Month: August 2020

The strangest summer of our lives is winding down. You almost certainly didn’t take a big vacation this year. Maybe you snuck in a road trip. A day spent at a swimming hole, hiking local trails, or on a quick overnight camping trip is even more likely. Whatever the case, Summer 2020 was jarringly different.

Still, even in these dark and strange times, we have refreshing beers to see us through. Seasonal sippers that are perfect for hot August nights. While we always encourage you to support your local breweries during COVID, we know you want to give nearby bottle shops some love, too. That’s why we asked some of our favorite bartenders to tell us the refreshing beers they’ll be drinking to close out summer 2020.

Creature Comforts Bibo

Bill Myers, bartender at Kimpton Brice Hotel in Savannah, Georgia

Creature Comforts out of Athens, Georgia makes some great lagers like the Classic City Lager and Bibo. I was first drawn towards this brand because of their Tropicalia IPA, but soon realized that their lighter styles are just as good as their nationally acclaimed IPA.

Bad Dad I’ll Turn This Car Around

Payden Jones, bartender at Grains & Grill in Fairmount, Indiana

One of our favorite hazy, summer beers is Bad Dad Brewing Co.’s New England IPA, I’ll Turn This Car Around. It’s smooth, with no bitterness. Unlike the family road trip.

Monopolio Lager Clara

Sondre Kasin, principal bartender at Cote in New York City

Monopolio Lager Clara is an excellent lager for the summer. This Mexican beer is light, fresh, crisp, and still has a lot of flavor.

Perfect for barbecue, Mexican food, and while sitting outside in the sun.

Kona Longboard Island Lager

Eva Al-Gharaballi, bartender at Datz Restaurant Group in Tampa, Florida

Summer is perfect for light lagers. Kona Longboard Island Lager is my favorite lager from one of my all-time favorite breweries. Hydrating with a smooth aged flavor.

Schofferhofer

Melissa Reigle, beverage manager and head bartender at Byblos in Miami

Summer is citrus. Schofferhofer has a fantastic grapefruit hefeweizen that’s perfect for summer drinking or try your local brewery. If you’re looking for something else, Miami’s MIA Brewery offers Miami Weiss, a lightly yeasted, flavorful summer Weiss. Or just add a little sprite to your Lowenbrau and enjoy a radler.

Brooklyn Summer Ale

Hayden Miller, head bartender at Bodega Taqueria y Tequila in Miami

Brooklyn Summer Ale. Round, slightly malty, and extremely drinkable. This beer is refreshing and light enough for those hot sunny days — aptly deemed a ‘sunny pale ale’.

Three Weavers Cloud City

Steve Livigni, food and beverage partner at Hotel June in Los Angeles

I’m really loving Cloud City Hazy IPA from Three Weavers. It’s just light, easy, and delicious with tons of great citrus notes. It’s great with food, too.

Sixpoint Jammer

Nazar Hrab, beverage director at The Pineapple Club in w York City

There are so many different opinions and so many craft beers, it’s hard to pick just one. As long as you know which style you’re in the mood for and as long as it’s crisp and cold, you really can’t go wrong. For this, I’ll go with Sixpoint Jammer. It’s refreshing, tangy, and highly crushable.

Writer’s Picks:

Rogue Newport Daze

Potentially the best beer to drink near a body of water on a hot day, Rogue Newport Daze is a refreshing hazy pale ale with hints of juicy tropical fruits that’s well suited for sitting in a gravity chair and not worrying about what time it is.

Springdale Pearly White Ale

Summer was made for hazy wheat beers like Springdale Pearly Wit. This 4.5 percent ABV country-style wheat is full of flavors like coriander and orange zest. It’s refreshing, subtly tart, and pairs well with tank tops and flip flops.

The Clippers went into their Wednesday night showdown with the Nuggets with a chance to secure the No. 2 seed in the West, and they did just that with a 124-111 victory, setting them on a collision course with the Dallas Mavericks in the opening round of the playoffs starting next week.

They did it behind big games from their two main stars, with Kawhi Leonard and Paul George finishing with 26 points and 27 points respectively, leading all scorers on the night despite some spotty shooing stretches from each of them.

Nikola Jokic was his usual MVP-level self in the loss, finishing with 17 points, 13 assists, and seven rebounds on the night, but it was Jerami Grant who led the way for Denver with a 25-point outburst on 9-of-14 shooting, including 4-of-7 from three-point territory.

As if we needed reminding, Jokic showed again in the first half why he’s one of the best passing big men in the game today with this full-court bomb to Michael Porter Jr. for the layup. It was one of six assists for Joker in the first half, to go along with 15 points, as he led Denver to a 58-50 lead at the break.

Presenting the best assist of the night: pic.twitter.com/GGVt5mXonD

— Denver Nuggets (@nuggets) August 13, 2020

Bol Bol continued his solid play in the first half, putting up seven points on 3-of-4 shooting and throwing down a highlight-reel dunk on the break.

Bol Bol goes coast-to-coast with the steal and the dunk pic.twitter.com/08OveDbLSL

— ESPN (@espn) August 13, 2020

Kawhi had 14 points in the first half and came out firing in the third quarter, and the Clippers were able to close the gap and take a 70-63 lead, thanks to a 13-0 run midway through the period.

Soaring and finishing with the southpaw.@FoxSportsWest | @kawhileonard pic.twitter.com/OUZAbkBdWL

— LA Clippers (@LAClippers) August 13, 2020

George had a rough shooting start, going 3-of-13, and 1-of-5 from behind the arc in the first half, but he hit back-to-back threes in the third quarter to help build the Clippers’ lead.

But Grant came up big for the Nuggets during that stretch, scoring 13 points in the quarter, and he capped it off by throwing down a huge jam with the clock winding down to give Denver a 92-90 advantage heading into the final frame.

What a pass from Jokic here. Flips and fires this in right to Grant. pic.twitter.com/u9mc7uH6AT

— Steve Jones Jr. (@stevejones20) August 13, 2020

Just an unacceptable way for the Clippers to close the quarter defensively, allowing Jerami Grant to go coast to coast for the dunk. There was no resistance whatsoever from LA. pic.twitter.com/OKqCZWtorr

— Positive Residual (@presidual) August 13, 2020

Lou Williams was his usual self, dropping 22 points in just over 24 minutes of action off the bench Wednesday as he continues to work his way back into a rhythm.

To his left and to the bottom of the net.

@FoxSportWest | @TeamLou23 pic.twitter.com/pwe50T1Zp2

— LA Clippers (@LAClippers) August 13, 2020

The Clippers took their largest lead of the game midway through the fourth quarter, 108-99, thanks in part to George, who came alive after a slow start, scoring 19 points in the second half, including several big shots down the stretch to keep the game out of reach.

Down the lane and down the hatch.@FoxSportsWest | @Yg_Trece pic.twitter.com/j4LhrV4DO7

— LA Clippers (@LAClippers) August 13, 2020

Six straight games with 20+ points.@Yg_Trece posts the longest streak of his career. pic.twitter.com/LV5qGJqbCu

— LA Clippers (@LAClippers) August 13, 2020

For Denver, the loss locks them into a first round matchup with 6-seeded Utah (after OKC locked down the 5-seed with a win over Miami) that figures to be very interesting, as neither team is currently at full strength and will have to continue adapting to new rotations in the playoffs. The full Western Conference playoff bracket is now set aside from the wild chase for the play-in series and a date with the Lakers.

1. Los Angeles Lakers v. 8. Blazers/Grizzlies/Suns/Spurs
4. Houston Rockets v. 5. Oklahoma City Thunder

2. Los Angeles Clippers v. 7. Dallas Mavericks
3. Denver Nuggets v. 6. Utah Jazz

The Heat and Thunder met on Wednesday night in a battle between mid-seeds in the East and West, with Oklahoma City able to sew up the 5-seed out West with a win and secure a matchup with the Houston Rockets in the first round.

Miami, which is locked into a matchup already with Indiana after the Pacers win earlier in the day, came out as aggressive as ever, and the game lived up its billing as a showdown between two of the league’s most pleasant surprises this season — and edgiest squads. That edge for both comes from their star players and leaders in Chris Paul and Jimmy Butler, and unsurprisingly, those two had a bit of a spat late in the second quarter.

Paul stripped Duncan Robinson in the corner and then had plenty to say to the young sharpshooter, and then after stealing the inbounds pass from Butler to Robinson, pelted Robinson in the back with the ball to avoid being trapped in the corner and give OKC possession.

It is an incredibly Chris Paul sequence, and on the next trip down the floor, Butler made sure to send Paul a message on behalf of his teammate, dipping his shoulder into Paul’s chest and knocking him to the floor.

After the game, Butler was asked about the brief back-and-forth and made it clear that he won’t tolerate anyone, even a friend like CP3, going after his young teammates.

We likely won’t to see any further payoff of a Butler-CP3 pester-off in the bubble, but it’s clear that both stars are looking to set a tone for their teams going into the playoffs. Paul, in a game that was meaningful but not absolutely critical for OKC, was continuing to give it all on the defensive end and do anything he could to win his team extra possessions, while Butler sticks up for his guys and only continues to assert himself as a leader on the Heat who will do what’s necessary for his teammates.

Kamala Harris has only been Joe Biden’s running mate for a day now, and while the news was well-received by some, like her SNL portrayer Maya Rudolph, many on the right were quick to dogpile on the possible future veep. Even a lesser known Trump Team staffer tried to get in on it. Jenna Ellis — senior legal adviser to the president’s re-election campaign and one of his attorneys — took to Twitter with what she thought was a nasty dig.

“Kamala sounds like Marge Simpson,” Ellis wrote. Thing is, if she thought comparing Harris to the tall-haired matriarch of the longest-running animated show in history was an insult, Twitter was there to remind her that she was deeply mistaken. Some people were baffled.

Others were angry.

After all, Marge is nothing if not the conscience of Springfield, in whichever state Springfield is in.

Besides, she’s capable of deep, profound, heartbreaking sadness.

Then again, Marge Simpson also gets stuff done.

And she cleans up after the lazy guy.

And she gave birth to Lisa Simpson, the president who, long before he was actually our real president, succeeded — and cleaned up — after Ellis’ boss.

Marge also “wrote” a stern but polite letter to a real previous president, George H.W. Bush, after he criticized the show. Bush, whose skin was thicker than the current one’s, wrote back.

In short, comparing anyone to Marge Simpson is the opposite of an insult.

On August 4, the port city of Beirut in Lebanon suffered a pair of devasting explosions, the latter of which has been labeled as one of the most powerful non-nuclear explosions in history. In the end, at least 220 were killed, 7,000 injured, 300,000 were left homeless, and a total of $10-15 billion worth of property was damaged. As the country looks to rebuild and heal, a process that has become much more difficult thanks to the resignation of many government leaders, including the prime minister, The Weeknd offers his contribution to victims in the relief process.

In an announcement made by The Weeknd’s manager, Wassim “Sal” Slaiby, whose wife Rima Fakih has been working with relief efforts for Lebanon, he revealed that The Weeknd made a donation of $300,000 to Global Aid for Lebanon to aid with relief efforts. “I am so honored and humbled to work with artist’s who have such deep care for the world and right now for our brothers & sisters of Lebanon who are in pain and need our collective help,” Slaiby wrote in his statement. “I want to thank my brother @theweeknd for his generous and class act of donating $300,000 to the Global Aid for Lebanon campaign.”

The Weeknd’s donation is just his latest in recent contributions for a better cause. At the end of June, the singer donated $1 million to pandemic relief with half a million going to Scarborough Health Network (SHN) and the other half a million going to MusiCares.

Check out Slaiby’s Instagram post about The Weeknd’s donation above.

It’s 1983, and cosmonaut Konstantin Sergeyevich (Pyotr Fyodorov, Finest Hour) has just survived the rough re-entry that killed his partner, with one catch: he now has a freaky alien living in his esophagus. The alien, which looks sort of like an albino cobra crossed with a wolf spider covered in mucus (much like Senator Ted Cruz), escapes Konstantin’s body every night at 2 am to go carousing. As bad as that sounds, if the government functionaries in charge kill the alien, Konstantin, a national hero, might die himself (the ol’ Tony Stark corollary). Now the official in charge has brought in Tatyana Klimova (Oksana Akinshina), a young doctor known for her unorthodox methods. Will she be able to help?

That’s the premise for Sputnik, a utilitarian new sci-fi thriller out of Russia from commercial director Egor Abramenko. It was slated to debut at Tribeca before the pandemic, and has since been released online in its home country, where it became a modest hit-type thing on VOD. This week it gets an American release, courtesy of IFC.

Between the steely beauty (a “Russian Ripley,” per the press release) attempting to communicate with a mucusy, tentacled alien and a space traveler with kid issues (Konstantin has just found out about an estranged child), Sputnik borrows liberally from previous sources — Arrival, Alien, Gravity, that SNL sketch where Christopher Walken is trying to lure a badger out of Will Ferrell’s butt with a nice pot roast. Funny how every movie astronaut seems to have a dead, dying, or sick child that makes them want to leave Earth (see also: First Man). There’s even the requisite government official (Semiradov, played by Fedor Bondarchuk) who can only think of aliens in terms of geopolitics.

Obviously, what makes Sputnik fun to watch isn’t that it’s the first movie ever to cover this ground (though the Soviet setting is an interesting wrinkle). Egor Abramenko’s direction is tense and moody, and Sputnik‘s fx and production designers are clearly having fun, creating creature effects that all seem to ride that perfect line between gross and fascinating. Is there a word for that? The Dr. Pimple Popper effect? It’s like ASMR for people who enjoy bodily functions.

For an explanation of why Sputnik is a fun popcorn thriller (or at least a slightly smarter version of a popcorn thriller), we could essentially leave it at that — a testament to what well-staged scenes and exuberant production design can accomplish. It’s interesting to note, though, Tatyana’s commitment to the value of human life. It helps that the movie is set in 1983, because even in our movies since then we’ve been conditioned to accept higher casualties as the cost of progress (not to mention being encouraged, then and now, to believe that general disregard for human life was something ingrained in the Russian DNA). But much of Sputnik hangs on Tatyana’s steadfast refusal to throw bodies away, a mildly refreshing reversal when so many movies with aliens and geopolitics require simply yadda yadda-ing through collateral damage.

Sputnik has some loose ends, mostly dealing with Konstantin and Tatyana’s respective family drama, that it attempts to tie up in the third act, not altogether convincingly. It’s hard to give Sputnik much credit for larger philosophical ideas, which it mostly seems to toss in occasionally as a spice, so going for some heartwarming conclusion falls a little flat. Mostly, everything in it seems designed to build and maintain suspense that carries us from scene to scene, a task it more than accomplishes.

‘Sputnik’ hits select theaters and VOD August 14th. Vince Mancini is on Twitter. You can access his archive of reviews here.

In mid-March, various tours all across the country came to a screeching halt as the coronavirus put an end to almost all live music for the foreseeable future. Many artists have resorted to drive-in concerts as a way to still perform for fans. For some artists like Kehlani, it proved to be beneficial, while other artists’ attempts at social-distant shows, such as those put on by DaBaby, proved to be unsuccessful. But one put on across the pond in the United Kingdom came with a bit of a twist.

Taking to Newcastle’s Virgin Money Unity Arena, Sam Fender performed at the United Kingdom’s first socially-distant concert at an outdoor venue. Nearly a year removed from his Hypersonic Missles debut album, the English singer performed for 2,500 attendees, who watched from a total of 500 platforms that were two meters apart from each other. Each platform would hold no more than 5 people per platform, achieving their goal of a socially-distant night.

As the night went on, many fans shared their opinions on the new setup, with many saying that, considering the circumstances, the concert was a success. One fan labeled it as “the future! And least for the foreseeable…,” while another said it was “brilliantly organised.” Others weren’t big fans of the concert, one saying, “if that’s what the future is, count me out.” Whether or not this kind of setup becomes a regular thing remains to be seen, but if fans would like to get back to the outdoor concert, unorthodox approaches like this one may be necessary.

Kehlani is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Warning: This article contains vague spoilers for Kevin Smith’s Tusk.

Tusk was not one of Kevin Smith’s biggest hits, but like a lot of his work (Jersey Girl perhaps excepted), it had its admirers and it found a healthy life on home video. He even made it the beginning of a new, Canada-set series called the True North Trilogy, followed by 2016’s Yoga Hosers and the yet-to-be-filmed Moose Jaws. But during a ComicBook.com Livestream Wednesday night, he returned to Tusk, rattling off a possible storyline for a sequel he may or may not ever make.

First off, Tusk’s conclusion isn’t exactly sequel-friendly, ending on a downer note that leaves our hero — a popular podcaster, played by Justin Long, who is unwittingly turned into a man-walrus by a deranged wildlife fanatic, played by the late, great Michael Parks —perhaps for forever. Or maybe not.

“There’s a version of Tusk 2 that you do where you cut to the present, and somebody else gets sucked into the spider’s web,” Smith told the crowd. “The house, you hear stories, and when you come to the house, the new Howard Howe is Wallace, who has gotten out of the walrus trappings and stuff and is obviously disturbed. By his whole ordeal and is now doing it to others. So there’s a way to do Tusk 2 where Justin becomes Michael Parks’ character….So yea, that’s possible. Tusk 2 is possible.”

Does this mean Smith will actually ever make Tusk 2? Possibly, possibly not. His docket is pretty full, with Moose Jaws, with Clerks 3, and with another sequel, Twilight of the Mallrats. And does Justin Long really want to crawl back into that walrus get-up again? Whatever the case, this quarantine may last long enough that the man who finished the Mallrats sequel script while holding down indoors may bust out Tusk 2, too.

(Via ComicBook.com)

Wrestling without live crowds takes some figuring out. It’s led different companies in different directions, with varying degrees of success. But while WWE is inventing its own counter cultures, and AEW is continuing their impressively long build to Sept. 5’s All Out PPV while keeping their women’s tournament to YouTube, Impact Wrestling is over on AXS TV just putting on pretty solid wrestling shows.

I really enjoyed Impact’s last PPV, so I figured I’d check out the weekly show as they build to their two-week Impact Emergence event. This week’s episode opened in media res, with Willie Mack and Eric Young beating the ever-living crap out of each other backstage. Commentary was quick to give context, although I already figured it was because EY severely beat Willie’s best friend Rich Swann at Slammiversary. Apparently that led Swann to appear on TV and announce his retirement, and Eric showed up to beat him up again.

So it’s no wonder that Mack couldn’t wait for the official start of their match to start fighting with Young. And when they do eventually make it to the ring and the bell is rung, it’s Willie Mack’s desire for violent revenge that leads to his defeat at Eric Young’s hands. Willie Mack is usually a pretty upbeat character, so it’s interesting to see him furious and scowling. He’s quite good at it, and it’s a very intimidating look for him.

There were three women’s matches on this week’s episode, and they each had something going for them. Newly signed indie vet Kimber Lee went up against former champion Jordynne Grace, who is making questionable hair choices lately. Kimber got to show off some of what she can do, but Jordynne got the win, just in time for the announcement that her rematch with Deonna Purrazzo for the Knockouts Championship at Emergence will be a thirty-minute Iron Man Match. Jordynne and Deonna are going to tear it up in two weeks! For a full half-hour!

Not to make it about comparison, but how many years do you think it will be before AEW gives two women a full quarter of the show to have a banger of a match?

There was also a hardcore women’s tag team match, with Kiera Hogan and Tasha Steelz facing Havok and Nevaeh. Unless I missed some crucial recent character development, this is a heel versus heel match, and it certainly seemed like one. Kiera and Tasha aren’t nice people, but Havok and Nevaeh are straight-up monsters. And honestly that sums up my issues with the latter team. I’d like to see more human personality from Havok and Nevaeh, because right now I’m finding it hard to invest in them.

The third women’s match was Susie versus Alisha Edwards, which really wasn’t much of a match, but it was part of “Wrestle House,” which is a recurring segment throughout the show where a bunch of the Impact Roster are living together in an “MTV’s Real World” type situation, but with a wrestling ring in the backyard that they use for settling all disputes. Most of the Wrestle House stuff this week was pretty light, but it did set up a backyard match for next week between Taya and Kylie Rae, and hopefully they give that one some real time, because it ought to be real good. Also, the Susie/Alisha match featured Susie yelling “I have the runs!” which was a great payoff to an earlier bit.

My least favorite thing on the whole show was a segment where Madison Rayne interviewed RVD and Katie Forbes, who are still doing their “inappropriate displays of affection” gimmick that just grosses me out a little. But I imagine it’s supposed to.

I wasn’t wildly thrilled when Brian Myers (WWE’s Curt Hawkins) showed up to challenge Eddie Edwards in the main event. But like Eric Young, and also EC3 and Heath, who both had quick video promos on this episode, Myers is here to try and prove that he can be much more entertaining than WWE gave him space to be. We’ll see how that goes, but it’s nice to see these guys (and Deonna) not just finding work but blossoming in the light of a company that’s thrilled to have pretty much every wrestler they can get, instead of hanging on to a bloated roster just because they can.

Finally, if you’ve watched Impact before, the experience of watching it without a live crowd isn’t much different. That sounds like a dig about Impact’s small audiences, but there’s truth to it — Impact wasn’t in the habit of shooting vast seas of faces to punctuate moments. They already had their hard cam facing the entrance ramp. The only real difference between Impact before COVID-19 and Impact now is that they fired a bunch of problematic people who were outed as part of the #SpeakingOut thing back in June. And that’s a difference I don’t mind seeing.

So if you have AXS TV, and especially if WWE and AEW haven’t been giving you everything you want, consider giving Impact a look. It might not be your thing, but it’s worth letting go of old assumptions and checking it out with fresh eyes.