Month: April 2022

In the midst of the Charlotte Hornets’ 132-103 play-in game loss to the Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday, frustration seemed to get the best of Miles Bridges.

In the middle of the fourth quarter, Bridges argued a goaltending call after he believed he cleanly blocked a Deandre Hunter layup. (Hunter’s shot, however, was already on the way down after hitting the glass.) Bridges was hot enough to immediately get hit with a technical foul and, when he continued arguing, he was quickly hit with a second.

The story, however, doesn’t end there. He appeared to keep arguing before being redirected to the back by various Hornets players and coaches. On his way to the back, he seemed to react to a fan mocking him and, in response, threw his mouthpiece into the crowd where it appeared to hit a young Hawks fan in the face.

Bridges certainly will be fined for this in some way. On top of the ejection, throwing any object into the crowd is a very much not going to go unpunished by the NBA. Even understanding Bridges’ frustration by his team’s performance in the game and Charlotte’s season coming to an end, this was not an appropriate reaction in any way.

Bridges has already taken to social media to apologize for the incident, tweeting that his reaction “unacceptable” and that he’d like to get in contact with the fan.

It’s good to see him take ownership of what he did, but that won’t stop the league from surely handing down a fine in the coming days.

It was a familiar feeling for the Hawks and Hornets on Wednesday night, as Wednesday’s play-in game in Atlanta felt awfully similar to how each team fared in postseason basketball a year ago. That’s a very good thing for the Hawks, who are looking to claw their way into the 8-seed a year removed from a stunning run to the Eastern Conference Finals, and a bad thing for the Hornets, who for the second year in a row fell flat in the play-in tournament.

Charlotte started well, but after an early run put them on top, the Hawks settled in against the trapping Hornets defense and started to knock down shots. Kevin Huerter got loose and provided some much needed shooting as Charlotte aggressively doubled Trae Young out of the gates, successfully slowing down Young’s scoring, but asking the Hawks others to beat them, which they happily obliged.

While Young struggled to score the ball efficiently, he still was orchestrating the offense beautifully, throwing some absolutely gorgeous passes to set up his teammates with easy finishes thanks to Charlotte’s efforts in selling out to keep Young from getting clean looks at the basket.

Young finished the game with 24 points on 8-of-24 shooting to go along with 10 assists in the win, as all five Hawks starters (and Bogdan Bogdanovic off the bench) hit double figures on the night. In the first half, it was Huerter who found his stroke, but the most impressive effort of the night for Atlanta came from De’Andre Hunter, who had 22 points and seven rebounds, doing most of his damage in the third quarter as the Hawks ran away with the win, dominating in a 42-24 quarter.

Ultimately, the Hawks rolled to a 132-103 win and the frustration of the loss seemed to wear on the Hornets, leading to an ejection for Miles Bridges for arguing a goaltending call that ended in an ugly scene as he threw his mouthguard at a Hawks fan mocking him as he went into the tunnel and ended up hitting a girl in the face.

It was simply not a good night for the Hornets, who for the second year in a row see their season end in dreadful fashion in the play-in tournament, and it will be back to the drawing board for the front office in trying to construct a roster capable of going deeper next year.

For Atlanta, they seem to be peaking at the right time once again, but will need to put forth another strong performance on Friday night when they head to Cleveland to face the Cavs for the right at the 8-seed and a first round series against the Miami Heat, starting on Sunday.

Netflix can be a strange, unpredictable place. It’s no surprise when Bridgerton’s second season scores a ton of views, but a show about cake that looks like other things? Every now and then some random movie that few paid attention to when it was released tops the charts. It happened to Michael Mann’s (excellent) Blackhat, starring Chris Hemsworth. And now it’s happened to a Halle Berry thriller from 2013, much to the surprise of Halle Berry herself.

That movie is The Call, in which the Oscar-winning actress plays a LAPD 9-1-1 operator who takes a call from a teenager (Abigail Breslin) who’s been kidnapped. It actually made some money in a very different world that didn’t ignore R-rated one-off thrillers, like people are currently doing to Michael Bay’s Ambulance. Reviews were split but some felt it was a solid genre picture that was resourceful with a simple B-movie premise (that happens to be headlined by someone who won an Academy Award just over a decade earlier).

Still, its appearance atop the Netflix Top 10, on the day it bowed on the streamer, left its own star confused.

“….so ‘The Call’ is the No. 1 movie on @netflix right now, nearly 10 years after it’s [sic] release,” Berry wrote on Twitter. “Are y’all OK?”

It’s not clear whether Berry doesn’t think much of The Call. Maybe she likes it just fine but can’t believe it’s a chart-topper. Frankly, neither can we. But in an age when most people going to multiplexes almost always see franchise fare, it’s heartening to know the masses will still give a chance to modest movies that aren’t part of some Cinematic Universe, even if it’s only when in the comfort of their own homes. Maybe the next random movie to top the Netflix charts will be [spins a wheel featuring every movie ever made] The Replacements, an underperforming football comedy starring Keanu Reeves and Gene Hackman from the year 2000.

(Via ComicBook.com)

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Welcome to SNX DLX, your weekly roundup of the best sneakers to hit the internet. If you’re a fan of futuristic sneaker aesthetics, this is your week as highlights include the Converse Aeon Active CX, the New Balance 2002R, Nike Air Trainer 1, and a new utilitarian-looking sandal from Union LA.

That’s right, utilitarian sandal. It’ll make sense when you see it.

We’re seeing a lot of silhouettes this week that don’t get enough love in the sneaker world — suggesting that we’re in the middle of a shift in a new direction. Bring it on, we say! One day the Nike Shox is laughed out of existence, and the next day it’s hot again. And the faster we get back to the day it’s not popular again, the better.

Here are this week’s seven best sneaker drops and where cop ’em. Let’s dive in.

Converse x A-COLD-WALL Aeon Active CX Micro Chip and Healing Jade

The Converse x A-COLD-WALL Aeon Active CX Micro Chip and Healing Jade is… a mouthful of a name for a sneaker, but if you love futuristic-looking sneakers built from sustainable elements (a la’s Nike’s Space Hippie collection) then this sneaker is sure to check all your boxes.

The sneaker features a suede and leather accented stretch bootie upper with a CX foam midsole made from 12% recycled Nike scraps. Rounding out the design is an iced-out translucent outsole and Converse branding with an exaggerated heel kick that should help you better slip them on.

The Converse x A-COLD-WALL Aeon Active CX Micro Chip and Healing Jade is out now for a retail price of $160. Pick up a pair via the Nike SNKRS app.

Air Max 95 Summit White and Wolf Grey

Nike has been drip-feeding Air Max 95 fans this year with a steady stream of dope drops and this week brings the sleek Summit White and Wolf Grey colorway. Featuring a premium leather and nubuck upper with a white-to-black gradient that travels through cool grey and steel tones with blue lace accents and branding.

It’s a simple drop but easily one of the week’s best.

The Air Max 95 Summit White and Wolf Grey is set to drop on April 14th for a retail price of $175. Pick up a pair via the Nike SNKRS app.

New Balance 550 Conversations Amongst Us

Joe Freshgood serves as the director for New Balance’s Conversations Amongst Us Collection which officially kicks off this week and the collection’s first two drops are near perfect. First up is this off-white 550. Featuring a canvas upper, a hairy suede collar, and special branding, this vintage-inspired take on the 550 brings a weathered look to the design without looking corny.

The New Balance Conversations Amongst Us New Balance 550s are set to drop on April 15th for a retail price of $119.99. Pick up a pair via the New Balance webstore.

New Balance Conversations Amongst Us 2002R

If you’re looking for a less skatewear-indebted look, the Conversations Amongst Us collection also features this 2002R which perfectly lines up with modern fashion’s current y2k obsession.

Featuring a suede and leather upper with TPU accents and special branding, this 2002R also takes an aged approach to its design with slight yellowing used throughout.

The New Balance Conversations Amongst Us 2002R is set to drop on April 15th for a retail price of $149.99. Pick up a pair via the New Balance webstore.

Nike Air Trainer 1 Light Smoke Grey and Honeydew

Aside from the Jordan 1s, late ‘80s sneaker silhouettes aren’t what is exciting sneakerheads, but hopefully, that changes, because this Light Smoke Grey and Honeydew iteration of the Air Trainer 1 is really working for us.

With a forefoot strap, reflective details, and a harsh utilitarian aesthetic, these apocalyptic-looking kicks manage to capture a look that is both futuristic and retro at the same time. Like old sci-fi’s vision of the future.

The Air Trainer 1 Light Smoke Grey and Honeydew is set to drop on April 14th for a retail price of $150. Pick a up a pair via the Nike SNKRS app.

Union LA Air Jordan 2 Collection

Bring on the Jordan II resurgence! For too long sneakerheads have been underappreciating the Jordan 2 but lately, more and more designers and labels are taking a crack at revamping the sneaker and we’re all for it. Designed by Peter Moore, the Jordan 2 dared to infuse the world of luxury footwear with sneakers a good thirty years before big luxury brands started to take serious notice in the sneaker world.

This collection from Union LA is a celebration of the sneaker with an updated design in a Rattan and Grey Fog colorway. The upper looks even more elegant here than the original sneaker thanks to the sneaker’s beautiful perforated quarter panels. It’s yet another incredible drop from the team at Union.

The collection also features a matching sandal. The slide borrows the same color palette used on the Jordan 2s and looks strangely utilitarian with its concrete-esque design despite being a sandal.

The Union LA Jordan 2 Collection is set to drop on April 15th for a retail price of $225. Join the raffle to pick up a pair at Union.

Air Jordan 7 Sapphire

It’s not often that we get a brand new Jordan 7 colorway so we’re especially hyped for this week’s Jordan 7 Sapphire. Featuring a subtly shimmery leather upper with sapphire and pink accents with a transparent midfoot and collar panels, and a speckled midsole, the Sapphire single-handedly makes the case for a Jordan 7 resurgence.

This release coupled with the Union LA Jordan 2 pack gives us hope that things are about to shift in the world of Jordans, which is a good thing. We need fewer 1s, 3s, 4s, and 5s, bring on the 2s, 7s, and 8s!

The Air Jordan 7 Sapphire is set to drop on April 16th for a retail price of $210. Pick up a pair via the Nike SNKRS app.

KISS singer and bassist Gene Simmons better watch out because there’s about to be a Beyhive chasing him. The 72-year old Rock And Roll Hall Of Famer is about to embark on the final KISS tour ever. Dubbed End Of The Road Tour, it’ll send the heavily-costumed metal band around the world from South America to Sacramento throughout 2022. Simmons sat down with ET for a lengthy interview, to talk about the band’s stamina and longevity, and took a shot at Beyoncé in the process.

In comparing what KISS does to modern-day stars, Simmons fails to see the pitfalls of his thinking. He seems to think that today’s artists wouldn’t be able to hang with the demands on the body that face paint and body armor that looks straight out of a Raiders game can take on the body. He singled out Beyoncé and a couple of other artists in the process:

“You got to understand — we love Jagger [Mick] and Bruno Mars and Bono and anybody else, they’re all great,” Simmons told ET‘s Kevin Frazier. “But if you put those guys — Beyoncé, put Beyoncé in my outfit with seven to eight-inch platform heels, dragon boots that each weigh as much as a bowling ball, the entire outfit, studs, leather and armor is about 40 pounds. The guitar and the studs is 12 pounds by itself. Then, you got to spit fire, fly through the air and do that for two hours. They would pass out within a half hour.”

Something tells me Simmons hasn’t seen Homecoming and the multiple costume changes Beyoncé goes through in the middle of her Coachella performance. Not to mention the grueling rehearsal schedule she went through for that and oh..she was coming off of a difficult pregnancy as well. It probably bears mentioning that the press rounds Beyoncé has had to endure throughout her career are no walk in the park either. And look, while she might not be wearing face paint that makes her look like a demon or a cat, Beyoncé’s make-up has never been anything but perfect and that takes time to achieve itself.

In speaking of 50 years of performing with KISS, Simmons added that “We work hard at it. No drugs, no booze, no smoking. None of that stupid rock and roll stuff. I hike almost every single day…” Which is commendable, but it makes his comments on Beyoncé just seem a little misguided. Memo to Gene Simmons: As the great Omar Little once said, “Come at the King [Queen], best not miss.”

Back in September, The Kid Laroi left Scooter Braun’s management group SB Projects just a few months after signing with them. The Australian singer would then take his talents to Adam Leber’s Rebel Management where Lil Nas X is also a client. At the time of the announcement, Laroi did not give a reason for his departure, but it now appears that things between the F*ck Love singer and Braun turned sour before he walked away. In a new TikTok that Laroi posted to promote his upcoming single “Thousand Miles,” he asked his fans to share their “last mistake,” but it’s what Laroi revealed that surprised people.

The upcoming record features the lyrics, “Here goes another mistake I know I’m gonna make / I know I’m gonna make tonight / And I will never change.” As those words play in the TikTok, photos of Braun appear across the screen, pushing some to believe that Laroi considers his former manager to be his “last mistake.” Many were confused by Laroi’s TikTok as one person commented, “The way I can’t tell if this is a joke or not.”

If the TikTok is not a joke, Laroi would join the likes of Taylor Swift and others who have publicly shown their dismay for Braun. Swift and Braun were tied up in a very public feud after he bought the label that owned her masters and made it very difficult for her to buy them from him. As for Laroi, his split with Braun came after he released “Stay” with Justin Bieber which spent multiple weeks at No. 1.

You can view Laroi’s TikTok above and stay tuned for “Thousand Miles” which drops on April 22.

Projection is defined as the psychological projection of attributing one’s own faults upon others. Let’s say you committed voter fraud in the 2020 American election. Well, you simply say others — like, say, those in the Democratic party — did it. Anyway, after almost a year-and-a-half of Trump supporters baselessly crying voter fraud, the only proven cases of such malfeasance have been amongst Republicans.

Wednesday was a big day for Republican voter fraud news. Mark Meadows, Donald Trump’s former White House Chief of Staff, was removed from North Carolina’s voter rolls after being accused of illegally voting in the state. Meanwhile, two of the four residents of Florida’s MAGA haven The Villages, who have been charged with voting multiple times back in November 2020, confessed to their crimes.

As per The Orlando Sentinel (as caught by The Daily Beast), Charles F. Barnes and Jay Ketcik, who live in the Republican-heavy retirement community, pled guilty to submitting two ballots each. Barnes is unregistered, while Ketcik is a registered Republican. The other two Villages residents who have been charged with similar crimes are John Rider and Joan Halstead.

What punishment awaits Barnes and Ketcik? Voter fraud is a third-degree felony which carries a maximum of five years. However, court records reveal that two may be able to defer prosecution in lieu of 50 hours of community service, a 12-week civics class, and regular meetings with a supervising officer. Sure, Trump himself didn’t exactly learn to follow the law after his first of two impeachments, but maybe these two are different.

When news of the confessions broke, some had jokes.

Others accused the Republican party of projection.

And others argued that Barnes and Ketcik’s potential punishment is not exactly fair.

(Via Orlando Sentinel and The Daily Beast)

Earlier this year, Wack 100, who is the outspoken manager of The Game and Blueface, claimed that he was in possession of a “part two” sex tape between Kim Kardashian and Ray J. Wack 100, who is also Ray J’s former manager, claimed this tape was “more graphic and better than the first one,” but added that he would not give it to anyone besides Kanye West. The exchange was eventually made, as Kanye revealed in his interview with Jason Lee and his Hollywood Unlocked platform, and Kim later received the laptop. However, Kim later claimed that there was “nothing sexual” on the laptop.

Months after the whole ordeal, Wack 100 took a moment to address the incident and explain Kim’s reaction during a conversation on Clubhouse. “Now here go the sh*t I have a problem with,” Wack 100 said after going over the aforementioned events including the laptop exchange. “And I’ma say this, I love Ye but he’s been victimized too. So now that your new show is coming out, you’ve gotten so distracted with how you’re going to promote your sh*t because you really ain’t got nothing going on outside of the disrespect you’ve been directing to your husband with his kids. You know what you do? ‘We gon’ talk about the Black man again.’”

The show that Wack is referring to is Kardashian, the Hulu-based reality show that follows the day-to-day lives of the Kardashian family. In a now-deleted Instagram post, Wack 100 noted that Kim’s lawyers threatened a lawsuit against him if the alleged footage was released despite their previous claims that he was lying about the contents of the laptop.

You can listen to Wack 100’s story and view his deleted Instagram post above.

On June 27th, 2007, with a hint of sunlight still in the Glastonbury sky, Amy Winehouse took to the Pyramid Stage and made music festival history. Backed by a jazz band and flanked by two soulful backup singers/dancers, Winehouse delivered a beyond memorable performance at Worthy Farm that will now be enshrined as an album.

Winehouse’s Live At Glastonbury 2007 album is getting a vinyl exclusive release on June 3rd of her complete 16-song set. At the time of the performance, Back To Black had been out in the world for less than a year and songs like “Rehab” and “Back To Black” were at the forefront of international consciousness as the world came to adore Winehouse’s tragic genius. She played a second set later the same day on the much smaller Jazz World Stage, but this Pyramid stage performance tales the cake.

Watch a clip of Winehouse performing “Back To Black” at Glastonbury 2007 above and check out the album artwork and tracklist below.

Side A
1. “Addicted”
2. “Just Friends”
3. “Tears Dry on Their Own”
4. “He Can Only Hold Her”

Side B
1. “Cherry”
2. “Back to Black”
3. “Wake Up Alone”
4. “Love Is a Losing Game”

Side C
1. “Fuck Me Pumps”
2. “Cupid”
3. “Hey Little Rich Girl”
4. “Monkey Man”

Side D
1. “You Know I’m No Good”
2. “Rehab”
3. “Me & Mr. Jones”
4. “Valerie”

Amy Winehouse’s Live at Glastonbury 2007 album comes out on 06/03 via Republic Records. Pre-order it here.

There’s disastrous vocational changes, and then there’s what Devin Nunes did back in December. For 11 years, he had a cushy job as a far right member of the House of Representatives. Then he abruptly resigned from his position to become CEO of the still new Trump Media & Technology Group, aka the company behind Truth Social, the former president’s attempt at a Twitter clone. That venture has, shall we say, not gone well. But by gum, Nunes is still trying to spin it as a secret win.

Less than a week after embarrassing himself on Fox News by hilariously claiming Truth Social was somehow “beating Twitter,” he was back with some more unconvincing spin. The last time he was there, even host Maria Bartiromo, herself no stranger to unhinged conspiracy theories, ruthlessly grilled him over his strange claims. While discussing Elon Musk buying $73.1 million, which gives the controversial entrepreneur a 9.1% stake in the company, Bartiromo gave Nunes a second chance, but he failed again.

“What is Twitter? Most Americans don’t use Twitter,” Nunes said, which is probably not a great way to start a convincing argument. “Twitter is a press release wire, it’s a place where celebrities go and put out a press release. It’s nothing more than that.”

Nunes then wondered why Musk would want to invest in arguably the world’s most popular social media service when he could be pouring money into one that not even its founder uses.

“So I don’t know why you’d want to invest that much money unless you’ve got some grander plan for it,” Nunes said. “You know, compared to what we’re doing at Truth, where we’re building a community, we’re not a place for celebrities to put press releases — I mean, you can.”

He then all but begged Musk to use Truth Social, saying he’s “more than welcome” to sign up, saying he was “allowed to come on free of charge,” as opposed to, you know, giving them a small chunk of his unimaginable wealth, which it could probably use right now. He then reminded people, a little desperately, that the Truth Social app is waiting to be downloaded, while unwittingly reminding people that it’s still only available on iPhones.

Will Nunes’ plea to Musk work? Or will Truth Social wind up yet another failed Trump product, like his steaks, his airline, his university, his cycling tour, etc., etc., etc.?