GoneTrending

Do athletes even endorse sneakers anymore?

Don’t get us wrong, Jordan is still the biggest name in footwear. And when a hot new sneaker designer bursts onto the scene, best believe they’re going to want to put their spin on a fresh pair of Jordans above all else, so we don’t imagine another name is going to surpass it anytime soon. But big names are coming (relatively) close, and none of them are known for their skills on a court.

We’re talking not about performance shoes but “performer shoes” (a term dubbed by DJ Clark Kent) — made by people like Kanye West, who has now realized his dream of making a pivot from the hottest rapper in the game to the hottest sneaker and streetwear designer with his Yeezy Brand; Pharrel Williams, who has been toiling away at Adidas for a minute now with his Hu line; J Cole who seems to be constantly pumping out Pumas and actually has the hoops skills to bring in ballers; Bad Bunny, who — despite starting it all off with a few Crocs — is now two for two with his Adidas collaborations; and Beyonce, who continues to make tremendous leaps with each drop of her Ivy Park line.

It’s undeniable that, save for Virgil Abloh and Aleali May, the most exciting sneakers to drop right now are coming from the world of hip-hop. And no name is more exciting than La Flame — yes, we’re talking about Mr. Cactus Jack himself, Travis Scott. Together in partnership with Helmut Lang, Nike, and Jordan Brand, Scott has been dropping some of the most hyped sneaker releases of our modern era of streetwear, offering remixed designs of the aforementioned brand’s most popular silhouettes draped in Scott’s signature dusty desert aesthetic and vibe.

Over the last three years, Scott has dropped 14 sneakers and today we’re here to rank every single one of them from worst to best. Let’s dive in.

15. Travis Scott Jordan XXXIII Army Olive

Amongst fans of Scott’s sneaker collaborations, these are absolutely hated. It’s easy to see why. I mean… look at ’em!

Some people feel that hate is overkill, arguing that these are slept on but they still deserve their spot at the bottom of this list. It’s not simply that they’re bad — this army olive mesh upper and brown suede heel panel is a pretty solid design for the XXXIIIs and pretty emblematic of the looks to come — but it’s just so boring in comparison to everything else Scott has done with Nike.

It feels mean to place any Scott shoe dead last, but it’s hard to argue that this is better than any of the other shoes on this list.

Find the Travis Scott Jordan XXXIII Army Olive at GOAT.

14. Travis Scott x Helmut Lang Low Top

Before Travis Scott started lending his aesthetic to classic Nike and Jordan silhouettes, he linked up with Italian designer Helmut Lang for a sleek all-black high-top and low-top sneaker. The Helmut Lang collaborations are soft of an anomaly in the lineage of Travis Scott sneakers, but looking at it does make us wonder what the Cactus Jack label would’ve looked like if it never linked up with Nike. Thank God it did!

Featuring a nylon upper with leather and velcro straps across the heel and upper, the Travis Scott x Helmut Lang was made in Italy and features graphic bull imagery on the tongue and Helmut Lang branding on the heel tab.

It’s… okay. Just that and nothing more. Definitely a step up from the XXXIII, though.

The Travis Scott x Helmut Lang Low Top is currently unavailable on the aftermarket.

13. Travis Scott x Playstation Nike Dunk Low

Originally, we ranked this one last. It’s a three-way collaboration that coincided with the release of the Playstation 5, which just felt like tacky branded overkill. But the more we look at the design — which is actually kind of dope and borrows from the OG Playstation’s look for its colorway — the more it grows on us. This one is certainly a grower.

We still don’t like the Sony branding on the heel (Playstation logo can stay) but we can’t sit here and pretend that the Jordan XXXIII is somehow better than this sail and light blue upper, with its charcoal grey reverse swoosh and embroidered branding.

Find the Travis Scott x Playstation Nike Dunk Low at StockX.

12. Travis Scott Nike Air Max 270 React Cactus Trails

You’ll notice that Scott has a definite preference for Nike’s more retro silhouettes, so the Air Max 270 Cactus Trails is unique in that this is one of the most futuristic-looking Cactus Jack sneakers released yet, thanks to the aerodynamic design of the 270. It’s ironic that it’s also the most artificially aged, with a yellowed midsole and a messy mix of textile, nubuck, and TPU Overlays over a dirty cream colorway.

It really earns its moniker “Cactus Trails,” this is a grimy, dusty mess of a design.

Find the Travis Scott Nike Air Max 270 React Cactus Trails at GOAT.

11. Travis Scott Nike Air Force 1 Low White

Travis Scott’s long and fruitful collaboration with Nike begins with this take on the Air Force 1. Released in celebration of the 35th anniversary of the silhouette, this white canvas take on the AF-1 dropped at ComplexCon 2017 and featured interchangeable removable swooshes that were meant to evoke Scott’s trademark grill.

The laces have a Cactus Jack logo covering them and the whole thing sits atop a contrasting gum sole. It’s perhaps most notable for looking so different than the designs that would come to define Scott’s work with Nike.

Find the Travis Scott Nike Air Force 1 Low White at StockX.

10. Travis Scott x Helmut Lang High Top

The High Top version of Scott’s Helmut Lang sneaker is a massive improvement over the low. This may be the last time this particular sneaker stays in the top 10 as Scott and Nike have a bunch of rumored releases planned for Holiday 2021. Enjoy your spot, Helmut Lang Highs!

Featuring the same nylon upper with leather paneling and straps as the low, the Helmut Lang high tops are super sleek, militaristic, and represent a Travis Scott era that feels like a distant memory. Not much to say about these that we haven’t said already with the low tops, this is just an all-around better design.

The Travis Scott x Helmut Lang High Top is currently unavailable on the aftermarket.

9. Travis Scott Nike Air Force 1 Low Cactus Jack

The Cactus Jack Air Force 1 has always had a Sean Wotherspoon vibe to us. We know what you’re thinking, “WHY BECAUSE IT HAS CORDUROY???” Yup, that’s exactly why. Do you really think this zipped corduroy lace shroud would exist without Wotherspoon’s Air Max 97, which dropped two years earlier? You’re tripping. Wotherspoon MADE corduroy.

The AF1 Cactus Jack features a graphic canvas upper, a brown swoosh on the outer, a black swoosh on the inner, and sits atop a gum outsole. It’s a dope design, but it’s just a little too busy. A comfortable mid-tier release by Scott.

Find the Travis Scott Nike Air Force 1 Low Cactus Jack at GOAT.

8 . Travis Scott Jordan 1 Retro Low Mocha

This low-top version of the Jordan I borrows the design of the more iconic high-top version with a mocha and black nubuck leather upper and that polarizing backward swoosh on the lateral side. The backward swoosh actually looks bigger here (it’s not) making the sneaker look unlike a Jordan I, that’s kind of cool. The medial side panel features Cactus Jack lining in university red, making another appearance on the tongue, with the Air Jordan Wings on the heel tab.

This is pleasant and middling. Perfectly functional but not going to make a huge scene.

Find the Travis Scott Jordan 1 Retro Low Mocha at GOAT.

7. Travis Scott Nike Air Force 1 Low Sail

This Sail colorway of the Air Force 1 was Scott’s second release with Nike and built upon the all-white colorway that preceded it. The canvas upper and removable shiny swoosh is still here, but this Sail colorway just works so much better with the gum outsole and canvas construction. It feels like a true transitional sneaker between Scott’s first Nike drop to the more earthy and worn designs that would come to define the Cactus Jack aesthetic.

Find the Travis Scott Nike Air Force 1 Low Sail at GOAT.

6. Travis Scott Jordan 4 Retro Purple (Friends and Family Release)

We considered not even including this sneaker, as it’s a close friend and family-only release and never had a retail release, but it’s just too clean to ignore. It’s also currently available at StockX, which means someone isn’t being a good friend (we wouldn’t have done you like that, Travis!). This moody Jordan IV features a suede upper in a deep purple with black accents and a grey lace cage.

It’s easily one of the best colorways we’ve ever seen of the Jordan IV period, it’s almost cruel this wasn’t released to the public. Scott has a few more friends and family colorways, but none reach this level of perfection, which makes the StockX sale sting even more.

Find the Travis Scott Jordan 4 Retro Purple Suede at StockX.

5. Travis Scott Nike SB Dunk Low Cactus Jack

This is a totally personal take, but this pair brings up a lot of nostalgia for me. The bandana-inspired paisley overlays capture so much of the imagery of growing up in and around East LA. This sneaker looks like my childhood, filtered down into a shoe.

The SB Dunk Low Cactus Jack is significant because it’s Scott’s first skate sneaker, utilizing Nike’s ridiculously popular silhouette, dressing it in a tan leather base with plaid quarter panels, paisley overlays, and canvas that tears away to reveal an earthy camo pattern that kind of resembles Nike’s elephant print (but isn’t quite that).

The design is rounded out by thick rope laces, the whole thing really captures Scott’s Cactus Jack aesthetic — muted, yet psychedelic. Scott and Nike have a whole slate of Dunks that are supposed to drop in late 2021, we’ll see if they can match this take.

Find the Travis Scott Nike SB Dunk Low Premium QS at GOAT.

4. Travis Scott Jordan 6 Retro Olive

Released at the end of 2019, the Jordan VI features an almost militaristic olive green nubuck and suede upper with a little stash snap pocket on the outer collar. At the time of release, it felt like this was the perfect music festival sneaker to hide your stash in. The idea of going to a concert still seems novel, and this is the second time we’re ranking Scott’s whole sneaker output. Another handful of Travis Scott sneakers will likely drop before we are able to see the rapper perform live again. That’s just sad.

Scott rocked this colorway at the Super Bowl 53 halftime show, leading to its coveted status amongst sneakerheads and Travis Scott fans alike. The design is rounded out by a glow-in-the-dark translucent outsole with sail and university red accent work. Scott has yet to drop something that tops this design since its debut release.

Find the Travis Scott Jordan 6 Retro at GOAT.

3. Travis Scott Jordan 6 Retro British Khaki

Are the little pockets and zippers stupid and gimmicky? Yes. But forced utility aside, the British Khaki Jordan 6, Scott’s first sneaker of 2021, is in every way an improvement over 2019’s Olive colorway, which it clearly builds off of. Featuring a suede and canvas upper dusted in a mix of British Khaki and Sail, it’s the Bright Crimson accents on the heel, tongue, and branding that really pull this design together.

On top of this earthy colorway, a glow-in-the-dark sole and heel tab adds a nice psychedelic edge to the look, while seamlessly blending in with the rest of the design, never dipping into gimmicky territory, despite you know, being glow in the dark.

Find the Travis Scott Jordan 6 Retro British Khaki at GOAT.

2. Travis Scott Jordan 4 Retro Cactus Jack

There were several times I came close to ranking this as the number one pick, and while ultimately I contend that it’s probably (probably!) not the best Travis Scott sneaker out there, it is my personal favorite. This use of Nike’s university red and blue here is just beautiful, with its blue Durabuck leather upper and a red collar and insole. Inspired by the Houston Oilers, Scott’s hometown team, the Cactus Jack Jordan IV’s are rounded out by a core black lace cage and heel panel with university blue speckles, and feature Cactus Jack and Jumpman branding on the left and right heel respectively.

I’m already regretting not giving it the number one slot, but not enough to bump it up… yet.

Find the Travis Scott Jordan 4 Retro Cactus Jack at GOAT.

1. Travis Scott Jordan 1 Retro High Mocha

It feels almost cliche to rank the Mocha Jordan I Retro High as Scott’s best, but this sneaker release has managed to become emblematic of Cactus Jack as a fashion entity now three years after its original release. The large over-sized backward swoosh looks very gimmicky by today’s standards (though we don’t know that it didn’t always) but that mix of mocha suede paneling again a sail leather upper with university red accents is still one of the silhouette’s best colorways.

Since this insanely popular drop, Nike has since borrowed this same exact color scheme for a stock Air Jordan I, which we actually prefer, since it doesn’t have the backward swoosh. But hey, that’s just us.

Find the at Travis Scott Jordan 1 Retro High at GOAT.

Sometimes good R&B can be hard to find, but there are plenty of great rhythm and blues tunes to get into if you have the time to sift through the hundreds of newly released songs every week. So that R&B heads can focus on listening to what they really love in its true form, we’ll be offering a digest of the hottest R&B jams that fans of the genre should hear every Friday.

This week, Shelley makes his long-awaited return with Shelley FKA DRAM, a ten-track effort that signals the start of a new chapter in his career. Justine Skye also prepares her upcoming Twisted Fantasy album with its title track and Trevor Jackson boosts The Love Language, his album that dropped last month, with a comical new video.

Shelley — Shelley FKA DRAM

While his name may have changed, Virginia’s Shelley — fka DRAM — still produces music at a high level. After staying low for most of 2020, he returns with his latest album, Shelley FKA DRAM. The project delivers a very digestible ten tracks for listeners with features from Summer Walker, HER, Watt, and Erykah Badu. He also held an NPR Tiny Desk concert prior to the album’s release, his second one since 2017, in a moment he called “a new beginning. Full circle.”

Justine Skye — “Twisted Fantasy” Feat. Rema

Last summer, Justine Skye dropped her impressive album, Bare With Me, and now the singer will impact this year’s summer with another body of work. The forthcoming project is titled Twisted Fantasy and while we’ll have to wait until June 25 to get it, she dropped its title track today for fans to enjoy. Accompanied by Nigerian afro-fusion singer Rema, Skye’s new single is led by gloomy island production and the singer’s tale of a struggling love despite enjoyable moments of intimacy

Trevor Jackson — “Your Everything”

From acting and singing to dancing and directing, Trevor Jackson does it all, but if you found that hard to believe, the multifaceted act showcases his many talents in a new video for “Your Everything.” In its opening scene, Jackson plays a mailman who stumbles upon a woman exiting her partner’s home after an argument. It’s here where The Love Language singer decides to place himself all through the woman’s life in hopes of quickly landing her attention. Jackson plays everything in her life including a taxi driver, purse-snatcher, cop, and her relatives.

Mereba — “Rider”

It’s been a little over a year since Mereba dropped her debut album, The Jungle Is The Only Way Out. While the wait for her sophomore effort continues, she’s been far from quiet over the past few months. She joined her Spillage Village collective for their Spilligion album last year and now, she’s back with her first single of the year, a groovy number titled “Rider.” Here, Mereba is deep in love and committed to showing a new side of herself in the relationship.

Kyle Dion — “Purr” Feat. Kari Faux

When it comes to relationships, some people would prefer to leave any drama and toxicity out of it, but for Kyle Dion and Kari Faux, it’s something they’ve deemed necessary for their love lives. Rather than pillow talk, Dion wants to pillow fight and indulge in all the messes that most look to avoid with their partner. Paired with a guest verse from Kari Faux, it’s clear that Dion is not alone in his drama-filled world.

Maeta — Habits

After going on Do Not Disturb with her 2019 EP, Indianapolis native Maeta is back to detail her Habits on her latest project. The project blends genres throughout its seven songs, with lyrics detailing the often complicated youth experiences she and her peers go though. It also sports guest appearances from Buddy, Beam, and Leven Kali.

Rochelle Jordan — Play With Changes

Almost seven years have gone by since Rochelle Jordan last graced the world with a project, the last being 2014’s 1021. Moving back to the present, Jordan has finally delivered new music to her fans with her new album, Play With Changes. 12 songs present category-breaking artistry as it combines hip-hop and dance in a one of a kind way.

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

A wave of anti-transgender bills have been making their way through state legislatures the past few months, with more than a dozen states proposing bans on transgender athletes competing in girls’ sports.

The issue of trans people in athletics is a bit of a tricky one on paper. In actual reality, though, it’s not.

The justification for banning trans girls from playing sports with cisgender girls is hormones and build. The theory goes that a trans girl has a biological advantage over non-trans girls because they have higher testosterone levels, larger muscle mass, etc.

Besides the fact that physical makeup and athleticism varies greatly among individuals for hundreds of reasons besides sex, this theory that trans athletes are a threat to cisgender athletes appears to be a problem largely manufactured in people’s minds and not backed up by evidence.

---

Transgender women have been competing in sports for a long time at the professional level and have never dominated in any professional field. They don’t even dominate in non-professional sports. Proponents of these bills point to one case in Connecticut where two transgender runners won regularly in track competitions, but that’s pretty much the only example anyone across the entire country can name. Yes, trans women might actually win some competitions sometimes. But that doesn’t mean there’s a widespread issue of unfair athletic advantage.

In fact, MSBNC’s Stephanie Ruhle asked West Virginia governor Jim Justice to cite a single example of a trans child with an unfair advantage from his own state, where he just signed a bill banning trans athletes from competing in girls’ sports at “any public secondary school or state institution of higher education.”

“Can you name one example of a transgender child trying to gain an unfair competitive advantage at a school there in West Virginia?” she asked.

He couldn’t. He said he had been a girls’ basketball coach and that boys had an “absolute advantage” playing against girls. However, he couldn’t cite a single instance of that actually happening in his state.

Ruhle then questioned why he felt this bill was worth taking time on in a state that ranks in the bottom five in the country for education, health care, economy, and infrastructure.

“If you cannot name one single example of a child doing this, why would you make this a priority?” she asked.

Watch:

Watch @SRuhle press West Virginia Gov Jim Justice on the anti transgender bill he just signed:

https://t.co/mZy3yrBtmH

— Lauren Peikoff (@laurenpeikoff)
1619791723.0

Her wrap-up said it all. “Sir, thank you. And please come back when, beyond anecdotal feelings as a coach, you can show me evidence where those young women are being disadvantaged.”

It’s hard to argue that transgender sports bans are vital pieces of legislation when most people would be hard-pressed to even name a transgender athlete, much less a trans athlete who is raking in all the medals.

Speaking of raking in medals and having an unfair advantage, should we talk about how Michael Phelps’s body is perfectly designed to dominate in swimming? Should he be asked not to compete because his biology—his short legs, long arms, and broad shoulders—give him a clear advantage over other swimmers? What about the fact that his chest is hyper-jointed and his double-jointed ankles flex 15% more than his competitors? Aren’t those biological advantages that make it hard for other swimmers to compete against him?

But we’re talking about general biological differences between males and females here, which is why we have men’s and women’s sports. Sure. But again, trans girls are simply not dominating women’s sports, and they’ve been competing in them for a long time. So this legislation is a solution to a problem that doesn’t seem to exist.

According to Dr. Eric Vilain, a pediatrician and geneticist who studies sex differences in athletes, hormonal differences are not a good faith reason to ban trans girls from high school sports anyway. As he told NPR:

“We know that men have, on average, an advantage in performance in athletics of about 10% to 12% over women, which the sports authorities have attributed to differences in levels of a male hormone called testosterone. But the question is whether there is in real life, during actual competitions, an advantage of performance linked to this male hormone and whether trans athletes are systematically winning all competitions. The answer to this latter question, are trans athletes winning everything, is simple — that’s not the case. And higher levels of the male hormone testosterone are associated with better performance only in a very small number of athletic disciplines: 400 meters, 800 meters, hammer throw, pole vault — and it certainly does not explain the whole 10% difference.

And lastly, I would say that every sport requires different talents and anatomies for success. So I think we should focus on celebrating this diversity, rather than focusing on relative notions of fairness. For example, the body of a marathon runner is extremely different from the body of a shot put champion, and a transwoman athlete may have some advantage on the basketball field because of her height, but would be at a disadvantage in gymnastics. So it’s complicated.”

The categorizing of sports by sex or gender may be somewhat complicated, but the pushing of legislation to flat-out ban trans athletes from sports is not. High school and college sports shouldn’t be purely about besting the competition—they should be about teamwork and comradery, as well as developing perseverance, resilience, and self-discipline. And let’s be real. Most of the people pushing for this legislation aren’t doing so because they’re worried about unfair advantage; they’re doing it because they are uncomfortable with transgender people, period.

Oh, and there’s also this tidbit of info. Governor Justice said there are “only 12 transgender-type kids” in West Virginia, which is 1) ridiculous to say, and 2) begs the question of why they would need an entire bill to address trans girls in sports. According to a study from the Williams Institute, West Virginia actually has the highest percentage of 13 to 17-year-olds who identify as trans in the country. That’s 1,150 teens who identify as trans, just in that age group. (And yet not a single incidence of sports domination he can name to warrant the need for legislation. Go figure.)

More journalists pushing lawmakers to back up bigoted bills with actual evidence, please.

Following Evan Rachel Wood’s decision to name ex-partner Marilyn Manson (born Brian Hugh Warner) as her alleged abuser, February saw at least ten more women come forward to make similar accusations against the singer. One of those women, Game of Thrones actress Esme Bianco (who played Ros during the show’s first three seasons), had previously testified alongside Wood in support of California’s Phoenix Bill (aimed toward lengthening the statute of limitations for crimes involving domestic violence).

Like Wood, Bianco also came forward in February with her own harrowing account (as detailed in a New York Magazine profile) of alleged physical abuse, which she says that Manson committed during a 2011 relationship. In the profile, she accused Manson of terrorizing her (with both emotional and physical abuse that included whipping, cutting, and bruising her, along with depriving her of sleep and food) during the two months that she lived with him. Her claims were corroborated to New York by Manson’s former assistant, Jessica Walters, who went on record with the publication. Bianco has now sued Manson and, in doing so, she has added human trafficking allegations to her list of accusations against the singer.

Granted, there has been word that the L.A. Sheriff’s department was investigating Manson over unspecified allegations, but Bianco’s filing counts as the first official legal action against the singer. Via Rolling Stone, here’s some of the language from the filing:

“Mr. Warner used drugs, force, and threats of force to coerce sexual acts from Ms. Bianco on multiple occasions,” the lawsuit says. “Mr. Warner raped Ms. Bianco in or around May 2011.” It goes on to claim that Warner “committed sexual acts” with Bianco at times when she was unconscious or unable to consent, and lists the ways she claims he sexually battered her: “These acts include spanking, biting, cutting, and whipping Ms. Bianco’s buttocks, breasts, and genitals for Mr. Warner’s sexual gratification — all without the consent of Plaintiff.”

The “human trafficking” part of the filing refers to Bianco’s accusation of how Manson “employed fraud” to convince her to travel to the U.S. under the pretense of casting her in a music video (for his song “I Want to Kill You Like They Do in the Movies”) and a movie that was never filmed. Bianco complaint details how Manson allegedly “inserted himself in her visa process,” and she accuses him of locking her in a bedroom to stop her from leaving his home and forced her to carry out “unpaid labor.” Further, the complaint alleges that “Mr. Warner implied that because he had brought Ms. Bianco to the United States and provided housing, she owed him labor and sexual intimacy,” and he put her on display for his guests to “spank” her at his home.

The lawsuit contains several other disturbing allegations, including how, in 2009, Bianco did enter into a consensual sexual relationship with Manson. However, she accuses him of requiring her “to sit at his feet during press visits” and “verbally degrad[ing] her” before he allegedly “attempted to bring a minor back to the hotel with him and Ms. Bianco.”

In February 2021, Manson came forward with a blanket statement against the mounting allegations against him (prior to Esme coming forward) as “horrible distortions of reality.” He further declared, “My intimate relationships have always been entirely consensual with like-minded partners. Regardless of how – and why – others are now choosing to misrepresent the past, that is the truth.”

In 2019, Bianco tweeted a photo of whip marks on her back in a now-apparent reference to Manson. “This is my back,” she wrote at the time. “The injuries you see are real. The whipping that I got here was filmed in the name of ‘art.’ Despite the many years that have passed since this happened my night terrors and PTSD symptoms continue to get worse. I am a domestic violence survivor and #IAmNotOk.”

(Via Rolling Stone & New York Magazine)

For this week’s UPROXX Sessions performance, West Coast troubadour Blxst rolls through Uproxx Studios to bless the mic with a laid-back rendition of his No Love Lost single “Pressure.” Rocking a black-on-black Chinatown Market hoodie and his trademark shades, Blxst coolly slides from casually complex rhymes to mellow crooning as he details the ways he stays on point, no matter the situation he’s faced with.

2020 was a breakout year for Blxst, who spent the five years prior building his name with a string of smooth, standout guest appearances. His frequent collaborators with fellow California stars Mozzy, Bino Rideaux, and more led to a splashy debut with No Love Lost, paying off the buzz he’d built and making him a fixture on Los Angeles sound systems. Releasing his two-song maxi-single Just for Clarity at the top of the year featuring Drakeo The Ruler and Russ, he showed he’s just getting started.

Watch Blxst’s laid-back “Pressure” performance for UPROXX Sessions above.

UPROXX Sessions is Uproxx’s performance show featuring the hottest up-and-coming acts you should keep an eye on. Featuring creative direction from LA promotion collective, Ham On Everything, and taking place on our “bathroom” set designed and painted by Julian Gross, UPROXX Sessions is a showcase of some of our favorite performers, who just might soon be yours, too.

Earlier this week I ran into a friend I hadn’t seen in awhile (this used to be unremarkable; now it feels like a big deal) and, probably because human contact has been so few and far between over the last year, a lot of topics were discussed. And for the life of me I don’t remember why the situation comedy Alice was mentioned, but it was. Then I said out loud, “and Alice was based on a Martin Scorsese’s movie,” and the person I was talking to thought I was kidding. Then it hit me that what I just said out loud really does sound fake. Then I started doubting my own words even though I knew they were true.

I had seen parts of Martin Scorsese’s Alice Doesn’t Lie Here Anymore here and there but never all the way through in one sitting, so I rectified that this week. It’s a pretty tremendous movie. And should be a must-watch for those who think Scorsese has never made a movie with a woman as his main character. Ellen Burstyn plays Alice and is really dynamite. But watching the movie when you grew up with the sitcom is really a trip. It almost seems reverse engendered, like Scorsese was a huge fan of the show and decided to make his own version in a very Martin Scorsese way with a lot of zooming and beautiful shots and contemporary rock hits.

Then, the next day, I tweeted something vague about how every Scorsese movie should produce a popular sitcom featuring a live studio audience that runs for nine seasons. And, yes, once again, people thought I was kidding. Because when you say it out loud it sounds fake. And when you watch the movie, there is nothing about it that says, “You know, this should be a sitcom.” At least with something like M*A*S*H, a show based on Robert Altman’s movie of the same name, it makes a bit more sense. Plus the television show wasn’t a multi-camera sitcom filmed in front of a live studio audience. (M*A*S*H did have a laugh track, which in retrospect makes no sense.) And even though M*A*S*H became one of the most popular television series of all time, most people seem to realize it was based on a movie. And having the title be the same for both the movie and the show probably has a lot to do with that, and the fact Gary Burghoff was in both the film and the show as Radar.

But this is also something M*A*S*H has in common with Alice, because one actor is in both the series and the movie: Vic Tayback as Mel Sharpels. And yes, when Mel shows up in the movie, about halfway through, it’s pretty weird. In that you can just tell Tayback has new clue this would become his signature role and that he’d wind up playing Mel for almost a decade.

Actually, it’s not completely true Tayback is the only actor to be a regular on the show. Alfred Lutter, who played Tommy, Alice’s son in the movie (and is probably surprised he’s getting a Google alert today), appeared in the pilot for the show and then was replaced by Philip McKeon. (McKeon’s sister, Nancy, played Jo on The Facts of Life and had a nice little family dynasty going at the time. I always wonder if they felt like the Batemans were their enemies.) I do not know the circumstances why he didn’t get the full-time part, but imagine being good enough for Martin Scorsese, then being told you can’t be on the sitcom as the same character. (Yes, it’s a different type of acting skill, but still.)

But the strangest thing of all about all of this is the case of Diane Ladd. Now, Ladd played Flo in the film, which garnered her an Academy Award nomination. In the television show Flo was played by Polly Holliday (who garnered multiple Emmy nominations for this role and a Golden Globes win)of “kiss my grits” fame. Holliday’s Flo became so popular that her character was given her own sitcom (which only lasted two seasons and, even though it performed okay, wasn’t renewed for a third). Now back on Alice, without Flo, a new character was needed. So Flo was replaced by Belle, played by … yep, Diane Ladd. (I somewhat remember when this happened and it was very weird. The studio audience went absolutely nuts for Belle, in a way where everyone obviously knew her and there was something special happening. But as a six-year-old I had no clue what was going on and there was no way to look this up. And, unsurprisingly, my friends in first grade couldn’t provide me with the answer that this was obviously the original Flo from the popular Martin Scorsese movie.)

This really would be like if Goodfellas was turned into a sitcom. Then in the sitcom, Jon Lovitz played the part of Tommy and his character became so popular he got his own show called I’m Funny How, or whatever. Then Joe Pesci shows up as Lovitz’s replacement, playing a brand new character named Fredrick. And on Pesci’s first show the studio audience just loves it.

As an aside, things get a little weirder when Belle is then replaced by Jolene. And it’s revealed that Jolene is related to Boss Hogg from The Dukes of Hazzard. Then Boss Hogg and Enos show up in Phoenix at Mel’s Diner, which is a long way from Georgia. So, yes, it just kind of hit me that, “Martin Scorsese made a movie that became a sitcom that takes place in the same universe as The Dukes of Hazzard.” And that definitely sounds fake.

You can contact Mike Ryan directly on Twitter.

It’s been a minute since we’ve seen LeBron James appear in a basketball game. The reigning NBA Finals MVP has been on the sideline ever since spraining his ankle against the Atlanta Hawks on March 30, a stretch that has seen him miss 20 games while the Los Angeles Lakers have fought to stay out of the play-in tournament in the Western Conference.

Fortunately for L.A., it appears the King plans to return to his court soon. Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN reports that James is going to test out his ankle on Friday night before the Lakers take on the Sacramento Kings, and if he feels good, he’s going to suit up and play. If he does not, however, James’ return is still expected to take place sometime very soon.

The Kings, unsurprisingly, seem pretty stoked about the news.

Los Angeles has gone 8-12 without James in the lineup, although it is worth mentioning that Anthony Davis was also sidelined until recently — the big man battled a lingering achilles injury for months and has played in each of the last four games. Getting James back is obviously going to be a gigantic boost for the fifth-place Lakers., which sit at 36-26 on the year and is two games up on the Portland Trail Blazers for the seven seed. The team has 10 games left this season before the postseason rolls around.

Over the past few years, Travis Scott has been building something special with his Astroworld Festival. The past two fests have become highly anticipated events, but unfortunately, there was no festival in 2020. Now, though, fans have something to be excited about for later this year: The third annual fest is set to go down at NRG Park in Houston, Texas on November 5 and 6.

Scott made the announcement on Instagram today (which is his 30th birthday), writing, “For this bday all I want is rage man we been locked in a house for sometime now and I been banging my head around trynna to get back to it I been wanting to share and experince with all the other like minded chaotic rager like me for some time now. That being said in november pop out at the fest astroworld fest 2021 2 days this year with and out landish line up see u soon !!!”

This year’s lineup has yet to be revealed, but given that it will be curated by Scott himself, there are sure to be some heavy-hitters involved this time around, as has been the case in years prior. Previous editions have hosted artists like Post Malone, Rosalía, Pharrell Williams, DaBaby, Lil Wayne, Young Thug, Playboi Carti, and Megan Thee Stallion.

Tickets will go on sale on May 5 at 10 a.m. CT on the festival website.

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

Easily the biggest cannabis brand launch of 2021 so far and another sign of its founder’s unstoppable productivity, was the Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg collaboration: Houseplant. It isn’t often that a weed drop breaks the internet (or at least its own homepage), but when news of the release went live this past March the site froze and glitched like Rogen on an edible at the Golden Globes with Bryan Cranston.

The flood of interest came after Rogen announced the brand’s long-anticipated United States launch (the company has been operational in Canada for the past two years). Since that initial news, Houseplant has expanded out of Los Angeles — where it was exclusively sold for about a month and a half — and can now be found in dispensaries throughout California.

Houseplant’s now smooth-running site features a cannabis line made up of three different strains and a variety of very stylish home products, including pottery by Rogen. Seriously, dude’s future in housewares is legit. He’s capturing the early 70s zeitgeist perfectly with these pieces — everything looks like it should be in Megan Draper’s Laurel Canyon bungalow during the last season of Mad Men.

But admiring Rogen’s design aesthetic isn’t why you’re here. On to the weed!

The Weed

Houseplant has kept tight-lipped (almost as tight as those tin lids, but we’ll get to that!) about who or what company, exactly, is growing Rogen’s sought-after buds. After comparing a variety of Certificates of Analysis (COAs) — which are thorough testing result documents available at any dispensary for any product being sold in-store — the grower can be revealed as Los Angeles-based THC Design.

This is a smart pick by Rogen and Goldberg. THC Designs is a high-quality indoor grow house that also provides white-labeled cannabis for Method Man’s Tical and Presidential, as well as its own line. Though Houseplant says its three strains — Diablo Wind, Pancake Ice, and Pink Moon — are proprietary to the brand, the COAs indicate that, at present, they are close cousins to three THC Design Strains: XJ-13, Crescendo, and 24-K.

Does that mean that the weed is any less potent? Nope — in fact, Rogen’s versions of the strains are all slightly more potent. Is it necessarily a bad thing? Not at all. Should global movie star, director, writer, potter, and Ted Cruz troller Seth Rogen have to set up his own goddamn grow house from scratch just to enter the weed game? Certainly not.

The idea of white labeling simply implies that customers may pay a premium to get Houseplant compared with their THC Design analogs. In San Diego, for example, an eighth of XJ-13 costs $39; an eighth of Diablo Wind costs $69. Where you land on whether or not you want to pay that premium is, obviously, up to you.

Here are the front pages of the COAs for Rogen’s Diablo Wind compared to THC Design’s XJ-13, in case you want to see how we drew this conclusion. Please note that these certificates are readily available at every dispensary — we’re not putting anyone on blast or sharing industry secrets.

Diablo Wind COA:

XJ-13 COA

If you’re curious about the two addresses listed on those COAs, they’re in the same grow compound. The address on the Diablo Wind certificate is registered to THC Design. As far as the actual strains, you’ll note that the total cannabinoids and the distribution of those cannabinoids match closely, so you can reasonably expect the two strains to react quite similarly with your own biochemistry. If this intrigues you endlessly, enlarge the QR codes on the two documents pictured and dig in.

Otherwise… we’ll shut about the origins of the herb.

The Experience

Anyone who buys this weed is getting some of the best legal indoor cannabis on the market. THC Design is one of the best in the game and Rogen clearly took this collaboration very seriously. When he says he tested and picked strains with great care, there’s no reason in the world not to believe him. You may have heard, the man likes to get high.

Before we get to the actual weed, a quick aside about the packaging. It’s stylish! But also a little cumbersome. Each strain comes in an individual tin with two plastic teeth on either side and a top hat lid. California, like most states with legal cannabis, has strict packaging laws that require a high degree of child-proofing. For packaging to stand out, product designers need to be creative. While Houseplant’s tins are no doubt pretty to look at, they are incredibly hard to open and definitely require two hands.

To be fair, most packaging in California is impossible to open, regardless of design, so this isn’t a knock. Just check out the video of Rogen showing you how to open it above and understand that his designers were certainly limited by the state they operate in.

Now let’s get to the smoke! Across the board, all three strains are stinky and tasty — two of the surest signs of high quality. Even just fiddling with the tins as you attempt to open them will release a potent whiff of what’s to come and is sure to delight any cannabis enthusiast. Each strain comes with an info card that details the cannabinoid levels, terpenes found in the weed (which will give smokers distinct tastes and smells), and ideas for how and when to smoke it. They also come with a word of caution from Houseplant: “It’s strong!”

They’re right. Diablo Wind is a Sativa-dominant strain high in Terpinolene and Caryophyllene terpenes, clocking in at 24.192% THC, according to this specific batch’s COA. A cross between Jack Herer and G13 Haze, its pine and citrus notes, redolent of its Jack Herer lineage, display heavily both upfront in the smell and in taste. It’s an upper, through-and-through, with a refreshing and heady high that almost seems to give the smoker a brain cleanse — as if to jump-start synapses for any kind of activity. It might be a little too strong for daytime smoking for the average toker, but if one were to choose a Houseplant strain to move through the day’s activities with, it should be this one.

Gas lovers will dig Pancake Ice, which is another Sativa cultivar with 33.2% THC. It’s a cross between Chem Dawg and Mandarin Cookies with Limonene, Humulene, and Caryophyllene terpenes. This high is a bit more mellow than Houseplant’s other Sativa-dominant counterpart, while still being uplifting. This is a good smoke for anything outdoors, like hiking or swimming, as the mellow aspect means senses aren’t likely to get too overloaded. Diesel and dirt dominate these smells and flavors.

Pink Moon is the brand’s only Indica at present, though they have said they will be releasing more in short order. It’s a cross of Tangie and Kosher Kush with dark buds at 26.45% THC, boasting Limonene, Caryophyllene, and Linalool terpenes. Mind and muscle-melt are the themes with this strain: this is couch weed. Smokers aren’t going to be able to move for a while after a few hits of this, which is exactly the point. The taste is sweet citrus, more candy than fruit with earthy undertones. That’s the Kush talking.

Bottom Line:

Overall, Houseplant’s weed is really quite good. When it comes to getting stoned, it’ll get the job done and then some. Plus, it’s always a bonus getting smelly, tasty, and squishy nugs on the legal market — sometimes dispensary weed is really old and the terpenes have totally disappeared by the time the product reaches you. This is not the case with Houseplant. Not even close. We bought our sample retail and it was impeccably fresh.

For some, knowing where it comes from may soften the magic a bit. For others, the cool tin and the Rogen stamp of approval will be worth the price difference. Like with anything celebrity-owned, you are going to pay something for the very famous person at the center of it. Certainly, a Houseplant tin on the shelf is more of a talking point than the THC Design versions. But if you’re just smoking to get high, well… you could save yourself a few bucks.

If Without Remorse has any value at all, it’s as a headscratcher. You know it doesn’t work, but what were they attempting here?

The latest in Amazon’s series of Tom Clancy adaptations, Without Remorse was adapted from Clancy’s 1993 novel by acclaimed Sicario writer Taylor Sheridan and Will Staples, and was directed by Stefano Sollima. Sheridan, also of Hell Or High Water and Wind River, enlarges his following with every hyper-masculine shoot ’em up, but Without Remorse is less Sicario than Sicario: Day Of The Soldado, the last collaboration between Sheridan and Sollima — the latter of whom the son of cult Italian director Sergio Sollima and not quite the visual stylist Denis Villeneuve is.

In any Tom Clancy project you expect a certain amount of uniform worship and jargon-y walk and talks. On me! Watch your six! Stand down, lieutenant! I repeat, the professor is holding the conch! Yet despite the backdrop of geopolitcal intrigue, Without Remorse is almost Fast/Furious-esque in its pure ridiculousness. Which could be fun if it didn’t seem so accidental. The pure disrespect this film shows towards how anything works — hospitals, politics, warfare, physics — is glorious at times, but makes a weird mix with Clancy’s meticulously sexless torn-from-the-headlines Risk fantasies.

Michael B. Jordan plays John Kelly, though I didn’t catch his name until about 25 minutes in thanks to Without Remorse‘s muddy sound mix. Kelly, on assignment from shady CIA guy Robert Ritter (played by 35-year-old angsty teen Jamie Bell) leads his SEAL Team in a raid on an arms depot in Aleppo. Kelly’s team rises silently from a fountain like a float of crocodiles (why is there a fountain in an arms depot?) and much Call Of Duty-esque pew-pewing ensues. They double-tap every bad guy in the room before rescuing the hostage, only to discover to their surprise: these bad guys were… Russians!

This information is delivered momentously, as if it should hold great significance to us, though we’re not sure why. It’s an ongoing pattern in Without Remorse, a breathless, non-stop flood of countries, rogue agencies, bad guys, and arms caches, which seem to matter greatly to buff soldiers and sneering suits for reasons unclear to us. Kelly smells a rat, but before he can find it, the members of his team are all getting assassinated one by one. Kelly survives the attack on his house, but they’ve killed his wife! This time, it’s personal!

This kind of plot hokum can work in an action movie, provided the shoot-em-up and chop-socky scenes have an artistry that transcends the setup (Netflix’s Extraction being a good example). Without Remorse‘s action choreography is mostly just sort of utilitarian and lazy. There’s no exuberant gore or memorable violence, and half the time you can’t tell who is shooting whom or what blow Faceless Bad Guy A is even reacting to. I always wonder, if you care that little about the action, why is there so much of it?

If Without Remorse has an appeal, it’s of pure silliness. At one point, Kelly is lying in a hospital bed when his vital monitors start to beep. A pair of nurses, outside the room at the time, shout “Code blue!” and sprint to his bedside. Now, how would they know it’s a “code blue” from outside the room? Doesn’t matter! We need jargon, baby! If someone in a uniform doesn’t shout code words every 12 seconds the cameras will explode!

Without Remorse‘s best scene is probably its most ridiculous, a sequence where Kelly’s team gets shot down over the Barents Sea, then escape a sinking plane and sort of just surface in Murmansk. Every single aspect of the sequence is preposterous, and at no point does it appear that the people shooting it understand that it’s meant to take place above the Arctic Circle. Once in Murmansk, the whole gang is inexplicably there too. This is a movie where characters just seem to teleport to wherever the next scene is supposed to take place — Aleppo, DC, Russia, New York — with no explanation of how they got there or why.

Without Remorse attempts a few “big twists” in the final 20 minutes, only they don’t really come off because there isn’t anything to twist from — none of this plot was believable or even cogently explained in the first place. It felt like the filmmakers are constantly in a hurry. But in a hurry to get to what?

There’s a recurring chess motif (chess! in an action movie! have we ever seen this before?!) and it turns out the “king” was actually just a pawn. Which in practice means that the bad guy we only just met has been replaced with no bad guy. Instead, there’s 15 more minutes of extemporaneous lectures about the value of endless war. Was this what we were rushing to get to? A political rant with all the nuance of a stoned college student at 3 am? We could’ve used about half as much plot and twice as much passion.

‘Without Remorse’ is available on Amazon Prime April 30th. Vince Mancini is on Twitter. You can access his archive of reviews here.