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The holidays are upon us, which means you’ll likely be spending more time with your relatives. For some of us, this means good times, good food, and lots of laughs are ahead. For others, this drudges up negative memories from the past that are filled with dysfunction and stress. According to one study, more than half of Americans feel stressed about the holidays as a result of anticipated arguments with relatives. If you’re anything like half of the population and you’re wondering how to best navigate the holidays with your dysfunctional family, continue reading.

Don’t show up starving

For one, holiday dinners are almost never ready when you get there. Secondly, our patience is almost always a bit shorter when we’re hungry.  To make your intolerable family a bit more tolerable, try snacking before you arrive. You’re much more likely to snap at your irritating auntie when you’re feeling hangry.

According to NBA.com, The Golden State Warriors have been named Franchise of the Decade by Sports Business Journal. The Warriors owned the sports arena with five consecutive NBA Final appearances, three championships, and one new arena all within the past 10 years.

The franchise announced it via their Twitter account. 

The Golden State Warriors have been named ‘Franchise of the Decade’ across all professional sports teams by @sbjsbd

» https://t.co/5SNVWnyRkA pic.twitter.com/7pfcgbg56V

— Golden State Warriors (@warriors) December 16, 2019

“We are truly humbled to be recognized with this prestigious honor by the Sports Business Journal, especially when you consider the number of outstanding organizations across all sports,” said Warriors President and Chief Operating Officer Rick Welts. “The past decade has provided our fans, business partners and all constituents with many incredible memories, and it’s the hard work and dedication of every single player and employee that enabled us to achieve our goals and ultimately share in this organization-wide, strength in numbers recognition.”

The Golden State Warriors were previous Sports Business Journal‘s Team of the Year in 2014 and 2016. The team is the third-most-valuable NBA franchise and 10th-most-valuable sports team in the world and according to Forbes, the Warriors are worth $3.5 billion, the third-most-valuable NBA franchise and 10th-most-valuable sports team in the world.

Despite losing this year’s championship to the Toronto Raptors, the opening of Chase Center in September marks the first and only privately-financed sports venue built on private property in modern sports. The value of the Warriors has skyrocketed over the past 10 years after Joe Lacob and Peter Guber bought the team for $450 million in November 2010, and as of February 2019, the organization was reportedly worth $3.5 billion, per Forbes. This makes the team the third-most valuable franchise in the NBA behind the New York Knicks ($4 billion) and Los Angeles Lakers ($3.7 million).  

The team has led the league in revenue for each of the last three years and increased its revenue by over 1,000% during this past decade. The Golden State Warriors also led the league in merchandise sales, both online and in-arena, for four consecutive seasons (2014-2018).

With Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson nursing injuries, the Warriors currently possess the NBA’s worst record at 5-23.

Something you know to be irrefutable fact if you’ve ever seen the musical or even just heard any single one of its songs other than “Memory”: Cats is nuts. Moreover, you know that to render the very same Cats in the form of a studio feature film in 2019 is an absolutely mad undertaking. Light-years separate the sort of narrative conducive to Hollywood filmmaking and the (and I use this word as liberally as Jellicles define the criteria for their self-ascribed cohort) story of Cats. This to the point that the show’s origins in the poetry of T.S. Eliot have made it something of a curiosity even in the more kinetically inclined medium of musical theater.

I say all this to prepare any would-be viewer of the Cats movie for the inevitability that it will no doubt eschew your expectations of linear storytelling, comprehensive world-building, and even the basic sensory experiences that typically accompany an hour and change in the company of the big screen. In lieu of whatever you anticipate from your trips to the theater, Cats‘ first act will leave you curious, confused, and maybe even a little ill at ease. But 20 minutes into Cats—or maybe it’s 30, or 40, or two hours, or nine days; who the hell can tell?—a switch will flip, and you’ll come to some vague understanding of what you’re being beckoned into.

Universal Pictures

Whether you then begin to enjoy the movie on its own terms, this I cannot reasonable promise. But I can say with all sincerity that upon finally meeting Cats face to face, somewhere past the introduction of the wayfaring Grizabella (Jennifer Hudson) and the sage Old Deuteronomy (Judi Dench), I was dazzled. Smitten. Entranced, enchanted, and empowered by the illegible recipe that bequeathed this cinematic feast unto mine eyes, ears, and heart.

Even from this point forward, Cats remains winningly inscrutable. The sporadic breaths taken between longer-than-you’d-expect musical numbers about varied Jellicle joys will allow you time to (probably out loud) ask the inevitable question: What is going on? Instead of telling you the answer, Cats encourages your imagination. We get just enough hints about the Jellicle Ball, our furry friends’ lives outside of the centerpiece Egyptian Theater, and the nature of the ever-mysterious Heaviside Layer to kick off proverbial writing prompts in our heads; admittedly, this arrangement may breed anything between heated derision and fiery excitement. Either way, you get something hot.

Universal Pictures

Straight to the end, Cats stays aflame in more ways than one, ignited by increasingly enjoyable performances—Idris Elba as the dastardly Macavity and Ian McKellen as the infirmed Gus stand out—and musical numbers (OH! WHY! I NEVER! WAS THERE EVER! et al) and a consistently jarring relationship with its own sexuality. (I could explain, but… well… actually, I don’t believe I can.) But more than anything else, what keeps this five-alarm fire burning is the sheer fact that, from any given minute to the next, you won’t quite believe your eyes.

Making matters all the more intriguing is that Cats was born of a director who’s become synonymous with boilerplate Academy Awards fare, and surely one who didn’t set out to deliver some parodic unraveling of Andrew Lloyd Weber’s 1981 musical. If there’s a single wink hidden in Cats‘ 110 minutes, it averted my glance. And in its earnest delivery of unknowable bombast and unfathomable text, Cats earned so earnest a place in my heart.

Universal Pictures

I’d go so far to say that I’m moved by Cats. As giddy as I was over the vexing experience of being stared down by a feline Judi Dench for way longer than any studio note would rightfully allow, I could not for the life of me count this as a con against Cats or a laugh at its expense. Instead, I consider it another testament to its beauty, along with every of Victoria’s (Francesca Hayward) sensual flutters and Macavity’s mysterious poofs, and the dramatic festivity of the Magical Mr. Mistofelees (Laurie Davison) finally making good on his superlative.

These instances, one and all, are indeed nuts, and no less so when contextualized together. But Cats invites you to love them, and it, and whatever cultivar of joy you’re endowed with as a result. This I find moving and beautiful: the enthused will to be. If Cats is about anything—and I’m not going to bet one way or the other—it’s about that. Cats being themselves, and simply being. Gumbie cats, curious cats, theater cats, mystery cats, Jellicle cats (and, if you’ll submit to a reminder: not dogs). For some reason, this works for me. I don’t know. It’s nuts. It’s Cats. It’s hard to explain. I sprinted home from the screening and I’m nauseated. Review over. Minus half a star for weight jokes.

4.5/5

Featured Image: Universal Pictures

Mica Arbeiter is a Jellicle person. Follow them on Twitter @micarbeiter.

The post Look, Man, It’s CATS, and It’s Beautiful (Review) appeared first on Nerdist.

Writer: Mark Millar / Artist: Peter Gross / Image Comics

Christmas came early as American Jesus is back with a unique twist, that is very reflective of this generation of feminism and the overall state of our culture. While the artwork doesn’t pop like a lot of new age drawing, the detailed line work encapsulates a genuine, old school NYC vibe. Peter Gross deserves praise for every turn of the page, because you could spend hours getting lost in the backgrounds of his scenes.

The year is 1974, and Luciana is troubled by dreams of a man in white, who shares some disturbing news with the 14-year-old Angelita. While standing in a gorgeous room reminiscent of a Vatican or Sistine chapel, they stare at a Salvador Dali painting of Jesus being crucified from the God’s perspective. He tells her that she will soon be with child and if she can keep him safe, her son will be the stallion that mounts the world. Ok, so he didn’t drop those Game of Thrones bars, but he did put the fear of God in her enough to wet the bed that night, and this is where our story begins.

Luciana shrugs this off as just another one of her recent wild dreams, but as the week progresses some of his words begin to ring true, and Luciana’s life is abruptly turned upside down. There is no going back to school or talking with her best friend about her issues with dad. There is only what needs to be done, and Luciana accepts those responsibilities in all their ugliness, making for compelling new run of American Jesus: The New Messiah.

Upon reflection, I really like the tone and pace of this book. You receive an immediate glimpse into the biblical stage that Mark Millar and Peter Gross are setting, then get introduced to Luciana’s unconventional, yet all too familiar world of busting your ass to validate going against the grain, while your support systems are telling you no and giving you shit at every turn. In the end, Luciana resorts to running and hiding from the looming anti-Christ, leaving this story wide open for demonic pursuit, prophetic turns, and a virgin pregnancy that is set to shake up the world.

I’m interested in what Mark Millar has in store for the rest of this run. I love the use of a Hispanic young lady as the new incarnation of the Virgin Mary. I like that the characters fully understand the weight of this undertaking and still push to give this child a chance at taking his place as savior. Gross has ensured readers understand that the religious under and overtones will be prevalent throughout, and a look at most pages will feature some ideological images.

Mark Millar sprinkles this issue with glimpses of the future we’re all living in. He calls attention to the soiled political system we are operating under, the unhealthy reliance on technology that has snowballed since the 70s, and the handful of wealthy individuals and families that have the power to affect anything in the world with the flick of the wrist or push of a button. Millar started the year off strong with Prodigy and is giving us another person of color centered book to start next year off right. Be prepared to have your faith tested and beliefs questioned as American Jesus: The New Messiah, ‘The sequel to one of my most beloved Millarworld projects since the dawn of time’ is here to shake things up for all our Catholics, atheists, and everyone in between!

8 Bleeding Eyes out of 10

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The post American Jesus: The New Messiah #1 Review Gives Readers a New Virgin Birth appeared first on Black Nerd Problems.