Month: February 2022

WNBA free agency officially began on Tuesday, the third under the new CBA that significantly increased the guaranteed money allocated to player salaries, but there is still a long way to go to get WNBA players paid and treated like the top-level professional athletes they are.

A couple examples from this offseason have highlighted how the league falls short when it comes to player compensation. One was the report from ESPN’s Holly Rowe that Courtney Vandersloot felt “disrespected” by the offer made to her by the Chicago Sky and that her EuroLeague team, UMMC Ekaterinburg, was looking into paying her to sit out the WNBA season.

It seems as though that most extreme option won’t happen and Vandersloot is expected return to the Sky to defend their WNBA title this year, but that it was even a possibility for a EuroLeague team to pay a player to sit out the season because that kind of money can be thrown around by them offered a stark picture of the difference in financial investment in players stateside.

There was also Mark Davis confirming that new Aces coach Becky Hammon was making north of $1 million per year to lead Las Vegas’ squad, which is more than four-times as much as the max salary for players in the league. Aces star center Liz Cambage pointed out the issues with that on Twitter, noting that she has to upgrade seats on commercial flights on her own dime if she wants to fly anything other than coach.

On Thursday, Davis was asked about Cambage’s comments and said he agrees 100 percent and wants players to be paid more and for teams to provide them with chartered flights and meet what are basic travel necessities for every male pro sport.

He also said that while the player salaries and flight situation is part of the CBA, coaches salaries aren’t and he wanted to use Hammon’s deal as a way to make clear the level of investment that is deserved in the WNBA.

Davis buying the Aces immediately became the wealthiest owner in the WNBA, and it’s clear that he wants to push the rest of his fellow owners into investing more in their teams. It is apparently in the league’s rules that teams cannot charter flights, as that would create a competitive disadvantage, which seems rather preposterous. If a team owner can’t or won’t invest enough in their team to make sure they’re on a comfortable, direct flight from game to game then maybe that person or group of people shouldn’t own a professional sports team.

Davis comes from the NFL where you spend money to make money, and it’ll be very interesting to see how much of a push he can make for some changes to the WNBA’s business model. Owners almost always are pushing for lower costs and lower salaries, but the WNBA operates at such a bare bones level on things like travel that even Davis sees that more investment is needed in order to get the best from players (and also put the best product out there to increase fan interest and revenue).

In the case of the other major lawsuit against concert promoter Live Nation, Pitchfork reports that the $20 million lawsuit planned by Drakeo The Ruler’s family in response to his death during the Once Upon A Time In LA festival in December has not only been filed but raised to $60 million on behalf of his young son, Caiden Caldwell, by his mother, Tianna Purtue.

The lawsuit, which also names promoter partners Bobby Dee Presents and C3 Presents, as well as Banc of California Stadium owners Los Angeles Football Club, cites the disaster at Astroworld just a week before and accuses the promoters of negligence. The lawsuit says that they did not place “the safety and wellbeing of its guests and its invited artists ahead of profits,” leading to the lax security conditions that allowed Drakeo’s assailant to fatally stab him in the neck during a backstage brawl.

The suit expresses the family’s belief that the promoters were “completely knowledgeable of the potential dangers posed to both their guests and the performers they hired based on numerous past incidents of violence and death at their hip hop events.” This included not only diminishing Drakeo’s own physical security but allowing access to the backstage area by multiple people who seemed affiliated with LA’s numerous street gangs. What started as a skirmish between two small groups apparently escalated into a larger conflict as more members got involved on the basis of affiliation, with many of the attackers “dressed in all red and wearing ski masks.”

Meanwhile, the lawsuit defends Drakeo from assumptions that he himself was gang-affiliated, although it notes that members of a Bloods set wanted revenge on Drakeo for allegedly killing one of their own in a dispute — an incident for which he served nearly two years in county jail merely awaiting re-trial on new charges even after being acquitted.

Among the failures of security listed in the suit is a lack of police presence, the omission of searches for artists and their entourages, and allowing unauthorized individuals to access the backstage areas. In all, Caiden, via Purtue, is seeking $25 million for Drakeo’s death, $25 million for loss of earnings and financial support, and $10 million for Drakeo the Ruler’s suffering prior to his death.

Anyone who has raised kids knows the truth of the saying, “the days are long, but the years are short.” Parenting when you’re in the thick of it can feel neverending, but in hindsight, the time goes by too fast. Kids grow and change so constantly, it’s hard to keep up. You blink and suddenly your baby becomes a toddler, your toddler becomes a kid, your kid becomes a teen and your teen becomes a full-fledged adult.

As time goes by, you try desperately to document it while also staying in the present. It gets harder with each kid, as life gets busier. (A commonly joked-about reality is how the first baby gets an elaborate baby book and the last baby gets a few photos on a hard drive somewhere.) But one dad purposefully set out from the start to create a record of his daughter’s growth and change, and the result is nothing short of extraordinary.

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Dutch filmmaker Frans Hofmeester started filming his daughter Lotte for just a handful of seconds a week starting as a newborn. It’s the kind of thing a lot of parents might plan to do or start doing but not stick with. Hofmeester kept it up, though, always filming Lotte in front of a plain cloth background. Putting the videos together as he went, he created a time-lapse of her growing up, which has received viral attention multiple times as he’s released updated compilations every few years.

In 2019, Hofmeester shared the “Portrait of Lotte 0 to 20 years” video, in which we can see Lotte grow from an infant to an adult in just five minutes.

People found the video surprisingly emotional, even though they don’t know Hofmeester or Lotte personally. Indeed, seeing someone’s entire childhood zoom through time like this is moving, even if we don’t have kids of our own. We’ve all been through the growing-up process ourselves, we all have a flood of memories from our formative years and we all know how quickly it all goes.

Those of us with kids see our own children in this video, which is even more striking than seeing ourselves.

“I wanted to document the growing up process and create an artistic project we could all enjoy forever,” Hofmeester shared in another video. He has also created the same kind of video for his son, Vince. In an article in The Guardian, Hofmeester explained why he decided to dedicate himself to the project:

“When Lotte was born, she was changing at such a rapid pace, and I was desperate to keep the memories intact. As any parent knows, the difference between a child at two days old and two months old is startling. When Vince was born, I started filming him too. Other people might make a photo book, but I decided to film. This is the most photographed and filmed generation ever, but what are we actually doing with these pictures? They just sit in a file on the computer. I wanted to try and convey the essence of my children, of how they look to me. We don’t often look at the photographs we take, not in the same way that an artist would look at his paintings.”

Lotte is now 22, and Hofmeester shared a yearly version of her growing-up compilation just a few months ago. In this one, we get to see her on each birthday, saying a few words (in Dutch, of course). It’s amazing to see the differences from year to year.

“One of the reasons that the project has had such an impact, I think, is because it’s very moving,” Hofmeester wrote. “People are touched by it because it conveys a feeling of the soul. They’ve written to me about their own children. The film makes you realise what life is about, in a direct way.”

Imagine being able to see your whole childhood documented this way, or to have a record of your kids’ growing-up years that was so succinct. What a lovely gift this father and filmmaker has created for his children—and for the rest of us as well.

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As a full-time employee at Home Depot, Aaliyah worked eight-hour shifts, five days a week. But once she clocked out, it didn’t get much easier.

Having only her car for shelter, Aaliyah would have to use facilities like Planet Fitness to take a shower, only occasionally being able to afford a night in a hotel. With those kinds of challenges, it’s perfectly understandable she admitted to always being tired and “barely ever smiling.”

@oc.liyahh #fypシ #viraltiktok ♬ Sure Thing (cover version) – Tik Toker

Aaliyah’s clip soon went viral with more than 5 million views, and though there were some accusations of Aaliyah “faking it,” the overall response was incredibly supportive. Some even came out to share similar experiences.

“I used to sleep in my car and take showers at the gym also and worked two jobs and barely slept,” one person wrote, encouraging her with, “now I own a small business, my house and two vehicles.”

Another added, “keep at it. I was homeless…I would shower at friends’ houses and ride a bike to work. Now I got my own place and car.”

It does help to hear how others have overcome obstacles you’re currently facing, but Aaliyah received even more reason to remain hopeful.

Unbeknown to her, Aaliyah’s very workplace could provide assistance. Many TikTok users informed her of the Homer Fund, a grant program that provides financial assistance to employees facing hardship. According to the company website, more than 150,000 associates have already been helped.

In a series of follow up videos, we find out that Aaliyah did reach out to the Homer Fund, and received not only emergency funding to get a hotel, but permanent housing as well.

This young woman went from “barely being able to smile” to dancing and feeling “beyond grateful.”

There are some things that are just naturally associated with the Super Bowl: commercials, random surprise celebrity cameos, and chips and dip. Also sports, supposedly, but are people really watching for that? Andy Richter has perfectly encapsulated all three of those elements, as he stars in a new Super Bowl ad for Avocados From Mexico.

The comedian is dressed as none other than Julius Caesar in a new teaser before the big game. Armed with a heavy serving of guacamole (a game day essential), the Conan alum questions whether he can really take on his new role. After all, he’s not even Italian. But, as he states in the ad, it is a “role of a lifetime” for the actor, who famously starred in the classic film Madagascar, which could also be considered a role of a lifetime.

We’ll have to wait until game day, next Sunday, Feb. 13th, in order to see how Richter does in his role of the former Roman dictator, but if the teaser is any indication of his ability to play a Roman general…it’s not looking like he has a ton of confidence in himself. We believe in you, Andy. And so does your therapist!

Check out the teaser video above.

Because America doesn’t have enough on its plate right now, Alex Jones has started encouraging Marjorie Taylor Greene to run for her president and even went so far to say she’d be a better candidate than Donald Trump. (Former BFFs Trump and Jones have been beefing in case you can’t tell.) Jones started stoking the presidential fires during Greene’s first appearance on InfoWars on Wednesday, and he was laying it on thick.

Via Mediaite:

Jones introduced Greene, saying, “MTG, who I hope becomes president one day, hell she’d probably be better than Trump, coming up in 2024.”

Jones continued, “Can we get you to run for president in the next few years? Because I think, I think you are one of the few people who would have a better voting record and a better chance of winning than even Trump.”

Despite floating a potential 2024 ticket with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis as her running mate (another deliberate jab at Trump, who’s also beefing with DeSantis) Greene stayed loyal to Trump, but to the horror of anyone watching, she didn’t rule out a White House run down the line.

“I don’t know what is going to happen, I am a very strong supporter of President Trump,” Greene told Jones. “But in the future, we’ll definitely see what happens, we’ll see what the people think about something like that.”

Without being too alarmist here, it’s safe to say we’re all gonna die. Game over. Hug your family, folks.

(Via Mediaite)

Fans of The Beatles are in for a treat. Not only is their Get Back – The Rooftop Concert currently playing in IMAX theaters, but vinyl owners can now spin their music on a custom-built Let It Be-themed turntable thanks to Crosley Radio.

The turntable is available for purchase exclusively through stores participating in Record Store Day on February 8, the annual event meant to celebrate independently owned record stores. The turntable is printed with The Beatles’ Let It Be artwork, a dynamic stereo speakers and switchable Bluetooth, and a built-in 7-inch adapater. It also comes with an 18×24 print of the Get Back docuseries’ poster. Fans who are interested in the turntables should get their hands on one as soon as they can, as there are only 1,500 made available for purchase.

Record Store Day Co-Founder Michael Kurtz called the exclusive turntable “super special” in a statement about the new product. “Almost every year, Record Store Day has fun working with Crosley on a special limited-edition turntable made for indie record stores,” he said. “The Let It Be turntable is super special given the outpouring of love fans have for the Beatles and the amazing success of the Get Back film.”

Check out Crosley Radio’s The Beatles turntable above and revisit Uproxx review of The Beatles: Get Back here.

Jacksonville rapper Nardo Wick made a big splash last year with his breakout single “Who Want Smoke??” featuring 21 Savage, G Herbo, and Lil Durk, leading fans to scramble to learn more about this newcomer with the pull to land big-name collaborations out of seemingly nowhere. Then, while the iron was still hot, he secured two even bigger assists in the form of features from Future and Lil Baby on his follow-up single “Me Or Sum” just before the end of the year.

Keeping his momentum going in 2022, Nardo dropped the video for the single today, ensuring that his buzz will keep roaring throughout the new year. The video sees Nardo holding court in an old-fashioned, Depression-era juke joint as he raps his verse, while Future and Lil Baby perform their verses in luxurious surroundings. The video is split into two main parts, reflecting the dual nature of the song’s beat, which switches after Future’s first verse, while the second half digs deeper into the pre-war aesthetic.

Those wondering who Nardo Wick is were rewarded with the rapper’s debut studio album, Who Is Nardo Wick? Featuring guest appearances from 21 Savage, Big30, Future, Hit-Boy, G Herbo, Lakeyah, Lil Baby, and Lil Durk, the album received good reviews and debuted at No. 20 on the Billboard 200. The album is out now via RCA Records. Stream it here.

Playing an instrument can have incredible benefits for people with disabilities. The repetition and memorization required to play an instrument stimulate learning. It helps people to improve their focus and calms their anxieties. It also provides them with an important emotional and creative outlet while putting them on an equal social footing with people who may not live with the same struggles.

The problem is that some people with disabilities that affect their limbs and coordination aren’t physically able to play an instrument. But all of that is changing due to the work of a Greek professor, Dr. Zacharias Vamvakousis.

In 2008, a musician friend of Vamvakousis got into a serious motorcycle accident that threatened his ability to play the guitar.

This inspired the professor to look for ways to combine his computer science skills with his passion for music. “I realized that the technology was there, but that nobody had done anything about it,” he said according to Christian Science Monitor.

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It led to Vamvakousis developing the EyeHarp for his final project for the master’s degree in music technology he was pursuing in Barcelona. He then pursued and earned a Ph.D. in digital musical instruments for people with disabilities.

The EyeHarp is a gaze-activated instrument that can be played by simply moving one’s eyes. According to its website, it offers the “same expressive qualities as any traditional instrument.”

Musicians can play the EyeHarp by downloading and installing the software and using the program with an eye-tracker camera. Notes appear on the screen in a color-coded wheel that can be played by moving one’s eyes.

Players are given the option to choose whether to use a pentatonic or heptatonic scale and can practice with or without rhythm. The app has a gamification mode where players can test their skills and be scored on their accuracy.

The EyeHarp has made music accessible to people with cerebral palsy, spinal cord injuries, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, muscular dystrophy and amputations. It can also be played by people with intellectual disabilities.

Currently, there are around 650 EyeHarp players in the world. One of its most enthusiastic supporters is 14-year-old Joel Bueno, who says that the instrument brings him joy and allows him to express his emotions with others.

“The way Joel plays this instrument and flourishes is mind-blowing,” Tamar Zamora, a musician who was accompanied by Bueno said. “Seeing him enjoy himself and brimming with happiness on the chair is extraordinary.”

Bueno’s mother, Laura Bueno, believes that the instrument has opened a world of possibilities for her son.

“We knew certain activities like playing soccer or music would be impossible for Joel,” Laura said. “When EyeHarp appeared, we felt, my God, if we can do this we can do anything.”

Although Vamvakousis has already allowed hundreds of people to experience playing music who wouldn’t have otherwise, there is still a lot more work to be done. In 2019, he created the EyeHarp Association, a nonprofit that’s goal is to further develop the instrument and have it available to as many people as possible for the lowest piece.

“I wanted to make all this available to anyone,” Vamvakousis said.

Rihanna and ASAP Rocky are at the start of a life-changing journey, as it was recently revealed that Rihanna is pregnant with their child. Drake, with whom Rihanna famously has some romantic history, appears to not be too pleased by this development. Some suspect his latest meme-worthy moment is a result of his discontent, and after the news broke, many noticed he unfollowed both Rihanna and Rocky on Instagram.

RapTV posted about the news on Instagram, and Rick Ross hilariously took to the comments to write simply, “@wingstop.” Ross owns over two dozen Wingstop locations and it appears he couldn’t resist inserting the restaurant into a viral moment to draw attention to it and promote the brand. As HipHopDX notes, this comes not long after Ross made a similar comment on a post about Ari Lennox’s label troubles in late January.

It’s not likely that Rihanna is going to lose sleep over having one fewer Instagram follower: As of January 16, her account is No. 27 on the list of most followed accounts on the platform and No. 12 among musicians, currently with 120 million followers. For reference, Drake is right in the same neighborhood on that front, as he’s No. 33 and No. 14 on those lists, respectively.