Joe Biden and Donald Trump certainly had a debate of sorts on Tuesday night, and now we know what Jim Carrey will look like when Saturday Night Live inevitably rehashes said debate on NBC. Ahead of the first episode of Season 46 of SNL, which will run new episodes until November’s presidential election, SNL teased how Jim Carrey has prepared for his Joe Biden impression, and the result is… interesting.
Rather than have someone from the SNL cast play Biden, the show has opted to hire Carey to portray the former vice president, taking the part from a string of other former show hosts like Woody Harrelson, who continued to appear in cameo roles. And the video officially gave us a look at what Carey will look like on Saturday.
Carrey, no stranger to prosthesis and other effects to morph himself into roles, somehow looks more like his role as Count Olaf in the Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events movie, though this brief 18 second clip only really shows him scowling and doesn’t feature any of the Biden mannerisms and his voice, which might further sell him in the role.
Joining Carrey in the video was Maya Rudolph, though we already know how she will look at vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris, as she’s pretty consistently played her on the show since she herself was running for president. That portrayal actually won Rudolph one of two Emmy nods this year, the other coming for her spectacular voice acting on Big Mouth.
We’ll have to wait and see if Carrey earns similar praise for his role as Biden, but at least we have a few days to square with this image before we see it in motion on Saturday when Chris Rock takes the stage as the show’s first host of the new season.
After a lopsided Game 1 defeat at the hands of the Los Angeles Lakers, the Miami Heat would be seen as a sizable underdog under any circumstances in the 2020 NBA Finals. After all, the Lakers entered the best-of-seven match-up as a substantial betting favorite and, with the two best players on the floor, Los Angeles taking a 1-0 lead was always going to inspire a sharp reaction. With that as the backdrop, things got worse for Miami with the revelation that both Goran Dragic and Bam Adebayo are listed as doubtful for Game 2, and the Heat are fighting an unquestioned uphill battle as a result.
Still, the Heat do have a star-level player in Jimmy Butler and, in catching up with ESPN’s Rachel Nichols on Thursday, Butler didn’t shy away from additional responsibility, while also expressing big-time confidence.
A sneak peek at my conversation with Jimmy Butler, which airs tomorrow on ABC. On Goran Dragic & Bam Adebayo being doubtful for Game 2, Jimmy says: “We need those guys, don’t get me wrong…but to put it in the most simple way possible, who cares? We’re still expecting to win.” pic.twitter.com/f3Ua78Mntb
It certainly isn’t a surprise to hear Butler say the Heat expect to win, but the gaping hole on offense is one that he is seemingly ready to fill.
“I think so,” Butler said when asked if he needs to put his fingerprints more on every possession. “I gotta be able to do more. I gotta impact the game a lot more than I ever have before. Right now, in the next four wins for us, we have to play damn near perfect basketball, but we’re going to have to impact the game in so many more ways.”
Dragic has been the team’s leading scorer throughout the playoffs, and the former All-Star seemingly rekindled his offensive game at exactly the right time. From there, Adebayo makes everything work for Miami, operating from the elbow as a tremendous passer, attacking the rim with vigor and crashing the glass in a dynamic way. As such, there is nothing that Butler can to replace all of their contributions.
However, Butler is capable of taking on a larger role and, at the risk of being reductive about the NBA process, the Heat simply aren’t likely to win if he doesn’t make a substantial offensive leap in Game 2. Butler has a documented and successful history as a No. 1 option but, for a Miami team with a diverse, egalitarian offense, he can usually save some of his individual heroics for crunch time. Butler will have the help of Tyler Hero, Duncan Robinson, Kendrick Nunn and others but, simply put, he has to carry a significant workload while his cohorts are on the sideline.
National Bourbon Heritage Month may be over, but that won’t stop us from continuing to drink and write about this once-again-booming corn-based spirit. Earlier in the week, we covered bartender-beloved young whiskeys in the 4-5 year range. Today, we turn our attention to whiskey (bourbons in particular) that have spent a little more time in the barrel.
When it comes to creating complex flavors without completely losing the dram to oakiness, 10-14 years often seems to be the bourbon sweet spot. And while 14-year-old expressions start to get pretty spendy, most 10-year-old bourbons won’t break the bank. To help us find the best decade-old bourbons on the market, we once again decided to ask the folks behind the bar. Check their answers below.
The Clover Single Barrel 10-Year-Old Tennessee Straight Bourbon Whiskey
Daniel Gamiño, assistant food and beverage manager at Banyan Tree Cabo Marques in Acapulco, Mexico
The Clover Single Barrel 10-Year-Old Tennessee Straight Bourbon Whiskey. This is a very artisanal bourbon which is like syrup in every single way. The barrels are smoked in maple sugar-infused charcoal chips before it enters the cask. This spirit is very smooth – the sweetness is indescribable, and I particularly love its dark amber color.
My favorite 10-year-old bourbon is Widow Jane. It has been aged for 10 years in charred American white oak barrels. This bourbon has a nice, rich, and incredibly smooth sipping experience.
Eagle Rare embraces the best maturity of the Buffalo Trace recipe. It’s aged for at least ten years and filled with the flavors of rich vanilla, sweet caramel, and toasted oak.
Bulleit 10 year has been one of my favorites for the last couple of years. It is rare to find such a high-quality whiskey under $100. This award-winning bourbon is effortlessly smooth and carries hints of vanilla beans, caramel, and a subtle smoky finish.
I’m a huge fan of Russell’s Reserve 10 Year from Wild Turkey. It’s their small-batch release to honor Jimmy and Eddie. You get a ton of vanilla and caramel right up front with a great mouthfeel and just a little bit of spice.
My home bar would feel incomplete without this bottle in it.
Old Forester Birthday Bourbon. It has a ten-year age statement that catches my eye. It has spice from the rye but being mostly corn, the mash bill is very drinkable.
There’s a brand that we love called Old Bones, which does 10-year MGP’s in batches. It’s fairly smooth and has flavors like dried cherries, vanilla, and brown sugar.
Henry McKenna 10-Year-Old Bottled in Bond
Andy Printy, beverage director at Chao Baan in St. Louis
Henry McKenna 10-Year-Old Bottle in Bond is hard to beat. Its nose is sweet oak and honey. As it greets you at the door, it has a fair amount of heat and caramel that gives way to a bit more woody and strawberry notes as it invites you in.
This one has taken no time to get noticed on the market but worth the hunt.
Michter’s Ten Year Kentucky Straight Bourbon
Efren López Fernandez, bartender at Banyan Tree Mayakoba in Playe del Carmen, Mexico
Michter’s Ten Year Kentucky Straight Bourbon. It reminds me a lot of fresh corn and caramel with honey, the smoky notes seem very present. A highly sippable bourbon.
Writer’s Pick:
Basil Hayden’s 10
This high rye bourbon is a great mix of sweet and heat. It has the caramel sweetness you and vanilla essence drinkers expect from bourbon, but the high rye content gives it an added kick of peppery spice.
The most consistently compelling thing about 2067 is star Kodi Smit-McPhee’s face itself. The kid from The Road is all grown up now, with striking, deep-set blue eyes set so wide across his face that he looks a little bit like Sid the Sloth from the Ice Age movies, reimagined as a male model, with an impossibly long neck and pronounced Adam’s apple giving him a condor-like quality.
He seems futuristic or otherworldly, which fits in 2067, set in a fittingly depressing vision of the future (are non-bleak futures even possible to imagine in 2020?) in which climate change has killed all of Earth’s plants. This has lead to an oxygen shortage, and the artificial oxygen the world’s remaining humans have been forced to subsist on is causing a mystery sickness. Wow, climate change and a pandemic? What an imagination, writer/director Seth Larner! (Do you think he hired Kodi Smit-McPhee just so he wouldn’t have the goofiest sounding name on set?)
McPhee plays Ethan Whyte, who lives in future Australia, where most of the world’s remaining population has fled to escape climate catastrophe, and works as some kind of tunnel rat (a “fogger” in 2067 parlance, an occupation it never entirely explains) alongside his adopted brother, Jude (Ryan Kwanten). Outdoors, everyone wears gas mask-type breathing apparati, and desperate urchins murder each other for puffs of sweet, sweet air. Ethan has a wife named Xanthe (the words “Xanthe Smit-McPhee” echoing through my brain uninvited), played by Sana’a Shaik. For her birthday, Ethan gives her a breathing mask, a gift apparently so lavish that she feels compelled not to accept it at first. When she finally does it makes her cough up blood, almost always a harbinger of terminal illness in movies.
Whyte, who has a mysterious iron cuff attached to one wrist that he seems embarrassed of, later gets Shanghai’d by some agents and told by a corporate functionary (Deborah Mailman) that he’s been selected for a special mission. It turns out Ethan’s now deceased, absentee physicist father (Aaron Glenane) — who permanently bolted the cuff through Ethan’s wrist when he was just a boy — had been developing a time machine. They’d been able to send radio waves 400 years into the future. The waves bounced back, in the form of a cryptic message, “SEND ETHAN WHYTE.”
It turns out they have just enough juice to squirt Ethan into the future and maybe find the key to saving humanity (the future folk must surely know-how, considering they’re both alive and capable of texting), but no plan in place for how to get Ethan back once he jumps ahead. So it might be a suicide mission. Will it be worth abandoning his wife in order to potentially save her, humanity, and the rest of this movie?? I’ll let you guess how that one plays out.
It’s an intriguing setup, and 2067 has the world-building and production design of a much more expensive movie. It seems to have all its Macguffins in the right places, and yet, the writing is so vague and the characters’ motivations so murky that the actors end up flailing, trying desperately to breathe life into lines like telling Ethan has to “have faith” for the umpteenth time. Ethan’s father (via flashback) also compares people to the stars in the sky, leading to an eventual explanation that does little to justify the metaphor. Music swells and characters scream at each other (Smit-McPhee often in a feline strangle) but it’s hard to tell what exactly they’re so upset about. The conflict seems imposed. 2067 is an epic score in search of epic action at times.
Ethan’s buddy Jude seems like he might be evil, yet the actual words he says are those of a caring guy (maybe it’s the American accent). Even worse, Jude and anyone who knows Ethan as more than an acquaintance have a terrible habit of calling him “Ethie.” Between the constant repetition of “Ethie” and “Xanthe” I was worried my brain might be getting a lisp. Am I hearing this right or do I have a hearing impedimenthie?
In the end, the timeliness of 2067’s premise is matched only by the clunkiness of its execution. It zooms straight from a convoluted conflict to an ending so headslappingly stupid that the characters in the movie actually call it “the deus ex machina.” Even that doesn’t quite do it justice. I suppose I could just tell you, but that would ruin the suspense.
‘2067’ opens October 2nd in theaters and via VOD. Vince Mancini is onTwitter. You can access his archive of reviewshere.
Earlier this year, Jorja Smith celebrated the two-year anniversary of her debut album, Lost & Found, a project that impressed many and left no doubt that the England-born singer would have a promising career. Since the album, Jorja has kept things rather quiet, however, sharing just a few singles.
Hopefully set on ramping things up, however, she returns alongside Popcaan with a new single, “Come Over.” The song presents herself as the lone fighter in a crumbling relationship, unsure if her partner seeks to continue their love as much as she does. Paired with a matching animated video, Jorja and her love both wonder when the other will reach out before they accidentally run into each other and confirm that they want the relationship to continue.
“Come Over” arrives after Jorja shared her “By Any Means” single at the end of July. The song, which will appear on Roc Nation’s upcoming Reprise compilation album, found Jorja speaking on many of the pains that sparked today’s Black Lives Matter movement. Paired with a video, the visual shows some of the people of color faces that live in her hometown. Prior to that Jorja delivered a smooth cover of a jazz track for a compilation done by renowned label Blue Note Records.
Listen to “Come Over” in the video above.
Popcaan is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Welcome to Wednesday Night’s Alright, my Uproxx Sports column where we compare AEW Dynamite and WWE NXT, the two shows that air on the best night of the week for wrestling. This week both shows felt a little odd and stitched together, which might be pandemic related, but they both had some really fun stuff all the same, so let’s dig in.
Best Potential Faction Evolution: MJF Maybe Joining Chris Jericho’s Inner Circle
They’ve done this before, which makes me think that this time it might happen for real. Chris Jericho kind of wants MJF in the Inner Circle, but he’s too proud to say that. MJF kind wants to be in the Inner Circle, but he’s too proud to admit that either, so they just go back and forth on it. But this time, MJF does show up with presents for all the Inner Circle members except Sammy Guevara (nobody likes Sammy).
I think the Inner Circle would be a great place for MJF to hang out, at least until it’s time for him to take another main-event shot at the AEW World Championship. Watching his ego clash with Jericho’s is always fun, and you know Maxwell would try to become the faction’s leader as soon as he joins.
If MJF and possibly Wardlow join the Inner Circle, that could also cause further shakeups in the membership. Personally, I’m hoping Santana and Ortiz leave pretty soon. They’re such a great tag team, and it seems like being in this faction has mostly held them back. Even if they want to have a manager, it makes no sense that they’d rather be with Jericho than their old friend and fellow New York Puerto Rican Eddie Kingston. I do like that factions in AEW aren’t racially segregated, as WWE factions so often are. On the other hand, I keep thinking that it would make an awful lot of sense for the Inner Circle to trade Santana and Ortiz to the Kingston Family in return for the Butcher and the Blade.
Runners Up
Adam Cole and Kyle O’Reilly are definitely both good guys now, which raises questions about the future of the Undisputed Era. PWInsider says that Roddy Strong and Bobby Fish are going to stay heels, so it sounds like the UE’s days are numbered, at least in its current form. At the very least, this is the most Disputed the Era has ever been.
Matt Jackson kicked Tony Schiavone in the face this week, right in front of FTR and Tully Blanchard. Then Matt acted like his brother Nick was standing next to him, even though he clearly wasn’t. I don’t think they’re doing a “Nick Jackson is invisible” angle or anything like that. They just seem to be trying to ignore the fact that he’s clearly taking a little time off for whatever reason.
Nick’s absence aside, I’m still wondering where things are going for the Elite. We didn’t see Kenny Omega this week, although we did get a little of Hangman Adam Page being sad about Omega’s newfound devotion to singles wrestling. And then there’s Cody, who looks very much like a heel now but still talks like a babyface. Everything seems to be going somewhere, but only time will tell if it’s all going to the same place.
Most Exciting Promise for the Near Future: Dog Collar Match
After a long stroll around the rhetorical block, Cody Rhodes accepted Brodie Lee’s challenge to a Dog Collar Match. In fact, it’s happening next week. Commentary talked about how rare dog collar matches really are, and personally I think I’ve only ever watch two of them: Roddy Piper versus Greg Valentine in 1983, and Shotzi Blackheart versus Zoey “Dust” Skye in 2017.
Based on those two matches (and the basic premise of two people chained together by the neck, it’s exactly the kind of old school hardcore wrestling violence that Cody loves and Brodie is incredibly well-suited for. So yeah, let’s do that.
Runners Up
Miro is planning Kip Sabian’s bachelor party, which leads to him expounding at length about the Amish practice of Rumspringa, which I found really, really funny for some reason. Then Billy Mitchell, the bad guy from the 2007 documentary The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters, randomly shows up and offers to help. I have no idea where this is going, but from what we know about Mitchell it might involve hot sauce? We’ll see!
NXT ran another nightvision promo for whoever is returning on Sunday. Word around the internet is that it might be Bo Dallas, who I can’t say excites me, but if he’s doing something really knew, it could certainly be interesting.
Best Promo: Cameron Grimes
I might be the only one who likes listening to Cameron Grimes talk, but in my defense I’m also a weird hillbilly from the Southeast. I don’t own a top hat, but there was certainly time in my late teens/early twenties when I was probably at risk for buying one.
I just feel like Grimes is having so much fun being an unhinged carny weirdo that it’s fun to watch, and his whole “Cameron Grimes Invitational Stepping Stone To The Moon” thing is great, with his plan to prove himself by fighting a bunch of tiny men. Of course, after he defeats the first tiny man, a much larger man shows up, Ridge Holland, and ends Cameron’s fun.
Runners Up
Isaiah Scott and Santos Escobar had a side-by-side sitdown on NXT, where they both came off like serious contenders. The Garganos got a couple of opportunities to whine and put people down ahead of their main event match, which they always excel at. There was also a segment with their opponents in that main event, Damian Priest and Io Shirai, in which Priest was extremely impressed by Io, and Io is somewhat indifferent to Priest. That’s exactly the dynamic that team should have.
Kyle O’Reilly and Finn Bálor also had a sitdown, moderated by Shawn Michaels, which had some nice little moments in it (Kyle’s impression of Cameron Grimes was particularly amusing), but mostly they’re two calm guys who don’t really light the mic on fire when they talk.
Eddie Kingston brought his old Chikara buddy Bryce Remsburg out to the ring, to ask ref Bryce why he ended the match in favor of Moxley last week, when Kingston never tapped. Bryce, who has years more experience as a talker than you’d guess just from watching Dynamite, pointed out that Eddie was fully unconscious at the time, and that even though they’re friends, when they’re at work it’s Bryce’s job to protect Eddie from himself. Eddie was going to have his guys attack Bryce, but Moxley came out and Remsburg ran off. I’m curious to see if Kingston’s revenge on Bryce is still to come, and whose match it might come during.
Best Mini-Match: Kayden Carter vs Xia Li
There were a bunch of little bite-sized matches this week, some of which were quite good for their length, so I decided to give them their own category.
Kayden Carter versus Xia Li was my favorite, because I’m really enjoying watching Kayden develop as a wrestler, and I love the fun she has with Kacy Catanzaro (who was at ringside for this match). This also furthered the build to Xia’s heel turn, which I’m looking forward to. Considering the build, I hope it leads to more than just “she’s mean now.” She should at least get some new gear for the occasion.
Runners Up
Ridge Holland squashed Cameron Grimes after the aforementioned promo, which was a good reminder that although Grimes can win matches, he can also lose them, especially when fighting a strapping lad the size of Ridge Holland.
Over on Dynamite, Orange Cassidy took on #10 of the Dark Order, which was fine, although it would have been a challenge to find a guy on the roster that it was more obvious Orange would beat.
Kushida versus Tony Nese had a similar vibe, although it ended with an attack by that guy that nobody likes any more, with whom Kushida is currently feuding whether we like it or not.
Finally, Britt Baker returned to action this week, and Red Velvet was there to lose to her for the occasion. Britt seems to have her mojo back after her injury and getting drugged by Big Swole with her own needle in her own dentist office. Maybe next week she can face a less obvious jobber.
Best Full-Length Match: Candice LeRae and Johnny Gargano vs. Damian Priest and Io Shirai
A WWE mixed tag match, even on NXT, is never going to be a clinic on technical precision. Instead, what it ought to be is a rollicking good time, which this absolutely was. The character contrast between Johnny and Candice, who are terrible people but love each other, as opposed to Damian and Io, who are decent people but barely know each other, gave the match an interesting dynamic. I also loved how ready Shirai was to pin Johnny, until the ref reminded her it doesn’t work that way in WWE. Then of course the Garganos won, because they’re both totally losing on Sunday (sorry, Garganos).
Runners Up
Dakota Kai and Shotzi Blackheart opened the show on NXT, with a match that mostly very good, although Shotzi took a bump on the apron that looked so nasty it was very distracting from the story being told.
Ricky Starks and Darby Allin kicked off Dynamite with a match that really showed what they can both do, and gave Allin a much-needed win against someone who matters.
FTR and SCU had what was probably the best match on Dynamite. I thought it would go to the 20-minute time limit, which meant an automatic win for FTR, but instead they won with the help of Tully Blanchard’s cheating somewhere around the 15-minute mark. I love a heel team who are great at wrestling but still cheat just because they can. And that’s exactly the sort of endeavor Tully Blanchard should be involved in.
Isiah Kassidy had a strong showing in a loss against Chris Jericho, which was mostly Jericho’s doing. Sometimes it seems like Chris Jericho has a wheel with all the young AEW guys on it, and he spins it to decide who he’s going to make look like star next. Kassidy has a ways to go, but you could really see his potential here.
The Butcher was Eddie Kingston’s choice to fight Jon Moxley, and they both did a fine job, but the storytelling seemed to veer right into every clichéd trope for this sort of “important guy versus bigger but less important guy” match. The Butcher dominates at first, and just when it seems like Moxley might be in real trouble he rallies, shows his considerably skill in taking back control of the match, hits the Five Knuckle Shuffle—I’m sorry, the Paradigm Shift—and wins just as the show comes to an end.
That’s all for this week. Join me next time, for that Dog Collar Match plus all the fallout from NXT TakeOver 31.
The Spider-Man may be different from the last time Jamie Foxx played him, but apparently Electro will be the same in the latest Spider-Man movie. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Foxx is in talks to reprise his role as the villain from 2014’s The Amazing Spider-Man 2.
It’s a weird twist to the already-confusing Spider-Man cannon, but the news would mean that Foxx brings back his role opposite a different Spidey, this time the extremely affable Tom Holland in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Jamie Foxx, who played classic Spidey villain Electro in the Andrew Garfield-starring The Amazing Spider-Man 2, is in final talks to reprise the role for the latest Spider-Man installment, starring Tom Holland and being made by Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures.
The whole Spider-Man universe from the last few decades is confusing, largely thanks to Sony and Marvel infighting. But Spider-Man’s staying in the MCU was good news for fans. And apparently Marvel isn’t afraid to meld some characters and actors from the Sony movies into the Spiderverse they now control.
Story details are being kept under the mask, but having Foxx return is a stunner as it shows a further melding of the previous Spider-Man movies into the current Holland series, which is the first one that has Marvel running point on production.
As THR pointed out, the 2014 film where Foxx played Electro ultimately led to Sony signing a deal with Marvel that put Spider-Man in the MCU. So it’s certainly interesting that a villain from that film could reappear with the same actor playing the role with a different Spider-Man. Weirder things have happened, and the multi-verse is vast here but it’s a neat wrinkle to the latest Spidey movie for sure.
Arike Ogunbowale is one of the WNBA’s fastest rising stars. In just her second season in the league, she averaged a league-high 22.8 points on 41% shooting, 3.5 assists and 2.8 rebounds per game. In doing so, she earned the 2020 WNBA Peak Performer Award for scoring after posting the highest scoring average by a second-year player in league history.
The former Notre Dame guard took over games with ease this season, and was one of the more dependable figures on a young Dallas Wings team that was hindered by injuries this season. In 2020, Ogunbowale had 37 straight games in double-figures scoring, good for the second-longest double-digit streak in franchise history. She also had four games in which she scored at least 30 points.
As she showed this year in Bradenton, Florida, Ogunbowale is a force to be reckoned with in the WNBA. And off the court, she’s making waves too, launching her own online clothing and merchandise shop and using her voice for good. We caught up with the Ogunbowale to chat about her own style, fashion’s role in the social justice movement and the bright future of the Dallas Wings.
When did you start getting into fashion and figuring out what you liked to wear?
I would say after freshman year of college. I was always big on fashion, even when I was younger, but I wasn’t as in tune with it as before and I didn’t have as many shoes — I had a good amount, but I didn’t have as many shoes as I wanted. As I got older, I started getting into it and I watched my brother a lot because he always had a lot of shoes. So as I got to college, and my freshman year, I think I started actually learning the type of style that I want and how I want to dress.
How would you describe your style?
I think it would just be streetwear type of fits. Casual streetwear, whether it’s jeans or joggers or cargo joggers — it doesn’t matter, it’s definitely street.
Where do you get your fashion inspiration?
Social media, I follow LeagueFits and all those pages that talk about fashion. But also, when I choose a fit, I always send it to my brother. He’s like my biggest fashion person — any outfit, I send it to him first before I wear it to see if he likes it. If he says it’s good, then it’s good. I trust his opinion on everything.
When you show up to the arena before a game in a cool outfit, do you care about getting featured on LeagueFits or some page like that on social media?
No, I’m going to dress well regardless of if I make it or not [onto LeagueFits]. It’s just how I — look good, feel good, play good. That’s how I feel. When I put on a nice outfit before a game or it doesn’t even have to be a super nice outfit, it could be cozy but in my style of how I like to dress, then I feel good. And it’s always nice to feel good before you get onto the court.
Let’s talk about sneakers now. Do you have a favorite pair of kicks to play in?
To play in, I like Giannis’ a lot. They’re super comfortable.
And what about off the court? Do you have a go-to pair of shoes that you like to wear?
Jordans are always good if I’m going out or going somewhere. I’m always able to find a color that can go with different shirts or something. But if not, I’ll just go with sandals, to be honest.
I saw that you posted a photo of yourself on Instagram back in June wearing a t-shirt that says, “Protect kids, not guns.” This season, especially, in the WNBA, a lot of players have worn shirts or warm-up gear that highlights injustices in the U.S. How do you think that fashion and the clothes we wear can help promote important messages of social justice?
For sure, a lot of people — especially in the NBA and WNBA, where we have tunnels and stuff — have been wearing shirts like that. Not everyone’s going to sit down and have a conversation with reporters to get the word out so obviously, we do what we can on our platforms and social media, but this is a way to show without words what we stand for in certain situations. Whatever you support, whatever you do, it can all be said without having to say words and by incorporating it into your everyday style.
Who do you think are the most fashionable players in the WNBA?
Honestly, Sue Bird. Everybody knows that. She’s always dressed really nice so I would say Sue, for sure.
Is there anyone on the Dallas Wings that could work on their style game?
Ooo, what you tryna do?!? [Laughs] In my opinion, everybody has style in their own way, whether I like it or not. If it’s their style, then it is what it is. I’m sure some people don’t like mine either.
The Dallas Wings fell just short of the playoffs this season, despite having one of the youngest and least experienced teams in the league. Knowing that you came so close this year with this squad, how do you feel when you look at the potential future of the franchise?
We have a lot of potential. Like you said, we have a lot of young players that were on the team that were in year one or year two but we were in just about every game. We competed with every team we played and never really lost by a lot, so for us to do that while we were still figuring stuff out, didn’t even really have training camp, and as the youngest team in the league. We have a long way to go, we built chemistry this year, but I’m really excited for the future of this team.
The first time I watched a presidential debate as a young adult, I was surprised by what a far cry it was from my middle school debate class—and not in a good way. I saw almost nothing of what I’d learned about constructing a valid argument, forming a refutation, cross-examination or any other debate skill on the presidential debate stage, and I was confused. Why did I have to learn those rules and guidelines if the people competing for the highest office in the nation didn’t even use them in a nationally televised debate?
That was my impression during the “normal” era of politics. This week’s presidential debate dropped the bar so low we might as well call it six feet under. I’m not sure if we hit rock bottom, but it feels like we’re darn close.
My two teens watched the presidential debate with me. Normally, I would have grabbed this opportunity to discuss with them the issues presented to the candidates, point out the ways politicians use language to make their policies sound good, and how they frame things to make their opponents’ policies look bad. I would have walked them through an analysis of the debate, probably lamenting the lack of formal debate practices—that’s nothing new—but still discussing the nuances of what made each candidate’s performance weaker or stronger. I wouldn’t have tried to steer their opinions of the candidates one way or the other, but allowed them to evaluate on their own.
This debate offered no such opportunities. It was a train wreck, and there’s no getting around the fact that it was a train wreck because the President of the United States made it one.
And it saddens me as much as it enrages me. I want my children to be able to respect the president. Even if they disagree with his policies, even if they think he’s in the wrong on various issues, I want them to be able to respect the leader of our country as a leader.
But they can’t. I can’t. And that sucks.
To watch the President of the United States engage in behavior that I wouldn’t tolerate in a 5-year-old is humiliating and impossible to explain to my children. My husband and I have worked to instill into them the values of common courtesy and basic decency. We’ve taught them to carefully consider different opinions and viewpoints and to evaluate them fairly and honestly, and always treat others with respect and compassion.
They’re teens and they’re smart—they saw the aggression and rudeness and complete lack of decorum with their own eyes and formed their own appalled responses. But what about younger kids? The ones who are just forming their ideas about leadership and true strength and acceptable behavior—the ones for whom this man is the only presidential example they’ve known?
Parents have shared how some of their children reacted to the debate, and it’s heartbreaking. How can we be proud of our country when the president makes children cry because he’s a big ol’ bully?
@eclecticbrotha @T_FisherKing My kid has seen a lot, but this whole thing has shaken him.
Those reactions are totally understandable. I’m 45 years old, and I flipped back and forth between wanting to cry and wanting to throw my TV set out the window. We are going through a huge ordeal as a nation, with a global pandemic and economic struggles and social upheaval creating a great deal of uncertainty. The last thing we need is a leader that makes our children feel unsafe simply by opening his mouth.
I know there are people who think that basic decency and reasonably good character are not necessary qualities in a president, and that nothing matters but certain issues or certain policies, but I 100% disagree. The president is the leader of our nation. The president is the individual face representing our nation among all the world’s leaders. Are we really going to make the argument that literal leaders shouldn’t be expected to behave with dignity—especially when the whole world is watching? Are we really going to say it’s not a huge problem for the president to embarrass our nation with behavior we’d never tolerate in our own children? Really?
“This isn’t normal,” I had to keep telling my kids. “There’s usually some interrupting and some contention in a presidential debate, but not like this. This is awful and unacceptable.” I had nothing else. I’ve never been so embarrassed to be an American.
I guess the one silver lining is that the debate did give us the opportunity to talk about how to handle a bully, what abusive manipulation looks like, and the difficult position Chris Wallace found himself in. But the fact that a presidential debate became a discussion on bullying and abuse is the entire problem in and of itself. This is not the America I want for my children. No policy or issue is worth this humiliation.
#BREAKING: Following rocky debate, @JoeBiden takes lead over @realDonaldTrump in latest exclusive Channel 2 poll:… https://t.co/mPfVL2OSfE
In recent years, there’s been a shift as to what exactly a “celebrity alcohol brand” is. While there are certainly still celebrities who slap their names on products without any particular passion for the juice inside, that’s becoming more of a rarity. The super hands-on entertainer-entrepreneur is quickly turning into the norm. So it goes with Ryan Reynolds and Aviation Gin, Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul with Dos Hombres Mezcal, and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Teremana Tequila.
Like all tequilas, Teremana is crafted in Jalisco, Mexico. Johnson, who founded the brand, worked closely with a multi-generational distilling family to build his dream setup in the Jalisco highlands. This isn’t white-labeling or even buying distillate and barrelling it for a few years that we’re talking about. Destilería Teremana de Agave makes small-batch, handcrafted tequila on site. Jimadores harvest mature Blue Weber Agave before roasting their hearts in brick ovens. Afterward, the juice is distilled in handcrafted copper pot stills.
As we’ve mentioned in the past, The Rock’s cultural connection is at the forefront of his brand. The name Teremana is a combination of two words. The first is “tere” which comes from the Latin “terra,” or earth. The second word “mana” pays homage to Johnson’s Polynesian heritage and means “spirit.” With a celebrity owner and a name that roughly translates to “spirit of the earth,” there’s a fair bit of hype to live up to.
We put both Teremana Blanco and Reposado to the test, below.
This premium tequila is made from 100% Blue Weber agave from the highlands of Jalisco which are then roasted and distilled in the manner we described above. This expression is unaged and full of that vegetal sweetness you expect from a well-made, unrested tequila.
Tasting Notes:
From the first nosing, the hand-crafted nature of this tequila is obvious. You’ll be met with earthy, vegetal aromas of cooked agave and subtle hints of cracked black pepper. You’ll be surprised at the mellow nature of this first sip. From there, subtle hints of lime peel and sweet vanilla bean come to play. The finish is long, warming, clean, and ends with more tangy citrus zest.
Bottom Line:
A well-made tequila such as this can fit the bill for a sipper if you’re the type of person who enjoys a blanco tequila on the rocks. Otherwise, mix it into your favorite cocktails and you’ll be pleasantly surprised at how well it holds up against ingredients like lime juice, grapefruit, and other bright flavors.
Like its blanco sibling, this two-time distilled super-premium tequila is made from 100% Blue Weber Agave. It goes through the same production process as its unaged sibling, but after distillation it gets aged in ex-bourbon barrels. The result is a highly sippable, nuanced, well-rounded, rich tequila that should appeal to whiskey fans and tequila fans alike.
Tasting Notes:
If you take the time to nose this tequila, you’ll be met with the sweet smell of roasted agave, charred oak, subtle citrus, and just a hint of smoke. The first sip brings forth brown sugar, creamy vanilla, and vegetal sweetness. The finish is long, warming, and ends with a pleasing, peppery flourish.
Bottom Line:
Aging in former bourbon barrels gives this tequila a nice hint of charred oak and caramel that make it highly sippable. If you do plan to mix it, the depth of this expression will help you revamp classic cocktails. Try it in a Tequila Old Fashioned.
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