2026-03-27 01:33:15
Oftentimes toward the end of a basketball game that is sort of but not especially close, one team will take a multiple-possession lead with only a little bit of time left and I, despite having watched the Indiana Pacers stage what felt like dozens of miracles last year, will wonder what the point is of watching the few grim minutes of free throws that conclude those sorts of contests. But sometimes, there comes an ending so funny and so stupid that it reminds me: The tail ends of games are always worth sticking around for, because something amazing could happen. Something, in other words, like what happened in Minneapolis Wednesday night.
In retrospect, a Houston Rockets–Minnesota Timberwolves matchup is ripe for a hilarious ending. Minnesota, especially without Anthony Edwards, can be maddeningly inconsistent, prone to prolonged bouts of brainlessness characterized by clusters of turnovers. This is the team that lost on a 39-8 run to the dregs of the Milwaukee Bucks last year. Houston, meanwhile, is incapable of running even vaguely functional offense under pressure, thanks to the combination of coach Ime Udoka's insistence on playing a bunch of 6-foot-9 guys who can't do anything; the dour, isolationist presence of Kevin Durant; and Alperen Sengun's plodding style. The Rockets came to Minnesota with a 1-6 record in overtime games.
Wednesday night's first collapse belonged to the Wolves. With just under four minutes left, Minnesota's Jaden McDaniels stripped Durant and got an easy dunk to give his team an 11-point lead. Houston immediately popped a 12-0 run in response, and exhaled a sigh of relief as McDaniels left with an injury. The Wolves recovered their composure to take a one-point lead with 28 seconds left. Rudy Gobert then fouled Sengun (and fouled out of the game) while the ball was still out of bounds on an inbound play, allowing Houston to tie it for free and granting the Rockets a chance at the win. They blew that chance, ceding a 3-on-2 fastbreak that the Wolves failed to score on thanks to a tremendous shot-block by a bloodied Sengun.
2026-03-27 01:07:07
Recently on the subway I observed a phenomenon in person that I had previously only seen on the internet. Two teenage girls sitting across from me were talking to each other. They were both dressed in the teenage girl uniform—loose-fitting jeans, cropped black jacket, white sneakers—and they were idly tapping their phones as they chatted. That is not the phenomenon I'm talking about. I couldn't look away because one of them was speaking in what I have labeled Lip Filler Accent.
Lip Filler Accent is a noticeable pursing of the lips that creates more open space between the teeth and lips, constraining the shapes vowels take and compressing the sound. I call it Lip Filler Accent because I associate it primarily with online content creators who have had filler, but I think Botox injected around the mouth to smooth out smile lines can contribute to it as well, because Botox essentially freezes the muscles around the mouth, restricting expansion.
To be clear, I am making a few assumptions about this teenage girl: I am assuming that she adopted this style of speech, because of the way she was pushing her lips out while she spoke; and I'm assuming that she had not received filler, because children under 18 generally are not allowed to receive cosmetic procedures like this. Which, if I'm right, would mean something even more fascinating is happening: Not only is Lip Filler Accent a thing, but people without lip filler are now mimicking it, either intentionally or not, online and in their real lives.
2026-03-26 23:07:04
Welcome to Listening Habits, a column where I share the music I’ve been fixated on recently.
The year 1996 marked a major shift in music. An era-defining rap beef seemed to pit the entire city of Los Angeles against the entire city of New York. Rap as a whole saw its position in the industry skyrocket, as its biggest artists were becoming true pop stars, a phenomenon lead by Bad Boy Records and a certain producer who had completely overtaken rap radio. Even the genre's regional scenes, like in Atlanta and Houston, were blowing up and opening the door to even more overlooked markets to break through. Elsewhere, the boy-band movement was getting revved up in Florida. Alternative rock, which had exploded with bands like Nirvana and Alice in Chains, was running on fumes—concerns over which heaped pressure on Pavement, fresh off 1995's Wowee Zowee (still their best album, idc), whom legions of unkempt white guys hoped would become the next big thing for the MTV Generation. Rock would soon undergo its own change to close out the '90s, getting more aggro, more hyper-masculine, more hip hop; this was in part a response by the labels to the changing landscape of popular music, and also a reflection that rock's rising stars were just as influenced by Public Enemy and the Wu-Tang Clan as by Metallica and Led Zeppelin.
2026-03-26 22:18:20
Lumpy, dirty piles of snow, shading to slush and then water, surround an unused rink. In the background, a featureless wall of grey, and a swollen cloud that threatens if not rain then no immediate prospect of sunshine. Deciduous trees bare their branches. In the distance, a single, unlovely apartment building dominates a skyline of single-family homes. In the foreground, atop a grey-brown ice sheet pooling with meltwater, is a single, squat conifer, hacked off at its base and lying on its side. Nothing lives here. Good morning Ottawa. Bonjour Ottawa.
This would be an unremarkable photo if not for the fact that it was taken and posted by Mark Sutcliffe, the mayor of Ottawa, who presumably has an interest in portraying his city in a positive light. Instead, certain words spring to mind. "Drab," of course. "Barren," which pairs nicely with "wasteland." "Ugly," if you're feeling harsh and accurate. "I wouldn't want to live there," maybe, but that's an entire sentence.
Ottawa has an image problem. Canada's capital and fourth-largest city is generally viewed as a sleepy, characterless government town. There is some truth to that. There is a lot of truth to that. It is still an incomplete picture. Ottawa has a wealth of museums, and vibrant if modest food and arts scenes. The Rideau Canal, repurposed to serve as the world's largest skating rink, is a true marvel. The point is, if you were looking to show off Ottawa, there are options to choose from. Better options than this:
2026-03-26 21:23:40
Buh buh, buh buh, buh buh
Buh buh, buh buh, buh buh
Neh
Neh-neh
Neh-neh-neh
Neh-neh-neh-neh-neh-neh
Neh, neh, neh-neh neh, neh-neh
Oye como va, mi béisbol
Bueno pa’ gozar: béisbol.
Oye como va, mi béisbol
Bueno pa’ gozar: béisbol.
2026-03-26 21:06:46
On Wednesday, the New York Yankees played the hosting San Francisco Giants in MLB's Opening Night, which was the first of really three Opening Day–esque events to open the season. Today will be the more traditional event of nonstop baseball brain: day baseball into evening baseball into midnight baseball, the Pirates and Mets starting it off with just one ordinary afternoon ballgame and not an overcooked nationalist extravaganza, in what would have been a lovely opening to the season. Tomorrow will service the six sad teams, and fanbases, who will have to wait until day three for their Opening Day. But yesterday was a capital-E event, which naturally made it feel not very much like Opening Day baseball at all.
Here was the one night game, scheduled to start at 8:05 p.m. ET, aired only on Netflix, which made the big event something one would have to pay specifically for, or, hypothetically, borrow a friend's laptop in order to watch. The players ran through a line of yellow taxi cabs (Yankees) or a cable car (Giants) on their way to the field. There was some sweaty, red-faced man who shouted, "This is baseball, this is America, let's go!" There was an American flag in the shape of the United States of America. There were some pyrotechnics in the shape of an American flag (not shaped like the United States of America). The first pitch was thrown at 8:25 p.m. Eastern, 20 minutes late, on a basketball or hockey schedule. It was strike one to Trent Grisham, which was finally a fact insignificant enough to feel real.
The game did not wind up being close enough to sustain any tension or drama; after the pomp of its opening, it registered as an anticlimax. Despite the best efforts of Aaron Judge, who went 0-for-5 with four strikeouts, the Yankees put up five runs in the second inning and two more in the fifth, with Giants starter Logan Webb gallantly soaking up all of the punishment. Meanwhile, Yankees starting pitcher Max Fried threw 6.1 shutout innings, thanks to his full arsenal of, according to Statcast, seven different pitches. The Yankees would win 7-0, without any intrigue.
