Woke (Hulu series) — This show is the comedy series that Lamorne Morris (and the rest of us) deserves with a little bit of everything. It’s surreal, it’s funny, it’s serious, it’s got talking toast and trashcans, and it’s in good hands with director Maurice “Mo” Marable. The quest to “keep it light” never felt so real as Keef (based upon the life and work of artist Keith Knight) experiences a rude awakening and transformation to follow.
The Social Dilemma (Netflix film) — The sprawling consequences of social-media dependence come to a head in this documentary that examines what we tweet, like, and share. Are social media platforms a lifeline or a way to reprogram civilization? That’s one of the many questions confronted by director Jeff Orlowski.
So Much Love to Give Film (Netflix film) — The best of both soap-opera worlds doesn’t turn out so hot for a prestigious physician who’s living a double life with two wives. Monday-Thursday with one, and Friday-Sunday with the other? I’m not sure which one of these ladies has the better deal, honestly. Free weekends away from one’s (obnoxious) spouse might actually be a relationship goal.
Get Organized with The Home Edit (Netflix series) — Move over Marie Kondo, you’ve got company. Master organizers Clea Shearer and Joanna Teplin take on closets of their celebrity clients, including Reese Witherspoon, Rachel Zoe, Khloe Kardashian, Eva Longoria, Neil Patrick Harris, David Burtka, and Jordana Brewster. I would be willing to bet that Neil’s got the coolest closet.
The 100: (CW, 8:00pm) — Back from hiatus, the sci-fi series picks up with Clarke’s plans derailed by the red sun.
Coroner: (CW, 9:00pm) — Detective McAvoy faces off with the brotherhood of blue while Jenny’s digging into an officer-involved shooting.
Late Night With Jimmy Fallon: Kevin Hart, Josh Charles, Chika
Late Show With Stephen Colbert: Chris Christie, Gregory Porter
Late Night With Seth Meyers John Cleese, Glenn Howerton
P.J. Tucker, one of the most hard-working and versatile defenders in the NBA, added to his career-long streak of having never appeared on a league All-Defense team when he finished fifth among forwards in voting this year.
Finishing in front of Tucker in voting among forwards were Giannis Antetokounmpo, Anthony Davis, Bam Adebayo and Kawhi Leonard, all of whom were excellent in their own rights on that end. The Houston Rockets’ big man was asked about being “snubbed” again and showed that he’s trying to make peace with what the media believes about his place in the hierarchy of NBA defenders versus how the Rockets feel about his value.
His body of work, he said, speaks for itself, and as long as those that make roster decisions and sign his paychecks know how good he is on that end, that’s what matters.
P.J. Tucker on All-Defense snub:
It is what it is. My body of work speaks for itself. I don’t need anybody in the media to tell me I’m a good defensive player. I’m cool. As long as Tillman Fertitta and Daryl Morey see it, I’m ok.
Houston is, of course, the team that outbid Toronto and other suitors for Tucker in free agency three years ago and rebuilt their team this trade deadline around his ability to hold up as a small-ball center. They maximized his talents as a spot-up corner three-point shooter, rebounder, and all-around defender en route to three straight seasons of contention in the Western Conference.
There’s no need for Tucker to see his value through the lens of this one award, but it would probably feel pretty good to be recognized.
It’s been six years since Porter Robinson released his album Worlds and fans are anxiously-awaiting his upcoming record Nurture. Robinson ushered in a new, wistful era with his singles “Get Your Wish” and “Something Comforting” earlier this year. The musician dropped his third single, “Mirror,” in late August and now, Robinson returns with a glitchy video alongside the airy single.
The visual opens in a dark and lush forest. An animated drawing of Robinson appears on the screen, guiding the viewer into the woods. The scenes are cut with animated flowers and 3D-rendered trees, bringing a new dimension to the surreal visual.
In a statement shared alongside the single’s release, Porter said the track is about being his own worst critic:
“‘Mirror’ is a song about the costs of being hard on yourself. We all have these avatars that we give to our critical inner voices – we might imagine a scornful parent telling us we’ll fail, or a critic telling us our work comes up short, or a society telling us that we aren’t good enough – it’s about recognizing that most of this criticism is self-inflicted. For years, I was imagining the worst thing a critic might say about my music and looking at my own work as negatively as possible as a way to protect myself from criticism, but it never once served me. My hope is that other people can overcome this same kind of shame – it can be really liberating to recognize that most of the time, we’re only letting our own thoughts get in the way, and we can do something about it.”
These NBA playoffs are far from over, but because of the months-long hiatus during the middle of this year, the league is already making arrangements for how to pull off the draft, free agency, and ultimately the 2020-21 season successfully.
The first domino has reportedly fallen in what will be a long series of adjustments between the NBA and the players’ association, as the draft is likely to be moved back from the initial date of October 16 (mere days after the end of the Finals) to November 18, according to a new report from Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.
In a memo to teams today, the NBA explains that pushing the draft date back from October 16 allows for a pre-draft prep and a combine, more time to gather information on the potential start date for next season, and the advancing of talks with the NBPA on CBA matters.
The league and players union must finalize adjustments to the CBA given the financial ramifications of the pandemic and the revenue impact of playing in the Bubble without fans. The two sides have to figure out how to proceed and what the salary cap will look like next season (and years to come), factoring in the losses of this season, and potentially the next. According to Wojnarowski, the league is likely to move back the draft a month to give itself time to negotiate the cap and give teams more time to potentially evaluate players in-person.
The reason to move back the draft is because NBA teams need to have a full understanding of what the salary cap will look like for next year in order to be able to make draft night trades. Giving a month cushion for continued CBA renegotiations would hopefully allow a clear picture to be in place by draft night, allowing for the usual array of deals and movement up and down the board.
Being able to focus on real games has been nice, but the financial realities are coming into focus once again for the NBA. Don’t be surprised if we see players putting more money into escrow heading into next season so that the league has excess cash in the event of further financial losses in the coming months. Many, such as former Grizzlies executive and current NBA insider at The Athletic John Hollinger, expect some sort of smoothing on the cap as well, artificially keeping it at or above this year’s level in order to not punish teams who expected it to continue to rise, and spreading the impact of a revenue dip over a stretch of years to avoid a huge drop and later another spike.
In addition, the expectation is that the league will put together some sort of small in-person draft combine that would allow for official measurements, physical tests and potentially drills and interviews as well. While star prospects have shied away from the combine in recent years, it is still valuable for teams to get accurate health records and measurements. Bumping the draft back allows for teams to feel less rushed and more confident in making moves, which is important for both teams and fans who love to see a flurry of activity on draft night.
M.I.A. has popped up here and there since her 2016 album AIM, but she hasn’t been a frequent purveyor of new music. She’s been more active on that front this year, though. She dropped a new track in March and she’s back with another one today, “Ctrl.” The track, which can only be heard on M.I.A.’s OHMNI website, has a hard-hitting instrumental and addresses free speech, with lyrics like, “Hands up! / Hand down! / Wake Up! / Snap Out! / We gon’ stand up / When they try to / Control / Control / Control / Control / Control / Control.”
M.I.A. shared a statement about the song, in which she advocates for the freedom of Julian Assange:
“Ctrl! A song for 2020… this is not a song from M.I.A.’s upcoming highly anticipated IIIIIIth LP. It was made for the here and now, today.
OHMNI.com. A space to transcend. An intrusion to the illusion.
‘You know you are lead by tyrands when telling the truth is a crime.’
In opposition to the ongoing extradition of journalist Julian Assange. The significance of this moment and this case is like nothing we have seen in modern jurisdiction.
This is not a left thing, it’s not a right wing, it’s not about a Black thing vs. white thing, it’s about the right thing!
‘The first amendment guarantees freedoms concerning religion, expression, assembly, and the right to petition. It forbids congress from both promoting one religion over others and also restricting individual’s religious practices. It guarantees freedom of expression by prohibiting Congress from restricting the press or the rights of individuals to speak freely.’
Ctrl is available to stream exclusively on OHMNI.com. Now — free Julian Assange!”
Step aside Finn Wolfhard, there’s a new Stranger Things rockstar. Joe Keery, the actor who portrayed Steve Harrington on the hit Netflix show, has pivoted back toward his musical career. Under his musical moniker Djo, Keery debuted the shimmering single “Keep Your Head Up.”
The lively single boasts crunchy synths and Keery’s feel-good lyrical delivery. “Got to love yourself, go ahead touch yourself / Just like time alone your heart belongs to someone else,” Keery sings over disco-inspired instrumentals. Describing the cheerful tune, Keery said it’s “a much-needed bolt of positivity in an otherwise dark time.”
While “Keep Your Head Up” marks the beginning of a new era for Djo, it’s not the first song Keery has released under the moniker. Last year, Keery quietly released Djo’s debut album Twenty Twenty, which became a sleeper hit with fans of his laid-back sound. Djo is Keery’s solo project but he got his musical start in 2014. Attending Chicago’s DePaul University, Keery joined a few friends to form the indie psych rock outfit Post Animal. The band swiftly signed to Polyvinyl Records and has been releasing music ever since, even though Keery briefly dropped out of the project to begin his acting career with Stranger Things.
After Game 1 of the Rockets-Lakers series I wrote about three adjustments the Lakers should make going forward to take control of the series. I was very wrong about two of those — although I will at least credit myself for noting that it was more important to take Eric Gordon out of rhythm than Russell Westbrook.
I felt the Lakers were not going to have a lot of success trying to out-small ball the Rockets, which has clearly not been the case over the last two games. Namely because of my other point, which was they needed to limit the minutes in which Rajon Rondo and LeBron James shared the floor because of the spacing nightmare it would create and that he was best used as the primary ball-handler for the non-LeBron minutes given their lack of other facilitators.
This could not have been more incorrect thus far.
Through two games since writing that, Rajon Rondo has been the third best player for the Lakers, playing critical minutes both with and without James on the floor in helping L.A. take a 2-1 series lead. In Game 3, he was nothing short of sensational, scoring 21 points and handing out nine assists in 30 minutes of play off of the bench, and, maybe most shockingly, was his efficiency shooting the ball as he was 8-of-11 from the field and 3-of-5 from three-point range.
Beyond questions about Rondo’s viability given his play during the regular season, my main concern was him trying to work his way back into rhythm in the midst of this very competitive series, and the possibility that losing Rondo minutes because of rust could cost them games. Coming off of an injury and a six-month layoff from real basketball, he’s not only found a rhythm, but is playing with more assertiveness and a better pace than he did at any point this season.
Playoff Rondo has been a thing for awhile now, but we hadn’t seen that guy in action in some time and there was a genuine concern as to whether he still had that level of play in him. It’s clear now that he does and that he still is capable of stepping up and being more decisive and aggressive with the ball in his hands. Rondo’s vision and passing was the expected positive he could bring to a Lakers team in dire need of someone else other than LeBron James who can survey the floor, pick out the right pass, and make it on time and on target. The question was whether he could do the other things to avoid being a net negative, like provide quality defense and not ruin their spacing on offense.
In recent years, the perception of Rondo’s defensive impact has surpassed what he’s actually provided on the floor, but Houston has actually offered a pretty good matchup for him. He’s still capable of being the on-ball pest that was his calling card for years in Boston, but it has to be in short bursts. The Lakers have utilized Rondo as a change of pace defender for James Harden, as they rotate who takes on the former MVP as the primary defender, picking him up 94-feet and just generally trying to make him work at all times to even get the basketball. Rondo, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, and Alex Caruso have all taken that assignment on in a rotation, as they try to keep fresh legs on Harden while throwing different looks at him.
When it’s not Rondo’s time to guard Harden, he can either sink off of Russell Westbrook, daring him to shoot and simply trying to be in the way of a Russ drive, or get a welcome breather in the form of lurking around the perimeter on one of the various spot-up shooters the Rockets employ. Houston’s lack of player movement benefits Rondo in this case as he works his way back, and he’s still capable of those bursts of energy to make life miserable for a ball-handler.
On offense, the Lakers can’t rely on Rondo to hit 60 percent of his three-pointers going forward, but every made Rondo three is a little bit of found money — and if Houston is going to not even close out on him, treating him like Lu Dort, those are still decent shots. More important is what he’s done off of the dribble against the Houston defense. Rondo has long been frustrating in his occasional refusal to take layup attempts at the rim due to his instinct at all times to try and pass the ball. However, he’s been more assertive in creating his own shots the last two games, taking opportunities at the rim when they present themselves rather than circling under the basket and pulling the ball back out. That approach is so important for this Lakers offense because it is just a different dynamic.
They don’t have anyone else other than LeBron James who can put the ball on the floor and get to the basket from the perimeter. Anthony Davis needs someone to get him the ball in his spots to be at his best. Alex Caruso isn’t a super effective offensive player in general, and the fewer Dion Waiters minutes you need, the better. Everyone else is a spot-up shooter first, with Kyle Kuzma likewise being best when given the ball on the move, already cutting to the basket. Rondo isn’t as quick as he once was, but he’s broken down this Houston defense on a number of occasions and the Rockets are never going to really send help at a Rondo drive, knowing his greatest danger is as a facilitator. As such, him taking those looks at the rim is so important to his effectiveness, and thus far he’s been very good at that.
As for the passing, you can see it in the first play from the highlight package above. There’s not another player on the Lakers other than LeBron that is capable of seeing and making that lob pass to Anthony Davis — or the entry pass over the top to LeBron as he was being fronted. Getting some easy looks for Davis and James is the biggest value to having Rondo on the court. Those two often have to work really hard, particularly James, to create offense. Just having someone that can create for them and set them up for an easy basket here or there alleviates some pressure and makes life a bit easier. Rondo can still do that, and even if the shots aren’t falling, as long as he’s willing to make on time and on target passes, he can help this team.
I don’t expect Rondo to average 21 and 9 the rest of the way in this series, but I must offer my sincerest apologies to the legend of Playoff Rondo. The Lakers need him, and that may be an indictment of this roster’s construction, but for now he’s played spectacular basketball and looks like a different player than we’ve seen since he joined Los Angeles. Whether he can keep this level of play up as the postseason wears on, we’ll have to wait and see, but for now, it’s worth enjoying watching him turn back the clock a bit. As improbable as it would’ve seemed a week ago, he’s thoroughly outplayed Russell Westbrook in this series, and that’s something Houston simply has no chance to overcome if it continues.
Hopefully, no one forgot Freddie Gibbs and The Alchemist’s joint album Alfredo from earlier this year, but just in case you did, they’re back to remind you to check it out (again) with the video for “Frank Lucas” featuring Griselda Records’ Benny The Butcher.
The video features a straightforward concept for the two throwback rappers, who hit the Miami Bay on a speedboat and pop champagne with a pair of pretty women while dishing out their excess-fueled bars. The trash talk covers the usuals — drugs, guns, money, women — as The Alchemist’s spare-sounding beat imitates a 1950s horror film with piano stings and eerie organ work. The song’s titular drug kingpin is referenced in the backdrop of Freddie’s performance scene with a mural of the rapper in the infamous mink coat that supposedly brought the real Frank Lucas to the attention of the authorities.
Freddie and The Alchemist previously released the video for “Scottie Beam” featuring Rick Ross from their joint project, so that leaves another eight tracks to go. The smart money is on “Babies & Fools” with Benny’s Griselda counterpart Conway The Machine. Time will tell.
Watch Freddie Gibbs and The Alchemist’s “Frank Lucas” video with Griselda Records’ Benny The Butcher above.
Freddie Gibbs is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
It is my position that Holey Moley is the nation’s finest television program. It’s something I discussed at length earlier this year in an article titled, in an attempt to keep things as straightforward as possible, “‘Holey Moley’ Is The Nation’s Finest Television Program.” I’m going to go ahead and blockquote what I said then, in part because I still stand by every word of it and in part because I have so many GIFs of insane wipeouts to show you and I do not want to waste time thinking of new sentences.
I’m aware it’s a bold claim, partially because Holey Moley is a bozo carnival of cartoon violence masquerading as a television show, sure, and partially because of the competition. There are so many other good shows out there. Very good shows. Succession is a good show that mixes humor with an in-depth examination of class and status. Better Call Saul is a good show that somehow built off of another good show (Breaking Bad) in such a magical way that it might end up eclipsing the original. Barry is a good show that features Noho Hank, a tatted-up Chechen mobster who is actually the sweetest and goofiest character on the show and my favorite character on television. All of these are terrific television shows that I would recommend to anyone who enjoys high-quality entertainment.
But did any of them dress a man in a suit of armor and light him on fire with fake dragons in the first 10 minutes of their season premiere? They did not.
It’s perfect. It’s a perfect show. It’s one hour a week of the dumbest destruction and chaos you can imagine, all of it played for laughs, with everyone on the show very much in on the joke, including the announcers, comedian Rob Riggle and actual play-by-play sports announcer Joe Tessitore, who appear to be having more fun than anyone should be allowed to have on television.
The season two finale is quickly approaching, which means I am quickly running out of opportunities to discuss the show. And so, with that in mind, mostly to get it out of my system, I have ranked the holes on the show from least to most deranged. This list starts out slow but, I promise you, it gets wild once we get into the top five or six. I can’t wait for you all to experience the joyous mayhem of Polcano. It is all I want to talk about most days. And I will get to today. I’m very happy.
But we have work to do first.
15. Beaver Creek
Let’s go straight to Wikipedia for this one: “Players putt across a narrow strip before crossing a ditch via a rapidly rotating log. Riggle often ridicules the hole for having a drab and empty ditch and for being a relative copy of Buns & Weiners.” Yup, that about covers it. You can tell Beaver Creek is not a great hole because the announcers openly mock it and because it’s only appeared three times so far in the second season. We have much better things to get to. Let’s move on.
14. Diving Range
This hole starts with three contestants in a diving competition judged by Olympic diving champion Greg Louganis, Police Academy star Steve Guttenberg, and a huge rodent named Sir Goph. The divers with the top two scores advance and then putt for the win. The big selling point here is the gradual devolving of the whole situation, as the judges become more and more manic about it. It’s fine. We can do much better. And we will.
13. Slip N’ Putt
Slip N’ Putt looks very good on paper. It’s basically just Slippery Stairs but with putting. Two contestants try to race up a slick hill to get to the top and they fail a lot and slide back down. The potential for chaos is high. And yet. And yet. The problem here is that it can get repetitive just watching them scurry and slide over and over. The people demand action. The people demand anarchy. The people demand…
12. The Distractor
… sumo wrestlers? Sure. Why not? The Distractor is all about that initial sight gag. The contestant lines up a straight put with no obstacle between the tee and the hole. Very calm, very quiet. And then the wall behind the hole spins around and reveals some sort of thing or action intended to take the contestant’s focus off the putt. In addition to huge rumbling sumo wrestlers, this hole has featured:
A drumline
Can-Can Girls
A pitcher, catcher, and batter engaged in a baseball game
A fire breather
Australia’s Thunder from Down Under, which is kind of like an Aussie Chippendales
I sincerely hope that one day, if they do this hole in season three, the wall spins around and it’s just like Beyoncé standing there in front of a wind machine, completely silent, hair all blowing and looking like a superstar. Just a bunch of contestants like “Hold on… is that? No. No, it can’t be. Wait. No. Hold on. Is that… is that… is that Beyoncé? On Holey Moley? Just standing there, looking at me? Oh, God. Oh, God.”
Try to putt then, chumps.
11. Gopher It
There’s a simple pleasure in watching people attempt to ride a bucking and heaving mechanical gopher — like a bull, but a gopher, because why not? — for a few seconds before getting launched all the way the hell down a padded mountain. It lacks the flair of some of the other holes, which is why it’s hanging just outside the top ten, but we’re on the right track now. Things are about to get fun.
10. Uranus
Three things you need to know about Uranus:
It’s one of the more fun actual golfing experiences on the course, with contestants putting the ball way up and over a big fake planet and down through its rings, with the possibility of a hole in one if they land it in the correct shoot
They then have to try to leap across a series of inflatable planets to get to the actual green
The entire thing exists so Riggle and Tessitore can make a steady string of Uranus/“your anus” jokes and I support them unreservedly in this endeavor
The GIF at the top of this section makes me laugh every time I see it. Easily the worst effort any contestant has put forth on any hole this entire season. It’s kind of inspiring, in a way.
9. Buns & Wieners
Buns & Wieners is a lot like Uranus in that, as far as I can tell, it exists mainly for the childish jokes, which, again, I, as an 8-year-old boy in the body of a fully-grown adult male, adore. It’s also funny because those hot dogs rotate and sometimes a contestant will panic and end up clutching for dear life with their legs wrapped around a giant fake hot dog and their knuckles and faces going white as they realize they’re about to be upside-down. But mostly it’s the wiener jokes. I am a child and this show is made specifically for me.
8. Water Hazard
Another simple pleasure. Contestants putt the ball up and around a huge ramp that sends their ball flying over the obstacle and onto the green, and then they have to cross the obstacle on a thin, padded log while getting blasted by a series of water cannons. That’s all. That’s all this is. And sometimes, most of the time, that’s enough. The poor guy in the GIF up there actually fell once before this, slipping and sliding with one leg on either side of the pole, bashing his jimmies straight down onto it, which the show replayed about three times from three different angles while the hosts laughed. I’m so proud of everyone involved in this show.
7. Putt the Plank
Okay, let’s go step-by-step on this hole because so many things are going on:
The contestants hit an initial putt, the better of which will give them an advantage in stage two, which involves, I swear to God, Jon Lovitz in a pirate costume
Jon Lovitz walks out with a lob wedge and hits the contestants’ balls over a small water hazard and onto the green
He wears one eyepatch while hitting the ball that belongs to the contestant that hit the better putt; he wears two eyepatches while hitting the other
Jon Lovitz has a surprisingly decent golf swing
The contestants then leap onto a huge stuffed shark and attempt to ride it across the water
I actually have a GIF of the moment in the picture up there, but I think I like the picture better. There’s a little anticipation to it. I mean, the result is exactly the thing you’re expecting. She smashes her face real good on that shark. But sometimes it’s more fun to conjure up these images yourself. Plus, things are about to get very GIF-heavy for very important reasons and I don’t want to crash your browsers before we get to the good stuff.
6. Dragon’s Breath
The thing about this hole is that it’s all very straightforward — line up your putt, hit it toward the hole, very little in the way to stop you — except for the teeny tiny issue that you are ON FIRE WHILE YOU ARE PUTTING. Is it the most exciting hole on the course? No. Does it actually get a little boring sometimes once the initial shock value of the gimmick wears off? Yes. Does it say a lot about both this show and my attention span that a fake dragon is setting humans ablaze on a network primetime mini-golf competition and I’m like “Ugh, this again? Get to the exciting stuff.” I assume it does but I will not be doing the self-examination required to get to the bottom of it.
5. Putter Ducky
Oh, you know, just giant demonic hellducks wobbling from side-to-side and casually brushing people off of a pathway and sending them into the water below. Definitely not the most nightmare-inducing hole on the course. I’ve never had a nightmare about giant demonic hellducks like this, monstrous dead-eyes children’s bath toys come to life for the sole purpose of wreaking havoc on the innocent souls who approach them. Not even one. It’s fine. I’m doing fine.
4. Frankenputt
I promise everything I’m about to tell you here is true. This hole starts with the players getting electrodes placed on their limbs. Then, every time they miss a putt, a man in a gopher costume — who is dressed like a mad scientist and goes by Dr. Frankenputt — throws a giant lever that causes streaks of lightning to fly around before the contestants are given an electric shock through the electrodes on their limbs. Again, after every missed putt.
I understand that the PGA Tour cannot adopt every aspect of Holey Moley and insert them into their standard golf tournaments (although water cannons couldn’t hurt), but I do think The Masters would be a lot more interesting if a giant evil scientist gopher tased Phil Mickelson after he slid an important final round putt just left of the hole. Something to consider.
3. Hole Number Two
Hole Number Two has the best of both worlds: childish puns and lunatic misadventure. The contestants putt their ball down a narrow strip of fake grass toward the hole. The narrow strip has a row of portable toilets on one side and a steep drop into the water on the other, which is notable for three reasons:
The contestants must then sprint down the same narrow strip of grass
As they are sprinting, the doors of the portable toilets are flung open by people in what appear to be — for reasons that have never and should never be fully explained — people in cheap Halloween-store-in-strip-mall monster costumes
A staggering number of contestant take these doors straight to the face and go tumbling into the water in a whirling jumble of arms and legs
The lady in the GIF up there is wearing a cocktail dress because she was on a Bachelor-themed episode of the show. It was a solid hour of dudes in tuxedos and women in nice sparkly dresses just getting walloped by every demonic funhouse creation you can think of. It was mesmerizing television. And this isn’t even my favorite example from this hole. That honor goes to this guy.
You ever see a guy on the street who has on a backward visor and has the general vibe of a person who calls his girlfriend “dude” and start thinking to yourself “Man, I would love to see that guy get bonked real good with the door to a portable toilet and sent flying fully clothed into a body of water?” No? Hmm. I suppose that’s understandable, if only because you might not have considered it an option. Well, guess what: You will now! And then you’ll remember this payoff and feel great about it.
Holey Moley is cathartic like that.
2. Double Dutch Courage
No hole on the course goes above and beyond your expectations quite like Double Dutch Courage. “It’s just windmills,” you say. “All you have to do is putt the ball down a long straight path and then run between the blades. How hard can it be?”
This is where the producers of the show are basically supervillains, though. They added a blade to the windmill from the first season and appear to have speeded it up, with the result being an almost undefeated obstacle. Like, two or three people have made it through safely all season. Everyone else gets wiped right off of terra firma. I could watch the GIF at the top of this section for hours straight. I think I have, to be honest. It’s just such a clean hit, catching her elevated and knocking her halfway out of the frame. You could see it coming, too, the way she was kind of standing there trying to time it. I was so excited and I was not let down even a little.
There’s also this one, in which a very nice woman fails so miserably that I started to feel bad for her until I saw the hosts’ reactions. Then I started cackling.
This is a pretty good metaphor for 2020, generally. Failure so quick and complete that success was never on the table, not even at the beginning, not even for a second. It also brings up an important point about the show: After an episode or two, you start getting conditioned to expect disaster, to a degree that it’s kind of a bummer when someone successfully navigates an obstacle. You’ve never met these people and most of them seem nice and you’re still at home frothing at the mouth and praying they get absolutely clobbered by whatever satanic experiment is in front of them. It would be disturbing if I thought about it for more than 90 seconds, which I refuse to do under any circumstance. I’m just here for the clobbering.
1. Polcano
The statement “Polcano is the best hole on Holey Moley” is both objectively true and a massive understatement. Polcano is so much more than that. It is the most riveting slice of television this year has to offer. It is fascinating. It is wondrous. It has, for some reason that we can probably file under “because Holey Moley is a delightful carnival of madness,” fireballs shooting into the night sky. It might result in a serious injury one of these days, but until then, we should just keep enjoying it. I’m going to explain it a bit here, but please feel free to disregard all of these words and just enjoy the GIF above this paragraph sans context if you prefer. You deserve it.
Here’s the thing about Polcano: it has everything you could possibly ask for. The first putt involves hitting the ball up a huge hill and then watching it trickle back down through a maze of rocks in a way that loosely mimics the best Price Is Right game, Plinko. Then they climb up to the top of a fake volcano, grab two handles connected to a hydraulically-powered zip line, and are sent screaming towards a large pole in the middle of a swimming pool. They are supposed to try to grab the pole and hold on. This almost never happens. No more than three people have completed this successfully. Usually, the whole operation ends with someone bonking off the pole at a high rate of speed and twisting and flipping and flailing as their body tumbles into the water.
Here’s a guy doing it while wearing a shirt and visor covered in images of $100 bills. I like the little nod he does first, like, “I got this, for sure.” Then the visor goes flying along with the rest of him.
Here’s an amateur kickboxer named Mallory getting just rocked by the whole thing, white sneakers pointing toward the heavens and torso barreling hopelessly toward the abyss.
Perhaps the more perceptive among you noticed something in this last example. Perhaps you noticed that the contestant in red pants and black halter top, Mallory the Kickboxer, is the same person from the first GIF I posted from the windmill hole. This brings us to two very important points:
Mallory got wrecked — just destroyed — by all of the top three holes on this list in the three rounds of the competition (an unprecedented development in the history of the show), and, somehow, she still managed to win her episode and advance to this season finale, where she has a chance to earn $250,000
In another episode, a musician named Donald successively navigated Uranus, Polcano, and Double Dutch Courage without falling into the water (also an unprecedented development in the history of the show and one of the greatest feats of athleticism I have ever seen), and he still lost because his opponent hit a walk-off hole-in-one on the final hole
I repeat: Holey Moley is our nation’s finest television program.
We hope you didn’t spend all your cash on Labor Day apparel sales. Because while we hit a little bit of a lull when it comes to truly dope apparel drops this week, on the sneaker end of things it’s a week jam-packed with must-cops. Adidas and Nike continue to bring the fire, knocking all other brands out of the top five. Throughout the year, the two brands have been fighting it out on a weekly basis here on SNX and while Nike generally has the edge over the three stripes, this week Adidas managed to nab the lion’s share of the spots.
For the colder days ahead, Palace is gearing us up with some matching GORE-TEX winter wear, and Chinatown Market has a new grip of fall fashion for us in collab with Lacoste. Buckle up, because as we approach the holiday season the drops are about to truly get insane. For now, let’s dive into the week’s best.
Cactus Plant Flea Market x Nike Air Force 1
Cynthia Lu’s Cactus Plant Flea Market has linked up with Nike for a minimalist take on the Nike Air Force 1 that utilizes Air More Uptempo paneling to spell out the word “SUNSHINE” across the sneaker’s all-white upper. Reflective detailing outlines the letters, allowing your feet to be the sunshine in the darkness.
It’s a fun sneaker and a reflection of Cynthia Lu’s playful but minimal CPFM aesthetic.
The Cactus Plant Flea Market Nike Air Force 1 is set to drop on September 10th at 12 AM for a retail price of $130. Expect these to sell out fast. Pick up a pair via Nike SNKRS.
Air Jordan 5 Apple Green/Oregon
Sneakerheads will recognize this week’s Air Jordan 5 Apple Green as an obvious callback to the 2014 University of Oregon colorway. But this pair is even better, because it doesn’t have any ties to the University — which means no Duck branding. Instead what you get is an AJ5 dressed in a lush shade of apple green with contrasting yellow accents and black detailing.
The Air Jordan 5 Apple Green/Oregon is set to drop on September 12th fo a retail price of $225. Pick up a pair at through the Nike SNKRS app or select Nike retailers.
Ninja x Adidas Nite Jogger
I haven’t been the biggest fan of gamer superstar Ninja’s foray into sneakers. Not because I have anything against gamer’s dipping their toes (accidental pun, not intended) into the sneaker world, but just because the designs so far have tended to hit us over the head with callbacks to the fact that Ninja is in fact, a gamer.
Ninja fans care about the gaming connection…people who just like sneakers? We don’t.
That isn’t the case with these Nite Joggers though, simply dressed in a deep black upper, the sneaker features stitching, laces, and accents in a mismatched radioactive blue and soft pink that kind of resembles Ninja. That’s cool — a sneaker designed by a streamer that resembles the streamer, and captures their vibe, rather than shoe-horning (pun very much intended this time) gamer language where it doesn’t belong.
The Ninja Adidas Nite Jogger is set to drop on September 10th for a retail price of $177. Pick up a pair through Asphalt Gold, Adidas, or select Adidas retailers.
Prada x Adidas Superstar Collection
You could call the new Adidas Prada collaboration a lot of things: lazy, overpriced, uninspired, boring, but at the end of the day, if you love the Adidas Superstar, it’s a little hard not to love these. Prada did next to nothing to the Adidas silhouette, aside from constructing the upper from premium full-grain leather and stamping their name at the tongue and side branding, and yet the results are three clean and crisp pairs of the Superstar.
Dropping in an all-black, brushed chrome, and white and black, the Prada Adidas Superstar is a testament to streetwear’s dominance of the fashion industry, from casual wear to luxury.
The Prada x Adidas Superstar Collection is, unsurprisingly, sold out! Which means you’ll have to pay a slightly inflated price hovering around $580 on aftermarket sites like StockX. The original sale price was $500.
Nike Dunk Low Community Garden
If you’re all about that crunchy hippie meets hip hop Travis Scott Cactus Jack aesthetic, you’re probably going to love the Nike Dunk Low Community Garden. Even if that isn’t your vibe though, who wouldn’t love these? Look at that lemonade-toned swoosh and laces combo, the collage-style patchwork graphics, that combination of midnight turquoise, indigo, and grey — simply one of the dopest Dunks to drop all year.
This is what the Chunky Dunky wishes it was.
The Nike Dunk Low Community Garden is set to drop on September 10th for a retail price of $100. Pick up a pair through the Nike SNKRS app.
Palace Fall 2020 GORE-TEX
Supreme already got the GORE-TEX treatment and now the ultra-durable weather-ready fabric is coming to Palace for a Fall 2020 range of Wave-Length jackets, matching pants, and a British club-kid Boonie Hat. We could’ve done without the Boonie hat, but hey, that’s just us.
Each piece in the collection is tech-focused and functional, but from a pure fashion standpoint, we have to say that the Camo makeup is a must-buy. The jacket, pants, and hat all come in your choice of black, white, or camo. We’ll say the black is a close second pick behind the camo unless you want to look like a Backstreet Boy rocking that all-white makeup.
Do you!
The Palace Fall 2020 GORE-TEX Collection is dropping as part of Palace’s 6th fall drop on September 11th. Shop the collection at the Palace webstore.
Chinatown Market x Lacoste Capsule Collection
Dropping today at 1 pm PST, Chinatown Market and Lacoste have teamed up for a collection of casual wear that attempts to bring the preppy 80s icon into the modern streetwear age. The collaboration couldn’t be more of a perfect matchup, Lacoste is a label that packs a lot of nostalgia in the brand’s logo alone, and Chinatown Market has made a name for themselves from mining the nostalgia of its Millennial and Zoomer customer base.
The collection consists of season-appropriate basics like hoodies, button-ups as well as some Lacoste staples, like the polo shirt.
The Chinatown Market Lacoste Capsule collection is set to drop today at 1 pm PST and is shoppable at the Chinatown Market online store.
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