Category: News

People love staring at celestial oddities: meteor showers, lunar eclipses, solar eclipses (which you shouldn’t look at). This Wednesday and Thursday, there’s another big event happening in the sky. Not only will there be what’s called a lunar occultation, when the moon appears to block another object for us humans, but a perfect storm of astronomical events will make it even more special.

As per Space.com, on Wednesday, Dec. 7, Mars will appear to move behind Earth’s moon for a full hour. What’s more, Mars will be at opposition, meaning it will be seen directly opposite to the sun. But that’s not all: On November 30, Mars was in perigee, meaning it was at its closest point to Earth. The lunar occultation will happen about a week after that event, which means the Red Planet is still close and bright.

If that wasn’t enough, Wednesday will be the last full moon of 2022. Ergo, lucky observers will be able to see a bright Mars next to a full Cold Moon, making for some very pretty pictures (though you’ll probably need a telescope or binoculars).

How does one watch this? Well, there’s a couple ways. For those who want to behold it with their very own eyes, it will be visible to most of North America, with the exception of the southeastern United States, the northeast coast, and most of Alaska. For those who can see it, Mars will disappear behind the moon around 9:31 pm EST and reappear an hour later.

For those unlucky to live in areas where the lunar occultation is not visible can still see it, in a sense. Both the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles and the McDonald Observatory at the University of Texas at Austin have set up livestreams, which will begin around 9pm EST.

The lunar occultation of Mars isn’t that infrequent; it happens every 26 months. Still, two years and change is a long time not to see something this gorgeous.

Shaquille O’Neal trying to race Kenny Smith to the big board on the TNT set during halftime of NBA games is nothing new. Sometimes, something silly happens during their race, like the time the set was all decorated for the holiday season and Smith decided to shove the big man, which led to him flying into a Christmas tree. It was very funny, because “Shaq gets shoved into a Christmas tree” is a very funny collection of words.

Fast forward to Tuesday night and Smith did it again. The fellas were discussing the game between the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Los Angeles Lakers when Smith spun around to go to the board. Shaq decided to race him, so The Jet laid him out and sent him so far into the tree that his feet were barely sticking out.

The single ornament rolling slowly while Shaq’s huge feet are sticking out and just kinda wiggling around is my favorite part. He was so far in there that Ernie Johnson and Charles Barkley had to come over and pull him out, while Shaq was cracking up as he repeatedly said “this means war, Kenny.” It’s hard to know what, exactly, Shaq has up his sleeve, but I am very excited to find out.

Samia‘s sophomore album Honey is set to arrive next month, offering a follow-up to her crashing debut The Baby. So far she’s unveiled the emotional lead single “Kill Her Freak Out,” which saw the singer-songwriter dive headfirst into her chaotic impulses without filter. Now, she’s back with “Pink Balloon” and “Sea Lions.”

“‘Pink Balloon’ is trying to make amends by looking at it from a bird’s eye after everything got too complicated,” she explained in a statement. “‘Sea Lions’ is not zoomed out – stewing in it, too angry to work it out or let it go, finding old voicemails and trying to decide where it went wrong on a loop until you have to run it off, running until you were never angry in the first place.”

Both songs are delicate but cut with precision like a carefully-wielded blade. She opens “Pink Balloon” with the striking lines, “Your mom keeps threatening suicide on holidays / Your sister’s in LA making dinner with fresh produce.” “Sea Lions” doesn’t fail to grab the listener’s attention either, especially when she sings, “You said when I come on the radio it makes you wanna die / Well if I shut up can I come inside?”

Listen to “Pink Balloon” above and “Sea Lions” below.

Honey arrives 1/27/23 via Grand Jury. Pre-order it here.

Midway through the first quarter, Los Angeles Lakers center Anthony Davis exited Tuesday’s game against the Cleveland Cavaliers and headed to the locker room. He will not return, due to flu-like symptoms.

While Davis wasn’t ruled out with a physical injury, per se, he left the game and headed to the locker room immediately after battling with Kevin Love for a rebound. Love was called for a loose ball foul and Davis didn’t return to the floor after the game break. He seemed to land somewhat awkwardly, but it would appear that interaction is not the source of his absence.

Averaging a career-high 28.6 points (65.6 percent true shooting), 12.8 rebounds, 2.6 assists, 1.8 blocks and 1.2 steals, Davis is enjoying a resurgent season following a pair of injury riddled campaigns. The 29-year-old has been especially dominant over his past nine games, tallying 35.3 points, 15.6 rebounds and 2.9 blocks. His play has helped vault Los Angeles back into the playoff picture at 10-12, including a 7-2 record throughout this particular stretch. He’s been the Lakers’ best player this season and they’ll desperately need him to return to maintain their momentum.

For now, though, defeating the 15-9 Cavaliers and extending their winning streak to four games will come without the former Kentucky Wildcat’s services. Hopefully, he recovers quickly from this ailment.

Donald Trump has a lot of headaches lately, but the latest almost certainly makes him miss the days when people were appalled at his choice of dinner guests or that he wanted the Constitution “terminated.” On Tuesday, a grand jury found two separate Trump Organization companies guilty on all 17 counts of fraud and other crimes of which it had been accused. When news broke, many expected him to angrily throw around some more ketchup. Perhaps he did, but he also put out a statement in which he made a predictable move: He blamed it all on someone else.

That person was Allen Weisselberg, the Trump Organization’s former chief financial advisor. Prosecutors had argued that Weisselberg had received fringe benefits over the course of 15 years, all in an attempt to evade paying taxes. He wound up playing ball with authorities, which no doubt enraged Trump, as unceasing loyalty, even in the face of financial and legal ruin, is all he asks of his minions. And so when Trump needed to yet again point a finger away from himself, it landed on Weisselberg.

“Disappointed with the verdict in Manhattan, but will appeal,” Trump wrote in a press release entitled “MANHATTAN WITCH HUNT!” “After looking at millions of pages of documents, over many years, much to the detriment of record setting murder and other forms of violent crime that are taking place in New York City, the Government was able to get an employee to ‘plea’ in order for a very reduced sentence.”

Trump went on:

This case was about Allen Weisselberg committing tax fraud on his personal tax returns, etc., with he and every witness repeatedly testifying that President Trump and the Trump Family knew nothing about his actions, which he admits were done solely for his own benefit, and with no benefit to the two companies.

Why would Corporations, which knew nothing about Weisselberg’s personal tax returns, be prosecuted for that person’s conduct? There was RELIANCE by us on a then highly respected and expensive accounting firm, and law firm, to do this work. The accounting firm also did his personal returns, which we are not even allowed to legally view.

He then dragged the city of his birth, over which he once lorded as a master of real estate and flamboyance — and which has now all but expelled him. “New York City is a hard place to be ‘Trump,’ as businesses and people flee our once Great City!” he wrote. (People aren’t fleeing New York City, despite flailing rightwing attempts to paint it as a Sodom and Gomorrah.)

Trump himself was not indicted in the trial, and he won’t be serving time for it anytime soon. Still, he is very much not in the clear.

(Via Mediaite)

Sparklehorse was a Richmond, Virginia-based band whose brand of indie rock never failed to haunt, what with its idiosyncratic textures and compelling melodies. It was the project of Mark Linkous, who tragically died of suicide in 2010. Today, Sparklehorse’s former label Anti- Records put out “It Will Never Stop,” a never-before-heard track from the late musician.

“It Will Never Stop” was shared thanks to Linkous’s brother Matt, who released a statement: “Great care has been taken to archive and preserve Mark’s music. We are very thankful for Mark and the beauty he brought to this world.” At only a minute and a half, the song captures the special eccentricity of Sparklehorse, soaked in fuzzy reverb with a shockingly buoyant rhythm beneath such sad words. “Oh please don’t go away,” he sings, “Captain blowed me astray / Oh please don’t vaporize into the sun my love.”

After Linkous’s death, his brother started to oversee his estate and archive his recordings, which is where “It Will Never Stop” hails. The year 2019 also saw a posthumous release from Linkous when producer Danger Mouse and rapper MF Doom unveiled “Ninjarous.” Brian Burton, the person behind Danger Mouse, unveiled it on his label, 30th Century Records, in memory of Linkous.

Listen to “It Will Never Stop” above.

Jayson Tatum is enjoying a fantastic start to the 2022-23 NBA season. The 24-year-old forward is averaging 30.8 points and 8.3 rebounds per game while posting 62.4 percent true shooting, and Tatum is the centerpiece of a Boston Celtics team that sits atop the standings with a 20-5 record. In fact, Tatum is garnering legitimate MVP buzz, and turning his heads with an apparent jump in overall effectiveness.

With that in mind, Charles Barkley began discussing some of the top players in the league on Tuesday’s edition of Inside the NBA. He tried to praise Tatum, but he couldn’t quite find Tatum’s name in real time, apparently mixing him up with a former standout pass rusher for the Miami Dolphins.

Obviously, this is a slip of the tongue more than anything and even Barkley, who has been infamous for the “Who he play for?” segment, knows Tatum’s work. The vigor used by the rest of the panel in correcting him was quite funny, and this exchange also came just hours after MLB insider Jon Heyman referred to Yankees star Aaron Judge as “Arson Judge” on Twitter to the great amusement of all.

This won’t be the last time Barkley makes a mess of a name on TNT’s set, but it was certainly amusing. He was right about Tatum’s recent play, though, which is probably more important.

Few sequels have been as belated as Avatar: The Way of Water. James Cameron’s first trip to Pandora hit theaters 13 years ago, and even though it remains the highest grossing movie ever (not adjusted for inflation), there was worry that audiences would have lost interest in the franchise or that Cameron had lost his mojo. Well, it’s already tracking for a huge opening weekend. And now the first critic reactions are in, and they’re (mostly) glowing.

First up is IndieWire’s David Ehrlich, who wasn’t that surprised to be blown away by the first of probably many Avatar sequels. He tweeted, “imagine being dumb enough to bet against James Cameron. or teen alien Sigourney Weaver. or giant whales subtitled in papyrus.” He added tha tit was “light years better than the first & easily one of the best theatrical experiences in ages.” He even suggested it would save movie theaters: “streaming found dead in a ditch.”

“Yeah never bet against James Cameron,” tweeted Uproxx’s own Mike Ryan. “Trying to spare hyperbole, but I’ve never seen anything like this from a technical, visual standpoint. It’s overwhelming. Maybe too overwhelming. Sometimes I’d miss plot points because I’m staring at a Pandora fish.”

The Atlantic’s David Sims declared that Avatar 2 “absolutely owns bones. I was slapping my seat, hooting, screaming for the Na’vi to take out every last one of those dang sky people.”

“James Cameron once again shows filmmakers how it’s done. I’ve said it a thousand times. Never doubt him,” wrote Josh Horowitz of the Happy Sad Confused podcast. “AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER is how you do epic blockbuster-ing. Emotional, visceral, and as big as movies get.”

“As an Avatar stan, I had high hopes for #AvatarTheWayofWater and for me it totall, y delivers,” wrote Kara Warner, of People, who added that “it’s a little long, but worth it for the gorgeous visuals, wonderful new characters.”

Drew Taylor of The Wrap bragged that he’d seen it twice already and that he was “overwhelmed by both its technical mastery and unexpectedly intimate emotional scope. Yes the world is expanded and sequels teased but the characters are most important. Cameron is in top form, especially in final act. Good to have him back.”

One of Cameron’s fellow filmmakers even tweeted his reaction. “A staggering achievement,” wrote Guillermo del Toro, who also has his own movie — the animated, outside-the-box take on Pinocchio — out this month. He said Way of Water is “chokefull of majestic Vistas and emotions at an epic, epic scale. A master at thepeak [sic] of his powers…”

So far the critical reactions have been glowing, but there are some more measured takes. Critic Scott Mantz praised the “most incredible VFX I have ever seen,” but admitted that the “ story itself is weaker than the first and feels drawn out at 3 hours & 10 minutes.” Still, he found it “always great to look at & the last hour is amazing.”

Christine Newland of the British newspaper i had a more mixed reaction, calling it a “film to be admired more than loved,” saying it had “some remarkable spectacle, some throwback to Titanic set pieces, some really lovely visual flourishes.” Alas, she says it’s “also interminably, ploddingly overlong, and more impressive than truly absorbing.”

Avatar: The Way of Water hits theaters on December 16.

This story originally appeared on 08.25.21

There was an emotional exchange on TikTok between two people who lost their fathers to cancer. One was actor Mandy Patinkin, the other was TikTok user Amanda Webb.

Patinkin currently stars on “The Good Fight” but one of his most famous roles is Inigo Montoya in the 1987 classic “The Princess Bride.” In the film, Montoya is a swordsman who is obsessed with confronting a six-fingered man who killed his father.

Webb recently lost her father Dan to mantle cell lymphoma. She had heard a rumor that Patinkin used his father’s death from cancer as motivation in a pivotal scene where he confronts the six-fingered Count Rugen (Christopher Guest) in a duel.

Rugen tells Montoya he will give him anything he wants after being bested by Montoya who passionately replies, “I want my father back, you son of a bitch.”

Webb’s father was a big fan of Montoya’s performance in the film so she reached out to TikTok to learn if the rumor was true.

“I saw on the internet the rumor that when Mandy Patinkin said that line, he was thinking of his own father who had passed away from cancer,” Webb said while crying. “And it was a very raw emotion. Ever since then, it’s kind of really stuck with me.”

Patinkin, who is a TikTok user, heard that the woman had reached out to him and he gave a heartfelt response.

@mandypatinktok

@alaska_webb thank you for finding us and sharing this! ✨ Sending big love and light to you and yours. More in comments. #grieving #cancer #dads

“First of all, your dad is taking care of you,” he said. “Secondly, it is true, 100% true. I went outside in this castle and walked around and I kept talking to my dad.”

“The minute I read the script, I knew, I said to [his wife], I said, ‘I’m going to do this part because in my mind, if I get the six-fingered guy, that means I killed the cancer that killed my dad and I’ll get to visit my dad,” he said.

“That moment was coming, and I went and I played that scene with Chris [Guest], and then I went back out there and talked to my dad,” Patinkin said.

He then told Webb that she has the power to talk to her father, too.

“And so, you can talk to your dad anytime you want, anywhere you want,” he said. “If you could somehow let me know your dad’s name because I say prayers for anyone I’ve ever known. Now I feel like I know you, and therefore I know your dad, and I will list his name in my prayers every day, and they make me feel like they’re with me, wherever I go, and I’d like your dad to hang out with me.”

Webb responded with a video where she’s so emotional she can hardly speak.

@alaska_webb

Is this real life?! #mandypatinktok #princessbride #lgbtq #grief #millenial #imissmydad

This article originally appeared on 04.15.19

On May 28, 2014, 13-year-old Athena Orchard of Leicester, England, died of bone cancer. The disease began as a tumor in her head and eventually spread to her spine and left shoulder. After her passing, Athena’s parents and six siblings were completely devastated. In the days following her death, her father, Dean, had the difficult task of going through her belongings. But the spirits of the entire Orchard family got a huge boost when he uncovered a secret message written by Athena on the backside of a full-length mirror.

After removing the mirror from the wall, Dean discovered a 3,000-word letter written all the way down its backside in black pen. “She never mentioned it, but it’s the kind of thing she’d do,” her father told People magazine. “She was a very spiritual person, she’d go on about stuff that I could never understand – she was so clever.” The moving letter revealed her deepest feelings about her fight with the dreaded disease. “Every day is special, so make the most of it, you could get a life-ending illness tomorrow so make the most of every day,” she wrote. “Life is only bad if you make it bad.”

Although Athena is gone, the mirror now serves as a powerful memory of her undying spirit. “We’re keeping the mirror forever, it is a part of her we can keep in the house, it will always be in her room,” her mother, Caroline, said. “Just reading her words felt like she was still here with us, she had such an incredible spirit.”

Athena’s full message:

“Happiness depends upon ourselves. Maybe it’s not about the happy ending, maybe it’s about the story. The purpose of life is a life of purpose. The difference between ordinary and extraordinary is that little extra. Happiness is a direction not a destination. Thank you for existing. Be happy, be free, believe, forever young. You know my name, not my story.

You have heard what I’ve done, but not what I’ve been through. Love is like glass, looks so lovely but it’s easy to shatter.

Love is rare, life is strange, nothing lasts and people change. Every day is special, so make the most of it, you could get a life ending illness tomorrow so make the most of every day. Life is only bad if you make it bad. If someone loves you, then they wouldn’t let you slip away no matter how hard the situation is. Remember that life is full of ups and downs.

Never give up on something you can’t go a day without thinking about. I want to be that girl who makes the bad days better and the one that makes you say my life has changed since I met her!

Love is not about how much you say I love you – it’s about how much you can prove it’s true. Love is like the wind, you can feel it but you can’t see it. I’m waiting to fall in love with someone I can open my heart to. Love is not about who you can see spending your future with, it’s about who you can’t see spending your life without… Life is a game for everyone but love is the prize. Only I can judge me.

Sometimes love hurts. Now I’m fighting myself. Baby I can feel your pain. Dreams are my reality. It hurts but it’s okay, I’m used to it. Don’t be quick to judge me, you only see what I choose to show you… you don’t know the truth. I just want to have fun and be happy without being judged.

This is my life, not yours, don’t worry about what I do. People gonna hate you, rate you, break you, but how strong you stand, that’s what makes you… you!

There’s no need to cry because I know you’ll be by my side.”