The eyes of the NBA world will be on TD Garden on Saturday afternoon with the start of a seven-game series between the Atlanta Hawks and the Boston Celtics. Atlanta earned the No. 7 seed with an upset win over the Miami Heat on Tuesday, leading virtually wire-to-wire and reminding of the previously unfilled promise from an otherwise disappointing regular season. Boston zoomed to the No. 2 seed with the second-best record in the NBA, winning 57 games in the process, and the Celtics have the hammer of home-court advantage and the edge in rest as a reward.
Without further delay, let’s glance at an interesting series.
Keys for the Hawks
Broadly speaking, it will be interesting to see if the Hawks can replicate their effort from the victory over Miami. On one hand, Atlanta was the epitome of an average team this season, famously hanging around the .500 mark for months on end and finishing with a 41-41 record. On the other, the Hawks are clearly more talented than a typical No. 7 seed, much less a 41-win team, and that is doubly the case with Atlanta entering the playoffs at full health and with improved depth after the deadline acquisition of Saddiq Bey.
Atlanta projects to struggle defensively in this series, both due to the team’s own issues and Boston’s highly explosive and efficient offense. However, the Hawks do have a path to offensive success. Atlanta posted a top-three offensive rating after the All-Star break, including a top-tier mark on the offensive glass in securing more than 30 percent of missed shots on the offensive glass. The biggest key to Atlanta’s win over Miami was also domination on the offensive boards, with 22 offensive rebounds and 26 second-chance points.
Against a Boston team that led the league in defensive rebound rate during the regular season, the Hawks probably won’t be able to totally control the interior, but second-chance opportunities could swing things in Atlanta’s direction, particularly if Boston leans into smaller, offense-leaning lineups. From there, the Hawks have upped their free throw volume and three-point volume, at least modestly, under Snyder, which improves Atlanta’s upside in a series.
Keys for the Celtics
In addition to Boston needing to secure the defensive glass, containing Trae Young and a very prolific Atlanta offense will be paramount. Fortunately for the Celtics, this is a roster well-constructed to do just that. Boston is one of the league’s best switching teams, with a bevy of quality options to throw at Young, Dejounte Murray, and the rest of Atlanta’s perimeter options. From there, the Celtics deploy virtually no defensive weaknesses (unless they choose to dig deeper into the rotation with Sam Hauser, etc.), and Atlanta has sometimes struggled against more versatile defenses that don’t lean heavily into drop coverage.
On offense, Boston was able to do almost anything it wanted against Atlanta in the regular season. Though the Celtics and Hawks played a meaningless game in the regular season finale, Boston throttled Atlanta in the first two games, largely behind the three-point arc. The Celtics made 20 three-pointers or more in each contest and completely put the Hawks into the blender. That wasn’t an outlier either, as the Celtics ranked near the top of the league in offensive rating (117.3), three-pointers (16.0 per game), two-point shooting (56.7 percent), three-point shooting (37.7 percent), and free throw shooting (81.2 percent) with strong ball security and the ability and willingness to share the ball with unselfishness.
Atlanta is in a more stout position at this point after the hire of Quin Snyder and the aforementioned uptick in depth, but the Hawks do land firmly in the bottom third of the league in defensive rating, even after Snyder’s arrival. If the Celtics can keep the offense humming at close the rate they performed at in the regular season, the Hawks figure to be in trouble.
X-Factors
Who is the best player in this series? Jayson Tatum is the clear answer through the lens of the 2022-23 season, and it would be easy to argue that Boston’s No. 2 option, Jaylen Brown, has played better than Atlanta’s No. 1 option in Trae Young. That is a not insignificant part of why Boston is seen as a massive betting favorite in the series but, if the Hawks want to make this interesting, Young needs to be spectacular. After a very strong in the 2021 playoffs, Young floundered in 2022 against Miami and the Celtics will likely look to employ similar levels of defensive pressure to see if that still can take him out of his game. While the Hawks won’t be drawing dead without Young averaging 35 points per game, he does need to set the table for everyone else, put consistent pressure on the Boston defense, and see an uptick in his scoring efficiency for the Hawks to have a real chance in this series.
Boston also has more health questions than Atlanta does at this moment. Jaylen Brown has a laceration on his shooting hand and Marcus Smart is coming back from a late-season neck issue. Both are expected to play but, with the Celtics entering Game 1 after almost a full week off, the Hawks likely need to pounce early on to throw things into chaos. The Hawks need to play above their usual baseline to challenge the Celtics, but Atlanta has shown signs of that capability and, in general, the Hawks bring the talent, versatility, star power, health, and coaching acumen that can put up a real fight. The issue all season for the Hawks was putting that all together for an extended stretch, and the Celtics will require them to raise their level consistently across the seven-game series in a way they haven’t all season.
Drake may be in his “sassy” era, but still, even some things are off-limits for him. The “Search & Rescue” rapper laughed off a hilarious mix-up of him with another rapper but didn’t find a new AI-generated version of him rapping along to Ice Spice’s viral song “Munch (Feelin’ U).
Late last night, the Bronx native released her highly anticipated collaboration with fellow Young Money representative Nicki Minaj. As “Princess Diana (Remix)” began to gain streams, simultaneously, the AI-generated track started to creep back on the users’ timelines. Word of the AI cover eventually got back to the rapper, and he was not at all amused. Taking to his Instagram stories, the musician shared a screengrab of The Shade Room’sreporting with the caption, “This is the final straw AI.”
It is unclear if the entertainer was being sarcastic or truly upset at the fact that an off-brand version of his likeness was being used for cooking up the unauthorized song. But maybe the party responsible for the track could make it up to the rapper by giving it another go this time recording at Drake’s own home studio.
In November, rumors began to circulate that the two were feuding, but Ice Spice has since cleared up the rumors, stating that they are “still cool,” despite the slight shade Drake threw on his track “BackOutsideBoyz.”
The Rundown is a weekly column that highlights some of the biggest, weirdest, and most notable events of the week in entertainment. The number of items could vary, as could the subject matter. It will not always make a ton of sense. Some items might not even be about entertainment, to be honest, or from this week. The important thing is that it’s Friday, and we are here to have some fun.
ITEM NUMBER ONE – KARL
Succession is a show that is filled to the brim with beautifully shaded-in characters. The children are all such specific little monsters, each deeply crappy in their own way that comes from a lifetime of their specific crappy experiences with and involving their also crappy father. There are finance vultures and eccentric Swedish billionaires and gangly cousins and all of them are playing their little games in ways that feel right and true to what their characters want in the moment. It’s an incredible feat of fiction and one of the main reasons I enjoy the show even though I hate all of them very much, even Cousin Greg, who has morphed from a lovable Gumby into a soulless self-interested cretin like the rest of the people on the show.
Actually, that’s not true. I do not hate all of them. There is one character I still enjoy, even if he is technically a high-ranking executive at an organization that is opposed to just about every single thing I stand for in the world. It is Karl. I love him.
HBO
Karl doesn’t… do much. A lot of times he doesn’t even say anything. He’ll just be there when other people are talking and he’ll attempt to fade into the background because he — like his counterpart Frank, who I will also discuss shortly — has realized that the best way to survive in this shark tank is to be the kind of fish who blends into its surroundings to disappear instead of the kind that tries to physically fight off the predator. Sometimes when someone asks him something directly he’ll just do this instead of give an actual answer.
HBO
Just a beautiful spineless man. The actor who plays him, David Rasche, does such a good job at nailing his various uncomfortable shifting and throat-clearing, too. It’s not easy to do so much with so little, especially when it’s deliberate like this. We do a lot of public fawning for — to choose an example not so much at random — the kind of stuff that Jeremy Strong and Sarah Snook did in the last episode, but please keep in mind that nailing the delivery of a line like this in such a tiny moment also takes a whole heap of skill.
HBO
Also, it’s just extremely funny. Which is not nothing on a show that sometimes rips your guts out.
Speaking of Succession and things that are funny (this is what professional writers refer to as “a real good transition”), I’ve also really come to appreciate Karl’s relationship with Frank lately. Frank is another one of the high-ranking, non-family figures at the company. He and Karl have probably known each other for decades. They’ve probably fought for the same positions and watched the crappy Roy children grow and gain influence after knowing them as bratty little toddlers and are both just trying to hang on to the little slivers of authority and power they have left right now. These are men who are brothers and enemies and have seen things. Sometimes they’ll hang each other out to dry. Like this.
HBO
It’s delightful. I think I would honestly watch a prequel series about the two of them rising up the ranks. I would definitely watch a spinoff about just Karl. Or a standalone movie. Send him on a golf vacation. I know for certain Karl golfs. I bet he’s a six-handicap and is pretty sure he can get it down to a four once this merger is done and he can get back out on the range a little bit. I just closed my eyes and saw him in a golf cart. I wasn’t even trying to think of it. That’s just how invested I am in all of this now.
He’s just so… “pure” feels like the wrong word because, once again, he’s a suit at a goon corporation and if I met a person like this in real life I would probably groan for 25 straight seconds and then spit a little bit. It’s definitely fondness by comparison, the thing where the company he keeps is so much worse than he is that it makes him look like a prince. We barely even know him. He could be stealing millions from the company and stuffing it in numbered accounts on a dozen islands. Actually, wait. No. That would just make me like him more.
I don’t know. I need Karl to thrive. I’m at the point where I do not care what happens to anyone else on this show. Hit them all with hammers at the beginning of the next episode. Just leave Karl alone. Send him on that golf vacation. Or just let him hang around and chime in with useless garbage like this.
HBO
It is all I ask for at this point.
ITEM NUMBER TWO – More movies should have Chris Tucker in them for at least a little bit
AMAZON
I went to see Air last weekend. That was fun. It’s a good movie that I would put in the category of “a thing I would start watching on a basic cable channel some rainy Saturday afternoon and end up finishing even though I’ve seen it like 20 times,” which I mean very much as a compliment. I love those kinds of movies. It’s been a while since we had a good one. And it was fun to see it in the theater. There was a red-band trailer during the previews and, when that blood-red screen popped up to let us know cusses were coming, a lady in front of me let out an audible “oooooo.” I wish her nothing but the greatest things in life.
Another thing I liked about Air: It had Chris Tucker in it. Did you realize it’s been seven years since Chris Tucker was in a movie? That’s too long! I’ll come back to this. There are facts I need to share first. Like this one: Tucker took the role of Nike executive Howard White in part because he’s friends with Howard White in real life. Here’s what he told People about the process of all that.
“My agent called me and said they got a movie about something to do with Michael Jordan, and they want you to play this character called Howard White.”
“There wasn’t no words, it wasn’t no character, it wasn’t there in the script. I said, ‘Wait a minute, that’s my friend.’ So I called him [White] and found out that it was, he was in this movie and I said, ‘Whoa man, but they said it’s not much, but you know, I’m considering it cause it’s you.’ “
A few notes here:
I am willing to place a $100 wager that you, like me, heard that entire quote in your brain in Chris Tucker’s voice, which is how most quotes should be heard, now that I think about it
Imagine how weird it must be to have one of your friends play you in a movie
Imagine how much weirder it would be if that friend were Chris Tucker
But yes, more importantly: He was such a blast in this movie. Just an absolute charisma bomb that breathed life into every scene he was in. I need more. Seven years is too long between Chris Tucker appearances. He doesn’t need to full-on lead a movie if he’d rather stay home and chill at this point, but I do think more movies should at least try to sprinkle him in. Just give me, like, 15 minutes of Chris Tucker. In any movie. As many movies as he’s willing to do. Ask him which of his other friends he wants to play on the big screen. Ask him to play literally anyone in a Knives Out. Ask him to start doing a voice in every Pixar movie like he’s John Ratzenberger or something. Let him swear. Throw money at him if it will help.
I do not care how we make this happen. I just want someone to handle it.
ITEM NUMBER THREE – Today is a great day to rewatch the Barry dirtbike chase
Barry is back this weekend for a fourth and final season. It’s so, so good. Bleak as hell and as silly as it is bleak and just a pleasure to watch. I’ve seen most of the season already because I’m a big fancy television critic who writes reviews of these things, but please know that this is one of those times where that’s not a good thing. I want to talk about it so much with everybody and there are so few people to talk about it with. It’s like one of those cartoons where a dude asks a genie for a billion dollars but he gets it in like fake Chuck E. Cheese money and can’t spend it. It’s a real problem.
Since I can’t talk about the new season, let’s talk about the previous season. Specifically, let’s talk about that dirtbike chase. The one in the video up there. You can probably still get the idea even if you don’t watch Barry. But also… go watch Barry. Dude. It’s so good and the episodes are 30 minutes each and there are three seasons on whatever exactly HBO Max is calling itself now.
My colleague Josh Kurp wrote a great breakdown of the scene last year after it aired, so that’s a good place to start. There’s a GIF in there of the failed gun handoff that I should be using in more group chats and will try to going forward because it is just outrageously funny. Barry is a good show.
ITEM NUMBER FOUR – Think about this one a little bit
Getty Image
Here’s what happened: Last month, we found out Matthew McConaughey’s wife Camila Alves was on that terrifying Lufthansa flight that just dropped like 4,000 feet out of nowhere. Everyone was basically okay, which is good. But what we didn’t really know was whether Matthew was on the flight, too. Until now. Now we know. Because he talked about it on Kelly Ripa’s podcast.
“My tray table is what held me down,” the actor, 53, recalled. “I did not have my seatbelt on, and there was not a seatbelt warning right before it happened.” The Oscar winner noted that he “immediately reached over” to make sure his wife, Camila Alves, had her seatbelt on.
The “hell of a scare” left McConaughey feeling like he had “no way to get control of this situation the moment.”
So, three things about all of this:
I am glad everyone, including the McConaughey family, is safe, because that does not sound fun
It is a little hilarious that this story was broken on Kelly Ripa’s podcast
Please think about how weird it would be to be sitting inside an airplane that suddenly drops 4,000 feet and sends you into a panic about whether your life is about to end and whether you’ve done everything you want to and told the important people in your life how important they are and then you look over at the person in the seat across the aisle and you lock eyes with this stranger and you blink twice quickly to be sure you are seeing what you think you are seeing and you realize that the person you have now connected with on a very deep level during this horrifying shared experience is FREAKING MATTHEW MCCONAUGHEY
You’d probably think you were hallucinating.
ITEM NUMBER FIVE – Beef chat
It’s been a week now since Beef dropped on Netflix, so I feel like it’s safe to talk about the thing from the end of the first episode, which I have been laughing about since I saw it. Quick Beef backstory, which you can grasp from the trailer up there and would also be a fun name for a tough guy in an action movie (“The name’s Beef Backstory”): Two strangers have a little traffic run-in in a parking lot and proceed to try to ruin each other’s lives. That’s really it. It’s so good.
Anyway, stuff goes down at the end of the first episode and then, just as a big reveal hits and these crazy people launch into their journey of revenge and self-destruction, a few notes of a song start playing in the background. And they sound familiar. And if you’ve taken my advice from years ago and started watching television with the captions on, this pops up on the screen.
NETFLIXNETFLIX
That’s right, ladies and gentlemen. We have a Hoobastank sighting. And I laughed very hard when I realized that was what was happening, in part because it’s a perfect fit for the action and in part because… well, the Hoobastank of it all.
But then I read this from an interview with Beef star Stephen Yuen and I started to feel bad about laughing.
“You grow up past your teens, what we call our awkward phase, [but] when we’re probably the most pure and having the most fun. The perfect analogy is Hoobastank. Everybody really s— on Hoobastank for a while. And turns out, when you hear the needle drop at the end of an episode, you’re cheering up and down. Like ‘What’d ya’ turn on Hoobastank for?’ They’re just trying to put out music.”
That’s a fair point. Also, in the interest of full disclosure, I once saw Hoobastank in concert. Not, like, just Hoobastank. It was at the 2002 Sprite Liquid Mix Tour in Camden, New Jersey. Jay-Z and Talib Kweli and 311 were there, too. I got really drunk in the parking lot and don’t remember much of anything. Money well spent.
The lessons here are as follows, I guess:
Beef is a good show
Leave Hoobastank alone
Maybe don’t mix Captain Morgan and Mountain Dew at noon before an all-day outdoor concert
All useful.
READER MAIL
If you have questions about television, movies, food, local news, weather, or whatever you want, shoot them to me on Twitter or at brian.grubb@uproxx.com (put “RUNDOWN” in the subject line). I am the first writer to ever answer reader mail in a column. Do not look up this last part.
From Paul:
I was texting with a friend of mine about the big death in Succession this week (I won’t say who died just in case you publish this email and it spoils it for someone, although you do have to admit that that would be a pretty funny way to have it spoiled for you), and we were trying to think of the funniest possible character to kill off in the middle of a season. Like if Frasier Crane had a heart attack and died with four episodes left in Frasier, or if they had killed off Bosch in season two and made three more seasons of the show without changing the title. I figure you have a take on this. The people are waiting.
This is a good email. I’ve been thinking about it for a few days now. Both of these examples are so funny to me that I kind of can’t get over them to come up with a better idea. The closest I’ve come so far is if Ted Lasso — a very nice show about humans dealing with stuff and also playing soccer sometimes — killed off Ted Lasso in next week’s episode. Like, violently. Crazed fan with a rocket launcher or something just splatters him on the field. Or even deeply stupid, like he’s walking down the street and a piano falls on his head. Either one. I’m laughing a lot right now.
The sick thing here is that I enjoy Ted Lasso a lot. I am legitimately looking forward to seeing how things wrap up. But the little rascal in me is thinking about the chaos that would unfold in the wake of this — on-screen and off — and I’m doing what can best be described as a hushed supervillain cackle at my desk. I do not know why I am like this.
Police are investigating after someone broke into a trailer containing hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of dimes in Northeast Philadelphia.
DIME HEIST
WE HAVE A DIME HEIST
I… I DO NOT THINK I HAVE EVER SEEN A DIME HEIST BEFORE
…
…
…
DIME HEIST
Police on the scene say an estimated two million dimes, worth $200,000, were stolen. That’s an increase from an earlier estimate of one million dimes.
A total of $750,000 worth of dimes were in the truck, police said.
Two million dimes is so many dimes. I can’t even get an image in my head of what two million dimes looks like. So far, the best I’ve been able to picture is, like, “a lot of dimes,” but even then, it’s probably not two million dimes. I would consider 100 dimes to be a lot of dimes. So would most people, I think. If you walked around a convenience store and grabbed $10 worth of food and tried to pay for it with 100 dimes, everyone in line behind you would be so mad about the ridiculous amount of dimes you were counting out.
Now think about 1,999,900 more dimes than that. Maybe this isn’t helpful. If you couldn’t picture two million dimes, I doubt you can picture 1,999,900 dimes. It’s really a lot of dimes. That’s my point.
Action News has learned the truck driver picked up the dimes from the Philadelphia Mint on Wednesday but then went home to get some sleep before a long drive to Florida.
“This is common practice – to pick up a load going to Florida and go home for the night, get to sleep, and get on the road in the morning,” said Capt. Jack Ryan of Northeast Detectives.
Well, okay. I guess if it’s common pract-… hold on. Did that say “said Capt. Jack Ryan?”
JACK RYAN?!!!!
I’m sorry, but now I’m picturing Harrison Ford in character as Jack Ryan in Clear and Present Danger — or any of the other Jack Ryans from the other movies based on Tom Clancy books — on the scene briefing the media after someone stole two million dimes from a parking lot in Northeast Philly. Maybe he’s there because he got demoted after his various shenanigans.
This will be all I think about this weekend. That, and what these people plan to do with all those dimes. It’s so many dimes. It’s not like you can just go spend them all on a Ferrari, or buy a house in cash with two million dimes. And I feel like even if they try to go to the bank and cash it in, they’re going to get caught. The people at the bank will be like, “Well, where did you get all of these dimes from?”
I’m not alone on this, am I?
One bystander wondered what the thieves will do with all of those coins.
“I feel like if they try to go to the bank and cash it in, they’re going to get caught. They’ll be like, ‘Well, where did you get all of these dimes from?’” said Jasmine Waters.
Christmas is typically the biggest movie day of the year. Not in 2023, baby. July 21st sees the release of both Barbie, Greta Gerwig’s colorful comedy starring Margot Robbie as Barbie and Ryan Gosling as Ken, and Oppenheimer, the latest Very Important Film from director Christopher Nolan. Or does it!
Thierry Fremaux, the director of the Cannes Film Festival, told Variety that Oppenheimer won’t be part of this year’s lineup because it’s supposedly been delayed. “I would have loved [that],” he said, “but it’s being released at the end of the year as part of their awards strategy. My two regrets this year are Oppenheimer and Barbie, but it won’t be ready either by May.”
Now, before dreading that you’ll be dragged to see Trolls Band Together instead of Oppenheimer on Thanksgiving, a clarification was added to the Variety article: “Thierry Fremaux later clarified that Oppenheimer is still set for a July release.”
Associated Press editor Lindsey Bahr confirmed the July 21st release date:
Ben Affleck has been having a blast working with his old pal Matt Damon. During the premiere of their new movie Air, Affleck even took a minute to gush about his best bud (and, of course, Jennifer Lopez) to a crowd full of people. However, like any friendship, there were some rocky moments in their past, particularly when the two were struggling actors sharing an apartment.
“He has an ability to block things out — I think that’s why he’s such a great actor, because he can just focus,” Affleck said. “One of the things he blocks out is the idea that when you finish with something, it has to be washed or thrown away.”
Affleck then shared an anecdote about going on a cleaning strike to see if Damon would start to tidy up a little bit. It didn’t work. Via Rolling Stone:
“Me and my brother, after cleaning up after the guy for years, we said, ‘You know what, we’re gonna go sit-down strike.’ We’re going to wait and see how long he could go before he finally gets up and goes, ‘I’m covered in garbage.’ We went weeks, two weeks, without touching the apartment.”
However, the mess didn’t break Damon, who amid the chaos was playing Sega Genesis at the center of “concentric circles of garbage: pizza boxes, a sushi thing that was like a week and a half old, and there were maggots.”
Eventually, the Affleck brothers gave up and resumed cleaning the apartment. “We submit,” Affleck quipped. “You are too good. We cannot beat you.”
Every May 9, Victory Day takes place in Russia to mark the 1945 victory over Nazi Germany. Last year, the parade still took place, and Vladimir Putin may have wanted it to celebrate winning his Ukraine invasion, but that didn’t happen. Also, hackers interrupted the TV propaganda machine, and one year later, Putin has clearly not seen victory in Ukraine. He recently canned a high commander and has lengthened recruitment contracts, and god only knows how long this war will drag out because Russia will have to be forced out to admit defeat.
Also, Russian troops have been abandoning tanks (after fleeing the battlefield in large numbers) for months in Ukrainian cities. This could be contributing to an existing issue because now there aren’t enough tanks to hold proper Victory Day parades in Russia. As Newsweek relays, parades began to drop off the schedule in some cities, and the originally cited reason (“for security reasons”) has been adjusted. As well, explaining the situation as not wanting to “provoke” Ukraine didn’t work out either. Here’s the tank-fueled rationale:
Vyacheslav Gladkov, the governor of Belgorod Oblast, said that the parade “would also not be held in order not to provoke the enemy with a large number of vehicles and soldiers” in the center of the regional capital, Russian Telegram channel ASTRA reported.
However, the Twitter account of Tendar, which provides updates about the war in Ukraine, wrote that the decision was taken “because they simply have not enough functioning tanks to run up and down the road.”
Additionally, we’ve heard that Putin’s army is running so low on ammunition that they’re using supplies that could “explode in your face.” Recruits are being told to bring tampons to treat their own bullet wounds and lacerations, and also, there’s that alleged Viagra shortage to complicate matters. Now, that’s embarrassing for Russia.
I’m going to save you a step and list 10 great whiskeys — bourbons, ryes, and scotch — that are a great deal right now. These are mostly special barrel picks of iconic or craft brands where you’re getting something truly special for a, well, better price than the mainstream stuff. I’m also adding some bottles that are simply a great deal overall (and you can get them right now pretty easily).
Overall, this is about finding and drinking great whiskey without breaking the bank. That doesn’t mean that these are budget options at all. This is about the good stuff that is actually a good deal in a world where inflated prices are an accepted reality.
In the end, look at my tasting notes and find a great whiskey that speaks to you. And then click on those price links to see if you can get a bottle in your neck of the woods. Let’s dive in!
Also Read: The Top 5 UPROXX Bourbon Posts Of The Last Six Months
This nationwide release is a collaboration with Bardstown Bourbon Company and West Virginia Great Barrel Company, one of the most interesting cooperages in the game right now. The whiskey in the bottle is a blend of 95/5 rye from Indiana that’s about seven years old and a 12-year-old 100% corn whiskey from Ontario. The blend was then refilled into infrared toasted cherry oak barrels for a final maturation run before mild proofing and bottling.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: The nose opens with a rich cinnamon bark touched with apple cider, sharp spearmint, and marzipan with a soft layer of chamomile tea cut with honey and rose water lurking beneath.
Palate: The palate is luxurious with a thick cherry stew over clotted cream and scones next to smoldering apple, cinnamon, and cherry bark, a sense of old sweet oak staves, and cellar funk.
Finish: The end has a dried cranberry dipped in dark chocolate vibe next to more of those spice and orchard barks with this fleeting sense of tannic sharpness and cherry cola spice.
Bottom Line:
This really just works wonders as an easy sipper and killer Manhattan base (thanks to that deep and woody cherry vibe), proving Bardstown Bourbon Company is a true titan of modern whiskey blending.
Plus, it’s $20 off right now. That’s a little extra scratch in your pocket on a great bottle of whiskey.
9. George Dickel Single Barrel Tennessee Whiskey Aged 9 Years (SIB43)
This is Dickel’s signature whisky aged for nine years and bottled from single barrels. That means this is made from a classic Tennessee whiskey mash of 84% corn, 8% rye, and 8% malted barley. That whiskey was left to rest for 12-and-a-half years in a single-story warehouse. For this release, Reserve Bar picked a barrel and bottled it with a touch of proofing water.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: The higher ABVs add depth to the cherry cola notes on the nose as the sweet syrup lurks in the background next to eggnog spice, salted peanuts, and a touch of dry wood.
Palate: The palate delivers on those notes while leaning into the cherry and vanilla while the spices kick up and notes of soft leather, dry reeds, and maybe a touch of wicker arrive late.
Finish: The end is slightly fruity but leans more into cherry tobacco with a dry and woody end.
Bottom Line:
While this is packaged as a Dickel 9-Year, it’s actually almost a 13-year whiskey. That alone makes this a steal. One, you’re getting a whiskey that doesn’t exist otherwise as a label. Two, you’re getting a great and older whiskey at the same price as the actual Dickel 9-Year.
This bottle from Beam Suntory marries Kentucky bourbon, California wine, and Japanese whisky blending in one bottle. Legent is classic Kentucky bourbon made by bourbon legend Fred Noe at Beam that’s finished in both French oak that held red wine and Spanish sherry casks. The whiskey is then blended by whisky-blending legend Shinji Fukuyo at Suntory.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: Plummy puddings with hints of nuts mingle with vinous berries, oaky spice, and a good dose of vanilla and toffee on the nose.
Palate: The palate expands on the spice with more barky cinnamon and dusting of nutmeg while the oak becomes sweeter and the fruit becomes dried and sweet.
Finish: The finish is jammy yet light with plenty of fruit, spice, and oak lingering on the senses.
Bottom Line:
This sherry-finished bourbon is spot on. The whiskey has a great texture and depth, making it a great sipper or cocktail base. If you want to make a great Manhattan or just have an everyday easy sipper around, get this bottle.
And look, this isn’t on sale or a new barrel pick. It’s just an amazingly well-made whiskey that deserves a lot more hype. Sherry-cask-finished bourbon rarely works this well. Plus, it’s under $40 per bottle. Go get some!
This Tennessee whiskey is hewn from a mash bill (recipe) of classic yellow corn, malted rye, caramel malted barley, and honey malted barley. The ripple here is that the fermentation of those grains with water and yeast lasted for seven whole days (basically three times as long as most fermentation runs). The distilled juice was filled into toasted and charred oak and left alone for over two years. The final batch was pulled from no more than 12 barrels for this release.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: Chocolate malts cut with spiced cherry syrup drive the nose with a hint of cinnamon bark and eggnog nutmeg next to soft orchard vibes.
Palate: That chocolate maltiness leans into honey-dipped graham crackers with a hint of allspice and clove over gingerbread and dark-chocolate-covered dried cherries.
Finish: A hint of cinnamon bark dark cherry tobacco mingles with malty spiced vanilla cookies and a hint more of that honeyed sweetness with deep chocolate lurking beneath it all.
Bottom Line:
These new and exciting malt experiments from Chattanooga are some of the best whiskeys hitting shelves right now. This isn’t necessarily collectible or anything like that, it’s just really f*cking tasty. That’s what makes this a must-buy right now. This whiskey outclasses bottles twice or three times its price. That’s a deal!
6. Old Potrero Single Barrel Reserve Straight Rye Whiskey (S1B45)
This whiskey is a bit of a throwback with a West Coast vibe. The juice is 100 percent rye whiskey made at Anchor Brewing in Potrero Hill, one of San Francisco’s most iconic spots for booze. As of this year, the spirit is being distilled on the waterfront in San Francisco but still carries that Anchor Brewing heritage. With that move, the bottle also got a brand new design that leans into San Francisco’s sea-faring history.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: Molasses heavy bran muffins mingle with dry cinnamon sticks, Granny Smith apple skins, and Red Hots next to rum-raisin and a twinge of an old oak stave.
Palate: The palate leans into ginger snaps with plenty of cinnamon and nutmeg next to vanilla pudding right out of the cup and a dry sense of cedar kindling.
Finish: The end holds onto the dry woodiness with a layer of salted caramel raisins and vanilla candy on the very end.
Bottom Line:
This is such a unique and delicious rye. Generally, you’ll find their six-year-old small-batch rye for about $70. In this case, you’re getting a phenomenal barrel pick single barrel version that’s over seven years old and full cask strength. So for basically $15 more you’re getting a massively bigger rye that just delivers so well.
5. New Riff Single Barrel Barrel Proof Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey (S1B29)
The juice in the bottle is New Riff’s standard bourbon mash of 65% corn, 30% rye, and 5% malted barley. The spirit is aged for at least four years before they’re bottled individually without cutting or filtration.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: The nose on these tends to be soft, kind of like freshly baked rye bread, with notes of eggnog spices, slick vanilla flan, thin caramel sauce, and hints of spicy orange zest.
Palate: The palate amps everything up as the orange peel becomes candied and attaches to a moist holiday cake, dried cranberry and cherry, more dark spice, a touch of nuttiness, and plenty of that vanilla.
Finish: The end takes its time as the whole thing comes together like a rich and boozy fruit cake as little notes of leather and tobacco spice keep things interesting on the slow fade.
Bottom Line:
This is all about access. New Riff — for as much as I love them — is still largely only available in Kentucky (and Ohio). That means that unless you’re in the Ohio Valley, you’re not going to find these. Luckily, Reserve Bar has you covered with a single-barrel New Riff that not only slaps but is available outside of Kentucky. See, you’re already saving money by not having to fly to Kentucky to pick one of these up.
This is Knob Creek’s famed rye whiskey in a single-barrel format. Those barrels are usually barreled at cask strength or cut down to a consistent 115 proof. In this case, we’re looking at a barrel pick by Reserve Bar.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: The nose is full of green herbs like dill and mint next to a dollop of floral honey and plenty of barrel char.
Palate: A hint of rye bread crust sneaks in early on the palate before black pepper gives way to dried chili pods, a hint of vanilla pudding with cinnamon, and dark cherries.
Finish: The barrel builds with the spices on the finish before dark chocolate powder, candied pecans, and creamy vanilla smooth everything out for a soft finish.
Bottom Line:
Knob Creek’s rye in a single barrel format is the true essence of the Beam rye whiskey that delivers on every level. Regular Knob Creek Rye is usually around $30-$35, so you are paying almost double. But that’s kind of beside the point. This is stellar whiskey that you should have on your bar cart.
3. George Dickel Tennessee Whisky Singel Barrel Aged At Least 15 Years (S1B43)
This is a very old whiskey for a great price. The whiskey is from single barrels, aged 15 years or more, and the proof varies accordingly (sometimes it’s cut with water, too). Like the 9-year single barrel, this is made from an 84% corn mash and stored in Dickel’s famed single-story warehouse.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: This is all about the cherry pie with a big scoop of vanilla ice cream next to a slight apple-tobacco vibe with a clear multi-vitamin chalkiness.
Palate: Red berries lead toward a cherry-choco soda pop, more vanilla cream, and a light touch of bourbon-soaked oakiness on the taste.
Finish: That woodiness leans into a musty corner of a cellar as a spicy cherry tobacco finish leaves you with a dry, almost chalky, yet sweet mouthfeel.
Bottom Line:
Okay, here’s the rub. This is actually a 17-and-a-half-year-old whisky from Dickel. Dickel releases a 17-year expression late last year. George Dickel 17 is over $300 per bottle. While that release is not a single barrel, it does have a little higher ABV. Still, $60 for a very, very similar whisky compared to $300+ is a great deal.
2. Stellum Bourbon Single Barrel Perseus Selected by Topflight Series by ReserveBar
Perseus is the latest in the astronomical lineup from Stellum Bourbon. This whiskey starts off with a mash bill of 75% corn, 21% rye, and 4% malted barley. That hot juice then rests for at least four to six years before single barrels are picked for bottling. In this case, ReserveBar snagged this barrel for their Top Flight program as a special barrel pick.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: Candied pecans cooked into crispy, vanilla-forward waffles dance on the nose with a touch of sour cherry tossed in sea salt, a deep winter spice bark medley, and old leather tobacco pouches.
Palate: The taste moseys through salted dark chocolate squares next to maple syrup-dipped graham crackers, dried wild sagebrush, and a rush of sharp spearmint with black cherry lush sweetness at the base.
Finish: That black cherry drives the finish toward salted caramel and dried red chili pepper spice next to a whisper of orchard bard, woody spice, and soft and chewy tobacco.
Bottom Line:
This is great whiskey. Great. Stellum whiskey bottles like this also end up around $100 and this is half that price. Again, that’s a great deal, folks!
1. Talisker Single Malt Scotch Whisky The Distillers Edition 2023
The 2023 Distillers Edition is a classic Talisker that’s aged by the sea and finished for six months in Amoroso sherry casks. The whisky was distilled in 2012 and bottled at 10 years old. It was then finished in another Amoroso sherry cask, making it “double cask” matured.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: The nose runs deep on this whisky with mild hints of beachside campfire smoke whispering in the background as hints of red fruit, wet driftwood, and green peppercorns draw you in.
Palate: The palate embraces the red berries with a slight tartness next to the sweetness as the peat remains dry and distant and tied to the brine of the sea with an almost oyster liquor softness.
Finish: The finish lingers for just the right amount of time as sweet berries and dry peat lead towards soft dark cacao powder with a tiny note of vanilla and one last spray from the sea.
Bottom Line:
This is as close to a perfect whisky as you can get at this price point. It’s sophisticated, dynamic, and delectable. It’s cliched but I have to say it. And look, this isn’t a “deal” per se. This is a new release of a bottle of whisky that punches way above its price point. Talisker 18, which is what I would compare this to quality-wise, costs around $250. This is half that price for a whisky that’s 100% just as good. You can do that math.
Record label stuff can be confusing for music fans. In addition to the complex web of company organization charts and subsidiaries (Uproxx, for instance, is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group, which also contains Warner Records, Atlantic Records, 300 Entertainment, and more), artists themselves make things even more confusing thanks to their naming labels after rap crews and street families, trading chains amongst themselves, and generally making it seem like everybody is signed to everybody else.
Case in point: rap fans have been speculating that buzzing Bronx rapper Ice Spice has signed to Nicki Minaj‘s new label after the two collaborated on the remix of the former’s “Princess Diana” this week. On DSPs, the distributor for the track is listed as 10K Projects (Ice Spice’s label, which is also home to Trippie Redd, Aitch, Jeleel, and Iann Dior) and Heavy On It, which is the name of Nicki’s new endeavor, further feeding the speculation online.
However, it seems unlikely that Ice Spice would end her current record deal — which comes with the backing of Virgin Music Group, a subsidiary of Universal — less than a year after signing it. Nor would it make good business sense to further dilute her shares of her own music by adding another name to the pot — although other artists have had multiple concurrent deals, usually they had them before signing to one with major backing.
So, no, Ice Spice probably isn’t signed to Heavy On It. Nicki’s new label’s name was only added to the track to ensure she gets her share of profits from the streams/sales thereof, not to suggest a new affiliation for the new “rap princess.”
The “Princess Diana” remix is out now via 10K Projects and Heavy On It.
There’s no doubt that Barry marks a clear waypoint in Bill Hader‘s creative life. Across the show’s three complete seasons, he went from being known primarily as a chameleonic SNL legend to one of the most critically acclaimed actors of our time and a writer and director of equal measure (our Brian Grubb calls the new season “a final performance for the ages”).
As we discussed in our recent talk, through the show, Hader has developed a specific storytelling and visual style and learned to let his insecurities have a seat at the table. With all of those benefits, then, the question that first comes to mind is why would he decide to end the show after this fourth season (which premiers Friday night on HBO)? Because the characters told him too, that’s why.
In the following interview, we discuss that, why he’s not worried about what comes next, Barry’s thoughts on heaven and hell, psyching himself up for scenes, and being a sponge when it comes to great films and filmmakers.
When did you start to feel this was probably going to be it and were there other ideas (for season 4) that you entertained before you got to that point?
I think as you’re outlining it, you kinda realize it naturally wants to end here. The cat’s out of the bag, so it feels like the ball’s rolling downhill story-wise. I don’t know. There was never a moment of, “Oh gosh, if this happened, then maybe we can keep the story going.” You could have entertained some things to keep a show going, like if it shifted and it becomes a totally different thing. More of a fugitive-type show or a guy-in-prison-type show. But that never was really interesting to me. The characters kinda dictate where it goes.
I’ll be honest, I try to keep things going probably longer than they should. Are you that kind of person or is it very easy for you to say, no, this is the conclusion and move on?
Yeah, it’s very easy (for me) to do that. I’ve kinda been like that just generally in my life. Maybe I get bored easily, I don’t know. But you just kinda go, “This feels (like) it. I think we should hit end on this.” Because my training was at Saturday Night Live, the feeling is you always know you’re going to come up with another idea or you’re going to come up with a new thing. You kinda have to. So seeing something come to an end, a conclusion is part of the process.
So there’s no existential threat of, “Oh, I’m never going to work again. I’m never going to come up with a great idea?”
Oh, that’s always there. (Laughs)
You have to push back against that?
You have to work through that. But that’s at the end of every season. You always have that. You have that every day you’re writing, “I don’t know if this works, what are we doing?” (Laughs) That self-doubt and any sort of insecurity, you got to let it in. For years, I would try to push it out and pretend it wasn’t there. And there’s something much healthier about allowing it to come in and hang out with it a bit and then work through it.
Does that make the work better, do you think? Letting that in?
Yeah, and I think it goes into the work. I think sometimes it finds its way into the story. Any sort of insecurity or these feelings, they become part of it. You find ways to put into the characters without even thinking about it sometimes.
Why is it so important that we see Barry encounter some consequences? Is it that we can’t have him be a sympathetic character?
You just walk through it beat by beat going what would honestly happen? I don’t think in the writing and when we’re editing or whenever that any of us really have that much sympathy for Barry. We all actually think he’s pretty stupid. He’s pretty dumb. And I don’t think he’s a very deep thinker. I think he likes the ideas of things.
With all the characters, you want to make them human and have something that is just a human trait. You just want them to be recognizably human. And I think in doing that, you can feel some sympathy for him because you can understand maybe, “Oh, I’ve had those feelings. I can relate in some way.” But it was important for me, during season three, to go okay, his back is against the wall, and Cousineau knows about him. So it’s only a matter of time before he yells at Sally. He gets verbally pretty awful with her in a scene. And I remember a lot of people go saying, “Oh my god, Barry’s a bad guy.” and I’m going “Yes. He killed Chris in season one. He is not a good dude.” (Laughs)
He’s not boyfriend material.
Yeah, he’s not boyfriend material. So in this season, now he is in prison and in the first couple of episodes, I feel you are seeing him doing what he does best, which is act like the victim and feel sorry for himself. And he’s seeing this thing that he wanted go away and he becomes kind of a trapped animal.
Speaking of the prison scenes, when you’re in one of these heavy scenes with an emotional outburst by yourself and you don’t have a partner to play off of, how difficult is that? How do you find your level? Like, do you need to reign yourself in?
There’s a scene in a bathroom in the first episode where I kinda lose my mind. And that first take I did I could tell even midway through it, I’m only doing this halfway through. And then I don’t know what happens, you bring the day in, you think about how tired you are and how stressful this all is. And for me, you let what we’re talking about (in); those insecurities, you allow them to come in and go, “I’m wasting everybody’s time here. I’m really not doing a good job.”
I remember the second take is the one we used and when I started that take, I did something I hadn’t done or planned: I slapped myself. And our stunt coordinator, Wade Allen, who’s a great guy, when I slapped myself, I could hear him behind the wall go, “Here we go.” (Laughs)
(Laughs) So that’s the key then to every scene now.
That’s the key, I just gotta start hitting myself, like, “Here we go. Alright, here he is! This is the guy.” And then I hurt my hand. I busted my hand in that scene. So for the subsequent scene between me and Stephen Root, if you notice, I’m only really using my right hand because my left hand is completely bandaged and got super jacked up.
Do heaven and hell exist in the world of this show and does Barry believe that it does?
I think Barry very much believes it. I think, especially this season, he is super concerned about his legacy and where he’ll end up. Later in the season, he becomes incredibly concerned. But yeah, I do think in Barry’s mind that heaven and hell exist, and it seems like he’s much more concerned with that than what is happening on Earth. (Laughs)
He’s much more concerned about what he can do to go someplace, ascend to someplace than he is like, “Well, what can I do here now in the moment to maybe make things better?” And he’s not really reflecting on, especially his anger. I don’t think that’s a thing he thinks about. He thinks (more) about these ideas of what a pious person is, I guess, than being one.
I never pick up on these things, so I enjoy asking you about this when we talk: are there any specific movies, any specific scenes in other films or TV shows set in a prison that you wanted to touch on this season? Anything that inspired anything?
No. We didn’t watch any prison movies or anything. I will say when I started the show and I directed the pilot, I watched a lot of things to get inspired. And mostly it was older movies because you have to shoot on a pretty quick schedule on television, and I knew I didn’t want to shoot with a lot of cameras. And so I’d watch old movies because I would see how they would block things and do things and make them. I’d watch something like The Asphalt Jungle or The Third Man or something, and you could count the setups and go, wow, that’s not a lot of setups. And actually, it’s a really effective scene.
And so it started out as that, and then I hope what’s happened is I feel at least that I have a style now that I like for this material. And so it was just really keeping with that style and really what dictated it was more of telling the story and what’re the emotions that are within that story and how to show it without telling it.
I would definitely agree. I don’t want to spoil those scenes because they’re further out, but the scene on the mountain — I just love the screwball comedy-infused thing of that because it’s so just calamitous. It’s like a Wile E. Coyote cartoon. Or even the Dave & Buster’s thing around the table.
Well, we even say Wile E. Coyote. I mean, it becomes very clear we’re doing a Wile E. Coyote thing. Those are two instances where you’re doing a thing and then as you’re doing it you realize, oh, this is from those movies. That scene at Dave & Buster’s (it’s like), “Oh. this is that scene in The Untouchables with De Niro, with the baseball bat walking around the table.” But you kinda don’t consciously do it. It’s just so embedded in your system. It’s like the end of season two. It wasn’t until I was mixing the last episode that I went, “This is a lot like Taxi Driver.” (Laughs) It’s like, oh man, I clearly like Taxi Driver.” Or Unforgiven and that whole thing. You go, oh, okay. “Oh, it’s raining. Is it raining at the end of Unforgiven? Oh, it is. Oh Bill, come on, man.” It’s just there.
Then it becomes an homage.
Yeah, exactly! It’s an homage where you don’t realize how much you’re… The only thing we consciously watched ever was the opening of Ashes and Diamonds, the Andrzej Wajda movie. That was the only thing I consciously would show the DPs, Paula Huidobro and Carl Herse to be like, I love this feeling in the opening scene of that movie, but that was it.
No matter what we do: I talk (cinematographer) Robby Müller or we’ll talk about Alex Webb photos, or we’ll talk all this stuff, and then you do it and you cut it together and you go, “Man, this looks like the Coen Brothers.” (Laughs) And I love the Coen Brothers. I remember being at SNL thinking I was doing stuff, and then I’d watch and I’d go, “God, I love Phil Hartman.” (Laughs) You can’t escape those things.
We’re all sponges with how much TV and how many movies. My parents I know did not absorb 1/50th of the pop culture stuff that I have.
No, and my kids are totally different too. Now, they don’t even watch full things. They’ll watch half a movie, stop it, and they watch a TV show, then they go back to the movie, then they watch this because it’s all streaming and I think it’s bad. It’s not healthy.
It’ll be interesting to see what the culture churns out over the next 15, 20 years.
Yeah, everybody’s growing up with a video camera in their hand.
In a way it’s good, in another it’s terrifying.
But I think there also might be you have a chance of someone and people creating a new visual language, which is really exciting. So I hope it becomes that in an interesting way, rather than lowering the bar.
Yeah. So far little mixed results.
A little mixed results. Yeah, I agree. (Laughs)
The fourth season of ‘Barry’ debuts Sunday night on HBO
It’s barely been two days after Warner Bros. Discovery officially unveiled Max, and already, the new streaming service seems to be trolling the competition. A new online ad featuring Game of Thrones appears to take a swing at Amazon’s Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.
First spotted by The Hollywood Reporter, the new ad shows Daenerys Targaryen sitting on the Iron Throne with the tagline, “The One to Watch When You Want to Rule Them All.”
You can see a screencap below:
THR
Obviously, “One ring to rule them all” is an iconic line from Lord of the Rings. However, the tagline for the ad also works in the context of Daenerys, who wanted to rule all of Westeros, but there does seem to be a clever hint of boasting at play.
Both Game of Thrones and its prequel series House of the Dragons were massive ratings juggernauts for HBO, but The Rings of Power wasn’t so fortunate: More than half if its audience didn’t even finish the first season.
While Amazon, like other streamers, provides only limited data — and internally, it held information even more closely than usual on the series — sources confirm that The Rings of Power had a 37 percent domestic completion rate (customers who watched the entire series). Overseas, it reached 45 percent. (A 50 percent completion rate would be a solid but not spectacular result, according to insiders).
The Rings of Power is still on track for a second season, but that’s not the kind of numbers you want to see for a show whose first season almost cost a billion dollars. Max throwing salt in the wound probably doesn’t help either.
This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. Cookie settingsACCEPT
Privacy & Cookies Policy
Privacy Overview
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
