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Today marks the release of Fearless (Taylor’s Version), the first of Taylor Swift’s newly re-recorded albums. The whole thing has been a meaningful process for Swift, which she wrote about in a new letter about the album.

The CD edition of the album comes with a “Prologue” letter that Swift penned and now fans have shared it online. She emotionally addresses the connection she has with her fans, beginning:

“When I think back on the Fearless album and all that you turned it into, a completely involuntary smile creeps across my face. This was the musical era in which so many inside jokes were created between us, so many hugs exchanged and hands touched, so many unbreakable bonds formed. So before I say anything else, let me just say that it was a real honor to get to be a teenager alongside you. And for those of you I’ve come to know more recently than 2008, I am ecstatic that I get to experience a bit of that feeling with you now that I can fully appreciate it in its whimsical, effervescent, chaotic entirety.”

She goes on to conclude, “This process has been more fulfilling and emotional than I could’ve imagined and has made me even more determined to re-record all of my music. I hope you’ll like this first outing as much as I liked traveling back in time to recreate it.”

Check out the full letter below.

“When I think back on the Fearless album and all that you turned it into, a completely involuntary smile creeps across my face. This was the musical era in which so many inside jokes were created between us, so many hugs exchanged and hands touched, so many unbreakable bonds formed. So before I say anything else, let me just say that it was a real honor to get to be a teenager alongside you. And for those of you I’ve come to know more recently than 2008, I am ecstatic that I get to experience a bit of that feeling with you now that I can fully appreciate it in its whimsical, effervescent, chaotic entirety.

Fearless was an album full of magic and curiosity, the bliss and devastation of youth. It was the diary of the adventures and explorations of a a teenage girl who was learning tiny lessons with every new crack in the facade of the fairytale ending she’d been shown in the movies. I’m thrilled that my new version of Fearless is with you now. This is Fearless (Taylor’s Version) and it includes 27 songs.

I’ve spoken a lot about why I’m remaking my first six albums, but the way I’ve chosen to do this will hopefully help illuminate where I’m coming from. Artists should own their own work for so many reasons, but the most screamingly obvious one is that the artist is the only one who really *knows* that body of work. For example, only I know which songs I wrote that almost made the Fearless album. Songs I absolutely adored, but were held back for different reasons (don’t want too many breakup songs, don’t want too many down tempo songs, can’t fit that many songs on a physical CD).

Those reasons seem unnecessary now. I’ve decided I want you to have the whole story, see the entire vivid picture, and let you into the entire dreamscape that is my Fearless album. That’s why I’ve chosen to include 6 never before released songs on my version of this album. Written when I was between the ages of 16 and 18, these were the ones it killed me to leave behind.

This process has been more fulfilling and emotional than I could’ve imagined and has made me even more determined to re-record all of my music. I hope you’ll like this first outing as much as I liked traveling back in time to recreate it.

Sincerely and Fearlessly,
Taylor.”

Fearless (Taylor’s Version) is out now via Republic Records. Get it here.

We go to our local grocery stores to buy food to eat, plain and simple. We go to Trader Joe’s to buy the foods we gotta have but can’t find anywhere else. The sampling, the comparing, the wine selection, the quirky names — it’s almost a form of recreation.

You can search the produce section for onions and apples and bags of pre-made salads at Trader Joe’s, just like any other grocery chain. And, yup, they’ve got your various cuts of chicken, beef, and fish there, too. But any true TJ’s aficionado will tell you that there are some fire items at the store that you’ll never find at your neighborhood Kroger or Ralphs.

Like those cute little packages of frozen garlic squares. Why bother with peeling, chopping, and mincing garlic for yourself when you can just pop a perfectly portioned garlic bite out of the freezer and into your sauté pan? Sure, you can buy jars of the stuff at any grocery store, but why play yourself? You know that flavor is staler — almost pickled — and just not the same.

Since I am that aforementioned TJ’s aficionado (on both the food and wine side of things), I ventured to my nearest location(s) last week to explore the freezer section once again. This time, I looked specifically for the frozen foods that can only be found at Trader Joe’s and nowhere else — from entrees to desserts to that garlic I love so much — re-tasted them and ranked them for your reading pleasure.

What made this whole experience even better? Not a single thing on this list costs more than $8. Let’s get to it!

10. Linguine with Clam Sauce

Average Price: $3

Tasting Notes:

Now here is a pasta that manages to maintain a light and bright profile while remaining hearty and filling. Be sure to follow the cooking instructions to the T, as it’s easy to overcook the pasta. But after about six to eight minutes with the fire on high, the noodles maintain their desired al-dente texture.

The clam sauce is the real star of this dish. It has a briny, lemony note hovering in the background that’s smattered with parsley and a little red pepper, but overall it’s the taste of clams fresh out the sea that dominates the flavor. That’s a good thing.

Bottom Line:

What’s great about this dish — beyond the fact that it has all the exuberant salinity of the sea — is that it’s incredibly light, which is a lot to say considering how heavy pasta (particularly sauced frozen pasta) tends to be. It’ll fill you right up without weighing you down after a few bites.

9. Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Butter and Sage

Average Price: $3

Tasting Notes:

Don’t go eating this stuff when you’re on a diet. Its caloric content is HIGH — 250 calories per serving with about three servings-worth in the bag. But all the calories are worth it if you aren’t counting.

This dish is indulgent in every sense of the word. Warm and pillowy, clouds of sugary sweet potatoes (they almost taste candied) get soaked in a butter sauce that is ethereally rich and creamy. All that lustrous flavor gets a velvety, herbal lift from the sage.

Bottom Line:

This puts the comfort in comfort food. You’re definitely going to feel the weight of the gnocchi after consumption, but all that richness and flavor will help ease the food guilt.

8. Spicy Thai Shrimp Fried Rice

Average Price: $5

Tasting Notes:

I have to lead with the spice factor of this frozen dish. A single forkful of this may only zing your mouth a little. If anything, you’ll notice the taste of Thai basil on the first bite. But take a few forkfuls more and feel the well of heat rising in your chest. This fried rice isn’t necessarily the type of spicy you can taste, but rather the type of spicy you can feel.

That’s a good thing — by the time you’re done, your body heat index will have gone from zero to 100, real quick!

Now I can’t lie. TJ’s is slacking on the shrimp quantity in this dish. There are only about 10 pieces of little baby shrimp included. But the mounds of veggies —baby corn, onion, green peas, carrot, green onion, flat basil leaves, garlic, and ginger— make up for it. And man, the red Thai chili peppers mixed throughout really just amplify the flavor.

Bonus: The rice in this dish is a smash. Idk how TJ’s does it, but they have their frozen rice game on lock.

Bottom Line:

People are always asking for something they can feel, and my response to that is for them to hit the nearest Trader Joe’s, buy this fried rice, and eat this fried rice. Trust me when I say, you’re gonna feel it.

7. Mushroom Risotto

Average Price: $4

Tasting Notes:

Somehow this bag of frozen food turns into something completely creamy and delicious once it’s heated up. The long-grain white rice doesn’t get mushy from the weight of the sauce. If anything, it supports the earthy, meaty mushroom taste and gives the dish the density it needs to hold everything together.

This isn’t as salty as say, Trader Joe’s Asparagus Risotto, but that’s a good thing. The mushrooms give the dish the savory complexity it needs. It’s a bit bland in color, but little sprinkles of parsley add more visual appeal.

Bottom Line:

This is a filling, completely palatable, dinner-worthy dish. Cook this up on the stove, pour a big glass of chianti to go with it, and thank me when you’re done and fully satisfied.

6. Mandarin Orange Chicken

Average Price: $5

Tasting Notes:

Cook up some rice and throw TJ’s Mandarin Orange Chicken in the oven and you’ll have a complete meal that is sweet and satisfying.

Juicy chicken legs are used for this dish, which is likely why the chicken chunks remain moist on the inside after baking. The breading is crispy and light, seasoned with a little salt and pepper. Once baked in the oven as the packaging instructs, it’s time to coat the boneless chicken pieces in the glossy and citrusy sauce, comprised of real orange peels, garlic, ginger, green onion, and soy sauce.

That’s what gives this frozen food item most of its flavor — the sauce — which is light and balanced with a gingery sweetness and a faint kick of spice.

Bottom Line:

This orange chicken is nearly as good as takeout. And takeout orange chicken is great.

5. Thai Shrimp Gyoza

Average Price: $5

Tasting Notes:

Steam ‘em. Bake ‘em. Pan fry ‘em. Throw ‘em in the microwave if you’re bout that life. Whatever way you make Trader Joe’s Thai Shrimp Gyoza, you’re bound to enjoy them because these Thai-style dumplings are really just that great.

The bag full of Gyoza is stuffed with real lumps of shrimp and veggies like white cabbage, chives, green onion, and garlic, but there is a gingery element to the potstickers that’s noticeable in the bite too. All that blends together for a completely savory snack that is totally filling.

Even the dough for these flash-frozen dumplings has a nice texture that is firm and not too chewy once cooked. Dip and dunk them in sauce as you please — these dumplings are thick enough to bear the weight of the contents inside and multiple splashings of soy sauce.

Bottom Line:

You really can’t beat frozen dumplings that maintain quality in flavor and texture once cooked. And you can’t find dumplings like those virtually anywhere else.

4. Speculoos Cookie Butter Ice Cream

Average Price: $5

Tasting Notes:

This ain’t ya half-gallon carton of cookie dough ice cream. In fact, there are no actual globs of cookies in this ice cream at all. What you get instead—and trust me when I say you’ll appreciate this much more—is swirls of cookie butter that marble the rich and sweet ice cream. The cream to cookie ratio is so on-point, you’ll have to work to scoop out a spoonful that doesn’t include a balanced portion of both ingredients.

Overall, the ice cream smells of vanilla beans, sugar, and cookie batter. But the ice cream itself is simple — not dry and hard like some ice creams can be, but not so creamy that it melts easily. It’s luscious with a dense enough texture to hold the weight of the cookie butter whirling throughout. And while the actual vanilla-based ice cream plays the background role, allowing the buttery, cinnamon, and clove flavors to really stand out, the whole desert melds together in perfect harmony.

It’s worth noting that this ice cream isn’t overly sweet. You can enjoy quite a few spoonfuls without feeling hyped up on sugar. For me, that’s a win.

Bottom Line:

This stuff is a fan-favorite for many TJs shoppers. The reason why is clearly in its taste and price point.

3. Crushed Garlic

Average Price: $3

Tasting Notes:

Trader Joe was obviously thinking about those of us who just don’t have the time when he started slanging frozen crushed garlic. Bless him!

This package basically consists of fresh garlic that has been crushed and frozen into little cubes in a miniature ice tray. They come in handy whenever you need to add a little bit of garlic and don’t feel like going through the hassle of peeling, chopping, crushing, or mincing.

The best part about these little babies is that every cube maintains its fresh garlic taste for days — even weeks! — in the freezer, unlike jarred minced garlic which is okay when you first open it but loses its piquancy after a few days opened in the fridge.

Bottom Line:

Save yourself some time with meal prep, and simplify your home cooking with these little frozen garlic cubes.

2. Mushroom Ravioli with Truffle

Average Price: $4

Tasting Notes:

Ravioli noodles that maintain their freshness, texture, and taste after unthawing over medium heat in a pan? Check. A decadent blend of mushrooms and ricotta that is fully flavorful but doesn’t overwhelm the actual ravioli? Double-check. A thick and creamy, rich sauce that is swimming with morsels of porcini and champignon mushrooms and truffle oil flavor you can not only smell but taste? Triple check.

Do I really need to say more? Seriously, editor, do I?

Bottom Line:

This is definitely one of the better pasta dishes at Trader Joe’s. It delivers on rich, earthy decadence and quality. Cook this up when you’re pressed for time, and I swear you’ll fool houseguests with it.

1. Seafood Paella

Average Price: $5

Tasting Notes:

I am truly amazed that Trader Joe’s somehow managed to capture the freshness of seafood paella, bag it up, freeze it and maintain all its original flavors while it essentially unthaws and heats up in a pan, covered, on high heat for a few minutes. Truly, I am blown tf away.

The rice is pearly and delectable. You’d never guess it was in a freezer bag mixed with a generous portion of baby shrimp, mussels, and ribbons of squid, peas, red and yellow and green peppers, and onion. It’s all seasoned to perfection with spices like paprika and saffron, which coats and colors the bomba rice nicely.

Bottom Line:

Obviously, this doesn’t come close to what you’d get in Spain. Please understand that. But this is pretty damn good freezer-section paella. In fact, I’ve never had better.

It’s virtually impossible to talk about HBO’s upcoming fantasy series The Nevers without also addressing the accusations against and subsequent departure of its showrunner, Joss Whedon. So we won’t. In fact, we’ll get the peripheral elephant out of the room first.

HBO picked up Whedon’s original idea for what amounts to a Victorian steampunk take on the X-Men universe back in 2018 after a lengthy bidding war saw the creator come out on top with a cushy deal before the pilot had even been filmed. Fast-forward to 2020 and the news that Whedon would be taking a step back from the project – his first TV series in a decade – due to exhaustion while trying to film during a pandemic. That announcement also came after actor Ray Fisher accused Whedon of “gross, abusive, unprofessional, and completely unacceptable” behavior on the set of Justice League – a film he took over directing when Zack Snyder was forced to leave after a family tragedy.

An internal Warner Brothers investigation would follow and though the only real justice Fisher would find would come with his role being restored in the Snyder Cut, his courage to speak out prompted others who had worked with Whedon in the past to do the same – most notably Charisma Carpenter and the casts and crews of Whedon’s mega-popular Buffy universe.

So now, here we are with another Hollywood heavyweight rightly exiled from – or at least temporarily kicked out – of the writer’s room on a show that HBO hopes might fill its Game of Thrones sized programming void. On paper, it’s got that kind of potential.

Starring Laura Donnelly as Amalia True and Ann Skelly as Penance Adair – two perfectly capable, kick-ass women who just happen to have extra-ordinary abilities – the show gives us a glimpse into Victorian Era London a few years after a mysterious event imbues some of the most oppressed in society with powers, or “Turns” as they’re called in the series. While Amalia and Penance run an orphanage that serves as a refuge for these “Touched” individuals, they also undertake a larger mission – to figure out why their kind were chosen and, more importantly, what for.

It’s the kind of small-screen epic that would once constitute event-viewing, one that now, in the streaming era, should play even better – a fantastical escape filled with intricate world-building, complex characters, and corsets. Lots of corsets. But the specter of Whedon puts its expected success in doubt, so whether it’s fair or not, Donnelly and Skelly (along with the rest of the cast) have been fielding more questions about their former boss than they should have to.

We chatted with the stars about what drew them to the project, why they’re excited for audiences to unfold its central mystery, and yes, the Joss Whedon of it all.

There’s so much fantasy world-building going on that I was a bit surprised at how much the friendship between Penance and Amalia is really the heart of the show. Liking each other that much must’ve been so tough to fake on camera.

Laura: [laughs] It was the worst!

Ann: I make it very difficult for Laura.

Laura: No, I think that the dynamic that we have in real life is very similar to the dynamic that Penance and Amalia have anyway. We’re not totally dissimilar to our individual characters, and so I don’t know how much of our natural selves and our friendship we’ve brought into the roles and how much the roles have informed how we get along in real life, but the fusion has happened and I’m finding it difficult to draw the boundary.

Ann: Yeah. I don’t know if it’s chicken or egg. she’s just so cool as well. Her and Amalia have that in common.

It’s a bit out-of-the-norm too to have two female leads who are complete opposites in some ways, not only share screen time in a prestige network drama – but actually get along and not be rivals in some way.

Laura: Certainly from an actor’s point of view, you don’t expect to get a complex female lead role in a show of this size, by any means. They very, very rarely come along. But to get one that is working alongside yet another completely different complex female character, that in itself felt like such a special thing that I knew I had to be part of it. In terms of the approach for us, I mean, that was done for us through the writing. Those characters are cared for so much by the writers. They were very determined that they wanted not one, not two, but many brilliant female and male fleshed-out characters.

Ann: I love that none of the characters feel like a plot device. They’re all representative, they feel like different types of characters and personalities [you’d find] in real life.

Do we know exactly why these people were chosen to receive these abilities after the “event”?

Laura: I think that it’s not a huge spoiler to say that it’s mainly the people who do not have a voice in society who have been given this [power], or certainly those that are not members of the established order. There is a plan there, of sorts, to ensure that these people find their place in the world and start to be heard.

Ann: What I think is really interesting as well is not every single person who feels powerless in their lives or is powerless in society receives a “Turn.” Kind of reminds me of that HBO series, The Leftovers. Random people just disappeared from one world. Even now, I wonder if a part of it is slightly random, or does it have an intention behind it? I just … God, why am I wondering this aloud to myself?

Someone at HBO, please fill Ann in.

Ann: Please tell me what’s happening. Yeah, I do. I wonder, does it allude to a greater plan for these specific people.

I think there can be an undue burden place on women to talk about the behavior of their male peers in Hollywood, so instead of asking about working with Joss Whedon, I want to know if either of you is worried his name might overshadow this show?

Laura: Well, thank you for saying that because of course that is a concern — that something that is not the show might overshadow the show. We are so intensely proud of this show. I mean, I broke the habit of a lifetime and watched the episodes and I’ve never watched anything. But because of what I saw in post-production when I was doing voiceover stuff, I was just so impressed, I thought, ‘I think I can brave watching this.’ And when I watched it, I was so blown away by everybody’s performances and by everything that I knew was going on behind the scenes with all of the crew. I mean the work that hundreds and hundreds of people have put into this, quite literally blood, sweat, and tears for the last two years of their lives.

We like to attach success to one name, one face but with TV especially, it takes an army to get something like this made.

Laura: It has been a hugely collaborative experience. And TV is always a very collaborative experience. I think more so with this, with the challenges that we’ve faced with COVID, with the scale, the size of this production and this story, and the fact that every cast member, every crew member is really at the top of their game, just makes me think that this is something intensely special. And I don’t want anybody to miss that because there’s other stuff going on. I think that we have a wonderful female showrunner, Philippa Goslett, and she has amazing ideas for how the next half of this first season is going to go. I’m really, really excited to get involved with her and to do that. I want this to run and run because I think not only are we telling an amazingly entertaining, fascinating, complex story, but I think it’s also really important for here and now. I think that there’s a lot to be gained from it in our society.

Do you get the feeling there are changes ahead in terms of the story now that you have a new showrunner?

Ann: I’m not worried about the quality or the tone or anything like that changing. The things that people will love about the show from episodes one through six, will be continued on in the hands of Philippa and her amazing writing staff, who we’ve gotten to meet on Zoom and actually talk to and get to hear from the source of where the ideas come from, which is just really cool. It feels like it’s a continuation of that collaborative process in that very transparent way that the show has been operated. That’s very unique. Sometimes actors aren’t trusted with all the information but with this, we’re seen as equal employees, and that’s really, really affected how it feels to show up to work every day. It feels like we’re all doing it together. I’ve spoken before about how intensely positive my entire experience has been and I think Phillipa [will] continue that. I’m not worried about the show at all in her hands.

Well, speaking of information, are you both as in the dark as I am about this mysterious event and specifically Amalia’s connection to it.

Laura: Not so much.

Dammit, Laura. What do you know?!

Laura: [laughs] As Ann says, this has been a really transparent process for us from day one. It’s really unusual. Even when I went to my very first meeting before I got the part, I was told all the secrets. It’s crazy. It’s like, somebody should have had me signing something before I went in that room. It was essential to my playing Amalia that I knew a lot about her that the audience doesn’t know at the moment. But in terms of where the next six episodes go, we’ve had meetings with the writer’s room and they have certainly told me about the emotional arc and they’ve told me about the points as they have plotted so far.

That has been massively beneficial, to me anyway, as an actor, being trusted with all the information, being allowed to see scripts, even when they’re not entirely finished. All of those things really helped me play the part. I find the more I know of the process, the more I know of how certain things came about, even if they get changed down the line, it really helps me tell the story better. So I love that Philippa and the writers’ room are trusting us with that.

Ann: I think maybe as you watch it, you feel like there are a lot of questions and mysterious things that will satisfyingly get answered later on, so I love that confidence the show puts in the audience. And I think it’s really cool that there’s Amalia and Penance at the heart of it, that friendship that you can invest in and you can trust these two people as you go along watching the show. Philippa has let us in on the different options and the different arguments being made within the writers’ room of where to continue to take the story and the characters. I think that says a lot. The story’s in safe hands.

‘The Nevers’ debuts via HBO and HBO Max on April 11.

In June 2020, Blackpink debuted the video for “How You Like That,” which was then their first new song in a year, on YouTube. About 1.6 million people tuned in to watch the clip’s live premiere, which was a record for platform. Just a couple months later, that record was broken by BTS’ YouTube premiere of their “Dynamite” video, which is estimated to have had somewhere between 3 and 4 million people watching live. That is where the record stands today.

There’s one key factor those two videos have in common, both with each other and with every other video that has ever premiered on YouTube since the feature was introduced in June 2018: the countdown.

Every YouTube premiere is preceded by a colorful countdown that features vibrant, abstract animations and a clock ticking its way down to zero. Every countdown also includes the same song playing front and center, a two-minute instrumental track that stirs up anticipation with its nostalgic electronic synths, drum machine percussion, and orchestral string plucks. It comes across like a brighter cousin of Washed Out’s “Feel It All Around” (which is famous for the snippet of it that was used as the Portlandia theme song).

The song was supposed to be minutiae, an accompaniment to something of greater priority than it, but it has become emblematic of an era, like how the Nintendo Wii’s system music has become nostalgia bait for 2000s kids. It has replaced 009 Sound System’s “Dreamscape” as the unofficial YouTube national anthem.

Commenters on YouTube re-uploads of the song agree, as they’ve shared a variety of feelings about the track. One person noted, “People in 2030/2040 will be like: This is soooo nostalgic!! Only real ones remember this.” Somebody else wrote, “This is honestly such a fitting song for YouTube Premiere countdowns, it just perfectly goes with your imagination running wild about what you’re about to see.” Another user painted a picture of the end of YouTube with “Space Walk” as the soundtrack: “I feel like this is something that would play in the final minutes of youtube before the site shuts down. Just this music and a few minutes to remember everything that has happened on this site over the decades before it all goes away.”

The song is beloved and has been heard millions (perhaps billions) of times at this point. Ed Sheeran’s “Shape Of You,” the most popular all-time song on Spotify, has nearly 3 billion spins, and it wouldn’t be surprising to learn that the YouTube premiere song — across every YouTube premiere ever, music video or otherwise — has been heard more times than that.

The odd thing, though, is that the story behind the YouTube premiere song and the identity of the person (or people, or something else) who made it is mostly a mystery.

Some answers about the track can be easily found: A quick Google search for “YouTube premiere song” reveals that the tune is called “Space Walk” and it’s credited to an artist named Silent Partner. Beyond that, it’s not immediately obvious where the song comes from. One thing we can tell is that the song wasn’t specifically made to be used for YouTube countdowns: The oldest uploads of the song on YouTube date back to early 2015, which pre-dates the premiere feature by over three years.

YouTube themselves offers a free download of the song as part of the audio library in their YouTube Studio, a set of back-end tools for video creators to freely use. The song’s listing there notes it was added to the platform in November 2014 and describes its genre as “ambient” and its mood as “bright.” Downloading the MP3 file of the song from YouTube and viewing its ID3 tags — metadata used by programs like iTunes (rest in peace) to indicate the file’s title, artist, and so on — doesn’t reveal much more info, aside from the fact that the album is listed as “YouTube Audio Library.”

As far as publicly available information about “Space Walk,” this seems to be the end of the road. However, we can learn a bit more more about Silent Partner, but not much more.

Silent Partner seems to be a Kevin MacLeod-type of artist. For those not familiar, MacLeod has made thousands of songs available under Creative Commons licenses so creators can use them for various purposes, and indeed they have. His work has become popular because of that fact and because he works in a variety of genres. In his vast library, there is bound to be at least one song that is suitable for any sort of project. If you’ve spent time on the internet, it’s almost a guarantee that you’ve heard his work.

Similarly, Silent Partner has “about 1,383” songs available in the YouTube audio library (which seems like too specific a figure to preface with “about”) and they’re listed under genres spanning from electronic to hip-hop to classical. All of the songs were added to the platform between September 2013 and November 2014.

Outside of the YouTube audio library, Silent Partner has a mostly silent web presence. There’s a SoundCloud account that has a bit over 2,100 followers and a YouTube channel with around 500 subscribers, both of which have uploads of some songs from the YouTube audio library. It seems that is the entirety of Silent Partner’s online footprint.

The most recent upload on the YouTube channel, a song called “Get Back,” was posted on July 3, 2016. The latest post on SoundCloud is from May 15, 2018, although the two most recent uploads before that are from 2017 and 2015.

The closest thing we have to any biographical info about Silent Partner comes from the About section of their YouTube page, which reads simply and appropriately, “…silently here…” It’s not clear if Silent Partner is an individual person, a band, a collective of artists releasing music under one overarching label, or something else entirely.

The only other “statements” we seem to have from Silent Partner are their handful of SoundCloud comments, which are mostly brief responses to positive feedback about their music and telling inquiring creators they are allowed use Silent Partner songs in their projects.

What we can gather from SoundCloud, though, is that it seems Silent Partner has an interest in Buddhism and/or meditation: The four accounts they follow on SoundCloud are Khyentse Foundation (which provides “support for institutions and individuals engaged in all traditions of Buddhist practice and study“), Samye Institute (a “place where students from all corners of the globe explore how to work with their minds in order to realize the liberating wisdom and compassion of the Buddha”), Tergar Meditation Community (which “supports individuals, practice groups, and meditation communities around the world in learning to live with awareness, compassion, and wisdom”), and Study Buddhism (which uploads podcasts about Buddhism). Most of Silent Partner’s liked tracks on SoundCloud are also about similar topics.

All of these biographical discoveries come with the assumption that these accounts are actually affiliated with whoever is behind Silent Partner. All of the uploads on both SoundCloud and YouTube were posted after the songs were made available on the YouTube audio library, so it’s completely possible that somebody who has nothing to do with Silent Partner downloaded a bunch of their MP3s and re-shared them to pose as Silent Partner. It’s not like a potential imposter would have had an established Silent Partner web presence with which to compete.

Beyond YouTube and SoundCloud, the only other online resource that seems to have info about Silent Partner is IMDb. On the site, Silent Partner has a few dozen credits spread across TV shows, movies, and other projects from between 2007 and 2021. Meanwhile, fans of various other creative endeavors have taken to the comments of Silent Partner uploads to share where they came across their music, like one person who heard a Silent Partner song in a video from mega-popular YouTube personality Miranda Sings (aka Colleen Ballinger), or others who discovered Silent Partner through Thunderf00t, who has nearly a million YouTube subscribers.

Despite a greatly appreciated effort, a YouTube representative was unable to provide Uproxx with more information about Silent Partner or how “Space Walk” was chosen as the YouTube premiere song. SoundCloud direct messages sent to Silent Partner by Uproxx have also gone unanswered. Last year, an attempt by a BuzzFeed journalist to get in touch with Silent Partner via the comments section of a SoundCloud upload was also not fruitful. It’s not just us who wants to know more about Silent Partner but can’t get a hold of them.

Somebody out there made this music, but for some reason, they’ve opted to not come forward and claim their deserved praise. Maybe anonymously enjoying the success of “Space Walk” is enough for them. Maybe they’re somehow unaware of the impact their compositions have had. Maybe Silent Partner is no longer with us.

So, who or what is Silent Partner? That question has two answers. One is that Silent Partner is the artist behind “Space Walk,” one of the most-heard pieces of music of the past few years. The other is that we don’t know who they are and perhaps never will, making the answer to this question one of the premier unsolved musical mysteries of our time.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Prince Philip, a member of the British royal family who married Queen Elizabeth II in 1947, died on Friday at 99 years old. “It is with deep sorrow that Her Majesty The Queen announces the death of her beloved husband, His Royal Highness The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. His Royal Highness passed away peacefully this morning at Windsor Castle,” Buckingham Palace wrote in a statement. “Further announcements will be made in due course. The Royal Family join with people around the world in mourning his loss.”

Philip recently spent a month in a hospital to treat an infection and heart condition (and again, he was 99 years old), but according to Fox News presenter Brian Kilmeade, Meghan Markle’s recent interview with Oprah Winfrey played a part in his demise.

While reporting on Philip’s death during Friday’s Fox & Friends, Kilmeade said, “If you factor in this, there are reports that he was enraged after the interview and the fallout from the interview. So here he is trying to recover and he gets hit with that.” Philip was in the hospital when Meghan and Harry’s interview aired, but he was reportedly aware of it and “would have had some fruity words to say about it,” according to a royal expert. But to suggest that the 99-year-old died because Markle discussed the racism she faced from the royal family is ghoulish. Especially as Kilmeade’s “source” is Piers Morgan.

Kilmeade then went on to cite Piers Morgan, of all people, as evidence that Philip’s health was hit by the Oprah interview… The Fox & Friends host said: “Piers Morgan was saying on his morning show, which he famously walked off of, is like, ‘Really? Your grandfather is in the hospital, you know he’s not doing well, is this really the time you have to put out this interview?’ Evidently, it definitely added to his stress.”

You can watch the clip (which begins with the hosts fawning over The Crown) below.

(Via the Daily Beast)

Netflix brought viewers much joy (and much-needed joy, at that) for the past year while humanity endured the greatest challenge of the past century. We’re not out of the woods yet, so the good news is that Netflix has a little something for almost everyone this week. If you’re looking for comedy, then a Melissa McCarthy and Octavia Spencer pairing has you covered there. If you’re into intrigue and bizarre, not-solved crimes, then there’s a great heist-focused limited series. If you want to laugh at people who spend too much weddings, then there’s that as well, and everyone could use a little more Dolly Parton in their life, so no complaints there. As usual, there’s far too much going on here, and we’re fortunate to have it.

Here’s everything else coming to (and leaving) the streaming platform this week.

Thunder Force (Netflix film streaming 4/9)

Don’t expect this movie to win any awards because that’s not the point. Instead, prepare for the silliest of moments from Melissa McCarthy and Octavia Spencer as two inept superheroes who fight crime, long after their childhood best-friend days, and together, they learn what it’s like when two ordinary people are suddenly tasked with stopping supervillains. In other words, sit back and embrace the chaos because there’s plenty of it coming your way. The supporting cast includes Bobby Cannavale, Pom Klementieff, and Melissa Leo. Plus, Jason Bateman is onboard, which instantly makes any movie or TV show better

This Is A Robbery: The World’s Biggest Art Heist (Netflix documentary series streaming 4/7)

This docuseries goes big while digging into a $500 million stash of missing art and a $10 million reward for the lucky person who finds it. The mystery sources back 30 freaking years after two thieves pulled off the greatest art heist in history in 1990 Boston, and investigators are now tracking the cold case in an attempt to uncover legendary works by Rembrandt, Vermeer, and more. Get ready for dead ends and lucky breaks aplenty.

Dolly Parton: A MusiCares Tribute (Netflix film streaming 4/7)

Even before Dolly helped fund research that led to one of the COVID-19 vaccines, she was beloved, as she very well should be. This special showcases the never-before-seen 2019 Person of the Year event and concert that celebrated this national treasure.

The Wedding Coach (Netflix film streaming 4/7)

All of those cancelled weddings from last year are going to have a spiritual reawakening with this show, which dives into the hell of planning. Comedian Jamie Lee piggybacks from her own wedding to help couples “survive” the ridiculousness of “Big Bridal.” It’s real talk with Lee attempting to help people see the bigger picture.

Here’s a full list of what’s been added in the last week:

Avail. 4/1
2012
Cop Out
Friends with Benefits
Insidious
Legally Blonde
Leprechaun
Magical Andes: Season 2
The Pianist
The Possession
Prank Encounters: Season 2
Secrets of Great British Castles: Season 1
Tersanjung the Movie
The Time Traveler’s Wife
Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Big Happy Family
White Boy
Worn Stories
Yes Man

Avail. 4/2
Concrete Cowboy
Just Say Yes
Madame Claude
The Serpent
Sky High

Avail. 4/3
Escape from Planet Earth

Avail. 4/4
What Lies Below

Avail. 4/5
Coded Bias
Family Reunion: Part 3

Avail. 4/6
The Last Kids on Earth: Happy Apocalypse to You

Avail. 4/7
The Big Day: Collection 2
Dolly Parton: A MusiCares Tribute
Snabba Cash
This Is A Robbery: The World’s Biggest Art Heist
The Wedding Coach

Avail. 4/8
The Way of the Househusband

Avail. 4/9
Have You Ever Seen Fireflies?
Night in Paradise
Thunder Force

And here’s what’s leaving next week, so it’s your last chance:

Leaving 4/11
Time Trap

Leaving 4/12
Married at First Sight: Season 9
Surviving R. Kelly Part II: The Reckoning: Season 1

Leaving 4/13
Antidote

Leaving 4/14
Eddie Murphy: Delirious
The New Romantic
Once Upon a Time in London
Thor: Tales of Asgard

Leaving 4/15
Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant

Leaving 4/19
Carol
The Vatican Tapes

There appears to be hope on the horizon in terms of the ongoing pandemic, as more and more people are getting COVID-19 vaccines by the day. While the world is gradually opening back up, events that would draw large crowds are still mostly not happening quite yet. It may seem surprising, then, that Electric Daisy Carnival Las Vegas is going on with its 2021 event. Furthermore, it’s happening surprisingly soon, as the festival is set for May 21 to 23.

Pasquale Rotella — the founder and CEO of Insomniac Events, the company behind EDC — shared the news last night, noting that organizers “are moving forward as planned & will be working closely with local & state officials to make the show as safe as possible” and that “more details on safety protocols & the lineup will be shared soon.” He offered no indication that the event — which usually draws about 125,000 attendees per day, as Billboard notes — will be hosted in a reduced capacity, writing, “You can expect the full EDC experience with no details spared, from the festival grounds to the music, stages, art, performers, artists & fireworks!”

This news arrived shortly after Dr. Anthony Fauci said the number of new COVID-19 cases in the US is currently at a “disturbingly high level” and noted that the country could experience a surge in new cases. He concluded, “Hang in there a bit longer. Now is not the time, as I’ve said so many times, to declare victory prematurely.”

Check out Rotella’s post below.

“Electric Daisy Carnival is finally on the horizon. There were times during the pandemic when many of us lost hope. We were challenged to learn & listen to our hearts & trust that the storm would eventually pass, making way for a bright & sunny future for those in our community & around the world.

With the world being shutdown for over a year, I’m happy to announce we’re on our way to being able to celebrate in person. Book your flights, hotels & shuttles — EDC Las Vegas is on for May 21+22+23!

We are moving forward as planned & will be working closely with local & state officials to make the show as safe as possible. You can expect the full EDC experience with no details spared, from the festival grounds to the music, stages, art, performers, artists & fireworks! I look forward to seeing all your beautiful faces & feeling your incredible energy, and I couldn’t be more excited.

More details on safety protocols & the lineup will be shared soon. If you’re unable to attend in May 2021, no worries, but you’ll be missed. You can go to the link in my bio to transfer your ticket to 2022.

We’re ready to spread our wings & embrace our community who we miss so much. We know there may be challenges in front of us, which we will accept & do our best to overcome. We’ve been apart for a long time & I can’t wait to join you, united, Under the Electric Sky.”

For decades, the US whiskey landscape has been dominated by bourbon. Though it wasn’t technically the first, the corn-based, often caramel-sweet whiskey with its origins in Kentucky is often thought of as “America’s spirit.” It’s well suited for drinking on its own or as the base to some of the most well-known cocktails of all time, including the spring favorite mint julep.

But while we enjoy mixing with bourbon, this spring we’re looking for something with… a little more bite. And for that, we look to bourbon’s rebel cousin — rye whiskey.

To be considered a rye whiskey in the US, a spirit’s mash bill must be made up of a minimum of 51 percent rye grain (corn, wheat, or barley typically make up the rest). It can be distilled to no higher than 160 proof and must be aged in virgin, charred American oak casks (similar to bourbon). But whereas corn gives bourbon notes of syrup, honey, or caramel, rye offers a spicy, fresh-cracked black pepper punch.

It’s that classic “rye bite” that makes the whiskey so well-suited to mixing into cocktails. It has what bartenders would call, backbone — meaning it can be tasted, even when blended with syrups, bitters, and citrus (all of which have strong flavors of their own).

If you want to add some sting to your spring, try mixing a Manhattan, Sazerac, whiskey smash, or “forbidden sour” with one of the ten rye whiskeys listed below.

Redemption Rye

ABV: 46%

Average Price: $30

The Story:

Redemption Rye is a big name in the American rye world. For one thing, it’s surprisingly cheap at around $30 for a 750ml bottle. Secondly, while all you need in the mash bill to be considered a rye whiskey is 51% rye, Redemption carries a ridiculous 95% rye. It’s aged for over two years in new, charred oak barrels.

Tasting Notes:

On the nose, you’ll find herbal notes and a heavy dose of peppery rye’s pungent punch. The palate is swirling with orange zest, buttery caramel, toasted vanilla beans, and cracked black pepper. The finish is long, filled with heat, and ends with a nice dose of spice.

Bottom Line:

When it comes to bold, mixing rye whiskeys, it’s really tough to beat Redemption. The heavy rye spice works well in a classic old fashioned.

Wild Turkey 101

ABV: 50.5%

Average Price: $25

The Story:

This award-winning rye whiskey is a staple for bartenders and spicy whiskey fans alike. Like its bourbon counterpart (and its name suggests), it’s 101-proof, bold, robust, surprisingly complex (51% rye, 317% corn, and 12% barley), and highly mixable.

Tasting Notes:

Take a moment to breathe in the aromas of mint leaves, clover honey, and gentle, smoky pepper. On the sip, you’ll find notes of buttery caramel, sweet brown sugar, charred oak, and subtle maple syrup. It ends with a dry finish of cinnamon, pepper, and cream.

Bottom Line:

While you can sip this 101-proof rye whiskey, it shines when it’s mixed into spicy whiskey sour. The spicy, peppery rye and the sweet and sour ingredients play off each other perfectly.

George Dickel Rye

ABV: 45%

Average Price: $25

The Story:

Like Redemption, George Dickel Rye is all about the rye. This sugar-maple charcoal-mellowed (as is the style in Tennessee) rye is distilled in Lawrenceburg, Indiana at MGP and made from a 95% rye and 5% barley mash bill. It’s aged for 5 years in virgin, charred American oak casks.

Tasting Notes:

The nose is filled with scents of peppery spice, mint leaves, and raisins. On the palate, you’ll be greeted with buttercream, caramelized sugar, sweet honey, and an underlying backbone of cracked black pepper. The finish is subtly herbal and ends with a nice combination of sweet and heat.

Bottom Line:

If you’re going to mix with this potent, high-rye whiskey, you’re going to want to guarantee that it doesn’t get lost in the shuffle. It sparkles most in a drink like the Manhattan with the simple addition of vermouth and bitters.

High West Double Rye

ABV: 46%

Average Price: $35

The Story:

High West is well-known for its ability to source high-quality whiskeys and blend with them to create something unique and memorable. The brand’s Double Rye is so named because it’s a blend of two straight whiskeys, both aged between 2 and 7 years. The first is a 95% rye/ 5% barley whiskey from Indiana’s MGP and the other is an 80% rye/ 20% barley whiskey distilled at High West.

Tasting Notes:

Before you sip, breathe in the aromas of anise, spicy cinnamon, candied pecans, and a nice kick of smoky pepper. The palate swirls with clover honey, buttery caramel, sweet treacle, and underlying peppery spice. The finish is medium in length, warming, and ends with a nice combination of spicy cinnamon and butterscotch.

Bottom Line:

Two different ryes mean that this whiskey is even more mixable than most. It’s so filled with rye flavor that it stands up to pretty much any cocktail you enjoy. It’s one of the most adaptable on this list.

Old Forester Straight Rye

ABV: 50%

Average Price: $25

The Story:

Using a recipe from 1940, Old Forester makes its 100-proof straight rye whiskey with a mash bill of 65% rye, 20% barley, and 15% corn. The result is a bold, yet still balanced whiskey that appeals to bourbon and rye drinkers alike.

Tasting Notes:

On the nose, you’ll find scents of orange zest, cinnamon sugar, sweet dream, and subtle spice. On the palate, expect bright cinnamon, caramel corn, buttery vanilla, and a peppery backbone. It all ends with a dry, subtly nutty, peppery finish.

Bottom Line:

If you’re a bourbon fan and you’re trying to get into rye whiskey, Old Forester Straight Rye is the whiskey for you. Mix it into drinks you formerly used bourbon in and enjoy the added peppery spice.

Bulleit Rye

ABV: 45%

Average Price: $30

The Story:

First released in 2011, this award-winning rye whiskey is made up of a mash bill of 95% rye and 5% malted barley. Produced in small batches, it carries no age statement. But, since it’s labeled “straight” rye, we can assume it’s at least two years and likely longer.

Tasting Notes:

Give this whiskey a proper nosing and your nostrils will fill with scents of raisins, toasted vanilla beans, brown sugar, and pipe tobacco. The palate swirls with caramel apples, citrus zest, charred oak, and a healthy dose of peppery rye. The finish is filled with the warm heat of cinnamon and those spicy, peppery rye notes that we love.

Bottom Line:

Another crazy high-rye whiskey, Bulleit’s expression is well-suited for mixing into drinks like the iconic Vieux Carre. The peppery rye plays well with the Cognac, sweet vermouth, and Benedictine.

Sazerac Rye

ABV: 45%

Average Price: $35

The Story:

Dating back to the 1800s, Sazerac Rye is still made today to pay tribute to the Sazerac Coffee House, which was located in New Orleans and sold toddies made with rye and bitters. Buffalo Trace doesn’t disclose the mash bill, but once you take a sip (or mix with it) you won’t really care much anyway.

Why? Because this is an underrated, high-value whiskey.

Tasting Notes:

Breathe in the aromas of dried cherries, cinnamon sugar, vanilla, and cracked black pepper before taking your first sip. On the palate, you’ll find notes of licorice candy, buttery caramel, citrus zest, and more peppery rye spice. The finish is long, warm, dry, and ends with a nice mix of butterscotch candy and white pepper.

Bottom Line:

Like many of the whiskeys on this list, you’ll be completely happy if you sip on this whiskey neat. But it mixes really well into a refreshing highball with soda water or seltzer. Or… y’know… a sazerac.

Jim Beam Rye

ABV: 40%

Average Price: $20

The Story:

People rarely think of anything besides bourbon when they imagine a bottle of Jim Beam. If you’ve already stocked up on the classic white label Jim Beam for your mixing pleasure, grab a bottle of the brand’s rye next time around. This “Pre-Prohibition Style” rye doesn’t carry an age statement, but it’s known for its spicy, highly mixable flavor notes.

Tasting Notes:

Nosing this whiskey will reveal a world of baking spices, dried cherries, creamy vanilla, and spicy pepper. Sip this whiskey and you’ll be greeted with notes of charred oak, buttery caramel, molasses, sugar cookies, and a solid amount of peppery heat. It ends similarly with a warming pairing of pepper and dried fruits.

Bottom Line:

This rye whiskey is cheap for a reason. It’s meant to be used as a mixer. It’s bold enough to be the base of a classic old fashioned but flavorful enough to be mixed simply with soda water.

Rittenhouse Rye

ABV: 50%

Average Price: $27

The Story:

Named for Philadelphia’s iconic Rittenhouse Square, this 100-proof, award-winning whiskey is fairly low in the rye department. It’s made with 51% rye, 37% corn, and 12% malted barley. It’s aged for four years in new, charred American oak casks.

Tasting Notes:

The nose is filled with aromas of caramelized oak, vanilla beans, caramel corn, and just a wisp of spice. The palate swirls with a cacophony of cinnamon, toffee, cloves, dried cherries, and just a hint of peppery smoke. The finish is nice and long, dry, warm, and ends with a mix of black pepper and sweet, dried fruits.

Bottom Line:

This low-rye whiskey is great for drinks that you’d usually use other whiskeys for. We suggest ramping up your mint julep this spring by using this is a base instead of your typical bourbon.

Old Overholt

ABV: 40%

Average Price: $18

The Story:

Believed to be the oldest continually produced brand of whiskey in America, Old Overholt was founded back in 1810. While the mash bill isn’t revealed, it’s aged for three years in new, charred American oak casks.

Tasting Notes:

On the nose, you’ll find sugar cookies, orange zest, sweet cinnamon, and spicy black pepper. On the palate, you’ll find pipe tobacco, buttery caramel, cloves, toasted vanilla, and more cracked black pepper. It all ends with a nice added kick of peppery heat and a sweet kiss of butterscotch.

Bottom Line:

You’re not going to want to drink Old Overholt on its own. This is a mixing whiskey, plain and simple. It works well in sazeracs and boulevardiers.

Non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, are all the rage these days. They’ve gone from cryptocurrency side project to meme of the moment in a hurry, with speculators snapping up all kinds of digital goods and basketball highlights as the bored economy continues to be in full swing.

But if you’re still a bit lost about what an NFT is and why people seem to be so excited about them, well, that’s what The Daily Show is here for. In a substantial segment from the show, Trevor Noah broke down the craze in their If You Don’t Know, Now You Know segment. There are plenty of jokes, sure, but it also serves as a pretty solid rundown of just what makes NFTs unique, popular, and a big money-maker for digital platforms that have found an audience in recent months like NBA Top Shot.

“Essentially what you’re buying with an NFT is a long digital receipt that has your transaction along with every transaction that has ever happened,” Noah explained. “So basically it’s like a CVS receipt: it has miles of irrelevant information but somewhere buried in there it says that you bought a Gatorade and some pretzels, and maybe condoms.”

Though the money that’s pouring into NFTs is pretty wild, there certainly was room to joke about the potential for its place as a status symbol.

“The problem, though, is that if digital pictures become the new status symbol, you realize that rap videos are about to become boring as hell,” Noah said. “Instead of showing off expensive cars or pet tigers, rappers are just going to be clicking.”

You can watch the full segment above.

Robert Redford has always bothered me. It’s nothing about him, personally. He’s a beloved Hollywood icon who has done nothing but star in classic movies across many genres and support noble causes and be generally regarded as a good and nice man. It’s the hair, mostly. It’s that he’s all of those other things and has possessed a head of boy-band-quality blond hair for like six decades now. It’s too much. I could handle one or the other. I could deal with him being a multi-talented film legend and going bald in his advancing age. I could handle him being the world’s greatest commercial pitchman for hair conditioner but struggling to cross over into box office glory. Add it all up, though, and it’s just gratuitous. It’s upsetting, is what it is. Robert Redford is entirely too powerful.

I have a similar problem with successful people who are also good at golf. It’s not jealousy, really, or at least it’s not just jealousy. Golf is impossible. People should not be good at something and then good at golf, too. Becoming good at it should cost you everything else in your life, just due to the commitment of time and mental resources. I get almost suspicious of people like this, like they’re up to something, like maybe that they’ve made some deal with a devious magical trickster they met at a carnival. I mean, mastering one thing in life is hard enough. It takes dedication and work and natural talent. Doing this in more than one area seems impossible to me, a person who is, at best, half-good at a few things, and recently looked in a mirror and decided, “Well, I guess I’m a buzz cut guy from now on.” I don’t know why I’m fixated on the hair thing. It’s probably nothing I should talk to a therapist about.

But this is something that started to worry me as I watched the new action movie Nobody, in which Bob Odenkirk goes on a John Wick-like journey from “living a quiet life as a family man after getting out of the violence business” to “maniac who almost single-handedly takes down the mob.” Bob Odenkirk is so good in Nobody. Almost… too good. Like, the guy just up and became a believable action star in his late 50s. After everything else he’s done in his career! And so, I’ve spent the week or so since I watched the movie pondering this question, which I will now lay out as a Case For and Case Against, in part to settle the issue in my brain and in part to justify the time I’ve spent thinking about it by turning it into a work thing: Is Bob Odenkirk, sketch comedy legend, dramatic television lead, and now Keanu-style action star, becoming simply too powerful?

CASE FOR: Bob Odenkirk is becoming too powerful

Bob Odenkirk has been acquiring power in plain sight, right in front of our faces, for decades. It started on Saturday Night Live way back in the 1990s. Odenkirk was a writer for the show and created, among other things, the Matt Foley, Inspirational Speaker sketches with Chris Farley. Even if he did nothing else in his life, that would have been enough, because those sketches are perfect. And if you’re bouncing this around in your brain and thinking, “Yeah, but Chris Farley was a master of physical comedy so take it with a grain of salt,” like that minimizes Odenkirk’s work as a comedy writer, then this is where you have to try to explain away Mr. Show, too.

Mr. Show was so good. Mr. Show still is good, actually, which is almost a magic trick for a sketch comedy show created in the early 1990s. Go watch a bunch of the sketches again now. Start with the one above, which is stupid to the point of brilliance, thanks in large part to Odenkirk giving it the full Slimy Used Car Salesman flare. Same with sketches like “24 Is The Highest Number,” or the fact that Mr. Show gave Tenacious D its big break, or any number of the memorable takeaways from the show’s short run. Even a sketch like “The Audition,” which was written by Dino Stamatopolous and stars Odenkirk’s co-creator David Cross, falls under the umbrella of “Bob Odenkirk rules” because he’s right there in the sketch playing the straight man.

And if he just stopped here, if all he had was an imprint on sketch comedy as a writer and a performer, again, that would have been enough. That’s basically what Dana Carvey brings to the table, give or take a Garth and a handful of excellent impressions, and Dana Carvey is a king. (You can make an argument that Mr. Show and The Dana Carvey Show are two of the most influential sketch comedy shows in history. Maybe one day I will.) But then Bob Odenkirk popped up as Saul Goodman about halfway into the run of Breaking Bad.

This was not entirely unreasonable. Saul Goodman was the comic relief in an otherwise bleak show — brilliant, but bleak — about a man who spirals from suburban chemistry teacher into international drug lord and ruins the lives of everyone he meets along the way. There is a reasonable amount of precedent here. Comedic actors slide into dramatic or semi-dramatic roles pretty frequently. Hell, Adam Sandler shows up in a legitimately good drama every few years and it still catches people off-guard every time. Where this all gets sticky is Better Call Saul, the Breaking Bad spin-off starring his character. In which he acts. Dramatically. Well. Here, look.

Do you see the point I’m getting at here? Bob Odenkirk went from writing sketches about a man who falls through tables to carrying an award-winning drama based on one of the best television shows ever made. And now he’s starring in action movies. Good ones! Ones that feature scenes where he, RZA from Wu-Tang Clan, and freaking Christopher Lloyd himself hunker down inside an empty warehouse and fight off an entire crew of goons like Denzel Washington in the Home Depot at the end of The Equalizer. I enjoyed the movie very much, as “Bob Odenkirk, RZA from Wu-Tang Clan, and freaking Christopher Lloyd himself hunker down inside an empty warehouse and fight off an entire crew of goons like Denzel Washington in the Home Depot at the end of The Equalizer” could not possibly be more inside my wheelhouse. But it is concerning, if only because my enjoyment seemed to confirm something I had not realized was a problem beforehand: By mastering yet another genre, in addition to sketch comedy and television drama, Bob Odenkirk is simply becoming too powerful.

CASE AGAINST: Ah, shut up, who cares?

Bob Odenkirk is the best. I’m happy for him. It rules that he keeps trying and succeeding at new stuff. And who the hell wouldn’t take the chance to star in a John Wick-style movie with Christopher Lloyd and RZA? It’s not like his hair is that great, either. It’s nice, to be sure. It’s fine. But it’s not enough to tip the scales. Yes, I’ve been thinking about this last thing. A lot. Again, I’m sure it’s fine.

VERDICT

Unless we find out that Bob Odenkirk is secretly a scratch golfer, he has not yet become too powerful. Bob Odenkirk is still okay.