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woofety · 5 years

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URL music game

rules: spell out your URL with song titles and tag some friends

I was tagged by @doedreamss (thank you, dearie!! <3 )

Since I already did this game once with my main blog URL, I hope you won’t mind me doing this with my Black Sails sideblog (which is rather abandoned atm but I promise I haven’t forgotten it and I’ll start posting there again eventually I don’t know to whom I talking to maybe the 2-3 people who follow me both here and there lol)... the name is also longer, so more songs yay (as if you were asking that lmao)!! ;)

Andante, andante - Lily James (Mamma mia! 2 OST) // all right, I didn’t mean to return to my Mamma mia! obsession phase - it was bad enough when the first movie got out - but I got to listen to one song (which was not this one, but another song about a student kissing her teacher, rather creepy if you think about it but the music is so engaging it’s still stuck in my head, damn it) by chance and started roaming through the soundtrack of this sequel (which I haven’t seen yet tbh, actually by choice since I already know a thing about the story that upsets me a lot, but I guess I’ll eventually watch it because the songs aren’t bad, though I’ve had the impression that the level of silliness is not even close to the first movie and that’s what I actually enjoyed about it in the first place :p ) and I got to listen to this song and :’) - I’m not even one for love songs but this is so sweet and warm and intimate and Lily James’ voice is delightful so yeah, another one bound to be stuck in my head for days! also it doesn’t help that I’ve been thinking about Philinda slow dancing to this song I have a HUGE problem

Never give up on your dreams - Two Steps From Hell // HA, my mandatory TSFH mention when I talk about music! XD (and be grateful it’s the only one as I tried to make the list varied) One of my favourites (mh, I say that A LOT regarding TSFH but oh well :p ), so moving and epic and heart-lifting, I’m undone whenever I listen to this, like, I can’t function, it’s almost too much for me! :’)

Amazing grace - J2 (feat. Chelsea Caroline) // Oh, I love J2′s covers of songs, they’re so badass!! This is a more pop-rock/epic rendition than the usual hymn, but I find it great, and the singer’s voice is powerful and rich!

Taking the hobbits to Isengard - Erwin Beekveld // I legit have this song in my music playlist - I mean, how could I not?! XD This will NEVER be outdated and not legendary!!

I’ve no more fucks to give - Thomas Benjamin Wild. Esp. // About this song I’m just going to say LIFE GOALS!!! This is the level I aspire to achieve hands down!

Only happy when it rains - Garbage // I blame the Captain Marvel soundtrack for bringing back this song, which rocks and sometimes is also a BIG mood!!

Northern lights - Gaelic Storm // aaaaaaand Gaelic Storm is another band that tends to pop up when I get to speak about music! I love, love, LOVE this song, it’s so touching and enchanting and soothing and, dare I say, romantic... <33

One day - Hans Zimmer // catch me crying whenever I hear this goddamn piece... especially the godforsaken end, man... you know the scene when it plays... ;_______;

Fat bottomed girls - Red Hot Chilli Pipers // whoo hoo, catch me headbanging and dancing all around at this!! I love the original song, of course, but this version with BAGPIPES!!!!!!!! INSTANT LOVE, it was!!!! (well, it does good on my self-esteem a bit as well, since I think I can consider myself a part of this “category” of ladies celebrated by the song ;) )

Today we rise - Luke Youngblood (Galavant OST) // have I begged you today to watch this show??!! This is one of my absolute FAVOURITES in the whole soundtrack and I get to sing along proudly every chance I get (which happens basically when I’m alone, since I have to skip this soundtrack while I’m outside in public because if I listened to it I would surely start smiling and giggling like an idiot and people would certainly think me mad) ... lol, Sid always complained about never having the opportunity to do a proper performance and in the end he was given one of the most brilliant songs to sing!!! :D I’m almost, ALMOST tempted to follow him into battle - surely I’ll sing the hell out of it until the end, only to likely hide with the other peasants because well, once you think about what you’re singing you’re not exactly encouraged to pursue!! XD

Helvegen - Wardruna // wow, this song always sends me chills down my spine, so haunting and enchanting!!!

In the end - 2WEI // I blame AOS season 6′s trailer for making me listen to this, although I already heard other pieces of 2WEI... What can I say, I’m rather drawn to epic covers of songs (although I still love the original song to bits)...

El tango de Roxanne - Ewan McGregor, Jacek Koman, José Feliciano (Moulin Rouge OST) // I rewatched the movie not long time ago and this song never fails to fuck me up, I always arrive at the end choked up... I love the soundtrack of this movie!

Vespertine (My crimson bride) - Kamelot // Can’t explain why, but this song, rather than being a fucking WONDER, has also been an anchor for me when my grandmother died... I don’t know really why it kept playing in my head during that period, but it was actually a soothing balm for my wounded heart and my broken thoughts, so I’m really grateful to it for keeping me steady (well, as steady as I could have been in that circumstance)... I love this song (and its album) to bits!!!

Everybody needs somebody to love - The Blues Brothers // This song (and its soundtrack and movie) is a sure antidote to sadness for me, nothing more to say!!

Sailing for adventure (on the big blue wet thing XD) - Muppet Treasure Island OST // let’s end on a VERY serious note, shall we?! Yep, I totally have this song on my phone and every time I listen to it I feel like I could embark on a ship and sail away! (though I’m rather sure I’d end up joining the two “figureheads” singing “should have took the train!” because I may get sea sick or something XD ) Can we appreciate the human actors singing along though?! Well, apart from the marvelous Tim Curry, of course...

I’m tagging (always, if you haven’t done it before and feel like it <3) @whitestnoise, @thelifeinmyshadesofgrey, @tirairgid, @queen-of-love-and-beauty, @valentinaonthemoon, @mednay, @ennaih ... Oh, I don’t know really, whoever wants to do this!! :)

#doedreamss #tag game #did I have to comment the songs as well? of course not #did I do it anyway? obviously!! :p

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natsthinkitythinkthinkthonk · 6 years

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Top Five Yuki Kaji Roles

Just starting this, I know I’m going to be leaving out a bunch. To be fair, he has too many (good) roles. Sometimes he doesn’t fit the role (which is the fault of the casting director), but I think he does a good job with whatever he plays.

Not going to lie, this list is influenced by: - How much I liked the series as a whole - Casting decisions - Character development (how much I liked the character) - Other things that have to do with my personal opinion

In this list, I will also not be including any series that I haven’t watched. An exception in this list is Attack on Titan because I have watched a lot of Eren’s pivotal scenes, and I feel like (even though I avoid the horror genre), he still deserves a spot here.

Due to me not watching all the anime he’s in, I will just list the shows that won’t be included on this list because of this reason alone: Haikyuu (Kenma), Guilty Crown (Shuu), High School DxD (Issei), Donten ni Warau (Soramaru), Servamp (Kuro), Black Butler (Finnian), Black Bullet (Rentarou) Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure (Kouichi).

I also won’t even be mentioning Ao Haru Ride. I don’t like Kou. Voice didn’t match, anime wasn’t my thing, etc. I cringed too much watching that anime. That is all.

Honourable Mentions:

Walker Yumasaki (Durarara!!)

Ironically, this character is an otaku. He’s so goofy, and I remember hearing his voice and going, “I recognize him.” And considering the fact that I watched Durarara before I really got into voice actors, that’s quite something. He makes a lot of pop culture and anime references, and I can respect that. Walker and his partner in crime Erika are a very iconic duo.

Ayato Kirishima (Tokyo Ghoul)

We just went from a one to a ten, didn’t we? Well, that’s voice actor range. I hated this casting decision at first. I thought that it was bad and wanted nothing to do with that. I eventually did change my mind. Could they have done better? Yeah, but I eventually grew to like it (love is too strong a word).

Naoya Nifuji (Wotakoi)

Back to the pure, are we? Ironically, Kento Itou (who plays Hirotaka) is born in 1988 (according to the Idolmaster Wikia while Yuki Kaji is born in 1985. Anyway, Naoya (sometimes called “Nao-chan” is honestly such a pure kid. He’s kind of bad at video games, but he gives it his all for the sake of others. Watching him just makes you want to give him a pat on the head. His innocence and purity are definitely exemplified by Yuki Kaji who nailed this role despite being a supporting character this time.

Sonic (One Punch Man)

RIP Sonic’s ballsack. Okay, but seriously, that scene was painfully hilarious with emphasis on the pain. He did a good job portraying it (along with Madhouse’s animation which just added the absolute torture on his face along with the jiggle). I thought this didn’t standout voice-wise at first, but I rewatched the scene a few times and have had the whole thing grow on me... as horrid as it was. Here’s the scene.

Meliodas (Seven Deadly Sins)

Okay, this is partially because I didn’t like the Seven Deadly Sins. Ban is a much better character than Meliodas. I didn’t like Meliodas as a character, but it was no denying that he had a good voice actor backing him. Meliodas’ English counterpart was none other than Bryce Papenbrook (who I don’t like). Go figure, I think he portrays the perverted hero quite well even if I don’t like him.

TOP FIVE

5. Shion (No. 6)

I have so many thoughts on this anime that need to be saved for another time. Shion is one half of the dystopian duo (*cough* SHIP SHIP SHIP *cough*). He’s an intelligent sheltered kid at first, but then he gets wrapped into stuff that’s way bigger than him. Shion has a painful “Eren-like” transformation scene. Every protagonist has to experience pain on a large not-human scale, right?

4. Shouto Todoroki (Boku no Hero Academia)

Who can forget that Shouto vs Deku fight? That was full of epicness. I was almost jumping in my seat when I watched it. The “Handcrusher” isn’t always the most perceptive socially (same), but he has so much power... as long as he gets his sleep. He might not have the most emotional range, but he does have a lot of good moments. It weirdly took a while for this role to set into place for me, but now he’s one of my favourite characters.

3. Eren Jaeger (Attack on Titan)

*intense screaming* Yeah, that’s kind of this role in a nutshell. “I will kill all the Titans even though I am one!” It’s not every day where you see a bunch of giant nudists eating smaller clothed what people. There are too many scenes that Yuki Kaji has crushed in this series, and this is probably his most iconic role. He does a lot of stuff to support the show too which I respect. Get ready for season three people!

Bonus:

2. Yukine (Noragami)

Okay, Yukine is already dead, but you can tell that the little dude has been through a lot. Give him a break. He’s kind of witty and childish at times, but a lot of people don’t seem to like this character. This is partially because of how he was introduced to the series. He was bratty at first, but guys, look at his circumstances and where he’s coming from. He lives with a guy who doesn’t pay him. The guy he works for can do whatever he wants and experience little pain whereas he thinks one dirty thought and everyone goes wild at him. Yuki Kaji portrays the emotional pain of this character so well. That’s partially what I missed in the dub. He weirdly has a lot of youth in his voice despite being so old (I think anything over 30 is old). He really put his all into this role, and I really like Yukine and what Yuki Kaji did with this character, and I can’t stress that enough.

Here are some seiyuu event clips. The slipper incident is infamous. Miyuki Sawashiro is a legend for starting that. The cleansing scene was epic and a pivotal moment for Yukine’s character. The last one is a live voice acting session of that scene (Slippers Incident) (Cleansing Scene - Cast Comments) (screaming in real life)

1. Alibaba Saluja (Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic)

It’s kind of hard to find people who have: 1. Watched this show 2. Watched it subbed But if you have, I commend you. I have watched both seasons and reads a couple arcs of the manga (I’m still about a hundred chapters from finishing the whole series). I’m really bad at explaining how much I love this character/role and why, but I’m going to try. If you don’t get it (or even if you do), go watch the show. It’s one of my favourites to this day. Alibaba is one of my favourite shounen protagonists. He’s goofy, makes honest mistakes, and tries his best. He’s similar to Naruto in ways, but I prefer Alibaba because he’s so much more relatable, and he has logic. According to his weaknesses, he gets fat easily. But anyways, this character has been through a lot. He has lost so many people along the way, and his life is a rollercoaster with him just grabbing on and hoping for the best. Yuki Kaji makes me laugh when the story’s funny and moves me when the story’s emotional. He makes the character who he is, and when I read the manga, I still read it in his voice. I can’t see it any other way. I love this character a lot, and I wouldn’t have anyone else voice him. As much as the dub is good, I refuse to watch it dubbed because I have so much attachment to the Japanese voice cast. This was the first non-Pokemon/Yu-Gi-Oh anime I watched. I have a massive soft spot for it. Can I just add how it also does a great job with its female characters? Morgiana is one of my favourite anime characters of all time. Here are some funny moments (part 1) (part 2) Here’s the seiyuu event subbed (part 1) (part 2)

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chestnutpost · 5 years

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The 'Bone Collector' teaches NBA MVP new moves

Rafer Alston’s job is to watch basketball. In Houston, where he spent three-and-a-half seasons as a player, he scouts local games on behalf of the Minnesota Timberwolves. He pays special attention to point guards, some of whom are his old foes, now pacing the league in extraordinary ways. James Harden, Stephen Curry, Damian Lillard, Chris Paul—the list goes on. For Alston, the current so-called golden age of point guard play is something of a callback. The moves of today have a familiarity to them.

There is the way Curry glides beyond the arc, slicing and dribbling at high speeds, pitter patter, until he springs himself open for a three. There’s the probing, fearless work of Kemba Walker, a New Yorker like Alston, who treats every trip down court with mano a mano desperation. On a recent night, Kyrie Irving confused the defense so deeply in transition that by the time his pass traveled through his own legs—backwards—and into the hands of his teammate, the guy was open by 20 feet. Have we covered Paul or Lillard yet? Or how about Ben Simmons, who at 6’10” casually dropped in a youthful, slightly haphazard behind-the-back one-hopper two weeks ago. And then there is Harden, who performed the most notorious move in recent memory last year when he crossed over Wes Johnson, poured him out onto the floor, took a long look at him and then popped a three. All that was missing, as far Alston might be concerned, was Harden bouncing the ball off of Johnson’s dome before shooting.

“They got it from somewhere,” Alston says of these astonishing guards. “That’s the funny thing about basketball. They didn’t start doing some of the moves and passes that they do. CP, Steph, Lillard, they didn’t do it on their own. They got it from somewhere. You ask them, ‘Who’d you watch?’ It might have been a streetball guy.”

Two decades ago, Alston was the streetball guy. In 1998, he brought his audacious, borderline unsportsmanlike style of streetball to mainstream audiences as the dazzling Skip 2 My Lou on the inaugural AND1 Mixtape. He would pave the way for 10 such videos. The first three centered around individual streetball players such as Alston, Main Event, Hot Sauce, and AO. The final seven tapes tracked a team of AND1 streetball stars, such as The Professor and the late Escalade, as they traveled the nation, facing local competition in various cities. In many ways, Alston was a pioneer of the goosed-up highlight reel; the AND1 Mixtape arrived some six years before YouTube and a dozen years before Instagram. Today, the basketball world is oversaturated with such clips, but back then, there was only one set that mattered.

Nathaniel S. Butler/Getty Images

“We used to watch it all the time before we’d go play, as inspiration,” says Phoenix Suns veteran Jamal Crawford, now a sort of ball-handling sage at age 38. “We’d take the VHS everywhere with us.” When Crawford saw Alston on the tape as a teen, he was “mesmerized,” he says. “The way he passed the ball, the way he handled the ball, the way he just displayed that kid of flair.” Crawford was such an admirer of Alston that he initially enrolled at Fresno State to follow in his footsteps. “The creativity of it, the art of it, you didn’t see guys like that in the NBA,” Crawford adds. “It just brought a whole different layer and viewpoint of how you could play the game.”

All these years later, Alston’s approach—and that of his fellow AND1 streetball players—has permeated the NBA. “Every pass, every fancy play, the derivative is streetball,” says Larry Williams, better known as the Bone Collector, who joined the AND1 live tour (a follow-up to the mixtape tour) in 2011. Williams has worked on handles with a number of NBA players, including Harden. “Jamal Crawford, for instance, Lou Williams—look at their entire game,” Williams says “What kind of offensive structure do they have? Is that a [conventional] pro game? Crawford isn’t a point guard or a 2-guard, he’s everything. That’s why streetball is important for the NBA, and I’m happy James [Harden] and guys like that are bringing light to that.”

On any given night, you’re liable to catch some mixtape-worthy moments in the NBA. Even on the brightest stages—like, say, Game 7 of the NBA Finals—a quick crossover and a springy stepback might decide an entire season. That’s now light work for a player like Irving. “He’s really got it down pat,” says Irving’s teammate, Jayson Tatum, of such wicked moves. “For him to perfect it in the biggest moments—it’s special.”

Indeed, Irving, Harden, Curry and the rest have taken the snazzy elements of the mixtapes they grew up watching and elevated them, honored them, pulled them apart and reassembled them. For trailblazers like Alston, it wasn’t easy to prove that a guard could win and look so good doing it. Today, though, substance and style are a packaged deal in NBA backcourts, and the AND1 mixtapes are owed a debt of gratitude.

It just brought a whole different layer and viewpoint of how you could play the game—Jamal Crawford on the legacy of AND1.

“AND1 played a big part in handling the ball. Period. For everybody, no matter your size,” says Terry Rozier, the Celtics‘ backup to Irving and an electric player in his own right. Rozier followed the AND1 Mixtape Tour as a kid and often tried his luck with mixtape moves. “It had a big impact on the stuff we see in peoples’ games today—it’s more natural now,” he continues. “It’s not so much of guys being stiff when they’re playing [anymore]—everybody’s more loose. I wouldn’t say it’s mainly because of AND1, but I feel like that played a big part in it.”

To be sure, there are any number of reasons that the NBA game looks like it does today. Guys have been crossing up defenders and flipping the ball behind their back for decades—you can trace great ball-handling from Bob Cousy to Pete Maravich to Magic Johnson, with countless practitioners in between. Jason Williams, aka White Chocolate, recalls owning just one jersey as a kid: Jason Kidd’s Mavericks No. 5. During a broadcast last week on TNT, Isiah Thomas recalled that when he was a veteran, a young Tim Hardaway challenged him “and used my move [the crossover] on me! That’s when I knew it was time to hang it up.” Later, as Hardaway’s career faded in the late ’90s, Allen Iverson took the torch and sprinted ahead.

Other factors have influenced the way the game has evolved, too. In the early 2000s, the palming and hand-checking rules were shrugged off, opening up the court. Everybody learning to shoot threes only widened it further. “I think it all played a role,” says Aaron “AO” Owens, a former AND1 star. “It all meets in the middle and goes down the same lane.” But, says, Waliyy Dixon, aka Main Event: “Let’s be real. Kyrie Irving, Isaiah Thomas, James Harden, a lot of guys—they had to watch the tapes.”

True—it seems most everybody in the NBA did.

“I watched it, and there were times where I tried to do some of the moves, of course,” Walker says. He never thought of AND1’s style as one that would mesh or thrive in the NBA. And yet, he adds, “I’m a small guy, so I had to use some of those moves to get where I wanted to go or get the shots off that I wanted to get off.”

“I watched it, and there were times where I tried to do some of the moves, of course”—Kemba WalkerSteve Dykes/Associated Press

Will Barton, the Nuggets swingman, can pinpoint the gestures he borrowed from the AND1 players on the tapes. “A lot of crossovers I stole from them, a lot of moves I tried,” he says. “They definitely had a particular flair. Sometimes when I dribble, you’ll see me skip—I definitely got that from Skip 2 My Lou. Throwing passes while looking away, I definitely got that from him and Alimoe [the late Tyrone Evans]. Sick crossovers from Hot Sauce, definitely.”

Devin Booker, the Suns’ combo-guard, felt more of a connection with the bravado, the posture of AND1—what it represented. “It was definitely a culture of basketball; a whole different swag was invented from that,” Booker says. “We’d watch the moves and then go in the backyard and practice them—get a 3x shirt, put it on, headbands, they did it all, man.”

Tatum has similar fond memories. “[It] was really big, as a kid on the playground,” he says. “I tried putting the ball in my shirt, throwing it around, throwing it off their head—I used to try all that stuff.”

That AND1 could affect multiple generations of current NBA players—Crawford is Generation X; Tatum, coincidentally, was born in 1998, the same year that the first AND1 Mixtape dropped—is testimony to its brilliance. And to its impeccable timing.

The NBA was entering a transitional period in the summer of 1998. Michael Jordan had three-peated for the second time, defeating the Utah Jazz, the epitome of controlled, no-frills basketball,again. John Stockton was a kind of anti-mixtape point guard. Meanwhile, Allen Iverson, then in his second year with the Sixers, was upending that stiffer tradition, performing what Thomas Beller of the New Yorker recently described as “the apotheosis of street ball’s swagger at the NBA level.”

That offseason was a wild one: In June, Vince Carter (No. 5 pick) and Williams (No. 7) were drafted in the first round. Alston was selected with the No. 39 pick. In August, the first AND1 Mixtape, starring Alston, dropped. In January 1999, Jordan retired. All the while, the league was on strike. There would be no NBA basketball until February 1999 (and no MJ until 2001). A window opened for AND1. “The timing was perfect,” Alston says.

And that wasn’t just true in a basketball sense. Something was bubbling in American TV culture, too. Reality TV was exploding—think The Real World, Survivor and American Idol. AND1, which had established its own authentic version of basketball, was, on some level, tailor-made for reality television. The AND1 tour picked up in 2001, and the next year, ESPN built a show around it called Street Ball. (EA Sports also released an unaffiliated video game called NBA Street in 2001.)

Cameras would follow the AND1 team from city to city to film not just how they played, but how they interacted off the court. “We’d do some whacked out stuff, some stuff that they probably had to edit out,” Alston says. “But at least it was organic—this is who we are. Then with basketball, you had kids, mothers, grandmothers so fascinated. Each player had something unique he could do with the basketball.” (In 2003, Dave Chappelle mocked—or maybe honored—the show in a hilarious sketch.)

Aaron “AO” Owens drives at an AND1 Mixtape Tour game in Los Angeles.Steve Grayson/Getty Images

AO recalls the AND1 tour stopping at Wake Forest, where college-aged Chris Paul came to watch them play. Big men like Ed Davis and guards like Shabazz Napier and Monte Morris caught the tour, too. Morris, who’s now among the NBA’s leaders in assist to turnover ratio, credits his hesi dribble to the AND1 players. At a Cavaliers game in the mid-2000s, Main Event recalls LeBron James finding him in the crowd to dap him up. “He didn’t know me from sitting in the stands; he had to from watching the mixtapes,” he says. In 2012, Grayson Boucher, aka The Professor, connected with Curry, who asked him for a photo. Not long ago, in a Las Vegas casino, Alston came across a fan in Lillard. “He was like, ‘Man, what’s up, OG Skip?’ I know he’s not calling me an OG because I averaged 20 points per game in the NBA, you know what I’m saying? He’s like, ‘This dude was a streetball dude, man—AND1 Mixtape!'”

As much as players respected the AND1 Mixtapes—from the personalities to the style of play—many coaches felt differently. “I came up when coaches wouldn’t allow it or they call it junk ball or they’re like, ‘Oh, that street stuff is no good,'” Alston says. “We grew up playing the game in the playgrounds and the gym, we come from playing the game with so much flair and passion for the game. I think the coaches had a hard time trying to blend the two, trying to incorporate the fundamentals and make sure these young men keep their God-given talents, some of the good things that they do.”

Alston’s first coach when he entered the league in ’98 was George Karl. “[Alston] had that game, he had that street game, or…” Karl says, before pausing for a beat. “He definitely had some shit, man. It was good.”

Still, most nights early in his career, Alston was stuck behind Sam Cassell, a more established, balanced point guard. Alston and Karl developed a “love-hate relationship,” in the coach’s words. Karl had just wrapped up a six-plus-year tenure in Seattle, where his SuperSonics had reached the Finals behind the all-around excellence of point guard Gary Payton. Alston wasn’t Payton in sensibility or style, despite both having been molded by the rigors of the playground. (Alston in Queens, New York; Payton in Oakland, California.)

“He played with the ball a lot,” Karl says. “We had a little problem there, but I think I realized Rafer was young, youthful, maybe too playground-ish. The game has maybe gone to the playground a little more than back then. There were more set plays then—the point guard was more to be a mental mind on the court for the coach rather than a talented player as today.”

AND1 played a big part in handling the ball. Period. For everybody. … It had a big impact on the stuff we see in peoples’ games today—Terry Rozier

In that version of the NBA, a number of AND1 players struggled to break through. “When I was coming up, it was so political—if you were a streetball player, you weren’t meant for the league,” says Boucher, who joined the AND1 tour in 2003. Boucher played a stint in the Continental Basketball Association—the unofficial predecessor to the G League—where, he recalls, “They’d say, ‘Well, he’s more of a novelty, he’s streetball.’”

Part of the problem was a misunderstanding about what AND1 players really could do and what they were already doing. “People would say it’s some Globetrotter shit, but it wasn’t,” says Owens. “In a 40-minute AND1 game, you might only see five minutes of shit (on the mixtape) because of TV, cutting and clipping.” Most of the game, Owens says, was something more similar to NBA ball.

Owens was a DII All-American at Henderson State and would later play in the then-D-League, where he won a championship. At times, he felt as though he were being judged for his streetball background. At one NBA tryout, he recalls the team’s coach said, “What’s a streetball player doing here?” But for Owens, the transition from the street game to the pro game was simple.

“There wasn’t the balance for me—if I was playing in an AND1 game, it’s one thing; a D-League game is real basketball. But if I get an outlet and my instinct is to throw it through his legs, I’m gonna fuckin’ do it. The only way to get past him without a turnover might be through his legs,” he says. “I didn’t have to calm myself down like, Don’t do no dumb shit like throw it off the side of the backboard. It was basketball.”

That’s how Jason Williams looked at it, too. Williams, who arrived to the NBA as a highly touted point guard prospect, felt comfortable leaning on some flashy street elements. He didn’t view his style of play as a novelty—not even his signature behind-the-back elbow pass. “Sometimes throwing it behind my back was easier than a regular chest pass,” he says. “I didn’t look at it at a street level; it was basketball to me. I watched [the AND1 mixtapes] growing up and loved it, but I didn’t pattern my game after any of that. I was just doing my own thing.”

“Sometimes throwing it behind my back was easier than a regular chest pass. … I didn’t look at it at a street level; it was basketball to me.”—Jason Williams aka White ChocolateRocky Widner/Getty Images

Now eight years retired, Williams is amazed by how much the league has changed. “When I was playing, guys were still throwing the ball into the post and trying to get double-teams that way,” he says. “Now that’s out the window.” He prioritized feeding the big stars around him: Chris Webber and Vlade Divac, then Pau Gasol, then Dwight Howard. And Shaquille O’Neal, too. “If Shaq don’t get the ball two or three times downcourt, he looks at you and says, ‘I need the ball,'” Williams says. “It’s just different. My job was to get scorers the ball. Now their job is to score and get guys involved.”

Sunday will mark 20 years since Alston debuted in the NBA. The league—perhaps especially at point guard—has changed tremendously since then, while the star power of certain streetballers has faded even in Alston’s own home. Alston’s son, a 10-year-old guard who will undoubtedly arrive in your Instagram feed before long, “doesn’t realize how good his dad is,” Alston says. “To him, I’m just dad. I’m not Skip 2 My Lou, the streetball legend, the guy who played 11 years in the NBA. Other kids gotta tell my son, ‘You know how good your dad was?'”

Owens never made an NBA roster and now coaches high school basketball in Philadelphia. His ninth and 10th grade players, much like Alston’s son, don’t fawn over his streetball fame like a young Jamal Crawford or Terry Rozier once did. “They’re like, ‘I seen you on YouTube,” Owens says, flatly, “but not necessarily like, ‘Yo, that’s AO!”

Vince Carter, who is as much a mentor to young players as he is a rotation player in Atlanta, has sensed a change in the way young players relate to the tapes. “I think most younger people today just watch YouTube or watch highlights on social media just because of the convenience and access,” Carter says. “And while they’ve heard of AND1, I don’t know that it has the same impact.”

Take Booker, for instance. The 22-year-old Suns guard was born only two years before the first mixtape dropped. He may have tried out the moves he saw, but his connection with the AND1 tour only runs so deep. When asked about his favorite mixtape ballers, Booker says, “I know Hot Sauce put the ball in the shirt, and who was the white guy with the handles?”

Alston and Carter together in Toronto.Ron Turenne/Getty Images

Booker can’t quite come up with the name of The Professor, the type of player who meant so much to his older teammate, Crawford, back in the day. One reason, Crawford suggests, is that mixtape culture today is so omnipresent. “There’s so much now to digest on Instagram,” he says. “It wasn’t like that before.”

The mixtape has become something new, and in a way, it is stronger than ever. “Now a kid can get a scholarship off a Ball Is Life mixtape,” The Professor says. Or even climb up NBA draft boards. Zion Williamson, for instance, became famous long before he arrived at Duke—before his games aired nationally—and he’s likely to go No. 1 in this year’s draft. “Now the influencer hooper is the new streetballer,” The Professor says.

But the old streetballers aren’t going anywhere. The Professor runs his own YouTube channel—Professor Live—where he airs his familiar skillset to nearly 3.5 million followers. The Bone Collector has nearly 1 million followers on Instagram, where he posts photos with Harden and tapes of poor kids falling all over themselves while defending him. Hot Sauce made waves last year for doing the same in Atlanta as a Hawks halftime performer. And Alston is still as connected as can be to the game.

Plus, as he points out, those original tapes are never far away.

“The footage is still around,” he says. “It might be some grainy footage—you gotta convert the VHS to DVD, then convert it on the computer. But the footage is still around.”

The post The 'Bone Collector' teaches NBA MVP new moves appeared first on The Chestnut Post.

from The Chestnut Post https://www.thechestnutpost.com/news/the-039bone-collector039-teaches-nba-mvp-new-moves/

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West Week Ever: Pop Culture In Review - 3/3/17

Sometimes life gets in the way, and you just can’t get a post out on time. That’s what happened last week, but I’m here now, so let’s get on with the pop culture, shall we?

First, I guess we’ve gotta talk about the Oscars, huh? I didn’t watch them. I don’t really do awards shows anymore unless someone’s getting slimed, so this wasn’t exactly my cup of tea. The big moment of the night, however, came at the end when La La Land was mistakenly announced as the winner for Best Picture when it actually lost to Moonlight. And social media went wild! It’s been a crazy few weeks, as the Best Picture predictions had come down to those two films, but neither of them really appealed to me. I’m probably more likely to see Moonlight than La La Land, as the latter just doesn’t sound interesting to me. But having seen neither of them at the time of the awards, I really didn’t have a dog in that fight. I figure they gave the award to Moonlight to shut us up for a few years about #OscarsSoWhite. I mean, racism’s over now, right? Does Hallmark sell cards for that? A “So Glad Your Racism Cleared Up” card?

Anyway, from one controversy to another. I’ve never understood people’s disdain for The Big Bang Theory. It’s not reinventing the wheel or anything, but I find it to be an enjoyable half hour every week. I think people got too comfortable with their single cam Arrested Development and Modern Family that they just couldn’t deal with a multicam, studio audience sitcom anymore. OK, cool. But as the mainstream response to Arrested Development showed us, not everyone wants their shit to be smart. Sad, but true. For all the people loudly calling The Big Bang Theory “blackface for nerds” (which is itself offensive, and clearly exhibits a lack of understanding of blackface), it’s still the number 1 show on television. So, just like Trump voters, your friends and neighbors are watching and enjoying it in secret. And with those ratings come big paydays. The 5 principal actors on the show currently make $1 million an episode, while Mayim Bialik and Melissa Rauch make $250,000 per episode. Considering their roles have expanded greatly since joining the show in season 3, it can be argued that they deserve pay more inline with their costars. Well, the 5 principals (Galecki, Parsons, Cuoco, Helberg, and Nayyar) have each offered to give up $100,000 per episode so that money will be freed up for their costars to get raises. I don’t care how you feel about the show, but that’s pretty cool move on their part. Sure, they’re making a fuckton of money, but this is something they didn’t have to do. They realized they’re stronger as a unit, and they’re making moves to preserve it. Not everyone in this situation would do this. While The Simpsons has had negotiation shakeups in recent years, the last time a cast really came together like this was when the Friends stars negotiated for season 10. If CBS and the studio don’t agree to these terms, however, they’ve got an ace up their sleeve.

What started as a mere rumor is now actually gearing up to film a pilot: a prequel of The Big Bang Theory, focusing on Dr. Sheldon Cooper as a child. It’s being reported that Iain Armitage of HBO’s Big Little Lies is being courted for the role of Sheldon. The most interesting casting, however, concerns Sheldon’s mother. You see, on The Big Bang Theory, his mother is played by Roseanne‘s Laurie Metcalf. Well, Metcalf’s real life daughter, Zoe Perry, seems to be the frontrunner for the role of young Sheldon’s mom. So, daughter will be playing mom’s younger self. My head hurts! Anyway, I kinda love when Hollywood does stunt casting shit like that. Now, CBS hasn’t placed a formal pilot order yet, and I feel like a decision is hinging on how these contract negotiations turn out. I mean, The Big Bang Theory is an aging sitcom in its 10th season, and a renewal would only be for 2 more years. CBS has got to start thinking about the future, but this is clearly a franchise they’d like to keep around in some capacity sheerly for the ratings it brings in. So, it looks like y’all might be hating The Big Bang Theory for many years to come! Or it could just fall apart like How I Met Your Dad did (which, oddly enough, is being revived by the This Is Us team at the moment). Only time will tell.

Just as I like something you hate, I also hate something you all seem to be excited about: ABC’s Marvel’s Inhumans. As the show that I’m almost sure will be the nail in the coffin for Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., I just don’t see how this is a good idea. Marvel keeps trying to “make ‘fetch’ happen” when it comes to the Inhumans because they want their own robust mutant franchise, but nobody gives a shit. At least, I didn’t think so. However, with each casting announcement, y’all seem to get more and more giddy. Last week, they announced that Iwan Rheon of Misfits/Game of Thrones fame had been cast as Maximus. Anton Mount, from Hell On Wheels, has been cast as the Inhuman king Black Bolt, while Graceland alum Serinda Swan has been cast as Queen Medusa. Finally, Lost/The Night Shift alum Ken Leung was announced yesterday as Karnak. That’s great. Actors are working. I still have no faith in the show, however.

It’s no secret that The Inhumans were Marvel CEO Ike Perlmetter’s pet project because he wanted a stable that Marvel could exploit where they still owned all the media rights. As far as he was concerned, the Inhumans should be the new X-Men. In the comics, they’ve received quite a push over recent years, but it feels more like Marvel is shoving them down our throats than actually giving the audience what it wants. That’s why, once Marvel Studios’ Kevin Feige wrested control of the film division away from Marvel, the announced but delayed Inhumans film was demoted to a TV series. They’re really trying to make this a production, by releasing the first two episodes in theaters in IMAX, but it just feels desparate. Nobody cares, dude. The numbers on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. right now are terrible, and I’d be really surprised if it got renewed. Considering it’s the show that introduced the Inhumans to the MCU, and has had them as something of a plot device since that introduction, yet it’s done nothing for the ratings, I don’t think the Inhumans are ready to stand on their own just yet. The argument could be made that the audience didn’t like how AoS was handling the Inhumans, and that they actually wanted the Royal Family Inhumans, which this new series is giving us. OK, but I still don’t see how that’s gonna be cool on a weekly TV budget. Then again, I never found the Inhumans to be the least bit interesting, so this project just isn’t design to appeal to me at this point. I honestly don’t know what they could announce to get me excited about an Inhumans series.

In other Marvel TV news that I couldn’t give two shits about, there’s been a ton of casting news for Fox’x untitled mutant-centered pilot. Yeah, I’m being contrarian, but I just don’t see this being great. First, it’s on Fox. This is the kind of show they pick up solely to cancel. Second, it’s gonna be expensive, which is why Fox will not hesitate to cancel it. Third, I still remember the Generation X TV movie/pilot and Mutant X. Fourth, it’s gonna be directed by Bryan Singer – a man who, despite 16 years of familiarity with the X-Men franchise, really needs to go somewhere and take a seat. Anyway, Jamie Chung has been cast as Blink, which won’t cost too much as they really just have to come up with a cool-looking, yet affordable, portal effect. Yesterday, it was announced that True Blood‘s Stephen Moyer and Angel‘s Amy Acker had been cast as the leads. The show follows the Stewart family, who are forced to go on the run from the government when they discover their kids are mutants. They link up with an underground network of mutants, and ugh, I’m exhausted already. So, they’re basically on the run the whole time? And you’re gonna be holding out hope for some kind of mutant of the week cameo, who’ll be someone they’d never put in a movie. Or maybe it would be. It’s not like the X-Men franchise has ever given a fuck about continuity. Since this is still at the pilot stage, I’m not gonna let it get my blood pressure up until it’s officially ordered to series.

Across the aisle over at DC, they announced a Nightwing movie, to be directed by The LEGO Movie‘s Chris McKay. If you don’t know who Nightwing is, here’s a crash course: remember how Batman has a sidekick named Robin? Well, the very first Robin, Dick Grayson, grew up, got sick of Batman’s shit, and struck out on his own as the hero Nightwing. That pretty much catches you up. Right now, DC is that deadbeat dad who makes a bunch of promises that he can’t keep. “Sure, I’ll be at your dance recital!” and then he shows up when it’s over, and the janitor is collecting chairs. They need to stop being so future-focused, and deal with the now. Word on the street is that Wonder Woman has problems, The Batman seems to be falling apart, and they still have to promote Justice League. Worry about 2017, and stop making all these promises for tomorrow. Anyway, I’ve seen an online campaign about how they should keep Nightwing’s Romani origins (for the uninformed, they’re what we call “gypsies”, even though we’re, like, not really supposed to use that term anymore. Whatever) in the film. Apparently, this is important for Romani representation and whatnot, but it’s kinda tough to swallow since some of the same folks saying this also come from the camp that said Nightwing should show up in the DCEU and be cast with an Asian actor. I’d be fine with Asian Nightwing, as I honestly don’t see what his Romani origin brings to the table. Like, it’s nice trivia, but does it lend itself to his character? As long as he’s a former circus brat who flips off shit, he’s Nightwing. Maybe I’m being glib, but I just don’t really see the argument here.

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I was kinda worried about the DuckTales reboot when we saw the character designs. I was also confused as to why they went for “names”for the voice cast, when there are perfectly capable voice actors working out there. Then they released the trailer for the show yesterday, and I am worried no more. While the animation style took me a few seconds to get used to, I really like what’s going on here. Apparently, Disney does too, as the show has already been renewed for season 2, before the show has even premiered.

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We also got a new Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 trailer. As far as I’m concerned, I don’t need to see single bit more of footage. I’m already a guaranteed ticket sale, so I really hope they don’t spoil us with drips and drabs for the next few months. I’m excited. My body is ready. Don’t overdo it.

Things You Might Have Missed This Week

You’ll soon be able to get all your diarrhea in one place, as Burger King owner Restaurant Brands International (what a lame name!) is buying Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen for a reported $1.8 billion.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. kicked off what may be its last storyline, “Agents of HYDRA”, just before going on hiatus for the month of March

Cloverfield director Matt Reeves has signed on to direct and produce The Batman, presumably still starring Ben Affleck

I can’t stand the dude, but I know some of y’all like him: Chris Hardwick will be getting a new weekly talk show, Talking with Chris Hardwick, which will air on AMC as a year-round extension of his Talking Dead show.

The Nintendo Switch comes out today, so brace yourselves for socially awkward people playing it in public places.

Fox renewed freshman series The Mick (yay!) and Lethal Weapon for second seasons.

After nine seasons, SNL cast member Bobby Moynihan might be leaving the show, as he’s currently up for the lead in the CBS pilot Me, Myself & I.

Scientology traitor Leah Remini is set to star in NBC’s What About Barb? pilot, itself a gender swapped reboot of the Bill Murray/Richard Dreyfuss film What About Bob?

For its 9th season, RuPaul’s Drag Race will be moving from Logo TV to VH1. Considering this was Logo’s last bit of original programming, I wouldn’t be surprised if Viacom phased out the channel in its upcoming reprioritization.

Dr. Julian Bashir himself, Alexander Siddig (or Siddig El Fadil for you old heads), will be joining Gotham as R’as Al Ghul. Nope, still not gonna watch that show.

Soap opera Days of Our Lives was renewed for a record 52nd season, as cast member Arianne Zucker (who was at the heart of the Billy Bush/Donald Trump scandal) has announced she’s leaving the show.

So I saw Logan last night. It’s funny – I’ve been looking forward to the film since seeing the first trailer, but last night I had a sense of dread. I mean, the movie looked so…heavy. And was I ready to see Hugh Jackman give up a role he’s portrayed for the past 17 years? It all felt so final, and I wasn’t sure I was ready to say goodbye. Leaving the movie, my friend “Special Forces” said “That was damn near perfect”, and I have to agree with him.

Now, it’s easy to get caught up in the comic book movie hype. I mean, even I’ve come on here fawning over the latest Marvel film, only to see its flaws once the hype dies down. I can admit Age of Ultron was something of a chore to get through. And while The Winter Soldier was something of an MCU masterpiece, I’m afraid to revisit Civil War for fear of realizing it didn’t live up to its predecessor. The Fox X-Men films have established an even lower bar of quality, so you basically go into those now with lowered expectations. Logan, however, is a film that I don’t think I’ll have regrets about in the future.

First of all, it’s not a “comic book movie”. If anything, it’s an indie drama whose characters are taken from comic books. As much as folks wanted this to be the cinematic version of the now classic “Old Man Logan” storyline, this film has no real source material other than the characters. It doesn’t devolve into standard superhero hokeyness. It eschews every opportunity to turn into a “comic book movie”, as any opening for that is quickly supplanted with high intensity violence. There’s no Stan Lee cameo, there’s no post credits scene, and there are no costumes. Director James Mangold knew what he wanted to do, and he knew the tropes to avoid in order to be successful. The violence – my God, I lost track of how many times I gasped “Jesus Christ!” during the +2 hours. It earned its R rating and then some.

I won’t get into plot details, as I want you to see it for yourself. It truly is a beautiful movie, which isn’t something you’d typically say about a film with Marvel roots. Dafnee Keen as Laura is incredible, both in how she emotes, as well as her action scenes. It’s also a fitting coda to Jackman’s turn as Wolverine. I don’t know if he’ll ever come back. I mean, he says he’s done, but you can’t count anyone out in the world of comics. Then again, this ain’t a comic book movie. So, if this is it, he’s going out on a Hell of a note. He leaves behind one totally imbalanced trilogy, as the first film is maligned, the second film was serviceable, but this one is quite the mea culpa for all we’ve had to put up with over the past almost two decades. People are talking about award potential, and while it’s certainly good enough, I’m not holding my breath. It might win an Oscar for sound mixing or something, but I’m scared those folks won’t appreciate it for what it truly is. Logan is a moving experience, and it deserves all the praise the early reviews have been giving it. That’s why I have no hesitation in saying that Logan had the West Week Ever.

#Batman #Comics #DC #Marvel #Movies #Politics #Race #Television #West Week Ever #X-Men

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