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2020 has been an uncertainty-filled year for everyone. But it’s also proved the power of community, the importance of cultivating a collectivist mindset, and the need to support the people and companies we care most about. As we enter the holiday shopping season, we feel it’s important to help celebrate the small businesses that are near and dear to our hearts. Businesses that have found a way to keep going and helped make these past nine months a little more navigable.

In honor of Small Business Saturday, we asked a handful of writers and editors to shout out small businesses they love. Companies with both a brick & mortar and an online presence (in case our readers feel inspired to shop from afar). Our picks cover everything from comics to fashion to music. That said, these are just a few of the dozens of small businesses the UPROXX team is supporting today. And while you might find something on the websites of one of these companies that resonates with you, don’t spend so much that you’re not able to support your own local small businesses today and throughout the year.

Lark & Owl Booksellers — Georgetown, Texas

Tucked away in the small town of Georgetown, Texas (approximately 30 minutes outside of Austin), is a quaint independent bookstore called Lark & Owl Booksellers. The inclusive, women-founded shop sells books that reflect a diverse range of voices offering a glimpse into other worlds outside of our own bubble.

Beyond books, Lark & Owl also doubles as a bistro and hub for unique gifts. I personally love their variety of cards and stationery sets because I love being the recipient of a nice handwritten letter.

-Gabrielle Pharms

Fingerprints Music — Long Beach, California

Amoeba Music, thanks to its three locations statewide, is probably the most widely recommended (and visited) record shop in all of California. This popularity means that if you’re looking for hard to find releases or rare pressings, you’re probably not going to find them there. Luckily, California has no shortage of lesser-known but just as amazing independently owned record shops, and Long Beach’s Fingerprints is a gem that rivals juggernauts like Amoeba and Rasputin.

Tucked away in Long Beach’s artsy 4th street corridor, Fingerprints is stocked wall to wall with LPS, CDs, tapes, and more and the store’s online shop features all the same goods, from new releases, to harder to find gems, all neatly organized to still give you that bin-diving feeling you get from shopping in person.

-Dane Rivera

Zapp Comics — New Jersey

If you find yourself in need of a break from the swirling new norms of the world, I highly recommend falling into the broad array of fantastic worlds conjured by the likes of Jeff Lemire, Matt Fraction, Kelly Sue Deconnik, and others. For years, Zapp Comics has been my bridge to that kind of escapism and my accompanying fixation with all manner of toys and statues.

It’s hard to replicate the breadth of options at Zapp’s two physical locations in New Jersey — Wayne and Manalapan — but some truly choice collectibles are up on their eBay page and they regularly post wall books and other nostalgic treasures on their social channels, all of which you can buy and get shipped to you if you aren’t local.

-Jason Tabrys

LaRayia’s Bodega — Los Angeles, California

From handbags to DuRags to jewelry to shirts to bucket hats to caps… hell, and even bundles of sage — LaRayia’s Bodega has everything. This woman-of-color-owned-and-operated cafe in Downtown Los Angeles’ Koreatown has an online merch store packed with dope streetwear and accessories sporting the bodega’s slogan, “Love Without Reason.” Proceeds go directly to support store owner LaRayia Gaston’s mission of addressing food injustice through her Lunch on Me program, which helps to serve 10,000 monthly organic meals to homeless communities in cities like Los Angeles and New York.

-Dane Rivera’

Thalia Surf Shop — Laguna Beach, California

Thalia Surf Shop was ahead of the curve on two major movements.

1. The resurgent popularity of the slow surf, 70’s throwback, hippie California look.
2. Shops differentiating themselves by collaborating directly with artists.

The combo of those two elements, plus an incredibly friendly team, has made Thalia Surf the standout surf shop in a town literally teeming with them. This is one of the few outlets where longtime friend of UPROXX Tyler Warren sells his boards. He also does tee shirts for the shop, alongside other famous surf-artists like Thomas Campbell and Alex Knost.

If you dig on the cruisy-throwback look of surf culture — when candy-colored VW busses lined the parking lot at San Onofre State Beach (who are we kidding, they still do that) — then this spot is your paradise.

-Steve Bramucci

LB Skate Co. — Long Beach, California

Looking to get your hands on a pair of Nike SB Dunk Turdunkens? What about that Atmos Nike SB collab from earlier in the month. You know the one with the elephant print and teal colorway? Want to build your own skateboard? You can do all of that and more at the Long Beach Skate Company.

Skater owned and operated for a decade, the LB Skate Co is any skater’s one-stop hub for all things to do with the culture. Their online store is stocked with all of the same goods as in-house, so while you won’t be able to chop it up with the team of local skaters who run the shop, you’ll still be able to set yourself up with everything you need from your deck’s trucks to wheels, to bearings and hardware thanks to LB Skate Co’s intuitive webstore.

-Dane Rivera

Green Bean Books — Portland, Oregon

I did the West Coast launch for my first novel at Green Bean, so I’m biased, but in a city where Powell’s Books takes up a lot of oxygen, Green Bean definitely deserves your love. Statistically speaking, the chances are pretty good that you have a niece, nephew, godchild, friend with a kid (that you actually like), or are a parent yourself. If so, Green Bean carries books from across the wide world of children’s literature — with a long history of supporting new authors and industry-wide diversity.

Thanks to Green Bean’s incredible staff, you might go in (or onto the patio in COVID-times) looking for a boxed set of books on wizards that you loved as a kid, but leave with a whole different set of magic-filled books by an author sure to excite (who isn’t already a billionaire). If Indiana Jones-style throwbacks are your vibe, you can also find autographed copies of the novels of yours truly at the shop or order them over the phone.

-Steve Bramucci

Lil Wayne added to what’s been productive year on Friday, when he released the mixtape No Ceilings 3. The rapper first announced the project back in August during an appearance on ESPN, where he also said that fans could expect the release of Tha Carter VI in the near future. Wayne released the project just days later, and one highlight has been “BB King Freestyle,” which boasts and a guest appearance from Drake.

The two rappers reunited once again, adding to a lengthy list of collaborations, including “Miss Me,” “She Will,” and “Love Me.” On their latest effort, the two rap over a smooth and luxurious beat. In addition to the collab, DJ Khaled revealed Wayne will release his fourteenth studio album, I Am Not A Human Being III, at some point next year. The announcement was made at the end of “Lamar,” which is a remix of Jay-Z’s classic track “Takeover.”

No Ceilings 3 boasts 20 tracks and features appearances from Young Thug, Gudda Gudda, Young Kam Karter, who is Wayne’s third child, and more.

You can listen to “BB King Freestyle” above.

No Ceilings 3 is out now. Give it a listen on DatPiff here.

Young Thug is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Back in the day you couldn’t fix stupid gaffes in movies and television. Stanley Kubrick’s swords-and-sandals epic Spartacus is infamous for having plenty of Ancient Rome extras brandishing shiny new watches. That’s the version you can still stream today. But in our brave new world, if, let’s say, some guy with jeans finds his way into an episode of The Mandalorian, it doesn’t take long to digitally scrub him outta there, leaving no trace that he, and his denim, every existed.

Last week, The Mandalorian had its own Starbucks-cup-on-Game-of-Thrones debacle, when viewers noticed a dude lurking on the edge of a shot, wearing jeans and a tee-shirt in Chapter 12 of the Star Wars show. But now, a mere week later, he’s nowhere to be seen. As per IGN, Disney+ has already deleted him from the shot, ensuring that today’s casual earthling wear is nowhere to be found in a sci-fi show set in deepest space, in the distant past.

The blink-and-miss moment marred what was an otherwise rip-roaring episode, which found our masked and anonymous hero (Pedro Pascal) laying siege to an Imperial base alongside fellow rogues Greef Karga and Kara Dune (Carl Weathers and the now controversial Gina Carano). But thanks to cutting edge 2020 tech — plus some questionable ethics, from a company not above literally rewriting history and which has already been mocked for its, uh, creative way of handling the nudity in the PG-rated Splash — everyone can enjoy this Mulligan involving something only the most eagle-eyed would have noticed anyway.

(Via IGN)

Just days from now we’ll fully be in December, which means two things:

1. We’ve officially entered the home stretch, this year in sneakers ends in four short weeks (what a year!)
2. You probably should’ve started holiday shopping. Yesterday.

We have no shortage of dope releases in the world of sneakers this week and any of the selections from our top five would make an ideal gift for the sneakerhead in your life. Or, you know, yourself. We’ve all had a hard year, so go ahead and give yourself a gift before you get around to being generous with everyone else.

Here are this week’s best sneaker and apparel drops!

Air Jordan 4 Fire Red

This release right here is holiday-worthy. Somebody you know is dying for a pair of AJ4’s in Fire Red, possibly has been for years now. You just need to figure out if you love them enough to drop $200 on a pair of sneakers. One of the original four colorways to appear on the sneaker when it debuted, the Fire Red colorway is revered by sneakerheads of all stripes, and this is the first time this iteration has been re-upped since…

NINETEEN EIGHTY-NINE.

A 31-year-old colorway has never looked this fresh.

The Air Jordan 4 Fire Red is set to drop on November 28th for a retail price of $200. Pick up a pair through the Nike SNKRS app or select Nike retailers.

Adidas Yeezy BOOST 380 Onyx Reflective/Onyx

Ye is back this week with another double drop in two similar iterations — The 380 Onyx Reflective and non-reflective. Ye took his most alien sneaker silhouette and actually managed to make it look sleek. This one doesn’t glow in the dark, it doesn’t look like you’re wearing an amoeba on your feet, it’s a simple black sneaker that will look great on the court, track, or the streets. What more could we ask for?

Of course, Kanye had to Kanye at least a little, which is why one of the two is reflective. But a pair of black reflective shoes? That’s not a gimmick, that’s a safety-minded function, and we’re all for it.

The Adidas Yeezy Boost 380 Onyx Reflective is set to drop on November 27th with the non-reflective iteration following on November 28th for a retail price of $250 and $220 respectively. Pick up a pair through the Adidas webstore or at Yeezy Supply.

Nike Kobe 5 Protro Bruce Lee/Bruce Lee Alternative

An important part of Bruce Lee’s Jeet Kune Do philosophy was to be like water, flowing, ever-adaptive, and ultimately impossible to stop. Kobe — who was a huge Bruce head — played the game with that same approach, so it’s only fitting that these two legends were combined to make the Kobe Protro 5.

Dropping in two colorways, a yellow and black iteration, and this white black, and red alternate version, the Kobe 5 Protro Bruce Lee’s are the coolest this silhouette has ever looked, which is why they sold out instantly this Monday. They’re still on the aftermarket though, so all hope is not lost!

The Nike Kobe 5 Protro Bruce Lee/Bruce Lee Alternative is out now for a retail price of $180 and an aftermarket price hovering near $400

Pick up a pair at StockX.

Atmos x Staple New Balance X-Racer Crow and Pigeon

We’ve probably said this about 50 times this year but New Balance is absolutely killing it, and to cap off what has been a great year for the brand they’re now getting the Jeff Staple Pigeon treatment with this three-way collaboration with Atmos.

The collaboration utilizes New Balance’s X-Racer silhouette and features a speckled midsole, suede and mesh upper with black and grey paneling, and pink and purple accents. Along each sneaker’s heel is an embroidered pigeon or crow, giving the sneaker its name.

The three-way collaborative New Balance X-Racer Crow and Pigeon are set to drop on November 28th for a retail price of $135. Pick up a pair exclusively at Atmos.

PEACEMINUSONE Nike Air Force 1 Para-Noise 2.0

To be honest, we here at SNX have been sleeping on Korean rapper G-Dragon’s PEACEMINUSONE Nike line. We’ll remedy that with a ranking down the line, but we’re starting by including G-Dragon’s latest drop, the Para-Noise 2.0.

The Para-Noise 2.0 features a chalk-white upper with thick black laces, PEACEMINUSONE branding on the tongue, a slimmed-down wrap-around swoosh, and painted streaks on the midsole. The chalk-white upper wears away to reveal a special design crafted by G-Dragon himself, ensuring each pair is unique to the wearer.

Cool concept with clean designs? Along with Virgil Abloh, G-Dragon might just be Nike’s answer to Adidas’ combo of Beyonce and Kanye.

The PEACEMINUSONE Nike Air Force 1 Para-Noise 2.0 are set to drop on November 25th for a retail price of $200. Pick up a pair through the Nike SNKRS app or via the aftermarket.

Carhartt WIP Everything Is Awful Collection

If you’re looking for a reminder that the Presidential election being over doesn’t magically mean the world is now a better place, look no further than Carhartt WIP’s Everything is Awful Collection. This small collection featuring t-shirts and coffee mugs featuring a simple cartoon graphic of a nondescript person wearing a Carhartt bucket hat and holding a newspaper that reads “Everything is Awful.”

That small cartoon person can be a stand-in for any one of us.

The Carhartt WIP Everything Is Awful collection is out now at Carhartt WIP.

The New Blue Collar Delivery Five

The New Blue Collar is a fresh New York-based label with an admittedly dope concept that reimagines what workwear should look like in the modern age. Attempting to envision the future is ultimately a fool’s errand — it’s why the Black Eyed Peas have aged so terribly, musically speaking — but The New Blue Collar is smart about how they hope to achieve fashionable longevity.

Instead of giving us future-leaning ideas like body harnesses and radically altering silhouettes, the brand simply refreshes classic everyday staples, breathing new life into clothing designed for any setting. They’re still a relatively new label, but we look forward to watching their drops going forward.

Check out the full Delivery Five at the New Blue Collar webstore.

Palace Holiday 2020 Drop

Palace is unleashing a giant Holiday 2020 collection this week which should cover all your winter wear needs whether you’re all about fleeces, puffer jackets, parkas, or Varsity jackets inspired by William Shakespeare. Who asked for a varsity jacket with a quote from The Tempest an embroidered portrait of The Bard?

Absolutely no one, but that’s what makes Palace Palace!

Each piece in the collection drops in a variety of colorways with highlights including the all-over Palace crew necks and the Cordura-equipped reversible jackets. The collection is rounded out by tracksuits, shirts, bottoms, and accessories.

The Palace Holiday 2020 drop will arrive on November 27th, check out the full collection at the Palace webstore.

The Trump era has divided generations more than in any time since the 1960s, but few parents-child relationships are as fraught as the one between Jon Voight and his daughter Angelina Jolie. He’s an Oscar-winning actor and former Democrat who records videos telling Trump supporters to launch a Civil War; she’s an Oscar-winning actress who actually makes the world a better place through her human rights initiatives. They don’t get along, and they haven’t for years. So when Voight recorded yet another pro-Trump video in the wake of the president’s defeat, many thought less about him and more about her.

The video comes a couple weeks after Voight released a video so deranged even right-wingers were a little appalled. It was in response to Joe Biden defeating Trump in the 2020 election, which he called a “lie,” and he then called on the outgoing president’s supporters to engage in some vague “fight,” which doesn’t sound particularly safe given how many of them have been buying guns during the pandemic. Cut to the end of the month — after Trump’s legal team has suffered dozens of defeats and failed to prove any kind of voter fraud — and he’s back.

“I’m warning you all that we’re in great danger if we fall under a Biden administration,” Voight said in another awkwardly filmed video, which features him staring at an awkward off-screen angle, with far too much headroom. But much of his focus this time was on California Governor Gavin Newsom, who has ordered lockdowns in response to exploding COVID-19 cases. “He’s a disgrace to mankind, he and his relative Nancy Pelsoi, who has tried to bring President Trump down.”

Voight did address the elephant in the room. “I’ve been attacked by my fellow peers, saying I am preaching violence,” Voight said. But he didn’t counter that argument so much as play “I know you are but what am I,” saying, “the truth is, they all are. The left are burning and destroying our cities.” (Note: The protests he’s referring to have mostly died down by this point.)

He also doubled down on his seditious talk. “We must remember who we are. We are a nation that fought the Civil War, and we won that battle,” he said. “Let’s not give up.”

Once again, Voight’s latest screed was met with a lot of online mockery, some conflating him with other Hollywood Trumpers.

And some harkened back to his older roles — and we don’t mean Midnight Cowboy or Coming Home.

But many thoughts turned to Angelina Jolie, who hopefully doesn’t check what’s trending on Twitter.

A spate of recent biopics about musicians has seemingly started a trend, and music lovers have no qualms with that — as long as the films are done well. The best way to ensure that is to get a good writer, someone who is familiar with the band’s work, and make sure members of the band are also involved. Well, the latest entry into the music film canon has both – Ann Wilson of the ’70s rock band Heart broke the news that a film is being made about her and her sister Nancy’s band, and it’s written and directed by none other than Carrie Brownstein, of Sleater-Kinney and Portlandia fame.

On the Sirius XM Show “Volume West,” hosted by journalist Lyndsey Parker, Ann revealed that Carrie has already drafted at least one version of the script, and that veteran producer Lynda Obst is also working on the film for Amazon. “I can’t tell you all about it, because it’s still being written right now,” Ann said. “Carrie Brownstein is writing it… I saw the first draft of [Brownstein’s] script, it’s really cool. A few actresses have come forward, no one that’s right, but it’s known that the role of Nancy and the role of me is now being cast.”

Keep an eye out for more information on the film, and who might play these two legendary rock sisters.

It’s no secret that NBA players love golf. For some, it’s a way life, and it begs the question as to whether some of these guys might’ve found themselves on the PGA circuit had basketball not been an option. Michael Jordan, for instance, is an avid golfer, and to no surprise, an obsessive competitor on the green.

As is his contemporary Charles Barkley. On Friday afternoon, Barkley, along with Phil Mickelson, Steph Curry, and Peyton Manning, all teamed up for their third charitable golfing event of the year, “The Match: Champions for Change.” The Match 3 pitted Barkley and Mickelson against Curry and Manning, and the producers thankfully made sure Chuck was mic’d up for the afternoon to keep us privy to all the trash talk.

Shaq, Ernie, and Kenny all joined the fun remotely, and Chuck teed off with some good-natured ribbing by using a ball with Shaq’s face on it for inspiration to hit it as hard as possible. Of course, Shaq didn’t waste any time getting in some digs as Mickelson tried to give Chuck a few pointers on the green.

.@Shaq is merciless. pic.twitter.com/3uLRQ1SulX

— Skratch (@Skratch) November 27, 2020

And he wasn’t the only one. Chuck and Jayson Tatum engaged in some friendly banter in a post-game interview during the Eastern Conference Semifinals when Barkley challenged him to a round and Tatum made a crack about his swing. Tatum hopped on to Twitter on Friday to give Chuck his well-deserved props for his improved form, but Barkley doubled down on his challenge.

Chuck been working on his game I see#CapitalOnesTheMatch came a long way

— Jayson Tatum (@jaytatum0) November 27, 2020

Jayson Tatum getting the double shoutout from Charles Barkley for both his golf game and rookie extension. pic.twitter.com/RswMna5eYy

— Chris Forsberg (@ChrisForsberg_) November 27, 2020

Tatum seems ready to oblige, at least at some point in the future.

They got @jaytatum0 working on his golf game now #CapitalOnesTheMatch pic.twitter.com/PgpfNWhfKF

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) November 27, 2020

Dwight Howard’s NBA journey has taken a long and circuitous route to get to where we are today, with a few left turns, unexpected pit stops and detours along the way. Still, Howard eventually arrived at his ultimate destination this fall when he brought home his first NBA championship with the Lakers.

The fact that it was with the Lakers is itself a small miracle, given his checkered history with the franchise after his ill-fated stint in 2012. It was surprising that the Lakers — let alone any other team — would take a chance on Howard at all with the way his career had been going, bouncing around to different teams and flaming out due to some combination of injuries and an unwillingness to accept his role.

What it took, ultimately, was a change of perspective for Howard, and that meant dialing down some of his baser tendencies and channeling his focus on the task at hand. Throughout his career, Howard has often been criticized for not taking things more seriously, but with his newfound personal growth, he believes he can help his new teammate Joel Embiid with managing his own similar proclivities.

Via Tim Bontemps of ESPN:

“I think the things Joel does is great. It makes other opponents upset, it keeps him locked in and the team plays better. Now will there be times when we all have to be a little bit more serious? Yes. And that’s something we’ll all have to learn together. How to be in certain situations. But I don’t think that’s a part of sacrifice. I think that’s a part of just understanding time and place.

“And I think that will be good for me to help show some of the younger guys because I have been in that position before where people thought I wasn’t focused or that I was playing too much. Maybe for the people on the outside it did look like I was playing around too much. So it’s just finding ways to do things right for the team, and I think we’ll do that this year.”

Emiid earned a reputation as a jokester earlier in his career for his highly-entertaining social media presence, his penchant for relentlessly trash-talking rival big men around the league, and his unfiltered approach when speaking to the media. But Embiid has cultivated a much lower profile in that regard over the past couple of seasons. Whether Howard can somehow help him achieve some kind of balance remains to be seen.

(ESPN)

Iowa basketball was never going to lose to Southern. The incredibly weird 2020-21 college basketball season continued on Friday afternoon, with the fifth-ranked Hawkeyes blowing out the Jaguars in Iowa City, 103-76. But as the saying goes, good teams win and great teams cover, and thanks to one magical moment at the very end of the game, the jury is still out on how great Iowa basketball is.

Ok, so that’s a bit dramatic, but check out this absolutely horrific moment for anyone who got Iowa -28.5, the number upon which this game closed. The Hawkeyes were coasting at the end of the game, and sensing a moment to hit his first three of the game with his team down by 30, Southern’s Brandon Brooks launched one from half court. Because I am writing this post, you can probably guess what ended up happening.

The good news for Iowa is that it’s the No. 5 team in America, and it is probably going to jump up after fourth-ranked Virginia got upset by San Francisco on Friday, and the team won this game by a lot, and star center Luka Garza had 41 points on 14-for-15 shooting with nine rebounds and three blocks. So generally, it was a pretty good day. The bad news, however, is that you’re going to see the Hawkeyes after Monday Night Football this week when Scott Van Pelt and Stanford Steve do Bad Beats.

Republican politicians continue to insist that locking down the country to help quarantine against the raging pandemic is a bad idea. There hasn’t been a federal lockdown in America yet, but those who are opposed to it happening do keep asserting how against it they are. Similarly, over the past few months, Van Morrison has made his anti-lockdown stance clear with several songs, including a dismissal of social-distancing as pseudo science.

Today, it was revealed that another classic rock legend, Eric Clapton, has joined Van in the sentiment, and their new song “Stand And Deliver” will be released early next month. Obviously, plenty of fans of these two musical icons have been saddened to learn that their heroes don’t believe in logic and science. However, one of the aforementioned Republican politicians has welcomed news of the song with open arms, and even gone so far as to assert that its existence will help “save the arts.”

Texas senator Ted Cruz shared several tweets today on the subject, beginning this morning:

After his first few initial tweets, Cruz decided to continue his line of thought with some longer commentary. “The irony is rich. Dems are destroying many of their core constituencies: Hollywood, Broadway, pro sports, and Rock & Roll. Bravo to Clapton and Van Morrison for having the courage to stand up to virtue-signaling Lefties & defend the thousands who work in the arts.”

Ironically, every Democrat I know also wants to keep people safe and save the arts — with support from the government and by following guidelines set out by scientists and doctors.