It’s nowhere near as good as Live Forever Christmas Day promo, but this year’s NBA Finals Animation by London-based animator Richard Swarbric is beautiful. It also reminds me of the sand art segments on ‘Sesame Street.’ Spoiler: not a bad thing.

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Links

Chikara, A Love Letter |The Mandible Claw|

Music Video Breakdown: ‘Gravel Pit’ By Wu-Tang Clan |UPROXX|

Did You Catch The Cute ‘Firefly’ Reference In The Season Premiere Of ‘The Killing’? |Warming Glow|

What happened to Superman’s panties? The makers of Man of Steel explain. |Film Drunk|

Justin Bieber Became A Heat Bro For Game 7, ‘Sipped Water’ At A Strip Club |With Leather|

Ten Franchises We Want Microsoft To Bring To The Xbox One |Gamma Squad|

10 Unsung Innovators In Rap |Smoking Section|

LOLNFL 2013: Off-Season Activities |Kissing Suzy Kolber|

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From the Charlotte Bobcats Twitter/Instagram/Pinterest Or Whatever page:

PHOTOS: At the arena for his sold out concert, @JustinBieber was excited to meet Bobcats Chairman Michael Jordan

“Excited” wasn’t really the word. The word was SWAG, which I’m guessing Justin Bieber only breaks out for situations like meeting the greatest basketball player of all-time, and not for every f**king thing he does.

Thank you, Heavenly Father, for allowing this talented forever-child the opportunity to stand beside His Airness. For your next miracle, please allow Chris Paul’s son to know Bieber, yet still grow up bending the brims of his hats and having not that haircut.

When Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy hit the range, no cup is safe.

“When Tiger Woods starts texting you, no cup is safe!” And other jokes!

Here’s the latest commercial form Nike, the first to feature Rory McIlroy, the number one golfer in the world, as the Dennis Mitchell to Tiger’s Mr. Wilson. It’s a reinvention of the McDonald’s classic, “The Showdown,” and if this campaign ends with Rory playing golf with the Looney Tunes, we’ll know it’s been a success.

You can check out the clip below, courtesy of Shane Bacon over at Devil Ball Golf. Or, you know, wait a few weeks and watch it during every commercial break for three months. Your call.

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For my money, there’s no greater MS Paint artist in this generation or any other, for that matter (suck it, Picasso), than our own Danger Guerrero. His efforts within this specific medium have been unparalleled over the decades that I’ve known him, and I believe that he has no less than 75 works currently hanging in the Smithsonian and the Louvre. Do not quote me on that number, as it may be off just a tad.

However, despite the important life lessons that we were given by The Highlander series, there doesn’t have to be only one, and I recently stumbled upon the works of another outstanding MS Paint artist (pronounced ar-teest) who sadly remains anonymous at this current time. But like most great reclusive artists of the last several centuries and great artistic periods, this unknown person got his or her start on Tumblr, with the site “Great NBA Moments”.

Sure enough, this collection of artwork re-captures some of the greatest moments in NBA history through the stunning use of basic colors and brushes that only MS Paint can provide. Included in these incredible works are Michael Jordan’s iconic game-winning jumpshot, Dirk Nowitzki’s three-pointer in Game 5 of the 2011 NBA Finals and even the cover of the video game masterpiece, Shaq Fu.

Short of Larry Bird sharing a milkshake with Skeletor or any of the sketches that we’ve previously viewed from the artists at Double Dribble, this is probably the best NBA art that you will see this year. While there are many more beautiful works available at Great NBA Moments, I have included some of my favorites in this week’s With Leather Wild Art Gallery.

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When it comes to sports collectables, autographs and general memorabilia, you could say that I’m a big-time conservative. I fear the inevitability of change, in that I always expect my favorite players to be traded, so why would I invest my money and time into supporting them? Additionally, there’s the scandal factor, as in I wouldn’t want to spend a few hundred dollars for, say, a David Freese autographed glove if it turns out that he’s running an orphanage only as a front for an organ farm. (And if he is doing that, I want in, damn it.)

Yet here I am, this gigantic sucker for both sports and quirky artwork, admiring artist Dave Choate’s fun and to-the-point-titled work, “Sports Paintings”. The bulk of Choate’s work revolves around a certain Evil Empire team that he’s a fan of, but mostly his self-taught art stems from a love of sports and art. Much like my Kate Upton finger paintings, or as the judge called them, “Exhibit A”.

My work has been described as whimsical. At the risk of sounding like a moron, my goal is to come away with something cool. I’ve found that my best paintings are the ones where I have the most happy accidents, so I really try to tap into my subconscious or right brain and not analyze every stroke. It reminds me of the Yogi Berra quote, “How the hell are you gonna hit and think at the same time?” I stay loose, try not to think, go with the flow and have faith that I’ll eventually discover something that I couldn’t have created on my own, at least consciously.

I’m a Connecticut native and am a fan of the New York Yankees and Oakland Raiders teams of the 70′s and 80′s.

Choate’s art is a little pricey, but I think it’s pretty fantastic. In fact, if I were still selling meth, I’d probably buy all of his paintings. Wait, did I say selling meth? I meant making porn. I don’t want you guys to think poorly of me.

After the jump, check out the With Leather Art Gallery’s “Sports Paintings” exhibit, and feel free to purchase any of the Mike Tyson paintings for me.

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Back in 1992, McDonald’s put bacon and barbecue sauce on a quarter-pounder with cheese and called it the ‘McJordan,’ because (according to the ad campaign), bacon, barbecue sauce and the other mustards and horse meats that go into making a quarter-pounder with cheese were Michael Jordan’s “favorite ingredients”. The promotion came and went, but it was not forgotten. You can’t just put your own bacon and barbecue sauce on a quarter-pounder, these are Michael Jordan’s FAVORITE INGREDIENTS and that dude was a PRO STAR, not to mention the greatest basketball player of all time. Some people were left craving McDonald’s unique blend of herbs and chemicals, unable to satiate their incredibly specific hungers. It’s just gone. Hell, I know how they feel. I was all about the Arch Deluxe for the however-many months that thing was around.

The story here should be, “hey, remember a cheeseburger from 20 years ago,” but some people never give up on their dreams. 20 full years later, a man has placed a winning bid on eBay of $9,995 for a jug of authentic McJordan barbecue sauce. Keep hope alive!

Who knows if that’s even McJordan barbecue sauce? Some Internet stranger could’ve made 10 grand putting George Foreman grill drainings into a service jug. Regardless, the bid has been placed, and somewhere, somehow, an assumedly super, super fat guy is accurately recreating something that was better than the McRib, but worse than literally all other food.

The funny thing is that Jordan didn’t even EAT the McJordan. He was a Big Mac man. Proof:

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