Month: December 2020

Queen of custom gifts. Queen of making fun of the worst year of our lives. Queen of helping her friends make it through.

Beyonce has been more focused on her Ivy Park line than new music, even if Black Is King and its accompanying film/visual album made a big splash this summer. But it turns out, even if you’re as rich, famous, and talented as Beyonce, 2020 was still a tough year. To let her friends know that she’s there for them through this incredibly difficult time, Bey had custom necklaces made for her inner circle that expressed a collective frustration with a terrible year.

Bey’s friends like Angie Beyince and her mother, Tina Lawson, both posted the custom gold necklaces she had made for her crew that combine a middle finger with 2020 to make one perfect ode to the new year. “@beyonce gifted all of her girls with this amazing custom 2020 necklace,” Beyince wrote on Instagram. “2020 “ It’s a hand with middle finger and the year 2020 combined into one. When I opened it my eyes teared up because it is both Hilarious & Deeply Sentimental. 2020 has had ups and downs but over all its been a really weird and tuff year. Hopefully 2021 is good to the world.”

https://www.instagram.com/angiebeyince/?utm_source=ig_embed

The original queen, Miss Tina, had this to say: “note my Christmas present (my necklace) from Beyonce f__k 2020 two many losses !!! But it is almost over and we are still here !!! Give God Some.”

Hey Bey, just send a quick DM to get my address if you have any extras. In fact, not a bad idea for merch, eh? Then again, I don’t want to see the numbers “2020” in a row ever again after December 31st.

It’s been more than two years since J. Cole revealed his next album would be titled The Fall Off. The Dreamville rapper first alluded to it on “1985 (Intro To The Fall Off)”, the final track on his 2018 album KOD. Two years have passed and no new album. But J. Cole is still keeping the faith alive, taking to Instagram to claim it’s become his main point of focus.

The rapper shared a handwritten to-do list, which he titled “The Fall Off Era,” which features a list of things he aims to complete before the arrival of The Fall Off. The first two items, “Features” and “ROTD3,” are crossed out, implying they’ve been completed. The former refers to his impressive run of guest appearances he did between 2018 and 2019, ending with the track “Loyalty,” alongside Gang Starr. The latter references Dreamville’s star-studded compilation project Revenge Of The Dreamers III, which arrived in summer 2019. There’s also “The Off-Season,” plus “It’s A Boy” and, infally, “The Fall Off.” It’s unknown what the former is, but it wouldn’t be a terrible guess to assume it’s the first single from The Fall Off. Whatever it is, it looks like it’s the last step Cole will take before unleashing The Fall Off to the world.

Brandon Ingram inked a nine-figure contract in November after averaging 23.8 points and 6.1 rebounds during his age-22 season with the New Orleans Pelicans. At the very least, the former No. 2 overall pick seems to be on the cusp of stardom and, alongside Zion Williamson in New Orleans, the future is bright. With that said, it wasn’t always easy for Ingram and some of his young teammates, particularly during their last season with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2018-19.

Ingram recently joined The Old Man and the Three podcast with JJ Redick, who is now his teammate in New Orleans, and The Ringers’s Tommy Alter, and he referred to that last season as a “whirlwind” due to the rampant speculation about trade possibilities involving Anthony Davis.

Ultimately, Davis ended up in Los Angeles and Ingram was one of the centerpieces of the deal, but while Ingram did admit that there was at least one game with the Lakers when he let the noise bother him, it was his teammates that had it tougher.

“I know other guys around me, it killed them,” Ingram said. “When you wake up and you see your name on Twitter, and the guys around me, they love Twitter. They love searching, putting in their names.”

Of course, this isn’t a unique issue and, though it is often under-discussed, it can’t be easy for any athlete to hear frequent chatter about their future in a public forum. Granted, some of that comes with the territory with how the NBA is structured, but the the Davis situation was a particularly public negotiation process, and players like Ingram, Lonzo Ball and Josh Hart were in the news for things out of their control.

Ingram’s candor here is noteworthy, and this isn’t the first time that Redick has been able to facilitate a frank conversation with a current or former teammate. It is a reminder, though, that it isn’t just the star players that are involved in trade rumblings from time to time, and it isn’t just fantasy basketball when real people are involved.

There are just a few days left until the clock truly begins to tick for Drake’s upcoming sixth album, Certified Lover Boy. Back in October, the Toronto native promised it would arrive at some point in January 2021. But some, like Charlamagne Tha God, aren’t too confident that it will be up to the musician’s high quality.

“Drake has given us so much music that I don’t know if he has another gear,” Charlamagne said during an episode of his Brilliant Idiots podcast. “We know Kendrick has another gear. He shows us that with every project. Drake has given us so much, I don’t know if he has another gear so, therefore, I’m not looking forward to anything.” He even posed a question:

Let me ask y’all a question: are we still in the Drake era? Or is radio such a prehistoric form of media that it hasn’t changed the temperature to what’s actually going on out here in these streets? It still feels like we’re in a Drake era — I don’t think we’re in a Drake era, I don’t think we’ve been in a Drake era for the past three or four years.

Charlamagne then shifted his attention to Kendrick Lamar and explained what he does different. “We love Kendrick [Lamar]. Kendrick makes us wait, Kendrick gives us something to look forward to, ” he said. “Kendrick takes his time.”

You can listen to Charlamagne discuss Drake and Certified Lover Boy in the video above.

Last Updated: December 29th

The true crime genre has never been more popular, but what about the false crime genre? Sometimes there’s nothing better than a good crime flick, from rooting for that grey area anti-hero to sitting on the edge of your seat as the lovable ruffians pull off the ultimate heist. Netflix has a wide variety of flicks that deal in law, order, and justice, so here are the 10 best crime movies on Netflix right now.

Related: The Best Sci-Fi Movies On Netflix Right Now

Lawless (2012)

Run Time: 116 min | IMDb: 7.3/10

Tom Hardy, Jessica Chastain, and Shia LaBeouf star in this period gangster drama about a family of moonshiners who go up against a deranged lawman. Hardy plays Forrest, the eldest Bondurant, who operates an illegal liquor delivery service during prohibition times. His brothers Jack (LaBeouf) and Howard (Jason Clarke) provide the muscle, but when a dogged special deputy Guy Pierce) comes to town to shut the business down, things get bloody, quick.

Good Time (2017)

Run Time: 101 min | IMDb: 7.3/10

This gritty crime drama hailing from the Safdie brothers transforms star Robert Pattinson into a bleach-blonde sh*t-stirrer from Queens who’s desperate to break his developmentally disabled brother out of prison. Pattinson plays Connie, a street hustler and bank robber with grand plans to break out of his urban hood while Benny Safdie plays his brother Nick, who gets roped into his schemes. When Nick is sent to Rikers Island for a job gone wrong, Connie goes on a downward spiral to get him back. Pattinson’s manic energy carries this thing, and there’s plenty of police run-ins, shootouts, and heists (however botched) to keep the adrenaline pumping.

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The Irishman (2019)

Run Time: 209 min | IMDb: 8.7/10

Martin Scorsese delivers another cinematic triumph, this time for Netflix and with the help of some familiar faces. Robert De Niro and Al Pacino team up (again) for this crime drama based on actual events. De Niro plays Frank Sheeran a World War II vet who finds work as a hitman for the mob. Pacino plays notorious Teamster Jimmy Hoffa, a man who frequently found himself on the wrong side of the law and the criminals he worked with. The film charts the pair’s partnership over the years while injecting some historical milestones for context. It’s heavy and impressively cast and everything you’d expect a Scorsese passion-project to be.

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The Town (2010)

Run Time: 125 min | IMDb: 7.5/10

Ben Affleck writes, directs, and stars in this gritty heist film set in his hometown of Boston. Affleck plays Doug, a master thief planning his greatest, and last heist who becomes distracted by a romantic relationship with a bank manager he met on his last job (Rebecca Hall). As Doug and his crew orchestrate a heist involving Red Sox stadium, a dogged FBI agent played by Jon Hamm closes in.

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Uncut Gems (2019)

Run Time: 135 min | IMDb: 7.5/10

This adventurous mindf*ck starring Adam Sandler finally landed on Netflix, and our only advice before watching this criminally-good romp is this: prepare yourself for a wild, over-the-top ride. Sandler gives one of his best performances, and the Safdie Brothers prove they’ve got a knack for crafting thrillers textured with grit and a realness that just can’t be beaten.

Fargo (2006)

Run Time: 98 min | IMDb: 8.1/10

Before FX gave us some spectacular follow-up formatted for TV, the Coen brothers introduced us to the cold, weirdly-accented world of murder and cover-up in Fargo, a thriller continues to stand the test of time. The premise is probably familiar by now: a criminal mastermind’s plan goes awry thanks to the ineptitude and bungling of his henchman and the persistence of a dogged policewoman (the unfairly-talented Frances McDormand). Still, it’s worth a rewatch.

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A Clockwork Orange (1971)

Run Time: 136 min | IMDb:

Stanley Kubrick’s dystopian crime thriller A Clockwork Orange most certainly is not a breezy watch. The film, based on the classic novel by Anthony Burgess, follows the charismatic, completely unhinged Alex (Malcolm McDowell), leader of a gang of criminals who enjoy inciting chaos and committing horrific crimes. When Alex is captured, the Minister of the Interior suggests experimenting on him using rehabilitation techniques that psychologically condition him to become averse to violence and sex. They work, for a time, and to disastrous consequences, but Kubrick’s real goal with this film was to dive into the idea of free will and morality.

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Nightcrawler (2014)

Run Time: 117 min | IMDb: 7.9/10

Jake Gyllenhaal stars in this truly bonkers crime thriller from Dan Gilroy about a con-man who muscles his way into L.A.’s crime journalism scene and very quickly becomes the star of his own reporting. Lou Bloom (Gyllenhaal) is a petty thief who stumbles his way into the stringer profession — photojournalists who chase crime scenes to sell the footage to local TV stations. As Lou begins to record more exciting crimes, demand for his work grows and he starts staging scenes, obstructing police investigations, and inserting himself in high-speed chases to get the best shot. It’s a twisted, depressing look at the ethics of journalism and the consequences of consumerism, and Gyllenhaal has never been better.

Boyz n the Hood (1991)

Run Time: 112 min | IMDb: 7.7/10

John Singleton’s directorial debut is this dramatic masterpiece about life in the gang-ridden hood of Crenshaw and how one young man hopes to escape the endless cycle of violence that surrounds him. Cuba Gooding Jr. plays Tre, a smart, capable kid who struggles to stay clear of gang wars and his criminal friends while working towards his dreams of college. His buddies — gang members, former inmates, track stars — all navigate the bloodshed on the streets of their hood with varying results but when a tragedy brings them together, Tre’s forced to make a choice between the life he wants and the one he’s stuck in.

The Night Clerk (2020)

Run Time: 90 min | IMDb: 5.4/10

Tye Sheridan stars in this thriller, playing a night clerk named Bart who has Asperger’s syndrome and hides cameras in hotel rooms to study and mimick normal human interactions. While watching footage of one woman’s room, he sees her fighting with a man and rushes to help her. Later, the woman is found dead in her room with Bart the only suspect. The arrival of a new guest and a corrupt police force complicate the murder investigation — and Bart’s life.

Recent Changes Through December 2020:
Removed: Drive, Zodiac
Added: A Clockwork Orange, Boyz n the Hood

There are two days left in 2020, and across the entire world of sports, we have seen some legitimately otherworldly games, even though things were thrown into chaos earlier this year in the world of sports. Darts decided to get in on the fun on Dec. 29, and managed to put forth a display of excellence that may have topped everything else from this wacky year.

The best player in the world, Michael van Gerwen, took on standout Englishman Joe Cullen, in one of the best matches in the history of the World Darts Championship. The two squared off with a spot in the quarterfinals on the line, and ultimately, van Gerwen — who trailed at one point, three sets to on — eked out a thrilling 4-3 win.

Cullen, a mercurial talent, managed to get out ahead early on and made clear that he was ready to throw haymakers with MvG. He came within millimeters of doubling that with a second set lead, but he was unable to connect on a double 9, giving van Gerwen the darts to close out 52 and draw level.

Things dang near went off the rails in set No. 3. van Gerwen threw six perfect darts in the second to last leg of the set — in darts, the best thing you can do is close out 501 in nine darts — but Cullen made sure to keep things close in case the narrowest of windows opened up. That happened on his penultimate turn. MvG had to close out 76, while Cullen was trailing in a big way at 244. He hit a 180 — three triple 20s, the highest score you can get in three darts — and turned the pressure all the way up on the former world champion.

But van Gerwen, composed as ever, was unshaken. He closed out his 76…

…and came roaring out of the gates in the final leg of the set. But Cullen, in the midst of the match of his life, responded. van Gerwen could not close out a 148, and Cullen was able to do the rest to go up, 2-1.

Cullen put ven Gerwen on the ropes in set four. On the first leg of the set, he managed to break van Gerwen’s throw with a ton-plus finish, seeking out the bullseye to close out 123.

van Gerwen did have a chance to salvage things in the final leg, though, as he had to close out 40 with a double 20. He was unable to do that, though, and Cullen ran with the opportunity, closing out an 85 in style.

And then, the fifth set happened, and van Gerwen began laying the groundwork for a comeback. Cullen had the darts to start the set, but in the first leg, MVG broke his throw. He followed that up by capitalizing on Cullen’s inability to break back when he was unable to close out a 78.

To set the scene in set six, Cullen was as locked in as ever, finding D20 to force a deciding leg in the set. If he won, van Gerwen was out. If he did not, then the best player in the world would go into the final set of the match with the wind in his sails. The opportunity for near-immortality presented itself for Cullen when he stepped up needing to tidy up a 90.

Cullen started by going 20-20 with his first two darts, meaning he needed a bullseye to wrap things up. If he came any closer, he would have pulled off the upset. Instead, the tungsten was unkind. Cullen made a face to indicate he knew what just happened and what was on the horizon, and with his next dart, van Gerwen forced a deciding set.

But still, Cullen had the darts in the set, giving him a crucial advantage. Things played out as expected through the first three legs, with Cullen winning the first and van Gerwen winning the second. In leg three, van Gerwen missed D20 to close things out by the narrowest of margins, Cullen responded by hitting a D8, and moved one leg away.

The tension went to a new level in the fourth leg. van Gerwen failed to tidy up 112, and Cullen stepped to the board with the potential to win if he could pull off a daunting task: closing out a 164. His first two darts — T19, T19 — were so close that he darn near Robin Hood’d himself. Once again, a bullseye stood between him and the match, and once again, he came up short. A pained look came across his face, and MVG was as clinical as ever with the D8.

In the final leg, Cullen just completely ran out of gas. His ability to hit trebles betrayed him altogether, while van Gerwen was surgical. A smirk comes across his face at the 37-second mark, knowing his tournament was about to come to an end, and MVG ended up sending him home.

It honestly was as good of a sporting event as this year could produce. The twists and turns, the highs and lows, the ways in which we saw moments of euphoria and agony, every single thing you want in a sporting event came through at the Alexandra Palace on Tuesday evening. There is a chant that the fans normally scream when they get to pack into the venue, “if you love the darts, stand up.” Perhaps after this came to an end, some folks who have never gotten the chance to check out high-level darts will join the longtime fans in getting on their feet.

Even for one of Donald Trump’s soon-to-be-irrelevant sycophants, Jim Jordan knows how to step in it. His brand — apart from refusing to wear suit jackets in public — involves tweets so mind-foggingly dumb it doesn’t take a historian to debunk. Unfortunately he’s so high-profile that historians feel compelled to do so anywayy. Mere weeks after nonsensically claiming Dr. Anthony Fauci would ban saying “Merry Christmas,” the Ohio representative is back at it, this time with some silliness about the Founding Fathers.

The Founding Fathers, of course, are a mythical bunch to conservatives, who hold them up as a larger-than-life titans who definitely thought alike, and whose thoughts from two-and-a-half centuries ago definitely always have some validity in 2020. Jordan has long opposed COVID-19 restrictions, thinking that people should be free to recklessly catch and transmit a highly contagious disease. (Jordan is one of the only close members of Trump’s posse who hasn’t tested positive for the virus.)

“60 million Americans are subject to a stay at home order or curfew. 11 million are right here in Ohio,” Jordan tweeted. “What would the Founders say?”

Well, as it turns out, we have a pretty good idea of what they would think. Historians once again poured in to educate Jordan, who should perhaps do a touch of Googling before he tweets. Or perhaps his question was sincere! Maybe he didn’t know what the Founders would say! In any case, the short answer is: They would probably be all for it.

Some took issue with Jordan’s vague and ahistorical depiction of the Founding Fathers.

Or pointed out that the Founding Fathers would, unlike the Republican party, almost certainly do something, anything to save its people.

Some pointed out they’d probably not like what Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell did around the same time Jordan was tweeting.

And many did what people do every time Jordan is in the news: remind everyone that he’s been roundly accused to ignoring sexual assault while assistant wrestling coach at Ohio State University in the ’90s.

And then there were others, who were simply sick of hearing the name Jim Jordan.

Then again, at least his teeth don’t fall out when he talks, like fellow Trump minion Louie Gohmert.

Earlier this month, I attended my first Zoom wedding. A week after that, I attended a Zoom baby shower.

Tomorrow, I’ll attend a Zoom gathering to mourn the loss of a family friend. His name was Peter. He died of COVID-19 last week.

This gathering isn’t technically a funeral or memorial service, but rather a virtual devotional taking place on Zoom at the same time as Peter’s physical burial. A few close friends and family will gather at the gravesite—masked and distanced—while the rest of us share readings and prayers over Zoom to honor his interment.

It’s weird. There’s no other way to say it. With the wedding and baby shower, we all sort of laughed our way through the weirdness. We acknowledged the bummer of not being able to get together, but at this point we’re all accustomed to having to meet virtually. Zoom celebrations are better than no celebrations at all.

But mourning this way feels…different. We can’t laugh away the awkwardness of it when the Zoom meeting itself is a reminder of the tragic cause of our friend’s death.

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Celebratory gatherings are fun, but not necessary. Gathering when someone dies feels necessary in a way, and the inability to do that adds an extra layer of loss to the grief we’re already experiencing. Normally, our whole community would gather together to honor Peter’s life tomorrow. We’d put on appropriate funeral attire, stand side by side at his grave, hold hands or hug one another as we mark the momentousness of his passing. We’d all bring food and break bread together as we share stories of his life. We’d pass around tissues, crying and laughing and sharing in the oh-so-human experience of bringing together the lives he had touched.

But we can’t do any of that. If we did, we’d run the risk of having to do it all over again for another friend or loved one taken too soon by this stupid virus. So we do what we can do and deal with the strange questions—What does one wear to a Zoom mourning? How long it will be before we can actually gather for a real memorial service? Will it feel like it’s too late then? Will we want to do that in the midst of celebrating a return to non-distanced life?

This pandemic has taken so much, and each thing stings in its own way. The death toll itself is overwhelming, especially here in the U.S. where we have already lost more than 330,000 lives. A hundred 9/11s and counting. Five Vietnams in less than a year. It’s unreal. In the beginning, we were told that all of us would likely end up knowing someone who died of COVID-19, and some people have now lost multiple family members. More will follow as we head into the deadliest month of the pandemic. That’s not doom and gloom forecasting—that’s the reality of the current moment.

But the loss of in-person mourning as millions are losing loved ones before they expected to is a tragedy in and of itself. There’s a cruel irony in it, that we can’t gather in person to mourn if we want to stop the thing that’s making it so we can’t gather in person to mourn. When we need the comfort of coming together the most, we can’t, as indulging in that comfort could lead to even more suffering. Of all of the sacrifices we’ve had to make, the loss of communal mourning is one of the hardest.

And so we open our computers and enter our virtual meeting rooms and try to comfort one another through our grief amid the inevitable unmute reminders. It’s weird. It all feels wrong. But it’s necessary. We need to mourn our losses together. We also need to be able to mourn the fact that we’re not able to do that the way we want to.

There is gratitude to be found in all of this, of course. It’s pretty incredible that we live in a time when we have the technology to at least see one another’s faces and hear people’s voices as we share our losses at a distance. If this pandemic had hit in my childhood, we’d have had no community ability to mourn at all. A Zoom gathering to mourn is better than no gathering at all—but it’s still all of the weird, wrong, sad things at once.

And what’s extra painful about it is that it didn’t have to be this way. Next time we have a pandemic, let’s all agree to just follow New Zealand’s lead, shall we? Hundreds of thousands of Zoom funerals really ought to be enough to get us all on the same page.

With how hotly-contested the Western Conference is expected to be this season, every game will matter in the race to make the postseason, whether that be through a top-6 seed or the play-in tournament. That’s what makes the news about Ja Morant, who suffered an ankle injury on Monday night, all the more devastating.

Morant hurt his left ankle in the Memphis Grizzlies’ 116-111 win over the Brooklyn Nets after accidentally landing on the foot of Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot. While an x-ray confirmed there was no structural damage, the team announced on Tuesday afternoon that Morant will still miss a significant amount of time, as he’s expected to be out 3-5 weeks with a Grade 2 ankle sprain.

Right after the news hit, Morant posted on Twitter about the optimism he feels after picking up the knock.

In real time, Morant’s injury looked extremely serious, as he was on the ground in serious pain and needed to be taken off the floor via a wheelchair. To that end, the team assuredly breathed a sigh of relief, but no Morant for a month is going to be tough waters for the Grizzlies to navigate. Tyus Jones will presumably slide into the starting role, although De’Anthony Melton should get a look upon his return from the league’s COVID-19 list. While we’re at a very early juncture in the year, Morant, the reigning NBA Rookie of the Year, is averaging 26.3 points and 6.3 assists per game.

NBA players find all sorts of inventive ways to stay motivated. For some, it’s practically an art form. There’s no better example than Michael Jordan, who is the undisputed GOAT of latching on to petty grievances against his rivals to fuel his competitive drive, and as we learned from The Last Dance, that sometimes included his own teammates.

Shaq is another great example. The Big Diesel nursed a well-documented grudge against David Robinson throughout his entire career, claiming that the Spurs legend had once blew him off as a youngster as he was trying to get his autograph. Come to find out, the whole thing was manufactured wholesale.

Now, Iman Shumpert has added his name to the list. Shumpert says as a child attending a Bulls-Celtics game with his aunt, he tried to get a high-five from Paul Pierce as he and the other Celtics players were making their way to the locker room at halftime, but Pierce, surprisingly, wasn’t having any of it.

.@imanshumpert explains why he got a bad first impression of @paulpierce34 before he even got to the league #HowToo | @trulyseltzer #LiveTruly pic.twitter.com/GAh6UIFpUv

— UNINTERRUPTED (@uninterrupted) December 27, 2020

Whether real or imagined, it certainly left an impression on Shumpert, and sure enough, Shumpert eventually got his revenge.

The only possible explanation for Pierce’s snub would be the comment Shumpert made at the beginning of the video, when he said his aunt told him to dress up in basketball clothes for the game, which given his allegiance to his hometown, quite plausibly could include Chicago Bulls gear. Pierce may have seen Shumpert in his Bulls cap or uni and decided to ignore him. We may never know the truth.