Month: October 2021

A moment that seemed unfathomable as recently as two years ago has come to fruition. For the first time in his 22-year NFL career, Tom Brady headed to Gillette Stadium in Foxboro as a member of a team that wasn’t the New England Patriots. Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers squared off against his old squad on Sunday Night Football this week, and even if it wasn’t the only game on television in that window, the eyes of every football fan would be locked onto the matchup between Brady and Bill Belichick.

It’s seemingly been the only football game that anyone has talked about for the last week or so, and unsurprisingly, NBC decided to go all-out for the occasion. In addition to its aforementioned time slot and the amount of discourse there’s been around the game, the network enlisted the help of Adele in its pregame promo, as it used the song “Hello” to welcome Brady back to his old stomping ground.

Brady’s laundry list of accomplishments from his time with the Patriots has been listed out a million times, but most famously, he and Belichick combined to win six Super Bowl in New England. He’s gotten one sixth of the way to matching that in Tampa, as the Bucs lifted the Lombardi Trophy last season.

A moment that seemed unfathomable as recently as two years ago has come to fruition. For the first time in his 22-year NFL career, Tom Brady headed to Gillette Stadium in Foxboro as a member of a team that wasn’t the New England Patriots. Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers squared off against his old squad on Sunday Night Football this week, and even if it wasn’t the only game on television in that window, the eyes of every football fan would be locked onto the matchup between Brady and Bill Belichick.

It’s seemingly been the only football game that anyone has talked about for the last week or so, and unsurprisingly, NBC decided to go all-out for the occasion. In addition to its aforementioned time slot and the amount of discourse there’s been around the game, the network enlisted the help of Adele in its pregame promo, as it used the song “Hello” to welcome Brady back to his old stomping ground.

Brady’s laundry list of accomplishments from his time with the Patriots has been listed out a million times, but most famously, he and Belichick combined to win six Super Bowl in New England. He’s gotten one sixth of the way to matching that in Tampa, as the Bucs lifted the Lombardi Trophy last season.

Netflix’s Squid Game is poised for world domination, not only because it’s on track to be the streamer’s most-watched show ever but because a broadband provider is suing over a massive surge in traffic. And well, no wonder, for this Korean show is almost too popular. It’s not real stuff, but the show tells the story of hundreds of desperate contestants who play a deadly survival game, all to win billions of prize money, at the best of… who? (That aspect is mysterious until you watch.) The consequence of losing the games-within-the-games is certain death, and people truly can’t get enough of the premise or the show’s execution (pun fully intended).

The reception across the globe tells the tale. Squid Game is the top pick for Netflix viewers in 90 countries and counting, and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has noticed. He did, however, step up to graciously tweet congratulations at Netflix co-CEOs Reed Hastings and Ted Sarandos while writing that they, and the rest of Netflix “get it right so often” with their content prowess. He added, “Their internationalization strategy isn’t easy, and they’re making it work. Impressive and inspiring.”

Granted, Bezos admits here that he hasn’t watched the show, and that really doesn’t matter (yet), right? Welllll, maybe not. Very clearly, these content rivals go toe-to-toe on a daily basis; and Bezos’ remarks read as goodwill, but people aren’t totally buying that this is a completely innocent tweet. People are only kidding here — maybe! — because Squid Game is a blistering critique on capitalism with a capital “C,” and therefore, Capitalism is the villain. And yeah, uh, because Jeff Bezos is currently ranked as the second-richest person in the world. Also, people really don’t know what to think about Bezos lavishing generous praise upon Netflix.

Squid Game is currently streaming on Netflix, but you probably know that already!

One of the biggest NFL games of the year is taking place on Sunday evening in Massachusetts. After two decades of excellence for the New England Patriots, Tom Brady is making his return to Foxboro as the starting quarterback for the reigning Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers to take on Bill Belichick, Mac Jones, and co.

The game as highly-anticipated a regular season game as we’ve seen in a while, which is a pretty big reason why it got a primetime slot. NBC sent its Football Night In America crew to the game, with one of Brady’s former teammates, Rodney Harrison, there to provide some interesting perspective.

Nothing that Harrison said really drew a ton of attention from folks on Twitter. What did get plenty of comment, though, was that Harrison was out there in the midst of a monsoon, and while every member of the sideline crew was holding their own umbrella, Harrison, for some reason, had someone doing him a solid.

Even NBC Sports’ Maria Taylor couldn’t help but make a joke about the entire thing, giving some praise to the person lending a literal hand to Harrison.

Perhaps this is the result of a lingering shoulder issue from Harrison’s playing days or something, but regardless, shout out to the person holding this umbrella.

Democratic Senator Tammy Duckworth — a disabled veteran and double amputee due to injuries sustained in combat — isn’t a big fan of Fox News. That’s generally to be expected, considering the conservative news channel’s undeniable slant, but things have previously gotten ugly. That includes Duckworth telling Tucker Carlson to f*ck off (after he ridiculed women in combat) while tweeting a terrifying GIF from his Dancing With The Stars stint and writing, “While he was practicing his two-step, America’s female warriors were hunting down Al Qaeda and proving the strength of America’s women.”

Well, Duckworth surely won’t be happy about a tweeted headline (from Fox News, via Mediaite) that leaves out a lot of context about a situation. The tweet points towards an on-site Fox News story, which frames the matter with a little more context, but it’s still not great because it suggests that Duckworth shouldn’t accept a property-tax break that applies to vets in Illinois who are “at least 70% disabled.” The further suggestion is that Duckworth’s “income is too high to justify” the break, and Fox News cites a Chicago Sun-Times report that singles Duckworth out as one of 27,000+ Cook County homeowners who claim similar property-tax exemptions. That article argues that Duckworth’s income is such that she should not have received the $37,842 total tax break over five years.

It’s kind-of a bizarre stance for the Chicago Sun-Times to take, and it’s been amplified by Fox News, which used this headline on their tweet to promote their article: “Democrat Tammy Duckworth hasn’t paid property tax on her Illinois home since 2015, report says.”

Well, the backlash is fierce, mostly because, again, the tweeted headline abandons context and reads like an attack, which people are calling “bullsh*t,” “shameless,” and “trash.” People also really can’t figure out what Fox News intends to say about disabled veterans and tax breaks, all while not saying jack about how billionaires (including owner Rupert Murdoch) gladly accept enormous tax breaks and fork over practically nothing in federal income tax.

Duckworth hasn’t dignified this attack with a tweet yet, but considering that, yeah, she told Tucker Carlson to shove it, there might be a response coming.

(Via Mediaite)

Back in the summer of 2019, Noname launched her popular book club and more than two years later, the rapper has now opened a central location for the group. It took months of planning and construction, but now, the Radical Hood Library is open in Los Angeles. “We are so excited to finally open our Radical Hood Library!” a Twitter post from the Noname Book Club account read. “This is a black led organization that was created to service black/brown folks and the RSVP prioritization will reflect that. There will be music, free food, and more! Please bring a new or used book. See you there!!!”

According to Noname herself, the library includes books from a wide array of categories. The readings are organized by prison writings, the global Black resistance, imperialism, revolution, a section for kids called the “young homies” books, and more. The rapper even revealed that her favorite sections are F*ck The Police (abolish text) and the Black Capitalism Won’t Save Us. “More sections will be added as we grow,” she tweeted. “This is just the beginning.”

Smino, who has often collaborated with Noname, celebrated the opening in a tweet writing, “NONAME JUST OPENED A BOOK STORE INNA HOOD.” In response, Noname wrote, “even better, we a library so everything FREE.”

Grimes recently tried to mess with the paparazzi. Photos of the singer captured her reading Karl Marx’s The Communist Manifesto while out on a walk. The images left people confused, especially considering she’s married to one of the world’s richest capitalists. But according to the singer herself, it was all in an attempt to snag some light-hearted attention for herself. “Paparazzi followed me [to] a shoot so I tried [to] think what I could do that would yield the most Onion-ish possible headline and it worked haha,” she wrote in a tweet with a screenshot of a New York Post article about her.

All of this comes after Elon Musk announced that he and Grimes were “semi-separated” after three years together, adding that they “still love each other, see each other frequently, and are on great terms.” He continued, “It’s mostly that my work at SpaceX and Tesla requires me to be primarily in Texas or traveling overseas and her work is primarily in LA. She’s staying with me now and Baby X is in the adjacent room.”

After the announcement, Grimes released a new song titled “Love,” which she said was her response to the “privacy invasion, bad press, online hate and harassment by paparazzi I’ve experienced this week.”

Perhaps the best playoff race that we’ve seen in some time is happening for the two Wild Card spots in the American League. Four teams — the New York Yankees, the Boston Red Sox, the Toronto Blue Jays, and the Seattle Mariners — entered Sunday’s final day of the regular season with a chance to make it to the Wild Card game.

A whole lot of stuff is on the table, including a potential four-way tie for the two spots that would make the always-fascinating Wild Card race a little more wild than usual. But the easiest potential outcome is the Yankees beat the Tampa Bay Rays and the Red Sox take down the Washington Nationals, which would mean the sport’s greatest rivalry would gill that spot.

Yankees third baseman Gio Urshela decided to add some fireworks to the team’s already exciting 162nd game. Rays outfielder Austin Meadows was at the plate and popped up an offering from Chad Green. While Urshela was shifted quite a way away from third base, he booked it over to the Rays dugout to try and record the out. He did it, but it came at quite the price, as he went flying down the stairs to enter the dugout.

Even if he didn’t go down a flight of stairs, it was a sensational play by the usually sure-handed third baseman to record the out. He also apparently inspired the umpire to try and do something similar as he went to make sure Urshela caught the ball.

There’s no better time to make the catch of your life, I suppose.

It was said that the moviegoing experience was dead. One would-be blockbuster after another underperformed. Some tanked. The fear among theater owners was that cinema would permanently move to streaming, everyone watching big films on their comparatively small TVs. But lately there’s been some good news at the box office. First, Marvel’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings proved a massive hit, breaking pandemic-era records. Now there’s a new box office king, and his name is Tom Hardy.

As per The Hollywood Reporter, Venom: Let There Be Carnage had a pandemic-era best opening weekend, raking in a whopping $90.1 million in the U.S. alone. That’s still shy of the $96.2 million Joker hauled two years back, in happier times. But it still bested the two previous record holders. Black Widow opened to $81 million in July. And while Shang-Chi amassed $94.7 million, that was over the four-day Labor Day weekend. $75.4 million of that came in the first three days.

The Venom sequel — which ropes in Woody Harrelson as the main baddie, with a far more evil symbiote of his own — was the subject of numerous delays and release date switcheroos. In August alone it was bumped from late September to mid-October, only to get moved to October 1. But clearly there was no need to worry. Movies? Maybe they’re back.

(Via THR)

Britney Spears has had some good news of late. Her father Jamie Spears was recently suspended as the conservator of her estate, a ruling that came after he was accused of extorting his daughter as well as illegally bugging her house. The suspension will last until December 31, with John Zabel, who is a CPA, temporarily assuming the role. Britney has yet to directly speak out about the win, but in a recent Instagram post, she acknowledged that there are good things to celebrate.

“Although there is change and things to celebrate in my life, I still have a lot of healing to do!!!” Spears wrote in the caption. “Thankfully I have a good support system and am taking time to understand it’s ok to slow down and breathe!!!!! Only through self love I can pray … love … and support others in return!!!!”

The court ruling came after the release of the New York Times’ documentary Controlling Britney Spears, which alleged that Jamie was illegally bugging his daughter’s house. Still, Britney warned of false narratives in documentaries about her. “It’s really crazy guys,” she wrote in an Instagram post she later edited. “I watched a little bit of the last documentary and I hate to inform you but a lot of what you heard is not true !!!”