Month: October 2020

There is hardly any precedent for what Breanna Stewart has accomplished as a basketball player.

The 2020 WNBA Finals MVP just capped off a clean sweep through the playoffs with her Seattle Storm that ended in her second championship. That upped the ante from a 2018 campaign in which she won regular season MVP and swept Washington for her first title and Finals MVP. And before she ever was drafted, Stewart won four national championships at UConn as well as four NCAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player trophies and three College Player of the Year awards. There’s also a gold medal at the 2016 Olympics in the middle. At age 26, with just five professional seasons under her belt, the 6’4 scorer is unparalleled in her accomplishments.

From Stewart’s perspective, standing with her teammates in the WNBA’s Bubble and celebrating a championship was anything but guaranteed. It was almost exactly 18 months ago that she ruptured her Achilles tendon during a game overseas. She missed all of the 2019 WNBA season and it was an open question what she’d be capable of this year while rehabbing such a serious injury in the Bubble.

While Stewart did make it back to play in Russia last winter, the WNBA is the best women’s league in the world, so the level of competition is much higher, and this year’s condensed regular season schedule meant teams played every other day for basically two months straight. The Storm committed as a team to playing this season out even as racial justice protests raged around the country and Stewart (along with teammate Sue Bird) continued to recover from major injuries. What they would be able to accomplish, even as the title favorites, was unclear.

Stewart made it known quickly. She scored in double digits in every game but one this season and played the best defense of her career as the Storm rolled to an 18-4 record, tied for best in the WNBA. With a career-high 28.9 percent usage and an elite 57.8 true shooting percentage, Stewart came back equally impactful as a shot creator, if not quite as efficient. Not many bigs are fluid enough to be used like Stewart is, flexing through screens and knocking down shots from everywhere.

Seattle’s depth and institutional knowledge made it easier for Stewart to come along slowly during the regular season (yes, her version of that is a near-MVP level), and the Storm got nine days off before their first playoff game by way of finishing No. 2 in the league. Despite a cold streak late in the regular season, the final four games of Stewart’s playoffs were unthinkably good. She awoke, like every Hall of Fame player, once a championship came within reach.

From Game 3 of the semifinals against Minnesota through the three-game sweep in the Finals, Stewart averaged 29 points, 7.3 rebounds, and 3.5 assists per game while shooting 63 percent from the field. Again, that was in a Bubble, less than 18 months removed from rupturing her Achilles. It’s hard to imagine a better couple of weeks than that. Now, Stewart faces forward. What comes next for someone who’s already accomplished basically everything? First, of course, there will be a celebration of what the Storm just accomplished.

But after that? It was difficult for Stewart to take stock of her career in the immediate aftermath of the championship, but she was rightly proud of her journey back from injury to retake the WNBA throne.

“To be able to be here, to get through all that we’ve gone through as a team obviously individually, it’s an amazing feeling,” Stewart said postgame. “There’s so much of an unknown that you don’t know after rupturing my Achilles, but I’m super … I don’t know if I’m proud of myself but, you know, proud of what I’ve done. I think it’s hard to see it because it was so close, but really proud of just being able to be back.”

As someone whose standard operating procedure is filling up her already gigantic trophy case, you believe Stewart when she says winning was the only indicator she was looking at this season. Head coach Gary Kloppenburg called her “one of those generational players who come through once in a while who can face adversity and get stronger because of it.”

Yet Stewart did allow herself the blessing of perspective for a few moments after Game 3. This second WNBA championship gave her, if nothing else, hope for the future.

“To be here and see myself playing like this and having so much potential going forward, it’s exciting,” Stewart said. “I guess it just makes you appreciate more, and I’m just appreciating my basketball career (more).”

Stewart now sits on a tier of basketball greatness rivaled at her young age only by Bill Russell and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Both Hall of Fame inductees won multiple championships in college and rose to the top of the NBA in short order. Abdul-Jabbar famously boycotted the 1968 Olympics, but Russell won a gold medal in 1956 prior to his rookie season at a time when NBA players did not participate in the Games. True greatness felt easier to come by back then, when basketball was less visible and the most athletic and competitive folks tended to have the upper hand. Yet Stewart is matching them even as the widespread growth of sports theoretically means nobody should have the huge advantage she keeps over her competition.

Stewart’s resume is the type of stuff most don’t believe possible in this era of player movement and modern medicine. At this rate, Stewart is reconstructing our perception of a player’s ceiling. The most damning injury basketball players can suffer did not slow her down. After what she did in the Bubble, it’s fair to wonder if anything can.

Sprinkled throughout Bernie Sanders interviewer Halsey’s newest album, Manic, is a series of interlude tracks, on which she lets another singer take the vocal reigns. On “Dominic’s Interlude,” that honor goes to noted Fortnite concert streamer Dominic Fike. Now, he and Halsey have shared a video for their collaboration.

The clip shows Halsey, Fike, and others dancing to the song on a tennis court. The video is actually derived from the visual Halsey played on tour between performances of “Forever … (Is A Long Time)” and “I Hate Everybody,” which mirrors the sequencing of the album. Fans have pointed out the two videos aren’t exactly the same, though.

Halsey previously explained the song’s role on the record, saying, “Every album of mine has what we call a trio: three songs smack in the middle that serve as a transition and are meant to be listened to in succession. On Manic, it’s ‘Forever … (Is A Long Time),’ ‘Dominic’s Interlude,’ and ‘I Hate Everybody.’ On [‘Forever’], I’m falling in love. […] And then I start getting in my own head. […] And now I’m sabotaging this relationship and feeling paranoid, this is going to be bad. And then Dominic tells me [on ‘Dominic’s Interlude’] I’d better go tell my man he’s got bad news coming.” She also noted, “The interludes represent different relationships in my life: Dom represents brotherly love.”

Watch the “Dominic’s Interlude” video above.

Crocs are apparently making a comeback. Last week, Puerto Rican singer Bad Bunny announced he was collaborating with the shoe brand for a pair of glow-in-the-dark Crocs. Now, Justin Bieber shares that he also has a Crocs design in the works.

Bieber made the collaboration announcement on social media, offering a preview of the shoe. Designed in part by his clothing brand Drew House, the shoes features a canary yellow exterior along with several playful Drew House accessories. “We’ve been a longtime fan of his and we’re excited to bring the magic to all of you on 10.13,” the company wrote alongside a preview of the shoe.

Officially unveiling the collaboration in a video, Bieber said, “This one is a cake but the collab is very real. I’ve been wearing Crocs since the beginning of time and now I have my own design. See there? I did a little rhyme. […] I did a collab with Drew House with Crocs and it’s going to be coming really soon.”

According to HotNewHipHop, the Bieber x Crocs announcement made waves. After Bieber revealed the collaboration, Crocs’ stock apparently jumped 11 percent.

Bieber and Bad Bunny aren’t the only musicians to have teamed up with the shoe brand. Back in 2018, Post Malone shared his Crocs design, and the shoes sold out completely within ten minutes of their release.

Watch a clip of Bieber announcing the collaboration above.

Bieber’s Crocs hit stores 10/13 at 12 pm EDT. Get them here.

Everyone’s favorite Cranberry juice sipping, Fleetwood Mac singing, skateboarding riding TikTok star Nathan Apodaca — who you might know affectionately as DoggFace420/420DoggFace208 — has just been given a new truck from the people at Ocean Spray. It was delivered filled with cranberry juice, making this perhaps the only good thing to come out of this chaotic year. God knows we need bright spots like this.

The truck was gifted to Apodaca from Ocean Spray and a local Idaho Falls Nissan dealership and follows several fan donations given to the viral star after people discovered he needed a new RV. Apodaca has been incredibly generous with the donations he’s received thus far — sharing the wealth with his extended family — so if anyone deserves a truck for absolutely no reason, it’s him.

In less than a month Apodaca has managed to introduce Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams” to a whole generation of people and has done more to make us want to guzzle down some Ocean Spray — straight out of the bottle of course — than the brand’s ads ever have. In a post that we’re sure is bound to go viral as well, Apodaca shared the moment he was surprised by the cranberry-colored truck and has already started uploading new content riding around and blasting music in that supremely chill way that only DoggFace can.

Check some of the new DoggFace adventures below.

Billie Eilish has performed a bunch during the pandemic. She and Finneas were just on The Tonight Show, they put on a Tiny Desk concert, and she performed at the virtual Democratic National Convention. Now, though, she is ready to put on her first ever global livestream concert, as Eilish has announced Where Do We Go? The Livestream.

The show will be performed live from Los Angeles and hosted on Eilish’s website on October 24 at 6 p.m. ET, powered by the Maestro interactive streaming platform and with interactive production by lili Studios.

Eilish wrote on Instagram of the performance, “miss doing shows so muuuuuch [crying emoji] soo I’m doing a livestream october 24th and i can’t wait to be performing agaaaain. get your tickets now!”

Tickets are currently on sale for $30, and from now through to October 11 at 9 p.m. PT, early ticket purchasers will have exclusive access to Eilish merchandise at a discounted price. Additional merch will be revealed between now and the show day and be available for all ticketholders. Proceeds from select merch items will go towards Crew Nation, a charitable fund created to help crew members impacted by all the canceled events in 2020. On top of that, fans will also get a Postmates code for free delivery in the US to complement the concert experience.

Get tickets for Where Do We Go? The Livestream here.

Do you remember the scene in The Big Short where Ryan Gosling explains that Wall Street goons love to use fancy terms like “mortgage backed securities” to make regular folks feel stupid, so he brings in “Margot Robbie in a bubble bath” to describe what the hell a “tranche” is? (Selena Gomez does the same thing for a “synthetic CDO.”) Replace “sub-prime loans” with “naked ballot,” and you have the new video from Represent.Us.

The organization, which aims to “bring together conservatives, progressives, and everyone in between to pass powerful state and local laws that fix our broken elections and stop political bribery,” got Chris Rock, Sarah Silverman, Mark Ruffalo, and Tiffany Haddish, among others, to discuss “naked ballots” (or a ballot without a secret envelope, basically) while, well, naked. Here’s the important-but-boring stuff:

1. Follow ALL instructions carefully. If it says use 2 envelopes, use 2 envelopes. If it says use a black pen, use a black pen. Not funny. Not sexy. But absolutely essential.

2. Mail your ballot or drop it off ASAP. Like now. If your ballot arrives late, it won’t count and you’ll have been naked for nothing.

3. In places like Pennsylvania, your ballot must be placed in an inner and outer envelope. Put your ballot in the inner envelope, then put the inner envelope in the outer envelope. If you don’t do this, it’s called a naked ballot, and it won’t count. You can be naked, but your ballots cannot.

Now enjoy the less important-but-also-less-boring naked celebs above, as a treat.

For a show that never shied away from offing beloved characters, the death of the Stark family’s faithful giant, Hodor, stands out as one of the more memorable and emotional fates on HBO’s Game of Thrones. In a climactic Season 6 episode, Hodor sacrifices himself to save Bran Stark as they flee from the Night King and his army of undead white walkers. Through a time-traveling, psychic journey into the past, viewers also learn that Hodor’s name comes from the phrase “hold the door,” which are actually Bran’s last words to Hodor from the present. It was all very confusing, and yet, it still managed to hit Game of Thrones viewers right in the feels.

However, in the new book Fire Cannot Kill A Dragon, which chronicles behind-the-scene stories from the making of the hit series, author George R.R. Martin reveals that Hodor will have a different fate in one of the final two books. Via Entertainment Weekly:

“I thought they executed it very well, but there are going to be differences in the book,” Martin said. “They did it very physical — ‘hold the door’ with Hodor’s strength. In the book, Hodor has stolen one of the old swords from the crypt. Bran has been warging into Hodor and practicing with his body, because Bran had been trained in swordplay. So telling Hodor to ‘hold the door’ is more like ‘hold this pass’ — defend it when enemies are coming — and Hodor is fighting and killing them. A little different, but same idea.”

While Martin seems to be suggesting that Hodor will ultimately sacrifice himself just like in the show, he doesn’t specifically say that Hodor dies. So, in a way, Martin is holding the door open for a different outcome. Not to mention, the author is notoriously behind on The Winds of Winter, the next book in the series, and who knows how many years it will take him to write the final installment, A Dream of Spring. That’s a whole lot of time for story lines to change, and maybe, for gentle giants to live another day.

(Via Entertainment Weekly)

As the presidential election draws nearer, many musicians across all genres are using their platform to encourage people to vote. But all this talk of voter registration hasn’t convinced Blueface to show up the the polls in November.

Blueface recently sat down for an interview with The Cruz Show on LA’s Real 92.3 to chat about his music. The conversation eventually turned to the upcoming election and the host asked Blueface outright if he was voting. After a moment of hesitation, Blueface responded, “Hell nah.” The interviewer pressed Blueface for an explanation, asking, “You on some ‘f*ck that?’ I mean, this is a very important election.” But Blueface still wasn’t convinced. “I just really ain’t in that stage of my life,” he said. “Look at my face — you think they give a f*ck about who I vote for?”

While Blueface may not be voting, Snoop Dogg recently revealed that this upcoming election will be his first time ever casting a ballot. “I ain’t never voted a day in my life, but this year I think I’m a get out and vote ’cause I can’t stand to see this punk in office,” Snoop said, adding: “For many years, they had me brainwashed thinking that you couldn’t vote because you had a criminal record. I didn’t know that. My record’s been expunged. So now I can vote.”

Watch a clip of Blueface on The Cruz Show above.

Imperial stouts are big beers by design. The high ABVs and impactful flavors of these dark brews make the perfect accompaniment to this time of year. The weather is cooling, the days are shortening — you need a little something extra in your pint glass.

Imperial stouts were initially made in England for export to the courts of the tsars of Russia — in fact, they’re often still called “Russian imperial stouts” to this day. The idea was to amp up the ABVs for maximum punch and amp up the taste by adding hops to the barrels before transport from England to Russia. Naturally, these big, flavorful, heavily alcoholic beers found a broader audience. Today, Imperial Stouts are available from many craft brewers in one form or another.

In modern beer times, the standard of a high-ABV and barrel-aged stout has taken on a million permutations as brewers have toyed with malts, hops, adjuncts, and barrel aging strategies. The eight bottles of imperial stout below fall mostly in the “standard” category. We wanted to keep highlight brews you can generally find (and afford!). We added a few specialty bottles of the dark stuff near the end.

NOTE: You also might be able to find last year’s releases of each of these beers as they’re all age-able brews — don’t forget to check those bottle dates!

Sierra Nevada Narwhal Imperial Stout

ABV: 10.2%
Average Price: $10.99, 4-pack

The Beer:

This dark beer from Sierra Nevada is a classic. It’s dialed in with a very malt-forward base thanks to the combination of Two-row Pale, Caramelized, Chocolate, Carafa III, Honey, and Roasted Barley malts at its base. The beer is then hopped with Cascade, Magnum, and Ekuanot hops, giving the brew a burst of flavor.

Tasting Notes:

You get a sense of all those roasted malts from the first whiff. The depth of this beer is in how those malts are accentuated by a dark espresso bitterness next to sharp cacao. The beer edges away from the high alcohol with a note of caramel malts and a final wisp of smoke.

Bottom Line:

This is a great place to start your imperial stout journey. It’s easy to drink, full of dark flavors, and readily findable.

Great Lakes Blackout Imperial Stout

ABV: 9%
Average Price: $11.59, 4-pack

The Beer:

This multiple-award-winning beer should be hitting shelves right about now. The brew has a base of Harrington 2-Row, Crystal 77, Black, and Roasted Barley malts. The hops are drawn back here with the addition of only Simcoe and Northern Brewer hops.

There’s a balance at play in the recipe that helps this beer really shine.

Tasting Notes:

The beer revels in all those roasted malts. There are hints of dark chocolate with minor notes of coffee bitterness. The sip edges more into the sweeter nature of the dark roasted malts than the bitterness of the hops, giving this a real drinkability.

Bottom Line:

This one might be too easy-drinking given the 9 percent ABVs. Overall, this is a great beer to pair with a backyard fire pit, smoked salmon, and cool weather.

North Coast Old Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout

ABV: 9%
Average Price: $10.99, 4-pack

The Beer:

This is another classic that’s been racking up the awards since the 1990s. The brewers keep things simple, engaging, and delicious with this complex brew from one of California’s most beloved old-school microbrewers.

Tasting Notes:

There’s a familiar note of chocolatey roasted malts up top that soon veers dry and nutty as it draws you in. The sip is bold with a bit of a whiskey barrel mustiness, vanilla, and spice as the malts sweeten. The beer carries on with that dry nature and deeply roasted malts plus a note of dank pine resins that sneak in late, adding to the bitterness of the cacao.

Bottom Line:

This is always the first beer I buy from the store when I travel back home to Seattle. It feels like home on a rainy day — a classic for a reason.

Bell’s Expedition Stout

ABV: 10.5%
Average Price: $17.99, 6-pack

The Beer:

This dark beer from Bell’s is only on shelves from September to the end of October. The brew is dialed into an initial note highlighting the malts but it really is meant to be aged. That doesn’t mean you can’t grab a six-pack and kill it this weekend. It’s just something to keep in mind.

Tasting Notes:

The roasted malts are there and very inviting. Then the sip veers towards a dark, sweet fruit nature that has echos of dark chocolate covered cherries. The beer mellows and becomes lush as the dark berries and roasted malts mingle on your senses and hint a mild bitterness appears on the finish.

Bottom Line:

If you can find some bottles from previous years, snag those and give them a try next to this year’s release. It’ll be an education in how aging works wonders on imperial stouts.

Stone Totalitarian Imperial Russian Stout

ABV: 10.6%
Average Price: $17.99, 6-pack

The Beer:

Stone’s Totalitarian melds the old English ways of making an imperial stout and adds in some signature California edges. The addition of Magnum and Belma hops to the dark roasted malts brings that bright California sun into this dark bottle of beer.

Tasting Notes:

The brew takes the familiar notes of dark chocolate malts, espresso bitterness, and dark fruit and adds in a distinctly West Coast hoppiness via a bright melon fruitiness next to a marshmallow sweetness. The svelteness of the beer goes down easily as the fruit, malt, and slightly hoppy bitterness sit in your senses in well-balanced unison.

Bottom Line:

This is one of those beers that pleasantly surprises you by standing out while still feeling familiar. It’s also easy to drink too much of — careful you don’t fall off your bar stool.

Goose Island Bourbon County Stout

ABV: 12.9%
Average Price: $12.99, 16.9-oz. bottle

The Beer:

Every year Bourbon County Stout gets a little more dialed in and a little more loved. This year, there was a long list of Bourbon County releases (as per usual). But we’re going with the standard edition here because it’s a damn fine one. The brew is barrel-aged for a year in a combination of whiskey barrels from Buffalo Trace, Heaven Hill Distillery, and Wild Turkey, adding to the stout’s already deep flavor profile.

Tasting Notes:

The dark malts and chocolate are there with a clear nuttiness, but that’s just the opening number. On the palate, there’s a real sense of those bourbons barrels with notes of vanilla, worn leather, lush chocolate, and a bit of tobacco smoke. The sip is bold, full of bourbon depth, and always drawing you back for more.

Bottom Line:

This is a good beer to buy six bottles of and then drink one per year as it ages. It’ll be a journey and an education.

Prairie Bomb!

ABV: 13%
Average Price: $8.99, 12-oz. bottle

The Beer:

This beer from Oklahoma is a game-changer for many beer drinkers. The ABVs are as high as a bottle of wine. So tread lightly when drinking this one. The beer itself is amped up with the addition of Ancho chilis alongside coffee beans, vanilla beans, and chocolate — which are added during the aging phase.

The result is one bold f*cking beer.

Tasting Notes:

I mean, you know what’s coming. This beer noses clearly with dark chocolate, coffee beans, vanilla, and roasty malts. The chili comes through more on the palate and offers a wonderful counterpoint to the more “classic” imperial stout notes. It’s a bit like a dark chocolate bar that’s been spiked with smoky chili and a hint of caramelized malts next to a real alcohol kick.

Bottom Line:

This beer paired with a plate of chicken thighs smothered in mole with rice and some pickled veg is about as good as beer and food pairings get. It might be a bit much on its own for the uninitiated. Or it might be exactly your jam.

Deschutes The Abyss Aged In Tequila Barrels

ABV: 11.8%
Average Price: $24.99, 22-oz. bottle

The Beer:

This was a special release that’ll be a bit harder to find across the U.S. Still, Deschutes knows what it’s doing when it comes to dark beers and aging. This brew was aged in tequila barrels, giving it a very distinct profile that’s worth seeking out (especially as it ages).

Tasting Notes:

The tequila barrel adds a note of orchard fruit next to dark syrup sweetness and hints of oak, vanilla, and spice. It’s almost more like a dark rum with a hint of tobacco leading back towards a musty tequila barrel. There’s a spiced chocolate edge that embraces the woody aspects while never overpowering the caramel maltiness, espresso bitterness, or velvety texture.

Bottom Line:

Enjoy this like a fine wine… if you can get your hands on one.

Delis have played a big role in Haim’s latest album, Women In Music Pt. III, and the band’s promotion of it. The album cover was photographed in Los Angeles’ Canter’s Deli, and the sisters performed some shows in support of the record in delis (like the one where they busted out a Britney Spears cover). Paul Thomas Anderson has a huge presence on the album as well, as he photographed the cover art and directed all the band’s new videos.

Now, all these forces are back together once more for Haim’s latest visual, “Man From The Magazine.” In the two-minute, Anderson-directed clip, Danielle Haim works the counter at Canter’s, taking orders as she sings the song.

Meanwhile, the Haim-Anderson connection ran even deeper than the album this summer, when Alana Haim was seen acting in a new Anderson film. She was seen sitting in a truck with Bradley Cooper and an unidentified actor, and the film is a coming-of-age story set in the San Fernando Valley during the 1970s.

Watch the “Man From The Magazine” video above, and revisit our review of Women In Music Pt. III here.

Women In Music Pt. III is out now via Columbia. Get it here.