Month: December 2020

It’s been less than a week since Ariana Grande announced her engagement to Dalton Gomez, who she has been dating for about ten months. Though their engagement hasn’t been long, they’re already proving themselves a charitable team. Grande and Gomez decided to spread some holiday cheer this year by completing the wish lists of patients at an LA children’s hospital.

Grande and Gomez chose gifts for patients of all ages and developmental stages at UCLA Mattel Children’s Hospital at both their Westwood and Santa Monica, California campuses. On top of donating toys and special merch items to the patients, Grande and Gomez treated the hospital staff with holiday meals and boxes of pizza as gratitude for their hard work.

Those who received gifts were thankful according to Kelli Carroll, the director of the Chase Child Life program at the hospital. “Our patients are in love! Especially our Ariana Grande ‘superfans” in the house,’ Carroll said in a press statement. “We are thankful for all our wonderful partners who have donated in the past couple of weeks, including Ariana Grande, and for serving the needs of our hospitalized children. This pandemic may have changed how we do things, but we look for the same result – to alleviate the stresses of hospitalization and bring joy to our kids.”

Check out some of Grande and Gomez’s gifts above.

“Feel-good comedy” is a label most shows would balk at. In the era of Peak TV, there seems to be a consensus that genre-fying anything somehow lessens it. Comedies – shows like Atlanta and Barry, BoJack Horseman and You’re The Worst – like to toe the line between dramatic and funny, making us question which category they fit in while harnessing the best qualities of each. And for those who don’t mind being pigeonholed, the pendulum usually swings far left, giving us shows like Brooklyn Nine-Nine and The Office, Veep and Modern Family – post-Seinfeld sitcoms that pack multi-camera gags, mockumentary confessionals, satire, and sarcasm into every episode.

There’s nothing wrong with any of that of course. Those series are award-winning pop culture behemoths that have helped shape the current landscape. But their track-record makes the success of shows like Ted Lasso and Schitt’s Creek, good-natured comedy that trades in earnestness and an optimistic hope in humanity, all the more impressive. Especially this year.

What’s even more notable is that 2020 – with its global pandemics and society-shifting presidential elections and government failures – didn’t directly influence either series. Schitt’s Creek, the little Canadian comedy that could, had been quietly building a devoted fanbase over on Pop TV for years. When the show migrated to Netflix, streaming subscribers (and awards shows) started to catch on to the magic creators Dan and Eugene Levy were conjuring with their fish-out-of-water tale. (The “fish” being a family of wealthy elitists sent packing to a small, unfortunately-named town when their bank accounts are emptied, and their prospects dimmed.)

Ted Lasso had an even stranger run. The Apple TV+ comedy got its start as a series of promos for NBC Sports’ coverage of the Premier League. Creator Jason Sudeikis played the titular coach, an American football fanatic who tries his hand at leading a different kind of football team to victory across the pond.

Neither show’s beginnings displayed their true promise. Those early episodes of Schitt’s Creek found the writers trying to pin down the right combination of snobbish-snark and genuine affection. The Roses were an easy-to-loathe group of narcissists whose attitude towards the townies that welcomed them with open arms was, at times, off-putting. But where the show excelled was its character-work and its investment in the familial dynamics of this removed-from-reality brood.

With Ted Lasso, Sudeikis, and co-creator Bill Lawrence had an even steeper hill to climb to make him a likable leading man. In those early NBC commercials, the character was a judgmental dope, a mascot for the kind of eye-rolling American exceptionalism that earns us deserved ire from the rest of the world. Never mind that the original futbol is the most popular sport on the planet, that it earns more ratings and money than the NFL could dream of, Lasso’s approach to the game was to make snide digs at its ability to stomach ties and try to reinvent what a tackle looked like on the pitch.

But both shows underwent a transformation, an alchemical metamorphosis that wouldn’t just alter their own makeup – it would fundamentally impact what comedy looked like in 2020.

For Schitt’s Creek, which celebrated its final season by somehow nailing that elusive “happy ending,” 2020 gave the show a chance to double down on everything that made it so beloved amongst its growing fanbase. The Levys spent seasons crafting characters that felt both comedically bizarre – Catherine O’Hara with her warbled Mid-Atlantic accent, Annie Murphy’s limp-wristed Kardashian caricature – and surprisingly relatable. What’s more, it gave them all room to grow, to evolve while still staying true to their roots. We saw Dan Levy’s David, a quick-witted sardonic introvert riddled with social anxiety not only launch his own successful business and find love in the process but do so while still maintaining the eccentricities that made him a memeable icon. (He made compromises when it came to bachelor party escape rooms and town-hall-set nuptials, but he did so while also bemoaning the lack of Tahitian dolphin cruises and melting down over his haikuist officiant Fabian canceling because his penny-farthing couldn’t withstand the rain.) We saw Moira, a woman who once wished for a “good coma” when presented with living in a run-down motel at the beginning of the series, shape-shift into a mother with genuine maternal instincts (she rescheduled her flight once she realized it conflicted with her son’s wedding day, sacrificing lie-back seats, after all) who managed to retain her singular linguistic verbosity and deeply-selfish-yet-incredibly-charming point of view (as did her daughter).

What Schitt’s Creek did so well in its later seasons by leaning into its unabashed wholesomeness and letting the humor emerge from the capriciousness of its wholly original characters is what Ted Lasso managed to perfect in just the handful of episodes that made up its first season. Sudeikis and Lawrence have both gone on record to emphasize how the sense of hope and empathy the show inspires was intentional from the start, though they did enjoy the benefit of timing.

“The show predated the pandemic, but the inherent cynicism that was out there in social media and in the ethos did exist,” Lawrence told Entertainment Weekly.

With this new version of Lasso, Sudeikis held on to the essential elements that gave the show its comedic bent – it’s still about a football coach who is sorely out of his depth when he accepts a job to coach soccer in the UK – but it tossed out a lot of the cutting cynicism and snark in favor of crafting a character that feels like the human equivalent of a warm hug, an aggressively-positive man who spouts motivational quotes to his players and bakes biscuits for his boss and takes an almost militant approach to making everyone in his immediate vicinity like him, even if they’re determined not to.

And this niceness extends to other characters on the show as well – from the club’s sometimes-devious owner, Rebecca (the underrated Hannah Waddingham), to the team’s aging grump Roy Kent (Brett Goldstein), to party-girl-turned-PR-maven Keeley (Juno Temple). Ted Lasso delights in crafting the old bait and switch with its cast, building them up as one thing – a villain, a thorn in Lasso’s side, a potential love interest – only to deftly pull the rug out from under us by showing how kind, how broken, and how earnest these people are about trying to be better.

That’s really what Schitt’s Creek and Ted Lasso have in common – this idea that people can change and that change can be good.

They don’t torture their characters in order to achieve it either. Sure, we see Lasso reeling from his imminent divorce, we cringe-watch as Alexis rebounds after her break-up with Ted – but these are normal obstacles so many of us have to overcome, they almost seem less world-ending when we watch these sunny, singular, incredibly funny people do the same.

And it’s easy to point to this year, with all of its setbacks and anxieties and tragedies, as the reason why audiences are gravitating to the feel-good comedy these shows have perfected. After all, when the world’s literally on fire, who doesn’t want a good comfort watch? But there’s also something remarkable about how beloved these shows became, and how quickly, even as comedy itself has hit a bit of a roadblock.

From comedians using stand-up sets to attack the notion of cancel-culture to poorly-aging gags resurfacing on long-ended sitcoms, comedy’s been undergoing a transformation in recent years. What is and isn’t funny is changing – it always does – but the pushback to that change from certain comedians and their fans has felt oddly defensive and, admittedly, frustrating, especially because it seems like their resistance isn’t aimed at propelling comedy forward in any meaningful way but actively inhibiting its growth to preserve their own brand of funny. And while some shows try to be everything to everyone – comedy and drama, show and “six-hour-movie” – others like Schitt’s Creek and Ted Lasso are finding a different kind of niche, one that’s just as prestigious and even more needed right now.

They’re fine with that “feel-good” label, and they’re proving, when it comes to comedy, we need more of it.

“Be careful what you wish for” is both the theme of Wonder Woman 1984 and what it represents in the comic book canon. It’s not dark and gritty. It’s not an extended teaser for a future movie. It’s not a jumbled collection of tie-ins. In fact, it embodies none of the many comic movie tropes we’ve already grown tired of, and in their place it seems to lack any guiding aesthetic principle at all.

The plot of Patty Jenkins’ sequel — originally scheduled for this past summer, but bumped to a streaming release on HBO Max because of the pandemic — concerns a citrine wishing stone. Wishing on the stone grants the user whatever he or she wants, but with a catch (naturally). Here again the be-careful-for-what-you-wish-for rule is illustrated most acutely: WW84 has granted our wish for its plot not to hinge on heroes having to close a giant portal or battle a madman with a doomsday machine, but what we get instead feels like the plot of a Brady Bunch vacation episode, or a holiday-themed TGIF sitcom. One of those one-off magical realist episodes sitcoms loved to do in the eighties.

Oddly enough for a movie conspicuously set in 1984, the high-concept, Weekend At Bernies-esque plot is probably the most eighties thing about it. Here again, it’s great that WB didn’t spend two hours on intense, Stranger Things-esque nostalgia pimping or do a rehash of all the same jokes from Hot Tub Time Machine, but it does leave open the question of why it bothered with the eighties at all.

Wonder Woman 1984 maintains this perfect balance of refreshing and disappointing for the entirety of the film. I suppose setting it in 1984 did allow for Kirsten Wiig to wear a bad perm. Wiig plays “Barb Minerva,” your classic klutzy rom-com ditz, who sputters awkwardly when spoken to, seems inexplicably invisible to men, and can’t walk well in heels. Basically, the first act of a Mentos ad. But fresh goes better when Barb, who works in antiquities with Gal Godot’s Diana at the Smithsonian, happens upon the wishing stone one day at work. How this comes to be isn’t worth explaining, but suffice it to say, like all plot points in WW84, it’s yadda yadda’d through at light speed, too fast to explain its significance or allow us to get invested.

Anyway, Barb does the natural thing one does with a wishing stone, and wishes she could be more like Diana — strong, beautiful, cool, and sturdy in heels (Barb’s wish wisely doesn’t extend to Diana’s Dracula accent). Barb’s arc is the most compelling of the film, but even Barb’s story feels more like something WW84 is itching to get though rather than savoring. Diana, meanwhile, wishes to be reunited with her old flame Steve Trevor, the man who died ending WWI and for whom she’s apparently been pining away chastely since he Charleston’d off the mortal coil at the end of the first movie. Again, you’d think they’d try a little harder to justify 66 years of celibacy over Chris Pine but the movie just blows right past it.

Steve Trevor then shows up, his soul inhabiting another man’s body, Ghost-style, and he and Diana pick up where they left off. Another classic rom-com scene ensues, where Steve emerges from this man’s closet in different outfits (a la 27 Dresses) that Diana rates with either a head shake or a nod. I guess this counts as utilizing the setting? Hey, remember blazers with rolled up sleeves??

The bad guy in all of this is Maxwell Lord, played by Pedro Pascal, a fast-talking businessman who sells shares in his “Black Gold” oil cooperative via infomercial. Lord, naturally, covets the wishing stone. Why? Because he wants to “have it all.” Lord longs to prove to his young son Alistair that he can indeed “be number one.”

A greedy scam artist who wants to be number one at all costs fits the eighties theme while offering only the most toothless, surface-level critique of eighties culture (and by extension, 2020 culture). Pedro Pascal is a fun actor to watch but there’s no distance at all between what Maxwell Lord represents and who he is as a person. Ideally, we’d understand him as a chess piece and be interested in him as a human, someone with a personality and unique idiosyncrasies. But as with everything else, WW84 doesn’t have time for all of that. He wants to have it all, get it? Okay, moving on.

Wonder Woman herself suffers from this same implosion of symbol and personality. In her way, she too wants to “have it all” against all logic, risking world peace so that she can canoodle with her dead doughboy boyfriend*. Gal Godot, great at evincing power and determination all while looking flawless, doesn’t seem to have the emotional range to make us believe that she’d spend two-thirds of a century Pine-ing for this guy (see what I did there?), all while denying herself any personal connection. Though maybe that’s too big of an ask for an actor to simply embody such a desire when the script does nothing to flesh it out.

WW84 offers only the broadest of broad strokes, which extends even to the action sequences. Never really explaining the rules and scope of Wonder Woman’s powers becomes a problem in a movie where the plot hinges on her losing them. It’s not as if we need to write up a detailed report every time Wonder Woman wrecks a henchman with her magic lasso, it’s just that it’s easier to be invested when we understand beforehand what’s at stake. In Wonder Woman 1984, we only know what is and isn’t dangerous to Wonder Woman after the fact (including… electricity?). This turns us into entirely passive observers.

And Wonder Woman 1984 is a perfectly fine movie to passively observe. It’s neither as aggressively dull as Justice League, as aggressively commercial or militaristic as most Marvel movies, or as aggressively nü metal as Suicide Squad. In fact, it doesn’t seem to inspire much of anything either way.

‘Wonder Woman 1984’ hits HBO Max and theaters on December 25th. Vince Mancini is on Twitter. You can access his archive of reviews here.

*As in Wonder Woman 1, Steve Trevor seems only too happy to throw himself into the thresher to stop the machine. The “happy martyr” is lazy writing, and I would’ve loved to see a version of Wonder Woman 1984 where Steve Trevor comes back to life with the knowledge that the great beyond is a hall of horrors and desperate to avoid being dead again at all costs. I will kill everyone on Earth if it means avoiding the slimy tentacles of Cthulhu for even five more seconds!

Well, fans of excellent pop music can rejoice, because the artist behind one of the year’s single best debuts, Rina Sawayama with her self-titled Sawayama, just confirmed that she’s half done with a follow-up. Yes 2020 has been a dumpster fire, but there’s been tons of excellent music released anyway — and excellent pop music for that matter — so my worry that 2021 is going to be sparse is officially laid to rest. Sawayama 2, as I’m casually dubbing the new album for a working title, is going to make sure pop fans are fed next year.

As Pop Crave reports, in a new interview with Music Feeds, Rina lets it slip that she has a new era already underway. “Oh, the next era has already started! she told the interviewer when he asked about her plans. “I’m already writing, and the songs are so interesting. Again, as much as I try, cannot for the life of me write a heterosexual love song. Keep trying, I can’t do it. But, I’ve let the pressure go and am just letting myself do what I want, or need. I’m enjoying reading other people’s works and listening to other people’s songs. There was a moment there where I was scared to listen to anyone else’s music because I was in such a weird mental state of comparing myself to other people. But now, I’m free of that. So it’s good.”

To his follow up questions, she mentioned that she’s inspired by Taylor Swift and might even consider some sessions in Nashville (!) What a curveball, love that.

“I’ve got about half an album of working songs already,” she continued. “I’m going to keep writing, and I’ve heard that I might be going to Nashville to write which is one of my dreams. That’s important to me because country music and people who write in country – they are so about the story. That’s why I love Taylor Swift – folklore was amazing, she’s such an exemplary songwriter.”

Check out the full interview here, and hopefully we’ll get to hear some new songs soon! Rina’s take on Taylor Swift? I’m, ahem, ready for it.

While Tuesday night was the first night of the NBA season for the Warriors, Nets, Clippers, and Lakers, Wednesday brought the first game of the year for most of the league, as for the first time in months it became nearly impossible to keep track of everything happening at once in the Association.

In case you were dialed in on your favorite squad or player for opening night, we wanted to help out and provide a look at some of the best of what took place on Wednesday night from around the league, which saw some impressive scoring performances, a few surprising results, and just generally a fun night filled with hoops.

The Hawks Offense Looks Unstoppable (And The Bulls Have A Lot Of Work To Do)

We’ll try to focus on the positives from the Atlanta-Chicago game, which would mean keeping this to being about the Hawks. Atlanta won 124-104 in the opener on the road against the Bulls, but led by as many as 40 as they completely dominated Chicago from the opening tip. As expected, offense carried the day for the Hawks who scored 83 points in the first half, before letting their best players enjoy a rest for the second half.

Trae Young was the star for Atlanta’s offense, pouring in 37 points on insane efficiency, as he was 10-of-12 from the field, 5-of-6 from three, and 12-of-14 from the free throw line — pitching in seven assists and six rebounds for good measure.

Helping Young was the new depth of the Hawks, who had no one else score more than 15 points but had seven players in double figures. Cam Reddish and Bogdan Bogdanovic each had 15, John Collins had 14, Danilo Gallinari had 13, and De’Andre Hunter and Kevin Huerter each chipped in 11, as just about everybody got to eat for Atlanta, while also not having to extend any of those seven players over 27 minutes on the evening.

The Bulls looked like a disaster, as Billy Donovan has his work cut out for him in trying to piece together rotations and a new offensive and defensive system. Still, the expectation was that the Hawks would be a terrific offense, led by their third-year star who was finally being surrounded by some stellar veteran offensive weapons (and the hopeful growth of their young supporting cast). Opening night was a terrific start for the Hawks on their quest for the postseason, as they already appear to be very comfortable playing together.

Career Nights For Ja Morant And Terry Rozier

Ja Morant has only been in the NBA for a season, but what a season it was, as he nearly led Memphis to the playoffs and picked up Rookie of the Year honors in his first season. Year 2 can be a tricky one, as the league begins to gameplan more for you through having more film to look at, but Morant showed no signs of of a possible sophomore slump as he erupted for a career-high 44 points to go along with nine assists on 18-of-27 shooting in the opener against the Spurs, although the Grizzlies would drop the game 131-119.

Ja wasn’t alone in having a career night in a loss, as Terry Rozier put up a new high mark with 42 points in the Hornets 121-114 loss to the Cavaliers. Rozier did much of his work from beyond the arc, hitting 10 three-pointers, but also showed some crafty finishing at the rim. For anyone wondering how he would respond to the Hornets drafting LaMelo Ball as their lead guard of the future, he seems to have taken it as motivation to ball out and remind everyone why he belongs where he is in the starting lineup.

It’s worth noting the terrific outings on the other side of those career nights that handed both Morant and Rozier losses. The Spurs and Cavs, like the Hawks, each saw seven players reach double figures. San Antonio was paced by DeMar DeRozan’s 28 (with nine assists and nine boards), while the Cavs got 27 points from Collin Sexton as he started his third season with an impressive showing.

The Bank Is Open, But The Iron’s Unkind In Boston

The end of the game in Boston was sensational as the league’s showcase game of the night between the Celtics and Bucks lived up to the billing. All the stars in the game showed out, with 63 combined points from the Celtics young star duo of Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum, while the Bucks’ Big 3 all had huge performances, led by Giannis Antetokounmpo’s 35 points. However, it was two bounces at the end of the game that decided this one in the Celtics favor.

After the Bucks erased a 17-point fourth quarter deficit to lead 120-119, it was Jayson Tatum who beat the buzzer with a banked in three over Giannis to give Boston a two-point lead — with Tatum admitting after it was a happy accident to get the kind kiss off the glass.

After a somewhat mysterious foul call on Tristan Thompson on the ensuing inbounds lob play, Giannis found himself at the foul line, where he sank his first but left the second short, launching off the rim and harmlessly to the ground to allow Boston to escape without overtime. It’s a big win for Boston in giving them the confidence even without Kemba Walker to know they can compete with the best in the league, while the Bucks clearly have some work to do in figuring out rotations and how to get their “others” more involved and get greater impact from the bench.

Chris Paul And Devin Booker Are Gonna Be Fun Together

The Suns and Mavs were the other national TV game and they too put on quite the show. Luka Doncic wasn’t at his best but still filled up the stat sheet, but in the end it wasn’t enough to overcome the late game execution of Chris Paul and Devin Booker. The two star guards for Phoenix were two of the best closers in the league last year, and we learned the answer of the question of how they’d handle the end of games together: Both are gonna eat.

With a 101-100 lead, Paul took the first turn on the ball and got to his favorite spot on the right elbow off a pick-and-roll with Deandre Ayton. After that, it was Booker’s turn to go to the exact same spot in isolation for what effectively became the dagger.

It’s the separator for this Suns team over a team like the Mavs (as they currently exist without Kristaps Porzingis) and some of the other West playoff contenders. Paul was quiet in his Suns debut, scoring just eight points with five assists and four rebounds as he continues working his way back into shape, but when the moment called for it, he did what he’s so good at, which is getting to his spot for a clutch bucket. Booker had 22 to lead the Suns, although eight turnovers spelled out some of the rust he too seems to be shaking off after a super-efficient 2019-20 campaign. Still, even with less than the best from their stars, the Suns depth helped carry them to the point where those two could do what they do best and close it out. Mikal Bridges had 18 points, Cam Johnson had 15 off the bench, and that well-rounded performance set them up for a big opening night win. There’s still plenty to improve upon, but for a team with firm playoff aspirations this season, it’s a good starting point.

THE KINGS!

Sacramento has not been discussed much as a playoff contender in the West, as the loss of Bogdan Bogdanovic coupled with an offseason without a splashy acquisition has most believing they’ll be on the outside looking in in the hyper-competitive West playoff race. However, they reminded everyone of why they’ve been close the last two seasons and can’t be simply overlooked on the schedule as they gutted out a 124-122 win over the Nuggets in what was the game of the night.

De’Aaron Fox, Buddy Hield, and Harrison Barnes each had 21-plus points in the OT thriller, with Hield and Fox each having heroic moments in the closing minute, with Fox getting a sensational chasedown block of Will Barton to keep Sacramento’s hopes alive and then Hield following a Barnes miss (as Barton got revenge with a block of his own) to tip in the game-winning basket at the buzzer.

It’s far too early to take this as some sort of indication that the Kings are vastly underrated, but it’s an exciting way to start the season in Sacramento and boost the confidence in that locker room that they have a roster capable of challenging anyone on any given night. As for the Nuggets, Jokic had a monster 29-point, 15-rebound, 14-assist triple double and Michael Porter Jr. had a nice 24-point night, but they’ll be looking for more from Bubble star Jamal Murray, who fouled out with just nine points and missed the OT period as they launch their push for a followup to a surprise conference finals trip a year ago.

A Statement From The Jazz

When the schedule came out, Jazz-Blazers looked like one of the best games of the day, but Utah jumped out early and dusted the Blazers in Portland 120-100. They got production from just about everyone on the roster, headlined by a monster 20 and 17 game from Rudy Gobert.

The Blazers were the darlings of the offseason with their pickups in trades and free agency, but it’s clear that getting everyone on the same page is a work in progress. On top of that, Damian Lillard had a dismal night with just nine points and that’s something Portland isn’t equipped to overcome. A lot of the credit belongs to the Jazz for a phenomenal performance on both ends of the floor, as they locked up Lillard and made life difficult on the Portland offense to get going. For a team that had a disappointing end to last season as the first of two teams to drop a 3-1 lead to Denver, Utah reminded everyone why they still belong in the conversation for one of the best teams in the West.

The Spurs Are…Fun?!

I mentioned them in the above section on Morant, but San Antonio ran up 131 points on Memphis and looked impressive on the offensive end. They went small with LaMarcus Aldridge at the 5 spot in the starting lineup and the results were pretty spectacular. All five starters had at least 16 points, with the aforementioned 28-point outburst from DeMar DeRozan leading the way.

For a team that, even when they were the best team in the league, has long been considered boring, it’s time for non-Spurs fans to catch up because they have a really interesting balance of fun young players and vets and now that they seem to be embracing small-ball, they’re going to be a fun League Pass squad. With DeRozan and Aldridge most think of a plodding team in the halfcourt, but they got out and ran in this one and seem to be embracing a faster pace, thanks to the presence of some young legs like those of Lonnie Walker IV who had a pair of monster dunks.

After releasing the title track “The Voice,” back in September, Chicago rapper Lil Durk has now expanded on that song and released an entire project of the same name. Dropping The Voice earlier tonight, and getting a bit of a headstart on what looks to be a Christmas rush for rap this year.

The sixteen-track tape includes guests like Young Thug and the tragically departed King Von, whose death impacted Durk hard. He reacted to the passing of his fellow rapper by lamenting that his “twin” was gone. Showing up here on the track “Still Trappin’” with a posthumous appearance, needless to say the song will hit different for fans and loved ones who are missing him. In a Tweet announcing the project, Durk also called Von out, hashtagging #DoIt4Von with a heart in his message:

Other guests on The Voice include YNW Melly, 6Lack, and Booka600. Durk won’t be the only rapper dropping new music this week, as Playboi Carti just recently confirmed that he will be releasing his long-awaited project Whole Lotta Red on Thursday night, and Lil Uzi Vert also hinted that he had even more new material ready to go, despite an already packed year for the rapper. For now, though, Durk has the stage, and his new project also includes this week’s “Backdoor,” proving both that track and “The Voice” were pointing toward this larger release. Listen blow.

The Kings and Nuggets met on Wednesday for their opener in a game few anticipated would produce the game of the night, but that’s exactly what happened in Denver.

The two teams traded the lead throughout the game, with Denver having to come back late to force overtime. In the overtime period, it was the Kings that needed some comeback magic as the two teams traded some wild blocks in the final minute-plus, culminating in a crazy buzzer-beater from Buddy Hield.

To start, Michael Porter Jr. made a potentially game-saving block on a corner three attempt to preserve a two-point advantage for Denver. After the Kings fouled, Will Barton got the ball on a blown assignment from Sacramento, running free to the rim for what looked like a game-sealing dunk. However, De’Aaron Fox came up with a sensational chasedown block that led to the wildest 30-second sequence of the young season.

Barton got his revenge with the block on Harrison Barnes after the Nikola Jokic turnover, but Buddy Hield followed the play and managed to get the tip-in to go just before the buzzer to give the Kings the win in the most improbable of fashion. It’s a huge win for Sacramento to start the season, as every game they can pick up on Western Conference playoff teams this season is important for their quest for a play-in spot (or, I guess, better).

For Denver, it was a dismal night for Jamal Murray who fouled out with just nine points, leaving Jokic a bit high and dry, as the big man piled up 29 points, 15 rebounds, and 14 assists. Sacramento had 20-point nights from Hield, Fox, and Barnes, as well as some timely buckets from rookie Tyrese Haliburton and others to help them on their way to the win.

The pandemic has been hard on everyone, but for some families, it’s been utterly devastating. And as we’ve learned, virtually no one is immune to the horrors of the deadly virus that sent the world into lock-down mode for the better part of the year. With the vaccine entering into circulation, the hope is that things will get back to normal soon.

Still, many people’s live have been changed forever. Minnesota Timberwolves star Karl-Anthony Towns and his family have been affected to a nearly unimaginable degree. It started with his mother, who died in March from complications from the disease. But since then, he’s lost six other families due to COVID as well.

So it was naturally with a heavy heart that he took to the floor for the first time on Wednesday since the shutdown. Towns helped lead his team to the 111-101 win over the Pistons, finishing with 22 points, 11 rebounds, and seven assists. Afterward, he talked about what an emotional night it was, carrying the burden of all that loss as he tried to get back to the business of basketball.

“It was heavy. It was different. It’s just always different. I’m just happy I got this for her.”

An emotional KAT chats with @MarneyGellner after playing his first NBA game since his mother’s passing. pic.twitter.com/GB3QTZoOx8

— FOX Sports North (@fsnorth) December 24, 2020

KAT and the Timberwolves are looking to make significant strides this season after adding No. 1 overall pick Anthony Edwards, who scored 15 points in his NBA debut. This will also mark the first full season with KAT playing alongside close friend D’Angelo Russell, not to mention the return of Ricky Rubio, who spent the first six seasons of his career in Minnesota before stints in Utah and Phoenix.

Towns has been extremely open and honest about how difficult this year has been for him and opened up further on the matter after the game, explaining how he doesn’t even feel like the same person anymore.

It’s gutting to hear Towns talk like that and hopefully being back on the court can bring him some of the joy back.

Just a little over ten years ago, Daft Punk brought their talents together to provide a great body of work for the Tron: Legacy soundtrack. The project delivered 22 tracks for fans to enjoy alongside the Joseph Kosinski-directed film. Now, to celebrate the ten-year anniversary of both the film and the soundtrack, the duo has shared a new version of the Grammy-nominated album with nine additional songs.

The new tracks that appear on the updated release, which is entitled “The Complete Edition,” are not new or previously unreleased efforts. The songs have appeared in different formats like separate vinyl and iTunes exclusive releases, and the Tron: Legacy update stands as the first time these tracks have stood on a project together. It arrives after Mitchell Leib, Walt Disney Studios’ President Of Music & Soundtracks, revealed that Tron 3 is in the works and their hope is to have the French duo provide the score for the film once again.

“The right and first thing to do is to bring Daft Punk back and see if they want to [return],” Leib said. “We don’t even know who will be directing yet. We’re hopeful that Joe Kosinski will come back and do another one. A lot of things gotta fall into the right places.”

Tron: Legacy — The Complete Edition is out now via Walt Disney. Get it here.

It was a 13-game slate around the NBA on Wednesday night as the 2020-2021 season got underway in earnest, and there were plenty of fireworks around the league, as familiar foes faced off in what promises to be one of the most unique seasons of basketball we’ll ever witness.

The Celtics and Bucks were up first to get us started, and it was a contest that came all the way down to the wire and required last-second three-pointer by Jayson Tatum, followed by a missed free-throw from Giannis Antetokounmpo that would’ve sent the game into overtime.

Upon review of that three from Tatum, it looked like he may have inadvertently banked it off the glass, which of course doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things. Still, Tatum had to own up to getting that helpful bounce from the basketball gods after the game, which he was more than happy to do, given the outcome.

Jayson Tatum if he tried to bank the shot: “(laughs) I ain’t try to. Once I let it go, I knew it was going to hit the glass. But I didn’t try to.”

— Keith Smith (@KeithSmithNBA) December 24, 2020

It capped off a 30-point opening night for Tatum, but it was Jaylen Brown who led the Celtics with 33 points and had his mind on other things when it came to Tatum’s game-winner.

Jaylen Brown was thinking of all our fans when Tatum drilled that game-winner: “I know the all the Celtics fans were going crazy. We appreciate you guys. Keep sending your energy. Even though you’re not in the building, we still might feel it.” #BleedGreen

— Boston Celtics (@celtics) December 24, 2020

And as we all know, the only correct response to a shot like this comes courtesy of Paul Pierce, who jumped on Twitter to offer Tatum and the rest of us a helpful reminder of what matters in that situation.

I didn’t call bank I called game #jt0

— Paul Pierce (@paulpierce34) December 24, 2020