Month: April 2021

Kyle Korver played with a whole lot of dudes in his NBA career, which spanned 17 seasons and six different franchises. He’s not formally retired, but he is pinch hitting on Inside the NBA while Kenny Smith and Charles Barkley are on March Madness duty, and while he’s doing the TV thing, Korver made it clear that he really hated playing with Dwyane Wade.

Ok, that’s not quite right. During Thursday night’s pregame Inside the NBA broadcast, host Adam Lefkoe asked Korver if he could do an ad read. Korver, who has always been revered for being a good teammate, said sure, and then, he became the victim of an April Fool’s Day prank for the first time in his life.

“Tomorrow, on NBATV, everyone’s favorite show The List returns at 8 p.m.,” Korver said. “Last week, we ranked the best dunkers. This week, we look at the worst teammates in the league’s history. My pick: D-Wade.”

Wade, of course, is also lending a hand while Chuck and Kenny doing the NCAA Tournament, as he’s usually a Tuesday night Turner analyst. The pair were teammates for a spell with the Cleveland Cavaliers back in 2017-18, although we’re going to guess that neither of them ever expected that the old Ron Burgundy teleprompter gag would get pulled on Korver to get him to talk trash about Wade some day.

Kevin Durant is reportedly nearing a return to on-court action after missing almost two months with a hamstring injury. As such, the Brooklyn Nets star addressed the media on Thursday but, in addition to discussion about his health and pending return, Durant was also ask about recent language used on social media.

Though his vulgar and controversial exchange with actor Michael Rapaport was not directly mentioned in either the question or answer on Thursday, Durant issued up an apology.

“I’m sorry that people seen that language I used,” Durant said. “That’s not really what I want people to see and hear from me. But hopefully I can move past it and get back out on the floor.”

Durant’s response was not exactly bountiful, as seen above, and he pivoted things back to the basketball court in short order. This also comes after Durant issued something of an apology on Twitter on Tuesday, seemingly referencing Rapaport.

Durant used multiple anti-gay slurs in his conversation with Rapaport and, while the NBA has not made any kind of public statement, it is possible that the league could address the behavior in some form with Durant. This response could, however, be the end of Durant’s acknowledgement on the topic, though it is certainly possible he will prompted about his actions again.

The health benefits of yoga are understood so far and wide in modern society that the exercise is utilized by everyone from suburban soccer moms to professional football players. We also have a wealth of research about the emotional and mental benefits of meditation—so much, in fact, that some schools have successfully implemented meditation as a way to improve student behavior.

But apparently, in Alabama, some folks are afraid that letting kids do yoga or meditation in school might lead them to do something terrifying…like becoming a Hindu, or being attracted to Hinduism, or looking into Hinduism, or something.

Since 1993, Alabama has banned yoga and guided meditation from public schools, as it got wrapped up in a blanket ban on “the use of hypnosis and dissociative mental states.”

“School personnel shall be prohibited from using any techniques that involve the induction of hypnotic states, guided imagery, meditation or yoga,” the State Board of Education’s regulations state.

A new bill has been introduced—and passed in the Alabama House of Representatives in a 73-25 vote—that would allow schools to authorize yoga. However, for the bill to become law it has to pass through the Senate, where it is has stalled due to pushback from conservative groups who are concerned about the Hindu origins of the exercise.

Becky Gerritson, director of the conservative group Eagle Forum of Alabama, spoke out against the bill during the public hearing.

“Yoga is a very big part of the Hindu religion,” she said, according to the AP. “If this bill passes, then instructors will be able to come into classrooms as young as kindergarten and bring these children through guided imagery, which is a spiritual exercise, and it’s outside their parents’ view. And we just believe that this is not appropriate.”

The Eagle Forum website also states their official position:

“Many people see Yoga as harmless. Even many Christians churches offer Yoga. However, Yoga is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines which originated in ancient India. Yoga is one of the six Āstika (orthodox) schools of Hindu philosophical traditions. In the Education Committee the sponsor made it very clear that Yoga was needed in schools to help with mental clarity which confirms that it is not intended to be just a physical exercise. We hold the position that if parents want their children to engage in the practice of yoga that they do it on their own time and not in public schools with tax payer money.”

Ah yes. Mental clarity = a problematic religious influence of some sort. Makes perfect sense.

Considering the fact that the Eagle Forum has complained about school prayer being banned and the Ten Commandments statue being removed from a government building, that they and really, really wanted “under God” to remain in the Pledge of Allegiance kids say each day, their stance seems a smidge hypocritical. And banning an exercise that isn’t overtly religious just because it originated from an Eastern spiritual tradition and not Christianity seems silly.

The fact of the matter is yoga has gone mainstream. In the U.S. especially, it’s far removed from any religious connotations. That’s not necessarily a good thing—there are ongoing discussions about cultural appropriation in Western yoga practices—but the idea that yoga turns you Hindu is illogical on its face.

The resistance seems particularly overreactive when you see that the bill includes strict rules for schools to teach yoga, such as limiting it “exclusively to poses, exercises and stretching techniques,” using “exclusively English descriptive names” for the poses, and expressly prohibiting “chanting, mantras, mudras, use of mandalas, and 11 namaste greetings.”

Stripping any and all Indian or Hindu elements from school yoga practices, what do they fear happening? Do they think kids putting their bodies into a specific position will somehow summon Hindu spirits that will somehow convince the children to be Hindu?

“This whole notion that if you do yoga, you’ll become Hindu — I’ve been doing yoga for 10 years and I go to church and I’m very much a Christian,” said Democratic Rep. Jeremy Gray, who introduced the bill, according to the AP. Gray was introduced to yoga when he played college football at North Carolina State University and enjoyed it so much he became a yoga instructor himself.

Rajan Zed, who is president of Universal Society of Hinduism, pointed out that the overwhelming majority of yoga teachers and practitioners aren’t Hindu and that anyone of any faith can utilize yoga.

“Traditionally Hinduism was not into proselytism. So, Alabamans should not to be scared of yoga at all,” Zed wrote in a statement after the committee meeting.

The same goes for meditation, guided or otherwise. Yoga and meditation are ancient practices that people around the world from various cultures and traditions have benefited from without some big conversion to the faith of their origins. Every guided meditation I’ve ever done just walks you through peaceful mental imagery. We’re not talking about holding seances or ritual sacrifices here, for the love.

When we have bullying and mental health crises and mass shootings happening in schools, kids doing a tree pose or imagining they’re floating on a beautiful lake are the last things adults should be worrying about. Seriously.

No, you haven’t been trolled. Sure, it’s “April Fools,” but that’s already a dumb holiday and no one has the appetite for pranks coming from media companies as we ease out of a pandemic. If there’s a joke here, it’s the very existence of this article. But once we decided to do the thing, you’d better believe we took it seriously. (Maybe that makes the joke on us.)

Having written about and ranked so much fast food over the past year — chicken sandwiches, french fries, fish sandwiches, bacon burgers, etc. — it was almost inevitable that I’d form some HOT NAPKIN TAKES. Beyond that, how much of a lede do you need?

You read the headline and clicked, you know what you’re getting!

11. In-N-Out

In-N-Out’s napkins are by far fast food’s worst. It’s not so much the quality of the napkin that’s bad — it’s a napkin, it gets the job done — it’s that In-N-Out can’t seem to ever give you a napkin that doesn’t have a piece of cheese stuck to it or a dab of sauce smeared across it. This is because of the brand’s insistence on laying your napkin right on top of your food. (In-N-Out doesn’t put their burgers in closed boxes, which is why this is an issue in the first place.)

The Bottom Line

Napkins are for, you know, cleaning your hands and face. It kind of kills the effect when they’re already greasy.

10. Jack in the Box

Jack in the Box suffers from the same problem as In-N-Out. But instead of only giving you one single dirty napkin, they carelessly toss too many into your bag, and one thing we’ve discovered about Jack in the Box from eating fast food non-stop during the pandemic is that the longer the food stays in your bag, the greasier the bag becomes, and that extends to the napkins.

After a fifteen-minute drive from the drive-thru of your nearest Jack in the Box to your home, these napkins are practically translucent with grease — which means you can’t even save the dozen or so that Jack in the Box gives you.

The Bottom Line

How many trees have to die for the one greaseless Jack in the Box napkin each visit provides?

9. Del Taco

Del Taco’s napkins are just so damn rough. We give them credit for opting for recycled napkins over the soft and fluffy white variety, but using these things is like exfoliating. They are a step up from Jack in the Box but that’s only because Del Taco’s food is significantly less greasy than the stoner’s paradise that is Jack in the Box.

The Bottom Line

There’s got to be a soft recycled napkin out there. Come on, science!

8. McDonald’s

Okay, admittedly napkins numbered nine through six are almost interchangeable — they’re all recycled paper brown napkins — though McDonald’s have a Golden Arches stamp on them, which we guess is worth mentioning because what the hell else are we going to talk about when it comes to napkins?

Man, maybe this is a practical joke. On me.

Anyway, McDonald’s has a good but ultimately middling napkin. It’s not too rough, it’s absorbent, and it has a neutral smell, which helps to feel like you’re actually getting clean and not just wiping a grease-soaked piece of paper on your grease-soaked face.

The Bottom Line

It’s fine. A napkin.

7. Wendy’s

Not a lot of difference between McDonald’s and Wendy’s napkins, but I’d choose Wendy’s food over McDonald’s — so here we are.

The Bottom Line

I’m rapidly growing less convinced that I needed to write this article.

6. Little Caesars

The Little Caesar’s napkins feature the brand’s logo and mascot printed on a brown napkin. We don’t need that extra ink, but the napkin itself is noticeably softer than the napkins ranked below it — it’s definitely of a higher quality.

Napkins don’t have terminology — as far as we know — but we’d guess that these napkins have a higher… let’s call it thread count(?). Best of all, Little Caesars places your napkins on top of the pizza box, which means when it comes time to use them they’re never covered in grease.

The Bottom Line

The Egyptian cotton of recycled napkins. Proof that recycled softness is possible.

5. Wing Stop

God damn, this thing is a straight-up paper towel. We couldn’t ask for more from a wing joint, this napkin is highly absorbent and huge, you’ll probably burn through a couple with your wing order but the only way Wing Stop could’ve done better than this would’ve been to just supply you with a wet nap.

Honestly though, it wouldn’t matter what Wing Stop gave you, even after you wash your hands you’ll still smell the food on you so you might as well just jump in the shower.

The Bottom Line

It’s a legit paper towel. That’s nice when your main dish is driven by sauce and grease.

4. El Pollo Loco

We’re pretty torn on El Pollo Loco’s napkins. On one hand, these napkins feel supremely luxurious — they fold out into a full-on bib and are extremely soft and absorbent. You can truly utilize a single El Pollo Loco napkin for your entire meal, and this is food you eat and tear part with your hands! The napkin is also always perfectly clean, arguably this napkin deserves the number one spot…

And yet we feel wrong giving it to them.

The reason the El Pollo Loco napkin is always pristine is that it’s wrapped in plastic. We get it, fast food is already incredibly wasteful, and you could make the argument that if we’re getting our food to go we’re better off just washing our hands at home than using a napkin at all, but look, you’ve gotta draw the line somewhere, and for us, it’s at feeling comfortable using a napkin that comes wrapped in plastic.

The Bottom Line

Congratulations El Pollo Loco, you made us feel bad about using a (very luxurious) napkin.

3. Five Guys

This is a straight-up supermarket aisle napkin. In fact, my Five Guys might literally just be going to Costco. Sometimes the napkins have a flower embroidered on them, sometimes they just have a bumpy texture, but every time Five Guys stuffs way too many in my bag.

The good news is that because of the quality I don’t throw them away.

The Bottom Line

It’s a good napkin and a junk drawer staple.

2. Chick-fil-A

Chick-fil-A proudly claims that they’re made from 100% recycled content which makes us feel nice and they feature a Chick-fil-A logo stamp and a textured border. Why the textured border? Does it pull food off the face better?

We appreciate you, napkin technologist, wherever you are.

The Bottom Line

Very fine napkin.

1. Subway

When I started to do research about fast food napkins — yes, we did research, isn’t obvious that we’re taking this way too seriously — I found a whole lot of internet chatter about how Subway is incredibly conservative with their napkins. They have a policy, it’s one napkin per six-inch, which means for an entire foot-long sub they give you two napkins. Clearly, these napkins are made of something special and it’s led us to conclude that Subway napkins must be made from people.

Subway’s bread isn’t legally considered bread in Ireland, their tuna has been brought into question as to whether it’s even fish, so it shouldn’t surprise you to hear that Subway’s napkins aren’t really napkins at all. Due to their rarity, they get the number one spot.

The Bottom Line

Subway’s greatest contribution to the fast-food space. Which tells you a lot.

There’s been another shake-up in the DC Comics film world. Warner Bros. has officially halted development on not one but two of its upcoming projects: the Aquaman spinoff The Trench (from James Wan) and New Gods (which was to be directed by Ava DuVernay).

“As part of our DC slate, some legacy development titles including New Gods and The Trench will not be moving forward,” Warner Bros. and DC said in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter. “We thank our partners Ava DuVernay, Tom King, James Wan and Peter Safran for their time and collaboration during this process and look forward to our continued partnership with them on other DC stories. The projects will remain in their skillful hands if they were to move forward in the future.”

According to the new report, Warner Bros. appears to be placing its heaviest focus with DC Films on pairing them up with HBO Max series, like it’s doing with The Batman and James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad, which are both getting streaming spin-offs. As for New Gods, which was in development from DuVernay and award-winning Mister Miracle writer Tom King, it appears that releasing the Snyder Cut affected DuVernay’s project. Via THR:

New Gods was complicated by the fact that its villain, Darkseid, just appeared as a major foil in Zack Snyder’s Justice League and there was a desire to have space between the latter and any new appearances.

Despite the HBO Max-associated news for DuVernay, though, she’s still working on Naomi, a DC series planned for the CW.

(Via The Hollywood Reporter)

Draymond Green recently put out a lengthy Twitter thread with what he thought was a radical idea on how women in sports can put action behind calls for equal pay, saying they need more storytelling and to drive interest in order to gain investment into the sports to raise revenues and increase pay. Soccer star Megan Rapinoe picked apart his thread, pointing out the issues with it to no real response from Green.

On Wednesday night, he was asked about it again and doubled down on aiming the criticism at the women in sports calling for equality, and not those in positions of power.

Green’s complaint that he’s tired of hearing women “complaining” without laying out the steps shows that the issue is simply that he hasn’t really dug in on the situation or listened, because women have been calling for more investment and more coverage for years from the major networks and brand partners. There has been some progress recently, particularly for the WNBA, but there’s still a long way to go. There are plenty, like Rapinoe, who have laid out those steps that Green says he wants to see, and they’ve gone so far as to launch their own media outlets, like TOGETHXR, to provide that storytelling and access that they don’t get as much from major outlets and networks.

Towards the end of his comments, Green does get towards the heart of the issue which is that there are so often companies that say they support women but don’t show it in action. Making sure that vague statements of support turn into actionable response is important, but that’s something to be taken up with the powers that be, not the women playing the sports who call out the inequities they face. Green wants to see himself as an ally in this situation, but the “tough love” approach that he thinks he’s taking by telling them to stop complaining isn’t the right way to go about it. Listening to them, seeing that they are offering solutions, and backing them on that would be far more helpful and effective, because making them out to be complainers only exacerbates the issue.

Baseball’s rule book has a lot of things in it that almost never come up in a normal game, but when they do, the mass confusion can be a rather hysterical sight to see. Enter the Dodgers’ Opening Day game with the Rockies on Thursday, in which Cody Bellinger pulled off one of the strangest feats you’ll ever see on the baseball diamond.

With Justin Turner on first, the Dodger star launched a home run into left center field that just got over the glove of the Rockies left fielder Raimel Tapia. However, because of the way Tapia came back into play looking like he may have caught the ball, Turner got spooked as he rounded second and ran back to first to avoid getting doubled up, passing Bellinger in the process. By rule, Bellinger, the man who had hit what should’ve been a two-run home run, was out, and only Turner could round the bases and score.

It is one of the weirdest situations you’ll ever see in a baseball game, but that is indeed the rule. You cannot pass someone on the basepath, and while in this case it wasn’t Bellinger’s fault, he was called out and rather than taking a 2-0 lead in the third inning, the Dodgers had to settle for a 1-0 advantage thanks to a base-running disaster. The official scoring ended up being the world’s longest RBI single.

One of the biggest changes in the developed world over the past 20 years has been the expansion of gay rights and the acceptance of the LGBT community. In the U.S., a poll conducted in 2004 found that Americans opposed gay marriage by a margin of 60% to 31%. By 2019, those numbers had flipped with 61% being pro-gay marriage 31% against.

One of the landmark moments in the fight for gay rights happened twenty years ago to the day, April 1, 2001, when the Netherlands became the first country in the world to legalize gay marriage.

It all began in the mid-’80s when a group of gay rights activists, headed by Henk Krol – then editor-in-chief of the “Gay Krant” – asked the government to allow same-sex couples to marry.

In 1995, the Dutch parliament created a commission to investigate the idea and in 1997, it decided that marriage rights should be extended to same-sex couples.

In September 2000, the final legislation draft was debated in the Dutch Parliament and it passed the House of Representatives by 109 votes to 33 and later, the Senate, by 49 votes to 26.

At the stroke of midnight on April 1, 2001, the mayor of Amsterdam Job Cohen married four gay couples in a joint ceremony.

“There are two reasons to rejoice,″ Cohen told the newlyweds before pink champagne and pink cake were served. ″You are celebrating your marriage, and you are also celebrating your right to be married.″

Gert Kasteel and Dolf Pasker were among the four couples to be married by the mayor that day. “It is very nice to look back to see how young we were,” he said watching a video of the ceremony.

“I’m very proud that it’s possible,” Kasteel told Reuters. “that we could play a little part of it. We made history.”

Since the Netherlands legalized gay marriage, it has been made legal in 28 countries worldwide as well as the self-governing island of Taiwan.

The Netherlands marked the anniversary by floating a massive inflatable pink cake with candles spouting rainbow flames through Amsterdam’s canals and flying a large gay pride flag from the church next to the Anne Frank House.

“Nearly 30 countries followed the Netherlands so that’s really very nice. Very good for the gay people and for society as a whole, I think because it’s important that everyone in society feels at home,” Pasker said.

Amsterdam’s mayor celebrated the occasion by noting that the gay rights movement has only just begun. “At the same time it is a moment to recognize that the struggle is not yet over; not worldwide, not nationally, but also not in Amsterdam,” Mayor Femke Halsema told The Associated Press.

Gay marriage is still illegal in over 70 countries across the globe. In eight of them, homosexuality is punishable by death.

“If you had told me 20 years ago that today same-sex marriage would be a reality in 29 countries, I would not have believed you,” Jessica Stern, executive director of the global LGBTQ-rights group OutRight Action International.

“The progress has been great, no doubt. But we have a long road ahead,” Stern said.

Is there anything more lovely on a nice day than seeing families playing at the park? Kids being away from screens and the house, getting their energies out on the playground is a beautiful sight indeed. Such joy. Such innocence.

But when you’re the mom with the kids at the playground, the reality has a slightly different feel.

Don’t get me wrong. Taking kids to the playground is awesome in many, many ways. Kids love to play and having a place for them to run and climb and slide and swing is fabulous. But the playground is sneaky. The fact that the kids are outside and occupied sort of fools you into thinking you can take a bit of a break from the relentlessness of parenting, but oh ho ho no. That’s simply not a thing.

Parenting at the playground is just a different level of parenting. With the wee ones, you can’t take your eyes off them for a second, lest they wander toward the road or into a duck pond or away with another family whose snacks look yummier than yours. With the slightly older ones, they won’t let you take your eyes off them for a second, with a constant stream of, “Look at this! Watch this! Watch me do this!” Adorable? Yes. But also a little much when Mommy is tired and was hoping for a little respite.

Mom and viral video maven Tiffany Jenkins highlights these truths and more in her hilarious reenactment of park day parenting. The video has been viewed more than 7 million times, and it’s not hard to see why. No one does the “everymom” better than Tiffany Jenkins, and she is definitely the everymom here.

Presenting “Taking my kids to the playground be like” with the subtitle “Thing I say at the friggin playground.” Enjoy:

How accurate is that? From the multiple potty requests to the smelling of the sad flowers to the , she truly captures the funny reality of being an exhausted mom taking kids to the park. And if you’re someone who struggles with any form of social anxiety, you probably also appreciated the eye contact panic.

Going to the playground isn’t necessarily the fun and games it appears to be. We know it’s good for kids’ social, mental, emotional, and physical well-being. We know this. But it’s basically like taking all the normal parenting stuff and transferring it to an outdoor space with random strangers, other kids, and bathrooms where you don’t want your kids to touch anything. (It is infinitely better if you can meet another mom friend at the park. That’s 100% the way to go if you must go.)

If you found this video entertaining, I highly suggest checking out Tiffany Jenkins’ other videos. She not only tackles parenting with humor and wit, but she also digs into mental health issues in a way that’s relatable and real while also being hilarious. In addition, she speaks about addiction as a person in recovery and provides a welcoming community for everyone dealing with any of these issues. She’s kind of impossible not to adore. You can find and follow her on Facebook at Juggling the Jenkins.

The first day of April is almost always a minefield of jokes and fake announcements, but James Gunn delivered some new The Suicide Squad news on Thursday that was very much legit. Fresh off a whole bunch of new posters and a red band trailer from the DC film, the film officially brought a trailer to the mix as well.

As Gunn described on Twitter on Thursday afternoon, the trailer is no April Fool’s Day joke. And though it was already out for at least a day, in theaters likely showing Kong vs. Godzilla, not everyone is jabbed and ready to return to the big screen. And so the theatrical trailer is now on Twitter, for the rest of us to enjoy and dissect for clues about the movie’s plot and which actors are involved in which roles.

If you’ve seen the first Suicide Squad or know anything about the concept at all, part of the trailer is just recapping the whole conceit of the film. But there are some small signs of humor in the production: a mention of “suicide” and some views of the more animalistic members of the squad.

“What’s it like living life as a punchline?” a voiceover asks in the trailer, as King Shark peers into an aquarium that looks a lot like a Finding Nemo reference.

There’s also a very vibrant sequence with Harley Quinn shooting some guns while an explosion of color is set off in the background. “They’re dying to save the world” is the main catchphrase from the trailer, a juxtaposition that’s also found when John Cena, as Peacemaker, deadpans how much he “cherishes” peace and the deadly lengths he’ll go to achieve it.

As Gunn explained on Thursday, he didn’t want the two trailers to tell the same story. Hence them dropping around the same time but each having their own details and narratives in place.

We’ll see if this version of Suicide Squad really does work better with a “the” at the front of it when it hits theaters on August 6.