SPORTS | Because the NBA likes to take its sweet damn time crowning a champion, the league's playoffs are still going, as they have been since mid-April, but now the NBA FINALS are at last upon us. The showdown between the Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers, which begins on Thursday night (6 pm, ABC), comes on the heels of an eight-day layoff for the Warriors and nine for the Cavs, so everyone should be nice and rested. Except for the Cavs' Kevin Love, who's done for the season. Still, it's a tasty matchup for casual fans as the Splash Brothers (league MVP Steph Curry and former WSU star Klay Thompson) bring their high-scoring, trigger-happy style up against LeBron James' ongoing (and categorically improbable) revitalization of the Cavs.
ALBUM | The influence of Boise's own Built to Spill is easy to find throughout the indie rock realm. Since the early 1990s, the riff-happy outfit has been putting out delectably accessible guitar rock, and their latest offering UNTETHERED MOON is true to those roots. Frontman Doug Martsch continues the out-there songwriting on display on the often-dark There is No Enemy back in 2009. Don't worry, BTS fans, the grandiose guitar playing is laid on as thick as ever. Sometimes the licks get tangled, but always in that gorgeous way that only this act can pull off.
YOUTUBE | You can sit on your lazy ass and wait for a funny video to drip into your Twitter feed, or you can take your laughs into your own hands. May I suggest you subscribe to NACHO PUNCH, a Los Angeles-based online comedy troupe that has cranked out a few gut-busters as of late. Their most recent production is a dead-on piece of satire about motivational videos (and this was before Shia LaBeouf did that weird pump-up piece this week), but Nacho Punch really nails it when they do fake movie trailers for films about mundane topics like tax day and daylight saving time. And if you haven't seen their parody of Oscar contender Whiplash that replaces jazz musicians with DJs, you need to stop what you're doing and look it up.♦
