Month: June 2021

The Denver Nuggets scrapped throughout the first three quarters of Game 4 as they tried to stave off elimination, but as the Suns kept pushing every comeback attempt away — often with Chris Paul hitting jumper after jumper — frustration began to build for a Denver team on the verge of being swept.

Down 8 in the third quarter, Nikola Jokic felt he had gotten fouled and lost it, taking a frustration foul in the backcourt on Cameron Payne, but did so with a violent swing that caught Payne across the face, sparking a brief kerfuffle in which Devin Booker got in Jokic’s face, who seemed ready to rumble with the Suns star if need be.

You can see from this angle how Jokic wound up and swung down on Payne, hitting him across the nose which left the Suns reserve guard down on the ground for some time although he would stay in the game to hit his free throws.

The hard hit to the face and the manner in which he wound up earned Jokic an ejection for a Flagrant 2 foul and it seemed likely that the MVP’s spectacular season would end on the most sour of notes with a terrible decision to go at Payne the way he did. Jokic would apologize to Payne before he left the floor, with the Nuggets season all but walking out the door with him.

Kayleigh McEnany was Donald Trump’s fourth and arguably most destructive press secretary, who many believed was somehow able to top the cartoon villainy of Sean Spicer and Sarah Huckabee Sanders. (His third, Stephanie Grisham, perhaps wisely kept a low profile, which is to say she almost never did her job, which is speaking to the press.) She was rude, she was condescending, and she was always spinning the truth, attempting to protect her frequently lawless employer. (She also seems to be pretty bitter about her successor.) So when she told a crowd she’d never lied on the job, people online were quick to call bull.

As per Newsweek, the Trump staffer — who, of course, wound up at Fox News — was speaking Sunday at the Young Women’s Leadership Summit, put on by the conservative group Turning Point USA. She recalled one of her most infamous moments: Her first day on the job, back in May 2020, when a journalist, already burned by her three predecessors, asked her a blunt question: “Will you pledge to never lie to us from the podium?”

McEnany’s replied, simply, “I will never lie to you.” The line earned her instant infamy, and she proceeded to spend the next three-quarters of a year telling one whopper after another.

But McEnany didn’t see it that way. She told her own version of the story, in which she was relentlessly on-the-level with journalists trying to relay information from a famously shifty administration. She reminisced about being asked that question, looking back with rose-colored glasses.

“And I said without hesitation, ‘No,’” McEnany said. “And I never did. As a woman of faith, as a mother of baby Blake, as a person who meticulously prepared at some of the world’s hardest institutions, I never lied. I sourced my information. But that will never top the press from calling me a liar.”

She also revealed the administration’s alleged take on their quite scabrous relationship with the press. “Our motto was this: ‘Offense only,’” McEnany told the crowd. “Because I knew what we were up against. Republicans always get the bad headlines, always get the false stories, always get the lies—if I can use that word—told by the press. There is one standard for Democrats and another for Republicans. And we must be on offense.”

When news of McEnany’s appearance made its way onto social media, her spin on her White House tenure was treated with, shall we say, skepticism.

Raw Story even compiled a helpful list of the many times McEnany fibbed on the job.

And so it seems the former Trump staffers, much like their old boss, continues to act like they’re still on the job.

(Via Newsweek)

Ned Beatty, one of the most consistently jolly character actors in movies over the last half decade, has passed away, according to The Hollywood Reporter. He was 83.

Born in Kentucky, Beatty first got involved in entertainment as a young a cappella singer. He even scored a scholarship due to his vocal gifts. But he transitioned into stage work instead, and by his mid-30s he’d pivoted into screen work as well. His film debut turned heads: He played one of the bougie Northerners canoeing through the bayou in 1972’s Deliverance. He played the character whose violation became one of the era’s most disturbing scenes. It instantly cemented him as a go-to supporting scene-stealer until his retirement some four decades later.

Good-natured and lovable, even when playing squirrelly ne’er-do-wells, Beatty alternated between genre fare, like the Burt Reynolds vehicles White Lightning and Stoker Ace as well as the Richard Pryor-Gene Wilder action comedy Silver Streak, and more serious fare, like Nashville and All the President’s Men. In the scorching satire Network, his one-scene wonder earned him his first and only Academy Award nomination.

Beatty was also at the ground floor of the modern superhero movie era, serving as the comic relief sidekick to Gene Hackman’s Lex Luthor in the first two Superman films, from 1978 and 1980. He spent decades popping up to sprinkle pixie dust over movies as diverse as Back to School, Rudy, He Got Game, and Toy Story 3, in which he played the villainous Lots-O-Huggin’ Bear.

Like most character actors, Beatty was a regular on TV as well, and he would swing by the likes of Kojak, The Rockford Files, M*A*S*H, Hawaii 5-O, and Murder, She Wrote. (He would have made a terrific Columbo baddie.) He was an occasional guest on Roseanne, playing father to John Goodman’s Dan Conner, and he spent 33 episodes amidst the top shelf ensemble cast of Homicide: Life on the Street. His final screen role was in 2013’s Baggage Claim.

To answer one possible question: No, he had no relation to Warren Beatty. (Ditto Shirley MacLaine.) When asked, as he often was, he had a wry answer perfectly in keeping with the benevolent persona he created onscreen. He called him his “illegitimate uncle.”

(Via THR)

The trailer for Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin revealed by Square Enix at E3 on Sunday is spectacular. Unfortunately, it is not spectacular for the reasons that the developers probably intended. It, by the name and appearance of the game, appears to be a modern retelling of the original Final Fantasy story. Right now we don’t know for certain, but there’s definitely some elements to it based on how developers describe the game.

Via The Verge.

With the memory of their struggle buried deep in their hearts… Jack and his allies, Ash and Jed, burn with resolve to defeat Chaos as they throw open the gates to the Chaos Shrine. Yet doubts remain — are they truly the Warriors of Light the prophecy foretold?  Step into a world of dark fantasy and revel in the exhilarating, action-packed battles.

It all sounds a lot like the original Final Fantasy, but the way the game looks is definitely not that beloved title. For starters, the game itself is an action-oriented hack and slasher with a very Dark Souls feel to it. That in itself isn’t the problem. Making an action spin-off of Final Fantasy is fine, especially with how much more action-focused the gameplay was in Final Fantasy XV. But the issue in the trailer is some wonky dialogue dialogue, with a one-note main character and heavy usage of the word “chaos.”

None of this is to say that Final Fantasy Origin will be bad. The plot can be ridiculous and the writing can be poor, but as long as the game is fun to play then that is enough. But it looks especially jarring when the trailer is revealed on the same day that Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster was announced.

Coming to mobile and steam, players will be able to go through remasters of all their favorite Final Fantasy titles from the NES and SNES. Unlike previous remakes, however, this is just going to be a remaster of those original pixels. Players that never got to experience the original sprites of games like Final Fantasy 3, which never got a Western release in pixel format, will finally be able to experience these games as they were originally designed. That is an experience that many video game fans have been begging to have for years. The only downside is all these games will likely be sold separately instead of in a package deal. Not a dealbreaker by any means, but a little unfortunate.

These two announcements is really Final Fantasy at its best and worst. The original Final Fantasy games are classics, and while some haven’t aged as well as others, they’re still worth experiencing. Stranger of Paradise, on the other hand, is a new take on the franchise that seems more focused on flash and less on the story. This is unfortunate because so many gamers got into this franchise for the story in the first place. Hopefully, the original trailer was just a misrepresentation of what it’s going to actually be. If not, well at least we have Pixel Remaster to enjoy instead.

The Milwaukee Bucks clawed their way back into their second round series with the Brooklyn Nets with a hard fought, 86-83 win in Game 3 to make it a 2-1 series deficit with a chance to even things up with another home game in Game 4. After Milwaukee jumped on Brooklyn early in Game 3, taking a 30-9 lead and then holding on the rest of the way, it was the Nets who jumped out early to a 9-2 advantage in Game 4 thanks to some tremendous shot-making from Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving.

The Bucks would settle in from there, though, and the hyper-competitive series we had expected from the beginning seemed to be taking shape, as the two teams traded runs — first a 13-0 from Brooklyn followed by a 12-0 from Milwaukee — to trade leads in the first half.

However, Game 4 shifted dramatically in the second quarter, though, when Kyrie landed on Giannis’ foot in the paint and suffered a sprained right ankle, forcing him out for the remainder of the game and leaving his longterm status in question.

The Nets were able to hold on to keep the deficit to three at the half, but it was clear it would take a Herculean effort from Kevin Durant to keep their offense running at a level to keep pace with the Bucks in the second half.

In the third quarter, the Bucks started to assert their will as the Nets struggled to score without Irving, pulling ahead by as many as 16 on a couple of occasions. Brooklyn clawed their way back late thanks to a run sparked by KD, who found his way to the free throw line to get in rhythm and then made some incredibly tough shots, including this scramble drill baseline jumper to cut the lead to nine with just six seconds to play in the quarter.

That suddenly made things seem like they would be very interesting going into the fourth, but Khris Middleton ensured Milwaukee entered the final frame with a double-digit lead, hitting a ridiculous three over what seemed like the entire Nets team at the buzzer.

The two teams traded shots early in the fourth, but the Bucks started to pull away again as Brooklyn simply struggled to keep up on the offensive end. Milwaukee took as much as a 19-point lead after threes from Khris Middleton and then Jrue Holiday with six minutes to play, and it seemed as though it might be curtains on the Nets in Game 4.

To Brooklyn’s credit, they continued battling, but weren’t able to get the led any closer than 13 with just over five minutes to play before Steve Nash pulled the plug on the starters and inserted a five-man bench unit with 4:28 to play and Brooklyn trailing 99-84. The Bucks left their starting unit out there for another minute and Giannis put an exclamation point on the victory with a vicious block on one end followed by a thunderous alley-oop dunk on the other to give him 34 points and 12 rebounds on an afternoon where he was a +29 in his 38 minutes of action.

Milwaukee would then empty its bench with just over three minutes to play, eventually cruising to a 107-96 win to even the series at two games apiece going back to Brooklyn. Given where the series was when they left Barclays Center last week, things have shifted dramatically to where, given Irving and Harden’s injuries, the Bucks will likely find themselves as the betting favorites to win the series. The Nets certainly still have a chance, as does any team that can deploy Kevin Durant, but so much of what happens the rest of the way in this series will be determined by the injuries to their two star guards.

Harden has been able to do some on-court work, but Steve Nash indicated before Game 4 that he still has a number of hurdles yet to clear in his rehab before he would be able to play in a game. Irving, meanwhile, will surely undergo further testing and an MRI to determine the extent of his ankle sprain, but given the pain he was in leaving Game 4, it would be fairly stunning if he was a go for Game 5 back in Brooklyn.

The Disney+ cycle of Marvel limited series has moved on from The Falcon and the Winter Soldier to Loki, with new episodes following the trickster god coming out on Wednesdays over the next few weeks. But fans of the MCU are still buzzing about WandaVision, and we’re starting to learn more about how secretive things were in the show’s casting process.

In fact, one pivotal actor in the show’s limited run essentially had no idea what she was auditioning for. Teyonah Parris, who played Monica Rambeau and helped set the stage for various other parts of the MCU in the process, apparently had little context and “no clue” what the connection was between the scenes she used in her audition.

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Parris talked about a number of things, including her great stretch as Dawn on Mad Men. But the main part of the interview was about WandaVision, and she the way she describes it, landing the part sounds… confusing. When asked about the audition, she revealed that she didn’t know very much at all. Mild spoilers ahead if you haven’t seen the show.

I knew it was Marvel, but that’s about it. I didn’t know the context, just the sides for what I now know was the scene between Monica, as Geraldine, and Wanda [Elizabeth Olsen], when Wanda’s water breaks and that stork was walking around, and the scene where Monica wakes up from the blip. Imagine being given those two scenes and told it’s the same character! I had no clue. So, I had to play broad sitcom and drama.

It’s funny to imagine those very different characters being in the same universe, but given that she took part in both realities during WandaVision, it’s no surprise that Parris was able to handle the casting process. And with Rambeau teased as having a big future in the MCU, it’s likely we’ll see a lot more of her in the future.

[via Hollywood Reporter]

People in the gaming industry have said for months how Xbox needed to come into this summer and make a statement at E3. The console giant may have the best deal in video games with Game Pass, but without exclusive titles or console sellers it was hard to convince people why they should be purchasing an Xbox Series X/S over a PlayStation 5. It was imperative that Xbox came out and showed everyone they were more than a service-based company and that, while the box isn’t as important as it used to be, it still is a focal point of their business.

Now that the dust has settled on the Xbox and Bethesda showcase, it seems clear that the message was received. Xbox didn’t just come out swinging, they brought everything they had and in a year where it looks like Sony isn’t going to be showing anything at all around E3. Of course, this presentation wasn’t just about Xbox, but it was also a Bethesda showcase. The longtime developer of titles like Elder Scrolls and Fallout was recently purchased by Microsoft and this was their opportunity to show what they plan to do now that they have the Xbox backing them up.

Starfield

Bethesda and Xbox’s first trailer was a game that has been in development under Bethesda for a long time. The long-awaited Starfield. They say this is a game 25 years in the making so obviously, the expectations behind it are high. We can’t wait to see what the final product will look like, but we’re gonna have to wait until late 2022 to see it in action.

Game Pass

Xbox has been pushing Game Pass for a long time, but this event made it clear just how much they’re putting behind their flagship service. Every decision Xbox makes these days has Game Pass in mind and with the purchase of Bethesda, they have decades of games to put on their flagship platform. Not to mention the flurry of games they already have on there, such as the entire Yakuza series, and a plethora of Rare games. There just isn’t a better deal in video games right now than Game Pass.

Some of the games announced that were coming to Game Pass include:

• Yakuza: Like a Dragon
• Among Us
• Hades
• Back 4 Blood (not released yet)
• S.T.A.L.K.E.R 2 (not released yet)

Halo Infinite

Halo Infinite may have had a rough reveal back in 2020, but it had a much stronger showing at E3 2021. The multiplayer going free-to-play is a massive win for Microsoft and the new campaign trailer was intriguing. With a Holiday 2021 release coming we’re finally going to be playing a new Halo again before the end of the year. That’s such an exciting sentence to say.

Eiyuden Chronicles

Eiyuden Chronicles is a game that most people are not going to care about, but longtime JRPG fans were losing their minds at this trailer because the inspirations of it were very clear. This is a Suikoden game in the year 2021 and fans of the Suiokden series will go on endlessly about how it’s a classic franchise that everyone needs to play. It may not be Suikoden proper, but it looks like a good and fun JRPG-style game.

The Outer Worlds 2

This trailer didn’t show us more than a comedic cinematic, but it was a bit of a surprise announcement here. The Outer Worlds came out back in 2019, but it was a game ripe for a sequel. It’s a good announcement trailer and there’s anticipation to learn more about what this game will be like, we’ll just have to wait a bit to see more here.

Forza Horizon 5

The Forza Horizon series has always been a glorified tech demo for next gen consoles. Look at the really pretty car drive in the really pretty environments. That aspect absolutely delivered here, with incredibly lifelike backdrops for car races.

That said, Forza Horizon 5 did show a little bit of promise. It apparently has a Battle Royale mode, which was unexpected, and the arcade aspects look really fun. There’s more to this game than cars going fast and it might pull in some non-racing fans as a result of that.

Microsoft Flight Simulator

This was a major surprise mainly because the flight simulator games have always been PC-only. Even so, this is one of the best simulation games ever made and the more people who play it, the better. There’s a sense of wonder that comes with taking a flight anywhere in the world and the real life aspects of the game, such as actual fight and weather patterns, make it a technical marvel. Add in the Top Gun expansion, for those of us that want to fly fast or wild, and this is a must get game for any Xbox owner.

Shredders

Remember when there were way more snowboarding games? 1080 Avalanche, SSX Tricky, Snowboard Kids, etc. So many of us grew up playing these and they just kinda fell out of popularity as consoles advanced. Which is disappointing, because consoles have evolved in a way where we can get some really gorgeous snowy mountain landscapes. Games that look like Shredders. All we got was a little bit of gameplay and, frankly, that’s all we needed. Let’s hope this game does well so we can get more snowboarding games. That’s a genre that needs to come back.

Another Mini Fridge?

Remember when the Xbox Series X was announced and everyone joked it looked like a mini fridge? Then they sent out some actual mini fridges and everyone got a laugh? Well now, fans can buy their own Xbox mini fridge this holiday season. Got a game room and need a place to keep some cold drinks? Xbox has got you covered with one of the more ridiculous items they’re going to be selling this holiday season. It still made us laugh though!

Lil Baby and Lil Durk were two of the most popular hip-hop artists in 2020. The former’s My Turn was the best-selling album of the year, while the latter went next level with Just Cause Y’all Waited 2 and The Voice. This year, the rappers decided to bring their talents together for their joint album, Voice Of The Heroes, which has just debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard album charts.

The team-up topped the Billboard 200 chart with 150,000 units sold in its first week — a number that’s comprised of 144,000 streaming equivalent album units and 4,000 pure album sales. It also marks Lil Baby’s second No. 1 after My Turn topped the charts for five non-consecutive weeks last year. Meanwhile, Voice Of The Heroes is Lil Durk’s first No. 1 album. His previous high for a project was No. 2, which he achieved twice in 2020 thanks to the one-two punch of Just Cause Y’all Waited 2 and The Voice.

Other highlights on the chart include Olivia Rodrigo’s Sour at No. 2, J. Cole’s The Off-Season at No. 4, and Moneybagg Yo’s A Gangsta’s Pain at No. 6.

Check out our review of Voice Of The Heroes here.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

On Sunday, Square Enix and Crystal Dynamics gave fans a closer look at the upcoming Marvel’s Avengers: War for Wakanda expansion coming later this summer. Based on the trailer, the game follows the fourth person to don the mask and take on the role of Wakanda’s Black Panther as he takes down the classic Marvel villain Ulysses Klaue, or simply “Klaw” for short.

In addition, we got a pretty good look at Wakanda and the unique enemies the Avengers will take on as they protect it from the notorious Vibranium thief.

As you can see from the trailer — and as expected — Wakanda looks lush and beautiful, and the diversity in environment, enemies, and characters included in the upcoming expansion could bring a breath of fresh air to a game that’s had… a few issues in its first few months.

Since Marvel’s Avengers release, two characters have been added to the game, both iterations of Hawkeye: Kate Bishop and Clint Barton. King T’Challa marks the third new arrival, and will be followed by Spider-Man, who, unfortunately for Xbox players, will be exclusive to PlayStation.

However, all players regardless of console will be able to enjoy Marvel’s Avengers: War for Wakanda for free once it launches which, according to the trailer description, should be sometime in August.

You don’t hear from Eric Trump as often as you hear from the president-turned-failed blogger’s other kids. In fact, you see his wife, former Inside Edition producer Lara Trump, in the news more often. There was even talk of her running for Senate, plans which appear to now be scotched. She’s also known for allegedly funneling money from a dog charity to line her father-in-law’s pockets. But even though she married into one of the world’s most controversial families, she’s shown she can play as hard as they can. For instance, she, too, can say things that sound an awful lot like an incitement to violence.

On Saturday night, while parts of the nation were enjoying a lovely late spring night out after a year-plus of lockdown, Lara was busy yapping on Fox News with Judge Jeanine Pirro. The two were talking about the ongoing crisis at the Southern border, which has seen an influx in migrant crossing. Of late conservative commentators have targeted Vice President Kamala Harris over what they see is her mishandling of the situation. Lara Trump was no different.

“She thinks she can just laugh off the crisis at the border and it’s embarrassing,” claimed Trump. She then offered some advice for denizens down South. “I don’t know what you tell the people that live at the southern border. I guess they better arm up and get ready, and maybe they will have to take matters into their own hands.”

She also had some advice for those fleeing dangerous situations in other countries for a better life: “People should never make this dangerous journey here. It’s bad for Americans. It’s bad for the migrants. It’s bad all around.”

But most people dwelled on the first part: the one where she told people to buy guns and “take matters into their own hands.” People called it out for what it was: an incitement to violence that, if heeded, could inflame an already powder keg situation.

Others took aim at Lara Trump herself.

Throughout his presidency, and in the lead-up to it, Lara Trump’s father-in-law was infamous for similar rhetoric. He told his legions to attack reporters and leftwing activists, even claiming he’d cover their legal bills. So even though Lara’s not a blood relation, such rancid beliefs clearly run in the family.

(Via Mediaite)