Month: April 2021

Boban Marjanovic has a reputation for being the NBA’s gentle giant, a 7’4 center who always seems to have a smile on his face and is funny seemingly whenever he does anything off the floor. As a result, it was pretty surprising on Tuesday night when Marjanovic got kicked out of the Dallas Mavericks’ blowout win over the Golden State Warriors.

Jordan Poole went up for a layup and Marjanovic was unable to block the attempt without fouling. He swung his arm and made solid contact with Poole, who went down and had his head snap back. It was obviously not an attempt to hurt Poole — Majanovic went up to him after to make sure he was ok and helped him up — but he was still hit with a Flagrant 2 and sent to the locker room a little early.

Everyone seemed to be surprised by the decision, with Marjanovic’s teammates laughing that he got the boot. And after the game, the big man took to Instagram to have some fun with the whole thing, posting a picture of himself smiling as he walked off the court and turning to Justin Bieber for some caption inspiration.

In fairness, it’s probably hard to be too upset when you win by 30, even if you get tossed on a pretty weak Flagrant 2 call.

Capitalizing on the breakout success of their 2019 album Schlagenheim, UK post-punk outfit Black Midi recently announced their next LP Cavalcade. So far, they’ve previewed the project with a handful of fast-paced singles and now, Black Midi return for the captivating-yet-disorienting track “Slow,” which arrives alongside a trippy visual and North American tour dates.

Black Midi’s “Slow” video opens with an animated character attempting to defeat an invader. After an unsuccessful attempt, time moves on and the world slowly heals, though it’s not long before doom is once again impending.

The “Slow” visual’s director and animator Gustaf Holtenäs explained his inspiration:

“The ‘Slow’ video was made to fit the oscillating dynamics of the song. Going from calm to chaos over and over again. The video tells the story of a character who creates AI-generated worlds. To emphasize this, I let real AI’s generate a lot of the backgrounds in these worlds. So they are partly AI-generated, but It isn’t long before an AI could create the whole deal and create endless iterations of fantasy worlds. It can already create a random beautiful landscape painting in 1 second.”

Watch Black Midi’s “Slow” video above and see their Cavalcade tour dates below.

10/04 — San Francisco, CA @ Great American Music Hall
10/07 — Los Angeles, CA @ The Fonda Theatre
10/08 — San Diego, CA @ The Casbah
10/09 — Pioneertown, CA @ Pappy and Harriet’s
10/11 — Minneapolis, MN @ Fine Line Music Cafe
10/12 — Milwaukee, WI @ Turner Hall
10/14 — Lakewood, OH @ Mahall’s
10/15 — Pittsburgh, PA @ Spirit
10/15 — Kingston, NY @ Tubby’s
10/18 — Cambridge, MA @ The Sinclair
10/19 — New York, NY @ Webster Hall
10/21 — Baltimore, MD @ Union Brewery
10/23 — Asheville, NC @ The Grey Eagle Tavern
10/26 — Birmingham, AL @ Saturn
10/27 — New Orleans, LA @ Republic
10/29 — Austin, TX
10/30 — Houston, TX @ The Secret Group

Cavalcade is out 5/28 via Rough Trade. Pre-order it here.

Lil Kim’s story has been extensively detailed in interviews, movies, and even TV shows, but in a statement to People announcing her debut memoir, she insists, “Many people have thought they knew the story of Lil’ Kim, but they have no idea.” Looking to correct that oversight, Kim teamed up with God Save The Queens: The Essential History of Women in Hip-Hop author Kathy Iandoli to write The Queen Bee, coming out November 2 via Hachette Books. “I’m excited to finally get to tell my story after all this time,” Kim says.

Kim, counted by most — if not all — of today’s emerging female rap talents as one of the biggest influences on their careers, has been revered for decades as a rap pioneer and a fashion icon. Her legacy was already examined in print in numerous books, including the recently released The Motherlode by Clover Hope, which aimed to profile the oft-overlooked female contribution to the history, culture, and music of hip-hop. Lil Kim was one of the rare exceptions.

While Kim hasn’t released very much new material in recent years — with the exception of 2019’s 9, her first full-length album release since 2005’s The Naked Truth and a handful of underrated mixtapes — she’s still very much a fixture of hip-hop’s tapestry, contributing her voice to BET’S American Gangster series as fans continue to clamor for her and Foxy Brown to participate in Swizz Beatz’s Verzuz hits battle.

You can pre-order The Queen Bee here.

Two nights ago, the Mad Mikkelsen-starring Danish movie Another Round won the Oscar for Best International Feature Film. The movie is actually a thoughtful exploration of the dark road alcohol can lead us down, but it has plenty of fun along the way (depending on how you define “fun”, of course). The most comedic and ridiculous set-piece is kicked off by the crew of four mild-mannered school teachers getting absolutely shit-housed by drinking Sazeracs.

We’re about to get into that, but, just in case this film isn’t on your radar, here’s the trailer. It was just announced that Leonardo DiCaprio won a bidding war to remake the movie for English-speaking audiences, so if you’re not down to read subtitles, you’re in luck… a few years down the road.

Okay, back to the Sazerac scene. As with any great food or drink scene in a movie or TV show, the whole recipe was laid out for the viewers to get hooked right along with the weak-willed protagonists.

That truly spells out how to make a very standard Sazerac. While we tend to prefer our Sazeracs with a split of rye and cognac with lemon oils instead of orange, we still respect the look of this well-crafted drink.

So, to help you on your cocktail mixing journey, we thought we’d give this Danish spin a shot. After all, Mads and his pals really sell us on that drink — as you can see below.

Feeling intrigued? Let’s get to the recipe:

Another Round Sazerac

Ingredients:

• 3-oz. bourbon
• 0.5-oz. absinthe
• 2 dashes Peychaud’s Bitters
• 1 sugar cube
• Ice cubes
• Ice ball
• Orange peel

In the movie, they’re seemingly making four drinks at once. Hence, “eight” dashes of bitters and “four lumps of sugar” flashing on the screen. We’re just making one drink. So we’re using two dashes of bitters and only one sugar cube, or “lump” if you will.

Next, they specifically call out “5 cl bourbon” and “1 cl absinthe.” That’s 1.6-oz and 0.3-oz respectively. Now, I’m not complaining, but there’s zero chance that’s all the bourbon they were using in those monster rocks glasses. So, we’re going with a double, or 3-oz., of bourbon and nudging the absinthe up to 0.5-oz.

Lastly, you can see in the film that they’ve pre-chilled those mammoth glasses and made ice balls. Otherwise, this is pretty straightforward. They don’t show any bottle label, so I’m picking my own bourbon. In this case, that’s a bottle of Beam’s beautiful mixing bourbon, Legent. You can snag a bottle here for $40.

There’s an underlying sweetness in Legent that’s tied to spices, dried fruits, and orange that works wonders in a drink like this.

What You’ll Need:

• Cocktail jug
• Rocks glass (pre-chilled)
• Muddler
• Barspoon
• Cocktail strainer
• Peeler or pairing knife

Method:

• Pre-chill your rocks glass, preferably overnight.
• Gather your ingredients and tools.
• Add two dashes of Peychaud’s Bitters and one sugar cube to a cocktail jug.
• Let the bitters seep into the sugar cube and then crush and mix with a muddler.
• Add in the bourbon and stir until the sugar starts to dissolve.
• Add in a handful or two of ice cubes and stir until the cocktail jug starts to frost over.
• Fetch your glass from the freezer. Pour the absinthe into the glass and swirl it around to coat the inside of the glass.
• Add the ice ball to the absinthe-coated glass.
• Strain the cocktail into the waiting glass.
• Peel a strip of orange rind. Gently bend the rind to express the oils over the glass and then rub the rind around the rim and body of the glass. Discard the peel.
• Serve.

Bottom Line:

While this isn’t my preferred Sazerac, it’s still a damn fine version of the drink. It’s absolutely f*cking strong but very good. Also, as you can see, a double pour of bourbon barely filled this small rocks glass to the mid-point, which is more than enough booze for this cocktail.

The interplay between the velvet bourbon and the sweet/bitter Peychaud’s is always a delight. The orange oils really do make the drink pop and add that little something extra. The sweet, bitter spice and bright citrus mask any alcohol-related burn.

This drink is crushable in every respect. Which might well lead you to a state like ol’ Mads below.

Like a breath of the most refreshing, free-wheeling air possible, HBO’s Betty will soon glide back into our lives. It’s what we really need to heal our pandemic-addled minds, and somehow, Crystal Moselle managed to gather the Skate Kitchen crew back up for a second season and film on the streets of New York City. The main players are all back — Rachelle Vinberg as Camille, Ajani Russell as Indigo, Dede Lovelace as Janay, Moonbear as Honeybear, and Nina Moran as Kirt (“Kirt! Kirt! Kirt! Kirt!”) — and they’re still making the act of gliding through the streets look like the coolest thing on Earth in this teaser.

In their defense, Betty really is the coolest show on TV these days, and we could all stand to live vicariously right about now. Yes, they are very much gathering in these highlighted scenes, yet they’re even making masks look cool. They’ll probably still even mop up the blood when you fall of your own skateboard. From the synopsis:

In season two, our five protagonists are stepping firmly into womanhood and tackling all the challenges it brings. As they navigate the pressures of adulthood, their male counterparts start to step up, step in, and become true allies, forming a united front for the greater good. Set in the last chapter of 2020, the season captures the late summer and early fall COVID-19 months in New York City, where masks and outside activities are the norm.

I’m stoked, but I do need a further update on this note…

Betty will return to HBO in June.

Kevin Love’s emotions got the best of him earlier this week during a game against the Toronto Raptors. Love stood out of bounds and inbounded the ball by casually slapping at it as the referee gave it to him, letting it bounce onto the floor for Stanley Johnson to scoop up. He then opted to walk away from the situation, letting Johnson kick it out to Malachi Flynn for a wide open three.

It was a situation where Love, who is expected to be the leader of the young Cleveland Cavaliers, came out looking pretty bad. But the following day, he apologized to the team, and on Wednesday, Love sat down with the media and addressed everything, taking responsibility and saying that this had nothing to do with his teammates or any sort of disrespect of the game.

Love went on to explain that this was a culmination of frustrations coming to a head, then made clear that he has to start holding himself to a higher standard because he understands his role in Cleveland.

There have been a few moments in the post-LeBron James years in Cleveland where Love’s gotten visibly frustrated on the court, with this being the latest example. He handled the aftermath of this about as well as he could, but he also has to know that he can’t let this stuff happen going forward.

Ever since Eilish revealed she had swapped her neon green and black hair dye for a platinum blonde look, fans suspected it was only a matter of time before she would start sharing new music. The theory was confirmed Tuesday when Eilish revealed concrete details about her sophomore album, titled Happier Than Ever. Now, Eilish is giving fans a taste of the effort’s lead single, “Your Power.”

Sharing a nine-second snippet of the song on social media, Eilish revealed that the track will premiere Thursday morning alongside an official video. Judging by the preview, it seems as though Eilish took a more stripped-down approach to the track, opting to showcase her moving vocals over a simple acoustic guitar. The snippet is taken from the upcoming visual and shows a scenic shot of picturesque mountains.

Alongside her album announcement Tuesday, Eilish said that she’s overjoyed to finally share new music with her fans. “this is my favorite thing i’ve ever created and i am so excited and nervous and EAGER for you to hear it,” she wrote. “i can’t even tell you. i’ve never felt so much love for a project than i do for this one. hope you feel what i feel.”

Watch Eilish’s “Your Power” teaser above.

Happier Than Ever is out 7/30 via Interscope. Pre-order it here.

When TDE CEO Anthony “Top Dawg” Tiffith tweeted “THE WAIT IS OVAH!!!” with a video showing a release date of May 7, he set Twitter ablaze with speculation about just which TDE-instigated “wait” would be concluding next week. A resounding consensus has emerged favoring Kendrick Lamar — who last released a full-length album in 2017 — making “Kendrick” one of the top trends on Twitter just an hour after the tweet.

However, some were skeptical about the possibility that it’d be the Compton rapper, as TDE has had follow-ups for a handful of projects in the works, including Isaiah Rashad’s 2016 album The Sun’s Tirade and SZA’s 2017 debut CTRL, which were both critically acclaimed fan favorites.

Meanwhile, some seemed resigned to the possibility that it might not be any of the “big three,” considering the label’s gift for constantly upending expectations. A few fans seemed less excited, skeptically preparing themselves for May 7 bringing disappointment instead.

One thing seems to remain certain: Even without revealing a single detail about whatever is coming on May 7, TDE’s roster collectively has enough pull to dominate the discussion, meaning that whenever any of the speculated albums actually do release — whether that’s in May or another time entirely — they’ll surely be able to capture fans’ attention all over again.

It’s been nearly 100 years since F. Scott Fitzgerald published his masterpiece The Great Gatsby. Since then, the book has been examined by high school classrooms, turned into two movies, a TV show, and served as inspiration for themed parties. Now, it looks like the story is getting turned into a Broadway musical with the help of Florence And The Machine singer Florence Welch.

Dubbed The Great Gatsby, A New Musical, the play’s music is being written by Welch and Grammy Award nominee Thomas Bartlett, who previously worked with Welch on Florence And The Machine’s track “Jenny of Oldstones.” The timeline for the musical’s release is still in the works, but the musical will feature a book by Pulitzer Prize winner Martyna Majok and will be directed by Olivier Award nominee Rebecca Frecknall.

Expressing her excitement about the project, Welch said she’s been a longtime fan of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s writing: “This book has haunted me for a large part of my life. It contains some of my favourite lines in literature. Musicals were my first love, and I feel a deep connection to Fitzgerald’s broken romanticism. It is an honour to have been offered the chance to recreate this book in song.”

The Great Gatsby, A New Musical producers Amanda Ghost and Robert Fox echoed Welch’s sentiment and complimented her songwriting abilities. “Florence’s passion for Gatsby and exceptional musical storytelling will bring this iconic love story to life in ways we have never experienced before,” they said. “Martyna and Rebecca are two of the most exciting theatre artists of their generation and, together, this extraordinary team brings a thrilling new perspective to one of the most culturally significant books of all time. It’s been 100 years since The Great Gatsby was published and there could be no better time for a new musical adaptation of the greatest party America ever threw.”

The Eternals trailer needs to come out ASAP. It’s a Marvel movie with a stacked cast, including Angelina Jolie, Kumail Nanjiani, Brian Tyree Henry, Salma Hayek, Gemma Chan, and both Robb Stark and Jon Snow, which is already plenty exciting. But the real standing ovation moment will be the trailer saying “from Oscar-winning director Chloé Zhao” (much better than “visionary director”). That’s something everyone can get behind.

Over the weekend, Zhao won Best Director at the Academy Awards (only the second woman and first woman of color to do so) for her film, Nomadland, which was also named Best Picture. How did she celebrate? “This afternoon I’m going back to Disney to work on Eternals,” she told Variety on Monday. “I’m probably late.”

Zhao’s currently in the editing process for Eternals, which Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige teases will look more real than other Marvel movies. He praised Zhao for “really fighting for practical locations.” When he showed a rough cut to “Disney higher-ups,” Feige “had to keep saying, ‘This is right out of a camera; there’s no VFX work to this at all!’ Because it was a beautiful sunset, with perfect waves and mist coming up from the shore on this giant cliffside. Really impressive stuff.” It wasn’t until he saw Nomadland (which, pre-pandemic, was supposed to come out after Eternals) that he realized, “That is not just what she wanted to bring to Marvel. This is a signature style.”

A Marvel movie not filmed in an airplane hangar or field in Georgia or soundstage (or at least not entirely)? There’s another reason to be excited for the Eternals trailer.

Eternals comes out on November 5.

(Via Variety)