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The Inside the NBA Crew has returned for another season of rowdy studio entertainment for the NBA’s season opening matchup between the Celtics and Sixers. It’s a delight to see the iconic Inside crew on our tv sets once again creating TV magic that other networks have been chasing for years. Charles Barkley wasted no time firing off his hottest takes on the Eastern Conference contenders with the biggest question marks this season. Of course, the seasoned studio analyst required no time to ramp up for the season. Barkley started with his former team, the Philadelphia 76ers, and questioned whether James Harden had enough in the tank to propel the Sixers to a title. In Barkley’s own words, Harden “looked cooked.”

Harden’s hamstring is one of the single biggest questions in the NBA this season. If Harden can regain even a sliver of the explosiveness he possessed before suffering the injury in 2021, that would supercharge the Sixers offense to a very dangerous level. But injuries, especially soft tissue injuries, can be rather fickle and Barkley is correct in his assessment that you can’t really know if you’re fully recovered until the real games are played. He also noted that it may not just be the hamstring, but father time catching up, as you can be in great shape as you get older but still not have it, as he recalls going through personally his last two years in the league.

Barkley also expressed concerns about the Nets when he said, “They could win the championship or burn that thing down by Christmas.” Sir Charles isn’t a writer, but that should be the body paragraph for every Nets season preview on the Internet. Inside the NBA is already off to a fantastic start.

Summer might be over, but that’s no reason to end the festivity! Just ask UK DJ and Brighton EDM pioneer Fatboy Slim, who was down in San Diego last month to headline the iconic CRSSD Festival.

While more trendy and less rave-y than EDC Las Vegas, CRSSD is still an amazing bacchanal of pulsing House and Techno musisc. If you can’t pound your shoes to dust by the end of the day, fear not, there’s a wide variety of irresistible “after dark” sets available to get a complete fix.

On the waterfront of downtown San Diego, the combination of light-show extravaganza and salty mist in the air makes this quite a rare venue. Stocked with gallons of infamous San Diego Craft Beer, great food, and music, there’s no surprise it’s nearly impossible to find a parking spot within a few miles of the stage. While the vibe caters a more polished and mature festival experience, make no mistake, this is a party to groove to some of the most talented artists in the industry.

This year’s lineup shuffled a medley of electronic legends, rising talents, and genre leaders such as Dom Dolla, Joesph Capriati, Richie Hawtin, ARTBAT, Jamie xx, Sonny Fodera, and more. One of our favorites, the legendary master of ceremony Fatboy Slim, graciously hooked us up with an exclusive look into the festival through his photo diary. Check it out below (captions by the artist himself)!

Welcome to San Diego’s CRSSD Fall 2022. Pre-show hangs with Ali my PR at INFAMOUS

Impressive studio on-site at CRSSD, they had some crazy gear in there…I was lucky enough to be interviewed about my musical inspirations by the lovely folks at Synth History.

I’ve made a new mate on this summer’s travels…damn fine DJ @mochakk

My long-time tour manager Al got sick this week so thank you @ Alex_jones26 for stepping in. We made it!

“Ain’t No Love in the Jungle” Fred again remix smashed it at CRSSD, and seemed appropriate for their Palms stage

Future Art Rave….thank you to all who came out and sold out the festival. Some stunning views at CRSSD 2022

Hands up to you all in San Diego

Getting ready to Praise You when the towel whip rolls

A high five with some fans post-gig

Golf-cart laughs

She asked for the Fatboy smiley and said she’d get it tattooed later…

Managed to catch a bit of Fred. Again…

MORE PICS FROM CRSSD:

Donald Trump has a lot of problems right now, so many that it can be easy to remember all of them. In between Letitia James’ New York State lawsuit, the Justice Department investigation over classified documents, and the newly relaunched Jan. 6 hearings, he’s somehow finding time to address another headache: The defamation lawsuit brought upon him by journalist E. Jean Carroll. Trump is set to finally be deposed this week, but he may have already screwed himself by being an oversharing idiot on social media.

In 2019, Carroll publicly accused the then-president of sexually assaulting her in Manhattan’s Bergdorf Goodman department store in the mid-’90s. Trump didn’t just deny the accusations; he did it in his usual reckless, insult comic fashion. He claimed she was “totally lying,” that he knew “nothing about her,” and added that she was “not my type.” That led Carroll to sue him for defamation, but Trump’s lawyers have long argued that he can’t be sued because he was president, and therefore protected by law.

Jump three years, and soon before Trump’s deposition in the case, which he has repeatedly tried to delay, he may have shot himself in the foot. Last week, after word that the deposition could no longer be delayed, he took to his failing Twitter clone and, in a series of unhinged posts, basically spouted the same claims that got him sued in the first place.

After calling the suit a “complete con job,” he kept going. “It is a Hoax and a lie, just like all the other Hoaxes that have been played on me for the past seven years.” He then added the one line that may have really gotten him in trouble: “And, while I am not supposed to say it, I will. This woman is not my type!”

Problem is, he’s no longer president and therefore can no longer claim presidential privilege. Barbara McQuade, formerly Detroit’s top federal prosecutor, told Vice that she thinks Carroll shouldn’t let this pass.

“ [Carroll] should amend her complaint to include an additional count based on the new statement,” McQuade said. “Because Trump is no longer president, this statement was most certainly not made in the scope of his federal employment.”

And to think Trump may have gotten away with it had he not returned to social media after getting booted from several services for allegedly inciting violence that almost overturned democracy.

(Via Vice)

Growing up in Southern California in the ‘90s, most of what I learned about weed came from Snoop Dogg. That iconic chorus from “Gin and Juice” — “rollin’ down the street smokin’ Indo/ sippin’ on gin and juice” turned me on to gin and juice (it’s the first “cocktail” I ever had) and probably deserves much of the credit for my preference toward powerful indoor indica weed strains. So Snoop Dogg is to me what I imagine Cheech and Chong were to stoners growing up in the ‘80s, an entry point to a wonderful world. Just knowing that Tha DoggFather is still deep into the weed game brings me a lot of joy, even if his brand, Leafs by Snoop, is exclusive to Colorado.

While I’ve yet to get my hands on Snoop’s weed, I was lucky enough to score both flavors of Snoop Dogg’s Snazzle Os, a cannabis-infused Funyuns-inspired snack made in collaboration with TSUMo Snacks, packing 100mg of THC in each bag. Unlike the Dogg Father’s namesake strain, this product is, as of now, exclusive to California — meaning that it was easy for me (and a whole lot of Snoop fans) to access. The Snazzle Os come in two flavors, Onion and Spicy Onion, and are currently available at MedMen locations until October 20th, after which the brand will hit dispensaries statewide.

So are Snazzle Os any good? How high will they get you? Does combining stoner snacks with actual weed improve both or fly too close to the sun? We ate a bowl of each variety and we’re ready to offer some slightly stoned thoughts.

Snazzle Os Onion/Spicy Onion

Price: $22

THC: 100mg per bag, 10 mg per serving

Tasting Notes:

Before I get into what the Snazzle Os taste like, I need to speak on their genius. The edible industry is full of sweet snacks, gummies, hard candy, brownies, cakes, and sweet drinks. With a few exceptions, the cannabis edible realm has more than enough sweet treats crafted to get you high, but not enough savory stuff. Snazzle Os don’t contain a single gram of sugar, instead offering something salty and savory to munch on.

We need more products like that.

Another genius thing about this snack is its shareability. Yes, you can break an edible brownie into twos or fours, but it always feels like you’re compromising both the dosage and the size of the snack. With Snazzle Os you can simply empty a bag into a big bowl and pass it between friends, bringing the communal aspect of smoking weed into the edible space.

Again, we need more products like this!

As for the flavor, TSUMo and Snoop Dogg have come up with something that tastes a whole lot like Funyuns. Funyuns are cornmeal based while Snazzle Os are made from sorghum, which is a grain closely related to corn, but considering most of the flavor is coming from the seasoning and the texture is essentially the same, you wouldn’t really catch the difference without looking at the ingredients list.

The Onion flavored Snazzle Os feature pronounced onion notes on the nose, with a tiny hint of plant-y cannabis flavor at the backend. They’re crispy and snappy, and a bit denser than Funyuns, but feature a strong and satisfying flavor.

If you have to pick just one flavor, we can’t recommend the Spicy Onion Snazzle Os enough. This is truly where it’s at, — they have that same onion and garlic forward flavor with a bit more complexity via some earthy turmeric notes and a strong Flamin’ Hot-esque kick that builds in the back of your throat with the more rings you eat. Since I was sampling both bags at the same time I had to settle for a half serving of each, but I’d have happily eaten more Spicy Rings had I not been eating this product for a review.

It’s hard to believe that just six of these pack 10mg of THC — they’re addicting enough that you’re going to want at least 10, so be very aware of your dosing if you’re a lightweight. The high hit me about 30 minutes after I finished my last ring and was noticeable in my body first, radiating a warm feeling from head to toe and bringing a strong sense of relaxation over me without weighing me down.

After the initial body high, the experience lived mostly in my head for the next couple of hours, providing a cerebral trip that had me feeling euphoric and honestly, hungry for more rings. I’m a heavy user, but the 10mg six-ring dose was enough to satisfy me, though the next time I dive into a bowl I’ll probably opt for a bigger handful.

The Bottom Line:

Simply one of the best edible experiences I’ve ever had. If you’re not a fan of sweet treats and want something salty and shareable, the Snazzle Os are a near-perfect cannabis-infused snack.

The Watcher has put Ryan Murphy at the top of the Netflix charts for two shows, including Dahmer. Both shows are controversial, and in the case of The Watcher, this largely sources from the people’s frustrations at the lack of a solved crime in this based-on-real-life story. That’s to be expected. Even though this show is a dramatization and takes a lot of creative liberties, Ryan Murphy didn’t pull an answer on The Watcher’s identity out of thin air. He let the open-ended nature of the case stand, and nope, no one ever figured out who wrote those menacing letters to the Broaddus (renamed the Brannocks in the show) quartet.

What actually happened to the family, though? Following the 2018 article by The Cut about their cursed home, the parents found it difficult to sell the property, which they attempted to do eight months after their purchase and eventually did so at a loss as realtor David Barbosa revealed. A lot of publicity and whispering neighbors will do that to a house.

In the show, the family moves back to New York City, but in reality, the family briefly moved back in with family, and as The Cut also reports, the family seems to be alive and well, and they continued to make their home in Westfield, New Jersey. CNN points interested viewers toward Derek Brannock‘s Twitter account, where he’s watching people who are watching The Watcher. Circular! And fitting.

The Watcher is streaming on Netflix.

(Via The Cut, Entertainment Weekly & CNN)

Omar Apollo’s debut album, Ivory, has vaulted the bilingual R&B singer to great heights. His single “Evergreen” marked the Mexican-American’s first appearance on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and has stoked the fire of Apollo’s upcoming The Prototype Tour. One of our most anticipated concert tours of fall 2022, the tour kicks off this week and heads to nearly two dozen stops in North America. But Omar Apollo’s opening act is also not to be missed.

Who Is Opening Omar Apollo’s ‘Prototype Tour?’

Chicago’s Ravyn Lenae is the lone direct support for Omar Apollo on The Prototype Tour and there could hardly be a better opener. The R&B and neo soul producer released her long-awaited debut album, Hypnos, this year as well, to much critical acclaim. The album features production from Steve Lacy, Kaytranada, Smino, Monte Booker, and others who all help elevate the Chicagoan’s velvety smooth vocals.

With Ravyn Lenae joining Omar Apollo, The Prototype Tour promises to be an apt showcase of today’s modern R&B. Check out the full tour dates below and get tickets here.

10/21 — San Diego, CA @ Cal Coast Credit Union Open Air Theatre
10/22 — Tucson, AZ @ 191 Toole
10/25 — Tulsa, OK @ Cain’s Ballroom
10/26 — Houston, TX @ 713 Music Hall
10/27 — San Antonio, TX @ Aztec Theatre
10/29 — Boulder, CO @ Boulder Theater
11/01 — Los Angeles, CA @ The Greek Theater
11/02 — San Jose, CA @ San Jose Civic
11/03 — Oakland, CA @ Fox Theater
11/05 — Salt Lake City, UT @ The Complex
11/08 — St. Paul, MN @ Palace Theatre
11/10 — St. Louis, MO @ The Pageant
11/11 — Indianapolis, IN @ Egyptian Room at Old National Centre
11/13 — Richmond, VA @ The National
11/15 — Atlanta, GA @ The Eastern
11/17 — Washington, D.C. @ The Anthem
11/18 — Norfolk, VA @ The NorVa
11/19 — Charlotte, NC @ The Fillmore
11/20 — Raleigh, NC @ The Ritz
11/22 — Nashville, TN @ Ryman Auditorium
11/26 — Brooklyn, NY @ Kings Theatre
11/29 — Toronto, ON @ HISTORY

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

The rollout for Smino’s upcoming third studio album, Luv 4 Rent, continues. After revealing the project’s release date with an amusing trailer previewing a song featuring funk legend Bootsy Collins and announcing his co-headlining tour for the album with fellow Zoink Gang rapper JID, the St. Louis crooner shared the album’s cover, which fans noted continues a running theme of haircare related photos from his previous projects, Blkswn and Noir.

However, where the previous projects featured Smino getting his hair done by a woman, the cover to Luv 4 Rent sees a group of men waiting their turns in front of a mirror as Smino either braids his hair or takes his braids down. Some fans noted the change, speculating whether it was a hint to the content that would appear on the album.

So far, we’ve only heard a handful of tracks from the long-awaited album, beginning late last year with “I Deserve.” More recently, Smino shared the J. Cole collaboration “90 Proof,” while it’s unknown whether the Kobe Bryant dedication “24-8” will appear on the final tracklist. Perhaps we’ll find out the secret behind the subtle change to his cover theme when Luv 4 Rent arrives on Zero Fatigue and Motown Records, 10/28. You can pre-save it here.

Things must be a little awkward over at The Daily Show HQ these days. Not only is the show’s host of seven years skedaddling — and a little earlier than expected — but there’s talk that highers-up might replace him with someone in-house. But which correspondent? And wouldn’t that pit all of them against each other? But according to a new report, they might go with a simpler solution, if one reminiscent of Jeopardy! and the most recent Oscars.

As per Deadline, instead of picking one correspondent to replace the departing Noah, they may replace him with two. Or maybe three. Sources claim one idea is to have emcee duties go to Roy Wood Jr. and Desi Lydic. Or maybe they’ll go with another combination. After all, there’s also Ronny Chieng, Michael Kosta, and Dulcé Sloan. That’s to say nothing of daredevil traveler Jordan Klepper, who may want to stop putting himself in the harm’s way that is hanging with Trump supporters.

Having multiple hosts isn’t that unusual. SNL’s Weekend Update has been doing it for ages, to great acclaim. Besides, if one (or both) of the hosts is a woman, then they would be the most high-profile woman in late-night TV now that Full Frontal with Samantha Bee has been given the axe. (Although some just think they should bring Bee back.)

But for now, no final decisions have been made. They still have a little bit of time: Noah’s final show isn’t scheduled until December 8, after which the show won’t return until January 17.

(Via Deadline)

For the life of me I will never understand why anyone would make a superhero movie with, perhaps, the most charismatic action star working today and decide, hey, what if we took away all that charisma? It’s truly baffling. And, look, if you want to make an argument, well, historically, the character of Black Adam is stoic and isn’t going to be delivering nonstop one-liners, well, I would counter that once Dwayne Johnson is cast as the lead – something he himself really pushed for – then there has to be a little leeway to reinvent a character that most people don’t know a lot about anyway. Yes, people have opinions on Batman and Superman. Not a lot of people have strong opinions on Black Adam. Anyway, “stoic” is what we got.

Look, Black Adam isn’t a bad movie. If we take a step back and look at what the DCEU has given us, I could make a case this is in the upper half of quality. This certainty isn’t an incoherent mess like, say, Marvel’s Morbius. The plot makes sense. And Jaume Collet-Serra is a good director and the movie is mostly competent. For me, it’s just a sense of disappointment. There’s nothing that interesting here, but there certainly should be. There are themes that are hinted at, or sometimes directly mentioned – for instance, at one point Black Adam is directly accused of siding with Western invaders over people from his own country – that could have been fascinating. But then they are quickly forgotten to, instead, bring us another CGI cartoon superhero fight that looks a lot like all the CGI cartoon superhero fights we’ve seen before.

Black Adam starts with one of those exposition dumps that includes a voice-over about events that took place 5000 years before. Anyway, a magic stone is found and a kid is transformed into another being named Teth-Adam (who will, eventually, call himself Black Adam). So, Teth-Adam uses his powers for revenge and the people who gave him those powers don’t like that, so Teth-Adam is sent away. So, 5000 years later a resistance fighter and professor, Adrianna (Sarah Shahi) discovers how to resurrect Black Adam (I’m going to refer to him as Black Adam from here on out) in an effort to help the oppressed people of Kahndaq.

But, you see, Black Adam is no hero. Or, at least he keeps telling us this, but never really does anything that bad. Sometimes he kills bad guys, but this is what every action hero in the ’80s and ’90s used to do. And most of the bad guys he tries to kill wind up being saved anyway. The only evidence we really get that Black Adam is not a hero is that he keeps telling us that while he’s hovering in front of the camera. (For whatever reason, Black Adam is always hovering.)

At this point, Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) decides to call in the Justice Society to go talk Black Adam, who hasn’t really done anything that bad except kill some bad guys, into surrendering. Why the Justice Society? Your guess is as good as mine. There’s no explanation whatsoever why a superhero group that was historically active during World War II would be in this movie. It kind of presents a scenario where, in the DCEU, the Justice League and the Justice Society are both active superhero groups and Amanda Waller just has her choice on who to call. Sure, a case could be made that Hawkman (Aldis Hodge) and Doctor Fate (Pierce Brosnan, who got the memo this should be a fun movie) are old and are just still around with not much to do anyway (at one point Doctor Fate makes a direct reference to World War II). But their other two teammates are teenagers: Cyclone (Quintessa Swindell) and Atom Smasher (Noah Centineo). Maybe most people won’t really care. For me, it really was fun seeing Doctor Fate, played by an actor who played James Bond, in a live-action movie. But hierarchy-wise, I really couldn’t figure this out. My best guess is the Justice League, as a property, is still, let’s say, “creatively in flux,” and the people calling the shots just didn’t want to mess with it right now. So, instead, we get the Justice Society with no explanation.

(I’m going to harp a little on this. If this series of movies had some sort of cohesiveness by now – Man of Steel came out nine years ago, but feels like 20 somehow – we should be in a situation where the Justice League could just have rotating heroes on duty up there in the satellite and whoever is active would be called in to deal with this, which would be fun. And it’s sort of what this movie does – again, Doctor Fate is somehow in this movie and that’s very fun – only the workaround is, oh, this is the Justice Society, which makes no sense in this context. Anyway…)

Black Adam had a bunch of reshoots, which is normal these days for a movie like this. But it’s pretty obvious where these new scenes are. Before the reshoots, my guess is the consensus was, “this is dull.” So now there are scenes of Black Adam shooting a television showing The Good, the Bad and the Ugly just as Clint Eastwood draws his pistol. It’s this stoic film that’s not having a lot of fun, then will pause for some “inserted laughs.” But the problem is this movie is still just kind of dull. I found myself a little bored by the end, as the third act devolves into something nothing like the, at times, somewhat interesting first two acts as the Justice Society and Black Adam have to literally fight a hell demon. During the first two acts I still thought maybe something will be done with some of the themes that are introduced. They decided to go a, uh, different direction.

Again, Black Adam is a competent movie. (I hope that quote gets on a movie poster. “Competent!”) And a lot of plot complaints get overlooked when the lead of the movie is noticeably having a good time. Which is weird because we all know how much Dwayne Johnson wanted to play Black Adam, then comes out and gives us this deadly serious take on the character. Yeah, I get he’s the “bad guy,” but also (a) not really and (b) aren’t the bad guys supposed to be having the most fun?

You can contact Mike Ryan directly on Twitter.

On the latest episode of UPROXX’s Grand Encounters, we’re diving into the world of L.A. street fashion and Black history to find a new and inventive cocktail. Mixologist and author Shannon Mustipher welcomes fashion designer John Wesley Dean III — founder of RENOWNED — to the bar to talk about his vibe, life, and experience before creating a cocktail just for him. It’s a classic tale of a bartender taking their patron on a journey of experience and flavor.

The conversation between Mustipher and Dean ping pongs between family history, Black history, and fashion. Dean lays down the importance of his name as a symbol in street fashion, how his father instilled him with power in making his business decisions, and then how Black history is important to Dean’s sense of what fashion can be.

All of this leads to Shannon Mustipher crafting a citrus-forward take on an old-fashioned — called “The Wise Louis” — using Grand Marnier Cuvee Louis Alexandre. Dean’s reaction says it all as he takes his first sip, but you’ll have to watch the full episode above to learn more about the cocktail and how to make it while also getting the chance to hear how John Wesley Dean III broke into fashion.