Month: December 2021

By now you’ve likely heard that one of entertainment’s most beloved icons, Betty White, passed away today at 99, just days short of what would have been her 100th birthday. As the New York Times noted in its obit published this afternoon, White is probably best known for portraying “the nymphomaniacal Sue Ann Nivens on ‘The Mary Tyler Moore Show’ and the sweet but dim Rose Nylund on ‘The Golden Girls.’” She won five Emmys in a TV career that spanned seven decades and later in life became a beloved figure on the internet.

From the aforementioned New York Times obit:

One of her last in-person appearances was on the 2018 Emmy Awards telecast.

“It’s incredible that you can stay in a career this long and still have people put up with you,” she told the assembled TV luminaries, who gave her a prolonged standing ovation. “I wish they did that at home.”

Just a few days ago, White gave an interview to People to discuss her upcoming 100th birthday and the magazine noted that “nowadays, White enjoys a quiet life in Los Angeles playing crossword puzzles and card games. She also likes to watch animal documentaries, Jeopardy! and sports, particularly golf.” When asked about her diet, White told People, “I try to avoid anything green. I think it’s working.”

Naturally, there’s been an outpouring of tributes and remembrances for White on social media this afternoon. Below are some of our favorites — some funny, some poignant, some informative, some memory-inspiring.

Pour one out tonight for a true legend on this New Year’s Eve.

It’s official: The Chicago Bulls will enter 2022 sitting atop the Eastern Conference. The Bulls moved to 23-10 on Friday afternoon thanks to a 108-106 win over the Indiana Pacers. It was hardly a sure thing, though, as Chicago required some heroics from its biggest acquisition over the summer to take down their division rivals.

After Caris LeVert made a pair of free throws with less than a minute to go in regulation, DeRozan buried a pair of buckets to give Chicago a 108-106 win. The first was a two-point jumper to cut Indiana’s lead to one, and after a missed dunk attempt by LeVert, the Bulls raced the other way. DeRozan had it in his hands the entire time and decided he was going to try to win the game on his own.

It wasn’t easy — the Pacers hounded DeRozan and forced him into an awkward shot attempt. But somehow, despite shooting an off-balance jumper from a few feet behind the three-point line, DeRozan’s attempt was perfect, going straight through the cylinder and barely even touching the rim.

On the day, DeRozan led the Bulls with 28 points, six assists, three rebounds, and three steals. He only made one of his three attempts from behind the three-point line, but the one he made was pretty good.

Dua Lipa has been filling our Instagram feeds with lots of lovely island photos of late, but she’s been on the job while traveling, too. The pop star is ending 2021 on a high note, by performing at the Unicef Gala in St. Barts. Though Dua only released her second album, Future Nostalgia, last year, she’s been using the time off from touring during the pandemic to release multiple variations of the record, from the Club Future Nostalgia take to the Moonlight Edition, and honing her performance skills in the meantime, too. With a massive tour on the horizon for 2022, including dates with both Megan Thee Stallion and Caroline Polachek, a few days on an island for a private performance sounds like a great way to get back into the live performance rhythm.

As Rolling Stone points out, Dua’s private performance was for the LuisaViaRoma Gala in St. Barths that raises money for UNICEF. In a short setlist that included some of her Future Nostalgia hits like “Physical” and “Levitating” — and her breakout hit, “New Rules” — Dua closed out the evening with the lead-off track for her second album, “Don’t Start Now.” Check out a clip of that performance below, and some shorter clips from Dua herself, along with a shot of the iconic green pants she wore during the performance.

The football world suffered an incalculable loss earlier this week. John Madden, the legendary coach and broadcaster whose entire life revolved around a love for the sport that few others could match, died unexpectedly at age 85, with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell saying, “Nobody loved football more than Coach. He was football. He was an incredible sounding board to me and so many others. There will never be another John Madden, and we will forever be indebted to him for all he did to make football and NFL what it is today.”

Almost immediately after the news of Madden’s death became public, football players, coaches, and fans immediately began showering him with tributes. Whether they remember him as a coach, as a broadcaster, or learned the sport through the video game that bears his name and has become a model for other sports games to replicate, it was evident that Madden’s impact on generations of football fans cannot be understated.

On Friday, Madden’s life was eulogized by CBS, the first network for which he called games. CBS enlisted Jim Nantz to provide the voice over, with Nantz praising Madden’s “lifelong love for the game.”

“Above all else,” Nantz said, “he made the game fun, no matter what he was doing.”

Betty White, the eight-time Emmy winner who charmed millions over her decades-long career, has died at 99 years old, weeks short of her 100th birthday (January 17).

“Even though Betty was about to be 100, I thought she would live forever,” her agent Jeff Witjas told Deadline. “I will miss her terribly and so will the animal world that she loved so much. I don’t think Betty ever feared passing because she always wanted to be with her most beloved husband Allen Ludden. She believed she would be with him again.”

White got her start in the 1930s (she was all of eight years old when she made her professional debut on the radio program Empire Builders) and was a frequent presence on television throughout the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, including hosting Hollywood on Television and playing Sue Ann on The Mary Tyler Moore Show.

But she’s best known for her performance as Rose Nylund on The Golden Girls, which aired from 1985 to 1992. “We showed up for the read through [and] it was like batting a tennis ball over the net. It was so exciting to be with four people with that chemistry — I’ll never forget that first read,” White once said about her co-stars Beatrice Arthur, Rue McClanahan, and Estelle Getty on the NBC sitcom. “It was like we had been working together forever! I still get goosebumps thinking about it.”

In recent years, she starred on TV Land’s wildly popular Hot in Cleveland, guest starred on countless shows (including The Simpsons, Community, and SpongeBob SquarePants), and focused on animal advocacy. “White worked on many charitable projections involving animal disease research. She served for three years as the president of the Morris Animal Foundation and served on the board of trustees for the Greater Los Angeles Zoo Assn,” according to the Hollywood Reporter.

R.I.P. to a legend.

(Via Deadline and the Hollywood Reporter)

Nicholas Kolcheff, more commonly known as NICKMERCS, is known for his streams of first-person shooter games like Apex Legends, and he brings along a personality that is impossible to not enjoy. Kolcheff radiates a positive energy on streams that makes everyone feel like they’re a part of his community, the MFAM.

Kolcheff recently hosted a turkey drive in the parking lot of the Detroit Lions’ football stadium, and that same energy could be seen in every interaction.

Kolcheff was very careful in how he chose to approach the event. He wanted this to be about giving out turkeys, first and foremost. As a result, he chose to not advertise it too much on social media.

“It was a big success,” he tells Uproxx. “We didn’t want to put it on our socials and make it so much about, like, an MFAM or a fan thing. We kind of just wanted to invest back into the community and give some food away to those that need it. It would be kind of weird if there were some people that really needed a turkey that day and they were in line behind ten 18-year-old kids trying to get a picture and their G FUEL can signed. So we didn’t do that.”

For Kolcheff, the turkey drive was about making the day better for anyone that chose to participate. He’s always tried to put others before himself during the holidays, a value that he says his family instilled in him from an early age.

“It’s a direct representation of how my father and my debt-owing grandma brought us all up,” he says. “It was about teamwork. It was about, you know, not only taking care of yourself, but taking care of each other. Even as a little kid, my dad used to make us — I hated it at first — he would make us go to food banks and food drives, soup kitchens when we were kids, especially during the holidays. And if you do that enough, man, it leaves an impact on you at a very young age, you learn all about perspective and being able to appreciate the things that you do have. And then you also learn how great of a feeling it is to really help somebody and pick them up and put them in a good spot.”

Kolcheff brings that same spirit of giving to his community. Despite the success of the drive itself, he noticed how difficult it is to have it at a singular location in Detroit — if a person doesn’t have a car or a consistent way to get from point A to point B, it’s almost impossible to participate. It’s also not always fun to do something outdoors in Michigan this late in the year.

While he saw the event as a success, he wanted to do more and potentially get his community involved.

“I think what we want to do is we want to make it more than just a Detroit thing,” he says. “Like, Detroit’s important to me because it’s my hometown and I want to do that. But I also want to encourage the very, very large community that we do have to do it in their communities. I think there’s some really cool, fun ways we can do that. I know people love cash, everybody loves cash, so I can incentivize our community with cash to do it on their own as well, and we can do it where we do a basket challenge, where everybody gets a basket. I’ve seen it done before. You get a basket, you go to the grocery store, you put everything that you think somebody might need to make a Thanksgiving Day special in that basket.”

Kolcheff has always made it a point to give back to the hundreds of thousands of viewers who watch his streams. Recently, he gave out $300,000 worth of gifts to members of his community for the holidays — tickets to the Super Bowl, an NFL jersey, and even some customized gifts for longtime viewers, like a light backdrop for someone trying to get into streaming.

We can always expect Kolcheff to bring the infectious energy that leaves everyone smiling to whatever he does, and that’s a huge part of why his giveaways are successful.

Cancellations for New Year’s Eve are becoming quite common due to a new wave of Covid-19, specifically growing concern about the Omicron variant. LL Cool J was forced to pull out of his scheduled performance at Dick Clark’s Rockin’ Christmas Eve due to testing positive for the virus, and plenty of other bands like The Strokes and The Flaming Lips postponed scheduled NYE shows due to precautions.

The latest to join the growing ranks is Billie Joe Armstrong, of Green Day, who was slated to be a part of Miley Cyrus’ New Year’s Eve special. Dubbed Miley’s New Year’s Eve Party, the event is taking place tonight in Miami, Florida, but after a recent exposure to Covid-19, Armstrong has decided it’s safer to stay home. “After the holiday I found out I was exposed to Covid,” Armstrong wrote on his Instagram story yesterday. “I’ve tested negative but, I have made the decision not to travel to Miami for New Year’s Eve Party out of caution. Happy New Year and hope everyone stays safe!”

Luckily, Billie has tested negative so far, so let’s hope that he has a great New Year’s Eve and remains healthy. Cyrus and her co-host Pete Davidson will still be hosting their special tonight, so you can tune in if you’re planning to stay home and need something to watch.

Alicia Keys has been a strong presence in pop culture for the last two decades, and deserves all the recognition she’s getting for her most recent album, Keys. And given her close relationship to the hip-hop world, it’s not surprising that she’s celebrating the release of the album in standard rapper fashion — with a massive new chain. And who better to marvel over the custom Elliot Eliante chain than her rapper/producer husband, Swizz Beatz, and one of her most high-profile collaborators, Jay-Z himself.

“Empire State Of Mind” might just be the best-known mainstream hit for both of them, and given that strong connection, Jay isn’t shy about heaping praise on Alicia’s new bling. “When we create these things, when AK comes out with Keys chain, I mean come on man, it’s just super hard first of all,” Jay-Z said in a clip about the bling. “The chain is just super hard. It comes from a different place, it’s beyond a show of wealth. People tend to identify it as [that] today, this thing comes back to… all the great kings from Ethiopia to Africa.”

That’s actually a fantastic way of identifying the piece as a celebration, and Alicia definitely deserves to be recognized as the royalty she is.

We’ve all had one hell of a rough year. If you’re feeling a lot of anxiety about turning the page on 2021 and moving onto the next year of this (so far pretty rough!) decade, you’re not alone. We’d like to say something hopeful and uplifting like, “we’re going to make next year our year,” but who the hell knows? So we’ll spare you the uplifting chatter and leave it to Macklemore.

Long lede short, we all deserve a night, better yet a weekend, of intense unwinding, so as we head into the New Year’s holiday. So crack open that expensive bottle of whiskey, throw on your favorite record or put something on the tv that will make you laugh, order a meal from your favorite restaurant and enjoy life’s simple pleasures. And what enhances life’s simple moments better than some good herb?

To close out the year, we’ve rounded up the best brands of weed we smoked in 2021 to help you toast to the new year the right way. These anxiety and stress-reducing, munchie-inducing, giggle-enhancing strains are sure to transform your New Year’s weekend into the cheapest most euphoric vacation you’ve had all year. Let’s get baked!

22Red — Sunkissed 22AM

Strain: Hybrid

THC: 22.72%

Retail Price $38 (1/8 ounce)

The Weed:

If you’re all about the terpenes and into great tasting weed, you can’t go wrong picking up an eighth of 22Red’s Sunkissed line. The herb, which is exclusive to the Nevada market, is green-house grown utilizing state of the art climate controlled systems, precision lightning, organic nutrients, and the most important ingredient of all — natural sunlight, which results in a flavor-forward quality that makes this weed the perfect candidate to throw in your vaporizer.

Of the Sunkissed strains, I’ve had the pleasure of smoking 22 AM, which is an indica dominant hybrid with tasting notes of pine and citrus. The high stays cerebral with this strain, despite its Indica-dominant qualities, making this a great one to smoke when you feel like vibing out to your favorite music.

The Bottom Line:

Flavorful with a primarily cerebral high that’ll have you vibing to your favorite music.

CBX Cannabiotix — Bubblegum

Strain: Hybrid

THC: 26.59%

CBD: 0.23%

Average Price: $60 (1/8 ounce)

The Weed:

There isn’t a single California weed brand that hits the highs (pun intended) of CBX. Their weed is beautiful, sticky, frosty, and pungent, with a high so powerful that you’ll be able to stretch out how long an eighth lasts you. The brand’s newest strain, Bubblegum, it’s one of its best. It has an almost sweet scent to it and provides a high that immediately slaps you with feelings of euphoria.

Its indica-dominant qualities will instantly melt any stress you might be hosting and will have you feeling silly to the point of stupidity. Save a bowl of this until minutes before the ball drops this New Year’s Eve, and enter 2022 with feelings of ecstasy and glee.

The Bottom Line:

CBX’s newest strain features frosty bud with a distinctive sweet flavor that packs a powerful euphoria-inducing high.

MONOGRAM — NO.3 Heavy OG Hand Roll

Strain: Indica

THC: 28.28%

CBD:0.06%

Retail Price: $50

The Weed:

Never have I felt more luxurious smoking weed than when I’m lighting up one of MONOGRAM’s OG Hand Rolls. The luxury angle is probably why Kendall Roy smokes MONOGRAM, that and it’s Jay-Z’s brand, which seems like a reason Kendall would smoke it in itself. I’m not the biggest fan of MONOGRAM’s two-gram and four-gram flower jars (they feel a bit overpriced), but I love the OG Hand Rolls which burn slow and smooth and smoke like a cross between a joint and cigar-leaf rolled blunt.

I know $50 sounds steep for a single joint, but the handrolls are designed to burn evenly to cater to multiple smoke sessions and the high is powerful enough to knock you on your ass in your three rips. The weed has an herbal pine forward flavor with hints of mint.

The Bottom Line:

If you want a classy luxurious smoking experience, MONOGRAM is your brand.

Astro Hippie — Tie Dye Medusa

Strain: Hybrid

THC: 23.5%THC/ 25.5% THC

Retail Price: $55 (1/8 ounce)

The Weed:

I’m a big fan of Michigan-based DJ GRiZ’s cannabis brand Astro Hippie, so much so that when it came down to picking one strain for this roundup… I just couldn’t do it, so I’m going to suggest two, starting with Tie-Dye Medusa! This is a social strain, the type you bring out when your friends show up to the New Year’s Eve party. It has a pungent smell with a sweet sugary flavor that lingers in the back of the throat after a big rip.

Be warned, the high will hit you fast here, and suddenly you won’t be able to successfully string two thoughts together. Don’t smoke it if you’re hosting the party and have a series of tasks you need to do, because this weed will leave you feeling straight-up dumb. Blissfully high, but dumb.

The Bottom Line:

Sweet and pungent with a powerful high that induces giggles and melts away stress.

Astro Hippie — Mr.B OG

Strain: Hybrid

THC: 25.5% THC

Retail Price: $55 (1/8 ounce)

The Weed:

MR.B OG is stinky and sticky. It has that chemical diesel quality to it that recalls heritage strains like Sour Diesel and packs a powerful high that you will feel equally in your body and mind. Unlike the Tie-Dye Medusa, which is a much more social strain, Mr. B is more fit for those solo smokers. It’s a great bag to pop open at the end of the night when the guests have left and you’re looking for a quick and relaxing way to unwind and get ready for bed.

The Bottom Line:

Mr. B OG caters to those who like heavy and relaxing body highs.

Glasshouse Farms — Lilac Diesel

Strain: Hybrid (Sativa Dominant)

THC:29%

Retail Price: $30 (1/8 ounce)

The Weed:

Given Glasshouse Farms’ low price, you might be quick to write this brand off as a budget weed label that is all about quantity over quality. That’s not the case here, Glasshouse’s Lilac Diesel is packed with floral and berry-forward flavors that provide a powerful high that strikes a balance between euphoric and relaxing. You’ll notice this list is light on sativa-dominant strains as indica is my preference, but I make an exception for this particular strain which gives me the body high I crave without feeling weighed down or lazy.

The strain is a crossbreed of Lemon Haze, Forbidden Fruit, Cherry Pie, and Citral Glue, which explains its distinct and fruity flavor. The diesel qualities of this weed are entirely in the scent of the dried flower, offering a surprising blast of fruity goodness once you light it up.

The Bottom Line:

The only sativa-dominant strain to make our roundup this time around, Lilac Diesel tastes a lot more pleasing than it sounds. The high will keep you focused and feeling good, while also still offering relaxing qualities that never pull you into coach lock territory.

Connected — Biscotti

Strain: Hybrid

THC: 23.47%

Retail Price: $80 (1/8 ounce)

The Weed:

If you’re looking to get blasted to the moon this New Year’s Eve weekend, you’re not going to find a better stain to get you there than California brand Connected’s Biscotti. Featuring an earthy flavor with hints of chocolate and citrus on the back end, Biscotti is all about euphoria. Smoking this strain makes you feel good almost instantly.

After holding a decent rip in your lungs, you’ll start to suddenly notice sounds vibrating with new frequencies and your sensitivity to touch enhancing.

The Bottom Line:

With terpenes of caryophyllene, myrcene, and limonene, Biscotti will have you feeling relaxed and like your best self. Not a bad way to go into 2022.

Disclaimer: While all of the products recommended here were chosen independently by our editorial staff, Uproxx may receive payment to direct readers to certain retail vendors who are offering these products for purchase.

Welcome to SNX DLX your weekly roundup of the best sneakers to hit the market. We’re in the final week of 2021 and we’re going out with… a whimper. There are so few sneakers drops this week that we questioned whether or not they even warranted a post. But a few selections this week are just too good to pass up, and, as a sneakerhead myself, I wouldn’t want to miss out on knowing about what’s coming. So I’m going to assume you wouldn’t either.

After you dive into this week’s roundup — or more accurately, dip a toe in — be sure to hit up our rundown of the 20 best sneaker drops of the year. While this week might not be jam-packed with most-cop drops, the year certainly was. For now, here are this week’s best shoes.

Air Jordan 1 High Patent BRED

Oh come on, look at this thing! Nike could’ve taken a break this week, but they just had to go and drop this patent leather version of the legendary Jordan 1 BRED. Ever since the NBA banned MJ from rocking this black and red colorway on the court, it’s been a favorite amongst sneakerheads and b-ball fanatics alike. By covering the upper in shiny patent leather it adds a bit of luxury to the design giving it a collector’s item quality. Would that stop you from wearing them though? We think not.

The Air Jordan 1 Patent Bred is out now for a retail price of $170. The pair sold out nearly instantly yesterday morning but can still be found on aftermarket sites like GOAT and Flight Club.

Air Jordan 11 Adapt Dark Powder Blue

This week the Air Jordan 11 got the tech treatment with this self-lacing version of the silhouette. Decked out in a combination of powder blues, white, and grey, the Adapt Dark Powder Blue looks like a combination of the classic Air Jordan 11 silhouette and Nike’s Back To The Future 2 sneaker, the Nike MAG.

Had the movie dropped today, we might be seeing Marty McFly rock a pair of these instead. The sneaker features Nike’s Adapt technology in the midsole as well as a translucent mesh upper, and an eye-catching icy outsole.

The Air Jordan 11 Adapt Dark Powder Blue is out now for a retail price of $500. Pick up a pair at GOAT.

Stray Rats New Balance Made in UK 991

We didn’t get as many dope New Balance sneakers this year as we did last year but the brand is going out with a bang with this Made in UK 991 designed in collaboration with Miami streetwear brand Stray Rats. The 991 features premium construction, ABZORB cushioning, a streamlined toe box, and heavy paneling across the silhouette with a pigskin upper and reflective details.

The collection features two different colorways, both of which go heavy on the purple — as is Stray Rats M.O. — with Stray Rats branding across the lateral forefoot. It’s really a work of art and one of the best collaborations from both brands this year.

The Stray Rats New Balance Made in UK 991 are out now for a retail price of $249.99. Pick up a pair at the New Balance webstore or aftermarket sites like StockX.

Supreme x Timberland x MLB New York yankees Field Boot

Supreme has teamed up with Timberland and the MLB for this New York Yankees celebrating Field Boot. Featuring three different colorways, including red and beige, black and grey, and the highlight, brown and blue, each pair features a waterproof upper with contrasting panels that feature a New York Yankees logo pattern, and Supreme box logo branding.

It has absolutely nothing to do with baseball, but it’s a dope combination of brands in a functional winter boot that should keep your feet comfy and dry.

The Supreme x Timberland x MLB New York Yankees Field Boot is set to drop today for an unannounced price. Hit up the Supreme webstore to grab a pair.

NMD_R1 Boba Fett Spectoo Shoes

This week Disney+ is dropping a new Star Wars series that follows the criminal exploits of fan-favorite Boba Fett and as part of that promotional push, Star Wars has teamed up with Adidas once again for a couple of sneakers. First up is the NMD_R1 Boba Fett Spectoo Shoes (‘shoes’ is part of the name for some reason) which features a stretch knit upper atop a Boost midsole, and a colorway of Core Black, Green Oxide, and Bliss.

The sneaker features accents and graphics that reference some deep Star Wars lore that I’m sure super fans will appreciate.

The NMD_R1 Boba Fett Spectoo Shoes are set to drop today for a retail price of $150. Pick up a pair exclusively online at the Adidas webstore.

Adidas Ozealia Boba Fett Shoes

Adidas other Boba Fett shoe caters to those who want a more flashy design. Inspired by Boba Fett’s starship, the Slave II, the Ozealia Bb Fett features a futuristic upper composed of textile and welded materials, Adiprene cushioning, and a rubber outsole with a bulky ‘90s inspired silhouette, reflective details, and an illustrated liner.

The Adidas Ozealia Boba Fett Shoes are set to drop today for a retail price of $100. Pick up a pair at the Adidas webstore.