‘Uncle Drew’ nails sports comedy genre, misses shot in developing characters

Quantrell D. Colbert/Courtesy

Grade: 3.0/5.0

If you’ve ever wondered what Shaquille O’Neal’s bare ass looks like, quench your curiosity with the new summer film “Uncle Drew,” starring NBA legend Kyrie Irving.

“Uncle Drew,” directed by Charles Stone III, brings basketball MVPs Irving and O’Neal to the silver screen alongside Lil Rel Howery, Nick Kroll and Tiffany Haddish. Originally a digital series by Pepsi in 2012, the story follows a team of fictional senior basketball retirees coming together once again after years of following their own paths off the court.

Uncle Drew (Irving), a legend of the street ball scene, helps Dax (Howery) form a team of old misfits to compete in a local basketball tournament after Dax is robbed of his team by a childhood rival (Kroll). Irving and O’Neal dress in full elderly get-ups for their roles, sporting prosthetic wrinkles and gray hair.

“Uncle Drew” provides a slapstick blend of absurdity and action for viewers of all levels of sports knowledge. For a movie about a geriatric basketball team, the storyline moves unexpectedly fast, and not because viewers are hit with constantly flowing action. Many details about the storyline and the characters’ backgrounds are lost along the team’s journey. Things such as the relationships between the characters and the rules of their street basketball league are fuzzy and underexplained.

The surface-level view of the characters detracts heavily from the movie’s quality. Each member of the team of old friends has an intriguing personality, and the film could have played into this much deeper than it does. The story currently falls flat on sentimentality, especially in the connections among the characters. If the exploration of characters such as Uncle Drew and the other team members had been deeper, the scenes highlighting the team’s bond would have benefited from the heartfelt impact of more personal character relationships.

Haddish’s Jess is one of the more disappointing characters — viewers watch the exact same role Haddish played in last year’s “Girls Trip.” All of the women, in fact, are given the personality of the “loud Black woman,” a trope exhausted in Hollywood. Even though cheesy comedies are usually breeding grounds for overdone stereotypes, more multidimensional characters would have allowed the film to push past the limits of the genre.

While the boys of the basketball team may be the center of the storyline, this is not just a movie for sports fanatics. The game scenes and sports lingo are peppered with jokes and scenarios still entertaining for watchers who are not sports-inclined. Pop culture references such as NBA star Dikembe Mutombo’s finger wag can be appreciated by anyone who has spent any time on the internet.

Internet hype for the soundtrack, however, was underwhelming, even though A$AP Ferg, Logic, Khalid, Wiz Khalifa and more feature on it. Irving even drops his own bars on the track “Ridiculous,” featuring LunchMoney Lewis. This track list perfectly blends the ‘70s hip-hop vibes the Harlem-set film aims for with a newer wave of rap sound, even featuring Logic’s 2013 track “Ballin.” The energy of some moments may be lacking — purposefully so, as the elderly team struggles even against a team of elementary school girls — but the music adds a youthful spirit and a humorous contrast in liveliness.

Of course, you can’t have a great soundtrack and a grade-A cheesy movie without somehow including a dance battle. Irving, O’Neal and the rest of the motley crew express their unity in the way every reunion comedy chooses to — by busting out scarily synchronized and well-choreographed dance moves.

While in a club battling to prove their hipness against a team of young people (who somehow also have an expertly arranged dance sequence at the ready), the team sets up one of the more fun and ridiculous parts of the movie. This may not be an Academy Award-worthy scene, but it’s definitely one of the most entertaining parts of the film.

Ultimately, what “Uncle Drew” lacks in character development, it makes up for with poppin’ tunes and buzzer-beating comedy. It may not be NBA quality, but it fits the messy, carefree love of street basketball.

Contact Skylar De Paul at sdepaul@dailycal.org. Tweet her at @skylardepaul.

The Daily Californian

Courtesy of Emory Photo/Video

Rosa Tarbutton Sumter (89C) is the newest member of the Emory University Board of Trustees, according to a July 2 University press release.

Sumter has served on the Emory College Alumni Board board since 2013 and also sits on the board of directors of her family’s business, the Sandersville Railroad Company.

She graduated from Emory with a bachelor’s in history and art history. Sumter worked for eight years in marketing at Norfolk Southern before becoming a full-time mother and community organizer, according to the press release. As a community organizer, she volunteers for schools and nonprofits, such as the National Charity League, according to the press release.

Tarbutton Hall is named after Sumter’s grandfather, Benjamin Tarbutton Sr. (1905C). Emory renovated the building in 1992 with a donation from his son, Ben J. Tarbutton Jr. (49Ox, 51C).

Tarbutton Sr. purchased the Sandersville Railroad and later served as the Sandersville, Ga., mayor, a state representative, state senator and delegate to the Democratic National Convention, according to a Spring 2000 Emory Magazine feature on the Tarbutton family.

Sumter’s father, Tarbutton Jr., attended Emory and served on Emory’s Board of Trustees for at least 25 years. Benjamin Tarbutton III, Sumter’s brother, serves on the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia.

The Board of Trustees is the highest governing body of the University, according to the Board’s website. It establishes policy and holds fiduciary responsibility.

Sumter did not immediately respond to the Wheel’s request for an interview.

The post Rosa Tarbutton Sumter Elected to Board of Trustees appeared first on The Emory Wheel.

‘Dry Powder’ is a humorous, untapped peek into the world of high finance

Aurora Theatre/Courtesy

On Thursday, Sarah Burgess’ “Dry Powder” opened at Aurora Theatre Company and dipped a mostly white, mostly older-aged audience into a fishbowl look of a Manhattan private equity firm struggling with all the modern toils of bad public relations, leveraged buyouts and office politics. The play is a parodic depiction of the cutthroat, phone-smashing, smarty-pants high finance world that hits a bit closer to home than expected and is all the funnier and more unsettling because of it.

“Dry Powder” originally debuted in early 2016 at the Public Theater, starring Claire Danes, John Krasinski, Hank Azaria and Sanjit De Silva, and it was directed by Thomas Kail. Two years later, Jennifer King directs Aldo Billingslea (Rick), Emily Brown (Jenny), Jeremy Kahn (Seth) and Kevin Kemp (Jeff). And two years later, the stock market has hit an all-time high while huge shifts in the White House and tense bipartisan politics put “Dry Powder” in a starkly different contemporary context that is worth noting. The play sits differently now than it would have pre-Trump, and the current context gives the production an added layer of relevance that, purposely or not, pushes what might have been a comedy drama into occasionally overacted, highly satirical territory.

The play is as fast-paced and energy-sucking as a young playwright would imagine a Wall Street skyscraper job to be. Extra-loud dialogue is the main conduit for almost all interactions between Rick, Jenny and Seth, the firm’s partners. Despite a consistent jet of private equity jargon, the audience kept up and laughed, because for all its finance seriousness, “Dry Powder” is sharply funny. It hits all the highs and lows that come with a grating, jab-style humor that sometimes veers into immature hair-splitting.

It’s surprising, then, to see that the funniest moments are in the rare quieter spots of the play, in which Jenny and Seth are giving each other death stares and coyly pushing each other’s buttons without saying anything, or when Seth tells Jenny that she’s alone; in the moment of silence leading up to the punchline, there’s a glint in Brown’s eye that showcases Jenny’s vulnerability.  

The insularities within Burgess’ script create limited opportunities for any of the actors in the production to give their characters real, complexly human qualities. This enhances the hopefully deliberate caricaturization in a play whose sibling-quibbling dialogue might be mistaken for an exchange in a cushy sitcom (such as “How I Met Your Mother” or “Friends”).

Then, there’s Jenny, the only woman onstage and arguably the star of the show because of it. Depending on how the coin flips, Jenny is a finance whiz, a cold-hearted bitch goddess in a high-stakes world or a confident and ambitious woman successfully navigating her way up a male-dominated industry. These are just a few choices for Jenny that Brown capitalizes on, making her performance the most versatile in the show.

Kahn’s performance of Seth is diametrically opposite to Jenny. He’s the sports dude with childish tendencies, the all-American businessman who is against an offshoring manufacturing plan for the luggage company the firm is going to buy. Arguments about keeping American jobs in America hit a sour note when similar ideas were used by Donald Trump during his presidential campaign. These are the moments that totter between theater and real world and evoke a vague but necessary discomfort past the laughs.

Another point, which is perhaps a committed attempt at diversity, is that the big boss Rick is played by Billingslea, a Black actor. This is a commendable gesture at representation onstage, with the only hitch being that the characters are written with such crude character development that they serve their stereotypes without any of the big discussions surrounding the racial landscapes of the predominantly white finance world. This is not that sort of play, and still, Billingslea’s presence onstage is refreshing and filled with a man-centric aggression that further exacerbates the parodic tones of the production.

“Dry Powder” is funny and ruthlessly exposing in ways that Burgess, King and all the actors onstage might not even be aware of themselves, and that’s what gives this production an extra kick of charm. It’s meaningful in its lack of nuance. The play can be a starting point for more deep thinking surrounding the inherently complex but dramatically prodded-at discussions onstage, or it can just be a comic peek into the theatrics of high finance, and that’s OK, too.

“Dry Powder” runs through July 22 at Aurora Theatre Company.

Contact Alice Dai at adai@dailycal.org.

The Daily Californian

While true crime stories are popular across a variety of mediums — from television to books to film — true crime has become a genuine obsession for many podcasting fans. When “Serial” premiered in 2014, it was the first podcast to turn into a bona fide cultural sensation, and it inspired a wave of series that took deep dives into real stories of grisly crimes. For both journalists and listeners, these podcasts give the opportunity to become amateur detectives. Many of these series were curated excellently, and some were even vehicles for social justice, but the entire trend could be ethically questionable. No matter the creators’ intentions, these series have turned the private pain of real-life individuals into popcorn entertainment for millions of listeners. This transformation, combined with the sheer volume of podcasts in this genre, have made me adverse to the genre. I do not particularly need or want a labyrinthine exploration of a disturbing murder, so I did not expect the most creative or boundary-pushing work to come from this territory.

“In the Dark,” from reporter Madeleine Baran and American Public Media, immediately stands out from the pack. While the series is technically true crime, Baran takes a unique angle — raising larger questions rather than solving a specific mystery. Both seasons of the series use a specific crime to uncover deeper failures of the media, the criminal justice system, police officers and government officials, and even the general public. Baran’s reporting is patient and focused, and she avoids editorializing or making pat thesis statements. She also avoids the idiosyncratic, narrator-focused style that made “Serial” such a sensation. The result is a series that feels more substantial — and more necessary — than expected.

While creating the second season, Baran spent more than a year living in Winona, Mississippi, a small town rocked by a 1996 robbery of a furniture store that ended in the murder of four people. Local officials tried Curtis Flowers, a black man, for the crime, and he was ultimately found guilty and sentenced to death. However, the verdict was overturned, and Flowers has been retried six times while he remains in jail. Throughout the season, Baran uncovers flaws and outright fabrications in the evidence from investigators. Baran uses Flowers’ trials to explore the intersection of race and criminal justice issues.

Previous Season Recap:
In the first season, Baran and a team of investigative journalists cover the case of Jacob Wetterling, an 11-year-old boy from St. Joseph, Minnesota, who was kidnapped in 1989. The podcast did not attempt to find Wetterling’s kidnapper, but shortly before the series premiere, Danny Heinrich confessed to kidnapping, sexually assaulting and murdering Wetterling 27 years earlier. Instead of a typical “whodunnit” focus, Baran works to uncover the larger implications of the case. She finds glaring mistakes in law enforcement’s handling of the investigation — investigators ignored important leads, waited too long to search for evidence and refused to make significant changes in law enforcement practices. In fact, Baran found that the Stearns County Sherriff’s Office had a remarkably low success rate in all sorts of crime investigation. “In the Dark” also covered how Wetterling’s kidnapping has lead to stricter laws on sex offender registries, and Baran examined the purpose and effectiveness of these reforms. The first season is entirely unrelated to the second season.

To Binge or Not to Binge:

The first season of “In the Dark” was frequently fascinating, and the second season is even better. While the first season was refreshingly sober, free of sensationalism or exploitation, the pacing could drag, and the storytelling was occasionally dry. The second season, on the other hand, is always riveting. As Baran unpacks the many layers of misconduct surrounding Flowers’ trial, she deftly draws a portrait of corruption and prejudice. Her approach is both thorough and accessible, and some of the series’ most fascinating moments detail the lengths the reporters go in order to find evidence. One data reporter spent months creating a database of jurors to investigate possible racial disparity, and another group dug for files in a decrepit, abandoned factory. In an era where journalists’ roles are constantly in question, “In the Dark” is a refreshing reminder that deep, thoughtful reporting is alive and well.

I have learned a lot of new things about the court system from listening to “In the Dark,” and the episodes have never felt like homework. It should be no surprise that the justice system is rife with racial bias, still “In the Dark” reveals particularly harrowing examples of injustice. Baran found that the prosecution intentionally left black people off the juries in Flowers’ trials, and much of the case is based on extrapolated evidence. “In the Dark” is a subtle but powerful political podcast. The reporting depicts how this case exposed the racial divisions in Winona, and Baran smartly draws connections between Flowers’ case and America’s long history of racism. (A particularly illuminating moment evoked the tragic lynching of Emmett Till). “In the Dark” is an excellent series that expands the possibilities of both journalism and podcasting. Even when the subject matter is dispiriting, the work of Baran and her tireless team of reporters is genuinely inspiring.

Best Episode: It is difficult to single out specific episodes, and “In the Dark” is meant to be listened to in order, all the way through. However, the eighth episode of the second season, entitled “The D.A.” is a particularly good example of the series’ persistent journalism.

Similar Shows: “Aftereffect,” “Criminal,” “Dirty John,” “Embedded,” “Serial,” “S Town” and “Stranglers”

Rating 4.5/5 stars
“In the Dark”
Available to stream or download on major podcasting services: including Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify and Google Play, and on the show’s website, apmreports.org.
20 episodes, ranging in duration from 35-65 minutes. The second season is ongoing, with the final episode expected to premiere on July 3.

j.petersen@dailyutahchronicle.com

@JoshPetersen7

The post Binge Bytes: “In the Dark” appeared first on Daily Utah Chronicle.

Bay Area CoRoasters café to open in West Berkeley

Bay Area CoRoasters, or CoRo — a shared-space coffee roastery — held a soft opening of its first coffee shop Friday at 2322 Fifth St.

At CoRo, members can learn with and use CoRo’s various pieces of roasting and packaging equipment to run their own roasting businesses. Although the café opened in Southwest Berkeley just last week, according to CEO and co-founder Floy Andrews, CoRo has envisioned opening a café that features coffee roasted by its co-roasting members since the roastery was established nearly a decade ago.

CoRo had a soft opening for friends and family Friday, with another soft opening for tastemakers, “the opinion makers in coffee,” to be held in two weeks, according to Andrews. The café’s official grand opening will be held July 28.

Andrews said she wanted to offer a space to help local community members foster their passions.

“I’ve been really inspired by the people who are … taking control of their own careers, people who are stepping away from large corporations … and getting into the kind of maker mode,” Andrews said.

The café showcases four different brands of coffee from CoRo’s roasting members; these brands are processed by the roastery, visible through a giant window in the café. Soon, coffee flights — three ounces each of all four different coffees — will be featured, according to Andrews.

These members’ coffees will be switched out with coffees from four different members every two months, Andrews said. Throughout the year, the café will feature 24 different members’ coffees, curated by Andrews, Israel Fraire, the director of operations, and James Parrish, the manager and visionary of the café.

The menu also features drinks with subtle twists such as espresso con panna, in which the whipped cream is mixed instead of shaken and aerated as it is in most cafes, offering a much thicker, creamier taste, according to Parrish.

“I got to really put into practice a lot of stuff that I believe in … part of that was working gratuity into the menu instead of tips and trying to offer the starting wage here above minimum wage,” said Parrish, who exclusively designed the rest of the menu.

Barista Laura Freymiller emphasized how exciting it was to be directly connected to the collective roastery and feature the members’ coffee. Her favorite item on the menu is the chai latte. The chai is a “vibrant” solid, dark chai from Blue Willow Tea, according to Freymiller.

According to Andrews, CoRo strives to offer creative, new experiences with coffee to Bay Area consumers, who are generally interested in different and unique flavors.

“The most exciting part has been involving the coffee community in what we’re doing,” Andrews said. “It’s, like, been a real sort of magnet for our members, and it’s so exciting to open the doors and be able to connect our members to the Bay Area coffee enthusiasts.”

Contact Mani Sandhu at msandhu@dailycal.org and follow her on Twitter at @ManiSandhu24.

The Daily Californian

A bicyclist was killed after a collision with a car on U.S. Highway 287 on June 30, according to a press release from Fort Collins Police Services.  U.S. 287 (South College Avenue) closed for approximately five hours following the crash while the Fort Collins Police CRASH team investigated the incident. According to FCPS, a juvenile […]

Dead & Company consists of former Grateful Dead band members Bob Weir (guitar/vocals), Mickey Hart (drums) and Bill Kreutzmann (drums), accompanied by  John Mayer (guitar/vocals), Oteil Burbridge (bass/drums) and Jeff Chimenti (keyboard).

The last time Grateful Dead members played at Autzen Stadium was June 1994 — 24 years ago. Autzen Stadium itself hasn’t seen any concerts since U2 played there in 1997. On Saturday, twenty-one years later, the football arena again traded sports for sound, and fans in tie dye filled up the field, welcoming Dead & Company to Eugene for a night of psychedelic rock.

A tie-dyed crowd walks on to the field area of Autzen Stadium. Dead & Company bring music to Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Ore. on June 30, 2018. (Sarah Northrop/Emerald)

Where did the grass go?: The turf at Autzen Stadium was covered by flooring in preparation for Dead & Company’s crowd. The football arena’s goalposts were also taken out to accommodate the concert. Dead & Company bring music to Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Ore. on June 30, 2018. (Sarah Northrop/Emerald)

A Grateful Dead fan wears a 2005 summer tour shirt. Dead & Company bring music to Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Ore. on June 30, 2018. (Sarah Northrop/Emerald)

A Dead & Company fan twirls a psychedelic parasol in the air. Dead & Company bring music to Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Ore. on June 30, 2018. (Sarah Northrop/Emerald)

A concert-goer looks into the crowd. Dead & Company bring music to Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Ore. on June 30, 2018. (Sarah Northrop/Emerald)

A group of concert-goers converse before the show. Dead & Company bring music to Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Ore. on June 30, 2018. (Sarah Northrop/Emerald)

A Dead & Company fan takes a photo. Dead & Company bring music to Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Ore. on June 30, 2018. (Sarah Northrop/Emerald)

Lights and cameras point toward the stage set up in the middle of the arena. Dead & Company bring music to Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Ore. on June 30, 2018. (Sarah Northrop/Emerald)

Many concert-goers sported tie dye and psychedelic costumes. Dead & Company bring music to Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Ore. on June 30, 2018. (Sarah Northrop/Emerald)

A concert-goer passes over a beer. Dead & Company bring music to Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Ore. on June 30, 2018. (Sarah Northrop/Emerald)

Welcome to Autzen Stadium: The stands at Autzen Stadium begin to fill up at the beginning of the nearly three hour show. Dead & Company bring music to Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Ore. on June 30, 2018. (Sarah Northrop/Emerald)

Two concert-goers share a hug before the show. Dead & Company bring music to Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Ore. on June 30, 2018. (Sarah Northrop/Emerald)

Dead & Company bring music to Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Ore. on June 30, 2018. (Sarah Northrop/Emerald)

John Mayer plays guitar for Dead & Company. Dead & Company bring music to Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Ore. on June 30, 2018. (Sarah Northrop/Emerald)

A plane leaves a contrail as it flies over Autzen Stadium. Dead & Company bring music to Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Ore. on June 30, 2018. (Sarah Northrop/Emerald)

Dead & Company bring music to Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Ore. on June 30, 2018. (Sarah Northrop/Emerald)

John Mayer and Bob Weir play together onstage. Dead & Company bring music to Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Ore. on June 30, 2018. (Sarah Northrop/Emerald)

A Dead fan takes a photo. Dead & Company bring music to Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Ore. on June 30, 2018. (Sarah Northrop/Emerald)

Stadium vendors carry water for the summer outdoor concert’s crowd. Dead & Company bring music to Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Ore. on June 30, 2018. (Sarah Northrop/Emerald)

Autzen Stadium is packed with concert-goers on the ground and in the stands. Dead & Company bring music to Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Ore. on June 30, 2018. (Sarah Northrop/Emerald)

The Grateful Dead and University of Oregon logos appear in a trippy graphic. Dead & Company bring music to Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Ore. on June 30, 2018. (Sarah Northrop/Emerald)

A fan’s phone catches and reflects the sun. Dead & Company bring music to Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Ore. on June 30, 2018. (Sarah Northrop/Emerald)

A fan waves around an alien totem. Dead & Company bring music to Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Ore. on June 30, 2018. (Sarah Northrop/Emerald)

Dead & Company bring music to Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Ore. on June 30, 2018. (Sarah Northrop/Emerald)

Dead & Company bring music to Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Ore. on June 30, 2018. (Sarah Northrop/Emerald)

The sun begins to set on Autzen Stadium during the concert’s intermission. Dead & Company bring music to Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Ore. on June 30, 2018. (Sarah Northrop/Emerald)

Autzen Stadium is packed with concert-goers both on the ground and in the stands. Dead & Company bring music to Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Ore. on June 30, 2018. (Sarah Northrop/Emerald)

A handful of people walk alongside the top of Autzen Stadium’s north side. Dead & Company bring music to Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Ore. on June 30, 2018. (Sarah Northrop/Emerald)

The concert’s intermission ends as the sunset appears behind the stage. Dead & Company bring music to Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Ore. on June 30, 2018. (Sarah Northrop/Emerald)

follow Sarah Northrop on Instagram and Twitter: @sartakespics

The post Photos: Dead & Company brings music and a lot of tie dye to Autzen Stadium appeared first on Emerald Media.

Year in review: Cal men’s basketball alumnus Jabari Bird

Lianne Frick/File

Many major media outlets didn’t project that Cal men’s basketball alumnus Jabari Bird would have his name called on draft day, but with the 56th overall pick of the 2017 NBA draft, the Boston Celtics selected the 6’6” guard.

After a promising performance in the 2017 summer leagues, in which he averaged an efficient 7.8 points per game across eight contests, Bird became one of the first players to usher in the NBA’s new two-way contract, signing a one-year deal. More on that later.

The rookie had a couple appearances here and there for the Celtics, but the days on which he’d suit up for Boston were few and far between.

Bird made his NBA debut in Boston’s third game of the season, logging 13 minutes and dropping in 3 points, all on free throws. That was in October.

After his debut, Bird waited six months before once again logging more than 10 minutes in a single game as a Celtic.

As a second-round pick selected by a team destined for the playoffs, Bird’s lack of playing time on the big show was to be expected.

With the Maine Red Claws, the Celtics’ G League affiliate, Bird found his wings as a scorer, putting up 19.3 points, 5.7 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.4 steals per game over 20 games.

Despite his stellar play, a back injury put Bird out of commission for nearly two months, forcing him to miss the back end of the Red Claws’ season.

Bird rejoined the Celtics in mid-March upon recovering from injury, seeing a couple minutes here and there, but as the season reached its conclusion, the rook would have his chance to shine.

After only playing 37 total minutes over nine scattered games, Bird received an influx of playing time, logging 21 minutes or more in three of the season’s final four games.

Against the Chicago Bulls, in his first game playing more than 20 minutes, Bird showed off a little bit of everything, flashing glimpses of his athleticism, shooting, playmaking and rebounding.

Over 24 minutes in an otherwise meaningless late-season game, Bird posted 15 points, three rebounds and three assists.

In those three games down the stretch, Bird averaged 10.3 points, 5.0 rebounds and 2.0 assists while hitting 13 of 21 shots from the field.

The rookie may have had to wait all season to show the league what he could do, but when given the opportunity, he responded with some oomph.

Despite Bird’s flashes of excellence down the stretch and the Celtics’ depleted guard depth, he was ultimately left off the Celtics’ playoff roster.

Bird most likely wasn’t left off the roster because his lack of productivity, but rather because of the nature of the league’s two-way contracts.

Players under two-way contracts, such as Bird, aren’t eligible for the playoffs, but they can participate if their contracts are converted into NBA contracts.

At the conclusion of the regular season, the Celtics had a full roster of 15 contracted players, meaning that if they had converted Bird’s contract, the team would have to cut another player.

While Bird could have been a valuable piece for Boston during its playoff run, especially with Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward out for the season, the team ultimately decided to keep the roster as constructed, leaving Bird off the roster.

Abdel Nader, the player whom many believed could have been waived to make room for Bird, played 33 total minutes in the playoffs, scoring 12 points on 15 shots.

With Bird’s two-way contract only being one year long, he’ll enter the offseason as a restricted free agent, as the Celtics extended a qualifying offer.

Considering how well Bird played during the season in the NBA and the G League, the Celtics have an incentive to bring him back, especially with Marcus Smart’s future up in the air.

Should Smart depart, a spot could open up for Bird, as the Celtics would be left with primarily Irving, Jaylen Brown and Terry Rozier at guard.

The Celtics inked 28-year-old EuroLeague guard Brad Wanamaker this week, most likely as insurance should Smart take his talents elsewhere.

Wanamaker averaged 13.5 points, 4.2 assists and 3.2 assists per game in three EuroLeague seasons, but he has never played a game in the NBA.

Bird will once again play for the Celtics during the summer leagues, and a string of outstanding performances could determine his future with the Celtics.

Should the Celtics choose to let him walk in free agency, there will surely be a couple clubs calling for his services.

Justice delos Santos covers men’s basketball. Contact Justice delos Santos at jdelossantos@dailycal.org. Follow him on Twitter @justdelossantos

The Daily Californian

Florence and the Machine’s latest album has the same whimsical fairytale sound found on the band’s first three releases. But make no mistake: “High As Hope” represents a major shift in the group’s overall demeanor.

Although lead singer Florence Welch took on the persona of an enigmatic character on previous releases, she bares it all on the new album, delving deeper into her own personal life without lacing in heavily figurative language, a technique common to the band’s prior works. As a result, “High As Hope” develops a new aesthetic for the band – one that interweaves the group’s older, fantasy-inspired aura with a more modern and open lyrical tone.

Case in point: “Hunger,” the album’s second single, opens with the lines “At 17, I started to starve myself, I thought that love was a kind of emptiness.” The lyrics – a reference to an eating disorder Welch suffered from as a teenager – are far more explicit about her personal life than ever before.

Such lyrical precision dominates throughout “High As Hope,” with songs like “South London Forever” and “Patricia” serving as strong examples. But the most obvious example is the album’s final track, “No Choir.” In its opening line, Welch proclaims, “It’s hard to write about being happy ’cause the older I get, I find that happiness is an extremely uneventful subject.” The song employs a stream-of-consciousness narrative, as if Welch is improvising and singing whatever comes to her mind, rather than carefully calculating what each word and phrase will represent.

Rather than encrypting her message behind easily misunderstood language, as she’s done in the past, the song has an unparalleled sense of lyrical clarity, lending the lyrics stronger accessibility and relatability.

The album’s highlight – both lyrically and vocally – is, without a doubt, “Big God.” Released as the album’s third single June 19, the song discusses Welch’s response to a lover ignoring her text messages. The lyrics transform a rather normal phase in a break up into an event of massive proportions with lines like “I still like you the most, you’ll always be my favorite ghost” – a clever reference to the act of “ghosting” someone.

Welch has always been a vocal force to be reckoned with, but “Big God” solidifies her reputation and confirms her extraordinary talents. Her forceful and controlled voice helps to bolster the weight of the lyrics. She begins the song in a very low register, with her notoriously powerful vibrato drawing out the end of phrases like “You need a big god.”

Welch sings with a hollowness to her voice in the opening lines, as if she’s vocally mimicking the void she sings about. The stripped down arrangement – just her voice, some simple piano chords and the occasional percussion sound – adds an ominous element to the tune, reminiscent of “Remain Nameless,” off the band’s sophomore album, though it sounds more sinister.

Other high notes on the album include “100 Years” and “The End Of Love.” On the former track, Welch wistfully croons about her everlasting love for a romantic partner atop harps and piano chords, while the latter employs interesting narrative techniques like breaking the fourth wall. Both are stellar examples of the band combining Welch’s new songwriting style with a fantastical and almost antiquarian aesthetic.

“High as Hope” is not without its faults though. While the lyrical vulnerability is certainly appreciated, it diminishes some of the mystique surrounding Welch’s persona. She is no longer the flamboyant and eccentric songwriter that sings about building coffins or drowning in a river. And although her newfound openness makes “High As Hope” feel more relatable, it can be a tad jarring for longtime fans who view Welch as the narrator of her own personal fairytale.

While “High As Hope” doesn’t quite match the quirkiness of past releases, it still reaches the same level of intrigue, thanks to Welch’s willingness to write lyrics that are specific to the human condition. Sure, she’s gone from singing about running desperately for her life to singing about her text messages being ignored, but the latter ultimately makes for a more relatable and humanizing experience.

A title like “My Favorite Murder” would make any podcast instantly intriguing. Comediennes Karen Kilgariff, known for her work on “Ellen,” and Georgia Hardstark of “Drinks with Alie and Georgia” became friends in 2014 at a party where they got to talking about the worst thing Kilgariff had ever seen — a story explained in the first episode of the series. They recorded their first podcast for the “My Favorite Murder” series in January 2016 with Feral Audio, whom they recorded with for roughly a year — transferring to Midroll Media in September 2017. Currently, the podcast is produced through Stitcher and iTunes. “My Favorite Murder” is a comedy podcast about infamous murders throughout history featuring the minute details most wouldn’t know unless they were interested in the specifics.

Though classified as a comedic podcast, “My Favorite Murder” does not make light of any of the cases discussed. In the first episode, this concern is addressed, and Kilgariff and Hardstark explain throughout the series that they do not intend for any of their statements to be taken the wrong way nor are they condoning murder or violence of any kind. Humor is often used as a means to cope with and process the information shared. In the discussions of their favorite murder cases, Kilgariff and Hardstark share personal information that makes them relatable while advocating for reform in the justice system and the way we, as a society, talk about murder.

As humans, we’re somewhat fascinated by what goes on in other people’s lives and the darker side of humanity. For centuries, people have been intrigued by murder, and the sensationalization of early murders has led to the modern conception of murder in society today. Kilgariff and Hardstark are working to lessen the taboo surrounding the topic, reduce the chances of getting murdered by talking about murder and gaining a cult following in the process — illustrated by the number of 222,000 followers on their Facebook page today.  

Warning: there will be spoilers from this point on. However, most topics discussed in the podcast are public record and have been previously discussed in the media, so the spoilers won’t ruin much of the podcast.

“My Favorite Murder” is a continuous podcast of murder cases, asylums, cannibalism and more, so there aren’t any divisions to create seasons. All 124 episodes and 74 minisodes are a single giant stream of consciousness. Though some episodes reference previous conversations, the episodes don’t have to be watched in order nor are listeners required to start from the beginning of the podcast. I would recommend listening to the first episode, “My Firstest Murder,” because Kilgariff and Hardstark are genuine and interesting people. The first episode explains how they met. In the same way, the whole concept of murder and what leads people to kill others is intriguing to some — Kilgariff’s near death experience draws some people in.

To Binge or Not to Binge?

From the first episode, “My Favorite Murder” is fascinating. The worst thing Kilgariff has ever seen is almost too tragic to be true, but so are all of the cases they discuss over the course of the podcast. Beginning with the murder of Jon Benet Ramsey and Sacramento’s East Area rapist to Mr. Cruel and Girly Chew Hossencrofft’s murder with stops along the way for listeners to share murder cases from their own towns, “My Favorite Murder” is definitely binge-worthy for true crime enthusiasts or those fascinated by the worst of humanity.

With topics ranging from asylums to the Netflix documentary “Making a Murderer,” there are discussions touching on all true crime subgenres. The way the podcast works is Kilgariff or Hardstark will bring up a relevant — or not so relevant — topic, like the debunking of hair follicles as hard evidence in criminal cases, then springboard off of this topic into a conversation about their favorite murders for that week. They’ll outline the details of that case before sharing their thoughts on the case or turning the discussion to similar cases. I love that they do this because there were many cases discussed that I hadn’t heard about or that happened before I was born. It should be said, this podcast is not a complete relation of the facts to the audience, because Kilgariff and Hardstark are not forensic or criminal experts. This doesn’t take away from the podcast, as they look up facts about the case to keep their retellings and recollections as factual as possible without making the episode seem like criminal justice homework or a lecture. Every episode is also given a name, some of which are really great puns. As a lover of words, this also keeps the podcast from getting too sinister — it’s hard to scare yourself with an episode titled “Squad Gourds” or “Steven It Out.”

Due to the intensity of the topics discussed in the podcast and the language used by Kilgariff and Hardstark — brace yourself for regular use of the ‘F-bomb’ — this podcast isn’t recommended for people who are sensitive to this kind of material. However, as a person who isn’t really a fan of talk radio, “My Favorite Murder” is interesting, judgment-free and as light-hearted as it can be considering the subject matter. Kilgariff and Hardstark never make light of nor degrade the victims of the infamous cases they discuss, but their situational humor — Hardstark’s cat screaming in the background, their facial expressions or actions and the tangents they find themselves trailing into — create a serious but not sinister tone for the podcast, which is a good counterbalance to the weight of murder.

Best Episode: There are many good episodes because they all discuss the cases in-depth, but my favorite episode is, “Our Favorite Thirder.” This is the first episode where Kilgariff and Hardstark talk about relevant news to true crime and forensics — the debunking of using hair follicles as incriminating evidence is in this episode. This was fascinating to me because I am interested in the history and science of forensics.

Similar Shows: “Last Podcast on the Left,” “Up and Vanished,” “Someone Knows Something,” “Dirty John,” “Casefile True Crime” and “Atlanta Monster.” There are tons of true crime podcasts, some based on certain cases, like “Atlanta Monster,” while others are more generalized, like “My Favorite Murder” is.

Trigger Warnings: Descriptions of a murder of both adults and children and swearing.

Rating: 5 of 5 stars
“My Favorite Murder”
Available to stream on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Play.
124 episodes, 198 (with Minisodes), Approximately 163 hours 25 minutes, 193 hours and 65 minutes (with Minisodes).

j.eggleston@ustudentmedia.com 

@ladyofth3lak3

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