Month: March 2021

Michael Carter-Williams’ NBA career started with a bang. As a rookie for the Process-era Philadelphia 76ers, Carter-Williams exploded in a 114-110 win over the defending champion Miami Heat. He had 22 points, 12 assists, nine steals, and seven rebounds against LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, and the Heat, with his first two points coming via a steal and slam in which James made a business decision to not go for a chasedown block.

It was quite the debut, and Carter-Williams would go on to win the Rookie of the Year later in the season. Now with the Orlando Magic, Carter-Williams decided on Tuesday morning to reminisce on his first bucket by getting in on the hottest new thing in the world of hoops, NBA Top Shot.

Carter-Williams’ dunk is available on the blockchain-based highlight factory, as it is, well, a thing that happened in the NBA. And according to its recent transaction history, MCW decided to get in on the fun, dropping $2,940 to add it to his stash of moments that also includes plays made by guys like Julius Randle and Aaron Gordon.

A number of NBA players have gotten into the Top Shot game, and it’s cool to see a dude like Carter-Williams spend big to get a moment so near and dear to his heart into his collection. And seeing as how good of a play this was by him, it’s hard to blame him for spending some serious coin to get it.

Greg McDermott has been the head coach at Creighton for a decade now after previous jobs at Iowa State and Northern Iowa. His Blue Jays program reached its most prominent point when he coached his son, Indiana Pacers forward Doug McDermott, at the start of the last decade.

On Tuesday, McDermott made national news when he posted an apology to his Twitter account regarding a horrible analogy he used when speaking to the team after a recent loss, when he told them, “Guys, we got to stick together. We need both feet in. I need everybody to stay on the plantation. I can’t have anybody leave the plantation.”

Telling a team comprised of many young Black men to “stay on the plantation,” is an awful thing to say, and while McDermott insists he has never used that analogy before and recognized his mistake immediately, he will have a long way to go with his players to show them he understands why what he said was wildly inappropriate.

Creighton says it is a “personal matter” and any discipline will be handled privately, but noted that an apology can only be the start of righting this wrong.

It remains rather incredible how often this seems to happen with coaches, particularly at the college level. It seems that his players have been willing to confront him about this, and as he notes, it’s on him to show the work that he’ll learn and grow from this in order to regain the trust of the locker room this season and beyond.

Hugh Grant spent so much of the ‘90s as a floppy-haired, befuddled, stammering rom-com hero that it made his turn as a jerk in Bridget Jones’s Diary all the more of a delight, to audiences and perhaps even more to him. Since then he’s jumped between good guys and bad, though more often bad. Not everyone can do the morally suspect co-lead of The Undoing and the main villain of Paddington 2 — his pick for his finest film, and who would dare disagree? — in one career. And now, according to Variety, he’s about to add another baddie to the bedpost: the antagonist of the latest film stab at Dungeons & Dragons.

If this sounds like bizarre casting, it sounds like this latest iteration is taking a more comic bent. It’s being written and directed by Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley, last seen with the hilarious (and very well-directed!) Game Night. (You of course remember Daley as young, gawky Sam Weir on Freaks and Geeks.) Grant will be joining an already stacked cast, including Chris Pine, Michelle Rodriguez, Justice Smith, Bridgerton star Rege-Jean Page, and It breakout Sophia Lillis.

Still, Grant has some big shoes to fill: The last time there was a film based on the deathless RPG classic, back in the year 2000, the villain was played by another overqualified English thespian, Jeremy Irons. But if Grant can hold his own against a raincoat-clad CGI Andean bear with the voice of Ben Whishaw, surely he can crack some quips while surrounded by some dragons and orcs and whatever other creatures pop up in D&D.

(Via Variety)

If you’ve ever found yourself searching the internet for the perfect pizza, fried chicken, or pancake recipe, you’ve probably run into at least a handful of websites that begin with a lengthy story detailing the author’s relationship to said recipe (or three lengthy stories!). And we get it, it can be cumbersome to scroll through a handful of paragraphs to get to the thing you came for (your poor wrist and finger). But you’re also benefiting from the author’s hard work and expertise for free — for god’s sake let them surface a few ads via page breaks.

“Nah,” thought product manager and engineer Tom Redman, who put together a website called Recipeasly that they thought would “fix online recipes” by aggregating all of the great recipes from the internet and ditching the ads and life stories that come along with them.

It was a great idea for internet foodies looking for recipes with no context but horrible for the people who actually put together the recipes and people who actually like a little backstory and history to go along with their grams, cups, and ounces. After all, we want to make Ram-Don from Parasite because of the movie it was featured in, not just because we spontaneously crave Ram-Don (the dish didn’t actually exist prior to the movie). While we admit that sometimes these stories can be long and excessive, you really don’t have to read them. It’ll take some scrolling, but ultimately you’re still accessing information faster than your parents and grandparents, so just chill already!

Following Redman’s announcement of Recipeasly over the weekend, prominent food bloggers spoke out about just how harmful the site would be and about how, you know, stealing from indie creators isn’t great.

To Redman’s credit, he swiftly apologized to the content creators and food bloggers

In fact, he took the backlash so seriously that Recipeasly was taken down a few hours after its initial launch, replaced with a lengthy apology that reads:

“We’re sorry. We have nothing but respect and admiration for the time, money, and effort that go into creating great recipes & websites. We don’t want to minimize the results for all that hard work. We realize we’re not demonstrating the huge respect we have for recipe creators. We missed the mark big time today and we’re sorry. Given the feedback, we are taking recipeasly.com down as we re-examine our impact. We commit to making changes where we have fallen short.”

Redman has not yet announced a pivot for Recipeasly, so the website may go down as the shortest-lived recipe site in history.

Bill Nye is ready to teach some more science in The End is Nye, a new series coming to Peacock from producers Seth MacFarlane and Brannon Braga, the duo behind the revival of Carl Sagan’s Cosmos. This time around, Nye will be tackling catastrophic situations — hence the apocalyptic title — as he shares his easy-to-understand brand of knowledge that has made him a beloved figure amongst science fans. Not to mention, the show couldn’t be more poignant as the world continues to grapple with the coronavirus pandemic. Via Variety:

Each episode of the show, titled “The End is Nye,” dives into the myths and realities of both natural and unnatural threats, from viruses to volcanoes, asteroids to authoritarianism, and climate change to chemical warfare. The show offers a scientific blueprint for surviving, mitigating, and preventing such catastrophes from occurring.

On top of his upcoming Peacock series, Nye has become a regular on TikTok as he’s routinely dropped videos shooting down conspiracy theories about wearing masks to stop the spread of COVID-19. In fact, the usually congenial scientist got downright angry back in July while dealing with anti-maskers. “The reason we want you to wear a mask is to protect you, sure, but the main reason we want you to wear a mask is to PROTECT ME FROM YOU and the particles from YOUR respiratory system into getting into MY respiratory system,” Nye explained in a fiery TikTok video. “Everybody, this is a matter of literally life and death, and when I use the word ‘literally,’ I mean ‘literally’ of life and death. So when you’re out in public, please, wear a mask.”

If Nye wants to bring that kind of energy to his new show so we’re not caught with our pants down when the next pandemic hits, we’re here for it.

(Via Variety)

James Harden has been on an absolute tear since his trade to the Brooklyn Nets. This week, he became the player with the second-most triple-doubles in franchise history (7), behind only Jason Kidd, and he reached that mark in just 22 games, beating out Kenny Anderson and Shawn Bradley, who had five apiece.

If he keeps up that pace, and is eventually able to help bring home some championship hardware on top of it, he might very well earn a spot in the rafters at the Barclays Center. That might seem premature at this point — the Nets still have a long road ahead — but for a team so loaded with talent, it’s a very high ceiling.

Until then, Harden will have to settle for seeing his uniform hanging at the Toyota Center in Houston. On Tuesday, Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta told Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle that the franchise will retire his No. 13.

Though his tenure there came to a less than amicable end, Harden will easily go down as one of the best players in franchise history. The Rockets of the 2010s were never quite able to reach Finals, but had some near misses against the Warriors juggernaut that ruled the era.

Harden’s jersey has already reportedly been retired inside another Houston-area establishment, so credit to the Rockets for paying tribute to a player who brought so much excitement during his time there.

It’s a bit shocking how little direct crossover there’s been between apps and parts of the entertainment industry. There’s the Angry Birds movies, and that’s pretty much it. Where is the animated Twitter comedy? The grim Postmates gig economy drama? The Slack horror movie? (The Emoji Movie only sort of counts.) But there’s about to be at least one more: As per Deadline, Grindr, the dating service for LGBTQ+ people, is getting into the TV game — or whatever you want to call short, original scripted episodes that will bow on YouTube.

It’s called Bridesman, and it will follow a gay man who, as Deadline puts it, “undermines his best friend’s wedding.” Each episode will run between six and 10 minutes, and they’ll be viewable both on YouTube and on the Grindr app itself. (This does make it sound a bit like Quibi, which will someday inspire one hell of an HBO doc series.) How Grindr will be incorporated into the show is still under wraps, but there will presumably be a fair amount of farcical wedding hook-ups.

It’s the latest attempt by the app to think outside the box and to get its users involved in more than just scrolling for potential dates. Last June there was Pride Perseveres, in which they attempted to help people celebrate Pride Month in the middle of a pandemic, setting up events that prioritized safety while maintaining some level of social closeness. There was also Fright Now Fest in October, in which Grindr dedicated itself to all things Halloween.

(Via Deadline)

Spring is finally on the horizon. The thaw is happening and that means breweries are gearing up to start releasing new and seasonal craf beers at a quick pace as we head toward the hotter months. St. Patrick’s Day is also only two weeks away (though festivities are canceled again, for obvious reasons), which is very much a beer quaffing holiday.

March is a good month for craft beer, is what we’re getting at. It’s also an interesting month for craft beer — a transitional season for the industry. There are still some lingering winter beers on shelves but the lighter and fruitier sippers are starting to drop. It’s sort of the best of both worlds if you’re looking for heavier flavors but are ready to get a little lighter, fruiter, and more crushable with your selections.

Hopefully, the eight beers we’re giving love to this month will pique your interest and inspire you to explore exciting breweries in your neck of the woods. These picks represent regional craft beer releases from breweries that we vouch for (with tasting notes from the brewers themselves if we didn’t get to taste the beer yet because of the pandemic), along with some seasonally released bottles that we’ve been looking forward to trying again.

PACIFIC NORTHWEST DROP: Deschutes Raspberry Black Butte Porter

Style: Fruited Porter

ABV: 6.8%

The Beer:

This new release from Deschutes is sure to be a fan favorite. The beer has a foundation of five malts, ranging from 2-Row barley to wheat, oat, and chocolate. PNW and German hops are added to the mix along with ripe raspberries, giving the final brew a sort of sunburst feel to balance the darker depths of the porter.

Tasting Notes:

You’re met with the classic Black Butte Porter notes of vanilla, bitter dark chocolate, and a hint of dank that leads towards this burst of tart-yet-sweet raspberry. That raspberry heads towards a bar of dark chocolate spiked with raspberry, with a velvety texture and subtle lightness.

Bottom Line:

This really helps bridge those colder winter months. You get porter depth and berry brightness (without getting raspberry seeds stuck in your teeth).

SOUTHWEST DROP: Modern Times Caliban

Style: NEIPA

ABV: 6.9%

The Beer:

While this was technically released last month, it’s still going strong now through April. The brew is a hop-bomb with a laser focus on Nelson hops which help to bring big fruity flavors — perfect for making a fruity NEIPA.

Tasting Notes (from the brewer):

“We expect a profile replete with bright tropical fruit, berries, lemon, and crisp citrus that’s practically guaranteed to improve any holiday party it attends.”

Bottom Line:

Modern Times almost never disappoints. This is sure to be a crushable fruit-bomb to quench the thirst of anyone living where the weather is already inching towards triple-digits.

ROCKY MOUNTAIN DROP: Upslope Blackberry Lemon Sour Ale

Style: Fruited Kettle Sour

ABV: 4.5%

The Beer:

This seasonal brew from Colorado’s Upslope is a perennial favorite. The addition of local blackberries to the naturally soured beer gives a light-yet-bold texture and flavor to a very sessionable, low-ABV beer.

Tasting Notes:

There’s a clear note of a blackberry patch with the sweetness of the berries at the core and the vines and leaves leading towards a slight earthiness. The lemon sour kicks in to counterpoint those sweet notes as the whole beer gets a little jammy and you’re left with a blackberry pie cut with plenty of lemon juice in beer form.

Bottom Line:

This is the perfect back porch sipper on a long weekend evening. Fair warning, if you snag a six-pack, don’t expect there to be any leftover the next morning.

SOUTHERN DROP: Family Business Beer Co. The Grackle

Style: American Imperial Stout

ABV: 8.9%

The Beer:

This has become a mainstay of Nate Seale’s expertly crafted line at Family Business Beer Co. And with St. Patrick’s Day just around the corner, it’s an ideal time to drink some tasty stout.

Tasting Notes:

The beer is rich with vanilla, meaty prunes, and the darkest chocolate malts. There’s a full-bodied velvetiness to the sip that really embraces the vanilla to the point of feeling like a warm bourbon with a touch of nuts and spice on the very sharp-yet-malty end.

Bottom Line:

This some heavy-duty beer. The high ABVs will sneak up on you while the soft mouthfeel and flavos will keep you going back for more.

MIDWEST DROP: Revolution Brewing Mega-Hero

Style: Imperial NEIPA

ABV: 9%

The Beer:

This month’s release from Chicago’s Revolution Brewing continues on their small-batch double dry-hopped journey. The brew is all about the dry hopping with Bravo and Trident hops at the center — both of which are renowned for their varied and deep fruitiness.

Tasting Notes (from the brewer):

“Defeat the end boss by wielding seven different hops (led by Bravo and Trident) to unleash the passionfruit and candied lime flavors that level the playing field.”

Bottom Line:

Rev continually puts out great one-off brews and this March seasonal is sure to be a great one-and-done to welcome the blooming flowers and trees of spring.

NORTHEAST DROP: Samuel Adams Wicked Double

Style: NEIPA

ABV: 8.3%

The Beer:

Samuel Adams has gone all-in on the IPA game. Their latest release, Wicked Double, is built on a solid backbone of their signature malts with a little wheat and oats thrown in for good measure. The brew is then hopped with a mix of Citra, Mosaic, Sabro, and Cascade hops to really bring the haze, fruit, and bitterness to the mix.

Tasting Notes:

There’s a mingling of ripe stonefruits next to tropical fruit on the nose. Those vibes carry on through the taste supported by a slightly sweet malty base. The stonefruit zeros in on apricot as the tropical side becomes almost savory, like papaya. The body of the beer is silky and leads towards a touch of spiced fruit.

Bottom Line:

This feels like it’d be a great topper/pairing on a very rummy tropical cocktail. It’s super refreshing but packs a pretty big ABV punch (again, like a tropical cocktail).

WILD CARD DROP: Stone Dayfall Belgian White

Style: Witbier

ABV: 5.5%

The Beer:

This brand-new release from Stone (it dropped on March 1st) is a departure from the brand’s heavy-hitting IPAs and stouts. The subtle Belgian wheat beer is made with Bergamot orange peel and coriander to imbue brightness and lightness to the brew. The result is a beer that feels like sunshine in a bottle.

Tasting Notes (from the brewer):

“Integrated aromas of orange, citrus, floral, spice, honey, along with subtle notes of grain/graham cracker. Up front citrus including orange, lemon, and lime, with floral and a light herbal component. Slight tartness, medium-body, and a smooth finish with lingering citrus.”

Bottom Line:

Whenever Stone does something out of the ordinary (see: their Berliner Weisse), it tends to slap. Luckily, this is a nationwide release, so you should be able to snag a sixer from a good beer shop or delivery service to judge for yourself.

INTERNATIONAL PICK OF THE MONTH: Guinness Hop House 13 Lager

Style: Pale Lager

ABV: 5%

The Beer:

While Guinness is best known for their iconic stout, they also make a ton of other beers. Their Brewer’s Project at St. James Gate in Dublin is a craft beer testing ground for young brewers looking to experiment. Some of it never leaves the craft bar. Some of it goes international. This experimental craft lager made it past the bar at St. James Gate and is now a year-round standard.

The brew has a base of 100 percent Irish malted barley that’s fermented with Guinness’s signature yeast. The beer is then hopped with hops from the U.S. and Australia (Galaxy, Topaz, and Mosaic). The result is a unique and modern take on the classic lager.

Tasting Notes:

The beer opens with fresh and light notes of malts next to fruity and slightly bitter hops. There’s a bit of piney dankness next to peaches and a rush of lemon tartness. That all tumbles back towards the slightly sweetened malts and light hop bitter/tart/dank vibe with a focus on being refreshing above all else.

Bottom Line:

This beer is crazy crushable and sessionable. Think of it a bit like Brooklyn Lager by way of Guinness. And it being St. Patrick’s Day in two weeks, you can easily kill a sixer of these while celebrating all things Irish.

Now in his second NBA season, Zion Williamson continues to prove why he was considered one of the most exciting high school prospects of his generation. After an abbreviated rookie campaign that was marred by injuries, Zion has been dominant through the first half of the season, even if it hasn’t exactly translated to much success for the Pelicans.

Still, his size and his ever-expanding tool set make him a tough assignment for just about any defender. That was especially true during his high school days, when he towered above most of the other players his age and was able to impose his will with relative ease.

That didn’t stop defenders from giving it their best go, and in arguably one of the best viral moments of his high-school career, it was a 5’6 eighth-grader who threatened to steal the show.

Bryson Bishop, starting point guard for the Oakbrook Prep Knights, had the unenviable task of checking Zion, and instead of being intimidated, he met the challenge with the type of disproportionate enthusiasm that briefly made him an internet folk hero. As you might imagine, it didn’t go particularly well, as Zion finished with 36 points in the 78-54 win.

But Bishop had already earned his 15 minutes of fame, and during a recent appearance on J.J. Redick’s podcast, Zion took the opportunity to reminisce about that moment and give Bishop his props for not backing down.

Here’s what Bishop himself had to say about the experience and the sheer awe he felt at Zion’s size and athleticism.

Props to Bishop for both taking on the challenge and having a good sense of humor about it in hindsight.

It was a mere three weeks ago that President Biden announced that the U.S. would have enough vaccine supply to cover every adult American by the end of July. At the time, that was good news.

Today, he’s bumped up that date by two full months.

That’s great news.

In his announcement to the nation, Biden outlined the updated process for getting the country immunized against COVID-19.

Part of what led to this announcement is a historic partnership between two pharmaceutical companies. News broke today that Merck & Co will be helping to manufacture more doses of its competitor Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine. Merck had tried to create its own COVID-19 vaccine early in the pandemic, but was unsuccessful. It’s unusual to see a company partner up with a fierce rival, but sometimes the good of the nation comes first.

“This is a type of collaboration between companies we saw in World War II,” Biden said of the partnership.

With the help of the Defense Production Act, which Biden has invoked, Merck will be able to dedicate two of its facilities to manufacturing the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. It will take some time to get fully ramped up, but the hope is that the two companies will be able to manufacture double the number of vaccines that Johnson & Johnson could create alone.

Johnson & Johnson has had a slower start than anticipated in getting production ramped up; of the 37 million doses promised by the end of March, the company says it will only be able to provide 20 million. However, Pfizer and Moderna are both dramatically ramping up their mRNA vaccine production—a development that also contributed to today’s end of May news.

According to the Associate Press, the president told governors to be prepared for a vaccine supply increase over the coming weeks. Additional doses will also be going to retail pharmacies for a federally backed program that will help get vaccines to more teachers, which will enable schools to open more safely. The White House announced a goal of getting every teacher at least one dose of the vaccine by the end of March.

The key now will be increasing distribution capacity to get more shots in more arms more quickly, a feat that lies largely in the hands of individual states. This news couldn’t come at a better time. In states like Texas, where the governor announced today that he will be lifting the state mask mandate and opening up all businesses at 100% next week despite being one of the worst-hit states in the nation at the moment, a two-month difference in getting people vaccinated could save thousands of lives.

Good news all around. Go science go.

Here are Biden’s full remarks from today: