Month: October 2020

Michael Jordan is considered perhaps the greatest competitor and biggest star in NBA history, but at the same time, Jordan was an intensely private man off the floor. It’s one of the funny things about him — Jordan was, quite possibly, the most famous human on the planet during his tenure with the Chicago Bulls, but when he was able to get away from basketball, he seemed to relish being able to get out of the spotlight.

Jordan made this clear in a recent interview he gave to Cigar Aficionado. The Hall of Fame inductee explained that he believes social media “has invaded the personalities and personal time of individuals,” citing his friend Tiger Woods. He went on to make the surprising claim that if he played right now, Jordan isn’t sure how he would have done with something as intrusive as Twitter.

“But for someone like myself — and this is what Tiger deals with — I don’t know if I could’ve survived in this Twitter [era], where you don’t have the privacy that you’d want and what seems to be very innocent can always be misinterpreted,” Jordan said.

Again, Jordan was the most famous human on the planet during his heyday with the Bulls, was the pitchman for about 10,000 different things, and came to exemplify greatness in a way that few could ever match, so for him to say this about the current era of basketball is eyebrow-raising. The conversation about the NBA now vs. the NBA back in Jordan’s era usually stems from things like the way the game is played and the physicality of the game, but it never touches on all the stuff around the game that is nigh impossible for players to ignore. It speaks volumes if Jordan of all people believes this would have caused him to struggle.

(H/T BasketballNews.com)

In an effort to encourage people to get to the polls, Michelle Obama teamed up with LL Cool J’s Rock The Bells brand for a special voting playlist. Filled with old-school hip-hop tracks aimed at getting people excited to cast their ballots, Michelle’s Voting Soundtrack features classics by The Roots, Public Enemy, and more.

Michelle shared the playlist Friday, one day after she took advantage of early voting and cast her own ballot. Along with The Roots and Public Enemy, her Voting Soundtrack features Queen Latifah’s “U.N.I.T.Y,” Mos Def and Talib Kweli’s “Respiration” with Common, Black Sheep’s “The Choice Is Yours,” Kurtis Blow and Run DMC’s “Hard Times,” and more.

The playlist arrives following Michelle’s DNC speech where many thought she casually threw shade at Kanye West’s presidential campaign, for which the rapper is continuing to shell out millions of dollars from his own pocket. During her speech, the former First Lady said: “This is not the time to withhold our votes in protest or play games with candidates who have no chance of winning. We have got to vote like we did in 2008 and 2012. We’ve got to show up with the same level of passion and hope for Joe Biden.”

See Michelle’s Voting Soundtrack playlist above.

Last year, Jay-Z announced he was partnering with California-based cannabis company Caliva as its Chief Brand Strategist. In the role, the rapper assisted with brand and marketing strategies and placed a lot of focus on social justice issues surrounding the industry. Now taking things one step further, Jay Z has launched his very-own brand of cannabis.

Jay’s new brand, named Monogram, is grown in small batches to allow control over flavor and potency. According to their website, Monogram seeks to “redefine what cannabis means to consumers today” with “careful strain selection, meticulous cultivation practices, and uncompromising quality.”

The celebrate the brand’s launch, Jay has released a new playlist on his Tidal streaming platform titled Sounds From The Grow Room. The playlist features music from well-known stoners like Bob Marley, Outkast, and Rihanna.

Previously speaking about working with Caliva, Jay said: “Anything I do, I want to do correctly and at the highest level. With all the potential in the cannabis industry, Caliva’s expertise and ethos make them the best partners for this endeavor. We want to create something amazing, have fun in the process, do good, and bring people along the way.”

Jay Z is far from the first rapper to dive into the cannabis industry. Others like Drake, Lil Wayne, Snoop Dogg, Wiz Khalifa, and Run The Jewels have their own cannabis strains and products that can be purchased at dispensaries across the country.

Timing has never seemed to be on Victor Oladipo’s side during his NBA career, and heading into an expiring contract after one of the worst seasons of his life, the same is true now. Oladipo is angling for his next big contract, whether that be in Indiana or elsewhere, but even in an offseason where the two-time All-Star may have one of the biggest names on the trade market, timing probably isn’t going to work in Oladipo’s favor.

Over the course of the four-year, $84 million deal that Oladipo originally signed with Orlando, he has gone from a prospect with upside, to a potential superstar, to an injury catastrophe, to a rehab project. Now facing free agency next offseason and a Pacers team that has failed to get over the hump and into the conference finals, Oladipo finds himself in a rough spot.

Even with ruptured quadriceps tendon, Oladipo last season turned down a four-year, $80 million extension from Indiana last summer, according to Ian Begley of SNY. Getting back onto the court just before the NBA hiatus was remarkable, and playing in the Bubble was again a promising sign for his recovery, but Oladipo was a shell of himself. He shot just 39.4 percent from the field in 19 total games this season and hardly looked like the slashing killer that almost beat LeBron James in a playoff series in 2018.

In the playoffs, when the Pacers really needed him to step up as a scorer against Miami’s high-powered attack, Oladipo couldn’t create separation and explode to the rim like he could before the injury. After shooting nearly six free throws per game in the postseason two years ago, Oladipo got to the line just four times a game this year.

In large part, when he looked to score, he settled for tough pull-up jumpers. When he did go to the rim, he did so without the ability to finish with strength and athleticism that he is known for. The result was a player who was pretty easy to guard — an ordinary athlete in a star’s body on a team that asked him to do too much.

Jae Crowder had a remarkable playoff run defensively and is a bigger, stronger player you might expect Oladipo to struggle with. But the type of player who says no to $80 million is not the same type of player who gets stifled at the rim by Crowder.

It wasn’t just a failure to get to the basket that hurt Oladipo. The coordination and fluidity that made him not only a great scorer but a strong play-maker for others was gone in the Bubble. His assist rate shrunk while his turnover rate increased, and he had a lot of ugly turnovers. More troubling was that many were not just bad passes as he regained chemistry with teammates, but that he was tripping over himself, traveling, and generally looking like he didn’t have a plan. Either that, or the way he used to play just wasn’t possible anymore. The struggle in projecting out what his value is stems from the fact that we cannot know the answer.

After his postseason struggles, Oladipo probably isn’t worth that $80 million contract from Indiana right now. With a new head coach in Nate Bjorkgren and a pricy, developing core that held up just fine without Oladipo last season, the Pacers would struggle to justify forcing an extension with their injured star.

That may mean Oladipo seeks out a trade, and plugged-in NBA reporters seem to believe teams are interested in him. Yet a smallish wing whose value was built around athleticism coming off a ruptured quad and a 39.4 percent shooting season is nobody’s idea of a highly valuable trade chip. Even if a team inquired, Oladipo’s recent play means Indiana has little to no leverage. If they can’t fetch much, they may be wise to simply play it out in 2021 and revisit extension and trade talks next offseason.

Should a trade take place this fall, the outline of a team which might target Oladipo probably goes something like this: They are trying to win in 2021, have enough spending power to pay him the sizable $21 million he’s owed this year, and can take a bet on the potential shot creation and perimeter defense (which held up well coming off injury) Oladipo provides. They probably are also in a smaller market where it would be difficult to woo Oladipo in free agency or are a title contender in a cash bind that leaves Oladipo as the best option available.

Who checks all those boxes? In the first group there’s Charlotte, Atlanta, Minnesota, or maybe an Orlando reunion. Among the contenders, maybe Milwaukee, Philadelphia, Brooklyn, or the Lakers take a shot. But how much should a team really be willing to give up if Oladipo remains nothing more than a bench guard for the rest of his career?

Oladipo could also come back in 2021 closer to his pre-injury form, but he will turn 29 next season and his game has revolved around athleticism since he was in college. A best-case scenario if the effects of the injury linger could be that he reorients his offensive game like Derrick Rose, but the slightly older Rose has had a hard time getting any sort of long-term commitment from a good team in recent years even as he’s turned in back-to-back strong seasons. Nobody’s giving up a first-round draft pick or a blue chip prospect in a trade with the Pacers if what they’re getting back is merely a younger Rose.

Oladipo wants a payday, and that’s understandable, both with his health in question and based off the fact that he’s an All-Star at his best. A worse team would likely be more willing to pay him, but it’s hard to imagine Oladipo making good on being, say, the Hornets’ star acquisition. As with many players in Oladipo’s position, it will be a question of how long he holds out before deciding to potentially sacrifice a bit of money for a role and situation that suits him best.

The Pacers couldn’t bring it out of him this season, but Oladipo can be a strong perimeter defender, solid spot-up shooter, and secondary play-maker in the right context. Maybe he rediscovers his superstar form. As things stand today, however, Oladipo may have to wait — and accept less money — to settle in comfortably somewhere new.

There are countless factors that go into determining the value of a piece of art. The artist, condition, size, historical relevance, proof of authenticity, and current art market can all have a huge effect.

There’s also something to be said about whether the work is quality or not. Although, there have been a lot of questionable art pieces that have sold for millions.

For instance, Onement Vi By Barnett Newman went for $43 million. To me it looks like a blue ping-pong table. But art critics say it represents feelings of “loneliness” and “sadness.”

Art affects different people in different ways so some things can attract buying prices that are way above what most would consider rational. That can be good news for the artist, as we can see from the story of pet sketch artist, Phil Heckels of England.

Last month, Heckels was trying to get his six-year-old son to make a thank you card for a family member. So, as an example, he created a wacky-looking picture of the family dog, a black Labrador named Narla.

“It was pretty crap,” he told CNN. We agree. Especially the dog’s neck. The real dog has a thick neck, but Heckel’s sketch has a pencil-then neck.

He jokingly posted a picture of it on Facebook, offering to sell it for £299 (around $390). He soon received multiple requests from friends to draw their pets. So he set up a Facebook page under the name Hercule Van Wolfwinkle, to accommodate all the requests.

“Extremely realistic pictures which will grace any household,” the site reads, tongue planted firmly in cheek.

Heckel’s artistic representations tend to have goofy-looking eyes and elongated limbs. He has drawn dogs, cats, horses, mice, and even a praying mantis.

One customer insisted on paying him for his precious art, So he set up a JustGiving fundraiser for Turning Tides, a local homeless charity. “I can’t take any money for it so give some money to charity,” Heckels said.

“It’s an absolute basic human need to have a roof over your head,” he said

So far, he’s drawn over 220 portraits, raising nearly £18,000 ($23,000) for Turning Tides and he isn’t even close to being finished. He has a backlog of over 1,000 commissions that grows by the day.

“It is like a little bit of fun and a little bit of light when there isn’t much to be cheery about at the minute,” he said. “I would die a happy man if I could spend the rest of my life doing this.”

Even though he’s become a famous artist, Heckels hasn’t let the acclaim go to his head.

“I’m just having a laugh with it,” he told CNN. “People seem to be enjoying it and I’m certainly enjoying it.”

Here is some of Heckel’s best work.

via Portraits By Hercule / Facebook

via Portraits By Hercule / Facebook

via Portraits By Hercule / Facebook

via Portraits By Hercule / Facebook

via Portraits By Hercule / Facebook

via Portraits By Hercule / Facebook

via Portraits By Hercule / Facebook

via Portraits By Hercule / Facebook

via Portraits By Hercule / Facebook

Borat Subsequent Moviefilm (Amazon Prime film) – Sacha Baron’s most beloved character is back and still funny, even if racism in America isn’t nearly as shocking in 2020. With this followup, formally titled Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, the “victims” become the performers, and Borat’s “daughter” is along for the ride. You’ve heard about the Rudy Giuliani scene, so watch it now, and then check out Borat’s response to Rudy’s explanation, as well as Cohen’s out-of-character remarks.

The Queen’s Gambit (Netflix series) – This chess-centered drama is a surprisingly interesting and tightly paced show. It’s also a meditation upon addiction and danger and what it means to be a champion, all wrapped up in a coming-of-age tale about a boozy grandmaster in the making. As fictional prodigy Beth Harmon, Anya Taylor-Joy’s piercing gaze is here to demonstrate how a board game can look like a battlefield in Scott Frank’s adaptation of the Walter Tevis novel. The supporting cast (including Marielle Heller as a tragic 1950s housewife, Moses Ingram as a kickass childhood friend, and Harry Melling and Thomas Brodie-Sangster as gameplay rivals) also crushes the game

How To With John Wilson (Friday, HBO 11:00 p.m.) — This comedy docuseries launches with John Wilson dissecting the careful balancing act of making small talk, with all its ups and downs. Wilson also spoke with us about capturing the intimacy and absurdity of life in New York with a “psychotic amount” of footage.

The Right Stuff: Episode 4 (NatGeo series on Disney+) – In the aftermath of a test malfunction, the holiday season becomes a home affair for the Mercury 7. Naturally, the change of plans leads to all kinds of family and romantic drama.

Barbarians (Netflix series) – Vikings and Last Kingdom fans can find a new fix with this series that revolves around the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest, as Germanic tribes attempt to maneuver past the the Roman Empire’s evolution.

Unsolved Mysteries: Vol. 2 (Netflix series) – The next batch of cold-case deep dives is here to spook the hell out of you. We ranked the six episodes — which include a mysterious death in a luxury hotel, the disappearance and murder of a Washington insider, and a mass haunting following a tsunami — that invite citizen detectives to do their thing. This reinvigorated take on the classic series comes from the original creators, who teamed up with the Stranger Things production company, and hopefully, some justice and closure can be found for victims’ families.

Here’s the rest of this weekend’s notable programming:

Eli Roth’s History of Horror (Saturday, AMC 10:00 p.m.) — This show keeps the spooky season’s spirit intact with the Cabin Fever and Hostel director exploring a common theme from those movies: body horror. It’s a lot deeper than it looks at first bloody glance.

Saturday Night Live (Saturday, NBC 11:29 p.m.) — Host Adele and musical guest and H.E.R. will continue to push through our current times with humor.

Supermarket Sweep (Sunday, ABC 8:00 p.m.) — Leslie Jones and every bit of her enthusiasm will host contestants in this revival of the grocery-shopping game show.

Pandora (Sunday, CW 8:00 p.m.) — A lost alien race might hold the key to salvaging the Universe, but nightmares are rattling the group and keying into their most personal traumas and fears.

Good Lord Bird (Sunday, Showtime 9:00 p.m.) — Ethan Hawke stars as violent abolitionist John Brown in this series that takes place in the Kansas territory in 1856. This week, John Brown’s increasingly irrational strategies lead Onion to look for renewed freedom until a legendary presence arrives.

The Undoing (Sunday, HBO 9:00 p.m.) — Nicole Kidman and Hugh Grant star in the debut episode of this suspense series about a murder where Hugh Grant’s character looks an awful lot like a suspect. Yeah, expect some twists!

Fear The Walking Dead (Sunday, AMC 9:00 p.m.) — A pair goes rogue on a recon mission while following yet another lead.

Fargo (Sunday, FX 10:00 p.m.) — Loy is on the offense, Gaetano’s on the defense, and Oraetta’s off her rocker. What of Deafy? You gotta tune in to find out.

The Walking Dead: World Beyond (Sunday, AMC 10:00 p.m.) — The next spinoff in this universe continues to feel itself out with the group bonding and confronting threats inside of an obviously vacant high school.

To the lucky few who have seen Minari, I am jealous of (and hate) you.

Director Lee Isaac Chung’s A24 drama, about a Korean-American family that moves to an Arkansas farm to live the American Dream, is one of the most acclaimed movies of the year. IndieWire‘s David Ehrlich called it a “beautiful film [that] posits family as the ultimate journey, only to explore how difficult it can be to agree on a destination,” while Entertainment Weekly‘s David Canfield raved that “every second rings so true.” Overall, Minari has a 100 percent “Fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with nearly review praising Steven Yeun’s performance as the family’s tenacious patriarch.

The actor with the best post-Walking Dead career could even make some history.

Variety reports that A24 is submitting Yeun for Best Actor at the 93rd Academy Awards. If he’s nominated, “Yeun would be the first Asian-American to ever be recognized in the category,” as “Yul Brynner, of Mongol descent, won Best Actor for 1956’s The King and I, while Ben Kingsley, who is half Indian, won Best Actor for 1982’s Gandhi, which took home Best Picture.” Yeun’s co-stars Alan S. Kim, Will Patton, and Yuh-Jung Youn will be submitted for the supporting categories.

Yeun faces tough competition from expected-nominees like Delroy Lindo (Da 5 Bloods), Gary Oldman (Mank), Anthony Hopkins (The Father), and Tom Hanks (News of the World, because it’s Tom Hanks), among others. But getting nominated for an Oscar is no sweat compared to surviving a zombie horde under a dumpster. I have always said this.

Minari opens later this year.

(Via Variety)

The best thing about interviewing voice actors is that they inevitably start doing the voices for which they’re famous. And sometimes, they’ll impersonate other voice actors if you ask the right questions. Which is probably why it was so enjoyable to listen to Nolan North jump between his version of The Penguin and get into a Patrick Warburton impression in a matter of minutes.

For North, the list of characters he’s portrayed is too long to check off in a single interview. Gamers may know him best as the voice of Nathan Drake from the Uncharted series, but his list of credits includes the Star Wars, Star Trek, Marvel, DC and Rick and Morty universes. His turn as Tony Stark in Marvel’s Avengers is perhaps his biggest role in the Marvel Universe, and despite the bevy of credits the actor will simply say he’s been fortunate to play so many roles in his career. Just don’t ask him to play Iron Man as well with a controller in his hand as he did in the motion capture suit.

“I found Iron Man the hardest to play,” North said in an interview with Uproxx. “It was easier to play Tony Stark than it was to ‘play’ Iron Man.”

North’s workload as Iron Man in Marvel’s Avengers isn’t nearly as large a role as he’s had in other games. But that’s because the game is a team effort, and he praised the other voice actors he’s paired with, including the character you first view the game through, Ms. Marvel.

“I’m really looking forward to this game. I like the universe,” North said. “And I gotta tell you, big, big props to Sandra Saad, who is Ms. Marvel. Who is new to this, jumped in with both hands and was enthusiastic, excited. And it came across in her performance. I think people are going to love her in this role.”

North spoke to Uproxx about his work in Marvel’s Avengers, his career as a voice actor and how he approaches roles, and what’s changed in the gaming industry since he started giving it a voice a few console generations ago. And yes, he did some very good impressions throughout the interview that you’ll have to take my word on, I suppose.

Uproxx: You’re no stranger to the process of making games and watching them hit the market. But how much more rewarding is to finally see a game get to players and they get to experience your work? I know it can be quite a long wait from recording to the day it ships.

Nolan North: Yeah, there is. There is a long wait and I think the best part of it is once it does drop and, of course, it’s successful. I’ve been really fortunate that I haven’t dropped a lot of bombs [laughs], game-wise. but thats not about me as much as it’s a testament to the developers and all the stuff that they do. The actors get interviewed, but it’s the people that put it together and put our performances in and turn me into Tony Stark, visually, that deserve a big amount of credit.

This game, in particular, is one of the most visually stunning ones I’ve seen. The gameplay is ridiculous. I’m not even a very good gamer but I played some of the beta and got into it and thought ‘wow, this is just cool. It’s fun.’ And I think you can play as so many different characters, so there’s something for everyone. And it’s got the right amount of emotion and humor and action. I’m excited to see how this one more than many in my past, how it’s received.

From an acting perspective you’re taking on a role that’s been done by another actor in a very notable way. For a lot of gamers, that’s the person they’ll think of while they’re playing as Iron Man. Did that change how you approached the role and voicing Tony Stark in any way?

I’m a huge fan of Robert Downey Jr. and everything that the MCU has done for Iron Man and the Avengers as a whole. But if I tried to do an impression here it would just be a huge mistake. You don’t want to do that and the only way I could actually approach this was just to make it as much like me as I could. Because nobody else can do an impression of me better than me.

First of all, there was less pressure because it was an ensemble. It wasn’t like we were doing the Iron Man game right off the bat. It was an ensemble, so I just had to do my part to support. Like they say, the play’s the thing, so I had to do my part. There are some things where I do a little bit of an homage on a phrase here and there, to Robert Downey Jr., and that’s done on purpose. Just to give people a little taste of that. Not an impression, but he phrased things a certain way. And I think I’d be remiss if I didn’t honor that a little bit in some kind of way.

But other than that, it’s just me doing my spin on Iron Man. And Robert Downey Jr. did his spin on Sherlock Holmes, which is a character that’s been played many, many times. He made it his own. So that’s all I could do, that’s all I could be responsible for. And I certainly don’t want to draw comparisons. I want to to be, ‘Oh, it’s completely different.’ So still honoring the character but doing my own thing. And as long as you have the confidence to do that, and everybody on the dev team is on board. That’s the first thing Sean Sky, our director told me: “Make it your own.” So, that’s what I did. And I hope people don’t riot in the streets over me.

I’m sure you’re going to be OK. You have a long list of credits to your name, people trust you at this point.

I’m sure we’re going to hear, somebody’s going to say “This is Nathan Drake in the Iron Man suit.” You’re going to hear stuff like that. It is and it isn’t.

Yeah, I wanted to ask about that. You have a very distinct voice and I can think of a few other voice actors that have very distinct voices doing different roles. I can think of H. Jon Benjamin being Coach McGuirk in Home Movies and also playing Bob in Bob’s Burgers and also a spy in Archer. Patrick Warburton has a very distinct voice, too. Is that something you just embrace because that’s who you are and where the voice comes from, or is there an effort made to distinctly change things with roles. And how hard does that get when you have so many characters to your name?

Well, I think a lot of my characters do something different. Like, the Penguin (Batman: Arkham). Or Dr. Richtophen (Call of Duty), or some cartoon voice acting I do, they’re very different. I know Patrick Warburton pretty well, and he and I were joking one time and he said “I don’t know how you do all these voices, you just did three characters in that.” And I said ‘You just do that one?’ And he said [doing an impression of Warburton] ‘Yeah, I just do this one.’ And I said ‘It’s working out for you pretty well.’ And he says, [does impression again] ‘Yeah, yeah it is. It’s working out pretty good.’

But he has that very distinct thing that became popular first on Seinfeld when he played (David) Puddy. For me, when I first started doing animation and games the best performance is the one where you didn’t recognize the guy. Then you start doing more and more and it’s just, there are people who say ‘No, we want that voice.’

I’ve joked about it in interviews before, I think my voice kind of fits a lot of characters because it was somewhat unremarkable. It’s not something that is very very distinct. And just my body of work now makes it more distinct. But, especially in characters where I’m doing performance capture, it’s different. Tony had to be my voice and the dialogue is going to take care of things. Tony Stark is going to say things very different than Nathan Drake is going to say. So while the voices are the same in certain parts, the words basically, are going to be very different. He’s going to be talking about different things. Tony speaks a little faster. So while it’s the same tone and sound, it’s a different cadence, it’s a different sentence structure he uses.

I think you can watch an on-camera performance by Brad Pitt, let’s say. In Oceans 11 he has a certain way of talking that he has in something different like Fight Club or something like that. So there’s just different ways to do it. People ask me ‘Do you like doing those more?’ Or [in character] ‘doing the Penguin and talking like that?’ Well, it doesn’t matter they’re all different. That’s the thing I like about voiceover more than on-camera things: I’m able to play more character-y parts. I’m not limited by my physical appearance. So it’s just fun, it’s a bigger sandbox and there are more toys in it.

I was curious if you ever go back and check your work, so to speak, with a game once your acting is in the finished product? Do you have to play through the games you’re in or is there just too much now to play through?

No, no I don’t go back and check. It’s too late, I can’t fix it. I can’t change it. I’m not a very good gamer. I’ve played a few things I was in. On my retro replay YouTube channel I played through Uncharted 1, 2 and 3. Because I had never played that game, those games. I found out I was not good.

My kids play, my boys play and I’ll watch things there. It’s interesting because I don’t like to watch myself when I do on camera stuff. But in animation and in gaming I like to see how they took that performance from months earlier and turn that into something. So I’ll watch a lot of the games my boys will play or I’ll see people online, but this work is for the fans. It’s for the players out there and as long as they enjoy it there’s nothing for me to check. That’s the bottom line: I just want to give a good enough performance so that the dev team takes it back, visually makes it stunning, the designers make the gameplay fun and being part of that collaboration is what’s very, very important to me. Because it’s an experience.

It’s not something you just watch, you are in it. You’re Iron Man, I’m not. I voiced him and did his movement but you shoot, you run, you jump. You do all those things. And that’s what is so important.

Making a video game is such a fascinating process, and maybe a lot of people don’t know how complex it is and how much harder it’s gotten since you’ve gotten involved. What’s one thing that maybe has changed the most since you got into voice acting in games?

It’s the technology that keeps evolving to make it a more realistic and expansive experience. I think my side of it doesn’t change much. My side, my job is I’m an actor. I’m not a voice actor, I’m not solely on camera. I’m an actor. Give me a mic, give me a camera, give me a live audience. My job is to deliver a good performance no matter what it is. And that doesn’t change.

Yeah, there’s different techniques and stuff but mostly it’s ‘How do I find the most truthful performance in any given medium I’m in. What’s amazing is watching what they do with these performances. Starting out doing motion capture early, we had cue cards. And I’d say ‘hey, I’m from on camera. I can memorize these.’ They go ‘oh we may change them from here to there,’ and I’d say that’s cool. But the other actors, we’d walk around and have cue cards on poles in the middle that we had to walk around. So you’d be talking to somebody and your eyes would be looking to the right because they didn’t know how to capture facial animation at the time.

Then we went to facial capture and helmets, and the helmets were like diving bells at first and heavy and awkward and they made them lighter. This different company comes in with a different rig and now it’s a camera on it. This has a light, this has a D light that you don’t see. And it’s amazing, and it’s all way above my pay grade. I’m just not smart enough to understand how the works.

But then you see the final product and what they do with it. In this job in particular, I know we’re doing promotion for this but I say this completely genuinely: it’s some of the most amazing gameplay I’ve ever been involved in. The blend from the cinematic to gameplay and in-game cinematic, the movement, the visuals, the detail is astounding.

I think it’s like everything changes but it stays the same. It’s such an oxymoron, but it’s true. And I’ve got the luckiest part of this: I just have to keep doing the best performance I can and they just keep making it better and better. So the industry is probably making me better than I could have been on my own. So I’m very, very fortunate and I have no intention of slowing down.

A lot of game designers say the last 10 percent of making a game is the hardest part and it’s also where most of the game comes together. For a long time you just don’t know if it’s going to be good or work or even get done. Most of the time you’re not involved in that last 10 percent, but can you tell when you’re doing lines and working with a script that the project will be good or does it not become clear until much later?

From my perspective, I always go back to the writing because any story you tell, it’s the writing that it really comes down to. What is the story? What are the characters? What are there intentions what is their interaction like?

And then you blend it with gameplay, and you have some of these really, really successful games. For me, I may not be involved in that last 10 percent unless we’re getting pickups, last-minute line changes. But I always joke that these dev teams work at the Willy Wonka chocolate factory. Nobody knows how these teams work or how they make it, but boy you can’t wait to eat it. For me, they take our performances, bring it into that factory and make it what you get to play and what it’s all about.

It hasn’t really changed anything I do, I don’t know exactly how to put my finger on it to be honest with you. Does that answer my question?

Yeah, I think so. For fans I think a lot of the time it’s a black box. You see a game is delayed and say ‘That’s unfortunate’ but don’t really understand why or how that happens. But Crunch in gaming hasn’t gone away and, even in games you’ve worked on, there’s no set schedule or period for when a game gets done or streamlined process for completion games all follow.

Well, from my experience one thing, I remember (Uncharted publisher) Naughty Dog talking about this, I think every dev team goes through it. You set a deadline, you gotta get things done. So you’re getting things done, you set a time, and then somebody says ‘hey you know what would be cool?’ And everybody goes ‘Yeah, we’ve got time for that.’ And something in that makes someone else go ‘You know what else could be cool, though? Oh, wait.’

You’re dealing with people who are incredibly intelligent and incredibly creative, and they’re always going ‘Do we have time to do this?’ No, we really don’t, but oh wow, that would be amazing. It’s like you have a set list of things you need to do, 10 things. And by the time you get down to nine and 10 you’re adding 11, 12, 13, 14 on to that list. Because they so desperately want to make the best product they can for people. They want to do that.

And I think, personally, it’s why a lot of these companies are going to these DLCs. Because rather than waiting for two years and we’ll put it in a second game, or the next sequel. I think, creatively, they come up with new ideas or ways to enhance things or an offshoot storyline. And now that’s maybe why we’re seeing games get DLC a few months later. We’re going to get our game out, we’re going to make our deadline and give people the game and now we’re going to give people more content that we wanted to do if we had time, but here’s an idea: let’s give them an additional add-on.

I think that helps them deal with the crunch to get the last bit done to satisfy deadlines and all that. It’s an incredibly complex and strenuous business, but it’s super rewarding. It’s really people working at what they love to do, and that’s what I love about it. People are very dedicated to what they do and it’s important to them.

I remember talking with guys at Naughty Dog during the Uncharted years. They’d spend hours trying to get these gunshots, these squib hits, to look just right. Well, the squib hit has to look different from the different caliber shot and it also has to look different how it hits the rock as it hits steel or or hits glass. That all has to be hand done.

I remember thinking ‘Are you kidding me?’ And for, like, two years, particle artist are making these small things look so perfect. And they’re so good at it. It’s, most people just get the final product. But when they learn about what goes into it, they’d be amazed.

You’ve been in a lot of different universes in your career. Star Wars, DC, Marvel, it’s really impressive honestly. Is there one in particular that you had always wanted to work in when you were growing up? Any roles that mean more to you personally?

Star Wars, I was a Star Wars guy. We were actually doing a cool thing with Star Wars property with EA and Amy Hennig a while back that I was involved in that got shut down, which was super disappointing, just because that was different. But I’ve gotten to be part of that universe as well.

The funny thing is, yeah, I’ve gotten to be involved in a lot of different things that I never thought I’d get to be a part of. I never really thought I’d be an actor, tat wasn’t really a thing I thought about. I will say something interesting about Iron Man: because of the movies and Robert Downey Jr. it became one of my favorite superheroes.

So when this came along, it didn’t fulfill any childhood dreams, it fulfilled an adult bucket list item. And I think it kind of felt like the right fit. I have a bit of a sarcastic sense of humor and that kind of, he made it so relatable and if I could take anything that he did with the movies, I hope that people get the wit and relate-ability.

Even though Tony is a billionaire, he was still relatable to people. He had this vulnerability that all great characters have. And to be able to be vulnerable and still be a superhero is an incredibly interesting thing to portray. So I would say this game and this character is something I’m going to be thankful and grateful for this for many years to come.

When you think of the greatest duos in NBA history, several names come to mind: Kobe and Shaq, Jordan and Pippen, Stockton and Malone, Payton and Kemp, and so on. But one pairing that probably doesn’t get enough praise is the Steve Nash and Amar’e Stoudemire combo in Phoenix that wreaked havoc on opponents all throughout the early 2000s.

Nash’s credentials are well known. He’s one of the best point guards ever. But for a significant stretch, Stoudemire was also dominant big man in his era. Injuries ultimately derailed his career and prevented the Suns from ever reaching a championship, but the highlights they gave us won’t soon be forgotten.

Now, the two are teaming back up, but this time on the sidelines as Stoudemire is reportedly set to join Nash’s coaching staff as an assistant with the Nets.

Nash’s hiring was initially the subject of some controversy when it was announced last month, with some critics pointing to the dearth of Black coaches in the NBA and the fact that Nash made the transition to the bench without first working his way up the ranks. Nash, however, is certainly not the first player to follow that tract.

The Nets should be one of the more intriguing teams going into next season, as they ostensibly have both Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant back from injury, along with a thrilling young roster that turned heads during their run in the bubble games in Orlando. The pressure is on for Nash and his staff, but having former superstars who know how to manage egos should be a big boon for the Nets as they look ahead to next season and beyond.

A week or so ago, Ariana Grande took to Twitter to declare that she would have a new album out before the end of October, tweeting, “i can’t wait to give u my album this month.” She sent that tweet on October 14, so that gave her about two weeks to make an official announcement or release the album without any notice. Grande opted for the former route: Today, she confirmed that her sixth album will be titled Positions (making her new single the title track) and that it will be released on October 30. She also shared the cover art, which features a close-up portrait of Grande.

Since Grande didn’t release the album today (the last Friday of October), fans who were holding her to the promise of having an album out this month were excited when it was all but confirmed the record would be out next Friday. A fan tweeted at Grande, “and now we only have to wait one week til the album? spoiled brats.” Grande all but confirmed the news in her reply, writing, “i’m so excited. love u.”

There is no released tracklist for the album yet, so right now, all that’s confirmed (pretty much, anyway) is that “Positions” will be on the album.

Positions is out 10/30 via Republic Records. Pre-order it here.