Month: July 2023

Known to take a long time in between albums, Robyn hasn’t been active on social media since last October. But it appears she may have had other obligations keeping her busy over the past year. Yesterday (July 4), the “Dancing On My Own” artist took to Instagram to share a photo of a baby that appears to be hers.

In the post is a blond-haired baby, dressed in a beige sweater. “My time is yours 4-ever Tyko,” read the post’s caption.

This post has sent fans into a frenzy, as Robyn had never announced she had given birth, nor that she was expecting a baby. Now, fans are theorizing that Robyn may have secretly welcomed a baby as early as last year.

“No wonder she’s been quiet for a year: Robyn has always been mother, and now she is…quite literally a mother!,” said one fan on Twitter.

“robyn had a baby quietly secretly,” said another fan, “and that’s so f*cking slay.”

Maluca Mala, who collaborated with Robyn on the 2015 single “Love Is Free,” commented on the Instagram post, saying that his “titi,” or aunt, “from NYC send[s] you her love.”

You can see an adorable photo of the baby above.

WARNING: Spoilers for Marvel’s Secret Invasion below.

In last week’s episode of Secret Invasion, Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) got thoroughly dressed down and fired by Colonel James “Rhodey” Rhodes (Don Cheadle) after failing to stop the Skrull terrorist attack in the season premiere. In fairness, Fury got played by Gravik (Ben Kingsley-Adir) leading to a catastrophic loss of life, so Rhodey’s actions were justified. However, Marvel fans felt the Avenger went a bit too far, and suspicions started mounting that Rhodey might be a Skrull.

Well, Episode 3 just kicked those theories into overdrive.

The clues that Rhodey is a Skrull really started stacking up thanks to three pivotal moments. Early in the third episode, Fury patches things up with Talos after telling him that he suspects a Skrull has infiltrated a high-ranking member of the U.S. government. Possibly Rhodey, but still too vague to be sure. Later, while taking down a Skrull impersonating a U.N. officer, Fury noticeably dropped the line that nobody calls him “Nick.” Rhodey did exactly that last week. And, finally, Fury’s wife Priscilla (Charlayne Woodard) takes a call at the end of the episode and asks to speak to Gravik. Instead, a voice that sounds an awful lot like Rhodey tells her she’ll be dealing with him now. Things are not looking good.

Following the episode, Marvel fans went nuts over the increasing likelihood that Rhodey might be a Skrull. You can see some of the reactions below:

And, finally, the most convincing Rhodey is a Skrull theory yet. Pretty hard to ignore this one:

New episodes of Marvel’s Secret Invasion stream Wednesday on Disney+.

We’re in a very weird spot in the Damian Lillard trade sweepstakes. Lillard, by all accounts, only wants to play for the Miami Heat, which would love to bring him on board and have him partner with Bam Adebayo and Jimmy Butler. The problem that those two sides are facing, however, is that Miami can’t really put together a package that would interest the Portland Trail Blazers, as the centerpiece of a deal would presumably be Tyler Herro, whose skillset is repetitive alongside Scoot Henderson, Shaedon Sharpe, and Anfernee Simons.

It’s unclear how this resolves itself. Maybe the Blazers and Heat can work something out with a third team that would more value Herro’s services, maybe Portland decides to just do Lillard and solid and takes whatever Miami can offer. Or maybe, just maybe, Lillard becomes more amenable to playing his basketball somewhere else, and the other 28 teams in the NBA become more plausible landing spots for the All-Star guard.

We decided to examine that scenario here and attempt to answer a simple question: If a mystery team decides to enter the fray for Lillard, who would make the most sense? We decided to look at teams that haven’t necessarily been linked to Lillard, but feature the sorts of packages that could be appealing to Portland while simultaneously giving Lillard running mates next to whom he can compete at a high level. With the understanding that this is all hypothetical for now, there’s no guarantee Lillard backs off of his reported stance, and it’s possible he just ends up on the Heat no matter what, here are four potential landing spots.

San Antonio Spurs

This is the only team on this list that has any sort of link to a Lillard trade — in the aftermath of his request, Ramona Shelburne of ESPN tweeted that Lillard “has a deep respect for the San Antonio Spurs organization.” (She did, of course, note this after saying that Lillard’s preference is a trade to Miami.)

Now, having respect for an organization and wanting to work there are two entirely different things, but let’s imagine for a moment that Lillard would come around to the idea because this entire piece is predicated on Lillard eventually coming around to the idea of a trade somewhere else. San Antonio has not made the playoffs since 2019, which is tied for the second-longest drought in the league. For a franchise that was synonymous with success for so long, that’s a pretty remarkable drought, although it must be noted that the Spurs aren’t exactly the kind of team that tries to do quick fixes in order to say they made the playoffs, only to lose in the opening round.

Having said that, there’s shooting for a quick fix and building out a good basketball team, and Lillard could help San Antonio achieve that second thing pretty quickly. The team won the most important lottery since LeBron James came into the league, and now has a guy in Victor Wembanyama who can become the best player in the world. With Lillard under contract for at least the next three years, the bet the Spurs would theoretically make here is that their French rookie can reach that point while Lillard is at the end of his prime, and I don’t know about you, but I am terrified at the thought of the 7’3 two-way monster who earns the title of being the planet’s best basketball player on his rookie contract pairing up with Damian Lillard while he can still get the job done at a high level. There is a belief that Wembanyama can compete for an All-Star nod as a rookie, and if he did that alongside Lillard, he’d be the first All-Star teammate Dame has had since LaMarcus Aldridge in 2014-15.

Add in the fact that their skillsets would be spectacular fits alongside one another and this feels like a wonderful partnership if San Antonio wanted to pursue it. As for Portland, a deal with the Spurs could get a collection of players who are quite the snug fit alongside its trio of promising young guards, as a package revolving around Keldon Johnson, Devin Vassell, and Devonte’ Graham’s salary would work financially. If San Antonio wanted to keep one of Johnson/Vassell (along with Jeremy Sochan, who we’ll keep out because of his prior relationship with Wembanyama), guys like Khem Birch and Doug McDermott can provide the salaries to facilitate a deal, while youngsters who would be a bit repetitive in Portland like Malakai Branham or Blake Wesley can be sent back. The Spurs can also put together quite the package of picks, as they have 31 picks going forward, including 14 first-round selections. And if they really wanted, there’s a way to do this deal that also gets Jusuf Nurkic’s salary off of the Blazers’ books — something like Lillard and Nurkic for Johnson, Graham, Birch, Wesley, and former Blazer Zach Collins works, as would replacing Birch and Collins in that deal with McDermott.

The overarching thing here is there are a whole lot of ways that San Antonio can make this happen. While this isn’t a franchise that is known for going star hunting, Lillard would be an incredible running mate for Wembanyama and a perfect cultural fit, and it’s not hard to imagine a Spurs team built around those two competing for a ring sooner rather than later.

Utah Jazz

No team in the NBA can beat Utah if it decides to put together a pick-heavy package for any superstar. In the event that Portland prioritized getting draft capital back for Lillard, the Jazz are able to throw together a collection of firsts from themselves, Cleveland, and Minnesota that would be appealing for any team that has a superstar on the trade block. And perhaps most importantly for a star who wants to compete for a championship, Utah has so much in the war chest of picks that it can go out and get another running mate pretty easily.

Lillard, of course, went to college in Utah, as Weber State is about half an hour away from Salt Lake City. He would join a team that surprised last season before things went off the rails a bit, and the Jazz could put together a package of players that lets them keep most of the core that helped them get to that point. Collin Sexton’s contract presents some issues, but a package revolving around him, Kelly Olynyk’s expiring deal, second-year wing Ochai Agbaji, and one of the team’s 2023 first-round draft picks (once they are eligible to get moved) along with draft capital could blow away any deal that doesn’t land Portland a star.

Doing a deal like this would give Utah the sort of start it just hasn’t been able to attract in free agency, and would give it an All-Star under contract to pair with Lauri Markkanen, Walker Kessler, and the recently-acquired John Collins. That is a dangerous team, especially if the Jazz can limit how many younger guys are heading to Portland in return. Plus Utah CEO of basketball operations Danny Ainge would probably love nothing more than to swipe Lillard from Pat Riley and the Heat, which doesn’t matter that much but would surely be a fun subplot.

Ainge, in general, is in the business of pulling off big moves, and as of right now, there is no bigger move than acquiring Lillard. Doing that and having enough in the tank to make another big move that could legitimately vault Utah into championship contender territory sure seems appealing, and would satiate Lillard’s desire to be on a team that has a shot at winning a ring.

Orlando Magic

Orlando is a tricky trade partner for Portland for a few reasons. The main one here is that the Blazers would, understandably, do everything in their power to get Franz Wagner or Paolo Banchero back, and the Magic would, understandably, do everything in their power to keep them.

Let’s assume Orlando draws that line from the jump, which would make sense because a Lillard-Wagner-Banchero trio is the entire point of doing this and would be very, very good. There is the potential for an intriguing deal built around the contracts of Jonathan Isaac (who one can argue is an intriguing buy-low candidate if he can remain healthy) and Gary Harris, along with … well, here’s where it gets tricky. Would the Blazers, which already have a plethora of guards, want Jalen Suggs or Markelle Fultz? How interested would they be in recent first-round picks Anthony Black and Jett Howard, who cannot be moved until August 1 at the earliest? Would Wendell Carter Jr. be on the table, and if he is, would there be a way to make this work where he goes to Portland and Orlando takes Nurkic’s contract back? The Magic have 22 draft picks to play with, although only eight of them are firsts and one of them is a 2025 selection from the Denver Nuggets.

Among these three teams, they certainly have the hardest path to figuring out a trade, but it’s hard not to think of what pairing Lillard with Banchero and Wagner could end up doing in the Eastern Conference. Right away, this would be a team with a good shot at making noise in the playoffs, something the Magic have done two times in the last 11 years. They have not gotten past the first round since 2010. It stands to reason that they would have a hard time satiating Lillard’s desire to compete for a championship right away — something that might make this whole thing a non-starter — but if you’re willing to bet on Banchero and Wagner staying here in this deal and becoming All-Stars (I think they can, others might not), then there is a potential championship-caliber team here.

Toronto Raptors

No team in the NBA has a better understanding of how to handle this sort of situation than the Raptors. This is, of course, the team that took a chance on trading for Kawhi Leonard while knowing full well he had the chance to leave after one year. They took that chance, he ended up leaving, and in the meantime, Toronto was able to win the only championship in franchise history.

Masai Ujiri is a savvy operator who isn’t afraid to take risks, and while you can make the case the other three teams on this list would have a higher ceiling at some point in Lillard’s time with them, the Raptors would immediately have the highest floor and the best chance of competing for a ring next season. They also have O.G. Anunoby, a player who the Blazers have been linked to in the past, and although those links happened with the hopes of pairing him with Lillard, he’d be an excellent fit alongside Portland’s young guards and is the best player who we’ve brought up among these four teams.

If Toronto wanted to take a swing and attempt to recreate their Kawhi magic with Lillard, Pascal Siakam in the final year of his contract, and Scottie Barnes, the team could push all its chips in and send Anunoby, Chris Boucher, and Thaddeus Young’s expiring salary to the Blazers, along with a bunch of picks — they sent a 2024 first-round pick with top-6 protections to San Antonio in the Jakob Poeltl trade, but could otherwise send a collection of picks and pick swaps to Portland. Perhaps Gradey Dick, the team’s 2023 first-round selection, could be thrown into the deal, but it’d make sense to want to keep him and his ability to stretch the floor.

The question that looms over this, outside of Siakam’s future, is whether a team built around Lillard, Siakam, and Barnes can be a championship contender immediately, particularly when the Boston Celtics and Milwaukee Bucks both look like they’re going to healthy and ready to go once next season rolls around. A lot of it would depend on Barnes taking the next step towards being an All-Star caliber player, but absolutely no one in the Eastern Conference would enjoy playing against them.

Just a few weeks after the Recording Academy announced new rules to guard AI from being fully included in the Grammys main categories, the CEO/President Harvey Mason Jr. opened up to The Associated Press about how they will actually be adapting.

“Here’s the super easy, headline statement: AI, or music that contains AI-created elements, is absolutely eligible for entry and for consideration for Grammy nomination. Period,” Mason said. “What’s not going to happen is we are not going to give a Grammy or Grammy nomination to the AI portion.”

Mason went on to clarify that if “what is performing is not human creation” as a lead vocal, it would be included for a songwriting nomination, but not a performance one. “Conversely, if a song was sung by an actual human in the studio, and they did all the performing, but AI wrote the lyric or the track, the song would not be eligible in a composition or a songwriting category,” he added.

Basically put, the Grammys won’t be shutting out AI completely — as long as a real-life artist or team plays a larger role on the nominated piece.

“As long as the human is contributing in a more than de minimis amount, which to us means a meaningful way, they are and will always be considered for a nomination or a win,” he noted. “We don’t want to see technology replace human creativity. We want to make sure technology is enhancing, embellishing, or additive to human creativity. So that’s why we took this particular stand in this award cycle.”

The Recording Academy will announce their nominations for the 2024 ceremony on November 10.

Martin Scorsese has made at least a half-dozen masterpieces in his career. Add Killers of the Flower Moon to the list.

Based on David Grann’s book of the same, the 1920s-set film tells the story of the Osage Nation, who have the “worst land possible” in Oklahoma — except for the fact that the land has oil (black gold, Texas tea, etc.) on it. The Osage become wealthy overnight, but with that money also comes white people who will resort to any mean to get the oil for themselves, including murder. Leonardo DiCaprio and Lily Gladstone are at the center of the story in an “improbable romance,” according to the official plot synopsis, “where real love crosses paths with unspeakable betrayal.”

Here’s more:

At the turn of the 20th century, oil brought a fortune to the Osage Nation, who became some of the richest people in the world overnight. The wealth of these Native Americans immediately attracted white interlopers, who manipulated, extorted, and stole as much Osage money as they could before resorting to murder. Based on a true story and told through the improbable romance of Ernest Burkhart (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Mollie Kyle (Lily Gladstone), Killers of the Flower Moon is an epic western crime saga, where real love crosses paths with unspeakable betrayal.

Killers of the Flower Moon, which also stars Robert De Niro, Jesse Plemons, John Lithgow, Brendan Fraser, Tantoo Cardinal, Cara Jade Myers, JaNae Collins, and Jillian Dion, will be released in limited theaters in October, followed by an Apple TV+ streaming debut.

Less than a month ago, Don Jr. was teary-eyed and twitchy as hell during a media appearance meant to discuss his dad’s indictments (after the revelation of those Mar-a-Lago bathroom pictures). Within that appearance, he rubbed his nose while seemingly unable to sit still, and of course, viewers had thoughts. Those reactions came from people who remembered his amped-up Fox News rants and his glassy-eyed missives, possibly from “Motel 6.”

Don Jr. has been keeping his habit of rambling alive lately, too. He tossed out a conspiracy theory about his Titanic submersible, and for whatever reason, Australians have been trying to keep him out of their country, but you’d better believe that when suspected cocaine turned up inside the White House on Sunday night, Don Jr. was going to have something to say about Hunter Biden.

As the New York Times notes, President Biden and fam were not on the grounds during the discovery, and initial hazmat tests for a white powder showed “a yellow bar saying cocaine hydrochloride.” The origins of this substance are still under investigation by the Secret Service, but Don Jr. pounced by tweeting a link to a right-wing outlet’s reporting of the story while adding, “#WheresHunter?”

And naturally, people could not resist Don Jr.’s Hunter Biden quips while reminding him of rumors that have circulated about himself. There was a whole lot of “Did you lose track of your stash AGAIN?!?” and “Jr., they found your stash?”

You can see the deluge of jokes on Twitter in response to Don Jr. raising the subject.

In other words, America’s birthday on Twitter was as explosive as expected.

On October 31, 2020, rap icon MF DOOM (real name Daniel Dumile) died at 49 years old. The cause of his death was unknown at the time, but now his wife, Jasmine Dumile, has revealed what happened.

Billboard notes that DOOM passed away after his condition “suddenly deteriorated” in the hospital. Jasmine Dumile said he was experiencing kidney disease and high blood pressure at the time, which led to weight gain and anxiety. She noted that he was prescribed ACE inhibitors to treat his blood pressure, but he developed breathing problems after two doses, which landed him in the ER due to swelling of the tongue and throat. The swelling was reportedly a “rare” side-effect and caused angiodema, according to doctors.

An inquest found that on October 21, DOOM “had complained that he couldn’t breathe and attempted to get out of his hospital bed before collapsing and suffering respiratory arrest.” Dumile said she was unable to visit DOOM in the hospital until October 31 due to COVID-19 restrictions. Of that day, she noted, “That’s when the respirator was turned off that was helping him breathe.”

Dumile’s legal team has reportedly has concerns about the care DOOM received and has asked about why there was an alleged two-hour delay in giving the rapper medication for his swelling throat, and how often medical staff at St. James Hospital in Leeds checked in on DOOM.

Donald Trump is no fan the Constitution, except for the amendment that allows him to exercise his rights to say whatever the hell he wants on Truth Social. While Joe Biden & Co. hosted a Fourth of July celebration at the White House (the menu included hot dogs, hamburgers, and possibly cocaine), and his GOP rivals Ron DeSantis and Mike Pence were campaigning in New Hampshire and Iowa, respectively, Trump fired off one angry social media rant after another from his Trump National Golf Club Bedminster in New Jersey.

Trump thanked Marjorie Taylor Greene for her support, re-truthed (?) a poll from “sh*tposting king of MAGA Twitter” Catturd, and shared the most patriotic Fourth of July speech since Bill Pullman in Independence Day.

When Biden said that Putin is “losing the war in Iraq,” twice, everybody knew, through confirmation, that we have a confirmed, and very dangerous, Idiot in the White House. The USA cannot have this go on!

Oh wait. That isn’t it. Let me try again.

As my Poll numbers go higher & higher, the Communists, Marxists, & Fascists get more & more CRAZY with their ridiculous Indictments & Election Interference plans & plots, all controlled by an out of control, & very corrupt, DOJ/FBI. They have WEAPONIZED Law Enforcement in America at a level not seen before. Deranged Jack Smith, who is a sick puppet for A.G. Garland & Crooked Joe Biden, should be DEFUNDED & put out to rest. Republicans must get tough or the Dems will steal another Election. MAGA!

Oops. Here it is.

Happy FOURTH OF JULY to everyone. We are working hard, we will take back our Country, and MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN. The 2024 Election is our LAST GREAT CHANCE!

Inspiring stuff.

“He is much more comfortable at his very luxurious golf club with his thumbs on a device tweeting obscenities about the sitting president,” former Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) said on Wednesday’s episode of Morning Joe. “Donald Trump is in a commanding position. Think about that, Republican Party. You have a guy who says ‘F Biden’ on the Fourth of July and he’s your man. It is unbelievable.” No. It’s the American way.

(Via Raw Story)

In case you somehow missed it, yesterday was the 4th Of July. That meant cookouts, fireworks, and a general positive energy about the United States. As for the music that soundtracked these moments for people across the country, it turns out it was on theme, as the Spotify charts show.

On the Daily Top Songs USA chart for July 4, Miley Cyrus’ “Party In The USA” shot up to the No. 4 spot, up 61 positions from the previous day. (Yesterday’s biggest gainer what Darius Rucker’s “Wagon Wheel,” up 136 spots to No. 41.) Bruce Springsteen’s “Born In The USA” re-entered the chart at No. 8. That song, of course, is often misunderstood as a patriotic anthem, when it’s actually about a Vietnam veteran returning home from war and the troubles he faced.

Some other USA-adjacent and Independence Day-related songs that returned to the chart included Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers’ “American Girl,” Don McLean’s “American Pie,” Katy Perry’s “Firework,” Toby Keith’s “Courtesy Of The Red, White And Blue (The Angry American),” and others.

Songs that typically soundtrack warm summer barbecues had prominent chart placements, too, like Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Sweet Home Alabama,” Kid Rock’s “All Summer Long,” Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Fortunate Son,” John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads,” and Eagles’ “Take It Easy,” among others.

For a minute there, it looked like the annual 4th Of July Nathan’s Hot Dot Eating Contest wasn’t going to happen today. The event actually was canceled due to inclement weather, but the contest did end up happening after all. Joey Chestnut ended up winning (as he usually does) and said, “What a roller coaster emotionally. They told us it was canceled. We weren’t sure we were going to eat today, and I’m just happy. It’s the 4th Of July and I got to eat some hot dogs and get a win.”

The show was a roller coaster ride for Zach Bryan, too, since he had a presence during the broadcast.

As the contest was underway on ESPN, one of the commentators compared Nick Wehry and Chestnut by saying, “Wehry is good, he is very good, but he’s not quite Joey yet. Wehry is basically where Zach Bryan is, and Joey has the mantle as Jason Isbell. Both very talented, but there can be just one king.”

Bryan seemingly couldn’t believe it, as he shared the video and tweeted, “if this is real it’s the funniest sh*t that’s ever happened to me.”

For the record, it does seem to be real, as other people tweeted about the moment, too. Isbell hasn’t addressed the video yet, but he did tweet about the contest today, writing, “hot dog contest should be judged by style each contestant should only eat one hot dog.”