it might just take a game or two for EA Sports to get to that point.
Yesterday, Wilco‘s Jeff Tweedy did a low-key livestream where he ended up covering Japanese Breakfast‘s “Kokomo, IN,” from the just-released album Jubilee. Naturally, frontwoman Michelle Zauner was delighted, sharing the cover on her Twitter and writing, “I think my soul may have just left my body.” Can we call it now? Is this a Band-Mance? Whatever it is, it appears to be in full swing.
Anyway, it just so happens that Zauner is a big Tweedy fan, having covered “Jesus, Etc.” from Wilco’s classic 2001 album Yankee Hotel Foxtrot at Lollapalooza in 2019. “We learned this song especially for Chicago,” she told the crowd at the time, referencing Wilco’s hometown. “So hopefully we do a good job.”
If this is the start of a new Japanese Breakfast/Wilco collaboration effort, we’re here for it. In fact, the singer told Uproxx back in May how Jubilee was purposefully a more collaborative LP than her previous two, 2017’s Soft Sounds From Another Planet and 2016’s Psychopomp:
“I knew with this record I wanted to invite in more people. Some of that came from being on tour for the last three years, and getting to meet people like Adam Schatz, who plays saxophone and also has a network of horn players he brought in. And then Molly Germer, who still does all the violin on Alex G records. And she has her whole network of string players.”
Check out the rest of that interview here, and watch Jeff Tweedy covering Japanese Breakfast’s “Kokomo, IN” above.
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rocking back and forth crying, muttering about 
All y’all can go to hell. Not Respectfully. 50cent, I address that situation all in my book coming in November. Make sure you go get it. Pre-orders available now. Be Blessed every one, stay positive.
