Month: June 2023

The news that a submersible vehicle carrying five people had disappeared somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean has gone viral this week, prompting a genuinely scary amount of news coverage, multiple nations to cooperate on a search-and-rescue operation, and of course, tons of jokes on Twitter. But there’s one person out there with higher priorities, despite being related to one of the missing sub passengers. Brian Szasz, the stepson of British billionaire Hamish Harding, went ahead and took in a Blink-182 concert in San Diego while he waited for news of his stepfather’s fate.

Funnily enough, this is one of those things that no one would have known about with social media. Szasz posted a Facebook update — which you can see on TMZ — stating, “Hamish my stepdad is lost in a submarine. Thoughts and prayers that the rescue mission will be successful.” However, he shortly followed up by sharing that he was attending the Blink-182 show, writing, “It might be distasteful being here but my family would want me to be at the Blink-182 show as it’s my favorite band and music helps me in difficult times!”

Indeed, music can be a comfort to many a distressed listener, and given the circumstances of this concert — a long-awaited reunion and a cancer recovery among them — it seems expeditious to take the opportunity that presents itself. However, Szasz has a point that some observers might be judgmental about his decision (except those on Twitter who’ve taken to making light of the situation). You can’t please everybody, but some users have pointed out that Szasz may have a history of worrying behavior as well as medical conditions that could explain (but not excuse) it.

The missing submersible belongs to the OceanGate Expedition, a tourist operation that dives to the wreckage of the Titanic. However, a video circulating online seems to present the project as a bit slapdash, and a price tag of $250,000 a head has some wondering what any of the five missing men were thinking climbing aboard in the first place.

Blink-182 is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

As of Tuesday afternoon, rescuers are still frantically searching for a submersible that went missing while touring the wreckage of the Titanic.

On Sunday evening, OceanGate Expeditions revealed they had lost contact with their Titan submarine. The U.S.-based company offers crewed dives for research and commercial purposes but its Titan vessel is the only five-person submarine that can reach the depths of the wreckage — about 2.4 miles below the water’s surface. The sub was the focus of a CBS News story late last year that’s since resurfaced and caused concern about how the underwater craft operates and its safety standards. And our collective anxiety is only growing as the number of days since the vessel vanished grows.

When the Titan set off, the crew inside had 96 hours’ worth of oxygen. As of 2 p.m. Tuesday, estimates are that as little as 40 hours of air remain. Because literal minutes matter here, we’ve put together a timeline of the Titan’s disappearance that we’ll update when news becomes available.

Saturday, June 17th

British billionaire Hamish Harding, 58, shared an eerie post on social media announcing he had joined the expedition. The chairman of Action Aviation has taken part in history-making voyages in the past — he joined former astronaut Buzz Aldrin on his trip to the South Pole and was part of the fifth human space flight with Jeff Bezos’ aerospace company. Still, his account of the Titan’s voyage held some early warning signs that the trip was a dangerous one. He wrote, “Due to the worst winter in Newfoundland in 40 years, this mission is likely to be the first and only manned mission to the Titanic in 2023. A weather window has just opened up and we are going to attempt a dive tomorrow.”

Sunday, June 18th

4 a.m.
The sub set sail from its support ship, The Polar Prince, at 4 a.m. Eastern Standard Time. The ship was located 435 miles south of Newfoundland, Canada.

5:45 a.m.
The Polar Prince loses contact with the Titan just one hour and 45 minutes after launch. OceanGate explained that the vessel is required to communicate with the surface every 15 minutes via “pings” or text messages sent through a USBL (ultra-short baseline) acoustic system. According to The Sun, the company had previously stated they used Elon Musk’s Starlink to communicate with the vessel. Either way, there’s been no contact with the crew since the craft went missing.

1:42 p.m.
Harding’s business Twitter account shared images of the Titan before its dive, showing the businessmen and his fellow passengers being ferried to the sub before its launch.

9:13 p.m.
The Titan was reported “overdue” by The Joint Rescue Coordination Centre in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Monday, June 19th

On Monday afternoon, OceanGate released a statement confirming they had lost contact with Titan which read as follows:

“For some time, we have been unable to establish communications with one of our submersible exploration vehicles which is currently visiting the wreck site of the Titanic. Our entire focus is on the wellbeing of the crew and every step possible is being taken to bring the five crew members back safely. We are deeply grateful for the urgent and extensive assistance we are receiving from multiple government agencies and deep-sea companies as we seek to reestablish contact with the submersible. We pray for the safe return of the crew and passengers, and we will provide updates as they are available.”

According to The Times, The Polar Prince received its final ping from Titan around 11:30 a.m. on Monday morning, with its location marked as directly above the Titanic wreckage.

Tuesday, June 20th

1 p.m.
The U.S. Coast Guard held a press conference to update the public on the search, which is being conducted with help from the Canadian Coast Guard and the Canadian Armed Forces. Currently, rescuers are searching an area “larger than the state of Connecticut,” an operation Coast Guard Capt. Jamie Frederick has labeled as “very complex.” There’s also the worry that, when the submersible is found, it will be at a depth that rescuers can’t reach. Marine operations specialist Mike Welham told Sky News, “The biggest problem they’ve got is the depth of water at the Titanic site. It’s about 3,800m and you need very specialized underwater vehicles to go down to that depth and they’re not really readily available. So they have a major problem if they have to search for and recover this vehicle.”

Pharrell, who just turned 50 this year despite still looking like he did during The Neptunes’ heyday, just held his first show as the head menswear designer of Louis Vuitton — a role he’s held since early this year. After recruiting Rihanna to headline the first campaign under his guidance, clips and photos of Pharrell’s first show have begun to emerge on social media, revealing both his design sensibility and his musical as the show apparently featured a previously unheard song from his longtime collaborators, Clipse. Malice can be heard rapping over this clip, while the brothers Thornton can be seen walking the runway in some of the photos.

Pharrell took over as head menswear designer at Louis Vuitton after the role was left vacant by the death of his friend and frequent collaborator Virgil Abloh, who held the role from 2018 until he passed in 2021. In an interview with WWD, Pharrell addressed his lack of high-end fashion experience, comparing himself to some of the greats of the industry. “I didn’t go to Central Saint Martins, but I also didn’t go to Juilliard either in music and I mean, we see how that turned out,” he said. “It’s cool. That’s a very fair observation. But neither did Vivienne Westwood, right? Tadao Ando was self-taught. I mean, he’s the GOAT, right? I only aspire to express myself.”

You can check out examples of Pharrell’s first Louis Vuitton line above.

Even Fox News is calling bullsh*t on Trump’s weak-kneed excuse for why he hoarded classified documents in a Mar-a-Lago bathroom instead of handing them over to the Feds when asked.

The network’s chief political analyst Brit Hume labeled Trump’s defense of how he handled top secret materials post-insurrection “incoherent,” pointing out a number of flawed reasonings the former president gave in an interview with host Bret Baier. Hume first regurgitated Trump’s explanation for why he didn’t simply supply the documents when asked saying, “He seemed to be saying the documents were really his.”

“He didn’t give them back when he was subpoenaed because he wasn’t ready to,” Hume continued to summarize. “He hadn’t sorted the classified information from his golf shirts or whatever he was saying. It was not altogether clear what he was saying.”

What Hume did glean from Trump’s defense is that it’s likely not going to sway a jury.

“He seemed to believe that the documents were his, that he declassified them [despite] evidence to the contrary, and therefore he could do whatever he wanted with them,” Hume continued. “I don’t think it’s going to hold up in court.”

When a network full of fascist cheerleaders is starting to label you a deranged idiot, that’s when you know your time’s running up.

Ever since Donald Trump was indicted a second time, it’s been assumed that having a criminal record made him stronger, not weaker, among Republican voters. But maybe that’s not true. A new poll suggests that maybe those 37 charges against him — charges that very well likely could land him in the slammer — might be starting to make conservatives wonder if he should be president again.

On Tuesday, CNN released the results of a poll that showed Trump’s support amongst GOP voters had dipped six percent from a poll taken at this time last month. In May, the former president commanded 53% of the vote amongst other Republican candidates. Now he’s down to 47%.

What changed? For one thing, there’s that second indictment. What’s more, since the charges were filed, a lot of information has come that make it look like he really did mishandle classified government information — the very crime he’s long and falsely accused Hillary Clinton of committing. Surely it’s not helping that he keeps basically confessing to doing crimes.

Mind you, 47% is still pretty good. His closest competitor, Ron DeSantis, is way behind him at 26%. While Trump’s polling sank, Mike Pence actually saw his returns jump by 6%, which almost makes it seem like the people dumping Trump are switching to his former veep (who he almost got killed).

There was another part of the CNN poll that didn’t bode well for the big guy. Of the 1,350 people who participated, 61% approved of the move to hit him with federal charges. A whopping 55% said Trump “acted illegally” with regards to the classified documents, while 57% agreed that he “risked national security.” On top of all this, 59% thought Trump should “end his campaign now.”

Trump won’t do that, as he’s vowed to stay in the race through thick and thin. Even he may be realizing that he really might have to do his campaigning from the clink.

(Via CNN)

Joey Badass, rapper, actor, and aspiring heartthrob, has had fans flustered for the past four months trying to determine if he and actress Serayah McNeill have been dating or not. He first appeared to tease the relationship with a February Instagram post (just a few weeks after Valentine’s Day, mind you), breaking the hearts of women everywhere. Then, he amplified their disappointment with the video for “Show Me,” in which McNeill appeared as his romantic interest.

But then, a few weeks later, Joey denied their relationship in an interview with Complex. “Honestly, it wasn’t anything that was anticipated at first, but when we got back all the assets, like the photos, I started to [think], ‘Oh, it’s something that could be done with these,” he said. “This could tell the story. So, you know, that’s kind of what I wanted to do. I knew it was gonna catch people, like, you know, by surprise a little bit. That was the hardest part — waiting 48 hours.”

Now, though, it appears he’s doubling back (quadrupling back?) on those previous statements with a new post celebrating McNeill’s birthday. In a Reel apparently featuring an unreleased snippet of a song called “Passports & Suitcases,” Joey documents a romantic getaway where the couple lounged on a beach and kissed beneath a cabana canopy. So, it looks like fans were right all along — congrats and condolences.

AMC recently debuted The Walking Dead: Dead City, the thrilling throwback featuring Negan and Maggie, and in the process, the network revealed a brief glimpse of where Daryl Dixon fits into the universe right now. Well, he did not find Rick Grimes and apparently took quite the (apologies to Bugs Bunny) “left turn at Albuquerque” or a right turn somewhere else. How did he end up in the ocean?

No clue yet, but we do know that Daryl Dixon will mysteriously wash ashore in France. Apparently, he won’t realize how he crossed the Atlantic Ocean either, but let’s take a peek at the aforementioned teaser.

There’s Daryl, floating in the ocean while apparently unconscious or napping. He’s on top of an overturned boat, and I’m not sure how he hasn’t fallen into the water, but I’m not in charge of this joint, so let’s roll with it. What does concern me, however, is that there’s no Dog in sight. Where is Dog? I don’t know, and I’m not happy about it.

Let’s hope that Dog is somehow on his own boat, somewhere barely hidden out of view of the camera. I need to believe in this.

In more positive news, there are new photos floating around out there of Norman Reedus filming this series, and guess who is with him? Melissa McBride. It remains unclear where this scene was taking place — in Europe or back home, but at least we’ll get some Daryl and Carol after all.

The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon doesn’t have a release date yet, dang it.

As Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One gears up to become the next huge summer blockbuster, Tom Cruise opened up about the news that the actor performed the movie’s wild motorcycle jump on his first day of filming. In a surprisingly candid admission, the actor revealed that he wanted to get the terrifying cliff jump out of the way because not even Tom Cruise knew if Tom Cruise could pull it off.

“Well, we know we’re either going to continue with the film — or we’re not,” Cruise told Entertainment Tonight with a laugh. “Let’s know Day One. I wanna know. What is gonna happen? Do we continue, or is it a major rewrite?”

Jokes aside, the actor used the opportunity to discuss how he’s basically been living his whole life in preparation for the jump:

Preparing for something like that was years, preparing. I’ve been riding motorcycles since I was a little kid, raced cars, and spent a lot of time just with aerobatics, airplanes, helicopters, parachutes. Lot of time with that. But to figure out the kind of thing to do something like that, we’re creating knowledge. We’re creating– it’s our understanding of story, our understanding of camera. How to do something like that. It all kind of came to that moment.

On top of wanting to know if the film’s most crucial scene was going to work, Cruise also didn’t want it hanging over his head during the rest of the production. He already had enough on his plate dealing with COVID shutdowns, so best to just go ahead and jump off a cliff now.

“I was training and I was ready. You have to be razor sharp when you do something like that,” Cruise said. “So it was very important as we were prepping the film that that actually was the first thing because I don’t want to drop that and go shoot other things, and then have my mind somewhere else. Everyone was prepped let’s just get it done.”

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One opens in theaters on July 12.

(Via Entertainment Tonight)

Samuel L. Jackson is the kind of guy who will tell you exactly what’s on mind, and he doesn’t pull his punches even if it involves his highly esteemed friends and colleagues like Quentin Tarantino. So when it came to tackle the subject of random internet weirdos who spend their days attacking Brie Larson, Jackson did not hold back.

While promoting his new show, Secret Invasion, which springboards from the events of Captain Marvel, Jackson opened up about encouraging Larson to join the MCU and how she’s not about to let a bunch of dorks get her down.

“Brie’s a stronger person than people give her credit for,” Jackson said before putting her haters on blast via Rolling Stone:

When she got Captain Marvel, she called me and was like, “They want me in the Marvel Universe. Should I do it?” And I was like, “Hell yeah! Let’s do it!” But she’s not going to let any of that stuff destroy her. These incel dudes who hate strong women, or the fact that she’s a feminist who has an opinion and expressed it? Everybody wants people to be who they want them to be. She is who she is, and she’s genuinely that.

But online haters weren’t the only people Jackson called out. The Nick Fury actor also had words for Trump supporters, who remind him an awful lot of the racists he dealt with in his youth.

“When I see Trump, I see the same rednecks I saw when I was growing up who called me ‘n*****’ and tried to keep me in my place,” Jackson said. “That’s what the Republican Party is to me. They’re doing it to young people, gay people. They don’t care who you are. If you’re not them, you’re the enemy.”

Marvel’s Secret Invasion premieres June 21 on Disney+.

(Via Rolling Stone)

When reports of Bradley Beal’s murky future with the Washington Wizards swelled, teams like the Miami Heat, Milwaukee Bucks, New York Knicks, and Sacramento Kings were all linked as potential suitors for the three-time All-Star. Then, on Saturday, another face was introduced to the festivities: the Phoenix Suns.

A day later, Phoenix and Washington were finalizing a deal that would send Beal to the desert in exchange for Chris Paul, Landry Shamet, a slew of second-rounders and multiple pick swaps. Beal’s acquisition marks the second star to join Phoenix via trade since the arrival of new owner Mat Ishbia, who made waves in February when the Suns landed Kevin Durant. After emerging as title hopefuls in 2020-21 and 2021-22 by way of a harmonic starting five, led by Paul and Devin Booker and a cast of excellent role players, the Suns have eschewed that ethos and pivoted to a top-heavy identity fully defined by their stars.

Paul and former head coach Monty Williams, two pillars of Phoenix’s turnaround, are gone. This is a new era for the Suns. Booker and Durant are the figureheads, as is now Beal, a divisive, albeit ultra-talented player, who spent his first 11 seasons with the Wizards. Stars always drive winning and Phoenix is overwhelmingly banking on that philosophy proving true. Durant and Booker are All-NBA superstars. Beal is a complementary third star. The rest of the roster is unknown and will be largely composed of role players on small deals fighting for minutes to punctuate the rotation.

Much of the divisiveness surrounding Beal involves his contract. He’s owed $208 million over the next four years. Only six players — LeBron James, Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Joel Embiid and Nikola Jokic — will make more than him in 2023-24. The company his contract keeps does not align with Beal’s game, but that does not preclude him from being very good in his own right. The haggling over his salary and Washington’s listlessness has distorted evaluations of his game. Beal will absolutely amplify Phoenix, particularly as he shifts from an under-qualified primary option to a platonic tertiary option alongside Booker and Durant.

While the Wizards’ incongruent roster slogged through a 35-47 campaign last year, Beal was doing a whole lot of excellent things offensively, averaging 23.2 points (59.3 percent true shooting) and 5.4 assists (2.9 turnovers). He netted a career-high 55.4 percent of his twos (82nd percentile among combo guards). He ranked top 10 in points derived from drives per game. He converted 72 percent of his attempts at the rim (94th percentile) and generated 31 percent of his shots there (72nd percentile).

The former Florida Gator entered the NBA billed as a dynamite off-ball shooter, but has built himself into one of the league’s premier slashers. He is explosive, powerfully yet carefully discards defenders downhill, and touts the body control to spiral around help for finishes inside from a variety of angles. His blend of interior pressure and efficiency will help diversify the Suns’ offense, which has ranked 30th in rim frequency the past three years. During the 2022-23 playoffs, they were also dead last at 19 percent. An over-reliance on tough shot-making sunk their offense against the Denver Nuggets. Beal could help alleviate some of that and enable Durant to be the mid-post, off-ball scorer he’s optimized as rather than the overextended initiator Phoenix’s previous roster construction required.

There’s been some talk about redundancy between Booker and Beal offensively, but the Suns would’ve benefited from duplicating Booker last season. His driving and finishing were critical and scarce across the rotation; they needed more of it after reshaping the roster. Although Booker is not a Beal clone, he instills some necessary similarities, particularly around the hoop and off the bounce.

According to Sports Info Solutions, Beal ranked 16th in advantages created per 100 possessions, just behind Durant (12th) and Booker (13th). He’s adept producing shots at the rim and tilting the defense from a standstill. Phoenix welcomes that. The offense will be better for it.

For all the periods Beal operated on the ball, however, he’s a rather proficient off-ball scorer, comfortable flowing through pindowns, snagging handoffs, darting backdoor, and spraying spot-up triples. There’s no basis for what new head coach Frank Vogel’s offensive schematics will look like with this particular group, but Beal will not infringe upon Booker and Durant. He can slide into the background and be selective in his on-ball endeavors when the starting unit is all on the floor together.

Much is made about his pedestrian three-point numbers (34.7 percent since 2018-19), yet that’s a product of heightened responsibilities. Beal is still an effective stationary marksman. Over the past five seasons, he’s knocked down 37.1 percent of his catch-and-shoot long balls. Teams do not ignore him beyond the arc; they cannot guard him the way Shamet, Paul, Cameron Payne, Torrey Craig, and Josh Okogie were guarded in the second round. He’s a threat to shoot or drive and will benefit the spacing of this Phoenix attack, in addition to his other off-ball signatures. Upping his volume (.265 three-point rate the past three years) will be paramount in an offense already short on shooters and anchored by a pair of midrange mavens.

Beal and Kristaps Porzingis formed a symbiotic two-man game together out of ball-screens and Delay sets the past 1.5 seasons. Regardless of whether Deandre Ayton is around once the year begins, monitoring how much value Beal and the Suns can extract from his off-ball savvy is important. Ayton is not much of a DHO or elbow hub like Porzingis and there’s no guarantee his (possible) replacement is either. Maybe, Durant occupies that role to collaborate with his new teammate. Letting him act as a big man more often offensively would behoove him and the entire offense.

I also wonder to what degree the other two members of any lineup featuring Booker, Durant, and Beal can command attention as spacers. Phoenix struggled in the second round to field a consistent five-man unit, in part because of insufficient ancillary shooting that enabled Denver to sell out on Booker and Durant. If defenses can crunch the floor against Beal by sending aggressive help when he’s working around handoffs or pindowns, that dampens the utility of his off-ball scoring. Beal is not a bad passer, but he is limited and prone to identifying openings a beat slower than preferred. If Phoenix unearths viable spacers who can burn that type of gambit and play deep into the postseason, the air becomes cleaner for its star trio. Beal also thrives navigating narrow openings and wields a dexterous handle to wiggle through congested lanes, two traits that might mitigate some spacing foibles.

Beal’s iffy processing speed as a passer are broad shortcomings shared with Booker and Durant to different degrees. Booker is a brilliant player and high-level playmaker, but still owns blemishes that may be magnified by the shallow depth around him. Durant’s shaky handle and rigid passing vision were on display in the playoffs. Phoenix is constructing its championship aspirations around a turbocharged offense with these three stars. I hold some reservations about if they’re good enough facilitators to elevate the offense to the requisite heights to offset concerns potentially stemming from surrounding context and personnel.

Teams are going to defend them like the Nuggets did. Beal in the fold provides another adroit ball-handler, slasher, and spacer, but doesn’t immediately give this team a reliable quintet to close playoff games. That was the root of the Suns’ issues, not a dearth of star power. This problem still exists, which is more a point regarding their overall quality as contenders rather than anything specifically damning about the Beal trade. Can he render their lineups more synergistic? Does a third star quell worries about interior defense and who can capitalize on the gravity of their stars with quick, impactful decision-making? Those were two glaring problems prior to this deal occurring. Their already slim avenues to rectify them are much smaller after netting Beal.

The offseason is just beginning, so Phoenix could address some of these questions in completing the rest of the roster, but will predominantly have to do so with minimum contracts (and retaining their own pending free agents). Trading away Ayton to improve its depth might be another domino that gives the Beal move more clarity and sensibility. These critiques and questions are aspects to keep tabs, not condemnations about a team far from finalized in makeup or development.

Bradley Beal is an awesome player. He will help the Suns in numerous manners. He will not help them in every manner, though. Whether that difference even ends up mattering will be determined over the next 10 months and puts considerable onus on the linchpins — stars, coaching staff and front office — to ace the ensuing steps ahead. That was already the Suns’ reality before nabbing Beal, though. Acquiring him could make it easier to ace the ensuing steps. How much easier, if at all, is yet to be seen.