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Welcome to SNX DLX, your weekly roundup of the best sneakers to hit the internet. This week’s primary sneaker color palette lives in shades of beige and brown. We’ve got the Nike Ja 1 EYBL, the New Balance Stone Island collaborative FuelCell C_1, Bad Bunny’s Chalky Brown Adidas Campus, and the Jordan 4 Palomino — all dressed in shades of brown, tan, or beige.

Was this a calculated move by sneaker companies to tease what we can expect in the fall season, or just a massive coincidence? Whatever the reason, we kind of dig it — making this a great week for sneaker releases!

If you’re not feeling the brown and beige vibes, we have a few drops to highlight that still offer vibrant summer-ready colors, and Jordan fans will be pleased to see that their favorite brand is finally back in the lineup. Let’s dive into the best sneaker drops of the week!

Nike Ja 1 EYBL

Price: $120

Ja Morant’s latest for Nike is the Ja 1 EYBL, a colorway designed to lock eyes onto your game. The sneaker combines Nike’s Melon Tint and Rush Fuchsia colorway over a bi-color speckled midsole riding atop Zoom Air cushioning. Rounding out the design is Ja branding and a psychedelic heel piece.

Ja Morant is a polarizing figure in basketball right now, and feel how you want about the Memphis Grizzlies player (who is currently on suspension) but you can’t deny that Ja also just might be the future of b-ball footwear.

The Nike Ja 1 EYBL is out now for a retail price of $120. Pick up a pair via the Nike SNKRS app or your favorite aftermarket site.

Nike Air Max 1 Clear Jade

Price: $150

In a week of beige and earth-toned colorways, the Nike Air Max 1 Clear Jade scans as a breath of fresh air. Featuring a summer-ready colorway that combines Clear Jade panels with a cool grey and white base, this Air Max 1 sports a premium leather upper with soft suede underlays and a build reminiscent of the original ’87 model.

The Nike Air Max 1 Clear Jade is out now for a retail price of $150. Pick up a pair via the Nike SNKRS app or your favorite aftermarket site.

Nike Women’s Air Jordan 1 Low OG NC to Chi

Price: $140

North Carolina and Chicago are two geographic locations that are forever tied with Michael Jordan — it’s why the Chicago and UNC colorways are so legendary — and now we’re getting a Jordan 1 that celebrates that dual lineage.

The Women’s exclusive Jordan 1 NC to Chi slams together powder blue and crimson red colors over a black leather base for a sneaker that feels like a full circle celebration of MJ’s entire career, from college ball player to professional.

The Nike Women’s Air Jordan 1 Low OG NC to Chi is out now for a retail price of $140. Pick up a pair via the Nike SNKRS app.

Nike Air Max 1 x Puerto Rican Day Blue Gale and Barely Blue

Price: $140

Nike is dropping a Puerto Rican Day Air Max 1 over a month after the Puerto Rican Day Parade in New York City. Nike kind of has a habit of missing holidays — if you’ve ever seen a black and orange Nike colorway drop in winter, assume the brand missed Halloween — and that would bother us… if the resulting sneakers weren’t so dope!

It’s hard to be mad at the Blue Gale and Barely Blue Air Max 1 when it looks this good. The sneaker sports shades of bright blue over an off-white base with a jeweled swoosh and a helado cart graphic at the tongue.

The Nike Air Max 1 x Puerto Rican Day Blue Gale and Barely Blue is set to drop on July 27th at 7:00 Am PST for a retail price of $140. Pick up a pair via the Nike SNKRS app.

Nike Air Jordan 3 Orewood Brown (Palamino)

Price: $200

Also known as the Palomino, the Orewood Brown is the consolation prize of all the hardcore Jordan heads who have had to suffer through these last few weeks with a serious lack of Jordan drops. The Orewood Brown is easily one of the top ten Jordan 3 colorways and leans less away from the sportswear aspect of the silhouette, translating the design through a luxury lens.

Featuring synthetic leather details on the tongue and a plush suede upper, the Orewood Brown is elegant and premium, a perfect Jordan colorway to transition from Summer to Fall.

The Nike Air Jordan 3 Orewood Brown is set to drop on July 29th at 7:00 AM PST for a retail price of $200. Pick up a pair via the Nike SNKRS app.

Adidas Y-3 ITOGO

Price: $600

Adidas is the only big sneaker brand out there that is trying to reimagine footwear and push it into the future. For that, we’re always going to ride hard for the brand, even if we don’t love the designs the way we love a classic Jordan silhouette.

The Y-3 ITOGO features a PRIMEKNIT textile upper with a detachable BOOST midsole, a polyurethane capsule, and a modular five-part design that is assembled without the use of glue. The latest colorway is a simple black-and-white design with black laces.

The sneaker has an alternative colorway with a radically different design. I’m not sure how or why Adidas considers this the same shoe, but they do! Seriously, look at this thing? Am I crazy? They look like totally different shoes!

The Adidas Y-3 ITOGO is out now for a retail price of $600. Pick up a pair at Adidas.

Adidas Harden Vol. 7

Price: $160

James Harden’s latest Adidas silhouette, the Vol. 7, is all about energy return. The textile upper rides atop a Jet BOOST midsole equipped with Lightstrike cushioning, which focuses on responsive energy return with heavy steps, designed to keep you light on your feet and active.

The design features a herringbone-patterned outsole with various traction lines in multiple directions to match a chaotic full-coverage play style.

The Adidas Harden Vol. 7 is out now for a retail price of $160. Pick up a pair at the Adidas webstore.

New Balance Made in USA 996 Pink Haze

Price: $189.99

Where does ALD end and New Balance begin? Ever since Teddy Santis took over the creative direction at New Balance Made in USA, the sneakers coming out of this subsection of the brand all ooze that ALD minimalism. We’re not complaining, it looks great and if it ain’t broken, don’t fix it!

The New Balance 996 Pink Haze features a pigskin and ash upper with hard suede, mesh, and leather details riding atop an ENCAP midsole in a Pink Haze and silver colorway.

The New Balance Made in USA 996 Pink Haze is set to drop on July 27th at 7:00 AM PST for a retail price of $189.99. Pick up a pair at New Balance.

New Balance Stone Island Tokyo Design Studio FuelCell C_1

Price: $160

Italian luxury label Stone Island is teaming up with New Balance’s Tokyo Design Studio for a new dual-branded FuelCell C_1.

Featuring a knit upper with synthetic textiles and cotton detailing, the FuelCell C_1 sports a magnetic closure speed lacing system, co-branded foxing, a full-length carbon fiber plate, and a FuelCell midsole with extra bulk that serves as a counterbalance.

Stone Island branding lives at the heel piece while New Balance is repped with a large embroidered logo at the toe box.

The New Balance Stone Islands Tokyo Design Studio FuelCell C_1 is set to drop on July 28th at 7:00 AM PST. Pick up a pair at New Balance.

Adidas Bad Bunny Campus Chalky Brown

Price: $160

2023 has been a quiet year for Benito — we’ll give it to him considering Bad Bunny was last year’s most streamed artist — but this week he returns with a new single and a brand new Adidas drop.

Build on a Campus silhouette, the Chalky Brown sneaker combines contemporary and classic Adidas design details for a best-of-both-world sneaker. The sneaker sports a smooth leather upper, textile lining, a supported inner heel, and Bad Bunny’s psychedelic eyeball branding at the tongue.

The Adidas Bad Bunny Campus Chalky Brown is set to drop on July 29th at 8:00 PST for a retail price of $160. Pick up a pair via the Adidas CONFIRMED app.

House committees are pretty wild now that Republicans are (narrowly) in charge, but the latest session was particularly out-there. On Wednesday, the chamber listened to testimony about UAPs, aka unidentified aerial phenomenon, aka UFOs, which have been in the news more than usual this year. At one point a witness made an especially shocking claim: that aliens are freakin’ real. He didn’t offer any hard evidence, but at least one usually deadpan comic seemed to think it was legit (unless he was being dry even for him).

After the hearing wrapped, Michael Ian Black took to Twitter (or are we all for real calling it X?), and he had praise for how it was handled. “Serious, diligent. Absolutely stunning testimony,” he wrote. “Hard to walk away from this thinking anything other than there’s something profound happening on our planet that we do not understand.”

Again, this could be Black simply being more deadpan than usual. Or maybe he was so stunned by what he heard that the veil of humor dropped and we’re seeing a rare moment of public seriousness from him.

One of the witnesses at the hearing was retired military officer Major David Grusch, who told the lawmakers that the U.S. government has been aware of alien activity since the 1930s. He also testified that authorities have recovered “non-human biological pilots from crashed crafts.”

The Pentagon denied Grusch’s testimony.

Not everyone was as convinced as Black seems to have been. Technology reporter Sam Biddle remained skeptical about the as-yet-unsubstantiated claims being made.

“It is stunning to me how many people are taking this testimony seriously after he suggested UFOs come from another dimension and were covered up by Mussolini and the Vatican,” Biddle tweeted, calling it “nutcase stuff.”

However, plenty of others, including the State alum, wanted to believe. Unless he’s just joking.

Tracy McGrady knows a thing or two about issuing a trade request, as he rather famously asked the Orlando Magic to trade him in 2004 after Orlando finished the season with the worst record in the East. As such, the Hall of Famer understands better than most what goes through a star’s mind when it comes to issuing a trade demand and would empathize with the difficulty of making that decision.

In a recent interview with GQ, McGrady was asked about the two big trade requests this summer, noting that he gets where Damian Lillard was coming from, saying “it was time” for Lillard’s tenure in Portland to end. However, James Harden’s latest trade request evades him completely, as he has no idea what the hell Harden’s looking for if it’s not playing alongside the reigning MVP on a legit contender.

The evolution of the NBA. You get hit with some shit each and every year. Dame, to me, it was time. But if I’m Portland, I got to do what’s best for our franchise, as well. I’m not gonna give away you, Dame, with you just coming off averaging 32 points. You still got game. I gotta get someone back that’s All-Star caliber. And I don’t understand for the life of me what James Harden is doing. Why are you trying to get out?
…

That makes zero sense to me. Not only that, but I look at all the teammates he’s played with. James has probably played with more Hall of Famers than anybody in the league, and he doesn’t have a ring to show for it. I don’t know what he’s looking for. And maybe there’s some internal bullshit that is going on that we don’t know about. Because it doesn’t make any sense to me to leave the MVP, and the Eastern Conference, where you have a shot to at least play for a championship. It’s got to be something deeper than what you know. Get over it, man.

There have been multiple reports of Harden feeling like he can’t trust the Sixers front office after taking a discount last summer and not getting offered the long-term deal he hoped for this summer. That certainly played a major role in his trade request, but given this is his third in four years, it’s also becoming a habit for him to bolt any time he becomes unhappy with a situation. As McGrady notes, sometimes you just have to “get over it, man” when it comes to those sorts of things when the goal is to win championships. We’ll see if Harden is able to get his way and end up on the Clippers, where he’ll pair with two new All-Stars in Paul George and Kawhi Leonard, but you won’t find too much sympathy for Harden’s situation from T-Mac or many others.

In a scathing op-ed published by the Washington Post, actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt argues that actors, writers, and anyone whose job is threatened by Artificial Intelligence deserves to be paid in residuals.

That issue is a focal point of both the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes — the pennies artists are getting paid by streaming platforms despite the shows they starred in, some of them decades old, still generating subscribers and revenue for these tech companies. Actors, especially working actors, survive off these residual checks, as do the writers that create the very films and TV series that earn studios billions each year. It’s a grossly shocking pay gap that should’ve been addressed a long time ago, but the invention of AI has now pushed questions of ownership and copyright law to the forefront. And that’s where Gordon-Levitt comes in.

In his piece for the Washington Post, the actor argued that Generative AI doesn’t generate anything without human input. In fact, it’s a stretch to call it “intelligence” given that it simply spits out combinations of data it’s been trained on.

“…Like the Wizard of Oz bellowing, ‘Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!’ What’s behind the curtain of AI?” Gordon-Levitt asks. “The cost of the human labor it took to produce the training data. ‘Generative AI’ cannot generate anything at all without first being trained on massive troves of data it then recombines. Who produces that training data? People do. And those people deserve residuals.”

And while studios and tech companies are some of the first to hope that AI can rapidly reproduce the work of human employees at a fraction of the cost, Hollywood won’t be the last industry to use AI to put people out of work.

“This principle holds true whether we’re talking about entertainers, doctors, engineers or pretty much anyone whose work involves a computer,” Gordon-Levitt says while arguing that anytime AI generates revenue from data it’s trained on, the people who created that data deserve a cut of the profit. “AI can’t do our jobs yet, but it might be able to soon. And people whose jobs are threatened by AI will be the same people who produced the data used to train it. A new kind of residual for these human data producers could potentially provide some much-needed economic relief.”

Now putting this into effect would mean updated copyright laws, the government taking a firmer stance on tech overreach, and corporate overlords actually caring about their workers instead of the bottom line. But maybe, if we can make AI pay for the work it steals, we can keep it from taking our jobs completely.

Check out Gordon-Levitt talking about his piece below:

(Via The Washington Post)

Shakira has dealt with some odd headlines of late. That includes followup to being seen next to Tom Cruise at an event, which led to much speculation even though nothing truly appeared to be afoot. That also might be odder (or less, depending on one’s perspective) than an outtake that the Colombian pop mainstay shared from her memories of the “Copa Vacía” video set.

As we previously discussed, the song and video reveal a collaboration between Shakira and Manuel Turizo. The two play two lovers who are attempting to get their romance back on track, but a guest star got a little too friendly in the process. That would be a rat, who was supposed to be part of the background but moved to the foreground, and as you can see in the below Instagram reel (shared by Shakira herself), she screamed while she was stuck in a mermaid tail and Mr. Rat came to say hello.

Yeah, that does not look fun. Yet Shakira seems to be amused enough about it to post the reel, and via PEOPLE, she previously told Hola! USA that this was only part of the not-so-wonderful stuff to happen on set:

“The fish tank broke, the set began to flood, and they had to take me out of there. I couldn’t go out because I had a mermaid tail, and I couldn’t climb out,” she told the Spanish-language news outlet, per Hola! USA. The singer wore the costume for the entirety of the music video, and in order to continue filming, had to be removed by a crane during the on-set incident.

No thank you, I will stay on dry land over here, even in a pretend capacity.

(Via PEOPLE)

Ryan Reynolds took the term “birthday suit” literally.

On Wednesday, the Deadpool star wished Sandra Bullock a happy 59th birthday by sharing a scene from 2009’s The Proposal where they’re both naked. “Happy Birthday to the inimitable and stunning Sandra Bullock! For your birthday this year, I got us both intimacy coordinators. And an HR department. And clothing?” he wrote on Instagram. You can see it below.

In 2021, Bullock explained why she agreed to the nude scene. “I was like, ‘I will do this naked scene only if I can be humiliated and funny.’ You will not see me trying to attempt being sexy naked — in real life or onscreen. There’s just no point in it!” she told the About Last Night podcast. “It was for that reason, with a friend that you trusted comedically and safety-wise, I knew I was in the presence of safety.”

The Proposal was one of three movies starring Bullock that came out in 2009 — and maybe the best? All About Steve is the worst of the three (and the second worst movie in her filmography, according to critics), and I would rather watch Bullock and Betty White dance to “Get Low” than sit through The Blind Side again. The actual Blind Side probably would, too.

(Via Entertainment Weekly)

The USWNT’s rematch against their 2019 World Cup rivals The Netherlands might be the most important game of this year’s FIFA Women’s World Cup … and it’s happening in the group stage.

When the Americans face off against the Oranje Wednesday night, they’ll be battling for control of Group E and an easier path forward in their bracket. But those are just the on-paper consequences. What’s really at stake is a bit more abstract – a clearer sense of whether the USWNT can actually achieve the impossible or if the dreams of a three-peat are just too optimistic given the injuries and chemistry questions that plague the squad.

Coming off a decisive – though less-than-impressive – win in their first game against Vietnam, Vlatko Andonovski has plenty of depth to pull from when it comes to his starting lineup. Julie Ertz, recently back from maternity leave, commanded the back line in her old post as center back while Sophia Smith ran defenders ragged to score a brace in her World Cup debut. Rose Lavelle got some much-needed minutes — as did promising young forward Alyssa Thompson – while co-captains Lindsey Horan and Alex Morgan pulled focus and netted goals to help their team advance with three points and a comfortable goal differential. The Netherlands aren’t Vietnam – they’re more organized, more physical, and deadly in the air – but there’s reason to hope, and even feel confident about, the US’ chances when the match kicks off on Fox Sports at 9 p.m. ET.

Here’s what the USWNT starting lineup could look like come game time – and what they need to do better in order to silence the threat from their orange-colored opponents.

Frontline Fixes

Sophia Smith appears to be the answered prayer for the team’s scoring deficit after an in-top-form Mallory Swanson suffered a knee injury earlier this year but she’ll need help to break down the Netherlands’ experienced defense. Trinity Rodman eventually found her footing in the Vietnam match, but Lynn Williams might be the better starting choice for this game given her speed and her unmatched ability to switch to a defensive position when needed. She’s been on a goal-scoring streak with her club, Gotham FC, so she brings a sense of confidence up front that the US desperately needs. If they can let Alex Morgan draw the attention of defensive backs like Stefanie van der Gragt while Smith and Williams pummel the flanks, the US will find the space they need to create more chances at net.

Giving Rose Lavelle A Start

Midfielder Rose Lavelle played just 27 minutes in the match against Vietnam, coming in off the bench during the second half to create a bit of magic the team was lacking up to that point. She’s been battling an injury since April and her fitness level has been in question since before the tournament began, but that early look felt promising for fans missing the fluidity and fierce left foot she can bring. Whether Coach Vlatko simply wanted to conserve her energy for the game against the Netherlands, or she’s just not fit enough to last a full 90 minutes, we’d love to see Lavelle get a start against the Oranje tonight. She’s a game-changer, poised and patient on the ball, and able to see lines of attack in a way few of her teammates can. Amidst questions of chemistry in the final third, Lavelle offers a solution – a bridge from the midfield that shrinks the gap between Horan and Andi Sullivan’s possession-minded play and the speed of a Smith or Williams. Let her start and impact the match early and the US will get off on the right foot.

Making Space For Julie Ertz

Julie Ertz has proven she can play anywhere and make a difference so her spot in the starting lineup is just a question of where the team needs her most. Against Vietnam, she dominated defensively while also pushing play forward, connecting passes from the halfway mark and exploiting lanes in the middle. But the Netherlands won’t play a man-to-man defense like Vietnam did and they’ll attack centrally in a way that might challenge Ertz if her fitness isn’t 100%. The answer then could be to start Alana Cook as central back with the ever-capable Naomi Girma and move Ertz to a defensive mid position, freeing up Horan to play more offensively and giving Ertz some defensive breathing room.

Set Pieces

Unless Megan Rapinoe is behind the ball, the US seems incapable of producing anything off a set piece. That hasn’t miraculously changed during this tournament, but as they continue to face off against tougher opponents like the Netherlands, they’re going to need to get creative and clinical with their free kicks and corners. But the real danger when it comes to set pieces in this match lies with the Oranje’s ability to defy gravity. They’ve got a presence in the air that might knock our defense off balance if they’re not prepared for it. They scored their lone goal against Portugal from a set piece. And, because they’re missing prolific strikers like Vivianne Miedema and Lineth Beerensteyn, they might pour even more energy and effort into converting those opportunities.

Ever since entering the 2024 presidential race, Chris Christie has relentlessly hammered Donald Trump. The former New Jersey governor hasn’t hesitated to call out Trump’s failed policies and pending indictments, nor is he willing to let Trump walk all over him.

On Tuesday night, the former president attempted to attack Christie by bringing up his 2012 meeting with Barack Obama after Hurricane Sandy devastated New Jersey. Understanding the gravity of quickly receiving federal aid, Christie warmly welcomed Obama and Trump claims the move sandbagged Mitt Romney in the 2012 election.

Via Truth Social:

Christie was so star-struck with Barack Hussein Obuma, that Romney, who is a terrible politician and horrible representative of the Republican Party, never had a chance of winning the Presidency. Christie sold Romney out, making one of the worst Convention Speeches in History—Virtually not even mentioning Romney by name. Romney sat watching, in a trance—He couldn’t believe it!

Christie wasted no time pointing out the irony in Trump’s remarks and landed a solid blow on the embattled frontrunner by bringing up his well-documented history with Hillary Clinton.

“Yeah… I invited the sitting President to New Jersey during the worst natural disaster in our state’s history,” Christie tweeted. “But I didn’t invite him to my wedding… Donald – did you dance the night away with Hillary?”

(Via Donald Trump on Truth Social, Chris Christie on Twitter)

On Monday of this week, a clip of Mikal Bridges on Paul George’s show, Podcast P, made the rounds as he made clear that he and the Nets are big supporters of Ben Simmons and have full belief that he’ll be a positive contributor to their team next season.

Bridges makes his point with some colorful language that should have required anyone airing the clip on television to do a little bit of censoring. However, over at NBA Today the clip somehow made it through unedited, with the F-bombs flying at 3:30 p.m. ET on ESPN, which led to a very funny quip from Malika Andrews on the desk when they cut back to the studio as Ramona Shelburne and Marc Spears sat there a bit wide-eyed.

Things like this happen, but it is pretty funny seeing the reaction from the folks on the desk — although I’m sure the control room was far less composed trying to figure out how that happened. It’s funnier that it’s two F-bombs back to back that made it through. It’s not like it was one that snuck in there, they really let Mikal cook. I’m sure podcast clips will get scrubbed a bit more in the future, but I do like the idea of an uncensored ESPN — it’d make games more fun if they didn’t smash the mute button on the rim mics every possession.

James Blake‘s sixth album, Playing Robots Into Heaven arrives this fall. Ahead of the album, the singer and prolific producer has shared the latest song, “Loading.” The song opens with a smooth, melancholy instrumental, over which, Blake sings with pitched-up vocals.

“Wherever I go, I’m only as good as my mind / Which is only good if you’re mine / Which is only good if you’re mine,” he sings, before the instrumental transitions into a rapid percussion pattern. The distorted vocal effects continue throughout the song, symbolizing a wide range of emotions.

Over the years, Blake has collaborated with the likes of Travis Scott, SZA, Rosalía, and several others, delivering his transcendent musical stylings across a variety of genres. However, it appears that Blake will be the only vocalist on Playing Robots Into Heaven, as the tracklist doesn’t list any featured artists.

Blake has been rather quiet during this particular era, not having done a whole lot of interviews and press appearances. But the music speaks for itself, as “Loading” taps into Blake’s vulnerability and allows the listener to dance the pain away.

You can listen to “Loading” above.

Playing Robots Into Heaven is out 9/8 via Republic. Find more information here.