GoneTrending

Just over two weeks ago, word emerged that Rockets guard Sterling Brown had suffered facial lacerations after being assaulted at a club in Miami, when he had a bottle broken over his head. While initially the concern was for Brown’s health, which he is happily going to make a full recovery, it did raise some questions about whether Brown (and anyone else he had been out with that night) had been in violation of the NBA’s health and safety protocols.

On Wednesday, the league’s investigation into the night closed and we learned that they did indeed view the night out as a violation, but would only be fining Brown’s teammate, Kevin Porter Jr., for being out at the club. Porter Jr. got hit with a $50,000 fine, while Brown will not as it seems the league deemed it too much to add a fine to injuries he sustained.

It’s a bit odd that Porter Jr. would be the only one fined given both were out, but it seems the league and Rockets are ready to move on from the matter. Brown has still not played since the incident, as he continues to work his way back from a knee injury, and Porter Jr. was out for a week after the incident as he had to sit for 7 days and clear health and safety protocols with negative tests after the night out.

Anyone who has ever parked in a downtown parking lot in a big city knows what a harrowing experience parking in a cramped parking space can be. I once parked in an underground grocery store parking lot in downtown L.A. and a stunning white Bentley convertible—a car that probably cost more than my house—squeezed into the spot next to me. After carefully opening my car door and maneuvering between our vehicles, I marveled at how close the driver had come to scratching his pearlescent white paint off the car and onto on a concrete column.

Either the driver was extremely skilled or extremely lucky. But he likely wasn’t an expert a parker as 87-year-old Eugene Breynaert, a Belgian man who spent six decades parking his car in a garage barely wider than his vehicle.

With six centimeters of clearance—about 2.5 inches—you might wonder why he even bothered to use the garage at all, but Breynaert got it down to a science. First of all, he lined the garage with foam at the height of the car’s widest spot. Second, he closed in his mirror. And finally, he took it really, really slowly.

While the parking itself is quite a feat to witness, what comes next is even more compelling. As the camera shows him pulling into this teeny garage, the question arises—how the heck does he get out?

It’s hardly a process that can be described, but it involves rolling down a window, opening two doors, backing up, getting out, pushing the car forward from outside of it, then shutting the doors to both the car and the house.

You just have to see it:

Belgian man parks in garage 6cm wider than his car

www.youtube.com

The video originally went viral back in 2010, but has resurfaced on Twitter and YouTube this week. It’s hard to imagine a video about parking a car being so riveting, but strangely, it is. Maybe it’s because so many people are bad at parking, or maybe it’s because we never in a million years imagined a scenario like this one. Clearly, this space was not designed to be a garage for parking a car. A motorcycle, sure, but definitely not a car.

It appears Mr. Breynaert passed away in 2016 at the age of 94. The Belgian news announcement, which referred to him as “the best driver in all of Liedekerke” said that he continued driving right up until his last days.

Oddly enough, Breynaert’s impressive parking job isn’t the only viral parking story this week. Gareth Wild of the U.K. shared his meticulous process for tracking parking spots he’s used at the local supermarket in an attempt to park in every spot, and people are enamored by it.

Perhaps it’s his attention to detail and the amount of work he put into tracking how he parked his car, or perhaps people really are this bored during the pandemic, but Wild’s thread has gotten wild attention.

This wasn’t just a casual “Hey, I think I’ll try to park in every space” kind of deal. He made vector images and color-coded the spaces.

He planned it all out mathematically.

It took him SIX YEARS, folks. But he managed to park in every space that he was legally allowed to park in.

He also went a step further and marked the best and worst parking spots for other people.

So many questions. How does a human being decide to do such a thing in the first place? What compels them to stick with it for six years? What of the 120,000 people who liked the thread on Twitter? Are they all equally fastidious data trackers, or are they not data people at all and are just amazed that someone would do this? Are there really this many parking enthusiasts in the world?

Apparently so. Who knew parking could be so compelling?

This is a developing story. We will add more details as they come in.

Accoring to CNN, three men were indicted by a federal grand jury in Southern Georgia in connection with the death of Ahmaud Arbery.

Arbery, 25, was shot and killed in February, 2020 while out for a jog near his home in Brunswick, Georgia. The story became a rallying cry for those advocating for new gun control measures and action on racial justice.

According to WSBTV.com, a federal grand jury has charged the three men with hate crimes. Travis and Gregory McMichael, along with William “Roddie” Bryan are also being charged with one count of interference with rights and with one count of attempted kidnapping.

As Upworthy’s Annie Reneau wrote last year:

Anyone who is shocked by the killing of Ahmaud Arbery—an unarmed young black man shot by two armed white men while jogging through a suburban Georgia neighborhood—has not been paying attention. This is not new. This is not shocking. This is the ongoing history of racism and racial injustice in America.

And it’s not just the shooting itself, which appears to be a pretty blatant modern-day lynching. It’s the legal system that processes the killing. It’s the law enforcement agencies—which the shooter used to work in—charged with investigating it. It’s the justice system that will determine whether these men are guilty of murder or if they were justified in killing this young man.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe takes us to incredible worlds: far-flung planets like Sakaar, the wonders of Wakanda, the streets of Sokovia, and uh, airport tarmacs and parking garages in Captain America: Civil War. The crazy thing, though: Most of it is filmed in Atlanta, Georgia. Behind-the-scenes footage from their films invariably finds actors working in front of green screens in giant warehouses. And so when a new interview with MCU honcho Kevin Feige gushing about the wonders of shooting outdoors, sans CGI, people couldn’t help but make fun.

In a new Variety profile about Chloe Zhao — who just became the second woman to ever win a Best Director Oscar, for Nomadland, and who’s next film is MCU’s The Eternals — Feige is quoted talking about watching the footage that she shot for him. Zhao, Feige says, was all about “fighting for practical locations.” Indeed, her other films (including Nomadland and The Rider) were shot in the wilds, often with real people she found on the fly. After Zhao and her crew cut a sample reel for The Eternals for him to watch, filled with real locations, it absolutely blew Feige’s mind:

“And I had to keep saying, ‘This is right out of a camera; there’s no VFX work to this at all!’” Feige says. “Because it was a beautiful sunset, with perfect waves and mist coming up from the shore on this giant cliffside — really impressive stuff.” Later, watching “Nomadland,” he saw similar shots. “Oh! That is not just what she wanted to bring to Marvel,” he remembers thinking. “This is a signature style.”

Of course, Zhao’s “signature style” is not unusual outside of movies that are largely made in giant warehouses with an army of effects artists. For over 125 years, movies have been made by going outdoors and turning on a camera. So when Feige’s gushing quote about something that’s been a normal part of cinema since its infancy, people pounced.

Some even dug up one of the first movies ever made: Auguste and Louis Lumière’s The Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat Station, which, as the story goes, was so mind-blowing to audiences of 1896 that some in the audience freaked out, thinking the train would emerge from the screen.

Still, good for Kevin Feige! He’s rediscovering that movies can create real life by just, like, shooting real life.

The latest posthumous King Von video to be released from the OTF vaults (or hard drives, as it were) is “Mine Too,” from his album Welcome To O-Block. The video features Von performing to the camera in and around a cavernous mansion, showing off a collection of luxury cars, and shining from head to toe with an eye-popping array of diamond-encrusted accessories. As Von raps, he’s flanked by his stoic-faced crewmates and a pair of scantily clad women, who provide even more atmosphere to the moody aesthetic.

Although it’s been six months since King Von died after being shot in an Atlanta parking lot, the apparent backlog of videos he had previously recorded has been released at a relatively steady trickle by his label, including “Wayne’s Story,” released almost chillingly close to the actual event, “Armed & Dangerous,” and the posse cut “Jump,” while he received homages in OTF founder Lil Durk’s videos for “Backdoor” and “Still Trappin,” as well as Fivio Foreign’s “Trust” and PNB Rock’s “Rose Gold.”

In the wake of Von’s death, Welcome To O-Block, released just days before, debuted at No. 13 on the Billboard 200 chart — his highest to date — while two other projects also entered the chart for the first time.

Watch King Von’s “Mine Too” video above.

The Handmaid’s Tale: Season 4 (Hulu series) — Elisabeth Moss has so much going on these days, but she’s going back again to fight for freedom against the totalitarian government of Gilead. This season, she’ll lead the rebellion while fighting for justice and revenge, but perhaps the biggest threat she’ll face is staying true to herself and the relationships that she values most. Moss and the show keep on racking up Emmys, and she’s back with more with Joseph Fiennes, Yvonne Strahovski, Alexis Bledel, O-T Fagbenle, Bradley Whitford, and Max Minghella. Expect the show to get nomadic this season, leaving the Boston area and officially abandoning home base, which must have presented quite the challenge while filming during a pandemic (as if the show wasn’t socially relevant enough already).

President Biden’s Address to Congress (ABC, NBC, CBS, PBS, CNN, Fox News, Etc. 9:00pm) — The customary State of the Union speech generally takes place in January, but obviously, some sh*t has been happening, so President Joe Biden hasn’t been able to do the thing yet. He’ll do so tonight with Senator Tim Scott (R-S.C.) delivering the GOP response.

Headspace Guide to Sleep: (Netflix series) — Most of us could use more sleep, no matter how much we currently get and especially during all of the ongoing pandemic stress. This series is a joint project between Headspace and Vox Media Studios, and it aims to help you lay the foundation for more healthy habits. Subjects explore will include insomnia, stress, our phones, and sleeping pills, and stick around for a guided meditation to help get you on the road to more blissful nights.

Kung Fu (CW, 8:00pm) — A mid-twenties Chinese-American woman, takes a life-changing journey to an isolated Chinese monastery after dropping out of college. Upon her return, she must banish crime and corruption in her hometown with her newfound martial arts skills and Shaolin values, all in the name of justice. This week, Nick and Henry visit a private collector who does business in Hapa while Althea’s questioning her worth following a very uncomfortable dinner party.

The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon — Brian Regan, Rupi Kaur

Late Night With Seth Meyers — Elisabeth Moss, Ari Melber, Moon Vs Sun

In case you missed this pick from last Wednesday:

Zero (Netflix series) — This new Italian original series illuminates the power of invisibility with a new kind of superhero (a modern hero), who discovers his powers while hoping to save his suburb outside of Milan. In the process, the shy teen must at least wear a hero’s clothing while discovering the power of friendship and love.

Malini Patel is helping herald in a new era in bourbon whiskey. Patel, who has worked with some of the biggest alcohol brands in the world, is currently pushing to create a more inclusive and accessible environment in bourbon. She likes to call this work “democratizing bourbon culture.” And while a big part of that means demanding space in the boardrooms of spirit companies for women and people of color, it’s also about making certain products more accessible to all drinkers.

Patel has the advantage of persuing this endeavor from one of the highest posts in the entire spirits game. She’s the managing director for the world’s biggest bourbon brand, Jim Beam. That means Patel is blazing a path at the literal head of the pack when it comes to the whiskey business, in specific, and the spirits industry, in general.

Last week, I spoke with Patel about her work. Our discussion ranged from how Jim Beam is trying to reach a wider audience to how Patel sees a formerly very white and male American industry evolving to where she’s steering that image and culture right now, with real-world initiatives and tangible action.

***

I think for the average consumer, they see Jim Beam and they think that’s a singular brand even though on the same shelf they’ll see Old Crow, Old Overholt, Old Grand-Dad, Knob Creek, Booker’s, Basil Hayden’s, etcetera — and not connect that they’re all coming from the same warehouses. How do you do to help people differentiate between these brands while creating a sort of path of breadcrumbs for people to sort of go, “Okay, I know I like Jim Beam, let’s give Old Grand-Dad or Basil Hayden’s a shot next!”?

When you talk about what you just talked about to the Beam family, it’s always been there. But I know consumers don’t see the brands that way. And so actually in my new role, this is the first time where we’ve actually put all of the brands together with oversight in a central way. It’s unlocked so much richness and storytelling. Hopefully, you’ll see more and more come from us in that way.

But what the family has been trying to do over the last 225 years is to invite people into bourbon, and we’ll say more broadly American whiskey now. To do so, we’re finding different paths for people to enjoy it. The idea has always been to share the bourbon with the world because the Noe family believes so much in what they’re making and how good the quality is. They want to just invite people in. And then if you fast forward to your Knob Creek, Basil Hayden’s, Booker’s, Baker’s, those brands were only introduced in the ’90s, right?

Right.

So that was a time when actually vodka was really popular. People weren’t drinking bourbon like they are today, and Booker Noe was looking at ways to help show people that there is more to bourbon. He wanted to create expressions that showed the breadth and depth of what bourbon could be.

And so that path of “breadcrumbs” is you take something as refined and subtle but yet complex as Basil Hayden’s — it’s only 80 proof — and you use it as a really good introduction. For most of my friends who don’t drink bourbon, I’ll start them there.

Then it goes to a small batch Knob Creek. 100 proof, aged nine years, it’s a quintessential bourbon. Next, is Baker’s which is taking on more, with a single barrel, seven-year-old vanilla core. Then I think it’s the right time to introduce Booker’s, which is uncut and unfiltered.

You’re able to express what bourbon could be and take it away from just being one thing. We want to tell the story of all of the brands. And, I don’t think people understand how they’re connected. So we think there’s an opportunity to share that more broadly. Whether you know any of that or not, I think you could probably still find something that you like in our array of offerings.

How is Jim Beam trying to stand out on the shelf as the shelf becomes oversaturated with everything from local craft to more scotch and Irish whiskey coming in every single day, and then, of course, everyone else is also putting out tons of different expressions as well? I mean… Buffalo Trace alone has something like 42 different bottles that they put out. As you’re looking ahead, how are you finding ways to highlight new things that are going to grab people’s attention?

When we think about Jim Beam, it’s an iconic American brand, right?

Oh, for sure.

It’s been around forever and there’s something about quality, at scale, that’s at the heart of that brand. So there’s something in the White Label that will always hold as our flagship. It is what embodies what that brand is about. But you’ve seen us come out with, more recently, Jim Beam Black and Double Oak. Then there are different expressions that will tap into what people might be looking for as they’re hearing, “Oh, rye whiskey is growing? Let me try something.” And I think with Jim Beam, it’s always about: “Can we make something approachable in a way that’s accessible to a wider audience?” After we consider that, we then look at what occasions are people drinking bourbon. One of the things that I think is most exciting about Jim Beam is that there’s an opportunity to democratize bourbon culture.

How so?

What I mean by that is as we look to the future, one of the things that we think about is how do we reduce the barriers that may be stopping people from coming in to explore the category. Those barriers could be, “I’m not sure I like the taste of it,” or “I may not be able to find it,” or simply “I don’t think about drinking bourbon, in general.”

And I think that’s where we start to explore and to keep it relevant. We think about how can we get people to think about drinking bourbon, specifically Jim Beam, on an occasion that they may not think about it.

How does that play out in real life?

A tangible example is with our newly launched RTD [Ready To Drink] line. It was a Classic Highball and a Ginger Highball. The Ginger Highball has a little bit sweeter and more approachable flavor. It’s really for someone who might not think to drink bourbon. But if you take the Classic Highball or Ginger Highball, and it’s a really good refreshing light drink and something that, if you’re new to the category, you could enjoy without being strongly put off by strong alcohol burn, then hopefully that’ll get you thinking about maybe trying more bourbon in different ways.

It’s an interesting space that allows us to go to places that you normally wouldn’t see bourbon show up. Now, you’re able to take Jim Beam to places that it couldn’t have gone and, therefore, get people who may not have considered trying it a chance to [try it].

There’s been a shift in the narrative around whiskey over the last couple of years. We’re talking more about women working in whiskey. We’re talking more about people of color both historically working in whiskey and in the present. We have heritage brands like Uncle Nearest starting up with a clear focus on women of color running the whole show. Where do you see yourself highlighting those voices in such a huge industry, given that you’re at Beam, which is pretty much the most iconic bourbon on the planet?

I’ve always felt immense pressure to do things that matter. I’ve seen in my roles — no matter what the organization was — that representation matters. Giving diverse voices a seat at the table matters. In my current position, it affords me that opportunity and so I take that very seriously. And I think that reflects on the organization and the industry as we start to see ourselves in it and make the shifts towards being representative of the communities and the culture of the society that we serve.

I think it’s very important for a brand like Jim Beam to think about the idea of democratizing bourbon culture. I do think that a lot of people don’t see themselves in the historical pictures of white men on labels. But that doesn’t mean there’s not a lot that’s happening. We need to move into a world where anyone can enjoy bourbon — male, female, any color, anyone. And I don’t think it was always that way. People still don’t think women drink whiskey. All of that is changing.

As someone that has the perspective as a female and has a perspective as a minority, I need to make sure that my experiences and the experiences that I know are happening around are reflected in the work that we do and in the offerings that we create. This is why I think the strategy of democratizing bourbon culture feels so natural to Jim Beam. It’s always been about inviting people in.

I think there are big opportunities for us to just be more inclusive in the offerings we put out into the marketplace and the way in which we talk to and engage consumers.

Not to veer off-topic, but you also work with Inspire Girls Academy, which helps young girls get into STEM fields. Can you tell us how this all comes together?

Inspire Girls Academy was an idea that my sisters and I had. It started as an idea of building an all-girl school. The insight that we built everything off of was that girls’ self-esteem peaks at the age of nine. If you allow the norms of society and what we’re typically told is appropriate behavior for girls, we risk creating really low self-esteem in our young girls that they eventually carry with them into the future. Psychologists talk about low self-esteem as a thinking disorder — I’ll call the little bitty shitty committee — that’s kind of on your shoulder and it’s just chirping here that feeds self-doubt.

So through adaptable afterschool curriculum programs or summer camps, we use STEM-based learning — science, technology, engineering, arts, and math — to teach girls competence. It’s about exposure. STEM practices teach you the idea of trial and error, experimentation. We are trying to teach girls that failing is part of the process. If you don’t fail, you won’t learn. We observed in a lot of situations that failure usually meant that girls wouldn’t try it again or would suppress that ability. Unless you undo that way of thinking at a young age, it becomes this behavior that’s innate.

Then you layer on societal norms of what we expect of young girls and what we’ve always taught young girls. It’s changing rapidly now. But even in the times when I was growing up, you raise your hand, you wait your turn, you keep your head down. Those aren’t the messages that I think young girls should be hearing.

So we thought, why not start at the core of the problem? Let’s start with our youngest girls and give them the skills and ability to think about problem-solving and boundary-breaking in a really positive light and to see role models. They should be able to see themselves in people doing things that they weren’t used to seeing. The heart of it is really about how do you teach girls that taking risks and sometimes failing is part of the learning and growing process and allowing them the ability to do that in safe environments early enough in their life that they can take that with them.

Some of the best blenders and distillers out there are chemists and engineers by trade. They get into whiskey because they know the math and they know the science behind it. So you could be burgeoning a new generation of whiskey makers — it all ties together!

It is! It’s the blend of the art and the science, right? We talked about it at Beam all the time. There’s a scientific part of it, and there’s a lot of that. But there’s also an art to it as well as judgment, and it’s that comfort in the gray areas that create the magic. You need to be confident in order to play in that space. You have to be willing to accept that sometimes your experiment won’t work out the way you wanted it to. You have to know how to fail to make good bourbon.

Exactly.

It’s absolutely all of that. We do talk about it a lot at Beam because we think about the next generation of distillers that we’re bringing in, whether it’s partnerships with the University of Kentucky or just when we think about how we build our talent pipeline. That is absolutely the lens that we’re putting on it.

When you get home from work, what whiskey are you going to pour yourself tonight?

Ooh, this is actually an interesting one. My usual go-to, if I want something light and refreshing, like early evening, is Basil Hayden’s. I’ll make a buck or a mule with Basil. But tonight, I have an Old Overholt 11-year-old that I think I’m going to use for an old fashioned.

A lot of people were mad about the lack of clips during the 2021 Academy Awards, but not me. It made the choice to show the scene from Promising Young Woman where Bo Burnham’s character says that Carey Mulligan can spit in his coffee, an offer she takes up, all the more wild. You can show one 10-second scene to sum up your movie, and that’s the one you pick? As the New York Times reporter Kyle Buchanan joked, “We are not going to show you ANYTHING from this movie except Bo Burnham being a tall sub.”

Speaking of that tall sub, he has a new (spit-free) special coming out soon!

“hi. i made a new special. it was filmed by me, alone, without a crew or an audience, over the course of the past year. it is almost finished. i hope you like it,” he tweeted, along with a video of himself playing the piano. He added, “For those asking how i filmed the first shot alone, i didn’t. that shot is from the end of my last special, five years ago.”

Burnham’s last two specials, 2013’s what. and 2016’s Make Happy, were both released on Netflix. Since then, the future-Larry Bird actor wrote and directed Eighth Grade, a truly special movie; starred in The Big Sick; and appeared in a Best Picture-nominated movie where someone spits in his coffee. It’s been a wild ride.

Generation X, people born between 1965 and 1979, are America’s goofy middle children sandwiched between the much larger Baby Boomer and Millennial generations. Gen X prides itself on being individualistic, nonconformists committed to a D.I.Y. ethic whether that means writing a punk ‘zine or launching a tech start-up.

(If you just asked yourself “What’s a ‘zine?” you’re clearly not a member of Gen X.)

It’s a generation marked by an aloof cool where any personal slight can be written off with a “whatever” that’s deathly afraid of taking anything too seriously. It’s a generation that was so put off by the corporate, commercial culture of the ’80s it rebelled by wearing second-hand clothes and ironically embracing low-brow ’70s culture.

It’s the generation of hip-hop, Tiger Woods, Quentin Tarrantino, the re-birth of punk rock, John Cusak movies, and Atari.

A big reason Gen X is so self-reliant is that it’s the generation hardest hit by divorce. According to a 2004 marketing study it “went through its all-important, formative years as one of the least parented, least nurtured generations in U.S. history.”

Gen X was the first generation that experienced both parents working outside the home. But, unfortunately, at the same time, childcare centers and afterschool programs had not yet emerged to a significant extent.

Now, the “Coolest Generation” finds itself somewhere between 42 and 56 and is hitting middle age. Unfortunately, that means it’s now the most stressed generation in America. Although, in true Gen X fashion, many refuse to let anyone see they’re stressed.

An extensive study by Penn State showed that stress began to hit Gen X sometime in the last decade. The 2012 study discovered that Gen X had an average stress level of 5.8 (out of ten) while Millennials (3.4) and Baby Boomers (4.4) were a lot calmer.

A study from earlier this month shows that the trend hasn’t changed. In 2021, 22% of Gen Xers admitted to daily struggles with stress followed by Millenials (17%), Gen Z (14%), and Baby Boomers (8%).

A big reason for the stress is having to take care of multiple generations. Many Gen Xers have to care for their aging parents as well as their children who are just starting to make their way in the world.

Gen X may have aged its way into the most stressful part of its life, but things could be a lot worse. There’s no group of people better equipped to deal with stress. When executives at Nike studied Gen X it found the generation’s hallmarks are “flexibility,” “innovation,” and “adaptability.” “They have developed strong survival skills and the ability to handle anything that comes their way,” the study says.

Gen Xers may think that’s just a bunch of corporate B.S. However, it’s true. Gen X grew up during the AIDS epidemic, the end of the Cold War, the Challenger disaster, the late ’80s and early ’90s crime wave, 9/11, the Great Recession, COVID-19, and managed to survive after “My So-Called Life” was canceled.

We’ve survived tough times and we’ll make it through these as well. Just got to follow the advice of Gen X’s poet laureate, Tupac Shakur: “And it’s crazy, it seems it’ll never let up, but please, you got to keep your head up.”

We can also look forward to grabbing a big box of popcorn and enjoying the massive Millennial meltdown that happens when they hit middle age. It’s not going to be pretty.

Most of the recent talk around Kanye West’s Yeezy brand is about how his shoes look like Crocs, or how the company fired an intern for violating their NDA contract. But this time, Yeezy’s new logo design is at the forefront of the conversation. Walmart has filed a copyright infringement complaint against the Yeezy brand, saying that the new logo is so similar to theirs that it might cause confusion among customers.

The new Yeezy logo features eight clusters of three dots which radiate from the center like a star. But because Walmart is concerned that the design is too similar to their own logo, they filed an official complaint with the US Patent And Trademark Office, according to Business Insider. They state that the design “is likely to cause confusion, mistake and deception” for their customers, and could lead to people mistakenly thinking the two brands are related. In their infringement complaint, Walmart states that the “false affiliation” between Yeezy and their company would potentially “damage” their brand and the “goodwill” they’ve worked to associate their name with.

News of the copyright infringement complain arrives on the heels of Yeezy’s charitable initiative. Kanye’s company announced that they would be releasing a DMX tribute shirt to honor the rapper’s legacy, with all proceeds from sales going directly to DMX’s family.

Check out a photo of the proposed Yeezy logo above and compare for yourself.