Month: February 2022

Self-proclaimed “weirdo-pop” duo Girlpool have released a new video for “Dragging My Life Into A Dream,” a cut from their upcoming fourth album, Forgiveness. In their self-directed video, Girlpool member Avery Tucker lip-syncs over his and bandmate Harmony Tividad’s vocals. Tividad briefly in the video, but the clip primarily focuses on Tucker, working at a convenience store, as he daydreams about riding along the Pacific Coast Highway and laying on the beach.

“I wrote ‘Dragging My Life Into a Dream’ after going out to a party,” Tucker said in a statement. “I had spent the last year confronting being on my own in a way I had been avoiding for a long time. Although I knew that I was growing and still needed to heal from past relationships, I missed feeling connected to somebody and inspired. This song is about romanticizing a past time and also longing for my heart to feel open and innocent again.”

Girlpool’s new album Forgiveness will explore the concepts of “pain and pleasure, sex and love, reality and delusion, insecurity and confidence, grief and growth.” During the album’s conception, Tucker and Tividad wrote songs seperately, then collaborated to present their songs in ways that represent both of them.

Watch “Dragging My Life Into A Dream” above.

Forgiveness is out 4/29 via Anti- Records. Pre-save it here.

Liverpool duo King Hannah may reside in the UK, but they’ve all but mastered the dusty Americana genre. The project began by a chance encounter: The two met at a bar after guitarist Craig Whittle saw Hannah Merrick perform live years earlier and convinced her to play together. Much of the duo’s sound revolves around Merrick’s textured vocals, though they’re able to craft impressively vast pastoral soundscapes with just a few instruments.

After positioning themselves as ones to watch with a handful of singles over the last two years, King Hannah are finally gearing up for a full-length release, which is due out this Friday. Just ahead of their album I’m Not Sorry, I Was Just Being Me, King Hannah sit down with Uproxx to talk about their inspiration, upcoming tour, and how Hannah makes a mean roast dinner in the latest Indie Mixtape 20 Q&A.

What are four words you would use to describe your music?

Craig: Honest, Loud, Cinematic, Intimate

It’s 2050 and the world hasn’t ended and people are still listening to your music. How would you like it to be remembered?

Hannah: As good, timeless music that you can get lost in.

What’s your favorite city in the world to perform?

Hannah: We’re hoping for it to be New York! We’re playing Brooklyn’s Union Pool this March 10th and we cannot wait!!!

Who’s the person who has most inspired your work, and why?

Hannah: My Dad. Not musically, but from an attitude sense.

Where did you eat the best meal of your life?

Craig: Hannah makes a mean roast dinner!

What album do you know every word to?

Craig: Probably Abbey Road or Let It Be. When I was younger I knew the word to every Beatles album.

What was the best concert you’ve ever attended?

Craig: The Microphones at Le Guess Who blew my head off, such a massive sound for two people on stage.

What is the best outfit for performing and why?

Craig: I have one outfit that I wear every single day for every single task, as does Hannah…

Who’s your favorite person to follow on Twitter and/or Instagram?

Craig: Wilco’s Drummer, Glenn Kotche. He does a drum beat project where once a week he uploads a new drum beat along with the drum notation on how to play it and the beats are always really interesting.

What’s your most frequently played song in the van on tour?

Hannah: Sadly, I don’t think we had one!

What’s the last thing you Googled?

Craig: How to fade out an image in Illustrator.

What album makes for the perfect gift?

Hannah: Whatever that person’s into.

Where’s the weirdest place you’ve ever crashed while on tour?

Hannah: We’ve only toured once! Nothing weird at all, but we all slept in one of Manchester airport’s lounges while waiting to check in.

What’s the story behind your first or favorite tattoo?

Craig: We don’t have any!

What artists keep you from flipping the channel on the radio?

Hannah: Anything PJ Harvey, Bill Callahan, Sun Kil Moon, Red House Painters, Portishead….

What’s the nicest thing anyone has ever done for you?

Hannah: Letters are always lovely.

What’s one piece of advice you’d go back in time to give to your 18-year-old self?

Craig: Don’t take things too seriously.

What’s the last show you went to?

Hannah: We saw The Microphones and Meril Wubslin at Le Guess Who Festival in Utrecht, both of whom blew our minds!

What movie can you not resist watching when it’s on TV?

Craig: There are a few films that I can just watch repeatedly no matter how many times I see them. Five Easy Pieces, The Long Goodbye, The French Connection, Inside Llewyn Davis, to name a few.

What would you cook if Obama were coming to your house for dinner?

Hannah: Nothing, I’d suggest we eat out! I get really bored of cooking. Either that or Craig will make him his famous pasta bake that’ll feed him for a week.

I’m Not Sorry, I Was Just Being Me is out 2/25 via City Slang. Pre-order it here.

Just days after Florence And The Machine fans received cryptic teasers in the mail, the band has returned with “King,” a new song accompanied by an Autumn de Wilde-directed music video.

On “King,” lead singer Florence Welch mediates on womanhood and feminity, while subverting traditional expectations of a woman. “I am no mother, I am no bride, I am king,” Welch sings over a haunting arrangement of drums and a chilling tamborine.

In the video, Welch dons a purple gown, snaps a man’s neck, and summons a troupe of dancing women zombies.

“As an artist, I never actually thought about my gender that much,” Welch said in a statement. “I just got on with it. I was as good as the men and I just went out there and matched them every time. But now, thinking about being a woman in my 30s and the future, I suddenly feel this tearing of my identity and my desires. That to be a performer, but also to want a family might not be as simple for me as it is for my male counterparts. I had modeled myself almost exclusively on male performers, and for the first time I felt a wall come down between me and my idols as I have to make decisions they did not.”

Watch “King” above.

It’s been, somehow, five years since Matt Reeves’s last film, War for the Planet of the Apes. Reeves directed the last two movies in that series and transformed what people assumed would be another unnecessary reboot into a cerebral, heralded film series that both had something to say and weren’t the definition of a “feel good” blockbuster. (And these were blockbusters. War made half a billion on its own.) It’s tough to make a mass-marketed movie, using prime IP, that people recognize as “a good movie,” and also doesn’t just give people what they might want. (Sometimes, as a viewer, getting what we want as a viewer is okay. But Reeves just isn’t that kind of director.)

Reeves’s The Batman both somehow feels old and new at the same time. The whole concept of a superhero just trying to solve a mystery within the confines of his own story feels so old now that it does play as a new and refreshing concept. The Bruce Wayne we meet here (played by Robert Pattinson, who is great) is a younger Batman than we are used to. (Technically, yes, Christian Bale was younger when he played Batman, but this Bruce is portrayed as younger.) We don’t see Pattinson’s Bruce train to become Batman, he’s just Batman when the movie starts and Batman is without a doubt the main character. (In two of the three Nolan Batman movies, Batman is not in large chunks of those. That is not the case in The Batman.) The Riddler (Paul Dano, dressed like the Zodiac) is killing city officials, leaving clues along the way for Batman to solve. The Riddler is nuts, but he also may be trying to expose something bigger. Watching The Batman is more like watching Se7en or LA Confidential than it is like watching, say, an Avengers movie.

And according to Reeves, that’s by design. This is the movie he wanted. Reeves is in no way saying there won’t be flaws, but there was no edict in his film to do anything he didn’t want to do – this is the film Reeves wanted. Which is a murder, mystery movie where Batman just happens to be the main character. (At least to a point. Even Reeves concedes if you’re making a Batman movie, there has to be a Batmobile chase scene. And The Batman provides a pretty nifty one of those.)

Ahead, Reeves explains what he did and did not want to do with a movie about Batman. To the point where the first script he read, he liked it, but was also ready to say no. It was a movie intertwined with the rest of the DC Universe and that’s just not up Reeves’s alley. But, as he explains, instead he was then asked what he’d want to do. And one of the main components was to make Batman himself have an arc.

The first time I spoke to you was Let Me In. I remember the whole thing surrounding that movie was like, “How dare he remake this movie?” And now you’re the king of Hollywood…

Okay, cool. All right. I was going to say, is this another one of those, “how dare he”? You know what I mean? It feels, why is this guy always doing these things to offend us?

Speaking of offending, right before we started I noticed I was wearing a Spider-Man sweatshirt I had just randomly grabbed, so I had to change. I didn’t want you thinking it was some message.

I’m not offended.

And then underneath that, I was wearing a Flash t-shirt. So I had to get a whole new wardrobe.

[Laughs] What’s going on here? I see. You’re trying to provoke me.

I’m trying to provoke you.

I’m unprovoked!

Let’s get into it.

It’s so interesting. I will say, the people’s connection to these characters is so profound. One of the things that I noticed when I was writing The Batman, look, I’ve loved the character since I was a kid. Adam West was my first Batman. But, when I started writing, it was one of these things where suddenly you walk down the street and you notice people wearing those t-shirts. wow. So many people. You see a baby in a Batman onesie, and you start realizing, oh, my God, this is so connected to people’s lives. That’s when you realize that you’re a custodian for a character. For a period of time, I get to carry this character, but the character belongs to everyone else.

I can’t pull off a Batman’s shirt because then people think you’re a tough guy, and I’m not a tough guy.

I see. Oh, okay. I don’t know this baby that had the onesie, he didn’t look that tough. He looked cool.

But see, he’s going to grow up to be a tough guy

That’s true. Could be.

I’m going to say something, and I want to see if you agree with it or not because I was thinking it during certain points in the movie: this feels like a ground-level mystery, a noir movie that Batman just happens to be the main character.

For sure. The only way that I would put it slightly differently is that I wanted to do that kind of movie while, at the same time, doing all of the things that people associate with a Batman movie, too. You have to start at a baseline and say, Okay, you can’t do a Batman movie and not give people a Batmobile chase. Or him fighting in a way that’s distinctive or him. I knew that I was going to do those things, but what I wanted to also do was to give the audience a movie they didn’t expect. And that’s the kind of movie you’re talking about. So I wanted to find the intersection between those two things so that you could find a way to do this in a fresh way.

Look, I love Marvel movies. I loved the new Spider-Man. But what really hit me during this movie was I wasn’t sitting there wondering what mystery character might show up. I was riveted by the story. It’s a mystery and he’s got to figure it out. I kept thinking about movies like Se7en and LA Confidential while watching it.

Yeah, exactly. Yeah. That was the tone of it was to try and figure out a way … what I wanted to do is when they did show up, you go, “Oh, that’s who that is.” But it wasn’t critical to the story. It was a delicious reveal to say, “Oh, that’s this version of, let’s say the Penguin,” or, “Oh, that’s Selina Kyle…”

Yeah, true, but these are all Batman-centric characters.

Oh, I see what you’re saying.

Like, there’s no way in a movie like this Green Lantern is going to pop up. Something like that.

That was one of those things from the beginning that I said, if I was going to do it, that it was going to … to me, the history of Batman is so daunting. It’s been around for 80 years and there are great movies. The last thing that I felt I could do was to do a movie that was a standalone Batman movie, the first one in 10 years, that they also had to connect elsewhere. I thought it’s going to be enough just to do Batman in his world. So that was something that I said from the beginning was important to me: that I not have to do anything deliberately to connect it to other things.

When I spoke to you for War For the Planet of the Apes, you said something really interesting — that you’re always looking for a reason to say no to doing a movie. And you said on Dawn of the Planet of the Apes that there were times where you had assurances, but then were asked, “What if we did this?” And when you reminded them of the assurances, they backed down. Now, did anything like that happen on The Batman?

Well, I will say that it began in exactly the same way. Which is that, when I first was involved, I was finishing War, actually. I was finishing a movie, and I was deep in post. I was getting these calls from Warner Bros., and they kept telling me it’s a general meeting. And I kept turning it down, because I was saying, “I’m trying to finish this Apes movie.” It’s so crazy to try. You know? Then finally my agent called one day and he said, “That’s not a general meeting. It’s about Batman.” I said, “Okay. I’ll find a time to meet with them.”

So we met. And we met based on, at that point, obviously, Ben Affleck was still doing the movie, and there was an iteration of it. There was a script that was the script, that, at that point, they wanted to do. It was something that made total sense. I could see why they wanted to do it, but obviously it did connect to the broader world, to the broader DCEU. It was very action-oriented. It was totally valid. It was like a James Bond kind of thing. I was like, Oh, I totally see why you’d do this. I thought the meeting would be very short because I thought I would meet with them and say like, “I’m so flattered, and I love this character, and I can totally see why you would do this, but this isn’t the way that I would do it. I have to find some way in that feels personal to me or I wouldn’t know how to make it for you. So I would be the wrong choice.” I came in thinking that I’d be telling them, “I’m so flattered. This movie seems really cool, but I’m just not the right guy for it.”

They were like, “Well, no, no, no. We like you. We want to know what you would do.” Again, it was like Dawn. I told them vaguely what I would do, which was I wanted to do a story that would be just in the Batman world and would take his character and make him have an arc. I didn’t want to do one of these stories where the Rogues Gallery characters come in and it’s really their story and Batman is a cipher because he’s already mastered himself. I wanted him to have an awakening. I wanted something that would rock him to his core.

I didn’t know what it was. I wanted it to be emotional for him. I said, “And here’s the thing. If you want that, which would be amazing, you also have to wait six months before I can even tell you what it’d be, because I have to finish this Apes movie.” To my utter shock, they said yes. I have to say, my experience with Warner Bros. was pretty incredible in that they wanted me to do that. They did wait for me, and then they let me make this movie. This is the movie I wanted to make. Whatever people think of the movie, flaws and all, whatever it is, it’s not because there were edicts thrown down or I would have to do something. “Well, you have to do this to connect to that.” You don’t have to do that.

Speaking of that arc, he’s already Batman. We’re dropped in. He’s a young Batman. The relationships are new, but established, which is also great. As soon as the movie starts, we’re all off.

Yeah. We are. I knew I didn’t want to do an origin tale because they’d been done so well…

You didn’t want to kill Thomas and Martha Wayne again?

So I thought, the audience, I think, had seen that so many times. And I thought, well, how do you do something fresh? Once Ben decided he didn’t want to do it I thought, well, I could make him younger and still have him be Batman. Not make it Year One, he becomes Batman. Make him be Batman, but have him have a ways to go – have him have an arc so that he’s not quite figured it out and have him have an awakening. Have him not understand everything about what he’s doing. Then it would be an origin tale, or you’d see the origins of these other characters. In the comics, the Rogues Gallery is created in relation to the fact that there’s a vigilante who shows up and becomes known as the Batman in Gotham. And then these other characters create themselves in a way in response to him. So I thought, Oh, well, we could meet a Selina Kyle, who’s not yet Catwoman. We could meet a Penguin who’s now just a mid-level criminal who’s underestimated and is not yet the kingpin that we know he is going to become. All of that seemed really exciting. We could have a Riddler who is this very grounded version, this serial killer version that felt something like Zodiac or something.

He does feel like Zodiac, yes.

He’s taking on the moniker of Riddler in this film, and you’d see it. In certain ways, it wouldn’t be the beginning. In other ways, it would be a beginning.

‘The Batman’ hit theaters on March 4th. You can contact Mike Ryan directly on Twitter.

February 22 was a big day for Kanye West. Not only was it the supposed release date for his new album, Donda 2, but he also held the latest stadium listening event for the album in Miami, Florida just as the second episode of the Netflix documentary about him, Jeen-Yuhs, went live. Fans have a lot of Kanye content to sort through, but one of the earliest points of discussion to emerge from the new documentary episode revolves around Kanye’s first big solo hit.

After putting in several years at Roc-A-Fella Records as a hit-making producer, Kanye was ready to show the world that he could also be a hit-making rapper in his own right. However, after being signed as an artist, he felt that he was losing momentum after the near-death auto crash that left his mouth wired shut while he recovered. Those experiences formed the basis of his breakout single, “Through The Wire,” which sampled the Chaka Khan classic “Through The Fire” and introduced Kanye as an artist that deserved to be taken seriously.

However, before he put it out, he wanted the seal of approval from some of his peers, which included Pharrell Williams of The Neptunes — whose reaction upon hearing the single for the first time has tickled fans on Twitter. As Kanye finishes playing the song’s second verse, Pharrell, apparently overcome with his impression of Kanye’s final bar, simply walks out of the studio to collect himself. When he returns, he still seems in disbelief that Kanye not only spit such a heartfelt verse, but did so with his mouth wired shut (as a bonus, the version played in the footage contains the rough vocals, which Ye re-recorded later for the version that eventually hit retail).

“That sh*t is phenomenal,” he praises. “You’re one of my favorite artists… and I only heard two records. You’re gonna make it, and when you make it, keep the same perspective. Still keep the same hunger.” While it’s arguable whether Kanye has managed to do that over the past few years, it’s still an intriguing, eye-opening look into what was undoubtedly a defining moment for the then-young producer-turned-rapper.

During the bizarrely scheduled 2020-21 NBA season, the All-Star break actually fell in the middle of the shortened campaign. That isn’t unique in league history but, oftentimes, All-Star weekend and the general hiatus lands a bit later in the basketball calendar, and that applies to the 2021-22 season. In fact, each NBA team has appeared in at least 57 games, with some pushing above the 60-game mark in the first half of the campaign.

What does that mean? Well, the second half of the calendar isn’t quite as long as one might think. That brings urgency to postseason chases in both conferences, with playoff-caliber teams facing real urgency. At the top of the Eastern Conference, eight teams are within seven games of the No. 1 spot, and the top seven teams are separated by only five total games. That creates uncertainty when attempting to forecast playoff matchups, and the difference between the No. 1 seed and landing in the play-in tournament isn’t nearly as substantial as it seems.

Out West, the Phoenix Suns lead the pack by 6.5 games which, by proxy, is larger than the gap between the No. 1 and No. 7 teams in the East. After that, however, the races become much closer, both for a top-four seed and home-court advantage in the first round and at the play-in level. In fact, several teams (Pelicans, Kings, etc.) are openly pushing to reach the play-in, and there are legitimate stakes at the bottom of the playoff push.

With 25 games or fewer remaining for every NBA team, the margins are slim this time of year, and the league will resume regular operations with games on Thursday. To that end, our DIME power rankings are back for another run to glance at the upcoming second half.

1. Phoenix Suns (48-10, Last week — 1st)

The Suns are very clearly in the driver’s seat at the All-Star break, but challenging times could be on the horizon. Chris Paul is out for 6-to-8 weeks and, while Phoenix is set up to weather that in the standings, no team wants to be derailed by that kind of injury. Provided Paul can return at full strength for the playoffs, the Suns will be just fine, but it isn’t a total given that this well-oiled machine will churn the same way without one of its engines.

2. Golden State Warriors (42-17, Last week — 2nd)

The Warriors have the second-best profile. The Warriors are also operating below the baseline they established early in the season. Both can be true. Steph Curry’s eruption in the All-Star Game might be an indication of what’s to come, but all eyes are on Draymond Green and when he can return to anchor the defense and unlock the offense with his playmaking.

3. Memphis Grizzlies (41-19, Last week — 3rd)

Memphis is generally viewed as a team that is ahead of schedule, but the Grizzlies are here now. Memphis is a top-five team in the league in record and net rating, and and Ja Morant is a bonafide superstar. The Grizzlies didn’t make an all-in move before the trade deadline, leaving this roster to its own devices, but anything short of a top-three seed would feel like a disappointment after this start.

4. Miami Heat (38-21, Last week — 5th)

The Heat sit tied atop the East at the break, and that perch comes after seven wins in eight games to close the first half. Miami’s expectations are sky-high after the move to add Kyle Lowry in the offseason, but skeptics about Miami’s depth (including yours truly) have proven wrong. Now, the question is just how high the ceiling is for the Heat as things grind toward the finish.

5. Boston Celtics (34-26, Last week — 4th)

If you glance at the standings, it will seem ludicrous to have the Celtics as a top-five team. A deeper look reveals that isn’t the case. For one, Boston has the best net rating (+5.4) in the NBA. For another, the Celtics lead the entire NBA in both net rating and defensive rating since the calendar flipped to 2022. Lastly, the Celtics made a swift move to add Derrick White at the deadline, and Boston can pair two shot-creating wings (Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown) with an elite defense. That’s a scary formula.

6. Chicago Bulls (38-21, Last week — 7th)

Quietly, Chicago’s defense has cratered in 2022, with the Bulls giving up more than 1.15 points per possession. Fortunately, DeMar DeRozan, Zach LaVine, and a potent offense has covered up for it to solid overall results, but can Chicago right the ship on defense? It would help to have Lonzo Ball and Alex Caruso, but there are systematic questions on defense for a team that prominently features DeRozan, LaVine, and Nikola Vucevic together. Regardless, the Bulls are in a tie with the Heat for the top spot, and they’ve greatly exceeded expectations.

7. Philadelphia 76ers (35-23, Last week — 8th)

The Sixers overhauled things at the deadline and, coming out of the break, there should be a chance to peek at what’s to come. James Harden changes things on both ends of the floor, with questions about how it will work alongside Joel Embiid. Then again, the Sixers effectively swapped Seth Curry and Andre Drummond for Harden and Embiid might be having the best season in the NBA, so it’s not hard to see those questions answered in such a way that Philly is dangerous come playoff time.

8. Milwaukee Bucks (36-24, Last week — 9th)

As much as the Bucks have earned this No. 8 ranking, they might be the most trustworthy team in the East. Per Cleaning The Glass, Milwaukee’s trio of Giannis Antetokounmpo, Khris Middleton, and Jrue Holiday have outscored opponents by nearly 14 points per 100 possessions when playing together. That dominance speaks for itself and, of course, the Bucks are still the champs. The questions linger about health, though, and that particularly pertains to the still-absent Brook Lopez.

9. Utah Jazz (36-22, Last week — 6th)

Utah is 30-14 when Rudy Gobert plays this season. That is a lot closer to preseason expectations for the Jazz, with Utah visibly cratering while Gobert was sidelined. Metrically, the Jazz have the second-best net rating (+6.9) in the NBA behind Phoenix, and that also might be closer to what would be expected. Does that mean Utah is flawless? Definitely not, as a porous defense and shaky assist percentage are fairly frightening. The Jazz shouldn’t be dismissed, though, and they know as much as any team that the playoffs are what matters.

10. Denver Nuggets (33-25, Last week — 11th)

The Nuggets would be terrifying if they had Jamal Murray. The Nuggets would be terrifying if they had a healthy version of Michael Porter Jr. available. Heck, the Nuggets are terrifying when they have Nikola Jokic on the floor, no matter who is playing with him. Denver is more than 20 (!) points per 100 possessions better with the reigning MVP on the court, and the Nuggets are pretty good because he’s on the team. No one wants to play Denver in the playoffs if they get healthy.

11. Dallas Mavericks (35-24, Last week — 12th)

It’s an arbitrary endpoint, but the Mavericks are 20-7 in the last 27 games with a net rating of +8.3. The offense has been very good, but the defense has been elite, and Dallas closed with six wins in seven games before the break. The Mavericks have the inside track on a top-six seed and, with Luka Doncic in the mix, Dallas is a threat to any opponent.

12. Toronto Raptors (32-25, Last week — 13th)

The Raptors are out of the top six in the East right now, but only by a half-game. Toronto is playing at a high level, as evidenced by an 18-8 record in the last 26 games, but the question is whether they can keep up this pace. The Raptors have three of the top four players (and five of the top 13) in the NBA in minutes per game, and depth isn’t exactly a strength. If they can avoid disaster, this is a difficult team to prepare for and a team that is well-coached and prepared.

13. Cleveland Cavaliers (35-23, Last week — 10th)

Cleveland entered the break on a sour note with back-to-back losses, but that shouldn’t scare anyone too much. Those were losses to the Sixers and Hawks and, while Atlanta isn’t fantastic this season, Cleveland ran into an offensive buzzsaw in that game. The Cavs are still tied with the Bucks and Sixers in the East standings, and this is a team with a real chance at a top-four seed. It’s a remarkable story.

14. Minnesota Timberwolves (31-28, Last week — 15th)

Minnesota should really be a bigger story on a national scale. The Wolves are second only to the Cavs in improvement from last season, and Minnesota is a solid No. 7 in the West with a chance for more. Top to bottom, Minnesota probably has more talent than Denver, the team the Wolves are chasing, but they will need to find a consistently impressive level to make the necessary run to avoid the play-in.

15. Atlanta Hawks (28-30, Last week — 17th)

Since MLK Day, the Hawks are 11-5 with a +5.4 net rating. Does that mean Atlanta is turning the corner? We’ll see, but the Hawks can at least bank on the fact that they just did this a year ago. As noted above, however, the runway is a lot shorter this time around, and the Hawks are looking up at eight quality teams in the East standings before mentioning that they are also tied with the scuffling Hornets. If nothing else, Atlanta can take solace in a legitimately elite offense and the notion that even a below-average defense will make a huge difference in comparison to a dreadful one.

16. Brooklyn Nets (31-28, Last week — 16th)

The Nets are 24-12 when Kevin Durant plays. The Nets are 7-16 when Kevin Durant doesn’t play. Beyond the clear reality that Durant is elite, it is also a reminder that Brooklyn has very little to bank on when Durant isn’t around. Kyrie Irving is only eligible to play in a handful of games the rest of the season, and we’ll see what Ben Simmons looks like. Other than that, it is a waiting game until Durant can return.

17. L.A. Clippers (30-31, Last week — 14th)

Paul George has appeared in 26 games. Kawhi Leonard has appeared in zero. Somehow, the Clippers are still a .500 team on paper, and Ty Lue is doing yeoman’s work. Along with Denver above, the Clippers would be scary if pieces returned, but they are frisky as it is.

18. Portland Trail Blazers (25-34, Last week — 21st)

Portland closed the first half on a four-game winning streak, and that is notable on many levels. The Blazers have a two-game lead for the No. 10 seed, even as they clearly aren’t prioritizing the present. There is no reason Portland couldn’t keep up this pace, albeit slightly reduced, by leaning on Anfernee Simons, Josh Hart, and Jusuf Nurkic, and the urgency to lose games for lottery purposes isn’t as prominent with a pick from New Orleans coming.

19. Los Angeles Lakers (27-31, Last week — 22nd)

All-Star weekend was dominated, at least in some ways, by LeBron discourse. Most of it was focused on what the Lakers didn’t do, but Los Angeles still has one-third of a season to make a run. They are still at least tangentially dangerous as long as LeBron is healthy, but Anthony Davis being out for a while stings.

20. San Antonio Spurs (23-36, Last week — 19th)

San Antonio clearly isn’t pushing for the play-in like the Pelicans and Kings are, and that was evident in deals that sent Derrick White and Thaddeus Young away at the deadline. In a crazy twist, though, the Spurs have a (very slightly) positive net rating for the season and, if that holds along with an uninspiring record, San Antonio would have the worst winning percentage in history. In short, things haven’t gone well in close games.

21. Charlotte Hornets (29-31, Last week — 18th)

For a long while, Charlotte was in the top five in offensive rating. Now that they aren’t, the Hornets are scuffling with nine losses in 10 games and a 3-10 mark without Gordon Hayward in the lineup. Candidly, it is hard to see Charlotte’s defense improving much, but they badly need to recapture the offensive fervor that carried them for most of the first half.

22. New Orleans Pelicans (23-36, Last week — 20th)

CJ McCollum has led the Pelicans in scoring in four straight games. That’s probably a good sign, even as New Orleans went 1-3. The Pelicans are fighting hard for the play-in, but New Orleans has a two-game deficit to make up. It would probably help if they had Zion Williamson, but that’s another story.

23. Washington Wizards (27-31, Last week — 24th)

It feels unbelievable that the Wizards are within one game of the play-in. With Bradley Beal out of the lineup, Washington isn’t exactly lighting the world on fire, but they are hanging on in comparison to Charlotte and Atlanta. Objectively, this isn’t a roster that is energizing, but getting a chance to peek at Kristaps Porzingis in a new uniform down the stretch could be interesting.

24. New York Knicks (25-34, Last week — 26th)

The Knicks have one victory in the month of February, and it came on the road over the Warriors. That embodies this bizarre season for New York, with the Knicks barely holding on to the fringes of the play-in race. Last season felt like an aberration. This season might be one, too. Regardless, it’s been ugly and it may not change in the next 23 games.

25. Sacramento Kings (22-38, Last week — 23rd)

The Kings are 2-2 since acquiring Domantas Sabonis, even if the last two games before the break went the wrong way. Sacramento is clearly pushing for the play-in but, in the big picture, what matters is the partnership between Sabonis and De’Aaron Fox, along with the development of Davion Mitchell. Can the Kings crash the play-in party? We’ll see, but they are pretty close to the mix for a team ranked No. 25 in the league.

26. Oklahoma City Thunder (18-40, Last week — 25th)

Oklahoma City is legitimately good on defense and legitimately brutal on offense. Being a top-10 team on one side of the floor is actually encouraging for a rebuilding club, but the Thunder will soon have to make decisions on young guys, if only because they have so many picks coming. Evaluation time is precious as a result, and the rest of the year is viewed through that lens.

27. Indiana Pacers (20-40, Last week — 28th)

If we’re being honest, the Pacers probably need to keep losing. Indiana famously hasn’t had a top-nine pick in three decades, and the Pacers could use an infusion of high-end young talent. On the other hand, any basketball observer would have to be intrigued by the potential to see Tyrese Haliburton, Malcolm Brogdon, and Myles Turner together, just to see how it looks. Throw in rookie Chris Duarte, and there is still an interesting foundation in place amid the chaos and losses.

28. Detroit Pistons (13-45, Last week — 30th)

Most of this week’s slate is focused on the future, but we have to acknowledge Detroit’s entertaining win over Boston to close the first half. Cade Cunningham is showing all the signs of the player he was billed to be, Jerami Grant is still on board as a strong veteran, and the Pistons do have pieces. The rest of the campaign should be focused on making things easy for Cunningham to develop and accumulating ping-pong balls.

29. Orlando Magic (13-47, Last week — 27th)

Per NBA.com, no team has given more of its minutes (50 percent in total) to rookies and sophomores than the Magic. That makes complete sense for a rebuilding team, and the results are mixed as a result. Orlando does have functional lineups to deploy when healthy, and the rookie season of Franz Wagner has been an unmitigated success. Now, it’s about seeing what this group can do and remembering the pending returns of Jonathan Isaac and Markelle Fultz.

30. Houston Rockets (15-43, Last week — 29th)

The Rockets have the NBA’s longest active losing streak and the only statistical profile in the league that features bottom-five units on offense and defense. Does that actually matter for right now? Probably not. Houston does have real young talent, headlined by noted dunk contest participant Jalen Green, and they have vital development time coming. That might not jive with the presence of Eric Gordon and Dennis Schroder on this roster, but there should still be plenty of minutes to go around, and the win-loss results don’t matter. It’s all about next year and the year after that.

It all started with the date: February 22, 2022. Apparently, Kanye West is a big fan of numerology — or at least, saw some significance in the rarity of the date he chose to target for the release of his new album, Donda 2. From there, it seemed he did everything he could to enhance the spectacle of this one-of-a-kind calendar occurrence. He announced that, instead of dropping his album to DSPs, it would only be available via his $200 stem player device. He announced another big stadium concert, this time in Miami, Florida, to showcase the album. Of course, the question of whether the album would be ready by the date in question loomed large over the proceedings, and as much as an hour in, fans watching the livestream via Twitch or the stem player website wondered whether even the songs he performed were finished.

The concert picked up where the last one for the original Donda left off, with a replica of his mother’s house going up in flames, and like the previous concerts, this one was a hybrid, somewhere between performance art and listening session. Again, Kanye stood in the center of the stadium, surrounded by a huge ensemble of models or dancers (although, they didn’t really “dance” per se), this time clad in all-black with those bizarre galoshes he’s taken to wearing of late. The floor of the stadium was flooded. The light was dim and moody. He was joined once again by a variety of guests, including Jack Harlow, Migos, Playboi Carti, and someone Twitter informs me is named Burberry Erry (a Google search expands this to Erik Arteaga, a skater and “style influencer” who was apparently a beneficiary of the late Virgil Abloh). The songs themselves harped on his ongoing divorce from Kim Kardashian and the struggles of co-parenting (some, at least, self-inflicted, as we saw from his Instagram activity earlier this month).

On Twitter, a big point of discussion was the ongoing sound issue that caused up to a second of delay between the video and audio. While some delay is usually to be expected in big room situations like this — fans even debated whether Dr. Dre actually played the piano during his Super Bowl halftime show performance — this was something else altogether. It’s hard to tell how much was due to the livestream and how much was due to in-arena sound troubles, but when Kanye tossed his mic into the pool of water at the end of the show, many attributed it to his frustrations with the technical glitches. But those were perhaps to be expected — a lot like the lukewarm critical reception of Ye’s last few projects, these snafus could be mitigated if he just spent more time on the craft and less on trying to make a big show.

The big takeaway is the sense that, for better or worse, this is who Kanye is now. The spectacle is paramount to the music, and the music is just an excuse to roll out some new merch or have another art performance that reveals less and less what Kanye wants to say about the world. Instead, Kanye wants us to know what he thinks about the world in relation to himself, which is to say that he feels very slighted and put upon and persecuted because everyone else should be doing things his way. It’s hard to even argue with him because he’s got a stadium full of sycopha — ahem — fans who are willing to spend all those hard-earned Gap checks on anything and everything he does.

It’s impossible to tell whether Donda 2 even lives up to its predecessor because so much of the playback in Miami centered around stuff he’d already released and done in the last listening session. It wasn’t even the more pleasant stuff; what was the point of bringing back Marilyn Manson to once again stand beside him as “Jail” played, other than trying to recapture some of the tasteless shock value of the first time he brought out the accused rapist? The new stuff sounded mostly like the aimless, self-important noodling on the last one, with the exception of a handful of guest appearances from the likes of Migos, Fivio Foreign, and others, who sounded as revitalized as Kanye did lost.

If it sounds like I’m just kicking the man while he’s down — insomuch as someone who just sold out a stadium could be considered “down” — nearly every Twitter comment during the concert noted how he’d forgotten or never finished entire verses. Of course, because it’s Kanye, there were bright spots — throw Migos on some synthesized horns and magic will happen — but the performance itself felt dreary, maudlin, and sort of grotesque. We watched over the past few years a man muddle through some serious mental health issues, and last night, we were just as complicit as Kanye in valuing spectacle over anything else — even his humanity.

And yet, because it’s Kanye, there’s still the sense that this would all be worth it if the music were as inspired and dazzling and trendsetting and groundbreaking as his old material. He once set the direction for the sound of hip-hop with projects like 808s and Graduation; here, he was reduced to rehashing contemporary sounds. When Kanye and Drake played their Free Larry Hoover concert in Los Angeles last year, Ye lit up the venue with the dynamic hits that helped carve out his reputation as such a musical genius, while Drake let the crowd down with a plodding set full of the gauzy gray production that defined his most recent releases. This time around, it was Kanye who disappointed by doing the very same thing. In LA, Kanye gave us all hope that the Old Kanye was still knocking around somewhere in there; in Miami, though, he showed absolutely no signs that we’d ever see that Kanye again.

Street Fighter is one of the most famous fighting franchises ever. It, alongside the bloodier Mortal Kombat, revolutionized the fighting game genre and dominated arcades for over a decade. Even as the idea of arcades became a thing of the past in the United States, games like Street Fighter II were being regularly played on home consoles and in competitive local tournaments. In Japan, where the developer and publisher of the series Capcom is located, the series is still a mainstay in the thriving arcade scene.

All of this is to say that when a new Street Fighter game is announced, it’s usually a big deal. As such, when a recent countdown appeared on Capcom’s website with no indication of what it could be, fans speculated. While a new Street Fighter felt like a possibility, it never felt like a guarantee, especially since the series historically takes a long time to release new mainline titles with an eight-year gap between Street Fighter V and Street Fighter IV, and an 11-year gap between Street Fighter III and Street Fighter IV.

When the countdown on Capcom’s website finally hit zero, though, it revealed that it’s indeed related to a new Street Fighter. The next game in the franchise, Street Fighter 6, has been officially announced and teased. While we got no info for it besides a CGI cutscene featuring Ryu and Street Fighter V DLC character Luke, we can expect more info in the upcoming summer.

This is excellent news for fans of the fighting game genre. Street Fighter is always a great way to fight it out with friends, roommates, or in simple online battles, and with Street Fighter V introducing a story mode, we may even get a more expansive single-player campaign this go around. We’re eagerly awaiting more info in the coming months.

It’s no secret that Charlize Theron and Tom Hardy did not get along on the set of Mad Max: Fury Road. Despite having such an intense chemistry during the audition process, that the casting director crashed her car, things went south during the grueling production, and there was a palpable tension between the two. In Kyle Buchanan’s new book, Blood, Sweat, and Chrome: The Wild and True Story of Mad Max: Fury Road, Theron finally opens up about the inciting incident that left her terrified of working with Hardy, and not in a “wow, he’s so intensely into his role” kind of way.

“I don’t want to make excuses for bad behavior, but it was a tough shoot,” Theron said in a new excerpt from Blood, Sweat and Chrome. “Now, I have a very clear perspective on what went down. I don’t think I had that clarity when we were making the movie. I was in survival mode; I was really scared sh*tless.”

According to camera operator Mark Goellnicht, the situation came to head when Hardy was, once again, hours late to a morning shoot. Theron, however, was in full Furiosa make-up and showed up on time. So when Hardy finally showed up, she confronted him about holding up production. Via Vanity Fair:

Eleven o’clock. She’s now in the War Rig, sitting there with her makeup on and a full costume for three hours. Tom turns up, and he walks casually across the desert. She jumps out of the War Rig, and she starts swearing her head off at him, saying, “Fine the f*cking cunt a hundred thousand dollars for every minute that he’s held up this crew,” and “How disrespectful you are!” She was right. Full rant. She screams it out. It’s so loud, it’s so windy — he might’ve heard some of it, but he charged up to her up and went, “What did you say to me?”

He was quite aggressive. She really felt threatened, and that was the turning point, because then she said, “I want someone as protection.” She then had a producer that was assigned to be with her all the time.

While Theron was provided with a female producer to check on her, she still felt “naked and alone” throughout the production after the incident. As for Hardy, he doesn’t deny his unprofessionalism.

“In hindsight, I was in over my head in many ways,” Hardy said in the excerpt. “The pressure on both of us was overwhelming at times. What she needed was a better, perhaps more experienced partner in me. That’s something that can’t be faked. I’d like to think that now that I’m older and uglier, I could rise to that occasion.”

(Via Vanity Fair)

Ahead of Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl Halftime Show performance, rumors were circling that he’d have some new music to share before the show. And while that didn’t end up being the case, there have definitely been some recent advancements that give us a clearer picture of when the highly-anticipated follow-up to DAMN. is coming. Here’s what we know so far about the new Kendrick Lamar album.

Everything We Know About Kendrick Lamar’s Next Album

Kendrick Lamar hasn’t put out an album since 2017, when DAMN. debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart. In August of last year, the “Humble” rapper issued a statement on his oklama.com website indicating that his next album would be “my final TDE album” and that he was indeed in the process of producing it. Then in October, his Spotify avatar changed for the first time since 2017, when DAMN. came out and fans were chomping at the bit. Then in November, as he was wrapping up his set at the Day N Vegas music festival, Lamar said “Vegas till next time! And when I say next time I mean very soon.” The plot thickens…

During Super Bowl Week, radio host Ebro Darden and his Rap Life Review co-hosts read a report that new music from the Compton raper was coming before the big game. And while it didn’t, a week later, the Milano Summer Festival in Italy announced that Kendrick Lamar would be performing and that he “will play the pieces of the new album, long-awaited by the fans.” Surely Lamar and his camp approved of that message. And if you need any further proof, last September, eleven new ASCAP song registrations popped up crediting “Kendrick Lamar” as the songwriter.

Perhaps the album has been done since September and Kendrick has been biding his time leading up to a big summer splash? We’ll find out soon enough…