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Any educator will tell you there’s a million obstacles to learning. Many of these are practical in nature and have little to do with a student’s intelligence or ability. For a kid from Akron, for instance, it’s hard to learn when you’re hungry or dealing with housing instability, or when there’s other kinds of trouble at home or in the community.

These things don’t just impact learning, they lead to behavioral issues that compound the problem. In the public school system, it’s nearly impossible to account for all these factors. Teachers are overworked and underpaid, and they simply don’t have the time or resources to provide the level of individualized attention necessary to reach so many students on the fringe and help them be successful.

The achievement gap in America is one that mirrors its economic gap. Poverty is among the biggest predictors of academic success: Students who live below the poverty line are significantly less likely to finish high school and more likely to score lower on standardized tests, and students with parents who have little or no college education are also much less likely to overcome those generational traumas.

In Ohio, nearly half a million children live in poverty. It’s the sixth highest rate in the nation, and their achievement levels reflect those trends. So when LeBron James — a product of that very public school system — talks about how he could’ve been a statistic, about how he’s not even supposed to be here, those statements are a lot truer than they might seem on the surface. Overcoming those early obstacles wasn’t the foregone conclusion it now seems to be with the benefit of hindsight.

The memory of those struggles is a big part of what keeps LeBron grounded. It’s precisely why he helped open and fund the Akron-based I Promise School, a public learning institution that focuses on giving opportunities to the area’s most at-risk youth. In 2018, with a combination of public funds and money from the LeBron James Family Foundation, the I Promise School opened its doors with a whole new approach to what a public school education might look like when armed with the right resources.

I Promise serves more than 450 students in grades three through six, with the goal of adding a grade level each year. According to demographic breakdowns from Akron Public Schools, 59 percent of those students are Black, 10 percent are English Language Learners (ELL), and approximately 30 percent have a documented disability. The school uses a STEM curriculum (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math), but its approach to education reaches far beyond standard classroom learning objectives.

At I Promise, educators and administrators abide by a “We Are Family” philosophy. In action, it means that a student’s entire family can use a wide array of resources designed to ease the many real-world burdens that make learning difficult for at-risk youth. For instance, parents have access to a Family Resource Center, which provides legal aid, job services, financial literacy courses, GED and ESL classes, mental health support, a fully-stocked food pantry, and more.

“We deliver curriculum in a very different way,” says LJFF Executive Director Michele Campbell. “Understanding that all of our students are coming to us living in trauma. So if you’re living in trauma, you just can’t sit and be like, ‘Okay, let’s get ready to learn math.’ You’ve got to peel back the layers and figure out what’s going on, and service those basic survival needs before you can even begin to learn. We believe that to be successful in education, you can’t just focus when the student is sitting in your classroom from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. or whatever time it might be. You need to look at that student holistically, and that student’s whole family unit. So, that is built into our school.”

It’s a philosophy that isn’t necessarily based on any other learning models, but rather on LeBron’s own individual experience as an inner-city youth with a single mom trying to make his way through a public school system that was ill-equipped to help his family navigate those challenges. When designing the school’s wrap-around services, LeBron and his mother Gloria worked closely to ensure families like themselves would have more opportunities.

So how do students qualify for admission? Eligibility is partly based on second-grade assessments for students in Akron Public Schools in reading and math. Students scoring in the bottom 20th percentile in these areas are then entered into a lottery. The number of eligible students varies each year, but I Promise has been able to accept between 20-30 percent of the students they’ve identified as high-risk since they opened. When students arrive at I Promise, they are afforded access to the many resources mentioned above for the duration of their time there, and beyond.

There are a number of ways I Promise goes above and beyond what’s feasible in a traditional public school setting. Yet, as part of the Akron Public School system, it’s subject to the same educational benchmarks as every other school, and in the state of Ohio and elsewhere around the country, that means student progress is evaluated via standardized test scores.

But within those confines, I Promise keeps to its vision of measuring success using a more holistic approach. From that perspective, it often entails helping students overcome the kind of practical everyday challenges that create barriers to education for youth in at-risk situations.

“For us, success looks really different. And quite honestly, it’s on an individual basis because every single one of our students comes to us at a different level of learning,” Campbell says. “And for some, it’s literally getting them to come and sit in a classroom and engage. So it’s very individualized, but again, it starts from whether it be attendance, behaviors, academic success; we’ve got to get those first things done first. And then we move forward with how do we help them learn and progress on the educational spectrum.”

For a school where it can be a big win just to get students to show up to class, it requires a different approach to behavioral issues as well. At I Promise, students aren’t suspended or expelled they way the would be at most public schools for behavioral problems. Instead, administrators believe that the trauma associated with an unstable home life is at the root of these issues and must be addressed first — students exhibiting these issues work closely with an in-house trauma specialist.

There are many issues that can lie at the root of these problems, but one area I Promise focuses on specifically is families who are experiencing homelessness or housing instability. That’s where the I Promise Village comes in. Located just a few blocks from the school, the Village opened its doors in late July of this year to provide rent-free transitional housing for these families. In partnership with Graduate Hotels, LJFF worked for more than a year to renovate the current building, which features 20 units varying in size from studios to one and two-bedrooms. Each includes a bathroom and kitchen. Two of those units are reserved for families experiencing emergency situations such as fires, evictions, etc.

The Village isn’t considered a permanent solution, however. How long a family stays depends on the plan they’ve outlined with the foundation prior to moving in. As with the school, the Village provides resources related to financial literacy, adult education, and trauma counseling, all with the goal of helping the families become more independent.

The innovative approach at I Promise doesn’t just apply to student learning. It informs teacher support, as well. At I Promise, the class sizes are smaller, but the demands of teaching students living in trauma are much greater. To address this, they’ve partnered with the University of Chicago’s TREP Project (Trauma Responsive Educational Practices), which educates and supports teachers who work in communities with high levels of poverty and crime.

“It’s a demanding experience,” Campbell says. “Their day looks different than their counterparts in Akron Public Schools, because we build so much professional development support into that. All of our students are at the lowest 25 percent in our district, and I know a lot of them come with behavior challenges, which is more demanding on teachers. So the TREP continual professional development and the STEM professional development for that curriculum is really important. So we fund all that, and we help advocate for those changes with our teacher’s union, because our school, they need to look different.”

Because there isn’t much precedence for this in terms of learning models that provide this level of support, there’s naturally been some skepticism about the efficacy of this approach. Though the sample size was small — approximately 250 during their first year of operation — that data on student growth showed plenty of reason for optimism.

On their district-wide MAP assessments (Measures of Academic Progress), 93 percent of students met or exceeded their individual growth targets in reading and math. I Promise also received an A on their Progress Measure report card, meaning students are exceeding average growth rates compared to other students around the state. Additionally, students are subject to high stakes, state-level tests in English Language Arts for third graders that determine whether they pass to the next grade, and so far, no students at I Promise have had to be retained.

Part of what makes the school unique is that, unlike other alternative or charter schools that operate on private funding from high-profile individuals, I Promise is part of the public school system in Ohio and has to be able to demonstrate in tangible ways that what they’re doing is working. To aid in that, they’ve employed an in-house researcher from the University of Akron to track the data on student performance.

For I Promise, their relationship with the Akron Public School system isn’t just about proving that at-risk students can thrive when you ease the extracurricular burdens that negatively impact learning. It’s aimed at influencing public schools to adopt some of their philosophies, integrate similar programs and resources, and to reconsider what’s possible in public education in general. That’s a tall order for schools and districts that don’t have the backing of one of the biggest sports icons of his generation.

Even then, there are gigantic challenges associated with an endeavor like this. LeBron isn’t the first athlete or celebrity to help found a learning institution in their community, armed with money and good intentions. Many have tread this territory before, to varying degrees of success. One example is Spurs legend David Robinson, who founded the Carver Academy in San Antonio in the early 2000s. What started as a private, faith-based institution has since evolved into a not-for-profit charter school that is part of the IDEA Public School network in Texas. As with I Promise, Robinson wants to show what’s possible in public education when you have the right resources.

“I think we want to try to make public education as good as possible,” Robinson says. “We can come up with some things that maybe can be learning points and learning lessons for the public schools … just to show what’s possible and hopefully get some best practices that maybe can be transferable to public school. So I think that there is value there to try to do things a little bit differently than the way we’ve been doing it. Because in many neighborhoods, many communities, these kids are not getting a proper education. So they’re not getting exposed to what they need to, and how can we be more efficient and more effective at providing that for every single kid and not just some districts and some communities.”

For as much progress as I Promise has made in the two years since it opened, the pandemic has brought new challenges, just as it has for so many schools around the country. I Promise students transitioned to online learning in mid-March and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. As part of Akron Public Schools, students are provided a Chromebook and continue to have access to the school’s many resources, but given the unique obstacles that so many families face, administrators have had to adjust their priorities.

“It was all about, yes, our students are online learning, but that wasn’t the priority,” Campbell says. “The priority was, are they safe? Do they have food? Do they have the place to lay their head at night? It was about survival. And as we got into this in March and continue today, that’s what it continues to be. We have a 24 hour hotline. They have access to medical care if they need it. We’re all about survival.”

Despite these challenges, LeBron and his foundation continue to look toward the future. This week, they broke ground on House Three Thirty in Akron, which is slated to open in 2022 and will act as hub for I Promise families and others in the community, offering access to family programs, financial literacy courses, job training, youth sports, a space for group gatherings, and much more.

For I Promise and LJFF, it’s just the latest part of a bold and ambitious mission to redefine what it means to be a community and take responsibility for one another’s success and well-being.

Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (Netflix film) — Chadwick Boseman left this world far too soon, but before he departed, he left us a lasting performance alongside Oscar winner Viola Davis. She portrays the legendary “Mother of the Blues,” and he’s her ambitious trumpeteer, Levee. Together with his fellow musicians, they will conquer a blazing hot 1920s Chicago recording session, and Levee will help inspire his colleagues to unleash truth-revealing stories that will alter their lives and, possibly, history itself. It’s a testament to the blues’ transformative power and adapted from two-time Pulitzer Prize winner August Wilson’s play of the same name with Denzel Washington onboard as producer.

The Mandalorian: Chapter 11 (Disney+ series) — The season finale arrives with Baby Yoda meeting an iconic character from the Star Wars universe and a post-credits scene that’s causing some panic in the fandom. However, Baby Yoda still has a Christmas Day present, so check in for that as well.

The Flight Attendant (HBO Max series) — It’s Season 1 finale time, y’all, so who’s the murderer? Kaley Cuoco busts away from the The Big Bang Theory with a fun flight of (darkly comedic) fancy. She plays portrays an airline stewardess whose international jet-setting lifestyle includes falling into bed in various countries with various handsome men. During the course of one particularly fateful encounter, Cassie wakes up next to the dead body of a one-night stand. She spends the rest of the series attempting to clean sh*t up. It is such a blast, truly.

The Stand: Premiere (CBS All Access) — Constant Readers will appreciate this fresh take on Stephen King’s epic novel, which is widely regarded as one of the greatest post-apocalyptic works of fiction. Those who are afraid of checking into pandemic land can rest assured that the show feels like an unlikely antidote to the hellish things that humanity has seen this year. The show also goes non-linear in order to avoid wading through the superflu like the book did, since this isn’t really a “pandemic” story but one about the rebuilding of society and the archetypal battle between good and evil.

Small Axe (Amazon film collection) — It’s week five of five for this batch of Steve McQueen-directed movies. The stories, set in London’s West Indian community, will explore the endurance of the human spirit despite setbacks from discrimination and rampant racism, all set from the late 1960s to the 1980s.

Here’s the rest of this weekend’s notable programming:

SNL (Saturday, 11:29 p.m.) — Host Kristen Wiig and musical guest Dua Lipa.

Supermarket Sweep (Sunday, ABC 8:00 p.m.) — Leslie Jones and every bit of her enthusiasm will host contestants in this revival of the grocery-shopping game show.

The Outpost (Sunday, CW 9:00 p.m.) — Falista’s angry, Janzo’s a detective, and Talon’s also digging deep into what happened with her father. And what’s going on with Tobin?

Your Honor (Sunday, Showtime 10:00 p.m.) — This week, Bryan Cranston is Panic-Cranstoning all over the place while fixing up details about his son’s hit-and-run while the mob family’s working toward revenge, and Lt. Nancy Costello is having suspicions.

Shameless (Sunday, CW 9:00 p.m.) — Franny ends up with Frank all day, and it doesn’t go exactly as expected! Well, there’s weed, too, but other than that a lot of focus ends up on Ian and Mickey’s constant squabbling, along with another crisis for Tami’s family. Yep, the Gallaghers are dealing with the pandemic in their own way on Chicago’s South Side, and I still have wishes for this final season.

In case you missed these recent picks:

Adult Material (HBO Max) — Hayley Squires stars as a well-known British porn star who lives in the spotlight while also juggling motherhood. Rupert Everett plays her old colleague, with whom she navigates the Internet’s porn revolution, and they search for innovative ways to put a fresh spin on all things erotic. WarnerMedia’s streaming service acquired this drama series, which is currently airing on the U.K.’s Channel 4, from Banijay Rights.

The Prom (Netflix film) — Ryan Murphy’s relationship with Netflix keeps on giving, this time with a neon-bedazzled Broadway adaptation, which stars Meryl Streep, Nicole Kidman, and James Corden. The three help shake up the prom at a small Indiana town after a teen faces bigotry while attempting to attend her high school’s biggest dance with her girlfriend. Also, glitter, glitter, and more glitter, all in service of inclusion.

Going into Fatale, the new Lionsgate movie from director Deon Taylor, all I knew about it was that it starred Hilary Swank as some kind of Fatal Attraction/hook-up gone wrong alongside a mostly black cast.

Hilary Swank in a movie about a crazy white woman? I thought. Sign me up.

Swank is one of those actors so acclaimed that she rarely gets to do anything fun. As it turns out, Fatale never skimps on the action, but it doesn’t entirely deliver on the promise, either. It’s one of those rare movies where “too grounded” is actually a fair criticism. It manages to fall into the space between realism and escapism, excelling at neither.

Michael Ealy plays Derrick, an athlete-turned-sports-agent so successful that he parks his Lamborghini on one of those rotating showcase disks (a wealthy Susan?) outside his tacky, modernist glass-and-steel baller mansion. Weird flex, but okay. Despite his aspirational (yet somehow corny) lifestyle, Derrick’s beautiful wife with very shiny hair (Traci, played by Demaris Lewis) seems to hate him — allegedly on account of he’s chosen his career over her. Seeing that he’s depressed over his rocky marriage, Derrick’s business partner, Rafe (Mike Colter from Luke Cage) takes him to Vegas for the weekend to get his mind off things. Over drinks at the club, Rafe makes Derrick take off his wedding ring and be not married for the weekend. A nice little vacation from monogamy, another perk of being rich.

Almost immediately, Derrick meets a tigress — Val, played by Swank — who refers to herself as an “unaccompanied adult.” She has a high-stress job and goes to Vegas from time to time to “blow off steam,” she tells Derrick. Someone who goes to Las Vegas, alone, to go to clubs, as a way to blow off steam, sounds like a nightmare human, and a statement that should interpreted as be the world’s biggest red flag. But what the heck, it’s not every day you take a marriage vacation and immediately find someone so redolently DTF. And so Derrick and Val retire to a hotel room to have some sex, which they do, set to Fatale‘s bizarrely loud and intrusive musical score. This screeching track periodically swells up throughout the movie, drowning out everything else with thumping distorted fuzz, presumably as a way to make sure we’re still paying attention.

When Derrick wakes up the next morning, he naturally tries to flee as fast as he can. Before he can, he discovers that Val has taken his cell phone hostage, locking it in the hotel room safe. She won’t give him the combination until he does what she wants. “I have to f*ck it out of you?” asks an incredulous Derrick, who nonetheless f*cks it out of her (a man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do).

It’s probably Fatale‘s most effective scene, naughty enough to keep us hooked and making us wonder, Is Hilary Swank crazy, or just clever and horny? The writing, by David Loughery, and direction by Taylor, excels at staying grounded, with dialogue that sounds just naturalistic enough, like classed-up Skinemax. When the action flows directly from characters, it works. It’s only later, when it has to do the heavier narrative lifting, that it falters.

Derrick comes home, driving his Lambo back to its rotating disk (what’d he do, stick his $300,000 convertible in long-term parking at the airport?), and tries to make fake-nice with his unsuspecting wife. Everything seems to be going swimmingly — the monogamy vacation worked! — until Derrick becomes the victim of a home invasion. Which unexpectedly thrusts Val back into his life.

This is the point at which the movie both gets interesting and also falls apart. It feels like Taylor and Loughery figured, probably correctly, that a Vegas lady looking for a one-night stand and then getting it wouldn’t be justification enough for her to go all Single White Female on Derrick. And so they write for Val instead a subplot in which she’s trying to regain custody from her ex, a corrupt city politician who is siphoning money from “children’s charities in South Central,” who also has all the cities’ judges in his pocket.

That’s, ah… a bit much to try to work into Derrick’s story, considering that he’s also dealing with a flaky wife, an attempted hit, and corporate intrigue at his sports agency. Trying to cover that much ground was probably a bad idea to begin with, and in order to resolve it all in under five hours Fatale‘s solution is to just sort of turn everyone into action heroes and have them start shooting at each other. Meanwhile, all the backstory sucks the fun out of Val as a character, explaining her away until there’s nothing left for her to do but react. That she’s trying to get her daughter back makes the sexual angle basically irrelevant, transforming the story from naughty to simply wordy.

All that being said, it’s impossible to deny that a lot of stuff happens in Fatale. If judged by quantity alone, it’s a masterpiece. Fatale isn’t a good movie, per se, but it does seem like a perfect movie to watch while really stoned and say “Oh damn” at every wild plot twist.

‘Fatale’ hit theaters December 18th, and VOD January 8th. Vince Mancini is on Twitter. You can access his archive of reviews here.

Matilda De Angelis made her English-language TV debut in one of the buzziest shows of the year, The Undoing. With the added exposure, the Italian actress, who had a vulnerable nude scene in the premiere of the Nicole Kidman- and Hugh Grant-starring HBO miniseries, shared a “little truth” on Instagram that helps her overcome her insecurities.

“There are things that cannot be controlled and this year taught us well. There are changes that we must accept in our life and with them, the perception of ourselves and the world around us. Paradoxical things happen in life don’t they? Well, for me, being an actress and working with a face eaten by acne is one of them,” De Angelis wrote. She also shared a selfie that should be relatable to anyone with frequent breakouts (hello).

De Angelis continued, “Every day I have to wake up and present myself first in front of the mirror and then in front of the camera with all the emotional load that already entails and being ‘splendid,’ ‘in part,’ and concentrated together with all my fears and insecurities literally on the skin. There are much bigger problems in life, I am aware of that, but I wanted to share this little truth perhaps to feel stronger, perhaps to accept myself better. Our fears can paralyze us or they can become a great force, it is up to us to choose the path. And to practice so much gratitude for all the good things that happen to us and maybe even for the bad ones.” It’s an important and refreshingly candid reminder that even actors and actresses, some of the most glamorous people around, face the same struggles as you did when you were a teenager (and still do now).

Read the post below.

(Via People)

Pappy Van Winkle has achieved mythic heights in the whiskey world. The company’s wheated bourbons (plus one rye) from the Old Rip Van Winkle line are amongst the most expensive whiskeys on the world stage. Not suggested retail prices, mind you. We’re talking about the attention-grabbing markups that liquor stores charge to capitalize on Pappy’s craftsmanship, as well as scarcity, hype, and rabid consumer interest.

Much of Pappy’s fame can be traced back to 2007, when the late bon vivant, raconteur, and food and drinks tastemaker Anthony Bourdain sang the praises of the stuff on his show, No Reservations. Around the same time, international whisk(e)y critics like the recently embattled Jim Murray started calling out American expressions as the best in the world. You know what else dropped in 2007? A little show called Mad Men, which made drinking whiskey seem like the sexiest, coolest pastime on earth.

It was the perfect storm, and Pappy ended up at the center of it all.

It can’t be overstated how different a time ye’ olde 2007 was for American whiskeys. Bourbons, ryes, and Tennessee whiskeys were almost afterthoughts in the broader whiskey conversation, cowering in the shadows of single malts from Scotland. Truth be told, our American whiskeys were the butt of jokes far more than they were lauded back then. When along came this international star, swaggering across our screens, who seemed to have good taste in… everything.

Bourdain’s endorsement catapulted a relatively tiny whiskey brand from Kentucky to worldwide fame. At that point, Pappy didn’t have its own distillery anymore (to stay afloat, they’d already moved under the Buffalo Trace umbrella in 2002). There was also no craft whiskey industry to speak of in the U.S., very few revivals, and not nearly as many bottles of bourbon on store shelves. Van Winkle’s rise came at a time when choices were limited and, most importantly, our palates were different.

In short, it was another era. And the changes — among both drinkers and brands — have been vast these past 13 years.

So does Pappy still stand up as 2020 draws to a close? That’s what we wanted to investigate with this ranking. To do so, we’re looking at two factors. One, how does the juice taste? I’m lucky enough to know the right people to have tried all of these expressions over the last year, but the bottles I tested represented different vintages from across the past five years (I’m not so lucky as to get drink each expression every year). Two, we aimed to answer a simple question: Do these whiskeys hold their own with other whiskeys in the same age range and with a similar MSRP (suggested retail price)?

Both of these factors play into the broader question at hand — asked in whiskey collectives like the famed Bourbon Nation Facebook Group — on a daily basis: Is Pappy Van Winkle really worth the hype?

6. Van Winkle Special Reserve 12 Year Old

ABV: 45.2%
MSRP: $79.99
Average Price: $799.99

The Whiskey:

This is an interesting wheated bourbon. The “Lot B” moniker on the label denotes that these barrels hit their mark at 12 years and weren’t going to hit the right taste marks for the 15, 20, and 23-year-old expressions. So instead of aging further, their cut with that soft Kentucky limestone water to bring them down to a manageable 90.4 proof and bottled.

Tasting Notes:

There’s an orchard fruit sweetness on the nose not unlike a spiced apple pie filling, laden with brown sugar. The palate builds on that by adding in walnuts, dried fruits, and a hint of salted caramel by way of vanilla pudding. The end is medium-length with a hint of oak next to the spices, fruit, and sweet vanilla.

Bottom Line:

Well, something has to be last… This is a perfectly fine bourbon. Given the opportunity, would we spend $80 on it? Let’s put it his way. There are perfectly fine bourbons that you can actually buy for $40 right now.

5. Pappy Van Winkle’s Family Reserve 23 Year

ABV: 47.8%
MSRP: $299.00
Average Price: $2,750

The Whiskey:

This expression spends a long 23 years resting in new American oak. That age means that there’s still some old juice from Pappy’s previous home, the Stitzel-Weller Distillery, in the mix. Not every barrel makes the final cut. Only the “honey barrels” — the best of the best — are selected for marrying, proofing, and bottling.

Tasting Notes:

This sip greets you with big notes of rich vanilla, dark cherry, old oak, spicy tobacco, and tart apples. When you add a little water, a dark dusting of cacao arrives to accent the base notes as the spices kick in, adding a real Christmas pudding vibe counterpointed by the musty oak, worn leather, and wisp of pipe tobacco smoke.

Bottom Line:

This was hard to place. One, it’s a little musty, which can be off-putting — a bit like too much barnyard funk in a Belgian ale. Two, even if you could get this for $300 a bottle at retail, it’d be hard to define why — besides to just have it on the shelf to look at.

4. Old Rip Van Winkle 10 Year

ABV: 53.5%
MSRP: $69.99
Average Price: $575

The Whiskey:

This is basically Pappy at ten-years-old but not “technically” Pappy. Semantics aside, this is the same juice as the 15, 20, and 23-yo expressions. The main difference here is the age, of course, and the proof. This goes into the bottle with only a touch of limestone water, keeping it close to barrel proof.

Tasting Notes:

This expression has those spicy and nutty apple pie filling notes with a hint of vanilla and oak that are subtly sweet. There’s a bit of honey on the tongue that counters a mild peppery spice with more caramel, vanilla, apples, and dark spices. There’s a warmth that’s welcoming and holds as the sip fades back, replaying those flavor notes.

Bottom Line:

This bottle is always a pleasant surprise. The higher-proof also makes it a nice cocktail base and we could 100 percent see using it in every Manhattan we make … if we could snag a bottle for $69.

3. Pappy Van Winkle’s Family Reserve 15 Year

ABV: 53.5%
MSRP: $119.99
Average Price: $1,499.99

The Whiskey:

This an interesting whiskey — the oldest Pappy that’s 100 percent Buffalo Trace made. Older vintages will have a bit of that old Stitzel-Weller juice. But the blend of 15-year-old barrels from the same source — and the heart of the warehouse — makes for a very refined final product.

Tasting Notes:

This is nuanced yet bold. There a rushes of buttery toffee next to peppery spice alongside charred oak. Those notes carry through on the palate with a sense of salted caramel accenting the toffee as the spices turn dark and sharp with a hint of crusty bread with butter and a cinnamon sugar dusting. A little water brings out an almost dried rose note next to dried cherries covered in dark chocolate. The end is long and leaves you with that signature warm Kentucky hug.

Bottom Line:

This is very tasty. Add in a rock and it’s a damn fine sipper, worth taking your time with. This does really feel like a whiskey in the $100 range.

2. Van Winkle Family Reserve Rye 13 Years Old

ABV: 47.8%
MSRP: $119.99
Average Price: $1,749.50

The Whiskey:

This is the only non-wheated whiskey in the Pappy line. While we don’t know the exact mash bill, Buffalo Trace does use a rye mash bill that’s very low-rye (some say only 51 percent to meet legal requirements). Either way, the juice is then barreled and allowed to mellow for 13 years before marrying, proofing, and bottling.

Tasting Notes:

Imagine sweet tobacco leaves spiked with red peppercorns, rich caramel apples, and plenty of Christmas spices. Worn leather arrives with hints of fatty nuts and dried fruits next to the sharply spicy pepperiness. With a little water, that pepper mellows towards a powdery white pepper, with hints of vanilla and toffee lurking underneath. The end is very warm at first but fades out evenly and slowly, leaving a cedary sense of wood and a final whisper of pipe tobacco smoke.

Bottom Line:

This is very sippable rye. Yes, it’s warm but it’s more warming than hot. Add in a rock and it blooms into a whiskey worth taking your time with. If we could ever snag this for MSRP, it’d be our go-to Sazerac mixer every single time.

1. Pappy Van Winkle’s Family Reserve 20 Year

ABV: 45.2%
MSRP: $199.99
Average Price: $2,199.99

The Whiskey:

This is the Pappy that made “Pappy” what it is today. The wheated bourbon rests for 20 long years without any meddling. And since everything moved to Buffalo Trace in 2002, we know that we’re on the last few releases with any Stitzel-Weller juice in the mix.

Tasting Notes:

There’s a subtlety to the nose that draws you closer with wisps of soft cedar, Christmas cakes filled with dried and candied fruit, nuts, and dark sweetness and spice. Plus a sense of oiled leather saddles and rich pipe tobacco. A little water brings back an echo of that apple pie filling alongside oily espresso beans and vanilla pods. The finish is a very slow fade that relishes in the bitter, sweet, velvet, spice, oak, leather, and ends on a note of smoke from the tobacco pipe.

Bottom Line:

This is one of the bottles that kind of makes you mad it’s so good (and yes, it lives up to the hype). This is a great whiskey and deserves to be celebrated. If we could buy it for $199, we’d probably always have a bottle on the shelf.

Dave Grohl and Greg Kurstin just wrapped up their Hanukkah covers series, which saw them perform eight songs by Jewish artists. Now that that project is behind them, they are moving on to Christmas. Greg Kurstin’s band The Bird And The Bee guested on Jimmy Kimmel Live! last night, where they were joined by big drummer boy Grohl for a performance of “Little Drummer Boy.”

This isn’t the first time coming together on the song, as Grohl also drums on The Bird And The Bee’s recording of the cover, which appears on their holiday album Put Up The Lights. Grohl and Kurstin serve more of a background role here, as they provide the bedrock upon which Inara George’s vocals lay.

George previously said of the album, “Working on a holiday record during summer is always strange, no matter what the circumstance. But working on a holiday album during the summer, and a global pandemic, worldwide civil rights protesting, historical wildfires and the lead up to the most important election of our lives is really, really strange. Although I have to admit, it felt like such a sweet little momentary escape singing ‘Chestnuts roasting on an open fire…’ all alone in my closet. It was a little respite from reality.”

Watch The Bird And The Bee perform “Little Drummer Boy” with Grohl above.

In a time of widespread pain, loss, and grief, a country needs compassionate leadership. Partisan prejudices aside, Joe Biden is probably the most personally qualified to lead the nation through our most painful period of the pandemic.

What you see in the photo above is 30-year-old Joe Biden sitting by a hospital bed with his two young sons a week before Christmas in 1972. His wife Neilia had been driving the boys and their baby sister to get a Christmas tree when their car was struck by a tractor-trailer. The boys—almost 4-year-old Beau and almost 3-year-old Hunter—were seriously injured. Neilia and Naomi, the 13-month-old baby, were pronounced dead on arrival.

So here was a man who just lost his wife and baby girl, looking at his two young sons, trying to cope with the overwhelming grief and shock of it all. The loss itself is hard to fathom. The whole new reality of immediately becoming a single father of two young sons had to have been daunting.

It’s extra tragic when we add that Biden had been elected to the U.S. Senate just six weeks before. This was supposed to be a holiday of extra celebration for the Bidens as they embarked on a whole new journey as a family.

His inauguration took place two weeks after the accident, in the hospital room where Beau and Hunter were still being treated for their injuries.

The whole story is just unbelievably tragic. Losing a spouse, losing a child, and starting a new job are each humongous life stressors individually. Dealing with all three at once is truly hard to imagine, especially while also parenting two preschool-aged children.

Today marks the 48th anniversary of Neilia and Naomi’s deaths. Biden and his wife Jill, who he married five years after the accident, spent the morning at mass. There are no public events scheduled for the president-elect today, which is pretty unusual for him during the transition period but honestly good to see on this day. Anyone who has experienced the pain of such a loss knows that grief changes over the years, but it never goes away. He will never be a man who didn’t lose a wife and child. That loss will be with him forever, and that pain should be acknowledged and honored.

Why does all of this matter?

We have lost more than 300,000 Americans to the coronavirus pandemic. We are currently losing more than 3000 a day, and we may see double that daily death toll in the coming weeks or months. There’s a good chance that we’re all going to lose someone to COVID-19 before this is over, and many Americans will lose multiple close loved ones. Some already have.

The losses of the pandemic are real, and the denial of so many only adds to the pain. We lost nearly 3000 Americans on 9/11 nearly 20 years ago, and we still grapple with that emotional loss on the anniversary each year. How much greater will the grieving process be when we’re losing more than that number of people every single day?

As a nation, we have not been led through the grief that inevitably comes with such loss. We need compassionate leadership as America grapples with the pain of this period in our history, and who better to help us through it than someone with compassion that comes from experience? Biden’s personal tragedies are nothing to celebrate, but having worked his way through them, he’s especially suited to offer what the country needs—hope.

As Joe Biden honors the loss of his wife and daughter on this day, he also stands as a living example of resilience. His long and storied life shows how someone can feel all of the feelings and experience all of the pain of intense tragedy, continue to honor that loss, and yet also move forward. One does not negate the other.

We even saw Joe Biden go through another terrible loss when his son Beau died of brain cancer at age 46 in 2015. Losing a child is the worst kind of pain, no matter what their age. Our children are supposed to outlive us—that’s the natural order of things—and it throws everything into disarray when they don’t.

Having a leader who has dealt with that kind of grief more than once, who has worked through multiple tragedies at the same time, who has done so while working in the highest levels of government seems—and who still somehow manages to stay positive and forward-thinking—should give us all a sense of hope as our country makes its way through this crisis. In fact, we’ve already seen him put that hope into action for families affected by the pandemic.

Compassion and resilience born from experiencing intense hardship make for a unique kind of strength—just the kind of strength we need to see from our leadership right now.

Sometimes the best new R&B can be hard to find, but there are plenty of great rhythm and blues tunes to get into if you have the time to sift through the hundreds of newly released songs every week. So that R&B heads can focus on listening to what they really love in its true form, we’ll be offering a digest of the best new R&B jams that fans of the genre should hear every Friday.

Dvsn — “Blessings”

Dvsn had one of the best R&B albums to come out in 2020 with A Muse In Her Feelings. Before the year comes to close singer Daniel Daly and producer Nineteen85 have announced a deluxe version of the album titled Amusing Her Feelings and one of the tracks is the gospel-infused track “Blesings.”

Layton Green — “Chosen One”

Following Layton Greene‘s 2019 Tell Ya Story debut, the Quality Control Music singer-songwriter dropped off her latest single “Chosen One.” It’s a sensual track that shows off her range and why she’s the one R&B singer to watch out for.

Ye Ali — Private Suite 3

Ye Ali‘s Private Suite 3 is here, brimming with 16 slow jams. The project features guest appearances from rising singer Dcmbr to Atlanta’s own Lyfe Harris on “Signs.” Private Suite 3 is everything you’d expect from a traditional R&B project made in 2020.

Elhae — “Fun Fact” feat. Rick Ross

Elhae‘s latest single “Fun Fact” is a smooth number featuring an appropriate guest verse from Rick Ross. As his Motown debut, Elhae sings facts over a D’Mile-produced track filled with high-hats, snares and bass, giving off an amorous and sunny vibe.

Joyce Wrice — “So So Sick”

“So So Sick” is rising singer Joyce Wrice latest release, this week. The song is set to live on her forthcoming debut in 2021. Earlier this year, Wrice was featured on Westside Gunn’s album Pray For Paris and has been keeping up the momentum with a string of releases.

Saneit — Home For The Holidays

It’s the holidays and Saneit is spreading some holiday cheer with her EP Home For The Holidays. It’s a sweet 4-pack of songs that need to be every R&B lovers’ festive playlist. “Creating this Christmas project was healing,” the Chicago native said in a statement. “For me, just like many others the holidays are special reminders about love, but when you’re broken-hearted it’s hard to reflect that…When I think of Christmas I think of joy, happiness and love. This year it seems like people lost so much around the world so I wanted to sprinkle the little bit of light and love that I have with hopes that it would bring joy to others.”

Arcane — End To Forever

Toronto has a lot of rising talent and Arcane is one of them. He recently shared his project End To Forever and sings his unadulterated feelings on love, money, and fame, which was clearly inspired by the likes of PartyNextDoor and The Weeknd.

Otis Kane — “Lost”

Otis Kane’s “Lost” is an affectionate romantic number defined by the singer’s signature raspy vocals. It’s the perfect follow-up for his Therapy EP and is expected to live on his forthcoming project, which is set to release in February.

Check out this week’s R&B picks, plus more on Uproxx’s Spotify playlist below.

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

As far as the future of music festivals, it seems like a mixed bag right now. Just a few days ago, Glastonbury organizer Emily Eavis said she’s “still quite a long way from being able to say we’re confident” the re-scheduled 2021 festival will happen. However, others are testing ways to make attending a music festival a viable option for this upcoming summer: The folks behind Primavera Sound, alongside the Hospital Germans Trias in Barcelona and the Fight AIDS and Infectious Diseases Foundations, hosted PRIMACOV — a test run of a COVID-safe, non-socially distanced festival — last weekend.

The event took place on December 12 at the Sala Apolo venue in Barcelona, where 1,042 attendees saw local DJs at the 1,608-capacity venue. Before being admitted into the event, attendees had to submit to rapid-testing, which delivers results in 15 minutes, and get a negative test. The team behind PRIMACOV deemed the event a success and said in a statement, “The objective of this study [was] to validate these kind of tests as an extremely useful tool to be able to carry out any type of event, whether musical or not, without social distancing.”

It remains to be seen if this sort of testing methodology would be effective with a larger event like Coachella, but either way, it’s at least a hopeful sign that this upcoming festival season might not be as bleak as this year’s was.

In a first for the Disney+ series, The Mandalorian Season 2 finale contained a post-credits scene that announced The Book of Boba Fett is coming December 2021. You’d think more Boba Fett would be a good thing, especially after the character had people losing their minds over the classic bounty hunter whooping ass in Episode 14, but The Mandalorian fans are freaking out over what exactly this announcement means. The biggest concern (and this is speculation) is that Book of Boba Fett might not be its own series but, instead, the third season of The Mandalorian, which would embark on a new story that does not include Mando and, dare we say it, Baby Yoda.

While a Boba Fett spinoff was reported to be on the “verge of filming” in early November, and as of this writing, Variety and Deadline are referring to the show as its own series, there’s been no further comment Lucasfilm on the nature of the show. It’s also notable that if Book of Boba Fett started filming in November, that’s when a third season of The Mandalorian should’ve began production. On top of that, Lucasfilm previously announced that Season 3 release date is Christmas 2021, but now, Book of Boba Fett is showing up at the same time. Cue the fan freak-out:

While Mando and Baby Yoda’s story concluding in the Season Two finale is obviously the worst-case scenario, and highly unlikely (we hope), there is a chance that the Book of Boba Fett could be both a spin-off and a break before catching up with our favorite bounty hunter and his green baby at a later date. Lucasfilm wouldn’t just end their story with the little guy leaving with [REDACTED], right? … RIGHT?!