Month: July 2023

Poor George R.R. Martin. I mean, he’s overall doing great, and HBO’s House Of The Dragon is only one of several current shows with his producing fingerprints all over them (see also AMC’s Dark Skies). HotD hasn’t been affected by either the WGA or SAG-AFTRA strikes because scripts were already locked when shooting began, and the principal actors (as Martin explained to Deadline) “are members of the British union, Equity, not SAG-AFTRA, and though Equity strongly supports their American cousins (they have a big rally planned to show that support), British law forbids them from staging a sympathy strike.”

So, that’s at least some positive news from the entertainment realm, which is largely shut down as writers and actors picket studios. However, this also brings to mind (as every GRRM discussion does) that long-promised tome, Winds Of Winter. The author has claimed, at various times to be largely, even 75% done, with the book, and at one point, he gave a specific date in which people could imprison him if he didn’t finish the long-awaited work. That day in March 2020 came and went, and in the meantime, GRRM has been picking up new producing work everywhere, it seems.

However, does the strike mean that maybe he might have to finish Winds Of Winter? With all that free time on his hands, he may have no choice. Here’s what GRRM told Deadline:

As far as Winds of Winter, Martin says he’s been working on it “almost every day. Writing, rewriting, editing [and] writing some more. Making steady progress. Not as fast as I would like… certainly not as fast as YOU would like… but progress nonetheless. It keeps me out of trouble.”

In other words, no update yet, but at least the book is now a daily endeavor. And yes, I’m completely reading into all of this, and I am the person (kind-of horribly) suggesting that book progress could be a lone positive effect of the ongoing strike. Fingers crossed for some good news soon on every front, too, because GRRM believes the strikes will carry on for awhile.

(Via Deadline)

When asked to point to North on a map, we point toward the top. Odds are, when you think of the word, you even associate it with “up.” (Unless, of course, you’re a “Game of Thrones” fan, then you might picture a fictional medieval family with very cool dogs and very, very bad luck.)

But why is North always “up”? Has it always been this way? If not, what was “up” before North? Does any of this matter in a digital age where directions are oriented in an instant?

These questions and more are answered by Jay Foreman and Mark Cooper-Jones, two comedians with a passion for geography who host a YouTube series called “Map Men.”

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Being Brits, the Map Men tend to cover English topics like explaining “Why East London doesn’t have any bridges” or “What went wrong with the Tube Map.” But their latest video goes into more universal territory, breaking down why nearly every map in the world has North on the top.

Though cartographers have experimented with drawing maps that have words written in multiple directions, they weren’t very user-friendly, and therefore never made it to the mainstream. So, generally speaking, all maps need a top and bottom. That we have agreed on.

However, earlier cultures would certainly disagree that North belongs on a map’s top. That spot, in their mind, belonged to East, since it produced light, daytime, and all things symbolizing happiness. North, incidentally, symbolized darkness and evil. So, with this 90-degree change of perception in mind, an ancient map would actually have North as East, West as South, South as East and North as West. Are you dizzy yet?

This was how most European maps would have looked well into the 15th century. Although no maps survived from this time period, there are plenty of linguistic clues to prove their existence, such as words in Sanskrit meaning both “South” and “to the right,” for instance.

Going back even further, the ancient Egyptians had South at the top of the map. Considering that so much of Egyptian culture is connected to the sun, one would think they would have the direction that brings the sun every morning on the top of their maps. But as Foreman explains, they oriented their map to the apparent source of the Nile River. The Egyptian might have been ceremonious, but they were also quite practical.

So, how did the North rise up?

Ironically it happened as Eurpoeans were heading West. During The Age of Exploration, explorers began incorporating the use of compasses, which are magnetized toward Earth’s poles, to improve their navigation. The Chinese inventors who created the compass originally decided that the needle pointed toward the South. However, Europeans had already been using the North Star in their navigation for years, and were inclined to keep doing so once they got their hands on the tool.

This innovation helped Europeans spread several Western ideologies, including a North-favoring map, throughout the entire globe. And here we are.

Nowadays, thanks to technology, most digital maps we interact with on a regular basis show whichever direction we are facing as “up,” also making this whole where-does-North-point story a moot one. Except there are still subtle, yet negative ways this might be influencing our world view, since humans naturally read things that are at the top as being superior to things at the bottom.

Going back to “Game of Thrones,” the Starks of the North = good guys. The Lannister of the South = bad guys. Just sayin’.

These are only the bullet points of what Foreman and Cooper-Jones covered, and it doesn’t begin to embody their incredible wit and hilarious delivery. Watch them do their thing below:

There was one correction that viewers wanted to make. At one point, Cooper-Jones jokes that even J.R.R. Tolkien didn’t fathom a different orientation while creating the fictional map of Middle Earth for his “Lord of the Rings” trilogy, just to illustrate how deeply ingrained the idea is in our collective psyche.

However, one impressive LOTR fan noted that Tolkien DID, in fact, get creative with orientation, writing, “Dwarves put East up on their maps,” and “the Elvish words for ‘north’ and ‘south’ are related to the words for ‘right’ and ‘left’ respectively,” which “strongly implies that Elves and other peoples influenced by them usually drew maps with West upwards.” Proving yet again how in-depth Tolkien’s knowledge is.

It’s interesting to think about how closely linked geography and psychology are. Even something that appears to be a scientific fact, like “North is up,” is really more of a reflection of the times. It’s even more interesting to think about how concepts like these might change along with our own paradigms over time.

There’s a parent out there who must be pretty proud of their son for standing up for himself and refusing to go along with the crowd that was playing pranks on the neighbors. Instead, he took their game of ding-dong ditch and tried to turn it into something positive.

A video of the boy, first shared to TikTok by a Minnesota mom named Ashley, has received over 5 million views. It shows a young boy looking sincerely into a doorbell camera before brushing a bug off the lens and sharing some positive affirmations with the stranger who lives in the house.

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“You matter, alright? There’s always going to be someone who cares about you. You’re a good person. No matter what people say about you, you matter,” the boy says before one of the kids he’s with rings the doorbell and runs off.

@ashleyfayeann

Random acts of kindness ❤️

“Ignore them. They’re losers,” the kid says about the boys roaming the neighborhood. “They’re ding-dong ditching you. I’m just trying to say something nice…You matter, man. Or girl. Whoever you are, you matter to someone. Just keep that in mind. Don’t forget that.”

The young child is wise beyond his years, and his refusal to go along with the crowd shows that he has a bright future ahead of him.

“We need more kind kids in this world,” Zoe commented on the video.

“Someone gotta let him know that he matters too,” Rozei wrote.

The video must have been touching for the person who received it, but the way the boy delivers the message almost feels universal, like he’s speaking to all of us. You matter.

Travis Scott is gearing up for his new album, Utopia, and fans are extremely excited. Over the past few years, he has been teasing the project. In 2020, he had posted “See you in Utopia,” but it took a while for it to come out — likely due to the Astroworld controversy.

Here is more of what to expect from Utopia.

Release Date

During his recent set at Rolling Loud Miami, he teased that it would potentially be dropping this Friday, July 28. Scott has also confirmed this in a Twitter post today, with more information hinted to be revealed later today, when he regains service.

Tracklist

The tracklist for Travis Scott’s Utopia is still TBD. However, he has treated the Houston Astros to an early preview of the record as of a few weeks ago.

Singles

Scott recently dropped the first single, “K-Pop,” which was a collaboration with Bad Bunny and The Weeknd. He had previously previewed it during a showcase in mid-May.

Tour

He has also teased a potential tour tied to the album. During the music video for “K-Pop,” an Easter egg was spotted that reads “Utopia stadium tour rehearsal.”

Artwork

View the Utopia album artwork on Travis Scott’s website here. It is currently available for pre-order.

Before Joe Biden, the oldest president in the White House was Ronald Regan at 77 years, 349 days. Biden was older than that before his first term even started. If he wins re-election in 2024 against fellow senior citizen Donald Trump, he’ll be 86 years old by the end of his second term.

The president’s aides are working hard at convincing the American public that it’s perfectly normal for someone who was born the same year that duct tape was invented to have the most stressful job in the world.

NBC News reports that in “a preview of what voters will see more of if Biden wins re-election and serves into his mid-80s, the White House seems to be making concessions to his age. An iconic image of the modern presidency is the chief executive walking up the stairs to a majestic Air Force One, then turning at the doorway and waving. More and more, Biden is forgoing the long staircase for the shorter stairway that takes him up through the plane’s belly.”

Biden’s use of the shorter staircase, which, of course, reduces the risk of a televised fall that goes viral, has more than doubled since Biden’s tumble at the commencement ceremony, according to an analysis by NBC News. In the weeks prior to tripping onstage, Biden used the shorter set of stairs to get on and off the presidential aircraft 37 percent of the time. In the past seven weeks he’s used them 84 percent of the time, or 31 out of the 37 times he’s gotten on and off the plane.

Biden has also started skipping “nighttime socializing,” and the font on his teleprompter for speeches has gotten larger. A former White House official told NBC News that “Biden’s political operation has strategized about the best ways to deflect that line of attack,” referring to Trump posting a video mocking the president for falling off his bike, including “the idea of throwing a big 80th birthday bash last November to show he was openly embracing the milestone rather than shying away from it.” Instead, Biden ate ice cream with his family.

Not going out at night and eating ice cream instead of partying? Biden has never been more relatable.

(Via NBC News)

Donald Trump Jr. is shouting about Hunter Biden’s laptop again. Normally, that wouldn’t be newsworthy. Every few days (hours?), Don Jr. remembers those buzzy keywords can generate a few rage retweets so he turns his camera on and goes nuts for a couple of minutes for the clicks. But this latest rant is generating attention for an entirely different reason.

Instead of motivating more MAGA conspiracy theorists to spew nonsense about a recovering addict, Don Jr.’s most recent tirade has everyone asking the same question: What the hell is going on with this guy’s voice? To understand the cause for confusion, you’ve got to hear the evidence first. Exhibit A:

Pay attention to Donny’s words — not how he clumsily strings them together in the hopes of forming a coherent thought, but how they form behind his tongue and expel out of his bearded doll lips. There’s no rhyme or reason to the pronunciation, the dialect he switches between. One second, he sounds like a prepubescent boy, his voice cracking with excitement over the fact that no one is talking about Hunter Biden except for him. The next, he’s a dried-up car salesman from New Jersey trying to trick us into buying a sweet ’98 Honda Accord with a rolled-back odometer. By the end of his spiel, Don Jr.’s delivery has morphed into a so-pathetic-it’s-almost-sad imitation of his dad’s gratingly recognizable blubberings. And, naturally, Twitter has taken notice.

As one of the most revered rappers of the decade, Kendrick Lamar’s musical legacy has long since been cemented in the culture. However, Smino’s song, “Ole Ass Kendrick,” pulls inspiration from another part of the emcee’s life. As the St. Louis native’s latest single from his album, Luv 4 Rent, thanks to the new accompanying music video Smino’s admiration for Lamar reenters the spotlight.

Smino’s eclectic approach to music is uniquely him. So, no, there aren’t many lyrical references to Lamar. Instead, Lamar’s rumored past bachelor adventures show up throughout the video. Lamar has since settled down and is a family man now, but that’s not the case for Smino as he rapped, “Whole lotta’ n****s be cappin’ / Savin these hoes, they the captain / Caption, el capitan, the lieutenant / I get behind her like Beni / Then get it cracking, eggs benni’ / But stuck on the fact / That the last time I actually had a girl I was so in it / Then I got stuck in the game like the Sega broke / And I had to pull it out and blow in it.”

With several beautiful women predominately featured in the video, Smino is in a lover boy’s paradise. Director Hidji World was sure to include one call back to Lamar in the video when Smino and his signature wavey afro are positioned in front of a red velvet curtain—that short segment references Kendrick Lamar’s “The Heart Part 5” visual.

When asked by a fan on Twitter, which Kendrick Lamar song inspired his track, he replied, “It was ‘P*ssy & Patron.’”

Watch the full video for “Ole Ass Kendrick” above.

Luv 4 Rent is out now via Zero Fatigue/Motown. Find more information here.

On Tuesday morning, the basketball world was stunned to learn that Bronny James had collapse during practice at USC after going into cardiac arrest on Monday. James was taken to the hospital where he spent time in the ICU before being stabilized and is currently resting and recovering.

It is a terrifying scare for Bronny and the entire James family to go through, but they do have someone they can lean on for some firsthand experience in navigating the immediate aftermath of suffering a cardiac arrest and trying to work their way back to playing sports again. Damar Hamlin has spent the last seven months doing exactly that after he collapsed on Monday Night Football between the Bills and Bengals and had to be revived on the field. Hamlin is now getting set for Bills training camp, but offered his support to Bronny and promised to be there for him and the James family in the same way they were there for him through his process.

Hamlin knows better than anyone what lies on the road ahead for Bronny in balancing taking care of his heart and health, as well as working to get back into condition to try and play basketball again. Having someone to lean on in Hamlin who can provide guidance and also just tell him things that are part of the process can help ease what is a very difficult process some, and it’s great to see this kind of support from Hamlin.

During ASAP Rocky’s recent performance at Rolling Loud Miami, he seemed to throw some jabs at Travis Scott in an apparent new song. “First you stole my flow so I stole your b*tch, then you stole my style / I need my 10%, all the disrespect, I hope you take offense,” he rapped.

The two performers have been feuding off-and-on for years, but it seems to have been ignited again. It’s also not the first time that Rocky has dissed Scott at Rolling Loud. Back in 2019, according to NME, some had thought his freestyle referenced Scott.

“Please don’t compare him and me / You offending me / This ain’t a diss and we ain’t enemies / They concerned with making hits, I’m more concerned with making history,” Rocky sang at the time. However, a few days later, he tweeted: “THAT ME N TRAVIS BEEF SH*T SO PLAYED OUT , LET IT GO.”

And in 2015, Scott had went after a fan who mistook him. “I’m not motherf*cking ASAP, b*tch,” he fired back in the video.

So, why did it start in the first place? There has been speculation, especially based on Rocky’s recent line, that it started over Rihanna. Scott had reportedly dated her back in 2015 and participated in some songs from her Anti album the following year. However, since then, she has been with Rocky and the couple are expecting their second child.

Despite this, they’ve also had some positive moments together. In 2016, they were allegedly spotted on an airplane together, according to HotNewHipHop.

Here’s hoping these two can patch things up soon.