Year: 2022

“The time to worry about crossing lines was a lot of lines ago.”

By now we’re all familiar with the Trolley Problem (thanks, The Good Place!) where we have to decide whether to actively change the trajectory of a trolley on a train track so that it will kill only one person instead of ten. But what if you weren’t just driving the trolley, but built it, put it on the track, and set it in motion with the desire to kill people? Don’t sweat it too much. It’s for the greater good. George Saunders’ short story “Escape From Spiderhead” attacks that question head-on by placing us in a prison research facility where a shadowy corporation tests profoundly invasive drugs on inmates to push the boundaries of how acutely drugs can control behavior. It looks like Netflix’s movie version starring Chris Hemsworth, Miles Teller, and Jurnee Smollett is expanding on the brief window we get into the world of Spiderhead to push those limits further.

Hemsworth plays Abnesti, a brilliant visionary not bound by ethics of any kind, while Teller and Smollett play inmates who dance to experimental doses loaded into a cartridge surgically attached to their backs. Spiderhead was written by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick (who do not get enough credit for their stellar run from Zombieland through Deadpool) and directed by Joseph Kosinski, who also has Top Gun: Maverick hitting theaters in late May. Spiderhead will scramble brains on Netflix June 17th.

Mindy Kaling’s upcoming project VELMA will feature a much more adult approach to the Scooby gang, which famously caused some backlash when it was announced last year.

At the Warner Bros Discover Upfront presentation this week, Kaling gave a first look at her new series, which is heading to HBO Max this year. “Hopefully you noticed my Velma is South Asian,” Kaling said. “If people freak out about that, I don’t care.” Kaling added that if a dog can solve crimes, then her Velma can be brown. Besides, the pup won’t be in the show anyway.

Kaling also unveiled a first look at the show, which is intended to be for more mature audiences. In the first look there is a pretty graphic still of the series featuring a woman with her skull cut open, and another woman (Daphne?) seemingly naked. Seems like this show will be a wild ride. Kaling will also voice the titular character, in addition to executive producing.

The series is one of a handful of adult animation shows coming to HBO Max this year: Clone High will also be rebooted with the original creators Phil Lord, Chris Miller, and Bill Lawrence, along with a new Pete Davidson-led series Fired On Mars, in addition to the very popular Harley Quinn series.

The Denver Nuggets have produced some of the most well respected front office executives in the league over the last decade, headlined by Masai Ujiri, but also including Bulls vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas.

Tim Connelly, their current president, also fits in that category and it appears he might be joining Ujiri and Karnisovas in exploring a new opportunity outside of Denver this offseason, as Shams Charania and Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic report the Minnesota Timberwolves are in “serious talks” with Connelly to take over their vacant president of basketball operations post.

The Timberwolves are in serious talks with Denver Nuggets president Tim Connelly about the franchise’s vacant President of Basketball Operations role, sources tell The Athletic. The Timberwolves recently requested permission from the Nuggets to speak with Connelly, and the sides have moved beyond exploratory conversations, sources said.

There have been no agreements reached yet, and nothing appears imminent, sources said.

The Timberwolves are looking to add Connelly into the vacancy left by Gersson Rosas after he was fired prior to the season amid a scandal involving him having an affair with a staffer and allegations of a toxic workplace culture. Per Charania and Krawczynski, Sachin Gupta, who was elevated to the top spot in the Minnesota front office when Rosas was fired, would be expected to remain in his position as a major decision-maker but would answer to Connelly.

For Denver, it would mean starting over now that Karnisovas (formerly the GM below Connelly) is in Chicago, and would be the second time that their lead basketball executive left for a better offer. Minnesota’s new ownership is clearly looking to spend to build on what they did this year in making the playoffs for the first time since 2018, and adding Connelly would give them another respected voice as they look to continue upgrading the roster.

It was just a little over a week ago that the music world was shocked by the news of RICO charges against Young Thug, Gunna, and 26 other members of the former’s YSL rap collective. The RICO case levied a total of 56 charges against the members which included conspiring to violate the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, murder, armed robbery, and participation in criminal street gang activity. Thug himself was hit with seven more felony charges after a search warrant was executed at his Georgia home. More details about YSL’s alleged crimes have arrived since their arrest, including a recent accusation from Georgia prosecutors.

According to Complex, following an emergency motion filed by YFN Lucci, who was allegedly “stabbed with a shank, repeatedly, inside the Fulton County Jail” by a YSL member, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis shared more details about YSL’s alleged crime. “And what myself and any law enforcement member can tell you as a result of that [is] the back-and-forth gun violence and murders that have occurred, have probably been in excess of 50 since 2015—triggered by that in the back-and-forth between that [YSL] gang and other gangs.”

Willis was speaking about the 2015 murder of Donovan Thomas, which she said was “extremely significant” in connecting YSL to other alleged crimes that are listed in the case. In the 2015 incident, the 26-year-old YFN affiliate was murdered outside of a barbershop, and Thug is accused of renting the Infiniti Q50 sedan used in the crime.

YFN Lucci’s team filed the emergency motion on the basis of him being a victim in the YSL case. Lucci’s legal team is reportedly asking that the rapper be released on “reasonable conditions” and an “emergency bond hearing.” According to Complex, they add that “despite being a named victim in a sprawling and high-profile criminal case, the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office, nor any Victim’s Advocate from their office has reached out to Mr. [Rayshawn] Bennett or his counsel.”

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

Toto’s “Africa” is one of the most beloved pop songs of all time. In fact, it’s been touted by at least one neural scientist and by countless music fans as the No. 1 song ever written.

For a song released in the early 1980s, it has stood the test of time consistently, never feeling dated or constrained by its decade. “Africa” is practically in a genre of its own, which is probably why it’s been covered so many times in so many styles by so many artists.

One rendition that’s getting viral attention—not for the first time—may be unlike any you’ve ever seen.

Peter Bence is a Hungarian pianist and composer who performs “Africa” as a solo piece on the piano—only it’s not a piano solo piece in the traditional sense, as he uses the piano in totally different ways than what we’re used to seeing.

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Bence first shared a video of his live “Africa” performance on YouTube in 2018 and it’s been viewed 15 million times since then. A share of the video on his Facebook page from May 15 already has 5.3 million views and more than 9,000 comments.

The video begins with a barefoot Bence creating a sound with the strings of the piano, which becomes looped. Then he adds percussion with his hands on the surface of the piano, which also get looped. Then he finally sits down to play the piano, and from there we’re taken on a blessed, rainy ride above the Serengeti.

The energy Bence brings to the performance is as entertaining as his musicality, as one wonders what creative way he’s going to use the piano next. From plucking piano strings to opening and closing the lid to the keyboard, Bence makes and loops sounds to help build out the track. While we wouldn’t expect a solo piano version of “Africa” to sound just like the original, part of what makes the song great is how rich and full it feels, and Bence manages to keep some of that with his piano plucking, scratching and pounding.

Watch:

A sampling of comments reflect the general sentiment in how the video has been received:

“I’m so glad to watch and see a fellow musician, that enjoys the music deep down. Excellent playing man!”

“So fluid. The piano is an extension of your whole body. Amazing.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone has so much fun playing the piano. You’re not just terrifically talented, I love the creativity.”

“Brilliant! Loved it. It made me think what would J S Bach have done with looping on a piano/harpsichord?”

“Mesmerizing! He became the music and the music became him.”

In short, it’s gonna take a lot to drag us away from this video.

Peter Bence is touring in 2022. Check out his website for more info.

Taylor Swift is only 32 years old, but as someone who’s been on the world’s stage for half her life, she’s a lot wiser than her years would suggest. The “Shake it Off” singer received an honorary doctorate from New York University as part of the school’s 2022 graduating class on May 18 at Yankee Stadium and followed it up with a speech for her fellow graduates.

In the speech, she discussed choosing what to let go of in life and the importance of eagerness. But the most important advice she shared was how to overcome mistakes. She explained how she deals with missteps to help her fellow graduates navigate the inevitable stumbles they’ll take in their post-collegiate life.

She noted that being a pop star who was known as “America’s Sweetheart” gave her the extra burden of being a perfect role model. But living up to those expectations was impossible.

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“I became a young adult while being fed the message that if I didn’t make any mistakes, all the children of America would grow up to be perfect angels,” she admitted. “However, if I did slip up, the entire Earth would fall off its axis and it would be entirely my fault and I would go to pop star jail forever and ever. It was all centered around the idea that mistakes equal failure and ultimately, the loss of any chance at a happy or rewarding life.”

However, Swift believes that all the mistakes she’s made have “led to the best things in my life.”

“Having the world treat my love life like a spectator sport in which I lose every single game was not a great way to date in my teens and 20s, but it taught me to protect my private life fiercely,” she shared.

“Being publicly humiliated over and over again at a young age was excruciatingly painful but it forced me to devalue the ridiculous notion of minute-by-minute, ever-fluctuating social relevance and likability. Getting canceled on the internet and nearly losing my career gave me an excellent knowledge of all the types of wine,” she joked, in what appeared to be an allusion to her feud with Kanye West.

Swift also encouraged students to embrace their embarrassing moments and to “live alongside cringe” as “cringe is unavoidable over a lifetime.” She also made the scary but true point that we will all make big mistakes throughout our lives.

“In your life, you will inevitably misspeak, trust the wrong people, underreact, overreact, hurt the people who didn’t deserve it, overthink, not think at all, self-sabotage, create a reality where only your experience exists, ruin perfectly good moments for yourself and others, deny any wrongdoing, not take the steps to make it right, feel very guilty, let the guilt eat at you, hit rock bottom, finally address the pain you caused, try to do better next time, rinse, repeat,” she continued. “And I’m not gonna lie, these mistakes will cause you to lose things.”

But the important thing is how we recover.

“Anyway, hard things will happen to us. We will recover. We will learn from it. We will grow more resilient because of it. As long as we are fortunate enough to be breathing, we will breathe in, breathe through, breathe deep, breathe out. And I’m a doctor now, so I know how breathing works,” she joked.

Swift sent the graduates off to their new lives where they will most likely work with a new cast of characters, including bosses, business partners, spouses, community leaders and children. But her advice was important because it taught them to make peace with the hardest critic they’ll ever have to please in their next chapters: themselves.

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 internet. After a huge week, we’re again being treated to a packed SNX, as we continue to get hit with wave after wave of dope drops. We’ve peeked at the weeks ahead and it doesn’t look like things are going to let up anytime soon, either. This is a good thing, because after two full years of being locked away in our houses with little contact with the outside world, we’re finally back, which means we need more looks than ever if we’re going to be stepping out in style.

This week it looks like the big brands are feeling the lighter vibes of spring, delivering sneakers in brighter color palettes. Highlights of the week include LeBron’s latest with Nike and Joe Freshgoods’ brand new New Balance silhouette. Let’s dive into this week’s best.

Adidas Adimatic

The Adidas Adimatic is back! The late ‘90s skate shoe is getting a relaunch and revamp courtesy of pro skater Jamal Smith who is bringing Halloween in the spring with this moody and festive colorway. Featuring suede overlays, a chunky wide foot design, sustainable construction (made in part with recycled content from Adidas production waste) and Orange Rush nubuck 3-stripes, this black sneaker sits atop an all black midsole with gum grip and built-in wear resistance.

It’s designed to take a beating and hold up to the demands of vigorous street skating.

The Adidas Adimatic is out now for a retail price of $100. Pick up a pair at Adidas or your favorite aftermarket sites.

Nike LeBron IX Low White Lime and Bright Mango

No signature sneaker line is quite as fun as LeBron’s. Jordans have the style, Kobes provide the performance, but the LeBrons are the only one we’d describe as fun. Featuring an all-over tropical leaf print, this LeBron IX combines White Lime and Bright Mango colors over a mesh upper. It lives in the same world as LeBron’s equally chill South Beach colorway and stands as the only sneaker ever to be influenced by an Arnold Palmer.

The Nike LeBron IX Low White Lime and Bright Mango is set to drop on May 19th for a retail price of $200. Pick up a pair via the Nike SNKRS app.

Nike Air Max 1 Light Madder Root and Worn Blue

Joining the LeBron IX, Nike is dropping another sneaker that exudes heavy spring vibes. Nike’s Air Max 1 Light Madder Root and Worn Blue wraps one of Nike’s best silhouettes in calming color tones over a mixed upper. Featuring a mix of muted blue, green, and salmon colors, the Air Max 1 stars suede overlays on a mesh base with three-tone laces, and a bright green swoosh.

The Nike Air Max 1 Light Madder Root and Worn Blue is set to drop on May 19th for a retail price of $150. Pick up a pair via the Nike SNKRS app.

Nike Air Force 1 Mid x Stüssy Black and Light Bone

Anytime Nike wants to collaborate with legendary skate label Stüssy, we’re in, no questions asked. We love seeing these two brands together and while a Stüssy x Nike collaboration is an easy sell no matter what it looks like, the two brands still came together to give us something great with this drop.

This mid-top AF-1 features a two-toned black tumbled leather upper with faded bone accents and embroidered branding. Stussy is represented on the sneaker’s strap, toe box, and heel in three iterations of flavor branding via the brand that never feels out of place or excessive. Take note Supreme, this is how you collaborate without stealing the show.

The Nike Air Force 1 Mid x Stüssy Black and Light Bone is set to drop on May 19th for a retail price of $150. Pick up a pair via the Nike SNKRS app.

Air Jordan 5 Low x CLOT Anthracite

We covered this release last week when it dropped as a retailer exclusive, but since it’s probably one of our top five releases of the year and we’ve got room on this roundup we’re double dipping and covering it again for its SNKRS wide release.

Designed by CLOT Founder Edison Chen,m the Anthracite features an all black texture upper with satin details and jade and crimson accents. The midsole features a speckled shark tooth over a glow in the dark outsole.

The CLOT Air Jordan 5 Low Anthracite is set to hit the Nike SNKRS app on May 20th for a retail price of $200. Pick up a pair via the Nike SNKRS app.

Nike Air Jordan 4 White and Black

Nike is teasing fans of the beloved Oreo colorway with this nearly Reverse Oreo iteration of the Air Jordan 4. Nike’s inclusion of Neutral Grey detailing across this mostly white and black sneaker feels like almost like a troll to sneakerheads who obsess over black and white colorways.

We see what you’re doing Nike, we’re dorky enough to notice.

The Nike Air Jordan 4 White and Black is set to drop on May 21st for a retail price of $210. Pick up a pair via the Nike SNKRS app or aftermarket sites like GOAT and Flight Club.

Adidas Yeezy 700 V3 Fade Carbon

2022 has proven to be the year of the Yeezy 700, and that’s not a bad thing because it’s easily the brand’s best silhouette but we’re not completely sure how we feel about this week’s Fade Carbon 700 V3. On the one hand, it’s colorful, psychedelic, and a little out there, which we always appreciate out of Yeezy Brand. But on the other hand, it straight up looks like what we imagine an alien’s heart would look like.

We’re not sure we’re into that, maybe you’re different. Either way, it’s certainly not boring, and for that alone, we’re liking it. We have to give props to Ye for always mixing it up and keeping things interesting at the very least.

The Adidas Yeezy 700 V3 Fade Carbon is set to drop on May 21st for a retail price of $210. Pick up a pair via the Adidas Confirmed app or Yeezy Supply.

Pharrell Adidas Humanrace Sichona Black

Pharrell’s Humanrace Sichona is finally getting a Core Black colorway. Featuring Solar Pink and Vivid Green accents, the Sichona sports a lightweight Primeknit upper with Adidas flexible Futurenatural construction, which is designed to shift and conform to your movements for maximum support. It’s a sneaker designed for people who want to feel like they aren’t wearing shoes, but don’t want to take the plunge and start wearing those Vibram Fivefinger shits.

The Adidas Humanrace Sichona Black is set to drop on May 21st for a retail price of $180. Pick up a pair via the Adidas Confirmed app.

Joe Freshgoods x New Balance 9060 Penny Cookie Pink

We’ve had another strong week of sneaker drops, but nothing from this week compares to Joe Freshgood’s latest with New Balance, which is an absolute must-cop if you’ve got the means. The 9060 is a new silhouette that combines elements from the New Balance 990 series and infuses them with a sort of y2K aesthetic.

Featuring a space mesh and nubuck upper with ABZORB cushioning, inner padding, and an ovary cream and blossom colorway, the 9060 is emblematic of a new era of New Balance. The brand has Joe Freshgoods and Teddy Santis designing sneakers for them now, if we were Nike we’d be watching our back.

The 9060 Penny Cookie Pink is dropping with lots of hype, so don’t feel too defeated if you catch ‘L’ on release date.

The Joe Freshgoods x New Balance 9060 Penny Cookie Pink is set to drop May 20th for a retail price of $179.99. Pick up a pair via the New Balance webstore.

Sean Spicer wound up on Dancing with the Stars, but Stephanie Grisham — the most apologetic of Donald Trump’s White House press secretaries — scored something slightly more respectable: a guest stint co-hosting The View. Her tenure didn’t get off to a great start. Grisham underwent a relentless grilling for only jumping ship after her disastrous boss helped foment a failed insurrection. But in case anyone doubted she’s seen the light, behold the way she reacted when Madison Cawthorn praised him even after his disastrous primary loss.

Wednesday’s show came after elections held in multiple states, including a chaotic GOP race in Pennsylvania for Senate. Arguably the biggest loser was Cawthorn, who was ousted after less than a year-and-a-half in Congress. He didn’t take the loss well, but after he conceded he did tell supporters that they should always put their trust in the guy who won’t even bail out his accomplices.

“The thing I love about President Trump is that when you get your back pushed up against the wall, I found that most people in politics if it’s not politically expedient for them they’ll turn their back on you in a heartbeat,” Cawthorn declared. “But no matter what you are facing, when Donald Trump has your back, he has your back to the end.”

When The View listened to Cawthorn’s speech, they couldn’t help but be gobsmacked. Joy Behar asked, “Is he kidding?” She added, “Also when you turn on him and change your tune about him, he’s furious and tries to ruin you.”

That prompted Grisham to weigh in. “That’s not true. That’s just not true,” she interjected, then burst into laughter. “I’m kidding — heavy sarcasm!”

Grisham should know more than most: She wrote a burn-it-all-down tell-all, which provided yet more dirt about not only the former president but also his wife and his daughter and son-in-law. Trump, of course, responded by trashing her credibility, obscuring the fact that he hired her not once but twice.

(Via Raw Story)

The primary race in Pennsylvania this year was so wild that it’s not even over yet. As of this writing, two Republican Senate frontrunners — the Trump-endorsed non-resident Dr. Mehmet Oz and hedge fund manager Dave McCormick — remain neck-and-neck. No matter what happens, a recount is likely, and claims of voter fraud are already flying. (And whoever wins will have to square off against 6’8” pro-weed progressive John Fetterman in the fall.) But even a definitive loser is not going away quietly.

As per The Hill, Kathy Barnette — who is so farther to the right than both Oz and McCormick that she actually marched with the Proud Boys to the Capitol on Jan. 6 — launched into some old-fashioned political in-fighting. In a video posted on Twitter, she naturally slammed “the radical left.” But she also slammed the radical right, including Sean Hannity, whom she’s accused of doing her dirty.

“Never forget what Sean Hannity did in this race,” Barnette said in the video, posted the day after her loss. “Almost single-handedly Sean Hannity sowed deep seeds of disinformation, flat out lies every night for the past five days and that was just extremely hard to overcome.”

Indeed, despite Barnette’s Jan. 6 participation, there appeared to be a concerted effort from the Trump wing of the GOP to take her down. Oz has claimed he had been taking “behind the scenes” advice from Hannity.

Meanwhile, late last week, Trump himself delivered a mixed-message attack on the candidate. “Kathy Barnette will never be able to win the General Election against the Radical Left Democrats,” the former president said, though he didn’t want to outright condemn her. “She has many things in her past which have not been properly explained or vetted, but if she is able to do so, she will have a wonderful future in the Republican Party — and I will be behind her all the way.”

But Barnette doesn’t seem to want to accept his olive branch. She declared that after her loss, she would support neither Oz nor McCormick, cryptically calling them “globalists.” Dems are usually in disarray, but so, it seems, are the Repubs.

(Via The Hill)

The Dallas Mavericks picked up one of the most shocking wins in recent memory on Sunday when they went into Phoenix and demolished the Suns in Game 7 of the Western Conference Semifinals. Despite the Suns being viewed as the favorites to advance and the game happening on their home court, the Mavericks found themselves up, 57-27, at halftime and went on to pick up a 123-90 win.

While Dallas is an excellent team, you’d be hard-pressed to find anyone who thought they’d put forth that complete of a performance with a spot in the conference finals on the line. While they made that happen and earned a matchup with the Golden State Warriors, it turns out the NBA had some reservations about how far their bench went as they celebrated. As such, the league announced on Wednesday afternoon that the Mavericks got hit with a $50,000 fine.

This wasn’t the only time the Mavericks got fined for their “bench decorum” during their series against the Suns. The team received a $25,000 fine following their loss in Game 2 for “encroaching upon the playing court during game action,” and in the aftermath, Dallas coach Jason Kidd expressed his disappointment with the league’s decision.

“I didn’t know we got fined, but that’s cool,” Kidd said, per Forbes. “The league is worried about the wrong thing. You have millionaires cheering on other millionaires. That doesn’t happen in this society. The enthusiasm of the game, for a teammate to cheer on another teammate, is special.

“I think sometimes we’re focused on the wrong thing,” he continued. “And so, when you look at people who make a lot of money cheering on their teammates or their employees, that’s what sport is all about. So, for us to get fined that’s cool. It’s going to another good cause–charity. Again, we’re looking at the wrong thing.”

It seems unlikely this will stop the Mavericks’ bench from going a bit to hard if the team knocks off the Warriors, but we’ll see.