Just as Scream 5 essentially turned Neve Campbell‘s Sidney Prescott into a detective taking the fight to Ghostface, Campbell is moving on from the series in order to solve mysteries on ABC’s Avalon. Campbell revealed back in June that she was exiting the horror franchise after a salary dispute left her feeling “undervalued,” so while that production team pulls some all-nighters doing rewrites, Campbell will be donning a badge for the David E. Kelley series based on the Michael Connelly short story of the same name.
That’s two 1990s TV icons adapting the work of a 1990s crime fiction icon with the supreme confidence of ABC ordering it straight-to-series (no pilot needed here).
Campbell will star as L.A. Sheriff’s Department Detective Nicole “Nic” Searcy, who’s been assigned as the lone detective for the city of Avalon on Catalina Island. It’s not a cushy gig, but the sleepy community also sees a metric ton of tourists and harbors a need for detective work that Nic couldn’t have imagined. These are all boiler plate genre tropes, but Connelly (best known for creating Bosch and The Lincoln Lawyer) is a master of detective tales, and Kelley brings a peerless pedigree to the project. With Campbell rounding it out, the stars are all aligned here for stellar neo-noir goodness.
Opening a restaurant isn’t easy (operating one seems even harder) and South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone are learning that the hard way. Nearly a year after they bought the beloved Denver restaurant, Casa Bonita, with the hopes of restoring it and revamping the menu, the restaurant still isn’t open and it doesn’t look like it will be anytime soon.
Speaking to theDenver Post, the pair outlined the many struggles they’ve faced in the restoration process — including updating the HVAC system, plumbing, gas, and electrical lines, and employing an 80+ crew of construction workers to handle the massive overhaul.
We first reported on Parker and Stones’ purchase of Casa Bonita just over a year ago. The duo bought the restaurant because of a mix of childhood nostalgia and a fan campaign that started after the parent company and original owners began bankruptcy proceedings. Because Parker and Stone immortalized the restaurant in a 2003 episode of South Park they have become synonymous with Casa Bonita, for better or worse.
Speaking to the Post, Stone likened the process to Kitchen Nightmares.
“What we thought would be, ‘oh this will be cool. We can buy this and open it and it’ll be around again,’ turned into ‘Oh this is going to be what we have to put all our money into and hope that it works.”
And there truly is no guarantee on whether it will work — South Park creator-owned restaurant isn’t exactly the best sell, though the pair are making real efforts such as linking up with renowned chef Dana Rodriguez to oversee the new menu development. Which begs the question: Why? Why are the boys from South Park putting all of their time and effort into revamping a restaurant instead of you know, writing another season of South Park? Is the childhood nostalgia really that strong?
We sought out a bunch of old reviews about the original Casa Bonita and… now we get it. Casa Bonita didn’t have great food, aside from the sopapillas, but it was a restaurant truly unlike any other. Here is a sampling of what has been said about the Mile High institution.
In a review published January 27, 2009, in West Wordby Joel Warner titled, “How To Survive Casa Bonita, The World’s Weirdest Mexican Restaurant,” which, a great title, Warner writes, “The multi-story, Mexican-themed behemoth includes a 30-foot-tall waterfall, cliff divers, fire jugglers, strolling mariachi bands, a pirate cave, magicians, puppet shows, skeeball machines… it’s like Disney had sex with Tijuana and left the goofy-looking bastard to fend for itself in a random strip mall on Colfax.”
At the close of Warner’s review, he mentions the restaurant’s connection to South Park, writing “While every other South Park episode features bizarre characters and outlandish scenarios, the actual Casa Bonita is so ridiculous they just slapped it into the show looking exactly how it looks in real life.”
Fucking sold. Casa Bonita sounds like the sort of place intended for families but is best experienced by psychedelic warriors looking for a truly weird and unforgettable trip.
“Who Needs A Meal When Half-Naked Staffers?”
Getty
A review posted on the travel site Gayot states, “Casa Bonita provides one of the most unusual dining experiences around. This sprawling low-light establishment is a subterranean wonder of caves and waterfalls, a Disney-meets-Taco Bell where atmosphere is the big draw. And who needs a meal when half-naked staffers are high-diving from faux cliffs into the water?”
Pulitzer price-winning publication The Gazette named it one of the 29 top Colorado tourist attractions, and Best Things Colorado gave it the top spot in their article, “15 Best (and Most Offbeat) Attractions in Colorado,” pointing to the 30 attractions, indoor waterfall, arcade, and mariachi bands as reasons that made the restaurant an undeniable must-visit.
Kevina L. Writing on Casa Bonita’s Yelp page gave the restaurant a five-star review in 2019, writing “you really can’t find a mediocre Mexican food experience like this anywhere else… the road to the restaurant itself is like a Disney Ride. The ambiance is so lively and festive, that you can’t help but feel like you’re in an amusement park. The fact that there are ongoing shows/performances while you’re eating makes Casa Bonita a perfect activity to keep kids (or in this case, my boyfriend) entertained for an extended period of time.”
In another Yelp review, also five stars, Em R. explained that, “It’s not about the food, it’s about the experience. Entering this place is like entering another world, like 1970s Disney, but on a budget and on LSD. From the floor to the bathrooms, this labyrinthine place is full of wonderful, kitschy odd things.”
Even the negative reviews sound amazing,
Joe K. of Norfolk VA wrote in his one-star review, “The second I stepped through the front doors I knew I’d made a mistake. I felt like I stepped out of a time machine directly into the year 1985.” Sounds great!
Ryan F. Of Pittsburgh, PA, also a one-star review writes, “The food is literally poison and I highly encourage you to simply not go! My wife of nearly 10 years thought perhaps I was over-exaggerating and a little over-animated in the details but once we arrived she was actually surprised despite my redundant negativity regarding this prison! Prison!? Yes, a prison — prison food would be better people!” Ending his review with the always sage advice, “Go to Del Taco!”
From this small sampling, it’s easy to see that this restaurant was made for Denver, a city that has decriminalized psychedelic mushrooms and legalized weed, and honestly, it probably couldn’t have found better hands than Stone and Parker. Here is to hoping the boys figure it out — we’ll be first in line!
Warning: There are Better Call Saul finale spoilers ahead, so if you are Michael McKean do not read on:
It’s hard to avoid spoilers for TV shows when everything is automatically uploaded, memed, and made into a GIF set 30 seconds after it airs. It’s even harder, probably, when you are actually an actor on said show but haven’t been able to catch up on the current season’s new episodes, which is the case for Michael McKean with Better Call Saul.
McKean portrayed Jimmy/Saul’s brother Chuck McGill during the first three seasons of the series before Chuck ultimately committed suicide. McKean has since been keeping up with the series, though he has not seen the last five episodes of season six which are, arguably, the most important episodes of the show and Jimmy’s character. In a new interview with Variety, McKean explained what he thinks his finale cameo meant, though he isn’t sure since he has very little context for it. But he does his best!
The scene features Jimmy delivering Chuck’s groceries, as he often did at the beginning of the show. With the rest of the flashbacks in the episodes, Jimmy is seen asking various characters about what they would do if they had access to a time machine. At the end of the scene with Chuck, it’s revealed that he was reading The Time Machine, showing just how much influence Chuck had over his brother.
“I think that the reason Chuck is in the episode is to tell everyone that you really can’t go back in time,” McKean explained. “So you have to make your decisions in the moment. And we’re flashing back to a guy who didn’t make the right choices, a guy who let a lot of long-burning problems set fire to his life, literally and figuratively. Chuck, at that point, may have had a little glimpse of what the future is, if you mold it correctly. And of course The Time Machine is about a poorly molded future.” That’s a pretty accurate description of Jimmy McGill, who ultimately had to own up to his actions in the finale.
McKean continued to explain what he believed the significance of the scene is. “What you do with yourself and who you are when you revisit the past can be kind of instructive. I think on a much shorter scale, that’s what Jimmy is doing and feeling in these moments, when he’s thinking about the time that’s gone by.”
Despite not seeing the finale, McKean spent three years learning about Jimmy, so he was pretty spot on with his interpretation of how it will end up for him. Though he didn’t mention Blue Bell mint chip ice cream.
Three years have passed since Game of Thrones concluded in a way that disappointed plenty of fans. Bran Stark ended up taking the Iron Throne (and even he didn’t seem that impressed by this development), and at that point, Jon Snow had already killed off Daenerys Targaryen (the Khaleesi, the Unburnt Breaker of Chains, and so on), who was the last of her family if one doesn’t actually count bastard Jon Snow. He’ll get his own show (and I assume that he’ll still know nothing), but in the meantime, the first spinoff will officially be upon us as of August 21 (at 9:00pm EST).
What will see see beyond Matt Smith and Paddy Considine in Targaryen wigs? Plenty, as it turns out, but notably, the scope of the show is smaller than Game of Thrones and to the spinoff’s benefit. At least initially, this is a more close-knit, intimate story, but since there are soaring, winged beasts involved, there’s a tendency towards adopting the “epic” descriptor. Let’s talk about what to expect from House Of The Dragon:
(1) Dragons, obviously: As the title suggests, this show revolves around the dragon-riding dynasty, meaning that we’ll see 17 different firebreathers, and they’ll all have their own distinct personalities. We haven’t met these dragons, even though we already knew that Drogon and Rhaegal were a scrappy pair in the series proper. They obviously did not exist during House of the Dragon, which takes place 172 years before Dany was born, and she was the Mother Of (Her) Dragons. But the show definitely delivers the goods on these nuclear-weapon creatures, no doubt about it, and visually speaking, they’re fantastically rendered.
(2) That lineage: This is the overriding subject and what the show will predominantly explore. Of course, the series is necessarily based upon the George R.R. Martin’s works (specifically Fire & Blood), and we’re all aware that — in the long term — the Targaryen bunch didn’t fare too well. In fact, only a few of theme existed by the time that Game of Thrones rolled around, but this show will head back in time to explore their time at King’s Landing when they reigned over Westeros and the biggest (initial) concern was for King Viserys I (Paddy Considine) to drum up a proper heir to succeed him. Younger bro Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith) would have been the presumptive heir (and that’s how he thought things would go), but of course, there will be no easy path to who rules. No spoilers here on what happens in the first handful of episodes, but it’s no secret that what eventually goes down does not bode well for those with white-blonde hair.
(3) Those franchise-famous sex scenes: George R.R. Martin has gone on record to reassure people that this prequel series won’t be “more misogynistic than real life” when it comes to bedroom behavior, but we’ll see. Matt Smith has gone on record to admit how he could have done with fewer sex scenes, and he wondered, “What are you doing? Are you representing the books, or are you diluting the books to represent the time [we’re living in]?” He concluded, “And I actually think it’s your job to represent the books truthfully and honestly, as they were written.” Let’s just say that Daemon Targaryen gets down plenty. “Slightly too much, if you ask me,” Smith declared.
(4) Will this series move past the source material, too? Much of why Game of Thrones veered off the fan-favoring path likely had to do with the series moving past what George R.R. Martin wrote. And he’s still trying to finish the story while promising a different ending to the entire saga. Realistically, we may never see Martin’s preferred conclusion, but will HotD bump into the same sort of issue? Perhaps. That’s because Martin has been promising a Part 2 of Fire & Blood with no release date on the horizon. Don’t hold your breath, people.
Still, we can expect to meet dozens of characters while the first season of HotD will largely revolve around the history of the Targaryen kings, including King Viserys I, and we’ll also see a lot of Daemon. Expect major developments for Viserys’ daughter, Rhaenyra (portrayed by Milly Alcock during younger years and Emma D’Arcy as the character moves into adulthood). Likewise, expect to see a great deal of Alicent Hightower, close friend to Rhaenyra (portrayed by both Emily Carey and Olivia Cooke), as the show’s own version of a power play comes into view.
From there, HBO hopes to avoid another Starbucks blender while still engrossing a live audience in a bid to really bring back event TV. Presumably, we were supposed to experience that with AMC’s recent Better Call Saul finale, but the streaming audience largely got shafted from watching it live. Fortunately, House of the Dragon will stream live on HBO Max while also airing on HBO this Sunday, August 21.
We like to take things a little slower during the summer months. Sure, we still have to work. But there’s something about the weather in August (and even into September!) that makes us want to take it easy. Think BBQs and bocce, lawn darts, badminton, or horseshoes.
Yard games are the best, especially in summer and especially when you add beer. Do you really want to play a whole game of croquet if you don’t have an IPA in your hand? Is it really a game of bocce if you don’t toast a few crispy pilsners before?
Since we know beer and yard games are a perfect summer match, it’s time to find the right beers for your backyard shenanigans. To do that, we went to the professionals for help. We asked a few well-known brewers and craft beer experts to tell us their favorite beers to pair with yard games — check their answers below!
North Coast Scrimshaw
North Coast
Eric Espinoza, bartender at Signia by Hilton in San Jose, California
North Coast Brewing Scrimshaw. This pilsner is my go-to for most days, but especially outdoor games and gatherings. It’s not too hard to track down, but significantly better than most options people would usually reach for. It’s so easy and ultra-crisp, but still bolder than most pilsners people bring.
Is a “yard games beer” the same as a comfort beer? If so, this is probably the one.
Best paired with:
A light, easy-drinking pilsner pairs well with a light, simple game of ladder ball — where you throw balls attached to nylon ropes a ladder and get different points depending on where they land.
Cigar City Jai Alai
Cigar City
Marshall Hendrickson, co-founder and head of operations at Veza Sur Brewing Co. in Miami
Cigar City Jai Alai IPA is hard to beat on a hot summer day. Personally, I prefer to drink stronger beers when I’m playing yard games to spice things up a bit. I love Jai Alai IPA. It’s a Florida classic, it’s a well-balanced IPA full of flavor, and it definitely packs a punch. It’s a great beer for bocce, lawn darts, and even cricket.
Best paired with:
A bold, slightly spicy, piney, citrus-filled IPA like Jai Alai is a great accompaniment to a game of backyard bocce (both nuanced, but both solid, too!). Use one hand to throw the heavy balls and the other to slowly sip this delicious beer.
Liability Brewing’s Feral Garden Gnome because of huge notes of banana bread, clove, pear, honey, and white pepper. It’s extremely drinkable despite its 6.7% ABV; which is just high enough to keep the game interesting, even if you’re losing.
Best paired with:
A complex, flavorful Belgian-style blonde ale doesn’t belong with just any yard game. A fancy, old-world style beer like this belongs with a game of classy, classic croquet.
Berryessa Separation Anxiety
Berryessa
Jeremy Marshall, brewmaster at Lagunitas Brewing in Petaluma, California
Summer yard games beer generally means something above a session beer, but below a double. And yes, I like IPAs —so this will be an IPA. Separation Anxiety by Berryessa Brewing is the perfect 6% ABV in-betweener that will just possibly improve your corn hole toss, but not get you tossed. The brewer is also a former “Yakiman” so he has those special relationships with the hop farmers. That means Separation and also all of Berryessa’s IPAs will feature a perfect balance of all the finest aromas the Yakima valley has to offer. The separation will kick in when you finish the last one.
Best paired with:
This beer is hoppy, fruity, and fun. It’s a great accompaniment to an equally fun yard game like spike ball. Take a nice gulp in between the high-stakes action.
Zero Gravity Mclighty’s Lager
Zero Gravity
Matt Canning, assistant manager and beer concierge at Hotel Vermont in Burlington, Vermont
Zero Gravity McLighty’s: The King of (Vermont) Beers. At 3.2% this light lager has few constraints, drink early and often. There might be no better beer to pair with a summer afternoon spent playing corn hole or horseshoes.
Best paired with:
It’s no secret that horseshoes is the type of yard game your dad or grandpa enjoys. That means you should pair it with a beer they’d also like. Zero Gravity Mclighty’s Light Lager is the throwback they can get behind.
Few beers have persisted in my life over the course of ten years. I love trying new beer, so I rarely repeat a beer or a brewery when I’m traveling. An exception to that rule is New Glarus Brewing Company in Wisconsin. They have some of the absolute best, fruited beers I have ever had in my life. From their Raspberry Tart to Serendipity, their sours would be perfect to open while hosting friends. My favorite of their fruit beers is the Wisconsin Belgian Red which features an insane amount of Montmorency cherries. It is decadent yet easy to drink and the ruby red color of the beer will look absolutely stunning in the sunlight while you play yard games.
Best paired with:
If you’re drinking a New Glarus Wisconsin Belgian Red it’s likely later in the day and you’re looking to relax. That’s why it’s a great sipper for a giant wood Jenga-type game.
Genesee Cream Ale
Genesee
Justin Tisdale, head brewer at Rejects Brewing Co. in Middletown, Rhode Island
Everyone knows a good game of lawn darts can only be paired with another beer that probably should have been banned in the 70s for being too perfect. Genesee Cream Ale will forever hold a place in my heart as a native upstate New Yorker, and a craft beer drinker. Another benchmark example of a style, the corn in the malt bill coupled with the slight spice of the noble hops, gives it a dry profile and ridiculous drinkability factor.
Again, not the answer most craft enthusiasts are looking for, but I would dig my heels in repeatedly to defend the honor of this under-appreciated beer.
Best paired with:
A malty, sweet, easy-drinking beer like Genesee Cream Ale is exactly the type of beer we like to drink while we play corn hole. Low enough in alcohol that we can have a few, but flavorful enough to make us hope the game never ends.
Civil Society Pulp
Civil Society
Nancy Lopetegui, taproom general manager at Wynwood Brewing in Miami
ABV: 6.3%
Average Price: Limited Availability
Why This Beer?
Pulp by Civil Society Brewing. An American Wheat Ale stacked with hops and orange notes for days. So juicy and hazy. Perfect quencher after sweating up a storm while you stand around in a yard playing any of your favorite yard games.
Best paired with:
Civil Society Pulp is exactly like the name says. It’s a wheat beer loaded with bold, fresh citrus flavors. It’s a great addition to any game of Kan Jam — the flying disc game that seems to exude sun in the same way the beer does.
Miller High Life is a great backyard sipper. This beer is easy to enjoy by the dozen on a hot summer day. It’s crisp, easy to drink, and goes down easy while you leisurely toss bocce balls or play lawn darts in the heat of the summer sun.
Best paired with:
There are few beers as refreshing and thirst-quenchingly crisp as a bottle of Miller High Life. It belongs with a classic — try a casual “game” of tossing the frisbee.
Everyone knows you can’t play corn hole unless you have a beer in hand, right? I’d reach for an easy-drinking IPA like Frost Beer Works IPA. Classic hoppy flavor and just 5% so your aim doesn’t get too wild. Pine and dank grapefruit abound, with nice balanced bitterness and fuller a mouthfeel.
Best paired with:
A classic, hoppy, piney, and dank beer belongs as an addition to a game of lawn darts. And since it’s such a traditional, flavorful IPA, it belongs with the classic, steel-tipped version. Although, since it’s hard to find — you can settle for the soft, weighted version.
Coors Banquet Beer
Coors
Chris Pinns, tasting room manager at Societe Brewing in San Diego
Having formerly lived in Colorado, Coors Banquet always had a place in my cooler for a day of yard games. A clean, easy-drinking beer in a small, stubby bottle. A true Rocky Mountain delight that pairs well with bocce, ladder ball, and any other yard game.
Best paired with:
Coors Banquet Beer is the kind of beer you enjoy with a nice, summery meal. It’s also a great accompaniment to giant, ultra-casual round of Connect Four.
Corona Extra is my go-to. I like it fully loaded with salt and lime. It just seems to me to be the beer of choice for horseshoes or lawn darts. Crisp, refreshing, and goes down easy while you’re challenging your friends to backyard games.
Best paired with:
Corona is a light, crushable beer without much substance. It’s the kind of beer you want in your red Solo cup while you play oversized beer pong.
Old Style (Classic Lager) is my pick. If you are playing classic Midwest lawn games like bags or lawn darts, you need a classic Midwest beer to hold in your non-gaming hand. Old Style is light on body and ABV. Easy drinking for those long, intense bags tournaments.
Best paired with:
Old Style Lager is cheap, easy-to-drink, and always there. It makes sense to pair it with something completely opposite. That’s why we drink it while we (attempt to) play the once aristocratic institution of badminton.
The immediacy of data is something that many people love about modern baseball, as things like Statcast can provide instant information about exit velocity and launch angle, which in turn can be turned into stats about expected batting average on each swing and more.
However, some things you don’t need numbers to show you how incredible a hit was, as you can instead just marvel at how far it went or how fast it came off of the bat — I personally think Statcast often shorts long home runs on distance and prefer to eyeball it and proclaim things went “about 500 feet” because they looked awesome. We got one such example on Wednesday night in the world of Minor League Baseball, when Gabriel Moreno of the Buffalo Bisons hit a 111 mile per hour line drive for a ground rule double.
When spelled out like that, you might think, “wow, that’s a hard hit double,” but let me tell you something, friends, those numbers don’t do justice to how cool this double was. You see, Moreno hit the ball so damn hard it cratered into the padding in the wall and got stuck, something I don’t think I’ve ever seen.
Now, I’ve seen the ball get stuck in the seams of padding, on the underside of the padding, and even on top of a wall. But never have I seen a baseball that was hit hard enough to just crater into the wall itself, to the dismay of everyone. The home plate umpire was confused initially and signaled for a home run, but the left fielder had to point to it and show that, no, this baseball was just stuck in the wall.
If I were the Blue Jays, I’d call this young man up right now, if for nothing else than he is clearly too strong for Minor League ballpark infrastructure.
There are very few multi-hyphenates as legitimate as Chicago-born artist Common. Depending on where a person is coming from you may know him best from Grammy-winning albums, Oscar-winning songs, best-selling books, or performances in hit feature films like Wanted and John Wick: Chapter 2. Not surprisingly, running several successful careers all at the same time takes a toll on the body and Common’s become a boss at maintaining his health amidst the madness.
“The changes I’ve made over the years give me the power to follow my creativity and have energy still left for my loved ones or passions,” says Common from his temporary residence in Brooklyn.
The actor just wrapped his latest movie Breathe with Jennifer Hudson in Philadelphia and is preparing to recharge his batteries before heading into his next project.
“I’m grateful to have learned these practices and feel like it’s my responsibility to share them with others,” he adds. “Not everyone is the same, but perhaps people will find out what works for them after trying out the routines I’ve developed.”
That concept is being furthered with some special episodes of his wellness series Com + Well. To dive deeper, Uproxx asked the mega-star — who started his solo career three decades ago with Can I Borrow a Dollar? — about how to stay in the health game for your own good.
How did your eating habits look at the beginning of your career?
In the early days of my career, I would eat anything that was available to me. That was a lot of junk food and beer. I’m not saying that wasn’t fun, but it didn’t lend itself to me operating at my best or having the best energy. The first step in my journey was becoming vegetarian, and even when I started doing that it wasn’t in the healthiest way. I was just eating lots of bread, french fries, and pizza.
It was even worse late at night because the vegetarian options were always crazy limited. I didn’t even know what vegetarianism was when I was growing up. But now it’s a way of life for me — I have learned how to do it the right way.
What did you do to better those habits as you grew more focused on being healthier?
Instead of buying a flashy car when I started to make some money, one of the first big things that I spent money on was a chef. I felt like that was the better investment to have good food around when I needed it. My career started to take off and the schedule got insane, so it came so clutch.
I know that not everyone can hire a chef to cook for them, but having that experience brought me to focus on having more fresh-made meals. That is something that anyone and everyone can do as well.
How do you make sure that you are eating cleaner on the road when you are touring or away filming a movie?
Let’s be real, at the beginning of the journey that airplane food is never good for you. And the late-night menus at the hotels don’t have the healthiest options on there either. I really prescribe to bringing and buying my own food as much as possible when I travel. I like to go to the grocery store or the health food store when I arrive in a new city. I always bring my supplements though, so I will take my vitamin C, vitamin B12, chlorella, and spirulina. I also get a turmeric or ginger shot wherever I go. For the most part, you can travel with these little turmeric or ginger shots, so they are great pick-ups to keep around.
One of the best ways I make sure I am cleaner throughout the day is by carrying juices and protein shakes. I also like to have plenty of them around when I’m filming a movie or television show because the food situation on set is always a little challenging.
I believe one of your best action performances was John Wick: Chapter 2, what was it like training for that?
I’ve been having so many people reach out about John Wick saying they want my character Cassian back. The training that we did for that was unlike anything that I had ever done before. We trained hard for like six months. They took me through the basics of the movements that I was going to have to do. I was working with the ladder, doing different movements and motions.
I was training in boxing and jiu-jitsu. I started to really feel like a warrior. Those fighting scenes take a lot of work, which is why I have so much respect for Keanu Reeves.
Courtesy
Do you have any other activities that help keep you fit?
I love playing basketball. I love hooping so that’s my favorite way to burn some calories. I grew up playing basketball and never stopped. I don’t want to spend my entire day staring at a screen. When I feel like I’ve been too still for too long I’ll grab a basketball and go dribble out around the house. Being outside shooting some hoops just makes me feel normal.
I played a basketball player in Just Wright and really invested myself into training for that because I had to look like a pro player. I may have been in the best shape of my life there.
Besides becoming vegetarian, is there anything else you have dramatically changed in your diet that has helped you?
I cut back on my drinking a whole lot. I enjoy still my red wine from time to time, but nothing close to what I used to do. I am on record covers with 40 ounces in my hand. That is a whole different universe to be in and I have been more conscious about taking care of my temple.
How have your sleep habits evolved over your career?
I’ve just started to get better about getting good rest. During the pandemic, I was getting more rest than I ever had because I was finally forced to slow down. During that time I was able to see the benefits that came with that. I don’t need any rituals when it comes to falling asleep man, that’s easy, because I be tired at the end of the day.
I have discovered that turning off all the lights earlier in the day, to get ready for sleep is more conducive to better rest. It’s also important to go to sleep with good thoughts — like it is to wake up with good thoughts.
How do you train when you are on the road?
I don’t compromise on my workouts, especially when it comes to when I’m traveling. For me, a workout is a great way to kick off a day on the road. It allows you to start your day focused, because for that period you aren’t able to be focused on emails or texts, and at the same time taking care of yourself. That is great and pure energy to begin the day with. I think too many people ignore the mental aspect to wellness, and for me time in the gym is also time that I will use to make sure my mind is in the right place.
What do your workouts look like these days?
I have worked a lot of great trainers over the years like Yancy Berry and others. I took bits from the training that they gave me and kept what worked for me. Even if I don’t have all of my equipment around me, there is plenty that I have learned to do with my own body weight. My focus is on strengthening my core. I like to pack resistance bands in my bags and use them when I am traveling in a hotel room. I’ve gotten a great workout this way. I would do burpees or a high-intensity movement like that to finish my cardio.
I always have more energy after a workout than a did before it. I feel the difference.
Courtesy
What do you have back at home to elevate your training sessions?
Back at home, I’ll do workouts with the Bosu Ball. I spent a lot of hours on the Peloton bike when I was quarantined and still do today. That bike took my cardio to another level because those sessions could be absolutely brutal. I would spend some extra time on that Peloton whenever I knew I had to take pictures or had to be shirtless for a movie.
Do you have any bits of advice that you have picked up over the years that have stuck with you?
Dr. Tracey Rico is someone that I leaned on for guidance when it comes to wellness, and she really imparted to me the importance of drinking the right amount of water. She also said how important it was to get a good amount of greens in the diet. Before you start deciding on all fo the things that you are going to take out of your life, first make sure you are putting in the right things. Because it’s important to start building those routines as quickly as possible. We are all creatures of habit, you see it over and over again. If you start drinking more water by having a bottle always with you and eating more greens with every meal it becomes a way of life.
Do you have any rituals that contribute to a positive mindset at the beginning of the day?
One of the things I got to do every day is communicate with God the creator to give thanks for everything that I have. It’s hard to feel like you’re failing when you are properly practicing gratitude. Starting out the day by saying thank you for that morning is a great way to keep the right perspective. I don’t think that a lot of people understand the power of their own thoughts and their own words. Wherever I go and I keep my spiritual text with me, which in my case in the Bible. Everyone has their own path, but for me personally, my path to God is the Bible and the scriptures inside there.
What do you do to keep your mental state healthy as well?
I have developed my own form of meditation that I do regularly. I have had some sessions with Jesse Israel from The Big Quiet, I have taken the lessons I have learned and developed my own process. I like it because it silences my mind and gives me time to set my intentions for the day.
I don’t have a specific amount of time that I try to meditate for. I just try to make sure that I take some sort of time. Some of my meditations can be really quick.
Do you have any things you keep around that help you build a positive space no matter where you go?
I always have Palo Santo sticks on me. I love the smell of them. I found them a few years back and now don’t go anywhere without them. I don’t have any problem getting through TSA with them in my pockets. I will say that I am always careful to tell people when I have my Palo Santo sticks smoking and I am doing a Zoom meeting because of the smoke I think people something a little more recreational, but that is not the case. But they do bring me a lot of peace. It’s important to find things that resonate with you personally, that’s what this journey is all about, and that is what these sticks do for me.
It doesn’t look like Young Thug will be leaving Fulton County Jail until his trial date next January — or at least, not anytime soon. Nancy Dillion, senior court reporter for Rolling Stone, reports that Thugger’s latest bond request was again denied, courtesy of Fulton County Judge Ural Glanville. This follows two previous attempts; the first in May, just after he turned himself in, and the second in June. The reasoning for the latest denial likely remains the same; Georgia authorities are concerned he could flee or otherwise attempt to obstruct justice if freed.
Young Thug’s third attempt to get bond was just denied by Fulton County Judge Ural Glanville.
Thug is one of 28 individuals charged in the case against Young Slime Life (aka “YSL”), which authorities have called a “hybrid criminal street gang” using his Young Stoner Life label (also nicknamed “YSL”) as cover. In a 56-count indictment, Thug and some of his artists including Gunna and Yak Gotti are charged with attempted murder, drug possession, armed robbery, and more, with Thug and Gunna’s lyrics listed as evidence of their participation in gang activity. Thug was also charged with a bevy of new offenses after police searched his home; seven additional felonies were added to his tally, including possession of marijuana with intent to distribute and possession of a dangerous weapon or silencer.
Normally, when you put a bunch of the biggest Jeopardy! winners in a room, it’s to defend their honor as one of the show’s greats in the Tournament of Champions. However, this weekend, they’re going to battle it out in a different arena for a cause. On Saturday, Amy Schneider, Matt Amodio, James Holzhauer, Buzzy Cohen, and more are taking part in the Titan Throwdown in Las Vegas to benefit Project 150, a non-profit providing “free support and services to homeless, displaced, and disadvantaged high school students.”
The showdown even got a shoutout from Ken Jennings, who gave the charity event a boost on Twitter. He also worked in a friendly jab at Holzhauer, who will have to hold his own against a throng of Jeopardy! champs.
“Whoa, this is some lineup!” Jennings tweeted. “And benefits a great cause. (NOT just @James_Holzhauer getting smacked around. A Las Vegas nonprofit called Project 150.)”
Whoa, this is some lineup! And benefits a great cause. (NOT just @James_Holzhauer getting smacked around. A Las Vegas nonprofit called Project 150.) https://t.co/H9pxvQMkqf
Join us for a fun filled night with the top game show winning contestants from Jeopardy!, The Chase, and Masterminds. This is a live game show featuring the “Titans” who will take on contestants in a challenging game of trivia – LIVE. The game will be hosted by local celebrity Chet Buchanan of 98.5 KLUC and the proceeds from the event will benefit local charity Project 150. Your ticket includes entry to the gameshow and the opportunity for photos and autograph signings from the Titans. All ages welcome.
Tickets for the Titan Throwdown event on Saturday, August 20 are available here.
The 2022 WNBA Playoffs started off with a bang on Thursday night, as the seventh seeded New York Liberty upset the reigning champion Chicago Sky in the first game of their series. With a new format implemented this season — best-of-3 in the first round and best-of-5 after that — there’s a tighter blend of game-to-game strategy and shot variance. Elimination games allowed for absurd outside shooting heaters to ratchet up the chance of an upset, and while small sample size still plays a part, there’s more of a balance in a straightforward, 8-team playoff.
On the surface, the fifth seeded Washington Mystics seem like a solid but overall average playoff team after finishing the year at 22-14. I feel that couldn’t be farther from the truth.
It’s part of my job to soak everything in, decipher what’s going on, and make accurate predictions of where the WNBA is headed. I have no idea how to view the playoffs, who to choose as an eventual champion, or a real faith in how it will play out. I do, however, feel pretty strongly about this: The Mystics have a real opportunity to make a run, largely due to the play of Elena Delle Donne.
It sounds crazy to say this about a former MVP and one of the most accomplished athletes in the sport, but generally, I feel Delle Donne’s season has gone under-appreciated. Yes, that’s a very subjective statement, but let’s put this into perspective: Delle Donne had played a grand total of three games since the 2019 Finals heading into this year. She missed the entire 2020 season, while her 2021 campaign was hampered by injuries.
To say I was unsure how to view Delle Donne as a player at the start of 2022 was an understatement. How would her movement look? How much would she be able to play? What would her process be like in handling back-to-backs?
Delle Donne responded by putting together what I’d consider an All-WNBA worthy season — I officially put her on my second-team All-W ballot. She averaged 17.2 points, 6.3 rebounds, 2.3 assists, and 1.6 combined steals and blocks across 25 games. She didn’t play back-to-backs prior to the All-Star break and missed a few games due to injury, but in all, Delle Donne appeared in 25 of the team’s 36 regular season contests.
While their first-round opponent, the Seattle Storm, have played inspired of late and found a groove, I just have a feeling about Washington and their potential to make a deep run, largely due to Delle Donne’s prowess. The Mystics are an elite defensive unit, and while they have offensive talent, they tend to lack rim pressure, the staple of creating easier offense. In a playoff setting with multiple shot creators and specifically Delle Donne, I’d argue their team is better built for success.
Delle Donne’s shot chart may as well be colored in green, because there isn’t really a spot where a defense can feel comfortable leaving her open. Pick-and-pop jumpers, even from well beyond the arc, are cash.
Sell out too hard to close on her jumper and she’ll take her defender off the dribble swiftly or make an immediate read to hit the open player. Her ability to react quickly in spite of not being overly fleet of foot makes her one of the hardest guards in the league. She sees things play out and is making a play before the opposition has even responded more often than not.
Show a hard close and present a driving lane, and Delle Donne will take it. She may not beat you to the rim, but she’s incredibly adept at mixing and matching post-ups into her drives before turning a quick post into a shimmy and then another drive off a face-up. She constantly makes minor shifts and adjustments that can send the defense into a frenzy.
Her technical ability, footwork, fluidity, and scoring craft at 6’5 is breathtaking. Even if a defender makes all the right reads in time to keep up with how quickly Delle Donne processes the court and moves the ball, it still may not be enough. She’s incredibly good at using her size to get to the line and attack off-kilter defenders, seeking contact when a direct opening isn’t available. Or, she’ll just hit a crazy one-legged runner fading through contact, because she’s Elena Delle Donne.
While 2.3 assists per game seems small in stature — and relatively, it is — dive into the actual passing touch and vision from Delle Donne and you find that doesn’t tell the whole story. She’s not going to generate paint touches at a high level outside of post-ups or hit a wealth of live-dribble passes, although she has some wonderful short-roll playmaking in her bag. Delle Donne eviscerates defensive help and presents the great quandary: Do you try and defend her one-on-one in the post where she averages 1.22 points per possession, or do you send help to force the ball out of her hands?
Well…
I don’t think there’s a player in the league better at feeling out and mapping oncoming help. With high level cutters across the Mystics’ roster, Delle Donne taps into her playmaking as doubles come. There isn’t an “answer” for Delle Donne, as the Storm will likely employ numerous coverages and individual defenders to try and get the ball out of her hands. But that’s what makes Delle Donne so lethal — even without the ball, she can impact defenses greatly.
She’s maybe the best outlet player in the league. Her screening is dynamic and she’s a high-quality hand-off partner. Her rim dives drag interior defenders, and she can’t be sagged off of when spaced. She’s a sublime running mate alongside Washington’s starting backcourt of Ariel Atkins and Natasha Cloud.
She more than holds her own defensively, having impressed me routinely with her ability to play in space and serving as a fantastic secondary rim protector from the weak-side. Teams have tried time and again to pinpoint Delle Donne as a weak spot in the league’s best defense, and it doesn’t work.
The impending match-up with the Storm in round one seems a tall task. It almost feels unfair that two teams so capable of winning a title are paired up before a later date. That’s what makes this series the most intriguing in the opening week for me. The stakes are high. A multitude of great players are involved. There are phenomenal basketball minds and coaching staffs on either sideline. This is going to be appointment television.
Regardless of how far the Mystics go in this postseason, Delle Donne’s incredible season pushed them to be here, she’s made waves with her postseason play before, and it’s difficult to bet against her doing it again.
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