Latest news with #JamesJean
Yahoo
18-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Fans Outraged Over What Umpire Did in Mets-Yankees
With less than 50 games under his belt, James Jean easily ranks among the least experienced active major league umpires. However, practice makes perfect, and Jean could eventually become a crew chief with enough success. Saturday afternoon, Yankees and Mets fans found something they could agree on: even if he's learning, they want Jean nowhere near their games moving forward. Advertisement Both team's fanbases crushed Jean following the Mets' 3-2 victory at Yankee Stadium. Fans ripped Jean's strike zone and a bizarre umpire interference call that nullified a successful sixth-inning double steal by the Yankees. 'Maybe [Yankees second baseman DJ LeMahieu] still grounds out harmlessly, but that changes the entire complexion of the inning,' wrote one X/Twitter user. 'Very well could have meant the go-ahead run would score.' Added another: '2nd year umpire pulled a rookie move. He penalizes the Yankees because he was too close to the catcher. What a joke.' Irate Yankees fans questioned how a ball is still live if it hits an umpire but not if a catcher's arm accidentally makes contact with the umpire. Advertisement 'But [isn't] the Umpire considered a part of the field?' one fan asked. 'So how can he call that [on] himself LMFAO.' MLB umpire James Jean in 2025Reinhold Matay-Imagn Images Jean didn't escape the Mets' fans' wrath, though, with many complaining about an inconsistent late-game strike zone. 'James Jean is terrible,' former Mets minor-league pitcher John Mincone wrote. Mincone wasn't the only ex-athlete chiming in, with former Hofstra and Kansas City Chiefs receiver Chris Manno also ripping Jean on X/Twitter. 'Umps still convinced 45K folks come out to watch them ump,' Manno commented. 'I want to COMPLETELY forget you all exist!' Related: Justin Verlander Sends Clear Message to Umpires After Giants' Loss to D-Backs Related: Calls Mount for Umpire's Firing After Red Sox's Loss to Royals
Forbes
30-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Johnnie Walker Opens Door To Ultra-Premium With First 'Vault' Release
Inside the Johnnie Walker Vault below Johnnie Walker Princes Street in Edinburgh, Scotland. In March 2025, Johnnie Walker announced a new experiment in premiumization: the Johnnie Walker Vault, an ultra-exclusive 'Bespoke Private Blend Experience.' In the short time since the announcement, the Diageo-owned company has already put together its first release. The Johnnie Walker Couture Expression, with four Scotch blends priced at $20,000 per crystal decanter, is another effort from the number one Scotch brand to maintain dominance amid a softening market for Scotch whisky sales by value. Located under their current tourist attraction in Edinburgh, the Johnnie Walker Vault is both a physical space and a collaboration platform. Guests can commission private blends (which some reports say start at more than $50,000) and are offered a stay at the Gleneagles Hotel, plus Michelin-starred dining. At any time, the Vault can hold up to 500 whiskies, though parent company Diageo has said that the team has access to 10 million casks at large. Meanwhile, the Vault also operates as a platform to target ultra-high-end brand crossovers. Their first partner is Olivier Rousteing, creative director at French luxury fashion house Balmain since 2011. It's not an odd choice, since Johnnie Walker's Blue Label recently targeted both an après-ski release and a crossover with Taiwanese artist James Jean (Black Label got its own team up with Netflix's Squid Game). The Johnnie Walker Vault's new Couture Expression, with four different, $20,000 blends representing different seasons. Rousteing collaborated with Master Distiller Dr. Emma Walker to produce not one, but four, different blends, each corresponding to a different season. Although there are only 25 bottles of each available, this is the first of a two-part collaboration, and executives seems hopeful that they can leverage this into a recurring tactic. 'Johnnie Walker Vault is allowing us to make our mark on the world of luxury spirits in an exciting new way, as well as opening the door to a new era of progress for the brand,' Managing Director Julie Bramham said in an online release. Across the global spirits industry, premiumization has been a core strategy: selling pricier, aged bottles to make up for flat or declining volumes. Diageo and rivals have leaned into this trend, acquiring high-end brands and rolling out limited editions. However, that premium boom may have peaked—RBC analysts said late last year that they 'estimate that the proportion of sales from high-end reserve brands fell from 29% in 2023 to 27% in 2024,' adding that they 'expect this decline to continue' for Diageo. On top of that, CEO Debra Crew cautioned in recent interim results that inflationary pressures and high interest rates are forcing consumers to cut back on pricier bottles, and had already said in mid-2024 it was 'hard to say when current challenges will recede.' The company also removed medium-term guidance in response to 'current macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainty.' Ultimately, it's a mixed bag, but ultra-premium releases like Couture Expression can be seen as a defensive play, targeting affluent collectors and luxury seekers who are less price-sensitive. This ultra-premium push coincides with renewed tariff volatility. On April 5, 2025, the Trump administration began collecting a 10% levy on all British exports, including Scotch whisky, threatening to inflate U.S. retail prices. Across the Atlantic, the European Commission reinstated a 50% tariff on American whiskey from the same date—retaliatory measures linked to U.S. steel and aluminum duties—casting uncertainty over transatlantic spirits flows. The Distilled Spirits Council of the US, an industry group, warned that ongoing trade disputes risk 'curtailing growth and complicating market dynamics,' even as temporary suspensions offer some reprieve. Nonetheless, U.S. spirits exports climbed 10% in 2024 to $2.4 billion, driven by a 60% surge in shipments to the EU, as distillers raced to secure market share ahead of potential tariff escalation. With Couture Expression, Johnnie Walker is wagering that ultra-premium exclusivity can still outpace both market softness and tariff uncertainties. As global spirits conglomerates continue their upmarket migration, the Johnnie Walker Vault could provide a template for maintaining premium cachet even as mainstream premium sales soften. The real measure of success will come in the long term amid an increasingly crowded luxury landscape.
Yahoo
29-01-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Artist rings in the Year of the Snake with striking lunar new year Johnnie Walker packaging design
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. After his design for the year of the dragon in 2024, the artist James Jean has hooked up with Diageo's Scotch whisky The Johnnie Walker Blue Label again to create a limited-edition label and packaging design to mark the lunar new year and the start of the year of the snake. James is known fusing contemporary subjects with aesthetic techniques inspired by traditional Chinese scroll paintings, Japanese woodblock prints, and Renaissance-style portraiture. Keen to make a different and unique interpretation of the snake zodiac sign, he came up with a design that draws on the past buts looks to the future (also see our roundup of packaging design inspiration). We're told the new design for year of the snake "symbolizes an auspicious ambition for constant progression and self-reinvention, reflecting the values at the heart of Johnnie Walker" The symbol of the snake is often connected with the idea of renewal. In James's interpretation, three snakes represent the three attributes of wisdom, intelligence, and intuition. They're surrounded by blooming flowers, shedding their skins to embrace the next chapter in life. This apparently reflects how Johnnie Walker Blue Label keeps evolving and transforming over the course of its history. James was born in Taipei and raised in New Jersey. He attended the School of Visual Arts in New York and is now based in Los Angeles. "I portrayed the snake shedding its skin to represent the idea of renewal and growth," he says. "The three snakes symbolize the attributes of wisdom, intelligence, and intuition, while also representing the past, present, and future. Snakes are constantly growing, transforming, and adapting to changing conditions." Just as long as people don't start to thing the taste has changed like they do with the new Jack Daniels bottle! For more ideas, see our roundup of packaging design trends for 2025.
