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Three of the NBA’s most prominent players will not be able to play in the All-Star Game next week due to injuries. A pair of longtime All-Star staples, Kevin Durant and Steph Curry, won’t be able to go in Salt Lake City, while an up-and-coming star in Zion Williamson is likewise relegated to the sideline. Durant is dealing with an MCL sprain, Curry has a leg injury, and Williamson is recovering from an injury to his hamstring.

With this year’s All-Star voting featuring a number of players who unfortunately missed out on the game, there are more than enough deserving replacements for that trio. And on Friday afternoon, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN reported that Anthony Edwards of the Minnesota Timberwolves, De’Aaron Fox of the Sacramento Kings, and Pascal Siakam of the Toronto Raptors are all heading to Salt Lake City to participate in this year’s game.

Shortly after Wojnarowski’s report, the NBA confirmed that this trio will make up the game’s injury replacements.

Because all three players were voted in as starters, the league went on to announce the trio of players who will slide into the starting lineup: Joel Embiid, Lauri Markkanen, and Ja Morant.

This will mark the second time that Siakam is an All-Star, as he previously made it in 2020. Edwards and Fox, meanwhile, are going to participate in the game for the first time.

Super Bowl LVII is just two days away. While sports fanatics are looking forward to the NFL’s top two titans battling it out during the big game, others will be tuning in solely for the halftime show starring Rihanna. Although the Fenty Beauty boss has changed her setlist for her performance 39 times, the world is sure to be satisfied with whatever she delivers as it will be the recording artist’s return to a musical stage. However, before the “Lift Me Up” singer grabs a microphone, the pre-game concerts are warming up the Arizona crowd.

One of the acts featured in the pre-game festivities included Paramore. As the group continues to rev up promotions on their just-released new album, This Is Why, they performed several singles off the album, including “C’est Comme Ça” at Super Bowl Music Fest yesterday (February 9).

Between songs, Williams thanked the crowd for attending the show, then jokingly said, “Thank you for celebrating sports,” before screaming, “F*ck yeah, sports!”

Meanwhile, Williams recently said of Paramore, “At this point, I don’t understand how we’re still doing it. Because it just feels like against all odds every single time — which, honestly, I feel like we’re the most annoying band in the world because it’s always like, ‘Oh, we overcame this, and now we’re making this album.’”

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

Super Bowl Sunday is the perfect party to break out your batched cocktail skills. Who wants to be shaking and stirring cocktails all day (and night) when you should be socializing, eating wings, and watching the game? Wouldn’t it be much easier to simply pour a delicious and batched old fashioned over some ice and dive in?! But batching cocktails isn’t as simple as increasing ingredients and hoping for the best. There’s some nuance and I’m here to guide you.

The key to batching ready-to-serve cocktails is knowing the dilution ratio. Very quickly, every cocktail is a mix of a base spirit, sugar, bitters, and water. Usually, water is added to the cocktail during the stirring or shaking step when the ice melts into the drink (and cools it). It’s crucial to creating a balanced drink and is the most often skipped step when making ready-to-drink batched cocktails.

Sure, you can batch a cocktail that you then stir or shake with every drink so that you get that vital water element. But that adds time to the whole process and kind of negates batching cocktails in the first place. So below, I’m going to lay out how easy it is to batch a ready-to-drink old fashioned cocktail that you can just pour over some ice and serve. Let’s dive in!

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Batched Old Fashioned

Ingredients:

• 1 bottle of rye whiskey (750ml)
• 4 oz. water
• 2.5 oz. Angostura Bitters
• 2.5 oz. demerara sugar
• Large ice cubes
• Orange peel
• Cherry

I’m using a barrel-proof rye whiskey that’s really tasty. Always make cocktails with booze that you actually enjoy drinking. No rotgut. No swill.

You’ll end up with 35 ounces of old fashioned with this recipe. Aim for three-ounce pours. You don’t have to be exact, but you should be able to get 10-12 pours from this batch.

What You’ll Need:

• Pitcher
• Barspoon
• Measuring cup
• Rock glass

Method:

• Add all the ingredients to the pitcher. Stir until well incorporated. Taste for sweetness and overall flavor. I didn’t need more sweetness, but an extra 0.5 oz. of sugar will go a long way if you want it sweeter.
• Place a lid on the pitcher or funnel into a bottle and keep it in the refrigerator.
• Prechill a glass and place a large cube in it. Pour the batched old fashioned over the cube and garnish with an orange peel (make sure to express the oils over the cocktail) and cherry. Serve.

Bottom Line:

This is delicious. I shocked myself (not easy these days) with the depth of the flavor profile of this cocktail. The Stellum Rye really popped with a deep dark cherry next to clove, cinnamon, and cedar bark that’s accented by the rich botanical barks from the bitters. The sweetness was just there, adding a nice lush mouthfeel (thanks to using thicker sugar syrup). The orange oils expressed over the cocktail really tied everything together and helped it pop on the palate.

Not to brag but.. this is the best old fashioned I’ve had in a while.

Since I’m making this ahead of time, I put it into a storage bottle and put it in the fridge. But I’m guessing I’m going to have to refill this bottle before Sunday.

What seems pretty interesting in the current state of the MCU – especially now with Peyton Reed’s Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania kicking off Phase 5 – is how the multiverse saga, which features storylines that involve multiple variants of characters (with our new villain Kang, played by the wonderful Jonathan Majors, being a prime example), will play to general audiences. Now, look, this isn’t referring to die-hard Marvel fans. And I’m certainly not referring to myself. But I do wonder what Marvel thinks about all this. Because, like in politics, they can’t just play to the base and hope to still expect casual fans to show up with these fairly complicated storylines going forward. (At least, they are much more complicated than, “guy builds a suit,” or, “frozen World War II hero is back and still wants to fight evil.) So, I’m just curious how they plan to do that.

Stephen Broussard has been a producer on five prior Marvel movies and two of the Disney+ offerings. He was a producer on the previous Ant-Man and the Wasp, but Quantumania is a whole different kind of movie. The last two Ant-Man movies were both released after an Avengers movie and would get described as “palette cleansers.” That is not the case this time out as Quntumania has to set up the new MCU villain, Kang. And set up everything to come in this next phase of Marvel movies. But, again, what about the person who just liked the prior two Ant-Man movies and doesn’t follow the rest?

The two Ant-Man movies before were always referred to as palate cleansers. No one’s calling this one that.

We had what I describe as a healthy chip on our shoulder about that. We knew it was a certain type of movie that had come after these giant Avengers movies. And we challenged ourselves because we were lucky enough to get a part three, to get that next at bat, to say, what if we were epic and big and huge and the entire MCU turns on the events of this? That felt like a reason to do it, if you’re lucky enough to get a third time at bat.

The first two movies set up Scott Lang’s world with all these quirky characters. Was it difficult to give them all up for this one?

It was difficult in the sense that, once we decided to do it, we had to go and do it. You know what I mean? And it’s fun to think about and to talk about, but then, in practicality, you’re building an entire world. And cracking a narrative that makes sense. But it was exciting. I mean, structurally, it’s very different than a lot of Marvel movies. It’s almost like a Jurassic Park movie or something, where you get pulled into this adventure.

Literally, they get pulled in.

Exactly. Wizard of Oz looms large, obviously, and it’s something we talked about a lot. But it was kind of about embracing what it is and embracing that worldview and that tone, which I think is readily apparent as you point out on those first two movies and dropping that. Can you mash that tone up, and that point of view up through Scott, into this big weird sci-fi epic?

The other two Ant-Man movies are really unique. But this one has to tie in with the other movies, it’s setting up a lot of stuff. So this has to be different than what’s worked before.

It does, yeah. And it’s scary. You’re sort of stepping out on the ledge of what’s worked before.

Right, because this has worked before, and this is what people like about these. And I do wonder about the person who may not keep up with everything in the MCU, but likes Ant-Man. For that person a lot has changed.

I mean, we’d sort of approach those movies… the key is to enjoy it, and having fun with the movie. That is the job of that movie. And the more movies we have in our rearview mirror, the more we have to be mindful of that, I think moving on. And looking backwards and of course looking forward with anything it sets up. But we try to be very mindful of that. I’d be curious… I imagine, given your profession, you’re probably well versed in kind of where we are at…

I am, yes.

I mean, I did talk to some people, the more casual people in my own life, and they seemed to understand it. We put the film up in front of audiences, and we asked the question of like, “Well, how many of you have seen Loki?” I also got to work on that a little bit. And about half of them had seen it, half of them hadn’t. But, “How many of you enjoy Jonathan Majors?” And every hand goes up. Everyone really just gets the gravity of who this guy is.

And if you want to go deeper, if you want to make the connections, I think they’re there for you. That’s kind of always been what the MCU is about. But if you want to just have the thrill of the visceralness of what Jonathan is giving you in the moment, I think you get engaged with a film like that as well, too. And it’s unique. It’s a unique question to be asked to the MCU, but we’re mindful. We’re mindful of it. That’s what I’ll say going into it. We don’t take it lightly, or dismiss it.

You mentioned Loki, which kind of serves as instructions for how variants and the multiverse work. But you know not everyone watched that. So every movie, you have to now re-explain variants and the multiverse. So how do you do that? Is it just going to be exposition in every movie going forward? I’m sure you’ve thought about that.

It’s a fair question. I mean, what I would say is that all movies are sleight of hand. Every movie, regardless of the genre, is a magic trick of sleight of hand. And if you look at any movie too closely, you can pick apart the logic, or, “Would the character do this?” But a movie is successful, or is a failure, based on how much they’ve hidden the sleight of hand. You know? Whether that’s exposition, whether that’s character motivation, stuff like that.

But we’ve gone from a guy who built a suit to, “Hey, there are multiple universes now. There are multiple variants of each character.” It’s a lot.

It is a lot.

And I certainly understand it. But I’m worried about someone like my uncle.

Totally. Well, look at this film. How does this film open? This film opens up with a conceit about Scott Lang has written a memoir about everything he’s been through. And it reminds you of the things that he’s done, and the movies he’s been in. And it’s also tied into character. It’s not just this expositional tool, “Previously, on Ant-Man…” It doesn’t play like that.

Yeah, it’s a good one.

It sets up his entire journey for the film. Which is, “My race is run.” “Hey, guess what, dad? Your race is not run.” It’s thematically interesting. And gets beyond that, it’s hilarious. Not to toot our own horn, but I think it’s a really funny sequence. And audiences have told us that. It’s a really fun sequence. So to answer that question, for this movie in particular, it’s very intentional with that problem, right? You have to get a lot of backstory about where Scott’s been, a lot of backstory about the MCU.

It’s very clever.

You get it couched in humor and character, and that was the answer for this movie. To future movies, that question will be asked, and will be answered in ways that are entertaining. Time travel, in Endgame, it’s very complex, and we couched it in Back to the Future Part II. And then I’m like, Okay, I get it. I remember Scott saying, “Back to the Future is bullshit.” But you know, it’s a sleight of hand.

You can contact Mike Ryan directly on Twitter.

Alison Brie, just like the rest of us, recently rewatched Community and was pleasantly surprised to learn that the series is still (mostly) just as good now as it was when it aired back in the NBC golden days. Not that she should be surprised, but Community is known for committing to the bit or even taking three seasons to lead up to a single throwaway punchline.

Now that the series is fulfilling its legacy and getting a movie, Brie admitted that the show holds up a lot better than other beloved shows that probably wouldn’t air today. While chatting on the We Might Be Drunk podcast, Brie admitted, “It holds up. I recently rewatched some of it because I love to watch my own work,” Brie joked before adding, “No! It went up on Netflix during COVID, and I just rewatched a bunch of it, and I loved it.”

Brie explained, “We were in that block. It was The Office, 30 Rock, Parks and Rec, and us. That was the dream three years or however long that block was going. It was like, ‘Wow, this is awesome.’” Even though Community aired alongside some heavy hitters, it still managed to hold its own against the other shows of its time. “It’s very edgy too,” she added. “I think a lot of that writing was toeing the line for a network comedy of, like, getting in some good jabs.”

The gang will reunite for some more good jabs for the upcoming movie which is expected to begin production this month. All of the original stars are expected to return (besides Chevy Chase, who doesn’t really care). It will be exciting to see how the characters interact together after all this time. Maybe they will all actually get jobs!

(Via Indiewire)

Britney Spears’ husband Sam Asghari has spoken out to set the record straight about recent reports regarding his pop star wife.

Rumors began swirling about the “Baby One More Time” singer’s mental health over the past couple days, after outlets like TMZ reported that her closest family and friends, including Asghari himself, had attempted to hold an intervention for the Mississippi hitmaker. This past January, Britney was spotted in local restaurant near her home, where witnesses reported she was acting “manic.”

However, despite the recent incident, Asghari makes it clear this his wife is in perfectly good health and capable of making her own decisions. The personal-trainer-turned-actor firmly maintains that the rumored intervention didn’t happen.

“An intervention did not occur,” he told Access Hollywood host Mario Lopez in an exclusive statement. “My wife is in full control of her life and will continue to make all decisions involving her care regardless of circumstances.”

He continued, “Speculation on her health is inappropriate and should end immediately.”

The pair have been dating since 2016, and got engaged in 2021, nearly two months before her 13-year long conservatorship had ended. The couple finally tied the knot last June, with 60 guests — including a bevy of her famous friends like Madonna, Paris Hilton, Kathy Hilton and Drew Barrymore — in private ceremony in Los Angeles.

Paramore‘s long-awaited new album This Is Why is finally out now after the release of bewitching singles like the title track, “The News,” and “C’est Comme Ça.” Hayley Williams already revealed Bloc Party and Dry Cleaning as influences, and now she name-dropped another artist while discussing the track “Running Out Of Time.”

In an interview with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe, Williams talked about how her experience with Taylor Swift over a decade ago inspired that song.

“I remember when we were 19 and I was closer with Taylor Swift at that point because we both lived in Nashville and we’re both experiencing our own versions of real success for the first time,” Williams recalled. “I went over to hang out. She’s a really good cook, by the way. She’s a really good cook. She has taught me how to make stuff that I did not retain at all.”

Swift showed Williams a closet full of gifts for people she’s grateful for. “I was like, ‘Oh my God, my life is so not together.’ I was like, ‘I can barely remember to send someone a card or flowers.’ There are still Christmas gifts at my house that I have not sent to my friends just sitting there in the back of my closet,” Williams said.

She continued, “I wish that I was the person that felt like I had all my sh*t together and I was like, ‘Oh, I had some extra time, so I’m just popping by with some flowers.’ That kind of thing, that is my idealized self.”

Watch the interview above.

Welcome to another lesson in “stop interviewing George Santos, he’s just going to lie to you.” During a Thursday night appearance on Newsmax, the embattled congressman fielded questions about his tense exchange with Mitt Romney at the State of the Union address. Romney reportedly called Santos an “ass” and told him he should be “embarrassed” for himself, prompting a back and forth between the two. While no one can be seen coming to Santos’ aid, he told Newsmax that Arizona senator Kyrsten Sinema briefly comforted him after the tense exchange.

According to Santos, Sinema told him to “hang in there, buddy” and was “very polite, very kindhearted.” He also accused Romney of having “prejudice towards minorities.”

“She’s a good person, unlike Mr. Romney, who thinks he’s above it all,” Santos said. “And his whole mighty white horse trying to talk to us down on morality.”

Of course, this is George Santos we’re talking about, so you’ll never guess what happened when NBC News reached out to Sinema’s office to confirm his story:

But that never happened, Sinema’s spokesperson Hannah Hurley, told NBC News, calling Santos’ comment “a lie.” The two lawmakers never spoke, Hurley said, and Sinema was not aware of the exchange between Santos and Romney until the GOP senator filled her in afterward.

To the surprise of no one, Santos office declined to comment further and being caught in yet another lie is the last thing the congressman needs right now. Earlier in the week, House speaker Kevin McCarthy confirmed that Santos is facing an investigation from the House Ethics Committee, and CNN reports that Republicans have signaled that Santos could face “expulsion from Congress” depending on the results.

(Via NBC News)

With the widespread legalization of sports betting and the race to add new users on a daily and weekly basis, sportsbooks are much more invested in the prop market than ever before. That includes full slates of prop offerings every night in the basketball and baseball worlds, with expanded slates for primetime NFL and college football action. Still, nothing brings attention to prop bets like the Super Bowl, and this year’s showdown between the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles is a heavyweight battle by any description.

In addition to our usual “winners” column (and with some crossover), it’s time to roll out ten favorite prop bets for the big game. Keep in mind that it is always the right choice to shop across different books in search of the best line and, even on the night of the Super Bowl, it’s okay to pass on a less than desirable number.

Chiefs and Eagles combine for UNDER 5.5 sacks — DraftKings

There is a lot of buzz about both pass rushes, and with good reason. Philadelphia has a historic mark with more than 70 sacks this season, and Kansas City was a top-three team in sacks. As such, this number is inflated. Then, Patrick Mahomes is (very) adept at avoiding sacks, and Hurts can get us home on the other side behind two quality offensive lines.

Dallas Goedert longest reception OVER 18.5 yards — FanDuel

From a trend standpoint, Goedert beat this more than half the time in the regular season, and I’m a fan of his YAC ability. Kansas City doesn’t always have best tackling room and, crucially, this is the best number I’ve seen in the market as of Thursday evening.

Kadarius Toney Over 25.5 receiving yards — PointsBet

This is a talent bet more than anything. Toney was an early exit from the AFC title game with injury, but without Mecole Hardman to stretch things out with speed, Toney is important here. One catch could do it, and this is the best number available in the market.

Patrick Mahomes Under 10.5 yards on his longest rush — FanDuel

Oddly enough, I also like Mahomes over 4.5 rushing attempts. There will be times where he’s given running lanes, and because it’s the Super Bowl, he will take them on occasion. However, he’s also still dealing with his ankle injury and he will be getting down as soon as he can on scrambles. We’ll just hope the Eagles don’t part the seas completely and give him an 11-yard window where no one’s going to hit him.

Isiah Pacheco Over 15.5 receiving yards — DraftKings

The Chiefs are going to have to pass the ball, but they don’t have a lot of great receiving depth. Picking who, beyond Travis Kelce, is going to have a big game for the Chiefs has been a very difficult task this year because Mahomes spends so much time spreading the ball around, but Pacheco’s become their best receiving threat out of the backfield and I’d expect him to get a few targets to try and pick this up.

Kenneth Gainwell Over 19.5 rushing yards — DraftKings

Gainwell had a massive game last week and I’m not afraid to go back to the well. He’s still not at the top of the list of guys you’re trying to take away defensively if you are the Chiefs, and we know the Eagles are going to want to establish some form of rushing attack. He’s great bouncing it outside and that means he’ll always be one missed assignment on the edge from picking up most of this total on one carry.

Jake Elliott Under 7.5 points — FanDuel

The Eagles don’t like kicking field goals. If they have a fourth and short in plus territory they usually go for it (and for good reason with Hurts as an elite rushing threat at QB), which takes away Elliott’s opportunities to tack on three. You’re obviously fading a shootout with this bet, but it’s also not out of character for an occasional two-point try from the Eagles to help you out.

Over 41.5 combined first downs — FanDuel

These are two very good offenses, but what the defenses on both sides are going to be most concerned with is avoiding giving up big plays. As such, I see there being plenty of first downs and both teams being forced to move it down the field methodically rather than in massive chunks, which bodes well for the over on first downs.

Patrick Mahomes Alternate Over 350 passing yards — FanDuel

This is +310 at FanDuel and given how good Philadelphia’s defensive front is, there’s a decent chance the Chiefs spend much of this game throwing the ball just out of necessity. Mahomes is capable of outrageous production, even with a wide receiving corps that’s less than ideal, and the nice thing about this bet is, it could come through in a win or a loss. The one thing you’re fading here is a Chiefs blowout, but any other outcome could see Mahomes really putting the ball up.

Kenneth Gainwell Receptions (-0.5) vs. Manchester United Goals vs. Leeds (12/2) — DraftKings

We can’t do a Super Bowl props column without having a disgusting cross-sport prop on the board. I’m high on Gainwell props in general, as he’s been an increasingly large part of the gameplan for Philly. I also like this as value from a handicapping perspective, as you’re starting with the assumption basically sets the number at 2.5 receptions, given Man U hasn’t scored 3 goals in a Premier League game in a month and just had a 2-2 draw with Leeds earlier this week. It’s possible we get an even better number (or worse, of course) and so I’ll take my chances with Kenneth hopefully being involved in the passing game once again.

Last year, it was reported that Netflix would give fans a chance to compete in a new reality series, which is a pretty normal thing for the streamer to do. But the show would be based on Squid Game, the hit series that is about literally fighting to the death in a competition series, and some red flags were raised.

Squid Game: The Challenge wrapped production last week, with one winner walking away (allegedly unharmed) with $4.56 million, which is the largest prize in reality show history. Ken Jennings should really be offering more.

But Deadline reports that the show underwent review after a number of complaints and injuries were reported. The production was visited by Britain’s Health and Safety Executive (HSE), though they didn’t find any violations. “We contacted the programme producers after receiving concerns about their recent filming,” HSE’s statement to Deadline read. “We reviewed the responses from the producers and decided to take no further action. We did stress to them the importance of planning properly for any risks in future filming.”

After a report in Rolling Stone, many players claimed there were “inhumane conditions” and players were treated “like horses.” A rep for Squid Game: The Challenge said that the production was maintaining proper safety precautions, despite the various complaints. “Netflix, Studio Lambert, and The Garden have done everything required by the health and safety legislation and the HSE have said they have assessed and closed the matter.”

Meanwhile, other crew workers said that there was nothing out of the ordinary while filming. One source said: “Red Light, Green Light’ was unbearably cold, but there was no coercion to freeze in place. The contestants also did practice runs and stretches,” the source said. “With the type of people being cast, there are always going to be those who are likely to find issues with things, particularly if you fly a very long distance and you’re out in the first round.”

(Via Deadline)