Texas and Baylor will face off in the inaugural Sprouts Farmers Market espnW Invitational on December 14 at Dickies Arena.
Photo courtesy of University of Texas Women's Basketball
Dickies Arena in Fort Worth will have the honor of hosting the first-ever edition of the Sprouts Farmers Market espnW Invitational, featuring a game between Texas and Baylor on Sunday, December 14.
The new event, owned and operated by ESPN Events, will be a matchup between two perennial women's basketball powerhouses, both of which are predicted to be ranked in the top 10 when the season starts.
The Texas Longhorns are coming off a season in which they they clinched their first SEC regular season title, earned a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament, and made the Final Four before bowing out in the semifinals.
The Baylor Bears had another great year, finishing with a 28-8 record, which was good for second place in the Big 12 and a No. 4 seed in the NCAA tournament. They lost in the second round to Ole Miss.
"Since launching in 2010, espnW has been building towards events like this,” said Susie Piotrkowski, Vice President, ESPN Women’s Sports Programming & espnW, in a statement. “The espnW Invitational is a presentation of the game's top athletes competing at the highest level - delivering Women’s Sports fans more of what they crave."
Tickets for the espnW Invitational will go on sale on a to-be-determined date in the fall. Fans can secure first access to the best seats now by registering for the pre-sale at espnevents.com/espnw-invitational.
For every well-known/successful actor in Hollywood, there are thousands of others whose lives are more tenuous as they struggle to find work. The new film Misty Green is about one such actor who, after a period in the limelight, now finds herself on the outskirts of the industry, just hoping to find her way back in.
Misty (Rosalind Eleazar) won an Emmy for a 2000s-era TV show that still gets her recognition, but not much work. Still living in the apartment of a recently-deceased man with whom she was having an affair, Misty spends her days sleeping in and her nights getting blitzed on alcohol and drugs. She seems to be heading nowhere fast until a few things coincide to break up her routine.
The man’s wife (Amy Landecker) shows up and tells her she has seven days to vacate the apartment; Misty’s brother, Jay (Daniel Kaluuya) — who is bipolar — arrives after being kicked out of his facility for non-payment; and Jordan (Chris Rock), a former colleague with whom she had a falling-out, reappears in her life, offering a possible chance to rehabilitate her image.
Written and directed by Rock (his first feature since 2014’s Top Five), the film is a funny and excruciating look at how the entertainment industry might actually work. Misty is her own worst enemy thanks to late nights fraternizing with unsavory characters like Zach (Adam Driver), who deals in drugs and women in equal measure, but her frustration proves warranted when her agent, Randy (Topher Grace), and casting directors like Rhonda (Tracie Thoms) hardly give her the time of day.
Misty tries her best to stay positive, but when jobs like singing in a bar are the best she can do, the mountain seems insurmountable. Rock does an effective job of demonstrating the elements that are within and without Misty’s control that affect her ability to regain her position in the industry. The chip on her shoulder is almost as big as the bias some have against her, and other negative circumstances don’t help matters much.
There are many small touches that Rock and his crew put in the film to give it an air of authenticity. Filming in Los Angeles (a rarity these days), Rock uses both subtle and overt shots of homeless people in the city, suggesting that the line between the haves and have-nots is a fine one, especially with Misty on the verge of not having a place to live. He also has cameos from a few of his funny friends, including a bit of meta-casting of Anthony Anderson (who has faded a bit after starring in Black-ish) in a bit part as a cop.
Eleazar, a British actor best known for appearing on the Apple TV show Slow Horses, is a magnetic presence as Misty. The character herself is somewhat cringey in her decision-making, and Eleazar sells every bit of her righteous indignation and self-defeating actions. The supporting cast is great across the board, including Rock, Driver, Kaluuya, Thoms, Grace, Anna Kendrick, and Rich Sommer.
Misty Green makes you rage against the Hollywood machine, laugh at the various ways different people deal with its maddening quirks, and hide behind your fingers as Misty chooses options that don’t help, either voluntarily or because her back is against the wall. It’s a powerhouse of acting that gives a unique angle on the inner workings of Hollywood, one that ironically might be competing for awards at year’s end.
