Month: October 2020

The November elections are fast approaching, and professional athletes have taken front and center in the effort to help people register to vote and to understand the voting laws and how voter suppression tactics are designed to prevent minorities from being able to fairly cast their ballots.

LeBron James has been leading this effort with his More Than A Vote campaign, as he and other athletes have concentrated their efforts as the nation faces perhaps the most important presidential election of our lifetime amid a global pandemic and an ongoing battle against systemic oppression.

One former player who has recently added his name to the mix is Shaquille O’Neal, who joined Michelle Obama and Jayson Tatum’s When We All Vote initiative and has been leading local efforts in his home communities in Florida and Louisiana. He also marked a major milestone in his own democratic journey, revealing on a recent episode of his podcast, The Big Podcast with Shaq, that he has now cast his first ever vote in a presidential election.

Transcript via CBS News:

“You know I always like being honest on my podcast. I’ve never voted before, America,” O’Neal said. “But, now I’m doing all these voting campaigns, and you know one thing I never like to do is be a hypocrite.”

“In other words, America, I voted for the first time, and it feels good,” he told his co-hosts, who were shocked by the admission.

Shaq said he voted via absentee ballot and explained that the reason he hasn’t voted in the past is at least partly due to unclear understanding of how the Electoral College works. He has now become a vocal advocate for educating the public about the responsibility to vote and where and how to find those opportunities.

In July, Rilo Kiley announced they are reissuing their revered 1999 debut album. Shortly afterwards, several acclaimed indie musicians joined together to pay homage to the group by covering their favorite Rilo Kiley songs for a benefit project. Last week, the compilation No Bad Words For The Coast Today: The Execution Of All Things Covers Comp was announced with Sad13’s “Paint’s Peeling” cover and now, Mannequin Pussy shares their rendition of the band’s “The Execution Of All Things.”

In a statement about their “The Execution Of All Things” choice, Mannequin Pussy said they’re consistently “awestruck” by Rilo Kiley’s music:

“Rilo Kiley is the band where I can confidently say that they are simultaneously one of my favorites but they also give me musical amnesia. By that, I mean I can obsessively listen to their discography for months and then – as though someone placed a curse on me – I forget they exist. This curse is really a gift because when I remember how much I love them, it’s like discovering them again for the first time, that sense of wonder for the songs never goes away – no matter how many times I’ve gone through their albums. I’m awestruck by Jenny’s gift for prose and poetry and her expressive voice, Blake’s tremendous capacity to create ‘noodly’ riffs that never sound cheesy but that always perfectly complement and elevate every song. Listening to this band you can sense the collaboration. Collaboration between talented people can create magic and that’s what they are to me – musical magic.”

Listen to Mannequin Pussy cover Rilo Kiley’s “The Execution Of All Things” above.

No Bad Words For The Coast Today: The Execution Of All Things Covers Comp is out 11/6 via Bandcamp. Pre-order it here.

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

For three full months, the NBA has concentrated all its forces inside the Bubble in Orlando. It’s a massive undertaking, for which there has been no precedent, and there was plenty of doubt as to whether the league would be able to pull it off, given the labyrinthine healthy and safety protocols required during the pandemic.

But here we are, potentially one game away from crowning a new NBA champion, with very few lapses in quarantine protocol and no COVID-19 cases. A big reason for that is the way players and other personnel have conducted themselves during their time there, accepting the immense responsibility and making the necessary sacrifices to make it all work.

Despite the boredom and isolation and motonony, they’ve managed to keep themselves entertained along the way through staying active and keeping up their camaraderie and morale. And all along the way, veteran cameraman Andy Thompson has been there to document life inside the NBA Bubble, which he says will one day be turned into a long-form docu-series in the same vein as his most recent work, The Last Dance.

Via Dave McMenamin of ESPN:

Thompson, who won an Emmy for his role as the executive producer on “The Last Dance,” knows that someday all the work will be appreciated by fans who couldn’t be on hand.

“It’s definitely going to be used in some kind of a long-form documentary, a series,” he explained. “I don’t know where or when. But to get it right is really important and it’s really a lot of pressure. Because this can be duplicated, but it can’t be replicated. And so we got to make sure that we cross every t and dot every i and make sure we get it right.”

For those of us who spent our Sunday nights earlier this year glued to the Michael Jordan series, this is incredible news. Throughout their time in the Bubble, players have regularly turned to social media to offer fans some brief glimpses behind the scenes in Orlando, but a long-form series promises a more comprehensive and intimate look at the NBA’s unique experiment.

Given Thompson’s credentials, you couldn’t ask for a better storyteller. We can only hope that it doesn’t take quite as long to be released as his most recent project.

(Via ESPN)

Major Lazer, the electro-dance crew made of up Diplo, Walshy Fire, and Ape Drums, announced last week that its fourth studio album, Music Is The Weapon, is coming soon. The group has only shared one single from the upcoming record so far — “Oh My Gawd” with Nicki Minaj. While their album announcement didn’t arrive with new music, the group continues to tease the project with an animated video for their “Oh My Gawd” track.

Directed by Reel Goats and animated by Mathematics, Major Lazer’s “Oh My Gawd” video brings each of the contributors’ characters to life. Arriving with an unexpected guest, an awkward family dinner ensues between the artists. In a statement about the track, contributor Mr. Eazi gushed over the opportunity to collaborate with Major Lazer.

“This record was really fun to make and it’s crazy how it went from hearing a K4mo intro in the studio with Fred Again, to me jumping on it and then Diplo hopping in! And Walshy hitting me up to say it’s a banger—next thing Nicki is on it!” Eazi said. “Been a journey really, like two years in the making and I can’t wait to perform it at my next festival!”

Along with sharing the “Oh My Gawd” video, Major Lazer announced they will bring live music back this year — sort of. The crew are going on an abbreviated socially distant tour later this month and stopping by large arenas across the country to perform drive-in concerts.

Watch the “Oh My Gawd” video above and check out Major Lazer’s drive-in tour dates below.

10/23 — Riverside, CA @ Rubidoux Drive-In Theater
10/24 — Burlingame, CA @ HotBox Pop-Up
10/26 — Houston, TX @ White Oak
10/27 — Forth Worth, TX @ Coyote Drive-In
10/29 — Columbus, OH @ Westland Drive-In
10/30 — Atlanta, GA @ ATL Motor Speedway
11/03 — Charlotte, NC @ Charlotte Speedway

Tickets to Major Lazer’s live shows are available now. Get them here.

Music Is The Weapon is out 10/23 via Mad Decent. Pre-order it here.

It’s been less than a month since Cardi B filed for divorce from Offset and the former-couple continue to keep things more than civil. After making the announcement, Cardi B shut down rumors about Offset being a “bad man,” explaining that they simply no longer “see eye-to-eye” anymore. Now, it seems as though Offset has been reminiscing on the good times he had with Cardi.

Cardi B’s birthday is Sunday and while they may not be officially on speaking terms, Offset showed Cardi he still cares with a larger-than-life present. The rapper bought a huge billboard in LA in order to display a heartfelt birthday wish from their daughter, Kulture. Cardi shared a video of her reacting to the billboard, and it’s clear she was taken aback and the lovely gesture.

Hours before Cardi posted the video, Offset also revealed he’s been missing her. The rapper shared a video of himself on social media, asking fans for their opinion on how he should dye his hair. One fan commented that the Migos rapper looked “stressed out,” and Offset replied with the reason. “I miss MRS.WAP,” he wrote. “call her for me but private.”

See Offset’s message above.

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

HBO Max’s Charm City Kings is a coming-of-age story wrapped up in gang turmoil and the culture of Baltimore’s real-life, inner-city dirt bike crews. But to really appreciate this intense ride, it helps to know a bit more about what it took to bring the story to the screen, exploring the fascinating dirt bikers at the heart of the film, the community, and the storytellers behind this unique portrait.

1. It’s Inspired By A True Story

When we meet the film’s protagonist Mouse (Jahi Di’Allo Winston), he’s just a young kid dreaming of joining a group of renegade dirt bikers who, for better or worse, make their presence felt on the streets of Baltimore. It’s his coming-of-age story that we become invested in, but the rich culture and wild lifestyle of The Midnight Clique are actually inspired by some real-life riders. Dirt bike gangs have been a staple on the streets of Baltimore for years and crews like the Twelve O’Clock Boyz — the outfit that the film’s Midnight Clique is modeled after — have gotten a lot of attention. They tear through neighborhood streets, revving their engines and pulling off death-defying stunts, rebelling against the city’s police mandate against dirt bike riding, and giving their community something to cheer for. They might not be the traditional “heroes” of a story like this, but they’re definitely the kind of outlaw icons that can inspire good storytelling.

2. There Are Big Names Behind The Scenes, But The Film Is A Showcase For Up And Comers

Award-winning auteur Barry Jenkins, who has consistently hooked audiences with his devastatingly intimate and nuanced dramas, had a hand in plotting the story, so expect a more layered exploration of masculinity. Along with Jenkins, Will and Jada Pinkett Smith are on board as producers, lending their star power to bring this story to the screen. But while big names are great, the heart of the film comes from its fresh talents. Young actor Jahi Di’Allo Winston, who’s already starred in buzzed-about indies, gives a captivating turn here as a boy on the brink of adulthood searching for his place in an unforgiving environment. Additionally, director Angel Manuel Soto draws on his clear passion for honest, unfiltered filmmaking, giving Charm City Kings a realistic, relatable vibe.

3. It Was Filmed On The Streets Of Baltimore

Soto knew that to tell this singular story about a young kid looking for an opportunity to escape the harsh realities of inner-city life, he’d need to aim for authenticity. That’s why the film chose to shoot on location in Baltimore. According to the film’s production notes, sometimes that meant wading into the ongoing war between the dirt bike gangs and police, and sometimes that meant negotiating with locals who are protective of their day to day and neighborhoods. This all to pull off a gritty, raw bit of storytelling that puts you in the driver’s seat, literally.

4. It’s Meek Mill’s Feature Film Debut

Meek Mill is a titan in the world of hip-hop but his role as Blax in Charm City Kings marks his feature film debut. Tasked with playing a flawed mentor to the film’s young protagonist Mouse, Mill needed to bring empathy and a hard exterior to the role of leader of The Midnight Clique. His character is a criminal, yes, but he’s also a man struggling to defeat his own demons and Soto knew that Mill’s charisma and confidence would make you root for him, even when his character is leading the film’s hero down a potentially dangerous path. But it’s not just Mill’s acting talents that made him perfect for the role. The Philadelphia native’s music, along with classic tracks like the Swizz Beatz-produced ‘Ruff Ryder’s Anthem’ from DMX is also a huge part of the overall package with the latter accompanying the film’s most memorable action sequence.

5. Those Bike Stunts? They’re Real.

You can’t have a full-throttle drama about dirt bike rebels without capturing “The Ride” itself, which is what Charm City Kings does in a way we haven’t seen before. The film teamed up with Baltimore heavyweight DeWayne Davis aka “Wheelie Wayne,” to craft action-scenes that gave fans an adrenaline-filled look at life in the driver’s seat. Wielding tricked-out, supped-up rides, Wheelie Wayne recruited some street riders to demonstrate the city’s signature Twelve O’Clock Move that sees riders popping wheelies and maneuvering the bike’s handlebars to mimic clock hands facing high noon. It’s a trick fans will instantly marvel at in the film and one that captures the free-spirit and daredevil attitude of these bikers, but it wouldn’t have been possible without the real riders lending their unique talents to the movie.

As if all of the above wasn’t enough to get you stoked to watch the film, here’s one more chance to check out the trailer.

‘Charm City Kings’ is available to stream right now on HBO MAX.

Before we begin, a disclaimer: Tyler Herro is a rookie. He’s a rookie in the strangest NBA season we’ve ever seen, yes, but at the end of the day, Herro is yet to wrap up his first year of being a professional basketball player. What he has managed to do for the Miami Heat on the team’s playoff run in spite of the fact that he is so green behind the ears — especially because the Heat have multiple players with All-Star/All-NBA/playoff appearances under their belts and they’re a franchise that is a true meritocracy — is remarkable.

Having said all of that, Herro’s performance against the Boston Celtics thrust him into the spotlight for Miami this postseason. Mind you, Herro played well in the team’s opening two series, but against the Celtics, the former Kentucky product was able to take his game to another level. In the most Bill Nye the Science Guy voice you can muster in your head, consider the following:

The surprise here is not that the Los Angeles Lakers have put the clamps on Herro thus far. We’ll get into this momentarily, but the fact that he has struggled against L.A. makes all the sense in the world for a few factors. If anything, it’s a little surprising how good he played in each of the first three series, particularly against a very, very good Celtics team which had a top-5 defense this season and didn’t bother him all that much. He was third on the Heat, behind only Goran Dragic and (very narrowly) Jimmy Butler, in usage rate during that series, and he delivered by scoring and facilitating in a way that made him look like a legitimate budding star.

The Heat did a very, very good job of using Herro as a complimentary piece in the first two series, where he thrived. The Pacers are a pesky defensive team, but one that just did not look like themselves all series without Domantas Sabonis. While the Bucks were the best defense in the league, they hung their hats on protecting the paint and gave up a ton of threes. Lo and behold, a tick under 59 percent of Herro’s shot attempts against Milwaukee were threes, his high-water mark for a series this postseason, which was accompanied by his best shooting performance in any series.

Against Boston, Herro’s shooting from deep fell off, but he was a monster on shots inside the three-point line. Herro connected on 69.8 percent of his twos — you do not need me to tell you that is astoundingly good, but for context, the best player in the league this year on twos was Mitchell Robinson of the Knicks, who connected on 74.2 percent of his attempts from inside the line. If Herro were to have kept that number up all season (and, to be clear, I do realize how silly this is, just bear with me), it would have been second in the league.

Against Boston, Herro’s shots were 50/50 between twos and threes. He was just way, way better at connecting on twos, and was quite comfortable at putting the ball on the deck, getting to his spot, and pulling up — per NBA.com’s tracking data, 38 of the twos he attempts in that series came off the bounce. An even crazier number: NBAShotCharts.com says that Herro was good for 1.33 points per shot against the Celtics at the rim on 18 attempts and 1.44 PPS on 25 mid-rang attempts.

It should not come as a surprise that another element of Herro’s game, setting up teammates, flourished in this series. Inherently, players who have a gravity about them make things easier for their other teammates, especially when they can find them. That hasn’t always been something Herro’s been great at, but he’s gotten better at it. It helped that the Heat surrounded him with three other good-to-very good passers — Bam Adebayo, Butler, Dragic — so he did not have to shoulder the creative load. As a result, all four players posted an assist percentage of at least 20.3 percent against the Celtics.

The adage “pressure turns coal into diamonds” applied to Herro against Boston. Against Los Angeles, however, pressure hasn’t exactly been kind to him. It has to be mentioned that Miami not having Dragic probably hurts Herro more than anyone else. The role that maximizes what he can do, right now, is as an option on the perimeter who has a symbiotic relationship with Butler and Dragic. The stuff they can do helps him, the stuff he can do helps them, the cycle continues unabated. But with no Dragic, asking him to take on more of the Dragic role, or asking him to stick in his same role while someone like Kendrick Nunn — who is, to put it very charitably, not Dragic — is on the floor makes life more difficult on him. As such, here we are:

Herro’s offensive upside means he is a guy worth keeping on the floor, even through these struggles, even while being pestered by an elite Laker defense, and even while he’s had the team’s worst defensive rating in this series. They need someone who can bring the stuff he can bring on offense, he just hasn’t gotten to that point. Los Angeles deserves plenty of credit here — they have made him take twos (62.1 percent of his attempts in this series), they are making him put the ball on the floor, and he is getting acquainted with the Lakers’ myriad of defenders, with guys like Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Alex Caruso, Danny Green, and Rajon Rondo all taking turns bugging him.

Without Dragic, Herro has been thrust into a bigger role in this series. While it’s not fair to put this much weight on a rookie’s shoulders in an NBA Finals matchup against a team that has LeBron James, Herro raised the bar for himself with his performance this postseason, especially with what he did against Boston. But as he’s been given the ball more and needed to do more, he has struggled, with his ability to score and his ability to set up his teammates both falling off a cliff. Getting him going could be big for Miami if it hopes to turn the tables on James and come back from a 3-1 deficit against him. If he can’t, the Lakers are going to be champions for the 17th time in their illustrious history.

As the election approaches and millions of Americans prepare to send in their ballots by mail, people might be worried about how it’s going to go. Between the president’s constant drum-beating about fraud with mail-in ballots (which experts still say is not the major concern that he claims it is) and the administration’s ongoing attacks on the United States Postal Service, it’s an understandable concern.

But never fear—America’s favorite mail carrier, Newman, is here. And he has an important message for all of us regarding the postal service and the election, and a message for President Trump regarding his tax returns.

It’s silly, of course. And thank goodness, because if we don’t have something light to laugh at when it comes to the insanity of our current situation, we’ll cry.

The battle over mail-in voting has raged for months, as it became clear early on in the pandemic that voting by mail would be safer than people physically going to the polls. While some states have had universal mail-in voting for many years without issue, other states have had to figure out the best way to orchestrate a larger-than-normal number of people wanting to send in ballots.

I live in Washington, a state that has had universal mail-in voting for a decade. And it’s awesome. Our ballots are sent directly to our home address a few weeks before any election. We fill them out at home, sign our name on the included envelope—which will be checked against our signature on our voter registration file upon receipt—and either send them back by mail or drop it in a ballot drop box. The ballot drop box in our town is on a one-way street where you can drive right up to it, just like a mailbox. It’s so easy. And since Washington ranks #2 in the nation for electoral integrity according to Harvard University’s Electoral Integrity Project, it’s clearly safe and secure. Every Washingtonian I know is quite happy with this system.

That doesn’t mean there won’t be issues in other states—today there was a report of a computer snafu in Ohio that resulted in nearly 50,000 wrong ballots being sent out—but I’m confident that those issues will be worked out in the end. People will use such stories to make outrageous claims about cheating and fraud and rigged elections, but we have to expect that there will be some hiccups in the voting process this year. We are, after all, in the middle of a pandemic. What would be helpful is if we had a president who would instill confidence in our bipartisan electoral boards and commissions to swiftly identify and rectify any issue that arise, rather than sow chaos and confusion and doubt in our country’s ability to run a fair election.

It’s not as if there have not been computer glitches or human errors in every single election that’s ever been held in this country. There is also occasional incidents of fraud or cheating, but every study done on that topic has come to the same conclusion—voter fraud is extremely rare. (Voter suppression is not, however—a whole other story for a whole other article.)

Thanks, Newman, for the comic relief as we wind our way through the final weeks before election day.

Go to showuptovote.com for info on how to vote in your area.

Just when you thought Hollywood was out of original ideas, along comes Disney to turn an indoor roller coaster into a movie. The House of Mouse is apparently keen on turning Space Mountain into a movie franchise.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Disney has hired Joby Harold (Army of the Dead, King Arthur: Legend of the Sword) to pen a script for a live-action adaptation of Space Mountain, which has appeared in several Disney parks over the years:

Logline details are being kept hidden amidst the rings of Saturn but it is described as a family adventure.

The project, which is in the early stages, is intended for theatrical release.

Harold is currently writing and executive producing the Obi-Wan Kenobi Star Wars series for Disney+ and earned an executive producer credit for John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum. He was also an exec producer on Underground, the historical drama co-created by Lovecraft Country’s Misha Green.

As THR notes, the original Space Mountain has been transformed into Hyperspace Mountain and even into a Star Wars ride in the past. That, however, appears to be a good thing as the movie can go in any number of directions as long as there is a dome and a roller coaster involved, apparently. The movie is reportedly slated for a theatrical release, but you know how things are these days. Hopefully, the line to get inside and see it won’t be as long as it is at Disney.

[via THR]

Thanks to one TikTok user, Fleetwood Mac are having a moment again. Last week, TikTok user doggface208 (aka Nathan Apodaca) shared a video of himself skateboarding while drinking cranberry juice and listening to Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams.” The video became instantly viral due to its feel-good nature, and the band’s Mick Fleetwood even recreated the visual for himself. Now, speaking to Apodaca in a video call, Mick Fleetwood thanks the viral star for contributing to the recent success of their 1977 track.

Mick surprised Apodaca during a conversation with BBC, where he expressed his gratitude to the TikTok star:

“We owe you and it’s such a celebration of everything. It’s so joyous and fun and I was just lead right into it. […] I just want to say, outside of Fleetwood Mac, we owe you. It’s such a great story and so needed in days that are challenging I’ve heard you speaking and I’m so happy to be a part of it. Congratulations on a wild, wild skateboard journey that has led us to talking today. I hope Stevie [Nicks]’s watching. She’s going to be overjoyed.”

Following Apodaca’s video, Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams” was streamed over 8 million times and tripled their sales in one week alone. Not only did the viral video lead to an uptick in Fleetwood Mac’s streams and a conversation with Mick himself, but the cranberry juice company Ocean Spray also thanked the TikTok star for his unintentional promotion. To express their gratitude, Ocean Spray gifted Apodaca a red truck filled with bottles of cranberry juice.