Month: July 2021

Steve Ballmer has a reputation for being the most animated owner in all of basketball. While that title in all of sports probably belongs to that guy in China who owns a soccer team and makes them play him and his son, Ballmer has this market cornered in the NBA and, probably, in the United States.

That leads to Ballmer doing some really weird stuff when he celebrates good things happening to the Los Angeles Clippers. Our latest example of this came on Wednesday night during Game 6 of the Western Conference Finals against the Phoenix Suns. I’m just gonna drop in the video and then we’re all gonna talk about how weird it is, cool? Cool. Let’s go to the video…

That’s super weird, man! I have no idea what he’s even trying to go for with this, it’s not like an emphatic slap on the back or anything, this is just grabbing and shaking another human’s thigh. Anyway, the Twitterverse, as you can expect, was just as confused about this as you and I were, friend.

https://twitter.com/MattDoyle76/status/1410440353874952194

One person even gave it as good of a nickname as you can, given the circumstances.

Having said this, please do not ever give another person a thigh five.

The third quarter of Game 6 in L.A. between the Clippers and Suns saw both teams make runs, with Phoenix ultimately going up 14 headed to the fourth, but it also saw things get a little chippy between some familiar foes.

Chris Paul closed the third on an 8-0 burst of his own, but in the middle of that there were the antics that have made him a despised player, in spite of his immense talent, for many. Paul shook DeMarcus Cousins on a drive and hit a floater in the paint, and then turned around to give Boogie a little bump. Cousins took the bait and put his elbow up high into Paul’s neck, not exactly with significant force but certainly to send a little message, and Paul proceeded to take a full on WWE-style bump.

The refs would take a look at the monitor and handed Cousins a technical foul for “a physical taunt,” which gave Paul a free throw that he missed in what many felt was an all-time “ball don’t lie” moment.

As many pointed out, Paul and Cousins have a lengthy history of this sort of thing, with Paul producing a legendary flop against Boogie back when CP3 played in L.A. and Cousins was in Sacramento.

The best part of all of it was Cousins watching the replay on the jumbotron and reacting with a knowing shake of the head, almost as if to say, I can’t believe he did it again.

Since Paul missed the free throw it proved to be ultimately harmless, but will be a moment revisited plenty as Paul put forth another all-time flop. We weren’t alone in drawing the WWE comparison, as Twitter was flooded with wrestling (and soccer) GIFs after Paul’s antics.

The good news for Paul is that his hot run continued into the early fourth quarter and, as such, the conversation after the game will hopefully be about his incredible play possibly getting him to his first Finals and not…that.

On the same day he was named worst living president and tried to ignore a question about his role in the Jan. 6 insurrection, Donald Trump was delivered another crushing blow: His family business, The Trump Organization, and one of his closest confidants, Allen H. Weisselberg (seen perching, out of focus, behind Trump and his oldest son, above), were indicted by a grand jury, as per The New York Times. The charges themselves were not made public, but the indictment itself is expected to be unsealed as early as Thursday.

The news is a major development in a year-long investigation into the now-former president’s dealings, which have been undertaken by both Manhattan district attorney, Cryus R. Vance, and the state’s attorney, Letitia James. Trump has long denounced the investigation as a “witch hunt,” words he’s often used when to decry probes into his questionable actions, but, as the Times puts it, “defending his company on criminal charges could be an expensive distraction as he considers another presidential run.”

Weisselberg, the Trump Organization’s chief financial adviser, has been associated with the family since 1973. First hired by Fred Trump, he started working closely with his son as he made a name for himself as a Manhattan developer. When he moved into the White House after winning the presidency, he entrusted the former bookkeeper with overseeing his company, carrying on work that has long been behind-the-scenes.

His ex-wife Jennifer — who aided the investigation following a nasty divorce — compared Trump and Weisselberg to “Batman and Robin.” She is also responsible for a recent bombshell report, which depicted Trump crashing the shiva for Weisselberg’s mother and proceeding to insult his home, showed naked pictures to mourners, and even hit on his then-spouse. Her husband, she said, did nothing to stop him.

While Weisselberg could seem outwardly pleasant, Michael Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer, who is currently serving time for him, painted a different picture of him, as per NYT:

Among the tasks Mr. Weisselberg attacked with fervor, former employees recalled, was ensuring that, per Mr. Trump’s direction, no dime left the company’s coffers unless absolutely necessary.

“He and Trump were like Frick and Frack when it came to stiffing vendors,” Mr. Cohen — who at times took on that same role for Mr. Trump — wrote in a book published last year. Mr. Burke, who served as chief financial officer for Mr. Trump’s casino business, said any Trump employee who dealt with vendors knew to “squeeze every penny” out of people, and that Mr. Weisselberg excelled at minimizing and delaying payment.

Weisselberg’s fate, and that of the former president’s business, will be made known as early as Thursday. And now his decades-long loyalty to a guy who can’t spell “junkie” will be put to the test.

(Via NYT)

Quentin Tarantino just released his first novel — a sort-of loose take on his last movie, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, which reveals, among other things, whether or not stuntman Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt in the film) actually killed his wife. And so he’s been making the rounds, yapping with, among others, Bill Maher, with Marc Maron, and with Joe Rogan. The latter predictably yielded some scandalous takeaways, but he was also sure to tell the NewsRadio alum all about what could be his long-threatened cinematic swan song: Kill Bill Vol. 3.

Now, Tarantino is infamous for airing his ideas in public and not following through. He’s also been talking about a third volume in Kill Bill since the films came out nearly two decades ago. At one point he said it should follow the daughter of Vivica A. Fox’s Vernita Green, who watched her mother get killed by Uma Thurman’s The Bride, aka Beatrix Kiddo. Kiddo even told the kid that, when she’s older, if she’s still raw, she should hunt her down.

But now he thinks it may wind up focusing on Kiddo and her kid. After all, it would give him another chance to work with her real-life daughter, Maya Hawke, who played one of the Manson clan in Hollywood.

“I think it’s just revisiting the characters twenty years later and just imagining the Bride and her daughter, Bebe, having 20 years of peace, and then that peace is shattered,” Tarantino told Rogan. “And now The Bride and Bebe are on the run and just the idea of being able to cast Uma [Thurman] and cast her daughter Maya [Hawke] in the thing would be fucking exciting.”

He could also bring back other characters. “Elle Driver is still out there, Sophie Fatale got her arm cut off, but she’s still out there,” Tarantino said, referring to the characters played by Daryl Hannah and Julie Dreyfus. “They all got Bill’s money. Actually, Gogo [Chiaki Kuriyama] had a twin sister Shiaki and so her twin sister could show up.”

Again, Tarantino loves to spitball with a microphone rolling, so he could wind up doing something else — maybe convincing Paramount to let him do that R-rated Star Trek. Or he could just retire early and write novels while hanging out with his wife and kid, as he mentioned on his Maron appearance. Whatever he wants to do is cool with all of us, even if it’s just books from here on out. People deserve to be happy.

(Via IndieWire)

Last month, Britney Spears reportedly had plans to speak with a judge about removing her father as co-conservator. But now, a week after she made her first testimony about her situation, a judge denied her request.

According to TMZ, Britney was not looking to push her other co-conservator, Jodi Montgomery, out of their role as she was satisfied with their work. However, her displeasure with the way her father has handled the conservatorship pushed her to request his removal. Unfortunately for the singer, her father will retain his position, but Bessemer Trust, a financial planning company from Boston, will step in as co-conservator of her finances with Jamie for the time being.

This comes after the singer’s father reportedly said he is not the one restricting her freedoms. According to TMZ, Jamie said he is not in control of things like Britney’s birth control usage and how much time she spends with her boyfriend. He adds that “he has been cut off from communicating with her.” Jamie noted that while he’s in charge of her finances, co-conservator Jodi Montgomery is in charge of her day-to-day decisions and has been for the last two years.

The judge’s denial comes a week after Britney called the conservatorship “abusive” during a hearing about the court-ordered arrangement. “I’ve been in denial,” she admitted. “I’ve been in shock. I am traumatized. I just want my life back.”

All Michael Carter-Williams was trying to do post a nice workout photo for the gram. And instead, he got drug tested.

After Carter-Williams, who spent last year with the Magic, posted the photo, teammate Mo Bamba commented “This ***** boutta get us all drug tested” with a crying face emoji. And, per Carter-Williams, he immediately got called that he was being randomly drug tested.

“No lie bro. I just got a call sayin they comin to the crib tomorrow. I swear on everything,” Carter-Williams wrote in response to Bamba.

This could be a coincidence and not a response to the photo, but it is far funnier to imagine someone from the NBA scrolling through a curated Instagram feed of just NBA players and stopping at MCW’s and making the call for him to immediately get tested. Carter-Williams does look really jacked in his photo, more so than he did when the season ended. He’s probably spent the almost two months of the offseason lifting weights and adding muscle that he couldn’t hold or add during the season. And with the caption “Bully ball,” he also is clearly enjoying adding all of the muscle to his frame. Honestly, good for him on achieving the glow up, but with added muscle comes a bit of extra scrutiny — it doesn’t help that another young teammate, Cole Anthony, commented “Roids on 100.”

Carter-Williams also is in an interesting spot in his career. He’s developed into a stout defender and good veteran leader in Orlando and it’s a role he’s going to continue in next year in the last year of a two-year contract. Carter-Williams also may start depending on Markelle Fultz’s status coming off an ACL year, as well as Anthony’s development, and ultimately be a valuable resource for whomever the next Orlando head coach is. He also might be significantly beefier than he was before.

With much of the country in the midst of an insufferable heatwave, it’s no surprise that the conversation around global warming has returned to the forefront. Many people are doing their best to live as efficiently and cleanly as possible. Among them is Drake, who just teamed up with the climate-focused startup Aspiration in order to reduce and offset his carbon footprint.

“It’s exciting to partner with a company that’s found an easy way to offer everyone the ability to reduce their carbon footprint,” Drake said on Wednesday, according to Complex. “Aspiration’s innovative approach to combating climate change is really inspiring and I hope together we can help to motivate and create awareness.”

The rapper’s manager, Future The Prince, also chimed in with comments of his own. “Drake is a visionary with big ideas,” he said. “I was incredibly fortunate to find him a partner to not only help him realize his personal goals but to inspire others along the way. Drake, Dreamcrew, and I are all super excited about what Aspiration is doing and the possibilities and the road ahead.”

The company announced that through the partnership, they will calculate the carbon footprint of the rapper’s travel and other events — like tours — and use the resulting figure to offset the impact through its reforestation program. Their partnership is also focused on the firm’s Sustainable Impact Services, which uses Aspiration’s proprietary tools and tech in order to help offset carbon footprints.

It all started with an AITA (“Am I the Asshole?” for the uninitiated) on Reddit, in which a man explained how he and his rich family went on a ritzy vacation and invited his girlfriend along, expecting her to pay her share of it. He comes from a moneyed family and makes $150,000 a year. She’s a teacher, making $45,000. She took a second job to be able to afford to go on the trip, but still had to duck out of some outings and meals because they were too pricey for her budget.

AITA for inviting my (29M) Girlfriend (28F) on an expensive vacation and expecting her to pay all of her share? (I… https://t.co/3GkK9pE1lu

— Am I the Asshole? (@AITA_reddit)
1624880418.0

The man wanted to know if he was the a-hole because he was disappointed that she didn’t just tell him she was struggling with the cost. As if it weren’t obvious, and he couldn’t have offered to cover what she couldn’t. The whole story was wild, and his responses to people’s comments were even wilder (as he came to the realization that he “deserved more” than her) so yeah, he was most definitely the a-hole in the situation.

But the post did prompt a lot of interesting conversation about what is actually reasonable to expect financially in a relationship between two people who make drastically different incomes.

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It’s a big question, considering that how often couples fight over finances. A study of more than 4,500 couples in the journal Family Relationships found that arguing about money early on was the strongest predictor of divorce, so you definitely want to get that piece ironed out early on.

Some people take the “equitable, not equal” approach. If one partner makes significantly more money than the other, then they should pay a larger share of the couple’s expenses.

I know this won’t be a hot take for people with sense but:

The division of financial responsibility in a relation… https://t.co/Q84aQFkcXm

— Keshav Kant (@MxKantEven)
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But does that go for all expenses or just the non-negotiable bills? What if one partner is a big spender while the other is more frugal? What if the person who makes less money is the one who wants to spend more?

What if the person who contributes more then feels like they have more say in or control over financial decisions? What if the person making less money turns out to be a freeloader? See? Talking about money can help you figure out elements of your partner’s personality that might end up being a dealbreaker down the road.

@ill_loumnotti @MxKantEven The disparity in income between myself and my wife is about 13 : 1. I don’t have any de… https://t.co/UJcepuVKEA

— RunningMn9 (@RunningMn9)
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Some suggest having yours/mine/ours accounts, where you share one account for shared expenses, but maintain separate accounts so you have some independent money that you don’t have to consult your partner about. Of course, you still have to determine how much each person contributes to the shared account. A percentage of income might be fair, or a percentage of expected bill amounts.

@_Zuks @MxKantEven This is exactly what my partner and i did when we got engaged many years ago. It took hours at t… https://t.co/LNGr9yru0F

— Jade is busy moving || #Joii 🏳️‍🌈 💜 (@onejadeprincess)
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According to advice from Quicken, keeping an account of your own isn’t a bad idea. They recommend that each partner maintain a separate bank account in their own name, even if they have a shared account for most things, so that they can have some amount of money that they have complete control over.

Then there’s the “pool it all together and share everything” approach. This is what I and my husband of 23 years and I have done, and it’s worked out just fine. We’ve each made varying amounts of money during our marriage, with him out-earning me by a lot during most of it since I worked part-time from home while the kids were young, but we see the money we earn as the family’s money for the most part, so it’s not been an issue. If we want to buy something outside of the norm, we talk about it.

That approach works for us because we share the same values around money and are both conscientious about spending. For some people, especially those who have been in relationships where money was used to control or abuse, total sharing might not work. Each couple has to choose what works for them.

@Studio_Ty84 @MxKantEven My husband and I do this. He makes 3x what I make, and I am in charge of the accounts.
It… https://t.co/xm0y72x5C6

— Blackcat476 (@blackcat476)
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The key, as with almost any other aspect of a relationship, is communication. Make clear what you feel is important when it comes to money, and acknowledge that what your partner feels is important carries the same weight. Sometimes you’ll have to compromise and sometimes each person will have to concede something.

But whatever you do, don’t wait to talk openly and honestly about money matters in a relationship. The girlfriend in the AITA post likely skirted disaster with that boyfriend, as it sounds like he would have been a nightmare to be married to. She’s lucky to have found out now what he truly values.

Money isn’t everything, but it’s a pretty big something in a relationship. Get it figured out early, and you’ll save yourself a lot of stress and frustration in the long run.

A 20-year-old TikTokker with the username @kegan_stiles shared an audio illusion that reminds a lot of people of the “laurel” and “yanny” debate from three years ago. The clip features a crowd chanting a phrase in what sounds like an English accent, and provides nine different choices for what they may be saying.

The crazy thing is that all of the phrases are very different, but when you read them while listening to the chanting they all appear to be the correct answer.

Are they chanting “Bart Simpson bouncing,” “rotating pirate ship,” “that isn’t my receipt,” “lobsters in motion,” “that is embarrassing,” “lactates In pharmacy,” “I’m chasing Martian,” “baptism piracy,” or “that isn’t mercy”?

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“What do you hear?” @kegan_stiles asks. If you’re like most people on the planet you’ll agree with TikTokker Impishfont713 who replied: “Actually, whenever I look at a different piece of text, that’s what I hear.”

(For the answer, scroll down to the bottom of the page.)

Jessamyn Schertz, an assistant professor at the University of Toronto’s Department of Linguistics, says that the clip is an auditory illusion and that what we see often affects what we hear.

“Humans are so used to listening to speech that it seems easy and effortless, but actually, reconstructing someone’s message from the sounds we hear is an extremely complex task,” she told CTV. “Just by looking at a word — or even by closing your eyes and imagining a word — that influences the way we hear the exact same sound.”

The answer:

The crowd is chanting “That is embarrassing.”

That Is Embarrassing

www.youtube.com

The recording is a soccer chant from Derby County F.C. in Derbyshire, England. Although it would be much cooler if they were chanting “Bart Simpson bouncing.”

G Herbo is just days away from dropping his second album in as many years. Titled 25, it follows PTSD, released last spring, and he just dropped the tracklist.

Across the project’s 16 songs, which extends to 19 with its bonus tracks, G Herbo calls on Polo G, Lil Tjay, 21 Savage, The Kid Laroi, Gunna, Yosohn, and Rowdy Rebel to assist him. The Chicago rapper first announced the project last week through a video trailer.

In addition to revealing the album’s tracklist, Herbo also sharing a lengthy message on Instagram about the road that led to 25. “I LOST MORE THAN I EVER GAINED BEING IN THE STREETS & STILL NEVER COMPLAINED,” he wrote in part. “NOW THAT I TURNED #25 I JUST GREW A LIL WISER BUT IM STILL JUST AS PASSIONATE ABOUT THIS SH*T & EVERYTHING I BELIEVE IN! I COULD GO ON & ON ABOUT THIS SH*T BUT IM NOT!

You can view the artwork for 25 above and its tracklist below.

1. “I Don’t Wanna Die”
2. “Cry No More” Feat. Polo G & Lil TJay
3. “Stand The Rain”
4. “T.O.P.” Feat. 21 Savage
5. “You Can’t” Feat. Kid Laroi & Gunna
6. “No Jail Time”
7. “Cold World” Feat. Yosohn
8. “Whole Hearts”
9. “2 Chains”
10. “Drill” Feat. Rowdy Rebel
11. “Trenches Know My Name”
12. “Doughboy”
13. “Demands”
14. “Loyalty”
15. “Pray 4 My Enemies”
16. “Turning 25”

BONUS:
17. “Statement”
18. “Really Like That”
19. “Break Yo’self”

25 is out 7/2 via Machine/Epic. Pre-order it here.

Gunna is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.