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Most of Us Share This Xmas Ritual Every Single Year
Jumanji just turned 30
Andrew Safranko
December 19, 2025
In partnership with
Y
This Week in Dulture…
Approx 5 minute read:
🏀 The most wonderful time of the year
🎭️ Remembering a classic
👕 Nerd drop alert
🍸️ Three spots to go drinking at
Dulture weekly mix
He’s right, it’s still Fall. Regardless of what the weather is telling us, winter isn’t here yet so stop complaining about how cold it is because you now once again have something to vibe with.
Listen, I get it - this mix is at the beginning of the newsletter, you meant to click and listen but you forgot. And that’s okay, I’ll be standing with the fridge open sometimes and wondering wtf I was doing in the first place.
We all forget - the point is to eventually remember.
This week has a great coffee shop vibe - through this on as you sit there and wait for the day to be over so you can officially tell people to EFF OFF til January.
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Ah yes, the final stretch. WE MADE IT.
Just joking…still tons of shopping to do 😅
As we all transition into “holiday mode” there’s all kinds of things to look forward to:
Being with loved ones
Sitting by the fire enjoying a warm cup of _______
All the food…as you tell yourself the diet starts in January
Gifts! (receiving AND giving)
And of course…
THE 5 NBA GAMES GOING ON ALL DAY
Years ago the child-like magic of Christmas day wore off only to be replaced with the adult-like magic of Christmas day NBA games.
A preview to my Christmas Day
There’s something about the NBA on Christmas day that just hits different.
Maybe it’s the jerseys - well was the jerseys until Nike took over.
Or maybe it’s the match-ups where you’re bound to get at LEAST one good game out of 5.
Previous notable games include:
Shaq vs Kobe the year after Shaq was traded to Miami.
Cavs vs. Warriors when Kyrie hits spinning fade away game winner
The year after Jordan retired the first time, Scottie Pippen had one of the best games of his career willing the Bulls past the Knicks in OT
Yup, it’s definitely the shoes.
Other than All-Star Weekend, I’d say Christmas games bring out some of the most coveted basketball shoes we ever see.
Exhbit A:
Kobe 6 “Grinch’ - at least one player will be wearing these next week
Exhibit B:
Lebron 10 ‘Christmas’ - I’d be very surprised to see anyone rocking these
Exhibit C:
Nike Zoom KD 4 ‘Christmas’ - this model made a come back this year so maybe we see this colourway next week
It’s crazy to think the NBA only really lifted their colour restriction on shoes in the 2018-2019 season (Go Raptors) so, although there’s been some heat on Christmas day, they just keep getting brighter and brighter.
Especially if Ja or Giannis have anything to say about it:
Everything but Xmas lights
Kids love Giannis’ Freak shoes man
Jumanji 30 Years Later
The year is December 1995.
Emmitt Smith just scored his NFL record breaking 25th touchdown of the season.
Calvin Hobbes last comic strip is published.
And Northwestern South Carolina starts using area code 864.
And little did we know but we were about to get a cult classic from one of the greatest ever, Robin Williams.
It’s true though, this movie was legit scary for kids
At the time, Jumanji just seemed like another movie based off of a book. Hollywood Star + some funky action and you had a film that maybe you wanted to see?
In an interview Robin Williams said he wouldn’t let us own kids watch Jumanji because of how scary it was, then EVERYONE wanted to see it.
And Jumanji was LEGIT really good!
The idea of a board game coming to life, mixed in the idea of having 3 lives in an actual game, made the movie a lot of fun to watch. It kept reminding you that board games could be fun.
Moreso, Jumanji showed how movies could be fun!
All we wanted to do afterwards was buy the Jumanji board game and play for ourselves.
Although the film wasn’t praised for its storyline, the action and concept more than made up for it - I’m not sure how deep you need to get around a family trying to survive through a board game.
I def don’t agree with this 👇️
This is well over a 70% movie
This past week The Rock paid homage to the 30 year anniversary of Jumanji while on the set of Jumanji 3.
Battle of the Nerd Drops
I once had this idea of taking Silicon Valley tech companies and creating cool merch for them - like legit clothing lines with their logos but done tastefully.
At one point in the mid 2010’s every company had the same stupid zip up hoodie with their logo on the left side of the chest.
It’s like they used all their energy on building tech and had none left to remotely try and look decent.
Hi I work at FB, I’m a millionaire dweeb
So we all found out this week that OpenAI has had a merch store since some time last year.
Or did Ye put an OpenAI wrapper on Yeezy.com
(my AI guys will get that one)
You be the judge:
What’s crazy is all of the OpenAI merch is either sold out or “archived”, which has already triggered that glitch in my head where I’m like - is this something we should be paying closer attention to just because it’s all sold out?
And then I snapped out of it - I don’t need any nerd wear atm.
Then I stumbled upon Hidden NY’s collab with Sega and I REALLY questioned if I needed nerd wear…
I proceeded to look at the pricing - $104 FOR A FRIGGING DREAMCAST T-SHIRT??
Bruh - TF you think this is - slap a logo on it and jack up the price???
OH…okay.
No but fr, who won the nerd drop this week? |
Where to Drink This Holiday Season
NSure, it’s the time of year to sit by a cozy fire, nestled up with your significant other (or your dog) sipping on a fancy cocktail (or whatever was on sale at the liquor store).
OR.
You can live a little for once and go check out one of these bars.
Back in October, 50 Best group unveiled their top bars in the world for 2025 - lemme give you the top 3.
We gon start with #1 because f*ck it, they all seem really good anyway.
2025’s #1 Bar in the World - Bar Leone
No really, this is the best bar in the world
Located in Central on Hong Kong island, Bar Leone’s Italian co-founder Lorenzo Antinori wanted to create a bar that felt like it was straight out of a neighbourhood in Rome.
Drinks are simple yet done WELL. When you think of the best bar in the world, you’re probably thinking of a spot that James Bond would sit at overlooking some exotic cliffs but I’m not mad at this choice - who doesn’t like a local watering hole that serves proper drinks?
#2 Bar in the World - Handshake Speakeasy
No discredit to Bar Leone but this is what I envision when I think of the best bars of the world. Located in Mexico City, this place is cool man. The first floor has a Great Gatsby type of vibe, and then there’s a basement you can walk down to that plays hip hop.
Couple this experience with world class drinks and how is this not a fun time?
#3 Bar in the World - Sips
Now this place won best bar in the world in 2023 so clearly it knows what it’s doing. Located in Barcelona, Sips offers a couple different ways to drink: the traditional way where you show up and enjoy what they’re making.
And then you’ve got Esencia, their take on a drink tasting menu where you literally sip drinks as they take you on an alcoholic journey. Esencia is basically a bar within the bar as it requires its own separate reservations, with seating only for 14.
The full list of the top 50 bars in the world for 2025 can be found here.
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